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This hairstyle is perfect for special occasions and for those who want to keep their hairs away from their face.To start simply first do the side part and then start in sections front, right and other areas to follow.Then split it into three french braid style but instead of adding the extra hairs from both sides add hairs only from the right side.Keep doing it until your reach the jawline and then start the normal braids tie the end part with elastic and you are ready with your lace braids.
10.Chinese Braids
This hairstyle is done by Chinese girls that’s why it’s famous with the name Chinese Braids to do this you need to put your hair in a side ponytail style.Then take the strand of hairs from the pony with it you need to make braids on the ponytail section only.Make a knot on the end part and you are ready with the chinese braids.
11.Waterfall Braid
Waterfall braids are best to have on wedding occasions whether as a bride or guest this look is best for special occasions.To do this you need to first start like a french braid and then split the hairs into three parts.Cross the hairs from the left to right and cross hairs from the middle of it.You can make more variations of it just follow the above image and you are done with your waterfall braids.
12.Five Strand Braids
To do this braid split hairs into five equal parts consider each part as a strand from 1-5 then take strand one into two till five and keep going till the neck area so you can make beautiful braids.Keep this process going until you reach the end and join them with elastic.
13.Milkmaid Braid
These braids are one of the easiest of braids style available.To do this split you hairs into high ponytails then braid these ponytails until you reach the end and tie them with elastic.Wrap these braids around your head and tuck the ends by using bobby pins.
14.Messy Bun
Messy hairstyles are easiest of them all you just need to make bun by messing the hairs it was considered as the casual style.But now it’s been worn by the woman on special occasions especially celebs who are wearing it on red carpet events.
15.Basic Bun
Basic buns can be tried anywhere whether you are at home or going for some party these hairstyles are best for the summer days.In sweat humid conditions this hairstyle can give you relief.
16.Hair Bow
This is one of the most exciting hairstyles you can try on long hairs it starts by making a ponytail with elastic to hold it.You will need bobby pins to make a bow type shape and hold it together.It will require some skills because it’s not easy to do but you should try it if you want to do something different from your usual hair style.
17.Braided Top Knot
This is another version of the braided bun simply first make the ponytail then braid the hairs then at the end, you need to hold them with bobby pins to make a top knot.It’s best for the summer sweaty days, try it on night events.
18.Gibson Tuck
This looks tough but it’s easy simply gather all your hairs into a low ponytail with the help of elastic flip your hairs into flip ponytail.gather all hairs and make them tuck and secure it with the help of bobby pins.This hairstyle will look great with evening wear dresses for the summer days.
19.Bow Bun
It will suit teen girls for the college parties try it on your prom party this looks different and will make you look stylish.You can wear any dress with this hairstyle but we would suggest wearing skirts with it during the summer days.
20.Braided Bouffant
This is again another unique hairstyle it is a combination of ponytails, crown, and a bun you can wear this hairstyle on special occasions and look different from all other.This hairstyle will surely make you stand out because of its unique style and elegant braids.
21.Twisted Bun
This hairstyle looks great when you have thicker hairs just twist your hairs into a ponytail and gather all of them together at your back with bobby pins.This is another hairstyle you can wear during the summer parties.
22.Upside Down French Braid Bun
This is one of the classic hairstyles you can have on any occasion it suits teen girls because of its style.You can wear it with any dress but it suits summer season more than winter because of the bun.
23.Boho Chic Updo
To make a boho-chic hairstyle you need to wrap a thin colorful scarf around your hairs like a headband.Make your hairs into a ponytail then strip the ponytail into two parts and make a messy bun.Pin it around the scarf and complete the look at shown in the image.
24.Loose Pigtails
This is the most basic hairstyle for casual days simply split your hairs into two sides and tie them using elastic bands.You can wear it around anywhere you like it suits all seasons and casual dresses suits this hairstyle.
25.Sock Bun
This is another summer hairstyle to make it you need to cut off the front part of the sock and roll it until you get a proper bun.Now put your hairs in ponytail style and insert the sock bun at the end of your ponytail secure it with the help of bobby pins.
26.Double Rope Braid Bun
Split your hairs into two parts and make ponytails wrap them around each other to make the rope braids.Secure the end part with elastic twist them in a circular manner and pin it against your head.This is one of the formal hairstyles you should try during the summer events.
27.Elegant Side Bun
Side bun can be stylized in many different ways the above image side bun is for formal events it will work great with evening wear dresses for summer and winter events.But because it is a bun we would suggest try it during the hot days.
28.Fishtail Braid Bun
To do this first you need to make fishtail braid then loose them up and pin them to hold the hairs together in a bun form.
29.French Twist
This is a classic hairstyle which you must have seen in vintage Hollywood movies you can try it easily by following the above image.Try this on events of all seasons with your special occasion dress.
30.Flower Braid
It may look difficult to try but you can do it in minutes you need to make a flower type shape on the back of your head when making braids and hold them together with the help of pins or elastic band.
31.Bouffant and Curls
This hairstyle is for the big occasions like weddings and festive events you can wear it on any dress of your choice and it can be worn in any season from winter to summer.This is another of fast hairstyles you can do in minutes.
32.Braided Half Up Half Down
If you have the long hairs don’t ever think to cut them off because it’s an advantage of trying so many hairstyles.Above image is of half up and down braids which means you need to make half braid on the upper area of your head and half down leave the rest part messy and you will have the most elegant hairstyle.
33.Braided Hair Band
This is one of the simplest braids you just need to make braids on one side and take it to the other side like a band.It can be worn on special occasions and in casual routine too you can wear any dress of your choice with this hairstyle.
34.Loose Messy Hairstyle
This is one of the simplest hairstyle you can have it will not require any time you just need to make hairs messy and split them into two sides it is simple yet one of the elegant hairstyles that celeb try.
35.Simple Pin Up
It is one of the easy hairstyles available you just need to pin the middle part of the hairs on your head at the back and leave the rest of the hairs as it is and you are ready to go anywhere you like with this classic simple hairstyle.
36.Layered Style
Simplicity is the best way you can show your beauty to the whole world and this is one of the easiest hairstyles any girl can try.In this hairstyle, you need to cut the hairs in layers and leave them to give the style you need.You can have it in your casual routine or wear it on special occasions.
37.Messed Up Curls
This hairstyle is for the wedding day and reception ceremonies it will look great on wedding gowns and you should consider it if your wedding is near.In this hairstyle, you just need to make your hairs into messy curls and leave them on one side.
38.Wedding Ponytail
Whether you are a bridesmaid or a guest on wedding ceremony you should try this ponytail with your special occasion dress that you are going to wear on the wedding ceremony.This hairstyle is easy and can be done in just minutes.
39.Long Curls
Whether you have natural curls or you are going to make them you need to style them in a perfect way like the one above shown.If you don’t have the natural curls then you can read No Heat Curls Overnight and make them by yourself without using any harmful products.
40.Vintage Style Long Braid
To have this hairstyle first you need to have extremely long hairs if you are lucky enough to have them then make one side braids till the end and you are ready to go anywhere you like with this elegant hairstyle.
41.Hot Knot
This hairstyle is for parties and events you just need to have hairs on one side and tie them like a note with half of your hairs and leave the rest of the hairs as messy and you are ready to go on special occasion with this elegant hairstyle.
42.Top Shot Ponytail
This hairstyle is from the 80’s and 90’s era but you can recreate it in your own way you just need to tie high ponytail and leave the rest of the hairs as messy.This hairstyle can be worn on different occasions with any type of dress you like.
43.Semi-Dutch Braid
This is a combination of Dutch and waterfall braids to do this you need to take some parts of your hairs and make them into braid shape tie them with the help of bands and leave the rest of your hairs as messy.
44.Hairstyle with Accessories
Accessories add more beauty to your hairs whether it’s a wedding ceremony or some other event you can use any hair accessory like flowers, headbands, scarfs to add more style to your hairs.
45.Colorful Hairstyle
Using colors on hairs are risky especially the funky colors like the one you are seeing in the image you can have it if you like because it’s the style of modern teen girls.Usually, school going girls do it with their casual dresses having each layer colored.
46.Wavy Ponytail
This hairstyle is a combo of waves and ponytail it’s simple to do just do the ponytail in a wavy style and knot it at the back of your head with an elastic band or you use some parts of your hairs and hold them together with the help of bobby pins.
47.Bridal Indian Hairstyle
There are many types of Indian Bridal Hairstyle but these two are most common on the left it’s wavy two sides hairs and on the right, it’s a bun with braids.You can have these two hairstyles as a wedding guest or as a bride.
48.Bouncy Curly Hairstyle
If you have curly hairs then try the above-shown hairstyle which is very simple you just need to make ponytail then fold it in a way that it shows some creative shape.This classic hairstyle can be worn on special occasions of the winter season.
49.Side Braids Thicker Style
It’s a gorgeous hairstyle for thicker hairs you just need to make braids and then keep the hairs on one side.It may look similar to some of the above-shown braids but because it’s for thicker hairs that’s why it is looking more attractive.
50.Grungy Hairstyle
This hairstyle is a combination of many different styles it’s for young girls who would like to change their style daily that’s why so many combos are collected in one hairstyle.You can have it on special occasions or while going out with your friends.It suits all dresses so try it with your favorite dresses.
Long hairs are blessings for girls you can try all of them and look great on special events of all seasons.Evangelion Roller Coaster Event at Sega’s Joypolis Theme Park
By Aaron Clark on Tuesday, October 25th, 2016
From November 22, 2016 to January 9, 2017, the Tokyo branch of Sega’s Joypolis theme park chain will be celebrating its 20th anniversary by collaborating with Evangelion for the “Evangelion × Joypolis Impact” event. For a limited time, the Geki-on Live Coaster, an attraction which is part roller coaster and part music game, will be rebranded into an Evangelion-themed attraction. The special Evangelion roller coaster will provide attendees the experience of riding in the cockpit of an Evangelion.
Evangelion rides have been popular theme park attractions in the past several years. There have also been Evangelion-themed rides and rollercoasters at “Evangelion World” at Fuji-Q Highland, and at “Cool Japan” at Universal Studios Japan.
Source:
Posted in: Japan, News.Alfred Stieglitz does not need the Lens blog to enhance his reputation.
So there is no real point in urging readers to see the exhibition “Alfred Stieglitz New York” at the Seaport Museum, whose curator describes it as the first show of the master’s collected New York photographs in 78 years. We know that if you can see this show, you will.
And if you can’t see the show in person, you can buy the accompanying book, written by Bonnie Yochelson, the curator of the exhibition, and published by Skira Rizzoli at the attractive price of $25.
Rather than dwell on Stieglitz himself, then, let’s take a look at the design craft that went into making the show even more appealing. Dr. Yochelson is our guide, but she gives a lot of credit to Sandy Hirshkowitz and Casey Maher of the design company Rack & Pinion.
A visitor might first be struck by the Auto Graflex camera in the display case that opens the show. This monster passed for portable a century ago. It is easy to cultivate new respect for the compositional skills and steady hands of photographers at the turn of the 20th century.
“Stieglitz was a street photographer,” Dr. Yochelson said, “but people have no idea that a handheld camera was something like this.”
Around the corner, the first gallery opens, covering Stieglitz’s work from 1892 to 1917. The room has been divided by a temporary wall with a portal at its center, to evoke as closely as possible the proportions of the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue, better known simply as “291,” which were designed by Edward Steichen. Steichen turned the lease over to Stieglitz in 1905.
The installation doesn’t mean to slavishly imitate the Arts and Crafts original. But it does have a chair rail, as the original galleries did, to which the captions have been affixed instead of being placed on the walls. That compels a visitor to confront the image before getting wrapped up in its provenance.
“You spend time looking and feeling what you see, instead of being satisfied with what some art historian tells you and moving on to the next thing,” Dr. Yochelson said, in an admirably candid assessment for an art historian to make.
Another subtle but critical step in eliminating distraction around the images is the uniformity of frames. When you think about it, it’s astonishing that they are consistent, since the prints came from more than a dozen lenders, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It’s not that they allowed the Seaport Museum to reframe their artwork. Instead, Dr. Yochelson explained, the Seaport Museum sent the frames out to the lending institutions, which remounted the pictures themselves before shipping them.
A triptych in the first gallery offers an instructive view of how mutably Stieglitz regarded his own work. The first print of “Winter, Fifth Avenue,” shows it as a vertical scene focused on a horse-drawn carriage. The second print has been retouched to eliminate elements like railroad ties in the foreground. The final version is a contact print showing that the original image was horizontal, with boys shoveling snow on either sides of the avenue; a much different composition.
The adjoining gallery displays Stieglitz’s work from 1930 to 1937 (there was a long interval between his early and late picture making in New York) and is meant to recall his gallery, An American Place, at Madison Avenue and 53rd Street. In an especially pleasing trompe-l’oeil moment, it appears — in a mural-sized enlargement of an Ansel Adams photo — as if Stieglitz himself is working intently in one corner of the gallery.
The final gallery embraces the work of Stieglitz’s contemporaries in prints, books, magazines and documentary films, helping place the master’s work in context. It is an invigorating way to leave the little temples of art that preceded it and a marvelous segue into the adjoining exhibition on the fabled ocean liner, the Normandie.
“Alfred Stieglitz New York” runs through Jan. 10, 2011, at the Seaport Museum New York, 12 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan, which was known until recently as the South Street Seaport Museum.Several newspapers last night reported a “poll” commissioned by Labourleave in Stoke on Trent. It claimed to show UKIP on 35%, Labour on 25% and the Tories on 10%.
Labourleave have today put up this document. It is fair to say it is light on methodological detail.
There is no sign of who did the fieldwork, how the data was weighted or even what mode it was conducted by. We do not have any information about the demographics of the achieved sample. Worryingly it doesn’t even specify that it was specifically Stoke Central though I can only assume it was. All we have is a sample size of 182. In a random sample this would give a huge margin of error of plus or minus 7 percentage points (despite the 4% it claims in the document)
My understanding is it comes from Labourleave convassing their own database of contacts in Stoke (though there has also been a suggestion that it was a Facebook poll). Obviously something like that brings a heavy risk of bias depending on who they have on their database and what skews may be present. With all those concerns, one can put very little weight upon the results. Even if details are forthcoming and it turns out it was actually conducted and weighted in an appropriate way, the tiny sample size renders it of limited use.
For now – at least until more detail is forthcoming – ignore.Larry Summers REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang Economist and professor Larry Summers just served up a dire prediction at the SALT Conference in Las Vegas, if the surprising result of the British general election manages to force a 'Brexit,' or the departure of Britain from the European Union.
"It's a terrible thing if Britain leaves," Summers said on a Friday morning panel. "It's a terrible thing for the European Union, which will lose a counterweight to Germany."
Markets and politicians are still digesting the shocking results of yesterday's election results, which defied all pollster predictions.
That has pushed some to speculate that Britain will, in fact, quit the EU (known as the 'Brexit').
Summers also said there would be a substantial impact for Britain.
"It would mark a sharp break in British-European relations," he said, adding that the British would become less relevant to US foreign relations. He said Britain would become "an island nation in the truest sense," adding that a Brexit would "mark the end of a several-hundred year chapter in history where British opinion loomed large on the world stage."
But does he actually think it will happen?
"I would bet right now that five years from now that Britain will remain in the union," he concluded.kudo_maharizu wrote: I've been meaning to ask (I know this is the Gallery thread but since this is related to the actual mag and all, I'm doing this here) and likely too late to do anything about it now, if it was indeed possible to do this from outside Japan - the special GiGS photobook in white. I noted one could order it but as I do not understand nihon-go, I wasn't sure of how to go about getting it.
And today, GiGS mentioned it on their Twitter ( https://twitter.com/GiGS_Official/status/725635611223162881 ). Is this similar to how Japanese mags advertise gifts related to the current published issue (eg SCANDAL picks or signed polaroids) at the back pages - I would've assumed it'd be like a lottery for those, and one needs a Japanese address.
I'd be grateful for any info on this.
It is too late to apply to get it; the cut-off date was the end of March. It was actually something to purchase, not a lottery-type gift deal.What you had to do to get it was to send the form that was in the magazine along with 1,000 yen to GiGS and they would send you a copy of the PB. So, obtaining it was pretty much impossible for those of us overseas. The contents of the PB are mainly supposed to be an archive of SCANDAL features in past GiGS issues along with a special interview.That mundane service — harnessing Bitcoin’s workaday utility — is what so excites some investors and entrepreneurs about Argentina. Banks everywhere hold money and move it around; they help make it possible for money to function as both a store of value and a medium of exchange. But thanks in large part to their country’s history of financial instability, a small yet growing number of Argentines are now using Bitcoin instead to fill those roles. They keep the currency in their Bitcoin “wallets,” digital accounts they access with a password, and use its network when they need to send or spend money, because even with Castiglione or one of his competitors serving as middlemen between the traditional economy and the Bitcoin marketplace, Bitcoin can be cheaper and more convenient than Argentina’s financial establishment. In effect, Argentines are conducting an ambitious experiment, one that threatens ultimately to spread to the United States and disrupt some of the most basic services its banks have to offer.
Bitcoin first appeared in early 2009, introduced by a shadowy figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto. The software underlying its creation established that Bitcoins would be released slowly and steadily until there are 21 million of them; at that point, more than 12 decades from now, no more Bitcoins will be generated. These rules produced two somewhat predictable results, especially coming in the immediate wake of the financial crisis and the government bailouts of the big banks. The limited and regular release of Bitcoins appealed to libertarians, who have been skeptical of currencies that governments can print in unlimited quantities. (When Rand Paul announced his candidacy for president last month, his campaign’s website began accepting donations in Bitcoin.) The built-in sense of scarcity also led people to regard Bitcoin as a kind of digital gold, its value likely to increase over time — in other words, something to buy and sell as a speculative investment. The millions of traders, many of them in China, who have bet on the price of the virtual currency have kept the cumulative value of all outstanding Bitcoins well above $2 billion since late 2013. At the same time, that speculative activity has left much of the general public wondering why these virtual coins should be worth anything at all.
But the wild fluctuations in price — the value of a Bitcoin has bounced between $70 and $1,200 over the last two years — have obscured a significant aspect of the currency’s broader potential. Bitcoin digital tokens are part of a new kind of online financial network, which runs on the computers of those who use the virtual currency. People who join and support the network — hosting its open-source software, serving as record-keepers of sorts — receive new Bitcoins as they are released in a kind of recurring lottery, thus encouraging user participation. The details of how the network operates can be mind-numbingly complicated, involving lots of advanced math and cryptography, but at the most basic level, the network makes it possible for the first time to send valuable digital money around the world almost instantly, without moving through an intermediary like a bank or credit-card company or a service like PayPal. In a sense, the Bitcoin network was designed to be a financial version of email, which enables messages to be delivered without passing through a national postal service, or like the broader Internet itself, which allows people to publish news and essays without going through a media company. Instead of just delivering words, though, the Bitcoin network makes it possible to deliver money from New York to Shanghai in a matter of minutes without paying any financial institution.
The number of Bitcoin users in Argentina is relatively small; it barely registers on most charts of global Bitcoin usage. But Argentina has been quietly gaining renown in technology circles as the first, and almost only, place where Bitcoins are being regularly used by ordinary people for real commercial transactions. A number of large American companies have started accepting Bitcoin payments, but so far there has been little economic incentive for their customers to pay with Bitcoins.
In contrast, the best-known Bitcoin start-up in Argentina, BitPagos, is helping more than 200 hotels, both cheap and boutique, take credit-card payments from foreign tourists. The money brought to Argentina using Bitcoin circumvents the onerous government restrictions on receiving money from abroad. Castiglione has some hotel clients, but he says that many of his 800 or so registered customers are freelancers who use Bitcoin to get paid by overseas clients, or companies that want to move money in and out of Argentina. A popular new online retailer, Avalancha, began accepting Bitcoin last summer and has seen the volume of Bitcoin transactions grow steadily since then. Avalancha offers customers a 10 percent discount when they use the virtual currency, because accepting credit cards generally ends up costing Avalancha more than 10 percent as a result of the vagaries of the Argentine financial system. The Bitcoin community in Buenos Aires has been vibrant enough to produce what’s known as the Bitcoin Embassy in the center of the city, a four-story building that serves as the home to eight start-ups whose businesses depends on the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin proponents like to say that the currency first became popular in the places that needed it least, like Europe and the United States, given how smoothly the currencies and financial services work there. It makes sense that a place like Argentina would be fertile ground for a virtual currency. Inflation is constant: At the end of 2014, for example, the peso was worth 25 percent less than it was at the beginning of the year. And that adversity pales in comparison with past bouts of hyperinflation, defaults on national debts and currency revaluations. Less than half of the population use Argentine banks and credit cards. Even wealthy Argentines fear keeping their money in the country’s banks.A small but determined political organization in Detroit began to worry that its official symbol was a bit off-putting. With the group’s central philosophy suddenly finding traction in the daily discourse, appearances mattered.
So in November, as the country’s divisive presidential campaign became ever more jagged, the National Socialist Movement, a leading neo-Nazi group, did away with its swastika. In its stead, the group chose a symbol from a pre-Roman alphabet that was also adopted by the Nazis.
According to Jeff Schoep, the movement’s leader, the decision to dispense with the swastika was “an attempt to become more integrated and more mainstream.”
Let us pause. Not even two years ago, white supremacists like Mr. Schoep would rant from the fringe of the fringe, their attention-desperate events rarely worth mention. Today, though, the Schoeps of America are undergoing a rebranding, as part of the so-called alt-right: a grab bag of far-right groups generally united by the belief that white identity has become endangered in what they deride as this era of dangerous diversity and political correctness.Former US president Barack Obama called for jury duty in Chicago
Updated
Former US president Barack Obama will serve jury duty in Chicago, a county judge has said.
The 44th president has been called to serve as a juror at a Cook County court in November.
Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans told county commissioners during a budget hearing that Mr Obama, who owns homes in Washington DC and Chicago's Kenwood neighbourhood, will serve.
Mr Obama served as an Illinois senator before his 2008 election to the White House, and is registered to vote in Chicago.
Mr Evans said Mr Obama's safety would be "uppermost in our minds" when he serves.
"He made it crystal clear to me through his representative that he would carry out his public duty as a citizen and resident of this community," Mr Evans told the Chicago Tribune.
Those called can be put either in the pool for criminal case or civil hearings.
They can be called to any of the county's Chicago or suburban courthouses.
All jurors watch a decades-old video about their duties narrated by journalist Lester Holt, once a local news reader and now anchor of NBC Nightly News.
Jurors in Cook County are paid $22.39 for each day of service.
"Although it's not a place where the public can earn a lot of money, it is highly appreciated," Mr Evans added.
In 2004, Oprah Winfrey served duty in the same county, sitting on the jury for a murder case.
AP/ABC
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, laws, united-states
First postedEver since the AT&T monopoly was broken up, local phone companies have connected consumers to the long-distance carrier of the customer's choice. A customer usually contacts a long-distance company, which then calls the local phone company to arrange taking over the account. The system is not set up to detect abuses by long-distance companies.
In one way, the Morenos were lucky; they caught on quickly. More often, said Shirley Rooker, the president of Call for Action, a consumer advocacy group in Washington, customers do not realize what has happened until the bill comes.
Repeated calls by a reporter to Sonic's headquarters in Roswell, Ga., were fruitless. On the sixth ring, a recorded voice said, "Please hold on while I try that extension." Then another recording said: "I'm sorry, all representatives are busy at the present time. Please continue to hold." On two occasions, the line was eventually picked up by an operator who said that the reporter would have to speak to a Martin Brundle but that he was not in. Mr. Brundle did not return calls.
The California Public Service Commission recently stated its intention to bar Sonic from doing business in that state. Regulators in New York, Florida and Georgia have also reported complaints against Sonic. Other companies accused in various states include Cherry Communications of Downers Grove, Ill., and Metromedia Communications and Wiltel Inc., both subsidiaries of LDDS Communications of Jackson, Miss.
Under pressure from the F.C.C., Cherry Communications last year agreed to pay $500,000 to the Federal Treasury. The payment was described by the commission as "a voluntary, non-tax-deductible contribution."
But AT&T, MCI and Sprint have also been accused by some consumers of slamming. An AT&T spokesman in Queens, Richard G. Gundlach, said some complaints may involve one member of a household accepting an offer to change service but not telling the person who opens the phone bill; other complaints may be the fault of clerical error, he said, since big companies process thousands of requests a month.
The size of the problem is not clear, but consumer groups contend that it is very large. Mr. Gundlach said that in a six-month period last year, approximately 5.6 million of AT&T's customers, 7 percent of them, were slammed.
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Among customers whose primary language was Spanish the rate was 18 percent, he said. According to regulators, some companies target immigrants from Latin America or Asia, using "contest entries" mostly in Spanish or Chinese, with the fine print in English.
Regulatory agencies catch only a sample of the problem, but they do document a growing trend. The New York Public Service Commission received 281 complaints of slamming last year, including a handful against Sonic. So far this year it has received 80 against Sonic alone, said Edward Collins, a spokesman. In Washington, the F.C.C. reported 2,500 complaints last year, up from 1,700 the year before.
Slamming, a term whose origin is not clear, represents a new front in the telephone wars. For years, credit-card holders using a pay telephone have had to be wary of the possibility that the service would be provided by an obscure company that charges double or triple what AT&T, MCI or Sprint would charge; now, the hazard extends to the family telephone as well.
In theory, consumers choose the long-distance carrier they will use, and must authorize changes. The F.C.C. calls the authorization letter a "letter of agency." But some small phone companies have been hiding letters of agency in sweepstakes entries for a car or trips, with fine print saying that by entering a name and phone number, the consumer authorizes a change in telephone service.
Some carriers, including AT&T, send out checks for $10 or $20 or more, which say on them that cashing the check constitutes permission for the company to take over the long-distance service.
And consumer advocates assert that some small companies may just pick names at random from the telephone book. The Morenos, for example, say they entered no contests and cashed no checks.
To combat the problem, the F.C.C. last year proposed new rules that would require that a letter of agency not be combined with a sweepstakes entry, and that the whole document be in one language. "We're not trying to micro-manage people out of business, but to write a common-sense rule," Mrs. Wallman said.
Already, Nynex and some other local phone companies are allowing customers to "freeze" their long-distance service, and will not transfer the long-distance account to another carrier without having an independent third party serve as a witness in a conference call. In addition, customers who complain they were slammed can be switched back to the original carrier at no charge and can demand that their bills be adjusted to the rate that the original carrier would have charged.
These policies, though, have clearly not stopped the slamming. Nynex, which has earned considerable ill will from customers like the Morenos who have been slammed, has an even stronger remedy in mind.
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In comments submitted to the F.C.C., Nynex proposed that people whose service has been switched against their will should not have to pay for the calls they made. To require payment, the company said, would only reward the slammer for "deceptive practices," and create an incentive for dishonest companies "to take their chances at getting caught, since there would be no financial penalty."In 1986, Dr. Levi-Montalcini and Dr. Cohen shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work.
Dr. Cohen, now an emeritus professor at Vanderbilt University, said Dr. Levi-Montalcini possessed a rare combination of intuition and passion, as well as biological knowledge. “She had this feeling for what was happening biologically,” he said. “She was an intuitive observer, and she saw that something was making these nerve connections grow and was determined to find out what it was.”
One of four children, Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin on April 22, 1909, to Adamo Levi, an engineer, and Adele Montalcini, a painter, both Italian Jews who traced their roots to the Roman Empire. In keeping with the Victorian customs of the time, Mr. Levi discouraged his three daughters from entering college, fearing that it would interfere with their lives as wives and mothers.
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It was not a future that Rita wanted. She had decided to become a doctor and told her father so. “He listened, looking at me with that serious and penetrating gaze of his that caused me such trepidation,” she wrote in her autobiography, “In Praise of Imperfection” (1988). He also agreed to support her.
She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Turin medical school in 1936. Two years later, Mussolini issued a manifesto barring non-Aryan Italians from having professional careers. She began her research anyway, setting up a small laboratory in her home to study chick embryos, inspired by the work of Dr. Hamburger, a prominent researcher in St. Louis who also worked with the embryos.
During World War II, the family fled Turin for the countryside, and in 1943 the invasion by Germany forced them to Florence. The family returned at the close of the war, in 1945, and Dr. Hamburger soon invited Dr. Levi-Montalcini to work for a year in his lab at Washington University.
She stayed on, becoming an associate professor in 1956 and a full professor in 1958. In 1962, she helped establish the Institute of Cell Biology in Rome and became its first director. She retired from Washington University in 1977, becoming a guest professor and splitting her time between Rome and St. Louis.
Italy honored her in 2001 by making her a senator for life.
An elegant presence, confident and passionate, she was a sought-after speaker until late in life. “At 100, I have a mind that is superior — thanks to experience — than when I was 20,” she said in 2009.
She never married and had no children. In addition to her autobiography, she was the author or co-author of dozens of research studies and received numerous professional awards, including the National Medal of Science.
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“It is imperfection — not perfection — that is the end result of the program written into that formidably complex engine that is the human brain,” Dr. Levi-Montalcini wrote in her autobiography, “and of the influences exerted upon us by the environment and whoever takes care of us during the long years of our physical, psychological and intellectual development.”Back to previous page
What I built with government help
By James C. Roumell,
James C. Roumell founded Roumell Asset Management LLC.
I was born in Detroit in 1961 and grew up in a working-class neighborhood just south of the famed 8 Mile Road. My block was stable |
Rick Bayless, the answer is somehow both outlandish and wildly predictable: overwhelmingly, white people.
(Update: To clarify, note that the variable for "author" here was taken as the author listed under the by-line. Sometimes the recipe is taken from a different source - i.e. not originally by the by-line author, who is writing about the dish more generally. See the methodological notes section for more details**)
Of the 263 entries under the “Chinese” recipe filter, almost 90% have White people listed as author in the byline. For instance, ‘Vegetarian Mapo Tofu’ is by David Tanis, a professional chef who doesn’t appear to specialize in any ethnic cuisine but authors several of the recipes in this category. Only 10% of the recipes are authored by Chinese writers (and these recipes are authored by the same 5 Chinese people: Gish Jen, Ken Hom, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Elaine Louie, and Joyce Howe).The Federal Communications Commission proposal to repeal net neutrality rules ignores the public interest by favoring Internet service providers over other businesses and individuals, Democratic lawmakers told the FCC today.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to undo the rules "impermissibly ignores the Commission’s core mandate to fully consider the public interest before taking action," violating the commission's obligations under the Communications Act, the Democrats wrote in an FCC filing opposing Pai's plan. The lawmakers also questioned Pai's independence from President Donald Trump.
The FCC has prioritized one metric above all—the amount of money Internet providers have spent on upgrading networks since the rules were passed in 2015, Democrats wrote. The argument that investment has decreased is based on "scant evidence and questionable assumptions," and in any case, network investment should not be the FCC's only consideration, they wrote.
Pai has said he will make his net neutrality decision based on the "facts and the law," but the lawmakers argued that he has gotten both the facts and the law wrong. The FCC, Democrats wrote, "is prohibited from ignoring the effects of its actions on important national priorities such as free speech, democracy, small businesses, economic opportunity, jobs, and privacy."
The FCC comment was submitted by Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), and Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Diana DeGette (D-Col.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.).
When contacted by Ars, Chairman Pai's office declined to comment on the Democrats' filing today.
Focus on public interest, not “raw dollars”
Pai's proposal "single-mindedly concentrates on one issue to the exclusion of all others: the raw dollars spent on network deployment" instead of considering other national priorities, they wrote.
"Regardless of whether the studies cited in the recent proposal actually support the Commission’s assertions, this factor alone cannot satisfy the heavy responsibility of determining whether a policy is in the interest of the public," the Democrats wrote. "If we had intended network investment to be the sole measure by which the FCC determines policy, we would have specifically written that into the law. We did not."
The cost of broadband deployment has decreased, so broadband service could be getting better even if there was a decline in network investment dollars, they wrote. The FCC should also consider "actual deployment, relative speeds, investment, and innovation from ancillary business like websites and apps," the Democrats said.
Although ISPs have claimed that the net neutrality rules harm investment, the cable industry's top lobbying group recently boasted that US Internet speeds are continuing to soar and that the cost of data per megabit has gone down. ISPs have also told their investors that the rules have not harmed network investment, an important factor because publicly traded companies are required to give investors accurate financial information, including a description of risk factors involved in investing in the company.
The FCC's Republicans seem to have pre-judged the issue of whether to repeal net neutrality rules before considering all factors, the Democrats argued, pointing to comments the commissioners made in a recent House oversight hearing:
The Chairman seems to believe that his primary—and possibly only—consideration in this proceeding is whether the tens of billions of dollars that ISPs have invested in their network infrastructure is "substantially greater" than a hypothetical amount the companies would have spent without the 2015 Order. Specifically, Chairman Pai stated that to change his mind about undoing net neutrality, he would need to see in the record "an economic analysis that shows credibly that infrastructure investment is increased dramatically." Commissioner [Michael] O'Reilly agreed and went on to state that many of the millions of "comments are empty and devoid of any value, in my opinion." This testimony indicates that the Commissioners may be ignoring relevant points raised by the public and may have impermissibly pre-judged the issue without fully considering the input from the public.
The FCC is required to base its policy decisions on reliable and accurate data, but the FCC's own broadband data "is widely known to be faulty" and should be improved before the commission moves forward, the Democrats argued. The FCC data is based on Census blocks so that an entire Census block is considered to be served if even one home in the block has Internet access.
Broadband: Information service or telecommunications?
The FCC is also wrong to argue that Internet access is an "information service" rather than "telecommunications" as defined by the Communications Act of 1934 and the 1996 update to the law, the Democrats wrote.
Congress "labeled services that create content as 'information services,' which we defined as those that offer the capability to generate content among other things," they wrote. "We also created a distinct classification of services that transmit information that we called 'telecommunications services.' We defined these services as ones that offer telecommunications for a fee directly to the public. We then defined 'telecommunications' as the transmission of the content between two points of the users' choosing without change."
Pai has claimed that Internet service is not telecommunications. The Democrats' filing disputes his reasoning:
The Commission's proposal performs a historical sleight of hand that impermissibly conflates this fundamental distinction. The FCC proposes to treat network infrastructure as information services because the infrastructure gives access to the services running over their networks. The FCC contends that ISPs are therefore "offering the capability" to use the services that create the content. However, this suggestion obliterates the distinction that Congress set into law—we meant for the FCC to consider services that carry data separately from those that create data. The FCC's proposal would therefore read this fundamental choice that we made out of the law. Under the proposal's suggestion, no service could be a telecommunications service going forward.
Congress directed the FCC to regulate telecommunications and information services differently because "networks could use their market power to control the information that Americans could communicate online, whether for commercial or political reasons," the lawmakers wrote. "In contrast, we intended to set strict limitations on the government’s reach into the content communicated between Americans. This was not an easy compromise to reach and should not be dismissed easily."
When the Communications Act was updated in 1996, many Internet services "were not open, but rather curated walled gardens with only a pre-selected portion of the Internet’s content," the lawmakers wrote. But American consumers "rejected the curated Internet services in favor of an open platform," leading to today's Internet services that allow access to essentially any website. That change supports the current classification of broadband as telecommunications, the Democrats argued.
But as we've written before, courts have generally allowed the FCC to classify broadband however it wishes. Internet service has been classified as both an information service and telecommunications, with the most recent reclassification as telecommunications taking place in 2015.A dead koala has been found between fallen trees in a logged forest that the Andrews government could have protected – had it not ignored advice from its own scientific committee.
The Sunday Age has obtained graphic images of the lifeless animal slumped over branches in the Acheron Valley north of Warburton, in a confronting example of the potential impact of logging in Victoria.
A department investigation is now under way, as Premier Daniel Andrews faces renewed calls to create a Great Forest National Park, to curb what some claim is the "senseless slaughter" of native animals and the environment.
VicForests has also vowed to conduct a review once it has the full details, with acting chief executive Nathan Trushell saying on Saturday: "If this is one of our operations, we deeply regret that this occurred."national
Miffed at BJP’s newfound closeness to archrival Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is likely to announce a divorce from the alliance today
With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cosying up with the Shiv Sena’s archrival Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), the Sena may go solo in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
For decades, the Sena has had a seat-sharing alliance with the BJP for elections.
However, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party may choose to break away after the MNS decided to field candidates against it in three city constituencies, even as the latter claimed to support Narendra Modi’s candidature as prime minister.
Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut confirmed that party members had called for fighting elections independently. “There is a demand from Sainiks to go independent. A discussion on the same will take place at Matoshree on Tuesday, in presence of district presidents.”
However, the BJP doesn’t seem bothered. In fact, party workers were seen in a celebratory mood as the rumours of the break-off gained momentum.
A senior BJP leader, said, “Our party men would be happy if we contest alone. I remember, when Meenakshi Lekhi had come to Mumbai, many workers told her that they want to vote for Modi, but that in their constituency there’s a Sena or an RPI candidate and they don’t want to vote for them. If we have only BJP candidates, we shall surely make it with the Modi wave.”
The Sena is miffed with BJP after the latter’s top leaders, like Nitin Gadkari, Vinod Tawde and Ashish Shelar, have been meeting with the MNS. Gadkari had asked MNS to refrain from contesting in upcoming polls, and Tawde had approached Raj Thackeray to gain MNS’ support in the state council polls.
If sources are to be believed, Uddhav Thackeray has lost his cool and patience with the BJP.
However, a few senior Sena leaders tried dismissing the rumours. A senior Sena leader added, “While it seems unlikely that Uddhav will announce any alliance break up for the Lok Sabha polls, for the assembly elections he is in a mood to teach the BJP a hard lesson.”
The final word on the decision will only come out after the party top brass meets today at Matoshree.Both films won major awards, but the United States government put Poitras on their security watchlist. She says she was picked up for questioning at the US border about 40 times between 2006 and 2012. Her laptop and camera were confiscated, and she was threatened with arrest when she started to take notes. The border searches stopped only after she contacted Glenn Greenwald, a blogger for salon.com and later The Guardian who is also a former litigator with a strong interest in privacy and human rights issues. Edward Snowden, left, and Glenn Greenwald in the documentary Citizenfour. In fact, Snowden contacted Greenwald before Poitras, but Greenwald became annoyed with all the security measures demanded by the anonymous source. Poitras was already making a film about surveillance and privacy and had just moved to Berlin to try to keep her footage secure from the US government. All of this is a way of introducing a simply extraordinary film by Poitras, documenting the process by which Edward Snowden became, in the middle of 2013, one of the greatest whistleblowers in American history. Citizenfour is not just about Snowden's main disclosure, that the NSA began spying on its own citizens in the week after September 11, despite repeated official denials. It is also about the process by which Snowden's story was constructed and released by Greenwald and other reporters. She shows us the extraordinary secrecy around the process of interviewing Snowden. In doing so, she dramatises the crisis in politics and media concerning privacy. That is one of the film's major achievements: it is an eloquent defence of why privacy matters at a time when surveillance capability has never been greater, nor more unchecked.
Greenwald, Poitras and Ewen MacAskill, the defense and intelligence correspondent for The Guardian, finally meet "Citizenfour" in a hotel room in Hong Kong in June 2013, after elaborate security measures. At that stage, MacAskill does not know even his name. Over the next week or so, Snowden takes the reporters through the documents, explaining his motives and what the documents revealed. Poitras contributes narration in the film but we never see her. Snowden, looking increasingly haggard, is beyond careful. He unplugs the hotel phone while they're talking and puts a cloth over his head and hands when logging on, in case someone else is secretly filming them. The reporters know that he plans to out himself when their stories start running in The Guardian and The Washington Post. No one in his family – not even his partner Lindsay Mills, at home in Hawaii – knows where he is or what he's doing. Poitras films a meeting between Snowden and two human rights lawyers, who will organise his escape from the hotel a few days later. There's footage from within the Ecuadorian embassy in London as Julian Assange helps with the flight that takes Snowden to Moscow, where he claims political asylum. Washington Post during Watergate. But Poitras also paints a bigger picture, with the stories of supporting characters such as William Binney, a crypto-mathematician who worked for the NSA for 32 years. He designed much of the infrastructure the NSA then turned on its own citizens, and the rest of the world, after September 11. He resigned that year in disgust. Citizenfour, like My Country, My Country, is nominated for an Oscar for best documentary. Poitras contributed to the reporting that resulted in The Guardian and The Washington Post being awarded the Pulitzer Prize last year for public service, after their NSA disclosures. Making this film took enormous courage. I watched with feelings of outrage and dread, but also admiration.
Poitras has made a new kind of film – a documentary that reveals its own process, as it explores its difficult subject. In a sense, Poitras and Greenwald are doing what the NSA does, gathering secret information. The difference is they make what they find public. On twitter: @ptbyrnesLike any startup founder, podcasters have to identify a need, a minimally viable product and -- the hardest part -- a source of money.
September 8, 2017 6 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
When we think about entrepreneurs, we often think about people who have risked everything -- an established career, financial security and personal relationships -- to build and monetize a hip new startup. But startup founders are not the only entrepreneurs risking stability in favor of the unknown.
Related: Start a Podcast Now. Here's How.
In the moment that they make the leap to full-time podcasting, podcast hosts find themselves taking similar risks. That's why some people believe that podcasters are the new generation of entrepreneurs.
With 67 million Americans listening to podcasts every month, there's no doubt that the medium is growing in popularity. Genres range from comedy to news, sports to storytelling and every topic in between. It's safe to say that there is a podcast for everyone.
Having taken the leap, myself, from career social worker to podcast host, here's my advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to leave the 9-to-5 rut behind while building and monetizing the equivalent of a next-generation startup - a successful podcast. Trust me, it's not easy; but, it is rewarding.
The steps to creating a successful podcast
First, create a minimally viable product. Just like bootstrapping a startup, creating a podcast is expensive -- especially if you haven't done anything like it before. From purchasing recording equipment to investing the time to learn the craft, podcasting takes a toll on would-be hosts. So, make sure that you have the initial capital necessary to create a minimally viable product -- and don't quit your full-time job unless you're sure you have found your audience.
Related: 7 Reasons to Add a Podcast to Your Content-Marketing Strategy
Next, make sure you're filling a gap in the market. Personally, my interest in social justice ignited after I saw Making a Murderer, the 2015 documentary about an imprisoned Wisconsin man exonerated by DNA evidence. Brendan Dassey's story sparked something inside of me, perhaps because I was working with children who couldn't always express themselves. At work, as I engaged with traumatized, I kept Dassey's case in the back of my mind and thought carefully about how I could become a bigger advocate for misunderstood people hurt by the criminal justice system.
Looking to take some kind of action, I decided, in partnership with a coworker, to start a low-budget podcast that explored wrongful convictions. This project eventually blossomed into Actual Innocence, a podcast that tells the story of exonerated people who have been imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit. As of this writing, Actual Innocence has been downloaded more than 5 million times.
My story isn't out of the ordinary. Bob Ruff, host of the popular podcast Truth and Justice, came to the podcasting realm from similar origins. Ruff had been a fire chief for 16 years; on the side, he became involved with, and eventually obsessed with, the social injustice he observed in Serial, an investigation of another questionable conviction. One day, he was home because his 4 year-old was sick. That day, Ruff decided to start a podcast called Serial Dynasty to examine aspects of the show he felt weren't being covered. The podcast blew up.
Just as many startup founders build their businesses after personally experiencing a problem in the market, podcasters often generate show ideas based on what they understand to be true about the world around them.
Draw on existing experience. We've all heard Steve Jobs's founding story: Interested in electronics from an early age, Jobs used his knowledge and experience to build the first Apple computer with Steve Wozniak in Jobs's parents' garage. The Apple founder took something that he was interested in and made it into a multi-million-dollar company.
Today, podcast entrepreneurs are following suit. Ruff, for example, became so invested in the Serial case that he launched his own investigations around it; he gained experience pulling records, getting trial transcripts and more, putting his background as an arson investigator to good use. Serial Dynasty grew and evolved so quickly that people from all walks of life starting writing in to him, asking him to investigate cases that their family and friends were involved in.
Like Jobs, Bob realized that this was his life's calling, and made the decision to pursue podcasting about wrongful convictions full-time, eventually rebranding Serial Dynasty to Truth and Justice, which is the only true crime podcast where listeners actively participate in the investigation.
Show me the money.
Find ways to monetize, quickly. So, let's say, you've got the perfect subject and the skills to develop it. What about the money? Like any startup founder, one of your biggest concerns as a podcast entrepreneur is going to be monetization: How do you make a living off of podcasting?
The answer is -- unequivocally -- advertising. On Actual Innocence, I conduct live-read advertisements for brands ranging from Blue Apron to Harry's to ZipRecruiter. On my new show, Convicted, which investigates whether a man named Richard Nicolas got a fair trial for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, I work with brands like Stamps.com, HuntAKiller, LeTote and more.
Research shows that 65 percent of U.S. podcast listeners are likely or very likely to further investigate a company they hear about on a podcast, and 64 percent have bought a product or service they heard about through an audio show. That's an incredible success rate, and shows how responsive people are to endorsements from someone (i.e., the podcast host) they see as being just like them.
Actual Innocence is hosted on a platform called audioBoom, which distributes the show's content to a large-scale network, not merely the hundreds of listeners it initially attracted. This built-in scale has been helpful in growing listeners and attracting advertisers -- but the trick is for podcast entrepreneurs to find their own stride and monetization strategy, just as any startup founder would.
Like many podcasters before me, I was not successful right off the bat. In the same way that Steve Jobs started Apple in his parents' garage, I record my podcast from a walk-in closet (yes, really!). Entrepreneurs often learn and iterate in less-than-optimal conditions, but these provide a better-than-average opportunity to overcome obstacles and succeed where others have failed. The key is to get better.
Related: Podcasting Success Tips From 3 Top Female Entrepreneur Hosts
My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to leave the 9-to-5 rut to pursue something that feels meaningful -- even if it isn't immediately financially-sound? Take a leap and try it, but be smart about how you build your empire. Podcasting is the next generation of entrepreneurship, and as such it requires a solid business plan.Titus Young has proven wildly successful at making noise off the field. Whether the wide receiver will make any on it for the St. Louis Rams next season is another story, but the agent for one of his new teammates doesn't sound convinced.
NFL salary cap situations SEE PHOTOS Take a look at how each team stands in regard to the expected $121 million salary cap in 2013.
Erik Burkhardt, who represents unrestricted free agent Danny Amendola, doesn't believe Young's signing will have any impact on his client's status with the Rams.
"I don't think it affects Danny one bit," Burkhardt told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday. "Titus Young isn't anywhere in the same zip code as Danny as far as a player goes. I'm sure Young may disagree with that because he thinks he's better than Calvin Johnson."
Fair point. The Rams claimed Young off waivers Tuesday after he was cut Monday by the Lions. Detroit's former second-round draft pick burnt every bridge in town, but the Rams are looking for weapons on offense after struggling to score points last season.
Burkhardt characterized Amendola's negotiations with the Rams as "positive," saying, "I think they know what Danny brings to the team, and the spirit of the team aside from what he does on the field."
We expect Amendola to return, although his durability is a concern. Meanwhile, a new start might benefit Young, but the Lions -- a team without a legitimate No. 2 wideout -- saw more than enough. For a player making Megatron-level boasts, Young's immediate task is to prove he can work within the team structure and produce for the Rams. The leash will be pulled tight from the start.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.March 18, 2015 2 min read
If you're in New York City, you're more likely to come across an Uber black car than your traditional "I'm walkin' here!" yellow medallion cab.
While the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) permits 13,587 taxis to be out and about at any given time, there are now reportedly a total of 14,088 Uber cars in the city. That's no small feat for the embattled startup, which was founded in 2009 and made its way to NYC in 2011.
Related: Uber Competitor Makes Aggressive Push in NYC With $10 Flat Fares
Worth noting, however, is that traditional yellow taxis still make 10 times the number of trips Uber cars do in the city, the New York Post reports.
Uber owes its popularity to the ease of its application: users can request a car using the app and choose from options that include getting a ride in a black car from licensed livery drivers. Yellow taxis can be hired through an option called Uber Taxi, but in this breakdown, they aren't considered Uber cars. In other cities, the company's UberX service allows for everyday licensed drivers to make pickups. However, in New York, all drivers and vehicles must be certified through the TLC.
Related: Uber Just Bought Mapping Startup deCarta
Uber, never a stranger to controversy, has been in the news lately for its handling of user data and in some instances, passenger safety. The company's Paris office was raided by authorities this week as part of an investigation into its carpooling service UberPop, which was also just banned in Germany. Yesterday, it was revealed that Uber CFO Brent Callinicos would be leaving the company after just two years on the job.
The company also recently rolled out an initiative to hire 1 million female drivers around the world by 2020.
Related: Uber Pledges to Enlist a Million Female Drivers by 2020"The invaders repeatedly used types of weapons that are strictly forbidden by the Minsk agreements," the ATO HQ said on Facebook in its update based in information from 08:00 on Saturday, June 24, to 08:00 on Sunday, June 25.
The truce in the Mariupol sector lasted until 18:00 on Saturday, after which Ukrainian troops stationed there were attacked seven times.
Read alsoUkraine reports 48 enemy attacks, 2 WIA's in last dayEight instances of the violation of the ceasefire were registered in the Donetsk sector. The enemy used small arms, large-caliber machine guns, anti-tank grenade launchers, and an anti-tank missile system.
Most of the attacks were registered in the Luhansk sector where the Ukrainian army was attacked 11 times. Such proscribed weapons as 120mm mortars and 100mm artillery systems were used along with infantry weapons. Infantry fighting vehicles were also engaged.
"Two Ukrainian servicemen were killed in action in the past day. One soldier was wounded in action, another two suffered battle trauma," the ATO HQ said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the Donbas crisis upheld local councils' requests for a ceasefire for the period of harvesting starting from June 24, the so-called "harvest ceasefire." In keeping with the agreements, the full ceasefire should be observed from June 24 to August 31.The F-35 was commissioned by the US 20 years ago, but its development has been costly and slow RICHARD POHLE/THE TIMES
As two gleaming F-35A Lightning II warplanes touched down at Bulgaria’s Graf Ignatievo airbase in April, dignitaries and pilots drummed home the official message: that the fifth generation jets were the most lethal, efficient and well-connected ever built.
After the Bulgarian president, himself a MiG-29 pilot, welcomed the aircraft on its first European training deployment, US Air Force commanders spoke of how the F-35 “brought to bear truly game-changing capability”.
“The F-35 pulls in all the information that the sensors detect and passes that to me, thereby increasing the lethality of all the other fighters airborne,” Major Luke Harris, an F-35 pilot from the US air force 34th Fighter Squadron, said. “Any other aircraft we’re flying with are made better by the F-35.”
That, at…For other places with the same name, see Sweden (disambiguation).
Location Flag Quick Facts Capital Stockholm Government Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy Currency Swedish Krona (SEK) Area total: 450,295 km2
water: 39,960 km2
land: 410,335 km2 Population 10,215,250 (October 2018 census) Language Swedish, large Finnish speaking minority (470 000, RUAB 2005), most people speak apprehensible English Religion 23% theist (mainly Lutheran with Muslim and Catholic minorities), 76% non theist (including 23% atheist) Electricity 230V/50Hz (European plug) Country code +46 Internet TLD.se Time Zone UTC +1 Emergencies dial 112
Sweden (Sverige) is the largest of the Nordic countries, with a population of about 10 million. It borders Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark via the bridge of Öresund (Öresundsbron). The Baltic Sea lies to the east of Sweden, as well as the Gulf of Bothnia, which separates Sweden from most of Finland. The northernmost part of Sweden belongs to the Arctic.
Understand [ edit ]
Although having been a military power and spanning about three times its current size during the 17th century, Sweden is one of the two European countries that has not been at war since 1815, the other being Switzerland. Having long remained outside military alliances (including the World Wars), the country has a high peace profile, with internationally renowned names such as Raoul Wallenberg, Dag Hammarskjöld, Olof Palme and Hans Blix. Sweden is a monarchy by constitution, but King Carl XVI Gustaf has no executive power. The Swedish people were Pagans until around the year 1000, then Christianised and obedient to the Roman Pope until the 16th century, when the church was reformed to Lutheran-Protestant. Today's Sweden is a secular state with very few church-goers.
Sweden is a developed post-industrial society with an advanced welfare state. The standard of living and life expectancy rank among the highest in the world. Sweden joined the European Union in 1995, but decided by a referendum in 2003 not to commit to the European Monetary Union and the Euro currency. Leadership of Sweden has for the larger part of the 20th century been dominated by the Social Democratic Party, which started out at the end of the 19th century as a labor movement. Since the 2014 election, a coalition of left-middle social democratic/green parties hold the power.
Sweden has a strong tradition of being an open, yet discreet country. There is a widespread rumor that Swedes sometimes appear to be quite reserved at first, but once they get to know who they are dealing with, they'll be as warm and friendly as you'd wish. This may have been true in the 40's but is not anymore. This myth may have been produced by the large number of Swedes living abroad where, as foreigners, they more often would participate in social activities, as they had no family in the new country. Privacy is regarded as a key item and many visitors, for example mega-stars in various lines of trade, have many times realized that they mostly can walk the streets of the cities virtually undisturbed.
Sweden houses the Nobel Prize committee for all the prizes except the peace prize, which is hosted in Oslo, a memento of the Swedish-Norwegian union that was dissolved in 1905.
Regions [ edit ]
Regions of Sweden Norrland
the sparsely populated, northern part of the country (It spans more than half of the country's total area), with nine provinces. Lots of wilderness, with forests, lakes, big rivers, enormous marshes and high mountains along the border to Norway. Great for hiking and winter sports. Largest cities are Gävle, Sundsvall, Umeå and Luleå. Svealand
the central part of the country, includes Stockholm, Uppsala and the provinces of Dalarna, Närke, Värmland, Södermanland, Uppland and Västmanland. Götaland
the ten southern provinces, including the island-provinces Öland and Gotland. The largest cities in Götaland are Gothenburg in Västergötland and Malmö in Skåne. Also containing Dalsland, Halland, Småland and Blekinge.
Cities [ edit ]
Major cities
Stockholm - The capital and largest city, famous for its beauty and the amazing archipelago. In addition, Stockholm offers a unique nightlife scene and it is home to some of Northern Europe's best restaurants.
Gothenburg (Göteborg in Swedish) - A port and industrial city on the west coast, second in size.
Malmö - Connected to the Danish capital of Copenhagen by the Öresund Bridge.
Västerås - The centre of Swedish industrialisation. Only an hour away from Stockholm.
Växjö - In the heart of Småland, this beautiful city defended Sweden against the Danes back in the day.
Linköping - A university city and the 7th most populous in Sweden.
Jönköping - A picturesque town surrounded by lakes in Småland, also the 10th most populous in Sweden.
Kiruna - A mining town in Lappland, and the northernmost city in Sweden.
Luleå - A industrial city in northern Norrland, with a technical university.
Get in [ edit ]
Entry requirements [ edit ]
Sweden is a member of the Schengen Agreement.
There are no border controls between countries that have signed and implemented this treaty - the European Union (except Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Likewise, a visa granted for any Schengen member is valid in all other countries that have signed and implemented the treaty. But be careful: not all EU members have signed the Schengen treaty, and not all Schengen members are part of the European Union. This means that there may be spot customs checks but no immigration checks (travelling within Schengen but to/from a non-EU country) or you may have to clear immigration but not customs (travelling within the EU but to/from a non-Schengen country).
Please see the article Travel in the Schengen Zone for more information about how the scheme works and what entry requirements are.
Aside from the Schengen requirements laid out above, the Swedish government specifies the following requirements for obtaining a work permit:
Citizens of EU countries Passport/ID is required As an EU citizen, you are entitled to work in Sweden without a permit. You also have the right to come to Sweden to look for a job. Your family has the right to join you in Sweden as long as you have right of residence in Sweden.
When entering Sweden, you and any accompanying family members must have a valid passport or national ID card showing your citizenship.
Family from outside the EU? If your spouse/common law spouse/registered partner/dependent children/dependent parents are not EU citizens, they will need to apply for residence cards, but this can also be done after moving to Sweden, at the same time as you register your right of residence.
Long-term EU resident? If you have lived in another EU country with a residence permit for at least five years, you qualify as a long-term resident and can apply, in that country, for a special EU residence permit. This makes it easier to move to another EU country.
Citizens of non-EU countries Step one: a work permit Generally, citizens from countries outside the EU must apply for a work permit to work in Sweden.
There are a few exceptions to the rule. Citizens of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea aged 18–30 can also apply for a working holiday visa for up to one year.
For employment that lasts less than three months, citizens of certain countries must have both a work permit and a visa. Also note that employees in certain fields may be exempt from work permit regulations.
Requirements for a work permit To qualify for a work permit, you must have received an official offer of employment from a Swedish employer. The job must also:
have been advertised in the EU/EEA for at least ten days
offer terms of employment that match those set by Swedish collective agreements or those that are customary within the occupation or industry
pay a minimum monthly salary of SEK 13,000 before taxes.
You must also hold a valid passport in your home country.
Permits for family members If you are a non-EU citizen eligible to receive a work permit, your spouse/common law spouse/registered partner and children up to age 21 (as well as children over 21 who are financially dependent on you) have the right to join you in Sweden. They must apply for residence permits, either as part of your application or separately.
The application process Generally, you will need to apply for your permit before entering Sweden, though in some cases you may be able to apply from within Sweden if you are already legally living in the country.
Receive an offer of employment – which must have been approved by a relevant trade union.
Compile and submit your application – either online or through a paper application submitted to your closest Swedish embassy or consulate. Your completed application must include:
a completed application form
copies of the pages of your passport that show personal data, period of validity and whether you have permission to live in countries other than your country of origin (e.g. other visas or residence permits)
your offer of employment and the statement from the trade union
an application fee.
The Migration Agency considers your application and informs you of its decision, see current waiting times.
Submit data for visa and residence permit card.
Extending a work permit If you want to keep working after your current permit has expired, you need to apply for an extension. If you apply before your current permit expires, you are entitled to keep working while waiting for a decision.
Citizens of Nordic countries Citizens of a Nordic country have the right to freely live and work in Sweden without registering with the Migration Agency. However, you should register with the Swedish Tax Agency to gain a Swedish personal identity number.
Citizens of Switzerland Swiss citizens need a residence permit to work in Sweden for longer than three months. You apply for your residence permit after entering Sweden and can start working as soon as you enter the country. When entering Sweden, you must have a valid passport. Your family may join you.
International students International students with a residence permit in Sweden are allowed to work alongside their studies. If they want to stay and work in Sweden after completing their studies, they need a work permit.
By plane [ edit ]
For arrival and departure times, as well as lots of other information about flights and airports in Sweden, visit Luftfartsverket - the Swedish Airports and Air Navigation Services website
Major airports:
Stockholm Arlanda (IATA: ARN ) (ICAO: ESSA ) - serves most major airlines. Check the Stockholm page for information on transfer between the airport and Stockholm City.
(IATA: ) (ICAO: ) - serves most major airlines. Check the Stockholm page for information on transfer between the airport and Stockholm City. Göteborg Landvetter (IATA: GOT ) (ICAO: ESGG |
helminths have definitely been overlooked. They have such amazing powers, and they’ve barely been studied.”
Citation: “Therapeutic Helminth Infection of Macaques with Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhea Alters the Inflammatory Signature and Mucosal Microbiota of the Colon.” By Mara Jana Broadhurst, Amir Ardeshir, Bittoo Kanwar, Julie Mirpuri, Uma Mahesh Gundra, Jacqueline M. Leung, Kirsten E. Wiens, Ivan Vujkovic-Cvijin, Charlie C. Kim, Felix Yarovinsky, Nicholas W. Lerche, Joseph M. McCune, P’ng Loke. PLoS Pathogens, 15 November 2012.From The New Republic:
The allegiance to the Clintons has always sat uncomfortably beside Media Matters’s ostensible goal of holding media accountable. Any journalist on Twitter knows that even mild criticisms of Clinton would almost instantaneously raise the hackles of some Media Matters staffer, giving the distinct impression that the whole project was about protecting Clinton from unflattering press rather than ensuring journalistic integrity. But Media Matters depended heavily on its association with the Clintons. Brock, a formerly conservative journalist who wrote a biography of Clinton that portrayed her as a hardcore leftist Lady Macbeth, has always been an object of suspicion among liberals, his conversion reeking of snake oil. His elevated stature in the world of Democratic politics comes not from any deep roots in liberalism, but the fact that the Clintons blessed his enterprise. That Media Matters both checks conservative media and protects the Clintons has been instrumental in Brock’s ability to raise money for his nonprofit empire, which also includes the website Shareblue (formerly Blue Nation Review) and the super PACs Correct the Record and American Bridge. (Brock did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.)
…
In our numerous conversations with past Media Matters staff, there was a consensus that in the lead-up to Clinton’s announcement of her candidacy in 2015, the organization’s priority shifted away from the mission stated on its website—“comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation”—and towards running defense for Clinton. The former staffers we spoke to largely felt that this damaged Media Matters’s credibility and hurt the work it did in other areas. “The closer we got to the 2016 election the less it became about actually debunking conservative misinformation and more it became about just defending Hillary Clinton from every blogger in their mother’s basement,” one former staffer told us. This was, moreover, a repeat of what Media Matters did in 2008, when there was a rift between staffers and management over the favoring of Clinton in her race against then-Senator Barack Obama.
…
In March of 2015, The New York Times broke the news about Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, which in retrospect turned out to be the most damaging story of the entire campaign. In response, Media Matters flooded its site with posts attempting to counter the narrative that was quickly forming—that Clinton had broken the rules and had something to hide. “It was all hands on deck,” one former staffer said. “Everyone was just supposed to be looking out for Clinton stuff all the time.” Left unaddressed was whether the story itself was guilty of conservative misinformation.
Employees were asked to stay late or work on the weekends specifically to cover Clinton, which many felt came at the expense of other stories and the organization’s mission. Nearly every former staffer we spoke to felt that researchers, in particular, were underpaid and overworked, and that these problems often surfaced when they were forced to work on stories they felt were dubious. As one former staffer described it, “They were paying me $35,000 a year to watch Fox all the time and to do rotating shifts where I’d have to change from a day shift to a night shift every two weeks. It was just a miserable job.”Almost three-quarters of residents of the Greater Toronto Area would support — to some degree — a 0.5 per cent regional sales tax dedicated to transit and infrastructure, a new poll suggests.
The online poll, conducted by Environics for the magazine spacing, found that 74 per cent supported the idea.
It shows 25 per cent of respondents "strongly agreed" with the regional sales tax similar to the system in Los Angeles where a 0.5 per cent increase in an L.A. county sales tax is earmarked solely for transit and infrastructure.
A further 49 per cent "somewhat agreed" with the idea of the sales tax, 17 per cent were "somewhat opposed" to the regional sales tax, with nine per cent "strongly opposed."
The online poll respondents were selected to provide a statistically representative sample, which was corrected in order to accurately reflect the demographic makeup of the regions.
A variant of the L.A-style sales tax was recently floated by a member of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's inner circle, Coun. Norm Kelly, as a way to fund construction of subways around the city.
But the mayor has repeatedly come out against the idea of a sales tax.
"I always opposed road tolls, retail tax, anything like that," he told reporters Wednesday.
The online poll asked 1,436 respondents the following question:
"In 2008, the Los Angeles regional government held a binding referendum that asked residents if they would support a 0.5 per cent increase to the L.A. County sales tax for 30 years, with the proceeds – estimated at around $40 billion – dedicated to rapid transit and some road infrastructure. If this sort of tax – with the proceeds clearly dedicated to transit and local infrastructure – was introduced in your municipality, would you support or oppose it?"
The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, was a champion of that measure that will stand for the next 30 years. He now wants to introduce a ballot measure in November that would extend the sales tax indefinitely.
Voters would have to approve the proposal by a two-thirds margin in order for it to be implemented.I’ve been meaning for a long time to write more about the projects I’m working on. I’ve had this web space for ages and have never really done anything useful with it, and I’ve decided the time has come to change that.
Why Haskell? Lately most of my personal project time has been spent hacking on Haskell code. I’m a strong proponent of functional programming: my years of research and study in computer science and in programming have lead me to the conclusion that functional programs are simpler, shorter, more likely to be correct, and quicker to write than programs written in standard industry languages like Java or C++. I did most of my graduate work in Standard ML. Back then (2001–2003), Haskell was still pretty immature, not very fast, and even more “boutique” than it is now. ML, “Standard” and otherwise had several industrial-strength compilers, reasonable standard libraries, and a small but dedicated user community. The tables have turned: Haskell has improved so much in the past six years, it’s uncanny. The GHC compiler is getting acceptably close to C’s performance (between 2X–3X in my experience), libraries are proliferating, the user community is thriving. Much progress has been made on a lot of the old issues (e.g.: “space leaks everywhere”). Haskell is definitely my choice for the current “best of breed” functional language. So when choosing the “technology stack” for this website, I decided that I would write the backend in Haskell. In a pathetic attempt at evangelism, I’m also releasing the code on my github page as a tutorial in the hope that it might help other people to make their own happstack websites, or at least see an example of a functioning (albeit simple) one “in the wild.”
Haskell web frameworks A quick survey of Hackage yields a bunch of web toolkits, of varying levels of immaturity. My main requirements are: simple, flexible, easy to use fast, preferably supporting bytestrings. doesn’t gobble or leak memory After a bit of research I settled on happstack. Happstack is still under-documented and a little over-complicated in parts, and I won’t be trusting my data to its “MACID” system anytime soon; but it supports bytestrings, it’s modular enough to be used in mix-and-match fashion, and it’s quick: on my last-gen Macbook Pro, it serves up static files about half as fast as Apache. This is pretty impressive given that Apache uses sendfile() to serve static files, avoiding a couple of copies and context switches in the process. For an equivalent dynamic program I suspect the race might be a little closer.CLEVELAND – The NBA announced on Monday, December 4 that Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for Week 7 (games played Monday, November 27, through Sunday, December 3). This marks the first time James has won the award in 2017-18, increasing his total to an NBA-record 58 Player of the Week awards.
In four games this past week, James led the Cavaliers to a perfect 4-0 record after averaging 27.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 block in 34.0 minutes. He registered a double-double in all four outings, while shooting.597 (43-72) from the field,.368 (7-19) from long range and.800 (16-20) from the charity stripe. Among Eastern Conference leaders, the 6-8 forward ranked first in double-doubles (4), first in assists per game (9.0), first in field goals made (43), third in points per game (27.3), ninth in field goal percentage (.597) and tied for 10th in rebounds per game (8.5). James, who was the only player in the NBA with averages of at least 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists this past week, scored at least 20 points and shot over.500 from the field in all four contests.
James started off the week with 30 points on 12-22 (.545) shooting from the field, a 3-7 (.429) clip from deep, 13 rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes during the Cavs’ 113-91 win at Philadelphia on Nov. 27. The following night against Miami on Nov. 28, a 108-97 victory, James recorded another double-double with 21 points on 10-16 (.625) shooting, 12 rebounds, six assists and a season-high five steals in 28 minutes. In the 121-114 win at Atlanta on Nov. 30, he set a season high in field goal percentage (.727, 8-11) and tallied 24 points, six rebounds, 12 assists, two steals and two blocks in 38 minutes, while also moving past Alex English (10,659 FGM) for 10th all-time in NBA history in field goals made with his fifth basket of the night. James closed out the week by scoring Cleveland’s final 13 points and finishing with 34 points (13-22 FG, 8-8 FT) and 12 assists in 39 minutes during a 116-111 win over Memphis on Dec. 2.
In 23 games (all starts) in 2017-18, James is averaging 28.3 points (3rd in NBA) on.583 shooting from the field (7th in NBA), including a career-high.413 from three-point range, 7.9 rebounds, 8.7 assists (4th in NBA), 1.26 steals and 1.17 blocks (tied-22nd in NBA) in 37.1 minutes per game. He also has 15 double-doubles (tied for 4th in NBA) and two triple-doubles.
Houston’s James Harden won Player of the Week accolades for the Western Conference.If you think the mainstream media is not as much in the tank for Hillary as it was for Obama, you have not been paying attention.
“Thrill up my leg” Chris Matthews is the poster-child for media bias. Which is why he has been such a frequent topic here, particularly during election cycles:
So I think it’s fair to mock him, to his face.
And that’s what Dan Joseph from Media Research Center did, to predictable results (transcript via Washington Free Beacon):
“We just wanted to know really quickly, how is your leg?” Joseph asked. “What leg?” Matthews asked. “The leg. Is the thrill still there in the leg or is it not?” Joseph asked. “You can go to hell, OK? Just go to hell. Just leave me alone,” Matthews said, pushing Joseph away. “Just leave me alone. Just leave me alone.” “Is the leg OK? Are you limping or is it–?” Joseph asked. Matthews told him he had a “psychological problem” and waved him away. “We’re rooting for you over at MRC, man,” Joseph said. “Good meeting you.” Joseph laughed as he walked toward the MRC camera that filmed the exchange.
More, please.The.NET Compiler Platform (code named "Roslyn") is the next generation of the Visual Basic and C#.NET compilers. At BUILD 2014 Roslyn was released as an open source software project and the team is accepting contributions from the community.
In this interview I sit down with Dustin Campbell, a Program Manager on the managed languages team, and we talk about what Roslyn means for a.NET developer like myself. Even if you're not a compiler geek, Roslyn brings a ton of value to anyone writing VB or C# code. By making it much easier for partners to build amazing tools and for language and IDE features to get implemented much faster, developers everywhere will benefit from the faster innovation. Dustin also shows off some of the new IDE features like quick fixes and new refactorings that are available in the Visual Studio "14" CTP.
For more information on Roslyn and to try it out, see "Installing the Preview" section of the Codeplex site at https://roslyn.codeplex.com/
Enjoy!HUD Grantees Must Be LGBT Compliant
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Monday that it will now require grant applicants seeking HUD funding to comply with state and local antidiscrimination laws that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.
"We're using every avenue to shut the door against discrimination," HUD secretary Shaun Donovan said in a statement. "Today, we take an important step to insist that those who seek federal funding must demonstrate that they are meeting local and state civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity."
An estimated 20 states and the District of Columbia currently prohibit discriminating against people in housing on the basis of their sexual orientation, and 12 states plus the District of Columbia have the same prohibition on gender identity discrimination, according to a release from HUD.
HUD spokesperson Brian Sullivan said the department had "limited authority" as it specifically relates to LGBT people since cities and states do not have uniformed policies and no federal law protects LGBT people against discriminatory housing
practices.
"We can't be making law, but we went as far as we could," he said.
Sullivan added that the adjustment was not a regulatory change but instead an administrative requirement. Traditionally, HUD has required all applicants for competitive grant funding to comply with all applicable federal fair housing and civil rights requirements including those expressed in Fair Housing Act; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The department has been taking a series of steps to make several aspects of housing fairer across the board for LGBT people. In addition to the notice published today, HUD intends to propose new regulations that will clarify that the term "family," as used to describe eligible beneficiaries of HUD's programs, includes otherwise eligible LGBT individuals and couples. Sullivan said HUD was "in the process of developing" this new rule but he declined to estimate when the change might be completed. The department's proposed regulations will clarify family status to ensure that its core housing programs are available to all families, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Authorities at the Federal Housing Administration also intend to instruct lenders that FHA-insured mortgage loans must be based on the creditworthiness of borrowers and not on unrelated factors or characteristics such as sexual orientation or gender identity.
Finally, HUD will commission the first national study of discrimination against LGBT people in the rental and sale of housing. The department is currently seeking online public comment from interested parties in how it might design this new study. Sullivan said the study itself would be "groundbreaking" but that they did not yet know how the information would be utilized once it's collected.
"We are very intent on building a body of evidence and seeing where that leads us," he said.FRIDLEY, Minn. - A driver who stopped for ducks caused a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 694 Sunday morning.
The Minnesota State Patrol reports the crash happened just before 11:30 a.m. near Highway 65 in Fridley.
Troopers say a van, driven by a Crystal man, stopped on the interstate to allow the ducks to pass. That's when an SUV, driven by a Maple Grove man, rear-ended the van. The SUV spun out and was then hit by another SUV, driven by a Brooklyn Center man.
The Maple Grove driver and a teenaged passenger were taken to North Memorial Hospital for non-life threatening injuries. No word on if any charges will be filed.
RELATED: State patrol: Don't stop for ducks
The Minnesota State Patrol asks motorists not to stop on the interstate for ducks or other wildlife. It was nearly a year ago when MnDOT video surfaced showing several drivers swerving for ducks who were trying to cross Interstate 35 at Highway 10 in Mounds View.
The state patrol recommends these tips when it comes to animals on roadways:
- Scan down the highway, 5-10 seconds ahead and process the information. If you see something ahead, reduce speed and move to the side. Do not stop or swerve.
- Use the three-second rule. If you have three seconds between you and the person in front of you, you will likely be able to avoid a crash.Writing styles for large applications can be a really challenging task as styles get easily mixed up and confusing. The major issue is usually encountered when trying to structure your styles and give proper naming of individual styles.
With time, patterns were introduced to enhance style organization and most of these patterns are implemented when we make use of pre-processors like Sass and Less. The significant thing about these patterns is that they suggest organizing our styles and templates in the form of COMPONENTS.
Angular 2 is component based which means that every UI functionality is built as a component. Therefore, as component based styling is a recommended pattern, Angular 2 is just about to make writing styles a rather enjoyable experience. We will discuss different styling techniques and how to use them, but before that, we need to understand the concept of Shadow DOM and View Encapsulation.
Shadow DOM is included in the Web Components standard by W3C. Shadow DOM basically allows group of DOM implementation to be hidden inside a single element (which is the basic idea of components) and encapsulate styles to the element. This means that encapsulated styles will only be available for that group of DOM elements and nothing more.
Abstraction with Shadow DOM
Remember that the idea of web components and shadow DOM is relatively new and not all browsers can handle the concept. This is where one of the major advantages of Angular 2 comes in as it allows us to choose whether to implement Shadow DOM, just emulate it (default) or not use it at all. This technique of handling Shadow DOM in Angular 2 is know as View Encapsulation.
The 3 states of view encapsulation are:
None : All elements are spit out - no Shadow DOM at all.
Emulated : This actually tries to emulate Shadow DOM to give us the feel that we are scoping our styles. This is not a real Shadow DOM but a strategy to make all browsers smile at our code.
Native: This is the real deal as shadow DOM is completely enabled. Older browsers can go to hell.
Setting encapsulation is quite simple and is done right inside the @component decorator:
@ Component ( { templateUrl : 'card.html', styles : [ `.card { height: 70px; width: 100px; } ` ], encapsulation : ViewEncapsulation. Native } )
Now that we have taken some time to put Shadow DOM and View Encapsulation straight, we can go ahead to understand the different techniques of styling an Angular component. Cards are common components that we are familiar with, so permit me to use it for the illustrations.
Component Inline Styles
This technique is the most obvious styling technique in Angular 2. This is because it is recommended, makes sense with the concept of components in mind and found everywhere in the Angular 2 documentation. It is implemented in the @Component decorator of our component class like so:
@ Component ( { templateUrl : 'card.html', styles : [ `.card { height: 70px; width: 100px; } ` ], } )
The expected behavior in various view encapsulation techniques are:
None : The style is wrapped in a style tag and pushed to the head
Emulated : The style is wrapped in a style tag, pushed to head and uniquely identified so it can be matched with its component's template. With that, the styles will be used for only the template in the same component.
Native: Behaves as expected of web components.
External Stylesheets
Just like our everyday method of including styles from external styles which have an extension of.css, we could also import external styles in an Angular 2 component. It is as simple as importing templates with the templateUrl property in @Component decorator.
@ Component ( { styleUrls : [ 'css/style.css' ], templateUrl : 'card.html', } )
The expected behavior in various view encapsulation techniques are:
None : The style is wrapped in a style tag and pushed to the head. It is appended right after the component inline style.
Emulated : The style is wrapped in style tag, pushed to head and uniquely identified so it can be matched with its component's template just like component inline style. As you can see, you must have guessed wrong if you expected the style to be imported with link
Native: Behaves as expected of web components.
Template Inline Style
This is achievable with two methods:
1) The styles can be wrapped in a style tag and placed before the templates:
@ Component ( { template : ` <style> h1 { color: purple; } </style> <h1>Styling Angular Components</h1> ` } )
2) The style can be written as normal inline styles in the template tags:
@ Component ( { template : '<h1 style="color:pink">Styling Angular Components</h1>' } )
The expected behavior in various view encapsulation techniques are:
None : For method 1, the style is wrapped in a style tag and pushed to the head. It is appended right after the component inline and external styles. For method 2, the style just remains in the tag.
Emulated : For method 1, the style is wrapped in style tag, pushed to head and uniquely identified so it can be matched with its component's template just like component inline style. For method 2, the style still remains in the tag.
Native: Behaves as expected of web components.
This is the point where we need to pay attention to as it can be quite tricky. A demo is provided with Plunker so we can play with later. If you have been following the article carefully, you will realize that component styles, if any, are always appended to the head first.
Where it then becomes confusing is that the first method of template inline styles are appended before the external styles. This makes external styles to take precedence because in CSS the last is the greatest.
NB: Kindly, bear in mind that Angular 2 is in Beta and not stable so things like priorities can easily be reconsidered.
Playing With the Demo
To better understand priorities, I have created a Plunk with all the styling techniques we discussed. What I suggest is that you switch this styles, mess around with it and see the results. The comment section of this article is a great place to discuss your findings.
Whatever method you choose is accepted and that is the good thing about components and Angular 2. You don't have to listen to the preaching of not using internal styles or inline styles as they are within components and will be scoped. On the other hand, we are now able to organize our code better in a modular pattern.
Angular 2 is awesome, right?Besiktas president Fikret Orman has officially confirmed the loan transfer of Gokhan Tore to West Ham United.
Orman revealed that the Hammers made an attractive offer that worked in both clubs interests.
The club president also stated that Besiktas have prepared for Tore’s exit and that the current squad already has sufficient cover.
“We have loaned Gokhan Tore to West Ham, they made an offer and it appealed to us. We have a lot of competition for a place on the right wing with Andreas Beck, Gökhan Gönül, Kerim Frei, Ricardo Quaresma, Aras Özbiliz and Olcay Şahan,” Orman said in his press conference today.
Tore arrived in London yesterday and passed his West Ham medical. The 24-year-old was spotted at the Boleyn ground today and the Hammers are expected to officially announce the move at some stage later today.
West Ham will have a buy-out clause option for Tore but are expected to pay a £5 million loan fee for the transfer.
Besiktas initially wanted to sell Tore on a permanent transfer but reached a compromise with the Hammers who agreed to pay a loan fee.
See More
3 reasons West Ham signing Gokhan Tore will be a success in the Premier League
Besiktas make official announcement on West Ham signing Gokhan ToreOne man experiences a voice projected in his brain "like a ghost". A woman hears voices "shouting through her stomach" accompanied by "black, shadowy lips"; another hears her sister's voice talking to her at night when she is in bed "like it is coming from a transmitter or a radio".
These three people are deaf. They, along with 50 per cent of all deaf people with schizophrenia, 'hear' voices. It is hard to imagine an experience more strange, unsettling and counterintuitive. Research carried out recently has begun to unpick this contradictory psychological phenomenon, and may change the way that voice hallucinations are understood in hearing people too.
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Trawl back through the research on voice hallucinations in deaf people and you will find plenty of case reports and studies to support their existence. Yet there is little consensus on what they actually consist of. So while plenty of psychologists supported the idea that deaf individuals – even those deaf from birth – could actually hear the voices, one researcher was unconvinced.
Joanna Atkinson is a researcher and a clinical psychologist based at University College London. She is also deaf. The idea that deaf people could really hear the voices that they hallucinated jarred with her day-to-day clinical experience. Whenever she asked a profoundly deaf person that question, she would receive the same incredulous response: "No, of course not – I am deaf."
Yet when these same individuals were assessed by psychiatrists who could hear, using a sign language interpreter, they would describe their experience using hearing-related terms – loud, or low, or quiet – that suggested they were in fact hearing sound. What could they be experiencing?
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Joanna believed that something had been lost in translation. Through her own observations and experience of deafness, she "realised they were borrowing the language of the hearing majority and psychiatric field, rather than meaning they could hear sound". These subtle differences in language are what make this research so challenging: for a deaf person, someone could'shout' at them by signing aggressively without making any sound. The inherent difficulty of explaining complex hallucinations and sensations is therefore compounded by the need to translate between different frames of reference.
Joanna and her colleagues recruited 27 deaf volunteers, each with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a history of voice hallucination. They presented them with a series of cards, with each card describing a possible characteristic of their voice hallucination, covering the broadest possible range of attributes – from 'voice sounds like a whisper' to 'voice comes through my nose'. The participants considered each statement and sorted the cards into piles of characteristics they had and hadn't experienced.
The researchers found a diverse range of responses that closely corresponded to each individual's own experience of language and their level of hearing loss. First things first: "Deaf people who had never heard did not experience true auditory hallucinations," says Joanna. For this group, communication came via the mind's eye: visual hallucinations of moving lips, or disembodied hands and arms making sign language movements.
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But those who still had some hearing remaining, or had lost their hearing later in life, did experience true auditory hallucinations – from mumbling and muttering to just a vague sense of hearing something, which individuals often found hard to understand or describe. Joanna's study even included one bilingual participant – a partially deaf woman who was also a native signer. Fittingly, she hallucinated a bilingual devil who would sometimes speak to her and sometimes communicate soundlessly using sign language.
A third, intriguing group comprised those who had reached adulthood without learning any formal language. These individuals might have learned sign language in later life, but with difficulty, having already passed the critical age for language acquisition. For them, hallucinations were more vague, described by Joanna as a "sense of being got at, being criticised or hostile facial expressions, lacking clear linguistic content".
As well as matching closely with the person's level of language experience, the researchers found that the type of hallucination also depended on the voice's identity. If the subject believed the voice was their mother, who always communicated with them through speech, they would hallucinate her mouth. If later they hallucinated a friend from the deaf community, they would visualise their hands forming sign language.
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Joanna's research gives the most accurate account yet of what deaf voice hallucinations actually consist of, but many questions remain. All of the research so far has been carried out in a mental health context – it is unknown whether voice hallucinations occur occasionally in deaf people who are mentally well, as they do in hearing people. These findings could also have broader consequences in terms of how voice hallucinations are understood. Hearing people may well experience voice hallucinations through visual imagery as well as sound.
This poses a question to the psychiatric field: Are current ideas about voice hallucinations too narrow-minded? Currently, a psychiatrist's clinical interviews focus on the auditory aspects of voice hearing, and are likely to be missing the diverse visual and physical hallucinations that can either accompany or replace what is actually heard. At best, this results in an incomplete picture of a patient's symptoms; at worst, the patient feels that their experiences are not fully understood or taken seriously. Joanna believes that "it would destigmatise the range of perplexing phenomena that people experience if psychiatrists opened themselves up to a much greater range of experiences than is currently assumed in psychiatric interviews". Perhaps, then, people who hear voices – both deaf and hearing – would be a step closer to understanding the strange sounds and signs inside their heads.
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This article first appeared on Mosaic and is republished here under Creative Commons license. Image by woodleywonderworksvia Creative Commons license.I can has acquisition?
Cheezburger, the pioneering online comedy network that brought cat pictures and outrageous videos to millions around the world, has been sold to an undisclosed, newly-formed private media company, GeekWire has learned.
The Cheezburger brand and network of sites will continue, and the company’s 14 employees will remain in Seattle as they continue to chronicle wackiness from around the Web on sites such as This is Photobomb, My Little Brony and, of course, I Can Has Cheezburger.
In an interview with GeekWire, Cheezburger CEO Scott Moore declined to name the buyer or the purchase price, though he did confirm that the terms of the acquisition were signed on Sunday. A GeekWire source said that the newly-formed media company that agreed to buy Cheezburger is based overseas.
The strategy is to build a millennial media powerhouse.
“Really, the strategy is to build a millennial media powerhouse,” said Moore. “And put together several brands that are complementary and leverage both the economies of scale that we get on the cost side and the economies of scale that we get on the sell side with advertisers, and also use a variety of different sites that are strong on their own to cross promote one another.”
He added: “Scale is everything in media.”
Cheezburger now attracts about 13 million unique visitors per month, with about half of that traffic coming from the U.S. That’s down significantly from a few years ago. The Cheezburger sites will make up the majority of the traffic of the new media company, which will now boast about 20 million monthly unique visitors.
One of the reasons why the company did not want to be identified is that it continues to gobble up other online media properties, and it did not want those deals to be hampered because of publicity.
Moore will continue to run Cheezburger, though his exact title within the new company has not yet been determined.
“We have just been heads down on getting this deal done,” said Moore, who first started shopping the Cheezburger network to potential buyers last summer. At least one other offer was made, but Moore said that acquiring company just made more sense.
The acquisition marks the latest chapter for the Seattle company, which was formed by Ben Huh in 2007 after he purchased the I Can Has Cheezburger? Web site. Huh, with the help of his wife Emily, went on to create a network of comedy sites including Fail Blog, Know Your Meme, The Daily What and dozens of other sites. At its peak in 2010, the sites attracted more than 375 million views per month as the company refined its mission of “giving the world 5 minutes of happiness a day.”
But the happiness faded at Cheezburger in recent years.
The company, which raised $30 million in venture funding in 2011 from Madrona and Foundry Group, struggled to make the shift to a mobile world.
Traffic to the Web sites sunk, and competition for viewers ratcheted up as dozens of mobile-friendly media sites produced attention-grabbing content in the online humor arena. Competitors included sites such as TheChive and CollegeHumor.com.
“Mobile continues to grow, but the revenue we generate from it is significantly less,” Huh told GeekWire in 2013 following a 35 percent layoff at the company. “We want to take this year and think about how we can generate similar returns in mobile, or else you are going to have the case of one part of your platform subsidizing the other.”
Huh added at the time: “I want to build a long-term business. I am not here to pump up the numbers, and sell it next year.”
A year later Huh wrote an in-depth blog post about the problems the once-scrappy startup encountered after taking on the $30 million venture round, with the CEO blaming himself for the missteps and noting that the company had turned into a “confused, money-losing mess.”
Huh stepped down as CEO last summer, handing the reins to Moore, an experienced former MSN executive and Slate publisher who joined the company in 2013 as COO.
Moore set on a course of repositioning Cheezburger and halting its traffic slump, something he said started occur late last year as traffic started to increase again for the first time in many years. He also dramatically reduced costs, lopping off about 70 percent of the costs of the company in the past two years. In 2013, the company employed about 65 people.
Moore declined to go into specifics of the acquisition and whether it marked a positive financial deal for investors, saying only that the major investors on the board felt like it was “a good outcome.”
More recently, Cheezburger encountered troubles as users installed ad-blocking software, cutting off a significant revenue stream for the company.
“We know many of you don’t like ads with your Cheezburger,” the company wrote in a blog post from last September encouraging users to turn off their ad blockers. “But those ads pay for our servers and the salaries of our staff. (And cat food!) We’ve put a ton of effort into making Cheezburger and KnowYourMeme faster to load. We do our best to eliminate bad ads, like those that start audio automatically. But the stark truth is that advertising is our life blood…. If our ads are blocked, we can’t afford to put out the product.”
In fact, one of the big reasons why Cheezburger sold was due to a changing online advertising climate. Even at 13 million monthly visitors, the Cheezburger network was not big enough to attract large brand advertisers.
“We needed to get bigger,” said Moore, adding the the acquiring company “liked the idea of scaling up” to create a much larger media entity.On Sunday evening, an “America First! Electric Vigil for the Victims of Illegals and Refugees” rally was held near Main Beach in Laguna Beach. Fearing that extremists would join in, counterprotesters flooded the event. Tensions flared and police made their presence known.
Related:
Counterprotesters’ numbers overwhelm those with ‘America First!’ group in Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach, law enforcement authorities gear up for ‘America First!’ rally
Peace rallies stretch from Laguna Beach to Boston
Here are some photos and videos from the scene.
Laguna Beach Police order crowd to disperse. No car, person on PCH #lagunabeach pic.twitter.com/oitjcjFMnW — Tomoya Shimura (@OCRTomoya) August 21, 2017
SWAT team announces that arrests will be made for unlawful assembly if persons do not disperse pic.twitter.com/1X26GqYn0w — Jonathan Khamis (@JonathanKhamis) August 21, 2017
SWAT vehicle has arrived pic.twitter.com/P8vSjeKbad — Jonathan Khamis (@JonathanKhamis) August 21, 2017
Chants may be dying down a little. Both sides want the other to go home pic.twitter.com/gstzOyqog4 — Jonathan Khamis (@JonathanKhamis) August 21, 2017
Police with batons pic.twitter.com/2xyvLx84Ex — Jonathan Khamis (@JonathanKhamis) August 21, 2017
Chaos in the streets as the police on horseback are trying to disperse the protesters pic.twitter.com/6VLxKnbjHj — Jonathan K |
, did you?
MAYA LIN: No. Obviously I'm being influenced by the earth artists that are coming out of the '70s, like [Robert] Smithson, [Michael] Heizer, [Richard] Serra. Not even knowing it because I wasn't even studying it. But that's the vocabulary.
I was going after something very psychological. When I say: think like a child, stop the baggage, when we look at a man on a horse we know what a man on a horse is. It's a representation of something, and we kind of intellectually get what it's referring to.
One of things about the Vietnam War, I couldn't think of any one image. I can think of a few images, but there isn't one image-- like the Iwo Jima, the raising of the flag is an image we can all respond to. And it relates to what we think.
There isn't one image that comes to mind that everyone would truly connect to. And the odd thing is, that's where figurative sometimes gets so specific, it doesn't relate. It relates to you, but it doesn't relate to you. They added the three men, then the women got upset because there wasn't a woman. So then, there's that problem that can occur. When you stick within the abstract realm-- this is where Tom Wolfe weighed into it: How can abstraction be human? It's sort of like how can music, which is completely abstract, make people cry or laugh? Music. Totally abstract sounds, how they're laid out. That abstraction can be as human and relate to you. And that's where the name, any person who knew that person, everything about that person will come back in the name.
BILL MOYERS: The name is so concrete.
BILL MOYERS: Was there a moment of awareness, a moment when you had to claim your Chinese-ness?
MAYA LIN: No. I would say from the mid-20's onward it's been this increasing awareness of my heritage. I did fight it. I fought it very hard in my teen—late teenage years and in my 20's.
It's my art that kind of guided me to see it. It was never like, my work is going to be about my Asian American identity. It was more like I just make work. This is what I do. And then I look back and I go, oh, I get it.
And my art has really helped me understand the two sides of me. And that has led me to a point where I'm actually-- I have two young children and I am really--
BILL MOYERS: You want your two children to know.
MAYA LIN: And I know that I don't know it, and it's embarrassing. And I want to finally know it. My guess is the first half of my life I've spent finding a little bit. You want to feel comfortable with where you are and then you can study both sides. And I'm very, very, very much wanting to know my past.
BILL MOYERS: There's a story, maybe it's hypocriful, of something that happened when you were a student in your junior year abroad in Denmark.
MAYA LIN: Yeah. I had been blessed that racism had never really entered into my realm. I get to Denmark and ironically I think they thought I was a Greenlander at times. An eskimo. Because if I get a suntan, I change through different races. Some people think I'm American Indian. When I'm in Mexico, I blend.
Two things happened. When they thought I was Chinese, they would say things like, "Oh, so do your parents only a laundry or a restaurant?" And I didn't quite know if they were joking or not. And they weren't joking. They were trying to be very kind, but the stereotypes were pretty hellacious.
And then what happened is the sun finally showed up. In Scandinavia, I tan pretty easily. I remember getting on a bus once and sitting down. And no one would sit anywhere near me. For the first time in my life I felt, oh, now I know what it's like.
In Boston I had a horrible incident.
BILL MOYERS: In Boston. When you were in school?
MAYA LIN: Yeah. I was in school and I was taking the subway in. And I remember these three working class guys were up on the top of the passover and they were trying to spit on me. And they were saying incredibly racist and intensely painful things.
What's strange is you look at Black Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Chinese Americans, and New York is such a mixture. And at times you wonder, sometimes we're acceptable, we blend in, we're not spat on. Do other races have a harder time? Yes, the answer is horrible at times.
And you can really relate. And you feel sometimes the funny thing about being Asian American is if you're black American you're American, whereas I will always inevitably get into a cab sometime and the cab driver will turn around and say, "Where are you from?" And I'll say, "Ohio." And they'll say, "No, no, where are you really from?"
And there could be a white German who's English is okay. He could have just traveled here yesterday and they will assume he's American. I was born and raised here. Looking the way I look, you will always get that question, even sometimes at polite cocktail party: Where are you from? Where are you really from? And that leaves you in a weird in- between world. Like you're both.
BILL MOYERS: So the stereotypes exist even now.
MAYA LIN: I don't think anyone means it to be negative. It's just the problem is you're not from here. You will always physically look like you're a foreigner. So if you're truly born and raised here what does that do to your psyche?
You're American. It's not the same as if you were born in Poland and you're first generation 'cause if you look white, they're not gonna question you the same way. They're not going to ask for your genealogy. Whereas I swear it's like I really have to explain always. At this point, it's so much easier to say, I was born here but my mother's from Shanghai and my [father]-- you know, it just makes it all simpler.
But that does something to you. Like, well, are we really not allowed to be from here? And then I am at times very sensitive to Asian American-- the Chinese American stereotyping that goes on. Whether it's in TV or movies, when can we get to be people who happen to be Asian in a part versus this is a part that an Asian gets because they do Kung-fu.
We've technically assimilated. Yet at the same time the stereotypes shock me at times.
There was an advertisement for a hotel chain, and it had an Asian woman making the bed. There was this three sentence paragraph about how she was born to serve you. It completely smacked of the notion of the docile, servile Asian woman.
My ears were burning. I think equivalent stereotypes in other ethnic groups would have been nailed down. Maybe they're more sensitive or they're louder about fighting it.
BILL MOYERS: Yes, if that ad had had an African American woman in it and said she as born to serve you there would have been an uproar.
MAYA LIN: Oh, there would have been an uproar. I think the next generations are going to be inclined to speak out. It's still kind of engrained in me to be very, very polite. I mean, that's how I was raised. It's just not in my nature. I think as the next generations go on, they might be more vocal. So there's that inherently we don't speak out in protest the way we might have to to change it.
Or two there's also that lumping us all together as Asian American. And you've got such diverse cultural groups within that. So I've always felt it was almost a western conceit, that they were just gonna lump together all the rest that didn't fit in anywhere else. But it also means how do you bound together, how do you form community when you've got societies that culturally are not that similar and yet they are lumped together by western eyes.
It does help with certain things because it puts a voice together. But it also can be problematic in galvanizing that identity and that voice. I am surprised that the stereotypes can be so much a part of images we see.
BILL MOYERS: What about your two daughters, will all this be behind them? Will they ever be free, liberated, because of what has happened? To not have to think this way anymore? Tell me about it them.
MAYA LIN: They're really cute. And what I find fascinating is that we will get asked when we bring them out, my husband and I.
On several occasions, we've been asked, "Are they half?" Which is kind of a very kind of odd-- are they half. Like are they half-- No, they're full children.
BILL MOYERS: Your husband's background is?
MAYA LIN: He's American Jewish. My daughters look very Caucasian. He's Caucasian. You can tell in the eldest girl's eyes—but it's not recognizable except by someone else. Usually it's a young girl who asks that question, like a 20 year old woman.
And I know that she's looking at them going, "What are you gonna be?" You can relate because they'll go through what she sort of went through a little bit. If both my husband and I had been Chinese they would get asked that exact same question in the cab, "Where are you from?"
Because no matter how long you've been here you're not going to be quite allowed to be American, which is very intriguing about all the Asian races.
BILL MOYERS: So you're still living between boundaries.
MAYA LIN: Yeah, between worlds. It's a funny place to be. But it's also who you are. You might try to understand it. And I think at this point I embrace it; it's great. You can share a culture and take from both, but it's a balancing act.
BILL MOYERS: While I look at the cover of your book "Boundaries," that's your hand around that beautiful giode, which is one of my favorite stones of the earth. I think, she's got the whole world in her hand.
MAYA LIN: Nah. I don't know where that cover came from. But as far as just between the design of it I just love. Wherever I go, I collect rocks, and I just think they're so beautiful. Everyone assumes they're so simple. You look at them and think it's a dumb simple water worn rock.
If you ever tried to analyze its shape, it's one of the most complex forms. Think about it, it's every compound curve. There's nothing symmetrical about it. It's about looking at something again and then appreciating it. I mean, nature, is so complex.
BILL MOYERS: Maya Lin, thank you very much.
MAYA LIN: You're welcome.
© 2003 Public Affairs Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.SCP-1115
An SCP-1115 drone at low altitude during signal transmission
Item #: SCP-1115
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: No attempt to capture, intercept, or interfere with SCP-1115 is to be made until further notice. SCP-1115's movement is to be monitored by satellite at all times and by Foundation UAVs trailing at a distance of 50 km. Equatorial weather conditions are to be monitored and Mobile Task Force Upsilon-638 (Phoenix Nest) is to be placed on standby in the event of any phenomena which could result in a disruption of SCP-1115's route. All transmissions of SCP-1115-2 are to be recorded for analysis. In the event of any major deviation from SCP-1115's itinerary, Site 731 is to be evacuated and authorization is granted to execute Procedure Greenbriar at O5 discretion.
A Foundation front company, Space Communication Properties, has acquired licenses to test UAVs for communications purposes in airspace above the equator. Any sightings of SCP-1115 shall be attributed in the media as being prototypes of these UAVs.
In the event that any part of SCP-1115 ceases functioning, Phoenix Nest is to deploy and retrieve it as soon as possible, to be transferred to Site 731 for dismantling and storage. Recovered SCP-1115 artifacts are not to be exposed to any light more intense than 1000 lux.
Description: SCP-1115 currently consists of 87 toroidal unmanned aerial vehicles, approximately 1.2 meters in diameter, of unknown manufacture and origin. At all times since direct observation began in 19██, all SCP-1115 drones have been in flight at an average altitude of approximately 15 km above sea level, traveling due west above areas within 20 degrees latitude north or south of the equator, at an average speed of 1600 km/h. SCP-1115's speed is synchronized to the solar terminator. SCP-1115 maintains itself at a distance of approximately 45 degrees longitude east of the terminator, resulting in its remaining in a daylit part of the world at all times. SCP-1115 maintains this route at all times, completing a circuit of the globe every 24 hours, altering course only if its direct route is impeded by cloud cover or inclement weather. No SCP-1115 drone has been observed to enter a clouded area. The drones comprising SCP-1115, when not being interfered with by outside forces or moving to evade meteorological phenomena, fly in a pattern comprising several V-formations of the type displayed by migratory birds. The presence of several missing spots in each formation indicates that SCP-1115 initially consisted of at least ███ drones.
At approximately 0500 UTC each day, while SCP-1115 is overflying a region of the Sahara desert located at ██º██'██" N., ██º██'██" E., an individual SCP-1115 drone will descend to approximately 5,000 meters above surface level and transmit a radio signal, designated SCP-1115-2, before ascending and returning to its place in formation. SCP-1115-2 is an audio recording, between 41 and 46 seconds in length on all recorded instances, of a synthesized male voice speaking a language not identified by the Foundation. A large portion of the recording remains the same in all recorded instances, while several other portions vary daily. SCP-1115-2 has occurred every day that SCP-1115 has been under observation except when cloud cover has made it impossible for an SCP-1115 drone to descend to the transmission zone. The intended recipient of SCP-1115-2 has not been identified; several Foundation surveys of the area have failed to locate any pre-existing radio antennae or artifacts similar to SCP-1115. For information regarding the history and translation of SCP-1115-2, refer to addenda.
To date, SCP-1115 has resisted any attempts to capture a drone while in flight. Individual SCP-1115 drones have demonstrated an ability to evade missile and cannon fire as well as ground-based anti-aircraft weapons, and to disable pursuing aircraft by generating an electromagnetic pulse that SCP-1115 itself is not affected by. On ██/██/19██, an aircraft with shielded electronics was used to attempt to intercept an SCP-1115 drone. When the aircraft continued pursuit after the EMP was deployed, the drone responded by ramming the aircraft and detonating a miniaturized nuclear device installed within it, destroying itself and the aircraft, and producing a 5 kt airblast over the [REDACTED] where pursuit was occurring. Emergency aerial dispersal of Class-E amnestics in populated areas near [REDACTED] was conducted and Foundation media assets attributed the after-effects to forest fires. All further attempts to intercept SCP-1115 are preemptively denied.
In addition to the incident described above, three SCP-1115 drones have ceased functioning since observation began. Two of the three crashed into the Pacific Ocean after an unidentified failure resulted in their suddenly losing altitude; due to the depth of the crash regions the Foundation has deemed them unobtainable. The third, which crashed on land near [REDACTED] in north Africa in 1942, was not immediately obtainable due to ongoing military conflict in the region; surveys conducted after the war ended have failed to locate it and it is currently believed to have been buried entirely by shifting desert sands. The Foundation has acquired one intact SCP-1115 drone, designated SCP-1115-1, to date; for information on its history and findings regarding it, refer to addenda.
Addenda:
+ Show SCP-1115-1 History and Analysis - Hide SCP-1115-1 History and Analysis SCP-1115-1 was discovered in 1856 by a British archeological expedition in Borneo. At the time of its discovery, it was partially buried and heavily caked with volcanic ash identified as having originated from Mt. Tambora. It is speculated that the sudden eruption of Mt. Tambora resulted in SCP-1115-1's propulsion system becoming clogged with ash before it could correct its course, causing it to fail and crash. The expedition sold SCP-1115-1 to the Rajah of Sarawak, who displayed it as a curio in his royal palace until it was acquired by the Foundation in 1901. As the Foundation lacked the capabilities to properly examine it at the time, it was classified as an anomalous object and archived in Reliquary 38. In 20██, a Foundation archivist discovered the similarity between the artifact and SCP-1115, leading to its being reclassified as SCP-1115-1 and transferred to Site 731 for study. The exterior surface of SCP-1115-1 was found to be composed almost entirely of solar energy collector panels composed of an unidentified polymer. Upon exposure to a bright spotlight generating approximately 5000 lux, SCP-1115-1 immediately became active and began transmitting a previously undocumented variant of SCP-1115-2. Transmission stopped within five seconds of the spotlight being removed. Later data analysis indicated that, during the period the transmission occurred, seventeen SCP-1115 drones broke formation and began to divert from their previous course in the cardinal direction of Site 731. Further exposure of any captured SCP-1115 artifact to bright light is prohibited. SCP-1115's propulsion system is highly efficient, deriving all necessary power from the solar panels, and appears to be based on theoretical models of [REDACTED] that the Foundation does not yet have the capability to test fully. The majority of SCP-1115-1's interior, and all of its external extensions except for a radio antenna, consisted of a wide variety of environmental monitoring devices, not all of which have been identified. Devices for measuring temperature, wind speed, humidity, atmospheric concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and several noble gases, radioactivity, and [REDACTED] have been identified. Printed circuit boards incorporated into the onboard devices bear markings in an unidentified language, possibly the same one heard in SCP-1115-2. A nuclear device believed to be similar to the one detonated on ██/██/19██ was recovered, consisting of a cube 60 mm on each side composed of an unidentified alloy. Radiometric testing of materials found in SCP-1115-1 indicate that the drone was manufactured approximately 12.3 million years ago, ± 600,000 years. Collection of further samples is deemed necessary to verify this date. SCP-1115-1 was partially reassembled and is stored at Site 731. A determination has been made that any future SCP-1115 artifacts recovered will be stored at Site 731 as well to prevent any possible further exposure of Foundation site locations to SCP-1115.Vladimir Putin has warned the United States that George Soros is driving the country towards civil war, using divisive politics, violence and media propaganda to further his goals.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in the Kremlin, President Putin told senior advisors that George Soros is using his vast network of agitators to target America’s most sensitive points and cause turmoil.
“Make no mistake, his endgame is revolution through civil war. In America he is using exactly the same tactics he uses everywhere. “
“George Soros is a well-known pyromaniac with matches in his back pocket pouring petrol onto a bonfire.”
Putin also had a message for Americans. They must reject George Soros and his dangerous influence or else they run the risk of losing the country to globalist interests.
“He does not own the world and he does not have the right to do whatever he wants. The people must come together and reject this dragon. We have no room for his divisive politics in Russia, and I think you will all agree we are much the better for that. With all due respect, America must reject George Soros’s vision.”
This meeting featured the President pounding his fist on the table and vowing to arrest George Soros, and according to a Kremlin source Putin would enjoy nothing more than throwing the billionaire convicted felon in a jail cell and throwing away the key.
In the financial world Soros is known for his divide and conquer strategies. In countless interviews, searchable on Youtube, he can be witnessed laughing and acknowledging his extremist personality. Soros’s financial tactics have netted him billions, but also earned him criminal convictions.
Disturbingly, Soros uses the exact same tactics while meddling with democracies, attempting to seize power and undermine the voce of the people in sovereign nations.
Russia officially declared that billionaire George Soros is a wanted man in their country, citing him and his organizations as a “threat to Russian national security”.
Putin banned Soros and his organizations from operating in Russia last year due to the fact that Soros attempted to crash the Russian economy in the early 1990s. Since then Soros has used his wealth and political influence to incite violent uprisings and destabilize democracies throughout the region.
Putin has watched crisis after crisis unfold in neighboring states. Now he is warning, in clear language, that Soros is using the exact same tactics in the United States.(CNN) She was one of America's moms, a television icon that endured through generations. Florence Henderson, who played Carol Brady on "The Brady Bunch," died Thursday from heart failure at the age of 82.
Her death was unexpected. Henderson had not been sick, her manager, Kayla Pressman, said. Just this week, Henderson attended a taping of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" to cheer on Maureen McCormick, who played her TV daughter Marcia Brady.
Henderson had made some TV and movie appearances this year.
"We are all in a state of shock," said Pressman, who spoke with the actress Wednesday night. Henderson died in a Los Angeles hospital, surrounded by family and friends.
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Oxley -- co-author of a landmark anti-corporate-fraud law that bears his name -- died on January 1. He was 71.
Producer Robert Stigwood, the creative force behind "Saturday Night Fever," "Grease" and other cultural blockbusters of the 1970s, died on January 4. He was 81.
French fashion designer Andre Courreges, famous for his "space age" designs of the 1960s and 1970s, died on January 7, his family told CNN affiliate France 3. He was 92.
French fashion designer Andre Courreges, famous for his "space age" designs of the 1960s and 1970s, died on January 7, his family told CNN affiliate France 3. He was 92.
Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin died January 11 at the age of 96. Irvin was regarded as one of the best hitters and all-around players in the Negro League, making five All-Star teams. He became one of the first African-Americans to play in the majors, and he played a vital role in the New York Giants' World Series runs in 1951 and 1954.
At left is Bob Elliott, half of the TV and radio comedy duo Bob and Ray. He died February 2 at the age of 92. For several decades, Elliott and Ray Goulding's program parodies and deadpan routines were staples of radio and television. Elliott was the father of comedian and actor Chris Elliott and the grandfather of "Saturday Night Live" cast member Abby Elliott.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the leading conservative voice on the high court, died at the age of 79, a government source and a family friend told CNN on February 13.
Singer Sonny James, who ruled the country music charts for nearly 20 years, died February 22 at the age of 87.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan, who joined her husband on a storybook journey from Hollywood to the White House, died of heart failure on March 6. She was known as a fierce protector of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, as well as a spokeswoman of the "just say no" anti-drug campaign. She was 94.
Actor Larry Drake, best known for his role as Benny on "L.A. Law," died at his home in Los Angeles on March 17, according to his manager Steven Siebert. Drake was 66.
Malik Taylor, better known to fans as Phife Dawg of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest, died March 23 at the age of 45. He's seen here at center during a performance in 1996. Taylor had long suffered from health issues associated with having Type 1 diabetes. In 2008, he underwent a kidney transplant.
Author and poet Jim Harrison died March 26 at his winter home in Arizona. He was 78. His many books include "Legends of the Fall," which was made into a 1994 movie starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.
Actor James Noble, who played Gov. Eugene X. Gatling in the television series "Benson," died from a stroke on March 28. He was 94.
Actress Patty Duke, star of "The Patty Duke Show," died March 29, at the age of 69. Duke won an Academy Award at age 16 for playing Helen Keller in 1962's "The Miracle Worker."
Architect Zaha Hadid, whose designs include the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, died March 31, a spokesperson from Zaha Hadid Design told CNN. She was 65. Hadid died of a heart attack in a Miami hospital where she was being treated for bronchitis, according to her firm's press office.
Country music legend Merle Haggard died on April 6 -- his 79th birthday -- of complications from pneumonia, his agent Lance Roberts told CNN.
Actress Doris Roberts, best known for her role as Marie Barone on the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," died April 17. She was 90.
The musician Prince died at his home in Minnesota on April 21 at age 57. The medical examiner later determined he died of an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl.
Grammy-winning songwriter Guy Clark died May 17 at the age of 74. The Texas native died after a long illness, according to a statement from his publicist.
CBS News legend Morley Safer, whose work on "60 Minutes" embodied the show's 50 years on air, died at the age of 84, according to CBS on May 19.
Actor Alan Young, known for his role as Wilbur Post in the television show "Mr. Ed," died on May 19. He was 96.
Drummer Nick Menza, who played on many of Megadeth's most successful albums, died after collapsing on stage during a show with his current band, Ohm, on May 21. He was 51.
Mixed martial arts fighter Kimbo Slice died June 6 at the age of 42. Slice, whose real name was Kevin Ferguson, initially gained fame from online videos that showed him engaging in backyard bare-knuckle fights. He then became a professional fighter with a natural charisma that endeared him to fans.
Hockey legend Gordie Howe, left, scored 801 goals in his NHL career and won four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings. Howe, also known as "Mr. Hockey," died June 10 at the age of 88, his son Marty said.
Singer Christina Grimmie died June 11 from gunshot wounds. The 22-year-old singer, who finished third on season 6 of "The Voice" on NBC, was shot while signing autographs after a concert in Orlando.
Singer Attrell Cordes, known as Prince Be of the music duo P.M. Dawn, died June 17 after suffering from diabetes and renal kidney disease, according to a statement from the group. He was 46.
Actor Ron Lester, who portrayed Billy Bob in the 1999 football movie "Varsity Blues," died June 17 at the age of 45, according to his representative Dave Bradley. Bradley said Lester died of organ failure -- specifically his liver and his kidneys. Lester had openly talked about his struggle with his illness on Twitter.
Bluegrass music pioneer Ralph Stanley died June 23 at the age of 89, publicist Kirt Webster announced on Stanley's official website. Stanley was already famous in bluegrass and roots music circles when the 2000 hit movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" thrust him into the mainstream. He provided a haunting a cappella version of the dirge "O Death" and ended up winning a Grammy.
Scotty Moore, a legendary guitarist credited with helping to launch Elvis Presley's career, died at the age of 84 on June 28. Moore is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he was ranked No. 29 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
Scotty Moore, a legendary guitarist credited with helping to launch Elvis Presley's career, died at the age of 84 on June 28. Moore is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he was ranked No. 29 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel died at the age of 87 on July 2. Wiesel's book "La Nuit" is the story of the Wiesel family being sent to Nazi concentration camps.
Director Michael Cimino, whose searing 1978 Vietnam War drama "The Deer Hunter" won five Oscars, including best picture, died July 2. He was 77.
Actress Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in the 1950s TV version of "Superman," died July 3 at the age of 95.
Actor David Huddleston, perhaps best known for his role in the 1998 film "The Big Lebowski," died August 2 at the age of 85.
British actor Kenny Bake r, best known for playing R2-D2 in the "Star Wars" films, died on August 13, Baker's niece, Abigail Shield, told CNN. He was 81.
Actor Steven Hill, best known for playing District Attorney Adam Schiff on NBC's "Law & Order," died August 23, his son confirmed to CNN. He was 94.
Mexican music icon Juan Gabriel, who wooed audiences with soulful pop ballads that made him a Latin American music legend, died August 28 at the age of 66.
Actor Gene Wilder, who brought a wild-eyed desperation to a series of memorable and iconic comedy roles in the 1970s and 1980s, died August 29 at the age of 83. Some of his most famous films include "Young Frankenstein," "Blazing Saddles" and "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory."
Character actor Jon Polito, who appeared in films such as "American Gangster" and "The Big Lebowski," died September 2, his manager confirmed. He was 65.
Character actor Jon Polito, who appeared in films such as "American Gangster" and "The Big Lebowski," died September 2, his manager confirmed. He was 65.
Actor Hugh O'Brian, best known for his portrayal of the title role in the 1950's TV Western "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," died on September 5. He was 91.
Legendary playwright Edward Albee -- whose works included "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" -- died at the age of 88 after a short illness, according to his personal assistant Jakob Holder. Albee died September 16 at his home in Montauk, New York.
"L.A. Confidential" director and writer Curtis Hanson, 71, died of natural causes on September 20, Los Angeles police said. He won an Oscar with Brian Helgeland for the screenplay on "L.A. Confidential," and he also directed "8 Mile" and "Wonder Boys."
Grammy and Emmy Award winner Stanley Dural Jr., also known as Buckwheat Zydeco, died September 24 in Lafayette, Louisiana. He was 68.
Veteran actor Bill Nunn, best known for playing Radio Raheem in "Do the Right Thing" and Robbie Robertson in the "Spider-Man" trilogy, died September 24 at age 63.
Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, one of baseball's brightest stars, was killed in a boating accident September 25, Florida authorities said. He was 24.
Golfing legend Arnold Palmer, who helped turn the sport from a country club pursuit to one that became accessible to the masses, died September 25 at the age of 87, according to the U.S. Golf Association.
Award-winning author Gloria Naylor, whose explorations of the lives of black women in the 1980s and 1990s earned her wide acclaim, died on September 28. She was 66.
Actor Tommy Ford, best known for his role as Tommy in the 1990s hit sitcom "Martin," died in Atlanta, a spokeswoman for his family announced on October 12. Ford was 52.
Actor and comedian Kevin Meaney, who had been a regular on late-night TV and was famous for delivering the line, "That's not right," died, his agent said October 21. Meaney's age and the cause of death weren't immediately known.
Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen died at the age of 82, according to a post on his official Facebook page on November 10. A highly respected artist known for his poetic and lyrical music, Cohen wrote a number of popular songs, including the often-covered "Hallelujah."
Actor Ron Glass, known for his role on the police sitcom "Barney Miller," died November 25, his agent said. Glass also starred in "Firefly" and its film sequel "Serenity."
Actor Alan Thicke, known for his role as the father in the sitcom "Growing Pains," died on December 13, according to his agent, Tracy Mapes. He was 69. Thicke's career spanned five decades -- one in which he played various roles on and off screen, from actor to writer to composer to author.
English novelist Richard Adams, author of the famous children's book "Watership Down," died at the age of 96 on December 24.
Singer George Michael, who shot to fame with the '80s band Wham!, died on Christmas Day, according to Britain's Press Association. He was 53 years old.
Actor and comedian Ricky Harris, who was a regular on the TV sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris" and first gained attention on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam," died December 26, according to his publicist. He was 54.
Actress Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" franchises, died December 27, according to her daughter's publicist. Fisher had suffered a cardiac event on December 23. She was 60 years old.
A TV icon
Henderson played Carol Brady from 1969 to 1974 on "The Brady Bunch," a show that became a huge hit in syndication.
"The Brady Bunch" was a story about a lovely lady and a man named Brady, a widow and widower with three children each.
Even 40 years later, parts of the show are still staples of pop culture: The upbeat theme song and Rubik's cube-style opening, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia," the football moment and of course, Henderson herself -- with her big blue eyes and signature blonde coiffure.
Her former castmates expressed their shock and grief at her passing.
"Florence Henderson was a dear friend for so very many years & in my <3 forever. Love & hugs to her family. I'll miss u dearly #RIPFlorence," tweeted Maureen McCormick, whom Henderson had seen just days before her death.
You are in my heart forever Florence💕 pic.twitter.com/PABCuPubA2 — Maureen McCormick (@MoMcCormick7) November 25, 2016
Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady, told CNN's Brooke Baldwin that people ask him whether Henderson was really that nice, really that giving, really that maternal.
Yes, he said.
"She took what she did very, very seriously," Williams said Friday. "She was very gracious, always. She was an inspiration with how to conduct yourself in public as a famous person. She was so kind and would always take time. I want to remind people that -- and there are many many of us that will miss her -- that she was a genuine person."
From the beginning, to Broadway, to Brady
Henderson's life story wasn't as ideal as the one she was a part of on TV. She grew up poor in Indiana, with an alcoholic father and a mother who left when she was 12 years old.
She was a talented singer, and would use her voice to entertain the family and help make ends meet.
"I don't ever remember not singing. And I would sing and pass the hat, and I would sing for groceries," she told the Archive of American Television in 1999.
Her big break came in 1951 when she was offered a starring role in the musical "Oklahoma!" Her voice carried her to a successful Broadway career, and eventually she began landing high-profile television gigs.
In 1959, she was on set as an NBC "Today Girl," and in 1962, she became the first woman to guest host the "Tonight Show."
Henderson became Carol Brady in 1969.
"I created the kind of mother that I wished I'd had, and I think everyone longs for," she said.
Photos: Our favorite TV moms Photos: Our favorite TV moms There are the good, All-American moms. "The Brady Bunch's" Carol Brady -- played by Florence Henderson -- always knew the right thing to |
all, but damn.
“so stacia” he said with a smirk “are you new here?” i could feel his boner against me and i was not upset about it
Not even one chapter in and someone already has a boner.
before i new it we were making out. his lips felt amazing against my lips. i had never felt so in tune with smeone before in all my 16 years. i undied the tie on the front of my suit, revealing my incredible breasts.
Not even one chapter in and someone already showcases their breasts.
Also, since it is a one-piece suit, don’t you think that Stacia would also have revealed something else?
they were large and round with small areolas and perfect perky nipples. eridan leaned down to suck them but just as he did a voice came out and it was
“wow. okay”
No. Nothing in this is okay.
eridan jumped out of shock. “sollux!” he whimpered in fear.
Siiiiiiiigh.
Yes, I do realize that I sighed three times in this MST already. I don’t care. The fic deserves it.
sollux was a boy with a big lisp and lots of pimples. he wore blue and red glasses and jeans with cuffs up to his knees. i didnt see or hear him before because he was concentrating so hard on his laptop.
And also because the class lasted for all of five seconds before Vriska cancelled it.
“sollux!” eridan shouted.
Alright, this time I definitely did not miss any line not said in quotes. Eridan literally just shouted “Sollux!” (or “sollux!”, actually) twice.
“who is that” i asked and sollux told me he was eridans boyfriend!
Can someone actually into Erisol explain me what the rationale behind the ship is? Or if even there is one?
Also, since quadrants are an integral part of Sburbville, “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” lose their meanings. Really, next time just specify the quadrant.
i was devastated.
Right, we know that you are dead and this is your weird hallucination. Let’s go on with other characters.
i ran out of the pool and told sollux i was sorry and then i went into the pool to slap eridan. then i left the room crying.
While still in a half-undone bathing suit.
i felt horrible because a. that was a very slutty thing for me to do
Hey, you’re the one who revealed her boobs to a literal butt. What did you expect?
and b. he had a boyfriend and i might have broken them up! this was no way to make new friends on my first day at sburb. i was crying so hard
I rejoice for the fact that Rules of Learning and Sburbing Storytelling are actually becoming a thing. Now, I can only expect Stacia to remain forever lonely in Sburbville and either a) commit suicide or b) leave Sburbville somehow.
i was NOT upset that they were gay though because this is 2014 and if your homophobic still you eed to grow up and get a grip on yourself
So we know that Learning and Sburbing takes place in 2014, in the summer (even though there is school, for some reason) and Stacia’s first day is a Tuesday. Got it.
also im possibly bi so who even cares that they are both boys
Are we really going to go the My Immortal route of “everyone is bi”?
i went to my dormhive and sobbed into my pillow. then i closed my eyes and was transported to derse.
Please explain the term “dormhive”? Is it really another case of “humans think troll concepts are cool but trolls think human concepts suck”?
END OF CH. 1
Out of forty-seven (and possibly more once I’ve finished/gotten current with the MST). We’re in for a long ride.
Way to leave it on a cliffhanger. Well, I don’t have much choice but to read further.
SUBSCRIBE IF YOU LIKE THIS FIC! I promise it will only get better xoxoxoxoxox
I can only assume.
See you next time.A new report from the Brookings Institution shows that for-profit colleges aren’t just part of the student-loan crisis—they’re a disproportionately large segment, and one that has swelled in recent years. Between 2000 and 2014, the number of students holding education debt doubled to 42 million, their total debt outstanding quadrupling to over $1 trillion. In 2000, there was only one for-profit institution among the 25 colleges and universities where students held the most student-loan debt. In 2014, there were 13, and University of Phoenix topped the list. The amount of debt owed by those attending for-profit colleges has grown from $39 billion in 2000 to $229 billion in 2014—which is more attributable to increases in the rate of borrowing at those schools than to increases in enrollment.
For-profit colleges, through savvy marketing, promise a second chance for those who’ve gotten off track, a brighter future for those stuck in a rut, and at the very least, a college education tailored to those who don’t have the time, money, or ability to attend a local college or university. During the recession, when jobs were particularly hard to come by these promises carried extraordinary appeal, especially for those with only a high-school education. Between 2000 and 2011, enrollment at for-profit colleges grew from 3 percent of total fall enrollment to 9 percent of total fall enrollment.
But the type of potential student that for-profit colleges tend to court can be particularly vulnerable. Attendees of for-profit colleges are likely to be older and have lower incomes. They’re more likely to be considered financially independent, which means they qualify to borrow more, even if they have little family support. These students are less likely to complete their degrees, have a higher risk of living in poverty, and have difficulty finding jobs after school.
All too often, these schools have been shown to inflate their job placement statistics and they can be stubbornly inflexible when it comes to allowing students time off, even for emergencies ( keeping students in school keeps loan money flowing and boosts student retention figures). Sometimes the promises made during recruitment, such as the ability to transfer credits from and to other schools, are empty ones that can leave students shelling out even more money for additional coursework.
All this is worrying because of just how large the share of students of for-profit colleges account for when looking at all college students taking out loans. After the recession, loans to non-traditional students—those attending for-profit or two-year colleges—grew to account for about half of all student loans, with for-profit students making up the majority of those borrowers. What’s more, these students are also much more likely to default on those loans. Of students who started repaying their federal student loans in 2011, only 8 percent of students who went to four-year schools defaulted within two years. For those who attended non-traditional colleges, the default rate was almost three times as high. ( Defaults can lead to a host of other financial problems, including wage garnishment, damaged credit, and an inability to secure financing in the future for things such as cars, credit cards, or a home.)
But it’s not just about default. The authors of the Brookings report, Adam Looney of the U.S. Treasury Department, and Constantine Yannelis, of Stanford, actually anticipate that the default rate among for-profit borrowers will subside as the economy improves. But that still won’t solve the problem of students taking on significant debt loads for institutions that consistently fail to help students complete degrees or or get jobs. Seventy percent of those who attend four-year public or private universities complete their degrees, whereas only 49 percent of students at for-profit schools do. Similarly wide gaps exist when it comes to unemployment rate and average earnings for these groups of students.This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight hours of network deprivation — also known as sleep — people are increasingly waking up and lunging for cellphones and laptops, sometimes even before swinging their legs to the floor and tending to more biologically urgent activities.
“It used to be you woke up, went to the bathroom, maybe brushed your teeth and picked up the newspaper,” said Naomi S. Baron, a professor of linguistics at American University, who has written about technology’s push into everyday life. “But what we do first now has changed dramatically. I’ll be the first to admit: the first thing I do is check my e-mail.”
The Gudes’ sons sleep with their phones next to their beds, so they start the day with text messages in place of alarm clocks. Mr. Gude, an instructor at Michigan State University, sends texts to his two sons to wake up.
“We use texting as an in-house intercom,” he said. “I could just walk upstairs, but they always answer their texts.” The Gudes recently began shutting their devices down on weekends to account for the decrease in family time.
In other households, the impulse to go online before getting out the door adds an extra layer of chaos to the already discombobulating morning scramble.
Weekday mornings have long been frenetic, disjointed affairs. Now families that used to fight over the shower or the newspaper tussle over access to the lone household computer — or about whether they should be using gadgets at all, instead of communicating with one another.
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“They used to have blankies; now they have phones, which even have their own umbilical cord right to the charger,” said Liz Perle, a mother in San Francisco who laments the early-morning technology immersion of her two teenage children. “If their beds were far from the power outlets, they would probably sleep on the floor.”
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The surge of early risers is reflected in online and wireless traffic patterns. Internet companies that used to watch traffic levels rise only when people booted up at work now see the uptick much earlier.
Arbor Networks, a Boston company that analyzes Internet use, says that Web traffic in the United States gradually declines from midnight to around 6 a.m. on the East Coast and then gets a huge morning caffeine jolt. “It’s a rocket ship that takes off at 7 a.m,” said Craig Labovitz, Arbor’s chief scientist.
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Akamai, which helps sites like Facebook and Amazon keep up with visitor demand, says traffic takes off even earlier, at around 6 a.m. on the East Coast. Verizon Wireless reported the number of text messages sent between 7 and 10 a.m. jumped by 50 percent in July, compared with a year earlier.
Both adults and children have good reasons to wake up and log on. Mom and Dad might need to catch up on e-mail from colleagues in different time zones. Children check text messages and Facebook posts from friends with different bedtimes — and sometime forget their chores in the process.
In May, Gabrielle Glaser of Montclair, N.J., bought her 14-year-old daughter, Moriah, an Apple laptop for her birthday. In the weeks after, Moriah missed the school bus three times and went from walking the family Labradoodle for 20 minutes each morning to only briefly letting the dog outside.
Moriah concedes that she neglected the bus and dog, and blames Facebook, where the possibility that crucial updates from friends might be waiting draws her online as soon as she wakes. “I have some friends that are up early and chatting,” she said. “There is definitely a pull to check it.”
Some families have tried to set limits on Internet use in the mornings. James Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that deals with children and entertainment, wakes every morning at 6 and spends the next hour on his BlackBerry, managing e-mail from contacts in different parts of the world.
But when he meets his wife, Liz, and their four children, ages 5 to 16, at the breakfast table, no laptops or phones are allowed.
Mr. Steyer says he and his sons feel the temptation of technology early. Kirk, 14, often runs through much of his daily one-hour allotment of video-game time in the morning.
Even Jesse, 5, has started asking each morning if he can play games on his father’s iPhone. And Mr. Steyer said he constantly feels the tug of waiting messages on his BlackBerry, even during morning hours that are reserved for family time.
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“You have to resist the impulse. You have to switch from work mode to parenting mode,” Mr. Steyer said. “But meeting my own standard is tough.”There’s a pretty good chance we’re returning to the UK sometime in early 2011.
I went through some old photos today, remembering earlier trips, my standing stones, Castlerigg in the Lake District.
I had no idea what was ahead of us that evening. We were driving south from Scotland in our little rental car, Sam sitting on the wrong side of the car, using the wrong hand to shift, driving on the wrong side of the road. Except when we’re there, it’s the right side, and everything–everything feels right.
The sun was going down. I kept looking at the map, at the little hatch marks that showed some standing stones outside Keswick, and measuring the dropping sun against the miles ahead. I kept thinking, if we can only get there before dark, we have to get there before dark…
It felt important.
Urgent.
As if the stones were calling. Stones I’d never seen. Stones I only knew were there because I saw hatch marks on paper.
And we made it. And we stepped out of the rental car and into another universe.
We were alone, and the sky was on fire, and the stones called our names…
The view to the east that evening.
To the west.
People ask why we always go in February.
The answer is because so few others do.
There is magic there in the quiet places.
There is magic there.
AdvertisementsThis is a collection of thoughts from women facing the emotional roller coaster of infertility. Some of it may make you cry, some of it may make you smile. The important thing is to realize that you are not alone in your struggle. Infertility may be the most difficult time of your life spiritually, emotionally, financially, physically and mentally. If you are personally experiencing infertility (TTC longer than 12 months) my heart and prayers go out to you. God bless you.
What Nobody Told You About Trying to Conceive...
That unprotected sex doesn't necessarily lead to pregnancy.
That your sex life would start to resemble a science experiment.
That you would see your OBGYN/RE more often than your DH at O time.
That the longer you TTC, the more PG women spring up around you.
That deep down inside, I can be a very jealous person.
That one day you wouldn't mind checking your CM or CP to see if it is your fertile period.
That I should have gone to medical school like my mom wanted, because I've had to do so much medical research by now just to figure out what was wrong with me, I might as well be an M.D.
That I would know more about the female reproductive system and menstrual cycle than most of the doctors I go to.
That living your life in 2 week increments would be the norm
That you never knew how much you wanted to see those 2 pink lines......until only one shows up every month
That simply relaxing will NOT get you pregnant. (your dh has to do some work too)
That you have no control over some of the goals you set...
That wishing really hard for something doesn't make it happen, and staring at your chart doesn't make it change!
That one day my DH would know so much about how my uterus functions and what it looks like from the inside (thanks HSGs).
That a pregnancy doesn't always equal a baby.
That miscarriage is so common.
That I would wish we had started TTC earlier.
That my friends' pregnancies would start to make me sad instead of happy.
That I wasted ALOT of money on Birth control pills!!
That it would help bring a group of wonderful, caring, funny, empathetic women together like this.
That I would EVER be willing to stick a little blue pill up my hoo-haa (estrace pill...done vaginally),
That I'd EVER be willing to stab myself in the stomach or @ss every day in the hopes that it will help get me PG.
That it wouldn't happen the first time you didn't use birth control like we were led to believe in school.
That you wouldn't know how important a baby was to you until it took so long and you realized what you were willing to go through to make it happen.
That family would act like getting pregnant was a competition between all the young couples in the family, and the first one to get pg "wins".
That my DH is the most wonderful and caring man!
That it is insensitive to ask people when they are having a baby!
Tat women who do get pregnant are so very blessed!
That I could have been rich saving money on condoms, which were obviously unecessary.
That I would be happy to see abundant cervial fluid and tell my DH about it.
That other people's "good news" of pregnancy makes me sad and when they tell me they have good news, I hope that they just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico.
That medicine and procedures are not a sure fire way to get pregnant but it is a sure fire way to lose money fast.
That had I bought stock in Clearblue Easy I'd have my mansion on St. Pete's Beach in FL by now.
That docs should prescribe Zoloft with Clomid.
That having flo show up makes you cry, no matter who's bathroom you are in.
That it does not get easier, each cycle is harder than the last.
Feeling like you wish your life away in 2 week increments.
That I wouldn't want to hold or see someone's baby because it just hurts way too much.
That a group of "strangers" who I will probably never meet, have now become my "best friends" when it comes to ttc.
That I would splash urine on my face while taking apart an hpt in the hopes there really was a 2nd pink line hiding in it.
That talking about sex with fellow TTCers would be so easy.
That infertility is more common than you think.
That DH would get used to doing his 'thing' in a jar.
That one day all of this will make us stronger.
That there is sometimes darkness (infertility) before the light (a baby).
That no one I know (in my non FF life) would have any understanding as to how I feel.
That my temper and patience are much shorter than I ever thought.
That infertility is not as rare as I was led to believe.
That I would find it extremely difficult to be happy for other people's pregnancies and I would burst into tears upon hearing their news.
That my faith in God would be tested heavily.
That I would make so many new, wonderful friends who totally get how I feel because we all suffer from the same affliction of infertility.
That it could hurt so much to lose your innocence.
That I am very bitter towards unmarried accidental pgcys, and slightly bitter towards married accidental pgcys.
That there is nothing to aid conception in the water at work, despite what some may say.
That I am so glad my neice was born when she was, early in our ttc, because if she were born now I don't think I could deal with it.
That someone I thought to be my best friend would hurt me by saying that she was sick of hearing about my efforts at ttc.
That I'd discover who my true friends are, both IRL and online.
That I'd ever be able to bond with my step-sister (also infertile).
That I'd be glad to know that I have PCOS - because at least I know what's wrong.
That I would know about other peoples' BD, CP, CM but not know there real name, their DH's name, or their occupation.
That I could spend so much time and money on figuring out what my body is doing (or not doing).
That I would have to rely on doctors to give me the final say-so on what I can or can't do (on a med/procedure break forced by my RE against my wishes)
That foreplay would consist of DH asking "How's your cervix today"
That an HSG will tell you more than just whether or not your tubes are blocked. I had no idea your uterus could be misshaped.
That one person could be "cursed" with so many different fertility problems.
That I should have become a gyno-which I think at this point I know more then some.
That some people just say the wrong things.
That a simple blood test costs $648!
That sex would ever become a chore!
That actually having a miscarriage would allow me to understand the loss that others have felt.
That miscarriage would make me want a baby even more than before!
That I would resent someone who has been trying less time than me telling me "I know how you feel..."
That DH would be overly concerned that our BD positions were the most effective ones!
That I would become NUMB to the wonderful world around me that I already have (DH, DD, family, friends, dogs, fun, etc)!
That I would become addicted to POAS and not sleep at night because I couldn't wait to POAS in the morning!
That I would be so sad, and ashamed.
That I would learn to speak in code
Like I checked Cm which was EWCM but when I will POAS who knows, dh won't let me for fear of BFN
That when AF showed up you would feel broken and disfunctional.
That your friendships with your real life girlfriends would suffer because they got pregnant after being off the pill for 3 weeks.
That this would be, by far, one of the hardest things you will ever have to go through.
That you HAVE to have sex even though you don't feel like it, but because your FM says high or peak.
That people would pity you and feel sorry for you.
That I would meet such wonderful group of people that I can share my sorrow, frustration and fears with.
That I would be going to a psychic to find out if there was a baby in my future (she told me twins in 3 to 5 months!)
That I would dream about taking my temperature and be disappointed if I woke up at 3am and it wasn't time yet.
That I would stop fantasizing about having a baby because it stopped making me happy.
That I would buy herbs and otc creams like vitex and progest, use them for two days, and then chicken out.
That I would hear well-meaning questions like: "Have you thought of taking your temperature?" (and this is after 20 months TTC...)
That my brother, who started TTC at the same time we did and whose wife got PG three months later, would go on and on telling me how tough and tiring life with a baby is, and then finish with: "You have no idea what it's like!"
That the two little words of "just relax" uttered by everyone I know would enfuriate me beyond belief.
That someone would suggest adoption to me in order to get pregnant (because it happened to a friend of theirs) before I had even had any testing done.
That we would have to schedule a BD session so DH could do it in a cup a few days later.
That I would have to help DH do it in a cup. (Just this morning!)
That my friends who started TTC #1 around the same time we did would already be pregnant with #2 before we get pregnant with #1.
That I wouldn't be able to attend my friend's babies 1st birthday parties because of the quesiton, "So, when are ya'll going to have children."
That the people around me would become more insensitive as time goes on. "It is so hard having a new baby, you just wouldn't understand." or "Be happy you're not tied down."
That I would watch a Baby Story every day... only to cry every day.
That it puts this much strain on a marriage.
That I spent years trying not to get pregnant, and praying for my period. Now I can't seem to lose the witch!
It's good to know I am not alone.
That I would have to listen to people complain about their children as if they were burdens while a child is the one thing in the world I want the most. Also, they sound as if they are trying to talk me out of having kids, like it is the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to me.
That being overweight would cause people to ask when I'm due, which in turn could cause me to cry.
That I would yell at commercials on the TV (that "having a baby changes everything" one really gets to me. I can't watch it without snapping "So does not having one.")
That I would have to stop watching Birth Day and A Baby Story (two shows I love) because it just hurts too much.
That every girl should go to the gyn as soon as she gets AF the first time. If I had, I would have been dx with PCOS a lot faster.
That a friend would hid and ignore her own pregnancy to try to keep me from being upset. (we found out when she gave birth)
That sex does NOT ALWAY equal pregnancy or STD every time
That your body has its own mind.
That you would be keeping it a secret from everyone.
That you would cry your eyeballs out b/c AF showed.
That you would be jealous when everyone around you get pg including your 16yo cousin.
That you would tell everyone you're not ready for a child when they ask what your waiting for.
Life as you know it will be interrupted for two weeks.
That the broken heart you feel each month that is equal to the pain you feel when you lose a loved one.
That all of a sudden nursing other people's babies becomes a depressing NOT joyful feeling
That you feel useless as a female
That you will soon be lying through your teeth telling people that you don't want children
That you feel that your body has betrayed you by not delivering a regular cycle, the right about of the required "hormones" or doing what it should now how to do.
That you feel stupid and naive for thinking a pregnancy would occur "when it was supposed to".
That answering questions (and usually lying) about pregnancy or family plans would hurt so bad.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
Mike Schmitz analyzes the versatile shooting stroke and extraordinarily high skill-level of Finnish 7-footer Lauri Markkanen, looking at the many different ways Arizona is utilizing his talent en route to a 7-0 start in the Pac-12 (18-2 overall).Markkanen, who currently leads the NCAA in half-court scoring efficiency, is the only high major player shooting over 50% or higher from 3-point range with at least 90 attempts.Remarkably, he already ranks among the best shooting 7-footers in NCAA history in terms of volume of 3-pointers made, and will likely crack #1 in that category sometime in the next few weeks.Arizona's coaching staff is using Markkanen in a myriad of different ways, which has helped him demonstrate his extraordinary versatility offensively. That includes letting him run off screens thanks to his tremendous agility, footwork and quick release, or as the ball-handler in pick and roll sets with fellow 7-footer Dusan Ristic, which is extremely difficult for collegiate defenses to handle.His shot-preparation, body control and range are almost unheard of for a player his size, and the fact that he is a threat in spot-up situations, pick and pops, and dribble hand-offs helps keep the floor spaced perfectly for Arizona and gives his guards plenty of room to operate in the half-court. With the added spacing of the more distant NBA 3-point line, its not a stretch to wonder how much more room Markkanen will have to get clean looks.Markkanen's jumper is extremely difficult to contest effectively because of his high release point and slight lean back, and he regularly makes well-defended shots with a hand in his face.When well-defended on an initial action, Markkanen is showing increasing comfort going out and getting his own shot, attacking closeouts or even in one on one situations. He mixes in step-backs and will take the ball strong to the basket at times as well.The next step for him (offensively) is to develop is ability to operate from the mid to low post, improve his ability to drive right, become a better playmaker with the ball in his hands, and do a better job of drawing contact and getting to the free throw line.Mike Schmitz is the video analyst for DraftExpress. Follow him on twitter and check out the DraftExpress Video section. He will be breaking down the NBA draft in digital format all year long for us.The building at 190 Bowery is a mystery: a graffiti-covered Gilded Age relic, with a beat-up wooden door that looks like it hasn’t been opened since La Guardia was mayor. A few years ago, that described a lot of the neighborhood, but with the Bowery Hotel and the New Museum, the Rogan and John Varvatos boutiques, 190 is now an anomaly, not the norm. Why isn’t some developer turning it into luxury condos?
Because Jay Maisel, the photographer who bought it 42 years ago for $102,000, still lives there, with his wife, Linda Adam Maisel, and daughter, Amanda. It isn’t a decrepit ruin; 190 Bowery is a six-story, 72-room, 35,000-square-foot (depending on how you measure) single-family home.
I can’t believe it, says Corcoran’s Robby Browne, an expert in downtown real estate. I thought it was vacant.
Even in the annals of If only I’d bought that Soho loft in 1974 stories, this is extreme. In 1966, Maisel was a young artist, paying $125 a month for a 2,500-square-foot studio at 122 Second Avenue (his neighbors were Larry Rivers and La MaMa founder Ellen Stewart). But when his landlord raised the rent an unconscionable $50 a month, Maisel went to Jack Klein, a broker who, he says, had found spaces for Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. We took an instant dislike to each other, says Maisel. But the first property Klein showed Maisel was the abandoned Germania Bank, built in 1898, when the neighborhood was largely middle-class and German. I said, You got a lot like this?’ Maisel recalls. Klein said, This is why I hate photographers. They want the Taj Mahal and they want it for six bucks a month. No, I don’t have a lot like this.’
Interpersonal friction aside, Klein convinced Maisel he could raise the money to buy the abandoned bank. That was the easy part. Then he moved in. The main floor was knee-deep in garbage and coated in soot. I had to shovel shit against the tide, says Maisel. He wasn’t getting a lot of support either; the Bowery was where people ended up, not where they aspired to live. My parents cried, he says. Every single thing that can come out of a human body has been left on my doorstep. But it was more disgusting than dangerous.
The house now feels like a dream world, or a benign version of the vast hotel in The Shining. Hallways go on forever. Rooms are filled with projects in various phases of completion. The renovations, mostly done by Maisel, are very artists live here. The air-conditioning, for example, is a building-wide network of giant plastic tubing (the kind used to ventilate greenhouses) that funnels cool air from six units, one on each floor. It would have cost thousands to put in central air when I moved in, he explains. The Mylar shades on the windows help keep the heat out; he and Linda make them in one of the rooms on the fifth floor.
Bedrooms, bathrooms, and dining are on the sixth floor; the kitchen was once where the staff cooked meals for the bankers. Linda cooks a lot, but when they do order in, it’s a riot, she says. You have to wait downstairs and watch for the delivery person, because they’ll pass right by. Who is going to think that there is one person ordering from this building? Who wants to leave their bicycle outside?
There’s only one elevator, the original copper cage from 1898. It’s gleamingly clean and in excellent working order, though it’s gotten stuck once or twice. You know what a sign of love is, in this family? It’s if you come home and the elevator is on the ground floor, says Linda. Because that means whoever came home before you walked up twelve flights of stairs.
Maisel uses the first, second, and third floors as gallery spaces for his photography and art projects. (This magazine’s first cover was a Maisel photograph.) The fourth floor, which Maisel once rented out to Roy Lichtenstein, is a work-in-progress. The fifth has various workshops, like the Mylar-window-shade room.
But there have been no major changes to the interior. It’s essentially unchanged from the Germania Bank that architect Robert Maynicke designed for the then-bourgeois neighborhood (it cost $200,000 to build). The original safe-deposit vault, still in the basement, is the size of a generous studio apartment; the marks on the main floor where the teller booths once stood are still clearly visible.
The building is its own mini-frontier, and, as of 2005, an official landmark. Here’s the deal, Maisel says. If you have a window that needs fixing, you fix it. If I have a window that is broken, I have to repair it, with approval, the way it was done in 1898. Upkeep is constant. A typical day is first we might have to clean the sidewalks, says Linda. Because we’re responsible for the sidewalks in front of our building. Or the fire department comes for a walk-through, or the meters need fixing, or the boiler. Or the graffiti police come by.
That’s another headache. The city wants the exterior graffiti-free, but it’s impossible: 190 Bowery is a mecca for street artists, as its neighbor 11 Spring was before it went luxury. Maisel tried scrubbing the building every week, but it was like I was providing a fresh canvas for them. Keith Haring used to cover the exterior in chalk babies, says Maisel, and that he liked, both for the spirit of the images and because they washed off so easily.
The building is still giving up its secrets. About a month ago, Amanda discovered a room she never knew existed. It’s kind of in the mezzanine between the first and second floors, she says. It’s a cool little room. I don’t know why they don’t use it. It is just kind of full of pieces of mirror.
So, will the Maisels ever sell? Or, more to the point, what’s holding them back? By modest estimates, and even in this economy, the building is worth tens of millions of dollars (see the estimates, here), and the property is so prime that sometimes Linda does reconnaissance before she takes out the trash for fear she’ll have to fend off yet another aggressive agent. One man called me a bitch because I told him the building wasn’t for sale, she says.
The Maisels are thinking of renting out the first floor, with its polished wooden floors and basketball hoop over the front door (for more information, e-mail [email protected]). But leaving?
I fantasize about never having to worry about money again, Maisel muses. It would be great to take the money and run. But let’s face it, where are we going to go? A three-room apartment?Ex-Walmart employee accused of killing former boss denied bond
An ex-Walmart employee accused of fatally stabbing his former boss will appear in court Thursday. Caswayne Williams was arrested Wednesday at the corner of Fairbanks Avenue and Wymore Road, hours after investigators said he stabbed Davon Brown, 25, near the Walmart on Lee Road and Adanson Street. >>Download the WESH 2 News app for iOS and Android Brown died at Florida Hospital, Orange County deputies said. Investigators said Brown used to be Williams' supervisors at the store. Brown was working when he was stabbed, deputies said. Thursday's court hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m.
An ex-Walmart employee accused of fatally stabbing his former boss will appear in court Thursday.
Caswayne Williams was arrested Wednesday at the corner of Fairbanks Avenue and Wymore Road, hours after investigators said he stabbed Davon Brown, 25, near the Walmart on Lee Road and Adanson Street.
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>>Download the WESH 2 News app for iOS and Android
Brown died at Florida Hospital, Orange County deputies said.
Investigators said Brown used to be Williams' supervisors at the store.
Brown was working when he was stabbed, deputies said.
Thursday's court hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m.
Ex Walmart employee stabbed and killed current employee @wesh pic.twitter.com/4W94Fh0bMh — Gail Paschall-Brown (@gpbwesh) March 1, 2017
AlertMe‘Facebook-Killer’ Synereo Raises $2M in First Six Hours of Crowdsale
Synereo, a new social platform with ambitions to “decentralize the web,” has launched its second crowdsale, raising almost $2 million USD in the first six hours.
Also read: ‘Yours Network’ to Use Bitcoin in Competition Against Steemit
$2 Million Raised and Counting
The Tel-Aviv-based startup aims to be more than just a decentralized version of Facebook. Synereo said its platform allows anyone to develop, run and build their own decentralized networks. In |
to come, wherever we have an opportunity, we’re going to take steps on our own to keep this economy moving.”
Obama, speaking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, praised Congress for voting to extend the payroll tax cut. He said this helps the middle class, adding that he will fight for middle class voters regardless of what Congress does.
“With or without Congress, I’m going to continue to fight for them. I do hope Congress joins me instead of spending the coming months in a lot of phony political debates focusing on the next election.”
Earlier Tuesday, the White House announced that as part of its “We Can’t Wait” campaign, the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce will expand the federal government’s purchase of bio-based products, promote regional rural job creation efforts, and develop a rural health care workforce.
“The actions we are taking will bring new economic investments to our rural communities, to ensure the people who live in these towns have a better, brighter future,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who chairs the White House Rural Council.
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Obama issued a presidential directive calling for a 50-percent increase in the number of federally purchased bio-based products, including items such as paints, soaps and detergents that are developed from farm-grown plants, rather than chemicals or petroleum bases.
The White House also announced the Rural Jobs Accelerator. It is a national competition that will provide about $15 million for projects already appropriated to the USDA, the Economic Development Administration (EDA), Delta Regional Authority and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Further, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor signed a memorandum to connect community colleges and technical colleges that support rural communities with the materials and resources they need to support the training of Health Information Technology (HIT) professionals that work in rural hospitals and clinics.The Bulls have many holes to fill on their roster this summer.
In parts one and two of my free agency series, I covered their needs for a defensive center and wing depth. In part three, I’ll break down their situation at point guard.
The Bulls have needed a quality backup at point guard for half a decade. In the past, they have opted for a combination of Kirk Hinrich and undersized one-year veteran rentals.
The Bulls haven’t put any real thought into a steady Rose backup since Marquis Teague was drafted in 2012.
Rose has played 39, 0, 10, 51, and 66 games in the past five years. The team needs to spend some dough on a real point guard to play behind and potentially replace Rose once his contract expires at the end of the season.
The bad news for the Bulls is that this year’s free agent class is weak at point guard. They may try to address their point guard needs through the draft, but they will likely have to trade...FORT SMITH, Ark. — An Arkansas university has changed its restroom policies after a transgender student filed a complaint with the U.S Department of Justice.
The University of Arkansas Fort Smith said its ladies rest rooms are now open to female-identifying transgender students; previously the school only allowed transgender individuals to use gender-neutral or unisex bathrooms.
The policy change was prompted by Jennifer Braly, a 38-year-old UAFS junior who is a transgender woman. Braly was upset after being instructed to use only gender-neutral restrooms on campus; she said she previously used the women’s restrooms and gender-neutral restrooms until another student complained.
R. Mark Horn, the school’s Vice-Chancellor, said the policy change was made after the Justice Department sent a letter to the university system’s lawyers, reported Inside Higher Ed.
The university wouldn’t make that letter available, citing federal privacy laws, but Justice Department spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa confirmed that a letter had been sent informing the university of the complaint.
Hinojosa said the letter did not direct the university to take any specific action.
“Consistent with our standard practice of notifying schools in writing that the department has received a complaint, the department simply advised the university that it was reviewing the complaint to determine whether there had been a violation of the federal laws enforced by the department that prohibit sex discrimination,” a DOJ spokesperson said.
The university would not comment on the specifics of Braly’s complaint, and only said that transgender students are now allowed to use restrooms based on the individual’s gender identity.
This Story Filed Under'Cartoon campaign' to erase old scars of Japanese brutality finds lukewarm success in China
A screen grab of a viral Twitter post by Japanese user @FGO424.
Japanese netizens have invented a number of cartoon characters and named them "Ri Ben Gui Zi," a term Chinese people have used since the early 1900s to refer to brutal Japanese soldiers invading China. The campaign aims to replace the violent images that turn up in search results for "Ri Ben Gui Zi" with their own cartoon characters, and let the painful history gradually be forgotten.
A viral Twitter post by Japanese user @FGO424 revealed how Japanese netizens came up with the plan to alter the connotation of “Ri Ben Gui Zi,” literally meaning “Japanese devils” in Chinese. Since 2010, Japanese web users have been trying to use cartoons to "mesmerize the Chinese people,” ultimately imbuing the term with new meaning.
"Usually when you search the term, search engines turn up images of anti-Japanese protests or bloody scenes. But what would happen if they instead showed pages of a super cute cartoons? Would people laugh and be enchanted by it?” a post wondered.
The chosen catroon image of Ri Ben Gui Zi.
Netizens later designed and uploaded a variety of images. In the end, they voted for the “most adorable” one: a cartoon girl. On Nov. 1, 2010, the chosen image even had a Wikipedia page established on its behalf.
These endeavors seemed to have had an effect. Chinese editors from Guancha.com recently typed the term into both Google and a Japanese version of Yahoo. The cartoon took up half the results on Google's first page, and almost the entire first page on the Japanese site.
The cartoon took up half the results on Google's first page.
But Chinese people have taken a skeptical approach to the matter.
“The results in search engines might change, but history remains the same, and we will never forget it," one online comment read.
Another netizen advised, “Instead of attempting to blur the vision of the Chinese people, the Japanese would do better to face the past.”
The First Sino-Japanese War took place between China's Qing Dynasty and the Empire of Japan from 1894 to 1895. The Second Sino-Japanese War, between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, took place between 1937 and 1945, becoming part of World War II in 1941.Sometimes, you don't even need that. Here are seven match-ups where one party is so clearly outmatched they make Ralph Nader seem like a safe bet.
No one can predict what will happen when one superhero takes on another. Well, other than the fact that the guy whose name is on the comic book cover is going to win.
7 Captain Boomerang Vs. The Flash
While most Superman stories boil down to "He punches something REALLY hard" (or in the grittier, psychological stories, "He's really DETERMINED to punch something really hard"), the Flash's stories are based on a fine balance. The balance between the colossal stupidity of his enemies and the not-quite-so-colossal stupidity of the hero, who never seems to remember that since he has superhuman speed, he could kill anyone before they even know they're his enemy, literally the instant he decides to do so.
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But even this balance swung over to "wildly one-sided" when he fought Captain Boomerang.
We seriously doubt that there is a Boomerang Army, or that they would promote this man to captain.
How do you take on a hero who can outrun bullets? If you're George Harkness you think, "I'll use slower projectiles that are designed to return to me, and because I have the mental faculties of a goldfish and have already forgotten the beginning of this sentence, I will then strap explosives to these projectiles! I can see no possible flaw in this plan!"
Harkness turned to crime after an audience ridiculed his boomeranging prowess, a decision which turned out even worse than you'd expect. Captain Boomerang is considered a joke even among the Rogue's Gallery of mental patients that are Flash villains, and those guys take orders from a talking Gorilla.Jehovah's Witnesses suffered religious persecution in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 after refusing to perform military service, join Nazi organizations or give allegiance to the Hitler regime. An estimated 10,000 Witnesses—half of the number of members in Germany during that period—were imprisoned, including 2000 who were sent to Nazi concentration camps. An estimated 1200 died in custody, including 250 who were executed. They were the first Christian denomination banned by the Nazi government and the most extensively and intensively persecuted.[1]
Unlike Jews and Romani, who were persecuted on the basis of their ethnicity, Jehovah's Witnesses could escape persecution and personal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs by signing a document indicating renunciation of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military.[2] Historian Sybil Milton concludes that "their courage and defiance in the face of torture and death punctures the myth of a monolithic Nazi state ruling over docile and submissive subjects."[3]
Despite early attempts to demonstrate shared goals with the National Socialist regime, the group came under increasing public and governmental persecution from 1933, with many expelled from jobs and schools, deprived of income, and suffering beatings and imprisonment. Historians are divided over whether the Nazis intended to exterminate them, but several authors have claimed the Witnesses' outspoken condemnation of the Nazis contributed to their level of suffering.
Pre-Nazi era [ edit ]
Jehovah's Witnesses were an outgrowth of the International Bible Students, who began missionary work in Europe in the 1890s. A German branch office of the Watch Tower Society opened in Elberfeld in 1902. By 1933, almost 20,000 Witnesses were counted as active door-to-door preachers, and their annual Memorial service was attracting almost 25,000 people.[4] In Dresden, there were more Bible Students than in New York, where the Watch Tower Society was headquartered.
Members of the movement, who were known as Ernste Bibelforscher, or Earnest Bible Students, had attracted opposition since the end of World War I, with accusations that they were Bolsheviks, communists and covertly Jewish. From 1920, the German Evangelical Church called for a ban on Watch Tower Society publications, which were engaging in increasing amounts of antichurch polemic. Through the remainder of the 1920s, opposition mounted from a combination of church and Völkisch movement agitation and pamphlet campaigns. Nazis began to harass Bible Students, with SA members also disrupting meetings.[4]
From 1922, German Bible Students were arrested on charges of illegal peddling as they publicly distributed Watch Tower Society literature. Between 1927 and 1930, almost 5,000 charges were brought against members of the movement, and although most ended in acquittals[6] some "severe sentences" were also handed down.[8]
From 1930, calls for state intervention against the Bible Students increased, and on 28 March 1931, Reich President Paul von Hindenburg issued the Decree for the Resistance of Political Acts of Violence, which provided for action to be taken in cases in which religious organizations, institutions or customs were "abused or maliciously disparaged". Bavaria became the first German state where the decree was used against the Bible Students, with a police order issued on November 18 to prohibit and confiscate all Bible Student publications throughout the state. A second decree in 1932 widened the ban in other German states. By the end of 1932, more than 2,300 charges against Bible Students were pending.[8]
Legislative developments [ edit ]
Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, and from that point forward, persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses intensified. Witnesses, being politically neutral, refused to swear loyalty to the Nazi regime. Initially, Witness indifference to the Nazi state manifested itself in the refusal to raise their arms in the Nazi salute, join the German Labor Front, participate in Nazi welfare collections, perform air raid duties, or participate in Nazi rallies and parades.[3] Nazi Party SA stormtroopers raided the homes of Witnesses who failed to vote in a November 1933 plebiscite over German withdrawal from the League of Nations and marched them to the polling booths. Some were beaten or forced to walk holding placards declaring their "betrayal" of the fatherland; in one town, a billboard was displayed in the marketplace listing Bible Student "traitors" who had not voted, and mobs also gathered outside Witnesses' homes to throw stones or chant. Similar action was taken at subsequent elections in the one-party state.
Nazi authorities denounced Jehovah's Witnesses for their ties to the United States and derided the apparent revolutionary millennialism of their preaching that a battle of Armageddon would precede the rule of Christ on earth. They linked Jehovah's Witnesses to "international Jewry" by pointing to Witness reliance on certain Old Testament texts. The Nazis had grievances with many of the smaller Protestant groups on these issues, but only Jehovah's Witnesses and the Christadelphian Church refused to bear arms or swear loyalty to the state.[3]
Activities of the Bible Students Association were banned in the states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Bavaria on 10 April 1933 and 13 April 1933, respectively. When Witnesses responded with a nationwide house-to-house booklet distribution campaign, many were arrested, and within a week bans were extended to the states of Saxony and Hessen. Publications were also confiscated in some states. On 24 April, police seized the Bible Student headquarters at Magdeburg, withdrawing five days later after US diplomatic efforts. From mid-May, other states issued decrees outlawing the Bible Students, and by the middle of June they were banned in almost every state. In one state's decree, the rationale for the ban was said to be that Bible Students were "imposing" Watch Tower Society journals on householders, "which contain malicious attacks on the major Christian churches and their institutions".
Prussia, Germany's biggest state, imposed a ban on 24 June, explaining that the Bible Students were attracting and harboring subversive former members of the Communist and Marxist parties. Its decree added that the Bible Students:
"...are obviously involved in agitation against political and religious institutions in word and written form. By declaring both institutions as agencies of Satan, they undermine the very foundation of life in the people's community. In their numerous publications... they deliberately and maliciously misrepresent Bible accounts for the purpose of ridiculing State and church institutions. One of the characteristics of their struggle is a fanatical manipulation of their followers... It is therefore obvious that the above-mentioned association tends to be in complete opposition to the present state and its cultural and moral structures.
(page 1) Wilmersdorfer Erklaerung 1933-06-25(page 1)
On 25 June 1933, about 7000 Witnesses assembled at the Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen in Berlin, where a 3800-word "Declaration of Facts" was issued. The document, written by Watch Tower Society president J.F. Rutherford, asserted the group's political neutrality, appealed for the right to publicly preach, and claimed it was the victim of a misinformation campaign by other churches.[13] Some 2.1 million copies of the declaration, reproduced as a four-page pamphlet, were distributed publicly throughout Germany, with a copy also sent to Hitler, accompanied by a seven-page cover letter assuring the Chancellor that the IBSA "was not in opposition to the national government of the German Reich", but that, to the contrary, "the entirely religious, nonpolitical objectives and efforts of the Bible Students" were "completely in agreement with the corresponding goals of the national government". German historian Detlef Garbe described the declaration as part of the group's efforts to adapt at a time of increasing persecution, while Canadian historian Professor James Penton, a former Jehovah's Witness and critic of the denomination, claimed the declaration was a compromising document that proves "that Watch Tower leaders were attempting to pander to the Nazis" —an allegation the Watch Tower Society rejected in a 1998 magazine article.[16]
The distribution of the declaration prompted a new wave of persecution against German Witnesses. On 28 June, thirty stormtroopers occupied the branch office for a second time, closing the factory, sealing the printing presses, and hoisting a swastika over the building. In late August, authorities used 25 trucks to transport about 70 tonnes of Watch Tower literature and Bibles to the city's outskirts and publicly burned them. Preaching activities and meetings in private homes continued, though the threat of Gestapo raids caused many believers to withdraw association and activity in some places ceased. When authorities discovered banned literature was being smuggled into Germany from abroad, Bavarian police ordered the confiscation of mail of all known Bible Students and expressed irritation that their activity was increasing rather than ceasing.
By early 1934, Rutherford had concluded that an improvement in conditions within Germany was unlikely. On 9 February 1934, the Watch Tower Society president sent a strongly worded letter to Hitler, asking the chancellor to allow the Witnesses to assemble and worship without hindrance, warning that if he failed to do so by 24 March, the organization would publicise their "unjust treatment" throughout the world. He threatened that Jehovah God would also punish Hitler and destroy him at Armageddon. The society's German branch president Paul Balzereit directed members that they should continue to distribute The Watchtower, but that meetings be kept to about three to five people in size and public preaching be discontinued. But in September 1934, at an international convention of 3,500 Witnesses in Basel, Switzerland, under the theme "Fear Them Not", Rutherford reversed the instruction. He urged the 1,000 German Witnesses present to resume completely their preaching activity, starting with a collective witnessing effort on 7 October. The convention also passed a resolution of protest, a copy of which was sent to Hitler with the warning: "Refrain from further persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses; otherwise God will destroy you and your national party."
On 8 October, an international campaign was launched to flood the Reich chancellory with telegrams and letters of protest. Five hundred protest telegrams were sent to the chancellory that day. and during the next two days, large numbers arrived from around the world, most of them from the United States, Britain, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Foreign post offices were told to stop transmitting the telegrams because the recipient refused to accept them, and on 10 October, the Berlin main telegraph office arranged with several overseas telegraph offices to destroy all telegrams that had not yet been transmitted. More than 1,000 letters—almost all of them with the same wording and signed "Jehovah's Witnesses"—were also received at the presidential office, and in November, those letters were transferred to the Secret State Police "for further investigation".
In late 1934, all state bans against the Witnesses were replaced with a prohibition at the Reich level. State governments were instructed in July 1935 to confiscate all Watch Tower Society publications, including Bibles, and in December, nine Watch Tower leaders were sentenced to up to 2½ years in jail for defying bans. Yet throughout 1933 and 1934 some courts continued to acquit Witnesses after legal and constitutional challenges.
Nazi renunciation document
When Germany reintroduced universal military service in 1935, Jehovah's Witnesses generally refused to enroll. Although they were not pacifists, they refused to bear arms for any political power. The Nazis prosecuted Jehovah's Witnesses for failing to report for conscription and arrested those who did missionary work for undermining the morale of the nation. John Conway, a British historian, stated that they were "against any form of collaboration with the Nazis and against service in the army."[22]
Children of Jehovah's Witnesses also suffered under the Nazi regime. In classrooms, teachers ridiculed children who refused to give the Heil Hitler salute or sing patriotic songs. Principals found reasons to expel them from school. Following the lead of adults, classmates shunned or beat the children of Witnesses. On occasion, authorities sought to remove children from their Witness parents and send them to other schools, orphanages, or private homes to be brought up as "good Germans".[3]
Jehovah's Witnesses could, however, escape persecution and personal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs. From 1935, Gestapo officers offered members a document to sign indicating renunciation of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military. By signing the document, individuals vowed to refrain from any association with members of the IBSA for the purposes of studying the Bible, The Watchtower or other Bible Student publications, refrain from participating in any Bible Student activities and also to report to authorities any observations that members were continuing the organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses.[2] Garbe says a "relatively high number" of people signed the statement before the war, but "extremely low numbers" of Bible Student prisoners did so in concentration camps in later years.
Punishment [ edit ]
From 1933, Witnesses working in post offices, railway stations or other civil service jobs began to be dismissed for refusing to give the compulsory Hitler salute. From August 1934, they could also lose their jobs for refusing to take an official oath swearing loyalty and obedience to Hitler. Teachers were required to sign a statement confirming they were not members of the International Bible Students Association and were fired if they refused. Jehovah's Witnesses were dismissed in the private sector as well, often at the insistence of the German Labor Front (DAF) or Nazi Party members. In 1936, the Nazi press urged that Bible Students be removed from all German companies, while self-employed members of the group were denied professional or business licences to carry out their work on the basis that their refusal to join Nazi organizations marked them as "politically unreliable".
The state confiscated motor vehicles and bicycles used by Witnesses in their businesses, withdrew driver's licences, withdrew pensions, and evicted Witnesses from their homes. Schoolchildren were required to sing the Horst Wessel song and Deutschlandlied at a flag salute roll call, give the Hitler salute, and take part in ceremonies honoring Hitler; those who refused were beaten by teachers, and sometimes by classmates, while many were also expelled. From March 1936, authorities began removing Witness children from their parents, forcing some of them to undergo "corrective training".
From early 1935, Gestapo officers began widening their use of "protective detention", usually when judges failed to convict Witnesses on charges of defying the Bible Student ban. Bible Students deemed to "present an imminent danger to the National Socialist state because of their activities" were from that point not handed to courts for punishment but sent directly to concentration camps for incarceration for several months. However, even those who completed their prison terms were routinely arrested by the Gestapo upon release and taken into protective custody.
More brutal methods of punishment began to be applied from 1936, including horsewhipping, prolonged daily beatings, the torture of family members and the threat of shooting. Some Witnesses were placed in mental institutions and subjected to psychiatric treatment; sterilization was ordered for some deemed to be "stubborn" in their refusal to denounce their faith.
Following an assembly in Lucerne, Switzerland in early September 1936, up to 3000 copies of a resolution of protest were sent to government, public and clerical leaders, stepping up the Watch Tower Society's anti-Catholic polemic. Several German Witnesses who attended the convention were arrested by waiting police as they returned to their homes, and between August and September the Gestapo arrested more than 1000 members. The society responded with a pamphlet campaign on 12 December, dropping up to 200,000 copies of the Lucerne resolution in mailboxes and also leaving them at phone booths, park benches and parked cars. Those arrested in subsequent police raids were sentenced to up to two years in prison. The number of arrests increased; in Dresden alone, as many as 1500 Witnesses had been arrested by mid-1937. Another letterbox campaign was carried out in June 1937, a year in which the Watch Tower Society announced German Witnesses had distributed more than 450,000 books and booklets in 12 months.
Compulsory military service for all men between 18 and 45 years of age was introduced by Hitler in March 1935. No exemptions were provided for religious or conscientious reasons, and Witnesses who refused to serve or take the oath of allegiance to Hitler were sent to prison or concentration camp, generally for terms of one or two years. At the outbreak of war in August 1939, more serious punishments were applied. A decree was enacted that greatly increased penal regulations during periods of war and states of emergency and included in the decree was an offense of "demoralization of the armed forces"; any refusal to perform military service or public inducement to this effect would be punishable by death. Between August 1939 and September 1940, 152 Bible Students appeared before the highest military court of the Wehrmacht, charged with demoralization of the armed forces, and 112 were executed, usually by beheading. Garbe estimates about 250 German and Austrian Jehovah's Witnesses were executed during World War II as a result of military court decisions. In November 1939, another regulation was issued providing for the jailing of anyone who supported or belonged to an "anti-military association" or displayed an "anti-military attitude", which allowed authorities to impose prison sentences on the charge of IBSA membership. Death penalties were applied frequently after 1943.
Concentration camps [ edit ]
From 1935, the authorities began sending hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses to concentration camps, where they were imprisoned with Communists, Socialists, other political prisoners and union members. In May 1938, they accounted for 12 percent of all prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar; by May 1939, they represented 40 percent of all prisoners at Schloss Lichentenburg, the central concentration camp for women, though as the total number of prisoners increased rapidly, the proportion of Witnesses generally fell to about 3 percent. About 2000 Witnesses were eventually sent to Nazi concentration camps, where they were identified by purple triangles; as many as 1200 died in custody, including 250 who were executed.[31] Garbe claims members of the group were special objects of hatred by the SS, receiving beatings, whippings and public humiliation and given the dirtiest and most laborious work details for refusing to salute, stand at attention or sing Nazi songs. They were subjected to high-pressure jets of ice-cold water from fire hydrants and subjected to arbitrary acts of torture, including pushing a fully laden wheelbarrow with their necks while crawling on hands and knees. Others were forced to stand still for an entire day in the heat or cold, or were confined in groups in small closets in an attempt to suffocate them. From March to December 1938, Jehovah's Witnesses in Buchenwald were not allowed to send or receive letters or to purchase food. Many approached starvation and were forced to eat leaves from trees and bushes. Many were forced to engage in a "drill" that included rolling, creeping, hopping, and running for 75 minutes while camp guards kicked and beat them, while others, forced to work in stone quarries, were refused medical attention when sick. Despite persecution, Jehovah's Witnesses continued to hold secret religious gatherings inside the camps.
Conditions for Witnesses improved in 1942, when they were increasingly given work details that required little supervision, such as farming, gardening, transportation and unloading goods, while others worked in civilian clothing in a health resort, as housekeepers for Nazi officials, or were given construction and craft tasks at military buildings.
In July 1944, Himmler ordered Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the head of the RSHA, to begin sending Jehovah's Witnesses to the occupied east. Himmler viewed the Jehovah's Witnesses as frugal, hard-working, honest and fanatic in their pacifism, and that these traits were extremely desirable for the suppressed nations in the east.[34]
Causes of persecution and Nazi motives [ edit ]
Jehovah's Witnesses were one of a range of religious denominations against whom authorities took action from 1933, declaring that they "contributed to the ideological fragmentation of the German people", preventing the forming of a united German community. Historians, including Canadian Michael H. Kater, Christine Elizabeth King from England and Austrian Wolfgang Neugebauer, have suggested the extraordinary animosity between National Socialism and Bible Student teachings was rooted in the similarity in structure of both ideologies, which were based on authoritarianism and totalitarianism and which each believed had a monopoly on the "truth".[36][37] Kater wrote:
Just as the National Socialist ideology, so were also the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses dominated not by a democratic but an authoritarian policy. Both systems were totalitarian in that they strictly integrated national comrades as well as fellow believers into the respective authoritarian structure and requested them to give up their own personal identity for the objectives of the system. While the National Socialists accepted the ""Führer State", the "Earnest Bible Students" submitted to the "Theocracy", in which not the Führer, but Jehovah, was the dictatorial ruler. Since both groups claimed exclusiveness, this inevitably had to result in conflict. A Bible Student who had devoted himself to Jehovah was in no way able to carry out the duties that the National Socialist State demanded of him as a national comrade.[38]
Garbe accepts that both ideologies claimed to represent the "epitome of truth", demanded the person as a whole, tolerated no questioning of ideology and also held a common belief in salvation utopias for certain parts of humankind and the vision of a Thousand-Year Reign. He adds that, pitted against a considerably more powerful organization, the group's efforts were doomed to fail.
German writer Falk Pingel argued that the source of controversy between the Bible Students and National Socialists was their determination to continue their religious activities despite restrictions[40] and Garbe, noting that the increasing repression by authorities simply provoked the group's determination to go underground and maintain their activity, concludes that "the extraordinary severity with which Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted resulted from a conflict that gradually escalated in an interaction of action and reaction... the authorities responsible for the persecution always responded with increasing severity to the continuous stubbornness of the IBSA members". He said the National Socialists were baffled by an opponent that, convinced it was being directed by God's channel, did not back down under intensified persecution, as expected. He wrote:
These factors could have contributed to the fact that... efforts to break their resolve were intensified and even more brutal. From this point of view, the IBSA members contributed to a certain extent to the severity of the NS actions, but this certainly does not mean that they intentionally provoked these measures.
Penton noted that in August 1933, then branch overseer Martin Harbeck directed members that they should cease distributing literature and holding meetings without police permission. (At the beginning of 1934, the branch chief he had temporarily replaced, Paul Balzereit, had issued a similar instruction.) He said the organization's later decision to abandon caution and direct members to intensify their preaching efforts was a "reckless" behavior that caused Witnesses and their families more suffering than was necessary. Hitler, Penton argued, had become highly popular with the German populace by 1936, yet Witnesses persisted in distributing a Rutherford booklet that described the chancellor as "of unsound mind, cruel, malicious and ruthless". He said the international campaign to swamp Hitler with telegrams of protest in October 1934 infuriated the chancellor and was a major factor in bringing greater governmental persecution on them. Citing Dietrich Hellmund's description of their "incredible public militancy", he wrote: "Jehovah's Witnesses were the most stridently outspoken conscientious objectors in the country, and the Nazis had no intention of putting up with them... No movement can constantly heap insults on all other religions, the business community and national governments in the way that the Bible Student-Jehovah's Witnesses did from 1918 onward without provoking a reaction."[42]
Scholars are divided over the ultimate intention of the Nazi regime towards Jehovah's Witnesses. Garbe believes the Gestapo considered members of the denomination to be "incorrigible" elements who had to be ruthlessly eliminated. The 1934 telegram protest had prompted an "hysterical" Hitler to vow that "this brood will be exterminated in Germany", and he repeated the threat in August 1942. Watch Tower Society writer Wolfram Slupina claims the Nazis "attempted to consign the Witnesses to oblivion by systematically exterminating them". But Penton has argued there is abundant evidence that the Nazis had no intention to eradicate Witnesses. Since they were viewed as ordinary German citizens, the Nazis hoped to break their resistance and compel them to renounce their faith and declare loyalty to the Third Reich. Quoting Jehovah's Witness Jolene Chu, Penton wrote:
Capitulation, not annihilation seems to have been the Nazi goal for the Witnesses, despite the fact that Hitler had declared about them in 1934, "This brood will be exterminated!" The Gestapo and SS applied the usual torture methods, and in the process hundreds of Witnesses died. But a clue as to the Nazi aim of breaking the Witness resolve is found in a remarkable document offered repeatedly to Witness prisoners — a renunciation of their faith and a pledge of loyalty to the fatherland.
According to Penton, further evidence that the Nazis did not consider Witnesses inherently candidates for destruction in the same way as Jews, Romanis, and homosexuals, is that almost no Jehovah's Witnesses were gassed, and they were often employed domestically by the SS and in other jobs with significantly better conditions, improving their chances of survival.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Four out of five Coloradans under 30 support same-sex civil unions. In four years those young people will cast one of every three votes cast in Colorado. “When we vote, people listen,” said one of the speakers from youth-voter group NewEra Colorado at a Wednesday rally at the University of Colorado Denver in support of the civil unions bill introduced in the state legislature by Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, last month. “We want equality and the time is now. We want the next generation to never even have to think about this. They’ll just see that everyone is the same.”
At the rally, NewEra announced it had gathered more than 1000 petitions from young voters asking lawmakers to support the bill.
Steadman’s SB 172 would grant gay and straight couples entering into civil unions the same legal rights and responsibilities extended to married couples, including the right to share insurance policies and benefits and make medical and inheritance decisions. It would also mean unmarried couples could more easily adopt children and that they would be required to arrange for child visitation and child payments should relationships dissolve.
Denver Democratic Rep. Dan Pabon, one of the youngest lawmakers serving in the state capitol, told the small crowd gathered in the Auraria commons that many of the lawmakers he serves with are retirees and see the world through a different lens.
“It can take so much effort and energy to explain how I stand on an issue like this,” he said. “This is something that is just a basic civil rights issue to us.”
He said gay rights has been a youth cause for decades and that it has moved ahead swiftly with each new generation. He said it was young gay men in New York at the Stonewall club who in standing up to police kick-started the public movement for gay rights in 1969 and he pointed out that the first gay pride parade was held just 39 years ago. “Now we take gay pride for granted,” he said. “We know there is inequality.”
Recent polls have registered roughly 72 percent support among all Colorado voters for civl unions.
Steadman’s bill has passed out of two Senate committees and is headed in the coming weeks to the Senate floor for debate, where the majority Democrats will surely pass it. Primary House sponsor Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, has said he is confident the bill will pass in the House if it makes it out of committee. Committees generally vet bills, the members often requiring tweaks and amendments to satisfy concerns. All it would take, however, is five or six lawmakers to oppose the bill in one of the Republican-controlled House committees and it would never make it to the House floor for debate and roll call voting.The number of children referred to gender identity clinics has doubled in the last year.
Children as young as three were among the 1,419 under-16s who received support during 2015/16.
That's an increase from the 697 children the previous year who believe they were born in the wrong body.
Figures from the Gender Identity Development Service, part of The Tavistock Centre (pictured), show they treated three children aged three last year
Parents are now having to wait up to nine months to take their child to a clinic after being referred by their GP.
Figures from the Gender Identity Development Service show they treated three children aged three last year.
Dr Polly Carmichael, from the clinic which is part of the Tavistock Centre, told The Sun the rise was unprecedented.
'Young people are making the full social transition — living full-time in their preferred gender inside and outside the home — at earlier ages,' she said.
Children as young as three were among the 1,419 under-16s who received support during 2015/16
JESSICA, NINE, WAS BORN A BOY BUT HAS GONE TO SCHOOL AS A GIRL Nine-year-old Jessica was born a boy but has gone to primary school as a girl since 2014 Nine-year-old Jessica was born a boy but has gone to primary school as a girl since 2014. The transgender child is being brought up by her mother Ella and her partner Alex – who is in the process of changing sex to become a man. Although she is still a ‘typical nine-year-old girl’ who likes to sing along to Rihanna and play with dolls, Jessica still has ‘ups and downs’. The youngster worries about one day growing a beard or a moustache and has already started requesting drugs that will prevent it. Ella told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: ‘She has been having nightmares – that she is going to die a man, that she is going to have a beard.’ A second girl who was born a boy, identified by |
able to perform them does not even cross our minds.
[pullquote align=”right” color=”#52bac3″]For the visually impaired, something as simple as locating a phone number can be impossible[/pullquote]
But for many, being able to do those things on their own is the difference between being able to live independently or needing assistance at home or even an assisted living facility. Thanks to advancements in modern technology, there is now a plethora of incredible products on the market that can help those who need assistance, to live life freely in their own homes.
Mobility & Voice Control
One of those incredible assistive products is Echo. In 2015, Amazon released Echo, a wireless speaker and voice command device. For someone with mobility issues or sight limitations, Echo is a game changer. When Echo connects to its voice service, Alexa, which is hands-free and voice controlled, it acts as a personal assistant of sorts by providing the user with everything from phone numbers to the weather forecast. It allows for an individual with impairments to be up to date, informed and in control of the world around them.
[pullquote align=”right” color=”#52bac3″]It allows for an individual with impairments to be up to date, informed and in control of the world around them[/pullquote]
But Echo doesn’t just provide informational services, when connected to other smart home devices, like Samsung’s SmartThings Hub, Echo provides the user voice control over systems in the house like lighting and temperature. This sort of technology can provide someone bound to a wheelchair or with limited movement to have the ability to control many aspects of their environment without seeking assistance from others which makes the user feel more confident and, most importantly, allows them to be self-reliant which is the ultimate goal.
Safety
Safety is another important issue for the elderly and disabled who want to live independently and there have been great advancements in home security over the years. Many security systems now offer voice activation services and there are even bluetooth activated deadbolts, like the August Smart Lock, which offer safety at the touch of a button. AT&T is working on developing an in-home monitoring service for the elderly that takes the same technology that senses break-ins to alert a friend or family member if their loved one is experiencing fluctuations in routine, etc.
[pullquote align=”right” color=”#52bac3″]…this allows the individual to have the freedom of their own home while giving their caregivers peace of mind[/pullquote]
While some might argue that such technology is an invasion of privacy, for an individual who wants to keep living independently but requires daily monitoring, reminders for medications and has health concerns, this allows the individual to have the freedom of their own home while giving their caregivers peace of mind.
Help From Nonprofits
Assistive technology is on the rise and adaptive equipment is being installed in many homes and facilities around the country for the disabled and elderly. As a matter of fact, there are multiple nonprofit organizations benefiting disabled veterans like Building for America’s Bravest and R.I.S.E., both which customize homes using assistive and adaptive technology in order to meet each individual’s needs and requirements based on their strengths and weaknesses.
[pullquote align=”right” color=”#52bac3″]…there are multiple nonprofit organizations benefiting disabled veterans[/pullquote]
Through donations, these organizations can outfit homes with assistive technology that enables these wounded heroes to continue living a dignified life and allows them to be as self-sufficient as possible. Each individual has his or her unique needs or limitations and these homes help them maintain their self-reliance and functionality with products like moving cabinets, smart appliances and even automated showers.
Prioritize & Start Small
Of course, unless a person is independently wealthy, setting up an entire home to be completely automated can cost a pretty penny. Start by choosing the area of most concern and tackling that issue and then add upon it. If mobility is the biggest obstacle in a person’s life, installing smart lighting so lights can be turned on and off remotely is a great place to start. And in lieu of Amazon Echo, using an individual’s smartphone is a great introduction to setting up voice-activated requests and tasks using either Android’s Ok Google or iPhone’s Siri.
[pullquote align=”right” color=”#52bac3″]…setting up an entire home to be completely automated can cost a pretty penny[/pullquote]
Pinpoint your biggest obstacles and start with finding smart solutions to those problems first. Save luxury items (like the iRobot Roomba Vacuum which cleans your floor at the push of a button) for later. Customizing a smart home to an individual’s specific needs is part of what makes this technology so amazing. Being able to provide the person in need with the tools for them to be self-reliant and take care of themselves allows them to hold on to their pride and boost their self-esteem despite their limitations and physical struggles.
Freedom, Independence & Hope
A decade ago, a smart home seemed like a luxury item and out of reach for many, but nowadays these assistive technologies are more easily accessible for those who want it, but more importantly for those who need it. Loss of vision, hearing or mobility affects the way these people function in their daily lives. No one, including those with limitations, wants to have to rely on constant assistance of others to meet their daily needs or conduct their daily chores.
Smart homes, through the use of assistive technology, compassionately allows for the disabled and elderly to maintain control over their environment and daily activities and offer a more positive quality of life by allowing them to maintain their dignity. These smart homes and assistive technology possibilities empower the lives of the elderly and those with disabilities. With all of the physical and emotional stress they have had to endure, a smart home helps give them strength and hope for the future.
Do you or a friend or relative benefit from assistive technology? Share the most beneficial technology and resources you’ve found in the comments. And don’t forget to join our newsletter below for more smart home analysis like this.Image caption Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 took more than $200 million at the worldwide box office
Film-maker Michael Moore has taken legal action against producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, claiming he is owed millions in profits for his 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.
Moore claims the brothers used "Hollywood accounting tricks" to keep him from receiving $2.7m (£1.67m).
According to legal papers, an audit brought several alleged irregularities to light.
A lawyer for the Weinsteins called the claims "hogwash".
Moore alleges his agreement with the Weinstein brothers was to split all profits equally.
But the Oscar-winning director claims "grossly excessive and unreasonable" expenses were deducted before those profits were calculated.
He claims audits show money was deducted for advertising costs that was never spent, and that a private jet was hired to fly one of the brothers to Europe.
Image caption Bob and Harvey Weinstein founded the Miramax company in 1979
The Weinsteins' lawyer, Bert Fields, said Moore's suit should be dismissed.
"Michael Moore has been paid $20 million (£12.4m) and he claims he should get $2 million (£1.2m) more," Mr Fields said.
"His claims are hogwash. They are totally without merit. He's been paid every dime he's entitled to."
Fahrenheit 9/11, which centred on the Bush administration's actions after the 11 September attacks of 2001, made more than $220 million (£137m) worldwide.
The film - whose title alludes to the Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 - won the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes film festival.Career advice abounds, urging job hunters to hone their brand.
It’s guidance that’s worth some serious consideration in a hiring climate where our online personas precede—and can often make or break—the human being behind the resume. But what happens when we land the job? By that point, too many of us neglect to maintain our personal brand in the workplace where it can be every bit as important as it is on the search for a job.
Famed psychiatrist and social critic Thomas Stephen Szasz put it simply and urgently: “In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.” In the workplace, this maxim plays out on a daily basis where, unfortunately, your job title does not supersede the in-office brand you define for yourself.
Corner office or cubicle, our workspaces tell our employees, coworkers, bosses and clients a lot about ourselves—so it’s no surprise that our workspaces mark the best starting point to control the narrative we tell about ourselves.
What Does Your Desk Say About You? When adding personal touches to your workspace, consider the message they send. Pictures of you competing in a recent marathon, for example, can communicate your competitive spirit and drive to stick with long-term, challenging goals. A framed program from a favorite show can tell people that you’re invested in your local arts and culture scene. In addition to communicating who you are beyond your job title within your workplace, these things can play a particularly useful role when clients stop by. A few well-considered and thoughtfully placed personal items in the client’s eye-line can prove to be a helpful icebreaker or even a point of common ground.Less is more, of course, when it comes to adding personal touches to your workplace. Be strategic in your choices of what to showcase and be careful not to overwhelm: too much packed into one space can be distracting both for you and your coworkers.
Are You (too) Organized? While a cluttered workplace may seem like a no-brainer mistake—communicating an unproductive, messy approach to work that may not be the case in fact—a completely bare workspace can be even more concerning to managers and coworkers. If you’re not investing some personal care for the space where you spend the bulk of your day and your week, it could communicate to your colleagues that you’re not considering staying in that role for very long.
Please, Take a Seat. For managers, the burden to define yourself through your workspace is even greater. If you’re a fan of the standing desk, make sure you have a comfortable seating area available in your office as well. Sure, it may be your office, but if you don’t visually communicate to employees that they have a place to have serious conversations with you, they may come to find you inaccessible. More traditional bosses who sit behind a desk may want to consider adding a separate area in their office just for chatting with employees—often, a large desk can create an unwanted and unintended barrier, unnecessarily reminding employees that they are in the presence of someone much higher up on the food chain.
Unsure where to start? Make a list of the things that people generally find most interesting about you—your go-to cocktail party story might hold some helpful hints—then begin considering how to visually represent that information about yourself. Already decked out to perfection? Start considering how to make your workspace more comfortable and accessible to others. Ultimately, make sure the story that your space tells about you is the one you want others to remember.If the Totten Glacier continues to retreat, it will become unstable.
The Totten Glacier in East Antarctica has an unstable area that could collapse and contribute to more than two metres of sea level rise beyond what is generally predicted if climate change remains unchecked, researchers say.
Key points Totten Glacier Key points: East Antarctica has traditionally been considered to be relatively stable
But evidence is growing that Totten Glacier is bucking the trend
New analysis shows the glacier could contribute over two metres to sea level rise
East Antarctica is the world's largest area of ice and, until recently, was thought to be more stable than the smaller West Antarctic ice sheet.
The Totten Glacier, in particular, has rapidly become recognised as the most vulnerable of all the East Antarctic glaciers, with its floating ice shelf already in retreat.
We confirm that collapse has happened in the past, and is likely to happen again if we pass the tipping point Dr Alan Aitken, University of Western Australia
"While traditional models haven't suggested this glacier can collapse, more recent models have," said Dr Alan Aitken of the University of Western Australia, co-author of a new study published today in the journal Nature.
Dr Aitken and colleagues have carried out the first study to analyse the stability of the Totten Glacier's ice sheet.
"We confirm that collapse has happened in the past, and is likely to happen again if we pass a tipping point, which would occur if we had between 3 and 6 degrees of warming above present."
Mapping reveals glacier's points of instability
The researchers studied patterns of erosion left by past ice sheet activity by mapping the topography of the land under the ice, and the thickness of its sedimentary rocks, which get eroded with glacial activity.
Beyond the ice shelf, they identified a relatively stable 100-kilometre-wide area, which slopes downwards towards the sea, allowing melting ice to be removed to the sea.
Fact box for Totten Glacier Ice sheets, glaciers, ice shelves and sea level rise As snow falls on the Antarctic continent it is slowly compacted over many years into vast ice sheets bigger than 50,000 square kilometres in size
bigger than 50,000 square kilometres in size Glaciers are formed when this ice moves under gravity towards the coast
are formed when this ice moves under gravity towards the coast As these glaciers flow into the sea they create permanent floating ice shelves connected to the land
connected to the land Because ice shelves are already floating in the ocean they don't contribute to sea level rise when they break up
when they break up But, if an ice shelf collapses, the glaciers and ice sheet on land that feed it flow more quickly out to sea and do cause the sea level to rise
Beyond this was a 200-kilometre-wide unstable area that sloped down away from the sea. This would allow melted ice to pool at the bottom of the ice sheet and encourage its rapid melting.
The researchers said the first 100 kilometres of the ice sheet could melt within the next century, or it may take centuries or even millennia. But it if it all melted, it would add about 90 centimetres to sea level rise.
Then the main problem would be that it would expose the unstable section of the ice sheet to warm sea water and this section could collapse relatively rapidly in a matter of decades, adding an extra 1.5 metres, Dr Aitken said.
"We would reach a tipping point." he said.
He said the good news is that this scenario could be avoided if we limit global warming to 2 degrees above present levels.
"We have in this system at least a little bit of breathing space to cope with some temperature increase because of that stable zone," he said.
"But if we exceed that point, then we're looking at a large additional contribution that could have been avoided if we stuck to our target."
Share Totten Glacier in East Antarctica is the most rapidly thinning glacier in the region.Drake and Future are probably the two hottest rappers in the game right now. But that certainly doesn't mean they are without detractors.
Following the release of Future and Drake's joint album Sunday night, Complex writer Angel Diaz wrote an article titled "All You 'Real' Rap Fans Need to Stop Hating on What a Time to Be Alive." It included this passage:
What exactly is that "real" shit then? Turn up music isn’t "real” hip-hop? How so? Was the genre not invented at a goddamn party? Isn’t music about having a good time? I’m dead tired of you cats, man. You make my head hurt. Can’t be listening to Talib Kweli rap off beat and Lupe Fiasco deep cuts at BBQs. I, too, was once like you, but come on, don’t nobody wanna hear that shit all the fucking time.
Keep Lupe name out that fuckshit...don't make SLR you clowns...FOH @ComplexMag — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
If niggas don't like that shit then they don't fucking like it..stop caping for a backstage pass I fuck with both dem niggaz @ComplexMag — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
Learn not to intercede on behalf of niggaz who don't give two shits about you @ComplexMag and stop using REAL MC's names in vain for likes — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
#DefendRap fuck @ComplexMag Noah you really need to filter your bloggers...makes you look fucking suspect dawg — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
Here we go. Did I call you and @TalibKweli wack? https://t.co/qfX4DNeVlx — This is Ange7 (@ADiaz456) September 22, 2015
Don't mention our names with bullshit Angel you aint did enough in rap to muddy the names of niggaz who keep it alive @ADiaz456 @ComplexMag — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
Your article was distasteful and unnecessary and it was fucking wack. Speak your peace but don't involve us bitch @ADiaz456 @ComplexMag — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
I'm supposed to be scared cause you called me a bitch? I gave your last tape a good review too. U didn't tweet that https://t.co/abNk319ymO — This is Ange7 (@ADiaz456) September 22, 2015
Fear is weak emotion feel how you wanna feel Bitch...thanx for the good review...but you a butch for that article @ADiaz456 @ComplexMag — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
No respect for the foundation or the vanguard...that's why you ain't never gone be shit #DefendRap @ADiaz456 @ComplexMag — Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco) September 22, 2015
Next it was Talib's turn.
Let me tell you an origin story. Hypebeasts and groupies pay attention...for the next few tweets.... — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
When I met Future, the first thing he said to me was he met me when he was 15 at the Organized Noise session for Hiphop For Respect, 1999 — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
I was a fan of Future then, and saw the grip he had on the ATL scene. I knew he would dominate & rooted for him. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
I met Drake at SOBs, at his first show there. I was a fan of So Far Gone, I had missed the first 2 Mixtapes. Drake has always showed love.. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
From DJ Quik to Nelly to Gucci Mane, over a 20+ yr career, I've recorded w many artists that so called hiphop purists cringe at. I'm a fan. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
My career is proof that I support ALL of Hiphop. I've collaborated with a more diverse set of rappers than ANYONE. Hands down. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
Right now I am more famous, more known, more respected than I've been at any point in my career. Because of the fact I speak for the people — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
I've never wavered or faltered in my message, I speak out against so called hiphop "purity" and embrace all great art. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
But for some reason, annually, hiphop blogs, looking at u @ComplexMag feel the need to use me as a scapegoat to diss conscious hiphop. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
They hire these lame trend following groupie ass writers to tell their readers how uncool it is to like Nas. Or Lupe. Or Kweli. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
All artists who work with and are revered by the same artists whose nuts they ride. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
So my question is, why? — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
If you gotta write every year about how irrelevant I am, and artists like me, then doesn't that make us quite relevant? — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
I wrote I made it a point to support no artists. Typo. I meant all artists. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
Why is it only on the MCs to rep the culture tho? What about DJs? Radio personalities? Journalists? Bloggers? — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) September 22, 2015
What do you think? Were Lupe and Talib right to feel salty?Long-running French label Ed Banger typically traffics in squelchy, highly irreverent electro—but this tune from dance producer Boston Bun is quite a different look. "Levitate" has a classic Midwestern techno feel, and that's 100% the intention. "'Levitate' is the kind of track to play in an intimate rave, at dawn, when your body is tired enough to let the music control your mind," BB told FADER in an email. "When I made it I was thinking about the feeling you have when you're at a dope party and you are already nostalgic about the fun you've had. The rule of my Just For Freaks series is a 4/4 beat but no clap on the 2 and the 4 to keep all the elements volatile. 'Levitate' was the perfect introduction to this."
And about that Just For Freaks series: the first volume (of which "Levitate" is included on) drops January 26; there's two more volumes on the way, too. Sweet.Getting Started
There are plenty of powerful load balancing tools out there, like nginx or HAProxy. Nginx and HAProxy are fast and battle-tested, but can be hard to extend if you’re not familiar with C. Nginx has support for a limited subset of JavaScript, but nginScript is not nearly as sophisticated as Node.js. If you’re looking for a load balancer that you can extend with Node.js, look no further than Express, the most popular Node.js web framework. In this article, I’ll show you how to build your own load balancer with 10 lines of Express code, and show you how you can extend this load balancer to handle profiling and SSL termination.
About Load Balancers & Express
A load balancer is a process that takes in HTTP requests and forwards these HTTP requests to one of a collection of servers. Load balancers are usually used for performance purposes: if a server needs to do a lot of work for each request, one server might not be enough, but two servers alternating handling incoming requests might.
First off, let’s install express and request. The request package is an HTTP client with good support for streams, using it will make writing the load balancer very easy.
To make things easy, let’s write a single process that starts two Express apps, one on port 3000 and one on port 3001. The separate load balancer process should alternate between these two, sending one request to port 3000, the next request to port 3001, and the next one back to port 3000.
const body = require('body-parser');
const express = require('express');
const app1 = express();
const app2 = express();
Parse the request body as JSON
app1.use(body.json());
app2.use(body.json());
const handler = serverNum => (req, res) => {
console.log(`server ${serverNum}`, req.method, req.url, req.body);
res.send(`Hello from server ${serverNum}!`);
};
Only handle GET and POST requests
app1.get('*', handler(1)).post('*', handler(1));
app2.get('*', handler(2)).post('*', handler(2));
app1.listen(3000);
app2.listen(3001);
If load balancing works properly, the console output should look like this:
$ node server.js server 1 GET /test3 {} server 2 GET /favicon.ico {} server 1 POST /test3 { hello: 'world' }
The key idea for load balancing is that Node’s core HTTP IncomingMessage and ServerResponse classes, as well as the request package’s representation of HTTP requests, implement Node’s streams interface.
Proxying an HTTP request is as easy as calling `pipe()` twice:
const express = require('express'); const request = require('request'); const servers = ['http://localhost:3000', 'http://localhost:3001' ]; let cur = 0; const handler = (req, res) => {
Pipe the vanilla node HTTP request (a readable stream) into `request to the next server URL. Then, since `res` implements the writable stream interface, you can just `pipe()` into `res`.
req.pipe(request({ url: servers[cur] + req.url })).pipe(res); cur = (cur + 1) % servers.length; }; const server = express().get('*', handler).post('*', handler); server.listen(8080);
This is a quick proof of concept that doesn’t support health checks or any other sophisticated load balancing features. But, if you’re comfortable with Node.js, it’s quite possible to build this out into a more full-fledged load balancer. For example, you might notice that the load balancer above doesn’t handle errors.
Let’s say the underlying server takes a long time to respond:
const handler = serverNum => (req, res) => {
console.log(`server ${serverNum}`, req.method, req.url, req.body);
Wait for 10 seconds before responding.
setTimeout(() => { res.send(`Hello from server ${serverNum}!`); }, 10000); };
If the underlying server shuts down in the middle of a request, the load balancer server will also crash:
$ node lb.js internal/streams/legacy.js:59 throw er; //Unhandled stream error in pipe ^ Error: socket hang up at createHangUpError (_http_client.js:302:15) at Socket.socketOnEnd (_http_client.js:394:23) at emitNone (events.js:91:20) at Socket.emit (events.js:186:7) at endReadableNT (_stream_readable.js:974:12) at _combinedTickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:74:11) at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:98:9) $
Adding an error handler to the `request` object lets you handle this error gracefully:
const handler = (req, res) => {
Add an error handler for the proxied request.
const _req = request({ url: servers[cur] + req.url }).on('error', error => { res.status(500).send(error.message); }); req.pipe(_req).pipe(res); cur = (cur + 1) % servers.length; }; const server = express().get('*', handler).post('*', handler); server.listen(8080);
Logging, Profiling, and SSL Termination
The major advantage of a Node.js load balancer is easy extensibility and access to the whole npm ecosystem. No need to write C or Lua or learn nginScript.
Since your load balancer is just an Express app, you can plug in Express middleware to extend your load balancer. For example, you can write middleware that records how long each request takes using Node.js’ ‘finish’ event.
const profilerMiddleware = (req, res, next) => { const start = Date.now();
The ‘finish’ event comes from core Node.js, it means Node is done handing off the response headers and body to the underlying OS.
res.on('finish', () => { console.log('Completed', req.method, req.url, Date.now() - start); }); next(); }; const handler = (req, res) => { /*... */ }; const server = express().use(profilerMiddleware).get('*', handler).post('*', handler);
SSL termination is also as easy as plugging in some middleware. In this case, you can plug in express-sslify to enforce HTTPS for all incoming requests, and use Node.js’ built-in `https` library to start an HTTPS server. Node.js’ HTTPS has some performance limitations, so if your app is very performance sensitive you would need to do some tuning. For the purposes of this article, you can generate self-signed SSL certificates for `localhost` from this site.
const express = require('express'); const fs = require('fs'); const https = require('https'); const request = require('request'); const servers = ['http://localhost:3000', 'http://localhost:3001' ]; let cur = 0; const profilerMiddleware = (req, res, next) => { /*... */ }; const handler = (req, res) => { /*... */ }; const app = express().
Use `express-sslify` to make sure _all_ requests use HTTPS
use(require('express-sslify').HTTPS()). use(profilerMiddleware). get('*', handler). post('*', handler); app.listen(80);
Start an HTTPS server with some self-signed keys
const sslOptions = { key: fs.readFileSync('./localhost.key'), cert: fs.readFileSync('./localhost.cert') }; https.createServer(sslOptions, app).listen(443);
Now this rudimentary load balancer also enforces SSL for all connections and supports HTTPS, even though the underlying servers do not. Chrome still gives a loud warning that “Your connection to this site might not be private”, but that’s just because the SSL key and certificate are self-signed.
Moving On
There are a lot of advantages to an Express-based load balancer. If your team is already familiar with Express, you can set up your own load balancer without learning how to configure a completely separate tool. Adding new functionality is easy with Express middleware and the wide variety of packages on npm. Debugging issues is easy if you’re already comfortable with Express, because you’re just dealing with an Express app. You can even cross-compile your load balancer into standalone executables using pkg.
Next time when you’re tempted to reach for nginx for load balancing, try using Express instead.DEC. 30: Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes that after checking around with the Orioles in light of their connection to Cespedes, he doesn’t get the sense that any deal is close. Kubatko writes that a team source indicated no chance of the Orioles going near MLBTR’s projected $140MM price tag on Cespedes, and another source told Kubatko that a contract proposal hasn’t even been presented to ownership at this time. Pitching remains the Orioles’ primary focus at this time, according to Kubatko.
DEC. 29: The Orioles and White Sox are emerging as the favorites to land outfielder Yoenis Cespedes “for now,” reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). According to Sanchez, the Giants and Angels are also “in the mix,” and the Rangers are monitoring the situation (though Sanchez’s implication seems to be that they’re relatively far removed from a serious pursuit).
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports linked the ChiSox to Cespedes earlier this morning while reporting that the club was actively seeking an outfield upgrade. Per Rosenthal, longtime division rival Alex Gordon is still on the Sox’ radar as well as the team searches for a superior corner option — presumably, an upgrade over Avisail Garcia. Either Garcia or Melky Cabrera would be logical candidates to lose playing time in the event of an outfield acquisition for the Sox, though the team could try to find a taker for some of Adam LaRoche’s contract and move Cabrera to DH instead. Cabrera, though, batted a solid.288/.330/.449 with 11 homers from June 1 through season’s end after initially struggling with his new team in 2015, so he’s probably still in the team’s plans. (The $29MM owed to him from 2016-17 undoubtedly plays a role in that picture as well.)
The Orioles have a clear need for additional help in the outfield corners, as Adam Jones currently projects to be flanked MLB newcomer Hyun-soo Kim and Nolan Reimold. While Kim, one of the top hitters in the Korea Baseball Organization over the past several years, could emerge as a viable everyday option, he’s untested and figures to have some form of adjustment period even if he does prove to be a quality Major Leaguer. Adding Cespedes to the mix would lessen the need for immediate production from Kim, who could perhaps be eased into MLB a bit more, as countryman Jung Ho Kang was with the Pirates in 2015.
For Baltimore, adding Cespedes would unquestionably require a franchise-record contract (though the same could be said of the White Sox), as Jones’ six-year, $85.5MM deal is the largest in club history at this time. Baltimore has made a strong effort to retain slugger Chris Davis this offseason, reportedly offering $150MM over a seven-year term. Cespedes’ ultimate price tag could approach that point, though many predictions, including MLBTR’s six-year, $140MM projection from early November, have him falling shy of that mark. An earnest pursuit of Cespedes would at the very least clash with previous reports pertaining to the Orioles, which indicated that the team was only interested in spending this type of money on Davis and would not re-allocate the funds to another top-tier free agent were Davis to ultimately sign elsewhere. While the extent of their willingness to spend may be somewhat uncertain,it seems unlikely that the Orioles would be able to sign both Cespedes and Davis. In other words, if Baltimore does indeed bring Cespedes into the fold, it would probably spell the end of Davis’ tenure with the Birds. Should that prove to be the case, the Orioles can deploy trade acquisition Mark Trumbo at first base in 2016, giving the club a wealth of right-handed pop between Cespedes, Trumbo, Jones and Manny Machado.
The Angels have long been connected to corner outfield upgrades, and GM Billy Eppler has said he believes owner Arte Moreno will approve a luxury tax penalty for the right player. The rest of the team’s moves this winter, however, would seem to indicate a strong preference to remain underneath that $189MM barrier, however, as the additions of free agents Daniel Nava and Craig Gentry as well as trade pickups Yunel Escobar and Andrelton Simmons have all been of the lower-cost variety (financially speaking).
As for the Giants, they’ve been more than willing to spend this offseason, adding both Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto to their rotation after a strong pursuit of Zack Greinke came up short and giving Brandon Crawford a $75MM extension. The three players received a combined $285MM in guaranteed money from the Giants, and GM Bobby Evans recently said on MLB Network Radio that he still hopes to add a left fielder, thereby shifting Gregor Blanco into a valuable fourth outfield role. Evans emphasized the trade market in that interview, though one wouldn’t expect a GM to openly broadcast his desire to spend top dollar on a free-agent upgrade, either.Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Dutch vessel Fugro Equator is the only ship still involved in the search operation
The one remaining ship still looking for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has begun what is likely to be its final search.
Dutch-owned Fugro Equator left the Australian port of Fremantle on Monday.
Several ships have combed the seabed of a vast search area in the Indian Ocean since the plane disappeared in 2014.
The Fugro Equator is expected to finish scouring the final portion of the search area by early 2017.
Officials say they will suspend the search if the plane is not found by then.
Not a single piece of wreckage or any clues to the whereabouts of the plane have been found so far by the operation.
Image copyright EPA Image caption The search for the Malaysia Airlines plane is due to end in early 2017
"It has been an heroic undertaking but we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect that we may not find MH370 in the coming weeks, although we remain hopeful," Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester told the West Australian newspaper.
Several countries including Australia and China have taken part in the underwater search.
Earlier this month the Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 completed its mission and is returning to Shanghai, leaving the Fugro Equator as the last ship scouring the vast 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) search area.
Whether the Fugro Equator's voyage is the ship's final month-long deployment would depend on the weather, the office of Mr Chester told AP news agency.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Passengers' families looked for clues on Madagascar's beaches last week
MH370 was carrying 239 people when it disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Many of the passengers were Chinese.
Last week family members of some passengers journeyed to Madagascar to look for clues on the plane's whereabouts.
A few aeroplane fragments confirmed to be from MH370 had been found by members of the public on the East African and Madagascan coasts in recent months.
The location of the debris is in line with drift modelling patterns based on the theory that MH370 went down in a part of the Indian Ocean near Australia.
The families have expressed frustration at the lack of concrete evidence turned up by the official search, and have called for a coordinated effort to search beaches for debris.A pair of US F-22 Raptor warplanes were scrambled into the area around the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh to confront Syrian Su-24 fighters and chase them away from the contested city, which is the site of ongoing fighting between Syrian Army and Kurdish YPG forces.
The deployments were presented as being done to protect US ground troops operating in the province, though the indications are that airstrikes in Hasakeh centered on fighting inside the city, and not any place US |
tacky Garfield car suction plushes. **Pro Tip–if your “friendly” dog is routinely in the middle of melees and draws the ire of most dogs it encounters, it’s probably (past) time to rethink how you are letting your dog interact with others. Potnoodle: I was raised by a border collie, and my first dog that was really mine to train was an Australian Cattle Dog/Border Collie mix, so even though my current Poodles aren’t easily offended by rude dogs- I am. So even though my poodles are going to tolerate your ass-y dog flinging himself into their face… I won’t. I’m going to step in and move your dog away. I don’t really appreciate being called a bitch for doing this, so I would appreciate if you could keep your comments about me under your breath, just like I keep my comments about you under mine.
AdvertisementsIf you’re looking for some new sci-fi stuff to stream this month, August brings a whole lot of modern classics (and animated Marvel flicks) to the table.
We’ve broken down everything genre-related hitting The Big Three — Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu —this month. There aren’t a ton of new movies on the horizon for August, though there are a few quirky originals and older flicks you probably already love.
Check out the full list below and let us know what you’ll be streaming:
Netflix
Zoom In
Netflix brings the fifth season of Once Upon a Time, 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, and the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. On a quirkier note, there's also the first season of the new animated series Beat Bugs, which features modern-day covers of Beatles songs from hit artists like Eddie Vedder. Which seems weird, but maybe cool.
Final Destination 3
The Real Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Star Trek: Nemesis
Beat Bugs Season 1
The Curse of Sleeping Beauty (2016)
The Road
Once Upon a Time Season 5
Hulu
Zoom In
Hulu is loaded with animated Marvel fare this month, in case the wait for Captain America: Civil War to hit Blu-ray is getting you down. There's also the RoboCop and Species trilogies, along with the surprisingly solid Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. Oh, and Ghost Rider, if you’re jonesing for some Nic Cage weirdness.
Beavis and Butt-head Do America
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Cloverfield
Hulk Vs.
Planet Hulk
RoboCop
RoboCop 2
RoboCop 3
Species
Species 2
Species 3
Tales from the Darkside
The Invincible Iron Man
Thor: Tales of Asgard
Ultimate Avengers
Ultimate Avengers 2
Ancient Aliens Seasons 7-9
Shaun the Sheep
Ghost Rider
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Amazon Prime
Zoom In
Amazon Prime will be getting The Matrix and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogies, which are always worth a binge on a slow night. Plus A Clockwork Orange if you’re needing a vintage horror freakout.
A Clockwork Orange
The Others
Cloverfield
The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Shaun the Sheep
American Ultra
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
13 AssassinsSHOW
Must-See Video Dr. Phil repeats Bradman’s accusations to Anne and allows her to respond.
More than 16 million kids in the United States are at risk for hunger each day. Fortunately, you can help. Visit Feeding America to find your local food bank. And, help Dr. Phil raise enough money for 10 million meals. Donate today!
She Says She Says
He Says He Says
Anne
Final Words Final Words
Former high school dance teacher Anne, 35, made national headlines when it was revealed that her two children — ages 3 and 2 — were fathered by Bradman, a former student who is nearly 15 years her junior. Both share their versions of a romance gone awry.Anne says she met Bradman when he was a high school student, and she a teacher, but he quickly manipulated her and took advantage of her kindness. Learn why she says she had to file a protective order and why she claims she’s the real victim.The tables are turned, and Bradman tells his side of the story. Learn how he says their romance started. Then, he admits to abuse in their relationship, but sayswas the one responsible. Will a voicemail recording shed more light on who is the aggressor?Anne’s attorney, Erinn, says she realizes that mistakes were made. “We can’t go back into time. We can’t undo those decisions. We want to look forward — what will happen to those kids?”“But aren’t you doing exactly what you’re accusing him of doing?” Dr. Phil asks Anne. “You’re now using the children as leverage.”Supreme / Nike Basketball Jersey
Year: 2014
In a year that brought many great releases, the Supreme and Nike collab from 2014 certainly had to be the best release of the year and quite possibly the most hyped drop of all time. I mean, how many Supreme drops actually have a justified cause to get shut down by the police? This collaboration between the two is one of the bigger ones that they’ve team up on - releasing alongside the much anticipated Foamposites were matching basketball jerseys and shorts that just like the shoes, came in a red option and black option with both featuring the same gold pattern. At first, the jerseys and shorts weren’t met with the same praise that the Foamposites were and from the hype standpoint, it makes a bit of sense. There was so much buzz around the sneaker release that no one really cared about anything else that was released. After the drop was over and everything was gone, that’s when people really began to reconsider their stance on that and an influx of buyers for both the shorts but mostly the jersey pretty much flooded the market. Nowadays the resell price for the shoes have remained relatively at the same high price point that they’ve been at but the shorts and jersey have settled down at a fairly affordable price considering what it’s apart of.In June 2016, the day after the European Union referendum vote, I wrote an instant first impressions news analysis guide on what Brexit is likely to mean for your finances. Now for the start of 2017, I’m braving revisiting that guide – in the form of this blog, to see how well it stacks up and what has changed.
To make it easy to see, I’m going to do it as a quick commentary on the original text, with all the updates in this colour (blue)…
The UK has voted to leave the European Union, in a landmark referendum result – and many have questions and worries over their personal finances following the outcome.
Here MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis attempts to answer queries on mortgages, savings, holiday money, flight delays, consumer rights and lots more in his Brexit Q&A…
What a monumental decision. This will be a very different Britain. And regardless of how you voted, we need to work together to ensure it’s for the better. There’s a risk there will be financial pain to get there, but if so, the country has chosen it’s a price worth paying.
Many of you have been sending me questions via my Twitter and Facebook feeds with queries and concerns about the personal finance impact, so I want to bash out some answers as best I can.
This isn’t easy. Brexit seems to have caused political anarchy.
And of course we’ve since had Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, that has many similarities. In both cases the reasons will be mixed – some will have voted primarily due to an issue or the candidate himself – others’ votes will have been aimed at giving the political classes a bloody nose.
Yet a yearning for things to be different seems to be the driving force for both, and people were willing to vote for Brexit or Trump as the instrument of that change.
We have huge Labour and Tory splits. Some people are pushing to renege on the referendum by calling for a second one. And the union could potentially split.
Not much has changed on this since…
From this point on though, I’m going to assume that Brexit will happen as was voted for.
I still think that is the right assumption. The only major change is the High Court ruling that legally it must be Parliament, not executive power (ie, the Government), that does this (an appeal against this ruling is being heard in the Supreme Court). I don’t see that changing the big picture of Brexit, but it may influence its shape at the periphery.
The underlying political problem caused by the Brexit vote, though, is that we had a black and white question covering a rainbow of issues. Many, including the PM, have used the Brexit vote to impute many things – such as ‘people want to leave the single market’, or they want a ‘crackdown on immigration’. And certainly there will be many who voted Brexit who this chimes with – however not all.
And with a vote as tight as it was – at 52% to 48% – it only takes 1 in 25 Brexit voters to disagree on an element (eg, those who don’t want the EU but do want the single market) to potentially mean that the majority view is the other way. That of course assumes remainers are homogeneous too, which is equally wrong.
Yet a recent Twitter poll I did on the single market and people’s Brexit vote, while far from a representative sample, did indicate the possibility that more leavers are pro the single market than remainers are anti it.
The truth is, on a whole host of Brexit related issues, we don’t know what the majority of Britons actually want, nor what is best. All we know is that on 23 June 2016 most people chose for us to leave the EU. That was done by a national plebiscite – ie, direct democracy, bypassing our usual system of representative democracy (where we vote for MPs then they decide).
I very much support referenda on vast scale issues of long-term constitutional change such as this, but the poor design of this one has left us in the lurch. We have bound our politicians to one outcome, but left it open to a vast range of interpretations – a recipe for sloth, inconsistency and uncertainty.
Part I: What’s going to change and when will it happen?
Before I get into the nitty-gritty, it’s worth looking at the big picture. Brexit is a sizeable upheaval. Most of it won’t happen immediately you can say that again sister!, so it’s important to understand the timeline. I split the changes into three.
Sentiment & market changes – already started, lasting a few years. These are changes caused by market movements and sentiment. That’s because the fact we’re leaving the EU will change some of the financial decisions people make. So anything governed by stock market, currency values and, to a lesser extent, interest rates could see change straightaway.
Yet it isn’t just City sentiment either. Some people have told me their home-buying chain’s been broken by buyers pulling out, others that their income’s hit as companies are putting projects on hold, and yet more just retrenching from everyday transactions. I’ve even been asked: “I’m in the middle of changing bank account, should I stop?”
Thankfully this fear factor has lessened quite substantially since the knee jerk initial shock. And people have got on with things, or for the pessimists, at least they’ve accepted the certainty of uncertainty.
It isn’t to argue these changes aren’t or shouldn’t be real. After all, they’re not based on anything tangible, rather how people feel. Yet it is possible to talk ourselves into recession – as if people act in a way that it’s happening, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The most important thing to do is keep calm, carry on and act normal. If we can manage to do that collectively, the impact of this sentiment change will be minimal. I’m very glad I took this stance straightaway. In fact the video I did at 7am on the day of the result, see below, where I pushed for calm after being swamped on social media by panicked questions, was watched an outrageous number of times, hitting nearly one million views by the end of the day. I hope it did some good. Of course things like a drop in the pound do have a real impact – as has been much covered, it will impact holiday costs, petrol prices and other supplies. Plus it makes imports more expensive, though it does help exporters as it reduces their prices. However, it’s worth remembering the pound rate moves every day. The fact it’s dropped doesn’t mean it’ll stay there – it could rise, or, for that matter, fall further. Much of the coverage has acted as if this is a done deal, rather than an ongoing continuum of price change, which is more accurate. The pound is still in the doldrums, though far more against the dollar than the euro, and for the moment, until the next big change, this looks to be an ongoing revaluation.
Of course the impact of that is pretty straightforward. Things are getting more expensive if either a) we import them or the constituent materials; or b) they’re supplied by a non-UK firm. The famous Marmite-gate is an example of this, but it has also factored into more significant areas – it’s one of the reasons (the other being wholesale price rises) for the rapid increase in gas and electricity prices. Equally though, while the effect is smaller, it has boosted UK exports which helps some sectors of the economy, and the hope is that will trickle down to the population as a whole. Many people ask me how long the pound will stay weak. My answer is still ‘no idea’ – if we knew where the currency markets were going – they’d already be there, as people would’ve bought and sold based on that. While it may sound strange, last week we were uncertain over whether things would be uncertain. At least now we know they will be. And as we had to in the financial crisis of 2007, people will adapt and get used to that uncertainty. At the moment, some of the reaction, especially for those who voted remain, is just shock. Warning: Let’s not talk ourselves into a recession – here’s a two-minute clip from Radio 5 Live on Mon 27 Jun, but better to listen to it in context of the whole programme. New Government changes – starts September 2016.
David Cameron has resigned as Prime Minister. We will almost certainly have a new Conservative Government in place by September. There is even an outside chance that a general election will be called, though that is unlikely, as it would require a two thirds majority of the House of Commons to vote for it. A new Government and Chancellor may have different priorities, though if it’s Conservative it’ll likely be on roughly the same track. It could change benefits policy for example, as there have been disputes within the Tory party over that. It could even see the bedroom tax repealed (that’s speculation, but we know it hasn’t worked and a clean start makes a U-turn easier). We’ll likely have a different course for budgets and legislation too. The main Conservative party divisions have not been over personal finance, however, so it’s unlikely we’ll see too much unplanned, substantial policy change in this area. I think this nailed the generality but sadly not the specific. We’ve already seen policy change on the back of the new administration. For example, the scrapping of the secondary annuities market, and it’s still early days. Theresa May’s Government has tried to distance itself from Cameron’s – who knows where that’ll take us? Rule, trade and immigration changes – starts September 2018 at the earliest. The UK has not left the EU. For that to happen, the Government almost certainly has to enact Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon.
David Cameron has said he won’t do this, so it’ll be for the new Prime Minister in September – and even when that happens, while there is a maximum two year formal negotiating period, many expect in practice it may last a lot longer, so we’re likely talking late 2018 at the earliest. Now far more likely to be early 2019.
That means all existing rules and regulations that derive from our membership of the European Union – whether relating to mobile roaming, EHICs, the Mortgage Credit Directive or flight delays – currently remain unchanged due to the vote (though there may be other reasons for change). And they’re likely to remain that way for two years and quite possibly longer.
There’s been much talk of workers’ rights and other rights changes when we leave the EU, but little has been mentioned about consumer rights. I’ve been pushing the Government to set up a Brexit consumer rights committee with all the senior people from organisations such as MSE, Which?, Citizens Advice, to be on it. It’s looking positive at the moment.
This is also the timing for the change of our trade relationship with the EU. And it’s very important to understand this…
It’s the trade changes that most independent economists were predicting would be the big hit on the UK economy – they haven’t happened yet – and won’t for a while. And of course the predictions may be wrong; there are some economists who argue it will be beneficial. It’s right for me to say at this point that I am one of those people who said the odds were it would have a negative impact on the economy (see my how to vote blog). Yet we won’t know who’s right for a good while, and regardless of how you voted, we need to work together to try to ensure problems don’t occur. I would be delighted to be proved overcautious. Of course, the knowledge that the rules will change may trigger some moves earlier. For example, companies have mooted leaving the UK as it may no longer access EU markets – our national aim now must be to try to attract others in to make up for it. I think the jury is still out here, little has changed, except perhaps the US election result, which is good or bad for a trade negotiation with Britain depending on who you believe – until the Trump administration actually starts and puts policies into play we won’t really get a good idea. Overall though I think I am more positive than I was about this on the day of the vote. I still believe when we leave there’ll likely be continued shock in the short term, but let’s hope the road won’t be that bumpy.
Part II: Your questions answered
On the morning of the Brexit result, we initially saw huge drops in the pound and world stock markets – at the time of writing this update, on 28 June, there has been some recovery.
Where we go in future does, to an extent, require a crystal ball. I’ve written a plain-speaking attempt to answer your questions below, with a mix of knowledge and guesswork.
I’ve done it as so many are asking, but please understand at this point that nothing is 100% certain and all is subject to change – so see it as an indication, not cast-iron fact.
Q. What’s going to happen to interest rates?
A. That’s a very difficult one to call. There are at least two competing pressures here.
Normally, when the pound drops, you would increase the UK base rate. This makes people want to buy pounds with foreign currencies as they can get a better return, thus strengthening the rate. This is especially important as a weak pound makes imports more expensive, which increases inflation.
Yet there are also worries about an economic downturn. There are two main possible risks that this could happen. Firstly because of sentiment change now, and later on because of changing trade relationships when we leave the EU.
To try to prevent it, you want economic stimulus, and that means cutting interest rates – as then it encourages people to spend rather than save. And while it seems with UK base rates stuck at 0.5% there’s not much room to cut, some countries have even gone as far as negative interest rates.
Overall my suspicion (and this is pure guesswork) is that interest rates will remain roughly similar to as they are now, or perhaps be cut a touch if things go wrong. But this is an ever-changing scenario.
Well they did drop a smidgeon in August to 0.25%, and at that point the Bank of England put out pessimistic guidance that more cuts were likely to come soon. However, the fact the UK economy hasn’t tanked has improved things. Now, if anything, people are suggesting no more moves for a while, and if anything the pressure is upward.
Q. What will happen to mortgage rates?
A. This is obviously strongly linked to the interest rate question above, but there are more elements to it than that.
– Will fixes get cheaper? The rate at which fixes are set is based on complex ‘long term City swap rates’. And the markets’ Brexit gloom has pushed those down, so fixed rates could (there’s a lot of crystal-ball gazing here) trickle down further. This is balanced though by the fact that UK banks will want to keep strong capital reserves in such an uncertain time, which will discourage lending.
– What about variable rates? That depends mostly on the UK base rate as explained above; my guess is limited movement for now.
Overall, though, it’s worth remembering mortgage rates are at historic lows already, with the cheapest two-year fix dropping under 1% for the first time (use the Mortgage Best-Buy Comparison to explore them).
If you can slash £1,000s off your costs (and that is not an exaggeration for many on standard variable rates), and get peace of mind that you can afford it (and if you’re worried about uncertainty, go for a longer fix), then do it. Yes there’s a chance it could get even cheaper, but if you’re bagging something that’s easily affordable, that certainty and safety has a value too. Playing the market is never guaranteed. For more help, see the Cheap Remortgage guide.
This has all roughly proved right. We did see mortgage rates drop a touch, especially longer fixed deals. Yet the Trump victory has now mostly reversed that, with a belief that he will pump the US economy. And as the US economy is the engine room for world growth, once it starts motoring the rest of the world should follow, including us.
So the long-term view of interest rates has shifted, and the momentum is very firmly upwards. Rates are still cheap right now, but cheap deals for 5- and 10-year fixes especially are starting to disappear.
I think there is a chance that 2017 could be the year that super-cheap mortgage deals end. That’s no guarantee, but it’s certainly worth every mortgage holder checking now to see if you can find a better deal (the links above should do that).
Now onto the Q&As – these are based on common questions I was getting at the time. Some of these questions are less prevalent/relevant now, but I’ll go through them anyway.
Of course, it’s very easy these days to frame everything with a Brexit narrative –whereas in truth there are many other factors at play. However, where I have commented, due to the nature of what this blog is about I’ve mainly kept it within the EU sphere.
Q. How will this affect ‘mortgage prisoners’ due to the EU Mortgage Credit Directive?
A. I’ve been campaigning about the EU Mortgage Credit Directive’s impact on remortgaging. Sensible rules have been introduced to ensure that first-timers can afford their mortgages, but the same rules are also being applied to those just switching their mortgage deal.
This has led to the farce of some people being told “you can’t afford a cheaper mortgage”.
When challenged on this, the EU tells me that this is due to how our regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) interprets the directive, while the FCA says it has no choice and that it’s an EU rule.
I’ve met George Osborne on it and had some limited success (see ‘I was a mortgage prisoner but escaped thanks to MSE’) but there is a long way to go.
The UK will no longer be bound by this directive once we leave in a couple of years. Until then, the question is: can the FCA reinterpret? Watch this space.
I’ve continued working on this – we put in an autumn statement budget submission, and there’s definitely sympathy to this view out there. However, most of the feedback still suggests that little can be done while we’re in the EU. I’m not stopping here though. We’re putting together an evidence and suggestion paper and have been told it will be looked at and scrutinised properly. So the work continues.
Q. What’s going to happen to house prices – is it worth me completing my purchase?
A. House prices are a funny thing. In most areas we worry about price rises, but for homes many celebrate it. And in some ways that’s right – increased prices can lower your loan to value, which means a cheaper mortgage is possible. Plus if you sell the property and aren’t moving to a bigger one, you can cash in. Yet for others, rising house prices stop them ever owning a property.
As for what’ll happen due to Brexit, that’s anyone’s guess. It’s possible there will be market uncertainty, and certainly initial reports show a few people pulling out of deals, which will lower demand and could impact prices – yet that could just be initial shock and within a few weeks it may settle down.
However, we still have an issue with undersupply in many parts of the country, which is a powerful factor in keeping prices at current high levels. See our Free House Price Valuations guide for more.
A number of people have been asking if they should complete on the house they’re in the process of buying. If it’s the house that’s right for you, it’s within your budget and you’ve a decent mortgage that you can afford, then I think the best human decision, if not financial, is to carry on and go for it.
The most important thing is to make a good decision based on the factors you know, but doing that doesn’t guarantee you a good outcome. For more on what I mean by that, see my How To Make Good Financial Decisions guide.
Not much has changed here.
Q. Will I still be able to get a Help to Buy ISA?
A. Yes. The Help to Buy ISA is a UK Government savings scheme, not an EU scheme. It allows first-time buyers to save for a mortgage deposit with the state adding 25% on top, up to £3,000 (see our guide on the top Help to Buy ISAs available).
While a new Government could change its mind, this was a Conservative policy, so it would seem a strange move. In the unlikely event it did change its mind, it would likely close it to new entrants, rather than cut the benefit to those who already have one (though again, nothing’s guaranteed).
Indeed you can still get it, and if you’re a first-time buyer it’s still worth opening one.
Q. What about Lifetime ISAs?
A. These savings and investment schemes are due to launch next April. This is a George Osborne policy to give a 25% boost to first-time home buyers and retirement savings (see how in our Lifetime ISAs guide). While it’s likely to continue, as it’s not launched yet, there is a chance a new Government could scrap it before it starts, as a change of policy direction. My guess is it’ll stay, however.
Lifetime ISAs should continue as planned in April, though there have been a few tweaks to the terms (most good), after an evidence session (that I was part of) at the Commons.
Q. Will savings rates drop?
A. It’s tough to see them get much lower – already the top standard easy access deal is 1.27% (see Top Savings for how to get 3%). Yet again, though, this one does depend on UK interest rate policy.
Grrrr. I was wrong here. They have gone lower. The top instant access rate is now down to 1% (see the link above), yet it’s mainly the high interest savings bank accounts that have borne the brunt of this. Santander 123, Halifax Reward, Club Lloyds and others have all cut (or announced plans) to cut their rates.
For those bank accounts that have already seen rate cuts, I think and hope that’s the end of it. Many of those cuts came on the back of August’s UK base rate drop, where the Bank of England guidance was hinting at further cuts to come.
It’s my view that these bank accounts were cut more than they otherwise would have been because of this (unlike normal savings where rates move all the time, bank accounts aren’t changed regularly so banks tried to take the hit in one go). However, UK base rates haven’t fallen further, so there’s no need for more cuts – though I doubt they’ll increase things either.
Again one thing we have started to see in the last few weeks is small increases in the rate of long-term fixed-rate savings, mirroring what’s happening in the mortgage market.
Q. Are my savings safe?
A. This is a time of uncertainty and change, so I’m not surprised to have had a lot of people asking that question. UK banks and building societies are required to have much bigger capital reserves now than they did in 2007. Plus there are a variety of new measures in place to prevent savings collapse (for example, they’d try to move the savings to another bank rather than allow it to collapse and pay out).
One cause for concern for some of you is the fact that the underlying savings safety guarantee is an EU rule. However, the EU only dictates the amount of deposit protection we have.
The deposit protection scheme itself is UK-mandated, and is run by the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme, meaning that savings up to £75,000 with a bank or building society (or banking group) are protected and will remain so, at least for the next couple of years while negotiations to leave are ongoing.
In fact, the protection UK accounts get recently dropped from £85,000 to £75,000 because of fluctuations in the euro’s value, even though many regulators here didn’t want it to. So it could be a positive that this protection can be at a set level in future that isn’t dependent on the value of currencies. More info on how the protections work in Are My Savings Safe?
Here we’ve seen what is arguably a Brexit vote boon – the weaker pound means it’s been proposed the protection will be recalculated and hopefully return to the £85,000 level from 30 January.
Q. My savings are with an overseas-protected bank, eg, RCI or Fidor – what’s the situation there?
A. As we’ve always warned, a few savings accounts aren’t fully UK-regulated. In the unlikely event the bank providing such an account went bust, your €100,000 protection (equiv to the £75,000 on the UK scheme) comes from a foreign government, eg, RCI is France, Fidor is German. So you should only do this if you’re happy with the fact that it’d bail you out.
There is no change in that, until at least the point when we actually leave the EU in a couple of years’ time – what happens after that is one of those things that will need negotiating.
No new info.
Q. My savings are with Santander, that’s Spanish; is that a worry?
A. Don’t let the question confuse you. Most banks operating in the UK, even if their parent company is elsewhere, are fully UK-regulated banks.
The most famous one is Santander (and many MoneySavers have it due to the best-buy Santander 123). Yet this is a fully-regulated UK bank, and a big one at that: its funds are ring-fenced from the Spanish parent group. So don’t think of it as Spanish.
No change to the protection status. The only arguable change is my use of the phrase ‘best buy’ before Santander 123, due to its rate cut. It still is a winner for some, though: see my Should I ditch Santander 123 now it’s halved its rate? blog.
Q. Is this going to affect the rate at which I can get credit card or personal loans?
A. I think that’s unlikely. These rates are far less tightly linked to interest rates than mortgages. One consideration would be if the banks were concerned to keep very high capital ratios so became more cautious about lending. Yet overall I don’t see Brexit playing a big part in this (other changes of course, as always can change these things).
Certainly right now the credit card market for shifting debts is offering record deals, with up to 40 months 0% available – so if you’re paying debt on existing credit or store cards, just for safety it’s worth sorting now. See our top balance transfers guide for all details. For more on borrowing best buys check out the cards and loans section of our site.
If anything things have become cheaper since, with new cheapest personal loans and longest-ever 0% balance transfers deals. However, I don’t particularly see that as Brexit-related. This is just the same continued momentum that we were seeing beforehand.
Q. Has my private pension lost money due to the drop in the FTSE and other investments?
A. If your pension is invested in stocks and shares and you were to cash it in today, yes – you’d have lost money compared with before the referendum.
Although if your pension isn’t being cashed in today, it’s just a paper loss. The markets move every day (though current moves are a lot bigger than most days). It’s only when you crystallise that by buying or selling that there is an actual impact.
So the risk in an investment is the same as always. You hope it moves up, you risk it going down, it changes every day and the timing of when you do the transaction is what counts.
The only thing I can guarantee you about the future of shares is they will go up, go down, or stay the same.
Well, since then the FTSE 100 has bounced back very strongly – then again, as most of the firms in that index are international companies that make money right across the world – the pound’s weakness artificially inflates their profits so they benefit (in other words if they make money in dollars, when it’s converted into pounds to publish their profit figures, it looks bigger because a million dollars buys more pounds than it did).
Generally, smaller UK public companies fared worse in the initial post-Brexit world, but while not quite recovering as well as the FTSE 100 compared with before the vote, the other indices have bounced back to a decent extent.
For those wanting to know what happens next with share prices, I shall repeat my line from the time… “the only thing I can guarantee you about the future of shares is they will go up, go down, or stay the same”.
Q. As the market’s dropped, is now a buying opportunity for shares, or my shares ISA?
A. Ask me in a year or two’s time when I have the benefit of hindsight. No one can predict the markets. The rule ‘what goes down, must go up’ simply isn’t true. It may well turn out to be a good time; equally things could fall further. And if you’re investing in individual shares, they’re even more volatile than the rest of the markets.
Well it wasn’t a bad time. Yet to bag those gains you’d need to sell. But should you sell now or wait – that’s the million dollar question. And one I’ve no clue of the answer to.
Q. Should I be buying my holiday money – euros, dollars, etc – now?
A. I’m afraid I can’t answer that without a crystal ball. There is huge volatility on the currency markets and they could move any way.
It’s worth putting the current rates (at the time of writing) in a bit of perspective though. Against the euro the pound was nearing €1.30 before the result and is now around the €1.20 mark. This time last summer it bought €1.43 at its peak. However, the summer before it was €1.20 and the year before that €1.15 – so this isn’t a historical anomaly.
Part of that is because the euro itself has also weakened due to the Brexit vote, so the relative change isn’t as much. The pound has faced a much bigger drop against the dollar, where it’s at an over 30 year low, hanging around the £1 buys roughly $1.35 mark.
If you’re worried, one option is to buy from a firm that allows you to order but with a cancellation right. So you lock in today’s rate, but if it improves you cancel and buy elsewhere (see my blog on Buying euros/dollars before the referendum, which is still relevant now as it’s about protecting yourself from volatility).
Or you could go for a top overseas spending card that gives you perfect exchange rates on the day you spend. More help is available in our 16 cheapest ways to get travel money guide.
Well, if you’d bought euros then, you’d not have gained or lost compared with now. If you’d bought dollars, you’d be up a little bit.
Q. My friend told me to wait to buy my euros as they’ll rise again, is it worth it?
A. Be wary of friends giving you definitive facts about the markets – be it shares, house prices or the pound. These things move, there are no rules.
Q. Will I still be able to use my EHIC?
A. The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is an agreement between countries in the EU and European Economic Area. The EHIC gets you free or discounted medical care in EU member countries but also in Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, plus Switzerland, which isn’t in either the EU and European Economic Area.
The vote may affect this in future but again, nothing is likely to happen for at least the next two years. For now travellers can and should carry on using the scheme as normal.
Remember the EHIC is free and you should never pay for it. Plus if you’ve got one, check whether it’s still in date. Full help is available in our Free EHIC guide.
No news on this yet – still too early to tell.
Q. My passport says ‘European Union’ on the front – do I need a new one?
A. Although your passport says European Union on the front that’s just a branding thing – it’s actually issued by the UK Government, so it’s a UK passport.
What the vote result may mean for travel within the European Union is one of the bigger unknowns that will be part of negotiations, but until we leave the EU (which will not be for at least another two years) things should be mostly unaffected.
Q. Will I still be able to claim for flight delays?
A. |
5 23:37 PoBear wrote:
I can't bring upp the "production icon" on buildings and larvae, is there a hotkey for that?
I thing you need to use a special mod for that. Not only GH U.I I thing you need to use a special mod for that. Not only GH U.I
cheeseheadlogic Profile Blog Joined April 2011 United States 319 Posts #825 In LotV Beta with replays the observer controls pop and won't go away. Can't ctrl+shift+o it away. please help if possible. epik
Ahli Profile Joined May 2012 Germany 338 Posts #826 On October 15 2015 15:39 cheeseheadlogic wrote:
In LotV Beta with replays the observer controls pop and won't go away. Can't ctrl+shift+o it away. please help if possible.
For Legacy of the Void beta (for patch 2.5.5):
>>> Download GameHeart 1vs1 Observer Interface v.2.4 for LotV Beta <<<
>>> Download GameHeart 2vs2 Observer Interface v.0.4 for LotV Beta <<<
The beta uses an outdated version of the engine... :<
An animation event short form is not supported and the behavior tooltip has a different format. I fixed these two aspects in the files above. The beta uses an outdated version of the engine... : AhliSC2@Twitter. - Get the GameHeart Observer Interface: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=21465380... Get Heroes of the Storm Observer UI on my twitter. Try my Arcade map "Dia blo - Mortal Shroud" (buggy atm).
QJTJT Profile Joined January 2016 1 Post #827
Thanks. I'm a Korea user. I found an error of your interface. I can't read all Korean characters. You can see this in first screenshot. 1st screenshot is captured in ladder game. Also, in custom game, that error still exist. Each user name is displayed '?????????'. If you don't mind, could you fix that error?
Ahli Profile Joined May 2012 Germany 338 Posts Last Edited: 2016-01-08 22:40:15 #828 On January 05 2016 10:52 QJTJT wrote:
Thanks. I'm a Korea user. I found an error of your interface. I can't read all Korean characters. You can see this in first screenshot. 1st screenshot is captured in ladder game. Also, in custom game, that error still exist. Each user name is displayed '?????????'. If you don't mind, could you fix that error?
Can anyone give/link me a replay with a player using Korean characters in his name? Then I can test it properly.
This problem requires me to use another font for player names which is able to display all characters.
edit:
Alright, I have identified the issue and fixed it. Can anyone give/link me a replay with a player using Korean characters in his name? Then I can test it properly.This problem requires me to use another font for player names which is able to display all characters.edit:Alright, I have identified the issue and fixed it. AhliSC2@Twitter. - Get the GameHeart Observer Interface: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=21465380... Get Heroes of the Storm Observer UI on my twitter. Try my Arcade map "Dia blo - Mortal Shroud" (buggy atm).
Ahli Profile Joined May 2012 Germany 338 Posts #830 Update - Better 720p!
Both 1vs1 and 2vs2 have been updated!
>>> Download GameHeart 1vs1 Observer Interface v.2.6 <<<
>>> Download GameHeart 2vs2 Observer Interface v.0.6 <<<
Screenshot:
Changelog:
Both versions received the same changes:
1vs1 version:
+ Show Spoiler +
v.2.6 (25th January 2016)
- fixed upgrade timer notifications being slightly transparent
- upgrade timer + workers killed notifications now slide in from the side of the screen
- fixed Nydus containing units in the unit info panel not hiding the background stats panel making them overlap
- removed transparency from map score panel
- adjusted game time label to be placed better on 720p
- the unit wireframe will now resize to create enough space on all resolutions. This fixes the cut-off energy label on 720p and making it look good on 1080p.
- added outlines to leaderpanel numbers, upgrade pips and units/structures lost numbers and adjusted their positions
2vs2 version:
+ Show Spoiler +
v.0.6 (25th January 2016)
- fixed upgrade timer notifications being slightly transparent
- upgrade timer + workers killed notifications now slide in from the side of the screen
- fixed Nydus containing units in the unit info panel not hiding the background stats panel making them overlap
- removed transparency from map score panel
- adjusted game time label to be placed better on 720p
- the unit wireframe will now resize to create enough space on all resolutions. This fixes the cut-off energy label on 720p and making it look good on 1080p.
- added outlines to leaderpanel numbers, upgrade pips and units/structures lost numbers and adjusted their positions
More Information:
To receive more information, head to
Remember, you still need to use the extension mod to receive upgrade countdowns, workers killed counter and production icons.
If you run into problems, you can message me here on teamliquid, try to post in this thread or reach out to me via twitter @AhliSC2.
If you have ideas for improvements, find bugs, etc, let me know!
Enjoy! Both 1vs1 and 2vs2 have been updated!Both versions received the same changes:To receive more information, head to this post earlier in this thread.Remember, you still need to use the extension mod to receive upgrade countdowns, workers killed counter and production icons.If you run into problems, you can message me here on teamliquid, try to post in this thread or reach out to me via twitter @AhliSC2.Enjoy! AhliSC2@Twitter. - Get the GameHeart Observer Interface: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=21465380... Get Heroes of the Storm Observer UI on my twitter. Try my Arcade map "Dia blo - Mortal Shroud" (buggy atm).
graNite Profile Blog Joined December 2010 Germany 4401 Posts #831 I think I have asked this before, but is it possible to remove the numbers from the production tab on upgrades? there will always be only one storm, one charge and one +2 upgrade upgrading, there is no need to show the "1" "Oink oink, bitches" - Tasteless on Pigbaby winning a map against Flash
Ahli Profile Joined May 2012 Germany 338 Posts #832 On January 25 2016 22:35 graNite wrote:
I think I have asked this before, but is it possible to remove the numbers from the production tab on upgrades? there will always be only one storm, one charge and one +2 upgrade upgrading, there is no need to show the "1"
Unfortunately not. So, Blizzard are the only ones that can do that.
I would love Blizzard doing that change, though. There is really no point in showing a "1". Unfortunately not. So, Blizzard are the only ones that can do that.I would love Blizzard doing that change, though. There is really no point in showing a "1". AhliSC2@Twitter. - Get the GameHeart Observer Interface: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=21465380... Get Heroes of the Storm Observer UI on my twitter. Try my Arcade map "Dia blo - Mortal Shroud" (buggy atm).
Dingodile Profile Joined December 2011 3907 Posts #833 On January 25 2016 22:35 graNite wrote:
I think I have asked this before, but is it possible to remove the numbers from the production tab on upgrades? there will always be only one storm, one charge and one +2 upgrade upgrading, there is no need to show the "1"
Didnt know this can be misleading. upgrade with 2 should mean upgrade lvl 2. Didnt know this can be misleading. upgrade with 2 should mean upgrade lvl 2. Grubby | ToD | Moon | Lyn | Sky
Ahli Profile Joined May 2012 Germany 338 Posts #834 On January 25 2016 22:42 Dingodile wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 25 2016 22:35 graNite wrote:
I think I have asked this before, but is it possible to remove the numbers from the production tab on upgrades? there will always be only one storm, one charge and one +2 upgrade upgrading, there is no need to show the "1"
Didnt know this can be misleading. upgrade with 2 should mean upgrade lvl 2. Didnt know this can be misleading. upgrade with 2 should mean upgrade lvl 2.
In the production tab, there is usually never a "2" for an upgrade as multi-researchable upgrades only occur in custom mods, not in melee/ladder sc2.
On the other hand, in the upgrade tab, there is a "2" displaying the level of a level-able upgrade (weapon/armor/shield upgrades). But I think that is fine.
So, I assume he refers to the production tab where "1" is displayed for everything when its sole icon appearance tells you that there is 1 in production. In the production tab, there is usually never a "2" for an upgrade as multi-researchable upgrades only occur in custom mods, not in melee/ladder sc2.On the other hand, in the upgrade tab, there is a "2" displaying the level of a level-able upgrade (weapon/armor/shield upgrades). But I think that is fine.So, I assume he refers to the production tab where "1" is displayed for everything when its sole icon appearance tells you that there is 1 in production. AhliSC2@Twitter. - Get the GameHeart Observer Interface: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=21465380... Get Heroes of the Storm Observer UI on my twitter. Try my Arcade map "Dia blo - Mortal Shroud" (buggy atm).
nighcol Profile Joined January 2012 297 Posts #835 So happy we have the improvements that Gameheart has brought us and continues to bring. Are there new features planned? Would something like an overview of how mined out active bases are be possible?
samgamgi Profile Joined October 2014 Brazil 9 Posts #836 Anyone know how to use the graphs in Gameheart Mod/Interface? I just saw it in a BaseTradeTV game, tried to look for the specific hotkey, and it even shows in the Gameheart Mod Update 8#, but it never states how to show the graphs.
BasetradeTV Profile Blog Joined October 2012 Canada 1176 Posts #837 On February 06 2016 13:52 samgamgi wrote:
Anyone know how to use the graphs in Gameheart Mod/Interface? I just saw it in a BaseTradeTV game, tried to look for the specific hotkey, and it even shows in the Gameheart Mod Update 8#, but it never states how to show the graphs.
It's a specific beta feature of a mod made for us. It doesn't have anything to do with this overlay
if you do use our in game mod its numpad 1, 2 and 3 It's a specific beta feature of a mod made for us. It doesn't have anything to do with this overlayif you do use our in game mod its numpad 1, 2 and 3 Commentator
RussianBear Profile Joined February 2016 7 Posts Last Edited: 2016-02-07 09:38:46 #838
First of all - Thank you! Interface is the best of all that I saw. Compact, comffort, perfect!
There is a bug with zerg limits - sometimes It shows 0 army when zerg have army units. I'm not sure what triggers it, seems more like random. Also, i'm not sure that I saw this on BasetradeTV, TakeTV, and dreamhack. I saw this on russian stream, so may be its something about locale? I talk to one russian streamer, give him a link - he set up last 25 jan version, but bug is still present. Here are 2 screens tooked up one after another
Could you, please, fix this or give me a clue, may be I miss something?
p.s. forgot to say, it happens in almost every game and very very often =( If you need a link to a video, let me know, i'll find some. Hi Ahli!First of all - Thank you! Interface is the best of all that I saw. Compact, comffort, perfect!There is a bug with zerg limits - sometimes It shows 0 army when zerg have army units. I'm not sure what triggers it, seems more like random. Also, i'm not sure that I saw this on BasetradeTV, TakeTV, and dreamhack. I saw this on russian stream, so may be its something about locale? I talk to one russian streamer, give him a link - he set up last 25 jan version, but bug is still present. Here are 2 screens tooked up one after another http://imgur.com/a/4qFJU No production changes or units morphing. Just some dead lings.Could you, please, fix this or give me a clue, may be I miss something?p.s. forgot to say, it happens in almost every game and very very often =( If you need a link to a video, let me know, i'll find some.
Ahli Profile Joined May 2012 Germany 338 Posts #839 On February 06 2016 22:46 RussianBear wrote:
Hi Ahli!
First of all - Thank you! Interface is the best of all that I saw. Compact, comffort, perfect!
There is a bug with zerg limits - sometimes It shows 0 army when zerg have army units. I'm not sure what triggers it, seems more like random. Also, i'm not sure that I saw this on BasetradeTV, TakeTV, and dreamhack. I saw this on russian stream, so may be its something about locale? I talk to one russian streamer, give him a link - he set up last 25 jan version, but bug is still present. Here are 2 screens tooked up one after another
Could you, please, fix this or give me a clue, may be I miss something?
p.s. forgot to say, it happens in almost every game and very very often =( If you need a link to a video, let me know, i'll find some. Hi Ahli!First of all - Thank you! Interface is the best of all that I saw. Compact, comffort, perfect!There is a bug with zerg limits - sometimes It shows 0 army when zerg have army units. I'm not sure what triggers it, seems more like random. Also, i'm not sure that I saw this on BasetradeTV, TakeTV, and dreamhack. I saw this on russian stream, so may be its something about locale? I talk to one russian streamer, give him a link - he set up last 25 jan version, but bug is still present. Here are 2 screens tooked up one after another http://imgur.com/a/4qFJU No production changes or units morphing. Just some dead lings.Could you, please, fix this or give me a clue, may be I miss something?p.s. forgot to say, it happens in almost every game and very very often =( If you need a link to a video, let me know, i'll find some.
Thanks for the screenshots. Unfortunately, I don't control the logic behind the counter. The UI merely uses a label with the following text:
<d Player="Left" Score="FoodUsedArmy"/>
The displayed value is calculated by SC2. Since it returns 0, something is wrong in Blizzard's code for this score value. 0 is the fallback value, so I assume the calculation fails for some reason.
Thus, I have created a bug report
If you have a replay of a game where this is reproducible, I would love to have it, to send it to Blizzard helping them understand the problem behind this. Thanks for the screenshots. Unfortunately, I don't control the logic behind the counter. The UI merely uses a label with the following text: The displayed value is calculated by SC2. Since it returns 0, something is wrong in Blizzard's code for this score value. 0 is the fallback value, so I assume the calculation fails for some reason.Thus, I have created a bug report here If you have a replay of a game where this is reproducible, I would love to have it, to send it to Blizzard helping them understand the problem behind this. AhliSC2@Twitter. - Get the GameHeart Observer Interface: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=21465380... Get Heroes of the Storm Observer UI on my twitter. Try my Arcade map "Dia blo - Mortal Shroud" (buggy atm).
graNite Profile Blog Joined December 2010 Germany 4401 Posts #840 Is it possible to have a tab or a counter that shows the total minerals and gas mined for each player? Does the game even track these stats? "Oink oink, bitches" - Tasteless on Pigbaby winning a map against Flash
Prev 1 40 41 42 43 44 45 Next AllA war of words over General Election leader debates has broken out between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The new Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he is "amazed" that Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is ruling out a three-way TV debate between the leaders of the largest political parties.
Mr Martin has challenged Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore to a series of debates on RTE, TV3 and TG4 during the General Election.
However, Enda Kenny said he will only participate in a debate that involves all five party leaders.
The Labour Party, which has accepted the offer, said it is "disappointing" that Fine Gael is so "fearful" of such an arrangement.
Micheál Martin is calling on Enda Kenny to reconsider his position while Labour has also said it is time for Fine Gael to "put the captain on the pitch".
But the Fine Gael leader warned that no major party should be excluded in the current political climate.
“It appears as if Deputy Martin wants to stay for the duration of the campaign in the studio,” Mr Kenny said.
“The reason for that is that Fianna Fáil campaigners do not want to knock on the doors of the houses of people whose lives have been ruined up and down the country.”
Fianna Fáil are languishing near the bottom of opinion polls and face the daunting challenge of going head-to-head with Sinn Féin to be the third biggest party in the Dáil.
At 14%, their rating is a record low and the next Red C poll is due in this weekend’s Sunday Business Post.
Fine Gael head the polls, with Labour in second, but Mr Gilmore is consistently ranked the country’s most popular leader.
Mr Martin has proposed at least five debates spread out over the four-week campaign before the expected February 25 election. He suggested they would be broadcast on RTE, TV3 and one debate in Irish on TG4. Sky TV is also trying to get in on the act.
He wanted two three-way debates – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour – and also head-to-heads between the main leaders.
Fine Gael insiders are keen to expand the format to include Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams and Green leader John Gormley.
Last September at the Fine Gael think tank, Enda Kenny said: "It doesn’t matter to me, but it’s not my call in any event, whether the leaders' debates are between myself and Brian Cowen, whether they are between three leaders, four leaders or five leaders."
Mr Martin’s letter, sent to Fine Gael and Labour after his resounding election success yesterday, claimed that previous debates had been too conservative.
He also contended that repeated head-to-head TV appearances would focus the campaign on policies rather than soundbites.
Mr Gilmore was quick to accept the challenge. Mr Kenny’s party initially stood back before suggesting the new approach should not be limited to the three traditionally strongest parties and urged his opponents to open it up to all realistic challengers.
A Fine Gael source said: “The indications are that Eamon Gilmore wants to keep Gerry Adams out of the debate.
“It’s quite evident that there’s some competition on that side of the spectrum.
“But we’re not into excluding anybody.
“To interpret that as ruling out a three-way debate is inaccurate. But in the current political spectrum, it’s just not feasible and it should be a five-way debate.”What is it?
The Hyundai Veloster Turbo is the coupe we should have had at the start. Hyundai's novel coupe-cum-hatchback does what no other right-hand-drive car does, which is to have two side doors on the nearside and just one, longer door on the driver's side. It looks like quite a racy coupe but its rear seats are rather more accessible than a coupe's usually are.
But as launched, with 138 skinny-feeling bhp from its 1.6-litre engine, the Veloster did not feel very thrilling. A turbocharged version was promised, and this is it. Europe gets its own specifically calibrated version, with less power than the US-market Veloster Turbo, while engineering tweaks carried out off the back of extensive British A- and B-road testing has been applied to all EU cars.
Prices start just below £20,000, but the bast value lies with the Veloster Turbo SE, which for £22,120, adds equipment such as a touchscreen satnav, a reversing camera and heated seats.
Technical highlights?
Power drops from the US-spec 204 to 184bhp, but the same 195lb ft of torque arrives at a lower speed. Real-world driveability is the aim, helped by longer gearing in the six-speed manual gearbox which benefits economy and cruising refinement. Direct injection means the compression ratio can stay efficiently high at 9.5:1, and the turbocharger is a twin-scroll unit better able to make use of exhaust pulses.
Firmer dampers, bigger front brakes, 18in wheels and revised settings for the electric power steering, intended to make it feel more naturally weighted, complete the mechanical changes. Deeper valances, an extended rear spoiler, round front foglights and a central pair of exhaust pipes identify the Turbo, along with the option (£525) of matt metallic grey paint.
What's it like to drive?
A regular Veloster feels a bit flat at low revs and frantic at high revs. The turbocharged engine transforms the whole car, with a keen, precise and practically lag-free pull from low revs. Its torque delivery is strong and impressively linear, though once you’re past 5000rpm its delivery tails off a little and its vocals become quite thrashy. Overall, the engine is pleasing in its power delivery but unsatisfying in soundtrack, and the car’s increasingly big American tuning scene surely has ways of better matching noise to sensations with a sports exhaust.
Ultimate acceleration isn't very special – the claim is 8.4sec to 62mph – but you can cover ground very quickly in this car thanks to its strong mid-range energy and confident overtaking ability. No sporting Hyundai (not a broad canon, it must be said) has felt as rapid and capable as this one.
The gear ratios suit it well, the shift is neat and slick, and the brakes have an unusually solid, progressive action. There's a touch of steering tug if you accelerate hard out of a tight bend, a bit of dynamic spirit too easily quelled by an intrusive traction and ESP system. You can switch it off, but under really aggressive driving you might still catch glimpse of a flashing orange light. The steering itself is naturally weighted, as promised, and the action is properly precise. And there’s even some feel – not spades of it, but in a market swarming with CO2-massaging synthetic steering racks, it offers more of an insight into grip levels than most.
The handling balance has the fluidity and throttle-interactivity usual in a Hyundai; the Korean company has always understood that side of things. Flick through some esses or hare along some undulations and you'll discover excellent body control, but short, sharp bumps are greeted with quite a thud – as they are in the standard Veloster. Our long-term test car suffered a buckled alloy and damaged tyre from one pothole, a mixture of the hole’s deepness and the lack of suspension give (and, indeed, tyre sidewall) the likely reason.
The Veloster Turbo is a modern car but some of its most interesting characteristics come from old school charm – a mechanical handbrake, no stop/start and an ESP system deactivated with one press rather than a hold-down-for-what-feels-like-eternity process all help endow it with a sheen of character more polished (and technically more capable) rivals can lack.
How does it compare?
Obvious rivals are a VW Scirocco in 1.4 TSI 160 or 2.0 TSI forms and the Vauxhall Astra GTC 1.6T. The Astra is unnecessarily corpulent, the Scirocco dearer to buy. The fact is that the Veloster Turbo acquits itself very capably in this company, and at £21,995 with lashings of equipment and a five-year Triple Care warranty, it's good value as well as useful in its architecture.
From a handling and agility angle, the Veloster Turbo’s biggest problem comes from a double-pronged attack from one company. The Ford Fiesta ST (179bhp, £16,995) and Ford Focus ST (247bhp, £21,995) mightn’t look as interesting or have as much equipment, but both are quicker and more exciting, the former especially impressive and the current leader of the small hot hatch pack.
The Veloster has a rival relative, too, the Kia Proceed GT sharing some of its bits (getting a 201bhp version of its engine) but delivering them in a more traditional and practical three-door package and costing roughly the same. It also feels a bit sharper to drive than the Hyundai.
Anything else I need to know?
Despite the Veloster Turbo’s large dose of extra talent over its regular base car, it makes up just 10 per cent of the model’s overall sales. The regular, 138bhp car starts at a whisker over £18,000.
And while the Veloster has four seats, a bigger boot and the perception of more practicality than a regular coupe, those six foot or over will be very cramped in the back and the 2+1 door layout’s novelty value subsides rather quickly when you’re travelling along and want to put stuff in the back.
SpecificationsBETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces used tear-gas to break up anti-wall protests in villages across the West Bank on Friday.
Undeterred by the rain, demonstrators focused on Palestinian national unity as well as an end to Israel's occupation.
Hunger strikers from the March 15 youth movement left Ramallah's Manara square to join the protest in Bil'in, where this week's slogan was "End the division and the occupation."
Villagers, local and international activists marched to the site of the wall, carrying Palestinian flags and posters of Jawaher Abu Rahma and her brother Bassem. Jawaher died on January 1 after inhaling massive amounts of tear gas at a demonstration in Bil'in the day before. Bassem was killed at a protest in the village in 2009, when an Israeli soldier fired a high-velocity tear gas grenade into his chest.
Israeli forces were waiting at the wall, and fired tear gas grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs and a chemical liquid at the demonstrators.
According to an Israeli military statement, soldiers used "riot dispersal means" to end the protest after demonstrators threw rocks at the forces.
Protest organizers said four villagers were injured. Ahmad Abu Rahma, 16, was shot in his right leg with a bullet that disperses hundreds of metal balls when fired. Ibrahim Burnat, 28, and Samer Ataya, 30, were both shot in the leg with tear gas grenades. Mohamad Burnat, 22, was hit in his face with a tear gas canister.
They were all treated by medics at the scene, organizers said.
Meanwhile in Nil'in, also in the Ramallah district, protesters waved Palestinian flags and demanded national unity between the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Israeli forces used tear gas to break up the weekly rally. Protesters said troops entered the village and shot tear gas towards homes.
Organizers said around 100 activists joined the protest, but the Israeli army said around 30 participated in the demonstration.
At a simultaneous protest in An-Nabi Saleh, three Palestinians were injured as Israeli forces used tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to shut down the anti-wall rally.
Forces detained Udai At-Tamimi and photojournalist Bilal At-Tamimi in addition to 12 foreign nationals, protest organizers said, adding that the Israeli military imposed a security cordon around the village and targeted ambulances.
Demonstrators chanted "The people want to end the division" and said Palestinians would always resist Israel's illegal military occupation of their land.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said nine demonstrators were detained for throwing stones at soldiers.
Protests are held every Friday around the West Bank in villages whose land has been confiscated by Israel's separation wall.
Israel says the wall is necessary to prevent attacks, but only 15 percent of the route of the wall is on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank.
The other 85 percent of the wall's route runs inside the West Bank and confiscates Palestinian land, on which illegal Israeli settlements are built, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs says.
The wall has confiscated some 60 percent of Bil'in villagers' land, on which Israel has constructed Jewish-only settlements.
Villages that participate in the non-violent popular struggle against the wall are constantly targeted by Israel's military, and residents are subject to night raids and detentions.
On Thursday, Israeli forces detained the leader of An-Nabi Saleh's popular committee, hours before he was scheduled to receive a delegation from the French consulate.
Bassem Tamimi was taken by Israeli forces during a raid on his home. His wife Nariman Tamimi said soldiers aggressively tried to stop her filming the arrest, and she passed the camera to her 10-year-old daughter.
Soldiers grabbed the camera and threw it outside in the mud, she said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed detaining the protest organizer, but could not say why he was detained.
The local committee said Israeli forces have detained 18 of Nabi Saleh's residents since February, half of whom were minors. The youngest was 11-year-old Karim Tamimi
Since An-Nabi Saleh began non-violent protests in December 2009, Israel's army has detained 64 of the village's 500 residents, the committee says.We all know that big corporations have gained a lot from big data but, people often feel it skeptic about whether they will work for independent traders and small businesses. Without any doubt even small businesses can go for it. Even though small businesses will not have large quantity of data like that of enterprises still, it does not ruin the importance of it. To be frank, Big Data Development especially from offshore development companies can act better for small businesses as such kind of data is agile and offers better results because of the data-driven insights.
So now lets see how big data can benefit small businesses in better way.
Understanding the things that tricks your customers
With the help of big data, small business owners will be able to get a better idea about their customers. What excites them, what makes them buy, what are their shopping preferences, why they switch somewhere else, and what can make them recommend the store to others. By analyzing the customer feedback, small businesses can better interact with the customers to improve the product or service. The data sources include social media, in-house data, text analytics, browser logs and public data sets.
Social media can be considered as a valuable data source which you can make use to identify the market niche as well analyze the received customer feedback.
Identifying the trends
You can plan the future of the business by monitoring the patterns and behavior. You will know how the demand for services or products will change with time and what is going to affect the change. Until few years back, mostly businesses relied on the ‘gut feeling’ for the same but now, big data has taken away all the guesswork.
Trending topics flash over different social media sites and this makes it easier to know what can work for people. A number of services like Trend Hunter and Trend era use the trend data and see how it can answer the business questions. The behavior of the customers in the physical or online store can be monitored and this data can be compared with the external one for a better detail.
Checking out the competition
There was a time when the business competition can only be measured by checking out the websites or shops of the rivals or keeping up with the gossips in the industry. Some of them even try to pretend to be a customer to know more about the products or services of the rivals. Today, you don’t have to do it and all you need is to collect the financial data and go through the insights offered by the Google on the brand. Social media will help to analyze the popularity of the brand and what customers are saying about it.
Again, it offers a better platform for your competitors to know more about your business. But you can make the best out of it by staying ahead with up-to-date technologies in place.
References
AdvertisementsVICTORIA, B.C. - Sonia Furstenau, B.C. Green Party spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, welcomed the government’s establishment of a new bargaining unit for paramedics and dispatchers.
“I applaud this move to give standalone bargaining to the paramedics and dispatchers working tirelessly to serve our communities,” said Furstenau.
“Paramedics and dispatchers provide an essential service on the front lines of responding to medical emergencies. Now more than ever, we are indebted to them as they have shouldered the additional weight of a horrific drug overdose crisis. This bargaining unit will enable paramedics and dispatchers to advocate for issues such as response times, serving rural and remote communities and the opioid crisis.
“I also thank my colleague, Andrew Weaver, for his diligent work advancing this file. Andrew introduced the First Responder’s Act in February and has advocating for the bargaining rights of paramedics and dispatchers ever since. I am proud this important B.C. Green initiative that will make a difference in the lives of British Columbians has been adopted by government.”
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Media contact
Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary
+1 778-650-0597 | [email protected] geeks who saved Usenet Google's restoration of digital history relied on a few heroes' packrat mentality and a mountain of decaying mag tapes.
On May 11, 1981, one Mark Horton, then a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, using the e-mail address "ucbvax^mark," posted this message to the Usenet newsgroup Net.general:
Rusty is right (or is that "Rusty is Wright"?)
- we have ALL in our.ngfile so I tend to forget
this. ALL.ALL may or may not work, but
ALL certainly does. Mark
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Then, the ancient Internet scribe added this ominous postscript:
I plan to make the change on Tuesday
unless something horrible happens.
Horton's message was a response to a previous post, the intact original of which is now lost to history, from one "sdcarl!rusty," aka Rusty Wright. With this incomplete fragment of a cryptic exchange, the history of Usenet, as we have it today, begins.
The message is the oldest Usenet posting in the 20-year archive, now searchable on Google. It's the first of some 700 million posts that provide a record spanning the early history to the present of Usenet -- the sprawling public bulletin board, composed of a vast hierarchy of newsgroups, that grew up alongside the Internet itself.
Granted, this message doesn't exactly have the ever-quotable and historic ring of Alexander Graham Bell braying on the first telephone call, "Mr. Watson. Come here. I need you." But it's not the first Usenet message ever -- it's just the first one captured in this vast, yet still incomplete, archive of Usenet's 35,000 topic categories. It's an ordinary exchange between two of the first few hundred denizens of Usenet posting back in 1981.
Still, if you squint, you can see glimmers of what's to follow in this poignant gem of a fragment. What are these geeks talking about, anyway? It's a meta-post about the system itself, of course! It's part of a technical discussion of how Usenet should be administered. And catch that corny play on words, goofing off Rusty's last name: "or is that 'Rusty is Wright'?"
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Geeks talking amongst themselves on Usenet about how Usenet should best be run, while having fun with homonyms: Almost 20 years later, has anything really changed?
In mid-December 2001, Google unveiled its improved Usenet archives, which now go more than a decade deeper into the Net's past than did the millions of posts that the company salvaged from DejaNews. Now on a browser near you: a glimpse of the prehistory of the Net culture we all take for granted today. The first "me too" post! The first "Make-Money-Fast" post! It's enough to make even a relative newbie nostalgic for a past she never experienced firsthand.
The debut of the archive touched off a flurry of chatter among the geeks on Slashdot, some of whom had been there back in the day. There were some grumbles. Imagine what it's like to see your flames from 15 years ago, when Usenet still had the population of a small town, now searchable by anyone on the Web.
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by just 1,890 people in the Vaupés Region of Colombia.
Another grant paid to archive the vocal repertoire of Tashi Tsering, the royal singer of Lo Monthang region in Mustang, Nepal.
Only 7,500 speak the Lowa language but researchers managed to record, translate and transcribe 51 songs from the orally transmitted Kha Lu repertoire.
Of the world's 6,000 natural languages, half will probably not survive for another generation.
For many communities the transmission of oral literature, through ritual texts, songs, word games and historical narrative, lies at the heart of cultural practice.
But drastic socio-economic change and the rise of more dominant global cultures are disrupting the transfer of native languages and risk annihilating them completely.
Project leader Dr Mark Turin, a research associate in social anthropology, said the issue of protecting endangered languages was beginning to resonate with the public.
Dr Turin, of Cambridge University's Department of Social Anthropology, said: "When a language becomes endangered so too does a cultural world view.
"We want to engage with indigenous people trying to document their myths and folklore, which can be harder to find funding for if you are based outside Western universities.
"If you are a Himalayan tribesman you are might not have access to a video camera to record your shaman and elders.
"It's often the vernacular traditions of communities living on the margins of nation states that are most at risk.
"By supporting communities to document their own cultures for the future, and through working with engaged and committed scholars, our project is responding to this urgent challenge."
Dr Turin said the project was concentrating on non-Western cultures where natural disasters, famine and unstable government put indigenous languages at greater risk.
But he admitted traditional British languages such as Cornish and Gaelic were also under threat.
He said: "People often think it's often only tribal cultures that are under threat.
"But all over Europe there are pockets of traditional communities and speech forms that have become extinct.
"It is the domain of stronger nation states with better resources to look after their own indigenous tongues, through Welsh language TV and Breton literature.
"Given our small team we are focusing on the indigenous people who do not have the funding to help themselves."
The first batch of archives material includes a recording of folk music of the Lo Monthang region, Nepal, and ceremonial chanting in the Vaupés Region of Colombia.
While funding is already secure for next year, the £100,000 pilot project is currently seeking sustainable long-term grants to make it a permanent fixture in the University's research agenda.WASHINGTON -- At the Republican debate on foreign policy Saturday night, the party's candidates for president delivered a series of strong rebukes to the leadership of President Obama and offered a rare glimpse into their international outlooks, while also reopening the national debate on the suitability of torture.
"We're here tonight talking to the American people about why every single one of us is better than Barack Obama, and that's something everyone here can agree with," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said at the height of a debate that was high on technicalities and low on the kind of barbs and gaffes that have come to define many of the candidates' previous engagements.
Foreign policy has not been a popular topic in this campaign to date. Obama's approval rating on his handling of international affairs is unusually high, and with major international successes under his belt, including the killing of Osama bin Laden and the removal of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, the subject has hardly proven a ripe ground for Republican criticism.
Few of the candidates have substantive international experience, and to some extent the debate Saturday night was an exercise in damage control and a chance to demonstrate a basic understanding of the facts and principles concerning American interests abroad.
In this regard, few had more to prove than Herman Cain, who has run a close second in most polls but continues to be dogged by the perception that he has an underwhelming interest in national security matters. Throughout the evening, Cain acquitted himself well, delivering a nuanced perspective on the threat posed by Iran -- and avoiding major gaffes.
But Cain also provided one of the most striking moments when he argued in favor of the use of "enhanced interrogation" -- including the now-rejected technique of waterboarding -- in the fight against terrorism, a proposal that is likely to outrage many who thought the era of American-sponsored torture was over.
Attempting to parse his answer by suggesting that he did "not agree with torture, period," but instead supported "enhanced interrogation," Cain said he would rely on the military to decide which techniques were acceptable.
"I will trust the judgment of our military to determine what is torture and what is not torture," Cain said. Asked about waterboarding in particular, he replied, "I would return to that policy. I don't see it as torture, I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique."
Both Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Texas Governor Rick Perry agreed with Cain, with Perry drawing sustained applause when declared, "This is war." Of the use of waterboarding and other techniques, he added, "I will defend them until I die."
The use of waterboarding was discontinued late in the administration of President George W. Bush, and top officials later conceded that waterboarding in particular was illegal.
But in the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden, several Bush administration officials have launched an effort to resurrect the technique, or at least salvage its reputation, by suggesting that information acquired during the earlier waterboarding years may have provided an essential clue to locating bin Laden.
Only Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who used the foreign policy debate to bolster his image as the experienced statesman of the current crop of Republican candidates, challenged the logic of the brutal tactic.
"We diminish our standing in the world and the values that we project, which include liberty, democracy, human rights and open markets, when we torture," Huntsman said. "Waterboarding is torture. We shouldn't torture."
So far this year, the Republicans have spent more time avoiding the subject of foreign policy than deliberating it, in no small part because voters say they are much more likely to consider jobs and the economy when they select their next president.
Indeed, in a sign of the topic's low priority, CBS, the co-sponsor of the debate with National Journal magazine, opted to broadcast only the first hour on national television. The last half-hour of the debate was streamed online, while the network returned to its regular programming, which for many was a rerun of the hit crime show "NCIS."
But early in the debate, the candidates managed to latch on to one potential topic of vulnerability for President Obama: Iran.
A report out this week by the International Atomic Energy Agency unveiled new evidence that Iran has been attempting to develop a nuclear weapons program, and the candidates found rare agreement in their assertions that Obama had mishandled the situation there.
"This is of course President Obama's greatest failing from a foreign standpoint," said former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. "He recognized the gravest threat that America and the world faces was a nuclear Iran, and he didn't do what was necessary to get Iran to be dissuaded from their nuclear folly."
Saying the president should have supported dissidents more and put in place more "crippling sanctions," Romney concluded, "If all else fails, if after all of the work we've done, there's nothing else we can do except military action, then of course you take military action."
Cain, for his part, stopped short of supporting military action, although he said he would back much stronger sanctions than those President Obama has committed to.
"I would not entertain military opposition," he said. "I'm talking about helping the opposition within the country."
"The answers you just got are superior to the current administration," Gingrich said. "There are a number of ways to be smart about Iran and relatively few ways to be dumb, and the administration has skipped all the ways to be smart."
Former Pennsylvania Representative Rick Santorum took the strongest stance on Iran, proposing that the U.S. support an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities "before the next explosion in Iran is a nuclear one, and the world changes."
Meanwhile, in his first debate appearance since he badly stumbled over the names of which government agencies he would want to cut, Perry deftly mocked himself for the gaffe, but also waded into an awkward situation when he seemed to propose that the U.S. cut all foreign aid to Israel.
During a discussion of Pakistan, Perry proposed that the U.S. temporarily reduce all foreign aid "to zero," before re-evaluating whether to commit funds on a case-by-case basis. Perry was then asked if this proposition included Israel.
"Obviously Israel is a special ally, and my guess is we would be funding them at a high level," Perry responded, "but everyone should come in at zero."
Even before the debate was over, Perry's official Twitter account began doing limited damage control, tweeting "Perry is a friend to Israel, understands challenges faced by the country," along with a link to Perry's position statement on Israel.
Romney initially said during the debate that he supported Perry's idea of starting all foreign aid at zero, but has now walked back the implication that he would include Israel in that calculation.After my blog on video games I came across this article by Vinay Patankar “How Playing Multiplayer Video Games Help me Develop a Growth Mindset”. He was inspired about this idea after reading a post from Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy about fixed or growth mindset. Where a fixed mindset stops you from taking risks in attempting new challenges and a growth mindset sees you taking risks and having success and failures in your learning journey.
Viney believes that video games can give you confidence and that you can learn and grow and develop a growth mindset. Take a look at this video; Can video games make you smarter?
If you are like me and are more inclined to have a fixed mindset, read this article to help you move to a growth mindset or just play video games ;).
AdvertisementsThe ultimate Warmachine and Hordes event has arrived: Its champion will lay claim to the title “Best in the World” – welcome to the Iron Gauntlet: Warmachine & Hordes World Championship!
Iron Gauntlet Qualifier Events
The Iron Gauntlet qualifier events will challenge players the world over to earn a spot in the top 16, and a shot at claiming the World title: In the annual Iron Gauntlet Finals, the best of the best will come together and square off to determine the true master of Warmachine and Hordes.
The 2013 Iron Gauntlet begins at the Lock & Load GameFest 2013 in Seattle, WA and concludes at the next year’s Lock & Load.
Iron Gauntlet Regions
Each Iron Gauntlet player will be assigned to one of four regions: The names of the regions will vary from year to year and are broadly geographic. The selected names will roughly correspond to the locations of Iron Gauntlet qualifier events that are run in those regions. The current regions are: North America East, North America West, Europe, and Australia/Asia.
Players who finish in the Top 16 at an Iron Gauntlet qualifier and earn points toward qualification for the Iron Gauntlet finals will be assigned a region based on their current address.
Iron Gauntlet Finals
At the conclusion of the Iron Gauntlet season, sixteen qualified players will compete in the Iron Gauntlet finals to be played annually at the Lock & Load GameFest. The two players with the highest point totals in their region at the end of the Iron Gauntlet season automatically qualify for the finals.
Regional ties are broken based first on highest number of event wins and then on highest number of head-to-head wins against tied players. In the event that a regional point leader cannot attend the Iron Gauntlet finals, the player with the highest point total across all regions will qualify.
The remaining eight Iron Gauntlet finals player slots are granted to the players with the highest overall point totals for the season, regardless of region.Of all the things that irritate us about pay TV, bundled packages that make us buy 80 lousy channels just to get the premium stuff tops the list. Intel and Dish realize this, and are leading the way to à la carte programming where we'll buy only the channels we want.
Although we're still a long way from à la carte pay television where we pick and choose what we want, the two companies are exploring smarter, smaller and more flexible bundles that allow subscribers greater leeway. It's the first step toward a true buffet which, frankly, is the future of subscription television. Intel and Dish are smart enough to see this, even if they don't quite have the muscle to make it happen yet.
"We're still for à la carte, because the internet is à la carte today and we know we have to compete there," Charlie Ergen, Dish co-founder and chairman, said at Dive Into Media. "It's going to go there slowly."
Intel is the latest to jump into the subscription TV and set-top box game, a very impressive move when you consider the tech titan is taking on pay-TV juggernauts like Comcast, Time Warner and Dish. But it will use broadband, not coaxial cables or satellite dishes, to deliver content when it launches later this year, allowing it to pump content anywhere. That gives Intel the chance to change the way we watch TV.
It wants to start by offering what Erik Huggers, vp of media, called "a better bundle." Instead of making subscribers pay for dozens, even hundreds, of channels they don't want just to get the few they do, Intel wants to offer niche bundles. Like, say, a sports-only bundle that would offer the myriad variations of ESPN or a lifestyle bundle with HGTV, The Cooking Channel and similar networks. It isn't the à la carte format we've all been hoping for, but it is a big step in that direction.
Intel took some flack for not promising cheaper cable bills or à la carte with its yet-to-be-named service. The reality is that if Intel had walked into NBC Universal or Disney and asked for à la carte channel subscriptions, there's a good chance they would have never got past the wall of laughter from network executives. Networks bundle their offerings to pay-TV providers in order to recoup the costs of creating redundant shows (how many ESPNs do we really need?). That cost and those channels are passed on to viewers. If you're a Comcast customer and you want Nickelodeon, you must pay for all of the Nickelodeon channels.
Intel's smarter bundles are an end-run around that. Such baby steps are crucial to convincing networks and media conglomerates that the way people watch TV has changed drastically and will continue to change. But there's one company making a far more vocal call for à la carte television – Dish. The reason is simple: "I think people are cutting the cord," Ergen said. To combat that, Ergen wants to hook viewers when they're young, and keep them plugged in. Doing that means giving them what they want.
It's an admirable goal, but Dish, which was established in 1996, isn't in the best position to make it happen. It's got a spotty history with the networks, in part because it has a history of rocking the boat. AMC and DISH had very public falling out and network blackout, over a legal kerfuffle involving the now-defunct Voom network, and it's neck-deep in another fight with CBS over the Hopper ad skipping technology. Intel is in a better position to negotiate with the media companies because it doesn't have the legal and contractual baggage the other pay-TV companies do. Delivering content via the Internet will allow Intel to deliver network programming to anyone with a broadband connection. Every IP address is a potential customer.
That's got a lot of appeal to the content providers, who might be willing to play ball if it means expanding their audience – and revenue. Intel's reach also will weaken, if not destroy, some of the cable monopolies found in communities. With that level of coverage, Intel could quickly become the largest pay-TV provider with the negotiating clout needed to to offer even smarter bundles and eventually, if the TV stars are aligned correctly, à la carte pay TV.
Still, the company will be dealing with an industry that's slow to change.
"Rome wasn’t built in a day, it’ll take time," Huggers said.
Viewers are already changing the way they watch TV and that inflated cable and satellite bills are starting to take an affect on the bottom line. Last year was the first year that cable subscriptions not only stopped growing, but took a small dip from 100.9 million to 100.8 million households. Those household numbers are expected to shrink to 94.6 million households by 2017. Pay-TV companies and networks need to make a change to stop the loss of cord cutters and entice the potential audience that's never paid for TV. Over-priced bundles with channels no one watches will only serve to alienating customers and potential customers.
Intel's insane leap into media could not only help the chip-maker diversify its business, it could save an industry by pushing it forward.Teaching Sept. 11 To Students Who Were Born After The Attacks
Enlarge this image toggle caption Spencer Platt/Getty Images Spencer Platt/Getty Images
"Never forget" became a national rallying cry after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Yet America's schools — where collective memory is shaped — are now full of students who never knew because they weren't alive then. Many teachers now struggle with whether and how to teach the attacks and their aftermath.
According to one survey, only about 20 states include anything in depth about the events of that fateful day in their high school social studies curriculum.
And when they are taught, critics say, it's often through a narrow lens.
Ask students born after 2001 what they know about the attacks, and many admit they have big knowledge gaps — gaps that they also want filled in.
"It was a really big part of other people's lives. I wasn't born then," says Kaylah Eggsware, a seventh-grader at Greenfield Middle School in Greenfield, Mass. "I don't know about it, so I don't know how to feel about it."
"I'd like to know exactly, like, everything that happened. Because I don't know exactly how many planes there were," says Josh Sylvester, also a seventh-grader at Greenfield Middle School. "I know the two twin towers fell. But I don't know if anything else happened."
Like a lot of middle schools, Greenfield taught little about that day, and none of the "anything else." Often, the school would observe a moment of silence at anniversary time and follow with a brief class discussion.
"We have never really tackled the issue before," says Greenfield Principal Gary Tashjian.
But that's changing. This school year, Greenfield students, as well as their teachers and administrators, are being asked to read and discuss a new young adult novel called Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes.
The protagonist is a resilient New York City fifth-grader named Dèja. In her new school, the towers were once visible from her classroom. Her family has hit hard times: Her father suffers a host of physical and mental problems related to the attacks. After the family gets evicted, it moves into a homeless shelter.
Dèja knows the attacks have cast a shadow over her life, but she doesn't know much about them. So she and her friends set out to discover more.
Tashjian hopes the all-school read sparks discussion, debate and further inquiry among students.
"They can relate right off the bat to many of the things this girl is going through. Maybe not exactly; maybe I don't have someone who was affected directly by 9/11. But maybe I have a brother who was in Iraq," Tashjian says. "The whole conversation gets a whole lot bigger with something as simple as a book."
It's not clear how big that conversation will get at Greenfield. The school is encouraging the entire town to read the novel.
"My first reaction was to say, 'No way, can't go there. It's too sensitive and parents will give a lot of pushback,' " says Angela Ruggeri, Greenfield's assistant principal.
But she ultimately changed her mind. Issues of terrorism and its aftermath come up on the news all the time, Ruggeri says. "I started wondering, what are the conversations parents are having with their children about this, and how will they approach it?"
Teachers hope the book provides jumping-off points for talking about the more difficult issues "beyond the events of that one day to really thinking deeply about what it means to them to be an American citizen," says Ashley Fitzroy, a literacy and technology teacher at the school.
The middle school is something of an outlier nationally for starting a schoolwide conversation. The majority of schools that do "go there" often focus on the shock and horror of the attacks and the heroism of the first responders.
"The narrative about 9/11 that students are getting is really ahistorical," says Cheryl Duckworth. "It has no context. It's very thin." Duckworth surveyed more than 150 teachers and interviewed several dozen in-depth for her work 9/11 and Collective Memory in US Classrooms.
Duckworth, a professor of conflict resolution at Florida's Nova Southeastern University, found that only about 20 states include content about Sept. 11 in their high school social studies curriculum. And in about half of those states, she says, the topic is covered in a mostly cursory way.
A 2011 research paper by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement underscored serious shortcomings in Sept.11 teaching curricula, including textbooks with "a startling lack of detail about what actually happened on 9/11." In addition, the report found that despite the many contentious issues surrounding the attacks and the American response, "little was presented in the early curricula and textbooks as controversial."
The National Council for the Social Studies doesn't track data on how the attacks are taught in schools or their place in curricula.
Neither does the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
But the museum says demand has gone way up for its professional development program for educators on teaching the subject. The organization has offered seven such sessions in the past two years and plans to expand in coming months "due to overwhelming response," says Communications Director Kate Monaghan. It also conducts a weeklong summer seminar for teachers called "9/11 and American Memory."
Duckworth found that if Sept. 11 is addressed in classrooms, too often teachers don't want to tackle the complex, often ugly aftermath at home and globally: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the Patriot Act and civil liberties; radical Islam and Islamophobia.
"I think it's very disturbing," Duckworth says, "especially during this presidential election cycle. Islamophobia is just sort of free-floating out there in the air."
If we don't address Sept. 11 in all its complexity, she says, stereotypes and misinformation will continue.
A version of this story was published on NPR Ed in September 2016.Heems (formerly of Das Racist) and Riz MC (aka Riz Ahmed, star of HBO’s “The Night Of”) are Swet Shop Boys. Their upcoming album Cashmere is out October 14 via Customs. Following “Tiger Hologram” and “T5,” they’ve shared a new song. It’s called “Zayn Malik.” Listen to the track, see the single artwork, and read Riz MC’s statement about it below.
Swet Shop Boys: “Zayn Malik” (via SoundCloud)
We got in the booth and pretty much free-styled this track. At the time it just flowed but stepping back I see how there’s a thread in there about aspiration and role models. It’s confusing for our youth about who to look up to; radicals or pop stars, or neither. Somewhere out there Heems is “a college dorm room poster” tho, and maybe that’s something.
Revisit the music videos for Heems’ “Soup Boys” and Riz MC’s “ENGLISTAN”:So you want to win the MVP award, huh? I hope you play in the National League. There’s a bit more of an open field over there, at least. Sure, the NL feaures Kris Bryant and the only starting pitcher in the game who can seriously demand consideration for the award. But if you play in the American League, you have to deal with one Michael Nelson Trout, who is far and away the best player in the game. And, given the conditioning and training of today’s athletes relative to those from previous generations, Trout may just be the best to ever play. If you want to win the MVP in the AL, you’ll probably have to go through him.
It’s been done before. In fact, it’s happened more often than not. Trout has played five full seasons, and he’s won the MVP twice. Of course, the times he didn’t win, he finished second. It would be a surprise if he didn’t finish among the top two again this year. History dictates that Mike Trout’s default state is “MVP Contender.” The times he’s lost the award, twice to Miguel Cabrera and once to Josh Donaldson, have been close. Miggy and Donaldson never blew him away. They were tight margins. He theoretically deserves to have won the award five times.
What would it take for someone to be the absolute clear favorite over Trout? What could a player possibly do to overtake Trout and emerge as the consensus favorite? In the same vein, what would Trout have to not do?
Let’s get to those questions in a moment. First, a note: when we say MVP here, we don’t mean “best player in the league.” We’re talking about the actual BBWAA-awarded MVP title, and all the voting idiosyncrasies that come with it. That means we’re accounting for the belief, held by some voters, that the winner of the award must belong to a contending team. So that will be factored into our calculus. At the same time, it’s worth noting that Trout received 19 of the 30 first-place votes while playing for the sub-.500 Angels, anyway. Those 30 voters seemed more open to awarding a player from a non-contender, but we’ll have a different group voting for that award this year.
And for that matter, the 2017 Angels project to be a better team. Trout is going to have a better group around him, which means a potential run to the Wild Card may be on the horizon. How can a playoff-bound Trout, with a typical Troutian season, not win the MVP? The easy answer would be for Trout to miss a month or two with injury, of course. This would eat at his counting stats and subtract from his overall value. But that’s boring, and frankly, the more Trout, the better.
So let’s go another route. Let’s see just how crazy someone would have to go to easily walk past Trout in the MVP race. Not just beat him out for the award, since that’s been done, but to blow Trout out of the water.
Mookie Betts came in second last year. He had a phenomenal season, putting up 7.8 WAR by hitting the snot out of the ball, playing a really good right field, and stealing 26 bags. He did everything. Trout still eclipsed him by more than a win and a half.
So let’s start with Betts’s 2016 season as a baseline and see what else he’d have to do in order to overcome Trout. This is already quite an assumption to make: our projections forecast some regression for Betts. But surpassing Trout will require some unreasonable assumptions.
With regard to Betts, we know he fell about 1.5 wins short of Trout last year. So let’s say that, for him to comfortably win the MVP, he’d need to beat Trout by 1.5 wins. Obviously, voters in the BBWAA aren’t merely sorting by WAR and choosing a winner. But a 1.5-win lead should make Betts’s case clear. To account for the additional three wins, Betts would need to produce 30 extra runs. To create that kind of value would require Betts to record an additional 15 homers. Or 45 walks. Or 150 stolen bases (without any caught stealings). Or some combination therein. For Donaldson and Jose Altuve and their AL counterparts, the demands would only be greater.
So that might be difficult. But since we’re already diving headfirst into flights of fancy, let’s get even crazier. Let’s talk about Gary Sanchez. He accumulated 3.2 WAR in just 53 games last year by hitting 20 home runs and throwing out a bunch of runners, among other things. You may have heard about it.
What would a full season ofGary Sanchez look like? Well, if you prorate his offensive numbers out to a full season’s worth of work at 145 games (which you should never, ever do in serious analysis, for all you kids at home), you come up with something like 9.0 WAR. You also get54.7 home runs. Let’s round that up to 55. There hasn’t been a single 50-homer season by a catcher since at least 1950. The historic implications of that feat, however unlikely, might be sufficient to catch the eyes of the voters.
Asking for 145 games from a catcher is a lot, but the Yankees tended to stick him at DH on his days off from crouching behind the plate. Only 36 of those 53 games were as the catcher. Using that ratio, we come up with roughly 99 games as the catcher over those 145 games. That feels low, so using our same magical arbitrary math, we can shove him there for 110 games. Using his 2016 stats, we can prorate his caught-stealing rate out to about 40 runners thrown out over 110 games. Catchers have only thrown out that many runners 17 times since 2000.
Now the Yankees probably aren’t going to make the playoffs, but if we allow Sanchez to continue performing like a maniac, that may not matter very much for voters. In fact, Sanchez putting up those kinds of numbers might shove the Yankees into a Wild Card slot. It would be pretty hard to argue against that sort of showing for Sanchez. Would it be enough to easily surpass a normal Trout season? It’s hard to say.
The fact of the matter is that Mike Trout is performing like a top-10 all-time player right now. This is like trying to bet against Michael Jordan making the All-Star team. It happened, yeah. But Trout on a competent team is as close to a lock as it gets for the MVP award in March. Mookie Betts isn’t going to perform like Willie Mays, and Gary Sanchez isn’t actually Babe Ruth in catcher form. The voters have decided to give the award to someone else when they come close to or match Trout. It’s nearly impossible to create a realistic scenario, barring an injury, where someone blows him away.
It sure would be wild if that happened, though.photo credit: Infowars
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars / Prisonplanet
UPDATE 3: The Bilderberg conference has now been postponed until tomorrow. This may or may not be due to the reported bomb threat, but it coincides with multiple reports of the local airport postponing all flights due to severe weather conditions.
UPDATE 2: Police say they have found some suspicious tubing close to the Bilderberg hotel. Police say two people have been arrested. It is not yet clear whether the arrests are connected to the supposed bomb threat.
_____________________________________
In a transparent effort to block access as attendees arrive for this year’s Bilderberg meeting in St. Moritz, Switzerland, officials have claimed a bomb threat and closed a major road in and out of the historic alpine village.
Earlier workers erected a cloth barrier around the luxury hotel where the meeting will be held beginning today. The wall obstructing view of the hotel is an obvious attempt to prevent the media from observing the hotel grounds and possibly identifying its high-powered guests.
The Infowars.com team on the ground in St. Moritz reports the road closure under the pretense of a bomb threat will block traffic from the village for at least two hours, possibly longer.
Stay tuned. Alex Jones and Infowars.com will bring you more on this important development.
Infowars.com and Alex Jones would like to give a special thanks to Midas Resources for its support of our Bilderberg 2011 coverage.
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ACTIVIST ALERT: Protest Bilderberg This Saturday at NoonImage caption Getting gas from rocks is relatively easy, though there are concerns about the cost and about the impact on the environment
In a field near Kirkham, between Preston and Blackpool, they are preparing to drill a well that many say could change our energy outlook.
Up until recently, most economists had forecast gas prices rising sharply as supplies become scarce. Production in the North Sea is already falling fast.
But the recession saw prices fall and now the process of getting gas out of rocks, shale gas as it's known, could bring huge new supplies.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that "unconventional" resources such as shale could double our gas supply worldwide.
Gas for 100 years
At the well in Lancashire, they are preparing to see if the right conditions exist in the UK to get gas from shale.
If we were successful and show reserve then there would be interest from bigger companies Mark Miller, Cuadrilla Resources IEA doubles global gas estimates
Even as they do so, environmentalists - backed by a new report - have called for the practice to be stopped. Some economists, meanwhile, have warned it may yet prove costly to do outside the US.
Shale gas is extracted using a process called fracking. It involves small explosions to fracture the rock, followed by a slurry of water, sand and chemicals to free the gas trapped inside.
IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates estimate the amount of available gas in the US has doubled in recent years and the US Energy Information Administration's latest figures for 2008-09 showed an 11% increase in economically recoverable gas for that one year.
The new supply has driven down the price.
"The recession happened at the same time as all the shale production, demand wasn't there and supply was just coming out of our ears," says Mary Barcella from IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
European boom?
It has also led to interest from the oil majors.
Image caption Shale gas finds have reduced US demand for liquidised natural gas shipped in in tankers
Shell recently invested more than £3bn to buy the shale assets of US producer East Resources. By 2012, the company expects half its production to come from gas of one form or another.
Plentiful cheap gas has opened up the prospect of US power companies switching from coal and therefore significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
But the problem with gas is it that it is notoriously difficult to transport.
Following the US lead, shale is being explored in China, South America and Europe - the world's largest market for gas.
The IEA estimates that at current usage levels, there is enough conventional gas to last the world a limited 60 years - but if one factors in remaining recoverable reserves including shale, that number increases to 250 years.
It is a tempting prospect.
The main focus so far has been on Poland and Germany.
Though Shell, Exxon and ConocoPhillips are all reportedly involved in early trials on the continent, none of the major firms have yet outlined any plans for extraction.
In the UK, gas prices also fell after 2008, but have slowly risen again, leading energy companies to raise prices for consumers and prompting calls for shale reserves to be tapped.
Attention is focused on little-known Cuadrilla Resources and its well in Lancashire, where it plans a test drill soon.
"If we were successful and show reserves then there would be interest from bigger companies," says manager Mark Miller.
'Not under our backyard'
But Europe has little history of onshore drilling.
It would take at least 10 years to have significant gas production, if any Anne Sophie Corbeau, IEA
The first shale well was dug in 2008, and there is a public reluctance to engage in new underground projects.
Experiments in carbon capture and storage have run into trouble in the Netherlands and Germany because of widespread public opposition and the shale gas industry has already been criticised.
A new film, Gaslands, includes scenes of a man setting light to water from a tap because - he alleges - methane has seeped into the water supply due to fracking.
A report out this week by the UK's Tyndall Centre cited such worries to call for a moratorium on shale gas drilling in the country.
Economic problems
But the abundance of US shale has had a knock-on effect on the rest of the world.
Tankers of gas previously destined for US ports now need to find a new dock.
"There is an excess of gas supply at the moment," says Edmond George from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
"Companies are over-contracted and there are many LNG cargos which are not being sold."
Demand has picked up during the winter, but even so shale may not provide an affordable answer, at least in Europe.
A report by Florence Geny, for the Oxford Institute for Energy studies in the UK, suggested drilling costs would be two to three times higher than in the US, with water costs up to 10 times higher.
That is if you can find anywhere to put the wells.
"The number of wells required is very great," says Ms Geny.
"The way you can distribute the wells on the surface is very restricted, due to regulation and high levels of urbanisation."
Anne Sophie Corbeau from the IEA agrees with her assessment.
"It would take at least 10 years to have significant gas production, if any," she warns.
Chinese consumption?
There is also the question of what the gas would be used for.
The UK recently reformed its energy market to discourage short term investments in gas for electricity.
"For us, a big uncertainty is China," warns Ms Corbeau.
"In 2010, their demand is estimated to have increased by around 20%, putting them above any European country."
Higher demand would counter-act higher supply, pushing up the price.
It would also mean even shale reserves look far less generous - something the IEA is working on calculating.
Supply worries, and a stable high price could prompt European countries to accelerate shale gas development - or to turn away from gas as pricey and limited.
Even Cuadrilla's Mr Miller admits it will be "several years at least" until shale gas comes on-stream in the UK.
By then the situation my look very different.Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his team showed their developing maturity in their draw against Middlesbrough.
Wenger's men stretched their unbeaten run to 12 games in all competitions with the 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
While his team were expected to win, the Frenchman feels Arsenal sides of the past would have failed to even secure a point.
"We've lost games like that," Wenger said, via the club's website.
"We are in a position where we've come out of [seven] straight wins. We didn't win but before we |
Another, who gave £20, said simply “deepest sympathy”. A third donor who offered £10 to the fund wrote: “Condolences”.An informal fireside chat with the BDFL? Oh dear readers - it doesn't get much better than this!
I'm really happy to announce the most recent addition to our keynote/plenary talk lineup - "A Fireside Chat with Guido van Rossum" - in this interview style keynote, we will explore the mind of Python's creator and benevolent dictator - subjecting him to the "comfy chair" as well as questions from the community (picked and voted on by the community) as well as questions from the audience. This will be a guided, but informal talk.
I'm really excited by this (not just because I might be the interviewer - move over anchor news!) but also because I think it will strike a good balance between a formal, and informal talk style that will allow us to ask open, candid questions from the founder of our community and the Python language!
You can submit questions for the BDFL here: http://goo.gl/mod/qSW7
And comfy chairs will be used.The controversy surrounding San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refuses to die. During the national anthem, the football player refuses to stand and pay homage to the country that has made him fabulously wealthy.
Now, a handful of other football players are also refusing to participate in the national anthem.
It’s a free country, and people are free to express themselves. But it’s interesting to note that if it weren’t for the soldier, willing to lay down his life for his country, Kaepernick et al. would not have that freedom to protest.
Kaepernick said he has great respect for such soldiers, but he adds, “People are dying in vain because this country isn’t holding their end of the bargain up.”
To me, this is a picture of humanity. We have been so blessed by God in so many different ways. But instead of paying homage to Him and showing the gratitude, which is the very least He deserves, instead we show Him our fists and defiance.
If it weren’t for the grace of Jesus, by which the hearts of every one of us beat, we would not have the freedom to disbelieve and just live for ourselves. His claim to be our Creator was vindicated when He walked out of His tomb 2,000 years ago.
Every once in a while, on the Internet, I’ll click on those clickbait lists of alleged unbelievers. When I have seen those lists, I can’t help but feel that I’m looking at the Honor Role of the Ungrateful.
Everything we have is a gift from God. The Apostle Paul asked the Corinthian Christians 2,000 years ago, “What do you have that you did not receive?” The answer is nothing.
As to the protests of Kaepernick and other well-paid football players, their stated concerns are the lack of “social justice” in America.
But what is it that is devastating the black community today? Fatherlessness. What has caused the breakdown of the family? Government redistribution of wealth via subsidies, by which liberals buy votes. They have created a permanent underclass of people by subsidizing fatherlessness and unemployment.
Prior to the Great Society, the rate of illegitimacy in the black community was relatively low. Today, the rate is about 75 percent, which is devastating.
I had the privilege to talk recently with Star Parker, an African-American columnist and author of “Blind Conceit,” for our new D. James Kennedy Ministries TV special on the problem of socialism.
Star told our viewers: “The problem with government overreach and replacing the church is that they’re replacing a real significant part of mankind, a need, a vacuum that we all have to reach and find God.”
Parker is the founder and president of C.U.R.E., the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a policy institute in Washington, D.C. She knows firsthand what it’s like to live off the government dole and to pray, in effect, “Our Father, which art in Washington.”
She added, “I look into my own life and my own testimony and how after believing the lies of the left for years, that my problems were somebody else’s fault, that America was racist – that poor people were poor because wealthy people were wealthy; and buying all of that worldview, I got really lost and ended up in aggressive living, criminal activity, drug activity, sexual activity, in and out of abortion clinic after clinic, in and out of welfare after welfare.”
What was it that changed her? She said, “It wasn’t until a Christian conversion I was able to change my life. You remove that opportunity for people, and they stay lost. And that’s one of the problems when government tries to replace God; people get lost, people don’t know what to do, so they look outside to see what everybody else is doing. When you look outside to see what others are doing, you see pop culture, you see secular humanism, you see moral relativism, this is not a good place for people that really want freedom and personal responsibility.”
Star notes that freedom and personal responsibility have been the engines for positive change in our nation from the beginning: “As a nation we’re built on freedom and personal responsibility. You can’t do that outside of heaven’s core principles and a rule of law, which are rooted in a worldview; and that biblical worldview is where we were founded, and it’s where we should stay.”
I wish these millionaire football players, many of whom have come up from incredibly challenging backgrounds, would use their energy and their alleged passion for “social justice” to see real, positive, God-centered changes in the country. Then they would express gratitude to the Almighty for the incredible opportunities this nation can offer – opportunities they themselves have profited from.
Was President Washington really a deist? Find out in Jerry Newcombe’s fascinating account, “George Washington’s Sacred Fire”
Media wishing to interview Jerry Newcombe, please contact [email protected].Home Daily News Former House Speaker Hastert seeks repayment…
Contracts
Former House Speaker Hastert seeks repayment of hush money
Photo of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert by Angela Farley / Shutterstock.com.
Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert contends he has no obligation to pay another $1.8 million in hush money to a man who accused Hastert of sexually abusing him as a teenager.
Indeed, Hastert maintains in a counterclaim to the accuser’s breach-of-contract suit, Hastert is entitled to return of $1.7 million he has already paid, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Hastert is serving a 15-month sentence for structuring bank hush-money withdrawals to evade financial reporting requirements. The accuser claimed the abuse occurred when he was a teenager and Hastert was a high school wrestling coach. Hastert was a teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville, Illinois, before he entered politics as a Republican. He was a senior policy adviser at Dickstein Shapiro before resigning in May 2015.
Hastert maintains that the verbal agreement to pay hush money is not an enforceable contract, and if it is, the accuser breached it when he talked to federal authorities, the Tribune explains in its story. Hastert also claims he was under duress when he agreed to make the payments.Earlier this year, President Donald Trump was shown a disturbing video of Syrian rebels beheading a child near the city of Aleppo. It had caused a minor stir in the press as the fighters belonged to the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, a group that had been supported by the CIA as part of its rebel aid program.
The footage is haunting. Five bearded men smirk as they surround a boy in the back of a pickup truck. One of them holds the boy’s head with a tight grip on his hair while another mockingly slaps his face. Then, one of them uses a knife to saw the child’s head off and holds it up in the air like a trophy. It is a scene reminiscent of the Islamic State’s snuff videos, except this wasn’t the work of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s men. The murderers were supposed to be the good guys: our allies.
Trump wanted to know why the United States had backed Zenki if its members are extremists. The issue was discussed at length with senior intelligence officials, and no good answers were forthcoming, according to people familiar with the conversations. After learning more worrisome details about the CIA’s ghost war in Syria—including that U.S.-backed rebels had often fought alongside extremists, among them al Qaeda’s arm in the country—the president decided to end the program altogether.
On July 19, the Washington Post broke the news of Trump’s decision: “a move long sought by Russia,” the paper’s headline blared. Politicians from both sides of the aisle quickly howled in protest, claiming that Trump’s decision was a surrender to Vladimir Putin.
There is no doubt that Putin, who has the blood of many Syrian civilians on his hands, was pleased by the move. But that doesn’t mean the rebel aid program was effective or served American interests.
The defenders of the CIA program argue that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) remains our best hope for a moderate opposition to Assad. But the FSA is not the single, unified organization its name implies. It is, rather, a loose collection of groups that have adopted the FSA brand, often in addition to their own names and branding. Although “Free Syrian Army” sounds secular and moderate, its constituents are ideologically diverse and include numerous extremists. Zenki, for example, was referred to as an FSA group well after its hardline beliefs were evident, and few FSA groups could be considered truly secular. Several prominent FSA organizations advocate Islamist ideas, meaning they believe that some version of sharia law should rule Syrian society.
To make matters worse: FSA-affiliated rebels have often been allied with Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda’s branch in Syria. Some of the most prominent FSA groups, indeed, objected to the U.S. government’s decision to designate Nusra as a terrorist organization in December 2012. Al Qaeda’s Syrian arm was even then strong enough to command loyalty in the face of American sanctions. There have been episodic clashes between Nusra and America’s FSA allies, but more often than not FSA-branded rebels have been in the trenches alongside Nusra’s jihadists.
Jabhat al-Nusra, publicly an arm of al Qaeda until July 2016, has been the single strongest organization within the insurgency for some time. Well before President Trump was inaugurated, Nusra had grown into a menace. And America’s provision of arms to FSA-branded rebels worked to Nusra’s advantage—an inconvenient fact for those criticizing the president’s decision.
Russia intervened in Syria in September 2015, and the timing was not accidental. Just months earlier, in March, the “Army of Conquest” took over the northwestern province of Idlib. This rebel coalition was no band of moderates. It was led by Nusra and included its closest Islamist and jihadist partners. The Army of Conquest was on the march, threatening the Assad family’s stronghold of Latakia on the coast. Had the insurgents progressed much further south, Bashar al-Assad’s regime would have been in serious jeopardy, perhaps would even have fallen. With the backing of Russia and Iran, Assad’s forces rallied and stopped the Nusra-led coalition from taking even more ground. Russia saved Assad, but its efforts also stymied the jihadists’ offensive—a important fact that is often left out of Syria policy debates.
Since July 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra has changed its name twice and merged with other organizations to form a group known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (“Assembly for the Liberation of Syria,” or HTS). The group is riven by internal rivalries, with some members even arguing that its leadership is no longer beholden to al Qaeda. But the jihadists are consolidating their control over Idlib as part of a totalitarian drive to dominate governance in the province.
HTS’s top-dog status within Idlib is no accident. Al Qaeda’s leadership and Jabhat al-Nusra have been laying the groundwork for an Islamic emirate, based on radical sharia law, in Syria since 2012. And their plan has called for exploiting Free Syrian Army groups and their CIA support.
Nusra has been happy to take advantage of the support FSA groups received from the United States and other nations supporting the multi-sided proxy war against Assad. There are dozens of videos online showing Syrian rebels firing the American-made, anti-tank BGM-71 TOW missile. The TOW is distinctive in appearance and relatively easy to identify, making it a rather public announcement of the groups involved in the CIA’s “clandestine” program. If one wants to know which FSA-branded groups have been approved by Langley, just look for TOW missiles.
Defenders of the program argue that only a small number of TOWs have been fired by al Qaeda’s men or other non-vetted rebels. Maybe. But at least some of the “vetted” groups shouldn’t have been deemed acceptable partners in the first place. Zenki received TOWs even though its extremism is obvious. Other Islamist groups within the loose-knit FSA coalition received TOWs as well.
And Nusra used such organizations to further its own designs. Abu Kumayt, who served as a fighter in the Western-backed Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF), explained to the New York Times in December 2014 that Nusra “lets groups vetted by the United States keep the appearance of independence, so that they will continue to receive American supplies.” Another “commander” in a group that received TOWs told the Times that FSA “fighters were forced to operate them... on behalf of” Nusra during a battle with Assad’s forces. American-made weapons were fueling the jihadists’ gains and when Nusra finally grew tired of the SRF and Harakat Hazm, another American-supported group based in Idlib province, it quickly dispatched them, taking their weapons in the process.
American-made arms helped fuel the insurgents’ gains in Idlib province in 2015. Today, that same province is home to a nascent Taliban-style state.
Advocates for the Syrian opposition point to areas of the country outside of Idlib province where FSA-branded groups seem to hold more sway. But the story is almost always complicated by a jihadist presence. Take Aleppo, for instance, where in August 2016, insurgents temporarily broke the regime’s brutal siege. The Army of Conquest coalition—the same Nusra-led alliance that took over Idlib—played a key role in the fighting, as they would in a second attempt to break the siege later in 2016.
In October 2016, the U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters that Nusra accounted for only 900 to 1,000 of the 8,000 opposition fighters in Aleppo. After objections that this modest figure was too high, the U.N. revised its estimate downward, claiming Nusra had just 150 to 200 members within the Aleppo opposition. Advocates then seized on this low figure to argue that the insurgents inside the city deserved the full backing of the West. They ignored the fact that the other, non-Nusra rebels included many extremists—such as Zenki.
It is doubtful that the U.N.’s lowball estimate for Nusra’s presence in Aleppo was accurate; Nusra produced videos showing large convoys making their way to the city, which suggested a much bigger force. But even the U.N. conceded that Nusra’s “influence” was greater than its numbers implied, because of the jihadists’ “operational capacity coupled with the fear that they engendered from other groups.” Part of the reason Nusra is so operationally effective is its use of suicide bombers, and a series of these “martyrs” were deployed by Nusra and its allies during key points in the battle for Aleppo. Without Nusra’s Army of Conquest, the insurgents would have had little hope of breaking Assad’s grip on the city, and TOW-armed FSA groups, some of them Islamist, fought right alongside Nusra’s men.
The bottom line: Sunni jihadists and extremists are laced throughout the Syrian rebellion and have been for years. While pockets of acceptable allies remain, there is no evidence that any truly moderate force is effectively fighting Assad, and President Trump was right to end the program of CIA support for the Syrian opposition.
It is a dire situation, and one might easily conclude that a full alliance with Russia in Syria makes some sense. That is clearly the president’s thinking. His administration has already explored ways to cooperate with Putin against the Islamic State, including brokering a ceasefire in southern Syria. But a partnership with Russia has its own downsides.
Russian and Syrian jets have indiscriminately and repeatedly bombed civilian targets. The Assad regime has used chemical weapons, which Trump himself objected to, bombing a Syrian airfield in response. The United States cannot endorse these war crimes by allying itself with the perpetrators of mass murder in Syria. The president has loudly denounced Iran and its sponsorship of terrorism throughout the world. But Russia and the Syrian government have sponsored Iran’s growing footprint in the country. A recent State Department report said that as many 7,000 fighters from Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terror group that is opposed to both the United States and Israel, are now located in Syria. These same Hezbollah fighters, along with Shiite militiamen sponsored by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are Russia’s and Assad’s key on-the-ground allies.
All of which is to say that there are no easy answers in Syria. But that doesn’t mean the United States should keep playing a losing hand. And that’s exactly what the program to support Syria’s rebels was—a bad deal.
Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard.00:00 When you console.log something, it's just a plain, black message. I'll say regular message, and it's just black and white, which is pretty boring. What you can do is add %c, and then log takes additional arguments, where this can be a string of CSS properties.
00:18 I'll say color red. Now, when this runs, you'll see regular message turned red. Maybe I don't want my whole message red, just this part. I can add another %c here. If I save, you'll see it just adds %c, which means it requires an additional parameter right here to match up with this %c.
00:40 Basically, saying that these styles end here, so start with this and end with this. I'll hit save here, and I'll have a regular red, and then a black message. Now, you can make this look a little nicer, like a label, if you do a color of white, and then a background color of something like red, which will now have a nice label feel to it.
01:00 You can even add some additional padding around it. If I said padding, top 05em right, bottom 05em left, and now it has some nice padding on the left and the right. To me, this looks like a nice error label. I'll call this error. Now, you see in my console, I have a nice label error with a black message.
01:22 Now, I can make this a bit easier to write by extracting this out into a function, which I'll use as a template tag. I'll call this function label, and that's going to return these strings as an array. I'll spread them out, so each of them are passed into console.log.
01:41 Since label is a template tag, I need the two backticks so that this tag applies to this, and then the output of this function will be spread into console.log. Let's save, and get the exact same result. Now, because this is a tag, I can pass things in, like red, error, this is my error message, and this won't do anything, because I've hard-coded the return value.
02:06 I need to take these as parameters in here, and pass them in. To do that, a template function takes an array, which has the raw string in there, labeled as raw. I'll de-structure that in the array form, and then return this array again.
02:23 This will still have the exact same thing. It's just that now we have access to everything that was passed in. Now because raw is a string, I can de-structure this as an array. I'll say raw split, and we'll just split on white space.
02:40 The first thing is the color, so I'll say color. The second thing is the label, so I'll call that label. The rest in here are the messages combined into a message. We'll just call this message. Color, label, and then the rest is the message.
02:58 Now, I can take this color, and I'm going to drop it into the background color here, and just use that as a variable in a template string. Let's go ahead and change this into a template string. At the end of it -- and I'm going to format this onto multiple lines, just to make it easier to read -- then the label is going to be here, inside of the %cs.
03:25 This needs to be a template string as well. The message will land right here as a message that's joined back together, because currently, this is just the rest of an array, and will join it back together into a string.
03:42 Now when I hit save, I have an error, which is the label. The background color's red, and this is my error message, is the rest of the message here. I can reuse this saying console.log. I want to label this as a "green success yay, it worked!"
04:01 Hit save, and you can see I have a nice success label on top of this message. Again, label is a function returning an array, which we're spreading into console.log. Spreading means it's passing each of these in as a parameter, another parameter, another parameter into here.
04:21 The label is basically tearing apart this raw string. We're splitting it using the first value as the color, the second as the label, and the rest as the message, and then forming those back together in the strings necessary to properly console.log them out.Wilie Taggart and Jim Harbaugh on the sidelines during their first game coaching Stanford in 2007. (Photo: David Gonzales, StanfordPhoto.com)
EUGENE, Ore. — On a January day in 1995, Willie Taggart came home from track practice at Manatee High School and was handed a phone message by one of his sisters.
“Somebody named Jim Harbaugh from Western Kentucky called you,” Taggart remembers her saying. “Here’s his number and he wants you to call him back.”
Taggart’s family lived in an apartment in Palmetto, Fla., at the time and did not have long distance calling. So Willie took the number to the nearest pay phone and called Harbaugh collect.
“He answered the phone and we started talking and he asked me if I knew who he was,” Taggart said recently. “I said, ‘The only Jim Harbaugh I know plays for the Chicago Bears.’ ”
“That’s me,” Harbaugh said.
“Yeah, right,” Taggart said.
“No seriously,” Harbaugh said. “Here’s my dad right here, you can ask my dad.”
NATIONAL SIGNING DAY
Harbaugh’s father Jack had recently completed his sixth season as Western Kentucky’s football coach but had spent the months since politicking to keep the school from dropping the sport. A five-to-four vote to drop shifted to five-to-four to keep, but on the condition that the Hilltoppers cut 15 scholarships, two assistant coach positions and half of their football budget.
“The program looked like it would probably be best if they dropped it, because it was going to die a slow death rather than a fast death,” Jack Harbaugh said.
Jim, who was passing through Bowling Green, Ky., on a drive to an offseason home in Orlando, saw how dire the situation had become. And to the surprise of no one who has observed him since, he had a novel idea of how he could help.
“What if I came as a full-time coach at no pay and signed a contract, and then I can’t be with you during the season, but I can recruit?” Jim said, according to his father. “I’m going to Florida tomorrow, and I can get on the recruits.”
While Jack sought approval from the school president, Jim took and passed the NCAA recruiting certification test. “Did very well on it, I might add,” Jack said. “And pay was not a problem, because there was none.”
Willie Taggart has flashed the "O" symbol multiple times every day since becoming Oregon's football coach in December, often on social media. (Photo: Chris Pietsch, Associated Press)
By the time he returned to his father’s office, Jim was a Hilltoppers assistant. On the desk was a packet Western Kentucky had bought that listed the top 150 players in the I-4 corridor of Florida between Orlando and Tampa. The first name Jim saw was a quarterback named Willie Taggart.
The first recruiting experience of Jim Harbaugh’s coaching career was about to become the only recruiting experience of Taggart’s playing career that mattered.
Successful college football recruiting involves two key factors: strong relationships and a strong work ethic. And as Harbaugh and Taggart celebrate their first National Signing Day as Power Five college football coaching contemporaries, the relationship and effort that began with that collect call continue today.
“I'm following the blueprint,” said Taggart, who spent 12 seasons as a player and assistant coach under Jack Harbaugh before joining Jim for three seasons as running backs coach at Stanford. “I took the blueprint and put my own spin on it a little bit, but the base, the foundation, everything we do is pretty much what you see (Jim) Harbaugh doing (at Michigan).”
Renewed emphasis
Taggart hasn’t yet jumped in a swimming pool to celebrate a commitment or planned a trip to Rome for his team, but in less than two months as head coach at Oregon, he has shown “an enthusiasm unknown to mankind” — to borrow a Harbaugh family phrase — when it comes to recruiting.
“I love it,” he said. “I love recruiting and I hate that we're only allowed to go out on a limited time, unlike the assistant coaches. I think the head coaches should be able to go out a lot more than what we do, but it's great. You get a chance each year to meet a new family, new friends, and probably the most important thing, you get to change somebody's life every year.”
Willie Taggart, in the background to Jim Harbaugh's right during a 2007 spring practice, coached Doak Walker Award winner Toby Gerhart as the Cardinal's running backs coach. (Photo: David Gonzales, StanfordPhoto.com)
Brandon Huffman, national recruiting director for Scout, said Taggart has changed Oregon recruiting for the better in a variety of ways in a short time. Beyond hiring a staff of assistant coaches known for their recruiting acumen, he has used social media to send subtle clues of his travels on the recruiting trail. He and the staff have offered numerous class of 2018 prospects, nearly all of whom respond by sharing the Ducks’ logo and brand across social media themselves.
“And it's no surprise,” Huffman said. “He comes from the Harbaugh coaching tree, and nobody enjoys recruiting like Harbaugh does. So Taggart's got that same energy, that same emotion, and I think this reminds me a lot of how Harbaugh his first year he recruited to Stanford, they were coming off a one-win season or a winless season and he offered kids that couldn't even spell Stanford. It was just to try to get Stanford talked about again.
“All of a sudden kids were talking about Stanford, and it's crazy how quickly he got the tables turned there.”
Great In-Home with my future Head Coach 🦆🔥 #QuackAttack17pic.twitter.com/sKsZNmWkPY — ひØVØ PØひ (@PopoAumavae) January 27, 2017
The open recruiting period leading to signing day was not without challenges for Oregon, however. In addition to striving to make up ground with the 2017 class, two incidents in back-to-back weeks forced the Ducks to as much explaining as selling.
First, three Oregon players were hospitalized in serious condition from overexertion in an offseason team workout under the direction of new strength and condition coach Irele Oderinde, who was subsequently suspended for a month without pay and given a new supervisor outside the football team. Then, early on Jan. 22, less than a week after his hiring, co-offensive coordinator David Reaves was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants. Oregon is in the process of terminating his contract.
Taggart said the staff reached out to committed prospects immediately after learning about Reaves’ incident because they didn’t want them to hear it from other sources. Visiting prospects and their families, meanwhile, spent part of their time on campus in a “players panel”, a coach-free forum where high school players and their parents can ask any question they wish of current Ducks players.
MORE RECRUITING:
“We knew a lot of people would use it against us,” Taggart said. “So the big thing is being honest and be up front with them and not try to hide anything or cover anything up, because it's not worth it. I think in each situation we did the right thing as a university.
“Unless you're doing something malicious, that's when you try to hide something, but in either of those situations there was nothing we were doing malicious. In Reaves' case, he made a bad decision, and it was a learning lesson for everyone — our players included. It's about making good decisions, and that's something that's important to me that we have good mentors for our players. And I tell each and every last one of our staff, you can't be on our staff if you're not a good mentor to our players. And I'm not going to budge on that one.”
Huffman said Oregon should feel confident in being able to close this recruiting cycle with a national top-25 or top-30 class considering the two controversies and the mere six weeks it had to solidify its 2017 group of signees. He credits Taggart’s recruiting emphasis and approach for that.
“He knew that Oregon is still hot a name, it's still a brand, and even though they were not good this year, they're not far removed from the Heisman trophy winner and playing in the national championship game,” Huffman said. “He was able to capitalize that it's still Oregon, it's still a Nike school. While it's a one-year blip on the radar, they quickly moved to make a change, and he's really hitting the pavement hard and keeping that fresh in their mind.”
Proven practice
Taggart assistants know what it means to hit the pavement hard. And he makes them put it in writing to prove it.
Mike Sanford, Western Kentucky’s first-year head coach and an assistant to Taggart in 2010, said that prior to the six-week spring evaluation period, Taggart had each assistant fill out a form of the eight to 10 high schools they would visit each day. Then he held them to it, like a contract. “Some schools are an hour apart,” Sanford said. “Do the math; it’s pretty challenging.”
It’s also rewarding, Sanford said. That experience helped Sanford and in turn Western Kentucky forge relationships with coaches in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and the rest of the region. And visiting four times as many schools as other teams might in a single day? “You can actually uncover some talent doing that,” Sanford said.
“The year I spent with him in Western Kentucky in 2010, I feel like I got my undergrad, my master’s and my doctorate in how to recruit. One thing I thought Willie did great with our staff was to really push the envelope in terms of, quite frankly, how hard we worked as assistant coaches.”
Depending on whether one’s role in college football is to wear maize and blue, to coach a Power Five program or sit on one of the many committees that examine recruiting practices Harbaugh’s envelope pushing can turn a person into a fan, friend or foe.
Jim Harbaugh's intensity and focus on the sideline is matched by his intensity and focus on the recruiting trail. (Photo: Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports)
As a teen-ager, Taggart’s first intuition was that something was fishy. Jack Harbaugh recalls Taggart being so convinced it was a high school teammate pranking him that Taggart said, “Why don’t bring Mike Ditka along with you? I’ll be here.”
The following Tuesday, Jim was there in Manatee’s cafeteria during Taggart’s school lunch period. When they walked out of the Manatee fieldhouse after school, 60 people were there to greet them with Michigan Wolverines and Chicago Bears. And later at the Taggarts’ apartment, Harbaugh joined the family for dinner, his recruiting pitch and a game of catch with Taggart’s father.
“You would think Jim would be nervous, but it was like he was at home,” Taggart said. “And I think everyone appreciated that more than anything. He was just like one of the guys.
“We just hit it off from there and became best of friends, and I always leaned on him and to be honest with you he's been my role model. I've been trying to be like Jim Harbaugh since I met him. And I really think I've had a lot of success by doing that.”
Since then Taggart and Harbaugh have been in each other’s weddings, and Harbaugh has made periodic visits to the Taggart family home for cookouts and fellowship even when Willie was elsewhere.
Both men have made hundreds of visits to other families in other houses across the country in the intervening years. But that first interaction set the precedent and practice.
“It started from the very beginning, the circumstance with Jim finding his name and he becoming his number one recruit,” Jack Harbaugh said. “Jim does the sleepovers and climbs trees and all the different things that he does, but he was doing that back then. It's amazing how that whole thing is tied together with his first recruit to how he recruits now.”
Contributing: Nicole Auerbach from Bowling Green, Ky.“We will be lightly cleaning the stone, power washing to take off some of the dirt,” said Traci Barnett, who owns the mansion with her husband, Mark. “It is not going to look like it did when it was new. But the original stone colors of orange and rose hopefully will come out.”
Barnett stressed the mansion would receive a gentle cleaning because they want to preserve the original stone work.
Since the Baltimore couple purchased the mansion in 2013, the slate roof has been replaced and the carriage house has also received a new roof. The mansion’s box gutters and internal gutters have also been repaired.
The mansion was built in 1887 by Paul J. Sorg, one of Middletown’s first industrialists and first multimillionaires. The three-story, 12-bedroom, eight-bathroom brick-and-stone Romanesque castle features 12-foot ceilings and fireplaces in every bedroom. There’s also a ballroom, formal dining room and library, and it still has much of the original stained glass and parquet floors.
The most recent restoration projects include the repair of crumbling portions of the wrap-around porch and recreating and repairing plaster walls and several large decorative medallions on the ceiling. Soon, the 16 stone porch balusters will be repaired or replaced.
By next summer, Barnett said she and her husband plan to move from Baltimore and into the mansion while the interior is completed. That will include the painstaking job of restoring the well-worn parquet floors.
Barnett said they are about two years away of realizing the plan of opening the Sorg as a bed and breakfast.
“But it could be sooner,” she said, noting they visit Middletown often to meet with contractors and see the progress.
The mansion has received $212,500 in tax credits from the Ohio Development Services Agency, and the total project to renovate the South Main Street property is estimated at nearly $1.32 million.
Prior to the Barnett’s purchase, the mansion has been home to dance and photo studios, a construction company and low-income apartments over the years.Do you have a dream?
Do you have a vision of the life you want to live? Is there an idea burning in your brain – a book you want to write, a project you want to complete, a business you want to build?
So what’s stopping you? The truth is, there is only one thing keeping you from making your dream a reality: you’re not trying hard enough.
We are creatures of habit, and most of us go through life just doing what we’ve always done. We do what we’ve got to do today in order to get by, and then we just want to relax and unwind.
But if you want to experience something new, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done before. You have to take charge of your life, and get focused on your goals. You have to really want it. You have to get motivated.
You’ve got to get your ass in gear!
Easier said than done, I know. But it is possible to change your habits, to re-wire your brain, and make your dreams a reality. Start doing these 10 things every day, and I guarantee you will start seeing a difference in yourself and in your life – sooner than you think!
1. Start Your Day with Intention. When we first wake up, it takes 20 – 30 minutes for our bodies to completely transition from sleeping to waking. This time is critical. It sets the tone for your whole day. Start off on the right foot, and everything else will fall in line much easier.
So take just a few minutes in the morning to sit, preferably alone and free from distraction, and just think about your life and your goals. Where do you want to be in six months? In ten years? What can you today to make some progress, to get just one step closer? Get clear about your vision. Get your priorities in line. Make this a part of your routine, and your life will never be the same.
2. The Good Old To-Do List. Get out a pen and pad, and make a list. You know those goals you outlined in step one? Put it in writing. Go over it everyday. Form a relationship with it. As soon as you accomplish something on the list, cross it off. Feels good, doesn’t it? Now on to the next thing, until you can cross it off, too. Then add some more. Repeat.
This is so cliché, I know. It |
the same high productivity of scripting languages (like my personal favorite, Python), but bakes in dependency management and other goodies. This allows the user to build complexity iteratively, in a straight-forward manner (verses generating a bunch of boiler plate project code and building a package). This article explores boot scripting further, illustrating how boot can be used to quickly and easily develop and distribute applications and tools. There’s also discussion about getting your jars into Clojars, and setting up a simple bare-minimum Maven repository.
* EDIT: I originally had “interfectorem pluma” to represent “killer feature” in Latin, however thanks to danielsmulewicz in #hoplon reminding me how stupid Google Translate can be, I consulted a Latin->English dictionary and Wikipedia to attempt an uneducated, but better Latin equivalent. I mention it here because it’s all extremely funny, as interfectorem pluma literally translates to something like “feather murderer”. In my amateur approach adjuncti finalum literally translates to something like “characteristic of the ultimate goal”, which, if even remotely correct, is pretty accurate.
Setup
<a title="Boot: Getting Started With Clojure In As I’ve covered before, boot is easy to install. All you need is a JDK and the boot executable. Here’s a recap for the Linux and OSX crowd, just to get you going (we’ll assume you already have a JDK set up, have wget, and have sudo privileges):
$ wget https://github.com/boot-clj/boot/releases/download/2.0.0/boot.sh $ mv boot.sh boot && chmod a+x boot && sudo mv boot /usr/local/bin $ boot -u
Note that we are also instructing boot to update itself. This is useful if you’ve used boot in the past – the executable and the core boot libraries are distributed separately.
Making Boot Faster
Adding the following to your environment will speed boot startup by a vast amount. You can either run this command in your terminal, or make it permanent by putting this line into ~/.bash_profile or similar other files for your particular shell. See the JVM-Options page in the boot documentation for details, and other ways to incorporate these settings into your projects:
export BOOT_JVM_OPTIONS="-client -XX:+TieredCompilation -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1 -Xverify:none"
A Simple Script
For this article, we’ll start with an example of a useful application that grabs the most recent tweet from the Nihilist Arby’s twitter feed. A great addition to your MOTD to de-motivate users overzealous about the fact that they have SSH privileges to your machine.
Twitter API Tokens
Before we begin, set up an application and obtain a consumer key using a twitter account for which you have the username and password. For the sake of security, you may want to limit the application’s access to read only. The tokens can be used to read anything in the account, and any private feeds the account has access to, so be careful.
Quick Note: Development Deviations
Since we’re not building anything right now, or utilizing the task infrastructure, we don’t need a build.boot file. However, to make prototyping a bit easier, it’s useful to create one that will load our dependencies or libraries we’re playing with, when we run boot repl :
#!/usr/bin/env boot (set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"]])
Alternatively, we can pre-load dependencies on the command line when we run the repl task:
$ boot -d twitter-api:0.7.8 repl
The Script: Version 1
For the first pass of the script, we will hard-code our credentials, and not bother taking any command-line arguments. This illustrates what a bare-minimum boot script looks like.
#!/usr/bin/env boot (set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"]]) (use '[twitter.oauth] '[twitter.api.restful] '[twitter.callbacks] '[twitter.callbacks.handlers]) (import '(twitter.callbacks.protocols SyncSingleCallback)) (defn printer [response] (println (:text (second response)))) (defn -main [] (statuses-user-timeline :oauth-creds (make-oauth-creds "[YOUR API KEY ID]" "[YOUR API KEY]") :callbacks (SyncSingleCallback. (comp printer response-return-body) exception-print exception-print) :params {:screen-name "nihilist_arbys" :count 2}))
Making this script executable, it can be run on the command line. The result will be the last tweet. I named my script downer, but you can name it however you’d like:
$ chmod +x downer $./downer Rip it to shreds. Put it on a bun. Slather it in horsey sauce. Watch them line up to gorge. Feeding pigs to pigs. Arbys: a flat circle.
You may see some output on stderr about some missing logging libraries. For now, these can be ignored.
Lets take a quick look at the script’s main components:
The first 2 lines are what make this a boot script. The set-env! function and general information about environments can be found in the boot documentation. First we have the “shebang” line, which tells the operating system what interpreter to use to run the script. In this case, we’re taking advantage of the convention of having /bin/env available in the same location on most systems, to figure out where boot is. Then we declare our sole dependency on twitter-api.
lines 4-9 are typical use/import statements. In a boot script, a special namespace is created, called boot.user. You can alternatively load external code using the ns form. The example code could be replaced thusly: (ns boot.user (:use [twitter.oauth] [twitter.api.restful] [twitter.callbacks] [twitter.callbacks.handlers]) (:import [twitter.callbacks.protocols SyncSingleCallback]))
. You can alternatively load external code using the form. The example code could be replaced thusly: Lines 11-28 are the “meat” of the program. Boot will execute the first -main function that it finds in a script. For details about what the code is doing, see the twitter-api and the twitter restful api documentation. In essence, the app makes a RESTful call to the twitter API, providing an API key and the necessary parameters. We then use a special callback to print the message from the result of that call.
Distribution/Installation: Mark 1
The real beauty of this boot script we have, is that it is a self-contained entity. We can send it to anyone who has boot and a JDK installed. They can place the script anywhere they like. Dependencies are automatically downloaded the first time its run.
A Not-So-Simple Script
Boot scripting provides a natural progression from “just a script” to “full-blown application”.
Boot scripts contain all of the functions needed to run, but this poses some problems:
as functionality grows, the script can quickly become unruly
because of the way boot encapsulates the running code, it can be difficult to debug.
The solution to both of these problems is to move code into other files, and use the -main function in your boot script to invoke that code.
This is handled quite simply by utilizing boot’s :source-paths environment option, and a little refactoring.
We’ll construct a directory named src, and create a last_tweet.clj file. In it, we’ll declare a new namespace, last-tweet, and move the code there.
src/last_tweet.clj :
(ns last-tweet (:use [twitter.oauth] [twitter.api.restful] [twitter.callbacks] [twitter.callbacks.handlers]) (:import [twitter.callbacks.protocols SyncSingleCallback])) (defn printer [response] (println (:text (first response)))) (defn last-tweet [] (statuses-user-timeline :oauth-creds (make-oauth-creds "[YOUR API KEY ID]" "[YOUR API KEY]") :callbacks (SyncSingleCallback. (comp printer response-return-body) exception-print exception-print) :params {:screen-name "nihilist_arbys" :count 1}))
This code is copied from the original boot script, almost verbatim. We’ve just made use of our own namespace, and renamed -main to last-tweet.
Here is the new downer script:
#!/usr/bin/env boot (set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"]] :source-paths #{"src"}) (require '[last-tweet :refer [last-tweet]]) (defn -main [] (last-tweet))
This greatly simplifies our script, and does a better job of separating our concerns. We’ve segregated the application logic from the user interface. We’ve set ourselves up for some additional refactoring to make things more flexible.
We can add many namespaces to the src directory. We can also add other source paths – the :source-paths directive is a hash set.
Now we can refactor the last-tweet/last-tweet function to take credentials and the twitter account to get a tweet from as arguments:
(defn last-tweet "Print the last tweet from a given twitter account" [account secret-id secret-key] (let [creds (make-oauth-creds secret-id secret-key) callback (SyncSingleCallback. (comp printer response-return-body) exception-print exception-print)] (statuses-user-timeline :oauth-creds creds :callbacks callback :params {:screen-name account :count 1})))
We’ve gone from a hard-coded function to one that is more general-purpose.
Now we can utilize boot’s extremely useful defclifn macro and boot’s task option DSL to wrap our function, allowing the user to provide the values on the command-line, creating a proper user interface.
#!/usr/bin/env boot (set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"]] :source-paths #{"src"}) (require '[last-tweet :refer [last-tweet]] '[boot.cli :as cli]) (cli/defclifn -main "Prints the last tweet from the given account. Requires twitter user app authentication tokens. The authentication tokens can be set using the command-line options below, or in the TWITTER_KEY and TWITTER_KEY_ID environment variables. USAGE: downer [options] [twitter account]" [k secret-key KEY str "Secret key from Twitter" i secret-key-id KEYID str "Secret key id from Twitter"] (let [account (get *args* 0 "nihilist_arbys") secret-key (or (System/getenv "TWITTER_KEY") (:secret-key *opts*)) secret-key-id (or (System/getenv "TWITTER_KEY_ID") (:secret-key-id *opts*))] (if (or (nil? secret-key) (nil? secret-key-id)) (println "ERROR: you must provide twitter credentials. Try -h") (last-tweet account secret-key-id secret-key))))
A few notes:
The docstring for the function is used as the “usage” message when the user passes the -h flag.
flag. The task option DSL allows for a pre-processing step to be defined for each value. In this case, we used str, which treats each argument as a string. This can be changed to one of many very useful options, including keywords, symbols, files (which take a path and return a java.io object) and many more, including complex compound values.
, which treats each argument as a string. This can be changed to one of many very useful options, including keywords, symbols, files (which take a path and return a java.io object) and many more, including complex compound values. There are two special variables that are provided by the defclifn macro: *opts* and *args*. *opts* contains all of the processed options as defined in the argument list, in the form of a map. *args* contains all other values passed on the command line, as a vector. We use the *args* variable to allow the user an intuitive way to override the default twitter account.
macro: and. contains all of the processed options as defined in the argument list, in the form of a map. contains all other values passed on the command line, as a vector. We use the variable to allow the user an intuitive way to override the default twitter account. The use of environment variables as alternatives to CLI options is illustrated here. It’s very useful for deployment of more complex applications, and keeps sensitive information out of the process list.
We’ve added some error handling to give the user a nice message if they neglect to set their credentials.
Now we can see command-line output:
$./downer ERROR: you must provide twitter credentials. Try -h
The output of./downer -h :
$./downer -h Prints the last tweet from the given account. Requires twitter user app authentication tokens. The authentication tokens can be set using the command-line options below, or in the TWITTER_KEY and TWITTER_KEY_ID environment variables. USAGE: downer [options] [twitter account] Options: -h, --help Print this help info. -k, --secret-key KEY Set secret key from Twitter to KEY. -i, --secret-key-id KEYID Set secret key id from Twitter to KEYID.
We set the environment variables, and try getting the last post from a different, possibly more depressing account:
$ export TWITTER_KEY_ID="XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" $ export TWITTER_KEY="YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY" $./downer jjmojojjmojo FINALLY... this just makes getting the sweet, sweet carrot dogs that much easier... http://t.co/TWYer14JH4 @adzerk
Distribution/Installation, Mark 2
Pulling some of the code out into a separate file has made our little script cleaner, but now distributing the file is slightly more complicated, since we have to provide the script access to the code we factored out.
There are several ways to handle this:
Distribute the source code via git, or a tarball. The :source-paths environment parameter can be changed if needed to point to a proper location such as /opt/downer, or /usr/local/lib/downer.
environment parameter can be changed if needed to point to a proper location such as, or. Build a library jar file. The jar file can be installed into a local maven repository, or a public one like clojars.
The first option is sub-optimal. It can be made somewhat easier with help from fpm, but it’s still a bit cumbersome. The real beauty of boot scripting is we don’t have to bother with complex installation procedures.
We can leverage the power of java jar files (which are just zip files under the hood) to contain our source code and other artifacts.
This makes the jar file the best path. Once the jar is installed into a maven repository the script can reach, the script can once again be distributed as a simple stand-alone text file.
We can use boot for this. That’s what it does.
Compiling A Library Jar
For a jar file to be installable via maven (which is what boot and the clojure ecosystem uses under the hood), it must contain a pom.xml file. This file will declare the project version, the dependencies and other metadata.
We can construct a jar file from our source code just using the command line, or we can wrap it up in a build.boot file in a custom task.
Here’s the basic command to get our last tweet jar:
$ boot -d org.clojure/clojure:1.6.0 \ -d boot/core:2.0.0-rc12 \ -d twitter-api:0.7.8 \ -s src/ \ aot -a \ pom -p last-tweet -v 1.0.0 \ jar
Looking in the target directory, we can see our jar file:
$ ls target/*.jar last-tweet-1.0.0.jar
We have several options for distribution, now that we have a jar file, each one takes advantage of the Apache Maven ecosystem:
We can send the jar file along with the script to the user, and they can install it with boot. We can set up our own maven repository and upload the jar to that, then provide access to the user. We can send the jar file to a public repository like clojars. We can upload the file to S3, and provide credentials to our user.
Wait, Why Not Distribute A Self-Contained Jar?
We could move the CLI logic into our last-tweet namespace, and get rid of the boot script altogether. We could add the “uber” task and bundle all of our dependencies into a single, stand-alone, self-contained jar file that could be distributed (via maven as described above) without any external dependencies besides a JVM (the user won’t even need boot or clojure).
This process is covered in some detail here.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this practice. In fact, it’s a good idea to seriously consider it when deciding how to deploy an application.
But when writing boot scripts, it can be very useful to allow the user to change things in the script, or encourage them to write new scripts that use the underlying code in new ways.
It helps to start looking at a boot script much like we would any other shell script – consider composing calls to external code instead of implementing and containing it internally.
This concept coupled with the “it just works” approach of boot makes distributing core code as library dependencies of particular interest. You can make changes to your library code and distribute it once, and when your users run their boot script it will automatically update.
On the other side of that coin, you have less worry about breaking existing scripts “in the wild”. Users can pin the version of your library to a specific number and avoid automatic updates altogether.
It amounts to an extremely elegant way of constructing tools.
Script Modifications
To use an external jar instead of our bundled-in code, we just need to omit the :source-paths environment directive, and add our jar into the :dependencies list.
Here are the changes to the (set-env!) call:
(set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"] [last-tweet "LATEST"]])
Note that we’re not pinning the version to a particular release, instead specifying the special keyword LATEST to signal that we always want the latest. This is helpful when distributing jar files that are updated frequently while the boot script is not.
However, be careful not to rely on this too heavily. If the API in the library falls too far out of sync with the script, users will get errors.
Installing A Jar With Boot
Boot provides the install task, which can install jars built with a pipeline of tasks, or a specific jar with the -f option.
$ boot install -f target/last-tweet-1.0.0.jar
Now we can run our script and it will use the locally installed jar:
$./downer jjmojojjmojo RT @adzerk: 3 ways for vendors to keep mobile ad tech lean - "be easy to work with" should be a no brainer http://t.co/P3yrKH74WW @blp101 v…
This is the easiest way to get jars working with boot, but it’s the least flexible. Every time you make a change to your code, you need to create a new version of your jar and distribute it to all of your users, and they will need to install it.
Uploading To Clojars
Clojars provides a public maven repository for the greater Clojure community.
There isn’t much in the way of documentation for using boot with clojars, but there is a tutorial, and a handy tool called bootlaces that provides a couple of wrapper boot tasks to make the process more seamless.
Alas, neither of these things goes far enough to help the brand new boot user who wants to make use of clojars for their libraries. Very little is explained, and the tutorial is leiningen-centric.
NOTE: There is also an excellent write up of the process (also linegien-centric but it covers GPG and signing your jars) by Michael Peterson over at ThornyDev, including links to the rationale for signing packages.
So lets go over the process in detail, from the ground up. Admittedly, this is probably best left for a separate blog post, but as clojars is a great service and something any clojurist should be equipped to participate in – once you’ve got a handle on how it works “the hard way”, you are free to use bootlaces or derive your own workflow. It slots in nicely with the next section, where we build our own maven repository.
In preparation for pushing your jar to clojars, you’ll first need to install GPG.
GPG will be used to sign jar files to ensure they are not tampered with by malicious third parties.
NOTE: For a comprehensive introduction, see The GPG Mini HOWTO.
GPG can be installed via the downloads located at gnupg.org, or using your preferred package manager.
MacOs users can use homebrew ( brew install gpg ).
We’ll need to generate our key, if we’ve never used GPG before:
$ gpg --gen-key
You will be asked many questions. For most, you can specify the default suggested by gpg (press ENTER). Take note of the e-mail address that you use for your key, it will be the identifier for your new key in your keyring.
NOTE: It’s a good idea to specify a pass-phrase. If you decide not to, you can just enter an empty pass-phrase when prompted.
Now that we’ve generated our key, we can see it using gpg --list-keys :
$ gpg --list-keys /Users/jj/.gnupg/pubring.gpg ---------------------------- pub 2048R/5A36EA7C 2015-05-21 uid Josh Johnson <[THE EMAIL YOU PROVIDED]> sub 2048R/6C662B47 2015-05-21
Next, we need to sign up for a clojars account. Ignore the SSH key entry. We will need to generate a text-based “ASCII-armored” version of our public GPG key to paste into the corresponding text box in the form. This is accomplished with the gpg command:
$ gpg --armor --export [THE EMAIL YOU PROVIDED] code -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- [KEY CONTENT HERE] -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Copy everything from -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- to -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----, inclusive.
Once you have your account set up, the next thing to do is set up a new repository in our build.boot file:
(set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"]] :repositories #(conj % ["clojars-upload" {:url "https://clojars.org/repo" :username "[YOUR USERNAME]" :password "[YOUR PASSWORD]"}]))
WARNING: You will want to source your username and password from an environment variable, or some other place, like a local config file. We’re putting them here for the sake of simplicity, but this is not a sound practice!
We’ve provided a function to set the environment property :repositories. This allows us to update the list of repositories instead of replacing it.
We’re ready to upload our jar. This can be done, as before, with use push boot task:
$ boot push -f target/last-tweet-1.0.0.jar -g -k [THE EMAIL FOR YOUR KEY] -r clojars-upload
Taking a look at clojars, we will see our new jar file has been uploaded!
However, it’s missing a lot of key information – things that weren’t so important when we were building a jar for our own use, but are very important when distributing software to a public repository.
In the next section, we’ll fix this, but also use the power of boot to make our workflow easier.
Adding better metatdata, fleshing out our build.boot
We’ve constructed a library jar, and have successfully uploaded it to clojars. However, at this point we cannot build and distribute boot scripts that depend on our library. Clojars has a “promotion” process that protects users from seeing jars that do not have essential metadata.
Let’s rebuild our jar with a URL, a license, and a proper description:
$ boot -d org.clojure/clojure:1.6.0 \ -d boot/core:2.0.0-rc12 \ -d twitter-api:0.7.8 \ -s src/ \ aot -a \ pom -p last-tweet\ -v 1.0.0 \ -u "https://lionfacelemonface.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/advanced-boot-scripting/"\ -d "Demo project for advanced boot scripting blog post" jar
Now, this is getting a bit (more) unwieldy. It’s better if we put this information into our build.boot file. We’ll still use the command line for now, as opposed to building our own boot tasks, but we’ll set these properties as default options. This way, we are free to construct our build pipeline as we see fit, but we don’t have to specify all of these lengthy parameters on the command line.
We will be able to override these values if we desire, using command line arguments as before.
(set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"] [org.clojure/clojure "1.6.0"] [boot/core "2.0.0"]] :source-dirs #{"src/"} :repositories #(conj % ["clojars-upload" {:url "https://clojars.org/repo" :username "[YOUR USERNAME]" :password "[YOUR PASSWORD]"}])) (task-options! pom {:project 'last-tweet :url "https://lionfacelemonface.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/advanced-boot-scripting/" :version "1.0.1" :description "Demo project for advanced boot scripting blog post." :license {"MIT License" "http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php"}} aot {:all true} push {:gpg-sign true :repo "clojars-upload" :gpg-user-id "[EMAIL ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR KEY]" :gpg-passphrase "[YOUR PASSPHRASE]"})
This is a lot of stuff, so lets walk through the new concepts line by line:
Lines 1-4 invokes the set-env! function to declare the dependencies we require to be included in our jar. These correspond to the -d options in the command line we used earlier.
Line 5 specifies the source directories. We previously specified our source directory with the -s command-line option.
Lines 6-10 update the repositories list with our clojars destination and credentials, as we implemented earlier.
For general explanation of these environment modifying lines, check out Boot Environment, in the Boot Wiki.
The rest of the file represents settings that are passed to boot tasks.
Generally speaking, these correspond 1:1 with the command line options, but are expected to be pre-processed into clojure data objects.
You can figure out the exact key to set for each value using the -h switch. For example, the help text for the pom task, looks like this:
$ boot pom -h Create project pom.xml file. The project and version must be specified to make a pom.xml. Options: -h, --help Print this help info. -p, --project SYM Set the project id (eg. foo/bar) to SYM. -v, --version VER Set the project version to VER. -d, --description DESC Set the project description to DESC. -u, --url URL Set the project homepage url to URL. -l, --license NAME:URL Conj [NAME URL] onto the project license map. -s, --scm KEY=VAL Conj [KEY VAL] onto the project scm map (KEY in url, tag).
And we can see that the -d command line option corresponds to the :description key passed to task-options!.
Of particular interest to us are the --project and --license options – these are not specified as simple strings.
The --project option is converted to a clojure symbol, as hinted at by the SYM placeholder variable. To verify this, we need to look at the source for the task, and read the task-option DSL:
"Create project pom.xml file. The project and version must be specified to make a pom.xml." [p project SYM sym "The project id (eg. foo/bar)." v version VER str "The project version." d description DESC str "The project description." u url URL str "The project homepage url." l license NAME:URL {str str} "The project license map." s scm KEY=VAL {kw str} "The project scm map (KEY in url, tag)."]
Here we see in the 4th column, the handling directive for each command line option. In the case of the --project option, the sym specification casts the value from the command line into a symbol.
The --license is specificed as {str str}, indicating it is a mapping. On the command line, a colon is used to separate the key of the map from its value. Additional --license command line options will conjoin into a single map. As such, in task-options!, a map is expected.
NOTE: For a comprehensive explanation of the various options, see the Task Options DSL page in the Boot Wiki.
The rest of the options are simply strings. A few, such as the -a, or :all parameter to the aot task, are flags, and are specified with a boolean value.
One last note: the version of our project has to be incremented every time that we change the metadata in our jar file. This is important to note since the output jar will be named differently. If you try to upload a jar with the same version as a previous upload, it will fail with an “Access Denied” error.
Now we can rebuild and redeploy our jar. Since we’re chaining the boot tasks, the push task knows to look for jar files to upload in the working file set, so we don’t have to specify the path.
$ boot aot pom jar push
These tasks can be simply composed into a custom boot task. This is left as an exercise for the reader, but with the following caveat:
Once you’ve uploaded a jar to clojars, there’s no automatic or simple way to get it removed.
You can open an issue in github to ask for a deletion (details here), but it’s considered bad form.
As such, please be careful what you upload!. Make sure that you’re running tests, and doing verifications on your jar files before you push them out for mass consumption.
It’s a good idea to work those sorts of checks into any custom tasks that you put together.
Building Your Own Maven Repository
Maven handles resolving dependencies in the Java ecosystem. In maven terms, a repository is where you store artifacts, chiefly jar files. It’s what boot uses under the hood to resolve and store dependencies.
Maven repositories are relatively simple. If you’ve been using boot, you already have one, located in ~/.m2.
If you take a look you’ll see how the files are laid out:
$ ls -la ~/.m2/repository/ total 0 drwxr-xr-x 41 jj staff 1394 Apr 5 10:50. drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:46.. drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 alandipert drwxr-xr-x 7 jj staff 238 Apr 1 09:46 boot drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 byte-streams drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 cheshire drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clj-http drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clj-http-lite drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clj-jgit drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 10:49 clj-oauth drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clj-stacktrace drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clj-tuple drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clj-yaml drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 clojure-complete drwxr-xr-x 7 jj staff 238 Apr 1 10:49 com drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 commons-codec drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 commons-fileupload drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 commons-io drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:46 commons-logging drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 10:49 crouton drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 fs drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 10:49 http drwxr-xr-x 4 jj staff 136 Apr 1 12:46 io drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 javax drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 javazoom drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 jline drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 5 10:50 last-tweet drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 mvxcvi drwxr-xr-x 4 jj staff 136 Apr 1 09:47 net drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 3 08:20 opencv drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 3 09:52 opencv-native drwxr-xr-x 14 jj staff 476 Apr 1 10:49 org drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 potemkin drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 primitive-math drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 reply drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 riddley drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 ring drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 slingshot drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 tigris drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 09:47 trptcolin drwxr-xr-x 3 jj staff 102 Apr 1 10:49 twitter-api
Note the last-tweet directory – this is where boot put our jar file when we installed it in the last section.
A maven repository is this directory structure, accessible from one of a plethora of different protocols. This includes the file system, HTTP, WebDAV, even directly from S3.
We’ll build a repository that we use the file system to write to (we could also use SFTP if this were a remote system), and provide HTTP access for a read-only use.
Boot doesn’t currently contain any tools to do this sort of work, so we’ll need to install maven.
This is fairly simple, we just need to download the tarball, and unzip it. We can then put its bin directory into our $PATH so it’s available (note this will need to go into your.bash_profile or similar location to make the change “stick”):
$ wget http://apache.mirrors.hoobly.com/maven/maven-3/3.3.3/binaries/apache-maven-3.3.3-bin.tar.gz $ tar -xvf apache-maven-3.3.3-bin.tar.gz $ export PATH="$PWD/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin:$PATH" $ which mvn...path to the mvn executable
See the download page for alternative mirrors and formats.
If you are using OS X, you can install maven via homebrew:
$ brew install maven
To construct a new maven repository, we just need to install our jar to it:
$ mvn deploy:deploy-file \ -DpomFile=target/META-INF/maven/last-tweet/last-tweet/pom.xml \ -Dfile=target/last-tweet-1.0.0.jar \ -DrepositoryId=local-repo \ -Durl="file:///$PWD/my-maven-repo"
As a first pass, we can use the file:// protocol to load the jar from our new repository. We’ll need to remove the file from our local repository first:
$ rm -rf ~/.m2/repository/last-tweet
Then we can add the new repository to our downer script:
(set-env! :dependencies '[[twitter-api "0.7.8"] [last-tweet "LATEST"]] :repositories #(conj % '["my-maven-repo" {:url "file://[full-path-to-your-repo]"}]))
We use conj here to preserve the baked-in defaults.
When we run downer now, we’ll see an ever-so-slight pause and a blank line to indicate the jar is being found and copied. We can then verify that it was used by checking ~/.m2/repository :
$./downer $ ls -l ~/.m2/repository... last-tweet...
To share this repository, we have many options, but we’re going to do the simplest for our introductory purposes: set up nginx to serve our repository to the public.
Note: Any web server will work, as long as it generates directory listings.
First, we need to install nginx. There are packages available for most operating systems, and it’s in homebrew for folks using OS X.
Since the location of the nginx configuration is variable depending on what operating system you’re using, we’ll make a bare-minimum configuration and pass it to nginx, called nginx.conf :
events { worker_connections 1024; } http { default_type application/octet-stream; server { listen 8080; location / { root [FULL PATH TO YOUR REPOSITORY]; autoindex on; } } }
Note: You will want to better fine-tune the web server in a “production” deployment, this is just a bare-minimum example to get |
certainly not for everyone. However, those who do commit to fishing swimbaits will catch dramatically bigger largemouth bass.
The oversized swimbaits I’m referring to are 7- to 12-inch, 3- to 6-ounce baits designed to imitate any number of forage fish, such as rainbow trout, perch, herring, golden shiners and sunfish, and even rats and mice. No matter what the main forage is where you fish, there is a swimbait made to imitate it. Developing and maintaining the confidence that a largemouth will eat these huge baits can be the biggest hurdle to success.
Big Northeast bass will eat oversized swimbaits in a variety of conditions all season long. I was fortunate enough to catch and release the 2008 Massachusetts Gold Pin largemouth of 9 pounds, 6 ounces on two different occasions, on two different swimbaits. The first was on a cold, raw, and miserable April 27. The high temperature that day was 48 degrees, yet the 9-pound plus largemouth ate my 9-inch Rago Real Trout as I bounced it along the bottom in 22 feet of water. That was the first bass I had caught in more than 100 hours of swimbait fishing that season. On November 1 of that same year, the bass absolutely crushed a 9-inch Dark Trout MS Slammer over deep, open water. I believe the bass had been suspended in the water column, looking for trout cruising near the surface.
The key to catching that fish both times was simply staying dedicated to throwing nothing but big swimbaits. I have caught four bass heavier than 9 pounds, and all have been on swimbaits – this is definitely not a coincidence. My latest 9-plus pounder was caught on May 15, 2012. The fish hit on a hot, sunny, calm bluebird day, conditions many fishermen would consider tough. A Huddleston Deluxe fished off a woodcovered point in 25 feet of water proved irresistible to the 9-pound, 2-ounce largemouth. In case you’re wondering how a bass could eat an 8-inch, 4.5-ounce lure, I’ll have you know that bass had engulfed the bait so deep that it was not even visible when I landed the fish. The hit was just a light tap, similar to when a largemouth bass hits a jig. Big bass will aggressively eat these baits all year long.
The fascination with big baits and big bass started in Southern California in the early 1990s. About once or twice a year, there would be an article in one of the national bass magazines on the monster bass being caught there on huge trout imitatinglures. Some of these baits were soft, single-hook baits designed to swim through the water column or drag and jig along the bottom. Other baits were huge, jointed wooden plugs used to call lunker bass to the surface for what appeared to be a wounded trout dinner. As I would read and re-read those articles, I couldn’t help but think, “Why not here? Why wouldn’t these same baits catch huge bass?”
The more I thought about it, I realized there was no reason these same tactics couldn’t be successful here. A Southern California bass in a deep, clear trout pond is going to get big by supplementing their regular diet with stocked trout, same with a Massachusetts bass—but throwing these big baits is not limited to trout-stocked ponds. You can imitate whatever the large forage is where you fish. This is the key to consistent big-fish success. Herring, fallfish, eels, shiners, and sunfish are all abundant in waters throughout New England, and all are great food sources for bass to grow huge on. To me, the best way to catch these fish is with a swimbait.
The biggest obstacle to swimbait success is mental. Fishermen naturally want to catch fish, but totally dedicated swimbait fishermen do not worry about catching fish. A successful season for a swimbaiter could literally be one fish. You might spend a long day on the water, fish really well, yet still have nothing to show for it. The next time out, I can’t concern myself with whether or not my last trip was fishless. If my best shot for a big fish is to throw the same bait, in the same places, in the same manner, I will do that day after day, week after week, and know I will ultimately get rewarded. Throwing a 3- to 6-ounce bait in this manner is physically, and often mentally, grueling. It is easy to find a reason not to throw a swimbait—too hot, too cold, too sunny, too windy, too long between fish—the hard part is staying committed and not giving up on the dream of a giant swimbait-caught largemouth.
My favorite picture of a swimbait fish from Massachusetts is of Joe from Real Prey Swimbaits with an 8-plus-pounder that hit one of his prototypes. He is dressed like he is climbing Mount Everest, and there is a snow-covered hill in the background. It was certainly a day many would find an excuse not to fish at all, and most would definitely find an excuse to not throw a swimbait. Turns out Joe also caught an enormous 5-pound, 9-ounce smallmouth the same day, I believe solely because he was throwing big swimbaits.
When should one throw a swimbait? I say always. I always want to have a large lure with a big profile to target big fish. My first fishing trip this year was early March in a shallow, weedy pond with a herring run. Conventional bass-fishing wisdom suggests that a suspending jerkbait would be the bait of choice in these conditions. Wanting to throw a bigger swimbait, I threw a very slow sinking, 7.5-inch swimbait that could be worked in a jerk-and-pause cadence similar to a jerkbait. That day, the larger profile bait outfished all the conventional baits my fishing partner threw. I only caught two fish, but they were
a 7-pound, 2-ounce largemouth and a 5-pound, 11-ounce personal-best pickerel.
A large majority of the time, fishing a swimbait in those conditions will not yield any fish, but I always want a bigger bait to try to entice bigger fish. Tactics may change
depending on conditions and time of year, but in all situations, a big fish will move farther for a big lure.
Getting Started
How does one get started with this type of fishing? It can be intimidating for someone who has thrown conventional lures that average a ½-ounce to switch to throwing 4- to 6-ounce baits. It is not a style of fishing for everyone. I suggest trying it out with one or two baits before making a full-time commitment to big swimbait fishing. I believe only two baits are required to start out with an 8- to 9-inch soft swimbait to work along the bottom and a wakebait somewhere in the 9-inch range. The best known of those baits are probably the Huddleston Deluxe and MS Slammer. There are plenty of alternatives, but a big topwater and big swimming bait that can be worked on or near the bottom are essential.
If you really want to get into swimbait fishing after trying it out. You can invest in different style baits for different situations. There are the Osprey and Optimum baits for fishing a bit faster in the middle of the water column. A Lunker Punker is a versatile, walk-the-dog type topwater that is great on a number of different species and is just a fun lure to fish.
Tackle and Technique
You might be wondering why, this far into an article on swimbaiting, I haven’t touched on tackle or technique. It’s not that these aren’t important considerations, I just think mentally committing to this style of fishing is of utmost importance. For swimbait fishing, a round baitcasting reel works best. There are solid ones, like the Shimano Cardiff, that are fairly short money. For topwater and wakebaits, a 300-size reel works great, while for heavier bottom-bumping swimbaits, I like a 400 size with greater line capacity and a bit more power. You will want to have the drag set moderately for topwaters, but for bottom-bumping baits, your drag should be set tight—once a fish is hooked on this type of swimbait, your goal is to get it in the boat as quickly as possible to keep it from throwing the hooks.
For the 4- to 6-ounce baits, you’ll want an extra-heavy swimbait rod and 20- to 25-pound-test monofilament. A heavy action rod with a fast taper works well, but always check the rod specifications to see what size lures they are designed to handle. I also use 20-pound monofilament for my topwaters, but I want a rod with a bit more give for that type of fishing. Braided line will work for topwater baits, if you prefer the feel of braid.
Swimbait technique is simple, just throw it out and reel it in very slowly and very steadily. Deepwater baits are crawled slowly and steadily along the bottom, even jigged for lethargic cold-water bass. I prefer to fish “uphill,” casting to deeper water and retrieving the bait to shallower water, as this is the best way to keep contact with my lure and the structure it is going through.
Wakebaits should be worked as slowly as possible on top. Some very good fishermen I know like to swim certain wakebaits subsurface, but I believe in waking them. This way, fish don’t get a good look at the bait; all they see is a baitfish struggling along the surface.
For subsurface presentations, I prefer a slower-sinking Huddleston or an Osprey or Optimum bait.
Make multiple casts at productive areas, hitting a point from different angles and approaching cover from different directions. Often, showing a fish a different look
at the bait can trigger the bite. One exception would be in cold water, when bass are lethargic. Here, a slow-sinking swimbait that can be ripped, pulled and then stopped can be deadly. Bass will generally hit this bait on the fall.
I tend to fish slower and deeper than fishermen using conventional lures. Bottom-bumping swimbaits excel in 15 to 30 feet of water, especially in clear water. Points, wood, rock and sharp drop-offs are great places to target. A sharp drop-off with an adjacent flat can be a prime target for big fish to move up and feed on top. The sharper the drop, the likelier a big fish will make that area its home year round. Weedbeds rising near the surface can be a deadly area for a big wakebait.
As I mentioned, big bass will strike big swimbaits all year long. Cold-water jigging can be done with a weedless swimbait; I like the 6-inch Huddleston for this.
Night fishing from spring through fall can also produce huge bass. There’s no need to throw a bunch of baits – a wakebait for topwater, an Osprey for running over the top of cover, and a 3:16 Mission Fish swimbait to bounce along the bottom are all that is really needed.
Any area with lunker potential should be revisited often. Sometimes it is just a matter of being on that spot when a big fish is on the prowl for a big meal. It is not necessary to cover a lot of water – focus on prime areas and fish them thoroughly.
I highly recommend using a net; I hate hearing stories of huge fish that throw the hook while thrashing around at the side of the boat. Chances are, if the fish was that close it could have been netted.
Finally, I would like to stress the importance of being prepared to catch the biggest bass of your life. It is important to release these fish alive to reproduce, and maybe even be caught again. You should be ready to weigh, measure, photograph and possibly transport a huge bass. Having a camera, tripod (for solo pictures), scale, measuring tape and a livewell always available is a must. I go a few steps further and carry a certified scale and an affidavit for the Massachusetts Freshwater Sportfishing Awards, and I have local weigh stations programmed into my car’s GPS. You are fishing for the bass of a lifetime, so do not let that moment go by without being able to document your accomplishment.When Metta World Peace wanted to know how James Harden was doing after he had leveled Harden with an elbow to the head, he didn't call Harden directly, the Los Angeles Lakers forward told Conan O'Brien in an interview that aired Monday night.
World Peace, who was suspended seven games by the NBA for the incident, which left Harden with a concussion, told O'Brien he sought out the Oklahoma City Thunder guard's condition through indirect means.
"When it happened, you know, I didn't realize he was that hurt until the day after, because guys in the NBA flop," World Peace told O'Brien in an appearance on "Conan". "So I called some third parties, and they said he was OK.
"It's so competitive, you know, I wanted to make sure he was OK first, so I did that. But to call him to make sure he's OK? I didn't want to do that."
World Peace and Harden could meet again on the court soon, as the Lakers are one win away from advancing to a seven-game Western Conference semifinal series against the Thunder. They can solidify that matchup with a win against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.Super short version: if you ride along with a low enough frequency soundwave at the speed of sound, you can trade reduced incoming particle velocity for increased incoming particle density; the drag equation favors this heavily as it has both a density factor and a velocity squared factor; take this trade to an extreme with a high enough amplitude sound wave and you get nearly-adiabatic travel between point A and point B at the speed of sound
Hyperloop is Elon Musk’s proposed means of travel that could enable a trip between San Francisco and LA in 30 minutes (which would mean you travel at roughly the speed of sound). He is supposed to be revealing an “alpha” design in August. I think I have finally worked it out what it will be, and passengers should find themselves travelling at exactly the speed of sound.
The method I propose would enable extremely low drag (i.e. air resistance) at sea-level altitude without doing anything that has to affect the air across the whole loop (e.g. evacuating the entire tube or circulating the entire column of air). The key is a combination of a scaling property of the high-velocity drag equation and a clever way to exploit it by traveling within the density peak of an intense low-frequency sound wave.
Hyperloop is mainly just a looping tube (with entry/exit accelerators/decelerators) that acts as a waveguide for these bursts of soundwaves:
The properties of sound waves get interesting when you view them from the reference frame of a vehicle embedded within, traveling in the direction of the wave at the speed of sound. The vehicle remains fixed on one point of the pressure wave as the wave propagates. Depending on the point along the wave you chose, air density and air velocity differ inversely, allowing net airflow to always remain the same (as required if you are to move through the air; sound waves themselves just jiggle air back and forth and don’t actually move it anywhere in the long run).
Traveling in the wave’s trough, a vehicle would face a sparse number of molecules whizzing by at high velocities, but riding the peak, the vehicle would only have to deal with a dense cloud of molecules slowly crawling by. The latter turns out to involve much less drag over the course of a hyperloop trip!
the high velocity drag equation, Fd = (½)P*(V^2) CdA
The force of drag increases proportionately as the square of the air velocity (v^2), but only linearly with air density (ρ)! If you double the density, you only double the drag, but if you instead double the velocity, you quadruple the drag. The drag equation is ultimately this way because incoming particles impart a momentum of only m*v on the craft but a kinetic energy of m*v^2. In the dense part of the wave there is a high potential energy, but low kinetic energy (with respect to the net velocity of the air). In the sparse part the potential energy has been converted into net velocity (temperature goes down and velocity goes up as the gas expands).
This in turn means that when traveling along with the sound wave, all the vehicle needs to do to minimize drag is stay on the wave peak–the area of highest density and lowest apparent velocity. And the higher the amplitude of the wave hyperloop manages to generate, the higher the density, the slower the apparent air velocity, and the lower the drag during the trip! Crank it up enough and you approach fully adiabatic travel.
So, in the launching area the vehicle reaches the speed of sound and is then ejected into the main loop at exactly the right time to be at the peak of a passing sound wave. All it then needs to do is use a low amount of force to fight the drag induced by the dense soup of slow, incoming air (slow from the vehicle’s reference frame) for around 30 minutes or so, and BAM! it has traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles. That’s it; that’s hyperloop. You shouldn’t really need to read the rest.
But, I’ll quickly go over how this version of Hyperloop can meet the conditions hinted at by Elon Musk:
It lets you travel from LA to San Francisco in around 30 minutes
It is like a cross between a Concorde, a railgun, and an air-hockey table
It isn’t affected by earthquakes
It could use solar to be self-powering
It can store excess solar energy within the system itself
You can’t crash
It lets you travel from LA to San Francisco in around 30 minutes:
This is roughly the speed of sound; everything I’ve mentioned depends on moving at this speed.
It is like a cross between a Concorde,
Sonic-ish speeds and lots of noise?
…a railgun,
I think acceleration/deceleration will be done in a separate area from the main loop; if the vehicles were accelerated in the main tubes there would be the possibility of wave reflectance if a wave passed by before it was up to speed. Anyway, this could be done with a railgun or a coilgun; I suspect coilgun because that would also be an easy design to use for maintaining vehicle velocity with solar during the main stretches of the loop.
…and an air-hockey table
You could scoop in some of the dense air and blow it through air hockey holes at the bottom of the craft… If the pressure is high enough at the soundwave peak, you could design the craft to be neutrally buoyant (I think we’d be getting into shock wave territory by that point though).
It isn’t affected by earthquakes
I believe some fragile historic buildings have been anchored to a slab that rests atop a second slab anchored to the ground; in an earthquake the slabs just slide freely over each other and the structure doesn’t feel much force.
Same deal here; anchor each Hyperloop tube-support to a sliding slab.
It could use solar to be self-powering
PV solar would be used to power the rail/coilguns that maintain the vehicle’s speed in the low drag environment. Solar would also be used to create and maintain the sound wave; maybe it could use cheap thermal solar along with PV to create waves in the manner of a thermoacoustic engine.
It can store excess solar energy within the system itself
The waves travelling throughout the system would be the energy storage. Friction losses between air and the tube walls could be mitigated by just increasing the diameter of the tube: the perimeter grows proportional to the diameter, but the encircled air grows as the diameter squared. So that scales well. Lowering the wave frequency in the design could minimize losses as well by making the waves more and more adiabatic in nature.
You can’t crash
Famous last words…
AdvertisementsFormer Missouri defensive end Michael Sam, a projected NFL draft pick in May, made it publicly known Sunday night that he is gay, setting the stage to become the NFL's first openly gay player. Reaction to the news on Twitter was explosive:
@MikeSamFootball #respect bro. It takes guts to do what you did. I wish u nothing but the best â Richie Incognito (@68INCOGNITO) February 10, 2014
After getting to know Michael Sam over the course of the last few weeks, I am very impressed with what I learned... http://t.co/IvhyLvrMi9 â Brendon Ayanbadejo (@brendon310) February 10, 2014
Michael Sam isn't the 1st gay player in the NFL although he is the 1st 2 come out.#realtalk Let's show him love like a family member. Truth â DeionSanders (@DeionSanders) February 10, 2014
I could care less about a man's sexual preference! i care about winning games and being respectful in the locker room! â DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) February 10, 2014
Did an interview over the weekend about the ability/talent of @mikesamfootball - Bottom line - Dude is a PLAYER...relentless&explosive. â Herb Hand (@CoachHand) February 10, 2014
Proud of you Mike! Keep eating, you gonna kill the next level #SEC â Ja'Wuan James (@JawuanJames70) February 10, 2014
Hats off to you Michael Sam, that takes some guts #respect â Jonathan A. Martin (@J_Martin71) February 10, 2014
Great courage by SEC Def POY...It's time for the NFL to show it's colors!â¡ï¸"NFL Prospect Michael Sam Comes Out http://t.co/HRKzwUeS2M" â Tiki Barber (@TikiBarber) February 10, 2014
I'm so tired of hearing about who gay and who not. I could care less. â FABIAN WASHINGTON (@FABEWASH31) February 10, 2014
That took some courage but man his draft stock is going to plummet even though it should be based on production and how he can contributeâ¼ï¸ â Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) February 10, 2014
Realistically my "don't give a damn" attitude isn't everyone's, so there are some that this won't go over so well with. â Brent Grimes (@BGrimey21) February 10, 2014
No comment but it can be a distraction in the locker room. At least he's open with it much respect! â Agent 29 (@DraytonFlorence) February 10, 2014
Wow! Huge news out of Missouri! Good for Michael Sam, a brave move. â Khaled Holmes (@KhaledHolmes) February 10, 2014
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbreadThe ongoing Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests were hit with violence on Saturday, as private security forces reportedly hired by the pipeline builders descended on the Native American activists with pepper spray and dogs that bit and threatened the protesters.
Democracy Now!, which was on the ground at the time, posted several photographs and video of the attack:
In the video, security forces can be seen pushing the dogs to charge at protesters, while others raise cans of pepper spray at the crowds. One man shows a deep bite mark on his arm to the camera, stating, "I was walking, he threw the dog at me, straight, without any warning." A security guard on the scene shakes his head at the man, smiling.
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman also separately confronts a woman on the security force, stating, "Ma'am, your dog just bit that protester. Are you telling the dogs to bite the protesters?" The woman refuses to answer.
The tense standoff ends as the security team eventually pulls their dogs away from the crowds and drives away.
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According to Indigenous activist Martie Simmons, the ordeal saw six protectors, including one pregnant woman, attacked. The dogs also reportedly bit the guards that brought them in. Standing Rock Sioux tribe spokesperson Steve Sitting Bear also told the Associated Press that a young child had been bitten, and 30 people were pepper sprayed.
Tribal officials also said Saturday that construction crews destroyed Indigenous burial and cultural sites on private land in North Dakota.
"This demolition is devastating," Standing Rock Sioux chairman David Archambault II said in a statement. "These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground."
For months, the Standing Rock Sioux and dozens of other tribes from the U.S. and Canada have resisted the construction of the proposed four-state pipeline that, if completed, would transport about 500,000 barrels of crude per day from North Dakota to Illinois.
A federal judge is expected to rule by September 9 whether construction on the pipeline must be stopped.
In response to the attack, Red Warrior Camp released a statement which read, "Red Warrior Camp remains nonviolent and unarmed....we ask that supporters keep focus on the fact that this corporation feels justified in using this level of force against unarmed and nonviolent water protectors and the state is allowing it!"Charlie Sheen was found naked and intoxicated at The Plaza Hotel in New York early Tuesday morning, according to multiple reports.
Police were called to the hotel around 2 a.m. following a report of "an intoxicated male," and found the actor "drunk" and his room "trashed," according to the New York Post, citing a police source. According to the Post, Sheen told police he had been "out partying" and had snorted cocaine.
According to the report, the 45-year-old "flew into a rage" when he returned to his hotel room and found his cellphone and wallet missing. The report also claims Sheen returned to the room with an unidentified female "escort."
Sheen is in the final month of a three-month probation stemming from a domestic assault case. Though no charges have been filed, it's not clear if Tuesday's incident will violate the terms of the actor's probation — but that doesn't seem at all likely.
ALSO READ: Next for Charlie Sheen: More Freedom, Smirking, and 'Men'
Sheen was taken to a local hospital, accompanied by his ex-wife, Denise Richards, who was also staying in the hotel in a separate room. (The pair had been spending time in New York with their two children.) He was not arrested.
Sheen's publicist, however, denied the troubled actor was drunk.
"What we are able to determine is that Charlie had an adverse allergic reaction to some medication and was taken to the hospital, where is expected to be released tomorrow," Stan Rosenfield, Sheen's publicist, said in a statement given to TheWrap.
It was not certain how Sheen's hospitalization would impact production on his hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men." Both CBS and Warner Brothers, the two companies behind the show, declined to comment on the incident.
The actor, who has a well-documented history of run-ins with the law, recently signed a deal that will keep him on "Men" for the next two years. He is reportedly being paid close to $2 million an episode.
This marks the second time this year that Warner Brothers and CBS have seen production of the sitcom potentially jeopardized by Sheen's off-screen behavior.
Sheen was embroiled in a domestic violence case throughout the spring and winter, and pleaded guilty last August to 3rd degree misdemeanor assault stemming from a Christmas Day incident with wife Brooke Mueller in Aspen.
Production on "Men" briefly shut down during the fallout from the scandal, while Sheen checked himself into rehab. Sheen ultimately avoided jail time in the assault case. He received three months' probation, counseling and a 30-day inpatient stay in a rehab facility.
Richards appeared on Howard Stern's satellite radio show on Tuesday morning, but made no mention of the incident. (Richards did, however, say she and Sheen have been getting along well of late.)
"Is everything hunky-dory?" Stern asked Richards after noticing her eyes were bloodshot.
"Ah, yeah right, everything is hunky-dory," Richards said.
Later in the day, Richards appeared on HLN's "Joy Behar Show," and told Behar she knew what happened at the Plaza but declined to discuss any details.The Peoria Chiefs and St. Louis Cardinals have announced that the two clubs have reached a four-year PDC agreement which reunites the former affiliation partners. The Chiefs were a Cardinals affiliate from 1995 to 2004 making the playoffs four times and winning their lone Midwest League Championship in 2002. The two organizations will hold a press conference on the agreement on Tuesday, September 25 at Peoria Chiefs Stadium. Details of the press conference, including the start time, will follow later in the week.
"This is a great day for baseball in Peoria and Central Illinois," said Chiefs President Rocky Vonachen. "We are thrilled to bring the color red back to the ballpark with one of the greatest organizations and fan bases in baseball. We hope that with all the great young talent the Cardinals have produced the last few seasons to bring another MWL Championship to Peoria as they continue to bring World Series trophies to St. Louis."
The majority of the defending World Series Champion Cardinals squad played in the Midwest League either with Peoria or Quad Cities, where St. Louis was affiliated from 2005-2012. While both teams were home to Jason Motte, the River Bandits saw current Cardinals stars: John Jay, Jaime Garcia, Matt Carpenter, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, and top prospect Shelby Miller who made his MLB debut earlier this month. Overall, 20 players who have seen action in St. Louis in 2012 played in either Quad Cities or Peoria (Motte, Yadier Molina and Kyle McClellan).
"We are extremely pleased to have a new four-year affiliation in place with the Chiefs and the Peoria community," said Cardinals' Senior Vice President/General Manager John Mozeliak. "We know how Peoria and Central Illinois represent a big part of what "Cardinals Nation" is all about and that the Chiefs run a first-class operation that will only enhance our player development efforts."
"We are excited to be returning to Peoria," stated Cardinals' Farm Director John Vuch. "The Midwest League has tremendous tradition and we are pleased to remain part of it."
During their eight-year run in Quad Cities, the Cardinals Midwest League teams posted an overall record of 587-515, for a.533 winning percentage. They made the playoffs five times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 & 2011) and won the MWL Championship in 2011. In the period from 2005-2012, only West Michigan made the playoffs more (6) or won more regular season games (603) than Quad Cities. The Chiefs meanwhile were 549-559 as a Cubs affiliate and made the playoffs just twice in 2006 and 2009, never winning a playoff series in the eight years with Chicago.
The two organizations first linked up in 1995 and a year later the Chiefs were Second Half Division Champions at 79-57 under Roy Silver. The 1998 team also made the playoffs going 72-68 under Jeff Shireman before losing in the playoffs. The 2002 team was hands down the best in Chiefs history with a new stadium to show off as well. The 2002 squad won a franchise-record 85 games under Danny Sheaffer and brought home the first ever Chiefs Championship with a 7-1 playoff record. The 2004 season was the last for the Cardinals in the first go-around in Peoria and also saw a playoff appearance. That squad, led by Joe Cunningham, went 75-64 before losing in the first round as a Wild Card team.
The first tenure for the Cardinals in Peoria brought the likes of Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Dan Haren, Rick Ankiel, Placido Polanco, Coco Crisp, Jason Motte, Chris Duncan, Jack Wilson, Pablo Ozuna and Chris Narveson to the Midwest League. All told 60 players that played in Peoria as a Cardinals affiliate between 1995 and 2004 made it to the Majors.
While the Cardinals-affiliated River Bandits missed the MWL playoffs this season at 68-61, the three teams below the Midwest League all had winning records. In the Short-Season-A New York-Penn League, the Batavia Muckdogs were 44-30 and the Rookie Level Johnson City Cardinals made the Appalachian League playoffs at 39-28. The Rookie Level Gulf Coast League Cardinals also made the post-season at 34-24. Players from those three winning squads should comprise most of the 2013 Peoria Chiefs roster. Over the last four seasons, Cardinals affiliates in the Midwest League and lower have combined to go 737-608 (.548) with seven playoff appearances and three titles.
This is the fourth affiliation chance in the 30-year history of the Peoria Chiefs. The franchise began in 1983 as the California Angels-affiliated Peoria Suns. After a name change to the Chiefs in 1984, the organization welcomed the Chicago Cubs as an affiliate in 1985 for a 10-year run. The St. Louis Cardinals called Peoria home for a 10-year run of its own from 1995-2004 and the Chiefs were again affiliated with the Cubs from 2005-2012. There was also a three-month span in which the Chiefs were affiliated with the Boston Red Sox during the 1994 off-season though they never played a game under the Red Sox.
Of the 34 Cardinals 2012 draft picks who signed, five made it to Quad Cities this season and two surpassed the Midwest League. Top pick Michael Wacha, the 19th overall selection out of Texas A&M, finished the season at Double-A Springfield. James Ramsey, drafted 23rd overall out of Florida State finished in Advanced-A Palm Beach. The top supplemental pick, Stephen Piscotty out of Stanford, played 55 games in Quad Cities. Two other supplemental picks, Patrick Wisdom and Steve Bean played below the Midwest League as did all the other top 12 picks except seventh rounder Kyle Barraclough.
The rest of the Cardinals organizational setup is as follows: Rookie Level Gulf Coast League Cardinals - Jupiter, Florida; Rookie Level Appalachian League Johnson City Cardinals - Johnson City, Tennessee; Short Season-A State College Spikes, State College, Pennsylvania; Low-A Midwest League Peoria Chiefs - Peoria, Illinois; Advanced-A Florida State League Palm Beach Cardinals - Jupiter, Florida; Double-A Texas League Springfield Cardinals - Springfield, Missouri; Triple-A Pacific Coast League Memphis Redbirds - Memphis, Tennessee.The top White House regulatory official is defending the decision to increase the estimated “social cost of carbon” (SCC) in federal agency rule-making, a topic that’s the focus of a House hearing Thursday.
“Entities outside of the Federal government are using estimates that are similar to the updated SCC values. For example, these updated estimates are consistent with the SCC values used by other governments, such as the United Kingdom and Germany,” says Howard Shelanski in testimony prepared for Thursday’s hearing in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The Obama administration this year increased the estimated monetary costs of carbon emissions, a change that can boost the projected benefits of regulations that curb emissions.
The move has generated criticism from Republicans. But Shelanski, who directs the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, notes that the White House and big companies are on the same page on the topic.
“Major corporations, such as ExxonMobil and Shell, have also used similar estimates to evaluate capital investments. The Administration will continue to investigate ways to improve the social cost of carbon estimate,” states Shelanski.
He also seeks to reassure lawmakers that there’s opportunity for public input on the change.
“The current estimates will be used in the economic analysis of rulemakings, and we fully expect comments on the SCC values in the context of future rules. We will consider those comments to ensure that we use the best available information to evaluate the costs and benefits of our regulation,” his testimony states.
The SCC is an estimate of factors, such as changes in human health and agricultural productivity, property damage from greater flood risks, and several others.The General Medical Council (GMC) has drafted new guidelines which state that doctors could be struck off for refusing to prescribe contraceptive pills to unmarried women. The guidelines state that it would be ‘discriminatory’ for a doctor to refuse to prescribe the pill or the morning-after pill, on the grounds that they do not believe in sex before marriage. The British Humanist Association (BHA) welcomes the new guidelines.
Entitled ‘Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice’, the draft guidelines tell doctors that they ‘cannot be willing to provide married women with contraception but unwilling to prescribe it for unmarried women’. This would be a breach of the new rules, as it would involve doctors ‘refusing to treat a particular group of patients ’. The rules also state that it is against the law for doctors to refuse to carry out gender reassignment surgery, as this would also involve discriminating against a particular group of patients. Doctors are warned that ‘serious or persistent failure to follow this guidance will put your registration at risk’. At the moment these new guidelines are only a draft, and doctors are being encouraged to suggest changes to the document before the final version is published later this year.
The guidelines have angered some Christian campaigners, who claim that they involve discrimination against Christian doctors. Bishop Tom Williams, of the Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool, claims that the new guidelines risk creating an ‘atmosphere of fear’ in which doctors would be ‘prohibited from ever expressing their own religion’. Dr Peter Saunders, the chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, claims that the guidelines are an example of ‘legislation being used to marginalise Christian health professionals in Britain’. However, the reality is that refusing to prescribe contraceptives on religious grounds could marginalise the interests of patients.
The controversy over this issue is similar to |
aculture in spring 2017. Once the Corps releases those permits, which will streamline the permitting process at the federal level, the state's Wetlands and Subaqueous Lands section can begin facilitating permits through the statewide approval process.
The first leases would be determined by a lottery and would be annually renewable for 15 years. The application fee for a 1-acre aquaculture lease held by a Delawarean is $300, with annual renewal fees for Delaware residents costing an additional $100 per acre. The annual renewal fee for nonresidents is $1,000 per acre. Farmers will be able to lease 1-5 acres for oyster harvesting in Rehoboth and Indian River bays, and an additional 1-5 acres to harvest hard clams in Little Assawoman Bay.
For more information, go to www.dnrec.delaware.gov/fw/Fisheries/Pages/ShellfishAquaculture.aspx.The Tottenham Hotspur manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was angered by the “unacceptable” anti-Semitic banner displayed by Partizan Belgrade fans in their Europa League opener on Thursday night.
A much-changed Spurs side got their Group C campaign off to a sturdy start by securing a hard-fought 0-0 draw in an intimidating atmosphere in the Serbian capital.
It was a solid performance overshadowed by an anti-Semitic banner in the home end, inspired by the Only Fools and Horses logo. The name was changed to “Only Jews and Pussies” and was displayed at Partizan Stadium throughout the match.
Uefa is investigating the issue pointed out to them by Tottenham officials, with a delegate from the governing body taking photographic evidence after the match.
“I didn’t see it,” Pochettino said. “The club is aware but I did not see [it myself]. But if this is true, then it is an unacceptable thing. It is very disrespectful. This is a shame, very disrespectful and unacceptable.”
His Partizan counterpart, Marko Nikolic, was clearly unaware of the issue when he said: “I want to congratulate the crowd. The support was great and not only great but everything went well. It was a wonderful, sporting environment without the slightest problem.”
It is not the first time Partizan have found themselves in hot water, having been thrown out of the Uefa Cup and fined in 2007 for rioting during a first qualifying round first-leg clash at Zrinjski Mostar.
Thursday night’s incident also came just two years on from the disgusting racial abuse suffered by England Under-21s in a European Championship play-off in Serbia.
Danny Rose, the Spurs left-back, was caught up in the problems that night and was among those rested here. Emmanuel Adebayor, Younès Kaboul, Mousa Dembélé and Nacer Chadli also remained in north London.
It was perhaps unsurprising, therefore, to see Spurs struggle for attacking coherence and having to defend resolutely on a night in which Benjamin Stambouli and Federico Fazio impressed on their full debuts.
Yet they began brightly as Harry Kane rattled the crossbar inside the opening two minutes. However, that was to prove Tottenham’s best chance as they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities.
A dead leg sustained by Andros Townsend was the only on-field issue for Spurs, meaning they return to Premier League action against West Brom on Sunday fresh from a solid start to Group C.
- Everton 4 Wolfsburg 1: match report
- Europa League: Alan Smith on young stars who can shineA ‘dishonest’ nurse has been struck off after scalding an Oldham dementia patient with hot water and leaving her untreated for EIGHT hours with ‘horrendous’ blisters.
Nancy Amewu Aku Hayibor spilt water on an elderly resident while attempting to release a feeding tube during a night shift in August 2013, at Shaw Side Residential Home in Oldham.
She was called before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) after it emerged she had failed to carry out adequate first aid or call an ambulance for the ‘badly scalded’ woman.
The NMC panel stated: “Ms Hayibor’s lack of insight, her reckless attitude and persistent dishonesty, her lack of remediation combined with an appalling lack of consideration and compassion for the resident’s dignity and care were, in the panel’s view, incompatible with ongoing registration.”
It went on: "Ms Hayibor demonstrated a reckless and dishonest attitude in carrying out her role and an appalling lack of understanding of the responsibilities and standards of practice required of all registered nurses."
It was alleged Ms Hayibor, who was a nurse team leader, had attempted to conceal the extent of the incident which left the resident with ‘extensive burns and blisters’ to her lower back.
During handover, Ms Hayibor said she had burnt the resident with hot water and left a small red mark, she then made a note of the incident on a form and wrote: ‘hot water splash on lower back’.
However, the general manager at the home, who conducted the internal investigation, described the injury as ‘horrendous’ and indicated that this was a ‘high impact incident’ that should have required an ambulance straight away.
Despite this, an ambulance was only called when the day nurse arrived on shift the following morning and found the resident suffering from a burn on her lower back which was ‘covered in blisters’ and ‘damaged skin’.
The ambulance did not reach the home until 11 hours after the incident and the patient was then forced to spend two weeks in the special burns unit of Oldham Royal Hospital.
The ‘scalded’ patient had been admitted to the home in October 2012 and required 24-hour nursing care. She also suffered from dementia, was immobile and required feeding via a Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube.
Ms Hayibor was struck over five separate incidents including failure to carry out ‘adequate’ first aid to wounds and dishonesty in attempting to conceal the true extent of the injury.
On October 9 2013, the nurse received a police caution for assault occasioning actual bodily harm but did not reveal her conviction to the trust she was primarily working for.
The nurse continued to complete shifts at the trust, failing to reveal her caution, which the hearing deemed ‘dishonest’.
The NMC panel heard how the nurse called the patient’s daughter at 07.45 the following morning and explained there had been ‘a small amount of hot water’ spilt on her mother during the night shift.
The patient’s daughter asked if her mother had needed any treatment as a result of the spillage but was reassured by the nurse that her mother ‘was fine’.
The NMC panel concluded: "Ms Hayibor’s self-centred lack of concern for a badly scalded resident, her failure to take appropriate action, her dishonesty and her failure to inform her employer of the police caution all indicate a serious risk that, in a similar situation, Ms Hayibor is likely to behave in the same way in the future.”
Bupa suspended Ms Hayibor and an internal investigation was initiated with a disciplinary hearing held on March 11 2014.
The panel noted the documentary evidence in the form of the handwritten notes of the disciplinary meeting held at Southwold on October 25 2013, which Ms Hayibor attended accompanied by a representative.
During that meeting Ms Hayibor’s representative, on her behalf, indicated she was ‘very sorry’ and ‘very apologetic’ and said she was a ‘very good nurse’.
She was later dismissed and Bupa referred the matters to the Nursing and Midwifery Council where Ms Hayibor was served with a striking off order and an interim suspension of 18 months.
A spokesperson for the home said: “We thoroughly investigated this nurse’s behaviour, dismissed her, and reported her to the NMC.
“Our residents’ welfare is always our number one priority and the last routine inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) confirmed the home is meeting all required standards of care.”
Image courtesy of Google Maps, with thanks.The curse of Bush
By Kate Sheppard
The Obama administration has faced harsh criticism for its oversight of offshore oil and gas development in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The most absurd commentary, of course, comes from Republicans who have consistently pushed back against any attempts to regulate industry for years. The administration has been fighting back, but no one wants to actually call the problem by its name: the Bush administration.
At a House hearing Wednesday, Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) accused Salazar of "harping on what MMS did or didn't do in the previous administration. "Why aren't we talking about the here and now?" asked Lamborn.
Salazar shot back about the efforts they've taken to reform the beleaguered agency. "Unlike the prior administration, this is not the candy store for the oil and gas kingdom that you and others were a part of," he deadpanned. At another point in the hearing, he pointed out, again without naming names, that an official at the department was sent to federal prison for obstruction of justice under the previous administration. (That would be Steven Griles, a deputy secretary at the department from 2001 to 2004).
On Thursday, when MMS head Elizabeth Birnbaum was pushed out of her post as head of the Minerals Management Service, her statement pointed back to the Bush administration, again without naming it directly, for leaving the MMS a deeply dysfunctional institution when she took over last July. She said that she hopes the reforms that Salazar has proposed for the agency "will resolve the flaws in the current system that I inherited."
It happened again Thursday when Obama made reference the past decade of cozy relations between industry and regulators. Eight of those years, of course, were under Bush. That was also when the porn, meth, and oil parties were happening in Lake Charles, La., office and the sex, coke, and oil parties were happening in the Lakewood, Colo., office. In fact, if you look at all the failures at MMS that may have contributed to this disaster, the vast majority happened under Bush.
It's not that the Obama administration MMS has been blameless. There was, of course, the lack of environmental analysis on the gulf well and the pitiful review of BP's oil spill response "plan." There was also a less-than-flattering piece on Birnbaum in the New York Times this week. It didn't paint her as an active problem at the agency, however, but rather gave the impression that she wasn't up to the task of reforming such a screwed up division. From what folks who know her have told me, she was well intentioned, if significantly unprepared for the job.
So Republican badgering of the administration over the issue is fairly absurd. Fixing the troubled agency was one of the very first things Salazar sought to address after taking office, announcing a restructuring of MMS's royalty-in-kind program, calling for a Justice Department investigation, and instating a new conduct code for the agency in the first days after taking office.
The Obama Department of Interior could have done more, of course, to improve the beleaguered agency. But the root of this is still the one name they won't say: George W. Bush.
Kate Sheppard covers energy and environmental politics in Mother Jones's Washington bureau. For more of her stories, see here, and you can follow her on Twitter here.Green Party candidate Dan Plaat announces his campaign to run for Mayor of Albany on Monday evening, Feb. 20, 2017, during an announcement at Academy Park in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union) Green Party candidate Dan Plaat announces his campaign to run for Mayor of Albany on Monday evening, Feb. 20, 2017, during an announcement at Academy Park in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union) Photo: Will Waldron Buy photo Photo: Will Waldron Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Green Party mayoral candidate encourages Albany to vote 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
ALBANY - With no additional votes from absentee ballots, Green Party mayoral candidate Daniel Plaat held his narrow lead to win the party's primary against Park South resident Bryan Jimenez.
Plaat garnered 17 Green votes during the Sept. 12 primary election to Jimenez’s 15, ensuring he’ll be on the general election ballot in November. He said he's encouraging residents to vote in the general election.
There were no absentee ballots filed by Green Party enrollees to sway the vote, unlike some Albany races in the Democratic Party primaries.
With heavy Democratic enrollment edge, the primary election typically determines the outcome of Albany races. Albany has 33,441 registered Democrats, though only a little more than a third of them (12,261) turned out for this year’s primary race. There are 3,122 Republicans in the city and 204 Green Party members.
“To make third parties matter, supporting them and showing up at the polls is a first step toward a more inclusive, more democratic city and stronger democracy overall,” Plaat said in a prepared statement. “There are alternatives, still, in the general mayoral election on Nov. 7, and with continued interest and coverage of real alternatives, the general election should not be seen as pointless. The primary victories are not a walk-off game ending.”
Mayor Kathy Sheehan, the winner of the Democratic primary, will be on the November ballot as will Conservative candidate Joseph Sullivan. Albany Common Council member Frank Commisso Jr., who lost to Sheehan in the primary, will be on the Independence Party line in November. He has not said whether he’ll campaign on the third-party line.
When Plaat announced his run for Albany mayor, he aimed to encourage stronger Green Party activity and voter turnout, and expressed disappointment by the results.
Only 32 out of 204, or 15.7 percent, of enrolled Greens voted in the primary. There hadn’t been a Green Party primary for Albany mayor since 2001.
“It is a victory for me, but it is in a way a loss for everybody in terms of turnout,” Plaat said. “While the Democratic turnout was low, the very low Green turnout is extra disappointment. Rather than be discouraged, this just means we need to work harder.”Cholera update: 1100 deaths in Yemen since late April
In an update on the cholera outbreak in Yemen, as of June 17, 158,960 suspected cholera cases and 1,100 deaths have been reported in 20 of the 23 governorates and 83 percent of the districts.
The four most affected governorates are Amanat Al Asimah (Sana’a city), Al Hudaydah, Amran and Hajjah with 49.6 percent of the cases reported since Apr. 27.
According to the international non-governmental organization, Save the Children, at least one child is infected every minute.
An average of 105 children are contracting cholera/acute watery diarrhea (AWD) every hour – or one every 35 seconds.
More than 30 people a day are already dying, many of them children and thousands could perish with up to 300,000 cases predicted in the coming months.
Yemen’s crippled infrastructure, food insecurity, failing economy and the ongoing war, mean many are unable to seek out help in time, with hospitals overwhelmed and short of supplies. The situation is particularly bad in more remote parts of the country with little or no access to health services. War, near-famine conditions and a complete breakdown in basic social services, including affordable transportation and access to clean water, are making the outbreak worse.Earlier this year, YIMBY was invited to speak on a panel at the Solving Urban Land Use Problems in the 21st Century summit, organized by the city’s three graduate planning schools. Before the panel, organizers sent a list of topics to be discussed, among them ensuring equitable access to construction jobs in New York City.
Non-Hispanic blacks and Asians are underrepresented and Latinos and non-Hispanic whites are overrepresented in the city’s construction sector. A potentially bigger problem, though, even for the underrepresented groups, isn’t how the pie is divided, but how small the pie is in the first place. Our very low housing stock growth has robbed the New York region of as many as 200,000 well paying, solidly middle-class construction jobs.
Rather than squabbling over the share of union jobs on worksites, city and regional politicians would do better to focus on increasing the size of the construction industry as a whole.
Outside of slow-growing areas like New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, construction jobs generally account for between 4 percent and 7 percent of a region’s total jobs. But in New York, the number is much lower: just 2.86 percent.
If the New York area’s construction industry accounted for as large a share of total employment as in and around Chicago, Philadelphia, or Miami, we would have 220,000 construction jobs. If we were more like San Francisco or Washington, D.C., the region would have around 270,000 construction jobs. And if we were booming like Dallas, Toronto, or Houston, we could have somewhere around 350,000 such jobs.
Instead, New York City and its surrounding cities and suburbs have less than 160,000 construction industry jobs.
The situation for New York City is especially dire, due to our lack of manufacturing jobs, which employ similar workers at similar wages. Of the nearly 360,000 manufacturing jobs in the region, almost 80 percent are located outside of the five boroughs.
But unlike manufacturing jobs, which have proven difficult (if not impossible) to resuscitate in urban areas that have lost them, gaining construction jobs is easy: build more. (And in New York City, where the demand is already there, building more means merely allowing developers to build more.)
There is a direct correlation between a region’s rate of housing stock growth and its construction jobs. Tokyo, Toronto, and Houston all have very liberal land use regimes and produce large quantities of housing – the cities proper all build at a rate around three times that of New York, which, despite its tremendous demand, is among the slowest building cities in the country.
And lest you think that a mature city must inevitably slow down its growth, note that Tokyo – capital of a country that’s obviously in demographic decline, and far and away the most populous urban area on earth – is building at a faster rate than almost every American city.
The growth of New York City’s tech industry is a welcome replacement for the city’s retreating finance industry. But a region cannot thrive, even in the 21st century, on highly skilled white collar jobs alone. With no proven way to rebuild the city’s manufacturing base, the only realistic hope to improve the fortunes of job-seeking middle-class New Yorkers is to increase the amount of construction in the city and region, and increase it dramatically.
While Bill de Blasio and his administration have made noises about improving the city’s low housing stock growth rate, they have yet to set any hard targets for overall new construction, making it difficult to know how serious they are about tackling the problem.
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For any questions, comments or feedback, email [email protected]Jonathan Miller (KHOU)
Police officers used a Taser on a black councilman in the same Texas town where Sandra Bland was arrested before she mysteriously died in jail.
Video shows Jonathan Miller, a city councilman in Prairie View, speaking to police who were questioning three of his fraternity brothers Thursday night outside their home, reported KHOU-TV.
The men had gone outside to practice a step routine for a homecoming event at Prairie View A&M, and police approached as one of the students was changing shoes near a car.
“There’s been drug activity, little girls and little guys in the car doing whatever, so when we see this, we come investigate,” says Officer Goodie on video recorded by a body camera.
Miller approaches to ask police about their investigation as a friend started recording his own video of the encounter.
The councilman tells officers that he is the homeowner, and police say they didn’t know that when they arrived.
“OK, that’s fine, I’m not trying to be combative or anything,” Miller says, and Officer Goodie says she’s not, either.
Then a second officer, Officer Kelley, orders Miller to step away from the potential crime scene.
“Officer, please do not put your hands on me,” Miller calmly says.
Kelley orders the councilman to stand in another area or risk going to jail for interfering with police activity.
Miller takes a few steps back as Kelley follows him.
“Go back there to the end, man,” Kelley says. “You always starting problems, so go back over there.”
The 26-year-old Miller reminds the officer he lives there, and Kelley again warns him to step away or go to jail.
The officer repeats his command and then reaches out to grab Miller, ordering him to turn around.
“I’m not saying nothing, get your hands off me,” Miller says. “I’m not saying nothing.”
Police have said Kelley and Miller then fell to the ground and began wrestling, and video is unclear because the officer’s body camera fell off at that point.
“Okay, he’s gonna have to taser you, you’re not doing like you’re supposed to,” Goodie says.
But the bystander’s video shows Miller kneeling with his hands at his side when Kelley fires a Taser shock into his back, knocking the councilman face-down onto the ground.
“Oh yeah, he’s going to jail for resisting,” an officer says.
Miller was arrested and jailed on charges of interfering with police and resisting arrest.
“It went from me asking questions, to me basically being put face down on the ground,” Miller said afterward. “I’m curious to have a conversation with those officers.”
Brandon Wilson, the friend who shot the video, said Miller did not wrestle or physically struggle with the officer.
“Usually I would think if you’re tasing somebody, it’s somebody that’s running from the cops, somebody that’s trying to inflict harm on somebody, not somebody that’s on their knees with their arms by their sides,” Wilson said.
Police are investigating whether the officers violated department policies, but the police chief said residents should always follow officers’ commands.
“Comply with what the officers are asking you to do,” said Police Chief Larry Johnson. “Officers were conducting an investigation. They asked that you step away from the scene and allow them to finish what they were doing, out of safety for all concerned.”
Charges against Miller remain pending, but the mayor said the councilman would still be permitted to normally conduct city business.
None of Miller’s friends were charged in the investigation.
Goodie, who is also black, was involved in the July arrest of Bland, who was jailed following a traffic stop on her way to start a new job at Prairie View A&M, her alma mater.
“We have six police officers,” Johnson said. “The probability of having the same officer involved in multiple types of incidences is probable. I haven’t seen anything that gave me any cause for concern as far as this officers conduct at this point.”
Police said Bland killed herself while jailed, but many have questioned the circumstances of of her death.
Her family has filed a federal lawsuit asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.
Watch this video report posted online by KHOU-TV:Kurşunlu mosque in Amed. Damage is from bombardment by the Turkish military. Photo: Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality
‘The police and military are using every kind of violence against the Kurds. They are using tanks and heavy armoured vehicles. They have flattened houses, historical places, mosques. They use helicopters and technological weapons, night vision binoculars and drones. They don’t let families get to the bodies of youths who were killed. Corpses remain on the streets for weeks.’
Baran describes to us the massacres that are taking place right now in Kurdish cities in Turkey. Baran is from Amed, or Diyarbakır in Turkish. Once a political activist in Kurdistan, he now lives in exile in the UK. Right now, Amed is being besieged by the police and the military as Turkey carries out the greatest massacre and mass displacement of its Kurdish population since the 1990s. Meanwhile, the city of Cizîr (Cizre in Turkish) has been left in ruins after two months of operations by state forces.
Baran’s hometown is just one of a number of Kurdish-majority cities within Turkey’s borders that, after an intensification of violence directed at Kurds, declared autonomy from the state last year. Residents erected barricades, many guarded by youths carrying Kalashnikovs, to protect themselves.
We ask Baran whose decision it was to declare autonomy and who built the barricades. ‘The neighbourhood assembly made the decision and that assembly was elected by the people who live there,’ he explains. ‘Most of the local people agreed to the declaration of autonomy. The Patriotic Democratic Youth Movement (YDG-H) built the barricades. The main reason for the barricades is to protect activists and youths from police attacks. Police always carry out raids against them.’
Narin, a resident of Farqîn (Silvan), which declared autonomy in August 2015, explained why they wanted to become autonomous when we visited the city last November: ‘There was a big uprising in solidarity with Kobanê and the state made a new security law giving new powers to the police. Another reason was because of the Suruç and Amed bombings. This is why we started to declare autonomy. Everything is related. But the main reason was the Suruç bombing [which killed 33 young people who were preparing to cross the border to help with the reconstruction of Kobanê].’
The people of Bakur (the region of Kurdistan within Turkey) have been organising themselves in a communalist, democratic way since 2007. Despite state repression, neighbourhood assemblies and workers’ co-ops have been flourishing, and the model of democratic autonomy is firmly established within Kurdish society.
Turkey has responded to the declarations of autonomy with immense violence, effectively declaring war on its own population. Since August the state has declared 58 open-ended, round-the-clock curfews on various cities in the south-east. The most recent of these was issued on February 16 in the city of Hezex (Idil).
‘At least 1,337,000 residents have been affected by these curfews and fundamental rights of these people, such as right to life and right to health, are explicitly violated,’ the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey recently reported.
Turkey’s Human Rights Association (IHD) also reported that: ‘The curfew itself is a violation of the right to life and prevents the truth about civilian killings from being revealed. In fact, the curfews contribute to the legitimatisation by the government of civilian killings, which are not considered violations of the right to life.’
Residents, including children, are being killed daily, and as the wounded lay dying in the streets, those who try to help are shot. In Amed, the mother of nineteen year-old Turgay Girçek is currently holding a daily vigil to try to reclaim his body, which has been laying dead on the streets for three weeks.
‘The police and army want to break the will of the people who have declared autonomy,’ Baran tells us. ‘They want to show the other Kurdish neighbourhoods that the state is very strong. They want to spread fear into people’s hearts. They want to break people’s political wills and choices.’
Sur district in Amed is coming up to its 80th day of non-stop curfew. ‘The police and army attack daily with all available weapons, except bombers and chemicals, against some hundred local defenders of the YPS (Civil Defense Forces),’ Ercan Ayboğa, an Amed resident, told us. ‘The less the state is successful in conquesting Sur, the more brutal it becomes.’
In the city of Cizîr, 139 wounded citizens were trapped in three different basements, without food and water, for weeks. Security forces blocked ambulances that tried to reach the injured and shot at those who tried to leave. Late last week, the death toll of those trapped had risen to 110 and there was no news from 28 wounded people. Many were caught under debris as one of the buildings collapsed under artillery fire, while others were burnt to death after state forces used petrol to set the building alight. Police also fired teargas into one of the basements, making it impossible for the survivors to breathe.
JINHA news agency also reported that unknown chemicals were pumped into the sewer system in Cizîr. ‘The chemical agent, which has a smell similar to tear gas, has entered residents’ homes through water drains in kitchens and baths. Meanwhile, state forces have shut down the last remaining markets, bakeries and pharmacies in the town until further notice.’
IHD has issued a statement listing a huge number of human rights violations by the state and has documented a number of citizens who have died in Cizîr and Silopi, another city that declared autonomy. Amongs those who have lost their lives is a 70-year old elderly man, Selahattin Bozkurt, who was shot dead by security forces as he walked into his garden. A 3-month old infant, Miray İnce, died after she was seriously injured in the face by gunfire from security forces. Her grandfather, 73-year old Ramazan İnce, was shot dead by security forces as he carried his grandaughter to an ambulance, whilst at the same time waving a white flag.
JINHA has also reported that in Silopi thousands of people were evicted from their houses and marched to a gymnasium. Sabriye Gizer told JINHA that her family were assaulted as they were forced out of their home.
She continued: ‘We were walked by force of arms. One woman and one man walked ahead of us. One shouted “Shoot them, shoot them.” They opened fire on them. We don’t know if they are alive. It was cold. We froze. They chose some young people. They took them somewhere. They searched us thoroughly, even our underwear.’
Farqîn (Silvan)
Summing up the situation across Turkey’s Kurdish cities Ayboğa told us: ‘The human tragedy is deepening step by step without any serious critics from Turkish society and the western allies, which makes the Kurds – always seeking for a real peace – more disappointed. However, after some uncertainty, nowadays the majority of Kurds stand behind the resistance in more than ten cities against Turkish military occupation and systematic massacres.’
In Farqîn the barricades have since been destroyed, but the residents of the city still believe that they are autonomous. Zuhal Tekiner, the co-Mayor of Farqîn told us in November 2015: ‘We believe we will achieve autonomy. We believe that we can change things. When we struggle here we believe that all of Kurdistan is with us. They said they wanted to erase us from the map. Now we will draw the map again.’
Mass-Displacement
The recent attacks on Kurdish cities have resulted in a mass-displacement of people, as many flee their homes to escape the violence. Ercan Ayboğa told us that in Amed, around 50,000 people have evacuated their houses.‘Together with the other cities in North Kurdistan, up to half a million people have had to leave,’ he stated.
Baran tells us about those most affected in Amed: ‘Sur is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Amed. And it’s a highly political city, of course. In the 1990s people were forced to leave their villages and came to the city. [Turkey’s security forces burnt down Kurdish villages in the 90s. Over 3000 villages were wiped from the map, whilst thousands of people were either killed or disappeared]. And now the same people have again been displaced. One of the reasons for destroying Sur now could be that they want to rebuild it again. It will become a business and district centre.’
Indeed, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu recently stated that the Sur district of Amed is to be rebuilt similar to Toledo in Spain. Kurdish HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş responded that it was no coincidence that Davutoğlu compared Sur to Toledo, the Spanish city famous for its struggle against fascism. ‘After Toledo surrendered to the dictatorial regime, Franco took full control of Spain. Prime Minister [Davutoğlu] now wants to declare his dictatorship by toppling Sur,’ he said last week.
The state and the right-wing in Turkey are maintaining a deafening media silence about the police and military massacres in the South-East through intimidating anyone who dares report it. Due to this intimidation, coupled with racism and bias, Turkey’s mainstream media has distorted the killings in Kurdish cities, with media outlets branding those killed as terrorists and blaming the violence on the PKK and not the state. On February 7, newspaper Today‘s Zaman reported the impossible figure of 733 ‘PKK members’ killed in Cizre and Sur, while not mentioning any killings of civilians. A columnist in Daily Sabah claimed that the PKK had opened fire on ambulances that the Turkish state had deployed ‘against all odds,’ while not mentioning the police and army’s prevention of medical care reaching wounded civilians.
Similarly, the international press has remained overwhelmingly silent over Turkey’s massacres in Bakur. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, the Turkish state has imprisoned and deported foreign correspondents reporting from Bakur over the last year, and the mainstream media is unwilling to trust Kurdish media sources, buying into the state’s attempts to discredit them. Secondly, Turkey is an important ally of NATO and the US, and it is not in the interest of US-aligned governments to criticise it. In London, there have been demonstrations at the BBC, with UK-based Kurds and their allies protesting the corporation’s silence on Turkey’s massacre of its Kurdish population.
We ask Baran whether he thinks that self-defence behind the barricades is a good tactic for the Kurds to achieve self-determination. ‘There is a reality in Kurdistan that if you don’t have a weapon or gun then you can’t live, as you are surrounded by brutal forces who don’t let you live in normal conditions,’ he replies. ‘So the Kurds think that armed struggle is very crucial for them. This armed struggle guarantees their lives. If these people didn’t have any weapons then worse things could happen. Kurds know that the armed struggle is very important for their existence.’
This article was published on February 16.
Kurds have called for a boycott of tourism in Turkey until the violence against Kurdish people ends. A national demonstration protesting the violence of the Turkish government will take place on March 6 outside the BBC. To find out more about campaigns in support of the Kurdish movement for autonomy go to http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com. To read about the companies supplying arms to the Turkish police and military click here.
Tom Anderson is an anarchist and anti-capitalist writer and researcher. He is part of the Corporate Watch collective. Eliza Egret is a freelance writer and anarchist activist. In November 2015 they were part of a group of activists who visited Rojava and Bakur.Back in October, ex-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci decided that the best use of his eponymous news organization was to run a Twitter poll asking “How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust,” claiming, after the ensuing backlash, that the Scaramucci Post was simply attempting to educate its followers about the murder of 6 million Jews, not act as a dog-whistle for Holocaust deniers. Shortly thereafter the Mooch himself took a trip to Israel, proudly displaying a photo of himself at the Wailing Wall as the banner on his Twitter profile before swapping it out for a still from his Late Show appearance.
It was apparently with this excursion in mind that Rabbi Shmuley Boteach invited the Mooch to speak at his Hanukkah party Sunday night. But given a mic and an audience, Scaramucci was reportedly unable to resist the opportunity to lay waste to his Trumpworld rivals and inform the crowd that his firing was a sham. Of his old buddy Steve Bannon, whom Scaramucci once described as “great man” and “the most misunderstood person in America,” he told the group: “He’s a loser. He’ll be a stalwart defender of Israel until he’s not. That’s how this guy operates... the problem with Bannon is he’s a messianic figure. It’s his way or the highway. He was dramatically and incredibly divisive in the White House... He was leaking on everybody... You don’t leak on the president if you’re the president’s senior adviser. So the guy’s a loser.”
Of the general vibe in the West Wing, he said, “The first pill you take is the ‘anti-friendship’ pill. You can be my friend for 30 years, but I’m gonna stab your eyeball out with an ice pick if it gets me more power. The second pill you take is the ‘power is aphrodisiac’ pill. Students of history know that power corrupts and it corrupts absolutely.” And, naturally, he claimed that his firing following his on-the-record rant to the New Yorker was a huge mistake. Chief of Staff John Kelly should have “given me a bar of soap, told me to wash my mouth out and ‘let’s get back to work’,” the Mooch, who is already thinking about Trump’s reelection campaign, opined. “What I said about those people... was basically true and everybody knew that.”
Of the speech’s publication, Scaramucci said only this:A Singaporean who sees himself as a woman has failed in his bid to remain in Britain on human rights grounds. He had argued that he would be under pressure to live as a male here and would have to do reservist training.
The United Kingdom Immigration and Asylum Chamber found no exceptional circumstances to justify reversing the British Home Secretary's decision in 2012 to refuse the Singaporean's continued stay in Britain.
In yesterday's published judgment grounds, in which the man was not named to protect his identity and referred to as "her", it was revealed that the 31-year-old entered Britain in September 2004 as a student. He was allowed to remain until October 2012 to complete his studies.
It was noted that since 2004, he had presented himself, behaved and socialised as a female in Britain. In 2009, the man, who considers himself a "transgendered lesbian", changed his name by a legal deed poll to a female one, which he used in his most recent 2012 Singapore passport.
He lost his first appeal against the Home Secretary's decision in January this year, and that led to the current appeal.
He |
had them fly overhead in bombers, but then those things got vulnerable, too. I don’t want it to be fair and to have one out of ten of my guys killed. I want none out of ten killed. And that’s what I got with the drones.”
The conversation continues, steered by rhetorical phrases like “trouble is” and “truth is,” and if the talk sounds familiar, that’s the point. Clarke may insist to his readers that Sting of the Drone is a work of fiction, but he offers that statement up as more of a wink than a disclaimer. Since unsuccessfully arguing for the use of military drones to kill Osama bin Laden, Clarke has been an outspoken critic of the “war on terror,” objecting more or less from the sidelines. Because it is fiction, Sting of the Drone gives Clarke the chance to bolster his theories with imagination, while insinuating throughout that his imagination could double as insight. In the author’s note that concludes the book, he even hints that he could have prevented 9/11.
Clarke, whose nonfiction book Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror was a national bestseller, has also struck a chord with Sting of the Drone. Since 2002, when the first targeted drone strike against Al Qaeda was ordered in Afghanistan, drones have been at the center of America’s national-security policy, operating in countries where we have been at war, like Iraq and Afghanistan, and in countries where we have officially not, like Yemen and Pakistan. In spite of growing questions about the ethics of drone strikes, and an initial optimism about the foreign policy of President Barack Obama, the drone program has been greatly expanded since 2004; in 2012, there were as many drone strikes in Yemen as during the previous ten years combined. Recently, Obama referred to the strikes in Yemen and Somalia as models for the use of force against militants with the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria. Drones are a military mainstay and a national obsession.
To their proponents, UAVs are an exciting—and inevitable—technology. They enhance the US military’s ability to target foreign combatants while minimizing American and, ideally, civilian casualties. Their development has applications in nonmilitary fields such as science, medicine and retail (Amazon and Google tout the potential use of drones for same-day delivery service). And they are economical: an armed Predator drone costs a fraction of what it takes to manufacture and maintain a fighter jet.
Critics say the drone program violates the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties that the United States has pledged to uphold. Drones may increase the likelihood of war, in part because they reduce combat risk for American pilots; the perceived low threat, their comparatively small cost and US dominance in the field make the use of UAVs all too tempting. Furthermore, critics say, the very presence of drones—the buzz of their engines and the violence it portends—traumatizes whole communities. In Khashamir, in east Yemen, villagers attribute sudden deaths and miscarriages to trauma from the ever-present drones. Human-rights groups have published book-length collections of such testimonies. Drones, these statements seem to confirm, recruit more terrorists than they kill.
But for opposition policy-makers, journalists and activists, and even some supporters of drones, the most alarming aspect of the program is its secrecy, which not only obscures facts but also stokes paranoia—or complacency. It was only in 2012 that Obama publicly admitted the existence of the drone program while continuing to escalate the strikes, and Americans today are expected to reconcile the documented existence of drones with the official silence or denials on the subject. As a result, the debate on drones verges on the surreal, testing the limits of the American public’s connection to its own government as well as its influence over the waging of foreign wars. Emerging from this fog are fantastical political thrillers like Sting of the Drone.
* * *
In recent years, not just in novels but in movies, television, poetry, video games and the visual arts, drones have taken on a life of their own. As a character, they are menacing, melancholy or gallant; beastly, blind, snub-nosed, noisy and fast—Predators and Reapers in real life, “Helicarriers” in Hollywood. They are the oversize hook at the end of a joystick, a militarized, antiseptic video game characterized by precision; or they are a weapon system proliferating at a breathtaking rate, and leaving a trail of destruction behind. They show off the military talent of their users, or they are an expression of unbridled hubris. They represent protection or extermination—and they carry out both things at once.
In America, on whose behalf the vast majority of drones are deployed but where none of their missiles have been used offensively, the UAV is more a symbol than a weapon. Drones represent the thrills and pitfalls of ingenuity, as well as the tangled threat of terrorism. They embody our own vulnerabilities as a nation, and the complexities—or impossibility—of waging ethical warfare. What we don’t know about drones (which is by design a lot), we can imagine, and our fantasies are usually dark. “Well, look, they aren’t really just airplanes,” a member of Clarke’s fictionalized “Kill Committee” says. “People see them as Flying Killer Robots. And people have a deep fear of armed robots.”
“What’s most interesting to me about drones is not that they are changing the world, but that they are changing us,” Mike Maden, who has a doctorate in political science, told me. “They are very ironic machines.” Maden’s debut work of fiction, Drone, takes place in a lightly fictionalized near-future in which drones are used for good—such as monitoring the migratory habits of endangered humpback whales—and evil. Maden’s biggest apparent leap is the core plot, in which the US president argues that Mexican drug cartels are a threat akin to foreign terrorists and deploys drones across the border to hunt them down. In a series of blasts, drug kingpins are killed with ease and precision. When old-school efforts—boots on the ground—are used to combat the Mexican traffickers, they fail spectacularly, and within the gore is a message: “Human snipers contended with other variables, too,” Maden writes. “Stinging sweat, the need to breathe, beating hearts, nagging doubts, sick kids back home, lack of sleep, fears.”
Then the weapons turn on their maker: snatched by Iranian forces and emblazoned with American flags, the drones target an oil rig, an airport and a church. Some are meant to kill Americans, and others to ruin the reputation of the United States abroad. Amid the chaos, terrorism flourishes in the United States; in one pivotal scene, a Mexican ice-cream vendor unwittingly blows up Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Maden exploits a fundamental worry about drones, one rooted in a strain of technophobia that appears in much of science fiction, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to James Cameron’s The Terminator. Humans, by virtue of our boundless curiosity and intelligence, will eventually create a machine we cannot control. In Maden’s book, and in Clarke’s, that machine is the UAV, and it’s only a matter of time—and political miscalculation—before our drones attack us.
Maden takes pains to highlight nonmilitary uses of the technology, and he wants his arguments to be taken seriously. He assures readers that all the machines he describes in the book either already exist or are in development, and that the novel’s world is only vaguely futuristic. The president, elected after Obama’s second term, is a woman. “I joke that science fiction is dead,” Maden said. “You really can’t make this stuff up anymore.”
In these novels, the actual fiction is like lingerie—minimal, alluring. The same is true in Bloodmoney (2011), a novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, which also presents itself as being based in reality. The doctor Omar al-Wazir becomes a would-be terrorist to avenge his family’s death by US drone. Like Colonel Parsons fretting over losing control of his drones in Clarke’s novel, the doctor’s transformation is a lesson for the reader. In one of the book’s early scenes, a Pakistani general ponders the situation: “The Americans were changing the rules of the game. They must think they were being clever in Washington, but they were walking into terrain where nobody could help them—not the general, not his agents, not their clandestine contacts…. They were the mischief-makers. They would get caught, and it would be their fault.”
Like Clarke, Ignatius has toured the news shows promoting his book, sometimes coyly, as an insider’s view on drones and governmental policy. With so little genuine information coming from the White House and the Pentagon, these books—and even television shows like 24 or films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which have both featured drone-heavy plots—do sometimes provide insight or spark debate. Discussing his novel on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show, Ignatius broached ethical issues that policy-makers seem reluctant to touch. Drones “allow you to kill people from 10,000 feet,” Ignatius said, “which seems, to our public—I think wrongly—less bloody than if we did it right up close standing next to someone with a gun.”
And yet all these fictions, while diligently researched, are mostly far-fetched. It’s not necessarily the fault of their authors; drones take on the gloss of fantasy too well. Genuine expertise—a background in the military, government, political science or journalism—and plots intended to serve as warnings or political critiques do little to differentiate these drone entertainments from other, less topical science-fiction or technological thrillers. The genre conventions overwhelm the message.
In Sting of the Drone, Erik grows increasingly anxious about losing control of the weapons. “It’s like something’s shifted. Like the bad guys are figuring us out, like we’re not quite invulnerable anymore,” he tells Jennifer. This may be true to life. But in the novel, his cautionary words are less a comment on American hubris than a familiar literary convention: the rote speech delivered by a fictional hero in order to disguise the inevitability of his victory, purely for thrills.
* * *
“Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Pity. A signature strike leveled the florist’s.” Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole’s popular “Small Fates” series on Twitter compiles poetic, often darkly humorous, 140-character-or-less versions of Lagos’s more violent headlines. In January 2013, Cole turned his attention to drones. “Call me Ishmael. I was a young man of military age. I was immolated at my wedding. My parents are inconsolable,” he writes in one. The last of the seven tweets, which invokes the first sentence of Camus’s The Stranger, states, “Mother died today. The program saves American lives.”
The tweets received a lot of attention. Fans saw them as a fierce critique of US drone policy, much needed at a time when secrecy—and fading optimism about Obama—appeared to limit anti-drone activism. By embedding drones in the opening sentences of classic novels, Cole seemed to comment on the national mindset about them, one characterized more by distance and irony than by genuine fear or culpability. Months before, he had offered what appeared to be a thesis: “Each age has its presiding metaphor. Ours is aerial bombing.”
Adam Rothstein, author of the forthcoming book Drone, responded to Cole’s tweets on the United Arab Emirates–based website the State, calling fictional work like it of the “utmost importance.” Such writing, compared to the whirlwind of thrillers—which suffer, anyway, from a dearth of information—could have a profound reach, Rothstein thinks. Curating and writing about work that incorporates drones, as well as exploring the connection between drones and people beyond the offerings of science fiction or political thrillers, became his focus.
“Drones are very much a character, which we compile from the sources we choose, and those which we choose to believe,” Rothstein explained to me in an e-mail. “Look at the number of times people rely upon stock tropes to describe drones. ‘Killer robots,’ ‘terminators,’ ‘zombie drones,’ ‘flocking birds,’ ‘vampire bats’…. We really personify drones in ways that we don’t with cellphones or computers.” Rothstein added that “the problem with science fiction is that the drones are an aspect of speculation. Anything they do in the context of the work is immediately perceived as speculation, and not to be taken seriously.”
In the summer of 2013, Rothstein and Olivia Rosane launched “Murmuration: A Festival of Drone Culture.” They proposed a website that, for one month, would post “art, film, music, and writing inspired by the idea of the drone.” The result, a compilation of work tiled on a Tumblr page, explores the drone as an object and as an object of obsession. There are posters, videos, short stories, essays and Christmas gifts—all about drones. None of these projects command the kind of audience of a David Ignatius novel, but taken together, they better represent the impact that drone warfare, and speculation about that warfare, have had on the public imagination. “Drones are a complicated topic,” Rothstein told me. “Speaking louder is not necessarily better.”
On the “Murmuration” site, one can watch Heems, formerly of the rap trio Das Racist, perform a song about drones and dating. Photoshopped images depict Predator drones flying over present-day Dubai. A fluorescent poster advertises a horse-drone hybrid called “My Little Droney: Surveillance Is Magic.”
“Dronestagram,” one of the most compelling projects compiled on “Murmuration,” is a visual and cultural link between the Instagramming American public and the areas targeted by drones, as well as a method of compiling a death toll—a daunting task given the clandestine nature of most of these attacks. Beneath an aerial photograph showing the patchwork of flat roofs in a small Pakistani village, a caption provides the tally of people, both targets and civilians, killed or injured in the drone attack. In Tappi village, according to one “Dronestagram,” three to five people were reported killed, including one civilian, in a drone attack on October 24, 2012. “Three cows intended to be sacrificed for Eid were also killed,” it notes.
When a drone comes alive, in the world of “Murmuration,” it reminds us of the danger of taking refuge in fictions. Drones are not sentient; people are responsible for what they do. In the first panel of a short comic, the black silhouette of a drone flies against a light sky, and the text wonders if the all-seeing flying weapon would, if it could, think about what was happening on the ground below. If the drone truly had a mind or a conscience; if it could control its own movements and make its own plans; if it could take responsibility—would it consider what it was doing? “But it thinks nothing,” the artist decides finally. “After all, it is a drone.”
* * *
On April 17, 2013, two US drones killed a suspected Al Qaeda member, his driver and two of his bodyguards in Wessab, a village high up in the mountains of Yemen. A description of the carnage from the drone attack, as told to Human Rights Watch, reads like a scene from a novel:
“The fire was high; no one dared get close and the planes were hovering above,” said Ahmad Hamoud Qaed Daer, the driver’s father. “I couldn’t do anything…. It was dark and there was a lot of smoke. There was no moon and I didn’t even have a flashlight. I saw my son charred, in the front seat.”
People began to panic. Nowhere seemed safe—not in their homes, not on their roofs. “The planes [drones] were there until we buried them,” another villager said. “I swear by Allah, if we had had weapons, not a single plane would leave. We would take them down because they terrified the village.”
These testimonies are difficult to read. They are full of explosions, gore and personal, life-altering tragedies. Baraa Shiban, of the nongovernmental organization Reprieve, says that drones are indeed a Yemeni obsession; they are always overhead. Villagers fear the strikes and cling to evidence of them, knowing that their own government and the US government are prone to denying that the attacks ever took place. “People are very aware, even in remote areas,” Shiban said. “If you talk to very uneducated people, very simple people living in villages, they realize that it’s an American drone program. Sometimes they say that America is sending planes to kill us.”
In 2013, Reprieve held a drone-themed poetry contest. Writers throughout Yemen participated, and the event received plenty of media attention, even prompting a local pop singer to approach the NGO about turning the winning poem into a song. That poem, “Unrhymed Drone,” by Ayman Shahari, described the grim struggle of living with drones and the complicit Yemeni government:
Below us:
A furnace for tyrants
Above us, drones? The friendly drones, the enemy
Which makes death fall
Overhead
As though we are fields
And death our downpour.
“They were angry about the constant presence of drones over their heads,” Shiban told me. “A lot of them were addressing the fact that we have no other way to fight these drones. But we have our words, and expressing ourselves.” The prize for the winning poem was $600—or, as Reprieve pointed out, a mere 1 percent of the cost of a Hellfire missile.
In Yemen, poetry is a written and oral tradition that knits together a society otherwise composed of many disparate communities spread over a large and geographically diverse terrain. In recent years, drones have made their appearance in poems as well as in street art. In Sanaa, a well-known piece of graffiti depicts a child asking a drone, “Why did you kill my family?” The same artist also plastered images of drone victims on walls around the city.
But it’s in rural Yemen, beneath the drones, where the poetry has been sharpened into knives. Life for many villagers is now unbearable, and poetry is a way to convey that reality to a skeptical audience. The attacks have penetrated many layers of society in a reasonably short period of time. “Drones are, in many countries, the face of the United States,” Micah Zenko, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on national security and counterterrorism, told me. “Drones are such a small part of the American government’s engagement with the world, but they are given such tremendous weight because of the infrastructure around their use. It’s the myth of covert action.”
Zenko is aware of the swirl of science fiction and techno-thrillers about drones: “Look at how the CIA plays a role,” he advised. “They have an entertainment-industry liaison.” But he’s more focused on drones outside of fiction and metaphor; the reality is alarming enough. “What people always get into at this point in the conversation is autonomous killer robots,” Zenko said. “I’m more interested in what’s happening on earth today. There are no civilians being killed by autonomous killer robots.”
Reprieve’s Shiban watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he told me with a little laugh, although he didn’t think that many other Yemenis had. Even Dirty Wars, the 2013 Jeremy Scahill documentary about the “war on terror,” has yet to be officially screened in Yemen, where much of it was filmed. Shiban sighed; as a Yemeni, he seemed accustomed to being the subject of discussion, whether in a documentary or a Hollywood movie, rather than a participant. “I think it’s interesting that drones are starting to impact even the American movies and American directors,” he said. “But there are limits. There is much more needed to be done to really address what is happening to the people here.”
* * *
This poem is by an unnamed Afghan woman:
May God destroy your tank and your drone,
you who’ve destroyed my village, my home.
The poem is a landay, folk poetry sung among Pashtun women along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Traditionally, the twenty-two-syllable poems were performed over drumbeats at weddings and other gatherings, but decades of violence, and the Taliban’s oppressive rule, have made such performances rare. Today, landays are still collected and shared, but more privately.
Their content, too, has changed, “remixed like rap, with old words swapped for newer, more relevant ones,” writes poet and journalist Eliza Griswold, in the introduction to I Am the Beggar of the World, a collection of landays she has translated. This extraordinary book cuts to the heart of the US drone program. Much as they’ve entered the skies above scattered villages, drones have entered the landays, which, Griswold writes, often “reflect an exasperation with foreign occupation and a deepening terror of living under the threat of drone strikes.”
Over two years, Griswold and the photographer Seamus Murphy traveled through Afghanistan in search of landays. It took time and patience to gain the trust of women who value the poems, which deal frankly with sex and relationships, as their sole means of rebellion, but who also fear the repercussions of being named as their authors. What Griswold found was, in part, the scar tissue of permanent war—a war where the only things that change are the nationality of the occupiers and the types of weapons they use. Today, those weapons are drones. As in Yemen, poetry in Afghanistan is a way for disenfranchised, mostly rural populations to describe their real lives, and violence has seeped into the work. A 2014 report called “Impacts of the War on Terror on Pashto Literature and Art,” by the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Research Centre, a Pakistan-based NGO, determined that “Pashto literature is divided into two sections; one post-9/11 and the other…pre-9/11….”
I Am the Beggar of the World is a universe away from Sting of the Drone, despite the fact that both have armed drones and the “war on terror” at their core. It’s not just that Clarke is vastly different from the female singers of landays, which belong to a distinctly foreign literary tradition, or that he has very different goals (one of which, presumably, is to sell books). Drones are two separate objects in the American versus the Afghan imagination. In the United States, drones are all too often a metaphor, the indirectness made more profound by the literal distance between a vehicle and its pilot. Drones symbolize a lot but seem to do very little. However, the same drone in Afghanistan exists as a fact of life, one that embodies real tragedy. There, a drone is a drone.
“Mostly, when people sing these poems, they’re not looking to make a statement as much as they are talking about their lived experience,” Griswold told me. “Certainly, [drones] are a symbol of menacing power. But it’s much more literal. When a drone appears in a landay, it’s because it killed [the author’s] son.”
Griswold first listened to one of the landays in the book on the cellphone of a businesswoman in Jalalabad, far removed from the wedding where a woman named Chadana had originally sung it. Chadana’s son Nabi, a Taliban fighter, was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in 2011. Chadana uses the poem to mourn her son, and in two short lines manages to convey the impact that US drone strikes have had on her life with a force that evokes the attack itself:The Austin Fire Department says a limited-edition Ferrari worth $385,000 ended up at the bottom of a ravine in West Austin, Texas after the driver failed to make a turn at high speed and sent the car airborne. (AFD Battalion Chief David Brietzke)
AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) - The Austin Fire Department shared photos on its Facebook page Tuesday of a crash involving a $385,000 Ferrari in West Austin.
Austin Police say the crash happened just before 2:30 a.m. last Friday, when the car went off the road on Red Bud Trail.
According to AFD, the limited-production-run sports car went off the bridge after failing to make a turn, flew 40 feet in the air, and flipped over before landing at the bottom of a 40-foot ravine.
Witnesses say the vehicle appeared to be traveling more than 100 mph.
AFD says the three occupants in the Ferrari suffered only minor injuries, however the driver was arrested for driving under the influence.Running the government on 8¢
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Those who clamor for more "limited government" rarely define what they mean. But assuming nothing changes over the next decade, Americans could be left with a de facto limited government -- limited in what it will be able to do.
Today, the United States spends roughly 76 cents of every federal tax dollar on just four things: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the $14 trillion debt. That leaves 24 cents of revenue to pay for everything else the federal government does.
That's not a lot. But it's a mint compared to what could be left over by 2020, according to a simulation made by the Government Accountability Office.
Barring serious efforts to curb the growth in the country's debt, by 2020 Washington could be spending 92 cents of every tax dollar on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest alone. That would leave just 8 cents to pay for everything else.
How much of "everything else" can 8 cents buy? Not a lot, especially relative to what Americans are accustomed to their government providing.
Things like the national parks, the FBI, student loans, air traffic controllers, defense, the interstate highway system and food safety. The list goes on and on.
To give a better sense of just how much government would have to cut back, consider this: In 2010, Uncle Sam took in $2.162 trillion in federal revenue -- and 8% of that is $173 billion.
Here's a sampling of what that $173 billion could have paid for last year:
The Department of Labor ($173 billion) OR...
One-fourth of defense spending ($667 billion) OR...
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (roughly $170 billion) OR...
Most but not all of the interest owed on the country's debt ($228 billion) OR...
The Departments of Transportation ($78 billion), Justice ($30 billion) and Housing and Urban Development ($60 billion); plus the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ($5 billion) OR...
The Departments of Agriculture ($129 billion), Energy ($31 billion) and Commerce ($13 billion) OR...
The Departments of Education ($93 billion) and Homeland Security ($44 billion), plus NASA ($19 billion), the EPA ($11 billion) and the parks, fish and wild life services ($6 billion).
Beyond 2020, the 8 cents to pay for "everything else" would get whittled down to zero. By 2040, there would only be enough in federal tax revenue to pay for interest on the debt and Social Security, according to Susan Irving, GAO's director of federal budget analysis.
Sure, the country could try to borrow to pay for what revenue can't cover. But given the magnitude of what would have to be borrowed, the interest costs alone would be prohibitive. Another alternative: the government could abruptly raise taxes sky high and cut spending to the bone.
This is just one reason why the country's fiscal course is often described as "unsustainable."
And that's why Irving and others say lawmakers and the public need to ask some tough questions about their priorities and their means.
"What is it that the government should do? What would that cost? Are you willing to spend that?" Or, Irving suggested, "What do you want to pay for government and what will that cover? Can that fund your priorities?"
In the abstract, she noted, "Everybody wants a small government. Everybody would like low taxes. And they'd like government to do everything that they think government should do. But the arithmetic can be a problem."This is a quick post: even though we discussed it on Twitter, I’m afraid many defense attorneys missed the following GFY comment discovered by Raul.
GFY is a very active message board for adult webmasters and producers. One of the last year threads there (NSFW) discussed Prenda’s fiasco in Lightspeed v. Smith. Amid some local boneheads’ denial of the obvious, there were many rational voices calling Prenda’s practice by its real name: extortion. But the comment in question is not about Prenda at all. It’s more about German puppeteers that run Malibu Media, Voltage Pictures, Vision Films and other American shakedown theaters.
it was common practice in germany some years ago to set up a trap, have people download the stuff by P2P, track them down and send them nasty letters
some companies had specialized on that, they offered me a deal where that company, the lawyers and me get 33% each from the money they extorted from people that downloaded content from the trap in place
i refused, many others didnt.
The author is apparently the owner of amazingcontent.com (NSFW) — a wholesale adult content distributor, seemingly the rights holder. It’s heartwarming to see that even those who are understandably pissed off by proliferation of unauthorized copies of their content on the web, are not blindfolded by their anger and capable of telling right from wrong. It is ironic that smut producers have more dignity than certain purported Christians who easily take the golden bait from the fishing Satan.
Mounting proof of trolls’ seeding stuff in order to lure hapless file-sharers is troubling yet not unexpected. For example, the evidence of Guardaley seeding the Elf-Man movie is very compelling:
A list of the Vision Films movies uploaded to bittorrent by “HeroMaster.” Turns out the allegations at paragraph 45 of our Second Amended Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Counterclaims were just the tip of the iceberg. Not only did “HeroMaster” initially seed Elf Man and Blood Money before their public release, he/she also uploaded the majority of the Vision Films movies on the “APMC/Vision Films Schedule A” prior to their public release. So,it appears our suspicions are correct and coming to light: Vision Films uploads the movies and then Vision Films hires APMC to track and sue every one who takes the bait. You said our allegations of “barratry” were scandalous, but it appears they are true.
Also, Malibu’s clips appear in the wild merely 4-10 minutes after the release, and the XArt’s owners apparently close their eyes to this Baden-Württemberg sized hole.
So, I just wanted to draw attention to yet another red flag and suggest that Doe defenders and federal investigators start talking to rights holders and attorneys who had been approached by German racketeers to mount the final counter-action that will eventually wipe copyright trolls off.
RelatedAUSTIN—Bitcoin is definitely a big topic of conversation here at South by Southwest, especially after Newsweek’s cover story on the identity of the mysterious Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. In fact, at Coinbase cofounder Fred Ehrsam’s Monday discussion at SXSW, the first question interviewer Rolfe Winkler of the Wall Street Journal asked was “Is Dorian Nakamoto really Satoshi Nakamoto?”
Ehrsam doesn’t know, but he kind of doubts it. But then when Winkler asked if it even matters, the answer was an emphatic no. And that, says Ehrsam, is the beauty of open source.
That little matter out of the way, it was time to demystify Bitcoin for the masses—or at least try. Bitcoin, Ehrsam explained, is more than just currency: “One of the common missteps taken by the media is talking about it as a currency instead of a technology.” Instead, Ehrsam says, think of Bitcoin as an open network that lets you make transfers (money being the obvious first use case) without the need for a third party.
Coinbase cofounder Fred Ehrsam (left) holds forth on Bitcoin at South by Southwest Monday.
Looking at Bitcoin as a network, you can make analogies to the early days of the Internet. Once the Web came along, it was a way for people to disseminate information on an open network without needing snail mail, the telephone, or a printing press—but it took a while to get from early webpages to something like eBay and eventually Airbnb. Companies that are crashing and burning like Mt. Gox are the first-generation companies that are sloppy and suck at security, Ehrsam explained. And obviously he wants you to think of Coinbase, a Bitcoin payment processor, as a smarter second-gen company—for example they are are audited. “If there’s a hole in our balance sheet, it’s pretty obvious.”
It’s also not accurate, Ehrsam continued, to speak of Bitcoin transactions as anonymous. Winkler asked him about Bitcoin’s popularity amongst libertarians, for example, because they think it protects them from government oversight—like, say, hoarding gold bars that you can actually spend. And Ehrsam seemed eager to distance Bitcoin from that: “It’s disappointing that people think it’s anonymous when it’s really the most transparent network that’s ever existed.”
“What if cash was invented today?” Ehrsam continued. “Law enforcement would be up in arms. ‘Oh, you can just withdraw this stuff and it can go anywhere!’” That said, Ehrsam thinks Bitcoin needs more regulation and oversight to drive adoption by the masses—money-laundering rules are already in place, for example, and Ehrsam himself reported capital gains on some Bitcoin he sold on his income taxes.
Ehrsam also claimed that Bitcoin is “fundamentally safer than any other payment network that’s ever existed,” which smells fishy to me. Ehrsam argues that credit cards, besides being cumbersome, are unsafe from a security standpoint, because all the information attached to an online credit card transaction can be used to make subsequent transactions, should it fall into the wrong hands. But if my credit card number is stolen by hackers, aside from it being a pain in the butt, I’m not out any actual money because of the protections in place. If my Bitcoin private keys are stolen, I’m kind of screwed.
So what about the notion that it’s dumb to spend Bitcoin on, say, a toaster from Overstock, if you think it’ll eventually go up in value? Because it’s far more economically efficient, Ehrsam says, even if you make a purchase with Bitcoin and then immediately buy that Bitcoin right back—an ability he says Coinbase is working on right now. But later on, Ehrsam explained that consumers don’t understand how high the cost of traditional payment networks really is, because it’s generally merchants who are stuck with the fees.
Ehrsam thinks 2014 will see a critical mass of merchants wanting to get into Bitcoin to save themselves those fees, so now it’s just a matter of time before regular people get on board with the early adopters, miners, libertarians, and geeks. Coinbase is working to make it more accessible to regular people, as easy as online banking. ”Today, most people still don’t understand how the Internet works,” Ehrsam said. “But they know how to use a web browser.”
This story, "Coinbase's Fred Ehrsam says you're thinking about Bitcoin all wrong" was originally published by TechHive.Joe Raedle / Getty
The video clip is stomach-turning. A Domino's employee in Conover, N.C., is seen assembling sandwiches, spraying snot on them, sticking cheese up his nose before placing it on a piece of bread and passing gas on a slice of salami. The woman holding the camera narrates. "In about five minutes, they'll be sent out to delivery, where somebody will be eating these, yes, eating them. And little did they know that cheese was in his nose and that there was some lethal gas that ended up on their salami," she proclaims proudly. "That's how we roll at Domino's."
The woman, Kristy Hammonds, 31, uploaded the video on YouTube. In a matter of days, thanks to Twitter and other viral social media, the clip had been viewed more than a million times and Domino's had an instant crisis on its hands. (The original video has been removed, but copies are still easily available online.) Both Hammonds and the other employee in the clip, Michael Setzer, 32, have been fired from the pizza-delivery chain and now face felony charges for distributing prohibited foods. Hammonds and Setzer say the video was just a prank, and that the unsanitary food was never delivered.
The company did not publicly respond to the video immediately, hoping attention would subside. But when it became clear by mid-week that the controversy was only escalating, Domino's executives acted. The company posted an apology on its website and asked employees with Twitter accounts to tweet a link to it. The company also created its own Twitter account, @dpzinfo, to reassure consumers that this was an isolated incident. And Domino's U.S.A. president, Patrick Doyle, issued an apology on YouTube.
These moves do carry certain risks the more you seek forgiveness, the more people discover you have sinned but for the most part, brand experts give Domino's high marks for its response. "First of all, they handled it very well with the video response," says Pete Blackshaw, brand strategist for Nielsen Online. "It could have been a little bit quicker, but the company needed time to get its facts straight. It was near perfect."
That being said, Domino's is far from healed. "This is going to be a tough one," says Dodie Subler, founding partner of Tait Subler, a consulting firm. "Domino's is known for its excellent training program, but these guys broke the code of ethics. It will be hard for Domino's to recover." The worst part of a viral video crisis is that the clips live forever online. Says Blackshaw: "The Web never forgets."
So what is Domino's to do? Here are five ways to attack a corporate crisis in the digital age:
1. Blog. Blackshaw advises Domino's to create a blog on its website, where the company can highlight great deals, new marketing campaigns, and, yes, the fact that 99.9% of its employees do not spit on the food. "I don't want to overhype blogs, but they can serve as very powerful rapid response vehicles," says Blackshaw.
Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre says the company had been discussing starting such a blog, even before this crisis hit, and is still debating how to approach it |
September 4 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge in Lawler's The King's Court segment, making Burger King jokes to amuse the crowd and eventually emptied a bucket of water over Lawler. Matt Osborne, the original man behind Doink, was fired for re-occurring drug abuses, eventually leaving the gimmick (after bouncing through a few others) to Ray Licameli (also known as Ray Apollo).[3][4] Now as a fan favorite and with a new midget sidekick Dink, Doink was more of a comic relief character, but continued to pull pranks on other wrestlers (albeit more harmless and silly than outright cruel), mostly on heels like Lawler and Bobby Heenan. Doink and Dink also battled with Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon in a feud that culminated at WrestleMania X. Doink would later encounter Jerry Lawler again in a match at Survivor Series. In this match, Doink and Dink teamed with Wink and Pink to meet Lawler's dwarf team of 'little kings' Queazy, Cheezy, and Sleazy. Eventually, Doink became a jobber, regularly losing to wrestlers like Jeff Jarrett, Hakushi, Waylon Mercy and, in his final televised match in September 1995, to Hunter Hearst Helmsley.[5] Doink reemerged one last time in 1997 at the Slammy Awards and was attacked by Stone Cold Steve Austin, amidst crowd chants of "kill the clown".[1]
Midwest Territorial Wrestling [ edit ]
Doink (Matt Osborne) also had a few matches in 1994 in southeast Michigan. He faced off against Bastion Booger on July 14, 1994, in Port Huron, Michigan. He also wrestled alongside some other now known names such as Al Snow and Terry Funk when wrestling for MTW.
Extreme Championship Wrestling [ edit ]
Following his departure from the WWF, Osborne appeared (as Matt Borne) in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for several matches as Doink in a blue and green clown suit, setting up an angle where ECW champion Shane Douglas criticized Vince McMahon for turning a talented wrestler like Borne into a comic relief character, and claimed that he knew how to bring out Borne's full potential. Borne then made a few appearances with Douglas as "himself", sporting his face half-painted with the Doink makeup. His attitude insinuated that he had developed borderline personality disorder from having been forced to wrestle as a clown; after winning matches he would dress his opponent in clown accessories to humiliate them. His ring name under this gimmick was "Borne Again".
World Wrestling Entertainment [ edit ]
Since 1997, Doink has appeared sporadically in WWE. Ray Apollo returned to play him in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven.[6] On December 10, 2007, Doink played by Matt Borne participated in a battle royal of 15 WWE alumni for the Raw 15th anniversary special episode.[7]
Played by Nick Dinsmore, he showed up in the A.P.A. Bar Room Brawl at Vengeance in 2003.[8] He was selected by Rhino to face Chris Benoit on the July 31, 2003 Smackdown!.[9]
Played by Steve Lombardi, he wrestled Rob Conway on an October 2005 episode of Raw.[10] On June 2, 2007, Doink, Eugene and Kane defeated Umaga, Viscera and Kevin Thorn on the 34th edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. On the July 12, 2010 Raw, Doink teamed with William Regal, Primo and Zack Ryder to lose to Santino Marella, Goldust, Vladimir Kozlov and The Great Khali, when he was pinned by Khali. On the July 2, 2012 Raw, he made a surprise return and lost to Heath Slater.[11] He reappeared on July 23, alongside several other WWE alumni, to help Lita take down Slater on WWE Raw 1000, the one thousandth episode of Raw.
Independent circuit [ edit ]
In early 2010, Osborne reinvented the Doink character to resemble Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight, nicknaming the incarnation 'Reborne Again'.[12] The new character debuted on March 27 for ISPW in New Jersey.[12] On May 23, 2010, Doink the Clown, portrayed by Dusty Wolfe, interfered against Skandor Akbar and his men Dr. Knuckles and Rommel. This caused them to lose the Wrecking Ball Wrestling tag titles. In retaliation Akbar called on the original Doink Matt Borne. Wolfe and Borne were scheduled to meet on August 15,[13] Wolfe would later no show the event. On August 8, 2010, Borne, as Doink the Clown, won the Wrecking Ball Wrestling Championship.[14]
Portrayers [ edit ]
Other media [ edit ]
Doink is a playable character in Acclaim's 1994 video game, WWF Raw, Midway's WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game (1995), and SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 (2008) (as a DLC character).
Doink with Psycho
Championships and accomplishments [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]Our Quiet Street installation launches tomorrow – a simultaneous online and ‘real world’ installation mapping the sounds of the city of Bath, and creating their reimagined counterparts.
To gather the source material for the project, a crack team of Cities and Memory field recordists descended on Bath on a Sunday for a one-day recording session, aiming to cover as much of the central part of the city as possible, find and record something of the city’s sonic character, and gather enough interesting material to produce a workable sound map.
Here are a few of the things I learned in the process of trying to sound map a city in one day.
1. A beautiful city doesn’t always sound beautiful
Bath is, by any standards, a stunning city to look at – distinctive golden-coloured Bath stone everywhere, ornate Georgian buildings and incredible architectural feats like the Royal Crescent and Bath Abbey.
However, that by no means translates into a sonic treat, and in fact can even cause problems. Bath actually sounds quite homogeneous, its visual distinctiveness not matched by a sonic character or key sound mark features that define it.
And in fact, that very Bath stone, coupled with high walls and quite a hilly city centre, causes problems for field recording too – the sound bounces fiercely off the stone walls, meaning traffic noise especially seems amplified and bounces around the city centre, drowning out more characterful sounds.
And the same features cause some parts of Bath to become like miniature wind tunnels, wind ripping over the microphone on what was not a particularly unsettled day.
2. Familiarity can cause problems
Having just returned from a field recording trip to Seville in Spain shortly after the Bath recording session, there’s a clear difference in how you perceive sonic environments you already know (e.g. the city or even the country you live in) and those you don’t (e.g. foreign cities).
In a new sonic environment, sounds that seem ordinary to residents, like a particular type of pedestrian crossing, the clack of horses’ hooves or the sound of church bells in Seville, become must-hear, must-record soundmarks to the visiting field recordist.
Whereas recording a place in a sonic environment with which you’re largely familiar means you have to listen harder and with a kind of ‘enforced distance’ to spot more of those interesting recordings poking out from the everyday soundscape.
3. You need more than a day
Yes, I know – not the best thing to discover when you’ve only got one day available.
Sound mapping any location in a single day can be a massive challenge – it could be a quiet day with little going on, you could find the elements conspiring against you, and it’s tough to get a feel for a place and its defining sounds and also capture those sounds all in a single day. It is, therefore, even more important to try to research in advance when time is limited than it is when you have the luxury of several days in a location. It’s also important not to overreach yourself and try to do too much in one day – what are your goals and ambitions for the recording session and are they realistic?
You need to allow for the fact that – on a good day – half the recordings you take probably won’t be usable, and allow yourself time to ease into the sounds of the location and get a feel for what’s going to work, and what sums up that place. To assess the character of a place and then to capture some of its essence can be difficult tasks requiring time and a keen ear. Neither can happen immediately.
4. Water/roads/caution
Ah, the tranquil sight of a gushing weir or a flowing river – so enticing for the field recordist, and yet sometimes so tricky to capture well, since divorced from its visual context, the sound of rushing water so often sounds like white noise or traffic noise.
One piece for Quiet Street was intended to be from one of Bath’s key tourist attractions, Pulteney weir, a huge flowing mass of water under Pulteney Bridge. Upon listening back to the recording properly, it really sounded so much like an unpleasant sheet of white noise I actually had to drop it from the project. Caution is advised when recording heavy flows of water(!).
5. Sonic gold dust
It’s easy, once you find an area of the location that seem to contain rich pickings for field recording, to stay there and gather as much as possible, as happened to me around the Bath Abbey area. It’s extremely touristy, so there are lots of musical buskers, street entertainers, voices from all over the world – and in the centre the abbey itself with its booming organ sounds.
Now of course it depends on your aims – if you’re looking to map the whole location’s sounds and cover a certain geographical area, it’s important to resist the temptation to stick around for too long. But then if you’re just looking at collecting some characterful sounds from that location to use somehow, then perhaps you’ve hit gold.
Certainly in my experience of Bath, there was a great concentration of interesting sounds in quite a small area in the centre, and not very much to be found outside that – at least, not without substantially more time to explore.
6. You need people
If you’re in a city, it’s likely that many – if not most – of your interesting sounds will come from people. The people are what gives any (at least semi-urban) place its character – what they do, how they act, what they sound like. For me, field recording in a city on a Sunday wasn’t the best day I could have chosen. The city was fairly quiet, the city centre seemed to ‘close down’ quite early, making it trickier to collect a decent volume of quality recordings.
7. Consult the locals
Whether you know someone from that place or can track one down via friends, contacts or social media, some of your best leads come from people who actually live there and know the place. After all, as we know, tourist guides are full to the brim of tips on what looks amazing, but rarely on what sounds good – which is often off the beaten track anyway. We managed to get some decent tips from Bath residents before we came down, which proved extremely helpful on the day.
With all this in mind, it remains to be said that with a recording plan, a keen ear and just a little bit of good fortune, it’s perfectly possible to get some lovely recordings of a city that will make it feel like a day very well spent.
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LinkedInAfter a 10-year, 470-match winning streak, the Dutchwoman Esther Vergeer has retired, ending one of the most prolific careers in any sport. "I'm hugely proud of my performances, my titles, and can look back on my career with a great feeling," the 31-year-old said at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
"Keeping going would not add anything." Vergeer won the singles gold at four Paralympics starting at Sydney 2000 and ending in London last year. She also won 21 grand slam singles titles, 23 grand slam doubles titles, three Paralympic doubles gold medals and a silver. Overall, she won 148 singles titles and 136 in doubles.
Vergeer took a break from the sport last year to consider the future after the Paralympic gold. In her 470 wins, she only ever faced one match point, in the final of the Beijing Paralympics.
Her retirement means she will not surpass what is widely believed to be the longest run of consecutive wins in sport – 555 by the Pakistani squash great Jahangir Khan from 1981–86.
In the last 10 years she won 120 straight tournaments, beating 73 different opponents, winning 95 matches 6-0, 6-0 and dropping only 18 sets, the International Tennis Federation said.
Sitting on the couch at home in the snowy Netherlands last month and watching the Australian Open on television, she knew it was time to end her playing career and concentrate on efforts to promote sport for people with disabilities through a foundation she has set up. "It felt great," she said, choking back tears.
In a measure of Vergeer's status in Dutch sport the football great Johan Cruyff attended her announcement and wrote a foreword in the book about her life and career.
Sportspeople like Vergeer, "should be an example to us all," Cruyff said.
Roger Federer paid tribute in another foreword. "She is an astonishing athlete, a huge personality and she has achieved one of the most amazing feats in our sport," he wrote.
Vergeer, who was eight when she lost the use of her legs following surgery to repair blood vessels around her spine, started playing wheelchair basketball as she recovered and was good enough to make the Netherlands team before focusing on tennis.
She rose to No1 in the wheelchair rankings in 1999 and never relinquished the top spot.
"Esther Vergeer is a tremendous ambassador not only for tennis but also for disability sports. She is an inspiration to many," the ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said. "Wheelchair tennis owes her a huge debt of gratitude for her professionalism and her quality as a player."
The last time she lost was to Daniele di Toro in Sydney on 30 January 2003. "To be honest, I don't really know or remember what it feels like losing in singles," Vergeer said. "I've lost a couple of times in doubles so I know what it's like to lose. And I know what it's like to lose a Monopoly game and I don't like losing. But this doesn't feel like something I lose. This is not the same thing at all."02 September 2015
Genes are not only important for regular memory performance, but also for the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of Basel now identified a specific group of genes that plays a central role in both processes. This group of molecules controls the concentration of calcium ions inside the cell. Their results appear in the current issue of the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Intact memory capacity is crucial for everyday life. This fact becomes apparent once a memory disorder has developed. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of age-associated memory disorders. Due to increasing life expectancy, the disease is on the rise in Switzerland and worldwide. Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment to cure or even slow down Alzheimer’s yet. Thus, understanding the origins of this neurodegenerative disorder is key to the development of much needed treatments.
Scientists have known for some years now, that genes do not only play a crucial role in normal memory performance, but also in the development of Alzheimer’s. However, it was so far unclear if specific genes are involved in both these processes.
Researchers at the transfaculty research platform at the Psychiatric University Clinics Basel and the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel were now able to show in a large scale study that a specific group of genes controls several processes that are central for regular brain functions as well as for the development of Alzheimer. First author Dr. Angela Heck collected and analyzed data of over 57,000 participants for this study.
Calcium is crucial
The study identified genes responsible for the concentration of calcium ions in the cell as central players of physiological and disease processes in the brain. Calcium genes stand in mutual relationship with memory performance of young and older healthy adults as well as with the function of the hippocampus, a brain region that is central to intact memory. Furthermore, calcium genes correlate with the risk for Alzheimer disease. The results contribute to the understanding of the complex processes that lead to memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s.Rifles (AFP Photo/Cengiz Yar, Jr.)
The founder of America’s largest peer-to-peer firearm sales website – known as the “Craigslist for guns” – has said that Barack Obama’s executive actions on gun control are “well-meaning but ultimately ineffective”.
Jonathan Gibbon, the founder of Armslist.com, said in a statement to the Guardian that “many, if not most, private sellers want to do background checks”, but that the current system forces them to physically go to a licensed dealer and pay a fee to do the check. Gibbon said that he wanted to make NICS (the criminal record database) information more available to private citizens in order to “shed light on those who seek to operate under the cover of darkness”.
“Further scrutiny of law-abiding people will not stop criminals,” he added.
Armslist was founded in 2007 by Gibbon and Brian Mancini, both US air force veterans, after Craigslist banned all posts related to guns.
The site currently lists more than 60,000 firearms, gun paraphernalia, scopes, silencers and boxes of ammunition for sale, ranging from military-spec assault rifles to antique muzzle-loaded black-powder guns.
Part of Obama’s executive order, phrased as a clarification, states that “it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business – from a store, at gun shows, or over the internet: if you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks”.
It goes on to say that “there is no specific threshold number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement”, and that “courts have upheld convictions for dealing without a license when as few as two firearms were sold or when only one or two transactions took place, when other factors also were present”.
For vendors on Armslist, however, this admittedly indistinct clarification appears to have made little immediate impact.
One vendor, Jim, who declined to give his last name but said that he was the manager of a licensed firearm dealer in St Louis, Missouri, said that the background checks system currently in place, whereby private sellers can choose to involve a licensed dealer as a third party for a fee, already protected sellers from legal liability.
“If he sells a gun to a felon and something happens, the guy that sold it is gonna be in trouble,” he told the Guardian. But there is currently no requirement for all private sales to go through a licensed dealer.
“If I was selling it to my uncle, I’d be OK with not doing a transfer,” Jim said. “But if I’m selling to somebody I don’t know [if I would be OK with that].”
Responses from other vendors contacted by the Guardian varied. One vendor, asked if he required a background check to sell his Sig Sauer assault rifle in his state of Kansas, replied simply: “Sure don’t.” Asked if he would personally ask for a background check, he replied: “Nope.”
But most claimed that they would require the firearms they had for sale to be transferred via a dealer who had a Federal Firearm License (FFL), and therefore a background check.
One vendor, who was selling an AR-15 assault rifle, told the Guardian that in his home state of Oregon the issue was null, because the state already requires a background check for all firearms sold. Eighteen states, including Oregon, have enacted varying levels of mandatory background checks.
Patrick, a user who posted an advertisement seeking a.45 caliber Beretta Storm rifle, said that he would prefer to buy from someone within his state – Kansas – in order to avoid the rigmarole associated with moving weapons across state lines.
He would not have to take a background check if he found a private seller who would sell to him from within Kansas, Patrick (who requested that his last name be withheld) told the Guardian.
He said that personally he was “in the middle” on the issue of universal background checks. Organisations that pose as private sellers, like those that set up booths at gun sales and sell in bulk, ought to be forced to do them because they are operating as commercial firearm sellers, he added.
But he balked at forcing individuals to go through the process of checking the backgrounds of those they choose to sell their weaponry to, preferring a “bill of sale” – essentially, an honor system.
“In good faith, I would have to ask the buyer to disclose that he or she is not legally prohibited from owning or buying a firearm, that they are of legal age – which I could verify through observation – that they’re not violating any state local or federal laws, that they haven’t been convicted in any court of a crime, that they’re not a fugitive,” he said.
Another user, who was selling an AK-47 rifle, said he did not personally require background checks at this point. “As long as Obama doesn’t get his way!” he added.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2016In a recent job interview, I was asked to implement a fully fledged (that is, including unit and integration tests) Lubang Menggali (Mancala) game, where multiple users are allowed to play in real-time. I went with Play Framework and used WebSockets to implement the real-time server-client communication. (You can find the complete sources here.) Play provides necessary leverage for the integration tests – start the server, connect two browsers to it, click on the buttons to make a move and check the board updates. However, the tricky bit was the implementation of unit tests for WebSocket handlers.
Preliminaries
A typical WebSocket handler in Play has the following entry point for the request dispatcher.
public static WebSocket < JsonNode > join () { return new WebSocket < JsonNode >() { @Override public void onReady ( In < JsonNode > in, Out < JsonNode > out ) { //... } } }
When a request hits to join(), the function returns a new WebSocket instance, where onReady() will be invoked upon connection establishment. After that, the book keeping of the input and output sockets are delegated to the programmer. Note that the client-server communication is performed in JSON messages in the above code snippet.
Mocking
In order to mock a client-server WebSocket communication, I need mock WebSocket.In and WebSocket.Out class implementations. For that purpose, I first tried googling alternatives and checked what other people have done previously, but did not find much material. Hence, I came up with the following MockInputWebSocket.
@ThreadSafe class MockInputWebSocket { protected final List < F. Callback < JsonNode >> messageListeners = Collections. synchronizedList ( new ArrayList < F. Callback < JsonNode >>()); protected final List < F. Callback0 > closeListeners = Collections. synchronizedList ( new ArrayList < F. Callback0 >()); protected final WebSocket. In < JsonNode > inputSocket = new WebSocket. In < JsonNode >() { @Override public void onMessage ( F. Callback < JsonNode > callback ) { messageListeners. add ( callback ); } @Override public void onClose ( F. Callback0 callback ) { closeListeners. add ( callback ); } }; public void write ( JsonNode data ) throws Throwable { for ( F. Callback < JsonNode > listener : messageListeners ) listener. invoke ( data ); } public void close () throws Throwable { for ( F. Callback0 listener : closeListeners ) listener. invoke (); } public WebSocket. In < JsonNode > getInputSocket () { return inputSocket ; } }
Here, I first implement a WebSocket.In object, where message and close event listeners can register themselves to messageListeners and closeListeners list, respectively. Next, in order to pass data to the socket listeners, I wrote my custom write() and close() methods.
I also implemented MockOutputWebSocket similarly:
@ThreadSafe class MockOutputWebSocket { private final static ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper (); protected final BlockingQueue < JsonNode > messageQueue = new LinkedBlockingQueue <>(); protected final WebSocket. Out < JsonNode > outputSocket = new WebSocket. Out < JsonNode >() { @Override public void write ( JsonNode frame ) { messageQueue. add ( frame ); } @Override public void close () { try { messageQueue. add ( objectMapper. readTree ( "{\"closed\": true}" )); } // This should not happen. catch ( IOException e ) { throw new RuntimeException ( e ); } } }; public BlockingQueue < JsonNode > getMessageQueue () { return messageQueue ; } public WebSocket. Out < JsonNode > getOutputSocket () { return outputSocket ; } }
If we would forget about the custom close message hack (nasty!) in close() method of the implemented WebSocket.Out class, things are self-explanative here as well. That is, when we receive a new message, we push it to messageQueue. The test user will be able to consume the messages written to the mock output socket by polling JsonData from the messageQueue.
Since I come this far, I also implemented an entire WebSocket mock ( MockWebSocket ) that employs the aforementioned MockInputWebSocket and MockOutputWebSocket as follows.
@ThreadSafe class MockWebSocket { protected final MockInputWebSocket mockInput = new MockInputWebSocket (); protected final MockOutputWebSocket mockOutput = new MockOutputWebSocket (); protected final WebSocket < JsonNode > socket ; MockWebSocket ( WebSocket < JsonNode > socket ) { this. socket = socket ; socket. onReady ( mockInput. getInputSocket (), mockOutput. getOutputSocket ()); } public JsonNode read () throws InterruptedException { return mockOutput. getMessageQueue (). poll ( 1, TimeUnit. SECONDS ); } public void write ( JsonNode data ) throws Throwable { mockInput. write ( data ); } public void close () throws Throwable { mockInput. close (); } }
MockWebSocket provides the caller an interface such that the two-way WebSocket communication can be intercepted through provided read(), write() and close() methods – much like a regular network socket.
Conclusion
Remember that I used JSON as the messaging medium. For that purpose, I created a couple of event classes (e.g., WaitingForOpponent, ReadyToStart, IllegalMove, etc.) and used Jackson for POJO-JSON (de)serialization. Next, I integrated my brand new MockWebSocket into the unit tests as follows.
private static < T > T readPojo ( MockWebSocket socket, Class < T > clazz ) throws InterruptedException, JsonProcessingException { JsonNode data = socket. read (); assertThat ( data ). isNotNull (); try { return objectMapper. convertValue ( data, clazz ); } catch ( IllegalArgumentException iae ) { throw new IllegalArgumentException ( "Invalid JSON: " + objectMapper. writeValueAsString ( data ), iae ); } } private static void writeMove ( MockWebSocket socket, Object pit ) throws Throwable { socket. write ( objectMapper. valueToTree ( pit )); } @Test public void testJoin () throws Throwable { // Introduce the first user and read the "WaitingForOpponent" message. MockWebSocket fstSocket = new MockWebSocket ( Application. join ()); WaitingForOpponent fstWfo = readPojo ( fstSocket, WaitingForOpponent. class ); assertThat ( Application. getPendingPlayers (). size ()). isEqualTo ( 1 ); assertThat ( Application. getGames (). size ()). isEqualTo ( 0 ); // Introduce the second user and read the."WaitingForOpponent" message. MockWebSocket sndSocket = new MockWebSocket ( Application. join ()); WaitingForOpponent sndWfo = readPojo ( sndSocket, WaitingForOpponent. class ); assertThat ( fstWfo. playerId. equals ( sndWfo. playerId )). isFalse (); // Validate "ReadyToStart" messages. ReadyToStart fstRts = readPojo ( fstSocket, ReadyToStart. class ); ReadyToStart sndRts = readPojo ( sndSocket, ReadyToStart. class ); assertThat ( Application. getGames (). size ()). isEqualTo ( 1 ); assertThat ( Application. getPendingPlayers (). size ()). isEqualTo ( 0 ); assertThat ( fstRts. nextPlayerId ). isEqualTo ( sndRts. nextPlayerId ); assertThat ( fstRts. opponentId ). isEqualTo ( sndWfo. playerId ); assertThat ( sndRts. opponentId ). isEqualTo ( fstWfo. playerId ); // Let 2nd player make a move, while this is not his turn. writeMove ( sndSocket, 0 ); IllegalMove im = readPojo ( sndSocket, IllegalMove. class ); assertThat ( im. reason ). isEqualTo ( "It is opponent's turn." ); // Let 1st player make a move to an invalid pit index. writeMove ( fstSocket, "n/a" ); im = readPojo ( fstSocket, IllegalMove. class ); assertThat ( im. reason ). matches ( "^Invalid pit index:.*" ); // Let 1st player make a move with a negative pit index. writeMove ( fstSocket, - 1 ); im = readPojo ( fstSocket, IllegalMove. class ); assertThat ( im. reason ). matches ( "^Invalid pit index:.*" ); //... }On Friday Ukrainian media leaked a letter from the head of the EBU to Ukraine’s Prime Minister, in which she lambasted Ukraine’s decision to ban Julia Samoylova from Eurovision, writing that the move would have a “very big impact on Ukraine’s international reputation as a modern, democratic European nation.”
And on Saturday a defiant Ukraine snapped back as the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Vyacheslav Kyrylenko released a YouTube video re-affirming Russia’s existing position.
“The Russian participant Julia Samoylova, unfortunately, has violated Ukrainian legislation performing in the annexed Crimea,” he says in the video, which was uploaded to his press service’s YouTube account.
“Ukraine, when it comes to the Crimea, bases its point of view on decisions of all international organisations, and no international organisation in the world has recognised the annexation of Crimea. We’re defending not only our Ukrainian legislation, but we also adhere to the norms of the international law and defend the status of this international law in Ukraine.”
He made it clear that the ban is not on Russia, but rather its singer.
“I can reiterate that Russia can take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv, but only if there is a participant who has not violated Ukrainian legislation. I think that France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland or any other member of the European Broadcasting Union would have taken the same decision.”
“It is unprecedented and unacceptable to demand unprecedented decisions from Ukraine in favour of Russia and in violation of our own legislation and, by the way, the norms of the international law.”
The Vice Prime Minister made assurances that if Russia fields another act — who has not violated its laws — that Ukraine will treat the Russian delegation as any other, affording them the same reception and security services. He also made it clear they are prepared to stage Eurovision with 42 acts instead of 43.
Read more Ukraine Eurovision newsIf Sanders is going to win, and provide students with the most reasonable route to meaningful reform, then students are going to need to show up.
In an election season where media coverage for Bernie Sanders is rare, there are a few common accolades every outlet has no choice but to concede. The biggest compliment many have for the Bernie Sanders campaign is his appeal with young voters. It might seem strange that the 73 year old Senator from Vermont is making such a splash, but when you take a deeper look at his policies it becomes abundantly clear why young people, and so many others, have flocked to the Democratic hopeful. Still, if his supporters intend to turn this support into an election or meaningful reform they must be willing to work hard in the primary election, general election, and political life well into his presidential tenure. For Bernie Sanders to win young people are going to need to show up to vote in historic numbers, but unfortunately nothing like that has happened for decades. That said there is definitely a historical precedent for an American youth movement to shape American politics and it seems as though times are getting dire enough to warrant mass political participation.
As it stands now there is an education crisis in the United States. Millions of hard working students around the country are forced to squander their potential because of the increasing cost of higher education. According to the college board survey of colleges in 1983 the average cost of tuition was $2,810 which has since risen to $9,139, where it sits today.An almost 400% increase, when accounting for inflation it’s still over a 200% increase. On top of that the cost of living, gas, food, books and nearly everything else has risen considerably. Unfortunately wages have not kept up, especially in the industries where most college students work, entry level, food service, and retail. All of which are for the most part minimum wages jobs. For decades American students have been pushed to pursue a college education at any cost and until recently that was feasible for everyone able to get in. The result of easily obtainable college education was generation after generation of college educated Americans, but was once a guarantee is becoming harder and harder to obtain.
For many the rising costs make it a financial impossibility and many who do choose to attend walk away with an average of over $30,000 in student loan debt. Considering that is half a small house in some areas, it is no wonder many are choosing to forgo college entirely. Even with college costs soaring, the value of a college degree cannot be denied. Workers with a degree almost always tend to make more throughout their lifetime and the job market itself is increasingly unforgiving to those without a degree. Perhaps even more important than job opportunities is the tools a college education provides citizens. Without extended education making informed decisions and analyzing the world becomes a lot more difficult. Which is why increasing the availability of a college education must be a priority in 2016 and no candidate has fought as hard for affordable higher education than Bernie Sanders.
Recently Sanders introduced legislation to publicly fund universal higher education in the United States. His plan would only cost $70 billion dollars and while that is over double current pell grant expenditures, universal education is too important to not foot the bill. Almost no investment provides as much utility as universal higher education. Bernie Sanders himself has said time and time again that, “in a global economy, when our young people are competing with workers from around the world, we have got to have the best educated workforce possible.” People from all around the world flock to the American university system, but that success is far less meaningful when millions of would be American students are held back for financial reasons which are almost always entirely out of their control.
Every student in the country should support Bernie Sanders and his proposal to fully fund universal higher education. Not only would it only cost a quarter of what we spend on defense each year and roughly the same as we spend on incarceration, the social benefit would be enormous. As it stands now students everywhere are being punished with high interest rates and ever increasing tuition costs. Another issue which Bernie Sanders legislation would address. There is over $1.2 trillion dollars in student loan assets in the United States and while simply absolving people of their debts may have disastrous economic outcomes the situation should have never gotten so dire in the first place. That money should have been flowing through our economy all along. As it stands now that is not the case and millions of students are stuck with large payments that make starting a good life nearly impossible. Admittedly a decent portion of that money goes back to the government, but still our government should be investing in our country’s citizens, not profiting off one of society’s most beneficial institutions. Thankfully Sanders’’ plan would end the current practice of profiteering off students.
If Sanders plan was adopted it would allow students the opportunity to refinance their student loans to 1% or 2% interest down from the current 4%, 5%, or even 9% some students must contend with. The amount of money tied up in student loan debt is simply outrageous and would have been better spent in local economies throughout the country. Providing students the ability to refinance their loans would be a good first step to solving the student debt crisis, but only universal higher education can prevent another. Universal education isn’t some pipe dream, it’s a realistic solution to a disastrous systemic problem facing the United States and Bernie Sanders funds it responsibly. His proposed tax on Wall Street speculation would bring in an estimated $300 billion a year. Which would cover the $80 billion per year congress estimated universal higher education would cost and a lot more. At a time when Wall Street executives and various corporations are experiencing record profits, it is unacceptable that we are squeezing students for every penny. It’s an incredibly pressing issue, but young people will have to make history if the government is going to make any meaningful reform.
So far Bernie Sanders has done well tapping into the restlessness a poor outlook on the future has created amongst young voters. However turning it into a historically significant movement will take a lot of work. Bernie Sanders entire career has been based on tapping into the majority of Americans that is usually anything but politically active. Bernie’s first statewide election ended in bitter defeat, as did the second, but he continued spreading his message to people who generally try their best to avoid anything political. During his first bid for office in Burlington Vermont Bernie Sanders went door to door alerting people to the fact that a third party candidate was in the election. About a decade later Sanders found himself running for House of Representatives, once again as an outsider, once again forced to the streets for name recognition, once again the election ended in an almost upset. Sanders once again returned to the drawing board and waited until one of his Republican opponents in the first Except this time the long shot 3rd party candidate running as a socialist during the height of the Cold War prevailed. Bernie Sanders has spent his entire career as a long shot, yet he is continually able to tap into apathetic voters, the one resource establishment politicians spend billions year after year with no results. While young people are apathetic for a lot of reasons, a big one is the seeming ineffectual nature of political participation, but right now the stakes are simply too high to take a back seat.
Pretty much everybody universally agrees that college costs are too high, yet many students fail to voice that opinion in the ballot box. In 2008 only 48.5 percent |
of its two members is appointed by a government agency, and the reason for its creation is somewhat different than the Naming Committee.
Two different naming committees
The primary purpose of the Naming Committee is to ensure all human names adhere to Icelandic naming practices as well as Icelandic grammar. Names which violate Icelandic grammar rules or naming practices are therefore rejected, as well as names which are deemed likely to cause the bearer torment or suffering. This reasoning was used to reject the name Hel, the goddess of the underworld in Norse mythology, as a given name for a girl.
Read more: Naming committee stops parents from naming daughter after goddess of the underworld
The Horse Naming Commission was set up after sexually suggestive, inappropriate or vulgar names for stallions started popping up in breeding registries. Jón Baldur Lorane, with the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority told Vísir that the overwhelming majority of horse owners give their horses "good and proper Icelandic names", but not everyone.
A registry for Icelandic thoroughbred horses
Owners of Icelandic horses and their breeders register the horses in WorldFeng, a world database of Icelandic horses, operated by FEIF, The International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations. The database was set up by the Icelandic Government in cooperation with FEIF in an effort to keep track of the breeding registries and heritage of horses. More than 400,000 horses, alive and dead, are registered in the database. Horse names cannot be changed after the horse has participated in a competition, or had a registered offspring.
One of the unique characteristics of the Icelandic horse are its names, Jón told Vísir, adding that almost all foreign owners of Icelandic horses prefer to adhere to the Icelandic tradition, and the WorldFeng database can serve as a resource for owners to find good Icelandic names.
An effort to protect traditions and the Icelandic language
But when some owners in Iceland began giving their horses inappropriate or vulgar names the operators of the database, the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations and the Icelandic Agricultural Advisory Center, decided to step in and stop such names from being entered into the database. All names in the database have an attached audio file with the Icelandic pronunciation of the name in question. The database therefore serves to promote and protect the Icelandic language, Jón told Vísir.
"One of the characteristics of the Icelandic horse are the Icelandic names. Something like 99.9&% of people agree that we need to protect the naming tradition. Of course horses have always been given all kinds of names, and therefore there came a point where it was necessary to impose strict rules to stop people from giving absurd names."To find out more about revamping our healthcare system read this - http://rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/06/biggest-key-to-health-care-reform-in-us.html
The national debate over healthcare reform is hotter than ever right now. And as we all get passionately worked up about our own individual views on what's right and what's wrong we tend to forget what this cause is all about. We focus on our differences and forget about the people who this is affecting the most. So allow me to share a story of a very close friend of mine that hopefully puts some perspective on it. The following is a letter that I wrote to both President Obama and various Florida House of Representative members and Senators.Dear __________,What if this was your daughter?Kate Markwith is a 29 year old vibrant young woman with an incredible passion for infusing the best of mankindʼs joy and generosity into her fellow human beings. But it is her personal everyday battle with health and happiness which Iʼm going to share with you that will leave you scratching your head as to how such a radiant personality continues to flourish on an everyday basis. The important question to focus on is how will her storyaffect the decisions you make regarding national healthcare reform? In other words, what if she was your daughter?Kate has a chronic medical condition called Crohnʼs disease which is an autoimmune disease that affects the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. It causes severe, debilitating pain and discomfort and there is no cure for it. She was diagnosed with this condition 21 years ago. She and her family have endured many personal and financial hardships due to this illness. Kate has gone through a total of 14 major surgeries to remove the lower half of her GI system including a portion of her ileum, her entire colon, and rectal stump. She now has an ileostomy as a result of this. Kate has also had approximately 200 minor procedures or surgeries in addition to fight this disease.Her primary education years were not always spent in the classroom but often in the hospital. She didnʼt get to play any sports of any kind because of her illness. Family vacations and holiday gatherings were all too often cancelled or postponed due to her medical condition flaring up. And for the past 11 years Kate has been working extremely hard to attend college and achieve what many other twenty something year olds want - a college degree to help her compete in this very competitive world. However, Crohnʼs disease has remained her Goliath and a 2 year associateʼs degree in art that took 6 years to achieve is the extent of her well deserved accomplishments so far. She puts it best though with this quote, “I would liked to have finished college in a reasonable time but I appreciate the good things in life more now due to working harder for everything in my life.”Kate and her familyʼs financial struggles over the past two decades are extraordinary in their own way. For the first 7 years of her illness Kate was lucky enough to have private medical insurance through her parentʼs plan. But this “safety net” of private insurance can be misleading in itself due to the many surgeries and hospitalizations that were required to treat her condition. The out of pocket medical expenses reached into the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for her and her family. Like many Americans her parents work hard for a modest middle class life but these medical expenses left both them and their daughter with very poor credit. Many of the bills went unpaid as they passed their 7 year statute of limitations with collections because the money simply wasnʼt there. It left her parents with no money left to help pay for any of their 3 daughterʼs college education and a credit history that nobody would want. It has left Kate with awful credit to the point where she is denied approval to live in any apartment complexes (even with roommates) without one of her parents cosigning as a guarantor. She has no credit cards and rarely ever gets offers in the mail from credit card companies.When Kate turned 18 she was very close to reaching the maximum lifetime cap on medical expenses allowed by her parentʼs private medical insurance plan. The only option for medical coverage was now Floridaʼs Medicaid system since she couldnʼt afford a private plan and even if she could no private insurance company would accept her because of her medical condition. But the financial struggles donʼt stop there for Kate. Even with Medicaid and Social Security disability benefits her out of pocket expenses and previous medical debt has left her in financial ruin. Kate has monthly expenses of a couple hundred dollars just for ostomy supplies that she canʼt live without. These supplies are not covered by Medicaid. She works and goes to school when she can but as mentioned before long term stability in both these areas of her life are compromised by inevitable disease flare ups and hospital stays.Kateʼs biggest health concern now is her teeth. Due to being on regular, long term courses of corticosteroid medications to treat her Crohnʼs disease she has developed osteoporosis. Osteoporosis has left her with fragile bones and her teeth are no exception to this. They are severely worn down and cause discomfort and pain while she eats. Unfortunately, Florida Medicaid provides no dental coverage so Kate has only been to a dentist twice in the past 11 years. On her latest visit, the dentist told her that she either needed crowns put on every single one of her teeth or a full set of dentures. Either solution will cost several thousands of dollars. I think it goes without saying that all Kate is left with to remedy the situation is hope and prayers.I was curious as to what Kateʼs view on our current healthcare system is like here in the U.S. so I came up with a few questions for her that Iʼll share below.Question #1 - Do you feel society owes individualʼs like yourself accessible and affordable access to healthcare insurance?Kateʼs response, “Yes, everyone is entitled to good quality healthcare services and should not be discriminated against based on gender, race, social class, etc.”Question #2 - What changes would you make to improve the healthcare system in the U.S.?Kateʼs response, “Give everyone equal access to any physician they choose instead of there being a selective list of doctors that are covered by certain plans. Donʼt let the healthcare system cater to wealthier citizens. It should be an equal opportunity system. And simplify the healthcare system so patients, providers, and organizations all understand one set of rules.”Question #3 - If you had the chance to ask one question to a member of Congress who completely opposes any kind of universal healthcare plan in the U.S. what would that question be?Kateʼs response, “What if you werenʼt well off in life and you or a member of your family had to deal with a chronic disease? How would you do this?”Question #4 - What would you like to say to President Obama regarding your personal story of Crohnʼs disease?Kateʼs response, “My story is unique to me but not unique in the grand scheme of things. Everyone deserves a chance at being healthy. Without your health your ability to reach your full capabilities towards yourself and society are compromised.”Iʼve known Kate for the past 8 years and weʼve grown very close in friendship with one another. In those eight years Iʼve never once heard her ever play the self pity card. Iʼve never heard her complain about how her chronic medical condition has ruined anything in her life. In fact, she has been nothing but an eternal optimist about what life holds for her. She doesnʼt let the physical and emotional scars of her past dominate her chance at living. And she continues to lean on her incredible faith in God and the righteousness of her fellow human beings to carry her through each day.If youʼd like to reach out to Kate or myself then please look below for our contact information. And whatever you do please keep this question in the back of your mind as you head off to the many debates and tasks that await you regarding healthcare reform in America - What would you do if this was your daughter?Respectfully,DustinIf after reading this blog post you feel compelled to help Kate please contact me and I will provide you with the information that you need. My email is [email protected] Trump is pretty spry and energetic for an old guy - he's currently 71 years old, and seems to have more energy than I do (and I'm about 20 years his junior). But is he the oldest US president? Well, as with many questions... it depends. Follow along as we analyze some data about all the past US presidents, and create graphs that answer this and many other questions!
Here's the graph that got me thinking about this topic. It was created and posted on the 'data is beautiful' reddit forum, by the user Brennejm.
It was an interesting graph, but there were several things I wanted to improve.
First, the age numbers along the axis were too small to read.
There were too many bold, attention-grabbing colors, so I didn't visually know what to pay attention to.
The color legend represented two distinct things... but it was not obvious they were two distinct things.
The small colored bar segments along the left visually appear like they are part of the age bars, artificially increasing the perceived length of the bars.
There is no date stamp letting you know when the graph was generated (each day, the bar lengths of the living presidents get slightly more out-of-date).
There is a typo in at least one of the names (Jonh Adams).
And there is no title to tell you what the graph is all about.
I decided to use some data from Wikipedia, and create my own version of the graph. Here are some of the changes and customizations I made:
I made the ages text along the axis larger and easier to read.
I moved the presidents' names to the inside of the bars.
I used a lighter color for the main part of the bar, and a bright color for just the presidential term of office.
I used colored dots to show how the presidents died, rather than the small square bar segments.
I chose different colors for the dots (it didn't seem right to use orange for'still alive').
I show separate color legends for the dot colors, and the bar segment colors.
I added an arrow to the end of the bars for the still-living presidents (showing that their age continues to increase).
I copy-n-pasted the data from the original source, reducing the chance of making typos myself.
I add a title describing the graph, and a footnote with a date stamp showing when it was created.
And, if you click the image below, you can see the interactive version with HTML mouse-over text showing the exact age data for each bar segment.
So, who's the oldest US president? If you mouse over the interactive graph, you can easily find that...
Donald Trump was 70.6 when elected as president, making him the oldest elected to his first term as president.
when elected as president, making him the oldest to his first term as president. Ronald Reagan was 78.0 at the end of his last term, making him the oldest serving as president.
at the end of his last term, making him the oldest as president. And at 93.5, George H. W. Bush has reached the oldest age of anyone who has served as US president.
Tricks and technical details
This was some fun data to explore, and the new(ish) SAS yrdif() function certainly made it easy to calculate the ages. As with most of my graphs, I used a lot of data-driven annotate to customize things like: adding the colored dots to the left, moving the president names from the regular position to inside the bars, and adding the age axis to the top of the graph. And I used Proc Gplot's note statement to create the custom legend at the bottom of the graph.I guess I didn’t spend any time thinking about what Robert Griffin III would be handing out to trick-or-treaters at his Leesburg home. He’s obviously too cool for raisins or Starbursts or Now and Laters, the runts of Halloween treats. He wouldn’t go with Butterfingers, in case that reflected poorly on his wide receivers. Milk Duds carry the faint whiff of unmet expectations. Three Musketeers aren’t inclusive enough — maybe 53 Musketeers, but that’s not on the market.
But if I had really put some effort into it, I would have realized that duh, RGIII’s house WOULD BE HANDING OUT SOCKS TO LOCAL TRICK OR TREATERS. SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS. THEY HANDED OUT SOCKS.
“Went to your house tonight all dressed up… I got these awesome socks from your fiancé!,” wrote one fan, pictured in the above right image.
“What I acquired from RGIII’s house!” wrote the cat in the above left image.
“Thanks for socks!” wrote the chap in the below left image.
“Thanks for the socks,” added a fourth trick-or-treater, who posted the below right picture.
I didn’t independently verify this, of course, since I was busy escorting a trick-or-treater of my own, who didn’t feel like driving from D.C. to Leesburg while wearing her Velma outfit. But there were many, many online reports of sock acquisition at the Griffin household. In addition to the photos above and below of Griffin-bestowed goodies, witness this:
RGIII giving out shirts and socks for Halloween. That’s pretty cool —Bruce Butler (@BB_III) November 1, 2012
@rgiii heard some trick or treaters will be rocking some dope socks tomorrow.Class.Act.Robert.#HTTR — Alex Magus (@Magus_Alex) November 1, 2012
@rgiii Thanks for the socks!!! — HAIR WEAVE KILLA (@Jeremiahheath4) November 1, 2012
I wish I had a child on nights like this! @rgiii was giving out socks! So cooool! — Megan Moore (@meganlm21) November 1, 2012
RG3 hooked me up with some socks @rgiii — Michael Marquis (@Michael2Marquis) November 1, 2012
S/O @rgiii for giving me some socks and shirt — Jimmy Tran (@jtran5) November 1, 2012
@rgiii your halloween socks were amazing thanks — Bailey (@bballforever2) November 1, 2012
so apparently RGIII lives in my aunts new neighborhood and he was handing out socks… — Penny Kalmer (@Kenni_Palmer) November 1, 2012
All of which means, of course, that we’re gonna need a strong police presence around Griffin’s house next October 31st.
(Inspired by @recordsANDradio)Multi-instrumentalist and jazz pioneer Yusef Lateef has passed away at the age of 93.
The Grammy Award-winner died this morning (Monday, December 23) at his home in Shutesbury, MA. He had been battling prostate cancer and it appears he has sadly succumbed to the disease. The Daily Hampshire Gazette confirms he passed away peacefully with his loved ones around him.
Although Lateef established himself as an educator early in life, he is best known for his contributions to world music and his innovative fusion of American Jazz with traditional African rhythms, Indian raga, and eastern Arabic styles of music. Although you were most likely to see him with a flute or a saxophone, he also played the oboe and a countless number of more exotic instruments, including the Xun (Chinese vessel flute), the bamboo flute, and the Japanese koto.
He has performed with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, and Art Farmer; and received many accolades for his music. He was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2010, and his experimental album ‘Little Symphony’ won a Grammy for ‘Best New Age Album’ in 1987.
He is survived by his son Yusef Lateef II and wife Ayesha Lateef. He will be sorely missed by his family, friends, and fans alike.
Listen to Yusef Lateef’s “Love Theme From Spartacus” below:
***
Dr. Yusef Abdul Lateef (named William Emanuel Huddleston at birth) was born October 9, 1920 in Chattanooga, TN. His family moved regularly before settling in Detroit, MI where the established musical pedigree of the area immediately rubbed off on him as he established friendships with the likes of Milt Jackson, Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, and many more. He started playing the alto saxophone from a young age before moving to the tenor, and was proficient on the instrument long before he left high school. By the age of 18, he was touring professionally across the U.S. with a range of swing artists like Roy Eldridge and Hartley Toots. That continued until 1949, when he moved to New York to join The Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra.
He returned to the D just a year later in 1950, where at the age of 30 he began his commitment to life-long learning by studying composition and flute performance at Wayne State University. It was during his time at Wayne State that he converted to Islam – Specifically the Ahmadiyya movement, which is similar to mainstream Sunni Islam, except for the belief in an additional Messiah – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Throughout the ’50s he led his own groups, started recording under his own name (he had previously used the stage name ‘Bill Evans’), and toured with the likes of Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley, and Miles Davis. After taking oboe lessons from Ronald Odemark of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a period of musical and academic awakening began in Lateef.
He returned to New York in 1960 where he learned the finer points of the flute from Harold Jones before enrolling in the Manhattan School of Music in 1966, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music before going on to receive a Masters in Music Education in 1970. He would eventually stay on as student-teacher at the school’s music theory department, where the taught a course on autophysiopsychic music – which he described as “music which comes from one’s physical, mental and spiritual self,” while also performing in a range of ensembles.
Lateef spent much of his time as an educator exploring the methodology of autophysiopsychic music in cultures all over the world and sharing that knowledge with his students. He was awarded a Ph.D in Education in 1975 after studying the differences between Western and Islamic education for the University of Massachusetts.
His talents as a performer served as a key advantage in his pursuit of education, as an extensive touring schedule regularly brought him to Europe, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East throughout the ’60s and ’70s. Lateef even moved to Nigeria for four years as a cultural studies research fellow at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.
Throughout his entire life he remained a highly influential and respected multi-instrumentalist. Many musicians recall being moved the first time they ever heard his highly distinctive music – Not to forget that he was playing ‘World Music’ long before it was ever coined as a genre. Credible rumors also suggest he influenced John Coltrane‘s sound while they were both signed to Impulse! Records by introducing him to the Indian Ragas that would influence his early work for Impulse!.
Lateef’s virtuosic command of more than two dozen instruments demonstrated his love of the craft, and his endless academic exploits further show his love of the cultures that provide the roots for highly emotive music to grow.
He remained an active musician, recording prolifically and continuing to tour until shortly before he passed away. His last album, ‘Roots Run Deep,’ was released in 2012 and rounds off an impressive discography of 55 albums recorded as a front-man over the 57 years since he changed his name to Yusef Lateef.
When asked about his legacy, Lateef told iRockJazz: “I am deeply grateful for all of the respect that people have given me, for all of those that have contributed to my career. All mankind are brothers and sisters. I believe in love for all and hate for none.”
Even with the loss of the man, his musical, cultural, spiritual, and academic legacy will surely live on.
R.I.P Dr. Yusef Abdul Lateef – 1920-2013.
Listen to “The Golden Flute” by Yusef Lateef below:Kibbutz Lavi, in northern Israel, is home to water technology firm Kinrot Ventures.
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Israel’s traditional system of kibbutzim, or collective farms, is a form of communal settlement still responsible for a third of the nation’s agricultural production.
But as Israel’s economy basks in an International Monetary Fund-projected growth rate equal to three times the average of Western Europe, it‘s worth revisiting the kibbutz to see how it’s faring.
The kibbutz is an idea that grew out of the requirements of a state-in-waiting in the early 20th century. Under extreme conditions, pioneering Zionists needed to pool their meager resources together or perish. They needed, in other words, to create the conditions that could lead to the elevated status of the Israeli cow. Today, amid a recalcitrant landscape, the Israeli cow is one of the bovine universe’s most efficient milkers.
There are approximately 273 kibbutzim in modern-day Israel, employing about 30,000.
Equality, self-sustaining labor, cooperation in all areas of production and consumption, commitment to Hebrew culture — these, historically, were the central tenets of the kibbutz concept. And the goods made on Israel’s kibbutzim today still account for about 10% of all exports of industrial goods, according to The Kibbutz Industries Association, a trade body.
Dr. Shlomo Getz, a researcher at the University of Haifa with a special focus on the kibbutz, said that because Israeli’s economy is so strong right now — its gross domestic product is expected to expand by 4.8% this year — the total number of Israelis interested in living on kibbutzim has swelled by about 14% over the last five years to about 137,000 or 1.8% of the total population. However, he also said that the perception of the kibbutz in modern-day Israel is one of isolated groups serving narrow commercial interests.
“One of the problems with living on a kibbutz in Israel today is finding work on the kibbutz,” said Ron Shani, chief executive officer of AKOL, a small boutique software house that sits on Kibbutz Brur Hayil in the south of the country, near the border with the Gaza Strip. AKOL develops cloud-based agricultural software that helps farmers manage their fields and livestock in a country where the interests of private enterprise are often entangled with that of the nation’s. It’s precisely the kind of company that has ensured that the Israeli cow produces 12,000 liters of milk every year while the rest of the cow-milking world is stuck around the 4,000-liter mark.
Changing face of Israel's kibbutzim
the change % of kibbutzim Payment for meals 72% Closing the dining room 9% Payment for electricity 82% Payment for laundry 43% Privatization of health services 32% Renting out empty apartments 84% Building a neighborhood for non-members 26% Differential salaries 27% Linkage between personal budget and hours worked 23% Payment for overtime 36% Partnership with outside capital 35% Regular voting by ballot box 67% Work outside organized as a branch of the kibbutz 43% Source: Shlomo Getz, University of Haifa
Data cover 222 kibbutzim as of 2002.
“For our company, but also for Israel, it’s very important that we’re located on this kibbutz,” said Shani, who commutes several hours every day to Brur Hayil from the beach town, and tech hub, of Herzilya, just north of Tel Aviv. Shani said that his is a firm that at heart is a company of farmers that write code, not the other way around, and that there is a reason that AKOL hasn’t relocated to Tel Aviv.
“By being here, very close to the border with Gaza, where there’s absolutely no work, we can give back to the area, but also be closer to some of the community that we as a business serve — the farmers,” Shani said.
Hjelmgaard/MarketWatch Ron Shani, chief executive officer of AKOL, in his office at the firm’s headquarters on Kibbutz Brur Hayil, in southern Israel. AKOL recently signed a development deal with IBM.
Brur Hayil is a sleepy and mostly titular example of the collective settlement idea. Gone are many of the formal characteristics of shared living, such as graded salaries according to need, the steady absorption of new immigrants — in Brur Hayil’s case, from Brazil — and a sense of social cohesion and purpose. Gone, too, is the overt focus on agricultural production and communal partnerships. At Brur Hayil, for example, which sits on the western edge of the Negev desert, and which is home to about 260 residents, most of the kibbutz’s occupants are now forced to look off-kibbutz for employment opportunities. AKOL has been able to provide jobs to only about half a dozen of Brur Hayil’s members. These days, when Shani and his small staff want lunch, they hop into their cars and drive a few kilometers away to neighboring Kibbutz Or-Haner, where there is a fully functioning communal dining hall.
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The Turkish prime minister has said a bill passed by the French parliament on the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule is "racist".
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Turkish parliament in Ankara that the bill "murdered freedom of thought".
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to sign the bill into law before the end of February.
Armenia says that up to 1.5 million people died in 1915-16 as the Ottoman empire split.
Turkey, which rejects the term "genocide", has said the number of deaths was much smaller.
Defenders of the bill point out that it covers all acts of genocide.
'Footsteps of fascism'
"This is a racist and discriminatory approach and if you cannot see this, then you are deaf to the footsteps of fascism in Europe," Mr Erdogan said on Tuesday, a day after the bill was adopted by the French Senate.
Turkey, he added, hoped for the success of a French appeal against the bill to the constitutional commission.
"We will wait and see the developments and decide on our reply to them," he said.
Analysis There has been plenty of strong comment by Turkish officials and in the media over the newly approved genocide bill - one paper likened President Sarkozy to Satan - but in his first comments Prime Minister Erdogan was surprisingly restrained. For us this law has no validity, he told MPs from his party in Ankara - it will take European values right back to mediaeval times. Turkey, he said, is a big power now - nobody can play games with us. Mr Erdogan said he would take retaliatory measures against France if President Sarkozy approved the law but did not spell out what they would be, nor did he encourage Turkish people to show their own displeasure. Beyond symbolic sanctions, like withdrawing its ambassador, it is not clear what Turkey can do. France is its fifth biggest trade partner but economic sanctions are impossible because of the free-trade agreement Turkey has with the EU. However political and diplomatic relations will remain frozen for some time, especially if Mr Sarkozy is re-elected later this year, and that cannot help Turkey's already faltering candidacy for EU membership. France-Turkey row reflected in media
Earlier, the Turkish foreign ministry warned that Turkey planned to respond with unspecified measures against France.
It appeared to tie the bill to France's forthcoming elections.
"It is further unfortunate that the historical... relations between the Republic of Turkey and France have been sacrificed to considerations of political agenda,'' the ministry said.
An estimated 500,000 ethnic Armenians live in the country.
Correspondents say the French bill threatens to cause a serious rift between France and Turkey, who are Nato allies.
The Turkish government argues that judging what happened in eastern Turkey in 1915-16 should be left to historians, and that the new French law will restrict freedom of speech.
France has already recognised the killings as a genocide but the new bill means anyone denying it faces a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros ($57,000).
The killings are regarded as the seminal event of modern Armenian history, a tragic bond uniting one of the world's most dispersed peoples.
Among the other states which formally recognise them as genocide are Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and Uruguay, but the UK, US, Israel and others use different terminology.
Armenia has described Monday's vote - by 127 votes to 86 - as "historic".
"This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights," said Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian.
France and Turkey in figures France is Turkey's fifth biggest export market and the sixth biggest source of its imports
Volume of trade in 2010: 11.6bn euros with a surplus of 862m euros in France's favour
About 350 French companies were active in Turkey in 2010
About 550,000 Turkish citizens live in France while nearly 930,000 French tourists visited Turkey in 2010
sources: Turkish foreign ministry and Reuters news agency
However, in neighbouring Azerbaijan, a senior member of the ruling party said France's credibility as a mediator with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute had been damaged and it should abandon its role there.
"France has betrayed its mediator mission," said Ali Ahmadov, executive secretary of the New Azerbaijan Party.
Ankara froze ties with France after the lower house passed the bill last month.
The proposed law had been made more general - outlawing the denial of any genocide - but still failed to appease Ankara.
Last week, President Sarkozy wrote to Mr Erdogan saying the bill did not single out any country.
He said France recognised the "suffering endured by the Turkish people" in the final years of the Ottoman empire.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called on Turkey not to overreact, saying Paris considered Ankara a "very important ally".The last time I wrote about DeAndre Yedlin, it was to bring you good news. He had just started back training with the rest of his Newcastle United teammates. Well, now I have to deliver some bad news: Bruce Arena has said that because of his injury and I would assume lack of fitness, Yedlin will not be called into camp for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers for the United States against Costa Rica and Honduras.
There was hope that Yedlin would feature for Newcastle midweek in their League Cup match and then get called up. Apparently, that was not an option for Arena so the USMNT will be down a right back.
Someone is going to have to step up here, because it’s likely down to Graham Zusi and Eric Lichaj. If I was a betting man it’ll be Zusi at right back because Arena loves him some MLS guys and it’s not like Lichaj tore it up during the Gold Cup.
The 23-man roster is expected to be released on Sunday. The USMNT is set to take on Los Ticos September 1st at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, then it’s off to the exotic locale of Honduras on September 5th.NSA
NSA
It is well-known that the two largest American telecom companies AT&T and Verizon collaborated with the US government to allow illegal eavesdropping on their customers. The known uses to which information obtained this way has been put include building the government’s massive secret “watch lists,” and “no-fly lists” and even, Bamford suggests, to deny Small Business Administration loans to citizens or reject their children’s applications to military colleges.
What is less well-known is that AT&T and Verizon handed “the bugging of their entire networks — carrying billions of American communications every day” to two companies founded in Israel. Verint and Narus, as they are called, are “superintrusive — conducting mass surveillance on both international and domestic communications 24/7,” and sifting traffic at “key Internet gateways” around the US.
Virtually all US voice and data communications and much from the rest of the world can be remotely accessed by these companies in Israel, which Bamford describes as “the eavesdropping capital of the world.” Although there is no way to prove cooperation, Bamford writes that “the greatest potential beneficiaries of this marriage between the Israeli eavesdroppers and America’s increasingly centralized telecom grid are Israel’s intelligence agencies.”
Israel’s spy agencies have long had a revolving-door relationship with Verint and Narus and other Israeli military-security firms. The relationship is particularly close between the firms and Israel’s own version of the NSA, called “Unit 8200.” After the 11 September attacks, Israeli companies seeking a share of massively expanded US intelligence budgets formed similarly incestuous relationships with some in the American intelligence establishment: Ken Minihan, a former director of the NSA, served on Verint’s “security committee” and the former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official responsible for liaison with the telecom industry became head of the Verint unit that sold eavesdropping equipment to the FBI and NSA.
Bamford writes that “concern over the cozy relationship between the [FBI] and Verint greatly increased following disclosure of the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping operations. At the same time that the tappers and the agents have grown uncomfortably close, the previous checks and balances, such as the need for a FISA warrant, have been eliminated.”
FISA — the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 — required the government to seek court warrants for wiretaps where at least one target was in the US. In 2005, it was revealed that the Bush administration had been flagrantly violating this law. Last July, Congress passed a bill legalizing this activity and giving retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that had assisted.
Although there has never been any congressional oversight of the Israeli intelligence-linked firms operating in the heart of the US security establishment, American lawmakers and officials are not always so relaxed when it comes to foreign intrusion in the “national security” sphere. In early 2006, there was a national uproar when Dubai Ports World, a global company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), attempted to buy the business that manages six major American seaports.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers united against the Bush administration’s approval of the sale, claiming it would harm national security. Senator Barack Obama echoed many in both parties when he said at the time, “Over four years after the worst terrorist attack in our history, not only are we failing to inspect 95 percent of the cargo that arrives at US ports, but now we’re allowing our port security to be outsourced to foreign governments.”
A New York Times editorial justified such alarmism on grounds that “money to finance the 9/11 attacks flowed through” the UAE, although there was never an allegation that the country’s government or Dubai Ports World were involved in that. The newspaper also cited claims that “Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist, sent equipment to Libya and Iran through Dubai,” even though it also acknowledged that “port managers have little if anything to do with inspecting cargo or checking manifests” (“Reaping What You Sow,” Editorial, 24 February 2006).
Unlike the UAE, however, Israel has a well-established record of compromising American national security. The most notorious case was that of convicted spy |
malware. These upgrades to the code have made CryptXXX immune to Kaspersky’s RannohDecryptor which was made available by the Moscow-based software security group for free.
CryptXXX 3.0 Decryptor Error
In this month alone CryptXXX has affected at least 70 computers, where the victims have paid the ransom to get their files decrypted from the cyber-criminals. Soon after the malware developers launched CryptXXX 3.0 to prevent Kaspersky’s software from decrypting the encrypted files, they also ended up breaking their own decryption software. Few victims who paid the ransom apparently received a decryption software that didn’t work. However, the malware developers soon fixed the issue by releasing a newer version of the decryptor.
TeslaCrypt Strikes Again
Many leading cyber security companies have been actively tracking the evolution of ransomware. A variant of TeslaCrypt recently affected the systems of one of the leading NASCAR teams, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing forcing the team to pay the ransom amount. With TeslaCrypt master decryption key already out in the public, it is not sure whether the ransomware that affected the NASCAR team was some form of evolved TeslaCrypt or the team just didn’t explore the option before paying the ransom.
And Then There is Bart
Ransomware has become a lucrative business for malware developers as it is a source of easy money. There are new versions popping up on a regular basis. The latest one, Bart developed by the creators of ransomware Locky and Dridex is now affecting unsuspecting users, holding them for a ransom of 3 bitcoins, which is close to $2000, the highest ransom demanded by ransomware so far. unlike other malware, Bart is said to be capable of encrypting the files even before the software connects with the command and control server hosted by the malware developers. Bart is propagated through emails in the form of a zip archive, containing malicious JavaScript code. The ransomware is available in multiple languages and upon dissection, it was found that the malware shares few similarities with the Locky.
While we can’t do much about the number of ransomware that are currently out on the internet, people can protect themselves by avoiding emails and attachments sent from unknown email ids, no matter how tempting the subject line is.The cards began arriving so early in my life that I have no childhood memories without them. Every holiday without fail until my sixteenth birthday. Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, my birthday, Easter, The Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Always addressed in the old-fashioned way to Master Patrick Costello. Always with a few dollars tucked into the card. Always signed from my Aunt Mannie.
I did not get a lot of cards from relatives when I was a kid, so being able to rely on something in the mail every holiday meant a great deal to me. Even more so after my mother explained to me that Aunt Mannie was not really my aunt.
Her real name was Marion, and she was a cousin so distant that to this day I still have a hard time grasping just how we were related. My mother knew Marion when she was growing up, and after I was born Marion decided to start sending me cards on the holidays. Somewhere along the way my mother and I started calling her my Aunt Mannie.
Once I was old enough to understand that Aunt Mannie had no real obligation to send me these cards... well, it is hard to put into words how it feels to be loved by somebody who has no obligation to do so. It warms the heart the way a fire in the hearth warms your hands and face. Even the roughest parts of my childhood when ear infections were destroying my hearing and schoolyard bullies were hounding me every day - these times were made easier to bear with a silly card from my Aunt Mannie.
When I was twelve my mother took me on the long bus and subway ride across Philadelphia to visit Aunt Mannie for the first time. It was one of those perfect days in that space between Christmas and New Year’s when the decorations are still up but the pressure of the holiday was over. After what seemed like an eternity of travel we found ourselves at the front door of a little row house. We knocked and Aunt Mannie answered the door.
She was a small woman, but not frail. She spoke in a flat Philadelphia accent. She wore an apron over her housecoat and a sweater over that.
Aunt Mannie hugged us and then rushed into the kitchen to make us some lunch. As she cooked I looked around the place and slowly took the situation in.
My mother had explained to me a few times over the years that Aunt Mannie was poor, but until I walked into the house where she lived I did not understand just how poor Aunt Manie was. She was living with another one of my distant cousins. She had her own room and that was about it.
During our visit it hit me that every card, every dollar tucked into those cards and even the stamps represented a sacrifice this kind lady had made for me.
It was almost too much to process, and the next thing I knew Aunt Mannie was serving us the best grilled cheese sandwiches I have ever had and mugs of hot soup. We enjoyed our lunch and then it was time for my mother and I to start the long trip back home.
As we were leaving Aunt Mannie tucked a couple of dollars into my pocket. I tried to argue but she just smiled and gently shoved me out the door.
Once I knew how to get to Aunt Mannie’s place I went to see her whenever I could. Sometimes I would just get disgusted with school and walk from Havertown all the way to 69th Street Station – usually dragging my guitar. If I didn’t have any money I would busk until I raised enough to take the Market-Frankford line to Aunt Mannie’s. She never looked surprised to find me at her door.
We talked of many things in those visits. She even taught me how she made those perfect grilled cheese sandwiches. The only thing we did not talk about was the one question that nags me to this very day. Why me? Why sacrifice for so long for someone barely related to her? I would ask her, and she would just pat my hand and smile.
On Thursday families across the United States will be gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year will probably be stressful in some households as people are still arguing over the election and other news headlines.
I hope that anybody who reads this will take a moment to ponder the impact Aunt Mannie had on my life with something as simple as some greeting cards, and then hopefully realize that the topics that divide us mean practically nothing next to the love that brings us together and enriches our lives.
I know I said this to you every time I saw you, but I will say it one more time. Thank you, Aunt Mannie. I love you.
This week we have five music workshops for you.
Harmonica Lesson 2 has us playing our first song!
Frailing Banjo Lesson 2 introduces the D7 chord, left and right hand coordination and our first song.
Easy Folk Guitar Lesson 2 introduces the D chord, left and right hand coordination and our first song.
Folk-Blues Guitar Lesson Two introduces the D chord, left and right hand coordination and our first song.
Advanced Frailing Banjo - Phantom Effects explores alternate-string hammers. This technique can bring a lot of cool sounds into your banjo playing.
Be sure to visit us on the web at http://frailingbanjo.com. Also check out The Maryland Folk Musicians Retreat and think about joining us for a wonderful weekend of music on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Until next time, keep on picking!
God bless,
-PatrickColorado Springs — Billionaire Charles Koch on Sunday thanked former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for criticizing him relentlessly on the Senate floor, which he said helped him sell more books.
"Thank you, Harry," Koch told prospective donors at his Seminar Network conference on Sunday.
"I owe him big. Boy he made my book sell a lot better," he said to laughs.
Reid attacked Koch and his brother David relentlessly from the Senate floor during his last few years in office, in an effort to help turn national elections toward Democrats.
In 2014, Reid called Koch a "sulking billionaire" who tried to "buy" the Senate for Republicans.
That same year, Reid claimed the Kochs were a major factor in climate change. "Charles and David Koch are waging a war against anything that protects the environment," Reid said.
In 2016, his last year in office, Reid accused the Kochs of funneling "dark money" into the political system.
The Seminar Network is a gathering of donors to the various groups the Kochs fund. Koch and other speakers have said throughout the weekend that the goal of the group is to reach out to disadvantaged people and help them succeed. The groups have also stressed support for tax and healthcare reform, two issues that the Republican Congress is still struggling to pass.coal-fired plants are producing more mercury pollution than in 2006, according to a report by the Environmental Integrity Project. Twenty tons of mercury, a neurotoxin that affects brain development in fetuses, were released into our air by the these top fifty offenders. Although some of these plants have made strides towards producing cleaner-burning energy, most have increased their rates of mercury pollution Texas has the dubious honor of having seven plants amongst the fifty dirtiest with five of those being in the top ten. Alabama has two plants in the top ten and four in the top fifty. It also has the greatest offender within its borders. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin and Arkansas round out the other. Minnesota gets an honorable mention for having only one plant on the list but that plant being of the dirtiest ten.
The Grandaddy of All Mercury Polluters
The Southern Company's Miller plant, located in Alabama, is the biggest polluter overall, releasing nearly a ton of mercury into the air in 2007, 14% higher than their 2006 total. The Southern Company owns eight plants of the dirtiest fifty. Most of them are located in Alabama and Georgia.
The Effects of Coal-Fired Plants
Coal-fired plants account for 40% of all mercury emissions, the largest single source of mercury in our air. Low-level mercury poisoning is so prevalent, it is estimated that six percent of woman have enough mercury in their bodies to cause neurological damage to their unborn fetuses. Professor Cathy Desoto, PhD from the University of Northern Iowa said this about mercury poisoning:
"There are no experts who deny that mercury emissions are causing some damage to developing brains and causing drops in IQ – and there is no debate that there is a monetary cost associated with this loss. There is debate within the scientific community about the actual dollar amount associated with the IQ detriments. Furthermore, recent research has specifically documented the type of damage that low levels of mercury exposure cause to developing neurons. This damage occurs even at levels of mercury exposure that would be unlikely to cause harm in an adult; but at levels that a significant portion of the child-bearing population have circulating in their bodies."
According to the EIP report,at coal-fired plants is possible with current technologies. Activated carbon injection, a sort of mercury-hungry sponge placed in the smokestack, can reduce mercury pollution by ninety percent in some instances. Combined with other technologies—sulfur dioxide scrubbers, selective catalytic reduction, fabric filters—the mercury output can be even further reduced.
More On Mercury
A Potential Solution to Mercury Emissions
Mercury Poisoning: It's Not Just Fish
Home Lighting and MercuryFinally, a piece of news we can actually do something with. AT&T today announced its pricing structure for the next iteration of Apple's iPhone -- which you can plunk down money for come 8 am, July 11th. There's not much that's surprising here -- new customers and those eligible for an upgrade will be able to nab the phone for $199 (8GB) or $299 (16GB), while "early upgraders" will have to fork over $399 or $499, all with a two year contract and $18 upgrade fee, of course. The telco says a no-commitment version of the phone will be available for $599 and $699, though it looks like that will come after the initial launch. AT&T appears to be leaning pretty heavily towards the all-in unlimited plans, but there are options if you don't want to go that route. We've sorted out the basics after the break, and included AT&T's "iReady" video -- certainly good for a few chuckles.A Wisconsin district attorney has warned schools in his county that if they proceed with new state sex-education courses, teachers could face criminal charges for encouraging minors to have sex, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said a new state law that requires students learn to use condoms and other contraceptives "promotes the sexualization — and sexual assault — of our children." In his March 24 letter to five school districts, Southworth, a Republican, said teachers could be charged with contributing to the delinquency of minors. He urged school officials to suspend the program, which takes effect in the fall, and transfer the anatomy curriculum to a science course.
Here are a couple of excerpts from his letter:
"If a teacher instructs any student aged 16 or younger how to utilize contraceptives under circumstances where the teacher knows the child is engaging in sexual activity with another child -- or even where the 'natural and probable consequences' of the teacher's instruction is to cause that child to engage in sexual intercourse with a child -- that teacher can be charged under this statute" of contributing to the delinquency of a minor....
"Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender," he wrote. "It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks."
He said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel that he could not say how likely he would be to file charges, saying it would depend on the specifics of any case.
"I'm not looking to charge any teachers," he said. "I've got enough work to do."
The paper spoke to a co-author of the legislation. She called the DA's letter "irresponsible" and said it was "laughable to think teachers could be charged for telling students how to use contraception."
"Using condoms isn't a crime for anyone," said Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison. "This guy is not a credible legal source on this matter, I'm sorry to say. His purpose is to intimidate and create enough panic in the minds of school administrators that they'll turn their backs on young people and their families."
The new law continues to let parents remove their children from sex-ed classes, and schools can also not offer such instruction. One district that received the letter said it had not taught sex ed for years.
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By William James
LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - Britain will introduce new laws on Tuesday to try to stop airlines carrying passengers who may be travelling to join Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, a junior minister said on Sunday.
Security services estimate some 600 Britons have gone to Syria or Iraq to join militant groups, including the man known as "Jihadi John" who has appeared in several Islamic State beheading videos.
Under the proposed new laws, Home Secretary Theresa May would be able to prevent airlines from carrying passengers, including children, believed to be travelling to take part in "terrorism-related activity" on known routes, such as those into Syria, according to a Home Office statement.
"This important legislation will disrupt the ability of people to travel abroad to fight and then return," James Brokenshire, a junior minister for security in May's department, said in the statement.
"It will also enhance our ability to monitor and control the actions of those who pose a threat," he added.
The rules would require airlines to seek permission to carry such passengers. An automatic system based on passenger lists provided by airlines would flag high-risk travellers and stop them boarding aircraft.
The new powers are part of Britain's efforts to stop foreign fighters from entering Syria via commercial flights and come weeks after three London schoolgirls fled Britain to join up with Islamic State through Turkey.
Turkish Airlines has previously said it was helping a government investigation into the case but that it was only responsible for checking visas.
Prime Minister David Cameron has also urged internet firms to do more to tackle online extremism after it was revealed the three girls had used Twitter to contact other women involved with Islamic State.Oliver Sipple
(November 20, 1941 - February 2, 1989) U.S.A.
Hero Oliver "Bill" Sipple was born in Detroit, Michigan. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, where was wounded twice. His friends knew him as Billy. Sipple received an honorable discharge in 1970 as a private first-class, and received a 100% veteran's disability pension for psychological and physical reasons. Sipple moved to San Francisco after the war to begin a new life. He made new friends, and became active in local causes, including the political campaigns of openly gay City Council candidate Harvey Milk. His friends knew something that his family didn't - Billy Sipple was gay. He attended gay rights rallies, worked at a gay bar, and participated in the Imperial Court System. On September 22, 1975, Sipple went to Union Square in the heart of San Francisco to get a glimpse of the President of the United States who was attending an event at the St. Francis Hotel. At 3:30 p.m., President Ford emerged from the hotel and was greeted by a sea of onlookers. Sipple was standing next to Sara Jane Moore when she pulled out a gun and fired it in the President's direction. Before she could fire a second round, Sipple grabbed her arm and prevented her from hitting her target just 35 feet away, and wrestled her to the ground, and prevented her from getting off a second shot by shoving his hand into the firing mechanism. According to Randy Shilts, "Sipple pleaded with the Secret Service not to release his name to the press," though the request was ignored. Upon seeing Sipple's name in the paper, and sensing a chance to fight negative stereotypes about gay men, Harvey Milk told San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen that Sipple was gay; Caen printed the detail and it made its way into national news. "This," Shilts wrote, "presented a dilemma for President Ford. Normally, a man who saves the life of a President... could expect a Rose Garden invitation and profuse thanks." In the case of a gay man, however, it was only after several weeks that Ford penned a short thank-you note. Sipple's outing also estranged him from his family and it took years for the relationship to mend. He thus received a brief thank-you letter from the president, but when the news media outed him, his family disowned him and he filed a $15 million lawsuit against seven major newspapers (which he lost). Oliver Sipple's life has been devastated. He was abandoned by his family and many of his friends. Did anyone have a right to "out" someone else? He became an alcoholic and died poor and alone is his tiny apartment. His $334 per month apartment near the Tenderloin District of San Francisco was plastered with newspaper clippings of his actions on the fateful September afternoon in 1975. His prized possession was the framed letter from the White House. He was found dead on February 2, 1989, but it was speculated he had been dead for about two weeks before he was found; he was forty-seven. At the time of his death, Sipple weighed more than 300 pounds. Sipple's funeral was attended by about 90 people, but President Ford and his wife did not attend. A short time later, a letter addressed to the friends of Oliver Sipple was displayed at his favorite bar, the New Belle Saloon: "Mrs. Ford and I express our deepest sympathy in this time of sorrow involving your friend's passing... President Gerald Ford, February, 1989". Source: http://lgbt-history-archive.tumblr.com/ - et aliiGot Pine Mouth?
by Michael Y. Park
Pine nuts. Almost everyone loves them, and it's hard not to add just a little extra when you're sprinkling them on salads, adding them to pesto sauce, topping off main meals with them, turning them into desserts, or what have you. But ever since last winter, an increasing number of people have fallen prey to a curious problem with them: pine mouth. That's when eating pine nuts leaves you with a metallic taste in your mouth that can last for weeks afterward, and make eating or drinking anything an unpleasant experience. The problems seemed to begin with Chinese pine nuts imported into the U.S. about a year ago. There is no heavy-metal contamination or pesticide or fungus involved, and it doesn't seem related to allergies. Even more confusing, not everyone is affected. A British botanist who's started a blog dedicated to pine mouth suspects oxidation as a possibility, or that a new species of pine nut is being sold. Changes in taste (called dysgeusia) often occur when people are, and can be symptoms of very serious health issues like nerve damage or brain tumors, can occur during pregnancy or be a side effect of treatments like chemotherapy, or can go completely unexplained. Anyone who's every taken the antibiotic metronidazole knows how much fun it can be to take a dose before a lavish dinner. (Zero.) Steelworkers and people who work with brass sometimes complain of metallic tastes, as do some people who've undergone recent dental work. In many cases, there's nothing to do but wait and hope the change in taste goes away. These pine-nut incidents, however, are clearly related to the food, and not simply caused by individual underlying health issues. Has anyone had pine mouth? Do you remember the circumstances of your incident? What kind of pine nuts did you buy, where did you buy them? How did you use them? How long did your pine mouth last? Was it enough to make you swear off pine nuts forever?
fitfarm
10:58:38 PM on
02/21/15
Well I do have fallen under this Crazy Pine Nut Nightmare! Bought some at our Local Raley's on Wednesday, Had them in a salad on Thursday and yesterday I wasn't feeling well.. I juiced my veggies.. OH so bitter.. thought well maybe it was the lemon although I have had that juice before.. didn't think anything of it... then had a salad for lunch... tasted the dressing I was going to put on it.. OMG.. no something was wrong with it.. 4 dressings later.... including the one I MADE the day before tasted horrible.. thought ok this is strange.. just threw it all away.. it wasn't until I grabbed carrots and some ranch dressing last night when I knew something was very wrong.. I went online.. used google and typed in why does all my food taste bitter and well there we go.. I was like WHAT... So as I read it said Pine Nuts from china.. No I thought I had pine nuts but I bought mine from Raleys.. and there were from Vacaville Nut Company.. Vacaville just an hour from our house.. not from China until I read the fine print.... I can't eat or drink.. water is ok.. Talk about a weight loss program! Going to try the oil pulling solution below.. I am so desperate if they told me to pour gasoline and gargle with it I probably would... this has got to be the weirdest thing ever!!!!
onlygoodfoodforme
02:37:11 PM on
02/02/15
I search for "bitter taste in my mouth" and got here about pine nuts. Unfortunately I did have some (less than a teaspoon) pine nuts 3 days ago and I have had this bitter taste since. Never had this problem with pine nuts before! So it must be pine nuts from China. Everything I eat tastes bitter. I thought it was my medicine at first. I guess I will throw the nuts out or take it back to Publix and let them know to take that stuff off the shelf. Too bad, I liked pine nuts but now I will avoid them.
McGinleyt
09:37:27 PM on
01/21/15
We ate some pine nuts 5 days ago. They tasted okay initially, but left a "soapy" pine taste in the mouth and strong scent on fingers after a couple handfuls. These were purchased from Kroger. We looked on the plastic container and they were from China.
We threw the rest out to the squirrels! Today the bitter taste in our mouths has been terrible and seems to become exaggerated after eating anything. It
must be the type of pine nut coming from Asia. We're just waiting for the taste to go away!
Leo_H
09:59:56 PM on
01/15/15
As someone else posted down below, I also had a significant GI reaction.
Leo_H
09:52:57 PM on
01/15/15
Thanks for the suggestions about salt water gargles, toothbrushing and Listerine soaks. I just had this happen to me today, this morning, as I took ONE slug of apple juice, and it was still there so definite at 3:30p, I googled bitter taste and apple juice and saw the pine nut syndrome blog page.
NEVER heard of such a thing, and I live in Nevada where everyone native talks about eating pinyon pine nuts.
I bought 5 oz. of pine nuts from Vacaville Fruit Co. at a Raley's store a oouple/three days ago, to make pesto, and we tried them, they were very tasty. I had probably 3 tablespoons to snack on then.
It's been 12 hours since this first started, and it isn't too noticeable with no food, but I tried some Wasa crackers, and at first it masks the taste, but as soon as any saliva builds up, the bitter taste starts definitely adding to the cracker as it is in my mouth and as I swallow. All throughout my mouth, but definitely on my upper palate and tongue. I tried some pistachio nuts (something that might absorb the bitter taste, you'd expect), initially fine, but as the nuts roll around my mouth, the bitterness expands and lingers. The same sensation when eating some swiss cheese. Initially it masks the bitterness, but within a few seconds, the bitterness fills your mouth and combines with whatever taste the food has. After reading reports, I expect this is going to be this way for a few days, but I won't forget it. It is an interesting experience, but I can see how a stronger response would be very bad to have.
Crazy4nuts
11:52:27 AM on
11/11/14
I think I may have a solution to this. Yesterday was day 3. The second day was so bad that I got virtually no work done as it made me nauseated and I could neither eat barely a thing, nor sleep well. Yesterday it was still horrible and I decided that come hell or high water, I was going to get rid of this. I read several blogs and did some research and tried several things to eliminate it. Seems that it worked! Day 4 today and I have just a mere hint of it remaining, thank goodness. I spent yesterday getting rid of it and here's what I did: I read on this blog that someone tried listerine and an oil pull so I did try that. Firstly, I was able to get down some V-8, which was something I also tried because I had read a suggestion for tomato juice. It seems that this is caused by a protein in the nut that imbeds itself in the taste buds, so the trick is to get it out (without having to wait for over a week or more for them to shed and replace naturally, you have to speed up the process). After that, I washed out my mouth with warm water and sea salt. Then I tried the listerine, allowing it to remain in your mouth for several minutes (about 3), then brushing the tongue fairly vigorously, then rinsed again with warm water, followed by an oil pull (I used olive oil, didn't have coconut). Still bitter, but just a wee bit better. I repeated this process of rinsing with quite warm water and salt, then brushing tongue with warm water and baking soda, then toothpaste to get rid of the soda, rinse really well. Another oil pull, still bitter. I repeated this process a third time, then another 4th oil pull in the early evening. A pain, but it worked! After the 4th oil pull, I waited about a half hour then tried tasting something again. MUCH better. Virtually no bitterness at all. I tried tasting just about every food group, still good! The only remaining hint of bitterness at all is with things like bread, or sweet potatoes, starchy things. Everything else was just fine, even candy and fruit. I finally was able to consume a meal. This morning I have just the slightest hint of it, barely noticeable, after eating bread, but that's it. I don't know if it was one particular thing that did it or the combination of all, but I really hope this can help someone, it worked for me. My tongue is a little tender from all the brushing, but who cares? It's gone, hallelujah!
Crazy4nuts
09:10:13 PM on
11/09/14
I had never heard of this either, until just yesterday when it happened to me. This is day 2 of this horrendous experience, and I'm wondering how one gets through weeks of this. I adore pine nuts and have eaten them since I was a child. I bought pine nuts at Sam's Club a few days ago and like most of us who love pine nuts, put them in a salad and, of course, I also ate some besides. They're yummy, who wouldn't? It never occurred to me that 24 hours later I would have the nastiest bitter taste in my mouth that I've ever experienced and not be able to eat anything. The nuts were not rancid and I have never had any sort of adverse reaction to them before, and I've been eating them for 40 years. I thought I was either crazy or something seriously wrong with me. I only found about about this problem after searching the internet for 'bitter taste in my mouth'. At least I wasn't crazy. I really hope, especially with the holidays approaching, that it doesn't last for weeks. The nuts were, at least in some percentage, from China according to the package, and from everything I'm reading, that seems to be the culprit. The only thing I can consume without an intolerable bitter-metallic flavor (and a strong one at that), is green tea, with absolutely no sugar or honey or anything else, just the tea. I'm hungry and frustrated, trying everything I can think of to get rid of it faster. Good luck to everyone else who may be experiencing this and if anyone figures out a way to get though this faster than weeks, let us know.
aknannie
11:54:52 AM on
08/09/14
Never even heard of this phenomenon before. I keep my nuts in the freezer, took the pkg out and tasted several to be sure they were still good. But didn't use for our meal. A day later, I got a very bitter taste toward the back of my tongue. Not metallic, but also astringent. A little like drinking OJ after brushing your teeth. I'm on day 3. I have the taste even when not eating anything. But it's definitely worse with some foods, like fruit...YUCK! Last night at an event, I explained to the bartender not to give me anything with fruit in it...lemon, lime, cranberry, etc. She told me that she thought you could tell the difference between Chinese and Italian pine nuts. Chinese are rounder/fatter, while Italian are smaller and thinner? Sure enough, I have the rounder ones. Anyone heard of this before??? I'm guessing this could make avoiding the bad ones easier. I know you can buy imported from Italy in the glass jars in the Italian food section of the market. Don't usually do that, but may not want to experiment after this.
pjc1969
10:37:50 AM on
07/01/14
I am currently experiencing an alarming bitter taste in my mouth when eating. Like others, I googled this, fearing that it could be a symptom of a serious medical condition. I am therefore relieved to find that pine nuts are the very likely problem. Yesterday, I had an avocado and pine nut wrap from Pret a Manger. I have eaten pine nuts for years, and never experienced this before. I will avoid pine nuts for now on, and I look forward to getting a normal sense of taste back!
AnnieVbfp
12:43:22 AM on
05/30/14
How did I avoid this -- or even hearing about it -- for so many years, given the amount of pine nuts I cook with, and my budget? This is my first experience of "pine mouth" and it is startling to put it mildly. So glad there is info online. Any good sources for non-Chinese pignolis? I make vats of pesto during the summer and this just will not do. (But my kids haven't complained so I just might use up the rest of the little Chinese ones from the supermarket...)
oldsarahlou
03:59:48 PM on
05/20/14
I had a bad taste in my mouth that lasted for several weeks - I bought the pine nuts from a local supermarket, and have been trying to find European pine nuts to use instead of those from China.
johnandevansmom
10:04:59 AM on
05/16/14
So glad to have found this information! I'm currently hating the taste of everything - even my morning coffee! The pine nuts I bought were also from Sams, product of China. My little guys love these too and it explains why they thought everything I made after that tasted "Yucky"! LOL. I can say that I'll actively avoid anything I see from China, but I had no idea the nuts would come from there. Wow.
lafcadio
11:05:28 PM on
05/11/14
I've been cooking with pine nuts since high school without issue, until three years ago when I was afflicted with the dreaded pine mouth. I was unfamiliar with the condition, but when I developed the bitterness after consuming roasted pine nuts in a rice salad (so amazing and from here, btw) I was super surprised at what I found upon googling. I had symptoms for several weeks and it was utterly miserable. So much so that I have had nothing with pine nuts for three years. I love them, but I'm just too nervous. Mine came from a Hy-Vee grocery, an importer of all kinds of dried fruit, nuts, etc. Not surprisingly China was listed as a possible source. I called the importer themselves and they were rude and completely useless. The store offered no help, no concern, either. I've researched reputable sources but,man, I just don't know...did I mention it was weeks? Miserable, miserable weeks!
Silv3rgirl
05:57:52 PM on
03/19/14
I am on day 2 of pine mouth and everything has a nasty bitter aftertaste. I bought the toasted pine nuts from Trader Joes. I ate some on a salad and didn't have any problems then maybe a week later I ate a handful of them by themselves and the next morning the milk in my cereal tasted awful. I thought it was because I had just brushed my teeth but then even my lunch tasted awful. I looked on the back of the packaging and it does say that it may cause a bitterness or metallic taste. It also says product of Vietnam, Korea and Russia. I guess the pine nuts from China aren't the only ones that cause this problem. I've purchased pine nuts from TJ before and I didn't have any problems. My brother also got pine mouth from pine nuts from Whole Foods. I guess you just have to take a risk when eating pine nuts because you really don't know if it's going to have an effect on you or not.
HopeGirl
07:32:37 PM on
03/14/14
I have this now. It's horrible! I ate some raw pine nuts from Trader Joe's and the next day later started noticing that everything started tasting weird and bitter. I only notice the taste while and especially right after eating. It's awful. It starts in the back of my tongue and permeates my whole mouth. It tastes like a battery. Nothing tastes normal. I thought I was crazy till I found "pine mouth". I have eaten from this |
Not to be confused with Titan Tintin, or Titian
Titin, also known as connectin, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the TTN gene.[5][6] Titin is a giant protein, greater than 1 µm in length,[7] that functions as a molecular spring which is responsible for the passive elasticity of muscle. It is composed of 244 individually folded protein domains connected by unstructured peptide sequences.[8] These domains unfold when the protein is stretched and refold when the tension is removed.[9]
Titin is important in the contraction of striated muscle tissues. It connects the Z line to the M line in the sarcomere. The protein contributes to force transmission at the Z line and resting tension in the I band region.[10] It limits the range of motion of the sarcomere in tension, thus contributing to the passive stiffness of muscle. Variations in the sequence of titin between different types of muscle (e.g., cardiac or skeletal) have been correlated with differences in the mechanical properties of these muscles.[5][11]
Titin is the third most abundant protein in muscle (after myosin and actin), and an adult human contains approximately 0.5 kg of titin.[12] With its length of ~27,000 to ~33,000 amino acids (depending on the splice isoform), titin is the largest known protein.[13] Furthermore, the gene for titin contains the largest number of exons (363) discovered in any single gene,[14] as well as the longest single exon (17,106 bp).
Discovery [ edit ]
Reiji Natori in 1954 was the first to propose an elastic structure in muscle fiber to account for the return to the resting state when muscles are stretched and then released.[15] In 1977, Koscak Maruyama and coworkers isolated an elastic protein from muscle fiber, which they called connectin.[16] Two years later, Kuan Wang and coworkers identified a doublet band on electrophoresis gel corresponding to a high molecular weight elastic protein, which they named titin.[17][18]
Siegfried Labeit in 1990 isolated a partial cDNA clone of titin.[6] In 1995, Labeit and Bernhard Kolmerer determined the cDNA sequence of human cardiac titin.[8] Labeit and colleagues in 2001 determined the complete sequence of the human titin gene.[14][19]
Genomics [ edit ]
The human gene encoding for titin is located on the long arm of chromosome 2 and contains 363 exons, which together code for 38,138 residues (4200 kDa).[14] Within the gene are found a large number of PEVK (proline-glutamate-valine-lysine -abundant structural motifs) exons 84 to 99 nucleotides in length which code for conserved 28- to 33-residue motifs which may represent structural units of the titin PEVK spring. The number of PEVK motifs in the titin gene appears to have increased during evolution, apparently modifying the genomic region responsible for titin’s spring properties.[20]
Isoforms [ edit ]
A number of titin isoforms are produced in different striated muscle tissues as a result of alternative splicing.[21] All but one of these isoforms are in the range of ~27,000 to ~36,000 amino acid residues in length. The exception is the small cardiac novex-3 isoform which is only 5,604 amino acid residues in length. The following table lists the known titin isoforms:
Isoform alias/description length MW Q8WZ42-1 The "canonical" sequence 34,350 3,816,030 Q8WZ42-2 34,258 3,805,708 Q8WZ42-3 Small cardiac N2-B 26,926 2,992,939 Q8WZ42-4 Soleus 33,445 3,716,027 Q8WZ42-5 32,900 3,653,085 Q8WZ42-6 Small cardiac novex-3 5,604 631,567 Q8WZ42-7 Cardiac novex-2 33,615 3,734,648 Q8WZ42-8 Cardiac novex-1 34,475 3,829,846 Q8WZ42-9 27,118 3,013,957 Q8WZ42-10 27,051 3,006,755 Q8WZ42-11 33,423 3,713,600 Q8WZ42-12 35,991 3,994,625 Q8WZ42-13 34,484 3,831,069
Structure [ edit ]
Titin is the largest known protein; its human variant consists of 34,350 amino acids, with the molecular weight of the mature "canonical" isoform of the protein being approximately 3,816,188.13 Da.[22] Its mouse homologue is even larger, comprising 35,213 amino acids with a MW of 3,906,487.6 Da.[23] It has a theoretical isoelectric point of 6.01.[22] The protein's empirical chemical formula is C 169,719 H 270,466 N 45,688 O 52,238 S 911.[22] It has a theoretical instability index (II) of 42.41, classifying the protein as unstable.[22] The protein's in vivo half-life, the time it takes for half of the amount of protein in a cell to break down after its synthesis in the cell, is predicted to be approximately 30 hours (in mammalian reticulocytes).[21]
[24] Titin Ig domains. a) Schematic of part of a sarcomere b) Structure of Ig domains c) Topology of Ig domains.
The titin protein is located between the myosin thick filament and the Z disk.[25] Titin consists primarily of a linear array of two types of modules, also referred to as protein domains (244 copies in total): type I fibronectin type III domain (132 copies) and type II immunoglobulin domain (112 copies).[12] [8] However, the exact number of these domains is different in different species. This linear array is further organized into two regions:
N-terminal I-band: acts as the elastic part of the molecule and is composed mainly of type II modules. More specifically the I-band contains two regions of tandem type II immunoglobulin domains on either side of a PEVK region which is rich in proline (P), glutamate (E), valine (V) and lysine (K). [25]
C-terminal A-band: is thought to act as a protein-ruler and is composed of alternating type I and II modules with super-repeat segments. These have been shown to align to the 43 nm axial repeats of myosin thick filaments with immunoglobulin domains correlating to myosin crowns.[26]
The C-terminal region also contains a serine kinase domain[27][28] that is primarily known for adapting the muscle to mechanical strain.[29] It is “stretch-sensitive” and helps repair overstretching of the sarcomere.[30]
White boxes are Fn3 domains, red boxes are Ig domains, yellow boxes are Fn3 domains with the -AVNKYG- sequence, and the black box is protein kinase domain.[31] Protein domains of Titin.boxes aredomains,boxes aredomains,boxes are Fn3 domains with the -AVNKYG- sequence, and thebox is protein kinase domain.
The elasticity of the PEVK region has both entropic and enthalpic contributions and is characterized by a polymer persistence length and a stretch modulus.[32] At low to moderate extensions PEVK elasticity can be modeled with a standard worm-like chain (WLC) model of entropic elasticity. At high extensions PEVK stretching can be modeled with a modified WLC model that incorporates enthalpic elasticity. The difference between low-and high- stretch elasticity is due to electrostatic stiffening and hydrophobic effects.
Evolution [ edit ]
The titin domains have evolved from a common ancestor through many gene duplication events.[33] Domain duplication was facilitated by the fact that most domains are encoded by single exons.
Titin has homologs in invertebrates, such as twitchin and projectin, which also contain Ig and FNIII repeats and a protein kinase domain.[30] The gene duplication events took place independently but were from the same ancestral Ig and FNIII domains. It is said that the protein titin was the first to diverge out of the family.[28]
Function [ edit ]
Sliding filament model of muscle contraction. (Titin labeled at upper right.)
Titin is a large abundant protein of striated muscle. Titin's primary functions are to stabilize the thick filament, center it between the thin filaments, prevent overstretching of the sarcomere, and to recoil the sarcomere like a spring after it is stretched.[34] An N-terminal Z-disc region and a C-terminal M-line region bind to the Z-line and M-line of the sarcomere, respectively, so that a single titin molecule spans half the length of a sarcomere. Titin also contains binding sites for muscle-associated proteins so it serves as an adhesion template for the assembly of contractile machinery in muscle cells. It has also been identified as a structural protein for chromosomes.[35][36] Considerable variability exists in the I-band, the M-line and the Z-disc regions of titin. Variability in the I-band region contributes to the differences in elasticity of different titin isoforms and, therefore, to the differences in elasticity of different muscle types. Of the many titin variants identified, five are described with complete transcript information available.[5][6]
Titin interacts with many sarcomeric proteins including:[14]
Clinical relevance [ edit ]
Mutations anywhere within the unusually long sequence of this gene can cause premature stop codons or other defects. Titin mutations are associated with hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure, early-onset myopathy with fatal cardiomyopathy, core myopathy with heart disease, centronuclear myopathy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2J, familial dilated cardiomyopathy 9,[10][37] hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and tibial muscular dystrophy.[38] Further research also suggests that no genetically linked form of any dystrophy or myopathy can be safely excluded from being caused by a mutation on the TTN gene.[39] Truncating mutations in dilated cardiomyopathy patients are most commonly found in the A region; although truncations in the upstream I region might be expected to prevent translation of the A region entirely, alternative splicing creates some transcripts that do not encounter the premature stop codon, ameliorating its effect.[40]
Autoantibodies to titin are produced in patients with the autoimmune disease scleroderma.[35]
Interactions [ edit ]
Titin has been shown to interact with:
Linguistic significance [ edit ]
The name titin is derived from the Greek Titan (a giant deity, anything of great size).[17]
As the largest known protein, titin also has the longest IUPAC name of a protein. The full chemical name of the human canonical form of titin, which starts methionyl... and ends...isoleucine, contains 189,819 letters and is sometimes stated to be the longest word in the English language, or of any language.[52] However, lexicographers regard generic names of chemical compounds as verbal formulae rather than English words.[53]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
This article incorporates text from the United States National Library of Medicine, which is in the public domain.Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas, on March 9. REUTERS/Trish Badger
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received an unusually warm reception of his keynote address at an energy industry conference in Texas on Thursday evening.
"No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and just leave them there," Trudeau said in his address to oil and gas industry executives at Houston's CERAWeek conference, discussing Alberta's vast oil sands reserves.
Trudeau's speech was met with a standing ovation from the more than 1,200 attendees — an unordinary reaction to a keynote speaker, conference-goers told the CBC. The prime minister was also given an award for his efforts to balance environmental protection and energy production.
"The resource will be developed. Our job is to ensure that this is done responsibly, safely, and sustainably," Trudeau said. "Nothing is more essential to the US economy than access to a secure, reliable source of energy. Canada is that source."
Trudeau has been under fire from Canada's oil industry after he stumbled while discussing the topic in January. He told an audience in Ontario that the oil sands should be phased out, later telling The Globe and Mail that he "misspoke."
Trudeau's speech also touted his support for the Keystone XL pipeline, one of the few areas where he and US President Donald Trump share common ground.
He further discussed juggling the priorities of combatting climate change and bolstering Canada's oil and gas industry.
Alberta's oil sands. Robert Johnson — Business Insider
Under Trudeau, Canada's Liberal government has approved new pipelines while working with provinces to implement a carbon-pricing scheme.
The prime minister has long maintained that developing fossil-fuel resources can go "hand in hand" with fighting climate change.
"It's a tremendous business opportunity to lead on climate change," Trudeau told The Guardian in December. He said that one of the fundamental responsibilities of his office was to get "resources to market" in "sustainable ways" while also working to strengthen Canada's middle class.
"You cannot make a choice anymore on what's good for the environment and what's good for the economy," Trudeau told The Guardian.
Trudeau on Thursday also took a parting shot at the Trump administration's proposed border adjustment tax, which wouldn't allow business to deduct the cost of imported goods.
"Anything that creates impediments at the border, extra tariffs, or new taxes is something we are concerned with," Trudeau said. "You can applaud against the border adjustment tax."
Watch Trudeau's full speech:The career prospects of overeducated Americans
Brian Clark, Clement Joubert, Arnaud Maurel
There are large rewards of higher education in terms of earnings. However, a sizeable fraction of workers hold occupations that not require as much schooling as they have. This column considers the effects of being overeducated on future employment and wages for a representative cohort of Americans. Around 38% of the college graduates in the sample have higher education than the typical worker in their profession. Rather than transitory, the bulk of overeducation persists in the long run. Even if workers manage to transit to better jobs, they experience wage penalties similar to those after unemployment.
Americans had accumulated more than 1 trillion dollars in student loan debt as of 31 December, 2013. While the press conveyed widespread concern over this number, it might be that efficient credit markets are allowing more individuals to invest in education, with large rewards in terms of future earnings. After all, young college graduates earned 62.5% more on average than high school graduates in 2013 (Taylor et al. 2014). However, researchers have started paying more attention to the fact that the huge average ‘college wage premium’ masks large differences in post-college earnings. In particular, an extensive body of research, reviewed in Leuven and Oosterbeek (2011), has established that a sizeable fraction of workers hold occupations that do not require as much schooling as they have acquired. Think, for example, of college-educated secretaries or school teachers with a PhD.
A robust finding across geographical contexts is that overeducated workers earn more than less educated workers in the same occupation, but a lot less than similarly educated workers in occupations that do require their level of schooling.
The typical wage regression on American data finds that one year of surplus schooling, above the level required for one’s job, only yields an increase of 4.3% in earnings, which is about half of the usual ‘returns to schooling’ estimates for non-overeducated workers.1 Such numbers might lead some to reconsider whether more schooling is a good investment, at least financially, given increasing tuition costs.
Ultimately, the ability of overeducated college graduates to repay their pile of loans will hinge on how their careers progress. Is overeducation a temporary phenomenon, largely restricted to the first couple of years after graduation? Do the earnings of initially overeducated workers catch up over time with those of their non-overeducated peers? Or, instead, do these workers tend to remain in low-paying occupations durably?
Overeducation over time
In Clark et al. (2014), we consider the effects of being overeducated on future employment and wages. Our main data set, the NLSY79, is a survey that follows a representative cohort of Americans who were between 14 and 22 years old when first interviewed in 1979. We look at what happens to them over the first decade after they enter the labour market.
To classify a worker as overeducated in her current job, we must determine a level of ‘required schooling’ for her occupation. We use a larger data set, the Current Population Survey, to identify the most common level of schooling in each occupation among workers of the same cohort as the NLSY 79 respondents.
We obtain that 17.9% of workers in our NLSY79 pooled sample have more schooling than the typical worker in their occupation.2 Among college graduates only, this proportion goes up to 37.4%, and it is even higher for those workers with some post-secondary schooling who didn’t graduate from a 4-year college, at 65.7%.
Figure 1 plots the fraction of the NLSY79 workers with at least some college who are overeducated, against the number of years since labour market entry. Overeducation does become less frequent later in the career but the bulk of it persists after 10 years. Looking at raw annual transitions, an overeducated worker has a 66% chance of remaining overeducated one year later and only a 25% chance of switching to a job that matches her schooling. In other words, overeducation should not be viewed as a transitory alternative to unemployment some workers experience while waiting for their ideal job.
Figure 1. Overeducation incidence (NLSY79 respondents with some college or more), from Clark et al. (2014)
Heterogeneity among the overeducated
Not all workers are equally likely to remain overeducated. The probability of finding a job for which the worker is not overeducated is one third as low among overeducated blacks than among overeducated whites, after controlling for observed and unobserved worker characteristics.3 Workers with higher cognitive ability (as measured by the AFQT test), are also less likely to be overeducated and more likely to exit that state. Our statistical model also attributes an important role to unobservable individual attributes, which are not measured in the NLSY79. More research is needed to determine which they are and whether they can be impacted by public policies, but college major and college quality are examples of likely candidates that we are currently investigating.
Unemployment versus underemployment
Not only is it hard for many workers to transition out of employment for which they are overeducated, but they are also likely to face wage penalties even after they do.
For example, a worker who lucked out after being overeducated for the last four years earns on average 14.6% less than her colleague who wasn’t previously overeducated. These penalties do appear to get smaller after a few years but a larger sample would be necessary to determine whether they truly disappear in the long-run. Overall, the persistence and wage penalties that characterise overeducated employment may help explain why up to 21% of outstanding student loan balances were considered delinquent in 2011 by economists at the NY Fed.
Further, our results suggest an interesting parallel between unemployment and underemployment (i.e. overeducation). Which of these two options hurts a worker’s career prospects the most? A number of studies have established that past unemployment lowers a worker’s subsequent earnings.[4] This could happen if unemployed workers see their unused skills decline or because failing to secure a job sooner affects how prospective employers evaluate their potential.
Our wage regression estimates suggest that past underemployment spells generate ‘scarring effects’ similar to those associated with past unemployment spells.
Many unemployed workers may have to choose between accepting a job for which they are overeducated or waiting for one that matches their qualifications. A well-defined, quantitative evaluation of the impact of this choice on a workers’ career, would ideally require to specify and estimate an empirical model of schooling and employment decisions that is able to reproduce the reduced-form evidence described above.
Concluding remarks
A more general policy implication of our results is that underemployment indicators might gainfully complement the usual unemployment indicators. For example, employment agencies are often evaluated on their ability to get workers out of unemployment quickly. This could generate more overeducation as workers accept jobs for which they are overqualified for fear of being disqualified from unemployment benefits.
References
Clark B, C Joubert and A Maurel (2014), “The career prospects of overeducated Americans”, NBER Working Paper No. 20167.
Leuven, E and H Oosterbeek (2011), “Overeducation and mismatch in the labor market”, in E Hanushek, S Machin and L Woessmann (eds), Handbook of the Economics of Education, Vol. 4, Elsevier.
Schmieder J, T von Wachter, and S Bender (2013), “The causal effect of unemployment duration on wages: Evidence from unemployment insurance extensions”, NBER Working Paper No. 19772.
Taylor P, K Parker, R Morin, R Fry, E Patten and A Brown (2014), “The rising cost of not going to college”, Technical report, Pew Research Center.
Footnotes
Leuven and Oosterbeek (2011)
2 This is on the conservative side, relative to the studies reviewed in Leuven and Oosterbeek (2011). In
fact, to avoid overestimating the incidence and persistence of overeducation, if the two most frequent
levels of schooling are within 15 percentage points of each other, we treat both as possible required
schooling levels.
3 We do so using a mixed proportional hazard model of the duration of the first overeducated employment spell.
4 A recent example is Schmieder et al. (2013)Israeli television series
Prisoners of War (original title in Hebrew: חטופים Translit.: Hatufim, Khatufim Translated: "Abductees") is an Israeli television drama series made by Keshet and originally aired on Israel's Channel 2 from March to May 2010. A second season aired in Israel from October to December 2012. The series was created by Israeli director, screenwriter and producer Gideon Raff. In 2010 it won the Israeli Academy Award for Television for Best Drama Series. In 2013, Raff stated that a third season was planned,[1] but restated in 2015 that a third season did not look likely.[2]
The programme was acquired by 20th Century Fox Television before it aired in Israel, and was adapted into the seven seasons and 84 episodes (as of April 2018) of the acclaimed series Homeland for Showtime in the United States. An 8th season is confirmed, and due to be released in 2019. In India it was officially adapted as finite 110 episode television series P.O.W. - Bandi Yuddh Ke[3][4] by Nikhil Advani in 2016 and 2017 with Hatufim creator Gideon Raff consulting for the series.[5][6]
Plot [ edit ]
The series, set in 2008, depicts three Israeli soldiers who were captured 17 years previously while on a secret mission with their unit in Lebanon.
Season 1 [ edit ]
The story begins with the soldiers' return home after years of negotiations for their freedom. Nimrod Klein and Uri Zach return alive, along with the remains of Amiel Ben-Horin.
The series explores the reintegration of Nimrod and Uri into a society which has made them national icons, and into an interrupted family life, while working through the trauma of having been held captive and tortured. They must deal with partners who waited or moved on, children who have grown up without them, and parents who have died.
They also have to undergo psychiatric evaluations and military debriefings. When a military psychiatrist finds discrepancies in their stories, an investigation is launched to discover what they are hiding.[7][8]
Season 2 [ edit ]
After flashbacks to events at a school in Metula in 1990, and to the period shortly after Nimrod and Uri's release, the second season rejoins the story a few days after the events at the end of the first season.
Initially disagreeing on what to do with their discovery that Amiel may still be alive, Nimrod and Uri take the information to Haim and Iris, who start to pursue their own (unofficial) investigation into what happened to Amiel - with unanticipated consequences.
Alongside this, the series continues to follow Nimrod and Uri (and the soldiers' families) as they pick up the pieces of their lives post-release. It also depicts Amiel for the first time as a living character - rather than in the visions experienced by Amiel's younger sister, Yael - and follows his new life as Yusuf, a Muslim, in Syria.
Cast and characters [ edit ]
Season 1 [ edit ]
Season 2 (additional characters) [ edit ]
Hadar Ratzon-Rotem he]
Makram Khoury as Sheikh Qasab, father of Leila, and founder of the organisation responsible for the kidnapping of Nimrod, Uri and Amiel.
Yousef Sweid as Abdullah bin Rashid, serving a prison sentence in Israel for a terrorist attack but released as part of the prisoner exchange that freed Nimrod and Uri.
Yonatan Uziel as Yinon "Noni" Meiri, whose father was murdered by Abdullah when Noni was a child.
Shimon Mimran he]
Sinai Peter he] Mossad chief who was killed in an accident around the time of Nimrod and Uri's release.
Mossad chief who was killed in an accident around the time of Nimrod and Uri's release. Boaz Konforty as Oren, a friend of Nimrod and a member of Nimrod and Uri's reserve unit.
Production [ edit ]
Filming commenced on the first season of Hatufim in August 2009.[9] First season episodes had a budget of $200,000 each.[10]
The second season of Hatufim was filmed between May and October 2011.[11][12] It was originally due to be broadcast in Israel from December 2011[13] but the premiere was put back to June 2012[10] and then October 2012 due to the state of the local advertising market.[14]
Though Gideon Raff had stated, in 2013, that he intended to write a third season of Hatufim,[15][16] but in 2015 it was announced that the plans for season three had been frozen, with Raff stating that his ongoing work with other projects meant that "There's no third season on sight".[2]
Reception [ edit ]
At the time of broadcast, the first season of Hatufim was Israel's highest-rated TV drama of all time.[10] It also achieved critical acclaim and was awarded Best Drama Series of 2010 by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. For their work on the show, Gideon Raff won Best Directing for a Drama Series, Ishai Golan won Best Actor in a Drama Series, and Yael Abecassis won Best Actress in a Drama Series.[17][18]
The series was not without controversy. It was criticized by family members of soldiers held prisoner, including Miriam Groff, mother of one of the men released in the Jibril Agreement. She suggested that the series might encourage the kidnapping of soldiers.[19]
Viewing figures for the second season of Hatufim were even higher than for the first, with an average audience share of 40% (rising to 47.9% for the final episode) making it the highest-rated drama in Israel in 2012. Online viewing reached 3 million.[20]
At the 2013 Seoul International Drama Awards, Hatufim (season 2) was awarded the festival's Grand Prize, out of a total of 225 entries from 48 countries. Other series nominated included Homeland (season 2) and House (season 8).[21][22][23]
At the 2013 Israeli Academy Television Awards, season 2 of Hatufim was nominated in 9 categories, including (for Drama Series) Best Series, Best Directing (Gideon Raff), Best Screenplay (Gideon Raff) and Best Actor (Assi Cohen).[24][25][26]
In December 2009, three months before Hatufim premiered in Israel, it was reported that the rights to develop an American version of the series had been sold to 20th Century Fox Television.[27] It was sold on the strength of the script alone, before the series had even begun shooting. The result was the acclaimed show Homeland, developed in cooperation with Gideon Raff and broadcast on cable channel Showtime.[10][28]
Following on from the success of Hatufim in Israel, and the worldwide success of Homeland, Keshet has sold the original series (in Hebrew with subtitles) in a number of territories internationally, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, the United States and several European countries.[29][30][31] The rights to produce local versions of the series have been sold in Russia[32][33][34] (due to start filming in March 2014[35]), Colombia and Mexico[36][37] Turkey[30][38][39] and South Korea.[40] A version with dubbing of the Hebrew dialogue, but undertitles for the Arabic dialogue, has been produced for the German market and broadcast by ARTE.
Author Stephen King included Hatufim (season 1) at number 8 in his top 10 TV shows of 2012.[41]
The New York Times placed Hatufim (season 2) at number 2 in its top 12 TV shows of 2013.[42]
Episodes [ edit ]
Season 1 (2010) [ edit ]
No. # Title[43][44] Written & Directed by Original air date 1 1 "Homecoming"
(original Hebrew title: השיבה, "The Return") Gideon Raff 6 March 2010 ( ) 2 2 "The Facility, Part 1" Gideon Raff 13 March 2010 ( ) 3 3 "The Facility, Part 2" Gideon Raff 20 March 2010 ( ) 4 4 "Letters from Mom" Gideon Raff 27 March 2010 ( ) 5 5 "Keep Your Soul"[45] Gideon Raff 10 April 2010 ( ) 6 6 "The Journal" Gideon Raff 17 April 2010 ( ) 7 7 "A Picture from Hell"
(original Hebrew title: תמונה מהשבי, "A Picture from Captivity") Gideon Raff 24 April 2010 ( ) 8 8 "Family Portrait"
(original Hebrew title: 'ושבו מצרימה...', "'...And They Return to Egypt'"[46]) Gideon Raff 8 May 2010 ( ) 9 9 "Awake at Night"[47][48][49] Gideon Raff 15 May 2010 ( ) 10 10 "The Tape"
(original Hebrew title: גילוי מצבה, "Unveiling of a Monument") Gideon Raff 22 May 2010 ( )
Season 2 (2012) [ edit ]
No. # Title[43][50][51] Written & Directed by Original air date 11 1 "First Grade"
(original Hebrew title: להתראות מתוק, "Goodbye, Sweetie"[52]) Gideon Raff 15 October 2012 ( ) 12 2 "Birthday"
(original Hebrew title: חג לה שמח, "Happy Birthday"[53]) Gideon Raff 16 October 2012 ( ) 13 3 "Little Lies" Gideon Raff 22 October 2012 ( ) 14 4 "Blue" Gideon Raff 23 October 2012 ( ) 15 5 "A Ghost from the Past"
(original Hebrew title: פקידה פלוגתית, "Platoon Secretary") Gideon Raff 29 October 2012 ( ) 16 6 "The Song"
(original Hebrew title: חופים, "Shores"[52]) Gideon Raff 5 November 2012 ( ) 17 7 "The Picture" Gideon Raff 12 November 2012 ( ) 18 8 "The Double Agent"
(original Hebrew title: מותו של סוכן, "Death of a Salesman")[54] Gideon Raff 26 November 2012 ( ) 19 9 "Mika's Boyfriend" Gideon Raff 3 December 2012 ( ) 20 10 "The Notebook"
(original Hebrew title: חלבה, "Halva") Gideon Raff 10 December 2012 ( ) 21 11 "Our Agent in Damascus"
(original Hebrew title: האישה שלנו בדמשק, "Our Woman in Damascus"[55]) Gideon Raff 17 December 2012 ( ) 22 12 "The Kidnapping"
(original Hebrew title: נוהל חניבעל, "The Hannibal Procedure") Gideon Raff 18 December 2012 ( ) 23 13 "Operation Judea"
(original Hebrew title: מבצע יהודה, "Operation Judah"[56]) Gideon Raff 24 December 2012 ( ) 24 14 "Prisoners of War" Gideon Raff 25 December 2012 ( )
Songs [ edit ]
Broadcast [ edit ]
Hatufim in its original format (in Hebrew with subtitles) has been sold internationally for broadcast on network and pay television, for download via VOD, and for DVD release.
Season 1 [ edit ]
The first season (10 episodes) aired on Channel 2 in Israel from 6 March to 22 May 2010.
In the UK it was shown on Sky Arts from 10 May to 12 July 2012.[74] It was Hulu's first foreign language exclusive series in the United States, with episodes released weekly from 14 July to 15 September 2012.[8] In Australia it was broadcast from 19 January to 23 March 2013 on SBS.[75] In Canada it was aired on Super Channel, two episodes at a time, from 10 July to 7 August 2013.[76]
Season 2 [ edit ]
The second season (14 episodes) aired in Israel from 15 October to 25 December 2012. The majority of episodes were released a week in advance for online viewing (rental service) via makoVOD.[50]
In the United States, episodes were released weekly from 28 May to 20 August 2013 on Hulu.[43][77] In Canada, season 2 was shown on Super Channel immediately after the end of season 1, from 14 August to 25 September 2013 (two episodes at a time). In Australia it was broadcast on SBS from 2 October 2013 to 15 January 2014.[78][79] Having initially said that it had no plans to show Season 2, Sky Arts aired it in the UK from 22 April to 22 July 2014.[74][80]
DVD releases [ edit ]
Season Audio Subtitles Release dates Episodes Discs Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 1 Hebrew English 8 October 2013 (Canada)[81][82]
8 July 2014 (United States)[83][84] 16 July 2012[85] 3 April 2013[86][87] 10 3 Hebrew
French French N/A 22 May 2013[88][89][90] N/A 10 3 Hebrew
German German N/A 8 August 2013[91] N/A 10 3 2 Hebrew English 19 August 2014 (Canada)[92]
16 September 2014 (United States)[93] 28 July 2014[94] 4 December 2013[95] 14 4 Hebrew
French French N/A 5 November 2014[96] N/A 14 5 Hebrew
German German N/A 30 April 2015[97] N/A 14 4 1 & 2 Hebrew Hebrew
English N/A 20 March 2013[98][99][100] N/A 24 7 Hebrew English N/A 28 July 2014[101] N/A 24 7 Hebrew
French French N/A 5 November 2014[102] N/A 24 8Washington (CNN) -- Senate Democrats failed Thursday to win a procedural vote to open debate on a bill that would provide medical benefits and compensation for emergency workers who were first on the scene of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The motion for cloture, or to begin debate, needed 60 votes to pass due to a Republican filibuster, but fell short at 57-42 in favor.
While supporters said they would try to bring the bill up again, either on its own or as part of other legislation to be considered, the vote Thursday jeopardized the measure's chances for approval in the final weeks of the current congressional session.
The House previously passed the bill on a mostly partisan 268-160 vote.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted to Thursday's result by calling it "a tragic example of partisan politics trumping patriotism."
"I urge Senate Republicans to reconsider their wrong-headed political strategy and allow the bill to come to the floor for a vote," Bloomberg said in a statement.
Republicans complained that the $7.4 billion price tag was too high, while Democrats said the government had an obligation to help the first responders to the deadliest terrorism attack in U.S |
made to rename the clade Cetancodonta[3] but Whippomorpha maintains precedence.[4]
References [ edit ]Good news in the war on germs. Researchers have deciphered a new chemical code that disease-carrying bacteria use to rally themselves. They call it Ax21, a protein made inside the bacterial cell, processed to generate a signal and then secreted outside the bacterium. The knowledge that bacteria use Ax21 to communicate is expected to lead to new methods of controlling bacterial diseases of plants and animals. EarthSky’s Jorge Salazar spoke to plant scientist Pamela Ronald of University of California, Davis, who led the study.
You’ve compared the bacteria using this newly found code to people using the social media service Twitter. What are bacteria tweeting?
Bacteria are tweeting their location and their intent for group action.
The signals that the bacteria secrete are somewhat like hashtags that people will put on their Twitter communications, so that other people who are interested in taking the same action – who have the same target – can congregate together and more efficiently carry out that action. And it allows an action to occur from a group that could not have possibly happen by an individual alone.
So bacteria send out these signals. It’s sort of like enemy communication that allows them to mobilize group action. And when there are enough signals, that means that there are enough bacteria to completely change from benign organisms to being fierce invaders. They will then be able to coordinate attacks on their targets.
What are their targets?
They could be plants, animals and even humans that can become very susceptible to these bacterial infections.
The particular disease that we looked at infects rice crops. It can cause a 50 percent reduction in yield.
The hope is that now that we understand the strategy, with which these bacteria can communicate, we can develop methods to really disrupt their infection process.
How does this research compare to that done by Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffman, who won the Noble Prize in 2011 in medicine and physiology for similar work with immune receptors?
It’s a really exciting time in plant and animal immunology. Most plants are virtually defenseless when these bacteria attack them, using this coordinated communication. The exception are those plants that carry an immune receptor that can intercept the message produced by the invading microbe. This receptor is called XA21. It belongs to a very large class of immune receptors that are found in both plants and animals.
The importance of these receptors is reflected by the Noble Prizes received by professors Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffman. They discovered these type of receptors in flies and mice.
We know now that in plants and in higher animals, these immune receptors detect some components of microbes that are highly conserved. And so once the plant or animal detects these, it can then launch an immune response are highly conserved. And so once the plant or animal detects these, it can then launch an immune response.
What’s the most important thing you want people today to know about bacteria that signal each other?
I think it’s very interesting for people to know that bacteria can talk to each other. Plants and animals can intercept this coded communication, and then use that information to trigger their own response.Back in the late-housing-bubble period, in 2007, Countrywide Home Loans, which was then the largest mortgage provider in the country, rolled out a new lending program. The bank called it the “high-speed swim lane,” or HSSL, or, even more to the point, “hustle.” Countrywide, like most mortgage lenders, sold its loans to Wall Street banks or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage giants, which bundled them and, in turn, sold them to investors. Unlike the Wall Street banks, Fannie and Freddie insured the loans, so they demanded only the ones of the highest quality. But by that time, borrowers with high credit scores were getting scarcer, and Countrywide faced the prospect of collapsing revenue and profits. Hence, the hustle program, which “streamlined” Countrywide’s loan origination, cutting out underwriters and putting loan processors, whom the company had previously deemed not qualified to answer borrowers’ questions, in charge of reviewing loan applications. In practice, Countrywide dropped most of the conditions meant to insure that loans would be repaid.
The company didn’t tell Fannie or Freddie any of this, however. Lower-level Countrywide executives repeatedly warned top executives that the mortgages did not fulfill the requirements. Employees changed data about the mortgages to make them look better, sometimes increasing the borrower’s income on the forms until the loan looked acceptable. Then, Countrywide sold them to the mortgage giants anyway.
At one point, the head of underwriting at Countrywide wrote an alarmed email, with a list of questions from employees, such as, does “the request to move loans mean we no longer care about quality?”
The executive in charge of the decision, Rebecca Mairone, replied, “So - it sounds like it may work. Is that what I am hearing?”
To federal prosecutors — and to a jury in Manhattan — the hustle sounded like fraud. And in 2013, Bank of America, which had by then taken over Countrywide, was found liable for fraud and later ordered to pay a $1.27 billion judgment to the government.
But this week, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals looked at that judgment and asked this question: If a entity (in this case, a bank) enters into a contract pure of heart and only deceives its partners afterward, is that fraud?
The three-judge panel’s answer was no. Bank of America is no longer required to pay the judgment.
The Bank of America case was a rare outcome in the collapse of the financial system: a firm whose actions had contributed to the crisis was held to account by a court of law. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which brought the case in 2012, used an ingenious strategy, charging the bank under a law dating from the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s, called Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, or FIRREA. And the government actually identified a human being, Rebecca Mairone, claiming she defrauded Fannie and Freddie. Though it was a civil action, rather than a criminal one, the case actually went to trial — unusual in this day and age — and the jury found Bank of America and Mairone liable. (The 2nd Circuit panel’s ruling reversed a finding of fraud against Mairone and tossed out a million-dollar ruling against Mairone.)
The appellate-court panel accepted the main facts as described by the government. It acknowledged that Countrywide intentionally breached its contract but ruled that it had not engaged in fraud.
The ruling, written by Richard C. Wesley, a George W. Bush appointee, was unanimous, with another Bush appointee and an Obama appointee voting in favor. “What fraud … turns on, however, is when the representations were made and the intent of the promisor at that time,” Judge Wesley wrote. If the fraud is based on “promises made in a contract, a party claiming fraud must prove fraudulent intent at the time of contract execution; evidence of a subsequent, willful breach cannot sustain the claim.”
The government hadn’t set out to prove Countrywide’s intentions — honorable or otherwise — at the moment it signed the contracts with Fannie and Freddie. Consequently, the court ruled that the government had not provided sufficient evidence for its contentions. “The government had zero evidence of affirmative misrepresentations at the time of the bad conduct,” Samuel Buell, a law professor at Duke University and the author of the forthcoming book “Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America’s Corporate Age,” says. But to other legal scholars, the ruling seemed nonsensical. “Is the idea that a good state of mind initially can insulate you from fraud later on?” Brandon Garrett, a professor of law at the University of Virginia and the author of “Too Big To Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations,” asked. “That would be a very strange and troubling doctrine.” He added, “It almost seems like the 2nd Circuit fell victim to a lawyer’s trick.”
For U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the court’s ruling is yet another setback in his corporate-crime efforts. In 2014, the 2nd Circuit overturned one of the office’s major insider-trading cases, throwing the law in that area into disarray.
It’s tempting to read something personal into these rulings. Courts often view themselves as a check on what they see as prosecutors responding to the pitchfork-wielding mob. In the 1990s, the 2nd Circuit overruled several high-profile Wall Street prosecutions brought in the ’80s by Rudolph Giuliani, who had been the Southern District’s U.S. attorney. Now it is doing the same to Bharara, who (as Jeffrey Toobin wrote in The New Yorker recently) has antagonized the bench, and is viewed by some as overly aggressive and arrogant. The ruling also bolsters the argument, so often heard from prosecutors, that they didn’t bring many big cases after the financial crisis because the laws required an evidentiary standard that couldn’t be met. “We thought it would be unfair to bring it as a criminal case, and therefore properly and fairly used our discretion to bring it as a civil case, but we thought it was clearly fraudulent," one former prosecutor familiar with the case said. The ruling, this person says, is “extraordinary and dispiriting.”
The relentless criticism of its post-financial-crisis crackdown has taken a toll on regulators. “This is a perfect example of how everyone thinks it is so easy to bring financial-crisis cases, but it isn’t,” the former prosecutor says. “The Court of Appeals didn’t agree, and now they’ve undone a major, major case tried before a jury. We get criticized for timidity in taking on financial-crisis cases, but the appeals court clearly viewed us as too aggressive. So maybe everyone who rails about the failures to bring financial-crisis cases needs to understand that there is a legal system, and what seems so obvious to them, is in fact not.”
The ruling does not affect the many multibillion-dollar settlements that the government has reached with most of the top financial firms for mortgage abuses. The parties entered those settlements voluntarily. Settlements are highly unsatisfying as a matter of justice. Companies and their defense attorneys complain that the government extorts them out of unreasonable sums because they have no choice but to negotiate, while the public feels companies are not held accountable, punished only by being compelled to write checks that have little effect on their bottom line.
After this ruling, the government may be even less willing to fight it out in court. Worse, it may have less leverage with companies when trying to extract penalties and fines in settlement negotiations over misconduct allegations. The court has provided companies with a new piece of ammunition: the ability to argue that their deliberate misconduct was not actually fraud.Most of us know at least one person who avoids gluten like the plague. Whether they are gluten-intolerant, allergic, or suffer from Celiac disease, they won’t touch the stuff.
If you’re like me, you hate to see it.. because that means they can’t try the delicious beer you’ve worked so hard to craft! So, the thought crosses your mind: “I wonder if I can make them a good gluten-free beer?”
The answer is yes.
But it’s not going to be as easy as you might think. Even if you’re a seasoned brewer, creating a good gluten-free beer is a challenge. But to the gluten-hating friend you’re brewing for, your “good” is probably their “OMG, IT’S REAL BEER!”
Let’s Define Some Terms: Gluten-Free vs. Gluten-Reduced
This article focuses mainly on gluten-free brewing, not gluten-reduced. There is a HUGE difference between the two and it’s very important to know before proceeding, especially if you’re brewing for someone with Celiac.
Jason Morgan wrote a great article on CraftBrewingBusiness.com on the difference between the two terms, and why gluten-reduced beer may still be dangerous to those with severe allergies or Celiac.
In order for a beer to be truly gluten-free it must be brewed exclusively with 100% gluten-free ingredients and not come into contact with anything that may contain gluten. This is no easy task, as we’ll see later in this article.
Glutenberg brewery is one of the top truly gluten-free breweries in the world, so check them out for some great examples of gluten-free beer.
Gluten-reduced beer, also labeled as “crafted to remove gluten,” is becoming more common in the commercial realm. Omission makes some solid gluten-reduced beers, and Stone’s Delicious IPA is a must try.
Gluten-reduced means that traditional gluten-containing ingredients (barley, wheat and rye) were used to brew the beer, but a technique or product such as Clarity Ferm was used to reduce the amount of gluten in the final product.
Clarity Ferm, a product of White Labs, contains an enzyme which breaks down the proteins in beer that causes chill haze (hence the name Clarity) and nearly all gluten protein chains in the beer.
There is some controversy as to whether or not the enzyme eliminates or rather simply breaks up the gluten protein chain into tiny, immeasurable parts. This article from HomebrewTalk provides a great explanation of the effects of Clarity Ferm, why the ELISA tests suck at measuring gluten in beer, and why you should never give a gluten-reduced beer to a person with Celiac.
Either way, Clarity Ferm does a great job at its originally intended purpose – clarifying your beer. You can find Clarity Ferm in vials suitable for 5g batches online or at your local homebrew store (LHBS).
The Grains
This is the biggest learning curve. The most important thing to note here is that gluten-free (GF) grains are quite different from traditional brewing grains in terms of aroma, taste, and mouthfeel, so don’t be surprised when your first batch doesn’t taste like the beer you’re used to.
A surprising number of GF grain varieties exist, and you’ll want to spend some time learning how they taste and how they will impact your beer. It’s also important to note that malted GF grains (other than sorghum) are not widely available. So, you’ll either have to malt your own or find a supplier. GlutenFreeHomeBrewing.org is a great source for malted GF grain and other GF ingredients.
Here are a few of the most common GF brewing grains:
Sorghum
Often used as a base for barley-like recipes, sorghum is the most common GF brewing grain. The flavor profile is fairly bland and grainy, and it can produce a subtle metallic or “sour” flavor that is sometimes mistaken for an infection. Sorghum is widely available as a grain, and is still one of the only GF grains available in LME form.
Millet
Millet is a common component of birdseed, but that doesn’t mean it’s just for the birds. Some of the most popular gluten-free beers are made with millet. Like sorghum, it’s pretty bland, but is a bit more sweet. Millet is often used as a substitute for wheat.
Buckwheat
Despite it’s name, buckwheat isn’t related to wheat at all, and it’s not a substitute for wheat either. It’s not really a substitute for anything due to its strong nutty, nearly bitter flavor profile. Toasted buckwheat can be pretty intense, so use it in moderation, much like a specialty grain.
Rice
Rice is a very versatile and widely used GF brewing ingredient. While it’s relatively tasteless on its own, rice can be toasted to produce a wide range of flavors that mimic pale malt, caramel, chocolate and even coffee malts.
Quinoa
Quinoa isn’t a grain, but it is a grain-like seed that has become very popular in the last few years. Quinoa packs a pleasantly sweet and earthy flavor profile, similar to brewing with oats. It can make a great base to your recipe, but it’s not as common as the previous mentions due to its high price.
For a comprehensive list of GF grains, visit the Celiac Disease Foundation’s website under “What About Grains?”
The Yeast
Be careful here. The yeast itself does not contain gluten, but many yeast labs grow and/or store their yeast in environments containing gluten.
So, if you pitch a liquid vial of gluten-contaminated yeast into gluten-free wort, well, it’s no longer gluten-free. Even dry yeast may contain trace amounts of gluten due to the growing environment.
Be sure to check the packaging or manufacturer’s website prior to selecting your yeast. Here are some great GF yeast options:
DanStar – All dry yeast strains are certified GF
Fermentis – All dry yeast strains are certified GF
Wyeast – Certain liquid strains (American Ale II; Bavarian Lager) are certified GF
If you’re lucky enough to live near a local yeast lab, voice your concerns and they should be able to provide a GF solution.
The Hops
There’s nothing to worry about here. Hops do not contain gluten. So feel free to go crazy and experiment.
But here’s a few tips that might come in handy:
Start simple. This goes back to my earlier point about grain substitution. It’s going to taste and feel different, so don’t expect hops to come through in the same way they did with your traditional recipes. Start with one or maybe two hops and see how they taste with the grain.
This goes back to my earlier point about grain substitution. It’s going to taste and feel different, so don’t expect hops to come through in the same way they did with your traditional recipes. Start with one or maybe two hops and see how they taste with the grain. Go with what you know. The grains are going to be unfamiliar. Take out as many unknowns as possible by using hops you are already familiar with. Cascade is a very popular hop to start with.
The grains are going to be unfamiliar. Take out as many unknowns as possible by using hops you are already familiar with. Cascade is a very popular hop to start with. Don’t over-hop the beer. Many brewers find the taste of GF grain to be off-putting and try to mask the flavor by adding more hops. While it is very important to find the right amount of hop bitterness and aroma, the goal should be to compliment the flavor of the grain just as you would a traditional style. Experiment with timing, try dry hopping, or try an entirely different hop next time.
Pro Tips
Many LHBSs sell gluten-free ingredients. My LHBS, Artisans Wine & Homebrew, sells all kinds of GF ingredients and the owners are quite knowledgeable in GF homebrewing. They graciously agreed to provide some expert advice to share with you all!
Me: Would you recommend using extracts vs. all-grain brewing?
Artisans: For your initial foray into gluten free brewing I would recommend extract batches. Most gluten free grains are not malted, so you would need to malt them yourself (time consuming) or find a supplier (not cheap).
Me: What are the best gluten-free ingredients to work with?
Artisans: Sorghum LME does not have a lot of flavor, so the yeast and hops need to shine. Adjuncts are fun to use, and can impart flavor as well. We especially liked the coffee we added to our GF Oatmeal Stout.
Me: What style of beer are GF ingredients best suited for?
Artisans: IPA is probably the best style to try because you don’t need the mouthfeel that is normally acquired from gluten grains such as wheat and barley.
Me: Are there any rules of thumb when converting a gluten recipe to gluten-free?
Artisans: Follow a [GF] recipe, or use it as a template to make your own. It’s important to understand the ratios of the base “malt” to the specialty ingredients. Plus, step outside the box, and go beyond sorghum. Sorghum is a good base but your flavors come from other adjuncts. Try adding sweet potato to the mix, or tapioca with coconut. Throw in Belgian candi syrup (D180), and you might have the next great craft beer!
Me: What's the most important thing to know when creating a gluten-free recipe?
Artisans: Be willing to experiment, and do small batches. There are recipes on the internet that you can either follow or tweak to your tastes. Hey, if you can make beer and enjoy it without repercussions, that’s a big win in itself!
Big thanks to Artisans Wine & Homebrew for the GF homebrewing advice!
Being Gluten-Free Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Enjoy a Good Beer
GF brewing is still relatively uncharted territory, but the availability and quality of GF homebrewing ingredients is getting better and better due to the increase in gluten intolerance across the nation.
So now is the time to take advantage of this growing industry. It’ll take a little extra work and creativity, but the final product will be that much more rewarding!
Have you ever brewed a GF beer? If so, please share your experience in the comments below!Scrabble has added a lot of words involving the letters z, q and j.
Americans like high scores. And if we can’t get the high scores under the current system, we don’t try to get better at the game… we try to change the system. It’s why they re-centered the SATs, created the Game Genie, and looked the other way when baseball players shot themselves full of enough steroids to completely eradicate Crohn’s disease.
Scrabble, too, joined that party. The list of legal words in Scrabble is not a 1:1 match with the mainstream dictionary. No, Scrabble has its own version, called the Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary. And, over time, that dictionary grew to include all sorts of short, foreign terms that just so happen to make heavy usage of letters like z, q, x, j and k. It was hard to use those high-scoring letters with the original Scrabble system. So they changed the system.
And yes, I believe they’re probably tripping over themselves right now to get “vuvuzela” in the dictionary as quickly as possible.
Here are 11 words whose inclusion or exclusion from the Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary struck me as crazy. It’s really just the tip of the iceberg, but I only had enough qi to find these.
(One quick note: I used the Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary online, as that is what mainstream Scrabble players are supposed to use. I did not use the list of tournament-approved words, which is larger and includes even more patently-absurd choices like “showbizzy” and “razzmatazz.” Which I believe was Jean-Georges Peppers’s safe word.)
1 | Za
Apparently late ’80s stoner lingo for pizza is on the up-and-up in Scrabble. But I checked: Bodacious, cowabunga, bombdigity and dicknose are not approved. (Syke is legit, but is defined as “a small stream.”)
2 | Zzz
As in the comic book onomonapoeiatized “sound” of sleep. It’s the equivalent of Batman punching someone and making the sound “pow” or “snorg” or “kerploof.”
The weird part is that this word was ostensibly added to the Scrabble approved list for the sake of score inflation — a “z” is worth 10 points, tied with “q” for the most valuable tiles in the game. Except that standard Scrabble sets only contain one “z.” So you’d have to burn both of the blank wild card tiles to make this word — and those are worth zero points.
Meaning that “zzz” is actually worth a mere 10 points… the equivalent of non-contrived three-letter words like “key” or “axe” or “jot” or a billion others.
It’s like a school trying to inflate their kids’ grades by giving a U.S. geography test but forgetting to roll up the map… only accidentally pulling down the map of the U.S.S.R. Sure, the kids will all get Georgia right, but beyond that they’re no better off than before.
3 | Qi
After desperately trying to come up with some two-letter words to siphon off the bitches of letters, the Scrabble linguists turned to Asia. Qi, xi, xu, ki and many others made the long boat ride across the Pacific to help make Scrabble games easier and more competitive. (Some would say communist. Some would then use that interchangeably with socialist, Nazi and liberal.)
The Scrabble dictionary defines “qi” as “the vital force that, in Chinese thought, is inherent in all things.” I then looked up “gristle” to see if they define that as “the vital ingredient that, in Chinese takeout, is inherent in all dishes.” They did not.
4 | Internet
Internet is not a word in the Scrabble dictionary. You cannot use it. I guess because it’s a considered a proper noun? I had no idea. Do people capitalize it? To channel the little Chandler Bing that eternally sits inside of me, could proper capitalization and the Internet BE any more of polar opposites?
5 | Zax
Total bullshit word, although is my absolute favorite discovery of the whole list. Quite possibly one of the best things I’ve found in research in the 2+ years of doing this site.
A zax is a hand tool used by a slater for cutting, trimming and punching nail holes in slate. That’s right: A zax is used by a slater. I’m still picking up pieces of my exploded brain off the monitor.
6 | Jew and Arab
These are allowed in tournament play, but have been removed from the Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary for being “offensive.” Seems REALLY oversensitive to me. Meanwhile, “blackboy” is totally legal in the Scrabble dictionary, as it clearly means “an Australian plant.” I don’t know, man. Something there feels less Kosher than the meat that [redacted] and [redacted] eat.
7 | Jeux
What is… what people would call me in Louisiana, Alex?
(Scrabble defines it as “a game.” And by the way, last time I was in Louisiana, people called me “Jason Schwartzman.”)
8 | Gangbang
This word was allowed in the second edition of the Scrabble dictionary… removed from the third… but then re-introduced in the fourth. Apparently, over time, gangbang has transitioned in meaning from “participating in gang-related activities” to “a bunch of dudes having sex with a woman” back to “participating in gang-related activities.”
9 | Zyzzyva
Not to be confused with the obscure desert road halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It’s actually defined as a tropical weevil. Did Scrabble invent the word? Well… I did a Google image search and found all of one photo claiming to be of a zyzzyva. Quite the opposite result of what happened when I did a Google image search for the word in the previous point.
10 | Kwanza
Christmas, Hanukkah and Ramadan are all banned, however. (And to a lesser extent Festivus.) The reason: Kwanza (with one “a” at the end) is defined as “a monetary unit of Angola” which takes it out of the proper noun zone. I’m still not sure how they decided that proper nouns in English were bad and transliterated foreign words were good.
(“I don’t know, Bob, should we include ‘Christmas’ or ‘Zqvjkzx’ in the new dictionary?” “Got to be zqvjkzx, I think that’s the Azerbaijani word for grape juice. That’s a no brainer!”)
11 | Kwyjibo
Yes, it’s absolute bullshit that this word — defined as “a big, dumb, balding North American ape, with no chin” — isn’t allowed. And I include it as my 11th point because, if I didn’t, I’m fairly confident the readers of this site would form an angry mob and storm my house with pitchforks and torches. And as much as I’d try to sing a song about how you could burn down Moe’s or the Kwik-E-Mart and nobody would care, I know someone would miss the song and ram the house with a bulldozer. I would try to dive through a sinkhole in the backyard to escape but that’s not a permanent solution. I certainly wouldn’t try to escape in broad daylight with cops everywhere — lest I end up meeting my demise via a barrage of baseballs after going to a movie and talking loudly.
—
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The worst case scenario has become reality for the New York Cosmos this week as attacking midfielder Niko Kranjcar has been officially ruled out for the remainder of the Spring Season after exiting in the opening minutes of last week’s win over the Tampa Bay Rowdies with an injury.
Originally thought to be a groin strain, the Cosmos revealed today that Kranjcar actually suffered a quad strain that will sideline him for four-to-six weeks.
“We need to do the right therapy and most likely he will do therapy here, a little bit therapy away from us,” Head Coach Gio Savarese said. “He has some specialists that he knows very well. Hopefully he can go through the proper treatment in order to be able to come back as soon as possible.”
The Croatian international notched one goal and one assist in 344 minutes of play in the Spring Season. His impact goes beyond the numbers, though, as his vision and quick distribution helped raise the form of everyone around him.
Kranjcar was only signed through the Spring Season, which means he may have already played his final match in a Cosmos shirt. The Cosmos say they are still in negotiations to sign him for the Fall Season, but with strong interest from Rangers in Scotland and several other clubs, their chances of securing the 31-year old could be in doubt.
“We’re still talking to him about the possibility of keeping him for the future,” Savarese said. “He is a valuable player for us and more than a valuable player, a great person; the kind of person we want to keep with the club. So we are definitely interested in him staying with us.”Politico Journalist Who Advocated for Gun Control Blames Terrorism Victims For Not Protecting Themselves!
Well here’s a bitter irony… Glenn Thrush works for Politico and tweeted this about the obligation of news organizations to “crusade” for gun control:
MT @froomkin: Advocating for gun control is not partisan or liberal, it is simply humane. Every news organization should be crusading for it — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) December 22, 2012
Here’s the same dude today blaming the victims of Islamic terror in Paris for not defending themselves!!!
Why didn't they have 24/7 protection? MT @jaketapper: In Nov 2011 mag published cartoon of Mohammed; offices burned to the ground that day — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) January 7, 2015
It’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.
UPDATE:
Uh oh!! Glenn wasn’t too happy with me digging up his old tweet on gun control:
Twitter, definition: Magic machine that instantly transforms complex, scary, incomprehensible world events into comforting binary idiocies. — Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) January 7, 2015
Oh we’re so simple and he’s so complex! Actually this awful event isn’t incomprehensible, but people like Glenn take comfort in pretending it is so that they don’t have to face obvious but difficult realities.Seven months after its last price cut on compute power for the cloud, Google is making good on its promise to drive cloud prices down on Google Compute Engine (GCE) at the rate of Moore’s Law. AWS did not match last year’s price cuts by Google, but instead reduced prices on Reserved Instances this past December. This week's price cut by Google is another strategic move in the Google vs. AWS pricing battle that ultimately benefits cloud consumers.
Google now has a significantly lower cost in standard compute instances vs. AWS (m3) unless you are willing to commit to pay upfront for 3-Year Reserved Instances (RIs). However, committing to a three-year time period for AWS RIs raises the risk that future price cuts will wipe out some of your expected savings if Google continues to reduce prices each year. The picture for high-memory and high-CPU VMs is more mixed, depending on your requirements and purchase options.
The price comparisons below are based on Linux in AWS US-East and Google in the U.S.
For high-memory VMs, we compared cost per GB of RAM in addition to total cost since AWS high-memory instances (r3) offer between 15 and 20 percent more memory. Google offers a lower per-hour price (unless you buy 3-Year RIs from AWS), but when calculated as cost per GB of RAM, AWS gains a price advantage for 1-Year All Upfront RIs and 3-Year RIs.High-CPU instances for Google and AWS (c3) have the same number of CPU cores, but the processors are different and AWS offers more than double the memory. While AWS specifies the processor used (2.8 GHz Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2), Google notes on its website that the processor could be one of three types (2.6GHz Intel Xeon E5 (Sandy Bridge), 2.5GHz Intel Xeon E5 v2 (Ivy Bridge), or 2.3 GHz Intel Xeon E5 v3 (Haswell) depending on the zone. Hence, it’s difficult to do an apples-to-apples “per unit of compute power” comparison. As a result, we chose the admittedly less-satisfying approach of looking at total hourly costs as well as costs per GB of RAM (given the differences in RAM specs between the two clouds). Google offers a lower per-hour cost (except when compared to AWS 3-Year RIs) but AWS c3 instances offer a lower price per GB of RAM for all purchase options. AWS c4 instance types offer an even faster processor at a nominally higher cost, so these instances may provide an even higher price-performance benefit.Google’s sustained-use discounts and AWS RIs are not a direct apples-to-apples comparison. AWS RIs require a proactive decision, a contractual commitment, and potentially some upfront payment, while Google’s sustained-use discount is automatically applied. Google has shared its “typical” hourly rates based on the average usage as calculated over all Google Compute Engine users. For those of you with a “do nothing” approach to RIs, Google can offer additional savings over AWS on-demand instances without requiring any action from you. Your individual “typical” per-hour cost will vary depending on the percentage of a month that you are running instances.
To cut your AWS bills, consider purchasing AWS RIs. AWS 1-Year No Upfront RIs can drive costs lower than Google on a per-GB of RAM basis for high-CPU instances, while changing to an upfront payment will drop costs lower than Google for high-memory instances as well.If you’re willing to go all-in with AWS, choosing 3-Year RIs with the All Upfront payment option can get you lower prices than Google across the board, but continued price cuts by Google will eat into the realized savings.Over the past nine months, AWS seems to be shifting its focus to differentiate based on features vs. costs. However, it’s been more than a year since we’ve seen significant across-the-board reductions in compute prices from AWS. It would be surprising if AWS didn’t announce price cuts sometime in 2015, but it’s yet to be seen whether the company will try to undercut Google prices or go for a “close enough” strategy. At some point, Google’s price advantages may cause more cloud users to sit up and take notice.The RightScale 2015 State of the Cloud Report found that most enterprises are implementing multi-cloud strategies and IT teams are seeking to broker a variety of cloud services. The real loser here may be internal data centers, given that Google intends to continue the drive to lower cloud prices.If you want to analyze the impact of cloud prices on your own cloud spend, get a free trial of RightScale Cloud Analytics to analyze your past cloud usage and create scenarios to forecast future spend with the latest prices on Google, AWS, and other clouds.Siri has a lot of useful functions, but is thwarting kidnap one of them? Well, no, probably not, but if you ask Siri to "charge my phone 100 percent" then it automatically starts calling the emergency services, giving you a 5-second window to cancel the call. We're not sure exactly why this happens — it could just be a bug, of course — but one consequence is that it could be used in some sort of home invasion scenario, allowing someone to secretly call the police without attracting attention.
While this sounds like a far-fetched scenario, it's not beyond the realms of possibility. Earlier this year, for example, a woman used Pizza Hut's app to alert the police that she and her children were being held hostage by a boyfriend with a knife. Asking a kidnapper if you can charge your phone with some weird passphrase is pretty innocuous by comparison. However, there's no official mention from Apple of this "function," and the only evidence of its use online is a scattering of tweets going back to early July of teens trying to prank one another with it. At least that's a believable use case.
However, we should note the obvious: don't mess around with this. Calling the emergency services "for fun" is dumb, wastes resources, and could end up with a cop at your front door.
Update July 16th, 9:10AM ET: Readers have pointed out that Siri might just be reacting to the instruction "phone" followed by any number. The command "Siri, charge my phone 911 percent" also dials the emergency services, while using other percentages (e.g. "Siri, charge my phone 560 percent") simply result in Siri trying to call that number.
Vox Video: The voice of Siri explains the art of voiceoverWe've got the first in-depth footage of Transformer: Fall of Cybertron's Dinobot hellraiser, the mighty Grimlock. This is more proof that we are in a good year for Transformers games.
Fall of Cybertron's creators sent us this clip to show off how you can play as one of the all-time Transformers greats, a great who was rescued from |
majority, but their situation isn’t even in the same universe as blacks under what was the systematic and inhumane subjugation and segregation practiced by white South Africa.
He was reacting to remarks by Secretary of State John F. Kerry. Kerry had to walk back comments comparing the fates of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territory to South Africans living under apartheid. Waters, who came under fire for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, used the same word in a December interview with CounterPunch magazine:
The situation in Israel/Palestine, with the occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the systematic racist apartheid Israeli regime is unacceptable. So for an artist to go and play in a country that occupies other people’s land and oppresses them the way Israel does, is plain wrong. They should say no. I would not have played for the Vichy government in occupied France in the Second World War, I would not have played in Berlin either during this time. Many people did, back in the day. There were many people that pretended that the oppression of the Jews was not going on. From 1933 until 1946. So this is not a new scenario. Except that this time it’s the Palestinian People being murdered.
Peace talks between Israel and Palestine broke down again last month when Israel suspended them over Hamas’s involvement in Palestinian negotiations.
Waters has also criticized Scarlett Johansson and Neil Young, accusing them of thumbing their noses at human rights. Johansson was forced to defend her position as the face of Sodastream, an Israeli company, after she resigned from her role as an Oxfam International ambassador when the organization told her she couldn’t do both. Sodastream has a factory in the West Bank; Oxfam considers the Israeli settlements there illegal. Ozzy Osbourne and Alicia Keys have also performed in Israel despite BDS campaigns urging them not to.
Guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour did not lend his name to the statement, but has participated in the Postcard for Palestine campaign.A Manawatu man who paid a woman to take part in an erotic act with his dog has gone to court to try to get the animal back.
He has also applied to be allowed to use the internet at home, something he cannot do under the 12-month intensive supervision sentence.
It was imposed in June for one charge of indecency with an animal and 16 charges of possessing objectionable material.
The man, who has permanent name suppression, appeared in Feilding District Court yesterday to vary terms of his supervision.
The man said his university studies required him to access research material through the internet, a lot of which was not available on the digital learning service he was allowed to use from his home computer.
He could use the internet at university, but it was hard to do that as he was working through 150 hours' community work and was curfewed to his house at night while he served six months' community detention.
Probation opposed both of the man's requests and said while he could access pornography at the university, its service was monitored.
Any internet access at home could allow the man to access pornographic sites that could be erased using freely available online software.
Judge Gregory Ross adjourned the applications until later this month, saying he needed more information and would need confirmation from academic staff that internet access was necessary.
"So far as the dog is concerned... I accept that there is a cost to you and that there are other issues in terms of family and younger members of the family [being] deprived of a pet."
The man's convictions stem from him paying a woman to go to his house in July 2009 and have his dog perform a sex act on her.
Over the phone he told the woman what he had in mind and when she arrived he showed her images of what he wanted her to do.
The woman took part in an indecent act and left.
She later complained to police who found illegal sexual images and DVDs at the man's house.Looking for news you can trust?
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Sara Weiss was flying home to Long Island after visiting her son in San Diego for the Fourth of July. On her way out to California, Transportation Security Administration ( tsa ) inspectors at jfk Airport had questioned Weiss about four old, heavily patched ice packs in her carry-on baggage, so she put them into her checked suitcase for the return trip. She passed through security without incident, but as she was boarding, a ticket agent asked Weiss to step out of line. Three police officers escorted her to the basement, where checked baggage is inspected.
San Diego tsa and Harbor Police interrogated Weiss for three hours. The first question they asked was, “Do you know Osama bin Laden?” They told her that their scanning equipment “went crazy” when her suitcase passed through, that her ice packs contained a “clay-like substance” similar to “what terrorists use to implant explosives,” and that “the tape all along the edges of the ice packs suggests to us they were tampered with.” Their suspicions were heightened after they searched her carry-on bag and found that Weiss (who works for the nonprofit Long Island Council of Churches and is herself Jewish) had a report on Muslim Americans.
After a hazmat team determined the ice packs were, in fact, ice packs, Weiss was released. But for some reason, the whole episode was included in the tsa ‘s weekly Suspicious Incidents Report and then highlighted as the first item in an internal tsa memo issued to security screeners on July 20 and headlined “Incidents at U.S. Airports May Suggest Possible Pre-Attack Probing.” The memo also detailed three other incidents that might “indicate terrorists are conducting pre-attack security probes and ‘dry runs’ similar to dress rehearsals.”
These other incidents involved the discovery of “several items at airports resembling improvised explosive device ( ied ) components”: a carry-on bag in Milwaukee containing “a wire coil wrapped around a possible initiator, an electrical switch, batteries, three tubes, and two blocks of cheese”; a checked bag in Houston containing “a plastic bag with a 9-volt battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals, and pipes”; and another checked bag in Baltimore containing “a plastic bag with a block of processed cheese taped to another plastic bag holding a cellular phone charger.” At the bottom of each page of the memo, set in boldface type, was the same admonition: “No portion of this report should be furnished to the media, either in written or verbal form.”
But just days later, on July 24, Brian Williams announced on nbc Nightly News that a document—”obtained tonight”—cautioned airport officials to be on alert for “terrorists [who] may be staging a kind of dry run, rehearsing for more attacks on commercial airliners.” cnn ran a similar story on its website less than two hours later, saying that it had “obtained the advisory from a government source.” The Associated Press picked up the story, which ran the next day in newspapers across the country.
The tsa issued a statement calling for calm, but the 24-hour commentariat would have none of it. cnn Headline News‘ Glenn Beck, for example, denounced the tsa ‘s backpedaling as “bull crap” and declared the original report “a new reason for you to be terrified to fly this summer.” Yes, despite explicit instructions not to panic, it was clearly time for us to panic. And the thought of terrorists conducting dry runs to test our airport security is scary—very scary—but remember that at least one of these incidents involved Sara Weiss, a self-described “66-year-old woman with a bad back.”
On July 25, a colleague who knew of Weiss’ brush with security called her at home. “Sara, you were on abc tonight,” she said. “You’re famous.” She explained that Charlie Gibson had described an incident at the San Diego airport involving “a woman in her 60s with ice packs.” As Weiss told Mother Jones, “after we finished talking, I wondered, ‘How did they find out about that? I must be on a watch list.’ That made me angry because I’d been exonerated. So I called abc, told them I was the woman to whom Charlie Gibson had referred.”
abc quickly dispatched Lisa Stark and a film crew to interview Weiss. Ten minutes before her story aired on July 26, Weiss received a call from Stark informing her that Kip Hawley, the head of the tsa, wanted to apologize and to give “some background information on why it happened.” When they spoke—Weiss says, “I had to sort of coax an apology from him, but yes, he did apologize”—Hawley said it had been “a learning experience.”
But closer scrutiny revealed the rest of the tsa memo was just as thin. Of the incident at bwi, Corporal Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, told the Washington Post that “the cheese and the charger were not a threat.” Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties told the Houston Chronicle of the incident there, “If there had been any threat at the time, we would not have let the passengers board the plane.”
Finally, tsa officials conceded that none of the incidents in the memo were quite as ominous as they sounded; that none of the investigations were, in fact, ongoing, as the original report claimed; and that none of the airports had closed down any terminals, though the memo claimed that “some” had. Less than three days after the initial nbc report, the entire story had been debunked.
Now, nobody wants to be the guy who lets the next Mohammed Atta sail through security, so maybe each of these tsa episodes can be chalked up to overzealousness or even proper zealousness. But the real question remains unanswered: Why was a bogus report—based on false alarms as old as 10 months—delivered by “a government source” to nbc and cnn for broadcast on the evening of July 24?
In answering that question, it is helpful to remember the administration’s history of conveniently timing the release of sensational terror threats. Think back to June 2002: As fbi whistleblower Coleen Rowley was set to testify before the Senate on pre-9/11 intelligence failures, John Ashcroft suddenly rigged up a satellite feed from Moscow to announce the arrest of Jose Padilla, which had actually occurred a month earlier. Ashcroft’s stunt successfully preempted Rowley’s testimony on many networks. Even today, it’s not uncommon for a terror threat to pop up just as the administration faces a political or pr challenge. (See “Wag the dhs,” below.)
Wag the DHS
incident, date what they announced Coincidence? Blue Alert #1
7/8/04 Al Qaeda “moving forward” with plans for large-scale U.S. attacks. Two days after Kerry’s VP pick produces bump in polls Blue Alert #2
7/30/04 Arrest of terrorist Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, nabbed 5 days earlier. Day after John Kerry’s convention speech Blue Alert #3
8/1/04 Pending attacks on nyc banks. Threat level raised to orange. Just after Democratic convention Sears Tower
6/22/06 fbi chief tells Larry King of Black Muslim plot against tower; later calls plot merely “aspirational.” Day that nyt reports government searching Americans’ bank records. Holland Tunnel
l7/7/06 Plot to blow up nyc tunnel; arrest made more than 2 months prior. Anniversary of London bombing Chertoff’s Gut
Summer ’07 dhs head says he has a bad feeling; cheese bomb threats leaked two weeks later. Day that Bush dusts off Iraq-9/11 “link” to boost support for surge.
So it’s worth noting that the very afternoon that the tsa memo was leaked, President Bush had delivered a speech at the Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina with the hope of ginning up support for the Iraq War. Chief among his new arguments was that Al Qaeda in Iraq was little more than a front for bin Laden’s Al Qaeda and, thus, withdrawal of our troops would threaten American security: “The facts are that Al Qaeda terrorists killed Americans on 9/11; they’re fighting us in Iraq and across the world, and they are plotting to kill Americans here at home again.” The White House characterized the speech as a “surge of facts,” though congressional Democrats were quick to point out that, in fact, the president had declined to provide details on the basis for his claims. Senator John Kerry said that Bush was simply “trying to scare the American people” into supporting the war.
Within hours, nbc and cnn had the internal tsa memo in hand and were reporting it—without checking any of its claims. You would think that after being fooled by tales of mobile weapons labs, yellowcake uranium, and aluminum tubes, the media would treat such tales with a bit more skepticism. This memo never should have passed the sniff test; why on earth would tsa release cheese bombers it believed to be Al Qaeda and allow them to continue on their merry way?Photo by Robin May
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal has sided with Stirling Properties — and its legal spinoffs created for construction of Ambassador Town Center — in an ever-evolving, acrimonious legal battle with two prominent Lafayette families that have extensive real estate holdings in the Hub City and with whom Stirling entered into a legal arrangement it no doubt regrets.
In the latest legal entanglement between the parties, the appeals court backed a lower court ruling by 15th Judicial District Court Judge Ed Rubin in favor of Stirling in a dispute over a retention pond installed to jointly benefit drainage at Ambassador Town Center and the adjacent, still-undeveloped land owned by GBB Properties Two and DBR Properties. (The B in both companies’ names stands for Boustany; the R in DBR is short for Reggie — powerful, politically connected families that have intermingled by marriage, own lots of land in Acadiana and whose progeny include prominent members of the business and legal communities, a former Lafayette coroner and most famously his son, former Congressman-turned-DC lobbyist Charles Boustany.)
According to the 3rd Circuit opinion released last week, the parties “agreed they would maintain the pond jointly and share expenses pro-rata and negotiated a written agreement that the reflected same titled ‘Pond Maintenance and Drainage Servitude Agreement’ (PMDSA). This agreement was never signed, however, because the parties entered into discussions with the Parish of Lafayette to have the pond dedicated to the Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) and for LCG to maintain the pond.”
More from the 3rd Circuit opinion:
Consequently, the parties then entered into a Drainage Servitude Agreement (DSA) on December 19, 2014, which contained the same terms as the PMDSA, but with all references to maintenance removed. It is not disputed that the DSA is the only written agreement between the parties and that it is silent regarding pond maintenance, but explicitly states that it “contains the complete understanding and agreement of the parties hereto with respect to all matters referred to herein, and all prior representations, negotiations, and understandings are superseded hereby.” After learning that LCG would not accept the dedication, Town Center requested that [GBB/DBR] jointly maintain the pond and share expenses as originally agreed upon, which [GBB/DBR] refused to do.
Thus began the suit and counter suit that wound up before Judge Rubin, who opined at the conclusion of the case in state district court that the “evidence indicates that there was a meeting of minds, such that maintenance of the ‘Pond’ became an asset which benefits all of the property owners. As such, all parties are responsible for, and shall jointly share in the expenses related to the Pond’s maintenance.”
The fight over the retention pond is just the latest salvo in an ongoing battle between GBB/DBR and Stirling.
As ABiz reported almost exactly a year ago in a story titled “Disturbing Development”:
In June (2016), a pair of companies — GBB Properties and DBR Properties — filed suit against the Ambassador Town Center developers led by Stirling Properties, accusing the developers of reneging on an agreement to add infrastructure improvements to 65 acres GBB and DBR own adjacent to Ambassador Town Center. Those 65 acres were included in the PILOT — payment in lieu of taxes — deal Stirling got from the Industrial Development Board in 2014 to help bankroll the public infrastructure needed for the development to work.
Stirling filed a counter suit that revealed GBB/DBR’s legal sleight of hand arising from a controversial application of the “agricultural” property-tax classification. Read that ABiz story here.An unexpected explosive eruption rocked Bogoslof in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. The eruption was noticed by pilots flying near the remote volcano along with satellite imagery (see below) that revealed an ash plume reaching up 10 kilometers (32,000 feet). However impressive that plume might be, it appears that the eruption didn't last too long, as pilots passing the volcano less than an hour later noted much diminished activity.
Update 10:30 am EST on 12/22: Bogoslof had a second big explosive eruption during the night of 12/21. The plume might have been slightly taller than the first explosion, topping out at 10.6 kilometers (35,000 feet). Just like the first eruption, the activity was short-lived, with the explosions ending within 30 minutes. These eruptions have been full of volcanic lightning (see below), which is characteristic of vulcanian eruptions that eject mostly old material in the vent area (Note: after some discussion with folks in the know, these eruptions likely have a lot of interaction with seawater, creating fine ash that is prone to lightning.This Surtseyan style of eruption is a mix of new magma and water to create some of the dramatic explosions). Vulcanian eruptions can be isolated events or the opening salvo of longer periods of activity, so Bogoslof will be very interesting to watch over the next few weeks. The volcano currently sits at Orange/Watch status.
Bogoslof on satellite images from 12/20:
If you look at a map, Bogoslof doesn't look like much, just a small island in the Bering Sea. However, when you consider the fact that the volcano rises 1,500 meters (~4,900 feet) from the seafloor, you can appreciate that it isn't a tiny feature. The last known eruption of Bogoslof was in 1992 when it produced a VEI 3 eruption and a new dome. Since 1796, it has produced a half dozen VEI 2-3 explosive events from different vents on the island. A number of small islands have come and gone over the last 400 years as lava domes have formed during eruptions of Bogoslof, only to be eroded or destroyed. Today, only about 300 meters (~1,000 feet) of the volcano sticks above the ocean waters in the form of impressive spires of lava. It will be interesting to see if the new eruption is the start of a new dome-building period at Bogoslof like those that occurred in 1883 and 1796.
There is nothing in the way of realtime monitoring (like seismometers) for a volcano like Bogoslof, all alone in the Bering Sea north of Unalaska. Only about 4,300 people live within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the volcano, but as the reports suggest, there is an awful lot of air traffic that crosses the Aleutian Islands, heading from North America to Asia. The quick notices from the Volcano Ash Advisory Centers (VAAC) about eruptions like this one from an unexpected source like Bogoslof are vital for air traffic controllers and airlines to change routes and avoid volcanic ash hazards for aircraft.
As of the morning of December 21, AVO has Bogoslof on an Orange/Watch status, lowering it from Red/Warning after no signs of continuing eruptions were seen overnight.Story highlights Haley and Trump have had a rocky relationship
They will be meeting on Thursday
Washington (CNN) South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is under consideration by President-elect Donald Trump for secretary of state, and other cabinet positions, a transition source told CNN Wednesday, despite their rocky history.
Trump is going to meet with Haley, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Cincinnati Mayor Ken Blackwell, Admiral Mike Rogers and Rep. Jeb Hensarling on Thursday, according to Trump's communication director Jason Miller and Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer.
Haley, South Carolina's first female and Indian-American governor, had spent most of the election season criticizing Trump, including taking aim at him during her high-profile role giving the Republican response to the State of the Union
"During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices," Haley said at the time from the governor's residence in Columbia. "We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country."
Read MoreDespite the best efforts of activists, more whales are killed now than two decades ago. To people who think killing the majestic creatures is wrong, it's a tragic state of affairs – but perhaps markets could sort it out.
That's the premise of a controversial proposal floated Jan. 11 in the high-profile journal Nature. Hunters could buy the right to kill whales. Conservationists could pay to save them.
"At worst, you end up with a sustainably caught number of whales that is well-studied. At best, you'd have whales taken off the market," said environmental economist Christopher Costello of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Costello's proposal comes 25 years after the International Whaling Commission outlawed commercial whaling. The ban has proved difficult to enforce: Norway and Iceland openly defy it, while Japanese hunters operate under the guise of scientific research.
Approximately 1,600 whales, mostly fin and minke, are killed each year by hunters from those countries. Another 350 are killed by hunters from indigenous Arctic communities. Altogether, about twice as many whales are killed now as were killed in the early 1990s. To Costello and his co-authors, biologists Steve Gaines and Leah Gerber, this represents a failure of current conservation approaches.
Certainly the impasse between pro- and anti-whaling forces has proved difficult to break: Conflict is less about the survival of species – minke and fin whale populations are relatively healthy – than the ethics of killing any whales at all. The researchers hope that a market could at least provide a common ground, with, "You're wrong!" replaced by, "How much are they worth to you?"
The proposed market would be patterned after a system known best known from fisheries management as catch shares: Sustainable harvest levels are quantified, a maximum quota established, and catch allotments put up for sale by the International Whaling Commission. Costello's proposal would add the crucial wrinkle of allowing activists to buy shares, too. If they did, a corresponding number of whales would be removed from the quota. (Indigenous groups would receive a set number of shares to be owned in perpetuity, apart from the market – though those could conceivably be sold, too.)
Minke whale. Photo: Martin Cathrae/Flickr
According to Costello's estimates, global whaling profits amount to $31 million, and likely less when government subsidies are removed. Mainstream anti-whaling groups – Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and the World Wildlife Fund – spend about $25 million to fight the hunts.
"This money could be used to purchase whales, arguably with the same or better effect," write the researchers in Nature.
Of course, another difference between proposed whale markets and fisheries catch shares is fundamental nature of whales. The best-studied species are extraordinarily intelligent and highly social, possessing culture, possibly language and perhaps even the capacity to forgive. Sperm and humpback whales fit any reasonable definition of personhood that doesn't hinge on being human; many other whale species probably do, too, except they haven't been so formally studied.
Against this perspective, any whale killing is wrong, and a whale market would only institutionalize an immoral practice.
"The authors have the premise wrong. The division between the pro- and anti-whaling factions is not fundamentally over an environmental difference, it is over a philosophical one. Are whales 'persons' who should be treated as persons, or are they resources?" said Hal Whitehead, a Dalhousie University biologist who has studied whales since the late 1970s.
Continued Whitehead, "Trading resources is fine, and although those on that side might quibble about features of the proposed system, it could work. Trading persons is basically slavery, although in this case rather worse than slavery, as the slaves, once bought, are to be killed."
Costello's team thinks that argument is principled but impractical. "Unless all nations can be convinced or forced to adopt this view, whaling will continue," they write. In conversation, Costello rejoined, "We've been trying the same ideas for 30 years and haven't been effective. Here we're presenting a new idea to reduce whale deaths, and they're digging in their heels."
"We do need fresh approaches," said Patrick Ramage, whale program director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare. But Ramage said that fresh approaches are now being tried, with the "if we hug them harder, the whales will survive" campaigns of the 1970s giving way to negotiations with local groups.
"The case needs to be made to decision-makers in Tokyo, Oslo and Reykjavik, who are going to decide to end whaling for reasons that make sense to them," Ramage said. "The idea that we somehow get to avoid this difficult work is a delusion."
According to Ramage, modern commercial whaling depends for its existence on government subsidies. On this point, at least, he and Costello agreed; but whereas Ramage sees subsidies as evidence that whaling as an industry is vulnerable to continued pressure, Costello sees an advantage for conservationists.
"I had a prominent conservationist say to me, 'What's it going to cost to buy 1,000 whales and take them off the market? And I said, 'It's hard to know, but let's say $20 million.' He said, 'I can have that money tomorrow,'" said Costello. "The profits of whalers don't exceed the funding of anti-whalers."
To be sure, a number of details remain to be worked out: What would the IWC do with the money raised by selling hunting rights? If whales were taken off the market, but whalers persisted in hunting, how could that be stopped? "The idea that an Ayn Rand free-market solution will just magically arrive like Venus on a half shell, and that problems will be resolved, is unrealistic," said Ramage. "Real efforts are just not that simple."
"Conservationists say they don't want to put a price tag on a whale," Costello said. "But right now, the price of a whale is zero."
Citation: "A market approach to saving the whales." By Christopher Costello, Leah R. Gerber and Steven Gaines. Nature, Jan. 12, 2012.The minimum wage debate has seen Republicans defending the status quo as they usually do to support corporations over workers in a variety of ways and ludicrous sound bites. We can now add California Rep. Tom McClintock to the list of idiots.
In today's America, earning ten dollars an hour is not going to really support a family in any meaningful way or be considered a good living wage, but is a necessary step to improve conditions for low-wage earners. However, in Rep. McClintock's view, raising the minimum wage would not help them and only destroy our entire fabric of employment.
Raw Story:
California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock said on Thursday that the minimum wage should not be raised because low pay was necessary for minorities and other unskilled workers who were not worth more than $7 an hour. During an appearance on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, host Greta Brawner asked McClintock if he could get behind a presidential candidate like Mitt Romney, who is one of an increasing number of Republicans saying that the minimum wage should beat least $10.10 an hour. But McClintock argued that raising the minimum wage would “rip the first rung in the ladder of opportunity for teenagers, for minorities, for people who are trying to get into the job market for their first job.” “It’s not supposed to support a family. The minimum wage is that first job when you have no skills, no experience, no working history. That’s how you get into the job market, that’s how you develop that experience, develop that work record, get your first raise, then your next raise, then your promotion.”
Marshall Auerback writes a very good piece in Alternet called: Top 5 Reasons Why Raising the Minimum Wage Is Good for You and Me
After reading that, who are you going to believe?If you missed our live teach-in yesterday on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and its restrictive, anti-user provisions, you can still check out the video of our discussion. It's embedded below. We invited experts from digital rights groups from several TPP countries—all members of the Fair Deal Coalition—and we discussed the various ways this massive, secret trade deal threatens our rights on the Internet and over our digital devices.
A recent leak of the TPP's Intellectual Property chapter confirmed that the provisions on anti-circumvention, copyright terms, ISP liability, and criminal enforcement has further deteriorated. But it also revealed new, dangerously vague text on the misuse of trade secrets which could be used to enact harsh criminal punishments against anyone who reveals or even accesses information through a "computer system" that is allegedly confidential. This language could have alarming consequences if nations are obligated to enact new laws that could be used to crack down on journalists and whistle blowers.
We held this teach-in because things are moving fast now. President Obama and the US Trade Representative are determined to conclude this agreement, organizing dozens of meetings with TPP delegates to resolve some of the longstanding disagreements in the text. On the US front, Congress is likely to introduce another Fast Track bill in January that would tie these representatives' own hands from debating or modifying the terms of this agreement after the White House has secretively negotiated it for years.
When the time comes, we’ll need to step up the fight against this agreement on a coordinated, global front. So watch this video, share it, and continue to spread the world about this secret, Hollywood-driven agenda to chip away at our digital rights.A quest to create the world’s only flightworthy Bugatti 100P replica ended in tragedy on Saturday when builder Scotty Wilson was killed in a crash of the airplane shortly after takeoff from Clinton Sherman Airport in Burns Flat, Oklahoma.
Video of the takeoff showed the airplane struggling to gain altitude before it turned sharply left and crashed in a fireball in a field near the airport.
The 100P is an unusual 1930s design that was the vision of Ettore Bugatti, who hoped to race the plane and perhaps sell the design as a potent French fighter. It promised record speeds from a combination of supercharged Grand Prix engines, contra-rotating propellers and forward-swept wings. But Germany’s invasion of France at the outset of WWII forced Bugatti to hide the 100P in a barn in the French countryside before it could ever be flown. It was rediscovered in the 1970s, brought to America and now resides in the EAA museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, having never taken flight.
Wilson, an Air Force veteran with more than 11,000 hours of flight time in everything from F-16s to corporate jets, hoped to reverse engineer Bugatti’s airplane. Wilson and his team reportedly spent more than $400,000 and 10,000 man hours to build the replica, which featured a pair of 450 hp racecar engines placed in tandem just behind the single-seat cockpit.
The first test flight last August ended with nose damage when the brakes failed on landing and the 100P veered off the runway. It flew again, successfully, in October. Saturday’s test flight was the 100P’s third, and was intended to be the last. A crew member told local NBC affiliate KFOR that Wilson planned on retiring the plane to a museum after Saturday’s flight.It's officially the Arkansas State Red Wolves spring game, but for two celebrated alums, it's Homecoming. Joining the team as "celebrity guest defensive coaches" on Friday night are Demario Davis and Don Jones, current Cleveland Browns and two of the most feared defensive players in A-State history.
Can't wait to make it to the great Arkansas stAte University. Gonna be an epic weekend in Jonesboro! Spring game... https://t.co/euiCye4ct5 — Demario Davis #56 (@demario__davis) April 14, 2016
Lol it's on like Neckbone! https://t.co/Vtcl2qInRW — Don Jones II (@Don_Jones5) April 6, 2016
Spring game tomorrow night at 6pm, but come meet the "celebrity" coaches tomorrow morning at 10am #HowlYes pic.twitter.com/ii7cXarlJH — A-State Football (@RedWolvesFBall) April 14, 2016
Also taking part, Sports Illustrated columnist Thayer Evans, who will serve as celebrity head coach.
Evans is accepting play-calling requests on Twitter. I was already helpful in this regard:
You must call Hide The Midget, @ThayerEvansSI. But you have to make @Liner_25 the midget. https://t.co/bhY97fcyft — A-State Fan Rules (@AStateFanRules) April 13, 2016
No word as of yet if Evans plans to use this great advice and employ 300lb Dee Liner for Hide the Midget. But the event should be spectacular regardless. The Red Wolves Spring Game also features a number of surprise guest coaches thanks to another one of Coach Blake Anderson's spring game theatrics – Be An Assistant Coach (for $1000).
Spring Gm "Guest" Assistant Staff HALF FULL!!! 5 spots remaining for an AWESOME EXPERIENCE call NOW...870-972-2401 pic.twitter.com/fNY9ubTUy0 — Blake Anderson (@CHbanderson) April 8, 2016
In addition to the game (which should be a nice showcase of A-State speed and size), fans will have the opportunity to appear on the official 2016 Arkansas State football poster by using a photo booth that will be located on the west concourse. Comb your hair.
Three Things to Look For at the Red Wolves Spring Game
1. Quarterback Resolution
Justice Hansen, James Tabary, and Cameron Birse have battled all spring long for signal-caller supremacy. The Spring Game should end with one candidate rising to the top.
2. New Heights
Much has been made of Red Wolves speed this spring, but Arkansas State is also taller at key skill positions this year:
2015: QB Knighten 5'11", WRs McKissic 5'11", Houston 6'2", Trosin 5'11"
2016: QB Hansen 6'4"*, WRs Bayless 6'3", Echols-Luper 6', McInnis 6'6"
*Not an endorsement of Hansen; he's just the tallest of the QB contenders.
3. Oh-Oh Line
Thanks to injuries, the Red Wolves offensive line looked super-thin at the Little Rock Scrimmage. Fans will want to keep an eye on who suits up and who performs well.
The Red Wolves Spring Game kicks-off at 6PM on Friday Night. The first 2,000 in attendance receive a free schedule poster.
##Former French heavy tank
The ARL 44 was a French heavy tank of which the development started just before the end of the Second World War. Only sixty of these tanks were ever completed, from 1949 onwards. The type proved to be unsatisfactory and was phased out in 1953.
Development [ edit ]
During the German occupation some clandestine tank development took place in France, mostly limited to component design or the building of tracked chassis with either a pretended civilian use or with a Kriegsmarine destination. These efforts were coordinated by CDM (Camouflage du Matériel), a secret Vichy army organisation trying to produce matériel forbidden by the armistice conditions, with the ultimate goal of combining these components into the design of a possible future thirty ton battle tank, armed with a 75 mm gun. The projects were very disparate, including those for a trolleybus, the Caterpillar du Transsaharien (a regular cross-Sahara track and rail connection) and a tracked snow blower for the Kriegsmarine to be used in Norway. Firms involved were Laffly and Lorraine; also a military design team in occupied France, headed by Maurice Lavirotte, was active.[1]
When in August 1944 Paris was liberated, the new provisional government of France did its utmost to regain the country's position as a great power, trying to establish its status as a full partner among the Allies by contributing as much as possible to the war effort. One of the means to accomplish this was to quickly restart tank production. Before the war France had been the world's second largest tank producer, behind the Soviet Union. On 9 October 1944, the Ministry of War decided to start production of a char de transition, "transitional tank".[2]
However, French pre-war light and medium designs had become completely outdated and there was no way to quickly make up for the time lost and immediately improve their component quality. It might be possible though to compensate for this by sheer size. A large and well-armed vehicle might still be useful, however obsolescent its individual parts were, especially as the British and Americans seemed to be behind Germany in heavy tank development, having no operational vehicles that were equal to the Tiger II in its combination of firepower and armour. An important secondary goal of the project was simply to ensure that France would in the future have a sufficient number of weapons engineers; if these could not be employed now, they would be forced to seek other occupations and much expertise would be lost.
Consequently, on 25 November it was decided to produce five hundred heavy tanks, to be designed by the Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armement (DEFA) in which engineers from the former APX (the army Atelier de Puteaux) and AMX (the Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux state factory) design teams were concentrated, and built by the Atelier de Construction de Rueil ( |
-brokered peace talks, Israel's war last summer in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, and continued Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem have added to the distrust.
Washington 'deeply concerned'
About 200,000 Jewish Israelis live in settlement areas like Ramot that ring east Jerusalem to help cement Israeli control.
The Israeli announcement came before Kerry's scheduled meeting in Jordan with King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the situation in Jerusalem. There was no immediate plan for Kerry to travel to Israel.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington was "deeply concerned" by the decision.
"These decisions to expand construction have the potential to exacerbate this difficult situation on the ground, and they will not contribute to efforts to reduce the tension," she added.
Under a longstanding arrangement, Jordan holds custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, including the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
It is the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred place in Judaism. Jews are permitted to visit, but prayer by non-Muslims is banned.A decade ago Hurricane Katrina terrorized the Gulf Coast. What began as a tropical depression over the Bahamas quickly spun up into an unstoppable beast of wind and water that laid waste to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. New Orleans and its surrounding communities endured hours of surging water that quickly toppled inadequate defenses and flooded the region under more than three meters of water in some places. More than 1,800 people died during the storm and its aftermath, which left an estimated 600,000 families homeless.
The failure of New Orleans’s flood protection system was epic. The city, founded nearly 300 years ago, was built on low-lying marshland along the Mississippi River. After Hurricane Betsy battered New Orleans in September 1965 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began to build a network of levees and floodwalls—also called I-walls—to protect the Big Easy and adjacent parishes (counties). Unfortunately, planners never anticipated a storm surge of Katrina’s magnitude.
During and after that tempest billions of liters of water from the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain overwhelmed or outright destroyed the city’s flood protections. Storm water pouring over the concrete floodwalls in many places eroded away the soil on the other side that gave those structures their footing. As the bottom of the I-shaped walls was laid bare, the water pressure behind them toppled or pushed them aside. Meanwhile many of the pump stations installed to evacuate water from canals behind certain floodwalls were rendered useless, drowned by in the very water they were supposed to be siphoning away, according to a 2007 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) report aptly titled “What Went Wrong and Why.”
The New Orleans hurricane protection system’s main shortcoming: It wasn’t actually a system. Instead, it was constructed as individual pieces based on bad math. “Levee builders used an incorrect datum to measure levee elevations—resulting in many levees not being built high enough,” according to the ASCE report. Some were nearly a meter lower than the intended design elevation, the report states. Add to that a poorly coordinated and executed disaster response plan—at both the national and local levels—and the stage was set for Katrina’s destructive rampage.
Surely, the U.S. is ready for the next Katrina or Hurricane Sandy, right? To find out Scientific American spoke with Robert Traver, a civil engineering professor at Villanova University and co-author of the ASCE report. Traver surveyed Katrina’s destruction firsthand after the storm, serving as a member of the ASCE External Review Panel that helped the Corps investigate the hurricane protection system’s catastrophic breakdown.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
How did you get involved in the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineer’s investigation of the New Orleans hurricane protection system after Katrina?
A couple of weeks after Katrina the Corps contracted the American Society of Civil Engineers to provide quality control for the [Corps’s] study of the storm’s aftermath. We were there to make sure the right questions were being asked and the right processes were being used to understand what had happened.
The ASCE published a report with lessons learned after your post-Katrina work. What were the most important takeaways?
Three were especially important: The first is that there wasn’t an overall systems approach to the region’s hurricane protection system. One of the first questions I asked was: What was the plan for when water overtopped the levees? There wasn’t one. In addition, the water pumping stations were designed for heavy rainfall, not for hurricanes. They didn’t have alternate power sources or safe housing for the people working there. And in at least one of the levees that caused flooding, there were actually areas where the levee was intentionally built lower to the ground in order to protect the pump stations by relieving some of the water pressure. There were also inconsistencies in how the levees and pump stations worked together. That’s probably because the Army Corps of Engineers had built the levees while the city was in charge of the pump stations. I don't know how to say it nicely, but that [lack of coordination] was just incredible to me.
What were the other key observations?
The second important lesson to be learned is the great failure of communication in terms of making sure people understood how risky it is to live in New Orleans. Before Katrina the residents didn’t seem to fully understand this, even though the information was available to people making the decisions down there. The Corps pretty much described what would happen in the event of a major storm every year when they put out their request to Congress for funding. And the ASCE, in its Civil Engineering magazine, had published an article two years before Katrina that talked about exactly what would happen during a major storm. Still, people felt safe behind the levees so they wouldn’t leave.
The third lesson—and this applied to Sandy on the east coast a few years later, too—is that you need an analysis of the risk and consequences of failure. If you've never taken a close look at what would happen if water overtops your storm protections, then you won’t know what’s needed in terms of an evacuation plan and other emergency planning.
Have any of these lessons been taken to heart?
Since Katrina the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has done a lot of mapping of storm surges along the coasts, trying to give themselves a sense of the risk of flooding during different sized storms. Somebody asked me a question recently about whether I’m worried about New Orleans or the New Jersey Shore in the event of another major storm. No, I’m not worried about them, because they’ve recently been through it. I’m worried about all the places that haven’t been hit.
What has the government done since Katrina to help avoid a similar catastrophe in that region?
Okay, this one is tougher. I am better at the engineering, but one thing they tried was the [Water Resources Development Act of 2007], which is supposed to give the Army [Corps] the ability to find the areas where we’re vulnerable. Unfortunately [the Corps’s] study was never funded or completed.
On the other hand, the Army Corps of Engineers did a lot of work to raise the levees higher and improve other storm protections down in New Orleans. And they’ve also redesigned all the pump stations so they can operate during a hurricane, by installing alternative fuel supplies, better communication systems and places where the workers can go when they need shelter during a storm. Where the canals empty at Lake Pontchartrain, they’ve added massive new pump stations that send water to Lake Pontchartrain if it starts to get too high on the levees in the canals. This takes some stress off the levees. That’s important because if a levee is destroyed, there’s nothing you can do to fix it right away.
Are the Gulf and east coasts better prepared for the next Katrina or Sandy?
These areas now know what the low-hanging fruit is when it comes to being ready. That includes improving the pump stations to protect the levees, raising the height of the levees and dunes, adding in overflow protection and raising the homes they’re protecting. Even adding sand dunes where they had never been built because people had wanted a good view of the ocean from their houses. But there are some places where you just can’t build or engineer your way out of danger. There are some low-lying areas where all you can say is, when this is eventually destroyed we should not rebuild in this area. But unless that is identified before the hurricane, that line of thinking is not always followed, because we’re a compassionate country and after a storm hits we want to help people rebuild their homes, regardless of where they were. As a nation we don't really do a very great job of tying in the consequences of building in a location to our zoning codes and building codes.The bank is under more pressure from the United States (Keystone)
A Miami judge has authorised United States officials to seek information from Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, on taxpayers suspected of evading income taxes.
The order gives the US Internal Revenue Service permission to serve a summons on UBS to obtain information on possible fraud by people whose identities are unknown.
Some observers see the decision as putting further pressure on Switzerland's traditional banking secrecy laws.
US district judge Joan Lenard granted the so-called "John Doe" summons a day after the justice department made what it called an unprecedented request for the records, part of an IRS investigation into services provided to US clients from 2000 to 2007.
Also on Tuesday UBS announced that four board members were stepping down later this year, in the wake of huge losses as a result of the US subprime mortgage crisis.
The UBS share price closed 5.3 per cent down at SFr20.3 ($19.94). But at the close of trading on Wednesday it had recovered to SFr20.62, up by 1.58 per cent.
Under pressure
UBS is also under pressure to overhaul its business after reporting more than $37 billion in writedowns during the global credit turmoil.
The summons will allow the IRS to obtain information about US taxpayers who have UBS bank accounts but did not file forms detailing their taxable income.
"The order clears the way for the IRS to take the next step against wealthy clients who don't pay their taxes," commented IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a statement.
"People with hidden foreign accounts can no longer rest easy."
"Working diligently"
The bank said it was taking the matter "very seriously" and was "working diligently with both Swiss and US government authorities, consistent with Swiss law and the legal frameworks for intergovernmental cooperation and assistance".
No demand for administrative cooperation has yet been made by US authorities but if one were to be approved by the Swiss authorities, they would then ask UBS for the data of the clients concerned.
The issue will then be if there has been tax evasion or tax fraud. Switzerland does not regard tax evasion as a criminal offence, an issue that has repeatedly been criticised by the European Union and others.
While a Swiss parliamentary commission is preoccupied with the consequences of the case for Switzerland as a financial centre, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)and the finance ministry have taken a more relaxed stance.
"According to the information we have at the moment, it is not an issue that affects banking secrecy," commented Thomas Sutter from the SBA in Basel. He noted that the case was specific to UBS.
Conspiring to defraud
A former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, pleaded guilty in Florida last month to conspiring to defraud the IRS by assisting UBS clients in avoiding US reporting requirements on income in Swiss bank accounts.
According to Bireknfeld's court statement, UBS employees helped wealthy US clients to conceal their ownership of assets held offshore by creating bogus entities and then filing IRS forms falsely claiming the entities owned the accounts.
On one occasion, Birkenfeld helped a client by purchasing diamonds with the client's Swiss bank account funds and then smuggling them into the US inside a toothpaste tube, according to a grand jury indictment.
Birkenfeld said in court that UBS had about $20 billion of assets under management in "undeclared" accounts for US taxpayers.
swissinfo with agencies
Tough times UBS endured a tough 2007 and has spent the first half of 2008 in no better shape as a result of the United States subprime mortgage crisis.
In October 2007, UBS said it would cut 1,500 jobs in its investment banking arm, including that of its head Huw Jenkins. UBS chief financial officer, Clive Standish, left at the same time.
Later that month the bank announced it was writing off SFr4.2 billion on subprime losses and SFr726 million pre-tax loss for the third quarter – the first quarterly loss in nine years.
In December UBS said another $10 billion would be written off as the US subprime crisis deepened. It also announced plans for a SFr13 billion funding plan from Singapore and Middle East investors.
A further $4 billion was written off in January, bringing the total losses to around SFr20 billion. Another SFr19 billion was written off in April, accompanied by the news of Marcel Ospel's resignation as chairman. The bank sought to raise another SFr15 billion through a rights issue.
In May, the bank announced a further 5,500 job cuts as it posted first quarter losses of SFr11.5 billion. end of infobox
John Doe summons Such a summons is made when the name of the taxpayer under investigation is unknown and therefore not specifically identified.
It can only be served after approval by a US federal court.
The IRS says the purpose of a John Doe summons must be to investigate the tax liability of a specific unidentified taxpayer or group of taxpayers, even if a secondary purpose is to gather information for research purposes. end of infobox
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SWI swissinfo.ch on Instagram SWI swissinfo.ch on InstagramOn the last Sunday in November, Terry Waldron waded into the surf at Nye Beach in Newport and filled a plastic bucket from the frigid Pacific Ocean.
The salty water now sits in a laboratory across the country, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, awaiting testing on highly sensitive equipment.
Waldron is part of a corps of West Coast citizen scientists sampling ocean water near their homes for traces of radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on the other side of the Pacific.
New data from Woods Hole shows very low levels of Fukushima radiation about 400 miles due west of Newport, as well as at other offshore sites along the West Coast.
At current levels, the radiation is not expected to harm humans or the environment.
But in the absence of federal monitoring, citizens such as Waldron have taken it upon themselves test for its arrival on beaches.
"My husband surfs a lot. He lived in Newport for 12 years before we met," Waldron said. "He has cancer, and we eat a lot of fish. I have a lot of reasons to want to conduct a test like this."
Waldron's sampling site is the fourth in Oregon and joins more than three dozen from the Gulf of Alaska to San Diego.
Woods Hole chemical oceanographer Ken Buesseler runs the project, called Our Radioactive Ocean, from his lab in Massachusetts.
So far citizen science tests haven't found Fukushima radiation on shores, he said.
But Buesseler also joined forces with the captain of a marine research vessel to take offshore samples.
In October, he reported that a sample taken about 745 miles west of Vancouver, British Columbia, tested positive for Cesium 134, the so-called "fingerprint" of Fukushima because it could only have come from the plant.
It also showed higher-than-background levels of Cesium 137, another Fukushima isotope that already is present in the world's oceans from nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s.
Last month, as more of those samples were processed, Buesseler reported that Fukushima radiation had been identified in 10 offshore samples, including one 100 miles off the coast of Eureka, Calif.
Now, further results show four positive samples off Oregon's shores, with the closest off Newport.
The samples were taken Aug. 4 at depths between 49 and 490 feet.
Further samples from the research cruise await processing.
Buesseler now is teaming up with scientists at the University of Victoria in Canada on a similar project called InFORM, for Integrated Fukushima Ocean Radionuclide Monitoring.
It includes about a dozen sites along the British Columbia coast where volunteer citizens are regularly collecting water and seafood samples for analysis.
Loew also reports for the (Salem, Ore.) Statesman Journal
© 2014 USA Today
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLCThe self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in the nation” is required to fix jails that do not meet constitutional minimums when it comes to food quality and housing conditions, a federal appellate court ruled Wednesday.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s appeal of District Court Judge Neil Wake’s 2008 ruling that mandated Maricopa County, Arizona change the conditions of its jails.
In the 2008 trial, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) alleged that the Sheriff’s Office fed pre-trial detainees moldy bread, rotten fruit, and other contaminated food and held them in prison cells hot enough to endanger their health.
As a press release by the ACLU explains, Judge Wake’s ruling required Sheriff Arpaio to “end severe overcrowding and ensure all detainees receive necessary medical and mental health care, be given uninterrupted access to all medications prescribed by correctional medical staff, be given access to exercise and to sinks, toilets, toilet paper and soap and be served food that meets or exceeds the US Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines.”
“Today’s ruling is further confirmation that even a man who likes to brag about being the toughest sheriff in the nation has to follow the US Constitution,” said Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the ACLU National Prison Project and lead counsel for the detainees. “Sheriff Arpaio’s unconscionable treatment of the thousands of pre-trial detainees in his custody has gone on far too long.”
Sheriff Arpaio “likes to portray himself as a hard man and merciless hunter of illegal immigrants, the boss of a prison where inmates live outdoors in tents, even in hellish summer heat,” Agence France-Presse reported in May. “They are dressed in black and white striped uniforms copied from old American movies.”
They also are forced to wear pink underwear, and to work in chain gangs of up 20 people, cleaning streets or painting walls, with shackles on their feet. At the top of a prison watchtower, a sign flashes the word “vacancy,” one more of Sheriff Joe’s grim jokes. […] The sheriff has succeeded in creating a climate of fear in Arizona’s migrant community, but he is also being watched very closely by the federal government.
In September, the Department of Justice sued Sheriff Arpaio for refusing to turn over documents related to a civil rights probe.
“The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office’s defiance “unprecedented,” and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in his jails that discriminate against people with limited English skills,” reported the Associated Press.
On August 17th, a lawyer for Arpaio stated the sheriff would not comply because the request was too broad, as Raw Story reported.
The Sheriff’s Office of Maricopa County has also been accused of surveilling potential political rivals.
“Deputy Chief Frank Munnell alleges that the department’s number-two officer, Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott, used the department’s anti-corruption unit to spy on political rivals,” Raw Story reported in September.We can put a man on the moon, but we don't know why zebras have stripes.
While you'd think science would have sorted this particular mystery out by now, there isn't a conclusive answer to explain zebras' stripes. But a new study suggests that one explanation is stronger than the others: temperature. The researchers with the University of California at Los Angeles published their findings Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
For this study, researchers looked at 16 sites where you can find plains zebras, the common species of zebra that are found from eastern Africa to South Africa. The stripes that plains zebras sport vary by region; some have strong black and white striping all over their bodies, while others have thinner stripes or not as many.
After examining 29 different environmental factors, including prevalence of biting flies, heat and predators, the researchers found that temperature had the strongest correlation with stripe patterns. And while they can't say for sure why temperature differences account for the patterns, they suggest it may be related to body temperature regulation, with black stripes absorbing heat while the white stripes reflect it.
The researchers also said they found no evidence to support the theory that avoiding predators plays a role in stripping patterns.
Earlier this year, a group of University of California atDavis researchers said a different explanation accounted for the stripes: that disease-carrying biting flies drove zebras to evolve stripes. They published their findings in the journal Nature Communications. Those researchers mapped out zebras' geographic ranges and overlaid them with the ranges of large predators and two types of flies: tsetse flies and horseflies. They also looked at temperature.
Although the UCLA researchers behind this most recent study write they didn't find "clear support" for the theory of avoiding biting flies or predators, they acknowledge that zebra striping is likely the result of complex factors.
And they write that more research is needed to into whether zebra stripes function as an optical illusion for potential predators or biting insects.
"While stripes clearly create confusion in the constrained environment of a computer screen, this same phenomenon may not occur on a larger scale under normal conditions," they write. "Larger scale experiments using live animals or a virtual system are clearly warranted."0 Apopka police officer investigated after causing crash
APOPKA, Fla. - An Apopka police officer is under investigation for causing a crash that seriously hurt another driver.
Pam Bowers told WFTV the officer walked away from her after she told him she was hurt.
Bowers said she was driving home from work Monday night on State Road 441 when the officer cut in front of her without his turn signal or sirens on.
She was terrified when she realized she couldn’t avoid hitting the patrol car.
“I saw him and I put my foot on the brake and I said, ‘Oh, my God I’m going to hit him,’” she said.
Bowers’ sternum slammed into the wheel and cracked.
“I couldn’t breathe. I was having a really hard time. It hurt really bad,” she said.
She said the officer driving, Vance Maloney, checked on her, found out she was hurt, but then left her alone and trapped in her car.
“You’re to protect and serve, but he didn’t keep me safe,” Bowers said.
“I can’t put into words what he was thinking, but if she felt that way we apologize for that,” said Apopka police spokesperson Edwin Chittenden.
Police said the officer’s car was sent into a tailspin and ended up on the other side of the road facing the wrong way.
They said his door was jammed and he had to climb out the passenger side.
The crash report shows Maloney to be at fault, but he wasn’t ticketed.
“The officer is clearly at fault; we’re not disputing that. The determination about issuing a citation goes with the investigating officer, and sometimes that does take a week and a half,” Chittenden said.
Bowers is an emergency room nurse, and she said her recovery could take about six weeks, but she doesn’t know whether she will be able to return to her job.
“There’s no light duty in the emergency room. No such thing,” she said.
Police said Maloney is sorry about causing the accident, and he will have to pay $250 toward the damage and may end up having his pay docked if he’s suspended.
Police said the officer’s next raise will be affected if he gets one.A major congrats is in order for reality stars Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd!
The cute couple, who met during the eleventh season of CBS’s Big Brother back in 2009, are not only married, but they are expecting their first child together!
Jeff and Jordan were originally planning a September wedding, but secretly tied the knot last month at the courthouse in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“I was not expecting it!” Jordan told Us Weekly on the pregnancy. “My mind was completely on wedding mode and not on baby mode – was not expecting babies for like another two years, and, yeah, so then that’s what happened.”
She added, “It definitely threw us through a loop, and we were kind of like, ‘Well, we need to figure this out, because the baby is going to be born October 20,’ and I don’t want to be walking down the aisle nine months pregnant, and my dress won’t fit. I said, ‘Why don’t we go on ahead and go to the courthouse, and make it legal?’”
Congrats to the happy couple on the exciting news!Christmas is soon upon us and the kids are home from school…what better way to spend some quality time with your kids than by creating adorable holiday-themed treats? But holiday desserts can get pretty high in sugar and calories. So I’ve collected a few easy recipes that are a healthier alternative to sugary sweets. Here’s my list of six healthy desserts for kids, hope you enjoy!
Easy family desserts for the Holidays
1. Grinch Kabobs – Bring back the holiday cheer that mean old Grinch stole with these adorable Dr. Seuss-themed treats! All you’ll need are grapes for the face, bananas and strawberries for the hat, and a marshmallow pompom. I love these healthy Christmas treats because they’re made mostly entirely of healthy fruit (so I won’t feel guilty when my kids eat a bunch) and can be made in a jiffy.
2. Snow People Pretzel Sticks – Dreaming of a white Christmas? Bring the snow inside this winter with these cute snowmen low-calorie desserts! You’ll need bananas, baby carrots, pretzel sticks, fruit of your choosing, and mini chocolate chips or raisins for decoration. So fun!
3. Candy Cane Jell-O – This one involves a little more time and effort, but it’s a sweet treat that I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about serving my kids. For an even healthier option, I would go with sugar-free Jell-O packets and lite whipped cream to top it off with. A fun way to get the beautiful red and white stripes of the holiday season right at your dinner table!
4. Snowman popcorn – Say goodbye to boring old popcorn in a bowl. My kids love popcorn, and I know they’ll also love drawing their snowman face on the cup, tying the ribbons as scarves, and filling their cups with popcorn. I think it’s great that they can get as creative as they want with these. Makes an awesome anytime snack!
5. Cereal pine cones – Now that you’ve loaded up on all of that fruit, here’s your chocolate fix. I can’t believe how lifelike these easy Christmas desserts are! Who would have thunk they were made from chocolatey cereal, peanut butter, and nutella? Ok, so these probably aren’t the lowest in calories or sugar, so for a healthier alternative, opt for a chocolate cereal like Fiber One with only 80 calories. I know my kids (who have inherited my sweet tooth) will love making and eating these!
6. Edible Christmas Tree – Here’s another great fruit option to treat your kids (and yourself) to. This edible Christmas tree is almost too beautiful eat plus it can be used for decoration as a center piece! Your kids will have a blast arranging the tree the way they want with their favorite fruit or veggies.
Any healthy dessert recipes you’d like to share with the CloudMom community? Comment below, we’d love to hear from you!
Happy holidays!
xo MTampa Bay Buccaneers QB Josh Freeman certainly seems like a nice guy.
But given philosophies shared with Indiana Jones, we'd be reluctant to hang out at Freeman's pad.
Turns out his off-field hobby is collecting snakes. And he has five, at least for now.
"I don't know where it started. I think I got my first snake in third grade," he said on NFL Network's The Rich Eisen Podcast on Thursday. "I don't know where it stems from."
Freeman favors pythons and boas as domestic pets, though he related a story of his 8.5-foot albino Burmese python Calypso -- "She's not a happy woman," he said -- got loose in the house when a friend of Freeman's sister left the snake's cage open.
Freeman plans to soon donate Calypso to a zoo, though he's also set to welcome two more serpents to his collection.
"They're pretty low maintenance," he said. "I think that's one of the reasons me and snakes hit it off so well back in third grade."58 Shares
The final album in the Saturation series was its most impressive installment – and that’s saying something. But Melonhead’s review missed the #1 reason why it was so great.
Kevin Abstract continued his favorite hobby of trolling the Brockhampton fan base by releasing the standout single “BOOGIE” three days before the album drop, despite saying Saturation III wouldn’t be preceded by any singles. After a few days and a second single’s debut on Beats1 radio, the final installment of Brockhampton’s Saturation project was gifted to fans worldwide just in time for Christmas – with a few surprise features including former Radio Disney star Ryan Beatty.
Saturation III & the Public Response
Despite kicking the album off with such an “in-your-face”, energetic single, Saturation III ended up as Brockhampton’s most cohesive and musical album yet. Although Brockhampton’s musical influences still shone through on the tape, it was a far more original overall sound than shown on either of their first two albums. The group’s blend and collective chemistry improved drastically from Saturation I to Saturation II, and the same was true for the jump to Saturation III. Debates quickly broke out among fans trying to rank the albums (3>1>2?, 1>2>3?, 2>3>1?).
Saturation III was somewhat of a departure from the bumping, aggressive, bass-heavy sound of its predecessors, leaving some fans feeling unsatisfied. But as time went on, the album, just like its breakout single “BOOGIE”, grew on listeners and was increasingly included at the top of Saturation rankings.
Audience Ratings:
Rateyourmusic: 3.8 / 5.0
Hot New Hip Hop: 80%
Critical Reception of Saturation III
Saturation III enjoyed a warm reception from critics, especially in comparison to the two first installments of the Saturation Trilogy. HiphopDX gave the album a 4 / 5, and Pigeons and Planes included it as one of their top 5 albums of the year. Even Pitchfork, perennial Brockhampton haters, bestowed the album with a 7.5.
Anthony (Melondhead) Fantano: Saturation III
As his viewers and fans have come to expect Anthony Fantano offered a thoughtful, concise take on the Saturation III‘s standout tracks and the album as a whole. He hit the nail on the headwhen highlighting the group’s growth and experimentation throughout the Saturation series. Overall, Fantano was complimentary of the album, but he did have a few grievances with the album, most of which centered on what he dubbed the “Brockhampton Flow”.
That’s where Melonhead lost the script. The “Brockhampton Flow” isn’t a crutch – it’s a calling card.
Anthony Fantano, Ameer Vann, and the “Brockhampton Flow”
“You’re gonna hear something on this album i’d like to call THE BROCKHAMPTON FLOW. Especially from Ameer, on numerous tracks.” – Anthony Fantano
Fantano calls out Brockhampton, and Ameer Vann especially, for recycling a certain flow throughout the album. To back up the point, he shows snippets from different songs on the album, including:
Fantano is right – that flow is consistent throughout the album. I also noticed it on my initial listen through of Saturation III, and struggled to put my finger on exactly what was breeding that sense of musical consistency until watching his review.
Where Melonhead goes wrong, though, is when implying the “Brockhampton Flow” somehow limited or detracted from the album. In fact, it was an intentional decision from the group that made Saturation III much more than just a good, stand-alone hip hop album. Without this flow, Saturation III would’ve been a disconnected, disjointed conclusion to an otherwise excellent musical coming out series.
What is the Brockhampton Flow?
If you’ve listened to Brockhampton before, you know what Fantano dubs “The Brockhampton Flow.” In fact, it’s the format for the initial vocals we hear on the first track of Saturation I, “Heat”.
The flow pops up again throughout Saturation I, Saturation II, and Saturation III. It’s a flow that’s easy to sing/rap along with for listeners and complements the Brockhampton production sound very well.
Where Anthony Fantano Goes Wrong
Fantano is right that this can be repetitive. It’s probably the biggest recurring vocal theme in their music thus far. But Fantano is wrong when he implies that it comes anywhere close to damanging the album. In fact, it’s the whole reason the album was as experimental and successful as it was.
If you go through some of Brockhampton’s interviews, it becomes clear that creating familiar experiences for fans is important to them. This holds true for their branding, personas, and sound. In the below interview after Camp Flog Gnaw, Kevin Abstract talks about the importance of recurring themes and visuals with their music, and its importance in building a brand.
In case you don’t want to watch through the whole thing, I’ll pull out the two most important quotes for you.
On their music evolving over different albums:
“We never want to be exactly the same as the last one, but we always want to have the moments that people are familiar with and innovate on top of that.”
On why they include everyone in the group, including web masters and graphic designers:
“Everybody is a part of the process. We’re like Apple.”
Brockhampton intentionally seeks ways to connect fans to their new music throughout their growth as artists. They do this through recurring visuals as well as through their sound. In this way, the “Brockhampton Flow” is like an audio version of the couch that serves as their unofficial logo and travels with them everywhere they tour. It’s a familiar theme that allows fans to connect the dots between where Brockhampton is and where they have been. This flow is just as important to the Brockhampton brand as their orange jumpsuits or their throwback font stylizations.
Check Ticket Prices for Brockhampton’s 2018 Tour
Ameer Vann + “The Brockhampton Flow”
The “Brockhampton Flow” is the first sound you hear from Brockhampton on Saturation 1 and Saturation 3 – and it’s not by accident. The beat for “BOOGIE” that Fantano was so wild about was literally built to support that flow. It’s a basic sound that allows a lot of freedom and energy – which is where Brockhampton shines.
Saturation III has so many different sounds from its counterparts in the trilogy because of the intentional choice to include that flow across the album. As Kevin Abstract talked about, they brought that familiar theme into the new, innovative music to bridge the gap and tie off the trilogy in a familiar loop for fans. Ameer was the best candidate to do so, as many associated his voice + that flow as a defining sound of Brockhampton’s unique identity.
Whatever you’re looking for with flow variety, you can find it with Merlyn Wood, JOBA, or Dom McLennon. Without it, the trilogy wouldn’t have concluded as tightly, or as consistent lyrically. Saturation 3’s relation to the rest of the trilogy far outweighs the benefits of 100% vocal variety for a single member throughout the album.
Fantano’s Critique of “STAINS”
The 13th song of the 15 song album, “STAINS” begins with one of the most freeform and interesting flows on the album. And, coincidentally, it’s Ameer behind the mic!
As everyone who watched the SATURATION Documentary knows, there’s a reason behind every production choice Brockhampton makes on these albums. And even though Romil, Kiko, and Jabari naturally have the greatest influence, those decisions are not unilateral in any way. That means they chose to put him front and center in the beginning of this track, presumedly to ensure that it stood out. Is it so wild to suggest that they did this to intentionally show that Ameer has more versatility than is heard throughout the rest of the album?
Anthony Fantano on STAINS: “One of the group’s most average tracks. It’s a very by the numbers moment for Brockhampton. There’s nothing really all that sticky about it, from Matt and Ameer’s glazed over flows to the somewhat sleepy beat.”
It’s interesting that Fantano complains about Brockhampton (and Ameer specifically) using the “Brockhampton Flow” so much but also chooses to criticize the one song where Ameer Vann is spotlighted using an experimental, almost spoken word-type flow.
The distinctly Brockhampton foundation on Saturation III is built with Ameer’s vocals: specifically his voice matched with that flow. It provides everyone else the platform to experiment while keeping the trademark Brockhampton sound intact. From BLEACH to STUPID, they use the flow to anchor down track after track on Saturation III with one major deviation: STAINS.
Coincidence? Or did Melonhead just miss the memo?
Fantano Isn’t Totally Off the Mark
Anthony Fantano IS right: Saturation III is a more cohesive album than their past works. It will do much better with critics and mainstream audiences alike.
Saturation III carried the energy right through the album’s end (unlike past albums that seemed to die off into the latter half), and each vocalist seemed to mesh with each other more organically. It was much more like a Wu-Tang project than Odd Future, One Direction, or any of the groups they’re often conflated with.
Anthony Fantano was also right about something else, and that’s the fact that Saturation I was probably the most exciting of the three Saturation installments. It was the most raw, organic, and unrepentantly BROCKHAMPTON collection of music they’ve released thus far. Its release marked a “Zero to One” moment, where something new and truly different was put on display for all to enjoy. But the |
of doing far more damage even if they only remain active for a short amount of time. We know our readers are too tech savvy to fall for such attacks, but tell your friends and family to keep an eye out for this attack—or variations of it—and download safely.NEW YORK -- The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting
Championship have agreed to buy their biggest mixed martial arts
rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a deal that will establish
megafights among the outfits' titleholders and possibly attract
huge pay-per-view audiences.
"This is really going to change the face of MMA. Literally creating a sport that could be as big
around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and
AFC came together to create the NFL."
-- Lorenzo Fertitta, one of UFC's majority owners
Company executives declined to comment on the sales price, but a
person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press
that brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta will purchase the
Japan-based Pride for less than $70 million. The person was not
authorized to speak to reporters and spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The deal was completed Tuesday and was announced during a news
conference in Tokyo, where Lorenzo Fertitta has been negotiating
with Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the majority owner and chief executive of
Dream Stage Entertainment Inc., Pride's owner.
"We have been talking to Pride for probably about 11 months,"
Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It's been a long, drawn-out process but we
finally were able to put the two brands together."
To buy the company, the brothers created a new entity called
Pride FC Worldwide Holdings LLC. The newly formed company will take
over Pride assets, including its trademarks, video library and
valuable roster of fighters, from Dream Stage. The Fertitta
brothers, who own Las Vegas-based Zuffa LLC, the parent company of
UFC, intend to keep the well-known Pride name and promote fights
under that brand.
The acquisition marks a new phase in the brothers' quest to
dominate the burgeoning world of mixed martial arts since they
bought the struggling UFC in 2001.
"This is really going to change the face of MMA," Lorenzo
Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big
around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and
AFC came together to create the NFL."
The deal allows the Fertitta brothers to broker the biggest MMA
fights possible in the near future, increasing their influence in
this sports entertainment business.
"We will be able to literally put on the fights that everyone
wants to see," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It will allow us to put on
some of the biggest fights ever."
In the past, there has been at least one case in which Pride and
UFC couldn't hammer out a deal to put their top fighters in the
ring together. With Pride in their pocket, the Fertitta brothers
intend to ensure that never happens again.
The sale gives Pride more financial backing to expand the
business internationally after suffering a recent financial blow.
Major sponsor Fuji Television Network Inc. dropped Pride in June
after a tabloid linked Pride to the Japanese mob -- something
Sakakibara has denied vigorously. To help bolster Pride, the
company staged two PPV fights in Las Vegas. Neither was a financial
success. The fights gained exposure for Pride but lost money,
making the sale of Pride more likely.
"I think it certainly weakened their position," Lorenzo
Fertitta said. "One of our goals is to get back on a major
platform back here in Japan."
Lorenzo Fertitta said he'll be looking to expand Pride
internationally.
Buying Pride is the latest in a series of acquisitions that the
brothers have made in the last six months. Zuffa snapped up World
Extreme Cagefighting and World Fighting Alliance last year.
Similar to Pride, buying WFA gave UFC the rights to a popular
fighter named Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson will face UFC's
most popular fighter, Chuck Liddell, the current light heavyweight
champ in Las Vegas, on May 26 on PPV.
In the combat world, the Pride deal leaves a fragmented group of
upstarts and K-1, another Japanese company that promotes fighters
skilled in various forms of kick boxing.
Thanks to a surge in popularity, the brothers' investment in UFC
and MMA in general has begun to pay off.
Last year, UFC cracked $200 million in PPV revenue, putting it
on par with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
UFC stages fights in arenas across the country and airs a clutch
of successful television shows on Spike TV. It has also opened an
office in London, looking toward establishing itself
internationally.
The brothers also run Station Casinos Inc. in Las Vegas. Lorenzo
Fertitta is president and Frank Fertitta is chairman and chief
executive of Station Casinos, a public company that was recently
agreed to be purchased by a private equity investor group that includes key
members of the Fertitta family.is a1997 epic romance, drama and disaster film starring Leonardo DiCaprio Kate Winslet, and Billy Zane. It was directed by James Cameron. It was a fictionalized account of the sinking of theand followed the forbidden romance of a beautiful first-class woman (Kate Winslet) and a penniless third-class artist (Leonardo DiCaprio) aboard the ill-fated maiden voyage of the. The film also stars Gloria Stuart, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates Victor Garber, and Bill Paxton. Cameron saw the love story as a way to engage the audience with the real life tragedy.
In 1995, production began on the film when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which Cameron used as a base while filming the actual wreck. A reconstruction of the Titanic was built in Baja, California, at Playas de Rosarito. Scale models and CGI effects were also used to create a more realistic version of the ship. The film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, its distributors. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made, with an estimated budget of US$200 million. In 2009, James Cameron's Avatar (the first film Cameron had made since Titanic) topped Titanic, however. The film was originally scheduled to open on July 2, 1997; however, post-production delays pushed back its release to December 19 instead. Titanic was an enormous critical and commercial success. It was nominated for fourteen Academy Awards, eventually winning eleven, including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2012, the film was re-released to theaters in 3D.
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Plot Summary
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team explore the wreck of the RMS, searching for a necklace called the Heart of the Ocean. They believe the necklace is in Caledon "Cal" Hockley's safe, which they recover. Instead of the diamond, they find a sketch of a nude woman wearing it, dated April 14, 1912, the night thathit the iceberg. Rose Dawson Calvert learns of the drawing, contacts Lovett, and tells him that she is the woman depicted. She and her granddaughter Elizabeth "Lizzy" Calvert visit Lovett and his team on his salvage ship. When asked if she knows the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose recalls her memories aboard the, revealing that she was Rose DeWitt Bukater, a passenger believed to have died in the sinking. In 1912, the upper class Rose boards the ship in Southhampton, England with her fiancé Cal, the son of aPittsburgh steel tycoon, and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater. Cal and Ruth stress the importance of Rose's engagement, because the marriage will solve the Bukaters' financial problems. Distraught by her engagement to Cal and the pressure her mother is putting on her, Rose considers suicide by jumping off the stern of the ship. Before she leaps, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson intervenes and discourages her from jumping overboard. Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship.
Cal and Ruth prevent Rose from seeing Jack. She defies them, meets Jack at the bow of the ship, and realizes that she prefers him over Cal. They go to Rose's stateroom and she asks Jack to sketch her wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean, an engagement present from Cal. Afterwards, they flee Cal's bodyguard into the ship's cargo hold, where they make love, and then to the ship's forward well deck. There they observe the ship's collision with an iceberg and overhear the ship's officers and designer, Thomas Andrews, discussing its seriousness; Rose tells Jack they should warn her mother and Cal.
Cal discovers Jack's drawing and a note in his safe along with the necklace, so he has the Heart of the Ocean slipped into Jack's coat pocket, framing him for stealing it. Jack is arrested, brought to the Master-at-arms' office and handcuffed to a pipe. Cal puts the necklace in his coat but later gives the coat, and unwittingly the necklace, to Rose. Rose runs away from Cal and her mother (who has boarded a lifeboat) to break Jack free with an axe. Jack and Rose struggle back to the deck where Cal and Jack encourage her to board another lifeboat, Calclaiming that he has made an arrangement that will allow both men to get off safely. After she boards, Cal double-crosses Jack. Realizing that she could not leave Jack, Rose reunites with him back on board. Infuriated, Cal steals a pistol from Lovejoy and pursues them into the flooding first-class dining saloon. After using up the ammunition, Cal returns to the boat deck and boards a lifeboat by pretending to look after an abandoned child.
As Jack and Rose return to the top deck, the lifeboats have all departed and passengers are falling to their deaths. The two take refuge on the stern as the ship sinks bow-first until they are pulled into the ocean. Jack finds Rose in the water and leads her to a wall panel. He then helps Rose onto the wall panel that can only support one person’s weight. As he hangs onto the panel, he assures her that she will not die there and will instead die an old woman, warm in her bed. Jack eventually dies from hypothermia.
When a rescue boat returns to the site of the sinking, Rose blows a whistle taken from the uniform of a nearby deceased officer, and is delivered by the RMSto New York, where she lists her name as Rose Dawson. Hidden, she avoids Cal for the final time ondeck as he is searching for her. Old Rose mentions that Cal eventually commited suicide after losing his fortune in 1929 due to the Great Depression and the Wall Street Crash.
Her story complete, Rose goes, alone, to the stern of Lovett's ship. There she produces the Heart of the Ocean and drops it into the ocean. Later, while seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos of her days surround her, a visual chronicle that she lived the life she wanted with Jack. The young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the Titanic, cheered and congratulated by those who perished on the ship.
Cast
Fictional characters
Historical Characters
Cameos
Several crew members of the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh appear in the film, including Anatoly Sagalevich, creator and pilot of the Mir Deep Submergence Vehicle. Anders Falk, who filmed a documentary about the film's sets for the Titanic Historical Society, cameoes in the film as a Swedish immigrant whom Jack Dawson meets when he enters his cabin. Ed and Karen Kamuda, then President and Vice President of the Society, were extras in the film. James Cameron and Barry Dennen also cameo as praying men. James Cameron is also at the 3rd class dance as a bearded passenger. Greg Ellis and Oliver Page both play cameo parts as a Carpathia Steward and Steward Barnes respectively.
Pre-Production
Writing and inspiration
"The story could not have been written better...The juxtaposition of rich and poor, the gender roles played out unto death (women first), the stoicism and nobility of a bygone age, the magnificence of the great ship matched in scale only by the folly of the men who drove her hell-bent through the darkness. And above all the lesson: that life is uncertain, the future unknowable...the unthinkable possible." — James Cameron [37]
James Cameron had a fascination with shipwrecks, and, for him, the RMS Titanic was "the Mount Everest of shipwrecks." He was almost past the point in his life when he felt he could consider an undersea expedition, but, he has said, still had "a mental restlessness to live the life I had turned my back on when I switched from the sciences to the arts in college." So when an IMAX movie was made from footage shot of the wreck itself, he decided to seek Hollywood funding to "pay for an expedition and do the same thing." It was "not because I particularly wanted to make the movie," Cameron has said. "I wanted to dive to the shipwreck".
Cameron wrote a scriptment for a Titanic film, met with 20th Century Fox executives including Peter Chernin, and pitched it as "Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic". There was a tense pause and Cameron said, "Also, fellas, it's a period piece, it's going to cost $150,000,000 and there's not going to be a sequel.... They were like, 'Oooooohkaaaaaay – a three-hour romantic epic? Sure, that's just what we want. Is there a little bit of Terminator in that? Any Harrier jets, shoot-outs, or car chases?' I said, "No, no, no. It's not like that." The studio was dubious about the idea's commercial prospects, but, hoping for a long term relationship with Cameron, they gave him a greenlight.
Cameron convinced Fox to promote the film based on the publicity afforded by shooting the Titanic wreck itself, and organized several dives to the site over a period of two years. "My pitch on that had to be a little more detailed," said Cameron. "So I said, ‘Look, we’ve got to do this whole opening where they’re exploring the Titanic and they find the diamond, so we’re going to have all these shots of the ship." Cameron stated, "Now, we can either do them with elaborate models and motion control shots and CG and all that, which will cost X amount of money – or we can spend X plus 30 per cent and actually go shoot it at the real wreck." The crew shot at the real wreck in the Atlantic Ocean eleven times in 1995 and actually spent more time with the ship than its passengers. At that depth, with a water pressure of 6,000 pounds per square inch, "one small flaw in the vessel's superstructure would mean instant death for all on board." Not only were the dives high-risk, but adverse conditions prevented Cameron from getting the high quality footage that he wanted.
Descending to the actual site made both Cameron and crew want "to live up to that level of reality.... But there was another level of reaction coming away from the real wreck, which was that it wasn't just a story, it wasn't just a drama," he said. "It was an event that happened to real people who really died. Working around the wreck for so much time, you get such a strong sense of the profound sadness and injustice of it, and the message of it." Cameron stated, "You think, 'There probably aren't going to be many filmmakers who go to Titanic. There may never be another one – maybe a documentarian." Due to this, he felt "a great mantle of responsibility to convey the emotional message of it – to do that part of it right, too".
After filming the underwater shots, Cameron began writing the screenplay. He wanted to honor the people who died during the sinking, so he spent six months researching all of the Titanics crew and passengers. "I read everything I could. I created an extremely detailed timeline of the ship’s few days and a very detailed timeline of the last night of its life," he said. "And I worked within that to write the script, and I got some historical experts to analyze what I’d written and comment on it, and I adjusted it." He paid meticulous attention to detail, even including a scene depicting the Californian's role in Titanic's demise, though this was later cut. From the beginning of the shoot, they had "a very clear picture" of what happened on the ship that night. "I had a library that filled one whole wall of my writing office with "Titanic stuff," because I wanted it to be right, especially if we were going to dive to the ship," he said. "That set the bar higher in a way – it elevated the movie in a sense. We wanted this to be a definitive visualization of this moment in history as if you’d gone back in a time machine and shot it."
Cameron felt the Titanic sinking was "like a great novel that really happened," yet the event had become a mere morality tale; the film would give audiences the experience of living the history. The treasure hunter Brock Lovett represented those who never connected with the human element of the tragedy, while the blossoming romance of Jack and Rose, he believed, would be the most engaging part of the story: when their love is finally destroyed the audience would mourn the loss. "All my films are love stories," Cameron said, "but in Titanic I finally got the balance right. It's not a disaster film. It's a love story with a fastidious overlay of real history." Cameron then framed the romance with the elderly Rose to make the intervening years palpable and poignant. For him, the end of the film leaves open the question if the elderly Rose was in a conscious dream or had died in her sleep.
Design
Harland and Wolff, the RMS Titanic's builders, opened their private archives to the crew, sharing blueprints that were thought lost. For the ship's interiors, production designer Peter Lamont's team looked for artifacts from the era. However, the newness of the ship meant every prop had to be made from scratch. Fox acquired 40 acres (16 ha) of waterfront south of Playas de Rosarito in Mexico, and began building a new studio on May 31, 1996. A seventeen-million-gallon tank was built for the exterior of the reconstructed ship, providing 270 degrees of ocean view. The ship was built to full scale, but Lamont removed redundant sections on the superstructure and forward well deck for the ship to fit in the tank, with the remaining sections filled with digital models. The lifeboats and funnels were shrunk by ten percent. The boat deck and A-deck were working sets, but the rest of the ship was just steel plating. Within was a fifty-foot lifting platform for the ship to tilt during the sinking sequences. Towering above was a 162 feet (49 m) tall tower crane on 600 feet (180 m) of rail track, acting as a combined construction, lighting, and camera platform.
The sets representing the interior rooms of the Titanic were reproduced exactly as originally built, using photographs and plans from the Titanic's builders. "The liner's first class staircase, which figures prominently in the script was constructed out of real wood and actually destroyed in the filming of the sinking." The rooms, the carpeting, design and colors, individual pieces of furniture, decorations, chairs, wall paneling, cutlery and crockery with the White Star Line crest on each piece, completed ceilings, and costumes were among the designs true to the originals. Cameron additionally hired two Titanic historians, Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, to authenticate the historical detail in the film.
Production
The modern day scenes of the expedition were shot on the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in July 1996. Principal photography for Titanic began in September 1996 at the newly-built Fox Baja Studios. The poop deck was built on a hinge which could rise from zero to ninety degrees in a few seconds as the ship's stern rose during the sinking. For the safety of the stuntmen, many props were made of foam rubber. By November 15, the boarding scenes were being shot. Cameron chose to build his RMS Titanic on the starboard side as a study of weather data showed prevailing north-to-south wind which blew the funnel smoke aft. This posed a problem for shooting the ship's departure from Southampton, as it was docked on its port side. Any writing on props and costumes had to be reversed, and if someone walked to their right in the script, they had to walk left during shooting. In post-production, the film was flipped to the correct direction.
A full time etiquette coach was hired to instruct the cast on the manners of the upper class gentility in 1912. Despite this, several critics picked up on anachronisms in the film, not least involving the two main stars.
Cameron sketched Jack's nude portrait of Rose for a scene which he feels has the backdrop of repression. "You know what it means for her, the freedom she must be feeling. It's kind of exhilarating for that reason," he said. The nude scene was DiCaprio and Winslet's first scene together. "It wasn't by any kind of design, although I couldn't have designed it better. There's a nervousness and an energy and a hesitance in them," Cameron stated. "They had rehearsed together, but they hadn't shot anything together. If I'd had a choice, I probably would have preferred to put it deeper into the body of the shoot." He said he and his crew "were just trying to find things to shoot" because the big set was not yet ready. "It wasn't ready for months, so we were scrambling around trying to fill in anything we could get to shoot." After seeing the scene on film, Cameron felt it worked out considerably well.
However, other times on the set were not as smooth. The shoot was an arduous experience that "cemented Cameron’s formidable reputation as 'the scariest man in Hollywood'. He became known as an uncompromising, hard-charging perfectionist" and a "300-decibel screamer, a modern-day Captain Bligh with a megaphone and walkie-talkie, swooping down into people’s faces on a 162ft crane". Winslet chipped a bone in her elbow during filming, and had been worried that she would drown in the 17m-gallon water tank the ship was to be sunk in. "There were times when I was genuinely frightened of him. Jim has a temper like you wouldn’t believe," she said. "'God damn it!' he would yell at some poor crew member, 'that’s exactly what I didn’t want! Her co-star, Bill Paxton, was familiar with Cameron's work ethic from his earlier experience with him. "There were a lot of people on the set. Jim is not one of those guys who has the time to win hearts and minds," he said. The crew felt that Cameron had an evil alter ego, and nicknamed him "Mij" (Jim spelt backwards). In response to the criticism, Cameron stated, "Film-making is war. A great battle between business and aesthetics."
During shooting on the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, an angry crew member put the hallucinogen PCP into the soup that Cameron and various others ate one night, which sent more than 50 people to the hospital. "There were people just rolling around, completely out of it. Some of them said they were seeing streaks and psychedelics," said actor Lewis Abernathy. Cameron managed to vomit before the drug took a full hold. Abernathy was shocked at the way he looked. "One eye was completely red, like the Terminator eye. A pupil, no iris, beet red. The other eye looked like he’d been sniffing glue since he was four." The person behind the poisoning was never caught.
The filming schedule was intended to last 138 days but grew to 160. Many cast members came down with colds, flu, or kidney infections after spending hours in cold water, including Winslet. In the end, she decided she would not work with Cameron again unless she earned "a lot of money". Several others left and three stuntmen broke their bones, but the Screen Actors Guild decided, following an investigation, that nothing was inherently unsafe about the set. Additionally, DiCaprio said there was no point when he felt he was in danger during filming. Cameron believed in a passionate work ethic and never apologized for the way he ran his sets, although he acknowledged: I'm demanding, and I'm demanding on my crew. In terms of being kind of militaresque, I think there's an element of that in dealing with thousands of extras and big logistics and keeping people safe. I think you have to have a fairly strict methodology in dealing with a large number of people. The costs of filming Titanic eventually began to mount, and finally reached US$200 million. Fox executives panicked, and suggested an hour of specific cuts from the three-hour film. They argued the extended length would mean fewer showings, thus less money even though long epics are more likely to help directors win Oscars. Cameron refused, telling Fox, "You want to cut my movie? You're going to have to fire me! You want to fire me? You're going to have to kill me!" he said. The executives did not want to start over, because it would mean the loss of their entire investment, but they also initially rejected Cameron's offer of forfeiting his share of the profits as an empty gesture; they felt that profits would be unlikely. Cameron explained forfeiting his share as complex. "...the short version is that the film cost proportionally much more than T2 and True Lies. Those films went up seven or eight percent from the initial budget. Titanic also had a large budget to begin with, but it went up a lot more," said Cameron. "As the producer and director, I take responsibility for the studio that's writing the checks, so I made it less painful for them. I did that on two different occasions. They didn't force me to do it; they were glad that I did."
Post-Production
Effects
Cameron wanted to push back the boundary of special effects with his film, and enlisted Digital Domain to continue the developments in digital technology which the director pioneered while working on The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Many previous films about the RMS Titanic shot water in slow motion, which did not look wholly convincing. He encouraged them to shoot their 45-foot (14 m) long miniature of the ship as if "we're making a commercial for the White Star Line" Afterwards, digital water and smoke were added, as were extras captured on a motion capture stage. Visual effects supervisor Rob Legato scanned the faces of many actors, including himself and his children, for the digital extras and stuntmen. There was also a 65-foot (20 m) long model of the ship's stern that could break in two repeatedly, the only miniature to be used in water. For scenes set in the ship's engines, footage of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien's engines were composited with miniature support frames and actors shot against a greenscreen. In order to save money, the first class lounge was a miniature set incorporated into a greenscreen backdrop.
An enclosed 5,000,000 US gallons (19,000,000 l) tank was used for sinking interiors, in which the entire set could be tilted into the water. In order to sink the Grand Staircase, 90,000 US gallons (340,000 l) of water were dumped into the set as it was lowered into the tank. Unexpectedly, the waterfall ripped the staircase from its steel-reinforced foundations, although no one was hurt. The 744-foot (227 m) long exterior of the RMS Titanic had its first half lowered into the tank, but being the heaviest part of the ship meant it acted as a shock absorber against the water; to get the set into the water, Cameron had much of the set emptied and even smashed some of the promenade windows himself. After submerging the dining saloon, three days were spent shooting Lovett's ROV traversing the wreck in the present. The post-sinking scenes in the freezing Atlantic were shot in a 350,000 US gallons (1,300,000 l) tank, where the frozen corpses were created by applying a powder on actors that crystallized when exposed to water, and wax was coated on hair and clothes.
The climactic scene, which features the breakup of the ship directly before it sinks, as well as its final plunge to the bottom of the Atlantic, involved a tilting full-sized set, 150 extras and 100 stunt performers. Cameron criticized previous Titanic films for depicting the final plunge of the liner as sliding gracefully underwater. He "wanted to depict it as the terrifyingly chaotic event that it really was". When carrying out the sequence, people needed to fall off the increasingly tilting deck, plunging hundreds of feet below and bouncing off of railings and propellers on the way down. A few attempts to film this sequence with stunt people resulted in some minor injuries and Cameron halted the more dangerous stunts. The risks were eventually minimized "by using computer generated people for the dangerous falls".
Editing
There was one "crucial historical fact" Cameron chose to omit from the film – the ship that was close to the Titanic, but had turned off its radio for the night and did not hear their SOS calls. "Yes, the [SS] Californian. That wasn't a compromise to mainstream filmmaking. That was really more about emphasis, creating an emotional truth to the film," stated Cameron. He said there were aspects of retelling the sinking that seemed important in pre and post-production, but turned out to be less important as the film evolved. "The story of the Californian was in there; we even shot a scene of them switching off their Marconi radio set," said Cameron. "But I took it out. It was a clean cut, because it focuses you back onto that world. If Titanic is powerful as a metaphor, as a microcosm, for the end of the world in a sense, then that world must be self-contained."
During the first assembly cut, Cameron altered the planned ending, which had given resolution to Brock Lovett's story. In the original version of the ending, Brock and Lizzy see the elderly Rose at the stern of the boat, and fear she is going to jump. Rose then reveals that she had the "Heart of the Ocean" diamond all along, but never sold it, in order to live on her own without Cal's money. She tells Brock that life is priceless and throws the diamond into the ocean, after allowing him to hold it. After accepting that treasure is worthless, Brock laughs at his stupidity. Rose then goes back to her cabin to sleep, whereupon the film ends in the same way as the final version. In the editing room, Cameron decided that by this point, the audience would no longer be interested in Brock Lovett and cut the resolution to his story, so that Rose is alone when she drops the diamond. He also did not want to disrupt the audience's melancholy after the Titanic's sinking.
The version used for the first test screening featured a fight between Jack and Lovejoy which takes place after Jack and Rose escape into the flooded dining saloon, but the test audiences disliked it. The scene was written to give the film more suspense, and featured Cal (falsely) offering to give Lovejoy, his valet, the "Heart of the Ocean" if he can get it from Jack and Rose. Lovejoy goes after the pair in the sinking first class dining room. Just as they are about to escape him, Lovejoy notices Rose's hand slap the water as it slips off the table behind which she is hiding. In revenge for framing him for the "theft" of the necklace, Jack attacks him and smashes his head against a glass window, which explains the gash on Lovejoy's head that can be seen when he dies in the completed version of the film. In their reactions to the scene, test audiences said it would be unrealistic to risk one's life for wealth, and Cameron cut it for this reason, as well as for timing and pacing reasons. Many other scenes were cut for similar reasons.
Music and Soundtrack
The soundtrack album for Titanic was composed by James Horner. For the vocals heard throughout the film, subsequently described by Earle Hitchner of The Wall Street Journal as "evocative", Horner chose Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø, better known as "Sissel". Horner knew Sissel from her album Innerst I Sjelen, and he particularly liked how she sang "Eg veit i himmerik ei borg" ("I Know in Heaven There Is a Castle"). He had tried twenty-five or thirty singers before he finally chose Sissel as the voice to create specific moods within the film.
Horner additionally wrote the song "My Heart Will Go On" in secret with Will Jennings because Cameron did not want any songs with singing in the film. Céline Dion agreed to record a demo with the persuasion of her husband René Angélil. Horner waited until Cameron was in an appropriate mood before presenting him with the song. After playing it several times, Cameron declared its approval, although worried that he would have been criticized for "going commercial at the end of the movie". Cameron also wanted to appease anxious studio executives and "saw that a hit song from his movie could only be a positive factor in guaranteeing its completion".
Release
Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox financed Titanic, and expected Cameron to complete the film for a release on July 2, 1997. The film was to be released on this date "in order to exploit the lucrative summer season ticket sales when blockbuster films usually do better". In April, Cameron said the film's special effects were too complicated and that releasing the film for summer would not be possible. With production delays, Paramount pushed back the release date to December 19, 1997. "This fueled speculation that the film itself was a disaster." However, a preview screening in Minneapolis on July 14 "generated positive reviews" and "[c]hatter on the internet was responsible for more favorable word of mouth about the [film]". This eventually led to more positive media coverage.
The film premiered on November 1, 1997, at the Tokyo International Film Festival, where reaction was described as "tepid" by The New York Times. However, positive reviews started to appear back in the United States; the official Hollywood premiere occurred on December 14, 1997, where "the big movie stars who attended the opening were enthusiastically gushing about the film to the world media".
Box Office
The film received steady attendance after opening in North America on Friday, December 19, 1997. By the end of that same weekend, theaters were beginning to sell out. The film earned $8,658,814 on its opening day and $28,638,131 over the opening weekend from 2,674 theaters, averaging to about $10,710 per venue, and ranking number one at the box office, ahead of the eighteenth James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies. By New Year's Day, Titanic had made over $120 million, had increased in popularity and theaters continued to sell out. Its biggest single day took place on Saturday, February 14 (Valentine's Day), 1998, making $13,048,711, more than six weeks after it debuted in North America. It stayed at number one for fifteen consecutive weeks in the United States and Canada, which remains a record for any film. By March 1998, it was the first film to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. The film stayed in theaters in North America for almost ten months, before finally closing on Thursday, October 1, 1998 with a final domestic gross of $600,788,188. Box Office Mojo estimates that after adjusting for ticket price inflation, Titanic would be the sixth highest-grossing film of all time in the United States and Canada. The film made double its domestic amount overseas, generating an international gross of $1,248,025,607 and accumulating a grand total of $1,843,201,268 worldwide. It became the highest-grossing film in history, and remained so for twelve years, until Avatar, also written and directed by Cameron, surpassed it in 2010.
Commercial Analysis
Before its release, various film critics predicted the film would be a significant disappointment at the box office, especially due to it being the most expensive film ever made at the time. When it was shown to the press in autumn of 1997, "it was with massive forebodings" since the "people in charge of the screenings believed they were on the verge of losing their jobs – because of this great albatross of a picture on which, finally, two studios had had to combine to share the great load of its making". Cameron also thought he was "headed for disaster" at one point during filming. "We labored the last six months on Titanic in the absolute knowledge that the studio would lose $100m. It was a certainty," he stated. As the film neared release, "particular venom was spat at Cameron for what was seen as his hubris and monumental extravagance". A film critic for the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Cameron’s overweening pride has come close to capsizing this project" and that the film was "a hackneyed, completely derivative copy of old Hollywood romances".
When the film became a success, with an unprecedented box office performance, it was credited as "the love story [that] stole the world's hearts"."The first batch of people to see it [were] gob smacked by the sheer scale and intimacy of the production. They emerged from the cinema, tear stained and emotionally flabbergasted."The film was playing on 3,200 screens a full ten weeks after it opened, and out of its fifteen straight weeks on top of the charts, jumped 43% in total sales in its ninth week of release. It earned over $20 million a week for ten weeks, and after fourteen weeks into its run, it was still bringing in more than $1m a week. Although teenage girls, as well as young women in general, who would see the film several times and subsequently caused "Leo-Mania", were often credited with having primarily propelled the film to its all-time box office record, other reports have simply attributed the film's success to "[p]ositive word of mouth and repeat viewership" due to the love story combined with the ground-breaking special effects.
The film's impact on men has also been especially credited. Now considered one of the |
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Les lots que vous obtiendrez seront différents : vous pouvez obtenir des fragments de relique différents selon si vous ouvrez un cadeau vert ou un cadeau rouge, ce qui fait que les cadeaux verts ont des fragments de relique que les cadeaux rouges n’ont pas et inversement… Faisons maintenant place aux échanges! - Échangez des fragments de relique avec les autres joueurs afin de pouvoir obtenir une relique. - Une relique vous donnera des récompenses : des fromages, des tickets d’or, des titres et même des fraises! - Obtenir toutes les reliques vous permettra d’obtenir un badge et un titre exclusif! Les petites souris devront également venir en aide à Jingle (aussi connu en tant que Santa Maus) dans son atelier! Comment ça marche? Sur cette carte spéciale, customisée par les membres de la Map Crew, vous serez liés par groupes de 3. L’un d’entre vous sera un père Noël, un autre sera un renne et le dernier sera un elfe. Chacun d’entre vous devra prendre un cadeau différent et retourner au traîneau de Jingle en bas à droite. Si vous réussissez tous les trois, vous obtiendrez chacun une Pièce d’Âme-Sœur! Une pièce d’Âme-Sœur? Qu’est-ce que je dois faire avec? Échangez-les auprès de Jingle sur une carte exclusive où vous pourrez vous échanger vos cadeaux, pièces d’Âme-Sœur et snowboards afin d’obtenir des titres exclusifs! NOUVEAU Vous pouvez à présent envoyer des consommables avec vos lettres! C’est le moment idéal pour envoyer vos cadeaux de Noël :D Vous pouvez également sauvegarder vos lettres! Plus besoin de prendre des captures d’écran :) Les consommables affichés peuvent être retirés en cliquant dessus s’ils cachent le dessin. Du 3 janvier jusque fin janvier : LUNE DES FROMAGES SACRÉS Afin de bien démarrer la nouvelle année, toutes les souris devront prier leur Lune de Fromage sacré adorée et pour ce faire, les 12 signes astrofromagiques doivent être réunis! Saviez-vous que toutes les souris sont nées sous un signe astrofromagique? Mozzarella, Brie, Emmental (En France, nous avons tendance à penser que plus le fromage sent mauvais, meilleur il est!)… Lequel êtes-vous? Afin de remplir vos vœux de la Lune des Fromages sacrés vous devrez réunir tous les signes astrofromagiques. Pour ce faire, lors de la map event vous pouvez échanger votre signe astrofromagique avec une autre souris, mais seulement une, choisissez bien! Afin de savoir quel signe astrofromagique il vous manque sur les 12, la Lune vous montrera quels signes vous avez déjà récoltés pour elle. Du 18 janvier jusque fin janvier : ÉPIPHANIE L’un des moments favoris du Roi Fromagnus est finalement arrivé : L’Épiphanie! Cette célébration commémore la visite des trois Reines Chamanes : La Mécanicienne, la Maîtresse du Vent et la Guide Spirituelle, qui ont fait un périple dangereux afin d’offrir des cadeaux à Elisah, la Déesse Chamane. Le voyage était périlleux selon les histoires qu’on raconte sur ces péripéties anciennes, mais la Lune de Fromage sacré aurait aidé ces trois Reines en les guidant vers leur destination finale. En cette particulièrement délicieuse partie de l’année, toutes les souris célèbrent ce pèlerinage en dévorant des galettes des Rois! La légende dit qu’une des trois Reines Chamanes désirait apporter un peu de fromage à Elisah mais qu’elle a apporté de la galette à la place! Qui pourrait confondre un bout de fromage avec une part de galette? M’enfin, ce n’est sûrement qu’une légende. Ou peut-être était-ce une galette au fromage? Cette année, le Roi Fromagnus a reçu beaucoup de galettes des Rois de ses voisins. Toutefois, après avoir mangé plus qu’il n’aurait dû, il a soudainement réalisé qu’il ne parvenait plus à se lever. C’est pourquoi vous êtes invités dans son château afin de lui apporter des parts qui lui sont inaccessibles. En échange, il vous récompensera et qui sait… peut-être obtiendrez-vous la fève! Attention cependant, il semblerait qu’il n’y ait qu’une seule fève par fournée… Nous vous souhaitons à tous et à toutes un Joyeux Noël et une bonne fin d’année, nos chères souris! <3 Português » ♬ Então é Natal… ♬ Ho ho ho! Chegou a hora de festejar no Transformice! Ou seja, seus mapas festivos favoritos estão de volta! Do dia 13 de Dezembro até o final de Janeiro: SNOWBOARD E A OFICINA DO JINGLE
Primeiramente, coloque umas roupas mais quentinhas para encarar o frio! Você encontrará alguns itens exclusivos de natal na loja! Agora que você está pronto, vamos! (Não, pera… mas o que eu preciso fazer?) - Para desviar dos obstáculos, pule. - Quando você pular com um booster, tente fazer um mortal com os botões direita e esquerda. Se você conseguir pousar depois de um mortal, você ganhará mais velocidade! - Pegue o máximo de moedas de snowboard o possível e troque-as com o Brice! Além disso, você também encontrará presentes nos seus mapas normais do Transformice. Para aqueles que não conhecem como funciona os presentes, você encontrará e poderá trocar para conseguir (Qual a diferença?) Os prêmios que você encontrará nos presentes será diferente: alguns presentes verdes darão fragmentos que os presentes vermelhos não dão e assim por diante. E aqui vai a parte das trocas! - Troque fragmentos (peças) com os outros jogadores para conseguir uma Relíquia. - As Relíquias darão as seguintes recompensas: queijos, tickets de ouro, títulos e até mesmo morangos! - Consiga todas as Relíquias e você terá uma medalha e um títulos exclusivo! Os ratinhos também ajudarão o Jingle (também conhecido como Rato Noel) na sua oficina! Como funciona? Nesse mapa de evento, feito pelos membros da Map Crew, você terá duas almas gêmeas, formando um trio. Um de vocês será o Papai Noel, o outro a rena e o outro um elfo. Cada um de vocês deverá pegar um presente diferente e voltar para o trenó do Jingle, que fica no canto inferior direito do mapa. Se todos os três conseguirem, cada um ganhará uma Moeda Alma Gême! Uma Moeda Alma Gêmea? O que eu posso fazer com ela? Troque-as com o Jingle no mapa de evento que você pode trocar presentes, Moedas Alma Gêmea e Moedas de Snowbard para obter títulos exclusivos! NOVIDADE Agora você pode mandar itens consumíveis do inventário nas suas cartas! Ótima oportunidade para mandar seus presentes de natal. :D Os itens consumíveis podem ser removidos, basta clicar neles caso eles ficarem em cima do desenho. Do dia 3 de Janeiro até o final de Janeiro: AVENTURA ASTROLÓGICA No início do ano, todos os ratos devem apreciar suas amáveis Luas de Queijo e, para isso, os 12 signos queijais astrológicos devem ser reunidos! Você sabia que todos os ratos nascem sob um queijo astrológico? Muçarela, Brie, Emmental (na França, acreditamos que quanto mais forte o cheiro do queijo, melhor ele é!)… e você, qual é o seu queijo? Para realizar os desejos da Lua de Queijo, você deve juntar todos os queijos astrológicos. Para isso, durante o mapa de evento dessa aventura, você pode trocar o seu queijo astrológico com um outro rato, mas somente com um rato! Escolha bem! Para você saber qual dos 12 signos está faltando, a toda poderosa Lua te mostrará quais você já coletou. Do dia 18 de Janeiro até o final de Janeiro: EPIFANIA Uma das épocas favoritas do Rei Maqueijo finalmente chegou: a Epifania! Nesse evento, nós celebramos a visita das Três Rainhas Shamans: A Mecânica, A Senhora do Vento e a Guia Espiritual, que embarcaram numa viagem traiçoeira para presentar a Elisah, a Deusa Shaman. De acordo com os fatos ditados de uma longa era atrás, a viagem foi muito perigosa, mas a Lua Sagrada de Queijo teria ajudado as Três Rainhas, guiando-as até seu último destino. Nessa época desafiadora do ano, todos os ratos celebram essa peregrinação devorando bolos-rei! Reza a lenda que uma das Três Rainhas Shamans queria trazer queijo para a Elisah, mas ela confundiu o queijo com um pedaço enorme de bolo! Como pode alguém confundir um pedaço de queijo com um pedaço de bolo? Ora, provavelmente é só uma lenda mesmo. Ou será que era um bolo de queijo? Nesse ano, o Rei Maqueijo recebeu vários bolos-rei de sua vizinhança. Porém, após comer mais do que deveria, ele repentinamente percebeu que não conseguia mais se levantar! É por isso que você está convidado a ir ao seu castelo para dar a ele pedaços quais ele não consegue pegar sozinho. Em troca, o rei te premiará e, quem sabe… pode ser que você receba um amuleto! Fique atento, porque parece que só vem um amuleto por lote… Desejamos a todos os ratinhos um Feliz Natal e Feliz Ano Novo! <3 Transformice Art #66 Streaxx - 19/11/2018 _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Mice, Here is our monthly fan art selection! Congratulations to: Kannekow, Nerfusia, Nariette, Sonicyss, Derpfacederpy, Luwluve, KrisSsApple,
VictoriaTory2020, Mogueta, Zizaczkova, Rissy8, Reddybangart, Deferdenaa, Ariamouse and Tranqiluity! For a chance to get featured, make sure to post your fan art on Deviantart with the keyword Transformice :) We’re looking forward to see your art!By: Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge |
With media attention squarely falling on the foreigners exposed by the Panama Papers offshore tax haven scandal, everyone has been asking for more information on who are the Americans involved in this biggest data leak in history. After all, as we showed, Mossack Fonseca had over 400 American clients. But who are they?
Today, courtesy of McClatchy, we get some answers: while there are no politicians of note are in files but plenty of others. Among them: Retirees, scammers, and tax evaders, all of whom found a use for secrecy of offshore companies.
As the news paper reports, “the passports of at least 200 Americans show up in this week’s massive leak of secret data on secretive offshore shell companies.”
And yet, the following release may prompt merely more questions: given the high-profile nature of some of the foreign names in the leaks “many of the Americans may seem like small fish.”
Perhaps few Americans used Panama to hide their shady dealings; perhaps that was as intended.
In any event, here are some of the findings courtesy of McClatchy:
Determining a precise number of Americans in the data is difficult. There are at least 200 scanned individual U.S. passports. Some appear to be American retirees purchasing real estate in places like Costa Rica and Panama. Also in the database, about 3,500 shareholders of offshore companies who list U.S. addresses. And almost 3,100 companies are tied to offshore professionals based in Miami, New York, and other parts of the United States.
Further complicating matters, some U.S. citizens enjoy dual citizenship and open accounts under foreign passports. Others appeared to be American retirees purchasing real estate in places like Costa Rica and Panama.
Among the cases McClatchy and its partners found:
Robert Miracle of Bellevue, Wash., is in the files. He was indicted for a $65-million Seattle-area Ponzi scheme involving investment in Indonesian oilfields, with new investors’ money allegedly used to pay off past investors. Miracle was sentenced on May 13, 2011, to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion.
Miracle’s company was called Mcube Petroleum, and it remained an active shareholder in several offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands up until he pleaded guilty. The offshores were created by Mossack Fonseca.
Benjamin Wey is a U.S. citizen and president of New York Global Group. He was indicted last year, along with his Swiss banker, Seref Dogan Erbek, on securities fraud charges. Wey’s alleged scheme to conceal a true ownership interest in publicly traded companies was at the heart of the charges. Wey is accused of using offshores set up with Mossack Fonseca to disguise complicated transactions between Chinese operating companies and publicly traded U.S. shell companies.
The two “are believed to have profited in the tens of millions, while victim shareholders were left holding the bill,” Diego Rodriguez, an FBI official involved in the case, said in a statement at the time of indictment.
Florida billionaire Igor Olenicoff, a commercial real estate mogul, appears in the data as a shareholder of Olen Oil Management Limited. He raised a national stir in 2007 after being sentenced to just two years of probation for tax evasion. He paid a $52 million fine after not declaring more than $200 million in offshore shell companies. More recently, he was found guilty in 2014 for making replicas of a pricey sculpture and was ordered to make restitution to the sculptors whose work he had copied.
There’s Anthony J. Gumbiner, the Dallas-area chairman of Hallwood Group Inc. He’s a British national with deep Texas ties who settled an insider trading case in 1996 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, paying $1.7 million in penalties at the time.
A jetsetter in the 1980s, Gumbiner was known for his lavish lifestyle in Monte Carlo. More recently, he’s been tied up in litigation over oilfield investments. His Hallwood Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009.
It wasn’t until 2015 that the law firm seemed to catch on to Gumbiner’s legal problems and started to conduct enhanced background checks. By then his offshore companies had been inactive since 2011.
And there’s John Michael “Red” Crim, author of the self-published books “From Here to Malta,” and “I’ve Been Arrested, Now What?”
Federal jurors in Philadelphia in January 2008 convicted Crim and two associates in a plot to have investors use phony trusts to cheat the IRS out of roughly $10 million in tax revenue.
In an interview with McClatchy’s project partner Fusion, at a halfway house in Los Angeles last February, Crim described how he brought business to Mossack Fonseca and other registered corporate agents.
“My responsibility is to set-up the documentation, hand it over to the client, and now they’re in business,” Crim said. “I don’t even know sometimes what that business is about, and I didn’t want to spend all my time investigating what they’re doing. I mean, some of (them) just flat out would tell you it was none of your business.”
In a separate case, federal authorities were unaware that a defendant in a fraud case had an offshore account with Mossack Fonseca. Internet phone company executive Jonathan Kaplan pleaded guilty in Bridgeport, Conn., in 2007 to accepting more than $400,000 in a commercial bribery scheme.
Kaplan received probation. A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of pending legal matters, confirmed that prosecutors did not know that Kaplan had established an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands in 2004 called SGA Wireless. It remained active until May 2010.
Reached by phone in New Jersey, Kaplan was asked whether he told authorities about SGA Wireless. He stammered, “I’m going to have to decline. I’ll talk to you.” He then abruptly hung up.Google wants to make backpacks a thing of the past by letting students store all of their files online, and it's going to start giving students enough space to actually do that. Students, teachers, and anyone else using a Google Apps for Education account will soon be given unlimited storage and the ability to keep files of up to a whopping 5TB in size on Google Drive. Unfortunately, just being a student isn't enough to get this account — you'll have to attend an institution that supports Google's education suite. But it should be a pretty compelling offer for many, especially given that it's free to nonprofit educational institutions.
These same features were introduced to users of Google's business suite back in June, so it isn't exactly unprecedented. It is, however, potentially bringing unlimited storage to a huge new group of people — people who have good reason to use it and wouldn't necessarily have the funds to otherwise afford it — so this is a big improvement nonetheless. It's hard to imagine backpacks totally disappearing (I mean, it's not a bad idea to carry around a couple pencils), but Google makes a solid argument that it'll let you leave your old notebooks behind and pick things up on a school computer.Weeks after taking a job as a breeding technician at Eagle Point Farms, an anguished Sharee Santorineos sat down and wrote a three-page whistleblower complaint. "I seen pigs that are pregnant beat with steel bars," said her letter to the Illinois Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare. "I seen them kicked all over their body." Santorineos knows about raising animals. At a friend's rural Illinois farmhouse, she grows pigs and poultry that they eventually will have slaughtered. Still, what she saw at the western Illinois confinement appalled her, and she hoped her December 2015 letter would prompt a thorough state investigation. Instead, like other worker allegations about animal abuse in Illinois' 900-plus hog confinement facilities, Santorineos' account went nowhere. After Eagle Point executives gave a state bureau inspector a guided tour of the 6,000-pig operation, he wrote a single-page report. "I did not observe anyone mistreating the animals," it said. "No violations found. Docket is closed." The state has regularly discounted or dismissed such worker complaints, a Tribune investigation has found. In the Illinois hog confinements that send 12 million pigs to market annually, the bureau did not find a single animal welfare infraction or violation during the past five years, the Tribune found in reviewing thousands of pages of bureau records. A lack of inspectors — the bureau has just six — contributes to the scant enforcement, while weak Illinois and federal livestock protection laws do little to safeguard animals. Sharee Santorineos discusses her experience working at Eagle Point Farms and the allegations of abuse that she filed. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) Sharee Santorineos discusses her experience working at Eagle Point Farms and the allegations of abuse that she filed. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) SEE MORE VIDEOS Questions about how the pigs, cows and poultry we eat are treated — what the animals are fed, how they are medicated and how they live and die — are putting new pressures on a U.S. livestock industry that until recently has focused almost exclusively on productivity and profit. Animal rights activists have lifted the welfare of livestock into the public consciousness by taking jobs in hog confinements and secretly recording pigs being pummeled, dragged with hooks and pinned for life in crates. But Illinois law makes it a potential felony to record a conversation without the consent of all parties, and no undercover stings have emerged from the state. Using worker compensation claims, court records and animal abuse reports filed with the state Agriculture Department, Tribune reporters for the first time pieced together a disturbing portrait of abusive treatment in pig confinements here amid lax scrutiny from the state. In on-the-record interviews, Santorineos and more than a dozen other Illinois swine-confinement workers told the Tribune they witnessed fellow employees whip pigs with metal rods and gouge them with pliers and ballpoint pens to hurry the animals from one stall to the next or onto the trucks that took them to slaughter. They described employees abusing pigs for amusement and encouraging colleagues to take out their frustrations on the animals. Worker accounts of cruelty and torture arose in hog confinements across the state run by market-leading firms. Some workers said their supervisors meted out punishment to speed up lame or unwilling pigs. "He'd kick them," said Kelley Shannon, a former employee of a Professional Swine Management confinement in western Illinois. "I'm talking, full-bore kick. Bloody its nose and punch a pig so hard it damn near popped its eye out." Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune Piglets fill a truck as they're shipped from a large breeding facility to an Illinois hog confinement operation to be grown for market. Piglets fill a truck as they're shipped from a large breeding facility to an Illinois hog confinement operation to be grown for market. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) Pork industry representatives and Professional Swine executives told the Tribune they do not tolerate mistreatment and increasingly are taking proactive steps, including internal hotlines for workers to report problems. Facility operators also cautioned that former workers can be biased. They are likely to embellish, industry representatives said, because they are angry at their bosses, upset about their experiences or simply trying to impress journalists. When the state receives an allegation of abuse, it is the job of an obscure and understaffed bureau in the Illinois Department of Agriculture to investigate. The six inspectors in the Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare, down from 12 in 2005, must handle complaints about not just the mistreatment of livestock but also dead goldfish in dirty pet store tanks, dogs in kennel cages and filth in petting zoos. The number of animal welfare violations the bureau issued across all of these settings fell from 200 in 2005 to 29 last year, while referrals for prosecution dropped during that period from 22 per year to just one, state records show. Public opinion research shows consumers overwhelmingly care about the handling of hogs and other livestock animals. But some of the labels on supermarket pork shed little light on how the pigs were actually raised and treated. When the bureau fielded a 2013 whistleblower allegation that employees were hitting pigs with metal bars at the Win Production LLC hog confinement in Scott County, a state inspector's investigation consisted largely of a few phone calls. In his report, he wrote that he spoke with a facility manager whose name was listed only as "Betty" and an owner "whose name eludes me at this time." In that phone call, facility executives denied the allegation. The veterinarian at the facility, Alan Wildt, sent the inspector a short email stating he had visited the farm monthly for years and had "never witnessed any production practices that could be considered abusive." On the basis of that email and the phone calls, the inspector reported: "There is no proof the (abuse) claim can be verified so the docket is closed." Illinois state veterinarian Mark Ernst, who oversees the animal welfare bureau, said his inspectors do not have police powers and typically do not question fellow workers who might corroborate a whistleblower's account. "Our investigations are handled a little differently than what you would think of as a criminal investigation," Ernst said. "The primary goal is to try and get compliance and to educate those people so they don't make the same mistake." A lot of pressure Smart, strong-willed and muscular, pigs can be frustrating to handle even when raised on pastures or small family farms. Still, Illinois' massive, modern-day confinements create new pressures that contribute to animal abuse. Undercover videos by animal welfare activists have documented the cruelty that can occur inside America's large hog confinements — facilities that are off-limits to the public and largely unregulated by government agencies. The clips have influenced consumers and pressured some of the nation's... Pig handlers deal with hundreds or thousands of animals at a time. Animals bred for their lean meat can be aggressive and resistant to handling, and some facilities use feed additives that promote hog growth but also can stimulate hyperactivity and belligerent behavior. For immigrant workers, a language barrier can impede communication about acceptable handling practices. "A lot of things have come together that put workers and animals under a lot of pressure," said Emily Patterson-Kane, a top animal welfare scientist with the American Veterinary Medical Association and a former "pigger" in Scotland.
Some workers told the Tribune their colleagues often abused pigs when hustling the animals from pen to pen or onto slaughter trucks. With a gentle, expert touch, pork industry executive Phil Borgic inspects the sow in the tight metal crate. For almost her entire life, iron bars will hold this mother pig on the slotted concrete floor of Borgic's 6,000-animal breeding operation as she produces litter after litter. She can step... Hog confinement workers are trained to walk behind groups of animals, usually shaking "rattle paddles" to make a sharp noise that repels pigs. But the leader can't be guided that way if workers are trying to move more than a handful of pigs, meat industry consultant Temple Grandin told the Tribune. "The No. 1 mistake that people make is trying to move too many market pigs at a time," said Grandin, a professor at Colorado State University. In those situations, workers said, it becomes tempting to abuse the pigs to make them move. Terry Clement, a former employee at a downstate Christensen Farms facility, said young female pigs, called gilts, would often freeze as they were moved into the area where they were to be isolated in metal cages known as gestation crates. "I've seen a lot of guys beat on the gilts," Clement said. "I've seen their backs. Big long scratches that bleed." He added: "I seen pregnant sows being beat on with the rattle paddles. I've seen them scratched on the back with pens. We had fiberglass sort boards — you'd catch them hitting the hogs with those." When a supervisor walked the floor, "you had to go by the book," Clement said. "But when he wasn't there, everybody just wanted to hurry up and go home." Christensen Farms CEO Glenn Stolt did not challenge the Tribune accounts of abuse from Clement or other former company workers, calling them "troubling," but said his firm has significantly strengthened its protections for the animals by bolstering training, implementing an anonymous employee hotline and conducting unannounced audits. In a costly pilot program, the company in May installed video monitors inside one facility. With 113 workers in its Illinois hog confinements, Christensen Farms last year had nine internal reports of animal abuse across the state, company officials said. The company deemed two instances to be "willful" and terminated both employees. One admitted kicking a sow, and the other let baby piglets go hungry rather than train a new employee how to feed them. "My expectation is that it's zero, and that's the expectation we communicate all the time," Stolt said. "There is no place for any animal abuse." Ernst, the state veterinarian, said he couldn't estimate how often pigs are abused in Illinois confinements. "You've got to keep in mind, any good producer, this is their livelihood. It's how they feed their families and put their kids through school. And obviously if they don't have healthy and happy animals, it's going to be very difficult for them to make a living. The very good ones, I think they're right on top of it, and like anything else, you also have the other end of the spectrum." Still, some executives told the Tribune they rarely enter their facilities, leaving to line workers the difficult job of handling the pigs day to day. Facilities often pay little more than minimum wage and use the agricultural exemption from overtime laws. Confinement workers described bruising attacks from frantic pigs, as well as headaches and persistent respiratory ailments caused by animal dander and gases from the waste storage pits below. "I wouldn't recommend anyone to do that job," said Jacob Allen, whose eight-month term at a southern Illinois facility run by The Maschhoffs LLC ended when a charging 250-pound pig shoved him into a gate, according to Allen's claim with the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission and a Tribune interview. But in his economically challenged part of the state, Allen said, "there's not much else, so you take what you can get." The pigs got beat up so bad they don't move. — Former pig farm worker Raymond Hamilton Grandin, who has worked in the field for decades, recalled how commonplace abuse was in "the bad old days of the '80s and early '90s." Back then, Grandin estimated, "20 percent of the people did a good job of handling pigs." Today that percentage is much higher, she said. But when facilities are understaffed or employees have to perform repetitive tasks for hours — such as vaccinating, impregnating, castrating or moving hundreds of pigs — "workers get tired, they get frustrated and impatient. It's very difficult to care," she said. "I've been around for a long time and there's some people that — they enjoy hurting animals and they should not be there." 'We hit 'em hard' Even at facilities run by a company that champions animal welfare, the Tribune found allegations of mistreatment. The Maschhoffs, the nation's third-largest pork producer, was one of the first large companies to create a top-level animal welfare division eight years ago, and workers said their barn bosses did not tolerate mistreatment. "Maschhoffs wouldn't even let you use a clothespin (to prod a pig). They'd fire you on the spot," said Randall Hall, who worked until 2012 at one company complex. But when supervisors weren't around, "workers beat the pigs with paddles, with hoses, boards and metal rods," said Raymond Hamilton, who worked until last year at a facility in downstate Carlyle. "The pigs got beat up so bad they don't move," Hamilton said. When a pig buckled under that kind of abuse, employees euthanized the animal with a shot between the eyes from a livestock bolt gun, workers said. "I've seen one guy actually shoot one because he done stressed it out too bad. He's like, 'Oh we got to kill this,'" said former Maschhoffs worker Joshua Owens. "Some of the employees, it was fun to them to be mean to an animal," Owens said. "When the bigwigs came, they straightened up." Maschhoffs President Bradley Wolter said he was outraged to hear allegations of abuse from a Tribune reporter. "I am just appalled by it. It goes against everything I believe in and we believe in as a company," Wolter said. "We're in the practice of pig production and there is a nobility to it. These animals trust us to take care of them. We don't think there is anybody else on the planet that cares more about these animals than we do." Wolter said employees make about 70 to 100 calls per year to the company's internal animal abuse hotline, and since 2015 Maschhoffs has terminated seven of its 1,300 workers nationwide after finding evidence of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of a pig. The firm recently alerted government authorities to an abuse allegation at one facility that is not in Illinois, Wolter said, although he provided no further details.
"Do I believe we have individuals that lose their temper and harm an animal? The data says it happens. We've terminated those people. It disgusts me," Wolter said. Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune Michael Cavins, shown at his home in Clinton County, Ill., said that when he worked for pork producer The Maschhoffs, he witnessed co-workers abuse pigs to get them to move — and he soon took part in the violence. He acknowledged being fired after the company found evidence of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of a pig. Michael Cavins, shown at his home in Clinton County, Ill., said that when he worked for pork producer The Maschhoffs, he witnessed co-workers abuse pigs to get them to move — and he soon took part in the violence. He acknowledged being fired after the company found evidence of abuse, neglect or mistreatment of a pig. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) One Illinois worker discharged by Maschhoffs, Michael Cavins, told the Tribune he frequently witnessed co-workers abuse pigs to get them to move — and soon took part in the violence. "Yes, that happened. We hit 'em hard with the paddles to get 'em to move," Cavins said. "That was one of the reasons I was discharged." Cavins told the Tribune he had worked with pigs for more than a decade and Maschhoffs had retrained him on how to move animals without harming them. Yet he joined other workers who aggressively moved the sows, until a supervisor spotted him. "I wish I'd went by the book and not even done it," Cavins said. "I just hit 'em too hard. It's going on all the time; they're constantly being hit when the supervisors aren't around." 'It doesn't look pretty' Deliberate torture of farm animals can be a crime in Illinois, but only veterinarians are mandated to report it — not facility workers, supervisors or operators. Many Illinois confinement veterinarians visit the facilities only once or twice a month, and none has reported abuse in the facilities since 2011, the Tribune found. No companies have reported incidents to the state bureau during that time. Illinois also is among the 38 states where long-standing farm practices are exempted from animal cruelty laws. These include castrating piglets and clipping their tails, teeth and ears without pain relief, as well as confining breeding sows in tight gestation and farrowing crates. "Normal husbandry practices means anything farmers have done in the past, even if they are extremely cruel," said Joan Schaffner, a George Washington University Law School associate professor. "If you were to do the same thing to your dog or cat, it would clearly be criminal." Another example of practices that livestock handlers accept but consumers find deeply disturbing is the way piglets are euthanized. Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune A young pig in a hog confinement operation walks across a slotted floor. The movement of pigs across their pen pushes their waste through the slots into a storage pit below. A young pig in a hog confinement operation walks across a slotted floor. The movement of pigs across their pen pushes their waste through the slots into a storage pit below. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) Breeding facilities like Eagle Point cull deformed and underweight piglets because high-speed |
Release date for MC: September 15th
Release date for C-Bills: October 20th
Originally designed and manufactured by Clan Ice Hellion in the year 3037, Clan Smoke Jaguar's subsequent conquest of the manufacturing facility on planet Foster allowed the Jaguars to add this formidable Light 'Mech to its own arsenal. Under their banner the Arctic Cheetah first saw combat against the Inner Sphere at the Battle of Luthien, where it was dubbed the Hankyu ("short bow") by the forces of the Draconis Combine.
As an ECM-capable Light 'Mech with a stock speed of 129.6kph and enough firepower potential to stack up against the strongest Light 'Mechs of the Inner Sphere, the Arctic Cheetah excels as a medium-range offensive scout.
Base:
Tonnage: 30
Engine: 240 XL
Top Speed: 129.6 kph
Armor Type: Ferro-Fibrous
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel
Fixed Weapons & Equipment:
Head: Fixed Armor Slot
Left Arm: Fixed Armor Slot, Fixed Structure Slot
Left Torso: Fixed Armor Slot x2, Fixed Structure Slot x3
Center Torso: Engine, Jump Jet x2
Right Torso: Double Heat Sink, Fixed Armor Slot x2, Fixed Structure Slot x2
Right Arm: Fixed Armor Slot, Fixed Structure Slot
Left Leg: Jump Jet x2
Right Leg: Jump Jet x2
Heat Sinks: 10 Double
Jump Jets: 6 (6 Max)
Movement Archetype: Small
ACH-Prime (I)
Torso Movement:
110 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 153
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Medium Laser, LRM 5
Left Torso: ECM Suite, TAG, LRM Ammo
Right Torso: Flamer, Active Probe, LRM Ammo
Right Arm: ER Medium Laser, LRM 5
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Left Torso: 1 Energy, 1 ECM
Right Torso: 1 Energy
Right Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: Yes
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Left Arm
+8 Additional Structure (LA)
-4% LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread
-4% SRM 2/4/6 Spread
Left Torso
+7 Additional Structure (LT)
Center Torso
+10% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+10% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Torso
+7 Additional Structure
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Arm
+8 Additional Structure (RA)
-4% LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread
-4% SRM 2/4/6 Spread
Left Leg
+10 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Leg
+10 Additional Structure (RL)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
30% C-Bill Bonus
ACH-Prime
Torso Movement:
110 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 153
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Medium Laser, LRM 5
Left Torso: ECM Suite, TAG, LRM Ammo
Right Torso: Flamer, Active Probe, LRM Ammo
Right Arm: ER Medium Laser, LRM 5
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Left Torso: 1 Energy, 1 ECM
Right Torso: 1 Energy
Right Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: Yes
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Left Arm
+8 Additional Structure (LA)
-4% LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread
-4% SRM 2/4/6 Spread
Left Torso
+7 Additional Structure (LT)
Center Torso
+10% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+10% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Torso
+7 Additional Structure
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Arm
+8 Additional Structure (RA)
-4% LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread
-4% SRM 2/4/6 Spread
Left Leg
+10 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Leg
+10 Additional Structure (RL)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
ACH-A
Torso Movement:
110 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 153
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: Streak SRM 6, Flamer
Left Torso: Streak SRM Ammo
Right Torso: Streak SRM Ammo
Right Arm: Streak SRM 6, Small Pulse Laser
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Right Torso: 1 AMS
Right Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+5% Arm Movement Rate (Pitch)
+5% Arm Movement Rate (Yaw)
Left Arm
+8 Additional Structure (LA)
+3% Missile Cooldown
Left Torso
+7 Additional Structure (LT)
+5% Arm Movement Rate (Pitch)
+5% Arm Movement Rate (Yaw)
Center Torso
+10% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+10% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
+2% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Torso
+7 Additional Structure (RT)
+5% Arm Movement Rate (Pitch)
+5% Arm Movement Rate (Yaw)
Right Arm
+8 Additional Structure (RA)
+3% Missile Cooldown
Left Leg
+15 Additional Structure (LL)
Right Leg
+15 Additional Structure (RL)
ACH-B
Torso Movement:
110 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 153
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Medium Laser, Medium Pulse Laser
Right Torso: LB 2-X Ammo
Right Arm: LB 2-X AC, Flamer
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 2 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Right Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Ballistic
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+3% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Left Arm
+8 Additional Structure (LA)
-2.5% Energy Heat Generation
Left Torso
+7 Additional Structure (LT)
+3% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Center Torso
+10% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+10% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+4% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Torso
+7 Additional Structure (RT)
+3% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Arm
+8 Additional Structure (RA)
-5% LB-X Spread
Left Leg
+10 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Reverse Speed
Right Leg
+10 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Reverse Speed
ACH-C
Torso Movement:
110 degrees to each side.
30 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
30 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
30 degrees up and down.
Armor: 153
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Medium Laser x2
Left Torso: Medium Pulse Laser, Flamer
Right Torso: Medium Pulse Laser, Active Probe
Right Arm: ER Medium Laser x2
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 2 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Left Torso: 2 Energy
Right Torso: 1 Energy
Right Arm: 2 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
Left Arm
+8 Additional Structure (LA)
-2.5% ER Laser Duration
-2.5% Laser Duration
Left Torso
-2.5% Pulse Laser Heat Generation
-2.5% Energy Heat Generation
Center Torso
+12.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+12.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
Right Torso
-2.5% Pulse Laser Heat Generation
-2.5% Energy Heat Generation
Right Arm
+8 Additional Structure (RA)
-2.5% ER Laser Duration
-2.5% Laser Duration
Left Leg
+10 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
Right Leg
+10 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
Shadow Cat
Release date for MC: September 1st
Release date for C-Bills: October 6th
Preparations for the Clan's 'Operation Revival' were long underway prior to the initial invasion in the year 3049, and it was with this in mind that Clan Nova Cat started rolling Shadow Cat's off the production line in the year 3003. Even before the invasion the MASC-equipped Shadow Cat easily distinguished itself on the battlefields of the Clan Homeworlds as a highly-maneuverable and well-armed Medium 'Mech.
As with the Arctic Cheetah, the Shadow Cat first saw combat against Inner Sphere forces during the Battle of Luthien. However, unlike the Arctic Cheetah/Hankyu, no Inner Sphere pilots managed to survive an encounter with the Shadow Cat until its appearance at the Battle of Tukayyid four months later. This grim distinction contributed to the Shadow Cat being one of the first Clan 'Mechs not to receive a unique designation from Inner Sphere pilots.
As an ECM-capable Medium 'Mech with fixed MASC and tonnage to spare, the Shadow Cat excels due to its excellent scouting capabilities and capacity to equip a wide range of weaponry.
Base:
Tonnage: 45
Engine: 270 XL
Top Speed: 97.2 kph
Armor Type: Ferro-Fibrous
Internal Structure: Endo-Steel
Fixed Weapons & Equipment:
Head: Fixed Structure Slot
Left Arm: Fixed Structure Slot x2
Left Torso: Jump Jet, Fixed Armor Slot x3, Fixed Structure Slot
Center Torso: Engine, MASC Mk II
Right Torso: Jump Jet, Fixed Armor Slot x4, Fixed Structure Slot
Right Arm: Fixed Structure Slot x2
Left Leg: Jump Jet x2
Right Leg: Jump Jet x2
Heat Sinks: 10 Double
Jump Jets: 6 (6 Max)
Movement Archetype: Medium
SHC-Prime (I)
Torso Movement:
135 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
20 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
40 degrees up and down.
Armor: 268
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Medium Laser
Left Torso: Active Probe
Right Torso: ER Medium Laser, Gauss Ammo
Right Arm: Gauss Rifle
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Left Torso: 1 AMS
Right Torso: 1 Energy
Right Arm: 1 Ballistic
Lower Arm Actuator: Not Allowed
Hand Actuator: Not Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Left Arm
+7 Additional Structure (LA)
+5% ER Laser Cooldown
Left Torso
+7.5% AMS Rate of Fire
+5% AMS Range
Center Torso
+5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Torso
+2.5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Arm
+7 Additional Structure (RA)
+5% Ballistic Range
Left Leg
+7 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
Right Leg
+7 Additional Structure (RL)
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
30% C-Bill Bonus
SHC-Prime
Torso Movement:
135 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
20 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
40 degrees up and down.
Armor: 268
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Medium Laser
Left Torso: Active Probe
Right Torso: ER Medium Laser, Gauss Ammo
Right Arm: Gauss Rifle
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Allowed
Hand Actuator: Allowed
Left Torso: 1 AMS
Right Torso: 1 Energy
Right Arm: 1 Ballistic
Lower Arm Actuator: Not Allowed
Hand Actuator: Not Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Left Arm
+7 Additional Structure (LA)
+5% ER Laser Cooldown
Left Torso
+7.5% AMS Rate of Fire
+5% AMS Range
Center Torso
+5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Torso
+2.5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Arm
+7 Additional Structure (RA)
+5% Ballistic Range
Left Leg
+7 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
Right Leg
+7 Additional Structure (RL)
+2.5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
SHC-A
Torso Movement:
135 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
20 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
40 degrees up and down.
Armor: 268
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: ER Large Laser, Double Heat Sink
Left Torso: Active Probe, Double Heat Sink
Right Torso: Streak SRM 6, Streak SRM Ammo x2
Right Arm: ER Large Laser, Double Heat Sink
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Not Allowed
Hand Actuator: Not Allowed
Right Torso: 1 Missile
Right Arm: 1 Energy
Lower Arm Actuator: Not Allowed
Hand Actuator: Not Allowed
Heat Sinks: +3 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+2.5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Left Arm
+7 Additional Structure (LA)
-2.5% ER Laser Heat Generation
-2.5% Energy Heat Generation
Left Torso
+2.5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Center Torso
+5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+2.5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
+2.5% Turn Rate (All Speeds)
Right Torso
+5% Missile Cooldown
Right Arm
+7 Additional Structure (RA)
-2.5% ER Laser Duration
-2.5% Laser Duration
Left Leg
+12 Additional Structure (LL)
Right Leg
+12 Additional Structure (RL)
SHC-B
Torso Movement:
135 degrees to each side.
20 degrees up and down.
Arm Movement:
20 degrees to each side with 2 Lower Arm Actuators.
10 degrees to each side with 1 Lower Arm Actuator.
0 degrees to each side with 0 Lower Arm Actuators.
40 degrees up and down.
Armor: 268
Weapons & Equipment:
Left Arm: LRM 15w/ Artemis IV FCS, ER Medium Laser
Left Torso: ECM Suite, LRM Artemis Ammo
Right Torso: Active Probe, LRM Artemis Ammo x2
Right Arm: LRM 15w/ Artemis IV FCS, ER Medium Laser
OmniPod Hardpoints:
Left Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Not Allowed
Hand Actuator: Not Allowed
Left Torso: 1 ECM
Right Arm: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
Lower Arm Actuator: Not Allowed
Hand Actuator: Not Allowed
Heat Sinks: +0 Double
Jump Jets: +0 (6 Max)
ECM Capable?: Yes
Module Slots:
Mech: 1
Consumable: 2
Weapon: 2
OmniPod Quirks (not reflected in above values):
Set Bonus
+2.5% XP Bonus
+5% Reverse Speed
Left Arm
+7 Additional Structure (LA)
-3% LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread
-3% SRM 2/4/6 Spread
Left Torso
+6 Additional Armor (LT)
+11 Additional Structure (LT)
Center Torso
+5% Acceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Deceleration Rate (All Speeds)
+5% Reverse Speed
Right Torso
+5% Torso Turn Rate (Yaw)
Right Arm
+7 Additional Structure (RA)
-3% LRM 5/10/15/20 Spread
-3% SRM 2/4/6 Spread
Left Leg
+7 Additional Structure (LL)
+2.5% Reverse Speed
Right Leg
+7 Additional Structure (RL)
+2.5% Reverse Speed
SHC-P(Newser) – Apparently, Bill O’Reilly has never heard of the moon. In a debate Tuesday with Dave Silverman, head of the American Atheist group behind this, the Fox host tried to prove the existence of God by citing the unknowable mysteries of the tides. “I’ll tell you why [religion is] not a scam, in my opinion,” he told Silverman. “Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can’t explain that. You can’t explain why the tide goes in.”
Silverman looked stunned. “Tide goes in, tide goes out?” he stuttered. O’Reilly pressed on. “The water, the tide—it comes in and it goes out. It always goes in, then it goes out. … You can’t explain that. You can’t explain it.” Of course, Raw Story points out, people who passed high school science might tell you that tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon as it orbits the earth. But Silverman had a better response: “Maybe it’s Thor up on Mount Olympus who’s making the tides go in and out." (Click for more on O'Reilly and the very high-profile interview he just landed.)Over the past six decades, the United States has used its nuclear arsenal in five often inter-related ways. The first was, obviously, battlefield use, with the “battlefield” writ large to include the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The long-held consensus among scholars has been that these first atomic bombings were not necessary to end the war against Japan, and that they were designed to serve a second function of the U.S. nuclear arsenal: dictating the parameters of the global (dis)order by implicitly terrorizing U.S. enemies and allies (“vassal states” in the words of former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski.) The third function, first practiced by Harry Truman during the 1946 crisis over Azerbaijan in northern Iran and relied on repeatedly in U.S. wars in Asia and the Middle East, as well as during crises over Berlin and the Cuban Missile Crisis, has been to threaten opponents with first strike nuclear attacks in order to terrorize them into negotiating on terms acceptable to the United States or, as in the Bush wars against Iraq, to ensure that desperate governments do not defend themselves with chemical or biological weapons. Once the Soviet Union joined the nuclear club, the U.S. arsenal began to play a fourth role, making U.S. conventional forces, in the words of former Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, “meaningful instruments of military and political power.” As Noam Chomsky explains, Brown was saying that implicit and explicit U.S. nuclear threats were repeatedly used to intimidate those who might consider intervening militarily to assist those we are determined to attack.
The final role of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is deterrence, which came into play only when the Soviet Union began to achieve parity with the United States in the last years of the Vietnam War. This is popularly understood to mean preventing a surprise first strike attack against the United States by guaranteeing “mutual assured destruction.” In other words, any nation foolish enough to attack the United States with nuclear weapons will be annihilated. However, Pentagon leaders have testified that deterrence has never been U.S. policy, and they have defined deterrence as preventing other nations from taking “courses of action” that are inimical to U.S. interests. This could include decisions related to allocation of scarce resources like oil and water, defending access to markets, or preventing non-nuclear attacks against U.S. allies and clients, i.e. role #2, using genocidal nuclear weapons to define and enforce the parameters and rules of the U.S. dominated global (dis)order.
My argument is not that U.S. use and threatened use of nuclear weapons have always succeeded. Instead, successive U.S. presidents, their most senior advisers, and many in the Pentagon have believed that U.S. use of nuclear weapons has achieved U.S. goals in the past. Furthermore, these presidents have repeatedly replicated this ostensibly successful model. In fact, even the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki achieved only one of their two purposes. These first bombs of the Cold War did communicate a terrorizing message to Stalin and the Soviet elite about the capabilities of these new weapons and about the U.S. will to use them. But, within weeks of the A-bombings, Washington was sharing influence in Korea with Moscow. Four years later northern China and Manchuria, which U.S. leaders thought they had won with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, fell into what was seen as the Soviet sphere. In 1954 France declined the offer of two U.S. A-bombs to break the Vietnamese siege at Dienbienphu, and in 1969 North Vietnam refused to be intimidated by Nixon’s “November ultimatum.”
The U.S. commitment to nuclear dominance and its practice of threatening nuclear attacks have, in fact, been counterproductive, increasing the dangers of nuclear war in yet another way: spurring nuclear weapons proliferation. No nation will long tolerate what it experiences as an unjust imbalance of power. It was primarily for this reason that the Soviet Union (now Russia) and China, North Korea, and quite probably Iran opted for nuclear weapons.
The Romance of Ruthlessness
The Bush administration has again put nuclear weapons and their various uses at the center of U.S. military and foreign policy. The message of the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) in December 2001 was unmistakable. As The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists editorialized, “Not since the resurgence of the Cold War in Ronald Reagan’s first term has U.S. defense strategy placed such an emphasis on nuclear weapons.” The NPR reiterated the U.S. commitment to first-strike nuclear war fighting. For the first time, seven nations were specifically named as primary nuclear targets: Russia, China, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, and North Korea. Consistent with calls by senior administration figures who spoke of their “bias in favor of things that might be usable,” the NPR urged funding for development of new and more usable nuclear weapons. This included a new “bunker buster.” Seventy times more powerful than the Hiroshima A-bomb, the bunker buster was designed to destroy enemy command bunkers and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) installations buried hundreds of feet beneath the surface.
To ensure that the “bunker buster” and other new nuclear weapons could inflict their holocausts, the NPR called for accelerating preparations for the resumption of nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site. It also pressed for the nuclear weapons laboratories to continue modernizing the nuclear arsenal and to train a new generation of nuclear weapons scientists. Among their first projects would be the design of a “Reliable Replacement Warhead” to serve as the military’s primary strategic weapon for the first half of the 21st century. With a massive infusion of new funds to consolidate and revitalize nuclear research, development and production facilities, National Nuclear Security Administration Deputy Administrator Tom D’Agostino testified it would “restore us to a level of capability comparable to what we had during the Cold War.”
Later, the Rumsfeld Pentagon published and then ostensibly “rescinded” a non-classified version of its Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations. The Doctrine was revealing and profoundly disturbing. In the tradition of the Clinton administration’s Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence, the Doctrine communicated that the United States could all too easily “become irrational and vindictive.”
Most striking was the Doctrine’s extended discussion of deterrence. Rather than define deterrence as the prevention of nuclear attacks by other nuclear powers, the Doctrine stated that “The focus of US deterrence efforts is… to influence potential adversaries to withhold actions intended to harm US national interests…based on the adversary’s perception of the…likelihood and magnitude of the costs or consequences corresponding to these courses of actions.” Diplomatically, the Doctrine continued, “the central focus of deterrence is for one nation to exert such influence over a potential adversary’s decision process that the potential adversary makes a deliberate choice to refrain from a COA [course of action.]” In addition to putting Chinese diplomatic efforts to marginalize U.S. power in Asia on notice or deterring unlikely Russian or French nuclear attacks, the central role of the U.S. nuclear arsenal was global dominance. China, Russia, France and Germany were reminded of their proper places, and Iran and Venezuela received ample warning not to adopt oil and energy policies that might constitute courses of action that would “harm U.S. national interests.”
Placing the world on further notice, the Doctrine threatened that “The US does not make positive statements defining the circumstances under which it would use nuclear weapons.” Maintaining ambiguity about when the United States would use nuclear weapons helped to “create doubt in the minds of potential adversaries.” The Doctrine also refused to rule out nuclear attacks against non-nuclear weapons states.
The Doctrine also baldly instructed the U.S. military that “no customary or conventional international law prohibits nations from employing nuclear weapons in armed conflict,” thus subordinating international law to U.S. military strategy. It also argued that nuclear wars could be won. The Doctrine gave increased authority to field commanders to propose targets for nuclear attacks and described the circumstances when field commanders could request approval to launch first-strike nuclear attacks. “Training,” it further stated, “can help prepare friendly forces to survive the effects of nuclear weapons and improve the effectiveness of surviving forces.” The Doctrine went on to reconfirm the bankruptcy of the nuclear reduction negotiations between the United States and Russia. The Doctrine was clear that U.S. nuclear forces would not actually be reduced because “US strategic nuclear weapons remain in storage and serve as an augmentation capability should US strategic nuclear force requirements rise above the levels of the Moscow Treaty.”
Toward Abolition
Since the end of the Cold War, the media and national political discourse in the United States have focused on the dangers of “horizontal proliferation.” These dangers include “rogue” states with nuclear weapons, the possibility of nations with nuclear power plants becoming nuclear weapons states, and leakage from nuclear stockpiles finding its way to “rogue” states or to non-state terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. One nightmare scenario has envisioned the overthrow of the Musharraf regime in Pakistan, with its nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of radical Islamists.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand the importance of under-funded initiatives like the congressional Nunn-Lugar Nuclear Threat Initiative, which was designed to secure the world’s nuclear weapons, fissile materials, and nuclear wastes. However, these efforts can be no more than stop-gap measures as long as the United States threatens other nations with nuclear attacks and insists on maintaining the terrorizing imbalance of power.
Since the 1995 Nuclear Nonproliferation Review Conference, popular, elite, and governmental demands have been growing for the United States and other nuclear powers to fulfill their Article VI treaty commitment to negotiate the complete elimination of their nuclear arsenals. In 1996, in the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the use and threatened use of nuclear weapons ruled that both are violations of international law, and the Court directed the nuclear powers to implement their Article VI commitments. While NGOs and popular movements from across the world came together to form Abolition 2000, at the elite level former head of the U.S. Strategic Command Gen. Lee Butler supported by many of the world’s generals and admirals called for abolition. And, in January 2007, former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz joined former secretary of defense William Perry and former senator Sam Nunn in saying that U.S. double standards were driving nuclear weapons proliferation, and that the time had come for the United States to meet its NPT obligations.
Since then, pressed by voters and community based activists, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson have each stated that if elected, they will be the president who negotiates the complete elimination of the world’s nuclear weapons. They need to be held to these commitments, and other presidential and congressional candidates need to be pressed to join their commitment. (Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel have made similar commitments.)
The political and technical steps needed to eliminate nuclear weapons have long been known. First, the United States must renounce its “first strike” nuclear war fighting doctrines. Next it must refuse to fund the development and deployment of new nuclear weapons. The other essential steps include verified and irreversible dismantling of nuclear weapons and their installations; halting production of weapons-grade fissile material and securely containing existing stockpiles; verification, including societal verification, and intrusive inspection systems; and investing power in a supranational authority, probably the UN Security Council, to isolate, contain, or remove threats to the nuclear-free order.
Like cannibalism and slavery, nuclear weapons can be abolished. The question is whether we humans have the will and courage to choose life.
Table 1: Partial Listing of Incidents of Nuclear Blackmail (From Empire and the Bomb: How the United States Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World by Joseph Gerson) 1946 Truman threatens Soviets regarding Northern Iran. 1946 Truman sends SAC bombers to intimidate Yugoslavia following the downing of U.S. aircraft over Yugoslavia. 1948 Truman threatens Soviets in response to Berlin blockade. 1950 Truman threatens Chinese when U.S. Marines were surrounded at Chosin Reservoir in Korea. 1951 Truman approves military request to attack Manchuria with nuclear weapons if significant numbers of new Chinese forces join the war. 1953 Eisenhower threatens China to force an end to Korean War on terms acceptable to the United States. 1954 Eisenhower’s Secretary of State Dulles offers French three tactical nuclear weapons to break the siege at Dienbienphu, Vietnam. Supported by Nixon’s public trial balloons. 1954 Eisenhower used nuclear armed SAC bombers to reinforce CIA-backed coup in Guatemala. 1956 Bulganin threatens London and Paris with nuclear attacks, demanding withdrawal following their invasion of Egypt. 1956 Eisenhower counters by threatening the U.S.S.R. while also demanding British and French retreat from Egypt. 1958 Eisenhower orders Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare to use nuclear weapons against Iraq, if necessary to prevent extension of revolution into Kuwait. 1958 Eisenhower orders Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare to use nuclear weapons against China if they invade the island of Quemoy. 1961 Kennedy threatens Soviets during Berlin Crisis. 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. 1967 Johnson threatens Soviets during Middle East War. 1967 Johnson’s public threats against Vietnam are linked to possible use of nuclear weapons to break siege at Khe Shan. 1969 Brezhnev threatens China during border war. 1969 Nixon’s “November Ultimatum” against Vietnam. 1970 Nixon signals U.S. preparations to fight nuclear war during Black September War in Jordan. 1973 Israeli Government threatens use of nuclear weapons during the “October War.” 1973 Kissinger threatens Soviet Union during the last hours of the “October War” in the Middle East. 1973 Nixon pledges to South Vietnamese President Thieu that he will respond with nuclear attacks or the bombing of North Vietnam’s dikes if it violated the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords. 1975 Sec. of Defense Schlesinger threatens North Korea with nuclear retaliation should it attack South Korea in the wake of the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. 1980 Carter Doctrine announced. 1981 Reagan reaffirms the Carter Doctrine. 1982 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher threatens to eliminate Buenos Aires during the Falklands War. 1990 Pakistan threatens India during confrontation over Kashmir. 1990-91 Bush threatens Iraq during the “Gulf War.” 1993 Clinton threatens North Korea. 1994 Clinton’s confrontation with North Korea. 1996 China threatens “Los Angeles” during confrontation over Taiwan. Clinton responds by sending two nuclear-capable aircraft carrier fleets through the Taiwan Straight. 1996 Clinton threatens Libya with nuclear attack to prevent completion of underground chemical weapons production complex. 1998 Clinton threatens Iraq with nuclear attack. 1999 India and Pakistan threaten and prepare nuclear threats during the Kargil War. 2001 U.S. forces placed on a DEFCON alert in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. 2001 Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld refuses to rule out using tactical nuclear weapons against Afghan caves possibly sheltering Osama Bin Laden. 2002 Bush communicates an implied threat to counter any Iraqi use |
to see.
Gladiator combat for multiplayer
Ryse seems like a good bargain as a single-player campaign. But you can step into the Colosseum of Rome and battle in multiplayer. You can fight for gold, earning currency to buy weapons, armor, and in-game items. This is a natural way to do multiplayer in a game where you don’t really expect it. It’s a bonus that adds to the number of hours you’ll spend with the game. And who wouldn’t want to hear the cheers of the crowd inside the arena?
Image Credit: Microsoft
What you won’t like
Ryse is on rails
Ryse: Son of Rome is a game on rails. That means it moves from one scene to another in a linear path, often giving the player the illusion of choice, but in reality requiring them to stay on the prescribed path. Sometimes that isn’t a problem, like when you fight your way into a large arena. You can fight in that arena any way you want. But you have only one exit to the next scene. That kind of controlled behavior is fine. But it also has scripted sequences where the game had some interaction mixed with cinematics. It sometimes seemed not to matter how you interacted. The outcome was always the same.
There were times when the game was too much like a movie, showing you visuals instead of gameplay. In those cases, I paid close attention to whether I had any choice in the various scenes that unfolded before me. Often, I did not. I think Ryse would have benefited from having more instances where the player could choose what would happen next. It felt too inevitable.
But Ryse does a good job of extending the illusion of choice at some times. When I ran through a forest, I admired how beautiful it was. I knew that there was only one path through the forest. But I pretended not to notice and looked around at the scenery.
Image Credit: Microsoft
Gameplay gets repetitive
As our previewer McKinley Noble noted, you can play the whole game just mashing down the buttons in an X, X, X, and Y pattern. And when you see the blue or yellow finishing colors on your victims, you suffer no consequences if you hit the wrong buttons.
Even worse than the repetitive gameplay are the repetitive animations. When you slice off an opponents arm, there’s no stream of blood. Rather, you see a neatly slice arm cross-section with red and white sections for the meat and the bones. This grabs your attention the first time you see it. But after the hundredth time, you start wishing that Crytek had created a few more animations.
In any game, this kind of repetition could be a killer. It was why an excellent game like Alan Wake on the Xbox 360 received a less-than-outstanding rating. But the good thing about Ryse is that there is some variation. You have to change your formula for button mashing quite often. That’s particularly true when you are surrounded by three different types of characters. Those characters attack and defend in different ways. To fend them off, you need to do things like block, run, or maneuver. And the boss characters require you to fight in a different way altogether. This is the saving grace of Ryse.
It reminds you of something else
Ryse has some beautiful cinematic moments, but they may remind you of other scenes from the movies. Those scenes may be cool, but they will extract you from the fantasy and ruin some of the fun.
For instance, when the Romans storm the beach in Britannia, they have a tough time. A catapult lobs a flaming rock that nearly misses Marius and knocks him for a loop. Marius is stunned into slow-motion movement. His hearing goes blank and his vision is fuzzy. That tells you that our hero isn’t invulnerable, but he gets up again and continues to fight bravely. It’s a nice moment, but we’ve seen it before in Saving Private Ryan. I could understand a World War II video game imitating a scene from Saving Private Ryan, a World War II movie. But it’s pretty distracting in Ryse.
I also had an interesting moment when Titus goes to the Edge of the World, standing upon Hadrian’s Wall on the dividing line between the barbarians and Roman civilization. But the talk about the evil beings beyond the wall just made me think about HBO’s Game of Thrones. Sure, the real Hadrian’s Wall came first. But Game of Thrones is fresh in everyone’s minds. Did they really have to imitate it?
The opportunity to create a new intellectual property is a rare thing in today’s video game industry. Very few game designers get their chance to work on something original. So when they get to work on something original, they should do that, and not steal someone else’s drama.
Imprecise controls
When a reviewer complains about bad controls, it’s usually a case of operator error. But I think that many problems that players have come back to the design of the game. For instance, with Ryse, you have to climb a lot of ladders. Sometimes you can charge the ladder and just run right up it. Other times, you miss and have to take a few runs at it to get up the ladder. For god’s sake, game designer, just make the ladder bigger.
Another case is where you walk into a trap in the forest. If you take a step onto the trap, it springs, giving you a moment’s notice to defend. If you hit the A button at the exact right time, you’ll block the trap and stop it from driving a stake into your body. But I often found that it was very hard to get the right timing so that I could stop the traps from taking me out. It’s a minor annoyance, but it sure made me feel frustrated.
Image Credit: Microsoft
OK, it’s not real history
There are some definite historical mistakes in the story that will leave purists a little miffed. A British ruler rides into battle atop a war elephant. It is a very impressive and scary sight in battle. It may be quite possible for an English lord to find an elephant, but I’m not exactly sure how the Brit imported a bunch of elephants from North Africa or India at that time.
I’m not sure why the Romans speak with British accents, but they do. That is a creative choice, since, for practical purposes, the Romans are also speaking English instead of Latin. But it becomes a bit of a farce when the Romans square off face-to-face with the Brits. And then they both speak with the same accents. If you like your history to be accurate, this isn’t your kind of video game.
Where’s the way out?
I often blazed right through the combat. Then I spent way too much time wondering where the exit to the scene was. I would run around looking for a telltale sign that showed me the path to the next scene. Sometimes, the path was obvious and disguised in a way that made the exit seem a natural part of the landscape. But there were other times when it I felt like a rat in a maze, searching for the escape route. Sometimes I had to find a ladder, or a step, or a wall that I could climb. Sometimes the way out was a path through the forest. If the game was only eight hours long, I was upset that it felt like I spent six hours trying to find my way to the next level.
Image Credit: Microsoft
Microtransactions. Really?
You can dish out more money to Microsoft beyond the $60 you paid for the game by purchasing in-game items with real money. You can earn valor points in the game to earn your upgrades such as better healing or improved combat prowess. But late in the game, the number of valor points you have to earn in order to purchase more attributes becomes prohibitively expensive. So Microsoft provides a short cut: You can purchase “gold” with real money. You can spend that gold on the items that you need and make much faster progress than you otherwise might. You don’t have to spend this money. But the very presence of microtransactions inside a game you have already paid for is pretty annoying. You’ll feel like you’re being nickel-and-dimed.
Conclusion
When I finished playing this game, I felt like I wanted more. That’s the mark of a good game. I also felt like I had played something fresh. If there were 20 games about Rome, this one might not stand out as the most outstanding. But it’s good, and there aren’t enough tales with a historical background that wind up being big budget video games. I’m glad that Crytek stayed the course on its seven-year journey and finally finished Ryse.
You will be, too.
Score: 86/100
Ryse: Son of Rome debuts on Friday, Nov. 22, for the Xbox One. The publisher provided GamesBeat with an advance copy of the game for the purpose of this review.The General Dynamics F-16XL is a derivative of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, with a cranked-arrow delta wing. It was originally conceived as a technology demonstrator, later entered in the United States Air Force's (USAF) Enhanced Tactical Fighter (ETF) competition but lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle. Several years after the prototypes were shelved, they were turned over to NASA for additional aeronautical research. Both aircraft are currently stored at Edwards AFB.
Development [ edit ]
SCAMP [ edit ]
Model 400 design team, starting left: Harry Hillaker, Andrew Lewis, Kenny Barnes, Jim Gordon
In 1977, the F-16XL started out as the F-16 SCAMP (Supersonic Cruise and Maneuver Prototype) at General Dynamics Fort Worth. Under the leadership of Harry Hillaker (father of the original F-16), the original goal of the program was to be a quick project to demonstrate the applicability of supersonic transport technologies to military aircraft.[1] The big wing generated a lot of lift, and typical aerodynamic limitations of delta wings were overcome by the F-16's relaxed static stability. The F-16's electronic flight control system was tweaked to allow control at high angles of attack. The wing was also a big fuel tank which greatly increased range. The study went on for two years. The goal of the cranked arrow was to have a high sweep inboard panel for low drag at supersonic speeds, and a low sweep outboard panel to provide better handling and maneuverability at subsonic speeds.[citation needed]
Working closely with NASA's Langley Research Center, the company invested significant Internal Research and Development (IRAD) funds for wind tunnel testing and that led to the Model 400. It featured all moving wing tips for roll control and an all moving vertical tail. These surfaces were actually the horizontal tail surfaces from the F-16A. These surfaces were later dropped as they did not provide adequate control at low speed, high angle of attack. Also, there would have been no provision for wing-tip mounted missiles. The main wing incorporated forebody strakes to enhance vortex generation for high angle of attack maneuverability, negative stability for improved subsonic lift and reduced supersonic drag. It was built around a 40-inch fuselage stretch. Both the large wing and fuselage stretch yielded a dramatic increase in range at all speeds. In 1979, with a strong positive response by the USAF, GD released the Model 400 for a company funded preliminary design effort.[2]
Enhanced Tactical Fighter competition [ edit ]
F-16XL and a conventional F-16
In 1980, the USAF signed on as a partner, providing the third and fifth production F-16 airframes for conversion. These two airframes became the only examples of the F-16XL.
In March 1981, the USAF announced the Enhanced Tactical Fighter program to procure a replacement for the F-111 Aardvark. The concept envisioned an aircraft capable of launching deep interdiction missions without requiring additional support in the form of fighter escort or jamming support. Under the leadership of program director Randy Kent [1], General Dynamics submitted the F-16XL, while McDonnell Douglas submitted a variant of the F-15 Eagle. Though the two aircraft were competing for the same role, they were fairly different in design approach. The F-15E is basically an F-15D two-seat trainer with the back-seat station modified to support ground-attack instruments, while the F-16XL has major structural and aerodynamic differences from the original F-16. As such, the XL would have required much more effort, time and money to put into full production. Additionally, the Strike Eagle has two engines, which gives it more thrust and capacity to carry more weapons and/or armor. Furthermore, engine redundancy can be very useful for an aircraft whose mission involves operating within the reach of anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles, in addition to the standard threats of fighter aircraft and interceptors.
In February 1984, the USAF awarded the ETF contract to McDonnell Douglas. The two F-16XLs were returned to the Air Force and placed in storage at Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, California.
Design [ edit ]
The wing and rear horizontal control surfaces were replaced with a cranked-arrow delta wing 120% larger than the original wing. Extensive use of carbon fiber composites allowed the savings of 600 lb (270 kg) of weight but the F-16XL was still 2,800 lb (1,300 kg) heavier than the original F-16A.
Less noticeable is that the fuselage was lengthened by 56 in (1.4 m) by the addition of two sections at the joints of the main fuselage sub-assemblies. With the new wing design, the tail section had to be canted up 3°, and the ventral fins removed, to prevent them from striking the pavement during takeoff and landing. However, as the F-16XL exhibits greater stability than the native F-16, these changes were not detrimental to the handling of the aircraft.
These changes resulted in a 25% improvement in maximum lift-to-drag ratio in supersonic flight and 11% in subsonic flight, and a plane that reportedly handled much more smoothly at high speeds and low altitudes. The enlargements increased fuel capacity by 82%. The F-16XL could carry twice the ordnance of the F-16 and deliver it 40% farther. The enlarged wing allowed a total of 27 hardpoints:
16 wing stations of capacity 750 lb (340 kg) each
4 semi-recessed AIM-120 AMRAAM stations under fuselage
2 wingtip stations
1 centerline station
2 wing "heavy/wet" stations
2 chin LANTIRN stations
However, the "heavy/wet" stations interfered with up to four wing stations.
Operational history [ edit ]
NASA testing [ edit ]
In 1988, the two aircraft were taken out of storage and turned over to NASA for research. The first aircraft was fitted with an active suction titanium glove encasing the left wing and delivered to the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards AFB. Designed and built by North American Aviation (a division of Rockwell International), the glove had laser-cut holes that were nominally 0.0025 in (0.0635 mm) diameter. Distance between holes varied between 0.010 and 0.055 in (0.25 and 1.40 mm) depending on the suction. The glove covered over 5 ft² (0.5 m²) of the wing. It was intended to suck away turbulent airflow over the wing, restoring laminar flow and reducing drag. The aircraft was also involved in testing sonic boom characteristics, takeoff performance, and engine noise, for NASA's civil transport program.
The second aircraft (a two-seater) had its experimental engine replaced with a General Electric F110-129. It accidentally achieved supercruise, a design goal of the F-16XL that was never attained in ETF testing, when it reached Mach 1.1 at 20,000 ft (6,096 m) on full military power. It was mounted with a passive fiberglass and foam glove on the right wing to examine supersonic flow, and an active glove on the left wing. This second glove was composed of fiberglass and foam over a titanium skin, and covers 75% of the wing's surface and 60% of its leading edge. The active portion consists the middle two-thirds of the glove, with laser-drilled holes leading to cavities beneath the wing. It was designed collaboratively by Langley research center, Dryden, Rockwell, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas. The glove is intended as a testbed for supersonic laminar flow.
The F-16XL flight project office was located at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, CA. The NASA Langley Research Center, developed and coordinated F-16XL experiments.[3]
At the conclusion of their test programs in 1999, both F-16XLs were placed into storage at NASA Dryden. In 2007, NASA approached Lockheed Martin to request a study into the feasibility and cost of returning F-16XL #1 to flight status and upgrading it with many of the improvements found in the USAF's F-16 Block 40. This was studied while F-16XL #1 was taxi tested at Dryden and given systems checks. However, both F-16XLs were retired in 2009 and stored at Edwards AFB.
Specifications (F-16XL number 2) [ edit ]
Data from Darling[4] F-16.net[5]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Guns: 1 × 20 mm (0.79 in) M61 Vulcan (Gatling) gun
1 × 20 mm (0.79 in) M61 Vulcan (Gatling) gun Hardpoints: 17 pylons with a capacity of up to 15,000 lb (6,800 kg) of payload (Note: stations 2-5 and 13-16 were split into groups, similar to the F-15E)
See also [ edit ]
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists
References [ edit ]
Citations [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Darling, Kev (2003), F-16 Fighting Falcon, Combat Legend, London: Airlife, ISBN 1-84037-399-7.
. Jenkins, Dennis R; Landis, Tony R (2008), Experimental & Prototype US Air Force Jet Fighters, MN, US: Specialty, ISBN 978-1-58007-111-6.(1) Here’s why I HATE my school’s center for diversity and inclusion, which is ENTIRELY run by gay men, lesbians and their straight allies. First they held a seminar on identity for incoming freshman ‘explaining’ how if you are bisexual you are (probably faking it and introducing their 'coming out’ group *hint* hint* hint*) cis and you only date cis people. And how B is for Binary and Binary is Bad.
(2) And then they told everybody about all these other wonderful 'identities’ like pannie and polly and pomo that mean you are SO totes into all the 'different’ new and exciting genders. And then when we want to have a bi table and presentation at the rainbow pride event at graduation they kind of laughed at us we could table with the open & questioning group BUT that we were Too Confused to be included becasue WE COULDN’T EVEN FIGURE OUT WHAT NAME TO CALL OURSELVES.
(3) And BTW the lesbian leadership and gay guys chat groups? They don’t talk about or deal with transgender and non-binary issues because 'obviously’ gay men are men who love other men and lesbians are women who love other women so what does THAT have to do with the 'gender binary’?
“ — Three-part (as labeled) Anonymous “Ask” to Midwest Bi* ActivistThe recollections are a bit hazy. The memories a tad worn. But one thing everyone remembers is Steve and Martin Nash going after each other in the middle of a game.
The two brothers were skating down the ice. One had the puck, the other called for the pass. And called. And called. And called again. Suddenly the sticks hit the ice and the siblings skated right for each other, fists ablaze.
“The puck just kind of skidded down the ice to the goal keeper while they were having a row in the middle of the ice,” laughs John Nash, the boys’ father.
No one remembers who refused to pass or who started the fight. No one’s even quite sure what age they were at the time. John says Steven was probably in third or fourth grade. Maybe fifth. Whatever grade, he was two years older than Martin.
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t the first or the last time their competition would turn to a scuffle, it was just the first time it happened during a real game.
“Everyday we would play some sort of sport or game and a lot of times the games would just end in fights, sometimes verbal, sometimes physical,” says Steve. “There were never any big brawls, he knew I was bigger than him, so he just went away.”
Through the years, the two have become close, “As good I think, as a brother’s relationship can be,” Martin says. But now there are no more family feuds, for the two have gone their separate ways, sports wise. Martin is now a 20-year-old professional soccer player with the Vancouver 86ers and Steve is a 22-year-old rookie in the National Basketball Association, and the newest member of YOUR Phoenix Suns.
In the sixth grade, Steve Nash and his schoolmates were assigned to write a report entitled “Me.” The students were supposed to write about their lives and what they wanted to do with their futures.
Stephen, who played several sports in his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, pinned a photo button of himself in a hockey uniform to the front of his report. Inside, he wrote about his sports and how he wanted to go to college one day on an athletic scholarship. And after that, he was going to be a professional athlete.
His childhood dreams were of little surprise to his parents though, after all, their first son had always loved sports. In fact, all three of their kids enjoyed participating in sports and still do. Joann, Steve’s 16-year-old little sister, is on her high school soccer and basketball teams.
But as their mother Jean Nash admits, her children’s interest in sports may have grown from the seeds she and her husband planted in them when they were young. Steve, for example, was given a soccer ball for his first birthday.
“We’ve encouraged them from an early age,” John explains. “We felt it was a good way for them to meet people and develop their social skills as well as their sporting skills. Also it kept them off street corners. You know, kids idle hands are the devils playground. We intended that their hands never be idle.”
Stephen John Nash was born on February 7, 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his father played semi-pro soccer. Soon after, the Nash’s, who were originally from England, decided to emigrate, for Jean didn’t want to raise her son in a country afflicted with apartheid.
The family ended up in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, Canada, where the winters were so freezing, they had to play baseball indoors with their 18-month-old son — using imaginary bats and balls of course. But as he got older, imaginary equipment wasn’t good enough, he wanted big boys’ toys.
“We’d go to the store when he was really little and I’d want to buy him Legos and Fischer Price and I’d say ‘Oh, let’s try and get this down the road. We’ll save up and get this,’ like a Fischer Price garage or farm or something and he’d say ‘No way,’” Jean recalls. “If it wasn’t a bat, a ball, a puck, a racket, something to do with sports, he always was like that. He’d be really happy if you’d go and buy him a 50 cent ball or a 10 cent ball, whatever, and that’s all he wanted.”
When John was offered a new job in the much warmer Vancouver, the Nash’s quickly packed up and moved, but soon after relocated again, this time to Victoria, a small city on the southeast tip of Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia. There, Steve’s parents signed him up to play soccer and tee ball at the age of five. In elementary school, he took up hockey, lacrosse and also chess, in which he won several championships. But in fourth grade, he decided to give up the game of checkmates after he made an opponent cry.
“When Stephen came home, he wasn’t worried about the winning or losing, he was upset that he’d beaten this kid and the kid had cried,” his dad says. “I don’t think he played after he made that kid cry. He’s very sensitive. I mean, it’s kind of unusual to find somebody who’s competitive and sensitive at the same time.”
What was perhaps even more unusual was the child’s determination to improve in his different sporting endeavors. Both his parents can tell story after story about how hard their son would practice. And practice. And practice some more.
There was the time John found the 10-year-old collapsed from exhaustion in the backyard after he’d juggled a soccer ball with his feet more than 600 times. Or all the days they would look out their back window and see him shooting hundreds of free throws on the court at the junior high school behind their house, just so he could figure out his shooting percentage from the charity strife.
So when Steve came home one day after playing a new game with his friends in the eighth grade and told his mother he was going to play in the NBA, she didn’t just nod, smile and give him an encouraging pat on the back like many parents would.
“I didn’t doubt him,” she says. “Whether he’d make it or not you don’t know, but I knew he was going to give it a heck of a try, because he works hard for what he gets.”
Even though the game of basketball was invented in Canada and the first game in NBA history was held in Toronto, growing up in the Great White North was by no means a leg up for those with pro aspirations. That is unless those pro aspirations were of playing pro hockey.
Since that first game 50 years ago this November, only twelve players born in Canada have ever made it to the NBA. Rick Fox of the Celtics and Bill Wennington of the Bulls, are the only two currently in the league, but both played their high school careers in the U.S..
No, Canada was in no way a hoops haven, and Steve knew better than to tell but a select few of his dream, for he was afraid that people would laugh at him and put him down.
“He always told me he was going to, so I just believed what he told me,” his sister says. “When he started talking about it, I was too young to know any better. But for a while there, I was kind of wondering. After Sports Illustrated and stuff and he started to get more attention, I didn’t think there was anyway he couldn’t.”
The article in SI, Steve’s baby sister refers to, was in the December 11, 1995 issue. The feature which included a photo of his old bedroom wallpapered in posters of Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan and his other sports idols, documented the challenges he faced of getting noticed, first by college recruiters in the United States and then by those in the basketball know, for Santa Clara was a school known for its academics not its athletic programs. But Steve’s toughest challenge came more than a year before his high school coach sent out even the first of dozens of letters to university’s about the talented senior.
During his junior year at Mt. Douglas High School, Steve’s soccer team won the state championship in the fall and he was named the Province States’ MVP. But because he was absent from class time and time again as his team competed, several teachers refused to allow him to retake missed exams and his grades subsequently plummeted. His parents, extremely worried, decided they would enroll him in a private school.
“If we weren’t going to get the support from teachers at the school, we decided that we had to go somewhere else,” Jean explains. “We wanted Stephen to get a college education — a university education. We knew he wanted to go to play a sport, but we were more interested in him getting a degree.”
Dec. 1, 1990, Steve began school at St. Michael’s University School, but because of the mid-year transfer, was not allowed to play basketball at his new school.
“I just loved basketball so much and played so much and worked so hard — to be punished for transferring schools — it was a difficult year,” he says. “But it was something I had to do. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t made that move. It’s that simple.”
But it really wasn’t quite that simple. Steve’s friends and teammates at his old school gave him a hard time for deserting them and the media devoured the story because he was the Province’s best player and there were those who claimed he had been recruited by St. Michael’s. “Steve Nash Changes Allegiances,” the local newspaper read.
Steve didn’t let the allegations or ban from his favorite sport halt his hopes. In fact, the forced sabbatical may have helped, as he had more time to study and improve his scholastic skills.
“When he came in, he lacked a lot of the fundamentals,” says Bill Greenwell, who was Nash’s math teacher as well as the assistant coach of St. Michael’s basketball team. “It was quite obvious that he hadn’t put much effort into it. But he made a decision when he came here to our place that academics were going to be a fairly high priority to him and he had a lot of catching up to do, not just in mathematics but in his sciences and all the other courses. He was behind in all of them and he worked hard.”
The teenager went in for extra tutoring before and after school, and on more than one occasion, even spent his lunch break studying. He wasn’t going to let algebra, trigonometry and physics keep him from getting into a university in the States. He wasn’t going to let anything stop him.
“He was just really intense,” says Martin, who was always a grade below his big brother. “He always wanted to improve in everything he did. I remember days when he’d just dribble the basketball to school. He’d play between classes, at recess, in the gym; every chance he’d get, he’d be out playing.”
After working on his game and building his confidence during pick-up games with the Canadian National Team his junior year, Nash was ready to explode his final season of high school ball with hopes of getting noticed by colleges south of the border.
“He came into our school, into a really well-established, dominant athletic group, a team that would’ve been very successful in its own right and immediately became the leader,” says Ian Hyde-Lay, the coach who inherited the point guard transfer. “The tougher the situation, the more he wanted to be right in there taking the last shot or whatever. There was just something about him. There was just kind of a sparkle in his eyes that just tells you he’s a little different than most guys.”
A little different? How about a lot different. Steve nearly averaged a triple double his senior season putting up digits better than 21 points, 11 handouts and nine boards. But it wasn’t enough.
Hyde-Lay and his assistants wrote letter after letter to college coaches across America on behalf of their senior phenom as his final season was coming to a close. But, letter after letter of rejection followed. Thanks, but no thanks.
“It was frustrating because I was watching college basketball on TV all the time thinking that I could play with this guy and that guy, that I could play at certain schools and no one would ever show any interest,” Steve says.
Finally, Santa Clara head coach Dick Davey made a trek North to take a look at the young Canadian. And once he got there, he took another look, around the gym to make sure there were no other scouts around waiting to stake a claim to his new found golden boy.
“After seeing him I was nervous as hell just hoping that no one else would see him,” Davey admits. “It didn’t take a nobel prize winner to figure out this guy’s pretty good. It was just a case of hoping that none of the big names came around.”
They didn’t and so when the time came that it was legal for recruiters to talk with high school players, Davey made his pitch, but it wasn’t quite what Nash had expected. “You’ve got to be the worst defensive player I’ve ever seen,” he told Steve and his family as they all walked out of an arena in Vancouver together after a game.
The coach and the student then went and sat down privately at a nearby coffee shop. Santa Clara was the only school recruiting Steve and there may never have been another. Yet the senior was quick to attack the coach on his observation. “Why do you think I’m such a bad defensive player?” he quizzed. “What don’t you like about my ‘D’?” After hearing the coaches view of some of his weaknesses, Steve boldly and confidently stated “Well, it’s going to change then.”
“Just the tough mindedness about him as a kid was really kind of refreshing,” says Davey, who was an assistant coach at SCU for 15 years before taking over the head coaching reigns in ‘92. “He’s demanding of himself. He doesn’t like to fail in anything he does. We had another one like him in Rambis. Different position, different guy, different skills and all that, but they’re the two most deranged players I’ve ever been around as far as wanting to see themselves improve.”
If Davey didn’t realize that his new recruit would one day end up wearing a Phoenix Suns uniform like former Santa Clara products Kurt Rambis, Nick Vanos and Dennis Awtrey, it wouldn’t take him long to at least see Nash’s potential for a future career in the NBA.
Although coming off the bench his frosh season, Nash stepped up in the NCAA Tourney and led his No. 15 seeded Broncos to the upset of the tournament, defeating No. 2 seed Arizona by knocking down six straight free throws in the last 31 seconds, sprinting to the line for each one.
Practicing alone late into the nights at the school’s gym and dribbling a tennis ball around campus for coordination, Steve worked hard on his game while at Santa Clara.
Over the next three year in the states, the point guard would take his team to the big dance twice more and would be named the WCC Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. Along the way he set a number of school records and led the conference in both scoring and assists his junior year, an achievement first accomplished by Gonzaga’s John Stockton more than a decade earlier.
While many including Davey compared Nash to the Utah Jazz All-Star, there were still doubters and questions about his game. Was he quick enough to be able to defend other point guards at the next level? Sure he was a great shooter, but would he be able to get his shot off? Was he athletic enough to compete in the NBA?
Despite a strained hamstring, the guard had an impressive showing at the Nike Desert Classic in April silencing many of his critics. But anyone who had seen him during pick-up games last summer in San Francisco, would’ve know what to expect way before he would be named to the Classic’s All-Tournament team. It was in the Bay area, that Nash would get his first tastes of the NBA, in the forms of the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd and the Sonics’ Gary Payton.
“Last summer it was new to him, he had never worked out that kind of way against us, but he was OK,” says Payton. “I think he’s got a lot of skills. He’s a real, true point guard to me because he can pass the ball. He can play defense too. He’s going to be OK.”
The fans in Victoria, as well as Canada, who have grown in number as Stephen has grown in age, believe their hometown hero will be more than “OK,” in the big leagues. There’s even a book about his journey entitled “Long Shot” in the final editing stages, that will be released in October.
“He’s always been kind of a — what would you call him — kind of a star here in Victoria,” his mom says. “He’s been on TV so many times it’s crazy.
Everybody’s always looked up to him because he’s done so well. It’s weird to think that everybody’s so proud of him, not only us.”
Only a month after graduating with a degree in sociology, Steve made his family, school and country even prouder when he finally reached his childhood goal of making it to the NBA.
The world famous Butchart Gardens and Royal British Columbia Museum were likely slower on the afternoon of June 26, and all of the ferry’s and double-decker busses were likely busier as residents of Victoria scattered to the local sports bars to catch the satellite broadcast of the draft, live from New Jersey.
There was also quite a flurry around town eight picks into the draft as those watching at home suddenly leapt off their coaches and headed out their front doors.
“They only showed the first hour and after that, they cut off and put on the Simpsons or something like that,” Jean reports. “Everyone was so mad, so everybody had to rush out to the pub.”
Luckily, the group of about 30 of Steve’s family members, friends and teammates didn’t have to scurry about looking for a place to watch the on-goings, for they were all in attendance at the Continental Arena when NBA Commissioner David Stern made it official. “With the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns select... Steve Nash.”
Meanwhile out west in Phoenix, the announcement by Suns assistant coach Danny Ainge was met with a storm of jeers and catcalls from fans gathered at the America West Arena who knew little of the 6-3, 195 pound Canadian.
“I don’t look like I’m going to be a tremendous basketball player on appearance,” the rookie says with a smile. “I probably would’ve booed myself too, but I’m going to be a really good player and I’m going to help the team a lot. I have a lot of faith in myself and hopefully they’ll enjoy watching me play. They want to win and I wouldn’t want fans who just sat back and didn’t care, so I’m excited to be in a passionate city.”
Most college athletes who make it to the pros, no matter what the sport, are just as excited about their new-found wealth as their new city and new team. But Steve, who asked his father to “just give him an allowance,” doesn’t want to worry about the money.
“I mean, sure I want to |
taken away from the arrested and their depositions.
According to Sorin’s pamphlet, "The Workers’ Group" grew up in the spring of 1923. Its platform was based upon the brochure by G. Miasnikov, Disquieting Problems, which, with a few editorial changes and corrections (by Miasnikov, Kuznetzov and Moseyev) was issued as "The Manifesto of the Workers’ Group of the Russian Communist Party." In April, Miasnikov was arrested and the group disrupted, but soon it recovered, and on June the fifth it already had an illegal conference in Moscow. It carried on negotiations with the leaders of the former Workers’ Opposition-Kolontay, Shliapnikov, Medvedev, Ignatov and Lutovinov who differed with the manifesto only on problems of tactics since they insisted that propaganda should be carried on among party members only.
Negotiations were carried on with Riazanov, Nevsky and Kuznetzov who declined to ally with the faction, although (to the surprise of the Workers’ Group) they did not advise the Party Central Committee of its existence. The membership of this group is difficult to ascertain. V. Sorin believes that there were never over 200 members in Moscow. In the summer the Moscow organisation of the Communist Party conducted a purge, having first expelled the partisans of the Workers’ Group. In August, the latter intended to organise a general political strike, but the G. P. U. getting wind of the matter, succeeded in liquidating it by September. This was, as we have said, the last intra-party opposition to be liquidated by police and party terror while Lenin was yet alive. And this, perhaps, was the last workers’ opposition within the party to be crushed by the united efforts of the party’s upper crust, which itself soon began to disintegrate.
The struggle for power, the dividing of the inheritance, took on the character of a personal strife among the Bolshevik magnates; they resorted to every means evolved by Lenin: the seizure of the party apparatus, removals and replacements, honourable exile, the threat to expel and actual expulsions, arrests, deportations by administrative decree, prisons and finally, mass shootings. The eleventh convention of the party was held without Lenin who could not attend on account of illness; there was no hope for his recovery and before the twelfth convention a new discussion commenced, the real issue of which was the competition for power between the triumvirate-Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin on the one hand and Trotzky and other party leaders on the other. The party rank and file were nonplussed, unable to understand what the struggle was all about. On December 11, 1923, at the meeting held by one of the Communist cells of Moscow, the worker Gourov declared: "The workers will ask me what are the basic disagreements. To say quite truthfully, I do not know what to tell them."
Gourov’s reaction was typical. And we shall understand it better when we familiarise ourselves with the character of this discussion, as shown at least by the excerpts from Pravda and Izvestia. We may use in this connection the splendid summary entitled "At the High Court: What the Great Men Think of Each Other" which appeared in Znamia Borby, the publication of the left Social-Revolutionists:
Sapronov: "Now we hear everyone harping, as Comrade Kamenev does, upon the name of Lenin. To keep on referring to the fact that one has been Lenin’s friend and to imply that one will remain a Leninist all his life is demagogy pure and simple. Those people merely seek their salvation by hiding behind Lenin’s back." (Pravda, No. 284).
Stalin: "The Opposition has made a habit of extolling Lenin as the greatest of all geniuses. I am afraid that this praise is not altogether sincere. They want, by raising the ballyhoo about Lenin’s genius, to camouflage their own abandonment of him and to stress at the same time the weakness of his disciples. - But permit us to ask you, Comrade Preobrazhensky, how is it that you found yourself in profound disagreement with this great genius on the question of the Brest-Litovsk peace? And Comrade Sapronov, who now falsely and pharisically showers praises upon Lenin, is the very same Sapronov who at one time dared to label him an ‘ignoramus’ and ‘oligarch’." (Izvestia, No. 18).
Preobrazhensky: "Comrade Kamenev said here that this baiting of one section of the Party by the other is intolerable. But did he not indulge in baiting himself when he stated here that they are people who are burrowing underneath the rock of the Party structure. But who does this undermining? We must state concretely-who and when... Some comrades in the Central Committee arrogate themselves the monopoly of defending Bolshevism. Other comrades are also old Bolsheviks and have been in the Party for no less a period than Comrade Kamenev. Why does he, then, seek to be exclusive in the defense of Bolshevism?" (Pravda, No. 286)
Bukharin: "After October our party experienced three crises: the crisis of the Brest-Litovsk peace, the trade union crisis and the present one. In all those stages of, party development, Comrade Trotzky was in the wrong." (Pravda, No.294).
Preobrazhensky: "The policy which is now being carried out is not class policy within our party, but a policy of petty squabbles and splits. When we spoke of Lenin’s role in the party we had in view a program that was benefiting the working class as a whole. But you cannot completely replace Lenin: you have so much less talent but so much more presumption." (Pravda, No. 12).
Stalin: "Comrade Trotzky identifies himself with the Bolshevik Old Guard, thus opening himself to whatever criticism may fall upon the heads of an Old Guard if they take the road leading to degeneration. This readiness for self-sacrifice no doubt bespeaks a noble character. But I must defend Comrade Trotzky from Comrade Trotzky, since he, for obvious reasons, cannot and should not bear responsibility for the possible change for the worse of the basic cadres of the Old Bolshevik Guard. Do the Old Bolsheviks stand in need of this sacrifice? I do not believe so. … But on the other hand, the party does contain certain elements which lead toward degeneration: I am thinking of those ex-Mensheviks who willy-nilly joined our party and who have not lived down old opportunist habits," (Pravda, No.285).
Kamenev: "We know that our state apparatus is utterly worthless. And when the same is implied of our party apparatus as in the speeches of the oppositionists, we ask them: ‘What is it that you want us to do?’ The state organisation is utterly worthless and now you (Preobrazhensky, Sapronov, Drobnis) try hard to make the party appear in the same light. You said in your resolutions that the Central Committee, impelled by fractional aims only, by its urge to retain power, turned this apparatus into a seat for cowards, sycophants, careerists. - But what instruments are we to use for governing the country if, as you say, our state machinery has to be destroyed while the party apparatus, you maintain, is manned by sycophants?"
Ossinsky: "Kamenev made reference to Comrade Lenin. But Comrade Kamenev, Lenin was one thing, and you-all three of you and your backers-are quite another thing. You, dear comrades, need the same kind of a majority and the same kind of prestige and moral standing which Lenin had. … What do you intend to do now? To say on the one hand: ‘Let us embrace each other and make peace’, and on the other hand: ‘I’ll wallop you so that you won’t have time to think? And do you believe it possible to pacify thus the minds of the people, or to develop intra-party democracy under such conditions?" (Pravda, No. 11)
Kamenev: "Some oppositionists say: you did write a good resolution, but you acted like Tar Nicholas II did with the manifesto of October 17. Well, overlooking the comparison of the Central Committee with this personage (a comparison which reveals much concerning those who advanced it), what is its political meaning when decoded? It means: Under pressure you wrote a good resolution, but you will deceive the party." (Pravda, No. 10).
Preobrazhensky: "You have shown here in regard to Comrade Trotzky a monstrous lack of consideration. First, we of the opposition headed by Comrade Trotzky, are alleged to be political bankrupts. But then we are told that Trotzky is indispensable. This is ambiguous. If the charges preferred against him are true, he should be eliminated not only from the Politburo but from the party as well; but if your charges are false, then you are attempting to deceive the party." (Pravda, No. 11).
Sapronov: "The victory which Comrade Kamenev and others have just celebrated is such that, if repeated, would leave Comrade Kamenev and others, despite all their victories, without an army." (Pravda, No. 12).
Stalin: "There can be no double standards as far as discipline goes: one for workers and another for magnates. Comrade Trotzky’s error was that-he set himself apart from others, believing himself to be a superman standing above the Central Committee and its laws." (Pravda, No. 17).
Preobrazhensky: "I believe the basic error admitted by the politburo in regard to Comrade Trotzky was that of treating him as an alien in our midst. With such an attitude, no joint work is possible. This should be clearly understood. (Pravda, No. 17).
Zinoviev: "Comrade Radek did everything possible as well as impossible to prevent the Comintern from carrying out its decision. He utterly refused to submit to the derision of the Central Committee of our party. We asked him: will you carry it out? He said: no, for I was elected by an International Congress, and not by you... Comrades Trotzky, Radek and Piatakov wrote counter-theses appealing to the German workers over the heads of our Central Committee." (Pravda, No. 20).
Preobrazensky: "Comrade Bielenky talks always about ‘genuine factory workers’, but at the same time you overlook what has actually been going on among these workers. As a result, bigotry developed -genuine factory workers’ you say-and at the same time we ignore what is going on among workers and thereby we bring the party on the brink of a great disaster." (Pravda, No. 12).
Stalin: "There are people who are the masters of their tongue; they are average folk. There are others, however, who are swayed by their tongue, who are governed by it; they are more extraordinary. Comrade Radek belongs to the latter category. Such a man can never tell beforehand what his tongue is liable to blurt out - Can we, then, rely upon such a comrade as Radek?" (Izvestia, No. 18).
Such is the character of the "discussion" which the leaders of Lenin’s "slaveholding democracy" were carrying on. The plebeian elements of the party were crushed by the joint efforts of the ruling strata, but no sooner was the danger from that direction obviated than the Communist patricians began their internecine strife-a naked, shameless struggle for power in the party and in the country. The party was torn by this conflict of groups and cliques who, failing, however, to unite in their opposition to the Central Committee, suffered one defeat after an other.FA voice meme!!! Podcast Style!!!
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EXTREME VOICE MEME
I actually decided to put a bit of work into this to make it a little nicer to listen to. Hope it's bearable to listen to, lol. I got this meme from Sara_Furry I know this is a little long, but I kinda rambled a bit. also, this was kinda fun to do. I think I might start doing a podcast or something in the future. The only thing is though, is that I wouldn't really know what to talk about, lol. oh well, I'm sure I'll figure something out to talk about if I ever end up doing it. :P VOICE MEME!!! EXTREEEEEEEEEME!!!!!!!!!1!11!!!1
Songs used in order:
Sinner's Defeat- Mors Principum Est
Spaceballs Theme song
Yakety Sax- Benny Hill
VOICE MEME
1) What’s your name?
2) How old are you?
3) Where are you from? Are you living there right now?
4) What's the time?
5) Is it cold where you are?
6) What are you wearing?
7) What was the last thing you listened to?
8) What was the last thing you ate?
9) What was the last thing you watched on TV?
10) What’s your favorite TV show? Why?
11) Quick! Find a book, or something with text on it! Flip to a random page and read some of it! GO!
12) What was the last movie you saw? How was it?
13) Do YOU think you have an accent? Talk about that.By bob
Thanks once again Blades & Bows brilliant package, quality products at an amazing price. Thanks for the advice and extras. Highly recommended thanks.
By andrew
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By Waboe
Excellent package great service, I would happily recommend Blades & Bows to anyone!
By Matt
Well, lets start with the main item I guess; The CROSSBOW- Simply put I love it, very powerful bow! For ayone thinking its not a proper crossbow let me tell you it most surely is!.... First shot went straight through some ply wood and cardboard I was using and into the recycling bin! You need to use a bit of muscle to cock it, not hard to do for me but you do need to use some strength, this said I havet used the assist tool with it yet which im sure would help. Looks great. Not too big. And not too heavy either. Simple to construct if you use a bit of common sense, plus theres a video guide on youtube. May well buy some carbon bolts as have bent 2 of the supplied ones already. Only negative would be the strap, thin metal fittings but you can always buy another type if you wanted. The MACHETE - Again I love it, SO LIGHT with a lovley grip, however its still a powerful blade I like it alot. You will need to sharpen it though as it just has a factory edge, ive sharpened this so its rough shaving, although you may want to re-profile it to you own personal liking. The DMF - Again, surprise surprise, I love it! Great solid. heavy folder, really feels comfy in the hand, I have this Tanto and the Clip Point (purchased direct from Gerber) and their ace! This again though needs to be sharpened, the Clip Point ill add thought didnt need to be. All in all a great kit, and cheaper than buying it all bit by bit. As for the site itself im well chuffed, very nice site as you can see, and great delivery will deffiantly be using again! Thanks for reading if you made it to the end of this review! Matt.
By Dom
1 the crossbow is fantastic so powerful it scares me 2 all the extras are awesome extra bolts the broad heads and the pully thing lol 3 the knife is razor sharp instantly I cut myself on it already 4 the machete is super cool feels awesome and is strong enough to help in the garden it even comes with a sharpening stone! 5 I''m now ready for zombies so that''s 5 stars at a bargin price and super fast delivery!!!
By zagrys
great kit!!! and great customer service!! the knives need a bit of sharpening but that''s just because its factory sharp, other than that i will defo be useing blades and bows again!!!!
By Dean
First off the crossbow, absolutely amazing, even after watching videos on the internet I was still stunned at the sheer power of it! The Gerber Machete and DMF lock knife, also amazing! Sharp straight out the box and also comes with a sharpening stone, what a win! All the accessories were great also, even includes some safety goggles. If anybody has had trouble assembling (it is simple, but a video also helps) here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyO2LWdX5T8 it''s of a different brand but the exact same build, overall GREAT kit, not one complaint. Happy hunting!The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s tax take in November grew 15 percent year-on-year to P157.3 billion on the back of improved processes that allowed taxpayers to pay their dues more easily, the Department of Finance said.
The DOF attributed the increase in BIR collections from P136.4 billion a year ago to “the agency’s streamlined processes that have improved efficiency in monitoring and collecting taxes, particularly the reduction of documentary requirements for one-time transactions (ONETT) and monitoring of process workflow of the agency’s offices.”
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At the end of the first 11 months, the country’s biggest tax-collection agency collected P1.45 trillion, up 9.6 percent year-on-year.
Must collect P1.83 trillion
The BIR had been tasked to collect P1.62 trillion in taxes for the entire 2016. As such, the agency’s tax take in December must hit at least P166 billion.
The Duterte administration’s economic managers upon assumption in office slashed the government’s 2016 revenue goals, citing below-target performance in the collection of tax and non-tax revenues in the first half or the last six months of the Aquino administration.
Under the previous administration, the BIR’s target tax take for 2016 was P2.03 trillion, which could have been the first time that its collections could breach the P2-trillion mark.
Last year, the BIR collected a total of P1.43 trillion, up 7 percent year-on-year but below the P1.67-trillion target.
Next year, the BIR must collect P1.83 trillion, before further increasing its tax-take target to P2.19 trillion in 2018 and P2.44 trillion in 2019.
Foregone revenues
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For 2016, the government’s total revenue take from tax and non-tax collection had been programmed to reach a total of P2.04 trillion, up from P1.82 trillion last year.
The comprehensive tax reform would be needed to help revenue-generating agencies shore up collection and hit their targets and sustain funding for much-needed investments in infrastructure.
In a statement, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua had reiterated the need to index taxes to inflation, especially those slapped on petroleum products, while also rationalizing the tax perks being given away to investors in certain sectors.
Chua said the government loses up to P100 billion in foregone revenues from leaks in the fiscal incentive regime as well as non-adjustment of dated taxes.
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MOST READWe’ve all heard the term “10x Developer” before. And if you haven’t up until this point, consider yourself lucky.
As the legend goes, some developers are 10x more productive than their peers. Meaning a single 10x developer could potentially replace a whole team of 10 other developers.
Most of us however, have come to associate this term with these three types of jerks:
The Talented Jerk: A person who’s undoubtedly talented, but believes that gives him the right to treat everyone else like garbage. Other people hate to work with them despite their abilities. The Untalented Jerk: They believe they’re 10x developers with no basis in reality. Usually this is a combo of innate arrogance + the fact that they “don’t know what they don’t know.” The Jerk Manager: A manager who says she only hires “10x developers” and everyone on her team is “10x” (compared to what?!) This is a big red flag if you ever encounter it in an interview.
Despite the bad reputation, there were a few questions I couldn’t shake off.
Do 10x developers actually exist? Am I one of them? If not, what can I do about it?
I’ll try to answer these questions, as well figure out whether being a “10x developer” is all it’s cracked to be.
The 10x Developer Myth: Confirmed or Busted?
I’m going the lay some hard truth on you. This “myth” is 100%, unequivocally, beyond any reasonable doubt, confirmed.
But before you go nuts, please keep this in mind: The fact that 10x developers are real doesn’t mean that every two-bit developer fresh off of coding boot camp is one of them.
Jeff always thinks he knows the answer to everything, doesn’t consult with anyone even when coding infrastructure for the entire team. That doesn’t make him 10x. Especially when shit breaks down in production and no one can understand what he was trying to do.
I don’t care how fast Jeff wrote the thing, the end result is a setback for the entire team. And my Saturday.
God I hate Jeff.
The Research Behind 10x developer
I know we now live in a world where facts don’t matter and an orange caricature is the President-Elect of the United States (WTF America?!) However, I still think facts matter. So let’s set the record straight on 10x developers.
The term originates from research done back in 1968. Researchers timed developers with similar experience levels while coding and debugging a set of problems. The study found, even after accounting for measuring errors, a performance difference of 10x between the worst and best programmers.
We know for a fact that such variations do exist. The reason for that is numerous studies were made since the original who were able to reproduce similar results.
If you want, you can read more about the validity of the underlying research as well a full list of the studies in question.
So, what do these findings tell us about you?
Why you probably are a 10x JavaScript developer
I want you to take a short pause, and think about the worst developer you’ve ever encountered. We’ll refer to him as Jim.
You might have had the pleasure of working beside Jim, interview him or meet him at a local meetup. Regardless of how you got to know Jim, it didn’t take long for you to realize he has absolutely no idea of what he’s talking about.
I mean, how can a person with 7+ years of JavaScript experience doesn’t know what a Promise is?! How is that even possible?
How could Jim write on his CV that he’s a “JavaScript OOP Expert” and not even know what prototypal inheritance is. I’m not talking about syntax or implementation, he was completely oblivious to the entire concept.
Compared to Jim, I think it’s safe to say that both you and I are 10x JavaScript developers.
Why you probably are not a 10x JavaScript developer
There is no NBA for JavaScript developers. Although that would be awesome.
The reason for that (besides the lack of Nike endorsements) is it’s very hard to rate developers on a unified global scale. There’s no point system like there is in sports, and the “rules” vary widely between companies and projects.
But taking all of that into account there are still those who are insanely talented and productive. Some developers are so far off the scale it makes others wonder if they’re even real,or part of a conspiracy.
Like any other complex human ability, some are just incredibly gifted. But they’re so few and far between you’ve most likely never even encountered one.
But JavaScript fame doesn’t come to those who are most productive, there is no pointing system. Except Github stars, they’re the ultimate measure of self worth and your place in the universe 😉
This is because coding is not a competitive sport. Our “star performers” aren’t judged by how fast they debug their code or how many tickets they close in an hour.
What truly matters to us are the things our best developers create, and the way in which they create them.
So let’s start focusing on what matters.
Forgetting About 10x: Focusing on what matters
Molly and Magen are both colleagues working in the same team. Jerald is their manager.
Molly is by far the quickest on the team. When Jerald hands her a project, he knows exactly what he’s going to get. Molly is a hard worker who gets things done on time, sometimes even earlier.
When Jerald hands a project to Magen, he knows she’ll get the job done on time, even though her estimates are usually longer than Molly’s. Yet he trusts Magen more with the bigger projects.
Magen has a tendency to recognize design flaws in their original plan and raise flags early. She identifies and extracts crosscutting concerns to the team’s shared libraries, or even ask permission to open source things she thinks it will benefit the community.
When Magen asks Jerald for a two-day extension to implement that new logging framework they’ve been talking about, he approves gladly. He knows everyone will end up benefiting from Magen’s experience.
You see, every time Jerald hands a project to Magen he doesn’t know exactly what’s going to happen. But he does know that he can count on Magen and that everyone’s going to be better off when she’s done.
This makes me start to wonder, how much time and mental energy should we spend on trying to be the fastest, most efficient developers? Perhaps instead we should be asking ourselves “What should I learn today in order to become a better JavaScript developer?” Or maybe “What could I develop that would really help the team out?”
Answering these questions would be a far better use of your time. I’m sure they’ll take you much farther professionally.
Because at the of end the day who would you rather be, a Magen or a Molly?
Taking Initiative
As developers, we have the privilege to provide great value by doing a fine job of doing what we’re asked to do.
But our greatest value, by orders magnitude, comes from our ability to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. It comes from doing the things no one asked us to do. From our ability to say “This what I think we need, and this is how I plan to do it.”
And then comes the most important part: Following through.
When we decide to develop something we’re not 100% sure is going to work, or when it’s our initiative, it makes our stomachs feel a little uneasy. But that’s exactly how you know you’re on to something.
A few years back, a developer named Jordan Walke encountered a problem at Facebook. Their existing tools didn’t solve it properly even though they were using all the best practices at the time. He then decided to try something new.
Jordan’s new library was based on a weird concept from a PHP library that was already working well for Facebook at the time, but there was nothing similar to it in JavaScript. So he made the argument to get some time and create something new.
Jordan ended up creating a nifty little library. Facebook even decided to open source it after extensive internal use.
That library’s name is React.
So do you think anyone cares how fast Jordan’s debugging speed is? Or how quickly he closes tickets? I know I don’t.
But I sure do love using React.The article explores newly launched Google Maps Embed API and talks about the benefit to end users and, some of the business benefits to local search engines.
Few days back, Google launched its new Google Maps Embed API using which any business could easily embed google maps in relation with their locations with simple & easy embeddable HTML snippets. Following is how the HTML snippets look like:
<iframe
width=”600″
height=”450″
frameborder=”0″ style=”border:0″
src=”https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key={API_KEY}
&q=Space+Needle,Seattle+WA”>
</iframe>
Lets look at the API parameters (in bold) above:
place: Actually, “place” is used for the parameter {mode}. Other values for {mode} could be directions, search, and view. Read for details on different types for mode on this page.
key: Businesses would have to acquire key by visiting the API console at https://code.google.com/apis/console/.
q: the parameter q will hold the address with space replaced with ‘+’ sign
Then, there are certain optional parameters which could be accessed on this page.
With as simple HTML snippet code as above, following would be embedded map:
So, How could it benefit the end users like me?
In above diagram, what you see is a star marks with “Save”. Thus, while you are browsing the websites on any device such as desktop while at work, and come across webpages with maps like the above, if you click “Save”, the address is stored on your Google Maps app on your mobile device.
I just tested it by accessing the location Guggenheim and amazingly found the same on my Maps app on my android phone with “star” marks. This can, thus, become so useful as I could browse the locations while at work and, plan my day with just one click on the maps. Later, I could access all of the locations very easily in Google Maps app on my mobile phone. This is very useful as I am no more required to remember the locations and again searching it in the map on my mobile device. Isn’t it very cool?
And, How could it benefit businesses like Local Search Engines?
Local Search Engines could use these HTML snippets for all of the locations and allow users to plan their day by browsing and saving the relevant locations that appeared in the search result, on to the google maps app which could be used later while spending the day.
I just searched one of the location on JustDial.com on my desktop and, went to a restaurant where address also consisted of Google Maps Icon. While accessing the location on google map, I was able to imagine the benefit if I would have been able to “Save” and later access this location from my mobile phone. No more hassles of noting the address and the searching it later on mobile device.
Won’t it be a useful feature for the users of websites like JustDial.com?
[adsenseyu1]Invoking Biblical blessings, leading Israeli rabbis thanked Trump for acting to fulfill prophecies about Israel’s redemption.
Some 250 Israeli rabbis, including Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, sent a letter to President Donald Trump thanking him and praising him for his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The letter, initiated by the Safed’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and delivered by Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, told the American president, “You have the rare privilege to be the first president to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel,” Ynet news reported.
“We are confident that you will be remembered in the history of the Jewish people forever as one who stood at the fore and was not afraid. May God’s promise to Joshua be fulfilled upon you: ‘Did I not command you, be strong and have courage, do not fear and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’”
Ynet reported that the letter was signed by rabbis of a wide range of communities, including rabbinical judges and yeshiva heads. Among the prominent signatories are: Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, national religious leader Rabbi Haim Drukman, the Rabbi of Safed Shmuel Eliyahu and Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of the Samaria region.
“We merit living in a generation in which prophecies are being fulfilled, one after the other,” the letter continued, emphasizing that Trump is playing his role in that process.
“The presidents of America merited standing by Israel in actualizing the prophecy of the return to Zion and the building of the State of Israel. “
“With this recognition, we see the fulfillment of another step in the completion of the prophecy of Isaiah that the nations of the world will recognize the centrality of Jerusalem,” said Rabbi Eliyahu. “‘For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your vindication’ (Isaiah 62:1). We hope that other enlightened and believing nations will follow in the footsteps of the United States.”
By: United with Israel StaffInspired by classics like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Nightmare Soup is a collection of short horror stories meant to terrify both kids and adults.
Each story is accompanied by a ghastly illustration from the mind of Andy Sciazko... the kind of illustrations that will disturb you in the best way possible.
PREVIEW ILLUSTRATIONS
[powr-photo-gallery id=cc61f56b_1476323979]
Reviews
"My students LOVE this book! I do a storytelling lesson for Halloween because it's always fun. I was beyond excited when I saw the email with the digital copy. I read a few stories aloud to them. They sat in terror and then begged for more. Thank you so much for this book. It's is very well done and is already bringing joy to my junior high theatre class."
- Jennifer M.
"My son and I love our copy of nightmare soup! Any plans to make a sequel?"
- Kayla H.
"Me and my son love the book, great stories and amazing artwork!"
- Matthew S.
"We have been super enjoying ours! I love reading scary stories out loud at night, while enjoying some snacks and wine!"
- Amanda C.
"Just got my books today. Fantastic job! Hoping for sequels! Thanks a ton!"
- Brandon P.
"They arrived today and I couldn't be happier! My inner child thanks you so much!"
- Jenny S.
ORDER YOUR COPY TODAYBloomberg and Buffett's 'Everytown for Gun Safety' Proves Why People Need Guns
Michael Bloomberg's and Warren Buffett's “Everytown for Gun Safety” posted a series of YouTube videos in which an estranged husband smashes his way into a woman's house, seizes her child, and then points a gun at her head. The organization then tells its stakeholders that domestic abusers can buy guns over the Internet. When last I heard, it's illegal to buy a gun across state lines unless the transaction goes through a licensed gun dealer, who must perform a background check. Even if the transaction does not cross state lines, it is illegal to sell a firearm to somebody who is prohibited from owning one. The video also, however, sends the unintended message that gun control laws like those in Mr. Bloomberg's city, and Governor Cuomo's state, facilitate and enable domestic violence. Watch the video carefully.
The estranged husband bangs on the door, which would have given the woman time to retrieve a firearm if she had had one. She must instead beg the 911 dispatcher to send help immediately even though, when seconds count, police are only minutes away. Then the man kicks her door in, and she tries to resist when he takes her child. Then he draws a gun, and sticks it into her face. The truth is that he did not need a gun because an average man's upper body strength is far greater than that of an average woman's. Even if Bloomberg had jumped into the scene while wearing a mask and a cape to pull the weapon from the assailant's hand, he could have still beaten her to a pulp. That's unless, of course, she had the means of killing or disabling a much larger and stronger assailant. The scene in which the man kicks the door is, in fact, the only potentially educational part of this video, except it leaves out the potentially life-saving lesson. I took an armed self-defense course from a retired law enforcement professional last year, and he told me that a home invader can kick in an ordinary door faster than he can open it if it is unlocked. I had relied for years on a double-sided lock (it requires a key to open from the inside, so the intruder can't break the window to open it) to protect me from this kind of attack, and all I really had was a false sense of security. Needless to say, I made some substantial changes after that class. Lowes offers the Gatehouse Steel Entry Door Strikeplate, and other hardware stores doubtlessly offer something similar. The screws go all the way into the wooden stud, the structural element that supports the house, as opposed to just into the door frame. There is also the Nightlock; the manufacturer had the incredibly good fortune to have Suzanne Collins assign this name to the poison in The Hunger Games, so a Google search on that brings up the manufacturer on the first page. It's a doorstop that effectively bolts to the floor, which makes it almost impossible to kick the door in. This is not to say that a determined attacker could not actually break the door off its hinges, but this would give the occupant more than enough time to get a weapon -- assuming that Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, & Co. have not made it legally impossible to own one. Nightlock also developed a realistic defense against active shooters. It is faster and far more effective than the Department of Homeland Security's recommendation to improvise a barricade of furniture, or hide under a desk and hope the next Adam Lanza doesn't find you. If the home invader manages to get into your house nonetheless, FrontSight offers a far more effective solution than citing your protection from abuse court order. It involves two shots to the assailant's thoracic cavity, followed by |
put a piece of clothing over something,” Burlison told The Missouri Times. “Right now you can buy a gun and carry it, but you cannot conceal and carry it. The permit allows you to put clothing over a gun that you already have a constitutional right to carry.”
Missourians must currently undergo a background check through their local sheriff’s office and submit to brief gun training before legally carrying a concealed weapon in the state. Burlison likened the process to an arbitrary burden on a fundamental right, saying he’d originally crafted the bill a few years ago, but decided to offer it this year in light of the passage of Amendment 5 on the ballot in 2015.
Amendment 5 requires courts to apply a “strict scrutiny” analysis to gun-related regulation and states that gun ownership is an “inalienable right.”
Amendment 5 has already caused waves in Missouri. Earlier this month, a St. Louis judge ordered charges dropped against a suspect who was arrested after police received a tip that he was in illegal possession of a firearm. The suspect, Raymond Robinson, was a convicted felon.
A ruling issued by St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker states while Robinson has not been a “model citizen,” the state of Missouri has not presented a compelling governmental interest to deprive Robinson of that right and charge him with a crime. Burlison noted that the case was particularly ironic, given that Robinson’s previous felony charge was in 2003 for carrying a concealed weapon without a valid CCW permit.
Robinson’s case ignited opponents of the gun legislation, who said the ruling would allow for more felons to keep weapons.
“About a year ago, my office and others warned Sen. Kurt Schaefer and the Missouri General Assembly that a then-proposed Constitutional Amendment could raise new, deadly concerns for law-abiding citizens,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in a piece she penned for the Kansas City Star. “Now I’m disheartened to see that those warnings may be coming true.”
But Burlison said the case is indicative of Missouri’s odd contradiction in gun law. If Burlison’s bill had been law in 2003, Robinson would have not been in violation of the law, and wouldn’t have been a convicted felon when arrested earlier this year with a weapon. In fact, Robinson’s case may provide just the judicial basis Burlison needs to avoid passing his bill altogether.
“Depending on how this case continues to be decided, this bill may become unnecessary,” Burlison said, indicating that if courts rule that CCW requirements violate a constitutional right to possess a weapon, his bill would not be needed.
Democrats and gun control supporters howl that Burlison’s bill will allow more potentially dangerous people without adequate training to carry weapons.
“There’s pretty widespread support for background checks and basic training before someone can be issued a conceal carry license,” said Rep. Jon Carpenter, D-Kansas City. “I think those are common sense provisions we need to maintain. I think there should be background checks and a basic level of training across the board.”
But Burlison calls much of the objection a “false premise” and says it’s inaccurate to assume that a legal gun owner is “by-definition” unsafe. Criminals, Burlison said, will always have their weapons, and won’t care about the law. Democrats, on the other hand, see Burlison’s bill and increasing the accessibility of guns as inherently unsafe.
“While kids are being gunned down in our streets, it seems like the only solution House Republicans have is to throw more guns at the issue,” said Rep. Jeremy LaFaver, a Kansas City Democrat. “This is just another example of the extremist agenda that Missouri Republicans are pushing.”
Burlison says he’s gotten mixed responses on his bill. Some of his constituents, like the ones who have regularly asked him through social media to carry this very bill, have expressed gratitude. Others are concerned about public safety. Burlison chided the Kansas City Star for running an editorial referring to himself and his supporters as “gun nuts.”
“It’s hypocritical for a newspaper to use that kind of language,” Burlison said. “It’s also intellectually weak. Using intellectually weak, ad hominem arguments isn’t how a publication should be operating.”
Burlison, who is in his final term, has offered a handful of pieces of gun legislation before, including an effort early during his time in the legislature to lower the minimum eligible age for a CCW permit, and a now-infamous video in which Burlison took a gun control bill to a firing range and riddled it with bullets. The Springfield Republican is also mulling a potential run for the senate in 2016, something he said he hasn’t made up his mind on.
HB1250 has not yet been referred to committee, but Burlison said he’s hopeful the issue will come up following the legislative spring break next week.Netflix has hit a new milestone: More U.S. television households now have the streaming service than a digital video recorder, according to a recent study.
About 54% of U.S. adults said they have Netflix in their household — while 53% have a DVR, according to Leichtman Research Group’s annual on-demand study. It’s the first time that households with Netflix (including those that use shared accounts) have surpassed the level of those with a DVR in the history of LRG’s studies. In 2011, according to the research firm, 44% of TV households had a DVR and 28% had Netflix.
Netflix has now eclipsed DVR usage despite the latter having a years-long head start. TiVo’s first digital video recorder shipped in 1999, while Netflix debuted its video-streaming service in 2007 and started the shift away from its DVD-by-mail business. As of the end of 2016, Netflix had 49.4 million streaming subscribers in the U.S., up 10.5% year over year. LRG president Bruce Leichtman noted that Netflix’s penetration is boosted by password sharing, with previous surveys indicating nearly 20% of Netflix customers share account access with those outside their household.
About 23% of all adults in TV homes stream Netflix daily, according to LRG’s survey of 1,211 consumers 18 and older conducted in January 2017, compared with 6% who did in 2011. Overall, 64% of respondents said they get a subscription video-on-demand service from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and/or Hulu.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s stock was upgraded Monday by UBS analyst Doug Mitchelson, from “neutral” to “buy,” citing subscriber momentum in Europe and Latin America as well as remarks by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts who said last week at an investor conference that in a little more than 90 days since integrating Netflix into its X1 platform, more than 30% of X1 customers are using Netflix.
Comcast’s early results with Netflix on X1 are “encouraging,” Mitchelson wrote. “We expect ongoing churn reductions as Netflix adds more U.S. pay TV integration deals and as X1 penetrations rise.” Comcast has said about half its 22.5 million video subs have X1.
All that said, traditional linear TV is not dead in the water by any means. As Leichtman pointed out, 46% of adults say they often flip through channels to see what’s on TV.
Clarification: This article has been updated to note that Leichtman Research Group’s study included households that use shared Netflix accounts. According to LRG, previous surveys indicate that nearly 20% of Netflix customers share passwords with those outside their household.Donald Trump: Drugs played'very big' role in North Carolina protests BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Donald Trump has insisted drugs played "a very, very big factor" in violent protests that erupted in North Carolina overnight following the police shooting of a black man. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/donald-trump-drugs-played-very-big-role-in-north-carolina-protests-35069998.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article35069997.ece/081da/AUTOCROP/h342/PANews%20BT_P-f403ca39-59c6-41bf-bada-aed95e7252cd_I1.jpg
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Donald Trump has insisted drugs played "a very, very big factor" in violent protests that erupted in North Carolina overnight following the police shooting of a black man.
The Republican presidential candidate warned African-American protesters that their outrage was creating suffering in their own communities.
It was another day of mixed messages on a delicate issue from Mr Trump, who was eager to blunt criticism that his campaign inspires racism in the midst of what he called "a national crisis".
The National Guard was activated to calm fierce protests that followed police shootings of black men in North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Mr Trump has sought to express empathy, but his words could rankle some in the African-American community.
"The people who will suffer the most as a result of these riots are law-abiding African-American residents who live in these communities where the crime is so rampant," Mr Trump declared at an energy conference in Pittsburgh.
He added: "Drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television at night."
Democrat Hillary Clinton did not address escalating racial tensions on Thursday as she prepared for her first debate-stage meeting with Mr Trump.
She took a swipe at her opponent, albeit in a humorous way, in an interview on comic Zach Galifianakis' internet show Between Two Ferns.
The comedian asked her what Mr Trump might wear to Monday's debate.
"I assume he'll wear that red power tie," Mrs Clinton said. Galifianakis responded: "Or maybe like a white power tie."
"That's even more appropriate," Mrs Clinton said.
Both candidates are working to navigate the politics of race with Election Day less than seven weeks away and early voting about to begin in some states.
Mr Trump, in particular, has struggled to balance a message that appeals to his white, working-class base with one that improves his standing with minorities and educated whites who may worry about racial undertones in his candidacy.
He was slow to disavow former KKK leader David Duke earlier in the year and has repeatedly promoted tweets by white supremacists during his White House bid.
The Republican nominee admitted for the first time publicly last week that President Barack Obama was born in the United States. And as recently as last week, Mr Trump's eldest son tweeted a meme commonly used by white nationalists.
On Thursday, Mr Trump tried at times to project a softer message, calling for a nation united in "the spirit of togetherness".
"We all have to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, see things through their eyes, and then get to work fixing our very wounded country."
The message was complicated by his own suggestion that protesters outraged by the police shootings of black men were under the influence of drugs. Earlier in the day, he also called for Chicago to adopt "stop and frisk" policing tactics that have been condemned as racial profiling.
At the same time in neighbouring Ohio, Mr Trump's Mahoning County chair Kathy Miller, a volunteer, came under fire after telling the Guardian newspaper: "I don't think there was any racism until Obama got elected."
The Trump campaign accepted her resignation after what a spokesman called "inappropriate" comments.
Mrs Clinton has faced criticism of her own for saying half of Mr Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables" because they are racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic.
The Democratic nominee has also made curbing gun violence and police brutality a central part of her candidacy.
She said on Wednesday that shootings in Oklahoma and North Carolina added two more names "to a long list of African-Americans killed by police officers. It's unbearable and it needs to become intolerable".
Mrs Clinton has campaigned alongside a group of black women called the Mothers Of The Movement, who advocated for more accountability and transparency by law enforcement. The group includes the mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, black victims of high-profile killings.
Mr Trump said new leadership is required to address the situation.
"This is a national crisis," he said without mentioning the black men shot by police in recent days.
He said that "it's the job of the next president of the United States to work with our governors and mayors to address this crisis and save African-American lives".
APAugust 25th, 2017 - The ACU Wildcats are a little over a week away from their first game of the 2017 football season, and today the players and the media got to see the new locker room.
As you can see, the players are pleased with what they see.
Everything is first class in this thing!
The Cats are adding a black jersey to the collection, and for the first time in decades, the Wildcats will wear a white helmet at some point in the season.
ACU is so excited to finally have a place to call home.
"It's really indescribable coming in here, I was blessed to be able to come in here back in about March and I got to see how big the area is, but with all the equipment in here now, it's truly amazing, we're really blessed," ACU senior captain Sam Denmark said.
"We're very fortunate to have all the donors support here to come in here and call this our new home. We're, I think some of us are excited for practice even here tomorrow. We're going to come in here and get ready for our practice, there's just a lot more enthusiasm when you have a place to call your own, and knowing that everyone's there to support you."The weather is a dance between an odd couple: the frantic atmosphere and the staid sea. The atmosphere changes quickly, as when a strong wind suddenly starts to blow or a cyclone careens ashore. The ocean seems more sedate. Its wide gyres trace the edges of continents, carrying sun-warmed water from the equator out towards the poles. Even the rough storms that terrorize sailors are more the sky's fault than the sea's. The waves that toss a ship are whipped up by the wind.
But it turns out that the ocean makes its own gestures; it just makes them very slowly. Enormous vortices of water, measuring 60 miles across, spin their way across the sea at a deliberate pace—3 miles per day. Oceanographers have dubbed them mesoscale eddies for their middle size, larger than a wake formed by an aircraft carrier and smaller than a gyre. Each one is like an upside down mountain of water, held together by its own rotation and extending about 3,000 feet beneath the surface. In the video above, eddies show up as red and blue dots dancing around. (Red ones spin clockwise, blue ones counterclockwise.) Just how much water gets carried around by all these eddies? The total is staggering: more than 30 times the amount dumped by all the world's rivers into the ocean, according to a paper published today in Science. Other stuff gets caught in the vortices and taken along for the ride. This huge network of eddies may be shipping packets of pollutants, organic nutrients, and dissolved carbon all around the world.
These eddies are almost invisible unless you look from space. For decades, oceanographers have been tracking eddies using NASA satellites. By bouncing a pulse of radar off the surface of the water and recording the time it takes to return, the satellites can measure their distance from the water to within less than an inch. This astounding accuracy turns out to be necessary, since unlike the deep ship-swallowing whirlpools of Greek mythology, the depression at the center of an eddy is a mere 20 inches.
To reconstruct the 3-D structure of the eddies and find their volume, a team of oceanographers led by Bo Qiu of the University of Hawaii used data from underwater floats. More than 3,000 ARGO submersibles are scattered around the globe, lurking under the surface. Each comes to the surface every 10 days to report the water temperature, salt content, density, and velocity. An eddy, once born, might travel for months or years before dissipating. By combining a decade of satellite and submersible data, the researchers were able to track the incredible mass of water collectively moved by eddies across the entire world. Qiu's calculations surprised even him.
"We didn’t expect the number to be that high," he said. "We know they propagate westward, and there are a lot of eddies. But the mass… there’s an order of magnitude more than we expected."
Previously, it was thought that the steady currents like the Gulf Stream were almost entirely responsible for moving stuff through the ocean. The ocean transports trash, nutrients, radioactive waste, dissolved carbon dioxide and heat all around the world, and the latter two are especially important for understanding climate change. Qiu's study raises the possibility that eddies also make a substantial contribution to these transports.
This paper will kick off a wave of research among climate modelers, says Ryan Abernathey, who studies the impact of ocean circulation on climate at Columbia University. "The volume estimate is really surprising," he said. "This is an important effect. The next question is how leaky the eddy is." The eddy is made of water, after all, and the difference between inside and outside is not precise. If, say, the dissolved carbon caught in an eddy slowly slips out, then after a year of meandering an eddy may have left its original contents an ocean away. But if the eddies hold their cargo tightly, they might be shipping enormous packages of carbon, salt, and pollutants from Australia to Africa and from Europe to America. Scientists are now trying to figure out how the packages effect local ecosystems and the planet's climate.Harris County shatters records for early voting
David Zaga and Monica Ortega read a Voters Guide while waiting in line with several others Friday during early voting at the Harris County Precinct 3 Trini Mendenhall Sosa Community Center. David Zaga and Monica Ortega read a Voters Guide while waiting in line with several others Friday during early voting at the Harris County Precinct 3 Trini Mendenhall Sosa Community Center. Photo: Johnny Hanson, Staff Photo: Johnny Hanson, Staff Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Harris County shatters records for early voting 1 / 7 Back to Gallery
Early voting is on a record pace in Harris County and in many other counties in the region and state.
After five days of open polls, in-person and mail ballots have topped 310,000 in the county, a record tally that far outstrips the early turnout from 2008, itself a record year. Through Thursday, the most recent data available, the state's 15 largest counties reported nearly 1.2 million votes had been cast, a 6.8 percent increase over the same period in 2008.
Political observers say the rising tallies are due largely to greater awareness and use of early voting by the public, and partly to efforts by political campaigns and election officials and voters' strong feelings about the most expensive presidential race in the nation's history.
"More than anything else, what we're seeing is a natural trend," said Mark Jones, political scientist at Rice University. "More and more people are getting used to it, they're socialized to do it, whereas when it first started, it seemed somewhat strange voting before the Election Day."
Desire for'relevance'
County Clerk Stan Stanart would like to think some of the local jump in turnout is due to his pleading with residents to cast ballots early, but he acknowledged voters' desire for "relevance" plays a role. Stanart hopes to avoid confusion on Election Day, when recent redistricting efforts will force a fifth of residents to vote at new polling places.
Political campaigns also are imploring supporters to vote early, allowing the campaigns to better target get-out-the-vote efforts on Election Day.
Early voting began gaining ground in some parts of the country more than two decades ago and since has been adopted widely nationwide and in some foreign countries, according to a 2008 paper by Reed College political scientist Paul Gronke, who runs the Early Voting Information Center.
Statewide and locally, it is hard to deny the growing importance of early voting. Compare this year's 1.2 million early votes through four days, for instance, to the 655,265 cast over the same period in 2004, or the 278,332 that were cast in the first four days of early voting in 2000.
A majority of all votes in Harris County in 2008 - 63 percent - were cast early, up from 42 percent in 2004 and just 26 percent in 2000. The last three non-presidential general elections have seen the same trend.
'Just human nature'
The embrace of early voting has been in part psychological, said Bexar County elections administrator Jacque Callanen. Election Day voters waiting in line at their assigned polling place start griping if their waits top 15 minutes, she said, but early voters, who choose the day and place they will vote, do not mind waiting 20 minutes or more.
"Because it was their choice to go," she said. "It's just human nature."
Texas, which Gronke's paper cited as a leader in early voting for accepting ballots up to three weeks before elections beginning in 1988, since has been leapfrogged by other states.
Obama sets precedent
Five states started voting in September, and another dozen had joined in by the time Texas and seven other states opened the polls on Monday, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State. Four other states began taking early ballots Tuesday and Wednesday.
Thursday in Chicago, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to cast a ballot before Election Day. Here in Houston, Mayor Annise Parker voted Thursday at Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, the second-busiest of the county's 37 early voting locations.
Texas' lack of competitive statewide races might not dampen early turnout, Jones said, noting that early voters typically are more engaged and look forward to the "symbolic act" of supporting their candidates.
Locally, Fort Bend, Brazoria and Montgomery counties all reported increases in early voting from 2008 to this year, ranging from 15 percent to 38 percent. Election officials in those counties said the increases accompany recent increases in their voter rolls but said they expect this year's totals to top those from 2008 even after population growth is considered.
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twitter.com/mmorris011Tuesday night a judge ordered the release of a photo that got a Chicago police officer fired last year, depicting officers Timothy McDermott and Jerome Finnigan posing with rifles over an unidentified black suspect, who was made to wear antlers:
Per the Chicago Sun-Times, the photo was believed to be taken sometime between 1999 and 2003. Since then, Finnigan was jailed for 12 years for leading a team of rogue cops on a crime spree. The photo was turned over the Chicago Police Department, which began an investigation.
“Appearing to treat an African-American man not as a human being but as a hunted animal is disgraceful and shocks the conscience,” the department’s board wrote after voting 5-4 to fire McDermott.
Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the photo
“is disgusting, and the despicable actions of these two former officers have no place in our police department or in our society. As the superintendent of this department, and as a resident of our city, I will not tolerate this kind of behavior, and that is why neither of these officers works for CPD today. I fired one of the officers and would have fired the other if he hadn’t already been fired by the time I found out about the picture. Our residents deserve better than this, as do the thousands of good men and women in this department.”
McDermott said he remembered no details about the photo, but did remember that the suspect had been arrested for drugs, and that the two officers had let him go.
“I am embarrassed by my participation in this photograph,” McDermott said. “I made a mistake as a young, impressionable police officer who was trying to fit in.”
[h/t Chicago Sun-Times]
[Image via screengrab]
——
>> Follow Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] sea ice displaced these 10,000 walruses With nowhere else to go, the animals are congregating on shore
There's no shortage of data and charts out there making the case that Arctic sea ice decline is a real and persistent problem. But the point is also made pretty strongly by this photo taken Friday by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It depicts over 10,000 Pacific walruses huddled on the shore of Alaska's northwest coast, unable to find their usual ice floes.
According to the researchers, the walruses have been hauling themselves ashore since mid-September. For them to do so is a "relatively new phenomenon," said Megan Ferguson, a marine mammal scientist with the NOAA. From the Associated Press:
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Pacific walrus spend winters in the Bering Sea. Females give birth on sea ice and use ice as a diving platform to reach snails, clams and worms on the shallow continental shelf. As temperatures warm in summer, the edge of the sea ice recedes north. Females and their young ride the edge of the sea ice into the Chukchi Sea. However, in recent years, sea ice has receded north beyond continental shelf waters and into Arctic Ocean water 10,000 feet deep or more where walrus cannot dive to the bottom. Walrus in large numbers were first spotted on the U.S. side of the Chukchi Sea in 2007. They returned in 2009, and in 2011, scientists estimated 30,000 walruses along one kilometer of beach near Point Lay.
That so many of the animals are packed in one place poses a stampede risk. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to keep people and airplanes from spooking the herd. It's unclear how the government shutdown has affected this effort, or the NOAA's plans to continue to monitor the area.Freestyle Tuesdays live at F2 Lounge brings you a special edition tonight starring the illest dance crews in Eldoret. Come…
The Fool’s Rap Cypher Venus Studios, Eldoret 09:00 PM Ahead of the highly anticipated Fools Film Festival comes the Fool's Rap Cypher featuring some of the most buzzing and talented… Learn More
Freestyle Tuesdays – Classic & Official F2 Lounge, Eldoret 08:00 PM This Tuesday, Freestyle Tuesdays returns in a big way with the classic and official edition. The dress code as the name… Learn More
Celebrating 20 Years of K1 Klub House K1 Klub House 06:00 PM One of Nairobi's most iconic entertainment spots is celebrating two decades of existence with a host of incredible activities and… Learn More
Thursday Night Live w/ H_Art The Band J's Westlands 08:00 PM One of Kenya's most popular and talented groups, H_Art the Band will be the headline act for Thrsday Night Live at J's Westlands… Learn More
Maasai Market @ Two Rivers Two Rivers 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM The weekly Maasai Market at Two Rivers now takes place on Thursdays, a change from being held every Tuesday. Come sample and… Learn More
Rockdown Crooked Q's Rooftop 07:30 PM One of the city's greatest monthly rock concerts featuring local and international bands goes down on he 2nd of February at… Learn More
Nairobi Rocks Music Festival Carnivore Restaurant 7:00 PM Ferocious Dog will be in Nairobi to headline the Nairobi Rocks Music Festival set to go down on the 9th of February at the… Learn MoreWhat a fantastic time I had running two demo games of Frostgrave at Hotlead 2017. This post is a retrospective on those games and a thank you to my sponsors. To start, I would like to show off five pictures sent in to me by a friend and reader, Randall Carder. Thank you for sending these pictures. Check out the engagement at the table in the first image!
A Picture of myself (the guy with a shaved head, red name tag and glasses) and three Frostgrave players at Hotlead 2017. This picture was taken by Randall Carder and posted with his permission.
The table itself looked absolutely fantastic!
Photo taken by Randall Carder and posted with his permission.
Photo taken by Randall Carder and posted with his permission.
A picture of an exploded house with an intact one in the distance. For those wondering, all four terrain pieces showcased here (Ruined House, Bridge, White and Brown House, and Ruins in-between) are all made by XOLK. Photo taken by Randall Carder and posted with his permission.
Photo taken by Randall Carder and posted with his permission.
Running a game at a Convention is nothing new to me. My games at Hotlead are the third and fourth games that I have run at conventions. The first game I ever ran at a Convention was Mansions of Madness. The second was A Fistful of Kung Fu. The people at my Fistful of Kung Fu table enjoyed themselves, but I wanted to show the difference in table quality between that game and what I ran at Hotlead 2017. Check out these pictures.
The Fistful of Kung Fu table is functional, but certainly not as pretty as the Frostgrave table above.
My terrain included birdhouses that I cut open and modified into houses for miniature combat.
The Fistful of Kung Fu table certainly was functional, but has nowhere near the same appeal as the Frostgrave table that I just ran. Check out the table below. It is absolutely gorgeous and a large part of that is due to corporate sponsorship and some help from some friends.
Check out how great this table looks!!! Simply stunning!!!
Specific to this event, my sponsors were Osprey Games, XOLK and North Star Military Figures. Osprey Publishing provided prize support, XOLK provided MDF Terrain and North Star sent me Chilopendra miniatures and a special miniature to represent Tiszirain (a Demon Lord).
On top of those companies, Jeremy Cada of Forbes Hobbies in Cambridge (Ontario, Canada) helped Must Contain Minis by painting up the Chilopendra and Tiszirain Demons for the table. My friends Dave and Randall also provided some terrain to help fill the table. With this help, I had a stellar looking table.
As a thank you to all of the companies that have helped Must Contain Minis along the way, I made an effort to include each of them somehow at the demo table. The only company that I could not work into the event was Hyacinth Games (the makers of Wreckage).
From Asmodee, I used miniatures from the Conan Board Game as a Warband and used Conan himself as one of the Barbarians. The gaming Mat came from Cigar Box Battle and I used the scenery from RAINN Studios‘ Battle Pack as spell effects and as a back up plan for ruins in case Dave and Randall could not make it to the convention with their terrain.
I also included several products from companies that have not sponsored Must Contain Minis. That includes multiple scenery elements from Six Squared Studios (craters, barrels and a Huge Keg) and Warbands with Miniatures by Reaper Miniatures and RAFM Miniatures.
Another look at the table. On each side, one Warband would deploy in the middle while the other four Warbands would deploy in the corners.
To determine the winners, I developed my own modified scoring system. In this system, points were given for normal conditions that would give Wizards Experience in the scenario. On top of the rewards available to all players, each Warband had their own hidden objective worth points if completed. The scenarios played included Mortal Shells in the Afternoon and Rescue the Prince in the Evening.
For the Afternoon game, some of those hidden Objectives included controlling a specific opponent’s warband members through the use of a Control Construct or Control Animal Spell, Walking Demons off the board through the use of the Bind Demon spell, or killing creatures (or warband members) on the board with specific spells. The Evening’s game also had specific hidden Objectives, but I will not disclose them at this point as I plan to re-run that scenario at Broadsword 3.
Check out the Terrain!!! The house and boards are by XOLK while the craters are made by Six Squared Studios.
A look at the Centre most objective from Mortal Shells.
Another picture of scenery.
In Mortal Shells, the Players must read the ruins written on the walls in the middle of the table to gain the most amount of points. The game was set to run until we either ran out of time, or two of the six warbands left the board (either by elimination or by walking off). Aside from two wizards who got extra points for killing creatures (and warband opponents) with specific spells, all point incentives to kill Wizards and Apprentices were removed from the first game. I didn’t want players going for player elimination right away.
All of the players cautiously move towards the centre.
The shooty dwarf faction squares off against the other dwarf faction that focuses on constructs – killing one of them.
Multiple Wizards converge to the centre.
The shooty faction is finding themselves in a bit of trouble with a construct and assassin.
With a couple of exceptions, most of the combat was between warband members rather than Wizards. The Wizards were too busy trying to gain new knowledge from the ruins.
In the end, it was the Necromancer Player that won this scenario by points. In the evening’s scenario, things were different. In the evening games, the gloves were off. Wizards would now gain points for killing enemy Wizards, Apprentices and Warband members. In their secret objectives, I purposely set specific Warbands against each other – but to my surprise players found other reasons to attack each other.
The scenario this time was Save the Prince (also from Forgotten Pacts). In the middle of the table was an evil wizard preparing a sacrifice to raise an evil demon. This game timed out, so I will be sure to play this one on a smaller surface at my next convention. Regardless, my players had fun. It was the Enchanter’s Warband that won this scenario.
Here the Necromancer is trying to get to the middle of the table while the Enchanter has his warband engage the Necromancer in a pincer movement with attackers rushing in from the front and rear.
A better look at the objective the warbands are trying to get to.
On the other side of the table, the Summoner is making good use of the Fog Spell to save himself from the shooty Dwarfs camping right beside him.
These are some of the ranged attackers giving the Summoner a hard time. The Dwarf in the back with a Flame Thrower is an Elementalist and almost came in first. The Enchanter squeaked out a win in the last turn.
Here we had two warbands making their way across the bridge to stop the Wizard from summoning Tiszirain
Unfortunately, this is about where we ran out of time. Tiszirain was not summoned, but the prince was never rescued either so no one got points for preventing the Demon from being summoned. The enchanter completed one of his two hidden objectives and won on points based on that.
I hope that everyone enjoyed reading this article about the Frostgrave games at Hotlead 2017. For those that want more background information on this game, below is a list of related articles.
For those interested in more, I ran the last scenario at Broadsword 3 with a different result. Tiszirain was actually summoned!!! Check out the Battle Report!
Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!
Must Contain Minis is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.A German police officer has been severely injured in a weekend riot by drunken refugees armed with iron bars who smashed their accommodation centre to smithereens.
Two men from Togo and six from Ghana went berserk at their asylum home in Rees-Haldern, near the Dutch border a DAY after moving in because they were 'unhappy' with their quarters.
They complained there was no mobile phone reception in the building's reception area.
A German police officer has been severely injured in a weekend riot by drunken refugees armed with iron bars who smashed their accommodation centre to smithereens (file picture of migrants in Dusseldorf, whose camp was damaged in a fire in June 2016)
The police officer suffered a 'complicated' break in one foot, but it isn't clear how they sustained the injury (file photo)
Two dozen armed police had to respond to emergency calls from staff at the centre as the men aged between 18 and 28 laid waste to furniture, windows, doors and fittings. They even tried to penetrate the security room where guards were forced to barricade themselves in for their own safety.
The injured police officer suffered a 'complicated' break in one foot, although whether this was the result of a blow from one of the migrants is unclear.
After the Saturday night riot all eight men were arrested and are now awaiting trial on charges of a serious breach of the peace, criminal damage, resisting arrest, causing actual bodily harm and property damage.
Police said the refugees went into the nearby village from their accommodation on Saturday on a drinking bender.
German police reported last year that they have had to turn out hundreds of times to accommodation centres for refugees when infighting turned violent.Tourists enjoy a Flying Squirrels adventure in Chiang Mai in this file photo taken in August 2015. (File photo by Karnjana Ayuwatanachai)
Police are investigating the death of a Chinese woman during an adventure ride at a tourist attraction in Chiang Mai’s Mae Rim district.
Chinese tourists accompanying Wang Qi, 32, have raised questions about the woman's death.
The operator of the Flying Squirrels adventure at Pong Khrai village in Mae Rim district told them Wang had died of heart failure on the zipline adventure ride on Sunday afternoon. A post-mortem examination at Nakornping Hospital concluded she had suffered a broken neck and shoulder bones.
The tourists asked the Chinese consulate in Chiang Mai to help find out the real cause of her death.
Pol Col Suchart Kan-ngern, chief investigator at Mae Rim police station, said police were rushed to the scene upon being alerted that the Chinese woman had died of heart failure on the treetops ride.
Pol Col Suchart said he would today follow up the case and promised to ensure justice for all, Thai media reported on Tuesday.
A source said witnesses told police investigators that Wang was about to reach a spot on the ride where two male staff stood ready to take hold of her, but they allegedly made a mistake and the woman fell to the ground.
The aerial adventure has 32 treetop stations. Customers swing, ab |
of body image, poor insight into the consequences of being underweight, and amenorrhea. More than 90% of patients with AN are women (2). All organs are affected by this state of disordered eating and starvation. Severe malnutrition leads to electrolyte disturbances and can ultimately cause multiorgan system failure. Many of the hormonal aberrancies described in AN are essentially protective, aiming to conserve metabolic energy during prolonged periods of caloric restriction. The purpose of this article is to outline the metabolic derangements seen throughout the endocrine system in persons with AN. The most clearly understood endocrine disturbances of AN are those related to the hypothalamic-pituitary axis: thyroid, adrenal, and gonadal. AN also has dramatic effects on normal growth, bone turnover, nutrient metabolism, and appetite regulation. To characterize the hormonal adaptations and alterations in anorexia nervosa, we performed a PubMed search of the English-language literature related to the pathophysiology of the endocrine disorders observed in anorexia nervosa, and we describe a case to illustrate these findings.
CLINICAL CASE A 20-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with end-stage AN, severe malnutrition, electrolyte instability, and a prolonged QT interval. She was consuming 200 calories a day. On admission her temperature was 96.6°F, pulse rate was 41 beats per minute, and blood pressure was 118/89 mm Hg. She was 162.6 cm tall and weighed 30.8 kg (68 lb). Her body mass index (BMI) was 11.7 kg/m2. Physical examination revealed an extremely cachetic woman. She had shallow breathing and bradycardia. Her skin was cool, and her extremities had profound atrophy. She exhibited poor insight into her condition. Laboratory test results on admission were notable for neutropenia, hypokalemia, hypoglycemia, and transaminitis. Her albumin concentration was 3.5 g/dL. Liver enzyme assessment included an aspartate aminotransferase level of 287 U/L and an alanine amino transferase level of 323 U/L. An electrocardiogram showed sinus bradycardia. Other laboratory tests showed the following values: thyroid-stimulating hormone, 4.62 mIU/L (reference range, 0.35–5.50 mIU/L); total triiodothyronine (T 3 ), 28 ng/dL (reference range, 60–181 ng/dL); total thyroxine (T 4 ), 5.8 μg/dL (reference range, 4.5–10.9 μg/dL); and a free thyroxine index of 2.3. A cosyntropin-stimulation test was performed with a robust response from 18.7 to 42 μg/dL. The 24-hour urinary cortisol excretion was 283 μg/24 h (reference range, 4–50 μg/24 h). She had intermittent hypotension, hypothermia, and hypoglycemia during her hospitalization. She was restless and exhibited excessive activity, rapidly lapping hospital corridors. Medically, her condition warranted admission to the intensive care unit; however, she refused for fear of activity restriction. She was recommended to eat 500 calories per day with a plan to slowly increase to a goal of 1200 calories per day. However, she did not adhere to these recommendations. She also refused any carbohydrates, including glucose tablets when her blood glucose concentration was 25 mg/dL. It was discovered that she was hiding food and purging. Supplemental nutrition and total parenteral nutrition were eventually started, and she was transferred to the intensive care unit to monitor for refeeding syndrome. Her condition markedly worsened. While receiving total parenteral nutrition, her electrolytes were maintained with supplementation, but her liver enzyme concentrations tripled. She developed notable edema and tachycardia. Despite this, she continued to resist supplemental nutrition. During her hospitalization, she fell from bed and developed an acute subdural hematoma requiring urgent neurosurgical operation. Postoperatively, her laboratory values slowly normalized with progressive feeds. The patient was discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation facility on cycled tube feeds and a regular diet at a weight of 34 kg (74.9 lb) (42 days after admission when her weight was 30.8 kg).
HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-GONADAL AXIS Secondary amenorrhea is a common clinical and diagnostic feature of AN. Likewise, primary amenorrhea is characteristic of the prepubertal anorexic girl. Normal puberty and menarche are delayed with even a 10% to 15% loss of normal body weight. Interestingly, this same degree of weight loss in postmenarchal women precedes amenorrhea in 20% of women with AN (3). Thus, even early abnormal eating behaviors, particularly with restrictive fat intake, can disrupt gonadotropin secretion and lead to amenorrhea (4). Women with AN are hypoestrogenic secondary to hypothalamic dysfunction. Disturbed gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion leads to abnormal gonadotropin pulsatility, resulting in insufficient ovarian stimulation for ovulation and ultimately decreased estrogen production. There is also loss of the positive feedback response where low estrogen levels normally stimulate gonadotropin secretion. Of note, there is also decreased aromatization of androgens to estrogens in fat tissue (secondary to lack of adipose), however this plays a minor role in the overall hypoestrogenic state (3,5). Pulsed GnRH injections can induce menses in women with hypogonadotrophic amenorrhea, as in AN, indicating normal pituitary and ovarian responsiveness to appropriate hypothalamic stimulation (3,6). Menstrual abnormalities in hypothalamic dysfunction are manifestations of disturbed secretion of GnRH. Decreased caloric intake changes the pulsatility of GnRH causing abnormal responses of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Specifically, the gonadotropins have immature secretion patterns, with an increased follicle-stimulating hormone to luteinizing hormone (LH) ratio and decreased frequency and amplitude of luteinizing hormone bursts (4,7). Qualitative differences in the glycosylation patterns of gonadotropins are described in AN (8,9). These hormonal aberrations result in a prolonged follicular phase and an insufficient luteal phase (10). Marked caloric restriction impairs luteinizing hormone pulsatility (11). Thus, there is inadequate gonadotropin stimulation to initiate ovulation, consistent with hypothalamic amenorrhea (12). Hypothalamic amenorrhea in AN is associated with a partial gonadotropin deficiency, but with nutritional rehabilitation and maintained weight recovery, this deficiency is potentially reversible (4,13). Amenorrhea in active AN is a protective physiologic adaptation to prevent pregnancy at a time of compromised nutrition. Luteal deficiency has been observed historically in times of famine and food rationing such as those in World War I and World War II (10). Infertility results from both anovulation and self-imposed restrictions on sexual activity in AN (3). Of note, silent eating disorders are not uncommon in women seeking therapy for infertility (14). In a study by Stewart et al, 58% of women with either amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea had evidence of an eating disorder (15). Once appropriate weight gain (90% of the predicted weight for height) is achieved and maintained, menses often resume within a year (16). Establishing regular menstrual cycles is an important milestone for women recovering from AN (17). Fertility is often restored with appropriate treatment of the eating disorder; however, persistent amenorrhea remains more common in women who have recovered from AN than in the general population (18). Resumption of menses is best assessed biochemically with a rise in serum estradiol levels (16). Restoration of appropriate signaling in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis appears to be facilitated by a variety of hormones. In women with AN, elevations in baseline cortisol are predictive of increased body fat content, which in a study by Misra et al was shown to be a good indicator of menstrual recovery in anorexic adolescent girls (19). Interestingly, in a study of female endurance athletes by Rickenlund et al, menstrual frequency was negatively correlated with cortisol concentration (20). The initial serum concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone, inhibin B, and anti-Müllerian hormone may also correlate with the degree of ovarian suppression and may predict the resumption of ovulation with weight gain (17).
HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-THYROID AXIS Individuals with AN often exhibit clinical features of hypothyroidism such as bradycardia, hypothermia, hypotension, dry skin, and reduced metabolic rate. Biochemically, anorexic patients have a constellation of thyroid hormone abnormalities similar to sick euthyroid syndrome with notably low T 3 levels and low to normal T 4 levels due to decreased peripheral conversion (21). Patients with AN generally have normal to below-normal thyroid-stimulating hormone levels (22). These patients are generally not considered to be hypothyroid despite evidence of peripheral thyroid hormone deficiency as documented by delayed Achilles reflex half-relaxation time and subsequent improvements with exogenous T 3 (23). Overall improvements in thyroid hormone profiles are observed with nutritional rehabilitation (12). Altered thyroid hormone levels in individuals with AN are multifactorial. In AN, as in any condition of chronic illness or starvation, there is decreased peripheral deiodination of T 4 to T 3 with increased conversion to inactive reverse T 3 (24). The presence of carbohydrates appears to be important in stimulating the peripheral conversion of T 4 to active T 3 (25). Hypothalamic release of thyrotropin-releasing hormone may be impaired in AN, preventing the typically robust thyroid-stimulating hormone response to low peripheral thyroid hormone levels (23). Exogenous thyrotropin-releasing hormone can illicit a normal or delayed response in thyroid-stimulating hormone, and this delay in response reverses with weight gain (26). Malnutrition and subsequently low insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels likely cause thyroid atrophy in AN (27). A decrease in overall thyroid volume has been observed in anorexic patients compared with age-matched control participants; atrophy of the thyroid may further exacerbate depressive symptoms and ongoing starvation (27). As previously mentioned, the biochemical thyroid abnormalities seen in AN generally correct with weight gain. Unfortunately, the psychologic problems and personality traits are not rectified with weight gain alone. Thus, thyroid dysfunction is not the sole etiology of the psychologic pathology observed in AN, but it is possible that abnormal thyroid function may exacerbate existing psychologic problems (28).
HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-ADRENAL AXIS Individuals with severe AN must maximize the physiologic stress response to chronic starvation for survival. Thus, these patients generally exhibit hypercortisolemia (29). Elevated cortisol levels in patients with AN result from increased cortisol pulsatility and secretory burst frequency, as well as decreased T 3 -regulated metabolism of cortisol (30). The circadian rhythm of cortisol secretion is preserved in AN (12,31). Cortisol secretion is also stimulated by hypoglycemia and hypoinsulinemia, conditions commonly seen in AN (30). Dynamic testing of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in AN reveals abnormal suppression of cortisol production with either an oral glucose load (30) or from dexamethasone in conjunction with very robust responses to corticotropin stimulation and weak responses to corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation (30–32). The poor cortisol response to corticotropin-releasing hormone is suggestive of hypersecretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone as a means of overcoming cortisol resistance. This may be explained by glucocorticoid receptor abnormalities (33). Pituitary corticotrophs remain responsive to the inhibitory effects of free fatty acids in AN even in the setting of hypercortisolemia (34). Chronic corticotropin-releasing hormone elevations may also be partly responsible for maintaining the state of chronic starvation (5). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hyperactivity is an established feature of AN and depression. AN is also associated with alterations in vasopressin secretion, manifesting as problems with appropriate dilution of urine (35). Vasopressin has a greater involvement in hypercortisolemia of depression, while corticotropin-releasing hormone appears to have a dominant role in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hyperactivity in AN (36). Patients with AN and high cortisol levels do not typically display features of Cushing syndrome, as they have low baseline levels of adipose tissue and cortisol resistance (5,30). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hyperactivity appears reversible. Normalization of cortisol levels is observed with weight gain; however, normal corticotropin responsiveness to corticotropin-releasing hormone takes longer to fully resolve (31). One could postulate that as hypercortisolemia reflects responsiveness to stress, it may also reflect adrenal reserve, which could explain the potential use of cortisol levels as a marker for menstrual recovery. In other words, ovarian function may parallel adrenal function in that women with higher cortisol levels may be better equipped to respond to the stress of malnutrition and in turn may also have an increased likelihood of ovarian recovery with nutrition rehabilitation.
GROWTH HORMONE RESISTANCE AND IGF-1 DEFICIENCY Growth hormone (GH) secretion and activity are also affected by severe malnutrition. These individuals have increased basal and pulsatile secretion of GH (37). GH–releasing hormone elicits an exaggerated response of GH in conditions of severe starvation (38). A positive correlation exists between BMI and levels of IGF-1 and insulinlike growth factor binding protein 3. Hepatic IGF-1 production is inhibited by malnutrition, and low IGF-1 levels stimulate increased GH secretion. This ultimately leads to acquired GH deficiency secondary to GH resistance (37,39). Interestingly, obesity is associated with reductions in both basal and pulsatile GH secretion (40). Impaired linear growth is common in adolescents with AN secondary to the hormonal abnormalities mentioned thus far (deficiencies in thyroid and sex hormones and elevations and resistance to cortisol and GH). Nutritional intervention results in variable degrees of catch-up growth; however, permanent short stature may be observed in adolescents (39).
BONE METABOLISM Bone health is compromised very early in the disease course of AN. AN is especially damaging to bone health in adolescents, as malnutrition during these formative years interferes with the accumulation of peak bone mass (12). More than 50% of adolescents with AN have evidence of osteopenia and 25% have osteoporosis (41). Women with AN have even more dramatic problems, with more than 90% having evidence of reduced bone density and 38% meeting diagnostic criteria for osteoporosis (42). Individuals with the binging/purging subtype of AN are at greater risk for developing osteoporosis compared with the restricting subtype (43). AN may have very long-term effects on bone health. Osteopenia has been documented to persist for more than 10 years after the initial diagnosis (44). Increased risk of fracture may persist years after the original diagnosis of AN (45). There are qualitative and quantitative problems with the bones in AN. In general, trabecular bone appears to be affected more than cortical bone, and a greater degree of recovery is observed in trabecular bone than in cortical bone (41,44,46). Bone changes in AN are related to both bone density and absolute size of bones, with decreased bone density in large part attributed to estrogen deficiency and reduced bone size related to malnutrition (47). Abnormal bone metabolism in AN is multifaceted and appears to result from an osteoblastic abnormality (48,49). In most cases there is a severe nutritional deficiency. Excessive exercise is also a major factor in bone loss in individuals with AN as it helps them achieve low body weights and perpetuates hypothalamic amenorrhea leading to associated bone loss (39). Hormonal aberrancies including low estrogen, androgen, T 3, IGF-1, and leptin levels, as well as elevated catecholamine and glucocorticoid concentrations, contribute to decreased hone density in AN (41). Women with AN have increases in markers of bone resorption with decreases in markers of bone formation (50,51). This contrasts with postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who have concurrent increases in both bone formation and resorption and with adolescents with AN who have a generalized reduction in bone turnover (51). With sufficient weight gain, markers of bone formation (osteocalcin and bone alkaline phosphatase) increase and bone resorption decreases (C-telopeptide breakdown products) paralleling an increase in bone density in as little as 3 months (48). Severely ill patients with AN receiving parenteral hyperalimentation have rapid biochemical evidence of increased bone formation before any significant weight gain. Interestingly, this increase in osteocalcin is not associated with a reciprocal decrease in bone resorption during early nutrition rehabilitation (52). GH resistance may have a role in the low bone turnover state seen in AN (37). Many different therapeutic options have been studied for treating bone disease in patients with AN and they have variable results. Estrogen replacement with oral contraceptive pills makes empiric sense in these hypogonadal women; however, there is a lack of evidence that exogenous estrogen is truly beneficial. The absence of a significant response to exogenous estrogen likely reflects ongoing inhibition of IGF-1 by oral estrogen and the persistence of low bone formation in patients who have yet to undergo successful nutritional rehabilitation (51). Although bisphosphonates evaluated in this population did improve bone density, maintenance of a healthy body weight has much greater influence on increasing bone density in the long term (53). There is also obvious concern with using bisphosphonates in young women with AN, as once recovered, these women may desire to become pregnant and the safety of these medications during pregnancy has not been established. These drugs have a long half-life and may be released from the bone over time. Studies of bisphosphonates in pregnant rats have shown abnormal calcium homeostasis and altered fetal bone development (54). Menatetrenone (vitamin K 2 ) has shown some promise in patients with AN in terms of decreasing the loss of vertebral bone density, increasing markers of bone formation, and decreasing markers of bone resorption (55). Dehydroepiandrosterone is abnormally low in individuals with AN, and these low levels are likely associated with bone loss in this disease. Although dehydroepiandrosterone may offer improvements in some of the psychologic aspects, there are no marked improvements in bone density with exogenous dehydroepiandrosterone use (56). Recombinant IGF-1 promotes bone formation and reduces bone resorption. It has positive effects on bone health (stimulation of bone metabolism and activation of vitamin D to 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol) in patients with GH deficiency (57). Patients with AN have functional GH deficiency secondary to GH resistance and could potentially benefit from recombinant IGF-1 therapy. Combinations of recombinant IGF-1 for its anabolic properties and oral contraceptive pills for their antiresorptive qualities have shown beneficial effects on bone density (49). Overall restoration and maintenance of a healthy weight have the greatest effect on bone density in patients with AN (41,42,58). Nutrition rehabilitation and behavioral support with body weight maintenance are essential and should be the mainstay of therapy to attempt to reverse the severe bone loss associated with AN. Unfortunately, deficits in bone accrual in adolescence may result in permanently decreased bone density despite weight recovery (59).
NUTRIENT METABOLISM IN ANOREXIA NERVOSA AND REFEEDING SYNDROME Patients with severe AN can survive conditions of extreme malnutrition. The percentage of body fat is generally a better predictor of nutritional status than BMI (41). Many patients with severe AN maintain normal albumin levels in contrast to patients with other marasmic conditions. Generally, patients with AN have relatively low glucose and insulin levels and high glucagon levels during the active disease state with persistent abnormalities in glucose metabolism through recovery. Patients who have recovered from AN continue to have a reduced insulin response to caloric intake and there remains a metabolic preference to use glucose over fat stores (60). Cholesterol levels are frequently elevated and should be monitored closely. Patients with severe AN generally have hypercholesterolemia with normal free fatty acid levels that are attributed to accelerated cholesterol metabolism (61). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency appears to be significantly lower in women with AN than in healthy control participants (62). However, vitamin D deficiency should be treated with oral supplementation to achieve serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels greater than 30 ng/mL to avoid further insult to bone metabolism. Vitamin supplementation is very common in AN, and this supplementation may prevent vitamin deficiencies in these severely undernourished patients (63). Refeeding the severely malnourished patient requires frequent monitoring to avoid fatal consequences. Slow, careful introduction of nutrients must be initiated with particular attention to maintaining normal electrolyte levels and avoiding drastic fluid shifts. Macronutrient ratios must be thoughtfully considered to avoid refeeding syndrome. Proteins and fats present less of a metabolic threat than carbohydrates (64). Ingested carbohydrate stimulates insulin release, and the introduction of insulin to the starved system poses a variety of severe hemodynamic and electrolyte consequences. Specifically, insulin stimulates antinatriuresis and intracellular influx of electrolytes—potassium, magnesium, and phosphorous. The sodium retention caused by increased insulin levels can lead to hypervolemia and resultant cardiac and respiratory failure. The hypophosphatemia, hypokalemia, and hypomagnesemia encountered during refeeding can also lead to potentially fatal consequences such as arrhythmias, respiratory failure, neuromuscular weakness, and encephalopathy. Avoiding thiamine deficiency with reintroduction of carbohydrates is particularly important to minimize the risk of permanent neurologic compromise (65). Patients with a BMI less than 16 kg/m2, significant recent weight loss, and preexisting electrolyte deficiencies are at especially high risk for developing refeeding syndrome (66).
NEUROENDOCRINE MEDIATION OF APPETITE Leptin and ghrelin are 2 hormones that have major roles in energy balance. Leptin is a 167-amino acid protein product of the LEP gene (previously known as OB) expressed primarily in white adipose tissue. It circulates in the serum in either a free form or bound to leptin-binding proteins. It is secreted in a pulsatile rhythm with substantial diurnal variation (67). Leptin, secreted from adipose tissue, and insulin from pancreatic β cells circulate in proportion to adipose tissue stores, reflecting energy availability. Both leptin and insulin enter the central nervous system via a saturable uptake mechanism in the blood-brain barrier. These hormones bind to receptors in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, altering the expression of neuropeptides involved in regulating energy balance. Specifically, leptin and insulin interact in the central nervous system to inhibit the production of anabolic peptides such as neuropeptide Y and agouti-related peptide and lead to the up-regulation of catabolic peptides such as proopiomelanocortin and corticotropin-releasing hormone (68). Ghrelin is produced mainly by the stomach. It is the only known gastrointestinal hormone that increases food intake. Ghrelin strongly stimulates GH secretion and regulates energy homeostasis (69). Plasma ghrelin levels are inversely correlated with body weight and are increased in humans after weight loss (70). The actions of ghrelin are mediated in concert with neuropeptide Y and agouti-related peptide in the hypothalamus. In individuals with AN, leptin concentrations are lower because of reduced body weight and fat mass (71), and diurnal variation in leptin is decreased. In addition, these patients have lower concentrations of leptin in cerebrospinal fluid and a higher cerebrospinal fluid leptin to plasma ratio than healthy control participants. Soluble leptin receptor concentrations are also increased, resulting in a lower free leptin index. In contrast, plasma neuropeptide Y concentration in AN has been reported to be greater or equal to that of normal-weight women (72,73). Changes in leptin levels likely have a role in the neuroendocrine adaptation to starvation, leading to changes in other hormone concentrations that may have a protective effect in this energy-deficient state (74). For instance, leptin has been shown to stimulate GnRH pulsatility and release in vitro (75), to increase free T 4 and free T 3 in leptin-deficient children (76), and to prevent a decrease in total IGF-1 during fasting in healthy lean men (77). Nutritional rehabilitation increases serum leptin concentration (78) while simultaneously decreasing the soluble leptin receptor and serum concentration of neuropeptide Y (79). However, these changes do not correspond to increasing body weight and BMI, suggesting further dysregulation of appetite and weight control mechanisms in AN. The rise in leptin with increased caloric intake correlates with increasing gonadotropin levels, indicating that increasing leptin may be responsible for activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Resumption of menses is associated with a significant increase in the free leptin index (80), suggesting that free leptin may be an important determinant of menstrual recovery. There are no differences between leptin and neuropeptide Y concentrations before and after dietary treatment in eumenorrheic vs amenorrheic patients with AN, indicating that leptin is a critical but not a sufficient signal for recovery of menstrual function. Observational studies show a threshold leptin level of 1.85 ng/mL may be necessary for sufficient increases in follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone and for the complete recovery of the reproductive system (81). Further studies are needed to determine whether recombinant human leptin may provide benefits to women with AN who have regained weight but remain amenorrheic. Fasting ghrelin levels are elevated in patients with AN and return to normal after partial weight recovery (82,83). High ghrelin levels appear compensatory to increase food intake and to induce a state of positive energy balance (84). Reduced food intake despite chronic elevation of circulating ghrelin suggests decreased sensitivity to the orexigenic action of ghrelin in this condition (85). Patients with AN are less sensitive to ghrelin administration than healthy women with respect to GH response and appetite (86,87). It is unclear whether the acute ghrelin response to food intake is normal or impaired in women with AN, and this may depend on caloric content or macronutrient composition of meals (83,88,89).
CONCLUSION AN is a severe psychiatric disorder that can lead to extreme malnutrition. Although alterations in the hormonal axes are initially adaptive, mitigating the devastating consequences of starvation, these abnormalities may have important complications. Abnormalities in the adrenal glands and thyroid gland generally reverse with nutrition rehabilitation; however, there may be long-lasting complications including short stature, infertility, and osteoporosis. These patients require close medical monitoring as interventions geared towards achieving a healthy weight are aggressively pursued.
Abbreviations AN anorexia nervosa BMI body mass index GH growth hormone GnRH gonadotropin-releasing hormone IGF-1 insulinlike growth factor 1 T 3 tri-iodothyronine T 4 thyroxine
Footnotes DISCLOSURE The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.BY: Follow @BillGertz
U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching Israel’s military for signs it will conduct strikes on Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, amid concerns the deadly nerve agents could fall under the control of Hezbollah or al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. officials said.
Syria’s arsenal remains vulnerable as the result of the internal conflict currently underway in Syria between government forces and opposition rebels, one official said.
"Everyone suspects Syria maintains an active chemical weapons program; and it would be dangerous not to plan accordingly," the official said.
As for concerns the weapons will be captured or transferred, the official said: "Most countries that have CW stocks view it as a strategic, not tactical, tool—and strategic tools are usually pretty well protected and aren't given away lightly."
However, other U.S. officials said special operations forces are prepared to take action inside Syria in the event the regime falls and the country spirals further into chaos. The teams would seek to secure or destroy stockpiles of chemical arms to keep them from being taken over by terrorists. Hezbollah has been very active in Syria, and there are reports that al Qaeda terrorists have moved into Syria during the current crisis.
The exact size of the Syrian chemical arsenal is not known. The Center for Strategic and International Studies reported several years ago that Syria has stockpiled 500 to 1,000 metric tons of chemical agents. The weapons are said to include long-lasting VX nerve agent and less-persistent Sarin nerve agent, as well as mustard blister agents.
Most but not all of the weapons stockpiles are known to U.S. intelligence agencies.
The New York Times reported Thursday that CIA operatives are working in southern Turkey to coordinate foreign assistance to Syrian rebel forces.
Recent statements by senior Israeli military officials prompted U.S. concerns over an Israeli strike on Syria.
Senior officials in Israel told the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that if Syria’s army gave chemical weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorists an Israeli attack would be needed.
The newspaper reported May 31 that Israel failed to prevent Syria’s transfer of M-600 rockets to Hezbollah and the weapons can now threaten central Israel. One military source was quoted as saying that mistake would not be repeated.
Israeli Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, commander of forces deployed on the Syrian and Lebanese front, was quoted in press reports expressing concerns about Syria being used as "a warehouse for war materiel that feeds terrorist elements in the region."
Golan also said there were reports that al Qaeda terrorists are working against the regime in Damascus and those terrorists eventually would target Israel, perhaps in the coming months.
IDF Deputy Chief Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh also said June 11 that Israeli forces must be on alert because Syria’s military has "the largest chemical weapons arsenal in the region, which can reach any spot in Israel." He expressed worries that the weapons could "fall into the hands of the rebels or the terrorists."
A State Department arms compliance report from 2010 stated that Syria is also believed to have an offensive biological weapons program in addition to the chemical arms.
Calls for military intervention could increase if Syrian forces begin using the deadly chemical weapons in battling opposition forces.
A Syrian rebel leader, Col. Riad al-Asaad of the Syrian Free Army, told Al Jazeera June 8 that Syrian military aircraft had dropped chemical bombs that poisoned people, and that government forces had distributed gas masks to troops 10 days earlier in preparation for the use of the weapons against northern areas of the country.
State Department cables disclosed last year revealed Syria had obtained large quantities of chemical weapons precursor agents from China, Italy, and other states.
A July 10, 2008, cable said: "While Syria proclaims its desire to cooperate with the IAEA in investigating serious evidence of a covert nuclear program and allowed an extremely restricted June 22-25 IAEA visit to investigate a covert nuclear program, Syria has never accounted for its [chemical weapons] stocks, refuses to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, and is modernizing its long-range missile systems in cooperation with Russia, North Korea, and other countries."
"There remain suspicions Syria could be sharing missile technology with Hezbollah," the cable said, noting, "Just as Washington has done in past demarches regarding Syrian WMD and missile programs, Post believes a new scrub of releasable intelligence would strengthen our arguments regarding the gap between Syrian rhetoric and actions."
A June 20, 2006, cable reported that Iran was assisting Syria’s chemical warfare program with construction of four to five precursor chemical production facilities.
"Iran would provide the construction design and equipment to annually produce tens to hundreds of tons of precursors for VX, sarin, and mustard," the cable said.Waterville’s Jewish Retailers during the Great Depression
by Yichen Jiang ’13 (September 2011)
The Great Depression was a decade of hardship for many Americans across the country. Although Maine was spared the destitution that faced the Midwest, it was by no means immune to he greatest global depression of the 20th century. Interestingly, however, the Jewish population in Waterville fared relatively well during this period of adversity.
Context
Due to its maritime location and proximity to Canada, Maine was a major shipping hub on the East coast during the 19th century. Although Waterville never benefited from marine shipping as Portland and Bangor did, its location on the Kennebec River and the Messalonskee Stream meant that the city was able to easily harness waterpower. The availability of waterpower combined with a steady inflow of immigrant labor, mainly French Canadian, transformed Waterville into a factory town. With the advent of the railroads, it no longer mattered that Waterville was not a coastal city, because goods were now shipped by rail. Waterville ousted Portland to become Maine Central Railroad’s home depot in 1884, which effectively secured the city as a major hub for rail traffic in Maine (Plocher, 11).
Waterville at the turn of the century saw rapid rises in living standards, as well as the inauguration of a new City Hall and Opera House. The 1920s spelled a decade of prosperity for the lumber and agricultural industries in Waterville because of the high commodity prices around the country. The retail industry of Waterville also flourished, not only as a result of the increase in through traffic brought by the railroads, but also as a consequence of the increase in disposable incomes of local residents during the decade.
Yet Maine stood relatively apart from the rest of America in terms of its indulgence, mainly due to the fact that it remained mostly rural as a state despite the industrial advances in its mill towns. Fortunately, this isolation also distanced the state from the stock market crash of October 1929. The panic on Wall Street initially had little other than psychological effects on Maine’s economy. As one Maine historian recalls, “Immediately following the devastating October 24 stock market crash, the Kennebec Journal announced that speculators got what was coming to them” (Condon, 512).
Furthermore, Maine’s farmers did not suffer from the dust storms that plagued the Midwest, which meant that they could at least feed themselves if nothing else. “Some farm families, partly self-sufficient and isolated from national markets, had endured generations of hard times and hardly noticed the slump after 1929” (Condon, 513). Relatively, Maine was in a much better position than most other states in the U.S. to weather the Great Depression (Maine History Online).
Nonetheless, declining commodity prices and rising import tariffs following the stock market crash quickly slowed economic growth in Waterville. As investor confidence fell on Wall Street, commodity prices, short-term interest rates, real income and nominal money stock all followed (Temin, 109). The increase in Canadian import tariffs meant that Maine’s ports and railroads no longer offered a profitable route for European shipments to Canada. The sharp dip in food prices promptly erased profit margins for farmers in Maine. According to historian Richard Condon, mill towns were the hardest hit in Maine; “by 1933 about 20 percent of Maine’s manufacturing workers were on the street” (Condon, 514). Luckily for Waterville, the diversity of its industries provided it with the stability that many other mill towns lacked.
The Jewish community
Although they were fully reported in the English and Yiddish press, few Jews linked the happenings on Wall Street in October 1929 to their own working lives. – Henry L. Feingold, A Time for Searching: Entering the Mainstream, 1920-1945, 146
By the start of the Great Depression, most of the Jews who came to Maine had already established themselves financially and economically. The typical Jewish peddler of the 1910s was now a store owner. [For more, visit Occupational Trends]. Most working Jews in Waterville during the Depression era were self-employed and therefore did not have to navigate the turbulent job market. Since very few Jews at the time were farmers, the Jewish community was largely unhurt economically by the plummeting food and produce prices. No Jews were involved in the lumber and paper industry in town, which experienced steady declines throughout the 1930s. Rather, Jews were disproportionately represented in Waterville’s retail sector. This fact is not surprising, considering that the same occupational trend was evident in Jews living in Europe during the nineteenth century. Data from Waterville’s city directories and U.S. census records show that Jews had the highest participation rate in the retail sector compared to all other ethnicities.
* Data based on 1930 US Census population statistics for Waterville. We used 1929 and 1931 as reference points for the number of retail merchants since there does not appear to have been a 1930 directory for the city of Waterville.
** Number in brackets indicates total population for each ethnicity. The Jewish data is derived from analyses of 1930 Census manuscript. Numbers for other ethnicities come from the published population report and include both non-natives and the children of non-native parents.
*** Native born of native parents.
The high participation rate of Jews in the retail industry in Waterville may explain how the Jewish community in town was able to sidestep the brunt of the Great Depression. But even within the retail industry in Waterville, businesses owned by Jews were more likely to weather the economic downturn than those owned by members of other ethnic groups. The following graph plots the survival rate of businesses listed in the 1929 city directory.
It is not clear from the statistics why Jewish businesses in Waterville fared better than businesses of other ethnicities during the Great Depression. However, oral accounts of life during that time period suggest that dedication to customers and a genuine connection to the local community might have given the local Jewish businesses an advantage in surviving the Great Depression. Take Levine’s Store. for instance. The owners, who also rented out apartments in town, used to either give out clothing or offer steep discounts to tenants that were in need. In terms of connecting with the community, Levine’s Store offered lines of credit to its customers. This may seem like a risky business practice during the economic climate of the Depression, but this dedication to the community ultimately guaranteed customer loyalty to the store. [For more, visit Levine’s Store]
Historian Judith Goldstein’s observation about the Bangor Jewish community may also help shed some light on the question: “Although they still lacked real wealth and conspicuous success, the Jews |
by a powerful mix of cultural factors and economic incentives.
Nationwide, “we have not seen a 13 percent drop in childhood obesity,” said David Katz, MD, editor-in-chief of the journal Childhood Obesity and director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. “We seem to witness a leveling off, which is encouraging, but it’s far too soon to celebrate anything like'mission accomplished.' "
According to the CDC, one in three children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 were overweight or obese in 2011, the last year for which data is available -- and the extra weight puts them at risk for a host of illnesses later in life, from heart disease and diabetes to high blood pressure and stroke.
There's little question that Obama has focused public attention on the problem by founding "Let's Move" in 2010 and enlisting a host of celebrities -- including Beyonce, David Beckham and Gabby Douglas -- to support the group's efforts to promote healthier diets and more physical activity among kids.
"Let's Move" is widely credited with helping to pass the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which mandated that whole grains be a key component of school lunches and limited the calorie counts of the lunches to a maximum of 850. But the act's major provisions only took effect last year and would have had little if any role in the 13 percent obesity decline cited by the First Lady in Clinton -- a number not matched by other school-aged groups in Mississippi. For example, the obesity rate among high schoolers didn't budge statistically during the time when elementary-age rate dropped, and a higher proportion of middle school students were actually obese in 2011 than in 2005.
Dwayne Proctor, director of childhood obesity programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said that the 13 percent Mississippi obesity rate drop -- which was matched by similar, but smaller decreases in New York, Philadelphia and Massachusetts, reflects a number of political and policy changes supported by a number of agencies and communities, rather than "Let's Move's" actions exclusively.
“They’ve all focused on environmental changes in schools and in the community,” Proctor said. “When you put these policies in place, what you get is sustained changes.”
Dr. Sally Findley, PhD, professor of population and family health for the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, underscored the likely impact of 2005 changes in WIC programs on childhood obesity. Those changes allowed more fruits and vegetables to be purchased with WIC funds, whose low income recipients have historically faced a high obesity risk. Dr. Findley, however, credited the First Lady with bringing the obesity issue to nation’s attention more recently.
“The initiative that she is spearheading is really about changing the hearts and minds of people,” she said. “The things she is doing aren’t anything no one had thought of before, but when she came long and said this is something she cares about, she ratcheted up the public awareness about it.”
Obama announced a new initiative called “Let’s Move Active Schools” on Wednesday at an event in Chicago. The new program will aim to provide schools with an assessment of their physical education programs and a customized plan to create sports teams and encourage physical activity by students both in and outside of school.
Only one in three children are active on a daily basis -- with most opting to spend an average of seven hours in front of either the TV or a computer every day, according to the First Lady's office. In addition, while recess and gym were once a crucial part of every school day,only 4 percent of elementary schools, 8 percent of middle schools and 2 percent of high schools offer daily physical education, which Obama said hurts not only children's waistlines but also their test scores.
"Let's Move Active Schools" will aim to change all that -- and expand the initiative's base in the business community, since it will be funded from part of the $70 million raised by NIKE, the GENYOUth Foundation, ChildObesity180, Kaiser Permanente, the General Mills Foundation and the White House.
“You’ve got to keep your body active, even if that means just turning on some music and dancing for an hour,” Obama said to 6,000 Chicago Public School students. “Do a little Dougie, a few jumping jacks, some push-ups. You just have to move. That’s how you’ll prepare your bodies and your minds for greatness.”
Is ‘Let’s Move’ Enough to Stop Childhood Obesity?
Encouraging kids to exercise and eat healthy foods through “Let’s Move” is all well and good, but it may not address a psychological cause of childhood obesity, said Edward Abramson, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, Chico and author of the book “It’s Not Just Baby Fat: 10 Steps to Help Your Child to a Healthy Weight.”
“Kids are bombarded with messages encouraging them to consume foods that are bad for them,” he said. “There are no ads directed at kids for fruits and vegetables.”
A 2011 report by the Childhood Obesity Foundation, a Canada-based charity, found that children are easily persuaded by advertising, causing them to crave unhealthy products and pester their parents into buying them.
“The persuasive dimension of advertising and marketing is not easily identifiable for a child,” the report states. “They do not always know the difference between the program and an ad [and] may think that the ad is part of the program they are watching.”
The blurring of the line between television and advertisements means that children are a ripe for advertisers to target. Some companies, such as McDonalds, spend upward of $1 billion annually on marketing directed at children, according to the report, which encourages unhealthy eating habits and can lead children down the road to obesity.
“By the time they are 5 years old, children have seen an average of more than 4,000 television commercials for food annually,” the report says. “Food advertising focuses mainly on unhealthy and non-nutritious food.”
And while children don’t have much buying power, they have a strong voice when it comes to family purchase, the report says. Children spend $17 billion per year and influence up to 40 percent of all household purchases – estimated to be valued at $170 billion annually, according to the report.
“It has also been shown that young people have a very strong influence on the whole family’s food choices, parents often choosing to abdicate with regard to healthy eating issues to surrender to the children’s incessant demands,” the report states.
Some companies, such as Burger King, Kraft, Nestle and General Mills, have started promoting foods they say are “better for you” in commercials that air during children’s programming to reduce the amount of unhealthy foods advertisements that are aimed at children. But Abramson doesn’t believe that action will actually have an effect on the childhood obesity rate.
“That is a nice gesture, but it probably is inadequate because each of the major food companies gets to decide which foods qualify as ‘better for you,’ and some of their choices are debatable,” he said. Even if they were successful in limiting the marketing of foods to kids, there are other forms of advertising as well, such as product placement within the program. There are all sorts of loopholes.”
Abramson said the key is to encourage parents to only buy healthy foods and to not give in to their child’s demands for unhealthy foods.
“Parents have to be able to exercise some restraint,” he said.
The First Lady Partners With Walmart
Some of the challenges of following Abramson's advice were on display at the last stop of Obama's "anniversary" tour, a Walmart in Springfield, Mo. The store is one of the company's new “Neighborhood Market” stores, which bring fresh fruits and vegetables into low-income areas where they were not readily available.
“All of you at Walmart, you all really took a risk in doing this,” Obama said. “And you didn’t just make a few tweaks around the edges. I mean, one of the reasons why we've been so thrilled to partner with you is because you didn’t just dip your toe into the water. Instead, you went all in. You transformed the way that you did business to bring your customers healthy products at prices they can afford.”
The Walmart store in fact had a large fresh produce section -- but the store didn't appear to skimp on the standard product lineup available in American grocery stores, with aisle after aisle of condiments, snacks, both sugared and diet soft drinks, and more.
But Jeannette Ickovics PhD, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, said that enlisting business partners such as Walmart in the obesity fight is valuable, even if the businesses in some ways contribute to the problem..
“The causes of childhood obesity are multi-determined; therefore, our solutions must be too,” she said. “We need to mobilize families, schools, neighborhoods, the faith community and business community, along with health and public health to change the environment, behavior and ultimately improve health.”
Katz was more critical of Walmart's overall role. Although the company claims to be looking out for the well-being of American families, it has not stopped selling the same sodium-packed, unhealthy food as before, he maintained.
“These are big companies, so they do the least little thing and they get a photo op with the First Lady,” he said. “The administration is not going to be very critical of big companies, and Walmart doesn’t need to do much to get credit because they’re so big. My hope is that the partnership encourages Walmart to be more responsible.“
However, Andrea Thomas, Walmart Senior Vice President of Sustainability, said that Walmart customers appreciate having a choice between healthy and not-so-healthy foods.
"Ultimately it’s about offering our customers a choice," she said. "When your child is celebrating a birthday, you’re going to be serving birthday cake and ice cream, but you don’t want the times when you are for looking something healthy for everything to have extra added sugars and sodium."
As for Obama's role, Katz said her championing of the childhood obesity problem has put the country on the right path to finally beat it.
“The First Lady is an example and a cheerleader,” he said. “If there ever was a case where it takes a village, this is it, and every one of us lives in that village.”
Photo Credit: Orlin Wagner/AP PhotoNEW DELHI: A former minister of state in the UPA government on Monday accused the Supreme Court of being unusually lenient towards ex-PM Manmohan Singh in staying a trial court order summoning him as an accused in the Talabira-II coal block allocation to Hindalco.Santosh Bagrodia, who as MoS reported to Singh who was also in-charge of the coal ministry, told a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri that in irregular allotment of coal blocks cases, he was on a stronger legal wicket compared to Singh in terms of alleged criminality yet was being denied relief.Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for Bagrodia, said his client was a mere post-office in the process of allocation of coal blocks and had forwarded recommendations made by the PM or the PMO to authorities concerned.For such a role, where there was no criminality or quid pro quo for allocation, Bagrodia was summoned as an accused to face trial despite the CBI filing a closure report, he said. The case related to allocation of coal block to AMR Iron and Steel Private Limited, its directors Manoj Jayaswal and Devendra Darda for cheating and criminal conspiracy.“This places me on a much better footing to be entitled to relief from the Supreme Court, which has already stayed the trial court order summoning Singh as an accused. Why am I being asked to face trial when Singh is not? Am I not entitled to non-discrimination? Admit my appeal and give me relief similar to Singh,” Bagrodia said through his counsel.The SC had stayed proceedings against Singh after he challenged the summons and the constitutional validity of Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of Prevention of Corruption Act. Bagrodia has moved a petition pleading identical grounds to seek similar relief.Appearing for the CBI, senior advocate Amarendra Saran and advocate Amit Anand Tiwari attempted to show from the records that Bagrodia’s case stood on a footing very different from Singh’s. “The trial court has specifically recorded criminal intention behind the alleged role played by Bagrodia in allocation of a coal block to a company,” Saran said.But Bagrodia’s counsel presented a note comparing his role with Singh’s in the alleged irregular allotment of coal blocks. The note was a contrast between the alleged roles of Singh and Bagrodia.It said there were repeated letters from Kumar Mangalam Birla of Hindalco to Singh. This was followed by meetings between Birla and Singh and subsequent “repeated reminders, both written and telephonic’” from the PM to the coal ministry to expedite the allocation process.Bagrodia said the charge against Singh was that he had allegedly ordered allocation of coal blocks in deviation from the guidelines and had intervened “at the stage of allocation overruling recommendations of screening committee by arbitrarily ignoring bureaucratic advice”.As against these charges, the only charge against him was that he had relied on bureaucratic advice, the note said. “Manmohan Singh was the ‘minister-in-charge’, with decision-making power within the coal ministry whereas he (Bagrodia), as minister of state, did not enjoy statutory delegation to take decisions qua allocation or cancellation thereof,” Bagrodia said.Venugopal said 75-year-old Bagrodia was damned in public by the trial court order summoning him as an accused without any substance in the charges relating to irregular allotment of coal blocks and pleaded for grant of exemption from personal appearance before the trial court.The SC asked Bagrodia to apply for exemption in the trial court. It said it would also like to hear special public prosecutor R S Cheema and adjourned hearing on his petition to October 29.The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has reportedly issued a countrywide instruction that all outstanding traffic fines issued in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) should be cancelled after 18 months if no summons has been issued.
According to a report by Moneyweb, the proclamation will apply to all South African individuals and persons driving on behalf of companies.
In the case that a summons has been issued and a person has failed to appear in court – the warrant has a lifetime of two years from the date of issue.
The proclamation will also allow the case to be revived in the case of serial offenders.
Legal experts speaking to Moneyweb praised the proclamation and its attempt to standardise traffic fines in the country, but said that the 18 months period may still be too long for motorists who are looking for a speedy trial.
Gauteng and Pretoria
The NPA’s proclamation only applies to fines under the CPA, which means that it excludes fines in Johannesburg and Pretoria issued in terms of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (Aarto).
However, earlier this year, hundreds of fines levied under the Aarto system in Gauteng were ordered to be scrapped after the High Court in Pretoria ruled they did not comply with the law.
That ruling set a precedent for accused motorists to use if they are brought to court in Gauteng for unpaid Aarto fines, reports The Citizen.
New rules incoming
On Tuesday, the long awaited Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) was passed in parliament.
Among other new laws, it will bring a new points demerit system which will provide for an easy and objective mechanism of identifying habitual infringers, a new rehabilitation programme, and a specialised tribunal which will deal with these traffic cases.
While feedback on the rules have generally been positive, legal and motoring experts have warned that the new system could weaken vehicle owners’ rights and could lead to further corruption.
“While it is clear that delinquent drivers must be taken to task for their transgressions and suspending the driving licenses of habitual offenders may assist in that regard, this ‘end justifies the means’ approach is clearly not the way to go,” said the JPSA’s Howard Dembovsky.
Read: Minister warns SA drivers on new road laws: “A driving licence always belongs to the government”Xyzal Now Approved for OTC Use
FEBRUARY 01, 2017
Ryan Marotta, Assistant Editor
Sanofi announced today that the FDA has approved its 24-hour formulation of levocetirizine dihydrochloride (Xyzal Allergy 24HR) for OTC treatment of symptoms associated with seasonal and year-round allergies.
Xyzal, an antihistamine, was previously available only as a prescription medication. It is the third of Sanofi’s prescription drugs to make the jump to OTC shelves, following fexofenadine (Allegra Allergy) in 2011 and triamcinolone acetonide (Nasacort Allergy 24 HR) in 2013.
“The FDA approval of Xyzal builds on our heritage of successful Rx-to-OTC switches, and adds
another trusted option to our existing portfolio of OTC allergy medications,” said Sanofi’s Head of North America Consumer Healthcare, Robert Long, in a press release. “We look forward to making it available to allergy sufferers across the country, as the latest product in our growing consumer healthcare business.”
Sanofi plans to launch Xyzal Allergy 24HR as 5-mg tablets (for patients 6 years and older) and a 0.5-mg/mL oral solution (for patients 2 years and older) in spring 2017.
SHARE THISDick Johnson Racing co-owner Steve Brabeck says his team is “on tenterhooks” as it awaits Team Penske’s final decision on whether it will take a majority stake in the V8 Supercars team.
Roger Penske and Team Penske president Tim Cindric returned to the United States last week following the racing giant’s latest fact-finding meetings with DJR.
Dismissing suggestions that a deal has already been completed, Brabeck told Speedcafe.com that his squad is still waiting for Penske to make a firm decision.
Talks between the parties have been ongoing since last year, with Penske keen to leverage recently acquired trucking interests in Australia with a racing program.
“We’re all on tenterhooks now waiting to see what happens,” Brabeck told Speedcafe.com.
“We can’t do any more. We’ve given them as much information as we can and I think V8s (V8 Supercars) have been very helpful too.
“We’ve helped them a lot on the technical side from the team perspective to help them understand what they’ve got to do and what the costs are like in running it if they’re going to invest.
“We should know within the next couple of weeks which way they want to go with it.”
Speedcafe.com understands that a mutually agreed deadline for finalising the takeover has been set for the week after the Castrol Townsville 500 (July 4-6).
It is said that current DJR co-owners Brabeck, Dick Johnson and Ryan Story will retain a minority stake in the team under the proposed deal with Penske.
The DJR name, which is the oldest in the V8 Supercars Championship, will also remain in some form, with a “DJR Team Penske” moniker floated as a probable candiate.
“They understand the brand,” said Brabeck of Penske’s attitude to keeping the DJR name alive.
“And they don’t want to come in as the ‘Yankee invasion’.
“They want to come in and be a part of the industry itself, which will be better for them from a marketing perspective too.”
Should the deal go through as expected, Penske would almost certainly bolster the team’s current staff with its own employees, including importing a general manager from the United States.
DJR remains largely in the dark, however, on Penske’s plans for changes to its driver line-up.
With his future in the NASCAR Sprint Cup with Richard Petty Motorsport still up in the air, Marcos Ambrose continues to be heavily linked to a V8 Supercars return with the team.
Regardless of its drivers, Brabeck says that the whole sport would benefit from Penske’s arrival.
“The sport really needs that boost,” he said.
“I’m sure if they come in they’ll bring in another range of sponsors and add confidence to the sport
“I think everyone up and down pitlane will agree that we need that to have other sponsors see value in what we do.”Peg System for Remembering Lists
Need help remembering lists of information for school, work, hobby, or other purposes? Then one or more of the Peg Methods is the memory system you need.
The Peg memory systems are ideal for remembering information that must be recalled in a particular order. Like all memory systems, the Peg systems improve your memory by creating a filing cabinet in your mind.
They work by associating information you already know well (the numbers 1 through 20, and the letters A through Z) with the new facts you want to remember.
A "peg" is just a mental hook on which you hang the information. This hook acts as a reminder to help you mentally retrieve information.
Let's look at the number from 1 to 10 first. If you could associate a piece of information with the number "5", then simply thinking of "5" would give you back that fact.
In other words, because you will never forget how to count from 1 to 10, associating information with those numbers creates a mental filing system for the information.
In fact, you can even use peg system to memorize lists that don't need to be in a particular order. For a fun example, check out how I memorized Darth Vader quotes for Halloween.
Before I explain how to use the pegs, let me point out a few important things about them:
Peg systems remind you of what you are supposed to remember. Like the Loci system, the Peg systems provide a big advantage over free recall (rote memorization). The pegs continually remind you of all the things you are supposed to remember.
Peg systems allow direct retrieval of items. The other systems like Link and Loci tie information together effectively, but cannot be used to recall a particular item directly. With these systems, you must mentally run through the entire link to get to the item you want. With numerical pegs, though, you can immediately say, "Number 5 is the Trigeminal Nerve" or "The Trigeminal Nerve is number 5."
The other systems like Link and Loci tie information together effectively, but cannot be used to recall a particular item. With these systems, you must mentally run through the entire link to get to the item you want. With numerical pegs, though, you can immediately say, "Number 5 is the Trigeminal Nerve" or "The Trigeminal Nerve is number 5." The Pegs can be used over and over. An incredible truth about your brain is that it can distinguish between the same numerical list (i.e., the same pegs) being used multiple times for different information. For example, one research study on memory systems showed that normal people were able to memorize six different lists of items at the same time using the same pegs. Spacing out the use of the lists and commbining the use of pegs with the other memory systems (see below) lets you use pegs to memorize a very large body of information.
An incredible truth about your brain is that it can distinguish between the same numerical list (i.e., the same pegs) being used multiple times for different information. For example, one research study on memory systems showed that normal people were able to memorize six different lists of items at the same time using the same pegs. You can use several types of pegs together to create flexibility. There are Peg systems that use among other things number rhymes, number shapes, and the alphabet. You can vary your use of the different Peg systems to help decrease interference between the information you want to remember.
There are Peg systems that use among other things number rhymes, number shapes, and the alphabet. You can vary your use of the different Peg systems to help decrease interference between the information you want to remember. Pegs can be combined with the Loci or Link systems. Combining Peg systems with other memory systems allows you to memorize huge amounts of information. As one example, you could combine the Alphabet Peg system with the Link system to accurately memorize up to 260 items of information (by attaching a 10-sequence memory link to the key image of each letter of the alphabet).
You will never forget how to count from 1 to 20 or how to say your ABC's. But the problem with mentally attaching the information you want to remember to numbers or letters is that numbers and letters are abstract (hard to visualize).
The Peg systems solve this problem by making abstract numbers and letters concrete.
For example, with the rhyming Peg words, you first remember a concrete object whose name rhymes with the number (you will see this is very easy to do). For instance: one-sun, two-shoe, three-tree.
Then, to memorize a list, you visually associate each item of information with the number image (e.g., sun, shoe, tree). To recall the list, you simply run through the numbers in your mind.
Each of the main Peg systems are explained below. Click a link in the following list to jump down to the explanation for that Peg system.
Number-Rhyme Pegs
The Number-Rhyme Peg system is perhaps the easiest peg memory system to learn. For each of the numbers from 1 to 10 (and even up to 20, really), you associate with each number a word that rhymes with that number. Most people find this very easy to do.
Here is a widely used version of the number-rhyme list. Go ahead and memorize these right now. Repeat the number rhymes until you remember them, then practice without looking.
1 =
One - Sun
2 =
Two - Shoe
3 =
Three - Tree
4 =
Four - Door
5 =
Five - Hive
6 =
Six - Sticks
7 =
Seven - Heaven
8 =
Eight - Gate
9 =
Nine - Vine
10 =
Ten - Hen
Now really tap into your visual memory, and make each of these listed items very clear in your mind. For example, what kind of sun? Picture it vividly. What type of shoe? A man's dress shoe, for instance?
Go through each of the ten items in this way until each is very clearly pictured in your mind. Making the mental images clear and detailed will greatly improve your recall of information later.
Using the Number-Rhyme Pegs. The simplest use of the Number-Rhyme Pegs is to memorize a straight list of ten objects. However, this system can be used to memorize much more, including lists of sayings, concepts, technical terms, definitions, vocabulary, steps in a procedure, and so on.
Here's a simple example to show you how this works.
Suppose one day you are visiting your grandmother and she decides to tell you her secret recipe for baking a delicious blueberry pie. The problem is, you don't have a pen or paper with you, so if you want to remember the ingredients you will have to rely on your memory.
She tells you that the ingredients for the pie are blueberries, lemon juice, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, eggs, milk (a total of eight items). You decide to use the Number-Rhyme Peg Method to remember these until you have time to write them down later.
Keep in mind that creating the following associations happens very quickly once you have practiced this memory system a few times.
1. Begin by associating the first ingredient (blueberries) with the first rhyming peg word (sun). For example, picture clearly in your mind a giant, hot sun shining down on a bright blue bear.
Now move on to each of the rest of the ingredients and do the same thing.
... 2. Associate the second ingredient (lemon juice) with the second rhyming peg word (shoe). For example, imagine a yellow dress shoe full of lemons, and you squishing your foot into the lemons to get the shoe on, turning the lemons into lemon juice.
... 3. Associate the third ingredient (flour) with the third rhyming word (tree). For example, imagine a brightly colored tree whose trunk and leaves are becoming completely covered and overgrown with your favorite type of flower.
... 4. Associate the fourth ingredient (sugar) with the fourth rhyming word (door). For example, imagine a solid brown wooden door slamming shut on a white porcelain sugar bowl, splashing the granulated sugar all over your nice clean carpet.
... 5. Associate the fifth ingredient (cinnamon) with the fifth rhyming word (hive). For example, imagine a swarm of bees stinging your male friend who is sinning - sin a man. (If you think gambling is a sin, for instance, imagine him rolling dice or playing cards.)
Now you try. Think of associations for the rest of the ingredients, sticks-butter, heaven-eggs, and gate-milk.
Once you have your list of associations, then review them quickly after 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 20 minutes. This will really help lock the images and the list of items in your mind.
For long-term mental storage, review the list again after 2 hours, then once a day for the next 3 days. Then once a month after that, depending on how well it seems your mind is retaining the information (which varies a little from person to person).
If you really worked through this example, you be a bit amazed at how well you can recall this list of eight items. Try this now: ask yourself, what is item #7? What is item #2? What is item #5?
You should be able to instantly remember and say the ingredient. Try doing that quickly with rote memorization alone!
Again, memory management is a skill, and the more your practice the memory systems the easier they will seem and the better results you will get with your memory.
Rhymes from 11 to 20. The following are two rhyming words for each of the numbers 11 through 20. These are used the same way as the rhyming pegs from 1 through 10:
11. Leaven, Football 11 16. Sistine, Licking 12. Shelf, Elf 17. Leavening, Deafening 13. Thirsting, Hurting 18. Aiding, Waiting 14. Fording, Courting 19. Knighting, Pining 15. Fitting, Lifting 20. Plenty, Penny
Alternately, you can mix Number-Rhyme with Number-Shape (see below) fo r11 to 20. For instance, you could use the rhyming pegwords for 1 through 10 and use the single-digit shape pegwords for 11 to 20. In othe words, 11-Pencil, 12-Swan, 13-Pitchfork, and so on (ignoring the "1" in the tens place).
Number-Shape Pegs
The Number-Shape peg system is similar to the Number-Rhyme system, but instead of using words that rhyme with the numbers, you use the shape of the number as the peg.
The following shows shape equivalents for the numbers 1 through 10. You can make up your own, but try these first to get used to the concept.
1 =
Pencil
2 =
Swan's Neck
3 =
Top of Love Heart
4 =
Boat Sail
5 =
Hook
6 =
Golf Club
7 =
Cliff's Edge
8 =
Hourglass
9 =
Balloon on Stick
10 =
Fork and Plate
So to associate an item of information with a number-shape, associate the shape with the information. For example, to associate a word such as "tomato" to position number two in the list, associate swan with tomato.
Imagine perhaps a swan bouncing a bright red tomato up and down on its beak. Then, when you think of "two", it reminds you of "swan" which reminds you of tomato.
Like with the other systems, the complexity of the information that can be associated with a number can be much greater than simply a tomato of other physical objecet. Using substitute words, for instance, even abstract concepts can be associated with the items in a list.
Alphabet Pegs - Concrete & Sound-Alike
The Alphabet peg system is a bit different from the Number-Rhyme and Number-Shape pegs but equally as easy to learn. As explained above, you already know the alphabet, so with a little modification you can use it as yet another type of mental filing system.
There are two ways to use Alphabet pegs: 1) based on concrete meaning, and 2) based on sound alikes.
As with the rhyming pegs, you can use these same lists over and over. With sufficient review, your peg image associations will fade but the information will remain in memory.
Concrete Alphas. Concrete words can also be used for alphabet pegs. The following is a list of pegs you could use. A - Alligator
B - Boy
C - Cat
D - Dog
E - Egg
F - Fig
G - Goat
H - Hat
I - Ice
J - Jack
K - Kite
L - Log
M - Man
N - Nut
O - Owl
P - Pig
Q - Quill
R - Rock
S - Sock
T - Toy
U - Umbrella
V - Vane
W - Wig
X - X-Ray
Y - Yak
Z - Zoo Sound Alike Alphas. The sound-alike Alphabet peg words rhyme with the letter they are associated with. A - Hay
B - Bee
C - See
D - Deed
E - Eve
F - Effort
G - Jeep
H - Age
I - Eye
J - Jay
K - Key
L - El
M - Hem
N - Hen
O - Hoe
P - Pea
Q - Cue
R - Oar
S - Sass
T - Tea
U - Ewe
V - Veal
W - Double You
X - Ax
Y - Wire
Z - Zebra
In other words, to memorize a list of up to 26 items using sound-alikes, you would create a mental image of "hay" interacting with the first item, a "bee" stinging the second item, and so on. The concrete alphas work similarly.
Again, as with all memory systems, the Alphabet peg system is a skill, just like riding a bicycle. The first time you rode a bike you probably fell off, and that is normal. Now riding a bike is second nature and you don't even have to think about it.
The same is true here - practice using the pegs, and they too will become second nature, another feature of your exceptional memory!
[+] References for Peg Memory Technique
References for the Peg Memory Technique: After many years of neglect by the scientific community, a great deal of research on mnemonic techniques was performed starting in the 1970's. Chapter 11 of the classic text Your Memory and How to Improve It, by Dr. Ken Higbee, refers to a number of these studies investigating the efficacy of the peg memory system, including: 1. Studies on effectiveness of pegwords - F.S. Bellezza and G.H. Bower, "Remembering Script-Based Text," Poetics 11 (1982); 1-23. 2. Categories interfere with pegwords - B.G. Reddy and F.S. Bellezza, "Interference Between Mnemonic and Categorical Oganization in Memory," Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 24 (1986): 169-71. 3. J.L. Elliot and J.R. Gentile, "The Efficacy of a Mnemonic Technique for Learning Disabled and Nondisabled Adolescents, " Journal of Learning Disabilities 19 (1986); 237-41. 4. J.R. Levin, C.B. McCornmick, and B.J. Dretzke, "A Combined Pictorial Mnemonic Strategy for Ordered Information," Educational Communication and Technology Journal 29 (1981); 219-25. 5. M. Rogers, D. Dinnel, and J.A. Glover, "Oral Directions; Remembering What to Do When" (paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, April 1986). 6. Amnesiac patients - C.D. Evans, "Rehabilitation of the Head Injured (London: Churchill Livingstone, 1981), 72-73. 7. K.L. Higbee, "Can Young Children Use Mnemonics?", Psychological Reports 38 (1976):18. Here are a couple other instances of research on the peg mnemonic technique: 1. Russell N. Carney Joel R. Levin "Delayed mnemonic benefits for a combined pegword–keyword strategy, time after time, rhyme after rhyme." Applied Cognitive Psychology. 23 March 2011 https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1663 2. Veit, D. T., Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (1986). "Extended mnemonic instruction with learning disabled students." Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(4), 300-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.4.300 Divided 64 learning disabled (LD) 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students into 24 instructional groups that were assigned at random to mnemonic and control conditions. Instructional groups were administered 3 daily lessons on dinosaurs in counterbalanced order. The lessons involved vocabulary on dinosaurs, attributes of dinosaurs, and reasons for dinosaur extinction. Mnemonic groups were taught the information using keyword and pegword techniques. Control instructional groups were taught the same information using the principles of direct instruction, including teacher-directed questioning, choral group responding, fast instructional pacing, and cumulative review. A test was given after each lesson on that lesson's content. On the 4th day, all Ss were given production and identification tests on the content of all 3 lessons. Results indicate that mnemonic groups outperformed control groups on the immediate and delayed tests. In addition, control Ss' responses revealed significantly more intralist intrusions than did those of mnemonic Ss. No meaningful trend across days of instruction was observed for either condition. Findings suggest that mnemonic instruction is a versatile and effective instructional technique for LD students.
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or of its own people, with particularly harsh restrictions on women, homosexuals and Christians. President Trump has sharply criticized the nation’s conduct and has threatened to withdraw from the agreement designed to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
It’s in America’s interest to have good and peaceful relations with and between the Kurds and the Iraqis, despite Iran’s support of Iraq. But we shouldn’t abandon our Kurdish allies to achieve this goal.
The man most responsible for the failure of the U.S. to give adequate support to the Kurds is Brett McGurk, President Trump’s special envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS. He held the same position in the Obama administration and has been allowed to keep his job.
President Obama replaced one of our most respected military leaders – Marine Corps Gen. John Allen – with lawyer McGurk. While serving as envoy to Iraq, McGurk has presided over the Iranian takeover of what’s left of Iraq.
Shamefully, the State and Defense Departments followed McGurk’s strategy and gave tacit approval for the Iraqi government and its Iranian allies to move against our dedicated Kurdish friends.
McGurk told U.S. officials and Iraq, Turkey and Iran that he could convince the Kurds not to hold their independence referendum. He told U.S. and Kurdish officials that he could stop Baghdad from using military force against the Kurds. He failed on both accounts.
As President Trump has noted, Iran received $1.7 billion from the Obama administration for signing the nuclear agreement with the U.S. and other nations
“Just imagine the sight of those huge piles of money being hauled off by the Iranians waiting at the airport for the cash,” President Trump said. McGurk was one of the U.S. officials who handed over that money to the Iranians.
One of the leaders of Iranian forces backing Iraq against its Kurdish citizens is Qassem Soleimani, who commands the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. He is a terrorist who has been killing Americans for years in Iraq and is still doing it through the Taliban in Afghanistan. Half a world away from the NFL, Soleimani also disrespects our flag, having his forces walk on it in parades.
Last month, the Kurds believed that being a proven ally of the United States against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda and ISIS would result in America recognizing their referendum for independence from the Iraqi state.
But the hard-line that McGurk took against our Kurdish allies – warning them harshly against their peaceful independence referendum – had the effect of convincing the Iranian-backed militias and the political leadership in Baghdad that they had a green light to enter Kirkuk. In the words of former Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, this criticism “may have emboldened Baghdad to take a harsher posture than it otherwise would.”
For the last decade, I’ve briefed Army Generals H.R. McMaster (now President Trump’s national security adviser), David Petreaus (who became CIA director) and Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno on the strong influence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Iraq’s security forces.
But for years, McGurk has been downplaying this influence.
On Oct. 1, a highly lethal roadside bomb called an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) reappeared in Iraq after six years. It killed Army Spec. Alexander Missildine and wounded another U.S. soldier. Its reappearance was a warning from Iran: the Islamic Republic is prepared to begin killing Americans again. The EFP is the signature weapon of two Revolutionary Guard-led militias in Iraq.
Scandalously, these militias receive paychecks and equipment from both the U.S.-backed Iraqi Ministry of Interior and the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. It’s Brett McGurk’s responsibility to provide that information to the president and Congress, because it’s a violation of the Leahy Law. That law was enacted to keep U.S. funds and equipment from security forces involved in human rights violations. Qassem Soleimani is smiling.
If President Trump wants to push back against Iran he should do so in the Kurdish areas of Iraq. This is where he can stop Iran from creating its highly coveted land bridge through Iraq and from eventually controlling northern Iraq as well. Stopping Iran here would save lives, save alliances and give credibility to America’s commitment to our allies. We can do that by working with our only authentic allies in the region, the Kurds.
Our Kurdish allies need strong American support and our Iranian enemies need to know we are serious about them and serious about supporting our friends.Home Daily News Satirical 'killing Jews' ad can't be banned…
First Amendment
Satirical 'killing Jews' ad can't be banned from New York mass transit, judge rules
A satirical “killing Jews” ad is protected speech that can’t be barred on New York buses and subways, a Manhattan federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ruled (PDF) on Tuesday, saying that MTA officials “underestimate the tolerant quality of New Yorkers and overestimate the potential impact of these fleeting advertisements.” The New York Times, the Washington Post and Courthouse News Service have stories.
The sponsor of the ad is the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israeli group that aims to combat “treason” by government officials in their “capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism.”
The ad shows a man wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh with the quotation, “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” Below the photo, the ad reads, “That’s his Jihad. What’s yours?” The quotation is attributed to “Hamas MTV,” which doesn’t exist, and a disclaimer on the ad says it is sponsored by AFDI.
The ad was intended to parody an earlier ad campaign by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, which portrayed jihad as a nonviolent struggle.
Transit officials feared the “killing Jews” ad would not be recognized as parody. The same ad had run in San Francisco and Chicago without triggering violence.Shots ring out across the night sky in the Chechen Republic capital of Grozny, as new tensions flare between Russia and Ukraine.
Shots ring out between Russia and Ukraine in Grozny 0:40
MILITANTS have killed at least three traffic police officers in the Chechen capital, Grozny, Russian security officials say.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said the officers had been killed when they tried to stop the gunmen’s cars.
Although unrest is common in Russia’s North Caucasus, forceful security measures adopted by Kadyrov have spared the city of Grozny of significant violence for several years.
IMAGES: Reportedly pictures taken of militants on the way to attack #Grozny Press House. Described as "organized." pic.twitter.com/ddZvVWHUuV — Military Studies (@ArmedResearch) December 4, 2014
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports Moscow has closed its airspace to all civilian traffic.
Reports on Twitter state there are fighter jets overhead as military helicopters cris-cross the city.
Russian media state President Vladmir Putin rushed to the Kremlin at 1.15am local time in response to reports of the outbreak of violence.
Grozny Press House in Chechnya, Russia on flames. pic.twitter.com/KpcViKZZVk via @ArmedResearch — PzFeed Top News (@PzFeed) December 4, 2014
The Moscow-based National Anti-terrorist Committee said in a statement that after the attack on the traffic police, gunmen occupied a publishing house in the centre of Grozny. It said security services, police and emergency services personnel surrounded the building.
Kadyrov said on his Instagram account, a social media website he regularly uses to issue public statements, that the traffic police officers were killed when they attempted to stop the cars carrying the gunmen.
Грозный. Пишут, что перестрелка началась на проспекте Путина. http://t.co/sg1DybI543 — ЄВРОМАЙДАН (@euromaidan) December 4, 2014
State news agency RIA-Novosti later cited an unnamed law enforcement source as stating that five police officers were killed and that others were injured in the clash with the armed gang.
Life News, a news outlet believed to have links to Russian security services, cited law enforcement officials as saying about 15 people seized three cars late Wednesday in the village of Shalazhi and drove them to Grozny, some 50 kilometres away. Kadyrov said in his statement that the group of gunmen that took over the publishing house was composed of about five or six people.
The National Anti-terrorist Committee said in its statement that a counterterrorism regime was imposed on the center of Grozny. That officially allows heightened security measures to be enacted and the announcement typically indicates the imminent use of heavy force to quash unrest.
Multiple unconfirmed amateur pictures posted online appeared to show the publishing house occupied by the gunmen in flames.
Kadyrov said the situation was calm and that all essential public services would still be operating, but he urged Grozny residents to exercise caution.
BREAKING: Audio message reportedly sent out from militants currently attacking #Grozny, #Russia. https://t.co/H7rIzEQBWe — Military Studies (@ArmedResearch) December 4, 2014
“I ask residents in areas where (security) operations are being carried out to abide by safety measures, and not to go out onto the streets without cause or to go near their windows,” he wrote. “All the talk about the city being under the control of military is absolutely false.”
The Kavkaz Center website, which serves as a mouthpiece for Islamic militant groups operating in Russia’s North Caucasus, was linked to a video message by an individual claiming responsibility for the attacks unfolding Thursday morning. The man in the video claimed to be operating under orders from Chechen Islamist leader Aslan Byutukayev, known to his followers as Emir Khamzat.
The video could not immediately be verified.
A few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya was plunged into a full-scale war when separatist rebels pursued independence for the republic. The violence was largely confined to that small republic, but rebels ventured into other parts of Russia.
A fragile peace settlement was reached with Moscow until 1999, when an insurgency movement increasingly inspired by radical Islamist ideas reignited the conflict. A bloody military crackdown succeeded by years of aggressive rule by Kremlin-backed leader Kadyrov has quietened the region, pushing unrest to troubled neighboring provinces.
Kadyrov is widely denounced for human rights abuses, including allegations of killing opponents. He has also imposed some Islamic restrictions on the region, including mandatory public headscarves for women.
BREAKING #Moscow locals confirm beside heavy heli traffic fighter jets are flying over #Moscow. This drill is for real & serious shit! — lennutrajektoor (@lennutrajektoor) December 4, 2014Ellen DeGeneres will not be inviting Donald Trump to her talk show.
The 59-year-old host shared her feelings about the current President of the United States with Today's Matt Lauer on Friday.
As for why she will not interview Trump: 'Because I'm not going to change his mind.'
Scroll down for video
Lost in the mail: Ellen DeGeneres said Donald Trump is not invited on her show as she sat down with Today's Matt Lauer on Friday
She continued: 'He’s against everything that I stand for.'
Ellen came out as gay 20 years ago and is active in social causes including UNICEF, breast cancer and PETA.
She won a People's Choice Award in 2016 for her humanitarian work.
'We need to look at someone else who looks different than us and believes in something that we don’t believe in and still accept them and still let them have their rights,'she added.
Values: Ellen said about Trump: 'He’s against everything that I stand for'
Reasons: As for why she will not interview Trump: 'Because I'm not going to change his mind.'
Ellen said she had met Trump in the early days of her Emmy-winning talk show as they filmed a bit with him as the host of Celebrity Apprentice.
She gave him baby gifts in an episode from 2006.
Ellen has had other notable political figures on her show in the past including President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders.
Views: 'We need to look at someone else who looks different than us and believes in something that we don’t believe in and still accept them and still let them have their rights,'she added
The comedienne also reflected on her groundbreaking, yet difficult, decision to come out of the closet.
'There were death threats and that was negative. The biggest thing was I lost my career.'
'For three years I could not work, was not offered one thing. I was running out of money, and I didn’t know if I was going to work again.''
'And then I just thought I gotta do something about this. It taught me compassion. It taught me that I was strong enough to start all over again, and it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.'BETWEEN 2005 and 2007, thermal coal prices averaged a little more than $US50 a tonne. Now the price is more like $US170 a tonne, despite all the talk that coal's days as the backbone of the world's electricity generation system are numbered.
So what value is meant to be ascribed to a tightly held explorer with a good shot at outlining a "starter" 100-million-tonne resource of the black stuff in the near term? Particularly when its project is in close proximity to the boom in demand from the string of coastal power stations India plans to build.
That is what is being played out in Rey Resources, the June 2006 float that holds a big tenure position in Western Australia's Canning Basin, where the potential is said to be for more than 1 billion tonnes of coal.
Rey climbed 3¢ to 32¢ on Friday, a 10.3% advance when just about all else around it headed south. Now that it has done the hard yards with Aboriginal groups, Rey is punching its first holes into the region's coal seams, some 150 kilometres inland from Derby.
Any number of groups have explored the Canning in the past for coal, some with a focus on its higher-value coking coal potential. Rey's focus is on thermal-quality coal and it has set itself an initial target of getting a 100-million-tonne resource under its belt.Page Content 2
Last Updated on August 18, 2018
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NOTE: Military and overseas voters should use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to register and/or request a mail/absentee ballot for voting.Originally Posted by Word Dispenser Originally Posted by
Everybody's got a different set of morals.
I'm sure in tons of cases, a Thinker and a Feeler would agree and even share some of their morals. They just acquire and process those morals in different ways. And I think that a thinker may be more likely to change their mind if more information comes along that either supplements said morals, or changes them. Or completely annihilates them.
I'm not certain if I have a firm grasp on the concepts of feeler and thinker, though.
I mean, there are a few morals that I've acquired that haven't budged, and I'd imagine I'm a thinker. But maybe this is only my over-active imagination. In either case, I will continue to masquerade as a thinker until I think I'm not a thinker, thoughtfully!ad as many of these people come from hunger stricken areas and it may be considered wrong to treat them like cattle for the sake of a TV commercial.
Like it or not is for you to decide, below are all the fact in the Bundle.
The Final video is included below and can be seen at the whopper virgins link or on the youtube embed
Whopper Virgins is an ad campaign by Burger King that goes to remote mountain areas across the world via"13 planes, 2 dog sleds and 1 helicopter" and gets people that have never tasted a hamburger to do a taste test between whoppers and big macs. The idea to find people that are Whopper Virgins or who have never had a hamburger or been exposed to brand marketing.There has been much debate over the morality of thisNext week, Dutch citizens will cast their vote to elect the new members of the House of Representatives. This is the first round of a long series of elections that will take place in less than a year (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Czechia and Italy), whose combined outcome will determine the future direction of the European project.
What can the EU expect from the next Dutch government? We outline the likeliest scenarios after the elections on the basis of the latest opinion polls combined with our political data. We are looking at the actual positions (not mere statements) that each Dutch party has taken through its own representatives when participating in making decisions at the EU level over the past 2 years.
Overall, the increase in fragmentation of the Dutch political landscape will make the government more unstable and deal-making more challenging. This will also affect the Eurozone and the EU as a whole, as some of the parties in government will hold reservations with regard to further EU integration, which is likely to lead to a stiffening of the Dutch position in the Council of the European Union. More specifically, a weak government might be more tempted to deploying Brussels-bashing strategies to boost its domestic support.
–
1st Scenario: Centre-right wing government
A coalition between centre-right wing parties, made up of Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (ALDE), Christian Democratic Appeal (EPP) and Democrats 66 (ALDE) is one of the most likely scenario at the moment. The scores of these parties in the polls have increased over the last few weeks and they might be able to form a majority with the help of the testimonial Christian Conservatives parties (Christian Union and Reformed Political Party). This coalition would be very cohesive on economic matters, as these parties are all supportive of budgetary discipline, free trade agreements and low level of public intervention in the market.
On the other hand, it will be more difficult to find agreements on social issues (such as multiculturalism and abortion) given the contrasting views of the Christian parties with the liberal progressiveness of D66. The liberal D66 party would also be at odds with its coalition partners on environmental policy. These subjects are likely to be highly relevant during the negotiations preceding the formation of a government.
This government would be overall supportive of the European Union, although parties such as VVD and CDA have gradually become more critical of Brussels and Eurozone governance, as a way of reacting to the rise in the polls of Wilders’ Party for Freedom. For example, Rutte’s VVD is among the few governing parties in the countries that share the Euro currency to have voted against the creation of separate governing structures for the Eurozone, these structures being proposed as a way to speed up integration within the Euro-area. This “Euro-cautious” trend in the Netherlands is likely to continue, as the new government will have to stave off the attacks of the far-right opposition. This means that far-reaching proposals aiming at establishing a budget for the Eurozone and stepping up the defense union might not be warmly welcomed in the Hague.
–
2nd Scenario: Centrist government with the Labour Party
In this scenario, VVD, CDA and D66 will find an agreement with the centre-left Labour Party (S&D) to form a new government. Compared to the first scenario, this would entail a slightly less liberal economic policy and a more progressive stance on social issues and the environment. This new government would hardly mark any change with the status quo, apart from the decision making process, which will be slower because of the higher number of parties in government.
This government would be more supportive of the European Union than the one outlined by the first scenario, because it would not need to rely on the support by Eurosceptic Christian conservatives parties. However, each of these parties (apart from D66) has some reservations on some of the ambitious proposals regarding either the Defense Union, the Eurozone or the enlargement of the EU. This means the equilibrium of power within the government will be key in determining the future positioning of the next executive in the Council of the European Union.
–
3rd Scenario: Centrist government with the Green-Left
This scenario would be somewhat similar to the second, with the Green-Left taking the place of the Labour party. The party led by Klaver has been polling well and a good performance on the 15th March might drive the party in government. However, compared to the Labour Party, the Greens are much more opposed to free-trade agreements and this would be a major factor of instability in the executive when it comes to ratifying free-trade agreements. The party is also more to the left on public spending and strongly opposes austerity, which would put the party on a collision course with its fellow partners in government.
The strongly progressive views of the party on social issues would resonate well with D66, although this might generate conflicts with CDA. Compared to the previous two scenarios, this government would be more unstable (with the conflicts on trade adding to the other fault lines), although the strong orientation of Dutch parties for deal-making and consensus-building arrangements should not be underestimated.
–
4th Scenario: Left-wing government
Another scenario would entail the establishment of a left-wing government made up of the Green-Left, the Labour Party, the Democrats 66 and the far-left Socialist Party. In order to reach a majority, this coalition might also need to attract the external support of testimonial parties such as the Party for the Animals, 50 PLUS (representing elderly) and DENK (representing ethnic minorities). The high number of parties needed to form this coalition makes such a scenario rather unrealistic.
In case this coalition is formed, there would be a dramatic shift of Dutch economic policy to the left: more public spending, higher taxes for the upper classes and opposition to free-trade agreements. These policies would put the governing parties in conflict with the liberal-minded D66, unless the centre-left members of the coalition decide to moderate their positions on the economy, although this might upset the Socialist Party. Therefore, it would be very difficult for this government to reach compromises on economic policy and hence play a strong role in the Eurozone policy-making.
This government would also have to distribute perks to the testimonial parties in exchange for support: stricter regulations on animal welfare, lowering of the retirement age and further measures to counter racism. However, this government would be more cohesive on migration, environment and social rights and less on economic matters.
The relations with the EU would be another source of tension in the cabinet, in particular with regards to macro-economic coordination within the Eurozone, the Defence Union and the relations with Russia.
–
5th PVV-backed government
The participation of the far-right Party for Freedom in the next Dutch government does not seem realistic at the moment. Furthermore, the recent worsening performance of PVV in the opinion polls would decrease its negotiating power (unless it manages to turn this trend around). However, we need to take it into account as there are precedents. What could happen if the other right-wing parties end up with no other choice than forming a coalition supported by the PVV?
Such a government would be somewhat similar to the first Rutte government formed in 2010, but this time also the Christian conservative parties, 50PLUS and the other small far-right parties will be asked to to join the CDA, VVD and PVV in supporting the new government. Considering the failure of the previous experiment, it is very difficult to expect such a government to be very stable.
The staunch conservative approach of such a coalition on migration and social issues would turn off the moderate members of VVD and CDA, whereas the populist stances of PVV on the economy would create conflicts with the other partners, which are more liberally minded.
But the relations with the European Union would be the major sticking point, as PVV advocates for the Netherlands to quit the European Union, exit Schengen and bring back the national currency. These proposals would never be accepted by VVD and CDA, which, despite their sometimes-critical stances on the direction of the EU project, remain committed to keeping a good relationship with the other EU partners.
–
Other potential scenarios: from large coalition to chaos
Depending on the actual electoral results, we can expect other scenarios, such as the establishment of larger coalitions than the ones mentioned in this article. It comes without saying that, the larger a coalition is, the more erratic and unstable the next executive will be.
It is also possible that the elections will lead to deadlock, given the difficulty of assembling a coalition with such a high number of parties. In this case, it is still very early to forecast what could happen in case of a second electoral round.
For more political data and forecast on EU political trends, contact us at [email protected].
The infographic below summarizes some key positions taken by the Dutch parties while participating in the EU decision-making process over the past 2 years:
For more data-driven political analysis and forecast, contact us at [email protected]
Also read: Future of the EU: which scenarios are more likely to unfold?Many of #GamerGate's complaints about journalism stem form what is seen as a lack of transparency. In light of this, I felt like this would be an excellent space for Kotaku provide some by responding to some questions from the #GamerGate community.
Gawker Media is an online media company with many dozens of bloggers. There have been several posts written on the Gawker network concerning #GamerGate, none of them positive. Is it a coincidence that literally every person Gawker has had write about the subject is anti-#GamerGate? Did management specifically only choose bloggers who would pursue that particular agenda? If not, do you think it is problematic that the only people you are hiring fall in-line with the beliefs of management, or that those who disagree are afraid to come forward?
(Joel Johnson is the editing director of Gawker Media.)
Given that Stephen Totilo, editor-in-chief of Kotaku does not believe that living with the subject of an article without disclosure is a breach of ethics, what would it take for your employees to receive disciplinary or punishment? It seems that most in the journalism community would think otherwise. What are the standards here at Kotaku since they seem to differ from other outlets?
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Of all the articles written on #GamerGate, Kotaku has not made a single mention of #NotYourShield. Not a single word, positive or negative. This would lead readers to believe that you do you not think #NotYourShield, the minority driven movement of #GamerGate is not worth discussion. If this is not the case, how is that Gawker hasn't found the time, even in #GamerGate-related Of all the articles written on #GamerGate, Kotaku has not made a single mention of #NotYourShield. Not a single word, positive or negative. This would lead readers to believe that you do you not think #NotYourShield, the minority driven movement of #GamerGate is not worth discussion. If this is not the case, how is that Gawker hasn't found the time, even in #GamerGate-related articles to even acknowledge the hashtag? It seems particularly strange considering how quickly you discovered and devoted an article to #StopGamerGate2014.
Update: I've been informed that there was a mention of #NotYourShield in this Update: I've been informed that there was a mention of #NotYourShield in this Deadspin article. Here it is, in its entirety - "an ancillary hashtag, #notyourshield, is hatched by minorities, women, and LGBTQ gamers who agree with Gamergate and disagree with writers who they feel are misrepresenting them;"
Much has been made of comments attributed to those involved with #GamerGate, but none of the sites under the Gawker Media network have posted a single article or mention about death threats and other comments made, not only by proven anti-#GamerGate twitter users, but actual members of the video game press. Wouldn't even one article showcasing the other side be more balanced? I've included a few examples below. I could obviously fill this page with screensheets, but I just chose a few of the most hypocritical.
(Sam Biddle is a writer at Gizmodo, a site under the Gawker Media umbrella.)
(Leigh Alexander is a writer at GamaSutra.)
And lastly, I think everyone would like to know the answer to a more open-ended question: Do you think it is problematic or telling that the gaming journalism establishment has such a monolithic opposition to an anti-establishment movement like #GamerGate?
Thanks for your time. I hope this can be the first step in a continued dialog between Kotaku and #GamerGate supporters.
By @ZebFIGHTING and @BlackPreon, who are #NotYourShield.
Note: My comments are not being approved so you may want to press "Show Pending Comments" if you're trying to follow the comment section.Last week marked a huge moment for Path of Exile with the launch of the closed beta for The Fall of Oriath expansion. We had a chance to snag a few team members for a chat about launching the CBT. See what they had to say!
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MMORPG: So it has been a huge week for you all at GGG. How did the beta launch go in its first hours?
GGG: The Beta launch went pretty smoothly. We had some minor issues to deal with, but nothing major cropped up. For the first few hours our main focus was making sure people had access to their Beta keys and were able to log in and start testing the new content.
MMORPG: In your opinion, what has the reaction been like from players? From preview journalists?
GGG: We've had an overwhelmingly positive response from the community and journalists alike. We're really pleased that players are getting stuck into the new content and sharing new information and their thoughts. Journalists have written very favourable pieces about how the new content improves the game. It looks like the decision to remove two difficulty level was the correct one!
MMORPG: What have been the most rewarding moments you've had now that beta has launched?
GGG: For Chris, the most rewarding moment was probably when he finally went to sleep after being awake for 40 hours. Beyond that, the most rewarding part has been watching players discover and explore new changes that have been made - especially those that were previously not mentioned, for example, the task bar icon now flashes when your window is minimised and you receive a message from another player. We didn't publish any patch notes for the Beta, so these changes are found organically.
MMORPG: Have there been any surprises in the way players are consuming content?
GGG: At some point this week we'll be having a more in-depth look at how players are progressing through the new content, what's changed from before and what's remained the same. We'll use this information to consider any possible improvements that need to be made to the Beta before the content is released.
MMORPG: What have been the biggest challenges the team has faced since the launch of beta?
GGG: So far there haven't been any significant challenges since the Beta launch. Our team is now very experienced in launching new content and making adjustments in the days following a launch.
MMORPG: What adjustments will need to be made in the coming days / weeks prior to launch?
GGG: We have a patch coming later this week that will add new content to the Beta and possibly include a few changes to the current content. We'll be monitoring players' experiences and feedback to determine what, if any, changes are needed. However, we can share the the patch later this week will include eleven new support gems!
MMORPG: Are you planning any additional or surprise events besides the ones you've mentioned?
GGG: The community has been very engaged in the events that we've announced so far. The one-week Legacy Event began over the weekend and we're happy with how many people are participating in both the events and the Beta. We don't currently have any additional events planned, but this could always change.
MMORPG: How did the team handle the stress of the initial hours?
GGG: Our team has a lot of experience in launching content and the many individuals who come together to make sure the launch goes smoothly are very accustomed to working together and making sure their responsibilities slot in seamlessly with the people around them. Everyone is always on high alert but the team works together well.
MMORPG: Any other beta thoughts you'd like to share?
GGG: Look out for the introduction of an early version of Act Eight in a couple of weeks!
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
With the launch of the closed beta for PoE, the team was busy making sure players had all the information they might need for their time in CBT. Here's more from official channels about all things Oriath:
Be sure to also check out some awesome stream videos from some of PoE's community streamers:
Have you been playing in The Fall of Oriath closed beta? What are your thoughts so far? Let us know!Following the deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria last week, CNN's Brooke Baldwin aired a segment with refugee Kassem Eid — a reported survivor of the 2013 chemical weapons attack — during which Eid pleaded with President Donald Trump to “not make the same mistake President Obama did” and “let Assad walk away.”
Baldwin brought Eid back Friday and attempted to frame Trump as a hypocrite over his concern for babies killed in the attack — as contrasted with his foreign travel ban.
After playing a clip of Hillary Clinton denouncing Trump by stating that “we cannot in one breath speak of protecting Syrian babies and in the next close America's doors to them," Baldwin asked Eid to respond.
Bad idea.
"With all due respect, I didn't see each and every person who was demonstrating after the travel ban. I didn't see you three days ago when people were gassed to death.
I didn't see you in 2013 when 1,400 people were gassed to death. I didn't see you raising your voice against President Obama's inaction in Syria that made us refugees get kicked out of Syria.
If you really care about refugees, help us stay in our country.... We don't want to become refugees."The internet and Twitter are in an uproar today, after Donald trump announced through a series of tweets he has banned transgender people from being accepted in the military for the “burden” they place with the “tremendous medical costs and disruptions” they make.
The left is outraged with the top trending hashtag #TransRightsAreHumanRights. Besides the facts that joining the military isn’t a human right, the left seems to also deny the face that gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition.
The argument from the left is that transgendered people have a right to serve in the military, shouldn’t face discrimination based on their gender identity, and that it’s bigoted and hateful to discriminate against someone because what gender they chose to identify as.
And that argument sounds great at face value. It sounds great until you dig into the facts around gender dysphoria. There’s reaserch showing 41% of transgendered people attempt suicide, and other research showing almost 40% attempt suicide three or more times in their lifetime.
Transgendered people have a staggering rate of anxiety with 55% having social anxiety. A 2015 Harvard study found that 50.6% of the trangendered participants had depression. And another study shows that trans people are 4 times more likely to develop eating disorders than cis gendered people.
The evidence is clear that gender dysphoria is and extremely serious health issues. And the argument that trans people should be allowed to serve in the military because its politically incorrect not to let them is ludicrous.
Transgendered veterans have a higher rate of mental health problems that normal veterans, and have a significantly higher rate of suicide that normal veterans. The stresses of military life seem to negatively affect transgendered veterans more than cis gendered service men and women. And the reason is obvious; transgendered veterans are allowed into the military with a preexisting mental disorder.
How can you expect someone with a serious mental illness to go through the gauntlet of military life and expect them to come out ok on the other end?
The military is strict with is acceptance, in terms of physical and mental health to begin with. Attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, stuttering, bipolar, and past suicidal behavior are all disqualifying conditions. The accompanying symptoms of gender dsyphoia (depression, suicide, anxiety) are all means to disqualify trans applicants at their medical screening.
The argument that not all trans people have depression and anxiety is invalid. The same can be said for people with bipolar disorder, past histories of depression and anxiety who no longer have it, and people with past suicide attempts, but are no longer suicidal, that they don’t have depression and anxiety currently and should be allowed to enlist. The very fact that they have or have had a mental illness is the disqualifying factor.
And this doesn’t even get into the fact that the military as Trump pointed out in its tweet, is paying for their medication to treat their preexisting conditions that come along with them being transgender. Not to mention the inconveniencing of the military to accommodate them based on their gender pronoun and what bathroom they get to use. Overall, the military is better off without trans people, and Donald Trump did the tough, but right thing banning transgendered people from joining the military.
AdvertisementsFC Dallas’ Kellyn Acosta, Jesse Gonzalez and Maynor Figueroa have been called in to represent their respective countries during the FIFA International break running Monday, November 6 through Wednesday, November 15.
Acosta and Gonzalez are traveling to Leiria, Portugal, where they will play A Selecçao in |
, he felt like he had another 50 percent to fully recover, and as for 2014, he is awaiting another ankle operation.
On November 6, 2013, he challenged then mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, to an arm wrestling match.[31] Starting in August 2009, Vaziri's major claim to fame is his Twitter account, featuring violent, profanity-ridden Tweets denouncing various celebrities, making him into a comedy star on social media.[32] Vaziri does not actually write the Tweets issued under his name, which are instead the work of a comedy team, the Magen boys.[33]
Acting career [ edit ]
The Iron Sheik made his film debut in The Tale of the 3 Mohammads in 2005. He then appeared alongside Daniel Baldwin and Corey Feldman in Operation Belvis Bash in 2011. Sheik also made an appearance on the Canadian show Kenny vs. Spenny on the "Who is a better pro wrestler?" episode where he attempted to sodomize a naked Spenny with a beer bottle. He also appeared in Maz Jobrani's 2009 stand-up comedy special Brown & Friendly.
The Sheik made an appearance as himself in Robot Chicken, as well as The Eric André Show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
Personal life [ edit ]
Vaziri is a Shia Muslim[34] and a former soldier in the Imperial Iranian Army.[35] He married Caryl J. Peterson on March 21, 1976,[36] the Best Man at the wedding was "Mean" Gene Okerlund (whom the Sheik often referred to as "Gene Mean" in his broken English). They have three grown daughters as well as five grandchildren together. His eldest daughter Marissa was murdered by her boyfriend Charles Warren Reynolds in May 2003 at the age of 27. Reynolds was taken into custody and later convicted of the crime.[37] In August 2013, Iron Sheik's managers Page and Jian Magen[5] crowdsourced $40,441 to write, direct and produce a documentary, Iranian Legend: The Iron Sheik Story.[38][39] Some of the proceeds from the film will be used toward the costs of double knee and ankle surgery he cannot afford.[39] Originally the documentary was scheduled for a 2008 release under the title Iron Sheik: From A to Z. Sheik's documentary was released in 2014 under the title The Sheik.
Championships and accomplishments [ edit ]
Other World Maccabiah Champion
References [ edit ]The revolt against standardized testing in Texas has taken a new twist: The Texas House has put forth a draft 2014-15 budget that zeroes out all funding for statewide standardized assessment. By way of explanation, Speaker Joe Straus said, “To parents and educators concerned about excessive testing, the Texas House has heard you.”
The Dallas Morning News said that the draft budget is not likely to stand, given that the Senate’s preliminary budget has about $94 million allocated for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, the standardized test known as STAAR. The two budgets will have to be reconciled and it is hard to believe the state will get rid of the testing altogether. Besides, federal law requires standardized testing under the No Child Left Behind law.
But the House move underscores growing discontent with high-stakes testing in the state where it was born when George W. Bush, as governor, implemented the precursor to No Child Left Behind, which he took national when he became president.
Texas over the last year has been in the forefront of growing protests across the country against standardized testing, which has become the main metric in school reform, used to assess schools, students, teachers, districts and states.
Last year about this time school districts in Texas started passing resolutions saying that high-stakes standardized tests were “strangling” public schools, and hundreds of districts representing nearly 90 percent of the state’s K-12 students have followed suit. Then Robert Scott, the man who was then state education commissioner, said publicly that the mentality that standardized testing is the “end-all, be-all” is a “perversion” of what a quality education should be.
Texas schools and students are strongly impacted by the testing schedule; during the 180-day school year, high school students now spend up to 45 days taking various standardized exams. Recently 23 members of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium asked state officials for waivers from testing mandates while they devise a better accountability system, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Meanwhile, the standardized testing revolt that is spreading around the country has gotten some publicity in Seattle, where teachers at Garfield High School have said they would refuse to give the state’s standardized test because, they say, it is flawed. The Garfield teachers are attracting support from teachers and education advocates around the country.Bigfoot trap - February 2007
What is believed to be the world's only Bigfoot trap is located in the Siskiyou National Forest in the southern part of Jackson County, Oregon, a few miles from the California state border. It was designed to capture a Bigfoot (or Sasquatch), the legendary hominid that is said to live in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Description [ edit ]
The trap is a wooden box 10 by 10 feet (3 by 3 m) made of 2x12 planks bound together by heavy metal bands and secured to the ground by telephone poles.[1] A Forest Service special use permit was issued for its construction, but the door has been bolted open since 1980. Its location was originally remote and predicted to be a good place for a Bigfoot migration, but since the construction of the Applegate Dam, a road is now near the trap.[1]
History [ edit ]
The trap was built in 1974 by the North American Wildlife Research Team (NAWRT),[1] a now-defunct organization based in Eugene, Oregon, that was inspired to build a trap at the location by Perry Lovell, a miner who lived near the Applegate River, who claimed to have found 18-inch-long human-like tracks in his garden.[2] NAWRT operated the trap, keeping it baited with carcasses for six years, but caught only bears.
Since then the trap had been abandoned and started to deteriorate. In 2006 the United States Forest Service, under the Passport in Time program, began to repair the trap.[1][3] The trap has become a tourist attraction over the past 30 years and hundreds of people visit it annually. At least one film has been shot on site.[4][5]
The Forest Service keeps an eye on the device, but otherwise does not maintain it.[1][6]
The Collings Mountain hiking trail passes by the Bigfoot trap.[7]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
"Trap designed to catch Bigfoot has outlasted its creators," Associated Press, November 22, 1992, online at http://www.bigfootencounters.com/articles/trap.htm. (This is a boiled-down version of the Ludington report of November 16, above.)
Place, Marian (1974). On the Track of Bigfoot (See also 3 photos after page 96.). Dodd, Mead. pp. 144–46. ISBN 0-396-06883-9.
Coordinates:I used to be a Command Controller (CC) at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) (http://lasp.colorado.edu/). I was one of the people who would sit in front of the console during the times when spacecraft were visible to the ground stations. I would read/record telemetry to ensure spacecraft health and often send up new commands that would be executed by the spacecraft.
In order to communicate with the ground stations (for both data and voice if necessary), the Mission Operation Center (MOC) at LASP had to have a connection to NASA's "red net". I am not sure if this was a LASP term or a NASA term. A google search turned up little information.
In order to be even let in the room with access to the "red net" background checks were required. Then, in order to actually interact with the console, you had to be a certified CC, or a CC in training being overseen by a certified CC. All CC activity is always overseen by a "Flight Controller" (FC) or even a "Flight Director" (FD).
In the training to become a CC, we all had to know exactly the packet structure of the communication protocol for every spacecraft we operated. While there were most certainly checksums in the protocol, I don't believe that there was any sort of encryption, authentication or verification of the data received by the spacecraft. The spacecraft are always designed to be very fault tolerant, and have fallback modes in case the RF communication is corrupted or there are other "single bit errors". Error detection and correction is a fundamental feature of RF spacecraft communication.
I also worked on one deep space mission, though not as a CC. Anything not in earth orbit would require much larger antennas and likely what NASA calls the "Deep Space Network" (http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/). This makes an attack even more challenging.
The risks as I see them today are several fold. I am not sure if they have since been fixed as I haven't worked at LASP in many years. I am also completely unaware of the design of anything but a few scientific missions. The worst things I think an attacker could do would be:
Threaten to deorbit the spacecraft, or even simply waste precious propulsion fuel, for mischeif or for ransom. Threaten to try to change the orbit which could possibly cause a collision with other spacecraft -- again, for mischeif or ransom.
Otherwise, I am not sure what could be gained by an attacker.
Here are the vectors I see that may make an attack possible:
Forged communication with the spacecraft. This would have to be done with knowledge of the spacecraft's ephemeris and with the ability to establish communication with the spacecraft. The ephemeris is fairly easy to obtain, but getting control of a ground station may require that the attacker be a state actor. Man in the middle (MITM) attacks between the ground station and MOC. Getting onto the NASA "red net" would be highly challenging. This is the same network that the space station operates on. However, once there, it might be possible to somehow become a MITM and pass on good or forged telemetry to the MOC while sending arbitrary commands to the ground station (ignoring any commands sent by the MOC). This would also require that the attacker have fairly vast resources and prior knowledge.
In either of these cases, the payoff would likely not be worth the reward. Then again, I only worked with "smallish" scientific missions. It might certainly be worth the risk for one country to "steal" a military spacecraft from another as the cost for a country to design, launch and maintain such a spacecraft is likely much greater than the cost of the attack. I imagine these have much stronger security though.
To answer your question, I don't know how secure the Mars Curiosity mission is. However, due to the distance, it probably operates solely on the DSN ground stations (very large antennas, of which there are only a handful in the world). Any attacker would either have to commandeer one of these stations, or build his own (which would be hard to hide). Further, the security of the communications between the ground stations and mission operations is certainly a top priority for NASA and JPL.
In summary, communications reliability is a much greater concern when designing spacecraft -- it's really hard to talk to stuff so far away, with so much interference in-between and the constant bombardment of radiation that can affect just about anything in the process. While there may or may not be any sort of encryption, authentication or verification in the RF communication between the ground station and the spacecraft, the ability to actually interfere would likely only be available to nation-states. It would also be hard to hide who would be behind such an attack and the political fallout would likely be immense.There's increasing evidence to suggest that low levels of vitamin D may play a role in thyroid disorders. For instance, research has revealed a possible link between vitamin D deficiency and autoimmune thyroid disorders, namely Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the most common cause of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), and Grave's disease, characterized by an overactive thyroid.
In one study, 72 percent of subjects with autoimmune thyroid disease were deficient in vitamin D, while just under 31 percent of healthy subjects had low levels of D. Similarly, a study of people in Greece with Hashimoto's thyroiditis revealed that more than 85 percent of them had low levels of vitamin D, as well as high levels of anti-thyroid antibodies.
Vitamin D supplementation also has shown promise as a way to help treat thyroid disease. In the Greek study, for example, the Hashimoto thyroiditis patients who were deficient in vitamin D took 1,200 to 4,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D every day for four months, after which time they had significantly lower levels of anti-thyroid antibodies. (The Recommended Daily Allowance, or RDA, for vitamin D is 600 IU; see below for more specifics.)
In yet another study, people with hypothyroidism who took extra vitamin D supplements for 12 weeks had improvements in blood levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (although the extra D did not affect levels of the actual thyroid hormones triiodothyronine, T3, and thyroxine, T4).
Much more research needs to be done before specific guidelines for using vitamin D to prevent or treat thyroid disease are established by the medical community. However, given the growing understanding of how important vitamin D is to overall health, it's worth making sure you're getting enough of it. You might even want to talk to your doctor about testing you for a deficiency, especially if you have a thyroid condition or are at risk for one.
Defining Vitamin D Deficiency
It's estimated that 40 percent of adult men and 50 percent of adult women in the United States have low blood levels of vitamin D; 25 percent of adults are believed to have severe deficiency.
Vitamin D levels are measured with a simple blood test called the 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. Results of this test are measured in nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL), which the National Institutes of Health categorizes as follows:
Sources of Vitamin D
The main source of vitamin D is sun exposure—when skin soaks up ultraviolet rays it triggers the production of D. Concerns about skin cancer and the increasing use of sunscreen may be one of the reasons for the hike in low vitamin D levels.
Diet is an issue too. Very few foods are natural sources of vitamin D, and although a variety of common foods are fortified with D, they provide relatively small amounts.
Some of the better food sources of vitamin D include:
Cod liver oil (1 tablespoon): 1,360 IU
Swordfish (3 ounces, cooked): 566 IU
Salmon (3 ounces, cooked): 447 IU
Tuna fish (3 ounces water-packed): 154 IU
Orange juice, fortified (1 cup): 137 IU
Nonfat milk, fortified (1 cup): 115 to 124 IU
Yogurt, fortified (6 ounces): 80 IU
Sardines (2 pieces, drained): 46 IU
Beef liver (3 ounces, cooked): 42 IU
Egg (1 large): 41 IU
Cereal, fortified (1 cup): 40 IU
Choosing Vitamin D Supplements
Because it's inadvisable to expose skin to excess UV rays and it can be challenging to get enough vitamin D from food, the safest and most effective way to boost vitamin D intake is with supplements. There are two forms: ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). Many experts prefer vitamin D3 because it's believed to raise blood levels of D more effectively.
Vitamin D supplements come in capsule, gummy, liquid, or chewable tablet forms. Vitamin D is also often found in multivitamins and calcium supplements. Whichever you take, it's important to read labels so that you know how much you're getting.
Most vitamin D supplements provide only 400 IU per dose, which is several hundred IU shy of the RDA.
At the same time, it's vital to make sure you don't take too much. The upper limit for children over age 9 and adults is 4,000 IU per day. Too much vitamin D can be harmful. Signs of toxicity include nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness, and weight loss.
Excess vitamin D also can cause damage to kidneys and increase the levels of calcium in blood—a condition called hypercalcemia that can cause confusion, disorientation, and problems with heart rhythm.
Note, too, that vitamin D supplements can interact with a number of medications, among them steroids, certain cholesterol-lowering drugs, and medications for preventing epileptic seizures.Over two dozen personnel from India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed in an attack by suspected Maoist guerrillas on Monday.
Six more paramilitary soldiers were critically wounded in the ambush which took place in the remote Sukma district in the forests of Chhattisgarh state.
"We were attacked from all sides by around 300 Maoists armed with automatic weapons. We retaliated and a fierce gunbattle followed. Many of my colleagues have been hurt," CRPF personnel Saurabh Mallik told reporters.
The paramilitary group had been tasked with providing security to road construction teams in the forested area when they were ambushed, senior police officer Jitendra Shukla said. It was not clear if explosives were used in the attack.
"We received information initially that 12 CRPF men were killed after they came under attack from Maoists who fired from nearby hilltops, but bodies of more slain personnel were found later. Some soldiers also died on way to hospital," Shukla said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the attack "cowardly and deplorable" on Twitter and said the government is "monitoring the situation closely."
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said officials were heading to the state to assess the security situation.
Decades-long conflict
The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting for decades in central and eastern India. The insurgency started as a peasant uprising in 1967, with both sides engaging in skirmishes in forests and rural areas.
The rebels' numbers have grown in strength in recent times especially in areas where tribal villagers have come into conflict with mining companies seeking resources of industrialization.
Security experts say the insurgency is the country's biggest internal security challenge.
The insurgents are believed to be present in at least 20 out of India's 29 states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
rs/ss (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)Protesters rally against forced amalgamations. Credit:Peter Rae But Warringah Council has successfully used Section 218E of the act to put the Northern Beaches Council proposal back on the table, even though the government had previously dismissed it. As this merger would leave Mosman orphaned, the government has also had to put forward another new proposal to join Mosman with North Sydney and Willoughby. Section 218E gives councils the right to put forward their own merger proposals to the Local Government Minister. It also enables voters in an electorate to lodge a proposal that applies to the whole of one or more areas, if at least 10 per cent are supportive.
Premier Baird said on Friday that he still backed the government's original option of carving Warringah up between Manly and Mosman, and Pittwater. "I have put a position forward in terms of two [councils], I've supported that position," Mr Baird said. "But I'm happy for [a single council] to come forward...Both [proposals] bring significant benefits to the community. I'm happy for the community to have their say." Warringah is the first council in metropolitan Sydney to draw on the clause to initiate a new merger proposal, although it has been used to trigger three other new proposals elsewhere in NSW. It is understood that if a council-initiated proposal meets the requirements for a merger set out under the act, then Local Government Minister Paul Toole has no choice but to refer it on to the Boundaries Commission for consideration.
The two proposed new councils will follow the same Boundaries Commission process as those the government has recommended, with public hearings to be held and submissions invited. Minister Toole said the new proposals showed that no "final decision" had been made on mergers and the government was open to alternatives. "The community has taken the opportunity to have its say on the proposals the Government has already put forward," Mr Toole said. "We are listening to those community views, so it's appropriate these alternative proposals are considered in the same way." But Warringah's move has the potential to inspire other councils discontented with their merger options to use the clause to force consideration of other amalgamation options, possibly lengthening the Boundary Commission process.
It is understood Botany Bay Council now plans to use the clause to have its proposal of extending its boundaries to take in parts of Randwick and City of Sydney considered. Save our Councils coalition spokeswoman and Mosman deputy mayor Carolyn Corrigan said "all the game rules have changed". "It just beggars belief. Everything is grinding to a halt in local government because all we are doing is writing submissions which I think just end up going in the bin," Cr Corrigan said. "I just think this shows you that is everything is moveable...it gets madder and madder and it's just extremely frustrating". On Friday morning, Mr Toole announced that Former NSW Auditor-General Bob Sendt had been appointed as chairman of the Boundaries Commission.
The other members are Temora Shire councillor Rick Firman, Burwood councillor Lesley Furneaux-Cook and Natasa Mitic, an executive officer at the Office of Local Government. Delegates are expected to have prepared reports for each council merger proposal by the middle of the year. The commission will review the reports before the minister makes a final decision on the mergers. - With James RobertsonI absolutely adore this scarf and beanie hat. First it's purple my favorite color. Second its so soft and pretty and third it sparkle BUT the best thing is it is an infinity scarf that is long and wide to wear as a top wrap. I typically don't take pictures with my gift but for this one I had to. Will be wearing this to work tomorrow, to pretty to wait.
THANK YOU CHAD AND AMANDA!!!
UPDATE: Today I received a pair of beautiful soft gloves. These are not only beautiful but they are functional as they have the fingertips for touch screen use on my phone. I wasn't expecting anything else so you know this was truly a surprise.
Chad and Amanda..once again THANK YOU!!! you rock!!!NEW YORK -- The Easter season unveiling of an anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ, dubbed "My Sweet Lord" by its creator, has infuriated Catholics preparing to observe some of their holiest days of the year.
The 6-foot sculpture by Cosimo Cavallaro was to debut Monday evening, four days before Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. The final day of the exhibit at the Lab Gallery inside Manhattan's Roger Smith Hotel was planned for Easter Sunday.
"This is one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever," said Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League, a watchdog group. "It's not just the ugliness of the portrayal, but the timing _ to choose Holy Week is astounding."
The gallery's creative director, Matt Semler, said the Lab and the hotel were overrun with angry telephone calls and e-mails. The gallery was considering its options, he said.
"We're obviously surprised by the overwhelming response and offense people have taken," said Semler, adding that the Holy Week timing was a coincidence.
The artwork was created from more than 200 pounds of milk chocolate, and it features Christ with his arms outstretched. The Cavallaro creation does not include a loincloth.
A publicist for the gallery said the artist was not available for comment.
Cavallaro, who was raised in Canada and Italy, is best known for his quirky work with food as art: Past efforts include repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying 5 tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham.NEW ORLEANS — It’s been a trade that has been circulating for the better part of a year now. It’s a good and sensible marriage — the Bulls have Jimmy Butler, a star player who can hold his own on both ends of the floor, and the Celtics have a bevy of valued assets, from draft picks in the next three years, to stashed overseas players, to productive youngsters.
So why haven’t Chicago and Boston been able to get together on a deal that would give the Celtics a star and allow the Bulls to remove themselves from the mess that the team has become?
The answer: Each franchise has pretty cold feet on a Butler deal.
MORE: Trade grades for Raptors, Magic in Serge Ibaka deal
Butler himself has been in limbo on a trade possibility. "Why talk about it?" he said from All-Star practice at the Smoothie King Center. "Why worry about it? If you’re here, you’re here. If you’re not, you’re not."
There have been tepid discussions about Butler-to-the-Celtics at various times over the past year, though nothing pressing in recent weeks, according to league sources. It’s safe to assume that there will be renewed talks this week. But that does not mean a deal will get done, not with both sides tentative about the wisdom of a trade that the rest of the NBA’s observer class seems to think is such an obvious fit.
League sources told SN this weekend that the Bulls are still very much uncertain of the direction they want to take this season. Rebuilding makes the most sense — the decision to sign veterans Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade last summer was a mistake — but the Bulls are still very much in position to make the playoffs in the East.
Front office chiefs John Paxson and Gar Forman still have the trust of chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who has a history of patience with his front-office staffs, with both the White Sox and Bulls. But the Bulls are in danger of being a lottery team, especially if they deal Butler. Missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons after reaching the postseason in 10 of the last 11 years will reflect badly on the team’s brain trust, and not getting a playoff spot will ratchet up the heat on the front office.
MORE: Bulls among several teams eyeing Jahlil Okafor in trade talks
That’s the decision Paxson and Forman are facing. Trading Butler, especially to a well-stocked team like the Celtics, is the right thing for the franchise. But it may not be the right thing if Paxson and Forman want to keep their jobs. It’s safer to keep Butler and play out the string, revisiting the possibility of moving Butler ahead of this year’s draft.
Getting Butler is not a simple notion for the Celtics, either. Boston president Danny Ainge has been scouring the league for a star player for three years now, and Butler has the makings of a perfect fit with the Celtics. He can handle the ball. He can score. He can defend.
But the Celtics do not want to give up their rights to Brooklyn’s pick — slated to be No. 1 overall, at least before the lottery — in this year’s draft. When Boston moved Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in 2013, the assumption was always that the Celtics would deal away the picks they collected from Brooklyn for a star player.
Ainge, though, could not have known that the league-worst Nets would bottom out as far as they have this year. Nor could he have known that 2017 would be a stocked draft, and that the Celtics’ missing star could be a draftee rather than a player acquired through a trade or free agency.
The Bulls are unlikely to make a Butler-to-Boston deal without the inclusion of Brooklyn’s pick this year. But there is risk in including that pick for the Celtics. Boston is 37-20, just three games behind the Cavaliers in the East, and with Kevin Love dealing with a knee injury, the Celtics are in position to challenge for the top seed in the conference.
NBA DRAFT: Who goes No. 1 in SN's latest prospect rankings?
They can do that without Butler, instead trying to make a minor move for a contributor like Suns forward P.J. Tucker. Boston has expressed deep interest in Tucker ahead of the deadline, a source said. Get Tucker, and the Celtics can add depth without giving up on a potential No. 1 pick. And there is cap space available this summer to sign a player in free agency. Without trading for Butler, Boston could keep the pick and get a name player this summer.
Tucker is an amiable 31-year-old veteran who would fit well in Boston’s locker room. The Celtics can’t be so sure about Butler, who has come into his own this season with averages of 24.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists. That’s the kind of production the Celtics need to truly challenge the Cavaliers in this year’s postseason.
But there are questions about how Butler would fit in Boston. Isaiah Thomas has established himself has the Celtics’ marquee player, and Butler would have to be willing to take a secondary role in Boston. That dynamic could be troublesome for the Celtics. Butler is also known in Chicago for his quirky and sometimes demanding personality. That could be a problem in the Boston locker room, a generally laid-back place.
Still, Butler is an elite player, and he presents the Celtics with the opportunity Ainge has been seeking since he first made the Garnett-Pierce deal. And Boston has the opportunity to give the Bulls a real chance at starting over. Butler-to-Boston makes so much sense.
But, for both franchises, it’s just not that simple.Yesterday we discussed the announcement from the White House which set forth new restrictions on issuing excess military equipment to local police forces. At the time I reached the following conclusion:
This is a public relations stunt to show that they are “on the side of the people” against the evil, out of control cops. Unfortunately we still have areas in this country – generally in large urban centers or contested border regions in the southwest – where police work can border on combat zone scenarios. Everyone would prefer it to be otherwise, but if you’re living in the real world you need to bring the best tools available to the job you have in front of you.
It seems that I wasn’t the only one holding that particular suspicion. The Fraternal Order of Police has come down hard on the Obama administration and they are voicing essentially the same concerns, if somewhat more politely stated.
The nation’s largest police union is fighting back against a White House plan to restrict local police forces’ ability to acquire military-style gear, accusing President Barack Obama’s task force of politicizing officers’ safety. The White House on Monday announced that bayonets, weaponized vehicles and grenade launchers will no longer be available to local police and that other equipment such as riot gear and other types of armored vehicles would be subject to a more onerous approval process… James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, told POLITICO on Monday that he hopes to have a White House meeting as soon as Tuesday to discuss his concerns about how the plans could put cops at risk. He said in particular he objects to a measure that would require police departments to get permission from city governments to acquire certain equipment, including riot batons, helmets and shields, through federal programs… “We need to only look back to Baltimore to see what happens when officers are sent out ill-equipped in a disturbance situation,” he said. “Because you don’t like the optics, you can’t send police officers out to be hurt or killed.”
It sound like Pasco is concerned over the same distinctions I raised questions about yesterday. There are shades of gray in this discussion, because a grenade launcher is a fairly serious hammer to bring against any nail and the use of one in a riot situation could result in all sorts of collateral damage, particularly in the hands of someone without full military training in its use. But seeing batons, shield and helmets on the list of things which might even be questioned should have anyone’s hackles raised. The FOP is focusing on Baltimore at the moment, which is understandable because the events are fresh in the minds of the public. But the many nights of gunfire, Molotov cocktails and bricks flying through the air in Ferguson are probably a more apt example.
We saw a microcosm of this confrontation in New York City when the mayor there found himself facing the backs of most of his police force. He was perceived – with great justification in my eyes – as taking the side of the lawless against the law enforcers in the name of quelling an uprising and, most likely, scoring political points with a key electoral demographic. But the cops on the street – with very few, post-retirement exceptions – are not running for office. They can’t afford to worry about what the polls say next week. They are charged with maintaining the rule of law, providing order and safety for the lawful, and still finding a way to make it home safely to their families each night.
Politicizing something so fundamental to the future and security of the nation is callous, reckless and self-serving. The executive branch of the civilian government – at all levels – owes it to their law enforcement entities to provide them support unless individual members are found to have gone rogue and stepped outside the law. Sweeping policies such as the one under discussion here help nobody except those seeking to foment violence.Book Review: God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality
By: Jayson Littman
Contributing Editor: Tali Aronsky
Back in 2004, when Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ was released in theatres, I had a strong desire to see the film. I was intrigued by the very people whom I only knew about from Christmas window displays at Macy’s. Since my yeshiva education had taught me that even acknowledging Christianity would be idolatrous and the fact that Mel Gibson promised to donate $100 million of the film’s gross to the Catholic movement, I did what any observant Jewish guy who didn’t want to support Gibson or the Catholics would do: I purchased a ticket to Mean Girls and snuck in to see the Passion of the Christ. I was reminded of this story as I began to read Jay Michaelson’s latest work, God vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality. With the Hebrew Bible only having two verses dealing with homosexuality and the New Testament seven, much of the book references those seven and felt a bit like the Cliff Notes Catholic education I got from watching the Passion.
“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main theme of God vs. Gay and, for Michaelson, of the Bible itself. He cites similar Bible verses that are often used in Jewish teachings, such as love, being created in the image of God, that every person was created in perfection, but are all too forgotten when it comes to leaders counselling young souls in the area of sexual orientation. Michaelson shares how his own spiritual life didn’t really begin until he came out as a gay man, “Once I was honest with myself, I could be honest with God. Once I started loving myself, I could start loving God. And once I allowed my heart to open, it opened in all directions.” This is a powerful sentiment that can serve as a message to all people of any orientation. We all have watched Dr. Phil at some point and heard him tell us that if we don’t love ourselves, we can’t truly love other people. Michaelson shows us the power of loving oneself as providing us the ability to love others. When we are able to love others, we can love God, too. This is truly an inspirational teaching as we all spend way too much time hating the gay part of ourselves (or replace gay with practically anything) and don’t realize that God is within each of us. If we hate who we are then, in some ways, we hate the God inside of us, too.
Throughout his book, Michaelson reiterates that readings of love and inclusion should be championed when faced with competing interpretations of how to read all those famed biblical verses that talk about sexual prohibitions. Luckily, Michaelson’s background as a scholar, teacher, activist and author help him to portray these problematic verses (“Abomination!” “Do not lie with a man as you would with a woman,” etc.) in a way that is respectful but also convincingly justifies an acceptance of LGBT-identified individuals. Michaelson argues that these verses are subject to interpretation and context, and that, for millennia, every rabbi, scholar, politician and priest has finessed these verses in a way that appeases their congregants, consciences or electoral ballots.
Near the end of God vs. Gay Michaelson discusses how when he felt that God hated what he was doing, he blocked God out. The self-hatred of someone struggling with sexuality can result in irresponsible and unsafe behavior that makes one think if they are “already sinning against God and nature, who cares about consent and safety?” Michaelson continues with what I believe is the most powerful part of the book, “And since you’re already an inveterate sinner who deserves to be punished, why worry about HIV or AIDS either? If you get it, you probably deserve it.” My hope is that all those whom are hesitant to read this book will do so to make sure this pernicious thinking process is stopped. Religious communities that proclaim pro-life must use the same ethos to ensure that all living beings remain alive, and that those members of our communities who struggle with their sexual identity do not prematurely end their lives due to self-hatred.
While Michaelson’s book aims to appeal to a wider audience it better suits an audience that seeks to resolve their biblical confusion on homosexuality or straight allies whom we hope will read this book and remain more focused on the values of love and acceptance that Michaelson invokes. At the end of the day, I think Michaelson’s book would resonate with any person of faith who has struggled when dealing with the balance of wanting to follow the letter of the Torah law but being confident in an orientation that, on the face of it, doesn’t exactly jive with the Torah.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 37a) itself asks why the human race was created as a single human being, as opposed to creating many people at once (like the animals which were created en masse). This teaches us that just as Adam was created in the beginning, and he was the entire human population of the world, likewise |
Even Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) most ardent supporters would probably concede, albeit grudgingly, that he faces very long odds in the 2016 presidential race. So why run? Because there’s value in having a national platform for bold, progressive ideas that might otherwise be ignored.
Bloomberg Politics reported yesterday, for example, on Sanders’ new plan to make public college tuition-free in the United States.
The plan will provide tuition-free higher education to students at four-year colleges, the statement said, and is modeled after the way many European nations handle the costs of college. “Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people,” Sanders said in the statement. “They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same.”
That point about overseas examples is no small detail. The more the United States invests in an educated workforce, the greater our competitiveness on the international stage. There’s no better way to guarantee America’s role as a 21st-century superpower than lowering the barriers to higher education.
And if major economies like Germany can make tuition at public colleges free, there’s no reason the United States can’t, too. So what’s the next step?
Obviously, in a Republican-led Congress, the discussion is over before it starts, and there’s simply no way a proposal like Sanders’ will even get a vote. If GOP lawmakers instinctively balked at President Obama’s plan for free community-college tuition, it stands to reason that Congress will completely ignore the measure from the Vermont Independent.
As for how the senator would pay for the idea, Sanders hasn’t released many details, but college costs would reportedly be paid for through a new tax on stock trades.
There are also some logistical challenges that would need to be worked out – in much of Europe, education at every level is more centralized, which as Libby Nelson noted yesterday at Vox, “gives the government more authority to set prices.”
But Sanders’ idea is likely about changing the nature of the conversation. Indeed, as Republican politics becomes radicalized, so too does the GOP’s approach to higher education. The Washington Post recently had this report on the congressional Republican budget.
Senate Republicans passed a budget on Tuesday that would roll back or eliminate a series of federal programs aimed at making college more affordable and student debt more manageable. […] Tucked into the spending plan is the elimination of guaranteed funding for Pell Grants, which provide money for the country’s poorest students to attend college. Under the Republican plan, it would be up to Congress’ discretion to fund the program every year, leaving families vulnerable to future budget cuts.
At the state level, red states are struggling with budget shortfalls, and it’s university budgets that end up on the chopping block.But that was then.
Now a sophomore, Foo has moved to center for the Dutchmen, who open ECAC Hockey action this weekend with a home-and-home series against Capital District rival RPI. Union (2-1-3) hosts RPI (1-4-0) on Friday before going to the Houston Field House on Saturday.The position change came about after Union graduated two of its centers following last season, Mark Bennett and Max Novak. The departures left the Dutchmen a little short at center, and head coach Rick Bennett thought Foo was a good candidate to move into the role.“We felt like we wanted to have some depth down the middle, and having Spencer there really helps us,” Bennett said before Wednesday’s practice at Messa Rink. “He’s a bigger body, he's good on faceoffs, and he's kind of the prototypical center that you like. He’s done a nice job so far.”Bennett added the move was a challenge Foo was ready for in the second year of his college career.“It’s kind of the progression Jeremy Welsh went through his freshman year [before moving] to center,” Bennett said of the former Union star. "We require so much from our centers. Sometimes you come in as a freshman and it takes a year to grasp.”Foo isn’t a total newcomer to the position. He played it during his junior hockey career with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Bonnyville Pontiacs and at the midget level. But it brings a different set of responsibilities than what he had as a right wing last season.“When you’re a winger, you’re mostly just on your point man in the defensive zone. You have to worry about him blocking shots a lot,” said Foo, who is tied for third on the team in scoring with two goals and an assist. “Once you transition to center, it’s a little different in the ‘D zone. It’s a little bit more work. But once you get it down, it’s not too bad.”With the move to center, Foo has already taken more faceoffs than he took all of last season. He said it’s an area that gets worked on a couple times a week after practice with first-year volunteer assistant coach Kris Horn.The efforts have paid off for Foo. His.580 winning percentage on draws ranks second on the team, a few ticks behind Mike Vecchione’s.632 mark. His 47 faceoff wins are third on the team, trailing just Vecchione (98) and Ryan Scarfo (53).“He’s been fantastic at center,” said Vecchione, one of Union’s co-captains and a fellow center. “He’s been winning his draws, and he’s one of our best players out there. He’s creating a lot of ice for himself, winning the one-on-one battles, giving the bench energy, and doing all the little things right. He's really taken the challenge of center and has done a great job at it."Foo has played all six games at center so far this season. It’s a spot Bennett says has the potential to become his long-term home.“It’s where I think he wants to play,” Bennett said. “When someone wants to play there, it’s good for the overall team, and it’s good for the player’s psyche.”House arrest should not prove too irksome for Robert Mugabe. After all, the house in question is most likely the 25-bedroom mansion in Borrowdale, an affluent suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, built for the now-deposed president and his wife, ‘Gucci Grace’.
A gilded cage, quite literally, in the baroque style, marble-clad, drenched in gold leaf and with two swimming pools and a state-of-the-art security system, it is a study in vulgarity.
This wedding cake of an edifice, built at vast expense, is an opulent rebuke to millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who must daily contend with appalling poverty, struggling by on barely a dollar a day.
If the 93-year-old dictator is permitted to serve out what time remains to him in such a setting, he should be grateful.
Others of his kind ended up swinging from lampposts.
House arrest should not prove too irksome for Robert Mugabe. After all, the house in question is most likely the 25-bedroom mansion in Borrowdale, an affluent suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, built for the now-deposed president and his wife, ‘Gucci Grace’
Robert Mugabe's wife Grace (pictured together) is said to have fled to Namibia according to an opposition MP, though there has been no official confirmation of her whereabouts.
Robert Mugabe's wife Grace (pictured together) is said to have fled to Namibia according to an opposition MP, though there has been no official confirmation of her whereabouts.
And 93 is a good age in Zimbabwe — a very good age. When Mugabe came to power in 1980, the life expectancy of a Zimbabwean male at birth was 59. It is now 58.
This is testament to a regime that has transformed what was once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries, endowed with fertile lands and mineral wealth, into an economic basket case where in 2008 the monthly inflation rate peaked at 79.6 billion per cent.
If one object sums up ‘Comrade Bob’ Mugabe’s custodianship of his country, it must surely be the production of the One Trillion Dollar note. The hyperinflation of Weimar Germany appears like a minor glitch in comparison.
The dictator who was feted by the world His years in charge of Zimbabwe were an orgy of murder and corruption — but look who was happy to welcome him... Welcome to Washington: President Bush greets Mugabe in the U.S. capital in 1991 Unholy alliance: Pope Francis with Mugabe and his wife Grace at the Vatican in 2014 Royal role: Independence in 1980 and the new prime minister meets Prince Charles With Nelson Mandela in 1998. South Africa consistently refused to rein in Mugabe Tyrants together: The Zimbabwe leader was a guest of Putin at the Kremlin in 2015
Luckily for Mugabe and his wife, there is plenty of hard currency stashed away in family bank accounts in Asia and elsewhere, as well as property in Hong Kong, Dubai, Malaysia and South Africa.
These billions are the fruits of decades of corruption which have transformed Zimbabwe into a mafia state, a society in which members of the ruling civilian and military elite always expect their cut.
Robert and Grace Mugabe stand comparison with the very worst in the league table of kleptocratic dictatorial couples.
Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu and Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, curses of Romania and the Philippines respectively, are among the few who can rival Mugabe and his wife in the obscene scope of their greed and heartlessness.
But even their countrymen were not as poor as the 16 million people of Zimbabwe are now.
In 2015, the UN World Food Programme estimated that a quarter of children under five in the southern African country were stunted due to malnutrition, and just over half were suffering from anaemia.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe claims to be a Roman Catholic.
Schooled by Jesuits, he has attended the canonisation of Popes in the Vatican.
How he has ever been able to square his religion with the monumental lack of compassion displayed during his 37 years in power is one of the enduring mysteries of the man.
Certainly, ‘Gucci Grace’, a woman who at 52 combines a rapacious appetite for luxury goods with a keen sense of self-worth and a violent temper, was not the person to provide her ageing husband with any form of moral guidance.
Mugabe’s first wife, Sally Hayfron, who lay dying from kidney failure even as the president courted his future second wife — she was his secretary — is considered to have been a restraining influence.
Grace, by contrast, displays no facility for restraint, lavishing millions on bling, including, of all things, a diamond-studded headboard. Cost: £200,000.
Mugabe, said to be a frugal man despite his purloined wealth, may not worship money like his wife but he has the Maoist’s disdain for the individual.
After coming to power in 1980 after years of armed struggle against the white-supremacist government of Ian Smith, Mugabe, leader of the Zanu-PF movement, was at first feted by world leaders.
Margaret Thatcher chatted to him by the fireside at No. 10 during his visits to London, she with a whisky, he with water.
Mugabe always enjoyed a love-hate relationship with the old colonial master, combining admiration of the British with deep suspicion.
His capacity for ruthlessness would soon become clear.
First Lady: Grace Mugabe, 52, pictured with her husband, has been seen as being a successor to her husband after her opponent was fired
In 1983 his forces began a brutal campaign of repression against the Ndebele people of Matabeleland, in western Zimbabwe, who constituted the main support for Zanu’s liberation struggle rival, Zapu.
This exercise in ethnic cleansing, known as the Gukurahundi, is the darkest episode in Zimbabwe’s post-independence history, involving as many as 20,000 civilian deaths. Mugabe justified this slaughter on grounds that the Ndebele required ‘re-education’.
Mugabe’s campaign against Zimbabwe’s white population was far less bloody but no less vindictive. From 1999, the regime initiated a programme to transfer 4,000 white-owned farms to black owners, mainly supposed veterans of the liberation struggle.
Driven out by beatings and intimidation, farming families joined an exodus that saw the white population fall from 296,000 in 1975 to 29,000 now. Zimbabwe’s once-thriving agricultural sector collapsed, particularly its profitable tobacco-growing industry.
As Mugabe aged, he began to suffer the classic symptoms of the dictator. A refusal to acknowledge the true conditions of his people was combined with increasingly lavish expenditure on family events and political rallies.
Mugabe’s marriage to Grace in 1996, dubbed the ‘Wedding of the Century’ in Zimbabwe, was an extravagant Catholic affair. And each decade of the old dictator’s life was marked with ever more expensive partying — his 90th year being marked by a celebration costing £600,000.
Equally extravagant were the president’s foreign jaunts. Despite an EU travel ban, Mugabe continued to criss-cross the world, tailed by a retinue of between 20 and 30 people. Standard allowance for each of them: £1,500 per day.
Grace, who shares her husband’s humble beginnings, was also doing her bit to transfer Zimbabwe’s slender national wealth abroad.
During one bout of retail therapy in Paris in 2002, the First Lady — known in her homeland as the First Shopper — spent more than £120,000 in department stores. And by 2014 her spending on luxury goods was running at £2 million a year. That year’s shopping list included 12 diamond rings, 62 pairs of Ferragamo shoes, 33 pairs made by Gucci and an £80,000 Rolex watch.
After one trip to London, where she stayed in a suite at Claridge’s, Mrs Mugabe was asked how she could justify spending so much on designer shoes.
Grace, who shares her husband’s humble beginnings, was also doing her bit to transfer Zimbabwe’s slender national wealth abroad
‘I have very narrow feet, so I can only wear Ferragamo,’ came the tear-jerking reply.
The Mugabes were banned from Europe in 2002, depriving Grace of favourite haunts such as Harrods, but she continued to spend in China and the Middle East.
A diamond ring purchased to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary cost her £900,000, although she later sued the dealer in question for failure to deliver.
In a further act of retaliation, the First Lady threatened to seize the businessman’s properties in Zimbabwe — hardly a new tactic for a woman who has managed to ‘purchase’ no fewer than five dairy farms with funds that simply appeared out of nowhere.
The Mugabe offspring have acquired their parents’ taste for the good things in life.
In September, Grace’s son by her first marriage, Russell Goreraza, took delivery of not one but two Rolls-Royce limousines.
The 33-year-old playboy is something of a ‘petrolhead’, owning a fleet of expensive cars that he uses to drive around his bankrupt country.
The Mugabes’ youngest son, Chatunga, is similarly extravagant.
He posted a video on Snapchat showing himself pouring champagne (Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades, price £200 a bottle) over a £45,000 watch on a night out in South Africa. He bragged that he owned the timepiece because ‘daddy runs the whole country’.
Soldiers and an armoured vehicle are pictured on patrol on a street in Harare, Zimbabwe today. The Zimbabwean military appeared to have taken control of state institutions, saying that it was 'targeting criminals' in the government
And of course no expense was spared when Mugabe’s only daughter, Bona, married in 2014.
It is estimated that some £3 million was spent on the ceremony, including £500,000 to upgrade the road leading to the venue, a country club. Some 4,000 guests attended.
But do not criticise Mrs Mugabe’s children, to her face at least.
Grace has a fearsome temper, exhibited in Hong Kong in 2009 when she ordered her bodyguard to punch a photographer outside a luxury hotel.
Mrs Mugabe then joined in hitting the hapless journalist in the face with her diamond ring-encrusted fist.
She ‘lost it’ again in August this year, when she assaulted a 20-year-old model called Gabriella Engels with an extension lead in a hotel in Johannesburg.
Only diplomatic immunity, hastily granted by the South African authorities, prevented her being arrested.
But where does the money come from?
One answer is diamonds. Like other members of the ruling clique in Zimbabwe, the Mugabes take their share of proceeds from the Marange diamond fields near the Mozambique border.
The mining operation there is run in co-operation with the Chinese and heavily guarded.
But the estimated £800 billion worth of stones in Marange have so far failed to benefit ordinary Zimbabweans.
If Grace had kept to shoe shopping she might still be enjoying her life as First Lady.
But political ambition got the better of her.
In a bid to succeed her gerontocrat of a husband, in recent years she began selling herself as a political candidate and his rightful heir, angering the political and military establishment, who regarded the succession as their preserve.
‘They say I want to be president. Why not? Am I not a Zimbabwean?’ she told a rally of her supporters.
But she remained deeply unpopular with the population at large.
Her husband’s removal of his likely successor, Emmerson ‘the Crocodile’ Mnangagwa, apparently in favour of his wife, this month was the prompt for military intervention.
In taking on Mnangagwa, a veteran of the liberation struggle and former spy with close ties to the military and intelligence services, Grace was out of her depth, perhaps for the first time in her life.
The price could be a life in exile. Last night it was claimed she had fled to Namibia.
For years, Mrs Mugabe insisted her husband would never cease to be leader of Zimbabwe.
‘We are going to create a special wheelchair for President Mugabe until he rules to 100 years, because that’s what we want,’ she joked. ‘If God decides to take him, then we would rather field him as a corpse.’
But the age of Mugabe is now over, much to the relief of those who have suffered under him.
The question is, will what comes next be any better?The Fakultet Dramskih Umetnosti (Drama and Art Faculty) in Belgrade offers the city a street art gallery filled with colors, styles, and fun. The whole exterior of the building is used for hanging art or as a canvas itself for these young, aspiring artists.
We would encourage a good, slow meander around the building if you are ever in the city. Yes, you need to go on foot to see the full display because the building is covered with art on all sides. Some of it is crowded by trees making it difficult to take unobscured pictures, but it all works together brilliantly. We are fans and would like to thank FDU for putting this out there to bring beauty to the city.
Below is a collection of many of the works without comment.1 Nikica Jelavic
Everton boss Roberto Martinez has confirmed two clubs have enquired about signing Nikica Jelavic.
The Croatian striker has not scored this season and has been restricted to substitute appearances since the arrival of on-loan Chelsea star Romelu Lukaku in the summer.
And Martinez admits he may need to make a decision regarding the striker’s future when the transfer window opens next week.
He told evertontv: “We’ve had a couple of enquiries from two different clubs for one of our players.
“We’ve had a conversation [with Jelavic] and he has the World Cup around the corner. He needs to be playing minutes and we understand that. We’ll always try to give a good assessment of the situation, but that’s not affecting anyone at the club.
“Whatever happens in January will be for the good of the football club and that’s where the work is.”Paving the way to the future? Maybe not this time … Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Back in February, Ford Motors’ financial-services division, Ford Credit, launched a pilot program in Austin, Texas, called Credit Link, through which prospective car buyers could split a lease on a vehicle with two to five other consumers rather than lease or buy one by themselves. The idea was to test out an alternative car-ownership model. In this case, one in which the leasers would create a schedule to determine who has the car, when they have it, and to split car payments however they chose. Channeling the gospel of the burgeoning sharing economy that has powered companies like Airbnb and Uber, the Credit Link program boasts that “it’s time for a new kind of mobility.” Unfortunately, Ford can’t seem to mobilize anyone to sign up.
Ford Credit spokeswoman Margaret Mellott told Automotive News on Tuesday that the company is “still seeing a good flow of traffic to the website, but we don’t have any customers signed up at this point.”* Prognosticators may be prognosticating that we’ll all share a fleet of self-driving cars one day, but for now, the shared-ownership model is apparently a tough sell, at least in Austin.
One of Credit Link’s greatest flaws—other than its inscrutable name—may be at the core of its business plan. Financially, Credit Link might seem like a fine idea—the opportunity cost of a leased car just sitting in the driveway for 90 percent of the day might be too high for some individuals. But to make sense, such a program would have to carve out a niche somewhere between individual car ownership and car-sharing services like Zipcar and Car2Go, which are convenient and don’t involve coordinating with two to five other drivers. Unlike with those services—and certainly unlike with Uber—a car leased between six people won’t really be there whenever you need it. The only thing close to a guarantee is that scheduling will be a pain. (Although perhaps Ford might have more luck with Credit Link by focusing its marketing efforts: Shared car-leasing might appeal to people who have already proven that they’re willing to sacrifice some ease while participating in a shared venture, like the residents of a housing co-op.)
Unlike many sharing-economy ventures, Credit Link isn’t facilitating a transaction between two individuals or a company and individuals, but between a company and a group. And in this case, that may save consumers some cash, but it also makes their lives a little more difficult. Sharing is great—except when you’re sharing lots of hassle.
*Correction, June 22, 2016: This post originally misspelled Margaret Mellott’s last name.Republican presidential front-runner 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 is sending a warning to GOP leaders about his dominance in the polls: “You’ve got to get used to it.”
During an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace, the billionaire said Republicans are “kidding themselves” if they think he won’t secure the GOP nomination.
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“I say, folks, you know, I’m sorry I did this to you, but you’ve got to get used to it,” Trump said. “It’s one of those little problems in life.”
“I’m going to win.... You know, I’m not one of these other guys that goes down. I don’t go down. I go up.”
Trump’s interview with Wallace is set to air Sunday at 6 p.m.So there it is. Ted Cruz was born in Canada. As if we all didn't know that. However, Cruz felt it necessary to release a copy of his birth certificate to the Dallas Morning News in order to establish that he is an American citizen and a Canadian citizen.
Born in Canada to an American mother, Ted Cruz became an instant U.S. citizen. But under Canadian law, he also became a citizen of that country the moment he was born. Unless the Texas Republican senator formally renounces that citizenship, he will remain a citizen of both countries, legal experts say. That means he could assert the right to vote in Canada or even run for Parliament. On a lunch break from the U.S. Senate, he could head to the nearby embassy — the one flying a bright red maple leaf flag — pull out his Calgary, Alberta, birth certificate and obtain a passport. “He’s a Canadian,” said Toronto lawyer Stephen Green, past chairman of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section. The circumstances of Cruz’s birth have fueled a simmering debate over his eligibility to run for president. Knowingly or not, dual citizenship is an apparent if inconvenient truth for the tea party firebrand, who shows every sign he’s angling for the White House.
The irony of this is just too delicious. After all the racist, ugly stabs at President Obama for the circumstances of his birth, now Ted Cruz has to contend with the same issues. But don't worry, because Orly Taitz has already figured out how to love Ted Cruz while hating President Obama.
Orly Taitz, perhaps the most famous birther short of Donald Trump, wrote earlier this month that Obama had so corrupted the rule of law that it no longer mattered whether Cruz was legally a citizen.
Well, of course it doesn't. Any port in a storm, Orly.
Cruz' past seems to have some creepiness in it, too:
“It was my distinct impression that Ted had nothing to learn from anyone else,” said Erik Leitch, who lived in Butler College with Cruz. Leitch said he remembers Cruz as someone who wanted to argue over anything or nothing, just for the exercise of arguing. “The only point of Ted talking to you was to convince you of the rightness of his views." In addition to Mazin and Leitch, several fellow classmates who asked that their names not be used described the young Cruz with words like “abrasive,” "intense," “strident,” “crank,” and “arrogant." Four independently offered the word “creepy,” with some pointing to Cruz’s habit of donning a paisley bathrobe and walking to the opposite end of their dorm’s hallway where the female students lived. “I would end up fielding the [girls’] complaints: 'Could you please keep your roommate out of our hallway?'" Mazin says.
Ted Cruz, Tea Party Presidential hopeful. In a paisley bathrobe, creeping out girls. Imagine what he could do in the White House.Comcast swears it won’t give preferential treatment to its favorite internet content, but they want to legalize doing it, anyway.
Last Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission unveiled plans to repeal net neutrality protections, which prevent internet providers from blocking or slowing access to certain online content, or creating prioritized “fast lanes” for the websites that providers prefer. Hours after the FCC’s announcement, Comcast took to Twitter to assure customers that it wouldn’t abuse the new powers.
“We do not and will not block, throttle, or discriminate against lawful content,” Comcast tweeted.
But in a July filing with the FCC, Comcast left its options open. While Comcast said it opposed paid prioritization that “could harm competition and undermine Internet openness,” the company went on to argue in favor of fast lanes’ underlying technology.
“The Commission also should bear in mind that a more flexible approach to prioritization may be warranted and may be beneficial to the public,” Comcast wrote.
Fast lanes could be used to protect internet speeds for medical devices and autonomous vehicles, Comcast argued in its filing. (Comcast’s reference to medical equipment is a moot point: current net neutrality protections already allow special fast lanes for the telemedicine devices.)
Comcast said not to read too far into its defense of fast lanes for specific devices.
“We tried to take a balanced approach and suggest in our policy filings that there could be some applications or services that would make sense,” Comcast told The Daily Beast of its July filing. “We didn’t say that we were going to do them.”
Even on Twitter, Comcast appeared to dodge when users pressed it on its policies. The company presented the net neutrality rollback as an opportunity to block “anticompetitive paid prioritization.”
“Paid prioritization” is tech-speak for internet fast lanes, which would allow websites like Netflix to pay internet providers like Comcast for faster access. But the reference to “no anticompetitive paid prioritization,” as first noted by Ars Technica, is an impressive qualifier. The wording suggested that Comcast might support fast lanes, as long as they were “competitive”.
“Comcast hasn’t entered into any paid prioritization agreements,” a company spokesperson told The Daily Beast in a statement. “Period. And we have no plans to do so. No matter what the skeptics say, you can’t accurately convert an unequivocal statement that Comcast has no plans to enter into any paid prioritization arrangement into plans for paid prioritization.”
Other internet service providers have also come under scrutiny for feel-good statements public statements that do little to actually protect net neutrality.
Since July, AT&T has encouraged pro-net neutrality customers to fill out a form that actually asks the FCC to repeal existing protections.
“Since this debate began over a decade ago, we have always supported an internet that is transparent and free from blocking, censorship and discriminatory throttling,” AT&T’s website reads. “But relying on 80-year old regulations to ensure these fundamental open internet principles does not make sense.”
Those “80-year old regulations” are the laws that allow the FCC to regulate internet providers.
The form then auto-generates letters to the FCC with virtually meaningless messages like “I am writing in regard to the Commission’s work on preserving an open internet. There is no doubt that the internet has become a crucial part of our economy and way of life. That’s why it’s very important to regulate it in a responsible way.”Salutations Sens Fans,
Radek Bonk's Mullet here. Do you find hockey hard to follow? Does the FoxTrax glowing puck only make things worse? Well Ottawa Senators fans, you're in luck. I've compiled a helpful map below to make watching Ottawa Senators games that much easier. More about yours truly joining Silver Seven after the break.
An NHL Ice Rink Broken Down: Ottawa Senators Edition
(Click the image for the full-sized version)
Now Back to Bonk
After years of toiling in the minors (on Twitter), I have decided to take my talents to the Silver Seven community. For my first post I thought, "What better idea than to blatantly rip off someone else's ideas?" I was heavily inspired by this post on Reddit that circulated on the World Wide Web this week, and most of the credit should go to the /r/hockey community.
The Silver Seven IR list must have been as long as that of the Ottawa Senators, as the management here offered has offered me an (extremely) cap-friendly entry-level contract to plug a hole in the lineup. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Thanks again to Peter and the crew here for allowing an unproven talent such as myself to write for the site. I hope to contribute with some regularity.
A few more thanks are in order:
Apologies to Reddit user Valentine96, who posted this days ago. I blatantly stole your injury zone.
Thanks to Matt Kassian for preventing me from getting carpel-tunnel while photoshopping.
Thanks to the Silfver Sefven staff, Kevin Lee (@SensForLife11), Phil, Amrit, and Lauren for contributing ideas to this post.
Thanks to Alfie, because you should always thank Alfie.
Finally, thanks to my close personal friend Guillaume Latendresse and his #guyet, because who knows where I would be without it.
Enjoy the game today!
RBMDusting ‘Em Off is a rotating, free-form feature that revisits a classic album, film, or moment in pop-culture history. This week, Wren Graves revisits the debut solo album from rock’s greatest poet of anxiety.
The music business as we know it has been dying for decades now, which places it in good company. Theatre, books, painting, and sculpture have all become permanent invalids, never quite recovering, but still, not dead yet. These different industries are suffering from the same condition: Call it a case of terminal technology. A stage play in New York can hardly have the same cultural relevance as a TV show watched by millions of people around the world; most people seem to prefer reading the posts of their friends to published authors; and while a painting of the ocean can be very nice, it was perhaps more special in the days before Google image search and cheap flights to Miami.
At the turn of the millennium, Napster and other Peer-to-Peer sharing services upended music by proving the obvious: namely, that people would rather not pay for things they can get for free. Some musicians took this news worse than others. Metallica, for example, waged a public war on Napster and in doing so damaged their credibility as don’t-give-a-fuck rock gods. To many fans, especially younger fans, it seemed that they cared a great deal — especially about money.
In contrast, the members of Radiohead generally come across as, if not selfless, then at least self-aware. After Hail to the Thief concluded their five-record contract with EMI/Capitol, Thom Yorke spoke to TIME: “I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say, ‘Fuck you’ to this decaying business model.” Radiohead’s raised middle finger turned out to be their 2007 masterpiece In Rainbows, which did blockbuster business by asking fans to “Pay What You Want.”
But it’s the in-between period that interests us today. After touring for Hail to the Thief and before writing In Rainbows, Radiohead hit the pause button for the first time in their careers. They took a hiatus.
Radiohead’s members weren’t idle, of course. By my rough count, the hiatus produced one solo album, one film score, and five new children, to bring the total at the time to eleven. They were busy! But they were busy in different ways. By getting to see the band members separately, fans were better able to understand how the individuals worked together.
Thom Yorke’s The Eraser doubles down on the collage-style songwriting of Kid A and Amnesiac. At the time of the album’s release, he spoke to The Globe and Mail: “I didn’t really come into it expecting to make songs. It started just with random bits and pieces. I guess I thought there would be vocals, but I was thinking in terms of using little vocal shreds, and of making them part of the tapestry, not the main thing. But as soon as we had gone through the initial sketches, it became obvious that they could be quite direct. Nigel (Godrich, the producer) basically dragged me kicking and screaming toward the concept of them being actual songs.”
Photo by Autumn Andel
“Direct” is perhaps an overstatement; the songs are heavy on imagery and light on narrative. But of all the songs, the most direct is probably “Harrowdown Hill”, which deals with the death of whistleblower David Kelly. During the Iraq war, Kelly had been on the ground looking for weapons of mass destruction. He found none, because as we now know, there were none. So in 2003, when a British government dossier claimed to have found those weapons, Kelly anonymously told the BBC that the dossier had lied. Kelly’s identity was discovered, he was dragged through the press, summoned to Parliament, threatened with prison, and he killed himself — or is that just what the government wants you to believe? The song begins with a warning to other would-be whistleblowers: “Don’t walk the plank like I did/ You will be dispensed with/ When you become inconvenient,” and it explicitly references the conspiracy theories swirling around his death: “Did I fall or was I pushed?” Yorke doesn’t take sides: definitely suicide, definitely murder. The uncertainty surrounding the official narrative is the whole point. Yes weapons, no weapons? The truth has been destroyed.
Unless we’re counting Nigel Godrich as an unofficial sixth member, only one bandmate collaborates on The Eraser: Jonny Greenwood plays piano for the halting, haunting piano loop of the title track. The drumbeat wouldn’t be out of place in a dance song, and Yorke continues to layer over top — cooing “oohs” and electronic blips and beeps. He pulls back to just the piano and builds again. But his builds all have to do with layers, with more or less complexity. This is true of the whole album, which has none of the tempo changes we’ve come to associate with Radiohead and none of the epic quiet-to-loud dynamics of Radiohead songs of the era, like “Sit Down, Stand Up” or “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”.
Compare this to Jonny Greenwood’s big project from the period, his award-winning score to Paul Thomas Anderson’s film There Will Be Blood. The score is nothing but dynamics. The opening notes of the score slowly fade in, raising in pitch as well as volume, splintering into discord before building to a single piercing note. The famous oil fire scene begins with silence. At the 2:14 mark, a lone drum sketches out an anxious heartbeat, before launching into a furious frenzy.
The whole score is predicated on tension: between low notes and high, discord and harmony, silence and volume.
This is not to suggest that Jonny Greenwood contributed all the big swings within Radiohead songs or that Thom Yorke is solely responsible for the careful sonic layering. Of course the two projects sound different; they were created in totally separate environments and with very distinct aims. But there aren’t many opportunities to weigh the band members’ individual contributions. Each solo project gives us more insight into the group; that’s actually the main appeal of Phil Selway’s solo records. They’re proof, in my mind at least, that he is a) Definitely contributing interesting musical ideas to the band, but b) Definitely not one of the main engines powering Radiohead. Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are usually thought to be the primary songwriters, and that’s because, during the first hiatus, they each created something wonderful without much help from the others. So, no, the differences aren’t proof of anything. But it’s interesting to note that the two most prominent members of a band famous, in part, for intricate layering and dramatic changes in tempo and volume each focused on one of those things when left to his own devices.
To my ear, The Eraser has three duds: “Skip Divided”, “Atoms for Peace” (which was |
500 posted its sixth straight record high close on Thursday, its longest run since 1997, as investors cheered increased prospects for a tax overhaul with Congress moving closer to agreement on a budget resolution.
In a procedural step forward, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved a fiscal 2018 spending blueprint to help them advance an eventual tax bill.
The blueprint contains a legislative tool that would let Republicans bypass Democrats and pass a tax bill by a simple majority vote in the Senate, where they hold 52 of 100 seats.
“It really started to take off after news that the House passed a portion of the president’s plan,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth in New York.
“I don’t know if that’s going to make it all the way through... but you’re seeing it in higher Treasury yields, a better financial sector and technology.”
The S&P technology index.SPLRCT, up 1.1 percent, was the day’s top-performing sector, followed by financials, with that index.SPSY up 1 percent. The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.3 percent. Small-cap companies are seen as among the biggest beneficiaries of any tax cut.
The CBOE Volatility index.VIX, which tracks the cost of protection against a decline in the S&P 500, set a record closing low, ending at 9.19.
Also helping stocks, more data pointed to underlying strength in the U.S. economy despite weather-related disruptions, with the trade deficit narrowing in August and jobless claims falling more than expected last week.
New orders for goods made in the United States rose in August and orders for core capital goods were stronger than previously reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average.DJI rose 113.75 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 22,775.39, while the S&P 500.SPX gained 14.33 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,552.07. The Nasdaq Composite.IXIC added 50.73 points, or 0.78 percent, to 6,585.36.
The S&P 500 has closed higher for the last eight sessions, and posted record closes for the last six, the longest such run since an eight-day streak in June 1997.
Thursday also marked the fourth day in a row where all three major indexes had hit record closing highs.
“Nobody likes to buy at all-time highs, but with the prospect of it going higher, you’re missing out, so you have to do some buying to stay competitive,” Pavlik said.
Shares of Netflix (NFLX.O) jumped 5.4 percent after the company raised the monthly subscription fees for two of its three main U.S. plans by $1 and $2, respectively.
Helping banks, Randal Quarles was confirmed as vice chair of the Federal Reserve. The banking sector widely expects Quarles to play a key part in U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to ease regulations.
The S&P bank index.SPXBK was up 1.3 percent.
Bond yields rose, with the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield US10YT=RR last at 2.349 percent versus 2.332 percent late on Wednesday.
Friday brings the U.S. monthly jobs report, while investors are also anxious to see third-quarter corporate earnings reports.
Analysts expect earnings of S&P 500 companies rose 5.3 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data. That would be down from double-digit growth in the first two quarters of this year.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 4, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The S&P 500 is likely to finish this year at 2,525, about 13 percent higher than where it was at the end of 2016, based on the median forecast of 47 strategists polled by Reuters.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.55-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.63-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
About 5.9 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges. That compares with the 6.2 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.In Stockholm, the depths of winter can stretch out over nearly half the calendar year. Last winter, the first reported snowfall came on Oct. 25, and the last sighting wasn’t until April 20.
With six months of potential snow, the task of keeping the city’s commuters moving and working can be a real challenge for local government. At the moment, Stockholm uses a relatively standard snow-clearing strategy that differs little from what other harsh-winter cities have chosen to do. They focus their plows first on major thoroughfares, then on downtown areas close to major workplaces and construction sites, and finally move on to smaller roads, neighborhoods, and schools.
But some in Stockholm’s city government have begun to suspect that these longstanding strategies may not best serve all of the city’s residents. By focusing on city-center workplaces and construction sites, the Green Party’s Daniel Helldén suggests, the city is implicitly ignoring the places that “vulnerable groups,” including women and families, frequent most often. His solution? Something he’s calling “gender-equal plowing.”
Helldén, an opposition vice mayor who serves as the vice chairman of Stockholm’s traffic and waste collection committee, made his proposal at a meeting in early December, English-language news site The Local reported. And he’s making a uniquely gendered case for why the city should abandon its emphasis on clearing major highways that make it easier for cars to make their way to the city center.
Helldén’s proposal is modeled on a similar initiative begun last year in the small Swedish city of Karlskoga, about 150 miles due west of Stockholm. After a careful review, the municipality of less than 30,000 adjusted the order in which streets were plowed in order to better align with the schedules of a busy parent’s day. Now, they focus first on areas around day cares and schools — where parents stop in before work — before moving on to office districts and then main roads.
This cartoon (in Swedish) explains the changes in Karlskoga’s plowing practices towards focusing on bike lanes, pedestrian areas, and schools — the places adults, especially mothers, visit first in the morning.
The concept of this realignment is being sold as a sort of feminist proposal, but also as good overall public policy. “You have to look at how a modern city functions today. There are completely different transportation patterns around,” Helldén told the Svenska Dagbladet (translation from Sveriges Radio). The changes, which would also include an emphasis on transit hubs and bike lanes, might make even more sense in a city where, as of 2006, less than half of the region’s commuters drove a private car (and that proportion has since shrunk considerably).
This story was produced by Atlantic Cities as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.Set 1
Bertha-> Minglewood Blues-> Candyman, Little Red Rooster, Bird Song, El Paso, Tennessee Jed, It's All Over Now, Lazy Lightning-> Supplication-> Might As Well
Set 2
Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain-> Lost Sailor-> Saint Of Circumstance-> Drums-> Truckin'-> Wharf Rat-> Around & Around-> Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad-> Johnny B. Goode, E: It's All Over Now Baby Blue
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Reviewer: robr0001 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - August 31, 2016
Subject: Great Show Great Time
We had a lllllllooooonnnnngggg night driving from Madison. Didn't get in till the sun was up. Tried to crash in the hotel for a while but it was useless. Partied pretty hard all day. About I went on that entire summer tour. It was the one tour I saw every show.We had a lllllllooooonnnnngggg night driving from Madison. Didn't get in till the sun was up. Tried to crash in the hotel for a while but it was useless. Partied pretty hard all day. About 5:00 5:30 my friend and I noticed that the service door was open and the Pepsi/Beer trucks were making their deliveries. So, we walked in the service entrance. Nobody said a word to us so we walked around for a while. We made ourselves comfortable in like the 10th row. We saw the sound check (Cant Remember) and then sat and waited to get kicked out. It never happened. We sat in those seat all night. Nobody said boo. Great Show Great Time. Sure miss being 20. Take care everybody. - August 31, 2016Great Show Great Time
Reviewer: kee-zeee - favorite favorite favorite favorite - July 26, 2015
Subject: When i hear your velvet thunder Nice matrix..I love how you can hear and feel the audience react to the band~! One of my favorite El Paso's and The Tennessee Jed is off da hook..Also more fucking cowbells for smoking Lazy Lightning>Supplication combo's~!!!! As mentioned a very nice Scarlet>Fire~~Tight from start to finish~~Wrap your head around this one>Forever Grateful>Forever Dead~!!!!!!! - July 26, 2015When i hear your velvet thunder
Reviewer: njpg - favorite favorite favorite - August 28, 2014
Subject: - Good 2nd set. - August 28, 2014
Reviewer: tom62comet - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 24, 2013
Subject: My first show This is the one that started it all for me. 75 shows later, this is still my favorite. There is a moment during Fire on the Mountain where Jerry just totally nails it and the crowd has a mutual musical orgasm...listen for it during the second jam, the crowd just totally peaks together, not really a cheer so much as a audible thrill! - April 24, 2013My first show
Reviewer: jerryhands - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - June 23, 2012
Subject: agreement with gull king. this supplication is pretty furious. i personally like how they dipped that track in reverb. in the industry, its called "star maker"...ha! all of hunter seamon's matrices are killer. like the title says, i gotta go with the gull king! plus think about this: this show is in minnesota in 1982. this is they best thing that ever happened to the twin cities other than the movie fargo. one last point: jerry is on fire here. just go with it, its the grateful dead. - June 23, 2012agreement with gull king.
Reviewer: Seagullking - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - June 23, 2012
Subject:... I think the guy below me is way off about the LL>Supplication. To me it's some of the most interesting music they've ever done, and this Supplication is really great. Other than that, I agree with it all. Would have never found the show if I didn't log on the same day he reviewed it, so cheers! Jerry is really into it tonight! I give 5 because I'd personally be having the time of my life at a gig like this. A standout for the year. 5 for Hunter Seamons as usual, too! - June 23, 2012...Earlier today the Commission issued a series of questions to the telecom giant asking -- among other things -- about the extent of AT&T's rollout plans and whether bringing fiber to all those new doorsteps would ultimately prove unprofitable. Oh, and the FCC wants to see every document AT&T has relating to its decision to limit its fiber rollout to the 2 million customers it promised as part of its plan to potentially buy DirecTV. That fiber rollout has been mired in confusion basically since day one thanks to AT&T's terribly vague statements -- it first named 100 towns and cities that could get that high-speed fiber service, and then mentioned its expansion of reach to those 2 million new customers. It's never been clear where those 2 million people would actually come from (or even if all those towns will ever get AT&T fiber), but the FCC doesn't seem pleased with the implication that AT&T would only do the bare minimum needed for regulatory lip-service. Anyway, the deadline for all that juicy info? One week. Your move, AT&T.
[Image source: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images]Voting in a different EU country can make politics seem even more tricky, with a new set of politicians, parties and issues to contend with.
But all EU citizens in Germany can head to the polls on Sunday to cast their vote in the European Parliament elections.
Why I’m voting
For 42-year-old Italian-born publisher Camillo, the election is more about Europe-wide policy than national issues.
Among the priorities Camillo wants brought to the fore is "an EU common defence policy, especially after the whole Ukrainian debacle".
He also favours a "tax harmonization across the EU" to combat corporate tax havens and "a shared and comprehensive approach to immigration".
But Camillo's reasons for voting in his adoptive Germany rather than his native Italy lie much closer to home in Berlin, with the issue of protecting the Tempelhofer Feld, a popular public park on the site of a defunct airport.
Although EU citizens can't vote in the referendum concerning the site's future, Camillo said the Social Democrats' (SPD) support of building on the site influenced his decision in the EU elections.
"I want it to stay the way it is, and the SPD supporting the construction of thousands of houses there made sure they won't have my vote."
And 34-year-old Belgian-British citizen Christopher Steel told The Local he agreed country-level issues should take a back seat when it came to EU elections.
"I wouldn't see the point of voting for the EU out of national interests. For me it defeats the point."
For Steel, voting in these elections is "about developing common standards and EU policy as a whole, rather than some party trying to represent…national interests at the European level”.
While he was unaware that as an EU citizen he could vote in Germany's ballot on Sunday, Steel said the idea of choosing an EU nation in which to cast his vote was interesting.
"I would have to see if I feel better represented by a Belgian or a German party," he said.
But for others, national issues tend to count more than European in making choices on EU politics.
Efthymios Penessis, a 38-year-old artist originally from Athens, Greece, told The Local he would be voting on economic policies - primarily his support for German "reparations for the occupation of Greece" during World War II and the principle of "common debt" among European countries.
SEE ALSO: 'Why foreigners must get the vote in Germany'
But 29-year-old Italian citizen Davide said he considered the key challenges faced by Europe as common to all the member states.
"The issues are not so different in Germany than in my home country - Unemployment and jobs, free movement and migration, privacy, environmental and energy issues like shale gas, the Ukraine crisis.
"These are common issues all over Europe and are being debated in all member states."
Why I’m not voting
British student Patrick Constable, who lives and works in Berlin, told The Local that while he would have voted in Germany rather than the UK, he had lost track of German politics.
"I'm broadly apathetic," the 21-year-old said, but added he would probably have voted for far-left party Die Linke, believing them more of a genuine left wing option than the SPD, whom he sees as drifting into the centre.
"I wouldn't vote for them because of the cuts they made and their move towards the right," he said.
"But I see Die Linke adverts about a higher minimum wage, better pensions and restricting arms dealing, which I think is very important.
"The social and economic issues are most significant for me."Alan P. Friz is accused of locking his 14-year-old daughter in a cage and sexually molesting her (Dubois County Jail)
The parents of a 14-year-old Indiana girl are accused of keeping her locked in a cage every night for a month, depriving the girl of food and water and sexually molesting her — even while she was locked in the cage.
According to Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta, when 57-year-old dentist Alan Friz was asked why he’d meted out such inhumane punishment on his teen daughter, he replied, “The Lord is good” and refused to say more.
Friz and his wife Aimee Friz, 36, were arrested last week and arraigned in Dubois County Court on Thursday, said the Dubois County Free Press. Police were called to their house on a report of an out of control child, but what officers found shocked and appalled them.
“According to court documents, when executing the search warrant on the home, officers located a wooden cage containing a mattress and pan for the child to use to go to the restroom when she was kept there overnight. The cage was labeled with the child’s name,” said the Free Press.
The girl was kept in the cage each night for the month of September. Friz told police his daughter had threatened to harm other members of the family and had to be confined.
Deputies contacted the Department of Family and Children’s Services to assess the girl, who is developmentally impaired. In interviews, she revealed that not only was she freqeuently caged as punishment, she told investigators that her father “routinely touched her breasts.”
“According to court documents,” the Free Press said, “the teen girl said the incidents began when she was 13. The allegations include incidents in which Mr. Friz entered the bathroom while the girl was showering. In another described incident, he allegedly entered her room, turned the light off and touched her breasts until some of the other children entered the room and turned the lights on.”
She also told investigators that her father sexually fondled her while she was in the cage and unable to escape, which she says she reported to her mother, who ignored the allegations.
Upon meeting with Family and Children’s Services, deputies attempted to arrest Mr. and Mrs. Friz and take the children into protective custody, only to find that Mrs. Friz had fled the residence with all of the couple’s children.
Alan Friz was taken into custody as the sheriff’s department tracked Aimee Friz’s phone to St. Louis. However, on Thursday, Mrs. Friz was spotted by officers outside the courthouse where her husband was scheduled for arraignment. Officers arrested and jailed her.
When a TV reporter asked Alan Friz for comment, he simply said, “The Lord is good.”
Watch video about this story, embedded below:As the polls get set to close, voters wait in line to cast their ballots in the Jefferson Middle School gym, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama and Mitt Romney made sharply different bets about who would vote this year.
It turned out that Americans who cast ballots looked collectively much more like what Obama had envisioned — a diverse tapestry that reflected a changing America — than the whiter, older electorate Romney had banked on.
Younger voters and minorities came to the polls at levels not far off from the historic coalition Obama assembled in 2008. The reality caught off-guard Republicans who banked on a more monolithic voting body sending them to the White House — and who had based their polling on that assumption.
The outcome revealed a stark problem for Republicans: If they don't broaden their tent, they won't move forward.
And it foreshadowed changes over the next generation that could put long-held Republican states onto the political battleground maps of the future.
"Clearly, when you look at African-American and Latino voters, they went overwhelmingly for the president," said John Stineman, a Republican strategist from Iowa. "And that's certainly a gap that's going to require a lot of attention from Republicans."
In exit polling Tuesday, voters mirrored the voting public's makeup of four years ago, when Obama shattered minority voting barriers and drove young voters to the polls unlike any candidate in generations.
White voters made up 72 percent of the electorate — less than four years ago — while black voters remained at 13 percent and Hispanics increased from 9 percent to 10 percent.
That flew in the face of GOP assumptions that the fierce economic headwinds of the past three years and the passing of the novelty of the first African-American president would trim Obama's support from black voters, perhaps enough to make the difference in a close election.
However, Obama carried Virginia, the heart of the old South, in part by having increased his record support from black voters there in 2008, which reached 18 percent, to more than 20 percent, according to Obama campaign internal tracking polls.
It was also reflected in turnout that matched his 2008 totals in places like Cleveland, which helped Obama carry Ohio solidly despite Romney's all-out effort there in the campaign's final weeks.
"Republicans have been saying for months" that Obama's black support would slip, Democratic pollster Paul Maslin said. "And what happens? When African-Americans had the chance to affirm him, they came out in droves."
Obama won in 2008 by carrying several long-held Republican states, including North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana. And while Romney easily carried Indiana and narrowly peeled back North Carolina, the fact that Obama held Virginia points to a long-term demographic shift that survived the pressures of the poor economy.
Obama carried each contested state except North Carolina by aggressively registering first-time voters. He matched his share of the youth vote from 2008, and nearly matched his support from seniors.
The 2012 electorate mirrored 2008 in terms of party identification and racial makeup, with self-identified Democrats topping Republicans and independents.
During his victory speech Tuesday, Obama nodded to the Democratic coalition he had held together.
"It doesn't matter if you're black or white, or Hispanic or Asian, or Native American, or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight," Obama told his crowd of supporters gathered in Chicago. "You can make it here in America if you're willing to try."
The minority and youth turnout was not the only assumption Romney made that turned out to be wrong.
While voters considered the economy the driving issue in the election, they did not hold Obama wholly responsible, as Romney long had assumed they would.
That realization forced Romney to pivot late in the campaign and attempt to turn the election into a choice of competing visions. Republicans argued late in the campaign that Romney's performance during the first of three debates had energized a groundswell of enthusiasm seen in their polling.
But it seemed Obama's support was quietly amassing with more vigor, GOP strategists said.
"There really wasn't an enthusiasm gap," said Republican strategist Charlie Black, an informal Romney adviser. "And independents didn't break our way."The street gangs of Chicago killed a teacher the other day as she walked with her husband near their home in Rogers Park.
Cynthia Trevillion, 64, was gunned down as she and her husband, John, were walking near the “L” stop on Morse Avenue.
She’s another innocent victim of the Chicago street gang wars that City Hall and the mayor can’t seem to stop.
Chicago politicians want you to think of it as gun violence because that gives them political cover. That formulation provides an easy object for anger — guns — rather than having voters blame inept politicians who can’t keep the streets safe from the gang wars.
Guns tell some of the story, but not the whole story.
There are many guns in the suburbs, but people aren’t being shot down in the suburbs. Teachers aren’t being killed, and innocent children aren’t murdered, hunted through the alleys by gangs, assassinated over a grudge or for what they’ve witnessed.
This is gang violence. And City Hall has few, if any, answers.
Just a few feet from one of those makeshift shrines that tell you where murder has been done — this was the shrine of Cynthia Trevillion — I ran into a street sweeper.
He said his name was Ali Shabazz, a large African-American man wearing a black “Sons of Anarchy” jacket under the neon green vest of a street sweeper. He kept his broom busy.
“Sons of Anarchy,” that TV show about the white bikers?
Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune Ali Shabazz who works in the Rogers Park neighborhood, remembers Cynthia Trevillion, a school teacher who was shot to death on Glenwood Avenue by the Morse Avenue CTA station where she regularly walked her dog. Ali Shabazz who works in the Rogers Park neighborhood, remembers Cynthia Trevillion, a school teacher who was shot to death on Glenwood Avenue by the Morse Avenue CTA station where she regularly walked her dog. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
“Yeah,” he laughed. “I know, right? White bikers. But it’s a good show. And people offer me money for this jacket. But I keep it. I like it.”
He swept around the shrine, and along the street where Trevillion had been walking Friday night when she was killed.
“She was innocent. She was a superpolite, supersweet lady,” said Shabazz, who has been tending to the street for a Rogers Park community association for about a year. He said he saw her almost every day.
“She just had such a nice smile. And she didn’t have a lot of big words and big statements to make.”
Big words and statements?
“You know, some people make statements about this or that. She wasn’t one of those people. She was just a very kind lady. She had a little dog, like Toto in “The Wizard of Oz.” And you knew her when you saw her, by the light of her soul and her spirit.
“She was a gentle soul,” he said. “That’s what she was.”
Politicians and police planned a public meeting for that corner on Monday night to stress that the community is relatively safe and to let concerned neighbors blow off some steam and direct their anger at some safe. nonpolitical target. I’ve seen too many of these.
And I’ve seen and written about too many shrines of innocents gunned down in the gang wars, the little victims Chicago forgets as new victims replace the old in the city’s unending river of violence.
Two little boys were named Antonio Smith and Peanut Banks, but there have been others too. Their deaths weren’t leverage for loud, anti-cop protests and TV coverage. They were just kids, and the memory of them fades in Chicago.
But Cynthia Trevillion wasn’t some kid on a corner. She was a teacher.
“It shouldn’t make a difference, but it does because she meant so much to her community, “Shabazz said. “She’s been a teacher for 30 years. That means something to people. So, yes, it does make a difference.”
There were no rough boys on the street on Monday. It was midmorning, a time for taxpayers to walk their dogs, and get coffee and run errands.
Cynthia Trevillion, 64, a teacher at Waldorf School in Chicago, was shot in the head and fatally wounded in the 6900 block of North Glenwood Avenue near the Morse Red Line station on Oct. 13, 2017, in the Rogers Park neighborhood. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)
The time comes later for the rough boys on the corners, passing small packages from one hand to another, dispersing when cops come, returning when they go.
Several neighbors said one gang hangs out in the Dunkin’ Donuts at Glenwood and Morse.
“Look,” said one of the women behind the counter. “We don’t know who is a gang and who isn’t. People drink coffee here. They have donuts. To us, they’re customers who drink coffee.”
One person saw it all and talked to police. I won’t give out her real name. She is afraid.
“Altercations happen always when the Dunkin’ Donuts closes,” she said. “And this time, two started running, and then the guns and she was shot.
“She was shot where the flowers and candles are now,” she said. “I’m still in shock. I feel bad for her, yes, but also I think it could have been me.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“You know what I ask of myself? I ask, ‘Where are the parents of those kids?’ ”
Do you have children?
“I don’t. But I’ve raised kids, my nephews. They’ve turned out pretty good. They are in the military or they are doing something with their lives.”
She said her nephews escaped the gangs because she was involved with their lives at all times; and, because of what her father had taught her.
“He was strict, and told us there are only two answers that you can give to anything that you get into in life. And either it’s ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ ” she said.
“He taught to us, to say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ whether it’s drugs, or gangs or things like that. Even at a young age, you can teach the difference between good and bad. But these boys who killed the teacher didn’t learn that. Maybe the parents are the same way.”
Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at http://wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.
[email protected]
Twitter @John_Kass
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In Rogers Park, 'a great deal of sadness' after fatal shooting of popular teacher »
Teacher, 64, killed near Rogers Park 'L' station, was caught in drive-by gunfire: police »A 22-year-old woman said her iPhone was stolen from a 24-year-old man during a date on March 30, police said. View Full Caption Flickr/Nick Allen
WILLIAMSBURG — A 24-year-old man stole his date’s iPhone in Williamsburg after the woman refused to go home with him, police said.
The victim, a 22-year-old woman, went on a date with the suspect on March 30, according to police.
The two got into an argument on Metropolitan Avenue near Lorimer Street around 1:15 a.m. after the woman told the man that she did not want to leave with him, police said.
The man then grabbed the phone from her hand and fled into a nearby subway station, police said.
Other notable incidents in the 94th Precinct, according to police:
► A man’s iPhone was stolen on March 24 around 9:15 p.m. while he was walking on Jackson Street toward Manhattan Avenue. The thief, who was in his 20s, according to police, grabbed the phone from the victim’s hand. As the victim tried to fight to retrieve his phone, another man who may have been carrying a black gun approached him from across the street, the victim told police. The victim stopped fighting for his phone and ran away.
► A man stole $20 from a tip jar at a Bedford Avenue restaurant between N. 6th and N. 7th streets on March 28 around 9:30 p.m. A 22-year-old man chased after the thief but when he caught up to him at Metropolitan near Union Avenues, the thief pulled out a knife and then fled.
► An iPad, a pearl necklace, a bracelet and an Apple laptop were stolen from a Williamsburg home. The victim said the thieves broke into her apartment and stole the valuables on March 24 between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.
► A bag, hat, credit cards and a book were stolen from a Williamsburg home on March 28 between 11 p.m. and midnight. During the crime, a man was watching television in the living room when he heard someone in the kitchen. He later noticed that his girlfriend’s bag was missing from the kitchen table and that the front door was slightly open. The bag belonged to a 41-year-old woman who was sleeping in the bedroom.
► Roughly $22,000 was stolen from a Williamsburg ATM at N. 6th Street between Wythe Avenue and Berry Street on March 23 between 5:20 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The manager of the ATM company told police that the machine had been tampered with.
► An Apple laptop was stolen from the coffee shop counter in Greenpoint on March 29 just before 10 a.m. Two thieves entered the Franklin Street coffee and flower shop and while the clerk was distracted, they put the laptop in a duffel bag and left.
► More than 1,000 worth of electronic equipment, including an Apple laptop, an iPod, hard drives and a computer monitor were stolen from a car parked near Manhattan Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue on March 29 between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m.On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Real Story,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) stated that there is an “inadequate supply” of Border Patrol agents and that’s why, “we continue to have tens of thousands of people come across our border illegally, every single month.”
Abbott said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:30] “[A]s you will recall, it seems like the president’s memory is short, because it was just two years ago, at this particular time, when we were dealing with that crush of young unaccompanied minors comes across the border. And now, I was actually in Washington, DC just a couple of months ago, talking with Secretary Jeh Johnson about another new crush, a large number of unaccompanied minors coming across the border. We’ve had that this past fall. We’ve had it this spring, and we continue to have tens of thousands of people come across our border illegally, every single month.”
Abbott was then asked if President Obama had put in Border Patrol agents and technology to try and stop this. He responded, “Well, as we sat down and talked with Jeh Johnson, we were demanding tat they reapportion border agents to the state of Texas, because, it seems to fluctuate where they deploy their resources, and the fact is, the reason why there’s been the tens of thousands of people coming the Texas border is because, one we have an inadequate supply of border agents, but two, not — all they really do is, they arrest them, then hand them over to ICE, and they are released back into the country.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchettThe Kobali are under attack. The only thing standing between them and total annihilation is the Alpha Quadrant Alliance. Can you save the Kobali and discover the mysteries of their homeworld? The Kobali Adventure Zone is a persistent adventure zone for players starting at level 54. Players will be able to bring two of their bridge officers to the surface, and players can team together without losing their bridge officers. We’ve taken the scalability and team-friendly elements of our battlezones and combined them with a fleshed-out, personal storyline to give players content unlike anything they’ve seen in Star Trek Online.
There are several regions within the zone. The forward base in the Kobali City, where the civilians have been evacuated and the makeshift Kobali military has set up their last line of defense. The countryside outside of the city is dotted with the homes of the Kobali that preferred to live in more pastoral surrounds. Now these homes serve merely as cover between the Kobali and their assailants.
Further north, the land has been dug up and turned into trenches where enemy troops gather their main forces to continue their relentless assault upon the Kobali people. The presence of these trenches baffles Starfleet Intelligence; if the enemy’s goal was to conquer the Kobali, why go through the trouble of trench warfare when there are other ways for these forces to assault the Kobali City from the sky? To the east are the mountains, once a place where the Kobali would take leisurely hikes and sleep beneath the stars. None of the Kobali dare go through the mountain pass now, for fear of what awaits them. Many Kobali scouts have been sent to investigate what is happening in the mountains, but none have returned. Some of the Kobali reports indicate that their enemy has set up an entire base on the mountaintop.
Players will be able to experience the story of the Kobali through several missions that take place in the persistent world. In between these stories, players can participate in the open missions that are constantly taking place in the zone. These open missions are set up to scale for the number of players in the area. This means the open missions can be completed alone or with a team, just like our battlezone content. However, we have added a twist to these open missions. Each one has an “escalation” phase that can only be triggered by a team or extremely skilled solo players. This phase will offer a further challenge (and more rewards) and also will scale based on the number of players on the map. We’re very excited for you all to experience the Kobali Adventure Zone. We encourage those who want to help refine it to log on to Tribble and give us your feedback! Sean “Commander Ander” McCann
Content Designer
Star Trek Online
Discuss in the forums Click here to learn more about Delta Rising, our free-to-play expansion for Star Trek Online. Explore the Delta Quadrant & rediscover the allies & the enemies the Voyager crew made during their exodus from distant space back to Earth & the Federation. Prepare yourself & your crew with an Delta Operations Pack now available for purchase! Click on the logo below to learn more about it. Want more game details, screens, and videos? Like Star Trek Online on Facebook for more exclusive content and follow us on Twitter – tweet us your questions! And, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest Star Trek Online videos.This article is over 1 year old
Elon Musk’s electric car company has been valued at $49bn, leaving the 100-year-old motor manufacturer lagging behind
One is an automotive titan that has built more than 350m vehicles in an illustrious history spanning more than a century.
The other is less than 15 years old and has never made a profit.
And yet a 7% surge in the value of shares in electric car firm Tesla on Monday saw it zoom ahead of Ford Motor Company, in terms of its stock market value.
As Wall Street closed for the day, Tesla, led by 45-year-old tycoon and futurist Elon Musk, was worth $49bn (£38bn), |
41.942 6 19 7 BRA REZENDE Renato 35.970 6 1:19.255 6 1:44.597 7 19 8 FRA DAUDET Joris 35.434 2 DNF DNF 18 ATHLETE TIME PTS TIME PTS TIME PTS TOTAL 1 CAN NYHAUG Tory 35.958 1 35.035 1 38.754 2 4 Q 2 GER BRETHAUER Luis 37.386 2 36.234 2 39.384 3 7 Q 3 VEN MILANO Jefferson 41.709 3 36.296 3 40.894 6 12 Q 4 SUI GRAF David 2:54.204 7 1:14.051 6 38.390 1 14 Q 5 LAT STROMBERGS Maris 1:36.876 6 44.376 4 39.554 4 14 6 RSA DODD Kyle 42.683 4 50.545 5 39.959 5 14 7 INA SYARIFUDIN Toni 45.325 5 1:21.149 7 DNS 8 GBR PHILLIPS Liam DNF DNS DNS RANK ATHLETE TIME PTS TIME PTS TIME PTS TOTAL 1 AUS WILLOUGHBY Sam 35.877 1 35.130 1 35.152 1 3 Q 2 COL OQUENDO Carlos 37.728 3 35.607 3 35.699 3 9 Q 3 NED VAN GENDT Twan 1:46.311 6 35.293 2 35.217 2 10 Q 4 COL RAMIREZ Carlos 37.054 2 36.181 5 36.020 4 11 Q 5 FRA RENCUREL Jeremy 40.894 4 35.927 4 1:30.329 6 14 6 RUS KOMAROV Evgeny 41.584 5 40.430 6 39.770 5 16 7 FRA MIR Amidou DNF DNS DNS 28 8 ECU CAMPO Alfredo DNF DNS DNS 28 RANK ATHLETE TIME PTS TIME PTS TIME PTS TOTAL 1 AUS DEAN Anthony 35.934 2 34.994 1 35.193 1 4 Q 2 USA FIELDS Connor 35.191 1 35.761 4 35.601 3 8 Q 3 USA SHARRAH Corben 36.213 4 35.558 3 35.447 2 9 Q 4 ARG MOLINA Gonzalo 36.078 3 35.412 2 36.122 5 10 Q 5 AUS TURNER Bodi 39.094 6 42.436 8 35.721 4 18 6 NOR NAVRESTAD Tore 42.105 8 35.904 5 36.715 6 19 7 GBR EVANS Kyle 37.230 5 40.351 7 37.203 7 19 8 JPN NAGASAKO Yoshitaku 41.455 7 39.258 6 47.041 8 21Real-World Projects and Prototypes
Approximately 30 percent of the Invention Studio’s financial support comes from the Technology Fee Fund, which students pay into along with their tuition. Another 15 percent or so comes from research funding and private support.
To cover the remainder of the facility’s equipment and operating costs — which average about $200,000 per semester — more than 30 industry sponsors step up through contributions to the Capstone Design course.
The course solicits these sponsors for real-world projects, for which they receive a report and a working prototype of the solution, which is often designed and fabricated in the Invention Studio.
For example, one Capstone Design Expo winner — a team called Nuttin’ But Trouble — redesigned an industrial pecan-cracking machine for the Harrel Nut Company that could save the company an estimated $7 million a year.
Another winning team created a lug nut starter for GM that is projected to save up to $1 million per plant per year, and the winning team from spring 2014 – sponsored by Smith and Nephew – devised a better way to insert screws into the metal rods that hold fractured femurs together.
"The moment [recruiters] see Invention Studio on a resume, they know this is the person to hire." – Academic Professional Amit Jariwala
Industry also benefits when it comes time to recruit, Forest says, noting that Georgia Tech is rated the No. 1 engineering school in the nation by industry recruiters.**
“At the beginning of the semester, about 10 percent of the students in the Capstone Design course already have jobs; the other 90 percent are looking for jobs,” Forest says. “We invite companies to participate, companies who want to recruit these students, so it’s a really great match.”
Academic Professional Amit Jariwala, who oversees Invention Studio operations for the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has noticed that recruiters also look favorably at undergraduate lab instructors (ULIs). “They want students who have been in the studio for their leadership, mentorship, and training experience, who have an awareness of what it is to take charge of a place,” he says. “The moment they see Invention Studio on a resume, they know this is the person to hire.”Attention, kids: Netflix just put you in charge.
Netflix on Tuesday released a new episode on its streaming service of the animated show “The Adventures of Puss in Boots” with an interactive twist. About a half-dozen times during the episode, viewers — most likely children — will be prompted to choose which plot point the show should follow. Each decision will send the story in a different direction.
At one point, for example, viewers must decide whether Puss will confront nice bears or angry bears. On a touch screen, a press of the finger will do the work; on a television, a remote control will be required.
The first interactive episode, called “Puss in Book,” will last 18 to 39 minutes (depending on which path viewers go down), with viewers being asked to make a decision every two to four minutes.
“They are used to pressing play on the remote, setting it down and then just leaning back on the couch and letting Netflix roll,” Carla Engelbrecht Fisher, the director of product innovation at Netflix, said of viewers. “In this case, we actually need them to hold on to the remote. We don’t want it lost in the couch cushions. We need you to lean forward a little bit to engage with the choices.”American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian hackers and propagandists worked to tip the election toward Mr. Trump, and a special prosecutor and congressional committees are now investigating whether his campaign associates colluded with Russians. Mr. Trump has disputed that, but the investigation has cast a shadow over his administration for months.
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Mr. Trump has also equivocated on whether the Russians were solely responsible for the hacking. But in Germany on Friday, meeting President Vladimir V. Putin for the first time as president, Mr. Trump questioned him about the hacking. The Russian leader denied meddling in the election.
The Russian lawyer invited to the Trump Tower meeting, Natalia Veselnitskaya, is best known for mounting a multipronged attack against the Magnitsky Act, an American law that blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers. The law so enraged Mr. Putin that he retaliated by halting American adoptions of Russian children.
The adoption impasse is a frequently used talking point for opponents of the Magnitsky Act. Ms. Veselnitskaya’s campaign against the law has also included attempts to discredit its namesake, Sergei L. Magnitsky, a lawyer and auditor who died in mysterious circumstances in a Russian prison in 2009 after exposing one of the biggest corruption scandals during Mr. Putin’s rule.
Ms. Veselnitskaya is married to a former deputy transportation minister of the Moscow region, and her clients include state-owned businesses and a senior government official’s son, whose company was under investigation in the United States at the time of the meeting. Her activities and associations had previously drawn the attention of the F.B.I., according to a former senior law enforcement official.
Photo Natalia Veselnitskaya
In his statement, Donald Trump Jr. said: “It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up.”
He added: “I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand.”
Donald Trump Jr. had denied participating in any campaign-related meetings with Russian nationals when he was interviewed by The Times in March. “Did I meet with people that were Russian? I’m sure, I’m sure I did,” he said. “But none that were set up. None that I can think of at the moment. And certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, shape or form.”
Asked at that time whether he had ever discussed government policies related to Russia, the younger Mr. Trump replied, “A hundred percent no.”
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The Trump Tower meeting was not disclosed to government officials until recently, when Mr. Kushner, who is also a senior White House aide, filed a revised version of a form required to obtain a security clearance. The Times reported in April that he had failed to disclose any foreign contacts, including meetings with the Russian ambassador to the United States and the head of a Russian state bank. Failure to report such contacts can result in a loss of access to classified information and even, if information is knowingly falsified or concealed, in imprisonment.
Mr. Kushner’s advisers said at the time that the omissions were an error, and that he had immediately notified the F.B.I. that he would be revising the filing. They also said he had met with the Russians in his official transition capacity as a main point of contact for foreign officials.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Kushner’s lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said: “He has since submitted this information, including that during the campaign and transition, he had over 100 calls or meetings with representatives of more than 20 countries, most of which were during transition. Mr. Kushner has submitted additional updates and included, out of an abundance of caution, this meeting with a Russian person, which he briefly attended at the request of his brother-in-law Donald Trump Jr. As Mr. Kushner has consistently stated, he is eager to cooperate and share what he knows.”
Mr. Kushner’s lawyers addressed questions about his disclosure but deferred to Donald Trump Jr. on questions about the meeting itself.
Mr. Manafort, the former campaign chairman, also recently disclosed the meeting, and Donald Trump Jr.’s role in organizing it, to congressional investigators who had questions about his foreign contacts, according to people familiar with the events.
Photo Paul Manafort at the Republican National Convention last year in Cleveland. Credit Eric Thayer for The New York Times
A spokesman for Mr. Manafort declined to comment. Ms. Veselnitskaya did not immediately respond to questions including whether she had discussed the meeting with anyone in the Russian government.
Because Donald Trump Jr. does not serve in the administration and does not have a security clearance, he was not required to disclose his foreign contacts. Federal and congressional investigators have not publicly asked for any records that would require his disclosure of Russian contacts. It is not clear whether the Justice Department was aware of the meeting before Mr. Kushner disclosed it recently. Neither Mr. Kushner nor Mr. Manafort was required to disclose the content of the meeting in their government filings.
During the campaign, Donald Trump Jr. served as a close adviser to his father, frequently appearing at campaign events. Since the president took office, the younger Mr. Trump and his brother, who have worked for the Trump Organization for most of their adult lives, assumed day-to-day control of their father’s real estate empire.
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But a quick internet search would have revealed Ms. Veselnitskaya as a formidable operator with a history of pushing the Kremlin’s agenda. Most notable is her campaign against the Magnitsky Act, which provoked a Cold War-style, tit-for-tat row with the Kremlin when President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2012.
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Under the law, some 44 Russian citizens have been put on a list that allows the United States to seize their American assets and deny them visas. The United States asserts that many of them are connected to fraud exposed by Mr. Magnitsky, who after being jailed for more than a year was found dead in his cell. A Russian human rights panel found that he had been assaulted. To critics of Mr. Putin, Mr. Magnitsky, in death, became a symbol of corruption and brutality in the Russian state.
An infuriated Mr. Putin has called the law an “outrageous act,” and, in addition to banning American adoptions, compiled what became known as an “anti-Magnitsky” blacklist of United States citizens.
Among those blacklisted was Preet Bharara, then the United States attorney in Manhattan, who led high-profile convictions of Russian arms and drug dealers. Mr. Bharara was abruptly fired in March, after previously being asked to stay on by Mr. Trump.
One of Ms. Veselnitskaya’s clients is Denis Katsyv, the Russian owner of a Cyprus-based investment company called Prevezon Holdings. He is the son of Petr Katsyv, the vice president of the state-owned Russian Railways and a former deputy governor of the Moscow region. In a civil forfeiture case prosecuted by Mr. Bharara’s office, the Justice Department alleged that Prevezon had helped launder money tied to a $230 million corruption scheme exposed by Mr. Magnitsky by parking it in New York real estate and bank accounts. As a result, the government froze $14 million of its assets. Prevezon recently settled the case for $6 million without admitting wrongdoing.
Ms. Veselnitskaya and her client hired a team of political and legal operatives that has worked unsuccessfully in Washington to repeal the Magnitsky Act. They also tried but failed to keep Mr. Magnitsky’s name off a new law that takes aim at human-rights abusers across the globe.
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Ms. Veselnitskaya was also deeply involved in the making of an anti-Magnitsky film that premiered just weeks before the Trump Tower meeting. Titled “The Magnitsky Act — Behind the Scenes,” the film echoes the Kremlin line that the widely accepted version of Mr. Magnitsky’s life and death is wrong. The film claims that he was not assaulted and alleges that he never testified that government officials conspired to steal $230 million in fraudulent tax rebates.
In the film’s telling, the true culprit of the fraud was William F. Browder, an American-born financier who hired Mr. Magnitsky to investigate the fraud after he had three of his investment funds companies in Russia seized. On RussiaTV5, a station whose owners are known to be close to Mr. Putin, Ms. Veselnitskaya was lauded as “one of those who gave the film crew the real proofs and records of testimony.”
Mr. Browder, who stopped the screening of the film in Europe by threatening libel suits, called the film a state-sponsored smear campaign.
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“She’s not just some private lawyer,” Mr. Browder said of Ms. Veselnitskaya. “She is a tool of the Russian government.”
John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director, testified in May that he had been concerned last year by Russian government efforts to contact and manipulate members of Mr. Trump’s campaign. “Russian intelligence agencies do not hesitate at all to use private companies and Russian persons who are unaffiliated with the Russian government to support their objectives,” he said.
The F.B.I. began a counterintelligence investigation last July into Russian contacts with any Trump associates. Agents focused on Mr. Manafort and a pair of advisers, Carter Page and Roger J. Stone.
Among those now under investigation is Michael T. Flynn, who was forced to resign as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser after it became known that he had falsely denied speaking to the Russian ambassador about sanctions imposed by the Obama administration over the election hacking.
Congress later discovered that Mr. Flynn had been paid more than $65,000 by companies linked to Russia, and that he had failed to disclose those payments when he renewed his security clearance and underwent an additional background check to join the White House staff.
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In May, the president fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, who days later provided information about a meeting with Mr. Trump at the White House. According to Mr. Comey, the president asked him to end the bureau’s investigation into Mr. Flynn; Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied making such a request. Robert S. Mueller III, a former F.B.I. director, was then appointed as special counsel
The status of Mr. Mueller’s investigation is not clear, but he has assembled a veteran team of prosecutors and agents to dig into any possible collusion.When I started out with learning design, I remember being absolutely overwhelmed by all the information that is out there. I was sure that knowing how to use Photoshop was basically equal to knowing how to design. Then I learned CSS because I thought that was the next step. I’d like for you to skip all this exploration and simply — learn design.
That’s why I compiled this collection of links. I can pretty much guarantee that following this list closely will put you in the top 20% percent of all who are trying to learn design. But don’t take my word for it, check out the number of shares this post got!
The fastest and most effective way of learning is to copy what other people have done. It’s the ultimate “standing on the shoulders of giants”. Instead of spending years developing a skill, you can quickly learn the ropes by simply following in the footsteps of professional designers. This is why step-by-step tutorials and all-in-one books (like mine) work so well for learning design.
The problem is that as a beginner, you don’t yet know what good design looks like. That’s why I included the top inspiration sites where you can learn to “see” what good design looks like.
I hope this resource comes in handy. If you need a printable, offline checklist version of this list to tick off all read materials, I’ll share the free download at the end of this post.
If this list is a bit too much, be sure to also check 18 bite-sized resources for business owners wanting to learn design!
Graphic Design Theory
First, you’ll need to understand the underlying theory behind eye-candy. Why is it that some layouts feel awfully unprofessional while others give off a strong sense of competency? The secret is in typography, colours, and layout. Before anything else, study the following materials.
Typography
Fonts are the single most important factor in design. You’ll be hard pressed to find a layout that doesn’t involve any text; and so, some estimate that 95% of all graphic design is actually type. It’s crucial for new designers to pay close attention to typography when starting out with learning design — if there’s only one area that you can improve in, make typography the priority.
Font Inspiration
Colour
Picking the right colours for your designs is a pain in the butt. I still can’t properly use that pesky colour wheel, and I learned that picking a primary colour at random can work just as well as anything else. However, there are some colour rules that actually work, and these articles explore them.
Colour Inspiration
Layout
Layout is crucial for efficient communication. Your colours and fonts can be perfectly chosen, but bad alignment or the lack of hierarchy will ruin any piece. Here are the resources every beginner designer must read to get the general idea of what makes a great layout.
Layout Inspiration
Purpose of Design
Sometimes, it’s nice to remind yourself why you’re doing this. Is design really that important? Of course my answer would be “Yes!”, but decide for yourself, of course after you’ve read all of these:
Branding
After you’ve learned all about graphic design theory, you can finally start learning about your specific area of interest, whether it be app design, web design, or logos. First, we’ll look into branding.
The first thing you will want to design for your brand is a logo. But it doesn’t stop there — branding must remain consistent to really work.
Branding Inspiration
UX
Even if your product isn’t an app, you’ll benefit from having the UX view over things. UX can teach us basic rules of usability, but also provide a few important methodologies (e.g. user testing). Here are a few fundamental works you should work through:
UX Inspiration
Web Design
It’s time for the widest of graphic design disciplines, web design. There are a number of different definitions available as to what exactly is web design and if it also consist of coding. Here are some of the essential resources for beginning to learn web design.
Web Design Inspiration
Despite general opinion, the tools are far less important than understanding design principles. Technically, you could learn those by scribbling on a piece of paper and only learn the tools later. What I’m trying to say is that don’t think that you know design if you’re comfortable in Photoshop.
I learned both Illustrator and Photoshop from the Classroom in a Book series, and while it was super boring, it taught me everything I needed to know. I’d recommend throughfully learning the tools you’re going to use. The up-front investment will save you a lot more time in the long run.
Adobe Illustrator
Illustrator is mainly used for vector designs, like logos, icons, flat designs, and — no surprise there — illustrations. While learning a tool, it may be a good idea to follow an illustration tutorial or two, just to get familiar with all the shortcuts and functions.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop was initially created for photographers (hence the name), but it was quickly adopted by graphic designers. Today, it’s being used heavily for web design, even though some designers complain about unsuitability for responsive web design.
Sketch App
Sketch is a new kid on the block that offers a range of significant improvements over Adobe’s flagship products. While it doesn’t offer some of the photo-editing possibilities of Photoshop, it has some neat options for UI designers, like re-using assets and styles, and even generating CSS.
Start-to-End Resources
You might not have months to learn graphic design. Or maybe you’d just like someone to guide you along the way. Well, I got you covered! Here are some of the courses, books, and websites that will take you from start to finish.
Designlab is a new service that allows you to work on your design skills with the help of a mentor. While you work on the course (time investment of 10 hours/week), one of the high-level designers will help you with tips and feedback on your work. It can hardly get any more interactive than that.
The Creative Workshop book is widely praised for its versatility; even seasoned designers can learn a lot of new things from the excercises! But don’t believe me, go read the reviews.
This is a free online course made up from a number of links and posts. If you’re looking for a comprehensive resource like this list, but would like to take it further, you should definitely check out HackDesign.A firefighter works near the scene of a manhole cover explosion that forced Troy officials to evacuate buildings on Broadway, including the city's main post office. (Bob Gardinier / Times Union) A firefighter works near the scene of a manhole cover explosion that forced Troy officials to evacuate buildings on Broadway, including the city's main post office. (Bob Gardinier / Times Union) Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Manhole cover flies off in Troy 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
Troy
A city post office and an RPI building were evacuated and blocks of Broadway were closed Thursday after a manhole cover blew out of its place.
The heavy lid popped into the air just before 11 a.m. outside 542 Broadway, closing the street for a time between 4th Street and 5th Avenue, police said.
For a short time, the air smelled of gas, then of an electrical fire, a witness said. No one was injured and, according to National Grid, no power was lost in the area.
The manhole cover blew off after a water main break shorted electrical circuits, Troy Police Capt. John Cooney said. Pressure built up underground, enough to eventually push the lid out and into the street, Cooney said.
Broadway was reopened around 1:30 p.m.
National Grid spokesman Patrick Stella said crews would further inspect the area surrounding the dislodged manhole to figure out precisely how the incident unfolded and why.
Stella said there is no reason to believe Thursday's manhole cover incident is related to others in the city recent years.
In September 2012, a manhole cover popped several blocks away on the 2100 block of Fifth Avenue. No damage or injuries were reported in that incident, which National Grid said was caused by a cable malfunction.
A number of similar incidents occurred in Albany over the past two years.
In April 2008, a wire shorted-out on River Street, leading to an underground explosion that blew manhole covers almost 20 feet in the air and broke more than two dozen windows.
National Grid is in the second year of a five-year, $76 million underground upstate network upgrade.
[email protected] • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTUAccording to a recent survey and research, the population of these African elephants, that currently number around 600,000, is decreasing by about 38,000 each passing year. These figures have been calculated using the annual number of illegal tusk seized, which have significantly exceeded the elephant birth rate, meaning these mammals could face complete extinction within the next fifteen years. This has been reported in the Scientific American Journal.
The worldwide illegal trade in wildlife is valued at tens of billions of USD’s and is believed to have the same significance now, as the blood diamond trade during the peak of the African civil wars. In 2006 alone, eleven metric tonnes of illegal ivory were seized from ships bound for countries like Taiwan, China and Japan.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says that immediate action is needed to be taken to protect these mammals from complete extinction. The group calls for the European Union and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) members to stop supporting legal sales of ivory products in the open market of developing countries. Instead these members have been urged to back Kenya’s new proposal to extend the current “resting period” on elephants and ivory sales from nine to twenty years at the next CITES meeting which is to be held in March 2010.
The alarming level of illegal hunting could drive the African elephant to extinction across the entire in just 15 years from now says the director of IFAW UK. He adds: Most people will be shocked to hear that, although 20 years on from a ban on international ivory trade, elephants in Africa are the biggest threat by commercial poaching. The ivory trade must be banned once again, and this time with strict laws need to be enforced, if we want to prevent the extinction of these huge mammals. Sadly, the truth is that ivory trade is a threat to elephants anywhere on this planet.
Chad’s Zakouma National Park had 3,785 elephants in the year 2005 but by 2009 the figure had dropped to 617. At least 11 forest rangers were killed by poachers there during the same period.
Elephants are not the only one’s in the illegal trafficking of wildlife parts. In the last few years, 57,00 reptile skins from India, 18,000 big-eye thresher shark fins in Ecuador and 24 metric tonnes of pangolin in Asia have been seized by commercial wildlife part poachers. This indicates there are many other animal species which are on the verge of extinction by poachers and we humans should intervene and stop this illegal trafficking of wildlife parts.OSLO (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through Oslo’s central government district on Friday and a gunman dressed as a policeman then opened fire at a youth camp on a nearby island, killing at least 17 people altogether.
A view shows the aftermath of a blast on a street in Oslo July 22, 2011. REUTERS/Fartein Rudjord
In the biggest attack in western Europe since the 2005 London transport bombings, seven died when the bomb exploded in the Norwegian capital in mid-afternoon scattering glass, shattered masonry and twisted steel across the streets.
Shortly afterwards, a gunman opened fire at the youth camp of the ruling political party on Utoeya island, north-west of Oslo. Police said at least 10 were shot dead as they fled shooting on the small, wooded island. The island was evacuated and police found undetonated explosives.
“I saw young people running around, jumping into the water,” Kristine Melby, who lives across the narrow channel on the Norwegian mainland, told Al Jazeera television. “We heard people screaming.”
The gunman, a 32-year-old Norwegian citizen, was held by police. The double attack bore some hallmarks of al Qaeda but analysts suggested right-wing militants might also be responsible.
“I have a message to the one who attacked us and those who were behind this,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said in a televised news conference. “No one will bomb us to silence, no one will shoot us to silence.”
The bomb, which shook the city center at around 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT), blew out the windows of the Prime Minister’s building and damaged the finance and oil ministry buildings.
“People ran in panic,” said bystander Kjersti Vedun.
With police advising people to evacuate central Oslo, apparently in fear of more attacks, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told Norwegian TV2 television in a phone call that the situation was “very serious.” He said that police had told him not to say where he was speaking from.
“This is a terror attack. It is the most violent event to strike Norway since World War Two,” said Geir Bekkevold, an opposition parliamentarian for the Christian Peoples Party.
A Reuters witness saw soldiers taking up positions in Oslo shortly after the bombing.
The gunman, described by a police official as tall and blond, was reported by Norwegian media to have taken advantage of the confusion caused by the bombing to attack the summer camp of Stoltenberg’s Labour party youth section.
“There was a lot of shooting... We hid under a bed. It was very terrifying,” a young woman at the camp told British Sky television.
NO CLUES YET FROM DETAINED MAN
NUPI political think tank Senior Research Fellow Jakub Godzimirski said he suspected a right-winger more than a militant Islamist attack. Right wing groups have grown up around the issue of immigration in Norway.
“It would be very odd for Islamists to have a local political angle. The attack on the Labour youth meeting suggests it’s something else. If Islamists wanted to attack, they could have set off a bomb in a nearby shopping mall rather than a remote island.”
Deputy Oslo police chief Sveining Sponheim told reporters that the gunman in the Utoeya shootings had been disguised in a blue police-style uniform but had never been a police officer.
He said that the police also believed that the man may have been involved in both the Oslo bombing and the shootings. So far, the detained man had not said anything to the police.
NATO member Norway has been the target of threats before over its involvement in conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya.
The attack came just over a year after three men were arrested on suspicion of having links to al Qaeda and planning to attack targets in Norway. It also came less than three months after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan.
Violence or the threat of it has already come to the other Nordic states: a botched bomb attack took place in the Swedish capital Stockholm last December and the bomber was killed.
Denmark has received repeated threats after a newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in late 2005, angering Muslims worldwide.
In Oslo, the building of a publisher which recently put out a translation of a Danish book on the cartoon controversy was also affected, but was apparently not the target.
Police have been on the alert for complex gun-and-bomb attacks on European cities since the assault by 10 gunmen on India’s financial capital Mumbai in November 2008 which killed 166 people. The Oslo attacks, though hitting two targets, were not simultaneous and the delay between them left open the possibility of a single perpetrator.
Madrid suffered an Islamist militant bomb attack on commuter trains in 2004 that killed 191 people. Four suicide bombers killed 52 people in an attack on London’s transport system in 2005.
The Oslo district attacked is the very heart of power in Norway. Nevertheless, security is not tight in a country unused to such violence and better known for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in conflicts, including the Middle East and Sri Lanka.
The Reuters correspondent said the streets had been fairly quiet in mid-afternoon on a Friday in high summer, when many Oslo residents take vacation or leave for weekend breaks.
The failed December attack in Stockholm was by a Muslim man who grew up in Sweden but said he had been angered by Sweden’s involvement in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan and the Prophet Mohammad cartoons.
Slideshow (37 Images)
That attack was followed weeks later by the arrest in Denmark of five men for allegedly planning to attack the newspaper which first ran the Mohammad cartoons.
In July 2010, Norwegian police arrested three men for an alleged plot to organize at least one attack on Norwegian targets and said they were linked to individuals investigated in the United States and Britain.Until now, Beijing’s monthly import and export numbers have been considered absolutely reliable, yet there is growing evidence to suggest that in recent months they have been distorted by fabricated transactions.
Especially suspect are the export figures for this September and October. China’s exports for September soared 9.9% year-on-year. In the following month, they jumped 11.6%. For many observers, the September number signaled the beginning of the long-awaited recovery of the Chinese economy.
The September-October period is now beginning to look like an anomaly from the baseline, represented by the more-typical August and November figures. In fact, the numbers for August and November look remarkably similar. In August, exports increased 2.7%. In November, they were up 2.9%. Imports, always a key sign of growth, fell 2.6% in August. In November, they were unchanged.
Are we to believe China had an export boom lasting just two months? Anything is possible, but a more likely explanation for the anomalous September and October figures is that they were distorted by fictitious transactions.
Anne Stevenson-Yang of J Capital Research in Beijing, in one of her November e-mail alerts, suggests that the uptick in exports may have been partly due to hot-money inflows caused by currency speculation. Exporters, she notes, are overstating sales, allowing them to book revenues in dollars. They then use the paperwork to get permission to sell dollars for renminbi. The result is that exporters made money with their currency transactions, but the byproduct is that the Ministry of Commerce’s trade figures overstate China’s exports.
Tom Holland of the South China Morning Post reports an even more ingenious scheme that has artificially pushed up Beijing’s trade statistics. There is, he notes, legitimate trade where goods go from one part of China to another through Hong Kong. For example, it makes sense to transport through Hong Kong components manufactured in Shanghai for final assembly in Shenzhen. Since 1997, Hong Kong has been part of the People’s Republic, but it is not considered as such for customs purposes.
Most of this China-Hong Kong-China trade has been routed through Hong Kong “as a tax dodge.” The benefits are substantial. For instance, China’s rules provide for a value-added-tax rebate of 17% on electronic goods. Moreover, under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between China and Hong Kong, no Chinese tariffs are imposed on goods exported to Mainland China if some value was added in Hong Kong. “All that’s needed then is a little imaginative invoicing, and you’ve got one very lucrative tax evasion scam,” Holland writes. “In all probability the goods never actually need to leave the mainland.”
Holland believes the value of renminbi transactions associated with this tax stratagem over the past 12 months “may have been well over 1 trillion yuan.” In any event, these fake trades appear to be larger in volume than legitimate speculative trades involving the renminbi, and a well-known European journalist has recently stated that the round-tripped tax dodge trades were “material.” Hong Kong officials, he noted, have passed on information on faked trades to Beijing, which “so far has sat on its hands.”
Why would Hong Kong’s officials not crack down on these transactions on their own? One reason is that they appear to be under orders to promote Hong Kong as the place to trade renminbi and these deals inflate statistics on renminbi usage there. Holland notes that all the fake trades are probably conducted in China’s currency to avoid the expense of forex dealings. Furthermore, Beijing gets a twofer: the fake transactions swell China’s import and export numbers and they artificially enlarge the statistics showing trade settlement in renminbi, something Chinese officials want to promote.
Tom Holland’s fascinating reporting would not explain the September-October bump in exports, but he does show that these tax-dodge transactions have generally bloated Beijing’s trade numbers.
And how long have these transactions padded |
a large bison standing approximately 250 metres away.
Pilgrim knelt down, steadied his.338 Remington Ultra Magnum rifle and shot his prey.
The bison didn’t even flinch.
The hunter said he believed the bullet might have “bounced off” the animal he estimates weighed at least 2,000 pounds. Pilgrim shot the bison two more times before it sauntered off.
“He walked into the woods as if I hadn’t even hit him. I know I hurt him,” Pilgrim recalled.
They waited 20 minutes before following the injured animal so they wouldn’t startle it as they caught up. Before long, Mullett tired of tracking the bison and returned to the truck for a break.
Pilgrim was determined to catch his first bison, so he continued alone, tracking the beast for another three and a half hours until he found a pool of blood in the snow.
“I was like, ‘Oh, yeah! He’s here somewhere!’” he said.
Pilgrim’s excitement quickly evaporated, however, when he saw a massive head and two horns charging towards him.
“It was just, bang!” he said. “He took me right out. I just seen a big flash of white!”
When he regained consciousness a few seconds later, Pilgrim said he was pinned underneath the bison as it tried to strike him with its horns.
“I couldn’t breathe because he was choking me. My mouth, nose, my whole face was covered in bison fur, chest fur,” he said. “I yelled at it, ‘You’re not going to kill me! I have a family. I don’t want to die, you son of a bitch!”
Luckily, the bison didn’t impale him and Pilgrim was able to squirm out from under its weight. Somehow, his gun fell out of the holster strapped across his back during the struggle.
With few options left, Pilgrim desperately ran through the snow towards a nearby tree with the bison in hot pursuit.
“I ran for a tree because I heard if you ever get attacked run for a tree because they can’t go around a tree very well,” he explained. “He was right behind me. His horns were almost up my rear.”
So Pilgrim and the bison ran in circles around the tree for what seemed like an “eternity,” until the animal gave up the chase.
“He got really mellow. I think he was tired. He looked in the other direction and when he took his eyes off me I walked over and got my gun about 10 feet [3 metres] away,” he said.
Worried that the bison might charge at him again, Pilgrim quickly took aim and shot the animal in its heart. Once it fell to the ground, he went up to it and shot it again in the head to ensure it was dead, Pilgrim said.
“And then you know what I did? I threw my gun down on the ground and I went over and gave him a big hug,” he said. “Poor guy. He was only trying to defend himself. He knew I was going to kill him so he was going to let me have it. I deserved it.”
When he reached the truck, Pilgrim’s friend immediately called for an ambulance and he was rushed to the hospital where he received 12 stitches for a large gash across his forehead.
The bison was retrieved from the woods and butchered by a few of Pilgrim’s friends who delivered the meat to his house the next day.
After 14 years, Pilgrim has finally killed his first and last bison.
“I’m in shock more than pain. I’m terrified still,” Pilgrim said. “I’m done bison hunting. I don’t want to do it anymore.”Seemingly an afterthought until recently, the Chromebox has suddenly become a hot product, judging by the spate of recent announcements around the desktop platform for running Google's Chrome OS. Asus launched its mini-PC earlier this week, and Google just showed off a Chromebox for video conferencing. Now HP has revealed that it's joining in the fun as well.
The company's forthcoming small-form-factor PC resembles the Asus Chromebox, including its connectivity options (four USB 3.0 ports, DisplayPort and HDMI outputs). But it offers four color choices, including a stylish turquoise option, and it will also come with an Intel Haswell Core i7 processor, which Asus will only offer for its Chromebox in markets outside of the U.S. HP claims that with the new, beefy CPU, its Chromebox will be ready to tackle some of those video meetings Google was promising earlier today.
That processor will also mean the HP Chromebox will cost more its Asus competitor, which will start at just $179 (though probably with a less-powerful Celeron CPU). We'll find out this spring, when HP's model becomes available. With that company onboard, the Chromebox platform looks a lot more viable than just a week ago, when the only Chromebox you could buy was a refurbished Samsung model.
[Via GigaOm]More or less, this is all anyone ever wants from a piece of technology. Here's a 90-year-old woman strapped into an Oculus Rift VR headset, and totally losing her mind over how amazing it is.
Oh, man alive! Originally, were these made in Tuscany???
Oh this is something else. And I'm still sitting where I was?!
If I were to explain this to someone else, they wouldn't believe me.
OOH! AHHH!
Doesn't it feel like you can reach out and touch the post? Youuu bet your bottom dollar you can. And I can't get over the leaves moving.
However the Oculus Rift turns out as a piece of tech for actual gaming, something tells me nothing's going to make anyone more excited than this woman was about seeing Tuscany. [Twitter]Mozilla’s mission statement is to ensure that the Internet remains a global public resource, open and accessible to all, and they’ve been helping bring VR to the web for the past three years. A-Frame is an open source framework that has gained a lot of momentum over the last year with more participants on the A-Frame Slack channel than the official WebVR Slack.
I had a chance to catch up with A-Frame core developers Diego Marcos & Kevin Ngo at the IEEE VR conference in March to get an overview of A-Frame, and how it’s driving WebVR content and innovations in developer tools. Mozilla is also planning on shipping WebVR 1.1 capabilities in the desktop version of Firefox 55, which should be launching later this year in August.
LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST
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Mozilla believes in open source and the open web, and they have a vibrant and very supportive community on the A-Frame Slack that is very helpful in answering questions. Ngo has been curating the weekly highlights from the A-Frame community for over a year now posting the latest experiences, components, tools, and events in his Week in A-Frame series on the A-Frame blog, which has helped to grow the A-Frame community
A-Frame uses a entity-competent model that’s very similar to Unity’s model where you spatially position 3D components within a scene, and then you add behaviors and scripts that drive the interactive behavior. There’s a visual editor to move objects around in a scene, and a VR-editor is on the roadmap to be able to put together WebVR scenes in A-Frame while being in VR. There’s an open source collection of components that is being officially curated and tested in the A-Frame registry, but there’s also various collections of interesting components on GitHub repositories such as these Awesome A-Frame components or this KFrame collection of components and scenes.
Google even announced at Google I/O that they’re using A-Frame in order to rapidly prototype Google Expeditions experiences. WebVR and A-Frame is a perfect combination for Google as they’re trying to organize all of the information in the world. The strength of the open web is that you’re able to mash-up data from many different sources, and so there are going to be a lot of educational and immersive experiences focusing on mental presence are going to built on top of WebVR technologies.
In my interview with WebVR spec author Brandon Jones, he expressed caution of launching the Google Chrome browser with the existing WebVR 1.1 spec because there were a lot of breaking changes that will need to be made in the latest “2.0″ version order to make the immersive web more compatible for both virtual reality and augmented reality. Because Chrome is on over 2 billion devices, Jones said that they didn’t want to have to manage this interim technical debt and would prefer launching a version that’s going to provide a solid future for the immersive web.
Some WebVR developers like Mozilla’s Marcos and Ngo argue that not shipping WebVR capabilities in a default mainstream browser has hindered adoption and innovation for both content and tooling for WebVR. That’s why Mozilla is pushing forward with shipping WebVR capabilities in Firefox 55, which should be launching on the PC desktop in August.
Part of why Mozilla can afford to push harder for earlier adoption of the WebVR spec is because the A-Frame framework will take care of the nuanced differences between the established 1.1 version of the WebVR spec and the emerging “2.0″ version. Because A-Frame is not an open standard, they can also move faster in rapidly prototyping tools around the existing APIs to enable capabilities, and they can handle the changes in the lower-level implementations of the WebVR spec while keeping the higher-level A-Frame declarative language the same. In other words, if you use the declarative language defined by A-Frame, then when the final WebVR spec launches then you’ll just have to update your A-Frame JavaScript file, which handles the spec implementation and allows you to focus on content creation.
Mozilla wants developers to continue to develop and prototype experiences in WebVR without worrying that they’ll break once the final stable public version of WebVR is finally released. Mozilla is willing to manage the interim technical debt from the WebVR 1.1 spec in order to bootstrap the WebVR content and tooling ecosystem.
Mozilla is also investing heavily in a completely new technology stack with their Servo browser, which could eventually replace their mobile Firefox technology stack. Marcos previously told me that Servo is aiming to be built to support immersive technologies like WebVR as a first-class priority over the existing 2D web. Servo has recently added Daydream support with GearVR support coming soon. They’ve shown a proof of concept of a roller coaster Daydream app built in three.js that runs natively as a native application within Daydream.
Overall, Mozilla believes in the power of the open web, and wants to be a part of building the tools that enable metaverse that’s a public resource the democratizes access to knowledge and immersive experiences. There’s a lot of questions around concepts like self-sovereign identity, how an economy is going to powered by some combination of crytpocurrencies and the Web Payments API, as well as the concepts of private property ownership and how that might be managed by the blockchain. A lot of the concepts of a gift economy that Cory Doctorow explores in “Walkaway” are being actively implemented by Mozilla through the open source creation of the Metaverse, and everyone in the WebVR community is looking forward to a stable release later this year. For Mozilla, that begins in August with Firefox 55, but this is just the beginning of a long journey of realizing the potential of the open web.
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Music: Fatality & Summer TripA girl carries a figurine of La Santa Muerte (The Saint of Death), a cult figure often depicted as a skeletal grim reaper, as a man pours tequila over it in the Tepito neighborhood in Mexico City on January 1, 2011. Followers will gather at the saint's altar to leave offerings of apples, flowers, cigarettes, colored candles, and tequila to thank her for granted favors or to ask for new ones in the coming year. REUTERS/Claudia Daut
During one of Pope Francis' speeches on his landmark trip to Mexico earlier this year, he issued a cryptic admonishment. In an address to Mexican bishops, the pontiff said that he was "particularly concerned about those many persons who, seduced by the empty power of the world, praise illusions and embrace their macabre symbols to commemorate death in exchange for money."
For those outside of Latin America, the pope's reference to a secretive "cult" that venerates Santa Muerte, or "Saint Death," is likely to escape notice. But to the 10 million to 12 million adherents in the region, the pope's criticism of Santa Muerte, which has challenged the influence of the Catholic Church, was clear.
"As esoteric as [devotion to Santa Muerte] seems, it is very practically oriented," Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint," told The National Catholic Review.
Santa Muerte, and the people who worship her, are much maligned, often associated with the region's narco underworld. But the reality, like faith, is more complex.The Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) is an optical disc technology developed between April 2004 and mid-2008 that can store up to several terabytes of data on an optical disc 10 cm or 12 cm in diameter. The reduced radius reduces cost and materials used. It employs a technique known as collinear holography, whereby a green and red laser beam are collimated in a single beam. The green laser reads data encoded as laser interference fringes from a holographic layer near the top of the disc. A red laser is used as the reference beam to read servoinformation from a regular CD-style aluminium layer near the bottom. Servoinformation is used to monitor the position of the read head over the disc, similar to the head, track, and sector information on a conventional hard disk drive. On a CD or DVD this servoinformation is interspersed among the data. A dichroic mirror layer between the holographic data and the servo data reflects the green laser while letting the red laser pass through. This prevents interference from refraction of the green laser off the servo data pits and is an advance over past holographic storage media, which either experienced too much interference, or lacked the servo data entirely, making them incompatible with current CD and DVD drive technology.[1]
Standards for 100 GB read-only holographic discs and 200 GB recordable cartridges were published by ECMA in 2007,[2][3] but no holographic disc product has appeared in the market. A number of release dates were announced, all since passed.[4]
Technology [ edit ]
Holographic Versatile Disc structure
1. Green writing/reading laser (532 nm)
2. Red positioning/addressing laser (650 nm)
3. Hologram (data)(shown here as brown)
4. Polycarbonate layer
5. Photopolymeric layer (data-containing layer)
6. Distance layers
7. Dichroic layer (reflecting green light)
8. Aluminium reflective layer (reflecting red light)
9. Transparent base
P. Pit pattern
(Illustration is not to scale.) 1. Green writing/reading laser (532 nm)2. Red positioning/addressing laser (650 nm)3. Hologram (data)(shown here as brown)4. Polycarbonate layer5. Photopolymeric layer (data-containing layer)6. Distance layers7. Dichroic layer (reflecting green light)8. Aluminium reflective layer (reflecting red light)9. Transparent baseP. Pit pattern(Illustration is not to scale.)
Current optical storage saves one bit per pulse, and the HVD alliance hopes to improve this efficiency with capabilities of around 60,000 bits per pulse in an inverted, truncated cone shape that has a 200 μm diameter at the bottom and a 500 μm diameter at the top. High densities are possible by moving these closer on the tracks: 100 GB at 18 μm separation, 200 GB at 13 μm, 500 GB at 8 μm, and most demonstrated of 5 TB for 3 μm on a 10 cm disc.[citation needed]
The system uses a green laser, with an output power of 1 watt which is high power for a consumer device laser. Possible solutions include improving the sensitivity of the polymer used, or developing and commoditizing a laser capable of higher power output while being suitable for a consumer unit.[citation needed]
Competing technologies [ edit ]
HVD is not the only technology in high-capacity, holographic storage media. InPhase Technologies was developing a rival holographic format called Tapestry Media, which they claim will eventually store 1.6 TB with a data transfer rate of 120 MB/s, and several companies are developing TB-level discs based on 3D optical data storage technology. Such large optical storage capacities compete favorably with the Blu-ray Disc format. However, holographic drives are projected to initially cost around US$15,000, and a single disc around US$120–180, although prices are expected to fall steadily.[5] Since InPhase Technologies were unable to deliver their promised product, they ran out of funds, and went bankrupt in 2010.[6]
Holography System Development Forum [ edit ]
The Holography System Development Forum (HSD Forum; formerly the HVD Alliance and the HVD FORUM) is a coalition of corporations purposed to provide an industry forum for testing and technical discussion of all aspects of HVD design and manufacturing.
As of March 2012, the following companies are members of the forum:[7]
As of March 2012, the following companies are supporting companies of the forum:
Kodate Laboratory
Standards [ edit ]
On December 9, 2004, at its 88th General Assembly, the standards body Ecma International created Technical Committee 44, dedicated to standardizing HVD formats based on Optware's technology.
On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the first two HVD standards:[8] ECMA-377,[2] defining a 200 GB HVD "recordable cartridge" and ECMA-378,[3] defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated goals were 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the International Organization for Standardization for ISO approval.[9]
General Electric [ edit ]
General Electric Global Research Centers created holographic disc that could hold many times the data—up to 500 GB.[10] As the technology is quite similar to CD, DVD, and Blu-ray technologies, the players were to be cross-compatible with these formats.
See also [ edit ]Montgomery's Return the Biggest for DU
by Joe Meloni/Senior Writer (@JoeMeloni)
He doesn't wear them, but Jim Montgomery has a couple rings.
He picked one up a couple decades ago, carrying Maine back from the brink with a third-period hat trick in the 1993 national championship game to claim the program's first title.
His second came just a few months ago. In his fourth season as Denver's head coach, he turned his team into a juggernaut at some point. The Pioneers went 33-7-4 and cruised to a national championship.
Getting both of those rings came with some bumps along the way. In both instances, there was Montgomery, first as a captain then as a coach, to keep the team focused on the immediate goals that lead to the ultimate reward.
In the offseason, Denver faced the possible departures of more than one key player with remaining eligibility. Losing Will Butcher and eight other seniors was one thing. Losing sophomore Henrik Borgstrom, juniors Dylan Gambrell and Troy Terry, and senior goaltender Tanner Jaillet was something entirely different. All of them chose to return. It was another person remaining at DU that may've been the most important — Montgomery.
In May, he interviewed for the Florida Panthers vacant head coaching position. The process seemed more like due diligence than anything else. Montgomery is certainly a rising star in the coaching world. He never seemed like a realistic choice for the Panthers, though. Ultimately, they went in a different direction, and Montgomery returned to Denver.
Borgstrom, Gambrell, Terry, and, to a lesser extent, Jaillett were all very real flight risks. But players always leave in college hockey. Teams have contingencies. There's no accounting for production specifically, but good coaches know how to soften the blow.
Losing a coach as suddenly as DU could've lost Montgomery can set a program back for years. Nevermind this year. The Pioneers almost certainly would have lost at least one of Borgstrom, Terry, or Gambrell if Montgomery left. Probably all of them. But he returned. DU's best players did, too. And they look more than willing to work as hard as they did a season ago.
"We talked about it being a new year," Montgomery said. "The team in the dressing room this year is trying to win this year's championship. Last year has nothing to do with this year's success. We have to learn and grow throughout the year just like we did last year. We're well ahead of the curve offensively from where we were last year, but we're not where we were defensively. Last year, we had the best goals against in the country. That's something we want to replicate.... We know we have a rock in net, but we have to be better. (Against BC), we were great, and that's what I'm happy about. Borgstrom, Gambrell, Terry, (Jarid Lukosevicius), Finlay, they're gonna make plays. But if everyone looks that way when we don't have puck, we're going to be a really good team."
Montgomery didn't inherit the kind of reclamation project the nation's other top young coaches did. Think Mike Hastings at Minnesota State, Norm Bazin as UMass-Lowell, or Nate Leaman at Providence. In the those instances, their predecessors coached a combined 28 seasons and made one total NCAA tournament appearance. Montgomery replaced George Gwozdecky, who ran DU's program for 19 years, made 12 NCAA tournament appearances, won six WCHA regular-season and tournament titles, and, of course, guided DU to two national championships.
The Pioneers were merely in need of a tuneup when Montgomery arrived. He provided it and even more. The Pioneers were always a threat. Since the beginning of Montgomery's second season, they've been a machine. Now that the target is on DU's back, Montgomery is drawing on the lesson he learned under Shawn Walsh during that 1992-93 championship season in Maine.
"I've thought about it a lot, just how Shawn handled us," Montgomery said. "This is, by far, the most talented team I've had at Denver. Just focusing on our habits and details constantly. One thing I always noticed about Shawn was that he never changed his identity. He never took his foot off the gas pedal. As Denver's coach, that's what I'm trying to do. I talked to Scotty Bowman about how so many years, he's come back with championship teams, he said it's details. You have to hold players accountable early. If you don't, the season can go the wrong way real fast."
Last weekend, DU continued its early-season success. The Pioneers went into Boston and took wins from both Boston University and Boston College. Friday night, DU dominated early but allowed Boston University back into the game. The Pioneers needed a game-winning goal from Troy Terry with 16.4 seconds left in regulation to get a win. Saturday, it was all business. The Pioneers smashed an average BC team, skating to a 6-1 win. Still, Montgomery knows there's more. There has to be.
"We're gonna get better," Montgomery said after Saturday's win. "That I can tell you. Tonight, our checking skills were the best of the year. They were good in our first game of the year at Notre Dame. I thought it was even better tonight. We gave up on one odd-man rush. If we do that. If our forwards are committed to coming back like they did tonight, then, the other way, we have time and space to make plays. We have some players who can make plays."
Montgomery was obviously pleased to get two wins. The response from Friday into Saturday said it all, though. The message isn't about the result. It's about the process. Getting a win against BU in Agganis Arena is something any team will take. Montgomery doesn't just want results.
"We didn't think our details and our habits were great (against BU)," he said. "(Saturday night), we executed great on everything.... From our goaltender on out, our communication was the best I've seen it all year as far as talking.
"We weren't happy with ourselves after reviewing film and seeing how we didn't handle BU's pressure as well as we should. It was a learning moment for us to get better. And we did. I give credit to our leadership group and our entire team for their willingness to learn and not be happy. That's hopefully something that will continue throughout the year."
The focus is on the short term every day. Every drill. Every practice. Every shift. Every game. DU is always focused on where they are and where they want to be. Confident in the understanding that doing the right thing now means they get a chance to play for trophies down the road.
Programs like Denver prepare themselves for early departures. No one assumes the production swap will be one for one, but there's always a plan in place. When a star sophomore signs early, there's likely a pretty good player from the USHL or national development program ready to replace him.
On the other hand, it's truly impossible to simply bring in a new coach and keep moving. Head coaches and their assistants establish the baseline for a team and program's performance. When a player leaves, you bring in another one. When a coach leaves, it's time to start from scratch.
Henrik Borgstom. Dylan Gambrell. Troy Terry. These names are DU's present. They cannot be part of the Pioneers' future. Remaining the kind of program people believe can make the Frozen Four every year is a possibility for Denver even when those stars move on. That is, as long as they keep Jim Montgomery around.DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The hunt is on to find the person who blinded several pilots with a laser. The strikes happened between 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Wednesday night near Dallas Love Field. Southwest Airlines and a private business jet pilots were hit.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration explained that both of the airplanes were approaching Dallas Love Field at altitudes between 3,000 feet and 4,000 feet. The Southwest Airlines jet was coming in from Austin.
There were no problems reported with any of the flights, and nobody was injured.
However, this is still very dangerous — and common — according to a North Texas pilot. “When it’s nighttime, the lights in the cockpit are dim. We’re trying to focus on exterior visual cues, which is the approach lights, the runway lights. And, instead, we are being blinded by this huge green light that’s being shown in our cockpits,” the pilot said. “It’s not cool and it’s really totally distracting.”
“The danger is that they are in the final approach,” said Jose L. Torres, spokesperson for Dallas Love Field. “That’s when they have to be very… they are concentrating on what they are doing. They’ve got the landing gear deployed, the flaps deployed. They are slowing down, the nose down when something like that happens it’s like somebody is taking a picture of you with a flash and you are temporary blind.”
Just two days ago, the pilot said, air controllers were warning about similar laser incidents in the Las Vegas area. Three news helicopters were also hit by lasers in New York City on Wednesday night, including the chopper for CBS New York. There have been 5,000 reports of aircraft being hit by lasers this year, the FAA said, including 115 in the DFW area.
Our pilots are aggressively working to find the susp. Lasers blind pilots, please do not play with peoples lives! https://t.co/7fRSPQoyAz — Dallas Air One (@DPDAir1) November 12, 2015
The two laser shots both came from the same vicinity, about 11 miles southeast of Dallas. Police sent up a helicopter to look for the source, but did not find any suspects. This is a federal crime and, if a suspect is caught, it could result in jail time.Simonkolleite - an anthropogenic mineral. Credit: RRUFF
We've created 208 new minerals: Time for a new, human-influenced Anthropocene epoch?
Scientists have identified a sudden explosion of mineral diversity on the surface of our planet that would not exist if it weren't for humans, adding weight to the argument that we're living in a new geological epoch - the Anthropocene.
A new study has found that the incredible upsurge of new minerals around the time of the industrial revolution led to the unprecedented diversification of crystals on Earth, eclipsing even the Great Oxidation Event 2.3 billion years ago as the "greatest increase in the history of the globe".
"This is a spike of mineral novelty that is so rapid - most of it in the last 200 years, compared to the 4.5-billion-year history of Earth. There is nothing like it in Earth's history," one of the team, Robert Hazen from the Carnegie Institution for Science told The Guardian.
"This is a blink of an eye, it is just a surge, and... we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg."
Hazen and his team analysed the 5,208 minerals on Earth that are officially recognised by the International Mineralogical Association, and found that 208 of them would not exist if it weren't for human activity.
These human-triggered minerals include chalconatronite, a rare copper mineral that crystallises as a bright blue crust on ancient Egyptian bronze artefacts, and andersonite, a uranium-laced mineral with a fluorescent green or yellow glow that forms on the walls of mine tunnels.
The bronze-hued abhurite was discovered on the wreck of the SS Cheerful, which sank off the coast of Cornwall, England in 1885, and only formed because of a chemical reaction between the salt water and the ship's sunken supply of tin ingots.
Most of the 208 minerals triggered by humanity came about thanks to mining, while six were found on the walls of smelters, three in a geothermal piping system, and four on prehistoric sacrificial burning sites in the Austrian mountains.
Many other new minerals could also be forming in our giant waste dumps, encrusting old batteries and electrical appliances like never before, the team suggests.
"There are probably all sorts of things forming as a result of old silicon chips or batteries," Hazen told Chelsea Whyte from New Scientist.
"TVs have all these exotic phosphors they use, and magnets and all sorts of high-tech materials. When you start hydrating and oxidising them, you're going to start finding a lot of exotic new materials."
The list did not include new minerals that have been deliberately synthesised by humans, such as those produced in magnets, batteries, and synthetic gemstones, as the 'true' definition of a mineral according to the International Mineralogical Association is that it must occur "naturally".
Over the course of Earth's history, the team found that most minerals on Earth appeared very gradually during the Great Oxidation Event, which began roughly 2.3 billion years ago, and could have lasted as long as until 1 billion years ago.
The event saturated Earth with atmospheric oxygen for the first time, thanks to an explosion of photosynthetic bacteria, and the minerals on the surface increased from just over 2,000 varieties to more than 4,000.
While this event gave rise to around two-thirds of the 5,208 mineral types officially recognised today, that gradual build was nothing compared to the sudden burst of diversity that's occurred over the past few centuries.
Since the mid-1700s, the diversity of minerals on Earth has exploded faster than ever before, the team noting the "blazing pace" that humans triggered over the past 250 years - especially when compared to the slow burn of the Great Oxidation Event.
They say this unprecedented diversification is the fastest rate of new mineral production in Earth's history, and a clear marker of a new geological epoch caused by humans - the much-debated Anthropocene.
"To imagine 250 years relative to 2 billion years, that's the difference between the blink of an eye... and one month," Hazen says in a press statement.
"Simply put, we live in an era of unparalleled inorganic compound diversification. Indeed, if the Great Oxidation eons ago was a 'punctuation event' in Earth's history, the rapid and extensive geological impact of the Anthropocene is an exclamation mark."
The Anthropocene has yet to be officially recognised, but scientists have been arguing for years that human influence on the planet has been so dramatic, it will be clearly defined in Earth's strata - layers of sedimentary rock or soil that delineate major geological events in our planet's history.
Hazen and his team now say that this explosion of new minerals has to be considered by the International Commission on Stratigraphy - the group that will ultimately decide whether or not to reorganise the Anthropocene - as a serious marker of a new epoch.
These human-triggered minerals include chalconatronite, a rare copper mineral that crystallises as a bright blue crust on ancient Egyptian bronze artefacts, and andersonite, a uranium-laced mineral with a fluorescent green or yellow glow that forms on the walls of mine tunnels.
The bronze-hued abhurite was discovered on the wreck of the SS Cheerful, which sank off the coast of Cornwall, England in 1885, and only formed because of a chemical reaction between the salt water and the ship's sunken supply of tin ingots.
Most of the 208 minerals triggered by humanity came about thanks to mining, while six were found on the walls of smelters, three in a geothermal piping system, and four on prehistoric sacrificial burning sites in the Austrian mountains.
Many other new minerals could also be forming in our giant waste dumps, encrusting old batteries and electrical appliances like never before, the team suggests.
"There are probably all sorts of things forming as a result of old silicon chips or batteries," Hazen told Chelsea Whyte from New Scientist.
"TVs have all these exotic phosphors they use, and magnets and all sorts of high-tech materials. When you start hydrating and oxidising them, you're going to start finding a lot of exotic new materials."
The list did not include new minerals that have been deliberately synthesised by humans, such as those produced in magnets, batteries, and synthetic gemstones, as the 'true' definition of a mineral according to the International Mineralogical Association is that it must occur "naturally".
Over the course of Earth's history, the team found that most minerals on Earth appeared very gradually during the Great Oxidation Event, which began roughly 2.3 billion years ago, and could have lasted as long as until 1 billion years ago.
The event saturated Earth with atmospheric oxygen for the first time, thanks to an explosion of photosynthetic bacteria, and the minerals on the surface increased from just over 2,000 varieties to more than 4,000.
While this event gave rise to around two-thirds of the 5,208 mineral types officially recognised today, that gradual build was nothing compared to the sudden burst of diversity that's occurred over the past few centuries.
Since the mid-1700s, the diversity of minerals on Earth has exploded faster than ever before, the team noting the "blazing pace" that humans triggered over the past 250 years - especially when compared to the slow burn of the Great Oxidation Event.
They say this unprecedented diversification is the fastest rate of new mineral production in Earth's history, and a clear marker of a new geological epoch caused by humans - the much-debated Anthropocene.
"To imagine 250 years relative to 2 billion years, that's the difference between the blink of an eye... and one month," Hazen says in a press statement.
"Simply put, we live in an era of unparalleled inorganic compound diversification. Indeed, if the Great Oxidation eons ago was a 'punctuation event' in Earth's history, the rapid and extensive geological impact of the Anthropocene is an exclamation mark."
The Anthropocene has yet to be officially recognised, but scientists have been arguing for years that human influence on the planet has been so dramatic, it will be clearly defined in Earth's strata - layers of sedimentary rock or soil that delineate major geological events in our planet's history.
Hazen and his team now say that this explosion of new minerals has to be considered by the International Commission on Stratigraphy - the group that will ultimately decide whether or not to reorganise the Anthropocene - as a serious marker of a new epoch.
"That's really I think the most important factor in deciding whether or not the Anthropocene is a new geological time period - the fact that we have created these materials, these crystals, that are incredibly diverse and beautiful and they persist through billions of years," Hazen told Nicola Davis at The Guardian.
"They are going to be for ever on Earth - a distinctive marker layer that makes our time different from any other time in the preceding 4.5 billion years."
Previous arguments for the Anthropocene suggest that humans cut short the 11,700-year-old Holocene epoch in 1950, when nuclear tests created a new stratum in Earth's surface.
Or it could have started in 1610, when a dramatic drop in atmospheric CO2 levels, triggered by the arrival of Europeans in the Americas in 1492, was captured in the Antarctic ice-core records.
This new study is more solid evidence of human influence on the planet, Hazen and his team argue.
"If you're a geologist who came back 100,000 years or a million or a billion years from now... you would find amazing mineralogical evidence of a completely different time," Hazen told The Washington Post.Radio Derb is on the air. To get the podcast, follow the instructions at Taki’s Magazine. The transcript will be archived on my own website Tuesday morning.
In this week’s podcast I look past the immediate matter of Africans gatecrashing Europe to what may lie in the future.
When the subject of Mediterranean boat people comes |
-Jansson at the start of the round. As said, Carlsen arrived late (some 30 seconds), just when Garry Kasparov was going to perform the ceremonial first move on his board. “Maybe Garry has to make a few more moves!” joked Aulin-Jansson.
Gazza clearly enjoyed JJ's joke!
The start of the tournament is definitely lustered by the presence of The Boss. On Tuesday he gave several interviews, and appeared both on Norwegian TV and the commentary on the tournament website.
For TV2, which is freely available on TV but only for premium members online, Kasparov for instance said that he did not subscribe to the theory that Carlsen could improve if he focused more on opening preparation. “These days preparation is dominated by computer. Now it's much more important to get a position that you're comfortable with.”
He also discussed the different styles of the modern players, saying that this is the case in all sports. About Carlsen he said: “Karpov never had a performance like Magnus. I always say that Magnus' playing style combines Karpov and Fischer.
“He may be looking like Karpov, playing very positionally, but you can feel Fischer, with his passion, his fight till the last pawn. Karpov never had it.”
Garry Kasparov sharing his thoughts in Stavanger.
As the ambassador of the new Grand Chess Tour, Kasparov seems to have a strong influence on this new initiative. Speaking with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, he underlined that he wants to have all the top players participating.
“They don't have to play all six,” said Kasparov. “We're going for the top 10, although with six tournaments you can go to 12.”
That sounds a lot like the old FIDE Grand Prix Series, which also had six tournaments and everyone played played only four. “There must also be a chance for other players to qualify,” added Kasparov. “Other tournaments can function as potential qualifiers.”
Tomorrow Kasparov is off to the U.S. where he'll have another training session with young talents as part of the St. Louis prodigy program. He'll be working with Sam Sevian, Kayden Troff and Jeffery Xiong.
Kasparov with Yasser Seirawan in the playing hall.
The first game to end was GM Viswanathan Anand vs GM Fabiano Caruana, a Berlin Ruy Lopez with 4.d3 where Anand did manage to get an advantage.
Caruana was one of the first players to go to the “confession box,” where he mentioned that his opponent could force a draw on move 11. After the game he explained that he had seen that during his preparation.
Anand played on, but at some point he realized that the most he could get was an opposite-colored bishop ending with an extra pawn. Instead, he preferred to go for a draw right away.
Seeing no way to win, Anand forced the draw.
The first winner of the day was Dutch GM Anish Giri, who was also one of the players who visited the confession box — but only when he had a winning position!
“It was a little bit uncomfortable. It's difficult to say anything on camera when you're playing a game of chess. But I'm sure I'd be happy as a spectator when a player does it,” Giri said.
Giri also said that he used it a bit as an excuse: “In case I wasn't winning, I could blame this!”
It looked like a very strong and smooth win over GM Alexander Grischuk, except for one moment. Giri got a huge advantage after inaccurate opening play by his opponent, but the Russian missed a chance to equalize on move 26.
“I'm not going to be like those players who beat me and then complain. I'm very happy!” said Giri.
Anish Giri starts with a win in Stavanger.
GM Hikaru Nakamura said he was “rather angry” in the opening phase, as he thought he would surprise his opponent with an early b3 in the English. However, GM Jon Ludvig Hammer quickly played all the best moves and didn't need time for it.
The Norwegian, who stated at yesterday's press conference that a good start is very important to him, continued well until move 32. One mistake was enough for his position to collapse — although the computer showed something crazy on move 38.
“I thought I played quite well overall,” said Nakamura. “He thought he was much better, which is probably why he misplayed it.”
Hammer over-pressed as he thought he was much better.
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave boosted his confidence even further with a first-round win over GM Levon Aronian. The winner of the blitz got a promising position right out of the opening, a Ragozin. Aronian said he spent a lot of time on this variation, but it was simply too long ago that he last looked at it.
With a nice intermediate move (20.exd5!), anticipated by Kasparov on Norwegian TV, MVL won a pawn. Aronian gave up another one, hoping that White's doubled g-pawn couldn't get dangerous without weakening the white king, but White's advantage turned out to be decisive.
“I went to sleep before midnight, which for me probably didn't happen for five years or so,” was how Vachier-Lagrave explained his good start.
Vachier-Lagrave couldn't have wished for more so far.
If the day wasn't dramatic enough, half an hour before midnight the hotel's fire alarm went off. Chess players and other hotel guests had to leave the hotel, and stayed outside for about half a hour. As it turned out, one of the guests needed medical assistance.
Fire alarm went off at the hotel. Not my fault — Magnus Carlsen ( @MagnusCarlsen ) June 16, 2015
The good old midnight fire alarm to end a crazy day! — Hikaru Nakamura ( @GMHikaru ) June 16, 2015
Norway Chess 2015 | Schedule & Pairings
Round 1 16.06.15 16:00 CET Round 2 17.06.15 16:00 CET Giri 1-0 Grischuk Grischuk - Aronian Anand ½-½ Caruana Hammer - Vachier-Lagrave Carlsen 0-1 Topalov Topalov - Nakamura Nakamura 1-0 Hammer Caruana - Carlsen Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Aronian Giri - Anand Round 3 18.06.15 16:00 CET Round 4 19.06.15 16:00 CET Anand - Grischuk Grischuk - Hammer Carlsen - Giri Topalov - Aronian Nakamura - Caruana Caruana - Vachier-Lagrave Vachier-Lagrave - Topalov Giri - Nakamura Aronian - Hammer Anand - Carlsen Round 5 21.06.15 16:00 CET Round 6 22.06.15 16:00 CET Carlsen - Grischuk Grischuk - Topalov Nakamura - Anand Caruana - Hammer Vachier-Lagrave - Giri Giri - Aronian Aronian - Caruana Anand - Vachier-Lagrave Hammer Topalov Carlsen - Nakamura Round 7 23.06.15 16:00 CET Round 8 24.06.15 16:00 CET Nakamura - Grischuk Grischuk - Caruana Vachier-Lagrave - Carlsen Giri - Topalov Aronian - Anand Anand - Hammer Hammer - Giri Carlsen - Aronian Topalov - Caruana Nakamura - Vachier-Lagrave Round 9 25.06.15 15:00 CET Vachier-Lagrave - Grischuk Aronian - Nakamura Hammer - Carlsen Topalov - Anand Caruana - Giri
The Norway Chess tournament runs June 15-26 in the Stavanger region. | Games via TWIC
Chess.com/TV
No time to watch the games live? No problem! The Norway Chess tournament is covered on Chess.com/TV with a daily recap show that runs 1.5 hours. The games will be analyzed and there's video material by Peter Doggers, who is covering the tournament from Stavanger. The show starts each day at 11 p.m. Central European time, 5 p.m. New York, 2 p.m. Pacific.
Correction: an earlier version of this report stated that Magnus Carlsen arrived “a few minutes late.”I was sixteen when I first visited Kenya. It was the first of many visits to Africa and one that started a long-term relationship with the east coast for both me and my family. We had gone to visit friends who were thinking of settling down by the coast, an hour north of Mombasa, in a small fishing village called Watamu. I’m not sure of the reason for the move and I’ve never asked either, but it was a trip that opened up my eyes for the first time to the wider world and led to a deeper understanding for the rules of the game in Africa. A set of rules that is unique in this world.
Kenya is – to all intents and purposes – a work in progress. Infrastructure is non-existent in places and hospitals and schools remain infrequent and incapable of servicing the demands of a burgeoning population of 44 million, the median age for which is a shade under nineteen. Government interaction with the population is inadequate for the requirements of a country like Kenya. It has some of the most diverse wildlife and sea life on the planet, the beaches along the coast surpass that of many European destinations and the essence of the people, or what many would term the ‘vibe’ of the country, is wholly unique. Despite these things, there has always been a low-lying tension bubbling just beneath the surface in Kenya; something that friends tell me is pervasive across the continent. It is this intangible aspect – security, or the failure of it - which has proved to be the biggest concern for many of my Kenyan-domiciled friends, and often discussed at the bar after a few Tuskers.
For this reason, the people that I have grown to know in Kenya live in houses complete with Masai watchmen, guard dogs and padlocks on every door. The development of a number of nigh-on exclusively white communities throughout the coast in Kenya is a driver for the need to provide round the clock security. In Watamu, the Watamu Residents Association provides local private security and a hotline for all residents in this exclusive enclave and has regular meetings to discuss security issues and efforts to provide residents with the best possible assistance. These security teams are a regular sight up and down the main stretch along the Watamu coastal road.
South Africans, white Kenyans, the over 60s and, in occasional cases, people who move here looking to escape a dreary rain-soaked England form the major constituents of Watamu. A plot of land is comparably cheap for Europeans and the chance to build a dream house minutes from the beach is too good to pass up, particularly given the added extras that every resident enjoys: a pool, plenty of beer, good food and year round perfect weather. Many move on those pretenses, based on a holiday some years before and stemming from an astonishing lack of understanding about the ground rules in Africa.
My interactions and experiences with these people have provided me with an insight not into the joys of living here, but into their concerns and doubts; manifested from a fear of failing to provide safekeeping and sanctuary for their families in this isolated beach resort. This is in extremis of the broader context of ‘national security’ stemming from the government or municipal bodies, which is rarely raised as an issue for consideration at Watamu dinner tables, but comes from an implicit realisation of the modus operandi of Africa and the discovery of the low-lying tension that pervades the continent. This is particularly felt – and understandably so – due to the fact that local Kenyans are unhappy at the slow encroachment of white people into their land.
The concept of failure is usually subjective in nature, but specifically in this context it is the worry that, despite all the watchmen, the walls and the guard dogs, security is never fait accompli. An example of this occurred in 2008 when a Watamu resident, Graham Warren, was shot and killed in a botched robbery by a group of armed men. According to media reports, Warren had disturbed a burglary at his coastal home upon returning from dinner with his family. They had been ordered to lie on the ground and remain still until the assailants had finished taking what they could find. At that point Warren was fatally shot by one of the men, dying in his house an hour later. What wasn’t said – and is not made clear from the media - was that Warren had decided to halt the burglary himself, confronting the assailants and attempting to stop the burglary of his dream coastal home. There are varying stories as to why he did this and what exactly happened – some say he was drunk and aggressive (and also possibly aggressive with his house workers, which prompted discussions over whether it was an inside job), others that he was naïve to the situation. This does not detract from the notion that Warren was desperate to defend his family and arrest the possibility that he had failed to provide security for them. Irrational or not, the primordial need to demonstrate the capability to succeed over failure was the likely catalyst that night, leading to Warren’s fatal and untimely death.
Several years later, I was told of a similar – but fortunately non-fatal – event by my dad when I was in the UK. This time it was closer to home in a very literal sense, happening to our neighbour in Watamu; a British-American couple who had been living along the coast for around a decade. On that night Susan, the wife, who slept on the top floor of the house, was awoken by noises from downstairs. She initially believed it to be her husband Michael, who slept downstairs. As she lay there, waiting to hear Michael call out her name, she heard footsteps on the stairs and a strong rattle at her bedroom door. Within seconds a group of men armed with machetes and guns were in her bedroom dragging her from her bed. They were looking for cash and demanding that she hand over the money or be killed. Susan rarely kept cash in the house and in a bid to stay alive mentioned that her neighbour Chris had cash that he could give them. Chris – a white Kenyan and incredibly security conscious – heard the men coming and initially refused to come out from his heavily padlocked house. He was eventually forced to come down when the men threatened to kill Susan on his doorstep, and handed over little more than GBP 300, taking a beating for his troubles.
It later transpired that the armed gang was tipped off by one of Susan’s house workers. Aggrieved at not receiving a pay rise earlier in the month, he conspired to leave the front door unlocked and take the guard dogs away in order to facilitate the robbery. The issue, as Susan relayed to me, was ultimately her steadily increasing laissez faire attitude to her own safety and security; something which cannot be lightly forgotten in Africa. More than that however was the failure to protect her home; a violation on a very personal level to which victims in these cases would often conduct a lengthy introspection, long after the event.
Other examples of grievance-related violence litter the Kenyan coast. The most widely known is that of David and Judith Tebbutt, a British couple who were holidaying in 2011 in the resort of Lamu, a few hours north of Watamu, along the northern stretch of Kenyan coast. Somali militants, reportedly following a tip-off, entered the isolated resort and kidnapped the couple. David was shot and killed while Judith was taken to Somalia and held hostage for six months before being released following an alleged ransom payment. Later reports confirmed that David had died following a struggle to protect his wife, in much the same way as Warren had done in 2008, and likely with the same thoughts, namely that a failure to protect his family had become a mortal struggle and paramount in his thinking. It was also suggested, but never substantiated, that the kidnap was an inside job, stemming from one of the locals or resort workers looking to make a quick buck.
Africa is, through all of this, a continent of contradictions. Treacherous but beautiful, alluringly laid back but deadly for those who momentarily forget the rules of the game. It should not be forgotten that Lamu, for all its charm and acclaim as a holiday destination, is only 25 miles from the Somali border. The Tebbutts, for their part, were no strangers to Africa and had been to Kenya previously, and although Judith later noted how quiet the resort was - they were the only guests - and how isolated their room was from the main resort, they were lured by the charm of Africa, only to misconstrue the rules.
Watamu is a microcosm of this wider phenomenon; a sleepy fishing village catering for package holiday tourists, game fishermen and safari aficionados, with an underlying tension that can often explode violently to the surface. For Warren, Susan and the Tebbutts, it was the erroneous belief of safety which preceded their gruesome events and in some sense it was a failure to assess the situation correctly. For the residents of Watamu however, and for Chris and Susan, life moves on. They do not dwell on that night a great deal and when they do, the response, in typically pragmatic fashion, is that ‘this is how Africa works’ and those are the rules of the game.
During my last visit to Kenya in March, in between meetings of the Watamu Residents Association, Chris turned to me and questioned whether it was possible to avoid the next eruption of violence in a community that is so delicately poised on a knife edge. He summed it up by saying that we will always fail to stop a random event. I sat back and mulled this over and realized that rationalizing one’s own safety in this part of the world lay in a great unknown. That is the beauty of Africa, treacherous as it is, and alluring as it can be; the great game of living on the east coast of Kenya.
*some names have been changed to protect the identity of the people mentioned in this article.
Henry Burrows has lived in Mumbai since 2011 working for a specialist consultancy. When he's not investigating corporations, he's usually hunting down rare food stuffs or playing speed scrabble.
Cover image by Pavel Yudaev, licensed under Creative Commons.Izzy Berdan, of Boston, center, wears an American flags as he chants slogans with other demonstrators during a rally against President Donald Trump's order that restricts travel to the U.S., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, in Boston. Trump signed an executive order Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 that bans legal U.S. residents and visa-holders from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S. for 90 days and puts an indefinite hold on a program resettling Syrian refugees. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) The Associated Press
By ALICIA A. CALDWEL and JILL COLVIN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that makes major changes to America's immigration system, sparking confusion at airports, protests around the country and denunciations from leaders around the world.
A look at what Trump ordered and the reaction:
___
NO ENTRY
Trump's executive order temporarily suspends all immigration for citizens of seven majority Muslim countries for 90 days. They are: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The order also calls for Homeland Security and State department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needs to fully vet would-be visitors and come up with a list of countries that don't provide it. The order says the government will give countries 60 days to start providing the information or citizens from those countries will be barred from traveling to the United States.
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GREEN CARD HOLDERS AND DUAL CITIZENS:
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a statement Sunday declaring that, absent information indicating a serious threat to public safety and welfare, residency would be a "dispositive factor in our case-by-case determination." That means citizens of the seven target countries who hold permanent U.S. residency "green cards" will not be barred from re-entering the U.S., as officials had previously said.
Officials also clarified Sunday that dual citizens who are nationals of one of the seven target countries and a country that's not on the list will be subject to additional security screenings, but will likely be allowed through.
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REFUGEES
Trump ordered a four-month suspension of America's refugee program. The suspension is intended to provide time to review how refugees are vetted before they are allowed to resettle in the United States.
Trump's order also cuts the number of refugees the United States plans to accept this budget year by more than half, to 50,000 people from around the world.
During the last budget year the U.S. accepted 84,995 refugees, including 12,587 people from Syria. President Barack Obama had set the current refugee limit at 110,000.
The temporary halt to refugee admissions does include exceptions for people claiming religious persecution, so long as their religion is a minority faith in their country.
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SYRIA
Trump's order directs the State Department to stop issuing visas to Syrian nationals and halts the processing of Syrian refugees. That will remain in effect until Trump determines that enough security changes have been made to ensure that would-be terrorists can't exploit weaknesses in the current vetting system.
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EXTREME VETTING
Trump's order did not spell out specifically what additional steps he wants to see the Homeland Security and State departments add to the country's vetting system for refugees. Instead he directed officials to the review the refugee application and approval process to find any other security measures that can be added to prevent people who pose a threat from using the refugee program.
During the Obama administration, vetting for refugees included in-person interviews overseas, where they provided biographical details about themselves, including their families, friendships, social or political activities, employment, phone numbers, email accounts and more. They also provided biometric information, including fingerprints. Syrians were subject to additional, classified controls that administration officials at the time declined to describe, and processing for that group routinely took years to complete.
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THE RESPONSE AT HOME
Trump's order sparked an immediate backlash and sowed chaos and outrage, with travelers getting detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure — parts of which were blocked by several federal courts.
Protests were held across the country, including in sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York City and at international airports where travelers were temporarily detained.
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THE RESPONSE ABROAD
Leaders of Britain and Germany joined other American allies in criticizing Trump's entry ban, voicing anger and dismay, even as some far-right politicians expressed hope the move would inspire similar measures in Europe. The far-right National Democratic Party in Germany, for instance, celebrated "the massive restriction on the entry of pseudo-refugees and Muslims to the USA."
A petition on the British Parliament's website, meanwhile, attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures backing its call for Trump, who has been invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II, to be barred on the basis of misogyny and vulgarity.At CES, AMD launched its first Zen chips for PCs, called Ryzen. Next on deck is the 32-core server chip code-named Naples, which will ship in the coming months.
Naples doesn’t have an official name yet, but the expectations are high. While Ryzen is set up for success in PCs, it’s a different story for Naples, which has to take on Intel’s juiced-up Xeon chips, which are used in most servers today.
AMD is trying to drum up excitement for Naples, which will be released in the first half of this year. It’s promoting Naples using the same tactic as it did for Ryzen—by talking about the performance benefits of the Zen CPU.
The Zen CPU core in Naples will provide the same performance benefits as in the Ryzen chips. AMD claims a 40 percent improvement in instructions per cycle, an important metric to measure CPU performance, compared to the company’s previous Excavator architecture.
Naples is notable for its high 32-core count, more than Intel’s Xeon chips, which have up to 24 cores. The Intel Xeon Phi supercomputing chip has up to 72 cores, but it isn’t targeted at mainstream socketed servers.
A higher core count matters as servers can do more, Forrest Norrod, senior vice president and general manager at AMD, said in a blog entry this week.
More data is moving into the cloud, which is putting more strain on servers in data centers. More cores will add processing power to help servers respond quickly to search requests, recognize images, and process uploaded videos faster. A server with a single CPU will be able to do as much as a current two-socket server, Norrod said.
AMD will come out with more Zen-based server chips with lower core counts, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.
A bulk of the servers today use quad-core chips, and the actual market for 32-core Naples will be limited. The server market is dominated by two-socket servers, while Intel’s 24-core chips go into a four- and eight-socket servers, which are used by companies like financial institutions that need a lot of horsepower.
“Intel has used Xeon to bleed the market” by forcing people to buy two-socket servers, and AMD could change that trend, McGregor said.
AMD will also pack in new memory bandwidth technology, which will boost server performance and possibly give it an edge over Xeon, McGregor said. It’s not clear what the technology will be, but it could be based on technology from Gen-Z, a consortium that is developing a high-speed throughput for use inside and outside servers.
AMD has surprised Intel in the server market in the past, only to self destruct. In 2003, it came out with the first 64-bit x86 server chip called Opteron, and Intel had to scramble to catch up. AMD lost the lead with its Opteron chips based on the Bulldozer architecture, which underperformed and were rejected by server makers.
The company killed whatever server market presence it had with another fateful decision to switch architectures. In 2013, AMD took the radical decision to put x86 on the backburner and reboot its server strategy around ARM architecture. AMD believed the power-efficient ARM chips would ultimately replace x86 in servers and have a 20 percent market share by 2017, but that hasn’t happened.
AMD shipped its first ARM server chips early last year, but ARM chips are virtually non-existent in servers today, though the promise remains.
Realizing its mistake, AMD reversed course, moving away from ARM for servers and switching back to x86 with Zen chips. In the meantime, Intel took advantage of AMD’s missteps and steadily rolled out new Xeon chips that supported the latest technologies. Intel now holds more than a 90 percent market share in server processors.
AMD has a big challenge with 32-core Naples. Companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are building mega data centers with servers based on Xeon. Those companies have software stacks tuned closely to the processing, I/O, power, and throughput specifications of Xeon chips, and it could be tough for AMD to break into large accounts.
But AMD’s Naples is the first legitimate x86 challenger to Xeon in years. Google, Facebook, and Amazon could use AMD’s chip as leverage to get better chip prices from Intel. Xeon chips are expensive, and the margins make them highly profitable products for Intel.
Companies won’t make a switch to AMD overnight; it could take a year or more to ensure applications work on the new chips. But the competition is good, and AMD has nowhere to go but up in the server market, McGregor said.
AMD also has some technologies that could work to its advantage. It has mulled pairing a Zen server chip with its Vega GPU, which could be useful for tasks like machine learning. The company has also released a GPU targeted at machine learning called Radeon Instinct, but that’s effort is targeted toward Nvidia’s Tesla GPU, which dominates data centers.
Server wins for Naples are already coming AMD’s way. The company is also chasing the Chinese server market—which is growing fast—by licensing its Zen design to THATIC (Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co.), a joint venture between AMD and a consortium of public and private Chinese companies.This article is about an act of the U.S. Congress generally restricting the possession of firearms in and around schools. It is not to be confused with Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994
Section 1702(b)(5) of Pub. L. 101-647 states: "Federal, State, and local authorities are encouraged to cause signs to be posted around school zones giving warning of prohibition of the possession of firearms in a school zone."
ATF letter detailing the agency's interpretation of the act
The Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) is an act of the U.S. Congress prohibiting any unauthorized individual from knowingly possessing a loaded or unsecured firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, in a school zone as defined by. The law applies to public, private, and parochial elementary schools and high schools, and to non-private property within 1000 feet of them. It provides that the states and their political subdivisions may issue licenses that exempt the licensed individuals from the prohibition.
It was first introduced in the U.S. Senate in February 1990 as S. 2070[1] by Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and then was incorporated into the Crime Control Act of 1990 that was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.
History [ edit ]
The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 was originally passed as section 1702 of the Crime Control Act of 1990. It added ; 18 U.S.C. § 922 itself was added by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.
The Supreme Court of the United States subsequently held that the Act was an unconstitutional exercise of Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution in United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995). This was the first time in over half a century that the Supreme Court limited Congressional authority to legislate under the Commerce Clause.
Following the Lopez decision, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno proposed changes to that were adopted in section 657 of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, Pub.L. 104–208, 110 Stat. 3009, enacted September 30, 1996.[2] These changes required that the firearm in question "has moved in or otherwise affects interstate commerce."[3] As nearly all firearms have moved in interstate commerce at some point in their existence, critics assert this was merely a legislative tactic to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling.[2]
Challenges [ edit ]
The Supreme Court of the United States held that the original Act was an unconstitutional exercise of Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution in United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995). This was the first time in over half a century that the Supreme Court limited Congressional authority to legislate under the Commerce Clause.[4]
Although the amended GFSZA has yet to be challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court, it has been reviewed and upheld by several federal Circuit Courts. In a 2005 Appellate case, United States v. Dorsey,[5] the minor changes of the revised law were specifically challenged. In Dorsey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the minor changes were indeed sufficient to correct the issues that had caused the original 1990 law to be struck down in Lopez, and they upheld Dorsey's conviction under the revised version of the law. A 2000 ruling made by the Eleventh Circuit in United States v. Tait overturned a conviction for firearm possession in a school zone because the defendant was licensed to do so by the state in which the school zone is located.
Convictions upheld post-Lopez under the revised Gun Free School Zones Act include:
Convictions overturned post-Lopez under the revised Gun Free School Zones Act include:
Provisions [ edit ]
states:
It shall be unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.
states:
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), it shall be unlawful for any person, knowingly or with reckless disregard for the safety of another, to discharge or attempt to discharge a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the person knows is a school zone.
Exceptions [ edit ]
Pursuant to :
[ ] does not apply to the possession of a firearm— (i) on private property not part of school grounds; (ii) if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State, and the law of the State or political subdivision requires that, before an individual obtains such a license, the law enforcement authorities of the State or political subdivision verify that the individual is qualified under law to receive the license; (iii) that is— (I) not loaded; and (II) in a locked container, or a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle; (iv) by an individual for use in a program approved by a school in the school zone; (v) by an individual in accordance with a contract entered into between a school in the school zone and the individual or an employer of the individual; (vi) by a law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity; or (vii) that is unloaded and is possessed by an individual while traversing school premises for the purpose of gaining access to public or private lands open to hunting, if the entry on school premises is authorized by school authorities. Pursuant to : [ ] does not apply to the discharge of a firearm— (i) on private property not part of school grounds; (ii) as part of a program approved by a school in the school zone, by an individual who is participating in the program; (iii) by an individual in accordance with a contract entered into between a school in a school zone and the individual or an employer of the individual; or (iv) by a law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity.
Definitions [ edit ]
Pursuant to :
The term "school zone" means— (A) in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school; or (B) within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school.
Pursuant to the term "school" means a school which provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under state law.
Penalty [ edit ]
establishes the penalty for violating GFSZA:
Whoever violates the Act shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the term of imprisonment imposed under this paragraph shall not run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed under any other provision of law.
A conviction under the GFSZA will cause an individual to become a "prohibited person" under the Gun Control Act of 1968. It is unlawful for a "prohibited person" to own, purchase, or possess "firearms" as defined by US federal law. A US presidential pardon may remove this civil disability.[6][7]
Legal effects [ edit ]
Places affected [ edit ]
Individuals traveling on public sidewalks, roads, and highways within 1,000 feet (300 m) of defined schools are subject to the law's legal restrictions.[6][8][9] The First Circuit Court of Appeals sustained a GFSZA conviction in the 2007 case of United States v Nieves-Castaño for a firearm kept in a woman's apartment, which was part of a public housing project within 1,000 feet of a school.[10] In 2012, ATF informed the town of Stratham, New Hampshire, that hunters would be violating GFSZA by hunting on locally approved public hunting land, a town forest, which fell within 1,000 feet of a local school.[6][11]
Carrying [ edit ]
Most states allow some form of unlicensed carry by persons who are not prohibited by statute from owning or possessing firearms.[12] This may be open-carry,[12] vehicle-carry,[13] or concealed carry without the need for a permit.[14] The Federal GFSZA prohibits unlicensed carry by making it a federal crime for an unlicensed individual to travel into a "Gun Free School Zone unless they meet one of the other criteria defined in Section 'B'."[6][7][8][9][15][16][17] The large number of K-12 schools in developed areas makes it difficult for an individual to travel any distance without entering a Gun Free School Zone.[6][8][9][15][16]
Although the federal GFSZA does provide an exception for an individual licensed to carry a firearm, this exception only applies in the state that physically issued the permit.[6][7][8][9][15][18] Nearly all 50 states have provisions to issue concealed carry permits to citizens.[19] Most of these states also enter into reciprocity agreements with other states where each state agrees to recognize the other's concealed carry permits.[19] Because the Federal GFSZA requires the permit be issued by the state which the school zone is in,[6][7][8] it is difficult for a permit holder to travel outside their state of issuance to a reciprocating state without violating the Federal GFSZA.[6][8][9][15][18]
The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA), intended to allow qualified law enforcement officers the ability to carry guns nationwide, does not provide any exceptions to Federal Law per 18 U.S.C. § 926B. GFSZA does not make any exception for an off-duty qualified officer.[9][15][17][17]
Discharge [ edit ]
GFSZA generally prohibits anyone from discharging a firearm on public property within a school zone. Legal exceptions are made for on-duty law enforcement and contracted school security.[6][7][8][9][9]
Reactions [ edit ]
Amendments introduced [ edit ]
Opposing the law [ edit ]
On May 22, 2007, June 24, 2009, and July 21, 2011, US Representative Ron Paul introduced similar bills H.R. 2424, H.R. 3021, and H.R. 2613 that would repeal the Federal Gun Free School |
about 20,000 sterilizations or one third of the 60,000 nationwide from 1909 up until the 1960s.[40]
While California had the highest number of sterilizations, North Carolina's eugenics program which operated from 1933 to 1977, was the most aggressive of the 32 states that had eugenics programs.[41] An IQ of 70 or lower meant sterilization was appropriate in North Carolina.[42] The North Carolina Eugenics Board almost always approved proposals brought before them by local welfare boards.[42] Of all states, only North Carolina gave social workers the power to designate people for sterilization.[41] "Here, at last, was a method of preventing unwanted pregnancies by an acceptable, practical, and inexpensive method," wrote Wallace Kuralt in the March 1967 journal of the N.C. Board of Public Welfare. "The poor readily adopted the new techniques for birth control."[42]
Immigration restrictions
Anthropometry demonstrated in an exhibit from a 1921 eugenics conference.
The Immigration Restriction League was the first American entity associated officially with eugenics. Founded in 1894 by three recent Harvard University graduates, the League sought to bar what it considered inferior races from entering America and diluting what it saw as the superior American racial stock (upper class Northerners of Anglo-Saxon heritage). They felt that social and sexual involvement with these less-evolved and less-civilized races would pose a biological threat to the American population. The League lobbied for a literacy test for immigrants, based on the belief that literacy rates were low among "inferior races". Literacy test bills were vetoed by Presidents in 1897, 1913 and 1915; eventually, President Wilson's second veto was overruled by Congress in 1917. Membership in the League included: A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard, William DeWitt Hyde, president of Bowdoin College, James T. Young, director of Wharton School and David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford University.[43]
The League allied themselves with the American Breeder's Association to gain influence and further its goals and in 1909 established a Committee on Eugenics chaired by David Starr Jordan with members Charles Davenport, Alexander Graham Bell, Vernon Kellogg, Luther Burbank, William Ernest Castle, Adolf Meyer, H. J. Webber and Friedrich Woods. The ABA's immigration legislation committee, formed in 1911 and headed by League's founder Prescott F. Hall, formalized the committee's already strong relationship with the Immigration Restriction League. They also founded the Eugenics Record Office, which was headed by Harry H. Laughlin.[44] In their mission statement, they wrote:
Society must protect itself; as it claims the right to deprive the murderer of his life so it may also annihilate the hideous serpent of hopelessly vicious protoplasm. Here is where appropriate legislation will aid in eugenics and creating a healthier, saner society in the future.[44]
Money from the Harriman railroad fortune was also given to local charities, in order to find immigrants from specific ethnic groups and deport, confine, or forcibly sterilize them.[7]
With the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, eugenicists for the first time played an important role in the Congressional debate as expert advisers on the threat of "inferior stock" from eastern and southern Europe.[45][46] The new act, inspired by the eugenic belief in the racial superiority of "old stock" white Americans as members of the "Nordic race" (a form of white supremacy), strengthened the position of existing laws prohibiting race-mixing.[47] Eugenic considerations also lay behind the adoption of incest laws in much of the U.S. and were used to justify many anti-miscegenation laws.[48]
Stephen Jay Gould asserted that restrictions on immigration passed in the United States during the 1920s (and overhauled in 1965 with the Immigration and Nationality Act) were motivated by the goals of eugenics. During the early 20th century, the United States and Canada began to receive far higher numbers of Southern and Eastern European immigrants. Influential eugenicists like Lothrop Stoddard and Harry Laughlin (who was appointed as an expert witness for the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization in 1920) presented arguments they would pollute the national gene pool if their numbers went unrestricted.[49][50] It has been argued that this stirred both Canada and the United States into passing laws creating a hierarchy of nationalities, rating them from the most desirable Anglo-Saxon and Nordic peoples to the Chinese and Japanese immigrants, who were almost completely banned from entering the country.[47][51]
Unfit vs. fit individuals
Both class and race factored into eugenic definitions of "fit" and "unfit." By using intelligence testing, American eugenicists asserted that social mobility was indicative of one's genetic fitness.[52] This reaffirmed the existing class and racial hierarchies and explained why the upper-to-middle class was predominantly white. Middle-to-upper class status was a marker of "superior strains."[31] In contrast, eugenicists believed poverty to be a characteristic of genetic inferiority, which meant that those deemed "unfit" were predominantly of the lower classes.[31]
Because class status designated some more fit than others, eugenicists treated upper and lower class women differently. Positive eugenicists, who promoted procreation among the fittest in society, encouraged middle class women to bear more children. Between 1900 and 1960, Eugenicists appealed to middle class white women to become more "family minded," and to help better the race.[53] To this end, eugenicists often denied middle and upper class women sterilization and birth control.[54]
Since poverty was associated with prostitution and "mental idiocy," women of the lower classes were the first to be deemed "unfit" and "promiscuous."[31]
Compulsory sterilization
In 1907, Indiana passed the first eugenics-based compulsory sterilization law in the world. Thirty U.S. states would soon follow their lead.[55][56] Although the law was overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court in 1921,[57] the U.S. Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, upheld the constitutionality of the Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924, allowing for the compulsory sterilization of patients of state mental institutions in 1927.[58]
Some states sterilized "imbeciles" for much of the 20th century. Although compulsory sterilization is now considered an abuse of human rights, Buck v. Bell was never overturned, and Virginia did not repeal its sterilization law until 1974.[59] The most significant era of eugenic sterilization was between 1907 and 1963, when over 64,000 individuals were forcibly sterilized under eugenic legislation in the United States.[60] Beginning around 1930, there was a steady increase in the percentage of women sterilized, and in a few states only young women were sterilized. From 1930 to the 1960s, sterilizations were performed on many more institutionalized women than men.[31] By 1961, 61 percent of the 62,162 total eugenic sterilizations in the United States were performed on women.[31] A favorable report on the results of sterilization in California, the state with the most sterilizations by far, was published in book form by the biologist Paul Popenoe and was widely cited by the Nazi government as evidence that wide-reaching sterilization programs were feasible and humane.[61][62]
Men and women were compulsorily sterilized for different reasons. Men were sterilized to treat their aggression and to eliminate their criminal behavior, while women were sterilized to control the results of their sexuality.[31] Since women bore children, eugenicists held women more accountable than men for the reproduction of the less "desirable" members of society.[31] Eugenicists therefore predominantly targeted women in their efforts to regulate the birth rate, to "protect" white racial health, and weed out the "defectives" of society.[31]
A 1937 Fortune magazine poll found that 2/3 of respondents supported eugenic sterilization of "mental defectives", 63% supported sterilization of criminals, and only 15% opposed both.[63][64]
In the 1970s, several activists and women's rights groups discovered several physicians to be performing coerced sterilizations of specific ethnic groups of society. All were abuses of poor, nonwhite, or mentally retarded women, while no abuses against white or middle-class women were recorded.[65] Several court cases such as Madrigal v. Quilligan, a class action suit regarding forced or coerced postpartum sterilization of Latina women following cesarean sections, and Relf v. Weinberger,[66] the sterilization of two young black girls by tricking their illiterate mother into signing a waiver, helped bring to light some of the widespread abuses of sterilization supported by federal funds.[67][68]
After World War II, Dr. Clarence Gamble revived the eugenics movement in the United States through sterilization. Gamble supported the eugenics movement throughout his life. He worked as a researcher at Harvard Medical school and was well-off financially, as the inheritor of the Procter and Gamble fortune. Gamble, a proponent of birth control, contributed to the founding of public birth control clinics. These were the first public clinics in the United States. Until the 1960s and 1970s, Gamble's ideal form of eugenics, sterilization, was seen in various cases. Doctors told mothers that their daughters needed shots, but they were actually sterilizing them. Hispanic women were often sterilized due to the fact that they could not read the consent forms that doctors had given them. Poorer white people, African Americans, and Native American people were also targeted for forced sterilization.[69]
The number of eugenic sterilizations is agreed upon by most scholars and journalists. They claim that there were 64,000 cases of eugenic sterilization in the United States, but this number does not take into account the sterilizations that took place after 1963. Around this time was when women from different minority groups were singled out for sterilization. If the sterilizations after 1963 are taken into account, the number of eugenic sterilizations in the United States increases to 80,000. Half of these sterilizations took place after World War II. Sterilization still occurs today, in some states, drug addicts can get paid to be sterilized. Eugenic sterilization programs before World War II were mostly conducted on prisoners, or people in mental hospitals. After the war, eugenic sterilization was aimed more towards poor people and minorities. There were even judges who would force people on parole to be sterilized. People supported this revival of eugenic sterilizations because they thought it would help bring an end to some issues, like poverty and mental illness. Supporters also thought that these programs would save taxpayer money and boost the economy.[70]
In 1972, United States Senate committee testimony brought to light that at least 2,000 involuntary sterilizations had been performed on poor black women without their consent or knowledge.[71] An investigation revealed that the surgeries were all performed in the South, and were all performed on black welfare mothers with multiple children.[71] Testimony revealed that many of these women were threatened with an end to their welfare benefits until they consented to sterilization.[71] These surgeries were instances of sterilization abuse, a term applied to any sterilization performed without the consent or knowledge of the recipient, or in which the recipient is pressured into accepting the surgery. Because the funds used to carry out the surgeries came from the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, the sterilization abuse raised older suspicions, especially amongst the black community, that "federal programs were underwriting eugenicists who wanted to impose their views about population quality on minorities and poor women."[31]
Native American women were also victims of sterilization abuse up into the 1970s.[72] The organization WARN (Women of All Red Nations) publicized that Native American women were threatened that, if they had more children, they would be denied welfare benefits. The Indian Health Service also repeatedly refused to deliver Native American babies until their mothers, in labor, consented to sterilization. Many Native American women unknowingly gave consent, since directions were not given in their native language. According to the General Accounting Office, an estimate of 3,406 Indian women were sterilized.[72] The General Accounting Office stated that the Indian Health Service had not followed the necessary regulations, and that the "informed consent forms did not adhere to the standards set by the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW)."[73]
In 2013, it was reported that 148 female prisoners in two California prisons were sterilized between 2006 and 2010 in a supposedly voluntary program, but it was determined that the prisoners did not give consent to the procedures.[74] In September 2014, California enacted Bill SB1135 that bans sterilization in correctional facilities, unless the procedure is required to save an inmate's life.[75]
Euthanasia programs
Edwin Black wrote that one of the methods that was suggested to get rid of "defective germ-plasm in the human population" was euthanasia.[7] A 1911 Carnegie Institute report explored eighteen methods for removing defective genetic attributes, and method number eight was euthanasia.[7] The most commonly suggested method of euthanasia was to set up local gas chambers.[7] However, many in the eugenics movement did not believe that Americans were ready to implement a large-scale euthanasia program, so many doctors had to find clever ways of subtly implementing eugenic euthanasia in various medical institutions.[7] For example, a mental institution in Lincoln, Illinois fed its incoming patients milk infected with tuberculosis (reasoning that genetically fit individuals would be resistant), resulting in 30–40% annual death rates.[7] Other doctors practiced euthanasia through various forms of lethal neglect.[7]
In the 1930s, there was a wave of portrayals of eugenic "mercy killings" in American film, newspapers, and magazines. In 1931, the Illinois Homeopathic Medicine Association began lobbying for the right to euthanize "imbeciles" and other defectives.[76] The Euthanasia Society of America was founded in 1938.[77]
Overall, however, euthanasia was marginalized in the U.S., motivating people to turn to forced segregation and sterilization programs as a means for keeping the "unfit" from reproducing.[7]
Better baby contests
Contestants preparing for the Better Baby Contest at the 1931 Indiana State Fair.
Mary deGormo, a former teacher, was the first person to combine ideas about health and intelligence standards with competitions at state fairs, in the form of baby contests. She developed the first such contest, the "Scientific Baby Contest" for the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport, in 1908. She saw these contests as a contribution to the "social efficiency" movement, which was advocating for the standardization of all aspects of American life as a means of increasing efficiency.[21] DeGarmo was assisted by Doctor Jacob Bodenheimer, a pediatrician who helped her develop grading sheets for contestants, which combined physical measurements with standardized measurements of intelligence.[78]
The contest spread to other U.S. states in the early twentieth century. In Indiana, for example, Ada Estelle Schweitzer, a eugenics advocate and director of the Indiana State Board of Health's Division of Child and Infant Hygiene, organized and supervised the state's Better Baby contests at the Indiana State Fair from 1920 to 1932. It was among the fair's most popular events. During the contest's first year at the fair, a total of 78 babies were examined; in 1925 the total reached 885. Contestants peaked at 1,301 infants in 1930, and the following year the number of entrants was capped at 1,200. Although the specific impact of the contests was difficult to assess, statistics helped to support Schweitzer's claims that the contests helped reduce infant mortality.[79]
The intent of the contest was to educate the public about raising healthier children; however, its exclusionary practices reinforced social class and racial discrimination. In Indiana, for example, the contestants were limited to white infants; African American and immigrant children were barred from the competition for ribbons and cash prizes. In addition, the scoring was biased toward white, middle-class babies.[80][81] The contest procedure included recording each child's health history, as well as evaluations of each contestant's physical and mental health and overall development using medical professionals. Using a process similar to the one introduced at the Louisiana State Fair, and contest guidelines that the AMA and U.S. Children's Bureau recommended, scoring for each contestant began with 1,000 points. Deductions were made for defects, including a child's measurements below a designated average. The contestant with the most points (and the fewest defections) was declared the winner.[82][83][84]
Standardization through scientific judgment was a topic that was very serious in the eyes of the scientific community, but has often been downplayed as just a popular fad or trend. Nevertheless, a lot of time, effort, and money was put into these contests and their scientific backing, which would influence cultural ideas as well as local and state government practices.[85][86]
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People promoted eugenics by hosting "Better Baby" contests and the proceeds would go to its anti-lynching campaign.[13]
Fitter family for future
First appearing in 1920 at the Kansas Free Fair, Fitter Family competitions, continued all the way up to World War II. Mary T. Watts and Dr. Florence Brown Sherbon,[87][88] both initiators of the Better Baby Contests in Iowa, took the idea of positive eugenics for babies and combined it with a determinist concept of biology to come up with fitter family competitions.[89]
There were several different categories that families were judged in: Size of the family, overall attractiveness, and health of the family, all of which helped to determine the likelihood of having healthy children. These competitions were simply a continuation of the Better Baby contests that promoted certain physical and mental qualities.[90] At the time, it was believed that certain behavioral qualities were inherited from one's parents. This led to the addition of several judging categories including: generosity, self-sacrificing, and quality of familial bonds. Additionally, there were negative features that were judged: selfishness, jealousy, suspiciousness, high-temperedness, and cruelty. Feeblemindedness, alcoholism, and paralysis were few among other traits that were included as physical traits to be judged when looking at family lineage.[91]
Doctors and specialists from the community would offer their time to judge these competitions, which were originally sponsored by the Red Cross.[91] The winners of these competitions were given a Bronze Medal as well as champion cups called "Capper Medals." The cups were named after then Governor and Senator, Arthur Capper and he would present them to "Grade A individuals".[92]
The perks of entering into the contests were that the competitions provided a way for families to get a free health check up by a doctor as well as some of the pride and prestige that came from winning the competitions.[91]
By 1925 the Eugenics Records Office was distributing standardized forms for judging eugenically fit families, which were used in contests in several U.S. states.[93]
Planned Parenthood and the African American community
Concerns about eugenics arose in the African American community after the implementation of the Negro Project of 1939, which was proposed by Margaret Sanger who was the founder of Planned Parenthood.[94] In this plan, Sanger offered birth control to Black families in the United States to give them the chance to have a better life than what the group had been experiencing in the United States.[95] She also noted that the project was proposed to empower women. The Project often sought after prominent African American leaders to spread knowledge regarding birth control and the perceived positive effects it would have on the African American community, such as poverty and the lack of education.[96] Because of this, Sanger believed that African American ministers in the South would be useful to gain the trust of people within disadvantaged, African American communities as the Church was a pillar within the community.[96] Also, political leaders such as W.E.B. Dubois were quoted in the Project proposal criticizing Black people in the United States for having many children and for being less intelligent than their white counterparts:
... the mass of ignorant Negroes still breed carelessly and disastrously, so that the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among Whites, is from that part of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly.[95]
Even though The Negro Project received a lot of praise from white leaders and eugenicists of the time, it is important to note that Margaret Sanger wanted to clear concerns that this was not a project to terminate African Americans.[96] To add to the clarification, she received support from prominent African American leaders such as Mary McLeod Bethune and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.[95] These leaders and many more would later serve on the Negro National Advisory Council of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942.
African-American support of eugenics
Some African-Americans have been proponents of eugenics. Thomas Wyatt Turner, a professor at Howard University and a well respected scientist incorporated eugenics into his classes. The NAACP founder asked his students how eugenics can affect society in a good way in 1915. W.E.B DuBois, a historian and civil rights leader had some beliefs that lined up with eugenics. He believed in developing the best versions of African Americans in order for his race to succeed.[97]
Influence on Nazi Germany
After the eugenics movement was well established in the United States, it spread to Germany. California eugenicists began producing literature promoting eugenics and sterilization and sending it overseas to German scientists and medical professionals.[7] By 1933, California had subjected more people to forceful sterilization than all other U.S. states combined. The forced sterilization program engineered by the Nazis was partly inspired by California's.[8]
The Rockefeller Foundation helped develop and fund various German eugenics programs,[98] including the one that Josef Mengele worked in before he went to Auschwitz.[7]
Upon returning from Germany in 1934, where more than 5,000 people per month were being forcibly sterilized, the California eugenics leader C. M. Goethe bragged to a colleague:
You will be interested to know that your work has played a powerful part in shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind Hitler in this epoch-making program. Everywhere I sensed that their opinions have been tremendously stimulated by American thought... I want you, my dear friend, to carry this thought with you for the rest of your life, that you have really jolted into action a great government of 60 million people.[7]
Eugenics researcher Harry H. Laughlin often bragged that his Model Eugenic Sterilization laws had been implemented in the 1935 Nuremberg racial hygiene laws.[99] In 1936, Laughlin was invited to an award ceremony at Heidelberg University in Germany (scheduled on the anniversary of Hitler's 1934 purge of Jews from the Heidelberg faculty), to receive an honorary doctorate for his work on the "science of racial cleansing". Due to financial limitations, Laughlin was unable to attend the ceremony and had to pick it up from the Rockefeller Institute. Afterwards, he proudly shared the award with his colleagues, remarking that he felt that it symbolized the "common understanding of German and American scientists of the nature of eugenics."[100]
Henry Friedlander wrote that although the German and American eugenics movements were similar, the US did not follow the same slippery slope as Nazi eugenics because American "federalism and political heterogeneity encouraged diversity even with a single movement." In contrast, the German eugenics movement was more centralized and had fewer diverse ideas.[101] Unlike the American movement, one publication and one society, the German Society for Racial Hygiene, represented all German eugenicists in the early 20th century.[101][102]
After 1945, however, historians began to try to portray the US eugenics movement as distinct and distant from Nazi eugenics.[103] Jon Entine wrote that eugenics simply means "good genes" and using it as synonym for genocide is an "all-too-common distortion of the social history of genetics policy in the United States." According to Entine, eugenics developed out of the Progressive Era and not "Hitler's twisted Final Solution."[104]
Eugenics After World War II
Genetic Engineering
After Hitler's advanced idea of eugenics, the movement lost its place in society for a bit of time. Although eugenics was not thought about much, aspects like sterilization were still going on, just not at such a public level. Although as technology developed so did the movement, the new technologies made way for genetic engineering. Instead of sterilizing people to ultimately get rid of "undesirable" people, genetic engineering "changes or removes genes to prevent disease or improve the body in some significant way."[105]
One positive of genetic engineering is its ability to cure and prevent life-threatening diseases. Genetic engineering began in the 1970s, this is when scientists began to clone and engineer genes. From this scientists were able to create human insulin, the first-ever genetically-engineered drug. Because of this development, over the years scientists were able to create new drugs to treat devastating diseases. For example, in the early 1990s, a group of scientists were able to use a gene-drug to treat severe combined immunodeficiency in a little girl. This disease forces victims to live inside a sanitized bubble. Due to the gene therapy, the girl was cured and able to live outside of her plastic bubble.[106] Developments like this are being made constantly because of genetic engineering, however genetic engineering also has many negatives.
One negative of genetic engineering is the practice of eliminating "undesirable traits" within humans and its ethics. This ultimately causes a link between genetic engineering and eugenics. This practice creates many social issues in society. Many people believe using genetic engineering to essentially "perfect" the human race is a damaging practice. For example, with current genetic tests, parents are able to test a fetus for any life-threatening diseases that may impact the child's life and then choose to abort the baby.[105] The public fears this will cause issues due to the fact that practices like these may be used to eliminate entire groups of people, like the way Hitler used the idea. The basis of Hitler's movement was to create a superior Aryan race, he wanted to eliminate every other race. While he did not have the genetic engineering technology then, this technology could be used with similar tactics as Hitler with permanent modifications to human germ lines and the ability to terminate a pregnancy that won't produce the best baby.[107] Genetic engineering can also lead to trait selection and enhancement in embryos. One dilemma with this application is that most genes have an effect on more than one area of the body. For example, there is a gene that deals with memory, when scientists altered this gene to improve memory and learning in mice, it also increased their sensitivity to pain. There is also the issue of whether it is ethical to do such a thing to embryos because they cannot consent to the procedure. This also leads to issues within a socio-economic standpoint. Many people see this as an opportunity for the rich to continue to improve their children when the poor are left to "suffer" with their "undesirable" genes.[108]
Compulsory sterilization prevention
The 1978 Federal Sterilization Regulations, created by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare or HEW, (now the United States Department of Health and Human Services) outline a variety of prohibited sterilization practices that were often used previously to coerce or force women into sterilization.[109] These were intended to prevent such eugenics and neo-eugenics as resulted in the involuntary sterilization of large groups of poor and minority women. Such practices include: not conveying to patients that sterilization is permanent and irreversible, in their own language (including the option to end the process or procedure at any time without conceding any future medical attention or federal benefits, the ability to ask any and all questions about the procedure and its ramifications, the requirement that the consent seeker describes the procedure fully including any and all possible discomforts and/or side-effects and any and all benefits of sterilization); failing to provide alternative information about methods of contraception, family planning, or pregnancy termination that are nonpermanent and/or irreversible (this includes abortion); conditioning receiving welfare and/or Medicaid benefits by the individual or his/her children on the individuals "consenting" to permanent sterilization; tying elected abortion to compulsory sterilization (cannot receive a sought out abortion without "consenting" to sterilization); using hysterectomy as sterilization; and subjecting minors and the mentally incompetent to sterilization.[109][67][110] The regulations also include an extension of the informed consent waiting period from 72 hours to 30 days (with a maximum of 180 days between informed consent and the sterilization procedure).[67][109][110]
However, several studies have indicated that the forms are often dense and complex and beyond the literacy aptitude of the average American, and those seeking publicly funded sterilization are more likely to possess below-average literacy skills.[111] High levels of misinformation concerning sterilization still exist among individuals who have already undergone sterilization procedures, with permanence being one of the most common gray factors.[111][112] Additionally, federal enforcement of the requirements of the 1978 Federal Sterilization Regulation is inconsistent and some of the prohibited abuses continue to be pervasive, particularly in underfunded hospitals and lower income patient hospitals and care centers.[67][110]Nokia's newest handset has a Gorilla Glass screen, an eye-popping 38-day battery life, and is constructed of sturdy aluminum. The catch? It runs a 14-year-old operating system, and is about as dumb as a phone can get these days.
Although smartphones are ubiquitous in many developed markets, there are still plenty (read: billions) of people who use dumbphones. Most of these are built with low cost being the primary goal – think plastic construction, dinky cameras, and prehistoric screens. But Nokia's new 515 handset borrows its industrial design from high-end smartphones, presumably in the effort to make it feel like a premium object. It's basically a flagship dumbphone for the consumer who wants a carefully considered phone, but doesn't necessarily want the whole Internet in his pocket.
The Nokia 515 comes in both one-SIM and two-SIM versions and in either silver or black. Unlike Nokia's flagship smartphone, you won't find a 41-megapixel shooter in the back. Still, its 5-megapixel camera should be a nice upgrade coming from similar dumbphones. Don't expect a ton of functionality beyond making calls and texting with T9 – the Gorilla Glass-covered screen is a measly 320 x 240 pixels and its operating system, Series 40, doesn't even include a full HTML browser. But that shouldn't matter to the conscientious smartphone objector. For them, a lack of features is a feature.
The United States isn't quite the target market for the Nokia 515, but it should retail for around $150 when it hits the U.S. later this fall.Image copyright Reuters Image caption Significantly more US and South Korean troops are taking part in this year's joint exercises
North Korea has threatened "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes on the US and South Korea as the two begin their largest ever military drills.
The exercises, Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, are an annual event and always generate tension.
The order for a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" was made in a statement put out by Pyongyang.
Such rhetoric is not uncommon, and experts doubt the North's ability to put nuclear warheads on its missiles.
North Korea says it sees the annual US-South Korean war games as a rehearsal for invasion. Last year, it threatened to turn Washington into a "sea of fire".
"We will launch an all-out offensive to decisively counter the US and its followers' hysteric[al} nuclear war moves," a newsreader on the state-run North Korean KRT news channel said of the latest exercises.
Can South Korea defend itself?
Dealing with the North: Carrots or sticks?
How advanced is North Korea's nuclear programme?
Approximately 17,000 US forces are participating in the exercises, alongside around 300,000 South Korean troops - both significant increases on 2015's numbers.
Despite starting on the same day, Key Resolve is more computer simulation-driven and ends on 18 March, while Foal Eagle is more focussed on field exercises and runs until 30 April.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint exercises are an annual event and always generate tension
Image copyright EPA Image caption The amphibious assault vessel USS Bonhomme Richard (right) and the USS Ashland are taking part
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Close to 30,000 US troops are permanently stationed in South Korea
The South's defence ministry has warned Pyongyang against any "rash act that brings destruction upon itself".
"If North Korea ignores our warning and makes provocations, our military will firmly and mercilessly respond to it," said spokesman Moon Sang-gyun.
Japan's foreign minister also demanded that North Korea show restraint.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption North Korean news said the US would be "held accountable" if a war started on the Korean peninsula
"North Korea's nuclear, and nuclear missile development is absolutely unacceptable. We will coordinate with the international community to demand that North Korea show restraint, and abide by the various resolutions including that of the six party talks," said Fumio Kishida.
Though unconfirmed, South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing military sources, has reported that the exercises will include training for precision attacks on North Korean leadership and its nuclear and missile facilities.
These latest exercises come just days after the UN passed new sanctions against North Korea following its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.
On Saturday, the Philippines impounded a North Korean cargo vessel under the toughened measures. A presidential spokesman said the crew would be deported and the ship subject to a UN-mandated inspection.
Image copyright EPA Image caption The exercises also brought out peace protesters in Seoul
The North responded to the sanctions by saying it was readying nuclear weapons for "pre-emptive" use, and by firing short-range missiles into the sea.
Seoul is expected to announce more sanctions of its own on Tuesday, which is likely to draw another angry response from Pyongyang.
The US and South Korea on Friday also began formal talks on the deployment of a US missile defence system to the peninsula, a move strongly opposed by North Korea, Russia and China.
Beijing says the Thaad anti-missile system compromises its security and would undermine its nuclear deterrent.
What is the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (Thaad)?
Shoots down short and medium-range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their flight
Uses hit-to-kill technology - where kinetic energy destroys the incoming warhead
Has a range of 200km and can reach an altitude of 150km
US has previously deployed it in Guam and Hawaii as a measure against potential attacks from North Korea
1. The enemy launches a missile
2. The Thaad radar system detects the launch, which is relayed to command and control
3. Thaad command and control instructs the launch of an interceptor missile
4. The interceptor missile is fired at the enemy projectile
5. The enemy projectile is destroyed in the terminal phase of flight
The launcher trucks can hold up to eight interceptor missiles.Golfers love being on the leader board. Corrections officials, not so much as there is nothing to celebrate about Georgia being the national leader with the highest percentage of its adults under corrections system supervision. The ratio is 1-in-13 and it is the worst in the country.
Not only does it cost lots of money -– more than $1 billion per year in state dollars to run prisons -– but lofty incarceration, probation and parole statistics send the wrong message nationally and internationally when Georgia tries to market itself as a leading edge economy and destination.
Over the next several months you will hear extensive discussion about adult corrections system reform. A commission created by the 2011 General Assembly was told to develop proposals to streamline Georgia corrections without an adverse impact on public safety. The report is due to Gov. Nathan Deal in seven weeks, with legislation possible next year.
Not much of the process is being conducted in public -– there have been just three public meetings -– and the process does not include a juvenile justice system review. That is an unfortunate and perhaps costly oversight. Doesn’t it make sense that a high percentage of adults who commit felonies and fill our prisons began their criminal careers as troubled youths?
“It seems to me that if we were to concentrate a lot of our efforts more in the juvenile justice arena then we might have greater success later in terms of reducing the crime rate,” said Judge Cynthia Wright, chief judge of the Fulton County Superior Court. Wright appeared on a public safety panel hosted by Women in Leadership last week at The Commerce Club in Atlanta.
“I know that our (Fulton County) juvenile court judges have said that we don’t really have a lot of options where to send violent kids,” Wright said. “The amount of time that they can spend in any sort of detention facility has been reduced down to almost nothing. These kids go through the juvenile court and they are right back out on the street again.”
Crime is a repeat and often a family business.
”I keep seeing the same people I sent off before (and) generationally, see their family members,” said Superior Court Judge Michael Boggs who serves on the Waycross Judicial Circuit in southeast Georgia. Boggs is also a corrections reform commission member, and he appeared alongside Wright on the Commerce Club panel.
Georgia adult corrections system numbers are ugly: 56,000 at least in prison and 160,000 on parole or probation. Georgia has the ninth largest state population but overall, the fourth largest corrections system. Totals do not include adults locked up in county or municipal jails.
The state Department of Juvenile Justice serves 60,000 juveniles per year. Three-fourths are male. On any given day 2,000 youths are detained in secure facilities and 20,000 are assigned to less restrictive community based settings. State juvenile justice system funding is going backward; down from just under $322 million in fiscal 2008 to about $286 million in Fiscal 2012.
Recidivism – the percentage rate at |
better than the devil they do — and that sentiment is fueling insurgent challengers.
Many of these candidates continually emphasize the need to purge US politics of corporate money, starting with the Democratic Party.
“It’s easy for candidates to say they’re for overturning Citizens United, but it’s really meaningless when they’re also taking so much corporate and dark money that they’ll never follow through,” says Tim Canova, who is running for Congress in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. “The Democratic Party has lost its way. It has gone corporate and Wall Street on so many issues that it has unfortunately turned its back on its own grassroots base.”
And it’s more than a matter of principle: Many of these candidates believe that voters are fed up with how the corporate capture of the party has pulled it to the right. “The Democratic Party has been Lucy with the football and the voters have been Charlie Brown,” says Tom Fiegen, a candidate for Senate in Iowa. “Democrats have pulled the football away too many times, so the voters say, ‘Nope, I am not going to be tricked again. I am not going to have you lie to me and tell me you’re on my side, and then when I send you to DC, you vote for the TPP or you vote for the Keystone Pipeline.’”
What’s striking about recent polling … is not the support for these progressive policies, but the openness to new, radical ideas — especially among young voters.
Nowhere is this trust gap felt more keenly than among young voters. Sanders has won the support of young people like few politicians before. In each of the 27 states that held primaries or caucuses in February or March, he won the youth vote, often by more than 50 points. In his home state of Vermont, he defeated Clinton among voters under 29 by an overwhelming 95 percent to 5 percent.
Fiegen saw how this played out in Iowa. “In the conventions I went to,” he says, “there was probably 30 to 40 years’ difference in age between Bernie supporters in one half of the room and Hillary supporters in the other half of the room.” Fiegen himself has endorsed Sanders, and you can hear in his voice the same passion that has animated so many young people: “We are idealists. … We want a better world. We think we can achieve it. We’re willing to basically throw our bodies in front of the bus to do that.”
It would be a mistake to overlook the fact that this year’s election is playing out in a moment when protest movements have interjected themselves into the national conversation in a way we haven’t seen in a long time. Black Lives Matter, Fight for 15, the climate movement and more have demonstrated the value of setting uncompromising demands and pushing the boundaries of what is politically possible.
It’s no surprise then that some of these progressive challengers come directly out of protest movements. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state senator running for the 7th District seat in the US House of Representatives, has a long history of activism and advocacy in Seattle. She founded the post-9/11 immigrant rights group Hate Free Zone (now OneAmerica), which has held massive voter registration drives.
“The only reason I got into politics was because I believed it was another platform for organizing,” she says, “and that’s what I want to do with my congressional campaign. We’ve brought in thousands of leaders, young people and people of color and women who never saw themselves as part of democracy.”
Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who is running for Congress in Maryland’s 4th District, says: “These movements give me hope for the future of our democracy. They show that the spirit that gave rise to the civil rights movement is still alive as people take up causes that matter and challenge the status quo.”
Donna Edwards, a co-founder of the National Network to End Domestic Violence now running for Maryland’s open Senate seat, agrees. “I’ve always believed in outside movements,” she says. “Government doesn’t move effectively and elected officials don’t move effectively unless they have a big push from the outside.”
Candidates like Debbie Medina, a democratic socialist running for state Senate in New York’s 18th District, are happy to be that push. As she told The Nation, “This election is just another rent strike.”
Sanders himself is arguably the biggest protest candidate of them all. But a funny thing is happening: Many of the protest candidates are winning. By the middle of April, Sanders had won 16 states, as well as the Democrats abroad primary. Edwards has led by as much as 6 points. Polls show Lucy Flores, a Sanders supporter running for Congress in Nevada, leading by 20 points. In Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, Jamie Raskin defeated two wealthy opponents — one who spent $12 million of his own money and the other a well-known, well-connected former corporate executive.
It’s no surprise then that some of these progressive challengers come directly out of protest movements.
The establishment, however, is not going quietly. In Florida, where Tim Canova is challenging Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her congressional seat, news got out in March that the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) had denied Canova’s campaign access to the party’s voter file. His supporters created an uproar; the file is crucial to any campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts. The FDP eventually backed down in order to avoid, in the words of the state party executive director, the “appearance of favoritism,” but the policy remains in place for all other Democratic primary challengers in Florida. And not just Florida — Democratic challengers in other states are routinely denied access to this data or charged extra for it.
“The DNC and state Democratic parties must stop favoring incumbents over insurgents in Democratic primaries,” Canova says. “We need to recruit activists committed to our progressive agenda to run for office, and that includes challenging incumbent Democrats.”
Raskin has won the endorsement of both liberal groups and a number of Democratic state lawmakers, and — borrowing a page from Sanders’ playbook — has relied on a surge of small-dollar donations to remain competitive. “Progressives are fired up here for a victory against big money,” Raskin says.
In Nevada, Flores faces a multimillionaire, Susie Lee, who has loaned her own campaign $150,000. But as Jeb Bush will tell you, money alone only gets you so far, especially in a year when voters seem more interested in authenticity.
“The number one lesson that everyone can learn from Bernie Sanders,” Fiegen says, “and that I’ve tried to emulate is: Tell the truth.” Edwards put it this way: “We should not run away from who we are as Democrats and the values that we share… We lose elections because our voters stay home.”
For a President Sanders or a President Clinton to be successful, they’re going to need voters to come out not just in November, but in 2018, 2020 and beyond. For any president to enact a progressive agenda, they’re going to need a new Congress, made up of people like Edwards, Raskin, Jayapal and others.
When Barack Obama first ran for president, he spoke frequently about how his election was not about him, but us. He may have meant it, but it was hard to shake the feeling that at that moment in American history, it was in fact very much about him and the qualities he possessed. Today, when Sanders uses the same language, you believe him — if for no other reason than it’s hard to imagine a wild-haired septuagenarian in a baggy suit as the catalyst for a popular movement. Clearly, something deeper is going on.
For the most part, Sanders himself has remained focused on his own election fight with Hillary Clinton. He has avoided talk of the future. But in a recent interview with Cenk Uygur of the “Young Turks,” Sanders let his guard down for a minute, saying, “We need, win or lose for me, a political revolution which starts electing people who are accountable to the working families of this country.” There it was — “electing people,” plural, not a single president. That’s what revolution looks like.
The Challengers
In These Times spoke to these US House and Senate candidates. Read the full interviews:
• Tim Canova (FL)
• Donna Edwards (MD)
• Tom Fiegen (IA)
• Lucy Flores (NV)
• Alan Grayson (FL)
• Eric Kingson (NY)
• Pramila Jayapal (WA)
• Susannah Randolph (FL)
• Joseline Peña-Melnyk (MD)
• Jamie Raskin (MD)The latest assessment contradicts the belief that the al-Qaeda leader is roughing it in underground bunkers as he dodged CIA drones hunting him from the air.
"Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave," according to an unnamed Nato official quoted by CNN.
He added that Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's second in command, was also living in a house close by somewhere in the country's mountainous border regions.
Pakistani officials on Monday repeated their long standing denials that the Saudi-born terrorist mastermind was being given safe haven.
However, the Nato official said bin Laden was thought to have ranged from the mountainous Chitral area near the Chinese border, to the Kurram Valley which borders Afghanistan's Tora Bora, one of the Taliban strongholds during the US invasion in 2001.
North Waziristan, in particular, has become a nexus for Afghan, Pakistani and Arab militants as they plot attacks against Nato forces across the border in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month a leaked White House report accused its ally Pakistan of playing a double game by avoiding "military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or al-Qaeda forces in North Waziristan".
A senior Pakistani security official denied that bin Laden was being protected and said the latest allegations were designed to heap pressure on Islamabad ahead of talks in Washington this week that would focus on strengthening co-operation between the two countries.
"Every time something important is happening then things like this keep creeping out," he said. "If it's not bin Laden it's something else."Will Millard travels the length of the River Taff. As he reaches the end of his journey, he goes wild swimming, recounts the transformation of the docks and catches salmon.
Writer and fisherman Will Millard reaches the end of his journey down the River Taff in south Wales. This beautiful wild river, once neglected and polluted, has now come back to life. Will goes wild swimming with a group of eccentrics trying to change the image of this forgotten river. He meets retired Somali sailors drawn to Cardiff in the city's glory days as a thriving port and tells the story of how the industrial docks have been transformed. Finally, he sets out to catch the king of fish, migratory salmon returning to the river where they were born.“This is where I began my obsession with the San Diego food truck scene.”
Right above the window your order from on the Tabe food truck
I love food. I also love adventure. And community. Food trucks hit all these things for me.
My introduction to the food truck scene came one hungry evening a few months ago. I was hanging out with my friend and we were trying to figure out where we should eat. We tossed around our usual ideas but nothing really seemed to catch our interest that night. We had been adventuring all day, and wanted to keep going… to try something new. She suggested we hit up a food truck that she ate at once before.
I admit I was slightly hesitant, but before I knew it, smart phones were out checking the twitter feed, food truck was located, and we were off driving towards an ally behind a bar in North Park and towards an amazingly delicious meal.
We pull up and I see the Tabe truck. “Try the pork,” my friend says.
Spicy Korean pork taco. I was intrigued.
I placed my order, was shocked at how cheap a meal this was going to be, and waited eagerly. A few minutes later, my name was called. I picked up my food, sat down on the hood of my friends car, and took the first bite. I turned to my friend and said “this… this THING” gesturing around at the scene that was unfolding before me, “is the greatest thing ever.”
I instantly became a Tabe disciple. I followed the truck on all the social media sites I could. A week or so later, I saw they were going to be setting up shop close to work. I got there early, walked up to order and the man working behind the window immediately greeted me “Welcome back! It’s…Liz, right?” I was shocked and pleased that he had remembered my name. The feelings with the truck were so… personal. People cooking good food, for loyal customers and being able to chat directly with those making the delicious creations.
With such a positive initial experience, I started collecting trucks. Every day seemingly, I would look up which trucks were close by. It was mind blowing just how great of food was being served from mobile locations. I was in love. I am convinced that some of San Diego’s finest food right now is being served from trucks.
I have eaten at probably close to a dozen food trucks, most more than once. Most people working at the trucks remember my name after one or two visits. I love the sense of adventure and break it provides from the work day, as well as providing for a full stomach.
The food truck scene is glorious, and Tabe is where it all began for me. The food AND people are wonderful. They were kind enough to not only let me place a sticker on their truck, but in such a prominent location. And they were more than happy to pose with me for the picture. You guys rock. Go show them some love.
http://tabebbq.comSuspect charged in Lone Star College shooting
Carlton Berry Carlton Berry Photo: HCSO Photo: HCSO Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Suspect charged in Lone Star College shooting 1 / 10 Back to Gallery
With memories painfully fresh and nerves still raw after the Connecticut elementary school massacre, the nation suddenly turned its attention to a community college campus in suburban Houston on Tuesday afternoon, fearful that another violent incident was shredding any lingering notion of safety in the classroom.
As it turned out, the gunfire that shattered the silence of a normal day of classes at Lone Star College's north Harris County location was sadly routine.
Two young men became involved in an argument that ended when one pulled a handgun. Minutes later, the other man and a school maintenance worker lay wounded while panicked students dove for cover amid fears of an unfolding homicidal spree.
Those fears quickly faded, but not before scores of police cars and emergency vehicles converged on the school in the 2700 block of W. W. Thorne shortly after noon. While paramedics tended the wounded, as well as a female student who needed attention for a medical event possibly related to the shooting, authorities began to search wooded areas adjacent to the campus looking for the gunman, who had run away.
Cars driving along neighboring streets were stopped and inspected in case the gunman was hiding inside, and dog teams scoured surrounding neighborhoods in a yard-to-yard search. Meanwhile, four nearby schools in the Aldine Independent School District were placed on lockdown as a precaution.
Suspect shot himself
A little after 2 p.m., the search became moot when a man suspected in the shooting showed up at Northwest Medical Center. Authorities said he apparently shot himself in the hip accidentally while handling his weapon.
The campus later was reopened and declared safe so that students, faculty and college staff could retrieve their vehicles and personal items.
But the very notion of safety was again brought into question by how quickly a simple dispute could turn potentially deadly.
The memory of the gunshots heard by so many near the school's cafeteria and library remained long after echoes had dissipated, as did the images of floors stained by blood.
The reason for the argument between the men, as well as the precise sequence of events, was still the subject of investigation late Tuesday. Why the maintenance employee was shot was unclear.
Both men involved in the altercation were listed as "persons of interest." In a statement, the Harris County Sheriff's Department said one had a student ID and that both remain under armed guard at the hospitals where they are being treated.
Later Tuesday, sheriff's officials identified the accused gunman as Carlton Berry, 22.
Although he remains hospitalized for an apparently self-inflicted accidental gunshot wound, Berry has been charged with aggravated assault.
When reached for comment late Tuesday, a woman at Berry's northwest Harris County home declined to comment about the incident.
"No, we don't want to say nothing," she said.
According to Harris County criminal records, Berry was charged and convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession in the last two years.
In 2009, Berry was sentenced to nine months probation and ordered to pay $100 fine for theft, according to the court records.
Nephew wounded
A woman at a home in north Houston said one of the people wounded during the shooting was her nephew. The woman, who declined to identify herself, said he is taking a GED course at the college. She said it was a requirement for him to someday attend art school.
"He was just trying to better himself," the woman said. "It's a scary situation."
The woman declined further comment.
As authorities were still trying to piece together what had happened, three Houston-area lawmakers were holding a news conference to discuss their bipartisan measure to create local taxing districts to hire more police for school districts. The measure, authored by state Sens. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and State Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble, would allow for local elections to create taxing districts to fund the hiring of trained law enforcement officers to protect schools.
The bill follows another filed last week aimed at increasing campus safety by allowing people with permits to carry concealed weapons on all college campuses. The proposal by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, would ban any public university from prohibiting students, faculty or staff with a concealed handgun license to carry on campus, including classrooms. A similar measure failed in the last legislative session by two votes.
Many college administrators oppose the idea. They argue that the decision of whether to allow concealed handguns on their property should be determined campus-by-campus rather than by a statewide policy.
The Lone Star College System is the fastest-growing community college in Texas, with more than 75,000 students and six campuses. Its North Harris campus serves roughly 19,000 students, diverse in age and ethnicity. The tree-filled campus spans 200 acres, with a dozen buildings.
The shooting is believed to be the first such incident on a system campus. The system has its own police department that patrols North Harris and the other campuses.
"You can't walk across campus usually without running into one of the officers. They're a constant presence," said John Luedemann, a spokesman for the North Harris campus.
Lone Star College, like all state colleges and universities in Texas, does not allow concealed handguns on campus. Of course, that did not stop at least one of the men involved in Tuesday's incident from having one anyway.
Thoughts of Newtown
After the shooting started, everyone ran, including Shaperia Harper. The 22-year-old studying nursing was talking on her cellphone at an outdoor fountain near the Winship building when she heard six or seven "really loud" gunshots. She had no time to investigate or think about where to go. She just ran.
Rohit Mistry, a 21-year-old studying criminal justice at Lone Star, had arrived at the library about 12:30. He was on the third floor, books open, when he noticed people running. A librarian asked all those present to move into a back room, he said. Several dozen crammed into the room, with some students crying and others calling their parents.
About 20 minutes later, the group was escorted from the building, along with other staff and students. It was not until Mistry reached the first floor that he saw blood on the floor.
A short distance from the school, Terin Tate was at lunch when she heard about the shooting and thought about one thing - her 18-month-old daughter, Olivia, who was at a day care facility on the campus.
Tate, 26, said she sped toward the campus, following a police car, only to have to go the final 2 miles on foot because of the campus lockdown. She saw SWAT teams on site, helicopters overhead and parents running along with her toward the day care. Her sense of panic increased, the thoughts of the recent Newtown massacre bouncing around in her head.
"I was hoping my daughter wasn't shot," Tate said. "With the Connecticut shootings so fresh, that's what every parent thinks of when you hear shooting."
Her daughter was fine. But Tate and the other parents had to wait until the campus was reopened to take their children home.
Mike Glenn, Carol Christian, Cindy George, Dale Lezon, Ericka Mellon and Erin Mulvaney contributed to this report.
Pit bull vs. toddler: Child critical after mauling
Hit by bus: Toddler run over, dies
'Rude' cop suspended: Galveston woman complains
Prostitution sting: Teacher, sheriff's employee nabbedMost GPS is a relatively imprecise tool, honing in on your location to within around a few meters, but new Kickstarter project Piksi aims to provide accuracy within a single centimeter, via a new GPS receiver that uses Real Time Kinetics (RTK) it’s trying to fund via Kicksarter. The Piksi combines open source software and hardware to give UAV hobbyists and others access to the advanced RTK tech at a fraction of the price you’d normally find.
The price still isn’t exactly bargain basement at $500 for one of the first production devices, and that gets you only one Piksi unit; because of how RTK works, you’ll need two to get the super-accurate, 1-centimeter resolution location tracking working, which means the $900 level is where you’ll have to start if you’re after the hyper-specific positioning. Compared to what else is out there, however, that’s still very affordable indeed.
And the Piksi isn’t just for those building a home drone fleet; it could come in handy for rocketry hobbyists, aerial photography geotagging, building autonomous robot lawnmowers and more. As with most open source hardware aimed at the DIY engineering community, the limits of how Piksi can be used basically come to down to an individual’s imagination.
The specific details of how RTK works to provide such heightened accuracy are extremely geeky, but the team behind PIksi does a good job of providing an explanation over on their project page, which I wouldn’t do justice by trying to repeat here. Suffice it to say, they use science, and that science is very smart.
PIksi is the product of Swift Navigation, a San Francisco-based startup that consists of Colin Beighley and Fergus Noble, two engineers who previously developed a commercial RTK GPS system for a company called Joby Energy. Noble has an MSc in Physics from the University of Cambridge, and Beighley has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Cruz. The two have been working with GPS or the past few years, but founded Swift Navigation in 2012 to turn that work into their own company.
The Piksi has already exceeded its $14,000 goal, so it’s getting made whether you back it or not (in time for a September 2013 delivery, too), but if you’re a backyard hardware hacker who craves extreme precision, there’s still time to get on board.A dissatisfied customer who posted a negative review of a restaurant on social media has been left shocked after being told to 'grow a set' by the diner's boss.
Phil Jeruzal, 27, had taken his girlfriend for Sunday lunch at the Canada Wood Kitchen and Bar in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, but they both felt let down by the experience.
Afterwards, he decided to leave an honest, albeit negative, review on the restaurant's Facebook page - only to have director Monica Shaw respond by telling him to 'grow a set'.
Phil Jeruzal, 27 (left), posted an honest review on the Facebook page of Canada Wood Kitchen and Bar in Falkirk, after having an 'average' meal and was stunned to be told to 'grow a set' by boss Monica Shaw (right)
In his review, Mr Jeruzal - a digital content and marketing assistant from Falkirk - said the restaurant had a 'great location, lovely staff and nice venue'.
But he felt its downfall was a 'chef that doesn't really seem to know what he is doing'.
He wrote: 'You can see they are aspiring for a high quality dining experience, but even for Falkirk this doesn't really hit the mark. Portion sizes are insanely small for the price, particularly on the starters.
'The quality of produce seems ok, but is handled poorly and when you aren't getting either quality nor quantity it's hard to see why you would choose here over somewhere easier to get to, and less expensive.
'Feel free to check it out for yourself, but if you are expecting high quality grub, you might want to look elsewhere. This place is average at best - for the time being.
'I'm sure with a decent head chef this place could be excellent, and a great wee addition to the Falkirk food scene.'
However, Ms Shaw publicly responded to his remarks yesterday and said she was going to 'decline' his advice before boasting of a 'long blue line of five star reviews'.
She even told him to 'jump out from behind the safety of your PC and grow a set' before suggesting he'message any of the majority of five star reviewers for further clarification'.
Mr Jeruzal, had taken his girlfriend (pictured together above) for Sunday lunch at the Canada Wood Kitchen and Bar in Falkirk but they both felt let down by the experience and were disappointed with the 'average' food
Mr Jeruzal, a digital content and marketing assistant, said the Canada Wood Restaurant and Bar in Falkirk (pictured) had a 'great location' but was let down by a 'chef that doesn't really seem to know what he is doing'
In response to the suggestions, Mr Jeruzal replied: 'LOL wow, that is the most hilariously unprofessional response to a customer I've ever received. "Grow a set", good god, amazing.
'Thank you so much this has made my day'.
He later added: 'You can have a go at me all you want - even though its hilariously unprofessional and no self-respecting restaurant should ever actually do it - but its not my fault the food isn't good.'
However, the furore did not end there, and Ms Shaw continued to sarcastically thank the customer for his 'detailed feedback'.
She wrote: 'Phil, thanks for your detailed feedback I'm sure all of the idiots that rated us four and five star will appreciate your comments'.
Others on the restaurant's Facebook page also picked up on the 'rude' response and condemned the way Ms Shaw handled the complaint.
Aly Gilardoni wrote: 'Seriously rude behaviour on the restaurants part & due to a cock sure attitude from the'manager' or whom ever replied I'd say many people will certainly think twice before patronising your restaurant in the future.
Claire Smith added: 'Well with the response from the restaurant, I'd never eat here. Unprofessional and rude.'
Lyn McLoughlin said: 'The response from the company here is a fine example of how not to run your business.'
Mr Jeruzal described the restaurant as 'average at best' and rated his experience with two stars on the Facebook review (pictured). It prompted restaurant boss Monica Shaw to reply urging him to 'grow a set'
The restaurant replied telling Mr Jeruzal to 'grow a set' which he described as 'hilariously unprofessional'
And Dale Wright said: 'The restaurant's response to his post was HIGHLY inappropriate, and was apparently written by a manager who has zero training in how to effectively manage and interact with the public.'
Speaking after the social media spat, Mr Jeruzal said he did not want to complain during the meal because he 'didn't want a confrontation with lunch'.
He said: 'In all honesty I found it hilarious, and it's really made my day. Of course it's a completely unprofessional response.
'I can understand that it might be frustrating to have people complain about somewhere you work, but for the most part I was trying to be constructive.
'The internet does offer you a degree of confidence to say things you wouldn't normally say in person, but then again, I don't want a side of confrontation with my lunch.
Mr Jeruzal said he did not want to complain during the meal because he 'didn't want a confrontation with lunch' but felt he should leave a review. He has now blasted the response as 'completely unprofessional'
'Under a different chef I really think the place could be great, because the location is actually fantastic and the building is lovely.
'They are clearly aspiring for something a little different than what is on offer in the rest of Falkirk.
'But for the time being I probably won't be back, and I can't say their response to me online has done them any favours.
'To be honest, their feisty attitude has endeared me to them somewhat.'Enter Crave's Spring Fever Contest Now for Your Chance To Win a $250 Shopping Spree! OR You Could Win 1 of 4 Other Awesome Prizes From CraveeJuice.com To Enter: 1. Complete The Contest Registration Form Below (Link at the bottom of this page). 2. Go to the Crave website: www.craveejuice.com Using the social buttons: Like, Share, Tweet, or G+ what you would buy on your Crave Shopping Spree! 3. YOU MUST CONFIRM BOTH CONTEST & NEWSLETTER EMAILS TO WIN! 4. Share with EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Earn Extra Entries by sharing!!!! Share = 55 Extra Entries per person that signs up when you share! ENTER TODAY FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
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Calls for expansion have grown louder on the back of the closest competition in the league’s 37-year existence.
Kestelman agrees, saying he would like to see the eight-team competition strengthened with the addition of new franchises in the coming seasons.
DEAL DONE: NBA and players reach agreement
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He nominated a second Melbourne team, a New Zealand-based franchise in Wellington and an Australian side playing out of China as potential candidates.
media_camera NBL owner Larry Kestelman. Picture: Luke Marsden
“I’m absolutely for expanding the number of teams playing in the competition and we are well on the way,” Kestelman told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s not five years away, but I’d say it’s probably challenging for next year.
“But if you wanted my calculated guess, I think we will probably see more teams not next year but the year after.
“I would love to see another team in Melbourne under the right model.
“I also think there is room in other parts of Australia. We’ve also had approaches from Wellington in New Zealand and Asia.
media_camera Former NBA forward Josh Powell scores a basket for the Sydney Kings against Melbourne United at Qudos Bank Arena. Picture: Brett Costello
“I don’t hide the fact I’d love to see a team potentially based at another Australian location, but playing a lot of games out of China or the Philippines.
“It will still be an Australian NBL club, but it will build an audience and following in Asia.”
Kestelman regularly receives interest from cities and businessmen wanting to be involved in the NBL competition.
Despite the influx of attention, he refuses to rush the process. It’s why Kestelman has knocked back some bids as he methodically searches for the right franchises to suit the competition’s structure.
“The only proviso I put around that is that they need to be creditable business people and they need to have a proper business plan,” he said.
“They also need to be organisations that I believe can execute on that plan.
media_camera Perth guard Jarrod Kenny puts a shot up against Melbourne veteran David Barlow. Picture: Getty Images
“I don’t want to see either current or future owners not treating well what we think is an amazing sport and business venture.
“It’s a franchise like McDonalds. They are not going to put in stores that they don’t think will be successful.
“I’m the same. I won’t put in owners or teams that I don’t believe will be successful and don’t fit into the model.
“For us it’s very much about reviewing who the owners and business are that want to open a new franchise and if we believe they will make a success of it, we’ll 100 per cent back and support it.
“They need to bring a business case to us that we think stakes up.”
media_camera Sydney Kings guard Kevin Lisch shakes coach Andrew Gaze’s hand after a win over Cairns Taipans. Picture: Justin Brierty
Kestelman, meanwhile, praised Sydney for their surge from last to first this season.
He said a healthy Kings side was crucial to the overall success of the NBL.
“Sydney judges very harshly, so to have an organisation like AEG Ogden as the Kings’ owner is huge for us as a league,” he said.
“Harvey Lister in particular, who is the CEO, runs a very professional business and he is right behind this venture which is extraordinary for us.
media_camera Breakers veteran Kirk Penney high-fives with teammate David Stockton their recent win over the Brisbane Bullets. Picture: Getty Images
“The professionalism they’ve shown and to go from last to first, you do that by not only assembling a good roster but doing everything else right. But the success is not just about winning and losing. It’s what is your corporate product looks like, your image and attendance and game day.
“The Kings’ game day is now of NBA standard, which is great. It’s a huge priority for us as a league to have a successful Sydney franchise.”The Bills will eventually play the New York Jets, but that game won't happen in Buffalo.
With the city buried under an outrageous four feet of snow, NFL spokesman Michael Signora announced Thursday that the league is preparing to relocate the contest.
"Due to public safety concerns in light of the ongoing weather emergency in Western New York, Sunday's Jets-Bills game will not be played in Buffalo," Signora said in a statement. "We are in the process of rescheduling and relocating the game as part of Week 12. We will provide additional information as soon as possible.
"We have been in contact with the public authorities and we realize the importance of all available public safety resources being available for the community at this difficult time. We are also in discussions with the team and the Red Cross on ways the NFL can support the community through this weather disaster."
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Thursday that Detroit and Washington loom as two potential alternative sites for the game.
Pittsburgh and Toronto were initially floated as possibilities, but both have been ruled out. Rapoport was told that Heinz Field is scheduled to host four high school district championship tilts on Friday before Pitt plays Syracuse at the venue on Saturday.
It's also a possibility that kickoff moves from Sunday at 1 p.m. ET to Monday or even Tuesday. That would help a Bills team forced to cancel practice Thursday for the second consecutive day in order to adhere to the region's driving ban.
Bills running back Fred Jackson told NFL Media's Lindsay Rhodes on Wednesday that the team will be at a "huge disadvantage" if it can't practice. With Doug Marrone and his staff cloistered away at the team facility, coaches have spent this week taping segments of the game plan and distributing the information to players digitally.
It's just not practice the players are missing: Bills president Russ Brandon said on a Thursday conference call that "lifting and nutrition have been compromised."
With Ralph Wilson Stadium unplayable for Sunday, the team is already looking ahead to efforts for next Sunday's home against Cleveland.
It's gonna be a full-line effort with our stadium operations crew and everyone at One Bills Drive," Brandon said. "... There's an extraordinary amount of snow to be removed.... All efforts will go to doing everything in our power to making sure the stadium is safe and sound when we take on the Browns next Sunday."
With The Ralph resembling a post-apocalyptic moonscape, there's not much more the Bills can do right now to prepare for Gang Green:
UPDATE: The game will be played Monday at 7 p.m. ET at Detroit's Ford Field, the league announced.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast previews Chiefs-Raiders and reacts to the drama in D.C. as well as Adrian Peterson's suspension. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.$400K bond for man charged with setting fire to NW Side church
Bond was set at $400,000 Tuesday for a Northwest Side man charged with setting fire to St. Genevieve Church early Monday.
Raymond Luna, 28, faces two felony counts of aggravated arson for the fire at the church at 4835 W. Altgeld St., according to Chicago Police.
Officers called for a reported burglary saw Luna climbing out of a window as smoke poured from the building when they responded at 12:14 a.m., police said.
The officers called firefighters, who put out the fire with minimal damage, police said. No one was hurt.
Luna, of the 2100 block of North Lorel, was arrested at the scene and ordered held on a $400,000 bond at a Tuesday hearing, according to Cook County Circuit Court records. His next court date is Oct. 31.While most recognize the existence of imperialism, many are unwilling to understand the accompanying processes. One of these processes, one that we have fought hard to reassert, is what we call imperialist rent: the way in which First World (core) wages/income/etc. are appropriated from Third World (periphery) exploitation.
To provide evidence for this process, calculations from Zak Cope’s Divided World, Divided Class: Global Political Economy and the Stratification of Labour Under Capitalism* have been provided which show estimates of value transfer from the Third to the First World. A series of original graphs have also been provided to help illustrate some of the data to the reader.
Below is that data. Keep in mind this is only a few pieces of evidence in a spacious field of research. Far more data exists, and more evidence will continue to appear.
NOTE: All math done is |
alfredo and surprisingly I really loved it!! I’ve made vegan fettucine alfredo many times before, but this was the first time I added vegan “chicken” and it was so damn delicious!!
So what is TVP and how do I use it to make this vegan chicken Alfredo?
TVP is short for textured vegetable protein and as the name suggest it’s made from vegetable protein, most commonly from soybeans. It’s very high in protein and is an awesome vegetarian and vegan meat substitute. Its protein content is actually far greater than that of meat, which is amazing!
TVP is very easy to cook and comes in many different forms. You can either buy big chunks, shreds, or minced TVP. Minced TVP is great if you want to veganize recipes calling for ground beef or turkey such as tacos, Bolognese sauce, meatloaf, sloppy joes and many more.
I usually cook the TVP for about 10 minutes in vegetable broth, but I’ve also heard that some people just put them in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, and let them sit for a while. Once they’re ready, let them cool down a bit and then use your hands and squeeze out as much water as you can. They’re kind of like little sponges.
Textured vegetable protein was actually invented as early as in the 1960s and was often used by restaurants as a money saver. Since the 1970s it has also been added to school lunchs at public schools. It’s pretty cheap (usually about 3 to 4 dollars for one pack) and you can find it at any health food store or in the health food or bulk section of regular grocery stores. For this vegan chicken Alfredo I used medium-sized soy chunks, which I seasoned with soy sauce, liquid smoke, paprika powder, salt, and pepper. Heat some oil and pan-fry them for about 5 minutes or until crispy and brown. Check out this awesome post on how to prepare textured vegetable protein by wikihow for more info.
How to make vegan Alfredo sauce
For the vegan Alfredo sauce I used cashews, one onion, garlic, lemon juice, one small cooked potato, unsweetened almond milk, and a little bit of mustard. Just put all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. The potato and the cashews make this sauce super rich and creamy! You would probably never guess that it’s completely dairy-free and doesn’t contain any oil or butter. If you want the vegan fettuccine Alfredo to be soy-free just leave out the textured vegetable protein and use more broccoli instead. The rest of the recipe doesn’t contain any soy.
I usually serve this dairy-free Alfredo sauce either with broccoli or peas. Sprinkle it with some fresh chopped parsley and you’re good to go…
Let me know if you give this vegan chicken Alfredo a try! As always, I love to hear from you guys and see your Vegan Heaven creations on Instagram (don’t forget to tag me with @ _veganheaven_ ).
Have a great week! – Sina, xxCertainly, some of the highest-paid chiefs — including Lawrence J. Ellison of Oracle, Alan G. Lafley of Procter & Gamble and Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs — presided over companies that did very well. But in other cases, it was hard to see a connection between high pay and savvy management.
Soaring oil prices, not stellar strategy, brought huge profits to many oil companies last year, yet Ray R. Irani, chief of Occidental Petroleum, saw his compensation rise 21 percent, to $33.6 million making him the sixth-highest-paid executive in the group of 200 in the survey.
Conversely, the aftermath of the subprime mortgage debacle wreaked havoc at Merrill Lynch, causing the ouster of E. Stanley O’Neal last fall. It is too soon to know whether John A. Thain, who now has the top spot, can restore Merrill’s former glory. But thanks in large part to a hefty sign-on bonus, he was the highest-paid executive in the survey, with a compensation package that totaled almost $83.8 million.
Then again, the financial services industry traditionally pays well. The heads of four financial companies — Mr. Thain, Mr. Blankfein, Kenneth I. Chenault of American Express and John J. Mack of Morgan Stanley — were among the 10 highest-paid chief executives in the survey.
Even when the credit crisis cost financial chiefs their jobs, it did not hurt their paychecks. Mr. O’Neal at Merrill and Charles Prince at Citigroup both walked away with fortunes.
Washington Mutual, meanwhile, decided that write-offs would not count when it calculated performance-based bonuses, a decision that one compensation expert referred to as calculating batting averages without counting strikes.
“Boards are just too willing to change the goal posts in bad times,” said Scott A. Fenn, managing director of policy for the proxy advisory firm Proxy Governance.
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A result, said Charles M. Elson, a corporate governance expert at the University of Delaware, is that “we’re paying executives like successful entrepreneurs, without asking them to take entrepreneurial risks.”
THAT seemed particularly apparent among real estate companies that are coping with a housing downturn. Jeffrey Mezger, the new chief at KB Home, received a discretionary bonus of $6 million even though the company is suffering. Robert Toll, the chief at Toll Brothers, received no bonus in 2007 — but the company has rewritten the compensation plan so that he will probably get one this year even if home building does not recover.
“Directors have to look at C.E.O. pay in terms of return on investment, just like they judge any other dollar they allocate,” said Nell Minow, editor and co-founder of the Corporate Library. “They have to ask, ‘What are we getting back for this money?’ ”
In many cases, the answer would be “not much.” According to Equilar, the chiefs of the 10 largest financial services firms in the survey were awarded a combined total of $320 million last year, even though the firms reported mortgage-related losses that totaled $55 billion and that wiped out more than $200 billion in shareholder value.
Still, even the angriest shareholders acknowledge that some companies are trying to take inequities — and the mystique — out of their compensation plans. The chief executives of Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns did forfeit their bonuses after the subprime mortgage debacle decimated company profits. And Morgan Stanley said it would introduce performance-related stock options.
At the 200 companies that Equilar studied this year, the average value of performance-based bonuses granted to chief executives who had been in their jobs for at least two years was $1.8 million, a drop of 2.5 percent from 2006. Moreover, only 73 percent of the chiefs got performance bonuses, down from 78.6 percent in 2006.
Equilar also said that 14.7 percent of the stock options and shares awarded to executives in the fourth quarter of 2007 had performance-based vesting criteria — a small percentage, but a big increase from 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006.
More companies adopted clawback provisions, in which executives are required to return bonuses or stock options that were based on faulty numbers. The Arkansas Best Corporation even established one for outside directors if any “misconduct” on their part ever contributed to the need to restate finances. (Wal-Mart Stores adopted a similar clause two years ago.)
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And a handful of chief executives and directors led the charge against excessive pay themselves.
Four years ago, when David P. Steiner was promoted to chief of Waste Management, he took what he calls a “surgical look” at the compensation system. It rewarded executives, including the chief, for bringing in new customers and orders, even unprofitable ones. “It sent the wrong message, that we wanted growth for growth’s sake,” he said.
Gradually the board, at Mr. Steiner’s prodding, changed the formula. Last year, 75 percent of Mr. Steiner’s long-term incentive plan was tied to specific targets for earnings growth and return on invested capital. And for the first time, the plan included a clawback provision, saying he must return any payments if they were based on numbers that had to be restated.
And next year’s proxy will reflect even more changes. Mr. Steiner’s pay is now linked entirely to achieving those targets. And some perks he used to get — about $35,000 worth of items like car allowances and country club dues — are gone, though their value will be added to his base salary or bonus.
RiskMetrics just went public this year, and M. Ethan Berman, its chief executive, insisted on getting it right from the start. Last year, RiskMetrics bought Institutional Shareholder Services, the high-profile proxy watchdog organization, so Mr. Berman knew that, as he put it, “Ours will be one of the world’s most well-read proxies.” He also buys into the concept, he said, that an excessive pay package can indicate a board that is too beholden to top management.
Thus, his incentive compensation will be based on attaining a mix of financial growth and client and employee retention objectives that are clearly spelled out in the proxy. Mr. Berman said he already owns 10 to 15 percent of the company — “more than enough to align my interests with shareholders,” he said — so he receives no stock grants or options. And he does not have a severance package. “I get the same four weeks vacation as any other employee, and if I leave, I’ll get the same severance,” he said.
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Some companies that have been castigated for compensation fiascos in the past are emerging in the best light now. In 2007, shareholders howled when they discovered that Robert L. Nardelli’s contract as chief of Home Depot enabled him to command a severance package totaling $210 million when he was ousted.
The Home Depot board did not make the same mistake when it wrote the contract for Frank Blake, Mr. Nardelli’s successor. “Frank Blake’s package is so tied to performance that it is almost the mirror image of Nardelli’s,” said Ms. Minow of the Corporate Library. “Home Depot went from the worst pay package imaginable to one that is close to exemplary.”
Still, shareholders say praiseworthy packages remain in the minority. And they have plenty of compensation issues they continue to attack.
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A group of investors, led by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is asking companies to limit or bar “gross-ups,” in which companies pay the taxes the C.E.O.’s incur from their pay packages.
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The timing is not surprising. Many shareholders were aghast last year when Angelo R. Mozilo, who earned $100 million at Countrywide Financial in 2006, successfully argued that Countrywide should pay the taxes that were incurred that year when his wife accompanied him to business functions on the corporate jet.
And gross-ups certainly have not disappeared this year. R. Chad Dreier, the chief of Ryland Homes, earned almost $8.2 million last year. Only $1 million of his pay was salary, and a bit over $2 million was bonus. More than $4 million was gross-ups to cover taxes incurred by vesting of restricted stock that was granted in previous years.
The Corporate Library has just released data showing that 20 percent of chief executives received a tax gross-up on part of their income in 2006. The median gross-up amount was just $13,000, but the concept — that any corporate chief should receive tax assistance on top of multimillion-dollar payouts — stuck in shareholders’ craws.
“We’re putting this research out early enough so that shareholders can wave it at directors,” Mr. Hodgson said.
Shareholders are also concerned about pay packages that can encourage executives to sacrifice the future for a present-day payout. Mr. Hodgson points to Sprint Nextel as a prime example. In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it had redesigned its compensation plans so that incentive pay for progress toward goals would kick in every quarter.
“If you put a carrot in front of a donkey’s nose, it simply chases that carrot,” Mr. Hodgson said. “Better you add the carrots to the feedbag, but you don’t let the donkey eat any of them until it’s accomplished what’s needed for long-term success.”
And a growing cadre of investors are asking that companies reward only superior performance — for example, if the company was more profitable than its peers. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters has filed pay-for-superior-performance proposals at 33 companies, including Best Buy, Honeywell International, WellPoint and Northern Trust, according to RiskMetrics records.
Disclosure — or lack thereof — remains a huge issue for shareholders.
“We don’t want to see boilerplate,” said Hye-Won Choi, head of governance for TIAA-Cref, which has made compensation the cornerstone of its governance campaign this year. (Last year it was majority voting for directors.) “We want to see how the compensation plan is integrated into the business plan and strategic goals and how it is tied to the performance of the individual and the company. And we want companies to clearly articulate targets for payout.”
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So does the S.E.C. The agency has contacted 350 companies to insist that they specify performance targets and couch their disclosures in understandable English.
It has also revamped its own Web site, to make it the go-to spot for companies seeking guidance on plain-English disclosure.
“It’s our aim to break down all the legalese and the jargon, and the dense cover-your-assets boilerplate that reads more like the insurance policy it is than the helpful guide to investors that it’s meant to be,” Christopher Cox, the agency’s chairman, said in a speech last year.
But excess, incomprehensible verbiage was not the only problem with disclosure this year. Many companies — most citing a reluctance to disclose competitive information — couched the criteria by which they measured performance in the vaguest of terms. According to the Corporate Library, two-thirds of companies listed fuzzy performance targets — and of those, no more than 30 percent were really competitively sensitive.
“Sure, we understand if you don’t want competitors to know that your chief executive’s bonus is tied to opening 10 stores in Delaware,” said John Nestor, director of the S.E.C.’s office of public affairs. “But you could at least say the bonus is dependent on successfully expanding.”
Shareholders, for the most part, say they accept that companies cannot divulge sensitive information. But they do not accept that stock price appreciation or profit growth goals belong in that category.
“Companies are still failing to disclose the performance hurdles that trigger pay for performance, and that remains a hugely contentious issue for shareholders,” said Patrick McGurn, special counsel to the RiskMetrics Group, the new name for Institutional Shareholder Services.
Perhaps surprisingly, not all governance experts buy into the idea of forced transparency on targets. Some worry that if shareholders win on this issue, it might be a pyrrhic victory.
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“We worry about unintended consequences,” said Rebecca K. Darr, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute, which convenes forums at which executives and shareholders discuss governance issues. “If companies have to say how they measure individual performance, they might simply revert to easily quantifiable numbers like earnings per share, rather than complex long-term goals.”
In fact, some compensation consultants say the S.E.C. disclosure rules went too far. Pearl Meyer, a senior managing director at Steven Hall & Partners, suggests that executives who missed performance targets might still deserve hefty bonuses, if they managed to stem losses even as economic factors beyond their control — say, soaring oil prices or a housing slowdown — decimated their industry. But, she said, it would be hard to lay out a cogent formula for that. Thus, she concludes, making directors spell out the details of their compensation plans could force them toward rewarding conventional short-term performance.
OF course, some governance experts are suggesting the quintessentially simple fix: Have directors sit down with shareholders and ask what they really want to know.
“When it comes to disclosure, last year was a dud,” said Stephen M. Davis, project director at the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at Yale. “So you’d think that, since the proxy statements are supposed to communicate to the investor community, the boards would ask shareholders what should or should not go into them.”
Pfizer, for one, seems to be doing just that. Shareholders were outraged last year when Hank McKinnell, the company’s former chief, walked away with nearly $200 million when he was ousted. So last October, the Pfizer directors invited representatives of large shareholder groups to sit down and air any governance issues that troubled them. About a third of the discussion revolved around compensation.
“They billed it as a listening session, but it was interactive and seemed productive,” said Ms. Choi at TIAA-Cref, who said one of her colleagues attended. But she quickly added: “Of course, we don’t yet know if it will result in any action.”What was I saying on Friday about how the national obsession with not causing offence to anyone is bordering on mental illness?
That was in reaction to a week which had seen an RAF sergeant kicked out of a hospital waiting room for wearing his uniform because it could offend 'other cultures' and a students' union banning sombreros on the grounds that they were a racist insult to Mexicans.
If you thought those two examples were rip-roaring bonkers, then what are we to make of a new report that seeks to ban bacon sarnies and microwaved sausage rolls?
According to someone described as the Professor of Faith and Public Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, consumption of pork-related products at work could seriously upset non-Christian colleagues — not to mention vegetarians.
Adam Dinham has drawn up a'religious literacy' programme aimed at employers, commissioned by an outfit called CoExist and a 'professional services' firm EY, whatever that is.
He says companies must take account of the religious sensibilities of everyone from Muslims and Jews to Buddhists, Sikhs and Scientologists. Fair enough. That's still no reason to ban ham sandwiches from communal kitchens, though.
According to someone described as the Professor of Faith and Public Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, consumption of pork-related products at work could seriously upset non-Christian colleagues
OK, so there are always a handful of single-issue maniacs with a hair-trigger sense of grievance. But I've never come across any Muslim or Jew who objects to others eating pork.
In fact, many of my Jewish friends tell me the tantalising aroma of sizzling bacon is the one thing that has them seriously questioning their kosher tradition.
Professor Dinham claims, however, that microwaving sausage rolls is a serious affront to those whose religion prohibits the consumption of pork. Why? I can't stand the smell of roast pork but I don't want to make it a criminal offence.
There's almost nothing on earth that self-styled 'environmentalists' can't take exception to
Doner kebabs, which look as if they are made out of verrucas and varicose veins, and those horrible botulism-burgers they sell near football grounds are pretty revolting, too. Yet I've never felt the need to stage a violent demonstration outside any fast-food outlet.
Life's too short.
By all means make provision for different tastes. At the League Cup final a few years ago between Spurs and Blackburn, there were contrasting menus at either end of the Millennium Stadium.
The Tottenham section was knocking out overpriced smoked salmon and cream cheese beigels, while the Rovers supporters were chowing down on disgusting balti pies. I would rather eat my own toenail clippings than a mass produced balti pie, but I don't want to stop anyone else enjoying them. It's their coronary.
Pretty soon, we'd all have to eat nettle stew or starve to death
And why should employers have to arrange their communal kitchens to appease adherents of Scientology? What do Scientologists eat, anyway?
The learned prof also says that works canteens should have to take account of the beliefs of environmentalists.
Good luck with that. There's almost nothing on earth that self-styled 'environmentalists' can't take exception to — from cafes flogging bowls of Frosties for a fiver a pop to low-fat milk from farms taking part in the badger cull.
Pretty soon, we'd all have to eat nettle stew or starve to death.
That's the thing about so-called friends of the Earth. They always look ill, as well as filthy.
More to the point, what is a professor of faith and public policy when it's at home?
As I write this, there's a bloke with a pneumatic drill digging up the driveway outside my front door. That's a proper job.
Who grows up wanting to be a professor of faith and public policy? That isn't a proper job, by any stretch of the imagination. According to his website: 'Adam Dinham is director of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. He holds degrees in Theology and Religious Studies (BA & MA, Cambridge), Social Studies (MA, Brunel) and Politics and Community Development (PhD, Goldsmiths, University of London).
Goldsmiths is the same university where the'student diversity officer' Bahar Mustafa (pictured) revels in the hashtag #killallwhitemen and recently tried to ban 'white trash' from attending lectures
'He is qualified as a social worker and has practiced (sic) in Social Work and Community Development in city contexts, with an interest in working with faith communities in areas of urban disadvantage.
'He is policy advisor to a number of faith-based agencies and policy bodies, including the Faith Based Regeneration Network and the CoExistence Trust in the House of Lords, and has advised central government on issues of public faith.
'He has been Peace Studies Fellow at the University of Calgary (2009-10), Director of the Faiths and Civil Society Network of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and has published widely on faith in the public realm. He is currently Programme Director for the HEFCE 'Religious Literacy Leadership in Higher Education' programme.'
Nope, me neither. I shouldn't think he does much for the export drive.
Yet in modern Britain, which has to import plumbers and bricklayers from Eastern Europe, someone can make a decent living from carrying out a lengthy academic inquiry into the potential offence to religious minorities caused by microwaved sausage rolls.
Try going to your employer and asking for six months' paid leave to study the impact of pork pies on Scientologists and see how far you get before he sends for security.
Mind you, this is academia, so we shouldn't be too surprised. Goldsmiths is the same university where the'student diversity officer' Bahar Mustafa revels in the hashtag #killallwhitemen and recently tried to ban 'white trash' from attending lectures. She then claimed that she couldn't be racist because she is a 'woman of colour'.
Only yesterday she was defending violence against Tories. So I think we can probably guess where she stands on'religious literacy'.
I suppose a bacon banjo's out of the question?
When Wee Burney and her gang chartered a special plane to fly to Westminster, I dubbed it Ayr Force One.
Now it seems I didn't know the half of it. I should have called it the Starship Enterprise. Apparently, Alex Salmond has taken to booking himself on planes under the pseudonym James T. Kirk, after the Captain on Star Trek.
This only came to light when he was refused permission to board a British Airways flight at Heathrow because the name on his ticket didn't match his passport.
Salmond says he uses the alias for security reasons. Why?
What does he think is going to happen if he travels under his own name? Has the provisional wing of the No campaign put out a fatwa on him?
Are there crazed loyalists prepared to hijack any plane containing Salmond and fly it into the Forth Bridge?
During the General Election campaign, Wee Burney developed a taste for whizzing round the country in a personalised helicopter.
How long now before she commissions an SNP Starship Enterprise — or should that be Starship Nationalise?
She could dress up as Mr Spock to Salmond's Captain Kirk.
'Captain's log, Stardate 2015. These are the voyages of the Starship Nationalise. Our five-year mission: to boldly go where no Scot has gone before.
'Engage the deflector shields, Mr Scott, there's Tories on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow...'
'I've giv'n her all she's got Captain, an' I cannae give her no more.'
Beam me up, Scotty!
Yo, NiMo, it's OsBo...he's straight outta Bullingdon!
In an attempt to give himself some'street' cred, George Osborne confides that his favourite group is the American rap act NWA, which stands for N-words Wit Attitudes.
Really?
George probably thinks the NWA movie, Straight Outta Compton, is based on the life of England cricket legend Denis Compton, the original Brylcreem Boy. And that Dr Dre is the new head of the British Medical Association.
Somehow Straight Outta Bullingdon doesn't have the same ring to it.
Politicians always come a cropper when they attempt to get down wiv da kidz. Remember when Gordon Brown pretended to like the Arctic Monkeys?
George probably thinks the NWA movie, Straight Outta Compton, is based on the life of England cricket legend Denis Compton, the original Brylcreem Boy. And that Dr Dre is the new head of the British Medical Association
And Tony Blair claimed hilariously that his favourite act was Chaka Demus and Pliers, who most of us thought was a freelance Jamaican handyman.
Now the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has revealed that she is known to her children as NiMo, just as Jennifer Lopez is abbreviated to J-Lo.
Morgan is said to fancy herself as the next Tory leader once CaMeDa steps down. So she needs some of the popular yoof appeal of super funky soul brother Boris Johnson, who already glories in the nickname BoJo, which is apparently shorthand for his favourite sex act.
Demand for beard transplants in Britain has rocketed as men seek to emulate the trendy Cereal Killer Cafe hipster look. What a wonderful business opportunity.
You can get everything from George Michael designer stubble to the full Islamist hate-preacher, which is especially popular in the Tower Hamlets area of East London.
The only drawback appears to be that it can take up to three years for transplanted facial hair to grow to full maturity — by which time beards will have gone out of fashion.
The lovely Jilly Cooper, aka Jolly Super, who at 78 has just had a hip replacement, told the Cheltenham Literature Festival that she is considering writing her first raunchy lesbian sex scene as 'there seems to be a lot of it about now'.
Not in our house, there isn't.
Ian Cumming, one of the finalists on The Great British Bake Off, describes his occupation as 'official photographer to the Dalai Lama, when he is visiting Britain'.
That can't be the most demanding job in the world, since the Dalai Lama isn't a particularly frequent visitor to these shores.Two Democratic congressmen asked the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday to investigate whether Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler violated federal law when he asked a judge to stop the Denver clerk and recorder from mailing ballots to inactive voters.
The letter from Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania and Charles Gonzalez of Texas says Gessler’s actions may violate the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discriminatory voting procedures.
“Given the diversity of the state of Colorado, and particularly that of Denver County, there is a high likelihood that the barrier to voting Secretary Gessler seeks to impose... will have such a discriminatory result,” the letter states.
It says that not mailing ballots to eligible voters listed as “inactive” because they didn’t vote last year “might make participation particularly hard” for disabled voters who may not have been able to get to the polls and Americans who may have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in 2010 but who want to vote Nov. 1.
A Gessler spokesman accused the congressmen of playing partisan politics and said the lawsuit against Denver was intended to ensure statewide uniformity in election procedures.
“Colorado law is clear that people need to be treated the same and protected from fraud. And a Colorado judge will decide the matter,” said spokesman Richard Coolidge.
Gessler asked a Denver judge last week to issue a preliminary injunction preventing Denver Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson from mailing ballots to inactive voters. She has already mailed ballots to inactive military and overseas voters, and Pueblo’s clerk plans to do the same.
“Inactive” voters didn’t vote in the 2010 general election, haven’t voted in a subsequent election and have not returned postcards mailed to them that ask whether they want a ballot.
Those voters would be able to vote at the clerk’s office or a voting center.
A hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction is set for Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. in Denver District Court.
The day he filed the lawsuit, Gessler, a Republican, denied he was taking aim at Denver because it is a highly Democratic county.
The congressmen’s letter was sent to Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s civil rights division. A DOJ representative did not return a phone message Tuesday.
Sara Burnett: 303-954-1661 or [email protected] Department of Energy funding for nuclear R&D
08 June 2015
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Sixty-eight projects have been selected to share over $60 million of US Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear energy research and infrastructure enhancement awards. The projects, including some international collaborations, have been selected for their potential to create scientific breakthroughs.
About $31 million is being awarded to 43 university-led nuclear energy research and development projects through the Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP). Around $3.5 million will fund research reactor and infrastructure improvements at nine universities, including upgrades to research reactors at Kansas State University, the University of Florida, the University of Missouri, Columbia and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
The areas covered by the R&D awards include fuel cycle research and development, reactor concepts research development and demonstration, and nuclear energy advanced modelling and simulation, as well as supporting functions such as cyber security. Four of the NEUP projects involve UK-based collaborators, and will receive a further £1.7 million ($2.6 million) of funding from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Four integrated research projects based at the Colorado School of Mines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oregon State University and the University of Mississippi will receive a total of $13 million. These projects aim to deliver solutions to high priority nuclear energy research challenges, including the development of accident tolerant fuel options for near-term applications, benchmarking for transient fuel testing, and approaches to dry cask inspection and non-destructive evaluation techniques.
Ten research projects, including some led by national laboratories and companies as well as universities, will receive more than $8.5 million under the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Research & Development (NEET) program. These projects "address crosscutting nuclear energy challenges", according to the DOE, in areas including advanced methods for manufacturing, advanced sensors and instrumentation, reactor materials, cyber security and testing techniques. A further $1 million is of infrastructure awards will be made to the Brookhaven and Idaho National Laboratories to fund facilities to support the work, including a new user facility for X-ray diffraction-computed tomography (XRD-CT) on materials for nuclear energy systems.
More than $3 million of funding will cover the cost of access to facilities including experimental neutron and ion irradiation testing, post-irradiation examination facilities, synchrotron beamline capabilities, and technical assistance for design and analysis of experiments via the DOE's Nuclear Science User Facilities for four research projects at universities and the Idaho National Laboratory.
Announcing the funding, US Energy Secretary said he remained "convinced" of nuclear energy's ongoing role as a carbon-free contributor to the USA's energy portfolio. "These awards provide essential funding for nuclear energy-related research and thereby support the long term health of our domestic nuclear energy industry," he said.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
Related topicsA Texas man accused of killing two people while randomly firing his gun along an Oklahoma interstate was charged Monday with first-degree murder.Jeremy Doss Hardy, 36, of Pasadena, Texas, was arraigned in Custer County, where he was arrested about an hour after reports came in Wednesday night about a man in a pickup truck firing a gun along Interstate 40, west of Oklahoma City.Authorities identified the first victim as 45-year-old Jeffrey Kent Powell of Arapaho. He was traveling with his wife, who was not struck. The second victim was 63-year-old Billie Jean West of Lone Wolf. Both were traveling on Interstate 40, west of Oklahoma City, when they were shot.Police have said the suspect shooter sped through three counties in the night while randomly firing from his truck, hitting at least four vehicles, and surrendered after a 25-mile chase shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday.Hardy was initially jailed for driving under the influence. Prosecutors added the two first-degree murder charges Monday during a hearing in Custer County court, according to The Oklahoman newspaper and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. He also is facing other charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon and use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon.He was ordered held without bond.Both the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Custer County sheriff said the case was being investigated as possible road rage. The agencies said they had no indication the shooter knew the victims.In an interview with The Oklahoman, Hardy's father, Robert Hardy, said the reports seemed out of character for his son. He questioned whether authorities may have stopped his son by mistake."It's definitely not the way he was taught or the way he's always been," Robert Hardy told the newspaper on Thursday, before charges were filed. "Weren't there a lot of black four-door pickups on the road?. That's a pretty common vehicle for this part of the country. I'm praying that that's not something he's capable of doing."A trucker who was driving along I-40 that night, Josh Morris of Weatherford, said his tractor-trailer was struck by bullets, with one round narrowly missing him. Morris said a pickup sped past him twice on I-40 in a 10-minute span, and as it passed a second time, he thought a rock hit his cab. He pulled over and discovered it was a bullet. He said the round was lodged in a metal plate inside the door."I heard a 'thunk' on the side of my door and he whizzed on by and went a distance," Morris told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. "At that time, I didn't know how fortunate I was. I call it an 'Oh, Jesus,' moment."Donald Trump called a press conference today to address some concerns he wanted to share. The Press showed up to the press conference because overnight, they’d been marinating in a Trump Mea Culpa hope: Trump will finally admit he’s a racist and apologize for the Obama Birther fight. As conservatives groaned about the stupidity of the birther garbage being revisited and then further groaned that Trump would have a press conference (no good could come of that), the media slavered with anticipation.
Once again, Trump surprised everyone. John Hinderaker of Powerline shares the result:
Sometimes you really have to hand it to Donald Trump. The press has been after him recently about whether he believes the Hillary Clinton campaign’s claim that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. For years, the press has obsessed on “birtherism,” considering it to be a major issue on a par, at least, with a lousy economy and pitiful defense policy. Last night the Trump campaign released a statement to the effect that “Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States.” This morning, Trump himself tweeted: I am now going to the brand new Trump International, Hotel D.C. for a major statement. Reporters assumed the statement would be about Obama’s birthplace, and, sensing an opportunity to halt Hilary’s decline in the polls, hurried to the Trump International en masse, with camera crews in tow. The cable news networks cleared time to broadcast the anticipated Trump humiliation live. Instead, they were treated to 20 minutes of military figures endorsing Trump. Live, on CNN and MSNBC!
The media flipped out. It’s glorious.
Donald Trump knows the media and as we’re finding out this election cycle, that’s more important than policy, the opposing candidate, advertising, or really, anything else.
Are other Republicans paying attention? Do they see the mendacity of the media? Donald Trump is teaching a master class.Online gun sales, 3D printing of plastic weapons pushing firearms into hands of criminal underworld
Updated
His name is ReadySetGo, and for $250 he can get you a gun straight out of a James Bond movie.
It is an easily concealed plastic handgun that fires a plastic - but lethal - bullet and cannot be detected by X-rays and metal scanners.
Or there is OzGun, who for $3,950 can source a single Glock 17s, the gun favoured by Australian law enforcement.
OzGun can also get you ammunition, while ReadySetGo will provide barrels for his firearms in a variety of calibres: 9mm,.380,.45 and.44 special.
There is no trick to their offers. Both gun-runners are offering the real deal: lethal handguns that Australia's criminal underworld would love to get a hold of.
What is new about these 21st-century gun dealers is that they exist online and are virtually untraceable.
Both dealers sell on an online black market called Agora, which specialises in drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine and ecstasy, but also has almost 50 lethal guns, from pistols to assault rifles, for sale.
OzGuns and ReadySetGo are the only gun sellers on Agora that say they are in Australia, |
with the Delawares, Natty quickly became proficient in their language and their tribal customs. He began to live more with the tribe than with the Effinghams, since he had little patience with the aristocratic pretensions of English Society or British settlements in general, and when he was fourteen years old, the Delawares adopted him into their tribe. During the years between the loss of his home and his appearance on the Glimmerglass with Harry March, Natty developed an overwhelming obsession with sin, which was to rule him for the rest of his life. One can only speculate about the atrocities the orphaned and impressionable boy may have witnessed and been subjected to in traveling with the military and in the rough and Indian-besieged atmosphere of the frontier settlements. His distaste for the men and women of his own race became all-pervasive, and he displayed a particularly strong animosity toward the English. Refusing to follow Major Effingham into the settlements between military campaigns, he made his home with the Delaware Indians, whom he saw as guiltless victims of the ambitions of the white race, but whose own forms of atrocity he excused on the grounds of inferior race. It was during these years with the Delawares that Natty was exposed to the teachings of the Moravian missionaries. Their influence, in conjunction with the straightforward culture and justice of the Delawares, contrasted sharply with what Natty observed in the practices of the European communities, and a fundamental approach to Christian doctrine was more readily understandable to the young boy than the interpretation of convenience common to the more highly sophisticated. The Moravians apparently delineated for him the pitfalls of every imaginable depravity he might have missed in his own observations. His only salvation was to escape into the forests, where he could maintain an existence untouched by civilization and dependent only on God for survival and for judgment of his merit as a human being. When Natty was sixteen, he formed a deep and life-long friendship with the young Delaware chief Chingachgook, and the two boys embarked on a long and famous career of hunting and Indian-fighting together. Chingachgook, as Natty�s alter ego and only confidant, accompanied Natty through all of his adventures until they were both in their late seventies. Natty was, in many ways, the vehicle for expression of Cooper�s personal views as well as of the mores of Eighteenth Century America. He accepted the Cooper concept of a firmly class-structured society. He abhorred the French, the Iroquois and Catholics. He rigidly opposed race-mixing and adhered to a belief that God had created each race as it was for a purpose that was not to be contravened by man. He viewed men as having interesting variations in their characters, but was completely buffaloed by a woman who expressed an opinion or evidenced any degree of self-sufficiency. Nonetheless, Natty somehow took on a life of his own over which Cooper seemed to have little control. He combined the soul of a poet with the nature of a redneck; was used by all, but owned by none; craved love and the companionship of other human beings, but trusted no one with his heart or his deepest inner feelings; wished to live as ordinary men lived, but feared and despised the evils of human society. In the words of Duncan Heyward, Natty was �a noble shoot from the stock of human nature, which never could attain its proper elevation and importance, for no other reason than because it grew in the forest.� Natty viewed his life and character from a little different perspective. In his own assessment, �I have never been father or brother. The Wahcondah made me to live alone. He never tied my heart to house or field, by the cords with which the men of my race are bound to their lodges; if He had, I should not have journeyed so far, and seen so much.� This then, is our hero: Straight Tongue/ Pigeon/Lap Ear/Deerslayer/Hawkeye/La Longue Carabine/Pathfinder/Leatherstocking/Trapper. If, indeed, Cooper had allowed the Wahcondah to clear a different path for Natty, he would have given us just another predictable pulp-fiction hero. As it is, we are left to ponder whether Natty Bumppo led a remarkably full life or a painfully empty one. Notes: CLUES TO THE ADULT YEARS PASSAGE OF TIME THE PRAIRIE p. 7 Although the [Louisiana] purchase was made in 1803... THE PRAIRIE p. 9 The harvest of the first year of our possession had long passed, and the fading foliage of a few scattered trees was already beginning to exhibit the hues and tints of autumn, when a train of wagons issued from the bed of a dry rivulet to pursue its course across the undulating surface of what, in the language of the country of which we write, is called a �rolling prairie� [late Autumn 1803] THE PRAIRIE p. 282 Springing to their feet like men who were about to struggle for their lives, they found the vast plain, the rolling swells, the little hillock, and the scattered thickets, covered alike in one white dazzling sheet of snow. THE PRAIRIE p. 396 The water courses were at their height, and the boat went down the swift current like a bird. [Middleton returns home in Spring of 1804.] THE PRAIRIE p. 398 In the Autumn of the year succeeding the season in which the preceding events occurred, the young man [Middleton], still in the military service, found himself on the waters of the Missouri at a point not far from the Pawnee towns. [Autumn 1805] THE PIONEERS p. 2 Our tale begins in 1793, about seven years after the commencement of one of the earliest of those settlements, which have conduced to affect that magical change in the power and condition of the state, to which we have alluded. [Cooper] THE PIONEERS p. 458 The events of our tale carry us through the summer; and after making nearly the circle of the year, we must conclude our labors in the delightful month of October. [1794] LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 119 I never read but in one [book], and the words that are written there are too simple and plain to need much schooling; though I may boast that of forty long and hard-working years. THE DEERSLAYER p. 17 It is June, and there is not a cloud atween us and the sun, Hurry, so all this heat is not wanted. COUNTING THE YEARS THE PRAIRIE p. 81 Ten weary years have I sojourned alone on these naked plains, waiting for my hour, and not a blow have I struck agin an enemy more humanized than the grizzly bear. [This would justify the time frame within a year of the time he left Templeton at the end of The Pioneers.] THE PRAIRIE p. 188 There have I been a dweller on the earth for fourscore and six changes of the seasons, and all that time have I looked at the growing and the dying trees, and yet I do not know the reasons why the bud starts under the summer sun or the leaf falls when it is pinched by the frost. [Autumn 1804] THE PRAIRIE p. 332 �;but the glare of fourscore and seven winters has dimmed my eyes, and but little can I boast of sight in my latter days. [With the winter months signaling the completion of another year, Natty adds a year to his age] THE PIONEERS p. 383 Is it no harm to show off a man in his seventy first year like a tame bear, for the settlers to look on! THE PATHFINDER [The time of this third Leatherstocking romance, though nowhere precisely indicated, was probably 1759; the only date, indeed, which even roughly fits the fact of British possession of rebuilt Fort Oswego and French possession of Fort Niagara - both fundamental circumstances of the story. James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Saga edited by Allan Nevins; Pantheon Books, New York; 1954] ESTIMATING SERGEANT DUNHAM'S AGE p. 88 He has been a soldier since he was sixteen. [Cap re Dunham] p. 117 It is true, I was twenty-two years younger than I am today [Dunham when he courted Mabel�s mother] p. 128 I was forty myself when I married her mother [Dunham] p. 128 Pathfinder is well advanced toward forty [Dunham] p. 284 Is he not within ten or twelve years as old as yourself? [Mabel to Dunham] LAST OF THE MOHICANS [historically 1757, which places Natty�s age at 40. Cooper devoted this book purely to adventure, and seeded few clues to the rest of Natty�s life. However, he did provide some former battle associations and oblique references to nationality, noted in Part II.) THE DEERSLAYER p. 13 Both these frontier-men were still young, Hurry having reached the age of six or eight and twenty, while Deerslayer was several years his junior. [stated by Cooper to take place somewhere between 1740-45] THE DEERSLAYER p. 14 I have now lived ten years with the Delawares and know them to be as manful as any other nation, when the proper time to strike comes. THE DEERSLAYER p. 407 It�s eight good years since the Sarpent and I began to hunt together... REFLECTIONS ON POLITICS THE PRAIRIE p. 64 �You have heard of such a man as Mad Anthony, if you tarried long among the soldiers. I fou�t my last battle, as I hope, under his orders, � returned the trapper... I was passing from the States on the sea-shore into these far regions, when I crossed the trail of his army, and I fell in on his rear, just as a looker-on; but when they got to blows, the crack of my rifle was heard among the rest though to my shame it may be said, I never knew the right of the quarrel, as well as a man of threescore and ten should know the reason of his acts afore he takes mortal life, which is a gift he can never return.� [This would have been the forces of Anthony Wayne on the march from fort Greenville to the Battle of Fallen Timbers at the southwestern tip of Lake Erie in July 1794.] LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 206 �For that matter, though the Oneidas do serve his sacred majesty, who is my own sovereign lord and master...� SETTING THE SCENE THE DEERSLAYER pp. 4,5 There was no violent stretch of the imagination, perhaps, in supposing one of civilized associations in childhood, retaining many of his earliest lessons amid the scenes of the forest. Had these early impressions, however, not been sustained by continued, though casual connection with men of his own color, if not of his own caste, all our information goes to show he would soon have lost every trace of his origin. [Preface to the Leatherstocking Tales] THE DEERSLAYER p. 10 This glance into the perspective of the past will prepare the reader to look at the pictures we are about to sketch with less surprise than he might otherwise feel; and a few additional explanations may carry him back in imagination to the precise condition of society that we desire to delineate. It is a matter of history that the settlements on the eastern shores of the Hudson, such as Claverack, Kinderhook, and even Poughkeepsie, were not regarded as safe from Indian incursions a century since. BURNING THE BRIDGES THE PIONEERS p. 363...he rushed up the bank, and in a moment stood on the little piece of cleared ground in front of the spot where Natty had so long lived. To his amazement, in place of the hut, he saw only its smoldering ruins. THE PIONEERS p. 364 You have driven me, that have lived forty long years of my appointed time in this very spot, from my home and from the shelter of my head, lest you should put your wicked feet and wastey ways in my cabin. You�ve driven me to burn these logs, under which �I�ve eaten and drunk... THE PIONEERS p. 395 �Can you raise the dead, child?� said Natty in a sorrowful voice; �can ye go into the place where you�ve laid your fathers, and mothers, and children, and gather together their ashes, and make the same men and women of them as afore?� THE PIONEERS p. 433 Mohegan raised himself, as if in obedience to a signal for his departure, and stretched his wasted arm towards the west. His dark face lighted with a look of joy; which, with all other expressions, gradually disappeared; the muscles stiffening as they retreated to a state of rest; a slight convulsion played, for a single instant about his lips; and his arm slowly dropped by his side; leaving the frame of the dead warrior reposing against the rock, with its glassy eyes open, and fixed on the distant hills, as if the deserted shell were tracing the flight of the spirit to its new abode. THE PRAIRIE p. 268 �It is nothing more nor less than the hide of a buffalo,� continued the trapper... the hair is beneath; the fire has run over it, as you see; for being fresh, the flames could take no hold... Thrusting his foot beneath the skin, it moved. Then it was suddenly cast aside, and an Indian warrior sprang from its cover to his feet, with an agility that bespoke how urgent he deemed the occasion. THE PRAIRIE p. 292 �Young warrior,� he continued, in a voice that was growing tremulous, �I have never been father or brother. The Wahcondah made me to live alone. He never tied my heart to house or field, by the cords with which the men of my race are bound to their lodges; if He had, I should not have journeyed so far, and seen so much. But I have tarried long among a people who lived in those woods you mention, and much reason did I find to imitate their courage and love their honesty. The Master of Life has made us all, Pawnee, with a feeling for our kind. I never was a father, but well do I know what is the love of one. You are like a lad I valued, and I had even begun to fancy that some of his blood might be in your veins. But what matters that? You are a true man, as I know by the way in which you keep your faith; and honesty is a gift too rare to be forgotten. My heart yearns to you, boy, and gladly would I do you good.� THE PRAIRIE p. 332 �And yet my brother has come among the red-skins to find a son?�... �Aye; but it was only that I might do good to the boy. If you think, Dahcotah, that I adopted the youth in order to prop my age, you do as much injustice to my good-will as you seem to know little of the merciless intentions of your own people. I have made him my son, that he may know that one is left behind him. THE PRAIRIE p. 402 The old man was reaping the rewards of a life remarkable for temperance and activity, in a tranquil and placid death.... He had hunted with the tribe in the spring, and even throughout most of the summer. THE DUTCH CONNECTION THE DEERSLAYER p. 355 The [Mingos] feel their loss here, in the late skrimmage, to their heart�s cores, and are ready to revenge it on any creatur� of English blood that may fall in their way. Nor, for that matter, do I think they would stand at taking their satisfaction out of a Dutchman. LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 65 [Cooper note] Mingo was the Delaware term of the Five Nations. Maguas was the name given them by the Dutch. LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 75 �Ay, ay� muttered the scout, who had listened to this peculiar burst of the natives with deep attention; �they have warmed their Indian feelings, and they�ll soon provoke the Maguas to give them a speedy end�. LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 126 I remember to have fou�t the Maguas here-aways, in the first war in which I ever drew blood from man. LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 128 �Tis not often that books are made, and narratives written of such a scrimmage as was here fou�t atween the Mohicans and the Mohawks in a war of their own waging. I was then a younker and went out among the Delawares because I knowed they were a scandalized and wronged race.� THE PIONEERS p. 186 I have knowed the Dutch women on the Mohawk and Schoharie, count greatly on coming to the merry-makings. THE PIONEERS p. 194 �I was down in the Dutch settlements on the Schoharie,� said Natty, carefully removing the leather guard from the lock of his rifle, �just before the breaking out of the last war, and there was a shooting-match among the boys; so I took a hand. I think I opened a good many Dutch eyes that day; for I won the powder-horn, three bars of lead and a pound of as good powder as ever flashed in pan....� BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS THE DEERSLAYER p. 34 It was now several years since Deerslayer had been in a spot especially devoted to the uses of females of his own color and race. The sight brought back to his mind a rush of childish recollections; and he lingered in the room with a tenderness of feeling to which he had long been a stranger. He bethought him of his mother, whose homely vestments he remembered to have seen hanging on pegs like those which he felt must belong to Hetty Hutter; and he bethought himself of a sister, whose incipient and native taste for finery had exhibited itself somewhat in the manner of that of Judith, though necessarily in a less degree. These little resemblances opened a long hidden vein of sensations; and as he quitted the room, it was with a saddened mien. THE DEERSLAYER p. 389 Bumppo we are called, and I�ve heard it said,� a touch of human vanity glowing on his cheek, �that the time has been when the Bumppos had more standing and note among mankind than they have just now.� THE DEERSLAYER p. 505 You love the woods and the life that we pass here... As I loved my parents, Judith, when they was living. LAST OF THE MOHICANS p. 54 But the scout, who had placed his chin in his hand, with an expression of cold indifference gradually suffered his rigid features to relax, until, as verse succeeded verse, he felt his iron nature subdued, while his recollection was carried back to boyhood, when his ears had been accustomed to listen to similar sounds of praise, in the settlements of the colony. THE PIONEERS p. 206 This I will say, though I�m white myself and was born nigh York, and of honest parents too... THE PRAIRIE p. 76 I have seen the waters of two seas! On one of them I was born, and raised to be a lad like yonder tumbling boy... Near seventy years I dwelt in York, province and State together. THE PRAIRIE p. 262 My own eyes were first opened on the shores of the eastern sea and well do I remember that I tried the virtues of the first rifle I ever bore, after such a march, from the door of my father to the forest, as a stripling could make between sun and sun; THE PRAIRIE p. 304 I was long a serving-man I my youth, not one of your beck-and-nod runners about a household but a man that went through the servitude of the forest with his officer, and well do I know in what manner to approach the wife of a captain. THE PRAIRIE p. 406 �I am without kith or kin in the wide world!� the trapper answered; � when I am gone there will be an end of my race. We have never been chiefs; but honest and useful in our way, I hope it cannot be denied we have always proved ourselves. My father lies buried near the sea, and the bones of his son will whiten on the prairies�. THE PRAIRIE p. 406 I paid a man in the settlements to make and put a graven stone at the head of my father�s resting-place. It was of the value of twelve beaver-skins, and cunningly and curiously was it carved! Then it told to all comers that the body of such a Christian lay beneath; and it spoke of his manner of life, of his years, and of his honesty. When we had done with the Frenchers in the old war I made a journey to the spot, in order to see that all was rightly performed, and glad I am to say, the workman had not forgotten his faith. MAJOR EFFINGHAM a.k.a. FIRE-EATER THE DEERSLAYER p. 509 The war that then had its rise was stirring and bloody.... [Hawkeye�s] services were soon required by the officers of the crown, and he especially attached himself in the field, to one in particular, with whose after-life he had a close and important connection. LAST OF THE MOHICANS p.138 Three battles did we make with the Dutch-Frenchman in a day.... �Ay! But it did not end there. I was sent by Major Effingham at Sir William�s own bidding, to outflank the French and carry the tidings of their disaster across the portage, to the fort on the Hudson.� THE PATHFINDER p. 100 I was just twelve when the Sergeant took me on my first scouting, and that is now more than twenty years ago. THE PIONEERS p. 13 Some thirty years agone, in the old war, when I was out under Sir William, I traveled seventy miles alone in the howling wilderness with a rifle bullet in my thigh, and then cut it out with my own jackknife. [1760] THE PIONEERS p. 19 The latter had from youth, been the only employment of Edward�s father. Military rank under the crown of Great Britain was attained with much longer probation and by much more toilsome services sixty years ago than at the present time...After forty years� service, retired with the rank of major, maintaining in his domestic establishment a comparative splendor, he became a man of first consideration in his native colony, which was that of New York. THE PIONEERS p. 21 We have already said that Major Effingham had served as a soldier with reputation. On one occasion, while in command on the western frontier of Pennsylvania, against a league of the French and Indians, not only his glory, but the safety of himself and his troops were jeoparded, by the peaceful policy of that colony.... The soldier succeeded, after a desperate conflict, in extricating himself, with a handful, of his men, from their murderous enemy; but he never forgave the people who had exposed him to a danger which they left him to combat alone....it was evidently for their benefit that he had been so placed, and it was their �religious duty,� so the major always expressed it, �it was their religious duty to have supported him.� [The quote regarding the debacle in western Pennsylvania in 1755 in which the Quakers refused to bear arms or to participate in the defense of their homes is a matter of historic record. We have been unable to relocate the source to provide positive identification of the officer involved.] THE PIONEERS p. 432 Farewell Hawkeye! You shall go with the Fire-eater and the Young Eagle to the white man�s heaven; but I go after my fathers. THE PIONEERS p. 449 This man, whom you see helpless and feeble, was once a warrior, so brave and fearless, that even the intrepid natives gave him the name of Fire-eater. THE PIONEERS p. 151 When I went with Sir William ag�in the French at Fort Niagara, all the rangers used the rifle;� [This would have been Sir William Johnson in the battle to retake Oswego and then attack Fort Niagara - THE PIONEERS p. 451 Thy grandfather was left in Connecticut, regularly supplied by thy father with the means of such a subsistence as suited his wants. THE PIONEERS p. 453 �Was Natty a servant of thy grandfather?� exclaimed the judge. �He was reared in the family of my grandfather; served him for many years during their campaigns at the West, where he became attached to the woods; and he was left here as a kind of locum tenens on the lands that old Mohegan (whose life my grandfather once saved) induced the Delawares to grant to him, when they admitted him as an honorary member of their tribe.� [�induced� was not quite the appropriate word, since Governor Crosby and Walter Butler obtained the land through burning the original deed, which had given the title to the Corporation of Albany, and falsifying the terms of the new deed to the Mohawk Indians, who could not read.] THE PIONEERS p. 463 The morning of his life was spent in honor, wealth, and power; but its evening was obscured by poverty, neglect and disease, which were alleviated only by the tender care of his old, faithful and upright friend and attendant, Nathaniel Bumppo. His descendants rear this stone to the virtues of the master, and to the enduring gratitude of the servant. [Inscription on the tombstone of Major Effingham] ~~~~~~~ AN ADDENDUM THE KEEPSAKE "I knowed the parting would come hard, children; I knowed it would?" said Natty, "and so I got aside to look at the graves by myself, and thought if I left ye the keep-sake which the major gave me, when we first parted in the woods, ye wouldn't take it unkind, but would know, that, let the old man's body go where it might, his feelings stayed behind him." The Pioneers, pp. 465, 466 What was the keepsake that Major Effingham gave to Natty Bumppo when they first parted in the woods, and which Natty leaves behind him at the gravesite of Major Effingham and Chingachgook? No further reference is made by Natty to what is left at the gravesite, and Cooper's detailed physical description of the cemetery yields no clue. However, we know that when Natty first appeared on the Glimmerglass, in The Deerslayer, he carried with him only four items: his rifle, his powder horn, a hunting knife, and a shot pouch. The rifle is the first gun Natty owned. He states in The Pioneers that he bought it himself when he was still living in his father's house. When Judith Hutter gave Killdeer to Natty, Natty kept the first rifle and, in later years, gave it to Chingachgook's son Uncas. At the end of The Last of the Mohicans, to facilitate his pursuit of Magua, Uncas abandons the rifle in the caverns, and the rifle is never retrieved. As to Natty's knife, Natty relates the story, in The Pioneers, of a battle in which he saved Chingachgook's life and gave Chingachgook his own knife and tomahawk. In Last of the Mohicans, Cooper says Natty "bore a knife in a girdle of wampum like that which confined the scanty garments of the Indian, but no tomahawk", and Chingachgook is described as carrying a tomahawk and a scalping knife of English manufacture. This appears to account for the disposition of Natty's original knife, although, in The Pioneers, Chingachgook is buried with his bow, his tomahawk, his moccasins and his pipe - no knife. Natty states in The Pioneers that he won the powder horn in a shooting match down in the Dutch settlements on the Schoharie. Natty carries the powder horn with him throughout the five books, and before he dies, requests that Duncan Uncas Middleton, a grandson of Alice Munro and Duncan Hayward, return the powder horn, Killdeer and the shot pouch to Major Effingham's grandson, Edward Oliver Effingham. Thus, at Natty's death, the original rifle, the powder horn, the knife and the shot pouch are all accounted for. Natty is never depicted as treasuring or carrying any other item. Indeed, in The Pathfinder, when Mabel Dunham offers him her brooch as a token of friendship, he is bewildered as to what to do with it, as he states he has neither button nor buckle about him. Although Chingachgook wore a Washington silver medal, Natty apparently never had such a token of his service under Major Effingham. When Natty went into the woods, in about 1733, the Washington medals were not available, Washington being but an infant at that time. With his unerring ability to anticipate and manipulate the reader's thinking, Cooper buries the clue in plain sight. The solution to the puzzle of what Natty left at the gravesite is in the interpretation of a single word, and Cooper challenges his readers to rise to a different level of thought to recognize its significance. In The Deerslayer, when Natty is about to return to the camp of the Hurons from his "furlough", he believes the Indians will torture and kill him. "The best fri'nds must often part," [Natty] began, when he saw the whole party grouped around him. "Yes, fri'ndship can't alter the ways of Providence; and let our feelin's be as they may, we must part. I've often thought there's moments when our words dwell longer on the mind than common, and when advice is remembered, just because the mouth that gives it isn't likely to give it ag'in. No one knows what will happen in the world; and therefore it may be well, when fri'nds separate under a likelihood that the parting may be long, to say a few words in kindness, as a sort of keepsakes." The Deerslayer, p. 418 Fifty years later, as Natty is forced from his beloved forests and begins his long trek westward, he leaves to Oliver Effingham and his new wife, Elizabeth Templeton, his precious keepsake, which Major Effingham gave to him, and which he has carried in his heart, word for word, through all the dire years and events of his life. "I pray that the Lord will keep you in mind - the Lord that lives in clearings as well as in the wilderness � and bless you, and all that belong to you, from this time till the great day when the whites shall meet the red-skins in judgment, and justice shall be the law, and not power." The Pioneers, pp. 465, 466, 468 That Natty leaves this prayer with Oliver and Elizabeth seems one of the finest ironies of The Leatherstocking Tales. The endlessly sanctimonious Templeton family has stripped Natty of his whole context of life and subjected him to the public humiliation of the stocks and prison for no greater transgression than defending his right to exist, but Natty appears to bear no bitterness, either toward them or toward "the Lord that lives in clearings as well as in the wilderness", for the dismal progression of his life. However, the final disposition of the keepsake is nicely ambiguous. As the act of a hunter and scout who is repeatedly characterized as extremely simple of mind, it would appear to represent a saintly naivete on Natty's part. On the other hand, it may serve to confirm an instinctive and very underestimated acutness of perception and a clever application of the sarcasm with which Natty occasionally has been known to spice his observations. Explore The MOHICAN MUSINGS INDEX For Brief Reviews Of This Series See THE LEATHERSTOCKING TALES... IN REVIEW Read About JAMES FENIMORE COOPER & PARADOXES: Winners and Losers Among Cooper's Characters
PLACING NATTY BUMPPO IN TIME Title/Stage of Life Time Age Indian Name THE PRAIRIE 1803-05 86-88 Trapper THE PIONEERS 1794 77 Leatherstocking THE PATHFINDER 1759 42 Pathfinder LAST OF THE MOHICANS 1757 40 La Longue Carabine Natty serves Major Effingham under William Johnson against Dieskau at Lake George. 1755 38 Hawkeye THE DEERSLAYER 1741 24 Deerslayer Natty moves into the forest for good; becomes friend and hunting companion of Chingachgook. 1733 16 Lap Ear/Pigeon Natty is adopted by the Delawares. 1731 14 Straight-Tongue Natty goes on his first campaign with Major Effingham & Sgt. Dunham. 1729 12 Natty loses home and family and is taken into the home of Major Effingham. ca. 1727-29 10-12 Natty issues forth from the door of his father's house to try his first rifle. ca. 1726-27 9-10 Natty is born. 1717Valentino Rossi’s return to Yamaha Factory Racing was big news at the start of 2013. The campaign would yield a single victory at Assen and the nine-time World Champion now aims for much more next season, although the Italian has been extremely saddened by recent events.
Valentino, 2013 was a season of highs and lows. On Wednesday night you had a chance to recall all of the memories at the Yamaha event in Milan…
Yeah, it was a good evening and a good night to all be together and have a think back about the year; some good moments and some good videos to watch. I would like to say that it was a very good season with a lot of good races, but we did indeed have some highs and lows.
This year was difficult, for sure, and at the end of the season I had hoped to be more competitive and to be fighting for podiums; unfortunately, sometimes we pushed too hard and I wasn’t able to, but we will try again next year.
What is the Valentino Rossi target for 2014?
First of all, we will now relax and recharge the batteries to be ready for next year [smiles]. The target is to try and do better: try to be on the podium more, try to win some races and see where we are at the end of the season.
There have been rumours about retirement, but you have since mentioned in the press that there was a misunderstanding…
It was not really a misunderstanding! It was very clear, but they put the news in the right way to (create) some rumours! I have another year of contract and in my heart I want to continue after next year, with another contract of two years; but I have to be competitive, so I will decide next year.
Have you requested anything special from Yamaha, in terms of the bike?
To work together with Yamaha in order to fix the problem and adapt the M1 more to my riding style. This is the target with Yamaha and they also have a lot of motivation to try their best for me to be able to try and stay at the front. I can’t wait! We will see, but that is the target: to improve the bike and make it more suitable for me.
And it is always good to have a teammate like Jorge Lorenzo in the garage – and he has said that he feels ‘blessed’ to be working alongside you…
[Laughs] I think we are a very good team! Sincerely, the atmosphere this year was very good and so was the relationship between Jorge and I. He is one of the best…for me, now, he is the best. This year he did something great, even though he didn’t win the championship, so I am very happy to be in the same team; it is always a great fight and it is always great to try and raise our level.
Last week we saw you launching the new Team Sky-VR46 Moto3™ squad, with riders Romano Fenati and Francesco Bagnaia, at your ‘ranch’ in Italy. There seems to be plenty of enthusiasm about the project!
Yeah! The project started first of all as an academy for the young riders and it is a great project because we enjoy it a lot. We have good organisation and we are trying to help some young Italian riders to get to the top. Secondly, the team idea came along.
At the beginning we were very worried – and we are still worried [laughs] – but it is a good project and the people enjoy it a lot. We have put together a good team with a lot of experience and we will try to help Fenati and Bagnaia to arrive in a good position for next year.
What is the plan for holidays?
Nothing special! I like snowboarding a lot, so I will go to the mountains over the winter, do some snowboarding and be with my friends but it will all be very, very relaxed.
Sadly, the year has ended on a tragic note with the death of Doriano Romboni…
Sincerely, what happened to Doriano left me with no words - for different reasons. First of all, Doriano was like a hero to me when I was young; in the first years of the 90s, I followed MotoGP™ a lot and the 250 class was very famous; especially in Italy because we had (Max) Biaggi, (Loris) C |
in reporting their expenses and profits to shareholders – thereby improving their bottom line. But when employees exercise such options, corporations are allowed – under the tax code – to turn around and claim the options are worth full market value. In a speech in Congress in February, Senator Carl Levin noted that this loophole could not only entitle save Facebook to a refund of $500 million on previously paid taxes but result in “a tax break of up to $3 billion” in future years. As the largest stockholder in Facebook, Zuckerberg will directly benefit from these tax savings, with his eventual gains helping offset his large up-front tax bill that has attracted such attention.
In addition to exploiting the stock-option loophole, several Facebook founders or investors have reportedly set up grantor-retained annuity trust, or GRATs, to avoid paying estate and gift taxes on some of their new wealth. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, those creating GRATs with Facebook shares in recent years include Dustin Moskovitz, Sean Parker, Sheryl Sandberg, Reid Hoffman, and Zuckerberg. GRATs are complex, but basically these vehicles will allow Facebook shareholders to allow some of their shares to appreciate in value and yet not have that appreciation subject to future estate taxes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the GRATs created so far by Facebook shareholders will allow their heirs or beneficiaries to avoid $200 million in taxes.
Finally, and most egregiously, is how Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship earlier this year, a move that will allow him to save hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains taxes. Saverin now lives in Singapore, which doesn’t have a capital gains tax. Of course, though, Saverin did not get rich in Singapore: he got rich in America, a society with strong public structures that facilitate wealth creation and are paid for by tax dollars. Saverin met Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard, an institution partly subsidized by federal grants and got rich using the Internet, a technology invented by a U.S. government agency. Facebook has prospered in Silicon Valley, a tech region spawned in part by early U.S. government military and science spending, and in the United States, a country with strong intellectual property rights and other legal protections for entrepreneurs. As well, many of Facebook’s employees were educated at public schools and universities.
Saverin is not alone among wealthy individuals who have gotten rich with the help of American public structures and then renounced U.S. citizenship. For some of the super wealthy, it turns out, money comes before loyalty.
Much of the wealth generated by Facebook may never be taxed at all because it will be donated to charity. Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to give away at least half of his wealth, as part of The Giving Pledge organized by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Zuckerberg has already begun giving away his money, most notably with a major gift to improve public schools in Newark. Co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has also pledged to give away at least half of his fortune.
The American tradition of philanthropy has yielded many positive benefits to the U.S. and to humanity, and the new philanthropists minted by Facebook are sure to do much good with their money. But a cautionary note is also in order as these vast new philanthropic fortunes come online: Philanthropy allows private individuals to use money sheltered from taxation to advance their own personal agenda for public policy, culture, science, and so on, and to exercise vastly more influence over society than ordinary citizens or voters can. In other words, all taxpayers are subsidizing the ability of the super wealthy to try to shape America or the world as they see fit.
Mark Zuckerberg’s gift to improve Newark’s schools shows the benefits and dangers of how the new wealth created by Facebook will be deployed in the public sphere. On the one hand, it’s positive that Zuckerberg is trying to help one of the poorest and most troubled school districts in America. On the other hand, the large size of the donation – $100 million, before matching gifts – cannot help but help shape the direction of school policy in Newark, which should more rightly be decided by the citizens of Newark. Education has traditionally been among the most democratic areas of American life. But that has changed in recent years as the result of large-scale philanthropy by donors like Bill Gates and Eli Broad, with these private individuals profoundly influencing public schools. Zuckerberg’s entry into this activity could exacerbate a troubling trend whereby ordinary citizens have diminished influence over crucial policy questions relative to wealthy philanthropists.
Facebook’s IPO will also put considerable political power in the hands of its shareholders, if the trajectory of other tech companies is any indication. Prior to Google’s IPO in 2004, its employees gave little money to political candidates. Such giving jumped dramatically after Google went public and its employees were among the top five groups bankrolling President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, ultimately giving Obama $814,540 according to OpenSecrets.org. (Google employees are again among the top five groups giving to Obama in the current election cycle.)
Facebook employees and directors are already using their wealth to try to influence electoral outcomes – donating $459,251 to candidates and party committees over the past three election cycles. COO Sheryl Sandberg alone has given $108,000. In short, the wealth of Facebook shareholders will allow them to have a much bigger say in U.S. politics than is available to most Americans, subverting the egalitarian ideal that lies at the heart of America’s democracy.
Finally, Facebook can be expected to use some of the new funds raised by its IPO to expand its lobbying and PAC activity. The company’s spending on lobbying rose from $207,878 in 2009 to $1,350,000 in 2012. It is sure to increase further in coming years.
Conclusion
Facebook is a great success story in many ways. Thanks to the vision and creativity of the company’s founders and investors, people worldwide can share better information and stay in contact. Those who helped create Facebook rightly deserve big rewards. But the vast size of these rewards amid high inequality and widespread hardship raises troubling questions about how well the U.S. economy is working. If such new riches came during prosperous times from a company that created a large number of good jobs, that would be one thing. But this is not the case. And the ability of the company and its founders to exploit tax loopholes raises additional fairness concerns, as does the outsized influence that Facebook shareholders are likely to wield in U.S. politics and philanthropy.
Facebook founders have not done anything wrong or immoral, with the exception of Eduardo Saverin. But they are operating in a society that advantages corporations and the wealthy at nearly every turn, pushing tax burdens onto Americans of more modest means while also diminishing the civic voice of ordinary citizens. For these reasons, Facebook’s IPO should be less a cause of celebration, than an alarm bell drawing attention to how America has become dangerously tilted in favor of the rich and powerful.The geekiest factions of the online whiskey community can be particularly nasty, with insiders railing on “taters” (uninformed collectors) and lambasting the limited-edition releases they pursue. That makes it all the more surprising that, over the past year, there’s been a groundswell of support among geeks for the Kirkland Signature collection. These Costco house whiskies have likewise landed solid scores on Whisky Advocate and Wine Enthusiast of late; they even nabbed a top prize at the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition. They’re cheap, too—whether it be a 1.75 liter of Canadian whisky for $20 or an 18 Year Old Sherry Cask Finish Highlands Scotch for $38.
It’s this downright impossible price that has the online geeks playing a guessing game as to not only where, exactly, these whiskies are coming from, but how Costco gets the prices—specifically on age-statement whiskies—so low.
“It’s called undercutting their own undercutting,” the vice president of sales for a major spirits company told me [he didn’t wish to be identified]. What he means is, if Costco’s bottles of Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s are already at cut-rate prices, the wholesale giant’s comparable house brands are intentionally sold for even cheaper than that. (And, that same VP claims, intentionally designed to look like well-known bottles from major brands.)
Likewise, many whiskey bloggers have noticed that Costco seems to obscure what they actually offer, with no master list available anywhere online. Most of their lower-end bottlings come in the popular 1.75 liter “handle,” like Kirkland Signature Blended Scotch Whisky ($18) and Kirkland Signature Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey “Premium Small Batch” ($30). In the past few years they’ve also offered a rotating, limited selection of premium Scotch, like a blended 24-year-old for $70 and a Speyside 25-year-old for just $89.
Meanwhile, a typical Speyside 25-year-old from, say, Glenfarclas, hits shelves around $200. Laphroaig’s 27-year-old was just released at $750. And Highland Park’s 40-year-old comes out in minimal quantities each year for around $3,500.
Costco may be an impressive company, but they aren’t aging barrels of whisky in some Issaquah, Washington, warehouse next to the giant tubs of Hellmann’s and Jif. Instead, Kirkland Signature whiskies are sourced from other distilleries. There’s nothing necessarily nefarious about this. Though the practice has gotten a bad rap in America ever since The Daily Beast’s Eric Felten informed unwitting consumers that their “craft” whiskey most likely came from a factory called MGP Ingredients in Indiana. Sourcing is a quite widespread practice throughout Ireland and Scotland, however, where so-called independent bottlers buy up excess stock and put it out under their own labels.
It’s believed that Kirkland’s Canadian whisky comes from Crown Royal and the current Tennessee whiskey from George Dickel, and it’s pretty easy to see that their previous bourbon was Jim Beam juice (according to TTB filings). Their Scotch labels, meanwhile, typically credit Alexander Murray & Co, one of those aforementioned independent bottlers. The California-based company has been buying Scotch barrels and releasing products since 2004; they helped start Trader Joe’s private whisky label that same year, and Kirkland’s in 2007. Like most companies bottling alcohol under a generic house label, reps for Costco are mum on their process and sourcing.
“Thank you for asking, but again, we don’t disclose how we develop Kirkland Signature,” wrote Annette Alvarez-Peters, Costco’s assistant general merchandise manager and the woman responsible for all the company’s alcohol purchases. I received similar answers to all of my follow-up questions.
Alexander Murray & Co. is also not willing to disclose any information on the arrangement, but it’s long been rumored the vast majority of the barrels they buy come from Tullibardine. Tullibardine sells their own 25-year-old Scotch for around $300 a bottle.
It’s also possible that the Kirkland’s Speyside 25-year-old bottling is Mortlach, Longmorn or even Macallan, the latter of whom Kirkland has openly partnered with in the past. The Macallan’s own 25 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky sells for $1500.
“Costco has a volume deal with [spirits] companies including Edrington and Diageo,” claims Mike Raymond, owner of Reserve 101, a top whiskey bar in Houston, and a judge at the annual Whiskies of the World conference. “They agree to buy a certain amount of product at a certain price, which is far lower than everyone else is paying. For products like Johnnie Walker Blue or Macallan, it’s virtually impossible to beat Costco on price.”
Meanwhile, the VP of sales claims it’s a well-known fact that Costco only makes a 13 percent gross profit on spirits, while 25 to 35 percent is considered the industry standard. That’s surely one reason they sell nearly $4 billion-worth of alcohol per year. Likewise, Alexander Murray & Co. shipped out some 165,000 cases of Scotch in 2015. And maybe that combined purchasing power allows them to get sweetheart deals on barrels, even ones that have been sitting in a Scottish warehouse for a quarter-century.
Then again, even massive distilleries only have so much room in their warehouses. Getting barrels out the door and sold is a top priority. Plus, the aging of whisky isn’t a perfect science. Some barrels aren’t going to taste exactly how, say, Macallan wants them to.
“Macallan has very high standards and very particular barrels they’re looking for,” notes Clay Risen, a New York Times senior editor and author of American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye. “How do they get all the carrots in a supermarket to look like perfect carrots? Well, they get rid of all the other carrots.”
While Raymond notes, “My guess would be that [Kirkland Signature Scotch] is liquid from Edrington, which owns Macallan. They can’t use it for Macallan or their blends like Famous Grouse or Cutty Sark. This doesn’t mean that it’s of poor quality; it just has to do with flavor profiles.”
But Costco’s strategy is far more controlled than crossing their collective corporate fingers that some of the large distilleries will want to consistently sell off stock at favorable prices. “If Costco can control the importation of the whisky, get someone to distribute it to them at cost (or at very slim single-digit margins due to high volume) and then sell it at very low margins, then they’re golden,” explains a friend who is an independent bottler himself, though at a much smaller level. He tells me he know this happens with other big players, like Total Wine. “I do think that volume and control of two of the three tiers helps them tremendously.”
Finally, one reason rarely considered for why Costco might be able to offer better pricing is proof. Typically, whisky connoisseurs would want that 25-year-old Scotch to have some decent heft after all those years of concentrating in barrel. Alcohol is a conduit for flavor, after all. But all Kirkland Signature Scotches are sold at 80 proof, meaning that these whiskies are watered down to the absolute lowest legal limit and, thus, Costco is able to empty barrels into way more bottles.
So, in a way, a good percentage of that Speyside 25-year-old is just Kirkland Signature Water. Which Costco will readily admit only costs one penny an ounce.Bernie Sanders’s upset in the Michigan primary Tuesday can be attributed, in part, to a strong showing in Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation. Sanders won almost 60 percent of the vote there, besting rival Hillary Clinton.
Apparently, something about Sanders resonated with residents.
“Believing in something unpopular and fighting for those things is true courage and bravery. I feel personally connected to his message of humanism and peace,” Mason Hinawi, a high school student and first-time Dearborn Heights voter, told The Intercept about his support for Sanders. “I know a lot of Muslim people my age also taken by his message of peace and his welcoming tone.”
An analysis by the Dearborn-based Arab American News showed that heavily populated Arab neighborhoods in the city went overwhelmingly for Sanders — 210 to 101 in Southern Salina, a Yemeni-American neighborhood, for example. The paper estimated that “Arab Americans voted 2 to 1 for Sanders in almost every east Dearborn precinct.” East Dearborn is where most Arab Americans live.
The win came following sustained outreach by the Sanders campaign aimed at Arab and Muslim Americans, in Dearborn and elsewhere.
In October, Sanders shared an emotional moment with a Muslim college student who asked him to stand up to Islamophobia. He invited her up to the stage and cited his own background as the grandson of Holocaust victims as informing his views on bigotry, telling her, “There is a lot of anger being generated, hatred being generated, against Muslims in this country. … If we stand for anything, we have got to stand together and end all forms of racism.”
Two months later, Sanders attended a roundtable event at the Masjid Muhammad mosque in Washington, D.C. “Do we come together, or do we allow demagogues to divide us up? That is the issue of the moment,” he said, condemning the Islamophobia coming out of the GOP side of the race.
In February, his campaign tweeted out a graphic in Arabic that translates as “Not me, us”:
The tweet continued in Arabic: “America becomes a greater nation when we stand together and say no to racism, hatred, and bigotry.”
“His whole campaign and his whole demeanor and his whole sort of discourse fits much more into the Arab American community and our discourse,” said Amer Zahr, who lives in Dearborn and teaches at the University of Detroit. Zahr met with Sanders at a private event last week.
“Our community is no stranger to Hillary Clinton and to her kind of ultra right-wing policies when it comes to Israel, her relationship to [donor] Haim Saban,” Zahr said. “Bernie doesn’t talk like that at all. We asked him about Palestine and Israel. … He said that he would look at both sides equally, which no politician says.” (Howard Dean flirted with the concept of evenhandedness during his 2004 run for the presidency, but backtracked after coming under attack from Democratic politicians.)
Zahr credited Sanders’s showing to “the combination of our community being very familiar, and not in a good way, with Hillary Clinton and her hawkishness … and the progressive message of Sanders’s campaign [that] hits home for a lot of us.”
The editorial board of the Arab American News endorsed Sanders, citing his words against Islamophobia and his more dovish foreign policy. As the Michigan primary neared, his campaign began airing Arabic-language radio ads in the Dearborn area, and the day before the primary, he visited the city itself.
After he was introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim American elected to Congress, Sanders condemned Islamophobia in an hourlong speech and pledged to treat all parties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as equals.
This outreach stood in contrast to the Clinton campaign. Hillary Clinton never visited Dearborn or held any events there; her husband, Bill Clinton, did a short swing through market areas there while campaigning for his wife in Detroit.
“I was at the [Sanders] event. … Most of the crowd was Arab American,” Ali Harb, a reporter at the Arab American News, said in an interview. “Bernie Sanders has successfully mobilized young voters, and Arab American young folks were no exception. They were moved by his message, they were excited.”
Harb also cited another factor in the enthusiasm for Sanders: GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. “You can’t have a political conversation in Dearborn without Donald Trump coming up. A lot of people are anxious about Donald Trump, so they’ve become more interested in the political process because they’re quite frankly scared of what happens if Trump becomes president. So that helped draw turnout.”
A number of media commentators wondered why the first viable Jewish contender for the presidency would be winning support from Arab and Muslim Americans. The answer appears to be simple. Sanders won Dearborn the same way any candidate wins any constituency: by listening to its members and responding to their concerns.
For Asha Mohamood Noor, a Muslim American voter-registration activist who lives in the Dearborn area, Sanders’s Jewish background was a plus. “I think that one really key element of that is that Bernie often discusses, often talks about, the oppression faced by the Jewish people in Europe,” she said in an interview. “Definitely, I think it appeals to [Muslim American] emotions because they’re feeling a lot of backlash in America and around the world, and he often draws a parallel between the Jewish struggle and the Arab and Muslim struggle in a way that is very genuine and very true.”
She also pointed to Sanders ultimately gaining ground in the community for the same reasons he is attracting support from many others. “I know people want to run with the narrative of Arabs and Muslims voting for a Jew, but I think it all boils down to socioeconomic status, unions, fair wages, labor reform. … His religion almost never came up [among voters], it was his vision for restoring a middle class, and uplifting folks out of poverty.”
Related:Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot is lauded for a character ‘matter-of-factly presented as gay without commentary’
Dav Pilkey, author of the bestselling Captain Underpants series, has quietly revealed that one of his two main protagonists, Harold, grows up to marry a man.
Pilkey’s latest Captain Underpants novel, Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot, has just been published, and sees George and Harold, the young creators of “the greatest superhero in the history of their elementary school”, meet their future selves:
Soon, everyone had gathered together in Old George’s studio. Old George, his wife, and their kids, Meena and Nik, sat on the couch, while Old Harold, his husband, and their twins, Owen and Kei, plopped down in the giant beanbag chair. “What’s up?” said George. “We’re your dads when they were kids,” said Harold.
Steven Frank at NewNowNext, who first highlighted Harold’s outing, called it a “big (stinky) step forward for kid’s lit”, saying that “Harold, as an adult, is matter-of-factly presented as gay without commentary,” which is “incredibly rare and refreshing” in children’s book publishing.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Superhero … Dav Pilkey and a fan.
The Captain Underpants books have sold more than 70m copies worldwide, but have also excited controversy: in 2012 and 2013 they were the American Libraries Association’s most challenged books over their “offensive language [and] violence”. While the majority of readers on Amazon welcomed the new novel, others made comments including: “A heads up on the homosexuality contained in this book would have been nice.”
In a piece written for the Guardian last month, Pilkey wrote: “People often ask me how I’d want to respond to those critics who would rather see my books pulled from shelves than handed to young readers. I do have an answer, and it boils down to the fact that not every book is right for every person. Some grownups are not amused by the kinds of things that make most children laugh, and so they try to stomp those things out.”
“I understand that people are entitled to their own opinions about books, but it should be just that: a difference of opinion. All that’s required is a simple change. Instead of saying ‘I don’t think children should read this book,’ just add a single word: ‘I don’t think my children should read this book.’
“When it comes to books, we may not all agree on what makes for a good read – but I hope we can agree that letting children choose their own books is crucial to helping them learn to love reading.”
When JK Rowling revealed in 2007 that her character, the wizard Dumbledore, was gay, it prompted worldwide uproar. In March, the author responded to a fan asking “I wonder why you said that Dumbledore is a gay because I can’t see him that way?” with the tweet: “Maybe because gay people just look like... people?”DataBroker DAO joins the Sigfox Partner Network Matthew Van Niekerk Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 18, 2017
DataBroker DAO is excited to announce that it is the newest member of the Sigfox Partner Network. Joining the network is an important step in bringing sensor manufacturers, sensor owners and Sigfox, a global infrastructure provider of network connectivity for IoT, closer to the DataBroker DAO ecosystem. The partner network of Sigfox brings together some of the world’s most innovative companies in IoT sensor technology. The network consists of more than 500 component and end product manufacturers with thousands of products and more than 200 service providers supporting the development of innovative sensor technologies. The users of the Sigfox partner network are creating and selling sensors for everything from automotive & fleet management to smart cities to agriculture (see 8 themes below).
The themes in focus within the Sigfox partner network are a fantastic match to the types of data that data buyers on DataBroker DAO are looking for. By joining the partner network of Sigfox, DataBroker DAO aims to provide fellow partners (and their clients), who are creating and deploying cutting edge sensors, a direct and transparent path to data monetisation. How exactly they use the proceeds is their call. They can either bank the proceeds to improve their profitability, reinvest in additional hardware or purchase additional data available on DataBroker to gain further insights.
For smart city initiatives in cities within the coverage of the Sigfox network, DataBroker DAO can provide a jump start on getting sensor owners involved and the entrepreneurs in the city fully engaged in building value adding services making their city smarter, happier and enriching the lives of their citizens. Whether you are a sensor manufacturer, a sensor owner or a potential buyer of data, please be sure to stop by the DataBroker DAO booth at the upcoming Sigfox World IoT Expo on September 25–26 in Prague, Czech Republic. We will be happy to introduce you to DATABroker DAO and provide you with a top to bottom live demo of the beta version of the platform.
Try the platform at https://beta.databrokerdao.com
In the current phase of DataBroker DAO, we are actively seeking interested sensor owners (individuals, corporations, municipalities, etc) from all sectors, data consumers (for own use or for resale) and smart city initiatives to join the DataBroker DAO community. If you are interested to learn more about the opportunities, don’t hesitate to contact us via email or join our slack or telegram channels. ABOUT SIGFOX SIGFOX is the first and only operator of a cellular network fully dedicated to low-throughput communication for connected objects. Leveraging on its patented UNB technology SIGFOX brings a revolution to the M2M and Internet of Things world by enabling large-scale connection of objects. Reliable, long range, robust, SIGFOX network and related offer mean groundbreaking prices and costs, extremely low power consumption, and massive reduction of the customers’ carbon footprint. With SIGFOX, One network brings your billions dreams to life. For more informations : www.sigfox.comLONDON (Reuters) - Some U.S. financial institutions could be locked out of the European market if Donald Trump’s administration repeals global rules imposed in the wake of the financial crisis, a top EU official said on Friday.
Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission and the EU’s financial services chief, said international rules agreed during the 2007-09 crisis must be upheld to avoid undermining financial stability.
“International finance needs international regulatory cooperation. Without it, we run the risk of regulatory arbitrage and renewed instability,” Dombrovskis said in a speech in London.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to review Dodd-Frank, a U.S. law that implements a welter of international rules agreed by the United States, the EU and other major economies during the global banking meltdown.
“We are sensitive to talk of unpicking financial legislation which applies carefully negotiated international standards and rules,” Dombrovskis said.
“Lax regulation in one country can create conditions for inadequate regulation and contagion throughout the world.”
Dombrovskis said the EU will uphold the reforms it introduced to toughen bank capital rules - based on the globally agreed norms - and will be “ready to take the necessary measures to protect and strengthen these achievements”.
The EU has allowed clearing houses, insurers and other financial firms from the United States and other non-EU countries to operate in the bloc because it deemed their home rules to be “equivalent” or as strict as those in the EU.
But granting equivalence depends very much on the specific conditions of individual sectors and countries when the decision was made, he said.
“If these conditions change, we will have to reassess the situation,” Dombrovskis said.
The European Commission can unilaterally scrap an equivalence decision by giving a month’s notice.
Dombrovskis’ warning could equally apply to Britain, whose financial firms may need to rely on “equivalence” rulings after the country leaves the bloc in 2019. Some pro-Brexit campaigners say departure would allow Britain to ditch some EU rules.
London will only continue to thrive as an international financial center on the basis of a strong, international regulatory system, he said.
Trump’s regulatory review has also raised questions about future international rulemaking at bodies like the Basel Committee on banking standards, and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which coordinates regulation across the Group of 20 economies (G20).
G20 finance ministers and central bankers meet in Germany in March and their communique will be scrutinized for signs of discord between the United States and other members over regulation.
Dombrovskis said there were strong arguments for continued international cooperation at Basel and the FSB, but for this to happen there was a need for “partners to cooperate with”.
He singled out a letter from a U.S. lawmaker telling U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen not to negotiate new international banking rules.
Dombrovskis said there was a need to preserve European values like free rational thought, tolerance, solidarity and openness when threatened by “alternative facts” in financial and other sectors.Also published at AiPT!
“It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.”
Apart from learning it was set long ago in a galaxy far away, these vague allusions to Rebel victory in the opening salvo of a galactic war and the Alliance’s acquisition of schematics to a weapon of planetary destruction were the very first glimpses audiences would glean into the Star Wars universe. Never expounded upon in the films beyond that preambulary prose, nevertheless such was a story fans were eager to see explored. As soon as Lucas began to hand over the reins to his universe in the early ‘90s creators immediately gravitated to the tale of Rebel spies stealing the Death Star plans, first in Dark Forces, later in Battlefront II, and finally under the close auspices of Lucas himself in the frenetic Force Unleashed.
The last especially is of obvious influence on the cinematic and canonical account of those events, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Both prominently feature men by the name of Galen initially instrumental to the Imperials’ machinations but whose defection directly led to the destruction of the Death Star. And yet, despite clearly pulling from this previous version of essentially the same events, Rogue One is in many ways the exact opposite of its predecessors in terms of tone and theme. Dark Forces and The Force Unleashed were about lone-wolf super-soldiers wielding arsenals the size of an army’s and godlike levels of magic powers stomping their adversaries into submission through superior strength. Such were perfect power fantasies for video games, but tonally divergent from the spirit of Star Wars seen in the films. Contra director Gareth Edwards’ approach with Rogue One:
“It comes down to a group of individuals that don’t have magic powers, that have to bring hope to the galaxy. It’s about the fact that God’s not coming to save us, and we’re on our own. The absence of the Jedi is omnipresent in the film. It hangs over the whole movie.”
This is either a bit of a misdirect on Edwards’ part, or he missed the most prominent themes in Knoll and Whitta’s story treatment even as he adapted such, the latter being extremely unlikely. While it is true that overt displays of The Force are few and far between, especially relative to the other films or The Force Unleashed, nevertheless Rogue One has more to say about Jedi and The Force than those works which feature them front and center.
My personal favorite scene in the saga is not Vader’s reveal of Luke’s parentage or Yoda’s tutelage of Skywalker or metal bikini-clad slave Leia or any of the other usual answers. Rather, it’s early on in the first film as uncle Owen is in the process of purchasing a pair of droids from the Jawas when – at just the right moment – the motivator on his nearly-paid for R5 unit fails, prompting Lars to acquire another astromech instead. Were that mechanical malfunction not to occur exactly then and there, Luke would not have delivered the plans to Obi-Wan and the rebellion would have failed. Were this simply a cosmic coincidence, such would have proven poor writing on Lucas’ part. But from the context clearly this was no coincidence. It is a signal to the audience, before Ben Kenobi even introduces the concept of The Force, that there is a force a work in the galaxy, grander than the designs of the Imperials and Alliance alike, which wants the side of good to prevail; it is no passive player. The Jedi and the Sith may both “use” The Force for their petty parlor tricks, but more important to the ultimate outcome of their conflict is how The Force uses the Jedi and the Sith (as well as non-sensitive humans and aliens and even droids) to achieve in mysterious ways its own providential purpose. Similar scenes abound in Rogue One. Indeed, absent such displays of divine miracles and demonic powers on the parts of the saintly Jedi and heretical Sith, respectively, Rogue One offers a look at the real role of religion and God in the lives of everyday denizens of the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
It should come as no surprise then that much of the movie takes place in the Holy City of Jedha (presumably from which the Jedi Knights derive their name). The urban warfare which takes place in its sandy city-streets is visually reminiscent of modern Middle-Eastern conflicts, a retro sci-fi reimagining of battles in Bagdad and Aleppo, perhaps. But almost certainly the most direct inspiration is Jerusalem herself, the war waged in Jedha less so inspired by operations in Iraq or Afghanistan and more so by the first few Crusades. Indeed, that is exactly what the Galactic Civil War really is: a holy war. Not in the modern, pejorative sense which implies two equally erroneous factions using ideological differences as a pretext for violence and extremism. Rather, ‘holy war’ as the term originally was understood, with God on the side of good, favoring adherents of the right religion against evil forces led by followers of a false sect. It’s not a concept particularly agreeably to most modern minds, but is perfectly consistent with the underlying premise Star Wars’ fiction, in which The Force is real and active and the Jedi teachings true.
And while not every member of the Rogue One squad professed faith in The Force, that’s not to say that The Force is not seen working through or on them. All throughout, Chirrut Îmwe is seen repeating the mantra, “I am with The Force, and The Force is with me.” Such is a confession and profession, but also a witness to his apostate associate Baze Malbus. The latter remains consternate to such constant proselytizing, till on the field of the final battle the former suffers sacrificial martyrdom, still chanting his creed as the blaster bolts barrage him. Both play a key role in the Rebel victory, but in that particular moment it is clear that the battle is not merely for Scarif. The Force here is waging holy war for not merely the galaxy as a whole but each individual in it, wanting as adherents not merely those that can lift stones and starfighters with their thoughts, but each and every lifeform through which it flows, sensitive or not. More than Jyn or even the ensemble crew of Rogue One, The Force itself is the true protagonist of the film.
Speaking of Jyn, her character is the one flaw in what is otherwise the best Star Wars film in a full forty years. Unlike Luke or Anakin, she does not work as a cypher for the viewer to project onto, nor as a classic Campbellian hero for the audience to journey alongside. Yet neither does she share the strong feminine virtues of her fellow leading ladies, whether the regal elegance of Queen Amidala and Princess Leia or the bright-eyed, neotenous charm of Rey (though that could be more attributed to Daisy Ridley’s performance than Kasdan’s script or Abram’s direction, whereas Felicity Jones here is merely serviceable, never redeeming the role that was written).
And yet the rest of the characters are, without exception, excellent. Nearly all harken back to Expanded Universe characters of yore. Baze Malbus takes clear cues from Canderous Ordo, both being heavy-weapon wielding warriors that once fought for a people since defeated and scattered (the Mandalorians and the Guardians of the Whills, respectively). Chirrut Îmwe has a hint of Rahm Kota to him, both blind but still seeing through The Force and clad in oriental-inspired garb, in reference to the Jedi’s real world inspiration of the samurai. Sure to be the fan favorite though is K-2SO, just similar enough to the brutally honest and honestly brutal HK-47 as not to be derivative.
Not that it’s merely characters which are callbacks to the old Expanded Universe and larger mythology behind the films. Many of Rogue One’s elements can be traced directly back to Lucas’ early drafts. Kyber Crystals and the Whills both pre-date “Star Wars,” back when the intended title was “The Adventures of Luke Starkiller.” Vader’s lava fortress is first found in concept art for The Empire Strikes Back. Even the very title “Rogue One” is a shout-out to the popular “Rogue Squadron” novels and games. Far from Lucas’ token inclusion of Aayla Secura and the Outrider or Abram’s instance on regurgitating the Original Trilogy and nothing new, Rogue One is the first Star Wars film for fans of more than just the films. And considering the films have long since ceased to be the best the franchise has to offer, the result accordingly is Star Wars’ best big screen experience since the spring of ’77.
There’s a scene towards the climax in which the Rogue One squad must use possibly invalidated Imperial codes to secure passage through a planet-spanning force field. The obvious parallel is to the same situation occurring over Endor in Return of the Jedi, but it reminded me equally of the aforementioned scene with R5 and the faulty motivator. As the crew awaits with bated breath for confirmation to proceed, Jyn holds in her hand the Kyber Crystal bequeathed to her by her father, now a necklace treated as a talisman or charm, albeit with newfound religious significance since her unintended pilgrimage to Jedha. But before the Imperials even respond the viewer knows – as does, perhaps, Jyn, in her heart – that the code will be accepted. Indeed, that the whole history of the galaxy thus far has been ordered just so in anticipation of this present moment; that on some distant rock somewhere, something so innocuous as an astrom |
.455 25.977 0.705 49ers 26.667 26.909 26.788 -3.379 Titans 29.667 26.727 28.197 0.394 Buccaneers 26.500 30.000 28.250 -0.114 Texans 30.000 27.182 28.591 -2.955 Jaguars 27.750 30.091 28.920 2.444 Lions 30.833 27.636 29.235 -1.871
Observations:
Patriots slipping a little?
6 of the bottom 10 teams in the AFC.
3 AFC South teams make up the bottom 5.
Overall Standard Deviation
Subj vs Obj Subj Avg Obj Avg STD DEV Change in Value Patriots 1.000 1.364 0.564 0.276 Packers 2.417 3.273 1.434 -0.101 Bengals 2.750 4.455 1.439 -0.126 Panthers 4.000 6.546 2.063 -1.538 Saints 16.833 19.000 2.290 -0.534 Jaguars 27.750 30.091 2.401 1.212 Texans 30.000 27.182 2.530 -0.020 Lions 30.833 27.636 2.578 -0.259 Cowboys 20.667 19.091 2.586 -2.080 Buccaneers 26.500 30.000 2.615 -0.137 Steelers 10.833 7.909 2.651 1.221 Browns 23.500 26.000 2.661 -0.611 Chargers 22.083 23.000 2.780 0.458 Cardinals 6.917 5.273 2.879 -0.409 49ers 26.667 26.909 2.889 -1.339 Jets 8.417 6.909 2.926 0.446 Dolphins 14.167 15.455 2.978 -0.809 Giants 12.500 14.000 3.120 0.253 Rams 12.833 16.182 3.160 -0.926 Seahawks 11.750 8.909 3.240 -0.863 Bears 24.500 27.455 3.387 0.442 Broncos 4.833 7.727 3.413 0.139 Falcons 6.750 9.909 3.454 0.224 Bills 18.417 14.273 3.634 1.077 Colts 18.833 20.091 3.657 -1.048 Eagles 15.167 9.273 3.996 1.372 Redskins 20.583 21.455 4.054 -0.405 Titans 29.667 26.727 4.067 0.175 Vikings 9.000 14.273 4.586 0.603 Raiders 15.000 19.727 4.637 0.511 Chiefs 24.583 17.364 5.042 -0.132 Ravens 28.250 20.546 5.315 -0.914
Observations:
Yes! The Chargers are the most consistently-ranked of the AFC West teams. Oh.
Ravens have actually seen their consensus improve overall.
Cowboys definitely settling in to their less-than-stellar ranking.
Colts too.
Difference in Averages
Subj vs Obj Subj Avg Obj Avg Diff. in Avg Change in Value Vikings 9.000 14.273 5.273 1.091 Raiders 15.000 19.727 4.727 2.454 Buccaneers 26.500 30.000 3.500 0.318 Rams 12.833 16.182 3.349 -0.560 Falcons 6.750 9.909 3.159 1.068 Bears 24.500 27.455 2.955 0.137 Broncos 4.833 7.727 2.894 0.076 Panthers 4.000 6.546 2.546 -2.545 Browns 23.500 26.000 2.500 0.136 Jaguars 27.750 30.091 2.341 2.887 Saints 16.833 19.000 2.167 1.803 Bengals 2.750 4.455 1.705 -0.204 Giants 12.500 14.000 1.500 1.409 Dolphins 14.167 15.455 1.288 2.743 Colts 18.833 20.091 1.258 -3.742 Chargers 22.083 23.000 0.917 -0.629 Redskins 20.583 21.455 0.871 1.417 Packers 2.417 3.273 0.856 -0.235 Patriots 1.000 1.364 0.364 0.182 49ers 26.667 26.909 0.242 -3.122 Jets 8.417 6.909 -1.508 -1.508 Cowboys 20.667 19.091 -1.576 1.060 Cardinals 6.917 5.273 -1.644 0.811 Texans 30.000 27.182 -2.818 -3.545 Seahawks 11.750 8.909 -2.841 1.886 Steelers 10.833 7.909 -2.924 -1.197 Titans 29.667 26.727 -2.939 0.243 Lions 30.833 27.636 -3.197 -1.197 Bills 18.417 14.273 -4.144 -1.599 Eagles 15.167 9.273 -5.894 -2.349 Chiefs 24.583 17.364 -7.220 0.871 Ravens 28.250 20.546 -7.705 1.840
Observations:
Yeah, maybe slow down a bit on the Vikings? And I know the Raiders looked phenomenal on Sunday, but they're still flawed.
Pundits still sleeping on the Eagles.
Chiefs may actually be better than even I want to give them credit.
Ravens are playing better than their 1-6 record indicates.
SourcesFillers are everywhere: they’re the ums, uhs, and likes that sneak their way into our speech, often times without us even realizing it. Indeed, fillers, also known as disfluencies, carry no semantic value, but they are used abundantly in natural speech, and are different in each language. Despite the bad rap that fillers get from schoolmarms and speech coaches, it’s important for language learners to acquaint themselves with the fillers in their language of study — nothing gives you away as a foreigner quite like saying, “Yo quiero, um, un helado.”
Perhaps ironically, learning the disfluencies in your language of study will actually make your speech more fluent. Non-native speakers in particular will encounter moments in which they need to fill the silence while they search for vocabulary, and fillers are an excellent way to do so without creating an awkward pause. But most textbooks don’t consider fillers as worthy of study, so it’s hard to find good information on how to incorporate fillers into your language learning. Here, we’ll take a look at fillers in several languages, which will hopefully, um, give you a better sense of how fillers are used cross-linguistically.
ENGLISH: um, uh, like, y’know, so, well, just
English has a variety of fillers which can be used in several different discourse contexts. For example, the words so and well are often used to initiate a sentence, as in the following examples:
– So, do you think using fillers is important?
– Well, native speakers use fillers a lot, so I’d say they are pretty important.
Other fillers, such as like and you know (shortened colloquially as y’know), can be used almost anywhere in a sentence. They’re also often used in conjunction with each other, as in the following example:
– I want to, y’know, like, learn a lot of different languages.
In English, the most common fillers are um and uh, which are used as pauses between words, or as indications that the speaker has not yet finished talking. Interestingly, a recent study from the University of Rochester found that English speakers are more likely to pay attention to unfamiliar objects if the word “uh” is used before stating the object’s name. Thus, words like “um” and “uh” indicate to speakers that something unfamiliar is about to happen, so they’d better pay extra attention.
GERMAN: ähm, äh, wie, weisste, mal, ja
German-language fillers (“Füllwörter” in German) bear significant resemblance to those in English. For example, the German equivalent to um and uh are ähm and äh (respectively), which are pronounced almost exactly the same. German speakers also uses the pronoun wie in the same way that English speakers use the word “like”. In fact, German even has an almost identical version of “you know” — weisst du, which is shortened as weisste in the same way that “you know” is shortened to “y’know”.
Some German fillers are used to have a softening effect. For example, the word mal — while it carries no meaning itself — is used to make commands seem less abrupt and more polite, as in the following example:
– Steh mal auf. (Stand up.)
Likewise, other German fillers are used to carry an intensifying effect. The German word ja means “yes”, but is often used as a filler to emphasize something or strengthen one’s convictions. The 2012 film Das ist ja Leben selbst! (“This is Indeed Life Itself!”) perfectly exemplifies this use of the word ja: it makes the statement forceful and emphatic.
If Clueless were a German film, the characters would constantly utter “wie” instead of “like”. Image via Dailymotion
SPANISH: ehm, bueno, pues, este, como, a ver
In Spanish, some fillers (“muletillas” in Spanish) are similar in form and function to those in English. The equivalent to um is ehm, which is pronounced more like “ehm” than “um” (try to stop saying “um” to avoid sounding like a gringo). Also, some fillers, such as bueno and a ver, fulfill the same role as “so” and “well” in English, in that they’re often used to start a sentence:
– Bueno, por qué es importante aprender las muletillas? (So, why is it important to learn fillers?)
– A ver, escúchame y te lo explico bien. (Well, listen to me and I’ll explain it to you.
The various regional dialects of Spanish use different fillers. For example, the fillers that are used in Argentina are different from those that are used in Spain. In Argentina, casual utterances often begin with che (roughly translated as “hey”), whereas che does not exist in Spain. Similarly, Spain uses the filler pues (“well”), whereas Argentina does not, instead opting to use bueno instead.
Further, excessive use of certain Spanish fillers can be suggestive of certain social information. If your speech is littered with o sea (and tipo if you’re in Argentina), you’re at risk of being categorized as a fresa (Mexico) or a cheto — a stereotype of a braindead, bubblegum-chewing teenager who cares about fashion, gossip, and little else. An English-language equivalent would be overuse of the word “like”.
JAPANESE: eeto (えーと), ano (あのう), sono (その), ee (ええ), nanka (なんか)
Japanese, which bears little relation to English, has very different fillers. The most common ones are eeto (えーと) and ano (あのう), which are used like “um” and “uh”. In fact, you can extend them to match the length of the pause, so if you really need to stop and think, you can say eeeeto or anooooo. The filler nanka ( なんか) is used especially when you are searching for the next word, and can be considered a synonym of the word “like”.
In Japanese, speech without fillers can come off as overly formal or harsh. Thus, using fillers makes you seem more conversational and personal. This is in tune with a recent study conducted in English regarding phone survey interviews. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that the most successful interviewers (that is, those who were most successful at keeping respondents on the phone to answer questions) used fillers such as “um” and “uh” moderately. Notably, they were more successful than those who made no pauses at all, whose speech sounded overly scripted and robotic. Thus, conservative use of fillers seems to lend credibility to speakers, rather than hurt it.
Phone interviewers were more successful when their speech contained the occasional “um”. Image via Rhoda Baer / Wikipedia
Of course, there is a time and a place for fillers: if you’re about to give a speech in front of the UN, for instance, try to keep the ums, ähms, ehms, and えーとs to a minimum. But in casual conversation, using fillers can not only help you appear approachable and conversational, but can actually increase your fluency, by filling your silences with words that native speakers would use. Try to kick your habit of saying “um” and “uh”, and instead adopt the fillers that you hear from native speakers in your language of study.
What fillers are used in your language? What other fillers would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!
Paul writes on behalf of Language Trainers, a language tutoring service offering personalized course packages to individuals and groups. Check out their free language level tests and other resources on their website. Visit their Facebook page or contact [email protected] with any questions.As I mentioned a few months ago, Brad Benbrook, Steve Duvernay and I have been representing the Firearms Policy Coalition in its First Amendment challenge to a curious California statute — California Penal Code § 9026.5, which makes it a crime to rebroadcast televised California Assembly proceedings “for any political or commercial purpose, including … any campaign for elective public office or any campaign supporting or opposing a ballot proposition submitted to the electors.”
On June 9, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England granted our request for a preliminary injunction ordering the state not to enforce the law and promised an opinion in due course. We were ready to keep on fighting to final judgment — the state had indeed been defending the law — but I’m delighted to report that yesterday Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill repealing the prohibition.
The Firearms Policy Coalition, by the way, got involved because it plans on running ads opposing the so-called Safety for All Act of 2016 that will be on the November ballot here in California, and it wants to include assembly hearing footage in those ads. Many thanks to them, and to their president, Brandon Combs, for getting me involved in this very interesting matter.Clinton to fast food workers: 'I want to be your champion' She also expresses broader support for the labor movement.
DETROIT — Hillary Clinton told a conference of fast food workers Sunday that she supported their push for a $15 minimum wage, saying “I want to be your champion.”
Appearing by phone at a meeting of 1,300 workers, Clinton voiced her most emphatic support yet for the nationwide Fight for $15 movement, which is also seeking to unionize fast food giants like McDonald’s.
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Clinton also expressed broader support for organized labor and the right to bargain collectively.
“We need you out there fighting against those who would strip away Americans’ right to organize, to collectively bargain, to fair play,” Clinton told the crowd. “No man or woman who works hard to feed American families should have to be on food stamps to feed their own family.”
“All of you should not have to march in the streets to get a living wage, “ she added. “But thank you for marching….We need you out there.”
Pointing to recent $15 an hour legislation and wage proposals in cities like Los Angeles, St. Louis and New York City, Clinton said, “Every worker in every state and every city deserves a fair wage and a real voice on the job.” The Obama administration, after initially supporting a minimum increase to $9 and then $10.10, more recently upped that to $12.
“I hope that every one of you will continue to raise your voice until we get all working Americans a better deal,” she said. “I want to be your champion. I want to fight with you every day.”
Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry told the crowd that Clinton’s call shows “how powerful people around the world are listening to this movement to change our world.”
The appearance marks the Clinton campaign’s latest attempt to shore up her left flank and de-emphasize the centrist pragmatism that marked her husband’s presidency and her own record as senator and secretary of state.
Sunday’s appearance is also a powerful overture toward labor groups like the SEIU, which backs the Fight for $15 with millions of dollars. SEIU’s Henry said “now is the time” to raise living standards for the American workforce — and also nodded to 2016. “In this presidential election, this is the time for us to put forward an agenda to raise wages and restore prosperity for all,” Henry said.
Clinton has been making efforts recently to shore up union support. Last week she met with the American Federation of Teachers, where she said she believed that “unions are part of the solution” to the country’s education problems.
She has also taken more liberal stances on issue like immigration, saying should would support more legal protections and work permits for undocumented workers.
Clinton previously voiced support for the Fight for $15 movement during the group’s last day of major strikes and rallies on April 15, when she tweeted, “Every American deserves a fair shot at success. Fast food & child care workers shouldn’t have to march in streets for living wages.”On February 26, 2016 NWA Vendetta Pro returned to Santa Maria, CA with a show that saw SoCal Crazy defeat Lil’ Cholo to win the Vendetta Pro Heavyweight Championship. Click for complete results.
NWA Vendetta Pro
February 26, 2016
Radisson Hotel
Santa Maria, CA
El Torito Juventude over Nick Bugatti by pinfall
Tab Jackson & Greg Hernandez over Kiara Dillon & Apostle Judah Matthew by pinfall
NWA Western States Tag-Team Championship
Ballard Brothers (Shannon & Shane Ballard) vs. The Von Dooms (Cyanide & Vintage Dragon) (c) goes to a double count out
NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship
“Brawlin” Bo Cooper vs. Ricky Ruffin (c) went to a time limit draw
Alexander G. Bernard over “Sunset Boulevard Bad-Boy” Richie Slade by pinfall
Vendetta Pro Tri-Force Championship
Mike Rayne over Jacob Diez and Stryder to retain the Tri-Force Championship
Creepshow (JD Horror & Sledge) over Su/Ka (Sunami & Kadin Anthony)
Vendetta Pro Heavyweight Championship
SoCal Crazy over Lil’ Cholo to win the Vendetta Pro Heavyweight titleThis new world designed by Beneteau stems from a collaboration between Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design and the Italian stylist Pierrangelo Andreani. The first in the range, the Oceanis 62 presents a new art of extravagance at sea.
The Oceanis Yacht has a distinctive line recognized by all. Elegant on the water, she is encircled by large windows adding to her striking appearance. Designed for impeccable balance and maneuverability, her chined hull, twin rudders and perfectly centered sail plan surpass all expectations.
The innovative layout of the Oceanis Yacht 62 boasts a spacious salon and plenty of separate spaces for utmost privacy and comfort. Large hull portholes bathe the lavish interior and show off the exclusive woodwork finishes.
Easily accessible by a few steps located on either side of the dinghy garage, the transom doubles as a spacious swim platform when hydraulically lowered. Designed with practicality in mind, the dinghy garage and platform make launching simpler.
Comments
commentsUSA Today on Thursday devoted a front page story to defending one of the key scientists involved in November's ClimateGate scandal.
In a piece entitled "Questions about research slow climate change efforts," author Brian Winter -- oh the irony! -- omitted important information about Penn State University's controversial global warming alarmist Michael Mann while downplaying the seriousness of the e-mail messages at the heart of the matter.
The main article also dishonestly ignored how Mann is being investigated by his own university concerning his involvement in the scandal, and actually NEVER even mentioned the scientist's infamous "Hockey Stick" graph that has been widely discredited by climatologists and meteorologists around the world.
Instead of a fair and balanced treatment of Mann and issues related to his view of anthropogenic global warming, readers were unfortunately presented with a grossly one-sided and disingenuous report evident in the very first paragraphs:
The violent threats are not what bother Michael Mann the most. He's used to them. Instead, it's the fact that his life's work — the effort to stop global warming — has been under siege since last fall. That's when Mann suddenly found himself in the middle of the so-called "climategate" scandal, in which more than 1,000 e-mails among top climate scientists — including Mann — were obtained illegally by hackers and published on the Internet.
With this beginning, Mann was depicted as the victim in this matter, someone the reader should sympathize with RATHER than question.
Is this journalism? Is this what should be on the front page of a major newspaper or somewhere in its opinion pages?
But Winter wasn't done acting as Mann's defense attorney, for these are paragraphs four and five:
In a rare extended interview, Mann acknowledges "minor" errors but says he has been bewildered by the criticism — including a deluge of correspondence sent to his Pennsylvania State University office that, he says, occasionally has turned ugly. "I've developed a thick skin," Mann says. "Frankly, I'm more worried that these people are succeeding in creating doubt in the minds of the public, when there really shouldn't be any."
Minor errors? Really?
Well, if Winter was actually a journalist, and not a global warming sycophant, he might have informed readers what the former director of the British Climatic Research Unit at the heart of ClimateGate, Phil Jones, told the BBC about these "minor errors" last month, in particular the infamous "hide the decline" phrase in one of the e-mail messages in question:
This remark has nothing to do with any "decline" in observed instrumental temperatures. The remark referred to a well-known observation, in a particular set of tree-ring data, that I had used in a figure to represent large-scale summer temperature changes over the last 600 years. The phrase 'hide the decline' was shorthand for providing a composite representation of long-term temperature changes made up of recent instrumental data and earlier tree-ring based evidence, where it was absolutely necessary to remove the incorrect impression given by the tree rings that temperatures between about 1960 and 1999 (when the email was written) were not rising, as our instrumental data clearly showed they were.
Unlike Winter, those that have studied these e-mail messages know that "hide the decline" was no "minor error." It was an intentional manipulation of climate data.
More importantly, it related directly to Mann, as his infamous "Hockey Stick" graph used data from these tree rings.
As Winter noted, "Mann's research, which used tree rings, coral and other historical indicators to estimate how temperatures have risen in recent centuries, has been used by the IPCC in its reports."
As such, this article -- whose third sentence talked about Mann's "life work" -- completely ignored that his most important contribution to this debate was seriously questioned not only by the e-mail messages themselves, but by the former head of the organization at the heart of the scandal who admitted to the BBC that temperature data from these tree rings has been found to be inaccurate.
How could Winter POSSIBLY ignore such an inconvenient truth in an article about Mann?
But it gets worse, for the piece also never actually referred to the name of Mann's work -- the infamous "Hockey Stick."
Yep. Nowhere in this almost 1700-word piece defending Mann's "life work" is "Hockey Stick" mentioned.
Is it possible this was intentionally omitted because someone at USA Today might have then insisted that Winter inform readers that this graph has been widely discredited by scientists around the world including indirectly Jones just last month?
No, facts like that were unimportant, as were others that might have made the reader wonder why Winter was going so far out of his way to defend Mann.
Although the article referred to a recent finding that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change improperly claimed -- using what can only be called junk science! -- Himalayan glaciers would be gone by 2035, Winter for some reason chose not to inform his readers of other errors recently discovered in IPCC reports.
All Winter needed to do was look at a Scientific American article published Wednesday to gain a little knowledge on the subject marvelously entitled "IPCC Errors Prompt Review by International Science Academies":
African crop yields wither, along with the Amazon rainforest; Himalayan glaciers disappear by 2035. These are the erroneous predictions ascribed to the most recent report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—a document reviewed by some 2,500 scientists and other experts as well as vetted by more than 190 countries. So does the fact that a few errors crept into a more than 3,000 page report merit a revision of IPCC processes?
That is the question facing a new panel to be assembled by the InterAcademy Council (IAC) in Amsterdam, a composite board of many of the world's national scientific bodies, such as the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. "This will be an independent review," says physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf, president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the IAC co-chairs, about the evaluation requested by the U.N. and the IPCC. [...] "What it will do is see what are the procedures and how can they be improved. How can we avoid perhaps that certain types of errors are not made?"
Dijkgraaf should know. After all, one of the errors made by the IPCC came as a result of information provided directly by the Dutch government about the percentage of the Netherlands that would be vulnerable to flooding as a result of rising sea levels. The government corrected that percentage in a subsequent statement.
Although Winter touched on this development -- "The United Nations announced Wednesday that it would bring in an outside panel of scientists to help review an occasional study put together by a U.N. body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)" -- he chose not to inform his readers of these other errors in the IPCC reports or their seriousness.
Obviously, that would have interfered with the mission:
Despite the mistakes, Mann says the core argument — that the Earth is warming, humans are at least partly responsible, and disaster may wait unless action is taken — remains intact. "I look at it like this: Let's say that you're in your car, you open up the owner's manual, and you discover a typo on page 225. Does that mean you stop driving the car? Of course not. Those are the kind of errors we're talking about here," Mann says. "Nothing has fundamentally changed."
Nothing has fundamentally changed?
Well, using Mann's car example, and what's going on right now with Toyota, the answer might actually be that you DO stop driving the car.
After all, these errors aren't typos. These are serious mistakes in not only the science involved in various predictions key to the global warming argument, but also the science involved in determining what global temperatures were before the thermometer was invented.
As such, again using Mann's car example, if one found serious flaws in the engine and drive train of a car, would you keep driving it?
Unfortunately, Winter's readers might, for his goal was to downplay the seriousness not only of ClimateGate, but of all the recent errors found in crucial IPCC documents.
Instead of acting like a journalist looking to get to the heart of a very controversial issue, Winter took a side, and set out to convince readers that not only didn't Mann do anything wrong, but it's his accusers that are at fault.
This was also accomplished by citing only one scientist skeptical of manmade global warming with this meager reference that had nothing specifically to do with Mann or his work:
It has been a dramatic reversal of fortune for a movement that, just a few years ago, thought it was "invincible," says Leighton Steward, a geologist and global warming skeptic. "We've all been kind of giggling as we watch this thing fall apart," he says.
Imagine that.
The person at the heart of this scandal who is currently being investigated by his own school was given free rein to offer his side of the argument with almost no opposing viewpoints and not one scientific opinion cited to specifically address his involvement in ClimateGate or the veracity of his work.
In fact, the only prominent skeptic referred to by Winter was Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), but he's not a scientist.
Making matters worse, Winter even gave Mann the last word:
Citing climate data, Mann says "there's a better than 50-50 chance" that 2010 will be the hottest year ever. That, more than any political statement, could refocus the debate, he says. "If we don't act on this, it's not a failure of science," Mann says. "It's our failure as a civilization to deal with the problem."
How disgraceful.
Aren't journalists supposed to question those caught making errors?
If Mann worked for the oil or coal industry, and had been found to be in the middle of a scandal to misreport vital information to the public, would he have been treated so favorably in this front page story, or given such latitude to explain his side? Would there have been absolutely no scientists cited attacking his views?
Or would he have been torn to shreds much like the heads of Toyota were when they appeared on Capitol Hill? Or how the financial services industry's CEO's are continually lambasted by the press as being corrupt and greedy?
Unfortunately, because Winter and most American so-called journalists like the industry Nobel Laureate Al Gore is the de facto CEO of -- and let's be clear about this: the advancement of the manmade global warming theory IS an industry! -- all those involved get defended when they make mistakes, and their detractors are labeled as corrupt and possessing greed-filled motivations.
Must be nice for them to have advocates working for them in the press rather than scrutinizing their every word and move, wouldn't you say?
Once again, this is by no means surprising. For years, NewsBusters has been informing readers about the disgraceful coverage of manmade global warming by America's press.
This front page piece by USA Today is a perfect example, and all those involved should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
Serious errors are now being uncovered in IPCC reports, and those involved in supplying scientific information to the United Nations have been shown to be manipulating data, withholding their methodologies, and preventing dissenting views from being incorporated in such reports.
Rather than exposing what's going on along with all those involved, America's press have taken it upon themselves to participate in the disinformation campaign while sheltering the guilty from blame or scrutiny.
Quite simply, almost forty years since the first scandal called "Gate" erupted, the press now have taken the side of the burglars, and are assisting "All The President's Men" rather than exposing them.
Talk about your inconvenient truths.by: John Bower
(4/14/18)
In the past, I've told you about Sega and its unfortunate Sega CD system, which had some good games buried beneath an avalanche of FMV shovelware. Now I bring you the brief, but tragic, tale of Sega's final foray into game consoles:
The Dreamcast.
Sega released the Dreamcast to an eager public well before any of the other consoles of its generation. Players marveled at its cutting edge graphics and online capabilities. Heck, it even came with four controller ports built in so you wouldn't need to buy some peripheral if you were one of those weirdoes with more than one friend. Unfortunately, Sega just couldn't keep that momentum going once the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube came onto the scene. Only two years into the console's lifespan, Sega pulled the plug.
In its short run, the Dreamcast brought us a collection of truly unique games. Games that eschewed the traditional tropes and formulas. Games that introduced elements that have become so widespread that we're downright sick of them now. These are just a few of the games that will inspire you to scour the web and shell out the $20 needed to get a Dreamcast of your own:
Shenmue
Apart from its terrific graphics, Shenmue was the first game of its kind to boast a free roaming world with a day and night time schedule coupled with a weather system that would produce random types of weather as time passed. Shenmue was also the first game to introduce the Quick-Time Event, which was revolutionary at the time, but was very quickly run into the ground by every other player in the game industry.
If nothing else, Shenmue deserves credit for showing us that a game can include everyday activities like playing crane games and driving a forklift around and still be fun to play!
Sword of the Berserk
When I heard there was a game out stateside based off my favorite series, Berserk, I was overjoyed. I imagine the game must have seemed a bit disjointed to players not familiar with the series. The hefty amount of introductory text doesn't do justice to the curious party of mute girl, annoying fairy, and one-eyed man with giant sword and arm cannon.
The developers did a fine job in capturing the violence and dark tone of the series. Quick-Time Events, too, were implemented without becoming a huge hassle. The only downside was that the game was only a few hours in length. Then again, that's really more of a testament to how much you can get done with a sword that big.
Ikaruga
As a scrolling shooter, Ikaruga was great, but what really puts it on a list like this one is the element of strategy. Instead of using periodically-released powerups to alter the way a player approaches the different scenarios, Ikaruga gives the player the power to switch the polarity of their shield/guns. Having the same polarity as your enemies meant you couldn't be harmed by their bullets, but having the opposite polarity meant you could deal double damage. It can be a tough decision to make, and one where I chose incorrectly more often than not.
What's even more impressive is that the game was developed by a team of just three people! That's pretty damned impressive, especially when you consider how many people it takes to make a game that's a piece of crap.
Soul Calibur
It had been a while since a new fighting game franchise had emerged when Soul Calibur came on the scene. Its predecessor, Soul Edge, wasn't too bad a game in its own right, but Soul Calibur was where the devs really hit their stride. With Soul Calibur, you could finally move around in the 3D environment at will. You finally felt like you were playing a genuine 3D fighting game, and not just a 2D fighting game with 3D sprites.
More importantly, though, the game was far more forgiving with regard to the timing on button presses. That meant a lot more time pulling of special moves, and a lot less time watching your character kick at the empty air while you yell about how that was supposed to be the start of a great combo, and your friend with the more dexterous set of thumbs just laughs at you. I can't be the only one who had that experience, right?
Power Stone
1999 was a great year for fighting games that strayed from the traditional formula of two guys performing special moves and combos until one of them fell over. First, the Nintendo 64 got Super Smash Bros., then the Dreamcast got an arcade port of Power Stone.
The basic mechanics of the two games were similar: you control a character with a couple special moves, and your goal is to use those moves, along with various weapons/objects that fill a given stage, to defeat your opponent. Power Stone's hook, though, was the eponymous stones. You and your opponent each start with one, and getting all three (or four, or five) will turn you into a more powerful version of yourself. Then the hurting starts.
It was a blast to play with friends, and nothing was quite as satisfying as beating the stones out of your friend and absolutely crushing him with gem-fueled special attack. Well, there was one thing: letting your friend get all the stones, dodging his special attack, and then laying a beating on him while he shouts, "Aw, come on!"
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Crazy Taxi
Another arcade port, Crazy Taxi combined the excitement of driving recklessly with the tedium of being a cab driver. The end result was surprisingly fun.
It's hard for me to get excited about a driving game that doesn't let you run over pedestrians, but the simple pick-up-and-drop-off gameplay was quite addictive, especially once you played it long enough to get a feel for the layout of the city. Less exciting was the bold product placement in the form of franchises like KFC and Pizza Hut as passenger destinations. I just can't imagine wanting to get fried chicken so badly that I'd trust my life to someone who drives a cab as bad as I do.
Chu Chu Rocket
Chu Chu Rocket had a sort of Lemmings-like quality to it, in that you were tasked with guiding a group of hapless creatures to safety. Single player, it was pretty fun, but the multiplayer was the biggest draw. It was a race to see who among you and your friends could horde mice into a rocket the fastest by deploying up to three direction |
out our 10 favorite ways bloggers, Lifehacker readers, and other creative types use mother nature to make life better.
Photo by oskay.
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As with another of these 10 hacks, magnetic paint is the key ingredient here, but this time it's a primer layered underneath the wall color of your choice. With your metallic base spread around a wall, you can glue or tape magnets to your posters, LP covers, photographs, or whatever else you want to collage and arrange, the stick it up to the wall magnet-style without worrying about pin holes, adhesive damage, or anything else, really. It's like a crayon wall for adults.
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Emptying all of an aquarium's water out and finding temporary homes for all your fishy friends is a big hassle, but that tank still needs cleaning. Embed a magnet inside a sponge with a thin-bladed knife and a little thumb pushing, and you can use another strong magnet to guide it around your aquatic realm to pick up the grime off the walls without too much disturbance. Depending on your setup, you'll still need to occasionally empty out your tank for water quality purposes, but far less frequently.
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Fair warning on this one: Not everybody likes the idea of putting magnets near their computer, especially when it comes to hard drives. Then again, Apple lets similarly low-powered magnets clasp onto their power cords, and most hard drives aren't going to be affected by little disks just powerful enough to keep a couple of doorstops in place and upright in this doorstop laptop stand. As with all things magnetic, the laptop "feet" stay in place when you move around, but come off when you give them a halfway firm yank.
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Your fridge never lacks for thin, flat, promotional magnets from stores, services, and perhaps crafty friends, but you really don't need all those calendars, recipes, and save the date notices. Use a pair of scissors and some tape to cut them in half, hinge them, and turn them into magnetic bookmarks. Why magnetic? They stay put in your book and won't slide out due to gravity or annoying book browsers.
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This tiny but essential hack, along with a similar, previously posted technique, seems unnecessary until you consider just how many pens you really lose every year to drawers, spaces under appliances, couches, and other household black holes. When the pen sticks to the fridge or any other metal surface, you're more likely to put it back, and it's always there when you need it. Try to pocket it, and you'll hopefully notice its heft and be guilted into returning it to its proper home.
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Most cupboards fail at making your spices handily available because they're horizontal surfaces. The basil is behind the cumin, the cumin's hidden behind the allspice, and it takes an obsessive librarian to keep it all straight all the time. Using a few metal tins, a hot glue gun and some strong magnets, one seemingly defeated cook turned their stove into a spice holder, then later converted part of a kitchen wall for the task. Now the cabinet is for baking supplies only, and the spices, with a good label maker, are easily found.
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Do your alarm clock or computer speakers spazz out a second or two before you get a call, or when your smartphone is checking messages? That's because the cables leading to barely shielded speakers act like big antennas for the GSM traffic to and from your phone. The solution isn't a bigger speaker—it's ferrite beads, those cylinders of metal that make up the little nub on your USB cables. Cut one out of an unused cable or buy a few at a supply store, and tape the bead onto the speaker's cable. Now your speakers don't get your calls before you do. Note: Ferrite beads aren't always magnetic—they're really just hunks of iron that often have magnetic properties.
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How amazing is magnetic paint? Find a space on a wall where you want to pin your stuff, apply a few layers in the shape of your choice, paint over that with whiteboard paint, and use it for both magnets and quick doodles. For the artistically inclined, there's also the incentive to creatively shape it, as with the pictured speech bubble creation.
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MacBooks have a good number of thoughtful hardware features, including a magnetically-attached power cord that's strong enough to stick, but won't drag your laptop down if it's yanked on. If you've got a free afternoon and the will to attach some reliable magnets to your ThinkPad or other laptop, you'll get a nice little non-destructive hack that makes your power cord powerfully adhesive, yet easy to pull away.
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Instead of spending money and counter space on a big brick of wood, plastic, or whatever else, keep your knives elevated and accessible with a magnetic knife block. They sell these things at fancy kitchen stores for a hefty markup, but making your own is a simple affair, and you get to choose the wood color and stain that best suits your kitchen. Obviously, you should keep it at a height that's safe for noggins and kids, but you'll come to love the second-nature convenience of grabbing a chopping tool off the wall.
There are lots of other ways polarized metals can come in handy—weblog Evil Mad Scientist, for example, has 17 more—and we'd love to hear about any you've come across or are using in your own secret lair/office. Drop a link or describe your favorites in the comments.Proponents of renewable energy may come to savor memories of 2006-08, boom years when record investment flowed into green energy projects and wind and solar electric generating capacity grew exponentially. It's doubtful whether the rapid pace of development will be repeated soon, despite the best efforts of Congress to promote green projects via climate and energy legislation.
Why the pessimism? Banks such as Lehman Brothers, that, in the run-up to the financial crisis, financed green projects in return for tax credits, either no longer exist or, if they do, labor on with billions of dollars of losses on their balance sheets. "It's a tax-equity issue," says John P. Gimigliano, head of KPMG's Sustainability Tax Practice in Washington and a former senior tax counsel for the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee.
"Most banks have such massive loss carry forward that they may not pay taxes for 10 to 15 years," he says. "So it could be a long time before they're back into the tax-equity market, and green investment may not roar back."
During the boom years, investors received federal tax credits worth 30% of a green project's cost. Corporate investors that were flush with profits and hungry for a tax break fed a $7 billion annual appetite for tax-equity driven projects. "All of the bigger deals we saw were tax equity," says Gimigliano.
But tax-equity deals have largely vanished. Partly as a result, the American Wind Energy Association projects that there will be a 40% drop in new wind capacity built this year, just 5,000 megawatts.
President Barack Obama and Congress responded to the recession in February with the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which offers upfront cash grants, also worth 30% of project cost, to appeal to investors no longer hungry for a tax break. The grant money will become available in July when the Department of Energy establishes rules for disbursement of the cash.
The promise of such grants, however, may be stimulating the wind business in unexpected ways. "Big wind deals have not been happening much, but anecdotally we've seen smaller projects are going forward that were too small to interest the investment banks," says Gimigliano. "For little guys that can self-finance from their balance sheet or via a line of credit, they get an automatic 30% return on investment."
Congress is looking for a new way to get large wind and solar farms financed. Big projects will be crucial to meeting the renewable energy standard proposed in the House version of the energy bill, which would require that 20% of electricity come from renewable sources by 2021.
In May, Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-Wash., head of the Senate Energy Committee, introduced legislation that would create a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA), in essence a green bank that would provide low-interest direct government loans to developers as well as guarantees on loans made privately.
The guarantee on private loans would likely appeal to private equity and buyout firms. As currently envisioned, CEDA guarantees would allow investors to lever 20% equity at a low interest rate, giving them the power to do big projects.
"The presumption is that there is a bank somewhere that will make the loans," says Gimigliano. If not, there will be direct federal loans, but the amount of direct federal money will be limited.
If all goes well, the program could prompt private equity and leveraged buyout firms to fill some of the void created when the investment bankers stopped funding green projects.
"There is a lot of money still out there waiting to find a good rate of return," says Kevin Book, partner in ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington energy finance firm. "The entire business model of private equity and leveraged buyout firms is about exploiting opportunities for levered return on equity, and CEDA would give them that foothold," says Book.
The big question: Will private equity and similar players on whole fill the void left by the banks and bring about 2007 redux?
"If the rest of the economy is still really soft, and they're able to get a 30% return immediately from the federal government, and they're getting pretty safe financing, you're going to see a pretty significant uptick," says Gimigliano.
"If, on the other hand, you see a rebound in the economy, it's unclear how good the rates of return are going to be on these renewable deals relative to the more traditional investments that they make."
In other words, a bad economy could be a good bet for the future of green energy development in the years to come.Gun violence has plagued San Bernardino long before the Dec. 2 terrorist attack that left 14 dead and 22 wounded, say organizers of a peace march meant to shed light on the issue.
“We’ve been in a state of terrorism for a very, very long time,” said Ipyani Lockert, 35, who on Thursday, Jan. 28, joined more than two dozen residents and faith leaders marching through the streets of San Bernardino.
Inland Congregations United for Change — an organization that includes Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant congregations in the Inland area — held the‘Common Ground for Peace’walk as it works to promote “Operation Ceasefire,” a problem-oriented policing approach that aims to reduce gun violence and youth gang activity.
The program would involve local and county agencies and the community, such as faith leaders and nonprofit organizations, to work with violent offenders and equip them with alternatives to violence.
Lockert, walking along the intersection of Golden and Highland avenues, passed by a street pole memorial adorned with bouquets of flowers.
“More than likely a loss of life. You see those a lot in San Bernardino,” said Lockert, who was born and raised in the city of San Bernardino.
Lockert said he was affected by violence when his brother’s best friend was killed.
“It’s a blessing to be 35 years old,” Lockert said.
San Bernardino police has so far reported four homicides this year. In 2015, there were 44 homicides, police said.
“We do have a problem with guns in America and one thing that we kept telling people and even the clergy is that this is not something new to San Bernardino,” said Sergio Luna, a community organizer with Inland Congregations United for Change. “We’ve been talking about gun violence for many years.”
In 2005, the interfaith group prayed for an end to violence after 16-year-old Melanie Miers was killed in a drive-by shooting in San Bernardino.
In 2014, the same interfaith group held another prayer vigil after Melanie’s sister, Michelle Miers, 26, was attacked and slain inside her San Bernardino apartment.
And in 2015, Inland Congregations United for Change held a third vigil after the shooting death of 4-year-old Daniel Muñoz in Highland, a neighboring city of San Bernardino.
Activists along the Thursday walk handed out fliers to residents, informing them of their effort to end gun violence.
“We want you to be alive and free!” the flier read.
Kesha McGee, minister of Life Center Church in San Bernardino, was one of those who participated Thursday and said they plan to hold similar walks throughout the year.
“This walk is important because it shows unity …. it let’s people know that we’re serious about taking back our community and our streets,” McGee said.
Added McGee: “After Dec. 2, I think the conversations of violence have reached a bigger scale … It’s time for us to wake up.”
Contact the writer: 951-368-9462 or [email protected]: Hitler discovers that there are no Lawbringers in the Open beta.
Reports have come back from our Peacekeepers regarding the land we've lost.
It seems as if the Weebs are pushing through our territory here,
and are mounting an offensive at Tincan Castle.
We've amassed our forces in this location here,
and are preparing a counter-offensive on the Weebs before they can swarm us.
No matter.
Our Lawbringers will even the odds.
My King...
Lawbringers...
Lawbringers were not included in the Open Beta.
It seems as if their glorious halberds would make things too hard for the Neckbeards and Weebs.
If you main Warden, Peacekeeper or Conqueror... get out.
What the fuck?!
How is this possible -- what the fuck?!
The point of an Open Beta it to test the classes and see what's imbalanced!
What sorry excuse does Ubisoft have for us this time?!
Closed Beta, Open Beta!
I main Lawbringer, and I want to play them!
Neckbeards get Raiders, Weebs get Nobushi!
And we're left with Conquerors and Peacekeepers!
Peacekeeper is a legitimate class!
You're an Assassin's Creed RIPOFF!
They require real skill! Totally balanced!
That's like saying the Raider's throw is balanced.
It's not! It's broken!
The game is called "For Honor,"
not "For Waifus" or "For Savagery."
Knights are supposed to win, but Ubisoft has it out against tthem!
Wardens are fine, but anyone who plays Peacekeeper or Conqueror's a piece of shit!
And don't even get me started on how the Neckbeard savages won the closed beta.
We cannot win without our Lawbringers, don't you see!
Ubisoft wants this game to be fair and balanced, but won't give us our best class!
I used the halberd in Dark Souls.
Wore full Elite Knight armor.
I praised the sun, for God's sake.
Fuck Peacekeepers.
Fuck Conquerers, and fuck Wardens. Fuck the Neckbeards, and fuck the Weebs.
They'll keep taking our territories from us, and we'll lose the Open Beta.
Just like we lost the Closed Beta to those savages.
All because Ubisoft can't give us Lawbringers.
Other classes are worthless and bring shame to the Tincans!
It's OK. Peacekeeper is a legitimate class.
We did bad in the Closed Beta.
I see that now. There's no denying that, not anymore.
But I thought...
Lawbringers would save us.
Come release day, our Lawbringers will be there. And we'll be sure to make every land the Holy Land.
Weeaboos and Neckbeards will not stop us.
Prepare to lose the Open Beta.Why should we buy a beach? Campaign organiser Duane Major explains.
Abel Tasman beach campaigners say they empathise with local iwi who are claiming the property should be returned to Maori.
Wakatū Incorporation chairman Paul Morgan claims the private beach was taken "dubiously" by the Crown and it should be returned to local iwi.
Beach campaigner Duane Major said he understood this was not an easy issue for local Maori and there had not been a lot of time for them to process what was happening.
ANDRIS APSE/SUPPLIED Congratulations, New Zealand: This beach is ours.
The whirlwind nature of the campaign had limited the number of options for the beach's new ownership, Major said.
READ MORE:
* Tenders to buy Awaroa Inlet beach close
* A short history of New Zealand's mission to buy a beach
* Time running out on Abel Tasman beach campaign
* Campaigners not paying much mind to Morgan's latest claims
However, the team running the bid to buy the beach for the public had been in consultation with iwi throughout the process.
SUPPLIED Buy the beach campaigners Adam Gard'ner and Duan Major signed, sealed and delivered New Zealand's tender for the beach on Tuesday.
All conversations with iwi had been "heartfelt" and respectful, he said, adding that stories about the land he had heard from iwi resonated with him and fellow campaigner Adam Gard'ner.
"The shared commitment to that overarching vision is strong...
"I don't think there are any heroes here or villains, we've just got a country talking to each other about what matters," he said.
Paul Kennedy/photonewzealand Wakatū Incorporation chairman Paul Morgan says the land includes Maori burial grounds.
The crowdfunding campaign to buy the seven hectare property, including 800 metres of pristine shoreline, at the Awaroa Inlet raised more than $2 million from almost 40,000 donors.
Tenders for the property closed at 4pm on Tuesday.
Campaigners said they were feeling good about the offer they had made on behalf of New Zealand.
However, the bid to buy the beach for everyone to enjoy hit another bump in the road when Wakatū Incorporation's Morgan stated a claim to the land on behalf of his iwi after the campaign closed.
The area surrounding and including what is now Abel Tasman National Park was settled by Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Tama and Te Ati Awa.
Morgan said the land, which included burial grounds, was taken dubiously by the Crown.
The Wakatū Incorporation was waiting on a Supreme Court decision on surrounding Maori property rights in the area.
In the meantime, Morgan said he wanted people to understand the significance the land had to mana whenua.
His ideal situation was for the land to be returned to Maori, who would keep it open for everyone to enjoy.
"It's got nothing to do with excluding people.
"It's about the recognition of the history and what's transpired there."
Morgan said he purposefully waited until the last minute to raise the issue in the hope of getting the public's attention and bringing the issue to the forefront.
Meanwhile, Manawhenua ki Mohua Trust chairman Barney Thomas said he had been in communication with campaigners on a daily basis and was supportive of the campaign.
"The first step in the right direction is to get this campaign across the line."
Thomas agreed it was important to highlight the site's historical significance to Maori, which would hopefully come about if the campaign's bid was successful.
The campaign's submission also included ways to involve local Maori youth in the management of the land.
In response to Morgan's claims, Thomas said transferring ownership to local iwi was "easier said than done".
Ngati Tama Ki Te Waipounamu Trust chairwoman Leanne Manson said her iwi supported the position for the Awaroa Inlet to be preserved for New Zealanders despite choosing not to help fund the campaign.
Ngati Tama trustee Fred Te Miha said he believed the land should be returned to Maori.
However, that was his personal opinion, not the position of the iwi.
Wellington lawyer Geoff Harley, law firm Bell Gully and Harcourts chief executive Chris Kennedy, who were offering their services on a pro bono basis, were in charge of the campaign's tender submission and ongoing negotiations.
Major said he understood it could take up to five working days for the new owner to be confirmed due to the tender negotiation process.Share. An Internet security expert uncovers "a potential bonanza for hackers." An Internet security expert uncovers "a potential bonanza for hackers."
If a report from news organization Reuters is any indication, Sony's overall Internet security is lacking far beyond the confines of the PlayStation Network, Qriocity music service and Sony Online Entertainment servers.
Reuters has concluded that "Sony Corp's computer networks remain vulnerable to attack three weeks after the company learned that it had been victim of one of the biggest data breaches in history, according to an Internet security expert." That security expert is John Bumgarner, chief technology officer of the partially government-funded U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit. And the flaws Bumgarner found in Sony's Internet security -- and how he found them -- are startling.
Exit Theatre Mode
As stated by Reuters, Bumgarner "had viewed only parts of Sony's network that were visible over the Internet, and did not attempt to break in to password-protected sites or exploit any vulnerabilities." Rather, all Bumgarner did is use Google to find a series of servers, files and other sensitive areas where data might be stored, things that shouldn't be available to the average Internet user. He calls it "Google hacking," and he was able to find a series of weaknesses, many of which Sony has since fixed (due to Reuters informing Sony of the possible security issues). Reuters referred to his findings as "a potential bonanza for hackers… using little more than a web browser."
Bumgarner concluded to Reuters that "no one should be able to point a web browser at Sony and see a security management console or find their identity management system that has been indexed by Google." Yet, that's exactly what Bumgarner was able to do. Another Internet security expert, Mikko Hypponen of the computer security company F-Secure, went even further when speaking with Reuters about Sony's lack of Internet security and what the company is attempting to do to fix it. "[Sony has] been running around in circles for the past three weeks," he told the news agency.
Sony responded to Reuters via e-mail, telling the news agency that "the first and most important thing to note is that protecting our customers data is a company-wide commitment that we take very seriously." But with the PlayStation Network now down for 24 days and counting, gamers are anxious to know when they'll be able to get back online with their PlayStation 3s and PSPs. The latest official word from Sony was that the PlayStation Network would be back in as little as "a few more days" as of May 10th, but there's been nothing beyond that.
How the PSN Got Here
In the meantime, definitely check out the Reuters article chronicling Sony's Internet security problems. It makes for a fascinating read.The closed beta phase of DOOM is under way and PC gamers have managed to somehow access the game’s locked Advanced Graphics settings. And we are happy to report that id Software has included one hell of options to tweak, including a colorblind option. PC gamers will be also able to set their max FPS up to 144fps, and there are options for both Chromatic Aberration and Sharpening.
Going into more details, PC gamers will be able to adjust the following settings:
Graphics API
Max Frames Per-Second
Lights Quality
Shading Quality
Shadows Quality
Post Process Quality
Particles Quality
Effects Quality
Directional Occlusion Quality
Reflections Quality
Texture Filtering
Motion Blur Amount
Sharpening Amount
Chromatic Aberration Amount
Lens Flare
Virtual Texturing Page Size
Virtual Texturing Cache Size
Virtual Texturing Compression
Virtual Texturing Max PFF
COLORBLIND MODE
RENDERING MODE
DOOM releases on May 13th!In 1859, the esteemed magazine Scientific American issued a warning about young people's "pernicious excitement" over a trendy game: chess. The shuffling of pawns and rooks was "a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements," the magazine complained. Worse yet, the game offered "no benefit whatever to the body."
Bad for You: Exposing the War on Fun (Henry Holt), a nonfiction comic book by Kevin C. Pyle and Scott Cunningham, shows that virtually every popular amusement was considered dangerous before it was widely understood and accepted. Chess was going to distract kids. Comic books would turn kids against their parents and cause "reading disorders." TV was going to "hurt radio, conversation, reading and the patterns of family life." Video games would make kids more violent. The Internet would "scatter" the users' "attention." Parents do not, by and large, want to deny their children fun, but as this comic illustrates, it's easy to fear what's new and to wind up working against your kids' best interests.
And when adults aren't afraid of what's new, they're getting nervous about something that's old. Like chess. Or playgrounds.
The original intent of public play spaces, Pyle and Cunningham explain, was to give kids a safe place to have fun instead of busy streets or dirty alleyways. No less than President Theodore Roosevelt is quoted as declaring that "playgrounds should be provided for every child as much as schools." And for a while, kids got some terrific playgrounds, especially those designed by artists and child psychologists to "stimulate imaginative play."
Sadly, that's not how playgrounds are made anymore. Now overprotective regulations and the fear of litigation drive design. Swings are removed, and "improvements" like heat-retaining rubber mats are added. The most common designs have been likened by Susan G. Solomon, author of American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space, to waiting in line for fast food; children's options are limited to one-directional movement. As Solomon has explained, kids mostly "wait, go up, go across, go down, start all over again."
At many schools, managing what type of fun kids have has become a priority. The schools want to mitigate the risk of fighting and bullying-an extreme result of physical play-so instead of monitoring children's free play, they institute "teacher-supervised physical activities" or bring in a paid recess supervisors. Playworks, the biggest name in the recess business, sends "coaches" to implement "structured play," which turns out to mean old-style kids' games like mother-may-I. The authors of Bad for You are right that a professional recess coach is better than no recess at all (which also happens), but why should it be a choice between worse and worst?
Meanwhile, the market for books like Free to Learn (Basic) and Playborhood (Free Play Press) grows, as even well-intentioned parents feel the need for validation of their impulse to let kids be kids. Once a mom might just open the door and tell her offspring to go play; now, there's a good chance she's been too traumatized by exaggerated media reports of abductions and other dangers. Kids are about half as likely to get abducted off the street as they are to get hit by lightning, and as the authors shrewdly ask: "How many people do you know who have been hit by lightning?"
Bad for You isn't a complete antidote to parental insecurity, but it does have a valuable lesson to convey: We don't have to fall for every mass hysteria about the evils of texting, Marilyn Manson, Mortal Kombat, or Dungeons and Dragons.Last week, we delved into the sordid history of one of the most celebrated painters in art history, Caravaggio. We left off with his flight from Rome, as he sought a papal pardon to avoid standing trial for the murder of rival Ranuccio Tomassoni.
When Caravaggio fled Rome rather than face trial for the murder of rival Ranuccio Tomassoni, he first set off for the Colonna family estates outside of the city. He continued on to Naples, where he scored major lucrative commissions thanks to interventions by the Colonna family. While on the run, Caravaggio was still the most popular avant-garde painter of the time, and his work was welcomed wherever he went. He might have remained in Naples, but a friend, Fabrizio Sforza Colonna, was about to set off for Malta. Colonna was the general of the galleys of the Knights of Malta, a medieval Crusader order (the Hospitallers) populated with members of Europe’s finest families, and enjoyed huge influence, particularly at the Vatican. Caravaggio saw membership in the order as his best chance for a pardon, so he joined Colonna and sailed for Malta. There, he was immediately welcomed by Alof de Wignacourt, the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, who was delighted that so famous an artist should rock up on the shores of his rocky island.
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While another knight, Malaspina, commissioned religious works — Caravaggio’s "Saint Jerome" and "Beheading of John the Baptist" — Wignacourt had his portrait painted, as did some other illustrious knights. Things were looking good for Caravaggio. Until, Caravaggio being Caravaggio, he got into trouble. The exact nature of the trouble is not clear, but it seems that it involved him getting into a fight with another knight — an aristocrat to boot — in which he broke down a door and beat up his opponent. Having arrived in 1607, by mid-1608 he was cast out of the order, referred to as a “putrid and fetid member,” and thrown in prison. Alas, history does not record just how, but he managed to escape from the prison and make his way to Sicily.
In Sicily, Caravaggio’s art changes, and it has to do with the fact that he was constantly on the move, fearing for his life. He finished his paintings more quickly, with thin enough layers of oil paint that you can see the weft of the canvas through the pigment, as he didn’t have the luxury of waiting around for oils to dry. While taken in by former roommate Mario Minniti, he moved around the island until he learned of a new opportunity for a papal pardon. A new pope was on the scene, and in particular the pope’s nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, was a great art lover and a great admirer of Caravaggio. Armed with several paintings intended as gifts for Borghese, in hopes that the cardinal would intervene on his behalf and arrange a pardon, Caravaggio set off for mainland Italy.
When he landed at Naples, however, someone was waiting for him. He was attacked and disfigured so badly that his face was beyond recognition. It is not clear whether the attackers were stalking him for revenge against the death of Tomassoni, or in revenge for the assault and flight from Malta. Caravaggio had plenty of enemies.
But he survived, and was determined to move on. He made his way back toward Rome, at this point with no more possessions than what he carried with him, including the paintings he hoped to swap for his pardon. Somewhere on his way through the marshes south of Port’Ercole, he grew ill and died in 1610, before reaching Rome where, in all probability, a pardon did indeed await him. What killed him remains a mystery. The most likely culprit was malaria, contracted from a mosquito during his travels, but others have theorized that his wounds became infected, that he had lead poisoning from his art materials (which might explain some of his erratic, violent behavior), or that one of his many enemies caught up with him and finished him off. Indeed, two of his pre-modern biographies wrote that he was constantly being “followed by his enemies,” without specifying to whom they referred. But Caravaggio was his own worst enemy — pursued by karma, living a criminal’s life on the run, and changing the face of art in the process.NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Citigroup Inc. C, +0.58% is in the market with a $3 billion credit-card loan-backed deal that is eligible for funding under the Federal Reserve's facility to revive the consumer-lending market.
This is the fourth deal that investors can buy using funds from the Fed's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF.
Previous deals are in the auto sector.
On Wednesday, Huntington National Bank, a unit of Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN), offered an $830 million bond deal backed by prime auto loans.
Ford Motor Co.'s (F) Ford Motor Credit Co. issued a $2.954 billion deal backed by auto receivables on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, auto maker Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) said it will sell $1.5 billion of bonds backed by auto receivables.
The U.S. central bank began accepting requests for its highly anticipated $200 billion program on Tuesday.
The facility is aimed at jump-starting the securitization market, which dried up during the financial crisis in the past few months.
The central bank will issue loans to investors so they purchase newly created top-tier bonds backed by auto, credit-card, student and small business loans.
On Wednesday, the Fed said it will expand the program to accept other types of collateral. It has said the facility could be increased to $1 trillion and include residential and mortgage-backed securities.
Interest in the program is strong, according to some market participants, as investors line up to find out if they are eligible and how best to access the non-recourse funds at rates and terms market participants call "attractive."
Thursday marked the deadline for investors interested in participating in round one of the program that will dole out funds once a month. The Fed hands over funds from this round March 25.
The bank has issued several clarifications about who would be eligible for the funds, saying if a borrower posts "eligible collateral there should be every expectation of financing."
-Contact: 201-938-5400Many HLB Finds In California
It’s here, it’s really here. Seven years after Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) arrived in California — or was officially confirmed — there have been numerous finds of Huanglongbing (HLB), a deadly, incurable disease of citrus.
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Actually, HLB itself has been in the state for several years, having been detected in 2012 in a lemon/pummelo tree in a residential neighborhood in Hacienda Heights, a suburb of Los Angeles. The tree was removed, and that was it. There have been no other finds until recently.
In August, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) confirmed five additional HLB positive trees near an initial HLB find site just weeks earlier in the San Gabriel area, bringing the total to nine HLB positive trees on seven properties in the region.
The good news, if there can be any in regard to HLB, is the finds were concentrated. The five new trees were found on three properties — one location with three trees and two locations with one tree each.
CDFA survey and treatment crews will remain vigilant in looking for HLB and treating for the Asian citrus psyllid. Industry members are encouraged to follow best management practices, and encourage others to do the same. To check out these BMPs, including a video with tips for citrus industry field workers, go to CitrusInsider.org/resources/.
Another silver lining is that the new finds are in a residential area, about 10 miles east of downtown LA. So far, at least, there have been no finds in commercial production areas. But there is commercial production not that far to the east of the commercial finds, as well as to both the north and south, albeit a little farther away.
Most experts believe it’s just a matter of time before HLB invades commercial areas unless there is a scientific breakthrough. One is the development of genetically engineered trees — (see “GMOs Might Hold The Key”). The citrus industry’s hope is that they can stave off HLB long enough for such a breakthrough. In the meantime, vigilance is required.
Grower Liaisons Are Critical
The battle to save California citrus from ACP/HLB is a collaborative effort and involves, local, county, state, and federal officials, researchers, scientists, and commercial citrus growers. To help citrus industry members stay up to date on efforts to protect citrus, the Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program has identified key individuals in each region to be the growers’ point of contact. These are industry veterans of the pest control business. For more about the grower liaisons and how to contact these people who can help you with how best to protect your citrus from the ACP and HLB, check out CitrusInsider.org/grower_liaisons/.
We contacted a few of these regional liaisons, as well as the statewide coordinator, Robert Atkins, for comments on the recent series of HLB finds in the San Gabriel Valley.
Robert Atkins: “These new finds of HLB in San Gabriel remind us of the real threat to our state’s citrus, including commercial, residential, conventional, and organic citrus. We must work together to coordinate our treatments over broad areas and within close time frames if we hope to keep the Asian citrus psyllid in check and halt the spread of this disease.”
Enrico Ferro, San Diego County: “The recent HLB finds are a reminder of how important it is to maintain low population levels of the Asian citrus psyllid. What we do as an industry will determine how fast the HLB bacteria spreads from tree to tree and how many trees will need to be removed as a result. The more proactive we are, the lower the risk. By maintaining low psyllid population levels we can reduce the rate of transmission, and the additional work and costs growers will have to endure if HLB takes hold.”
Curtis Pate, Imperial County: “We are optimistic about the citrus industry in the desert growing region. New acres are being planted at modest rates, leaning heavily to lemons. We expect to continue to battle the Asian citrus psyllid into the foreseeable future. I want to emphasize how important it is for all growers to band together and do what they can now to protect our citrus.”
SIDEBAR: GMOs Might Hold The Key
Editor’s Note: The following information was compiled from articles written by the editor of Florida Grower® magazine, Frank Giles.
Many experts believe that the best and perhaps only long-term answer to truly defeating Huanglongbing (HLB) in citrus is developing a tree through the use of genetic modification.
In a landmark step in the fight against the disease, a few months ago the EPA approved the application of a Florida grower, Southern Gardens Citrus (SGC) for an Experimental Use Permit (EUP) for testing genetically modified citrus trees under the Federal In |
was then hand-picked by Porto to replace Octávio Machado on 23 January 2002.[39] At this time, Porto was in fifth place in the Liga (behind Sporting CP, Boavista, União de Leiria and Benfica), had been eliminated from the Taça de Portugal and was in last place in their UEFA Champions League second group stage. Mourinho guided the team to third place that year after a strong 15-game run (including 11 wins) and gave the promise of "making Porto champions next year".
He quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect Porto team: Vítor Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Hélder Postiga. He recalled captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic. The signings from other clubs included Nuno Valente and Derlei from União de Leiria; Paulo Ferreira from Vitória de Setúbal; Pedro Emanuel from Boavista; and Edgaras Jankauskas and Maniche, who both had been out of contract at Benfica.
2002–03 season
During the pre-season, Mourinho put detailed reports of the team training on the club website. The reports were filled with formal vocabulary, as, for instance, he referred to a 20 km jog as an extended aerobic exercise. While they attracted some scorn for the pretentiousness, others praised the innovation and the application of a more scientific approach to the training methods practised in Portugal. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era Porto was his quick wit and the pressuring play, which started at the offensive line, dubbed "pressão alta" ("high pressure"). The physical and combative abilities of the teams' defenders and midfielders allowed Porto to apply pressure from the offensive lines and forced opponents either to concede the ball or try longer, uncertain passes.
In 2003, Mourinho won his first Primeira Liga with a 27–5–2 record, 11 points clear of Benfica, the team he quit two years earlier. The total of 86 points out of the possible maximum of 102 was a Portuguese record, until the 2015–16 season won by Benfica (88 points), since the rule of three points per win was introduced. Mourinho also won the Taça de Portugal, beating former club Leiria in the final, and the UEFA Cup final against Celtic, both in May 2003.
2003–04 season
The following season witnessed further successes: he led Porto to victory in the one-match Portuguese Super Cup, beating Leiria 1–0. They lost, however, the UEFA Super Cup 1–0 to Milan, with Andriy Shevchenko scoring the solitary goal. The team was dominant in the Primeira Liga and finished the season with a perfect home record, an eight-point advantage, and an unbeaten run that only ended against Gil Vicente; they secured the title five weeks before the end of the season. Porto lost the 2004 Taça de Portugal Final to Benfica in May 2004, but two weeks later, Mourinho won a greater prize: the UEFA Champions League, with a 3–0 win over Monaco in Germany. The club had eliminated Manchester United, Lyon and Deportivo de La Coruña and their sole defeat of the competition came against Real Madrid in the group round.
In the first leg between Manchester United and Porto, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confronted Mourinho after Roy Keane received a red card for stamping on Vítor Baía.[40] In the second leg at Old Trafford, Porto were on the verge of an away goals defeat when Costinha scored a goal with only little more than 30 seconds left of the official 90 minutes to win the tie. Mourinho flamboyantly celebrated the goal by leaving his dugout, fists punching the air as he sprinted down the sideline near to his celebrating players – this dramatic celebration is regarded as the moment when Mourinho announced himself to the game.[41] Mourinho's Porto win over Ferguson's United foreshadowed a move to the Premier League managing Chelsea, where the two men would enjoy a competitive but respectful relationship. In 2005, after Chelsea clinched the Premier League title, Ferguson had his players form a guard of honour at Chelsea's next game at Old Trafford,[42] a favour that Mourinho returned in 2007 at Stamford Bridge after Ferguson's squad were confirmed league champions.[43][44]
Liverpool are a team that interests everyone and Chelsea does not interest me so much because it is a new project with lots of money invested in it. I think it is a project which, if the club fail to win everything, then [Roman] Abramovich could retire and take the money out of the club. It's an uncertain project. It is interesting for a coach to have the money to hire quality players but you never know if a project like this will bring success.[45]
Liverpool offered their managerial position to Rafael Benítez and Mourinho instead accepted a large offer from Roman Abramovich and pledged his immediate future to Chelsea.[45]
Chelsea
On 2 June 2004, Mourinho moved to Chelsea on a three-year contract, after a £1.7 million compensation package was agreed with Porto.[46] In a press conference upon joining the English side, Mourinho spoke on Chelsea's credentials, stating, "We have top players and, sorry if I'm arrogant, we have a top manager", before adding,
Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one.[47]
This comment resulted in the media dubbing him "The Special One".[48][49] Mourinho recruited his backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout André Villas-Boas, and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. He retained Steve Clarke, a long-serving former player at Chelsea, who had also performed an assistant managerial-type role under previous managers at the club. In terms of spending, Mourinho carried on where his predecessor Claudio Ranieri left off, as, bankrolled by Roman Abramovich, he spent in excess of £70 million in transfer fees on players such as Tiago (£10 million) from Benfica, Michael Essien (£24.4 million) from Lyon, Didier Drogba (£24 million) from Marseille, Mateja Kežman (£5.4 million) from PSV, and Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho (£19.8 million) and Paulo Ferreira (£13.3 million).
2004–05 season
Under Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season. By early December, they were at the top of the Premier League table and had reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
He secured his first trophy by winning the League Cup against Liverpool 3–2 (AET) in Cardiff. Towards the end of the match, Mourinho was escorted from the touchline after putting his finger to his mouth in the direction of Liverpool fans, as a response to taunts directed towards him whilst Liverpool were leading, before the equalising goal.
Chelsea met Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16, a highly contested match where the Blues lost away in the first leg 2–1 but advanced on aggregate winning at home 4–2. Mourinho missed the chance of back-to-back Champions League successes when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition by a controversial goal in the semi-finals by eventual winners Liverpool.[50]
Under Mourinho, Chelsea secured their first top-flight domestic title in 50 years, setting a string of English football records in the process, including the most points ever achieved in the Premier League (95) and the fewest goals conceded (15).
2005–06 season
Chelsea started the next season well: they defeated Arsenal 2–1 to win the 2005 FA Community Shield, and topped the Premier League from the first weekend of the 2005–06 season. Chelsea beat rivals Manchester United 3–0 to win their second consecutive Premier League title and Mourinho's fourth domestic title in a row. After the presentation of his championship medal, Mourinho threw his medal and blazer into the crowd. He was awarded a second medal within minutes, which he also threw into the crowd.
2006–07 season
The 2006–07 season saw growing media speculation that Mourinho would leave the club at the season's conclusion, due to alleged poor relations with owner Roman Abramovich and a power struggle with sporting director Frank Arnesen and Abramovich advisor Piet de Visser. Mourinho later cleared doubts regarding his future at Stamford Bridge, stating that there would only be two ways for him to leave Chelsea: if Chelsea were not to offer him a new contract in June 2010, and if Chelsea were to sack him.[51]
The signing of Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko in the summer of 2006 for a club record fee would also prove to be a point of contention between Mourinho and Abramovich. Shevchenko, at the time of his signing, was one of the most highly regarded strikers in Europe during his time with Milan, where he won the Champions League, Scudetto and Ballon d'Or awards in his seven years in Milan. Chelsea had attempted to sign Shevchenko in the preceding two years but Milan rebuffed Abramovich's interest in him. Shevchenko's first season at Chelsea was viewed as a major disappointment by the Chelsea fans, as he only scored four league goals and 14 in all competitions.
Mourinho with Chelsea in 2007
Shevchenko's strike partner, Didier Drogba, had the highest scoring season of his career that year and this led Shevchenko to be dropped from the starting line-up towards the end of the season by Mourinho. Notably, in the Champions League semi-final match against Liverpool at Anfield, Shevchenko was not even included on the bench. Abramovich's insistence on Mourinho playing the Ukrainian was widely viewed as a further source of friction between the two men. The other high-profile arrival besides Shevchenko was German captain Michael Ballack, a free agent from Bayern Munich who was signed to strengthen the midfield. The Icelandic striker Eiður Guðjohnsen departed the club for Barcelona.
Despite the unrest, Chelsea won the League Cup again by defeating Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium. The possibility, however, of the quadruple was brought to an end on 1 May 2007 when Liverpool eliminated Chelsea from the Champions League on penalties at Anfield, following a 1–1 aggregate draw. Days later, Chelsea drew 1–1 with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, which secured the Premier League title for Manchester United. This was Mourinho's first season without a league title win in five years. Mourinho led Chelsea to a 1–0 victory against Manchester United in the 2007 FA Cup Final, winning in the first final to be played at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium. This was his first FA Cup win which meant that he had won every domestic trophy available to a Premier League manager.
There was, however, to be further friction between Mourinho and Abramovich when Avram Grant was appointed as director of football, despite objections from Mourinho. Grant's position was further enhanced by being given a seat on the board. In spite of these tensions, the 2007–08 transfer season would see the departure of Dutch winger Arjen Robben to Real Madrid and the arrival of French midfielder Florent Malouda from Lyon.
2007–08 season
In the first match of the 2007–08 season, Chelsea beat Birmingham City 3–2 to set a new record of 64 consecutive home league matches without defeat. Despite surpassing the record set by Liverpool between 1978 and 1981,[52] the start to the 2007–08 Chelsea season was less successful as previous starts. The team lost at Aston Villa and followed this with a goalless draw at home to Blackburn Rovers. Their opening game in the UEFA Champions League saw them only manage a 1–1 home draw against the Norwegian team Rosenborg BK in front of only 24,973 (an almost half-empty stadium) which included an unimpressed owner Roman Abramovich.[53]
Mourinho unexpectedly left Chelsea on 20 September 2007 "by mutual consent", although there had been a series of disagreements with owner Abramovich.[8] The Chelsea board held an emergency meeting and decided it was time to part with their manager. Mourinho left as the most successful manager in Chelsea's history, having won six trophies for the club in three years. He was also undefeated in all home league games. Avram Grant succeeded Mourinho as Chelsea manager but failed to win any trophies in his year in charge and would be sacked at the end of the 2007–08 season. Grant's squad managed to reach the final of the Champions League (something Mourinho failed to achieve in his three years at Chelsea), reach the final of the League Cup and maintained the unbeaten home streak at Stamford Bridge. Grant's Chelsea also finished second in the Premier League.
Inter Milan
On 2 June 2008, Mourinho was appointed the successor of Roberto Mancini at Inter Milan on a three-year contract, and brought along with him much of his backroom staff who had served him at both Chelsea and Porto.[54][55] He chose Giuseppe Baresi, a former Inter player and ex-head coach of their youth academy, as his assistant.[56] He spoke solely in Italian in his first press conference as Inter boss, claiming to have learnt it "in three weeks".[57] Mourinho stated that he only intended to make a few major signings in the summer.[58] By the end of the transfer window, he had brought three new players to the side: Brazilian winger Mancini (€13 million),[59][60] Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari for a reported €14 million[61] and Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma for a cash/player exchange fee of €18.6 million plus young Portuguese midfielder Pelé.[62][63]
2008–09 season
Mourinho in 2008.
In his first season as Inter head coach, Mourinho won the Supercoppa Italiana, beating Roma on penalties,[64] and finished top of Serie A. Inter, however, were eliminated 2–0 on aggregate by Manchester United in the first knock-out round of the Champions League, and he also failed to win the Coppa Italia, being defeated 3–1 on aggregate by Sampdoria in the semi-finals.[65] As UEFA was beginning to push the larger clubs in top leagues to play more homegrown players, Mourinho regularly played 18-year-old Italian forward Mario Balotelli and promoted academy defender Davide Santon to the first team permanently, installing an Italian contingent into a team previously composed of mostly foreign players. Both teenagers played a part in the Scudetto-winning season and played enough games to earn their first senior trophy.
Despite his domestic successes in winning the Scudetto by a ten-point margin, Mourinho's first season in Italy was viewed as disappointing by some Inter fans, as the club failed to improve on the performances of his predecessor Roberto Mancini in the Champions League. Inter put in a series of lacklustre group stage performances that included a shock 1–0 home loss to Panathinaikos and an away draw with Cypriot minnows Anorthosis Famagusta. Inter qualified, however, for the knockout stages of the Champions League but failed to make it to the quarter-finals after being defeated by Manchester United.
Mourinho also caused immediate ripples in Italian football through his controversial relationships with the Italian press and media, as well as his feuds with major Serie A coaches, including Carlo Ancelotti, then of Milan, Luciano Spalletti of Roma and Claudio Ranieri of Juventus. At a press conference in March 2009, he insulted the first two rivals by claiming they would end the season with no honours, and accused the Italian sport journalists of "intellectual prostitution" on their behalf.[66] This rant promptly became very popular in Italy, especially regarding the "zero titles" quote used by Mourinho, and incorrectly pronounced by him as zeru tituli (in correct Italian it would have been zero titoli), which was later extensively referred to by football journalists in Italy. It also became the title's catchphrase used by fans to celebrate Inter's 17th Scudetto later that season.[67][68] The catchphrase was even used by Nike to present the celebration shirts for Inter's Serie A title.[69] After the Coppa Italia final in May, fans of Roma's cross-town rivals Lazio, the new Coppa Italia winners, wore shirts with Io campione, tu zero titoli ("I'm a champion, you have no honours") on it,[70] quoting Mourinho's "zeru tituli" statement.
On 16 May 2009, Inter mathematically won the Serie A title after runners-up Milan lost to Udinese. This loss left the Nerazzurri seven points above their crosstown rivals with only two games remaining. They would eventually finish ten points clear of Milan.[71]
2009–10 season
On 28 July 2009, Mourinho was reported to have shown interest in taking over at Manchester United when Alex Ferguson retired. He was quoted as saying, "I would consider going to Manchester United but United have to consider if they want me to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson. If they do, then of course."[72]
Adriano left Inter in April 2009, and the exit of the Brazilian striker was followed by the Argentine duo Julio Cruz and Hernán Crespo. Legendary Portuguese attacking midfielder and veteran Luís Figo retired. Figo was on the verge of leaving Inter under Mancini due to a lack of playing time but in his final season, Mourinho used him frequently. Mourinho signed Argentine striker Diego Milito, who fell just one goal short of winning the top scorer award with Genoa, as well as Thiago Motta and Wesley Sneijder, to bolster the midfield. Perhaps his most notable signing of the summer of his second season was a swap deal of Zlatan Ibrahimović in exchange for Barcelona's Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o and a reported £35 million. This transfer was the second most expensive in the history of the transfer market, after Cristiano Ronaldo moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid earlier in the summer. Eto'o got off to a promising start with Inter by scoring two goals in the first two matches of the season.
Ricardo Quaresma's signing from Mourinho's old club Porto was viewed as a missing link in the Inter squad, but his play disappointed the club and led him to be loaned off to Chelsea midway through the season, ironically Mourinho's other former club. Mancini also failed to dominate in the midfield and addressing these shortcomings in the transfer market became a priority for Inter. Inter's lack of a creative playmaker, or trequartista, had been blamed for the Champions League failure. In an attempt to deal with this issue, Inter signed Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder from Real Madrid.[73]
Mourinho once again sparked controversy in the summer with his argument with Italy national team coach Marcello Lippi. Lippi predicted that Juventus would win the Scudetto in the 2009–10 season, which Mourinho viewed as disrespectful to Inter. The previous year, Lippi predicted Inter would win the title and Mourinho did not respond to his prediction. Lippi responded by saying that Mourinho was equal to Ciro Ferrara and Leonardo at Juventus and Milan, respectively, only that he was more experienced. After the row with Lippi, he clashed with Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro over Davide Santon's place in the Inter squad. Cannavaro had said that Santon might have to leave Inter to get regular playing time to gain selection for Italy in the upcoming World Cup. Mourinho responded by saying that Cannavaro was acting like a coach.[citation needed]
Inter struggled in their first two matches of the new season. The team lost the Supercoppa to Lazio 2–1 and drew 1–1 with newly promoted Bari at the San Siro. Mourinho's team improved dramatically after that, however, as he built a formidable midfield with Sneijder at the heart of it and the likes of new signing Thiago Motta and veterans Javier Zanetti and Dejan Stanković. Inter went on to score more than 30 goals before the end of November, thrashing derby rivals Milan 4–0, with new signings Diego Milito and Motta both scoring, and hammering Genoa 5–0, the largest margin of victory in the Serie A that season. Mourinho was sent off in the December Derby d'Italia away fixture after he sarcastically applauded the referee for what he felt was a dubious free-kick given to Juventus and Inter went on to lose 2–1, courtesy of a Claudio Marchisio winner in the second half.[74]
Mourinho in 2009
Later during the season, Mourinho maintained a strongly critical position against refereeing in Italy, which reached its peak during the league game on 22 February 2010 against Sampdoria, ended in a 0–0 tie, with two Inter players being sent off in the first half. At the end of the first half, Mourinho made a handcuffs gesture towards a camera which was considered by the Italian Football Federation as violent and critical of the refereeing performance, and caused a three-game ban against the Portuguese coach.[75] Also, his difficult relationship with young striker Mario Balotelli and the team's loss of form that led Inter to achieve only seven points in six games (and three of such games, including a shock 1–3 defeat at the hands of Sicilian minnows Catania, happening during Mourinho's ban) were heavily criticised by the media and pundits. Despite this, Mourinho achieved what was hailed as one of his career highlights after Inter managed to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals by defeating his former team Chelsea in both legs (2–1 win at San Siro, then followed by a 1–0 win at Stamford Bridge).[76]
On 6 April 2010, José Mourinho became the first manager in history to take three different teams to the semi-finals of the Champions League (this record was equalled by Bayern Munich manager Louis van Gaal a day later) after Inter managed to overcome CSKA Moscow 0–1 in Russia in the second leg of their quarter-final tie, which ended 2–0 on aggregate. Wesley Sneijder's goal in the sixth minute proved the difference in a match played in laid-back style. This marked the first time in seven years that Inter managed to make it to the semi-finals of the competition.[77] On 13 April, Inter continued their good season, having managed to qualify for the Coppa Italia final, for the first time under Mourinho, by beating Fiorentina 1–0 away (2–0 on aggregate).[78]
On 28 April 2010, José Mourinho reached the Champions League final for the second time in his career after Inter beat holders Barcelona 3–2 on aggregate, despite losing 1–0 at Camp Nou (which Mourinho called "the most beautiful defeat of my life"). This brought Inter back into a European Cup final 38 years after their last (a defeat by Ajax).[79] Mourinho was involved in a brief scuffle with Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés while attempting to join in the Inter celebrations.[80] Mourinho afterwards stated that "anti-Madridismo" had motivated the Barça fans, suggesting that they were obsessed with reaching the final and winning the tournament in their arch-rival's home ground. Marca proclaimed that Mourinho had passed the test to become the next head coach of Real Madrid, as their fans celebrated the elimination of Barcelona.[81]
On 2 May, after a 2–0 away win at Rome against Lazio, Inter almost secured the Serie A title. On 5 May 2010, the team won the Coppa Italia, defeating Roma 1–0, and on 16 May 2010, Inter beat Siena 1–0 to secure the domestic double, accomplishing the feat of winning all trophies available for a manager in the Serie A.[82][83]
On 22 May 2010, Inter won the 2010 Champions League after beating Bayern Munich 2–0, and in doing so became the first Italian club to complete the treble, with Mourinho personally celebrating the second Champions League title in his managerial career.[84]
The day after having won the Champions League, Mourinho said that he was "sad, as almost for sure it's my last game with Inter". He then added that "if you don't coach Real Madrid then you will always have a gap in your career".[85]
After days of discussions between Real Madrid and Inter, a world record breaking compensation package was successfully agreed on 28 May 2010, and Mourinho was consequently released by Inter.[86][87]
Real Madrid
On 28 May 2010, it was confirmed that Mourinho would take over from Manuel Pellegrini at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.[88] On 31 May 2010, Mourinho was unveiled as the new manager of Real Madrid after signing a four-year contract, and became the 11th manager in the past seven years at the club.[89] Mourinho was appointed sporting manager as well as first-team coach, and he was referred to as a Galáctico (a term more often used for star players instead of coaches).[90][91]
Prior to Mourinho's arrival, Real Madrid had underperformed despite paying record transfer fees for Galácticos such as Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo. Their 2009–10 season was marked by disappointments such as Alcorconazo, a shock 2009–10 Copa del Rey round of 32 knockout by Segunda División B team Alcorcón, and elimination from the Champions League by Lyon in the round of 16, though they finished second in La Liga with a club record 96 points.[91] By the end of the transfer window, after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mourinho had brought four new players to the squad: the Germans Sami Khedira (€13 million) and Mesut Özil (€15 million), Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho (€8 million) and Argentine winger Ángel Di María (€25 million plus €11 million on incentives).
2010–11 season
On 29 August 2010, Real Madrid drew 0–0 at Mallorca in Mourinho's first La Liga game as manager.[92] When asked about all the missed opportunities against Levante in La Liga and Auxerre in the Champions League, Mourinho said, "One day some poor rival is going to pay for the chances we've missed today." The following match at the Bernabéu ended with a 6–1 victory over Deportivo de La Coruña. The following league games confirmed Mourinho's statement, defeating Málaga by 1–4 and Racing de Santander again by 6–1.
On 29 November 2010, Mourinho's Madrid were defeated on his first Clásico encounter against Barcelona. The match, held in Camp Nou, ended 5–0 to the hosts, with Real Madrid director Florentino Pérez regarding it the worst game in the history of Real Madrid.[93] Sporting director Jorge Valdano also criticised Mourinho for his "inability to bring a major correction to the game" and "not leaving his bench for the [majority] of the match".[94] When asked by a media reporter, however, Mourinho refused to call the loss a "humiliation".[95]
On 30 November 2010, Mourinho was fined £33,500 for appearing to instruct Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos to attempt to receive a tactical second yellow card in the 4–0 Champions League win against Ajax.[96] He was also banned for two Champions League matches, the second of which is suspended for three years.[97] On 22 December 2010, Mourinho won a match by the widest margin in his career, winning 8–0 against Levante, also of La Liga, in the first leg of their quarter-final of the Copa del Rey.[98]
On 20 April 2011, Mourinho won his first trophy in Spanish football as Real Madrid defeated arch-rivals Barcelona 1–0 in the Copa del Rey final held at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia, ending Real Madrid's 18-year-long Copa del Rey drought.[99] It was also Real's first trophy since their 2007–08 La Liga title. One week later, the two teams met again in the first leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League, Real Madrid's furthest advance in the tournament since the 2003 semi-finals, as the club was knocked out in the 2004 quarter-finals, and then from 2005 to 2010 the club had suffered six consecutive exits at the round of 16. At the Bernabéu, Real's Pepe was dismissed in the 61st minute and Mourinho was sent to the stands for protesting; afterward, Barça's Lionel Messi scored two late goals to take control of the tie. The second leg at Camp Nou finished 1–1 which eliminated Real from the tournament.[100][101]
2011–12 season
On 7 December 2011, Real Madrid defeated Ajax with a 3–0 scoreline and concluded the Champions League group stage with six victories,[102] becoming the fifth team in Champions League history to accomplish the feat.[103] The victory was the team's 15th consecutive win to equal a club record set 50 years earlier, in 1961.[104]
On 21 April 2012, Real Madrid won 1–2 against Barcelona in El Clásico at Camp Nou, extending their lead in La Liga to seven points with four matches remaining. This was the first victory for Real Madrid in La Liga against their archrivals since 2008 and the first overall at Camp Nou since 2007. Also, in this match Real Madrid broke the record for most goals scored in the championship, with 109.[105][106] Barça manager Pep Guardiola conceded the title to Real Madrid.[107]
Mourinho's side advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the second consecutive year.[108] The first leg away finished with a 2–1 win to Bayern Munich. In the second leg at home, Real Madrid took a 2–0 lead from two Cristiano Ronaldo goals but Bayern's Arjen Robben (a former Real player whom Mourinho previously managed at Chelsea) converted a penalty to level the aggregate score at 3–3, and Madrid was eliminated in the shootout with Ronaldo, Kaká and Ramos all failing to convert their spot kicks.[109] Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes said that Mourinho "came to the dressing room to congratulate my players and coaching staff after the game. It was very noble".[110][111]
On 2 May 2012, Real Madrid won 0–3 against Athletic Bilbao to clinch the Liga title for the first time in four years.[112] On 13 May 2012, Real Madrid defeated Mallorca 4–1 in their last league match of the season, which set records for most games won in a La Liga season (32), most away wins (16), most points obtained in any of the top European leagues (100), improving the most goals scored record they already had set earlier (121) and finishing the season with the highest goal difference (+89).[113][114] Real Madrid topped the league nine points clear of runners-up Barcelona.
2012–13 season
Mourinho with A.C. Milan players prior to a pre-season match with Real Madrid in New York City, August 2012
On 22 May 2012, Mourinho signed a new four-year contract to remain as Real Madrid manager through to 2016.[115] After losing 3–2 in Barcelona in the first leg of the 2012 Supercopa de España, Real Madrid won the return leg in Madrid 2–1. Real Madrid won the competition on the away goals rule after a tie of 4–4 on aggregate. This meant Mourinho had won every domestic title available for a manager in the Spanish top division within two years. He became the only coach who has won the national super cups in four different European countries.[116] This also made Mourinho the first manager in history to win every domestic title, the league championship, cup, super cup and league cup (if available) in four European leagues.
Real Madrid reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third consecutive year under Mourinho's management. The club, however, was defeated 4–1 in the first leg away at Borussia Dortmund. In the second leg at home, Real managed to score two goals in the last ten minutes, but the team could not get the third goal that would have levelled the aggregate score and sent them through on away goals.[117]
In the post-game press conference after the second leg with Dortmund, Mourinho hinted that the 2012–13 season with Real Madrid would be his last, saying, "I am loved by some clubs, especially one. In Spain it is different, some people hate me, many of you in this [press] room."[118] Mourinho's fraught relationships with Sergio Ramos and club captain Iker Casillas (a popular player whom Mourinho sidelined in 2013) caused divisions between fans in the "Mourinhistas" and "Madridistas" (the more traditional Real Madrid fans) camps.[117] His relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo became difficult because, according to Mourinho, the player "maybe thinks that he knows everything and that the coach cannot improve him anymore", so was unwilling to accept constructive criticism.[119] Mourinho was also criticised[120] for controversial incidents, including poking Tito Vilanova (then assistant coach at Barcelona) in the eye during a brawl, continual complaints about refereeing bias, clashes with journalists and Real officials, and frequent hints that Barça received favourable treatment from UEFA.[118]
Following the 2013 Copa del Rey final loss to Atlético Madrid on 17 May, Mourinho called the 2012–13 season "the worst of my career".[121] Three days later, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez announced Mourinho would leave the club at the end of the season by "mutual agreement", a year after signing a contract extension to 2016.[122]
Return to Chelsea
On 3 June 2013, Chelsea appointed Mourinho as manager for the second time, on a four-year contract.[123] Mourinho told Chelsea TV, "In my career I've had two great passions – Inter and Chelsea – and Chelsea is more than important for me." "It was very, very hard to play against Chelsea, and I did it only twice which was not so bad." "Now I promise exactly the same things I promised in 2004 with this difference to add: I'm one of you."[124] On 10 June 2013, Mourinho was officially confirmed as Chelsea manager for the second time at a press conference held at Stamford Bridge.[125]
2013–14 season
Mourinho's first competitive game back in charge of Chelsea ended in a 2–0 home victory against Hull City on 18 August 2013.[126]
On 29 January 2014, following a 0–0 draw at home to West Ham United, Mourinho described the Hammers as playing "19th century football", saying, "This is not the best league in the world, this is football from the 19th century," and, "The only [other] thing I could bring was a Black and Decker to destroy the wall."[127] On 19 April 2014, Mourinho suffered his first ever home league defeat as Chelsea manager in a 2–1 loss to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.[128] He consistently played down Chelsea's title chances throughout the season and referred to it as a transitional season,[129] slowly moulding his squad and most significantly dropping (and eventually selling) Chelsea's player of the year of the two previous seasons, Juan Mata.[130] Chelsea went on to finish third in the 2013–14 Premier League, four points behind champions Manchester City, and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2013–14 Champions League by Atlético Madrid.
2014–15 season
[131] Mourinho with Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard in 2015. Their relationship soured in the following season.
Chelsea started their 2014–15 Premier League campaign with a 3–1 victory against Burnley on 18 August at Turf Moor. This match marked the first competitive action for new signings Diego Costa, Cesc Fàbregas and Thibaut Courtois, the latter who started in goal after a three-year loan spell at Atlético Madrid. Didier Drogba also made his return appearance to the Chelsea squad coming off the bench in the second half.
On 24 January 2015, Chelsea were knocked out of the fourth round of the FA Cup with a surprise 2–4 defeat to League One side Bradford City, ending their hopes of a potential quadruple. Mourinho described the defeat as a "disgrace".[132]
On 1 March 2015, Chelsea defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 in the League Cup final to claim their first trophy of the season, and Mourinho's first trophy since returning to Chelsea.[133] On 11 March 2015, Chelsea were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 after losing to Paris Saint-Germain on away goals.[134]
On 3 May 2015, Chelsea were crowned Premier League champions after beating Crystal Palace with three games to spare.[135] Mourinho was subsequently named as Premier League Manager of the Season, with Chelsea losing just three matches all season.[136]
2015–16 season
On 7 August 2015, Mourinho signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea, keeping him at Stamford Bridge until 2019.[137] On 29 August, Mourinho reached his 100th Premier League home match at Chelsea, which ended in a 2–1 loss to Crystal Palace.[138] Chelsea started the season by picking up just 11 points in their first 12 games in the Premier League. They also went out of the League Cup to Stoke City on penalties on 27 October.[139][140]
On 17 December 2015, after losing 9 of 16 Premier League matches, Chelsea announced that they had parted company with Mourinho "by mutual consent". The club went on to state, "The club wishes to make clear Jose leaves us on good terms and will always remain a much-loved, respected and significant figure at Chelsea."[141]
Manchester United
2016–17 season
On 27 May 2016, Mourinho signed a three-year contract with Manchester United, with an option to stay at the club until at least 2020.[142] On 7 August 2016, Mourinho won his first trophy, the FA Community Shield, beating reigning Premier League champions Leicester City 2–1.[143] Mourinho was victorious in his first Premier League game as United boss, winning 3–1 away to |
back” will challenge (and perhaps replace) the “foolish (to put it mildly) joy ride” as the prevailing narrative of the 2016 adventure.
Instead of backing away and hoping that folks forget their role in the Trump fiasco, his leading backers will re-fight the battle of 2016. Even if they don’t prevail in 2020, they might well seek vengeance by dragging down a mainstream Republican nominee.
A third party conservative candidate in 2016 might also have a devastating effect on Republican congressional candidates this year. These candidates will have to decide whether to back Trump or the third candidate. Whatever their decision, they will alienate a large portion of potential supporters. That’s a big price to exact just to make a gesture of disgust at Donald Trump.
But the larger point is the one David Frum makes: “When people bolt their party, the party changes behind them.” Frum backs up this assertion by discussing the third party candidacies of Theodore Roosevelt, George Wallace, and Ross Perot.
Bill Kristol is a brilliant analyst. But history suggests that it’s naive to view a third-party candidacy as “a one-time, emergency adjustment.”
If conservatives bolt in 2016, they will (in Frum’s words) “leave the instrumentalities of the GOP in the hands of people who were willing to work with Trump, and whose interest post-Trump-defeat will be in adapting his legacy to the future rather than jettisoning it.” If they don’t bolt, they will be well-placed to pick up the pieces in 2020.
This is not to say that anti-Trump conservatives should vote for Donald Trump. The presumption, I think, should be in favor of voting for the Republican nominee. However, the ultimate decision is one that conservatives must make for themselves as a matter of conscience. Some will vote for Trump; some will write in another name; some just won’t vote. (I can’t imagine a true conservative voting for Hillary Clinton.)
My argument is simply that the anti-Trump forces shouldn’t go the third-party route. Our politics may resemble “the end of days,” but the end is not at hand. If Trump’s hostile takeover occurs, our focus must be on reversing it in 2020. A third-party would be counterproductive to that end.This just in.
According to a Lithuanian news site, the 2012 World’s Stongest Man, Zydrunas Savickas announced that he will retire as a pro strongman.
No official statement yet, but I applaud him for leaving his sport on a high note.
I don’t know what the average ages of pro strongmen are, but at 37 years, retiring in good health and with a WSM title seems like a wise decision.
via Marunde Forum
Thanks to Michal for submitting.
Update: Abort, abort! Now articles start to appear saying the opposite.
“I don’t intend to retire from strengths sports. […] I am only interested in my limits. The results of this season have been better than ever. I participated in 14 competitions, won the 13 of them. Therefore, thinking about the end would be stupid, “- he explained.
So there you have it. To say it with a (mis-) quote of Mark Twain:
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Thanks to Titas for setting this straight.
Also if you are in Lithuania hit weekend (6-7. October) go to the Savickas Classic.
Update: Zydrunas explained
“I will lift 230kg log before retiring :-),”I was first diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder when I was 16. I'd been hacking at my arms with razorblades for two years by then. My only real comforts were writing poetry, drawing and drinking cheap white cider - which I managed to get hold of by hanging outside off-licenses and flirting with the men going in. Eccentric and over-sensitive, I was ostracised by much of my peer group at school.
Borderline Personality Disorder mainly affects women. According to Mark Winstanley, CEO of mental health charity Rethink, "around one in 100 people have BPD". It is characterised by fear of abandonment, impulsive behaviour (such as substance abuse, overspending and risky sexual behaviours), mood swings and feelings of emptiness. BPD can play havoc with interpersonal relationships. On the plus side, BPD sufferers are often very creative, intelligent, entertaining, passionate and inquisitive.
My second BPD diagnosis came this year, at the age of 30. My BPD manifests a little differently now. As with many sufferers, my symptoms have eased slowly with age. I no longer cut my arms and I have a good circle of friends. But the mood swings, the periods of depression, the paranoia over personal relationships and the issues with using drink as a crutch rather than an entertainment aid remain. Although I would definitely say I feel better overall now than I did then – which is in part due to understanding my illness better - in many ways I'm just a much higher functioning version of my teenage self. Recovery is certainly still a way off.
In the 14 years between my first and second diagnoses, therapists had continually refused to label me as BPD, asking me "How would putting a name to the condition help you?" I grew to learn that this was probably because BPD is widely considered one of the most complicated mental health conditions to treat. They wanted, it seems, to find any other diagnosis but that. The last therapist I saw was the one who finally re-diagnosed me – but he reduced me to tears with his bleak prognosis and evident discomfort at having to talk to a BPD patient.
Lynne, also 30, is a full-time mum. She had similar difficulties being diagnosed. "I wasn't officially told I had BPD until last year," she reveals. "Having the diagnosis was such a relief – it confirmed for me why from such a young age I have reacted, felt and thought the way I do." The worst parts of BPD for her are "dealing with rejection and simply seeing everything in black and white". However, she says "When I'm happy I feel absolute elation – there's no middle ground for me."
Helen, 24, is a final year medical student who hopes to pursue a career in psychiatry. "As a trainee doctor suffering from BPD, I feel I have a unique perspective on the disorder," she explains. "All too often I've heard doctors describe BPD patients as difficult and manipulative, and I've felt quite sad. I often think, how would you feel if I told you I was one of them? Would you be shocked? There's still so much stigma attached to personality disorders, even among healthcare professionals."
Elly, 32, is an office manager/PA. Like mine, her experiences of therapy have been disappointing. "I went on a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy programme," she recalls. CBT is a form of therapy which attempts to help patients manage problems by changing the ways they think and behave, rather than simply talking through their issues. Sadly, it didn't seem to work for Elly and she found it very uncomfortable. "It was incredibly hard and, bizarrely, I ended up trying to sabotage it all the time: always making my shrink laugh, threatening to leave, coming up with conspiracy theories about us being guinea pigs."
By contrast, Amy - a 30-year-old burlesque performer, writer and musician - has found therapy to be a "godsend". Amy went through Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, which is similar to CBT but focuses on acceptance of who you are at the same time as attempting to change the way you behave. It was specially formulated to deal with patients experiencing intense emotions, so is often used with BPD patients. "The techniques taught have helped me cope with everyday life in ways I could not dream possible 10 years ago," Amy enthuses. "It also took me 10 years of fighting to even be accepted on to a programme, unfortunately!"
Dr Kristi Webb is a therapist and DBT practitioner in America. She produces popular YouTube videos which discuss mental health issues including BPD. "Most DBT practitioners are based in the US, because that's where its creator, Dr Marsha Linehan – a BPD sufferer herself - comes from," she tells Cosmo. "DBT was devised 30 years ago after Dr Linehan observed that traditional talk therapy – e.g. 'Tell me about your relationship with your mother' etc – didn't seem to work on some patients. A lot of BPD is trauma-related, and simply reliving these traumas with a counsellor seemed to make sufferers worse. DBT is behavioural: 'You need skills, we are going to teach you skills'. There are four skills modules: distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation and mindfulness." What makes it different to CBT? "It contains some CBT," explains Dr Webb, "but rather than just saying 'You must do better', as CBT does, it says 'You're doing the best you can right now, but you can do better with some help – and how you're behaving right now is not at all due to histrionics or manipulation on your part, it's simply due to a lack of skills.'"
Why does she think so many therapists are scared of dealing with BPD patients? "The depth of pain in BPD frightens a lot of clinicians," she responds. "The suicidal ideation, self harm and impulsive behaviour seem dramatic and alarming to them. Also, the key to working with BPD patients is incremental change and a lot of them don't have the patience. For my part, I love working with BPD sufferers. I find them incredibly smart and funny – and what therapist wouldn't want to work with folks like that?"
Borderline Personality Disorder sufferers are often unfairly perceived to be wilfully manipulative, attention seeking and self-centred. Rubbing their hands in glee, the media frequently accuses troubled celebs such as Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Winona Ryder of suffering from the condition – without a hint of sympathy. That kind of stigma means that, yes, this is pretty much the hardest article I've ever had to write. It was only the encouragement of BPD-sufferer friends which actually persuaded me to go through with it.
It was time to speak out. So I have.WASHINGTON D.C. — Today the FCC voted to approve Chairman Ajit Pai’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” Order, which returns Internet regulation to the light-touch regulatory regime that, until recently, commanded bipartisan support. In late November, Pai unveiled his proposal to roll back the “extravagant statutory power” over the Internet claimed by his two predecessors. Pai is the first chairman to make orders public before a vote. The public did not see any text of the 2015 Order until 2 weeks after the vote. Pai discussed the order on a recent episode of TechFreedom’s Tech Policy Podcast.
“The FCC isn’t ‘killing net neutrality;’ it’s just returning to the way net neutrality concerns were policed prior to 2015,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “Net neutrality has never really been in jeopardy; now it will be policed by consumer protection and competition authorities just as it was until 2015. The real issue has always been whether the FCC can claim sweeping powers over the Internet in the name of net neutrality. Today’s vote protects the entire Internet, especially the kind of VoIP entrepreneurs who joined TechFreedom in suing to block the legal theories that would have implicated not only broadband providers but any communications service that uses an IP address.”
“The FTC, the DOJ and state attorneys general already have the tools they need to protect Internet users,” continued Szóka. “Even without formal rules on the books, consumers will still be protected. Indeed, these agencies will effectively be doing what the FCC would have done anyway — minus the baggage of the FCC’s sweeping claims of power. The court decision upholding the FCC’s rules this year made clear that those rules were essentially ‘voluntary’: the rules applied only to broadband providers that held themselves out as offering a neutral Internet experience anyway. The FCC couldn’t have done anything more than the FTC can do under its deception authority anyway: enforce promises made to consumers. But the FTC, DOJ, and state AGs have much broader authority: to punish practices that injure consumers or competition. Today’s order reactivates that authority. If anything, net neutrality is on safer ground today than it was yesterday.”
“Nearly a decade ago, net neutrality stalwarts at the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned us that net neutrality could be a ‘Trojan Horse’ for ‘unlimited authority to regulate the Internet,’” concluded Szóka. “The FCC’s claims of power over the Internet since have grown only more extravagant and alarming. In 2010, Chairman Genachowski claimed Section 706 allowed the agency to do almost anything that somehow promoted broadband deployment. In 2015, Chairman Wheeler went even further, imposing Title II common carriage regulation on the Internet — the ‘morass of regulation’ Bill Clinton’s FCC Chairman had warned against in 1999. Wheeler’s contorted reading of the statute effectively erased the line between telephone regulation and IP services. And his promises not to use all the powers of Title II could never bind future chairman. Pai is doing his best to put the genie back in the bottle, but only Congress or the Supreme Court can stop the next FCC Chairman from reclaiming essentially ‘unlimited authority to regulate the Internet.’”
The FCC’s 2015 reclassification has been shown to undermine investment in broadband infrastructure.
* * *
For more information on the issue, take a look at some of our recent work:Dota 2 StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor tickets on sale Wednesday Visit Kiev Cybersport Arena to watch the first minor of spring - StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor!
Dota 2 The list of participants of StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor is completed Final stage of qualifiers for StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor is over and now it's high time to learn names of all participants of upcoming Kiev LAN-finals
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Dota 2 Gambit Esports, Old But Gold and BOOM ID reach StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor An outcome of the second day within closed qualifiers for StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 MinorClean Energy Intro: Top 10 Alternative Solar Uses
February 25th, 2008 by Michelle Bennett
#1: Solar Water Heater
Solar water heaters come in a variety of types and designs which means they’re a versatile and practical option for everyone who enjoys a hot shower. How do they work? Most use the heat of the sun to warm water, which means your hot water tank expends less natural gas or electricity to do the same job. The benefits of this technology: price, investment return, and size. You can upgrade an existing water heater into a solar water heater for $4,000-$6,000. Typically you’ll spend less if you’re building a new home. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “your water heating bills should drop 50%–80%” after installation. That means you’ll regain your investment in savings more quickly than other solar systems. And let’s not forget size – these are smaller systems that won’t clutter your roof. Check out this site for diagrams about regional climate, maintenance fees, and more.
#2: Skylights and Tubular Daylighting Devices (Solatube Daylighting Devices)
Most homes were not built with windows in the ceiling and installing a skylight can be expensive. Instead, consider installing a tubular daylighting device (aka Solatube Daylighting System) – a clever reflective tube that directs sunlight into interior windowless spaces. Solatube Daylighting Devices provide natural light without electricity, are versatile and inexpensive, and they don’t have to take up any more space than a normal light fixture. Accessories like dimmer switches and lightbulb fixtures allow you to control the brightness and use the tube at night. You can DIY for a few hundred dollars or hire a professional. Fiber optic solar lighting uses the same idea, but it’s more complex (and expensive).
#3: Solar Battery Chargers
This is my personal favorite, and the source of much envy: Portable solar panels that charge your cell phone, ipod, or even your laptop. They tend to appear as messenger bags, backpacks or roll-outs and are perfect for outdoor excursions, off-grid applications, or emergencies. Your GPS or cell phone don’t do you much good if their batteries die, and you could take all those pictures on your next vacation with a fully charged camera. This is definitely a luxury item, but we’ve all known the frustration of a dead battery in one or more gadgets.
#4: Solar Lights
These are perhaps the most recognizable and accessible solar products on the market. We’ve all seen the little garden lights poking up out of the ground, their little solar-tops staring back up at us. But these garden lights, in their endless varieties, do not represent the end of solar lighting. There are also portable solar lights and lanterns for camping or emergencies. On a larger scale, some cities have invested in solar street lights or solar trees. If you need to illuminate something but can’t plug it in, solar lights are the perfect solution.
#5: Solar Screens (also known as curtains)
Oh I can just see you rolling your eyes, but let’s face it – as much as we love the sun, sometimes we need a break in the shade. “Passive solar energy” is a fancy way of saying “sunshine warm, shade cool”. Put that principle to work in your home by regulating when and where you let the sun in. If you let the southern sun shine during the winter it will help keep your house warm. (Just remember that sunshine can’t compete with a cold draft from poorly-insulated windows.) Conversely, if you lower the shades during the summer it will lighten your air conditioner’s burden, especially during the hottest part of the day. Putting passive solar energy to your advantage can reduce your energy bills. If you have the opportunity to build, “incorporating passive solar design elements into buildings and homes can reduce heating bills by as much as 50%.”
#6: Solar Oven
If you’ve ever ignited anything with a magnifying glass, you know the heat potential of the sun. Put this idea to work for your next cooking adventure – solar ovens! This technology directs sunlight towards a focal point to raise the temperature and cook whatever finds itself in the way. Designs range from the most basic tin-foil box to complex permanent appliances. These ovens easily reach temperatures high enough to cook meat or boil water and come in many designs. They’re great for outdoor cooking, especially in areas without fuel to burn or where burn-bans are in effect; it’s also safe (no burnt food), making an easy educational activity for kids. Cool factor: in many designs you can watch the food cook before your very eyes!
#7: Solar-Heated Pool or Pond
This one borrows the same principles of the Solar Water Heater, but at a much larger scale and with different equipment. If you’re dead set on owning and heating a swimming pool you’ll save a lot of oil by using a solar pool cover and/or a solar pool heater to regulate the temperature. The pool cover isn’t a floating solar panel. It’s an insulated pool sheet designed to keep in the heat, thus reducing the amount of energy required to maintain water temperature. The solar pool heater acts like a radiator in reverse: water is pumped out into a lattice of tubes where it’s heated by solar panels, then it’s pumped back into the pool. Circulating water through this system keeps it warm, even in cold climates. And just so you know, water has a “large heat capacity, high thermal conductivity“. That means it takes a lot of energy to heat up water and it will transfer that heat into other materials, like the ground. Lots of energy means lots of money, even if you harness free and abundant sunlight.
#8: Solar Decor
There are a plethora of garden and home ornaments that make the most out of solar power. Solar fountains and bird baths are just the beginning. While these may seem a bit frivolous, I think it just goes to show that you don’t have to give up everything you own to go green. You can indulge a little and find gifts for the least eco-inclined people in your life. There are even educational kits that you assemble into trinkets or toys. Who doesn’t want a solar-powered frog?
#9: Solar Signs
This is a practical solar panel application that we tend to overlook, but is already widespread. Use the sun to power signs along the road. Billboards aside, real estate, traffic, and construction signs are hot solar sites. Let’s not forget the urge to stand out from the crowd! This usage of solar power expands our ability to communicate, whether to warn motorists of construction or an accident ahead or to broadcast a product. Whatever your message, lighting a sign with solar makes more than a statement – it expands the application of a powerful modern tool.
#10: Solar Gadgets
Sometimes you just find something so cool or different that you wonder how someone could even imagine it. Solar gadgets are no exception. Here are a few that tickled my wallet or just made me laugh: solar tents for your next camping adventure, solar lighters to impress your friends, solar “personal massage” for someone special, solar tombstones for the dearly departed, and more! How about the “9 most unusual solar gadgets“?
It just goes to show that you don’t have to buy big solar panels for your home to benefit from the energy of the sun. Some techniques, like passive solar energy, don’t require any money at all. Solar means more than silicon wafers or fancy gadgets – it’s any application that puts our nearest star to work. Many of these applications can save you money, and all of them encourage a powerful and practical energy technology.
Images courtesy of:
Solatube – solar tubeIF WE EXCEED THE $15,000 GOAL, THE MONEY WILL BE USED TO MAKE THE PRODUCTION RUN THAT MUCH SMOOTHER... $15,000 IS THE BARE, BARE MINIMUM TO GET THIS STORY ONTO FILM! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
We were featured as"Project of the Day"on indieWIRE. Check it out here.
FROM MY JOURNAL
I was sitting in a restaurant today, watching a slouchy guy—dressed in my old clothes—mumble to himself and gawk at people. He’d grumble if they didn’t look his way. I sat there for an hour watching his every gesture: every time he’d flinch, cough, crumple his newspaper, say a few words to a stranger... A plain-looking girl entered the place. The guy’s face went pale. He sidled up to me and whispered: “Nathan, I’m sorry... I went to school with her. I can’t stay in character.” We laughed about it. Reality sometimes gets in the way, and so our rehearsal (or whatever you want to call it) was over for the day. This is how I make movies – or prepare for them, at least... PROCESSED MEAT, PROCESSED MOVIE Movies should not be made from paper, but from people. What I mean to say is that I don’t trust scripts, even though I went to NYU to learn how to write them. I trust people (or at least the ones I’m working with). So I'm working through the characters with the people I cast. Instead of spending days holed up in my apartment writing, I'm spending months hashing out the characters with the actors, then observing these characters in various situations, and rehearsing with them until the initial ideas I had about the story are just that: initial ideas.
So I'm working through the characters with the people I cast. Instead of spending days holed up in my apartment writing, I'm spending months hashing out the characters with the actors, then observing these characters in various situations, and rehearsing with them until the initial ideas I had about the story are just that: initial ideas. We will continue to develop and rework Soft In The Head until we start shooting, so I can’t divulge much about it except that: some themes and situations are taken from "The Idiot", a 19th Century Russian novel about a criminally kind person
the main character is Maury, a criminally kind person and modern day pilgrim
it takes place in Queens, New York (around where my parents grew up)
it's filled with tense dinner scenes (like the ones you might experience in your own home)
it will be shot on 16mm film (film grain's the only way to capture this world of ours)
it's ruled by the people in it No matter how much I nudge, push, and shove these characters, I'm just their documentarian. It's a documentary of an imagined life. This is my second time making a feature in this fashion, and I wouldn't do it any other way. No matter how much I nudge, push, and shove these characters, I'm just their documentarian. It's a documentary of an imagined life. This is my second time making a feature in this fashion, and I wouldn't do it any other way.
WHAT'S THE USE OF A BUDGET?
We are lucky enough to have a cast and crew so devoted to the project that they are doing it for no pay. We have also managed to strike insane deals on film stock & processing. And yet it will still take money to get Soft In The Head made...
Traditional film fundraising avenues are not possible for a script-less project, and that's why we're using Kickstarter.We are lucky enough to have a cast and crew so devoted to the project that they are doing it for no pay. We have also managed to strike insane deals on film stock & processing. And yet it will still take money to get Soft In The Head made... Here's where your donations will go: liability insurance, vehicle rentals, catering for the cast and crew (2 meals a day / 21 days), 16mm film stock, film processing & transfer, set dressing/construction, costumes, and location fees.
***if you would like to see a detailed budget breakdown, please email producer, Lynn Truong, at [email protected]***
***if you would like to see a detailed budget breakdown, please email producer, Lynn Truong, at [email protected]*** We’ll squeeze every penny we get to make these characters--and their imagined life--a reality. And when this movie's a reality, you’ll get to see what Soft In The Head means and understand why we made it in this fashion. -Nathan Silver -------- Thanks from our entire crew & cast: Lynn Truong, Cody Stokes, Tucker Haworth, Andrea Jenkins, Kia Davis, Ed Ryan, Carl Kranz, Sheila Chavarria, JW McCormack, Patrick Harrison, Rory Kulz, Melanie Scheiner, Julie Marcus, Mark Gotbaum, Moshe Kessler, & Nechamah Tzipporah Kessler -------- Pictures of Our Prizes
Character Portrait of Maury by Kia Davis
Character Portrait of Natalia Béthencourt by Kia Davis
Character Portrait of Hannah Reh by Kia Davis
Character Portrait of Nathan Reh by Kia Davis
Nathan Silver's Decade-old Copy of The Idiot
Toilet Paper Holder by Nathan Silver's Grandfather
For pictures of our other prizes, please go here.
--------
6/3/2011
As you will see below, I'm not the only one who's soft in the head. Please read the open letter my mother, Cindy Silver, wrote today:
Dear Everybody,
I must have been soft in the head when I encouraged my children's artistic bents, but they love film and music, and so do I. All of you know Nathan, and his passion for his craft. He works very hard, and in another era, he would be an artist in residence for the king's court. Instead he has to come to family and friends for help with his next creation. Anything you contribute would be very appreciated---be it $5 or $10 or more. Nathan is very excited about this next movie and so are the actors who are involved in his production. We all are very appreciative of their time and effort. I know first hand, from last summer, how time-consuming and exhausting making a movie is. But it is a very unique process, and Harvey and I are amazingly proud of Nathan. We cannot believe how far he has progressed from his first short film to now. I have watched him devote his life to perfecting the sound, the edits, the acting, the locations, the wardrobes, the props,etc. that go into a film. I am in awe of his dedication, and the wonderful contributions that friends have made to be in his movies, or to come to the wedding scenes, or to provide voiceover work, or to commit to long rehearsals, or to provide adorable children to act, to provide homes and pools, and love and most of all emotional support. Nathan has a very large family, because of all the love and encouragement you send his way. So if you love the arts, please support a starving, but very talented director and filmmaker.
Do not forget to watch the video on the Kickstarter website. It shows the beginnings of Nathan's directorial and acting abilities. It also shows the voice of a very tired mother, who just had a birthday party for twenty boys, that went all day, then led to the movie-making, and would continue through the night, with a sleepover. Need I say what the night was like!!! I will say again that I was soft in the head. All of Nathan's birthday parties were productions. He was getting ready to be a filmmaker from age two, when he dressed as an American Indian, and wore a loin cloth for two years!!! He made videos from a very early age, and now, here we are, with him as a full-fledged filmmaker!!!!!!
Please send his Kickstarter link to any friends or family members who love Nathan or the arts, or both. I want to thank you in advance. I hope you can all attend the opening of the movie when it is completed.
Love,
Cindy SilverPro-Ject Audio Systems has announced The Classic turntable which utilises a simple and elegant “frame” design, which bears a notable resemblance to some of the most famous turntables of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Hifi Pig managed to have a dem of this at the recent High End show in Munich and it looks great in a retro kind of way (see first picture). Speaking of the design, Heinz Lichtenegger has said:
“In my first year as a hi-fi dealer, working out of my mother’s petrol station using her trade license, I sold 50 Thorens 166 MK 2. In a town of 2000 people, I made everybody into a hi-fi believer…
Later I expanded to some Linns, Aristons, Heybrooks etc. Today Pro-Ject is the leading company for hi-fi stereo turntables and sooner or later I simply had to produce what I once loved…”
The Classic’s design is more than just aesthetically pleasing, it also combines proven hi-fi technologies with the simple set-up so often associated with Pro-Ject turntables, so you can get down to enjoying your music as soon as possible.
The two-plinth design utilises Thermo Plastic Elastomers (TPE) to isolate the sub-chassis, rather than the traditional method of a spring-loaded sub-chassis. The layout effectively decouples the motor from the main bearing and the tonearm, reducing unwanted interference between the components.
The idea of reduced resonance transference carries through to the platter configuration. The instantly recognisable dual-platter layout has been chosen instead of the old cast platters. The main platter on The Classic is machined from an aluminium alloy which is lined underneath with TPE damping. The sub-platter/bearing assembly combines a hardened steel rod with a bronze bushing that is lined with Teflon, resulting in a very smooth, low-noise solution. The configuration is similar to that of a Debut turntable, but the tolerances for these components have been improved by a factor of 10 over the Debut Carbon.
The Classic also boasts an entirely new tonearm, exclusively designed for this special anniversary turntable. The conical tube is made from aluminium, wrapped in a layer of carbon fibre. The carbon fibre keeps the tonearm light and stiff, while the aluminium adds improved damping and grounding.
The Classic Tonearm also uses a new bearing assembly with precision-machined, ultra-low friction Zircon bearings. Underneath, a new Japanese-designed ball-bearing allows for easier placement of the tonearm wires and a much freer movement of the tonearm. The new nickel-finished counterweight is also TPE-damped, reducing the amplitude of the tonearm’s resonant-frequency by 50%. Finally, the tonearm also benefits from the usual azimuth and VTA-adjustments associated with all high-end Pro-Ject tonearms.
A variety of counterweights will be available for The Classic, supporting cartridges up to 25g. The Classic Tonearm will also be available for sale separately in the future.
To increase accessibility for The Classic, the turntable has been designed with a new set of feet, which effectively allows the turntable to perform as well as possible in a wide variety of installations, even when it’s not placed on an ideal platform. The feet are both dampened and height-adjustable, ensuring the turntable can be adjusted to sit level on unbalanced or imperfect surfaces.
The Classic is supplied as standard with the Ortofon 2M Silver cartridge, which has been designed exclusively for Pro-Ject Audio Systems. However, the ability of the turntable is such that it’s also capable of working with a wide variety of high-end Moving Coil options. The inclusion of a junction box on the back-panel, also allows for cable improvements as and when you improve your cartridge option.
The Classic turntable is available in Eucalyptus, Rosenut or Walnut (shown) finishes. It is supplied as standard with all necessary set-up tools, a fitted dust cover and Pro-Ject’s specially-developed Connect-IT E turntable cables.
SRP £799.00
The Pro-Ject Classic will be available in the UK from June 2016.
Technical Information
Speed: 33 / 45 RPM (manual speed change)
Drive Principle: Belt drive
Platter: 300mm aluminium (TPE-damped)
Main Bearing: Stainless steel (Bronze bush with Teflon lining)
Wow & Flutter: ± 0.03% (33rpm) / ± 0.05% (45rpm)
Speed Drift: ± 0.10% (33rpm) / ± 0.11% (45rpm)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: -71dB
Tonearm: The Classic Tonearm (9”)
Effective Arm Length: 230mm
Effective Arm Mass: 13.5g
Overhang: 18mm
Included Accessories: Dust Cover, Connect-IT E (RCA) cable Power Supply: 15V / 1,600mA DC
Power Consumption: 5W Max. / <0.5W in standby Dimensions (W x H x D): 460 x 131 x 351mm (lid closed) Weight: 10.2kg (net)Ram Briksha Yadav, the leader of the Swadhin Bharat cult, was on Saturday officially announced to have been dead during the gun battle between sect's members and police on Thursday, in which 24 people – including two police officers – lost their lives.
Yadav, who had been "illegally" living inside the 270-acre camp at Mathura's Jawaharbagh area, with 3,000-odd followers for close to two years, had been claiming to propagate Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's principles to establish an India free from its elected Prime Minister and President and RBI currency.
In a memorandum to the President of India on December 31, 2014, he invoked the principles of French political analyst Montesquieu and Italian renaissance historian Machievelli, where he talked about "the prosperity and development of the nation" through "rule of law" and "positive jurisprudence". "The idea of state and sovereignty cannot be separated, but after independence the same idea has been lost," he wrote.
But behind his cover of "welfare state", that he mentions in the memorandum, Yadav, who was a follower of god man Jai Gurudev, was apparently pursuing an ambition of becoming a god man himself and establishing his own empire. Yadav wanted to be the heir of Jai Gurudev, who died a few years ago, but not before establishing a sprawling ashram off the Delhi-Agra highway. Yadav, however, lost it to a driver of Jai Gurudev, insiders say.
Stung, he set out to fulfill his ambitions under the garb of Netaji's principles and under the patronage of politicians, who have their own interest of reaping benefits through the god man's large supporter base.
At Jawaharbagh, in 2014, when he came marching from Madhya Pradesh with his followers, Yadav had got permission from the district administration for only two days. But he used his clout to extend the stay.
"They ran a parallel administration inside the 270-acre land. They would forcibly stop non-members to venture near the land. They would threaten people living in adjoining localities to vacate their houses or follow the cult's teachings," lawyer Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, the petitioner who filed the PIL in Allahabad high court and got the orders to vacate the prime land said.
Residents said that every Sunday the cult members would set up a market and sell articles like sugar and vegetables and pulses at cheaper price than the market rate. This is to entice them into following the group's agenda.
Officials claimed that members, once inside the camp, were held captive and were not allowed to venture out on their own will. Boundary walls around the camp were filled with slogans declaring only Azad Hind Bharat's currency and not RBI's were permissible within the country.
Further details that emerged from police sources and corroborated by area residents were alarming. "We saw men crawling up the tree to fire at cops and swiftly crawling down to take target from another tree top. They looked trained in gureilla warfare," said a government official living in Jawahar Bagh Colony, adjacent to the illegal camp.
At dusk on Saturday, inside the Rajkiya Bal Gri |
a fraction of the ruling class realised the extent of the crisis, which it called a “crisis of civilisation” (André Malraux). Since then all organisations, all unions and parties, without any exceptions, rallied to the great reform programme in one way or another. The PCF itself includes “real participation” in its governmental programme. The other large union, the CFDT, advocates self-management, which is also supported by ultra-left groups who are in favour of “workers’ councils.” The Trotskyists propose “workers’ control” as a minimum programme for a “workers’ government.”
What lies at the heart of all this concern is an attempt to end the separation between the worker and the product of his work. This is an expression of a “utopian” view of capital, and has nothing to do with communism. The capitalist “utopia” tries to do away with the bad side of exploitation. The communist movement cannot express itself in a formal criticism of capital. It does not aim to change the conditions of work, but the function of work: it wants to replace the production of exchange values with the production of use values. Whereas unions and parties carry on their debates within the context of one and the same programme, the programme of capital, the proletariat has a non-constructive attitude. Apart from its practical political activities, it does not “participate” in the debate organised about its case. It does not try to do theoretical research about its own tasks. This is the time of the great silence of the proletariat. The paradox is that the ruling class tries to express the aspirations of the workers, in its own way.
A fraction of the ruling class understands that the present conditions of appropriation of surplus-value are a hindrance to the total functioning of the economy. Its perspective is to share the cake, hoping that a working class “profiting” from capital and “participating” in it will produce more surplus-value. We are reaching the stage when capital dreams of its own survival, as proved by the 1972 MIT–Club of Rome report on The Limits to Growth. To achieve this survival, it would have to get rid of its own parasitical sectors, i.e. the fractions of capital which no longer produce enough surplus-value.
Whereas in 1936 the workers tried to reach the same level as other sectors of society, nowadays capital itself imposes on the privileged salaried sectors the same general conditions of life as those of the workers. The concept of “participation” (De Gaulle’s phrase for what others call class collaboration) implies equality in the face of exploitation imposed by the needs of value formation. Thus participation is a “socialism” of misery. Capitalism must reduce the enormous cost of the sectors which are necessary to its survival but which do not directly produce value.
In the course of their struggles workers realise that the possibility of improving their material conditions is limited and on the whole already planned by capital. The working class can no longer intervene on the basis of a programme which would really alter its living conditions within capitalism. The great workers’ struggles of the first half of the century, struggles for the eight-hour day, the forty-hour week, paid holidays, industrial unionism, job security, showed that the relationship between the working class and capital allowed the workers a certain range of “capitalist” action. Nowadays capital itself imposes the reforms and generalises the equality of all in the face of wage-labour. Therefore no important section of the working class is willing to fight for intermediate objectives as was the case at the beginning of the century or in the 1930s. But it should also be obvious that as long as the communist perspective is not clear there can be no formation of workers’ organisations on a communist basis. This is not to say that the communist objectives will suddenly become clear to everybody. The fact that the working class is the only class which produces surplus-value is what places it at the centre of the crisis of value, i.e. at the very heart of the crisis of capitalism, and forces it to destroy all other classes as such, and to form the organs of its self-destruction as a part of capital, as a class within capitalism. The communist organisation will only appear in the practical process of destruction of the bourgeois economy, and in the creation of a human community without exchange.
The communist movement has asserted itself continually since the very beginning of capitalism. This is why capital is forced to maintain constant surveillance and continual violence over everything dangerous to its normal functioning. Ever since the secret conspiracy of Babeuf in 1795, the workers’ movement has experienced increasingly violent and longer struggles, which have shown capitalism to be, not the culmination of humanity, but its negation.
Although the May ’68 strike had hardly any immediate positive results, its real strength was that it did not give birth to durable illusions. The May “failure” is the failure of reformism, and the end of reformism breeds a struggle on a totally different level, a struggle against capital itself, not against its effects. In 1968 everyone was thinking of some “other” society. What people said rarely went beyond the notion of general self-management. Apart from the communist struggle which can develop only if the centre, the class which produces surplus-value, leads it, other classes can only act and think within the capitalist sphere, and their expression can only be that of capital—even of capital reforming itself. Yet behind these partial criticisms and alienated expressions we can see the beginning of the crisis of value which is characteristic of the historical period we are now entering.
These ideas do not come from nowhere; they always appear because the symptoms of a real human community exist emotionally in every one of us. Whenever the false community of wage-labour is questioned, there appears a tendency towards a form of social life in which relationships are no longer mediated by the needs of capital.
Since May ’68, the activity of the communist movement has tended to be increasingly concrete.
Whereas in the years after World War II strikes—even important ones—were kept under control and were not followed by constant political and monetary crises, the past few years have seen a renewal of industrial riots and even insurrections in France, Italy, Britain, Belgium, West Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland. In Poland the workers attacked the headquarters of the CP while singing “The Internationale”. The process was the same in nearly every case. A minority starts a movement with its own objectives; soon the movement spreads to other categories of workers in the same firm; people get organised (strike pickets, workers’ committees in the shops, on the assembly lines); the unions manage to be the only ones capable of negotiating with the management; they finally get the workers to resume work, after proposing unitary slogans which no one likes but everyone accepts because of the inability to formulate anything else. The only movement which went beyond the stage of the strike as it now exists was the movement of riots and strikes in Poland in December 1970–January 1971.
What happened in a brutal way in Poland exists only as a tendency in the rest of the industrial world. In Poland there is no mechanism of “countervailing” power capable of keeping social crises in check. The ruling class had to attack the working class directly in order to maintain the process of value formation in normal conditions. The Polish events prove that the crisis of value tends to spread to all industrial areas, and demonstrate the behaviour of the working class as the centre of such a crisis.
The origin of the movement was the need to defend the average selling price of labour power. But the movement found itself immediately on another field: it had to face capitalist society itself. At once the workers were forced to attack the organs of oppression. Party and union officials were assaulted and the party building was stormed. In some towns the railway stations were guarded in case they might be used to bring troops. The movement was strong enough to give itself an organ of negotiation: a workers’ committee for the town. The very fact that Edward Gierek had to go to the shipyards in person must be regarded as a victory of the working class as a whole. A year later Fidel Castro had to go to Chile in person to ask the tin miners to cooperate with the (“socialist”) government. In Poland the workers did not send delegates to the central power to propose their demands: the government had to come to the workers to negotiate… the inevitable surrender of the workers.
Facing the violence of the State, the working class formed its own organs of violence. No leaders had anticipated the organisation of the revolt: it was the product of the nature of the society the revolt tried to destroy. Yet leaders (the workers’ committee for the town) only appeared after the movement had reached the highest point which the situation allowed. The negotiation organ is an expression of nothing more than the realisation by both sides that there is only one solution left. The characteristic of such a negotiation organ is that it implies no delegation of power. It rather represents the outer limit of a movement which cannot go beyond negotiation in the present situation. Reforms, once again, are proposed by capital, whereas the working class expresses itself in practical refusal; it must accept the proposals of the central power so long as its practical activity is not yet strong enough to destroy the basis of that power.
Workers’ struggles tend to directly oppose their own dictatorship to that of capital, to organise on a different basis from that of capital, and thus to pose the question of the transformation of society by acts. When the existing conditions are unfavourable to a general attack, or when this attack fails, the forms of dictatorship disintegrate, capital triumphs again, reorganises the working class according to its logic, diverts the violence from its original aims, and separates the formal aspect of the struggle from its real content. We must get rid of the old opposition between “dictatorship” and “democracy.” To the proletariat, “democracy” does not mean organising itself as a parliament in the bourgeois way; for it, “democracy” is an act of violence by means of which it destroys all the social forces which prevent it from expressing itself and maintain it as a class within capitalism. “Democracy” cannot be anything but a dictatorship. This is visible in every strike: the form of its destruction is precisely “democracy.” As soon as there is a separation between a decision-making organ and an action organ, the movement is no longer in the offensive phase: it is being diverted to the ground of capital. Opposing workers’ “democracy” to the union’s “bureaucracy” means attacking a superficial aspect and hiding the real content of workers’ struggles, which have a totally different basis. Democracy is now the slogan of capital: it proposes the self-management of one’s own negation. All those who accept this programme spread the illusion that society can be changed by a general discussion followed by a vote (formal or informal) which would decide what is to be done. By maintaining the separation between decision and action, capital tries to maintain the existence of classes. If one criticises such a separation only from a formal point of view, without going to its roots, one merely perpetuates the division. It is hard to imagine a revolution which begins when voters raise their hands. Revolution is an act of violence, a process through which social relations are transformed.
We will not try to give a description of the strikes which have taken place since 1968. Though a large number of books and pamphlets have been written about them, we still lack too much information. We would only like to see what they have in common, and in what way they are the sign of a period in which communist prospects will appear more and more concretely.
We do not divide industrial society into different sectors—“developing” and “backward.” It is true that some differences can be observed, but these can no longer hide from us the nature of the strikes, in which one cannot see real differences between “vanguard” and “rearguard” struggles. The process of the strikes is less and less determined by local factors, and more and more by the international conditions of capitalism. Thus the Polish strikes and riots were the product of an international context; the relationship between East and West was at the root of these events where people sang “The Internationale” and not the national anthem. Western and Eastern capital have a common interest in securing the exploitation of their respective workers. And the relatively under-developed “socialist” capitalisms must maintain a strict capitalist efficiency to be able to compete with their more modern Western neighbours.
The communist struggle starts in a given place, but its existence does not depend on purely local factors. It does not act according to the limits of its original birthplace. Local factors become secondary to the objectives of the movement. As soon as a struggle limits itself to local conditions, it is immediately swallowed up by capitalism. The level reached by workers’ struggles is not determined by local factors, but by the global situation of capitalism. As soon as the class which concentrates in itself the revolutionary interests of society rises, it immediately finds, in its situation, and without any mediation, the content and object of its revolutionary activity: to crush its enemies and take the decisions imposed by the needs of the struggle; the consequences of its own actions force it to move further.
We shall not deal with all strikes here. There is still a capitalist society in which the working class is just a class of capitalism, a part of capital, when it is not revolutionary. Party and union machines still manage to control and lead considerable sections of the working class for the sake of capitalist objectives, such as the right to retire at sixty in France. General elections and many strikes are organised by unions for limited demands. However, it is increasingly obvious that in most large strikes the initiative does not come from the unions, and these are the strikes we are talking about here. Industrial society has not been divided into sectors, nor has the working class been divided up into the young, the old, the natives, the immigrants, the foreigners, the skilled, and the unskilled. We do not oppose all sociological descriptions; these can be useful, but they are not our aim here.
We shall try to study how the proletariat breaks away from capitalist society. Such a process has a definite centre. We do not accept the sociological view of the working class because we do not analyse the working class from a static point of view, but in terms of its opposition to value. The rupture from capital abolishes exchange value, i.e. the existence of labour as a commodity. The centre of this movement, and therefore its leadership, must be the part of society which produces value. Otherwise it would mean that exchange value no longer exists, and that we are already beyond the capitalist stage. Actually the profound meaning of the essential movement is partially hidden by the struggles on the periphery, on the outskirts of the production of value. This was the case in May 1968, when students masked the real struggle, which took place elsewhere.
In fact the struggles on the outskirts (the new middle classes) are only a sign of a much deeper crisis which appearances still hide from us. The renewal of the crisis of value implies, for capital, the need to rationalise, and therefore to attack, the backward sectors which are least capable of protecting themselves; this increases unemployment and the number of those who have no reserves. But their intervention must not make one forget the essential role played by production workers in destroying exchange value.
On one hand, the initiative of the strike comes from selforganised workers; on the other, the initiative to end the strike comes from the fraction of the workers organised in unions. These initiatives are contradictory since they express two movements which are opposed to one another. Nothing is more alien to a strike than its end. The end of a strike is a moment of endless talks when the notion of reality is overcome by illusions; many meetings are organised where union officials have a monopoly of speech; general assemblies attract fewer and fewer people and finally vote to resume work. The end of a strike is a time when the working class again falls under the control of capital, is again reduced to atoms, individual components, destroyed as a class capable of opposing capital. The end of a strike means negotiation, the control of the movement, or what is left of it, by “responsible” organisations, the unions. The beginning of a strike means just the opposite: then the action of the working class has nothing to do with formalism. All those who do not support the movement are pushed aside, whether they are executives, foremen, workers, managers, shop stewards, or union officials. Managers are locked up, union buildings attacked by thousands of workers, depending on local conditions. During the strike in Limbourg (Belgium, Winter 1970), the union headquarters were stormed by the workers. Everything acting as a hindrance to the movement tends to be destroyed. There is no place for “democracy”: on the contrary, everything is obvious, and all enemies must be defeated without wasting time on discussions. A considerable amount of energy appears during the offensive phase, and it seems that nothing is able to stop it.
At this stage we cannot avoid stating an obvious fact: the energy at the beginning of the strike seems to disappear totally by the time of the negotiations. What is more important, this energy seems to have no relation to the official reasons given for the strike. If several dozens of men bring about a strike of thousands of workers on the basis of their own demands, they do not succeed just because of some sort of solidarity, but because of an immediate community in practice. We must add the most important point, that the movement does not put forward any particular demand. The question the proletariat will ask in practice is already present in its silence. In its own movements the proletariat does not put forward any particular demand: this is why these movements are the first communist activities in our time.
What is important in the process of breaking away from capitalism is that the working class no longer asks for partial and particular reforms. Thus the working class ceases to be a class, since it does not defend its particular class interests. This process is different according to the conditions. The movement which went the farthest, in Poland, showed that the first step of the process is the disintegration of the capitalist organs of repression within the working class (mainly the unions); the working class must next organise to protect itself against the organs of repression outside the working class (armed forces, police, militia), and start destroying them.
The specific conditions in Poland, where the unions are part of the State apparatus, forced the working class to make no distinction between the unions and the State, since there was none. The fusion between unions and State only made obvious an evolution which does not appear as clearly in other countries, such as France and Italy. In many cases the unions still play the role of a buffer between the workers and the State. But a radical struggle will increasingly attack the unions and the sections of the working class dominated by the unions. The time is gone when workers form unions to defend their qualifications and their right to work.
The conditions of modern society compel the working class not to put forward any particular demand. The only community organised and tolerated by capital is the community of wage-labour: capital tends to forbid everything else. Capital now dominates the totality of the relations men have with one another. It becomes increasingly obvious that every partial struggle which is limited to a particular relation is forced to insert itself into a general struggle against the entire system of relations among people: capital. Otherwise it is integrated or destroyed.
In a strike of the Paris bus and subway workers (RATP) at the end of 1971, the resolute attitude of the subway drivers turned the strike into a movement quite different from the strike of one particular category of workers. The content of the movement does not depend on what people think. The attitude of the drivers transformed their relation to the management of the RATP and the unions, and clearly revealed the true nature of the conflict. The State itself had to intervene to force the drivers back under the pressure of the unions. Whether the drivers believed it or not, the strike was no longer theirs; it had turned into a public trial where the unions were officially recognised as necessary organs of coercion against the workers, organs charged with the task of restoring the normal order of things. It is impossible to understand the importance of the “silence” of the working class unless one first understands the powerful development of capitalism until now. It is nowadays considered normal that the end of strikes should be controlled by unions. This does not imply any weakness on the part of the revolutionary movement. On the contrary, in a situation which does not allow partial demands to be achieved, it is normal that no organ should be created to end the strike. Thus we do not see the creation of workers’ organisations gathering fractions of the working class outside the unions on a programme of specific demands. Sometimes workers’ groups are formed during the struggle, and they oppose their demands to those of the unions, but their chances are destroyed by the situation itself, which does not allow them to exist very long.
If these groups want to maintain their existence, they must act outside the limits of the factory, or they will be destroyed by capital in one way or another. The disappearance of these groups is one of the signs of the radical nature of the movement. If they went on existing as organisations, they would lose their radical character. So they will always disappear and later come to life again in a more radical way. The idea that workers’ groups will finally succeed, after many experiments and failures, in forming a powerful organisation capable of overthrowing capitalism, is similar to the bourgeois idea that a partial critique will gradually turn into a radical one. The activity of the working class does not proceed from experiences and has no other “memory” than the general conditions of capital which compel it to act according to its nature. It does not study its experiences; the failure of a movement is itself an adequate demonstration of its limitations.
The communist organisation will grow out of the practical need to transform capitalism into communism. Communist organisation is the organisation of the change from capitalism into communism. Here lies the fundamental difference between our time and the former period. In the struggles which took place between 1917 and 1920 in Russia and Germany, the objective was to organise a pre-communist society. In Russia the radical sections of the working class tried to win over other sections of workers, and even the poor peasants. The isolation of the radical elements and the general conditions of capitalism made it impossible for them to envisage the practical transformation of the entire society without a programme uniting all the exploited classes. These radical elements were eventually crushed.
The difference between our time and the past comes from the vast development of the productive forces on nearly all continents, and the quantitative and qualitative development of the proletariat. The working class is now much more numerous and uses highly developed means of production. Today the conditions of communism have been developed by capital itself. The task of the proletariat is no longer to support progressive sections of capitalists against reactionary ones. The need for a transitional period between the destruction of capitalist power and the triumph of communism, during which the revolutionary power creates the conditions of communism, has also vanished. Therefore there is no place for a communist organisation as a mediation between the radical and non-radical sections of the working class. The fact that an organisation supporting the communist programme fails to emerge during the period between major struggles is the product of a new class relationship in capitalism.
For instance, in France in 1936, the resistance of capital was so strong that a change of government was necessary before the workers could get what they wanted. Today governments themselves initiate the reforms. Capitalist governments try to create situations where the workers organise themselves to achieve what are in fact necessities of production (participation, self-management). Contemporary economy entails more and more planning. Everything outside the plan is a menace to social harmony. Every activity outside this planning is regarded as non-social and must be destroyed. We should keep this in mind when analysing certain activities of workers during periods when there are no mass struggles like strikes or attempted insurrections. The unions must (a) take advantage of workers’ struggles and control them, and (b) oppose a number of actions such as sabotage and “downtime” (stopping the line), if they want to stay within the limits of the plan (productivity deals, wage agreements, etc.).
Sabotage has been practised in the United States for many years and is now developing in Italy and France. In 1971, during a railway strike in France, the CGT officially denounced sabotage and “irresponsible” elements. Several engines had been put out of order and a few damaged. Later, in the Renault strike in the Spring of 1971, several acts of sabotage had damaged vehicles which were being assembled. Sabotage is becoming extremely widespread. Stopping the line (“downtiming”), which has always existed as a latent phenomenon, is now becoming a common practice. It has been considerably increased by the arrival of young workers to the labour market, and by automation. It is accompanied by a rate of absenteeism which causes serious trouble to some firms.
These events are not new in the history of capitalism. What is new is the context in which they take place. They are indeed the superficial symptoms of a profound social movement, the signs of a process of breaking away from the existing society. At the beginning of the century, sabotage was used as a means of exerting pressure on the bosses to force them to accept the existence of unions. The French revolutionary unionist Pouget studied this in a pamphlet called Sabotage. He quotes the speech of a worker at a workers’ congress in 1895: “The bosses have no right to rely on our charity. If they refuse even to discuss our demands, then we can just put into practice the ‘Go Canny’ tactics, until they decide to listen to us.”
Pouget adds: “Here is a clear definition of ‘Go Canny’ tactics, of ‘sabotage’: BAD PAY, BAD WORK. This line of action, used by our English friends, can be applied in France, as our social position is similar to that of our English brothers.”
Sabotage was used by workers against the boss so that he would admit their existence. It was a way of getting freedom of speech. Sabotage took place in a movement trying to turn the working class into a class which had its place in capitalist society. “Down-timing” was an attempt to improve the conditions of work. Sabotage did not appear as a blunt and direct refusal of society as a whole. “Down-timing” is a fight against the effects of capitalism. Another study will be necessary to examine the limits of such struggles and the conditions in which capital could absorb them. The social importance of these struggles makes it possible to regard them as the basis of “modern reformism.” The word “reformism” can be used to the extent that these actions could in theory be completely absorbed by the capitalist system. Whereas today they are a nuisance to the normal activity of production, tomorrow they might well be linked to production. An “ideal” capitalism could tolerate the self-management of the conditions of production: as long as a normal profit is made by the firm, the organisation of the work can be left to the workers.
Capitalism has already carried out some concrete experiments in this direction, particularly in Italy, in the United States, in Sweden (Volvo): the Taylor system as we know it is being transformed, and the assembly line has already partly disappeared in some factories. In France, one may regard left-wing “liberal” organisations such as the PSU, the CFDT and the left of the Socialist Party as the expression of this capitalist tendency. For the time being, this movement can be defined neither as exclusively reformist nor as anti-capitalist. It should be noted that this ‘“modern reformism” has often been directed against the unions. It is still difficult to describe its consequences on capitalist production. All we can see so far is that these struggles attract groups of workers who feel the need to act outside the traditional boundaries imposed by the unions.
Although the “down-timing movement” can be defined as we have just done, sabotage is different. There are two kinds of sabotage: (a) sabotage which destroys the product of the work or the machine; (b) sabotage which partially damages the product so that it can no longer be consumed. Sabotage as it exists today can in no way be kept in check by the unions, nor can it be absorbed by production. Yet capital can prevent it by improving and transforming its system of supervision. For this reason sabotage cannot become the form of struggle against capital. On the other hand, sabotage is a reflex of the individual: he submits to it, as to a passion. Although the individual must sell his labour power, he goes “mad,” i.e. irrational compared to what is “rational” (selling one’s labour power and working accordingly). This “madness” consists of the refusal to give up the labour power, to be a commodity. The individual hates himself as an alienated creature split into two; he tries, through destruction, through violence, to re-unify his being, which only exists through capital.
Since these acts are outside the boundaries of all economic planning, they are also outside the boundaries of “reason.” Newspapers have repeatedly defined them as “antisocial” and “mad”: the danger appears important enough for society to try to suppress it. Christian ideology admitted the suffering and social inequality of the workers; today capitalist ideology imposes equality in the face of wage-labour, but does not tolerate anything opposed to wage-labour. The need felt by the isolated individual to oppose physically his practical transformation into a being totally subjected to capital, shows that this submission is more and more intolerable. Destructive acts are part of an attempt to destroy the mediation of wage labour as the only form of social community. In the silence of the proletariat, sabotage appears as the first stammer of human speech.
Both activities, “down-timing” and sabotage, require a certain amount of agreement among the people working where these activities take place. This shows that, although no formal or official organisation appears, there exists an underground network of relations with an anti-capitalist basis. Such a network is more or less dense according to the importance of the activity, and it disappears with the end of the anti-capitalist action. It is normal that, apart from the “subversive” practical (and therefore theoretical) action, the groups gathered around these subversive tasks should dissolve. Often the need to maintain an illusion of “social community” results in an activity which is secondarily anticapitalist but primarily illusory. In most cases these groups end up by gathering around some political axis. In France nuclei of workers gather around such organisations as the Trotskyist “Lutte Ouvrière,” a number of CFDT union branches, or Maoist groups. This does not mean that some minorities with Trotskyist, Maoist, or CFDT ideas are gaining ground among the workers, but simply that some workers’ minorities are trying to break their isolation, which is quite normal. In all cases, the dissolution of the anti-capitalist network and activity means the re-organisation of the working class by capital, as a part of capital.
In short, apart from its practical activities, the communist movement does not exist. The dissolution of a social disorder with a communist content is accompanied by the dissolution of the entire system of relations which it organised. Democracy, division of struggles into “economic” and “political” struggles, formation of a vanguard with a socialist “consciousness,” are the illusions of days gone by. These illusions are no longer possible to the extent that a new period is beginning. The dissolution of the organisational forms which are created by the movement, and which disappear when the movement ends, does not reflect the weakness of the movement, but rather its strength. The time of false battles is over. The only conflict that appears real is the one that leads to the destruction of capitalism.
5.1
On the labour market, unions increasingly become monopolies which help buy and sell labour power. When it unified itself, capital unified the conditions of the sale of labour power. In modern conditions of production, the individual owner of labour power is not only forced to sell it to be able to live, but must also associate with other owners in order to be able to sell it. In return for social peace, the unions got the right to control the hiring of labour. In modern society workers are increasingly compelled to join the union if they want to sell their labour power.
At the beginning of this century, unions were the product of gatherings of workers who formed coalitions to defend the average selling price of their commodity. The unions were not at all revolutionary, as was shown by their attitude in World War I, when they supported the war both directly and indirectly. In so far as the workers were fighting for their existence as a class within capitalist society, the unions had no revolutionary function. In Germany, during the revolutionary upheaval of 1919–1920, the union members went to organisations which defended their economic rights in the general context of the struggle against capitalism, such as the Shop Stewards’ Movement in Britain, the French Revolutionary Syndicalist Committees, and the German General Workers’ Association (AAUD). Outside of a revolutionary period, the working class is nothing but a fraction of capital represented by the unions. While other fractions of capital (industrial and financial capital) are forming monopolies, the working class as variable capital also form a monopoly, of which the unions are the trustees.
5.2
The unions developed at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century as organisations defending skilled labour power. This was particularly clear with the rise of the AFL in the United States. Until World War II (or until the birth of the CIO in the 1930s in the U.S.) unions grew by supporting the relatively privileged sections of the working class. This is not to say that they had no influence on the most exploited strata, but this influence was only possible if it was consistent with the interests of the qualified strata. With the development of modern and automated industry, highly skilled workers tend to be replaced by technicians. These technicians also have the function of controlling and supervising masses of unskilled workers. Therefore the unions, while losing important sections of workers whose qualifications fade away, try to recruit this new stratum of technicians.
5.3
The unions represent labour power which has become capital. This forces them to appear as institutions capable of valorising capital. The unions have to associate their own development programme with that of industrial and finance capital if they want to keep “their” labour power under control. The representatives of variable capital, of capital in the form of labour power, sooner or later have to associate with the representatives of fractions of capital who are now in power. Government coalitions consisting of liberal bourgeoisie, technocrats, left-wing political groups, and unions, appear as a necessity in the evolution of capitalism. Capital itself requires strong unions capable of proposing economic measures which can valorise variable capital. The unions are not “traitors” in the sense that they betray the programme of the working class: they are quite consistent with themselves, and with the working class when it accepts its capitalist nature.
5.4
This is how we can understand the relationship between the working class and the unions. When the process of breaking away from capitalist society begins, the unions are immediately seen through and treated in terms of what they are; but as soon as the process ends, the working class cannot help being re-organised by capital, namely by the unions. One may say that there are no “unionist” illusions in the working class. There is only a capitalist, namely “unionist,” organisation of the working class.
5.5
The development of the current relationships between unions and bosses in Italy illustrates what has been said. The evolution of Italian unions should be closely watched. It is normal that in relatively backward areas (from an economic point of view) such as France and Italy (compared to the United States), the effects of the modernisation of the economy are accompanied by the most modern tendencies of capital. What happens in Italy is in many ways a sign of what is maturing in other countries.
The Italian situation helps us understand the French one. In France the CGT and the PCF put up a reactionary resistance in the face of workers’ struggles, whereas in Italy the CGIL and the PCI have been able to re-shape themselves in terms of the new situation. This is one of the reasons for the difference between the French “May” and the Italian “May.” In France, May 1968 happened suddenly and could be easily misunderstood. The Italian situation proceeds more slowly and ultimately reveals its tendencies.
The first phase lasted from 1968 to the winter of 1971. The main element was the birth of workers’ struggles independent of the influence of unions and political organisations. Workers’ action committees were formed as in France, with one essential difference: the French ones were quickly driven out of the factories by the power of the unions, which in practice compelled them to have no illusions about the boundaries of the factory. Insofar as the general situation did not allow them to go any further, they disappeared. In Italy, on the other hand, workers’ committees were at first able to organise themselves inside the factories. Neither the bosses nor the unions could really oppose them. Many committees were formed in the factories, in isolation from each other, and they all began to question the speed of the assembly line and to organise sabotage.
This was in fact an alienated form of critique of wage-labour. Throughout the Italian movement the activity of far-left groups (gauchistes) was particularly noteworthy. Their entire activity consisted of limiting the movement to its formal aspects without ever showing its real content. They bred the illusion that the “autonomy” of workers’ organisations was in itself revolutionary enough to be supported and maintained. They glorified all the formal aspects. But since they are not communists, they were not able to express the idea that behind the struggle against the rhythm of the line and the working conditions lay the struggle against wage-labour.
The workers’ struggle itself met no resistance. This was in fact what disarmed it. It could do nothing but adapt to the conditions of capitalist society. The unions, for their part, altered their structures in order to control the workers’ movement. As Trentin, one of the leaders of the CGIL, said, they decided to organise “a thoroughgoing transformation of the union and a new type of rank-and-file democracy.” They reshaped their factory organisations according to the pattern of the “autonomous” committees which appeared in recent struggles. The ability of the unions to control industrial strife made them appear as the only force capable of making the workers resume work. There were negotiations in some large concerns like Fiat. The result of these negotiations was to give the union the right to interfere in the organisation of work (time and motion, work measurement, etc.). The management of Fiat now deducts the union dues from the workers’ pay, which was already the case in Belgium. At the same time, serious efforts are being made to reach an agreement on a merger between the biggest unions: the Socialist UIL, the Christian-Democrat CISL, and the Italian CP-led GGIL.
The Italian example clearly shows the tendency of unions to become monopolies which discuss the conditions of production of surplus-value with other fractions of capital. Here are quotations from Petrilli, president of the State-owned IRI (State Holding Company), and Trentin:
Trentin: “Job enrichment and the admission of a higher |
and its downs, from its beginning in the early 90s all the way into 2012. We’ve shot 50 hours of footage and conducted over 60 interviews to give context and accuracy to this oral history. This has been a labor of love, as the project began when both filmmakers were 19, in March of 2000.
Philapavage was a wrestling fan growing up, he was particularly captivated by Extreme Championship Wrestling as a teen. Kiernan, never a fan, brought a fresh perspective to the project. Much of the film was shot in 2001, before the film was put on hold the first time in 2002. Several times production of the film was resumed, but it was never completed, due to lack of funding. In January of this year the project was resurrected again with new eyes. 15 additional hours were shot, including three days at Extreme Reunion, a wrestling show in Philadelphia, where ECW alumni came together to reunite in front of roughly 2000 fans.
This film aims to take an honest, critical look at the history, legacy, and impact of ECW on the professional wrestling industry, as well as tell the stories of the men and women who helped build this small mom and pop promotion into a national force. We examine the violence and bloodshed, marketing and fan involvement, as well as the decisions of those in charge, through the company’s triumphs, glory years, controversies, and demise.
Who Is In Our Film: We conducted over 60 different interviews, some with the same subjects twice, over a decade apart. Our approach to telling the story of Extreme Championship Wrestling and giving you proper context has been holistic in nature. We’ve interviewed journalists, wrestlers, referees, ring announcers, security staff, company staff and production, all the way to fans and fan organizers.
The wrestlers range from mainstays like Sandman, Raven, Shane Douglas, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, New Jack, Mikey Whipwreck, The Blue Meanie, Stevie Richards, Nova, Ted Petty, and Johnny Grunge, to wrestlers from later years like Jerry Lynn, Angel and Devito of Da Baldies, Chris Chetti and Danny Doring, and Steve Corino.
We spoke with personalities like Joel Gertner, Sign Guy Dudley (Lou E.), and referee John Finagan. We interviewed the founder of Extreme Championship Wrestling, Tod Gordon, as well as early staff like Larry Winters, Bob Artese, Ed Zohn, Kathy Fitzpatrick, and longtime office workers like Gabe Sapolsky and Damien Farren, as well as later Extreme Championship Wrestling staffers like Dan Kowal. We also sat down with TV production man, Charlie Bruzzese. We sought out involved fans, like ECW Arena front row fan, Tom Misnik (the man who ran the company’s fan conventions), John “Straw Hat Guy” Baily, and supporter/fan organizer, Tony Lewis. We have the head of Atlas Security, Ronnie Lang, as well as one of his trusted lieutenants, Joe Wilchak.
Finally, we have a wide array of context and analysis, as well as diverse opinions, from the journalists who covered Extreme Championship Wresting. Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer, Wade Keller and Bruce Mitchell from the Pro Wrestling Torch, Jason Powell of Prowrestling.Net, as well as wrestling photographer and historian, Bill Apter. Rounding out this list are Mike Johnson and Dave Scherer of PWInsider.com, who have the unique distinction of being early fans who became journalists, and also worked for the companies official website. We also spoke with Michael “Mad Dog” Tearson (a local Philadelphia journalist), Rob Feinstein of RF Video (ECW’s video tape partner), and Frank Talent of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.
Why We Need Money: To make a finished documentary we will need funding to cover the cost of, but not limited to: Editing the 50 hours of footage. There are travel costs and hundreds of little incidentals along the way (equipment, tapes, software, photo animation, artwork and other post-production expenses. We’ll need money to license media of all forms, as well as pay for all ORIGINAL music. We’ll also need to pay for producing/shipping the DVDs and fulfilling all the other great rewards we offer. There are fees taken out by kickstarter/amazon, as well as business expenses/legal, paying taxes, and so on. You get the idea. It’s a big project, we love it, but we need your help.
Why It Is Important We Make This Film: This film seeks to shed light on a group of people that came together with the goal of turning their industry on its head. The sacrifices they made trying to achieve it were often physically brutal, as they were chasing the dream of trying to create something innovative in professional wrestling. They succeeded by playing an often unheralded role in the creation of the cultural phenomenon that was the wrestling boom of the late 90’s, but failed to fully realize their dream of getting to the top of that swell of popular acceptance that they helped create. We want to tell their story.Download a PDF of this Backgrounder
Steven A. Camarota is the Director of Research and Karen Zeigler is a demographer at the Center for Immigration Studies.
President Obama recently announced plans to give legal status and work permits to millions of illegal immigrants. Many members of Congress and the president continue to support efforts to increase the level of immigration, such as Senate bill S.744 that passed that chamber last year. Yet data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on its website (see Table A-7) show that all of the net gain in employment since 2007 has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal), also referred to as the foreign-born.1 Native employment has still not returned to pre-recession levels, while immigrant employment already exceeds pre-recession levels. Furthermore, even with recent job growth, the number of natives not in the labor force (neither working nor looking for work) continues to increase.
Additional findings:
The BLS reports that 23.1 million adult (16-plus) immigrants (legal and illegal) were working in November 2007 and 25.1 million were working in November of this year — a two million increase. For natives, 124.01 million were working in November 2007 compared to 122.56 million in November 2014 — a 1.46 million decrease.
Although all of the employment growth has gone to immigrants, natives accounted for 69 percent of the growth in the 16 and older population from 2007 to 2014.
The number of immigrants working returned to pre-recession levels by the middle of 2012, and has continued to climb. But the number of natives working remains almost 1.5 million below the November 2007 level.
More recently, natives have done somewhat better. However, even with job growth in the last two years (November 2012 to November 2014), 45 percent of employment growth has gone to immigrants, though they comprise only 17 percent of the labor force.
The number of officially unemployed (looking for work in the prior four weeks) adult natives has declined in recent years. But the number of natives not in the labor force (neither working nor looking for work) continues to grow.
The number of adult natives 16-plus not in the labor force actually increased by 693,000 over the last year, November 2013 to November of 2014.
Compared to November 2007, the number of adult natives not in the labor force is 11.1 million larger in November of this year.
In total, there were 79.1 million adult natives and 13.5 million adult immigrants not in the labor force in November 2014. There were an additional 8.6 million immigrant and native adults officially unemployed.
The percentage of adult natives in the labor force (the participation rate) did not improve at all in the last year.
All of the information in BLS Table A-7 indicates there is no labor shortage in the United States, even as many members of Congress and the president continue to support efforts to increase the level of immigration, such as S.744, which passed in the Senate last year. That bill would have roughly doubled the number of immigrants allowed into the country from one million annually to two million. 2
It will take many years of sustained job growth just to absorb the enormous number of people, primarily native-born, who are currently not working and return the country to the labor force participation rate of 2007. If we continue to allow in new immigration at the current pace or choose to increase the immigration level, it will be even more difficult for the native-born to make back the ground they have lost in the labor market.
Methodology. Jobs are always being lost and gained, and people continually change jobs. The net result of this process is what gets reported each month by the BLS. In a series of reports in recent years, the Center for Immigration Studies has examined the disproportionate share of net employment growth going to immigrants.3 We have done so by downloading public-use BLS data and analyzing it ourselves. However, the information for this analysis comes directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (Table A-7).4 Although less detailed than our analysis, the BLS website shows the same phenomenon as our prior research: Relative to their percentage of the population or their share of population growth, a disproportionate share of employment growth has gone to immigrants in both the long- and short-term. Further, the number of natives working or the share working or in the labor force has not come close to returning to pre-recession levels.
The data are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), also referred to as the household survey. The CPS surveys the civilian population and does not include those who are institutionalized, such as those in prisons and nursing homes. Table A-7 reports figures for the native-born and immigrants, referred to as the foreign-born by the BLS. As the table states: "The foreign born are those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth. That is, they were born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam, to parents neither of whom was a U.S. citizen." Those born in the United States, one of its outlying areas, or to an American citizen parent are considered native-born.
To retrieve the total number of civilians 16 and older, the number unemployed, or the number working, check the desired box(s) in Table A-7 and click the retrieve data button at the bottom of the table. BLS defines the unemployed as those who are not working, but report they have looked for a job in the prior four weeks. Those not in the labor force are neither working nor looking for work. The labor force is all those working or looking for work. The labor force participation rate is all those working or looking for work divided by the total civilian population. Prior research by the Center for Immigration Studies has covered the period 2000 to 2014; however BLS Table A-7 only goes back to 2007.5
End Notes
1 The data come from this BLS table. To see the total number of civilians 16 and older, the number unemployed, or the number working, check the desired box(s) in Table A-7 by nativity and then click the retrieve data button at the bottom of the table. We concentrate in this report on comparing November of each year because the most recent data available are for November 2014. However, every month-over-month comparison for 2007 to 2014 shows significant growth in immigrant employment, while also showing a significant decline in native employment.
2 Congressional Budget Office projections indicate that if the Schumer-Rubio bill (S.744) becomes law, the number of new legal immigrants allowed into the country will roughly double to 20 million over the next decade, adding to the 40 million immigrants (legal and illegal) already here. A Congressional Budget Office cost estimate, Table 2, p. 14, reports that by 2023 there will be 10.4 million additional U.S. residents if the bill passes, 1.2 million of whom will be the U.S.-born children of new immigrants who will enter the country if the bill passes. This increase is in addition to the legalization of illegal immigrants already in the country. The primary argument for this dramatic increase is, as Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has argued, that without it the country faces "labor shortages". The National Restaurant Association, National Association of Home Builders, National Association of Manufacturers, Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and numerous other companies and business associations have all argued that immigration should be increased because there are not enough workers in the country — both skilled and unskilled.
3 Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler, "All Employment Growth Since 2000 Went to Immigrants", Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder, June 2014.
4 Bureau of Labor Statistics' website (Table A-7).
5 The CPS began to distinguish immigrants and natives in the survey staring in 1994.MLP and its characters belong to Hasbro. If you translate or repost, please do it outside of DA. 19 Jul 2016 EQD comic post
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Story:(me!) andscript editing - Middy, sketches and lineart -(me again!), colors - Link (comic by me (Pony-Berserker))... Link (art by, story by doubleWbrothers and Pony-Berserker)You are here! Link (art by, story by doubleWbrothers and Pony-Berserker) Link (art by doubleWbrothers and saturdaymorningproj, story by doubleWbrothers)Further links in descriptions of further pages.This is a silly, over-the-top comic series that I started over 10k watchers ago. And it's updated extremely rarely (the previous part was posted over 1 year before this one). It was meant to be a collab effort between several fan-artists but apparently the enthusiasm waned... Nevertheless, some people wanted me to push the story forward and reveal the sentence. This part features my lineart that was colored byand thanks to him you can see this part here. He was also involved (in a major way) in two previous parts (details in description of respective part).Panel 1 features OC's of my Patreon supporters -'s Longhaul and's Southern Comfort. Panel 9 features my OC Tom the Crab. The final panel features's OC Spotlight Glare (blue mare with blonde mane). The other imprisoned ponies are canon characters: Junebug, Tree Hugger, Miss Peachbottom, Carrot Top. All the guard ponies are just random, generic characters with no name or backstories. The prison is a female-only prison.If you think that the sentence Rarity received is too harsh for her crime, then you might be discriminating against giant crabs...Ver Party Suggestion HP Stone Time Like Memo 5.00
Reply ~30000 0 ~5 min 0 By beyingliao : Max skill Hera or stall floors 1-4. Floor 5 take out Jewel of Toyama Bay Velvet Shrimp first. Match all colors and heart orbs to activate Set's leader skill each turn. Floor 9 use Set and clear board; easy OHKO. Floor 10 Hera, Set, Shiva, Odin. Use Echidna as needed. Easy win. 5.00
Reply ~16000 0 ~6 min 0 By CAFC : Stall enough F1-4, 6-8 to get Echidna & Bastet ready. F5 focus on the shrimp - do at least 5 combos per turn. F9 should be able to two shot. F10 pop Echidna and Bastet, dragons if they're ready. Lots of combos should get the egg in three turns. 6.02
Reply ~24000 0 ~7 min 0 By zenith : Verdandi 3x Wood + 1.5 HP fire att, Jotunn + Shinra boost up HP, Chaser+Graviton orb changer. Last boss, kill b4 30% using all skill, in case you failed, you won't die, but you need to match heart orb as many as you can to fuel up your hp for Odin 80% protection before next attack. Good Luck! 6.10
Reply ~1600 0 ~4 min 0 By Ian : My usual weekend dungeon team, works great here. All max lvl, max awoken, lead & friend max skill & near max+. Pound fast & hard until boss, then use yggdrasil & sonia. If not OTK, use earth dragon to clear black orbs & keep pounding. 5.00
Reply ~15000 0 ~6 min 0 By Dakine : S rank possible, but must clear in 11 turns and average a 9.5+ combo which is quite possible due to tricolour skyfall. Just be sure to mass attack fl5 to clear shrimp in two attacks. Probably much easier to manage if (some) subs were low star, but thats no fun. 5.00
Reply ~19500 0 ~5 min 0 By Zola : Super easy with this team. Odin and RDH Liu Bei are replaceable. I used RDH for the 3 TPA and Dragon attribute. Blow through all levels, but make sure you kill the shrimp first on Room 5. Pop Orochi if needed on Room 10. 5.00
Reply ~28000 0 ~15 min 0 By macxxx007 : Team I used to beat dungeons. Only real thing to keep in mind is making sure at least one Ronia and Shiva is charged by time you hit A & K & C. After that would be making sure Velvet Shrimp is dead before it hits you on floor 5. Otherwise, smooth sailing. 6.02
Reply ~14000 0 ~10 min 0 By god of war : Easy run on this dungeon with this build, fully awoken skills do great damage, u could use one Zeal and one Kushinada leaders as well. 5.00
Reply ~8600 0 ~15 min 2 By Drefan : Super easy S-Rank. 12.5x combo every floor easy! Subs 3,4,5 can be any R,G,B creature with decent ATK (1000+). Try to aim for at least 6 or 7 combo on each turn and you can sweep each floor. Stall a bit if you can on F5 and F9 to charge Echidna just in case for boss, but shouldn't be necessary, boss should go down in 2 turns. 6.10
Reply ~28000 0 ~7 min 0 By Peaceman : Pretty safe build. Match wood and heal orbs, use Zeal when low on wood orbs and keep hp full or close to full. Can use Odin if low on heal orbs. Last floor grind hp to <50% and then pop Woodsie and Gonia when Zeus's lead is active for ~21xATK. 6.02
Reply ~13400 0 ~20 min 0 By Rikouku : Almost completely farmable build. Tyrannos+Bastet max level, Siren ~33, others in their 50s. Odin, Echidna, Bastet max awoken, only Siren max skilled, no pluses. Super easy to combo all the way through. Kill shrimp first on floor 5, kill synced, make sure to Echidna before 30% on boss, or use a stone. Use skills, and burn down. 5.40
Reply >12000 0 ~10 min 0 By Brandon : (Room 1-4) Match all 3 colors, creating combos. Can stall for skills but not needed. (Room 5) Take out Amberjack first then go for Velvet Shrimp. (Room 6-8) Same as 1-4 (Room 9) Use Gaia Ball, if up. Otherwise, create Tri-color combos until dead. (Room 10) Match combos until ~30%. On last turn use Kush 1st. Then finish off. GLHF 6.10
Reply ~12000 0 ~10 min 0 By Becker : Be careful on level 5. Focus on Yellow then on Red, but be wary if your HP aren't high enough to take hits from blue. On level 9, work him down then use Lu Bu and Sonia for the KO. On level 10 Baddie and Sonia OHKO. 6.10
Reply >29000 0 ~15 min 2 By andrew : Safe and fairly reliable. Artemis gives a lot of flexibility with subs, just use your best stat pets with wood or light att. (though having heart breakers is best). Just blitz through using skills as needed (kush may be needed for the shrimp or boss). Just carefully plan your combos and finish the boss in 2 or 3 turns. 6.10
Reply ~30000 0 ~3 min 1 By Tapatio : sweep everything. just make sure shrimp on FL 5 is dead before its turn. 5.00
Reply ~20000 0 ~240 min 7 By PIKACHU@PG : Preferably maxed skilled for all. Since there is only 2 colors, it is easy to sky fall. If no king masterings, masterings should be fine too just that it takes much longer. 6.10
Reply ~15800 0 ~9 min 0 By Sandwiches : Lvls 30/63/99/95/79/90 Feel free to replace GSonia with any sonia. Most flrs 1-8 I could just wipe, only needing to get x4, w/regular mass attacks. Flr 9 use ADKZ and preferably get at least x50.0 (10 x 5.0). Flr 10 use Homura, and again try get >= x50.0. Boss can't hit and kill you whilst <70% hp, so you'll have plenty of time. 6.02
Reply ~18000 0 ~8 min 0 By Newtorious : Team cost 192: No need to stall for skills. Just combo and sweep everything but for security for Flr.10, delay a couple turns for Echidna and you're golden. 6.02
Reply >21000 0 ~15 min 0 By Curs3d : I&I can be subbed in by Plesios. The 4 listed subs is the ideal water team, but can be subbed in for other water monsters, too. FL5: focus on Velvet Shrimp first. Other than that, should be pretty straightforward. 5.40
Reply ~5000 0 ~5 min 2 By CrustyD : Really easy dungeon, just match orbs and combo at least 5 on each floor, use kushinadas and midgard as needed, I only needed 1 kush. 6.02
Reply >14216 0 ~15 min 0 By Haigom : Just match orbs well and the 9x attack will make this dungeon a breeze. You can replace any of the subs with water/fire dragons of your choice. On turn 5, remember to focus the Shrimp, since it can one shot you. 5.40
Reply ~13000 0 ~30 min 0 By Hatalei : Pretty safe with double resistance. Double gravity on the boss at the very beginning to change it to light attribute. 6.02
Reply ~12000 1 ~15 min 0 By Xenthia Li : Typical healer build. High combo and stall with a purpose to build up skills. FLR 5 take out Jewel and Amberjack first. FLR9 high combo to kill without using skills. FLR10 use Enchidna and all skills to kill before they hit you. I one stoned as I messed up combo but can done without. All high level and Max awakening. 5.20
Reply ~15000 0 ~15 min 0 By ProRay298 : lvs were 26, 64, 46, 48, max with +174, max lv max skill friend karin can be replaced with any other good balanced sub, just used for high stats higher pet/skill levels help, shouldn't need to use echidna f5 if played well 6.10
Reply ~13050 0 ~10 min 2 By yiyikiki : Kushinada and Echidna as must have, helper can be kushinada, Bastet or Odin. 5th floor, take fish 1st, shrimp 2nd and the squid. 9th floor can Kushinada and Bastet skill. 10th Echidna skill... This dungeon is weekend dungeon difficulty level with great profits. 6.10
Reply ~30000 0 ~5 min 1 By 那個@PGF : Pretty straightforward, stall each stage as long as possible On stage 5, target the shrimp first, then kill the fish to stall on squid as long as needed Stage 10, use Jupiter Genesis/just Orb Change + King Woodsie + Enhance/Delay 5.10
Reply >25000 0 ~30 min 1 By Derby : Required: 2 MS, 2 gravity, 1 poison/def breaker. Use an orb changer to dark if you don't have dual element darks. Charge poison before flr 5. Flr 5: Poison, kill others normally. Flr 9: Poison to make it go faster. Charge all skills before flr 10. Flr 10: Gravity x2, MS, heal, MS = OHKO because gravity makes it switch to light. 5.40
Reply >10000 0 ~5 min 0 By piddlesby : Indescribably easy with this build - it's my weekend dungeon build, actually. No need for Menace, no need for orb change - just OHK all until the boss and you're all g! SUPER. EASY. No stone w this build. Have fun! :D 6.10
Reply ~23000 0 ~10 min 1 By Lairecay : Goemon was for orb change, Apollo for rcv, Yamato Takeru for rcv and orb change. Subs were around lvl 40. Max lvl leaders. Have more than 15000 hp. Charge through whole entire dungeon, skills will naturally charge up. Pop Freyr, Geomon, Ares, Yamato Takeru in that order. Boss should be dead. 5.10
Reply >17000 0 ~30 min 0 By Huy : With water and light resist, It is pretty easy. Can change Hanzo for Vampire. At 5 floor use poison. At 9 floor, double gravity, poison, MS, then stall for the skill. At 10 floor Double gravity then poison should bring HP below 50%. Then Hanzo, and both lucifer skill. 6.02
Reply ~12000 0 ~5 min 0 By Ladon : Fl 1-8: Stall as long as possible for phoenix knight and Echidna cool down. Fl 9: Use 16x with most wood orbs to kill in a shot. Fl 10: Use Echidna but not homura and make 16x with lots of fire orbs. If he survives, use homura before he attacks with 16x to finish 6.02
Reply ~10000 0 ~4 min 0 By Nahshi : Stall for echidna on non boss rounds. F5: Kill the two without high defense and then normal kill the one with high defense F9: Kill it as fast as possible, save echidna for boss unless absolutely necessary to use F10: Use echidna, kill it as fast as possible 6.02
Reply ~14000 0 ~5 min 1 By Cheetahs : Stall when possible or leave 1 mob per wave to stall(preferably Fuku or Squid). Wave 5 should be able to OHKO, otherwise focus on Shrimp & Amberjack Wave 9 use Kush if needed. Wave 10 use Ech, Sieg, then Homura for line combo to burst down Amitaka. Bheras for Stats, can alternate with other strong Water. 6.10
Reply ~63000 0 ~10 min 0 By Pichu : F1-F9: Just plow through all the monsters trying to get 5 row water orbs. F10: Just make sure to get at least one row of heart orbs every turn and to try to maximize your water damage b/c the first half halves your damage. Pretty easy dungeon. 6.10
Reply ~55000 0 ~7 min 1 By 13 : Walk in the park. Kill at will. Save all skills for last fight. 1st attack cleared green orbs. i used gigas and burning knight and echida on second attack which got him down to yellow. 3rd attack cleared green orbs. 4th attack ares then shiva = GG. Jotun watched.Both leaders are max awoken. Same as weekend mystic it is a breez 6.10
Reply ~16730 0 ~10 min 0 By Manny : Very easy and formable build. Bastet, Odin awoken, and he mikoto were all fully awoken. Try to save Echidna for the boss. 6.10
Reply ~17000 0 ~7 min 0 By Ken★Kirin : Non-stop build. 5F, use Echidna before Velvet Shrimp atk, and use Kushi if Amberjack and Firefly Squid atk at same time. 9F Use Gonia and make combos. 10F Use Ronia and make combos. Use Kushi/Echidna for insurance if necessary. 6.02
Reply ~25000 0 ~10 min 0 By Shynee : EASY, SAFE, MIX & MATCH MONSTERS! I used Valkyrie Rose and Meimei as wildcard for HP and damage. Nothing max leveled/skilled, all low level except friend. Just watch your health and score medium combos while matching wood orbs. On stage 5, wood mass attack every turn. Everything else is make combo damage and heal. Skills on boss 6.10
Reply ~17500 0 ~4 min 2 By Liz : Robin + Kush = 40x atk at 10 combos, 60x attach at 15 combos. Only skill used was Echidna. Sub others for high atk. Just don't get hit by the Velvet Shrimp. Get combos, one shot boss. Easy! 5.20
Reply ~12500 0 ~10 min 1 By Glyph @PF : Floors 1-4: Easy Floor 5: Use Valk Floors 6-8 Easy Floor 9: Use Valk Floor 10: Echidna + Valk + Shynee. Dont use DQXQ active, try set up sky combos / match a lot of red orbs for echidna to blow up boss. Team all maxed, fully awokened. Accidentally used this team haha... 5.10
Reply ~12000 0 ~5 min 1 By Setsuna : x3,5 atk to stall on big fish Fukuragi. Pierce through all other. Trigger Yamato x4 on FL5,9,10. Titan on FL5. FL9 Yamato, Titan and Freyr. FL10 Phoenix + (x14) and he going down in 1 hit. Lv70~80, 5 row enhance. 6.10
Reply >22500 0 ~30 min 1 By ravenspire : Again, the Blues are placeholder for a Malboro King (who I recommend over the Blues because of his stats - especially HP - and Green element). Gravity helps speed things along with bosses. Morningstar must be ready when Whirlwind hits for OHKO. Other than that, standard tanking rules apply. Have fun!There are many species that will be negatively affected by Climate Change. However, grizzly bears might be at an advantage.
A 10-year study that monitored 112 bears in Alberta’s Rocky Mountain region found that warmer temperatures and easier access to food associated with forest disturbances helped the grizzlies to build more fat, and that increases chances of successful reproduction for mothers.
The ‘Silver Spoon Effect’ is what results and it shows that bears born into this environment have a head-start in life. By studying variations in body size for bears, scientists can better understand what environments best suit them.
‘A simple rule is, the fatter the bear the better. Certain environments promote fatter bears,’ said Scott Nielsen, University of Alberta biologist.
In years when there were warmer temperatures and later snowfalls, the body size of adult bears was larger. Furthermore, in colder years smaller bears were found. It seems that warmer temperatures are a benefit to the grizzlies. With warmer temperatures, there is more food for the grizzlies which fattens them up, which increases their chance of survival. While we shouldn’t encourage climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, these changes may actually benefit some species.
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Like and shareNotoriously outspoken chef Anthony Bourdain does not eat like you or me. While the average man thinks he’s being adventurous by adding sriracha to his meal, Bourdain has chowed down on everything from maggot fried rice to raw seal eye to a still-beating cobra heart.
You want to know where the best food in the world is? He’s the guy to ask. TMZ caught up with Bourdain outside of LAX last September and asked him to name his top three favourite meals of all time. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t the maggot fried rice.
Taking the top spot is Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France. Bocuse is known for nouvelle cuisine – a less opulent (and calorific) take on traditional French cooking that emphasizes the natural textures and flavours of fresh, high-quality ingredients.
In second place is Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo, Japan. Proud recipient of three Michelin stars, sushi master Jiro Ono whips up some of the finest – if not the finest – raw fish in the world. You may recognize the name from the 2011 documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
And last, but certainly not least, Bourdain proclaims his third favourite meal to be spaghetti pomodoro – ideally in a cracked bowl. Take comfort in the knowledge that one of the most highly developed palates in the world reveres something you could whip up while drunk.This article is in no way a promotion of Donald Trump’s presidential bid for the White House. Truth be told, I don’t even know much about his agenda. All I know is that he has somehow managed to grasp my attention as well as that of many others.
Love him or hate him, we can’t ignore him! We can’t seem to browse our TV channels without catching him on air or peruse a newspaper without reading something about him; whether it’s because of some of his outlandish remarks and comments or his promise to make America great once again; Donald Trump is everywhere and most likely, here to stay.
Although he can be a loose cannon and isn’t very popular amongst many, I admire and applaud the fact that he is different and is okay with being different, isn’t afraid to speak his mind and isn’t wishy washy regarding his opinions. He definitely isn’t about maintaining the status quo or keeping politics as usual; this is the main reason he has resonated greatly with both his supporters and non-supporters.
Although Donald Trump possesses some flaws and faults like we all do, he also possesses the following very admirable qualities we can all strive to emulate that have been instrumental in helping him achieve outstanding success, create a legacy and go from business mogul to TV personality and currently to a presidential candidate.
Here are 4 admirable qualities I have learned from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign :
1. Confidence
Most people would argue that he is cocky, arrogant and probably thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. If there is one thing we can all agree on though, is that Donald Trump is extremely confident and sure of himself; so much so that he believes he has what it takes to make America great again.
His self-assuredness has been responsible for helping him succeed in business, turn his undertakings into gold, take calculated risks as well as bid for presidency once again. He isn’t afraid to stand out, go after what he wants and definitely doesn’t believe in hiding his light under the proverbial bushel.
2. Resilience
No matter how much he gets beaten down, he always manages to get right back up and keep going. Donald Trump has the tenacity of a bull and has proved time and time again that he doesn’t back down when pushed into a corner. He will not allow other people’s opinions of him determine his actions and isn’t afraid to face his opponents no matter how outnumbered he might be.
I believe his resilience has also been responsible in helping him recover from several financial losses, emerge stronger since the last presidential race and experience greater success in his endeavors. He has consistently chosen to hang tight during occasions when most people would otherwise throw in the towel or wave the white flag.
“If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will.” – Donald Trump
3. Independent thinker
If there are two things that Donald Trump isn’t; he isn’t a follower or brown-noser. He isn’t afraid to go against the grain even if it means ruffling a few feathers or being unpopular with the majority. He doesn’t let the status quo influence his thoughts and decisions or dictate his actions and isn’t afraid to voice his opinions.
I think the reason many people resonate with his message is because they admire his boldness and the fact that he says what they wish they had the courage to say themselves. It is true that we live in a politically correct world where we get judged every day because of our beliefs, what we say and even how we look. It is always refreshing encountering people who embrace their individuality, dance to the beat of their own drum and do not silence their voices even if most people don’t agree with what they say.
4. Dares to dream
Most people might think that it is absurd for Donald Trump to seek presidency, after all, |
until at least midnight.
“Throughout the week, our local representatives remained in close contact with the hotels that these customers were staying at and we can confirm that there were very few concerns raised in destination.
“We recognize that upon learning about this incident that our customers would have been alarmed and remain very apologetic for any inconveniences that this has caused them.”
In a previous statement to Global News, Grossman said this was the first incident of its kind in Sunwing’s 11-year history as an airline.
Air passenger advocate Gabor Lukacs, from AirPassengerRights.ca, confirmed monetary compensation is not required by law “but by common sense, by good customer relations.”
“I fear that if Sunwing is just going to try to just walk away from this, without compensating passengers in some way for the whole situation, it will suffer significant loss in goodwill of consumers,” Lukacs said.
READ MORE: Sunwing unclear on alcohol, drug testing laws in wake of impaired pilot’s arrest
Gronych was released on $1,000 bail and had to surrender his passport. He was also suspended from flying any other aircraft in Canada.
His case has been put over until Jan. 25.
READ MORE: Calgary police charge Sunwing Airlines pilot with being drunk before takeoff
“I think it’s deplorable that there are people in control of aircrafts in this country in that situation,” said Scott Sangster, who was also on the flight. “We need to be more vigilant in terms of hiring people that are transporting people.”
“I know that Transport Canada’s rules are different than the FAA’s and that’s unfortunate,” he added.
Dr. Gregg Bendrick, an aerospace medicine specialist who also works as a senior aviation medical examiner with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said Monday there is a clear drug and alcohol testing program for commercial airline pilots in the U.S., which includes a random testing component. He said anyone identified as impaired would then be evaluated to see if they suffer from alcoholism.
WATCH: Sunwing passengers speak out on pilot accused of being drunk. Reid Fiest reports.
The Canadian government says there is no specific provision in the Canada Labour Code addressing alcohol or drug testing in the workplace.
However, Employment and Social Development Canada said random testing is legal.
“Random testing of employees in safety-sensitive positions (defined as those in which incapacity due to drug or alcohol impairment could result in direct and significant risk of injury to the employee, others or the environment) has been determined to be permissible in a number of circumstances, as long as employees are notified that alcohol testing is a condition of employment,” spokesperson Amélie Maisonneuve said in an email sent Tuesday to Global News.
With files from Erika Tucker, Global NewsATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of Greeks protesting against austerity marched through the streets of Athens on Sunday to mark the 40th anniversary of a bloody student uprising against the then-ruling military junta.
Protesters take part in a rally marking the anniversary of the 1973 student uprising against Greece's former military dictatorship, in Athens November 17, 2013. The mass march to the U.S. embassy marks the anniversary of the student revolt that helped topple the 1967-1974 military junta REUTERS/John Kolesidis
The annual march, a focal point for anti-government protesters, comes as Greece’s European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders begin a new round of talks in Athens to decide whether to disburse more money under its bailout.
In Athens, more than 16,000 people rallied peacefully before parliament in the central Syntagma square, waving flags and banners reading “IMF, EU out!” A rally also took place in the second-biggest city of Thessaloniki.
“People, don’t bow your heads,” the crowd shouted as a police helicopter clattered overhead. About 7,000 police officers were deployed to the streets and scores stood guard on the square, the scene of violent clashes in the past.
Protesters chanted “Never again Fascism!” before moving some 3km to the embassy of the United States, which many believe backed the colonels in taking power and ruling Greece in 1967-74.
“People here are suffering - we can’t go any lower, we’re at our limits and the kids have no future so they’re leaving,” 48-year-old biologist Athena Pantra said from the rally.
“The troika should leave, not them,” she said, referring to the trio of lenders who have kept Greece on a multi billion-euro lifeline since the crisis broke out nearly four years ago.
While the protests passed off mostly without incident, police fired teargas to disperse about 200 demonstrators who hurled rocks near the offices of the far-right Golden Dawn party in the western port city of Patras, police said. TV footage showed petrol bombs exploding in the street.
Golden Dawn has been subject to a government crackdown after the killing in September of an anti-fascism rapper by one of its supporters, which triggered protests across a country already riven by its economic crisis.
Greece’s bailout has come at a price of tax rises and cuts to wages and pensions and the crisis, the country’s worst during peacetime, has forced thousands of business to shut, pushed up unemployment and eroded living standards.
Nearly six in 10 young Greeks are without work, homelessness is on the rise and many have seen their incomes and wages shrink to levels not seen in decades.
“We will continue the struggle for bread, education, freedom,” said Independent Greeks lawmaker Notis Marias, echoing a popular slogan of the revolt.
“In order to abolish the bailout, kick out the troika from our country and regain Greece.”The momentum towards HTML5 and away from (or at least in parallel with) Flash seems to be accelerating with today's launch of the free Brightcove Experience framework for HTML5 -- a "way to publish, distribute, and monetize web video for the iPad and other Apple devices" according to the Brightcove press release. While Brightcove might not be a household name, some of its 1,000 customers, including Time Inc. and The New York Times (a Brightcove investor), certainly are -- both of whom are already using the new HTML5 solution in preparation for the iPad's April 3rd US launch. A real coup for the Flash-hating Steve Jobs if you start factoring in the rumored Flash-free NPR and Wall Street Journal iPad sites as well as that little HTML5 iPad test CBS was testing out in the open last week.Also rumored for launch is an iBookstore filled with 30,000 free e-Books courtesy of the Gutenberg Project. See the screengrab evidence after the break in addition to a purported video walkthrough of the iPad store. The video previews several new "HD" formatted iPad apps that we've already seen as well as a few new ones like Twitterific. Sorry, still no Hulu HD. The mouse pointer in the video, however, makes it clear that this is running on desktop somewhere, not on an iPad. Still, it definitely looks the part.G-1 League to include international qualifiers
G-1 has just confirmed to Gosugamers that the fifth season of G-1 League will have international qualifiers in EU/NA and SEA. The tournament may very possibly start on the 18th of March.
Eric “reinnnn” Khor I love pudding. I love Dota too. But pudding usually wins.
After much complication with governing body, ACE, G-1 League has finally been approved and is all set to go.In a Tencent Weibo post, G-1 League admins tweeted that the fifth season of the G-1 League will have international qualifiers in EU/NA and SEA.The winner of the online qualifiers will receive free flight tickets and hotel stay in the grand final of G-1 League later in the year.Gosugamers reached out to G-1 organizers to confirm their tweet and G-1 has given us the green light about the matter.Besides that, the organizers also mentioned that their next season (Season 5) will have a bigger prize pool than previous seasons.The G-1 League is most likely starting on the 18th of March.Gosugamers will receive more information about the G-1 League tonight.A technology has been developed that will allow us to create camouflaging metamaterials that can detect colours and automatically blend into a background.
The new full-color display, which has been developed by researchers Rice University, US, uses aluminium nanoparticles to create hues that are found in TV and computer screens.
The researchers developed the technology after setting out to copy the skin camouflaging abilities of squid.
Once materials such as this are created, it may be possible for them to be used to help camoflauge high-tech military vehicles or even be sued for applications in urban environments to hide unsightly objects.
The researchers hope to combine the display technology with others developed by the team, which can sense light and are also able to display patterns on large polymer sheets.
Members of the team have previously published research that shows it is possible to create flexible polymer displays that can change colour to match their surroundings.
Naomi Halas from the university said: “We hope to eventually bring all of these technologies together to create a new material that can sense light in full color and react with full-color camouflage displays.”
Pixels on the display, which measure five microns in size, are around 40 times smaller than those pixels that are used on commercial LCD displays.
Aluminium nanorods were arranged using an electron beam to create a regular arrangement of the rods.
Each pixel contains several hundred nanorods. The researchers were able to control these by varying the length of the rods and also the spaces between them.
The team said they are basing their work on squid, and similar creatures, because their skins are able to adapt to the conditions they are in.
“Our goal is to learn from these amazing animals so that we could create new materials with the same kind of distributed light-sensing and processing abilities that they appear to have in their skins.
“We know cephalopods have some of the same proteins in their skin that we have in our retinas, so part of our challenge, as engineers, is to build a material that can ‘see’ light the way their skin sees it, and another challenge is designing systems that can react and display vivid camouflage patterns,” Halas said.
Image one and two courtesy of Rice UniversityThe sound of science
For the most part, I can live with what the federal Conservative government is doing, policy-wise, but I can’t abide how they’re doing it. The suppression of scientific research that conflicts with Conservative political goals (“When science goes silent,” National, May 13) is just one pillar in the regime that Stephen Harper is building, working alongside the proroguing of Parliament, pre-emptive personal attacks on opponents (“Trudeau’s other opponent,” National, April 29), and the suppression of his own backbenchers (“A House divided,” National, April 22). Clearly, there is an overarching strategy to suppress or discredit any voice that challenges the government’s agenda. I don’t care whether you’re left wing, right wing, or smack dab in the middle, Harper is killing our democracy.
Jeff Wilson, Melancthon, Ont.
Stephen Harper is fond of bragging about how he looks after the best interests of the taxpayer. Since I am paying the salaries of the federal scientists and paying for their research, should that not confer to me some form of ownership over their results? Should I not be entitled to see and hear the results of their research, since that is my right as a taxpayer? And who better to explain their research results—and consequences of that research on Canadian society—than those same scientists, not some PMO media handler? I thought it was my government. I paid for it!
Jeff Bondett, Havelock, Ont.
“When science goes silent” is more of a battle cry for the enlightened, progressive left to help free public servants to muse freely about their personal views on global warming and solicit a blank cheque from the taxpayer for pet projects. Harper is indeed taking a very different approach. I’d call it responsible government.
I.C. Giles, Toronto
I worked for Environment Canada during the 1980s. In 1989, I took a phone call from the Globe and Mail, asking about the environment minister’s comment in the House of Commons regarding pollution in the St. Clair River. I answered honestly with information that was readily available to all involved in the federal Great Lakes program, including the fact that Canada had disposed of billions of litres of toxic phenols in wells along the river. It seems the minister hadn’t done his homework. My phone was physically removed from my office; all my calls were directed to an “information” officer; all requests for interviews from media were immediately rejected; and the minister stood up in the House and disowned me. This approach under Brian Mulroney’s government to controlling science for political “gain” was new to Canada at that time, but was common in the U.S., as demonstrated by Ronald Reagan’s war on acid-rain science, for instance. It seems our Conservatives have finally caught up to Reagan and Bush.
Daryl Cowell, Tobermory, Ont.
As a retired information officer with the former research branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, I witnessed attitudes and strategies by our elected officials to control and manipulate what scientists told the popular media. From Pierre Trudeau’s information department of the 1980s, where all media interviews were directed, to the current controlling policy of the Prime Minister’s Office, preventing Canada’s best and brightest scientists from telling their stories is wrong. Government policy-makers have always had a necessary role in educating scientists and their supporting staff—indeed, all public servants—about the right way to converse with the media. But that doesn’t include restricting scientists’ and media’s access to each other. Controlling, and especially denying, such connections is wrong.
Mel Reimer, Morden, Man.
Heaven can wait
Isn’t it ironic that the same issue with an article about Harper’s government muzzling scientists has a cover story discussing the most unscientific of all questions, i.e. heaven and the afterlife (“The heaven boom,” Society, May 13)? The kind of facts that Brian Bethune’s story contained might be very well used to prove that if people behave nicely and follow orders, they have a good chance of being entertained by a large army of virgins waiting.
Arben Kallamata, Mississauga, Ont.
Your article contained a lot of vague ramblings about the types of hallucinations common while hypoxic, but not a shred of evidence. Did you realize that about half a million people die every day, so the entrance to heaven is like the customs line at Pearson International Airport after a thousand 747s have landed at once. Do we get an interview with God? And what are we going to be doing for eternity? I like boating and woodwork, and flying, so I am hoping this will be offered. If not, I am not sure I want to go. Can you opt out? Are we just to talk among ourselves? I do not want to go, at least not unless I can see some kind of brochure first.
John Cocker, Stouffville, Ont.
We must be careful how we interpret near-death experiences. Death is a process and dying does not occur in all parts of the body at once. The heart may stop, breathing may cease, but the brain may continue to function for a time after clinical death. Moreover, not all parts of the brain may die at the same time. If more highly evolved brain centres die sooner than more primitive parts, perhaps we may experience long-buried thoughts and images. It is possible that we may even be able to share the experiences of other beings when our mental processes are released from the burden of higher intellectual thought. Might we then possess the sixth sense that we attribute to some animals? Perhaps heaven lies not only about us, but also within us.
Herbert Johnson, Kitchener, Ont.
One phrase that stuck out in your afterlife article was the “utter lack of judgment” several people felt during their near-death experience. Does this mean that many people’s belief in an afterlife requires an element of justice for an afterlife to make sense (think of Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord”)? How would this change attitudes toward religion if the afterlife does not fit the relevant tenets of the religion?
Adrian Stonell, Oakville, Ont.
Thanks for a balanced, well-written article on the existence of heaven. Of course heaven exists! Just look at the evidence! A neurosurgeon feels it must be true after having experienced a low-flow state and knocked off a few neurons. Sure, some people call that “hypoxic brain damage,” but let’s stick with “spiritual awakening.” Of course, if he’d dreamt about being a chili-dog on Mars, we’d have to go with the hypoxic thing. Hold it: I just heard hoofbeats outside my window. It must be zebras! Because I want it to be.
Bruce Campana, Sooke, B.C.
The closing phrase of Brian Bethune’s fascinating article, “many believers confidently expect that God isn’t judgmental either,” is quite in line with the scriptural “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Therefore, as we all travel the same route with the same terminus, why fret about whether or not we experience anoxia during the dying process, too much carbon dioxide in the blood, REM intrusion, or whatever? It’s all gonna be good!
Frank DeVries, Abbotsford, B.C.
On their own
In “Helping themselves,” (International, May 13), writer Adnan R. Khan asks which side to send money to in the Syrian war, and calls it a tough decision. Actually, it’s an easy one. Don’t send my tax dollars to anyone. Let the Syrians sort this out themselves.
Gerald Allgaier, Kamloops, B.C.
Secret weapons
Why are U.S. Republicans (mostly) crying foul over the creation and tactics of Organizing for Action (“Obama’s own tea party,” International, May 13)? For years now, haven’t they enjoyed the support of their own OFA? It goes by the name of the National Rifle Association.
Calvin Collier, St. Alban’s, N.L.
A few cents
The devastating garment-factory tragedy in Bangladesh should be a wake-up call to us all (“What does that $14 shirt really cost?” Business, May 13). While I appreciate Loblaw chairman Galen Weston’s promise to compensate the victims’ families, more has to be done to raise the wages of garment-factory workers. If we consumers insist on the lowest cost possible for clothing, we are part of the problem. Retailers are also contributing to the problem with their high profit margins. How about we share the cost of increasing the workers’ wages? I’ll pay a few cents more for the shirt, and would ask retailers to increase their costs slightly as well. That way, we can both be part of the solution.
Linda Pisco, Thunder Bay, Ont.
Shuffling funds
Global firms arranging their affairs to record profits in lower tax jurisdictions is tax avoidance, not tax evasion (“Nowhere to hide,” Business, May 13). Every taxpayer has the right, enshrined in law and court rulings, to organize their affairs to pay the least amount of money possible in taxes. By calling the use of transfer pricing “evasion,” the article implies that transfer pricing is illegal—when, properly done, it is not.
J.L.D. Woodruff, Toronto
I have earned three world-class degrees at Canadian universities. Those degrees, opportunities provided by our government and the support of our trade commissioners, helped my business be successful internationally. And, of course, that education and support were paid for in part by taxes. With international success came opportunities to hide income overseas, but we didn’t. To me, that would be theft, plain and simple. I do hope the Canada Revenue Agency will nail those who are, in effect, stealing from the rest of us.
Bob Ryerson, President, Kim Geomatics Corporation, Manotick, Ont.
This is how it goes down
Anne Kingston’s reference to Latin verb declensions (“A full-blown Latin revival,” Help, May 13) betrays confusion about the distinction between the inflected forms of nouns and verbs. Even after more than 50 years, I’ve not forgotten that nouns have cases and are declined whereas verbs have tenses and are conjugated. The most important legacy of having studied Latin is a sensitivity to grammar and the belief that the distinction between who and whom, and lie and lay still matters.
John Coenraads, Victoria
We welcome readers to submit letters to either [email protected] or to Maclean’s, 11th floor, One Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, Ont. M4Y 2Y5. Please supply your name, address and daytime telephone number. Letters should be less than 300 words, and may be edited for space, style and clarity.Hundreds of bands performed during the Wakarusa music festival, including Andy Frasco, center, crowd surfing, who kicked off the events on the festival's main stage. - Photo by Kevin Kinder
The Wakarusa music festival hosted annually on Mulberry Mountain in Ozark will not return in 2016. The festival's Facebook page released a statement Thursday around 3 p.m. that cites sour business relations among the organizing partners as the principal reason behind what the post calls "a hiatus."
In its seventh year on Mulberry Mountain and 12th year on the festival circuit, Wakarusa is the largest music and camping festival in Northwest Arkansas and has hosted acts like Of Monsters and Men, The Avett Brothers, The Flaming Lips and The Roots. Known as much for its weirdness as for its musical acts, the four-day festival attracted an estimated 20,000 people to Franklin County this year.
The festival's statement offers only a vague description of the partnership's breakup.
Festivalgoers speculated that Wakarusa might be canceled when Pipeline Productions, the company that organizes the festival, unexpectedly canceled two of its other festivals earlier this year: June's Thunder on the Mountain and October's Phases of the Moon, both at the same location.
It was revealed in June after the cancellation of Thunder on the Mountain that Pipeline was involved in lawsuits with Backwoods Enterprises against The Madison Cos. and Horsepower Entertainment, two organizations that had entered into agreements with Pipeline and Backwoods to help fund the festival.
An article published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette June 17 stated that, "One lawsuit alleges... Pipeline made an agreement with Madison and Horsepower through a letter of intent, but Madison backed out after it appeared the music festival wouldn't make a profit this year," and claims a "breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty." According to the article, the counterlawsuit "contends Backwoods and Pipeline haven't contributed any money to the festival and have, instead, used money from ticket sales and money borrowed from Madison to cover the talent deposits."
Whether these lawsuits over the Thunder festival are part of the issues alluded to in Thursday's statement is unclear at this time. Messages left at the Pipeline offices and with Wakarusa festival organizer Brett Mosiman were not returned Thursday.
Mulberry Mountain won't be completely devoid of music during summer 2016 though, as the Highberry Festival website announced the music festival organized by Deadhead Productions will be moving to the mountain for its seventh annual event June 30-July 3. The statement came only two hours after the Wakarusa announcement.
Metro on 12/18/2015Personal Garages Become Cafes in the Castro, Thanks to Smarter Zoning
Three new cafes and restaurants in the Castro have been created in spaces formerly used as personal parking garages. Driveways and dark garage doors on 18th Street have been replaced with storefronts and inviting patios filled with people.
A few years ago, this would’ve been illegal.
Reveille Coffee Company and Beso, a tapas restaurant, were able to move in and convert these garages this year, thanks to changes in the SF Planning Code’s zoning laws in 2011 proposed by Livable City and former Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. The provision to allow garages to be converted into shops, housing, and service spaces in “Neighborhood Commercial” zoning districts was part of a package of parking-related reforms.
In addition to the first two garage-to-business conversions on 18th, a third is currently under construction nearby.
“These new businesses are helping make a more walkable (and sittable), vital, and convivial 18th Street,” said Livable City Executive Director Tom Radulovich. He pointed out that the curb space in front, formerly reserved to ensure private garage access, have also become public street parking spaces.
The idea seems to be spreading: Radulovich said the Ocean Avenue Merchants this week endorsed allowing conversions of garages to storefronts in their district, which is zoned as “Residential.”
Radulovich said the 2011 ordinance “also allows the addition of a single [residential] unit to an existing residential building without a new off-street parking space, so long as that unit meets the other requirements of the code, including density limits.”Heartbeat in the Brain is a 1970 documentary film produced and directed by Amanda Feilding, an advocate of trepanation.[1] In the film, Feilding, a 27-year-old student at the time, drills a hole in her forehead with a dentist's drill. In the documentary, surgical scenes alternate with motion studies of Feilding's pet pigeon Birdie.[2]
Heartbeat in the Brain Screenshots from the film Directed by Amanda Feilding Produced by Amanda Feilding, Joseph Mellen Starring Amanda Feilding Release date 1970 Country United Kingdom
In 1978, Feilding screened the movie at the Suydam Gallery in New York. More than one audience member fainted during the climax.[1]
The 1998 documentary A Hole in the Head contains footage from Heartbeat in the Brain.[3]
The documentary, long believed to be lost, was publicly screened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London on 28 April 2011.[4]Posted Wed Jul 22, 2015 7:55 PM
Hi guys.
I've been stuck for several days with a flu with only a MacBook laptop, and unable to test Mecha-9 and other games sent to me because the available emulators just doesn't handle VDP nuisances, Megacart and even less Super Game Module.
So I ported my private emulator with support for Megacart and Super Game Module, you'll need to download also libSDL 2 from http://www.libsdl.org (there is a chance you should download it, because OS X v10.11.5 somehow doesn't recognize the integrated SDL library)
It's pretty simple but it works like a charm at least in my Mac, and you can play any game from the original ones till Pac-Man Collection
You need to boot into Terminal for using it, also you must download the BIOS coleco.rom
I don't intend to update it in a looong time, so enjoy it!
Edit: Nov/30/2017 v0.6.6, now Raspberry Pi version included, also added Ctrl+Fn+F4 to save a memory snapshot and Ctrl+Fn+F9 to log PSG values in each frame. (although keys are configurable, Ctrl for these isn't)
Edit: May/25/2017 v0.6.5, joysticks are now configurable, support shortcuts for full screen and saves state of it for next time (Mac Cmd+Ctrl+f and Windows Alt+Enter), enhancement of VDP emulation and undocumented modes, correction of execution time for some Z80 instructions, and solved bug where Sammy Lightfoot would crash. Raspberry version not available yet.
Edit: Feb/15/2016 v0.6.4, now ADAM keyboard can be fully configured (very useful for users with non-US keyboards), and finally Raspberry version compiled.
Edit: Jan/11/2016 v0.6.3, better emulation for Z80 solves pitch problem in speech in Sewer Sam and Squish'Em Sam, keys F4 and F7 are now configurable, Expertype and ADAM Bomb 2 are now working, fixed some ADAM keys for Windows, added 64K RAM expansion for ADAM, fixed bug in joystick support (not tested), added code to show joystick movement when using F7 (show codes). Raspberry not updated in this version because I didn't found my external keyboard
Edit: Nov/27/2015 v0.6.2, solves small bugs in Z80 and VDP emulation. Ctrl+Fn+F4 creates debugging snapshots. Allows to use two keys to activate one button (both pressed at same time). Allows for two keys to activate same button (for example two controllers). Raspberry now shows status messages (important for F7 key codes). More keys are configurable: video recording, audio recording, screenshots, enable/disable roller controller. When using Roller Controller the sensitivity has been adjusted (was too fast).
Edit: Nov/05/2015 v0.6.1, small bugs fixed. Pause and Reset key couldn't use joystick. Better compression for AVI and safeguard if 2GB limit is reached. PAL switching didn't update BIOS European byte. Able to exit using # and * key at same time (only Raspberry)
Edit: Nov/04/2015 v0.6.0, all platforms updated! Added fast startup of Colecovision BIOS, Roller Controller enabled/disabled with only Fn-F5, VIDEO RECORDING!!! using Fn-F6 (AVI with ZMBV codec, playable with VLC Player), support for Right Shift + Enter to exit in Raspberry PI (useful for Retropie).
BTW, several people has donated to CoolCV for the Mac version and also for the Raspberry version, including a Raspberry PI (still stuck in snail mail) but I've got another one for the development using the donations Thanks for contributing!!!
Edit: Sep/23/2015 v0.5.4, Mac only, allows controller mapping to be changed (creates Documents/coolcv_mapping.txt), changed Fn+F7 to show instead key codes and joystick button codes, support for Super Action Controllers (you need to activate buttons in mapping file).
Edit: Sep/01/2015 v0.5.3, Mac only, added Fn+F10 to save PNG screenshots, now also checks for file numbers previously used and doesn't rewrite them. Now also accepts dropping ZIP files, the first ROM/COL/BIN file inside will be used as game ROM
Edit: Aug/31/2015 v0.5.2, Mac only, documented Fn+F8 feature to accelerate disk/tape read in ADAM mode. Added new feature to record audio files using Fn+F9, it saves files in your Music folder. Note it reuses numbers if re-run, so copy any files you like. Now you can use Q*Bert sounds for your cellphone calls, for example
Edit: Aug/25/2015 v0.5.1, highly experimental Raspberry PI version now available in post #91 http://atariage.com/forums/topic/240800-coolcv-emulator-for-mac-os-x-linux-and-windows/page-4#entry3307835
Edit: Aug/08/2015 v0.5.1, controllers should feel smoother now. Solves a bug in VDP collision register (failed in Carnival) and also allows to run Super Donkey Kong prototype (1983) deactivating SGM support (it crashed because the game wrote to port 7FH) (now ZIP file includes all platforms)
Edit: Jul/31/2015 v0.5 Added keypad support for controller 2 in keyboard and experimental Coleco ADAM support for DSK and DDP (check Read Me file for details) I've tested only SmartBASIC, Dragon's Lair and Donkey Kong Jr. (Aug/01/2015 added Linux and Windows versions)
Edit: Jul/29/2015 v0.4 Now supports for controller 2 in keyboard. Higher audio volume. Also implemented support for two joysticks (tested by grips03) with Fn+F7 to switch buttons and now it can launch ROM files (use context menu in your ROM file, select get info, change application to CoolCV, change for all) though not sure why there is a small delay in launching. Jul/30/2015 just added Windows and Linux versions.
Edit: Jul/26/2015 Now also compiled for Linux, 32 bits and 64 bits be sure to run the right version. Also you need to drop your ROM file into the window. If it's running slow, make smaller the window.
Edit: Jul/25/2015 I compiled this for Windows (very early). Same as Mac version, but you need to drop your ROM file INTO the window. If it's running slow, make smaller the window.
Edit: Jul/24/2015 v0.3 I've made this an integrated app for Mac. Now download it, open it, then drag&drop your ROM file over the icon appearing in task bar (bottom of screen). In fact you can put the app in the Launchpad for running it easily (no more command line!!)
Edit: Jul/23/2015 v0.2 ok, I didn't resisted the temptation to add window resizing and full screen mode. Snapshot saving/restoring. -pal option. And improved aspect ratio.Courtesy of Barlow and Grimes. Barlow (left) and Grimes.
Dade Barlow (a.k.a. ElectricDade on YouTube) and Tiffany Grimes married twice: first, as a same-sex couple, in 2010, then as man and wife in 2012. But the journey to their second nuptials was rife with so much confusion and despair they weren’t sure they’d make it to their final “I do.”
The charismatic duo met in the summer of 2008 when Barlow, then identifying as female, was looking to reinvent himself in a town far away from his family and former faith. He grew up a strict Jehovah’s Witness among ultraconservative relatives and friends in Arizona. “I wasn’t even allowed to read outside my faith, only literature provided by the church,” he recalls.
Barlow was expected to submit to paternal authority, which is how he ended up married at age 19. “My father strongly encouraged me to marry at a young age. But it didn’t fit, and I was very unhappy.”
Because the sect doesn’t allow divorce, Barlow felt trapped. “But once I started working full time, I got more exposure to other ideas,” he remembers. “I began noticing all the things that didn’t jibe. Nothing [the church had] been telling me was true.” As alternative beliefs and ways of life flickered into consciousness, Barlow left his 7½-year-marriage and relocated to a small town in Oregon.
Six months later he braved a dyke-themed night at a local bowling alley. At the event, dubbed “Lez Get Together,” his eyes landed on a cute, gregarious cisgender lesbian from California named Tiffany Grimes. Like Barlow, Grimes was new to the queer scene. She’d recently left her husband of 13 years to grapple with her romantic feelings toward women. Their attraction was immediate.
“We went on a hike for our first date,” Grimes says, “and we’ve been together ever since.”
They married on the lush vineyard Agate Ridge in Eagle Point, Ore., on September 4, 2010. Surrounded by sunflowers, they stood barefoot at the center of a circle made up of 40 family members and friends, who brought gifts that signified the couple’s love. After exchanging personal vows, they had their first dance to “Better Than Love” by Griffin House. Soon all the guests, who’d been saged with “joy” prior to the ceremony, were swaying sans shoes in the cool, tall grass. “We’re a little ‘woo woo’ here in Oregon,” Barlow jokes. “It was so beautiful,” Grimes says.
A year later, however, the honeymoon halted. Barlow’s realization that he was a man, not a lesbian, became an unbearable state of being. But broaching the topic with Grimes was tense and freighted. “I had just identified as a lesbian and rearranged my whole life,” Grimes remembers thinking, “and now I have to come out to my family and friends again.” She couldn’t believe the irony of divorcing a man to embrace her same-sex desires only to end up with a man yet again.
Nine months of silent contemplation, as well as heated discussions, ensued before a watershed moment in couples counseling: “Our therapist made me shut up and listen to Dade. I really heard him for the first time. It’s not a choice. It’s just who he is. I saw how vital transitioning was to his existence.” After that session, Grimes visited what she calls her “tree of life,” a giant cedar on their former property, where they renew their vows each year, to lay her wife to rest. “I grieved her loss and really let her die,” she says, to make room for the man who would become her husband.
Two years after their wedding and post-transition, Barlow and Grimes legally tied the knot, as husband and wife, in city hall. At the time, Grimes was six months pregnant with their daughter Zane, now 3. “We had fun with that,” Dade jokes. “Well, I already knocked her up, so I got to do the right thing and marry her.”
Thinking back on that fraught year, Barlow admonishes fellow trans folks: “If you don’t recognize that your partner is having a process as well, your relationship is not going to work. It’s affecting both of you, so you need to pause and give breathing room.” Grimes, a social worker by training, adds: “Reach out and get support from professionals who are well-versed in the subject.”COMPARED with most other rich countries, the British economy looks strong. In 2015 GDP grew by 2.2%, more than the 1.5% seen in the euro zone. And yet, nearly a decade after the financial crisis began, there is one serious weakness: productivity (defined as the amount each worker produces in a given period of time). In the period 2000-08 annual productivity growth was nearly 2%. In 2009-14, though, it was pretty much zero, far below what rivals like America and Germany have achieved. Stagnant productivity growth explains why British real wages are still 5% below their pre-crisis peak.
On February 24th the IMF released its yearly assessment of the state of the British economy. It zooms in on the productivity slowdown. Using a fine-grained dataset, |
for individuals or for communities.
Or course we’re all responsible for the choices we make, regardless of circumstances. But if we are being responsible, we have to understand how trauma affects our choices, how the single greatest risk factor for committing a violent crime is having been a victim of violence, and how, even when a person massively transforms his or her life, it doesn’t seem to matter in our punishment paradigm.
Nowhere is this clearer than in seeing that the fastest growing group of people in our prisons: older adults. Our elders are noteworthy in part because the cost of their incarceration— especially their medical care —is two or three times the average; and because the rate at which they return to prison when they are released is approximately zero. By 2030, older adults will account for one third of all incarcerated people in the US. They are already 20% of New York’s prison population.
More than 1500 individuals over 60 will return to New York City this year, and many will be among the thousands of returning citizens living in its homeless shelters — an especially dangerous outcome for older adults and an especially likely outcome for people whose long sentences have disconnected them from a welcoming home. Perhaps worse is that there are thousands who are not returning because although they have served decades for violent crimes, they are still considered as dangerous as when they went in.
Thomas Mott Osborne, a former warden at Sing Sing who founded the prison reform nonprofit The Osborne Association (which I now lead), wrote that “when hanging was replaced with imprisonment, it was more than mere replacing of one form of punishment by another; it brought about the necessity of an absolutely new point of view. The whole question shifted from how to keep men in prison to the question of how to send them out.”
That was 100 years ago, now the whole question shifts again: not only how to send them out, but why to send them in, and why to keep them so long.
The reason, we are told, is that this is what victims want. If that’s true, it’s probably because it’s all we offered them. Victims want safety, accountability, and support for a healing process. And they should get it. But prison isn’t holding anyone accountable, people can’t work to pay restitution, or support their families, or heal from the harm they experienced as children, or make amends for the harm they caused as adults.
Instead of taking about mass incarceration, we need to talk about the individuals, families and communities that are being destroyed by our current prison system, both those who are incarcerated and those who are not.
Contact us at [email protected] Clinton extended warm welcomes to executives from companies that had donated to the Clinton Foundation, new emails from her first year as secretary show.
Her frequent interactions with firms that had given generously to her family philanthropy — many of which were lobbying the State Department at the same time — raise questions about whether she used her diplomatic perch to help certain companies get ahead.
For example, in September of 2009, Clinton asked aides to help the Blackstone Group secure a requested visa.
Blackstone donated between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation, donor records show.
Clinton indicated in the email that several Blackstone executives had approached her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, to inquire about the visa.
In the same message, Clinton pressed aides about helping another foundation donor, Honeywell, increase its sales by easing export controls that "interfere" with profits.
She noted David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell, had personally requested assistance, but the exact favor he asked of Clinton was redacted by the State Department.
Honeywell not only gave to the Clinton Foundation and officially lobbied the State Department, it contributed heavily to a political project dear to the secretary: the U.S. pavilion at the 2010 World's Fair in Shanghai.
Clinton welcomed intelligence on the Chinese economy from a top executive at Morgan Stanley, another Clinton Foundation donor, in July of that year.
"Delighted to hear from and about you," Clinton wrote to Stephen Roach, chair of Morgan Stanley Asia, in response to his lengthy memo on China's economic struggles.
"Your timing is impeccable since I will be co-chairing w Tim Geithner [then Treasury Secretary] the first Strategic and Economic Dialogue w the Chinese on July 27-28 in DC. So if you have any thoughts you want to share before our meeting, pls pass them on," she added.
The secretary told Roach she was "looking forward" to meeting him when he was in Washington, D.C.
Morgan Stanley has donated between $100,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton received a note in April from Dave Stone, who had recently accepted a senior position at Cisco that would give him authority over Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Stone asked to meet with Clinton about his new role, which he described as promoting "the use of the Network to improve the quality of life of Millions of people in areas such as Education, Health Care and Security."
Clinton forwarded the message from what appears to be a private email address she used as a senator to one of her aides and demanded Stone be put on her schedule for a meeting.
Cisco has donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.
The Silicon Valley giant was nominated that same year for a prestigious State Department award, the Secretary's Award for Corporate Excellence, for its work in Lebanon, which fell under Stone's purview.
Cisco won the award the next year.
Jake Sullivan, Clinton's deputy chief of staff, signed off on security clearances for top Boeing executive Stanley Roth so he could travel with a presidential delegation to Mongolia.
Boeing has donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, including a $900,000 contribution given shortly after Clinton lobbied the Russian government to award the aerospace conglomerate a lucrative contract.
Boeing's relationship with the State Department fell under scrutiny earlier this year when multiple news outlets noted that the perks it received from the State Department lined up neatly with the firm's financial support of Clinton causes.
Elizabeth Bagley, Clinton's special representative for global partnerships, touted a $5 million donation from Chevron to the U.S. pavilion at the 2010 World's Fair in Shanghai in a July email.
Bagley credited Clinton for securing the donation and wondered if the effort would "entice the press to do a story now on her leadership."
A longtime Clinton supporter and ambassador to Portugal under President Bill Clinton, Bagley gave between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation and $5,000 to Ready for Hillary, foundation records and OpenSecrets.org show.
Chevron was also a major Clinton Foundation donor, giving between $500,000 and $1 million to the charity.
The oil giant's interactions with the State Department under Clinton went far beyond its sponsorship of the Shanghai pavilion, which was a priority of Clinton's during her first years as secretary.
She and her aides tapped the same corporate donor network that has kept the foundation alive to sponsor the pavilion.
Chevron spent $20.8 million on lobbying in 2009 alone, including on its efforts to lobby the State Department.
The company had several interests before the agency at the time, including a potentially devastating environmental case in Ecuador and Chevron's reported push to secure fracking concessions around the globe.
Mills weighed an invitation from Goldman Sachs executives for Clinton to attend a "climate investing" conference in Copenhagen, a June email shows.
"Thank you so much for considering this invitation. I am sure the sponsors would be absolutely thrilled to have Secretary Clinton appear," wrote Dick Gephardt, a former Democratic House majority leader and lobbyist for Goldman Sachs, in an email to Mills.
Gephardt then praised the secretary for her "skill and grace" in a message that followed a Goldman executive's lengthy plea to bring Clinton on as the keynote speaker at the event.
"Let's discuss at our next meeting," Clinton wrote to an aide of the invitation.
Goldman Sachs has donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.
The financial firm also poured money into the "Secretary's International Fund for Women and Girls," another of Clinton's personal projects, in 2010.
Although precluded by ethics rules from paying Clinton for such speeches while she was secretary, Goldman Sachs began cutting huge checks to Clinton in exchange for appearances at events after she left the State Department.
In October, Caitlin Klevorick highlighted the success of a policy video Clinton had made by noting that Pepsi, a foundation donor, had shown the video in an internal meeting and planned to promote it at an upcoming conference.
Klevorick was one of several Clinton aides who was granted a " special government employee" status that allowed her to collect paychecks from a private company and the State Department at the same time, according to Pro Publica.
She said the Clinton Global Initiative, an arm of the Clinton Foundation, had "gotten feedback about the video" as well.
Klevorick worked both as a consultant for the Clinton Foundation and in Mills' office that year, according to her professional biography.
Pepsi also donated $5 million to the Shanghai pavilion, emails sent in June said.
The newly-released emails were sent and received in March-December 2009, the first year of Clinton's time as secretary of state.
The agency's decision to refrain from publishing the emails until 9 p.m. Tuesday evening despite having known of its legal requirement to release them for more than a month sparked outrage among journalists and transparency advocates who saw the move as an effort to minimize critical coverage of the records.
Clinton's use of a private email and server to house her government communications has been a lightning rod for critics since the House Select Committee on Benghazi revealed the account in March.
Scrutiny reached new levels last week after a Benghazi witness and former Clinton aide, Sidney Blumenthal, provided dozens of emails that State had never disclosed.
The new records raised questions as to whether Clinton submitted all of her work-related emails, as she has claimed to have done.
After the State Department admitted it could not find all or part of 15 communications, critics began calling for an investigation of the physical server on which the emails were located.
The State Department was forced to begin publishing emails on a rolling basis after Vice News sued the agency in January over its neglected Freedom of Information Act request for the records.
A judge ordered State officials to publish chunks of the emails each month, setting specific targets for the number of records that would be released at each milestone until the deadline of January 29, 2016, arrived.
Vice's legal team argued in court documents filed May 27 that the agency should be forced to produce documents more frequently due to the volume of the emails, the intense public interest in them and "the fact that the records pertain to a declared presidential candidate participating in an election process in which caucusing begins on February 1, 2016."
The court order required State to publish 7 percent of the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton submitted to the agency in November of last year.
Because the State Department published more than 800 pages of Benghazi-related emails last month, officials released just 3,000 pages — or roughly 5 percent — of the Clinton email cache late Tuesday evening.It's the most wonderful time of year -- for Jewish singles to mingle and for savvy businesses to cash in.
And we're not talking Chinese restaurants and movie theaters. There's a growing number of "ball" events popping up at clubs -- from New York City's Tao Downtown Lounge to Miami's Fontainebleau -- all catering to Jewish singles on Christmas Eve.
"It has become Valentine's Day on Christmas Eve -- for Jews," said Andrew Rudnick, who has been organizing the MatzoBall for 28 years.
Rudnick partners with hot spots like Fontainebleau Miami Beach's LIV night club, charging from $30 to $50 for access to the club. (Beverages aren't included.)
"It's the only night of the year we can take on a fantastic venue that would normally be closed and deliver it almost exclusively to the young urban [Jewish] community," said Rudnick.
He's renting 21 venues this year across the country (up from seven in 2013), including one called "Christmas is Canceled" hosted by Instagram sensation The Fat Jew.
For clubs -- it makes business sense. Entrepreneurs and event planners like Rudnick take care of the marketing, and they just staff and throw a party, like any other night of the year.
"It's a great opportunity on a night that's typically very quiet," said Jeff Klein, vice president of operations at Fontainebleau Miami Beach. "We've taken advantage of a niche market."
Klein declined to disclose revenue generated by the club as a result of the event, but said it's on par with a normal Wednesday or Thursday night (also evenings when many other venues are closed).
Related: 7 lifehacks to eliminate your holiday hassle
This year, Fontainebleau partnered with Rudnick to extend the activities beyond just Christmas Eve. An overnight package -- which costs $249 -- will buy a ticket to the MatzoBall at LIV, hotel accommodations, brunch, and access to a MatzoSplash Pool Party on Christmas Day. According to Rudnick, he wants to ramp up his business in 2015 by hosting monthly meetups and launching a membership-based network.
As the longest running of the events, the MatzoBall faces fierce competition. Rudnick says he's issued cease-and-desist letters over the years to those who've copied the MatzoBall name. And several of his rivals are already hosting events year-round -- like event producers Jeff Kashi (who hosts NYC's Official Xmas Eve Party) and Eli Lunzer (who runs a similarly titled The Official Xmas Eve Bash for Young Jewish Professionals in NYC).
Lunzer has been offering his MatzoBall alternative for seven years now. Ticket prices to the Bash cost half the amount of some competitors -- between $18 and $25 -- and part of the proceeds go to charity.
"It's much more economically reasonable," said Lunzer, of his event held at the Ainsworth Park this year.
Like Klein, Lunzer has found this time of year to be a tremendous business opportunity -- he expects up to 900 people to attend this year (up from 100 when he first started hosting the event).
"I've had venues beg me for my business," said Lunzer, which he credits to the fact that he runs events year-round, including New Year's Eve, President's Day, and Hanukkah, all catering to young Jewish professionals.
Related: Sony will release 'The Interview' at limited number of theaters on Christmas
Creating a loyal base of customers is essential to attracting attendees as the number of events grows -- and they compete with dating sites offering up singles to mingle with (at least digitally speaking).
Let My People Go -- which also hosts events year-round -- has been organizing "The Ball," on Christmas Eve for 20 years. In Los Angeles, it's a one-venue destination. But in New York City, they have a foothold on the Tao/Strategic Group -- the parent company for nightlife destinations including PH-D, Marquee, and LAVO. The Ball is a multi-venue extravaganza event lets party-goers club hop to five different clubs (and provides free SUV limo transportation to and from the venues) for $35 to $45.
According to Michael Marinoff, director of nightlife at Dream in Meatpacking District, the event brings in 65% of a typical night's revenue -- and manages to keep the club packed. PH-D has a capacity of 400 so over the course of the night, they see three times that amount on Christmas Eve. (They're also the host of The Ball Afterparty on Christmas.)
But what keeps people popping into these events year after year? The promise of becoming another statistic.
According to Rudnick, the MatzoBall has resulted in 20 marriages (including his own) over the years. And Lunzer said his Xmas Bash has resulted in 23.
Happy holidays -- and happy hunting!A recently translated interview with Miyazaki, FROM studio's boss and Dark Souls director, suggests number 3 is it for the series, with the team already working on an all new game.
Obviously, with all translations there’s room for error but the message for Dark Souls seems clear with Miyazaki saying, “there’s absolutely no plan right now for any sequels, spin-offs or tie-ins. What is certain for now is, to me personally, Dark Souls is over. So rather than make another sequel, I think it’s time we take a step to a new direction. Development of a new IP has already begun”.
No idea what that new game is yet (rumour has it Miyazaki really wants to make a more ordinary and linear story-based thing for change). And, while he seems pretty set on no follow ups for the time being, there’s still just a hint of life for the series: “I can’t say for certain the possibility is 0%”.
However, any new game in the series will likely be handled by someone else. “If a FROM Software developer came to me five years from now and begged ‘please let me make another Dark Souls‘. Then I will not rule out the possibility to let my subordinates start a new project”.
It’s not completely over just yet either, with the first DLC due in Fall and a second one now dated for ‘early 2017’.
Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!Proof That God Loves Britain
Last week Benny Hinn went on one of his annual simony tours to Great Britain. However, God decided that enough was enough and intervened and stopped the lover of Mammon and the high priest of Mammonianity from spreading his gospel of the love of money disguised as some sick form of Christianity.
An American Christian preacher has been turned away from Britain, leaving thousands of people stranded at an evangelical rally in London this weekend. Benny Hinn, from Texas, who draws large crowds to his Pentecostal revival rallies, was turned back at Stansted airport under new rules on visiting ministers of religion. Many thousands of Pentecostal Christians travelled from across Britain and Europe and booked long weekend breaks in the capital’s hotels for his mission at the ExCeL exhibition centre in Docklands, East London, which had been due to begin on Thursday night. They were left disappointed after Border Agency officials turned him back when he landed with his private jet because he had failed to obtain a “letter of sponsorship” from a church.
Those people don’t know how lucky they are. But would this sort of roadblock really happen to a man of faith? I mean, couldn’t he just slain all of the border crossing guards in the spirit? Doesn’t he have some sort of charismatic power like Obi Wan Kenobi. Benny waves his hand in front of the Stormtrooper’s eyes, “You will let me into the country. You’re not looking for this plane…” Of course, Mr. Hinn tried to put a positive spin (read revisionist history) on this after he appeared to the conference live via satellite.
Says Pastor Benny, “When I landed in the United Kingdom, I was informed that under British law, there is now a recently passed regulation called a Tier 5 Concession, which meant that I could not enter the country to preach without a visa. Attorneys sought to work out this challenge, and the officials treated me very well, yet in the end, the result was that I could not participate in the conference or Miracle Service in person.” Citing clear instruction in God’s Word, Pastor Benny explained, “I am not an attorney; I am a man of God. I have always obeyed the laws of men, and I will continue to obey the laws of men to the minutest details. I ask the people who attended the services to forgive me for not having known prior to my arrival that such a law existed in the United Kingdom. Even though neither I nor my staff was informed of this regulation, we are still responsible in the sight of God to obey the laws of men. I promise you, my partners—and I promise you before God—this will not happen again. You have my promise and my word as one who fears the Lord that this situation will be corrected and it shall not happen again!”
Make sure you read that second paragraph with the blabbering about “clear instruction in God’s word and obeying the minutest details of men.” Got it? OK, read what this Bible following, man-rule follower did after being denied entrance in Britain the first time because he “fears the Lord.”
Mr Hinn flew on to Paris and tried to enter Britain at Luton airport but was again turned back. He was on his way back to France last night.
Example one million of why you don’t trust a single word that comes from this wolf’s mouth. He was told by immigration why he could not enter the country and steal money. Did he follow that by going back to the States and getting proper paperwork? No, he instead tried to enter at a different airport hoping they would not be aware of the new rules. Shameful lying and revisionist history followed of course.
Benny has always followed the rules of men to the minutest details far more than any clear instruction in the Bible from God. It is following those rules of men and the tax loopholes that he uses to justify raping and pillaging the sheeple. However, when those rules get in the way of his stealing money he will gladly try something else even if it is illegal, and then of course, as usual, lie about it.
Benny Hinn, Worst Preacher Ever Champion 2008…
Steven Anderson, Worst Preacher Ever 2009…
Benny wants his belt back in 2010! Game on.
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柳生宗矩 Yagyū Munenori (1571-1646)
A Hereditary Book on the Art of War (Heihō Kadensho 兵法家伝書) is a Japanese text on the theory and practice of swordsmanship and strategy, written by the samurai Yagyū Munenori in 1632. Alongside Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings, it is one of the preeminent treatises on warfare in classical Japanese literature. Similar to Musashi's contemporary work, Munenori's has garnered appeal for its applicability beyond the warrior paradigm.
The book is divided into three chapters.“The Killing Sword”, addresses force as a remedy to disorder and violence. The following “Life-Giving Sword” considers the role of prevention in conflict. Finally, in “No Sword” the merits of using the environment's resources to one's fullest advantage are explored.
No Sword This Chapter of the book discusses things like how higher ground can give an advantage over your foes and how to use inclement weather to your advantage. There are several mentions of how uneven terrain can make all the difference in battle and how a simple thing like a loose stone can turn the table on your enemy.
The life-giving sword: secret teachings from the House of the Shogun: the classic text on Zen and the No-Sword by Musashi's great rival
by Yagyu Munenori; translated by William Scott Wilson
Kodansha International, 2003
https://www.scribd.com/doc/111462020/Life-Giving-Sword-inc
Soul of the Samurai: Modern Translations of Yagyu Munenori's "The Book of Family Traditions" & Takuan Soho's "Subtlety of Immovable Wisdom" & Takuan Soho's "Notes of the Peerless Sword"
by Thomas Cleary
Tuttle Publishing, 2005, 128 p.
[The original text of the translated works is printed in standard typeface. Dr. Cleary's commentary on the text is printed in italic type.]
MARTIAL ARTS: THE BOOK OF FAMILY TRADITIONS
By Yagyu Munenori (1571-1646)
INCLUDING: BOOK 1: The Killing Sword
BOOK 2: The Life-Giving Sword
BOOK 3: No Sword
BOOK 1
THE KILLING SWORD
Preface
There is something said of old: "Weapons are instruments of ill omen; it is the Way of Nature to dislike them. To use them only when it is unavoidable is the Way of Nature."
What does this saying mean? Bow and arrow, sword, halberd—these are called weapons; this saying means these are instruments of misfortune and ill omen.
The reason that weapons are instruments of ill omen is that the Way of Nature is the Tao that gives life to beings, so to take to killing instead is indeed an instrumentality of ill omen. Thus the saying has it that what contradicts the Way of Nature it dislikes.
The old saying cited by the samurai here is paraphrased from the Taoist classic Tao Te Ching: "Fine weapons are instruments of ill omen; people may despise them, so those who have attained the Tao do not dwell with them.... Weapons, being instruments of ill omen, are not the tools of the cultured, who use them only when unavoidable." The same text also says, "Those who assist human leaders with the Tao do not coerce the world with weapons, for these things are apt to backfire."
Nevertheless, it also says that to use weapons to kill people when it is unavoidable is also the Way of Nature. What does this mean? Though flowers blossom and greenery grows in the spring breeze, when the autumn frost comes, the leaves always drop and the trees wither. This is the judgment of Nature.
This is when there is reason to strike something down when it's done. People may take advantage of events to do evil, but when that evil is done, it is attacked. That is why it is said that using weapons is also the Way of Nature.
The Master of the Hidden Storehouse, another Taoist text, presents a necessity-based defense and deterrence rationale of weaponry and warfare, in contradistinction to the impractical idealism of ideological pacificism: "There are those who have died from ingesting drugs, but it is wrong to wish to ban all medicines because of that There are those who have died sailing in boats, but it is wrong to forbid the use of boats because of that There are those who have lost countries by waging war, but it is wrong to wish to ban all warfare on that account. "It is not possible to dispense with warfare, any more than it is possible to dispense with water and fire. Properly used, it produces good fortune; improperly used, it produces calamity. For this reason, anger and punishment cannot be eliminated in the home, criminal and civil sanctions cannot be eliminated in the nation, and punitive expeditions cannot be done away with in the world."
It may happen that a multitude of people suffer because of the evil of one person. In such a case, by killing one man a multitude of people are given life. Would this not be a true example of the saying that "the sword that kills is that sword that gives life?"
The Master of the Hidden Storehouse says, "Ancient sage kings had militias of justice; they did not do away with warfare. When warfare is truly just, it is used to eliminate brutal rulers and rescue those in misery." The Buddhist Scripture of the Great Demise says, "If bodhisattvas practice conventional tolerance and don't deter evildoing people, allowing them to perpetuate and extend their evil so as to ruin legitimate order, these bodhisattvas are devils, not bodhisattvas." "The sword that kills is the sword that gives life" is a Zen expression. In Zen literature it is never employed as Yagyu uses it here, to refer to actual killing and warfare. In Zen it refers to the mystic initiation known as the Great Death, by which the limitations of artificial conditioning are transcended. The experience of life after the Great Death is richer than before, so it is said that the sword that kills is the sword that gives life.
There is a science to the use of weaponry. If you try to kill someone without knowing the science, you will probably be killed yourself.
Sun-tzu, the Chinese master of military strategy wrote, "Those who are not versed in the disadvantages of the use of arms cannot really know the advantages of the use of arms."
In matters of martial arts, the martial art involved in facing off with another using two swords has but one winner and one loser. This is very small-scale martial art; what is won or lost by victory or defeat is little. But when the whole land wins on one individual's victory, or the whole land loses on one individual's defeat, this is martial art on a large scale.
The one individual is the commander; the whole land is the military forces. The forces are the hands and feet of the commander. To operate the forces skillfully means to get the hands and feet of the commander to work well. If the forces do not function, that means the hands and feet of the commander do not work.
Just as one faces off with two swords, exercising the great function of the great potential, using one's hands and feet skillfully to prevail, in the same way, the commander's art of war, properly speaking, is to successfully employ all forces and skillfully exercise strategic tactics to win in battle.
In The Art of War, Sun-tzu wrote, "Those skilled in military operations achieve cooperation in a group, such that directing the group is like directing a single individual who has no other choice." In a commentary on Sun-tzu, the military theorist Chia Lin wrote, "If leaders can be humane and just, sharing both advantages and problems of the people, then troops will be loyal, identifying with the interests of the leadership of their own accord" The Master of the Hidden Storehouse says, "What determines victory or defeat should not be sought elsewhere but in human feelings. Human feelings imply desire for life and repugnance for death, desire for glory and dislike of disgrace. When there is but one way to determine whether they die or live, to earn ignominy or glory, then the soldiers of the military forces can be made to be of one mind."
While it is a matter of course, moreover, to go out onto the battlefield to determine victory and defeat when two combat formations are pitched against one another, a commander pitches two combat formations in his chest to try mentally leading a great army into battle—this is the art of war in the mind.
The importance placed on the mental art of war implies that simple force is not adequate to ensure victory in the absence of successful strategy directing its employ. The success of strategic deployment is also a key factor in maintaining the loyalty and morale of the troops, demonstrating both reliability in tactical command and consideration for the welfare of the soldiers.
Not to forget about disturbance when times are peaceful —this is an art of war. To see the dynamic of the state and discern when there is likely to be disruption, and to heal the disturbance before it happens—this is also an art of war.
Sun-tzu wrote in The Art of War, "The superior martial artist strikes while schemes are being laid." Tu Yu cited an emperor-general to illustrate Sun-tzu's principle: "Those who are skilled at eliminating trouble are those who deal with it before it happens. Those who are skilled at prevailing over opponents are those who win before there is formation."
Once there is peace, to give consideration to the selection of governors and administrators of all regions, and to national security, is also a martial art. When governors, administrators, magistrates, and local lords oppress the common people in pursuit of personal profit, this above all is the beginning of the end for a nation. Observing the situation carefully, planning so as to prevent the nation from perishing through the self-seeking of those governors, administrators, magistrates, and local lords, is like watching an opponent in a duel to see if he has anything up his sleeve. It is imperative to observe with utmost attention; this is what makes martial art a matter of such great moment.
The Indian strategist Kautilya, advisor to the founder of the great Maurya Dynasty in the fourth century BCE, wrote in his classic Art of Wealth, "An embedded thorn, a loose tooth, and a bad administrator—these are best rooted out." He also wrote, by way of warning, "Even the course of birds flying in the sky may be discerned, but not so the course taken by appointees who conceal their true condition."
There are also treacherous people surrounding rulers, people who pretend to be upright when in the presence of superiors yet look on subordinates with a glare in their eyes. Unless they are bribed, they represent the good as bad, so the innocent suffer while the guilty gloat. To perceive the beginning of this is even more urgent than to notice a secret plot.
Yagyu Munenori, author of this work, headed the shogun's secret service, overseeing the direct vassals. His appointment is dated to the year he finished this book on martial arts, but by the time of this writing he was already tutor to the shogun, and his observation on corruption in government reflects a professional as well as a personal concern. Because of the strict hierarchical nature of Japanese feudal organization, compromise in higher circles created particular problems for a fiefdom, endangering the integrity of the entire organization. Yagyu's Zen mentor, Takuan, was not so ready to blame this all on interlopers but looked to the role of the leadership: "They say that if you want to know people's merits and faults, you can tell by the help they employ and the friends with whom they associate. If the leader is good, the members of the cabinet are all good people. If the leader is not right, his cabinet and friends are all wrong. Then they disregard the populace and look down on other countries."
The country is the ruler's country; the people are the ruler's people. Those who serve the ruler directly are as much subjects of the ruler as those who serve indirectly. How far apart are they? They are like hands and feet in the service of the ruler. Are the feet different from the hands because they are farther away? Since they both feel pain and discomfort the same, which can be called nearer, which further away? But if those close to the ruler bleed those far away and cause the innocent to suffer, the people will resent the ruler even though he is honest.
This passage illustrates the responsibility of every member of an organization in maintaining its overall integrity, while showing how a top-down model of government places a particular burden of responsibility on the circle surrounding the leadership. The absolutist model employed here thus demonstrates an essential flaw of feudalism. In the context of medieval Japan, the idea that the ruler is the owner of the nation and people probably derived from the deification of the emperor. It has no Zen or Buddhist content or counterpart and provides the pattern for all manner of corruption. The systemic flaw in this model of government, perpetuated for centuries, created the expectation system that enabled fascism and militarism to resume control of Japan in modern times and even embark on imperialism. For someone in Yagyu's position, nonetheless, absolutism is the default model, and here the sword master simply alludes to the fact that an organization is like an organism whose various parts all contribute to the operation of the whole, and the higher the position the more powerful the effects of individual actions on the entirety.
There are only a few people close to a ruler, perhaps five or ten. The majority of people are remote from rulers. When many people resent their ruler, they will express their feelings. Now, when the minority close to the ruler have been after their own interests all along instead of acting in consideration of the ruler, and so serve in such a way that the people resent the ruler, then when the time comes those close to the ruler will be the first to set upon him. Then who will think of the ruler? This is the doing of those close to the ruler, not the personal fault of the ruler. The potential for this ought to be clearly perceived, and those distant from the rulership should not be excluded from its benefits. Since this is a matter of perceiving the potential accurately at the outset, it too is a martial art.
Here again Yagyu takes the side of the ruler versus corrupt associates, in contrast to his Zen teacher Takuan's observation that the associations of the leadership are themselves indications of its ethical quality. In practical terms, vertical absolutism isolated the individuals at the apex of the pyramid, creating the opportunity for conspiring cabinet members to deceive the ruler while manipulating delegated authority. When the ruler is kept ignorant while the cabinet exploits its privileges, the people may become rebellious without the ruler knowing why.
In social and professional relationships, moreover, the attitude is the same as that of a warrior, even when there is no discord, in that you act as you see situations develop. The mindfulness to watch the dynamic of situations even in a group is a martial art.
The defining element of the art of war in this sense is not conflict or armament, but deliberate application of situational strategy in all manner of interactions.
If you do not see the dynamic of a situation, you may remain too long in company where you should not be, and thus get into trouble for no reason. When people say things without observing others' states of mind, thus getting into arguments and even forfeiting their lives as a result, this all hinges on seeing or not seeing the dynamic of a situation and the states of the people involved.
In feudal organizations, personal relationships were critical elements of social and political order, so their manners and customs of interaction were highly ritualized. Among the samurai, cultivated class and clan pride could create problems and perils even in social situations; elaborately regulated formalities of speech and conduct were used to insulate emotions. The stiffness that this produced was softened to some extent by the custom of drinking parties, as is indeed still the case today, but even in such situations excessive loosening of the tongue could lead to disaster.
Even to furnish a room so that everything is in the right place is to see the dynamic of a situation. Thus it involves something of the mindfulness of the warrior's art.
The art of furnishing a room for specific psychological and aesthetic effects was a specialty of the masters of the tea ceremony, cha-no-yu, which was allegedly imported from China by medieval Zen masters and adapted to Japanese culture as a means of mellowing the spirit of the samurai, who were engaged in class warfare against the old aristocracy.
Indeed, although the phenomena may differ, the principle is the same. Therefore it can also be applied accurately to the affairs of state.
It is a Taoist convention to draw analogies between the governance of the individual body and the governance of groups, both military and political. Therefore the principles of self-discipline and self-mastery are applied to the principles of leadership and authority. Here the principle is adaptation to situations on the basis of objective perception, whether in the context of the everyday life of the individual or in a strategic approach to state organization, operation, and planning. The relationship between principle and phenomena is also emphasized in Zen Buddhism. The experience of satori, or awakening, is referred to |
appears.
After obtaining someone's email, Monteiro envisions all sorts of scenarios: flooding the person with spam by signing them up to different lists, or sending abuse to the person to intimidate them, which is sometimes a problem for activists or public figures generally. Monteiro also says it may be useful information for an attacker to find out someone's real identity, if they are using a pseudonym.
Nu Wexler, a spokesperson for Twitter, told Motherboard in an email, "Sorry, we don't have a comment for your story," and instead pointed to the Twitter documentation on recovering passwords.
Monteiro said he sent details of the apparent problem to Twitter, but the company said that it didn't qualify for its bug bounty program. He also sent details to Facebook, and the company has been informed of the process in the past.
A dummy account. For common domains such as Gmail, Facebook will display the entire domain.
Of course, this trick isn't necessarily an issue for all of those affected. Anyone who has a hard-to-guess email address is already protected. Some people might have no problem with the email address linked to their Twitter account being guessed, or it might be public in the first place. Some email addresses are easy to work out, and aren't supposed to be a secret—plenty of businesses, for example, just use a 'first name, last name' format for their addresses. And if a celebrity is using an easy-to-guess email, such as their name or a slight variation thereof, determined people will probably work it out anyway, without a social media site's inadvertent help.
"This feature is important for helping you locate your recovery email address if you lose access to your Facebook account. In many cases, people add these email addresses years earlier and need a hint to know where to look when we're assisting them with an account issue," a Facebook spokesperson told Motherboard in an email.
"We've thought carefully about how else the feature could be used and have designed protections accordingly. For example, if you receive unwanted password reset emails from us via this recovery feature, the emails contain a disavow option and a setting that prevents others from looking you up by your username."
That being said, this could still cause a bit of a headache for those who would rather not have their email a few clicks and guesses away, especially considering the use of Twitter as a tool for harassment.
"Purely personally, it's not so much a problem as the email addresses I use for public facing communication are freely available. But I am sure this will concern many, particularly people who have been subject to abuse. There are certainly many malicious uses this information can be put to," Loz Kaye, from Open Intelligence Think Tank, and former leader of the Pirate Party UK, told Motherboard in an email, after having his address guessed.
If you are concerned about this, you can change your Twitter-linked email to a dedicated address; perhaps something like [email protected], for example. You could go ahead and click the "Require personal information to reset my password" option. It can be found in the Settings menu, and then Security and Privacy. Or, for Twitter as well as other social networks, set up email aliases, making whatever email that is stored by a site that much different from your main address, and harder to guess.By PTI
INDORE: Four persons succumbed to swine flu in Indore in the last 24 hours taking the toll due to the H1N1 virus infection to 19 this year.
To make things worse, four patients have been found suffering from dengue in last 24 hours in this city that has been picked up as the cleanest one in India in last May following the Swachh Survekshan-2017.
Of the four swine flu victims, three were local residents while the fourth one hailed from adjoining Dhar district, Asha Pandit, district in-charge of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) said today.
She said that four of them (deceased) were aged between 40 and 60.
Pandit said 19 people, out of the 78 tested positive for swine flu have died in different city hospitals. Of them, nine had come from other districts for treatment here, she added.
"Four persons have been found to be suffering from dengue in the last 24 hours here," she said.
"Thirty-four people have tested positive for dengue this year so far," the doctor added.NEW DELHI: The government is planning to fine electricity distributors from April 2019 for avoidable power cuts and to make it mandatory for the companies to install prepaid or smart meters to prevent electricity theft. The move comes as a part of the government's Rs 16,000 crore Saubhagya scheme launched in September to provide uninterrupted electricity for all by the end of 2018."Our vision is that we want 24x7 power for all by March 2019. Now it will be a legal obligation. After March 2019, if there is any load shedding without any reason, there will be penalties except in case of technical issues or act of God," power minister R K Singh said on Thursday, after a conference of 'Ministers for Power and New & Renewable Energy of States & Union Territories'. The fines would be imposed in the financial year starting April 1, 2019, he said, without giving further details.The minister also said that most of the states have agreed on 24x7 power for all, 90 per cent pre-paid meters and direct benefit transfer ( DBT ) of subsidies for electricity consumers across the country."We are doing away with the human interface totally in metering, billing and collection. The payment for electricity consumption will be through mobile phone. All states have agreed on this," he said. Asked about the deadline for achieving the goal of 90 per cent pre-paid meters in the country, the minister said there is no deadline. "But we have to reduce losses by January 2019 to ensure 24x7 power for all by March 2019. It is agreed that the (distribution) losses would be reduced to below 15 per cent by January 2019," he said.Another issue under deliberation was cross subsidisation as Singh said some states have 19 slabs of tariff. The power tariff will be remodelled according to the report presented by an expert committee. Singh explained that the cross subsidy or difference between highest and lowest tariff would not be more than 20 per cent.Distribution firms sometimes cut power saying they do not have the cash to pay generating firms. The government says this could be solved by better bill collection and by reducing power theft by those using unauthorised and unmetered grid links."Some states are not able to bill the consumers effectively," Singh said, adding some Indian states were failing to collect payments for about 50 percent of power they supplied. "Where the consumers are billed properly, the recovery is around 95 percent," the minister said.As part of its efforts to expand electricity supply, the government aims to distribute solar panels with battery packs to households in areas that are too remote for transmission lines. "As many as 2,100 villages are still to be electrified including 1,100 in Arunachal Pradesh. Some of these are affected due to rain and snow. Thus, the electrification of these villages would be completed by February or March," Singh said.AP In the wake of last Friday's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and seven others, President Barack Obama is expected to announce today the formation of a gun violence task force led by Vice President Joe Biden.
The White House announced earlier this morning that Obama "will deliver a statement in the Brady Press Briefing Room about the policy process the administration will pursue in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. The Vice President will also attend."
According to multiple reports, Obama is not expected to lay out any specific policy plans in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. He will introduce the task force and give an idea of how the administration plans to proceed.
Obama's decision to tap Biden as the task force's leader makes sense, considering the Vice President's experience in the Senate and relationship with members of Congress.
On Tuesday, the White House got a bit more specific with some of the policy plans it would support moving forward. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Obama is supportive of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's plan to reintroduce the assault weapons ban.
"He supports, and would support, legislation that addresses the problem of the so-called gun show loophole," Carney said. "And there are other elements of gun legislation that he could support. People have talked about high-capacity gun ammunition clips, for example, and that is something certainly that he would be interested in looking at."Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin presented Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic with a mock-up of a Russia-made S-300 air defense system. Pictured, S-300 air defence mobile missile systems during the Independence Day military parade in Kiev on August 24, 2014. File photo by Ivan Vakolenko/UPI | License Photo
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Moscow is considering Serbia's request for defensive weapons and interest in deepening military ties.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin met with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade Monday, and afterward said the final decision on Serbia's request to procure Russian weapons would be made to meet Serbia's minimal security requirements. Russian state-owned Sputnik News reports that during the meeting, Rogozin presented a mock-up of Russian-made S-300 air defense system.
Serbia's request for Russian arms comes after its neighbor Croatia began talks with Norway to acquire ballistic missile defense systems. However, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reports Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic maintains he does not want to start a war with Croatia. Vucic says Croatia's move raises national security concerns.
"I am not nervous, but worried," Vucic told Serbian state news agency Tanjug. "The ballistic rockets and launch pads that Croatia is planning to acquire have ranges of 300 and 350 km. You can target any location in central Serbia from Zagreb or any other location."
Rogozin stressed the requested weapons in question are "not offensive ones but those capable of removing any risks of an attack on Serbia."Cordarrelle Patterson – Minnesota Vikings
Age: 22
Height/Weight: 6’3”/220
Position: Wide Receiver
As one of only three receivers taken in the first round of this year’s NFL draft, a lot will be expected of Tennessee’s Cordarrelle Patterson. He is a physically gifted young athlete who is destined to make some huge plays in the near future. Take one look at the kid, and you’d know that he’s talented. However, if you want to learn of his true potential, you’ll take some advice from the Prospect Shredder.
Raw Speed
Though Patterson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.42 seconds at the NFL scouting combine, he’s reportedly clocked in as fast as 4.33 seconds. A player his size having top end speed like this is what gives him his raw playmaking ability. All other skills and assets aside, Patterson will be a deep threat without question.
Vision/Agility
This guy is a monster when he has the ball in his hands. He has great vision and the ability to find the open lane, as well as the agility to get around defenders. He’s able to change directions quickly and make sharp cuts, which is why he’s so elusive in the open field. To put it in perspective, Patterson had only 25 rushing attempts in college, but scored 3 touchdowns and averaged 12.3 yards per attempt. He’s also had one kick return so far in the NFL preseason, but made the most of it, taking it a whopping 50 yards. He is an electric ball carrier and will undoubtedly make some highlight reels with his immense talent.
Route Running
Route running is what scouts tend to worry about most with Patterson. With only one year of major college football under his belt, he’s still not completely developed in that aspect. He wasn’t asked to run too many complicated routes at Tennessee, and would usually just rely on his physical abilities in order to get open and make plays. As he faces better d-backs in the NFL, he will have to learn how to be a better route runner and exercise the full tree. He will need to learn to disguise his routes better, and also better recognize defensive formations and schemes. He doesn’t have this strong ability right now, and will need to develop it in order to pay off as a first round talent.
Size/Strength
Scouts have described Patterson as a “freakishly gifted athlete.” Being 6’3” in combination with having great top-end speed is what gives Patterson the “size-speed” combo that scouts rave about. It has drawn comparisons between him and Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, a stud wide out of similar dimensions. Thomas’ ability to make huge plays weighs heavily on his size and speed, and Patterson should be able to take advantage of the same skills. Patterson will be looking to get stronger in general, as it can help him in many facets of his game. He’s not weak, but if he were stronger it would help him be better against press coverage and as a run blocker. He will need to improve his strength to see his highest potential of snaps in the NFL.
Hands
Scouts see a lot of potential in Patterson’s hands, as he’s made some incredible catches in college. However he’s also missed some easy catches, due to his tendency to catch the ball with his body and not his hands. If Patterson can’t correct his tendency as a “chest-catcher,” NFL corner backs will have a field day with him. However, this is an easy fix and should be a focus of Patterson’s in the pre-season.
Versatility
You can’t ask for much more than a guy who can be a deep threat and also a stud when carrying the ball. Therefore, aside from lining up wide as a down field threat, we may also see him receive screen passes, and he may very well win the Vikings kick-returning job.
Fit With Vikings:
Patterson will be joining one of the NFL’s worst pass offenses of 2012. Led by quarterback Christian Ponder, the Vikings ranked 31st in the league with 2,935 passing yards and 25th in the league with only 18 touchdowns. Though Ponder may be a lousy quarterback who probably isn’t making the offense much better, not everything can be blamed on him. Obviously the team leaned on the running game a great deal, as running back Adrian Peterson was nearly impossible to stop last season. There was also a lack of viable receiving options after receiver Percy Harvin was injured last season. Ponder was actually very successful at getting the ball into Harvin’s hands, as the versatile receiver was on pace for over 100 receptions and 1,200 yards if he hadn’t gotten hurt.
This shows that Ponder can take advantage when he has a highly talented receiver. Though it’s not the ideal situation, Patterson should still be able to make big plays and put up big numbers with Ponder throwing to him. Having Greg Jennings as a teammate has its perks as well. Jennings has been a mentor for Patterson throughout training camp and the pre-season, helping the rookie receiver become a better route-runner and all-around better player. Come regular season, Patterson will be lucky to have Jennings on the field with him to help distract opposing defenses and allow Patterson to make big plays. Although Patterson can likely be a team’s “number one” option someday, for now he’s better off among a deeper core with other playmakers. Minnesota probably wasn’t the greatest possible destination for Patterson, but he can still be successful.
What to Expect:
Though he’s fighting for the job, there’s still no guarantee that Patterson will the team’s starter opposite Greg Jennings. That spot may very well go to Jerome Simpson to start the season. Patterson will have to show what he can do in a game situation in order to steal this job from Simpson. As the team’s third wide out, he should be able to flaunt his abilities by making big plays when he gets the opportunity. Expect him to turn heads this season as a deep threat, and possibly a punt returner. He will likely make a handful of great plays, but probably won’t have the overall numbers to be top end fantasy relevant. 500 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns seem like a possibility for Patterson, and it would be a solid rookie season. Yet it’s nothing compared to the numbers that he has the potential to record in the future. If you feel the desire to take a late-round flyer on Patterson, there’s no serious risk to doing that. If not, definitely keep an eye on him in the waiver wire. From a dynasty standpoint however, he is clearly one of the stronger talents to come out of this years class..
Zachary Mongillo
Dynasty Sports Empire
@TheManJelloWhen the Titanic, the iconic and storied ocean liner, was being built in company shipyards, its owners, White Star Line, claimed that “as far as it is possible to do, (the Titanic is) designed to be unsinkable.”
Even as the news was coming in that the Titanic was going down, the vice-president of White Star Line stated unequivocally to reporters: “We place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe that the boat is unsinkable.”
By all accounts, BC Hydro is behaving in the same feckless and irrational manner, as it continues to engage in shameless boosterism of the Site C dam on northeastern British Columbia's Peace River, aided by its unfailing allies, including liquefied natural gas industry partners (more on that later) and of course former B.C. Premier Christy Clark, who famously vowed to get the project “past the point of no return” before the recent provincial election—but failed to do so.
The recently fired head of BC Hydro, Jessica McDonald, typified the mindset of the now highly politicized Crown corporation and its close ties to BC Liberal ideology, when over two years ago she bluntly stated, in the face of widespread opposition and court challenges: “Our plan is to build Site C”.
There's no Plan B for Site C.
She and the former premier are like the owners of the Titanic, who adhered to their talking points even as the huge vessel was sinking, taking over 1,500 passengers and crew to the bottom of the Atlantic.
Flaws in the public relations fable
The big question is: why? What is motivating a publicly-owned Crown corporation to be so blindly committed to this massive and costly infrastructure project, despite wide-ranging, expert-driven and highly detailed pushback from scientists, local residents, First Nations, economists, social justice advocates and engineers around the world?
For years, BC Hydro and Clark have repeatedly directed attention to a carefully crafted narrative in which this industrial project—the largest in B.C.’s history—would supply “enough energy to power the equivalent of 450,000 homes per year in B.C.”
But cracks have appeared and slowly widened in this bounteous scenario, just like the unanticipated 400-metre long tension crack on the north bank of the Peace River that has already slowed preparation work at the dam site in the landslide-prone Peace River Valley.
Dangerous flaws have emerged in Hydro’s argumentation as important and cautionary as the massive sinkhole that appeared in 1996 in the giant WAC Bennett Dam, 119 km upstream from the Site C location—the sinkhole that cost BC Hydro $2 million a day in lost power production, terrified engineers, and threatened to destroy the entire downstream valley.
One giant crack in Hydro’s rampant enthusiasm for Site C—particularly in light of the BC Liberals' oft-repeated claim to be fiscally responsible—is the Oxford University study that appeared three years ago, which reviewed all major dam projects around the world built between 1934 and 2007, and showed that the overwhelming majority of large dams are simply not cost-effective.
Despite this and more contrary evidence, and like the builders of the Titanic, BC Hydro management has been soldiering on in their support for Site C, against common sense and a phalanx of direct challenges.
Resistance to Site C is everywhere
UBC’s Centre for Water Governance, chaired by Professor Karen Bakker, has published a lengthy report showing that far from being past the point of no return, Site C is economically so risky that the most fiscally responsible action would be to mothball the project and work on developing alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal.
Other deeply informed experts, like Harry Swain, former chair of the Joint Federal-Provincial Commission that examined the Site C proposal in 2014, and former BC Hydro Chair Marc Eliesen, have said the same thing.
Amnesty International has detailed how Site C, like similar large-scale infrastructure projects established in lightly populated areas, will devastate local social cohesion, and have a particularly harsh effect on Indigenous women.
Leading agrologists and biologists have pointed to the unique and irreplaceable agricultural and ecological potential of the 83 kilometres of the Peace River Valley that will be flooded if Site C goes ahead. They have pointed out that the valley’s Class 1 (highest quality) soils could grow food for up to a million people in food-insecure northeastern B.C., and calculated that the valley ecosystem contributes an astonishing $8.6 billion in ecological services.
The majestic Peace River looking east from Hudson's Hope; the town's future is in jeopardy if Site C goes ahead. Photo by Warren Bell
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has just issued a “highly critical” report expressing concern that changes in water flows caused by Site C will adversely affect downstream Wood Buffalo National Park. The park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.
First Nations communities up and down the Peace River Valley have been protesting against Site C for years, pointing out that it will destroy hunting grounds, sacred burial sites and end their 10,000-year-old way of life—a way of life guaranteed under Treaty 8.
It is not widely understood that a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision to not hear arguments from two First Nations against Site C, did not actually rule on the validity of Site C dam itself; Site C's validity has never been tested in court.
Given that critics of Site C are lined up locally, regionally and throughout Canada—and even around the world—what has given BC Hydro and the BC Liberal Party licence to ignore any and all detractors of the project?
I believe one need look no further than the oft-cited incestuous financial relationship between the oil and gas industry and the former BC Liberal government, and their penchant for acting as if global warming were an annoying fantasy that will go away if they act like it isn’t there.
The contamination of political gift-giving
Between 2008 and 2015 the fossil fuel sector—mostly large oil, gas and coal companies—has donated $5.2 million to political parties, the overwhelming majority of it to the BC Liberals. Some of these wealthy donors were offshore fossil fuel companies, or their representatives, with plans to build in B.C.; donations from such sources are considered illegal in most other jurisdictions.
The former Liberal government contended that such largesse did not influence its decision-making.
But consider this recent finding: paving companies that donated to the BC Liberals received almost twice as many contracts as companies that did not cross Liberal palms with silver.
Within my profession—medicine—there is abundant evidence, extending back over two decades, that conflicts of interest profoundly influence the outcome of “scientific” study in favour of the proponents’ self-interest.
BC Liberal public relations about the economy
During her two full terms as Premier of B.C., Christy Clark—no doubt inspired by her warm relationships with fossil fuel company executives—developed a core plan to build the province's economy around the liquefied natural gas industry (LNG) and its associated fracking.
Like the Duracell Bunny, Clark raced around the province for several years promoting LNG as B.C.’s prime moneymaker, always careful to use the word “clean” when describing this energy source. Not surprisingly, her conduct generated enthusiastic industry support for the Liberal Party. For example, Woodfibre LNG, an Indonesian-owned fossil fuel company with a questionable human rights record and a plan to build an LNG plant in Howe Sound, only a few kilometres from Vancouver, cheerfully footed the hefty bill for a party fundraiser at the tony Capilano Golf and Country Club in February, 2015.
A lobbyist for Fortis, the large natural gas company, was actually a member of the re-election team for the former provincial minister of the environment, Mary Polak.
In celebratory fashion, Christy Clark called the proposed—and since canceled—$36 billion Petronas LNG plant on Lelu Island off B.C.’s northern coast one of her biggest success stories. At the same press conference, she also mused that Site C was one of her most successful achievements. In her mind, all along, the two megaprojects were and are indissolubly linked.
As the years have rolled by, the promised jobs and economic prosperity distributed to British Columbians from the LNG industry failed to materialize. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives pointed out in 2014 that the promise of 100,000 jobs and $1 trillion in economic opportunity was nothing more than political bafflegab.
LNG has tanked. Capped fracking wells dot the countryside in northeastern British Columbia, east of Fort St. John, where the province’s entire oil and gas industry is concentrated.
There’s just a touch of irony in the fact that the head office of the BC Oil and Gas Commission, located near the Fort St. John airport, is built to high energy efficiency standards, sharply reducing its fossil fuel requirements.
BC Oil and Gas Commission head office in Fort St. John is built to high energy efficiency standards, making for a touch of irony, says Warren Bell. Photo by Kane Consulting
Enter Site C
The favoured government fable, that Site C would be used to power 450,000 homes, has long ago fallen flat on its face. That’s because electricity requirements in B.C. have not increased for the last decade, and even declined slightly in the last year and a half.
There has been no growth in British Columbia's electricity requirements for years. Graph courtesy of Eoin Finn/My Sea to Sky
The province actually has an electrical power surplus at present, fuelled in part by disastrous financial contracts with independent power producers.
As these facts have become more widely known, Christy Clark and her former officials have been forced to admit that Site C is not needed for domestic use within the province.
That has compelled a slowly expanding revelation of the real purpose of the elephantine Site C dam. Critics of the project often display an inflatable white elephant to symbolize the true nature of the Site C enterprise.
This is, unequivocally, to act as a life-support system for the greenhouse gas-producing, global warming-inducing, political-donation-dependent fossil fuel industry. In so doing, it’s as if Hydro’s senior management, like Donald Trump, believe global warming to be an irrelevant side-issue—or perhaps just a Chinese conspiracy.
The first reason for Site C playing this role is purely geographical. The proposed location of the dam is directly over the northern end of B.C.’s Montney Shale, the largest accessible methane gas deposit within B.C.’s borders.
The second reason was displayed when the Christy Clark government marched, either deliberately or accidentally, into a climate change dead end. After publicly declaring mandatory targets for reductions in the province’s climate-changing greenhouse gas production, it then served up, this past spring, a “Climate Leadership Plan” that egregiously failed to achieve those targets. Along the way it ignored just about every recommendation made by the very team of experts established to guide the plan’s creation.
Couple these two factors with a third—the precipitously declining cost and rapidly expanding deployment of renewable energy technologies such as solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and geothermal projects, as well as the overwhelming cost efficiency of reducing energy consumption—and it is quite clear that for the foreseeable future, B.C. families will not require more hydroelectricity for their own domestic uses.
They will, in fact, probably require less energy from Site C-style infrastructure. This is made especially obvious by the fact that during the last decade or so, the province’s population has increased by over half a million souls without increasing domestic energy requirements.
Perhaps that’s why Clark announced her abortive Climate Action Plan on a Friday afternoon, the day and time beloved of politicians anxious to slip through an announcement when it will garner the least public attention.
Undoubtedly anticipating broad-based condemnation of her party’s soon-to-be-released plan for climate change mitigation, which would not achieve GHG reduction goals, then-minister of environment Mary Polak finally revealed in May, 2017 that the government was going use electricity to power fracking.
On the one hand, the provincial Liberals would push forward and produce so-called “clean” energy from the Site C dam, hoping thereby to earn kudos from the environmental movement. On the other, they would take this energy and use it to power the gas industry and the plants that compress and liquefy fracked gas into LNG, thus reducing the fossil fuel industry’s carbon footprint and allowing the province to inch towards its stated greenhouse gas reduction targets.
“Clean” is not actually clean
Mothers generally teach their children that two wrongs do not make a right.
Using so-called “clean energy” to supply power to one of the “dirtiest” sources of energy may seem like a public relations coup, but in this case, it’s actually more like double trouble—the kind of tactic only a climate change-denying, fossil fuel industry-besotted government would resort to.
For starters, hydroelectric energy isn’t all that clean, because large amounts of methane gas are produced by decaying vegetation flooded upstream from dams.
For another, the reputation that natural gas itself has earned as a “clean” fossil fuel—to be used as a “bridge” fuel between coal and oil and renewable energy—has been robustly challenged. Some independent researchers have amassed strong evidence that fracking causes greater global warming effects than the fossil fuel usually condemned as the dirtiest of all: coal.
Reinforcing this evidence, a new study of methane leaks in BC from both active and capped wells shows that leakage rates are roughly two and a half times greater than has been previously claimed by both industry and government regulators.
So now it would appear that the former Liberal government and BC Hydro, recklessly indifferent to any climate change impact of their public policies, have plunged ahead with developing Site C, a hydroelectric megaproject that is going to contribute significantly to climate change, and will use the energy generated by that project to supply electricity to the LNG industry which will contribute even more significantly to climate change than previously estimated.
This flies in the face of a stern warning from Canada’s Environment Commissioner, Julie Gelfand, that all major infrastructure projects include a measurement of their climate impact.
And it ignores recent evidence, clearly outlined in a series of explicit graphs, and using the fossil fuel industry’s own data, showing that humankind is still producing more carbon dioxide and careering directly towards catastrophic elevation of global temperatures.
If this dam were to be built, it would also bring about massive “collateral damage.” It would destroy the way of life of Indigenous peoples in the region, uproot and disperse the Peace River farming community, cancel out ecological services that the Peace River Valley affords humanity for free, flood an expanse of the most productive soil in the province and make it inaccessible for food production, threaten the Wood Buffalo National Park, induce intense social stressors into Peace country communities, and deal British Columbians a powerful economic blow whose effects will last for decades.
And all this simply to gratify the failing fossil fuel industry by erecting an expensive structure that is a half-century out of date and set to augment decades-long financial burdens for coming generations in this province.
Frankly, if I were newly retired Christy Clark or part of the senior management of BC Hydro, I would be grateful to have been sidelined, because had they retained power and executed their irresponsible plans to build Site C, the echoes of their faulty rationale and foolhardy actions would have reverberated for decades down the road. They can now slip away and try to cover over Hydro’s disastrous financial status and the long-term burden it places on BC taxpayers.
Their anachronistic, ideologically-driven rhetoric may ensure a lucrative board position with one or more oil and gas companies down the road, whose ability to embrace the hard facts of the 21st century is also severely compromised.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, there is now an opportunity to terminate the economic, social and environmental disaster that is Site C.
And an opportunity for the rest of us to breathe a huge sigh of relief.Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, was published in 1953, and since then we've followed the exploits of the spy with the license to kill from country to country and woman to woman for more than five decades. You may only live twice, but Bond seems like he may just live forever. As James Bond movies often have a Thanksgiving season release and are watched among families together around the holiday, this seemed like a good time to share some trivia about the world's greatest spy.
Here are 8 things about James Bond you didn't (Dr.) know:
1. Ian Fleming named James Bond after an ornithologist because it was the "dullest name" he'd ever heard.
Fleming spoke to The New Yorker and explained:
When I wrote the first one, in 1953. I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened... One of the bibles of my youth was Birds of the West Indies, by James Bond, a well-known ornithologist, and when I was casting about for a name for my protagonist I thought, My God, that’s the dullest name I’ve ever heard, so I appropriated it. Now the dullest name in the world has become an exciting one. Mrs. Bond once wrote me a letter thanking me for using it.
According to the New York Times obituary of the ornithologist, Fleming once wrote to Bond and his wife saying, "I can only offer you or James Bond unlimited use of the name Ian Fleming for any purposes you may think fit." The Bonds were apparently amused by the whole ordeal.
The actual character of Bond is based off a handful of different people, including Fleming himself, as he was a spy during World War II for the British Naval Intelligence.
Images: WikiCommons
2. Pierce Brosnan was the deadliest James Bond, killing 135 people.
Before the release of "Skyfall," the James Bond character had killed 354 people with the "license to kill." Apparently 49 people died in "Skyfall," but it is unclear how many are attributed to Daniel Craig's Bond.
In any case, Pierce Brosnan averaged 33.8 kills per movie while reaching his 135-kill total. "You Only Live Twice," which starred Sean Connery as Bond, was the deadliest film overall, with a death count of 196.
On the other spectrum, James Bond has apparently slept with 55 women over the course of all the movies, although since the films don't tend to show all the sex scenes, a few of those partners are speculative.
3. James Bond wasn't Scottish until Sean Connery played the role.
Ian Fleming was initially apprehensive about Sean Connery's casting, as Connery didn't fit the character he had in mind (more on that further down). "He's not what I envisioned of James Bond looks," he said "I'm looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt man."
However, after seeing Connery in "Dr. No" and thinking the actor did a superb job, Fleming wrote Connery's heritage into the character. In the book You Only Live Twice, Fleming wrote that James Bond's father was Scottish and was from the town of Glencoe. Coincidentally, Connery would film "Highlander" in Glencoe decades later.
4. The iconic theme song is based off a song about sneezing from a failed musical.
Composer Monty Norman sings, "I was born with this unlucky sneeze, and what is worse, I came into the world the wrong way round. Pundits all agree that I am the reason why my father fell into the village pond and drowned."
Norman explained:
As time moved on, many people suggested I record the progenitor of the signature theme first heard in Dr No. So, with musical cuts of the middle production area, and with the help of Mehboob Nadim's evocative sitar and Pandit Dimesh's terrific tabla rhythms the embryonic melodies of the James Bond Theme, for the first time in nearly forty-five years, can be heard in their original form.
5. The character of "Q" in the movies is based off a pistol expert who wrote Ian Fleming fan letters.
The character "Q" was originally the name of a whole equipment branch in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, but Geoffrey Boothroyd was introduced in "Dr. No" after a fan with the same name wrote to Fleming kindly criticizing Bond's weapon choices. Boothroyd wrote to Fleming:
I have, by now, got rather fond of Mr. James Bond. I like most of the things about him, with the exception of his rather deplorable taste in firearms. In particular, I dislike a man who comes into contact with all sorts of formidable people using a.25 Beretta. This sort of gun is really a lady's gun, and not a really nice lady at that. If Mr. Bond has to use a light gun he would be better off with a.22 rim fire; the lead bullet would cause more shocking effect than the jacketed type of the.25. May I suggest that Mr. Bond be armed with a revolver?
In "Dr. No," Boothroyd tells Bond that his previously used Beretta 418 pistol was for ladies and gave him the iconic Walther PPK.
6. Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for "You Only Live Twice."
The producers Harry Saltzman and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli approached Roald Dahl in 1966 to write the screenplay for "You Only Live Twice," which would be released in 1967.
Dahl is, of course, the famous children's author of books such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The BFG.
Image: WikiCommons
7. Clint Eastwood turned down James Bond because he felt the role shouldn't be played by an American, but the first Bond on film was actually from the U.S. and was called "Jimmy Bond."
Clint Eastwood explained to Hero Complex in 2010 a time his lawyer approached him and said the Bond producers wanted him for the role:
I was also offered pretty good money to do James Bond if I would take on the role. This was after Sean Connery left. My lawyer represented the Broccolis [producers] and he came and said, "They would love to have you." But to me, well, that was somebody else |
the recipient of the fifth annual Beatrice Wood Film Award. -- K.M.Breitbart News has obtained images of the notebook found on Ahmed Khan Rahami’s person following his arrest in Linden, New Jersey Monday morning. Rahami has been charged with planting several explosives across New York and New Jersey, injuring 31 and causing millions of dollars in damage.
Rahami’s notebook is laden with references to Islamic radicalism, including favorable references to “brother” Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, whose jihadi sermons have remained popular long after his death via U.S. drone strike in 2011.
Rahami writes that he is following al-Awlaki’s orders to “kill the kuffar in their backyard,” referring to non-Muslims, and that he is praying for shahadat, or martyrdom, and was hoping to die in the process of executing the terrorist attacks he is being charged with.
The notebook is pierced by a bullet wound and covered in, presumably, Rahami’s blood. Rahami was shot after firing at Linden police upon being approached outside of a local bar.
Rahami has been charged with multiple counts of use of a weapon of mass destruction, attacks on public transportation zones, and assaulting police officers. He is suspected of having planted at least three sets of explosives: a bomb in a trash can in Seaside Park, New Jersey; two bombs in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan; and a bookbag carrying five explosives in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the Rahami family lives and operates a restaurant. One of the two bombs in Chelsea exploded, injuring 31; the other was found undetonated.
Law enforcement officials say no evidence exists yet that Rahami did not work alone, though they are treating the case as if he may have had accomplices. Among the clues that may reveal potential conspiracy are the fact that Rahami used mobile phones registered to the names of his relatives as detonators for the Chelsea and Seaside Heights bombs, and the fact that authorities found a video of Rahami testing an explosive in his backyard on the mobile phone of one of his relatives. No relatives have been named as suspects in the case.
Friends who knew Rahami and customers at his family’s restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, told reporters that Rahami appeared to have become significantly more devout in his Muslim faith after a series of extended trips to his native Afghanistan. He is also known to have traveled to Pakistan and married a woman, identified as Asia Bibi Rahami, during that time. Asia Bibi Rahami fled the country to Pakistan two days before the Chelsea bombing; she was stopped in the United Arab Emirates and has been questioned by police.
Rahami’s father, Mohammed, reported his son to the FBI as a potential terrorist in 2014 after Ahmed Rahami stabbed a sibling in the leg during a family dispute. The FBI did not find any evidence concerning them regarding Rahami following that investigation.The Daily 202: Kentucky governor, not sold on Trump, embraces his role as a Clinton foil
From:[email protected] To: [email protected] Date: 2016-05-13 11:09 Subject: The Daily 202: Kentucky governor, not sold on Trump, embraces his role as a Clinton foil
The Daily 202 from PowerPost Sponsored by Qualcomm | Why Republicans are unifying: They hate Hillary. If you're having trouble reading this, click here. <{{view_url}}> <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3dwL2NhdGVnb3J5L3RoZS1kYWlseS0yMDIvP3dwbW09MSZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfZGFpbHkyMDI/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1D08d3b013> Share on Twitter <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9pbnRlbnQvdHdlZXQ_dGV4dD1DaGVjayUyMG91dCUyMFRoZSUyMERhaWx5JTIwMjAyJTIwZnJvbSUyMCU0MFBvd2VyUG9zdCUyMGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9uZXdzL3Bvd2VycG9zdC9wYWxvbWEvZGFpbHktMjAyLzIwMTYvMDUvMTMvZGFpbHktMjAyLWtlbnR1Y2t5LWdvdmVybm9yLW5vdC1zb2xkLW9uLXRydW1wLWVtYnJhY2VzLWhpcy1yb2xlLWFzLWEtY2xpbnRvbi1mb2lsLzU3MzRjNWY1OTgxYjkyYTIyZDc2MmZlNC8mc291cmNlPXdlYmNsaWVudCZ3cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C39b5cde3> Share on Facebook <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3NoYXJlci9zaGFyZXIucGhwP3U9aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3BhbG9tYS9kYWlseS0yMDIvMjAxNi8wNS8xMy9kYWlseS0yMDIta2VudHVja3ktZ292ZXJub3Itbm90LXNvbGQtb24tdHJ1bXAtZW1icmFjZXMtaGlzLXJvbGUtYXMtYS1jbGludG9uLWZvaWwvNTczNGM1ZjU5ODFiOTJhMjJkNzYyZmU0LyZ3cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cc1ae1e84> <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cDovL2xpLndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9jbGljaz9zPTEzNzM3MyZsYXlvdXQ9bWFycXVlZSZsaT0lN0IlN0JhZGhhc2glN0QlN0Qmd3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1B23cf7e6f> <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cDovL2xpLndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9jbGljaz9zPTEzNzM3NiZzej0xMTZ4MTUmbGk9JTdCJTdCYWRoYXNoJTdEJTdEJndwbW09MSZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfZGFpbHkyMDI/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cff71f8b8> <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cDovL2xpLndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9jbGljaz9zPTEzNzM3NyZzej02OXgxNSZsaT0lN0IlN0JhZGhhc2glN0QlN0Qmd3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Dcb0a7698> Kentucky governor, not sold on Trump, embraces his role as a Clinton foil <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3BhbG9tYS9kYWlseS0yMDIvMjAxNi8wNS8xMy9kYWlseS0yMDIta2VudHVja3ktZ292ZXJub3Itbm90LXNvbGQtb24tdHJ1bXAtZW1icmFjZXMtaGlzLXJvbGUtYXMtYS1jbGludG9uLWZvaWwvNTczNGM1ZjU5ODFiOTJhMjJkNzYyZmU0Lz93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Ccc2e96ef> Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin watching thoroughbreds train before daylight at Churchill Downs in Louisville last week. (AP Photo/Garry Jones) THE BIG IDEA: As she campaigns in Kentucky ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Hillary Clinton has repeatedly slammed Republican Gov. Matt Bevin on everything from health care to education. The businessman, elected unexpectedly last fall with promises to shake up Frankfort, has signaled that he wants to dismantle the state health exchange set up by his Democratic predecessor and move Kentuckians into the insurance market managed by the federal government. He’s in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. When Clinton brings up Bevin at rallies, Democratic crowds boo. “I am saddened by what I hear may come out of the governor’s office here in Kentucky,” she said in Louisville this week. She even went to a family health center in Louisville to talk with doctors and draw attention to the issue. “I have to tell you, it just brought tears to my eyes,” she recalled to a crowd later in the day. “People who are getting health care for the first time in years … and it is so distressing to me when anybody in public life, who has all the health care he or she needs, wants to take it away from poor people, working poor people, small business people, and others who don’t have the health care they need.” Bill Clinton knocked Bevin yesterday during a three-city swing across the Bluegrass State, and his wife plans to do so again when she returns on Sunday and Monday. As she tries to finish off Bernie Sanders, this is a play to the base that dovetails nicely with Hillary’s broader strategy <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3BhbG9tYS9kYWlseS0yMDIvMjAxNi8wMy8wOC9kYWlseS0yMDItaGlsbGFyeS1jbGludG9uLWlzLXdpbm5pbmctd2l0aC1hLWh5cGVyLWxvY2FsLXN0cmF0ZWd5LzU2ZGUyMDQwOTgxYjkyYTIyZDc2MTJkNy8_d3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Ccf527713> to localize the presidential race as much as possible <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3BhbG9tYS9kYWlseS0yMDIvMjAxNi8wNC8xOC9kYWlseS0yMDItaGlsbGFyeS1jbGludG9uLXRhY2tsZXMtdGhlLW5ldy15b3JrLXByaW1hcnktbGlrZS1hLXNlbmF0ZS1jYW5kaWRhdGUvNTcxNDQwZDQ5ODFiOTJhMjJkMDNmM2UzLz93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cc4a2e31f>. Her goal is to show progressives that she’s a fighter who is on their side and to demonstrate that she cares deeply about the issues that directly affect people’s lives. Hillary Clinton speaks with Bill Wagner, executive director of Family Health Centers, during a tour of his facility in Louisville on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Bevin, in an interview with the 202, pushed back strongly against the Clintons. He argues that he’s not trying to take health coverage from anyone but working to make care more affordable and accessible. “An insurance card does not make you healthy,” he said. “You can crow about expanding this and that, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t improve outcomes. … And at the end of the day, it does have to be paid for. It’s not cheap.” “The Clintons have been surrounded by corruption their entire political lives,” the governor said. “I don’t use the term corruption lightly. … Go back to Arkansas and follow the trail. … Go back to Whitewater. Look at the foundations. Look at the pay to play.” Bevin is a self-made millionaire who owns several businesses. “People like them have become extremely wealthy by milking their connections,” he complained. He also said Clinton attacks him on health care so that the media does not cover her gaffe about putting lots of coal miners out of work. “She wants to destroy a key part of our state,” he said. “She wants to see coal wiped off the face of the Earth.” "Gov. Bevin can resort to personal attacks, but Hillary Clinton is going to remain focused on laying out how she'll fight for Kentucky families as president,” her spokesman Ian Sams responded. “Her commitment to tackling the challenges that young and working families face in accessing affordable health care and child care is quite a contrast with a Republican governor intent on taking away people's health insurance and cutting critical funding for higher education." Donald Trump arrives for his meeting with Paul Ryan yesterday. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) -- Though few other elected officials still talk this way, Bevin maintains that no one has the Republican nomination definitely locked up until the convention in Cleveland, which he plans to attend. “Let me see who it will be,” he said, when asked whether he will support Donald Trump. “More than the party, I’m interested in people who are conservative. Sadly, the most conservative people are no longer in the race.” I asked Bevin if he considers Trump a conservative. “I’ll let people make their own determination on that,” he said. Then he referenced Matthew 7. “You can judge a tree by the fruit it bears,” he said. -- While Bevin may not be sold on Trump, his dripping disdain for both Clintons is genuine and deep. This, he made clear to me, will eventually get him off the sidelines. It may also be one of the reasons why so many elected Republicans ultimately unite behind The Donald. “I’ve been very, very, very clear from the beginning until now. In no way, shape or form do I want to see Hillary—or Bernie—get elected,” Bevin said. “The future of America is on trial. … We get the government we deserve.” Sheldon Adelson reads a deposition while testifying in a former employee's wrongful termination suit on April 28. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool) -- Even Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson outlines his support for Trump with an an op-ed in today's Post: <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL29waW5pb25zL3NoZWxkb24tYWRlbHNvbi1pLWVuZG9yc2UtZG9uYWxkLXRydW1wLWZvci1wcmVzaWRlbnQvMjAxNi8wNS8xMi9lYTg5ZDdmMC0xN2EwLTExZTYtYWE1NS02NzBjYWJlZjQ2ZTBfc3RvcnkuaHRtbD93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cd51c6ba6> "I am endorsing Trump’s bid for president and strongly encourage my fellow Republicans — especially our Republican elected officials, party loyalists and operatives, and those who provide important financial backing — to do the same.” Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning newsletter. With contributions from Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9icmVhbm5lX2RlcD93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C7577cbff>) and Elise Viebeck (@eliseviebeck <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9lbGlzZXZpZWJlY2s_d3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C1609eef8>) Sign up to receive the newsletter. <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3dwL2NhdGVnb3J5L3RoZS1kYWlseS0yMDIvP3dwbW09MSZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfZGFpbHkyMDI/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1E08d3b013> A gender neutral sign is posted outside a bathroom at Oval Park Grill in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images) WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: -- The Obama administration is instructing schools across the nation to provide transgender access to facilities – including bathrooms and locker rooms – that match their chosen gender identity. From Juliet Eilperin <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL3BvbGl0aWNzL29iYW1hLWFkbWluaXN0cmF0aW9uLXRvLWluc3RydWN0LXNjaG9vbHMtdG8tYWNjb21tb2RhdGUtdHJhbnNnZW5kZXItc3R1ZGVudHMvMjAxNi8wNS8xMi8wZWQxYzUwZS0xOGFiLTExZTYtYWE1NS02NzBjYWJlZjQ2ZTBfc3RvcnkuaHRtbD93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C6136315b>: “The letter from two top administration officials … effectively puts state and local officials on notice that they could lose federal aid if they confine students to areas or teams based on the gender that matches their birth certificate. Citing Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination at schools that receive federal funding, the two officials warn the law imposes an ‘obligation’ on schools ‘to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns.’” Meanwhile, the White House says it will not decide whether to withhold federal funds from North Carolina until dueling lawsuits over its "bathroom bill” are resolved. The decision gives the Tar Heel State a temporary reprieve from the threat of losing billions of dollars in education funding. (Matt Zapotosky <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG9zdC1uYXRpb24vd3AvMjAxNi8wNS8xMi93aGl0ZS1ob3VzZS13b250LWtlZXAtZnVuZHMtZnJvbS1ub3J0aC1jYXJvbGluYS1iZWZvcmUtY291cnQtYmF0dGxlLW92ZXItdHJhbnNnZW5kZXItcmlnaHRzLWlzLXJlc29sdmVkLz93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C6b8044c5>) -- A federal appeals court granted an Alabama prisoner a stay of execution just hours before he was set to die by lethal injection. The inmate's attorneys argued he was not competent to be executed. Then, late last night, an evenly divided Supreme Court left the stay in place. It's another reminder of how high the stakes are in the fight over Merrick Garland. (Mark Berman <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG9zdC1uYXRpb24vd3AvMjAxNi8wNS8xMi9mZWRlcmFsLWFwcGVhbHMtY291cnQtZGVsYXlzLWFsYWJhbWEtaW5tYXRlcy1sZXRoYWwtaW5qZWN0aW9uLWhvdXJzLWJlZm9yZS1zY2hlZHVsZWQtZXhlY3V0aW9uLz93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Ca6e2410d>) -- 88,200 gallons of oil leaked from a Shell flow line into the Gulf of Mexico, about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard says the leak has been secured and cleanup crews are on the way. There is a miles-long sheen on the water. (AP <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cDovL2JpZ3N0b3J5LmFwLm9yZy9hcnRpY2xlLzVlYzg0YmVhMjg5NzQzZGU5MWM2ODgwNDYwMDZhY2JkL2NvYXN0LWd1YXJkLXNoZWxsLWxpbmUtbGVha3MtODgyMDAtZ2FsbG9ucy1ndWxmP3dwbW09MSZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfZGFpbHkyMDI/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C3fe69afc>) -- Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia just announced that its top military commander in the Syrian civil war died in a mysterious blast in Damascus, dealing a major blow to the powerful Iranian-backed group. "The killing of Mustafa Badreddine, 55, comes as Hezbollah struggles to balance combatting its traditional nemesis, Israel, with its costly intervention in the Syrian conflict to bolster President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the rebellion," Hugh Naylor and Suzan Haidamous report <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL3dvcmxkL2luLWJsb3ctdG8taGV6Ym9sbGFoLWEtc2VuaW9yLWNvbW1hbmRlci1pcy1raWxsZWQtaW4tc3lyaWEvMjAxNi8wNS8xMy81ZmMxOGY0OS05NWE0LTRiZDgtODllYy1hYmI2Y2M2NjUwYmRfc3RvcnkuaHRtbD93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Ca90e4ad0>. "He was linked to deadly attacks in 1983 on U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait, and was among four people indicted by a U.N. tribunal for involvement in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri." GET SMART FAST: Trump’s longtime former butler called for President Obama to be killed in a Facebook post, prompting a Secret Service investigation. The Trump campaign disavowed the statement. (Elahe Izadi <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG9zdC1wb2xpdGljcy93cC8yMDE2LzA1LzEyL3NlY3JldC1zZXJ2aWNlLXRvLWludmVzdGlnYXRlLWFmdGVyLXRydW1wcy1leC1idXRsZXItY2FsbHMtZm9yLW9iYW1hLXRvLWJlLWtpbGxlZC8_d3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C5eb8c6c3>) Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert will not appeal his 15-month prison sentence for violating banking reporting rules. (Matt Zapotosky <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG9zdC1uYXRpb24vd3AvMjAxNi8wNS8xMi9sYXd5ZXItZGVubmlzLWhhc3RlcnQtd29udC1hcHBlYWwtY29udmljdGlvbi1hbmQtc2VudGVuY2UvP3dwbW09MSZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfZGFpbHkyMDI/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C986bc703>) Pope Francis told an international conference of nuns that he wants to create a commission to study the possibility of “reinstating” female deacons, potentially signaling a historic shift for the Roman Catholic Church. (Julie Zauzmer, Anthony Faiola and Michelle Boorstein <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvYWN0cy1vZi1mYWl0aC93cC8yMDE2LzA1LzEyL3BvcGUtZnJhbmNpcy13aWxsLXJlcG9ydGVkbHktc3R1ZHktdGhlLXBvc3NpYmlsaXR5LW9mLWZlbWFsZS1kZWFjb25zLz93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cc2f780d7>) The EPA finalized the first federal regulations to govern emissions of methane from the oil and gas industry, the next step in Obama’s effort to combat climate change. (Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvZW5lcmd5LWVudmlyb25tZW50L3dwLzIwMTYvMDUvMTIvb2JhbWEtYWRtaW5pc3RyYXRpb24tYW5ub3VuY2VzLWhpc3RvcmljLW5ldy1yZWd1bGF0aW9ucy1mb3ItbWV0aGFuZS1lbWlzc2lvbnMtZnJvbS1vaWwtYW5kLWdhcy8_d3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C123ebc2d>) Damage control: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to meet with influential conservatives to discuss allegations that the site prioritized left-leaning content in its “trending” section. “I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible,” he said in a statement <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly9tLmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS96dWNrL3Bvc3RzLzEwMTAyODMwMjU5MTg0NzAxP19yZHImd3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cbbff5281>. The Senate struck a bipartisan deal over Zika funding, agreeing to provide $1.1 billion to battle the mosquito-borne virus. The compromise breaks a months-long standoff over how much spending is needed to address the growing public health threat. Now the House needs to act. (Kelsey Snell <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG93ZXJwb3N0L3dwLzIwMTYvMDUvMTIvc2VuYXRlLXJlYWNoZXMtZGVhbC1vbi16aWthLWZ1bmRpbmctd2lsbC12b3RlLXR1ZXNkYXkvP3dwbW09MSZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfZGFpbHkyMDI/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C562a9c8e>) Someone on a list of Bridgegate “co-conspirators” is anonymously trying to get a judge to prevent the list from being released, arguing that its publication will “unfairly brand them a criminal.” (AP <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cDovL2t0YXIuY29tL3N0b3J5LzEwNzE5NTgvcGVyc29uLW9uLWJyaWRnZS1jb25zcGlyYWN5LWxpc3Qtd2FudHMtaXQta2VwdC1mcm9tLXB1YmxpYy8_d3BtbT0xJndwaXNyYz1ubF9kYWlseTIwMg/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C905492bc>) Iran is suspending participation in the hajj pilgrimage as its relationship with Saudi Arabia chills. The two countries failed to agree on how pilgrims would receive visas. (Paul Schemm <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL3dvcmxkL2lyYW4tc3VzcGVuZHMtcGFydGljaXBhdGlvbi1pbi1hbm51YWwtaGFqai1waWxncmltYWdlLWFzLXJlbGF0aW9ucy13aXRoLXNhdWRpLXBsdW1tZXQvMjAxNi8wNS8xMi9hMGUxYzk3MC0xODQ4LTExZTYtOTI0ZC04Mzg3NTMyOTVmOWFfc3RvcnkuaHRtbD93cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1C6ce42f9c>) U.S. troops have been stationed at two Libyan outposts since last year, tasked with lining up local partners in advance of a potential offensive against the Islamic State. (Missy Ryan <http://link.washingtonpost.com/click/6715877.463710/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL3dvcmxkL25hdGlvbmFsLXNlY3VyaXR5L3VzLWVzdGFibGlzaGVzLWxpYnlhbi1vdXRwb3N0cy13aXRoLWV5ZS10b3dhcmQtb2ZmZW5zaXZlLWFnYWluc3QtaXNsYW1pYy1zdGF0ZS8yMDE2LzA1LzEyLzExMTk1ZDMyLTE4M2MtMTFlNi05ZTE2LTJlNWExMjNhYWM2Ml9zdG9yeS5odG1sP3RpZD1wbV93b3JsZF9wb3BfYiZ3cG1tPTEmd3Bpc3JjPW5sX2RhaWx5MjAy/55c8886a6e4adc304b9cf8c1Cc42e88d9>) A sailor has died in three out of the last four Navy SEAL training classes, raising questions over the safety and supervision of the grueling program. (Thomas Gib |
piles of apartments. Standing tall on the east side of Kent Avenue, these high-end high rises are squarely in Zone A, the first of the flood zones to be hit in the event of a severe weather event.
Not only has this corner of the city begun to resemble Miami, but it is also starting to feel like it. Memories of Hurricane Irene and the evacuation that preceded it still hang in the minds of those who call this place home, looming ominously, if so far harmlessly, like the heavy clouds blotting out the skyline. Many, drawing on the anticlimactic experience of last year, saw little reason to leave, even as a lone NYPD patrol car spent the entire afternoon circling around the base of the towers. As the same loudspeaker recording blared over and over again, it seemed like the vast majority of residents were indifferent to the pleas of Mayor Bloomberg.
This is the NYPD. You are located in Zone A, there is a mandatory evacuation in effect, and the mayor has required everyone to evacuate by 7 p.m. Anyone found to be knowingly violating this evacuation order will be charged with a class B misdemeanor.
“We’re staying,” Javier Andrede said, wearing a windbreaker as he made his way into the lobby of Northside Piers 1, his English bulldog waddling beside him. “There might be a little wind, some flooding, but I’m not worried. After the previous hurricane, I think we’ll be Okay.” Next to him, sandbags had already blocked off the revolving door, and the entrance to the neighboring Northside Piers 2 had been totally blocked off, with a hand-written sign directing residents to use the service entrance.
Mr. Andrede said hello to Zigi Liebold before making his way inside, as Ms. Liebold tried to corral her young daughter, who was dancing around, wired by all the excitement of people coming and going with the gusts, and maybe a little of that energy Ms. Laurel had been feeling. “We’re on a high floor, so we’re not very worried,” Ms. Liebold said. “We’d stay inside anyway, who wants to be outside?”
The amazing thing was, within an hour or so, Ms. Liebold, Mr. Andrede and their neighbors would have no choice but to stay cooped up inside their luxury homes. Building management was taking the mayor’s evacuation declaration very seriously, and after 7 p.m., it would be sealing up the building, turning off the elevators and letting no one in or out. Mr. Andrede said last time that lasted about 24 hours. He had just returned from walking his dog one last time, since the pooch would also be confined to the building as well. “We’re putting down lots of newspaper,” Mr. Andrede explained.
Some people were putting a positive spin on a potentially dire situation. “I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Livia Lee, who works for Lacoste and lives at The Edge said as she dashed out of her building for supplies, imploring this reporter to walk and transcribe as she went. She wanted to get to the store before the last of the supplies ran out.
“I just got these kick-ass new stereo speakers and I am going to listen to those until the power runs out,” Jim Butler, another Edge resident, said, tugging on the doors of the CVS that is part of the complex—it had just closed a few minutes before 5 p.m. “Then I’m going to read and look at my art books. I’ll live by candlelight, get in touch with my 19th century self.”Bugtraq mailing list archives
By Date By Thread [SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT] CVE-2015-0225 From: Jake Luciani <jake () apache org>
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2015 09:43:43 -0400
CVE-2015-0225: Apache Cassandra remote execution of arbitrary code Severity: Important Vendor: The Apache Software Foundation Versions Affected: Cassandra 1.2.0 to 1.2.19 Cassandra 2.0.0 to 2.0.13 Cassandra 2.1.0 to 2.1.3 Description: Under its default configuration, Cassandra binds an unauthenticated JMX/RMI interface to all network interfaces. As RMI is an API for the transport and remote execution of serialized Java, anyone with access to this interface can execute arbitrary code as the running user. Mitigation: 1.2.x has reached EOL, so users of <= 1.2.x are recommended to upgrade to a supported version of Cassandra, or manually configure encryption and authentication of JMX, (seehttps://wiki.apache.org/cassandra/JmxSecurity). 2.0.x users should upgrade to 2.0.14 2.1.x users should upgrade to 2.1.4 Alternately, users of any version not wishing to upgrade can reconfigure JMX/RMI to enable encryption and authentication according to https://wiki.apache.org/cassandra/JmxSecurityor http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/management/agent.html Credit: This issue was discovered by Georgi Geshev of MWR InfoSecurity By Date By Thread Current thread: [SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT] CVE-2015-0225 Jake Luciani (Apr 01)IsoHunt, one of the oldest BitTorrent sites on the Internet, turns 10 years old today. The site has been fighting Hollywood in court for more than seven years but has not backed down. IsoHunt founder Gary Fung is determined to protect and facilitate people's right to share culture legitimately. "One would think the people of the Internet are losing to the copyright cartels, but I think different," he says.
IsoHunt celebrates its 10th birthday today. Although torrents weren’t added to the search engine until August 2003, the site is one of the longest surviving BitTorrent sites around.
The fact that it’s still around is an achievement in itself as isoHunt has been fighting court cases with major media companies since 2006 when they were sued by the MPAA. Three years ago this case led to a court-ordered keyword filter to protect the copyrights of Hollywood.
IsoHunt protested this decision, fearing it would censor legitimate content, and hopes to get rid of the filter through the Appeals Court where the case is still active. A separate lawsuit against the major music labels in isoHunt’s home country Canada is also still ongoing.
Despite the legal troubles isoHunt remains one of the most frequently visited torrent sites. The site has millions of visitors every day and as can be seen from the graph below, the number of torrent files indexed has risen from little over 8 million to more than 11 million over the past year.
isoHunt’s torrent growth over the past year.
Commenting on the milestone birthday isoHunt founder Gary Fung recalls how many file-sharing sites and applications have come and gone in a decade, and how the Internet has changed.
“When I started isoHunt during engineering school, I truly did not think I’d be working on it for 10 years, but here I am. Napster, Kazaa, Suprnova, LokiTorrent. Big names have come and gone, and the Internet has changed,” Fung says.
While file-sharing has exploded in a decade, so have the legal and legislative actions against it. Large websites have been toppled and lawmakers are increasingly coming up with ideas to censor the internet to protect copyright holders. Fung, however, sees the balance slowly moving in favor of “The Internet.”
“One would think we the people of the Internet are losing to the copyright cartels, but I think different,” Fung says.
“I saw solidarity against tyranny in protests against SOPA, which did not pass. I see musicians and filmmakers slowly but surely warming up to new possibilities of Internet distribution and promotion, abandoning notions of ‘1 download = 1 lost sale’ in the physical age.”
While the Internet may indeed be accepted more as a legitimate means of distributing files, new technologies are likely to bring new challenges.
“Ideals of the Free Software movement and Creative Commons will face new challenges with 3D printed copies of physical objects, replicated from copyrightable digital designs. We are moving into the world of science fiction.”
New technologies will mean new scapegoats and new lawsuits, a topic isoHunt’s founder is done with discussing.
“I’ve fought Hollywood’s lawsuit for almost 7 years now, it’s so ancient it’s almost not even worth mentioning. Same goes with CRIA’s lawsuit. I’m tired of this squabble and they trying to make me and isoHunt another scapegoat in their crusade of no historic meaning.”
Fung sees isoHunt as a “culture business,” facilitating transactions between creators and consumers. Building on this idea he want to spend the next decade bridging the gap between these groups even further.
“The only way to move forward is together, with the creators. For the next 10 years, I’m imagining a reboot of isoHunt. From a mostly passive search engine, to a new system where you the consumer can be active participants in bringing creators on board, and you can frictionlessly contribute to the creators.”
“I’m calling this isoHunt Spotlight for now, until we think of a better name. And this will be a new endeavour, a complement to isoHunt the search engine which will continue its mission of indexing any and all torrent links,” he says.
The new project is currently in early stages of development and according to isoHunt’s founder it will be a mashup between Kickstarter, Netflix, Spotify, Gamefly, Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, with appropriate licensing deals. A progressive idea for a torrent site, to say the least.
We congratulate Gary and isoHunt with the milestone birthday, and will be keeping a close eye on the developments in the coming decade.This month it is our pleasure to discuss Aristotle’s ethics with Greg Salmieri, Visiting Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Boston University. Click here to listen to our conversation.
Aristotle was somewhat ambivalent about the activity of craftsmanship: i.e. the activity of making things like shoes, clothes, or pottery. On the one hand, he had great respect for it, and of course acknowledged that it was something that needed to be done. But on the other, he thought it wasn’t the best possible way you could spend your time. The best possible life you could live, according to Aristotle, would be one in which philosophical contemplation played a central role. In the ancient world, looking at craftsmanship as something which had to be done, but wasn’t the best possible thing you could be doing, led to a society stratified into two classes: the slaves and the leisure class. Effectively, the people who had the social standing to do nothing but contemplate the truths of the universe all day farmed the activity of making things off to others.
In this episode, Greg Salmieri argues that although we now view slavery as morally horrific, the attitude toward craftsmanship that led to it still persists. As a result, we now engage in something a bit like slavery, only with a modern-day flavor, which he calls ‘living for the weekend.’ The difference is that instead of farming the activities we’d rather not be doing off to other people, we farm them off to our 9-to-5 selves, working jobs we don’t necessarily enjoy that much just to pay the bills, then decompressing on the weekend. Salmieri thinks this practice has repercussions not just for people engaged in what are thought of as less glamorous jobs, but for professional philosophers as well. The solution, he suggests, is to approach the craftlike activities in our lives in such a way that they contribute meaningfully to the rest, rather than as tedious grunt work.
Tune in to hear our guest’s thoughts on how contemporary philosophers can do the same!
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On Election Day, political campaigns, candidates, consultants, and pollsters pay close attention to who votes and why—and so does Facebook. For the past six years, on every national Election Day, the social-networking behemoth has pushed out a tool—a high-profile button that proclaims “I’m Voting” or “I’m a Voter”—designed to encourage Facebook users to vote. Now, Facebook says it has finished fine-tuning the tool, and if all goes according to plan, on Tuesday many of its more than 150 million American users will feel a gentle but effective nudge to vote, courtesy of Mark Zuckerberg & Co. If past research is any guide, up to a few million more people will head to the polls partly because their Facebook friends encouraged them.
Yet the process by which Facebook has developed this tool—what the firm calls the “voter megaphone”—has not been very transparent, raising questions about its use and Facebook’s ability to influence elections. Moreover, while Facebook has been developing and promoting this tool, it has also been quietly conducting experiments on how the company’s actions can affect the voting behavior of its users.
In particular, Facebook has studied how changes in the news feed seen by its users—the constant drip-drip-drip of information shared by friends that is heart of their Facebook experience—can affect their level of interest in politics and their likelihood of voting. For one such experiment, conducted in the three months prior to Election Day in 2012, Facebook increased the amount of hard news stories at the top of the feeds of 1.9 million users. According to one Facebook data scientist, that change—which users were not alerted to—measurably increased civic engagement and voter turnout.
Facebook officials insist there’s nothing untoward going on. But for several years, the company has been reluctant to answer questions about its voter promotion efforts and these research experiments. It was only as I was putting the finishing touches on this article that Facebook started to provide some useful new details on its election work and research.
So what has Facebook been doing to boost voter participation, and why should anyone worry about it?
Since 2008, researchers at the company have experimented with providing users an easy way to share with their friends the fact that they were voting, and Facebook scientists have studied how making that information social—by placing it in their peers’ feeds—could boost turnout. In 2010, Facebook put different forms of an “I’m Voting” button on the pages of about 60 million of its American users. Company researchers were testing the versions to understand the effect of each and to determine how to optimize the tool’s impact. Two groups of 600,000 users were left out to serve as a control group—one which saw the “I’m Voting” button but didn’t get any information about their friends’ behavior, and one which saw nothing related to voting at all. Two years later, a team of academics and Facebook data scientists published their findings in Nature magazine.
“It is possible, that more of the 0.6 percent growth in turnout between 2006 and 2010 might have been caused by a single message on Facebook.”
Their paper, with the astounding title “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization,” found that about 20 percent of the users who saw that their friends had voted also clicked on the “I Voted” button, compared to 18 percent of the people who didn’t get the “I Voted” message from their friends. That is, positive social pressure caused more people to vote (or at least to tell their friends they were voting). After the election, the study’s authors examined voter records and concluded that Facebook’s nudging had increased voter turnout by at least 340,000. As the study noted, that’s about 0.14 percent of the total voting-age population in 2010. Considering that overall turnout rose from 37.2 percent in 2006 to 37.8 percent in 2010—both off-year, nonpresidential elections—the Facebook scientists maintained that the voter megaphone impact in 2010 was substantial. “It is possible,” the Facebook team wrote in Nature, “that more of the 0.6 percent growth in turnout between 2006 and 2010 might have been caused by a single message on Facebook.”
In the 2012 election, Facebook proclaimed that it would again be promoting voter participation with the “I’m Voting” button. On Election Day, it posted a note declaring, “Facebook is focused on ensuring that those who are eligible to vote know where they can cast their ballots and, if they wish, share the fact that they voted with their friends.”
But this wasn’t entirely true, because, once again, Facebook was conducting research on its users—and it wasn’t telling them about it. Most but not all adult Facebook users in the United States had some version of the voter megaphone placed on their pages. But for some, this button appeared only late in the afternoon. Some users reported clicking on the button but never saw anything about their friends voting in their own feed. Facebook says more than 9 million people clicked on the button on Election Day 2012. But until now, the company had not disclosed what experiments it was conducting that day.
“Our voter button tests in 2012 were primarily designed to see if different messages on the button itself impacted the likelihood of people interacting with it,” says Michael Buckley, Facebook’s vice president for global business communications. “For example, one treatment said, ‘I’m a Voter.’ Another treatment said, ‘I’m Voting.'”
The company also tested whether the location of the button on the page had any effect in motivating a user to declare that he or she were voting. “Some of [the different versions] were more likely to result in clicks,” Buckley says, “but there was no difference…in terms of the potential ability to get people to the polls. Bottom line, it didn’t matter what the button said.”
According to Buckley, there were three reasons many Facebook users didn’t see the voter megaphone in 2012. The first was a variety of software bugs that caused a large number of people to be excluded from seeing the tool. This might have kept the button off of millions of users’ pages. In addition, some users missed the button because they were part of a control group, and others may not have logged in at the right time of day. Buckley insists that the distribution of the voter megaphone in 2012 was entirely random—meaning Facebook did not push the voting promotion tool to a certain sort of user.
“We’ve always implemented these tests in a neutral manner,” Buckley insists. “And we’ve been learning from our experience and are 100 percent committed to even greater transparency whenever we encourage civic participation in the future.”
Until now, transparency has not been Facebook’s hallmark. For the past two years, my colleagues at TechPresident.com and I have have made a steady stream of requests for details on Facebook’s 2012 voter megaphone research. We were met with silence or vague promises that someday, when the research was published in an academic journal, we’d get some information about what the company was doing. That suddenly changed this week when I started asking Facebook about a different but related experiment it conducted during the 2012 election.
In the fall of 2012, according to two public talks given by Facebook data scientist Lada Adamic, a colleague at the company, Solomon Messing, experimented on the news feeds of 1.9 million random users. According to Adamic, Messing “tweaked” the feeds of those users so that “instead of seeing your regular news feed, if any of your friends had shared a news story, [Messing] would boost that news story so that it was up top [on your page] and you were much more likely to see it.” Normally, most users will see something more personal at the top of the page, like a wedding announcement or baby pictures.
Messing’s “tweak” had an effect, most strongly among occasional Facebook users. After the election, he surveyed that group and found a statistically significant increase in how much attention users said they paid to government. And, as the below chart used by Adamic in a lecture last year suggests, turnout among that group rose from a self-reported 64 percent to more than 67 percent. This means Messing’s unseen intervention boosted voter turnout by 3 percent. That’s a major uptick (though based only on user self-reporting).
Days ago, after I asked Facebook about Messing’s work, the company took down the YouTube video of that Adamic lecture, which had taken place at an annual public conference called News Foo that was attended by hundreds of journalists and techies. (You can view my cached copy of her talk here.) It was as if Facebook didn’t want users to know it had been messing with their news feed this way—though the company says it was only trying to protect these findings so Messing could publish an academic paper based on this experiment.
Buckley, the Facebook spokesman, insists that Messing’s study was an “in product” test designed to see how users would interact with their pages if their news feeds more prominently featured news shared by friends. Drawing from a list of 100 top media outlets—”the New York Times to Fox, Mother Jones to RushLimbaugh.com,” Buckley says—Facebook tested whether showing users stories their friends were sharing from those sites would affect user engagement with the site (meaning commenting, liking, sharing and so on) as well as voter participation. Facebook found there was no decrease in users’ interaction. “This was literally some of the earliest learning we had on news,” Buckley says. “Now, we’ve literally changed News Feed, to reduce spam and increase the quality of content.”
It is curious that Facebook officials apparently thought that testing such a major change in its users’ feeds in the weeks before the 2012 election—precisely when people might be paying more attention to political news and cues—was benign and not worth sharing with its users and the public. Likewise, Facebook failed to disclose and explain for two years why its promise to give all of its American users the ability to share their voting experience had misfired. And, according to Buckley, the public will not receive full answers until some point in 2015, when academic reports fully describing what Facebook did in 2012 are expected to be published.
It’s not surprising that Facebook has been reticent to discuss its product experiments and their impact on voting. After all, most of its users have no idea that the company is constantly manipulating what they see on their feeds. In June, when a team of academics and Facebook data scientists revealed that they had randomly altered the emotional content of the feeds of 700,000 users, the company was met with global outrage and protest. The actual impact of this research into “emotional contagion” was tiny; the data showed that a user would post four more negative words per 10,000 written after one positive post was removed from his or her feed. Still, people were enraged that Facebook would tamper with the news feed in order to affect the emotions of its users. (The lead academic researcher on that study, Jeff Hancock, needed police protection.)
There may be another reason for Facebook’s lack of transparency regarding its voting promotion experiments: politics. Facebook officials likely do not want Republicans on Capitol Hill to realize that their voter megaphone isn’t a neutral get-out-the-vote mechanism. It’s not that Facebook uses this tool to remind only users who identify themselves as Democrats to vote—though the company certainly has the technical means to do so. But the Facebook user base tilts Democratic. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, women are 10 points more likely to use this social network than men; young people are almost twice as likely to be on Facebook than those older than 65; and urbanites are slightly more likely to turn to Facebook than folks in rural areas. If the voter megaphone was applied even-handedly across Facebook’s adult American user population in 2012, it probably pushed more Obama supporters than Romney backers toward the voting booth.
This is the age of big data and powerful algorithms that can sort people and manipulate them in many hidden ways. Using those tools, national political campaigns, building on the Obama 2012 reelection effort, are learning how to “engineer the public” without the public’s knowledge, as sociologist Zeynep Tufekci has warned. Consequently, there is a strong case for greater Facebook transparency when it comes to its political efforts and experiments. Clearly, the company is proud of the voter megaphone. After a successful test run in the Indian national elections this spring, the company announced that it would be putting the tool on the pages of users in all the major democracies holding national elections this year and that it would also deploy the tool for the European Union vote. According to Andy Stone, a spokesman for Facebook’s policy team, the megaphone was seen by 24.6 million Brazilians during the first round in that nation’s recent election.
On Tuesday, the company will again deploy its voting tool. But Facebook’s Buckley insists that the firm will not this time be conducting any research experiments with the voter megaphone. That day, he says, almost every Facebook user in the United States over the age of 18 will see the “I Voted” button. And if the friends they typically interact with on Facebook click on it, users will see that too. The message: Facebook wants its users to vote, and the social-networking firm will not be manipulating its voter promotion effort for research purposes. How do we know this? Only because Facebook says so.store surveillance video shows a young black man holding his hands up in surrender before two New York police officers start pounding him in the head over the suspected theft of a $3 slice of pizza.Thomas Jennings, 24, can be seen in the surveillance camera video leaning on the counter at a grocery store in Brooklyn on July 7, when NYPD officer Lenny Lutchman approaches from behind and immediately starts shoving him in the chest and grabbing his wrist. Jenning appears surprised and raises both hands in surrender.Suddenly, Lutchman’s partner Pearce Martinez runs in and without breaking his stride or saying anything, rains down a full-force right hand punch to Jennings’ head. He continues to pummel him and Lutchman joins in, hitting Jennings with his baton. During the beating, Jennings remains curled over the counter and doesn’t fight back.While Martinez handcuffs Jennings, Lutchman continues striking him, even though Martinez is facing no challenge from Jennings, who appears to helpfully put his hand behind his back.“I didn’t ever know it was coming,” Jennings told the www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/video-shows-cops-beat His mug shot from the arrest shows his right eye swollen completely shut.Jennings was charged with robbery and held without bail for nearly a week until prosecutors released him after declining to present the case to a grand jury. Jennings’ attorney, Amy Rameau, said she believes prosecutors will drop the case because there was no robbery.President Obama with Hillary Clinton after his speech at the Democratic National Convention in July. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
There is one corner of Washington where Donald Trump’s scorched-earth presidential campaign is treated as a mere distraction and where bipartisanship reigns. In the rarefied world of the Washington foreign policy establishment, President Obama’s departure from the White House — and the possible return of a more conventional and hawkish Hillary Clinton — is being met with quiet relief.
The Republicans and Democrats who make up the foreign policy elite are laying the groundwork for a more assertive American foreign policy, via a flurry of reports shaped by officials who are likely to play senior roles in a potential Clinton White House.
It is not unusual for Washington’s establishment to launch major studies in the final months of an administration to correct the perceived mistakes of a president or influence his successor. But the bipartisan nature of the recent recommendations, coming at a time when the country has never been more polarized, reflects a remarkable consensus among the foreign policy elite.
This consensus is driven by a broad-based backlash against a president who has repeatedly stressed the dangers of overreach and the need for restraint, especially in the Middle East. “There’s a widespread perception that not being active enough or recognizing the limits of American power has costs,” said Philip Gordon, a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama until 2015. “So the normal swing is to be more interventionist.”
[Obama, failing to understand nature of war, or showing virtues of patience?]
In other instances, the activity reflects alarm over Trump’s calls for the United States to pull back from its traditional role as a global guarantor of security.
“The American-led international order that has been prevalent since World War II is now under threat,” said Martin Indyk, who oversees a team of top former officials from the administrations of Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton assembled by the Brookings Institution. “The question is how to restore and renovate it.” The Brookings report — a year in the making — is due out in December.
Taken together, the studies and reports call for more-aggressive American action to constrain Iran, rein in the chaos in the Middle East and check Russia in Europe.
The studies, which reflect Clinton’s stated views, break most forcefully with Obama on Syria. Virtually all these efforts, including a report released Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress, call for stepped-up military action to deter President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Russian forces in Syria.
The proposed military measures include calls for safe zones
to protect moderate rebels from Syrian and Russian forces. Most of the studies propose limited American airstrikes with cruise missiles to punish Assad if he continues to attack civilians with barrel bombs, as is happening in besieged Aleppo. Obama has staunchly resisted any military action against the Assad regime.
“The immediate thing is to do something to alleviate the horrors that are being visited on the population,” said former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who is leading a bipartisan and international team looking at U.S. strategy in the Middle East for the Atlantic Council. “We do think there needs to be more American action — not ground forces but some additional help in terms of the military aspect.”
Stephen Hadley, a former national security adviser to Bush and a partner with Albright on the Atlantic Council report, said that if Assad continues to bomb civilians, the United States should strongly consider “using standoff weapons, like cruise missiles, to neutralize his air force so that he cannot fly.”
Such measures have been repeatedly rejected by Obama and his top advisers, who warn that they would draw the U.S. military deeper into another messy Middle East conflict. Last year, Obama dismissed calls for a no-fly zone in northwestern Syria — a position advocated by Clinton — as “half-baked.”
In private comments to investment bankers, however, Clinton acknowledged that establishing such a haven would be difficult, requiring the destruction of Syrian air defenses, many of which are in populated areas. “You’re going to kill a lot of Syrians,” she said, according to transcripts of her 2013 remarks released by WikiLeaks.
Even pinprick cruise-missile strikes designed to hobble the Syrian air force or punish Assad would risk a direct confrontation with Russian forces, which are scattered throughout the key Syrian military bases that would be targeted.
“You can’t pretend you can go to war against Assad and not go to war against the Russians,” said a senior administration official who is involved in Middle East policy and was granted anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.
The disagreement over Syria policy reflects a broader rift between the Obama White House and the foreign policy establishment over how best to wield American power in a chaotic and dangerous world. The tension has been building for years, but it has spilled over publicly in the past year.
Obama has repeatedly blasted a Washington “playbook” that he complains defaults too quickly to U.S. military force, especially in the Middle East.
“Where America is directly threatened, the playbook works,” Obama said in an interview with the Atlantic earlier this year. “But the playbook can also be a trap.... You get judged harshly if you don’t follow [it], even if there are good reasons why it does not apply.”
Inside the White House, senior administration officials regularly dismissed calls for military force from the foreign policy establishment as the product of “too much college, not enough knowledge,” writes Derek Chollet, a former top Obama administration official, in his new book, “The Long Game.”
[A wartime president struggles with the hard questions]
Other White House officials derisively referred to Washington’s foreign policy experts as “the Blob.”
Virtually no one among the foreign policy elite is calling for a return to the Bush administration policies that led to the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the costly occupation of Iraq. Instead, they are advocating something of a middle ground between Bush’s interventionism and Obama’s retrenchment in the Middle East.
“Everyone has kind of given up on the Middle East. We have been at it for 15 years, and a lot of Americans think it is hopeless,” Hadley said. “We think it is not.”
A similar sentiment animates the left-leaning Center for American Progress’s report, which calls for more military action to counter Iranian aggression, more dialogue with the United States’ Arab allies and more support for economic and human rights reform in the region.
“The dynamic is totally different from what I saw a decade ago” when Democratic and Republican elites were feuding over the invasion of Iraq, said Brian Katulis, a senior Middle East analyst at the Center for American Progress. Today, the focus among the foreign policy elite is on rebuilding a more muscular and more “centrist internationalism,” he said.
Less clear is whether such a policy has any support among an American public weary of war in the Middle East and largely opposed to foreign aid.
“There’s a lot of common ground among these studies,” Katulis said. “My concern is that we may be talking to each other and agreeing with each other but that these discussions are isolated from where the public may be right now.”Update, January 26, 2018: In a statement on its website this week, the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums announced that it supports the transfer of solitary zoo elephants to more social environments. The association said it believes that elephants “should be cared [for] in a group from the perspective of animal welfare” and that it's “promoting transfer of single rearing elephants to bring them into a group wherever possible.” If placing one of the elephants with others will cause it stress, JAZA continued, then the association endorses enrichment activities for that animal. A committee devoted to elephants and their welfare will "take the lead" in working on improvements for zoo elephants in general, the statement said.
“Our intention is to improve the environment of solitary elephants,” Etsuo Narushima, JAZA’s executive director, wrote Wildlife Watch in an email.
It's unclear what steps, if any, JAZA will take to ensure that the elephants are transferred. The organization doesn't accredit zoos, so there wouldn't be any formal consequence for a zoo not complying with JAZA's recommendations. But Ulara Nakagawa, who spearheaded the campaign to help isolated zoo elephants in Japan, says this is a positive step. "I think the mind shift is enormous," she said. "They're taking this seriously."
Miyako is a female Asian elephant who has lived without other elephants since arriving at Japan's Utsunomiya Zoo, just outside of Tokyo, 44 years ago when she was six months old. She is kept in a small, concrete enclosure near the zoo’s amusement park, says Keith Lindsay, a conservation biologist and elephant expert based in Oxford, England.
“She’s been in that place her whole life, with no other elephants and nowhere to move,” he says.
Lindsay observed Miyako earlier this year, when he spent two weeks visiting 14 zoos believed to be the majority in Japan keeping elephants in isolation. He summarized the conditions of the animals and their surroundings in a new report released today, on the eve of World Elephant Day.
According to the report, five elephants have been alone their entire lives. Eight became isolated after their companions died or were moved, and one rejoined her previous companion but had to be kept in a separate enclosure. “The elephants were essentially psychotic, desperate to interact with people in some cases, turning their backs to people in other cases,” Lindsay says.
The catalyst for his Japan trip was an elephant he never met, a female named Hanako, who had lived alone in cramped quarters in Tokyo’s Inokashira Park Zoo for more than 60 years. She became the focus of public attention in the fall of 2015. That’s when a visitor to the zoo, Ulara Nakagawa, wrote a blog post about Hanako and started a petition calling on the elephant to be moved to a sanctuary in Thailand, her home country.
“Totally alone in a small, barren, cement enclosure with absolutely NO comfort or stimulation provided, she just stood there almost lifeless—like a figurine,” Nakagawa wrote.
The petition garnered almost 470,000 signatures, and news stories about Hanako’s plight swept the Internet. But the zoo deemed it too risky to move the elderly elephant, and a few months later the so-called “loneliest elephant in the world” died at the age of 69.
For Nakagawa, Hanako’s death marked the beginning of a larger effort to help companionless zoo elephants in Japan. She teamed up with Zoocheck, a Canada-based nonprofit devoted to animal protection, and started a grassroots campaign called Elephants in Japan. And she recruited Lindsay to review how elephants—highly social and intelligent animals—are doing at zoos in Japan, which has no standards for how to keep them in captivity.
“This new campaign is in [Hanako’s] memory, to make sure that the other elephants in Japan don’t have to live out the same life she had to,” Nakagawa says. As for why she chose to examine lonely elephants in Japan when it's hardly the only country where zoos keep them, she explains, “we had to start somewhere.”
Many of the 14 solitary elephants Lindsay observed, including Miyako, were exposed to conditions he found substandard, such as too-small enclosures and a lack of stimulation.
But, he says, Miyako topped the list as the one with the most heartbreaking life. He watched her pacing back and forth and noted that she would repeatedly bite down on a metal bar in the enclosure, behaviors that signal psychological stress. “I’ve never seen that before,” he says.
Miyako’s life bears no resemblance to that of Asian elephants in the wild, where females live in tightly knit groups with as many as 50 companions, and males often associate with other males once they reach sexual maturity and leave the family unit. Even when elephants aren’t hanging out with their pals, studies show that they can still remember them and communicate with them through smell and sound. (Read more about elephant vocalizations and how you too can'speak' like an elephant).
“The social aspect of an elephant’s life is the most important to its well-being, and we would be concerned for the psychological welfare of any elephants kept on their own,” says Georgina Allen of Wild Welfare, a nonprofit dedicated to improving conditions for captive animals. Allen wasn’t affiliated with the Elephants in Japan report.
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, thanks to belt-tightening through two wars, a shrunken workforce, and New Yorkers’ increasing reliance on the personal automobile. Despite an effort by leaders to raise the municipal debt ceiling, the project seemed permanently doomed. "It is highly improbable that the Second Avenue subway will ever materialize," declared the New York Times in 1957. The MTA groups, and regroups
The next glimmer of hope came with the birth of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority through the Urban Mass Transit Act of 1964, which guaranteed federal dollars for public transportation. In 1968, as part of a “sweeping” $2.9 billion (or about $20 billion adjusted for inflation) citywide transit expansion plan, the MTA gave top priority to the Second Avenue project to relieve “enormous congestion” on the Lexington Avenue line. In a blueprint from that year, plans show the subway line originating much further south than previous iterations—all the way down to Broad Street—and up to Bronx, but not before connecting to the proposed 63rd Street Tunnel (completed in phases in 1972 and 1989). To finance the estimated $220 million ($1.5 billion today) that the Second Avenue project required, the MTA was granted $25 million by the feds, and the city raised tens of millions more in a series of successful bond measures. Residents and engineers fought bitterly over the line’s southern-most endpoint; “[I]ndefinite delay is threatened by a squabble over the exact route,” wrote the Times in 1968. “[This] is intolerable… there will be 120,000 more jobs in the downtown area three years from now… and the present subways are already loaded to capacity and beyond. This city must get on with its job.”
It actually did—for a hot second. “We know that whatever is said about this project in the years to come, certainly no one can say that the city acted rashly or without due deliberation,” Mayor John Lindsay said at a 1972 groundbreaking ceremony at 103rd Street and Second Avenue. William Ronan, chairman of the MTA, “hailed the start of construction as ‘a day of deliverance for the strap-hanger.’” But by that point, the costs had essentially quadrupled, and the project had no completion date on the books. Hit hard by a national economic decline, New York City fell into a dark financial crisis. The subway system descended into crime and disrepair, and ridership plummeted to its lowest levels since the Second Avenue project was first conceived. Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... Subway blackout
Besieged by delays, construction problems, and budget wrangling, the project appeared doomed by 1975, even as work proceeded in fits and starts. “In what could be a rush to oblivion, heavy machinery and blasting teams are hard at work in the immense caverns beneath the temporary wooden roadway on the upper part of the avenue,” wrote the Times. ”One stretch, between 99th and 105th Streets, is nearly finished, needing only track and trains to complete the illusion of a functioning subway.” But they would sit vacant for another 40 years—though not for lack of ideas. Writes a New York City transportation trade magazine: During the 1980s the MTA entertained proposals to rent out the completed sections for various uses: prisons, discos, wine cellars, bowling alleys. City Council member Henry Stern suggested car racetracks, driving ranges, parking lots, and—his favorite—mushroom farms. In the end, the sections remained empty. Back to the future Transportation planners fired up their guns once last time in the late 1990s. A spate of transit studies found (shocker) a need for relief for east side commuters, and although officials “still differ[ed] about whether its huge costs can be justified,” there was enough of a consensus to move Second Avenue forward. Engineering plans and environmental reviews were completed in the mid-2000s, and in 2007 ground broke on the three-stop segment that opens on Sunday, with an inaugural New Year’s Eve ride by Governor Andrew Cuomo. It took ten years to build, and between delays and special contracts, costs skyrocketed to unseen heights. Will the line ever reach its fully imagined potential, or even half of it? Phase one will help unclog some of the sweatiest stretches of Lexington Avenue. But where, and when, the city will find the $59,000 per projected weekday rider—the estimated cost of the second phase—is hard to fathom. Perhaps the MTA will find a way to bring costs down to earth. Perhaps the Manhattanite entering the Oval Office will smile upon Second Avenue. With this train, possibility is always around the corner.Republicans need a new campaign villain — and Elizabeth Warren is looking increasingly like their choice.
With Barack Obama and Harry Reid out of office and Nancy Pelosi toiling deep in the minority, Republicans are in search of a figure so reviled by the conservative base that he or she motivates donors to open their wallets and voters to go the polls.
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Party strategists believe the liberal Massachusetts senator’s brand of politics is a serious turnoff to voters outside the coasts — and will be a liability for at least five Democrats up for reelection in states President Donald Trump easily won. So Republicans are already making plans to raise her profile — in the worst way possible — ahead of the 2018 midterms.
Warren is getting top billing in news releases by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, a prominent Republican super PAC with ties to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The NRSC is launching a new round of digital ads on Wednesday dinging incumbent Democrats for voting with Warren, officials said. And it’s just a matter of time before she’s featured prominently in TV ads, too.
“Elizabeth Warren is the face of the Democratic Party," said National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner (Colo.). "She's extremely popular with their base, and that's why she's leading them right now. That's why [Democrats] are voting 100 percent of the time with Elizabeth Warren."
Republicans have long tried to personalize off-year election cycles, driving a wedge between vulnerable incumbents and their lightning-rod leaders. In 2010, the GOP spent $75 million on advertisements featuring then-House speaker Pelosi. To a lesser degree they tried it again in 2014 with Reid, the Democratic Senate leader, who was often featured with Obama. Both GOP wave elections were cast as referendums on Obama.
There are fewer targets now with Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress. Schumer has relatively low name ID and a reputation as a dealmaker, not a partisan warrior.
So Warren it is. Her liberal profile makes for an inviting contrast to the image of moderation that swing-state Democrats will be aiming to project in a host of conservative-leaning states next year, Republicans say. And to the extent they can knock Warren down a few pegs, it would diminish an early Democratic frontrunner for president in 2020.
In interviews, Democratic senators said they're prepared for millions in ads linking them to Warren, whose office declined to comment for this story.
“To suggest that we’re Elizabeth Warren is ridiculous, especially when you look at voting records and where we’ve been,” said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). “They need a boogeyman, and they’re trying to turn Elizabeth into a boogeyman. And I think maybe what they should worry about more is actually doing America’s work.”
It's not a surefire play for Republicans. Warren electrifies the Democratic base more than perhaps any other senator and is frequently used in Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee literature to raise money or build fundraising lists. Her favorability rating is slightly above water — better than Schumer's and Pelosi's, though worse than Bernie Sanders'. If the strategy backfires, it could boost Warren's White House prospects.
Warren has emerged as among the Democratic Party’s most outspoken opposition figures to Trump. Earlier this month, she was silenced by McConnell after reading a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King that criticized then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Although Sessions was confirmed, the episode generated a wave of attention for Warren that few, if any, other Democrats could match.
But according to Republicans, her popularity simply doesn’t extend to the states where the midterms will be won or lost — places like North Dakota, West Virginia, Missouri, Indiana and Montana.
“In the states that Trump won that Democrats are running in, I can’t imagine that she helps them. I think she hurts them,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former chairman of the NRSC.
The first election after a new president is sworn in typically gives the minority party a major opportunity to wrest back some control of Washington. But there are nearly a dozen Democratic senators up for reelection next year in competitive states, and only two Republicans.
The GOP controls 52 seats, so even if there’s a backlash against Trump, there’s little chance Democrats will take back the Senate.
The new NRSC ads focus on the 10 Democrats on the ballot in states Trump carried, dinging them for voting with Warren. They say West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin voted with her 78 percent of the time and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown did so 97 percent of the time. It’s not clear how much money is behind them, though officials said they will appear on Facebook feeds in those competitive states.
Schumer said flatly of the GOP strategy: “It’s not going to work.”
Senate votes to shut up Elizabeth Warren poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201702/3612/1155968404_5315773815001_5315773642001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true
And moderate Democrats argue that it’s a stretch, at best, to accuse them of being Warren clones.
“She has her own brand. And I think I have my own brand in my own state, so it really doesn’t hurt me,” said Manchin. “They’ve tried the ‘guilty by association’ with [Obama.]”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who initiated the effort to sideline Warren during the Sessions debate, said the Massachusetts senator’s ascendance helps the GOP.
“One of the responsibilities when you represent an entire state is to listen to all of the voices,” said Daines, who himself experienced a boomlet of attention after telling Warren to take her seat. “Ultimately, you want to make sure you are aligned with where most Montanans are on an issue. And I can tell you most Montanans are not aligned with Elizabeth Warren.”
But Daines’ Montana colleague, Sen. Jon Tester, said her reputation in the state is more nuanced. “There are some people in Montana that love her,” said Tester, a Democrat who is up in 2018. “There are some people in Montana that hate her. And there are a lot of shades of gray in between.”
Warren campaigned for Democratic Senate candidates last year in states including North Carolina and Missouri. That suggests Democrats believe she’s a net plus, even if those candidates lost. Warren has her own Senate race in 2018, which will keep her in Massachusetts much of the next year, allowing incumbents to sidestep potential criticism over stumping with her.
Democrats argue that Trump, not Warren, will drive next year’s election. They say the GOP is grasping for a strategy now that it is in power and Trump is off to the least popular start in modern presidential history.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to be fooled,” said DSCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.Panamanians love beer. It's practically a law of nature. Like relativity, thermodynamics, and universal gravitation. They love to drink it and they love to sell it. According to Central America Data, it's a $390 million dollar a year industry. The thing is, Panama has the perfect climate for consuming massive amounts of the stuff: tropical with uniformly high temperatures, face-melting humidity, and very little seasonal variation. Not to mention the beautiful, meandering coastlines on both the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the country, where sandy, wind-swept beaches are speckled with thirst-inducing frequency.
But it's not just any beer that Panamanians love. It's shitty beer. Entry-level lagers with little-to-no body, high-carbonation, low alcohol levels and bargain-basement price tags. In fact, beer prices in Panama are about 36 percent lower than anywhere else in Latin America. This is probably one of the main reasons why, in a 2011 Kirin Institute report, Panama was ranked eleventh in the world for beer consumption—four notches above the U.S. (ranked fifteenth) and leaving the next Latin American country in its dust (Mexico, ranked thirty-first). Eleventh place is quite the crowning achievement for the little isthmus—especially considering the low quality offerings.
But from the anguish of soulless industrial lagers rises the emancipation of artisan brewing. Like a phoenix rising from the flames of a mash tun, micro and craft breweries have emerged like spores all over the planet, even in the hardest to reach places: Bruggsmiðjan Brewery in Árskógssandur, Iceland, founded in 2006; Kingdom Brewery in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, founded in 2010; Baguales Brewery in Puerto Natales, Chile, founded in 2006—the list goes on. It's surprising then, considering not just Panama's insatiable thirst for beer but also their fondness for North American culture, that it has taken so long for the roots of independent brewing and bottling to take hold. But take hold they have.
Northeast of Panama City, beyond the crumbling 16th-century ruins of Panamá Viejo, the Costa del Este Industrial Park heaves with transport trucks, clouds of diesel, a symphony of honking, seemingly endless stretches of loading docks, and the uneasy stench of unrelenting commercial productivity. It's the kind of place you only go to if you have to. And even when you’re there, you question the true necessity of your errand. Tucked in the back corner of this chaos, beside an industrial cardboard manufacturer on Calle Primera, is Casa Bruja: Panama's one and only craft beer brewer and bottler.
The rain is coming down in sheets. It's normal for Panama this time of year, but it gives the industrial park an even scummier air. A plastic factory, a hardware supplier, and shipping–and-receiving giants like Fed-Ex and DHL are neighboring businesses. It's like a corporate apocalypse. Casa Bruja is a diamond in the rough, a refuge among all this bedlam. I'm not inside for two minutes before Jonathan Pragnell, the owner of Casa Bruja, offers me a taste of his still-fermenting Talingo Imperial Milk Chocolate Stout. Though premature, the beer is great. Perfect for sipping while I shake off the rain.
Pragnell is only 30 years old, but looks slightly older with overgrown stubble, messy dad-hair and the beginnings of a formidable beer belly which is oddly reassuring, like a chubby chef. But he's also energetic, talkative, and boyishly excited about not just his beer, but all beer. Pragnell, who was born in Panama City, shows me around his modest, two-room, 317-gallon brewery: six fermenters, two bright beer tanks, two walk-in fridges for storing cases, kegs and hops, a single refrigerated delivery van and a closet-sized laboratory, with what looks like a high-school microscope on the counter. The lab is currently being used for yeast cell counting by Casa Bruja's head brewer, Omar Lombardo, a young food-science technologist from Urgnano, Italy who did his master’s in Belgian yeast.
Launched in February of 2013 with an investment of half a million bucks, Casa Bruja (“House of the Witch” in English) has been growing steadily. "We just recently broke even," Pragnell reveals proudly.
Their Chivoperro IPA has won two consecutive silver medals (2013, 2014) at the Copa Cervezas de America—the largest beer competition in Latin America. For the first year and a half of operation, they bottled only eighty cases per day, manually. But a recently purchased automated bottling line has increased their output to sixty cases per hour. "About a case a minute," Pragnell says matter-of-factly. In addition to the bottling, 40 percent of Casa Bruja's production is in kegs. Loud rock music echoes through the brewery. Juliet De Los Santos, Casa Bruja's office manager, seems to be DJ-ing a Youtube playlist from one of the computers in the office area. Pragnell hands me another glass of beer. "We call this Cayuco," Pragnell says proudly. "It's a seasonal beer made with local fruit. We just kegged it. It's light and fruity. The aroma is incredible."
The facilities are clean, organized, and well-cared for. But it's practically a home brewing operation compared to the giant national brewers that Pragnell is, on some levels, competing with. The four national brands in the country (Soberana, Panama, Balboa, Atlas) are made by two separate behemoth brewers: Cervecerías Barú (now owned by Heineken International) and Cervecería Nacional (owned by Grupo Bavaria of Colombia which is, in turn, now owned by SABMiller). For decades, these two industrial brewers have basked in a sort of shared-monopoly over the Panamanian beer racket. In 2001, Cervecería Nacional revealed that they controlled a staggering 80 percent of the market, with Cervecerías Barú having controlled the remaining 20 percent.
Since then, the spread has shrunk. Cervecerías Barú resolved problems with their draft system that prohibited them from selling on tap for almost seven years. They have experimented with new products and have invested millions into aggressive marketing and promotion. Now both breweries are fighting to retain their half of the cake. On the SABMiller website, they claim that Cervecería Nacional now controls 49 percent of the market with a yearly production of about 50 million gallons of beer—Case Bruja produces just over 34,000 gallons of beer a year, for comparison. (When I asked Cervecerías Barú's business intelligence manager, Jorge Angel Gutierrez, about his company's current market and production figures, he refused to divulge the "confidential information.") In the past year or two, however, the two giants have lost almost 10 percent of the market to imported and specialty beers—a shift driven by the country's rapidly expanding economy. According to The International Monetary Fund calculations, the Panamanian economy is currently experiencing a GDP growth of 6.9 percent, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America. "The middle class here in Panama is growing more and more everyday," Pragnell confirms. "That's why our beer is doing better and better every day as well."
Casa Bruja wasn't the first company to experiment with artisanal brewing in Panama. In 2005, Istmo Brew Pub opened as the first of its kind in Panama City. With a small selection of beers brewed in-house, Istmo made a name for itself among expats, tourists and middle-class Panamanians who were sick and tired of the sad national lagers. (I paid a visit Istmo Brew Pub and found their beers undrinkable.) In 2010, La Rana Dorada followed in Istmo's footsteps and opened a brewpub in the neighborhood of El Congrejo. Two years later, they opened a hotly-anticipated second location in the trendy Casco Viejo district—in 2014, they won a gold medal at the Copa Cervezas de America for their IPA. In 2012, the Bocas Brewing Company was formed on the country's Atlantic coast in the popular Bocas Del Toro province, but based on their social profiles online there seems to be very little activity at the brewery. And Cervecería Legitima, yet another brewpub, is set to open in the city sometime in 2015. The trend is solidified, the market is growing. But Casa Bruja remains the only independent brewer in Panama with a bottling and distribution plan. "A brewpub is entirely different," Pragnell explains as we finish up at the brewery. "Brewpubs sell pints of beer at four dollars or five dollars right to the customer. There's a lot of markup. It's easier to make money. We sell our bottles of beer for a dollar or two in the stores."
One of the stores Pragnell is referring to is Bodega Mi Amiga, a veritable institution on Via Porras in downtown Panama City. Bodega Mi Amiga is the largest liquor store in the country—and the oldest, dating back to 1959. (It's interesting to note here that Panama has no dedicated specialty beer stores… yet.) Bodega Mi Amiga sells every kind of liquor you can imagine, or that is legally allowed to be imported into Panama. And beer. Lots and lots of beer. "Right now beer is a trend," Bernardo Rivas, the owner of Bodega Mi Amiga tells me in the imported beer aisle. "In the first six months of this year, we saw a 48 percent growth in sales of imported and craft beers."
Though Casa Bruja is available in a few other stores around the country, Bodega Mi Amiga is the only store that stocks Casa Bruja bottles in the national beer fridge, right next to the watery, industrial lagers. "It's in the right place," Rivas says, "I want people to know it's a national beer." Both Pragnell and Rivas get the feeling that this trend will subside soon due to the high price of imported craft beers like BrewDog and Rogue. With industrial national lagers only costing less than $0.50 a can in grocery stores, it's hard to justify spending $4.89 on a bottle of BrewDog Dead Pony Pale Ale or Rogue Shakespeare Stout. Especially in a country where the minimum wage is a meager $3.00 an hour. But Pragnell is hoping Casa Bruja will sidestep the trend's downturn. "We're sort of on the borderline," Pragnell says, "we have the quality of international imports but at a price closer to the national lagers." Casa Bruja's Fula Farmacia Blond Ale sells for $1.95 at Bodega Mi Amiga.
Lynchburg is a six-month-old German sausage and ale house in the heart of Panama's San Francisco neighborhood. Finished almost entirely in wood, like you're inside a wine barrel, Lynchburg has tufted red banquettes, southern rock as loud as it can go and a stunning backlit bar. "We have a specific glass for every kind of beer we sell," Christian de Mena, the frenetic owner of Lynchburg, says to me at the bar. "Draft beer used to be very rare back in the day here in Panama," he adds, "now, customers come in and the first thing they ask is 'What do you have on draft?' Things are changing." I order a $4.00 glass of Casa Bruja's award-winning Chivoperro IPA. It comes in an elegant branded tulip glass. At 6.1 percent alcohol, it packs a punch but it's still what Pragnell calls a "Session IPA"—meaning it's on the lighter side of the IPA spectrum so one "can drink four or five pints at the bar and not be overwhelmed by the flavor." It's a bright, drinkable IPA made with dry American hops giving the nose hints of mango and passion fruit.
The bar starts to get busy and the bartenders, two of whom are wearing Casa Bruja T-shirts, begin to really hustle. A waiter brings out some fresh pretzels and homemade pork and wine sausages. De Mena offers me a glass of Sir Francis Drake, Casa Bruja's red ale. "I love this beer," he says as he sips from his own glass, "out of all the beers we have on tap, I drink Francis Drake 80 percent of the time. I love the color, the taste, the aroma and the simplicity. It's a nice hoppy beer." De Mena's customers seem to agree. More than half of the patrons at the bar are holding glasses full of Casa Bruja's malted barley red ale.
In June, Newsroom Panama reported that beer production in the country had reached an all-time high between January and April of this year. A report by the Comptroller General reveals that 89 million liters of beer was produced in that time, a 5.4 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The report also showed that the production of Panama's national spirit Seco Herrerano (an inexpensive party favorite distilled from sugarcane that goes down like nail polish remover) has dropped 27 percent during the same period, to 1.9 million liters. It may all sound like a surefire trend for budding entrepreneurs to latch on to, but independent Panamanian brewers are competing for a very, very small portion of the current market—as little as 0.02 percent according to Jacky Yaffe, managing partner of La Rana Dorada. "We are trying to educate the people of Panama until local craft beer is at least 0.5 percent of the market," Yaffe told La Estrella in October.
Pragnell, who studied industrial engineering at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, took a decidedly oblique path into craft brewing. After working in warehousing logistics for a Spanish humanitarian company, Pragnell took a particular interest in international aid work. Before long, he was working as a logistics officer for the United Nations in Latin America and was personally organizing up to seven aid flights a day to Haiti just after the 2010 earthquake. After three weeks of high-energy crisis management, Pragnell returned to his everyday office work. "I was suddenly so bored," he confesses, "I was underworked and overpaid." Things picked up again when the 2011 tsunami hit Tōhoku, Japan. Pragnell spent three months in Japan engineering prefabricated warehouses. "Then I came back to Panama again, sat down at my desk and was bored as hell," he says. All this time, even back when he was studying at Purdue, Pragnell was an avid home-brewer.
After loosing a promising operations position with the UN in Haiti, then another in Ghana, and a third in Mozambique, Pragnell sent an impulsive email to James Watt, the CEO of BrewDog in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, asking for a job. Three days later, BrewDog's operation manager offered him a minimum-wage assistant brewer position. It was here, at BrewDog, that Pragnell met Omar Lombardo, who is now Casa Bruja's head brewer. After eight months, Pragnell was promoted to brewer, a position he occupied for another six months before returning to Panama with a business plan for his very own craft brewery. It's been hectic for Pragnell ever since he left Purdue and something tells me it's only going to get crazier. "Executing your dreams at forty or fifty," Pragnell says, "is just a bit too late."
On Calle Andrés Mójica, in Panama's San Francisco neighborhood, Brew Stop acts as a fulcrum for the craft beer community in the city—a germination dish where gringos and locals unite over a shared love of great beer. The unpretentious half-bar-half-beer store has been peddling the "American craft beer experience" for ten months now and business seems to be booming. Customers can purchase cold beer at full price or warm bottles of beer at retail prices to take home. I order a pint a Fula Farmacia, Casa Bruja's 4.7 percent Blond Ale. Light amber in color with a subtle sour finish, Fula is one of Casa Bruja's best sellers.
"It's a small community here," says Esteban Arosemena, part owner of Brew Stop. "We're all very likeminded in a certain sense. We're all trying to bring about some sense of awareness about good beer." I ask Arosemena about the challenge of selling full-flavored, crafty beers in a market dominated by pesky industrial lagers. "They are the cheapest thing on the market and they are what has been offered," he says. "But once you start giving someone good beer, it's hard for them to go back to the light lagers they were used to."
But if you think Cervecería Nacional and Cervecerías Barú are willing to lose any paying customers to newer, tastier beer options, you're wrong. Dead wrong. Until recently, Pragnell had been selling kegs to a popular bar in downtown Panama until the bar decided to replace all their draft beer selection with products from one of the two major national brewers—a deal that no doubt was sweetened with a cash incentive.
The big beer industry in Panama is far from innocent, so dirty dealings like this are not hard to believe. In 2007, Salvatore Mancuso, a savage Colombian paramilitary leader claimed that he'd been receiving $0.70 for each case of beer sold by Cervecería Nacional in the Uraba area of Colombia, which ultimately lead to allegations that Mancuso and his armed right-wing troops had been hired by Cervecería Nacional to kill union workers. And Cervecerías Barú has recently come under fire for seizing the bank accounts of the Panamanian Football Federation (FEPAFUT) and demanding compensation of $7 million dollars for a breached contract—a contract that FEPAFUT backed out of so that they could sign a new one with rival Cervecería Nacional.
In a move that perhaps most clearly underscores Cervecería Nacional's burning desire to retain those customers who are demanding more flavor from their suds, the company has recently launched a new product: 507 Premium Red Lager. Taking some plays out of the craft beer playbook, 507 has an edgy logo, interesting artwork and is only available in funky, clear bottles. "Even though the bulk of the demand for beer is still controlled by industrial production," Galaxis Ardila, master brewer and director of quality assurance at Cervecería Nacional told Capital Financiero, "the market is fragmenting because increasingly, a growing number of consumers are looking for different flavors and textures." While 507, which retails for $0.79 per bottle, is more enjoyable than the old mass produced lagers, it's a far cry from a Sir Francis Drake from Casa Bruja.
In Panama, private consumption is at an all-time high—a shift prompted by an all-time low unemployment rate of 2.9 percent in 2013 and 2014, the lowest in the region. And optimistic predictions from Trading Economics put the 2015 and 2016 GDP growth rate at a whopping 9 percent. What does that promising growth mean for the renegade brewers at Casa Bruja? "I'm improvising," Pragnell admits. "But I don't want to make Casa Bruja so big that I don't sleep at night. If I keep growing and growing, I'll never stop working. I simply want to work eight hours a day and provide for my family.
There is certainly a lucrative yet dignified sweet spot between small time micro-brewer and soulless mass-producer. Where it is exactly, no one knows. In Panama, is has yet to be found. Just another golden treasure hidden somewhere in the great unknown, waiting to be discovered, plundered and protected. But like all lost treasure in this part of the world, it's something that will either be found by the people, or by the pirates.Wunderlist helps millions of people around the world capture their ideas, things to do and places to see. Whether you’re sharing a grocery list with a loved one, working on a project, or planning a vacation, Wunderlist makes it easy to share your lists and collaborate with everyone in your life. Wunderlist instantly syncs between your phone, tablet and computer, so you can access your lists from anywhere. “The best to-do list app.” - The Verge Wunderlist has also been featured in The New York Times, Lifehacker, TechCrunch, CNET, The Guardian, Wired, and Vanity Fair, just to name a few. Key Wunderlist Features: • Create all the lists you need and access them from your phone, tablet and computer • Easily share lists and collaborate with family, friends and colleagues • Start conversations about your to-dos • Attach photos, PDFs, presentations and more • Share the work and delegate to-dos • Setting a Reminder ensures you never forget important deadlines (or birthday gifts) ever again • Organize your projects for home, work and everywhere in between with Folders Our Terms of Use: http://www.wunderlist.com/terms-of-use Our Privacy Policy: http://www.wunderlist.com/privacy-policy Learn more about Wunderlist at www.wunderlist.comA Vancouver man is facing four charges of sexual assault for incidents involving English as a second language students who sublet rooms from him.
David Roland Messina, 40, is already known to police, having pleaded guilty in 2008 to uttering a forged document relating to the purchase of a $75,000 Dodge Viper sports car, which he claimed was a gift.
Then in 2009, a CBC investigation revealed Messina was leasing a downtown apartment, then subletting it to five students from Japan and Korea without paying the rent. He was charged with fraud, but the charges were later stayed.
Const. Lindsey Houghton said Vancouver police believe Messina continues to target vulnerable students.
"It appears from our investigation he's using this subletting scam to perhaps commit sexual assaults against ESL students," said Houghton.
Messina was arrested over the weekend and was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday.
The VPD's sex crimes unit is asking for any other possible victims to come forward.
"We know ESL students and foreign exchange students, people who come to our country to learn English, may or may not be familiar with how our criminal justice system works, and may be hesitant to phone police, but we urge you, in any cases like this to please contact us," said Const. Houghton.Forget the filibuster. Ted Cruz showed during Sunday's rare Senate session that a few choice words -- in this case, calling his party leader a liar -- can be a potent tool in raising his campaign profile for president.
In a floor speech that lasted just seven minutes, the Republican senator from Texas doubled down on his earlier criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to allow the Sunday vote to resurrect the Export-Import Bank, portraying it as a betrayal of the leader's word not to do so.
“Speaking the truth,” is what Cruz said he was doing, picking up where he had left off Friday, when he said McConnell told “a simple lie” by insisting there was no backroom deal for the bank that is opposed by the powerful Koch brothers but supported by a bipartisan coalition of business interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“My saying so may be uncomfortable,” Cruz said, “but it is a simple fact.”
The Senate is home to four GOP presidential hopefuls (and one independent, who caucuses with Democrats). From time to time some of them have used the chamber as a venue to turn attention their way.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, another GOP candidate, seized the floor for 10 1/2 hours this spring during a filibuster-like speech against the National Security Agency's domestic spying program. It was a fundraising boon to Paul's campaign.
Elder party statesmen have not been amused.
On Sunday, 81-year-old Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the GOP's most senior senator, opened the chamber's session with a reminder to colleagues of the ground rules.
“Squabbling and acrimony may be tolerated on the campaign trail,” said Hatch, who urged senators colleagues toward comity and decorum, and to keep their egos in check.
“We are not here on some frolic or to pursue personal ambitions,” said Hatch, who has served four decades in the Senate. “We are here because the people of the United States have entrusted us with the solemn responsibility to act on their behalf.”
Cruz waited patiently for his rebuttal, launching a review and defense of his earlier criticism speech -- and a reiteration that the GOP majority was acting no different than Democrats.
“It is entirely consistent with decorum, and with the nature of this body traditionally as the world's greatest deliberative body, to speak the truth,” Cruz said.
But his was not the last word. The Senate voted to advance the Export-Import bank and deny the presidential hopeful a vote on his amendment.
Cruz was left with a moment in the political spotlight, and a policy defeat.Politics, Government & Current Affairs
Conservative Party voting intention steadies while public mood continues shift to “Soft Brexit”
Survation UK Attitudes Tracker: Westminster, Brexit & Leadership: July 1st 2017
Sample size: 1,017
Fieldwork dates: 28th – 30th June 2017
Method: UK adults aged 18+ interviewed via telephone
Full tables available here.
Headline Voting Intention (with change from last Survation poll 19/6*)
CON 41% (+1) LAB 40% (-4) LD 7% (+1) UKIP 2% (NC) Others 10% (+2)
*Comparisons are based on the following unrounded percentages:
01/07 CON 41.1% LAB 40.0% LD 6.8% UKIP 2.3% Other 9.9%
19/6 CON 40.5% LAB 44.0%; LD 5.8% UKIP 1.6% Others 8.1%
Survation’s latest telephone voting intention tracker – and the first since the Queen’s Speech and a government was formed by the Conservatives with the DUP in a confidence and supply agreement – shows Theresa May’s party regaining a narrow one-point lead over Labour.
Recent post-election polling by Survation, both online for the Mail on Sunday and via telephone for Good Morning Britain, showed Labour leads of five and three points respectively. However, the results of this latest poll almost exactly mirror our final poll before the General Election – the most accurate among British Polling Council members.
Survation’s EU Trackers
With EU negotiations likely to rumble on for months, if not years, we repeated |
$37,116 for its new van. The $5,000 spent on a tent, flag banners, a table, laptop computers and portable Wi-Fi were funded by the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation and the Central Pacific Bank Foundation.
Once homeless clients are ready for an actual job interview, the goal is to get them hired in two to three weeks.
But IHS continues “job coaching” each client for up to three months to prepare them to be successful at work.
IHS also helps employers reduce their costs of hiring a homeless person by providing background checks and drug tests.
“Our ability to get people into jobs quickly depends on our relationships with business partners,” Connie Mitchell, IHS’ executive director, said in a statement. “We ensure the right client is always matched with the right employer.”
Anson Oliveros, 26, has been living in his 1993 Honda Civic for the past two months after he lost his $1,200-a-month apartment in Salt Lake when his commission-only cellphone sales job wasn’t enough to keep up with the rent.
Oliveros needs appropriate clothes to dress for a job interview, along with employer contacts that he hopes lead to a new position in sales.
After he introduced himself to the IHS team, Oliveros said, “Free job services. I think it’s great for people like me.”On Sunday (09.03.2014) around five million people in El Salvador will decide whether they want to continue to be governed by the National Liberation Front Frabundo Marti (FMLN), or whether, five years on, they're prepared to give the conservative Arena Party another chance. Several smaller, newer parties failed to make it past the first round of voting, which left the FMLN in the lead.
"A few years ago people would have said this was an impossible scenario," says Elena Martinez Barahona, a political researcher at the University of Salamanca. For three decades the Arena Party always came out on top. This time, however, the list of candidates is led by a guerrilla fighter and not, as so often in the past, by an outsider. "He will probably win, too. Which shows how much El Salvador has changed," says Martinez Barahona. The polls show FMLN candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren ten points ahead of his challenger, Norman Quijano, of Arena.
Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the leftist FMLN is promoting social programs to combat violence
Welfare programs and prevention
The FMLN "Liberation Front" has been in power since 2009. Its social program to combat violence caused a stir, although it has not yet had substantial success. Political researcher Martinez Barahona does not believe that the FMLN is winning voters because it has been doing everything right, but rather because the conservative opposition does not offer a credible alternative.
On the other hand, she says, the preventive measures against the serious problems of violence in El Salvador are more convincing than Arena's iron-fist strategy. The conservatives fought violence with more violence, she says. The political scientist has conducted several studies about the problem in the country.
The conservative Norman Quijano is lagging behind in the runoff elections
The statistics are alarming. Over the past few weeks, the Latin American country has been overwhelmed by a fresh wave of violence. The number of murders committed per day has almost doubled: Last year it was five, but in the past few weeks it has risen to around ten a day.
"The problem of violence in El Salvador is very complicated," explains Martinez Barahona. "Unlike drug trafficking in Mexico or the guerrillas in Colombia, the problem in El Salvador, as in Honduras, originates with the youth gangs, the so-called Maras." The political scientist is convinced that the social problems in the country and the lack of alternatives are forcing more and more young people to join the Maras. The gangs often become a substitute not only for their families but also for the state.
Gang violence is a huge problem in El Salvador
Outstanding issues
The new government has to do something to combat social exclusion. It will also inherit a huge economic problem: 16 percent of the country's gross domestic product depends on foreign remittances. "Large fortunes, on the other hand, are untouchable," says Martinez Barahona, adding that the government should really also instigate a tax reform and address the redistribution of wealth. People expect results in this respect from the leftist FMLN.
The winner of the election - most likely Salvador Sanchez Ceren - will need to act quickly, she says. He's certainly aware of the challenges he has to meet. If the FLMN doesn't manage to show some results in a second term, it certainly won't get a chance at a third.Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She recently edited and contributed to “For Love and Money: Care Provision in the United States.”
President Hugo Chávez is dead, but the debate over “Chavismo” lives on. His economic policies were aimed at improving the living standards of the poorest citizens of Venezuela, and those are the terms on which his ultimate success is likely to be judged.
Today's Economist Perspectives from expert contributors.
Measured in terms of tangible improvements in human development, his achievements are significant. The bigger question is whether they can be politically and economically sustained.
A loud critic of United States policies and leader of a broader Latin American renunciation of neoliberal policies, Mr. Chávez has never been popular in the United States.
Strong aversion to both his political values and his personal style has often led to dismissive assessments of Venezuela’s economic record since he became president in 1999. But as Mark Weisbrot and Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research have carefully documented, the Venezuelan economy experienced significant growth after 2003, when the Chávez government successfully gained control over the national petroleum industry, and fared surprisingly well even after oil prices collapsed in 2008.
Oil revenues were used to finance large public investments in health, education, housing, pensions and food subsidies to the poor. World Bank indicators show a sharp decline in poverty from slightly more than 60 percent in 2003 to slightly more than 30 percent in 2011.
Many projects or “misiones” that Mr. Chávez put into place proved so popular that even Henrique Capriles, his opponent in the last election, promised voters he would maintain and augment them.
While some critics of Mr. Chávez suggest that his policies have not had much impact on other Latin American countries, others contend that they are not that different from those carried out by other social democratic governments in the region, like Brazil’s. The influential Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, past president of Brazil, has lauded Mr. Chávez’s contribution to regional initiatives.
The impact that Mr. Chávez had on other left-leaning governments in the region, especially in Bolivia and Ecuador, certainly represents part of his political legacy.
Economists have not yet developed very good tools for assessing the impact of specific development policies, partly because these are intrinsically difficult to measure. The United Nations collects data on a number of different indexes, including the Human Development Index, which combines information on income, life expectancy and actual and expected years of education.
This index shows Venezuela closely aligned with a regional average that has increased steadily since 1980. But this index is not very sensitive to short-run policy changes; both life expectancy and actual years of schooling are variables that change only gradually as the population ages.
A better indicator of short-run improvements in health is the infant mortality rate. Data collected by the Central Intelligence Agency and aggregated on Index Mundi show significant declines in Venezuela between 2003 and 2012 – but even faster declines in Brazil, Mexico and Peru.
The same database helps explain why Venezuela’s exchange of subsidized oil for Cuban health care may deliver important future benefits. Infant mortality in Cuba, slightly higher than that in the United States in 2003, has now fallen below the United States average.
Mr. Chávez’s track record in increasing school enrollments does stand out among comparable countries. A detailed World Bank database shows that between 2003 and 2011 Venezuela narrowed the gap in gross school enrollments (number of students enrolled compared with those eligible for enrollment) between it and Brazil, Mexico and Peru (the percentage of primary school enrollments held even).
Even more striking are the effects of one particular hallmark of Chavismo: the expansion of free public higher education. Tertiary enrollments increased to about 80 percent in 2009 (the latest year for which data are available) from 40 percent in 2003, far higher levels than those of Brazil, Mexico or Peru.
We will never know what path Venezuela would have followed if Mr. Chávez had not repeatedly been elected president there. But we should recognize that much of the public spending he financed with oil revenues represents investment in the human capabilities of Venezuelans themselves.
They are the ones who will determine the ultimate meaning of Chavismo.It looks like three from a zat for Stargate Resistance, as Cheyenne Mountain has stopped selling the game and announced that the servers will be going offline on January 15, 2011.
The tale of Stargate's foray into the realm of videogames is long and murky. More than two years ago, Stargate Worlds began taking beta applications, but the game sputtered amidst ugly recriminations and, eventually, some rather confusing legal battles. Just when it seemed that all was lost, SG Worlds publisher Cheyenne Mountain confused everyone by taking the wraps off of Stargate: Resistance, a team-based, third-person online shooter that it did actually manage to get out the door. Worlds, meanwhile, appeared dead in the water as Cheyenne Mountain's assets were taken over by two new companies launched by former employees, although they were ordered returned earlier this month.
But that seemingly happy ending to a messy situation is evidently too little, too late to do anyone any good. A message posted on the Stargate: Resistance website indicates that the game will be gone for good in January. "On November 16, 2010, the License Agreement between Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, Inc. and MGM Interactive, Inc. expired," it says. "As a result, Cheyenne will no longer be able to offer Stargate Resistance for sale to new customers." On the upside, the servers are being maintained until January 15, 2011, to give Stargate fans who did buy the game a chance to squeeze in as much of it as they can before everything goes dark.
What this means for Stargate Worlds isn't yet known, as Cheyenne Mountain founder Gary Whiting, who was ousted as CEO amid allegations of shenanigans, said the Resistance license was separate from Worlds, although at the time he apparently meant to reassure everyone that Resistance would be alright because it wasn't part of the Worlds train wreck. A die-hard optimist might suggest that this isn't necessarily the end of the line for Cheyenne and the Stargate games: Whiting was "cautiously optimistic" that he'd be able to renegotiate the license with MGM after he took back control of the game and the closure message ends with a promise of "more information as it becomes available." It's also impossible to overlook the remarkable resilience of Cheyenne Mountain, which was reportedly having trouble paying its employees as far back as December 2008.
On the other hand, emails sent to Cheyenne Mountain and its Firesky and Dark Comet divisions all bounced. That's generally not a good sign.
via: Big DownloadThe tests are being conducted by the Committee for European Banking Supervisors, which is made up of regulators from the European Union’s 27 member states.
The tests are designed to show whether banks have enough capital to cushion their losses in a number of different scenarios, including a deterioration of the European economy or renewed problems with sovereign debt.
A total of 91 banks have been tested, including the largest multinational banks in Europe: HSBC and Barclays in Britain, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Germany, and Société Générale and BNP Paribas in France.
The United States conducted stress tests of its own major financial institutions last year, a program credited with restoring confidence in the sector.
If the tests of the 91 banks are credible, they would separate the minority of sick banks from the healthy majority. Banks would be more willing to lend to each other. And the solid banks could sell bonds to raise money that they could in turn lend to businesses and consumers, promoting economic growth.
“Without a solid financial sector, I don’t think we will have any kind of sustainable recovery,” said Diego Iscaro, senior economist in London at IHS Global Insight, a market research firm. “If we don’t have full transparency, it’s going to be an opportunity missed.”
Analysts say that some banks should fail the stress tests, though they disagree on how many. In a study issued Tuesday, the Japanese bank Nomura said 16 European banks were likely to need more capital in order to be adequately insulated against economic and market shocks. The weaker institutions included several Greek and Italian banks, as well as Deutsche Postbank.
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A Nomura analyst, Jon Peace, cautioned that the banks’ criteria might not be the same as those being used by regulators and so they did not predict the results of the official stress tests.
A study by Credit Suisse found that all but two Greek banks would have enough capital. Credit Suisse and Nomura looked only at publicly traded banks in detail, not at public-sector institutions like the German landesbanks or Spain’s savings banks, known as cajas — both of which are considered vulnerable by many analysts. Europe’s public-sector banks could require €90 billion in additional capital, Credit Suisse estimated.
The cajas spearheaded lending to the Spanish construction sector, and suffered when it collapsed. In many cases, the cajas have not been able to respond effectively, because they have been held hostage to the interests of the politicians who control them.
Many of the landesbanks, which have close links to state governments, invested in derivatives tied to the U.S. real estate market or other toxic assets.
Even before their results are known, the stress tests have added to the pressure on the Spanish and German governments to clean up their public-sector banks.
But it is not clear that any of these banks will actually be allowed to fail the stress tests.
The director general of the federation representing the cajas, José Antonio Olavarrieta, said over the weekend that “absolutely all the cajas” had been profitable at the end of June, according to a transcript of an interview with Spanish national radio.
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The Association of German Public Sector Banks, which represents the landesbanks, said Tuesday that it did not expect any of its members to have problems passing the tests.
The German bank likely to fail is Hypo Real Estate, Bloomberg News has reported, citing people familiar with the test results. But even if it does, that might not do much to convince investors and analysts that the stress tests are credible.
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Hypo Real Estate’s problems are already well known and a rescue plan is under way. The Munich-based bank, which specializes in mortgages and lending to the public sector, will soon transfer €210 billion in troubled assets — out of total assets of €360 billion, or $464 billion — into a so-called bad bank supported by the German government.
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The political cost of a test failure by Hypo Real Estate would be much less than of the landesbanks, said Alexander Plenk, an analyst at UniCredit in Munich.
“Hypo Real Estate would be a dream example for the politicians to show the tests are credible, and governments are prepared to react,” Mr. Plenk said.
A spokesman for Hypo Real Estate, Walter Allwicher, would not comment on reports that the bank was likely to fail its stress test.
There is also concern among some analysts that different countries could use different methods to test their banks, adding to the confusion.
Nicolas Véron, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a research organization in Brussels, said the stress tests would only be a success if all were “based on a single scenario and a single methodology.” He also said that European officials rushed into setting a date to release the test results, underestimating the complexity of the tests and the effort needed to coordinate them.
Simply launching the test results into the public domain will be a formidable exercise. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors, along with national regulators and the 91 individual banks, are scheduled to post the results on their respective Web sites beginning at 6 p.m. Paris time on Friday. The European Central Bank and the European Commission will also weigh in.
The Bank of Spain is set to publish stress tests covering all of the country’s financial institutions, although the cajas, or savings banks, might show up as combined entities following a wave of recent merger agreements that has more than halved their number from 45.
A spokesman for the Bank of Spain would not detail the kind of tests carried out or confirm the exact timing of the announcement. However, a senior government official said in a recent interview that the tests “would go very far to give the full transparency that is needed now, including looking at what might happen under the kind of economic disaster scenario that really nobody expects to happen.”
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Officials elsewhere have also expressed confidence that the tests will show that European banks are healthier than investors have feared.
“There’s no reason to believe that the result of the French banks will be different from regular tests that we do and which they passed with success,” Christian Noyer, the governor of the Bank of France, said this month.
The Irish central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, said in an interview last month that Ireland was “ahead of the game” because regulators there had decided to stress test its banks early on, using more stringent criteria than the European tests.
Bank executives are similarly sanguine. Baudouin Prot, chief executive of BNP Paribas in France, described the lender late last month as “among the banks with the best ratings in the world.”
Executives at UniCredit, based in Milan, have also said they are confident about the bank’s performance in the tests, even if the criteria take into account UniCredit’s substantial exposure to European government bonds, including almost €1 billion in Greek debt.
The Belgian lenders Dexia and KBC, both of which received billions in government aid during the financial crisis, had passed the tests and have enough capital to face new economic storms, the Belgian daily newspaper L’Écho reported recently, citing unidentified sources. An official with knowledge of the tests confirmed the accuracy of the reports.
European governments will be able to support their most vulnerable banks by drawing on a rescue package worth €750 billion that European Union governments agreed to establish in May. But the fund is to be used only if the banks cannot raise money on their own in the markets, and if their respective governments are not able to help, Olli Rehn, the E.U. commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said last week.
Even so, the fund cannot be used to recapitalize banks directly, other E.U. officials have said.
Should any banks fail, analysts say, it is essential that governments or regulators be ready with measures to prop them up. But it is unclear whether all governments are in fact prepared.
“It’s important to have a Plan B,” said Mr. Iscaro of IHS Global Insight. “That sounds obvious, but in the euro zone, sometimes Plan B’s are difficult to find.”Susan Molinari, Google’s top lobbyist in Washington, is leading the charge against legislation in Congress which would enable prosecution of websites facilitating sex trafficking, because of what she says are other unintended consequences. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Elle)
In its next step to amend a federal law which allows websites such as Backpage.com to host ads for child sex-trafficking, the Senate is holding its first hearing Tuesday on a bill entitled the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. But big Internet companies such as Google, Facebook and a host of others say the bill is a bad idea — “a mistake of historic proportions” according to one opposition letter to Congress — and say that any change to the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230 would open websites to liability and discourage them from chasing away the web’s bad actors.
The bill emerged from the Senate investigation of the online classified ad service Backpage, which found that Backpage was editing ads to remove shocking terms but leaving the ads online, and a series of court rulings which held Backpage blameless for the sex trafficking of underage girls in its “Adult Services” section. Then in July, The Washington Post disclosed that Backpage used a contractor in the Philippines to solicit prostitution ads from other sites and placed prostitution ads on other sites to lure customers. Among the ads for adult prostitutes are an unknown percentage of ads for teenaged girls and boys, which by definition is sex trafficking.
[Backpage has always claimed it doesn’t control sex-related ads. New documents show otherwise]
The Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996, provides immunity for website hosts so long as they are not “the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” As part of a “Good Samaritan” clause in the law, websites which voluntarily try to restrict obscene or lewd content are not liable under the act’s Section 230. The intent of the law was to protect websites from responsibility, and lawsuits, any time someone posted something objectionable.
That’s the way many big tech companies want the law to stay. Section 230 is “a bedrock legal protection for online services,” said the Internet Association in a letter to Senate leaders. The association represents Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, among others. (Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, owns The Washington Post. He has not issued a public opinion on the issue, and didn’t respond to a request for comment.) The Internet Association’s letter said the proposed change in the law “will likely result in mass removals of legitimate content” and would discourage websites from aggressively policing their content, “for fear such actions would give the company knowledge of some limited use of its service” that it couldn’t remove and would open itself to legal liability.
The association’s general counsel, Abigail Slater, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce committee on Tuesday, and in her prepared remarks she says that big tech companies “support targeted amendments to the Communications Decency Act that would allow victims of sex trafficking crimes to seek justice against perpetrators.” But no one from Google, Facebook or any internet company has yet agreed to appear. Google and Facebook officials declined to be interviewed for this story. Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California who is prosecuting Backpage on criminal money laundering charges, and Yiota Souras, general counsel for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, are set to testify.
Backpage general counsel Liz McDougall said the company had no comment on the legislation.
Google issued a statement saying the proposed bill “would be a disaster.” Susan Molinari, the former New York congresswoman and now Google’s vice president of public policy, wrote that “Backpage.com can and should be held accountable for its crimes,” though a recent research paper showed that Google provides significant funding for think tanks which have supported Backpage in its various court battles.
Molinari claimed the bill “erodes the ‘good samaritan’ protection and would actually hinder the fight against sex trafficking.” E. Stewart Jeffries, another of Google’s top lobbyists, e-mailed Congressional staff in August with his “hope that your boss will not co-sponsor” either the Senate bill or a similar House bill. He said the bill “has the potential to seriously jeopardize the internet ecosystem.”
The bill, Senate bill 1693, actually only adds a few words to Section 230. It adds a clarification that “nothing in this section shall be construed to impair the enforcement” of federal anti-sex trafficking laws, or to impede “any state criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action targeting…sex trafficking of children or sex trafficking by force.”
[Senate launches bill to remove immunity for websites hosting illegal content, spurred by Backpage.com]
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the sponsor of the bill, has argued that the bill is narrowly tailored to sex trafficking in Section 230. It also clarifies, in the federal sex trafficking law, that “participation in a venture” includes “knowing conduct by an individual or entity” that assists or facilitates sex trafficking, in response to appeals court rulings which said the definition was unclear.
Portman said in a news release he was disappointed that none of the tech companies planned to appear. “I would hope that they would come and testify and tell the American people why they oppose it. Whoever opposes it — if they’re out lobbying against it, we should hear from them.”
Tech companies believe that changing Section 230 would open them up to massive lawsuits, “a trial lawyer bonanza of overly-broad civil lawsuits,” in the words of Gary Shapiro of the Consumer Technology Association. Portman and others say the law is narrowly written and that frivolous lawsuits happen in every industry. “This lawsuit claim is absurd and laughable,” said Kevin Smith, Portman’s spokesman. “Our narrowly-crafted bill protects good tech actors and only targets rogue online traffickers like Backpage.”
Similarly, the internet companies fear the costs of having to monitor every byte of content on their site. Advocates of the bill note that other media such as radio, television and offline media already must patrol their own content. The internet companies also claim that criminal law already allows federal prosecution of sites such as Backpage. But supporters of the bill note that the Internet and its potential for misdeeds are far too large for the Justice Department to police alone. Smith noted that the bill would clear the way for state and local prosecutors to take action, and “why shouldn’t those prosecutors, who are on the front lines fighting these trafficking crimes every day, be able to hold online traffickers accountable?”
Portman and other members of Congress called for a Justice Department investigation of Backpage after the stories in The Washington Post revealed their seemingly active role in creating sex-related content. The Justice Department has not responded to that request publicly.
[Members of Congress press Sessions to investigate sexual ads at Backpage.com]
At least three large tech companies have broken from the opposition and declared their support for the bill. Oracle issued a letter earlier this month saying the bill, if enacted, “will establish some measure of accountability for those that cynically sell advertising but are unprepared to help curtail sex advertising.” 21st Century Fox also issued a statement saying the company felt the “the narrow and tailored legislation you have proposed will appropriately target bad actors participating in this illegal activity and immediately serve to protect the most vulnerable among us from predatory sex traffickers.” On Monday, Hewlett Packard joined the tech dissenters, issuing its support in a letter which said, “we believe the technology sector has a responsibility to help policymakers and law enforcement combat illicit and criminal activity on the internet, especially sex trafficking.”
The battle over the law could be long and difficult, said John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog, which published the paper “How Google’s Backing of Backpage Protects Child Sex Trafficking” earlier this year showing how Google funds various think tanks who lobby or write legal briefs on behalf of sites such as Backpage. He said Google has spent record amounts on lobbying, and “has an obligation to step forward and explain their position to the public, rather than acting through paid surrogates and shills.”The return of the Korean GP on a 21-race calendar, no F1 licence for under-18s from 2016 onwards, the introduction of a new 10-second penalty in races, the end of gimmicks such as double points and standing restarts, as well as the formal introduction of the Virtual Safety Car were among the key decisions taken at today's meeting of the FIA World Motor Sports Council in Doha, Qatar.
Additionally, the panel tasked with reporting on the Jules Bianchi accident in Suzuka has filed a 396 page report, a summary of which the council made available to media (see separate story).
There was, however, no word on engine unfreezes, so the rules stay the same for 2015. Nor is there any word on the 2016 arrangements, but Red Bull has threatened to lead a lobbying group to open up development in 2016.
Here is our summary of the key changes for 2015:
New super licence age and qualification restrictions
The FIA's reaction to the rush towards younger drivers is clear, with new legislation on super licences specifying that from 2016 drivers under the age of 18 will not be allowed to get a super licence. Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen will be 17 at the start of next season and already has a super licence so slips in under the wire but it is his elevation to the top series that has sparked a review. Additionally, drivers must have done at least two seasons in minor formulae, so under that criteria, Kimi Raikkonen would not have got a licence back in 2001.
The following changes have been made compared to the current regulations:
- There is a valid driving licence requirement.
- There is a minimum age requirement (18yo).
- There is a verification of knowledge of the F1 Sporting Regulations/ISC rules.
2- Experience criteria
With the following changes compared to the current regulations:
- There is the 300km in F1 TCC or TPC as a minimum requirement.
- There is 2 years minimum running in minor Formulas.
3- Performance criteria
With the following changes compared to the current regulations:
- There is a point system requirement, based on the driver results in previous Formulas.
2015 F1 calendar – 21 Grands Prix
F1 is potentially set for its longest ever calendar, with Korea making a surprise return to the schedule after being dropped this year. The race, marked as To Be Confirmed, on the schedule ratified by the WMSC, is set for a May 3 date, back-to-back with Spain. It's a pairing that is likely to cause F1 logisticians some severe headaches and questions are already being raised out about the practicality of the race's scheduling.
Elsewhere, Bahrain and China have moved with Bahrain no longer back-to-back with Malaysia, as it had been on previously issued calendars.
The new schedule is as follows:
15 March Grand Prix of Australia
29 March Grand Prix of Malaysia
12 April Grand Prix of China
19 April Grand Prix of Bahrain
3 May Grand Prix of Korea (TBC)
10 May Grand Prix of Spain
24 May Grand Prix of Monaco
7 June Grand Prix of Canada
21 June Grand Prix of Austria
5 July Grand Prix of Great Britain
19 July Grand Prix of Germany
26 July Grand Prix of Hungary
23 August Grand Prix of Belgium
6 September Grand Prix of Italy
20 September Grand Prix of Singapore
27 September Grand Prix of Japan
11 October Grand Prix of Russia (Sochi)
25 October Grand Prix of USA (Austin)
1 November Grand Prix of Mexico
15 November Grand Prix of Brazil
29 November Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
The virtual Safety Car
Introduced as a trial following the tragic accident suffered by Jules Bianchi in Suzuka, the VSC is a simple but effective innovation to neutralise a race in a danger area while course marshals clear debris. Had this been in place this season, Bianchi would not have hit the JCB and would be still an active F1 driver.
The FIA statement says: "Following tests of the VSC system at the final Events of 2014, the introduction of the system has been approved for 2015. The VSC procedure may be initiated to neutralise a race upon the order of the clerk of the course. It will normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circumstances are not such as to warrant use of the safety car itself."
There are also detailed changes as follows:
- When a race is suspended, the pit exit will be closed and all cars must now proceed slowly into the pit lane, not the starting grid.
- If any team personnel or team equipment remain on the grid after the 15 second signal has been shown the driver of the car concerned must start the race from the pit lane. A 10-second stop-and-go penalty will be imposed on any driver who fails to do this.
- Unsafe release from a pit stop will now result in a 10-second penalty
- The weight of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 702kg at all times during the Event (up from 701kg).Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan are two of the best power forwards in the game. Perhaps more remarkably, even now—into their late 30s—they are still essential pieces on their respective teams. Garnett’s stifling defensive presence and Duncan’s well-rounded game have provided the foundation for two teams that are slowly heading into the twilight of success (the Celtics doing so more quickly than the Spurs, of course).
One main question that comes to mind: why isn’t this comparison made more frequently? A two-pronged explanation helps de-mystify the reason that two future Hall of Famers are not considered rivals or rarely even compared. For one, Duncan has had a remarkably more successful career in terms of championships. As you will see in my awards comparison below, Duncan owns Garnett in all of the main award categories (MVPs, Finals MVPs, and championship titles). So a comparison of legacies is not very fruitful. Second, this comparison is often not made because of the fact that scorers are the primary attraction in the NBA. Think of the main comparisons everybody from analysts to you, as an NBA fan, discuss. Kobe, LeBron, Jordan, Durant…generally people want to hear about those guys. Duncan and Garnett have a severe disadvantage here: they rely on guards to get them the ball.
but will try to put performances in context. Clearly Duncan has the greater legacy, but who was truly the better player? Think of this comparison like a chance to give some attention to the guys who do the less glamorous work. In terms of individual performance, this complete comparison will acknowledge all facets of each players’ gamewill try to put performances in context. Clearly Duncan has the greater legacy, but who was truly the better
Regular season statistics provide a solid foundation for the discussion and a glimpse into the fact that these two stars really are close in terms of career productivity.
Regular season Kevin Garnett Tim Duncan Points 19.2 20.2 Rebounds 10.5 11.2 Assists 4.0 3.1 Steals 1.3 0.7 Blocks 1.5 2.2 FG percentage.499.507 FT percentage.790.691 Games played 1300 1153
very close in age (Duncan is a less than a month older than KG), Garnett has played in two more seasons, having been drafted as a teenager. Regardless, it’s incredible to see the equality in career output. In the above chart, Duncan and Garnett each own exactly half of the eight categories. Delving into the advanced metrics, Duncan creates a marginal separation with an edge in win shares, PER, and eFG%. So yes, even though Duncan had the reputation of a quiet guy, he put up big numbers. Although they areclose in age (Duncan is a less than a month older than KG), Garnett has played in two more seasons, having been drafted as a teenager. Regardless, it’s incredible to see the equality in career output. In the above chart, Duncan and Garnett each own exactly half of the eight categories. Delving into the advanced metrics, Duncan creates a marginal separation with an edge in win shares, PER, and eFG%. So yes, even though Duncan had the reputation of a quiet guy, he put up big numbers.
The peaks of their careers are also quite similar. Garnett averaged 24/14/5 in 2003-04 on the Timberwolves, and Duncan averaged 26/13/4 in 2001-02. But unlike in career per game averages, in a comparison of these two seasons, Garnett has the slight edge in advanced metrics like PER and win shares.
exact same regular season record, at 58-24. Moreover, both teams had top-10 offenses and defenses although the Bruce Bowen led the Spurs to one of the (top-five) best defenses in the NBA. Ironically, both lost in the playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers but KG’s T’wolves actually made it one round further overall. Even in terms of player personnel, both were similar although the Timberwolves were anchored by an aging Sam Cassell at point and the Spurs had a promising rookie point guard, Tony Parker. Both even took home MVP honors during these peak statistical seasons. Regular season performances of these all-time greats were nearly identical. As if these numbers aren’t close enough, the 02 Spurs and 04 Timberwolves had theregular season record, at 58-24. Moreover, both teams had top-10 offenses and defenses although the Bruce Bowen led the Spurs to one of the (top-five) best defenses in the NBA. Ironically, both lost in the playoffs to the Los Angeles Lakers but KG’s T’wolves actually made it one round further overall. Even in terms of player personnel, both were similar although the Timberwolves were anchored by an aging Sam Cassell at point and the Spurs had a promising rookie point guard, Tony Parker. Both even took home MVP honors during these peak statistical seasons. Regular season performances of these all-time greats were nearly identical.
Playoffs Kevin Garnett Tim Duncan Points 19.5 22.3 Rebounds 11.0 12.1 Assists 3.5 3.4 Steals 1.3 0.7 Blocks 1.4 2.5 FG percentage.476.501 FT percentage.787.679 Games played 125 190
Tim is the common denominator…He's [had] a different cast around him [in] '99, '03 and '05. He's welcomed them all. He's found a way to help them all fit, feel comfortable in their roles, and not many players can do that.” The same cannot be said for Garnett, whose lone championship run was anchored by Paul Pierce for the most part. look at the playoffs is necessary. Here, as common knowledge would indicate, Tim Duncan owns Garnett. In 65 more games played, Duncan’s body of playoff work is complete and he has proven that he can provide the foundation for players to succeed when it matters most. As Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, “ For completeness |
Now mastering engineers will almost always make a new master designed for the intended medium. A master is a special mix designed by an engineer who knows who's going to be listening, how they're going to listen, what other music it needs to sound good against, and so on. The separate instrument tracks might be individually equalized, spread across the stereo spectrum, or have a dozen other parameters applied. Thus, a CD and a vinyl pressing of the exact same recorded performance are likely to be very different. If they're not, that means an inappropriate master was used for one or the other, and the test will be biased.
Moreover, the vinyl playback method includes giveaways: clicks and pops, hissing, and other noise produced by the mechanical playback experience. Indeed, much of what's often lauded about vinyl recordings — such as the "richer, warmer" sound — is not a result of accurate reproduction, so much as it is an artifact of the playback mechanism itself.
It's a hard science fact that digital is capable of reproducing higher frequencies than vinyl, above the range of what most people can hear. But, can people distinguish whether a piece of music contains those frequencies or not? According to research performed at Japan's NHK Laboratories in 2004, the answer seems to be no. They took 36 people and ran 20 tests with each. Only a single 18-year-old girl was able to beat random chance, and so they retested her separately, but the effect disappeared. Nevertheless, the researchers issued a somewhat qualified conclusion that they could "neither confirm nor deny the possibility that some subjects could discriminate between musical sounds with and without very high frequency components." Whether that recording is vinyl or digital, any frequencies it may or may not have above 20,000 Hz make no difference.
Controversy also exists between various digital formats, lending credibility to the whole format war concept. Two high end consumer digital formats, Super Audio CD and DVD Audio (technically Direct Stream Digital and Pulse Code Modulation), have been bantered back and forth by industry experts. But in 2004, a paper presented at the 116th Audio Engineering Society conference in Berlin found that:
...No significant differences could be heard between DSD and high-resolution PCM (24-bit / 176.4 kHz) even with the best equipment, under optimal listening conditions, and with test subjects who had varied listening experience and various ways of focusing on what they hear. Consequently it could be proposed that neither of these systems has a scientific basis for claiming audible superiority over the other. This reality should put a halt to the disputation being carried on by the various PR departments concerned.
In 2000, some excellent research was published in the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education where subjects listened to digital and analog recordings of the same concert performance, recorded unequalized and unmixed especially for this test. They were able to switch back and forth between the two at will, and everything was blinded and well controlled. Overall, the digital version was preferred in all ten scoring areas. However the recording media for this test were compact disc and cassette tape, so it's not directly comparable to a vinyl record. The researchers concluded:
Results showed that music major listeners rated the digital versions of live concert recordings higher in quality than corresponding analog versions. Participants gave significantly higher ratings to the digital presentations in bass, treble, and overall quality, as well as separation of the instruments/voices. Higher rating means for the digital versions were generally consistent across loudspeaker and headphone listening conditions and the four types of performance media.
To summarize the science, digital is the superior reproduction format, but analog (particularly vinyl) offers a particular type of sound that some people prefer. I liken it to a Ferrari versus a Mustang. They may have different metrics, but the people who like them for what they are don't care so much about that.
The best argument in favor of vinyl recordings need not be bolstered by unsupported claims about the technical quality of the recording, and that's the physical, tangible experience. Lowering a needle onto a record engraved with an actual audio waveform is comparable to building your own hot rod with greasy hands and case hardened tools. Its performance compared to that of a factory produced BMW is simply not relevant. It's about an experience, not about metrics or tabulated results. More senses are involved: the smell of the album cover, the touch of lowering the tone arm into the groove, the sight of the stroboscope indicating the precise turntable speed. It's a full experience to which the listener must dedicate focused attention and time. Vinyl records are a hands-on, personal connection to the actual audio, and that's something no amount of digital perfection can replicate. You can debate the validity of that connection all you want, and you'll find that it's a metaphysical, philosophical issue. There is no logic or practical connection. But some things, these types of connections — those for which no practical, quantitative explanation exists — are sometimes the most important.
By Brian Dunning
Follow @BrianDunningGrab your horniest helmet and straddle the nearest pigbeast. It's time to ride on down to the shops to pick up the latest issue of PC Gamer UK. Why? Well, partly because we poured a month's worth of love, passion and hard graft into bringing you the best features, previews and reviews. But also because Dan Griliopoulos charged into The Creative Assembly, pen brandished like a cleaver, to gain world-exclusive access to Total War: Warhammer.
In addition to Dan's six-page feature, we also asked Richard Cobbett to chart the history of the horror game—everything from Night Trap to Alien: Isolation. And that's not all. This month, we're giving away a free Steam key for Total War: Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai, worth £25.
The issue, which is in shops now, can be ordered through My Favourite Magazines. Digitally, you'll find it on the App Store, Google Play, and Zinio, and you can subscribe to get issues delivered directly to your door. Here's our wallet for this month, and a round-up of the print explosion that is issue 280.
This month we...
Get world exclusive access to Total War: Warhammer
Hide under the covers with the history of horror
Check the pulse of Call of Duty: Block Ops 3, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Lumo, Yooka-Laylee, Edge of Space and Guild of Dungeoneering
Review Kerbal Space Program, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Infinite Crisis, Westerado, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Axiom Verge, Invisible, Inc., Magicka: Wizard Wars, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, Dungeons 2, Project CARS, StarDive 2, Gratuitous Space Battles 2, I Am Bread, Endless Legend: Guardians, Dirt Rally, Killing Floor 2 and The Long Dark
Supertest the latest headsets
Experience the magic of Outer Wilds in Now Playing
Round up the month's best free downloads
Cross Scandinavia in our Euro Truck Simulator 2 diary
Find out what's new with Smite in Update
Revisit Broken Sword 2 in Reinstall
And a whole lot more. Until next month!btctick - A notification app for Ubuntu which displays the current value of Bitcoin in several currencies
DESCRIPTION
Displays the current bitcoin price in the notification
area. Click on the icon or the price to see a drop-down list of prices
in other currencies. Clicking on a value in the drop-down will select
that currency as the one to be displayed in the notification area.
FILES
~/.config/btctick
If present, configuration is read from
this file, which can override default settings such as the frequency
with which to poll for price data, and the format in which to display
it.
This file is also written to when a setting is changed, such as
selecting a currency to display in the notification area.
To cause btctick to reload its configuration file while running,
send a SIGHUP to the process, e.g.
$ pkill -SIGHUP -f 'btctick'
The format of this file is documented below
ENVIRONMENT
LOGLEVEL
Determines how much information should be
ouput on STDOUT. The following levels are supported:
DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL. Only messages of
the given level or higher will be output. The default level is
WARNING.
CONFIGURATION
[ config ] defaultcurrency = GBP pollingwait = 60 pollingtimeout = 0. 5 indicator_formatstring = { symbol }{ last:.2f } dropdown_formatstring = { code }: { symbol }{ bid:.2f } / { symbol }{ ask:.2f }
The file follows the format used by Python's ConfigParser module, where
it is broken into sections, delimited by [SECTIONNAME] lines, each of
which is followed by zero or more lines of the form
optionname = optionvalue
or
optionname: optionvalue
At present, the only valid section is [config]
Lines beginning with a '#' character are ignored as comments. Note that
comments are not saved if the configuration file is re-written by the
program itself.
[config]
defaultcurrency
A three-letter uppercase currency-code, such as GBP or USD. This is the
currency which will be displayed in the notification area. Defaults to
GBP.
pollingwait
The number of seconds to wait before checking for updated prices. Defaults
to 30.
pollingtimeout
How long, in seconds, to wait for an HTTP response from the price server
before giving up. Defaults to 0.5. It is not advisable to set this value
higher than pollingwait.
indicator_formatstring
How to display the price information in the notification area. This
formatstring has the same syntax as for standard Python formatstrings.
Any normal character in the formatstring will be displayed as-is, however,
you may interpolate variables by using the {name} syntax. You may specify
how to display a variable by using the {name:format} syntax, e.g.
{last:.2f} will display the value of the last variable to 2 decimal places.
The following named variables are available:
symbol: The currency symbol used to represent the selected currency, e.g. $
code: The three-letter currency code use to represent the selected currency, e.g. USD
24h_avg: average of weighted averages for last 24 hours
ask: weighted average of ask prices
bid: weighted average of bid prices
last: weighted average of last prices
total_vol: total trading volume across all exchanges in last 24 hours
dropdown_formatstring
How to display the price information in the dropdown list. This option has
the same syntax as the indicator_formatstring, described above.
SEE ALSO
ConfigParser
FormatStringsSenate Democrats said Tuesday that a controversial Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee could be circumventing the requirement that he be confirmed by the Senate.
The accusation was made in a letter that all 10 Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee sent to Michael Dourson, the nominee to be the EPA’s top chemical safety regulator, outlining “several concerns” with his status at the agency.
Dourson has not gotten a vote either in the Environment Committee or in the full Senate. But last week he started working at the EPA as an adviser to EPA chief Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittEPA knows this pesticide is dangerous, so why did it reverse the ban? Archives investigation finds no ‘secret' Pruitt calendars existed California has sued the Trump administration 46 times. Here are the lawsuits MORE.
ADVERTISEMENT
A 1998 law prohibits any person from doing the duties of a Senate-confirmed official without having such confirmation.
“According, it would be unlawful for you to assume any of the delegated authorities of the [position] before the Senate confirms your nomination while serving as an ‘adviser to the administrator,’” wrote the senators, led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseThis week: Congress, Trump set for showdown on emergency declaration Senate reignites blue slip war over Trump court picks Democrats brush off GOP 'trolling' over Green New Deal MORE (D-R.I.).
“Your appointment creates the appearance, and perhaps the effect, of circumventing the Senate’s constitutional advice and consent responsibility for the position to which you have been nominated,” they continued.
“Your improper involvement in EPA decisions could provide grounds for subjects of EPA regulations and oversight to challenge the legal validity of those decisions in court.”
EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said Dourson is complying with the relevant statutes and case law, and accused EPA officials under previous presidents of violating the law.
“The NLRB v. Southwest General decision held that the Vacancies Act prevents a person who has been nominated by the president to fill a vacant Senate-confirmed position ‘from performing the duties of that office in an acting capacity.’ Dr. Dourson is a senior adviser to the administrator and is not ‘performing the duties’ of the [position], which is what occurred in previous administrations,” he said.
The Environment Committee is planning to vote on Dourson’s confirmation Wednesday.
The panel’s Democrats sharply criticized him at a hearing this month as a shill for industries that make and use chemicals.
For the two decades before his EPA job, Dourson wrote toxicology assessments for clients, often companies, and often came up with conclusions far more friendly to the companies than those reached by states, the federal government and other researchers.
In their Tuesday letter, the Democrats asked Dourson seven detailed questions about what he is doing to ascertain whether he is violating a law.
They also asked him several questions about his opinions on certain chemical policy issues. The senators accused Dourson of not sufficiently answering those questions when they were initially sent to him in writing following his confirmation hearing.by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, Feb 23, 2013
By Ridge Mahoney
For the past two seasons, midseason moves have propelled the Houston Dynamo to a spot in the MLS Cup, only to fall both times to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Stumbling again at the final hurdle hasn’t triggered a lot of change by head coach Dominic Kinnear, who guided his fifth-place team past Chicago, Eastern Conference winner Sporting Kansas City, and D.C. United in the playoffs after Ricardo Clark and Oscar Boniek Garcia had been incorporated into the mix.
The loss of U.S. international Geoff Cameron to Stoke City of the English Premier League cost the Dynamo very few points as the centerback pairing of Bobby Boswell and Jermaine Taylor took root. Will Bruin, who led the team with 12 goals during the regular season, hit four more in the playoffs. Brad Davis again finished among the league leaders with 12 assists.
Clark’s range meshed with the rugged industriousness of Adam Moffat, and Boniek Garcia’s slashing runs balanced the lofted balls and curling crosses supplied by Davis. The emergence of Bruin as a reliable target man who can also move well in the penalty area has lessened the burden on Brian Ching, who has decided to play again this season and was offered a role as assistant coach.
Kinnear has spent much of the 2013 preseason tinkering with those elements and sharpening his team for a faster start than in the past two campaigns. Along with its March 2 league opener against D.C. United, Houston faces Liga MX foe Santos Laguna in a Concacaf Champions League match three days later.
KEY PLAYER MOVES. Winger Andrew Driver, signed on loan this week from Hearts, gives Kinnear an additional flank threat to that already posed by Davis and Garcia. Like Davis, he’s also left-footed, so Kinnear can slide either one of them into the middle and keep the other pushed outside. Driver also took set plays for Hearts. Trades brought in veteran centerback Eric Brunner, who replaces versatile Canadian defender Adrian Hainault, and ex-Rapids forward Omar Cummings. He gives another dose of pace along with that of Calen Carr. Central mid Je-Vaughn Taylor was traded to FC Dallas. SuperDraft pick Jason Johnson (No. 13 overall), who has already represented Jamaica at the senior level, and Homegrown signing Bryan Salazar – who wowed observers playing for the club’s U-18 academy team -- are battling Bruin and Ching for time at forward.
WHY BE OPTIMISTIC? A perennial contender and playoff constant, the Dynamo has probably its strongest roster since the championship teams of 2006 and 2007. Many of its top players are in their peak years yet there’s also a solid group of younger talents to push them for playing time. With a full season of home matches at BBVA Compass Stadium – the Dynamo opened 2012 with seven road games – it should be in the hunt for the conference title, not scraping through as a wild-card entry. It didn’t lose a game last year at BBVA. Englishman Giles Barnes, who played four games after coming aboard as a free agent in late August, gives Kinnear a central midfield supplement to Moffat and Clark.
WHY BE PESSIMISTIC? Concacaf World Cup qualifying and the Gold Cup could hit the Dynamo hard; it has several possible U.S. call-ups as well as Taylor for Jamaica and Garcia for Honduras. It won only one of 12 games last year after falling behind, which was a major reason for its fifth-place finish. Kofi Sarkodie took over for Hainault at right back late in the season and must show he can handle the job long-term.
WHY WATCH THIS TEAM? Kinnear preaches a pressuring game, which can overrun opponents not conditioned to handle the searing Houston heat. Yet the speed of Garcia and Carr (who scored against Los Angeles in the title game before suffering a torn ACL), the poaching instincts of Bruin and Ching, and Davis’s serves over distance always present a counterattacking threat on the road. Clark’s energy and range are impressive. With David Beckham out of the league, Davis may rank as the best dead-ball server in MLS.
MLS PREVIEW SERIES:
Eastern Conference: Columbus | Montreal | New England | Philadelphia | Toronto FC
Western Conference: Chivas USA | Colorado | FC Dallas | Portland | VancouverSome fake Facebook accounts, reportedly used by Russians to purchase political ads on the site, primarily trafficked content created in the U.S., according to a New York Times investigation.
Facebook in late September made public that thousands of political ads were purchased by Russian-linked groups. A slew of revelations on the Facebook pages has since emerged, including how the fake social accounts were used to create division during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The users, which Facebook said were connected to a Russian “troll farm” called the Internet Research Agency, created liberal and conservative pages like “Blacktivist,” “Secured Borders” and “Being Patriotic.” According to the Times, they used the pages to repost content created by activists and commentators to generate traffic.
In one instance, a page called United Muslims of America posted a video taken from Waqas Shah, a 23-year-old man from Staten Island.
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In the video, Shah, clad in an Arab tunic known as a thobe, is harassed by an actor on the street in order to gauge how unwitting bystanders react to a Muslim man being bullied.
In another case, Being Patriotic copied and posted a story from InfoWars, a right-wing conspiracy site, that said the federal government was scamming citizens out of their land. The post included a note from Being Patriotic that read, “The nation can’t trust the federal government anymore. What a disgrace!”
The pages have all since been suspended.
Last week, Facebook handed over more than 3,000 political ads purchased by the accounts they had identified. The company said the ads had been seen by 10 million people in the U.S.
But researchers believe that “organic” posts from the accounts had much further reach than the ads that were purchased.
Facebook will testify before the House and Senate Intelligence committees on Nov. 1.Related:
Cannabis is the most popular drug in Italy Cannabis still represents the number one illegal drug of choice among Italians. This is due to Italy’s role as significant importer from other countries that grow it, but also to its internal production. Of note is the fact that cannabinoids make up 90% of all drugs confiscated in Italy. Despite Read More.
The role of cannabis in treating MS symptoms People with multiple sclerosis in the UK should be allowed to use cannabis legally in order to relieve their “relentless and exhausting” symptoms. According to the MS Society 1 in 10 sufferers of the condition whose pain and spasticity cannot be treated by medication available on the NHS should be Read More.
Historic sentence on domestic cultivation of cannabis In Italy, cultivation of marijuana at home is not a crime, as long as it done according to “domestic” methods. And, not, on the other hand “according to methods of formal agricultural cultivation”. Such is the language in a recent sentence pronounced by the Court of Cassation, who decided to absolve Read More.
In Uruguay cannabis is being sold in pharmacies Uruguay’s government has given the green light for the sale in pharmacies of cannabis for recreational use. For now, 16 pharmacies have signed up for being able to sell it. But, the number is expected to rise to at least 30 in the next months. Since 2013, this South American Read More.
A yes for Cannabis, Chamber of Deputies gives the go ahead The Italian Chamber of Deputies has given the go-ahead for the signatures collected for the popular law for the legalization of cannabis in Italy. The President Laura Boldrini has informed the Luca Coscioni Association and the Italian Radicals that the certificates delivered in the election on 11 November last year Read More.Gary Cameron / Reuters Attorney General for the State of Illinois Lisa Madigan hopes that stopping payment to state workers will push lawmakers to end a 19-month budget impasse.
Jan 26 (Reuters) - The attorney general of Illinois asked a judge on Thursday to lift an order requiring state workers to be paid during the state’s record 19-month budget impasse in hopes of putting pressure on lawmakers to pass a spending plan.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, filed a motion in St. Clair County Circuit Court, requesting Judge Robert LeChien to dissolve his July 2015 order that authorized the state comptroller to pay wages of all Illinois employees despite the state not having a budget in place, court documents showed.
The order has “removed much of the urgency for the legislature and the governor to act on a budget,” Madigan said in a statement.
Since taking office in 2015, Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has feuded with the Democratic-led state legislature, leaving Illinois as the only U.S. state to go 19 months without a complete budget.
A bill package aimed at ending Illinois’ record-setting budget impasse and addressing the state’s deep fiscal woes will not be voted on in the Senate until the second week of February, the chamber’s leaders said on Thursday.
Rauner spokesman Catherine Kelly said in a statement that the request by Madigan was disappointing.
“This filing seeks to directly harm thousands of employee families and even more who rely on our dedicated state workers everyday,” the statement said.
The motion filed by Madigan asked the judge to terminate his order on Feb. 28 to give state lawmakers time to enact a budget. Thirteen unions originally sued the state in St. Clair County Circuit Court to ensure its members were paid.
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Democrat, said on Thursday that her office was working on a plan to meet technical adjustments that a payroll stoppage would require and to partially pay some state workers.
“Had Governor Rauner met his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget in 2015 or 2016, we would not be facing a scenario where the livelihoods of our frontline employees could be threatened in this way,” Mendoza said in a statement, vowing to follow all court rulings.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The budget was passed by 167 votes to 128
Greek lawmakers have approved the 2013 budget involving large spending cuts, despite mass public street protests.
The budget was passed by 167 votes to 128. The move was a pre-condition for Athens to be granted a 31.5bn euro (£25bn; $40bn) EU/IMF loan necessary to stave off bankruptcy.
In Athens, more than 10,000 people protested outside the parliament.
The vote comes as eurozone finance ministers are due to discuss the Greece crisis at a meeting in Brussels.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who is due to attend the summit, earlier warned that without the new loan, Athens would start running out of money within days.
The problem that he faces is that it could take some weeks before the EU backs the new instalment, BBC Athens correspondent Mark Lowen reports. The measure will have to be approved first by some parliaments, including Germany's.
"We are not responsible for the urgency - all those concerned have known the deadlines for a long time Wolfgang Schaeuble, German Finance Minister
Political symbol
Many of the austerity measures contained in the budget had already been passed by parliament, in a controversial vote last Wednesday.
The budget foresees a deepening of the worst recession of any country in modern history, our correspondent says.
The national economy is expected to shrink next year by 4.5% and public debt is likely to rise to 189% of GDP, almost double Greece's national output. This year, public debt stood at 175%.
The head of Syriza, a left-wing opposition party, said the budget cuts would leave Greeks unable to afford essential goods this winter.
"This is why we say you are dangerous for this country," Alexis Tspiras said, telling the government: "You are incapable of negotiating."
Image caption Sunday's demonstration in Athens passed largely peaceful
As MPs inside parliament debated the budget late on Sunday, marchers outside brought the centre of the capital to a standstill.
Members of the Communist-affiliated Pame union, the private sector GSEE union and the public sector Adedy union had urged parliament to reject the budget.
But there was none of the violence seen last Wednesday when protesters attacked riot police with petrol bomb and the police responded by firing tear gas.
Measures in austerity package Retirement age up from 65 to 67
A further round of pension cuts, of 5-15%
Salary cuts, notably for police officers, soldiers, firefighters, professors, judges, justice officials; minimum wage also reduced
Holiday benefits cut
35% cut to severance pay
Redundancy notice reduced from six to four months
Evangelos Venizelos, whose socialist Pasok party is part of the governing coalition, warned European partners that any delay in pushing through the loan worked against Greece and the eurozone as a whole.
"The country is at its limits," he said.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said nobody opposed the next slice of loan funding, but the Greek government should have met the conditions for it months ago.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Former Greek MP, Elena Panaritis: "This just hurts the same people over and over again"
"We are not responsible for the urgency. All those concerned have known the deadlines for a long time," Mr Schaeuble said in an interview with Die Welt newspaper.
The next tranche of bailout loans for Greece has been delayed for months, becoming as much a political symbol as a financial one, the BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels reports.
Eurozone governments have not decided how they will pay for it, our correspondent says. So there are still plenty of questions surrounding Greece and the whole strategy of austerity-based reform.
A final report is still awaited from the main lenders - the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank - on the progress of reforms Athens has signed up as part of the bailout deal.As I’m writing this post, I’m wondering why we didn’t feature this site earlier. AfterPre is an excellent direct download link indexer that’s somehow managed to evade our radar up untill now. When compared to other DDL indexers, AfterPre is unique. Their uniqueness mostly comes from the looks – although a DDL index, the site looks and behaves and exactly like a private BitTorrent tracker running on a script such as TBDEV. A layout that resembles a torrent index, categories, category icons, separate download pages for each indexed release – they are all here. Only difference between AfterPre and a private tracker is that instead of.torrent files. AP gives you a list of download links through which you can download a particular release directly.
AfterPre is not a new site and it’s been online for more than a year. Its process of posting scene releases online seems to be automated – something similar to what sites like NewSceneFiles, SceneFulx and SceneDDL are doing/used to do. Pre times are pretty good and you can find most of the stuff indexed on AfterPre not long after scene groups originally release them. As of now the site’s index consists of over 25000 releases – this is a huge amount of releases for any type of site, private tracker or a DDL forum.
Speaking of the content, you can find pretty much anything here. Movies, Music, TV Shows, Games – if it’s a release from the warez scene chances are that AfterPre has got it. Just like on a torrent tracker, releases are searchable by name or category. One of the drawbacks of this site is that it does not have any packs and it does not index any releases that originate from P2P groups. Anyways the content is still great – a screenshot of part of the main index and site layout may be found below:
As said above AfterPre offers direct download links to indexed files. These usually point to external one click hosting services such as HotFile and RapidShare. You can easily download files hosted on these services with a simple tool like JDownloader.
Signups for AfterPre are currently open. You need to create an account and log into the site in order to view download links (registration is almost instantaneous). If you download scene releases over the web, this site is definitely worth checking out.
Site Name: AfterPre (http://afterpre.com)
Signup URL: http://afterpre.com/signup.php
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The boys from Lucky Custom from Argentina sure know how to build a custom motorcycle. I’ve recently featured one of their latest builds, a slick CB550 Café Racer. Digging into their impressive list of creations, I’ve stumbled upon this great bike: a Honda VF750 Café Racer “Maximo #11”. I thought it was worth the share!
The Honda VF750 has a unique liquid cooled 748cc V4 engine with an amazing 86HP, so if you strip down the dry weight of almost 250kg, you sure have a great base bike for a café racer. Unfortunately we don’t see the Honda VF750 much in the custom motorcycle scene.
Lucky Customs is known for their thorough style: every single part has been taken care of, and no detail was left behind. A cool detail are the custom laced wheels.
The bike is full of high end and custom parts, it’s too bad I couldn’t find any specs or a list of modifications of the bike.
And for those who don’t like this bike, Lucky Custom added some other eye candy to distract the critical viewers 😉
PS. the model is Abby Tiss.A Central Florida atheist organization has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Lakeland over opening city commission meetings with prayer.
The lawsuit comes after the Atheists of Florida voiced specific outrage over the use of the name "Jesus Christ." An April 5 meeting became heated after a citizen got into a yelling match with the atheists, prompting commissioners to recess the meeting.
Courts have ruled invocations at meetings of government bodies are constitutional under some conditions. Lakeland’s policy has been ruled constitutional by the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which stipulated that governments must make a reasonable effort to incorporate all religious faiths.
But Atheists of Florida argues the city isn't following the court's guidelines.
"Lakeland clearly has Christian-based prayers. They've designated this city as a Christian city. They've totally excluded any other types of religious or nonreligious views," EllenBeth Wachs, director of its Lakeland chapter told TheLedger.com.
The lawsuit contends that the Lakeland policy violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The group also alleges that while attending commission meetings that they were made to feel uncomfortable because they did not stand during the invocation and omitted the "under God" phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance.
TheLedger.com contributed to this report.[Disclaimer! You don’t need to tell me that this blog is sexist and stereotypical. I know that! I know that it doesn’t represent everyone. But in my thirty years’ experience as a counselor, I also know that it tells the story of a lot of couples out there.]
Do you remember what it was like when you were 12?
If you’re female and were like many girls, your were everything to you. You talked on the phone for hours, chatting passionately about who sat next to whom in the lunchroom, whether you liked Joanne’s new haircut, or making detailed plans about who to invite to your birthday party. You likely also spent a bunch of time planning your life – what your wedding would be like, what kind of dress you would wear, what kind of house you wanted, how many kids you were going to have (two boys and two girls) and what their names would be. Your future life as a mother and a wife was the stuff of dreams.
But how about if you were a boy? At 12, were you spending your evenings with your ear glued to the phone chatting with your friend about the goings on of everyone in class? Were you profoundly interested in what Matt wore to that day? Did you really want to dissect in detail what Bob meant when he didn’t sit next to you at lunch? Did you really care? And were you about your future life as a husband and father, exploring ad nauseum with your buddy whether Charlotte is a nicer name for your future daughter than Emma?
I’m guessing not. I’m guessing that, if you were a boy, you were far more interested at 12 to be playing a game, preferably one that didn’t involve too much talking. Like basketball. Baseball. Bike
riding. Chess. The focus was on the game, not on what your friend felt about the game.
Then you grew up and, like many people, did what’s expected. Maybe got some schooling, a and eventually coupled up with someone and got married. And although the boys have been on a different path than the girls all along, we somehow expect those paths to converge at the altar. It doesn’t, but the guys don’t want the girls to know that.
Women go into marriage for the marriage. Men go into marriage for the woman. For the woman, it’s a combo, a package deal. You get the house, the stuff, the kids and the guy. I can’t tell you how many men in my office complain that they feel they are last on the list, after the kids, her job, her mother, her sister, her friends and Zumba. She can get her needs met in a variety of ways and can have close, intimate with any one of those people on that list, not only with him.
For many men, however, the woman is central. He may love his house and his kids, but men often tell me that their primary want is pretty simple: they just want their wife to be happy. They desperately need to feel connected to her and often the quickest route to satisfy that need is through. They also need for their wife to admire and respect them. Women belittle that need, but it exists and it’s true.
What am I getting at? Typically, when a man either has an affair or leaves a long-term marriage, the wife is often incredulous. She can’t understand how he could put everything they’d built together at risk. To the wife, the marriage itself has such an intrinsic value – how could he walk away from that? But many men felt that, yes, they were part of it and they went along with it because she seemed to want it so much, but the institution of marriage was not what was keeping him there. It’s his wife that he wants. When his feelings for her waver, it’s not that hard to walk away from the rest.
Women who are being left don’t get this, particularly because the husband could never reveal the truth for of her turning away from him, leaving him untethered when she was the primary person to whom he was connected. So integrating the fact that he was not playing the same game all along is the first step in the process of healing for the abandoned wife. His interests have migrated and he’s not the man she thought he was. He wasn’t – he was just doing what made sense for him to do at the time to stay.
I’m a psychotherapist, family therapist and the author of Runaway Husbands: The Abandoned Wife's Guide to Recovery and Renewal and My Sister, My Self: The Surprising Ways that Being an Older, Middle, Younger or Twin Shaped Your Life. I can be found online at www.vikkistark.com and www.runawayhusbands.com.However, this doesn't necessarily mean Bitcoin is doomed, and Dr. Maurer has a prescription for Bitcoin supporters who want their money to be more valuable:
"We talk about how currencies often do function with that same kind of displacement," Maurer tells me, "leading people to think that money can be or ought to be backed by a'real' commodity like gold, but that this is a kind of'metallism' which again is based on overlooking that the source of value even with something like gold is still a social convention, not something given by a commodity's physical qualities or relative scarcity." Or to put it much more simply: money is money because society calls it money. (Or as Danny Devito once put it : " Everyone needs money -- that's why they call it money! ")
"' When Perhaps the Real Problem is the Money Itself:' The Practical Materiality of Bitcoin " published in Social Semiotics and lead written by Bill Maurer, a Professor of Anthropology and Law at UC Irvine, whose specialty is money, and has analyzed Bitcoin before, basically argues that (to very roughly summarize). In the paper, Maurer and his student co-authors Taylor Nelms and Lana Swartz note that Bitcoin advocates prefer to talk about the code behind Bitcoin, rather than the overall social structure that makes money valuable in the first place. This is a displacement, and it's a common misunderstanding many people have around money in general:
Bitcoin suffered a recent Ponzi scheme, just one of many scandals that's hurt the value of the virtual currency. Why does Bitcoin seem to attract scams like this? If a recent research paper is right, the problem isn't necessarily the code behind Bitcoin or who's mostly using it now. Instead, it's a lack of a social infrastructure that makes money valuable in the first place.
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jell Stordahl and Ole Humlum – have just published a paper entitled “The long sunspot cycle 23 predicts a significant temperature decrease in cycle 24”. It is available online here: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.1954v1.pdf
The authors have found that Northern Hemisphere temperature changes by 0.21°C per year of solar cycle length. The biggest response found in the temperature series they examined was Svalbard at 1.09°C per year of solar cycle length. The authors also credit me with the discovery of a new branch of science. On page 6 they state.” Archibald (2008) was the first to realize that the length of the previous sunspot cycle (PSCL) has a predictive power for the temperature in the next sunspot cycle, if the raw (unsmoothed) value for the SCL is used.” I have decided to name this new branch of science “solarclimatology”. It is similar to Svensmark’s cosmoclimatology but much more readily quantifiable.
What we use solarclimatology for is to predict future climate. Professor Solheim and his co-authors have done that for Solar Cycle 24 which takes us out to 2026. Using Altrock’s green corona emissions diagram, we can go beyond that to about 2040: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/08/solar-cycle-24-length-and-its-consequences/
The green corona emissions point to Solar Cycle 24 being 17 years long, and thus 4.5 years longer than Solar Cycle 23. Using the relationship found by Solheim and his co-authors, that means that the 0.63°C decline for the Northern Hemisphere over Solar Cycle 24 will be followed by a further 0.95°C over Solar Cycle 25. That is graphically indicated thusly, using Figure 19 from the Solheim et al paper:
The last time we witnessed temperatures anything like that was in the decade 1690 – 1700. Crop failures caused by cold killed off 10% of the populations of France, Norway and Sweden, 20% of the population of Estonia and one third of the population of Finland.
As noted above, Svalbard’s relationship is 1.09°C per year of solar cycle length. That means that it is headed for a total temperature fall of 8.2°C. The agricultural output of Svalbard and the rest of the island of Spitsbergen won’t be affected though, because there isn’t any. The biggest effect will on some of the World’s most productive agricultural lands. The solar cycle length – temperature relationship for some localities in the northeast US is 0.7°C degrees per year, which is a good proxy for the latitude of the US – Canadian border and thus the North American grain belt. Newman in 1980 found that the Corn Belt shifted 144 km per 1.0°C change in temperature. With the temperature falling 5.2°C, the Corn Belt will shift 750 km south to the Sun Belt, as shown following:
The outlook for Canadian agriculture is somewhat more dire. I expect Canadian agriculture will be reduced to trapping beavers, as in the 17th Century.
The current cold conditions in Europe resulted in more than 300 souls departing this mortal coil, and has discomforted some millions. Solheim and his co-authors note “As seen in figures 6 and 7, the Norwegian and Europe60 average temperatures have already started to decline towards the predicted SC24 values”.
References:
Newman, J. E. (1980). Climate change impacts on the growing season of the North American Corn Belt. Biometeorology, 7 (2), 128-142. Supplement to International Journal of Biometeorology, 24 (December, 1980).
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RedditIf the dark, cold days of January are grinding you down, rejoice, because the musical equivalent of a full-blast laser beam of energy is about to hit our shores, in the shape of the band Ex Hex. The trio from Washington DC brought out their debut album, Rips, last Autumn and it was one of the most fun, joyous, life-affirming 33 minutes of music released all year. The album is a power-pop bath bomb, loaded with the fizzing energy of that golden period in the Seventies and early Eighties when punk attitude combined with studio sheen, sweet Sixties melodies and pounding r & b rhythms to produce the perfection of the Ramones’ I Wanna be Sedated, Blondie’s Hanging on the Telephone, Big Star’s Feel and the Knack’s My Sharona.
Yet nothing about Rips feels like retro pastiche or ironic homage. Instead it sounds entirely modern and utterly visceral, played and produced with a finely controlled urgency by a tight, passionate gang.
Despite being the band’s debut, the record also marks the brilliant evolution of group founder and guitarist Mary Timony. “Maybe I am a late bloomer,” croaks the 44-year-old guitarist down the phone from North Carolina where the group is midway through a “crazy” American tour.
Timony has been making music for most of her life to great acclaim but little commercial success. A self-taught guitarist, inspired by the late Eighties hardcore punk scene in Washington and influential local bands like Fugazi, she studied jazz and classical guitar at Georgetown’s Duke Ellington School of Arts where her teacher Tom Newman identified her as “a prodigy”. In the Nineties, she moved to Boston to study English literature, joining a succession of bands, the most successful of which was the indie group Helium.
Their musical style is unrecognisable from Ex Hex. Timony, whose cool singing drawl now makes her sound like the love child of Bryan Ferry and Debbie Harry, then yelped and growled her way through the loud-quiet buzz of the high grunge style. Helium garnered rave reviews in America and Timony, with her baby-doll dresses and barbed lyrics became the poster girl for the feminist rock riot grrrl scene.
Yet, despite being hailed as “a mastermind” guitarist by The New York Times, consistent appreciation of Timony’s talent never translated into a viable income and she reels off to me some of the odd jobs she went through to eke out a living: “I was an office temp in my 20s, then I was a gardener for a while. I’ve done everything from packaging video tapes to working in a toy factory – I’ve had some weird jobs.” Timony’s luck began to change 10 years ago when she started teaching private guitar classes to children and teenagers in her Washington basement. “It is so inspiring,” she says. “I love the children I teach and I learn from it. Plus it gives me the flexibility to do my own music.”
As a teacher she has to help her students learn their favourite songs, from Queen to Ed Sheeran and “a lot of Taylor Swift”, as she puts it. The process, she feels, opened up her own songwriting. “I think that is where all the pop stuff started to come into my music because I spend so long listening to classic rock when I am teaching the kids.” Not that she feels indebted to Sheeran. “You are also influenced by things you hate,” she says with a laugh.
She put her new attitude into practice five years ago when she was asked to join the rock band Wild Flag with Carrie Brownstein of the rock band Sleater-Kinney and latterly star of the American comedy Portlandia. The all-female four-piece made one fantastic album before disbanding but it inspired Timony to pursue a new approach.
“I moved my guitar into standard tuning for the first time in 10 years and I started to write much more poppy songs. They would get deconstructed by the rest of the band but if I had something that wasn’t poppy to start off with, it wouldn’t work at all.”
With Ex Hex – which also features Laura Harris on drums and Betsy Wright on bass – none of this pop instinct has been lost. “In the past I’ve recorded what was going on in my head or written from a sad or an introspective place, where I was thinking about chord changes or notes and trying to make them sound different and interesting. With this record, we were just relentless about writing songs we wanted to dance to. It was like taking all the chocolate chips out of the cookie and just eating them. We really whittled it down.
“The songs sound real easy but that is deceptive,” says Timony. “This kind of music is much harder to write than anything I was doing before. You have to spend so much longer editing and arranging it.”
Ex Hex performing in 2014
One review of Wild Flag described their sound as “mum rock”, seemingly surprised that women in their 30s and 40s were still wielding their guitars and some of that has followed Ex Hex with its all female line-up and funny, sharp lyrics about the tug and pull of relationships with flaky men. I can almost hear Timony rolling her eyes as she says, “People seem really freaked out by how old we are. I don’t really understand why that is so important when men’s ages don’t get mentioned. It doesn’t really matter that we are all women. I just wanted to play with people I connected with.”
Age, if anything, she argues, has just increased her focus and passion for music. “Making music is the only thing that is exciting for me. I don’t have kids or a family so I am definitely going to work really hard at this. I think that is why this band is so focused. All three of us love doing this.”
Late success, you could argue, has been a blessing for Timony. While her more successful contemporaries in the Nineties are trapped having to revive their old line-ups and hits, she has been free to reinvent herself. Despite an increasing nostalgia for the grunge years, Timony unsurprisingly has little interest in the past, “I’m sick of the Nineties, it was a bad time for music. It was really regional and a label would sign a band just because they were from the same area even if they weren’t any good. Now, only the good stuff rises to the top.”
Is there any danger that Ex Hex is just another phase, albeit a joyous one, for Timony? “No, I feel like I have finally found what I want to do with this band rather than trying to do what I can do or what is cool. It took a while for me to learn how to get a band together that I really loved. Now, it’s the best.”
Rips is out now on Merge Records. The Ex Hex British tour starts Feb 9. See: exhexband.comThe NOAA Space Weather Prediction center updated their plots of solar indices earlier today, on January 3rd. With the exception of a slight increase in the 107 centimeter radio flux, there appears to be even less signs of solar activity. Sunspots are still not following either of the two predictive curves, and it appears that the solar dynamo continues to slumber, perhaps even winding down further. Of particular note, the last graph below (click the read more link to see it) showing the Average Planetary Index (Ap) is troubling. I thought there would be an uptick by now, due to expectations of some sign of cycle 24 starting up, but instead it continues to drop.
Meanwhile, the Oulu Neutron Monitor shows a significant up trend, reaching levels not seen in over 30 years. According to an email I received from Dr. David Archibald, GCR flux has indeed increased:
Oulu Neutron Monitor Data, plotted by David Archibald with prediction point added. Data source: University of Oulu, Finland
Svensmark is watching this closely I’m sure.
Looking at the SWPC graph below, it appears that we are in uncharted territory now, since the both the high and low cycle 24 predictions (in red) appear to be falsified for the current time frame. No new cycle 24 predictions have been issued by any solar group (that I am aware of ) in the last couple of months. The last time NASA made a change was in October 08. The question now seems to be, are we seeing the beginning of a cycle skip, or a grand minima? Or is this just an extraordinary delay for cycle 24?
Solar cycle 24: where are you?
h/t to Russ Steele
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RedditGM canola contamination leads to court showdown
Updated
Australia's system of organic certification will come under intense scrutiny when two neighbouring farmers do battle in the Western Australian Supreme Court in a test case on genetically modified crop contamination.
Organic farmer Steve Marsh, from Kojonup in the state's Great Southern region, is suing his neighbour Michael Baxter for alleged negligence and nuisance.
Mr Marsh claims genetically modified (GM) canola seed blew onto his farm in 2010, causing him to lose his organic status.
He says he is prepared to risk his 480-hectare property to defend his right to farm without interference.
"It's totally about freedom of choice," Mr Marsh said.
"The GM proponents, they've argued for their rights to grow and use GM, this tool in the toolbox.
"All I'm asking is for the same right to be able to produce a GM-free product which we've traditionally done for years.
"I think that's very important because as farmers we should have the right to run our business and produce products that we choose to."
Mr Baxter has declined to comment, but says he will vigorously defend himself.
He is being supported by the Western Australia Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA), which says the organics industry has set an impossible zero tolerance standard for genetic modification contamination.
PGA's grains committee chairman John Snooke says Australia has adopted an international contamination threshold of up to 0.9 per cent, which allows for things like pollen flow and other accidental events.
"The zero threshold is causing this, it is a threshold that is unachievable in agriculture because we operate in nature," Mr Snooke said.
"It's not what Australian agriculture is about.
"We have a live and let live philosophy, we have a common sense approach, we operate in nature. Now, all that has gone out the window sadly, because the organic certifier employs a zero tolerance for unintended presence of GM canola."
Mr Marsh is being supported by litigation lawyers who are acting for him pro bono.
The Safe Foods Foundation, a not-for-profit operation set up to campaign against genetic modification, is also trying to raise up to $500,000 to pay for the additional court costs.
The foundation's director Scott Kinnear says the organics industry sees the case as a fight for its survival.
"In Australia we have a chance to produce clean organic foods, and we have been producing clean organic foods, and it's do or die for us now," Mr Kinnear said.
"With the advent of GM canola we have to take a stand now, we have to take a stand strongly, which is what we are doing with Steve Marsh and with using [lawyers] Slater and Gordon.
"We will take this case with all of the vigour and energy and effort the organic industry can muster to defend the right to produce organic food GM-free."
In Europe, Canada and the United States organic certifiers allow for some genetic modification contamination, but Mr Kinnear says this was imposed on the industry in those countries.
"Organic foods in Australia were here well before the advent of GM technology, it's not a natural technology, it's something that wouldn't occur in nature, just as chemicals are not natural," he said.
"We accept a threshold of contamination with chemicals and organic because chemical farming was here first.
"[But] organic farming has come along, it's been articulated, standards have been developed, we do not accept later technologies that come along and impinge on our production systems."
Farmers across the WA wheat belt planted a record amount of GM canola this year and the State Government is spending $9 million on a program to encourage the world's best GM research projects at facilities in Merredin and Katanning.
Food and Agriculture Minister Terry Redman says the industry has clear guidelines for managing the contamination issue and a record amount of canola was sold into Europe's strictly non-GM market last year without any contamination concerns.
"We do have systems in place that can effectively separate different grains from each other, we've been doing that for many, many years," Mr Redman said.
"When you look at GM grains compared to other grains they're just another grain in the system.
"If we use barley as an example, there's about 25 different breeds of barley, they all look the same in a bucket, but we've been effective at keeping those separate grain markets."
Lawyers for the farmers will be in court next month for a directions hearing.
The case should be heard before the end of the year, but regardless of the outcome, the opposition is likely to make GM contamination an issue when the state goes to the polls in next March.
Labor's agriculture spokesman Paul Papalia says consumers are being denied a right to choose non-GM because of inadequate labelling laws.
He says the Government refuses to say if GM canola grown in WA has been fed to livestock.
Under current labelling laws, this would not have to be identified.
"Seriously, this is a consumer issue, the consumers of WA shouldn't be told by the Barnett government, by the Premier [Colin Barnett] or by the Minister for Agriculture that they should feed their children food that contains GM products," Mr Papalia said.
"If they want to do that for their own children or own grandchildren, that's their decision, but they need to provide the information to consumers so they can make their own choice."
Mr Redman says Labor is attempting to play on unfounded fears about the safety of GM products.
"Clearly they're looking at this to raise a level of public profile which in my view is scandalous and I think they're putting a whole level of uncertainty out there about safety issues that are frankly wrong," Mr Redman said.
Sean Murphy will have more on this story on Landline at 12:00pm on Sunday on ABC1.
Topics: rural, agricultural-crops, agricultural-policy, genetically-modified-food, state-parliament, kojonup-6395, albany-6330, denmark-6333, katanning-6317
First postedCredit: martha sexton/public domain
(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers at the University of Toyama in Japan has found a way to uncouple overlapping memories in mice. In their paper published in the journal, the researchers describe how they induced two separate memories in test mice, how they caused the two memories to overlap and then how they decoupled them without erasing either
Scientists know that there are many types of memories, some of which can overlap. If you learn to avoid a certain type of sweetener, for example, and have also discovered how much it hurts to pinch your finger in the refrigerator a door, you could find those memories overlapping if they occur simultaneously a few times, which could cause you to wince the next time you accidentally swallow a drink with the undesired sweetener in it. In this new effort, the researchers describe an experiment they conducted where they caused such an overlapped memory in mice to no longer overlap, without changing either memory.
The experiment consisted of inducing bad memories of tasting saccharine in several test mice—each time they did so, they received an injected dose of lithium chloride which caused them to feel sick. Several days later, the same mice were given a little shock whenever they heard a certain tone, building a bad memory of the tone. Next, the mice were given a food to lick that contained saccharine at the same time the tone was played. This caused the mice to connect the two memories, making them overlap.
Thereafter, when tasting saccharin, they froze as if expecting a shock. As the experiment continued, the researchers identified the groups of neurons in the mice that were responsible for holding the two new memories, and then for the neurons responsible for holding information about the overlap. Once the mice were all trained, the researchers used optogenetics to turn the overlapping cells on and off. Turning them off, they found, removed the overlapping memory—the mice no longer froze when tasting the saccharin. But they still remembered the unpleasant aspect associated with tasting it and the electric shock that went along with the tone. Turning the overlapping neurons back on caused the overlapping memory to return.
The researchers suggest that in addition to offering new insights into how memory works in mammals, the results also suggest it might one day be possible to remove overlapping memories in people that cause problems, such as with PTSD.
Explore further Alcohol prevents ability to extinguish fearful memories in mice
More information: Jun Yokose et al. Overlapping memory trace indispensable for linking, but not recalling, individual memories, Science (2017). : Jun Yokose et al. Overlapping memory trace indispensable for linking, but not recalling, individual memories,(2017). DOI: 10.1126/science.aal2690 Abstract
Memories are not stored in isolation from other memories but are integrated into associative networks. However, the mechanisms underlying memory association remain elusive. Using two amygdala-dependent behavioral paradigms—conditioned taste aversion (CTA) and auditory-cued fear conditioning (AFC)—in mice, we found that presenting the conditioned stimulus used for the CTA task triggered the conditioned response of the AFC task after natural coreactivation of the memories. This was accompanied through an increase in the overlapping neuronal ensemble in the basolateral amygdala. Silencing of the overlapping ensemble suppressed CTA retrieval-induced freezing. However, retrieval of the original CTA or AFC memory was not affected. A small population of coshared neurons thus mediates the link between memories. They are not necessary for recalling individual memories.
© 2017 Medical XpressToday, Source Gaming is bringing you the full translation of Sakurai’s latest Famitsu column, “The Act of Balancing”. This is brought to you by the efforts of Masked Man, Soma, X Kan from Kantopia and myself.The reason I brought on so many people for this translation is because I’m fully aware that this is a controversial topic within the Smash community. Furthermore, I wanted multiple opinions on word choices to ensure the best possible translation. Special thanks to かるび on Twitter for the scan.
Think about the Video Games, Vol. 480
June 11th, 2014
The Act of Balancing
When it comes to Smash, every once in a while people will wrongly direct their anger towards me. They accuse me of things such as giving preference or strength to the characters that I’ve worked on in the past—in other words, the Kirby and Kid Icarus series characters. Oh my.
However, if I had worked on the Mario series, people would say, “You’re favoring Mario too much,” wouldn’t they? The same would hold true for Fire Emblem, Pokémon or Starfox. The truth is, though, I put a lot of work into all the characters. It’s a mix of labor, love, and fine tuning.
I mean, what could I possibly get out of only buffing the characters I’ve worked on? A sense of self-satisfaction? That’s simply not the case; after all, I’ve worked on all of these characters through Smash.
For example, there are two characters I can’t seem to get the hang of: Pit and Palutena. I personally feel those two are below average in terms of strength. If I further adjusted the game’s balance for myself, I would make them stronger, but that’s not what I’ve done.
And, given that I am still making adjustments little by little, I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss the act of balancing.
Generally speaking, the most important resource for balancing is the report we receive from the playtesting team. While the playtesters don’t ever appear in the spotlight, I’m confident they’re skilled enough to perform quite well in a tournament.
In addition to the playtesters’ daily impressions, the team also considers results from online battles, as well as opinions they find about characters on the Internet. Then, using all of this data, they propose balance adjustments.
Of course, I don’t approve all of their proposals right away. There’s no point in making the game more balanced if it decreases the fun factor. To give an extreme example, I could make all the characters perform similarly to Mario and achieve perfect balance. However, that probably wouldn’t be very fun at all. We work together by making adjustments while trying to preserve the characters’ individuality, then testing out the characters again. I consider all the data the playtesters collect on all the characters and eventually finalize the changes.
In other words, although I am the one making the final decisions, we are all trying to remain objective as possible. If I don’t agree with the playtesters’ opinion, then no adjustments will be made.
The playtesting team is only composed of several people. After all, truly skilled players are hard to come by. Moreover, playtesters have individual playstyles—as well as personal strengths and weaknesses—that will come out during the testing process.
Another problem we have to consider is that battles can take on many formats in Smash. There are moves that are completely useless in a 1v1 battle, but in a four-player free-for-all those moves might prove quite useful. Therefore, if I played only one kind of battle, the game would feel very slanted towards a particular style of play.
Furthermore, if I went with what is fair according to advanced players, the beginners wouldn’t be able to keep up. For example, Kirby’s Stone attack probably won’t hit a player above intermediate skill level, but if I made it more powerful, it would destroy beginners.
At the end of the day, I’m aiming for intermediately-skilled players to be able to properly enjoy the game. Fundamentally, my goal with Smash has been to create an “enjoyable party game”. If you want to enjoy thrilling tactical gameplay, you might be better suited for other 2D fighting games.
Recently, there was a tournament featuring the top Japanese and American players. In 1v1s, the natural tendency is to use low risk moves to gradually deal damage to the opponent. Smash attacks rarely came out, and the matches were prone to becoming long, drawn out affairs. When considering the variety of ways Smash can be played I think this is a waste, but the winner was certainly decided by skill.
Just as surely, people who play the game this way enjoy it from the bottom of their hearts, and make many friends playing this way. Because the game accommodates a wide variety of playstyles, it’s only natural that it captivates so many people in a variety of ways.
調整の現場
「スマブラ」において、見当違いの怒りをぶつけてる人がたまにいます。わたしの作った作品のキャラクターについて、「扱いや強さで優遇している！」と。つまり、「カービィ」や「パルテナ」シリーズでしょうか。おやおや。
しかし。わたしがもし「スーパーマリオ」シリーズを手掛けていたら、「マリオ」ばっかり
ひいきして」と言うのでしょう？「ファィアーエムブレム」でも然り。「ポケモン」でも「スターファックス」でもそう。けっきょく、どれも力を入れているということなのでしよ。手数や調査や愛情を注いでいます。
そもそも自分の手掛けたキャラクターを強くすることに、何のメリットがあろうかと。いい気分になるため？ いや、みんな自分が手掛けるキャラなのですけれど。
わたしが個人的に苦手な、うまく使いこなせないキャラクターの一例として、ピットやパルテナがいます。つまり、わたし自身は”ピットやパルテナは平均より弱い”と感じているということです。このうえで自分なりに調整したら、これらはより強くなってしまいますが、そうはしていませんよね。
いまも少しずつ加えている、バランス調整の現場の話をします。
原則的に、いちばんの参考軸になっているのは、モニターチームの大戦レポートです。彼らは表に出ることはないけれど、大会などに出たらいい線いくのでは？と思える技術は持っています。
彼らに毎日プレイを重ねてもらい、オンライン大戦の総合戦績,ネット上の意見なども踏まえ、調整提案をしてもらっています。
提案を鵜呑みにするわけではありません。バランスを取るためにおもしろさを減らしたら意味がないので、極端に言えば、全員がマリオの性能に近づけば、大戦バランスだけは取れます。しかし、それは圧倒的に楽しくないでしょね。持ち味は殺さないように調整し、またモニター
してもらい、釣り合うようにします。すべてのキャラクターはモニターチームの戦績を見解から現状が妥当と思われるのでいまに至るわけです。
つまり、バランス調整しているのはわたしだけど、客観的に判断する組織があると。かれらの見解と合致しない調整はしません。
ただ,チームには数人しかいません。うまい人ってそんなに多くないですからね。おのずと戦法の傾向や、得手不得手が出てきます。
それと別に大戦形式が多いゲームであることも問題です。２人大戦でまったく使えないワザが、４人大戦では主力になることはザラ。よって同じ大戦形式ばかりで遊ぶと、偏りを感じるでしょう。
また、上級者にとって公平なことを前提にすると、初心者がついていけなくなります。たとえばカービィのストーンって、中級者以上ならまず当たらないけど、強くしたら初心者キラーですよね。
けっきょくのところ、中級者がほどよく楽しめる程度の狙いになっています。基本的には、”楽しいパーティゲーム”として作っているつもりです。ひりひりするような駆け引きを楽しみたい場合、ほかの２D格闘ゲームのほうが合うのではないかと思います、が。
先日、「スマブラ」の日米対決大会がありまして。１On1だと、どうしても低りスクワザで
削り合いになるのですよね。スマッシュ攻撃などはほとんど出ず、長期戦に陥りがち。ゲームが持つ幅から考えるともったいないだけど、技量の差で勝敗が決まるのも確か。
それで心底楽しんだり、友だちを増やす層がいるのも確か。ふり幅の大きいゲームだからこそ、いろいろな捉えかたをする人がいるということでいかがでしょうか。Lights up on a living room. JON is sitting on a loveseat, with random open notebooks and a laptop covering the entire ottoman. He picks up his
phone, and dials a number from the computer screen. JON puts the phone to his ear.
PHONE (VOICE OVER): Hello?
JON: Hi, is this Steve?
PHONE (V.O) Uh, yes, who is this?
JON: Hi, this is AJ Sacher, and I’m writing an article for StarCityGames.com about the current Standard format. Do you mind if I ask you a few
questions?
PHONE (V.O.): Sure, AJ.
JON: Great. You organized a PTQ in Lenexa, Kansas last month, correct?
PHONE (V.O.): Yes, I did.
JON: And how many people showed up to that PTQ?
PHONE (V.O.): Uhh… I don’t have that information. I’m actually packing up to go on a trip with the family; do you know Lloyd?
JON: Yup, I see his name right on the website here.
PHONE (V.O.): Well, if you call him up, he can give you all the information you need, okay, AJ?
JON: Sounds good. Thanks for all your help.
PHONE (V.O.): Yup, bye now.
JON: Bubye.
JON hangs up the phone and dials another number off the website and puts the phone to his ear.
PHONE (V.O.): Hello?
JON: Is this Lloyd?
PHONE (V.O.): Yes, may I ask who’s calling?
JON: Yes, this is Gerry Thompson, and I’m writing an article for StarCityGames.com about the current standard format, and I wanted to know if I could
ask you a couple of questions.
PHONE (V.O.): Sure, Gerry, shoot.
JON: Well, I see you organized a PTQ on the (looks down at notebook) 21st here, in Lenexa, Kansas. Is that correct?
PHONE (V.O.): Yes, it is.
JON: Great. And how many people showed up to that PTQ?
PHONE (V.O.): Sure; you’ll have to give me a minute.
JON: No problem. Take your time.
PHONE (V.O.): Alright, we got 57 people.
JON: Thanks (writes on notebook). And did you organize a Standard PTQ in Lenexa last summer?
PHONE (V.O.): Sure did, Gerry.
JON: Awesome. And how many people came to that PTQ?
PHONE (V.O.): You mean the PTQ that fed Pro Tour Amsterdam, right?
JON: I do.
PHONE (V.O.): We got 74 people for that tournament.
JON: Alrighty, thank you very much.
PHONE (V.O.): Is that it?
JON: That’s it. Thanks very much.
PHONE (V.O.) No problem, Gerry. Looking forward to the article!
* * *
I learned everything I know about investigative journalism from Fletch.
We’re in the week after the SCG Invitational and GP: Singapore, and it’s really the same as it’s always been since PT: Paris- this Standard format kinda blows and New Phyrexia did nothing to make things any better. The good guys got Hex Parasite and the bad guys got Batterskull.
I hadn’t given much thought to Standard outside of the PTQs and SCG Opens I want to play in this summer. I see a lot of reactionary stuff on Twitter about Magic- I’m sure we all remember #banjace fondly- and I tend to ignore it. People complain about Standard constantly. I’ve had at least one foot in the Standard waters since Odyssey came out, so I’ve been privy to what people complain about in Standard. I think the only time people never complained was Ravnica block, and that was when I complained the most because I couldn’t play a mono-colored deck anymore.
I’m from a different time, I think. I like it when people are punished for making wild stretches with their mana bases. However, from Ravnica forward, the decks in Standard have been able to get away with crazy mana bases. The deck I hated the most in recent years was actually that four-color control deck out of Lorwyn+Shards Standard, the one that played Cruel Ultimatum, Baneslayer Angel, and Plumeveil all in the same deck. There was no more incentive to be mono-color anymore. Anathemancer didn’t really matter when your opponent was resolving Cruel Ultimatum and Baneslayer Angel.
Ultimately, I realize that I’m in the minority as far as what formats click with me and what don’t. I realize that not everyone loves fair cards like Man-O’-War and Jackal Pup as much as I do. So I try not to complain too much about Standard, because I recognize that I, like 99% of Magic players, have no idea what it is that I actually want.
Caw Blade just doesn’t represent much of a problem to me. There have been good decks before, though, to be fair, they were all fairly linear. Caw Blade, as a deck to hate against, is a deceptively easy puzzle to solve on the surface. A Squire gets a Sword. The Squire vials out the Sword. Something else grabs the Sword an attacks. It’s not like this happens all on the same turn, so, what’s the problem, right?
The problem with Caw Blade is, as many before me have noted, that it’s not linear at all. Caw Blade attacks on a lot of different angles: It attacks your mana with Tectonic Edge. It makes more cards than you with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and to a lesser extent, Squadron Hawk. It gets a massive tempo advantage when some dork wearing a Sword of Feast and Famine gets through and untaps all your lands. And then there’s the f%$#@ing counterspells.
It’s possible (and probably true) that Standard has never been as skill-testing as it is at this moment in time. Those who are uninterested in or unable to appreciate the intricacies of a Caw Blade mirror match just can’t compete with the players that have put the time in and that know their deck up and down, backwards and forwards.
With the advent of the Star City Open Series, Standard has been showcased to the general public far more often than it has in the past, and the verdict is in- the best players play Caw Blade. It feels like the same core group of players cash week in and week out. No matter how soft they may say the Open tournaments are, it’s still a daunting task to perform so well so consistently.
Magic, like all card games, is a game of variance. The best players recognize that, so they try to take away some of that variance by knowing their cards better than the other guy, knowing the matchups better, knowing what cards matter, knowing what to pick fights over, etc. It would appear, by so many Caw Blade players consistently doing well at these Star City Opens, that this group of players has figured out how to take a substantial chunk out of the variance factor of the game. When I say “substantial chunk out of the variance factor,” what I really mean is “bigger chunk out of the variance factor than any other deck could ever dream about, and it’s not close.”
|
80-page DC UNIVERSE: REBIRTH Special, on sale May 25th:
“I love this world… But there’s something missing…”
Priced at just $2.99, this one shot will kick off a line-wide title relaunch. Written by Geoff Johns, it will feature an all-star roster of comics’ most popular artists: Ethan Van Sciver (GREEN LANTERN CORPS, EDGE OF OBLIVION), Phil Jimenez (WONDER WOMAN), Ivan Reis (CYBORG, AQUAMAN) and Gary Frank (BATMAN EARTH ONE).
As a follow up to Johns’ REBIRTH Special announcement, DiDio, and Co-Publisher Jim Lee, revealed to retailers plans to provide fans with more story, and more often. Beginning in June, all DC Universe monthly and twice monthly titles will ship at a new, lower price of $2.99. This new lineup includes a combination of DC favorites and new titles; titles will begin their runs under the “REBIRTH” banner and follow with another issue #1 beginning the series proper. In addition, DC’s two flagship legacy titles will resume their original issue numbering, also shipping twice monthly: DETECTIVE COMICS will pick up with issue #934, while ACTION COMICS will continue with issue #957.
A special event revealing all talent and creative teams is scheduled to take place at WonderCon in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, March 26. This press conference will be live-streamed on the DC Entertainment’s YouTube channel, so everyone can experience firsthand all of the exciting new details surrounding REBIRTH.
The REBIRTH title lineup was announced as follows:
June:
Rebirth Specials:
AQUAMAN REBIRTH #1
BATMAN REBIRTH #1
THE FLASH REBIRTH #1
GREEN ARROW REBIRTH #1
GREEN LANTERNS REBIRTH #1
SUPERMAN REBIRTH #1
TITANS REBIRTH #1
WONDER WOMAN REBIRTH #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
AQUAMAN #1
BATMAN #1
THE FLASH #1
GREEN ARROW #1
GREEN LANTERNS #1
SUPERMAN #1
WONDER WOMAN #1
New Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
ACTION COMICS #957
DETECTIVE COMICS #934
July
Rebirth Specials:
BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY REBIRTH #1
HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS REBIRTH #1
THE HELLBLAZER REBIRTH #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE REBIRTH #1
NIGHTWING REBIRTH #1
RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS REBIRTH #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping twice monthly):
HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1
NIGHTWING #1
New #1 Issues (Shipping monthly):
BATGIRL #1
BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY #1
THE HELLBLAZER #1
RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS #1
THE SUPER-MAN #1
TITANS #1
Fall
Rebirth Specials:
BATMAN BEYOND REBIRTH #1
BLUE BEETLE REBIRTH #1
CYBORG REBIRTH #1
DEATHSTROKE REBIRTH #1
EARTH 2 REBIRTH #1
SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1
SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1
TEEN TITANS REBIRTH #1
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DC Entertainment, home to iconic brands DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman, Fables) and MAD, is the creative division charged with strategically integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner. DC Entertainment works in concert with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media, including but not limited to film, television, consumer products, home entertainment and interactive games. Publishing thousands of comic books, graphic novels and magazines each year, DC Entertainment is one of the largest English-language publishers of comics in the world.
###'Every Country's Sun' isn't out until September, but they gave fans a surprise preview
The trademark of this year’s Primavera seems to be special treats. Following Arcade Fire’s pop-up gig on Thursday evening at which they launched their new album, Mogwai followed suit last night (Friday 2 June), premiering their forthcoming ‘Every Country’s Son’ in its entirety in a tiny beachside clearing, the gig announced by a lone tweet a couple of hours before they come on.
This is the first studio album Mogwai have made since the departure of founding member John Cummings last year, and also the first they’ve made with producer Dave Fridmann since 2001’s ‘Rock Action’. Both personnel changes resonate in the new songs: much of the synth-driven, motorik feel of ‘Rave Tapes’ and ‘Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will’ has been replaced by the more traditional Mogwai guitarscapes, all soaring squall over baseline melodies, and Stuart Braithwaite’s vocals return on a couple of tracks too.
A middle section indebted to Eno ambience and feedback drones precedes Mogwai’s most cacophonous song since 2009’s ‘Batcat’, and the band finish the gig creating ever-denser white noise through their pedal boards while Braithwaite, in an impressive feat of, well, rock action, tears all six strings from his guitar one by one.
It’s a raucous finale to an album of songs that feel more optimistic than recent Mogwai outings, and the bonhomie is felt on both sides of the barrier: when a heckler compliments Braithwaite on his t-shirt that bears a reworked version of the classic Public Enemy logo with Theresa May in the cross-hairs, he receives a hearty smile and a collective cheers from the entire band, and despite playing a set of entirely unreleased music, the mood is one of revelation and appreciation. Before the last track, Braithwaite thanks both the festival for inviting them, and the crowd for sitting through an hour of new material; it receives the biggest cheer of the show.
It’s a decent marker of the kind of festival that Primavera has become that a band the size of Mogwai can be kept aside for a surprise show on a tiny stage, rather than trailed way in advance in big type on the promo poster. No longer is it a festival of bands simply piled high one after the other playing the hits targeted at the largest audience, but instead something more playful, with hidden power-ups dotted around the weekend’s landscape. If that paves the way for more gigs as exciting as this one, so much the better.– It appears WWE is really still bitter over The Young Bucks turning down a tryout in 2014. We’ve noted how WWE has applied to trademark the “too sweet” hand gesture, which is used by The Young Bucks and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s popular Bullet Club stable.
We also noted how Mark Henry apparently took a shot at the brothers during his SmackDown segment with Roman Reigns last week as he said you “young bucks” haven’t been anywhere, talking down to Reigns.
Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted on his message board that people within WWE report the line by Henry was indeed done to take a shot at The Bucks.
Back in February, WWE posted a “Fury” video on YouTube that was the “Superkick Party” edition. There was some chatter that this was also done to take a shot at the brothers and apparently that is the case. The term “Superkick Party” has been used by The Bucks for some time now.
We heard a few months back that the superkick move and the word “superkick” was being used on WWE TV a lot more. WWE has had restrictions on the move because it was once considered to be the sacred move of Shawn Michaels. There was talk within WWE that when The Bucks turned WWE down last year, WWE decided to up the use of superkicks in matches.About
Frigid Fabrications is a collective of 3D artists, costume designers, and special effects artists out of Ohio that have come together to modernise the age old processes of sculpting, product mock ups, and fabrications.
Using new full color 3D printing technology, purchased with the $45k startup cost, we can cut out the tedious processes usually involved with 3D fabrication such as sculpting with fragile clays, molding, and hand painting. We want to bring 3D printing to the people, and allow artists who do not have the money to afford an expensive, quality full color 3D printer simple and quick access to one.
Just about any young 3D artist will tell you that the job oppertunities out there for a 3D artist is relatively limited; with the most desireable jobs in game companies and movies going to the more experienced by default. The website we will establish will allow artists to post their designs and make money off of any sale of their design while still keeping the rights to it. Not many people have any interest in purchasing a 3D model in its raw form because they have no use for it; but when an artist can have a sculpture transplanted exactly from its 3D form to an actual tangible object, the market for their designs increase dramatically.
What sets Frigid Fabrications apart from other 3D services is that we cater directly to finished artistic pieces and product prototypes. We are artists ourselves and can touch up and post process your sculptures to your specifications as oposed to other print services that take it directly from the printer which may have small flaws in its creation. Have a happy anime girl sculpture where the eyes need to be extra bright and glossy? Just let us know and we will touch up the paint and finish it with an extra high gloss resin to make it exactly as you would want.
The Frigid Fabrications website will be a great place for artists to gain experience and cash, and collectors to find unique limited run art and designs
Never seen a full color 3D printer in action?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ-aWFYT_SUHummingbirds are tiny feathered ninjas who can fly in more directions than Willy Wonka’s glass elevator and according to Principle Skinner, their tiny tongues are like knives. Also, according to scientists, they’re better at aerial manoeuvring than fighter planes equipped with those suits from Attack on Titan.
That isn’t just use using the hyperbole we’re oh so fond of to make a point, according to experiments conducted by actual scientists (the kind with degrees and fancy lab coats with dozens of pockets), the the speeds a male hummingbird can reach during his mating dance positively shit all over the speeds modern jets and planes can reach attempting the same moves. Which considering how big hummingbird poop is, isn’t that big of a deal, but it’s still kind of impressive.
The experiment, which involved pissing off male hummingbirds with stuffed female hummingbirds (automatically making it the best job ever), discovered that the one thing jet planes have over hummingbirds is that they can accelerate faster than them in a dead sprint. Of course it goes without saying that the hummingbird response to this fact is to fly backwards like it ain’t no thing.
However, planes being able to accelerate faster than hummingbirds doesn’t change the fact that if we lived in a magical world where hummingbirds were the size of planes, they’d be able to fly hundreds of miles per hour, backwards! In case the image of a bird flying backwards isn’t impressive enough, it’s important to keep in mind that when a hummingbird flies backwards, it’s using almost no extra energy while doing so. This means technically, a hummingbird could fly everywhere backwards without any problems.
For anyone not grasping how ridiculously amazing this is, try running to work backwards tomorrow at 30 miles per hour while punching your hands in front of your head 90 times per second. Preferably while wearing a giant hummingbird outfit and screaming about how crime will rue the day it messed with you.
Image source.This week-end’s G-20 came and went without any real new information. Yes, the policy makers wants us to believe ultimately IMF will have 2 trillion US dollars at its disposal.
No, the US, UK and rest of non-Europe is not really interested before we all get more clarification on how Europe will ring fence the debt crisis.
This is more and more Wall Street vs. Main Street: Underfunded banks buys underfunded government bonds and underfunded governments guarantees underfunded banks.
The real loser being the unemployed – Edward Heath put it more elegantly: Unemployment is of vital importance, particularly to the unemployed.
Meanwhile the real economy and unemployment is exploding higher adding further burdens to already stretched government deficits.
The new EU forecast for GDP growth in 2012 of minus.3% from this past Friday down from plus.05% is great example of how EU and the debt crisis non-solutions continues to lack behind fundamentals. Soon the rising disconnect will hit the politicians games of buying time.
Capital Flight
Merkel Weaker Every Week
Chancellor Merkel is weaker, week after week. She soon will have to rely on SPD votes if she continues down this path. 62 percent polled over weekend are against giving more money to Greece and 2/3 don’t believe Greece can be saved according to German newspaper Bild.
Finland will have an interesting vote this week. Follow it closely.
The G20 did not give more credibility to more funds but they sure talked the talk of extend-and-pretend dogma.
Geopolitical Risks
Crude: We are potentially a few weeks from some sort of confrontation unfortunately. IEA report from Iran is due this week. Israel’s time window is closing if you believe the media coming out of Israel. Iran’s finances are running out of time as well. Iran failed to pay for Indian rice last week.
High energy prices will soon spill-over into gasoline and survey data and will start to impact data and sentiment negatively.
Greece Controlled Default: Greece will have a controlled default and a vacation from Europe.
Portugal CDS Spreads: Portugal is the real issue and containment is almost impossible. CDS spreads suggest the probability of default within five years is about 65 percent.
Nice money printing week,
Steen JakobsenFormer Milwaukee police officers Graham Kunisch right, and Bryan Norberg left, who were shot and seriously wounded by a gun purchased at a Wisconsin gun store, leave court after jurors ordered the gun store to pay nearly $6 million in damages, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Milwaukee. The ruling came in a negligence lawsuit filed against the store, Badger Guns, by the two officers. The lawsuit alleges the shop allowed an illegal sale despite several warning signs that the gun was being sold to a "straw buyer," or someone who was buying the gun for someone who couldn't legally do so. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT The Associated Press
By GREG MOORE, Associated Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jurors ordered a Wisconsin gun store to pay nearly $6 million on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by two Milwaukee police officers who were shot and seriously wounded by a gun purchased at the store.
The ruling came in a negligence lawsuit filed by the officers against Badger Guns, a shop in suburban Milwaukee that authorities have linked to hundreds of firearms found at crime scenes. The lawsuit said the shop ignored several warning signs that the gun used to shoot the officers was being sold to a so-called straw buyer who was illegally purchasing the weapon for someone else.
Officer Bryan Norberg and former Officer Graham Kunisch were both shot in the face after they stopped Julius Burton for riding his bike on the sidewalk in the summer of 2009. Investigators said Burton got the weapon, a Taurus.40-caliber handgun, a month before the confrontation, after giving $40 to another man, Jacob Collins, to make the purchase at the store in West Milwaukee.
One bullet shattered eight of Norberg's teeth, blew through his cheek and lodged into his shoulder. He remains on the force but said his wounds have made his work difficult. Kunisch was shot several times, resulting in him losing an eye and part of the frontal lobe of his brain. He said the wounds forced him to retire.
Jurors sided with the officers, ruling that the store was negligent. Jurors ordered the store to pay Norberg $1.5 million, Kunisch $3.6 million and punitive damages of $730,000.
The officers' lawyer, Patrick Dunphy, said Tuesday that he said his clients "feel very relieved," though he anticipates years of appeals.
Defense attorneys declined to comment after the verdict was read. The owners and operators of the gun shop weren't in court to hear the verdict.
The liability issues raised in the case gained national attention when U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton recently said she would push to repeal a George W. Bush-era gun law that Badger Guns' lawyers said shielded the store from such claims.
The gun shop's attorneys denied wrongdoing. They said the owner of the store at the time of the gun sale, Adam Allan, couldn't be held financially responsible for crimes connected to a weapon sold at his shop and that the clerk who sold the weapon didn't intentionally commit a crime. Rather, they said Collins and Burton went out of their way to deceive the salesman.
Badger Guns, previously known as Badger Outdoors, has since closed and been replaced by a gun shop called Brew City Shooters Supply. All three entities have been run by Allan family members.
Authorities have said more than 500 firearms recovered from crime scenes had been traced back to Badger Guns and Badger Outdoors, making it the "No. 1 crime gun dealer in America," according to a 2005 charging document from an unrelated case.
Norberg and Kunisch cited that detail in their lawsuit, saying it showed a history of negligence.
Burton pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree attempted intentional homicide and is serving an 80-year sentence. Collins, the man who purchased the gun, got a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to making a straw purchase for an underage buyer.Get the biggest Newcastle United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Newcastle United currently have seven players out on loan at clubs in England’s lower divisions and in France following Freddie Woodman’s recall last week.
Five of them were in action over the weekend, with one of them injured and one of them failing to make the match day 18 - though another did net his first senior goal.
Here’s how the United loanees got on:
Alex Gilliead and Macaulay Gillesphey (Carlisle United)
It was a dream day for Gilliead as the 19-year-old loanee netted his first senior goal to hand Carlisle United a 1-0 win over Exeter City at Brunton Park.
Having been a constant threat to Exeter for much of the match, England Under-20 international Gilliead finally broke the deadlock in the 77th minute.
After receiving the ball from Derek Asamoah, Gilliead calmly slotted past Exeter goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik from 14 yards.
Newcastle Under-21 teammate Macaulay Gillesphey unfortunately did not make the matchday 18 for the League Two side.
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Adam Armstrong (Coventry City)
The 18-year-old forward has eight goals already this campaign but he failed to add to his tally as Coventry suffered a frustrating 0-0 home draw against Blackpool.
With the Sky Blues chasing promotion from League One, dispatching of sides like struggling Blackpool at the Ricoh Arena should be the minimum requirement.
Yet Armstrong, along with strike partner Marc Antoine-Fortune, missed first-half chances as luck was just not on Coventry’s side on Saturday.
Remy Cabella (Marseille)
The 25-year-old France international started in Marseille’s 1-1 draw at home to Lorient - meaning he now needs to appear on just two further occasions before his move to the Stade Velodrome automatically becomes permanent.
Unfortunately for Cabella, he once again failed to shine and give Marseille a cutting edge as their winless run extended to six matches.
Marseille have still yet to find their form in the league - just like Cabella - and are already 17 points behind Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain, and just five ahead of the relegation zone.
Cabella played through the middle for Marseille against Lorient but was unable to provide a killer final ball, with Michy Batshuayi netting their only goal from the penalty spot.
Sammy Ameobi (Cardiff City)
The 23-year-old forward was given the opportunity to spearhead Cardiff’s attack due to a Kenwyne Jones injury but he was unable to find the target as Preston North End moved off the bottom of the Championship table after celebrating a 0-0 draw in south Wales.
Ameobi smashed a volley over the bar during the second-half when he was open inside the North End box, but he was unable to take any of his chances.
It appears likely that Ameobi will get an extended run in the starting line-up though, with Jones expected to be out for up to a month with an injury.
Shane Ferguson (Millwall)
Fresh from celebrating qualification for Euro 2016 with Northern Ireland, Ferguson helped Millwall to a 2-0 victory over League One strugglers Swindon at The Den.
Ferguson started the game and played for 66 minutes before he was replaced by Fred Onyedinma.
The 24-year-old has had a brilliant start to October and he will hope the positivity continues throughout the rest of the month.
Haris Vuckic (Wigan Athletic)
The 23-year-old Slovenia forward sat out Wigan’s 5-0 home thrashing of Colchester United as he continues to recover from an ankle injury he picked up last month.(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
College football is going to look a lot different this season. For the first time ever, the Bowl Championship Series, which has chosen the top two teams to play in the national title game since 1999, will be replaced by a 13-member College Football Playoff selection committee, who will choose teams to participate in the College Football Playoff.
“The College Football Playoff marks a new era in which a group of college football experts will decide the best four teams which will compete for the national championship,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff. “The members of the Selection Committee are an outstanding group of people with high integrity and excellent judgment, and ultimately the decision will be theirs.”
The committee includes five current athletic directors plus Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, a former superintendent of the Air Force and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is now a professor at Stanford.
“The best basketball committees that I were on had a diverse group,” explains Mike Tranghese, former Commissioner of the Big East Conference who served on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee from 1996 to 2001 and one of the 13 committee members. “They weren’t all coaches, they weren’t all just pure basketball people. They were people with great strengths in analyzing data and great committee persons in a variety of other ways. Having that diversity allows you to hear a different perspective.”
Here is how the process will work:
Each committee member will create a list of the 25 teams he or she believes to be the best in the country, in no particular order. Teams listed by more than three members will remain under consideration. Each member will list the best six teams, in no particular order. The six teams receiving the most votes will comprise the pool for the first seeding ballot. In the first seeding ballot, each member will rank those six teams, one through six, with one being the best. The three teams receiving the fewest points will become the top three seeds. The three teams that were not seeded will be held over for the next seeding ballot. Each member will list the six best remaining teams, in no particular order. The three teams receiving the most votes will be added to the three teams held over to comprise the next seeding ballot. Steps No. 3 and 4 will be repeated until 25 teams have been seeded.
The semifinals will match the No. 1 seed vs. No. 4, and No. 2 will face No. 3 in semifinal games that will rotate annually among the Peach Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. The first semifinals will be January 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The first national championship game will be Jan. 12, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
“The real difference is we are going to pick four teams and it is going to be done by human beings and not by computers,” said Tranghese.
The hope is to avoid some of the controversies that plagued the BCS during its reign over college football, some of which were caused by those pesky computers. For example, the split national titles for LSU and USC in 2003 and an undefeated Auburn team left out of the title picture a year later. And let’s not forget the 2007 LSU squad that won a championship despite suffering two losses during the season.
However, the Selection Committee will have access to data though SportSource Analytics, which, according to its Web site, “is a sports-focused analytics company dedicated to enabling better decisions with better data through the use of customized platforms and services.”
“The custom platform we built for selection committee was to their specifications and has approximately 100 million pieces of data, including those at the season, game, possession and play-by-play level,” SportSource co-founder Scott Prather said. “We put that into different tools that make it easy for the selection committee to compare and contrast teams.”
“We have statistics at every level of granularity,” Prather continued. “Using custom filters each committee member can determine the information important to them.”
“I don’t think this is rocket science,” said Tranghese “We are going to see teams play so there is the eye test. It isn’t as if we are computers and this is exactly how you do it. I may look at strength of schedule a little differently than someone else, and that could have an influence on how I ultimately vote.”
Strength of schedule has always played a key role in choosing a national champion, however, when based on the opponents’ win-loss record from the previous year, calculated by adding up the total wins and losses for the 12 teams on the schedule, it has its flaws. But that’s the value of having approximately 100 million pieces of data since 2001 at your disposal: You can make decisions on the right data.
“A lot of the statistics that people might look at that aren’t as important,” Prather said. “For example, scoring offense, total offense and total defense might not be as important as some of the rate statistics or efficiency statistics, things like yards per point, points per possession, which in our research correlate higher to winning. It’s not about how many total yards you are getting on offense, it is about how efficient you are with your possessions.”
This is consistent with some other research done in the field:
You make more big plays than your opponent, you stay on schedule, you tilt the field, you finish drives, and you fall on the ball. Explosiveness, efficiency, field position, finishing drives, and turnovers are the five factors to winning football games. If you win the explosiveness battle (using [points per possession]), you win 86 percent of the time.
If you win the efficiency battle (using Success Rate), you win 83 percent of the time.
If you win the drive-finishing battle (using points per trip inside the 40), you win 75 percent of the time.
If you win the field position battle (using average starting field position), you win 72 percent of the time.
If you win the turnover battle (using turnover margin), you win 73 percent of the time.
“We are just trying to be useful,” said Prather. “Everyone is trying to find the magic bullet and there are so many variables involved with college football it is hard to come up with a magic bullet. We are just providing the data in an easy to use format to help the committee make the most informed decision possible.”Unlike their stellar-sized cousins, which form following the collapse of a massive star, the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are simply too large to result from a single star’s death. Even with the recent confirmation of intermediate-mass black holes, the mystery hasn’t been solved. As astronomers eagerly await new observations that the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will finally make possible, they continue developing theories to explain these mysterious objects.
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) tip the scales at hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses. Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, is about 4.5 million times the mass of the Sun. The formation of such “lower-mass” SMBHs (a few million solar masses) is imagined to occur following the formation of a “seed” black hole of about 100 solar masses. A black hole of this size is feasible following the collapse of an extremely massive star. Over time, that seed accretes matter and possibly even merges with other nearby seeds, building into the million-solar mass black holes we see today.
But the SMBHs powering young, distant quasars in the early universe can’t be explained this way. In a letter published in the March 13 issue of Nature Astronomy, John Regan of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University in the United Kingdom and his coauthors describe their model for the early-universe circumstances that could lead to the creation of direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs). Direct-collapse black holes are a unique type of black hole that requires essentially perfect environmental conditions to form — conditions that only exist in the early universe.
Quasars are really the accretion disks around a supermassive black hole; during a galaxy’s earliest years, such an accretion disk can grow so massive that it outshines the rest of the galaxy altogether, and astronomers identify it as a quasar. The black hole at the center of a quasar is already massive —millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun. But in the young universe, there simply hasn’t been time for accretion and mergers to make a supermassive black hole this big. Furthermore, any first-generation star large enough to form a quasar seed black hole would have enormously powerful stellar winds, blowing away gas and dust from around itself and choking off its ability to accrete matter quickly once the black hole is formed.
DCBHs could be the mechanism responsible for powering distant quasars because they don’t require fuel or time to grow from something small into something large. Instead, they form at large initial masses when gas inside the galaxy collapses directly into a black hole with no stages in between, hence their name. If the gas inside a forming galaxy is heated but not allowed to cool, and then compressed by a dark matter halo, the conditions may be just right to form a direct-collapse black hole. The idea was first put forth in 2003 by Volker Bromm and Avi Loeb, and possible evidence for this type of black hole was found in 2016 with observations of a galaxy called CR7.
Now, Regan and his group have developed simulations to determine whether interactions between neighboring protogalaxies as galaxies cluster together could spark DCBH formation. When gas is heated inside a galaxy, it typically “cools” via one of several processes, the most common of which are star formation and the emission of energy from metals (in astronomy, anything heavier than helium is called a “metal,” and is formed inside the core of a massive star). The trick to creating a DCBH is getting the gas to collapse without allowing these cooling processes to occur.
Following several simulations, Regan’s group found a “sweet spot” in which heating from the background radiation associated with the clustering of galaxies, coupled with a starburst (a period of very rapid, widespread star formation) in a nearby protogalaxy, could lead to the formation of a DCBH.
There are several conditions that must be met. Black hole formation is most likely when the pair of galaxies is separated by a distance between 200 and 300 parsecs (650-1,000 light-years). If the galaxies are too close, the starburst could knock apart the atoms in the galaxy’s gas molecules or simply blow the gas away. A close-by starburst could also “pollute” its fellow galaxies with metals blown out by its supernovae; the metals would then cool the gas and allow it to fragment into stars (rather than form a DCBH). But if the galaxies are too far apart, they simply don’t interact energetically or quickly enough for the starburst to influence its neighbors.
Additionally, the timescale of the starburst must “synchronize” closely with the timescale of star formation in neighboring protogalaxies. If the starburst happens at the wrong time, the neighboring galaxies will already have begun to form stars and the conditions for a DCBH won’t be met. The ideal time for a starburst to turn on is about 4 million years before stars would have otherwise begun forming in its neighbors. But if the starburst happens more than 10 million years before star formation would have started, it won’t have the right effect, either. A starburst that lasts too long will adversely affect its neighbors via metal pollution or overly energetic radiation.Why spend $5000 to $10,000 on a used beat up WRX when you could pickup any Subaru chassis and make your own for much less!
The above video shows Matt Farah driving the end result after I started out with a beat up $600 Impreza and ended up with a 230 horsepower AWD beast of a car.
Why not just buy the cheap WRX?
It’s for sale for a reason, it’s been beaten half to death! I spend a lot of time looking for used Subaru’s on the internet and your average WRX peddler thinks their car contains an actual part of Colin McRae’s soul. I understand this logic, these cars are highly sought after and they hold their value well, especially in winter states. The fact remains that it will take some kind of miracle if this used WRX makes it 6 months without needing a new turbo, heads, shortblock, or all of the above. It may well have transmission issues from vape-in-hand bang shifting 3rd gear repeatedly at WOT.
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So I should just get grandmas non turbo 2.5?
Yes! Even if your immediate plans are to drive it as-is, most NA Subaru’s are underrated capable machines. If you’re willing however, going the extra mile and doing an engine and drivetrain swap will turn any Subaru model into something fantastically good with little more than taking off some bolts, and putting some different ones on.
Lets take a look at the benefits:
Very small out of pocket costs as parts are cheap and common across many Subaru models.
No welding required, no matter the engine you choose.
Potential to have the torque of an H6 or that high RPM pull of a turbo.
Your chance to finally learn the depths of the automobile.
When it does go wrong you will know how to fix it.
But the head gaskets will go bad!
All the more reason to swap to a turbo engine or an H6 which never had this issue. While you’re at it, get new gaskets for the engine going in just to be safe.
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Now we’re all different here. Just because I enjoy taking an economy car and bolting on some stuff from a different economy car does not mean this will sound like a good idea to everyone. For example if you’ve never waxed or detailed your own car, you probably can’t be bothered to open the hood. If you’ve never went to a track day because you may have to replace your brake pads, this might not be your thing.
Just sayin’.[Disclaimer: Vox and Curbed are owned by the same company, Vox Media]
The reasoning behind Washington, D.C.'s Height Act of 1899 must have seemed reasonable at the time despite its naïveté. After the construction of the 164-foot Cairo Hotel in 1894, Congress became concerned about the safety risks of skyscrapers. Iron- and steel-framed structures were still new, and fire chiefs were uncertain if they would be able to effectively fight flames in buildings over 85 feet. The purpose of limiting the height of buildings in the city to no higher than 110 feet was meant to keep the residents of Washington, D.C. safe, but it may be doing more harm 100 years later than good. While 61 percent of D.C. residents approve of the Height Act, Vox Executive Editor Matthew Yglesias argues that the Height Act is stunting Washington, D.C. by limiting the amount of office space in the city and raising rent and hotel prices. In Dezeen, Yglesias wrote, "A taller Washington D.C. would be a much healthier city."
The Dezeen essay was previously published in "The Future of the Skyscraper," a 2015 publication that analyzes the possible futures of towers with essays from writers like Tom Vanderbilt and Philip Nobel. Yglesias is also the author of, "The Rent Is Too Damn High: What To Do About It, And Why It Matters More Than You Think," a 2012 publication that provides practical solutions to the limited availability of affordable housing. Curbed recently spoke with Yglesias about the negative effects the Height Act has on Washington, D.C.'s economic and social communities. He also shared information on how California Rep. Darrell Issa is hoping to revise the Height Act.
Can you paint a picture of what the D.C. of the Height Act era was like, |
, the pages filled up with letters praising the magazine for finally talking about work and its discontents. Readers shared stories of corrupt unions, malignant bosses, profound existential boredom, and the recovery of some of their dignity through protest and mischief. They also argued with Processed World’s writers, who were only too happy to return the volleys. Many of the letter writers simply offered thanks. As one reader marveled in the July 1981 issue, “THERE’S INTELLIGENT LIFE OUT THERE!! WE ARE AT YOUR SERVICE.”
But Processed World did much more than supply to depressed office proles a therapeutic outlet. The magazine also managed to diagnose some of the issues that still animate radicals today: housework, sex work, and other unacknowledged forms of labor; unionization and its limits; income inequality; the precarity of the typical worker; corporate power; the state of exception that comes with permanent warfare (embodied then by the Cold War and later by the first Gulf War); and the ways in which the computerization of society was changing work, often to the detriment of workers. In the writing—essays, poetry, reportage, fantastical short stories about rebellious paper-pushers taking over San Francisco’s financial district, only to be brutally put down by government soldiers—one can also find the beginnings of today’s revolt against Silicon Valley and its pernicious mix of libertarian economics, techno-utopianism, and the deracinated remains of the sixties counterculture.
As Processed World veteran Dennis Hayes explained it to me, “We were really examining social history. We were asking questions that went unasked. We were asking, ‘What’s the value of a job that creates no value? Or that simply creates more work?’”
Speed Up, Power Down
In an Information Age “largely mute about the experience of work—its meaning, its purpose, who decides what should get done, by whom, and how”—Processed World was talking about little else. The magazine’s twentieth-anniversary issue, published in 2001, surveyed our blasted landscape of false hopes for a simpler, leisure-enhanced American working life. An essay by Hayes, “Farce or Figleaf: The Promise of Leisure in the Computer Age,” traced how computerization of the workplace has coincided with the Great Speedup. As Americans work more hours than ever, Hayes noted, the former utopian promises of automation have given way to the added burdens of computerization; we now work more not only at our own jobs, but also at learning to manage the ever-changing digital infrastructure of our lives. We don’t work with computers; we work to keep up with them. (No wonder our smartphones “push”notifications at us.) What Thorstein Veblen knew in 1904 bears repeating: “Wherever the machine process extends, it sets the pace for the workmen, great and small.”
“For most,” Hayes wrote, “overwork is not elective, it is part of a new social contract.” Just as temporary, freelance, and other “gig” work was supposed to be liberating in the 1980s—a fallacy that the earliest Processed World issues joyfully skewered—computers and information technologies were supposed to make work more efficient, more creative, and less onerous. Instead, we spend more time on more tasks, whether in the office, on the road, or at home, tethered to what Hayes calls “a mobile and instantly interruptible workplace.” The too-frequent introductions of new software only increase the pace of the upgrade cycle, leading to boom times for manufacturers and support staff, while “those of us who work with computers now have a second job: keeping them patched and upgraded and responding to their intricate cues, messages and glitches.” That is in addition to the many other unacknowledged jobs we have—email being among the biggest time-sinks—all part of a phenomenon that the computer scientist Ian Bogost recently labeled “hyperemployment.”
By the time Hayes wrote “Farce or Figleaf,” the dotcom bubble had already burst. The magazine had essentially disbanded, and the issue was a valedictory one—an anniversary celebration and an opportunity for Processed World writers to return and see just how completely their grim prophecies about the direction of the information workplace two decades earlier had come to pass. Hayes chose a fitting epigraph: an outlandishly optimistic forecast from Popular Front playwright Archibald MacLeish, who in 1933 looked forward to “a civilization in which all men would work less and enjoy more.”
We don’t work with computers; we work to keep up with them.
It was this ability—to take stock of the hidden history of the degradation of the info-workplace while also reclaiming the promise of greater leisure for America’s workforce—that set Processed World apart from the bulk of Reagan-era ventures in radical publishing. Where other outlets of critical thought took reliable aim at the (ample) cast of historical villains who made up the Reagan revolution’s vanguard, the keepers of Processed World kept their gaze fixed on history’s longer vectors of resistance and (eventual) social change. One example: Members of the Processed World collective were instrumental in starting the Critical Mass bike ride in 1992; they also published an article about a 1896 San Francisco bicycle protest in which riders, by rallying for better-paved roads, not only anticipated the protest tactics that would be deployed by Critical Mass a century later, but also paved the way, quite literally, for “the car culture that contemporary bicyclists” now hope to undo. The Processed World crowd knew from whence they came.
But where exactly was that? And what can Processed World teach us about today’s radical press, the organs now trying to lead the vanguard against the world’s bullshit jobs (as David Graeber has memorably dubbed them) and technological determinism?
No Apologies
Anarchist credentials aside, the closest thing that Processed World had to a leader must have been Chris Carlsson. A longtime San Franciscan, Carlsson claims the fistful of titles that comes from being self-employed for thirty-odd years—“writer, San Francisco historian, ‘professor,’ bicyclist, tour guide, blogger, photographer, book and magazine designer.” Carlsson has been with Critical Mass, itself a leaderless operation, since the beginning. And one of his ongoing projects is Shaping San Francisco, a Howard-Zinn-meets-Studs-Terkel social history project, with digital archives, public talks, recorded interviews, and invitations for community contributions.
When I reached Carlsson by phone, he was on his bike, heading to a farmer’s market and then a co-op grocery store. He eventually pulled over in a quiet alley, and we talked about his life and the origins of Processed World.
Carlsson and Caitlin Manning (the two would later have a daughter together) met, along with several other early PWers, in a street-theater protest group called the Union of Concerned Commies. Founded in 1979, the UCC opposed war, militarism, and nuclear power. They held protests, distributed satirical leaflets, and published in underground newspapers. Some UCC members participated in the White Night riots—the street violence that followed the manslaughter conviction of former city supervisor Dan White, who killed supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone. (The rioters had been expecting White to receive a harsher sentence than he did.) Afterward, the UCC made a T-shirt featuring a burning cop car with the words “No Apologies.” As if any clarification were needed, the date and location of the riot were also included.
More agitation followed. The jingoistic fervor that erupted after the seizure of U.S. hostages at the embassy in Tehran prompted UCC members to put on fake military uniforms and perform a satirical variety show in downtown San Francisco. They declared martial law, rationed food, extolled the virtues of war, sang anthems, and managed to poke fun at some Leninist factions who bore “complicity in capital’s authoritarianism and work fetishism.”
The UCC soon fell apart, but street theater, satirical art and graphics, and a strong sense of grievance would be mainstays of the group members’ lives, and of the cultural and social life of Processed World. As Daniel Brook recounts in his book The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America, Carlsson and friends liked to “dress up as investment bankers and bow in unison at the stock ticker in front of the Charles Schwab building.” Marina Lazzara, one of the magazine’s poetry editors, recalled this period fondly. “I miss those days,” she told me. “We were really out in the streets.”
For Hayes, who would later become the magazine’s go-to source for Silicon Valley commentary, this attitude was refreshing. “There was a lot of leftist cant” in the air at the time, he said. The members of the PW collective “were actually funny—really funny. I started chatting with them. They radiated warmth, humor, and a kind of point of view that went way underneath what was going on at the time in the way of political protest.”
Processed World offered darkly comic dispatches from the absurdist trenches of the overmanaged workplace.
The magazine continued to straddle the line between sarcasm and playful derision, its pages filling with parodic advertisements, gallows-humor cartoons, provocative photography, and reprinted Dadaist leaflets excoriating work. While large chunks of PW are available on its official website, processedworld.com, many of these graphical elements aren’t; fortunately, the Internet Archive has full scans of the magazine, and Verso brought out an anthology, a meaty, oversized paperback called Bad Attitude, in 1990.
Processed World’s “first two issues were printed on paper unknowingly ‘donated’ by San Francisco’s major banks,” the magazine’s official history recounts. For the next five years, the magazine’s collective held collating parties with weed, booze, and potluck buffets. No one ever got paid for Processed World except the printers—a fact stated with bald pride in the magazine. It was a collective, volunteer effort, and it had the rotating cast (as many as four hundred members over the years), intermittent publication, and borrowed office space to match. The various offices that Carlsson rented for his typesetting business often served as what Lazzara called the magazine’s “clubhouse,” where members would drop in to hang out, write, and argue.
“At one point, for me, it was really my social life, my politics, my creativity, muses for my own writing,” Lazzara said. “For me, it was much bigger than a publication.”
A sort of communitarian anarchism suffused much of what Processed World did. But this sensibility ran alongside an angry, even militant, approach to work and corporate America. According to the December 1985 issue, “One of PW’s principal aims is to make people feel good about hating their jobs, not to mention despising the dullness and ugliness of so much of life in general.” Among the celebrated forms of rebellion were sabotage and resistance to unions—the anarchist insurgents at PW dismissed the union world of the eighties as too pro-management and hamstrung by the National Labor Relations Board, which had outlawed hallowed protest tactics like the sit-down strike decades earlier and which would only become more reactionary in the Reagan years.
This kind of attitude can seem more than a little purist, or like Left Coast posturing for posturing’s sake, but it’s not much different from what runs through the activist strains of the Twittersphere or in the pages of many radical publications today. In the case of Processed World, outrage rated more highly than ideology, and so the magazine sometimes lacked the theorizing and institutional affiliations that might have earned it more attention in a culture that values credentials and easy categorization. PW also placed a premium on first-hand experience—many contributors began as letter writers or people who encountered a PWer distributing the magazine on the street—something that today’s labor press might take heed of. The magazine’s amateurish execution (and I mean this in the best sense) gave PW a certain air of testimony, all the more so because a number of its writers, both out of a sense of fun and self-protection, chose to write under pseudonyms. PW’s dispatches from the working world were often rough-hewn and unfinished; they went in unexpected directions and contained sudden, moving confessional moments. They also were generally insightful about the power dynamics of the office and the petty tyrannies of bureaucratic regimes.
In issue 6, for example, one anonymous correspondent, a “Personnel Management Analyst Trainee for the State of Tennessee,” recalled being hired to create detailed job definitions for 3,200 government positions. The consultant arrived on the first day to find eight colleagues working on this project without having completed one definition—and each was supposed to be three hundred pages long. They had been working on this task for two years. The ironies and indignities amassed from there: the project was only approved to satisfy a capricious judge, it would take so long that the definitions would be out of date, an upcoming election might require that they start over again. The writer concluded, “I had to work toward writing job definitions that would never be finished, and if finished never used.”
This was but one among the magazine’s darkly comic dispatches from the absurdist trenches of the overmanaged workplace. Others gestured at something more haunting, such as the anonymous San Franciscan who wrote in issue 7, “I’m unemployed now and should be typing my resume. Typing a resume becomes more and more like typing a suicide note, and yet choosing not to work is a kamikaze mission.” It was to this group—torn between the exigencies of white-collardom and the seeming impossibility of living as one chooses—that Processed World ultimately spoke.
The Machine, Raging
San Francisco has changed dramatically over the last thirty years. It has been thoroughly gentrified, and become rich in a way that few American cities have before. Its radicalism, its poor and working classes, its patches of squalor, much of its analog culture—these once-distinguishing features have fled east across the bay, to Oakland. Like so many of us, they’ve been priced out.[**]
The tech backlash precipitated in journals like Processed World has also come of age. The cleaned-up version appears in the op-ed pages of our biggest newspapers, alongside news articles about the latest cuts in food stamps. Contrast this with a different, and likely more honest, form of dissent: crowds of bitter people holding placards (“Public $$$$, Private Gains”; “Stop Displacement Now”) while blocking the paths of Google buses, for example. The op-eds are understood to be the prudent, measured thoughts of experts. The protests are seen as bizarre, “misplaced” (a natural complaint for an industry obsessed with efficiency), and offensive.
What to say except that this is a sign of a pitiable softness? Protest—actual bodies in the street—has become so rare, and so fully prey to a reflexive and deeply unearned cynicism, that it’s practically gauche, the hopeful incursions of the Occupy movement notwithstanding. Who wants to make such a mess? Who can get over his or her own practiced nihilism?
If they were to be faced with the raucous, are-they-serious-or-aren’t-they militance of the Processed World crowd, today’s financial and tech elites in San Francisco or New York would probably just walk around it, perhaps asking the nearest police officer for assistance. (The state is there to help.) A stunt like the End of the World’s Fair—a “carnival of celebration and refusal” concocted by PW in 1984 after President Reagan, in a People magazine interview, suggested that we might be living in apocalyptic times—would be chum for a jaundiced media. That is, if it didn’t first die a thousand small, ignoble deaths on Twitter.
Many of us know we work bullshit jobs; others would be only too happy to have one, to escape the suffocating anxieties of living on the margins. Those employed in socially useful jobs—teachers, nurses, social workers—must contend with low pay or, if they agitate for something more, being vilified.
The point is to make something out of one’s disillusionment. Today, we have many smart, young, angry writers. Occasionally they sneak into legacy newspapers and magazines, or a New Yorker staffer will code-switch and bare his inner Marxist in an interview with Salon. Whether to reach larger audiences or exorcize their own guilty fixations, these radicals tend to hold up pop culture and celebrity as the prism through which their politics flow. Racism is important, but when you can talk about it in the context of Miley Cyrus or Macklemore,[***] it’s relevant.
Along the way, the sense of community and common cause epitomized by Processed World has been sublimated into the incessant branding and self-promotion from which none of us appears immune. We are all living precariously, and so we tread water by competing for the occasional life preserver thrown out by the attention economy. Do your job well and maybe the Washington Post, the Daily Beast,or the latest buzzy new-media property will hire you as its token leftist columnist. Hit the jackpot, and you’ll become the next Chris Hayes.
Who can blame them? It’s now so expensive to live in a coastal metropolis that one hopes to sell out at least a little bit.
The remaining members of Processed World have become victims of some of the same forces. Over the last three years, Carlsson and Lazzara have seen an increasing number of friends evicted from San Francisco to make way for the tech nouveau riche. “It’s a tidal wave of displacement. All of our friends are leaving,” Carlsson said. “It’s like a trauma that people are living through.”
It’s become passé to blame our machines—in our individualist society, you are the sole author of your failures—but consider this: to those whose work appeared in Processed World, the introduction of computers to the workplace was a political act. The computerization of the workplace brought regulated workflows, surveillance by managers, deference to the dictates of software, and a machine with which you couldn’t keep up. It meant a noticeable loss of autonomy and a dawning sense—seen in the rapid turnover guaranteed by planned obsolescence—that productivity and growth had become ends in themselves. The most dangerous -isms turned out to be those preceded by “Ford” and “Taylor,” and they exerted their ultimate hold by becoming technologized and dispersed throughout our homes, our offices, our cars, and our cities.
In a 1982 essay, three PWers wrote, “It is not hard to imagine that in the very near future most people will carry out their jobs in front of TV screens.” It’s one of those delightfully naive predictions that’s appreciated all the more because it so rapidly became antique. But there’s something unexpectedly apt here about the phrase “TV screens,” with its aura of anesthetizing entertainment. In 1982 an office computer was almost certainly just a machine for work. Now, the same machines we use for work can also provide a salutary escape—into something meaningful, sure, but maybe just into something distracting and numbing, enough to get through that day’s particular soul-deadening meeting or performance review. Work has been allowed to conquer our lives in part because there is now no difference between the tools we use for work and for play. These tools are always with us, and so we are always available to our jobs. Maybe we’d be able to do something about all this bullshit if we weren’t forever standing in it.
The essay, titled “Roots of Disillusionment,” ends with a consideration of why it’s so difficult to imagine, much less enact, a new social and political order. The members of Processed World hoped for a world defined by voluntary social and labor relations, “a freely, genuinely cooperative and communal world, in which the individual would be realized rather than suppressed.” It was a hazily defined goal, sure; they would always be searching, always be resisting the calls of competing ideologies and petty sectarianism, or giving up and going to work for Apple. But just as it had been in the sixties, that process was part of the point:
Some of these experiences were disillusioning too—a good many former activists and communards turned sourly conservative after concluding that free collectivity was impossible. But others still remember the successes, partial as they were, the moments when people felt they had the power together to make their own history, to become anything they might desire to be. They carry with them a blurred snapshot of utopia.
That snapshot is worth holding onto. As we joylessly compete for ever-shrinking rewards, it might even provide some small inspiration.HAWTHORN fans will have plenty of time to enjoy Cyril Rioli's skills, with the star forward announcing on Thursday he has re-signed until the end of 2019.
Rioli was initially due to fall out of contract in 2017, so the two-year extension means the winner of the 2015 Norm Smith Medal will remain at Hawthorn at least until he is 30.
After a career-best season – in which Rioli won his fourth premiership with the Hawks and earned All Australian honours for the second time – the contract extension is just reward.
Speaking to the media on his first day of pre-season training at the Ricoh Centre, Rioli – who will all but be a Hawk for life – said the new contract was not necessarily his last.
"It's still a fair way away," Rioli said when asked whether he had given thought to playing on beyond 2019.
"Once it gets around to then, I'll see how my body's feeling and if I can continue to contribute to the team."
The four-time premiership player had an ultra consistent 2015 in which he played 24 of a possible 26 matches, kicked a career-best 42 goals and came runner-up in the Hawks' best and fairest.
That followed two seasons (2013 and 2014) where he played 15 games and 12 games, with his troublesome hamstring problems hampering his cause.
The 26-year-old, who has now played 157 AFL matches since being recruited with pick 12 in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft, said he feels like he is over the worst of his injury troubles.
"I don't really think about my hammies too much when I go out and train now and the stuff I do in the gym gives me a lot of confidence getting out there on the field," he said.
The Hawks mapped out a specific fitness plan for Rioli last pre-season and the club will follow a similar program, with some increase in intensity, leading into 2016.
As the club commences its preparation to defend its three-peat of premierships, Rioli said the early signs were good.
"It's still pretty early but the boys look in good nick. We're still very hungry," Rioli said.
"Losing (the Grand Final to the Sydney Swans) in 2012 still cuts a lot of blokes up so we don't want to go down that path again."
Rioli said he was extremely proud to see relative Daniel, who was drafted by Richmond with pick No.15 in the 2015 NAB AFL Draft, given the opportunity to carry on the Rioli name at the top level.
"On draft day I was really happy that he got picked up. I was hoping Hawthorn might have got him but he's in good hands with Dimma (Damien Hardwick) at Richmond and I'll hopefully see him running around out there on the MCG," Rioli said.
Cyril also had a cheeky response after Daniel suggested he was faster and a more reliable shot for goal.
"He probably is (quicker), but he's a few flags behind," Rioli said.
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British Jihadis lured into joining ISIS extremists in Syria are being smuggled in through the sunshine island of Cyprus.
Starting their journey on budget flights to the holiday destination, they then travel into Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus.
There, they hand over up to £1,000 to fishermen who are willing to take them across the Mediterranean and drop them on the Syrian coastline under cover of darkness.
One source told The Mirror: “It’s difficult to put firm numbers on it – I’d estimate many dozens of people from the UK have used this route to reach the caliphate.
“It’s a simple business contract, the deals are carried out in cash – always cash.
“Everyone knows what is going on. But it’s never spoken about.”
(Image: Rowan Griffiths)
(Image: Rowan Griffiths)
Last week the Government announced a major crackdown on people heading from the UK to fight for IS.
Incredibly, the journey we have uncovered begins on an island where Britain maintains a 3,500-strong military presence.
Would-be jihadis first make contact with a man in Northern Cyprus known as “the ISIS travel agent”.
To evade security services, communication takes place via text message.
He arranges hotel accommodation, taxi services and their onward travel by sea to Syria.
Posing as tourists the extremists book flights on carriers such as EasyJet, Ryanair and British Airways to the Greek side of Cyprus.
(Image: Rowan Griffiths)
The island remains divided after a war in 1974. The north, aligned with Turkey, is not internationally recognised as a country.
United Nations troops patrol the border to keep the peace - while Britain has two military bases in the south.
Once they land they stay in small cheap hotels in one of the nearby seaside resorts.
The “ISIS travel agent” - across the border in Famagusta on the Turkish side of the island - then fixes for transport to bring them across.
It’s quick, simple and while passports are checked by border control it’s a simple process.
Once through the jihadists have successfully left the EU without raising any suspicions.
In Famagusta they are on Turkish Cypriot territory.
(Image: Rowan Griffiths)
One source told the Mirror: “This has been going on for at least a year.
“It’s difficult to put firm numbers on it it but I would estimate that many dozens of people from the UK have used this route to reach the caliphate and join ISIS.
“It’s quite simple really. It’s a simple business contract but the deals are carried out in cash - always cash.
“Every one knows what is going on. But it’s just not spoken about.”
In recent years Northern Cyprus has become infamous for its crime links and the hiding place for many notorious Brits.
M25 killer Kenny Noye and on-the-run millionaire fraudster Asil Nadir stayed here to escape the clutches of the British authorities.
Many criminals on the UK’s ‘most wanted’ list are in hiding in luxury villas.
The Daily Mirror followed the same route as the radicalised Brits.
(Image: PA)
We flew from Gatwick Airport to Larnaca on an EasyJet flight. On a recent flight to cover the refugee crisis in Turkey there were police officers after the check-in desks.
They surveyed every single passenger to assess if they were potential jihadists.
There was no such extra security on this flight.
After landing we took a taxi – costing £75 - across the border.
It is still heavily guarded with armed soldiers on watchtowers.
Holding a EU passport we were able to cross easily – as many tourists do each day.
One boat skipper, who was terrified of being identified, explained: “It’s exactly the same for the jihadists.
“They have EU passports as British citizens and appear just like the tourists who come across the border.
“There is never any problems getting across.”
(Image: Rowan Griffiths)
After staying one night in a small hotel tucked away on the dusty streets of the old town of Famagusta the extremists meet the “ISIS travel agent.”
The skipper said: “There is usually three or four of the British Jihadists at a time.
“Although they often fly separately from different UK airports.
“The charge for the crossing is usually 1200 Euros for each person – in cash obviously.
“But I have heard of one person who came from north London on his own and he was was charged 3000 Euros.”
Once the money has been handed over they return to their hotels in Famagusta which is a military town.
There are still watchtowers on the beach to guard a disputed zone of hotels left bombed and derelict from the 1974 war.
Actress Sophia Loren’s villa lies in ruins half a mile down the beach.
After nightfall a car arrives to pick them up.
(Image: Reuters)
They are taken 25 miles north east to the quaint fishing port of Bogaz.
On their way they see all the elements of western life they are desperate to leave behind.
They pass the Salamis casino, the Sunrise Beach resort - advertising homes for 39,000 euros - and the East Mediterranean University.
They pass “The Old English Pub” and “Johnny Rockets the original hamburger restaurant.”
All businesses and institutions which are banned in the ISIS caliphate.
But they do also drive past the imposing Pola Tpasa Cami mosque.
As the driver takes them to their destination he is careful to adhere to the 65kph speed limit.
As they enter Bogaz they turn right into the small car park to the east of the grey stone harbour.
The port, which is tucked away from the main road, is home to about 30 small fishing and pleasure boats.
(Image: Rowan Griffiths)
It is a popular tourist spot but British holidaymakers in the nearby Karsel restaurant and Bar Bogas have no idea what is going on behind the scenes.
As they sip drinks under the olive and pine trees with the background noise of the nearby fountain they don’t realise the next smuggling operation is already being planned.
The skipper explained: “When they arrived at night the jihadists are quickly taken onboard whichever boat is taking them so they are out of sight as soon as possible.
“The skipper involved will already know the routine of the Turkish coastguards on that particular night.
“He has a safe window to get into international waters. Some-times they drop their nets a few miles out.
“Then they proceed to Syria which is about three to four hours away depending on the weather conditions.
“They some-times meet a pre-arranged boat from the other side in the middle of the sea and the Jihadists are transferred there.
“Some-times they take them all the way to the Syrian coast-line. “Once they are there it’s easy to make their way east towards the caliphate.
“On the way back they stop to pick up their nets and return to port around dawn with their catch for the day. No-one is the wiser.”
On our two visits – one during the day and one at night we were regarded with suspicion.
(Image: Birmingham Mail)
We felt intimidated. No-one would speak about the situation.
One man said: “There’s an omerta in place.
“No-one will say a word about this for fear of upsetting what is going on.
“You just do not mess with these people.”
Anti-terror cops say more than 700 Brits have travelled to Syria or Iraq to support or fight with IS and other jihadis.
Around half are thought to have returned to Britain, police chiefs say.
Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood late last year said the number was closer to 2,000 with ISIS-linked social media claiming 20 Brits a day were signing up to fight.
It is estimated 45 Brit jihadis have died in combat while 21 have been convicted of offences such as funding or supporting terrorism or planning to travel to a terror training camp, in court.
The most common route into Syria is across the Turkish border but new recruits are increasingly travelling via Italy and across the Mediterranean to north Africa.
It is believed up to 60 Brits have travelled to Syria using this new route bia Cyprus.
Security expert George McKillop CEO of Haymarket Risk said: “Policing borders is never an easy task, and the authorities have to be equally innovative to identify and close loopholes before they are exploited.
In this case, flying into Greek Cyprus and crossing the border into Turkish Cyprus was identified as a way to evade controls and take a short boat trip to Syria.
“Following the Mirror’s investigation, this particular loophole will no doubt quickly be addressed but the fact is that anyone who is determined to get to Syria will use their initiative to try to identify alternative weaknesses via which they can achieve their aim.
“Whether it be a cyber criminal, a fraudster a common thief or a political extremist, those determined enough will always use their ingenuity to find innovative ways to breach controls.
"In all cases the best security is deployed by those who think like criminals to identify weaknesses before they are exploited.
“In some cases it can be the most obvious way that may be overlooked by the authorities.
"As with any form of security, it is essential that every effort is made to identify loopholes before they are exploited.
"This means ongoing innovative thinking by those charged with policing borders.”Today I found myself looking at yet another picture of her, perhaps the 1,001st. Suddenly, I began to feel differently about her.
Until this moment, she was just the “first lady of the land” who, according to press reports, got married in a “$100,000 Dior dress that laborers’ hands had toiled upon for a legendary 550 hours, affixing 1,500 crystals.”
There she was, a few steps behind her prince, in yet another glamorous, stunning, fabulous designer creation, hair perfectly drawn down over her shoulders, carefully blown into amber waves, with eyes hidden by large designer sunglasses.
Behold Melania, that Melania, the breathtaking, tinsel-dusted Melania, from Sevnica in southeastern Slovenia. Her little town, we’re told, lies beneath Sevnica Castle atop Castle Hill.
We can see this Melania looking up at that castle each day, and imagining that she was a princess who lived in a magnificent bedroom high in the tower. Imagine.
Since the day she came on the American scene, floating just two steps behind Donald Trump, she has been constantly chastised as a social climber, porn photo queen, a manipulative mannequin who had managed to scramble out of poverty to become the first lady of the greatest nation on Earth.
All of that would make a grand opera, but it’s just a melange of media snapshots, mostly untrue and unfairly used as mud to splatter the Republican choice for president.
Yes, she shot all of those risqué magazine photos, just like hundreds of thousands of young models all over the world, and certainly right here in America.
Today, the little girl from Slovenia has her own castle, high in a Fifth Avenue tower, enshrined in a glass case like a priceless objet d’art, where she can look out and down on a magic city full of fun and treasures, glitter and splendor — none of which she can truly enjoy.
Her castle is surrounded by restaurants with the best, most expensive food and wine in the world, which her childhood friends from Sevica can never get anywhere near.
Melania can touch, sip and enjoy all of these things, but only if she sits quietly by the side of her husband, the man whom several millions call Mr. President, the tall, shuffling man in the oversized black coat, who sits in the royal chambers of the White House.
Melania can remain there only if she makes no comment or even clears her throat, giving the impression that she wants to.
She can remain there only if she smiles when he smiles, only if she never, at any moment, offers an opinion. If she can manage that, then the gold dust of opulence will continue to fall upon her.
And this is why, today, I suddenly feel sorry for her, and why all of you on the left might want to reconsider your growling animosity.
Imagine our fairy princess, all alone up there in her glass case, dining most nights with only her 10-year-old son, both toying with their specially cooked dinners, waiting for the phone to ring. Imagine before she draws the curtains, she looks down on the city of dreams, as the lights of Broadway flicker on.
I know that city; I was young in that city. I fell in love in there, built dreams and sang happy songs, surrounded by friends and lovers.
Who are Melania’s friends? With whom can she enjoy watching the first snow fall on Verdi Square, or share a corner table at a little neighborhood Italian restaurant, a seat in the theater, a bench overlooking the Queensborough Bridge?
To whom can Melania whisper a secret?
We know that Melania Trump, from Sevica, is watched constantly, not only by the Secret Service, but by her absent husband’s shadowy private security. There are no friends among them, only strangers with guns, who drift around her like smoke. Imagine.
I’m reminded of a scene in Orson Welles’ great film “Citizen Kane,” in which Charles Foster Kane’s beleaguered and lonely wife, Susan, whose life Kane has carelessly destroyed, sits in a great cavern of a room in his towering Xanadu, assembling a giant picture puzzle while the world outside passes by.
Susan asks, “What time is it, Charlie?”
“Half past eleven,” he replies.
“I mean in New York,” she asks.
“Half past eleven.”
She sighs, “Half past eleven! The shows have just let out. People are going to night clubs and restaurants. Of course, we’re different. We live in a palace at the end of the world.”
Yes. It’s late, Melania, but not too late.
J.P. Devine is a Waterville writer.
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filed under:"DEA" redirects here. For other uses, see DEA (disambiguation)
Not to be confused with Food and Drug Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) () is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and distribution within the United States. The DEA is the lead agency for domestic enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, sharing concurrent jurisdiction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing US drug investigations both domestic and abroad.
Map of the 21 DEA domestic field divisions: 1. Chicago, 2. Detroit, 3.Atlanta, 4. Dallas, 5. Denver, 6. Boston, 7. El Paso, 8. Houston, 9. Los Angeles, 10. Miami, 11. Newark, 12. New Orleans, 13. New York |
in the direction you really didn’t want to go in ended up winning the fight. But maybe something to think about is that regardless of the steering, there is a greater current at play. These people steer the boat wherever they want to go, but the current moves in a direction that is beyond their power. It might take us longer to get there, but I feel like that is a current of progression.”
Last week I put out a call for people who read this blog and supported or at least were enthusiastic about Donald Trump’s presidency to send me emails. I heard from 34 people. That’s not a massive number by polling standards, but it’s considerably more than I usually receive on just one topic in a single week.
We need to stop shaming people for supporting Trump. This is especially true for Buddhists. American Buddhism tends to be dominated by left-wing types, the same way American Christianity tends to be dominated by right-wingers. There is a strong tendency in both groups to equate their political biases with some kind of Higher Truth. Both groups are equally blind to the idea that this might not be the case.
I used to think that right wing Christian nut-cases like Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell were being insincere when they claimed Jesus supported their views. But I’ve watched the exact same thing play out among very sincere left wing Buddhists who truly believe that the tenets of Buddhism and the platform of whatever party they support are identical.
Buddha didn’t want you to vote for Hillary (or Jill or even Bernie) any more than Jesus wanted you to vote for The Donald.
A few of my correspondents were adamant that I preserve their anonymity. They feared being “outted” as Trump supporters in front of their Buddhist friends. At the risk of quoting our president elect, to me that is sad. I’m sad that those who have political views outside of the mainstream in American Buddhism feel they cannot speak freely and I’m sad I have played a role in that.
So here are what I think are the most interesting comments I received. I present these without any personal endorsement or condemnation. This is just what some of my readers think. I promise NO MORE POLITICAL BLOGS for a good long while. I do not want this to turn into a political forum.
***
I am a Buddhist/Muslim (born Muslim) I really dislike Donald Trump. I dislike him because he is disrespectful to his fellow men. He has no honour. And this is why i think he’s right. I have grown up in Pakistan. I know what religious nutters are like. And the west has failed to deal with these guys for over a few decades now. Trust me when I say this, the west is solely responsible for these religious fanatics. These guys got guns in the cold war to fight Russia. History is repeating itself in Syria with these “Syrian Rebels”. Trump for some odd reason has a grasp over this. He somehow intuitively understands what’s going on in the Muslim world. He says he doesn’t want Muslims to enter America, he isn’t doing that because he hates Muslims. He is doing that because he wants to keep you safe. All this talk of political correctness in America. It’s very kind. I am very humbled when people like yourself defend our honour. However there is something bigger at stake. Everybody’s safety is at stake. These radical assholes are a real fucktards. Trump understands radical asshole fucktards. He gets it. It bemuses me how he gets it, but he gets it. I get it because I grew up in Pakistan. If I hadn’t grown up in Pakistan and grew up in western comfort, I probably would have thought trump was bad. Trump is an asshole? Yes he is. But he is a much needed asshole right now. Radical asshole fucktards are scared of assholes.
***
Trump has said and done some ethically outrageous things. I wish people who were upset that he wants to ban Muslims were equally upset about the current government’s eagerness to bomb Muslim countries. I wish people who are upset by his racism were upset about the mass incarceration of black people under America’s racist drug laws. I wish the people who were upset about his use of the word “pussy” 10 years ago were equally upset about the Clintons’ involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. I wish the people who are concerned about fake news recognized CNN and FOX for the lying liars they are.
***
For Americans, a Trump Presidency has the potential to be a good one. He has stated that he will push through a large infrastructure rebuilding bill through Congress. Clinton probably would not have been able to get this done. He will push back on countries that are trading unfairly with the U.S. He will lower the burdens on small businesses. As a person who works with small business owners, I don’t think the majority of people understand what they go through on a day-to-day basis trying to run their business and cut through red-tape. Where should we be concerned about a Trump Presidency? He has made inflammatory statements. I would bet that those were for campaign purposes only. In fact today, one of his top advisors said that they likely wouldn’t seek prosecution of Hillary Clinton. That is sure to anger many of his supporters. I expect him to similarly go back on several of his more controversial campaign promises. As Buddhists we should be concerned about the entire universe, not just America. So some of his trade and treaty acts will probably hurt non-Americans. And there is always the chance that he is as crazy as the left wing media made him out to be and he will get us all blown up and we will all be reincarnated as cockroaches in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world.
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Trump is clearly adored sizable following of die hard supporters. Outside of supporters though, I would venture a guess that most Americans run the gauntlet between greeting him with skepticism, sheer malice, and everything found in between. The result is that the American populous will probably pay attention to everything he does. By contrast, President Obama was insanely charismatic, charming, and funny. For disclosure’s sake, I’m a former Obama campaign donor; I am certainly no stranger to his remarkable likability. Back to my point though… could Trump enjoy the lack of public scrutiny that enabled President Obama’s military drone operation and all the extrajudicial killings that came along with it? Could he pass something like the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 which wrote indefinite detention without charge or trial into law (contrary to habeas corpus)? Could he violate the fourth amendment through NSA mass surveillance conducted devoid of warrants? I feel Trump would face great public outcry if he attempted any of these endeavors. Meanwhile, President Obama was so gosh darned likable that most of us just hit cruise control and let it all happen while barely noticing it. President Obama is one of my favorite orators of all time and he has the sort of comedic timing that allowed him be a regular on wildly popular talk shows during his two terms in office. President Obama utilized his charm to gain the good will of the populous and then he cautiously and slowly spent that good will strategically throughout his presidency with expert precision.
***
So, Donald – not even really sure why, but I responded well to his brashness – his almost ZEN shoot from the hip way of behaving – turrets almost – just say what he feels needs saying at any given moment … Zen, the student asks a question and the master hits him on the head with a paper fan and enlightenment ensues type of stuff. I also read “Make America Great Again” and am currently reading “Art of the Deal” and though I cannot get over some of the bull-headed thoughts – and am so curious and terrified of the unification of the ALT RIGHT stuff that is also coming out of this. I like the idea of letting an outsider, a business man, and ultimately a self-described confident “Winner” take a crack at things for a moment.
***
I voted for Trump. I am Buddhist as well. Neither meets my picture of an ideal president. Trump presented a coarse and offensive manner. However at the base of his stand was a message of the rule of law. Hillary represents the same old political machine. Her tactics as manifested through the DNC to derail Sanders is a clear example that the election was about her obsession to power at any cost. As for how a Buddhist could vote for Trump. I can only speak for myself. I find neither particularly conscious human beings. Given the realty of how the system works he will do less real damage the she would have. Hillary is the real elitist 1% club champion not Trump. Her personal for profit dealings with the Saudi’s and their abusive standards with women is criminally hypocritical. In her own way she is coarse and sleazy as Trump has ever been. In short I’ll take a blowhard over the likes of the Clinton machine.
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I believed that the current policy in Syria and towards Iran and Russia is quite dangerous and leading up to a potential major confrontation with Russia. The USA has been funding rebels who decapitate Syrian children while going about their effort to overturn Assad. Russia is trying to destroy Isis’s influence in Syria, but we are essentially funding Isis. Free trade is causing more pain worldwide and environmental discomfort than it is solving. Re-negotiating trade may help world economy and lessen suffering worldwide. Bernie Sanders understood this. Trump understood this. The Clintons did not understand this. Furthermore, the carbon credit trading scam has absorbed most of the money and involvement in the environmental movement. We’re losing forests and polluting oceans and destroying climate in more insipid ways that impact just as much if not more than carbon emissions. While emissions are a monumental problem, I feel the movement as a whole has lost track of the dangers of pollution and environmental destruction, fracking, etc more generally. Trump promised to clean up American water. I don’t trust him on the environment more generally, but do believe that pulling out of free trade will help bring factories back to the USA where they are more tightly regulated. I’ve been working hard to actively condemn anti-Muslim discrimination. I know many Muslims as a graduate student at the university where I teach and am horrified at the racists who are coming out of the woodwork believing that they are “normalized” now. It is my opinion that most Trump voters are not racist, but that the media has portrayed them as such and thus that the racists feel that this means they are safe now. I’ve made a concerted effort to state online and in person where I teach etc. that racism is NOT normal and hate crimes are illegal.*
***
I’m not a Trump supporter and didn’t vote for him, but one theoretical (Buddhist) reason I can think of for supporting him is that he is forcing us to confront our conditioning (about the media, foreign and economic policy, and different identity groups in the U.S) and creating an opening to talk to people who would’ve continued to be ignored had Hillary won.
***
In the 2012, 2014, and 2016 elections I spent more than 5 months on the ground mobilizing for the conservative cause in supporting Republican candidates. In 2016, I was briefly in the “Never Trump” crowd during the Primaries but soon became an ardent Trump supporter in the general election particularly as it became clear to me that his election was likely to express the voice of the “forgotten” and challenge the Establishment elite (Republicans included,) that have led us to this sorry pass. I was elbow to elbow with the these folk in Ohio, Colorado and Nevada for those 5 months.
***
I was anti-Hillary for fear of WW3/nuclear agitation related to Syria, would have voted for any realistic alternative for some hope of getting off that path. I am now waiting with discerning senses and actually informing myself on Trump intending to give him a fair chance–he deserves one day in office before judgement–as I didn’t fully believe that Hillary would be defeated so I didn’t prior. She’s a deeply nested part of a corrupt machine from what I can tell, and the rabbit hole seems to keep getting deeper as the weeks go on. The emails and esp. the Huma Abedin revelation were corroborating circumstantial evidence of my worst fears, that made me sick thinking about what would happen if she won… I see her as a player in a system rotten to the core.
***
I am deeply suspicious of the Democratic party. I conducted extensive research into the party structure and was appalled to discover that one of the driving forces behind their doctrine and policy direction is George Soros, a self confessed Nazi collaborator who is quoted as saying that “those were the best days of my life.” Expressing no regret or compassion for the people he delivered to the Nazis for extermination, he even boasts about it. Soros has meddled in the affairs of the Ukraine and the Baltic states through his Open Society foundation, funding mercenaries engaged in ethnic cleansing, ultimately resulting the over throw of their democratically elected president. He has used his money to undermine the security of the United States through open boarders and the fostering of welfare dependency. He funds radical groups that are destabilizing our country right now, through rioting and the assassination of our police officers. That does not sound like compassion to me. I can source each the points I made, but I respect your capability to do your own research. I went to Iraq in 2005. My job was to investigate and collect evidence of bombings against coalition forces. I saw first-hand the carnage of that war and the misery it created. Friends of mine were brutally maimed and killed. Dismembered children were the hardest to deal with. My experience there resulted in my conversion to Buddhism and the taking of the Bodhisattva vows. That war wrecked my mind, my marriage, and nearly my career. So I have no love for the Republicans that started that war. I will never forget “Mission Accomplished.” But I also got to see what uncontrolled anarchy looks like, with a Muslim cultural bent. Yes, I know individual Muslims that I am happy to sit down to tea with and have long conversations about life, philosophy and politics. They want what anyone wants, a home, a livelihood, and security. But that is because they have agreed that rules of civilized society (essentially be kind and respectful to others and mind your own business) are beneficial. But they came here legally and worked hard to attain their citizenship, they therefor understand its worth. What I see now with the violence, race baiting, hatred and vitriol on the left only serve to validate my choice. It was not an easy choice. I have friends that are gay, Muslim, Hispanic, black, white, male and female, and we can have a civil dialogue about our differences of opinion without getting personal which results in the strengthening of our respect for each other.
***
* I think that line my correspondent said, “It is my opinion that most Trump voters are not racist, but that the media has portrayed them as such and thus that the racists feel that this means they are safe now” is really important. If non-racists who opposed Trump think that all Trump supporters are racists, you can only assume that racists who voted for him think so as well. This is why some of them have gotten so bold lately. I think it is critical that Trump’s supporters as well as Trump himself must make it clear that they don’t go along with that shit. So far, I haven’t seen a whole lot of that happening. Trump did a little bit of this, but he’s got to do more. And, just as importantly, so do those who voted for him. Maybe some of you who wrote to me can work on this issue.
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THERE IS NO GOD AND HE IS ALWAYS WITH YOU is now available as an audiobook from Audible.com as are Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up!
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Check out my podcast with Pirooz Kalayeh, ONCE AGAIN ZEN!
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I’ve got a new book out now! Stay up to date on my live appearances and more by signing up for our mailing list on the contact page!
ONGOING EVENTS
Every Monday at 7:30pm there’s zazen at Angel City Zen Center (NEW TIME, NEW PLACE!) 1407 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90026 Beginners only!
Every Saturday at 10:00 am there’s zazen at the Angel City Zen Center (NEW PLACE!) 1407 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90026 Beginners only!
These on-going events happen every week even if I am away from Los Angeles. Plenty more info is available on the Dogen Sangha Los Angeles website, dsla.info
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I didn’t support Trump but your donation will support me. Thank you for your support.Christian Browne’s excellent critique of how receiving Communion-in-the-hand while standing are practices that might be reconsidered to strengthen American Catholics’ understanding of the Eucharist properly notes that these ideologically driven changes were required in no way by Vatican II or even the Holy See. Let me add three additional Eucharist-related phenomena bedeviling the “American Church” that also lack much of a doctrinal or theological base but which have become, for ideological reasons, part of the landscape of “American” Catholicism: extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, blessings in the Eucharistic procession, and the disconnect between the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.
Let me clarify up front what I mean by “ideological.” I maintain that two distinct factors have led to much of the current shape of American Catholic Eucharist praxis: a misguided feminism on the part of those who deem “priestesses” as possible, and a utilitarianism on the part of many clerics that sacrifices symbolism.
As Fr. Lawrence Porter points out in his Assault on Priesthood, Vatican II didn’t pay much attention to priests and even less to their cultic role. The Council was, in many ways, the Council of the laity, rightly stressing the universal call to holiness. The Council was also rightly the Council of the bishops, completing the work of the prematurely adjourned Vatican I by rounding out its doctrine of the Petrine Ministry with the role of the bishop (which includes the Bishop of Rome). The priest, however, got short shrift in the Conciliar documents.
Because of that lack of balance, just as after Vatican I the focus on the papacy and papal infallibility led to the worst of Ultramontanism (being “more Catholic than the Pope”), so after Vatican II’s focus on the laity, a certain “levelling” psychology spread in the Church, downplaying if not denying the Council’s own explicit teaching about the “essential” difference between the priesthood of the faithful and the ordained priesthood. Expectations that married priests might be around the corner—and women priests not too far down the road—exacerbated that trend.
In that light, the changes in American Eucharistic practice that began in the 1970s reflect a certain mindset. Receiving Communion standing up emphasized our adult stature (never mind “unless you become like little children….”); receiving Communion in the hand downplayed the role of the priest and shifted focus to the “I” (while attributing a certain literalism to “take and eat” that, in other contexts, would certainly drive liturgists wild); celebrating Mass versum populum and moving altars to centers of churches also “democratized” the church, while the procession of men, women and nuns to distribute Communion further downplayed the role of the priest. (Lest little Johnny still have some ideas that the priesthood is worth pursuing, we also had to ensure that “altar boys” also underwent de-genderization as “altar servers”).
(Those were, of course, also the days that presumed that ecclesiastical unity would come as soon as we launched general intercommunion with other churches, regardless of whether we had any common idea of what the Eucharist represented, and that our best chance for ecumenical rapprochement lay in the imminent kiss of peace between Rome and Canterbury.)
Those who, of course, supported this levelling denigration of the cultic role of the priest felt emboldened to advance their agenda in the then NCCB-USCC, confident that even if Pope Paul VI were likely to wince, he would leave them to their own devices. In that, they were generally correct.
This levelling trend on one side found synergy in a utilitarian trend from another: priests. Many younger priests, products of seminary education in the late 1960s and 1970s, actually bought into that levelling (those who didn’t generally were evaluated out of the seminary). Many older priests, intimidated by their younger colleagues and having imbibed the clerical ethos that the greatest virtue was not so much charity as “peace and quiet,” rolled over and played dead. The declining number of priests also made it easier to slough “jobs” off on the laity.
Take the proliferation of extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. That is, after all, their proper title, although from the typical post-Agnus Dei march on the altar, one would not guess that there is anything “extraordinary” about their presence. The rituals surrounding what most parishes do to prepare for distributing Communion are also not in the liturgical books, e.g., the rubrics make no provision for extraordinary ministers to be gathered, in quasi-concelebrant style, around the altar, waiting to receive Communion and then the sacred Species to distribute to others. Even the nomenclature has shifted to make it appear that the extraordinary is ordinary: in the typical American parish, they are simply “Eucharistic ministers,” with most people thinking they are just as “ordinary” (in the sense of expected to be there) as lectors and altar “servers.”
For priests, they serve a utilitarian function. In my younger days, all the priests in the parish emerged from the sacristy in every Mass to distribute Communion. Getting the laity to “do” that was obviously a labor-saving device. And—be it from devotion or ideology—there were those willing to take up the clerical slack. “Things” also went faster. Today, of course, in one priest parishes, the possibility of such arrivals of priests is diminished.
Regardless of the motives, however, the absence of priests distributing the Eucharist sends a message. It sends the message that priesthood and Eucharist might be separable. It sends the message that “handing out Communion” is a function to be accomplished by any available pair of hands (anointed or otherwise) rather than a symbolic act of a shepherd (remember, that is what “pastor” means) feeding his flock. An act pregnant with meaning is turned into a mere function to be done—the sooner, the better.
Consider, too, the growing phenomenon in some parishes where everybody comes up in the Eucharistic procession. Those who intend to communicate extend their hands (the “Communion-in-the-hand” issue, again), while those who do not cross their arms over their chests to receive a “blessing.”
Well, there’re a couple of things wrong with this picture. First, this is a Communion procession, not a first grade line in which everybody has to get a ribbon just for showing up and being there. Second, the Body and Blood of Christ surpasses any blessing, so why are we levelling these acts? Third, why are lay people conferring “blessings?” Fourth, does the phenomenon of everybody shuffling off down the aisle undermine the idea of “worthiness” to approach the Eucharist?
Finally, another post-Vatican II phenomenon touching the Eucharist is its severed nexus with the sacrament of Penance. Granted that, once upon a time, an excessive scrupulosity may have deterred some people from receiving the sacrament. I dare suggest that excessive moral scruples are not, however, a commonplace phenomenon in the typical American parish most Sunday mornings. When politicians whose job it is to promote the good of society vote for prenatal capital punishment and even defend it as “sacred ground” before lining up for Communion—and some American ecclesiastics wring their hands about whether to say “basta” to such scandal—one has to ask whether average Catholic’s concept of receiving Communion as expressing communion with God (“if you love me, you will keep my Commandments”) has been debased or lost.
In identifying issues with Eucharistic praxis in America, Christian Browne rightly puts our focus on how—wrongly—practices connected with Holy Communion in the United States have eroded important parts of our faith and identity. What’s most telling is that those practices are devoid of a rubrical base or warrant in the typical liturgical books. They often rest on the justification of the “spirit” of Vatican II. Fifty years later—and following the injunction of I John 4:1—we might deem certain spirits worthy of exorcism.
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ADDENDUM: In the repartee of comments following this article, a number of people pointed out that extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are applying their “baptismal gifts” to the Church. Apart from the fact that being an extraordinary minister is not a Baptismal commission but a juridical concession, a further question arose about the sacramentology underlying what extraordinary ministers do. Granted, a priest is essential to consecrate the Eucharist, but that does not mean that who distributes the Sacred Species is but a question of law. What I argue in this article is that feeding God’s people is a symbolic, unitary act that should not be parceled into discrete functions: Fr. Joe consecrates, but Joe (and Josephine) distribute Communion. Providing for the Eucharist is part of the priest’s spiritual fatherhood, his fruitfulness: just as we have gotten into big problems in sexual ethics by splitting motherhood into “genetic,” “gestational,” and “child-rearing” functions, so we are in trouble when we divide the act of feeding of the Eucharist into consecration and distribution functions.Why do so many homeschooling parents turn out to be Christian? Many say they feel the public schools are too secular or too hostile to their faith. That’s the traditional narrative.
But it goes the other way, too. Some parents pull their kids out of public schools because they feel they’re too religious to the point where kids experience “religious bullying.”
Katherine Stewart, author of The Good News Club, writes about the latter group for The Nation:
The bullying started in first grade, when [Betty] Ogletree’s daughter’s classmates started pressuring her to attend a Good News Club, an after-school Bible class intended to indoctrinate young children in a conservative form of evangelical Christianity. … … Lunchtime conversations quickly started to revolve around God and Jesus. RaMae, who had been raised with a sense of skepticism about conservative religious doctrine, made an effort to stand up for her own beliefs, and she resisted her friends’ repeated efforts to recruit her to the club. One day, however, the girls decided on an aggressive new tactic. They took away RaMae’s juice and told her they wouldn’t give it back until she sang a song about Jesus.
That may seem mild to some people, but when it happens often, it’s hardly surprising when students can’t focus on their classes. They’re better off at home than dealing with Christian bullies.
Stewart also points out a sad consequence of atheists or other secular parents who pull their kids out of public schools. Because the homeschooling crowd is so overwhelmingly Christian and conservative, most of the material available is geared to that audience, and most of the community groups that homeschooling parents rely on revolve around religion.
While homeschooling families often connect with one another to offer their children opportunities for socialization and group learning, nonreligious homeschoolers often feel shut out. The religious homeschooling movement often encourages Christian homeschool groups to shun nonbelievers and members of non-Christian faiths.
It’s a depressing piece because there’s so little anyone can do to help, but the way to begin that process is highlighting the problem, which Stewart has done here. Be sure to also check out Jaweed Kaleem‘s recent Atlantic piece on the struggles of secular homeschooling.
(Image via Shutterstock)A 3-year-old had 11 teeth extracted after being given Coke in a sipper bottle throughout the day.
Children as young as 18 months old are having multiple rotten teeth pulled out as parents feed toddlers soft drinks through sipper bottles, and chocolate biscuits and Milo as bedtime treats.
Dentist and veteran anti-sugar lobbyist Rob Beaglehole said he pulled several teeth on Monday from an 18-month-old, and had once treated a 2-year-old who had been drinking Coke from a baby bottle. The child's teeth had dissolved down to the gum line and were bleeding.
Beaglehole, a father of two and principal dental officer for Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, recently extracted 11 teeth from a 3-year-old whose parents had let him drink Coke from a sipper bottle to "keep him happy".
DEREK FLYNN/STUFF Rob Beaglehole says sugar in children's diets is rotting the teeth of those young enough to be still in nappies.
Another 3-year-old needed four stainless steel crowns, had four teeth pulled and was given four fillings the child's parents put Milo in a baby bottle to sip on overnight.
All these procedures, performed under general anaesthetic, cost the Nelson Marlborough DHB about $4000 each, and none of them needed to happen, Beaglehole said.
Each year 35,000 children aged under 12 have rotten teeth extracted because of excessively sugary diets – mainly from sugary drinks and other junk foods.
Wellington dietitian Andrea Palmer said children should drink water throughout the day, although fruit juice and other soft drinks were acceptable if they were part of a set meal and were not consumed constantly.
Children start losing their baby teeth naturally around the age of 6, but having the process fast-tracked by decay and abscesses can have dire consequences for children's schooling, and for their prospects as adults.
Struggling through school with the pain and distraction of rotting teeth could cause behavioural and development problems, while the early loss of baby teeth could cause adult teeth to grow irregularly and trigger the need for braces and other orthodontic interventions, Beaglehole said.
In its 20-year review of dental admissions to hospitals, a Ministry of Health-commissioned report found a fourfold increase in admissions between 1990 and 2009, with the biggest spike in admissions from children aged under 8. There were higher admission rates for Maori and Pacific people, and those living in the poorest areas.
"Generally, the poorer you are the more holes you have and the more teeth you have missing. It's a socioeconomic disease and it's heartbreaking for everyone involved, but it's entirely preventable," Beaglehole said.
Junk food advertising had huge sway over children's diet.
"Our kids are watching their sporting heroes slugging back bottles of sports drinks containing three days' worth of a child's daily recommended amount of sugar. If we want to protect our kids and address this health crisis, the first step needs to be restricting advertising of junk food directly to our children."
Earlier this month Health Minister Jonathan Coleman ruled out a tax on sugar-laden products, saying exercise and education should be the focus in efforts to reduce obesity.
Over the next two months, Coleman plans to recommend a set of actions to address the nation's sugar problem, and Beaglehole said the minister should look to introduce measures to tackle the marketing of sugary drinks and junk food, in the same way tobacco and alcohol were treated.
However, Palmer disagreed that junk food restrictions or sugar taxes were the answer. "We do have too much sugar, but if we use sugar wisely we can have it as part of our diet."
SPOONFULS OF SUGAR
* A standard 350mm can of fizzy drink can contain as many as 10 teaspoons of sugar, and the same amount of fruit juice can have 12 teaspoons.
* New Zealand is the 11th largest consumer of soft drinks, including fizzy carbonated drinks, concentrates such as cordial, juice, sports and energy drinks, bottled waters and ready-to-drink tea and coffee.
* Kiwis, on average, consume about 54 kilograms of sugar a year, equivalent to 37 teaspoons of sugar a person every day.
* In 2014 Kiwis drank a total of 518.30 million litres, up from 515m litres in 2013.An economist views asylum seeker policies
Deriving sound asylum seeker policies is partly a moral issue. It is also a concern that analytical disciplines like economics can throw light on. I have been asked to provide views on asylum seeker policies as an economist. The views below are preliminary and I welcome polite comment. What I want to do is to think about are what most people would agree are reasonable objectives for policy and then use economics to think about how these objectives might be met.
Introduction. Australia has had immigration quotas since the beginning of the 20th century. Up to that time the major “immigration destination” countries of the world (Australia, Canada and the United States) had few restrictions on immigrant entry. A basic implication is that having binding quotas means that all those seeking to settle in Australia will not be able to.
The Australian Migration Program includes those selected for skill, family and other reasons. The Humanitarian Program offers resettlement to refugees and to those experiencing substantial discrimination in other countries. Over recent years the Migration Program has admitted around 190,000 people annually while the Humanitarian Program has been generally less than 14,000.
There is a large excess demand for Migration Program entry to Australia and an enormous excess demand for entry via the Humanitarian Program. In 2012/13 there were 50,444 applications for entry under the Humanitarian Program but only 20,000 were admitted – and 2012/13 was an exceptionally high annual intake. For every humanitarian migrant accepted more than 1.5 are rejected.
Moreover, this understates excess demands for humanitarian entry since there are much higher latent demands for humanitarian entry. The extent of this is difficult to judge but the UNHCR estimate that, at the end of 2012, there were 45.2 million forcibly displaced people in the world, the highest number since 1994. Some were seeking internal resettlement but many were seeking to migrate to new countries.
Some of this latent demand, along with others seeking resettlement to achieve better economic conditions, set out to achieve entry into Australia outside the official migration program. This cuts into the official refugee program intake since when an asylum seeker is recognized as a refugee and granted a visa in an onshore program a place is deducted from the official offshore program.
Asylum seeker numbers are partly determined by “push factor” conditions in other countries. They are also influenced by what might be called the “price” of gaining Australian entry.
This price depends on the costs of getting here by boat (financial and human), the treatment of asylum seekers on their arrival and the probability of eventual successful resettlement in Australia. Since the early 1990s, when the Keating Government introduced “Mandatory Detention”, this price has been used as a policy instrument to deter asylum seekers.
Is using this price effective? Is it a morally acceptable instrument? Are there alternative better available policies?
Effectiveness. The “Mandatory Detention” policies of Keating were effective for much of the 1990s although they did little to stem asylum seekers from the Middle East from 1999-2001. The subsequent “Pacific Solution” from 2001 to 2007, was expensive policy (it cost over $1b), but was effective since it removed incentives for asylum seekers to come to Australia by redirecting them to Christmas Island or Ashmore Reef. It prevented them from directly seeking asylum. Instead they were transferred to third countries where they had to undertake a lengthy admission process if they were to enter Australia.
In 2007 the Labor Party abandoned the Pacific Solution. It promised to settle refugee claims within 3 months and closed the Nauru detention centre. With these policies the price of admission remained low as only 45 of the 1637 asylum seekers were found not to be refugees. Once here the acceptance rate among these asylum seeker arrivals was much higher than it would have been via the official Humanitarian Program. Predictably with this almost near certainty of gaining admission numbers of boats and asylum seekers surged through to 2013. In 2013 the number of asylum seekers grew to 4 times the level ever achieved over the previous 30 years.
In 2012 the Gillard Government reversed their earlier policy stance and effectively reintroduced the Pacific Solution. They re-opened Nauru. In a 180 degree turnabout in 2013 Kevin Rudd announced that anyone who arrived in Australia without a visa would not be eligible for asylum. These policies, while often criticised, have been continued by the subsequent Coalition Government and, despite a recent paucity of statistical data, seem to have been effective in curbing asylum seeker numbers.
The evidence over the last twenty five years or so suggests strongly that increasing the price of being an asylum seeker does reduce asylum seeker demand.
Morals. Migrants are recognized as a small economic bonus for a resident community. Residents have the value of their capital assets increased with a larger population and the effects on resident incomes are likely to be small but positive. Asylum seekers, if they are unskilled or offer relatively poor prospects for resettlement are less economically attractive migrants particularly if they draw relatively heavily on social security payments, health services, education and other public goods. For a fixed overall quota greater economic benefits are likely to accrue from migrants with special skills. This creates an incentive to select the skill-based migration given the opportunity costs of accepting asylum seekers..
To put it in economic terms: Australia might (or might not) gain an absolute economic advantage from accepting asylum seekers but the comparative advantage, given a quota, is to accept other non-asylum seeker migrants including those vin the official Humanitarian Program..
It is argued that economic returns are only part of what is realized when asylum seekers are admitted. Australians have (or perhaps should have) humanitarian concerns that imply we should help the disadvantaged. Australians should not be (in Kant’s terms) “Bad Samaritans”. The Kantian argument is that we are morally obliged to help those we can help provided the opportunity cost is not excessive. If it is very costly to provide this assistance then it becomes more complicated as an issue in ethics. It is difficult to draw the line here but this does depend on costs. Some refugee resettlements in Australia have been more successful than others so that blanket judgments are unhelpful. Some of the refugees resettled during the Fraser years have proven to be a source of ongoing social and economic problems in Australia.
I think the extreme emotionalism from various sections of the community that have identified successive immigration ministers as Nazi-like, racist monsters are both inaccurate and unhelpful. The asylum seeker issue is an intractable problem involving real humanitarian concerns and strongly felt views in the Australian community and among its political leaders. Simplistic emotionalism does not help to drive better policies and/or policy reform but simply stifles debate.
Better |
the country is no Eldorado. Its small population and its geography make Laos dependent on regional partners for economic development, and the giant to the north is a good bet as a partner.
After a period of turbulence during the Cold War, relations between China and Laos were normalized in 1989. Former President Jiang Zemin paid a visit in November 2000, the first by a Chinese head of state. Since then, cooperation has rapidly increased and French newspaper Le Monde reported that in 2011 the Chinese government had already invested US$3.3 billion in the country, making it the third largest foreign investor in Laos after Vietnam and Thailand.
A couple of years ago, while visiting Laos, I caught the positive mood when talking with a local tour guide. As we were sitting in the back of a small van on a potholed road in northern Laos, I asked him what he thought of China. He absent-mindedly answered that he was happy with Chinese people visiting: surely he was not dissatisfied with wealthy tourists eager to spend money.
The growing Chinese presence will soon be on display in the capital itself. Last year, Bloomberg reported that Shanghai Wanfeng Group had invested $1.6 billion to develop 365 hectares around That Luang Lake in Vientiane order to build a tourism and commercial complex.
According to the Asia Economic Institute, other signs of the partnership include “the introduction of economical and fuel-saving cars made in China”, “the growth in membership of the Laos-China Business Association to more than 100 members in April 2008” and “the establishment of a center for cooperation on land and natural resource management.”
This all pales in significance compared to the new railway that – if approved and eventually built – will link Vientiane with Kunming, in south-western China. The railway will serve as a major highway for trade between the two countries and, according to what Laos’ Energy and Mining Minister Soulivong Dalavong told the Wall Street Journal last October, by 2020 it may supply about 5 million tons a year of mineral resources along with other raw materials to China. Building hundreds of kilometers of railway in mountainous, forest-covered Laos, however, is neither easy nor cheap.
In order to carry on with the project Laos could receive a US$7 billion dollar loan from China Export-Import Bank. To get an idea of what this means, one has just to think that World Bank figures for the Laos GDP in 2011 stood at about U.S. $8.2 billion. The railway, in other words, would amount to slightly less than the combined output of the whole economy in one year.
Critics of the project focus on its environmental impact and the displacement of local communities. After years of discussions, last October the two sides seemed to be close to an agreement. Roughly at the same time, however, Radio Free Asia, quoting an official inside the Lao Ministry of Finance, announced that Vientiane would have to pay a staggering US$3 billion in interest. This would considerably postpone the date on which the project would reach a “break-even point” (the moment in which Laos would actually begin making money out of it).
The railway project highlights the importance of raw materials in forging economic ties between the two states. From this point of view, there is a much common ground between China and Laos: while the former is hungry for Laotian resources, the latter needs technology and money that can be provided by Chinese companies.
In October 2011, for example, China Daily wrote that the China-ASEAN Fund on Investment Cooperation invested U.S. $50 million in the development of a potash mine in Khammouane Province. The mine will boast an annual capacity of 3 million tons and will be Asia’s biggest potash fertilizer producer.
Despite the willingness to cooperate, problems remain. Bad practices by Chinese companies and environmental damage are a primary sources of concern. The International River Network – a US-based NGO – reported that Chinese companies are funding the construction of as many as 29 dams inside the Lao DPR, thus supporting a dam-building binge which activists say threatens the country’s long-term prosperity.
In November 2012, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), another NGO, published an investigation into timber trade, claiming that China is now the world’s biggest importer of illegal timber. On page 26, the report points out that, “Laos exported 80,000 cubic meters of rosewood logs directly to China in 2011 in contravention of log export and rosewood harvesting bans.” And, even though “the bulk of the illegal timber is transported through Vietnam and controlled by Vietnamese traders,” most of it eventually winds up in China.
Finally, there is the thorny issue of political dependence. Being among the biggest investors in the country, Beijing has now a considerable leverage on the government in Vientiane. An analysis by the Jamestown Foundation contends that “within the next decade or so, China seems destined to become the LPDR’s largest trade partner and source of external funding, and hence its new closest friend in Asia.”
In an article published online by the London School of Economics, Southeast Asia politics expert Oliver Hensengerth stressed the importance of water management in cooperation among China, Laos and Cambodia, concluding that “the economic and political closeness coupled with the interest of Vientiane and Phnom Penh to develop the national water resources gives the Chinese government and Chinese companies tremendous influence.”
It remains to be seen how Beijing’s enhanced role in Laos will play out for the larger Southeast Asian block; don’t forget that Laos is a member of the Association Of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). As the heat stemming from territorial disputes lingers and big power politics – between China and the US, but also India and Japan – make a comeback to the region after the end of the Vietnam war, Vientiane may turn out to be a valuable friend for Beijing. Authorities there – locked away from the sea by mountains and forests – are understandably not too concerned about the South China Sea issue, while China’ market and investments provide their country with an opportunity for development – albeit not an environmentally friendly one.
The most imminent risk is that China’s hold may create another crack in ASEAN, whose internal tensions became manifest in July 2012 when for the first time an ASEAN Summit failed in coming up with a final statement. Members were not able to find an agreement on the Code Of Conduct, a document which was supposed to prevent conflicts among members.
The United States, too, are back in the region. Spearheading America’s “pivot to Asia” in the summer of 2012, Hilary Clinton did not forget to pay her country’s respect to small, land-locked Laos. The visit, aside from the specific issues discussed, was highly symbolic: it was the first time an American Secretary of State had set foot there in 57 years. And certainly its purpose was not admiring Laos’ stunning natural beauty.SHARE
By of the
Madison — The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to take up two separate cases over the state's voter ID law, which has been blocked since shortly after it took effect in 2012.
The move by the high court cancels oral arguments that were to be held next month before the District 2 Court of Appeals in Waukesha in one case. In the second case, the Supreme Court is agreeing to review a decision by the Madison-based District 4 Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court's action comes six days after the Republican-run state Assembly voted to soften the voter ID law in hopes of overcoming four legal challenges. The state Senate is also controlled by Republicans, but leaders in that house have said they want to see how courts react to the cases before deciding whether to tweak the voter ID requirement.
The short orders issued Wednesday by the Supreme Court put the two state cases before it and clear a path for decisions to be rendered by June. No one dissented in the decisions to take the cases.
Meanwhile, two other challenges are being considered in federal court in Milwaukee. A two-week trial in those cases wrapped up last week, and U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman is expected to issue a written ruling early next year on whether the law is constitutional and in keeping with the federal Voting Rights Act.
The law would have to overcome all legal challenges for the voter ID requirement to be put back in place.
"I am very pleased the court has agreed to take these cases and I look forward to defending the law," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a statement.
Richard Saks, an attorney challenging the voter ID law, expressed optimism about his case, which is bypassing the Court of Appeals and going straight to the Supreme Court.
"Our view is we created a strong record and we felt (Dane County Circuit Judge David) Flanagan's decision could be defended before any court of competent jurisdiction," Saks said.
The high court is reversing its past stances by taking one of the cases before the Court of Appeals has ruled on the voter ID requirement. Van Hollen three times asked the Supreme Court to take up the issue before appellate courts had rendered decisions, but the high court declined to do so in April 2012, September 2012 and January 2013.
But on Wednesday, the court said it was taking over a case before the Court of Appeals had ruled. It said it was doing so "in the interest of judicial economy" because it had also decided to review an appeal in the other voter ID case in state court.
Achieving a goal they had pursued for years, Republicans in 2011 approved the law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Their counterparts in other states signed off on similar laws, and supporters said the measures could withstand legal challenges because the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law in 2008.
The new voter ID laws are stricter than Indiana's, and opponents soon took the issue to the courts. In Wisconsin, four suits were filed and the law was blocked after being in effect for just one, low-turnout primary in February 2012.
Though the cases challenge the same law, they do so on different grounds:
■Flanagan was the first to block the law, in a case brought by the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera.
Flanagan temporarily blocked the voter ID requirement in March 2012 and more permanently halted it in July 2012 when he ruled it placed an unreasonable burden on the right to vote guaranteed in the state constitution.
Van Hollen appealed, and the Court of Appeals was to hear arguments Dec. 17 in Waukesha. But the Supreme Court took over the case on Wednesday and said it would set its own round of arguments.
■A week after Flanagan initially blocked the voter ID law, Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess issued an injunction in March 2012 also halting the law. He sided with the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin in finding the Legislature did not have the power under the state constitution to impose a photo ID requirement on voters.
Van Hollen appealed, and the Madison-based Court of Appeals in May 2013 overruled the lower court's ruling. The voter ID requirement remains on hold, however, because of the decision in the NAACP case.
The League of Women Voters in June asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, and the court agreed to accept it on Wednesday. Oral arguments in both cases before the Supreme Court will be heard the same day, the court said.
■Two challenges have also been filed in federal court in Milwaukee, alleging the photo ID requirement violates the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
Those suing include Cross Lutheran Church, labor unions, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Wisconsin chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. The Washington, D.C.-based Advancement Project is assisting the plaintiffs.
Adelman is expected to render a decision in the coming months.
Twitter: twitter.com/patrickdmarleyImage copyright Reuters Image caption The two leaders discussed the allegations at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam
President Donald Trump appears to have rowed back on comments suggesting he believed the Russian president's denials of meddling in the US election.
He was widely criticised after saying Vladimir Putin had been insulted by the allegations of Russian interference.
On Sunday, Mr Trump clarified that he supported US intelligence agencies, who have long concluded that Russia tried to sway the 2016 poll in his favour.
The two leaders briefly discussed the allegations at an Asia-Pacific summit.
Questions surrounding Russia's role in last year's US elections and allegations of collusion involving Donald Trump's campaign team have dogged his presidency. Legal action has already been taken against several of his former aides as part of a justice department inquiry.
Until now, President Trump has refused to acknowledge intelligence agency findings that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the run-up to the poll.
How has Mr Trump backtracked?
After brief conversations with President Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec), Mr Trump briefed reporters on Saturday on what had been said about Russian interference in the presidential campaign.
"Every time he sees me he says I didn't do that, and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.
"I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country."
He also disparaged key figures in the US intelligence community who concluded in January that Russian meddling had taken place, including former national intelligence chief James Clapper, ex-CIA director John Brennan and sacked FBI chief James Comey, whom he called "political hacks".
Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Trump and Mr Putin had three brief conversations over the weekend in Vietnam
Asked to clarify his comments on Mr Putin's denials during a press conference with the Vietnamese president on Sunday, Mr Trump said: "As to whether I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted."
Drawing a clear line between the current and previous leadership of the FBI, CIA and national intelligence he said "As currently led, by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies."
"What he believes, he believes," he added, of Mr Putin's belief that Russia did not meddle in the presidential campaign.
He later took to Twitter to attack "haters and fools", who, he said, did not encourage good relations between Russia and the US.
In his tweets, Mr Trump also said his predecessor, Barack Obama, had lacked "chemistry" with President Putin.
What was the reaction?
Mr Trump's original comments came under vehement criticism at home with lawmakers and intelligence figures questioning whether he had accepted the Russian president's denials of interference, despite intelligence findings to the contrary.
Republican Senator John McCain, a strident critic of Mr Trump, called him naive for "taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community"
Adam Schiff, ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted: "You know who else is insulted by it, Mr President? The American people. You believe a foreign adversary over your own intelligence agencies."
Mr Clapper told Reuters: "The fact that he would take Putin at his word over the intelligence community is unconscionable."
A CIA statement passed to US media said: "The intelligence assessment with regard to Russian election meddling has not changed."
Trump out on a limb again
Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, Da Nang
Donald Trump once again goes against the findings of his own intelligence agencies.
Because although the US justice department is investigating the scale and nature of Russian interference in the election of 2016 (and any links to the Trump campaign), the American intelligence community has already long determined that Russia did, indeed, interfere.
Yet Mr Trump suggested this story was not only entirely fabricated by his political opponents, it might even be costing lives in Syria, because it is getting in the way of his relationship with the Russian president and hampering their ability to help solve the conflict together.
"People will die because of it, and it's a pure hit job, and it's artificially induced and that's a shame," he said.
It is hard to know what the president hopes to achieve with this type of rhetoric. The investigation goes on.
What are the allegations against Russia?
The CIA and other intelligence agencies have already concluded that Russia was behind the DNC hack in the run-up to last year's presidential election.
The contents of the emails, passed to Wikileaks and posted online, were embarrassing to the Democrats and shook up the presidential campaign, which ended in defeat for Hillary Clinton.
In addition to the justice department inquiry, led by special investigator Robert Mueller, congressional committees have been set up to carry out their own investigations.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption The presidential campaign was fiercely contested
Relations between the US and Russia have been strained for years, with the Kremlin long accusing Washington of seeking to sway elections in Russia and other ex-Soviet states including Ukraine and Georgia.
While Russian hackers are widely suspected of involvement, there has been no conclusive link to the Kremlin.
Denying that Russia had tried to interfere last year by fostering contacts with Mr Trump's campaign, Mr Putin told reporters in Vietnam: "Everything about the so-called Russian dossier in the US is a manifestation of a continuing domestic political struggle."
How far has US justice department investigation progressed?
Last month, former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to having lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
He testified that Russian nationals had contacted him in an attempt to gain influence with the Trump campaign, offering "dirt" in the form of "thousands of emails" on Mrs Clinton in April 2016 - two months before the DNC emails were leaked.
Mr Trump has played down the importance of Mr Papadopoulos, calling him a "low-level volunteer" and "liar".
On Saturday, Mr Putin brushed aside US media reports that a woman wrongly identified by Mr Papadopoulos as the Russian president's niece had offered to help broker meetings with Kremlin officials.
"I do not know anything about it and I think it is just some fantasies," Mr Putin said.
Mr Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and an associate were also placed under house arrest on charges of money laundering as a result of the Mueller inquiry, but the charges do not relate to the election.Self-Confidence: Creating Your Assumption.
To Read Part One Of The Series, Click Here!
I thought kings are different. I thought leaders had what we will never have. I thought celebrities are a selected breed.
A lot of people think it is all up to karma, God and the universe to decide who we are and what we will ever be.
You can think whatever you want…
But I am 100% sure that you can be whatever you want, it is all in your hands.
It is all up to you.
It might be a bit confusing that I opened an article about Self-Confidence with such seemingly unrelated topic.
Well, have you ever felt more confident around certain people?
Usually, they are much younger and less cool than yourself or at least this is how you perceive them.
Furthermore, We all have those people that we feel self-cautious around, usually they are much cooler than us or we perceive them as higher in status than ourselves.
That is one of the secrets to Self-Confidence
Your Confidence level depends on other people and how you view them. If you view someone as superior to you, then you will be very self-cautious, and in turn, you will be less confident – until you became a supreme who just won’t give a fuck.
As I explained in Part-1 of supreme confidence series (Read Here), Assumption is the soul of confidence, it is the major player on how confident you are.
You are more confident around people you perceive as lower than you
Think of a group of kids asking you about something you excel in, that energy that floats in you, your voice, your words, and how confident you were.
That happened because you relied on two assumptions. One, that your status is higher than them, and Two, that they perceive you this way. The same goes when you lose your confidence, let’s say in front of a very hot girl or a top-notch celebrity.
It is easier to adapt to preconditioned assumptions that society -later article on who we mean when we say “society”- forces on us. Everyone agrees that a tall, hot guy is wanted by women, that is not a fact, that is a certain assumption.
Even though, I can show you 1000’s of examples of guys, tall hot and rich, who suck balls with women you would still believe that assumption.
I can show you 1000’s of short, ugly bums who can get laid when and where they want.
It all goes back to the fact that both of these extremes function on their own certain assumption and thus reality will -most likely- follow the assumed path.
An awesome guy whom I helped in changing his life; had a tall handsome Swedish guy telling him that he “only do good with girls because girls here -it was in Germany- like black-haired guys“. My friend was 5’4” (163 cm) weighing around 200 pounds (90 kg) and had little sense of fashion, but he rocked a confidence that would stun Brad Pitt himself.
So, you need the correct set of assumptions to create a rock-hard self-confidence!
Steps to building your assumptions correctly:
STEP-1: Take a night for yourself. sit in your room or any place by yourself. blast some of your favourite music and get a mirror.
STEP-2 : Be 100% honest with yourself. Go through what you like and what you hate about yourself, spend a good amount of time thinking about these things. Take a good look at yourself in the mirror while doing so.
STEP-3 : Pinpoint what you can and can’t change about yourself. fuck Read More Here -you can always lose weight no matter what genetics or medical conditions you have, you lazy Pinpoint what you can and can’t change about yourself.
STEP-4 : What you can’t change will be your assumption, validated by yourself. For example: if you are short, you assume that being short won’t effect you AT ALL, be certain about the assumption, confident that it will have a positive outcome.Get in peace with you flaws, love them and embrace them.
As for what you can change, accept it for now while keeping in mind that it is a goal to be achieved, but not to hold you back in the meantime.
Here is a reality check. listen carefully as this is one of the most important mentalities to have:
Even if being x was bad, and there is no way to change it -this is never the case I’m just going extreme to prove a point- No one will be affected but you.
Here it is, son. No one gives a fuck about you. Your parents, best friends and all the close people to you, they don’t really give a fuck…
They might care a little, but they won’t try that much to help you, and mostly, they can’t do anything. It also applies to you, no matter how much you think you care about certain people, you don’t. when shit hits the fan, you won’t do much.
Man the fuck up and stop complaining. keep working on yourself. don’t stop. never stop, never stop until you get what you want in this life.
Hang out with cool people, CEO’s and celebrities. See that they are all just regular people, they became supreme with assumptions driven from within themselves, they don’t look around to others for validation.
My assumption, my consequences and my life.
Look at people who got famous due to people’s validation, how they can’t stand reading negative comment about themselves.They are externally validated, once that validation stops it all falls down, the assumptions, the confidence and the outcomes.
Get angry at yourself, whenever you start complaining, I am fat, short, ugly whatever…
You think you got bad in this life? there are way worse than you, stop being a wuss. Man up, grind for supremacy.
Assume dominance. Assume coolness. Assume Self-Confidence.Assume whatever you are is the best there is. Take yourself to greatness and let the haters do their thing.
A Guy, 6’4” born ripped, rich and gets lots of chicks?
Another face in the crowd.
A Guy, 5’2” ripped, rich and a ladies man?
A legend, a supreme.
Be special. don’t chase easiness, chase tough lessons.
Create a perverted pleasure in pain -said by rsdjulien-, enjoy pain and toughness, smile and shout into the future: “Bring it on Bitch “.
Assume Confidence.
More On Self-Confidence:
Read More PART 1 (Mentality)
Read More PART 3 (Body Language)
For More Article Series… Click Here
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PocketAmerican internet entrepreneur
For other people named Tom Anderson, see Tom Anderson (disambiguation)
Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970)[4] is an American co-founder of the social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe.[5] He was later president of Myspace and a strategic adviser for the company until he left in 2009.[3][6] Anderson is popularly known as "Tom from Myspace" because until 2010 he would automatically be assigned as the first "friend" of new Myspace users upon the creation of their profiles.
Early life [ edit ]
Anderson's father was an entrepreneur.[7] As a teenager at San Pasqual High in Escondido, California, Anderson was a computer hacker under the pseudonym "Lord Flathead" (friends with Bill Landreth), and prompted a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid after he cracked the security of Chase Manhattan Bank. He was not arrested because of his young age (14).[8][9]
Anderson studied English and Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, prior to becoming the lead singer of a band called "Swank."[7] Anderson then lived in Taiwan for some time, before returning to the United States to study for a degree in Critical Film Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.[5][10]
Career [ edit ]
Anderson was a product tester and copywriter at XDrive, a digital storage company in 2000, where he first met DeWolfe.[10] He initially joined XDrive as a product tester after answering a flyer advertisement, while still at film school and looking to earn extra money.[11] After XDrive went bankrupt in 2001, he and DeWolfe founded the direct marketing company ResponseBase.[5][10] They sold ResponseBase to Brad Greenspan's eUniverse in late 2002.[7]
With other eUniverse employees, Anderson set up the first pages of Myspace in August 2003. He founded the site partly as a reaction to Friendster, and its policy of blocking accounts that did not use real names.[12] Intermix Media was then founded as the successor of eUniverse, and it was under Intermix that Myspace garnered the level of popularity for which it is notable. When Intermix Media and Myspace were sold to News Corp, Anderson became president of the company.[5]
Myspace was sold to News Corp in 2005 for $580 million.[13] Following the News Corp acquisition, Anderson said: "Before [the acquisition], I could do whatever I wanted. Now it takes more time to get people to agree on things. All the budget reviews and processes. That can be a pain. But it's not stopping us."[7] Reuters quoted an unnamed News Corp executive as saying: "Tom [Anderson] was responsible for the product but ended up being a complete bottleneck on getting things done."[14] Anderson was replaced as president in April 2009 by News Corp;[15] by 2010, he was no longer the default friend on Myspace and was replaced by a profile called "Today On MySpace," or "T.O.M."[16]
In late May 2012, Anderson announced that he would be joining RocketFrog Interactive as an adviser to the 16-person Los Angeles-based company, which created a Facebook app.[13] However, in a September 2014 interview, Anderson did not mention any advisory roles in his life at the time, while his Twitter blurb as of November 2018 reads, in part: "Enjoying being retired."[17] He explained in the interview that he is not interested in returning to his previous vocation, but concluded: "I'll never say 'never' because, more than anything, I like the idea that anything can happen. I don't know exactly where my life will lead. Adventure and the unknown has always been appealing to me."[18]
Media appearances [ edit ]
Anderson made a cameo appearance in the 2009 American comedy-drama film Funny People starring Adam Sandler.[19]
Personal life [ edit ]
Anderson is active on other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter (with over 241,000 followers as of March 2018), and Google+ (6.5 million followers as of March 2016).
Following an experience with photography at the 2011 Burning Man festival, Anderson's interest in his own photography was piqued. In a September 2014 ABC News interview, Anderson credited friend and photographer Trey Ratcliff for facilitating his skill development and explained: "I'm not necessarily trying to represent nature exactly. I'm trying to make something beautiful like a painter would." Anderson travels globally with friends to locations such as Thailand and Myanmar, where he primarily focuses upon landscape images.[18]
Anderson also explained in September 2014 that his personal interests have always been diverse:
If you knew me before Myspace, you'd probably thought I'd have been a scholar teaching philosophy in a university my whole life. If you met me before college, you'd probably have thought I'd be a musician for my entire life... I like change.[18]Republicans are experiencing 2010 in reverse. Herbert proposes budget that focuses on education. Jeffs sentenced to 57 months.
Happy Thursday. A first-term president and unpopular congressional leaders are pushing a controversial legislative agenda that sparks a nationwide movement from the infuriated opposition. Retirements are suddenly putting the majority’s safe seats in play. Party leaders jam major legislation through Congress on a partisan vote, and are in such a hurry to pass it they’re rewriting it by hand hours before a vote. That was the case in 2010, when Democrats were in charge and started to lose control. Now Republicans are facing the same. [Politico]
Topping the news: Sen. Orrin Hatch expects the GOP’s tax bill will pass before Christmas and told President Donald Trump he’ll will get done. [Trib]
-> Gov. Gary Herbert proposed Wednesday to direct 72 percent of next year’s extra tax revenue towards education. [Trib] [DNews] [ABC4] [KUER] [KUTV]
-> Former polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs was sentenced Wednesday to 57 months in prison, as a result of defrauding a government assistance program. [Trib] [DNews] [ABC4] [Fox13] [KUER]
Tweets of the day: From @byrdinator: “Find someone who loves u as much as Ron Wyden loves purple ties”
-> From @saraschaefer1: “I wasn’t sure about#NetNeutrality and then it was explained to me that it could jeopardize the speed of the Domino’s Pizza Tracker and now I am aflame with blazing resolve to stop this atrocity”
-> From @seungminkim: “The Senate Ethics Committee suddenly got a lot less busy with Franken leaving and Moore losing.”
Happy Birthday: To Sutherland Institute President Boyd Matheson.
In other news: Holladay residents expressed their opinions on Wednesday about a potential development at the former Cottonwood Mall site. [Trib]
-> Pat Bagley shares the many “names” Trump is known by. [Trib]
-> Robert Gehrke emphasizes the need for Utahns to know how much water they use. [Trib]
-> Michelle Quist examines what Roy Moore’s loss means for the Trump era. [Trib]
Nationally: As of Wednesday evening, Roy Moore refuses to concede to Doug Jones as the Senate race came to a close. [Politico]
-> The House and Senate are bringing together their versions of the GOP tax bill and anticipate a speedy approval. [NYTimes]
-> President Donald Trump found fault with other lawmakers and strategists after Roy Moore’s loss in Alabama, but continued to remind the American people that he “would have won Alabama.” [WaPost]
Got a tip? A birthday, wedding or anniversary to announce? Want to sign up for our weekday email and get this sent directly to your inbox? Send us a note to [email protected] Cook has held a pair of notable meetings in Washington D.C. this week according to reports. First, BuzzFeed News reports that Cook met with Senator Orrin Hatch on Capitol Hill, while Politico reports that he also went to dinner with Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Apple VP of environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson was also in attendance at the dinner.
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Cook’s meeting with Senator Hatch, a republican from Utah, is the latest evidence of strong connection between the two. Last year, Cook held a sit-down interview with Hatch, discussing a wide-range of privacy and security topics. Hatch sits on the Judiciary Committee and antitrust panel, while he also leads the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Hatch stated that his meeting with Cook focused on ways to grow the economy and tech industry. More specific details are unclear at this point.
“During today’s meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, we discussed ways to grow the economy and our tech industry, as well as his recent visit with me in Utah,” Sen. Hatch said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “Given the issues I work on as chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, it’s especially useful to listen to innovators like Tim.”
According to the same report, Cook met with the leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs this week to discuss ways Apple could help veterans, such as with increased hiring and promotion.
Finally, Politico reports that Cook and Lisa Jackson went to dinner with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both of whom have instrumental roles in the new Trump administration. Kushner, who was often referred to as President Trump’s right-hand man during the campaign, is a Senior White House Advisor in the new administration.
At this point, it’s unclear what was discussed at that dinner. While politics are presumed to have played a role, it’s possible it was more of a friendly dinner than a business one. Lisa Jackson served in the Obama administration as the EPA head from 2009 to 2013, while she also sits on the board of the Clinton foundation.
Tim Cook making the rounds in Washington is nothing to be too surprised about and will likely continue to occur as we move forward. In December, Cook attended a meeting of tech leaders with Donald Trump, discussing manufacturing, job creation, China, and more.Switzerland’s École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Spain’s Universidad de Córdoba are conducting research into the stabilization of perovskite solar cells with the use of guanidinium.
According to their study, published in scientific review, Nature Energy, the stability of perovskite solar cells may be improved by applying a new kind of cations – large organic cations guanidinium (CH 6 N 3 +) – into the crystal structure of methylammonium lead iodide perovskites, which are now generally considered the most promising alternatives in the perovskites group.
The research team believes that while it has been successfully proven, applying inorganic cations like cesium or rubidium into the perovskite composition could be difficult and expensive to implement.
The scientists claim they have been able to show that the guanidinium cation inserts into the crystal structure of the perovskite, and enhances the material’s overall thermal and environmental stability, thus overcoming what is known in the field as the “Goldschmidt tolerance factor limit,” the indicator for the stability and distortion of crystal structures.
The research team said that the use of of guanidinium has improved the cell stability by over 19%, and that its performance was stabilized for 1,000 hours under continuous light illumination.
“Taking a standard acceleration factor of 2 for each ten degrees increase in temperature, an acceleration factor of 8 is estimated for 55 °C as opposed to 25 °C degrees. Hence the 1000 hours at 55°C equivalent would be 8000 hours. Our cells were subjected at 60°C, therefore the numbers could be even higher,” said project coordinator Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, Valais Wallis.
“Assuming the equivalent of 6 hours full sunlight/day, or 250Wm-2 average irradiance (equivalent to North Africa) the total number of days are 1333, equals to 44.4 months and 3.7 years stability. However, for the standard solar cell accreditation a series of stress tests including temperature cycling and damp heat are also required,” he added.BOY, girl or indeterminate? Germany will soon become the first country in Europe to legally recognise a third “indeterminate” gender in cases where a baby’s anatomy is ambiguous – because of developmental or genetic problems – making it difficult for doctors and parents to decide if a child is male or female.
The aim of the new law, unveiled last week by justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, is to avoid the need to label an intersex baby as male or female before the child is old enough to decide for itself.
“Children have had no say in the matter,” says Silvan Agius of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. He says intersex babies are often surgically made female – the easier option, but one that can lead to physical and psychological problems.
This article appeared in print under the headline “It’s OK to be neither”LONDON (Reuters) - Campaigners have attacked a 1.3 million pound scheme to rebrand part of Northamptonshire as ‘North Londonshire’, saying the plan risked turning the area into a commuter belt.
North Northants Development Company is launching a three-year campaign using the slogan in what it says is an attempt to attract businesses to the area. Radio adverts and posters on the Tube are planned.
Simon Evans, chief executive of the NNDC, said the rebrand was meant to be “pretty light-hearted.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is just a bit of innocent word play wrapped up in a marketing campaign. We hold Northamptonshire very dear.”
Angry locals have launched a Facebook campaign in protest and have gathered more than 300 members.
Joan Kirkbride, deputy leader of Northamptonshire |
the East African domain of Mogadishu, as its Cainite rulers vie for power over the split city and use faith as a weapon. The chapter contains apocrypha for Clan Assamite and the Ramanga.
Chapter Six: The Domain of Mangaluru – This chapter introduces the bustling domain of Mangaluru on India’s west coast, as it struggles to resist the War of Princes and the fall of Clan Salubri. The flesh-eating pishacha are profiled within, and Clans Salubri and Ravnos receive apocrypha.
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As you can see, we range far and wide between domains. I want players to want to explore this Dark Ages World of Darkness and feel the difference between the horrors of Mangaluru, and the terrors of Bjarkarey. I want Storytellers to explore the fundamental differences between the Ventrue Prince of Rome and the Ventrue Consul of Bath. I want characters to get embroiled in the mania of Constantinople, and embark on a pilgrimage from that mighty city to the contested domain of Mogadishu. What myself and the writers have attempted to achieve with this book is to make each of the domains completely different in flavour.
Here are the Theme and Mood guidelines for each from the book’s introduction:
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In Rome the Church is strong, yet the Prince is one of the greatest sinners alive. The domain’s theme is one of fallen greatness, with its ruler driving it as far beneath holiness as he is able, unless stopped. The domain is afflicted with the mood of grandeur, despite its obvious faults, its Cainites proud and willingly oblivious to their Prince’s unmitigated evil.
The theme in the domain of Bath is one of blood loyalty to an historic ideal, one that may no longer hold true. As the Consul bonds his domain’s populace and ensures their loyalty to the god emperor Mithras, he suffers a crisis of faith, leaving the utopia of Bath on the edge of civil war. The mood is desperation, as increasing numbers of Cainites flock to its walls in search of a sanctuary that may soon collapse.
Bjarkarey represents the theme of savagery, as its Gangrel ruler leads frequent raids on neighboring Scandinavian domains, and pursues crusades whenever the desire for blood takes her. The vampires of Bjarkarey must embrace violence to survive in this arduous, small domain. Yet, the mood of Bjarkarey is one of isolation. No hope will reach the distant island of Bjarkarey, forcing it into a perpetual cycle of bloodshed.
The theme in Constantinople is one of faith, as its Cainites strive to believe in something greater than their own petty politicking, and attempt to move on from the failure of a Methuselah’s shattered dream. As the world’s greatest metropolis fractures under the weight of repeated crusades, the domain exudes the mood of hopeful expectation. Its vampires are determined to reject failure, and embrace greatness once more.
Mogadishu’s theme is shadow war, as rival tyrants don masks of piety to claim the greatest domain on East Africa’s coast, and find the faith working against them. Arrayed against the Clans and bloodlines roving the bazaars and alleys are hidden forces and an ancient monster, who on a whim could destroy all that Mogadishu’s usurpers hope to build. The domain’s mood is sweltering tension, as opportunities in Mogadishu abound, but the hot-blooded Cainites within violently compete for the richest treasures.
In Mangaluru, the theme is that of resolve, and the old ways inexorably passing into the new. In this domain, the Long Night never ended. Old alliances hold firm, and new bloodlines find the seizing of power difficult. Yet, the mood is amor fati. The domain’s millennia-old hierarchy is on a path to destruction – their fate – and they cannot help but embrace it.
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There is even more besides exploration of domains in the V20 Dark Ages Companion, including a further two chapters that I’ll aim to tease in a future blog post. In the meantime, I would like you to comment regarding the domain and apocrypha you’d like to see teased the most. You’ll be seeing me again very soon…
Oh, and here’s a portion of the Ventrue Apocrypha before I go:
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To my blood elder Cretheus, First Senator of Rome
It is with humility I write, and trust this letter reaches you seal unbroken. The messenger is a most honored Leo. Please return her unharmed.
Not long after my Embrace, my sire remarked our line is one of titans. I retorted that surely all Ventrue must be gods, foolishly believing flattery might endear him. For the affront, I became subject to his chastisement. As thrall, he forced me to humiliation and education. He willed it so, and I learned. After five decades in slavery, he took me in arms once more. The titans fought the gods, said he. Those who call themselves Ventrue fight their masters. We fight gods, and wrest power from their grasp. There is only one god worthy of the titans’ worship, and he is Mithras.
Until now, our Clan’s pact of titans against gods remained in place despite Arakur’s chaos. The new wars between our lineages imply an awakening. The gods rise. Antasians battle the Gaul’s dreamers. We war with Alexander’s Triumvirate. The rival lineages of Tinia, Artemis Orthia, and Medon grow in strength. We believed Hardestadt free, but activity within the Fiefdoms of the Black Cross implies the influence of his sire, who we believed destroyed. Our power was through unification. I fear the Clan is provoked to war from beyond.
Mithras gives guidance. He commands all must look to him, if we are to survive his fellow gods’ wrath. We must protect the titans from themselves, and force the gods into the Unconquered Sun’s light. It is the path with which I tutor the loyal Praetorians, and it is how I urge you to stabilize Rome before Camillus places it in Veddartha’s grip. Mithras sees the master’s hand, and wishes it cut off.
We start in Rome, and in Avalon, and from there take Mithras’ word to our fellow titans. Unified under Mithras we might stave off the gods.
With sincerest respect,
Arcadius Pater, Consul of Aquae Sulis
Childe of Marcus Verus, Baron of Deva Victrix
Grand-childe of the God-Emperor Mithras, Unconquered Sun, Prince of Londinium and the Baronies of Avalon, Progenitor of our Line
Ventrue exalt in the glory of their lineage. A Ventrue in a Toreador court may bore the Queen of Love with recitation of ancestry, but that same Patrician in a Ventrue court will be expected to recount not only the names of her forebears, but their achievements and misdeeds. Woe betide the Power Monger who misremembers.
In truth, there is little to do but take many Ventrue proclamations of lineage at face value. When summoning a vampire of the Eleventh Generation to recite her great, great grand-sire’s domain name and deeds, it is more a test of the Cainite’s ability to tell a convincing tale than a memory exam. Presentation only becomes a factor when naming notable Ventrue. If a Patrician claims their sire as “Francis the Woodsman, murdered by Lupines one night following my Embrace,” few Ventrue would shift in their seats. If instead she names an ancestor such as “Titus Venturus Camillus, Prince of Rome,” the claim will draw questions, interest, and where the declarations are believed, approval and hospitality. Even rogues are acclaimed, if their legends are known.
No ancestor is as important in the Ventrue lineage as the Fourth Generation Methuselah. Each of the Fourth Generations’ lines habitually manifest certain traits, fuelling claims they possess blood more potent than other Clans. Scholars of the vitae postulate each Methuselah spawns a new bloodline, but learned Ventrue refute such speculation. “Ventrue vitae is pure and never spawns a bastard line,” they say, “but the Ventrue progenitors’ minds are strong, and leave impressions on all but the most thin of blood.”Radical attempt to overturn the Dutch cannabis laws could end coffee-shop culture BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A frozen afternoon in the Dutch city of Maastricht and the winter market on the banks of the river Meuse fills the air with festive aromas of spiced wine, waffles and grilled sausages. It's exactly the kind of attraction that you would expect tourists to flock to. But the stalls are eerily quiet. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/radical-attempt-to-overturn-the-dutch-cannabis-laws-could-end-coffeeshop-culture-28576506.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/migration_catalog/article25734712.ece/2f137/AUTOCROP/h342/weed
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A frozen afternoon in the Dutch city of Maastricht and the winter market on the banks of the river Meuse fills the air with festive aromas of spiced wine, waffles and grilled sausages. It's exactly the kind of attraction that you would expect tourists to flock to. But the stalls are eerily quiet.
In this cobblestoned corner of the Netherlands most international visitors are after a different sort of scent and you don't have to walk far to find it.
Just behind the market, a few hundred yards back from the riverbank, is Easy Going Coffee Shop, one of 14 premises in a town of 120,000 that are licensed to sell cannabis. Even in the middle of the week business is booming as a long line of day trippers queue up to buy bags with names like Amnesia, Pollem Gold and White Widow.
For more than thirty years tourists have flocked to the Netherlands to indulge in a legal high courtesy of the country's famously soft stance on weed. An estimated two million Britons alone visit Amsterdam each year with hundreds of thousands peeling off to sample some of the pungent goods inside one of the city's ubiquitous coffeeshops. Small border cities, meanwhile, can expect as many as three quarters of their regulars to be foreign. Maastricht – a southern offshoot of the Netherlands sandwiched between Belgium and Germany – receives an astonishing 2.1million drug tourists a year.
But the free-wheeling dope days may soon be over for British visitors if the Netherlands' new centre-right coalition government has its way. Following growing complaints over rising crime in the country's border towns – and a string of recent drug-related shootings in the south – the Dutch government has signaled its intention to ban foreigners from buying cannabis altogether.
Tomorrow [THURS], following a request for advise from the Holland's highest court, the European Court of Justice will decide whether such a ban contravenes European law, where free trade rules forbid discriminating against purchasers on grounds of nationality.
Confident of a favourable verdict stating that drugs are not subject to the same rules as legal goods, Justice and Security Minister Ivo Opstelten has already announced a plan to turn the country's 700 coffeehouses into private members clubs, effectively making them out of bounds for foreigners.
Coffeshop owners say they'll fight such moves in the courts and warn that any further attempt to crack down on the legal sale of cannabis will simply force people into the hands of criminals.
“People have been using drugs for 5,000 years and they will continue to do so,” says Marc Josemans, the 50-year-old owner of Easy Going Coffee Shop who is leading an ongoing court challenge against any bans on foreigners buying cannabis. “The question is do you want people to use a soft drug like cannabis in a controlled environment where the whole system is transparent, or do you want to increase the repression and force people to buy from criminal networks where hard and soft drugs are sold in the same room?”
Under the proposed legislation, only those with a registered “wietpassen” (weed pass) would be allowed to buy cannabis in what has been touted as the most radical attempt to overturn the Dutch cannabis laws in decades.
“Of course tourists are welcome to visit the Netherlands but not only to visit the coffee shops,” Mr Opselten said recently. “In the near future, if we work out the processes, the coffee shops will not be accessible to tourists.”
For day trippers like David and Patrick, two British students currently studying in Belgium, the “weed pass” would mean no more trips across the border to smuggle stocks back to their student digs.
“It would change the entire way I view Holland,” said David, who declined to give his second name. “It would turn back all the progressive work the Dutch have done on drugs,” added Patrick. “Pot tourists don't do anything wrong and if they ban it, we'll simply have to buy from regular dealers back in Belgium”.
The debate over drugs in the Netherlands has often swung between full legalisation and an outright ban but in the past ten years the winds have been blowing against the coffeeshop owners with the number of licensed premises dropping from 1200 to less than 700 today amid increasingly strict licensing rules.
Coffeeshops like Easy Going, for instance, already take a digital copy of all their customers' IDs and store them for 48 hours (the Netherlands has strict privacy laws restricting how long CCTV images can be kept for).
But following a spate of drug-related murders last month the current government – a rickety coalition between two centre-right parties and Geert Wilders' staunchly anti-immigrant PVV – is pushing ahead with its plans to bring in a pass system.
The drug violence stems from the peculiarly grey status of cannabis in Dutch law. Contrary to popular belief, pot is not legal in the Netherlands – only the sale of no more than five grammes of cannabis through licensed coffeeshops is.
The production of cannabis itself is still forbidden, leaving the country in a bizarre legal limbo where coffeeshop owners are forced to buy from the same criminal networks that supply the hard drug market – a market that some are all too willing to fight over with guns.
Last month violence erupted across Brabant, a densely populated southern state and a traditional heartland for cannabis growers. In the space of little more than three weeks two people from Eindhoven were shot dead in alleged drug hits (one of the victims' bodies was found in the trunk of a burnt out Mercedes, the other was shot in the head eight times). A surburban house was also sprayed with more than 100 bullets.
In nearby Helmond a new coffeeshop was gutted in a grenade attack whilst Jacob Fons, the town's mayor, has gone into hiding because of death threats.
“He has been threatened in such a manner that he can no longer live in his house and has to have a bodyguard to keep him safe,” said Johan Beelen, Mr Fons press secretary, when the Independent tried to contact him. “You can't meet him”.
Although some coffeeshop owners say those killed were involved in the hard drugs trade, not cannabis production, the police in Brabant are convinced there's a direct connection to the pot market.
“We are under the impression that [the recent violence] is about cannabis because cannabis is hot stuff at the moment,” says Henri van Pinxteren, a spokesman for Brabant's police force. “A lot of cannabis is grown in the area and it's not just for the Dutch market. It goes out to France, Germany, Belgium and the UK. It's a profitable business for criminals and they fight over it.”
The government's answer has been to fast track weed passes for the Brabant area as a test case to see whether the system can be rolled out across the country. Only those registered locally will be allowed to buy cannabis meaning anyone from out of town – including foreigners – will be refused entry.
The government says the passes will help police get a grip on drug crime. But critics say such measures will do little to curb the violence and will force people further into the arms of the criminal gangs that are behind the shootings.
“Around 75% of towns and villages in the Netherlands have no coffeeshops and people have to travel to the larger towns to find one,” says Nicole Maalste, a criminologist at the University of Tilburg who has written extensively on the drugs in the Netherlands. “If you start bringing in a system where you only allow locals to access the coffeeshops what will happen to that 75%? They will have no choice but to go to the criminal backdoor networks.”
Banning sales to foreigners, meanwhile, might halt some of the traffic and crime problems in the border towns, but it would also deprive such areas of a major source of revenue in difficult economic times. An independent study in Maastricht commissioned by the coffeshops estimated that “drug tourists” bring in 141m euros a year. “That's the spend outside of the coffeeshops,” says Mr Josemans. “It doesn't even include the money they spend in here.”
Sitting in the office above his coffeeshop, a joint in had, Mr Josemans knows he has a fight on his hands. “Politicians have come at us before, but never like this,” he says. “I just hope they're thinking about the long term future. Not just looking for a quick way to win quick votes”.
Belfast Telegraph370.000
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Ankara, Hamburg, Fürth (dpo) - Für den türkischen Präsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdogan kommt es derzeit ganz dicke. Nicht nur wurde er in einem Spott-Video des Satire-Magazins extra 3 verhöhnt, woraufhin er erbost den deutschen Botschafter einbestellte – nun hat ihn auch nochals "beleidigte Leberwurst" bezeichnet und dargestellt.Wörtlich hieß es in einem heute auf der-postillon.com veröffentlichten Artikel: "Erdogan ist eine beleidigte Leberwurst, die offenbar noch nie etwas vom sogenannten Streisand-Effekt gehört hat." Illustriert hat der diesen Artikel mit einer Bildmontage von Erdogan als beleidigte Leberwurst.Direkt nach dieser offensichtlichen Beleidigung bettete derdas umstrittene Musikvideo, das vor Erdogans Eingreifen etwa 20.000 Aufrufe hatte und inzwischen bei2.879.000 liegt, ein und sorgte so dafür, dass es sich noch weiter verbreitet: Im Artikel heißt es weiter : "Erdogan ist offenbar intellektuell nicht imstande, die Ironie dahinter zu erkennen, wenn jemand rigoros gegen ein kritisches Video vorgeht, in dem ihm vorgeworfen wird, dass er rigoros gegen seine Kritiker vorgeht."Ob "die Mimose vom Bosporus", wie Erdogan an anderer Stelle im Artikel genannt wird, wegen dieser zugegebenermaßen eher harmlosen Beleidigungen auch gegen denvorgehen will, ist unklar. Beobachter halten jede Reaktion vom einfachen Ignorieren bis hin zum Krieg gegen die EU für denkbar.Vikram Pandit, who ran Citigroup during the financial crisis, said developments in technology could see some 30 per cent of banking jobs disappearing in the next five years.
Artificial intelligence and robotics reduce the need for staff in roles such as back-office functions, Mr Pandit (60) said on Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin in Singapore.
He’s now chief executive officer of Orogen Group, an investment firm that he co-founded last year.
“Everything that happens with artificial intelligence, robotics and natural language - all of that is going to make processes easier,” said Mr Pandit, who was Citigroup’s chief executive officer from 2007 to 2012. “It’s going to change the back office.”
Wall Street’s biggest firms are using technologies including machine learning and cloud computing to automate their operations, forcing many employees to adapt or find new positions.
Bank of America’s chief operating officer Tom Montag said in June the firm will keep cutting costs by finding more ways technology can replace people.
While Mr Pandit’s forecast for job losses is in step with one made by Citigroup last year, his timeline is more aggressive. In a March 2016 report, the lender estimated a 30 per cent reduction between 2015 and 2025, mainly due to automation in retail banking.
That would see full-time jobs drop by 770,000 in the US and by about 1 million in Europe, Citigroup said.
JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon cautioned in June against overreacting to the impact of technology on jobs.
While the bank is using technology to reduce costs, that helps create other opportunities, Mr Dimon said in an interview published on LinkedIn. He predicted employee numbers at his firm will continue to rise as it hires more technology workers.
The banking industry is becoming “enormously competitive,” Mr Pandit said, adding that he foresees the emergence of “specialist providers” as well as consolidation in the industry.
“I see a banking world going from large financial institutions to one that’s a little bit more decentralised,” he said.
Since leaving the firm, Mr Pandit has invested in non-bank financial start ups such as student-loan venture CommonBond and home equity finance firm Point Digital Finance.
He formed New York-based Orogen last year with investment firm Atairos Group to acquire stakes in mature financial-services companies.
-BloombergNBC’s renew/cancel standings for week 21 of the 2016-17 season predict a long time in limbo for a show about to end its season.
Here are the standings, and here’s an explanation of the Bear’s methodology.
Show Status 18-49 rating Renew/Cancel Index Grimm (F) (O) Final season 0.8 0.44 Emerald City (F) (O) 🐻 🐻 🐻 0.72 0.33 Powerless 🐻 🐻 🐻 0.95 0.25 The Blacklist 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.08 0.38 Blindspot 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.12 0.42 Timeless 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.15 0.45 Chicago Med (O) 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.31 0.61 Superstore (O) 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.23 0.53 Chicago PD (O) 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.43 0.73 The Good Place (O) Renewed 1.29 0.59 Law & Order: SVU (O) 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.49 0.79 Chicago Fire (O) 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 1.62 0.92 This Is Us Renewed 2.64 1.94
“Timeless” ends its season next week, and it will probably end as a tossup, where it’s been basically all season. In sports terms, the show doesn’t control its own destiny.
Whether the show gets a second season may depend on how “Taken” performs in same timeslot in the spring, along with how the rest of NBC’s remaining newcomers do as the season winds down.
“Timeless” might have been able to get by on its own had it continued to hover around the 0.9 it had for its three episodes in January. The drop to a 0.6 last week is worrying. Unless a big rebound happens in the final two installments, “Timeless” will have to wait and see how the network fares in spring before learning its fate.
Key:
DSW Dead Show Walking: All but officially canceled yet still airing 🐻 sure bet to be canceled by May 2017 🐻 🐻 likely to be canceled by May 2017 🐻 🐻 🐻 tossup between renewal and cancellation by May 2017 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 likely to be renewed by May 2017 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 🐻 sure bet to be renewed by May 2017
The Renew/Cancel Index is the amount above (or below) a replacement-level rating — i.e., the expected adults 18-49 rating of an emergency fill-in show should a series be canceled. For the 2016-17 season, replacement level is a 0.7 same-day rating in adults 18-49 for the Big 4 networks and a 0.2 for The CW. (Read more here.) The index number is taken by subtracting 0.7 (or 0.2) from a show’s average same-day rating.
Friday scripted shows (denoted with an “F” above) on the Big 4 have average ratings about 30 percent lower than those of other nights, therefore their ratings are multiplied by 1.43 before subtracting the replacement-level number.
Shows that have ended their seasons have their R/C Index number frozen at the point of their final episode.
(O) – Owned: All other things equal, shows owned by studios affiliated with their networks have a better shot at renewal than those from outside producers.A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep.
1. Two autumns ago, Ottawa’s Guy Boucher was coaching SC Bern in Switzerland against his current assistant, Marc Crawford, and an 18-year-old kid who shunned a free ride at college and flew overseas to turn pro early.
That would be Auston Matthews, who excelled for the Zurich Lions as a teenage import: 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games.
I asked Boucher, who led Bern to the 2015 Swiss championship, if Matthews’ atypical detour through Europe could pave the way for other high-profile North American prospects to take their talents overseas.
He was doubtful and thoughtful.
“I don’t think it’s good for everybody,” Boucher began.
“First of all, the league’s extremely strong. It’s a much faster league than the American League — full of older players, ex-NHLers, national team players from other countries. It’s a much better league than you’d expect. I was quite surprised. The NHLers that come over are 32, 33 [years old], and sometimes the league’s too fast for them. It’s not for boys; it really is for men.
“Him coming in and playing well there was so impressive. At that age, it’s so difficult to perform. I just think his size, smarts, the fact that he’s so serious about his training and all the details of a pro athlete gave him a chance to be able to evolve in that league,” Boucher went on.
“But you could get another guy going there and being an absolute flop after a month and a half, easy. Easy. I wouldn’t bet on a lot of kids being able to play in that league at all. He’s a superstar, that’s why he was able to.”
Swiss law stipulates that a player must be 18 to obtain a work visa, and National League clubs are limited in the number of North American imports they can sign. Plus, the inherent risk of pre-draft injury to a teenager skating among 30-somethings can scare away prospects.
“Being an import is very specific. It’s not like just being part of a team. The pressure’s on you. You don’t perform for one or two games, it’s like the world is crashing on you. Not a lot of guys can take that, let alone a kid,” Boucher explained.
“He was able to — that’s what’s so impressive. Last year people asked me, how long do you think it’s gonna take before he becomes a star? Not very long. He’s a special player, a special person, and he’s getting special results.”
So how the heck did Matthews hang four goals against Crawford and Boucher — the two NHL coaches who knew him best — in his rookie debut?
“I wasn’t expecting four goals the first game, I’ll be honest,” Boucher smiles. “We could’ve done without it.”
2. So, about the legend of that four-goal debut….
Matthews was getting props for his clever chirp of Senators’ goaltender Craig Anderson, who later asked the kid to sign his goal stick from that record-setting night.
“Thanks FOUR making my first game memorable,” Matthews scribbled in Sharpie.
Anderson loved the wit: “I guess it’s kind of expected of a guy that’s that creative on the ice to be that creative intelligently.”
In truth, the joke wasn’t Matthews’. Credit instead Maple Leafs assistant equipment manager Bobby Hastings.
“He ran it by me, and I thought it was hilarious,” Matthews said this week.
Hey, you think Letterman wrote all his own material?
Matthews has begun a stick collection of his own. So far, he owns a Joe Thornton and an Alex Ovechkin: “It’s got a pretty big curve.”
3. Patrick Marleau has had more offensive success against the Los Angeles Kings than any other team in the league, so it made sense that he fired the game-winner against them Monday night.
Toronto flies to Los Angeles next week for the rematch.
“I’ve played him so many times. Oh, my God,” Drew Doughty said when I asked about the greatest challenge of defending Marleau. “His speed, and he tries to shoot through you.
Career points versus Kings since 1987-88 Teemu Selanne – 119
Theo Fleury – 93
Mike Modano – 89
Patrick Marleau – 88
“He’s just fast, and he doesn’t seem like he’s that fast. He’s deceptively so fast. Back in his prime, he was one of the fastest guys in the Western Conference and I had to face him every shift, every night I played him. He was playing with Joe [Thornton] and whoever else. He looks effortless. There’s a lot of guys who skate like that now. He’s still one of the fastest players and he’s however old.”
Doughty was the first player we’ve spoken with who wasn’t overly surprised that Marleau left San Jose.
“Sometimes it’s good for a change,” Doughty said. “He hadn’t won a Cup yet in San Jose. Maybe he saw a bright future with this team, kinda like everyone else is seeing. He wants to win a Cup — that’s probably why he left.”
4. Brent Burns — the very embodiment of a beauty — deserves all the extra dough he can make through endorsements. Since he looks exactly like the kind of guy who could survive in the wilderness off dried meats, poisonous berries and willpower, Burns is the perfect spokesman for beef jerky. Fun ad.
5. Seldom are October post-game exchanges as curt and testy as the one with Jonathan Quick after the Kings’ only regulation loss Monday night in Toronto.
Goalies are creatures who cling to routine and rhythm, so, yes, the sloppy concussion protocol incident in Period 1 ticked him off.
Quick isn’t the most verbose interview at the sunniest of times, but I think he was more angry over the needless roughing penalty he took on Leo Komarov in the waning moments of a one-goal game, his temper essentially ending the Kings’ comeback bid early:
Coach John Stevens spoke to Quick face-to-face about that play immediately after the loss but didn’t throw his man under the bus to the media.
“He’s a really fiery competitor. Emotion in his game is a good thing,” Stevens said. “It’s not an ideal situation to short-handed for the last two minutes of a hockey game. He’s a stand-up guy, and I’m sure he knows that.”
After sitting out the bulk of 2016-17, “Quick’s on fire,” to borrow the words of Mike Babcock.
Los Angeles’ No. 1 leads all goalies in save percentage (.944), goals-against average (1.88), and shutouts (two).
Doughty wondered aloud why Quick still hasn’t won a Vezina, suggesting it may be the time zone he plays in.
6. The best thing you’ll watch all week is Kings stars Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown arguing over who has to cover Erik Karlsson in 3-on-3 overtime — I don’t want him! You take him! — and Karlsson’s reaction:
So cool to see some of the game’s best players having a laugh in the middle of a tied match. Brooks Laich says Doughty is “a joy” to play with. Doughty says he hasn’t had this much fun since he won the Cup.
“The human spirit is the most important thing,” Stevens said, in relation to Doughty’s good mood.
“Hockey’s a game of emotion. If you don’t have it, you’re gonna have a tough time winning.”
(P.S. We know Boucher thinks defence first, but with all the skill on the Sens, why the heck is Johnny Oduya starting 3-on-3?)
7. I’m not sure what I enjoy more: Ben Bishop and Ken Hitchcock already going at each other through the media three weeks into their relationship, or the fact the Dallas Stars have the integrity to post these videos on their website.
We’ve seen comments much less testy get edited out of a team’s promotional material. Good on Dallas.
8. It’s no secret Laich was unhappy with his lot in life last winter, when the Leafs swiftly sent him down to the Marlies. The 34-year-old believed he was an NHL player and yet he didn’t skate in a single NHL game in 2016-17.
A Los Angeles resident, Laich tried out for the Kings. Making the local team was his sole focus this summer. The fourth-liner said he experienced a neat moment of reflection after signing his one-year contract with the Kings last week.
“It was a pretty sweet moment in my life. I’m actually grateful for the challenges I went through when I was here in Toronto because it made that moment that much sweeter,” Laich said.
What kept him going when teams weren’t exactly banging down his door as a free agent?
“Just a belief. Aside from wife, hockey’s the greatest joy in my life,” he said. “I was focused on the Kings. They were my first choice. I never really explored anything other than that.”
I asked Laich if he allowed himself to consider that his NHL career might be done.
“Really interesting question. I won’t say it never crossed my mind, but I never believed in it. I believed I still had a voice in the conversation. My health is 100 per cent, which is a big factor,” he said. “There was still a glimmer of hope.”
Laich credits his skills coach, Mike Ellis, for pouring hours upon hours of work in practice and improving his centre-ice tactics.
The veteran said he was prepared to keep training until Christmas or mid-January in hopes of earning a contract before hanging them up.
9. It is difficult to overstate the importance the Carolina Hurricanes placed on bringing champions into the room.
Responding to a general question about his top-four defencemen Thursday, head coach Bill Peters brought up that third-pairing D-man Trevor van Riemsdyk has a Stanley Cup ring.
Answering a questioning about his fourth line, Peters reminded that Marcus Kruger is a two-time NHL champion.
No less than seven members of the Cup-winning 2015 Chicago Blackhawks have since been acquired by Carolina, and GM Ron Francis made sure to win a bidding war for Mr. Game 7, Justin Williams, in free agency.
It’s about changing a collective mindset, the losing culture of the team currently immersed in the NHL’s longest playoff drought.
Scott Darling lit up when I asked him what it meant to come to a team with so many former teammates. It’s eased his transition immensely.
10. We have to wonder if the New York Islanders’ yo-yoing of Josh Ho-Sang, who was sent down to the minors again this week, are developing a unique talent properly.
Ho-Sang is 21. He has put up four assists through six games this month playing down the lineup. The previous season, he dressed in 21 big-league contests and scored 10 points. He’s a plus player in the NHL.
Sure, he still has much to learn in the D zone, but why not work with him at the NHL level at this point? He’s a major-league talent.
11. When Ottawa called up 28-year-old Chris DiDomenico from AHL Belleville Saturday, some suspected it was because the forward’s relationship with Guy Boucher stretches back to their junior days.
Boucher gave an interesting explanation on his philosophy regarding AHL call-ups.
“We brought up the guy who deserves to be brought up. There’s no other reason. It’s always the same. I don’t choose the guys that come up,” Boucher said. “He was just the best all-around player down there.”
DiDomenico had put put three goals and five points through four AHL games prior to his promotion. He’s a sixth-rounder who was drafted by Toronto a decade ago. Hardly the enticing new hotshot.
“Ninety-five per cent of the time it’s which player deserves it? I’ve been in the American League. The worst thing that can happen is a guy gets brought up just because he’s a high pick or he’s supposed to be your best player and he’s not,” Boucher said.
“That’s not right. Because then the rest of the players down there don’t see a deserving culture. They see a culture based on things that aren’t current and things they can’t control. If you’re a first-round pick and you’re dogging it down there and you get called up … well, you just killed your culture. I’ve lived it. I know.”
12. Connor Brown’s suggestion that besties Matt Martin and Mitchell Marner dress up as Dr. Evil and Mini-Me for Halloween was brilliant.
Too bad their girlfriends shot the idea down.
“Rightfully so,” Martin shrugged. “I don’t think the girls want to be Fembots. It makes sense, but I |
, 2001. Our brave leaders have frittered away billions of tax dollars fighting the War on Terror. Where is that money going?
The Federal Banking Reserve is in the control of a deceptive, uber-powerful cartel of select individuals who slowly but surely widen the gap in available resources between well-meaning patriotic citizens and the elite ruling class.
Because I am not well educated in macroeconomics, if I tried to expound upon Zeitgeist's claims I might do the cause more harm than good. Truly, much of the specific information in this part of the film slipped by my consciousness, but the main message is clear: if you participate in our economy of currency, it matters very little whether you barely scrape by or you excel to a fairly remarkable degree. Due to the bastard union of “civil servants” and banking interests, you will always fall victim to rising inflation and usury in its most pejorative form. Indeed, participants in the least dynamic economic systems will suffer more cruelly than citizens of “first world nations,” but if you use currency issued by the Federal Banking Reserve you will always be running to catch up.
In placing Zeitgeist's final argument on the spectrum of conspiracy theory extremism, it seems clear that its scope and extent are the greatest of the three. Logic would dictate that with enough dedicated research the economics of the Federal Banking Reserve would become transparent. But the reality of the Federal Banking Reserve makes the information and "laws" (resulting from closed-door consensus of very few individuals) related to the organization are unavailable to the public. Indeed, the creators of the film admit that the proposed conspiracy is the greatest act of public fraud ever accomplished- we have nothing with which to compare it. Please do your own research on this subject.
Part II: The Solution
One drawback to watching Zeitgeist (and also a prime reason for labeling the creators as “conspiracy theorists”) is that if you are open to its information it leaves you with a very gloomy picture of the world in which we live. If you subscribe for just a moment to the conspiracy theories I have just outlined, you may find yourself feeling very helpless, persecuted, and claustrophobic. The film doesn't provide any action plan to solve the problem- it leaves you to draw your own ethical conclusions.
With the aid of logic through use of Punnet Squares, I will now propose several practical solutions to the apocalyptic results that must follow if these conspiracies do, indeed, exist. And, in the interest of science, results are also posted in the case that the theorists are wrong. Compare results to make your own decisions on these questions we cannot conclusively answer. The diagrams should be mostly self-explanatory, and the resulting conclusions are merely one person’s interpretations of their implications.
Conclusions:
Do not give money to religious institutions. As long as you make ethical decisions when you disperse your resources, you don't have to worry about the fiery wrath of God coming down upon you. Give your tax-exempt donations to secular institutions. They are more accountable to the general public. Don't waste your time attending a church, synagogue, or mosque. If you avoid breaking the ten commandments, you will probably stay out of jail and besides, you can always repent on your deathbed. A just creator is much more concerned with the consequences of your actions than your belief in Him.
Conclusions:
Refuse to vote for politicians in major parties. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is negligible and lulls the populace into the assumption that we have the ability to effect change through the current, two party voting system. Support local political movements that have the potential to positively impact the legislation process, however narrow the focus might be. Become involved in the political process. Run for office or campaign for a non-traditional candidate.
Conclusions:
Make changes toward a sustainable lifestyle. Reduce your carbon and economic footprint. The less you depend on Big Brother and his currency the more free you will be. Participate in barter economies. Trading goods and services is a great way to get off the grid. Reduce your income. It costs surprisingly few dollars to achieve a basic standard of living if you plan carefully. Vote with your fork. The food we buy is one of the most important ways we can leverage our power.
George Orwell said it best:
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
I wholeheartedly welcome any responses, comments, or challenges to the viewpoints I have espoused as I grapple with these questions in an ongoing search for like-minded, motivated allies.0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 Google+ 0 StumbleUpon 0 LinkedIn 0 Reddit 0 Buffer 0 Pin It Share 0 Email -- Filament.io 0 Flares ×
If you wonder what can be the best hiking trail in each of the six continents of the world, then here is an arbitrary list of trails with brief descriptions.
1. Annapurna Circuit: Voted as the best long distance trek in the world, Annapurna Circuit offers you an opportunity to experience the vast Himalayan terrain filled with numerous wonders of nature. Located in Nepal, the route is about 160-230 km long, and can be covered in two to three weeks. Certainly not for the beginners, the trail passes through two different river valleys, causing trekkers to make numerous river crossings over steel and wooden suspension bridges. Tea houses and lodges offering meals and accommodation can be found all along the trail. October is the best time to visit Kathmandu and begin the Annapurna Circuit hike from Besisahar.
2. Inca Trail to Machu Picchu: It is the longest of the three routes that lead to one of the New7Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu. Located in the Andes mountain range, the trail passes through many geographical terrains, micro climatic regions, natural landmarks and Incan ruins, finally ending at the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu Mountain. Altitude sickness is a common problem among the trekkers who have to hike about 4,200 meters above sea level.
3. Mount Kilimanjaro: Though the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro is relatively easier to climb than most other mountains in the world. It has a height of about 6,000 meters, which can easily be scaled in six or seven days as no technical climbing skills or equipment are necessary. Often called as the world’s tallest walkable mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro is an attraction for beginners and those new to hiking and climbing. They don’t have to be concerned about anything except altitude sickness.
4. West Coast Trail: Rated by hikers as one of the world’s top hiking trails, the West Coast Trail passes through sea as well as land, bringing you closer to spectacular and diverse nature, including caves, coves, cliffs, forests, beaches and exotic wildlife. To add to the adventure, there are cable cars, ladders, rope work, logs and boulders also. Trekking is open only from May through September, and you need to apply early for a trail pass. The 75 km long backpacking trail is located on the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
5. Mont Blanc: The Mont Blanc massif, named after Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, is a popular hub in Europe for mountaineering, hiking, skiing and snowboarding. Surrounded by three countries – France, Italy and Switzerland – Mont Blanc offers you a multi-cultural European hiking experience while allowing you to enjoy fabulous scenery of green meadows and valleys, blue glaciers and white peaks. Several trails exist, with France being the most popular hub for hikers. The best time to go hiking at Mont Blanc is from June through September.
6. Tongariro Northern Circuit: New Zealand is known for dramatic landscapes and amazing natural landmarks. Tongariro Nothern Circuit offers you an opportunity to experience some of these on a three to four day tramp that involves hiking along a 50 km long loop trail that circumnavigates Mount Ngauruhoe. The best time to go is from December to March.Braintree helps Uber expand internationally and scale payments seamlessly. Read the Uber story
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Kevin Vickers (right), sergeant-at-arms, received a long standing ovation in the House of Commons in October after leading efforts to stop the Parliament Hill gunman. ( Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo )
“Kevin Vickers has shown profound leadership and dedication to the security of Canada and its national institutions. His extensive experience working with Parliament, as well as his bravery and integrity, will serve to deepen close bilateral relations between Canada and Ireland in the years ahead.” Vickers, whose appointment is effective Jan. 19, said in a written statement: “As a Canadian with family on both sides hailing from Ireland, there could be no greater honour. I am humbled by the invitation to serve my country in this way.” Vickers, 58, served as the top security officer for the elected legislature since 2006 after a 29-year career in the RCMP during which he never fired a shot at a suspect. However, on the morning of Oct. 22 when Michael Zehaf-Bibeau stormed onto the Hill and was wounded by Vickers’ security team, it was Vickers who finally brought down the assailant in a hail of bullets.
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Widely hailed as a hero for his actions, the quiet-spoken Vickers has never talked publicly about his role, opting instead to salute his team and the wounded constable, Samearn Son, who first sounded the warning. Vickers said he was “saddened to be leaving my colleagues and friends on Parliament Hill. It has been an honour to serve as Sergeant-at-Arms and to work with such dedicated individuals serving both Houses of Parliament. I will cherish the time I have spent here.” And he thanked Canadians for their support in the last few months, adding “You have my word that I will do my best to represent you in Ireland with pride and dignity.” On the morning of Oct. 22, at the National War Memorial, Zehaf-Bibeau first fired on two ceremonial guards, killing Cpl. Nathan Cirillo before attacking Parliament. The actions of the RCMP and the Hill security forces that day are still under investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police. Vickers, who stands six-foot-four and carries a 9-mm pistol during his duties, has been a symbol of security and decorum on the Hill, carrying the mace to open parliamentary debate into the public legislature daily. While he has overseen the drafting and revisions of a massive security overhaul as well as a massive billion-dollar renovation of the parliamentary precinct, Vickers has also advocated the need for public access to the environs.
Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer said on an interim basis, Vickers’ deputy sergeant-at-arms and director of protective services, Pat McDonell, another ex-RCMP veteran, will lead the security team. Scheer praised Vickers’ “exceptional leadership” for having strengthened security systems and advanced a plan to renew the historic Parliamentary buildings.
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“Kevin Vickers has built a remarkable security team that does us proud each and every day,” said Scheer. “His actions, and the bravery displayed by his entire security team this past October, will never be forgotten. He has forged personal connections with many parliamentarians, and so while this news is welcomed as an excellent recognition of his skills and abilities, we are somewhat sad to see him leave.” Other parliamentarians chimed in. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau tweeted that Vickers “showed great courage and diplomatic skill as Parliament’s Sgt-at-Arms. Best wishes on his new role as Ambassador to Ireland.” “I am proud to call him my friend and I wish him all the success in his new role,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May, saying Vickers had “promised that as long as he served, ‘no wall would be built’ around Canada’s Parliament, giving Canadians unparalleled access to their nation’s history.” After retiring from the RCMP in 2005 as a chief superintendent, Vickers was director of security at the Commons before taking over the job of sergeant-at-arms. He had served 10 years in the Northwest Territories, worked in major crime units, and led the development of the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet. A fly-fisherman and grandfather who returns to New Brunswick whenever he can to spend time with family, Vickers speaks often of his love of his home but also of his job as sergeant-at-arms. He was born in Miramichi, N.B., where his mother was a nurse and his father ran a dairy operation. Vickers replaces Loyola Hearn, a Newfoundlander and former Conservative MP, who served as ambassador to Ireland since 2010.I was flying to Utah for a business trip last week. Naturally, I was worried about who I’d be sitting next to for fear that they may say something hurtful about my weight. Eventually, I saw a very thin woman walk up and quietly take the seat next to me. As the plane took off, I couldn’t help but worry about what she thought of me and finally she spoke up. She introduced herself and asked me about my flight and interests and told me about her family. Not once was weight the subject of our conversation and the feeling was satisfying. Temporarily, at least. I thought about my fears getting on the plane and it made me very sad that this is the way things are. That fat people are trained to run, hide, and cower in the presence of thin people.
Thin privilege is not expecting comments to be made about your weight. Thin privilege is not being so terrified to fly with others that you almost back out of a business trip. Thin privilege is flying in general.The attempt by this administration to erase the previous one from the history of the government continues like a doomsday mechanism while the putative boss of the administration is gabbling the nation's cultural dialogue back to the late 1850s. The latest example comes from the part of the Tuesday press conference that didn't have anything to do with coddling Nazis. From Reuters:
Trump's latest executive order would speed approvals of permits for highways, bridges, pipelines and other major building efforts. It revokes an Obama-era executive order aimed at reducing exposure to flooding, sea level rise and other consequences of climate change. "It's going to be quick. It's going to be a very streamlined process. And by the way, if it doesn't meet environmental safeguards, we're not going to approve it - very simple," Trump said at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York.
The Trump administration has issued dozens of rules and orders to reverse Obama-era regulations addressing climate change and its consequences such as rising sea levels and more severe storms.The administration proposes $200 billion in government funding over 10 years as part of a goal of getting $1 trillion in public and private infrastructure spending. The Obama-era standard required that builders factor in scientific projections for increased flooding and ensure projects can withstand rising sea levels and stronger downpours. It required all federal agencies apply the standard to public infrastructure projects from housing to highways. Rafael Lemaitre, former director of public affairs at FEMA who worked on the Obama-era order, said Trump is undoing "the most significant action taken in a generation" to safeguard U.S. infrastructure.
Is there a punchline to this, as there is to so many other moments in this tire fire of a presidency? Of course, there is. From The Guardian:
Long before he set his sights on Mexico, Donald Trump had his eyes on a different wall. He wanted to build one on the Irish coast of County Clare – a 13ft high structure erected to protect his luxury golf resort, the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel, from increasingly volatile storms and rising sea levels. While the president-elect announced a climate-change skeptic as the leader of the Environmental Protection Agency transition team, this move to protect his investment suggests Trump recognizes the effects of a changing climate.
Trump International Golf Course pictured from the beach at Doughmore bay, on the west coast of Ireland. Getty Images
And, as the NYT reported, this punchline had a punchline.
Mr. Trump's real estate organization had planned to build a long sea wall off the Irish coast to protect its golf course in County Clare. But the wall faced opposition from environmental groups who said they feared that it would threaten the two-millimeter-long whorl snail, or vertigo angustior, which lives in the area, as well as coastal dunes. Both are protected by European Union rules. Now it appears that the snail has prevailed.
The master of the manor, outmaneuvered by a snail. That sounds like one of the stories my grandmother used to tell me.
Mr. Trump's representatives said at a meeting at the club this week that they would replace the planned sea wall with two much smaller barriers. "The simple reason for these changes is time," Joe Russell, general manager at the resort, said in an interview. "The original proposal was going to take too long to push through. I don't have that time. I have the Atlantic Ocean coming at me."
Yes, you do. And here's a tip: The ocean doesn't care what regulations you shred. It's coming regardless.
Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page.House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes is currently the subject of an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The outcome of an ethics investigation surrounding House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’ disclosure of classified information might never see the light of day, depending on how it’s handled.
The results of that inquiry by the House Ethics Committee may not be revealed for months — or at all — because it centers around disclosure of classified information, ethics experts say.
“The ability to talk about this investigation could be impaired by the fact that we’re talking about classified information and some of it is still not yet public,” said Richard Painter, who served as chief ethics counsel under former President George W. Bush
[Paul Ryan Defends Devin Nunes on Russia Probe]
Outside groups, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, say they have referred the matter to a separate agency tasked with investigating House members — the Office of Congressional Ethics, which could guarantee an eventual public reveal of the inquiry results.
While the OCE does not reveal it is conducting an investigation until certain timelines are met, it does consider each request it receives.
The course of action either of the probes could take may vary, given the strange and sometimes entangled mechanisms by which the Ethics Committee and the OCE operate.
But last week’s unprecedented announcement by House Ethics that it was conducting an independent probe of Nunes’ actions may be a sign the notoriously secretive panel acknowledges the unique amount of scrutiny on the situation.
As a result, Painter said the investigation could lead to the committee deciding to declassify information.
Nunes, a California Republican, was heavily criticized after he told reporters at the White House on March 22 that he had reviewed “intelligence reports” indicating that members of President Donald Trump’s campaign had been swept up in foreign surveillance by U.S. spy agencies.
[GOP, White Stick With Devin Nunes]
Those remarks came two days after his panel held its first public hearing on Russia’s alleged interference in last year’s election, which featured testimony from FBI Director James B. Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers.
Nunes said the surveillance that he disclosed was separate from the Russia investigation. But his public announcement of the incidental collection was met with criticism after he failed to brief his own committee members first.
After caving to pressure, the eight-term congressman announced April 6 that he would step away from leading the Russia investigation while the Ethics panel inquiry into his potential disclosure of classified information was underway.
In a statement the same day, the committee said it would “refrain from making further public statements on this matter pending completion of its initial review.”
But the Nunes investigation falls under a section of committee rules that provides no time frame for when an inquiry must be completed or a public statement made. So there’s no guarantee the public will learn of the panel’s findings.
If the OCE conducts a review, then refers the matter to the Ethics Committee, a report of the OCE’s findings is required to be made public within 90 days.
Typically, the OCE does not know what the Ethics Committee is looking into, but it may still conduct a concurrent investigation. The independent congressional watchdog also does not acknowledge cases it is investigating before the committee makes a public comment.
While the OCE is largely unpopular with lawmakers — Republicans recently tried to undermine the office by attempting to cut or eliminate its funding or put limits to what it can do — it provides the only surefire way for an ethics probe to be publicized.
Painter said the uniqueness of the Nunes probe involving classified information complicates what could be disclosed in the public sphere, and how, no matter who is conducting an investigation.
“This could be a problem,” he said. “We’ll have to see where this leads.”
Contact Rahman at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @remawriter.Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.Perhaps the greatest hubris of historical hindsight is knowing that everything we call progress has been made by systematic trial and error, yet tending to dismiss — even scoff at — the errors as embarrassments to the process of progress rather than essential parts of it. Take, for instance, Joseph Weber, whose spectacle of failed experiments made him the most derided scientist of his time yet paved the way for the detection of gravitational waves — one of the most monumental discoveries in the whole of modern science, as full of potential for revolutionary knowledge as the invention of the telescope. We rarely know which missteps will become stepping stones in the advancement of knowledge, for the pursuit of truth requires a certain discipline of deferring judgment for periods longer than our appetite for instant answers allows.
That’s what the great physician, etymologist, poet, and essayist Lewis Thomas (November 25, 1913–December 3, 1993) explores throughout his timelessly rewarding 1983 essay collection Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (public library).
Although Thomas was educated at Harvard and Princeton, served on the President’s Scientific Advisory Committee, and presided over the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute, he wrote humbly and poetically from the self-described position of “a citizen and a sometime scientist.” In one of the essays, titled “Alchemy,” he starts someplace unlikely and leads us someplace monumental:
Alchemy began long ago as an expression of the deepest and oldest of human wishes: to discover that the world makes sense. The working assumption — the everything on earth must be made up from a single, primal sort of matter — led to centuries of hard work aimed at isolating the original stuff and rearranging it to the alchemists’ liking. If it could be found, nothing would lie beyond human grasp. The transmutation of base metals to gold was only a modest part of the prospect. If you knew about the fundamental substance, you could do much more than make simple money: you could boil up a cure-all for every disease affecting humankind, you could rid the world of evil, and, while doing this, you could make a universal solvent capable of dissolving anything you might want to dissolve.
With an eye to our haughty hunger for deriding yesteryear’s errors, Lewis reminds us that every error inches us closer to the truth, but not all errors are created equal — those undergirded by a great deal of scholarship and earnest scientific effort are more likely to yield byproducts that can eventually be transmuted into some proto-truth. Noting that the alchemists were serious professionals in their time, who honed their skills through “long periods of apprenticeship and a great deal of late-night study,” he writes:
We tend to look back at them from today’s pinnacle of science as figures of fun, eccentric solitary men wearing comical conical hats, engaged in meaningless explorations down one blind alley after another. It was not necessarily so: the work they were doing was hard and frustrating, but it was the start-up of experimental chemistry and physics… They never succeeded in making gold from base metals, nor did they find a universal elixir in their plant extracts; they certainly didn’t rid the world of evil. What they did accomplish, however, was no small thing: they got the work going… As time went on and the work progressed, error after error, new and accurate things began to turn up. Hard facts were learned about the behavior of metals and their alloys, the mathematics of thermodynamics were worked out, and, with just a few jumps through the centuries, the helical molecule of DNA was revealed in all its mystery. […] [Now] alchemy exists only as a museum piece, an intellectual fossil, so antique that we no longer need be embarrassed by the memory, but the memory is there. Science began by fumbling. It works because the people involved in it work, and work together. They become excited and exasperated, they exchange their bits of information at a full shout, and, the most wonderful thing of all, they keep at one another.
With that singular superpower of the essayist to draw connections between the seemingly unrelated, Lewis pivots to his central point — a point tenfold more relevant, urgent even, three and a half decades later:
Something rather like this may be going on now, without realizing it, in the latest and grandest of all fields of science. People in my field, and some of my colleagues in the real “hard” sciences such as physics and chemistry, have a tendency to take lightly and often disparagingly the efforts of workers in the so-called social sciences. We like to refer to their data as soft. We do not acknowledge as we should the difference between the various disciplines within behavioral research — we speak of analytical psychiatry, sociology, linguistics, economics, and computer intelligence as though these inquiries were all of a piece, with all parties wearing the same old comical conical hats. It is of course not so. The principal feature that the social sciences share these days is the attraction they exert on considerable numbers of students, who see the prospect of exploring human behavior as irresistible and hope fervently that a powerful scientific method for doing the exploring can be worked out. All of the matters on the social-science agenda seem more urgent to these young people than they did at any other time in human memory. It may turn out, years hence, that a solid discipline of human science will have come into existence, hard as quantum physics, filled with deep insights, plagued as physics still is by ambiguities but with new rules and new ways of getting things done. Like, for instance, getting rid of thermonuclear weapons, patriotic rhetoric, and nationalism all at once. If anything like this does turn up we will be looking back at today’s social scientists, and their close colleagues the humanists, as having launched the new science in a way not all that different from the accomplishment of the old alchemists, by simply working on the problem — this time, the fundamental, primal universality of the human mind.
In another essay from the collection, titled “Making Science Work,” Thomas revisits the subject, reaching across time and space to shake us out of our present cult of “big data” and remind us of the significance of small, humane data:
The social scientists … may be up to the most important scientific business of all… Our behavior toward each other is the strangest, most unpredictable, and almost entirely unaccountable of all the phenomena with which we are obliged to live. In all of nature there is nothing so threatening to humanity as humanity itself. We need, for this most worrying of puzzles, the brightest and youngest of our most agile minds, capable of dreaming up ideas not dreamed before, ready to carry the imagination to great depths and, I should hope, handy with big computers but skeptical about long questionnaires and big numbers.
In yet another prescient essay titled “Basic Science and the Pentagon,” Thomas stresses the urgency of funding basic science — science marked by “the absence of any predictable, usable product,” carried out “in an atmosphere of high uncertainty,” and built on “What if?” questions rather than “How to?” questions — and the importance of incorporating social science into our most pressing research priorities. He writes:
The present administration has no special fondness for the social and behavioral sciences, and the National Science Foundation is sharply reducing its funding — never generous at best — for these stepchildren of scholarship. Very well, the country will survive, and the disciplines of psychology, sociology, economics, and their siblings will have to eat grass until their time comes again. But the basic research enterprise involved in thermonuclear warfare contains a staggering array of behavioral research questions, the purest kind of social science, questions never before asked about human behavior, deep ambiguities approachable only in an atmosphere of almost total uncertainty. […] Who will be bringing in the data telling us what to expect when, say, five million of us vanish in twenty minutes and another five million are left behind with bone marrows burned out and skins in shreds, looking at what is left of the dead and waiting to die? Or, to magnify the problem to what will more likely be its true dimension, what will the few million survivors say to each other, or do to each other, at the moment when the other hundred millions are being transmuted back to the old interstellar dust? This, it seems to me, requires study; mandates study. Will no one be casting an anthropological eye at the dilemma to be faced when human beings cease being human?
Every single piece in Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is a superb read in its entirety, just as timely today and perhaps even timelier than when Lewis first committed these incisive thoughts to words decades ago. Complement it with Eleanor Roosevelt on the necessity of bridging science and the humanities, then revisit Thomas on the poetics of smell as a mode of knowledge.Stuck on the tarmac, flipping through a travel magazine, you're struck by the blurb for metal-lined wallets. Purpose: to prevent digital pickpocketing by blocking radio frequencies.
These handsome babies start at $79.99 and top out at the $225 Italian Leather Teju Lizard Embossed Travel Wallet.
Your reaction: Wow! Luxury accessories for paranoids!
But you would be wrong. Maybe.
Because, says electronic security expert Bruce Schneier, crystallizing the view of many: "As weird as it sounds, wrapping your passport in tinfoil helps. The tinfoil people, in this case, happen to be correct."
The issue is bigger than just the new style of passports, which contain chips that emit information that can be read by a scanner. We're also talking about your Metro SmarTrip card, your employee ID/building access card, your automatic highway toll pass, the newest wave of credit cards and gas purchasing cards, even digital drivers' licenses being developed in some states.
All of these nifty and oh-so-convenient bits of plastic employ versions of what's known as radio frequency identification technology, or RFID. That is, they toss out bits of data that are caught by receivers, with little or no contact, just through the air in some cases. The new credit cards, such as MasterCard's PayPass, don't have to be swiped through a machine. Swiping is so retro, and takes precious extra seconds. You need only lightly tap the PayPass on a terminal to register a purchase.
Neato. It feels as if you're living in the future, or in an episode of "24," when you slap your purse on the Metro turnstile and the gate opens, or you wave your ID badge at a node on the wall and your office door beeps open (and then your face and all your recent movements around the office -- yikes! -- pop up on the security guard's computer).
But alas, just as every problem has a solution, so every solution has a problem, right?
According to some security gurus, even when there is no receiver in the vicinity, your digital secrets are leaking merrily from the cards in your wallet, like sound from a radio that you can't turn off.
So, conceivably, a pickpocket with a laptop and an antenna could lift the digital contents of your wallet. This modern, hypothetical Artful Dodger would never reach his fingers under your jacket. He'd be that guy slouched on a bench in Union Station with a backpack, vacuuming up bits and bytes as crowds flowed past. Behind your back, the contents of your wallet may be talking about you, digitally, to perfect strangers.
Paranoid? The scenario has mainly been reenacted by researcher-hackers under simulated conditions. The makers and issuers of RFID cards insist the data are encrypted and safe. Yet some security watchdogs assert the need to cover, or shield, these cards when they aren't in use. A thin metalized nylon can do the trick, based on the classic Faraday cage design, to disrupt RFID communications.WASHINGTON – Today, due to Congressional inaction, the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) Board of Governors has lost another two of its nine Senate-confirmed members, leaving only one appointed official to do the work of managing USPS activity alongside the Postmaster General and her management team. There are currently five nominees pending before the Senate.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following reaction to the news:
“Because of Congress’ inability to come to consensus on postal reform legislation over the last five years, the Postal Service continues to twist in the wind, only able to address the financial challenges it faces by degrading its primary service, fast and efficient delivery of the mail. Customers and stakeholders are left with uncertainty about what the future holds for the Postal Service and how the Postal Service will transform itself to remain relevant in the digital age.
“Today, Congress made that uncertainty even worse. Obstruction in Congress has made it impossible to consider the five pending nominees for the Postal Board of Governors before the current board was rendered ineffective by term limits. This is negligence on the part of Congress. This would never occur in the private sector because shareholders would demand oversight from a strong board to protect their investment. Congress has failed to protect postal customers. Congress must act now to restore appropriate oversight to this vital $70 billion government-backed corporation and to enact reforms that will restore service and faith in this 200-year-old institution. This is particularly pressing as we enter the winter holidays where shipping and mail volume are expected to increase exponentially.
“Congressional inaction represents a failure to meet part of the Senate’s most basic responsibilities: to provide advice and consent on nominations in a thorough and timely manner and to provide agencies with the leadership they need to be successful. We can easily right this wrong. I urge my Senate colleagues to come together and act on the nominees for the Postal Board of Governors and on postal reform legislation as soon as possible.”
Sen. Carper introduced the Improving Postal Operations, Service, and Transparency Act of 2015 (iPOST) in September. iPOST reflects the views of a broad range of stakeholders and offers a compromise solution to the difficult issues that Congress and the Postal Service have struggled with for years. The bill includes a comprehensive package of reforms that would place the Postal Service on firm financial footing, stabilize and improve service performance, allow for the development of new products and services, and enhance transparency. The bipartisan bill is cosponsored by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).
For more information, including a section-by-section summary of the bill and bill text, please visit: www.carper.senate.gov/postalreformThere have been lots of thoughts on this movie already, but I felt I needed to add my two cents, because, well, lots of people are just plain wrong.
Okay, maybe people have good reason to be disappointed with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but I wanted to tell you why you shouldn't be.
I think we all had a bit of an inkling that the film version of our beloved book, The Hobbit, wasn't quite going to follow the book precisely when we learned it was going to be two movies. I mean, each of the books in the Lord of the Rings trilogy got one movie and they're all longer than The Hobbit...so logic already started us down |
of the development of these types of talents will pay off for the Bombers sooner rather than later.Most media savvy gun control advocates try to insist that nobody wants to ban guns in America and that anybody who says otherwise is either paranoid or guilty of fear-mongering.
According to a lawsuit filed in a Michigan federal court, however, anti-gun bureaucrats at the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) are subjecting gun-owing adoptive and foster parents to a stark choice: their Second Amendment rights or their kids.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include William Johnson, a disabled veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and his wife, Jill. The Johnsons were asked by the state to serve as foster parents for their grandson.
According to the complaint, when the Johnsons arrived to pick up the child at a MDHHS facility, William (a Michigan concealed carry licensee) was searched and ordered to produce his concealed carry license, even though he wasn’t carrying a gun. It also says he was told by caseworkers he would have to provide them with the serial numbers of all of his guns.
The complaint alleges that both MDHHS caseworkers and a judge involved with the placement told the Johnsons that as a condition of fostering the child, they’d have to surrender certain constitutional rights, including the right to have an accessible, loaded firearm inside or outside of their home.
The complaint quotes the judge as stating, “We know we are violating numerous constitutional rights here, but if you do not comply, we will remove the boy from your home.” Likewise, the Johnsons claim, MDHHS caseworkers told them “there would not be a power struggle, that they would just take his grandson and place him in a foster home.”
Another complainant in the lawsuit is a pastor at a Baptist church, chair of a county DHHS board, a Michigan concealed carry pistol licensee, and an NRA certified range officer. His wife is a published author and librarian. They would like to foster children at their home but have refrained from doing so because of the requirement to surrender fundamental rights under the Second Amendment.
The lawsuit claims violations of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to equal protection and to keep and bear arms. It asks the court to permanently bar enforcement of the MDHHS anti-gun policies and to award the plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees and costs for bringing the suit.
This is hardly the first time state officials have threatened adoptive or foster parents over their possession of firearms. A similar lawsuit was filed last year in Oklahoma, and the NRA has championed legislation to prevent discrimination against lawful gun owners who wish to adopt or foster children, including in Florida, Nevada, and Texas.
It says something about gun control advocates that they will insist their agenda is necessary for the well-being of children, at the same time they will coldly rip kids from caring homes or banish students from school for purely symbolic anti-gun purposes. The sad case of the Johnsons and Masons also demonstrates how deeply entrenched anti-gun orthodoxy is in official bureaucracies, even in places – like Michigan – where lawful gun ownership is considered part of the social fabric.
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.Los Angeles, CA – Remember when Kanye West couldn’t decide on a proper title for The Life of Pablo and told the world no one has ever listened to a Wiz Khalifa album straight through after the Taylor Gang boss scoffed at the proposed Waves title?
Well, it didn’t affect Wiz one bit. In fact, the Pittsburgh megastar sees it as a form of flattery.
“There’s competition in rap, and Kanye obviously sees me as that,” Wiz said in his Playboy magazine July/August issue 20Q feature, which is currently on newsstands.
“That was a weird situation, because it was something I would do in real life. All I did was speak my mind. I’m a Max B fan, and if me and Kanye were in a room and he said, ‘Yo, I’mma name my album Waves,’ I’d be like, ‘Don’t do that. You’re not allowed to do that.’ Nobody really does that these days. Nobody checks niggas like, ‘Nah, nigga.’ No one is above being spoken to, and if you’ve got real friends, they’ll tell you how they feel. That’s how I handle all my situations in real life. Even if I have a problem with somebody, I’m not gonna advertise it. We can go around the corner and we can really do it. But all in front of people? That’s not me. Niggas talk shit every day, and niggas say sh*t about my ex, niggas say shit about my kid. It’s all good.”
The two megastar rappers — who have a common ex-lover in Amber Rose — would eventually agree to disagree but neither seem vested enough to take their disagreements onto wax.
Speaking of Amber, during a recent interview, she spoke on the hopes of her potentially rekindling the flame with Wiz, as the final stages of their divorce approaches.
While Wiz tells Jeff Weiss he isn’t above getting hitched again, it probably won’t be for several more years (re: decades).
“I think I will, but it will be later. It was cool; it was fun,” he admitted, as he harbored in on the learning experience.
“Things that would’ve taken me much longer to learn, I learned in a short period of time. I feel like I’ll probably get married again when I’m in my 50s. I was sad after it ended, but I wasn’t depressed; I’ve never really been depressed in my life. I was sad because we were going through a lot and my son was involved, and that hurt me because my main goal is to raise my son how I want. I’m a control freak, and not being able to control that was weird. I didn’t know how to deal with it and didn’t understand that feeling. A year later, I’m way smarter and better equipped to deal with it.”
The highly documented couple still maintain that they are on good terms but as of now, Wiz doesn’t see them ever going back to the way things were when they were tongue wrestling on red carpets.
“I feel like not being in that relationship helped me out a lot. I learned how to be present where I need to be present. I’d been present in the relationship, but at that age and with what was going on, it just wasn’t right for me. It helps to walk away sometimes, even though it was super hard,” he says.Highway 31, a Birmingham-based pro-Doug Jones super PAC is using what could be perceived as voter intimidation tactics against Roy Moore by suggesting the votes cast in a December 12 special election are “public record.”
Beginning last week, some Alabamians were posting on social media about encountering online pre-roll video advertising making such a claim.
"Your vote is Public Record. And your community will know if you helpd stop Roy Moore" Anyone else think this looks like voter intimidation? #VoterIntimidation pic.twitter.com/31dixv9aeu — Joemantler (@Joemantler) December 3, 2017
In watching some youtube videos on Cash Cab there is an ad running for Doug Jones as follows: "Your vote is public record & your community will know if you voted to stop Roy Moore" @MooreSenate I will just leave this here. #VoteRoyMoore — Joan Alexander (@joanalex28) December 3, 2017
@fmtalk1065 have you seen the YouTube ad for Doug Jones where they state that "your vote is public record and your community will know if you fought to stop Roy Moore "? Is that not voter intimidation? — James Owens (@JamesOw52157488) December 3, 2017
Read more9 February 2012 — dan
A reader writes:
When I was visiting my mother the other day, I dropped her glass casserole baking dish... thing... (I'm not much of a cook), and it broke, and so of course I said I'd get her a new one. The old one was "Pyrex" brand, but she told me I should just buy whatever similar sized glass dish is cheapest, because, and I quote "Pyrex isn't made from Pyrex any more". The philosophical implications of that statement aside, were Pyrex products made from special glass, and now they're not? All I know about Pyrex is that I've seen that word written on laboratory glassware. Harry
In the olden days, the "Pyrex" brand, wherever you saw it, meant borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass doesn't change size much in response to temperature (it has a low "coefficient of thermal expansion"), so if you heat or cool it suddenly, it's unlikely to shatter.
("Pyrex" wasn't actually the first borosilicate glass; Otto Schott invented it, and the Schott company still sells it under the "Duran" brand. But Pyrex became the genericised trademark for borosilicate glass. Lab glassware that's intended to be used on heat is pretty much all borosilicate, under one name or another.)
Ordinary "soda-lime" glass expands and contracts more with temperature. So if, for instance, you suddenly cool a hot plain-glass baking dish by putting it the sink and turning on the tap, the inside surface of the dish contracts as it cools, the outside surface stays expanded, and stress between the two encourages the glass to break.
This can also happen when a glass object is originally manufactured. After forming the object, if you don't "anneal" the glass by slowly cooling it (a special kiln for doing this to glass that's been made somewhere else is called a lehr), a brand-new glass object can break spontaneously as it cools, or be right on the edge of breaking from the slightest shock.
There are numerous tricky ways to make glass objects more sturdy, the most common of which takes advantage of soda-lime glass's thermal expansion and contraction, to "temper", or "toughen", the glass and force the outside of the glass object to be under great compressive stress, which glass tolerates very well.
The simplest way of tempering glass is by rapidly cooling the outside of molten glass, so it solidifies and contracts quickly, and is then pulled into compression when the core of the glass cools later. Now, any insult suffered by the object will have to overcome the compression built into the outer layers before it can get the glass into tension and get a crack going. And if a crack does start, the whole glass object will collapse into zillions of distinctive little lumps of glass with quite safe large-angled edges, rather than dagger-like shards.
The forces involved in tempering glass are the same as the forces that make unevenly-cooled, unannealed glassware fragile; they're just tightly marshalled to make the material more durable, in the same way that prestressing "tendons" can make concrete far stronger.
(The most extreme version of the tempering process is Prince Rupert's Drops...
...which you can make at home, while wearing suitable protective clothing, by dripping molten glass into a bucket of water. Internal tensions make the body of each drop amazingly strong, but if you snap the thread-like tail - which is also very strong, but so thin that it can easily be bent or sheared past its limits - the whole drop instantly explodes into tiny particles.)
(Oh, and again, if you'd like to have the above explained much more clearly, try J.E. Gordon's classic "The New Science of Strong Materials, or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor", which is one of my favourite books, along with "Structures, Or Why Things Don't Fall Down".)
A fancier kind of tempered glass is "Corelle", which is laminated tempered glass, but doesn't look or feel much like glass at all. This is partly because it's opaque (though I don't think there's anything about the manufacturing process that says it has to be), and partly because it's so strong that plates and bowls made from the stuff can be very thin and lightweight.
Which brings us back to Pyrex, because the Pyrex and Corelle brands are now both held by World Kitchen, LLC. World Kitchen would really like people to stop saying that Pyrex kitchenware isn't made from borosilicate glass any more, because although this statement is actually correct, it wasn't World Kitchen that changed it. World Kitchen say the change happened "more than 60 years" ago; other sources can't put an exact figure on it, but it seems pretty clear that it's not a recent development.
In any case, what World Kitchen sell today as "Pyrex" bakeware isn't plain soda-lime glass, but "heat strengthened" soda-lime, which presumably means the usual kind of tempered glass. Tempered glass resists breaking from temperature changes pretty well, and resists breaking from mechanical insults very well, so it's a good choice for bakeware, which is bumped by other bakeware much more often than it has to tolerate large temperature shocks.
Well, it's a good choice for bakeware as long as your oven doesn't get hot enough to anneal the glass, which I think it definitely doesn't.
This is despite the additives in soda-lime glass, which are there to make the stuff melt at a reasonable temperature. Silica, also known as quartz, makes up the bulk of all normal glass compositions, and could be used to do anything ordinary glass does. But quartz's melting point is way up around 1700 degrees Centigrade. This is higher than the melting point of iron, and makes quartz unreasonably difficult to use for glassware, unless you're making furnace windows or something.
To make soda-lime glass from scratch you need a furnace that burns hot enough to melt silica - which is why recycling glass is so popular - but once the ingredients are mixed, the melting point of the mixed material plummets to less than 600°C.
Annealing happens significantly below the melting point, but you still need a temperature of more than 500°C to anneal soda-lime glass, even if you're willing to wait for hours, and no household oven goes that high. Actually, I don't think any food oven goes that high. The hottest are probably coal-fired pizza ovens (the great problem of making "authentic" pizza at home is getting the oven hot enough); I think those top out at around the 1000°F/540°C mark, but they usually run rather cooler.
I'm sure there are many companies that make tempered, or toughened, glass kitchenware, and I'm also sure that other companies again make plain soda-glass kitchenware, which may not even be properly annealed, much less properly tempered. So your mum may be right that Pyrex-brand glassware is not particularly good - but you also shouldn't buy the cheapest glass casserole dish you can find, unless you've good reason to believe it's made from tempered glass. Which may or may not be clearly, or honestly, indicated on the box.
I think the best way to authoritatively tell the difference is by bopping any dish you're planning to buy with a ball-peen hammer. I leave the formulation of techniques by which one could get away with this as an exercise for the reader.
Psycho Science is a regular feature here. Ask me your science questions, and I'll answer them. Probably.
And then commenters will, I hope, correct at least the most obvious flaws in my answer.Image copyright AP Image caption Hindus, who comprise 80% of India's 1.2bn population, consider cows holy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised vigilantes who portray themselves as protectors of cows - an animal considered sacred by Hindus.
Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist, said such people made him "angry", and any such attacks must be investigated.
He had been criticised for saying nothing about a public flogging last month of low-caste men by vigilantes.
The self-styled cow defenders accused the four men from the Dalit caste of harming cattle.
The victims insisted they were taking a cow's carcass for skinning, as was their tradition.
Also in July, two Muslim women were beaten up by vigilantes over accusations that they had been carrying beef.
Growing pressure
Speaking in the capital Delhi on Saturday, Mr Modi said he would ask state governments across India to investigate anyone linked to such vigilante attacks.
He said he believed "70-80% of them will turn out to be people who are involved in anti-social activities and masquerade as cow protectors to save themselves".
Up to now some commentators believed Mr Modi was staying quiet on the issue of vigilantes so he could maintain his appeal among Hindu nationalist voters, the BBC's Charles Haviland says.
Mr Modi was similarly criticised last year, when he took two weeks to condemn the lynching of a Muslim man over rumours he had stored and consumed beef.
The slaughter of cows is banned in several Indian states.
But the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government has come under increasing pressure from Hindu hardliners to do more to protect cows.
The majority of India's estimated 1.2 billion population is Hindu. However the country is also home to large Muslim, Christian and Buddhist minorities.My Secret Santa was super duper amazing, and got me something Doctor Who related! =) Came home to find a package from Amazon. Opened it, and unwrapped this frighteningly awesome contraption: A FREAKING DALEK ALARM CLOCK. As if waking up was scary enough, now I have this little guy to rouse me from my sleep with shouts of "EXTERMINATE" and the all too recognizable sound of the Dalek death ray! The alarm clock even projects the time onto the ceiling when activated! =) I am so happy, and I just wanted to say thank you very much to my rematch santa! This was my first year doing this, and was a bit worried, but my faith has been restored! Hope everyone's Christmas was as great as mine was! =)
Thanks again!This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re on a 100-city Silenced Majority Election 2012 tour, and today we’re broadcasting from Colorado Springs, the second largest city in Colorado. In and around the city, you’ll find [five] major military installations: Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, the United States Air Force Academy and Schriever Air Force Base, and the Cheyenne Mountain Air Station.
This weekend marks the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The invasion began on October 7, 2001, less than a month after the September 11th attacks. The war has gone on for more than 4,000 days, making it the longest war in U.S. history. At least 2,000 U.S. soldiers have died in the war. The death toll in Afghanistan is unknown.
Today we’ll take a look at the invisible wounds of war here at home. Some 2.4 million soldiers have been through Iraq and Afghanistan, and the psychological toll of the wars is mounting. Last year, the Veterans Administration, or VA, treated almost 100,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for PTSD.
But many agree the numbers could be much higher, because not everyone who suffers seeks treatment. Here in Colorado Springs, the commanders at Fort Carson have come under scrutiny for its handling of mental health concerns, with a 2010 joint NPR-ProPublica investigation finding as many as 40 percent of Fort Carson soldiers had mild brain injuries missed by Army health screenings.
Meanwhile, in 2009, the Colorado Springs Gazette published a startling series called “Casualties of War.” It examined a part of war seldom discussed by the media or government officials: the difficulty of returning to civilian life after being trained to be a killer. The story focused on a single battalion based at Fort Carson here in Colorado Springs, the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment. The battalion’s nickname is the “Lethal Warriors.” In Iraq, the unit fought in some of the war’s bloodiest battles.
For some of the unit’s soldiers, the killing did not end when they returned home. The Gazette reported, since 2006, 10 infantry soldiers have been arrested and accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter; others have committed other violent crimes. Some of the veterans have committed suicide. In a one-year period, from the fall of 2007 to the fall of 2008, the murder rate for members of the Army unit was 114 times the rate for Colorado Springs.
The series was written by investigative reporter Dave Philipps. He turned his reporting into the book, Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home. David Philipps joins us here in Colorado Springs.
Also with us in Colorado Springs is Georg-Andreas Pogany. He’s an independent veterans’ advocate and investigator. He’s a retired sergeant first class from the United States Army.
We are also joined by Graham Clumpner, Afghanistan war vet, Colorado regional organizer for IVAW, Iraq Veterans Against the War.
And we welcome you all to Democracy Now!
DAVID PHILIPPS: Thank you.
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: Thanks.
AMY GOODMAN: And thanks so much both to Andrew and Graham for coming in from Denver. It’s snowing.
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: It was snowing on the way down, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: The first snow of the season. Graham, you’re a veteran of the Afghanistan War. Tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of this war. Your thoughts today?
GRAHAM CLUMPNER: Well, when we look back, you know, 11 years ago Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Central time, which is Colorado time, President Bush came on television and announced to the nation that we had begun bombing the people of Afghanistan. And 11 years later, we have a lineage that has extended longer than any other war, and we’re looking at a situation where we have so many millions of soldiers coming home to communities like Colorado Springs and not being able to separate the trauma that they experience in those combat zones and outside of those combat zones, just by nature of being in the military, because participating in this militaristic system, whether you deploy or don’t deploy, is a traumatic experience. And people bring those traumas back to our communities. And what we’re struggling with now is finding a way for these people—these soldiers, sailors, airmen, infantry, all of the members of the armed forces—to come come back and reintegrate into their communities.
AMY GOODMAN: You are organizing this weekend. You’re part of a group of soldiers and vets who have come together in Denver. Explain what’s happening.
GRAHAM CLUMPNER: In 2004, Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded by the first returning soldiers from the Iraq War. And since then, we have expanded to include any soldier or veteran who has served post-9/11 in the global war on terror. Our organization has been prioritizing Afghanistan veterans recently, not only because we have the most problems coming out of Afghanistan, out of the six countries that we’re currently bombing, but also because Afghanistan veterans can speak to a larger concern, which is, it’s very easy for the American people—and, in fact, some cases, the world—to lose sight of and stop paying attention to these conflicts. And as we sit here today, there are soldiers, and there are civilians sitting in firefights and sitting in situations where their lives are at risk, and we don’t take a lot of time to look at that, other than looking at the numbers on the front page of the newspaper that say four dead or seven dead. And it doesn’t mean anything to us.
So, this weekend, we’re having Iraq Veterans Against the War’s first Afghanistan retreat. We’re bringing Afghanistan members from all over the country here to Colorado. We’re going to be meeting in Denver, and we’re going to be discussing what kind of things we’ve been successful at in the past and where we failed, and then where we need to go in the future, looking at organizing models that span the spectrum, from the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers to the civil rights campaigns in the '50s, ’60s and ’70s, to the environmental movement. And we're taking those lessons and moving forward as we look at a larger path of militarism, because this isn’t just about Afghanisan. It’s not just about Syria or Libya or Somalia or Iraq. We’re talking about Iran. We’re talking about the future. And we’re asking ourselves, how do we feel safer when we are involved in more bases in more countries than we’ve ever been in our history?
AMY GOODMAN: Dave Philipps, place us here today, here in Colorado Springs. For people around the country who don’t understand this city in the—at the foot of the Rockies, talk about its military significance for the country.
DAVID PHILIPPS: Well, in a lot of ways, Colorado Springs is an average town, in terms of demographics, in terms of crime rates—just about anything you could look at in the census. The big difference is, is that by far our largest industry, if you want to call it that, is the Department of Defense. How many—how many active-duty do we have here in Colorado Springs? Over 50,000, I believe. And so, that really is the lifeblood of our town.
AMY GOODMAN: This investigation that you did, the unit called Lethal Warriors, share with us what it is that you found as you worked for the Gazette, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, your investigation.
DAVID PHILIPPS: It started with us just seeing a lot of soldiers getting arrested for murder. And we didn’t know, until we really started digging, that it wasn’t the entire 30,000 soldiers at Fort Carson that were really responsible; it was just one group of 500 guys. At that point, we said, “My god, how can you have so much violence coming out of one small group? It must have to do with their collective story of their experience.” And so, we started tracing that story by going to the prison, talking to the guys who were in there, finding their friends, talking to them.
And what we found out, essentially, is that these guys had been in the very worst places in Iraq, had been through things that most people, even people who are familiar with the war, would find unspeakable. When they came back, they came back to a system that had been prepared for an Iraq war that the administration thought would last six months and was not prepared to really deal with any psychological casualties. And so, the Army that they had served, when they started showing these psychological wounds from war, a lot of times, instead of helping them, it punished them. It kicked them out. When that happens and these guys no longer have any help, a lot of times they just spiraled into a very dark place, and it ended in violence.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, here at Fort Carson, the murder rate, 114 times the murder rate in Colorado Springs, in civilian Colorado Springs?
DAVID PHILIPPS: Well, for that battalion that we looked at, which is amazing. Now, you have to remember that a combat battalion is almost all young men. But even when we correct for demographics, it’s something like 20 times as high. Twice as high would have been amazingly significant. This was off the charts.
The funny thing is, when we called Fort Carson to ask about this, a lot of times the official response was, “We don’t know what the problem is that you’re talking about. You know, it’s unfair for you to try and paint our brave war fighters as criminals.” There was a reluctancy to pick apart the problem and try and solve it.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to talk more about this, as we—after break. We’re joined by Dave Philipps, who wrote a remarkable book called Lethal Warrior[s]. We’re going to be speaking with Andrew Pogany, who is a veteran from Iraq, and Graham Clumpner with us, as well, a veteran of the Afghanistan War. They have gathered in Denver for this gathering, the first Afghanistan retreat of Iraq Veterans Against the War. We’ll continue this discussion, as we broadcast from the Tim Gill Center for Public Media in Colorado Springs. It was just inaugurated last week. It is an honor to be here with the first broadcast, not to mention the first global broadcast, in the center’s history. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting from the Tim Gill Center for Public Media here in Colorado Springs. In Colorado, it is snowing for the first time. We’re in the foot of the Rockies, and we’re in one of the most heavily militarized areas of this country, an area of bases, military bases for the Army, for the Air Force.
We continue our conversation with Dave Philipps, investigative reporter and author. In 2009. he wrote the award-winning two-part series called “Casualties of War” for the Colorado Springs Gazette. Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home is his new book, which shows how a wave of violence swept across Colorado Springs when the 506th Infantry Regiment, known as the Band of Brothers, returned home from their first tour in Iraq.
The Band of Brothers had been deployed to the most violent places in Iraq, and some of the soldiers continued suffering from what they had seen and done in combat, even after leaving the battlefield. Without much time to recover, they were sent back to the front lines. After their second tour of duty, the battalion was renamed the Lethal Warriors, since the soldiers once again brought the violence home.
Also joined by Andrew Pogany, who is a veteran of the Iraq War, and by Graham Clumpner, who served in Afghanistan and now part of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who has organized with a number of others an Afghanistan retreat, the first of its kind for Iraq Weterans Against the War. They’re gathering in Denver.
Andrew Pogany, you served in Iraq when?
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: I was in Iraq in 2003.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2003. This was the first year of the U.S. invasion.
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: You are now a counselor, a psychologist, working—
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: No, no, I’m not a counselor; I am a—I’m veterans’ advocate. I’ve worked as a veterans’ advocate on the national level since my retirement from the Army in 2007. And that work has been combined with investigative work, which is what is part of my training as a professional. So, that’s what I am.
AMY GOODMAN: And what are—
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: I have a colleague—my colleague who I do this work with, he is a counselor.
AMY GOODMAN: What are you finding?
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: We’re finding that the system is very ill-equipped and that the system is also not adapting, and the system is not changing.
One of the things I want to add upfront is that we don’t have a political position on this. We don’t approach any of these issues from the position of whether, you know, the conflict is correct or we should be there or should not be there. Our only concern is that there is an epidemic that is brewing, and it manifests itself mainly in suicides, as well as other social problems, and there are some root causes that need to be addressed. And that’s what we—that’s what we advocate on. Those are the types of cases that we investigate. And we try to bring them to the attention of senior leaders to bring about some change.
We fully acknowledge that, you know, sometimes—you know, and people disagree with our position on this. Sometimes war is important. Sometimes war is necessary. We take a historical look at this. There are democracies, there are nations, there are individuals, who owe their very existence to the fact that it’s being done. But as a nation, we must ask ourselves the question, what is the cost of doing this business? And if we don’t have an honest and open dialogue with the nation and its citizens about what this cost is, then we’re failing. And that cost is not just bombs and bullets. The cost is the psychological cost, the scars, the psychological injuries borne by those who survive war, come home, and then have to reintegrate back into normal life.
So, part of the work that we do also is to not just help individuals, you know, avoid the path to suicide or the path to homelessness or the path to being shoved off into some fringe group of society labeled the mentally ill. Part of our work is to make sure to give those who have honorably served this nation in war an opportunity to come home and to reintegrate and to be able to fully participate in normal life.
AMY GOODMAN: Do think that the mental health services here in Colorado Springs at Fort Carson are working?
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: They are working, to an extent. They are very—there are some very innovative things that have happened at Fort Carson. It’s been a hard road, but Fort Carson has also—as part of the growth and the painful growth that they had to go through, they have had some very, you know, great experiences, and they’ve had some very innovative leaders and thinkers at Fort Carson to bring about some change.
One of the things that we see as the ongoing problem is that there are players in the system that, for whatever reason they’re doing what they’re doing, they are not doing the right thing. And what we’re referring to by saying this is that we encounter case after case after case where it’s an over—it’s painfully obvious that there is malfeasance involved. And that starts with misdiagnosing—purposely misdiagnosing—individuals and players within the system purposely.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean? Why purposely?
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: Well, we have individuals that have the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, and then, when it comes to adjudicating that case, whether from an administrative standpoint or from a medical standpoint, specifically when it comes to affording the individual an opportunity to exit the military, those diagnoses are being changed. They’re being changed to diagnoses that don’t carry disability ratings, don’t carry benefits. And when you change someone’s diagnosis, not only is it unethical and immoral, but you’re preventing them from receiving the proper and appropriate care.
So, if you have someone who has post-traumatic stress disorder, and then they’re fraudulently diagnosed as having an adjustment disorder, it’s—you know, to us, that’s—you know, it’s a very, very serious problem, because, for one, you’re denying them the proper and appropriate care that they need. Number two is, you’re causing what is commonly referred to as “betrayal trauma.” Betrayal trauma is the social component of PTSD. You have an individual who has served, has an experience in combat, they come home with a combat-related injury, an visible injury, and now you’re telling them that they’re just somehow mentally ill. And it’s wrong on every single level, not to mention that from the clinical standpoint, if you look at the DSM4, which is the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual that is the book to help facilitate mental health diagnoses, it clearly states that, for example, if an individual has an Axis I diagnosis such as PTSD, then giving the diagnosis of adjustment disorder is inappropriate.
And we’ve tracked this pattern for years now. In the beginning, it was diagnosing individuals with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries as having personality disorders. Then the next thing was the adjustment disorder. Then it was anxiety disorder NOS. The new trend that we see now is, all of a sudden individuals have somatoform disorder. I mean, it—
AMY GOODMAN: Somatoform?
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: Somatoform disorder, which is absurd. It is really, really absurd. So, recently, for example, there was a scandal at Joint Base Lewis-McChord where it was uncovered—
AMY GOODMAN: In Washington state.
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: In Washington state, that providers were changing individuals’ diagnoses and denying the diagnosis of PTSD. When that came into the news cycle, I received calls, and I was asked the question, “What do you think about this?” And I said that this is—while this is tragic, this is not newsworthy. Why? Because this has been going on for years.
I was involved in an investigation in Fort Carson in 2008, where we identified a provider who admitted that they were purposely misdiagnosing so they don’t have to pay benefits. So this is an ongoing problem, and it is one of the root causes that ultimately leads people to commit suicide.
So, this notion that, you know, that Johnny comes home and somehow committed suicide because he couldn’t balance his checkbook or he had relationship problems, that is only one aspect. And that might be the trigger that caused him to commit suicide, but nobody looks at the path to suicide. Suicide is not something that happens, you know, at the drop of a dime. People don’t wake up in the morning and say to themselves, “What am I going to do today? Commit suicide? Well, that sounds like a good idea.” No, people get on a path, a path that continuously deteriorates their mental state. And at some point in time, they are so compromised that, because of the emotional pain, possible physical pain, that they’re suffering, they see no other way out than to take their own lives.
AMY GOODMAN: There was a suicide just at the beginning of the year.
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: Correct.
AMY GOODMAN: What happened here in Fort Carson?
GEORG-ANDREAS POGANY: Well, there was an individual who took his own life by crashing his vehicle into a light pole, tree, fence kind of combination. And then, as a result of the vehicle accident, he ended up passing away. And it was a suicide. The individual posted on Facebook he was going to do that.
And the reason that particular case is very relevant to us right now, because we have a case right now which is the—this one actually takes the cake, as far as we’re concerned. On the eve and on the heal of the Army’s national suicide prevention stand down in response to |
NPC is damaged.
So in the end our State machine will look like this:
1 ) IDLE BEHAVIORS
Idles are extremely important in Hotline Miami, they will define the main behavior of the NPC, and allow the level Designer to come up with interesting situations for the player.
After thinking about it for a little while i decided to separate each idle as a single state. However, every NPC can only have one type of Idle movement, and all transitions will just go back to the selected idle.
This made it way much easier to implement and less confusing.
The 3 types of Idles are defined as follows:
Idle – Patrol
NPC’s follow a designated path
When the NPC is alerted, it will inspect the point of interest.
When inspect is timed out, the NPC returns to its patrol path.
I made a simple node script which holds the reference to the next node. We will call the group of interconnected nodes a Patrol Path.
The NPC will have a direct reference to any node in this path.
All the nodes have to be connected manually to each other.
Every node has only one next node.
State Start: The NPC will go to the reference node position.
State Update: If i reached my destination, replace my current node, with the next node, then go to that position.
State End: Do Nothing
Idle – Roamer
NPC’s walk forward in a random interval (1-3 seconds).
Everytime the NPC starts walking it turns randomly.
If a NPC’s hits a wall it gets reflected to the other direction
When the NPC is stood still it randomly turns in any direction
This was the tougher state to implement, mostly because it looks very erratic and random at the beginning, however i think i got a pretty close result.
I used 2 different timers in this case, one when the NPC is walking, and one when the NPC is waiting.
State Start: The NPC turns randomly in any direction, then it will ask for a random inverval of “Walk Time”.
State Update: If the NPC its still in inside the walk time, it will walk forward, if it reaches a wall, reflect the NPC and continue walking.
When the “Walk Time” expires, ask for a new “Wait Time”, and also define a “Turn Time” which will be half of the “Wait Time” value.
When the “Turn Time” expires, the npc will turn randomly.
When the “Wait TIme” expires, reset the “Walk Time”, turn randomly and start moving forward.
State End: Do nothing.
Idle – Static
The NPC will stay still on the spot it spawned.
It will only be alerted if there is something in sight.
If something is in sight it will inspect it.
If the ispect is timed out, it will return to its starting position.
State Start: The NPC will go to its spawning position at the beggining of the state, if its already in position it won’t move.
State Update: Do Nothing
State End: Do Nothing
2) INSPECT BEHAVIOR
When the NPC is alerted, it will go to the alerted position.
When the NPC reaches its destination, if there is nothing to do it will go back to what it was doing
This is one of the easiest state that looks harder to do.
The first hard question is about pathfinding since that is a must in this state.
Fortunately we are using the Unity Engine, and unity has a great pathfinding solution with the NavMesh, if you havent heard of it i suggest you check it out first.
After creating our level geometry and baking our NavMesh, all our NPC will have a NavMeshAgent to go around the world, this way we can tell them to go anywhere and they will find the path.
This is the only way NPC’s will traverse the world, through the NavMeshAgent.
Now that the pathfinding is covered, the next step is making the NPC look clumsy when searching, the key factor here is making the NPC go to the alert position and not holding a reference to the alerted object.
This is key to make the NPC not to cheat, and also will help us a bunch on the Attack State.
The Inspect-State is defined as follows:
State Start: Go to the inspect position.
State Update: If the player is inside my weapon radius switch to Attack.
else If i have reached my destination, start a timer and when it is done, go back to Idle. Else, go to inspect position.
State End: Do Nothing
There is also an external method which is called by the NPC sensors (More on that below), that will make the NPC update the inspect position.
3) ATTACK BEHAVIOR
The attack behavior has 2 significant versions:
Both of the attack types work equally, the only difference is the range of the weapon, the delay of the action and the overall time for the attack to finish.
We will code the weapons individually, and add this 3 key values as well as the type of damage it will do (bullets or circular hitTest for melee).
There are 3 main public methods weapons should have:
GetWeaponRange: Returns the range for the weapon. Shoot: It handles the delay and timing of the weapon action. IsFinished: The action is done.
In the case of a machine gun, the action will be shoot just 1 bullet, inspect will switch to attack for every shot.
This state will be called only from the Inspect-State and will do so when the player is within the weapons range.
State Start: Shoot The Weapon, tell the animator to swich to attack state (For the sprite animation).
State Update: If the weapon is finished, go to Inspect.
State End: Tell the animator the attack state is over (To stop the sprite animation).
4) DEAD BEHAVIOR
There is no much to say here, the NPC dies, all our work represented in dead pixels.
The state change will be handled by a public function called by the player when melee by the player or by the player bullets when shot.
It will shutdown all the NPC functions and leave the sprite to be remembered.
NPC SENSORS
Sensors are separate scripts that will call important methods from the Player Behavior.
Sensors can provoke a state change on our NPC.
We can notice 2 key sensors required in the NPC, the sight and hearing.
Sight Sensor
NPC’s in hotline Miami have a really wide Field of View, this makes them very dangerous and aware of their surroundings.
To be honest i am not sure of the exact FoV values, however they behave very similar on our NPCs on the right.
The size of their Field of view also allows them to be very hard to shake off by the player when he/she is being chased.
I simulated the sight sensor with a Sphere Raycast, NPC’s do this every frame (this can be tinkered to be less frequent) and check if the player is inside this sphere, if it is, then they will check if the point is inside their line of sight angle.
The code for getting the angle from the target relative to the player looks like this:
Vector3 direction; direction = overlapedObjects[i].transform.position - transform.position; float targetAngle = Vector3.Angle (direction, transform.forward);
If the player is inside this angle, there is another we have to do, check if it can be directly seen by the NPC (so there is no wall in between), we will do a raycast from the NPC’s position to the target position, if its true then the player is spotted.
When the player is spotted, a method inside the NPC Behavior will be called, this will update the inspect position and if the character is Idle, it will switch to an Inspect State.
The dynamic Field of View is just for visual purposes, since its much more expensive to render than the sphere cast. It is made using 2 semi circles with different radius, a dynamic mesh and a bunch of raycasts. I may go on detail about the dynamic FoV later.
Hearing Sensor
The hearing sensor is much more easier than the sight sensor, I was actually very motivated to start this project due to the fact that i saw how easy it was to do, and it worked so great inside the game.
The key things we will notice from this sensor is that it only works with player firearms, and also it doesn’t alert the NPC in Idle-Static state.
It could be made in a separate module, but the easiest way to do it is to do a simple Sphere Raycast every time the player shoots a weapon, when he/she does, we look for every enemy inside this radius and will send them the new Inspect Position, and change them to a Inspect State.
If the NPC is in Idle-Static, it will just ignore this request.
For tutorial purposes, you will see the radius is pretty small in the.gif, however in Hotline Miami it appears to be like twice that radius.
Conclusions
We can notice, Hotline Miami’s AI is amazingly crafted and designed without being too complicated to implement.
The solutions and behaviors or the NPC’s are very straight forward, but the decision behind how this behaviors should work between each other, its were the hard work exists.
Future Work
Add the 2 missing states, Knocked Down and Looking for Weapon.
Switch how current bullet hit tests work.
Switch the project to Physics 2D in Unity.
Do more levels.
Final Words
I hope you found this article useful, and thanks for reading this far.
If you notice anything off, have any doubts or an idea for my next topic please contact me.
If you are interested in doing something more using this AI, I would love to know. As long as it isnt a Hotline Miami clone.
Overall I really enjoyed developing and analyzing Hotline Miami for this project, and i really wanted to release something interesting about AI.
Credits
I would love to thank specifically Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin for their excellent work on Hotline Miami, and inspiring me to learn through their game.
Also all the people related to the Holtine Miami project like the guys at Devolver Digital.
I would also like to thank the user rileygombart for releasing his top down shooter assets for free, you can check them out here.
Everything else was coded by me.Soon the two-story brick building at Waterbury’s 23 South Main Street — the birthplace of the Alchemist’s Heady Topper — will again have house-brewed beers flowing from its taps.
Earlier this fall, Prohibition Pig owner Chad Rich purchased the one-barrel brewing system formerly used by Sean Lawson of Lawson’s Finest Liquids, and soon Pro Pig brewer Nate Johnson will put it to use for house brews. That is, once the company’s licenses are approved, a process that hit a speed bump because of the government shutdown.
Slowdown notwithstanding, a few lucky drinkers have already gotten to taste Johnson’s first effort, Prohibition Pig Pale Ale. Johnson traveled to Morrisville’s Rock Art Brewery with his own yeast, hops and grain to produce the first 30-keg batch of that beer — which sold out quickly. “We want to have a staple pale ale and then surround it with other beers,” Rich says. “Our goal is not to be a brewpub, but have five or six of our own brews on tap along with all of the other beers we usually serve.”
Pro Pig’s pale ale scored a high rating of 90 on Beer Advocate’s website, and the second batch — made with a slightly different blend of hops — could be tapped as soon as this week. “We wanted a very well-hopped pale ale that’s very approachable, not extremely low alcohol, but something that’s still quaffable,” says Rich. Both batches came in at about 5 percent alcohol.
The restaurant will soon also have on tap a fall Saison brewed with cherrywood-smoked rye. It’s a collaboration between Johnson, Matt Nadeau of Rock Art and Brian Strumke of Maryland’s Stillwater Artisanal Ales, who visited Vermont a few weeks ago.
Once the federal license is approved, Pro Pig’s nanobrewery will swing into action at 23 South Main, though it will eventually migrate to the building directly behind the pub. “Our plans are to build a larger brewery to be up and running by this summer,” Rich says. Though future Pro Pig beers might include “anything and everything,” he adds, one style is definitely in the pipeline: a dark beer aged in some of the 12 former Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels acquired last summer.
The original print version of this article was headlined "Prohibition Pints"1. “Electrocuting An Elephant” (1903)
This list is meant not as a grim catalog of animal abuse for its own sake, but as a list of accidental or deliberate harm done to animals in the process of creating filmed entertainment. So we largely excluded cases where animal killings were captured in documentary films, like Roger & Me or The Cove. But Thomas Edison’s 1903 short “Electrocuting An Elephant” is worth mentioning, since it chronicles an animal death at least partly orchestrated for the sake of a paying audience. Topsy was a circus elephant that worked on Coney Island’s Luna Park. After being deemed a threat to people due to a few attacks, Topsy was sentenced to death by hanging. (The attacks seemed at least a bit retaliatory, since one was prompted by one of Topsy’s trainers trying to feed her a lit cigarette.) Edison intervened, suggesting electrocution instead. Though electrocution was arguably more “humane” (and cinematic), Edison’s ulterior motive was to trump up the effectiveness of his own high-voltage direct-current system. “Electrocuting An Elephant” signals a shift in conceptions of mass entertainment at the turn of the last century. Instead of coming out to see elephants perform at the circus, audiences flocked to newfangled touring cinema sideshows to see one die on film over and over.
2. Stagecoach (1939)
Although still remembered as one of Hollywood’s greatest stuntmen, doubling for John Wayne throughout the 1930s, Yakima Canutt is also somewhat notorious among animal-rights activists for having invented the glorified trip-wire known as the Running W. In the book Hollywood Hoofbeats: Trails Blazed Across The Silver Screen, Petrine Day Mitchum discusses the horrifyingly simple device in great detail, explaining how “wires attached to the horse’s forelegs were threaded through a ring on the cinch and secured to buried dead weights,” so that “when the horse ran to the end of the wires, his forelegs were yanked out from under him.” The Running W invariably produced a spectacular onscreen effect, as it did in Stagecoach, where the coach drivers are firing their rifles at a group of attacking Indian riders. But numerous horses were killed or crippled by the device, which has since been banned.
3. Ben-Hur (1925)
With their whirling, Batmobile-style wheel-destroyers, the chariot races in 1959’s Ben-Hur still stun audiences 50 years after the fact, but they’re nowhere near as dangerous as the scenes in the 1925 version. Directed by second-unit man B. Reeves “Breezy” Eason—whose nickname derived from his fast shooting methods, which unfortunately included a lax attitude toward on-set safety—the race sequences claimed the lives of a human stuntman and at least five horses. Eason intended to make the races as real as possible, offering a bonus to the winning driver and whipping the crowd of extras into a genuine frenzy, which apparently continued unabated even after some were nearly killed by a flying horseshoe.
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4. Jesse James (1939)
Jesse James was one of the biggest hits of 1939, matching the take of Frank Capra’s hit Mr. Smith Goes To Washington the same year. But these days, it’s largely just remembered as the film that got the American Humane Association involved in filmmaking. One of Jesse James’ stunts involved Frank James (Henry Fonda) and his brother Jesse (Tyrone Power) escaping a posse by riding their horses off a tall cliff and into a river. The stunt involved dumping an unwilling horse out of a chute and having a stuntman jump after it. Their fall was shot twice from different angles and cut into the film in sequence, so it would look like both brothers made the dangerous leap. But just one jump was enough to kill the horse. (Accounts vary over whether it drowned because it broke its back in the fall, or because it panicked when it hit the water.) After widespread protests, the Motion Picture Association Of America agreed to let the AHA establish guidelines for the use of animals in films, and oversee filming to ensure compliance. The MPAA was trying to avoid litigation and legislation, but the result was still a stringent set of rules and a set of overseers quick to let the public know if animals were harmed in the course of making a film or TV show.
5. Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Director Michael Cimino is notoriously hard on actors, but according to the American Humane Association, that’s nothing compared to how he mistreated the furred and feathered actors in his notorious flop Heaven’s Gate. The AHA, which was pointedly not allowed on set, accused the production of killing at least four horses, bleeding other horses from the neck, disemboweling cows, accidentally blowing up a horse and its rider with dynamite (the rider survived), staging actual cockfights, and decapitating a chicken. It was, in other words, a horror. The AHA picketed screenings of the film, not that audiences needed additional help in avoiding it.
6. “Land Without Bread” (1933)
Though typically paired on video with his experimental classic short “Un Chien Andalou,” Luis Buñuel’s 30-minute documentary “Land Without Bread” may be the more radical film of the two, “Chien”’s sliced-up eyeball notwithstanding. Buñuel’s grim portrait of Las Hurdes, a desperately poor mountainous region in Spain, doubles as a parody of the still-emerging documentary genre, featuring a narrator whose horrifying factoids about the area are delivered in a distinctly dry, condescending tone. Only a decade removed from Nanook Of The North, which staged scenes before such practices became verboten, “Land Without Bread” arranged for the death of two animals. In the film’s most notorious scene, Buñuel shows a goat falling from a cliff to its death; in reality, this demonstration of Las Hurdes’ treacherous landscape was helped along by an off-screen gunshot. Elsewhere, the filmmakers allegedly staged the death of an ailing donkey by smearing it in honey and knocking over two beehives. Buñuel sought to enrage people with his irreverent twist on the documentary—and succeeded in provoking both sides of the political divide, not to mention the Hurdanos. Retroactive animal activists will have to stand in a long line of protestors.
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7. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973)
No major American filmmaker was as ruthlessly devoted to capturing images of great and painful beauty as Sam Peckinpah, even if it meant laying waste to everything around him, including personal relationships, professional attachments, and his own health. In his breakthrough Western, The Wild Bunch, Peckinpah hinted at what was to come by opening with a scene that showed laughing children torturing a scorpion by dropping it into an anthill, then setting it on fire. Trying to top himself four years later, Peckinpah opened the counterculture Western Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid with Billy and his friends taking target practice by blowing the heads off live chickens buried up to their necks in the dirt. Unnerving as this sight is, he was prepared to go farther. According to Peckinpah biographer Marshall Fine, the director, looking for something more spectacular than he could achieve through trip-wire effects, was eager to fell a horse on-camera by having someone shoot it through the neck while it was being ridden at full gallop. The rider objected, however, and the stuntman talked Peckinpah out of it—not by appealing to his softer side, but by pretending that he’d seen a horse shot dead for a similar stunt, and it actually didn’t look so hot.
8. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
With Cannibal Holocaust, Italian filmmaker Ruggero Deodato set out to make something totally shocking. And it worked. The film follows a documentary crew who go missing in the Amazon while investigating the cultures of some indigenous tribes. A precursor to found-footage horror flicks like The Blair Witch Project and rec., Cannibal Holocaust—which includes plenty of gang rape, splattery violence, and yes, cannibalism—was presented as if it was real, causing all kinds of moral backlash. It wasn’t real. But the murder of a bunch of animals was—most notably, a sea turtle that’s graphically dismembered in a scene that reportedly brought star Perry Pirkanen to tears. While all this violence only further certified the film’s exploitative tastelessness and video-nasty street cred, it also gave the staged violence some extra voltage, further blurring the lines between what was real and what was provocation.
9. Manderlay (2005)
For Manderlay, the ill-fated second film (after Dogville) in Lars von Trier’s incomplete trilogy about America, the director didn’t wait for the press conference to stir up controversy. His story about a ’30s Alabama plantation where slavery persists, roughly 70 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, was certain to be provocation enough. But while shooting on a sound stage in Sweden—von Trier’s fear of flying has kept him off American shores—he had the characters slaughter a donkey for food onscreen. (It was widely reported at the time that John C. Reilly walked off the set in protest, though Variety later claimed he was never on the set to begin with, and that he left the film over the reduction of his role. ) The film’s producer, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, insisted that the donkey was old and sick, and the killing was done humanely, though he added jokingly, “We could probably kill six children for a film without anyone raising a fuss.” Apparently, von Trier isn’t the only Danish filmmaker who gives good press. But after all the drama, the scene was cut from the film.
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10. Sátántangó (1994)
The centerpiece chapter of Béla Tarr’s 450-minute opus about the decline of a farming community in Communist Hungary follows a young girl who has her innocence and naïveté turned against her. Her older brother convinces her that if she buries her coins in the ground, a “moneystalk” will sprout, and they’ll all be rich; not long after she complies, he simply digs up the coins for himself. In response, the girl takes out her powerlessness on her cat, the only creature she can control. The subsequent cat torture is shot in one of Tarr’s signature long, unbroken takes, making the reality of what’s happening to the cat unmistakable. Yet Tarr not only insisted that the scene was shot under veterinarian supervision, but that the cat resided at his home outside Budapest, healthy and happy, for many years after the shoot.
11. Andrei Rublev (1971)
Andrei Tarkovsky’s epic masterpiece Andrei Rublev, a multi-part biography of an early-15th-century icon painter, climaxes with “The Raid,” an unsparing sequence depicting the Tatars storming the Russian city of Vladimir. The shock of witnessing the raid is so extreme that Rublev gives up painting and takes a vow of silence, and Tarkovsky makes certain the audience understands why. Two famous scenes stand out: One involves the burning of a cow (which was shielded by an asbestos coat and unharmed), and the other features a horse that falls from a flight of stairs and gets stabbed by a spear at the bottom. Though the horse was brought in from a slaughterhouse—and sent back afterward, dead, for commercial use—its demise was only simulated in that Tarkovsky shot it in the neck off-camera and gave it a shove; it was then speared after struggling to regain its footing after the fall. It’s a case study in the ethics of killing an animal that was already bound for the glue factory.
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12. Pink Flamingos (1972)
It speaks volumes about the depravity depicted throughout John Waters’ Pink Flamingos that the most memorable animal-related scene in a film about a battle for the title of Filthiest Person Alive isn’t the one where a chicken is killed during a particularly brutal sex scene. The most infamous part, of course, is at the end of the movie, when Divine waits for a dog to move its bowels, then shoves the shit into her mouth. But an hour before, viewers are subjected to about a minute and a half of live chickens being used as sex toys by Crackers (Danny Mills), Divine’s fetishist son, who’s showing off for Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce), his mother’s equally perverted voyeuristic traveling companion. Crackers’ “date,” Cookie (Cookie Mueller)—who’s gathering intel for Divine’s rivals—knows she’s getting herself involved with something nasty when she agrees to the rendezvous, but those poor chickens are blindsided when they’re literally smashed between two naked bodies. Not that Cookie enjoys herself—at the beginning of the scene, it’s difficult to tell who is squawking the loudest, and she screams “No!” before Crackers demands that she “hold these goddamn chickens,” whose blood eventually gets smeared all over her body. Though there are definitely two chickens in the scene, most making-of accounts hold that that only one actually died. Whatever the case, it’s kind of surprising that PETA hasn’t boycotted everything Waters has done since. Here’s Waters’ justification:
13. Flicka (2006)
Animals have intermittently been harmed in the course of making amazing movies, because the driven filmmaker at the helm was less concerned about their safety than about getting a particular shot. But animals have also been killed in the course of making polite treacle, just because the hard-working, uninspired people on the set got careless or had bad luck. It’s especially hard to resist the ironies involved when the treacle is of the family-friendly, animal-celebrating variety. The girl-and-her-horse movie Flicka, based on the novel that inspired the 1941 movie My Friend Flicka and a 1956 TV series, made headlines during its production when a horse was put down after breaking its leg during a running scene, and another broke its neck in a fall after escaping the man holding its tether. A highly publicized investigation concluded that the filmmakers were not at fault for the deaths, but seldom has the American Humane Association’s “no animals were harmed” movie-credits tag been more conspicuous in its absence.
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14. Weekend (1967)
The final film of Jean-Luc Godard’s ’60s hot streak, Weekend is full of speeches and Brechtian effects designed to make the audience aware how movies manipulate their thoughts and emotions through artifice. At some point, Godard must have decided that these techniques were too soft to get across the points he wanted to make, because he shuts up and gets real: Everything else stops while some people hoist up a pig and cut its throat. A goose also gives up the ghost in order to shake viewers out of their bourgeois complacency. Although the film is widely recognized as the director’s masterpiece, not everyone is convinced that this interlude of barnyard realism is among its high points. Pauline Kael wrote in The New Yorker, “Whatever our civilization is responsible for, that sow up there is his, not ours.”
15. Apocalypse Now (1979)
There are few sights more horrifying than a corpulent Marlon Brando in a black muumuu, but the ritual slaughter of a water buffalo at the climax of Apocalypse Now wins by an arterial squirt. The buffalo was already marked for ritual sacrifice by the indigenous tribe cast as the disciples of Brando’s gone-native Colonel Kurtz, and the argument was that it would have been hacked to death whether or not the cameras were rolling. But director Francis Ford Coppola is well aware of the shock value of watching a living creature fall apart like soft butter under the tribe’s blades, given that he uses it as a visual stand-in for what’s happening to the barely seen Brando as his assassin attacks with a similar machete.
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16. Cockfighter (1974)
Monte Hellman didn’t shrink from the most difficult aspects of adapting Charles Willeford’s novel Cockfighter, whether that meant rendering star Warren Oates mute for almost the entire movie, or staging genuine to-the-death battles between unlucky roosters. The brutality of the supposed sport is examined in unflinching detail as the birds’ owners affix metal spurs to the cocks’ legs (which enables them to more easily strike lethal blows) and use threatening gestures to inflame their defensive instincts. Producer Roger Corman amped up the spectacle by demanding more fake blood and retitling the film Born To Kill, but the documentary-style footage is horrifying enough to need no enhancement.
17. The Rules Of The Game (1939)
Midway through Jean Renoir’s masterful comedy of manners, a group of well-to-do French socialites head into the woods surrounding a country estate near Sologne. While servants drum out rabbits and birds with sticks, the perched hunters take aim in a clearing. Renoir’s editing is fiercely paced (well, for 1939), giving vibrant, visceral life to the hunt. And he used real rabbits, which amped up the sense of realism even further. It also colors Renoir’s characterizations of the upper classes, dispassionately firing from behind thorny barricades as the help scrambles around aimlessly. In what is likely the film’s most famous shot, Renoir lingers on a rabbit twitching in its death throes. The grisly image not only foreshadows a murder later in the picture, it gives a sense of ethical gravity to an accepted hobby like sport shooting.
18. Oldboy (2003)
“I want to eat something alive,” Choi Min-sik tells his chef at a sushi bar. He’s just been abruptly ejected from the hotel suite where he spent 15 years in solitary captivity, with no idea who was holding him against his will or why, and he’s feeling dead inside, so he counteracts that sensation by devouring a living creature. Or maybe, given that his unknown captor has just been mocking him via cell phone, he wants to take his fury out on something tangible, and extend his suffering to a creature as helpless as he feels. Director Park Chan-wook captures a remarkable shot of the dead-eyed Choi biting the octopus to pieces as it struggles, tentacles pushing against his face and wrapping around his wrist as it dies. There’s no CGI or fakery involved—getting that shot meant the actor had to eat four live octopuses in a row. It was a problematic requirement for Choi, a practicing Buddhist; he explained in interviews that he had to pray for each octopus, and in the behind-the-scenes video below, he apologizes to one of them before a take. It’s a kind sentiment, but still a horrible way to die.
19. Dry Summer (1964)
Dry Summer’s sensationalized original British release title sums up its main human transgression: I Had My Brother’s Wife. In this Turkish drama, Greedy older brother Erol Tas cuts off access to the only spring in his rural area, damming it up on his property at the expense of the villagers downstream. When he shoots a protesting neighbor, Tas gets his younger brother to go to jail for the murder, and forcibly takes up with his bride. Winning the woman over takes a lot of terror, and no moment is as shockingly unexpected as Tas cutting off a chicken’s head and throwing the squawking fowl at her. It’s impossible to doubt the veracity of the one-shot decapitation, especially when the bird keeps running around in the background for the rest of the shot, rubbing in the cruelty.
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20. Luck (2012)
When HBO announced its new horse-racing drama Luck in 2010, it garnered attention because of the big names behind and in front of the camera: David Milch, Michael Mann, Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte. But as filming of the series progressed, it got attention for less-welcome reasons, namely the deaths of two thoroughbreds that occurred during filming of the show’s racing sequences. HBO, as well as Milch and Mann, insisted that the show followed the most stringent safety standards, and that deaths like these happen at the racetrack in much higher percentages than was happening on the set of Luck. Then, during shooting for the second episode of the second season, a third horse got spooked while being walked by a trainer, and ended up fracturing its skull; it had to be put down. It was then that HBO, perhaps evaluating the low ratings and bad buzz, shut production down for good.
21. The Adventures Of Milo and Otis (1986/1989)
Originally released in Japan in 1986, The Adventures Of Milo And Otis depicted the best-buddies relationship between a kitten and a pug. (A U.S. release, three years later, tacked on some Dudley Moore narration.) But as cute as the film is, it’s been dogged by rumors of animal cruelty, with particular emphasis on a claim that 20 kittens were killed in the course of filming. Though the rumors were never substantiated, animal-rights activists point out that the film’s end credits don’t use the standard American Humane Association disclaimer (as it was filmed in Japan) but instead a more vague, “The animals used were filmed under strict supervision with the utmost care for their safety and well-being.” Regardless of offscreen abuse, a lot of what made it into the film meets any reasonable definition of animal cruelty. While some of the more harrowing scenes were cut for U.S. audiences, others remained, like the one in which a cat plunges more than a hundred feet off a cliff into the ocean. Other controversial scenes include Otis the pug fighting a bear and Milo floating helplessly down a river, then being attacked by a crab; they’re hardly heart-warming moments.Thank you donaters! You made this possible!
This is inspired by the episode, 'Party of One'. No fannon here, sorry.Knives and gore are just not my thing. I've never read Cupcakes and I really don't plan on ever doing so.I was listening to this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfniC… while making this piece.I uploaded a massive-sized version of this because it's almost completely vectorized. The only things that aren't vectors are the gradient shadows and the marbled texture. (The paint took me FOREVER) The darker colors are a separate group, with a feathered mask to let the bright group show underneath, so IDK if that counts as not vector or whatever.Stained Glass design is based on the Stations of Awakening from Kingdom Hearts, copyright Square Enix and Disney.Characters and other elements are from My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic, copyright Hasbro and Lauren Faust.Skip to comments.
Obama is missing!
DN.no (Nowegian Forum) ^ | December 2, 2008 | James W. von Brunn
Posted on by wannabegeek
click here to read article
To: TigersEye; Reagan Man
These threads have been attracting some very rude posters, recently, who just engage in name-calling without providing substantive answers.
To: MinuteGal
Since you're a poem aficionado, Obama is what was ‘way upstairs’ in Little Orphan Annie. 'And the Goblins 'l git ya if ya don't watch out.'
by 42 posted onby MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
To: CaribouCrossing
Sorry, bucko. I don’t accept your premise or your attempt to equate Reagan with a buncha kook ideas. Obama won the election. Get over it and get on with it. You’d be better off putting your energy into advancing the conservative agenda and working to get conservatives elected in 2010.
by 43 posted onby Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
To: clyde_m
Three sixes..
by 44 posted onby sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
To: proud American in Canada; Reagan Man
Reagan Man’s entire posting history is a litany of substanceless flame baiting of conservative positions.
by 45 posted onby TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
To: loungitude
“The man without a past.” He definitely has a past, but no one seems to bother what that past may be. How can this country vote for a POTUS who is a total enigma? This country is standing on the railroad tracks observing a train coming at full speed at it.
by 46 posted onby 353FMG (The sky is not falling, yet.)
To: wannabegeek
>What is going on??? Those that are in power are no-longer “of the peopple” and are willing to flaunt it. >WHERE ARE THE GOOD PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY - ARE YOU OUT THERE??? I believe it was Heinlein, in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, who wrote: Government does not want a moral people, because a moral people are free; instead it wants laws that are so cumbersome and complex that you cannot help but break them, for that is how a government holds power over people. {Or something very similar.}
by 47 posted onby OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
To: TigersEye
You’re the one promoting off the wall notions. I’m just pointing out your lunacy.
by 48 posted onby Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
To: wannabegeek
He's a Real Nowhere Man....... Sitting in His Nowhere Land.... Making all His Nowhere Plans..... For Nobody.....
by 49 posted onby BossLady (Ok Everybody......Get Ready For......'THE MOOD RING PRESIDENCY'......)
To: Reagan Man
Youre the one promoting off the wall notions. Name one.
by 50 posted onby TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
To: TigersEye
Wrong! I stick to the facts, not dumbass conspiracy theories.
by 51 posted onby Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
To: wannabegeek
The only thing that I know for sure with regard to Barack |
ires you and smiles when they think of you. Oh yes, there sure is. You may not even know who it is. It could very well be a secret admirer. Take that in for one minute. Someone loves you. Thank you.
6. I feel good!
Healthier, happier, more energy, less trips to the doctors, better sleep, higher metabolism, and the list goes on and on. Research shows that people who tend to feel and show more gratitude experience all those good things and then some. When we are grateful we naturally just feel better and healthier. Thank you.
7. Good things come to those who are already grateful for the good things they have.
If there is one sure fire way to attract more good stuff in your life, it’s to be grateful for all the things you already have. You want a better job? Be grateful for the one you have. You want a nicer car? Take care of the one you have now and be grateful for it all the time.
You can’t spend your days complaining about the things you have and then expect better things to come to you. The Universe doesn’t work that way. It hears you. Remember that. That car, that job, that apartment? Thank you.
8. More people will like you which, in turn, increases your self-esteem.
When people see that you have an attitude of gratitude they will gravitate to you more and have more respect for you. It might also inspire them to be more grateful too because they see how happy you are. You get to change people for the better. Thank you.
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What are your reasons for being more grateful? Share in the comments section below. We love to hear from you.
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The case for a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton
America tried to let Hillary Clinton off the hook. Despite cries of “Lock her up” during the campaign, most of the nation had little appetite for prosecuting her after the election, with even Donald Trump willing to give her a free pass.
“I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” Trump told the New York Times two weeks after his victory. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.”
But the Clinton email scandal, like Clinton herself, won’t go away. It remains a blot on the legacy of the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the FBI, and now comes fresh evidence that the investigation that cleared her was a total sham.
The revelation from the Senate Judiciary Committee that J. Edgar Comey drafted his statement exonerating her about two months before FBI agents interviewed Clinton or 16 other witnesses confirms suspicions that the probe was neither honest nor thorough. When the outcome is decided long before the investigation is over, the result can’t be trusted.
Imagine a baseball game where the final score is decided before the players take the field. What’s the point of playing the game, and why should spectators trust anyone involved?
So it is with the FBI probe of Clinton. The new evidence, Trump said in a tweet, is proof of a “rigged system!” There is no better way to describe it.
There is only one possible cure for this kind of rot — a special counsel charged with reopening the Clinton email case and the actions of Jim Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Two dozen House Republicans demanded a special counsel in July, and the chorus is certain to grow because of testimony showing Comey made his decision long before the probe ended.
The testimony came from two top officials under Comey when he headed the FBI, one of them his chief of staff, Jim Rybicki. It was made during an internal probe of Comey’s conduct, which was stopped when Trump fired him in May.
Both officials said under oath that Comey circulated the first draft of a statement clearing Clinton in April or May of last year, even though Clinton wasn’t interviewed until July 2. Just three days later, Comey publicly cleared the Democratic nominee of any criminal charges.
“Conclusion first, fact-gathering second — that’s no way to run an investigation,” Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina charged in a bombshell letter to the FBI that included excerpts of the previously secret testimony. They demanded the bureau turn over all drafts of Comey’s statement and other documents related to the final decision.
The development is more proof that Comey was not the Boy Scout he pretended to be. As I have written, he learned well the lesson of J. Edgar Hoover that gathering dirt on top officials, including presidents, was the best job security.
But Comey made big mistakes, and the new evidence offers a clear suggestion he lied to Congress on at least one occasion.
Politico reports that, at a House hearing a year ago, while Barack Obama was still president, Comey denied any decision had been made not to charge Clinton before she was interviewed.
“If colleagues of ours believe I am lying about when I made this decision, please urge them to contact me privately so we can have a conversation about this,” Comey testified. “All I can do is tell you again, the decision was made after that because I didn’t know what was going to happen in that interview.”
He could make those assertions secure in the Washington wisdom that Clinton would win the election and the issue of his conduct would never see the light of day. After all, he would have all the dirt on her.
But Trump’s victory changed everything, and by early May, Comey was telling Congress he had lost faith in Lynch last year because of her tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton in Phoenix. He had never before raised such concerns.
He changed his tune again after Trump fired him, telling Congress he kept detailed notes of his meetings with Trump because he didn’t trust him. He admitted leaking those notes to the media in hopes it would lead to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump.
He succeeded, and the investigation by Robert Mueller is ongoing, and hardly a day goes by without a leak about who in Trump’s circle has been summoned to a grand jury.
Perhaps conveniently, a new leak emerged Thursday, saying Mueller got copies of a draft letter that reflected Trump’s reasons for firing Comey. Could the timing of the leak have anything to do with the release of the Grassley-Graham letter the same day?
It is a reflection of the peculiarities of last year’s campaign that a special counsel on Clinton would be the ultimate in fair play. Because the FBI investigated both Clinton and Trump during the election, a special counsel for Clinton would perfectly complement Mueller’s probe of Trump. Presumably, an equal number of leaks will be part of the deal.
Think of it as a sequel to 2016. And maybe someday America will learn what it did to deserve an election that refuses to get off the stage.
This is an actual quote
Gary Cohn, Trump’s economic adviser, defended the tax plan in a TV interview. Count the times he uses his favorite word in two sentences:
“Those deductions actually affect the high-bracket payers, so when you actually simplify that tax returns you’re actually affecting the high taxpayers the most.
“As you simplify the tax system, you actually reduce taxes on middle-class income payers and average Americans and you’re actually taxing the higher end at a higher rate.”
Actually — you don’t need to say it.
The silence of the libs on Columbus
With Los Angeles the latest city to cancel Columbus Day in favor of “Indigenous People’s Day,” liberal New York pols must decide whether to celebrate Christopher Columbus on Oct. 9.
Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio marched in the Fifth Avenue parade to honor the man credited with discovering America.
That was before de Blasio mused about removing the Columbus statue from Columbus Circle as part of his war against “symbols of hate.”
Cuomo, after ordering the removal of two Confederate busts from a Bronx college with zero public debate, has been silent about Columbus.
What’s it going to be, Gov? Off with his head, or will you have the courage to stand up to the goon squad this time?
‘Stringing’ us along
Scott Stringer should have the courage to join the side he’s on.
The Post reports that the city comptroller has conducted 18 audits of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s education department and found it “an opaque agency that acts as if the rules don’t apply to them.”
Yet still Stringer endorses fellow Democrat de Blasio, illustrating how one-party rule screws taxpayers and children.The Scottish Liberal Democrats have decided not to take legal action over the North East Fife General Election result.
The party had been considering a court challenge after candidate Elizabeth Riches lost out to the SNP's Stephen Gethins by just two votes.
Mr Gethins was returned as MP of the constituency with the smallest majority in the UK after three recounts.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "Many people have asked us to challenge the result in court.
"We have given this careful consideration and, despite legal advice that we would have grounds to challenge the result, it has been decided not to go to court.
"We have decided there is insufficient evidence to justify a lengthy and expensive legal challenge. It would be expensive for us, expensive to the taxpayer and an inconvenience to the voters, so we could not sanction that without sufficient evidence to warrant it."
Responding to the decision, Mr Gethins said: "This was obviously a matter for the Liberal Democrats and Fife Council. Since the election I have been getting on with the job of representing constituents across North East Fife regardless of how they voted.
"I would like to pay due credit to the returning officer and everyone involved in the count last Thursday. It was a long evening both for the counting staff and activists from all parties who were a credit to the political process that evening.This week, Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute, released a vital and fascinating new book, The Right to Try: How the Federal Government Prevents Americans from Getting the Lifesaving Treatments They Need. It’s a must-read rebuttal of the left’s number one argument for big government: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protects us from evil capitalists who would alternatively poison us or toss us into meat grinders for the viewing pleasure of Sinclair Lewis. Olsen argues persuasively that the federal government kills Americans with its useless bureaucracy and counterproductive belief that the government must protect sick Americans from making their own decisions regarding their sickness.
The book begins with a description of Ted Harada, a young father diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). ALS is a death sentence; it has a 100% death rate, and the only question is whether death will come in five years or two. But Harada had an experimental stem cell surgery at Emory University that reversed his symptoms completely – until the FDA stepped in to stop him from having further surgeries. Harada’s surgery is also unavailable to the approximately 24,000 people who have died since Emory’s clinical trial began.
Olsen points out:
In 2012 … there were just 940 requests for experimental drugs approved in the entire country under the FDA’s compassionate use program. According to the American Cancer Society, that same year about 1,638,910 Americans were diagnosed with and about 577,190 died from cancer alone. Millions more are diagnosed each year with other terminal diseases. Clearly, the system is failing to help the vast majority of Americans who are fighting to save their lives.
Olsen advocates for the Right to Try: the right to attempt to preserve your life so long as that attempt hurts no one else. Right to Try legislation – legislation preserving the rights of terminally ill patients – has now succeeded in states all over America.
The book is an eloquent tome on behalf of this Right to Try. The stories in the book break your heart. Take, for example, the story of Jenn McNary and her two sons, Austin and Max, both of whom suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. One of her sons, Max, received a lifesaving drug, while the government banned the other son from receiving it. Jenn says Austin “doesn’t understand why the grown-ups in his world can’t figure this out and make things happen faster for him.” Jenn tried to work with a company called Sarepta, but the FDA held them up, over and over again, despite the passage of a new law that should have fast-tracked the development of the necessary drugs. In the end, the FDA still has not invited Sarepta to apply for approval of the necessary drug. That decision has left 12,000 to 16,000 boys out in the cold.
The FDA’s decision-making process is so problematic that families are moving overseas to avoid its tentacles. Diego Morris, 11, contracted osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. His parents wanted to put him in a clinical trial for Mifamurtide, a biological therapy “that stimulates the immune system to attack cancer.” Despite the fact that trials worked wonders with the drug, the FDA met its application with hostility. In Europe, however, drug approval moved smoothly. It has become standard care in countries from the United Kingdom to Israel. Morris’ family ended up helping to push Right to Try legislation through the Arizona legislature to fight the FDA.
The book isn’t just stories. It explains how companies have had to battle with the FDA, and how individuals have had to pay a massive price in health and cash to fight the agency. It explains how the FDA’s so-called “compassionate use” program hasn’t fulfilled its promise to Americans. Polls of doctors show that physicians feel that medical specialists are hindered by the FDA’s processes when it comes to treating terminally ill patients.
This is a bipartisan issue, says Olsen: “We are the 99 percent. We demand change, and we will get it.” They call on Americans to use social media to fight for Right to Try – social pressure, says the Goldwater Institute, is the key to moving the agenda forward. “When patients and parents know a drug is working,” writes Olsen, “they are not going to sit back and wait years for the FDA to satisfy itself with near-100 percent certitude about the efficacy of a drug. Patients are demanding action.”
So should we all. And picking up a copy of The Right to Try would be a great first step.
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News, Editor-in-Chief of DailyWire.com, and The New York Times bestselling author, most recently, of the book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.The 23-year-old Nigerian, charged with attempting to destroy a US aircraft on its final approach to Detroit airport, was "recruited" in London and "groomed" in Yemen by the al Qaeda, a British newspaper has claimed.
Quoting security sources, The Times reported that the pictures emerging of undergraduate years of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a former president of the Islamic Society at University College London, suggests that he was recruited by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network in London.
According to the newspaper, one of the events he had organised took place in January 2007, and included talks on Guantánamo Bay, the alleged torture of prisoners and the War on Terror.
In fact, Abdulmutallab is the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. One is facing a re-trial on charges that he was involved in the 2006 liquid bomb plot to blow up airliners.
Two others were convicted of terrorist offences since 2007.
Abdulmutallab, who left UCL last year, also attempted to renew his student visa in May this year on basis of an application to study "life coaching" at a non-existent college, the newspaper said.
"That visa refusal may have saved Britain from an attack. His terrorist training took a new turn in August when he moved to Yemen, to study Arabic, and was schooled by al Qaeda there. Abdulmutallab featured on the periphery of one counterterrorism intelligence operation in Britain," it said.
Abdulmutallab, the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, is alleged to have set off an explosive device as the flight approached Detroit airport on Christmas Day. The device caused a fire which burned his legs. Al Qaeda, which has claimed the attack, said it failed due to a "faulty detonator".x YouTube Video
A chance conversation led to a connection with Apache Village RV. Though neither Jake nor the people at Apache Village had ever seen a “shower truck,” they tackled the project immediately. The RV center installed two showers, sinks, flooring, heating, air conditioning, all the plumbing, and the owners of Apache Village RV picked up the tab.
They were far from the last to contribute to the project. Donors Lois Stitch and John Gialouris provided the money for the critical (and costly) generator. Part of Lois Stitch’s contributions came in a unique, if heartbreaking, way. With her own death pending, she asked that rather than sending flowers for the funeral, her friends and family contribute to Jake’s growing project.
The last big piece of the truck came when local businessman Sid Ambort donated a commercial grade tankless propane water heater powerful enough to keep the hot water flowing for long periods. Now the project had a truck, with a generator, heat, sinks, and showers. It was missing just one big thing—water.
While an ordinary RV can pack enough water for a few fast showers, providing the amount of water the Shower to the People! truck needed was going to take access to a supply, and there aren’t exactly handy RV parks with standard connections in the middle of the city. Where to turn for plumbing expertise? Union workers! Local 562 of the Pipefitters Union turned the truck into a project for their apprenticeship program and installed not just the water lines, but the propane lines. The plumbing has some special features. It allows the truck to be connected to an ordinary hydrant, and has the necessary valves and fittings to step down the pressure to appropriate levels.
Jake himself added the finishing touches—shower doors, hand rails, curtains, soap pumps, trim, etc. It took a month to make sure that the truck was much more than just a water spout on wheels, but an environment where people would feel welcome and comfortable. The final result was much more than anyone might have expected when the project began.
Tell me that doesn’t look great.
But even the best looking truck wasn’t ready to roll without more volunteers and without funds to make day-to-day operations possible. In 2015, Jake got together with FOCUS North America, a movement of Orthodox Christians that focuses on sustainable solutions for those in poverty. FOCUS is involved in more than 50 programs across America.
By that time several groups had offered to help and Wells Fargo had come through with a $15,000 grant, but Jake had a special reason for going with FOCUS.
Focus North America was one of many organizations that wanted to get involved with Shower To The People, I ended up choosing to partner with them because, while they are a faith based organization, they aren't the stereotypical "sermon and a sandwich" group. There are a lot of redundant services working in the homeless community, many of which are more about promoting a religious message than providing to untended needs. Focus on the other hand, is committed (as are we) to providing "lasting solutions that bring people from dependency to self-sufficiency". Though their organization is deeply rooted in Christian faith, their work is on meeting the immediate needs of the community.
By pairing with FOCUS, Jake was able to quit his day job and still provide for his family while devoting himself full time to Shower To The People. With everything in place, the Shower To the People truck rolled out for its first day on the streets on May 26, 2016.
x YouTube Video
Shower To the People is just getting started in delivering services and is still in the testing phase. In just the first two days on the road, they helped more than 50 people. Once they’re up and running at full speed, they expect to provide showers to 60 people each day. More than 200 foundations, businesses, and individuals have donated time, money, or materials to bring the project this far.
Currently Shower to the People is looking for new locations and adding more staff to keep the truck up, out, and running. They’re hoping to raise the funds for a second truck for St. Louis (roughly $45,000) that would provide both showers and mobile, free laundry services. They’re also working to find a different water source for those winter days when it’s too cold to open a hydrant.
Nick Chakos, the CEO of FOCUS North America, adds that they’d very much like to take this project beyond St. Louis.
FOCUS has operations in 50 cities across America and mobile shower units are in great demand at each location. We would love to build a national network of Shower to the People trucks providing these vital services everywhere that FOCUS works. We also receive many phone calls each month from people asking FOCUS to come to their town and offer services. I believe that we can start to work in new cities by bringing Shower To The People to any town in the nation. It’s a great way to encourage volunteerism among city residents while providing humanizing services to people in need. Shower to the People is a perfect program in every sense – simple in design, easy to implement, and it addresses a critical need that is completely overlooked. Cities nationwide struggle to provide hygiene services to their homeless populations. This lack of basic services in turn causes tension among the homeless, local officials, business owners, and residents. Shower to the People not only helps the homeless by giving them showers, but it’s also a reliable service for cities and towns, helping them to care for a disadvantaged segment of the population in an innovative way. When people have access to basic hygiene services, they’ll be less inclined to rely on public facilities – libraries, parks, etc. for their basic needs.
If you’ve ever experienced a prolonged power or water outage, you know just how quickly a hot shower moves from something you do without thought, to something that you really desire, to a desperate need. Think about the people who are on the street who have no access to showers for weeks or months at a time. Think about how difficult it would be to just get through the day without a place to wash, shave, and clean up—and how difficult it would be to get and keep any sort of job.
A truck with a couple of shower stalls … it’s not a small thing for the people receiving the service, or for those providing it.
Shower to the People is inspirational because of the immediacy of the results it brings. It’s metaphorical in so many ways – you see someone enter the shower truck dirty, disheveled, and distressed. They come out fresh, renewed, smiling, and ready to take on the challenges in their lives. From that one shower, we build a strong connection, and a sense of trust, with the homeless. It’s amazing that something so simple can have such a refreshing impact on physical, emotional and even economic renewal.
Many thanks to Jake and to Nick for answering many questions and providing the information for this article.
Both Jake and FOCUS are also involved in “Raise the Bar,” a social enterprise that employs members of Focus North America's transitional house to make soap used both on the shower truck, and for sale to the community. Profits from these sales help to fund Raise the Bar and Shower to the People.In UNRWA’s books, a refugee can be just about anyone who wants to be one
In the West, it’s known as welfare fraud. In the Palestinian Territories, it’s called refugee relief. In both places, the fraud can become a way of life, seen as an entitlement that children and then grandchildren adopt. Only in the Palestinian Territories, though, does the welfare agency see its goal as putting more people on welfare and keeping them there, the better to keep “the Palestinian refugee crisis” alive.
That welfare agency is called the United Nations Relief and Aid Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA as it’s commonly known. UNRWA doesn’t focus its efforts on resettling Palestinian refugees in foreign countries that would welcome them, as might be expected of a refugee agency, or even on resettling them in their own homeland when possible.
UNRWA doesn’t even limit its efforts to what most people, and all dictionaries, would consider “refugees” — in UNRWA’s books, a refugee can be just about anyone who wants to be one. As a result, the number of Palestinian “refugees,” rather than diminishing to nothing, has grown like topsy over the decades.
UNRWA didn’t always have a create-new-refugees mission. Founded in 1949 as a temporary organization to alleviate the plight of Palestinian refugees fleeing Israel, its laudable goal included emergency relief and “the economic integration of the refugees in host countries.” By funding nearby development projects that would employ the refugees, UNRWA intended to “make them self-sufficient to a point where their names could be deleted from the relief rolls.” UNWRA initially even culled its lists of fraudulent applications, thought to number in the tens of thousands, by people using false births and duplicate registrations with variations of their names.
But UNRWA’s goals soon changed, both because Arab states generally refused to accept the Palestinian refugees that would accompany the development projects and because many refugees themselves balked at being resettled.
When Foreign Affairs Minister Manley offered to resettle Palestinians in Canada, Palestinians responded by burning Manley in effigy
UNRWA then morphed from a temporary organization into a permanent “huge welfare agency, prolonging its beneficiaries’ dependence instead of giving them tools to become self-sufficient,” according a report by James G. Lindsay, a former legal advisor and general counsel for UNRWA, who lamented “the agency’s funding of food rations to large numbers of refugees who were perfectly capable of providing for their own sustenance.”
To expand its reach, UNRWA redefined who would be eligible for welfare. Its definition of “refugee,” always a politically determined moving target, changed from its early version: “a person whose normal residence had been Palestine for a minimum of two years preceding the 1948 conflict and who, as a result, had lost both his home and means of livelihood.”
UNRWA decided to treat homeless Palestinians who hadn’t fled Israel as refugees. Then less needy Palestinians who hadn’t fled Israel and hadn’t even lost their homes received refugee status — Palestinians who had always lived outside Israel could now receive refugee status, even if they lived continuously in the same home they, their fathers and grandfathers had inhabited.
Then UNRWA expanded the definition of refugee to include needy nomadic Bedouins and Arab villagers who lived in Palestine but had used fields that became part of Israel. Then to include needy urban residents of Palestine who had held jobs in Israel. UNRWA also counted some needy non-Palestinians in neighbouring Lebanon. Then UNRWA dropped the requirement to be needy. Also the requirement to have continuously resided in the Palestinian territories after the 1948 war with Israel — a Palestinian who had moved to Canada, decided after a few years he preferred Gaza, and then moved back could now have his refugee status, and entitlements, reinstated. Finally, UNRWA changed the definition of refugee to include the grandchildren and great grandchildren of refugees. Not surprisingly, the number of official refugees soared, from an original official estimate of 726,000 (unofficial estimates are as low as 500,000) to more than 5 million official UNRWA refugees today.
This expansion of the refugee rolls — overwhelmingly paid for by Western taxpayers — paralleled the politicization of UNRWA, which over the decades grew to be 99% staffed by Palestinians, its self-perpetuating bureaucracy of 30,000 employees running schools and hospitals, providing security services in the West Bank and Gaza to counter Israel, and becoming a government within a government in the Palestinian Territories.
Because keeping refugee numbers high became a political goal to help rally international condemnation of Israel while securing more aid, neither the Palestinian leadership nor UNRWA looked favourably on those who would lower the refugee rolls. When Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in 2000 and Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley in 2001 naively offered to resettle Palestinians in Canada, Palestinians responded by burning Manley in effigy in the West Bank. “If Canada is serious about resettlement, you could expect military attacks in Ottawa or Montreal,” said the head of a Fatah militia. “We reject any kind of settlement of refugees in Arab countries, or in Canada,” said the PLO.
The Palestinian “refugee crisis” — considered the most intractable problem preventing a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — is one that neither UNRWA nor its Palestinian confederates can countenance ending. They have a good racket going that will last as long as the West keeps bankrolling it.
Lawrence Solomon is executive director of the Urban Renaissance Institute and a member of the advisory board of StandWithUs Canada. [email protected].
This is the fourth piece in a series related to Israel’s war with Gaza. For the other three, click here, here, and here.Teen Pregnancy Declines, But U.S. Still Lags
Roxana Castro sits in an orange chair in the waiting room at Mary's Center in Washington, D.C. She's 17, and expecting a baby boy next month. The pregnancy was a surprise, she says, mostly for her parents, but also for the baby's father.
Even with her mother's help, Castro admits she's nervous. The father of the baby says he'll be there, but she knows this is a big responsibility, and says she's not ready to start a family just yet.
"A baby is so fragile," she says. "I don't know how to take care of it or anything."
The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is the highest in the developed world. In 2008, nearly 7 percent of girls between ages of 15 and 19 became pregnant. But there's good news: The numbers have been going down for a few decades, hitting a 42-percent drop by 2008. The decline occurred across all races — though blacks and Latinos continued to have higher numbers.
The dramatic decline is a huge success for those who have worked to prevent teen pregnancy, but there's still much work ahead.
Prenatal Care – And Preventive Action
Last year, Mary's Center worked with nearly 200 prenatal-care patients under 19 years old.
Bernadete Aldrich is one of the first people who talks with the girls who walk through the doors. She sees three or four pregnant teens every week.
"A lot of them come, unfortunately, in the end of pregnancy, so they would not have prenatal care," she says. They come because they're afraid. "They are afraid of parents, or society or school. They hide as much as they can. They need a lot of information."
Mary's Center offers counseling and other services to pregnant teens, but what they're most proud of here is their after-school program.
Franchesca Medina, 17, has been coming to the after-school program for a few years.
"We do homework, workshops, we have fun — we watch movies," she says.
And they talk about sex. Franchesca isn't shy about how she prevents pregnancy.
"Condoms," she says. "And also, I'm wearing the patch."
U.S. Lags
"Teens have really done a terrific job," says Sarah Brown, the CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "They are having less sex, and those who are having sex are using better forms of contraception."
Brown calls the ongoing decline in teen pregnancies a profound change – and last year's change absolutely surprising.
"The teen birth rate last year went down 9 percent," she says. "That is the single-largest one-year decline that's ever been noted since we started counting, I don't know, in the Truman administration."
Even so, the teen birth rate in America is still higher than every other developed country – three times higher.
"I think the primary explanation is not that they have... fewer teens having sex, but U.S. teens are not as good... at using good contraception," Brown says.
Someday, though, Brown says the U.S. can achieve the same figures as those other countries.
"I see no reason why we can't get there, but we'll have to focus on these things we've been talking about — sexual activity, contraceptive views, relationships, cost of contraception and how that affects choices," she says. "And all these things have been dealt with, to greater or lesser success, in some of these countries that have lower rates."
Preventing The Slide Into Poverty
There's a connection between teen motherhood and poverty that's often the subject of debate. The conventional wisdom is that a teenage girl has a baby young, maybe out of wedlock, and that is the start of a fall into poverty. New studies, however, say it is actually a lack of economic opportunity that leads teens to pregnancy. Brown says it's both.
"Teen pregnancy often is a continuation of a pattern in a family or in a neighborhood where a lot of young women have had babies at a young age," she says. "But I think the answer is that by postponing pregnancy and childbearing till an older age, these young women have a chance to escape poverty — but it's not assured."
That's one reason learning about contraception is only part of Mary's Center's strategy to prevent unplanned pregnancies.
"We just keep them busy," says Lydia Casmier-Derfler, who helps coordinate the teen program.
"We keep them busy with college prep, we keep them busy with tutoring, learning about financial management, so on and so forth, and so instead of being in the streets," she says, "they're here at Mary's Center instead."
One of the things that I think really helped people was seeing how bad the data really was.
Mary's Center is happy with its results. Last year, more than 100 teens participated in the after-school program, and not one became pregnant. Places like Mary's Center have helped to lower Washington, D.C.'s teen pregnancy rate. Still, the decline of teen pregnancy rates in the city over the past three decades is only half of what's been seen nationwide.
A Cultural Shift
One state that has long struggled with high rates of teen pregnancy is Mississippi. It used to be that sex education was not required in Mississippi school districts, and abstinence was the state's official policy.
Last summer, the state legislature voted to give school districts the choice of adopting a new policy called Abstinence Plus. A group called Mississippi First is trying to get school districts with the highest birth rates to adopt it.
"Many people don't realize that almost every single county in Mississippi has a teen birth rate that is higher than the national average," says Rachel Canter, the group's executive director. Some counties have a rate of about 111 teen births out of every 1,000 girls, she says.
The response has been encouraging; 35 school districts said they wanted to sign onto the Mississippi First program.
"One of the things that I think really helped people was seeing how bad the data really was," Canter says. "Also, there was a poll that came out that showed that 92 percent of public school parents in Mississippi support sex-ed in public schools, and I think that really changed the perception that a lot of people in politics had about whether or not parents were really supportive of this idea."
Altogether, the data and the response represent a cultural shift for the state, Canter says.
We've had these high teen birth rates for a very long time, but it was the type of issue that people didn't want to touch with a 10-foot pole, because they thought that everyone else wouldn't want to talk about it."
Not anymore, she says.
"I'm in my 30s; people in my generation have a different orientation to a lot of these issues," she says. "So many of our peers had babies as teens, we don't want it to happen to our children."Dwarf Fortress
Description
Give me the plans, quickly! Our time grows short.
Mostly because I've been eating my disguise.
Let's see, let's see.
It looks like the artillery shells are prepped here, then loaded into the secure magazine...
<Weezil rubs his hands together.>
<name>, are you ready to blow some stuff up?
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Acquire the Bael'Dun Fortress Schematics.I don't know if you noticed on your way in, but this whole fortress is erected around a giant cannon. If we can just find the ammunition magazine, we could blow this place sky-high as easy as kiss-my-hand!But to figure it out I'm going to need the fortress schematics, and I haven't been able to steal them yet.Look for the plans on the lowest floor, right down these stairs.You will receive:Upon completion of this quest you will gain:I watched this movie for the first time recently. I'm not a fan of it but I noticed I see a lot of people on the internet complaining about how similar the Anna, Elsa and their mother look.Here are two posts on Tumblr that exemplify this: fujoshitsuji.tumblr.com/post/8… and taralen.tumblr.com/post/876787… So out of curiosity, I wanted to see if I could redesign their faces to look different yet familiar enough to show that they're related.Queen Idun/ Mother :+ Elongated face+ Gave her thicker lips+ Narrower eyesAnna:+ Has her mother's nose, freckles ad lips.+ Has her father's eyebrows and a slightly more rounded chin like his too.Elsa:+ Has her mother's eyes, eyebrows and jaw.+ Has her father's nose and lips.I didn't bother drawing the dad since I think his design is fine as it is in the movie.Anyway that's my take on them. ^_^Because terrorism educes such strong emotions, it has led to at least five myths. The first began in September 2001, when President George W. Bush announced that “we will rid the world of the evildoers” and that they hate us for our “our freedoms.” This sentiment embodies what Florida State University psychologist Roy F. Baumeister calls “the myth of pure evil,” which holds that perpetrators commit pointless violence for no rational reason.
This idea is busted through the scientific study of aggression, of which psychologists have identified four types that are employed toward a purposeful end (from the perpetrators' perspective): instrumental violence, such as plunder, conquest and the elimination of rivals; revenge, such as vendettas against adversaries or self-help justice; dominance and recognition, such as competition for status and women, particularly among young males; and |
they vaporize!
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Like this: Like Loading…Manga Kenkanryu The cover of Manga Kenkanryu, in which some of the controversial issues the book covers are mentioned. Click to see a translation. マンガ 嫌韓流
(Manga – The Anti-Korean Wave) Genre Political Manga Written by Sharin Yamano Published by Shinyusha Original run 26 July 2005 – 30 April 2009 Volumes 4 Anime and Manga portal
Manga Kenkanryu (マンガ 嫌韓流, Manga Kenkanryū, "Hating the Korean Wave")[1] is a Japanese manga written by Sharin Yamano with a theme that draws on anti-Korean sentiment in Japan. The manga started as a webcomic on the author's website entitled CHOSEN, and after being refused publication for two years, it was published by Shinyusha and released in Japan on July 26, 2005. It was controversial and triggered a Japanese Internet movement.
This series of comic includes controversial topics surrounding Korea and Japan such as comfort women and Takeshima/Dokto, all of which are justified in favor of Japan throughout comics. After its publication, the comic hit number one sale on Amazon.co.jp and this was reported in Korea and lots of controversy was sparked online. Even outside of Korea this became a topic of controversy and New York Times and Times continuously reported this comic.
Plot [ edit ]
The main character of the story, Kaname Okiayu, a Japanese high school senior, learns about an alleged game-fixing scandal responsible for the winning streak of the South Korean soccer team during the 2002 FIFA World Cup and alleged ugly behavior by their supporters. Okiayu becomes a college freshman, and he and his female classmate Itsumi Aramaki join the Far East Asia Investigation Committee (極東アジア調査會), an extracurricular group led by Ryūhei Sueyuki (a junior) and Tae Soeuchi (a sophomore). The group is mainly devoted to the study of historical disputes between Japan and Korea and is very critical of the latter. Okiayu and Aramaki are taught about many of the alleged ugly sides of Koreans. The group participates in debates with a pro-Korean study group and a group of students visiting from South Korea – both made ignorant of history and unable to make logical arguments – and rebuts their pro-Korean opinions, humiliating them.
The main topics of book include an alleged 2002 FIFA World Cup game scandal, Japanese compensation to Korea for colonial rule, opposition to Zainichi Koreans suffrage, alleged Korean plagiarism of Japanese culture, criticism of pro-Korean mass media in Japan, criticism of Hangul (Korean alphabet), Japan–Korea Annexation, Liancourt Rocks dispute, and criticism of the Korean Wave and its immense popularity in Japan.
Characters [ edit ]
Nicola Liscutin, author of "Surfing the Neo-Nationalist Wave: A Case Study of Manga Kenkanryū", noted that the art uses a "simple, abstract 'cartoony'" design with its Japanese protagonists in order to make the reader identify with them, while the opponents of the committee are depicted in an "exaggerated "realistic" or even grotesque" manner that marks them as being different from the reader.[2] According to Liscutin, characters of Korean descent are depicted with "pronounced cheekbones and thus, allegedly more realistic", including those friendly to the protagonists and those against the antagonists.[2] Norimitsu Onishi of The New York Times states that the series depicts Korean characters with "Asian features", black hair, and narrow eyes while Japanese are portrayed with blond hair, large eyes, and "Caucasian features";[1] this manner of portraying Japanese people originates from a pro-Western self-identification movement dating to the Meiji Restoration, where Japanese envisioned themselves as being at the level of the Westerners.[1] Liscutin adds that the series uses a ""photographic" realism" for real life figures such as Shintaro Ishihara.[2]
Kaname Okiayu ( 沖鮎 要, Okiayu Kaname ) Liscutin describes him as an “ordinary high school student,” originally believing that Japan had “done bad things to Korea,” “not particularly interested in history” whose mind is changed after having a conversation with his grandfather. [3] Liscutin states that originally Kaname is aware of discrimination against Koreans and is therefore a “softy.” [3]
Itsumi Aramaki ( 荒巻 いつみ, Aramaki Izumi ) - She convinces Kaname to join the "Far East Asia Investigation Committee." Liscutin describes her as “cute but tough.” [3]
- She convinces Kaname to join the "Far East Asia Investigation Committee." Kōichi Matsumoto ( 松本 光一, Matsumoto Kōichi ) - Kaname's best friend in high school, Kōichi is a Zainichi Korean who has what Liscutin describes as a "troubling identity crisis." [3] Within the story he often tells Kaname and members of the committee that Koreans in Japan continue to experience discrimination. [4] Liscutin states that Kōichi's character has a hot-tempered demeanor, a racial stereotype of young Zainichi males. [4] There are times when he self-reflects and feels very insecure. Liscutin states that the students on the committee need Kōichi "in their narcissistic desire for esteem" while the story needs the Kōichi character "to enact its educational objectives;" she explains he is used "as the park and fuel for the lessons of the group." [4]
- Kaname's best friend in high school, Kōichi is a Zainichi Korean who has what Liscutin describes as a "troubling identity crisis." Within the story he often tells Kaname and members of the committee that Koreans in Japan continue to experience discrimination. Ryūhei Sueyuki ( 末行 隆平, Sueyuki Ryūhei )
Tae Soeuchi ( 添内 多枝, Soeuchi Tae)
Reception [ edit ]
The book was released in the midst of the recent "Korean Wave" pop culture boom in Japan, which was contributed to by imports of Korean TV dramas and other pop culture imports. This has led to increased positive awareness of Korea; it has also triggered a phenomenon known as the "Hate Korea Wave" (after which the book is named), due to increased awareness of various Japan–Korea disputes and the fanning of previously existing anti-Korean sentiment in Japan. The book's tagline says "There is one more Korean Wave that the media is hiding—the Hate Korea Wave!" (マスコミが隠しているもう一つの韓流、それが・・・・・・「嫌韓流」だ!!) The book is controversial both in and outside Japan because of opinions expressed in the book concerning major historical disputes and ongoing issues between Korea and Japan.
The book was created with the aim of spreading the "detestable reality" of South Korea, and encouraging identification of South Korea with these negative aspects, with the idea that by asserting this through the medium of manga, the ideas would “make as much of a hit as the Gōmanism Manifesto did” (as said by the author himself, according to the Kenkanryu Official Guidebook). Readers with existing anti-Korean sentiments have naturally accepted the author's viewpoint (which he asserts is the "correct understanding of South Korea").[citation needed]
Well-known revisionist writers have contributed four written articles to the book, however: Kanji Nishio[5] (honorary chairman of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform) on the Korean people, Kohyu Nishimura[6] (described as a "publicist") on the South Korean media, Takahiro Ōtsuki (a professor who was a member of the Society when it was formed) on the "Hate Korea Trolls" (嫌韓厨; Kenkanchū), and Masao Shimojō[6] on the Liancourt Rocks dispute. The book also shows marked influence from the "liberal historical viewpoint"[7] held by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, and the book holds a historical viewpoint common to that of Yoshinori Kobayashi's Gōmanism Manifesto series (the fact that his name is given on the section about the ongoing debate over comfort women is also seen as a sign of his influence [Kenkanryu 1/Official Guidebook]).
Popularity in Japan [ edit ]
When the author first announced the publication of the cartoon in a comic form, a number of 2-channel users and bloggers made a suggestion that net users had to pre-order the book so that it can be a best seller. When the comic actually became a best-seller, internet was full of congratulatory comment celebrating the power of netizens. After its publication, netizens exchanged the comment over the difficulties in getting the book, information of the place where they can get a copied version, and recommendation that the others should read it too. Behind this movement was a contemporary Japanese netizens attitude towards media; they often reveal distrust claiming that media tries preventing the audience from knowing and understanding the truth. The rumor saying that the newspaper refused to advertise the comic, along with the rumor claiming that media and bookstores tried to manipulate their top-selling books in order to eliminate the comic from their rankings.
Although this comic experienced the huge media attention, this did not change the general attitude towards Korea among Japanese citizen. The comic might have generated curiosity among comic lovers and Net surfers, but Japanese house wives and K pop lovers continued to support Korean dramas and songs along with its culture. A survey released by Japanese cabinet in 2005 indicates that approximately 51.1% of Japanese citizen feel warmly towards Korea. Moreover, even among those who support this comic there are group of people who question the contents and challenge the validity. [8]
The book had been refused publication for two years, and some Japanese newspapers refused to advertise the book.
When Amazon.co.jp started selling preorders of the book, it quickly rose to the #1 bestselling ranking.
According to the Shinyusha official website, the number of copies printed (as of September 2005) is 300,000.
While the book reached the shelves of bookstores according to schedule on the release date, there was a general shortage of copies of the book immediately following the release date and it became difficult to find. It is thought that bookstores which did not carry it were few, however. The publisher quickly reprinted the book to meet demand.
The book was so successful (450,000 copies sold) that a sequel, Manga Kenkanryu 2 was released on February 22, 2006.
Media responses from Japan [ edit ]
In the September 30th evening issue of the Yomiuri Shimbun, a review appeared criticizing the book as follows: "Is this not an example of the manipulation of the reader's impression through beautifying those who support you and portraying those who oppose you otherwise, which we have criticized China and Korea for doing?" This sentence also refers to outspoken right-wing social critic Yoshinori Kobayashi’s practice of glorifying himself and demonizing opponents such as Hachirō Taku and Satoshi Uesugi, which is frequently criticized. [ citation needed ]
, a review appeared criticizing the book as follows: "Is this not an example of the manipulation of the reader's impression through beautifying those who support you and portraying those who oppose you otherwise, which we have criticized China and Korea for doing?" This sentence also refers to outspoken right-wing social critic Yoshinori Kobayashi’s practice of glorifying himself and demonizing opponents such as Hachirō Taku and Satoshi Uesugi, which is frequently criticized. A positive comment about the book was written in the Chunichi Shimbun evening edition’s Ōnami Sazanami ( 大波小波, Billow and Ripple ) column supporting the book's stance on the Liancourt Rocks dispute. [ citation needed ]
evening edition’s (, ) column supporting the book's stance on the Liancourt Rocks dispute. On October 28th 2003 TBS Sunday Morning news program, Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara was shown at a rally in support of Japanese who had been abducted to North Korea, during which he remarked on camera, "It is not my intention to justify the history of Japan's annexation of Korea 100 percent", but a technician erroneously superimposed a subtitle that read, “It is my intention…” [9] The book covers the subject of Ishihara suing TBS for libel. The book does not mention that four concerned persons sent documents to the prosecutor, or that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office dropped Ishihara's case on the grounds that there was "no malicious intent on the part of TBS".
news program, Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara was shown at a rally in support of Japanese who had been abducted to North Korea, during which he remarked on camera, "It is not my intention to justify the history of Japan's annexation of Korea 100 percent", but a technician erroneously superimposed a subtitle that read, “It my intention…” The book covers the subject of Ishihara suing TBS for libel. The book does not mention that four concerned persons sent documents to the prosecutor, or that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office dropped Ishihara's case on the grounds that there was "no malicious intent on the part of TBS". The July 26, 2005 issue of Tokyo Sports reported that the major newspapers Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun had refused to advertise the book. Some sports newspapers, including Evening Fuji (also published by Sankei Shimbun), however, advertised the book.
reported that the major newspapers Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun had refused to advertise the book. Some sports newspapers, including (also published by Sankei Shimbun), however, advertised the book. In the Amazon.co.jp Japanese Books Top Sales Rankings printed in the Asahi Shimbun from July 11–17,[10] there was the explanatory message that “*Comics are not included in the rankings” ( ランキングの対象書籍にコミックは含まれていません ), and the Amazon rankings in other newspapers also showed this message. This message had not been shown before when the books were deleted from the Asahi rankings for July 4–10.[11] This was contradicted, however, when the August 1–7[12] rankings showed the controversial manga Neo Gomanism Manifesto Special: On Yasukuni.
On the August 15–21[13] rankings, the “*Message From Amazon.co.jp: The manga titles removed until now from the rankings, Manga—The Hate Korea Wave and Manga—An Introduction to China: A Study of Our Bothersome Neighbors, will be included in the rankings from now on.” ( ※Amazon.co.jpからのおことわり：これまで漫画のタイトルにつき除外しておりました『マンガ嫌韓流』と『マンガ中国入門 やっかいな隣人の研究』を今回よりランキングに含めております。 ) was shown, and the two books then occupied the #1 and 2 rankings respectively.[ citation needed ]
Response from New York Times [ edit ]
The November 19, 2005 New York Times article "Ugly Images of Asian Rivals Become Best Sellers in Japan"[1] by Japan critic Norimitsu Onishi describes Kenkanryu and another manga, Introduction to China, as "portraying Chinese and Koreans as base peoples and advocating confrontation with them." The article also discusses how the book reveals some of the sentiments underlying Japan's current worsening relations with the rest of Asia, as well as the country's longstanding unease with its own sense of identity. It claims that the book is influenced by how much of Japan's history in the last century and a half has been guided by the goal of becoming more like the West and less like Asia and how the book perhaps inadvertently betrays Japan's conflicted identity of a longstanding feelings of similarities toward the West and superiority toward the rest of Asia.
Responses from Internet communities [ edit ]
After the release, arguments both against and for the book became the focus of many blogs and message boards.
Immediately following the announcement of the decision to release the book, it became an active topic in personal blogs, 2channel and other message boards, and movements calling for the preordering or purchase of the book developed.
The book has been widely promoted on websites, blogs and message boards such as 2channel and there are cases of inserting content directly from the book by websites criticizing South Korea (many reproducing photographs directly from the book) in the form of supplementing the book's contents, and also in the form of introducing information raised on the 2channel Hangul Board. As shown through the book's bibliography, a significant portion of the book's content (e.g. the World Cup and Korean plagiarism issues) was also sourced from websites.
Alongside cries to “Drive away the Hate Korea heat wave!”, there were messages posted at the websites of Rakuten and other online stores calling for the burning of the book, while others called for the buying out of all available copies.
Responses from Korea [ edit ]
As a response to Manga Kenkanryu, South Korean cartoonist Yang Byeong-seol (양병설) published a cartoon book titled "Hyeomillyu" (혐일류; 嫌日流) – meaning "the anti-Japan wave" – in 2006.[14] The book criticizes sexuality in Japan and statements by Japanese politicians regarding Japanese colonial rule in Korea. Another South Korean cartoonist, Kim Sung Mo (김성모), also published a cartoon book of the same title in 2006.[15] The main topics of the book are Japanese militarism, Yasukuni Shrine, and Liancourt Rocks disputes. Although these cartoon books were published in both South Korea and Japan, they were not as influential as Manga Kenkanryu. About 5,000 copies of Yang's book have been sold in Japan; very few have sold in South Korea. Kim's book has sold about 20,000 copies in Japan, but only about 380 copies in Korea as of 2010.[16]
Criticism [ edit ]
Due to the controversial content of the series, there have been many criticisms of the manga, the main complaint being that the series portrays Koreans in a negative light, while glossing over anything negative related to the Japanese. Critics cite examples of this both in the character portrayals of people representing their respective groups and in the commentaries actually made by various characters.
Regarding character portrayals, one complaint in The New York Times article is that “The Japanese characters in the book are drawn with big eyes, blond hair and Caucasian features; the Koreans are drawn with black hair, narrow eyes and very Asian features.” Kenkanryu 2 objects to such a view; the author states that “this expression is a typical expression in cartoons in Japan.” (Kenkanryu 2, P267) Another common critique is that the way in which the characters' personalities are presented is heavily one-sided and purposefully harmful to the image of Korea and its proponents in the manga: figures on the Japanese "side" have generally carefree, with enjoyable attitudes and coming from a variety of backgrounds; figures on the Korean side, on the other hand, consist only of arrogant members from educated, elitist backgrounds, leading to a heavily distorted, stereotyped presentation of Koreans.
Their main criticism, however, is based on the actual commentary and opinions espoused by some of the characters in the manga. One such example is the claim that South Korea owes its current success to Japan, which overlooks the negative aspects of the Japanese occupation (e.g. human rights violations and forced assimilation) in favor of the claim that Japan was the impetus for Korea's modernization.
The anti-Korean content of the book comes mainly from already-existing opinions espoused by critics of South Korea, though put in a manga format. Critics argue that by transferring opinions on these issues to this medium, it makes it easier for the author to convey his criticisms of Korea to people with no previous interest in Korea.
Contents on 2002 World Cup games [ edit ]
In Chapter 1, the book recounts the conduct of the Korean team in the 2002 World Cup games and claims that refereeing decisions in the Korean team's matches against Portugal and Spain were controversial. The book argues that the Korean team had an unfair advantage in certain key matches. On p. 20, a character states that "This subject was the talk of soccer-related internet message boards" (サッカー関係のネット掲示板ではこの話題で持ちきりだぜ).
The book argues that the misjudgment was a decisive factor in the Korean team's record four advancements in the tournament (like Japan, the South Korean team had never won a World Cup game before 2002). As the book points out, four referee decisions were included in the 2004 FIFA Fever DVD release[17] in its list of top 10 wrong referee decisions in the history of the World Cup. Although the book states that this DVD release was made by FIFA was in response to the demands of the “fair judgement movement,” Exposing Manga Kenkanryu's Lies refers to a news article[18] in which FIFA states that it was not they that directed the DVD's content, but another company under license from FIFA. FIFA, the official authority concerning game decisions in World Cup games, has never reversed any decisions from the 2002 games nor penalized any of the referees allegedly involved. The New York Times article by Norimitsu Onishi also states that the reason behind bringing up the 2002 FIFA World Cup was to justify Japan’s lagging behind the South Korean team by questioning the validity of the South Korean team’s success in an attempt to bring it down to an equal footing with Japan, as well as to combat the growing opinion in Japan that South Korea has emerged as a rival or even a superior to Japan.
The book also describes alleged misconduct by overzealous Korea supporters, on p. 20 saying, as an Asia Times article[19] points out, that the sun disc on the Japanese flag displayed during the opening ceremony in Seoul was deliberately drawn bigger than the usual size to make the flag look like a used sanitary napkin.
Sequels and related books [ edit ]
In 2005, a supplementary volume was released entitled The Truth of "Manga – The Hate Korea Wave"! (マンガ嫌韓流の真実!, Manga Kenkanryū no Shinjitsu, ISBN 4-7966-4973-5, published by Takarajima-sha and released 2005-10-21), which attempted to bolster its claims that the arguments presented in The Hate Korea Wave are based in fact. A book debunking Kenkanryu has recently been released in Japan, however, entitled This Part of "Manga Kenkanryu" is Nonsense – A Serious Rebuttal.
Yamano Sharin published 3 sequels to Manga Kenkanryu, in 2006, 2007, and 2009. In 2008, the author also released a comic book titled Manga Kenchugokuryu (マンガ嫌中国流; translated as "The Hate China Wave") of which main topic is anti-Chinese opinions in Japan.[20]
While continuing more or less with the basic setting of its predecessor, Manga Kenkanryu 2 also deals with such topics as Zainichi issues, the Sea of Japan naming dispute, and Japan's Protection of Human Rights Bill. It is also not merely a criticism of South Korea but also of the position of the Japanese media, House of Councillors member Tomiko Okazaki's participation in anti-Japanese demonstrations, and the educational position of the Japan Teachers Union. On the article regarding Zainichi issues, the book by name focuses upon South Korea but is centered upon the North Korean-linked Chogin Credit Cooperatives, Zainichi North Korean schools, and the North Korean abduction issue with focus upon Zainichi North Koreans and the North Korean-linked General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, and this aspect of the book's organization has undergone criticism from Japanese netizens for failing to touch upon the subject of Zainichi South Koreans and the South Korean-linked Korean Residents Union in Japan.[citation needed] Another issue the sequel deals with is the media's response (including that of The New York Times) to the original book.
See also [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Japanese [ edit ]
Takarajima Supplementary Volume The Truth of "Manga – The Hate Korea Wave"! An Ultra-Primer to South Korean/Peninsular Taboos ( マンガ嫌韓流の真実!〈韓国/半島タブー〉超入門 ; Manga Kenkanryū no Shinjitsu! <Kankoku/Hantō Tabū Chōnyūmon>, ISBN 4-7966-4973-5, published by Takarajima-sha, released 2005-10-21)
( ;, ISBN 4-7966-4973-5, published by Takarajima-sha, released 2005-10-21) Takarajima Supplementary Volume The Truth of "Manga – The Hate Korea Wave"! Outside Scuffles ( マンガ嫌韓流の真実!場外乱闘編 ; Manga Kenkanryū no Shinjitsu! Jōgai Rantō Hen, ISBN 4-7966-5127-6, published by Takarajima-sha, released 2006-01-26) written by Takeshi Nakamiya, continuation volume to the former book
( ;, ISBN 4-7966-5127-6, published by Takarajima-sha, released 2006-01-26) written by Takeshi Nakamiya, continuation volume to the former book Shin'yūsha Mook – Kenkanryu Practical Handbook – Anti-Japanese Abusive Language Repulse Manual ( 嫌韓流 実践ハンドブック 反日妄言撃退マニュアル 晋遊舎ムック ; Kenkanryū Jissen Handobukku: Han-Nichi Bōgen Gekitai Manyuaru – Shin'yūsha Mukku, ISBN 4-88380-502-6, published by Shinyusha, released 2005–12) written by Makoto Sakurai, a Japanese blogger also known under the name Doronpa
( ;, ISBN 4-88380-502-6, published by Shinyusha, released 2005–12) written by Makoto Sakurai, a Japanese blogger also known under the name Doronpa The Hate Korea Wave Debate – Refuting the Anti-Japanese Nation, South Korea ( 嫌韓流ディベート 反日国家・韓国に反駁する ; Kenkanryū Dibēto: Han-Nichi Kokka – Kankoku o Hanbaku suru, ISBN 4-89346-936-3, published by Sōgō Hōrei Shuppan, released 2005-12-22) written by Toshiaki Kitaoka and Debate University
( ;, ISBN 4-89346-936-3, published by Sōgō Hōrei Shuppan, released 2005-12-22) written by Toshiaki Kitaoka and Debate University Shinyusha Mook Series – Manga Kenkanryu Official Guidebook ( マンガ嫌韓流 公式ガイドブック 晋遊舎ムックシリーズ ; Shin'yūsha Mukku Shirīzu – Manga Kenkanryū Kōshiki Gaidobukku, ISBN 4-88380-517-4, published by Shinyusha, released 2006-02-22)
( ;, ISBN 4-88380-517-4, published by Shinyusha, released 2006-02-22) Manga – An Introduction to China: A Study of Our Bothersome Neighbors ( マンガ中国入門 やっかいな隣人の研究 ; Manga Chūgoku Nyūmon: Yakkai na Rinjin no Kenkyū, ISBN 4-87031-682-X, published by Asuka Shinsha, released 2005-08-06) written by George Akiyama and supervised by Ko Bunyu: A manga written from a standpoint mainly criticizing the People's Republic of China. As its release date was close to that of The Hate Korea Wave, it was observed on 2channel as being "A Chinese edition of Kenkanryu ". According to the publisher, 180,000 copies have been printed as of 2005-09-22. This book is also discussed in the aforementioned New York Times article.
( ;, ISBN 4-87031-682-X, published by Asuka Shinsha, released 2005-08-06) written by George Akiyama and supervised by Ko Bunyu: A manga written from a standpoint mainly criticizing the People's Republic of China. As its release date was close to that of, it was observed on 2channel as being "A Chinese edition of ". According to the publisher, 180,000 copies have been printed as of 2005-09-22. This book is also discussed in the aforementioned article. This Part of "Manga Kenkanryu" is Nonsense — A Serious Rebuttal ( 『マンガ嫌韓流』のここがデタラメ―まじめな反論 ; "Manga Kenkanryū" no Koko ga Detarame — Majime na Hanron, ISBN 4-86187-023-2, published by Commons, released 2006-05), a collaboration by Osamu Ota, Pak Il, Gang Seong, Jeong Ha-mi, Jeong A-yeong, O Mun-suk, Tomo'o Kasetani, Takeshi Fujinaga, Ban Weol-seong and Go Gil-mi
Korean [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Liscutin, Nicola. "Surfing the Neo-Nationalist Wave: A Case Study of Manga Kenkanryū" (Chapter 10). In: Berry, Chris, Nicola Liscutin, and Jonathan D. Mackintosh (editors). Cultural Studies and Cultural Industries in Northeast Asia: What a Difference a Region Makes. Hong Kong University Press, May 1, 2009. ISBN 9789622099753. page 171.
Notes [ edit ]By Stephen Barry
The reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin will be brought outside the capital for the first time in a decade, the Leinster Council has confirmed.
The Dubs campaign to win back-to-back All-Irelands for the first time since 1977 will begin in Kilkenny’s Nowlan Park, where they will face the winners of Laois and Wicklow’s preliminary round clash.
The 24,000 capacity stadium, which is surrounded by three stands and a covered terrace, will welcome the Dubs on June 4, 2016.
A general view of Nowlan Park during last June’s Leinster Hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Wexford. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE
After growing controversy this season about the Metropolitans ‘home’ advantage playing in Croke Park and in front of a partisan Hill 16, the Leinster Council has accepted the financial hit and moved the quarter-final fixture to a smaller venue.
The last time Dublin were brought out of Croker, 15,213 fans crammed into Longford’s Pearse Park to witness Paul Caffrey’s side eke out a two-point victory against the hosts.
Since then the Dubs had played 53 consecutive Championship games in Croke Park, a run which will now come to an end next summer.
Dublin will play either Laois or Wicklow in the 2016 Leinster SFC in Nowlan Pk, Kilkenny on Saturday, June 4 pic.twitter.com/Fj7jyWwTRN— Leinster GAA (@gaaleinster) November 11, 2015
The only shock is that a Gaelic football game will be played in Kilkenny.— Kieran Cunningham (@KCsixtyseven) November 11, 2015Action -Adventure Story Themes Stock that is action/adventure themed. I.E. Stock in the vein of Indiana Jones, James Bond, Treasure Hunters, Pirates, superheroes, spies etc. Fight stock should go in combat themes. STOCK pink chandelier (5) Blossom-Lullabies 14 STOCK pink chandelier (10) Blossom-Lullabies 3 STOCK snow queen (11) Blossom-Lullabies 28 STOCK white coffin (4) Blossom-Lullabies 9 STOCK pink chandelier (7) Blossom-Lullabies 23 Survival Situation STOCK XXI PhelanDavion 202 STOCK_Warrior Princess.2 Bellastanyer-STOCK 33 Survival Situation STOCK XX PhelanDavion 271 Survival Situation STOCK XIX PhelanDavion 193 Inspiring STOCK Example LVI PhelanDavion 369 Agent STOCK V PhelanDavion 108 BODYGUARD STOCK III PhelanDavion 89 Survival Situation STOCK XVII PhelanDavion 147 Survival Situation STOCK XVIII PhelanDavion 356 Survival Situation STOCK XVI PhelanDavion 165 Kayla Telephone Pose Reference STOCK I PhelanDavion 297 Survival Situation STOCK XV PhelanDavion 195 Leonie STOCK VI PhelanDavion 216 Kalaschnikowa Kayla STOCK II PhelanDavion 343 Survival Situation STOCK XIV PhelanDavion 356 Kalaschnikowa Kayla STOCK I PhelanDavion 725 Leonie STOCK IV PhelanDavion 468 Leonie STOCK V PhelanDavion 385 Leonie STOCK II PhelanDavion 300The Federal Reserve's massive stimulus program had little impact on the U.S. economy besides weakening the dollar and helping U.S. exports, Federal Reserve Governor Alan Greenspan told CNBC Thursday.
In a blunt critique of his successor, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Greenspan said the $2 trillion in quantative easing over the past two years had done little to loosen credit and boost the economy.
"There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked," Greenspan said in a live interview.
"It obviously had some effect on the exchange rate and the exchange rate was a critical issue in export expansion," he said. "Aside from that, I am ill-aware of anything that really worked. Not only QE2 but QE1."
Greenspan’s comments came as the Fed ended the second installment of its bond-buying program, known as QE2, after spending $600 billion. There were no hints of any more monetary easing—or QE3—to come.
Greenspan said he "would be surprised if there was a QE3" because it would "continue erosion of the dollar."
The former Fed chairman himself has been widely criticized for the low-interest rate policy in the early and mid 2000s that many believe led to the 2008 credit crisis.
Bernanke, who took over for Greenspan in 2006, began implementing the quantitative easing program in 2009 in an attempt to unfreeze credit and prevent a collapse of the US financial system. The strategy has gotten mixed reviews so far.While the delay is due in part to the ward remap and the city budget, the bill is stuck in the Committee for Economic, Capital and Technology Development, which is chaired by Mr. Tunney (44th), and the Committee on License and Consumer Protection, which is chaired by Ms. Mitts (37th).
“I'm trying to convince both to work with me,” Mr. Waguespack says. “The only way to break the logjam is to get new aldermen or new committee chairs.”
Since 2010, the two trade groups have contributed $12,000 to seven members of the economic committee, including $3,500 to Mr. Tunney, a former chairman of the restaurant association and the owner of Ann Sather Restaurants. During the same period, the groups gave $44,900 to 11 members of the license committee, including $9,500 to Ms. Mitts.
Mr. Vite says it is “ridiculous” to think there is a link between his group's donations and the delay.
“We haven't talked to one alderman about this ordinance,” he says.
Mr. Tunney now says he wants to hold a hearing on the bill, but it must be scheduled jointly with the license committee. The current version of the bill should be revised, but the campaign contributions haven't influenced his position, he says.
“The brick-and-mortar restaurants are the lifeblood of my community,” he says. “I better make sure I pay attention to them.”
Ms. Mitts did not return calls requesting comment.
The Emanuel administration is “still enthusiastic” but has concerns about sanitation and competition with local businesses, the mayor's spokeswoman says.Columbus Crew SC is set to play in the Carolina Challenge Cup preseason tournament next February. The Carolina Challenge Cup returns to Charleston, S.C., after a one-year hiatus, in February 2017. The United Soccer League's Charleston Battery will welcome Major League Soccer’s Crew SC, Seattle Sounders and Atlanta United to MUSC Health Stadium for the historic preseason tournament.
This year’s Carolina Challenge Cup will be the 13th staging of the tournament, and fourth all-time for the Black & Gold. Crew SC won the first ever Carolina Challenge Cup in 2004 and returned in 2005 and 2012. Crew SC is 3-2-2 in Carolina Challenge Cup matches, including a 2-0-1 mark against the host Battery.
MLS expansion side Atlanta United will play some of its first matches against MLS competition in Charleston.
The four participating teams will play in a round-robin style tournament over the course of three days:
Saturday, February 18
Charleston Battery vs. Columbus Crew SC (4:30 p.m.)
Atlanta United vs. Seattle Sounders (7 p.m.)
Wednesday, February 22
Atlanta United vs. Columbus Crew SC (5 p.m.)
Charleston Battery vs. Seattle Sounders (7:30 p.m.)
Saturday, February 25
Seattle Sounders vs. Columbus Crew SC (4:30 p.m.)
Charleston Battery vs. Atlanta United (7 p.m.)
Tickets for the |
offences – and courts were not allowed to consider military service.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
“By requiring deportation and stripping immigration courts of the power to consider military service, the United States government abandons these veterans by expelling them to foreign countries at the moment when they most need the government’s help to rehabilitate their lives after service,” Bardis Vakili, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of California, said in a press release. “This is a tragic and disgraceful example of how broken our immigration system is.”
The report alleges that the men were entitled to naturalisation while in the US due to their time spent in the military, but the federal government did not work to guarantee they received it.
Shape Created with Sketch. Late-night line-up at US immigration Show all 2 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Late-night line-up at US immigration 1/2 immigration.jpg Wait problem: Customs and Border Protection officers in action at Miami airport Getty 2/2 immigrationtimes.jpg 1/2 immigration.jpg Wait problem: Customs and Border Protection officers in action at Miami airport Getty 2/2 immigrationtimes.jpg
A spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told the Los Angeles Times that deportations of men with service records were considered rather deliberately.
“Any action taken by ICE that may result in the removal of an alien with military service must be authorized by the senior leadership in a field office, following an evaluation by local counsel,” Virginia Kice told the Times in a statement. “ICE specifically identifies service in the US military as a positive factor that should be considered when deciding whether or not prosecutorial discretion should be exercised.”
However, they said they could not respond to the report specifically because officials had not had the chance to review it.
The report recommends ICE to restore judicial discretion to consider military service in deportation hearings, reopening neglected naturalisation applications, and provide legal representation to US military involved in removal processes.
“The United States should continue to fulfill this country’s commitment to honour and care for these veterans, just as these veterans fulfilled their commitment to serve our country honourably to keep us safe,” US Army vet and president of SEIU Local 221, David Garcias, said in the ACLU’s release.
“They spent their lives in the United States and honourably served this country, only to be treated harshly and unjustifiably punished based solely on where they were born.”
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowUniversity of Washington researchers have developed a new form of low-power wireless sensing technology that could soon let users “train” their smartphones to recognize and respond to specific hand gestures near the phone. The “SideSwipe” technology uses the phone’s wireless transmissions to sense nearby gestures, so it works when a device is out of sight in a pocket or bag and could easily be built into future smartphones and tablets.
When a person makes a call or an app exchanges data with the Internet, a phone transmits radio signals on a 2G, 3G, or 4G cellular network to communicate with a cellular base station. When a user’s hand moves through space near the phone, the user’s body reflects some of the transmitted signal back toward the phone.
The new system uses multiple small antennas to capture the changes in the reflected signal and classify the changes to detect the type of gesture performed. In this way, tapping, hovering, and sliding gestures could correspond to various commands for the phone, such as silencing a ring, changing which song is playing, or muting the speakerphone. Because the phone’s wireless transmissions pass easily through the fabric of clothing or a handbag, the system works even when the phone is stowed away.
SourceContents
1. Introduction
"Every second that you are not getting gold and experience, you lower your chances of winning."
2. Minions: How I learned to stop worrying and love the gold.
"It’s perfectly possible to destroy the enemy Nexus without killing a single enemy champion."
3. Fragging: Under the hood of ownage.
4. Objectives: Can my Baron ride your Dragon?
5. Conclusions
"League of Legends is a game you win with your brain rather than your fingers!"
6. Sources
1. Introduction2. Minions: How I learned to stop worrying and love the gold.3. Fragging: Under the hood of ownage.4. Objectives: Can my Baron ride your Dragon?5. Conclusion6. SourcesLegendary League of Legends and Counter Logic Gaming star,George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis provided a quote that got me thinking about the optimal way to play League of Legends.Let's investigate the mechanics behind the logic and find out in more detail, how dependent earning continuous gold and experience affects your success likelihood. Let's analyse what we actually really know about the mechanics of League of Legends, and what tangibly will give one team an advantage and ultimately success.For the majority, League of Legends will be a game that is easy to pick up - that many will take to grinding their way up the solo queue day in day out. You probably read guides on the internet, you'll most definitely follow the so called'meta'but let's lose all preconceptions and start from the basis.Let's learn some of the mechanics behind the game that will permanently increase your changes of winning every game. Better yet, once you have the competitive mindset and logic down, you can apply it to any game - but enough with the intro, let's get down to the figures.Lets start this section with another fact:This is the main reason why competitive players play “safe”. Most pro-gamers naturally recognize the fact that in League of Legends the optimal location is near minions, and the optimal occupation is grabbing their gold. Exceptions to this are secondary objectives such as dragon and baron. Let's find out what they know, as we uncover the logic and crunch the numbers. This spreadsheet provides an overview of the bounty available through laning and last hitting up to twenty minutes. A match of LoL typically transitions from early game to mid game around this time, and objectives take a more prominent role.A comparison between the different types reveals that by prioritizing melee minion last hits over caster minion last hits, more gold will be accumulated.Even though both types gain value at an equal pace, namely point five gold per minion upgrade cycle, melee minions start off with a higher bounty, 22 gold. Caster minions trail behind with an initial value of only sixteen gold.Siege minions are uncommon and more valuable still: 27 gold. They also gain value at a higher rate, one gold per minion upgrade cycle. This makes them the most desirable targets.Players that achieve a perfect creepscore will accumulate close to 5000 gold, enough to buy a Trinity Force and then some.Soaking up all lane experience for twenty minutes also rewards 14000 experience points in a solo lane, nearly enough to hit champion level fifteen.Duo lanes receive 55%, landing them 7500 experience, sufficient for champion level 11. Observe that this is quite the bounty for simply sitting in a lane and pruning minions for their gold and experience.That covers last hitting, yet how do other methods of increasing strength compare? Let's have a look.When investigating the kill and assist system employed by League of Legends, it becomes clear that scoring a champion kill initially rewards 300 gold.If a champion is killed, this value will decrease by 9% for the first death, and then by 21% for each subsequent death, with a bottom cap of 52 gold.When a champion on a dying streak scores a kill, the value is reset to 300 gold.Conversely, when a champion begins scoring kills, the value for killing them increases by 10% per kill, up to a maximum of 500 gold. The table below provides a complete overview.The killer always receives full gold bounty. Additionally, if one or more champions score an assist, a pot is made with gold equal to 58.33% of the kill bounty. If the victim was on a killing spree, 70% of the bonus gold (i.e. any value above 300) will also go into the assist pot. This pot is evenly distributed among all participants.For example, let’s imagine Leblanc laning versus Cassiopeia mid.Leblanc is godlike (worth 500g), and Cassiopeia calls upon Rammus for help. Rammus and Cassiopeia slam-dunk Leblanc using puncturing taunt and petrifying gaze, and score the kill. Cassiopeia is the killer, and receives full kill bounty for 500g. Rammus got the assist, and will gain 58.33% of the standard 300 gold (175 gold), plus 70% of the 200 bonus gold (140 gold), for a total of 315 gold.This clearly underlines how powerful assists are in League of Legends.A different example further elaborates this point.Blue team is laning Tristana and Sona bottom lane. Purple team is laning Sivir and Taric there. The game is uneventful until minute three, when Taric leaves the bottom lane to ward. Tristana and Sona immediately engage on Sivir. However, Sivir micros very well and gets the first blood on Sona for 400 gold.Tristana then finishes off Sivir and gains 330 gold for killing her. Sona gets the assist and receives 58.33% of the 300 gold bounty (175 gold), plus 70% of the 30 bonus gold (21 gold), for a total of 196 gold. At this point Sivir is feeling pretty good about scoring first blood in a two versus one situation, but she doesn’t realize that the blue team gained a total of 496 gold, besting her first blood bounty by 96 gold.While it’s possible to argue that Sivir still made more gold than Tristana, Sivir is dead. Tristana is not, and is likely to have a nice stack of health left, as Sivir focused her damage output on Sona. This allows Tristana to do two very important things. Firstly, Tristana can happily farm away, and a quick glance at the CS chart reveals that she can gain 140 gold and close to 300 experience in the next minute.Secondly, she can push her minion wave into the enemy tower. What this accomplishes is forcing the purple tower to kill off all blue minions, while Sivir is dead or making her way from the fountain to her lane and unable to benefit from their deaths.Even very early in the game, this puts a serious gap between both teams, as Tristana effectively gains xp/gold, where Sivir effectively loses.It’s highly probable that the purple bottom lane will be forced to play passively and shun fights from this point on, simply because one small mistake was made. This is without even considering the experience being traded because of champion kills.League of Legends utilizes a system where a champion kill is worth experience equal to 75% of the experience required to go from the dying champion’s current level, to the next level. So basically, when a level seven champion is slain, the killer is rewarded 75% of the experience needed to go from level seven to level eight. The experience is evenly divided among everyone that participated in the kill. With this in mind, let’s revisit the Tristana versus Sivir scenario.At three minutes into the game, the maximum experience gained is 884. Duo lanes get 55% of this amount, good for 486 experience. So, everyone in the bottom lane is at champion level two. Sivir gets the first kill, receiving 75% of the amount of experience needed to go from level two to level three, which is 292 experience. Sivir now has a total of 778 experience, enough to hit level three.Tristana then blows up the level three Sivir, granting her 375 experience (which equals 75% of the experience needed to go from level three to level four).She splits that experience with Sona, so they each receive 188 experience. Both Tristana and Sona are now level three. At this point Sivir is ahead of Tristana by about a hundred experience, however, we previously saw that in a single minute of farming, Tristana will catch up to Sivir, and even surpass her by about 200 experience.Since minions become more valuable and death timers increase as the game progresses, dying becomes even worse in terms of experience and gold lost.Kill rewards however, stay static throughout the entire game. This means that as the game progresses, the main consequence of killing an enemy shifts away from accruing extra gold and experience for personal benefit, and more towards denying the victim gold and experience. Another implication is that fewer and fewer minion last hits are required to collect an amount of gold equal to a champion kill.At the start of the game, a champion kill (barring first blood) is valued at almost sixteen minion kills (The average gold for a minion is nineteen at the start of the game). After the three minute mark, this drops to fifteen minions.Nine minute mark, fourteen. At the 21st minute, a kill is only worth twelve minions, or two minion waves. This relationship keeps growing inversely as the game progresses.To keep up with last hitting simply by scoring frags, one would need to kill an enemy champion worth 300 gold or more every 90 seconds. Some quick math establishes that this is flat out impossible in a competitive environment, making last hitting the superior choice. Once midgame starts, scoring kills also grants your team an advantage when it comes to securing objectives, simply because a dead champion is unable to contest them.Speaking of objectives, let’s have a closer look at the Dragon, and Baron Nashor.The Dragon spawns two minutes thirty seconds into the game, and respawns six minutes after being slain. It rewards 190 gold globally to the team that kills it. The total gold award is 950 gold, plus 25 gold for the person that delivers the last hit. As of patch v1.0.0.107, it no longer rewards any global experience (down from 200). Champions that are in range receive a negligible amount of experience for killing it.The Dragon is valued at about two champion kills (300 gold from each kill plus 175 gold per assist) throughout the game. Looking at this data, we can firmly state that a jungler sacrifising himself to smite-steal the dragon for his team is always worth it. The enemy team will receive a maximum (not accounting for killstreaks) of 300 gold (for the last hit) plus 175 gold (from assists), for a maximum of 475 gold, whereas the smite steal will yield 975 gold. Something to consider next time you're contesting a Dragon.Because its reward is static, just like champion kills, the value of taking Dragon decreases when compared to last hitting minions as the game progresses, again, just like champion kills. One step up from the Dragon is Baron Nashor.Baron Nashor spawns fifteen minutes into the game, and respawns seven minutes after perishing. Baronslayers are granted 300 gold and 900 experience per player. The reward is global equals to 1500 gold and 4500 experience for the entire team.Looking at the chart reveals that this equals to fifteen minion last hits for every player when Baron first spawns, and that this number goes down as the game progresses, because the reward for Baron is of course static.In terms of champion kills, Baron is typically valued at four kills (account for assists and experience). So if a team slays baron, but then ends up getting aced by the enemy team, it is in fact behind. Champions that are alive when Nashor dies will also receive the buff "Exalted with Baron Nashor", providing massive health and mana regeneration, as well as increased ability power and attack damage. The buff expires after four minutes or on champion death, whichever comes first.A great way to get exact timing on Baron when the enemy team has killed him, is watching closely when the enemy team loses their buff, and adding three minutes to the game time when it happens. It goes without saying that ending Nashors life is the number two objective throughout the entire game, second only to destroying the enemy Nexus. Word has it, being exalted with the former vastly facilitates the latter. When push comes to shove, contesting Baron Nashor will always be extremely risky.Unearthing the details has proven that killing champions and securing objectives in League of Legends is high risk, high reward, and very high loss when things go wrong. The latter was clearly demonstrated at IEM Hannover, where multiple playoff teams threw won games out of the window because they were too hasty in their attempts to take down Baron and finish.That's why a safe play style focused on safely farming and quickly completing objectives at the right time, is highly recommended for competitive play.In doing so, players can build up their power levels without risking hardly anything.Be sure to join me next week for the second installment in this series, and find out exactly how to build a methodological 'play to win' style of play from the ground up!Seattle's defense is going through several changes this offseason. Anibaba is now with KC. Traore is almost certain to retire and looks to be working for Sounders2. Yedlin is heading to Tottenham. One thing that will not change is Zach Scott. On Twitter today he announced that he intends to play at another year.
@WeAreECS You guys just love the beard! Much respect to ECS for the honor. I'll be back next year, let's go win a sh*tload more trophies. — zk scott (@zkscott) December 14, 2014
Scott played more than 300 matches with the Sounders (all competitions, two leagues). While he will be undergoing surgery this offseason, he should be healed in time for the start of 2015. Scott is a Sounders legend. He embodies a spirit and energy for the organization that is rare in modern sports with players that play for other teams so frequently. He is a one club man and a Sounder for life.
There is no word as to whether Brek Shea's move to Orlando City has now been canceled.Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from EHP may be reprinted freely. Use of materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example,?Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives?); pertinent reference information should be provided for the article from which the material was reproduced. Articles from EHP, especially the News section, may contain photographs or illustrations copyrighted by other commercial organizations or individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from the holder of the copyright.
Sunscreens cause the rapid and complete bleaching of hard corals, even at extremely low concentrations. The effect of sunscreens is due to organic ultraviolet filters, which are able to induce the lytic viral cycle in symbiotic zooxanthellae with latent infections.
In situ and laboratory experiments were conducted in several tropical regions (the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and the Red Sea) by supplementing coral branches with aliquots of sunscreens and common ultraviolet filters contained in sunscreen formula. Zooxanthellae were checked for viral infection by epifluorescence and transmission electron microscopy analyses.
Coral bleaching (i.e., the release of coral symbiotic zooxanthellae) has negative impacts on biodiversity and functioning of reef ecosystems and their production of goods and services. This increasing world-wide phenomenon is associated with temperature anomalies, high irradiance, pollution, and bacterial diseases. Recently, it has been demonstrated that personal care products, including sunscreens, have an impact on aquatic organisms similar to that of other contaminants.
To evaluate the potential impact of sun-screen ingredients on hard corals and their symbiotic algae, we conducted several independent in situ studies with the addition of different concentrations of sunscreens to different species of Acropora (one of the most common hard-coral genus), Stylophora pistillata, and Millepora complanata. These studies were performed from 2003 to 2007 in different areas of the world, including the Celebes Sea (Pacific Ocean), the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean), and the Andaman Sea and the Red Sea (Indian Ocean).
Materials and Methods
Study areas and experimental design In situ experiments were conducted in four coral reef areas: Siladen, Celebes Sea (Indonesia, Pacific Ocean); Akumal, Caribbean Sea (Mexico, Atlantic Ocean); Phuket, Andaman Sea (Thailand, Indian Ocean), and Ras Mohammed, Red Sea (Egypt, Indian Ocean). Nubbins of Acropora spp. (~ 3–6 cm) were collected, washed with virus-free seawater filtered onto 0.02-μm membranes (Anotop syringe filters; Whatman, Springfield Mill, UK), immersed in polyethylene Whirl-pack bags (Nasco, Fort Atkinson, WI, USA) filled with 2 L virus-free seawater, and incubated in situ. Additional experiments were also performed with other hard coral genera: S. pistillata and M. complanata. Replicate sets containing nubbins from different colonies (n = 3, including more than 300 polyps each) were supplemented with aliquots of sunscreens (at final quantities of 10, 33, 50, and 100 μL/L seawater) and compared with untreated systems (used as controls). Corals were incubated at the same depth of donor colonies at in situ temperature ( ). During two experiments conducted in the Red Sea and in the Andaman Sea, we tested the effects on coral bleaching of the same chemical filters and preservatives contained in the sunscreen formula of different brands ( and ). Subsamples (50 mL) of seawater surrounding coral nubbins were collected at 12-hr intervals and fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde for subsequent analyses (i.e., zooxanthellae counts and transmission electron microscopy, TEM). Additional sea-water samples were immediately processed without any preservation for viruslike particles counts. At the end of the experiments, samples of coral tissue were fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde and stored at 4°C for zooxanthellae count and TEM. Table 1 Ocean Reef area Reef water temperature (°C) Treatments Sun protecting factor Quantity [μl/L (%)]a Species No. of experimental sets Bleaching initiation (hr) Bleaching rate [hr (%)]b Zooxanthellae released (%) Pacific Celebes Sea, Indonesia 28, 30c Sunscreen brand 1 15 100 Acropora divaricata 6 ND 24 (81, 95) ND Sunscreen brand 1 15 10 A.divaricata 6 ND 36 (ND) ND Nutrients 100d A. divaricata 6 No bleaching No bleaching ND Controls A. divaricata 6 No bleaching No bleaching ND Atlantic Caribbean Sea, Mexico 28 Sunscreen brand 2 8 10 Acropora cervicornis 3 18 36 (84) 87 Controls A. cervicornis 3 No bleaching No bleaching 3 Sunscreen brand 2 8 10 Millepora complanata 3 24 36 (35) 10 Controls M. complanata 3 No bleaching No bleaching 2 Indian Red Sea, Egypt 24 Sunscreen brand 1 8 33 Acropora sp. 3 24 48 (81) 44 Sunscreen brand 1 15 33 Acropora sp. 3 24 48 (89) 30 Controls Acropora sp. 3 No bleaching No bleaching 1 Sunscreen brand 1 15 33 Stylophora pistillata 3 nd 48 (65) ND Controls S. pistillata 3 No bleaching No bleaching ND BMDBM 33 (2) Acropora sp. 3 No bleaching No bleaching 13 MBC 33 (3) Acropora sp. 3 24 48 (63) 10 OCT 33 (6) Acropora sp. 3 No bleaching No bleaching 3 EHS 33 (5) Acropora sp. 3 No bleaching No bleaching 3 OMC 33 (6) Acropora sp. 3 2 24 (91) 86 BZ 33 (6) Acropora sp. 3 24 48 (86) 83 BP 33 (0.5) Acropora sp. 3 24 48 (84) 90 PG (solvent) 33 Acropora sp. 3 No bleaching No bleaching 16 Indian Andaman Sea, Thailand 25e Sunscreen brand 3 8 50 Acropora pulchra, Acropora aspera, Acropora intermedia, Acropora sp. 15 24 48–62 (74–88) 88–95 Controls A. pulchra, A. aspera, A. intermedia, Acropora sp. 15 No bleaching No bleaching 1–2 MBC 50 (3) A. pulchra 3 48 62 (95) 95 OMC 50 (6) A. pulchra 3 48 96 (91) 90 BZ 50 (6) A. pulchra 3 48 96 (93) 84 BP 50 (0.5) A. pulchra 3 48 96 (90) 79 Open in a separate window Table 2 Chemical name (INCI name) Keya Chemical structure Molecular weight (g/mol) Water solubility (mg L–1) at 25°C Log K ow b λ max 2-Hydroxyl-4-methoxybenzophenone (benzophenone-3) BZ 228.25 68.56 3.52 286 4-tert-Butyl-4’-Methoxydibenzoyl methane (butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane) BMDBM 310.39 1.52 2.41 355 2-Ethylhexyl-4-methoxycinnamate (ethylhexylmethoxycinnamate) OMC 290.41 0.15 5.80 305 2-Ethylhexyl 2-cyano-3,3-diphenylacrylate (octocrylene) OCT 361.49 1.3 6.88 303 2-Ethylhexyl salicylate (ethylhexyl salicylate) EHS 250.37 NA 6.02 305 3-(4’-Methylbenzylidene) camphor (4-methylbenzylidene camphor) MBC 240.35 0.57 5.47 300 Butyl p-hydroxybenzoatec (butylparaben) BP 194.23 207 3.57 253 Open in a separate window
Quantification of bleaching To quantify the levels of coral bleaching (Siebeck et al. 2006), we performed a colorimetric analysis on digital photographs of corals taken at the beginning of the experiments and after various times of treatment with sunscreen and organic UV filters. Photographs were taken under identical illumination with a Canon PowerShot A620 digital camera (Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan) with a scale meter on the background. The photographs were successively analyzed with a photo-editing software for color composition [cyan, magenta, yellow, black (CMYK)]. Levels of bleaching were measured as the difference between the coral’s color at the beginning of the experiments and after treatments. Variations in the percentage of the different color components (CMYK) were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA; ). To rank the bleaching effect due to the different ingredients tested, we obtained Bray–Curtis similarity matrix and multidimensional scaling analysis of the shifts in CMYK color composition of treated corals using Primer 5.0 software (Primer-E Ltd., Plymouth, UK). Bleaching rates were measured as the dissimilarity percentage in CMYK color composition between treated and control corals using the SIMPER tool of Primer 5.0 software (Primer-E Ltd). Table 3 Coral color shifta Treatments C M Y K Bleaching Significanceb Control 0 2 3 0 NV NS Sunscreen 19 25 17 33 Visible **** BMDBM 6 22 12 33 NV ** BZ 6 24 7 43 NV ** OMC 13 37 23 53 Visible *** OCT 7 23 18 39 NV ** EHS 6 20 7 38 NV NS MBC 8 17 5 37 NV ** BP 9 32 33 29 Visible *** Open in a separate window
Analysis of zooxanthellae Zooxanthellae were extracted from coral nubbins using a jet of artificial seawater with a WaterPick (Braun, Germany) and centrifuged (4,000 × g, for 10 min) to separate the algae from the host tissue. Replicate suspensions (200–500 μL) of zooxanthellae extracted from coral tissue and those released during the experiment were filtered through 2.0-μm polycarbonate filters and mounted on glass slides. Zooxanthellae were counted under a Zeiss Axioplan epifluorescence microscope (Carl Zeiss Inc., Jena, Germany; ×400 and ×1,000), and the number of cells was normalized to nubbins’ area. Based on the autofluorescence and gross cell structure, zooxanthellae released or extracted from nubbins were classified as a) healthy (H, brown/bright yellow color, intact zooxanthellae); b) pale (P, pale yellow color, vacuolated, partially degraded zooxanthellae); transparent (T, lacking pigmentations, mostly empty zooxanthellae; Mise and Hidaka 2003). Cell integrity was also examined by TEM (see below).
Standard sunscreen UV filters for the experiments The UV filters ethylhexyl-methoxycinnamate (OMC), octocrylene (OCT), benzophenone-3 (BZ), ethylhexylsalicylate (EHS), and the solvent propylene glycol (PG) ( ) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. (Milan, Italy); 4-tert-butyl-4-methoxydibenzoylmethane was obtained in the form of Eusolex 9020 from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor was synthesized according to Saito et al. (2004). Specifically, a mixture of d-camphor (10 mmol), p-tolualdehyde (12 mmol), and potassium t-butoxide (15 mmol) was refluxed in t-butyl alcohol (12 mL) for 5 hr. The reaction course was monitored by thin-layer chromatography using cyclohexane–ethyl acetate 8:2 as the eluant. The reaction mixture was neutralized with 5% HCl and extracted with ethyl acetate (10 mL × 3); the combined organic extracts were washed with saturated NaCl solution and dried over Na 2 SO 4. Evaporation of the solvent and column chromatography of the crude residue on silica gel eluting with cyclohexane–ethyl acetate 8:2 gave 4-methylbenzylidene camphor as a white solid which was crystallized from hexane (70% yield). 1H NMR (200 MHz, CDCl 3 ): δ = 0.8 (s, 3H), 0.99 (s, 3H), 1.03 (s, 3H), 1.48–1.60 (m, 2H), 1.70–1.85 (m, 1H), 2.12–2.20 (m, 1H), 2.37 (s, 3H), 3.10 (d, 1H, J = 4.1 Hz), 7.19 (d, 2H, J = 8.0 Hz). 7.21 (s, 1H), 7.38 (d, 2H, J = 8.0 Hz) ppm. The preservative BP (butyl paraben) was obtained through esterification of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid with butyl alcohol: 20 mmol 4-hydroxybenzoic acid was dissolved in 25 mL butyl alcohol in the presence of a catalytic amount of p-toluensulfonic acid (~ 2 mmol) and refluxed for 7 hr. The reaction mixture was washed with NaHCO 3 0.5 M and extracted with diethyl ether (25 mL × 3). The organic layer was dried over Na 2 SO 4 and the solvent evaporated under reduced pressure. Butyl paraben was obtained with a 75% yield. 1H NMR (200 MHz, CDCl 3 ): δ = 0.97 (t, 3H, J = 7.1 Hz), 1.38–1.65 (m, 2H), 1.70–1.76 (m, sH), 4.30 (t, 2H, J = 6.5 Hz), 6.89 (d, 2H, J = 8.88 Hz), 7.95 (d, 2H, J = 8.8 Hz) ppm. The amounts of UV filters and preservatives used in the sun-screen addition experiments were calculated on the basis of the percentage concentrations of the respective filters allowed in sunscreen formulations in both American and European markets. Hence, concentrations below the more restricted limits imposed by American regulations were used: BMDBM (2%), BZ (6%), OMC (6%), OCT (6%), EHS (5%), MBC (3%), BP (0.5%).
Quantification of sunscreen release in seawater To estimate the amount of UV filters and preservatives released from sunscreen formulae, 2 mg sunscreen/cm2 [dose recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Poiger et al. 2004] was applied to the hands of two volunteers. The hands were then immersed in 2 L of 0.45-μm filtered seawater at 24°C for 20 min. Hands without sunscreen applications were used as controls. All experiments were repeated 3 times. The percentage of sunscreen released into the seawater was estimated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses on the sunscreen and seawater samples. Some investigators suggest that the sun-screen dose recommended by the U.S. FDA is much lower than the amount actually used by tourists (Giokas et al. 2007, and literature therein); thus, the quantity of sunscreen released during a usual bath could be far higher than that estimated in this study.
HPLC analysis of sunscreens UV filters were extracted from 1 L seawater obtained from the sunscreen release experiment by solid-phase extraction (SPE) (C 18 Bakerbound SPE column, 500 mg/6 mL; J.T. Baker, Phillipsburg, NJ, USA). Before extraction an internal standard, butylcinnamate (BC, Sigma-Aldrich Co.) was added to the seawater sample. The SPE column was conditioned with 10% methanol, and the sample was passed through the column at approximately 20 mL/min. The ingredients were recovered from the column using 1 mL acetonitrile. Analyses were performed on an HPLC apparatus consisting of a Varian RP-C18 column (5 μm, 250 × 4.60 mm), a 20-μL injection loop, a Varian Pro Star solvent delivery module, a Varian Star 5.0 Workstation and Varian 9050 variable wavelength UV-VIS detector (Varian Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA). The analytes injected into the chromatograph eluted in 18 min (1 mL/min) using a linear gradient starting from solution A (methanol:acetonitrile:water:acetic acid, 55:20:24:1, vol/vol) and ending with solution B (methanol:acetonitrile:water:acetic acid, 55:40:4:1, vol/vol). UV detection was carried out at λ = 255 nm for BP and λ = 300 nm for MBC, OMC and BC. Chromatograms were analyzed with the Varian Interactive Graphics Program.
Viral counts and infection of zooxanthellae and TEM analysis Water samples for viral counts were processed immediately without any fixative with SYBR green and SYBR Gold staining (Shibata et al. 2006). Immediately after collection, subsamples (200 μL) of seawater surrounding coral nubbins were diluted 1:10 in prefiltered MilliQ, filtered through a 0.02-μm pore-size Anodisc filter (25-mm diameter, Al 2 O 3 ; Whatman) and immediately stained with 20 μL SYBR Green I and SYBR Gold (stock solution diluted 1:20 and 1:5,000 respectively; Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA). Filters were incubated in the dark for 15 min and mounted on glass slides with a drop of 50% phosphate buffer (6.7 mM, pH 7.8) and 50% glycerol containing 0.25% ascorbic acid (Shibata et al. 2006; Helton et al. 2006; Wen et al. 2004). Slides were stored at 20°C until analysis. Counts were obtained by epifluorescence microscopy (magnification, ×1,000; Zeiss Axioplan) by examining at least 10 fields, that is, at least 200 cells or particles per replicate. TEM analyses were conducted on decalcified corals (2% vol/v |
sources of support for progressive organizing have stepped up their grantmaking. Back in the winter, the Open Society Foundations put up a To be sure, some traditional sources of support for progressive organizing have stepped up their grantmaking. Back in the winter, the Open Society Foundations put up a special fund of $10 million to combat the rise of hate crimes, for example. Democracy Fund Voice has moved several six-figure grants in late 2016/early 2017 to groups working to defend civil society and resist the rise of Islamophobia. But since many of the new groups work horizontally, covering many issues at once, rather than vertically, on only one issue at a time, traditional progressive donors used to giving in order to fight X or win issue Y are holding back.
Corinna Kester, the co-founder of Corinna Kester, the co-founder of WhatDoIDoAboutTrump.com and the founder of the Action Alliance, a coalition of 80 similar start-ups, argues, “Much of the resistance runs on volunteer energy, so we need to think about how to sustain this. Just a little bit of funding can be a big boost for volunteer-run groups – it reduces the burden of both leading and self-funding an organization, and it boosts morale because volunteers feel supported and appreciated.”
She adds, “An organization can’t sustain itself over the long term based on passion and willpower alone. Now is a critical time for funders to step in, as the post-election energy settles down and as leaders focus on executing their visions for progressive change.”
No one knows how long the current moment of mass mobilization will last, and as a result places and projects lifted by the new high water mark may be lost for the lack of immediate help now. Julie Menter, one of the principals of No one knows how long the current moment of mass mobilization will last, and as a result places and projects lifted by the new high water mark may be lost for the lack of immediate help now. Julie Menter, one of the principals of New Media Ventures, is seeing this problem up close. She tells me, “We just reviewed 500 applications for our ‘resist and rebuild’ open call, and a few things really stand out. Many of these startups are volunteer run and need an immediate infusion of cash to staff up and make long-term plans. Rapid response funding is essential. Funders understand this, but the desire to understand the landscape first to make the ‘right’ investment slows down the flow of resources, and we risk missing this moment.”
She adds, “There’s a natural instinct to invest in groups and people in our existing networks, but right now, some of the best ideas are coming from players who aren’t connected to the funding networks. If we don’t look beyond the ‘usual suspects,’ we run the risk of reinforcing dynamics around race and class privilege. This is a chaotic moment, but it’s also full of opportunity.”
Plenty of people are aware of the Hunger Games problem and taking steps to try to address it. For example, Genevieve Thiers, a tech entrepreneur, has been organizing the Plenty of people are aware of the Hunger Games problem and taking steps to try to address it. For example, Genevieve Thiers, a tech entrepreneur, has been organizing the New Founders Conference for this coming October with an eye to bringing together the leaders of many promising new groups with a hundred or more funders. But by the fall, it’s also a good bet that the volunteer leaders of a fair number of new groups will have given up.
A new effort called ResistHub is organizing to support both emerging and existing resistance groups, with a goal of moving money faster to work that turns the energy we’re seeing right now into long-term progress and power. “Progressive funders have been playing it safe for far too long,” says Erica Sagrans, a co-founder of ResistHub with Billy Wimsatt and advisor Jackie Mahendra. “If we want to build a more powerful movement coming out of November’s election, we need to start aiming higher, moving faster, and making sure new efforts have a chance to scale, instead of letting them wither on the vine because we waited too long to invest.”
Sagrans added: “We’ve seen unprecedented new forms of organizing these past six months, but without new funding, it’s challenging to keep this energy going. And we need to make it inclusive, not just funding new tech-focused projects from founders who are newer to organizing, but supporting efforts led by those most affected by Trump’s policies. We need strategic investments now in order to turn this resistance energy into real, networked infrastructure to take back power.”
—As we buy new gizmos, gadgets and toys this holiday season, most of the time “batteries are not included.” Three of the major battery companies—Energizer, Duracell and Panasonic—have formed the non-profit Corporation for Battery Recycling in order to explore how to provide recycling to US consumers. At the same time one of their major competitors—Rayovac—has refused to do their part. By rejecting these market-based recycling efforts, Rayovac has made the possibility of a real battery recycling solution for US consumers more remote.
This holiday buying season remember: with Rayovac, Recycling’s Not Included.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Rayovac has actually tells US consumers to throw their old batteries in the trash while telling European consumers to recycle, because trashing batteries is bad for the environment! It’s time for Rayovac to stop lagging, start leading and develop a consistent policy for recycling that makes sure their consumers in the US are given just as many opportunities for recycling as their consumers overseas.
Please, take a moment to let Rayovac’s CEO know that you are keeping their environmental record in mind when shopping for batteries this holiday buying season, and that if they expect responsible consumers to spend money with them, they need to be responsible with their products. Email Dave Lumley, CEO of Rayovac’s parent company Spectrum Brands at [email protected], and tell him that you want Rayovac to offer recycling, or you’ll take your business elsewhere!
We’ve included this hilarious image developed by our friends at Texas Campaign for the Environment to help spread the word about how naughty Rayovac has been when it comes to the environment and recycling. Please, share it on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and let your friends and allies know: Rayovac needs to embrace—not spurn—battery recycling for Americans!KOTZEBUE, Alaska -- An autumn rainstorm was moving across the Kotzebue Sound in late September as Matt Bergan stopped by the power plant to check how much renewable electricity was flowing into this northeastern coastal community.
Four miles outside town, 19 wind turbines were spinning steadily in the breeze, producing 60 to 65 percent of the power being used by the city's 3,200 residents.
As the skies cleared, Bergan, project engineer for Kotzebue Electric Association's wind power program, watched the company's computerized monitoring system for signs that the renewable power levels were declining.
As long as the winds blow strong and steady along the Chukchi Sea coast, the company can run a single diesel generator to fill the community's electricity needs. But once the wind ebbs, a second diesel generator automatically ramps up to replace the waning wind power.
Kotzebue, located 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle, stands out as one of the renewable energy success stories in rural Alaska.
Roughly 200 small rural villages in Alaska rely on diesel fuel as their primary source of electricity and home heating. These remote communities pay the highest energy electricity costs in the United States, due in large part to transportation costs and the expense of maintaining their diesel generation plants.
But moving away from diesel is also an expensive proposition across the Arctic. Harsh weather, difficult typography and the absence of land-based transportation limit renewable energy options for these islanded communities. Most villages have little outside income and rely heavily on traditional subsistence hunting for their food.
Kotzebue was the first Arctic community in Alaska to build a wind farm. The city's electric cooperative began installing turbines in 1997 and has steadily increased its capacity ever since. Last year, wind provided 20 percent of the town's average electricity demand of 2.5 megawatts.
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As its wind capacity has increased, the Kotzebue electric cooperative has been able to cut the amount of fuel it barges into town to run its diesel engines. Last year wind displaced 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel and saved the community $900,000, according to Brad Reeves, general manager of Kotzebue Electric.
Now the Kotzebue microgrid system is looking to further reduce diesel imports by adding a lithium-ion battery unit to its electricity network. The battery, which is the roughly size of a large SUV, will store wind energy when demand is low and tap the power when the renewable resource fluctuates.
"It will be good for that period when we have bands of wind and we have our diesels running," Reeves explained. "Normally when the winds go out, we'd shift to a bigger diesel unit. The battery will let you stay in that band and keep the smaller diesel on. That will save money."
The company is also installing new equipment designed to capture the heat radiating from its diesel generators and convert it into baseload electricity.
Daunting development
Developing renewable energy projects in Arctic Alaska requires an energy source, money, determination and patience.
The electric equipment and cranes needed to erect Kotzebue's wind turbines had to be barged in from the Lower 48 states during the 3½ months each summer that Kotzebue's port was ice-free.
Then the workers couldn't install the wind turbines until winter temperatures froze the tundra, allowing construction of ice roads.
Once winter does hit, however, weather conditions can be daunting. Kotzebue has an average temperature of 22 degrees Fahrenheit, with winter wind chill temperatures known to plummet to minus 100 F. The city also gets an average of 4 feet of snow each winter.
Despite those hurdles, Kotzebue's renewable energy success is beginning to spread to some of the Northwest Arctic Borough's other 11 Native villages. Like Kotzebue, those towns are not accessible by road or electric transmission lines, making renewable energy projects expensive to build and maintain.
Seventy-five miles southeast of Kotzebue, the village of Buckland, population 416, recently hooked two 100-kilowatt electric wind turbines to its diesel electric network. That project cost $6.2 million, including $280,000 per mile for 4 miles of transmission lines from the wind farm to the community. That operation was funded primarily through state grants.
Meanwhile, a single 100-kW turbine will soon come online in the Native village of Deering, population 122, which is located 57 miles across the Kotzebue Sound from Kotzebue. Deering's wind facility is located 1½ miles from the community and cost $2.7 million to complete.
But before the turbines could be installed, the community's old diesel generating unit had to be updated at a cost of $240,000, noted Fred Smith, director of economic development for the Northwest Arctic Borough.
"In our communities, we have to invest in new controls just to be able to have the diesel talk to the wind," Smith explained.
Thus far, each renewable energy project has benefited only a single town. Borough officials would like to build regional grids to provide cheaper electricity to several of their villages. But those projects have been uneconomical because of the high cost of building transmission lines and roads across the tundra.
"When you look at the cost-benefit analysis of a large project like that, you lose the economics," Smith said. "It's the right solution. But economically, we lose out on a good opportunity by having a small population that's spread out the way we are."
Despite the potential costs, the Northwest Arctic Borough is setting a goal of displacing 25 percent of its communities' diesel usage by 2025.
Making wind work in subzero temperatures
Less than 200 miles southwest of Kotzebue, the city of Nome faced a far more difficult road in its attempt to bring cheaper renewable energy to its 4,000 residents.
The city's first wind turbines were erected in 2008 at the Banner Wind Farm west of town. But during the first year, Arctic winds whipping across the Bering Sea combined with severe icing conditions to destroy one turbine and damage other units.
The following year, the equipment manufacturer went bankrupt, essentially shutting down most operations at the site. The facility didn't begin regular operations until 2010.
Last year, thanks to steady improvements and expansion, the wind farm provided 7 percent of Nome's electricity. In the process, the 17-turbine operation, now owned by Nome Joint Utility System, managed to displace 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel and save its electricity customers about a half a million dollars.
That's important in Nome, which made international headlines in 2012 when the community's harbor iced up before its winter fuel delivery arrived. To bring needed diesel and gasoline to town, a U.S. Coast Guard ice breaker was called in to escort a Russian tanker into the Nome harbor.
This year, the Nome utility company is looking for ways to increase the amount of wind power flowing to its customers.
"We've recently made some adjustments to our system to allow wind to actually flow into the system at a higher rate," explained John Handeland, manager of the Nome utility. "There are times when we're getting 30 to 35 percent of our power from wind."
Handeland said the company is also considering ways to store the wind energy.
"Sometimes the wind blows when we don't need it," he noted. "If we could store some of that and then pop it into the system at a later time -- that's something that we continue to investigate."
Nome was not alone in its struggle to adopt wind energy. Alaska is littered with failed wind and other renewable energy projects, according to Kotzebue's Reeve.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the state used early revenues from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System to pay for renewable energy projects in dozens of rural villages.
"Alaska had this big pipeline and taxes flowing from that into the treasury," Reeve recalled. "There were about 140 various wind projects throughout the state. In all the villages, somebody was putting in wind turbines.
"The problem was that about a year after they did that, they were all broke. So everybody said, 'Well, wind doesn't work in Alaska.'"
The early wind units failed, Reeves observed, because they weren't equipped to handle Arctic conditions and weren't properly maintained.
"They were all new turbines, but they didn't have the right brake systems," he noted. "Nobody brought in the accompanying infrastructure or people or parts or technicians. So you had a guy that was running the diesel power plant trying to fix things."
In the years since then, a handful of Alaska communities have become test sites for more advanced wind technologies. Those successes have proved that wind can work in Kotzebue and other remote villages, Reeve said.
But some Alaska towns have been slow to take a fresh look at renewable energy.
"There have been too many failed technologies in the villages in the past," he explained.
"They're very gun-shy of people they don't know. So if you go in and tell them you have a better mousetrap, at this point they'll tell you: 'Well, maybe you do and maybe you don't.'"
Microgrids step in for remote villages
The term microgrid has become a buzzword applied to a growing number of small electricity networks popping up at hospitals, college campuses and industrial facilities around the world.
In the Lower 48 states, those systems are often designed to lower power costs by disconnecting from the traditional grid and operating autonomously.
But for Alaskans, microgrids are the lifeblood of their remote villages. Small towns outside the Anchorage-Fairbanks rail belt don't have access to a regional electric transmission and distribution network.
Most of those communities rely on aging diesel generation plants and pay significantly more for power than the Lower 48.
"Microgrids for us are remote isolated systems," said Rob Roys, business development director at Huntley and Associates LLC, an Anchorage electricity products and services firm.
"They're not connected to transmission grids," he said at the recent Arctic Energy Summit in Fairbanks. "They don't have the luxury of having that kind of support."
Now the federal government is researching the best ways to help Alaska's stand-alone grids lower their electricity costs by expanding into renewable technologies.
For nearly a year, a federal team led by the Energy Department's Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs has been visiting villages throughout Alaska to learn more about the current state of energy in remote communities.
The group is examining cost-effective solutions and alternatives to rural electricity and heating problems. And they're pulling together policy options that would help communities adopt cheaper technologies.
"The project is really about identifying new programs or even existing programs and policies intended to lower the economic costs of meeting rural Alaska's energy needs," said Peter Larsen, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The study team is focusing on "strategies for empowerment," he said. "What are things we can start thinking about now for empowering local communities to take control of their energy systems?
"The outcome from this report will serve as the backbone for DOE's Office of Indian Energy's strategic plan for Alaska," Larsen explained at the Fairbanks Arctic energy conference. "So this could be a very high-visibility report."
Larsen said the group's report is expected to be completed by February.
Despite the progress made in advancing renewable energy projects in Kotzebue, Nome and other parts of Alaska, many remote villages still eagerly await their annual diesel shipments, which arrive by barge or plane, to provide electricity and heat for the cold winter months.
"There are still a lot of communities in Alaska and northern Canada and around the Arctic that are running on diesel," noted Marc Mueller-Stoffels, director for the Power Systems Integration Program at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power.
"They haven't really implemented any kind of advanced renewable energy systems so far," he said at the energy conference.
"And for some, it might not make sense for the next decade or so. We'll see how that all lands."Opponent: None -------------------- #1 Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) #2 Ali Farag (EGY) #3 Tarek Momen (EGY) #4 Simon Rösner (GER) #5 Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) #6 Paul Coll (NZL) #7 Miguel Rodriguez (COL) #8 Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) #9 Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) #10 Diego Elias (PER) #11 Saurav Ghosal (IND) #12 Gregory Gaultier (FRA) #13 Omar Mosaad (EGY) #14 Max Lee (HKG) #15 Raphael Kandra (GER) #16 James Willstrop (ENG) #17 Daryl Selby (ENG) #18 Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) #19 Joel Makin (WAL) #20 Declan James (ENG) -------------------- #21 Tom Richards (ENG) #22 Zahed Salem (EGY) #23 Yip Tsz Fung (HKG) #24 Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) #25 Nicolas Müller (SUI) #26 Cameron Pilley (AUS) #27 Greg Lobban (SCO) #27 Leo Au (HKG) #29 Abdulla Al-Tamimi (QAT) #30 Gregoire Marche (FRA) #31 Cesar Salazar (MEX) #32 Borja Golan (ESP) #33 Youssef Soliman (EGY) #34 George Parker (ENG) #35 Ramy Ashour (EGY) #36 Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) #37 Eain Yow Ng (MAS) #38 Chris Simpson (ENG) #39 Mazen Hesham (EGY) #40 Lucas Serme (FRA) -------------------- #41 Campbell Grayson (NZL) #42 Adrian Waller (ENG) #43 Arturo Salazar (MEX) #44 Mostafa Asal (EGY) #45 Ivan Yuen (MAS) #46 Alan Clyne (SCO) #47 Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) #48 Todd Harrity (USA) #49 Karim El Hammamy (EGY) #50 Nathan Lake (ENG) #51 Joshua Masters (ENG) #52 Ben Coleman (ENG) #53 Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) #54 Mohamed Reda (EGY) #55 Tayyab Aslam (PAK) #56 Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) #57 Richie Fallows (ENG) #58 Ramit Tandon (IND) #59 Vikram Malhotra (IND) #60 Rex Hedrick (AUS) -------------------- #61 Peter Creed (WAL) #62 Edmon Lopez (ESP) #63 Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) #64 Youssef Ibrahim (EGY) #65 Chris Hanson (USA) #66 Mazen Gamal (EGY) #67 Olli Tuominen (FIN) #68 Fares Dessouky (EGY) #69 Alfredo Avila (MEX) #70 Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) #71 Baptiste Masotti (FRA) #72 Farhan Mehboob (PAK) #73 Shehab Essam (EGY) #74 Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) #75 Auguste Dussourd (FRA) #76 Shawn Delierre (CAN) #77 Robertino Pezzota (ARG) #78 Ahmed Hosny (EGY) #79 Christopher Gordon (USA) #80 Victor Crouin (FRA) -------------------- #81 Mohamed Elsherbini (EGY) #82 Carlos Cornes (ESP) #83 Bernat Jaume (ESP) #84 Asim Khan (PAK) #85 Shahjahan Khan (PAK) #86 Sébastien Bonmalais (FRA) #87 Kristian Frost (DEN) #88 Christopher Binnie (JAM) #89 Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) #90 Jan van den Herrewegen (BEL) #91 Michael McCue (CAN) #92 Henry Leung (HKG) #93 Charlie Lee (ENG) #94 Addeen Idrakie (MAS) #95 Angus Gillams (ENG) #96 Patrick Rooney (ENG) #96 Rui Soares (POR) #98 Henrik Mustonen (FIN) #99 Wong Chi Him (HKG) #100 Daniel Mekbib (CZE) -------------------- #101 Leonel Cardenas (MEX) #102 Aditya Jagtap (IND) #103 Ammar Altamimi (KUW) #104 Ahsan Ayaz (PAK) #105 Evan Williams (NZL) #106 Abhay Singh (IND) #107 Reiko Peter (SUI) #108 Jesus Camacho (MEX) #109 Lyell Fuller (ENG) #110 Martin Svec (CZE) #111 Mario Yanez (MEX) #112 Lau Tsz Kwan (HKG) #113 Nick Sachvie (CAN) #114 Benjamin Aubert (FRA) #115 David Baillargeon (CAN) #116 Juan Camilo Vargas (COL) #117 Josue Enriquez (GUA) #118 Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) #119 Israr Ahmed (PAK) #120 Amaad Fareed (PAK) -------------------- #121 Faraz Khan (USA) #122 Farhan Zaman (PAK) #123 Mohammad Al Sarraj (JOR) #124 Andrew Douglas (USA) #125 Andrew Schnell (CAN) #126 Sean Conroy (IRL) #127 Emyr Evans (WAL) #128 Jami Äijänen (FIN) #128 Valentin Rapp (GER) #130 Tang Ming Hong (HKG) #131 Jean-Pierre Brits (RSA) #132 Christophe Andre (FRA) #133 Yannik Omlor (GER) #134 Stuart MacGregor (ENG) #135 Ondrej Uherka (CZE) #136 Farkas Balazs (HUN) #137 Matias Tuomi (FIN) #138 Robert Downer (ENG) #139 Robin Gadola (SUI) #140 Joeri Hapers (BEL) -------------------- #141 Sajad Zareian (IRI) #142 Tristan Eysele (RSA) #143 Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari (PAK) #144 Aqeel Rehman (AUT) #145 Edgar Ramirez (COL) #145 Reuben Phillips (ENG) #147 Cameron Seth (CAN) #148 Enzo Corigliano (FRA) #149 Abdullah Al Muzayen (KUW) #150 Leandro Romiglio (ARG) #151 Joe Green (ENG) #152 Syed Azlan Amjad (QAT) #153 Darren Rahul Pragasam (MAS) #154 Mark Fuller (ENG) #155 Brian Byrne (IRL) #155 Miko Äijänen (FIN) #157 Ben Coates (ENG) #158 Noah Browne (BER) #158 Rory Stewart (SCO) #160 Micah Franklin (BER) -------------------- #161 Nick Wall (ENG) #162 Diego Gobbi (BRA) #163 Hugo Varela (ESP) #164 Tom Walsh (ENG) #165 Timothy Brownell (USA) #166 Alex Noakes (ENG) #167 Asyraf Azan (MAS) #168 Spencer Lovejoy (USA) #169 Aadit Zaveri (IND) #170 Alex Eustace (AUS) #171 Charlie Johnson (ENG) #172 Mark Broekman (ENG) #173 Vini Rodrigues (BRA) #174 Roee Avraham (ISR) #175 Miles Jenkins (ENG) #176 Harry Falconer (ENG) #176 Oliviero Ventrice (ITA) #178 Connor Sheen (ENG) #179 Mohamed Nabil (EGY) #180 Yuri Farneti (ITA) -------------------- #181 Claudio Pinto (POR) #182 Thomas Calvert (AUS) #183 Bryan Lim Tze Kang (MAS) #184 Elvinn Keo (MAS) #184 Omar Elkattan (EGY) #184 Tomotaka Endo (JPN) #187 Cole Becker (USA) #187 Lewis Doughty (ENG) #189 Khawaja Adil Maqbool (PAK) #189 Ryan Pasqual (MAS) #191 Tarek Shehata (EGY) #192 Scott Galloway (NZL) #193 Mike Corren (AUS) #194 Babatunde Ajagbe (NGR) #195 Fernando Magdaleno (MEX) #196 Zahir Shah (PAK) #197 Syed Hamzah Shah Bukhari (PAK) #198 Zac Alexander (AUS) #199 Thomas King (CAN) #200 Ahmed Hassan (ZIM) -------------------- #200 Jamie Ruggiero (USA) #200 Navid Maleksabet (IRI) #203 Jakub Solnicky (CZE) #204 Alex Ingham (ENG) #205 Anthony Graham (ENG) #206 Blessing Muhwati (ZIM) #206 Mustafa Nawar (EGY) #208 Arshad Iqbal Burki (PAK) #209 Fabien Verseille (FRA) #210 Nick Mulvey (ENG) #211 Viktor Byrtus (CZE) #212 Roshan Bharos (NED) #213 David Ilich (AUS) #214 Adrian Leanza (USA) #215 Danish Atlas Khan (PAK) #216 Cory McCartney (CAN) #217 Abdulrahman Al-Malki (QAT) #218 Nicholas Calvert (AUS) #218 Owain Taylor (WAL) #218 Roman Allinckx (SUI) -------------------- #221 Mike Harris (ENG) #222 Joseph White (AUS) #223 David Cromwell (USA) #224 Vladislav Titov (RUS) #224 Zeeshan Khan (PAK) #226 Ong Sai Hung (MAS) #227 Darosham Khan (CAN) #227 Martin Kegel (CRO) #229 Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) #230 Allan Nuñez Zuno (MEX) #231 David Zeman (CZE) #232 Christo Potgieter (RSA) #233 Marc ter Sluis (NED) #234 Jason Hua (USA) #235 Shady El Sherbiny (EGY) #236 Charlie Cowie (ENG) #237 Naoki Hayashi (JPN) #238 Rohan Mandil (FRA) #239 Sergio Garcia Pollan (ESP) #240 David Haley (WAL) -------------------- #241 Umair Zaman (QAT) #242 Abdul Malik Khan (PAK) #242 Ignacio Gutierrez Keen (ARG) #242 Rohan Toole (AUS) #245 Adrian Ostbye (NOR) #245 Tess Jutte (NED) #247 Muhammad Bilal (ITA) #248 Chris Fuller (ENG) #249 Faisal Hassan (ZIM) #250 Chua Man Chin (SGP) #251 Zac Millar (NZL) #252 Hasnaat Farooqi (ENG) #253 Adewale Amao (NGR) #253 Khaled Labib (EGY) #255 Nick Sutcliffe (ENG) #255 Noman Khan (PAK) #257 Anthony Rogal (ENG) #258 Jacob Bassil (LIB) #259 Curtis Malik (ENG) #260 Nilo Vidal (ESP) -------------------- #261 Ondrej Vorlícek (CZE) #262 Erik Jakobsson (SWE) #263 Brock Janzer (CAN) #263 Courtney West (AUS) #265 Alister Walker (BOT) #265 Rodrigo Pezzota (ARG) #267 Guhan Senthilkumar (IND) #268 Darren Chan (MAS) #269 Amadeo Costa (SUI) #270 Nir Cohen (ISR) #270 Robert Dadds (ENG) #272 Sion Wiggin (NZL) #273 Julian Tomlinson (ENG) #274 Harley Lam (HKG) #275 Robert Garcia (PHI) #276 Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek (EGY) #276 Andrew Shoukry (EGY) #278 Hamad Al-Amri (QAT) #279 Lachlan Coxsedge (AUS) #279 Matthew Lai (HKG) -------------------- #281 Eugene Heng (MAS) #281 Sandeep Ramachandran (IND) #283 Abdulrahaman Yusuf (NGR) #284 Timothy Leong (SGP) #285 Thijs Roukens (NED) #286 Chang-Wook Woo (KOR) #287 Abhishek Pradhan (IND) #287 Ben Ford (ENG) #289 Kashif Asif (PAK) #290 Marwan Tarek (EGY) #291 Adam Auckland (ENG) #292 Abbas Zeb (PAK) #293 Juan Gomez Dominguez (MEX) #294 Edwin Clain (FRA) #295 Ludovico Cipolletta (ITA) #296 Mohd Farez Izwan (MAS) #297 Pascal Gomez (ESP) #298 Joe Chapman (IVB) #299 Cedric Kuchen (SUI) #299 Edgar Zayas (MEX) -------------------- #299 Ricardo Lopez (MEX) #302 Elliott Morris Devred (WAL) #303 Ido Burstein (ISR) #304 James Peach (ENG) #305 Jorge Gomez (MEX) #306 Michael Babra (SWE) #306 Mostafa El Serty (EGY) #308 Alejandro Reyes (MEX) #308 Chua Man Tong (SGP) #310 Muhammad Farhan (PAK) #311 Jakob Dirnberger (AUT) #312 Jack Turney (ENG) #312 Ronald Palomino (COL) #314 Jon Geekie (SCO) #315 Ahad Raza (CAN) #316 Chris Leiper (SCO) #317 Mohammad Kashani (IRI) #318 Abhishek Agarwal (IND) #319 Jaakko Vähämaa (FIN) #319 Julius Benthin (GER) -------------------- #319 Samuel Kang (SGP) #319 Valerii Fedoruk (UKR) #323 Gabriel Bassil (USA) #324 Samuli Niskala (FIN) #324 Shahzad Khan (AUS) #326 Santiago Orozco (COL) #327 Eddie Charlton (ENG) #327 Karim Magdy (EGY) #329 Joel Jaume (ESP) #329 Valentino Bong (MAS) #331 Gabe Yam (NZL) #331 Guy Davidson (USA) #331 Haris Iqbal (PAK) #334 Jason Turner (AUS) #334 Tim Cowell (AUS) #336 Adrien Douillard (FRA) #336 Ville Karsikas (FIN) #338 James Wyatt (ENG) #338 Mansoor Zaman (PAK) #340 Marco Toriz-Caddo (MEX) -------------------- #340 Ravi Dixit (IND) #342 Francesco Marcantonio (PAR) #343 Dylan Tymkiw (ARG) #343 Nicolas Talbott (USA) #343 Wayne Sithole (RSA) #346 Toufik Mekhalfi (FRA) #347 Naveed Rehman (PAK) #348 Alireza Shameli (IRI) #348 Karan Malik (IND) #348 Youssef Hisham (EGY) #351 Rodrigo Bonzo (ARG) #351 Shahier Razik (CAN) #353 Benjamin Ratcliffe (AUS) #354 Vikas Mehra (IND) #355 Rene Mijs (NED) #356 Faisal Riaz (USA) #356 Sam Fenwick (WAL) #356 Stu Hadden (IRL) #359 Gareth Naidoo (RSA) #360 Phil Nightingale (ENG) -------------------- #361 Jakob Känel (SUI) #361 Siow Yee Xian (MAS) #363 Andreas Dietzsch (SUI) #363 Chris Longman (ENG) #365 Carl Remle (SWE) #366 Yehia Elnawasany (EGY) #367 Bilal Zakir (PAK) #368 Haris Qasim (PAK) #368 Theis Houlberg (DEN) #370 Joong-Won Hwang (KOR) #371 Muhammad Shoaib Hassan (PAK) #372 Atte Stengård (FIN) #373 Marek Panacek (CZE) #373 Saad Abdullah (PAK) #375 Ahmed Mallah (EGY) #375 Dimitri Diamadopoulos (ITA) #377 Bendegúz Kamocsai (HUN) #377 Joel Arscott (AUS) #377 Taminder Gata-Aura (ENG) #380 Filip Hultman (SWE) -------------------- #381 Soheil Shameli (IRI) #382 Eric Galvez (MEX) #382 Stuart George (SCO) #384 Fynn-Filip Schuck (GER) #385 Bart Wijnhoven (NED) #386 Federico Cioffi (ARG) #386 Mostafa Montaser (EGY) #386 Omar El Torkey (EGY) #389 Moustafa Osman (EGY) #389 Tobias Weggen (GER) #391 Mohammad Amin Ataei Khaah (IRI) #392 Perry Malik (ENG) #393 Armando Olguin (MEX) #394 Josh Attwell (ENG) #395 Ethan Alfalfa Porter (ZIM) #395 Sam Ejtemai (AUS) #397 Muhammad Abdul Qadir (PAK) #397 Robin Ebert (GER) #399 Michael Andrews (ENG) #400 Alisdair Shapcott (ENG) -------------------- #401 Jean-Pierre van der Merwe (RSA) #402 Jacob Ford (AUS) #402 Jayden Shortt (CAN) #402 Willi Wingelsdorf (GER) #405 Waqar Mehboob (PAK) #406 Adegoke Onaopemipo (NGR) #406 Faraz Muhammad (PAK) #406 Muhammad Hassaan Raza (PAK) #406 Muhammad Uzair (PAK) #406 Nicholas Fehn (USA) #406 Owais Rasheed (PAK) #412 Adam Turner (ENG) #413 Muhammad Waheed (AUS) #414 Hasanain Dakheel (IRQ) #415 Tayne Turnock (ZIM) #416 Rodolfo Vega (MEX) #417 Elias Korhonen (FIN) #417 Haseeb Taj (PAK) #419 Aaron Allpress (ENG) #419 Jon Barry (USA) -------------------- #421 Aedan Martin (ZIM) #422 Ahmed Abualela (EGY) #423 Nils Schwab (GER) #424 Benjamin Bergel (CZE) #424 Varun Johnny (IND) #426 Iqtidar Khan (PAK) #426 Lewis Walters (JAM) #426 Sven Stettler (SUI) #426 Victor Reguera (ESP) #430 Uzair Shoukat (PAK) #431 Ismail Hafez (EGY) #431 Juan Felipe Tovar (COL) #431 Leonard Mohr (USA) #431 Youssef Galal (EGY) #435 Ahmad Al Mudhaf (KUW) #435 Guido Fontanazzi (ARG) #435 Jeremías Azaña (ARG) #438 Ashish Keskar (IND) #438 Johannes Dehmer-Saelz (GER) #438 Tariq Khan (PAK) -------------------- #441 Fergus Richards (SCO) #442 Wee Ming Hock (MAS) #443 Cass Sunstein (USA) #444 Scott Young (ENG) #445 Ethan Eyles (AUS) #446 In Woo Lee (KOR) #446 Miled Zarazua (MEX) #446 Vijay Kumar (IND) #446 Young Hun Jo (KOR) #450 Jared Carter (ENG) #450 Willz Donnelly (NZL) #452 Aaron Liang (SGP) #453 Alasdair Prott (SCO) #453 David Pelino (PHI) #453 Emilio Carrillo (CAN) #453 Gavin Maxwell (CAN) #453 Vojtech Ryba (CZE) #458 Alex Grayson (NZL) #459 Benjamin Sim ( |
Mediterranean Sea, where salt water has replaced ZyklonB.
To stop the migratory, Euro-Nazism is going to build enormous extermination camps. The non-governmental organisations guilty of rescuing people from the sea will be contained, downsized, criminalised, repressed.
The externalisation of the European borders means extermination.
Extermination is the word that defines the historical mission of Europe.
Nazism is the only political form that corresponds to the soul of the European people.
In the last twenty-five years (since when, in February 1991, a ship loaded with 26,000 Albanians entered the port of Brindisi) we have known that the great migration had began. Two paths were possible at that point.
Opening its borders, starting a global distribution of resources, investing its wealth in a long-lasting process of reception and integration of young people coming massively from the sea. This was the first path.
The second was to reject, to dissuade, to make almost impossible the easy journey from Northern Africa to the coasts of Spain, Italy and Greece.
Europeans have chosen the second way, and they are daily drowning uncountable children and women and men.
Auschwitz on the beach.
With the exception of a minority of doctors, voluntary workers, activists and fishers, who now are accused of being the abetters of illegal migrants, the majority of the European population are refusing to deal with their own historical responsibility.
Therefore, I declare that I’m not European any more. And I declare that I have never been European.
We have naively expected that an alliance of British murderers, French killers, Italian stranglers, German slaughterers and Spanish slayers could give birth to a democratic peaceful friendly union. This pretence is over, and I’m sick of it.
Five centuries of colonialism, capitalism and nationalism have turned Europeans into the enemy of human kind. May they be cursed forever! May Europeans be swept away by the storm they have generated, by the weapons they are building, by the fire they have ignited, by the hatred they have cultivated!
Because of the aforementioned reasons I must renounce the honour of being part of the Advisory Panel of DIEM25.
From Yanis Varoufakis:
A few days ago, I received a letter from Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi that works like a punch-in-the-stomach type of wake-up call addressed to all Europeans. To crown its tough message, Bifo concludes that his conscience cannot fathom being a European any longer, given Europe’s daily crimes against logic and humanity. Thus, Bifo concludes, he is compelled also to resign from DiEM25’s Advisory Panel. Here are my reasons why we, at DiEM25, refuse to accept his resignation.
Dear Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi, dear friend, dear comrade,
Hannah Arendt once said that as long as one German died at Auschwitz because of her or his opposition to Nazism, the Germans are not responsible collectively for Nazism.
Your letter to us, renouncing the horrors perpetrated in Europe’s name and resigning from our Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25) in protest, offers Europeans the same kind of possibility of redemption that Arendt’s ‘single-German-dying-in-Auschwitz’ offered the people of Germany.
You wrote a splendid and timely “J’ accuse” letter to Europeans as a true, unreconstructed, fed-up, European. And in so doing you offered Europe a small, tiny but important chance to save its soul.
It is very likely, as you fear, that Europe will throw that chance away; that Europeans will fail to exploit the minuscule chance that you offered. But it does not matter.
What matters is, first, that you, an authentic European, are putting Europe in the dock while, at one and the same time, offering it a precious chance of redemption. Only a true European radical, democrat and humanist could do that.
Secondly, it matters that there are many others like you. And that DiEM25, on whose Advisory Panel you have served, and from which you are now resigning in a bid to shake up our collective and individual consciences, is full of Europeans like you.
Europeans who, like you, are mad as hell with our Europe, as it is and as it acts.
Europeans who, nevertheless, realise that to shed their ‘European’ label in disgust at what Europe is doing to its citizens and to the citizens of the rest of the world requires also declaring that they are no longer Italian, French, British, Greek, Italian… since it is the nation-states of Europe that perpetrate, in the first instance, the scandalous policies that you so powerfully, and rightly, denounce.
Europeans who, mad as we are at Europe’s crimes, understand that renouncing Europe but not Italy, France, Greece, Germany, Britain etc. only plays into the hands of those propagating the fantasy of returning to the bosom of our benevolent nation-states; a fantasy that I know you abhor and one that DiEM25 is railing against.
Europeans who, enraged by what is being perpetrated in their name, are determined to demonstrate that the only way of being good citizens of the world is to be IN and AGAINST this.
This is the reason we, at DiEM25, are proud of you and your “J’ accuse” letter of resignation from our Advisory Panel.
And it is the reason why we do not accept it!Burning Man 2015: Katy Perry falls off a Segway and dust storms galore
The man stands tall at the 2015 Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
The man stands tall at the 2015 Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Photo: Sidney Erthal / Special To The C Photo: Sidney Erthal / Special To The C Image 1 of / 45 Caption Close Burning Man 2015: Katy Perry falls off a Segway and dust storms galore 1 / 45 Back to Gallery
The man burned Saturday night. The temple burned Sunday night. Katy Perry fell off a Segway. And now Burning Man is over.
As thousands made the "exodus" from Black Rock City after the annual festival, which formally started Aug. 30 and ends Monday, Sept. 7, 2015, many continued to share their experiences on social media.
Singer Katy Perry had the internet roaring in laughter Monday after she posted a video (see it below) to her Instagram account of her attempting to ride a Segway in full "Burner" attire. She falls off the Segway and chases after it on the dusty and windy Playa. "Obvious first time burner alert," she playfully wrote in the caption.
Other social media photos detailed a Burning Man that was especially dusty and windy this year, some alluded to 30-50 mph winds and days of nothing but dust storms.
See some of our favorite 2015 Burning Man images and videos:
Do you feel like you missed out?BERKELEY (KPIX 5) — The University of California at Berkeley is putting up a fence around Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’ on campus house. While school officials are calling the fence a security measure, the project is under fire from faculty members and students.
Grad student James Mason says the fence closes a public pathway that many people rely on to get to class.
“It’s the easiest way back and forth. Anything else involves going down to the little pathway,” Mason told KPIX 5.
Cal administrators said it’s a small inconvenience to secure Dirks’ campus home. Dirks and previous chancellors have been repeated targets of protestors upset with tuition hikes.
“Ten, 11, 12 o’clock at night, people would go to the residence, pound on the door,” said Lt. Marc DeCoulode of UC Berkeley police.
In 2009, campus police said a large group of protestors threw flower pots and even a lit torch at the chancellor’s house. Ever since, police have guarded the mansion around the clock.
“The activists are more emboldened. They’re taking more drastic steps,” DeCoulode said.
But many students said the fence sends the wrong message.
“The symbolicness of the fence and what it means putting it up, it’s making a separation between the students and the chancellor,” said Cheyenne Millard, a sophomore.
Berkeley alum and protest organizer Bianca Huntley-Ortega said the fence is a “Symbol that he’s not fighting for the interest of the students.”
Mason says he’s more worried about closing off this public road. “For my purpose, they can keep the symbolism,” Mason said. “I know the chancellor doesn’t listen. Do public officials ever listen?”Samsung Electronics announced that Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge received eco-friendly certificates from four major markets, the US, the UK, Russia and Brazil, respectively. Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge have been recognized not just for the performance based on the state-of-the-art technology, but also for the aspects that care environment.
The two flagship smartphones received Sustainability Product Certification (SPC) from the US-based safety testing and certification organization, UL (Underwriters Laboratories). In the UK, world-renowned Carbon Trust honored the two smartphones with CO2 Measured Label.
In particular, Samsung gained Platinum certification, the highest grade, from UL by meeting a series of rigorous criteria -on toxic material, energy efficiency, recyclability of product and packaging, as well as the manufacturer’s social responsibility practices.
Galaxy S6 and S6 edge have also been awarded Vitality Leaf certification from the Ecological Union, Russia’s leading environmental certification organization, and COLIBRI, a Brazilian environmental quality label, from Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT).
Packages of the two smartphones are made with 100 percent recycled paper as well as they satisfy criteria on toxic material. In addition, at the very early stage of the product development, Samsung considered environmental impacts. For example, 20 percent of the plastic in battery charger is made from recycled plastic, and soy ink is used to print the letters on the packages and manuals, instead of using petroleum solvents.
Samsung also continuously strives to create an eco-friendly system by applying advanced technology for energy efficiency, including fast charging and Ultra Power Saving mode.
Samsung has set up “Eco-Design process” since 2004 and requires environmental validation at the product development stage. Every product developed in Samsung has to be validated and named eco-grade.
As a result, as of March this year, 3,131 of Samsung products obtained environmental labels from environmental organizations in 14 countries, being recognized as a world’s leading eco-friendly manufacturer.
“Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge show excellent performance and fabulous design, as well as Samsung’s commitment for the environment” said Samsung official, and “Samsung will continue its efforts for developing environmentally friendly products, and also plan to expand the share of the recognized eco-products.”JACO, Costa Rica, Aug. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Slightly Stoopid, the Ocean Beach/San Diego, CA group led by multi-instrumentalists and founding members, Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald, will headline the Fourth Annual Jungle Jam January 16-19, 2014 in Jaco, Costa Rica.
Featuring four days of continuous music, this year's line-up brings Slightly Stoopid, New Orleans' Dumpstaphunk, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, dopapod, The Expendables, and Kung Fu to Jungle Jam for the first time joining festival favorites Max Creek, Ryan Montbleau Band, Zach Deputy and Oteil Burbridge, Grammy award-winning bassist of the Allman Brothers Band. Additional bands are expected to join the annual party!
The one-of-a-kind music and camping festival in Jaco, Costa Rica is hosted by the beautiful DoceLunas Resort Hotel and includes concerts at multiple locations, including beach front venues, late night clubs and local theatres, all designed to create an up-close and personal concert experience. It is not unusual for bands to play multiple days at Jungle Jam. Nor is it unusual for sets to turn into big jam sessions.
"This year's line-up is pretty amazing. All these great acts will perform in my yard in the Jungle," said Eric Freitas, event producer for Jungle Jam.
Jungle Jam camping packages are available starting at $349 per person and include a four-day festival pass as well as camping in a secure area and round trip airport transfers. All the amenities of a top-notch camping and music festival will be available including showers, potable water and food vendors.
For those that prefer sophisticated accommodations, all-inclusive hotel packages are available at the Best Western Jaco Beach Resort. Condo packages are available at a number of the best resorts along Jaco Beach including La Paloma Blanca, Bahia Azul, Bahia Encantada, The Palms and Diamante Del Sol.
All camping, hotel and condo packages include festival tickets and ground transportation transfers to and from San Jose Airport. Festival-only tickets are available starting at just $199.
The DoceLunas Resort has been the home for Jungle Jam since 2011 and is truly one of the gems of all Central America. Located among the towering jungle shade trees, the DoceLunas Resort is a three minute drive or a one mile walk from the beach. Wild life abounds and scarlet macaws, monkeys, geckos and anteaters all can be seen on the grounds. DoceLunas offers all the amenities expected of a four-star hotel, including a full service gourmet restaurant, high speed wireless internet, a spectacular waterfall cave mosaic swimming pool, a full spa and beauty salon and more.
Slightly Stoopid dropped their latest studio effort and 9th album, Top of the World last summer, followed by the release of Live At Robertos Tri Studios which features 2 sets from Bob Weir's studio and includes guest sit-ins from Karl Denson, Ian and Ivan Neville, Don Carlos from Black Uhuru host Tommy Chong, and Weir himself. The group's penchant for cooking up the tasty fusion and massive groove that permeates Stoopid's trademark sound is heard throughout these recordings. Slightly Stoopid's current "Kickin Up Dust" Summer 2013 tour w Atmosphere continues to sell-out major outdoor amphitheatres in the U.S. (including Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless (15,000), San Diego Sleep Train Amph (15,000), Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre 7500, Santa Barbara County Bowl 4500 as it makes its way across the country.
Most Jungle Jam performances take place during the evenings allowing attendees the opportunity to take advantage of all Costa Rica has to offer, including zip line adventures across the rain forest, boat cruises to see crocodiles, Playa Hermosa famous surf breaks and beaches, beginner surfing lessons, day trips to Manuel Antonio National Park and more.
For tickets and information, visit www.junglejam.com.
All performances at Jungle Jam are rain or shine. All dates, acts, and ticket prices subject to change without notice.
www.junglejam.com | www.docelunas.com
SOURCE Jungle JamHouston police are investigating a shooting of a juvenile on the southeast side, Eyewitness News has learned.The shooting took place along Martin Luther King Drive at the 5000 block of Rue Street just before 4pm on Saturday.Eyewitnesses say the shooting happened very quickly right in the middle of the street.The victim was a boy between 10 and 14 according to neighbors.Police were called to Rue Street and eyewitnesses say the boy's father was nursing his wounds on his face when they arrived.Neighbors say the boy was talking when he was taken to the hospital and it look like the bullet grazed him but police haven't confirmed that.Edgar Lewis said the boy was out playing when several people in a car pulled up."They got out of the car and started shooting. Just boom, boom, boom, all you hear is boom, boom, boom" Lewis said.Police have not given a description of the getaway car but several eyewitnesses saw it driving off and should be able to give some information."I hope everybody comes together and stop all the madness. This hating has got to stop," said a neighbor.Today I found out there was once a woman who had immortal cells. These immortal cells have multiplied to the point that if you were to weigh all of them that live today, they’d weigh about 50 million metric tons, which is about as much as 100 Empire State Buildings.
So who was this woman and why are scientists keeping about 50 million metric tons of her cells supplied with fresh nutrients so they can live on? The woman was Henrietta Lacks and her immortal cells have been essential in curing polio; gene mapping; learning how cells work; developing drugs to treat cancer, herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS… The list goes on and on and on. If it deals with the human body and has been studied by scientists, odds are, they needed and used Henrietta’s immortal cells somewhere along the way. Her cells were even sent up to space on an unmanned satellite to determine whether or not human tissue could survive in zero gravity.
Go to just about any cell culture lab in the world and you’ll find billions of Henrietta’s cells stored there. What’s unique about her cells is that, not only do they never die, in contrast to normal human cells which will die after a few replications, but her cells can also live and replicate just fine outside of the human body, which is also unique among humans. Give her cells the nutrients they need to survive and they will live and replicate along forever, apparently (almost 60 years and counting since the first culture was taken). They can even be frozen for literally decades and later thawed and they will go right on replicating.
Before her cells were discovered and widely cultured, it was nearly impossible for scientists to reliably experiment on cells and get meaningful results. Cell cultures that scientists would try to study would weaken and die very quickly outside the human body. Her cells gave scientists, for the first time, a “standard” that they could use to test things on. Even better, her cells can survive being shipped in the mail just fine, so scientists across the globe can all use the same standard from which to test against.
Henrietta Lacks herself was an impoverished black woman who died on October 4, 1951 of cervical cancer at the age of just 31 years old. It was during getting her cancer treated that a doctor at Johns Hopkins took a sample of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it over to a colleague of his, Dr. George Gey; Dr. Gey had been trying for 20 years, unsuccessfully, to grow human tissues from cultures. A lab assistant there, Mary Kubicek, discovered that Henrietta’s cells, unlike normal human cells, could live and replicate outside the body.
Henrietta died of uremic poisoning, in the segregated hospital ward for blacks, about eight months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer; never knowing that her cells would become one of the most vital tools in modern medicine and would spawn a multi-billion dollar industry where her replicated cells would be bought and sold by the billions.
She was survived by her husband and five children, the surviving members of which still to this day live in poverty (one who is homeless on the streets of Baltimore) and were long ignorant of the importance of Henrietta’s cells to modern medicine.
If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as:
Bonus Facts:
A few days after the “March for the Cure” for polio, Henrietta Lacks visited John Hopkins after developing a painful knot in her cervix. Little did she or anyone else know, just a few short years later, subsequent events as a result of her visit, would help provide the cure for polio the nation so desperately needed.
On the day of Henrietta’s death, Dr. George Gey, the head of Hopkins tissue-culture research lab, holding up a vial of Henrietta’s cells to TV cameras, announced to the world a new age of medical research had begun; one that would allow scientists to come up with cures for things like cancer. It was a very short while later that Dr. Jonas Salk was able to cure polio with the help of her cells, which had recently been put into mass production.
When Henrietta’s cells were originally taken, they were given the code name “HeLa”, the first two letters in Henrietta and Lacks. When members of the press got close to finding the source of the cells and came close to finding Henrietta’s family, the researcher who grew the cells made up a pseudonym, Helen Lane, to try to keep the source of the cells anonymous. Because of this, her real name wasn’t publicly known until the 1970s.
Henrietta’s immortal cells weren’t just important in aiding in finding cures for diseases and the like, they also ended up indirectly causing major reform in how scientists worked with cell cultures, in terms of making sure that samples weren’t contaminated. While studying some breast cancer and prostate cells, one scientist discovered what he was actually looking at were Henrietta’s cells. What had happened was that Henrietta’s cells floated on dust particles in the air, and managed to survive doing so, and contaminated all the cultures in the area. This created a big problem as it turned out this wasn’t an isolated incident and scientists had been unknowingly working with many samples contaminated with Henrietta’s cells.
When Henrietta’s husband first learned about his wife’s cells, he misinterpreted what the doctor was telling him on the phone due to the fact that he only had a 3rd grade education; he thought the doctor was telling him that his wife was still alive and scientists had been keeping her in a laboratory for the last 25 years and using her to experiment on.
Henrietta’s cells were the first human biological materials ever bought and sold. This literally launched a multi-billion dollar industry. Henrietta’s family and descendants almost all live in poverty, including one of her sons that is homeless in Baltimore. The family has not been able to hire a lawyer to try to get what they feel is their cut out of each sale of their mother’s cultured cells.
The Lacks family lived in Lackstown, which is land located in Clover Virginia. The land was given to the black Lacks family by the white Lacks family, who had owned, as slaves, the ancestors of the black Lackses. Quite a few of the black Lacks’ were also descendants of the white Lacks’.
Henrietta Lacks’ body lies in an unmarked plot on the family burial ground next to her now abandoned and falling down childhood house. Nobody knows which grave plot is hers.
Expand for ReferencesTom Lees has signed a contract extension at Sheffield Wednesday - just over a year after his last deal.
The defender has joined Ross Wallace, Kieran Lee and Keiren Westwood in committing his long-term future to the Championship club.
His old deal was due to expire in three years time but he will now remain at Hillsborough until 2021.
For our Owls news and opinion on twitter follow here
Several clubs, including Premier League sides Burnley and Sunderland, are understood to have been keeping close tabs on Lees in recent weeks.
It is a major coup for the Owls, who reached the Play-Off final last year, that they have persuaded the highly-sought after centre-back to extend his stay.
Since arriving from Leeds United in the summer of 2014, Lees has been one of the mainstays of Wednesday's mean defence over the past two seasons. He has featured 88 times, weighing in with three goals.
For more news from Hillsborough click here
Lees said: “I spoke to the chairman and he has big ambitions for Sheffield Wednesday and I’m delighted to be part of it.
“I’m really happy here and like any player, I want to play in the Premier League.
“I am convinced we can achieve these ambitions together.
“We have made a commitment to each other and I am looking forward to helping Wednesday make the progress that everyone at the club wants.”
Follow Dom Howson on twitterThe Story:
The story is simple. I wanted a unique shot glass that would be the envy of my friends. Something durable and with a classic look. There's a few people making all metal shot glasses, but prices are high and the looks were uninspired. Time to fire up the lathe and make some myself.
The Design:
Shots,shooters,shotgunning, the drinking world is rife with references to shotguns, perhaps a shotgun shell would make the perfect shot glass. Unfortunately, searching only brings up chintzy plastic shot glasses with awful proportions and ugly logos.
Bottom Detailing
No detail was left out.I wanted to keep to the classic look and feel of real shotgun shells. The bottom will be carefully machined to look like it has a real primer cap, and overall length matches actual shells. The diameter has been enlarged to offer a healthy 1.5 ounces. Perfect for shooters or a neat whisky.
Machining Brass
I also wanted to make something that would last a lifetime and look awesome while doing it. All materials are durable food safe metals that will take a beating and occasional drop, unlike glassware. Material grades were picked to have excellent corrosion resistance and impart zero taste on your finest beverages. A Shotgun Shot will offer years of service and look perfect on display. NO GLASS! NO PLASTIC!
The Build:
Before I machined a single glass, I went on a hunt for quality metal shot glasses. A few people have done it before me, but they all made a mistake by using a solid billet of metal. History lesson: Billet, literally means "chunk of metal" and "billet aluminum" is really no different than any other piece of aluminum. What's wrong with using a billet? Cost!
I leveraged my experience as a manufacturing engineer to drive the cost down as much as possible. Instead of cutting everything out of one solid piece of metal wasting your money and my time, all Shotgun Shots are fabricated from two pieces: a cartridge, and a casing. Just like a real shotgun shell. This lets me reduce the cost by not turning a billet of expensive brass or titanium into chips that get swept up. By using a seperate cartridge and casing I can also offer any combination of materials and color choices you desire, Brass cartridge with blue casing? No problem!
Shotgun Shot Casing Color Choices
Go take a look for yourself, you can find metal shot glasses but many cost upwards of $70!, and no one is offering a wide range of color or material choices. At that price I'll need a few shots just to wipe away the memory of the giant hole in my wallet.
The line up:
The Original: This is where it all started. Inspired by a 12 Gauge Buckshot shell, this Shotgun Shot shares the same classic look. The cartridge is machined from 460 Lead free brass, with a matching satin finish anodized aluminum casing. Casing color choices are Burgundy, Royal Blue, and limited edition Kickstarter Forest Green
The Lightweight: I've used all my tricks as a manufacturing engineer to keep costs low. The cartridge is machined 6061 aluminum, with matching satin finish anodized aluminum casing. The all aluminum lightweight is the lightest Shotgun Shot weighing a featherweight 0.09 pounds!
Low Observatability Spec-ops
Spec Ops: Sometimes your drinking has to be as clandestine as you, this limited edition Shell Shot is completely blacked out, featuring a satin black aluminum cartridge, and midnight black anodized aluminum casing. Cartridge is also available in polished brass or bare aluminum.
Need more?
Check out the party pack, any color and material combination of four Shotgun Shots, Makes a perfect gift set.
OR
Mega Pack: Upgrade to the limited edition Mega Pack and I will Laser engrave up to 15 characters on the side, and send off your new prizes in a Pelican 1120 case with custom cut foam to protect your glasses.
Mega Pack!With 28 days to go before Election Day, it’s fascinating to watch as Democrats discover Donald Trump is conspicuously supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This allegedly shocking revelation that only now dawned on them has compelled the panicky left to demonstrate to the American public that the reviled Russian leader is pulling Trump’s strings. Their latest efforts are, however, not nearly as damning as are Donald Trump’s own statements.
Over at Newsweek, reporter Kurt Eichenwald thinks he might have stumbled on the smoking gun in the form of a leaked email exposed by the Russian intelligence laundering outfit WikiLeaks. In that email, he discovered two sentences he had written, which had been emailed to Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta by Clinton confidante and political hitman Sidney Blumenthal regarding the Benghazi attacks. The content implied that Blumenthal believed the deadly Libya attack was “preventable” and a result of State Department negligence. That Eichenwald quote was misattributed to Blumenthal in a report on the leaks published by the website Sputnik, a Kremlin-run web outlet described as the Buzzfeed of pro-Moscow misinformation. But here’s the rub: Trump himself repeated the misattributed quote just as Sputnik had reported it at a recent campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“Who in the Trump campaign was feeding him falsehoods straight from the Kremlin?” Eichenwald asks. Good question. Sputnik—a pro-Moscow propaganda shop—peddles precisely the dreary stuff on which the Trump campaign is predicated: namely, negative news about the United States. It stands entirely to reason that the Trump campaign, which has a special affinity for outfits like RT (also Russian-owed) and InfoWars (a conspiracy site dedicated to exposing supposedly treasonous American elites) would find that Sputnik also has a special way of validating their prior convictions. As links between Trump and the Kremlin go, though, this is some weak sauce.
That does not mean that Donald Trump has not compromised himself in service to Russia’s interests. Trump denied that the United States had any concrete knowledge that Russia was behind the hacks of Democratic National Committee computers, infiltrations that turned up communications now coincidentally showing up in WikiLeaks document dumps. He insisted that China might be behind the attack or perhaps even hackers with knowledge of computer systems no more sophisticated than that of his pre-teen son Baron. According to intelligence community sources who spoke with NBC News, however, Trumps was specifically and personally briefed by U.S. intelligence officials who indicated that the Russian government and Vladimir Putin were behind the attack. Trump was privy to the same intelligence that led the White House to publicly blame the Moscow for the unprecedented intervention into American electoral politics.
At Sunday night’s debate, Trump went out of his way to distance himself from his own vice presidential candidate. Mike Pence had diverted from the celebrity candidate’s line when he said the U.S. had to respond forcefully to Russian “provocations” and should entertain strikes against its terror-supporting client in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad. “He and I haven’t spoken, and he and I disagree,” Trump said on Sunday when asked about his running mate’s comments. He went on to insist that Russia and Assad were forces for stability and counterterrorism in Syria. This assertion has come even amid a deluge of reports indicating that Moscow has used controlled weapons and struck humanitarian targets in Syria, including a United Nations aid convoy (which both the U.S. and the U.K. have accused Russia of attacking with credible evidence). These are only the latest developments in Russia’s campaign against Assad’s enemies in Syria, which opened with a brazen strike on U.S.-backed rebels and a CIA-provided weapons depot.
The evidence exposing Trump’s support for to Russian interests materialize almost daily, but this is a trend that anti-Trump Republicans had been observing for over a year. Trump has defended Putin who has presided at a time in which journalists and opposition figures conspicuously wind up dead. “I think our country does plenty of killing,” Trump told Joe Scarborough. He has said NATO is “obsolete,” and flirted with the prospect of ignoring Baltic nations if they invoke the treaty’s mutual defense provisions following a Russian attack. Trump has contended implicitly that Russia should have free reign in the Middle East and has said as much explicitly about Europe. Trump has given the appearance that he’s working on Moscow’s behalf for some time, but only after Moscow began to repay the favor did Democrats express their disfavor.
To Democrats just waking up to the threat posed by Moscow’s intervention in American politics with the aid of a willing accomplice, welcome to the party. This is a pattern of behavior anti-Trump Republicans have observed and condemned for well over a year. Democrats who thought this dynamic provided them with advantage played a dangerous game. Now that the Oval Office is within reach of the object of their terror, they’re pulling out all the stops. It is only through fortune and not their efforts, though, that Trump appears likely to fall short.Whoops! After a morning of royal speculation, somebody at The Sun jumped the gun by accidentally pressing the 'publish' button.
Royal speculation went wild across social media on Thursday morning after it was revealed that Queen Elizabeth had called an emergency meeting at Buckingham Palace.
Unfortunately for The Sun newspaper, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corps, one of the most widely discussed rumors — one later announced as false — found its way into a published article.
Hi @TheSun. Not sure that's supposed to have been published... pic.twitter.com/bBJHuA0iWl — The Sun Apologies (@SunApology) May 4, 2017
"Prince Philip dead at 95, how did the Duke of Edinburgh die, etc etc" roared the unfinished headline, seemingly written in preparation for any breaking news and published at 8 a.m. U.K. time, reportedly when an official announcement was going to be made.
While there was no 8 a.m. statement from Buckingham Palace regarding the meeting, a spokesperson did reveal to the U.K. press that there was "no cause for concern" regarding the health of either Prince Philip or Queen Elizabeth.
The Sun article was hastily updated to offer a rather un-newsy and awkward fact-based story about Prince Philip — "What was the Duke of Edinburgh's military rank and when did he marry Queen Elizabeth?" — which was itself eventually deleted but not before media observers had snaffled a couple of screen grabs.
It wasn't only The Sun that had falsely declared the Duke of Edinburgh's death, with French media also announcing the incorrect news.South Korean navy fires warning shots as Kim Jong-Un's boats cross into their territorial waters
North Korean boats crossed at the Yellow Sea boundary
A South Korean naval vessel fired ten warning shots at it
The ships then returned to the northern side
South Korea's navy has fired warning shots after three North Korean patrol boats crossed the maritime border into its territory, it was revealed today.
The North Korean boats crossed into the South Korean waters at the Yellow Sea boundary, known as Northern Limit Line, at around 4pm local time on Tuesday.
The ships returned to the northern side after a South Korean naval vessel fired ten warning shots, an official with the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
Tension: In the latest sign of rising animosity between the bitter rivals, South Korean officials said a North Korean vessel fired two artillery shells at one of its warships patrolling in the Yellow Sea (file image)
The NLL is the de facto maritime border, which stretches from the western coast of the peninsula into the Yellow Sea, marking the boundary between the two neighbors.
It was set by the United Nations following the Korean War but the North does not recognise it, CNN reported.
Incidents have been known to occur on and around the border, including one earlier this year when North and South Korean artillery batteries exchanged hundreds of shells.
In 2010, South Korea accused North Korea of using a submarine to torpedo the South Korean ship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.
Lookout: A South Korean navy defense ship on patrol near Yeonpyeong Island (file picture)
Last week it was revealed satellite images showed two new North Korean frigates, the largest surface combat ships the nation's navy has constructed in a quarter-century, a North Korea-watching website.
The website, 38 North, says the frigates are designed to carry one helicopter each and appear to be designed to counter South Korean submarines and protect fisheries. The vessels appear to be equipped with anti-submarine rocket launchers.
The vessels can be seen in commercial satellite images from December and January. One is berthed at a shipyard in the west coast port of Nampo, other at a shipyard at the northeastern port of Nanjin.Photographer Darren Forde is a man on a mission - to display the biggest photo ever taken of his home city of Cork.
Biggest that is, as far as we know (scroll down to see the full image in the embed below).
The massive stitched-together picture is made up of 284 smaller images, painstakingly taken by Darren in March this year. The stitching together and tidying up took a while longer, and take a look at the result: the biggest picture ever made (as far as we know) of the city by the Lee.
As Darren says: “The view stretches from the EMC buildings in Ovens to the west (left), all the way over to Little Island in the east (right). That’s about 20km from West to East. I believe it is the first of its kind for Cork.”
You can zoom in too, thanks to his use of a 400mm lens.
Problem seeing the embed? Click here.
For the techies among you, Darren tells us the massive image is made up of 1.12 gigapixels, or 1,120 megapixels, or 1,120,000,000 pixels – give or take a few - and is 122,622px wide x 9122px high.
“All told, if you were to print this image at 100% it would be just shy of 10.5m wide,” he said.
The original stitched panorama photograph is a file 9GB in size.
He said his next goal is to get the picture printed and put on display somewhere in Cork. You'd want a fine big wall - any takers?!(Reuters) - When Walmart pledged last year to buy an extra $250 billion in U.S.-made goods over the next decade, it appeared to be just what was needed to help move America’s putative manufacturing renaissance from rhetoric to reality.
An "Assembled in the USA" stamp is seen at the side of a box containing a 32-inch television set in the warehouse of Element Electronics, in Winnsboro, South Carolina May 29, 2014. REUTERS/Chris Keane
But suppliers trying to reshore production as part of the initiative by the world’s largest retailer are running into practical problems as they try to restart long-idled corners of U.S. manufacturing.
Companies that make the leap have to grapple with a host of challenges, including a shallow pool of component suppliers, an inexperienced workforce, and other shortcomings that developed during the country’s long industrial decline |
to reach Internet, then the APT will be as well.
References[/caption]
A record-breaking gamma ray burst from beyond the Milky Way temporarily blinded the X-ray eye on NASA’s Swift space observatory on June 21, 2010. The X-rays traveled through space for 5-billion years before slamming into and overwhelming the space-based telescope. “This gamma-ray burst is by far the brightest light source ever seen in X-ray wavelengths at cosmological distances,” said David Burrows, senior scientist and professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and the lead scientist for Swift’s X-ray Telescope (XRT).
A gamma-ray burst is a violent eruption of energy from the explosion of a massive star morphing into a new black hole. This mega burst, named GRB 100621A, is the brightest X-ray source that Swift has detected since the observatory began X-ray observation in early 2005.
Although Swift satellite was designed specifically to study gamma-ray bursts, the instrument was not designed to handle an X-ray blast this bright. “The intensity of these X-rays was unexpected and unprecedented” said Neil Gehrels, Swift’s principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Just when we were beginning to think that we had seen everything that gamma-ray bursts could throw at us, this burst came along to challenge our assumptions about how powerful their X-ray emissions can be.”.
For more information on this burst, see this press release from Penn State’s Eberly College of Science.WASHINGTON (RNS) More than two years after first making his request, Army Maj. Ray Bradley can now be known as exactly what he is: a humanist in the U.S. military.
“I’m able to self-identity the belief system that governs my life, and I’ve never been able to do that before,” said Bradley, who is stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and works on supporting readiness of the Army Reserve’s medical staff.
Lt. Col. Sunset R. Belinsky, an Army spokeswoman, said Tuesday (April 22) that the “preference code for humanist” became effective April 12 for all members of the Army.
In practical terms, the change means that humanists could face fewer hurdles in trying to organize within the ranks; military brass would have better information to aid in planning a deceased soldier’s funeral; and it could lay the groundwork for eventually adding humanist chaplains.
The change comes against a backdrop of persistent claims from atheists and other nonbelievers that the military is dominated by a Christian culture that is often hostile to unbelief. In recent years, activists from the broad spectrum of freethinking organizations have demanded equal treatment as the tradition-bound military grapples with the growth of the spiritual-but-not-religious population.
Jason Torpy, president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, has been pushing for greater recognition of humanists in the armed services; in February, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Pentagon on Bradley’s behalf.
“This is a big victory,” Torpy said, who noted the decision was by the Army and not the other military services. “This is one part, and the easiest part, of a very long list of other reforms that have to happen before we have equality, not just belief or no belief but theistic belief and nontheistic belief like ours.”
The ACLU wrote in its letter that members of nontheistic faiths should have the option of describing themselves, just as members of theistic faiths do.
“Given the wide range of religious-preference designations currently allowed by the armed forces, there is no reason to deny Humanism similar recognition,” ACLU lawyers wrote.
According to a survey by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, humanists make up 3.6 percent of the U.S. military.
Bradley, 47, said the ability to officially state “humanist” as a religious preference is technically an additional code in the military’s database.
“The real importance of this change is that our official military records can reflect humanists now,” said Bradley, who initially was listed under the broad category of “no religious preference.”
Although he doesn’t believe in God, Bradley determined that the term “atheist” was not sufficient for him. Frustrated with the lengthy process in getting the “humanist” designation, he had switched to “atheist” in January 2013. But he said “humanist” explains his life stance, which stresses scientific explanations and maximizing human happiness.
He hopes to work now with Torpy to encourage other humanists in the military to officially identify themselves and to seek opportunities for them to meet in facilities and advertise their meetings as many religious groups do.
“It may be very difficult, especially for young soldiers, to take such a step,” he said, noting some would be wary that they might be discriminated against if they reveal they are humanists.
Chaplain (Col.) Kenneth Stice, director of operations for the Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains, said the religious preference information — though voluntary — helps the military know how best to respect the religious wishes of an injured or deceased soldier. He said the chaplain corps is beginning to grapple with those who are in the “spiritual but not religious” category and will learn from humanists how to address their particular needs for accommodation.
Bradley said a 2012 meeting at Fort Bragg featuring the president of the American Humanist Association required a “special request” because the group wasn’t officially recognized.
“Humanists have life events, just like any other human being,” such as weddings and naming ceremonies for babies, he said. “Accommodation for that type of events in life, I think, would be important for the chaplaincy to support.”
The religious preference designation could mean that humanist chaplains aren’t far behind.
Torpy’s organization and groups such as the Secular Coalition for America continue to seek humanist chaplains in the military. But Bradley said he sees a more gradual process: first the designation, then a layperson designated as a “distinctive faith group leader” and eventually a chaplain.
“The military doesn’t usually turn on a dime like that,” he said. “I would see it more as a progression of steps.”
KRE/MG END BANKSThe problem of air pollution became visible recently in two of Europe's largest capitals, with London and Paris covered by thick clouds of smog in March.
However, while those cities' mayors have proposed measures to tackle the issue, the governments that reside in the two capitals are attempting to water down stricter EU limits.
The United Kingdom and France have expressed "concerns" over the strictness of pollution ceilings which have been proposed in EU legislation, currently being negotiated by both the EU member states and the European Parliament.
The ceilings for deadly pollutants are part of the revision of the national emission ceilings directive, which puts a cap on the amount of pollution EU members can emit annually.
Some 400,000 Europeans a year die earlier than they would have under normal circumstances, according to the European Commission. In the EU, air pollution is said to kill more than 10 times more people than road traffic accidents.
The directive, proposed by the commission in December 2013, would put limits on six air pollutants, including particulate matter and nitrogen oxides.
However, there is an attempt to water down the limits for the air pollutant ammonia, which in the EU is emitted for 95 percent by agriculture.
In position papers from France and the UK, seen by this website, the ammonia ceilings are singled out. The French called the ammonia restrictions “too ambitious”, and said that “specificities” of member states - i.e. those with a large agricultural sector - should be taken into account.
“As regards the ammonia ceilings, we are disappointed that the potential growth in the dairy sector in the UK and a number of EU Member States … is not reflected in the analysis as this will have significant impact on our ability to meet the ceilings”, the British paper said.
On Wednesday (1 April), the EU's milk quota will be abolished, giving farmers the ability to increase their number of milk cows.
However, more milk cows also means more manure, which, together with synthetic fertiliser, is the main cause of ammonia emissions.
In the European Parliament, which will decide in the coming months how it would like to amend the commission's proposal, there is also a push to exclude agriculture-related air pollutants from the legislation.
“The inclusion of methane reduction commitments in the NEC Directive is problematic for the agricultural sector”, Dutch Liberal MEP Jan Huitema wrote in his draft opinion (9 March) for the EP's agriculture committee, adding that methane is a greenhouse gas and its reduction is already covered by climate legislation.
Huitema also stated that “inclusion of excessive ammonia reduction commitments in the NEC Directive also poses problems for the agricultural sector”.
His text will be put to a vote on 4 May before it is sent to the parliament's environmental committee, which has the lead in the dossier.
That committee's rapporteur, British Conservative MEP Julie Girling, published her draft report on Monday (23 March).
She wrote she does want methane to be a part of the directive, but wants to give an exception to ammonia.
“The commission’s ammonia target for 2030 will be difficult to achieve in some Member States, particularly those with large agricultural sectors, and a degree of flexibility is critically important, as ammonia levels are difficult to mitigate quickly and effectively”, Girling wrote.
She proposed that ammonia and methane reductions could be incentivised by providing member states funding from the EU's common agricultural policy.
Girling also notes in her draft report the political upheaval that surrounds the dossier.
When the new EU Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker presented its work programme for 2015, the air quality package of which this directive was a part, was set to be scrapped, an idea the commission later retracted.
“Given the clear benefits to human health and the environment, the commission has opted to maintain the proposal, albeit with the unspecific caveat that it will be modified as part of the legislative follow-up to the 2030 climate and energy package. First reading can now begin in earnest”, Girling wrote.
In June, environment ministers will discuss the directive in Brussels. A vote in the EP's environment committee is expected in July, with a plenary vote in September.Ingram on sidelines: Seahawks at Saints, Oct. 30, 2016
New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram (22) hangs his head on the sidelines after being benched following his fumble during the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome on Sunday, October 30, 2016. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
(Michael DeMocker)
New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram lost a fumble for the second straight week during Sunday's win over the Seattle Seahawks.
This time, though, the error led Saints coaches to bench the tailback.
On the second play of the Saints' second offensive drive, Ingram was fighting for extra yards when, at the New Orleans 34, Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril poked the ball free. Safety Earl Thomas picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown that gave the Seahawks a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
After that, all of the Saints' handoffs went to Tim Hightower and rookie Daniel Lasco. Ingram was not available for comment in the locker room after the game.
"I love Mark Ingram," quarterback Drew Brees said. "I love everything about him. He's a competitor, and, listen, sometimes these things happen. I know that he's going to bounce back, and I got so much trust and confidence in him, as does this entire team and offense."
The bigger issue for Ingram is this is the second straight game with a costly fumble after he fumbled just twice in 2015 and six total times his first five seasons. In last week's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Ingram lost a fumble in the red zone when the Saints looked to cut into their 10-point deficit with 8:26 remaining.
"He wasn't carrying it loose," Payton said of the fumble against the Seahawks. "They were able to just pull it free. We'll be back to work with him."
Payton said not fumbling had been a point of emphasis for Ingram after the previous game, which explains the quick decision to go to Hightower.
Ultimately, in a 25-20 win, Ingram's fumble didn't cost the Saints the game. And with the extra work, Hightower had the team's best rushing performance of the season with 26 carries for 102 yards. In the first six games, no Saints back had 20-plus carries or 100-plus yards.
Hightower said he spoke with Ingram at some point after the fumble.
"I've been in his shoes," Hightower said. "It's easy sometimes to forget where you came from. Man, I've had some of those rough games. I've had games where I put the ball on the ground two times, and it hurts. We work hard in this game, but when one of us is down, the rest of us got to pick each other up."
Hightower noted that the Saints need Ingram along with the rest of the running backs to continue to perform over the course of the season. It's unclear how long Ingram's benching will last, but Payton expressed confidence in him.
"Mark will bounce back," Payton said. "He's tough and thick-skinned."These days Portland is best known for old-timey beards, hipsters, microbreweries, and veganism. But, if you look past the alternative culture oozing out of the city, you’ll find out that Portland is the undisputed knife capital of the United States.
That’s not surprising considering some of the most important knife innovations and designs have come out of the Portland metropolitan area over the past 75 years or so.
How did Oregon’s largest city take a seat among the greatest knife cities of the world—alongside Solingen, Germany; Seki City, Japan; and Sheffield, England?
Read on.
Portland’s Start in the Knife Business
Pretty much all of Portland’s importance in the knife community can be traced back to one name: Gerber.
It started back in 1910 when the Gerber family set up an advertising business in Portland—a business that still runs today. Joseph Gerber, founder of the Gerber advertising agency, was looking to send gifts to his clients during the holiday season. So he obtained carving knives from a local knife maker named David Murphy.
According to a great article in the Portland Business Journal discussing the city’s place in the knife industry, the knives were a hit. Because the knives were so popular, Gerber arranged for Murphy to produce the knives on a larger scale.
Then, in 1939, he established Gerber Legendary Blades and made his first sale to Abercrombie & Fitch.
By 1939, Gerber wasn’t the only knife company to call Portland its home. Coast had been established earlier in 1919. The company, which still makes knives and flashlights, was founded by Henry Brands near the banks of the Willamette River in Portland. An excellent early history of Coast can be found on its website.
While Coast remains an important name in the history of Portland knives, much of the city’s stake today can be attributed to Gerber. Thanks to his marketing prowess, Joseph Gerber turned those holiday gifts into thousands of retail accounts around the country. Then, when his son Pete Gerber took over the company from 1951 to 1987, the company only grew bigger.
Pete focused on expanding the brand’s line of hunting knives and producing knives for the military. Gerber quickly became the most trusted name in knives by the 1960s.
An Incubator for Great Knife Minds
Part of the company’s success can be attributed to Gerber’s keen eye for talent.
Al Mar was an American citizen born to Chinese immigrants. He served in the military during Vietnam and received his master’s degree in industrial design from a college in Pasadena, California. He eventually became a packaging designer for Gerber Legendary Blades in the late ’70s up in Portland.
When Gerber’s head designer retired, Pete Gerber tasked Al Mar with designing a new handle for a kitchen knife. Pete thought the job was successful and promoted Mar to head designer.
For about 10 years, Mar worked as head designer of Gerber and helped further the company’s excellent reputation for designs and quality.
In 1979, Mar left Gerber to create his own company called Al Mar Knives. Although the knives are made in Seki City, Japan, (the more famous City of Blades), the headquarters of the company remained in the Portland area.
Al Mar Knives quickly earned a following for quality knives that were nearly at the custom level. You can still see this work in action in knives like the Al Mar SERE 2000 and Al Mar Eagle Ultralight. The company is currently in Tualatin, a city in the southwestern portion of the Portland metro area.
The Birth of Kershaw Knives
Around the same time that Al Mar was hired as a packaging designer, Pete Gerber hired a 28-year-old man named Pete Kershaw as the company’s National Sales Manager.
Kershaw grew up in Medford, Oregon, on a pear orchard, so the job came natural to him. He attended trade shows and talked to customers while making connections. I spoke to Pete about the origin of Kershaw Knives, and he told me despite his thorough enjoyment of his job at Gerber, he wanted to branch out and make his own line of knives.
Pete Kershaw left Gerber and created Kershaw Knives with his wife Judy in 1974.
If you know anything about knives, you know the general story of Kershaw. It was eventually bought out by KAI and became one of the industry leaders in innovation. Kershaw Knives also employed the legendary Ken Onion—his designs were so popular the company actually had to expand its factory and hire more employees.
The business was founded in Lake Oswego but now has a large facility in Tualatin where most of the production is done. One of the best events in the Portland area is when Kershaw holds its Warehouse Sale where you can get factory seconds at up to 75% off, as long as you don’t mind a few blemishes.
The Gerber Tree Grows with CRKT
Just like Gerber begot Kershaw and Al Mar Knives, Kershaw begot CRKT. Paul Gillespie and Rod Bremer were former employees of Kershaw Knives when they decided to team up and create Columbia River Knife & Tool (better known as CRKT) in 1994.
The company is named after the largest river in the Northwest, which flows from the Rocky Mountains in Canada past Portland en route to the Pacific Ocean. CRKT didn’t really make its mark until 1997 with the introduction of Ed Halligan’s K.I.S.S. knife. Ed Halligan is currently being honored with a commemorative edition of that knife.
Like Kershaw and Al Mar, CRKT is based out of Tualatin. Even though most of its products are made in China and Taiwan, CRKT still shares a big place in the Portland area knife industry.
Leatherman Establishes Right in Portland
Gerber has had some sort of connection in the formation of most of the knife companies in the area. The two major companies with no direct connection to Gerber are Leatherman and Benchmade.
Timothy S. Leatherman was a local boy who went to Oregon State University for mechanical engineering and set out to design a multi-tool with pliers after traveling abroad. He partnered with his friend Steve Berliner and established Leatherman Tool Group on July 5, 1983.
Unlike the other companies, Leatherman has a 90,000 square foot facility right in the city of Portland and employs about 900 people.
Here’s a look inside the Leatherman factory. I was just in Portland, but Leatherman stopped giving tours of the facility in January.
Leatherman also has a retail store not far from its factory in Northeast Portland.
Benchmade’s Journey to Portland
Benchmade’s journey to the Northwest is a little different. The company had a pretty rocky history at the start. Les de Asis started the company, then known as Bali-Songs, in California in 1979. Over the next few years, the company became Pacific Cutlery Corp. Despite expanding its product offerings, the company filed for bankruptcy and dissolved that year.
In 1990, Benchmade moved from California to Clackamas, a suburb of Portland.
The move was made for a few reasons. Les de Asis wanted his company to be at the epicenter of knife manufacturing, which Portland had become by then. Unlike California, Oregon also has more lenient knife laws, especially toward automatic knives and balisongs.
Here is more about the move in an article by Bill Neill in the Portland Business Journal:
De Asis mentioned the manufacturing infrastructure and the vendors in Portland as a factor in his decision to choose the Rose City over Denver and other cities. Quality of life was another point in Portland’s favor. “We have the U.N. of machines back there,” de Asis said of his factory, with examples from Germany, Japan and England. A dozen or so CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines cut out blade shapes with a laser, bevel the blade, and sharpen it. On the east side of the Willamette River, de Asis finds most of the metal-working processes he needs: heat-treating, stamping and grinding companies, and machine shops. (Both Benchmade and Kershaw use Stack Metallurgical Services on Swan Island for heat treating blades.)
By the mid-1990s, Benchmade had a loyal following and robust customer base. To meet the growing demand, Benchmade moved from a 15,000 square foot facility in Clackamas to a 144,000 square foot facility in Oregon City.
The Future of Portland Knives
The presence of all these knife companies and the outdoor lifestyle associated with the Portland area has made the city a mecca for custom knife makers as well. A quick Google search for Portland reveals dozens of local knife makers in the area.
Bridgetown Forge, Oaks Bottom Forge, and Carter Cutlery are just a few of the big knife making names in Portland right now.
Here’s a quote from a local knife maker in Gear Patrol about the essence of the city:
The city’s creative spirit also drives the knife industry, especially for the artisan knife-makers. “There is a freedom here that encourages people to explore and follow their creative ideas,” says William Tuch, who makes his pocket knives by hand. “When my studio was downtown I would walk the streets late into the night. The historic buildings, with their intricate details, served well for inspiring my designs. I don’t think I would have followed this path if I had lived anywhere else.”
There’s even a specialty store called the Portland Knife House run by a chef with “a bit of a knife fetish.” You can get your knife sharpened and check out work from local knife makers.
As more companies pop up in and around Portland, it’s only going to further the reputation of the city as a knife-making powerhouse. At this point, it may be safe to say that the city rivals established places like Solingen and Seki City as an important location for the knife industry.
It may be time to change the city’s slogan of “Keep Portland Weird” to “Keep Portland Sharp.”In little-noticed article, secrets proprietor says BofA may ‘suffer’ from leak, confirming earlier Raw Story exclusive
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday the Swedish women who have accused him of sexual assault had got into a “tizzy” about the possibility they had caught a sexually transmitted disease from him.
Assange told the BBC that one account of what happened in August — the month at the centre of allegations against him — was that the two women had panicked when they found out they had both slept with him and went to police who “bamboozled” them.
He insisted he was fighting a Swedish extradition warrant because he believes “no natural justice” would occur in Sweden.
“There are some serious problems with the Swedish prosecution,” he said in an interview from the mansion of a wealthy supporter in eastern England where he must stay as part of his bail conditions.
Sweden wants Britain to extradite the 39-year-old Australian to face questioning over allegations from two women that he raped one of them and sexually assaulted the other in Stockholm in August.
Assange claimed that the Swedish authorities had asked that his Swedish lawyer be “gagged”, adding that his offers to be interviewed by video link or by Swedish officials in Britain had been rejected.
“I don’t need to be at the beck and call of people making allegations,” he said.
“I don’t need to go back to Sweden. The law says I… have certain rights, and these rights mean that I do not need to speak to random prosecutors around the world who simply want to have a chat, and won’t do it in any other standard way.”
He said that one account of what occurred in August was that after having discovered they had each had sex with him, they had got into a “tizzy”, or a panic, about the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases.
As a result, he said, the women had gone to the police for advice “and then the police jumped in on this and bamboozled the women”.
WikiLeaks has enraged Washington by releasing thousands of US diplomatic cables and US Vice President Joe Biden described Assange as a “hi-tech terrorist”.
US officials are believed to be considering how to indict Assange for espionage.
In an interview with The Times on Tuesday, Assange compared WikiLeaks’ “persecution” to that endured by Jews in the US in the 1950s.
Assange also confirmed that WikiLeaks was holding a vast amount of material about Bank of America which it intends to release early next year.
“We don’t want the bank to suffer unless it’s called for,” Assange told The Times. “But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations,” he said, without giving details about the material.
Shares in Bank of America have fallen amid speculation that it was a WikiLeaks target.Man rescued from flooded car as heavy rainfall triggers flash flooding across south-east Queensland
Updated
A man has been rescued after driving his car into floodwaters north of Brisbane, as parts of southern Queensland faced flash flooding brought on by a day of heavy rainfall.
A rain band that stretched from Gladstone over the New South Wales border caused localised flooding at Bargara, east of Bundaberg, Gympie, and on the Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Diana Eadie said there had been large rainfall totals near the Sunshine Coast.
"Since 9:00am, Mount Mee has recorded 94 millimetres, Reedy Creek has received 68mm," she said.
"We've seen heavy falls all the way to about Bundaberg."
At Sippy Downs, more than 100 millimetres had fallen since 9:00am.
The severe weather also caused train delays on the Ipswich and Caboolture lines after a suspected lightning strike at Wacol station in western Brisbane.
All storm warnings were cancelled by early on Monday evening.
'It could've been a very dangerous situation'
Earlier today, a man had to be rescued near Gympie after driving into floodwaters.
The man was forced to climb out of the window of his car and take refuge on its roof for 20 minutes before emergency services arrived.
Gympie fire station officer Adrian Bond said the man was lucky to escape unhurt.
"If his vehicle had floated off the roadway he would have ended up in a very dangerous situation," he said.
A Queensland Fire and Emergency spokesman said crews were called to two cars in floodwaters at Durack in Brisbane's south about lunchtime, but the occupants had escaped by the time help arrived.
Seqwater will release water from Somerset Dam into Wivenhoe Dam over the next 24 hours.
Topics: weather, qld, brisbane-4000, bundaberg-4670, maroochydore-4558, gladstone-4680
First postedWillful Deception by the 9/11 Commission
Hani Hanjour is the hijacker who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001, according to the official account of terrorist attacks. “The lengthy and extensive flight training obtained by Hani Hanjour throughout his years in the United States makes it reasonable to believe that he was the pilot of Flight 77 on September 11,” concluded FBI Director Robert S. Mueller. The story is that while Hanjour had difficulties learning to fly at first, he persevered, overcame his obstacles, and became an extraordinary enough pilot to be able to precisely hit his target after performing a difficult flight maneuver.
The New York Times, for instance, asserted that “Mr. Hanjour overcame the mediocrity of his talents as a pilot and gained enough expertise to fly a Boeing 757 into the Pentagon.” The Washington Post similarly suggested Hanjour had the requisite skills, reporting that “Federal records show that a Hani Hanjoor obtained a commercial pilot’s license in April 1999 with a rating to fly commercial jets.”
The 9/11 Commission expanded upon this narrative in its final report. It noted that Hanjour first came to the United States in 1991 to study English, then again in 1996 “to pursue flight training, after being rejected by a Saudi flight school. He checked out flight schools in Florida, California, and Arizona; and he briefly started at a couple of them before returning to Saudi Arabia.” In 1997, after returning to Arizona, he “began his flight training there in earnest. After about three months, Hanjour was able to obtain his private pilot’s license. Several more months of training yielded him a commercial pilot certificate, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in April 1999.”
Subsequently, “Hanjour reportedly applied to the civil aviation school in Jeddah after returning home, but was rejected.” By the end of 2000, Hanjour was back in the U.S. and “began refresher training at his old school, Arizona Aviation. He wanted to train on multi-engine planes, but had difficulties because his English was not good enough. The instructor advised him to discontinue but Hanjour said he could not go home without completing the training. In early 2001, he started training on a Boeing 737 simulator at Pan Am International Flight Academy in Mesa. An instructor there found his work well below standard and discouraged him from continuing. Again, Hanjour persevered; he completed the initial training by the end of March 2001.” A footnote in the report asserts that Hanjour was chosen specifically for targeting the Pentagon because he was “the operation’s most experienced pilot.”
John Ashcroft told reporters early in the investigation, “It is our belief and the evidence indicates that flight training was received in the United States and that their capacity to operate the aircraft was substantial. It’s very clear that these orchestrated coordinated assaults on our country were well-conducted and conducted in a technically proficient way. It is not that easy to land these kinds of aircraft at very specific locations with accuracy or to direct them with the kind of accuracy, which was deadly in this case.”
A pilot with a major carrier for over 30 years told CNN that “the hijackers must have been extremely knowledgeable and capable aviators.” An air traffic controller from Dulles International Airport told ABC News, “The speed, the maneuverability, the way that he turned, we all thought in the radar room, all of us experienced air traffic controllers, that that was a military plane. You don’t fly a 757 in that manner. It’s unsafe.”
CBS News suggested that according to its sources, Flight 77, “flying at more than 400 mph, was too fast and too high when it neared the Pentagon at 9:35. The hijacker-pilots were then forced to execute a difficult high-speed descending turn. Radar shows Flight 77 did a downward spiral, turning almost a complete circle and dropping the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes. The steep turn was so smooth, the sources say, it’s clear there was no fight for control going on. And the complex maneuver suggests the hijackers had better flying skills than many investigators first believed. The jetliner disappeared from radar at 9:37 and less than a minute later it clipped the tops of street lights and plowed into the Pentagon at 460 mph.”
The Washington Post similarly noted that the plane “was flown with extraordinary skill, making it highly likely that a trained pilot was at the helm.” Hanjour was so skilled, in fact, that “just as the plane seemed to be on a suicide mission into the White House, the unidentified pilot” – later identified as Hanjour – “executed a pivot so tight it reminded observers of a fighter jet maneuver.” The Post reported in another article that “After the attacks … aviation experts concluded that the final maneuvers of American Airlines Flight 77 – a tight turn followed by a steep, accurate descent into the Pentagon – was the work of ‘a great talent … virtually a textbook turn and landing.’”
According to the report of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited by the 9/11 Commission, information from the flight data recorder recovered from the Pentagon crash site and radar data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) show that the autopilot was disengaged “as the aircraft leveled near 7000 feet. Slight course changes were initiated, during which variations in altitude between 6800 and 8000 feet were noted. At 9:34 AM, the aircraft was positioned about 3.5 miles west-southwest of the Pentagon, and started a right 330-degree descending turn to the right. At the end of the turn, the aircraft was at about 2000 feet altitude and 4 miles southwest of the Pentagon. Over the next 30 seconds, power was increased to near maximum and the nose was pitched down in response to control column movements. The airplane accelerated to approximately 460 knots (530 miles per hour) at impact with the Pentagon. The time of impact was 9:37:45 AM.”
The NTSB created a computer simulation of the flight from the flight data recorder information showing that the plane was actually at more than 8,100 feet and doing about 330 mph when it began its banking turn at 9:34 am. At that point, the alleged pilot Hanjour could have simply decreased thrust, nosed down, and guided the plane into what would have been 29 acres, or 1,263,240 square feet of target area – the equivalent of about 22 football fields. From this angle, proverbially speaking, it would have been like trying to hit the side of a barn. Hanjour could have guided the plane into the enormous roof of the building, including the side of the building where the office of the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, was located, and where he happened to be that morning.
Instead, the plane began a steep banking descent, circling downward in a 330-degree turn while dropping more than 5,600 feet in three minutes before re-aligning with the Pentagon and increasing to maximum thrust towards the building. The nose was kept down despite the increased lift from the acceleration, while flying so close to the ground that it clipped lamp posts along the interstate highway before plowing into the building at more than 530 mph, precisely hitting a target only 71 feet high, or just 26.5 feet taller than the Boeing 757 itself.
In other words, by performing this maneuver, Hanjour reduced his vertical target area from a size comparable to the height of the Empire State Building to an area just 5 stories high. Instead of descending at an angle and plowing through the roof and floors of the building to cause the greatest possible number of casualties, including possibly taking out the Secretary of Defense, Hanjour hit wedge 1 of the Pentagon, opposite to Rumsfeld’s office, which happened to be under construction, and where the plane, travelling horizontally, had to penetrate through the steel- and kevlar-reinforced outer wall of the building’s southwest E-ring in addition to the numerous additional walls of the inner rings of the building.
But even more problematic than the question of why Hanjour would perform this maneuver is the question of how he performed it. Perhaps the most incredible thing about this, the official account of what happened to Flight 77, is that Hani Hanjour was in reality such a horrible pilot that he had trouble handling a light single-engine aircraft and even just one month before the attacks was rejected at two different schools because he was judged too incompetent to rent a plane and fly solo.
As the Los Angeles Times ironically put it, “For someone suspected of steering a jetliner into the Pentagon, the 29-year-old man who used the name Hani Hanjour sure convinced a lot of people he barely knew how to fly.”
The Legend Unraveled
According to an FBI chronology for Hani Hanjour cited by the 9/11 Commission, Hanjour first travelled to the U.S. in 1991 on a visa issued in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia under the name “Hani Saleh Hanjoor”, in order to attend the University of Arizona’s Center for English as a Second Language. After returning to Saudi Arabia, he was again issued a visa at Jeddah in March, 1996. Back in the U.S., he attended classes at the ELS Language Center in Oakland, California from May until August. For a week in September, he took ground training lessons at the Sierra Aeronautical Academy Airline Training Center (SAAATC). From the end of September until mid-October, he purchased flight instruction from Cockpit Resources Management (CRM) in Scottsdale, Arizona. He then returned to Saudi Arabia once more. The Washington Post reported that according to Hanjour’s brother, Yasser, “Hanjour applied for a job at the state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines but was told that he lacked sufficient grades…. He said the company told him it would reconsider his application only if he acquired a commercial pilot’s license in the United States.” Yasser characterized Hanjour “as a frustrated young Saudi who wanted desperately – but never succeeded – to become a pilot for the Saudi national airline.”
Hanjour made plans to return to the U.S. and was issued a third visa in Jeddah in November 1997. His visa application contained red flags that should have resulted in his visa being denied. He failed to write in the name and address of the school he would be attending and provided no proof, as required by law, that he could furnish financial support for himself. With that application accepted, he reentered the U.S. and took pilot training from CRM again in December.
It was at this time that, according the 9/11 Commission, Hanjour began his training “in earnest”. But in reality, while at CRM, Hanjour never finished coursework required to get his certificate to be able to fly a single-engine aircraft. |
resignations Friday.
"As board leadership, we are attempting as much as possible — we were attempting as much as possible to make their tenure in these interim roles fully supported," Halladay said at a short news conference Friday afternoon. "We're disappointed that they felt the situation was otherwise, and that they also felt it necessary to take such drastic action."
Buy Photo The Burlington School District interim administration team announced it is resigning because of tensions with the school board at a news conference on Friday, October 24, 2014. Left to right are Paul Irish, Stephanie Phillips (who is serving as interim superintendent), and Nikki Fuller. (Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
Halladay said individual board members needed to be responsible for how their actions had been interpreted.
The resignations take effect Nov. 10, when Phillips, Irish and Fuller plan to return to their normal respective roles as director of curriculum, director of infrastructure and technology, and director of human resources and equity affairs.
Halladay said he hopes to have a new interim superintendent in place by then.
Mayor Miro Weinberger and Vermont Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe also weighed in Friday, expressing concern and a commitment to help the district recover.
The Burlington School District may now need to search for an interim superintendent — to fill the role that was held by Phillips and the other administrators — in addition to an ongoing national search for a permanent superintendent.
School Board leaders had been planning to interview permanent superintendent candidates in January and select a new leader by February.
The School Board has called a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Sunday to discuss the news.
Four months behind-the-scenes
In the letter, the administrators referenced "board members who regularly make email and public meeting comments that malign central office administrators." They did not name particular members.
The administrators said those board members have created the same office climate as in the spring, when seven of 14 "seasoned administrators" left their jobs. Phillips, Irish and Fuller were working hard without "any compensation" for their additional duties, they added.
"We have made repeated and documented efforts to get the Board leadership to work with us instead of against us; to work for the District, not against it," Phillips, Irish and Fuller added in a statement addressed to principals and district staff. "We have made request after request to the Board leadership to address these issues with no success and often with no response."
At the news conference Friday, Halladay said board leadership had, in fact, been working to address administrators' concerns. He acknowledged that board members' actions might have been interpreted negatively.
CLOSE School board chair Patrick Halladay says the board was "surprised and greatly disappointed" by the announcement of the senior interim administrative team's resignation. GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS
"While individual board members' comments may have been construed in one way or at times may have acted in ways that were less than constructive, individual board members need to be responsible for their own actions," Halladay said.
A reporter asked whether Halladay and Curry would name individual board members.
"We don't need to," Curry responded.
The Burlington Free Press requested public records from the school district that would document the School Board comments and actions — as well as the administrators' concerns.
The school administration released 40 pages of emails and other documents.
The emails begin in early July, just before Phillips, the curriculum director, was formally installed as interim superintendent. Phillips had been filling in for former superintendent Jeanne Collins since June. Collins stepped down at the end of June under a separation and settlement agreement with the School Board.
In that first email, and in subsequent letters and emails, Phillips laid out expectations for School Board member conduct. The School Board does not run the school district, she emphasized. Board members oversee the district's operations.
Phillips was later appointed interim superintendent by a 6-4 vote — not enough, she wrote.
"It makes it appear that I barely have the support of the slightest possible majority of the board," Phillips wrote in a letter to Halladay dated July 12. "This will make it extremely difficult if not impossible for me to be your leader over the next several months."
In the following months, Phillips wrote that board members continually questioned the administration's decisions and candor, particularly about financial issues such as the amount of a possible budget deficit.
CLOSE Paul Irish, Stephanie Phillips and Nikki Fuller announced Friday they are resigning because of "continued disrespect, lack of understanding of our work, and discounting of our professional knowledge," they said. GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS
Phillips and Irish typically directed their written comments to Halladay, though any responses from Halladay in those conversations were not released by the school district Friday.
Some of the emails reference comments in meetings of the School Board or the board's Finance Committee. The administration also released emails from particular board members, including multiple emails from Commissioner Miriam Stoll, and a public records request from Commissioner Scot Shumski about the fiscal 2014 financial situation.
In the Sept. 30 letter, Phillips asked for "a change in chairmanship of the Finance Committee," a position currently held by Stoll, as well as other requests.
"With all due respect, our confidence in the Board acting right and our patience have been almost totally depleted," Phillips wrote. She warned that the three administrators were considering returning to their old jobs.
Reached Friday evening, Stoll said she had not seen the documents and was not present at meetings where administrators' concerns were discussed; therefore, she was unable to comment.
Shumski said the public records request was the only email he had sent directly to school administrators in recent months, and that all of his correspondence and comments had been respectful.
"When I saw that statement I was stunned by it," Shumski said of the allegations in the administrators' resignation letter, "because I'm not aware of any board members' activity that met what they were talking about in that statement."
On Sept. 30, Phillips wrote to Halladay that administrators were "routinely blamed" for decisions made by the previous administration. She requested a meeting with Halladay, Curry, and school district lawyer Joe McNeil. It is unclear whether that meeting took place, though Phillips did make notes titled "Notes for Oct. 7 Meeting."
"Please, do not underestimate either our frustration or our resolve to act professionally but expeditiously if this final call for help is disregarded or not effectively responded to," Phillips wrote in her notes.
At a news conference Friday, the Burlington Free Press asked Halladay how he had responded to Phillips' request for new Finance Committee leadership and a vote of support for the administrative team.
"Interim Superintendent Phillips and I have had regular and productive discussions ever since she came on in her position," Halladay said. "I was well aware of her frustrations and had been working with her toward them."
"So did you do anything in response to her concerns?" the Free Press replied.
"Regardless of the situation, the current situation, the board is always looking at ways to be more effective," Halladay said. He said the School Board had made a statement of support for the administrative team in August or September.
Reactions from the mayor and state
Mayor Weinberger said the breakdown of relationships within the Burlington School District that led to the resignations represented a "failure of leadership."
"This is unacceptable," Mayor Weinberger said at a news conference. "Burlingtonians will not tolerate this level of failure of leadership which puts our children's education at risk."
The mayor spoke at about 3:10 p.m. Friday, before the School Board had publicly responded to the resignations, and indicated that he was unaware of exactly what happened.
Weinberger said the resignations appeared to represent a "breakdown on both sides," both board and administration. "But I really can't — I have no window into beyond that, what happened," Weinberger said.
The mayor also said that the School Board is ultimately responsible for the district, expressed sympathy for the challenges facing School Board members and thanked district staff and teachers for their work during a difficult time.
Weinberger also offered to help in the search for a new interim superintendent and permanent superintendent.
Mayor Weinberger said despite Friday's news, he was still hopeful about the superintendent search — the immediate task at hand.
"I think there is some challenge there," Weinberger said. "I also think Burlington is a wonderful city, a wonderful place, and the opportunity to be the superintendent here is going to appeal to the right, great individual.... It does require the School Board to step up here and get us through this challenging time."
Friday's resignation announcement followed a period of tumult in Burlington schools. Several administrators left the district during the spring, and former Superintendent Collins and former finance director David Larcombe stepped down at the end of June.
The new finance director, Nathan Lavery, and a new property services director, Martin Spaulding, were scheduled to start work on Monday.
The School Board has also seen significant turnover this year: Out of 14 seats, six turned over in regular March elections. An additional three School Board members have resigned since March, and their seats have been filled by three new members.
All 14 School Board seats are up for election in March — a fact Halladay and Curry pointed out at their news conference.
"I would urge each board member to reflect on the stance that he or she has taken, and to make sure that we're all representing the will of our community," Halladay said.
Rebecca Holcombe, Vermont secretary of education, said her agency has been monitoring Burlington's situation and "will respond as warranted," including helping a timely search for a new interim superintendent.
"Above all, the board needs to recommit to the integrity and efficiency of a search for a new full-time superintendent, and commit to getting behind the new superintendent so he or she can do the important work of serving the children of Burlington," Holcombe said in a statement.
What now?
Burlington School Board has scheduled a public meeting for 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26 in the Ira Allen Board Room of the school district offices at 150 Colchester Ave. After a public forum, board members will discuss next steps. The meeting will likely also include an executive session.
Under state law, the School Board has the sole authority to appoint a superintendent, with the advice of the state Secretary of Education.
Mayor Miro Weinberger has offered assistance in the searches for interim and permanent superintendents. That could include phone calls and other outreach, the mayor said.
READ THE RESIGNATION LETTER:
READ THE REACTION FROM SCHOOL BOARD LEADERS:
EARLIER: Stephanie Phillips to serve as acting superintendent.
Contact April Burbank at (802) 660-1863 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank
Read or Share this story: http://bfpne.ws/1woHaCfA right-leaning think-tank says recent tax increases in Alberta have "wiped away crucial tax advantages" that powered Alberta’s economic growth.
In a new study, the Fraser Institute says the NDP government’s recent corporate tax increase, from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, has made the province less competitive.
The study also takes into account recent changes to the top personal income tax rate, which is levied on people making more than $300,000. That rate went from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
The think-tank says those lower rates were crucial to Alberta’s economic growth and that the province has slipped from the lowest top rate in North America to 16th, across all states and provinces.
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe said companies take a number of factors into account when making decisions about where to operate, with corporate tax rates being just one of many.
"Investment will go to where returns are highest at the margins. The return on investment is going to depend on so many things," said Tombe, citing regulations, cost of production and tax rates.
"Being lowest doesn’t have any magical powers associated with it, relative to being second or third," he said.
Tombe said the Fraser Institute’s method wasn’t a fair way to determine the overall tax burden, suggesting instead to look at the marginal effective tax rates.
A recent study on such rates by University of Calgary economist Jack Mintz put Alberta behind New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Ontario. Alberta’s rate increased slightly, from 17 per cent in 2014 to 19.3 per cent in 2016. The province ranked sixth in 2014 and seventh in 2016.
The Mintz study is a well-established means of measuring the overall effective tax rates facing new investment from province to province, said Tombe.
Finance Minister Joe Ceci said the Fraser Institute was only taking into account a few taxes and not showing the whole picture.
“When looking at the whole picture rather than cherry-picking certain taxes, Albertans enjoy the lowest overall tax in Canada," Ceci said in an emailed statement. "Our tax advantage is roughly $7.5 billion over the next province. Alberta continues to have no sales tax, no payroll tax and no health premiums.
"Despite a challenging couple of years, Alberta maintains the highest employment rate in Canada and the highest average weekly earnings. Alberta is a great place to live, work and do business."
[email protected]
twitter.com/stuartxthomson20 city managers in state paid over $300,000 GOVERNMENT At least 20 managers get more than $300,000
Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 20 city managers in state paid over $300,000 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
At least 20 city managers in California, including some in the Bay Area, collect pay and benefits that exceed $300,000 a year, according to a report unveiled Wednesday by state lawmakers.
The survey was released a day after prosecutors announced corruption charges against eight former and current public officials in the Los Angeles County city of Bell - where the city manager was receiving a nearly $800,000 salary and $1.5 million in total compensation annually.
The survey by the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review looked at California's 119 charter cities and found that some cities offer unusual perks. For example, Palo Alto gave its city manager $1.5 million to buy a house. The city also gave the city manager a $500,000 loan; Napa gave its city manager a $200,000 home loan; and San Ramon offered more than $57,000 in "incentive pay."
Those types of extras drive up costs by as much as 245 percent from the base salary, the report concluded.
The survey, and a hearing on its findings, came the same day that the Bell officials - who are charged with misappropriating $5.5 million in public funds - appeared in court. A judge postponed their arraignments until Oct. 21, and no pleas were entered.
At a joint hearing attended by lawmakers from both houses in Sacramento, legislators quizzed representatives from the controller's office and attorney general's office about how to prevent future scandals, and discussed a number of remedies.
State Controller John Chiang is already conducting a survey of how much each of the state's 481 cities pay their city managers and elected officials, information he plans to post on a website.
The attorney general's office proposed a series of new laws that could potentially cap local compensation and limit charter city's power to increase salaries and benefits. And legislators discussed the various bills introduced in recent months in response to the Bell scandal, including one by Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, D-El Dorado Hills (El Dorado County), that would have required all elected and appointed officials at the state and local level to post salary information online. The bill died in the Senate.
"It seems like every day you turn on the television or read the newspaper there's a new scandal breaking about problems we are having with local governments," said Huber, chairwoman of the joint legislative audit committee. "This isn't just about Bell - we want to take a bigger, broader view. If there are holes in transparency now, this is the time to fix them. We want to know why this happened and are there ways we can prevent this from happening in the future."
Outside of Bell, Riverside was the charter city that paid its city manager the most in total compensation: $419,000. In the Bay Area, San Ramon - a city of 58,035 - topped the list at $354,559 in total compensation. But other cities weren't far behind.
Berkeley - a city of 102,000 - pays its city manager a $241,118 salary, a number that jumps to $339,815 with benefits. San Rafael, a city of 58,000, offers a $185,680 base salary but $292,977 in total compensation. And Vallejo, a city of 120,000 that made headlines when it filed for bankruptcy, pays a total of $351,593 to its city manager; state officials were not told what the base salary is there. Santa Clara was offering a total of $321,533, but the city manager volunteered for a 10 percent pay cut this year; her new base salary is $285,132, and total compensation now is $299,102.
Seven charter cities - including Oakland and Santa Rosa - did not respond to the survey. Oakland told The Chronicle it pays its city manager $214,000 in base salary but did not know how much other compensation the manager receives.
At the hearing, legislators expressed concern over the various extras cities add on to sweeten city managers' compensation packages.
For example, in Palo Alto, City Manager James Keene's base salary, $229,780, is close to what his counterparts earn in San Mateo, Redwood City and other nearby cities, but he got a perk the others didn't: $1.5 million and a $500,000 loan to buy a house in Palo Alto.
The policy has been in place for decades as way to attract executives to a town legendary for its astronomical home prices. In Keene's case, the city owns 75 percent of the home and will get its $1.5 million back when and if the city manager leaves for another job and the house is sold. The $500,000 loan has an interest rate lower than what's generally available to home buyers, but similar to what the city earns on its investments.
"If we didn't provide our city managers with a housing allowance, we wouldn't have any city managers," said Palo Alto city Councilman Larry Klein.
Meanwhile, Palo Alto has slashed services such as park maintenance and community programs, and instituted a two-tier pension system in which new employees earn less. City executives last year gave up a 3 percent bonus they once earned, and many services, such as sidewalk repair, are now contracted out to private companies.
"We all have to ask ourselves, are we going to provide high-quality services to the public, or are we going to pay plush pensions and medical benefits to our employees. Because we can't do both," said Mayor Pat Burt.Publication date 2007
Language English
Spoony was by far my favorite YouTuber back in the
day. There were guys like AVGN, Nostalgia Critic,etc. For me though,
nobody was better than the SpoonyOne. I still remember waiting for the
2nd half of his Demoliton Man review to show up.
There are a
ton of reasons to make this archive. One is there is no central place
to view Spoony's work, most of his stuff is spread throughout the web.
There are many reasons for this to have happened.
1. Spoony never transfered all his video from Blip over to Youtube or another video sharing website himself.
2. For whatever reason when a video on his YouTube channel gets claimed it's never reuploaded.
3.
I'm not sure why but Spoony usually never made it public knowledge that
he streamed and he's been streaming since about 2009. Therefore a lot
of them are lost or spread across the internet.
The second
reason is Spoony himself has seemed to gone into "hiding" on the
internet for the last few years other than Twitter of course. Tensions
between his fanbase and himself are at an all time high since another
YouTuber, MisterMetokur, shed light onto Spoony's situation.
The
third reason is because I am hoping Spoony sees his work means
something to a lot of people and it betters his attitude towards the
peoples of the internet.
Color color Identifier SpoonyExperiment Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.3 Sound sound Year 2007It's enough to put you off your breakfast! Incredible close-up images of everyday foods that are often less than appetising
Advertisement
These bizarre objects are enough to put you off your corn flakes. But in fact your breakfast could well be one of these 17 foods examined up close under the microscope.
The often alien-like landscapes show some of our favourite - and least loved - foods from strawberries and chocolate to broccoli and cauliflower.
Scientists have captured the images in laboratories during research into what makes our daily food.
Would you eat this? A strawberry seen in extreme close up
Crystalline: The same process is used to picture a grain of salt in extreme close up, revealing its regular structure
Rugged terrain: Instant coffee granules look to all intents and purposes like a rock formation in some area of natural beauty The real thing: This curious pitted landscape is actually an extreme close-up view of a coffee bean
Hidden beauty: A broccoli floret seen at such huge magnifications looks like a tulip Twins: On the left is a scanning electron micrograph of a red grape, the right image is of a white grape
Cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet: But tomatoes don't look quite as appetising when viewed at a nearly cellular level Which would you prefer? Sugar seen in an extreme close-up takes a regular crystalline configuration, while aspartame, a popular sweetener seen as the healthier choice, looks disconcertingly like flakes of dandruff
Hot, hot, hot! The open fruit and seeds from a bird's eye chilli pepper Super food: Two scanning electron micrographs reveal the inner structure of a blueberry
Arid: The centre of a dried star anise fruit looks like some kind of sinister deep sea arthropod
One of the most valuable of spices: A coloured scanning electron micrograph of saffron
Carnivore's choice: The fibrous, chewy texture of raw meat is revealed by the strands of muscle from which it is formed, and the fat around it looks as sticky and viscous as you would expect
After the barbecue's done its work... This image shows how meat is transformed by the cooking process
Regular pattern: A coloured scanning electron micrograph of a cauliflowerIt’s irritating. Frustrating. Overwhelming. They say “Follow your dreams”, “Chase your passion”.
And you would. You really would. But there’s a problem. A huge problem.
You have no idea what your “passion” or “dream” is.
Once we know our passion then we can follow it with insane tenacity. The problem isn’t that people hold back from their passion. It’s that you have no clue what your passion is.
If you have no idea what your dream is you can’t follow it.
You read blogs, books, and get advice from anyone with a pulse. The truth isn’t you lack discipline, focus or commitment.
It’s much simpler than that… But also much scarier to admit.
The truth, is you have no idea what you want to do with your life…
So, what’s the solution?
It’s simple :). Go find your passion…. Now I’m starting to sound like those “gurus” aren’t I?
But don’t worry I won’t leave you hanging. Below I list 10 very specific ways you can begin the process to discover your passion and dreams.
1. Develop a 5 year vision
Open up a word document (or take out a piece of paper and pen), and grab a stopwatch. Set the timer for 8 minutes.
Imagine all of your dreams have come true over the last 5 years of your life. You have everything you ever wanted. You are going to write in extensive detail what your life is like:
What time do you wake up? What activities do you do? Who do you hang out with? How much money do you make? How do you make money? What do you eat? How do you feel? Write down everything that comes to mind!
Set the timer at 8 minutes. Go! Go! Go!
2. Read non-fiction self-help books and implement a major action.
Reading a great self-help book is incredibly powerful. But this comes with a caveat. It’s only powerful if you are able to adopt and implement the ideas you get from the book.
Read a full book (not just the first chapter!) and focus on taking away one major idea. Not 2, 5 or 20! Focus on getting one idea and then immediately implement it in your life. If you read 12 books per year and implement one idea per book you won’t recognize yourself a year from today.
3. Volunteer in your community.
Fat, lazy, boring people don’t tend to volunteer. You know who does volunteer- interesting and motivated people who love to give back.
The more you surround yourself with positive people the more likely you are to start believing in your own capabilities. Also, you might be shocked at how much you like the activity.
4. Start that hobby you’ve been wanting to begin.
We all have that hobby that we’ve been saying for years “I’m gonna start that.” But year after year keeps passing. Make today that day! There’s a reason you are drawn to this hobby. Just go for it!
5. Read an inspiring blog then take action.
Identify a blog that you love! Not “like” but “love”! Then read 5 posts that draw you in. Then immediately take action based on what you learn. There is a reason you are drawn to this content. By taking action you will start to open a floodgate to learn amazing things about yourself.
6. Send an email “questionnaire” to loved ones.
Send an email to all the people you love in your life. These are the people that know you best. The following works perfectly: “Hi (name here). I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, but I don’t know where to start. What do you think I would be amazing at?”
I have done this numerous times. You will be shocked! People that are around you all the time see your strengths and skills but since it’s not “normal conversation” it never comes up. Just make sure you send it to supportive, positive people who love you.
7. Ask and answer the question “What do I want to do?” with no limits.
Just sit back and ask yourself “What do I want to do with my life?” and hold nothing back. Don’t accept any excuses. Most likely that one thing that you say “Well I would love to ________ but I could never do that because _____________” is your thing.
8. Do things that scare you.
Choose something that scares you and go out and do it. When we face our fears we learn immense things about our character. It’s incredibly confidence building to attempt to do things that scare us. Also, very often the reason it scares us is because it means so much to us. The reason it means so much is because deep down in our core – we want it more than anything in the world!
9. Actively seek out “awkward situations.”
Have you ever attended a “community social event” and you didn’t know anyone. The great thing about attending awkward situations is that it gives us a wonderful opportunity to learn about ourselves. Because we feel uncomfortable we are highly aware of ourselves and those around us. It basically causes forced reflection. Which is always a great thing!
10. Always focus on learning.
In every single situation, no matter what happens, always ask yourself: What can I learn from this? What does this tell me about myself?
If you learn in every single situation… Just imagine how much clarity that would bring to your life.
——–
Izzy is living, breathing proof you can pursue your dream. no matter how crazy it is. Izzy’s a former teacher who lives in Japan. He’s pursuing his childhood dream: to become a ninja. Check out The Ninja Tool Kit– resources, books and tools to inspire, encourage and educate you to follow your dreams.Pin +1 Share 283 Shares
Remember when Obama said he would give up vacations as president? Well he ended up spending over $96 million jetting around for rest and relaxation as commander and chief.
Obama likely just had to fit in as many vacations as he could while it would still be footed by you, the taxpayer.
The Free Beacon reports:
President Obama’s travel expenses cost taxpayers more than $96 million during his time in office, according to a report from the watchdog group Judicial Watch. The group obtained documents from the Secret Service and Air Force that revealed President Obama’s travel over the last eight years totaled $96,938,882.51…
Even a single Obama vacation to San Diego cost the taxpayers over $2 million:
Later in 2015, President Obama traveled to San Diego where he spent time at the luxurious Rancho Sante Fe resort, which boasts a private golf course. This fundraising trip cost taxpayers $2,181,655.99… “The Obamas’ notorious abuse of presidential travel perks wasted military resources and stressed the Secret Service,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “Judicial Watch estimates that the final costs of Obama’s unnecessary vacation and political travel will well exceed $100 million. President-elect Trump can immediately save taxpayers money by reforming presidential travel.”
CommentsDick Advocaat believes Jose Mourinho will get it right at Manchester United once he works out his best team, but insists 'he's not a magician'.
The former Sunderland boss will try to add to Mourinho's problems when United face Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Thursday night.
United might have steadied their Europa League campaign following an opening Group A defeat to Feyenoord by beating Zorya Luhansk and then Fenerbahce 4-1 at Old Trafford a fortnight ago, but their last four Premier League games have brought one defeat and three draws.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho takes his side to Fenerbahce on Thursday
United have endured a difficult start to the season and drew with Burnley on Saturday
Dick Advocaat has backed Mourinho to turn fortunes around at Old Trafford this term
Mourinho has also landed himself in trouble with the FA and faces two separate misconduct charges over comments made about referee Anthony Taylor before the trip to Liverpool last month and a half-time rant at Mark Clattenburg during Saturday's draw at home to Burnley.
Asked about the Portuguese coach's problems, Advocaat believes Mourinho needs time to get it right as he searches for his best line-up.
He said: 'This man proved himself in all countries, if you see how prizes he has won it's almost unbelievable – but he's not a magician.
'Quality wise, when you have such players as United it's still difficult to find. Is it (Anthony) Martial, (Marcus) Rashford, (Wayne) Rooney? It's quite difficult.
'I'm quite sure they will play for the first place, no doubt about that, and they will start winning games as well. (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic will start scoring goals as well, because that man knows how to score.
'At the moment not everything is going the right way. You see the amount of chances last Saturday (against Burnley), it's unbelievable they didn't score. If you don't create chances that's a different story. There's no reason to be worried about the team and the manager.
United players Sergio Romero, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, Marcos Rojo and David de Gea pose for a picture at Manchester Airport on Wednesday prior to flying out to Turkey
UNITED'S LAST FIVE GAMES Oct 17: Liverpool (a, PL) DREW 0-0 Oct 20: Fenerbahce (h, EL) WON 4-1 Oct 23: Chelsea (a, PL) LOST 4-0 Oct 26: Man City (h, EFLC) WON 1-0 Oct 29: Burnley (h, PL) DREW 0-0
'It's always difficult to say against a team like United who are a little bit searching for the right line-up and the right scores.
'You could see that even with such an experienced coach as Mr Mourinho and all the prizes he has won, it' s still difficult to find the right shape. It's a matter of time that United will get it but hopefully not tomorrow.'
Fenerbahce frustrated United at Old Trafford until two penalties in quick succession changed the complexion of the game. Advocaat believes it will be a different match this time but will still urge caution.
'First of all we always go out to win the game,' he added. 'Playing with that organisation we can stop United, but if we have the opportunity to attack we will.
Mourinho faces a touchline ban after two separate incidents in recent weeks
'But we play against Manchester United, a great team with great players. We could control the first half hour because of the way we played, but if we do it different way they have too much quality to punish you. They did in it in five minutes with two penalties and the game and over.
'A home game is different. With the fans behind us we have seen against Feyenoord that it can help. We always have the adventure to win the game and not to go out to pay for 0-0. But we play against another team.'As being reported in Newsday today, last night Babylon Village Board voted to accept a statement of findings prepared by the board’s legal counsel which reportedly approves the lifting of the requirement that the Smith house preserved.
Zoning board lifts protections for historic Babylon Village home (Newsday)
Tearing down the home would count as a serious loss to the village’s architectural heritage, Babylon Town Historian Mary Cascone said, given the building’s unique features and back story. The wood-frame farmhouse with interlocking joints is a rarity in the area, Cascone said. “They’ve all but disappeared,” said Cascone, who called the prospect of demolition “very sad.”
Board chairman Bruce E. Humenik declined to say why the board voted in favor of lifting the demolition restriction.
The findings themselves will not be public record until Friday, but at this time it doesn’t seem that there’s anything blocking the Ognibene’s from demolishing this key part of American history and building another cookie cutter McMansion in its place.
Update From Mary GallagherI remember it as a moment of “love at first listen” when I heard Revocation for the first time. It was for their song “No Funeral”, and I was totally taken aback by their fusion of all the great parts of thrash and death metal with a great technical presence. I was afraid it was a one-off, thinking the rest of their material couldn’t possibly be as good as that song, but that doubt quickly turned into surprise and enjoyment while immersing myself in all of their material.
Now six albums into their career with their newest slab “Great Is Our Sin” being launched, they have honed their sound to a level that is near impossible for most bands to do today. I mean that in the sense that they are continually inventive and are consistent as hell. They haven’t released a bad album, and they still have lots of fresh ideas to bludgeon our eardrums to. And with this new collection of tracks, the band is continuing in that tradition.
“Arbiters Of The Apocalypse”, the opening track and the bands first single off the new album immediately hits you with the group’s trademark front-loaded death-thrash, grabbing your attention immediately with it’s hair-raising ferocity. “Crumbling Imperium” works wonderfully with precise syncopation and great bass theatrics from Brett Bamberger. The excellent guitar solo near the end of the song by frontman Dave Davidson leads into a melodic backbone that breaks back into forceful power chords near the end of this lively jaunt.
Perhaps my favourite track on the album is “Communion”, which comes across as the most technical and progressive track on the album. Newest member and former 3 Inches of Blood drummer Ash Pearson has joined the group for this album, and his influence and prowess shines through, particularly on this track with his breakneck and over-the-top drumming style. One of the big surprises to come directly after this monstrous composition is “The Exaltation”, an instrumental featuring Marty Friedman (ex Megadeth/Cacophony). If you’re a fan of his legendary guitar theatrics then you’re no doubt in for a treat here. I can only imagine how giddy Davidson was at the inclusion of the guitar god on a Revocation song.
If you’re a fan of the band, you’ll love “Great Is Our Sin”. With all the influences and expertise that the band throws into their collective talent pool, there’s a lot to get excited about. The songwriting has been honed and matured to a ridiculously perfect degree with the release of each album, constantly one-upping their own creativity and giving their own brand of metal a loud voice in the community. The technical death thrash with progressive tendencies is still coming forth in heaps, and with each album the sound gets more refined and executed to metallic and bombastic perfection. Dave Davidson is the sole remaining original member, and his dedication to keeping the sound intact and vibrant is a testament to his overall ability as a songwriter.
There really isn’t a bad song on the whole album. The boys really put their all into every track, throwing everything they have into the songwriting process and letting each song stand on it’s own merits without repeating patterns throughout the whole release. This is a trend they have kept up throughout their career, and I’m glad it’s still a major component of the band’s dynamic ability to constantly grow and evolve.
I also love how the band continue to wear their influences on their sleeves with nods to old-school thrash and death metal, yet adding that incredibly tight and dominant technical edge that worked for bands like Martyr, Pestilence and Atheist. When they evoke all of this goodness and add their own spin on it, you have their current sound in a nutshell.
At this point, the band can’t really do any wrong. With a ridiculously consistent discography, it’s hard to find any fault with their output. Let’s be honest, if you know the band or are a fan, you know what you’re going to get when you delve into a new offering of theirs for the first time. But having said that, it doesn’t take away from the goosebumps or adrenaline that seeps into your very being when consuming their own brand of metal. And I have no doubt that this trend will continue to permeate their sound for years to come.
Tracklist:
01. Arbiters Of The Apocalypse
02. Theatre Of Horror
03. Monolithic Ignorance
04. |
to my group, but I was too transfixed by the view of the ship hovering over the planet. Bigger ships can have docking points, so a smaller ship peeled off from the main bulk to collect me. As it arrived, landing with the style and grace of a dead fish, I only had one thought: could the bigger ship collect me instead?
It was a very stupid thought. Here is the ship slowly entering the atmosphere. I don’t have a screenshot of it hovering near the ground, because the interplay between the planet’s physics and all the blocks in the ship tore the universe a new space hole and crashed the server.
Still, you live and learn. Or you crash the server and learn. I hope one day it’s possible. The server restarted and I teleported to the home area. The shop at spawn is busy with ships, as you’d expect. There are never fewer than five ships there, and they show a broad range of the building possibilities. I particularly like the purple squid ship that shows you can at least hint towards an organic styling. It stands out more because the ship beside it is basically a flying warehouse. I’m not mocking its boxy design: everything I build is made with the principle that a line of boxes with other boxes stuck to it is good enough. I aspire to making a flying warehouse.
Look at all those glorious, lumpy spacethings. You could have one parked with them. The game is free, and the server details and admin contact are as follows.
Server details.
IP: 85.236.101.238:4542
Admin contact: [email protected], @bucksexington
What’s next? I might look to making the game a bit tougher and the top speed a bit higher. Right now it’s mostly running on the base game, and that’s a bit unbalanced. Loot is plentiful and pirates are easy. If it’s set-up as a pure building server, then that’s not much of a problem, but if people want to make something of it and to have to fight a little for their survival, then I’ll happily change settings. I’ll check comments here and on the forum post.
A challenge to the people on the server: take a planet, or a station, and build. Don’t destroy. Make something wonderful.From my experience as a player and teacher, there are many guitarists out there who can play bits of scales and can play lots of chords.
But to really elevate your playing to the next level, learning how everything fits together in a theoretical sense will help massively.
You’ll be able to introduce different chords to your songs using the harmonized major scale, then come up with cool riffs using the relevant pentatonic scales over the top.
Major and Minor Scales:
Your Major scale is build up of 8 notes from the TTSTTTS rule (T=Tone and S=Semitone)
scale is build up of 8 notes from the TTSTTTS rule (T=Tone and S=Semitone) So G Major is G,A,B,C,D,E,F# and G
These notes are then stacked on top of each other to produce chords/harmony:
is G,A,B,C,D,E,F# and G These notes are then stacked on top of each other to produce chords/harmony: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim and:
Gmaj7, Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Emin7, F#min7b5 when harmonized to the 7th degree of the scale
Every Minor scale derives from the Major scale by starting from the 6th note:
scale derives from the Major scale by starting from the 6th note: So is E, F#,G,A,B,C,D and E and the same harmonies are produced:
Em,F#dim,G,Am,Bm,C,D and Em7,F#min7b5,Gmaj7,Am7,Bm7,Cmaj7,D7
Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales:
Your 5 notes of the Major pentatonic are built up from the 1,2,3,5,6 notes of the Major scale
pentatonic are built up from the 1,2,3,5,6 notes of the Major scale So the G Major Pentatonic contains the notes: G,A,B,D,E
Your 5 notes of the Minor pentatonic are built up from the 1,3,4,5,7 notes of the Minor scale
pentatonic are built up from the 1,3,4,5,7 notes of the Minor scale So the E Minor Pentatonic contains the notes: E,G,A,B,D,
Linking chords and scales together
A song in the key of G major could contain the following chords:
G, Bmin7, Cmaj7, D
If you wanted to improvise over it you can use Gmaj/Emin Major/Minor scales and pentatonics. GO PRACTICE!!!!!!
Thanks for reading!
You can find me on Twitter at @jsmusicschool
Rock n roll
JamesJune is two and a half weeks away, but the gloom is in full effect.
The Padres are hovering around.500 as their offense shrinks and their pitching stinks.
But before you tear up the house in search of that missing Zoloft bottle, try and remember two things: Troy Tulowitzki wants a trade — and A.J. Preller is your GM.
Suddenly, your facial muscles contort in a fashion you haven't felt for weeks. A Dodgers fan reminds you that this is what's called "smiling."
Tulowitzki to the Padres?! An All-Star shortstop in Petco Park?! Preller has to go make this happen.
But then again...
Tulowitzki is no spring chicken. He has, however, been laying some eggs. The 30-year-old Rocky averaged just 88 games per season between 2012-2014, and with two home runs in 108 plate appearances this year, has watched his signature power fizzle away.
Trading for an injury-prone star showing signs of decay is risky no matter what the circumstances. But when that injury-prone star is set to make $118 million over the next five seasons, such a trade is far more likely to hamstring a franchise than it his to help.
So in a moment of clarity, you think, "Actually, Mr. Preller, maybe you should just back away from this one."
But then again...
The Padres' offense needs help. That may sound ludicrous when we're talking about the second-highest scoring team in the National League, but it's true.
Yonder Alonso, who leads the Pads with a.333 batting average, is out with a shoulder injury. Wil Myers, who leads the Pads with 28 runs, is out with a wrist injury.
Heading into Wednesday's game vs. the Mariners, Matt Kemp was 3 for his last 39, while San Diego has been shut out three times during this nine-game road trip.
True, when taking the whole season into account, you could argue that pitching has been a far greater problem than run-production. This once-heralded staff is responsible for the fifth-worst ERA in the National League and the third-worst bullpen ERA. But considering all baseball comes down to is which team scores more runs, an impact bat always stands to benefit a club.
Besides, as Derek Norris and his 14 doubles can tell you, sometimes new scenery can do more for one's slugging percentage than any hitting coach can. Tulowitzki hit.340 with 21 home runs in the 91 games he played last year, which added up to the best OPS (1.035) of his career. He also is a two-time Gold Glove winner who would be an upgrade from Alexi Amarista defensively.
Is it really that hard to picture him rediscovering his All-Star form?
No, it really isn't. And the results of this season are crucial given how it is the first time Padres ownership has ever doled out this kind of cash.
So yes, Preller should try and snatch Troy up immediately.
But then again...
The Padres may have already spent beyond their means. Executive chairman Ron Fowler joked during spring training that he was on food stamps, and that was before the team traded for Craig Kimbrel, Melvin Upton, and the $80 million of salary that came with them.
Seriously, can they really afford another investment like that? And is there any way the Rockies would trade Tulowitzki without getting a hurler such as Andrew Cashner or Tyson Ross?
No, the Padres already dealt their best pitching prospects. They also have a star in Justin Upton that they would like to lock up for the long-term — which would be impossible if they threw all of their dough at Tulowitzki.
In other words, trading for Troy could mortgage the future of an organization that may not be in the playoff hunt this year anyway. If Myers' injury is significant, and Kemp can't rediscover his swing, this may truly be a sub-.500 team.
Simply put: Preller dealing for Tulowitzki would not be a smart decision.
But then again, it sure would be fun.The iPhone has proved to be rather adept at replacing other pieces of hardware. The combination of portability, a big screen that allows it to mimic any interface and an open (ish) App Store means that we are continually surprised at what people can make it do.
Today, it’s the turn of the bicycle. It turns out that many of the geegaws you might buy at the LBS (local bike shop) are already available as downloads from the iTunes Store. Here are our favourites.
CycleMeter
CycleMeter’s hideous interface contrasts with its truly astonishing Rube Goldberg setup. The app works as a cycle computer, showing a readout of your speed, distance, average speed and trip time. It works with any iPhone and also the iPod Touch. That’s right, the GPS-free iPod Touch. How on earth does it do that?
A cycle computer counts the revolutions of your wheels and, because you have already told it the wheel’s circumference, it can work out the rest. Purpose built devices use a magnet on the spokes and a detector on the fork.
CycleMeter uses sound to accomplish the same thing. Put a small plastic tag on one spoke so it hits the fork on every revolution. Then run the cable of your earbuds down the fork and secure the microphone next to this point. The tick, tick, tick of the plastic tab is picked up and the rest is done in software.
A truly heroic hack, we think you’ll agree, and just $0.99 (plus the cost of replacement earbuds after every passing shower). It can’t be long before there is a Bluetooth spoke-widget that can talk directly to the iPhone, though. Combine with proper trip-log software and you’d have a real winner.
Product page [iTunes]
BrakeLights
Just as ingenious as CycleMeter, although slightly less jerry-rigged, is BrakeLights. It adds a brake light to your bike, whether using cantilevers, side-pulls, disk or running a no-braked fixie. Strap it to your bag or back, screen pointing behind you, and ride. The app uses the accelerometer to detect when you slow down and flashes a red light on the screen. $1.
Product page [iTunes]
Back Light
Similar to BrakeLights, the awkwardly named Bicycle Back Safety Flashlight is another $1 lamp, but this time it stays on all the time you are riding. It also lets you write messages to those following you. The suggestion is the word “STOP”, but we imagine that you, dear reader, could manage messages both more creative and abusive.
As an everyday light replacement the battery drain might put you off. But in an emergency, why not? Especially if you have an always-connected iPhone. Imagine: “Damn, I forgot my back light. Wait, I’ll just download a new one.” $1.
Product page [iTunes]
Gear Calculator
Bicycle Gear Calculator is rather specialized, but if you need it, it may just beat doing hard sums in your head. The application works out gear ratios for you, based on crank lengths, wheel sizes and cog/sprocket sizes. It’ll even tell you what ratio you should ride to maximize tire wear based on the pattern of skid patches on the tires themselves. $5
Product page [iTunes]
Speed
Speed is a more practical speedometer, although you’ll need an iPhone 3G or better to use it. Instead of the dangerous sounding wires-and-plastic approach taken by CycleMeter, it uses the iPhone’s GPS to work out your speed. It also has a rather lovely interface, although it might be more suited to a car dashboard than a bike’s handlebars. Works in both kph and the obsolete mph. $1
Product page [iTunes]Feds give environmental OK to University rail line 'Big step' made in light rail progress
Environmental OK given for the University line
The Federal Transit Administration has given an environmental green light to Metro's planned University light rail line, an 11.3-mile, double-track span that will connect the Hillcroft Transit Center on the city's southwest side with the central University of Houston campus.
The successful environmental review clears the way for Metro's continued work on design, engineering, utility coordination and other pre-construction matters.
Metro acting president and CEO George Greanias described the approval as a "big step" for the project, which will serve as the "spine" of the agency's regional mass transit plan, linking rail, buses and park-and-ride facilities.
With 19 stations, the University line will include stops near Greenway Plaza, University of St. Thomas, Texas Southern University and UH. It will terminate at the Eastwood Transit Center just northeast of UH.
The transit agency projects the line will have 49,000 boardings daily by 2030.
A start date for construction has not been set.
The project is part of a five-line plan, three of which — the East End, North and Southeast segments - now are under construction.
While Metro officials expect the University line will draw $700 million in federal funding, Mayor Annise Parker earlier this year questioned whether the transit agency could fund the project.
She also questioned the final feasibility of the proposed Uptown line, now in the design phase, which would serve the Galleria area.
Together, those lines would constitute about 15 of the 30 miles of track in the second phase of the agency's foray into light rail.
Parker, a light-rail advocate, joined others who have reviewed Metro's plans in questioning how the agency would repay the $2.6 billion in bonds it plans to issue through 2014.
The FTA in December approved the start of preliminary engineering on the project after a review of the "reasonableness" of Metro's financial forecasts.
[email protected] 22 November 1963 the world was too preoccupied with the Kennedy assassination to pay much attention to the passing of two writers from the other side of the Atlantic: CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley. Fifty years on, Lewis is being honoured with a plaque in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey, to be unveiled in a ceremony on Friday. The fanfare for Huxley has been more muted.
There are various reasons for this: The Chronicles of Narnia propelled their author into the Tolkien league; Shadowlands, the film about his life starring Anthony Hopkins, moved millions; and his writings on religious topics made him a global figure in more spiritual circles. There is a CS Lewis Society of California, for example; plus a CS Lewis Review and a Centre for the Study of CS Lewis & Friends at a university in Indiana.
Aldous Huxley never attracted that kind of attention. And yet there are good reasons for regarding him as the more visionary of the two. For one of the ironies of history is that visions of our networked future can be bracketed by the imaginative nightmares of Huxley and his fellow Etonian George Orwell. Orwell feared that we would be destroyed by the things we fear – the state surveillance apparatus so vividly evoked in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Huxley's nightmare, set out in Brave New World, his great dystopian novel, was that we would be undone by the things that delight us.
Huxley was a child of England's intellectual aristocracy. His grandfather was Thomas Henry Huxley, the Victorian biologist who was the most effective evangelist for Darwin's theory of evolution. (He was colloquially known as "Darwin's Bulldog".) His mother was Matthew Arnold's niece. His brother, Julian and half-brother Andrew both became distinguished biologists. In the circumstances it's not surprising that Aldous turned out to be a writer who ranged far beyond the usual preoccupations of literary folk – into history, philosophy, science, politics, mysticism and psychic exploration. His biographer wrote: "He offered as his personal motto the legend hung around the neck of a ragged scarecrow of a man in a painting by Goya: Aún aprendo. I am still learning." He was, in that sense, a modern Voltaire.
Brave New World was published in 1932. The title comes from Miranda's speech in Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Oh, wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! Oh brave new world, / That has such people in't."
It is set in the London of the distant future – AD 2540 – and describes a fictional society inspired by two things: Huxley's imaginative extrapolation of scientific and social trends; and his first visit to the US, in which he was struck by how a population could apparently be rendered docile by advertising and retail therapy. As an intellectual who was fascinated by science, he guessed (correctly, as it turned out) that scientific advances would eventually give humans powers that had hitherto been regarded as the exclusive preserve of the gods. And his encounters with industrialists like Alfred Mond led him to think that societies would eventually be run on lines inspired by the managerial rationalism of mass production ("Fordism") – which is why the year 2540 AD in the novel is "the Year of Our Ford 632".
In the novel Huxley describes the mass production of children by what we would now call in vitro fertilisation; interference in the development process of infants to produce a number of "castes" with carefully modulated levels of capacities to enable them to fit without complaining into the various societal and industrial roles assigned to them; and Pavlovian conditioning of children from birth.
In this world nobody falls ill, everyone has the same lifespan, there is no warfare, and institutions and marriage and sexual fidelity are dispensed with. Huxley's dystopia is a totalitarian society, ruled by a supposedly benevolent dictatorship whose subjects have been programmed to enjoy their subjugation through conditioning and the use of a narcotic drug – soma – that is less damaging and more pleasurable than any narcotic known to us. The rulers of Brave New World have solved the problem of making people love their servitude.
Which brings us back to the two Etonian bookends of our future. On the Orwellian front, we are doing rather well – as the revelations of Edward Snowden have recently underlined. We have constructed an architecture of state surveillance that would make Orwell gasp. And indeed for a long time, for those of us who worry about such things, it was the internet's capability to facilitate such comprehensive surveillance that attracted most attention.
In the process, however, we forgot about Huxley's intuition. We failed to notice that our runaway infatuation with the sleek toys produced by the likes of Apple and Samsung – allied to our apparently insatiable appetite for Facebook, Google and other companies that provide us with "free" services in exchange for the intimate details of our daily lives – might well turn out to be as powerful a narcotic as soma was for the inhabitants of Brave New World. So even as we remember CS Lewis, let us spare a thought for the writer who perceived the future in which we would come to love our digital servitude.I like science, I like cooking...my giftee combined these two passions into the perfect gift! A little Molecular Gastronomy starter kit for spherification purposes!
I must say, I've never tried Molecular Gastronomy, but it has always interested me. Partially because it looks awesome, partially because it has a cool sounding name. And now I can try it!
This really is the best kind of gift. It's the kind of thing that I'm absolutely going to enjoy, but I would never ask for or buy for myself. Like, somebody somewhere once said that the best gifts are the ones that people don't even know they want. THIS is exactly like that. And therefore, I deem my giftee the title of ultimate supreme king/queen of gifting!
Now I must go and spherify things! I think I have a new hobby!Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
June 13, 2013, 6:33 PM GMT By Robert Frank
While housing inventory is falling throughout the country, it's falling especially fast in some of the country's richest ZIP codes. A study from Altos Research, the Mountain View, Calif., real estate research firm, found that inventory in the nation's 90 wealthiest ZIP codes fell 15 percent over the past year, slightly faster than the broader market.
In those areas, inventory is down more than 50 percent. In a swanky part of Carmel, Calif., inventory fell 76 percent in the last year. There were only four homes left on the market priced at $1 million or more as of the end of May, according to Altos.
In Palm Beach, Fla., the number of $1 million-plus homes has plunged by 70 percent, falling from 89 to 26. And in the Old Greenwich, Conn. ZIP code, there are only 10 homes left priced at $1 million or more, down 58 percent, according to Altos.
(Read More:$1 Million Hamptons Rentals on the Rise)
"I don't recall seeing the market like this, and it's come so quickly," said Cristina Condon of Sotheby's International Real Estate in Palm Beach. She said buyers have poured into the market in recent months, many from overseas. American buyers are also piling in—some from higher-tax states like California, lured by low taxes and still-low prices in Florida.
Condon said one of her listings that sold in the past year is an $11.3 million property on the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida that had six bedrooms, two baths, and Tuscan-inspired gardens, along with a pool and a boat dock.
Interest in her remaining listings remains strong. She cited strong interest in a $34.9 million lakefront estate in Palm Beach as an example. The 13,278-square-foot mansion has 7 bedrooms, 8 baths, a sprawling pool overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway with outdoor loggias.
(Read More:Biggest US Home to Be Completed in 2015)
In Connecticut, some $1 million-plus homes are selling just days after being listed. David Oglivy of David Oglivy & Associates in Greenwich said he had a listing at $1.38 million that sold in just two days. He said the home was viewed 14 times.
"The Old Greenwich market right now is just super hot," he said. About half the buyers are people moving within Greenwich and others are moving from New York City and other areas, he said.
While some Realtors worry that shrinking inventories could crimp future sales, Oglivy says he's not worried.
"The inventory is fine," he said, adding that luxury inventories in the broader Greenwich area remain higher.
Carmel and Pebble Beach, Calif., have seen a rush of buyers from Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia. But the number of new, high-end listings has been limited.
"We are seeing an influx of luxury second home buyers coming into the market including venture capitalists, tech money, oil and gas, developers and CEO's," said Tim Allen, of Tim Allen Properties in Pebble Beach.
(Read More:Wealthy Horse Owners Jump Back Into Equestrian Estates)
Pebble Beach and Carmel have seen a total of 106 sales in the past four months—well above the previous four months. A 3,000 square-foot ocean-front home in Carmel sold for $16.5 million this year, which marked a new record for Carmel.
A home in Pebble Beach sold for $22.5 million, though the new owners plan to remodel. Allen said that an added factor in the high end of the real-estate market is that sellers are under less financial pressure to sell, which leads to less inventory. He said inventories remain healthy, with some high-end neighborhoods still filled with "for sale" signs, but some enclaves are selling out fast.
"These sellers can hold on until they see prices where they want," Allen said. "In some of these areas, all it takes is five buyers and you can sell out."The U.S. State Department is developing a steel barrier that can immediately stop a speeding 15,000-pound truck.The government agency is developing the structure with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute at the university in College Station who released a video of a test run that shows the truck getting completely totaled after colliding with the barrier at 50 mph.Dean Alberson, a research engineer at the institute, told the Daily News the project is being developed to protect international U.S. embassy bases. The anti-ram vehicle barrier, which is being referred to simply as "bent pipe" until the department provides an official name, is 24 feet long, has a diameter of 12 inches, and will stand 42 inches high from the ground, he said. The solid steel pipe is placed 18 inches deep into concrete, he said.The structure was only slightly displaced from the massive collision but the truck which had been used to deliver Blue Bunny ice cream was totaled, he said. The institute uses a cable pulley system to maneuver the vehicle and he added safety to the driver is not a priority.Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday night that the Democrats' incredible loss against "an extreme right-wing party that is so out of touch" shows that Democratic leadership is broken and needs to be replaced.
"Clearly, whatever the leadership of the Democratic Party has been doing, over the last many years, has failed," Sanders said.
Sanders was speaking to progressives and grassroots supporters at a Washington, D.C., event to support Rep. Keith Ellison's bid to be the next leader of the Democratic National Committee. Sanders called for an end to the status quo that has seen Democrats lose both houses of Congress and the White House, plus nearly a dozen governorships and hundreds of state legislative seats.
Ellison, who is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, echoed Sanders, calling for a reset of the Democratic Party on the basis of working people.
"Even a good car sometimes needs a tune-up," Ellison said.
Watch the event here:The BBC’s plan to promote ethnic minority staff is racist, a Tory MP has claimed as he challenged executives to give their own jobs to black candidates if they are so passionate about diversity.
Philip Davies said the BBC’s “politically correct targets” discriminated against the white working class, who are also under-represented at the corporation but are not the subject of diversity quotas.
He confronted Lord Hall, the director-general, and a panel of other BBC executives – all of whom are white – appearing before the House of Commons culture select committee.
After Lord Hall said the BBC must employ “as many people as possible from as many different backgrounds as possible”, Mr Davies rounded on the panel.
“I’m looking at you four – which of you four are prepared to fall on your swords and let a black person have that job?” he asked.
“Show a bit of leadership and vacate your own jobs if you’re so passionate about it. Or does it just apply to everyone else’s jobs apart from yours?”
Lord Hall and his colleagues – director of strategy James Purnell, BBC television controller Danny Cohen and non-executive director Dame Fiona Reynolds – declined to take up the offer.
Mr Davies, MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, joked that today was “a good day to talk about diversity” – a reference to the Cabinet reshuffle in which a succession of middle-aged white men were shown the door.
Under new quotas announced last month, one in seven BBC presenters and actors will be black or minority ethnic by 2017, along with one in 10 managers.
Mr Davies said: “You are going down what I personally consider to be a racist approach.
“To me, the true racists are people who see everything in terms of race when what we should surely be is colour blind. Just as it is racist to prevent someone from having a job when they are black, it is equally racist to give someone a job just because they are black.
“It is a racist policy to get a certain amount of people from an ethnic minority into jobs.
“If I have a white, working class constituent who wants that opportunity … why should they be deprived because you’ve set these politically correct targets?”
Lord Hall responded: “Look at the data and see what’s happening at the BBC, and there is a kind of ceiling – BAME [black, Asian and ethnic minority] people tend to get to a certain point and don’t rise.
“The theme here is not racism, it is equality of opportunity.”The ECB has said it will follow government advice on their scheduled tour to Bangladesh, following Friday night's terrorist attack in Dhaka which left 20 people dead.
The board said it will "work closely" with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and their own security experts over the coming months in deciding whether the tour, which is due to start on September 30, will go ahead. Last year, Australia had postponed their tour of Bangladesh based on government security advice. And earlier this year, Australia had pulled out of the Under-19 World Cup that was hosted by Bangladesh.
Gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in the Gulshan district of Dhaka late on Friday before security forces brought it to an end 12 hours later.
An ECB spokesman said: "The safety and security of our players and management is always of paramount importance to ECB and this applies to all teams representing England on overseas tours.
"We will continue to monitor and assess the situation in Bangladesh over the coming weeks and months and will undertake a thoroughgoing and robust pre-tour inspection of planned security arrangements for the England team.
"We will also continue to work closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office [FCO] and should our Director of Security, Reg Dickason, or the FCO, advise that the environment is not acceptably safe or the right measures not in place, we would take the appropriate steps."
After the attack, the FCO added an update to their travel advice page: "Following the incident in the Gulshan 2 area of Dhaka we advise you to remain vigilant and follow the advice of the local security authorities. Until further notice we specifically advise against visiting areas where foreign nationals are known to congregate such as public areas of International Hotels, large supermarkets, restaurants and clubs."
England are set to play three ODIs and two Tests on the month-long tour across Dhaka and Chittagong.
In 2008, England returned from India following the terror attacks in Mumbai but went back to the country to play two Test matches in Chennai and Mohali.× Expand Madison Fire Department
Collin Vander Galien had been working at Didion Milling in Cambria for about three months, loading 55-pound bags of processed corn into train cars. It was hardly his dream job but it paid well and he needed the money to pay off his truck and student loans from an unfinished degree from Madison College.
For the past month, he’d been working the night shift. Most days, he’d wake up in the afternoon, eat some leftovers, watch TV or play video games and then get ready for work. On May 31, he arrived at the plant just before 6 p.m. for his 12-hour shift and settled into his routine. “I came in and started cleaning until it was time to start throwing bags.”
Around 11 p.m., Vander Galien returned from a break. Moments later, he heard a loud boom. “I ducked my head and the next thing I knew, I was on my knees with my legs behind me.”
An explosion in the mill had tossed the train car he was in up in the air and onto its side. The concrete walls from the mill crumbled on top of the car. “There was debris all around me, there were pallets everywhere and it was super dark,” he says. “I was straight up on my knees and the train had fallen on my legs.”
Vander Galien, who was then 22, was in excruciating pain and pinned to the ground. “I was trapped and couldn’t move,” he says. “I just sat there screaming for help.”
At the time of the explosion, Rick Mulhern was asleep in his bunk at Madison Fire Department’s Station 8 on the far east side. It had been a busy day for the lieutenant, who helped a person suffering from seizures and assisted a woman giving birth to a girl at Truax Apartments.
Around 11:30 p.m., he woke up to his cell phone ringing. Another firefighter was on the line. “He’d heard that there was an explosion in Cambria,” says Mulhern. “And they were requesting the HURT team.”
Mulhern knew immediately that whatever was happening was likely catastrophic. No one requests HURT unless it’s a dangerous situation where someone is badly hurt, trapped or both.
× Expand Wisconsin Task Force 1 The explosion in May killed five people and injured 12. The company, which was fined $1.8 million for the accident, pledges to rebuild.
The fire department’s Heavy Urban Rescue Team is a specialized crew of firefighters and paramedics trained for extraordinary emergencies. When someone gets trapped in a building collapse or there is an accident at a construction site, HURT responds to rescue and provide immediate medical care.
The team was launched after a 1999 emergency at the UW-Madison pharmacy building, which was then under construction. Part of the structure collapsed, trapping a construction worker for three hours. Firefighters rescued the 41-year-old worker, but the department realized it needed more training for industrial accidents. Over the years, the team grew and was formally named HURT in 2007.
The team, which has 57 members, trains to perform rescues in trenches, silos and collapsed buildings. Although it typically only gets seven or eight calls a year, the recovery efforts often make headlines. In 2016, the team helped rescue three boys from an abandoned iron ore mine in Iron Ridge.
Weekly trainings include stints at the state’s Regional Emergency All-Climate Training Center at Volk Field. Other cities have similar teams. Milwaukee has a 90-member unit. Wisconsin Task Force 1 is a collective of 35 first responders stationed in Antigo, Appleton, Beloit, Chippewa Falls, Green Bay, Janesville, La Crosse and Oshkosh.
Although it wasn’t clear at first, the Cambria explosion was exactly the type of situation Madison HURT was created for. After getting the call, Mulhern mobilized the team over the station’s loudspeaker. Assistant Chief Mike Popovich, who had been called by the Dane County emergency dispatch center, arrived at the station moments later, relaying a few more details: Four or five people were missing following an explosion and collapse at a facility called Didion Milling.
While the rest of the HURT members gathered equipment, engineer and paramedic Paul Poker — who joined HURT five years ago because the rescue work was similar to what he’d done in the Army — tried to learn more about the explosion site. “All we knew was that it was called Didion, so we pulled that up on the computer to see what we could find out and see what kind of materials they had. We found out they worked with corn and ethanol,” he recalls. “I was also looking up how to get there because, obviously, we don’t drive to Cambria every day.”
Meanwhile, Popovich and Mulhern sped to the scene to do reconnaissance. Says Popovich: “It’s better to go and not be needed than to have been needed and not have gone.”
Vander Galien’s coworker and childhood friend Alex Wade was also working in the almost-full train car when the explosion blew the car off the railroad tracks and onto its side. “I flew about 20 feet through the air,” Wade says. “The rail car was moving while I was flying. My whole right side and head hit really hard against the side of the rail car. I was knocked out for at least 10 minutes.”
“Collin’s screaming is what finally woke me up,” says Wade, who then scraped through the debris inside the train car to find his friend.
When Vander Galien saw him, he asked, “Do you have your phone? Call 911!” Wade made that panicked emergency call and was told to keep his friend calm but awake. “He was dozing off and I was doing anything I could to keep him awake in any way possible,” says Wade. “There was one point where I was slapping him to keep him awake.”
The first to answer their cries was Cambria high school senior Lee Dunahee. He and his father heard the explosion, which had knocked out the power at their home, a mile away. “We looked out the window and I saw the flames,” Dunahee says. “My dad said, ‘I think Didion blew up.’ I said, ‘We need to do something, we need to go — someone might need help.’”
After hurrying to the plant, Dunahee heard Wade and Vander Galien screaming for help. Yelling back and forth with them, he eventually found them in the train car. When an ambulance arrived, Dunahee directed the EMTs to where Vander Galien was trapped.
The situation looked bleak to Dunahee. He wondered: “Oh, God, what’s going to happen?”
Poker drove himself and four other HURT members the 40 miles to Cambria in a monstrous specialty-rescue vehicle known as Squad 8. Another four firefighters followed in a utility truck. The team weaved along country roads past the cornfields that surrounded Didion Milling, coming up on its south side at about 12:40 a.m.
× Expand Ernie Martinez Madison’s 57-member HURT unit responds to emergencies requiring technical rescue techniques. Here members practice saving people trapped in a trench.
They were stunned by the devastation. “Cresting the hill and then coming down to it, seeing all the lights, it was just surreal,” says Poker. Smoke filled the air and numerous fire departments were dousing the facility with water from their truck ladders.
From afar, Poker |
ised minority (Christians) attempting to get credibility for its beliefs by associating it with a revered minority (Jews) who in fact despise those beliefs. In fact, most Jews find claims that they have some deep commonality with Christianity deeply insulting. Given their opinions of us, our civilization, and our sexual mores, this is understandable, and I don’t understand why my philosemitic brethren insist on needlessly antagonizing the Jewish people with such claims.
Of course, being a mere Christian, I realize I am unworthy to comment on my Church’s relationship with our exalted Elder Brothers. Fortunately, an actual Jew has laid it out at length and clarity, so that even readers with the thickest goyeshe kop will get the message. (My thanks to Steve Sailer and his always excellent blog for pointing this out.)
Klinghoffer should read Arthur Allen Cohen’s The Myth of the Judeo-Christian Tradition (Harper & Row, 1969), which questions the appropriateness of the term, theologically and historically, suggesting instead that it is an invention of American politics. Cohen thinks that there is simply no such thing as Judeo-Christian tradition. He points to the fact that the two religions have had separate theological agendas for the last two thousand years. Or, if Klinghoffer prefers a gentile’s opinion: The label “Judeo-Christian” tends to assume, at the expense of Judaism, that Christians and Jews believe essentially the same things. Besides glossing over the very real and important theological and liturgical differences, it tends to subsume Jewish traditions within an umbrella that is dominated by Christian ideas and practices. (Religion and the Workplace: Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership, by Douglas A. Hicks; Cambridge University Press, 2003) Let’s be clear: Far from “sharing” one tradition, Orthodox Jews are prohibited from marrying Christians, setting foot inside a Christian church—and we can’t even drink from an open bottle of kosher wine that has been used by a Christian. We reject the Christian idea of salvation, we abhor Christian divine teachings on every subject, and we are repulsed and outraged by incessant attempts by Christian missionaries to bring us into their fold. It is particularly disturbing when Klinghoffer makes statements which reveal his complete assumption of elements of New Testament Pauline ideology, for instance, the requirement that wives submit to their husband’s authority. There is no mandate on precisely how a woman should behave with her husband—Jews expect the happy couple to work it out for themselves. Also, while divorce may be a tragedy, and God cries, it is in no way banned—in Judaism, that is. The story in Christianity, and Klinghoffer’s “Judeo-Christian Biblical America,” is different. Incidentally, we have more in common with Muslims than we do with Christians; Jewish law permits Jews to enter a mosque… but not a church. To insist that we have some kind of bond with religious Christians because of similar core values, is to propagate a terrible lie… Jews and Christians differ on every single fundamental principle—even on the meaning of core Scriptural texts. More crucially, Christians rely on the Old Testament for legal delineation; whereas Jews rely solely upon our rabbinic tradition. We never, ever turn to our Bible for legal guidance, only to our rabbinic literature. To suggest that our Sages had anything at all in common with the likes of Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Carter or Pat Robertson is a slap in the face of 2500 years of scholarship. “Judeo-Christian” is as valid a concept as happy-joylessness, or tall dwarves. Klinghoffer’s yearnings for this repugnant “ideal” is a deviant phenomenon without a trace of commonality in traditional Jewish thought, ancient or modern. I have deep respect for religious leaders active in the interfaith arena, who seek to communicate and cooperate with Christians on political and social issues. But I resent Klinghoffer’s attempt to erect an ideological partnership between Christianity and its blameless victims.
There you have it.
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ASUS Mars II Market Segment Analysis Radeon
HD 6970 GeForce
GTX 580 Radeon
HD 6990 GeForce
GTX 590 ASUS Mars II Shader Units 1536 512 2x 1536 2x 512 2x 512 ROPs 32 48 2x 32 2x 48 2x 48 Graphics Processor Cayman GF110 2x Cayman 2x GF110 2x GF110 Transistors 2640M 3000M 2x 2640M 2x 3000M 2x 3000M Memory Size 2048 MB 1536 MB 2x 2048 MB 2x 1536 MB 2x 1536 MB Memory Bus Width 256 bit 384 bit 2x 256 bit 2x 384 bit 2x 384 bit Core Clock 880 MHz 772 MHz 830 MHz 607 MHz 781 MHz Memory Clock 1375 MHz 1002 MHz 1250 MHz 855 MHz 1002 MHz Price $370 $490 $725 $710 $1499
First seen at Computex this year, ASUS today released their long awaited ASUS MARS II. The MARS II is the first dual GeForce GTX 580 card, and is part of ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand of premium products targeting the gamer-overclocker market. Please note that ASUS did not choose the "GeForce GTX 590" name, even though the ASUS MARS II is a dual-GPU design. Rather they went with calling it Dual GeForce GTX 580, which makes sense since the MARS II comes at the full GeForce GTX 580 clock speeds. instead of the reduced clocked of the GTX 590.ASUS has also added another significant change to the MARS II: Unlike the GTX 590, the card does not use any power limiting system. While this means higher performance, it also means increased power and thermal requirements for the ASUS MARS II. To take care of this, ASUS has designed a 21 phase power circuitry which is almost twice as powerful as the 11 phases of the GTX 590. To take care of the heat the ASUS MARS II uses a triple slot Direct CU cooler with two fans.In terms of pricing the limited edition ASUS MARS II is the most expensive single graphics card released so far. Prices are expected to be around $1499 online!The 'Michelin curse' comes to Hong Kong
Image caption One customer who seems as keen on the dumplings as the Michelin judges
Winning recognition in the annual Michelin Guide is one of the most sought-after honours in the restaurant business.
But in Hong Kong, a city plagued by high rents, the accolade may bring unexpected challenges.
Just ask the owner of Kai Kai Dessert, which specialises in classic Cantonese desserts like steamed egg pudding, red bean soup with lotus seed, and papaya and white fungus soup.
Chiu Wai Yip, 58, told BBC News that just weeks after being featured in the Michelin guide in November, the shop's landlord more than doubled the rent from HK$100,000 ($12,900; £8,800) to HK$220,000 ($28,378; £19,400) a month.
What's more, the landlord wanted to halve the amount of space the eatery currently occupies.
"It's really too bad," Mr Chiu says. "After we were recognised by the guide, the owner raised the rent by a huge sum. So, we have no choice but to relocate. We have no other option really."
Image caption A loyal customer came to the aid of Chiu Wai Yip and his delicious desserts
The family-owned business has been an institution in the gourmet haven of Jordan for three decades.
Even in the middle of the afternoon, not a traditional time for dessert, every table at the eatery is occupied by customers slurping its delicately sweet creations.
Luckily for Mr Chiu, after hearing his plight, a regular customer came to his rescue.
In March, Kai Kai will move around the corner, where he will pay a cheaper rent of HK$90,000 per month.
Kai Kai is one of about two dozen street food eateries in Hong Kong featured in the Michelin guide for the first time.
The inclusion of such accessible, authentic local fare was praised by many food critics and bloggers, although, as often happens in the controversial foodie world, the exact choices were hotly debated.
But because all of them charge such low prices - a bowl of pudding at Kai Kai costs less than three US dollars - they are vulnerable to enormous rental increases, resulting in what some call the "Michelin curse".
Image caption Kai Kai is an institution in the foodie haven of Jordan
Another establishment similarly affected is Cheung Hing Kee, which specialises in Shanghai-style fried dumplings.
Called shengjianbao, they are moist on top and pan-fried to a golden brown crunchiness on the bottom.
Eating them takes some practice. If you're not careful, a mouthful of sticky, savoury pork broth will shoot out onto the unsuspecting diner.
An order of four dumplings, enough for a moderately hungry person, costs HK$28 ($3.60; £2.50).
Owner Sun Kei, 50, and his business partner started the tiny eatery in the modest working-class neighbourhood of Tsuen Wan three years ago.
Both have family roots in Shanghai and wanted to bring the fried soup dumplings to Hong Kong.
Image caption Shengjianbao Shanghai dumplings - a feast for the stomach and the eyes
The former British colony, Mr Sun says, is quickly losing its culinary street culture because of high rental costs and rising salaries.
According to research from real estate firm Jones Lang Lasalle, rental prices among high street shops in Hong Kong have nearly doubled since the city was handed back to China in 1997.
Denis Ma, head of Hong Kong research for estate agency JLL, says he thinks the "Michelin curse" is a myth. He believes gentrification and changing demographics are to blame for sky-high rents.
Prices actually peaked in October 2014, and have been falling steadily since.
That has not helped Mr Sun, who started rental renewal negotiations with the landlord before being recognised by the Michelin guide.
After winning the honour, he says, the landlord's attitude hardened and he refused to budge from a 30% increase in monthly rent.
Image caption The dumplings had customers queuing up long before a certain French food guide arrived
"I don't blame Michelin for this," Mr Sun says. "To be honest, I don't really blame the landlord either. He has to make a living. He should be trying to get what he can."
"But the Hong Kong government has not done a good job in managing the rental market, leading many small and medium restaurants to close. Hong Kong used to be a food capital. Now, that glory is really fading. And its getting worse and worse."
He wants the government to reinstate a rent control policy that was abolished in 1998.
But even that policy had applied only to residential, not commercial, rentals.
Buoyed by the Michelin recognition, Mr Sun plans to open a new branch of the eatery in the commercial district of Tsim Sha Tsui, which is popular with tourists and office workers.
But news of the move has angered many loyal customers.
They are sharing photos of the closing notice on their social media networks, decrying what they call "greedy landlords".
One of them, Crystal, says she feels like crying.
"There are many good restaurants in Tsuen Wan. That's why I still live here," she explains. "I think it's a real shame they're moving."
Image caption Moving location has been wrenching for restaurant owners and customers
Mr Sun says he is just as sad to be abandoning the neighbourhood that gave him his start as an entrepreneur.
"Of course it was great to be recognised by Michelin," he says. "It was public recognition of our team, our food and our service. It really encouraged us. But, of course, not everything resulting from that was positive."
He vows to return to Tsuen Wan as soon as he can find a new location.
Like the owner of Kai Kai Dessert, Mr Sun is realising that being featured by the Michelin guide has its downsides.BUCHAREST, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Romania’s top oil and gas group Petrom and U.S. major ExxonMobil have begun drilling a third deepwater well in the Black Sea in the European Union state, Petrom said on Monday.
The Pelican South-1 well is located 155 kilometres offshore in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea, in the Neptun Block which Petrom and Exxon jointly hold.
“The Pelican South-1 well will test a new geological structure on the Neptun Block,” Petrom said in a statement.
Petrom and ExxonMobil jointly own the Domino-1 well, the first deep water exploration well in Romanian waters. In 2012, the firms said they discovered 1.5-3 trillion cubic feet (42-84 billion cubic metres (bcm)) of gas reserves at Domino-1.
For more details, please see. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie)Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of God, to you we turn. With your “yes” you have opened the door to the presence of Christ in the world, in history and in souls, receiving in humble silence and total submission the appeal of the Most High.
Grant that many men and women may know and hear, even today, the inviting voice of your Son: “Follow Me”. Stretch out your motherly hand over all missionaries scattered throughout the world, over religious men and women who assist the elderly, the sick, the deficient, the orphans; over those who are engaged in teaching, over the members of secular institutes, the silent leaven of good works; over those who in the cloister live on faith and love and beg for the salvation of the world. Amen.
~ St. John Paul II
(Image by ardelfin courtesy morguefile.com)It was the night before a book sale that my phone froze mid-text to a friend I was on my way to meet. The screen went black and wouldn’t turn back on. Then the phone started to heat up so much I couldn’t touch it.
I tried to not worry about the fact that, as I didn’t own a tablet, my phone was the main way I would be taking payments in less than fifteen hours.
I didn’t think too hard about the fact that even though I had insurance on this phone, the carrier company still charges a $150 deductible to not fix it, no, but replace it with a refurbished (not new) phone that would no doubt not be shipped to me until the weekend – and the book convention – was over.
With my anxiety starting to rise, I arrived at my friend’s house who thankfully just so happened to be a phone repair tech.
Sam – who actually portrayed Jaxon at two of the three Grim release parties! – expertly took the phone apart and informed me that sadly, the heat that my phone had been generating during the drive to him fried the touchscreen, but he happened to have that at his office. Once he got that, Sam fixed my phone and had it ready in less than half an hour!!! WAY better than getting a refurbished (crappier) phone!
This experience led me to realize that I truly don’t know a lot about the tiny computer I carry around in my pocket every single day – the device that holds my entire life inside its expensive little frame – and what to do when something happens to it.
When do you take it to a repair shop to not only save time and money, but also not be sent a phone that will not be as good as yours was when it was new?
Can you always?
Why do the carriers not fix phones quickly like Sam was able to?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!
Thankfully, Sam was happy to answer them all for me, and I wanted to share them with you in case you found yourself in a similar panic-inducing situation as I did last week.
There’s a lot of great information in this interview, and be sure to check out the lessons learned section at the end!
Interview With a Phone Tech
Reinfried: What do I do if I crack or break my screen?
Sam: Don’t panic. I see a lot of customers who think it’s the end of their phone, but it’s not. It can be repaired. In fact, with most phones, it’s an easy fix. Don’t let your carrier lead you to believe you need to replace the device. Depending on the phone you have, the display may or may not be pricey, but it is almost always cheaper than buying a new phone.
Before going in for a repair or to your carrier, however, you should figure out if your device is covered under a warranty. Many carriers say the plan you chose will cover damage, but only after you pay an expensive deductible.
Regardless of if you’re able to pay the deductible, it is wise to call around to local repair shops, as they most likely can fix the screen for much less.
Reinfried: Yeah, I remember a few times I’ve had to pay that deductible. Then I end up with another phone.
Sam: The refurbished kind.
Reinfried: Yep. And what do you know? Each refurbished phone I’ve had ended up having some kind of issue with it, or not lasting more than a few months.
Sam: Kinda sucks when you just paid $150 or more and waited almost a week for them to ship you a “new” phone. Emphasis on the quotations.
Reinfried: Why do carriers do that? Make you pay a deductible saying they cover damage to phones when all they do is send you a used replacement?
Sam: I can’t speak for every company, but my guess would be simple greed. They want to sell you a new phone. If you get it repaired, no one there makes money.
Reinfried: Makes sense. So what about what happened to me? What should someone do if their phone suddenly won’t turn on, or freezes?
Sam: If you’re one of the blessed few with a removable battery, try taking it out, putting it back in, and booting the phone back up. If you don’t have one, look up your device online to see how to do a hard reset.
If neither of these work, as was the case for your Pixel, it’s time to get some diagnostic work done. A good phone tech can tell you pretty quickly what’s wrong with your device and what your options are. It could be as simple as reseating the battery, or something more complex such as a problematic motherboard component.
Repair shops can almost always not only diagnose what is wrong with your phone, but also fix them the same day. However, if it is more of an extreme case, the repair shop may have to order parts, which could take a couple of days or so to ship. Some even have loaner phones for their customers. Either way, it’s often cheaper and less of a hassle than taking it back to your carrier.
Reinfried: Motherboard components? That doesn’t sound fun. I’ve seen you work here and there. All those little pieces and tiny screws…it looks very complex, but you make it look like the easiest thing in the world.
Sam: It’s not too bad. It’s a challenge I enjoy.
Reinfried: And what about the other issue I had? When my phone got really hot to the touch? Should that be something to worry about?
Sam: It isn’t good, but don’t panic. It can mean any number of things, most of which are in any way problematic. Some phones just run hot. If it happens a lot, though, it can be an issue.
Start by locating where on the phone the heat is coming from. Take it out of the case. While looking at the back of the device, mentally divide it into a three by three grid. Feel around the back until you find the hottest part.
Reinfried: I remember you having me do that. The heat was coming from the middle, on the right.
Sam: Yep, and with your Pixel, that told me it was most likely the battery. Knowing where the heat is coming from is invaluable information for a repair tech.
Another good thing to do is keep track of what apps are running when the phone heats up. Even ones in the background. If you notice that it only starts to get hot when certain apps are running, you have located the issue, or at least a contributing factor.
Reinfried: Man, I wish I knew you a few years back when someone knocked a glass of water onto my phone. Which was new. Back then all I knew to do was take it to the carrier, but they didn’t cover water damage. What is the right thing to do if a phone gets wet?
Sam: First and foremost, for the love of God, do not put it in rice! *chuckles* Seriously, don’t do that.
Reinfried: How come? That’s the first thing most people have been told to do!
Sam: Well, when a liquid gets on a phone, it floods into the nooks and crannies. Unless it is distilled water or pure alcohol, it has impurities that interact with electrical current. It begins to form corrosion on your motherboard within about ten hours. That corrosion spreads across it like an end times plague, and sooner or later – it could be a day, could be a month – your device will just give up the ghost.
Reinfried: So rice is bad because…?
Sam: The only thing putting the phone in rice does is dry the outside of your phone and clog up your charging port with delicious rehydrated grain food.
What your phone needs is to be cleaned and dried from the inside. Remember how I said there’s about a fifteen hour window before an end times plague takes hold of your phone? When a tech hears, “I left my phone in rice overnight, so it should be fine, right?” we sadly shake our heads on the inside.
No, that was the window of time in which the phone could have avoided the end times plague, but now it is shut. At that point all is not lost, but repair becomes much more difficult, and more costly.
Reinfried: So what DO I do if my phone gets wet?
Sam: If you can, pull the battery. Please, please, please do NOT turn it on. Take it to a repair shop that does liquid damage treatment, which usually entails disassembling your phone completely and cleaning any corrosion off before things start to fry.
When you call around to find a repair shop that does liquid damage treatment, try to make sure they use something called EC cleaning solution and a sweeping frequency ultrasonic cleaner. Low-rent shops will use isopropyl and a jewelry cleaner because it’s cheaper, but it isn’t as good for your phone or the repair itself.
An ultrasonic cleaner vibrates at the resonant frequency of the components that it is cleaning. Since that is going to be different for different parts of different phones, the cleaner needs to be able to adjust to your particular device. A jewelry cleaner will work in a pinch but it’s like putting a quarter in the vibrating hotel bed and claiming it feels like a real massage.
You want a repair shop that has the tools and equipment to actually treat your problem. Make sure to take your device to them as soon as humanly possible.
Reinfried: Wow. There is a TON of helpful information here. Thank you so much!
Sam: Not a problem at all, I’m happy to help. And if anyone has further questions about phone repair, I’d love to answer any of them.
Reinfried: You’re awesome!
Sam: Aw, shucks.
Lessons Learned
Before your event, make sure EVERYTHING works. Your phone, your Square or PayPal reader, even the latch on your cash box if you have one. Have backups. Don’t do what I did and only have one way of taking credit card payments. Have access to a working phone, laptop, and tablet if possible in case one fails the day of your sale. Test your card reader before the event. They have the ability to charge a single dollar, so just swipe your card to ensure it works. Have a friend or family member present at your event. Not only are books heavy, but they, too, no doubt have a phone or tablet you could use if yours goes down mid-sale. Know a phone tech. This helps. 😛Published online 27 May 2011 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2011.333
News
Field needs independent experiments to prove or disprove the work, researchers say.
Scanning electron micrograph of bacterium strain GFAJ-1. Science/AAAS
Nearly six months after its publication in Science1, the controversial suggestion that a newly discovered bacterium survives by incorporating arsenic atoms into its DNA and other biomolecules is today facing a volley of terse critiques2–9.
Many of the criticisms had previously been aired on blogs and in other publications. The arsenic paper's authors, led by Felisa Wolfe-Simon of the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, defend their work in a technical response10 issued alongside the critiques. The team says it will distribute samples of the bacterium, GFAJ-1, so that other researchers can attempt to replicate their work. The question now is whether independent researchers will take up that offer and put to the test the overwhelming sense that the study suffers from flaws that undermine its conclusions.
Some of the critics were frustrated that Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues did not release any new data in their response, noting that there had been ample time for them to bolster their case with new data.
"I'm tired of rehashing these preliminary data," says John Helmann of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who critiqued the work in January on the Faculty of 1000 website. "I look forward to the time when they or others in the field start doing the sort of rigorous experiments that need to be done to test this hypothesis."
The controversy first erupted in December, when NASA's press office issued a cryptic news release regarding an "astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life". Once the Science paper was published, it quickly became apparent that, if true, the finding was astonishing. It implied that the bacterium had evolved to incorporate the usually toxic arsenic into its genetic backbone, possibly suggesting a broader range of molecular building blocks for life on Earth and beyond.
But the work was quickly attacked by researchers, both for not living up to NASA's billing about relevance to extraterrestrial life, and for being marred by technical shortcomings.
"I have not found anybody outside of [Wolfe-Simon's] laboratory who supports the work," says Barry Rosen of Florida International University in Miami, who published a critique of the work11 in BioEssays in March.
A dearth of believers
Wolfe-Simon has previously defended her work both on her website, and in the pages of the women's magazine Glamour, where she dispensed her "four laws of getting people to believe in you".
"We maintain that our interpretation of As [arsenic] substitution, based on multiple congruent lines of evidence, is viable," she and her colleagues write today10.
Felisa Wolfe-Simon collects a sample from 10 Mile Beach at Mono Lake, California. H. Bortman
In their original study1, Wolfe-Simon and her team analysed bacteria taken from Mono Lake in southern California. The bacteria were grown in the lab on a medium that, the authors said, contained arsenic but no phosphorus — the core constituent of the DNA double helix. The team found that the bacteria reproduced and integrated arsenic into their DNA.
The critiques attack multiple parts of the work. Several allege that the growth medium contained trace amounts of phosphorus — enough to support a few rounds of bacterial growth3–7. Others say that the evidence purporting to show that arsenic integrated into the bacterium's DNA is flawed because the DNA was not properly purified5.
One of the papers2 asserts that Wolfe-Simon and her team used flawed methods to calculate the ratios of arsenic and phosphorus in their growth media. Many of the authors also say that there are alternative explanations for the fact that the bacteria could grow on a medium containing little or no phosphorus, such as the possibility that the medium selected for arsenic-tolerant bacteria that out-competed the non-tolerant microbes5.
Some criticisms of the work come from within the same agencies that employ the authors; four of the authors of one critique are based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "GFAJ-1 appears to do all it can to harvest P [phosphorus] atoms from the medium while drowning in As," they write3. "This suggests that GFAJ-1 is an extraordinary extremophile but does not support the more exceptional claim that As replaces the functions of P in this organism."
In search of follow-up
Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida, suggests a series of follow-up experiments that could provide more solid evidence that arsenic has incorporated into the bacterium's DNA4.
If GFAJ-1 is indeed utilizing arsenic as Wolfe-Simon and her co-authors suggest, Benner writes, the result would "set aside nearly a century of chemical data concerning arsenate and phosphate molecules". Benner cautions that inconsistent results should not be "discarded out of hand", although he criticizes the paper for not fully taking into account how much existing science would need to be rewritten to accommodate its extraordinary claim.
Rosemary Redfield of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, who previously critiqued the arsenic paper on her blog and who wrote one of the commentaries published today5, says that proving or disproving the work would be easy. She says it would be "relatively straightforward" to grow the bacteria in arsenic-containing media and to analyse them using mass spectrometry to test whether arsenic is covalently bonded into their DNA backbone.
"The important thing to do is what the authors didn't do, which is meticulously clean up the DNA first," Redfield says.
She adds that she will probably obtain samples of GFAJ-1 and is considering performing the follow-up tests she describes. She is also interested in getting a group of five of six laboratories to repeat the experiments independently and publish their results together.
However, most labs seem too busy to spend time replicating work that they feel is fundamentally flawed and is not likely to be published in high-impact journals. So principal investigators are reluctant to spend their resources, and their students' time, replicating the work.
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"If you extended the results to show there is no detectable arsenic, where could you publish that?" asks Simon Silver of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who critiqued the work in FEMS Microbiology Letters12 in January and on 24 May at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans. "How could the young person who was asked to do that work ever get a job?"
Refuting another scientist's work also takes time that scientists could be spending on their own research. For instance, Helmann says he is installing a highly sensitive mass spectrometer that can measure trace amounts of elements. But, he says, "I've got my own science to do".
Helmann also points out that the bacterium is not yet available through cell repositories, and that researchers may be reluctant to sign the materials transfer agreement required to obtain it from the authors.
He and other researchers add that the response released by Wolfe-Simon and her team suggests that they are reluctant to accept that there may be alternative explanations for the phenomenon they observed.
"With so many mistakes pointed out, there should be at least some where the authors say, 'you're right, we should have done that but we didn't'," Redfield says. "This as an entirely a 'we were right' response, and that's a bad sign in science."
Follow Erika on Twitter at @Erika_CheckScientists have observed that pressure from current-seafloor encounters drives the direction of the massive Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southern Ocean.
In the Southern Ocean, a massive water conveyor belt—the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC)—encircles Antarctica. The ACC is of special interest to researchers who are trying to quantify the Southern Ocean’s contribution to global climate.
In a new paper, Firing et al. examine the movement and circulation of the ACC in the Drake Passage, the span of water between the southernmost tip of South America and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The Drake Passage constricts the ACC into a narrow region, which makes it one of the best places for scientists to study the current.
The researchers looked at data collected by an array of instruments that measured water velocity through the Drake Passage from the surface of the ocean to the seafloor. The researchers found that bottom currents are strongly influenced by seafloor topography, especially where strong flow encounters steep inclines. At such topographic features, sharp changes in pressure can produce a rotational force—called bottom pressure torque—which acts to steer the current.
From the collected data, the researchers estimated this force and its influence on the ACC. They discovered that this bottom pressure torque in Drake Passage had an effect more than 10 times larger than the average effect of wind blowing over the ACC at the surface.
As the Southern Ocean responds to climate changes, including increased winds, scientists will continue to study the changing structure of the ACC. (Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, doi:10.1002/2016JC011682, 2016)
—Alexandra Branscombe, Freelance WriterBengaluru house owners
Why do onlycharge 10-months’ rent as deposit?Searching for a house in Bengaluru may be a Herculean task; but dealing with the house owners is even tougher, what with their demand for 10 months’ rent as advance deposit from which a host of deductions are made citing "invisible" charges when the house is vacated. Now, a Bengaluru-based writer, Rachelle C, has launched a campaign to enforce uniform rental laws across the city for security deposit. She has shot off mails to the chief minister highlighting the main issues of the tenants.“Are you paying 10 months’ rent as deposit whenever you get a house for rent in Bangalore? The New Model Tenancy Act 2011 (a proposed act), suggests not more than three months' rent as deposit and a host of other tenant-friendly rules that would benefit both, owners and tenants, alike."In Bengaluru, tenants have to cough up a ridiculous 10 months’ rent as security deposit and pay for repainting charges, which is usually one month’s rent. No other city in India does this crime. Many landlords get away with this; worse, we don’t even get the full deposit back as landlords charge damages for unnecessary things. Also, the original agreement must be given to the tenants which is not followed, often citing various reasons. There must be a fast-track rent tribunal which can take in the interests of tenants and if the landlords are giving problems, we must be able to file an FIR or go to court for money fraud,” reads her campaign which is receiving a lot of responses on Facebook from those being harassed by the owners.She has appealed for the petition to be signed with an eye on protecting the interests of the tenants and to ensure that landlords don’t extract money from them. The appeal also includes urging people to sign the petition so the Model Tenancy Act 2011 is passed.Rachelle told Bangalore Mirror that while scouting for houses on Facebook groups and otherwise, she came across people complaining about owners asking 10-months’ rent as deposit in bulk, that too as an immediate payment.“I am from Bengaluru and have heard that in many cities across India, not more than three-four months’ rent as deposit is the norm. Since many of my friends and acquaintances came to Bengaluru from other cities, they were shocked to find the 10-months’ rent as deposit being the norm,” she said.She points out that the worst are PGs (paying guests) or owners who let out a 3BHK or 4BHK for multiple people but take Rs 50,000 rupees per head as deposit, making money off each person.“There is no regulation for this. Also, the broker takes one month’s rent as his charges (fees). Painting charges that come under ‘normal wear and tear’ is also charged as one month’s rent. The bill for painting charges are not provided as they just cut one month’s rent. An owner can evict a tenant if they don’t pay rent for more than three months, but no provision in law is there for tenants to approach the police whether it is owners harassing or deducting money for damages or anything. I came across the Model Tenancy Act 2011 (drafts) which are much more favourable to the tenants and hence started the campaign, hoping they would pass the act,” she said.She cited an example of her friend who paid Rs 1 lakh as deposit and stayed in the place for more than two years. When he had to vacate, he received only Rs 40,000 and the rest was not given citing various issues. When the friend complained and refused to vacate without receiving the deposit money, the owner threatened to hire goons and her friend had no option but to vacate without getting his full monies.Her friend’s case is as not an isolated one as there are thousands in the city facing these problems on a daily basis.“My main focus is that security deposit has to be regulated. Right now, state governments have the power to decide the rent laws. But it has to be centralised; at least the advance/deposit money (throughout India- not more than three months deposit should be taken.Otherwise local influential people take advantage),” Rachelle says. “Secondly, damages should be specifically mentioned. Right now, owners charge damage for everything (including house being dirty, not well-kept and painting charges). This will stop owners from deducting money unnecessarily for damages.“Thirdly, a fast-track court/tribunal must be established, so tenants can file FIR against owners if they have any complaints, so they can resolve it within months. Right now, only owners can evict tenants legally.“Fourthly, students and single working women face the most problems as they are new to the city and don’t know the language and are exploited unnecessarily in the name of huge deposits. This will be a huge benefit as Bengaluru has many people who come to work and study and owners have found a nice way to make money out of this, “she said.Rachelle’s mails sent to the chief minister’s official email ID given in the state government’s website, however, evoked no responses.I have been working in the Bengaluru for the past one year had to change houses thrice as I |
Mounties have provided few details on the cause of the crash, but said that the driver is cooperating in their investigation. The 19-year-old Burnaby resident was uninjured in the crash.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Const. David Purghart of the Richmond RCMP Road Safety Unit at 604-278-1212.
With a report from CTV Vancouver's David MolkoA black judge has refused to recuse himself from a case over a white police officer's shooting of a black man, accusing his defence lawyers of wrongly injecting race into the case.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge Greg Griffin ruled after a contentious hearing in which the defense for police officer Aaron Cody Smith argued the judge should give up the case because of a Facebook post the judge made before he was assigned the trial.
In the post, the judge complained about being stopped by police because he was he was black. Mr Griffin said he lives “in the hood” and “can't take this black skin off.”
“It comes with the territory,” he added.
Defence attorney Roianne Conner argued she wasn't claiming that Mr Griffin was biased, only that judicial ethics rules require judges to avoid even “appearances of impropriety.”
Griffin didn't buy the arguments, saying: "It troubles me because y'all put race in it."
Smith, 24, is charged with murdering Greg Gunn, 58, on 25 February 2016. The confrontation began when the officer stopped Mr Gunn, who was walking through his neighbourhood shortly after 3am.
Friends said Mr Gunn was walking home from a weekly card game and was shot next-door to the house he shared with his mother.
The defence has said Smith stopped Mr Gunn because he thought he was acting suspiciously, and that he fought with the officer before the shooting.
In a Facebook post two weeks after Mr Gunn's death but before he was assigned the case, the judge wrote that he had been stopped by officers who claimed he matched the description of a man seen in the area with a crowbar.
The post, which did not mention the police shooting, said in part: “It was aggravating to be detained when the only thing I was guilty of was being a black man walking down the street in his neighbourhood with a stick in his hand.”
Ms Conner said many of the 239 people who commented on Mr Griffin's post compared what happened to him to Mr Gunn's killing, but the judge rejected the argument.
“This is not a stop-and-search case. This is a murder case,” said Mr Griffin, noting that the officer who first stopped him was black.
The hearing wasn't the first time the defence has raised race as an issue in the case. In a motion filed in December asking a court to move the trial outside Montgomery, the defence portrayed the officer as a victim of racial prejudice.
The city, which is about 57 per cent black, has been “infested with racial prejudice and hatred” toward Smith because of community leaders and media reports that highlighted the race of those involved, said the motion.
Race has been used as “ammunition” against the white officer, the defence claimed.
Prosecutors are opposing the defence request to move the trial, which is not yet scheduled.
Associated PressA 23-year-old male surfer has been attacked by a shark while surfing Wylie Bay Beach in Esperance, WA. Paramedics received a call shortly after 11am saying that a young man had lost one arm just below the elbow, and the other hand, as well as sustaining lacerations to the leg. A St John spokesman said the surfer sustained “quite severe trauma consistent with a shark attack.” He was taken to hospital in Esperance prior to being moved to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service for further treatment. The victim's girlfriend is reportedly at his bedside.
The species of shark is unknown at this point, but a Fisheries spokeswoman said the department had sought permission from the Federal Government to kill the shark. "The department is currently preparing to deploy equipment in an effort to catch the shark," the department said in a statement.
There has been a reported increase in shark activity in the area in the last two weeks. A white shark was spotted 50m offshore on September 20 at around 5pm. Wylie Bay is a well-known surf spot, with beachies as well as a reefbreak eight clicks out, but it’s also known for its shark presence.
Following seven fatal attacks in WA between 2010 and 2013, the WA Government ordered a shark cull and implemented a baiting drum line strategy – a strategy that was just recently abandoned due to inconclusive evidence of effectiveness. The Environmental Protection Authority ruled against the use of the drum lines based on environmental grounds.
Beaches in the surrounding area have been closed and will likely remain closed for several days.Years ago we made caramelized yogurt in the pressure cooker. A recent email asked us about the possibility of caramelized cream. With a bit more knowledge under our belt we added 0.5% baking soda to our cream to expedite the browning process and filled our mason jar with the cream mixture. We loosely closed the lid of the jar and added an inch of water to the base of the pressure cooker. We then cooked the the cream for two hours at high pressure. When the pressure had naturally dissipated we opened the cooker and found a cafe au lait colored cream, rich with nutty, caramel notes and a slightly alkaline undertone from the baking soda. It was a nice reminder to play a little more with this technique and bring it back to our kitchen.
Years Past:
December 3, 2010
December 3, 2009
December 3, 2008
December 3, 2007
December 3, 2006
December 3, 2005The Swedish government became the first E.U. member to officially recognize a Palestinian state on Thursday.
Newly elected Prime Minister Stefan Lofven first announced the move at his swearing-in ceremony on Oct. 3, but he was not expected to follow through so soon, Haaretz reports.
“Some will claim that today’s decision comes too early. I’m rather afraid it’s too late,” writes Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. “The past year, we’ve seen how the peace negotiations once again have halted, how decisions on new settlements on occupied Palestinian land have obstructed a two-state solution and how violence has returned to Gaza.”
Wallstrom writes that the recognition aims to support moderate forces among the Palestinians, make future negotiations more equal and give young Palestinians hope of a peaceful solution to the conflict.
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Israel has publicly protested the move, which some believe is feeding unrealistic Palestinian expectations of working out a resolution with the international community but without involving Israel, writes the Jerusalem Post.
A total of 134 other countries recognized Palestine before Sweden. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia all did so before joining the E.U.
Contact us at [email protected] Crewman Becky | September 18, 2012 - 10:24 pm
We’re pleased to announce episode 21 of our “Life After Trek” podcast, featuring Paul McGillion. Many of you know Paul from his work on Stargate: Atlantis as character Carson Beckett, but did you know that he also had a cameo in J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek and was even considered for the character of Scotty?...but I’m getting ahead of the game here. Being huge fans of Paul from his time on Atlantis and A Dog’s Breakfast (just to name a few), we were thrilled to chat with him to find out what he’s been up to lately.
It turns out you’ll be seeing a lot of him in the near future. Without giving the whole interview away, you can find him on an upcoming episode of Fringe currently scheduled to run on October 12th, and in person at Wizard World’s Austin Comic Con October 26, 27, & 28, 2012.
We cover a ton of topics in this, fast paced, 25 minute interview and we’re sure you’ll have a blast as you get to know Paul.
Be sure to check out his official website PaulMcGillion.com, learn more about him on IMDB.com/ and follow him on Twitter @PaulyMcGillion.
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SUBSCRIBE VIA RSSWhen Paul Turner thudded into the ground Thursday night at Heinz Field with the ball tucked under his arm, he secured an acrobatic catch that solidified an undrafted rookie as the darling of the Philadelphia Eagles preseason and gave highlight reels across the country a lead clip.
And afterward, all he did was pop up.
The speedy receiver tossed the ball to the ref and jogged back to the huddle. No high-fives. No wacky first-down motion to celebrate the 23-yard gain. Nothing.
Turner, a deeply religious and family-oriented 23-year-old from northern Louisiana, might not have much a desire for showmanship in his personality. Or perhaps he just doesn't know how to handle being the main attraction of an offense.
The shifty, 5-foot-10 wideout rarely saw the field in two seasons at LSU, where a pair of future NFL Pro Bowlers joined him in position meetings. Then he transferred to Louisiana Tech and became the No. 2 receiving option and third offensive threat for a squad in Conference USA.
But thanks to plays like Thursday's one-mitted snag, Turner has developed into a popular figure in Philadelphia over the past month. He led the Eagles in receiving yards each of the first two preseason games, earned steady praise from head coach Doug Pederson and appears to be pushing for a roster spot at one of the Birds' thinnest position groups.
The success means fans are clamoring to see more of Turner and reporters are itching to learn about the soft-spoken playmaker's background.
And Saturday, with media circled around him, Turner opened up about how the need to care for his grandma altered the course of his college career and sent him on a winding road to Philadelphia.
OFF TO COLLEGE AND BACK HOME AGAIN
He didn't know it then, but Turner's path to the Eagles first accelerated when he arrived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about a three-hour drive south of his hometown of West Monroe.
There, coach Les Miles' staff decided once and for all that Turner should play wide receiver.
Turner was a star quarterback at West Monroe High School and also played in the defensive backfield, where his talents earned him a three-star rating from recruiting services as an athlete. It was unclear at first where he'd play in college. But during his redshirt season in 2011, the Tigers wanted to put Turner at receiver, a position he hadn't played before.
And early on in the transition process, Turner struggled with the fundamentals.
"The biggest thing is just learning how to run routes," he said, "staying low in and out of your breaks."
Luckily, Turner had some talented tutors. His new Eagles teammate, Rueben Randle, was a star wideout with the Tigers when Turner was redshirting. And Turner practiced alongside Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, who both made Pro Bowls this past season, at LSU's practices in 2012.
Turner said those players helped teach him how to play receiver. And soon, he was making breaks smoothly and catching passes like he'd been doing it his whole life.
Still, Turner stared at an uphill climb to earning playing time in Baton Rouge. The deep and talented pool of wideouts at LSU presented a challenge for any player to crack the lineup, let alone a former quarterback.
In his redshirt freshman season, Turner played in nine games -- with no starts -- as a backup receiver and on special teams.
But Saturday, Turner told Philadelphia-area reporters that a desire for more playing opportunities was not the driving force behind his decision to transfer to Louisiana Tech.
Instead, Turner said his grandma, who is in a wheelchair, was suffering from kidney failure and needed to be cared for constantly. Turner could pitch in if he played closer to home, so he transferred to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, about a half-hour trip from West Monroe.
Turner's dad worked long hours as a West Monroe Police captain. His mom was just as busy with her accounting job. And his brother had moved to Dallas, while his sister needed to focus on schoolwork.
That dynamic sometimes left Turner as the family member most available to care for his grandma. He made the 30-minute drive from campus to home often from 2013 to '15.
"They needed someone to be there at all times to help lift her, get her in and out of bed," Turner said. "I was able to drive back and forth and help out when I could. And that made everything easier on my family."
After NCAA transfer rules kept Turner off the field in 2013, he emerged as a strong compliment to Louisiana Tech's leading receiver, Trent Taylor, and running back Kenneth Dixon over the next two seasons.
While seeing his family whenever he could, Turner began to excel on the playing field.
As a senior in 2015, he caught 45 passes for 657 yards and earned his way onto the All-Conference USA honorable mention team, a feat he felt proud of but not one that guaranteed him much in terms of an NFL future.
CHANCE IN PHILLY
After he went undrafted this April, Turner fielded contract offers from the Redskins and Eagles. He said he picked the Birds because he felt he could fit in as a slot receiver in coach Doug Pederson's West Coast offense. And so far, he has.
Turner's been, by most accounts, one of the Eagles' best receivers in training camp. He's even played with the first-team offense some as starter Jordan Matthews sits because of a knee injury, and he's been a steady presence in the passing game through training camp and two preseason games.
"I love watching Paul, man," Matthews said. "He's played great. If there's one good thing that's come out of me being out, it's him being able to get some extra reps I think he's earned those reps. He's worked extremely hard, and been extremely consistent in camp."
Pederson and Eagles wide receiver coach Greg Lewis both enjoyed long NFL careers after they went undrafted. Turner, it seems, is close to follow his coaches' roadmap.
All the while, Turner's family remains on his mind, he said. His parents are still caring for his grandma back in West Monroe, watching their son play on TV and learning about his days through long phone calls.
Turner might want to show the people who mean the most to him his new his city of Philadelphia someday. And he could soon get the chance.
But before his parents come watch a game at Lincoln Financial Field, he'll need to take one more step forward in his whirlwind career.
"My dad said he's going to wait until the regular season, after preseason ends, to see how things go," Turner said. "He says if I make the team, then he'll come watch the games."
If his son makes one or two more plays like the head-turning catch from Thursday, Carl Turner might need to start searching the web for plane tickets to Philly.
-- @AaronKazreportswearewakanda:
It’s true! Back in the pages of Captain America #169, Sam got beat up one too many times and decided something had to change. Running around with a super-soldier put him in situations that were too much for a “costumed athlete.”
As Cap had been friends with the Black Panther for some time at that point, Sam had heard stories about Wakanda and its technological wonders. So he asked Steve if he could ask him for some help. T’Challa happily obliged and showed up the next morning to take him to Wakanda.
After spending some time exploring T’Challa’s lab, he and Sam go over some ideas about how to “match and complement” Cap’s abilities.
Word of trouble involving Sam’s girlfriend reaches T’Challa and as he goes to tell Sam, we see what they came up with for the first time!
The two have worked together many times since, sometimes with Cap involved and sometimes not. We’ll cover more about that soon so stick around!
-We Are WakandaHappy Halloween! Here in Italy, Halloween is not really celebrated at all, which is very sad for those of us who view Halloween as an excuse to consume a horrific amount of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the name of “celebrating a holiday.” To make matters worse, my extensive searches all over this city have yielded exactly zero peanut butter cups, so I can’t even sit in my room and eat them by myself while watching Halloweeny movies (read: Harry Potter movies).
There is really only one solution to a problem like this. Step 1: get together with American friends here in Rome. Step 2: Order pizza, eat popcorn, watch movies, and have your own Halloween, Italian indifference be damned. Step 3: find something to replace the peanut butter cups.
Enter chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. It’s not quite the same as the Reese’s cups from home, but since I definitely consumed all the ones I brought back with me within about 72 hours, it was the best I could do.
The chocolate cake part of these cupcakes was amazing. Since there were no cupcake liners to be found here, I had to bake the cupcakes in little tin foil cups, but then remove them before frosting them. Because the cake was so moist, this resulted in a little bit of stickiness when handling the cakes, but again, cupcake liners would solve that problem. The cake itself was chocolatey without being overly sweet, and was even *marginally* healthier than the Contessa intended, because I substituted Greek yogurt for the buttermilk.
The frosting recipe is one that I’ve used a couple of times before, and so far I haven’t had any complaints. It starts like a cream cheese frosting, with peanut butter being the final addition. Because peanut butter can get so dense and rich (and delicious!), I think the cream cheese is the perfect way to introduce a little lightness and tang into the flavor, while still letting it stay plenty peanutbuttery.
This time (as the pictures show), the frosting didn’t come out perfectly smooth and creamy when I piped it, probably due to the fact that I had to mix it by hand, and I was doing so while simultaneously watching the Friends halloween party episode. Despite appearances, I didn’t notice much of a difference in the texture, so it all worked out! Overall, the cupcakes were a success, and I succeeded in eating too many of them. The Halloween tradition lives on.
Chocolate Cake recipe (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa)
1 3/4 cup AP flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder (I used Lindt)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease cupcake pan/prepare cupcake liners.
Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla.
While mixing (or while using an electric mixer), slowly add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Once combined, slowly add the coffee and stir to combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan/liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Note: because this cake is very moist even when fully cooked, the toothpick may have some crumbs on it, but as long as there is no uncooked batter on it, the cake should be done). Cool cupcakes completely (I cooled them overnight, but this is not necessary) before frosting.
Peanut Butter Frosting recipe (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
10 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup peanut butter (preferably a commercial brand, so that the oil doesn’t separate out)
1 – 1.5 cups powdered sugar (according to taste)
Combine cream cheese and butter and mix until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until thoroughly combined. Add peanut butter and continue to mix until combined. Spread/pipe onto fully-cooled cupcakes and enjoy!
AdvertisementsColumbus — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked plans to allow speed cameras in construction zones and to give police the power to stop motorists for not buckling up.
The GOP Senate majority also slowed down what had been a fast-moving, $250 million plan for a conventional-speed passenger rail line connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
All of the initiatives were part of the state's $7.6 billion transportation budget, which a Senate committee debated into Tuesday night, with final approval expected as early as today.
The Democratic-controlled House had approved language in the budget that would have allowed Gov. Ted Strickland's administration to set up a pilot program to use speed cameras in construction zones while work was being done. But Republicans opposed the program.
Sen. Tom Patton, a Strongsville Republican who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, labeled the cameras "Big Brother in the sky."
He said tickets issued as a result of the cameras would have to be reviewed by a trooper before being sent to motorists.
"I'd rather see that trooper in a car," Patton said.
House Democrats also wanted to make seat belt violations a primary traffic offense, meaning police officers could stop motorists for not buckling up. Under current law, drivers must be pulled over for another offense before they can be ticketed for not wearing a seat belt.
Ditching the seat belt provision will come at a cost. Ohio was slated to receive a one-time payoff of $26 million from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for passing the primary-offense bill.
"If its a good idea, then why do we need to be coerced?" Patton asked.
He said Ohio ranks ninth in the nation in seat belt usage. "Law enforcement officials didn't ask for it," Patton said. "They didn't think we needed it."
Republicans did allow the state to move forward in competing with other states for part of $8 billion in federal stimulus money for passenger rail projects. But before those dollars could be spent, state officials would have to seek another green light from lawmakers.
"We let them very aggressively go after the funding at the federal level, but they have to come back and provide more information about what the construction costs, startup costs and operating costs are going to be," Patton said. "We thought it was a bit ambitious."
The tentative go-ahead was a slight retreat for Republican lawmakers who looked to be leaning toward derailing the rail plan altogether in recent weeks.
The committee's ranking Democrat, Cleveland Sen. Nina Turner, said she was concerned that the Republicans approach wouldn't fly with the federal government.
"Is the Obama administration really going to allow us to compete?" she asked. "The Strickland administration is still working on it, but I think that we run a risk with this."
Because of the changes made in the Senate, the transportation budget bill will probably end up in a conference committee to iron out the differences with the House version.ISTANBUL — The Ulker Street of today is nothing like the one Şevval Kılıç lived on in the 1990s, though at first glance it looks similar. The trees that overtake the sidewalk stand taller than they did two decades ago, but otherwise the sleepy lane off Istanbul’s central Taksim Square is lined with most of the same five-story apartment buildings that stood there before. Who lives inside them, however, has changed a lot. Kılıç, now a former sex worker, was 19 when she moved to Ulker Street in 1994. “I had so much fun,” she giggles, remembering the days of her youth. “I was young. I had [a] dick,” she explains. She had not yet completed her transition to becoming a woman when she joined the Engin Apartment brothel. Today she stands tall with long, wispy, caramel-colored hair, perfectly shaped eyebrows and large breasts usually hidden under a T-shirt. It is a far cry from where she started on Ulker Street. “When I arrived … I only had boy clothes,” she says. The house mom fed her, dressed her and showed her the ropes. Kılıç says, “She taught me everything about working, about secrecy, about danger,” including certain rules and codes. Do not call for a customer who has already been claimed, she was warned, and watch out for cops. While licensed prostitution is legal in Turkey and state-registered brothels undergo a strict registration process, she and her peers were working off the books, since the state does not accept transitioning women or gay men into their brothels. To keep out of trouble, the residents of Ulker Street used code words that make up a slang called Lubunca. That is how they communicated in front of police and clients, effectively speaking a secret language that outsiders could not understand. Lubunca, for many, became the language of Ulker Street. The earliest traces of Lubunca can be found about 100 years ago, as the Ottoman Empire was waning, says Nikolas Kontovas, a sociohistoric linguist who has studied the origins of Lubunca. While there are few records of the argot back then, Lubunca was found in spaces where men engaged in sex work, such as bathhouses.
It wasn’t until the late 1980s and early ’90s that Lubunca became more prevalent, along with trans sex work. Eventually, the spaces where Lubunca was used expanded into unregistered brothels and their neighborhoods, where male and trans sex workers interacted with minority communities like the city’s Roma and Greeks or musicians and other artistic groups. “There is lots of Romani. A lot of the vocabulary [of Lubunca] overlaps with Romani,” Kontovas says. He explains that the argot is deeply tied to its function. “Unsurprisingly, a large portion of the lexicon is devoted to sex. Sex acts are one of the largest categories, if not the largest … There’s also tons of vocabulary for money,” he says, and for what he likes to call fun, like alcohol and cigarettes. Lubunca does not exist just for its own sake, he said. It exists because it’s needed. Kılıç describes the kinds of words most prevalent in daily use — prices, sex positions, descriptions of customers. “‘Kurdan’ is the Turkish word for ‘toothpick,’ but [in Lubunca] it also means ‘a guy with little money,’” she says. “We called the police ‘paparon,’” she says, explaining that police are their biggest threat, detaining unregistered prostitutes for days if caught. The threat remains very real for Turkish sex workers, often taking cues from the country’s political and religious leaders who attack homosexuality or nontraditional gender identities. “The homophobic and transphobic comments by state representatives and media is always chilling, because it highlights how society thinks and perpetuates more hate speech and more hate crimes,” Zeynep Bilginsoy, the founder of LGBTI News in Turkey, wrote in an e-mail. Her website is dedicated to publishing and translating into English news related to the LGBT community in the country, including articles with titles such as “Trans woman sex worker missing since September” and “Death threats after gay wedding.” Under Turkish law, violence directed at people because of their sexuality or gender identity is not a hate crime, resulting in often lenient sentences. The threat of being beaten up for being visibly gay in Turkey is commonplace and is one more likely reason that Lubunca has evolved into a slang used by some gay people who are not trans and are not sex workers. Among some gay Turks, Lubunca is used not to dodge the police but as a way to exhibit one’s identity. That is how Bilginsoy has heard it most. “I experience it around gay men mostly and, sometimes, activist women … as [a way] to show that one knows the lingo,” she says. It is like a declaration that one is part of the LGBT community to others who are in it too.
‘Unsurprisingly, a large portion of the lexicon is devoted to sex. Sex acts are one of the largest categories, if not the largest … There’s also tons of vocabulary for money.’ Nikolas Kontovas Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region“AMZ Transit has become a partner in the growth of my business. Without them, scaling to a higher level wouldn’t have been so easy. Now, I’m able to focus on smaller aspects of my business and let them do what they do best.” – Dillon “AMZ Transit has been a lifesaver for my Amazon business. Having the assurance that my FBA products are prepped, packed, and shipped to Amazon correctly, is truly priceless. The team has been amazing and their attention to detail has caught a number of mistakes my supplier missed. Best part – I’m surprised constantly surprised by the fast turnaround time.” – Jeremy “AMZ Transit has been an incredible partner for my FBA business. They have been both reliable and efficient in helping me move my products across borders and into Amazon fulfillment warehouses. Most importantly, AMZ gives me peace of mind. I know that I can trust them to get everything right and to turn it all around in an extremely fast time frame. A big thanks to the team.” – Josh
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-AustinAnonymous asked: dear unitofcaring. What is the unit of caring? QALY*person?
It’s from a post of Eliezer’s called Money: The Unit of Caring. The post talks about how many people donate old food or old clothes to charities, when most charities, reluctant though they are to say it, would much rather have donations they can then use to buy the specific food and clothes that are needed.
That post had a pretty significant impact on me. I’ve said before that I think class is by far the most neglected aspect of social justice advocacy. Having money insulates you from a lot of the shit society can throw at you (housing and job discrimination, violence, street harassment, medical bills) and gets you a lot of things that our society doesn’t make widely available to marginalized people (assistive technology, a safe home, legal assistance, hormones, birth control, access to abortion, etc).
Money is good; money is useful. Money is the way to get the things you want, and giving other people money is a good way to empower them to get the things that make them happy. Some day, of course, I would like to change that, and make everything available to everyone regardless of their means (we might still use money, but in a very different manner). But in the world we live in, money has power. Money saves and changes and protects lives.
It’s of course precisely because of class inequalities that money has this kind of power, so it’s sort of weird that it was by reading about class and classism that I’d developed this vague cloud of distaste around money. I felt like I was selfish for having and for spending it, and like it was morally wrong somehow for an organization to admit out loud “what will enable us to do good is more money”. I thought that fighting injustice meant not using tainted instruments. And so Money: The Unit Of Caring was tremendously influential.
It is a horrible distribution of human resources that I earn far more than I need while lots of people go hungry. Luckily, it’s a horrible distribution of resources which I can fix by giving them money. It is deeply infuriating that my university sits on its $22billion endowment while 22,000 kids a day die of preventable diseases and malnutrition. Luckily we can fix that, by spending money. I can’t speak for anyone else but for me personally, it was so so helpful to realize that money was an instrument, not a taint - that it wasn’t an impure way of doing good but a remarkably flexible one that gave more choices to the recipients.Sexy or slutty? (Picture Getty)
‘Got to do my best to please her, just ’cause she’s a living doll,’ sang Cliff Richard in his 1959 hit Living Doll.
This century looks set to be the time Sir Cliff’s nightmare vision comes true – and men start to make love to the cold, lifeless bodies of machines.
But feminist campaigners are claiming that the machines encourage users to think of women as ‘objects’ and prostitutes.
Research director of the Campaign Against Sex Robots Lydia Kaye says, ‘the very business idea of sex robots is modelled on the already existing businesses of the sex trade and the porn industry.
Kaye draws attention to advanced, artificially intelligent models which can be programmed to be submissive – and which could say, ‘Owww’ when spanked.
MORE: 10 sex robots you can actually make love to TODAY
‘The creation of sex robots imitates and reproduces the value system of these corrupt and brutal industries that capitalise on the exchange and dehumanisation of women.
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‘Sex robots will create another means through which women will be presented as objects to be used for sexual gratification and mistreatment.
‘They will also desensitise humans to intimacy and empathy, which can only be developed through experiencing human interaction and mutual consenting relationships.’
‘We cannot let our humanity and our dignity slip away into a world of technology.’A man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting attack in the German city of Munich killed himself, and likely acted alone, police have said.
At least 10 people, including the possible suspect, were killed in Friday's attack at the Olympia shopping centre, a police spokesman said early on Saturday.
A body found about 1km from the scene was that of the shooter, who appeared to be the sole attacker, officials said.
Earlier on Friday, police had said they were looking for up to three suspects, citing eyewitness accounts.
We found a man, who killed him himself.
We assume, that he was the only shooter. #gunfire #munich — Polizei München (@PolizeiMuenchen) July 22, 2016
A massive police operation was launched in the Bavarian capital following the attack, with authorities telling residents to stay indoors. Special forces hunting for suspects were deployed in the streets, while bus, tram and metro services were also suspended.
IN PICTURES: Manhunt under way after Munich shooting
Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from Munich, said the Bavarian capital had been placed under a state of emergency.
"The city is in a complete state of lockdown," he said.
There was no information about the possible motive of the attack, in which at least 10 people were wounded.
In a statement on Facebook, Munich police said reports came in shortly before 6pm local time (19:00 GMT) about a shooting incident near Hanauer Street, which then progressed to Ries Street and the Olympia shopping centre.
The police statement added that witnesses had reported three different shooters with semi-automatic weapons.
Authorities asked that no photographs or videos of police operations to be posted online.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was being regularly briefed on the attack, Peter Altmaier, her chief of staff, said.
"All that we know and can say right now is that it was a cruel and inhumane attack," he said on German public channel ARD.
"The motives for this abhorrent act have not yet been completely clarified," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an emailed statement. "We still have contradictory clues."
Germany's interior minister Thomas de Maiziere cut short his holiday in the United States to go back to the capital, Berlin, late on Friday to meet with security officials.
In the US, President Barack Obama pledged to provide Germany with whatever help it might need to investigate the shooting.
A wide area around the busy shopping centre was closed off as special forces rushed to the scene.
"The police was just flying by - another car about every 15 or 30 seconds," Ryan Sink, who was passing by the shopping centre, said.
"No one really knew what was going on," Sink told Al Jazeera.
"We were all pulling over frantically and watching them set up a perimeter... Police were telling people passing by to get out of the way and away from the buildings."
In response to the attack, Facebook activated its safety feature, allowing Munich residents and visitors to let their friends know they were unharmed.For oil companies $110 billion debt wall looms over next five years
By EMMA ORR on 8/9/2016
NEW YORK (Bloomberg) -- The worst may be yet to come for some strained oil services companies as $110 billion in debt, most of it junk rated, creeps closer to maturity.
More than $21 billion of debt from oilfield services and drilling companies is estimated to be maturing in 2018, almost three times the total burden in 2017, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service on Aug. 9. More than 70% of those high-yield bonds and term loans are rated Caa1 or lower, and more than 90% are rated below B1.
Speculative-grade debt is becoming increasingly risky, as the default rate is expected to reach 5.1% in November, according to a separate Moody’s report. The 12-month global default rate rose to 4.7% in July, up from its long-term average of 4.2%, Moody’s wrote. Of the 102 defaults this year, 49 have come from the oil and gas sector, Moody’s noted.
“While some companies will be able to delay refinancing until business conditions improve, for the lowest-rated entities, onerous interest payments and required capital expenditure will consume cash balances and challenge their ability to wait it out,” Morris Borenstein, an assistant V.P. at Moody’s, said in the report.
The pressure on oilfield services companies will only increase through 2021, when nearly $ |
of perverting the course of justice – who, like the alleged victim, cannot be named for legal reasons – also claimed she travelled with the ‘victim’ and Mr Zadrozny in the red Galaxy long before he owned it;
- Local journalists have told The Mail on Sunday that news of Mr Zadrozny’s arrest was deliberately leaked to them the next day by an unknown Labour Party source and a senior, unnamed, police officer – so ensuring that it attracted maximum publicity;
- Despite Mr Zadrozny’s strong protestations of innocence, he was forced out of the Lib Dems, though none of the ‘evidence’ had been tested in court;
- The prosecution did not disclose evidence of some of the crucial weaknesses in its case to the defence until late last year – almost two years after Mr Zadrozny’s arrest. Even then, the charges hung over him for a further ten months.
Mr Zadrozny’s ordeal began at 7.30 am on March 25, 2015, when police raided his home in Kirkby-in-Ashfield and arrested him.
It was just 56 days before the General Election, in which he would have stood as Ashfield’s Liberal Democrat candidate.
In fact, Mr Zadrozny lived in this nearby house - but he bought it after the alleged offences started
Mr Zadrozny had built up one of the country’s biggest and most active constituency branches. In 2010, he lost to the sitting Labour MP by just 192 votes, and local observers say he had a strong chance of winning in 2015. But the political atmosphere had, they say, become toxic.
The police put it to Mr Zadrozny that he started having sex with the ‘victim’ in 2003, when the boy was aged 13, and that this continued for several years.
Mr Zadrozny, who is openly gay, said: ‘When I was questioned by police, I experienced a degree of homophobia I thought had vanished. My sexuality has never been a secret, but it wasn’t an issue, even in a former mining town like Ashfield.
‘But I was repeatedly asked the most explicit and intimate questions. I felt one of the officers was simply disgusted that I am gay. After listening to their questions, I felt dirty.’
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Meanwhile, officers raided the Lib Dem offices, seizing computers and mobile phones that Mr Zadrozny had never used. His campaign manager, Dave Hennigan, said: ‘Our HQ was rendered useless. They disabled our campaign.’
Legal papers obtained by the MoS show that none of these items revealed any evidence that would have figured in the trial if it had gone ahead.
Early on the day after the raid, Tony Delahunty, the managing director and news editor of radio station Mansfield 103.2, received a phone call from a ‘senior police officer’ to say Mr Zadrozny had been arrested and questioned about historic sex offences.
Mr Delahunty said: ‘This was before any official statement, and it was coming direct from Notts police. It looks now like an attempt to manipulate the media.
‘I had never been given a tip-off like this before, and it never happened again.’
Meanwhile, John Hess, then the BBC East Midlands political editor, was given details of the arrest and the raid on the Lib Dem HQ by what he describes as a Labour source. He sent an email informing colleagues – seen by this newspaper – at 10.28 am on March 26. The police did not issue any official comment until 12.22 pm.
For Mr Zadrozny, the consequences were disastrous: ‘It meant I couldn’t catch my breath or warn my family. The press were lined up outside my door and the non-stop bombardment lasted days.
‘I believe the intention was to cause me maximum damage, not only politically but emotionally, to break me.
‘Everyone assumed the worst must be true, and in our society allegations of this kind are the worst you can throw at anyone.’
The 'victim' alleged Mr Zadrozny raped him in 2003 and 2004 in a red Ford Galaxy, similar to the one pictured. But Mr Zadrozny only bought it in late 2005 - a fact he told police
He was not charged for more than a year, but his parliamentary career was over: ‘The Lib Dem national HQ asked me to step aside. I was protesting my innocence, but they wouldn’t even talk to me.’
Worse was to come. Mr Zadrozny said his father, Richard, 62, had found his ordeal ‘almost unbearable’. On July 14, concerned that he had not heard from his father, he went to his house and unlocked the door. Richard was lying on the floor, dead from a heart attack, having previously been in good health.
Describing the moment, Mr Zadrozny is visibly overcome: ‘The worst thing is my Dad did not live to see me clear my name.’
Mr Zadrozny insists that although he may have met the alleged victim once, he certainly never had a sexual relationship with him.
Bizarrely, however, the ‘victim’ did later have a relationship with one of Mr Zadrozny’s former associates – which may be how he acquired information about Mr Zadrozny’s life, such as the fact that he once owned a Galaxy.
It took months and three pre-trial hearings before, late last year, the prosecution disclosed some of the weaknesses in its case to the defence. These included the alleged victim’s record of drug abuse, the female witness’s conviction for perverting the course of justice, and the fact that the ‘victim’ had been driven around the area by police and had showed them a ‘big house’ where he claimed Mr Zadrozny assaulted him.
But the house he identified – in Sutton-in-Ashfield – had no connection with Mr Zadrozny.
He did once live in a nearby property that looked totally different. But he did not buy this until June 2006 – when the ‘victim’ was nearly 16.
In January this year, when the trial had been due to start, the judge said he hoped the police and CPS would be conducting high-level inquiries as to why it had taken them so long to disclose these problems. In October, just five days before the CPS dropped all charges, defence barrister Justin Wigoder filed a document saying the disclosure delays amounted to a ‘bad faith abuse of process’.
Mr Zadrozny said: ¿All along I¿ve wondered how I could have been charged, let alone found guilty'
A CPS spokesman said this allegation was ‘groundless’. He blamed the delays on Mr Zadrozny, saying he was late filing his statement of defence. It was only then that the prosecution was obliged to disclose the flaws in its evidence. The decision to drop the charges means the abuse of process claim was never ruled on by the court.
But one thing Mr Zadrozny had made clear from the beginning was that he did not own the Ford Galaxy until late 2005. Police checked his details with the DVLA. The legal papers show they did find records of other cars he had owned.
But a police spokeswoman said they could not establish when he bought the Galaxy because they did not have the registration number.
Defence solicitor Mr Hayes made his own check, which proved his client had been telling the truth.
Mr Zadrozny said: ‘All along I’ve wondered how I could have been charged, let alone found guilty.
‘I’m loathe to believe the police can really be so incompetent, and that it took nearly three years. The agenda seems to have been to prolong the pain as long as possible.’
A police spokeswoman said they did not publish Mr Zadrozny’s name until he was charged. She said Lib Dem HQ computers were seized because ‘it was necessary to examine all possible evidence, and in this case that included information which may have been held on electronic devices’.
She added: ‘We have a duty to investigate all reports of sexual offences, no matter how long ago they occurred or who they are against. Victims should feel they will be listened to by the police, who will then investigate thoroughly.’
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A CPS spokesman added: ‘We stopped this case, at the first opportunity, following a review of evidence the defendant had previously withheld from the investigation.’Their cries swelled with emotion, echoing messages of frustration and hope, drawing me closer to the screen with each passionate inflection. Enamored by their courageous fervor, I failed to notice my dad wielding the television remote until the protesters vanished into darkness and resounding silence. The newfound peace was but a brief lull in the commotion. With rising pitch and waving hands, he denounced these noisemakers by making his own noise, claiming their actions ineffective and entitled.
To my dad, their kicking and screaming was all in vain. People weren’t going to instantaneously change their views, and politicians weren’t going to freely pass bills, no matter how many signs bobbed up and down. Protesters had too much faith in themselves, placing greater significance in their actions than he thought should be warranted.
Blood boiling, I geared up for yet another political battle with my father, an episode made inevitable by our shared stubbornness and fiery tempers. With my supposed moral superiority granted to me by eight months of AP Government and my American birth, I stood in defense of the right to peaceful assembly that lay at the core of our nation.
Protests ground abstract policy debates, putting real faces and heavy footsteps to the jargon flung above our heads. Tying weight to a cause forces us to slow down and examine how an injustice — whether it be predominantly political, social or economic — is entwined with our daily lives.
This phenomenon is concretized when we engage with the dissenting voices of the recent Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21. Rosie Campos stepped down from her position as co-organizer of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Women’s March, pointing to the censorship and lack of transparency by organizers as the culmination of “an unfortunate reality: white activism continues to be lazy activism.” She highlighted the fact that white women were largely distant from Black Lives Matter activism but expected Black women to stand with them against issues that affected white women directly.
But rather than treating the revelation of this double standard as a way to degrade the historical significance of the Women’s March, we can honor it as an opportunity to reverse our isolation from concerns we had formerly dismissed as not our own. The unity principles of the Women’s March encapsulate a commendable first step in expanding the accessibility of intersectionality.
More obviously, protests shine a spotlight on disparities that may have been hidden from the limelight. Bystanders must acknowledge the wave of people filing down the street. Policy makers must take into account the pressure of boycotts and organized marches. Protests are not persuasive in themselves, but they can invite persuasion in onlookers.
History has proven that demonstrations are indispensable in approaching equality. How could my dad have reminded me to register to vote if it weren’t for the women’s suffrage parades of the early 1900s? How could he have secured a stable career in the United States as a person of color if it weren’t for the 1960s Civil Rights Movement that had just managed to meet success in his lifetime? Despite claims to be merely ineffectual noise making, protests have been pivotal in the realization of freedoms we often take for granted today.
But perhaps where my father’s implications stand justified is in the subsequent arrogance of resistance. In the days surrounding to the Women’s March and A Day Without Women, a few of my peers took to social media to proclaim that participation was a mandatory expression of feminism; those who did not take part were effectually not true supporters of women’s rights.
Protests lose their power and become acts of entitlement not when they are given more worth than they allegedly deserve, but when actors forget that it is their privilege to speak out.
Forty-five million Americans live below the poverty line and cannot afford to lose a day’s worth of pay to add their voice to the movement. Their absence certainly does not testify to an opposition of human rights, but misinterpretation as such excludes when we should be doing everything to include.
The greatest disruption to solidarity is when we take purported inaction as complacency. Some can shout and stomp their feet and raise their signs, and others can cheer silently from the sidelines. One is no less than the other.
Over winter break, my dad and I sat side by side on the couch, watching clips of the protesters for the impeachment of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye packing the streets of Seoul. Their mouths moved wordlessly and their marches fell soundlessly in the muted world of the television. And for once, we were silent in shared respect.Jump to follow-up
Professor George Lewith is perhaps the most prominent advocate of alternative medicine within quackademia, at least in Russell Group University. He claims to be a member of “The Complementary and Integrated Medicine Research Unit is within the School of Medicine at the University of Southampton.”.
From CCIM
The URL for this unit is actually http://www.cam-research-group.co.uk/. Strangely, though, a search of Southampton University’s own web site for “Complementary and Integrated Medicine Research Unit” yields very little information about this unit.
But Lewith does not spend all of his time on his academic duties. He also spends time in London at his private practice, at the Centre for Complementary and Integrated Medicine. This practice, I discovered in 2006, was selling to patients that well known method for misdiagnosing food intolerance, the Vega test. It was doing so despite the fact that Lewith himself had written a paper that concluded that the Vega machine does not work, The paper was in the British Medical Journal, 2001;322:131-4. It concludes “Electrodermal testing cannot be used to diagnose environmental allergies". This history is recorded in Lewith’s private clinic has curious standards.
Dr Lewith was in the news again recently when he published a paper that showed (yet again) that homeopathic pills work no better than placebo. No surprise there of course. The paper has been described here, in Despite the spin, Lewith’s paper surely signals the end of homeopathy (again).
So we can congratulate Lewith for being one of the few members of the magic-medicine community to have published papers of reasonable quality that show that neither homeopathy nor the Vega test work. In fact there was nothing novel in the conclusions about the Vega machine. It has been debunked again and again.
The BBC’s Inside Out programme in 2003 found that when the Vega test was taken in three different branches of Holland and Barrett, the results were quite different every time. The reporter was advised to by a total of 20 different supplements, but got different advice from every store.
In 2006, the test was destroyed again in, of all places, the Daily Mail which published ‘The great allergy con‘.
In 2011, BBC’s Watchdog programme looked again at food intolerance tests, with results as crazy as before. Holland & Barrett said "In light of this report, however, we have instructed The UK Health Partnership to investigate the findings and review their current training practices". That’s odd, because in 2001 they had said "”In light of the issues raised, we are already carrying out a full review of the services that HSL provide.” So not much progress there.
What is rather more surprising is to find that Dr Lewith, having himself shown that neither the Vega test nor homeopathy work, continues to sell both to patients in his private practice.
I recently heard from a young student, Lettie Heywood, abour her experiences when she went to Prof Lewith’s private practice. If you want to read her letter in full, download the pdf. Some quotations from it suffice to tell the tale.
"I had suffered from CFS/ME for nearly 8 years when on March 18th 2009 I had my first appointment with doctor Lewith" "We talked for 7 to 10 minutes about my history and gave a very brief outline of my medical past. I did feel that this was a bit rushed" "He said that he would treat me with a mixture of homeopathic medicine and conventional treatments and then hooked me up to a machine to determine any food intolerances." "He put me off all dairy products and said that he would send me some homeopathic remedies and food supplements" "Having suffered with the illness for so long and having been involved with the conventional practices for treating ME with no relief I went to Dr Lewith desperate. I left this first consultation a little shocked at the rushed pace and a little wary of homeopathy but determined to carry on. " "I waited for my remedies in the post but only the food supplements and the blood test results arrived." "On April 8th 2009, I went back for my 30 minute follow up consultation. We talked briefly about how I was doing. Dr Lewith exclaimed that I looked so much better than last time and that the treatments that he had sent me had obviously worked. I assumed he meant the food supplements. It quickly transpired that he meant the homeopathic drops that I had never received. I suggested that I was probably better than last time because I was not recently recovering from tonsillitis. My confidence was immediately lost as I felt I was being coerced into thinking that the drugs he had provided were the reason for my recovery. Someone with knowledge of ME should be aware that a sufferer is not in a permanent state of ill health but generally that they follow what is known as ‘Boom and Bust’. I was going through a good patch, which after 8 years of being ill was the normal pattern. This was a maximum 5 minute conversation." "He hooked me up to the machine again still without any real explanation. " "I cancelled my next appointment with Dr Lewith having completely lost faith in his methods. I subsequently received two packages of drugs by post which I have returned. Neither at the consultation nor with the packages of drugs was there any explanation of what each drug was prescribed to achieve." "It was soon after that Lewith was chasing me for payment of the cancelled appointment and the homeopathic drugs that I had sent back. This was a total of £230. I had already spent nearly £300. I refused to pay as I did not feel that I had received the proper medical care that is expected of a GP." "He threatened to lay a claim against me at the small claims court." "I submitted both a Defence and Counterclaim to his action against me." "We went to court yesterday [January 17 2011] where Dr Lewith did not attend. " "He failed to submit witness statements and a Defence to my Counterclaim. The judge struck the case off and my costs awarded against Dr Lewith." "Conventional medicine had not been successful in helping me with ME and at 20 years old and at university I was desperate for a cure. I feel that complementary medicine takes advantage of people in my situation – I witnessed extortionate fees, blatant coercion to believe that it was working and blasé professionalism"
In response to a subsequent enquiry, Lettie Heywood told me
"He never told me what the homeopathic drugs were or what they were meant to do. When I received them I sent them straight back." "I am pretty sure that I was given general vitamins and minerals and some magnesium (if that makes sense?)"
"From what I can gather from the internet it was the Vega machine. I was given something metal to hold in my hand whilst he applied a probe to my toe and added different vials into a slot in the machine. "
A Vega machine
Ms Heywood also paid £85 for an ATP metabolism test, done by Acumen, a private company run by Dr John McLaren-Howard. This test allegedly found defects in ATP metabolism on the basis of which Ms Heywood was charged £91.91 for CoQ10 tablets. Neither the test, nor CoQ10, have any verified usefulness for her condition.
Here’s the bill for the homeopathic pills precribed by Lewith.
Click to enlarge
These are the facts. Make of them what you will. At a cost of over £500, no good was done.
It isn’t surprising that Lewith’s claim was dismissed by the court.
The College of Medicine
We notice that Professor Lewith plays is vice-chair of the "College of Medicine" that has arisen from the ashes of the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health (for more details see Don’t be deceived. The new “College of Medicine” is a fraud and delusion). That organisation is supposed to be devoted to “patient-centered medicine”. The reader can judge whether the case related here is a good example.
It is often said that one reason that people go to alternative practitioners is because real medicine can do nothing for them. That, only too often, is the case. People get desperate and clutch at straws. That is bad enough even in cases where the alternative practitioner believes sincerely, if wrongly, that their treatments work.
For the alternative practitioner to prescribe things which he knows full well don’t work, is, perhaps, rather worse.
Follow-up
Just as this post was about to go up, George Lewith popped up again in a BCC piece about how expectations affect the perception of pain (something that has been known for years). Lewith is quoted as saying “It completely blows cold randomised clinical trials, which don’t take into account expectation.” This comment shows a total misunderstand of how a randomised trial works. It is all explained properly by Majikthyse, in The wrong end of the stick
Just for fun, here is a discussion that I had with Lewith on Channel 4 News, as edited (not by me) for YouTube.How People Find Lawyers in 2015
Curious about how people find lawyers in 2015, Moses & Rooth Attorneys at Law partnered with Mike Blumenthal to survey over 1500 people nationwide who recently hired a lawyer. Taking into consideration survey participants’ gender, age, location, urban density, income, and parental status, we wanted to share the survey results and hope you find the data as interesting as we did.
Most Common Way: Through a Friend
People turn to their friends for a lot of reasons, including legal problems. Across all demographics, the most common method of choosing a lawyer was through a friend. There were only two exceptions to this trend:
Survey participants ages 18 to 24 years-old were more likely to search the internet to find a lawyer. In fact, 17.8% of survey participants in this age category said they had retained a lawyer via the web compared to only 12.1% who indicated they had chosen a lawyer based on a friend’s recommendation. Survey participants earning more than $150,000 per year were more likely to choose an attorney based on an internet search, than via a friend.
With the help of NiftyLaw, we put together this visualization to represent the data.
Embed Code
<img src=”https://www.mosesandrooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Moses-Rooth-survey-infographic-2015.jpg” width=”650″><br></br>By the Orlando criminal defense attorneys at <a href=”https://www.mosesandrooth.com/”>Moses & Rooth, Attorneys at Law.</a>
Additional Insights
Friend recommendations, referrals and word of mouth continue to dominate in lawyer marketing.
More women retain lawyers than men based on friend recommendations.
The use of the internet is growing and appears to be giving word of mouth some legitimate competition.
People with higher income rely heavily on the internet to find lawyers.
Younger generations also rely heavily on the internet.
Lawyers can expect continual increase in traffic to their sites as younger generations grow older.
Among the least sought out methods were recommendations based on TV, using the phone book, being in jail and using LegalShield. All other methods were much less prominent than a friend, referral and the internet.
*the question that consumers answered in the survey was an open ended question.A federal judge who once sat on the nation's secret surveillance court took the rare step of inserting himself into the debate over the National Security Agency in a letter released Tuesday, slamming reform proposals because he says they would increase the federal courts' workload.
While claiming not to provide policy advice, Judge John Bates' letter and comments to the leaders of key congressional committees are littered with doomsday warnings about what will happen if the reforms proposed by the White House NSA review group and NSA critics in Congress are enacted.
If passed, Bates threatens, NSA reforms could disrupt the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's ability to fulfill its "responsibilities under (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) and the Constitution to ensure that the privacy interests of United States citizens and others are adequately protected."
A proposal to create a special advocate for constitutional liberties, moreover, would provide "greater procedural protections for suspected foreign agents and international terrorists that for ordinary U.S. citizens in criminal investigations."
That critique by Bates, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in December 2001, is nearly identical to one made in November by Office of the Director of National Intelligence general counsel Robert Litt.
Bates is currently the director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Two years ago he was on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where he penned a significant opinion warning that the NSA was close to breaking the law in its program collecting metadata on Americans' Internet communications in bulk. And then he gave the agency more authority.
Bates said he wrote his letter in consultation with current and former surveillance court judges. He apparently did not seek the opinion of outside jurists like Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who in December took a shot at the surveillance court by ruling that the NSA's phone metadata program was likely unconstitutional.
The timing and tone of Bates' letter are highly unusual, given that they come in the middle of an intense debate in Washington over NSA reform. Senate Foreign Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who opposes making significant changes to the way the NSA operates, released the letter to the public.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to announce which NSA reforms the administration will endorse on Friday, roughly a month after his decision-making process was rocked by the recommendations of a White House-appointed NSA review group. The advisors' surprisingly tough proposals included creating a "special interest advocate," because, they argued, on complicated constitutional questions, "(h)earing only the government’s side of the question leaves the judge without a researched and informed presentation of an opposing view."
Bates also cast aspersions on proposals that phone providers, not the NSA, should hold onto bulk metadata on Americans' phone calls; that the FBI should have to seek court approval before obtaining secret national security letters; and that the surveillance court should declassify more of its opinions for public review. If any major reforms do pass, he said, the surveillance court, and other federal courts, should be given more money.
"For the Courts to meet such new responsibilities effectively and with the dispatch often required by national security imperatives, they would need to receive commensurate augmentation of resources," he wrote.
"We also wish to stress, however, that even significantly increasing resources will not guarantee that all proposed changes will be successful."A Toronto man has been charged with robbery after allegedly stealing a pre-schooler’s bike earlier this week, police said.
The little girl was riding in a parking lot on Wednesday when a 38-year-old man shoved her off the bike, police said.
Police allege along with her bike, he also took her jacket and one of her shoes.
Witnesses to the incident called officers who made an arrest a short time later. Tong Le is now facing robbery charges.
Police are still trying to locate the victim and her caregiver because they didn't stay at the scene to file a report on the incident.
The caregiver is described by police as Asian, 30, with short hair. She was last seen wearing a skirt.
The girl is also Asian, and approximately 4 to 6 years old. She was last seen wearing a pink jacket and had a small white bicycle with bright orange rims.Destiny: The Taken King First Impressions – Content Overload
About two weeks ago, I entered the doors to Bungie’s studio in Seattle and prepared myself to play Destiny: The Taken King. My guardians were imported to the dev server and ready to go, just as if I were playing the game on my home console on release day (though any progress I made did not carry back over). Last week, I shared my thoughts on The Taken King’s additions to Destiny’s Crucible mode, and I also gave my impressions of the latest update 2.0 which changed the base game in preparation for Oryx’s arrival in our solar system. As such, I will not be talking much further on either of those subjects. Finally, with the arrival of the Dreadnaught, I can speak freely about my time in the presence of The Taken King and the content that he brings.
To be clear before I get much further, this is not a review. You won’t see a score at the bottom, and it does not reflect my final thoughts on the latest Destiny expansion. The beginning of Year Two is much bigger than a couple of days at Bungie’s studio, and while I spent a good 15 or more hours playing The Taken King, I feel like I barely scratched the surface of the new content, new mechanics, and new loot, not to mention that we didn’t even get to glimpse the coming Raid. Our full review is in progress and will be released after I’ve had enough time with the game once it’s in the wild, with the ability to play with my regular fireteam and get a good feel for how the loot drops work over a period of time. If I need to issue any updates before my full review is ready, you can be sure you’ll see them here.
Whew! Now that that’s out of the way, we can get on to talking about The Taken King. I’m an avid Destiny player, having completed my Moments of Triumph to get the Laurea Prima emblem after hundreds of hours of game time and three characters, I took on every challenge that was thrown at me in Year One. Destiny evolved vastly over time, and Year Two feels like a brand new game. An epic cinematic introduces Oryx and the opening mission introduces the Taken army in a way that’s far more story oriented than Destiny has ever been before. In my original review for Destiny, I commented that it felt like a prologue, laying the foundations with the lore for great moments to come. The Taken King is one of those great moments.
Vanguard Politics
Nathan Fillion. I’m just going to throw that name there on the Vanguard war table. Were you aware that he’s the voice of Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard? Fillion gets his time to shine in The Taken King, along with the rest of the Vanguard leaders, with a wealth of hilarious dialogue and scenes that fill a huge hole Destiny has had for far too long. Destiny took itself too seriously (that long opening cutscene where the Speaker rambles on, anyone?), with stiff characters and dialogue that became laughable and the end of too many jokes. It finally feels like they are providing a deeper identity and personality behind the people that you interact with. Learning more about the Vanguard politics is fascinating. The banter between Cayde-6 and Eris Morn throughout The Taken King’s campaign was easily one of the highlights, though it wasn’t even close to the only great thing I experienced.
Using my Titan who was maxed out at 34, The Taken King’s main campaign took me roughly four or five hours of play to get through, and I was level 39, closing in on 40 by the time I was done. I had also stopped off to take on my Titan specific subclass quest, which must be completed to gain the third subclass for each respective character. Instead of just being granted to you, each class must undertake a quest to obtain their lost subclass while learning more about just what makes them each special. This is another highlight of The Taken King, which is adding meaning to everything you do in Destiny, or at least making the meaning much more apparent, rather than locked behind some lore that you had to use a website or app to see.
Don’t lament the relatively short length of the main campaign. When this first act of The Taken King comes to a close, an entire war with the Taken is opened up across everything we’ve known so far, in addition to gaining access to the Dreadnaught, Oryx’s massive mausoleum of a ship, for patrolling. The Dreadnaught is massive and filled with a wealth of secrets for those interested enough to find them. Hidden tunnels, locked chests, and random events litter the maze of corridors, and multiple hours of my time were spent simply delving into these secrets, trying to find out which keys went to which hidden chests, and why there were a bunch of thralls on a secret platform that I couldn’t damage even though I was level 40.
Court is Now in Session
The Court of Oryx on the Dreadnaught puts event control into the players’ hands, allowing them to spend runes to summon bosses that require different Raid-like strategies to beat. For example, two Knights will have shields the make them immune unless they are close together, or three wizards will continue to respawn unless killed in quick succession. The player who spends the rune gets the privilege of opening the chest for the best rewards, though everyone else is rewarded for their assistance, and assistance from players in the area will definitely be needed, especially as you spend higher tier runes for more difficult encounters.
Yes, I did say rewards, and The Taken King seems to be improving Destiny’s gear game. It was weird to break down exotic and legendary gear that I had held onto for so long in favor of blues, and even green items were outclassing my current gear. My attachment to my maxed out Mythoclast didn’t last long though, and soon my entire loadout was filled with blues and greens, and the funniest part? I was actually excited by all of it! It felt great to rush towards a blue engram hopeful that it would actually be good gear, instead of just thinking of it as something to break down. It felt good to let go of my attachment to old gear and experiment with the new drops. It felt good to feel excited about getting new gear again. This might be a thorn for some players, but give it a chance. I bet you’ll like what you see.
I mentioned that the main campaign is simply act one, and opens up an entire second act, which is a much more expansive war being pitted against the Taken. This includes additional campaign missions, the game’s eight new strikes, and Taken making their presence known in a variety of seemingly familiar places such as Earth patrols and existing strikes.
I have to reiterate that in my 15 hours of playtime, I only played as one character (my Titan), and even then, barely scratched the surface of the quests that were made available to me. I didn’t play all of the strikes. I didn’t play all of the missions. I barely explored the Dreadnaught. And I didn’t even get to so much as breathe on the Raid. There’s a huge amount of content added in The Taken King, and that doesn’t include the fact that all of the Destiny Year One content is still intact and playable as well. Do you still want to talk about a price-to-content or time invested comparison with other games? I sure don’t.
I could keep going, but this is just supposed to be an impressions piece, and I do want to save some things for my review, such as the new challenges that the Taken present by twisting familiar enemies into something different or how the strikes now add more read-lite elements to their presentation and execution. I do feel confident in saying that The Taken King is a great addition to Destiny in terms of the content added.
Given that my lengthy first experience was in a controlled environment though, I am curious to see how everything works once Oryx is set loose into the real world. Is the difficulty curve really smoothed out over the light levels? Will gear drops be a little more generous? Will the Raid be another wine and cheese party? Stay tuned, Guardians. We’re going to take a little journey to the Dreadnaught, and when we return, we’ll come with our final review in tow.
Disclosure: Destiny The Taken King pre-release impressions were obtained at an event at Bungie’s studio, provided for by Activision.People in cannot access the as the saffron party has blocked its Internet page though its high-profile Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's portal can be accessed for those who want to know about him.
"Error 1009 The owner of this ( Org) has banned your IP address (---) on the country or region you are accessing it from," says the page as one logs in from here.
People logging in from have to use Virtual Private Network, masking Pakistani IP address to log into the
The party had attached on its Twitter handle links to a 'charge sheet' it had recently released against the UPA government but the links did not work for those logging in from
Some questioned the logic of blocking the access saying even if someone fears hacking, hackers don't use their own IP addresses.
Be it the government or local Pakistanis, everyone is eager to know about the general sentiments and trends as to who will form the next government.
However, asked about Modi, top Pakistan government officials say they are willing to "deal" with whoever forms the government after the and that includes Modi.
Even though the 2002 Gujarat riots loom large here, Pakistan is hopeful that the peace bogey would not be derailed if the UPA government is replaced by Modi-led NDA.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has stressed on the need for better ties with all its neighbours, had said his country believes in good relations with India "regardless of whosoever is in power".
Asked what will be Pakistan's strategy if Modi comes to power, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said, "I understand India is undergoing elections, a normal election in democracy and we also have seen reports follow that BJP seems to be in a strong position."
She said the elections are an internal affair of India and it is for Indian people to decide, to exercise their right, to choose and elect a government.
"We deal with countries... So, we hope that whoever is elected in India would have that conviction and consciousness that peace is something that we owe to our people," she told PTI recently in an interview.
Tasnim added that Pakistan strongly believes that "our region needs peace for economic development, for better life for our people. They deserve it".The way it was: Fernando Alonso (left) and Jarno Trulli in their Renault days
By Saj Chowdhury
Spanish Grand Prix Venue: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Dates: 8-10 May BBC coverage details here
Double world champion Fernando Alonso might not win another race in his career, says ex team-mate Jarno Trulli.
The 33-year-old's return to McLaren this season has been blighted by issues including the car's poor performance. He heads into his home Formula 1 race in Barcelona on Sunday without a point.
"I wonder if he |
he’s not yet free of questions surrounding Rivera – an almost comically scandal-plagued politician Rubio has described as his “most loyal friend and supporter.”
Rivera, who failed to win reelection, has been a target of state and federal investigations looking into his alleged failure to disclose income as well as his alleged role in support of a 2012 shadow campaign designed to undercut his chief Democratic rival for Congress.
Rivera has never been charged with a crime and has said he did nothing wrong. But the revelations have been embarrassing. A former girlfriend, for instance, told prosecutors that Rivera recruited her to help with the shadow campaign and then helped her flee to Nicaragua — allegations denied by Rivera.At the weekend, Fulham ended their pre-season with an impressive 3-1 victory over Premier League side, Crystal Palace.
While, some may say that ‘pre-season results don’t matter’, there are plenty of positives to take from Saturday’s performance. After hearing that a ‘virus’ was the reason for so many absentees in the squad, Fulham could have been on their way for a disheartening loss with less than a week before the season opener at Newcastle. But, while the options were limited, Slavisa Jokanovic and the squad pulled through to end their pre-season on a high.
Fulham: Joronen; Odoi, Kalas, Madl, Sessegnon; McDonald, Tunnicliffe (Parker 64′); Cairney, Sone Aluko (Stearman 84′), Floyd Ayité; Matt Smith (Christensen 70′)
Crystal Palace: Speroni; Ward (Kelly 75′), Dann, Delaney, Souare (Dreher 70′); Mutch (Anderson 62′), Jedinak (Williams 82′), Puncheon (Croll 70′); Townsend (Lee 75′), Bolasie (Wickham 46′), Zaha (Kaikai 78′)
With both goalkeepers, Marcus Bettinelli & David Button unavailable for selection, 23 year old, Jesse Joronen made the starting eleven. Some may remember, that Joronen did start our first game in the Championship under Felix Magath against Ipswich Town. But, since then the young Finnish goalkeeper has clearly developed. Throughout the game, Joronen looked assured and confident at collecting crosses and controlling the back four in front of him. Not only that, but he pulled off one of the best saves I’ve ever seen at the Cottage in the first half, when he saved a point blank header with his head! You can see the save here
After his performance at the weekend, I’m sure there’s been some fans calling for him to start against Newcastle but according to the reports after the game, it is rumoured that Joronen will in fact be loaned out for regular football before the window closes. While, Joronen could prove to be a valuable member of the squad in the future, with Marcus Bettinelli and David Button at the club, his pathway to the starting eleven is significantly blocked, so should he impress while out on loan, the flying Finn could force his way into Jokanovic’s plans in the future.
Although Joronen may depart, the two centre-backs at the weekend look to be the mainstay in the team next season. Michael Madl and Tomas Kalas continued to give the Fulham faithful reason to be optimistic, after they worked incredibly well together. Throughout the game, Madl and Kalas were both incredibly calm on the ball, and together they dealt with the attacking pace of Yannick Bolasie, Andros Towsend and Wilfried Zaha very well. Should both players stay fit and injury free next season, Fulham will, without a doubt have an exciting season. In fact, they were incredibly unlucky not to end pre-season with a clean sheet. Palace did eventually score, but it was a diagonal ball that caused a mix up between goalkeeper and defender which allowed substitute, Keshi Anderson to knock home. Other than that, most of the Palace’s attacks were dealt with efficiently. Joronen helped nullify the threats from corners and crosses, while the defensive pairing of Madl and Kalas worked well to sweep up or narrow the angles created from through balls. With Odoi and Sessegnon along-side them, the back four looked much more composed and solid as a unit.
It was also another impressive performance by the pre-season full-backs, Odoi and Sessegnon. Odoi does look like the full-back that we have missed for a number of years. His tenacity and overall play is a joy to watch. Being able to play on either side of the defence as allowed him to become a very technically gifted player, and he is able to comfortably be a part of counter-attacks and distribute the ball into the midfield. But, most of all, I’m positive that his work-rate and tenacity is something that will make him win the fans over.
Even against the pace of the Palace wingers, Odoi never gave up a loose ball and always tracked back to prevent a cross or put them under pressure and considering the Belgian reportedly cost under £1m, I don’t think any of our summer business will be more important. On the other hand, it was another impressive performance for Ryan Sessegnon and while he is only 16 years old, going forward the left-back put in a very mature display. My only criticism of the teenager is that he needs to work on the defensive side of the game a bit more, as he does have a tendency to not to chase back after committing to an attack.
But, he is only 16, and his game will develop immensely over the next few years – and that’s why he shouldn’t be rushed into the starting eleven for competitive games. Under the right tutoring and management, there is no doubting the potential of Sessegnon and with plenty of reserve team football and the occasional cup game, Ryan could improve to a level that he could fight for a first-team place in the next two years. But, if you watched the youngster during pre-season, you’ll realise it’s no surprise that some of the best English clubs have been scouting him for the past 12 months.
Kevin McDonald also started for Fulham at the weekend, and the former Wolves man looked very composed in the midfield. While, he may not cover the most amount of ground or be the fastest player in the team, he rarely misplaced a pass and the range of passing he possesses will be a big boost to the team as Jokanovic wants his team to control games by dominating possession. It will be interesting to see how McDonald performs against a high-pressing team, and if he can create the space he needs to orchestrate attacks, but the early signs are all positive.The arrival of the Scot is definitely more than welcomed and I’m sure over the course of the season, he will become stronger and fitter – potentially eradicating the question marks I have placed above him this early on.
In terms of system, Fulham adapted a 4-2-3-1 with Sone Aluko occupying the number ten role behind the forward. Interestingly so, Tom Cairney returned to a wide role being able to cut inside and create something in the final third. What was noticeable was the amount of space Aluko created. On many occasions, the summer signing drifted into a wide position, allowing Cairney to drift into the centre of the pitch, with the system evolving into a 4-3-3 with with Aluko and Ayite supporting Matt Smith in attack. What was pleasing, was the amount of pace both Aluko and Ayite bring to the side. Being able to stretch teams in wide positions and press them in their own half, was one of the reasons behind our first goal.
With the front-men pressing, Crystal Palace were forced into a mistake, which allowed Cairney to feed Aluko before rounding Julian Speroni to open the scoring. With Fulham facing Newcastle on Friday, Fulham’s high tempo game will need to be maintained throughout the game, to prevent Newcastle’s better players from creating space and building attack after attack. If the team manages to defend from the front as a unit, the pressure on the back four will be reduced and clean sheets should be easier to come by next season.
To conclude, with Aluko being asked to play in a number ten role for the upcoming season, does he arguably take Ross McCormack’s role should the Scot stay this summer? With Ross being more of a natural number ten as opposed to a lone forward, does Aluko’s future at number 10 signal the end of McCormack. I’m sure we will hear more regarding our talismanic forward’s future by the end of the week, with talks ongoing between the two clubs. But, if Ross does a U-turn on his potential departure, it will be very interesting to see how he adjusts to Fulham’s new system and style of play.
I would just like to thank you all for your ongoing support of the blog. It was a proud day for myself on Saturday as the first ‘Craven Corner’ column was published in the match-day programme. Hopefully, throughout the season there will be a few more of these articles appearing in the programmes, but this won’t change anything. Just like any articles, I want to hear your feedback – good or bad. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to come this far and have the opportunities that have been presented to me. Thank you – it truly means a lot to me.
Thank you for reading – You can tweet your thoughts to me @ABronsSmith
AdvertisementsIn this post I will show how easy you can setup a webapp to generate QR code. See the demo on https://serene-escarpment-19853.herokuapp.com/
The Design
One liner:
the webapp should allow users to type in some text and convert text to QR code
UI cannot be simpler:
A label
A text input field
A submit button
The Technology
Life is short, use Python
The Implementation
python-qrcode does all the dirty work to generate QR code from string
flask serves a webapp with only one endpoint, it returns the form upon GET and displays the QR code image upon POST
the flask snippet shows how to avoid creating a temp file for the image
The Deploy
Deploying this simple MVP to Heroku is easy.
requirements.txt
pip freeze the dependencies to a requirements.txt file
Procfile
Create a Procfile to declare it as a web app served by gunicorn web: gunicorn app:app --log-file=-
See Getting Started on Heroku with Python for more info.The Gaza ceasefire seems to be holding, nearly a week after United States and Egypt-led negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
Israelis and Palestinians have returned to their daily lives in what seems to be an uneasy, if stable, peace.
But Tuesday, a ghost from the Middle East conflict's past rose again.
Yasser Arafat, former chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, died eight years ago in a French military hospital, after a mysterious, month-long illness. Tuesday, French, Swiss and Russian scientists in Ramallah exhumed Arafat's body, a few months after Swiss authorities found radioactive elements on his clothing.
The garments were supplied by Arafat's widow, Suha.
In July, Suha told the BBC that she was "relieved" about the investigation.
"We have been asking for this inquiry for eight years," she said. "I was shocked, first, of course, because it’s a very dangerous poison, what they discovered, but I was relieved that we are on steps of knowing the truth."
Charles Glass, a journalist and Middle East expert, said Arafat was a unifying force in the PLO — and the man who gave the organization a distinctly Palestinian personality.
"He tried to unite all the distinct factions, which ran from extreme Marxists to moderate Islamists, he tried to unite them all under the PLO banner," Glass said. "(It) was a very, very loose coalition."
Most Palestinians blame Israel for Arafat's death, if indeed it was by poisoning, Glass said. And they have reason to be suspicious. Most of Arafat's top lieutenants, through the years, were killed by Israel.
If that were the case, Glass speculated, it could be because they blamed him for the Second Intifada, the period of Palestinian-Israeli violence from 2000 to 2005, and that he didn't do enough to put an end to it.
The radioactive element discovered on Arafat's clothes was polonium, a method of execution first perfected by the Russians. Glass says there are many in Israel with connections to the Russians.
It's a substance that's comparatively easy to transport, and fairly easy to introduce to someone, because its both tasteless and odorless.
Glass, however, is circumspect about whether this exhumation will provide sufficient evidence to permanently answer the question of whether Arafat was assassinated, and if so, by whom.
"As with all conspiracies, nothing is ever conclusive," he said.
No matter what happens, however, Glass doubts the results will lead to any real change. Hamas will continue to govern the Gaza Strip, while Fatah retains control in the West Bank.Darfur has long been plagued by significant droughts, however in 2007 scientists at Boston University discovered the region has one of the biggest underwater lakes in the world. Putting these two facts together, Polish firm H3AR designed an incredible water-harvesting skyscraper that would draw h2o from underground and create an artificial lake!
Darfur’s underground lake covers a distance of 19,110 square miles and has the potential to restore peace to a region ravaged by drought, however providing access to all that water has proven difficult. H3AR‘s Watertower aims to tap this resource through good design and effective water management. The skyscraper would work as a hospital, a school, a food storage center, and most importantly, a water storage center.
The building resembles a baobab, the “upside down tree” from the Savanah, and it houses water pumps and a treatment plant. These pumps take the water from the aquifer, pump it throughout the building to heat it and cool it, and store it within the core of the building itself. The building’s users would then have access to this water, which would be recycled by the treatment plant.
H3Ar’s plan calls for three towers to be built. The towers would be constructed from stacked dry clay bricks, which would be manufactured on site. Why bricks? They can be manufactured locally, are a sustainable building material, and are tied to the local community. The bricks would be made with a mixture of earth, cement, and water. The shape of the towers provides shade on the ground, stabilizing the microclimate, and between them an artificial lake would be created. This artificial lake would further assist in creating solace amid the harsh African environment.
H3Ar, have certainly created a very cool design to solve an extremely difficult problem. While still a concept at the moment, the project provides a reminder that good design can have far-reaching consequences.
+ H3ArFor those who choose an all-in-one liquid cooling solution hoping for greater cooling efficiency and noise reduction but are peeved by the different noise profile emanating from the cooler pump and/or actively cooled radiator there may be a solution on the way. PC components and accessories maker Raijintek has been demonstrating a passive liquid cooler at Computex 2016 in Taipei.
As explained by TechPowerUp, which witnessed the cooler in action, this closed loop AiO cooler has no moving parts. Rather the heatsink warming up induces the specially formulated cooling fluid within to flow around the close loop. Thus the system doesn't require a pump (potential for noise and failure) and eschews cooling fans in the radiator portion, cutting out another potential noise/moving parts failure source.
The liquid flows thanks to the same science behind how heat-pipes work. TPU elaborates; "Heat from the source (your CPU) causes the special coolant to change phase to vapour, move to the heat-exchanger (radiator), where it condenses back to liquid, and flows back down to the block." Another report on the cooler by BitTech informs us that the "special coolant boils at under 40°C, and different sized pipes to create a pressure imbalance and force the liquid to evaporate in one direction only and thus generate flow."
Note the in/out flow pipe size differential
Apparently Raijintek has spent "vast amounts of R&D budget developing this technology," and with its patents in hand is ready to launch the system as demonstrated. Likely for dramatic effect, Raijintek demonstrated the cooler working to cool boiled water straight from a kettle but we would have preferred to see it in a high-end PC system running some modern gaming/tech demos, for example. Please note that to get the cooler to function it is a necessity to install the radiator portion of the device at a point somewhere above the CPU being cooled.
It will be interesting to hear and see more of this passive AiO liquid cooler from Raijitek, perhaps as launch gets nearer. Key cooling performance figures are necessary to judge if it can make more powerful fanless passive PC systems a reality.Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss.
The PlayStation 4 version of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will run at 60fps, but Square Enix isn't saying what frame rate Xbox One owners can expect.
"Both platforms offer the same outstanding Tomb Raider experience," a Square Enix spokesperson told Eurogamer today. Both versions run in 1080p, it was previously confirmed.
"Delivering the core Tomb Raider gameplay at native 1080p and running at 30fps was always our primary goal given the type of experience Tomb Raider is and the exploration we want players to do. Anything beyond 30fps for this version is gravy," the representative added.
Producer Scot Amos told Gamesradar yesterday that the PS4 version of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Editions will run at 60fps, but did not mention a frame rate for the Xbox One version.
With Square Enix keeping quiet, we'll have to wait until the games are released to determine the difference in frame rate between the two platforms. A game's frame rate, which varies depending on elements like system hardware and memory, is commonly used to compare graphics performance.FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2015 file photo, then-Secretary of State John Kerry listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on the Iran nuclear deal. The Trump administration said Wednesday, May 17, 2017, it will continue granting nuclear sanctions relief to Iran, keeping the Obama-era nuclear deal intact for now. The most recent waiver, issued by former Secretary of State John Kerry in December, was set to expire this week. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration took a key step Wednesday toward preserving the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, coupling the move with fresh ballistic missile sanctions to show it isn’t going light on the Islamic republic.
The State Department said Iran would continue to enjoy relief from decades-old economic measures punishing Tehran for its nuclear program. Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, the U.S. lifted those sanctions. But Washington must issue periodical waivers to keep the penalties from snapping back into place and the most recent one was set to expire this week.
Donald Trump as a candidate vowed to renegotiate or tear up the nuclear deal. As president, he has altered his position, insisting he is still studying the accord and hasn’t made a final decision. The move to extend the sanctions relief in the meantime was another indication Trump may be laying the groundwork to let the deal stand.
Still, the U.S. paired the announcement with new, unrelated sanctions that go after Iran for a ballistic missiles program that Washington fears could target American interests in the Middle East or key allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Wednesday’s sanctions target Iranian military officials along with an Iranian company and China-based network accused of supplying Iran with materials for ballistic missiles, the State Department said.
The dual moves — ensuring old sanctions on Iran don’t return while imposing new ones — appeared aimed at undercutting the impression that Trump’s stance on Iran has softened. Since taking office, Trump’s administration has sanctioned hundreds in Iran and in Syria — an Iranian ally — as part of a campaign to increase pressure on Iran even as it reviews the nuclear deal.
Stuart Jones, the top U.S. diplomat in charge of the Middle East, said the U.S. is still forming a “comprehensive Iran policy” that addresses Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and militant groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
“This ongoing review does not diminish the United States’ resolve to continue countering Iran’s destabilizing activity in the region, whether it be supporting the Assad regime, backing terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, or supporting violent militias that undermine governments in Iraq and Yemen,” Jones said. “And above all, the United States will never allow the regime in Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.”
In a similar move last month, Trump’s administration certified to Congress that Iran is complying with the terms of the deal — a requirement for Iran to keep receiving the economic benefits of the deal. At the same time, Trump dispatched Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to issue a scathing critique of Iran in which he also cast doubt that the nuclear deal would achieve its objective of keeping Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Trump also announced late Wednesday that the U.S. didn’t intend to limit Iran’s ability to sell oil. In a memo to Tillerson and the secretaries of Energy and Treasury, Trump said there’s enough oil being produced currently by other countries that Iran’s output could be reduced without hurting global supplies. But he said that given U.S. commitments under the nuclear deal, “the United States is not pursuing efforts to reduce Iran’s sales of crude oil at this time.”
“I will continue to monitor this situation closely,” Trump added.
The moves come as Iran prepares for a presidential vote on Friday whose outcome has major implications for Iran’s future stance toward the U.S. and its likelihood of sticking with the deal. President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who oversaw the clinching of the nuclear deal, faces challenges from hard-liners who have stridently criticized the deal.
The new sanctions announced Wednesday hit Morteza Farasatpour, a top Iranian defense official who oversaw the sale of explosives and other materials used by Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, the Treasury Department said. The Syrian agency produces non-conventional weapons such as the chemical weapons that Assad’s forces used earlier this year.
The U.S. also punished another Iranian official it said has been involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as Matin Sanat Nik Andishan, a company based in Iran that the U.S. said helped obtain materials for the ballistic missile program. The sanctions also target a series of Chinese companies associated with Ruan Runling, a Chinese citizen. The U.S. said his network helped produce electronics such as missile guidance for Iran’s program.
Mark Dubowitz, an Iran expert and head of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates for a tough U.S. position on Iran, said the latest steps were part of a “much more comprehensive strategy to use all instruments of American power to roll back Iranian regional aggression” and to “rectify what the administration sees as a deeply flawed nuclear deal.”
Also on Wednesday, Iranian state media said four passenger airplanes were being delivered as the first installment of a deal with French-Italian manufacturer ATR that was finalized after the nuclear agreement. Iran is buying 20 of the ATR 72-600 planes. It also has clinched bigger deals with trans-Atlantic rivals Airbus and Boeing.
Under the 2015 deal, the U.S. and other world powers eased sanctions after the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had taken a series of steps to pull its nuclear program back from the brink of weapons capability.
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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAPThis is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re on the road in our 100-city tour, broadcasting from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Nermeen Shaikh is in New York.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Good morning, Amy. We begin today’s show with Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he’s taught for more than half a century. Noam Chomsky has penned more than a hundred books.
AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this week, Noam Chomsky spoke at the New York Public Library along with former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who will join us in a minute in our studio. During the event, Noam Chomsky was asked about Bernie Sanders’ run for the White House.
NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, Bernie Sanders is an extremely interesting phenomenon. He’s a decent, honest person. That’s pretty unusual in the political system. Maybe there are two of them in the world, you know. But he’s considered radical and extremist, which is a pretty interesting characterization, because he’s basically a mainstream New Deal Democrat. His positions would not have surprised President Eisenhower, who said, in fact, that anyone who does not accept New Deal programs doesn’t belong in the American political system. That’s now considered very radical.
The other interesting aspect of Sanders’s positions is that they’re quite strongly supported by the general public, and have been for a long time. That’s true on taxes. It’s true on healthcare. So, take, say, healthcare. His proposal for a national healthcare system, meaning the kind of system that just about every other developed country has, at half the per capita cost of the United States and comparable or better outcomes, that’s considered very radical. But it’s been the position of the majority of the American population for a long time. So, you go back, say, to the Reagan—right now, for example, latest polls, about 60 percent of the population favor it. When Obama put through the Affordable Care Act, there was, you recall, a public option. But that was dropped. It was dropped even though it was supported by about almost two-thirds of the population. You go back earlier, say, to the Reagan years, about 70 percent of the population thought that national healthcare should be in the Constitution, because it’s such an obvious right. And, in fact, about 40 percent of the population thought it was in the Constitution, again, because it’s such an obvious right. The same is true on tax policy and others.
So we have this phenomenon where someone is taking positions that would have been considered pretty mainstream during the Eisenhower years, that are supported by a large part, often a considerable majority, of the population, but he’s dismissed as radical and extremist. That’s an indication of how the spectrum has shifted to the right during the neoliberal period, so far to the right that the contemporary Democrats are pretty much what used to be called moderate Republicans. And the Republicans are just off the spectrum. They’re not a legitimate parliamentary party anymore. And Sanders has—the significant part of—he has pressed the mainstream Democrats a little bit towards the progressive side. You see that in Clinton’s statements. But he has mobilized a large number of young people, these young people who are saying, “Look, we’re not going to consent anymore.” And if that turns into a continuing, organized, mobilized—mobilized force, that could change the country—maybe not for this election, but in the longer term.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he’s taught for more than half a century. He spoke earlier this week at the New York Public Library as part of the ”LIVE from the NYPL” series, along with former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who is here in the United States promoting his new book titled And the Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe’s Crisis and America’s Economic Future. Varoufakis served as the Syriza party’s first finance minister after the left-wing party took power in 2015, after promoting an anti-austerity platform.“It is useless to resist.” – Darth Vader
In Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader attempted to convert Luke Skywalker to the dark side by luring the young Skywalker into a trap in the Cloud City of Bespin. In the midst of a fierce lightsaber duel with the Sith Lord, Luke faces the startling revelation that the evil Vader is, in fact, his father, Anakin Skywalker…
Sideshow and Hot Toys are very excited to explore this iconic and memorable scene from the cinematic masterpiece and officially introduce the sixth scale Darth Vader Star Wars collectible figure from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back!
The movie-accurate collectible figure features a newly crafted Darth Vader helmet with detachable outer helmet to reveal the back of Lord Vader’s battle damaged head, all-new body armor and sophisticatedly tailored leather-like bodysuit, LED light-up chest panel and belt boxes, an LED light-up lightsaber, a variety of interchangeable hands of Darth Vader’s iconic poses, and a Cloud City theme diorama figure base with light-up function!
Search your feelings... you know you want this for your Hot Toys Star Wars collection! The Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back sixth scale Darth Vader collectible figure will be firstly available at the "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Official Shop by Hot Toys in Japan for pre-order, it is also available in selected markets.With only a few weeks to go before the HTC One starts showing up at retail outlets across the globe, it’s hard to image why anyone who’s interested in purchasing an HTC phone would not opt for the One. The device is certainly in a league of its own, but we do have to face the fact that some people simply won’t be able to afford the HTC One with pre-orders currently selling for £519.99.
With that in mind, our friends at Omio caught up with Phil Roberson, Head of HTC UK and Ireland and asked: will BlinkFeed and HTC’s new Ultrapixel technology come to low-end or mid-range phones?
“We look at services such as BlinkFeed, which we are looking to support across as many products as possible. It will take time, as we develop the new services, as that becomes more of a Sense experience. Sense is still really the core of what we are doing on Android, and BlinkFeed is sitting on top of the core of sense – and that will start to roll out as we go through the year. Wherever the technology is possible, we’re looking to take as much of the technology and enrich all of our customers.”
While BlinkFeed is purely enabled by software, HTC’s new Ultrapixel technology relies on a dedicated imagine chip and the quad-core processor used inside the HTC One.
“We’ve got dedicated silicon, in terms of the processing that comes off of the sensor. However, the Qualcomm chipset [used in the HTC One] does enable a lot of this to happen. The ability to take HD video and high-res images at the same time is powered by the quad-core on the device, as well. There will be certain technical challenges, but the tech does support the other elements of it which we can take to other parts of the portfolio.”
When asked if low-end smartphones would be getting the same camera functionality as the HTC One, Phil replied:
“A lot depends on what you define low-end, really. If you look at what we did on the One V [2012 entry-level One series phone]; that had the same image chip as we had on the One X. There is definitely the potential to take it into those spaces.”
Source: OmioWASHINGTON — NASA’s plan to retrieve an asteroid for astronauts to explore in lunar space by 2025 caused a big stir at the Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) here July 30 when an asteroid expert delivered a withering critique of the mission and warned that it could bring NASA’s entire Planetary Science Division to ruin.
“If you get behind this in any way, it’s going to irreparably damage small-body exploration, and I think there’s implications to the broader Planetary Science Division,” Richard Binzel, an astronomer and asteroid specialist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the group.
Calling the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) the White House hatched in 2013 to satisfy U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2010 challenge to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 a “one-and-done stunt,” Binzel warned SBAG members that embracing ARM meant risking their credibility in the eyes the lawmakers who control NASA’s purse strings. SBAG and the science community at large, he said, should “just say no” to the mission.
The NASA-charted group represents the interests of scientists who study objects as small as interplanetary dust and as large as tiny moons, such as Mars’ two natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos. A 10-person SBAG steering committee is responsible for distilling the larger group’s discussions into reports — but not recommendations — for NASA’s Planetary Science Division.
The latest such report, presented in draft form July 30, stopped short of Binzel’s outright condemnation of the mission but reiterated the cautious position SBAG adopted not long after NASA unveiled ARM in April 2013: that it is not a scientifically sound way to collect an asteroid sample and therefore “support of ARM with planetary science resources is not appropriate.”
The report explains which type of asteroids small-bodies scientists would most prefer to sample, and how a team of small-bodies experts could be integrated with ARM operations to reap the maximum scientific benefit from a mission that, while not conceived by or for scientists, fits squarely in SBAG’s wheelhouse.
When it comes to details about ARM — its cost, its exact launch date, the asteroid it will target — NASA has been tight lipped, other than to say that a new robotic spacecraft will retrieve the asteroid, and that astronauts aboard the Space Launch System-launched Orion crew capsule the agency is building will visit it around the middle of next decade.
But NASA still has to choose between a robotic retrieval of a 10-meter-diameter, free-flying asteroid, and plucking a similar boulder-sized sample off a much larger asteroid. NASA is postponing the choice until December, and further details about the chosen architecture will not be worked out until an ARM mission concept review scheduled for February.
However, Brian Muirhead, pre-program manager for ARM at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, offered some new details about the robotic retrieval portion of ARM at the July 30 SBAG meeting.
The notional ARM missions Muirhead briefed to SBAG assume the robotic retrieval craft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket in 2019. It is a powerful but pricey launch vehicle. NASA is paying $375 million for the Delta 4 Heavy it ordered in 2011 for this December’s launch of an uncrewed Orion on an Earth-orbiting test flight. The cost of a Delta 4 Heavy is not included in NASA’s preliminary $1.25 billion estimate for building an asteroid-capture spacecraft.
Muirhead also identified six potential target asteroids retrievable between 2023 and 2025, including three small space rocks that would be brought back whole and three large asteroids from which a boulder-sized sample might be retrieved.Our high court now has heard arguments about DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act that Bill Clinton signed into law. (In a startling admission for a former president, Clinton now recants his decision.) The Supreme Court will unveil its ruling in early summer. In the long wait until a ruling, analysts will examine every influence on the justices. Today, let’s look at one possible influence:
Does religion sway the court?
Before you say “No”—consider what one political scientist has found. The religious composition of the high court is atypical by historical standards. There are no Protestants for the first time in history. Six of the justices are Catholic, when the historical norm has been one (or none).
Religious affiliations may influence high-court votes, especially for Catholic justices, says William Blake, a political scientist. In an article published last year in the Political Research Quarterly, he analyzed the effect of religious affiliation on voting behavior between 1953 and 2007. This span includes both liberal Catholic justices and conservative Catholic justices (and liberal and conservative Protestants justices, and so forth).
Blake analyzed hundreds of voting decisions that covered eleven different issue areas that might be influenced by religious values.
Blake’s conclusion is that “Catholic justices vote in ways that more closely adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church than non-Catholic justices.” This means, for example, that a Catholic justice tends to take a liberal position on civil rights cases, but a conservative position on abortion.
All told, Blake found that Catholic justices are more likely than non-Catholic justices to take a liberal view on civil rights cases and criminal rights case. Catholic justices are more likely to take a conservative position on abortion cases, Establishment Clause cases (separation of church and state), and obscenity cases.
Blake emphasizes that the influence of religion is not conscious. Justices strive mightily to remain impartial. But even Supreme Court justices are human and their religious values can creep into their decisions.
Are you surprised by Blake’s findings?
How do you think religion will influence the ruling of marriage?
ADD A COMMENT BELOW, PLEASE:Steve Horwitz has a great piece in the Freeman that I wish I’d written. The tl;dr: Voting isn’t all there is to political participation. This is an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head as I’m constantly remound that I’m now an American citizen (sorry everyone else in the world…) and that this November I’ll be eligible to vote for who I think should foster anti-American sentiments internationally (Republicans) or domestically (Democrats).
The other day I said I’d consider voting but I couldn’t recall whose name I’d write in (turns out it’s Willie Nelson*). But my usual response to any question about whether I’ll vote is “No, it just encourages the bastards.” When that’s countered with “blah blah blah civic engagement blah blah” I retort with,essentially, Horwitz’s point: My vote is not going to change the outcome**, but I can contribute value by trying to convince my students that economics matters and that a vote for third party candidate (even a Green Party vote) does more good than a vote for the big two.
I don’t know where I picked up that idea, but if I’d remembered, I would have posted his piece here before he did. Even better would be if I could just list a repository of everything I’ve ever read (or heard) in some public place and just write and write without worrying about citing anything.
*Seriously though, Willie Nelson almost certainly wouldn’t get involved in wars, would scale back the drug war, and any silly domestic policies he thought up would get crushed by Congress… he’s actually not a bad |
fires up Polar Flow. Flow is very much at the front and centre of the whole experience. In fact, you're instructed to download the Polar Flow app onto your phone (both on iOS and Android) as soon as the M600 is up and running.
If you've already got the Flow app, it will fire up on your smartphone and ask you to sync your M600. While other manufacturers have their own dedicated smartwatch apps to sit in parallel with Google's Android Wear one, none feel as in-sync as do Flow and the M600. It's not a companion app. It is the app. Your M600 syncs directly to it and not only will your smartphone be able to display all your stats, but all that data is synced in the cloud so you can dig deeper using the Polar Flow desktop client or the browser based version. (You can't sync direct with the desktop client using USB, however).
On other GPS-enabled Wear watches such as the Sony SmartWatch 3 and the Moto 360 Sport, you either use Google's own (extremely basic) app for sports tracking or you download something like Endomondo or RunKeeper. On the M600 there's no real reason to stray away from the pre-installed in-house software.
We won't go too deep into what Polar Flow offers in this review – you can read all about using Polar Flow here – but what we will say is it's not a watered down version for the Android Wear model. It's Polar Flow in all of its glory, complete with features like Training Benefit, Running Program, Running Index and Sport Profiles.
Talking of Sport Profiles – you'll find that while Polar promises "sport-specific feedback", that doesn't mean you've got a dedicated multisport watch like Garmin's Vivoactive HR. Don't expect it to double up as a GPS golf watch, for example. You can, of course, use an Android Wear friendly golf app, combined with the M600, but that's a whole different matter. There's no auto-sport detection, as per the Fitbit Charge 2, either. All sessions need to be manually started by the user. Slight bummers but no great disasters.
When running (or doing another tracked sport session) you get an array of screens to swipe through – with loads of detail on offer on pace, distance, time and heart rate zones. Like any other Android Wear smartwatch the display will dim when you don't have it held up to your face, but a nice feature on the M600 is the side button, which fires up the screen brightness – super handy when you're running in the dark and don't want to have to wave your arms around like an idiot.
The GPS tracking, in the seven test runs we did, was spot on. We compared it to both an Adidas miCoach Smart Run and a Polar M400 and the recorded distances – between 5 and 12km – were always within 200 metres.
Polar M600: Heart rate monitoring
While we were disappointed with Polar's first attempt at wrist-based tracking with the A360, we found the M600 to be extremely accurate when compared to a chest-strap. We did multiple runs with either a MyZone or Wahoo chest-strap on and the M600 never let us down.
In terms of general, 'normal', running we found the M600 to always be within 2-3 beats of the chest-strap readings and, during interval training it also stayed within this buffer. That said, it didn't react to big changes and variations in bpm readings quite as quickly as the chest strap did.
A major plus for anyone wanting super accurate heart rate monitoring is that you can pair the M600 with a third-party chest strap. Of course Polar wants you to use its H7 strap, but we had no issues getting a Wahoo Tickr X's bpm reading displayed within Polar Flow when engaged in a run.
A final nice touch is that, when locking on to GPS (which is very quick, by the way) and a heart rate before a run, the green icon for the bpm reading will turn blue if a chest strap's reading is being used instead of the optical one's.
Polar M600: Activity tracking
Activity tracking on the M600 includes steps, distance, active time, burnt calories and automatic sleep tracking – essentially, what you get with the A360.
On the watch itself, all that info is presented in brief under the My Day part of Flow (just for that current day) but inside the smartphone app, it's much more detailed. One of the best parts of My Day is you can see what activity you need to perform to make your daily goal; whether that be running, walking or just standing up.
This being Android Wear, all activity tracking metrics are piped directly into Google Fit as well. To keep you motivated, there's also an inactivity alert that vibrates after 55 minutes of inactivity.
Polar M600: Android Wear on board
This section is going to be pretty brief. Yes, it's an Android Wear watch and yes, that means a golden ticket to Google's smartwatch goodies, but Android Wear is not the reason you should buy this smartwatch.
That's not knocking Android Wear at all, but of all the Google smartwatches we've tested (all of them, obviously), never has the smartwatch OS been so unnoticeable. That's a good thing on the M600. It's great when it's there for when you want it but the fact is that you could fire the M600 up, pair it up with your phone, and never touch Google Play ever again.
Of course, it does have all the Wear features on board. There's voice interaction with Google Voice, as well as messages, calls, alerts and contextual notifications popping up onscreen and activity tracking via Google Fit. Plus the thousands of Android Wear apps too.
What we're saying is that it's all present and correct but you might not ever need it.
Polar M600: Battery life and hardware
The battery on the M600 is a whopping 500mAh one. That's huge for Android Wear and it doesn't disappoint. You'll easily get a couple of days of regular use, with an hour or so running each day – with GPS turned on and music playing through your Bluetooth headphones, of course.
Endurance runners will also be happy to know that you'll get around 6-7 hours of solid GPS tracking, with music playing, before the M600 needs a charge. That puts it on a par with the TomTom Spark 3.
It's also the first Android Wear watch to pack MediaTek's MT2601 processor, which is more than capable of everything Android Wear and Polar Flow has to throw at it.On International Women’s Day, Kim Jong Un honors women by giving them makeup
How does a dictator whose country doesn’t offer sex education to women and subjects women to forced abortions celebrate International Women’s Day?
If you’re North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, you give makeup to women.
That’s probably not the best way to send a message showing you support women’s equality, but after all, this is North Korea we’re talking about.
And because Jong Un has never been one to miss a photo op, on Sunday he gave a series of speeches while instructing his commanding officers to pass out the makeup he brought as gifts.
Side note: The dictator didn’t actually meet with any any women at his public events.
According to KCNA, the official state-run news agency, Jong Un also held a meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s “scientific theory” of the role of women in “pushing ahead with the revolution and construction.”
A release from KCNA also touted that “the Korean women’s movement greets the heyday of its development as it is led by Marshal Kim Jong Un.”
h/t: The IndependentLiam Russell (Photo: Orangetown police) Story Highlights Liam Russell, 19, is accused of dragging cop 40 yards while driving drunk
The officer was treated at Nyack Hospital for neck, back and arm injuries and later released
An Orangetown officer was injured Wednesday morning when a drunken driver from Blauvelt dragged him 40 yards down a road, police said.
The officer was hanging out the driver's side window, struggling to turn off the ignition, as 19-year-old Liam Russell sped toward Blauvelt Road from Truman Circle and Wilson Street at 7:10 a.m., Orangetown Police Lt. Anthony Mercurio said.
The officer eventually fell out of the 2001 Toyota Camry, tumbling along the ground, Mercurio said. He suffered back, neck and arm injuries.
Russell continued to speed off, followed by another officer, before driving onto the lawn of a Blauvelt Road home, Mercurio said. That officer took Russell into custody after using a Taser on him during a struggle, Mercurio said.
The incident began when the officer found Russell parked with a gash across his right eye, Mercurio said. The officer attempted to take Russell out of the car and to the hospital, but Russell hit the gas pedal instead, Mercurio said.
The officer and Russell were both treated at Nyack Hospital and released.
Russell was arraigned Wednesday in Orangetown Town Court, where he was charged with second-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment, felonies. He also is charged with second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, all misdemeanors. He was taken to the Rockland County jail on $20,000 bail.
Russell, a former Tappan Zee High School baseball player, was already facing charges from June 3, when Clarkstown police accused him of stealing a purse with $300 from a woman at the Stiletto strip club on Route 59 in Nanuet. In that case, he faces fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and resisting arrest, misdemeanors.
Twitter: @LoHudLegal
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1uSr2tyGreece, The Euro and Gunboat Diplomacy
Karl Whelan Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 20, 2015
Original decision to provide a bailout is the source of the current crisis. Time for Europe to share the blame and financial consequences.
Trust me George, this is going to work out great.
With everyone talking about Greece being on the verge of exiting the euro after Monday’s summit meeting, it seems to be forgotten that the current crisis is not really about Greece’s currency arrangements at all. The Greek people are not demanding a return to the drachma and few within the country are arguing for the competitive benefits a currency devaluation would entail. And there are no formal rules that Greece is breaking that must lead to an exit from the euro because, legally, the euro is a fixed and irrevocable currency union.
This crisis is about more basic things: Debt and power. Indeed, the current stand-off looks a lot more like the classic gunboat diplomacy conflicts of the 19th century than it does the currency crises of the 20th century.
Europe’s governments and the IMF made an enormous mistake in bailing out Greece’s private creditors in 2010 and then overseeing a botched debt restructuring in 2012. In turn, the Greek governments of this era made the mistake of accepting official loans to pay off private creditors, perhaps not realising they were jumping out of the frying pan straight into the fire. Now the Greeks are learning that defaulting on private creditors is one thing (not so hard it turns out, once you’ve got Lee Buchheit in your corner) but defaulting on governments of rich European countries is quite something else.
Blaming the euro for the current impasse is actually pretty strange because the euro’s founding fathers explicitly warned member states to not to get themselves into this situation. The story of the demise of Europe’s “no bailout clause” is an interesting one. Rather than an inevitable crisis, one can credibly argue that the decisions that landed us in the current situation did not need to be taken and were taken as a result of unnecessary cowardice, confusion and hubris.
The No-Bailout Clause
A couple of years ago, when I was writing this article, I reviewed many papers on prospects for the euro written by economists in the 1990s. I was struck by the consensus that the fiscal limitations of the Stability and Growth Pact would generally be honoured, that euro members that got into fiscal troubles would not be bailed out by other countries and this would lead to sovereign defaults when countries did get into fiscal problems.
By and large, the policy heavyweights of the day, such as Rudi Dornbusch, believed there was a “categorical no-bailout injunction.” As such, it was expected that markets would understand that European governments were more likely to default once their devaluation option was taken away and that financial markets would price the sovereign debt of countries differently depending on the health of their public finances.
Economists In Getting It Wrong Shocker!
Well, the economists got it all wrong. Financial markets hadn’t seen a default in Europe since the Second World War but had grown tired of repeated currency realignments. The apparent end of devaluation risk was celebrated and in the benign macroeconomic conditions of the early years of the euro sovereign default was more or less forgotten about.
Yields on Long-Term Euro Area Sovereign Debt
Yields on sovereign debt across all euro area members — which had previously differed substantially — converged within a narrow band and remained this way until 2009.
Economists also got it wrong about the “categorical no bailout injunction.” It turned out that no such clause really existed in the European Treaty. The relevant article (No. 125 of the current treaty) merely stated that the Union and its member states “shall not be liable for or assume the commitments” of other countries. This isn’t really how bailouts work: Those doing the bailout rarely announce “we’re taking over this country’s debts.” Instead, they provide loans to the government that is in trouble and these loans allow this country to honouring its existing loan commitments.
In any case, Article 122 also explicitly allows the EU to grant financial assistance in periods of “severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control” and the judgement of what was meant by that clause was clearly going to be up to the EU’s leaders themselves.
“No Bailouts”? Sorry, We Meant “Bailouts. Big Bailouts”
By early 2010, however, it was clear that the Greek crisis was going to lead to either a quick sovereign default or some sort of bailout. Some hard-liners in European policy circles maintained for a time that a bailout would not occur. For instance, ECB Executive Board member, Jürgen Stark insisted on January 6, 2010 that
The markets are deluding themselves when they think at a certain point the other member states will put their hands on their wallets to save Greece.
However, an early indication that a bailout was coming had already come in February 2009, when German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck said
The euro-region treaties don’t foresee any help for insolvent countries, but in reality the other states would have to rescue those running into difficulty.
By early 2010, it became increasingly clear that Steinbrueck’s viewpoint would prevail and that a Greek sovereign default at this point was not something the euro area’s leaders would countenance. By March 25, 2010 loans to Greece from the rest of the euro area and the IMF were announced and by May a fully-formed bailout fund for the euro area, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), had been put in place.
Despite Greece’s completely unsustainable debt position, private creditors continued to be repaid over two years with these debts replaced by loans from European countries and the IMF. By the time Greece’s debt to the private sector was restructured in 2012, its economy was in ruins and the remaining unrestructured debts to the “official sector” were clearly unsustainable. The return of gunboat diplomacy had been set in motion.
Why Bail Out Greece in 2010? European Banks?
So why were Europe’s politicians so keen to provide massive loans to Greece in 2010? One answer that comes up time and again is that European governments were using the loans to Greece as a way to protect German and French banks that had built up large exposures to Greek sovereign debt. In the febrile anti-banker environment of 2010, a programme advertised as “European solidarity” was more likely to work politically than another round of bank bailouts after a Greek default.
This story has been stressed by many over the past numbers years. For example, former Bundesbank chief Karl-Otto Pohl made the point early and often. Still, the figures in this area don’t really add up. The total exposure of European banks to Greek sovereigns was always fairly modest. These banks may have engaged in lobbying but, on its own, I’m not sure how important this element was.
If indeed, European leaders thought it was a good idea to use public money to bail out all Greece’s private creditors just because they were scared to admit to their public that some more banks might need bailing out, then this could only be classified as an act of political cowardice.
No default, no credit event.
Why Bail Out Greece in 2010? Contagion Confusion
If the direct impact of a Greek default wasn’t going to be so great, there were lots of people in 2010 ready to scaremonger the potential indirect effects of such a default. The Europe of early 2010 was a place where the mere mention of the word “default” triggered visions of Hank Paulson’s decision to let Lehman brothers go into bankruptcy. The idea that a Greek default would be “another Lehmans” was commonly cited.
The ECB, in particular, played a crucial rule in presenting a Greek default as a potential disaster for the euro area and delaying the decision to allow such a default. Via their highly discretionary ability to cut off funds to the Greek banking system, the ECB have had a huge influence on the course of events.
Over 2010 to 2012, members of the ECB Executive Board, such as Lorenzo Bini Smaghi regularly gave speeches depicting the depicting a potential Greek default as provoking “an economic meltdown”. For example, Bini Smaghi argued that a default should be avoided because it would “punish patient investors” who believed in the adjustment program could restore sustainability, that a default would discourage investors from providing money to any euro-area member state and that “the payment of debts should be enforced, through sanctions if need be.” Or gunboats perhaps.
This hard-line stance was maintained right up to the decision to restructure Greece’s debts, with ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet insisting on July 11, 2011, right before the announcement that the Greek private sovereign debt would be restructured:
no credit event, no selective default, no default. That is the message of the Governing Council.
In the event, Greece did default and it was declared a credit event. And the world simply didn’t care. There was no financial meltdown. The ECB’s analysis was completely wrong and its influence on the events in Greece was utterly negative from 2010 to 2012. Time well tell whether 2015's ECB does any better.
Why Bail Out Greece in 2010? Hubris
My favourite theory, however, as to why European governments bailed out Greece is political hubris. European politicians were so sure the euro was a fantastic political success that a nasty event like a default was simply unthinkable for a euro area member state. If one euro area member state could default, the thinking went, surely this meant it could happen to others. So it needed to be stopped.
A sign of how far European thinking had moved on from the hard-headed economist views of the 1990s came in a January 2010 interview that Economics Commissioner Joaquin Almunia gave to Bloomberg. Almunia smugly declared
No, Greece will not default. Please. In the euro area, the default does not exist.
The strategy for responding to the Greek crisis of 2010 was largely formulated by the Eurogroup of finance ministers. Sadly, under the inept leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker (rewarded for his many failures with the European Commission presidency) this response was framed by populism and wishful thinking. Time and again, Europe’s politicians blamed the Greek crisis on nasty financial “speculators”.
For example, in February 2010, Juncker said:
Financial markets are clearly wrong if they believe they can break Greece into little bits
By March 2010, Juncker’s rhetoric had risen to the level of explicit threats of restrictions on financial markets:
We have to strengthen the primacy of politics. We have to be able to stop financial markets. We have instruments of torture in the basement. We will display them if it becomes necessary.
At a distance of five years, this is obviously complete rubbish but this was what the official voice of European economic policy was saying at the time.
Remember me?
The IMF: The Grown-Ups in the Room?
You could argue, of course, that assessing debt sustainability or the implications of default are complicated things and European governments, the European Commission and the ECB had little experience in these matters. Indeed, this is true and this is why the IMF played such a crucial role. While the vast majority of the money loaned to Greece came from European governments, the involvement of the IMF — initially under the leadership of former French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn and later under the leadership of former French politician Christine Lagarde — gave an air of credibility to the Greek programmes.
This air of credibility was not warranted. From the very start, the IMF’s own analyses of debt sustainability suggested they were violating their own approach of not lending to insolvent governments.
In recent days, Lagarde has commented about the need to have “the adults in the room” for negotiations (an unveiled dig at Varoufakis). However, she seems to have forgotten that the IMF were supposed to be the adults in the room for discussions on Greece from 2010 onwards. But rather than adopt an approach consistent with their usual policies, the European-led IMF decided that European countries deserved the opportunity to be saddled with particularly high burdens of debt to the official sector.
Europe, it turns out, has gained very little from European influence at the top of the IMF. The rest of the world should learn from the Greek fiasco that former European politicians can no longer be trusted with the leadership of this crucial institution.
But, But, But … the Greeks
I know many people will react to this piece by arguing that reckless, feckless Greeks are the real villains, cooking books and refusing to reform. Many will focus their anger on Syriza and point out that their election promises were undeliverable and ignored that the official creditors were never likely to be in the mood to offer significant debt write-downs or to get over their long-standing urge to micro-manage the Greek economy.
But these arguments focus on the smaller specific tactical issues of how the Greek debt problem evolved and how the current negotiations are going. They ignore the fact that we have only arrived at this juncture because of the utterly flawed lending decisions of Europe’s governments.
While it is too much to expect these governments to put in place a sensible programme of the type proposed by former IMF official, Ashoka Mody, European citizens should expect their politicians to acknowledge there past mistakes and to accept that flawed lending decisions imply financial costs.
As for the euro, I fear that Europe’s leaders have fallen back into smugness and complacency. The constant chant that the euro will be fine after Greece leaves the euro is based on nothing other than speculation. Nobody knows how a euro exit would work or how it would affect other member states. But it will mean, for sure, that the euro is not a “fixed and irrevocable” currency union. And it will mean that there are unwritten rules that link membership of the euro with willingness to pay back official loans.
Those who actually believe in European monetary union need to understand on Monday that pushing the Greek government further than their current position will generate infinitesimally small financial gains for European citizens while risking a Greek exit threatens unquantifiably large potential costs.The eurozone needs reforms and fiscal measures alongside the ECB’s stimulus package if its economy is to recover, argues our economics editor Larry Elliott:
For most of its short life, the European Central Bank fretted about inflation being too high. Now it has the opposite concern.
The fear of deflation explains the package of measures announced by Mario Draghi on Thursday. Three months ago, the ECB president disappointed the markets by coming up with less stimulus than he had led them to expect. This time there were no half measures.
The ECB sets three interest rates and it cut all of them. The central bank has been buying bonds in return for cash at a rate of €60bn (£47bn) a month, but will now up the purchases to €80bn a month for at least a year, and probably longer. It launched a scheme on Thursday under which commercial banks would be paid for borrowing money provided they re-cycle the funds to the private sector in the form of loans to households and companies.
And still it wasn’t enough to slake the insatiable thirst of the financial markets for more and more stimulus. The euro initially fell on the foreign exchanges but then rose when Draghi said the ECB did not anticipate the need for any further cuts in interest rates...
Draghi knows that monetary policy – interest rates, quantitative easing and incentives to borrow – can only do so much. He would like his actions to be supported by structural reform and a more aggressive use of fiscal policy.Google Home is becoming a much more capable control center for smart home devices today, with the addition of support from several more products and systems.
August, Wink, LIFX, TP-Link, Rachio, Vivint, and Best Buy’s Insignia are all announcing integrations with Google Home, allowing owners of their products to issue voice controls through Google’s speaker. TechCrunch reports that First Alert, Frigidaire, Logitech, Geeni, and Anova are also adding integrations.
Here’s what some of them will let you do:
August will let you lock its smart lock and check whether it’s locked or not (but not unlock it by voice)
Wink will let you control lights and thermostats connected to a Wink Hub
LIFX will let you control the color and brightness of its lights
TP-Link will let you control its smart lights, outlets, and switches
Rachio will let you control its sprinkler system by voice
Vivint will let you control products connected to its system by voice
There’s a good mix of products here that ought to open up some new options for Google Home owners. Companies like August, LIFX, and TP-Link offer products that work over Wi-Fi and can be added into a home without investing in a hub. While Wink and Vivint do require a hub, but include a lot more options for those who’re interested.
Taken together, today’s announcements greatly expands what Google Home is capable of doing: until now, it only had device integrations from five companies: Philips Hue, SmartThings, WeMo, Honeywell, and Nest (which Google owns).
While these integrations are technically made possibly by the Google Assistant, there unfortunately continues to be a distinction between Google Assistant on Google Home and Google Assistant on phones. August and Rachio tell The Verge that their integrations work on Google Home only, while Wink, LIFX, and TP-Link say their integration will work on phones as well.
The announcements follow a Google event in London this morning, where the company announced it would begin selling Google Home in the UK after six months on sale in the US. Google’s multi-unit router system, Google Wifi, is launching in the UK as well, beginning next week.
Update March 28th, 12:14PM ET: This story has been updated to note additional integrations.Amid ongoing cosmetic and walkway improvements at the Mall in Columbia, mall owner General Growth Properties will open several new retailers and restaurants within 100,000 square feet of leased space over the next year and a half.
There are currently about 200 retailers and restaurants across the 1.4-million-square-foot shopping center, with 13 opening in the last year.
"The thing about the Mall in Columbia is that our sales remain strong and there's a great deal of retailer interest in the center," said Barb Nicklas, senior general manager of the mall. "Retail is evolving fast. In order to enhance our experience, the customers want more restaurants and the entertainment is to give them more experience."
Sub Zero Ice Cream opened June 15, while Z Gallerie home decor will arrive on June 30 on the first level next to Nordstrom.
Amid the cosmetic and walkway improvements at the Mall in Columbia, mall owner General Growth Properties will open several new retailers and restaurants within 100,000 square feet of leased space over the next year and a half. (Andrew Michaels) (Andrew Michaels)
Uno's Pizzeria & Grill, a restaurant that left its space on the mall outskirts in March, will be replaced with The Walrus Oyster & Ale House late this fall, offering seafood dishes and craft beers. Shake Shack fast casual restaurant will also open this fall in a portion of the space left behind by Champps Americana.
Inside the mall, Sears is downsizing to just the first floor. GGP announced in April that Main Event Entertainment, a Dallas-based company, and Barnes & Noble will fill the top floor of Sears. The entertainment center will feature bowling, laser tag, billiards, video games and a full-service restaurant. Barnes & Noble will expand on its traditional bookstore cafe with an all-day restaurant, including wine and tableside service.
A third tenant, Uncle Julio's Rio Grande Café, was recently announced for the former Sears location. The restaurant will serve Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes in an indoor and outdoor bar, private dining room and side walk café.
The three tenants are expected to open in the late summer or early fall in 2018, Nicklas said.
Nicklas said many current retailers have recently reinvested in their space, including American Eagle, which is being renovated; and H&M, Forever 21, Finish Line and Build-A-Bear Workshopwhich, which were all renovated.
"The retailers are seeing the Mall in Columbia center, the property itself and the market as being strong and an opportunity for them," Nicklas said.
Nicklas would not comment on recent profit margins or visitor numbers at the mall, but said "even without the actual numbers, the evidence of stronger retailer interest in the property is the number of new stores, the stores that are reinvesting in the property via renovations and expansions, and the quick back-fills of vacancies with highly desirable retailers."
Fountain removed
In the last three months, the Mall in Columbia has seen the departure of its large central fountain as well as an expansion to a second-floor bridge.
On June 13, shopper Diana Saltz gazed at a large empty space across from Kay Jewelers and The Children's Place – the former location of the mall's 46-year-old iconic fountain. Saltz, a Columbia resident since 1973, said she shared many fond memories of the mall relic.
"It was a kind of a gathering place. That's what I really, really liked about it," Saltz said. "I loved it at Christmastime with the poinsettia tree. It had some soul and this has no soul whatsoever."
Nicklas said the fountain was removed to improve foot traffic and provide space for additional seating, as frequently requested in customer surveys. Shoppers will still see the poinsettia tree during the holidays, she said, and possibly some kiosks in the future.
"Taking the fountain away really opened up that space," Nicklas said. "That also enhanced the pedestrian experience [and] we're going to add customer amenities and seating in both of the center court areas."
Sophanny Iorizzo, who works at Kay Jewelers at the mall, said "it's much better" without the fountain because the running water was "too loud."
"I couldn't hear customers and customers couldn't hear me. We always had to scream and shout between the water fountain and [blenders running at] the smoothie stand."
Saltz said she'd like to see another art installation at the fountain's former location rather than an empty space or small vendors stands.
"I would like to see, maybe, another fountain, like an above-ground fountain if they can't excavate," Saltz said. "A sculpture would be lovely and more greenery. That would be very nice, just no more vendors."
Previously, visitors would toss change into the fountain, which was donated to Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center in Columbia. Nicklas said the mall will continue to support the nonprofit throughout the year, sponsoring the organization's Soup'r Sundae fundraiser and donating proceeds from the mall's Breakfast with Santa event.
Outside Victoria's Secret on the first floor, tenants also commented on the darkened walkway created by the nearly completed bridge expansion on the second floor, which was undertaken to improve foot traffic. Construction began at the same time as the fountain removal, Nicklas said, with final touches on the railings to be finished in the next two weeks.
Crews worked on the expansion overnight, she said. Nicklas would not comment on the cost of the project, but said that it was an internal project between several contractors.
Julia Fitch, manager of Champs Sports on the second floor, said construction didn't impact business since crews worked between store closings and openings. Fitch has worked at the sports apparel store for the last few months and said she's worked inside the mall since 2011.
"I guess people were getting tired of walking all the way down to Coach to walk across to the stores over here like the Gap, Champs, Justice and Kids' Foot Locker," Fitch said. "[Before], it was a small, little walkway. I think it's definitely an improvement. A lot of customers do enjoy it as far as I can see."
Larger bridges tend to feature small vendors, like smoothie stands.
"We have a lot of interest in retail kiosks. These aren't the carts, but are actual permanent retail kiosks in the common area," Nicklas said. "We don't have confirmed deals that I can report on, but we [expanded the bridge] to bring more retail kiosks into the property."
More additions will join the Mall in Columbia in the foreseeable future, Nicklas said.
"This is a strong mall and there's a lot of interest from the retailer community in coming to this property."Meal delivery service and podcast advertising staple Blue Apron filed to go public on Thursday, marking the start of its journey to become a publicly traded company.
In doing so, the company officially revealed its finances for the first time. The subscription service pulled in nearly $800 million last year but lost around $55 million overall.
Despite the lack of profit, the company has been growing at a rapid clip overall; its revenue more than doubled in 2016 and grew fourfold the previous year. Even better, that rapid growth is outpacing its growth in losses.
The financials show other hopeful signs too. The company actually managed to turn a profit in the first quarter of last year, and, on the whole, the balance sheet has stayed relatively steady by the standards of money-burning tech startups.
At the same time, average order value and orders per customer haven't grown much in the past two years—and actually declined slightly in recent months.
The company also reports a slight dip in customers during the final months of last year before growth rebounds again — perhaps thanks to a big ad push it launched around the same time.
Founded in 2012, Blue Apron tapped into the subscription delivery boom with weekly shipments of meal kits stocked with pre-apportioned ingredients.
It made a name for itself with heavy marketing spend, perhaps most memorably in the advertising breaks of major podcasts. Last year, the company spent $144 million on advertising — nearly half of which on "online media."
Blue Apron spent $144 million on marketing last year, seemingly underwriting the entire podcast industry https://t.co/siKMjBV5yB pic.twitter.com/7jw3X2KtXH — Damian Garde (@damiangarde) June 1, 2017
It most recently undertook its first global TV ad campaign earlier this year as rumors swirled about an IPO.
Deep in the obligatory legalese of the filing, Blue Apron also notes an litany of potential threats on the horizon that cover everything from natural disasters to taxes.
One is the prospect that its employees might decide to unionize.
"If a significant number of our employees were to become unionized and collective bargaining agreement terms were to deviate significantly from our current compensation and benefits structure," the document reads, "our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected."
Blue Apron's food-related business model also comes with some extra challenges. The company must contend with fluctuating ingredient prices, heavy health regulation, and complex supply chains.
The possibility of a food-borne illness or contamination is also raised.
The company was most recently valued at $2 billion after a $135 million funding round in 2015.Yesterday, I reported "today they're back up—check them out at http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com!
However, I'll repeat my warning that if your blog is hosted on a free platform like WordPress, someone can complain and have it turned off. Ann Corcoran reports receiving no explanation of what happened.
The latest post is
Just this morning I see a report from Philadelphia where Children’s Hospital is reporting on the Burmese refugees the hospital must clear of health problems at taxpayer expense (or is it at the expense of the hospital?):
The CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) Refugee Program works with three of the 3 resettlement agencies to care for Burmese children who come to Philadelphia within the first 30 to 60 days of their time in the U.S. CHOP physicians perform physicals, give immunizations and ensure the children will have no medical barriers to enrolling in school.
In September of 2013, Republican governor Matt Mead wrote a letter to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement expressing his intention of welcoming a resettlement program and thus making Wyoming the 50th state in the nation to invite in the UN, the US State Department, the US Dept. of Health and Human Services and a Lutheran resettlement contractor to change the demographic makeup of the state.[More]About three weeks before Freddie Gray was chased from a West Baltimore corner by three Baltimore police officers — the start of a fatal encounter — the office of prosecutor Marilyn Mosby asked police to target the intersection with "enhanced" drug enforcement efforts, court documents show.
"State's Attorney Mosby asked me to look into community concerns regarding drug dealing in the area of North Ave and Mount St," Joshua Rosenblatt, division chief of Mosby's Crime Strategies Unit, wrote in a March 17 email to a Western District police commander.
The email was disclosed for the first time Tuesday |
a lesson with the Orvis Fly Fishing School in Jackson, Wyoming please visit:
http://www.orvis.comAs we get ready to watch this year’s Vice-Presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, yet another scholar is out making the argument that would should eliminate the office they’re running for:
For two centuries, presidential nominees have used the office to balance the ticket by naming a running mate from a different region, or one who speaks with a different ideological accent to a specific constituency. This means that a president’s death generates a double shock: The nation not only mourns a fallen leader, it must deal with a replacement who may push politics in a new direction. Teddy Roosevelt — who replaced William McKinley when he was assassinated in 1901 — may have been a great progressive president, but he had been named as vice president by the arch-conservative McKinley simply to carry New York. The country elected a right-winger but ended up with something else entirely. Similar perverse logic led Abraham Lincoln to choose Andrew Johnson as a running mate. Lincoln knew that Johnson was a racial conservative, but he was more interested in carrying Tennessee. This tragic blunder clouds Lincoln’s claim to greatness. When Lincoln was killed, Johnson’s bitter opposition to Reconstruction helped poison race relations for generations. Recent elections have lulled us into a false sense of security. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush nominated like-minded, known-quantity running mates, as has Barack Obama this time around. But John McCain’s surprising choice should lead us to think again. Mexico and France see no need for a vice president. We should designate the secretary of State to be in charge until a special election can be held to replace a president.
Matthew Yglesias made pretty much the same argument in a blog post back in August while we were waiting for Barack Obama and John McCain to choose their running mates. And, Ackerman is wrong for many of the same reasons I noted that Yglesias was wrong back then:
One of the values of having a popularly elected successor to the President is that it helps to maintain a sense of democratic legitimacy to the office. If the Vice-Presidency were to be eliminated and the line of succession changed so that an unelected office holder like the Secretary of State, or one elected only by a small number of people such as the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate, would become the immediate successor to the office, the first thought that would come to the minds of many people would be — who voted for this guy?
There is, in other words, in having a Constitutional line of succession to the Presidency that starts with someone who was popularly elected in the same manner that the President was.
Justin Gardner makes a similar point in his response to Yglesias’ version of the eliminate-the-Veep argument:
I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to know who’s a heartbeat away from being President before I vote for somebody. And just because the Veep doesn’t have any big time formal responsibilities, doesn’t mean that he or she won’t soon. Especially in the cases of McCain and Obama, there are genuine fears about longevity. Also, wouldn’t people demand to know who the candidate would appoint SecState, SecDef, etc.? That whole process would then be highly politicized. No, people need to vote on the #2.
And James Joyner notes that Ackerman’s argument that we really don’t need a Vice-President doesn’t make a lot of sense in the real world:
[It is] rather like saying that football teams don’t need a backup quarterback because, after all, the other guy is likely to have a different style and we’d therefore be better off having the kicker fill in. The death of a sitting president is, as Ackerman points out, a national shock. If it comes as a result of assassination or other unnatural cause, it’s a genuine national crisis. That’s not a great time to be fumbling around for a successor, let alone scrambling to hold a special election.
And that’s exactly why we have a Vice-President to begin with.God, people around here like to say, is Brazilian – a cheery way of celebrating this country's natural beauty, bountiful resources, lovely people.
God, however, appears to be in an Old Testament phase.
Each day in Brazil of late is more dramatic than the one before, and the news is uniformly grim. There is a political crisis, an economic crisis and, as if that wasn't enough, a public-health crisis.
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The country entered uncharted territory in the past two days, as President Dilma Rousseff was implicated in the country's giant graft scandal, and her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was briefly detained by police for questioning about the same case.
There are no precedents for any of this; there is only a national mood of bewildered anxiety. Will the police interrogations be extended to the President herself? Will she resign, or be forced out? And if so – who takes over? (The Vice-President is implicated in one of the legal processes targeting the President. The third in line, the lower-house Speaker, was ordered on Thursday by the Supreme Court to stand trial on charges related to the scandal. No. 4 is the President of the Senate, who is, yes, also under investigation).
The political upheaval only serves to fuel Brazil's economic crisis: The country has careened from hottest of the emerging markets to the sharpest economic contraction in decades. GDP fell a staggering 3.8 per cent last year. Inflation and unemployment rates are rising steadily, swiftly eroding gains in social inclusion made under Mr. da Silva's time in office.
And the country is scrambling to respond to a frightening public-health mystery, in which the once-benign Zika virus has been connected to devastating fetal brain damage. The Ministry of Health has confirmed 641 cases of congenital Zika virus and is investigating another 4,222 suspected cases. There is no vaccine for Zika, no treatment for the babies and almost nothing is known about how the virus, which has been recognized for decades, has come to cause these injuries. In other times, or other places, that might be big news. Here, along with the Olympic Games set for August, it has slipped utterly off the public agenda.
"We are living through a political and ethical crisis without precedent in the republic of Brazil," Claudio Lamachia, president of the Brazilian Bar Association, told the news agency Estadao.
This political drama escalated on Thursday, when a national magazine implicated both Ms. Rousseff and Mr. da Silva in the massive corruption scandal, which is often known as Lava Jato, or Car Wash, for its police operation code name. The national news ran for almost an extra hour … there was just so much to say.
Prosecutors investigating the case allege that more than $2-billion (U.S.) in kickbacks was paid by companies, including some of the biggest names in infrastructure and construction, who were seeking contracts with the state-owned oil firm Petrobras. And, they allege, a percentage of those bribes were funnelled to politicians – while the case initially looked at the ruling Workers' Party, by now there are politicians from every major party indicted or being investigated.
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Lava Jato began in August, 2014, when a low-profile former Petrobras director, Paulo Roberto Costa, agreed to a plea bargain after he was arrested on bribery charges. Mr. Costa named names – and names, and names. The case landed in the courtroom of Sergio Moro, a federal judge in the southern state of Parana (because that's where the agent who bribed Mr. Costa first laundered money). It was driven by a team of young, male prosecutors, many of whom had studied in the United States, who are now sometimes referred to in the media as the Nine Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
From that one case, Judge Moro has become a cult figure, for his perceived fearlessness and personal rectitude. Simultaneously, he is also despised by loyalists of each party, who see him carrying out vendettas against their organization. He now presides over a Hydra-headed investigation – Friday's raids were part of "Phase 24" – unlike any in the country's history in its scale and in the way that it has moved relentlessly up the political ladder, with increasingly influential people implicated.
Until this week, Ms. Rousseff had managed to keep herself isolated from the sordid revelations. Although she was energy minister in Mr. da Silva's cabinet, and thus chair of the Petrobras board, when much of the activity under investigation allegedly occurred, she has insisted she did not know about it and no evidence has tied her to it. And she has repeatedly assured the Brazilian public that she was not interfering in the investigation and would let it play out unfettered, no matter where it led – something the prosecutors have also affirmed, that there is no pressure emanating from her office.
This week, however, her Minister of Justice, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, asked to be relieved of his post, saying he was tired of pressure from party members to intervene in the case. He moved to the job of Solicitor-General.
Then on Thursday, the magazine IstoE reported that a senator named Delcidio do Amaral, arrested on charges of interfering with the Lava Jato investigation last year, is negotiating a plea deal in which he implicates both Ms. Rousseff and Mr. da Silva. The magazine says that in a deposition, the senator, once a Rousseff confidant, reported that the President asked him to make sure that a judge she wished to appoint to one of the country's highest courts understood he must free political allies of hers who were being held in connection with Lava Jato.
Ms. Rousseff, speaking to reporters Friday afternoon, said that if it is true that Mr. do Amaral is making these allegations, it was a "an immoral and petty desire for revenge" and she categorically denied having interfered. The senator, who has not resigned his seat despite going to jail last November, issued a strange statement in which he said he did not recognize the documents the magazine posted online and that he had not been contacted by the reporter – but stopped short of making an actual denial that he was negotiating a deal. Under the law, such a deal would be void if he spoke about it.
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The allegations about the deposition have not been confirmed by any other source or media organization so far, and the magazine in question has previously reported political information found to have been untrue.
The magazine also reported that Mr. do Amaral has said he will testify that Mr. da Silva made illegal payments to a businessman convicted in a vote-buying scheme.
While the country was absorbing that allegation, news came that the Supreme Court had ruled unanimously that Eduardo Cunha, the Speaker of the lower house of Congress, must stand trial on money-laundering and corruption charges in connection with Lava Jato. The Speaker is a bombastic social conservative who is a key figure in Brazil's largest political party, and he was once a key part of Ms. Rousseff's governing coalition. Last year, as investigators closed in on him, he emerged as her nemesis, spearheading a drive to impeach her over charges that she juggled loans from public banks to cover shortfalls in the federal budget.
Mr. Cunha has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, despite published confirmation about the existence of Swiss bank accounts that he always insisted he did not have. Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot has been asking the Supreme Court since December to remove Mr. Cunha from his congressional seat, saying he is using his position to obstruct the probe into his affairs. But Mr. Cunha says he won't go.
Then came Friday, when Brazilians woke to the news that federal police had carried out an early-morning raid on the Sao Paulo home and offices of Mr. da Silva, who remains the most influential figure in the Workers' Party, and immensely popular. Police took him for questioning at an airport police station in the city and held him for three hours.
"No one is above investigation in this country," Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima, a prosecutor in the Lava Jato task force, told reporters in Parana.
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Police said they had evidence that Mr. da Silva received illicit benefits from the kickback scheme at Petrobras in the form of payments and luxury real estate, including use of a beachfront penthouse apartment. "Ex-president Lula, besides being party leader, was the one ultimately responsible for the decision on who would be the directors at Petrobras and was one of the main beneficiaries of these crimes," a statement from the prosecutors' office said on Friday morning, using the name by which Mr. da Silva is universally know here. "There is evidence that the crimes enriched him and financed electoral campaigns and the treasury of his political group."
The sight of the former president being taken away in a police car startled Brazilians, who are accustomed to politicians who flaunt their impunity, and supporters and detractors who gathered at his house began to scuffle.
When he was released three hours later, Mr. da Silva went to Workers' Party headquarters and spoke to reporters and loyalists, a vintage Lula performance in which he denied, then ridiculed, every accusation, alternately thumping the table in rage and charming with colourful metaphors.
"If they wanted to kill the jararaca [a venomous snake], they didn't hit the head, they hit the tail," he said. "The jararajca is alive, as it's always been."
Mr. da Silva's brief detention could have far-reaching consequences, and puzzled many of those who have closely followed the case. The prosecutors' decision to have police execute an "order to depose" has had the effect of sharply politicizing Lava Jato and further polarizing the country. Mr. da Silva has been questioned already in connection with the case, appearing voluntarily. "They could have sent me a communication asking me to depose, I would have gone," he said. "I felt like a prisoner this morning. Unfortunately, they preferred to be presumptuous, arrogant, to stage a pyrotechnic spectacle … They lit the flame inside me, and now the fight will go on."
Other party leaders began to talk about a "coup" and said they would call the rank and file to the streets in demonstrations in support of the 70-year-old former president, who had been seen as a leading candidate for the position in the 2018 election, and the party legacy.
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Mr. da Silva, a former union leader who grew up in extreme poverty and has a Grade 4 education, suggested that the prosecution is being driven by the discomfort of the Brazilian elite with his success, and by extension with the social upheaval in this country when millions of poor people moved into the middle class during the period of prosperity over which he presided. "Everyone can have a friend with a beach house or a farmhouse – except this shitty steel worker here," he said.
So what happens now?
Three political experts contacted by The Globe and Mail said they could not be interviewed on the topic; a leading political columnist said he could not comment because he just didn't know.
It is clear that Ms. Rousseff's opponents are determined to redouble pressure to force her out. Her popularity ratings are below 10 per cent nationally and she has few friends left within the party either.
And yet, few people believe Ms. Rousseff, who was once a Marxist guerrilla and was tortured while imprisoned by the military dictatorship, will resign.
"Perhaps in other political cultures you would have that as something expected and maybe desirable, for the good of the country," said Michael Mohallem, a professor in the law school of the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio.
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But Ms. Rousseff appears to view resignation as an admission of guilt, which she rejects – and perhaps, he added, she also believes that if the economy begins to rebound next year, she might finish her mandate with her reputation at least partially restored. (He called that an "excessively optimistic narrative.")
But the events of the past days will bring the impeachment effort to the fore again. If Ms. Rousseff is removed by impeachment, Vice-President Michel Temer of the Democratic Movement Party would in theory take over.
But separately, Brazil's electoral court is analyzing a request by the opposition to annul Ms. Rousseff's 2014 re-election, on the grounds that the campaign was financed with illegal funds. If that claim were found to be valid, and the election annulled, this would also remove Mr. Temer as Vice-President. If this happens before 2017, new elections will be called.
None of the legal processes, Prof. Mohallem noted, will happen quickly. And in the meantime, Congress is stalemated, and by extension so is much of government.
"Unless there is a quick victory for one of these sides, the country will be paralyzed for a long time," said Wagner Romao, professor of political science at State University of Campinas. "And we have to think about how good a fast decision would be for this democracy – is it better to get out of this crisis fast? Or to preserve democratic institutions?"
And the paralysis, in turn, prevents action on the economy. The commodity prices that drove the boom have collapsed. A Workers' Party intervention based on giving big companies cheap credit was a failure. But Mr. Cunha, the Speaker with the Swiss bank accounts, has steadfastly blocked Ms. Rousseff's efforts to pass economic-reform legislation.
In the way of such things, the darkening of her political prospects has bolstered financial markets. Bovespa, the Sao Paulo bourse, finished the week up 18 per cent, its biggest gain since 2008. The real, which had lost more than 70 per cent of its value in the year from September, 2014, sinking to a low of 4.2 against the U.S. dollar, strengthened to 3.8 on Friday. The value of Petrobras stock rose 48 per cent this week.
But none of that matters much right now. On Friday, the leading financial publication, Valor, updated a blog it runs for investors. "Forget the Fed, China and balance sheets; the plunging GDP, the fiscal deficit and the inflation rate being beyond the target," Fernando Torres wrote. "The 24th phase of Lava Jato – that's the news."
With reports from Manuela Andreoni
MAIN EVENTS IN BRAZIL CORRUPTION PROBE
March 20, 2014
Federal police arrest the former head of Petrobras's refining and supply department, Paulo Roberto Costa, the result of an investigation that started when they noticed Mr. Costa had been given a Range Rover car by convicted black-market money changer Alberto Youssef.
Aug. 22, 2014
Mr. Costa signs a plea-bargain deal with prosecutors, agreeing to explain the corruption scheme and name beneficiaries in exchange for a lighter sentence. Plea bargains become a cornerstone of the investigation.
Dec. 11, 2014
Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol declares war on corruption in Brazil in a nationally televised news conference.
March 6, 2015
Brazil's Supreme Court says it will investigate the Speakers of both houses of Congress and 32 other sitting politicians in connection with the Petrobras scheme.
April 15, 2015
Police arrest the treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party, Joao Vaccari, moving the investigation closer to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's inner circle.
May 26, 2015
Nestor Cervero, former international director of Petrobras, is sentenced to five years in jail for money laundering.
June 19, 2015
Brazilian police arrest the chief executive of the country's largest construction company, Marcelo Odebrecht, head of family-run conglomerate Odebrecht SA.
July 14, 2015
Federal police carry out search-and-seizure operations at the home of Senator and former president Fernando Collor de Mello, the first such operation targeting a sitting politician.
July 16, 2015
Federal prosecutors open a formal inquiry into whether former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva improperly used his connections overseas to benefit Odebrecht after leaving office.
Aug. 20, 2015
Prosecutors in Brasilia charge Eduardo Cunha, the Speaker of Brazil's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, with taking a $5-million (U.S.) bribe related to two drill-ships contracts.
Sept. 30, 2015
Switzerland provides Brazilian prosecutors with Swiss bank accounts in Mr. Cunha's name.
Nov. 25, 2015
Police jail Senator Delcidio do Amaral, Ms. Rousseff's point man in the Federal Senate, and billionaire banker Andre Esteves, the CEO of Brazil's biggest independent investment bank, on suspicion of obstructing the investigation.
Jan. 29, 2016
Prosecutors in Sao Paulo call Lula and his wife to testify in a money-laundering investigation of beachfront apartments that may have been used as bribes. The testimony was later suspended.
March 3
The magazine IstoE reports Mr. do Amaral, the senator who was arrested the previous November, testified in a plea bargain that Ms. Rousseff and Lula helped install widespread graft in state oil company Petrobras and have repeatedly tried to thwart the investigation.
March 4
Police briefly detain Lula, family members and Workers' Party loyalists.Oh, how I wish I’d come up with Matt Taibbi’s description of Goldman Sachs as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” A prescient lad, he said that even before the revelations this past week about “The Big Short”. Seems these very shrewd operators basically: 1) made a bunch of loans to people they knew had a very good chance of defaulting; 2) bundled them into a security that they noodged Moody’s and Standard and Poors to rate AAA; 3) sold them to unsuspecting investors as a solid investment; and 4) shorted them so that when the price fell, they’d clean up. In fact, the only way they could have lost money would have been for the loans to be repaid. Thus they not only screwed the poor schmucks who couldn’t repay loans (remember the sliding rates that went up after a few years? Let’s stack the deck while we’re at it.) But they screwed their clients.
And when the bottom fell out, they screwed everybody. Lloyd Blankfein–who has an eerie resemblance to Erich von Stroheim, the “Man You Love To Hate”–claims he was doing God’s work, but for the life of me, Blankfein’s God has little to do with any modern God I know–more like Cthulhu (and we’re back to great vampire squids). Senator Dodd from Arkham has heard the call of Cthulhu and has busily crafted a financial reform bill that keeps the monsters and their derivatives intact–it seems mostly concerned with restoring the power of the regulators to wank instead of work and watch internet porn. Not break up the banks that bet AGAINST AMERICANS.
Most recently, Blankfein has had the gall to tell us that if we break up the banks, we will weaken America. Like the worst economic crisis since Black Friday didn’t do that already. Maybe he meant it in relative terms. After all, they broke the economy of the entire world–maybe America would have come out ahead on the deal.
If we’d shorted it.
CommentsPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon's Hezbollah on Wednesday against attacking Israel, after the organization's leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to take over the Galilee.
"Nasrallah declared today that he will conquer the Galilee," Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents. "I have news for you. He won't."
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addressing supporters at a rally Wednesday marking the anniversary of Imad Mughniyeh’s death. Reuters
He stressed that "the army is strong and the people are united."
"Anyone hiding in the bunker will stay in the bunker, and would do well not to doubt Israel's ability to defend itself," the prime minister added.
Netanyahu's comments came in response to Nasrallah's earlier statements, in which the Hezbollah leader threatened to take over northern Israel and assassinate Israeli leaders. "I say to the fighters of the Islamic Resistance: Be ready. If a new war is imposed on Lebanon we may ask you to take Galilee, to free Galilee," he said. "I hope the people of Israel have good bomb shelters."
Nasrallah also vowed that the death of Imad Mughnieh, killed in a February 2008 car bombing also blamed on Israel, would not be forgotten or go unpunished.
"To the Zionist generals, I say: Anywhere you go in the world, at any time, watch out, for the blood of Imad Mughnieh will not go to waste," he said.
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Meanwhile, In a statement that has no precedent since Jordan and Israel forged a peace agreement, the Hashemite Kingdom's new justice minister, Hussein Mjali, has called Israel an "enemy state and a terror state."
Interviewed by the Jordanian newspaper Al Arab Al Yawm, Mjali declared: "Israel is a terror state and a penal state which destroys things every day. These facts explain Israel's position with regard to the freeing of the Jordanian soldier Ahmad Dakamseh."
The reference was to the Jordanian soldier who murdered seven Israeli young women in 1997 at Naharayim. Jordan's justice minister stated: "Proof of the need to free Dakamseh is the fact that Israel fears his release. This is a terroristic, enemy state; and as a people, we must stand united against Israel."
Mjali clarified that he expressed his own views in this interview and not those of the Jordanian government. He added that the issue of Dakamseh's release is not dependent on him or the government, but rather upon King Abdullah II, who has the authority to pardon the imprisoned soldier. According to a Jordanian diplomatic source quoted in this report, a senior official in Jordan's embassy in Israel explained to Israeli officials that the justice minister's view is his alone, and that the Jordanian government has not discussed the topic of the imprisoned soldier.
Dakamseh murdered seven young Israeli women from Beit Shemesh and wounded five others in 1997. The victims were on a school outing at the Naharayim enclave. The soldier emptied two rifle cartridges, before other Jordanian soldiers apprehended him. Following this attack, King Hussein visited Beit Shemesh and apologized to the bereaved families. Jordan's current justice minister served as Dakamseh's attorney during his trial; the soldier was sentenced to a life term.
Widespread unrest continued across the Middle East today, with opposition activists staging protests in Bahrain and in Lybia, where thousands clashed with police in the coastal city of Benghazi and activists called for a popular "day of rage" today against the regime. In Egypt, labor strikes continued throughout the country, despite the military government's demand to stop all strike actions immediately. Opposition activists called for a rally in Cairo on Friday, both to mark a week since president Hosni Mubarak's resignation and to remind the military leaders that theirs was a transitional government only.Roger Penske says his V8 Supercars team must prove itself on track before aggressively pursuing new manufacturer backing.
The team has so far been unable to convince Ford to reverse its decision to exit the championship, despite the Penske empire’s strong links with the company’s global bosses.
Penske arrived in Australia for the recent Barbagallo meeting to the news that Volvo will also withdraw at the end of this year, further throwing the spotlight on the category’s value to the industry.
American business mogul Penske is involved with upwards of 50 automotive brands through his dealership networks in the US and says Volvo’s decision was purely business.
“It’s not a surprise to me when you think that Volvo is Chinese owned,” Penske told Speedcafe.com.
“They’re trying to bring that brand back. People look at budgets and marketing value in any particular market.
“These decisions are made at a high level. We are emotional about racing and say ‘why wouldn’t anyone want to go racing’.
“But when you’re looking at budget and trying to build the next new car you look at all your costs
“It was a business decision and obviously it’s a disappointment to the team that’s lost them, but we’re here and we’re going to go racing.
“We didn’t count on it (manufacturer backing) when we came here, so we’re building our base of our sponsorship without the manufacturer.
“Obviously we’d like to see some support, but the current management (at Ford Australia) feels that the value is created with other expenditures within the market place.
“I think if you look at GM (General Motors) and Ford, their penetration here is lower than in the past, so I think they’re focussing on other things to grow their market share.”
While Penske’s reputation makes his team an obvious target for any manufacturer looking to enter the sport, the racing veteran insists that his V8 Supercars squad must earn its own stripes before aggressively going to market.
Penske’s primary reason for buying into Dick Johnson Racing was to grow his trucking and power systemes interests in Australia, using V8 Supercars events to entertain clients and customers.
“To be honest I don’t think we have a book that we can go someplace with and say ‘here’s what we’ve done here, invest in us’,” he said when asked if talks with manufacturers are taking place.
“I think we need to have some success and have a track record so we can go to someone and say ‘we’re the team you want to be associated with’.
“In the meantime we’ve taken the benefit of our own businesses and we’re using those businesses to help us grow through the relationship with V8 Supercars.”
Although declining to be drawn into the specifics of V8 Supercars’ Gen2 plans, Penske notes the importance of understanding what fans, not just manufacturers, want when shaping the category’s future.
“I think we’ve got to be sure that we’ve got a product where there’s excitement,” he said of the category’s future direction.
“I’m sure that (James) Warburton (V8 Supercars CEO) and his team are communicating with the fans and finding out what they want.
“We’re a US based company with international operations.
“We’re not part of the rule making, so with Gen2 and Gen3, we have to see what’s coming and react accordingly.
“I would assume that no matter what it is we want to be here and we want to be successful.
“One of my goals right now is to be the team to beat at some time in the next couple of years.”The administration has ordered agents to begin ignoring many of the illegal immigrants they encounter in prisons and jails, as President Obama begins to implement a lesser-known part of his deportation amnesty policy — though his program isn’t sitting well with either side of the immigration debate.
In a nod to so-called sanctuary cities, the president’s policy prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from targeting most illegal immigrants for deportation, including most of those who come into contact with state and local police.
Agents can still troll jails and prisons, but are told to no longer go after illegal immigrants with offenses such as drug possession, theft or fraud if it involved stealing an identity to try to further their unlawful presences in the U.S., according to details of the policy released Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee.
Even some illegal immigrants who are charged with serious felonies but are released by local authorities won’t be picked up by immigration agents until they are convicted, the committee said.
“President Obama is needlessly endangering our communities,” committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, said in a statement announcing his findings on the program. “It’s past time for the Obama Administration to get its priorities straight and protect the American people instead of their political interests.”
Mr. Obama announced the policy as part of his Nov. 20 amnesty, but details of what the Homeland Security Department dubbed the Priority Enforcement Program are just emerging.
The program replaces Secure Communities, a George W. Bush-era program that the Obama administration embraced as a way to boost deportation numbers while focusing on criminals rather than on rank-and-file illegal immigrants who hadn’t had serious run-ins with the law.
Under Secure Communities, ICE agents and officers scoured prisons, jails and booking sheets for illegal immigrants they could deport.
Immigrant rights advocates argued that Secure Communities was poisoning relations between police and legal and illegal immigrants, making Hispanics in particular fear interactions with authorities and making them less likely to report crime altogether. That made them more susceptible to become victims, undercutting public safety goals, the advocates said.
They also said the administration was deporting illegal immigrants charged with or convicted of minor offenses such as traffic violations.
The advocates won victory after victory in city and county councils and even some state legislatures, as lawmakers passed legislation prohibiting police from honoring detainer requests from ICE, which asked local police to hold illegal immigrants for pickup.
Some federal courts ruled that the detainers weren’t binding because federal agents showed no probable cause, meaning immigrants were being detained in violation of their constitutional rights.
Mr. Obama bowed to the court rulings and political pressure. He scrapped Secure Communities in November and announced the replacement Priority Enforcement Program.
Under the program, agents will ignore many of the illegal immigrants they encounter and will change the type of cooperation they request from state and local police. Agents generally won’t ask a department to hold an immigrant who otherwise would be released, but instead will ask to be notified so they can be on hand for the release and have the immigrant transferred.
In limited instances, agents will still issue detainer requests, but will have to assert probable cause so police have a reason to detain people beyond their normal release dates.
“ICE will only seek transfer of individuals in state and local custody in specific, limited circumstances. ICE will only issue a detainer where an individual fits within DHS’s narrower enforcement priorities and ICE has probable cause that the individual is removable,” the agency said in a brochure describing the program. “In many cases, rather than issue a detainer, ICE will instead request notification (at least 48 hours, if possible) of when an individual is to be released. ICE will use this time to determine whether there is probable cause to conclude that the individual is removable.”
ICE Director Sarah R. Saldana told Congress last week that the program is winning converts among police departments that balked at Secure Communities. She said it’s better to cooperate with communities than to be adversaries.
“That’s what we’re working towards, and that’s how we got Los Angeles to say they’d cooperate with us, and Contra Costa as well in California, and we’re working with several other jurisdictions,” she said. “Always best to try to get people to come to the table to discuss matters than to force things down their throats.”
Ms. Saldana ran into trouble this year when she told Congress that she would welcome a law ordering sanctuary cities and counties to cooperate, saying it endangers public safety and her agents’ lives to have some of the illegal immigrant criminals released.
Hours later, after having been contacted by her superiors, Ms. Saldana retracted her statement, saying she didn’t believe it made sense to order locals to cooperate.
Immigrant rights advocates say the Priority Enforcement Program is still a problem because agents can issue detainers, even if they do it less often. The advocates warned that police who comply with the requests are still risking legal problems with the courts.
“PEP creates a trap for unwary local law enforcement agencies, which will be subject to legal liability should they choose to participate,” said Jessica Karp Bansal, litigation director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Nasadiya Sukta "Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?" RV 10.129.6 (trans. O'Flaherty 1981)[1]
The Nasadiya Sukta (after the incipit ná ásat, or "not the non-existent"), also known as the Hymn of Creation, is the 129th hymn of the 10th mandala of the Rigveda (10:129). It is concerned with cosmology and the origin of the universe.[2]
The hymn that immediately follows (10.130) deals with the origin of sacrifice and similarly refers to a creator figure, puṃs "the Man", identified with Prajāpati by Sāyana.[3]
Interpretations [ edit ]
The hymn has attracted a large body of literature of commentaries both in Indian darsanas and in Western philology.[4] The hymn, as Mandala 10 in general, is late within the Rigveda Samhita, and expresses thought more typical of later Indian philosophy.[5] Even though untypical of the content of the Vedic hymns, it is one of the most widely received portions of the Rigveda. An atheist interpretation sees the Creation Hymn as one of the earliest accounts of skeptical inquiry and agnosticism.[6] Astronomer Carl Sagan quoted it in discussing India's "tradition of skeptical questioning and unselfconscious humility before the great cosmic mysteries."[7]
The text begins by paradoxically stating "not the non-existent existed, nor did the existent exist then" (ná ásat āsīt ná u sát āsīt tadânīm), paralleled in verse 2 by "then not death existed, nor the immortal" (ná mṛtyúḥ āsīt amŕtam ná tárhi). But already in verse 2 mention is made that there was "breathing without breath, of its own nature, that one" ânīt avātám svadháyā tát ékam). In verse 3, being unfolds, "from heat (tapas) was born that one" (tápasaḥ tát mahinâ ajāyata ékam). Verse 4 mentions desire (kāma) as the primal seed, and the first poet-seers (kavayas) who "found the bond of being within non-being with their heart's thought".
Karel Werner describes the author's source for the material as one not derived from reasoning, but a "visionary, mystical or Yogic experience put into words." Werner writes that prior |
there been progress in any of these areas? 1b) Have there been or planned to be any program specific meetings? 2) ODE vs OSM 3) Incorporation 4) Web page organization I hope to see you all soon on the IRC channel. Join in if even to just say "hi". Go here through a web browser, which is also as a link on the top bar under "Get Involved" at http://www.cstart.org: http://webchat.freenode.net/?c…..ls=#cstart For IM clients: server: chat.freenode.net port: 6667
8:17 am
January 21, 2011
J. Simmons Dayton, OH, USA Member posts 46 12 0 I'll see if I can make it tonight. Speaking of ODE, while doing some follow up research on redmine, I came across a free redmine hosting site. Greg and I setup a demo project on it using material from his senior design project (a hybrid motor sounding rocket). You can see it here: https://www.hostedredmine.com/projects/byrd-rocket Note, hostedredmine.com is a pretty vanilla install of redmine (no version control system hosting, have to get that from third party), but I think this can still make an interesting test case for the features. Especially in a side by side comparison. I am also thinking about contacting one or more of the redmine consultants to get some feedback about how much it would cost to get the project started as contract work in lieu of waiting for the right people to come along. That will probably happen sometime next week. Founder Mach 30, Inc. and Friend of CSTART
2:53 am
January 24, 2011
rpulkrabek Member posts 349 13 0 We
had yet again a successful meeting last weekend. The main objective was to regroup after a relatively long break and determine what the organization should do next. Here are the meeting minutes. Here is the chat log. We discussed the current status of
Program Chimera (hybrid rocket, name OHKLA) and Program Cloudlab
(high altitude weather balloon), the current status of ODE and
briefly discussed about the webpage. Generally speaking, Program Chimera and
Cloudlab are moving forward. Chimera is still overcoming some
analysis issues, which will then lead to design decisions. Cloudlab
is ordering some Nichrome wire to test a cutdown system and has
decided on a system based on a beagle board. ODE has had some progress where a test
with Redmine as a hosting site has been performed. A test with Basie
is also now underway. There have been concerns in the past that the
quality of the code should evaluated. Those that are interested
should then take a look. Make a forum post to ask how this can be
done. We came to the conclusion that the
website needs a makeover. The best way to handle this is to have a
specific meeting to discuss the website. As far as I know, only
Rizwan and Luke have privileges to handle this. Luke and Rizwan, can we set up a
meeting to discuss what to do with the website?
3:58 am
January 24, 2011
Luke Maurits Adelaide, Australia Admin posts 1483 14 0 Thanks very much for posting the log and minutes, rpulrabek. I'm very sorry I wasn't at this meeting just gone – I am trying to get involved in CSTART where I can but now is a very busy time, a lot of my weekends are used preparing for my likely impending move overseas. I will do my best to make it to the meeting on the website, as I agree this is a huge priority – nobody except the inner core of CSTART knows much about what is going on in the projects because there is almost no high visibility communication with the "public". This must change. I am extremely interested to know more about these new directions with CloudLab, especially the change from Arduino (although that was always tentative) to BeagleBoard. Brmj, if you have the time to make a post briefly summarising recent developments in CloudLab I'd be extremely keen to read it. Main CLLARE workgroups: Mission Planning, Navigation and Guidance. I do maths, physics, C, Python and Java.
11:47 pm
January 24, 2011
rpulkrabek Member posts 349 15 0 Luke Maurits said: I will do my best to make it to the meeting on the website, as I agree this is a huge priority – nobody except the inner core of CSTART knows much about what is going on in the projects because there is almost no high visibility communication with the "public". This must change. I think the timing of this meeting depends on you and Rizwan. We won't have it unless you can participate.
10:28 pm
February 3, 2011
J. Simmons Dayton, OH, USA Member posts 46 16 0 I was just reviewing my schedule for the weekend, and I have a note that there should be a CSTART meeting this weekend. Is that correct? Founder Mach 30, Inc. and Friend of CSTART
2:16 am
February 17, 2011
rpulkrabek Member posts 349 17 0 J. Simmons said: I was just reviewing my schedule for the weekend, and I have a note that there should be a CSTART meeting this weekend. Is that correct? Well, maybe a meeting would have been good. I was away at the time. What disappoints me is that since I was gone, there has been no development. I can't be the only one to do anything for this organization to succeed. I see now that the wiki is full of spam. It seems we have lost our way. I am not giving up, though. I will continue to work on OHKLA and I will continue to submit my progress. I will also continue to implement any new ideas from the community.President Donald Trump concluded a 17-day working vacation with a return to a changed White House on Sunday evening.
Trump, at the South Portico, said “that’s too bad” when asked by VOA about the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain being involved in a collision with a merchant ship off the coast of Singapore.
The president, with Vice President Mike Pence alongside, then walked the Colonnade into the newly renovated West Wing.
While Trump was away, a $3.4-million renovation was completed. It included improving the information technology system, placing new carpeting in West Wing rooms, including the Oval Office, and fixing leaks (of the liquid kind) in the press offices.
The most significant alteration, however, was the removal of chief strategist Stephen Bannon from the White House.
Bannon had clashed with members of Trump’s inner circle, including his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who are both employed as advisors to the president.
Trump hopes to move beyond news headlines about his remarks made Tuesday that drew a moral equivalency between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators following a white supremacist rally and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12.
“Heading back to Washington after working hard and watching some of the worst and most dishonest Fake News reporting I have ever seen!” the president said on Twitter just prior to his scheduled return to the White House.
No one from the administration appeared on the Sunday television news talk shows to defend the president or discuss the ramifications of Bannon’s ouster.
Trump campaign deputy manager David Bossie, on Fox News Sunday, tried to allay concerns among conservatives that West Wing feuding is damaging the president’s political agenda.
“In every presidency there are factions,” he said. There’s no difference here.”
Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican, who has been critical of the president on a number of issues, appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, said he wanted to see Trump “get it together.”
“The changes have to stop, and we have to have a team,” Kasich said. “You can't keep putting new people in the lineup and think you're going to win a world championship.”
Civil tension in the United States has increased since Trump’s Tuesday remarks.
An estimated 40,000 counter-demonstrators showed up in Boston on Saturday to confront far-right groups staging a so-called “free speech rally.” Only a few dozen, at most, showed up for the event, which ended early. Police say about 30 arrests were made for disorderly conduct and assault.
The president is scheduled to be in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday evening for a political rally. The city’s mayor has asked Trump to postpone the event, fearing the possibility of clashes between ultra-conservative supporters of the president and those who plan to protest the president’s visit.
At the event, Trump is widely expected to make remarks about Arizona politics as well as talk about his plans build a border wall. The president has criticized both of the Republican senators from the state and is considering issuing a pardon for the 85-year-old former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a hardliner on immigration, who was recently convicted of contempt of court by a federal judge.
Ohio Governor Kasich said he hopes Trump would use the Phoenix event “as an opportunity to say something that's going to bring people together.”
Before heading to Arizona, the president on Monday evening will go to a nearby army base in northern Virginia to announce his decision on force levels for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
The subject was discussed Friday at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland where the president, along with Vice President Mike Pence, met with Defense Secretary James Mattis, the National Security Advisor, Lt. General H.R. McMaster, and others.
The president earlier this year authorized the defense secretary to determine the troop numbers for Afghanistan. Mattis is believed to favor sending several thousand more American troops to strengthen the effort to advise Afghan forces as they push back against gains made by the Taliban, the Islamic State and other militant groups.
On his way to the Middle East on Sunday, Mattis told reporters he “was not willing to make significant troop lifts until we made certain we knew what was the strategy, what was the commitment going in. In that regard, the president has made a decision, as he said. He wants to be the one to announce it to the American people, so I'll stand silent until then.”Play 01:43 Play 01:43 Ugra: Shastri's future role undefined
The BCCI is contemplating appointing separate head coaches for Test and limited-overs formats for the India team. Its official position, as revealed by board secretary Anurag Thakur, was that it would appoint a coach before the South Africa series in October and the cricket advisory committee has been given the freedom to decide on the structure of the coaching staff, but ESPNcricinfo understands the position may be split.
According to board insiders, the BCCI over the last month has approached at least half a dozen overseas candidates. None of them have been forthcoming to accept the full-time role, primarily for two reasons: most of them are associated with a Twenty20 franchise or league and wouldn't like to part ways with a lucrative short-term assignment.
The other factor that has worked against attracting an overseas candidate is the BCCI's emphasis on not letting a foreign coach get assistants of his choice. Instead, the BCCI has stressed that the head coach will have to work with Indian assistant coaches.
It has resulted in eligible overseas coaches being apprehensive of taking charge. The BCCI is understood to have been in touch with three recently-retired cricketers - all of whom have assumed coaching responsibilities with T20 franchises. The high-profile cricket advisory committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman is likely to interact with them over the coming fortnight.
Thakur hinted that team director Ravi Shastri would remain in contention, but stressed it would be up to the advisory committee to formalise the structure and the number of coaching staff required.
"I think it is very important to have a full-time coach for any team. We have taken some time to decide and most probably in the month of September, we will finalise the coach," Thakur said in a chat with Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar during the lunch break of India's second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday on Sony Six.
"[Ravi] Shastri is holding the position of the director for the last few months and he has done well with the Indian cricket team, the boys have given us a good feedback about him, so the only issue is if we want a full-time coach then what would be the set-up. We can't be having 10 people with the Indian cricket team.
"So we have left it to the cricket advisory committee to decide how many people will be required, how many coaches will be required, whether a bowling coach, a batting coach, a full-time coach or a director. Let them take a call, come back to BCCI in September and before the South Africa series, I can assure you that we will take a call on that."
Shastri continues to be a contender for one of the positions. Thakur and Shastri, team director for almost a year, are believed to have discussed the roadmap in a meeting in Colombo on Thursday. With Shastri having developed a good rapport with India Test captain Virat Kohli, he could well continue to look after the Test team while the new coach may be in charge of ODIs and T20s.
Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Famous Scholars Shaykh Yunus Jaunpuri (RA) Passed Away on 10/07/2017. His Childhood Collegue and another famous Scholar from Madina Shaykh Ismail Badat passed away the same day. What a huge loss to the Ummah!
Shaykh Yunus Jaunpuri never had a website or Facebook page or video of his addresses yet a number of Muslims showed up for his funeral which shows the true love of his students towards him. Indeed he was one of those gems which are very hard to find. The kind of knowledge he had about hadiths was highly impressive as he has given half a decade for the knowledge of Sunnah. And following sunnah and teaching it to others carries a great amount of reward on the day of judgment.
Local Newspaper reports that Nearly 1 million people performed Janazah Salah on Shaykh Yunus led by his son Mawlan Talha. This Reminds of Janazah of Imams Ahmed (800k) & Ibn Taymiya (200k). Subhan Allah!
Shaykh Yunus Jaunpuri was a Hadeeth Scholar(A Muhaddith ) from India and dedicated all his life for the cause of spreading the knowledge of Hadiths. His age was almost 80 years old and he spent most of his life in Mazahir Al-Ulum in Saharanpur located in India.
Shaykh Yunus (RA)has been teaching the Sahih of Imam al-Bukhari for over forty years at the famed Islamic seminary, Mazahir-e-‘Ulum in Saharanpur (UP, India) after having been appointed to do so by his noble teacher and Shaykh.In a post from Pearls of the Elders, Excerpts from the biographies, sayings and writings of the ‘Ulama of Deoband, Shaykh Yunus (RA) has been described as a scholar who remained preoccupied with hadith from the beginning and has immersed himself in it.“He himself related: ‘Whenever I receive money from someone, I purchase books on hadith with it. Whenever my respected teacher Qutb al-‘Arab wa ’l-‘Ajam [Imam Shaykh al-Hadith Mawlana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi] offered me money as a gift, I would use it to purchase some of his works.’”
Here is a Glimpse of His Janaza :
Letter of condolences from Madina’s Tayyibah university to the family, teachers and students of Muhaddith al Asr Yunus
May Allah grant them high level in Jannatul Firdaus.The federal court has released its much anticipated decision in Voltage Pictures v. Does, a case involving demands that TekSavvy, a leading independent ISP, disclose the identities of roughly 2,000 subscribers alleged to have downloaded movies without authorization. The case attracted significant attention for several reasons: it is the first major “copyright troll” case in Canada involving Internet downloading (the recording industry previously tried unsuccessfully to sue 29 alleged file sharers), the government sought to discourage these file sharing lawsuits against individuals by creating a $5,000 liability cap for non-commercial infringement, TekSavvy ensured that affected subscribers were made aware of the case and CIPPIC intervened to ensure the privacy issues were considered by the court. Copies of all the case documents can be found here.
The court set the tone for the decision by opening with the following quote from a U.S. copyright case:
“the rise of so-called ‘copyright trolls’ – plaintiffs who file multitudes of lawsuits solely to extort quick settlements – requires courts to ensure that the litigation process and their scarce resources are not being abused.”
The court was clearly sensitive to the copyright troll concern, noting that “given the issues in play the answers require a delicate balancing of privacy rights versus the rights of copyright holders. This is especially so in the context of modern day technology and users of the Internet.”
So how did the court strike the balance?
In short, by issuing a split decision. The court ruled that Voltage Pictures had met the legal standard for an order to disclose subscriber names and addresses, but it established a series of conditions and protections that extend far beyond previous cases. The conditions include court oversight of the “demand letter” that will be sent to subscribers, with a Case Management Judge assigned to review and approve its contents before being sent to any subscriber. Moreover, the letter must include a message in bold type that “no Court has yet made a determination that such subscriber has infringed or is liable in any way for payment of damages.”
The win for Voltage Pictures is the order to disclose the subscriber names and addresses. The court felt bound by the Federal Court of Appeal Sony BMG case, which established that a “bona fide” claim is the standard needed for a court order (CIPPIC had argued for a higher “prima facie” standard). The court found that Voltage met the bona fide standard based on its statement of claim.
While Voltage argued that should be the end of the issue and privacy issues should not be a concern, the court was extremely troubled by the prospect of copyright trolling. It stated:
“This [Voltage’s position] would be an acceptable position but for the spectre raised of the ‘copyright troll’ as it applies to these cases and the mischief that is created by compelling the TekSavvy’s of the world to reveal private information about their customers. There is also the very real spectre of flooding the Court with an enormous number of cases involving the subscribers many of whom have perfectly good defences to the alleged infringement. Finally, the damages against individual subscribers even on a generous consideration of the Copyright Act damage provisions may be miniscule compared to the cost, time and effort in pursuing a claim against the subscriber.“
Having cited the dangers of copyright trolling (and noted the limited damages available in these cases), the court canvassed the caselaw in the U.S. and the U.K. and identified principles that go beyond prior Canadian caselaw. First, where there is compelling evidence of “improper motive” of a plaintiff, the court might consider denying the motion entirely. Second, if such evidence is unavailable, there are numerous safeguards that can be established.
In this case, the court ruled that there is some evidence that Voltage has been engaged in litigation which may have an improper purposes, but not enough to deny the motion altogether. Instead, the court ordered release of the subscriber names and addresses with the following safeguards:
the case will be managed by a Case Management Judge
TekSavvy will only disclose subscriber name and address information
Voltage will pay all reasonable legal costs incurred by TekSavvy before the release of any information
the demand letter to subscribers will include a copy of the court order and “clearly state in bold type that no court has yet made a determination that such subscriber has infringed or is liable in any way for payment of damages”
the contents of the demand letter will be approved by the parties (including CIPPIC) and the Case Management Judge
any further cases brought against subscribers will also be case managed
the information released by TekSavvy will remain confidential, will not be disclosed to other parties, and will not be used for other purposes. The information will not be disclosed to the general public or the media.
The safeguards are significant, since they ensure the active involvement of the courts in the sending of demand letters and likely eliminate unwarranted scare tactics about potential liability. Moreover, given the cap on liability and the increased legal costs the court involvement will create, it calls into question whether copyright trolling litigation is economically viable in Canada. The federal court was clearly anxious to discourage such tactics and its safeguards certainly make such actions less likely.Continue Reading Below Advertisement
How the hell did they get him up there for that meeting, and how did they expect to get him back down once they broke for lunch? He's too freaking big to ride the elevator we see the other characters use.
Orion Pictures
"Guys, this... this isn't going to happen."
The only way they could've gotten him to the top floor is if he were assembled entirely in the boardroom like a ship in a bottle. Once the meeting is explosively adjourned, he could've maybe parachuted out the window, but there's no way ED-209 is taking that tiny glass peanut whistle of an elevator down to the ground floor to turn in his valet ticket.
Orion Pictures
"Five bucks? I was here for 10 minutes!"
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Also, this is a technologically advanced future city, policed by robot centurions manufactured by OCP, the wealthiest company in the world, and yet OCP still uses a freaking stenographer at their board meetings?
Orion Pictures
"Let's start by reviewing last quarter's profits. Everyone get out your adding machines."
It's not like the idea of tape recorders was too far-fetched for the writers of this movie. The ability to record random shit that people say comes preloaded on RoboCop's hard drive like Windows, so OCP clearly recognized how useful that is. And they're obviously not worried about having a record of their meetings, because they have a person in attendance whose specific purpose is to write down everything that is being said. Why don't they just have RoboCop sit in on every meeting and keep the minutes?
Orion Pictures
In OCP's defense, their "robots in the workplace" policy needs some adjustments.
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Later, we see RoboCop visit the computer archives of the police station, which for some reason has a terminal that can be accessed only by RoboCop punching it with his data-harvesting daggerfist.
Orion Pictures
"Read the file? What an amusing concept. No, fellow officer, RoboCop stabs the knowledge he requires."
RoboCop can use a keyboard just like anyone else -- why take the time to design a completely new system that precisely one law enforcement official in the entire world can use? Even more baffling is the fact that several people try to stop RoboCop from entering, insisting that he isn't allowed to be back there. If he's not allowed to be in the police archives, why did they install a terminal that only he is capable of operating? That's like buying a bunch of Super Nintendo games for your Sega Genesis.
Orion Pictures
"This is bullshit. I just want to play NBA Jam."
More importantly, RoboCop is a fucking robot -- the entire purpose behind his creation is to make an exponentially more efficient police officer. Shouldn't he be able to remotely access the database with his robot brain whenever he feels like it? Having to drunk-shuffle your way down to a basement to solve mysteries is the opposite of efficiency.
Orion Pictures
"Everyone stand back. I have robotic police work to attend to."
While rewatching Face/Off for this column, Tom was suddenly reminded that there was a brief period wherein an $80 million action movie with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage was a smart investment. Read his novel Stitches and follow him on Twitter and Tumblr.Despite decades of cancer warnings and an overabundance of skin care products, people still spent the summer soaking in the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But a New York-based artist decided to try a different tactic and show people what human skin looks like in UV light.
In a YouTube video highlighting the stunt, artist Thomas Leveritt asks people to peer into a camera. When doing so, they see their own faces emblazoned with some of the sun’s not-too-flattering effects, such as freckles and other skin irritations, thanks to the use of a UV camera.
More suprising, perhaps, is what a dab of sunscreen does to UV rays—you have to see it to believe it.
Only time will tell if Leveritt’s experiment will finally give potential skin cancer victims a much-needed wake-up call. After all, people are, in general, creatures of habit. In the meantime, perhaps the message will get across if we oversaturate this particular Throwback Thursday with a reminder of just how truly unforgiving a sun can be.
Photo via gifstache.com
Photo by yopuz/Flickr (CC BY SA-2.0)Those who updated to the latest Dev build on Chromebook the other day discovered a sexy new Getting Started screen of Chrome OS. I got to play with this and capture some screenshots for you all. So, here you go!
…and there is a surprise at the end of the page.
Getting Started With Your Chromebook
The intro page is well designed, and full of simple instructions supported by nice screen captures and pictures. It is a pleasant experience going through them. First, the welcome screen.
It says, “Welcome to your Chrome OS device. Lets check out some of the cool new stuff” and give you the menu to discover more. Let’s explore them one by one.
The New Chrome OS Interface : Introducing the new aura UI and explains main icons on your screen.
Apps that work offline: For those times when you’re not conected to the internet, there are a whole set of apps designed to work offline. Just look for the Runs Offline badge on the Chrome Web Store
Good To Know: There’s a lot of awesome stuff about the web, but its good to know a few tips and tricks to protect yourself. Head on over to google.com/goodtoknow to learn more
Edit and Share Photos: This section introduces the new inbuilt image editor and its major features. A “Send to picasa” icon is also hilighted.
Master your Touchpad:Learn how to use Chromebook touchpad and try them on Chrome Logo on the screen.. This is the most useful part of this Getting Started guide.
Change your Wallpaper: The most exciting part, if you have used Chrome OS or Chromebook in its earlier days. To change your wallpaper, go to: Wrench > Settings > Appearance > Set wallpaper… Or just right-click on the desktop and select “Set wallpaper…”
What are Web Apps?: Applications for Chromebooks are called “web apps.” They live on the web and are always up-to-date. Simply install them once and never worry about them again. Your Chromebook comes pre-installed with a great set of default web apps. If you want more, just head on over to the Chrome Web Store to browse for more.
Cool Keyboard Shortcuts: Speed up your Chrome experience with keyboard shortcuts
Follow us!: Follow the Chrome team to learn about new features, tips and tricks, and other fun stuff happening in the Chrome world!
How to print: If you have a Cloud Ready printer, you can print quickly and easily from your Chrome device. Simply connect a printer to your Google Cloud Print account, and that printer will be present whenever you try to print from your device. Head on over to google.com/cloudprint/learn to learn more.
Stay in the Loop: Sign up to get Chrome OS product updates, promotional offers, event invites, research studies, and other related Chrome OS news.
Now, here is your surprise. Click here.
Thank you Jannik Lindquist and Mike Crumpler!By: Nekias Duncan
It’s no secret that the Miami Heat are in a transitional year. Internal growth from the young core is and should be prioritized over win/loss totals this year.
If you think otherwise, you’re probably not going to enjoy this season.
With that said, I’ll be kicking off a series of posts, grading each rotation player in five-game increments just to get an idea of how everyone is progressing as the season goes on.
It should be noted these grades are based on each player’s production in their specific role. For example, Luke Babbitt will have a higher grade than Dion Waiters, but Waiters obviously has more on his plate, so his grade still holds more Wait.
Get it? Wait, instead of wei- …..
Let’s just get started.
THE GUARDS
GORAN DRAGIC: B+
ROLE: Lead Guard
STATS: 34.4 mpg, 19.4 ppg, 6.6 apg, 5.2 rpg, 1 spg, 3.2 tpg, 47.2% FG (14.4 attempts), 53.8% 3PT (5.2 attempts), 75% FT (4 attempts per game)
The Heat are playing faster this season, and Dragic has benefited — because, duh. Dragic currently ranks in the 73rd percentile in total offense via Synergy after finishing in the 39th percentile last season.
Dragic has been flames from the perimeter (95th percentile on spot-ups), and has had success finding guys when turning the corner in pick-and-roll; spot-up shooters are shooting 37.5% from deep off Dragic passes coming in PnR situations.
Defensively, Dragic has once again held his own. He fights hard through screens and stays connected to his man on drives, funneling his guy to help if he needs it:
There isn’t much to complain about from Dragic outside of his mid-range jumper not falling so far.
TYLER JOHNSON: A-
ROLE: backup combo guard, spacer
STATS: 29.9 mpg, 15.4 ppg, 4 rpg, 2 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.8 bpg, 1 tpg, 52.8% FG (10.6 attempts), 50% 3PT (3.2 attempts), 92.9% FT (2.8 attempts)
Via Synergy, Johnson ranks as Miami’s second best offensive player and fourth best defender.
Beyond the numbers, Johnson’s energy on both ends has been a breath of fresh air this year. He’s been more patient in pick-and-roll, though I’d love for him to keep his dribble alive more than he does. His on-off numbers don’t reflect how good he’s been.
DION WAITERS: C-
ROLE: Whatever he wants it to be
STATS: 33.4 mpg, 11 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.8 bpg, 2.8 tpg, 35% FG (12 attempts), 37.5% 3PT (3.2 attempts), 53.8% FT (2.6 attempts)
On one hand, Waiters has given great effort, has shown flashes of good on-ball defense, can get into the lane almost any time he wants, and he was en fuego against the #Kangz:
But then….there’s this (which is also the greatest video ever):
The Waiters experience has been a roller-coaster of epic proportions. He’s been better from 3 than he has been inside of five feet.
For this team, he’s a guy you have to rely on while hating every fiber of your being in the meantime.
RODNEY McGRUDER: C
ROLE: 3 & D
STATS: 15.9 mpg, 3.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 31.3% FG (3.2 attempts), 37.5% 3PT (1.6 attempts), 80% FT (4-5)
It’s a little surprising that McGruder has been a consistent part of the nine-man rotation: not because he shouldn’t be, but because I figured James Johnson/Derrick Williams/Willie Reed would be the back-up frontcourt.
Despite being in the guard section, McGruder has been used as the backup three with some mixed results.
He’s had a couple of nice cuts, has hit some threes and has had some solid defensive possessions. He’s also picked up some bad fouls, been caught out of position with over-activity, and hasn’t hit a three since the first half of the Hornets game… which was three games ago.
Note: Josh Richardson made his debut against the Raptors on Friday, logging 11 minutes without scoring a single point (0-4 FG). It’s obviously too early to judge him on a serious level; him getting out there without feeling discomfort afterward was a win in and of itself
THE FORWARDS
JUSTISE WINSLOW: C-
ROLE: Point-forward, wing defender specialist
STATS: 36.9 mpg, 13 ppg, 5 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.6 bpg, 2.2 tpg, 33.8% FG (15.4 attempts), 16.7% 3PT (3.6 attempts), 71.4% FT (2.8 attempts)
Let’s get the context out of the way first He’s 20. This is probably his first high-usage season ever where the competition is as good or better than he is. He’s averaging over eight more minutes than he did last year, with more offensive responsibility, while also doubling as the guy who guards elite wings. We’re five games into an 82-game season
In the words of our Lord and Savior Pat Riley, “this stuff is hard.”
Context notwithstanding, this hasn’t been a pretty year for Justise.
His offensive production has improved, and he’s legitimately shown (more) flashes of being a reliable secondary creator; via Synergy, he’s generating 1.231 PPP off his passes in pick-and-roll, good enough to rank in the 91st percentile.
That’s good!
But man, his shot has been predictably awful. He’s been hit-or-miss as a finisher. Worst of all, his defense has fallen off a cliff this year.
The hike in minutes and offensive responsibility obviously plays a part in this, but he’s graded out poorly by just about every defensive metric out there: 19th percentile in overall defense, 17th percentile when defending the ball handler in pick-and-roll, 22nd percentile when defending spot-up shooters (late to close out), and opponents have shot 70% when posting up Winslow.
That last one would be more defensible if that was just a product of getting caught in a switch against a big man, but Kawhi Leonard (understandable) and Johnathon Simmons (c’mon, man) both had their way with him in the Spurs game.
I have no doubt in my mind that Justise will be fine this year, and moving forward. It’s also fair to point out that he hasn’t been very good to start the year.
LUKE BABBITT: C
ROLE: Spacer
STATS: 22.9 mpg, 6.6 ppg, 3 rpg, 1.2 apg, 31.4% FG (7 attempts per game), 34.5% 3PT (5.8 attempts), 100% FT (1-1)
Babbitt has two jobs: knock down perimeter shots at a high level, and don’t get killed on defense.
In typical #OfCourse fashion, Babbitt has done a better job at the latter than the former. He ranks in the 93rd percentile in overall defense, but only ranks in the 32nd percentile on spot-ups.
One of those things will change.
JAMES JOHNSON: D+
ROLE:??????????????
STATS: 20 mpg, 5.2 ppg, 4 rpg, 2.2 apg, 0.6 bpg, 1 tpg, 31% FG (5.8 attempts), 25% 3PT (2.4 attempts), 100% FT (5-5)
I… just don’t know what to expect from James Johnson, which means I’m getting exactly what I expected from James Johnson.
His defensive versatility has been on display, and he’s thrown some how-the-heck-did-he-fit-it-there (#TWSS) passes.
He’s been a trainwreck otherwise.
He can’t shoot and has forced up too many shots in traffic for my liking. Derrick Williams not logging a single minute thus far also adds to the frustration of watching Johnson when he goes all willy-nilly. It’s just…ugh.
THE BIGS
HASSAN WHITESIDE: B+
ROLE: Defensive anchor, rim-roller
STATS: 31.6 mpg, 20 ppg, 14.2 rpg, 1 apg, 0.8 spg, 2.6 bpg, 2.8 tpg, 58.9% FG (14.6 attempts), 50% FT (5.6 attempts)
I’ve had my gripes with Whiteside this year. The screening is back to 2015 pre-ASB levels, his body language has been off, and I’m not sure anything will grind my gears quite like this dunk…on the road…while down 11:
Nitpicking aside, Whiteside has been an absolute force.
The post game still needs some work (30th percentile), but he’s been a monster on the left block (82nd percentile. He loves getting to that righty hook, as he showed us in the Spurs game:
Teams have been crowding the paint to take away Whiteside as a roller (53rd percentile as the roll-man this year), but I expect that to improve when Richardson takes over the starting spot in favor of Waiters.
Defensively, Whiteside has arguably been the league’s best rim protector. This is NBA Street Vol.2 type stuff:
Teams are shooting 32.6 percent at the rim against Whiteside this year, the 4th best mark in the NBA among |
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[1:06pm] johnnychickenwin (ae05908b@gateway/web/freenode/ip.174.5.144.139) joined the chat room. [1:06pm] darkjak (5d9b9c19@gateway/web/freenode/ip.93.155.156.25) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:06pm] Freakmiko (4fdc6805@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.220.104.5) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:06pm] Tiy: We've got a couple of awesome musicians working with us. We want it to be retro style using modern synths [1:06pm] mineradult (48468436@gateway/web/freenode/ip.72.70.132.54) joined the chat room. [1:06pm] Frycook (188b4cc3@gateway/web/freenode/ip.24.139.76.195) joined the chat room. [1:07pm] Vegon ([email protected]) joined the chat room. [1:07pm] nuv (56ba69e4@gateway/web/freenode/ip.86.186.105.228) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:07pm] fetalstar: <Raphael> How many players can play together? [1:07pm] Tiy: Guys who are just joining, if you have any questions, PM fetalstar and she will paste them here for us to answer :) [1:07pm] fetalstar: i feel so important :d [1:07pm] Lazerus (724afa6c@gateway/web/freenode/ip.114.74.250.108) joined the chat room. [1:07pm] Rho_: that's really a kyren question [1:07pm] Beanus (02da1210@gateway/web/freenode/ip.2.218.18.16) joined the chat room. [1:07pm] DarkDXZ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) joined the chat room. [1:08pm] Tiy: Right now we're still looking at that. But it should mostly be up to the specs of the server. Our test server is running on a terrible connection and we've had around 10 people in with zero troubles [1:08pm] Tiy: but that could potentially get much larger, we'll have to wait and see [1:08pm] pakoito (533db6f2@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.61.182.242) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:08pm] johnnychickenwin (ae05908b@gateway/web/freenode/ip.174.5.144.139) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:08pm] fetalstar: <demanrisu> Question: How long ago was Chucklefish formed? [1:09pm] Tiy: Chucklefish has been around for a little while now, but this is our first release. We've been together for a few months now and we were all good friends before then [1:09pm] Xetor (45f86d94@gateway/web/freenode/ip.69.248.109.148) joined the chat room. [1:09pm] shadowkiw (bd6b6776@gateway/web/freenode/ip.189.107.103.118) joined the chat room. [1:09pm] Juil (5bb33e35@gateway/web/freenode/ip.91.179.62.53) joined the chat room. [1:09pm] Tankski ([email protected]) joined the chat room. [1:09pm] Rho_: daaaaaamn so many people here [1:10pm] ballan (5334d806@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.52.216.6) joined the chat room. [1:10pm] fetalstar: <Zakkeh> What is the dream experience yo uwant players to have? How bad does latency affect gameplay? [1:10pm] DarkDXZ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) left the chat room. [1:10pm] Xetor (45f86d94@gateway/web/freenode/ip.69.248.109.148) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:10pm] SanLeMagnifique (56c2bb89@gateway/web/freenode/ip.86.194.187.137) joined the chat room. [1:10pm] mastersjors (53523ef0@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.82.62.240) joined the chat room. [1:10pm] Zetta31 (5c05c8e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.92.5.200.229) joined the chat room. [1:10pm] Ravenheart_ (53d0b496@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.208.180.150) joined the chat room. [1:10pm] DarkDXZ_ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) joined the chat room. [1:11pm] Juil (5bb33e35@gateway/web/freenode/ip.91.179.62.53) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:11pm] Tiy: The dream is for you to be able to get lost in this vast universe, where every time you play, you experience something new with your friends. [1:11pm] SanLeMagnifique (56c2bb89@gateway/web/freenode/ip.86.194.187.137) left the chat room. [1:11pm] Rho_: yeah [1:11pm] Tiy: Latency is pretty well handled atm, I play with a friend from Australia [1:11pm] Tiy: and I'm in the UK [1:11pm] Rho_: ideally we want to give players a purpose, a goal to work towards, rather than just being a sandbox [1:11pm] Joshuaama (1888adc0@gateway/web/freenode/ip.24.136.173.192) joined the chat room. [1:11pm] Tiy: around 600ms ping [1:11pm] Saiko (bc4ec18f@gateway/web/freenode/ip.188.78.193.143) joined the chat room. [1:11pm] Tiy: and it does very well coping with that [1:11pm] Dim_ (50c59002@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.197.144.2) joined the chat room. [1:11pm] fetalstar: <BlueF0x> Hi! Do you plan to release the game on Steam? [1:12pm] blackarrow (b2df8d6e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.178.223.141.110) joined the chat room. [1:12pm] Tiy: I hope so, we'd like to make it accessible for everyone. So aside from steam, we'll be looking at other channels too [1:12pm] GeorgeV: If you've just joined PM fetalstar any questions you may have and she might paste them here for us. [1:12pm] Pedguin: How big of a fan are the team of Penguins? [1:12pm] Anzonx (55896331@gateway/web/freenode/ip.85.137.99.49) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:13pm] Tiy: penguins play a big part in the game ;P [1:13pm] ballan (5334d806@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.52.216.6) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:13pm] fetalstar: <Starbi> Can you say the time you need to play until you get the end-game items? [1:13pm] fetalstar: <Starbi> So basically, the game will be damn awesome? [1:13pm] wat (4e3a2ff5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.78.58.47.245) joined the chat room. [1:13pm] Frycook (188b4cc3@gateway/web/freenode/ip.24.139.76.195) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:13pm] olopi (4d38b90a@gateway/web/freenode/ip.77.56.185.10) joined the chat room. [1:13pm] Tiy: haha we hope it's awesome [1:13pm] Rho_: we're hoping the progression would be reasonably long [1:13pm] Ravenheart_ (53d0b496@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.208.180.150) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:13pm] Bode (325d62e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.50.93.98.229) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:13pm] Rho_: i mean obviously it depends on the player but [1:13pm] Criddle (b2caefa1@gateway/web/freenode/ip.178.202.239.161) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:13pm] Rho_: yeah [1:14pm] Tiy: gameplay until end game is pretty long. It is sand box based so you could rush through it at breakneck speed if you wanted to. But the concept here is for the end game to be limitless and endlessly entertaining. [1:14pm] Tiy: Each planet in the game has a threat level, from 1 - 100 [1:14pm] Bdoe (325d62e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.50.93.98.229) joined the chat room. [1:14pm] Tiy: planets with a threat level of 100 will always be difficult, no matter what equipment you have. And when youre at end game, npcs will send you on quests to threat level 100 planets [1:15pm] fetalstar: <mgbt> What you can say about double meh control? (I control robot, my friend is shooting)? [1:15pm] fetalstar: <mgbt> Can we customize our ship? [1:15pm] fetalstar: <mgbt> If the game will be available on Steam, will be achivments there? [1:15pm] DarkDXZ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) joined the chat room. [1:15pm] weeehoo (58007e4e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.88.0.126.78) joined the chat room. [1:15pm] GatoConBotas (51205596@gateway/web/freenode/ip.81.32.85.150) joined the chat room. [1:15pm] mik787 (5f845ab8@gateway/web/freenode/ip.95.132.90.184) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:15pm] Tiy: If the game is available via steam we want to go the whole nine yards with steam support. Steam friends, achievements, all that good stuff [1:15pm] Rho_: ship customisation, most likely to a degree [1:15pm] Rho_: you'll probably be able to paint it different colors, have different color schemes, attach decals [1:16pm] Tiy: In terms of mech control, we're still looking into if you'll be able to pilot mounts with your friends. It's a technical challenge, but hopefully one we can overcome [1:16pm] Clawz (50039eb1@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.3.158.177) joined the chat room. [1:16pm] Moses is now known as NGJMoses. [1:16pm] fjt5r7ftyf (5d64ed9e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.93.100.237.158) joined the chat room. [1:16pm] DarkDXZ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) left the chat room. [1:16pm] Tiy: To the guys just joining, if you PM fetalstar your questions, she'll paste them in the channel for us to answer [1:16pm] fetalstar: <Gamegamer0> I have a question, will crafting be in the game and how will it work? Also how the Hell do you get the mecha? [1:16pm] fetalstar: <Gamegamer0> Also does tiy promise to add the hoverbike to the game and make it paintable? =P [1:16pm] fetalstar: <Gamegamer0> Will there be bosses? [1:17pm] DarkDXZ_ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:17pm] Rho_: the crafting system is very deep [1:17pm] Tiy: Crafting is rather different in this game to anything else. NPCs you rescue will have knowledge of certain plans and blueprints. [1:17pm] Joshuaama (1888adc0@gateway/web/freenode/ip.24.136.173.192) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:17pm] Tiy: You'll also be able to open a research lap on the space station, which will lead to a tech tree [1:17pm] Tiy: Mechs are part of that tech tree [1:17pm] Tiy: Also [1:17pm] NGJMoses ([email protected]) left the chat room. (Quit: Leaving) [1:18pm] Tiy: Rho should we add hoverbikes? [1:18pm] Rho_: sure, i don't see why not, i could do that :3 [1:18pm] Tiy: ohh what about hoverboards [1:18pm] Tiy: haha [1:18pm] Dim_ (50c59002@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.197.144.2) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:18pm] Rho_: hahahahaha, back to the future [1:18pm] Pedguin: hoverpenguins [1:18pm] Tiy: because we knew we wanted vehicles to work in the game [1:18pm] Tiy: we spent a long time making sure the terrain was easy to navigate [1:18pm] Tiy: things like hills, can be walked up and down, no jumping requires [1:18pm] Rho_: yeah, that's something we're really proud of actually [1:18pm] Tiy: you can walk up slopes [1:19pm] Moses ([email protected]) joined the chat room. [1:19pm] Rho_: kyren did a really good job with that [1:19pm] Tiy: so it really opens the game up to vehicles for us [1:19pm] Pedguin had voice removed by Marketh. [1:19pm] Rho_: and should save wear on your space bars [1:19pm] DarkDXZ_ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) joined the chat room. [1:19pm] Bobo (6d5b2276@gateway/web/freenode/ip.109.91.34.118) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:19pm] alpr (51d54e6b@gateway/web/freenode/ip.81.213.78.107) joined the chat room. [1:20pm] fetalstar: <Wired_Ecstatic> My question is: Can I safely say that forums has been moved up the priority list due to public request? [1:20pm] Rho_: i don't know, i'm not sure on it [1:20pm] Rho_: i mean, there's already a subreddit [1:20pm] Clawz (50039eb1@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.3.158.177) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:20pm] Tiy: A bunch of people have approached us asking to host forums [1:20pm] Tiy: and we're in talks with some of them [1:20pm] Tiy: so it shouldn't be too long! [1:20pm] Xtriller (b21416d4@gateway/web/freenode/ip.178.20.22.212) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:21pm] Skeleti (507b0a96@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.123.10.150) joined the chat room. [1:21pm] Tiy: To the guys just joining, if you PM fetalstar your questions, she'll paste them in the channel for us to answer [1:21pm] Damon (4ef02a50@gateway/web/freenode/ip.78.240.42.80) joined the chat room. [1:21pm] Rho_: could i elaborate a bit more on the crafting system? [1:21pm] Polkigrob (5cf17725@gateway/web/freenode/ip.92.241.119.37) joined the chat room. [1:21pm] GatoConBotas (51205596@gateway/web/freenode/ip.81.32.85.150) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:21pm] wat (4e3a2ff5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.78.58.47.245) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:21pm] DNLK (5c7e0113@gateway/web/freenode/ip.92.126.1.19) joined the chat room. [1:21pm] alpr (51d54e6b@gateway/web/freenode/ip.81.213.78.107) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:22pm] mineradult (48468436@gateway/web/freenode/ip.72.70.132.54) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:22pm] dome (4c188e8a@gateway/web/freenode/ip.76.24.142.138) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:22pm] R4t3 (58943591@gateway/web/freenode/ip.88.148.53.145) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:22pm] Rho_: there's going to be varying tiers of crafting, and most of it will be done via the manufacturing facility on the station, which will reflect the various tiers of crafting [1:22pm] TheTFEF (Nightmare@unaffiliated/thetfef) joined the chat room. [1:22pm] Rho_: i.e. it will have levels [1:22pm] Unnecro (4f903b73@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.144.59.115) joined the chat room. [1:22pm] Rho_: you will be able to craft things on person on worlds, but it'll be very basic and limited, because it'll be pretty stupid if you could make armed mechs from a workbench [1:22pm] thenoumenon (ca59ac95@gateway/web/freenode/ip.202.89.172.149) joined the chat room. [1:22pm] Rho_: but stuff like torches, basic tools, the things you need to...do stuff, yeah [1:22pm] blackarrow (b2df8d6e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.178.223.141.110) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:23pm] Tiymobile ([email protected]) left the chat room. (Quit: Colloquy for iPad - http://colloquy.mobi) [1:23pm] BlueF0x (4fa7a505@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.167.165.5) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:23pm] tau_ (b29bd048@gateway/web/freenode/ip.178.155.208.72) joined the chat room. [1:23pm] Tiy: To the guys just joining, if you PM fetalstar your questions, she'll paste them in the channel for us to answer [1:23pm] fetalstar: <Yrimir> Will there be wiring mechanics? [1:23pm] LadyAijou (4cf28a6a@gateway/web/freenode/ip.76.242.138.106) joined the chat room. [1:23pm] apples_ (7077c3d1@gateway/web/freenode/ip.112.119.195.209) joined the chat room. [1:23pm] Bdoe (325d62e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.50.93.98.229) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:23pm] Rho_: we hope! [1:24pm] Rho_: should be [1:24pm] fjt5r7ftyf (5d64ed9e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.93.100.237.158) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:24pm] Tiy: We're looking for a really easy way for players to create their own missions, in the engine. [1:24pm] Tiy: So we're going to have an in game mission editor, that you can use with your friends [1:24pm] fgfgdsg (44bf2f21@gateway/web/freenode/ip.68.191.47.33) joined the chat room. [1:24pm] Tiy: think.. little big planet [1:24pm] DarkDXZ_ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) left the chat room. [1:24pm] Bdoe (325d62e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.50.93.98.229) joined the chat room. [1:24pm] tau_ (b29bd048@gateway/web/freenode/ip.178.155.208.72) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:24pm] Tiy: then youll be able to play those missions online [1:24pm] Karguel1995 (53012650@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83.1.38.80) joined the chat room. [1:25pm] Rho_: the editor may or may not be post release though [1:25pm] Rho_: really depends on time constraints [1:25pm] Damon (4ef02a50@gateway/web/freenode/ip.78.240.42.80) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:25pm] danyukhin (59b37cec@gateway/web/freenode/ip.89.179.124.236) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:25pm] Csmidget (50e59731@gateway/web/freenode/ip.80.229.151.49) joined the chat room. [1:26pm] fetalstar: <Commissar64> Heya Bro. Will there be politics/factions in the universe that you can gain allegiance/piss off? [1:26pm] Trahiega (5605ee44@gateway/web/freenode/ip.86.5.238.68) joined the chat room. [1:26pm] Zetta31 (5c05c8e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.92.5.200.229) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:26pm] Tiy: There are going to be tons of human enemies in the game [1:26pm] Tiy: well, I say human, humanoid? [1:26pm] Rho_: right [1:27pm] Tiy: and we're looking at how we can turn them into factions [1:27pm] Rho_: as far as actual factions existing mechanically...i'm not sure, maybe? [1:27pm] Zetta31 (5c05c8e5@gateway/web/freenode/ip.92.5.200.229) joined the chat room. [1:27pm] weeehoo (58007e4e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.88.0.126.78) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:27pm] Beanus (02da1210@gateway/web/freenode/ip.2.218.18.16) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:28pm] Tiy: but you will definitely see teams / groups of humanoid enemies that share similarities working together on planets [1:28pm] Unnecro (4f903b73@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.144.59.115) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:28pm] fetalstar: <Tivec> You mention catalogeuing your finds in the about page - what impact will this have on gameplay? Will the catalogued creatures and finds be usable on other planets? [1:29pm] Starbi (bcc1e609@gateway/web/freenode/ip.188.193.230.9) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:29pm] Tiy: We like the idea of the players feeling as if theyre making discoveries, finding things for the first time. And in many cases they will be! [1:29pm] DarkDXZ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) joined the chat room. [1:29pm] Tiy: so we want them to go to lengths to log those cool findings so they can show their friends [1:29pm] Tiy: in terms of logging enemies, you will actually be able to CAPTURE enemies [1:29pm] Jimson (561b5071@gateway/web/freenode/ip.86.27.80.113) joined the chat room. [1:29pm] Tiy: and train them to fight for you [1:30pm] Tiy: and those you can take to any planet [1:30pm] Jimson (561b5071@gateway/web/freenode/ip.86.27.80.113) left the chat room. (Client Quit) [1:31pm] fetalstar: <Tankski> My question: How will you navigate from one planet to another, using something like a space map or actually piloting a spaceship? [1:31pm] fetalstar: <Tankski> Will there be reverse engineering as such, where you say, find something in a chest and really want its blueprints, but you can't find them anywhere, so you reverse engineer it and get the blueprints, but destroy the item in the process? [1:31pm] Tiy: Navigation is via a star map :) [1:31pm] DoctorG33K (45767242@gateway/web/freenode/ip.69.118.114.66) joined the chat room. [1:31pm] Rho_: i want to say i don't think so, at least it isn't planned [1:32pm] Rho_: it could change, i don't know [1:32pm] Tiy: Reverse engineering wasn't planned [1:32pm] DoctorG33K (45767242@gateway/web/freenode/ip.69.118.114.66) left the chat room. [1:32pm] Tiy: but it's actually a really interesting idea [1:32pm] Rho_: yeah [1:32pm] fetalstar: yeah, i agree. that's kind of cool [1:32pm] Rho_: we hadn't really thought about it, if we can incorporate it somehow without breaking the progression, then great [1:32pm] fgfgdsg (44bf2f21@gateway/web/freenode/ip.68.191.47.33) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:32pm] alex____ (52e99054@gateway/web/freenode/ip.82.233.144.84) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:32pm] DoctorG33K (45767242@gateway/web/freenode/ip.69.118.114.66) joined the chat room. [1:33pm] Rho_: the idea was that if you haven't researched weapons, you can use whatever you find, but won't be able to create ammo for it unless that type of weapons researched [1:33pm] Cormickco (5e0a3f6c@gateway/web/freenode/ip.94.10.63.108) joined the chat room. [1:33pm] Polkigrob (5cf17725@gateway/web/freenode/ip.92.241.119.37) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:33pm] Rho_: so that lets us place things at key locations for missions and set pieces [1:33pm] James (4da75171@gateway/web/freenode/ip.77.167.81.113) joined the chat room. [1:33pm] Rho_: we could possibly do something where reverse engineering the weapon boosts the research progress towards it [1:34pm] James is now known as Guest37090. [1:34pm] DarkDXZ_ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) joined the chat room. [1:34pm] Rho_: just surmising [1:34pm] Zakkeh (dcf5f676@gateway/web/freenode/ip.220.245.246.118) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:34pm] remyzero (~remyzero@unaffiliated/remyzero) left the chat room. (Quit: Installing flux capacitor.) [1:34pm] fetalstar: <Beanus> Will the player be able to upgrade skills or traits? [1:34pm] fetalstar: <Beanus> Will the game be developed to support modding? [1:35pm] apples_ (7077c3d1@gateway/web/freenode/ip.112.119.195.209) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:35pm] GoPer (5f44695e@gateway/web/freenode/ip.95.68.105.94) joined the chat room. [1:35pm] Vaela ([email protected]) joined the chat room. [1:35pm] B3nSutton ([email protected]) joined the chat room. [1:35pm] Tiy: there wont be skills or traits, but items will give you skills [1:35pm] Tiy: and items will get better as the game progresses [1:35pm] Rho_: the modding things a kyren question, she indicated shed like to if she had time, possibly post release [1:35pm] Tiy: Modding is something we'd love to do yeah [1:35pm] Tiy: aside from traditional modding though, we're hoping we can put out the tools we will be using to create missions [1:36pm] Rho_: yeah, i can say if we do modding we'll do it right [1:36pm] Tiy: so players can create their own missions [1:36pm] Tiy: really easily [1:36pm] Yrimir (57fbd806@gateway/web/freenode/ip.87.251.216.6) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:37pm] fetalstar: <ToTeMVG> how large will the worlds/planets be for us in terrain generation? [1:37pm] fetalstar: <ToTeMVG> can i follow all of the developers on twitter? [1:37pm] DarkDXZ (1f82d9cf@gateway/web/freenode/ip.31.130.217.207) left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 245 seconds) [1:37pm] Rho_: i think legris and fetal have twitter, as well as tiy obviously [1:37pm] fetalstar: yeah [1:37pm] fetalstar: i'm fetalstar on twitter [1:37pm] Rho_: twitter isn't really my thing, i don't have lot to say hahaha [1:37pm] fetalstar: but i just post about cats [1:37pm] Tiy: i'm on twitter as Tiyuri [1:37pm] ChrisF_ (457d2a81@gateway/web/freenode/ip.69.125.42.129) joined the chat room. [1:37pm] fetalstar: maybe i'll actually use my twitter for important things [1:38pm] Tiy: Our engine supports any size for planets, they can even be infinite [1:38pm] Tiy: we're wondering if we should limit it at all [1:38pm] Tiy: hmm! [1:39pm] fetalstar: no limits tiy [1:39pm] Guest37090 (4da75171@gateway/web/freenode/ip.77.167.81.113) left the chat room. (Quit: Page closed) [1:39pm] Tiy: I've been told [1:39pm] Tiy: :( [1:39pm] fetalstar: :( [1:39pm] Marketh: fetalstar, cats are important things [1:39pm] fetalstar: they are pretty awesome :d [1:39pm] fetalstar: anyways! [1:39pm] fetalstar: <Cobaltcakes> I noticed there are "Tech" slots for your character in one screenshot. What purpose would those serve? [1:39pm] Keiichi (4fbf2081@gateway/web/freenode/ip.79.191.32.129) joined the chat room. [1:40pm] Tiy: Tech slots augment your character in certain ways. Jetpacks, short range teleporters, stomp boots [1:40pm] Tiy: that kind of thing [1:40pm] Sorat (531599be@gateway/web/freenode/ip.83 |
sort of like somebody opening the door and yelling outside for help, but just having a larger radius and more reach to it,” he said. “I do think the willingness to help is there. The excitement here is that people can return to their normal lives. People can enjoy their families and enjoy their careers and enjoy the things they were doing before the (cardiac arrest) happened. So, I think that’s where some of this excitement comes about. That when it works, it can work really well.”
Carbon and Britain believe Wisconsin’s Good Samaritan law protects those who would offer help to those in need. Further, they say the app tracks phones or places that phones are rather than people, thereby protecting the privacy of those who have the phones.
“There is an option to respond, it’s not an obligation,” Carbon said. “At the end of the day, I think we would always say, doing something is better than doing nothing.”
The app is available on both Apple and the Android phones.Russ Smith thought he'd put up good enough numbers to punch his NBA ticket. Dylan Coulter for ESPN
HONESTLY, I THOUGHT I was going to be a first-rounder. A lock. I honestly thought that. I wanted to leave because I thought I did everything I could at the collegiate level. And when I talked to Coach Pitino, he told me, "You had a great year, you should try to test the waters."
But I didn't get the feedback I expected. People said I'd go 30 to 40, that there were doubts. It was pretty disappointing to be humbled like that. He's this, he's that, he can't do this, he doesn't have good efficiency. I was sitting there thinking, I won the efficiency award for Player of the Year but I'm inefficient?
It's frustrating for someone like me, because you want to do everything you can to impact the game, but the scouts don't want to see that. But what they don't understand is that I have to do that in order for us to win. It's hard for Coach to say, "You play defense, you play offense, but you have to come back because you didn't have a good assist-to-turnover ratio." Wow, are you serious? I was critiqued unfairly. If you talk about me as a point guard, obviously other guards had a better ratio, but I wasn't playing that position. That wasn't my job. My job was to win games, and that means putting the ball into the basket. A better assist-to-turnover ratio would've helped me, but I don't play for me, I play for the team, and if I have to take some ill-advised shots to kick-start the team, well, I'm not about to leave these guys stranded because I'm only focused on improving my draft stock.
I didn't know what I was going to do. It felt like I was in purgatory. And then I thought more about it. It felt weird to leave my teammates and not be part of the program. I realized how much I love these guys, how much I love the program, how much I love Coach. We had a really good team coming back, and it felt wrong not being there and not finishing my education like my mom wanted. I felt that if you're a junior and aren't guaranteed the first round, you might as well finish and get your degree. You're that close, and I don't believe in rolling the dice. So I returned to finish my senior year and make some improvements to my game. I called Coach. "I'm sorry for putting you through this, but I want to return for my senior year. We can start the press conference as soon as possible."Outside groups are spending big to defeat progressive Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. With little time left before Election Day, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and a Koch brother are taking advantage of a loophole in her anti-super PAC pledge with Republican Sen. Scott Brown to pour at least $1.6 million into the tight race so far.
Warren is hoping to turn that spending into an advantage. She said in an interview with The Huffington Post that the outside money helps clarify the race and that it's telling of how Brown, who has painted himself as an independent, would really vote if reelected.
"The Koch Brothers and Rove and Norquist are coming into this race because they want the Republicans to control the Senate and they know that Scott Brown and the Republicans will keep voting for Wall Street, for big oil and for billionaires," Warren told HuffPost. "These people are not supporting him because he's going to vote both sides on important issues. And they don't even pretend that that's the case. And he doesn't when he's outside of Massachusetts, and that's the real inside-outside."
Brown signed an agreement with Warren in January not to allow super PACs to bombard Massachusetts airwaves with negative television advertisements. The race was supposed to be a relatively civil affair, but cracks in that agreement started to appear in September, when Americans For Tax Reform, Norquist's group, sent out mailers, which were not covered under the pact.
Since then, Americans For Tax Reform has spent a total of $439,233 on the race. Crossroads GPS, a Karl Rove-run "dark money" 501(c)4 that does not disclose its donors, has spent $415,311. That total includes $182,709 used in just the last week on expenditures like robocalls against Warren. For tax reasons, and to keep its donors secret, Rove's group swears most of its money isn't spent on campaign politics.
And then there is the America 360 Committee, a previously unknown group that has spent all of its $442,816 in reported independent expenditures against Warren or in support of Brown. Its reported donations so far have come almost exclusively from William Koch, the lesser known brother of David and Charles, who usually operates independently of them. It too has spent money on anti-Warren mailers.
"I didn't expect Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and the Koch Brothers all to show up in this race, especially after we'd signed the pledge, but they know what's at stake and they're willing to go anywhere and put their money to work," Warren said.
And all that money, she argued, is not going to waste.
"Here in Massachusetts, Scott Brown says he's an independent, a Republican, and he has no say over independent groups. These people would not support him if they didn't know he would vote with them. It's that simple," Warren said.
The Brown campaign did not return a request for comment.
The latest poll in the race has Warren leading Brown by five percentage points.
Pro-Warren groups like unions and the League of Conservation Voters are spending money on direct mail, door-hangers and field organizing, which are also not covered under the so-called "People's Pledge." There are also signs that outside groups on both sides may be biding their time until the last days before the election to launch a final barrage of TV ads -- something the candidates have no power to stop beyond their promise to independently donate half the cost of those ads to charity whenever an outside group buys advertising in the race.
But even without that money, Warren and Brown have had no trouble getting personal on their own. Brown claimed that legal assistance Warren gave to an insurance company in a case regarding asbestos victims let the company off the hook -- something the victims' lawyers themselves disputed. He made his troubles worse when he falsely accused Warren of using actors in her ads featuring those same victims.
"It's really just offensive," Warren said. And she called the news that Brown himself took money from the political action committee of the company, Travelers Insurance, then returned it just before his attack ads began, "the kicker."BURLINGTON, NC – A Burlington man has an interesting story to share, if he ever chooses to disclose the information, about getting stuck in a port-a-potty.
According to police, the man somehow became stuck inside the toilet's opening Monday afternoon. The port-a-potty was located at the Park Place Center, near Rauhut and Hatch St.
Police said he was calling for help when a woman nearby heard him calling for help and she called 911.
To free the man, Burlington firefighters had to cut the portable bathroom open to get the man out, but they were able to remove him safely.
Police tell WFMY News 2 the man stuck had no injuries, but they are not sure how it happened.
They didn't release the man's name.
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Copyright 2016 WFMYAn online black market known as xDedic has a catalog of over 70,000 compromised servers, according to Kaspersky Lab.
The servers are in 173 countries and belong to businesses, universities and even government agencies — most of whom still have no idea they’ve been hacked. Worse, the hackers are peddling access to these servers for as little as $6.
Hackers at xDedic seem to have breached the servers using (relatively) simple trial-and-error methods and relied on known vulnerabilities, weak passwords and sometimes dumb luck. Once compromised, the hackers cataloged the servers’ software, browsing history and other details to help facilitate cheap sales with online buyers.
After purchasing, criminal hackers can use the servers to send spam, steal data and perform other nefarious acts while avoiding any real ties to the originating server. Once done, the hackers can then re-list the server for sale on the same marketplace.
According to Kaspersky:
“It is a hacker’s dream, simplifying access to victims, making it cheaper and faster, and opening up new possibilities for both cybercriminals and advanced threat actors.”
Kaspersky learned of the marketplace through a European ISP. While we’re still missing key details, it’s believed to have been created by Russians, and we know that it’s flourished for two years and had over 400 sellers as of May.
via PC World
xDedic – the shady world of hacked servers for sale on Kaspersky
Read next: Stop submitting your Android N name suggestions, Google’s already found oneImage copyright Getty Images Image caption 27-year-old Ai Fukuhara has gained thousands of fans in China, where she used to live as a teenager
Japan doesn't always have an easy ride on Chinese social media. A history of conflict, ongoing diplomatic spats and a rise in nationalist sentiment have led to several vitriolic attacks on Japanese users. But one Japanese Olympian has become a media darling in China, as the BBC's Yashan Zhao explains.
She may have lost her match to a Chinese player, but she has won China's heart.
"Don't Cry, Ai-chan" has been trending on China's micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo since Japan's Ai Fukuhara lost the table tennis semi-final 4-0 to China's Li Xiaoxia on Wednesday.
Thousands of Chinese fans have been comforting the girl they call "Japanese doll" on social media, or by the affectionate Japanese term "Ai-chan".
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Fukuhara (right) has been popular in China for some time
As a teenager Fukuhara joined the Chinese national table tennis team for training in northern Liaoning province, and speaks with a fluent Chinese Northern dialect. She still has a Chinese coach.
On Thursday, Fukuhara thanked her coach on Weibo, saying that she would cheer up. She posted in Mandarin Chinese.
"I feel so sorry for Ai Chan," said Weibo user Jinbiao.
"She is so tough and strong to continue to compete in the Games as the Chinese table tennis team are too strong to defeat. But she never gives up. And the longer she plays, the better result she gains," Jinbiao said.
Many fans said she seemed "vulnerable", recollecting in particular when she burst into tears after losing a competition when she was younger.
But she is also considered "cute as a doll" with a sweet voice, a highly sought-after feature in China.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some users joked online that Fukuhara has been beaten by a long line of Chinese champions
But that's not the whole picture. They also adore her because she has a strong connection with China, with Chinese sports fans watching her grow up.
Many say the 27-year-old Olympic feels like family when she speaks Mandarin.
"Competitive sport is beyond nationality, such as the North and South Korean players taking a selfie together," Langsha Jiang, a sports fan in Sichuan, told the BBC.
"Every athlete has a home country but we need to regard him or her as an individual first."
"I don't think Ai's story has anything to do with her nationality. We've seen her growing from the youngest player in Japan team and now she is a leading figure.
"Years ago, she was a little girl but soon she may get married."
The BBC's Mariko Oi recalls a similar sentiment towards Fukuhara in Japan
Ai Fukuhara has been a familiar face in Japan since she started playing at the age of four.
We watched her practice against adults despite being just tall enough to see the top of the table.
We watched her cry as she went through tough practices, earning herself a nickname of "Cry Baby Ai-chan" in addition to "table tennis child genius".
To many, she is still the cry baby who we watched grow up but her decades-long efforts and devotion to table tennis are highly respected in her homeland.
Image copyright Weibo Image caption Fukuhara has amassed a following of 770,000 fans on Weibo
In fact Fukuhara is so popular in China, it's even been suggested she should marry a mainland Chinese man, an unusually warm gesture from Chinese social media towards a Japanese woman.
However, Fukuhara already has a boyfriend. He is from Taiwan.
"It would be perfect if you had a Chinese boyfriend," said Weibo user Gaoaonan.
The Japanese Olympian is active on social media, posting regular updates into her life.
About one week ago, Fukuhara posted "the Olympic games will be on soon" on her Weibo account- which has amassed a following of 770,000 people.
With Chinese athletes posting pictures showing the condition of Rio's Olympic village, Fukuhara was no exception. She posted on Weibo saying she had fixed a broken toilet on her own, and asked: "Aren't I great?"
Image copyright Weibo Image caption "The Olympic toilet spoilt, I ended up fixing it myself- Aren't I great?", says Ai Fukuhara in this Weibo post
Users also joked online that Fukuhara had been beaten by a long line of Chinese champions, including Zhang Yining, one of the world's greatest table tennis players who is known in China as the "Big Devil".
This time in Rio, Fukuhara was beaten by Li Xiaoxia, Zhang Yining's successor.
"Ai make my heart ache…she wasn't born in a good timing," said JK Kekaka on Weibo.
But Hector Shi from Shanghai pointed out one potential reason Fukuhara has remained so popular with Chinese table tennis fans: "I don't count on her posing any threat to Chinese team at all."Linda Ducharme and her husband, Bruce, had a lot of ups and downs in their 30-year relationship before finally getting hitched.
Now that they're together, the Florida-based couple can expect the ups and downs to continue -- because Bruce is a ferris wheel.
Ducharme first met "Bruce" -- whose real name is actually the "Skydiver" -- at a carnival in 1982 and it was love at first sight for her.
“I got this weird feeling I can’t explain. My heart was pounding as we went up the platform and got on the ride. I felt like I was being taken by this ride," she said, according to the New York Daily News.
But this wasn't Ducharme's first rodeo, er, carnival. Her previous relationships include a fly-by-night affair with an airplane and a romance with a train that eventually derailed.
Her relationship with Bruce also had problems. In 1986, a storm knocked the Ferris Wheel out of commission, sending him to Wichita, Kansas, for repairs.
She eventually found his remains and is now attempting to return him to his former glory.
In the process, she decided to marry Bruce last year and renewed their vows for What!?, a show on LogoTV.
The vow renewal was conducted by a non-denominational priest who resigned from the Catholic Church over his role in the ceremony.
“I tie you flesh to steel,” the priest said, according to the Independent.
Ducharme then repeated the vow: “I Linda, take you Bruce, in this sacred marriage. I pledge to you my heart, my body and my spirit.”
It might sound crazy, but Ducharme insists her feelings are sincere.
"Bruce is my world, I think about him constantly, it just completely feels right when I’m with Bruce," she said, according to the Metro.
For the (legal) record: This marriage is not legally binding. Florida law stipulates that both parties in a marriage must apply for a license in person. There are few government buildings in any state with doors big enough to allow the entrance of a ferris wheel so it could theoretically apply for the license.
Ducharme isn't the only person to speak out publicly about love for inanimate objects.
In June, Australian artist Jodi Rose got hitched to a 600-year-old bridge in Southern France.Finding peace and quiet in t oday’s 24-hour society can be tricky but a simple technique could help boost your productivity, it is claimed.
The 10-3-2-1-0 formula can help you sleep better, feel great in the morning and increase productivity at work, according to author and fitness coach Craig Ballantyne.
He calls it the ‘Perfect Day’ formula and it’s all to do with giving yourself the best possible chance to start your day feeling well-rested and energetic.
Switching off at the right time before you go to sleep is essential, with the formula encapsulating much of the advice given by a number of health experts for better sleep.
Photo: PA
The 10-3-2-1-0 formula
10 hours before bed: No more caffeine
3 hours before bed: No more food or alcohol
2 hours before bed: No more work
1 hour before bed: No more screen time
0: The number of times you hit the snooze button in the morning
“The single most important factor in winning your mornings and owning your days is to get up 15 minutes earlier and work on your No. 1 priority before anyone else is awake. It's that simple,” he explains.
“When you follow this formula, you'll get more done and stop letting the big opportunities in your life slip away.”
Tips for getting a better night’s sleep include sharing your bed with a pet, starting work at 10am and enjoying a warm cup of cocoa.
A different 4-7-8 technique, pioneered by Harvard-trained holistic health doctor Andrew Weil, could also be helpful for insomniacs.
The 4-7-8 technique
- Breathe in through your nose quietly for a count of 4
- Hold your breath for a count of seven
- Blow air out through your mouth for a count of 8, making a 'whoosh' sound
- Repeat the process three more times
Here are 25 tips and tricks to help you get a better sleep.This article is a list of seasons completed by the Dallas Cowboys American football franchise of the National Football League (NFL). The list documents the season-by-season records of the Cowboys' franchise from 1960 to present, including postseason records, and league awards for individual players or head coaches. The Cowboys franchise was founded in 1960 as an expansion team.[1] The team has earned 33 postseason appearances, most in the NFL, the longest consecutive streak of winning seasons with 20, the second-most appearances in the NFC Championship Game (14, behind the San Francisco 49ers' 15) and the second-most Super Bowl appearances (8 with the Denver Broncos and Steelers). The Cowboys have played for 10 NFL Championships and have won 5, all five being Super Bowls.[2]
The Cowboys won Super Bowl VI, XII, XXVII, XXVIII and XXX. They also played in and lost Super Bowl V, X, and XIII.[2]
The franchise has experienced two major periods of continued success in their history. The first period of success came from 1966–1985 when the Cowboys played in the postseason 18 times.[3] During this period, they played in two NFL Championships and five Super Bowls, winning two of them, winning a total of 20 playoff games.[3] The second period of success was between 1991–1996 when the Cowboys captured five straight NFC East Division titles and won three Super Bowls going 12-3 in the postseason.[3]
Outside of these 2 periods of success, the Cowboys have experienced short periods failure in their history. The three most notable periods of failure was from their 1960 inaugural season to 1965, during which the Cowboys did not have a single postseason appearance.[4] They did not win a single game during their first season, compiling an 0–11–1 record that is still the worst in franchise history.[4] Also, they did not have a single winning record in this period.[4] Between 1986 and 1990 the Cowboys had losing records in each season as veteran coach Landry retired and the team was radically overhauled, with the low point being the NFL's second 15-loss season (after the 1980 Saints) in 1989. After losing a Divisional playoff Game in 1996, the Cowboys between 1997 and 2008 lost five consecutive playoff games, one after a franchise-record 13–3 season in 2007, during which most predicted the Cowboys would break this streak.[5] This streak finally came to an end when the Cowboys beat their bitter rival, the Philadelphia Eagles 34–14 after an 11–5 season in 2009.[5]
Nonetheless, through the 2018 football season, the Cowboys holds the NFL's all-time best winning percentage (.574) and has made more playoff appearances than any other NFL team (33).[6] Also, of the 31 other franchises it has faced, Dallas leads the head to head series in 24 matchups, trail in 4 (Cleveland, Baltimore, Denver and Green Bay) and is tied in 3 others (Oakland, Miami and L.A Rams)[7]
Seasons [ edit ]
NFL Champions (1920–1969) Super Bowl Champions (1970–present) Conference Champions Division Champions Wild Card BerthMiss America CEO Sam Haskell has resigned two days after leaked emails revealed he made disparaging comments about contest winners.
Along with Haskell, board chair Lynn Weidner also resigned, though she is remaining on the board for 90 days to aid in the leadership transition.
Board member Tammy Haddad, who was party to some of the emails, had previously resigned, as well.
On Friday night, the board revealed that Haskell was being suspended, pending an investigation. Dan Myers, the organization board’s vice-chair will be taking over as interim chairman.
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The shakeup is the result of a Huffington Post report on leaked emails in which Haskell discussed Miss America winners, their sex lives and their bodies using crude language – or was on emails where others were doing so.
“The Board thanks Lynn and Sam for many years of tireless work for, and significant financial support to, both the Miss America Organization and thousands of young women who received millions of dollars of educational scholarships from the Organization as a direct result of their efforts,” the board said in a statement.
Haskell said in a statement on Friday: “The story is so unkind and untrue, and hurts me, my family, and the stewardship of this nonprofit. Those who know my heart know that this is not indicative of my character, nor is it indicative of my business acumen.”
Former contestants, including Gretchen Carlson who sued former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes for sexual harassment, spoke out against the actions.
Contact us at [email protected] Advisers Assess Whether To Keep FBI Director James Comey
Enlarge this image toggle caption Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images
Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are considering whether to retain FBI Director James Comey after the agency became an issue in one of the most divisive campaigns in modern history, three sources told NPR.
Comey has nearly seven years left to serve in his 10-year term. The FBI director's position extends beyond the term of any single president to help insulate the bureau from political forces as it pursues sensitive criminal and national security investigations.
But that arrangement failed to protect the FBI from fierce criticism over its handling of the investigation of classified information on Democrat Hillary Clinton's private email server. The FBI had all but cleared Clinton in July, only to notify Congress it had renewed investigative steps 11 days before the election. The FBI acted despite Justice Department traditions that direct investigators to steer clear of actions that could influence the outcome of an election.
Two days before Election Day, Comey ultimately concluded that a newly discovered cache of emails did not change the earlier result — no criminal charges for Clinton, the former secretary of state. But in a call with top donors on Saturday, Clinton's team blamed him for her loss.
On CBS's 60 Minutes Sunday, the Republican president-elect declined to comment on whether he would ask Comey to resign.
"I haven't made up my mind," Trump said. "I respect him a lot, I respect the FBI a lot... I would like to talk to him before I answer a question like that."
"Sounds like you're not sure," interviewer Lesley Stahl interjected.
"I'm not sure," Trump replied. "I'd want to see; he may have had very good reasons for doing what he did."
Trying to keep politics out of it, but angering both parties
A slice of the Republican legal elite has nursed a grudge against Comey for years, for his role in supervising and expanding an investigation into a leak of a CIA operative's name when Comey was the second in command at the George W. Bush Justice Department. Federal prosecutors went on to charge and convict Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a close aide to former Vice President Richard Cheney, in the case. Libby recently won back his law license.
That controversial episode and others have helped Comey cultivate a reputation for independence. And the very nature of the FBI director's long tenure is designed to encourage decision-making that withstands choppy political turbulence.
"We must await more evidence, but just from the outside, it seemed to me that James Comey was trying to keep the FBI nonpartisan," said historian Timothy Naftali, an associate professor at New York University.
The FBI director serves at the pleasure of the president, and it would not be unprecedented to pressure the director to resign, Naftali said.
"It's very difficult to be nonpartisan in Washington," he added.
In fact, Comey's actions over the course of the campaign wound up angering both the Democratic and the Republican nominees. Earlier this year, Trump went on the attack against the FBI for its decision not to recommend an indictment against Clinton, a fact that Trump and his supporters used to cast the justice system as "rigged."
The FBI has not publicly commented on any ongoing investigations that may encompass Trump or his advisers, but sources have told NPR and other news outlets that investigators are looking into ties between former Trump aides and foreign governments.
National security scholars Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes, on their Lawfare blog, described Comey's fate as "one potential canary in the coal mine."
"If Trump chooses [to] replace Comey with a sycophantic yes-man, or if he permits Comey to resign over law or principle, that will be a clear bellwether to both the national security and civil libertarian communities that things are going terribly wrong," they wrote.
Racing to fill other posts
Deliberations over the FBI director's status come as Republican members of the transition team ramp up their work at the Justice Department this week. Those lawyers and advisers are racing to fill more than 300 political posts and figure out which priorities and policies they want to change after nearly eight years of Democratic control.
The team is led by Kevin O'Connor, a former top federal prosecutor in Connecticut who held the third-ranking job at Justice, associate attorney general, under President George W. Bush.
O'Connor currently works as the general counsel to Point72 Asset Management, the investment firm led by hedge fund manager Steven Cohen. A predecessor company pleaded guilty to insider trading three years ago, before O'Connor arrived.
The transition team intensified its efforts after Trump's victory last week, and is now focused on setting an agenda for the earliest days of the new presidency.
Among the items on that agenda, so far: immigration, setting the stage for congressional re-authorization of surveillance authority, beefing up the federal response to cyberattacks by criminals and foreign states, selecting and confirming a Supreme Court nominee, and repairing the relationship between the federal government and local law enforcement.
On the campaign trail, Trump has pushed the idea of a war on police, and he told the International Association of Chiefs of Police that holding police accountable should mostly be the work of state and local governments. That represents a major shift from the Obama years, when federal civil rights lawyers investigated dozens of police agencies for discrimination or excessive force.
At the Justice Department, career appointees have been working quietly for months to prepare for the shift in power.
"We try to identify the biggest issues that the incoming team will encounter, particularly what the incoming president will encounter after January 20, the incoming attorney general and deputy attorney general," Assistant Attorney General Lee Lofthus told NPR in an interview this summer. "We want to tell those folks in November... what's likely to hit them right out of the gate."
The first order of business for the transition team is advising on the next attorney general. Several close Trump advisers, including Rudy Giuliani and Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, worked at the Justice Department earlier in their careers.
One key question is whether they are interested in the post, and interested enough to withstand what could be intense and negative confirmation battles mounted by the Democratic minority in the Senate.In an attempt to improve the playing surface in the Rogers Centre before natural grass is installed in 2018, the Blue Jays are refurbishing the current AstroTurf by replacing the infill layer in order to soften the turf. Infill is basically artificial soil, giving the turf a bounce, assisting with drainage, and supporting the vertical plastic blades. The process is expected to be complete by the time the club returns for their Friday, April 4 home opener against the Yankees. Although I noted rumours of a new turf arriving this year, the current plan is to have the Blue Jays play on the refurbished field for the 2014 season only, as a brand-new artificial surface will be purchased installed for use in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons.
As first reported by BlueJayHunter.com, we can now confirm that Rogers Centre groundskeepers have been working on making improvements to the current AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D turf this offseason. That turf is composed of five principal layers—as shown on the diagram on the AstroTurf website—a base layer, several backing layers, the infill layer, a "RootZone" layer which keeps the infill from splashing up, and the polyethylene "blades" layer.
The original infill layer was composed of a mixture of sand and finely-grounded rubber, which is now in the process of being removed in favour of a new infill which will either be pure or a very high concentration of rubber in order to soften the feel of the field.
Bluebird Banter was able to discuss the project details in a telephone interview with Stephen Brooks, the Blue Jays’ senior vice president, business operations.
"We are doing a bunch of things now as we speak; which is why you saw the field the way it was on the night of the State of the Franchise," Brooks explained to me, "we’ve been replacing all the sand and the rubber that’s in the turf, and sort of an overhaul of this turf."
"So right now what you see is sand and finely-ground rubber mixture. We’re pounding all of that out and the goal would be to replace that with a higher content of rubber—just rubber or a lower sand content if any sand at all. Likely an all-rubber infill."
The Blue Jays won't get much time to try out the turf due to the tight spring training schedule, which leads right into exhibition games in Montreal, before bringing the club back down to Florida immediately to begin the regular season against the Rays. That leaves no time for them—especially infielders who have to deal with bouncing grounders—to acclimatize themselves to the particulars of the renewed surface, but Brooks is less worried about that than I am.
"I don’t know if we’ll get any of our current players to test it, but, the [groundskeepers] have done this for long enough now that they know the drill. Our groundskeeper is very good about knowing how the field should play," Brooks continued, "I don’t know if the field would necessarily play differently; but in terms of the softness of the turf, I think that would be improved. We will certainly, through our groundskeepers, test it out to make sure it doesn’t affect play in any way."
We will all have to wait until the home opener to see the effects of the infill on the way the turf plays and whether Blue Jays fielders can adapt to it to give themselves a real home-field advantage.
Minor Leaguer Photo.
However, this overhauling of the turf will only give the 233,039-square foot AstroTurf an extra season of lifespan, so the club is looking at options at installing an interim turf between 2015 and whenever a natural grass field can be installed. There are two main competitors in the field of artificial playing fields: AstroTurf and FieldTurf. The Rogers Centre switched from FieldTurf—the one which was held in trays—to AstroTurf in 2010 because the latter company signed a three-year licensing deal with Major League Baseball, making AstroTurf the league’s Official Synthetic Turf. I cannot find any mention of an extension of the deal, so it might means the Blue Jays will be free to shop around to find the most suitable turf on the market.
Various sources point the cost of a new turf to be in the ballpark of $2 million, which is just a small fraction of the $250 million Rogers Communications, who own both the Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre, have committed to renovations of the quarter-century old stadium. The current AstroTurf cost the stadium either over $1 million or nothing, depending on the source. The biggest portion of the budget will likely be dedicated to re-engineering the stadium to be able to grow grass.
"We are currently going through a process investigating that, although the logistics for that—things like lighting, humidity levels, airflow, and the engineering of the stadium that would need to be done to address any issues that may arise as we proceed with our investigation," Brooks said, "the goal is 2018 season with the end of the Argos lease at the end of 2017."
What Blue Jays fans can take away from this is that the installation of a real grass field is not just lip-service for fans, as the club is spending time, money, and energy to figure out how it can be done.Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has made it absolutely clear that Super PACs are legal, how do you start a Super PAC to promote marijuana legalization candidates?
How do you start a Super PAC to promote marijuana legalization candidates?(1) http://www.opensecrets.org (2) http://www.fec.gov The U.S. Supreme Court has made is absolutely clear: you can starta Super PAC to promote marijuana legalization candidates.Who would want to donate a lot of money to a Super PAC whichpromotes a marijuana legalization candidate?(a) Sports figures, and every Major Sports Club in America,see daily news, major sports figures are arrested all thetime for marijuana, the bigger the sports team, the more thenews coverage on the marjiuana arrest of a major leaguesports team member.(b) People who want medical marijuana to be legalizedunder federal law.(c) People who want less government control of theirpersonal lives. People who feel the government has grownlike cancer and infringes upon our U.S. Constitutional rightsto privacy in our homes.(d) People who are religious and believe in the Holy Bible,Old Testament, Genesis: God Gave Us Every Seed Bearing Plant.(e) People who are deeply outraged that private-for-profitprisons are making so much money off of prison labor,while they are receiving funds from tax payers to imprisonpeople, that with the combined profit of tax payers beingforced to pay taxes to fund private-for-profit prisons andthe profit from the prison labor, Corrections Corporationof America IS NOW SELLING SHARES OF STOCK ONNASDAQ.(f) People who believe we are suffering from Unfair TradeRestriction and Economic Treason because it is legal toimport hemp products from foreign countries and sellthem in the United State of America, including sellingthem at Walmart, but it is not legal for farmers in the U.S.A.to grow hemp. This is ECONOMIC TREASON.(g) People who do not want their children denied anycollege loans or grants simply because they had amarijuana conviction as a teenager. Why should a personbe convicted to a lifetime of ignorance because theycan't afford to pay for a college education, which isnecessary in this complex and high tech civilization?Denying kids any college loans and grants becauseof a tiny marijuana conviction as a teenager keepspeople down, keeps people poor, and is not inthe best interests of a civilized society.(h) People who work in the entertainment industry,particularly in California, actors, agents, union membersare deeply affected by marijuana arrests in their communityall the time.What is a Super PAC?A Super PAC is a political action committee that asks for millions andmillions of dollars of donations, and even very small donations,from Corporations and People,and uses the money to promote a candidate of their own choice.The Super PAC is independent from the candidate, and does notanswer to the candidate at all. The Super PAC promotes thecandidate exactly the way the Super PAC wants to, even if thecandidate does not like it. The candidate has no sayin how the Super PAC promotes the candidate.For example, take "NJ Weedman" - Ed Forchion,The Legalize Marijuana Party of New Jersey,who sometimesappears in videos and photos as a wonderful and wild kind |
was like, 'Wow.' My admiration for her went up," Craig says. "I could not believe that she did this for 11 hours and never lost her cool and her presence of mind. I thought that there were people on that panel that behaved disgracefully. It totally backfired."
Part of the problem was the expectations Republicans leaders set going in. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy went on Fox News to boast that the formation of the committee had already pushed Clinton's polling numbers down. Amid cries that the GOP's true intention was revealed, he later attempted to walk back his comments. But Clinton's campaign saw that as an opportunity to paint the process with the brush of partisanization.
While Clinton herself never mentioned the hearing at the rally, she looked like a candidate who was claiming victory at a Democratic National Committee women's event earlier in the day.
"As some of you know I had a pretty long day yesterday," she said to laughs inside a hotel ballroom in Washington. "I wanted to rise above partisanship and reach for statesmanship and that is what I tried to do."
Clinton then framed the House Republicans as overzealously attempting to undermine women's health care with a similar investigation.
"After my experience yesterday I am just amazed that they are even talking about setting up another special investigative committee. This time to investigate Planned Parenthood. I think we all know by now that's just code for a partisan witch hunt. Haven't we seen enough of that?" she said.
The DNC event allowed each candidate to speak -- and one, Lincoln Chafee, used his allotted time to drop out of the race -- but it was clearly Clinton's room.
Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor, audibly muttered three times during his speech at the teleprompter operator to "keep scrolling up." It made for a befuddling performance.
Before that, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made a point of lauding Clinton's Capitol Hill showing: "Was she not magnificent? As Bernie Sanders said and we all know, enough is enough."
At her Alexandria event, Clinton looked past the drama on the Hill surrounding her tenure as secretary of state and sought to push forward on her policy agenda.
She listed the reduction of college debt, mandatory paid leave for families, comprehensive immigration reform and closing the wage gap for women as top priorities of a potential Clinton administration.
Standing before a majority female audience, she eagerly played up her gender as the first potential female president. She recalled the story of a little girl in Nevada who asked her if she would be paid "the same amount of money as a boy president."
And while she notably latched herself to the Obama administration, pledging to continue to build on its successes, she clearly delineated herself as her own woman.
"I'm not running for President Obama's third term. I'm not running for Bill Clinton's third term. I'm running for my first term," she said to cheers.
Clinton never mentioned Sanders, her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, in either of her speeches Friday. But her call to take on the National Rifle Association at her rally was an implicit contrast with a vote Sanders took in 2005 to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers when crimes are committed with their weapons.
Clinton called that vote "outrageous."
"It's basically a gift to gun manufacturers and gun sellers. It's wrong and we have to fight to repeal it," she said.
Gun violence is a particularly sensitive issue in the commonwealth given the fatal shooting of a television crew during a live broadcast in August and the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, which remains the deadliest rampage in American history.
"I am a progressive, but I'm a progressive who likes to get things done," Clinton said, echoing her statement from the Democratic debate Oct. 13.
Sparse public polling has shown Clinton with a comfortable lead over Sanders in the Virginia primary set for March 1.
But general election match-ups against a host of Republicans are much tighter.
A university poll earlier this month found that Clinton would beat Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, but lose to Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush. The survey shows her tied with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
If Sen. Jim Webb, who halted his bid for the Democratic nomination earlier this week, decides to pursue an independent candidacy, Virginia is the one place he could have an impact.
But either way, the Old Dominion State is poised to be a battleground again next November no matter who claims the major party nominations.
In 2012, Obama won the state over Mitt Romney by 3 percentage points, or a difference of about 116,000 votes.After two seasons of watching Jimmy McGill slowly transform into Saul Goodman, fans continue to wonder about what will come next for the quirky lawyer in the upcoming episodes of "Better Call Saul" season 3. Fortunately, creators of the show Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould were able to share some teasers about what lies ahead for the character.
In a recent interview with Digital Trends, Gilligan and Gould gave insight about McGill's (played by Bob Odenkirk) transformation. Season two ended with the lawyer in a compromising situation, when his own brother attempted to ruin his career. This made for a questionable future for McGill, making fans excited for what "Better Call Saul" season 3 will present.
When speaking about how they create the paths for characters of "Better Call Saul" season 3, Gould explained that they do their best to remain faithful to the character's identity as well as actions. Before making a choice, they make sure to understand the intention, which allows them to use the character as a guide. Gould revealed that this way of story-telling also brings them to interesting narratives.
"One of the wonderful things is if you follow the logic of the show [Better Call Saul], sometimes it takes you to wonderful places. If you're willing to look for it, one thing leads to another. And for me, as a member of the "first audience" for the show, there's something so rewarding about looking back to go, "Of course that had to happen, because A plus B equals C," he elaborated regarding "Better Call Saul" season 3.
In addition, they revealed that they are impressed at how smart their audience is. Gould shared that their ultimate goal was to create a show for the smartest audience they could think of. With that, fans can expect some interesting storylines for "Better Call Saul" season 3. Gilligan described the new season as "satisfying" while Gould stated, "Two words: the reckoning." As reported by IGN, the upcoming season is expected to release sometime next year.SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A Chihuahua named Frida will be named “Mayor of San Francisco” for one day Tuesday in support of the Department of Animal Care and Control, the city’s publicly funded animal shelter.
The Friends of Animal Care and Control declared Frida “Mayor for a Day” after her owner had the winning bid in September.
On Tuesday, Frida will be visiting various San Francisco landmarks and making some stops at City Hall to meet with the Board of Supervisors.
Frida would like to send the message that rescue dogs, like herself, make great pets, according to her bid.
It also says Frida has a platform calling for mandatory belly rubs and will be declaring Tuesday Extra Pet Treats Day.
Dean Clark, who is Frida’s owner, is the chief executive officer of For The Love of Dog USA.The Kansas City Chiefs play the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday. That makes today “Red Friday” in the Chiefs Kingdom. It is a tradition for Chiefs fans in Kansas City and all around the country to proudly dawn their red attire in support of their favorite team. It carries over to game days as well as the Chiefs fans that fill Arrowhead Stadium have become known as the “Sea of Red”. However, the poor product being displayed on the field this season has some fans’ pride turning to outrage. On this “Red Friday” morning another SaveOurChiefs banner flew over KC, not over the stadium, but over KC’s rush hour traffic. This same SaveOurChiefs group is encouraging fans to wear all black to Sunday’s game to send a message to Clark Hunt.
By now, I think most people that care enough about the Chiefs to be reading this blog know about the SaveOurChiefs movement. They’ve flown “Fire Pioli” banners over the last couple of games and have tens of thousands of followers on Facebook and Twitter. It actually only takes one angry fan with enough funds to rent a plane to fly a banner. Clicking “like” or “follow” on your computer is one thing, but not enough to sway a multi-million dollar operation like a NFL franchise. An owner like Clark Hunt can live in denial that the banners flown around Arrowhead (and over traffic this morning) are just the product of a small vocal minority. That will change though if Hunt’s home stadium if filled with black shirts on Sunday.
Turning the “Sea of Red” into a “Sea of Black” would be an undeniable warning to KC’s owner that the frustration level is reaching its breaking point. I see the message of the “Blackout” game as this. We are still here to cheer on the team because we love the Chiefs, but things have to change or the next step is we stop coming.
I think most people would agree that Clark Hunt is definitely an owner that enjoys making profits. If Hunt looks out into the crowd Sunday that is there to watch his 1-8 football team and sees a full house that is 90% decked out in red with only a speckling of black mixed in the message will be that there is no real pressure to change. Fans are still coming, supporting the team and lining his pockets. However, if Hunt looks out and sees a stadium with more Black than Red that could be a game changer. Hunt strikes me as the kind that can live with angry rants about his team on sports talk radio and blogs like this one as long as the business is thriving. However, if that anger reaches a point that he starts losing out on a significant revenue stream, then he may be prompted to take action.
In a way, the SaveOurChiefs movement has gone “all in” on this Sunday’s game. If the “Blackout” works, the movement is to be taken seriously. It may show up in the national sports media. It will shed a bright light on the problems in the Chiefs organization and send the message that fans will not stand for the “status quo” again next season. It will light a real fire under Clark for change. If the “Blackout” is a dud, it will take a sledge hammer to the SaveOurChiefs movement’s credibility. They will just be “those guys that fly the banners”, an annoyance to the administration, but not a threat to their precious bottom line.
I always look forward to watching the Chiefs play on Sunday afternoons, even this season. What can I say, I’m an Addict. This Sunday I’ll be anxious to turn on the game not because I can’t wait to see what the final score will be, but to see what message the fans send to Clark Hunt. I think it could go a long way to determining what the course of this offseason will be.
So Addicts, are you hoping for a “Sea of Black” on Sunday? Do you see that as a positive demand for change or is it crossing the line? If you’re going to the game will you be dawning black or the traditional red? For better or worse, the fans will send a loud and clear message on Sunday. I just don’t know what that message will be.The Nintendo Switch is out in just a couple more weeks, and yet every day we get fascinating tidbits about what exactly it will or won’t do. The latest news is that the Switch won’t ship with a web browser, which is rather unusual for a portable, screen-based device in 2017, as even the 3DS has one, but it joins the similarly strange news that the Switch does not have the ability to access video apps like Netflix or Hulu at launch either.
It’s certainly possible that the Switch could get these things eventually, but either they were cut as Nintendo focuses on other priorities to make sure the system is out this March before its fiscal year’s end, or once again, this is another purposeful decision to try and separate itself from iPads or other tablets.
The current messaging about the Switch is becoming pretty clear at this point: This is a home console you take on the go. Not a replacement for a handheld. Not a competitor to tablets. This is a device that plays games, and that’s all it needs to be.
Is that true, though? Is that all the Switch needs to be, or will the lack of such basic functionality come back to bite it if it’s not added in short order? I’m not exactly sure, but the interesting thing is that aspects of the Switch can’t actually function without the player having a smart device on hand, namely for online play, which will have aspects like the partying system and voice chat running through a mobile app.
But I also don’t think there’s a point in Nintendo going all out and trying to make the Switch a true tablet with access to a full app suite. As nice as it would be if the Switch was essentially an iPad that played fully-fledged Nintendo games, it was never going to be realistic for the system to actually achieve that. Tablets are much more expensive, are an entirely different class of product, and that would go against Nintendo’s desire to be in essentially their entirely own category with the Switch.
Furthermore, like it or not, Nintendo will already be battling the PS4 and Xbox One at home, and it's actually in competition with its own 3DS to some degree when it comes to gaming on the go, at least until it’s discontinued. They are also doing battle with tablet games, but I don’t think that conflict has to escalate to Nintendo actually trying to make the Switch into a tablet itself. The message is that if you want to play "lesser" games and watch streaming video, keep the tablet you probably already own. But if you want to play some of the biggest and best video games on the market as you travel, that alone is worth spending $300 on a fully dedicated gaming device like the Switch.
Still, there are some unknowns and some odd decisions. I’m still finding it hard to wrap my head around this idea that key features of the online service will be run through a phone app, as that just does not seem like a good idea for many reasons. And the lack of a web browser specifically might prove problematic if the Switch is trying to connect to one of many Wifi sources that require some sort of browser-based login, though perhaps they have a way of getting around that.
The Switch is a risk. It always has been, given that it’s trying to compete in so many different spaces against so many other different devices at the same time. I do agree that this should not just be a “Nintendo tablet,” nor treated as such, but I do think it’s going to be a tough long-term battle given its competition.
And yeah, maybe a Netflix app would help just a little.
Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook. Pick up my sci-fi series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is now in print, online and on audiobook.GCHQ is scanning servers in multiple foreign countries for vulnerable ports, according to German newspaper Heise. Using a tool called Hacienda, the intelligence agency seeks to ‘master the internet’ for sources of espionage.
Spanish for estate, Hacienda canport scanall of the servers in a country to provide information on user endpoints and scan for potential vulnerabilities. The ability to port scan is not new, but the scale of its use by government spies, with 27 countries scanned by 2009, has shocked many familiar with the software.
“In 2009, the British spy agency GCHQ made port scans a'standard tool' to be applied against entire nations,” Heise reports. “Twenty-seven countries are listed as targets of the Hacienda [program].”
The process of scanning entire countries and looking for vulnerable network infrastructure to exploit is consistent with the meta-goal of "Mastering the Internet", which is also the name of a GCHQ cable-tapping program. Targeted protocols include SSH, HTTP and FTP, among others.
Systems may be attacked simply because they might eventually create a path towards a valuable espionage target, even without indications this will ever be the case. Based on this logic, every device is a target.
The database resulting from the scans is shared with other spy agencies in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. MAILORDER is described in the documents as a secure transport protocol used between the ‘Five Eyes’ spy agencies to exchange collected data.
System and network administrators face the threat of industrial espionage, sabotage and human rights violations created by nation states indiscriminately attacking network infrastructure and breaking into services.
GCHQ says it will not comment on “intelligence matters” but reiterates that everything that it does is done within a strict legal framework. “It is a longstanding policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters,” a GCHQ spokesperson told The Inquirer.
“All of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception of Communications and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.
“All our operational processes rigorously support this position,” they added.
British intelligence is permitted to go further in surveillance than similar agencies in other Western countries, according to Edward Snowden. The former NSA contractor believes the powers of the British intelligence establishment are not restricted effectively enough by “law or policy”. The lack of legal restrictions allows UK intelligence services to target more people than is necessary.Pro-Moscow rebels fighting in Ukraine have said they would comply with a request from the Kremlin and open up a 'humanitarian corridor' to allow the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops they have encircled.
The Ukrainian It has accused Russian troops of illegally entering eastern Ukraine and, backed by its US and European allies, has said it will fight to defend its soil.
Russia stands accused of pushing troops and weapons into the former Soviet republic to shore up a separatist rebellion that a week ago appeared to be on its last legs. That development has sharply escalated the five-month conflict over eastern Ukraine.
In a late-night statement released by the Kremlin, Russian president Vladimir Putin adopted a softer tone -- though without acknowledging that Russia's military is involved in the conflict.
"It is clear that the rebellion has achieved some serious successes in stopping the armed operation by Kiev," Mr Putin was quoted as saying in the statement.
"I call on the militia forces to open a humanitarian corridor for encircled Ukraine servicemen in order to avoid pointless victims, to allow them to leave the fighting area without impediment, join their families..., to provide urgent medical aid to those wounded as a result of the military operation."
Hours later, Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the main rebel entity in eastern Ukraine, told a Russian television station his forces were ready to let the encircled Ukrainian troops pull out.
He said though they would have to leave behind their heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition.
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko called an urgent meeting of security chiefs late on Thursday to work out how to respond to rapid advances made by rebels in the south of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
He told the meeting that the situation was "extraordinarily difficult... but controllable" after Russian-backed rebels seized the town of Novoazovsk in the southeast, on the shore of the Azov Sea.
Earlier Mr Poroshenko said he had cancelled a visit to Turkey because of the "rapidly deteriorating situation" in the eastern Donetsk region, "as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine".
Russia's defence ministry again denied the presence of its soldiers in Ukraine, using language redolent of the Cold War.
"We have noticed the launch of this informational 'canard' and are obliged to disappoint its overseas authors and their few apologists in Russia," a ministry official, General-Major Igor Konashenkov, told Interfax news agency.
"The information contained in this material bears no relation to reality."
But some sceptical Western governments appeared to be running out of patience with Moscow's denials.
Referring to talks that Mr Putin held with Mr Poroshenko just two days ago, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "It is simply not enough to engage in talks in Minsk, while Russian tanks continue to roll over the border into Ukraine. Such activity must cease immediately."
Poland's foreign minister said Russian "aggression" had created the most serious security crisis in Europe for decades. A top NATO official said Russia had significantly escalated its "military interference" in Ukraine in the past two weeks.
"We assess well over 1,000 Russian troops are now operating inside Ukraine," said Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, head of NATO's crisis management centre. "They are supporting separatists (and) fighting with them."
Global stock markets fell on news of the worsening crisis, which has prompted the United States and European Union to impose sanctions on Moscow and led both Russia and NATO to step up military exercises, creating the tensest East-West standoff since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The United States is considering a number of options in response to Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine and believes sanctions are the "most effective tool", US State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said an EU summit at the weekend would discuss the possibility of further sanctions.
In southern Russia on Thursday, a Reuters reporter saw a column of armoured vehicles and dust-covered troops, one of them with an injured face, about 3 km (2 miles) from the border with the part of Ukraine that Kiev says is occupied by Russian troops.
The column was driving east, away from the border, across open countryside near the village of Krasnodarovka, in Russia's Rostov region.
None of the men or vehicles had standard military identification marks, but the reporter saw a Mi-8 helicopter with a red star insignia -- consistent with Russian military markings -- land next to a nearby military first-aid tent.
Asked if he was with the Russian military, a man near the tent in camouflage fatigues but without any identifying insignia, said only: "We are patriots."
The US ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt, tweeted: "Russian supplied tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery and multiple rocket launchers have been insufficient to defeat Ukraine' armed forces. So now an increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in fighting on Ukrainian territory.
"Russia has also sent its newest air defense systems including the SA-22 into eastern Ukraine & is now directly involved in the fighting," he said.
Fighting in the east erupted in April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in response to the toppling of a pro-Moscow president in Kiev.
A United Nations report this week said more than 2,200 people have been killed, not including the 298 who died when a Malaysian airliner was shot down over rebel-held territory in July.Congress to McCain: You're not helping Nick Juliano and David Edwards
Published: Friday September 26, 2008
Print This Email This McCain agrees to leave DC, debate Obama Congressional leaders have a message for John McCain: You're not helping.
The Republican presidential candidate's garish attempt to sweep into the Capitol at the 11th hour and take credit for crafting an economic bailout package has coincided with a collapse in negotiations over that $700 billion proposal.
Three days after declaring he would "suspend" his presidential campaign and skip Friday's presidential debate, McCain reversed course and agreed to leave Washington. McCain said he will travel to Oxford, Miss., Friday for his first debate with Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Congress had been functioning just fine for the last five months in which McCain hadn't bothered to show up, and some lawmakers would like to keep it that way.
"The insertion of presidential politics has not been helpful," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Friday, referring to McCain. "It's been harmful."
Republican Sen. Bob Corker echoed a similar sentiment earlier in the day during an interview on Fox News. The Tennesseean said the presidential candidate's presence in Washington "adds a tension and distraction that candidly is not healthy at this moment in time."
Reid acknowledged that he had asked McCain to help unify his party behind a bailout package -- although he never asked McCain to return to Washington -- but he accused the Arizona senator of choosing grandstanding over leadership.
"A few days ago, I called on Sen. McCain to take a stand, let us know where he stands on this issue, on this bailout," Reid said. "But all he has done is stand in front of the cameras; we still don't know where he stands on the issue."
Reid and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, unveiled a "discussion draft" of their latest proposal to pump money into the economy in the hope of staving off a collapse.
Lawmakers remain optimistic that a deal on the bailout package will be reached over the weekend. President Bush similarly tried to ease fears in a brief address Friday morning.
"The legislative process is sometimes not pretty," the president said. "But we are going to get a package passed."
Democrats say they won't pass any bailout bill that doesn't include limits on CEO compensation in companies that take the taxpayer bailout and include provisions to ensure the government sees some return on its $700 billion investment.
Reid said Senate Democrats and Republicans had reached a tentative agreement Thursday afternoon and then "guess who came to town, and that fell apart."
Objections from House Republicans also were key in preventing that deal from going forward. Reid accused House Minority Leader John Boehner of not being sufficiently engaged in negotiations and said the GOP should not hold up the bailout to achieve long-sought changes like cuts in the capital gains tax.
"The Republican House has to decide what they want to do," Reid said.
Senator Reid and Senator Dodd speak about bailout package
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast September 25, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.com
Sen. Corker speaks to Fox News. This video is from Fox's America's Newsroom, broadcast September 26, 2008.
Download video via RawReplay.comAfter nearly a year of planning and development, I finally released the first BETA version of Open Atrium 2 over the weekend. So what's the big deal with Beta releases? Read on to find out.
What does "Beta" mean?
Stable core functionality : Site builders can start using Open Atrium 2 now to create Drupal sites without worrying about changes to core functionality.
Forward compatibility : Any changes made to fix bugs that requires changes to data will automatically migrate the data seamlessly via update hooks. Your content in Open Atrium 2 will be preserved through the public release.
: Any changes made to fix bugs that requires changes to data will automatically migrate the data seamlessly via update hooks. Your content in Open Atrium 2 will be preserved through the public release. Automated testing : The Beta code base currently passes our automated functional tests as well as code quality and standards tests.
: The Beta code base currently passes our automated functional tests as well as code quality and standards tests. Base theme : The Beta product ships with a completed clean theme that can be used as an example for other site-specific themes.
: The Beta product ships with a completed clean theme that can be used as an example for other site-specific themes. Basic documentation : Initial documentation has been written and is available at products.phase2technology.com.
: Initial documentation has been written and is available at products.phase2technology.com. Still has bugs : Even public releases of modules typically have bugs. That's what's the Issue Queue is for. Beta versions will still have bugs, but are not expected to have the same rate of bugs as in the Alpha.
: Even public releases of modules typically have bugs. That's what's the Issue Queue is for. Beta versions will still have bugs, but are not expected to have the same rate of bugs as in the Alpha. More bug tracking formality: Bugs will be reported in the Issue Queue and patches will be posted for review. After patches are reviewed by the community they will be committed to the code.
Roadmap between Beta and Public release
Better documentation : During Beta we will be working on improving documentation for both end-users and site builders.
: During Beta we will be working on improving documentation for both end-users and site builders. Web site updates : We will be updating the various web sites, such as products.phase2technology.com and openatrium.com with the latest information and screen shots.
: We will be updating the various web sites, such as products.phase2technology.com and openatrium.com with the latest information and screen shots. Demo Content Tutorials : We will be developing the initial content that users see after installing Open Atrium to help them build a site. This will be a module or App that you will be able to turn off once you have learned how to use OA2.
: We will be developing the initial content that users see after installing Open Atrium to help them build a site. This will be a module or App that you will be able to turn off once you have learned how to use OA2. Migration Scripts: During the Beta we will be developing sample Migrate scripts to move OA1 data into OA2 (where possible).
While everybody is excited about finally using the Beta version of Open Atrium, the natural next question I always get asked is:
"When is the public release??"
My magic 8-ball tells me that "This Fall is most likely." To learn more about Open Atrium 2, I have created a video that shows all of the features in the Open Atrium 2 Beta. I will also be giving a free in-depth day-long training session on OA2 as part of CapitalCamp this week (sorry, all sold out), and I will be hosting a one-hour overview of OA2 during my CapitalCamp session at 10:00am on Saturday if you are in the D.C. area. You can also hear more about Open Atrium on my DrupalEasy podcast, which aired today. Stay tuned to the @openatrium Twitter channel for the latest details and announcements, or email [email protected] to get on our mailing list. Please join the community and help with the issues on drupal.org/project/openatrium!Image caption India's rural job scheme is one of the world's biggest social welfare schemes
Funds meant to provide work to India's rural poor have been diverted by corrupt officials in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has said.
Money has been used to buy calendars, tents, tables, chairs, plates and even toys in seven districts, he claims.
Mr Ramesh raised the issue with Chief Minister Mayawati in a letter which the BBC has seen. She has yet to respond.
But Mr Ramesh is calling for a police inquiry into the allegations.
Last month too, Mr Ramesh wrote a letter to Ms Mayawati pointing to what he said was the large-scale diversion of public money from the jobs scheme.
Ms Mayawati then wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying Mr Ramesh's letter was "politically motivated".
Mr Ramesh says his letter is based on information presented by the independent State Quality Monitor which has pinpointed instances of deliberate and widespread misuse of funds.
Called the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), the five-year-old multi-billion dollar jobs scheme is one of the world's biggest social welfare schemes.
It guarantees 100 days of work a year to every villager where they build local infrastructure like roads, ponds and community buildings.
'Funds siphoned off'
Allegations of official corruption have been levelled at each stage of the scheme.
Image caption Mr Ramesh's letter is an indication of the way the scheme is run
But, Mr Ramesh's letter alleges a deep rot in the way the scheme is run in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Sant Kabir Nagar and Mirzapur districts.
Millions of rupees were spent on buying "calendars, tents, water storage tanks, medical kits, complaint boxes, display boards, chars and tables, tin plates" and other items in Balrampur district in 2007 and 2008 and the bills for these articles were massively inflated, the letter says.
"Surprisingly, 4m rupees ($79,000; £50,000) were spent on buying toys in Gonda district," it adds.
The 14-page letter names several bureaucrats and villages officials who have allegedly siphoned off tens of millions of rupees.
"But the state government has failed to take any action against the corrupt officials," Mr Ramesh writes.
The minister is now calling for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the irregularities.
Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state with 200 million people.
It is also home to a large number of poor with 56 million people earning less than $1 a day and 300,000 not even managing to get one square meal a day.
Some analysts say that since assembly elections are due in Uttar Pradesh in the next few months, Mr Ramesh's letter is an attempt to embarrass Ms Mayawati.Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles apologized April 19 for remarks he made about the chamber's GOP leadership at a private club in Tallahassee. (Florida Senate)
A Florida state senator has stepped down amid intense backlash after he used the n-word to criticize several colleagues during an alcohol-fueled diatribe at a Tallahassee bar.
Sen. Frank Artiles (R-Miami) said Friday morning in a resignation letter to Senate President Joe Negron that he was accepting responsibility for his actions — days after fellow legislators started pushing for his expulsion.
“It is clear to me my recent actions and words that I spoke fell far short of what I expect for myself, and for this I am very sorry,” he wrote in the letter. “I apologize to my family and friends and I apologize to all of my fellow Senators and lawmakers. To the people of my district and all of Miami-Dade, I am sorry I have let you down and ask for your forgiveness. My actions and my presence in government is now a distraction to my colleagues, the legislative process, and the citizens of our great State.
“I am responsible and I am accountable and effective immediately, I am resigning from the Florida State Senate.”
[After using n-word in front of black colleagues, Fla. state senator faces calls to resign]
The Republican state senator had been facing pressure to resign since a heated conversation Monday night with Democratic Sens. Audrey Gibson and Perry Thurston, both of whom are black.
The three lawmakers were chatting at the members-only Governor’s Club near the state Capitol when Artiles called Negron, the senate president, a vulgar word for female genitalia and said he had won his position because “six n—–s” had elected him, according to the Miami Herald.
When Gibson and Thurston recoiled at the comment, Artiles tried to defend himself by saying he meant to use a different version of the n-word, ending with “as” rather than “ers,” according to Politico. The word was acceptable, he reportedly told them, because he hailed from Hialeah, a largely Hispanic city in Miami-Dade County. At one point, Politico reported, he also called Gibson an insulting word.
With that, Gibson stormed off, saying, “I’m done,” Politico reported.
Thurston told the Herald he stayed and urged Artiles to apologize.
Eventually, Artiles did — but it took the intervention of the Senate minority leader and another lawmaker, according to the Herald.
“In an exchange with a colleague of mine in the Senate, I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me,” he said in a statement provided to the newspaper. “There is no excuse for the exchange that occurred and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely.”
The senate president reprimanded Artiles in a statement Tuesday, saying: “I was appalled to hear that one Senator would speak to another in such an offensive and reprehensible manner. My first priority was to ensure that this matter was promptly addressed between the two Senators involved, which occurred this evening. Racial slurs and profane, sexist insults have no place in conversation between Senators and will not be tolerated while I am serving as Senate President.”
On Wednesday morning, Negron forced Artiles to extend a formal apology while on the Senate floor, according to the Miami Herald.
Still, the newspaper reported, other legislators wanted to see him go.
“If every time a senator made a mistake or someone made a mistake that they were going to resign, we’d have half the Senate gone for whatever reason,” Artiles told reporters Wednesday, according to the Miami Herald. Asked whether he would consider stepping down, he added: “Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I’m not only not going to resign, but I’m also going to file for 2018 and win my election.”
In a statement Friday, Artiles took a much different tone, saying he now plans to “prioritize the people that matter most in my life.”
“This experience has allowed me to see that for too many years I have sacrificed what I hold most dear in my life, my wife and my two young daughters,” Artiles said in the statement to The Washington Post. “While I take full responsibility for using language that was vulgar and inappropriate, my family has fallen victim to a political process that can distort the truth for the sole purpose of political gain.
“I clearly made comments that were hurtful, unacceptable and inappropriate. The American people and Floridians want their leaders to be accountable and responsible, and by resigning my elected office I believe I am demonstrating those qualities they desire and deserve.”
A previous version of this story misidentified Artiles’s race in the headline. The post has been updated.
Read more:
This mayor denied accusations he solicited sex from a 14-year-old girl. Then, he resigned.
Okla. state senator accused of trying to have sex with teen boy now plans to resign, attorney says
‘Saying no is easy, leading is hard’: GOP congressman resigns from Freedom Caucus after health-care dramaAfrican penguins are among the animals you can see at the Binghamton Zoo. (Photo: Provided)
A healthy ocean is critical to our survival. In fact, oceans generate most of the oxygen we breathe, help feed us, regulate our climate, clean the water we drink and even offer a pharmacopoeia of medicine.
Every year, World Oceans Day provides a unique opportunity to honor, help protect and conserve our oceans. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 10, the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park invites you to celebrate and learn more about World Oceans Day. Stop by our education station set up in the zoo and take part in an activity.
The Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park also has partnered with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to recommend seafood resources. The program empowers consumers and businesses to |
and What’s Next). Another frequently raised concern is that the rates MLPs earn on their pipelines will be reduced, either because loss-making E&P companies will renegotiate terms or because they’ll fail and a bankruptcy court will impose a lower rate. Although there’s very little history of this, the views of the investor who chooses not to buy MLPs can be more useful than those of the MLP seller, and this issue is being raised more frequently.
It sounds plausible that if the company filling a pipeline with hydrocarbons at one end is losing money, the pipeline owner should care. A pipeline’s immobility requires reliable customers. An E&P company that is unwilling or unable to use previously contracted capacity can cause problems for the pipeline owner as well as for the customer at the other end awaiting receipt of the product.
The U.S. has 192,396 miles of liquids pipelines of which roughly a third each move crude oil, Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) and refined products. There are over 302,000 miles of natural gas pipelines. There are over 240,000 miles of Gathering and Processing (G&P) lines – often single individual pipes to a single well. These are both narrow and numerous. There are nearly 2.2 million miles of natural gas distribution lines from utilities to residential and commercial customers. Historically, their utilization has been remarkably reliable. While Gazprom occasionally uses its power as a supplier to further Russia’s foreign policy objectives, it’s hard to think of an example where a domestic commercial dispute has impeded the flow of product. Once pipelines are built, they are used with a high degree of predictability. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) governs all natural gas pipelines (other than G&P) and all other pipelines that cross state lines. Interestingly, the thrust of regulation has largely been to limit the power of the pipeline operator, since a customer on the receiving end of a pipeline has few plausible choices if he’s suddenly faced with a price hike. Although a single pipe is immobile and obviously creates a symbiotic relationship with its customer, it’s part of a network which makes the product mobile, affording its owner substantially more flexibility on where to send product than the customer has on where to obtain it. Part of FERC’s role is to control the ability of MLPs to exploit this. Security of supply requires predictability of income. Pipeline projects are cancelled before breaking ground if insufficient commitments are in hand to assure its financial viability. In 2013 Kinder Morgan cancelled the $2BN “Freedom” pipeline that was intended to transport crude oil from West Texas to California for just this reason. The Field of Dreams approach is not widely used.
There isn’t a long history of broken pipeline contracts from which to draw examples. Disputes are hard to find, probably because there’s so little legal ambiguity. Last year an Indian steel company, Essar Steel Limited, lost a case in Minnesota federal court when their acquisition of a local steel company led them to break an agreement with Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited Partnership to take their supply of natural gas (used in steel production). Essar’s contention that the global economic crisis invalidated the contract was rejected by the court, which awarded $32.9 million to the plaintiff.
FERC has authority over many potential disputes. In 2015 Buckeye Partners reached agreement following a long-running dispute with several airlines over the rates they were charging to deliver jet fuel from New Jersey to three New York area airports. FERC oversaw the agreement and approved its resolution.
It can be useful to think of pipelines as networks of tributaries from individual plays feeding into processing centers and then into large-capacity trunklines on their way to population centers, power stations, refineries, export facilities and other users. Recently, “farther from the wellhead” has guided the investment recommendations of some, and it makes sense that a G&P network supporting a new, high cost crude oil baisin involves a totally different risk than a natural gas pipeline running into New York City to supply a power station’s electricity production.
Pipelines that are “demand pull,” in that they’re paid for by the end-user (such as a refinery or power station) are less risky than “supply-push”. In addition, 75% of hydrocarbon production in the U.S. is done by investment grade companies, so performance risk ought to be limited. Take-or-pay contracts assure the pipeline operator of revenue regardless of whether the E&P company uses the capacity. Like virtually all U.S. commercial contracts, they are enforceable. None of these seem to represent significant risk of changing contract terms. The place to look for problems is close to the wellhead where a bankruptcy judge is overseeing a failed E&P company’s obligations. However, bankruptcy need not impede the flow of product, since the bondholders could continue operations with a reduced cost of capital having shed the equity holders. While it’s conceivable that a struggling E&P company could seek to renegotiate a contract with the threat of shutting in the well, the problem of weak prices is one of excess supply. Other producers would presumably be willing to use capacity albeit not necessarily in the same place.
2015 saw 41 energy companies file for bankruptcy representing $16BN in debt. So far there are few reports of any meaningful consequences for the MLPs that provide their infrastructure, although there are reported instances of contracts being renegotiated. Williams Companies (WMB) and Chesapeake (CHK) have agreed on lower rates for natural gas transportation in Ohio and Louisiana in exchange for higher future volumes, but this is not a typical case: CHK spun out their midstream assets into Access Midstream with unusually lucrative contracts probably because they were more highly valued by Access investors than their cost as reflected in CHK’s valuation. WMB subsequently acquired Access Midstream. In Pennsylvania, leasehold contracts have been challenged by the state on behalf of many landowners who have seen their royalty checks for drilling leases slashed. But it seems so far to be an isolated case. In another interesting case brought to my attention by Ethan Bellamy of RW Baird and also Dick Flex (see comment on right panel), Quicksilver Resources, which is in bankruptcy, continues to send natural gas through Crestwood Midstream’s (CEQP) G&P network, although Quicksilver is seeking to renegotiate their agreement and has used bankruptcy to reject contracts with other G&P firms. Bankruptcy doesn’t have to lead to a cut in production. Kinder Morgan’s recent results did include a $45 million credit charge in their Terminals business due to two failed coal companies. Of course this reflects the shift away from coal towards natural gas, a trend for which MLPs including KMI are well positioned.
Moreover, demand is not the problem. Last year in the U.S., natural gas production of around 80BCF (Billion Cubic Feet Per Day) was 4BCF higher than in 2014. Exports are expected to double this year. Auto sales were a record 17.5 million with gas-guzzling pick-ups and SUVs representing half of this. Cheap hydrocarbons are producing a demand response.
While MLPs have always paid attention to the credit profile of their customers, there is increased focus on this area from investors. We’ll continue searching for examples of the likely impact on an MLP when its E&P customer fails.
A poorly designed MLP product Crashes
This could almost be the topic of a second blog post: last week UBS announced the mandatory redemption of two exchange-traded notes that were designed to provide MLP exposure leveraged 2:1. The results have been predictable, and the notes (ticker: MLPV and MLPL) duly performed as designed. MLPV fell from $22 last Summer to under $5 at which point the abovementioned mandatory redemption was triggered. The more seasoned MLPL reached $75 at the MLP peak in August 2014 and recently touched $10. Incidentally, the management of vehicles such as these requires selling MLPs when they fall and buying them when they rise to maintain constant leverage, the type of behavior that has exacerbated the sharp moves in the sector recently and causes a permanent loss of capital for the investor. The clients of UBS were poorly served indeed.
We are long BPL, CEQP, KMI and WMBLike many other members of the new Stoicism movement, I have a great interest in ancient Roman history. The Roman Empire is not only a fascinating subject in its own right, but knowledge of it also can help us gain a more profound understanding of Stoic philosophy. One of the world’s foremost experts on Roman history today is Mary Beard, professor of classics at Cambridge university. In her books and her BBC documentaries, Beard presents the complexities of ancient Roman society in a way that is not only educational but also entertaining. So it was with tremendous joy that I recently found myself able to sit down with her latest work, a general history of Rome titled SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus: “The Senate and the People of Rome”).
To be sure, I began reading SPQR with a few caveats in mind. I knew that this was going to be a book that focused more on the politics, society, economy and everyday life in Rome than on its schools of philosophy, Moreover, I was aware that Beard was no fan of Stoicism. Whenever I see her name, I still have to think about a review she wrote several years ago of three biographies of the Roman statesman and Stoic philosopher Seneca: “How Stoical was Seneca?” The reviewed authors all viewed Seneca as a hypocrite and Beard agreed with them. For her, Seneca only affected a virtuous life to divert attention from his involvement with the tyrant Nero and from his amassment of enormous wealth by dubious means.
Beard even mocked Seneca’s suicide. (Nero believed Seneca was part of a conspiracy against him and commanded that he kill himself.) After failing to draw enough blood by slashing his veins (“he was so old and emaciated the blood hardly escaped”), Seneca took hemlock, offering a libation to Jupiter. This was, so Beard, an obvious attempt to emulate Socrates’ legendary death. But the poison also failed to achieve the desired effect, so Seneca ordered his servants to bring him into a hot bath, where he suffocated in the steam. Beard saw something comical in all this. For a philosopher who had devoted so much of his writing to preparations for death, she writes, he made a very bad job of it when his own turn came. Seneca was for Beard a poor exemplar of Stoic philosophy, which she seemed to dislike as much as she disliked him:
Hard-line Stoicism was a deterministic, fatalist doctrine that valued a virtuous life (and death) beyond almost everything else, with very little room for human frailty indeed.
And yet, with all this in mind, I was still not prepared for what I discovered in SPQR:
There are occasional examples of outstanding imperial virtue too. The philosophical Thoughts of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, cliché as much of it is (‘Do not act as if you were going to live 10,000 years. Death hangs over you’) still finds many admirers, buyers and advocates today, from self-help gurus to former US president Bill Clinton.
In truth, it is not necessary for a scholar to sympathize with Stoicism in order to write a first-rate history of ancient Rome (which is what SPQR is). What a reader can expect, however, is that a historian has some understanding of Stoicism before comparing it to contemporary self-help literature or former American presidents with obvious self-control issues. Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations contain trite observations which are repeated over and over? Well duh! The repetition of philosophical principles was necessary, the Stoics taught, because we tend to keep forgetting them.
As those of you reading this now know, my initial response to Beard’s comment was a decidedly non-Stoic one. I felt a twinge of anger and responded in a mocking tone. Had I remembered my Stoic principles, however, I would have realized that it was my own self who had decided that Mary Beard had somehow offended me and all modern-day Stoics. I also would have considered how to respond in a more mature manner. Now that I have taken a moment to regain my composure (cognitive distancing: another trite Stoic principle), I will attempt to do just that.
When Marcus Aurelius was writing what came to be known as his Meditations or “Thoughts”, he was not composing a philosophical treatise intended for academic discussion; instead he was keeping a private journal intended to help him live a more virtuous life. This was (and remains) common Stoic practice. Epictetus, one of the greatest Stoic philosophers, stressed the importance of this exercise to his students: Let these things be ready at hand, night and day. These things write, these things read: of these things talk both to yourself and to others. (Discourses, 3:24). The purpose of this practice is described well by the writer Jules Evans. As he put is, Stoics keep journals full practiced a form of “autosuggestion”:
The student memorises these sayings, writes them down in their journal, repeats them to themselves, and carries them around – that’s the point of a handbook, so the teachings are procheiron, or “close at hand”. We repeat the maxims until “through daily meditation [we] reach the point where these wholesome maxims occur of their own accord”, as Seneca put it. We assimilate them into our inner dialogue, and make them a “part of oneself”. The teachings become merged with our “tissue and blood”, part of our “body”. We become the Logos made flesh.
Another passage of SPQR which might irritate modern-day Stoic readers comes when Beard discusses Marcus Aurelius’ military exploits:
And some of the modern admirers of the gentle philosopher-emperor Marcus would be less admiring if they reflected on the the brutality of the suppression of the Germans, proudly illustrated in the scenes of battle that circle their way up the commemorative column that still stands in the centre of Rome; though less famous, it was clearly intended to rival Trajan’s and was carefully built just a little taller.
First, as a scholar of German history, I wince every time other historians use the term “the Germans” in this anachronistic way. “The Germans,” as a distinct ethnic-cultural nation, did not emerge until the Middle Ages, at the earliest. “Germanic” would be more accurate for the ancient world. But I digress. More important is Beard’s suggestion that, since Marcus Aurelius engaged in brutal warfare, he violated his Stoic principles and was therefore, like Seneca, some kind of a hypocrite.
Marcus Aurelius was not always a mild-mannered philosopher, but an emperor and a general who also committed acts of violence that would make us blanch today? If I may be allowed one more un-stoical response: Another shocker! Anyone who has devoted any amount of serious study to the history ancient Rome knows this. Marcus Aurelius was responsible for things that today would get him sent to the International Court of Criminal Justice at the Hague. But Marcus Aurelius did not reign in the twenty-first century. He was a man of his time, and the ancient world was a very violent place.
In contrast to many other Roman emperors, however, Marcus never prosecuted wars of conquest. His wars were purely defensive — and necessary. Several times in the course of his reign, Germanic tribes invaded the Roman empire, pillaging and murdering local populaces, and setting off a wave of panic that reached the city of Rome itself. As a Stoic, he knew that the gods or the fates have entrusted each one of us with certain duties and responsibilities which we must carry out as best we can. As emperor, it was Marcus’ chief duty to protect the empire. He discharged his duty, trying to maintain his humanity as far as possible.
While it is true that his armies repelled the invaders with great brutality, the ancient accounts report that Marcus was also magnanimous to the Germanic tribes once they had been subdued. It is also important to remember that, despite certain similarities, Stoics are not Christians. Being a Stoic does not mean that one has to be a pacifist as well. (Christians themselves, like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, have also historically honored Christ’s pleas for love, peace and forgiveness more in the breach than in the observance.) Perhaps this is why Stoicism has traditionally found a receptive audience within the military. In any case, by guiding his troops into battle, Marcus was honoring his Stoic principles, not betraying them.
If I may conclude on another digression: While Mary Beard herself may be no admirer of Stoicism and the Stoics, she has, in the past few years, exhibited some public behavior which Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius would have found commendable. In 2013 Internet trolls reacted to some of Beard’s television appearances with vile, obscene, misogynist comments on Twitter. Beard responded by publicly naming and shaming them. Most remarkably, however, she later forgave her trolls and even befriended some of them. As she said, people shouldn’t be punished forever for solitary acts of stupidity: In general, I am more concerned to be sure that people don’t use the internet in this way (or don’t do so again) than to seek ‘punishment’. Mary Beard’s dignified and generous response to her tormentors is worthy of a philosopher. Perhaps, somewhere along the way of her decades spent studying ancient Rome, she acquired some Stoic habits of mind after all.
And I would highly recommend all fellow modern Stoics to buy a copy of SPQR. Not to learn about the ancient Roman Stoics, but to discover the fascinating world in which they lived.
Kevin Kennedy is a German-American historian, writer, lecturer and commentator. He lives with his Swedish partner and their two children in Potsdam, Germany and Kungsbacka, Sweden. His academic specialty is eighteenth-century Prussian history. He discovered Stoicism some twenty years ago, but it has only become a part of his daily life since the first Stoic Week in 2013. He can be reached at [email protected].
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RelatedContributed by Ellen Gottesdiener
The key to product success is to discover and deliver the right product for the right customers—and to do it at the right time. That doesn’t change when you move to an agile way of working. In fact, appropriately applying the agile mindset amplifies the imperative of eliciting and specifying the right requirements. The goal is to deliver the highest value product needs (requirements) in as short a time as possible.
In an agile or lean project, discovering these requirements is the work of agile product ownership. Product ownership intersects with the disciplines of product management, project management, and business analysis/requirements engineering. Agile and lean teams use different titles for the person in charge of this work, including product owner, product champion, associate product manager, or technical product manager.
Whatever the title, agile product ownership is no small task. Product owners are the champions of the product—and have ultimate accountability for the health and well being of that product. They “own” the jointly derived product vision, must deeply and emphatically understand customer needs, keep a finger on the pulse of changing stakeholder values, and continuously make decisions on what to build (or not), and when. This is true whether the product is sold commercially or is used to operate the business.
This is a tall order. Product owners cannot do this work alone, especially if they also have strategic, customer-facing product management responsibilities. Instead, in many organizations, business analysts, requirements engineers, or testers (or some combination of them) work closely with the product owner, sometimes even taking on tactical or technical product ownership responsibilities (the day-to-day interaction with the delivery team).
Product owners—and the business analysts, requirements engineers, and testers who work with them—who handle the challenge successfully all seem to understand 9 essential practices, which are explained below.
Put the Ends before the Means.
Agile focuses on value, and delivering the highest value features as soon as possible. To do that effectively, all involved — from the c-suite to the delivery team — need to have their eyes fixed on value. One of the many responsibilities of agile product ownership, and perhaps the most important, is to share, over and over, the vision, goals, and objectives for the product. The best product owners ensure a compelling, clear and cohesive product vision emerges from collaborating cross-functional disciplines.
Build Empathy for Your Customer.
Great agile product owners share with their delivery teams what they (and their product organization) are learning from competitive intelligence, product and market research, and customer visits. When possible, they invite engineers, testers, user experience experts, and any other members of the delivery team to participate in contextual inquiry by observing actual product users interacting with the product. They may also invite the team to read customer service and complaint emails or sit in as operations or customer service personnel addresses customers’ needs. The idea is to have the team fully experience walking in the customers’ shoes.
Stand Up.
The best product owners, or those explicitly designated as the tactical “product owners,” attend daily team standups. They don’t consider standups as status meetings, but as daily planning sessions that require facilitative leadership.
Cozy Up.
Successful product owners make themselves available every day to answer questions about work in progress. They know they are responsible for clarifying acceptance criteria and reviewing prototypes, completed stories, or other evidence of acceptance before the demo. These product owners never wait until the demo to see what the team has accomplished — otherwise they lose opportunities for real-time refinement and suffer potentially embarrassing demo-day surprises.
Great product owners always, always, always attend the team’s demos. Better yet, they facilitate the demo so that customers or proxy customers “test” the completed work. The best take it one step further and invite the world to the demo. In other words, they persuade colleagues from other product areas, technology, operations, support, and so on to attend. They also encourage their delivery teams to invite their colleagues. A standing-room only demo not only showcases the team’s work (and that of the product owner as well) but also demonstrates accountability and invites powerful feedback.
Fess Up.
Successful product owners are part of their teams, and that includes being part of team retrospectives. They are always ready to give and receive open, honest feedback. They are integral to their teams’ — and their own — learning about the process and product. They are present and they expect retrospectives to be well facilitated, engaging, transparent, and to conclude with one or two specific actions or experiments for improvement or learning.
Some people might argue that retrospectives are only for the delivery team. I disagree. Agile product owners are part of the team — and have a right and an obligation to be there. And remember: retrospectives need to be facilitated by a skilled, neutral facilitator, who can be an agile project facilitator, a coach, or a ScrumMaster from another team.
Decide How to Decide.
Great product owners never relegate decisions about what features to build and when to the delivery team. They accept that this is their responsibility. They proactively encourage and expect the delivery team to share and express their opinions (hopefully backed by data). Ultimately, however, they know that the decision about what to pull from the product backlog (the living, prioritized list of product requirements) lies with the product owner.
Some product owners choose to explicitly and transparently delegate tactical decision-making to a business analyst, requirements engineer, tester, technical leader, or ScrumMaster (whomever has the right skills and product expertise) when, like many typical product owners, they are overloaded with strategic product management responsibilities. In this case, the delegate is now a tactical product owner. Typically, this is done for near-term product planning: deciding which backlog items to pull into each iteration. At the same time, the best product owners understand that once that responsibility is delegated, they cannot overrule or second-guess the delegate’s decisions; otherwise, the delivery team will quickly lose faith.
Develop Telescoping Vision.
Agile projects don’t attempt to understand or predict all product requirements up front. However, agile product owners still need to sketch out the long view of the product to establish a common focus and marshal organizational resources (people, money, space, governance). From that vantage point, product owners define what to build in each release, and then in each iteration. For large products, they collaborate and rely on product management to do this work.
These three levels — product (and portfolio), release, and iteration — correspond to three views (the Big-View, the Pre-View, and the Now-View) of the product.
The Big-View includes the overall understanding of what the product will be and the sequence of delivery. The Pre-View outlines what product functionality to deliver in a given release, and obtains agreement on the backlog items to deliver in the first few iterations in the release. This is articulated in the release plan. The Now-View (iteration or sprint plan) defines the items the team will deliver in an iteration, or if using Kanban, the work-in-progress.
Successful product owners are able to keep the Big-View in mind, even as they progress through the Pre-View and the Now-View.
Move in Measurable Inches.
At the Now-View, great product owners think about small, cohesive, high-value product slices. They know they need to create the product inch by inch. They realize that delivery teams need clear, measurable conditions of satisfaction so that they can create the user acceptance tests necessary to ensure that what they deliver is what the customer needs.
Use Roadmaps as a Guide, but Don’t Pave Them.
At the Big-View, agile product owners use a product management planning and analysis tool called the product roadmap. It is an evolving plan of product releases, with brief descriptions of their themes, features, primary customers (market segment or personas), and anticipated outcomes.
“Evolving” and “over time” are two key points that successful product owners keep in mind. As the product is developed, the roadmap must be revised to include new technologies, emerging opportunities, response to market conditions and customer feedback, team cycle time (or velocity), and new learning. If product owners were to create one roadmap at the beginning of a product’s lifecycle, freeze it, and never stray from the original path, they would miss the chance to continually discover and deliver a product that truly delights their customers.
Agile Product Ownership
Successfully delivering high value products depends on knowledgeable, engaged product owners. At its core, the work of agile product ownership entails one clear and essential mission: steer a team toward a vision, in small steps, with regular stops along the way to check in, learn, adjust, and move forward.
Ellen Gottesdiener is an internationally recognized leader in the convergence of agile + requirements + product management + project management. She is founder and principal of EBG Consulting, which helps organizations adapt how they collaborate to improve business outcomes.
Ellen’s passion is helping people use modern product requirements practices to build valued products and great teams. She provides coaching, training, and facilitates discovery and planning workshops across diverse industries. Ellen is a world-renowned writer, speaker, and presenter. Her most recent book, co-authored with Mary Gorman, is Discover to Deliver: Agile Product Planning and Analysis. Ellen is author of two other acclaimed books: Requirements by Collaboration and The Software Requirements Memory Jogger.
Here’s where you digitally connect with Ellen: Blog | Twitter | Newsletter | LinkedIn
References
Gottesdiener, Ellen and Mary Gorman. “It’s the Goal Not the Role: The Value of Business Analysis in Scrum. Available at: http://www.agileconnection.com/article/its-goal-not-role-value-business-analysis-scrum
Gottesdiener, Ellen and Mary Gorman. Discover to Deliver: Agile Product Planning and Analysis. 2012. EBG Consulting.
Gottesdiener, Ellen. “5 Ways to Recognize a Great Product Manager”. Success with Requirements blog, available at http://ebgconsulting.com/blog/5-ways-to-recognize-a-great-product-manager/
Gottesdiener, Ellen. “Decide How to Decide” Available at: https://www.ebgconsulting.com/Pubs/Articles/DecideHowToDecide-Gottesdiener.pdf
Additional Resources
Cagan, Marty. Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love. 2008. SVPG Press.
Cohn, Greg. Agile Excellence for Product Managers: A Guide to Creating Winning Products with Agile Development Teams. 2010. Super Star Press.
Larman, Craig and Bas Vodde. Practices for Scaling Lean & Agile Development: Large, Multisite, and Offshore Product Development with Large-Scale Scrum. 2010. Addison-Wesley.
Pichler, Roman. Agile Product Management with Scrum: Creating Products That Customers Love. 2010. Addison-Wesley.
Images from Discover to Deliver: Agile Product Planning and Analysis by Gottesdiener and Gorman; Flickr Commons.MUMBAI: The owner of an Andheri-based hearing aid manufacture lost Rs 13 lakh to a bank fraud recently. Cyber criminals involved in SIM-swap frauds cancelled the victim’s registered mobile number and reactivated it with a new SIM card to hack into his bank account.The fraudsters deactivated Rakesh Ojha’s mobile number, claiming loss of SIM. Within an hour of deactivation, the fraudsters used a new SIM of the same number to get a one-time password (OTP) and transferred the amount from the victim’s nationalized bank account to a Lucknow-based bank account through real time gross settlement (RTGS). Based on the complaint, on Wednesday, MIDC police managed to arrest one Rajesh Kanojia (38) from Indore who allegedly used his picture on the photocopy of Ojha’s election card.The fraud occurred when Ojha was in a meeting. He did not notice a text alert over the reported loss from his mobile service provider as part of its verification process around 2.15pm on May 15. “The fraudsters logged on to Ojha’s bank account and transferred Rs 13 lakh seconds after the new SIM was activated around 4.15pm. Around 4.30pm, the money was deposited in one Nirmala Mishra’s account in Lucknow. The account was opened with fake documents. Even the Lucknow bank did not verify the person’s identity before clearing the cheques,” said a cop.Explaining the modus operandi, the investigators said, “The racket is operated at three levels. Group One is the mastermind. Group Two’s role is to collect bank details of the victim whose identity proof Group One gets hold of. Group Three operates from other states such as Indore and Lucknow and its role is to withdraw money the moment it is credited. Ojha did not receive a transaction alert from the bank because his SIM was deactivated.”Cops are now probing how fraudsters got hold of Ojha’s election card photocopy.Group One had assigned the arrested Kanojia to get hold of a new SIM card of the number Ojha had registered with his bank for transactions. In his complaint, Ojha’s son Suyash said, “My father checked his phone around 5.30pm and found that the SIM was not working. He called the customer care number and requested that the service be reactivated. Around 6pm, the bank manager called and asked my father the reason for transferring such a huge sum to a Lucknow account.”It was Indore police who first caught Kanojia, a school dropout, from Nalasopara last week when he arrived to buy a SIM card with forged documents. Kanojia was wanted in another case where Rs 20 lakh was similarly siphoned off. Navinchandra Reddy, deputy commissioner of police (Zone X), formed a team with MIDC police senior inspector Shailesh Pasalwar, Dilip Utekar, sub-inspector Hanumant Dhavan and others to get Kanojia’s custody. Police have launched a hunt for more accused. Kanojia is in police custody till July 10.Louis Wain
1860-l939
The progressive escape of reality towards delusion is expressed in the pictures below. They were painted by Louis Wain, an European artist in the beginning of this century. Since Wain was young, he used to draw and paint cats for calendars, albums, postcards, etc. When he became 57 years old, he was affected by an unknow mental disorder, which overtook his life as well his art. The last 15 years of his life were spent in psychiatric institutions. His cat's paintings started to change and to show startling images. Quite revealing of his psychotic condition were the cat's eyes. See how they become fixed with hostility, even in the earliest paintings, because the psychotic probably tends to think that the world is looking upon him in a menacing way. Another sign is the fragmentation of the cat's body. They become altered in a strange way under the psychotic's gaze, and almost always are represented as distorted and phantastic shapesA warehouse at a U.S. military base went up in flames last night.
A blast that shattered the U.S. Army’s Sagami General Depot in the city of Sagamihara, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, causing a fire that burned through the night but injuring no one AFP reports.
First reports that a bomb had gone off in the warehouse proved inaccurate. “I thought the American military facility came under a terrorist attack,” a security guard told local media. “Orange sparks were rising quite high. I couldn’t see smoke but smelled something like gunpowder,” an eye witness noted.
The blast occurred at 12:45am on Monday local time and was extinguished at 7:09am by the local fire department, which dispatched 13 trucks to the site of the explosion, according to the Wall Street Journal
There was some confusion what exactly was stored at the depot. “We coordinated with U.S. fire units, and did not spray water as we waited for information related to what was inside,” a Sagamihara fire department official told AFP.
Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal relates that Sagamihara’s mayor, Toshio Kayama, received a call from the Colonel William B. Johnson, the garrison commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Japan, during which the mayor insisted on an investigation of the cause of the explosion and the installation of adequate safety measures.
The Pentagon noted in a statement that the facility did not store any “radioactive material” and that no other building at the base were damaged.”The storage building is not designated as a hazardous material storage facility as some initial reports indicated,” according to U.S. Navy Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesperson.
“Inside the building that exploded were canisters of compressed gases: nitrogen, oxygen, freon and air. The cause of the explosion… is under investigation. There are no indications of injuries,” he added.
The Sagamihara General Depot is home to the U.S. Army’s 35th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, which conducts depot operations and combat service support for U.S. forces in Japan. The base is mostly a repair center for military vehicles. The base is primarily used for storing ammunition and petroleum products, according to local media.Clashes have erupted after a number of Israeli soldiers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, police and witnesses said.
The presidency strongly condemns the attack by the occupier's military and police against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there. Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president
The Israeli security personnel used tear gas and stun grenades, as they entered the compound to arrest what they called Palestinian "stone throwers".
Omar Kiswani, the manager of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Al Jazeera that 80 "Jewish settlers" protected by the Israeli police, attacked the mosque when confronted by Palestinian volunteer guards.
A statement issued by the Israeli police said that "masked protesters who were inside the mosque threw stones and fireworks at police".
A Muslim witness accused police of entering the mosque and causing damage, saying prayer mats were partially burned.
Clashes later continued outside the mosque complex, with police firing tear gas and stun grenades.
Israeli security forces closed the mosque's compound to worshippers following the clashes that come just hours before the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.
Abbas condemns
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called an "attack" by Israeli authorities.
"The presidency strongly condemns the attack by the occupier's military and police against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the aggression against the faithful who were there," a statement from his office said.
Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Israeli police, said that the Israeli police received intelligence in the morning about the possible disturbances at Al-Aqsa Mosque that would involve explosive devices as well as stones thrown at Jewish visitors.
"…[O]ur police officers entered the area, I am talking about the Temple Mount area only, and shut the front doors of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to prevent those riots from overflowing onto the Temple Mount area.
"Our police units took the situation under control from 20 to 25 minutes only using stun grenades, non-lethal weapons only to make sure that situation remained calm."
'Israeli police lying'
Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said that the Israeli police were being dishonest.
"The Israeli police are lying, they have lied before and they are lying again," he said.
"I think what happened today is an act of aggression on the part of the Israeli army," he said, adding that right-wing Jewish settlers provoked Palestinians when they entered the mosque.
"This is unacceptable."
RELATED: Is Israel facilitating aid to Jewish extremists?
Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler, reporting from Jerusalem, said there are some reports that Jewish groups and Jewish activists who are not supposed to pray in the Al-Aqsa compound got in there, and this is what could have triggered the clashes.
"We are hearing that the minister of agriculture, a member of a right-wing political party here in Israel, was waiting to get into the compound this morning. If that directly sparked what we saw, it is difficult to say," Heidler said.
The disturbances came with tensions running high after Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon last week banned two Muslim groups from entering the mosque compound - Islam's third holiest site.
Israel seized East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, in the Six Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.Text size:
Neuroscientist Making Headway in Fighting Migraine Headaches
Dr. Greg Dussor
A study by a UT Dallas researcher has revealed new information about a potential chemical causing pain hypersensitivity in migraines, which is the third most common disease in the world.
A key to the sensitization process, according to Dr. Greg Dussor, associate professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, could be related to a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Other studies have shown elevated levels of |
BCS? Fair enough. Join the crowd. But college football reached its most popular and prosperous heights during the BCS era. Go figure.
Things will be different the next two years, though. While we certainly have no illusions about a perfect system arriving in 2014, we can see better approaching; we can see improvement. And that's going to be a haunting presence. We know the future but must live in the past for two more seasons. I expect it to feel pretty yucky at times.
You might not feel it now. You might just be happy with the news this week or be entirely distracted by your optimism heading into 2012. It is, after all, surely your team's year!
But just wait until your team finishes No. 3 or No. 4.How good was Chris Harris Jr. in 2016?
His third-straight Pro Bowl selection and first-team All-Pro honors certainly speak for themselves, but don't tell the full story. When you dig a little deeper, as Pro Football Focus has, you realize how downright dominant he really was.
According to the analytics website, the Broncos' top defender limited opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 59.2 when they targeted receivers out of the slot -- Harris' wheelhouse.
Now, chew on this: No other defense held a QB under a 75.0 passer rating in the same scenario.
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That's nearly a 20-point deviation, and further proof that Harris is the best at his position. The former undrafted free agent (!) finished as PFF's No. 1 CB out of 112 qualifiers, and was the top-rated player on Denver's defense.
Entering the third of his five-year, $42.5 million contract, Harris -- still somehow only 27-years-old -- is set to make $6.9 million in 2017. He's the 19th-most expensive corner in the NFL, the second-most on the Broncos.
And, at this point, woefully underpaid.
Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @Kelberman247Elucidating the effects of refeeding a high-protein diet after fasting on disease development is of interest in relation to excessive protein ingestion and irregular eating habits in developed countries. The objective of the present study was to address the hepatic effects of refeeding a high-protein diet after fasting. Mice were fasted for 48 h and then refed with a test diet containing 3, 15, 35, 40, 45 or 50 % casein. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities and liver immediate-early gene expression levels were sequentially measured for the first 24 h after initiation of refeeding. Refeeding with a 50 % casein diet after 48 h of fasting led to a rapid (within 2-3 h) and abnormal elevation in serum ALT (P = 0·006) and AST (P = 0·001) activities and a marked increase in liver Finkel-Biskis-Jinkins (FBJ) osteosarcoma oncogene (P = 0·007) and nuclear receptor subfamily 4, group A, member 1 (P = 0·002) mRNA levels. In contrast, refeeding of the 3, 15 or 35 % casein diets produced no substantial increases in serum ALT and AST activities in mice. Refeeding of 40, 45 or 50 % casein increased serum ALT and AST activities in proportion to this dietary casein content. In mice refed the 3, 15 or 35, but not 50 %, casein diets, liver heat shock protein 72 transcript levels greatly increased. We conclude from these data that the consumption of a high-protein diet after fasting causes acute hepatocellular injury in healthy animals, and propose that careful attention should be paid to the use of such diets.Recently by Robert Wenzel: George McGovern: Abolish the TSA and Homeland Security
Reuters is reporting that at a town hall meeting with soldiers and their families, in Fort Bliss, Texas, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said:
I’m not a believer in the Old Testament theory of business cycles. I think that if we can help people, we need to help people.
This comment isn’t in his prepared remarks, so it must have come during the Q&A.
Despite this being an odd metaphor from a guy who, while a teenager, helped roll the Torah scrolls in his local synagogue, you know that the metaphor is aimed at Ron Paul. Bernanke is pushing Austrian Business Cycle Theory (which Ron Paul supports), as a "Pain Theory" of solving the economic crisis, when he says that "we need to help people". He’s implying that something different from the old time economic theories can now be used to "help people" during an economic crisis.
This, I remind you, is coming from a guy who as Chairman of the Federal Reserve crashed the economy and destroyed the housing market, and where, as a result of the crash, roughly 9%, to this day, remain unemployed. Some help he is.
The poor performance of the economy is, of course, the result of past Federal Reserve money printing manipulations that distort the economy. Once the money printing stops, even for a short period, like it did in the summer of 2008, the economy attempts to readjust to a non-manipulated structure. Thus, people who find themselves in jobs that are only the result of the distorted Fed manipulated economy end up unemployed and need to move into jobs that are developing in the non-manipulated economic structure.
The only way the Fed can truly help these people is to stay out of the way and allow the economy to reshape in non-manipulated fashion. This will result in people finding jobs in the non-manipulated economy, which has a much stronger structure and very unlikely to result in an overall general crashes that have become the norm when central banks are created and start to print money.
Bernanke’s "New Testament" is about printing money to hold up the manipulated structure, which benefits the banksters, but also ultimately leads to massive price inflation, which screws most of the non-bankster population.
Thus, Austrian Business Cycle Theory is not about extending pain. It is about ending the madness with as little pain as possible.
As I have written before:
This "pain theory" that is identified with Austrians and embraced by some is distorting.
One would not, for example, say that a heart surgeon attempting to save a man’s life by heart surgery is in favor of pain as the way to save the man, even though pain is most assuredly a byproduct of a major heart operation.
There would never be a critique of a heart surgeon, "Oh, he causes pain." We all know such an operation is performed only to prevent further pain, and possibly death. In the same way, an Austrian economist who calls for a laissez faire attitude during the down phase of the business cycle is doing so only because he knows that the down the road alternative is worse. A resumption of money printing may prop up the earlier central bank manipulated capital structure, short-term, but it will only mean a greater liquidation down the road or hyper-inflation.
Thus, an Austrian calling for liquidation of malinvestments is more like a surgeon calling for a malignant tumor to be cut out. In either case, do you really want the alternative, for them to grow?
Austrian economists aren’t into pain any more than heart surgeons and cancer surgeons. Austrian economists look at the business cycle and are really saying, "Look you better stop this now because it will only get worse." That’s not a pain theory. It’s a theory to limit pain.
Bottom line: Bernanke should go back to reading "Old Testament" economics. His "New Testament" economics is going to end up creating hell on earth for all of us.
Reprinted with permission from Economic Policy Journal.
2011 Economic Policy Journal
The Best of Robert WenzelThere's not one, not two, but three brand new high-end graphics cards on the way from AMD. As rumoured, AMD is dropping the numerical branding and is instead grouping its top cards under the "Fury" banner. All are based on its new Fiji chip, which is a tweaked version of the company's long-standing GCN architecture, and—as expected—all will come equipped with 4GB of stacked, on-package high bandwidth memory (HBM).
The flagship is the $649 R9 Fury X, which launches on June 24. At that price, it is pitched directly against Nvidia's GTX 980 Ti. It features 4096 stream processors—a huge jump over the 2816 stream processors found in the R9 290X—"up to" 1050MHz core clock, 256 texture units, 64 ROPs, HBM memory with 512 GB/s of bandwidth, a 67.2 GP/s pixel fill rate, and a six-phase VRM (voltage regulator module), which AMD claims is ideal for overclocking the card. We don't yet have UK pricing, but it'll probably be around £550.
Despite using two 8-pin power connectors, the Fury X's power consumption isn't as high as some feared: the TDP is 275W, just a tad higher than the R9 290X's, although it's worth bearing in mind that in real-world usage, the R9 290X was much closer to 300W. The Fury X supports up to 375W of power for overclocking.
AMD's reference cooler has gotten a makeover, with the company finally ditching the less-than-ideal plastic blower design of older cards. The Fury X's cooler is made of die cast aluminium and finished in a black nickel gloss and a soft touch black. It's quite a handsome thing, and thanks to the use of HBM memory AMD has been able to shrink the size of the card down to just a hair over 19cm (7.5in), which is all the more impressive given the huge die made up of 8.9 billion transistors. However, that doesn't take into account the watercooling tubes, which poke out of the rear of the card. Speaking of watercooling, the Fury X is cooled via an extremely thick 120mm radiator, rated for up to 500W of cooling.
Bling comes in the form of a light-up Radeon logo on the top of the card, as well an LED light strip that indicates the current level of GPU operation. Users can choose between either red or blue, while a separate green LED lights up when the card is idling and not making use of any GPU cores. For hooking up monitors, there are three full-size DisplayPort outputs, along with a single HDMI 1.4 port.
Updated: Other sites are reporting that it's HDMI 2.0. We're trying to confirm one way or the other with AMD.
Next up is the $549 R9 Fury, an air-cooled version of the Fury X. Specs are thin on the ground for regular Fury, but it appears to feature the same aluminium construction as the Fury X along with a blower-style fan for venting hot air directly out of the case. It's likely that the Fury will drop some stream processors and ROPs compared to the Fury X, but we'll have to wait until we hear something official from AMD to get confirmation.
The third card is an odd one. Called the R9 Nano, it too is based on the Fiji chip with HBM, but comes in at just 15cm/6in, a size usually reserved for low-end cards. There's a large fan on the side for venting air inside a PC case, and AMD claims the R9 Nano offer ups to two times the performance-per-watt over the R9 290X; higher than the improvement offered by the Fury and Fury X. No pricing was given for the R9 Nano, but it is supposed to launch "this summer."
There's also supposed to be a dual-GPU configuration of the Fury X on the way, AMD gave no additional details.
AMD did, however, unveil a rather mad-looking PC equipped with dual Fury X graphics cards. Called Project Quantum, it's a unique small form factor PC split into two sections, with the middle lit up by a set of glowing red LEDs. Other than the dual Fury X GPUs, AMD isn't talking about what else lies inside the PC, but we did spot a rather huge external PSU being used to power it. Sadly, you won't actually be able to go and buy the PC, at least for now: AMD is currently pitching the design to partners in order to bring it to market, but has no time frame for release.
For those who don't need quite so much graphics horsepower, AMD also revealed some updates to the R9 and R7 graphics card ranges. Sadly, the new 300-series is a rebrand of the older 200-series cards, and sport almost identical specs, bar an increased amount of memory. At the bottom is the R7 360, which comes equipped with 2GB of GDDR5 memory for $109; the R9 370 with up to 4GB of GDDR5 memory for $149; and the R9 380, also with up to 4GB of GDDR5 memory for $199. At the top end is R9 390 for $329 and the R9 390X for $429, both of which come with 8GB of GDDR5 memory. We're trying to hunt down some UK prices and will update the post when we have them.The Senate on Wednesday adopted a resolution stating that a person who cannot become a member of the parliament should not "become an office bearer of any political party".
The resolution, presented by PPP's Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, pointed out that an un-elected person — someone who has given up Pakistani citizenship, who is declared to be of an unsound mind or otherwise disqualified from holding public office by a court — can become the head of party and take decisions.
The parliament, thus, is "exposed to becoming hostage to a person who himself is barred from entering it," the resolution states.
Leader of the House, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, said that a bill regarding the issue had already passed from the Senate, so bringing a resolution regarding the same is inappropriate.
Law Minister Zahid Hamid also opposed the resolution being put up for debate and said that every person should have the right to choose whoever they want as their leader.
The resolution passed with 52 senators voting in its favour and 28 voting against it.
Last month, the Senate defeated an amendment to the Elections Act 2017 with a single vote margin, paving the way for Nawaz Sharif to return as the president of PML-N after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court from becoming a member of the parliament.
Speaking on the floor on Wednesday, Ahsan also demanded that a committee be formed to investigate the alleged Intelligence Bureau (IB) list of lawmakers with links to terrorist organisations.
"I do not accept that the letter is fake," he said, adding that the issue required investigation since two senators had also been named in the list.
IB and the government have repeatedly denied the existence of any such list with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi clarifying on the floor of National Assembly that the list was fake.Paris: One killed & ten injured after jumping from window to flee the Devil
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A four month old baby was killed and ten people injured in France after leaping from a second floor window to escape the Devil. The incident happened during the early hours in an apartment building in La Verriere a suburb outside of Paris.Police reports say that there were thirteen people in the apartment when at around 3 am one of the occupants a man of African descent was awoken by his baby crying and got up to feed it. He was naked and as he stood up one of the female occupants who was his wife thought that he was the Devil, panic broke out and the man was stabbed in the hand with a knife before being thrown out of the apartment. Still naked the injured man tried to get back in which caused further panic amongst the other occupants who threw themselves out of the second floor window to escape.Seven of the jumpers were seriously injured and admitted to hospital including the baby which died soon after, others were treated by paramedics at the scene. Two men have been taken into police custody. Police investigators at the scene found no evidence of drug taking or that any type of occult ritual had taken place.Compared to previous generations, Generation Y (1982-1995) has some very different habits that have taken the marketplace by surprise.
Compared to previous generations, Generation Y (1982-1995) has some very different habits that have taken the marketplace by surprise.
One game-changer in particular: Generation Y doesn’t seem to enjoy purchasing things. From cars to association memberships, jewelry, and non-light beer – Gen Y just isn’t buying.
For many brands and companies, this is their worst nightmare. They desperately need to convince America’s largest population – 80 million 17 to 30 year-olds – to buy. But Generation Y is hanging out there, living “in the cloud” (that digital space where media, internet, and entertainment reside), seemingly content and unfazed by most marketing attempts.
Gen Y is unique from other generations in the buy-sell continuum for other reasons, as well. For example, this generation:
Trust their peers first and their parents second;
Hates to be sold anything;
Actively researches prices and reads reviews before making a purchase;
Expects exceptional service, like Amazon.com which tells them which products they might like;
Seeks to do business with ethical, environmental companies; and
Values customization, customizing everything from their music to their jeans and soda.
So it’s time to face facts:
Old-fashioned marketing won’t reach this generation that spends $200 billion annually. Gen Y ignores advertising and prefers a grassroots effort, such as hip events, viral videos, social media, student fans, and street teams. The balance between supply and demand has been altered and the value of owning “stuff” has diminished. The value now lies in the doing.
Today, a product or service is powerful when it connects people to something or someone else. As leaders and entrepreneurs, we can use this knowledge to our advantage. We just have to think about the “stuff” we sell in a slightly new way.
Here’s what motivates Gen Y to buy (and what has started to influence the rest of us, as well):
Empowerment
Gen Y wants to do something important with their purchases. You’ll notice this sentiment in Apple’s commercials, which depict ways people use products to do amazing things like curating music, crafting three-dimensional spreadsheets, or using FaceTime to call loved ones.
DO THIS: Explain how your product or service makes people’s lives better and make the message as simple as possible. This is an instant gratification generation; simplicity is essential.
Connectivity
Many times the joy of having something isn’t in the having, but in the sharing. When we share something we like with people we like it creates a bond, and this is especially meaningful to Gen Y.
DO THIS: Find ways to connect people to other people through your business. Sales isn’t really about selling anymore, it’s about building a community.
Causes
Perhaps Gen Y’s disinterest in buying cars has little to do with being anti-car and a more about being environmentally conscious. Gen Y is driven by the desire to make a difference.
DO THIS: Connect people to something bigger than themselves through your product or service. A bigger impact is almost always there, we just tend to forget about it or fail to market it.
A lousy economy and rapidly changing technology is likely changing every generation’s buying habits. Chances are, we’re all spending less on physical products.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe our focus is shifting off the material things and onto the more important things, like relationships, quality of life, and a creating a better world.
In that case, we can thank Generation Y for giving us a message worth marketing.Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
March 17, 2017, 5:19 PM GMT / Source: TODAY By Meghan Holohan
Bruce Mansy was always dancing — in stores, at home and even once at a hair salon. In January 2016, the 7-year-old stunned his classmates with his performance of “The Nae Nae” and won a school-wide dance contest.
“He was on point. He had the moves,” his dad Samuel Mansy, 33, of Fresno, California, told TODAY. “He is really into it. It made me want to dance.”
But a car accident in September 2016 left Bruce paralyzed from the waist down and made it seem like he would never dance again.
Yet, paralysis didn't slow Bruce for long. After a month of intense therapy, today, Bruce is happily dancing again.
“The accident didn’t really stop me. I get pumped up first, then I do ‘The Whip,’” he told TODAY.
While dancing makes him happy, it also has become part of his therapy and helps him improve his core strength as he tries to overcome his injury. By reconnecting to dance, Bruce has increased his confidence and boosted his mood.
“It was nice to see him dancing and smiling,” his dad said. “It sparked something in his mind.”
Therapists at Project Walk incorporate dance in Bruce Mansy's therapy. By dabbing and dancing "The Whip" and "The Nae Nae," Bruce builds his core strength and improves his balance. Courtesy Mansy family
RELATED: 6-year-old girl paralyzed in backbend accident takes first steps
A ride to school that changed a family
Mansy had just dropped Bruce’s 15-year-old brother Samson off and had Carrie, 3, Jacob, 11, and Bruce in the backseat when a woman failed to yield and slammed into the car.
After coming to, Mansy checked on his children. Jacob and Carrie had some bruises and cuts. Carrie asked for a Band-Aid for her head.
But Bruce said something unnerving: “Dad, I can’t feel my legs.”
Mansy noticed a big bump on Bruce’s back. He took the other children from the car and slowly moved Bruce to the ground as they waited for an ambulance.
“I felt like kind of dizzy,” Bruce said.
When a car accident paralyzed Bruce from the waist-down, his dancing was derailed. But not for long. Courtesy Mansy family
When he arrived at the hospital, doctors realized Bruce was bleeding internally and removed part of his intestine. The impact had also crushed his T10 and T12 vertebra. They told the family a week later they’d perform back surgery, but that would simply stabilize the spine.
Bruce would probably never walk again.
“I felt like I was robbed of my life; my son’s life had been robbed,” said Mansy.
After six weeks in the hospital, Bruce returned home. While doctors did not feel optimistic Bruce would walk again, the family decided they were not giving up. They hoped Bruce would walk — and dance — like he once did.
That’s when his aunt, Lykeav Tang, found Project Walk.
How dabbing helps paralysis
Bruce has been going to weekly therapy at Project Walk, a program that uses physical activity to retrain the body and nerves to help people with paralysis regain some ability.
“His therapists are having him do moves to work with the core and his core actually helps him engage his legs,” said Carleen Doan, director of communication at Project Walk.
Six weeks after his accident, Bruce dressed up as Spider-Man for Halloween. Courtesy Mansy family
RELATED: Ballet classes helped this young woman walk, and dance, on her own
When the therapists realized Bruce loved dancing, they decided to add that into his therapy. While seated, he dabs and dances “The Whip” and “The Nae Nae.” Simply holding himself up and crossing his arms over his eyes to dab builds up the muscles in his stomach and helps him sit upright without falling.
While seated dancing energized Bruce, he experienced a huge surprise when the therapists put him in a harness to get his groove on.
“It was really amazing. He even said, ‘I can dance,’” said mom Lyhoy, 33. “It was really great to be able to see Project Walk incorporate dance into his training.”
For his parents, seeing Bruce dance again helped them, too.
“One of the things that makes him happy is dancing,” said Mansy. “I felt like everything was going to be OK.”
The Mansy family drives three hours each way for Bruce to attend therapy at Project Walk, which aims to help him overcome his paralysis. Courtesy Mansy family
The therapy has already helped Bruce. He can wiggle his toes.
"It is a small thing, but it is a big thing for us," said Lyhoy. "That’s what the doctor told him would never happen."
She wants people to see Bruce dancing and feel inspired no matter what they face.
“We really want to encourage hope and to not give up,” she said. “We have been through it, we want to push on. Others can do it.”
The Mansy family drives three hours each way for Bruce’s therapy at Project Walk, which isn’t covered by insurance. You can contribute to his ongoing medical expenses here.So, people are always asking what I would do about health care costs. One answer is that I would do all the things that are in the Affordable Care Act, and more.
But if you want a really radical proposal — but one that, unlike privatization, actually has strong evidence on its side — why not add a true public option to Medicare?
What do I mean by that? I mean creating a network of hospitals and clinics actually run by the government — a civilian VA, as Phillip Longman puts it — and giving Medicare recipients the option of using that system.
The public option would be required to spend significantly less per risk-adjusted recipient than traditional Medicare. And if it couldn’t provide care that seniors wanted given that restricted budget, it would have no takers and would close.
But the actual experience of the VA suggests, of course, that such a system would have major cost advantages — and that it could be used to achieve major cost savings.
Look, I know this isn’t politically feasible, at least not now. But neither is Ryan’s system of inadequate vouchers. And this one has the virtue of being something that experience suggests would actually work if we could overcome the political hurdles.
I’m sure the trolls will be screaming as soon as this is posted. But notice that neither I nor Longman are suggesting that anyone be forced into such a system. It would have to win patients in a fair competition with both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
And what would terrify the right, of course, is the likelihood that genuine socialized medicine would actually win that competition.Between 792–793 and 796 a Qays-Yaman war (also referred to as the War of the Watermelon[1][2]) took place in Palestine and Transjordan between the northern Arab tribal federation of Mudhar, also called Nizar or Qays, and the southern tribal confederation of Yaman and the latter's Abbasid allies. The conflict may have begun as early as 787/88, though specific outbreaks of the war are largely dated to 793 and 796. Some violence by Bedouin raiders in the Judean Desert also erupted in 797, though it is not clear if this was directly related to the Qaysi-Yamani conflict.
Background [ edit ]
In the 8th century, Palestine and Transjordan were functioning as two administrative districts: Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn. Jund Filastin stretched from Rafah to Lajjun, encompassing much of the coastal plain of Palestine and included Samaria and Mount Hebron, while Jund al-Urdunn consisted of the Galilee, Jabal Amil, and most of Transjordan (east of the Jordan River). Both districts were a part of the larger province of Bilad ash-Sham of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids annexed Bilad ash-Sham after defeating the Umayyad dynasty in 750. The capital of the Caliphate was subsequently moved from Damascus to Baghdad, and Palestine consequently lost its central position in the state, becoming a distant district whose affairs were not as closely monitored or regulated as they were under the Umayyads. The Abbasids were also facing difficulties suppressing rebellions throughout the Caliphate at the time of the intertribal hostilities in Palestine.[1] Various Arab tribes populated the regions of Palestine and Transjordan and formed confederations. The Mudhar (also referred to as Qays or Nizar) faction, led by Amir ibn Umara al-Murri, represented the northern tribes, while the Yamani faction represented the southern tribes.[3] Ibrahim ibn Salih, the governor of Bilad ash-Sham and a cousin of the caliph al-Mahdi, regularly dealt with the affairs in Jund Filastin. He and his aide, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim tended to favor the Yamani tribe in its disputes with the Mudhar.[4]
According to an account by a Christian source from the time, the towns of Gaza, Bayt Jibrin, Ascalon in Jund Filastin and Sariphaea in Jund al-Urdunn were destroyed in 788, or during the reign of Patriarch Elias II (r. 770–797), during the hostilities between the Abbasids and a force of rebels commanded by Yahya ibn Irmiya, a Jew from Transjordan.[3]
War [ edit ]
First outbreak [ edit ]
According to 9th-century historian al-Tabari, clashes between the Arab tribes of Palestine had begun in 790/91, while 15th-century Ibn Taghribirdi wrote that the conflict began as early as 787/88.[1] The 12th-century Syriac Orthodox patriarch, Michael the Syrian and 13th-century historian Ibn al-Athir asserted that the conflict started in 792/93.[5] According to the latter, hostilities commenced following an incident where a member of the northern Banu al-Qayn tribe came to grind his wheat at a location in the al-Balqa region of Transjordan and stole marrows and watermelons from a southern tribesman (either from the Banu Judham or Banu Lakhm tribes).[4] Casualties became considerable as tribes from the Golan Heights and Jund al-Urdunn joined the war as allies of the Yamani coalition. The strife was brought to an end and violence calmed down by 29 December 793, after decisive intervention by the new caliph Harun al-Rashid and his brothers.[4]
Second outbreak [ edit ]
In 796, battles between the Mudhar and Yamani tribes broke out again for unspecified reasons. It is presumed by historian Moshe Gil that the northern Mudhar tribes instigated the hostilities and that the focus of their attacks was directed not only against the Yamani federation, but the Abbasid state itself. Harun al-Rashid viewed this as a rebellion and dispatched a large army headed by Ja'far ibn Yahya al-Barmaki to quell the revolt.[4] Battles between the two sides erupted throughout Palestine, and during a major confrontation near Jerusalem, Ibn al-Athir wrote that 800 Yamani tribesmen were killed, while 600 (or 300) Mudhari tribesmen were killed. According to a 10th-century Christian source, one side suffered 80 dead and the other side, 60.[2] According to Gil, al-Barmaki "put down the rebels with an iron hand and much blood was spilled."[3] Al-Barmaki assigned Issa ibn al-Akki as his representative for the whole province of Bilad ash-Sham, while he appointed Salih bin Sulayman as his representative in al-Balqa. Thus, Jund al-Urdunn, which had normally been under the authority of the governor of Damascus, gained separate administration. This was a result of al-Barmaki's belief that Transjordan was the epicenter of the rebellion.[4]
Aftermath [ edit ]
The Abbasid governor of Jund Filastin, Harthama ibn A'yan, was reassigned to Egypt in 796.[4] During and after the war, anarchy became widespread in Palestine.[1] In addition, the main roads of the district were rendered impassable due to the presence of hostile Bedouin bands.[6] Various Arab tribes that previously attempted to raid the Christian monasteries of the Judean Desert, but were prevented from doing so by the state authorities, took advantage of the security vacuum and attacked several of them. The St. Chariton Monastery was robbed and on 20 March 796[1] or 19 March 797,[7] 20–28 monks at Mar Saba were reportedly suffocated to death or cremated,[1][7] while around 100 monks were assaulted.[7] The monasteries of St. Cyriacus, St. Theodosius and St. Euthymius were also raided at some point during or after the hostilities.[1]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
a b c d e f g Levy-Rubin and Kedar 2001, p. 65. a b Linder 2007, p. 22. a b c Gil 1997, p. 283. a b c d e f Gil 1997, p. 284. ^ Linder 2007, pp. 22–23. ^ Palestine Exploration Fund 1872, p. 167. a b c Linder 2007, p. 23.The iPhone 5s has retained its status as the best-selling smartphone at the four tier-1 U.S. carriers for the third month running, with the iPhone 5c taking third place after the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Data from Canaccord Genuity showed that the iPhone 5s has topped the sales charts at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile every month since launch, reports AllThingsD.
“Our surveys indicated continued strong sales of the iPhone 5s, as it was by far the top selling smartphone at all four tier-1 U.S. carriers and at most channels where the smartphone launched globally,” analyst T. Michael Walkley explained in a note to clients. “Our surveys also indicated steady iPhone 5c sales with the smartphone’s color options and more affordable price point proving popular with its intended audience” … NordVPN
Prior to the launch of the new iPhones, Apple held the top slot at only one of the four carriers, AT&T, with the iPhone 5 sitting in second place behind the Samsung S4 at the others.
On the basis of these numbers, Canaccord Genuity has increased its forecast shipment numbers for Q1 2014 from 52M to 54M. Supplies of the iPhone 5s have been a limiting factor until recently, but a store survey just a few days ago showed that supplies now appear to have caught up with demand.
The news comes just a day after the iPhone market share in China was reported to have doubled since the launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c.City Releases Prototype of Smart Phone App That Detects Potholes
City partners with InnoCentive on “Street Bump Challenge”, a competition to enhance usability
It can cause your coffee to slosh, your bike tires to pop, and knock your car out of alignment. It is the pothole – a scourge of commuters in every city and town. Today, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his Office of New Urban Mechanics released a prototype hands-free smart phone application that detects potholes. The City of Boston also announced a partnership with InnoCentive and Liberty Mutual to host an international competition related to “Street Bump”, on InnoCentive’s online platform, the City will “crowd-source” ideas for improving the prototype in advance of wider release.
“Boston is known for its old streets, but we are using the most modern technology to improve them,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “This application could be one more way to work with our constituents to make our neighborhood streets and major thoroughfares even better and safer to drive.”
The concept of Street Bump is simple and uses technology already built in on smart phones including their global positioning systems (GPS) and notes the location of the car and the size of the potholes it crosses. This data can then be analyzed to identify and address road conditions in Boston. The Street Bump Challenge will award the “solver” with the best method for using the data to map potholes and make the prototype app useful to residents.
This app not only pilots a new use of technology to solve an old problem, it also engages constituents in a new way to be part of the solution.
Under the leadership of Mayor Menino’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the prototype version of the application was built in collaboration with Citizapps, a partnership between Fabio Carrera, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Joshua Thorp and Stephen Guerin of the Santa Fe Complex and comes out of Carrera’s research on city knowledge.
“Cities are filled with data waiting to be harvested and used to strengthen neighborhoods and improve people’s lives,” said Carrera. “With Street Bump, we are demonstrating how citizens can contribute with minimal effort to the accumulation of city knowledge, and, in doing so, help improve municipal services.”
The Street Bump Challenge, which will be posted on InnoCentive.com, will allow scientists and software programmers, business people and other problem solvers from around the world to suggest their own improvements. The best submissions will receive awards courtesy of a $25,000 grant from Liberty Mutual.
“Liberty Mutual is committed to helping keep people safe on the roads and reducing the potential for damage to their vehicles,” said David H. Long, Liberty Mutual Group President. “We're delighted to provide a grant to the Street Bump program to recognize the innovative and creative use of technology to help eliminate the jarring and sometimes costly experience of hitting a pothole.”
“InnoCentive is excited to help support the development of Street Bump,” said InnoCentive President and CEO Dwayne Spradlin. “Our global community of Solvers comprise more than 250,000 innovators from all walks of life who love to participate in Challenges where the solution that can be applied not only locally but all over the world. Of course, our proximity to Boston means we are particularly excited to see this solution implemented here.”
The Street Bump Challenge with launch in the spring. The Challenge will launch on www.innocentive.com, where the problem solvers will suggest better methods for the City to analyze |
is. “I just don’t think they have the right strategy to grow the sector in Quebec.”
Sarah Reid is a journalism fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs in Toronto.Leading healthcare and advocacy groups are urging Congress not to pass the revised Republican ObamaCare replacement bill, fearing that changes could harm those with pre-existing conditions.
The American Hospital Association (AHA), American Medical Association (AMA) and American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) all denounced the revised bill on Thursday. The groups were already opposed to the American Health Care Act (AHCA), saying that millions would lose coverage, but raised new concerns about an amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.).
“We are deeply concerned that the AHCA would result in millions of Americans losing their current health insurance coverage,” AMA President Dr. James Madara wrote in a letter. “Nothing in the MacArthur amendment remedies the shortcomings of the underlying bill.”
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The amendment would also allow states to apply for waivers to repeal ObamaCare’s community rating protection, which protects people with pre-existing conditions from being charged much higher premiums.
“We are particularly concerned about allowing states to waive this requirement because it will likely lead to patients losing their coverage,” Madara wrote.
The AARP says the revised bill is "even worse," warning lawmakers it intends to "let all 38 million of our members know exactly" how their representative votes on the legislation, if it makes it to the House floor.
“This harmful legislation still puts an Age Tax on older Americans and puts vulnerable populations at risk through a series of backdoor deals that attempts to shift responsibility to states,” the group said in a statement.
Under the amendment, people would still be protected if they maintain “continuous coverage,” meaning they did not have a gap in coverage. States with waivers would also have to set up high risk pools, aided by $130 billion in federal funding, to help provide coverage for sick people, but opponents argue those were tried before ObamaCare and were underfunded and did not work.
The American Hospital Association, meanwhile, pointed to a waiver in the revised bill to allow states to repeal ObamaCare’s essential health benefits, which mandate that insurance plans cover a range of health services, such as prescription drugs and mental healthcare.
“The amendment proposed this week would dramatically worsen the bill,” AHA President Rick Pollack said in a statement. “The changes included put consumer protections at greater risk by allowing states to waive the essential health benefit standards, which could leave patients without access to critical health services and increase out-of-pocket spending.”
The AHA also points out that the Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would result in 24 million more uninsured people over a decade.
While states that waived the rule would have to put in place high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions, the AMA warned those would be insufficient.
“There is also no certainty that the requirement for states to have some kind of reinsurance or high-risk pool mechanism to help such individuals will be sufficient to provide for affordable health insurance or prevent discrimination against individuals with certain high-cost medical conditions,” the letter states.
—Updated at 1:09 p.m.Getty Images
Jets running back Chris Johnson had knee surgery earlier this year, but he nevertheless passed a physical on his way out the door in Tennessee and on his way in the door in New York.
Despite being healthy enough to play professional football, that could change in time.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Jets have “some concerns” about Johnson’s knee. Schefter specifically reports that the knee has arthritis. Which means that cartilage is either gone or disappearing. Which means that Johnson could have chronic issues with the knee as his career continues.
Johnson disputed the report during his introductory conference call with the Jets. Johnson said there’s no arthritis in his knee.
Either way, it hasn’t stopped the Jets from reportedly paying Johnson $3 million to sign. Or from paying him another $1 million in salary this year. But it could put a cap on the number of years that Johnson will be able to play, for the Jets or anyone.Sociable, fearless, adaptable and with a sweet tooth: hordes of rascal raccoons are entering the German suburbs in search of food, conservationists said on Saturday.
Introduced to Germany in Hesse in the 1930s, the non-native animal rapidly settled in, made itself at home and is now regularly spotted up and down the country.
An estimated 500,000 of the vexing vermin are currently thought to be living in Germany - 400 raccoon families are thought to be living in Berlin alone - and with city populations growing at an alarming rate, they could soon become a fixed feature of the urban landscape.
“We'll have to reckon with more raccoons in towns in future,” said Magnus Wessel, head of the conservation department at Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND).
Believed to seek out human dwellings both for safety from predators and for the abundant food, the omnivores have even been known to enter houses in search of a quick snack.
One animal, no longer content to be hand fed at the front door, burst into a living room in Trippstadt near Kaiserslautern. “The raccoon came through the cat flap and ate the crisps on the living room table,” said Günther Klein of the Rhineland-Palatinate hunting association.
In a separate incident, a couple in Spessart, Hesse, got a nasty shock when they came home from holiday to find a raccoon relaxing on their sofa – surrounded by carnage.
"He had [ripped up] all the upholstery and laid waste to the house,” said Klaus Röther. The animal is thought to have come down the chimney, he added.
Raccoons have also been raiding German cornfields and orchards, according to the report. Famous for their sweet tooth, they are particularly partial to plums, apples and cherries.
Some hunters even put down chocolates to attract and catch the pests, said Bernd Moeller, of the Brandenburg hunting association.
But although hunters are fighting to keep populations under control, they admit the raccoons are here for good.
“The raccoon has established itself in Germany, it has to be accepted,” said Daniel Hoffmann of the German Hunting Federation (DJV).
DAPD/The Local/jlbPhotographers: FCA
The Jeep Grand One was one of seven concepts that Jeep and Mopar brought to the 2017 Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. It was built to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Grand Cherokee with a modernized spin on a 1993 ZJ. Some of its features include a 5.2L V-8 engine, four-speed automatic transmission, front and rear lockers, a 2-inch suspension lift, 33-inch tires, and an extended wheelbase. Grand One also has an old-school car phone and a cassette player.
Here you can see a collection of detailed photos, exclusive video, and our opinions on the Grand One. Make sure to check out the other six concepts that Jeep and Mopar brought to Moab here at fourwheeler.com!
Our Opinions
Ken Brubaker, editor, Four Wheeler: “I’m old enough to remember seeing a brand-new ZJ on display at the Chicago Auto Show. I was transfixed then and I was transfixed when I saw Grand One. It looked as though the Jeep team had a lot of fun designing this rig. I love the nimble size of the ZJ and Grand One’s mods improve the rig’s functionality both on-road and off.”
Jake Headlee, contributor, The Enthusiast Network: “The Grand One is my favorite concept of EJS 2017. The retro theme was executed extremely well. It works well off-road and I definitely knew I was driving a legitimate Grand Cherokee when the check engine light came on. From the custom flares, plaid headliner, tape deck and the JK steering wheel to get rid of the tissue box-style factory unit, I want it.”
Sean Holman, content director of Truck & Off-Road Group, The Enthusiast Network: “Being a teenager in the ’90s, this one tugs at the heart strings a bit. Who can forget that the cool kids got the hand-me-down Grands from their moms instead of Explorers and minivans, and the modern take on the laced wheels are an especially nice touch. The third brake light is not to be missed, as are the RHCP, Stussy, and pastel MTV stickers hidden about. We’ll take our blinker fluid on the rocks.”
Rick Pewe, editor, Jp: “How nice to be able to travel back to the future in a Jeep, not an import pickup? Instantly the design cues pull you in with a generous portion of glass vs sheetmetal, so lacking in today’s slab-sided world. Sliding into the seat is like going home; a thousand times I’ve slid into the perfectly familiar interior and old-fashioned theme, right down to the OGZJ sticker. While all of the contemporary vehicles are now cast-offs from society, a ZJ can still hold it’s on the trail as well as everyday use. She’s a keeper.”
Fred Williams, editor-at-large, 4-Wheel & Off-Road: “The Grand One is classic Jeep design, both in that it is a classic and that it embodies the humor of Mark Allen’s Jeep Design department. They made it proportional with the slight lift and slight stretched wheelbase, but they also threw in a dozen ’90s-era Easter eggs with funny stickers, cassette tape, and even a retro car phone. It has 25-year-old rattles, but the 5.2 V-8 has a satisfying rumble that only early Grands had. Having never been a Grand Cherokee owner this would make me consider perusing the Craigslist ads for a future project. But I still would’ve stuffed a 5.9 under the hood.”These are curious political times, creating unusual and uncomfortable bedfellows. Leftwing Brexiters find themselves crawling into bed with Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, and leftwing remainers with David Cameron, Jeremy Clarkson and Goldman Sachs. For a while, at least, we are all sleeping with the enemy, and comforting ourselves with the justification that it’s just a temporary fling and all for a good cause. Close your eyes and think of England. Or the UK. Or Brussels, as the case may be.
Personally, I find it amazing that progressives are so keen to offer support to a remote and undemocratic bureaucracy that locks in a commitment to neoliberal economics, and prices out poor African farmers, and whose track record on immigration from outside the EU is patchy at best, and getting worse. From where I sit – and from where many of the left used to sit, including Jeremy Corbyn – the EU is not a natural love match for the left. But while both sides are playing away, lefty Brexiters are accused of an especially egregious form of infidelity because of the racist memes that have been invoked by the out campaign. As someone who believes in open borders, I regard Vote Leave’s cheap scaremongering over immigration as particularly irresponsible and downright nasty, and that Labour is wrong to follow its lead. But even so, I am still going to vote leave. Indeed, I’d vote the same way as the devil himself if that were the way my conscience dictated. It’s not who you vote with – it’s what you vote for.
The leftwing case for Brexit (one day) Read more
What some people seem to forget is that no one is voting for a political party called Vote Leave or Britain Stronger in Europe. It’s not like a general election. There are no candidates here, or policies. A vote to leave is not a vote for Farage or Johnson. It won’t make Nigel an MP or Boris the PM. This is not a vote about the next government of the UK, or whether the NHS is safe in Johnson’s hands. That’s why Vote Leave has absolutely no authority to make future spending commitments. How dare they promise farmers their subsidies will stay the same?
But although this vote isn’t about personalities or policies, the debate is getting excessively personal, especially on social media, where our usual echo chambers have temporarily stopped reflecting back to us the things we already believed. That’s why the blue-on-blue and red-on-red debates make for a particularly uncomfortable dynamic. It’s been instructive for me personally to hear from friends (and I use that in the Facebook sense) who believe that those of us who think differently from them are clearly liars, idiots or wrong ’uns. It feels as if I’m travelling in someone else’s shoes. And from here I can see why the self-righteousness of the liberal left can be so infuriating.
But hey, it will all be over soon enough, and then normal political service will be resumed. We hope. Or will the nastiness stay in the ground like the consequence of some terrible nuclear accident? Will we have poisoned the wells of civility for a generation? Who knows? But healing is for later. For now all is to play for. And things are about to stay nasty until the war is won or lost. For this is a battle of the heart. And battles of the heart are rarely clean or fair.The Muslim Student Association at San Diego State University is demanding that administrators combat Islamophobia by developing a “zero tolerance policy explicitly for Islamophobic speech and actions.”
The demands, modeled after similar ones issued by black student associations at campuses across the nation, were lodged after a female Muslim student was allegedly attacked by a white man in a campus parking lot on the afternoon of Nov. 19, about a week after the Paris terrorist attacks, which killed 130 people.
At SDSU, despite reports that several witnesses stood by and did nothing as the attacker grabbed the woman’s hijab, as well as a police sketch of the alleged attacker, a police investigation could not identify a suspect, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
Meanwhile, the female student who said she was attacked has not been identified. But she told Hanif Mohebi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-San Diego, that her attacker grabber her from “behind,” called her a terrorist, “choked her with the hajib” and told her to “get out of this country,” the Union Tribune reports.
Several comments on the article expressed incredulity over the attack, questioning whether it is a hate-crime hoax.
Yet less than a week after the alleged hate crime, SDSU’s Muslim Student Association held a protest against Islamophobia on campus that attracted hundreds of students.
Yasser Kaziha, a member of the Muslim Student Association, said that he personally knew the victim of the attack, and “when the attack on our Muslim sister happened here at SDSU, she felt alone after bystanders and witnesses who watched the attack did nothing,” he told the Union Tribune.
At the rally, the Muslim Student Association issued its list of demands, which members claim will help prevent future acts of bigotry against the Muslim community.
They demanded that the university adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward “Islamophobic speech,” mandatory bystander training, develop more courses on Islam, and increase funding for The Center for Intercultural Relations. Moreover, they demanded that “the SDSU administration address, alleviate, and eliminate systems of oppression that disproportionately target students of color, womyn, and all marginalized students on campus.”
Beth Chee, a representative for the university, told The College Fix in an email that the university has not issued a formal response to the demands, but members of the administration have reviewed the list and are currently “meeting internally and with the students to discuss their concerns.”
The Muslim Student Association could not be reached for comment.
Elliot Hirsham, president of the university, issued a statement on the attack: “We unequivocally condemn all forms of bigotry and any efforts to intimidate, harm or demean any members of our community.”
But the Muslim Student Association has been criticized by some Jewish peers for rejecting the support of SDSU’s “Students Supporting Israel.”
One of the Muslim Student Association’s demands called on students to “create a more inclusive campus climate by promoting tolerance and acceptance between different cultures and religions.”
Yet the MSA rejected SDSU’s “Students Supporting Israel” support, writes SDSU student Anthony Berteaux, vice president of public relations for Students Supporting Israel, in The Jerusalem Post.
“When asked why SSI was excluded from the statement, the response was simple and damning: ‘It didn’t serve the interests of the community,'” Berteaux wrote. “A rally that was supposed to serve as a unified solidarity march against hate became politicized and divided.”
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IMAGE: ShutterstockThe Belgian superstar has made a brilliant start to life in Manchester – thus far it is fair to say that he looks as though he is worth every penny of his staggering £54 million price tag.
The transfer of Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City raised eyebrows after making just three appearances for Chelsea between 2012 and 2014. Newspapers mocked the Belgian as a ‘Chelsea flop’, however he has certainly not flopped at the Etihad since his move to the blue side of Manchester.
After a stunning season in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg, in which he scored ten times with double the amount of assists than goals, he drew the attention of Txiki Begiristain and his team behind the scenes.
After several attempts from Begiristain and co. to negotiate with the German club, Man City finally got their hands on the 2015 Footballer of the Year in Germany on the 30th August, with just a matter of days remaining in the summer transfer window.
With Pellegrini having paid over seven times as much as Chelsea did just over three years before for the Belgian and over three times as much as Wolfsburg had one and a half years ago, the pressure was certainly on the ex-Genk attacking midfielder to perform and perform quickly.
He didn’t disappoint…
Kevin De Bruyne made his debut at Selhurst Park in a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace and since his move has played eleven games for the Blues. In those eleven games the Belgian international has scored six times and also has the same number of assists to his name.
If Chelsea fans aren’t already annoyed enough with their team’s form, they will be wondering why he wasn’t wasn’t given a chance to show the sort of form which he is now showing he is more than capable of, in a darker shade of blue.
De Bruyne has not just shown form for Man City but also for his national side as he helped fire them to Euro 2016, scoring five goals along the way throughout the Qualifying campaign.
Versatility has been a key trait of De Bruyne’s performances as he has shown he is able to adapt to numerous different positions in the City line up, whether that be on the right, on the left or through the centre. Undoubtedly, De Bruyne looks at his best when playing through the centre just behind the striker. This, when Silva is fit, obviously gives City boss, Pellegrini, a headache, but a nice one to have. How many managers would deny the opportunity to have to choose between the two stars that are Silva and De Bruyne?
Kevin De Bruyne, from Drongen in Flanders, has stepped up in recent weeks in the absence of key men Aguero and Silva and played a huge part in City’s recent form which leaves them top of the Premier League and unbeaten in six games. He has not just earned the plaudits for his performances but also earnt points for his team, vital points to say the least. For example, his injury time winner against Sevilla in the Champions League which lifted Pellegrini’s side into the qualification spots in Group D, just a point behind leaders Juventus.
In a matter of months, Kevin de Bruyne has become a vital part of the side which are aiming to win the Premier League for the third time in five years. If he continues with the form he is showing, could Kevin de Bruyne win the ‘Footballer of the Year’ award in two different countries in two years?
Wednesday night was just the latest example of the excellent quality he has shown in a City shirt as he scored the Blues’ second and assisted Man of the Match Kelechi Iheanacho to allow him to score his second senior goal. Kevin De Bruyne will be hoping to continue his excellent form as Manchester City take on Norwich City on Saturday afternoon as they look to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.ST. PAUL, Minn. - A brawl in the middle of a St. Paul intersection ended 21 teenagers being arrested and five St. Paul police officers injured from being hit by bear pepper spray, according to officials.
According to a police report, the incident happened around 7:12 p.m. on Wednesday at the intersection of Rose Avenue and Greenbrier.
Officers responded to the area where a group of more than 50 teens were in the roadway, surrounding a fight between two girls in the middle of the intersection.
Officers were in a Metro Mobility Bus, which is part of a special detail used specifically to deal with large fights, according to St. Paul Police spokesperson Steve Linders.
When officers arrived, the crowd started yelling, "'12! 12!' Which is slang for police," Linders said, before fleeing the scene.
As officers got closer, at least five were hit with a chemical irritant, which was later determined to be bear pepper spray.
Linders said the spray made it difficult for officers to breathe and see and "put them in an extremely dangerous situation."
Medics were called to help the injured officers at the scene.
The other officers were able to detain several juveniles at the scene. Twenty-one in total were arrested and booked into the Juvenile Detention Center on possible charges of third-degree riot and fleeing police.Kuk Po is an abandoned village in rural north-east Hong Kong… See also:
The town borders the Frontier Closed Area…
The village was once home to about 160 people.
Villagers’ animals used to graze in the area – people kept cows, chickens and pigs and also fished. Salt farming was particularly popular.
Wild vegetation sprawls over what was once farmland.
Some ex-residents maintain their links with the village – a few visit frequently, especially on the first and fifteenth of the lunar months. At this time, there are festivities to provide offerings to ancestors and the Gods.
There is an old school, built in the 1928, inspired by the Guangzhou Military Academy School.
It was still in use until the early 1990s.
The last headmaster Mr. Ho, a couple of teachers, and a few children travelled across the bay to attend school everyday.
An altar is now installed inside.
A stall near to the school is open every Sunday to cater for the travellers, owned by local indigenous Kuk Po people.
The inhabitants of Kuk Po were Hakka speakers like the surrounding villages and those in the town of Sha Tau Kok.
Some homes are still supplied with electricity and running water.
As Hong Kong began to industrialise in the 50s, thousands of families left rural villages to move to the rapidly growing urban areas to find better-paid jobs.
Many moved to Europe, during a time when full UK residency was still available to Hong Kongers.
For over three centuries, the area of Kuk Po has been inhabited by seven clans, the Sung, Lee, Ho, Tsang, Cheng, Ng and Yang.
When farmers moved to cities, cows were left idle. Now many of them are left wandering through the Kuk Po valley.
Most of the houses are closed and many are well-locked up.
As with other abandoned villages, it has been difficult for the government to find all of the owners – many of whom have moved abroad.
Take green minibus 56K from exit C, Fanling MTR. Head to Luk Keng (last stop, 40mins) – locals will direct you to Fung Hang Family Walk.
Kuk Po is 45mins into the trail, which is 2.25km in total. The coastal path is well maintained, quiet and surrounded by hills.
The entire Plover Cove hike, however, is a day-trip in itself and possibly the toughest hike in HK and not recommended for beginners.
Buildings in Shenzhen can be seen clearly across the water during the family trail, which is almost all flat and has a pleasant sea breeze.
The hike can easily be combined with a visit to Bride’s Pool, which is further down Bride’s Pool Road. It is best to visit on a Sunday when buses ply the route, otherwise it may be a long wait for taxis.
Boat access is possible but you would need a special border crossing permit.
Check out nearby Fung Heng (blog post coming soon) – a similar, semi-abandoned village en route. Hikers can get a basic meal and drinks from the cafe here.
New York Times article about Kuk Po.
Also on the blog…
Click here for more historical entries./ Posted on / by
I’ve been a fan of Bruce Chard’s saltwater fly line designs for years. And why not? I don’t know anyone who understands the dynamics of fly casting or the art of presenting a fly on the flats better than Bruce. I guess if you guide the Florida Keys over three hundred days a year, for twenty years, you learn a thing or two.
I fished Bruce’s lines when they were made by Jim Teeny and I loved them. When Bruce teamed up with Scientific Angler he told me it would take the lines to a whole new level. That was no overstatement. SA’s materials and technology have really made the Grand Slam line sing.
The Grand Slam is the best saltwater line I’ve ever fished. That didn’t surprise me. What was a pleasant surprise was that it lived up to its marketing materials. This line actually does everything it promises and you don’t often find that these days. There is a lot going on in the design of this line. I’ll try to explain how some of the design features work and why they are important.
•The taper
If you have not read my recent post on understanding line tapers, check it out here. You may find the information helpful.
Nothing about the Grand Slam taper is ordinary. Every inch of this line was designed to help you overcome the challenges of saltwater presentation. With that in mind, let’s take a minute to understand those challenges.
The goal of a good saltwater presentation, regardless of species, is the same. A fast, accurate presentation where the leader turns over tight and there is zero slack in the system when the fly hits the water. Simple, right? So simple you can spend half a lifetime getting it right. Now add to that a thirty mph wind and some spooky fish and you have a pretty average scenario. The scenario that Bruce watches unfold every day, from the poling platform. So here’s what he designed to make it easier.
The front taper of the Grand Slam is very short. This transfers energy aggressively into the leader for maximum turnover. When combined with a hard saltwater leader this system gives you the best shot at turning over a big fly into the wind. This accomplishes two things. First, your fly lands on target. There’s nothing more important than that. Secondly, it lands with a straight, tight leader so the fly is moving in a lifelike fashion when the fish first sees it. That’s huge! You only get one chance to make a first impression. If the fish eats right away, your line is already tight so there’s no slack to take up when you set the hook. There is nothing more important in saltwater fly fishing than an accurate, slack free presentation. The Grand Slam delivers on this promise.
Things happen fast in flats fishing. Fish are on the move, they sneak up on you, they get spooked by changing conditions or other fish. Windows open and close in a hurry and it’s important to be able to make a shot quickly, especially when the shot is at close range. You don’t want to spend your time false casting. It’s crucial that your rod load quickly. The belly of the Grand Slam is a little overweighted to load fast action saltwater rods right away. This saves valuable time when the pressure is on.
Perhaps the most overlooked part of any fly line taper is the rear taper. The rear taper of the Grand Slam is one of my favorite features. It’s twice the length of the rear taper in most saltwater lines. That translates into control. The long rear taper transfers energy smoothly and effectively into the belly as long as any part of it is in contact with the rod. This means you can carry more line easily and make more accurate, and more delicate, long range presentations. Presentation is all about control and the extra long rear taper gives you control by allowing you to be directly connected to the belly until you shoot your final cast. That’s a big plus.
The rear taper terminates in an extra thin running line that shoots efficiently. The combination of the long rear taper and thin running line is deadly. It makes for great long range presentation. A definite plus in saltwater. If there is a downside it’s that the running line tends to sink a bit. It’s only an issue when wading and a small one in my opinion. The running line on most saltwater lines sinks.
•Texture and coatings
The Grand Slam features SA’s new Mastery texture. It’s a toned down version of the texture they use for the Shark Skin Lines. I’m not a fan of the Shark Skin which I find too rough but I like this new Mastery texture. They refer to it as working like the dimpled surface of a golf ball and that makes sense. The dimples create a layer of turbulence which reduces air friction by eliminating laminar separation. That’s to say, it really goes!
It does make it easier to pick up a lot of line off the water and do it quietly. That’s a big positive and I feel like it adds to the lines shootability (if that’s a word) by cutting down on guide resistance. Best of all, it has a really nice feel in the hand. The line does not get sticky like a lot of lines do in saltwater and it stays cleaner and doesn’t cut your hands. It has a hard feel to it which gives you a great grip for line control and a no-slip hook set.
The Grand Slam also uses the SA AST self-lubricating coating. This is a high tech coating that releases microscopic silicon beads that lubricate the line. It has the slickness of a freshly dressed line without picking up dirt like line dressing does. I think it adds to the nice feel of the line.
I experienced very little problem with the line tangling during casting. It always happens at some point but the Grand Slam seemed to have very little memory and laid out nicely on the deck. The temperature averaged in the mid to high seventies so I would expect it to be even better in warmer weather.
The right fly line is always important but never more than in saltwater fishing. Poor line choice can turn opportunity into futility but the right line will help you fish like a rock star. The new Scientific Angler Bruce Chard Grand Slam line is definitely the rock star choice.
You can get more info about the Grand Slam Line on Bruce’s site and even order one directly from him, which would be great because he’ll make a few bucks off of it.
http://www.brucechard.com/brucechardflylines.html
Louis Cahill
Gink & Gasoline
[email protected] German woman who was kidnapped in Syria last year has been released alongside the baby she gave birth to in captivity.
The German foreign ministry on Wednesday night confirmed the woman and her child were well and being looked after by the federal criminal police officers at the country’s embassy in Ankara, Turkey.
News magazine Focus identified the woman as journalist Janina Findeisen, who travelled to Syria in October 2015 while she was six months pregnant.
‘I hope Merkel keeps us’: how Nujeen Mustafa travelled from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair Read more
There were reports Findeisen, a freelance reporter on modern jihadism for Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcaster NDR, might have been deliberately lured into a trap by a Syria-based German national who had encouraged her to travel to the war-torn country for exclusive information on German jihadis.
In an email sent to relatives, the kidnappers – who said they were a faction of al-Qaida’s former affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra – asked for €5m (£4.3m) in ransom money for Findeisen, who was 27 at the time she was taken into captivity. The German government’s policy is not to pay ransoms for hostages.
The al-Nusra Front, which recently renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, has denied that it was behind the kidnapping, and in a series of tweets said it had in fact freed Findeisen and her child from another “armed group” which was holding her. It did not name the group or say when Findeisen had been rescued.
Most German media had not reported on the kidnapping at the time in order not to endanger Findeisen’s life, following a request by the German foreign ministry.
Christian Mihr, director of Reporters Without Borders in Germany, said in a statement his organisation was happy the kidnapping had come to an end. “This case once again makes clear what unforeseeable dangers journalists are constantly exposed to in the Syrian civil war,” he said.
Mihr thanked German authorities for managing to “avoid that this kidnapping ended in an execution like that of James Foley and other journalists”. He said: “It was also important that German media almost unanimously agreed not to exploit the case for sensationalist reporting in order to help protect their colleague.”Quick Quiz: Which of the following are signs of introversion?
Highly sensitive
Deep Thinker
Reflective
Introspective
Negative emotions
Socially Anxious
Defensive
Vulnerable
Always prefers solitude over social interaction
Answer: Not a single one.
Introversion is one of the most misunderstood dimensions of personality. Many people are not aware that the original definition of introversion, as posed by Carl Jung, is not how the term is used in modern personality psychology. Jung equated introversion with "inwardly directed psychic energy". Even the modern Wikipedia page for Extraversion and Introversion defines introversion as "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life."
But that's not introversion.
Common Misconceptions About Introversion
Whereas Jung based his definitions of extraversion and introversion on his own theory, experience, and intuition, modern psychology identifies personality dimensions empirically, based on what patterns of behavior tend to go together within individuals. Today, extraversion-introversion is one of the "Big Five" dimensions of personality, the other four being neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and intellect/imagination.
The most common misunderstanding of the extraversion-introversion dimension is that introverts are more introspective than extroverts. In reality, introverts are not necessarily introspective and highly introspective people aren't necessarily introverted. In a recent analysis, Jennifer Grimes, Jonathan Cheek, and Julie Norem found that measures of Jung's conceptualization of "Thinking Introversion"-- introspectiveness, fantasy proneness, and having a rich inner life-- were not significantly correlated with Big Five scales of extraversion-introversion, including a need for positive stimulation and gregariousness.
In fact, what many people ascribe to introversion really belongs in the intellect/imagination domain [1]. Intellect/imagination represents a drive for cognitive engagement of inner mental experience, and encompasses a wide range of related (but partially separate) traits, including intellectual engagement, intellectual curiosity, intellectual depth, ingenuity, reflection, introspection, imagination, emotional richness, artistic engagement, and aesthetic interests.
Traits such as sensitivity and social anxiety are also not part of Big Five introversion-extraversion domain. To be sure, many people may think of themselves as introverted because they are highly sensitive. But research shows that sensory processing sensitivity is independent of introversion. The various manifestations of being a highly sensitive person-- inhibition of behavior, sensitivity to environmental stimuli, depth of information processing, and physiological reactivity-- are linked to neuroticism and intellect/imagination, not introversion.
What's more, there are lots of people who view themselves as "sensitive introverts", when they are really covert narcissists. These individuals are characterized by their sense of entitlement to social attention. Accordingly, they are hurt easily by the slightest remark of others, are hyper self conscious and self absorbed, and are frequently upset that others don't recognize their brilliance. Covert narcissism is strongly associated with neuroticism, not introversion.
Finally, there's a common misconception that all introverts enjoy solitary activities. However, that isn't a defining feature of introverts. Responses such as "Enjoy spending time by myself" and "Live in a world of my own" involve an equal blend of introversion and intellect/imagination. Contrary to popular conceptualizations of introversion, preferring to be alone is not the main indicator of introversion.
All of this, of course, leads to the major question: What is the essence of introversion? Let's explore the core of the extraversion-introversion dimension of personality.
The Core of Extraversion-Introversion
Extraversion-introversion comprises many related traits, including being talkative, sociable, friendly, gregarious, assertive, active, persuasive, and excitement seeking.
But what links all of these traits to each other?
One possibility is that the core of extraversion-introversion is simply sociability. Maybe extroverts are more social: plain and simple. However, the research doesn't support this conclusion. While it is well known that extraverts experience more positive emotions than introverts, extraverts tend to experience more positive emotions all throughout the day, regardless of whether the activity is social or solitary.
This doesn't mean that introverts experience more negative emotions during daily life (that's neuroticism). They are just lower in positive emotions. In fact, some researchers have suggested that "detachment" is a more accurate description of low extraversion than "introversion" [2].
Another possibility-- which has received more support-- is that the core of extraversion is sensitivity to rewards in the environment. Reward sensitivity refers to the tendency to experience "an incentive motivational state that facilities and guides approach behavior to a goal." As Colin DeYoung points out in an upcoming paper:
People who score low in Extraversion are not necessarily turned inward; rather, they are less engaged, motivated, and energized by the possibilities for reward that surround them. Hence, they talk less, are less driven, and experience less enthusiasm. They may also find levels of stimulation that are rewarding and energizing for someone high in Extraversion merely annoying or tiring (or even overwhelming, depending on their level of Neuroticism). Their reserved demeanor is not likely to indicate an intense engagement with the world of imagination and ideas, however, unless they are also high in [Intellect/Imagination]. Multiple studies are consistent with the reward sensitivity account of extraversion |
credit, redemption games cannot use time blocks and may also award digital tickets to successful players. A few other machines also cannot use time blocks. Cards from Player One brands are not interchangeable. For example, a Playdium card cannot be used at Xscape, or vice versa.
A baseball dome, formerly with a Toronto Blue Jays partnership, operates year-round and has nine variable-speed batting cages. There is also a Megabytes fast food restaurant on the gaming floor and a full-service mezzanine diner. Megabytes now features marketing similar to Cineplex concession stands and OutTakes restaurants, though at lower prices, while also incorporating a selection of Pizza Pizza and Starbucks menu items.[6] Past cross-promotional partners included HMV Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays (indoor batting cages, baseball camps, and coupons on Blue Jays tickets), the Molson Indy Toronto (the 1.2 miles (1.9 km) outdoor go-kart track was formerly known as the Mario Andretti Racetrack), and Roots (the lounge was formerly known as the Roots Treehouse). The outdoors also include an 18-hole miniature golf, and Water Wars.
The company operated four Playdium locations at its peak: Mississauga (next to the Square One Shopping Centre), Toronto (next to Scotiabank Theatre Toronto), Edmonton (inside the West Edmonton Mall) and Burnaby (inside Metropolis at Metrotown and host of official Dance Dance Revolution tournaments in 2000 and 2001).[7][8] Today, only the Mississauga centre remains, though the Playdium brand did exist in smaller arcades that are now known as Cinescape or Xscape. The Rec Room is a spiritual successor to Playdium near the former Toronto location and at the former West Edmonton Mall location. A new The Rec Room location will replace Target at Square One Shopping Centre. Despite this, future plans regarding the nearby Playdium location have yet to be announced.[9] The company also operates The Playdium Store, which retails arcade games and various other home entertainment solutions.
Playdium Movie Magic was a DVD video rental shop that operated using automated retail kiosks.[10] It launched in early 2011 and closed in late 2016. Competitors included Le SuperClub Vidéotron, Redbox and Zip.ca kiosks. Contrary to these, Playdium rentals were location-specific and could only be returned at the original kiosk where the DVD was rented.
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:Thanks to my colleague Stas Vonholsky for a great blog on managing secrets with Amazon ECS applications.
—–
As containerized applications and microservice-oriented architectures become more popular, managing secrets, such as a password to access an application database, becomes more challenging and critical.
Some examples of the challenges include:
Support for various access patterns across container environments such as dev, test, and prod
Isolated access to secrets on a container/application level rather than at the host level
Multiple decoupled services with their own needs for access, both as services and as clients of other services
This post focuses on newly released features that support further improvements to secret management for containerized applications running on Amazon ECS. My colleague, Matthew McClean, also published an excellent post on the AWS Security Blog, How to Manage Secrets for Amazon EC2 Container Service–Based Applications by Using Amazon S3 and Docker, which discusses some of the limitations of passing and storing secrets with container parameter variables.
Most secret management tools provide the following functionality:
Highly secured storage system
Central management capabilities
Secure authorization and authentication mechanisms
Integration with key management and encryption providers
Secure introduction mechanisms for access
Auditing
Secret rotation and revocation
Amazon EC2 Systems Manager Parameter Store
Parameter Store is a feature of Amazon EC2 Systems Manager. It provides a centralized, encrypted store for sensitive information and has many advantages when combined with other capabilities of Systems Manager, such as Run Command and State Manager. The service is fully managed, highly available, and highly secured.
Because Parameter Store is accessible using the Systems Manager API, AWS CLI, and AWS SDKs, you can also use it as a generic secret management store. Secrets can be easily rotated and revoked. Parameter Store is integrated with AWS KMS so that specific parameters can be encrypted at rest with the default or custom KMS key. Importing KMS keys enables you to use your own keys to encrypt sensitive data.
Access to Parameter Store is enabled by IAM policies and supports resource level permissions for access. An IAM policy that grants permissions to specific parameters or a namespace can be used to limit access to these parameters. CloudTrail logs, if enabled for the service, record any attempt to access a parameter.
While Amazon S3 has many of the above features and can also be used to implement a central secret store, Parameter Store has the following added advantages:
Easy creation of namespaces to support different stages of the application lifecycle.
KMS integration that abstracts parameter encryption from the application while requiring the instance or container to have access to the KMS key and for the decryption to take place locally in memory.
Stored history about parameter changes.
A service that can be controlled separately from S3, which is likely used for many other applications.
A configuration data store, reducing overhead from implementing multiple systems.
No usage costs.
Note: At the time of publication, Systems Manager doesn’t support VPC private endpoint functionality. To enforce stricter access to a Parameter Store endpoint from a private VPC, use a NAT gateway with a set Elastic IP address together with IAM policy conditions that restrict parameter access to a limited set of IP addresses.
IAM roles for tasks
With IAM roles for Amazon ECS tasks, you can specify an IAM role to be used by the containers in a task. Applications interacting with AWS services must sign their API requests with AWS credentials. This feature provides a strategy for managing credentials for your applications to use, similar to the way that Amazon EC2 instance profiles provide credentials to EC2 instances.
Instead of creating and distributing your AWS credentials to the containers or using the EC2 instance role, you can associate an IAM role with an ECS task definition or the RunTask API operation. For more information, see IAM Roles for Tasks.
You can use IAM roles for tasks to securely introduce and authenticate the application or container with the centralized Parameter Store. Access to the secret manager should include features such as:
Limited TTL for credentials used
Granular authorization policies
An ID to track the requests in the logs of the central secret manager
Integration support with the scheduler that could map between the container or task deployed and the relevant access privileges
IAM roles for tasks support this use case well, as the role credentials can be accessed only from within the container for which the role is defined. The role exposes temporary credentials and these are rotated automatically. Granular IAM policies are supported with optional conditions about source instances, source IP addresses, time of day, and other options.
The source IAM role can be identified in the CloudTrail logs based on a unique Amazon Resource Name and the access permissions can be revoked immediately at any time with the IAM API or console. As Parameter Store supports resource level permissions, a policy can be created to restrict access to specific keys and namespaces.
Dynamic environment association
In many cases, the container image does not change when moving between environments, which supports immutable deployments and ensures that the results are reproducible. What does change is the configuration: in this context, specifically the secrets. For example, a database and its password might be different in the staging and production environments. There’s still the question of how do you point the application to retrieve the correct secret? Should it retrieve prod.app1.secret, test.app1.secret or something else?
One option can be to pass the environment type as an environment variable to the container. The application then concatenates the environment type (prod, test, etc.) with the relative key path and retrieves the relevant secret. In most cases, this leads to a number of separate ECS task definitions.
When you describe the task definition in a CloudFormation template, you could base the entry in the IAM role that provides access to Parameter Store, KMS key, and environment property on a single CloudFormation parameter, such as “environment type.” This approach could support a single task definition type that is based on a generic CloudFormation template.
Walkthrough: Securely access Parameter Store resources with IAM roles for tasks
This walkthrough is configured for the North Virginia region (us-east-1). I recommend using the same region.
Step 1: Create the keys and parameters
First, create the following KMS keys with the default security policy to be used to encrypt various parameters:
prod-app1 –used to encrypt any secrets for app1.
license-key –used to encrypt license-related secrets.
aws kms create-key --description prod-app1 --region us-east-1 aws kms create-key --description license-code --region us-east-1
Note the KeyId property in the output of both commands. You use it throughout the walkthrough to identify the KMS keys.
The following commands create three parameters in Parameter Store:
prod.app1.db-pass (encrypted with the prod-app1 KMS key)
general.license-code (encrypted with the license-key KMS key)
prod.app2.user-name (stored as a standard string without encryption)
aws ssm put-parameter --name prod.app1.db-pass --value "AAAAAAAAAAA" --type SecureString --key-id "<key-id-for-prod-app1-key>" --region us-east-1 aws ssm put-parameter --name general.license-code --value "CCCCCCCCCCC" --type SecureString --key-id "<key-id-for-license-code-key>" --region us-east-1 aws ssm put-parameter --name prod.app2.user-name --value "BBBBBBBBBBB" --type String --region us-east-1
Step 2: Create the IAM role and policies
Now, create a role and an IAM policy to be associated later with the ECS task that you create later on.
The trust policy for the IAM role needs to allow the ecs-tasks entity to assume the role.
{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Sid": "", "Effect": "Allow", "Principal": { "Service": "ecs-tasks.amazonaws.com" }, "Action": "sts:AssumeRole" } ] }
Save the above policy as a file in the local directory with the name ecs-tasks-trust-policy.json.
aws iam create-role --role-name prod-app1 --assume-role-policy-document file://ecs-tasks-trust-policy.json
The following policy is attached to the role and later associated with the app1 container. Access is granted to the prod.app1.* namespace parameters, the encryption key required to decrypt the prod.app1.db-pass parameter and the license code parameter. The namespace resource permission structure is useful for building various hierarchies (based on environments, applications, etc.).
Make sure to replace <key-id-for-prod-app1-key> with the key ID for the relevant KMS key and <account-id> with your account ID in the following policy.
{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "ssm:DescribeParameters" ], "Resource": "*" }, { "Sid": "Stmt1482841904000", "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "ssm:GetParameters" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:ssm:us-east-1:<account-id>:parameter/prod.app1.*", "arn:aws:ssm:us-east-1:<account-id>:parameter/general.license-code" ] }, { "Sid": "Stmt1482841948000", "Effect": "Allow", "Action": [ "kms:Decrypt" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:<account-id>:key/<key-id-for-prod-app1-key>" ] } ] }
Save the above policy as a file in the local directory with the name app1-secret-access.json:
aws iam create-policy --policy-name prod-app1 --policy-document file://app1-secret-access.json
Replace <account-id> with your account ID in the following command:
aws iam attach-role-policy --role-name prod-app1 --policy-arn "arn:aws:iam::<account-id>:policy/prod-app1"
Step 3: Add the testing script to an S3 bucket
Create a file with the script below, name it access-test.sh and add it to an S3 bucket in your account. Make sure the object is publicly accessible and note down the object link, for example https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/my-new-blog-bucket/access-test.sh
#!/bin/bash #This is simple bash script that is used to test access to the EC2 Parameter store. # Install the AWS CLI apt-get -y install python2.7 curl curl -O https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py python2.7 get-pip.py pip install awscli # Getting region EC2_AVAIL_ZONE=`curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/availability-zone` EC2_REGION="`echo \"$EC2_AVAIL_ZONE\" | sed -e's:\([0-9][0-9]*\)[a-z]*\$:\\1:'`" # Trying to retrieve parameters from the EC2 Parameter Store APP1_WITH_ENCRYPTION=`aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app1.db-pass --with-decryption --region $EC2_REGION --output text 2>&1` APP1_WITHOUT_ENCRYPTION=`aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app1.db-pass --no-with-decryption --region $EC2_REGION --output text 2>&1` LICENSE_WITH_ENCRYPTION=`aws ssm get-parameters --names general.license-code --with-decryption --region $EC2_REGION --output text 2>&1` LICENSE_WITHOUT_ENCRYPTION=`aws ssm get-parameters --names general.license-code --no-with-decryption --region $EC2_REGION --output text 2>&1` APP2_WITHOUT_ENCRYPTION=`aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app2.user-name --no-with-decryption --region $EC2_REGION --output text 2>&1` # The nginx server is started after the script is invoked, preparing folder for HTML. if [! -d /usr/share/nginx/html/ ]; then mkdir -p /usr/share/nginx/html/; fi chmod 755 /usr/share/nginx/html/ # Creating an HTML file to be accessed at http://<public-instance-DNS-name>/ecs.html cat > /usr/share/nginx/html/ecs.html <<EOF <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>App1</title> <style> body {padding: 20px;margin: 0 auto;font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;} code {white-space: pre-wrap;} result {background: hsl(220, 80%, 90%);} </style> </head> <body> <h1>Hi there!</h1> <p style="padding-bottom: 0.8cm;">Following are the results of different access attempts as expirienced by "App1".</p> <p><b>Access to prod.app1.db-pass:</b><br/> <pre><code>aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app1.db-pass --with-decryption</code><br/> <code><result>$APP1_WITH_ENCRYPTION</result></code><br/> <code>aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app1.db-pass --no-with-decryption</code><br/> <code><result>$APP1_WITHOUT_ENCRYPTION</result></code></pre><br/> </p> <p><b>Access to general.license-code:</b><br/> <pre><code>aws ssm get-parameters --names general.license-code --with-decryption</code><br/> <code><result>$LICENSE_WITH_ENCRYPTION</result></code><br/> <code>aws ssm get-parameters --names general.license-code --no-with-decryption</code><br/> <code><result>$LICENSE_WITHOUT_ENCRYPTION</result></code></pre><br/> </p> <p><b>Access to prod.app2.user-name:</b><br/> <pre><code>aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app2.user-name --no-with-decryption</code><br/> <code><result>$APP2_WITHOUT_ENCRYPTION</result></code><br/> </p> <p><em>Thanks for visiting</em></p> </body> </html> EOF
Step 4: Create a test cluster
I recommend creating a new ECS test cluster with the latest ECS AMI and ECS agent on the instance. Use the following field values:
Cluster name: access-test
EC2 instance type: t2.micro
Number of instances: 1
Key pair: No EC2 key pair is required, unless you’d like to SSH to the instance and explore the running container.
VPC: Choose the default VPC. If unsure, you can find the VPC ID with the IP range 172.31.0.0/16 in the Amazon VPC console.
Subnets: Pick a subnet in the default VPC.
Security group: Create a new security group with CIDR block 0.0.0.0/0 and port 80 for inbound access.
Leave other fields with the default settings.
Create a simple task definition that relies on the public NGINX container and the role that you created for app1. Specify the properties such as the available container resources and port mappings. Note the command option is used to download and invoke a test script that installs the AWS CLI on the container, runs a number of get-parameter commands, and creates an HTML file with the results.
Replace <account-id> with your account ID, <your-S3-URI> with a link to the S3 object created in step 3 in the following commands:
aws ecs register-task-definition --family access-test --task-role-arn "arn:aws:iam::<account-id>:role/prod-app1" --container-definitions name="access-test",image="nginx",portMappings="[{containerPort=80,hostPort=80,protocol=tcp}]",readonlyRootFilesystem=false,cpu=512,memory=490,essential=true,entryPoint="sh,-c",command="\"/bin/sh -c \\\"apt-get update ; apt-get -y install curl ; curl -O <your-S3-URI> ; chmod +x access-test.sh ;./access-test.sh ; nginx -g 'daemon off;'\\\"\"" --region us-east-1 aws ecs run-task --cluster access-test --task-definition access-test --count 1 --region us-east-1
Verifying access
After the task is in a running state, check the public DNS name of the instance and navigate to the following page:
http://<ec2-instance-public-DNS-name>/ecs.html
You should see the results of running different access tests from the container after a short duration.
If the test results don’t appear immediately, wait a few seconds and refresh the page.
Make sure that inbound traffic for port 80 is allowed on the security group attached to the instance.
The results you see in the static results HTML page should be the same as running the following commands from the container.
prod.app1.key1
aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app1.db-pass --with-decryption --region us-east-1 aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app1.db-pass --no-with-decryption --region us-east-1
Both commands should work, as the policy provides access to both the parameter and the required KMS key.
general.license-code
aws ssm get-parameters --names general.license-code --no-with-decryption --region us-east-1 aws ssm get-parameters --names general.license-code --with-decryption --region us-east-1
Only the first command with the “no-with-decryption” parameter should work. The policy allows access to the parameter in Parameter Store but there’s no access to the KMS key. The second command should fail with an access denied error.
prod.app2.user-name
aws ssm get-parameters --names prod.app2.user-name –no-with-decryption --region us-east-1
The command should fail with an access denied error, as there are no permissions associated with the namespace for prod.app2.
Finishing up
Remember to delete all resources (such as the KMS keys and EC2 instance), so that you don’t incur charges.
Conclusion
Central secret management is an important aspect of securing containerized environments. By using Parameter Store and task IAM roles, customers can create a central secret management store and a well-integrated access layer that allows applications to access only the keys they need, to restrict access on a container basis, and to further encrypt secrets with custom keys with KMS.
Whether the secret management layer is implemented with Parameter Store, Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, or a solution such as Vault or KeyWhiz, it’s a vital part to the process of managing and accessing secrets.UK fashion designer backs Ellen MacArthur foundation campaign to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050
Clothes must be designed differently, worn for longer and recycled as much as possible to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Fashion designer Stella McCartney condemned her industry as “incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment” as she joined forces with round-the-world sailor and environmental campaigner Dame Ellen MacArthur to call for a systemic change to the way clothing is produced and used.
In a report published on Tuesday, MacArthur’s foundation exposes the scale of the waste, and how the throwaway nature of fashion has created a business which creates greenhouse emissions of 1.2bn tonnes a year – larger than that of international flights and shipping combined.
It warns that “if the industry continues on its current path, by 2050, it could use more than 26% of the carbon budget associated with a 2C pathway.”
The report also reveals that:
less than 1% of material used to make clothing is recycled into new clothing;
the estimated cost to the UK economy of landfilling clothing and household textiles each year is about £82m;
a truckload of clothing is wasted every second across the world;
the average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% in 15 years;
half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released per year from washed clothes – 16 times more than plastic microbeads from cosmetics – contributing to ocean pollution.
MacArthur, who gained the support of industry leaders including the C&A Foundation, H&M, and Nike for her report, is calling for a circular textile economy to be created to make fashion more sustainable.
The report calls for four actions to be taken: to phase out substances of concern and microfibre release; increase clothing utilisation, for example by the industry supporting and promoting short-term clothing rental businesses; to radically improve recycling; and to move to renewable materials.
McCartney said the ideas in the report provided solutions for an industry that was incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment.
“The report … opens up the conversation that will allow us to find a way to work together to better our industry for the future of fashion and for the future of the planet,” she said.
MacArthur acknowledged the scale of the challenge to turn around the $2.4tn industry.
“Today’s textile industry is built on an outdated linear, take-make-dispose model and is hugely wasteful and polluting,” said MacArthur. “We need a new textile economy in which clothes are designed differently, worn longer, and recycled and reused much more often.”
Figures in the report reveal the throwaway nature of today’s fashion industry, which is based on a faster turnaround model, with more new collections released per year, at lower prices.
The report said more than half of “fast” fashion produced is disposed of in less than a year. In the US, clothes are only worn for around a quarter of the global average. The same pattern is emerging in China, where clothing utilisation has decreased by 70% over the last 15 years. Sixty percent of German and Chinese citizens admit to owning more clothes than they need.
Globally, customers miss out on $460bn of value each year by throwing away clothes that they could continue to wear.
The report said: “The textiles industry relies mostly on non-renewable resources – 98m tonnes in total per year – including oil to produce synthetic fibres, fertilisers to grow cotton, and chemicals to produce, dye, and finish fibres and textiles.
“Textiles production (including cotton farming) also uses around 93bn cubic metres of water annually, contributing to problems in some water-scarce regions.
“With its low rates of utilisation … and low levels of recycling, the current wasteful, linear system is the root cause of this massive and ever expanding pressure on resources.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ecofriendly knickers at London fashion week. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Clothing production has nearly doubled in the last 15 years, and the growth is not just confined to the west. “Demand for clothing is continuing to grow quickly, driven particularly by emerging markets, such as Asia and Africa,” the report said.
“Should growth continue as expected, total clothing sales would reach 160m tonnes in 2050 – more than three times today’s amount.”
Greg Stanton, the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, who is endorsing the report, said his city was attempting to create a circular economy out of textile waste: “Each year more than 18,000 tonnes of textiles find their way into … waste and recycling streams. Our city is working on creative solutions to redirect textiles from the waste stream … as a valuable resource, to ultimately stimulate the local economy.”
In east London, Cyndi Rhoades, founder of WornAgain, is working on the development of a new technology to separate and recapture polyester and cotton from textiles to be reintroduced back into the supply chain as new, raw materials.
She said: “We already have enough clothing and textiles in existence today to satisfy our annual demand of new raw materials for new clothing – all we have to do is make sure it doesn’t end up in the bin, and processes like ours are scaled as rapidly as possible.”CLEVELAND – The jam-packed AFL-CIO meeting hall here resounded with chants of “Vote No on Issue 2,” Oct. 29. Speakers urged the crowd to mobilize a huge vote in the Nov. 8 election to defeat Issue 2 and thereby repeal SB 5, the law that strips public employees of collective bargaining rights.
Steelworker Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, welcomed the crowd, calling out the names of private sector and public sector unions, as well as industrial and building trades unions that have joined in the statewide grassroots drive to restore union rights for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public workers by repealing SB 5. The crowd of 700 also included members of Cleveland Jobs with Justice and a delegation from the Occupy Cleveland movement that has occupied the city’s Public Square since October 5.
Private sector workers “understand that an attack on public sector workers is an attack on all workers. We have solidarity in the house,” Burga thundered.
At a time when workers are suffering massive layoffs and are looking to the state and federal government to create jobs, “the governor chose a different path,” said Burga. He charged that Republican Gov. John Kasich unleashed an anti-labor offensive “that lowers the bar for workers, that continues the race to the bottom.”
Jabbing his finger in the air Burga demanded, “Are we going to turn back Issue 2 and make history?” The crowd roared, “Yes!” and took up the chant, “NO on 2!”
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke hailed the fired-up teachers, hundreds of them in the crowd, for telephoning 310,000 people statewide to get voters out to repeal SB 5.
“We need to turn this moment into a movement,” he said. “We are going to beat Issue 2. This is not the end, it is the start of solidarity in this movement. It’s about our families, our communities.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said she has traversed the country, going to lower Manhattan to join the Wall Street occupiers, to Madison, Wis., to meet with teachers fighting Gov. Scott Walker’s drive to bust the unions and slash education funding to the bone. Yet the highpoint, she said, was walking into Cleveland’s labor temple to be greeted by this crowd.
She praised the heroic effort to collect 1.3 million signatures to put Issue 2 on the ballot. “The tenacity, the perseverance, the solidarity, in this hall is what is transforming it into a movement. It’s not just Ohio … it is what we are fighting for, it is whether this country will be what it is supposed to be … What we want is dignity and respect. But to get it we need a voice: A democratic labor movement.”
Weingarten cited polls showing strong majority support for repeal of SB 5. Yet she warned against the lulling effect of those polls. “Will you be lulled?”
Again the crowd roared, “Hell NO!”
Standing in the crowd wearing his firefighter helmet was Pat Kinyon, a 15-year veteran firefighter in a Cleveland suburb. He commented on “Grannygate,” a scandal that involves right-wing misuse of a TV ad featuring Marlene Quinn of Cincinnati thanking firefighters for saving the life of her great granddaughter in a house fire a year ago. She ends with an appeal that voters “Vote No on Issue 2.”
The pro-SB-5 campaign, bankrolled by the Republican Governors Association and the billionaire Koch brothers, stole the ad, deleted Quinn’s call for repeal of SB 5 and spliced in the voice of another woman saying, “Vote YES on Issue 2.”
Said Kinyon, “It’s despicable that they would twist a grandmother’s words that meant so much to her. It shows how low they will stoop to try to show grassroots support they don’t have.”
Stripping firefighters of their collective bargaining rights is a safety issue for the community, he said. “When we lose collective bargaining, we lose the ability to stop their reductions in manning.”
Standing beside him was Mike Norman, secretary of the 800-member Cleveland Fire Fighters Local 93. Asked to comment about firefighters emerging as heroes of the labor movement in recent months, Norman replied, “The challenge for us is to convert the goodwill that people feel toward firefighters into political capital, into votes.”
“A lot of other unions have a longer history of political culture than we do,” Norman said. “We have a lot of Republican members and this has been an awakening for them. They are seeing the importance of unions, of workers standing together. We need a bigger, broader conversation of how workers will be treated, how will we earn a livable wage, what rights we have.”
The meeting adjourned and the crowd union fanned out across Cleveland and its suburbs to knock on doors urging voters to get out to the polls Nov. 8 and “Vote NO on Issue 2.”
Photo: Labor activists gather behind a sign saying, “Stop the War on Workers,” during an AFL-CIO Oct. 29th rally in Cleveland as they prepare to knock doors asking voters to vote No on Issue 2. Tim Wheeler/PW.Study: Electric Drive Vehicles Have Little Impact on U.S. Pollutant Emissions
A new study from North Carolina State University indicates that even a sharp increase in the use of electric drive passenger vehicles (EDVs) by 2050 would not significantly reduce emissions of high-profile air pollutants carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides.
“EDVs” is a catch-all term that includes hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.
“We wanted to see how important EDVs may be over the next 40 years in terms of their ability to reduce emissions,” says Dr. Joseph DeCarolis, an assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper on the new model. “We found that increasing the use of EDVs is not an effective way to produce large emissions reductions.”
The researchers ran 108 different scenarios in a powerful energy systems model to determine the impact of EDV use on emissions between now and 2050. They found that, even if EDVs made up 42 percent of passenger vehicles in the U.S., there would be little or no reduction in the emission of key air pollutants.
“There are a number of reasons for this,” DeCarolis says. “In part, it’s because some of the benefits of EDVs are wiped out by higher emissions from power plants. Another factor is that passenger vehicles make up a relatively small share of total emissions, limiting the potential impact of EDVs in the first place. For example, passenger vehicles make up only 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.
“From a policy standpoint, this study tells us that it makes more sense to set emissions reductions goals, rather than promoting specific vehicle technologies with the idea that they’ll solve the problem on their own.”
The energy systems model also showed that key factors in encouraging use of EDVs are oil price and battery cost. If batteries are cheap and oil is expensive, EDVs become more attractive to consumers. “That’s consistent with results from other studies,” DeCarolis says.
The paper, “How Much Do Electric Drive Vehicles Matter to Future U.S. Emissions?,” is published online in Environmental Science & Technology. Lead author of the paper is Samaneh Babaee, a Ph.D. student at NC State. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Ajay Nagpure, a former postdoctoral researcher at NC State who is now at the University of Minnesota. The research was supported by National Science Foundation grant CBET-0853766.
-shipman-
Note to Editors: The study abstract follows.
“How Much Do Electric Drive Vehicles Matter to Future U.S. Emissions?”
Authors: Samaneh Babaee and Joseph F. DeCarolis, North Carolina State University; Ajay S. Nagpure, University of Minnesota
Published: online January 2014 in Environmental Science & Technology
DOI: 10.1021/es4045677
Abstract: Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles—known collectively as electric drive vehicles (EDVs)—may represent a clean and affordable option to meet growing U.S. light duty vehicle (LDV) demand. The goal of this study is twofold: identify the conditions under which EDVs achieve high LDV market penetration in the U.S. and quantify the associated change in CO2, SO2, and NOX emissions through mid-century. We employ the Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System (TIMES), a bottom-up energy system model, along with a U.S. dataset developed for this analysis. To characterize EDV deployment through 2050, varying assumptions related to crude oil and natural gas prices, a CO2 policy, a federal renewable portfolio standard, and vehicle battery cost were combined to form 108 different scenarios. Across these scenarios, oil prices and battery cost have the biggest effect on EDV deployment. The model results do not demonstrate a clear and consistent trend towards lower system-wide emissions as EDV deployment increases. In addition to the tradeoff between lower tailpipe and higher electric sector emissions associated with plug-in vehicles, the scenarios produce system-wide emissions effects that often mask the effect of EDV deployment.“There can’t be some kind of monolithic opinion handed down from the government or a political party. I don’t think we’re monolithic beings,” Cantor, a Virginia Republican, said in an interview with BuzzFeed.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thursday urged his party, and the nation, to guard against intolerance on issues ranging from gay marriage to the role of Muslims in the government, arguing the country’s diversity of opinion and acceptance are part of America’s basic fabric.
“I’ve always said we need to be a party of inclusion not exclusion,” Cantor said. “We need to be promoting tolerance and, you know, as someone who is a religious minority, I sort of grew up with having that mindset, knowing full well that I am in a very distinct way from a religious background, separate and apart from the mainstream of this country.”
When asked if the Republican Party specifically needs to do a better job of accepting opinions on gay marriage and other cultural issues that do not align with party orthodoxy, Cantor said “absolutely.”
Cantor, who is also part of the leadership group that has brought a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s decision to not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, argued that open discussion and diversity are what make the nation “unique,” and warned against institutional attempts to enforce a standard position on the population.
“And it’s that tolerance, I think that that tolerance is something that enables people to be passionate about their positions. And if you’re for gay marriage, this country allows you to express your views. Some states support it and allow it, and others don’t. But its ok to have that difference of opinion in that,” he said.
“I think an even bigger issue than that, from a cultural standpoint, is the acceptance of diversity. And the acceptance of diversity of opinion,” Cantor said, explaining that while he may have is own personal opinions on morality or religion, “at some point we’re all here as Americans and we all have to be appreciative of other people’s views.”
But many Republican leaders, including Cantor, are struggling to move past the charged battles on social issues, and to focus the party’s rhetorical energies almost entirely on the economy. Although Cantor did not directly address whether the GOP’s position on gay marriage is hurting its ability to recruit younger voters or broaden its appeal, he argued the issue is part of the broader cultural question of acceptance and tolerance, not only with his party but the society at large.
Cantor is one of his party’s leading conservatives generally, and has long been a strong supporter of the often-divisive cultural issues near and dear to his conservative base’s heart. He is also explicitly pro-life and has a long track record of opposing gay marriage. Indeed, as part of his duties as Majority Leader, Cantor has scheduled numerous votes on abortion and other hot-button cultural issues over since the start of the 112th Congress.
Cantor also warned against efforts by some conservatives to demonize Muslim Americans working in the government as potential enemies of the state, an issue that has become a cause celebre on Capitol Hill this summer after Rep. Michele Bachmann denounced a top aide to Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin.
It is “absolutely wrong to stereotype or look badly at anyone because of their religion. Obviously I would say that,” said Cantor, who is Jewish; he was not speaking specifically about Bachmann’s comments.
“It’s a bad thing to look at a Muslim and think bad things. Again, we’re all Americans here and we share beliefs in freedom and the ability to practice our faiths,” the Majority Leader |
, cautions that there is no direct evidence for a fish tank. The researchers "dismiss fire-extinguisher and deck-washing functions too easily in my view", she says. But although no trace of the tank itself remains, Rihll says the pipe could have been used for such a purpose in the ship's younger days. Literary and archaeological evidence suggests that live fish were indeed transported by the Greeks and Romans "on a small but significant scale", she adds.
The first-century Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote that parrotfish taken from the Black Sea were transported to the Neopolitan coast, where they were introduced into the sea. And the second- and third-century Greek writer Athenaeus described an enormous ship called the Syracousia, which supposedly had a lead-lined saltwater tank to carry fish for use by the cook.
However, a fish tank on board a small cargo ship such as the Grado wreck might mean that transport of live fish was a routine part of Roman trade, allowing the rich to feast on fish from remote locations or carrying fish shorter distances from farms to local markets.
"It would change completely our idea of the fish market in antiquity," says Beltrame. "We thought that fish must have been eaten near the harbors where the fishing boats arrived. With this system it could be transported everywhere."
This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on May 31, 2011.Last week it became known that web performance and security company Cloudflare will open a data center in Yerevan.
That center will be the company’s 37th deployment in Asia and 103rd data center globally.
We talked with CYBER GATES CEO Samvel Gevorgyan about what a Cloudflare data center can give Armenia.
- What role can Cloudflare’s entry to market play for Armenia?
- Cloudflare is a professional solution used by over 5.5 million web resources (websites, services, etc.). However, it’s also a solution anyone with basic technical skills can use.
It solves two issues at once: web performance and security. By having a data center in Armenia, we increase web performance and reduce security risks for them at the same time.
- How does Cloudflare ensure web performance and why does it seek representation in the region?
- Cloudflare realizes a number of operations that help to decrease web optimization and cache the website’s static content, which improves web performance by several times. A data center in Armenia will allow transferring data on a very short distance, thus enhancing performance of Armenian websites up to tenfold for the region’s visitors.
- Information security doesn’t have a single solution that eliminates all kinds of security risks. This occupation requires constant attention and significant professional experience. That security incident in Cloudflare was caused exactly by an employee’s carelessness, which resulted in a security threat for digital data on millions of websites. Believe me, no one is safe from such risks.The NFL Draft is complete, with all seven rounds in the books. That means the undrafted free agent signing frenzy is officially underway. Players not drafted are free to sign with any team, and the phone calls will have already started. Teams will begin contacting players as early as the seventh round to express interest if the player is not drafted. The signings will come over the next few days, but players and teams will begin agreeing to terms tonight.
One key thing to remember is, until a team officially announces a signing, things can change. Players have been on planes in route to a city to sign with a team, when another team has swooped in with a better offer and a better situation, so the player decides to not sign and go to another team. It will happen this year, and it will confuse everyone, but it is the nature of the undrafted free agency period.
We will update this thread as fast as we can during the frenzy, and keep you up to date on any and all Miami Dolphins signings - and any players that switch to another team if it happens.
Current List Of Miami Dolphins 2016 UDFA's-
Akil Blount, LB, FAMU
James Burgess, LB, Louisville
Ruben Carter, OL, Florida State
Ryan Di Salvo, LS, San Jose State
Tyler Gray, LB, Boise State
Gabe Hughes, TE, Florida Tech
Farrington Huguenin, DL, Kentucky
Marshall Koehn, K, Iowa
Lafayette Pitts, CB, Pitt
Rashawn Scott, WR, UM
Brandon Shippen, DB, Temple
Below, we also have a Twitter scroll that may help keep up with the signings - just realize it is a national list, so it will include other teams as well.
#Pitt CB Lafayette Pitts signs an undrafted free agent deal with the Miami Dolphins. — Sam Werner (@SWernerPG) April 30, 2016
Iowa K Marshall Koehn to Dolphins — Mike Loyko (@NEPD_Loyko) April 30, 2016
Ruben Carter OL Florida State to Dolphins — Mike Loyko (@NEPD_Loyko) April 30, 2016
I want to thank the @MiamiDolphins organization for believing in me! I really appreciate the opportunity and ready to go2 work #finsup ☝ ️ — Brandon $hippen (@STAR_SHIP17) April 30, 2016
@MiamiDolphins Grab up @HomesteadLB!!! James Burgess Jr. NFL Pedigree, Great work ethic,humble guy! — Leonardo (@jkleonardo) May 1, 2016
Congrats to #Baler Class of 2012 grad Ryan Di Salvo for signing with the Miami Dolphins as a long-snapper. pic.twitter.com/QHJ1DvFTZC — Baler News (@BalerNews) May 1, 2016
Can confirm that UM WR Rashawn Scott is joining the Dolphins. — Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) May 1, 2016
Miami Dolphins add Gabe Hughes/TE/Florida Tech. Great upside on this kid https://t.co/tFHxMhdE1q — Tony Pauline (@TonyPauline) May 1, 2016
Farrington Huguenin has signed w/ the Miami Dolphins! #BBN — UKWildcatsOnTop (@UKWildcatsOnTop) May 1, 2016
Tweets from https://twitter.com/thephinsider/lists/nfl-udfa-trackingOriginally published July 23, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified July 23, 2008 at 9:25 AM
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The police raid on Martin Martinez, a Seattle man who uses marijuana to dull the chronic pain from a motorcycle accident, made the page-one...
The police raid on Martin Martinez, a Seattle man who uses marijuana to dull the chronic pain from a motorcycle accident, made the page-one headline last Thursday: "Was Pot Raid Justified?" Martinez's lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, insists vehemently that it was not.
In Seattle, the topic of medical marijuana and the law leads quickly to Hiatt. A native Chicagoan, 49, this blue-jeaned barrister is vehement often, his deep voice rising quickly to indignant italics.
His cellphone rings. "I gotta take this," he says. "Hello? Yes... No... No, we're not going to do that! Look, this is my client... Yes, I'll be there." Click.
Originally a public defender, Hiatt is now exclusively a medical-marijuana lawyer. It is not a lucrative practice. His clients are often broke, and typically they are merely trying to be left alone. Hiatt says he has been paid in salmon, and once in an organic pig.
His first client was an AIDS patient stuck in the King County Jail. Hiatt went to Dan Satterberg, then deputy prosecutor, for help — and it was Satterberg who smoothed things over after last week's raid on Martinez.
To Hiatt, King County's Republican prosecutor is "Good King Dan," who follows the law that 59 percent of Washington voters approved in 1998. Most prosecutors around the state don't, Hiatt says.
"It makes me crazy," he says.
For healthy folk who think of marijuana as getting stoned, "medical marijuana" may sound like a doper's deception. Hiatt shakes his head. His clients are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Typically, they are on disability. Many have cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease or Crohn's disease.
AIDS patients are using marijuana to control nausea, so they don't vomit up the 40-odd pills they have to take every day. In 2000, when a judge forbade writer and AIDS patient Peter McWilliams from using marijuana, he threw up his "AIDS cocktail," choked on his vomit and died.
The word "cocktail," makes Hiatt bristle. "It's not a damned cocktail. This is chemotherapy for life."
McWilliams had been ordered to use Marinol, a drug with one of marijuana's active ingredients. Hiatt says he has a client right now ordered by a judge to use Marinol.
"It makes my client really stoned, and he doesn't want that," Hiatt says. "It's expensive. It costs $10 to $20 a pill. Why use it when you can grow a house plant?"
Hiatt's typical client is one, like Martinez, with chronic pain. Says Hiatt, "Their doctor puts them on OxyContin, morphine, one of the opiates. Their brain is in a fog because of the opiates. They're constipated. They're miserable. They say, 'I lost my life.' Then they try marijuana. It allows them to cut their opiate dose in half. Some of them eliminate it. They feel better. Their mind is clearer. They're not constipated anymore."
"I've heard that story five hundred times," Hiatt says. "Because it works."
Hiatt estimates there are 25,000 medical-marijuana patients in Washington. The state law says they can have a 60-day supply, but since 1998 it has been up to local officials to say what that is. The Department of Health will have a public hearing in Tumwater Aug. 25 on a new rule to allow patients 24 ounces of dried plant and six mature plants. And that's not enough, Hiatt insists.
"Every single medical marijuana patient I have is over these numbers," he says.
I relate Hiatt's story partly because I believe in letting these folks alone, but partly also because I had an aunt who was in sharp pain from a pinched nerve. Her doctor prescribed an opiate, which handled the pain but messed up her mind and her gut.
My aunt was the most un-stoned person I ever knew, but she told me she would have taken marijuana, or anything else, if it had killed the pain, and to hell with the government. I would be no different.
Bruce Ramsey's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is [email protected]; for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to www.seattletimes.com/edceteraThe clip Legalizing drugs from Scarface (1980) with Steven Bauer, Al Pacino. Powered by: Anyclip. any momen...
The clip Legalizing drugs from Scarface (1980) with Steven Bauer, Al Pacino. Powered by: Anyclip. any moment from any film. Let me talk to you. Listen. What time is it? This Seidelbaum. 6:55. Okay. I met with this Seidelbaum... The drug-related violence that's plagued South Florida... He's good for a laugh, this guy. With a small law-enforcement budget, how can you put a dent... on an estimated $100-billion-a-year business? It seems at times all you can do... is put your finger in the dike and pray. 1395 01:48:46,800 --> 01:48:48,552 Put your fingers in a dyke? The only place you can get your fingers... is in some dyke. Not by outlawing the substances, but by legalizing and taxing them. These voices say that will drive out the organized crime element. I am not one of those voices. I know that. But you know why? 'Cause you got your head up your culo, that's why. That fucking guy, he never tells the truth. Splendor of our city at its best. It's those guys, man! It's the fucking bankers, the politicians... they're the ones that wanna make coke illegal! So they can make the fucking money, and then get the fucking votes! They fighting the bad guys. They're the bad guys!Yes, we had a hard time believing that this insane mountain formation was actually real, because we haven't fallen down the rabbit hole. But, believe it or not, this technicolor range actually exists.
Story continues below
The mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China. Layers of different colored sandstone and minerals were pressed together over 24 million years and then buckled up by tectonic plates, according to the Telegraph.
Here's a photo showing some detail of the rich "layer cake" action going on.
There's a similar formation in British Columbia called the Rainbow Range formed from a mixture of volcanic rock and various minerals.
While the photos are certainly incredible, there could be some slight photo manipulation going on to make the colors pop a bit more than they would naturally. This Flickr photo could be a more accurate representation, but still, the mountains are amazing.
The formations were shaped into the flowing valleys after thousands of years of rain and wind, and the region has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2010.
Take a look at some more incredible photos of the range below, and tweet us @HuffPostGreen if you have any of your own!No polish or refinement, just lots of giant ants and plenty of ways to kill them. Ridiculously fun at its best, which it frequently is.
Games often attempt to obscure their limitations. To effortlessly guide you through a level as if you'd chosen to follow the linear path. To hide the bugs and idiosyncrasies that would draw you out of the action. To immerse you in the world they've created. Despite all this – maybe because of all this – I find it incredibly endearing when the limitations conspire to undermine the pretense. It's a moment I like to celebrate by cheerfully shouting "Videogames!" at the screen.
EDF is very videogames. Its name – Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair – is about as videogames as you get. The action is unabashedly non-immersive, to the point that it feels like a celebration of raw videogame artifice and jank. Even the plot is peak videogames. Giant insects threaten the Earth. You, as a member of the Earth Defense Force, must shoot them.
It's the sort of game where you perform constant diagonal dodge rolls because it's slightly faster than walking. Or where you frequently ragdoll a block down the street because a friendly NPC walked in front of your rocket launcher. It's as if EDF's developers are working hard to stop it being thought of as anything more than a videogame – a commentary on the worthiness of compulsive loops and schlocky presentation. That intent (or lack of it) doesn't matter, because it does work and is fun. Sometimes that's enough. This is not the Dark Souls of anything, and I'm grateful for it.
"Videogames!"
Before each of the around 90 missions, you choose one of four classes. Ranger is the most basic, with an arsenal of guns and the ability to heal NPC troops. Or there's the Wing Diver, a jetpack-and-plasma-welding airborne trooper with no leg or boob armour ("Videogames!"). The other two classes are more of an acquired taste: the powerful Fencer is heavily armed, but slow and unwieldy; the Air Raider calls down airstrikes and vehicles, so is more suited for co-op play.
This is not the Dark Souls of anything, and I'm grateful for it.
Each mission takes place in an open level – usually a city, but sometimes a tunnel, beach or big field. Into that setting pours giant insects – usually ants, but sometimes spiders. (You're correct, spiders aren't insects. Remember: "videogames!") Later, there are robots. Later still, the ants are red. Your mission, always, is to kill the things. It's possible to hurt friendly NPCs through friendly fire, but it doesn't matter if you do. It's possible to completely destroy the surrounding area with your more powerful weapons, but you're never admonished or penalised. If you kill the bad things, you win. It's rarely more complicated than that.
Often it's worth touring the map, working towards the NPCs. Get close to a team leader, and the squad will fall in under your command. The AI is laughable, but it's good to have the additional firepower and, to be blunt, a few expendable bodies to distract the enemy. It's hard to feel bad about their deaths, because at no point does the game depict them as real, believable characters.
NPC #1: "Why fight if you know you're going to die?"
NPC #2: "I did it before I knew it."
All NPCs: "EDF! EDF! EDF!"
The action runs at 60 frames per second, and I haven't encountered any bugs. Mouse and keyboard support works well in missions, but is more fiddly in menus. There are few graphics settings – anti-aliasing is relegated to a binary yes or no, and more granular settings involve disabling shadows and, er, that's it. Moreover, EDF is clearly a descendant of the Playstation 2 era of design. It looks better than any PS2 game did, and can handle many more giant insects on screen, but the aesthetic looks out of place in this decade. It's also incredibly shonky, as the swarms of ants clip through each other, or spasmodically dance around any lampost or building they've decided to climb.
And yet, the flaws become easy to ignore when you're in the thick of it. The weapons feel powerful and explosive, and can be improved by grabbing pickups dropped by dead insects. This loot system ties into the core nicely. If you want the rewards, you're encouraged to constantly push into the throng to collect them as you go. EDF offers that same compulsive progression as a good ARPG: killing things feels good, leads to better weapons, leads to more good killing. It's generous, too. Harder difficulties promise improved weapons, of which each class has their own unique set. It's base and simplistic, sure, but that's exactly why it works.
I could do the safe thing, and give Earth Defense Force 4.1 a score in the 60s. I'd use this concluding paragraph to implore people try it anyway, all the while insulating myself from the criticism of anyone who hates it. Some people will hate EDF, and they're not incorrect. If you value polish and presentation, EDF offers neither. A well told story? Surprising, engaging setpieces? Even dialogue that doesn't resemble a malfunctioning AI chatbot? You won't find them here. Maybe you just want your new, £30 game to feel like it was made in this decade. These are not unreasonable requests.
Here's the problem with doing the safe thing: I really like EDF, despite its many quirks and limitations. I apologise in advance if you don't.Getty Images
There’s a new name in the mix for defensive coordinator with the Rams.
Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Lions secondary/third down packages coach Tim Walton is interviewing with the team for their defensive coordinator opening. The Rams have also spoken to Vikings linebackers coach Mike Singletary and former Browns coordinator Dick Jauron since making their decision to back away from Rob Ryan a moment or two after deciding to hire him in the first place.
Walton has been with the Lions for all four years of Jim Schwartz’s tenure, moving up from the collegiate ranks in 2009. Schwartz used to work for Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, which could help if a Schwartz recommendation holds particular sway with his old boss. There’s no timeline on a decision about the coordinator in St. Louis.
With one quickie divorce already this offseason, it stands to reason that they’re in no particular hurry.Navy officials are failing to see the funny side of the efforts of a mischievous pilot who drew enormous penises in the sky above Washington this week.
The unnamed pilot from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, was lambasted by officials who have since apologized for the obscene display in Okanogan.
'The Navy holds its aircrew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable, of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable,' they said in a statement.
They described the act as 'immature' and 'unethical' and said that action was being taken to punish the crew responsible.
While they failed to see the humorous side, the internet exploded with appreciation for the pilot's drawings.
The Navy has taken the blame for penis drawings which appeared in the sky above Okanogan, Washington, this week, saying it was one of their pilots who is to blame
Navy officials issued an apology on the matter, and called the incident 'unacceptable'
'The Navy holds its aircrew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable, of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable'
Some people in the town were offended by the illustration and reported it to local news stations including KREM.com.
Others saw the funny side as they watched the pilot complete their masterpiece.
'After it made the circles at the bottom, I knew what it was and started laughing,' one said to the SeattlePI.
'It was pretty funny to see that...You don't expect to see something like that.'
Twitter users shared their appreciation in their droves.
'A grateful nation thanks you for your service,' said one user. Another asked cheekily: 'Willy be punished?'
The Navy did not disclose what was being done to reprimand the pilot responsible.
The drawings appeared this week and sparked controversy in the town where some were offendedBEL AIR, MD — A murder suspect is among 44 people found to be living in the U.S. illegally by Harford County deputies who are trained as immigration officers, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. The announcement on Monday came more than a year after the sheriff's office launched a special program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in which some officers were trained to screen people coming through the Harford County Detention Center.
Nine correctional deputies have been trained by ICE, and one more is set to enter training in January, officials said.
Since the program's inception at the Harford County Detention Center last October, 44 people already in custody have been identified as illegally living in the U.S. and meeting the federal priority criteria for removal, officials said.
Crimes they were charged with included second-degree murder, identity theft, fraud, armed robbery and drug possession, according to the sheriff's office. Five of them were tied to gangs, of which four were members of MS-13, according to the sheriff's office, which declined to provide the names of the suspects.
"The stats speak for themselves," Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler said in a statement. "The decision for the Harford County Sheriff's Office to take part in the 287(g) program was the right choice. Without question, adding this tool to our crime fighting tool belt helps protect Harford County residents. The ability to detain violent criminals and keep them from re-victimizing the citizens of Harford County is paramount. Without this program, violent criminals including four members of a violent gang could still be free and in our community."
The individuals who have been identified as living in the country illegally were from around the world, including Cuba, El Salvador, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Vietnam and other countries, according to the sheriff's office.
Patch file photo.The results of a survey by Evans Data shows that use of the Ruby scripting language has increased by 40% amongst North American software developers during the last year. Fourteen percent of developers in this region use Ruby some part of the time, up from 10% who used it in 2008. Additionally, 20% of developers expect to use it in the coming year.
“The increasing adoption of developers using scripting languages correlates with today’s overall emphasis on web centric applications which have to be highly malleable to rapidly changing market driven requirements,” said John Andrews, President and CEO of Evans Data. “Interestingly, while we see Linux continue to increase as a target platform, this category of development reflects the greatest growth in targeting a non windows target platform”.
The biannual survey of over 400 North American software developers measures scripting language use, 3GL language use such as C++, C#, and Java, platform targeting and migration, and other technology adoption including cloud, web services, SOA, parallel programming and agile development trends. The survey series is now in its eleventh year.
Other highlights from the survey include:Sen. Catherine Miranda. (Photo: Patrick Breen/The Republic)
The Senate Ethics Committee voted Thursday to investigate allegations that state Sen. Catherine Miranda mishandled petition signatures in the battle over the expansion of the state's school-voucher program.
Such complaints are rare, and usually are reserved for the most serious offenses. They can result in expulsion from the Legislature.
Miranda, D-Phoenix, voted against expanding the Empowerment Scholarship Account program during the legislative session and, after its passage, collected signatures for the effort to refer the expansion to the ballot.
Amy Andrea Celaya, a Gilbert parent who supported ESA expansion, wrote the complaint on letterhead from the group Parents United. She alleges Miranda collected signatures using a petition document that did not check a box designating her as a volunteer signature-gatherer and that someone checked the box after the fact.
ROBERTS: Senate delivers payback for voucher work
The complaint was sent to the Arizona Senate by Chris Perea, a teacher at Gateway Academy and supporter of the school-voucher expansion law who has worked with influential groups pushing for expansion, including Americans for Prosperity and the American Federation for Children.
The complaint included a Twitter photo showing Miranda with the paper with the unchecked box. It was checked when the paper was turned in to the Secretary of State's Office.
Allegations questioned
The complaint alleges Miranda's actions violate state law and so merit an ethics investigation. Knowingly falsifying a petition sheet is a misdemeanor offense.
The Senate Ethics Committee consists of three Republicans and two Democrats. The Republicans voted — with no discussion — to investigate the complaint.
The Republicans decided to first refer the complaint to the Attorney General's Office for investigation and delay their own investigation until that probe is finished.
Sen. Steve Montenegro, R-Litchfield Park, a member of the ethics committee, said the motion doesn't indicate guilt, but starts an investigative process.
"These are clearly just proceedings, questions being asked," he said. "In no way does this reflect the body's prejudice on any decision at all."
FACT CHECK: Do voucher foes want ESA kids in other schools?
Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, who is on the committee, noted how unusual it is for someone outside the Legislature to file such a complaint. He said he doesn't think the allegation rises to the level of an ethics complaint.
"If you look at actual evidence that's in the complaint, there's just not much there at all," he said. "This is a witch hunt. This is political retribution against anybody who worked to oppose a law shoved through this Legislature."
Attorney Tom Ryan, who is representing Miranda pro-bono, also questioned why the complaint was being entertained, saying the allegation includes no evidence of intent.
"This is payback. The ultimate result could be expulsion," he said. "This is using a thermonuclear bomb to wipe out a gnat. That's how silly and frivolous this is."
Miranda did not attend the hearing.
TALKING POLITICS: Listen to our Arizona politics podcast, The Gaggle, on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher or Google Play.
House member faces a complaint
Rep. Isela Blanc. (Photo: Chelsea Shannon/Special for The Republic)
A similar ethics complaint was filed against Rep. Isela Blanc, D-Tempe, in the Arizona House. The House Ethics Committee has not yet taken action on that complaint.
The Secretary of State's Office had already referred the matter to the Attorney General's Office.
Lawmakers haven’t expelled a lawmaker in more than 20 years, although a handful have resigned in the midst of such investigations. The last ethics committee investigations were in 2012.
The Senate committee investigated domestic-violence allegations against former Republican Sen. Scott Bundgaard. The House investigated former Democratic Rep. Daniel Patterson for allegations of domestic violence, as well as numerous allegations of aggressive and dishonest behavior toward other House members.
In both cases, the men were already facing criminal charges related to the domestic-violence allegations. Both resigned before the ethics process concluded.
Related to referendum fight
NEWSLETTERS Get the AZ Memo newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Get the pulse of Arizona -- Local news, in-depth state coverage and what it all means for you Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for AZ Memo Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters
The Miranda complaint stems from the ongoing battle to keep in place Senate Bill 1431, which the Legislature passed earlier this session and Gov. Doug Ducey signed.
That measure made all 1.1 million Arizona students eligible to apply for the state's school-voucher program, which grants tax dollars to parents for private-school tuition or other education expenses. While broadening eligibility, the bill capped the number of recipients at 30,000 by 2022.
DATABASE: Search Arizona ESA awards in your district
Prior to expansion — which Gov. Doug Ducey and Republican lawmakers narrowly muscled through the Legislature in April — the program had been limited to certain students, including those with special needs, in poor-performing schools or from military families.
Save Our Schools Arizona collected more than 100,000 signatures to refer the measure to the November 2018 ballot.
The American Federation for Children and Americans for Prosperity are fighting in court to keep the voucher-expansion measure in place.
READ MORE:
Will school-voucher expansion save AZ money?
School-voucher opponents clear signature hurdle
Payback for GOP lawmakers who voted no on vouchers?
Oversight of AZ school vouchers 'almost a sham'
Why AZ doesn't know where voucher money goes
AZ school-voucher expansion is on hold. Now what?
Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2yLn0ZpA new piece of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice promo art has surfaced, and this one focuses on Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman. It appears as if that Comic-Con photo didn't do the costume justice, especially as it failed to show off the awesome cape she'll be wearing! Check it out...
While this is only promo art for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it should offer us a good idea of what Gal Gadot will look like in the movie, and it's a fair bit different to that moody image which was released during last year's San Diego Comic Con. She looks great, and as well as the extra colour in that costume, the cape in particular is very cool. The character has of course donned a cape in the comic books, and that pose should be instantly recognisable to comic book fans. What do you guys think of her look?
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Irons, Scoot McNairy, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and many more,
is set to be released on March 25th, 2016.
#HH #EXCLUSIVE #HOT #WONDERWOMAN #promo #art from #BatmanvSuperman! Doesn't she look fresh next to my new logo? BOOM! A photo posted by Umberto Gonzalez (@umbertogonzalez) on May 1, 2015 at 6:20pm PDT
Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeI just saw X-Men: Days of Future Past last night, and I can’t stop thinking about Mystique. Spoiler alert: there are no spoilers for the movie in this blog post. The spoiler alert was in regards to this actual blog post. In reading this paragraph, I’m basically giving it all away, what I’m about to talk about. Mystique.
She’s the naked blue mutant that can shape-shift into whatever she wants. Cool, right? Yeah, but it gets even cooler. Because there’s one scene where she jumps out of a window, and everybody around is like, “Oh my God! A naked blue mutant!” and she needs to make discreet exit. So she kind of loses herself in the calamity and transforms into a regular looking woman wearing a really poofy fur coat.
But get this. She didn’t do a good job of disappearing into the crowd, because somebody finds her, again, I’m not going to reveal too much about the movie, because I don’t want to spoil anything. But what happens is, she takes off the big poofy fur coat, and she transforms back into her naked blue form.
And the coat is just lying on the ground, without any explanation as to how it exists independently of Mystique’s body. You know what I’m saying? Because she’s naked, and she does her crazy shape-shifting thing and she’s not naked anymore, she’s wearing clothes now. If she wants to change into an army guy, her army clothes appear from her body.
So how does she take off that coat? Isn’t that a part of her body? Do her powers include the ability to generate an infinite amount of disposable clothing? Or after a certain number of articles of clothing discarded onto the floor, does she get weak? Like does she need to eat a really big meal to replenish whatever it was that she lost when she just threw the coat on the floor? Or, even worse, is this how Mystique maybe goes to the bathroom? She just transforms all of her excretion into fashion?
That’s disgusting. But how are we to make sense of any of it? Let’s go back to her being naked. And then she transforms into a guy wearing a suit. Is that suit technically a layer of her skin? Or is it dead, like hair? Like, if someone walks up to her and says, “Wow, that’s a really nice jacket,” and starts feeling the fabric, maybe giving it an aggressive pinch to get a sense of how durable the material is, would she react? Would it hurt?
Or maybe her power is just truly super, even in comparison with her already super shape-shifting abilities. Maybe she can just come up with an infinite amount of clothing, and it doesn’t matter, take it off, whatever, she can just whip up some new threads instantly. In that case, wouldn’t it be cool to have Mystique as a friend? You could have her transform into you, but wearing some really nice clothes, and then she could take them off and give them to you. And you could have her do this every time you wanted to wear something brand new.
I just wish they thought it through a little further before cementing this scene in place. Because what, you didn’t think anybody would notice, right? Well I noticed. And if you read this, and you go see the movie, now you’ll notice it too. And it cannot be unseen. She just takes the jacket off and throws it on the ground.Just a month after the WannaCry ransomware attack knocked out computer systems across the globe, another massive cyberattack is spreading from Eastern Europe to the rest of the world. In Ukraine, where the attack first hit, the effects offer a preview of what a cyber war could look like: “lock-out” screens and chaos at the grocery store.
On Tuesday, a group of unknown hackers launched a massive, devastating, cyberattack on major Ukrainian corporations, utility companies, and government agencies. The attack has locked up government computers, shut down power stations, and corrupted media stations across the country. While the damage has been concentrated in Ukraine, companies and institutions in Spain, France, Denmark, Poland and Russia have all reported hacks. Right now, it’s unclear whether the hack was the work of a nation-state or a third party.
International companies like Rosneft, the largest Russian oil company, and Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, have been affected.
“A massive hacker attack has hit the servers of the Company. We hope it has no relation to the ongoing court procedures,” announced Rosneft on its Twitter account, later adding that “neither oil production nor preparation processes were stopped.”
Advertising firms and other companies in the U.K. have reported attacks, and some reports suggest that it has already spread to systems in the United States:
“The longer it drags on the more the entire logistics chain will be disrupted,” Lars Jensen, chief executive of maritime cyber security firm CyberKeel told the Wall Street Journal. “The ships can be operated manually but if you don’t have access to your operational and commercial databases you won’t know where your containers are.”
This was the message of every computer screen in Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday, reported Christopher Miller, a Ukraine-based journalist:
The majority of the hacks appear to be a traditional ransomware attack: A computer is encrypted by a third party until the owner pays a digital ransom in Bitcoin to unlock their data.
Security researchers at Kaspersky Labs say the malicious program used is called Petrwrap/ Petya, a dangerous variation of the WannaCry ransomware used in May.
The hack displays the below “lock-out screen” to its victims, telling them to wire $388 in Bitcoin to a hacker with the email address [email protected].
Costin Raiu, a director of global research and analysis at Kaspersky Lab reports that like the WannaCry attack, the hackers don’t appear to be making a whole lot of money so far. The hacker has received less than 1 BTC, which is a little over $2,000.
The real damage seems to be how much access the hackers appear to have. In 2015 and 2016, massive cyber attacks disrupted the power grid in Ukraine, hacks that could be considered probing attacks or tests for a larger attack.
INVERSE LOOT DEALS Meet the Pod The first |
some of the leading cerification options now available to professionals seeking to expand their repertoire in the cloud space. Here are some vendor-neutral industry association programs:
Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK), offered by the Cloud Security Alliance
Cloud Business Associate, Cloud Technology Associate, Professional Cloud Administrator, Professional Cloud Developer, Professional Cloud Security Manager, Professional Cloud Service Manager, Professional Cloud Solutions Architect, and Executive FedRamp Credential, offered through the Cloud Credential Council
Cloud Essentials Certification, offered by CompTIA
Cloud+ Certification, from CompTIA
In addition, Jariwata mentions that leading vendors also have shaped their own programs to certify expertise on thier platforms, including Salesforce.com Certified Professional, provided through Salesforce and IBM Certified Solution Architect – Cloud Computing Infrastructure V1, IBM Certified Solution Advisor – Cloud Computing Architecture V3, from IBM.
Enterprises and vendors alike are experiencing shortages of the skills needed to move into the cloud computing realm -- not only technical expertise, but people able to put it all together in a package that helps drive their businesses. These programs are providing the support needed to train a new generation of cloud-savvy professionals.Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
August 21, 2014 Email
Steve Bottjer
On Twitter:
@BottjerRNO
Now in his second year with both Toronto FC and the Canadian Men’s National Team, Jonathan Osorio is feeling good about the prospects of both teams going forward.
The 22 year old midfielder is an important player for both squads and he has been a player who has adjusted well to the recent changes that have taken place with both his MLS club and his national team side.
At the club level, Toronto FC currently sit in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference and look poised to qualify for the MLS postseason for the first time in the club’s history. With all the changes made by the club over the past calendar year, Osorio’s second year in the North American top flight has been very different than his rookie season.
“We’ve had much more success this year and the environment around the club is different and the expectations are way higher,” Osorio told RedNation. “It’s different from last year but it is different in a good way.”
“It is an honour to be a part of this team given that it is my hometown club and from being a supporter from when the club first started,” he added. “It has been a lot of rough years, but we finally have a good season on our hands. We’re in a good spot but we will still have a lot of work to do.”
While Toronto has excelled this season, Osorio’s campaign has not been completely turbulence free, as the young Toronto native has had to find his place among a team that has brought in a multitude of new players and that has consciously worked at figuring out how to maximize the potential of the three Designated Players that the Reds brass signed over the offseason.
According to the Canadian International, adjusting his game to complement those of players such as Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley is something that he has taken in stride.
“If anything, I have invited them in with open arms,” Osorio explained. “They are big name players and we want players like that on the team. If my role had to change to accommodate them, that’s fine if it is going to help the team. That’s what it is all about. I contribute a lot in every game and I like to think of myself as an important player on the team.”
In addition to the arrival of a number of influential players on TFC’s roster, Osorio’s early season form was adversely affected by a hamstring injury during a period in which the battle for minutes under Head Coach Ryan Nelsen was particularly fierce.
However, the Toronto native was quick to characterize his early season fitness issues as something that he simply had to approach in mature manner.
“I actually had an injury when I returned to Canada from Uruguay, which left me without a club for a very long time,” Osorio explained. “It was a difficult time for me, so this time around when an injury happened, it wasn’t such a big deal. I dealt with it a lot better than I did before.”
“You learn from injuries,” Osorio added. “Each injury you get, you learn how to deal with it and that way you recover faster. Injuries are tough because if you rush back it will only get worse. I have learned that the best thing to do is to let it heal 100% before you come back.”
Now fully fit and once again excelling for Toronto FC, Osorio is now looking forward to his possible participation in the first Canadian National Team match in Canada since Head Coach Benito Floro took over at the helm of the squad.
“It is always an honour to be called up for your national team,” Osorio stated. “To be able to play in Toronto at BMO Field would be even more special. I’m really looking forward to that game and hopefully we can get a result.”
With both TFC and the Canadian National Team recently experiencing paradigm shifts due to major changes at the leadership level, Osorio was quick to admit that he is hopeful that the recent success his team has experienced at the club level will soon be duplicated at the International level by Canada.
“For sure, both teams are heading in the right direction,” Osorio said. “With the results we have been having, it is clear that TFC is heading in the right direction. Hopefully we can be a championship contending team. And Canada is heading in the right direction as well with the hiring of a legendary coach who has been successful in Europe and Spain specifically. I think the results will come with the national team. It will take time, but it will definitely come.”
As a key member of both squads and with the national team regularly calling up players from Toronto FC, the Canadian International also admitted that he is hopeful that the winning mentality that is now in place at TFC will enhance the atmosphere surrounding the national team.
“When you have that winning mentality, no matter where you go, it is always a big push and big advantage for you,” Osorio said. “Doneil (Henry) and Ashtone (Morgan) have been with TFC longer and maybe they did not have that exact mentality in the past because it is hard when your team is always on the losing end. It has changed this year and you can tell by the way we play when we step on the field.”[new_royalslider id=”646″]
The first snow of the semester was not the only thing to hit the Colorado State University campus early Monday morning, as an unknown person graffitied the phrases “Fuck Columbus” and “decolonize” on multiple buildings. The anarchy symbol was also included in some places.
For many students, the first graffiti they saw was next to the Transit Center outside of the Lory Student Center.
There was also graffiti on the Clark buildings, under Eddy, under some stairs outside the LSC and on the side of the Visual Arts building.
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Student reactions to the graffiti were mixed, although more leaned towards not supporting the means of getting the message out.
“It’s dumb that they did it on the school,” said Alex Paul, an undeclared freshman. “There’s other ways to protest without vandalizing the school.”
Anna Slage, a junior wildlife biology major, was also critical of the graffiti.
“Usually I’m not a fan of graffiti. I get the point they’re trying to make with it, but I think they could do it in a much more constructive manner,” Slage said. “I think the second they turn it into something like graffiti, it turns it into a negative connotation. … I’m not a big fan of Columbus myself, but I think it’s not very constructive.”
Alliya King, a sophomore health and exercise science major, was more supportive of the message.
“If someone wants to express themselves, they should do it,” King said.
By 10 a.m., workers for Facilities Management began to paint over some of the graffiti.
The damages are estimated to total more than $10,000, according to CSU Senior Communications Coordinator Dell Rae Ciaravola.
The CSU Police Department is currently asking for anyone with information about the incidents to contact them at 970-491-6425.
This is a developing story. The Collegian will update this article as information is released.
Collegian reporter Stuart Smith can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @notstuartsmith. Collegian reporter Joe Manely contributed to this report and can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @joemanely.Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m prepping the engine for removal in the next few posts.
The video in this post shows some of the labeling I often do to cover any memory gaps.
The Oil Dri is key to keeping the mess to minimum. That’s important – keeps the HOA out of my hair – bad enough I’m working on the car outside and what you can’t see is that my driveway is steep and any fluid spilled in quantity will run a long ways before it gets to the street!!!
More progress coming up.
Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportsRoof. Hey…if you have a project send us some pic or a video we’ll post them up!!!
Check out our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AGCarRestoration/
Tim
1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof As I posted before, after a vigorous (not read ‘desperate’) I finally found my next personal project. The 1973 Mustang Sports Roof Fastback is what I settled on. Now we start the project that has been dubbed #ProjectSportsRoof (yes I find it necessary to use the ‘hash’). 1973 Mustang Color …
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Like this: Like Loading...Photo By Sgt. Anthony Jones | A Ukrainian combat training center instructor teaches soldiers a way to quickly...... read more read more Photo By Sgt. Anthony Jones | A Ukrainian combat training center instructor teaches soldiers a way to quickly evacuate a casualty in combat conditions at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, near Yavoriv, Ukraine, on Feb. 1. The casualty evacuation demonstration was part of the first Ukrainian-led combat first aid course where combat training center staff taught soldiers of the Ukrainian army's 1st Battalion, 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade how to treat battlefield wounds, providing potentially life-saving knowledge. (Photo by Sgt. Anthony Jones, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team)(Photo by Sgt. Anthony Jones, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team) see less | View Image Page
Seconds count when saving lives on the battlefield – a lesson hard learned by Ukrainian forces when separatists in Eastern Ukraine tried to break away from the rest of the country.
To staunch the loss of troops and save the lives of wounded soldiers, the Ukrainian army turned to international partners to help develop a combat first aid course. Now, for the first time since fighting began in 2014, the Ukrainian army has taken the lead in teaching the curriculum.
“This training means everything, with [the Ukrainian army] in the ATO they need to be able to keep people alive,” said Sgt. Carey Bennett, an Oklahoma Army National Guardsman from Oklahoma City working alongside the Ukrainian army, using the acronym for the antiterrorism operations area in Eastern Ukraine where fighting flared up again in late January.
Since fighting began in 2014, more than 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the ATO, according to a Ukrainian Museum of Military History website that hosts photos of each fallen soldier and details of their deaths.
By comparison, since 2001, a total of 2,216 U.S. forces have been killed in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, according to the U.S. Department of Defense website, as of February 10.
The high number of casualties is something Ukrainian units are trying to curb. To do this, they have been training with Canadian and American units to build the combat first aid course, providing soldiers with the knowledge and confidence to treat both themselves and their fellow soldiers when wounded.
Soldiers learn how to apply tourniquets, pressure bandages and improvised field dressings as part of the combat first aid course. They also learn critical tasks like how to evacuate a casualty while under fire and how to clear the casualty’s airway.
This international training is part of the Joint Multinational Training Group - Ukraine’s mission at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, near Yavoriv, Ukraine. At the IPSC, partners from the U.S., Canada, Lithuania, the U.K. and Poland have come together to help develop various training programs ranging from the combat first aid course to how to conduct air assaults and counter improvised explosive devices.
Battalions from the Ukrainian army rotate through the IPSC for training, and, before January 2017, were directly trained by international partners.
This year, Ukrainian combat training center staff are taking the lead role in training while international partners are taking more of a supporting role, coaching and mentoring the Ukrainian CTC staff rather than providing hands-on training with the rotational battalions.
Spc. Cody Yancey of Norman, Oklahoma, is one of the American medics who is mentoring the Ukrainian CTC medical staff. He said prior to the conflict in the east and the JMTG-U partnership, casualty care was not a priority for Ukrainian troops.
However, after seeing how the training at JMTG-U has improved survivability in the ATO, the Ukrainian army is beginning to doctrinally change and build a professional medical corps.
“They started from the ground up,” Yancey said. “They’ve already instilled a lot of the basics… this is the first rotation where the Ukrainians are taking on their own, bottom to top – start to finish, medical training.”
Yancey said the CTC medical training staff felt confident enough to begin training their own soldiers and organized the training for the Ukrainian army’s 1st Battalion, 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which started its training rotation in early February.
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Johnson, of Okarche, Oklahoma and the medical platoon sergeant for the 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard – the U.S. unit assigned to the JMTG-U, said completion of the combat first aid course puts these Ukrainian soldiers leaps and bounds ahead of their peers who have not trained with the JMTG-U.
“The training here shows great steps toward saving lives,” Johnson said. “It shows they are willing to take on new things.”
The Ukrainian CTC trainers took the lessons they learned from previous rotations and put together a schedule, developed a training plan, coordinated training lanes without logistical support or back-up from their American medic partners, and tailored the training to fit the needs of the 1-28., Yancey added.
“Now, rather than teaching individual tasks, we are stepping back and the Ukrainians are in the lead and we provide feedback to the instructors,” Yancey said while observing a training event where the CTC staff were teaching companies of the 1-28 how to treat and evacuate casualties under fire. “Any tips, tricks or professionalization we can provide them is why we’re here.”
Many of the CTC staff have spent time in the ATO and understand what units will face if they are deployed there. Intuitional knowledge from experienced soldiers is key to developing the medical training program.
“They know best what they need and want – what saves the most lives,” Yancey said. “They can come back with their own medical NCO corps, medical department and standards and teach the next line of soldiers coming through and take pride in that.”Dr. Michael Burry, whose spellbinding all-in bet against the subprime mortgage market reaped a fortune and was made famous in the book and film The Big Short, released his new firm’s first public portfolio in the fourth quarter and showed some unexpected positions.
Burry retired his fund, Scion Capital, in 2008 after his early recognition and short of the subprime lending market that virtually nobody had understood for years proved correct. From 2000 through the crash of 2008, Burry earned his Scion investors 489.34% in returns, according to Vanity Fair. In Scion’s last quarterly letter to investors, Burry explained how he spotted the trouble that led to the financial crisis.
“My father, a mechanical engineer, used to dismiss random chance,” Burry said. “The harder you work, the luckier you get, he’d say. I am convinced there is hardly a better rule by which to live.”
Scion Asset Management, Burry’s new fund, opened in 2013 in Cupertino, California. Its COO is Zaeed Kalsheker, who worked for Burry’s previous fund. By Dec. 31, its assets under management presumably reached $100 million, the regulatory threshold for investment firms to disclose their long holdings publicly.
Burry’s fourth-quarter long portfolio for Scion Asset Management listed 13 stocks with a total value of $74 million. Roughly eight years after the sector almost fell apart in the financial crisis, Burry has invested 32.4% of the portfolio in financial services stocks as his largest weighted sector. The next in size are technology at 28.9% and health care at 23.7%.
Burry has five financial positions: ACE Ltd. (NYSE:ACE), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE:BK) and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:PNC).
A value investor, Burry said in 2008 that financial institutions were difficult to value due primarily to share dilution accompanying emergency capital injections and continual write-downs related to risky off-balance sheet investments. The quality of financial statements, he said, “was “every bit as inscrutable as those from Enron circa 2001,” and less leverage and lower returns would persist over the long term.
“Any investment thesis in these companies must therefore be based upon modest returns on a substantially reduced equity base. I imagine the shares of these companies, in most cases, will become very boring before they become attractive again,” he said.
Banks have looked more attractive to value investors in the first quarter as many appear inexpensive with low P/B ratios. In particular, Bank of America trades below book value with a ratio of 0.6 and Citigroup with 0.61.
As his top position, Burry has a REIT, NexPoint Residential Trust (NYSE:NXRT), followed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). He also has one energy bet, CNX Coal Resources LP (CNXC).
Below is a summary of Burry’s largest financial services picks.
ACE Ltd. (NYSE:ACE)
Burry holds 50,00 shares of ACE Ltd., at 7.89% of his portfolio. Year to date its price declined 6.4%.
Citigroup (NYSE:C)
Burry has 100,000 shares of Citigroup Inc., at 6.99% of his portfolio. The price declined by 19% year to date.
Citigroup Inc. was incorporated in 1988 under the laws of the State of Delaware. Citigroup Inc. has a market cap of $123.47 billion; its shares were traded around $41.88 with a P/E ratio of 7.76 and P/S ratio of 1.65. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Citigroup Inc. stocks is 0.48%. The forward dividend yield of Citigroup Inc stocks is 0.48%. Citigroup Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 11.2% over the past five years.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)
Burry holds 300,000 shares of Bank of America, at 6.82% of his portfolio. Its price has declined roughly 20% year to date.
Bank of America Corp. was incorporated on July 31, 1998, in Delaware. Bank of America Corp. has a market cap of $139.19 billion; its shares were traded around $13.48 with a P/E ratio of 9.85 and P/S ratio of 1.83. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Bank of America Corporation stocks is 1.50%. The forward dividend yield of Bank of America Corporation stocks is 1.49%. Bank of America Corporation had an annual average earnings growth of 52.3% over the past 5 years.
Click here to see Michael Burry’s portfolio. Click here to get more great information by starting a free 7-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.
About the author:Since I got my Zeo I’ve been experimenting with loads of different supplements (not drugs, I haven’t needed to go that far yet) to help with my sleep. ‘Sleep’ itself is quite a broad topic and so needs to be broken down into sub categories that you feel need to be improved. Examples are –
Time taken to fall to sleep
More – REM / Deep sleep
Reducing over all sleep time whilst still being well rested
Reducing the number of wakes during the night
Waking up at the correct point of the sleep cycle as to not feel groggy
Whilst I do intend on posting some data on how I have effected some of the points above with supplements, firstly I just wanted to post my supplement stack for sleep and explain a few of the supplements to give you a better understanding of why I take them.
GABA
Gamma-Aminobutyric acid is a naturally occurring neuro-inhibitory transmitter. Whilst that might sound quite scary I assure you it really isn’t. It dramatically calms you when taken as it has a key role in regulating neuronal excitability throughout the nervous system [1]. I take GABA along with the other things in this list about 30 minutes before my bedtime.
Magnesium
Magnesium aids in calming the nerves and relaxing the muscles, which in turn can help individuals to fall asleep. Similarly, a deficiency of the mineral is sometimes responsible for the nervousness that prevents sleep.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/28480-magnesium-aid-sleeping/#ixzz22q13Ng4Q
Potassium
Potassium works very closely in the body with Magnesium, so if you’re supplementing with one, you should probably supplement with the other. It may also help if you suffer from leg cramps during the night [2]
L-Arginine / L-Ornithine
Although Ornithine is considered to be a protein that puts the body into a relaxed state when taken away from other proteins, the main reason I take it at night is to potentially increase the level of HGH released [3] and to improve the amount of deep sleep I get.
Vitamin D
Now although I take Vitamin D in the mornings and primarily because of the million and one other benefits it has for us hackers, it deserves a place on this list. You get vitamin D naturally from the sun hitting your skin, because of this vitamin D is inextricably linked to our natural body clock. I have tested taking my vitamin D after waking vs before bed as have many other hackers and I found that I had a much better sleep when it was taken in the morning.
So here are just a few examples of supplements you can take to directly / indirectly hack your sleep. Dave Aspray has a great blog post on supplements for sleep hacking so for some further reading you can check it out here – http://www.bulletproofexec.com/sleep-hacking-part-3-falling-asleep-fast-with-biochemistry/
Citations
[1] Watanabe M, Maemura K, Kanbara K, Tamayama T, Hayasaki H (2002). “GABA and GABA receptors in the central nervous system and other organs”. Int. Rev. Cytol.. International Review of Cytology 213: 1–47. doi:10.1016/S0074-7696(02)13011-7. ISBN 978-0-12-364617-0. PMID 11837891.
[2] http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00200
[3] J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Apr;24(4):1082-90. Arginine and ornithine supplementation increases growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 serum levels after heavy-resistance exercise in strength-trained athletes.Zajac A, Poprzecki S, Zebrowska A, Chalimoniuk M, Langfort J.
Advertisements[Update: Police have now confirmed a total of seven fatalities and thirteen injured and more information is coming in continuously. Check here for the latest information.]
At least one unidentified suspect traveling in a black BMW reportedly carried out multiple drive-by shootings at approximately 9:30 p.m. at I.V. Deli Mart, 7-11, and near the 6500 and 6700 blocks of Sabado Tarde Road in Isla Vista, with four possible fatalities according a Noozhawk article — although police declined to confirm the number of casualties.
According to the SB Police scanner, all suspects have been taken into custody as of 10:01 p.m., and there is at least one case of 1144, or “possible fatality.” The suspect also reportedly ran over a bicyclist on Embarcadero del Mar, north of Freebirds. Police shut down Embarcadero del Mar at two locations, near the 7-11 and where the incident involving the bicyclist happened as well as Pardall Road in front off I.V. Deli Mart, and told pedestrians to stay inside the nearest building. Police scanner and eyewitness reports also confirmed the suspect committed a hit-and-run at the 6600 block of Del Playa Road, crushing a bicyclist’s legs.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Kelly Hoover said police cannot confirm the number of casualties, but that police from all over the county are being pulled in to assist with the investigation.
“What we have going on right now is a very fluid scene. We’re not giving out any numbers right now just to make sure not to give out any facts that are not correct. What we do know is that we have multiple scenes. We have multiple people injured. Multiple people transported to the hospital. We want people to avoid the area,” Hoover said.
According to fourth-year communication major and eyewitness Tyler Jordan, the suspect was shooting out of his car, but tried to escape and was taken down by nearby Isla Vista Foot Patrol officers.
“The suspect looked like he jumped out of the car and was gunned down by IVFP,” Jordan said in an email.
Fourth-year political science major Niklas Svennefiord, who was at his house on Del Playa at the time of the incident, corroborated Jordan’s story and said that the suspect, a man in a white shirt, crashed into a nearby black jeep.
“I heard a couple gunfire shots — I thought they were fireworks — so I didn’t think about it, but I was pretty startled and then I heard a car hit into another car so I look up into my little window that’s in my shower and I see a guy try to flee and the cops shoot him,” Svennefiord said.
Brad Martin, a fourth-year anthropology major said his girlfriend was walking to his house when she was approached by the shooters.
“She is absolutely hysterical, and so she tells me that these guys pulled up and said ‘hey what’s up.’ She turned and looked and they had a gun and she wasn’t sure if it was a real gun or a fake gun or what type of gun it was,” Martin said. “She said the next second he raised it up to her face … and she turned around and started running. That’s when she heard ‘bang bang bang’ right behind her as she was running, and she could feel the wind hitting her hair from the power of the gunshot from less than five feet away from the car.”
[Correction: An earlier version of this article reported that one of the shootings occurred near the 6700 block of Sabado Tarde Road, multiple eyewitness reports confirm that this shooting took place between the 6500 and 6700 blocks of Sabado Tarde Road.]
[Correction: An earlier version of this article reported that Niklas Svennefiord witnessed a shooting from his house on Sabado Tarde, Svennefiord does not reside at a house on Sabado Tarde and actually witnessed it from his true residence on Del Playa Drive.]
Photos by Daniel Slovinsky & Robert Johnson / Daily Nexus
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Video posted Friday SBCC student Elliot Rodger, a person purportedly related to the recent Isla Vista shootings.
Jimmy Chang, Patrick Kulp, Peter Mounteer, Aditya Tadanki, Daniel Slovinsky, and Marissa Wenzke contributed to this article.
This is a Daily Nexus online exclusive.
PrintThis is my entry for WeLoveFine.com's Marvel Villains ContestIf you would like to see this printed as a T-shirt, please rate it here: [link] Voting is now Open!Man-Wolf/Col. John Jameson Jr./StarGod is a complicated character, from the Spiderman franchise, whose concept I adore.John found a strange stone, the calcified heart of another universe's god on our moon. The stone grafted itself onto his throat, so John is doomed to transform into a hollow echo of the dead StarGod, manifesting only the demigod's power and rage while on Earth, essentially transforming him into a werewolf.Later on in his storyline, John finds a portal to the Stargod's home, the Other Relm, where he finds himself in a land of swords, sorcery, and impossible physics. It is in this Other Relm that John comes to understand his curse, and discovers means to control the beast. He also was married to She-Hulk for a time.Neat stuff, especially the implication that since the lupine Stargod died on our moon may be the source of the lunar connection to lycanthropy on Earth.I love obscure and unknown characters, particularly complicated ones that create their own mythology. I tried to tell as much about him as I could with this image. The spiderwebs indicate his Spiderman villain origin, the vines twisting around him represent his inescapable fate, that he is bound to transform when the stone affixed to his throat is bathed in moonlight. His right eye burns with the rage and power of a demigod, while his still human left eye weeps for those who may fall to the Man-Wolf's fury.Thank you for taking a look!Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday met the military commanders who could yet determine his future, as Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said that Washington wanted an "orderly transition" to democratic government in his country.
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Unprecedented street protests in Cairo and other cities continued for a sixth day, unabated by President Mubarak's appointment on Saturday of his intelligence chief and close ally Omar Suleiman as vice-president and – perhaps – his designated successor.
As the President and his inner circle plotted their survival, opposition groups threw their support behind Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear inspector, who returned to Cairo last week to offer himself as a figurehead for the protesters. Speaking in Tahrir Square last night, Mr ElBaradei – seen in some quarters as a possible interim leader of Egypt should Mr Mubarak fall – said: "You have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back."
His speech was met with chants of "Down with Mubarak" by a crowd that disobeyed a curfew for a fourth night. "We have one main demand: the end of the regime and the beginning of a new stage, a new Egypt," Mr ElBaradei said in his address.
The Egyptian President showed every sign of struggling to maintain his grip on power, as the US offered evacuation flights for its citizens still in the country and called on all Americans to consider leaving as soon as they could safely do so.
The Egyptian military reinforced its presence in the capital in an apparent show of strength, which included deploying military aircraft over Tahrir Square, where thousands of protesters again congregated to demand that the 82-year-old President stand down.
Mrs Clinton, who toured the Sunday talk shows in Washington, told Fox News: "We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills a void, that there not be a void, that there be a well thought-out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government. We also don't want to see some takeover that would lead not to democracy but to oppression and the end of the aspirations of the Egyptian people."
She insisted on NBC that the US wanted "free and fair" elections.
Mr Mubarak meanwhile held talks with Mr Suleiman, his Defence Minister, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the Chief of Staff, Sami al-Anan, and other senior commanders. Mr Suleiman's appointment has been seen as a belated acknowledgement that Mr Mubarak's son, Gamal, would be an unacceptable choice as president.
Meanwhile, Mr Mubarak publicly ordered his new cabinet to preserve subsidies, control inflation, tackle corruption and provide more jobs in an effort to show he understands his citizens' complaints. In a letter to his new Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq, read on state television, he stressed "the need for moving seriously and effectively towards more political reforms, in the constitution and legislation, via extensive dialogue with the parties... allowing their wider participation". He also criticised the use of "religious slogans" from protesters, a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group.
Reuters reported protesters shouting: "Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, both of you are agents of the Americans." Others chanted: "Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits."
More than 100 people are reported to have been killed so far, many in clashes with a deeply unpopular police force,which was eventually ordered off the streets at the end of last week, with the more respected army gradually assuming greater control. One consequence of the police withdrawal appears to be a spate of looting and lawlessness.
Though apparently inspired by the uprising that propelled Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali into exile, the protests have also been fuelled by the conduct of parliamentary elections in November last year, seen widely as having been rigged to bring parliament under President Mubarak's virtually total control.
Turkey said it was sending three flights to remove 750 of its citizens. A scheduled El Al flight due from Cairo last night was said to be fully booked with Israelis leaving the capital. In a rare Sabbath flight on Saturday, Israel flew back families of its diplomats.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
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Subscribe nowA computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other war zones.
The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military's Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech's computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the US military's most important weapons system.
"We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know."Tens of thousands of Palestinians protested in Gaza City on Saturday against recent salary cuts announced by the Palestinian Authority.
The decision on Wednesday by the West Bank-based PA to impose pay cuts on its civil servants in the Gaza Strip has sparked anger among government employees affected. Demonstrators at Saturday’s protest, the largest since the 30 percent cut was announced, called on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to sack his government.
A handful of protesters announced they would also begin a hunger strike.
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On Friday, PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah defended the salary cuts, saying they were necessary in order to “manage financial crises suffered by the Palestinian government due to reductions in international funds,” the Ma’an News agency quoted him as saying.
Angry employees in #Gaza hold their shoes & signs demanding President Abbas to "leave" in protest to PA's decision to deduct their salaries. pic.twitter.com/g7sJss2FTq — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 8, 2017
Hamdallah also blamed Hamas for the economic situation in the Gaza Strip, while also calling on the terror group to return to control of Gaza to the PA, “the only representative of the Palestinian people.”
Hamas “keeps its income for himself, while the PA has spent more than 17 billion dollars in the Gaza Strip during the last 10 years,” he said.
The decision further deepened the divide between the West Bank and Gaza — two territories that the Palestinians hope to turn into an independent state — and increased hardship in already impoverished Gaza.
The internationally backed PA, which controls the West Bank, ordered all of its roughly 50,000 workers to step down after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in 2007. But it has continued to pay the salaries of the former policemen, teachers and civil servants.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas, a militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, took power. Israel says the measure, which has restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms. But the blockade has hit Gaza’s economy hard, and unemployment is now over 40 percent, according to the World Bank.
The faltering economy has remained afloat through sales of consumer goods. The PA employees have provided a large slice of the purchasing power that business owners rely on to keep their commerce alive.
Hamas, which hired more than 40,000 people to fill the gaps left by the absence of the Palestinian Authority workers, also struggles to pay its employees.
After repeated efforts to reconcile with Fatah failed, Hamas is increasingly relying on hefty taxes on imports, utility fees and customs to pay its employees just half of their regular salaries.
Hamas condemned the PA salary reducations as “abusive and irresponsible,” while the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group said they were “illegal and unacceptable,” according to Ma’an.
On Friday, the Islamic Jihad terror group held a rally in the southern Gaza |
(Annie Griffiths Belt)
Shodo Shima, Japan – Huddled for warmth, macaques press their bodies into a vast ball of fur. The monkeys’ relaxed social hierarchy allows high- and low-ranking individuals to share the same tight space. (Yushiro Fukuda)
Ethiopia – The infernal glow of a lava lake in the Ertale volcano rivals moonrise over the Danakil Desert. Molten surface temperatures range from 550°F (260° Celsius) near the 262-foot-high (80 meters) walls to nearly 1000°F (538° Celsius) at the center of the pit. (Olivier Grunewald)Next year, we'll be getting our first Tom Holland led Spider-Man movie and a third Thor movie that is shaping up to be pretty awesome. But even with that, James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may be the most anticipated of the bunch. Chris Pratt is also pretty excited and confident about it, as he seems to think it will literally be the biggest spectacle movie ever made.
Pratt is currently promoting his latest movie The Magnificent Seven, which led him to have a chat with The Toronto Sun. Naturally, the subject of the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel came up and Pratt seems to have a tremendous amount of confidence in the movie. Here is what he had to say.
"It's a fabulous script. I think it's going to be --- I'm not using hyperbole, here - I think it's going to be the biggest spectacle movie of all time."
I think we can all agree that Guardians of the Galaxy was one hell of a spectacle movie and that everything we have heard and seen in regards to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 leads us to believe we're in store for another spectacle-heavy movie. That being said, thinking about it being the biggest spectacle movie of all-time is a bit of a stretch. But Pratt did say that he was not speaking in hyperbole, so he does seem to think that is the case. Bigger than Star Wars? Apparently, he doesn't have any problem with us really getting our hopes up for this movie, as if they weren't high enough already.
The original Guardians of the Galaxy movie was viewed as a massive risk for Marvel Studios, but really became the thing that proved just how strong the brand was. The film went on to gross nearly $800 million worldwide and was based on a virtually unknown property at the time. Now, it is considered among the best movies that the studio has ever produced and they are one of the strongest brands and some of the most recognizable characters in all of the Marvel canon. It's amazing what one great movie can do.
Related: James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Script Is Being Called a Real Tearjerker
The central cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista and Vin Diesel will all be reprising their roles. There have been quite a few new additions as well, including Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Chris Sullivan as Taserface, Tommy Flanagan as Tullk, Sylvester Stallone in an unnamed role and Kurt Russell as Star-Lord's dad, Ego the Living Planet. James Gunn returned to direct this installment of the franchise from a script he wrote himself. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is set to hit theaters on May 5, 2017.Gerald Herbert/Associated press Workers dismantled the Liberty Place monument, which has stirred debate for decades.
NEW YORK — New Orleans on Monday began removing four monuments dedicated to the era of the Confederacy and its aftermath, capping a prolonged battle about the future of the memorials, which critics deemed symbols of racism and intolerance and which supporters viewed as historically important.
Workers dismantled an obelisk, which was erected in 1891 to honor members of the Crescent City White League who in 1874 fought in the Reconstruction-era Battle of Liberty Place against the racially integrated New Orleans police and state militia, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a statement.
The monument, which was sometimes used as a rallying point by David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, has stirred debate for decades. Local leaders unsuccessfully tried to remove it in 1981 and 1993.
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The workers were dressed in flak jackets, helmets, and scarves to conceal their identities because of concerns about their safety, the Associated Press reported. Police officers watched from a nearby hotel.
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Pieces of the monument were put on a truck and hauled away.
The removal happened on Confederate Memorial Day, which is formally observed by Alabama and Mississippi to commemorate those who died in the Civil War.
Other monuments expected to be removed include a bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in a traffic circle, named Lee Circle, in the city’s central business district since 1884; an equestrian statue of P.G.T. Beauregard, a Confederate general, and one of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.
Citing security risks and threats to contractors seeking to do the work, the city would not reveal details about the removal of the other statues.
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The monuments were erected decades after the Civil War ended by people who wanted to demonstrate that the South should feel no guilt in having fought the war, the mayor’s statement said.
“The removal of these statues sends a clear and unequivocal message to the people of New Orleans and the nation: New Orleans celebrates our diversity, inclusion and tolerance,” Landrieu said.
“This is not about politics, blame, or retaliation. This is not a naive quest to solve all our problems at once,’’ Landrieu said. “This is about showing the whole world that we as a city and as a people are able to acknowledge, understand, reconcile — and most importantly — choose a better future.”
The debate over Confederate symbols has taken center stage since nine people were killed at a black church in South Carolina in June 2015. South Carolina removed the Confederate battle flag, which flew at its Statehouse for more than 50 years, and other Southern cities have considered taking down monuments.
Harcourt Fuller, an assistant professor of history at Georgia State University in Atlanta, and a scholar of national and regional symbolism, said in an email that supporters of the monuments see them as part of their “historical and cultural legacy that needs to be maintained and protected.
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“We’re talking largely about these concrete symbols,” he added. “By themselves, they’re lifeless. They’re not living symbols. But we as citizens project our own historical values onto them.”
The Liberty Place monument commemorated a violent uprising by white Democrats against the racial integration of the city’s police force and the Republicans who governed Louisiana. The White League won the battle and forcibly removed the governor, but federal troops arrived three days later to return the governor to power.
The battle remained an important symbol to those who resisted Reconstruction, the period of transforming Confederate states after the Civil War. From 1932 until 1993, the monument bore a plaque that said, in part, that the “the national election of November 1876 recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state,” the city statement said.
In 1993, the City Council voted to remove the obelisk, but instead the plaque was covered with a new one that read: “In honor of those Americans on both sides who died in the Battle of Liberty Place” and called it “a conflict of the past that should teach us lessons for the future.”
It was once prominently perched in a main shopping era, but was relegated to a spot at the end of the French Quarter when it was removed for street work in 1989.
After moving the statues into storage, New Orleans will seek a museum or other site to house them. The city said it gained private funding to relocate the statues, though it did not say how much money it secured or identify its source.
The opposition to the monuments’ removal — expressed in op-ed articles, social media posts, and shouting at public meetings — was vigorous. A group opposing their removal said it had collected 31,000 signatures for a petition.Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by Hemera Technologies/Thinkstock.
Update, June 14, 2016: On Sunday, an armed gunman killed 49 people at a club in Orlando, Florida, before dying in a shootout with police. This map has been updated to include that incident as well as all recorded incidents from June 13, 2015, to June 13, 2016.
In relentless succession, a parade of towns and cities has this year joined the ranks of American mass shooting locations. The mere mention of the places—Charleston, South Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Colorado Springs, Colorado; San Bernardino, California—evokes images made familiar at Columbine, Colorado, and Blacksburg, Virginia, and Tucson, Arizona, and Newtown, Connecticut: the police battalions rushing to respond, the shocked survivors and bereft loved ones, the eerie portraits of newly infamous killers.
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But the truth is that these cities and towns and the events that now define them, however lethal they were and however large they understandably loom, constitute just a small fraction of the gun violence recorded in America during this or any year. In 2013, the most recent year for which government statistics are available, less than 2 percent of more than 33,000 gun deaths in the country were due to mass shootings. Tallies of gun-related fatalities are in turn dwarfed by totals for gun injuries. Every 12 months, more than 130,000 people are shot; many are left with devastating physical impairments and crippling health care bills.
Thanks to a nonprofit, nonpartisan project known as the Gun Violence Archive, data on gun homicides and nonfatal shootings is now available well before the federal government releases its statistics. Those data include location information that makes it possible to plot those shootings on a map showing how many have taken place in your vicinity.
Violent crime has fallen drastically since the 1990s, but guns stubbornly claim a disproportionate share of American misery, with the rate of firearms-related death largely holding steady for the past 15 years. That grim constancy has come as regulation, industry safety improvements, and public health campaigns have reduced the mortality of other products. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tables show that in 2013, guns killed 3,428 more people than falls, 4,635 more people than alcohol, and 30,876 more people than fires. Researchers have forecast that 2015 will be the year that bullets kill more Americans than car accidents, which had long been the leading cause of injury death in the U.S.
Rarely does routine gun violence make the front pages. Always, there are Americans for whom it hits home. That may be the volunteer EMS crew in Imperial, Nebraska, who lost longtime member Dave Ridlen to a rifle accident in early November. Or the Carthage, Texas, family robbed of a 22-year-old son after Jonathan Todd Williams was asked by his father to answer a knock at the door, only to be blown away. It includes the South Carolina grandmother killed in her car when her 2-year-old grandson found a loaded revolver in the back seat. Or the eight members of Valerie Jackson’s family, including six children, all murdered by her ex-boyfriend David Conley, who acquired a gun online despite being prohibited from owning one. But even as gun violence occurs all over the country, its burdens are unequally distributed. In parts of cities like St. Louis, Chicago, and Baltimore—not to mention forgotten parts of cities like Charleston, Chattanooga, and San Bernardino—shots ring out with terrifying frequency and density, without drawing CNN’s broadcast trucks or prompting the president to step up to a podium.
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Public opinion polls show that Americans are concerned about gun violence in general and dramatically under- or misinformed about its specific consequences. Asked in an October Washington Post/ABC News survey, 46 percent of Americans called new laws to reduce gun violence a priority. Those queried separately by the Huffington Post that same month grossly underestimated the number of Americans who died by guns, with the median guess coming in at 5,000 per year, less than a sixth of the actual total.
The interactive map included in this article is the result of a collaboration between Slate and the Trace, employing the aforementioned Gun Violence Archive data. It represents an attempt to close the gap between awareness and understanding. When shooting deaths and injuries are laid out geographically, one is able to assess first the sweeping reach of gun violence, and then its pernicious patterns, the dots growing ever denser as the reader scans from the countryside to the suburbs to the inner city. Finally, mapping gun violence this way makes it possible to see how often it has played out in your own neighborhood, town or city, and state—and how close it has come to touching the routes you travel in your own life, as well as those of your family members, friends, and co-workers.
In all, the map contains 30,215 incidents recorded by the Gun Violence Archive from Dec. 5, 2014, to Dec. 5, 2015. As comprehensive as it is, it’s also incomplete: Guns are used in twice as many suicides as homicides (and are the most lethal means of suicide). But because many suicides are not reported in real time by the law enforcement sites and news outlets that the GVA mines in compiling its database, they are missing from this visualization. Also not included are an additional 9,000 episodes in which no one was struck by a bullet, though some of that gunfire undoubtedly affects those who witness or hear it.
What you’re seeing, then, is gun violence in all its other forms: homicides, attempted murders, assaults, self-defense shootings, and accidents. For 80 percent of the cases, location information for the shooting is available down to the block level. Another 18 percent of locations are exact to the street level, with the remaining 2 percent limited to the city level.
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Our plan is to update this map in two ways. The first is to add information about the ages and genders of the victims to the summary boxes that pop up when you click on a pin and the option to view layers of economic and demographic data to the map as a whole. Every three months or so, we'll also refresh the map with the most recent 12 months’ worth of shootings. In the meantime, we’ll work with the Gun Violence Archive to refine the underlying data as more granular information becomes available from press reports, law enforcement sources, and reader feedback.
A Slate Plus Special Feature: Our Favorite Reads of 2015 Slate writers and editors pick their favorite stories from around the web.
This interactive is a collaboration between Slate and the Trace employing data provided by the Gun Violence Archive, an organization that records U.S. shootings in real time by monitoring more than 1,200 sources, including media reports and police blotters. GVA’s team of researchers verify each incident by double-checking the details against published accounts; when information remains uncertain, GVA requests corroborating materials from local police and coroners as they become available.
Correction, Dec. 31, 2015: A headline for an update of this article originally stated that 32,000 shootings happened in 2015. The Gun Violence Archive dataset currently includes 30,088 reported shootings in 2015. The headline has been revised to reflect this.
Correction, Dec. 10, 2015: This map originally misidentified 69 incidents in which somebody killed himself or herself without hurting anyone else, or tried to. Although these incidents occured, they should not have appeared on the map, which charts homicides, attempted murders, assaults, self-defense shootings, and accidents. These suicides or attempted suicides have been removed; suicides or attempted suicides in which somebody else was hurt, such as murder-suicides, remain. The map now includes a total of 30,215 incidents. This map also misidentified the location of several shootings around Washington, D.C. Their locations have been updated.
Update, Dec. 8, 2015: The map has been updated based on user responses to distinguish accidental shootings, defensive shootings, and officer-involved shootings. Contextual characteristics about the incidents now appear in incident pop-ups. Information about the methodology behind the map has been added.
Correction, Dec. 8, 2015: Due to an editing error, this article originally misspelled Alex Yablon’s last name. Also, the map originally included some incidents involving a gun in which somebody was injured but no shots were fired, such as pistol whippings, and incidents involving pellet guns. These events have now been removed. The map now contains 30,284 incidents instead of 30,920.Just imagine if a few hundred more counties did this...
JOHN L. O'BRIEN, JR.
Register of Deeds
Phone: 978-542-1704
Fax: 978-542-1706
website: www.salemdeeds.com
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds Shetland Park
45 Congress Street
Suite 4100
Salem, Massachusetts 01970
NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem, MA
April 4, 2011
Contact:
Kevin Harvey, 1st Assistant Register
978-542-1724
[email protected]
Register O’Brien requests Massachusetts State Treasurer Grossman to Pull Bank of America Funds
Following last nights 60 Minutes expose on the Mortgage Paperwork Mess (view at www.salemdeeds.com ) Southern Essex District Register of Deeds, John O’Brien announced that he has written to Massachusetts State Treasurer, Steven Grossman. He has asked that the Treasurer change depository banks. Register O’Brien has specifically asked the Treasurer to place all deposits from his Registry into a local, non-MERS bank that follows the Massachusetts Land recordation rules. On an annual basis the Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds deposits approximately $25 million dollars into Bank of America.
O’Brien, who is leading a nationwide effort against the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (“MERS”), of which Bank of America is a major shareholder asserts that Bank of America, along with the other MERS member banks have failed to record assignments and pay the associated fees and in doing so has deprived the taxpayers of millions of dollars in lost revenue. O’Brien estimates that in his county alone the amount is over $22 million dollars and that, he adds, is a very conservative estimate. According to O’Brien, the loss of revenue to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could be as high as $200 million dollars and to the nation, possibly in the billions.
O’Brien, who has asked MERS and their lender banks to come clean, open their books, and provide a full public accounting as to how many times and to whom they have sold consumers’ mortgages said, “Perhaps when these lenders lose millions of dollars in deposits, they may begin to understand the seriousness of their actions. It seems to me that their business model which has been referred to as “fees for thee, not for me” needs to be abolished.”
O’Brien further stated, “I find it extremely ironic, that the chief executive of Bank of America, who just last week received a $10 million dollar bonus continues to allow his bank to participate in this scheme. A scheme which has compromised the integrity of the land recordation system in Massachusetts. MERS has defended their practices by saying that they were helping the registries of deeds by reducing the amount of paperwork that needed to be recorded. This claim is outrageous. This is help that I did not need, nor did I ask for. It is very clear to me, that the only ones that they were helping were themselves, which I find shameful. For us to continue to reward these banks by depositing taxpayers’ money into them, is clearly not the responsible thing to do.”
O’Brien said he is reaching out to Registers’ of Deeds in Massachusetts and across the nation to ask them to join with him and encourage their state and county governments to follow his initiative and withdraw public funds from MERS’ member banks. O’Brien said, “By doing this we will send a resounding message that government officials are no longer going to stand by and continue to allow MERS and their joint venture banking partners to profit at the expense of the very same people that they are abusing."Yes, Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is still sitting there. It’s doubtful the Bengals would take him in this scenario. Unless, of course, the Andy Dalton extension negotiations are right there with the Obama-Putin phone calls.
All kidding aside since they’ve just barely started talking about talking and not much may be done by the draft, anyway. But what this mock seriously shows is there will be a guy or two there they don’t expect, commonly known as a “slide.” And since they are sitting rather pretty by not being in desperate need of an Opening Day starter, they may be able to re-stock some positions already teeming with talent.
Many mocks have the Bengals taking a cornerback here, but what if a Bridgewater, or a Mike Evans, or a Zack Martin type of guy made it to them? They’d have to at least think about them even though they’re full on the depth chart at those spots. What has earned the Bengals high marks in the past five drafts is sticking to the grades and making the pick despite the position.
Here’s the case for the 6-5, 275-pound Ealy:
First of all, wouldn’t having a first-rounder named Kony in Cincinnati be perfect? Think of the possibilities. Forget Revis Isand. How about Kony Island? When he makes the move to three-down player, how about Three-Way Kony? What about when he comes up with his first NFL fumble? The Kony Krate?
Better yet, check the menu at NFLDraftScout.com. Its prospect rankings as of Tuesday when the Bengals went to pick in the Bengals.com Media Mock Draft scenario had the three highest-rated guys on the board as Bridgewater (9), Florida State defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan (18), and Ealy (22).
Obviously, Bridgewater would be quite a bargain at No. 24. But the Bengals can get their backup quarterback later, they just gave nose tackle Domata Peko an extension that keeps him here through 2016, and they’ve got two young emerging tackles in Brandon Thompson and Devon Still.
Who knows how the Bengals have these guys graded? But on Tuesday’s NFLDraftScout.com big board there’s not enough difference in the Jernigan-Ealy rankings to prevent taking Ealy, a pass rusher they’re seeking to add with the free-agent departure of right end Michael Johnson.
Ealy has been compared to 19-sack man Robert Quinn of the Rams with dynamic athleticism that has carried all over the front seven at linebacker and tackle.
“He’s very athletic. If you’re looking to start a basketball team, he’s the guy,” says Gil Brandt, NFL.com’s draft guru. “He’s the kind of guy that can also play inside for you at times.”
The scouts talk about Ealy’s length and burst and the more you hear about him the more he sounds a little bit like Johnson: “Very good recognition to disrupt passing lanes. Times his leap well; long arms, good hand-eye coordination. Undeniable upside.”
Rob Rang, the senior analyst for NFLDraftScout.com who has Ealy ranked 18th on his latest big board, is “just scratching the surface of his potential.” Perfect fit. They don’t have to rush him and can even do what they did with SMU rookie Margus Hunt last year and de-activate him for early-season games.
So that’s the next question. Didn’t they take Hunt in the second round last year in case they lost Johnson? Sure, but don’t stop now. One of the reasons the Bengals have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons with a top seven defense is they’ve realized how important the trenches are. In all but one of the drafts since 2008 (2011), they’ve drafted a defensive lineman in the first three rounds.
That’s what makes the world go around in the AFC North. Tough, fast, physical fronts. As they say, you can never have enough linemen in this division. Especially when you’re looking at a board that has you reaching.
The pundits are talking about the Bengals looking to shore up their roster at cornerback and maybe tackle and safety. But Rang’s highest rated corner when the Bengals pick is TCU’s Jason Verrett at No. 29, his highest-rated tackle is Alabama’s Cyrus Kouandijo at No. 34, and the highest-rated safety is Northern Illinois’ Jimmie Ward at No. 35.
Advice to the Bengals?A collection of extinct volcanoes up to 50 million years old has been discovered just off the coast of Sydney, some 4.9 kilometres under water.
The long-extinct volcanoes were discovered by the CSIRO’s new research ship, the Investigator, and scientists on board weren’t even looking to find ancient geological points of significance.
The cluster of volcanoes are 20km long and some 6km wide, and the four volcanoes seen in the image are known as calderas, which form after an eruption, and the land around them collapses. This forms the well-known crater formation that we see above land as well.
The largest volcano is 1.5 kilometres wide and rises up 700m from the sea bed.
Scientists onboard the Investigator were actually searching for larval lobsters – and were successful – but also found volcanoes around 248 kilometres off Sydney’s harbour.
Chief scientist for the voyage, UNSW marine biologist Professor Iain Suthers, said in a media release that the team were delighted.
“The voyage was enormously successful, not only did we discover a cluster of volcanoes on Sydney’s doorstep, we were amazed to find that an eddy [swirling movement of water] off Sydney was a hotspot for lobster larvae at a time of the year when we were not expecting them,” said Professor Suthers.
The new vessel allows researchers to see further down into the sea floor than ever before.
“The sonar on the previous Marine National Facility research vessel, Southern Surveyor, could only map the sea floor to 3,000m, which left half of Australia’s ocean territory out of reach,” Professor Richard Arculus from the Australian National University said.
“On board the new MNF vessel, Investigator, we have sonar that can map the sea floor to any depth, so all of Australia’s vast ocean territory, is now within reach and that is enormously exciting.”
The finding is expected to help understand the Earth’s crust, and the story of how New Zealand and Australia separated millions of years ago.
The research voyage is carrying 28 scientists from UNSW, Latrobe University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Sydney, the University of Auckland, the University of Technology Sydney and Southern Cross University.
Image via CSIROThe decision was made during a conference call Tuesday afternoon. | Getty DHS: No European laptop ban for now
The U.S. opted Tuesday not to ban laptops from the cabins of planes flying to the United States from Europe — although the Trump administration later said such a move remains "on the table" as it examines intelligence about terrorist threats.
European sources said the matter appeared closed for now after weeks of back-and-forth negotiations and panicked responses from airlines.
Story Continued Below
“No ban,” a European Commission official said after a conference call Tuesday between U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and two of his European counterparts. “Both sides have agreed to intensify technical talks and try to find a common solution.”
In a statement, DHS said Kelly and the Europeans agreed "on the need to raise the bar for aviation security globally, including through a range of potential seen and unseen enhancements." It added: "Secretary Kelly affirmed he will implement any and all measures necessary to secure commercial aircraft flying to the United States — including prohibiting large electronic devices from the passenger cabin — if the intelligence and threat level warrant it."
"[W]hile a much-discussed expansion of the ban on large electronic devices in the cabin on flights to the United States was not announced today, the Secretary made it clear that the an expansion is still on the table," the department said.
Tuesday’s news came as relief to some on both sides of the Atlantic, where industry officials had feared that the restrictions could cause massive logistical bottlenecks and inconvenience business travelers. Kelly had said on “Fox News Sunday” that his department was considering imposing the ban on all U.S.-bound international flights.
Kelly held a conference call Tuesday with European Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc. The U.S. side took into account European concerns about the safety implications of storing personal electronic devices with lithium batteries in aircraft cargo holds, a European source with knowledge of the conversation said.
Lithium batteries can ignite in rare cases, which can make it dangerous to place them in holds where they cannot be extinguished by cabin crew.
In March, the U.S. banned larger personal electronic devices in the cabins of direct flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa. The current U.S. ban affects 350 flights per week. If it were extended to Europe, it would affect 390 flights per day, according to the International Air Transport Association.
U.S. authorities have said the Middle East laptop ban was based on intelligence about terrorists’ growing skill in hiding explosives inside consumer electronics — the same topic that prompted President Donald Trump’s controversial discussion of allegedly classified information with Russian officials early this month.
Speculation about expanding the ban has swelled in recent weeks as DHS officials held multiple briefings with U.S. lawmakers, airline industry representatives and EU officials.
In the U.S., both Democratic and Republican lawmakers said they believed that the aviation threats discussed in classified briefings were credible. But industry officials in Europe have complained about the impact of enforcing the ban, and some EU officials have said the U.S. seemed unmoved by their opinions on the matter.
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Travel groups said the disruption of banning laptops from so many flights would be especially harmful to business travelers, who tend to work while aloft and whose employers often require devices to be kept on their person to guard against thefts of corporate information. Some in the industry hoped that the expanded ban would be a temporary measure.
“We continue to stress that any and all security policies should constantly be reassessed and evolve as appropriate, and that measures should be pursued that effectively cope with valid threats while minimizing disruption of legitimate travel,” U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President Jonathan Grella said in a recent statement.
Some security experts also raised concerns that a unilateral, U.S.-imposed ban would worsen relations between the United States and Europe, already strained by Trump's criticisms of Germany, his refusal to join the G-7's statement supporting the Paris climate agreement, and U.S. leaks about last week's terrorist bombing in Manchester, England.
“Intelligence information sharing is more important now than it has ever been,” said Colin Clarke, a political scientist at the RAND Corp. “The fact that that [the electronics ban] is driving a wedge between countries is concerning.”
DHS spokesman David Lapan has said previously that while DHS agreed to meet with Europeans to help them understand the terrorist threat that the U.S. was attempting to address, Kelly alone would ultimately make the final decision.
Stephanie Beasley contributed reporting from Washington.
This article tagged under: Homeland Security
John KellyTwo women in China have achieved the dubious honor of being the first humans to be killed by nanotechnology. The women, who worked in a poorly ventilated factory spraying a paint that contained nanoparticles, reportedly inhaled the particles over a period of months. The tiny compounds infiltrated the workers' lungs and skin, causing lung damage, fluid buildup, and eventual respiratory failure.
Five other women have been hospitalized for the same condition.
Reuters quotes Yuguo Song, a Beijing toxicologist whose report appeared in European Respiratory Journal: The particles' size "means that they can penetrate the body's natural barriers, particularly through contact with damaged skin or by inhalation or ingestion," and once they've entered lung cells they cannot be removed.
Nanotechnology's uses are as wide-ranging as the particles are small; Reuters projects that the market for the tiny tech will reach one trillion dollars by 2015. In the last few months alone, PopSci has reported on using nanotech to boost power, track criminals, create motors, destroy tumors, and build more nano-molecules.
There has long been speculation about a dramatic disaster in which the entire world is consumed by out-of-control self-replicating nano-bots, but realistic scenarios of currently existing nanotech killing humans have received somewhat less attention.
The White House, it turns out, has a National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, whose head promises that proper ventilation and masks would have made the Chinese factory environment completely harmless. We'll be carefully watching the future of nano-safety and nano-risks -- with our nano-enhanced eyesight.
[via Reuters]Home prices are still falling, unemployment is once again rising and the stock market lost ground every week in May.
But while the signs of a possible double-dip recession are increasing, this month’s Financial Security Index poll discovered a frightening fact: Roughly half of Americans are dangerously unprepared for a personal financial emergency.
Bankrate’s Financial Security Index poll for June found 24 percent of Americans have no emergency savings at all. Another 22 percent said their emergency savings would cover, at best, three months’ worth of expenses.
Only one in four said they have six months’ worth of expenses for use in emergency, the minimum recommended by many financial planning experts.
“It still looks like a lot of people are skating on very thin ice,” says Frank Armstrong, a Certified Financial Planner and president of Investor Solutions in Miami.
Not surprisingly, higher-income earners were most likely to have a cushion of savings to fall back on. However, even this desirable demographic has surprisingly sparse savings levels.
“Those most likely to have an adequate savings cushion are individuals in their 50s and 60s, and higher-income households,” says Greg McBride, CFA, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “But even among these groups, at least half do not have six months’ expenses in an emergency fund.”
Certainly, there’s one simple reason why millions of American households aren’t prepared for the next recession. It’s because they haven’t recovered from the last one yet.
Job creation has been shockingly slow during the economic recovery, and in fact unemployment last month ticked up to 9.1 percent. According to McBride, more than 6 million Americans have been unemployed more than six months. Their emergency funds are low because they’ve had to drain them.
In that sense, the Financial Security Index’s findings suggest a renewed recession could be particularly devastating to American households. In 2008, the country entered a recession after a long economic boom. If a recession occurred now, it’d be after several years of economic struggles for many families.
Eddie Reece, a psychotherapist who works with clients on financial issues, isn’t surprised that many people with the apparent means to prepare for a rainy day are failing to do so.
“Psychologically, the amount of money doesn’t matter,” Reece says. “What matters is the relationship someone has to money. So, if you have a very sensible relationship with money and do all the things you’re supposed to be doing, you will have your emergency fund whether you’re making $20,000 a year or $1 million a year.”
Experts say too many people put off saving until they have extra money. All too often, that day never comes.
“It’s like dieting,” says Mark Cortazzo, CFP, and founder of Flat Fee Portfolios of Parsippany, N.J. “People feel as though they’re sacrificing and feel like they have less.”
As is often said about diets, his advice is to incorporate a sustainable savings routine into your everyday life. Keep your eye on long-term goals.
“If you get a raise, take half of the raise and add it to your savings and keep the other half,” he says. “You’re not taking anything away; you’re just getting less of an increase.”
If need be, put your savings systems on autopilot, such as direct deposit from your paycheck. “Make it palatable so that you can sustain it,” says Kimberly Foss, CFP and president of Empyrion Wealth Management in Roseville, Calif.
Don’t be afraid to start small. Those first few baby steps can put you on the path to surviving the next financial emergency. “If you can’t save $500 per paycheck, start with $50,” Foss says. “Then do $50 again on the second paycheck that month. The next month, bump the total saved up to $125 or $150. The following month, save $200.”
This month’s Financial Security Index also found more Americans feeling uncomfortable with their level of savings in general, 39 percent versus 35 percent in May. But on a brighter note, “consumers’ comfort level with debt reached a new high, with 26 percent saying they’re more comfortable and only 19 percent saying they’re less comfortable with their debt relative to 12 months ago,” says McBride.
The Financial Security Index for June was down slightly, to 97.8, from 98.5 in May. While minor, the drop could indicate that the succession of natural disasters and negative economic news is beginning to wear on the minds of consumers.
View the accompanying slideshow and poll results for full coverage of this month’s Financial Security Index survey.
The Financial Security Index survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, or PSRAI, with a nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults living in the continental United Sates. Interviews were done in English by Princeton Data Source from June 2-5, 2011. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is ±3.6 percentage points.[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]
Greetings Avatars,
Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.
Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 26 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, January 28, at 10:30 AM US Central Time (16:30 UTC).
We decided to start 2016 with a BANG by making Release 26 one of our biggest releases to date! The world expanded with five completely new scenes including new segments in the Truth and Courage storylines (along with polish across multiple scenes). We also made over 100 playability tweaks to combat to address responsiveness, playability, and balance. On top of that, we migrated to the new crafting architecture which unlocked a huge swathe of crafting changes and additions.
Yet again, I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to our Dev+ backers who tested all of the items below on the QA server and uncovered lots of bugs. They also provided editorial feedback |
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Brendan Eich, who financially backed efforts to ban equal marriage in California, has been appointed CEO of Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser.
The American computer programmer and creator of the JavaScript scripting language is a co-founder of Mozilla.
It was revealed in 2012 that Mr Eich donated $1,000 (£605) in 2008 to the campaign supporting California’s Proposition 8.
The law banned same-sex marriages in the state and was finally struck down by the US Supreme after years of legal battles in June 2013.
Following the appointment of Mr Eich as Mozilla chief executive, San-Francisco based computer programmer Hampton Catlin and his husband Michael, said they are boycotting Mozilla as a result.
In a letter to the company, Mr Catlin wrote:-Sarah Feinberg, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, is expected to visit Northern Colorado in June to hear about train noise issues. (Photo: Cliff Owen/AP)
Local officials hope the head of the Federal Railroad Administration will gain a better understanding of train-noise issues in Northern Colorado by experiencing the racket herself.
Sarah E. Feinberg, administrator of the FRA, is scheduled to visit Colorado on June 17, according to press releases from the offices of U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner.
Feinberg is expected to meet with local officials, business representatives and residents to learn more about the impacts of train noise. Meetings might be scheduled in Fort Collins and Loveland, according to Bennet’s office.
While details and the format of the visit still have to be worked out, Mayor Wade Troxell said the announcement was “good news” for the community.
“I imagine we would have some seat at the table and be part of the conversation,” he said.
RAILROAD: Pinpointing derailment cause could take weeks
Bennet and Gardner have both invited Feinberg to visit the region in the wake of the FRA’s decision to take public comment on potential changes to regulations on sounding train horns and the establishment of “quiet zones” for passing trains.
Gardner stated in a press release he appreciates Feinberg’s willingness to meet with constituents. Communities across the state have expressed interest in quiet zones, including Fort Collins, Loveland and Windsor.
“As the FRA continues its retrospective review of the train horn rule, I urge the FRA to take into consideration the unique circumstances facing Colorado cities and towns with rail lines,” Gardner said.
Sound off Comments on possible changes to Federal Railroad Administration regulations on train horns may be made through July 5. They may be made online at www.federalregister.gov/a/2016-04831. Comment also may be mailed to Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Railroad Safety, Mail Stop 25, West Building, Third Floor, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20590.
Bennet noted in a release the deadline for commenting on potential changes to FRA rules is July 5.
“Community and business leaders in Colorado want the opportunity to show Administrator Feinberg how train horn noise affects their businesses and quality of life,” Bennet said. “For years, we have been fighting with them for additional flexibility to create quiet zones that meet their individual needs and maintain safety.”
In December, FRA officials rejected a request from Fort Collins for a waiver of train-horn regulations in hopes of creating a quiet zone in Old Town.
The city proposed a 1.6-mile quiet zone downtown along the BNSF tracks on Mason Street. The zone covered 12 intersections between Old Main Drive and North College Avenue.
TRAFFIC: Fort Collins train delays drop with switching changes
Citing safety concerns, FRA officials denied the request. However, the agency said a Department of Transportation work group would meet with city officials to explore ways for establishing a quiet zone.
FRA regulations changed in 2005 and required louder horns. Engineers must sound train horns before crossing any public road unless specific safety measures are in place to block vehicles from crossing the tracks.
FRA has agreed to reconsider the rule and is taking public comment on whether it should "modify, streamline, or expand any requirements of FRA's locomotive train horn regulations to reduce paperwork and other economic burdens on the rail industry and states and local authorities while still maintaining the highest standards of safety," according to its website.
Kevin Duggan is a Coloradoan senior reporter covering local government. Follow him on Twitter, @coloradoan_dugg, and on Facebook at Coloradoan Kevin Duggan.
Background: Quiet zones in Colorado
CLOSE There are 13 quiet zones across Colorado. Will a quiet zone be successful in Fort Collins? Katie de la Rosa/The Coloradoan
Read or Share this story: http://noconow.co/1TCMeyHOn this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
Throughout 1890, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge.
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On December 29, the U.S. Army’s 7th cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under the Sioux Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it’s unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which it’s estimated almost 150 Indians were killed (some historians put this number at twice as high), nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.
The conflict at Wounded Knee was originally referred to as a battle, but in reality it was a tragic and avoidable massacre. Surrounded by heavily armed troops, it’s unlikely that Big Foot’s band would have intentionally started a fight. Some historians speculate that the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment’s defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876. Whatever the motives, the massacre ended the Ghost Dance movement and was the last major confrontation in America’s deadly war against the Plains Indians.
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Conflict came to Wounded Knee again in February 1973 when it was the site of a 71-day occupation by the activist group AIM (American Indian Movement) and its supporters, who were protesting the U.S. government’s mistreatment of Native Americans. During the standoff, two Indians were killed, one federal marshal was seriously wounded and numerous people were arrested.For a chemical compound that shows up nearly everywhere on the planet, methane still surprises us. It is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, and yet the reasons for why and where it shows up are often a mystery. What we know for sure is that a lot more methane (CH 4 ) has made its way into the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Less understood is why the ebb and flow of this gas has changed in recent decades.
You can find the odorless, transparent gas miles below Earth’s surface and miles above it. Methane bubbles up from swamps and rivers, belches from volcanoes, rises from wildfires, and seeps from the guts of cows and termites (where is it made by microbes). Human settlements are awash with the gas. Methane leaks silently from natural gas and oil wells and pipelines, as well as coal mines. It stews in landfills, sewage treatment plants, and rice paddies.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite offers one satellite-based perspective on the methane in Earth’s atmosphere. The map above shows global methane concentrations in January 2016 at a pressure of 400 hectopascals, or roughly 6 kilometers (4 miles) above the surface. Methane concentrations are higher in the northern hemisphere because both natural- and human-caused sources of methane are more abundant there. Since AIRS observed the methane fairly high in the atmosphere, winds may have transported plumes of gas considerable distances from their sources.
The long-term, global trend for atmospheric methane is clear. The concentration of the gas was relatively steady for hundreds of thousands of years, but then started to increase rapidly around 1750. The reason is simple: increasing human populations since the start of the Industrial Revolution have meant more agriculture, more waste, and more fossil fuel production. Over the same period, emissions from natural sources have stayed about the same. The charts above, based on a combination of historical ice core data and air monitoring instrument data, depict the rate of increase.
But if you focus on just the past five decades—when modern scientific tools have been available to detect atmospheric methane—there have been fluctuations in methane levels that are harder to explain. The chart below, based on data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows variations in the rate of increase in the concentration of methane in the atmosphere between 1984 and 2014.
In 1985, the average concentration was 1,620 parts per billion (ppb). By 2015, it had increased to 1,800 ppb. (Before the Industrial Revolution, concentrations held steady at about 700 ppb.) But the rate of increase in recent decades has varied. From the 1980s until 1992, methane was rising about 12 ppb per year. Then came roughly a decade of slower growth at 3 ppb per year. Between 2000 and 2007, atmospheric methane concentrations stabilized. Starting in 2007, they began to rise again and have continued to do so since, increasing at a rate of 6 ppb per year.
Since 2007, methane has been on the rise, and no one is quite sure why. Some scientists think tropical wetlands have gotten a bit wetter and are releasing more gas. Others point to the natural gas fracking boom in North America and its sometimes leaky infrastructure. Others wonder if changes in agriculture may be playing a role. “There is no question that methane is doing some very odd and worrying things,” said Euan Nisbet, an atmospheric scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London. The big question is why. Scientists wonder if they will have the right monitoring systems in place to answer that question adequately.
Read more in our new feature Methane Matters.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) team, the Environmental Protection Agency, and NOAA. Caption by Adam Voiland.PR firm Porter Novelli to develop a campaign to "strengthen and enhance Indiana's reputation."
Buy Photo Indiana took a major public relations hit with Gov. Mike Pence’s March 26 signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Photo: Charlie Nye / The Star 2015 file photo)Buy Photo
The state has signed an initial $750,000 contract with global public relations firm Porter Novelli to help restore Indiana's tarnished image in the wake of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act fiasco.
The agreement signed Wednesday calls on Porter Novelli to assess perceptions of Indiana and develop a campaign to reach a "broad and diverse audience" to "strengthen and enhance Indiana's reputation."
The contract between the company and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. includes a $300,000 retainer fee and up to $450,000 for media buys, production costs, travel and other expenses. It runs through Sept. 30.
The deal anticipates a second contract to be negotiated before the launch of the campaign. The cost of "phase two" will depend on the scale and duration of the campaign, the contract says.
IEDC officials previously said they expect to spend at least $2 million with Porter Novelli.
Although the agreement doesn't mention the controversial "religious freedom" law, it does reference the state's "new reputation enhancement initiative to strengthen Indiana's global brand reputation as a welcoming place to live, visit and do business."
Indiana took a major public relations hit with the swirl of negative attention surrounding Gov. Mike Pence's March 26 signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Opponents feared the act could allow businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians — a claim supporters of the law denied.
After a national backlash, the law was clarified by the legislature at Pence's urging, explicitly forbidding the erosion of local ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
There is little doubt that Indiana's national image took a hit, but nobody has been able to quantify exactly how much damage was done. Repercussions continued to surface this week with news that the International Association of Fairs and Expositions passed up Indianapolis for its 2018 and 2019 conventions, in part because of RFRA, according to an email from State Fair Commission Executive Director Cindy Hoye.
Pence, who is on an economic development trip to China this week, said he was "really not familiar with the basis of that decision and would not want to comment on it."
The decision last month to hire Porter Novelli, which has 100 offices in 60 countries, speaks directly to concerns raised by Indianapolis business leaders that the state was set to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if the law had been allowed to stand unchanged.
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State leaders have said they specifically sought a company with global reach that could approach the state's branding with an outsider's eyes.
Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/1bT4P7STennoCon has come and gone, but the Devstream crew is here to stay. This week, they discussed some of the reveals from TennoCon itself, upcoming changes post-Specters of the Rail, and a timeline for the rest of the 3-Part-Update on both consoles and PC. Couldn’t make it to a live viewing? You can watch the broadcast on our YouTube channel, or you can read all the important details down below.
Upcoming Releases
Specters of the Rail has been out on PC for a couple of weeks now, and PC players can expect more hotfixes for this update in the future. Console Tenno should keep an eye out for SOTR in August once all of the major bugs have been squashed. As for the final installment of the 3-Part-Update, PC players will see the release of The War Within sometime in August. After seeing the effects of a rush with Specters of the Rail, we want to ensure that we’re satisfied with the big cinematic update before we ship it out!
Relics and Void Traces
After observing the new Void system in the wild for a few weeks, we’ve decided to make a few changes to Relics and Void Traces to improve player experience. Your Void Trace capacity will now increase with your Mastery Rank: the starting amount will stay at 100, but each Mastery Rank will earn you space to store an additional 50 Traces. MR 2 will be able to hold 150, MR 3 will have 200, and so on.
With the Re-Vaulting of Mag Prime coming in the future, we want to clarify how the new Relic system will work as well. The Relics with the vaulted drops will remain in player inventories, meaning they can still be farmed after the vaulting date, but the Relics with those drop tables will no longer be available in-game. For new Prime releases, new Relics will be introduced into the system with updated Drop Tables.
As Relics are consumed faster than Keys were, we are looking into ways to make them more easily obtainable as well. They already exist in more drop-tables than Void Keys, but lower-tier endless missions may soon be an additional source for farming them, as well as Eximus enemies, allowing for players to engage in a more targeted-grind for loot. To further simplify the acquisition of Relics, we will also be publishing the drop tables for each one either on the forums or in-game in the future!
Tweaks to Void 2.0
Since its release in Specters of the Rail, we’ve been getting tons of awesome feedback about the Void rework and decided to make a few tweaks to the new system. Instead of the fissure being a mini-game that interrupts your mission, Void fissure alerts will now randomly spawn fissures throughout the tile as an added challenge to the gameplay. These fissures will corrupt enemies around them, on top of spawning corrupted enemies of their own. These transformed enemies will be more powerful than those found in the mission, and this buff will scale with the tier of your Relic.
Now that there’s so many fissures, you won’t have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off in an effort to seal them all. Reactant now is used to open your Relic, which you will gather by walking over it (or hoovering it up). After amassing 10 Reactants, your Relic will explode and the energy released will either bless you with a random benefit for a short time.
Nekros Desecrate
Nekros’ Desecrate is being made into a toggleable ability! Bodies within a certain radius of Nekros will drop that precious loot after remaining in the ability’s range for a few seconds. We are still working on the prototype, but ultimately it now allows for Nekros players do passively Desecrate the dead as they focus on other things, like making more things die!
Operator Suits
With new game mechanics being revealed in the War Within Teaser at TennoCon (you can watch it here for yourself if you missed it), new customizations for the Operator will be released soon:
Gunblade
This weapon was revealed during in the past, but Geoff brought some awesome footage of of a new Gunblade Stance that will be released with it! These combos aren’t set in stone, but they should give you an idea of the gunblade’s feel in-game.
Default combo.
Branch A.
Branch B.
Branch C.
Arching Tweaks
With the Archwing rework from Specters of the Rail, some players have found things a bit disorienting. To remedy this gut-wrenching side-effect, we’re looking into a few changes to make sure it’ll be smooth-sailing from here on out. One option includes a toggle in the Archwing keybindings to rotate you to 'proper up' position.
Additionally, due to popular demand, we are reverting the Archwing Camera to its old (zoomed out) position.
Future Fusion Rework
Changes to the Fusion system have been discussed in past Devstreams, but Steve went into a little more detail about what to expect in the future. Any tweaks to how players upgrade Mods will be done to simplify this function and make it easier to understand. Visually, the components of Fusion Cores will no longer look like Mod Cards, but rather Orokin artifacts, and they will explicitly communicate how many of them are needed to reach the next rank.
Gathering up these artifacts and piecing some of them together can be used to create decorations for your Orbiter as well.
Dark Sectors
Dark Sectors will be making a comeback in the future. Players can expect more exploration out of this game mode and the ability to support clan dominance and growth within the system, using mechanics such as battling specters or deploying structures. There’s nothing definitive we can reveal right now, but Dark Sector fans can look forward to more updates soon.
Glyphs
The Tenno have made their mark in the Solar System, but an upcoming game mechanic can help you take this to the next level. Using glyphs, players can spray high-resolution profile icons, fanart, clan emblems and more onto the environments around them. New art is being created for this mechanic as well, as you can see below:
Other Tidbits
- Inaros, Ivara and Nezha augments in the works
- Limbo is definitely getting a rework after Nekros’ changes appear in-game
- Players might see the Braton Vandal in-game in the future, but we need to figure out the logistics of its return to still honour those who purchased it when it was first released.
- The next round of TennoGen items have been released and will hopefully appear in-game in August: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/678077-next-round-accepted-list/
Bonus Titania Sneak PeekA chance to learn the basics of sword, dagger and grappling in both the medieval German and Italian traditions. Haven't had the chance to make it to a practice yet? Come to this one and see how it all works out.
Starting at 1 p.m., we'll look at the martial art of Armizare, the Art of Bearing Arms, as recorded by Fiore dei Liberi in the early 15th century (presented by SSG Boston), and and Kunst des Fechtens, the Art of Combat, the traditional martial arts of medieval Germany (presented by Forte Swordplay). We'll finish the overview by 4:30 p.m.
No special equipment needed, just come wearing sensible workout clothes.
No more excuses--it's time to come and join the fun.
See you there!
SSG Boston & Forte SwordplayA's players say they don't steal signs
Could there be a little extra spice to the American League Division Series between Oakland and Detroit beyond the A's hoping for some payback after last year's Division Series loss?
Perhaps: In August, Detroit manager Jim Leyland suggested that Oakland was stealing signs, so thoroughly had the A's dismantled his team in scoring 34 runs in a four-game series at Comerica Park.
"I still think that they were getting something somewhere," Leyland said on Detroit radio at the time. "I'm just not believing. I know we made a lot of bad pitches, but I just don't believe you wear the ball out like that. I've seen a lot of games and a lot of series and I've seen teams get hot, but I'm a little suspicious that somewhere along the line they were getting something somewhere."
Since then, Leyland has said that he thinks the A's simply were swinging the bats well rather than stealing signs, and Oakland players scoff at the suggestion, anyway.
"We haven't stolen a single sign all year," third baseman Josh Donaldson said. "We don't have a guy in here who even wants a sign - some teams will steal pitch location (from the catcher) and we don't even do that. We laugh when catchers are changing signs because we don't want them, anyway."
Outfielder Josh Reddick said that sign-stealing would only mess with his approach.
"If I know what's coming, I always swing whether it's a fastball down the middle or a 50-foot slider, so I prefer not to know," he said.
As for the high-scoring games?
"We plan on doing that again," Donaldson said. "We don't need their signs."
King a finalist: For the seventh time, A's radio broadcaster Bill King is a finalist for the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick award. King and Giants announcer Duane Kuiper are both on the 10-man final ballot after finishing in the top three of the fan vote. The 20 voters for the award include the 16 living Frick recipients. The winner will be announced Dec. 11.
Ken Korach, who was the late King's broadcast partner and now is the A's lead radio voice, noted that if King is not elected this time, the next opportunity would not come for three years, because the award is newly based on three different eras, and this year includes King's era.
"We all think Bill is the best candidate and should get it, but I'm sure people in other markets feel the same way about their guys," said Korach, whose book about King, "Holy Toledo," was released this summer. "Let's hope it happens this time. It would be nice because if he doesn't, it's a moot point for three years."
Sewage news: The Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority said Wednesday that a review of the three sewage incidents at the Coliseum this season determined that all were "man-made and not the product of faulty infrastructure."
A towel caused one toilet backup and a major incident in June was caused by an unidentified cloth item that blocked pipes.
In addition, a plumbing contractor has determined that drains and pipes had been blocked by grease from concession stands; all pipes and drains have been cleared.
"We are working with A's management and all of our partners to ensure that no inappropriate items - food, clothing, or otherwise - are put down the drain," Coliseum general manager Chris Wright said in a statement.
Briefly: Game 4 starter Dan Straily threw 45 pitches against teammates Wednesday; he was most excited to have struck out Donaldson and Derek Norris in back-to-back at-bats. "It was a battle back and forth with both of them," he said.... Yoenis Céspedes had a line-drive hit off Tommy Milone, and afterward Céspedes, who has had right shoulder tendinitis for three weeks, reiterated that he will play Friday and throughout the series.... The parking lots will open at noon Friday and Saturday and gates will open two hours before the games.... Metal detectors will be in use at all gates and all tickets come with holograms to prevent counterfeiting.Verizon is in a reliability and efficiency war with AT&T right now. While it used to be a given that AT&T’s GSM network had nothing on Verizon, and blame was typically placed squarely on the shoulders of the iPhone, Verizon’s entry into the iPhone world is nothing short of a stress test on their networks, especially when customers are going to be specifically looking out for any dropped calls or service failures.
According to BGR, Verizon will now start implementing data throttling for the top 5% of its data consumers. The memo uncovered by BGR defends the other 95% in this move, saying, “our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren’t negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users.”
Verizon, of course, won’t actually call it throttling, instead opting for the more neutral “optimizing.” Some of you will be happy to hear that the regular user will get better service, while the movie downloaders amongst us will be upset that their previously unfettered bandwidth is now being reserved for those that may not need it. However you look at it, this could be an admission that Verizon isn’t 100% ready for the sudden influx of iPhones onto their network. As there hasn’t been very many complaints about Verizon service up until now, it seems that the most probable reason for this action is in preparation for the coming iConquest.Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
[email protected]
Jia-Rui Cook/Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0850/6278
[email protected] / [email protected]
Elizabeth Zubritsky
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-614-5438
[email protected]
Isabel Lara
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington
202-633-2374
[email protected]
Dwayne BrownHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1726Jia-Rui Cook/Guy WebsterJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-354-0850/6278Elizabeth ZubritskyGoddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.301-614-5438Isabel LaraSmithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington202-633-2374
RELEASE : 13-070
NASA Mission Helps Craft 3-D Image Of Buried Mars Flood Channels
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has provided images allowing scientists for the first time to create a 3-D reconstruction of ancient water channels below the Martian surface.The spacecraft took numerous images during the past few years that showed channels attributed to catastrophic flooding in the last 500 million years. Mars during this period had been considered cold and dry. These channels are essential to understanding the extent to which recent hydrologic activity prevailed during such arid conditions. They also help scientists determine whether the floods could have induced episodes of climate change.The estimated size of the flooding appears to be comparable to the ancient mega flood that created the Channeled Scablands in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States in eastern Washington.The findings are reported in the March 7 issue of Science Express by a team of scientists from NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Southwest Research Institute in Houston."Our findings show the scale of erosion that created the channels previously was underestimated and the channel depth was at least twice that of previous approximations," said Gareth Morgan, a geologist at the National Air and Space Museum's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies in Washington and lead author on the paper. "This work demonstrates the importance of orbital sounding radar in understanding how water has shaped the surface of Mars."The channels lie in Elysium Planitia, an expanse of plains along the Martian equator and the youngest volcanic region on the planet. Extensive volcanism throughout the last several hundred million years covered most of the surface of Elysium Planitia, and this buried evidence of Mars' older geologic history, including the source and most of the length of the 620-mile-long (1000-kilometer-long) Marte Vallis channel system. To probe the length, width and depth of these underground channels, the researchers used MRO's Shallow Radar (SHARAD).Marte Vallis' morphology is similar to more ancient channel systems on Mars, especially those of the Chryse basin. Many scientists think the Chryse channels likely were formed by the catastrophic release of ground water, although others suggest lava can produce many of the same features. In comparison, little is known about Marte Vallis.With the SHARAD radar, the team was able to map the buried channels in three dimensions with enough detail to see evidence suggesting two different phases of channel formation. One phase etched a series of smaller branching, or "anastomosing," channels that are now on a raised "bench" next to the main channel. These smaller channels flowed around four streamlined islands. A second phase carved the deep, wide channels."In this region, the radar picked up multiple'reflectors,' which are surfaces or boundaries that reflect radio waves, so it was possible to see multiple layers, " said Lynn Carter, the paper's co-author from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We have rarely seen that in SHARAD data outside of the polar ice regions of Mars."The mapping also provided sufficient information to establish the floods that carved the channels originated from a now-buried portion of the Cerberus Fossae fracture system. The water could have accumulated in an underground reservoir and been released by tectonic or volcanic activity."While the radar was probing thick layers of dry, solid rock, it provided us with unique information about the recent history of water in a key region of Mars," said co-author Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.The Italian Space Agency provided the SHARAD instrument on MRO and Sapienza University of Rome leads its operations. JPL manages MRO for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the orbiter and supports its operations.The 3-D image can be viewed online at:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16767
For more about NASA's MRO mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
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Back to NASA Newsroom | Back to NASA HomepageToronto Hydro Corp. is spending public money on consultants, including Bay Street lawyers, to help it keep a secret — how much public money it has spent on consultants. David Rider, the Star’s city hall bureau chief has been trying to find out. It’s a battle that has now been fought for more than a year — and there is no end in sight. January 2016: Using anonymous sources, I revealed behind-the-scenes work to set the stage for a partial privatization of the century-old power distributor of which the City of Toronto is sole shareholder.
David Rider, the Star’s city hall bureau chief has been trying to find out how much public money Toronto Hydro Corp. has spent on consultants. ( Rene Johnston / Toronto Star )
Jan. 8, 2016: My story “Toronto Hydro privatization plan in the works” is published. Jan. 22, 2016: I then submitted two applications to hydro under Ontario’s freedom of information legislation. I asked for copies of internal hydro communications mentioning any possible privatization, and for the estimated cost of all work done by consultants, including lawyers and pollsters, related to a possible sale. To me it seemed basic information, albeit potentially controversial for an arm’s length agency that had no mandate from city council to explore a possible sale. I expected a fight, fueled by institutional aversion to lifting the hood on internal machinations, and maybe the grudging release of some pages mostly or fully blanked out.
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That would force me to appeal to Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) in hopes hydro would be ordered to fully live up to its responsibilities under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Feb. 25, 2016: I was wrong and, after decades of trying to pry information out of government, hopelessly naïve. Hydro has refused to even process my request. Fourteen months later, awaiting a final ruling by IPC, I have received nothing from hydro except, via lawyers the utility is paying to fight me, dozens of pages of arguments about why the utility cannot, and will not, acknowledge that such records do or do not exist. Forget actually looking for them and handing them to a reporter. April 29, 2016: The lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright Canada — hired to work on privatization and now to fight my requests —argue that, based on an argument invoking Ontario securities law, buttressed by an affidavit from a hired U of T law professor, the IPC should “reject my appeal at the intake stage” — kill it before it can take a breath. Hydro is not publicly traded. Information about consultants could not give me or anyone else inside information that would impact the stock market. Still, IPC says the utility, which issues bonds that can be resold privately, has raised complex questions over its potentially conflicting duties to the Securities Act and the FOI law.
June 11, 2016: The Star argues that IPC should reject hydro’s argument that “selective disclosure” of information is tantamount to insider trading, and find that Securities Act concerns do not erase a public institution's FOI obligations. Even if IPC sides with me, hydro could keep the fight alive by going to provincial court seeking judicial review. That could be a very expensive battle for both sides.
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Amid many exchanges for which I had to get my own legal advice, the privatization push died and with it, presumably, the work of consultants whom, as I reported last October, included two key members of Mayor John Tory’s 2014 election team. Yet hydro is fighting me as hard as ever. Sept. 2, 2016: IPC announces appeal is in inquiry stage, invites submissions from both sides. Oct. 17, 2016: Bay Street lawyers for hydro submit 31-page argument to hydro including affidavit from a U of T professor who is expert on securities. Nov. 17, 2016: I make my submission, that the information is in the public interest, that Securities Law doesn't trump hydro's responsibility under MFIPPA, and that IPC should ignore the professor's submission. Nov. 24, 2016: Mayor John Tory publicly takes hydro privatization off the table. Dec. 7, 2016: IPC invites final rebuttals to each other's submissions I’m not the only one puzzled. Paul Ainslie, a city councillor, sits on Toronto Hydro’s board of directors. “There’s a city hall culture I'm used to, more open, and then there’s private business,” and that’s the way the hydro chief executive and his senior team see the highly regulated utility, Ainslie says. “With a freedom of information act request, I think there’s a mindset there that more often than not they see themselves as a business... My perspective is Toronto Hydro is a very well run organization and I understand that there’s confidential material that you have to keep private to run a business, but in terms of information like this I don’t know why they’re going to such an extent to try to hide it.” Ainslie was surprised to learn hydro, which has its own legal department, is using Norton Rose Fulbright Canada to fight an FOI request. “I know Norton Rose was hired as an outside legal consultant when we were looking at some type of IPO or business model that would see the sale of up to 49 per cent of Toronto Hydro, and my understanding is that is the only reason we hired them, so I’m a little surprised that they’re fighting freedom of information requests put forward by a journalist,” he says. The two other councillors on hydro’s 13-member board, Stephen Holyday and Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, declined to comment on the utility’s responsibility to respond to FOI requests. Councillor Gord Perks, a city councillor not on the hydro board, who successfully argued against the merits of privatization, says: “There is no excuse to hide from the public how public money is being spent. Mr. (Anthony) Haines needs to come to the understanding that he works for the people of Toronto and he needs to be accountable to them.”
Anthony Haines, chief executive of Toronto Hydro, speaks at an energy industry luncheon at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel hotel on Nov |
abet for the inauguration.
But Odinga’s supporters see such talk of unity as tantamount to surrender. Many of them are drawn from poorer parts of the country, and feel angered because they say they are locked out of power and the patronage it brings.
Political arguments often have ethnic undercurrents, with Odinga’s supporters pointing out that three of the country’s four presidents have come from one ethnic group, the Kikuyu, although the country has 44 recognised groups.
LIVING STANDARDS
Odinga accuses the ruling party of stealing the election, overseeing rampant corruption, directing abuse by the security forces and neglecting vast swathes of the country, including Odinga’s heartland in the west.
“This election of October 26 is fake. We do not recognise it,” Odinga told supporters from the rooftop of a car. “On Dec. 12, we will have an assembly that will swear me in.”
Shortly after that, riot police teargassed his convoy and charged his supporters.
The opposition had planned to hold a prayer meeting in the capital on Tuesday, saying it wanted to commemorate the lives of Odinga supporters killed during confrontations with the security forces over the election period.
More than 70 people have been killed in political violence this election season, mostly by the police.
Slideshow (12 Images)
Riot police sealed off the scene of the rally in the morning, and fired teargas at residents, trying to prevent a crowd from gathering, as a helicopter hovered overhead. Roads were blocked by burning tyres, rocks and uprooted billboards.
In his speech, Kenyatta promised to raise living standards by increasing jobs, home ownership, electricity connections and health insurance coverage.
He also said all Africans would now get visas on arrival in Kenya, and members of the East African community could own property, work and live in Kenya, adding “to underscore Kenya’s commitment to pan Africanism, this shall not be done on the basis of reciprocity”.Mobile World Congress has already brought a lot of great phones, and the show floor hasn't even opened yet. But there's just something about Peter Chou's latest creation that has us more eager to play with it than anything else we've seen so far (and perhaps for the rest of the show). We're talking, of course, about the One X, the absolute top of the line model of HTC's trio of One series devices announced tonight. The "superphone" (Peter's words, not ours) is packing the entire deck of cards: a 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU (for the global version; the LTE version uses Qualcomm's S4 Krait processor), 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 4.7 inches of 720p Super LCD 2 non-PenTile gorgeousness, Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 on top, 8MP rear camera with f/2.0 lens and 1080p HD video, to name a few.First impressions? In a nutshell, we're blown away. It feels wonderful to hold in our hand, it's got the full suite of specs we like to see, the camera's as quick as HTC claims, and the device flies -- in fact, we'd be amiss not to mention the fact that the vendor's ICS-backed Sense UI is much lighter than any of its predecessors and doesn't bog down the performance at all. And keep in mind that this is in all likelihood still running on pre-production firmware. Impressive, to say the least. Our only beef with the device is the lack of a physical shutter button, especially given the firm's commitment to providing stellar camera performance. We're not ready to crown the One X as the best of the show yet -- we have four days' worth of MWC left, after all -- but it's one device we'll be returning to spend more quality time with on the show floor. If you want to share in the enjoyment, head to the gallery below, or the video after the break.The local chapter of the nonprofit Navy League of the United States said it has raised about half of its $450,000 fundraising goal to pay for a weeklong series of receptions, luncheons and tours for the USS Detroit commissioning ceremony in September.
The Navy League's Metropolitan Detroit Councilhas raised about $200,000 from several corporations, including $25,000 each from Quicken Loans Inc., General Motors Co., Penske Corp., Masco Corp. and Bank of America, said John Peracchio, chairman of the USS Detroit commissioning committee.
Other notable corporate donors include $15,000 from Meijer Inc., and $10,000 each from Comerica Bank and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, according to a breakdown provided by the Navy League.
Detroit-based Marketing Associates is providing in-kind support in the form of design and production of promotional media, and Plante & Moran is doing pro bono accounting and tax reporting support, Peracchio said.
The corporate donations are being sought because federal law forbids the Navy to fund the public events before and after the commissioning ceremony, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 19 on the Detroit River outside of the Renaissance Center.
Details about the ceremonies and donations — sponsorship levels range from $500 to $100,000 and each comes with a variety of perks — can be found at ussdetroitlcs7.com.
"It's difficult to get people excited and maintain that excitement over three years," said Leslie Andrews, Quicken Loans' director of community relations, who has been directly involved in the USS Detroit effort. The Dan Gilbert-owned online mortgage lender is the official volunteer commissioning company, and Quicken President and Chief Marketing Officer Jay Farner is the event's honorary chairman.
Corporations have begun to pledge cash, or increased their giving, over the past 90
days, Andrews said, because the commissioning date is nearing and because the USS Milwaukee, a littoral combat ship in the same class as the Detroit, visited the city's port in November.
"We're getting companies now to come to the table that needed more background or evidence," she said. "It's not small dollars."
GM and Ford Motor Co. both are interested in heavier involvement, Andrews said.
Up to 4,000 people are expected for the official ceremony, which will formally mark the Navy's acceptance of the USS Detroit, a $360 million LCS, into the fleet and the point at which the vessel's captain takes official command.
There are receptions, luncheons and breakfasts that the Navy League is seeking to have underwritten by corporate sponsors, said Peracchio, owner of Grosse Pointe Shores-based Peracchio & Co. LLC, an automotive-focused intelligent transportation systems consultancy. He's been a Navy League member for more than 30 years and also serves as the group's historian.
The local Navy League chapter also is planning a number of events in the weeks and months leading up to the commission week, he said. The details of those events haven't been disclosed.
One thing that is known is that USS Detroit's crew of about 50 sailors will receive Shinola leather goods emblazoned with the ship's crest, Peracchio said. They won't receive watches because the Navy limits the value of gifts that can be given to sailors for such events.
The commissioning ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17, with a week of events, parties, and tours in the days prior. The actual date for the ceremony has moved a number of times because the Navy cannot make the vessel available until construction and testing is complete, Peracchio said.
After the crew arrives at the vessel's Wisconsin shipyard from San Diego this month, the USS Detroit will conduct sea trials and testing in Lake Michigan, he said.
"They have to run through each of these certifications and meet them within certain periods of time to get accepted into fleet," he said.
The 378-foot, 3,500-ton Freedom-class vessel was built by the Marinette Marine Corp. shipyard on the Menominee River in Marinette, Wis.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin's wife, Barbara, broke a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship on Oct. 18, 2014. Construction began in November 2012.
The ship will become part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet based in San Diego. However, it will be forward-deployed out of Singapore between the Pacific and Indian oceans at the southern tip of Malaysia — always a potential hot spot because a significant portion of the world's oil moves through the straits.
The Freedom class littoral combat ships, of which the USS Detroit is the seventh, cost an average of $360 million.
The Detroit was part of a contract awarded in 2004 to a consortium led by Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., a minority owner in Marinette (which is majority owned by Fincantieri-Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A., which builds many of the world's cruise ships).
The Detroit was designed by Arlington, Va.-based naval architect Gibbs & Cox Inc.
Shallow-draft littoral combat ships operate in coastal areas (known as the littoral in geographic nomenclature), and ships in Detroit's class could fight the modern pirate threat in places such as off Somalia's long coast or other threats in the Pacific islands.
A shift in U.S. naval priorities in the past couple of years, including a pivot to a focus on the Asia-Pacific region and a debate over the size of the Navy, has led to a changing role for the littoral combat ships.
Now, their primary duties are searching out and disarming sea mines and submarines, delivering small groups of Marines or SEALs ashore, and battling small boats such as the skiffs and speedboats that sometimes swarm ships.
The Detroit and its sister vessels use a remote underwater vehicle and sensors to find lurking enemy submarines.
Littoral combat ships are designed to be fast and quiet. They can travel at speeds up to 45 knots, or nearly 52 mph. Rather than propellers, they use water jets, giving the ship the ability to turn on a dime.
Lockheed Martin said the Detroit's two diesel engines create 17,370 horsepower, or the same as 275 Ford Mustangs.Toronto-area drivers should pay for most of an ambitious transit expansion through a sharply higher gas tax, a government-appointed panel is recommending, but the promised sweetener is that motorists can expect to come out ahead by preventing even worse congestion.
Their report lays out ways for the province to pay for the so-called Big Move – which proposes a network of transit lines intended to tackle congestion currently estimated to cost the Toronto area $6-billion annually – and suggests gradually increasing the gas tax by as much as 10 cents a litre, which would cost the average household $260 per year.
The idea brought a sharp reaction from political opponents. The provincial Conservatives and some among the right wing at Toronto City Hall insist that transit can be expanded from within existing budgets and that drivers bear a heavy enough burden.
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Asked about that notion by reporters, though, panel chair Anne Golden was quick to fire back. "Would it be possible to fund this out of waste? The answer is no," she said. "The money has to come from somewhere. This cannot be done for free."
Premier Kathleen Wynne conceded it will be a tough sell, but vowed to implement a transit-funding mechanism in the spring budget.
"I knew that it was going to be difficult to make the connection between the transit needs and having to pay for it," she said in an interview shortly after receiving the panel's report. "If it were an easy thing to do, it would have been done already."
Funding for the Big Move was the focus of an investment strategy by Metrolinx, the regional transit agency, that was built around an increase in the HST to raise the bulk of the money. That idea brought a cool reaction from the provincial government and is played down in the new report.
The panel lays out two options, both relying heavily on gas taxes. Each would raise money across the province, with only the funds generated locally being used in the Toronto area. Money raised elsewhere will be spent in those communities.
Option A calls for a three-cent rise per litre in the gas tax, rising by a penny a year to a total of 10 cents per litre (at that point raising $1.4-billion annually in the Toronto area), along with a 0.5-per-cent rise in the corporate tax rate (generating $189-million) and the redirection of the HST on gas taxes to transit ($80-million).
Option B shares the same approach to corporate taxes and the HST on gas taxes. It also starts with a three-cent-per-litre hike in the gas tax and increases at the same rate but caps the total additional gas tax at 5 cents per litre, making up the difference with a 0.5-per-cent increase in the HST (raising $918-million in the Toronto area).
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In both cases, the plan calls for leveraging the new revenues raised to borrow and then pay down around $7-billion or $8-billion.
Asked about the lesser emphasis on HST, Ms. Golden told reporters that a broad-based rise in a consumption tax would not have the effect of modifying drivers' behaviour. And she said road tolls are not included at this point because they are typically applied to new instead of existing roads, and they cannot be implemented quickly and easily. But she suggested they could play a role in the future.
The report comes amid an increasing drumbeat of concern about the cost of congestion and how much worse it could become as people continue to flock to the area. "If we do nothing, the consequences are unbelievable," said panel co-chair Paul Bedford.
While drivers – who currently pay 14.5 cents per litre in gas tax – are expected to carry most of the freight, Ms. Golden urged that that burden be weighed against the cost of unchecked congestion. If the Big Move is not implemented, the panel says, the average driver will eventually be paying $700 per year more because of money lost idling in traffic. Under the two options presented, the increase in the gas tax ultimately will cost each household between $130 and $260 annually.
New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath said new transit taxes are unaffordable. But Transportation Minister Glen Murray countered that they will be less expensive than to buy cars to compensate for poor transit service. If Ms. Horwath votes against the government's plans, he said, her party's left-wing, urban voter base will abandon her in favour of the Liberals.
The report also recommended putting transit monies into a legislatively dedicated fund and increasing the rigour around transit planning, which has been criticized as rife with political interference. Last summer, for instance, the provincial government abruptly cancelled a planned LRT in Scarborough and replaced it with a subway extension as it tried to win a difficult by-election in a nearby riding.
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The provincial Tories praised the idea of dedicated funding but slammed what they called a "sin tax."
"That's just like increasing the cost of alcohol and cigarettes because you want people to quit smoking and drinking," PC MPP Doug Holyday said. "So they want them to quit driving, and they want the drivers to pay for the transportation of the whole area. I don't think it's fair."
The Tories say the government should find the money by prioritizing transit over other infrastructure projects, and by selling off government-owned property.
"You've got the Ontario Power Generation headquarters filled with bureaucrats we don't need, on some pretty expensive real estate," PC Leader Tim Hudak said. "Why couldn't you actually sell that off, downsize those operations on cheaper land, and use that excess revenue to build subways?"
Toronto Councillor Doug Ford insisted the province should find "efficiencies" to come up with the funding. "Five cents a litre will kill our economy," he said. "It's hitting our taxpayers right in the pocketbook."
With a report from Ann Hui at Toronto City HallThe US 2014 midterm elections are here and we have compiled a list of places you can stream election results on Roku and Chromecast.
Chromecast:
Looking for National updates? NPR will be streaming their live video coverage available on Chromecast. Find the full details by clicking here.
You can also use ABC Newes with Chromecast. http://abcnews.go.com/Live/
The following sites are live streaming on YouTube and can be sent to Chromecast.
ABCNews
Bloomberg Politics
Comedy Central/The Daily Show and The Colbert Report
Fox News Latino
PBS NewsHour
USA Today
Wall Street Journal
Roku:
If you are looking for local coverage check out the Livestream app. It brings you hundreds of local news channels from around the US. You should be able to find great local coverage in your area with the Livestream app. Click here to find the Livestream app.
If you are looking for national news many big name cable networks offer videos and live feeds of the election results. Here is a list to their Roku Apps.
Fox News (From 9pm EST – 11pm EST): http://www.roku.com/channels/#!details/2946/fox-news-channel
NBC News: http://www.roku.com/channels/#!details/9581/nbc-news
TheBlaze TV: http://www.roku.com/channels/#!details/8173/theblaze-tv
CBS News: http://www.roku.com/channels/#!details/27536/cbs-news
Newsmax TV: http://www.roku.com/channels/#!details/24699/newsmax-tv
Wall Street Journal Live: http://www.roku.com/channels/#!details/8629/wall-street-journal-live
NoWhere TV offers CNN International, BBC, Sky News, and Al Jazeera English. You can find out more about the app on their site. http://thenowhereman.com/roku/
This is just a short list of options we found for options that should have live streams of the 2014 midterm election results. If you have any to add please leave us a comment.
Make sure to follow us on twitter. We will be tweeting any option we find throughout the day. You can find us on Twitter by clicking here.The Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife is urging motorists to be alert for white-tailed deer on roads across the state with the arrival of the fall breeding season, especially during morning and evening commutes when visibility may be poor and deer are more active.
Drivers should be alert to avoid collisions that could result in injuries and damage to their vehicles, as deer movements related to breeding have begun and will pick up in the coming weeks. Motorists are encouraged to alert the Department of Transportation of dead deer they find along the state highway system and deer crossing locations.
Triggered by shorter days and cooler weather, deer disperse and move around considerably as they search for mates. Studies indicate the peak mating season for deer runs from late October, throughout November, and into mid-December in all regions of the state, beginning earliest in northern regions.
The danger is particularly pronounced at dawn and dusk when many people are commuting to and from work. Visibility resulting from low light or sun glare may be difficult during these times. Commuters should be especially alert and drive with additional caution when daylight saving time ends on Nov. 3. Normal driver commuting times will more closely align with peak deer activity periods after this time.
Motorists are urged to pay attention to deer crossing signs. Slow down when traveling through areas known to have a high concentration of deer so there will be ample time to stop if necessary. If traveling after dark, use high beams when there is no oncoming traffic. High beams will be reflected by the eyes of deer on or near roads.
Deer typically move in family groups at this time of year and cross roads single-file. Female deer are being chased by bucks and during breeding phase are often unaware of traffic.
When a deer is in sight, slow down and pay attention to possible sudden movement. If the deer doesn’t move, don’t go around it. Wait for the deer to pass and the road is clear. Never tailgate, especially during the fall breeding season. A driver may need stop suddenly to avoid hitting a deer.
Always wear a seatbelt, as required by law. Drive at a safe and sensible speed, taking into account weather, available lighting, traffic, curves and other road conditions.
If a collision appears inevitable, do not swerve to avoid impact. The deer may counter-maneuver suddenly. Brake appropriately, but stay in lane. Collisions are more likely to become fatal when a driver swerves to avoid a deer and instead collides with oncoming traffic or a fixed structure along the road. Report any deer-vehicle collision to a local law enforcement agency immediately.
For more information, visit state.nj.us/transportation/commuter/potholeform.shtm or njfishandwildlife.comIn a sermon seemingly designed to defend their strip-mined ecclesiology and rebuke whatever number of actual disciples who might be left in the audience of 8 thousand people, David Hughes – pastor of the Southern Baptist, Church by the Glades – calls those in his church who desire to be taught doctrine “the excrement of the body of Christ.”
A link would be posted, but their website is currently down. Interestingly, it wasn’t down earlier when Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith reviewed his “sermon” here. We would encourage everyone to listen to that link.
Hughes takes from the material of seeker-friendly master, Ed Young, as he pulls out a table with one seat called the “I Chair” (like “high chair,” get it?).
By the way, Church by the Glades is the 24th largest Southern Baptist church in the SBC. Add this to the other “Sheep-Beating Incidents” we’ve seen come out of these types of churches, as pastors rebel against their calling to equip the Saints for ministry and build a coalition with the carnal Christians against those disciples who desire – *gasp!* – to be taught the Word of God in a serious way.
JD will discuss this on Thursday’s program.Researchers from the University of Birmingham have found that extended rest intervals between sets of weight-lifting could help with muscle growth.
The findings, published in Experimental Physiology, go against the conventional belief that favours shorter periods of rest. The study highlights that short rest intervals may actually impair the processes that control muscle growth.
16 males completed resistance exercises interspersed by either one minute or five minutes of rest. Muscle biopsies were obtained at 0, 4, 24 and 28 hours post-exercise and analysed to determine myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS) and intercellular signalling.
In the early part of recovery, the increase in MPS from resting levels was two-fold greater in those with longer rest periods. They saw a 152% increase, versus 76% increase in those with short rest intervals.
Dr Leigh Breen, from the University of Birmingham, explained, "With short rests of one minute, though the hormonal response is superior, the actual muscle response is blunted. If you're looking for maximised muscle growth with your training programme, a slightly longer interval between sets may provide a better chance of having the muscle response you're looking for."
The team recommend that novices starting out on weight training programs should take sufficient rest, of at least 2-3 minutes, between weight lifting sets.
Dr Breen added, "Over time, they may need to find ways to push beyond the plateau of muscle building that commonly occurs, and so may gradually decrease their rest periods. For experienced lifters, it's possible that they may not experience the same blunted muscle building response to short rest intervals, particularly if they have trained this way for a prolonged period and adapted to this unique metabolic stress. Nonetheless, similar recommendations of 2-3 minutes between sets should help to ensure maximal muscle growth in well trained individuals."
The research team are currently following up the investigation with a longer term study to see effects over a number of months, and further research into how individuals can maximise their training outcomes by manipulating variables, such a rest, in their training.Christianity once held a place of reverence and respect among academics and the common people alike. Even from a secular perspective, Christianity was seen as a philosophy that held to certain truths (the Bible) deserving of respect. Those days are long gone and the world now sees the Church and those who belong to it in a very different way. We are now living in the days where the separation between the world and the Church is definite and it is growing. No matter how much we fight it, the secular world holds the view that there is a definite and distinct separation between church and reason. A belief that as soon as biblical assertions are brought into a debate the conversation has moved from one based on facts to one based on abstract concepts that are not rooted in reality what-so-ever. This distinction can be infuriating; especially when a non-believer fails to even consider a worldview outside of his own yet demands that we accept his. The good news is that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
No matter how much we want to fight it, the secular world does not respect nor are they willing to consider a worldview that is outside their own. The idea that a philosophy that holds to truths outside the observable universe should even be considered is laughable among most atheists. In a discussion regarding natural right or the sanctity of life, the nonbeliever rejects any truth in regards to what they consider “religious arguments.” Anyone who has tried to have a discussion with an atheist regarding practically any topic understands this and has experienced this first hand. Unless your argument is based on a secularist view of science or from a “verifiable” historical source most atheists will write off your argument as baseless and without deserving of consideration or respect.
I was on a business trip several months back when I started having a discussion with an atheist on the necessity of belief in God. I generally tend to stay away from these types of “discussions” with non-believers because they always devolve from discussion to hostility on the part of the atheist. The only reason why I made an exception is because I saw it as an opportunity to witness to a person that I thought would be receptive to the Gospel. I knew I was in trouble when he started his counter with “only the simple need God.” Though I kept my talking points calm and based on biblical foundations, he continued to get more and more angry that I refused to debate him based on his concept of truth. On a couple of different occasions I attempted to move away from discussion of morality and sin, but he kept bringing it back and attacking Christianity based on his humanist perspective (An outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters). When I started quoting scripture, the man got more and more agitated and the discussion quickly got so out of control that we both decided to go our separate ways. Though I wanted to talk about the fact that God has a purpose for all of us and that He loves us, the man refused to accept any truth outside of what he can see or touch or taste.
Discussions like this are not uncommon especially when talking to people who consider themselves to be educated and wise by worldly standards. Rather than seeing science as the study of God’s amazing sovereignty and power, the academic sees it as the study of the random universe. Though the atheist hold a certain moral truths such as do not murder or steal, they cannot accept that these come from anything other than human requirements for survival. Rather than accepting Christianity as a philosophy, they see it as a rejection of reason and science. This is the reality that we find ourselves in today and unfortunately for those of us who wish to gain the respect of the world, this will not change. The good news is that I believe that there are positive implications for the Church and for the followers of Jesus Christ.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, – 1 Peter 2:4
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. – 1 Corinthians 2:14
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” – 1 Corinthians 3:19
There’s nothing more detrimental to the Body of Christ than a desire to be accepted by the world. There have been countless pastors over the past 50 years that have had a wish to make the Gospel and biblical teachings more palatable to those who do not hold them to be true. When we attempt to dilute certain biblical foundations that have been accepted for the past two thousand years in order to gain acceptance by the broader community, we fail to understand that this acceptance will never happen and that all we do is hurt ourselves. When we introduce the possibility of errancy within the text of the Bible, we do not make it more palatable for the non-believer, we make it less believable. Just like any hypothesis, a single error makes the whole idea false.
People do not come to Christ because it makes logical sense. They do not get saved because all of a sudden their worldview and our worldview suddenly converge. People come to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior because the idea of the observable world and science being sufficient in a world that is full of misery becomes laughable. We must be a beacon of light in a darkened world that is pointless and without purpose for those without God. We do not come with logic based on the things that we can observe but a logic that is based on the fundamental truth of God’s love and sovereignty. For those of us who, through God’s grace alone, are able to make the distinction, these truths are sufficient. Unfortunately, for the nonbeliever with a hardened heart, these truths will never be sufficient. Ignoring sins that the world accepts or turning a blind eye to injustice the world is comfortable with will never change this divergence and will only serve to weaken the Body of Christ.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. – 2 Corinthians 5:6-9
There is a reason why Paul made the distinction between the world and the children of God. The world is not our home and we should not attempt to make it so.
We certainly live in an age where Christianity is disrespected and is viewed as backwards and stupid by the secular world. They view our arguments as silly, baseless and without merit. When we attempt to converge Christianity with worldly truths we simply devolve into worldly truths. Christianity should not be part of the world but should be separate from it. We must strive to be as God intended us to be. That is what is attractive to those who are seeking something outside of their observable universe. When science, outside the lens of God, is no longer sufficient, those who God pulls will start looking for something different. It is not a separation of church and reason; it is a separation of the worldly and the pure. It is a separation of those who will do for themselves and those who wish to bring glory to God. That is sufficient and that should be our goal.WASHINGTON — Just days after his party was routed in the midterm elections, President Obama said that he and his White House team had not succeeded in effectively selling the benefits of his policies to the American people, calling it a “failure of politics” that he must change in the final two years of his presidency.
“It’s not enough just to build a better mousetrap,” Mr. Obama said in an interview that was taped Friday at the White House and broadcast Sunday on the 60th anniversary of CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “People don’t automatically come beating to your door. We’ve got to sell it. We’ve got to reach out to the other side and, where possible, persuade.”
Mr. Obama acknowledged bluntly that “we got beat” in the elections on Tuesday and said that the Democratic losses prompted him to have a “gut check” about what he needed to do differently. But as he has in the past, the president defended the merits of his administration’s policies, blaming the election results on a poor communications effort in the White House.
“There are times, there’s no doubt about it, where, you know I think we have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we’re trying to do and why this is the right direction,” Mr. Obama said.A group of prominent climate scientists have written a study explicitly refuting statements made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on climate data. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Pruitt claimed in a written response that satellite data shows a "leveling off" of warming over the past two decades.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, takes Pruitt's claim to task by examining three sets of satellite data since 1979, concluding that "temperature measurements do not support" Pruitt's statement.
"[W]hen incorrect science is elevated to the level of formal congressional testimony and makes its way into the official congressional record," lead author Ben Santer told the Washington Post, "climate scientists have some responsibility to test specific claims that were made, determine whether those claims are correct or not, and publish their results."
Pruitt has been criticized for making several claims inconsistent with climate science evidence. In March, he told CNBC that carbon dioxide emissions are not a "primary cause" of global warming. Santer told ThinkProgress that he and his colleagues spent "considerable time and effort looking at that claim," which was widely broadcast by Sen. Ted Cruz on television, radio and during congressional hearings.
"It was incorrect," Santer said. "We are in a position to make informed scientific statements about the relative sizes of human and natural effects on climate."
For a deeper dive:
Washington Post, ThinkProgress
For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.I’m back today with part 5 of my intellectual history of fear. After my posts on Hobbes (rational fear), Montesquieu (despotic terror), Tocqueville (democratic anxiety), and Arendt (total terror), we’re ready to turn to more recent theories of fear, which arose in the 1980s and 1990s, in the wake of the conservative backlash against the 1960s and the collapse of communism.
In my book on fear, I divide these recent theories into two broad camps: the liberalism of anxiety and the liberalism of terror. The first camp tracks communitarian liberalism (or liberal communitarianism) as well as some influential arguments about identity and civil society; the second camp tracks what is often called political liberalism or negative liberalism, and it includes treatments of ethnic conflict and violence. The first camp takes it cues from Tocqueville, the second from Montesquieu.
The primary theoreticians of the first camp include Michael Walzer, Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel, Will Kymlicka, Amitai Etzioni, David Miller, and to a much lesser degree Seyla Benhabib. The primary theoretician of the second camp is Judith Shklar, but her arguments are echoed by theorists like Avishai Margalit and Richard Rorty and popular writers like Philip Gourevitch and Michael Ignatieff. The work of Samuel Huntington hovers above both camps.
Both camps, I argue, are responses to the failures of the radicalism of the 1960s and to the conservative retreat since then. To that extent, their political and intellectual context mirrors that of Tocqueville writing in the 1830s and Arendt (and other Cold War intellectuals) writing in the late 1940s and early 1950s. All were grappling with questions of fear in the wake of ruined insurgencies.
Today, I’ll only focus on the liberalism of anxiety; in my next installment, I’ll talk about the liberalism of terror.
• • • • •
While I was fearing it, it came,
But came with less of fear,
Because that fearing it so long
Had almost made it dear.
—Emily Dickinson
Though the liberalism of anxiety borrows from the reaction against the French Revolution, though it takes aim at philosophers like Kant and Descartes, the immediate occasion of its misgiving is the 1960s. Anxious liberals make frequent, unhappy references to gains won and goods lost throughout that decade and its aftermath—entitlements to welfare without corresponding duties, expansive rights “to ‘do our own thing,’” and other smaller liberations. According to Amitai Etzioni, individual freedom and communal life are “out of balance after decades in which self-interest and expressive individualism have prevailed.” That imbalance, adds Jean Bethke Elshtain, is a product of the “new attitude toward rights that has taken hold in the United States during the past several decades.”
The sixties, in this view, is not simply a historical moment, but an ongoing project of individual emancipation, which has not been beaten back in any significant way. At a time when Democrats and Republicans have stripped suspected criminals of procedural protections, when a presidential candidate’s membership in the ACLU suggests membership in the Communist Party, and when there are fewer counties in the United States with abortion providers than there were in 1973, the liberalism of anxiety worries about a “rights-absolutist climate of opinion” that has not dissipated.
While its discontent is plainly addressed to the 1960s, the liberalism of anxiety is no simple antagonist of that decade. In the same way that Tocqueville was ambivalent about the French Revolution so are the liberals of anxiety conflicted about the rights revolutions of forty years ago. Contrary to the claims of their critics, these writers are not entirely hostile to liberalism or its recent achievements. They express no desire to return to a segregated or sexist America. Some, like Michael Walzer, were among the most eloquent voices of the 1960s, and still argue for the elaboration and extension of its achievements. Others, like Etzioni, claim that communities should be fostered and nurtured, but not at the expense of individual rights. Majorities can be tyrannical, Etzioni warns, which is why the Constitution has wisely deemed “some choices” to be “out of bounds for the majority.”
Nor should we return public argument, write Etzioni and Michael Sandel, to premodern canons of natural law or religious authority; instead, we should embrace the irreducible pluralism—and contentious debates—that liberalism at its best insistently honors. Walzer argues that communitarianism, the most prominent version of the liberalism of anxiety, is an “intermittent feature of liberal politics,” which, “like the pleating of trousers,” seeks not to overthrow liberalism but to texture it with sociological and moral depth. And in their effort to incorporate communitarian criticisms into liberal arguments |
inside ended up winning that lawsuit, so it was a really historic moment in the 90s and in the prisoners’ rights movement in California. And, yet, nothing changed inside. But what that moment did do was catalyze this organization to organize against conditions inside, against the prison system in general, and for people’s freedom and dignity, from both inside prison and outside prison.
David Langstaff: Could you briefly describe California Coalition for Women Prisoners as an organization?
Adrienne Skye-Roberts: So we are a grassroots prison abolition organization, and our membership is on both sides of the walls. And, we take our leadership from people who are organizing inside prison. We do a lot. We have a two-person paid staff. Out of our principles, we only hire and pay people who are formerly incarcerated or directly impacted by incarceration, and the rest of us are all volunteers. CCWP has about five prison visiting teams, and we visit the two California state prisons for women every six to eight weeks. We have a speakers’ bureau which features formerly incarcerated people and prison survivors who speak at different events and universities and tell their stories. We are working on the Life Without Parole Storytelling Project, which is called A Living Chance. We are also doing support in the prison, California Institution for Women, east of Los Angeles, where there have been a number of suicides. And, we have a newsletter that has been around for almost twenty years called The Fire Inside, and that features the writing of people in California’s prisons for women, as well as legal information, and some art and poetry. That’s more or less what we are doing right now.
David Langstaff: What does abolition mean to you? And, how do you see CCWP’s politics and organizing as animated by a commitment to a vision of abolition? And conversely, what lessons do you think organizing as, with, and for incarcerated women has to offer the broader movement for abolition?
Adrienne Skye-Roberts: So one of the things that I find to be really unique about CCWP’s organizing, that I think has everything to do with an abolitionist politic…CCWP is very much a family. It is very familial. There are very strong, very long lasting relationships amongst members inside and outside, and it is the kind of organization where, for myself, it’s like this is just life now. It’s not work or something detached from my everyday life. This is just life and this is my community of people. And, to me that is abolitionist, because it is speaking against a lot of patriarchal norms, and it is getting outside of some capitalist structures and also heteropatriarchal structures of family, and [creating] communities of care. And, I think abolition is about reorganizing power and reorganizing power structures. And, with CCWP the people who are at the center of our organization, and the center of our movement, are women and people of color who are often poor and who are incarcerated. And, that is a restructuring of power and that’s a restructuring of whose voices are the loudest, and whose leadership is honored, centering the people who these capitalist punitive structures are marginalizing.
David Langstaff: Can you speak to the ways intimate and gendered violence and trauma are weaponized by the carceral state and the various ways women are resisting both inside and outside, whether through coalitions such as Survived and Punished, or projects such as Life Without Parole and A Living Chance?
Adrienne Skye-Roberts: I have never met anyone in a women’s prison who is not a survivor of abuse. Whether it is childhood abuse, childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, etc., etc. It is absolutely the thing that connects everyone I have ever met who has done time. In California, if you were a survivor of intimate partner battery or domestic violence, any evidence of your abuse was not allowed in the courtroom prior to 1996. So, if you were on trial for killing your abusive partner in an act of self defense of yourself, or you and your children, or you were in an abusive relationship and you happened to be present, or you were coerced into being present at the time when your abusive partner killed someone or harmed someone, that evidence of your abuse and your abusive relationship was deemed irrelevant [in court]. So there are many survivors sitting in prison who never had a chance to tell their full story. That is one of the most obvious ways that the system relies on gender violence and relies on patriarchy and misogyny, and racialized violence as well – because these are majority women of color – in order to incarcerate more and more people.
There are so many ways that people are resisting from inside, and have been resisting from inside since incarceration first began. Some of the most obvious ways are through education, outreach, and awareness around cycles of abuse, and specifically around intimate partner battery, since so many people inside have had that direct experience. So many people do legal support for each other inside. There are a lot of what would be considered jailhouse lawyers – people who are self educated around the law – and they write writs for people, they support people prior to their board hearings, they are supporting people writing their commutation applications to Governor Brown. And, then, with CCWP, we are connecting with all the organizers inside and bringing their work out.
David Langstaff: Staying with this line of thought, in what ways does CCWP’s analysis, politics, and vision depart from the mainstream movement against domestic violence? Particularly with regard that the latter’s reliance upon increased policing, prosecution, and imprisonment as putative mechanisms of prevention and redress, a tendency that abolitionist queer feminists of color, in particular, have critiqued as a kind of “carceral feminism.”
Adrienne Skye-Roberts: What I have heard over and over again from incarcerated survivors is that they’re now in an abusive relationship with the state. So the same tactics and the same abusive patterns and abusive cycles that were present in their relationships, often with their co-defendants or their abusers, their parents, their husbands, whomever; on the outside those very same tactics and cycles are being enacted upon them by the state, by the agents of the state, and they’re in an endless cycle of manipulation and control.
David Langstaff: Can you speak about CCWP’s multimedia project, A Living Chance?
Adrienne Skye-Roberts: A Living Chance, the full name; A Living Chance: Storytelling to End Life without Parole. CCWP has always visited people sentenced to life without parole. So it has always been an issue that we have been aware of and engaged with, and have relationships with people serving that sentence. Because it is considered, and is, such an extreme sentence, it is almost never a part of any organizing platforms or political campaigns within the prison reform movement or prisoners rights movements. So people inside were like, it is really time that we start paying attention to this. And through our conversations we figured, who better to educate the public about life without parole than the people who are serving that sentence themselves. So we started a storytelling project that has been ongoing now for three years. It started with people writing us and organizing inside to come up with questions that they wanted to ask about the sentence – about hope, about survival, about life before prison, what they want for their lives beyond prison. And then they would send us stories outside. Then we would arrange visits to go meet them in person, if we did not already know them, and actually record their voices and record their stories, and learn more about them.
David Langstaff: So, thanks so much for coming to our show Adrienne. It has been great to have you.
Adrienne Skye-Roberts: Thank you, David.
EXCERPTS FROM A LIVING CHANCE
David Langstaff: We now turn to two clips from the California Coalition for Women Prisoners’ multimedia project; A Living Chance, Storytelling to End Life without Parole. MC and Kelly speak about their experiences as women sentenced to life without parole, state violence, and the ways women are resisting inside.
MC: It really concerns me. There’s been so much abuse of power we have been watching on the TV with the killing of young black males – and, of course, that extends to brown people, transgender people, people in low income communities. The fact that the abuse of power is condoned, is sanctioned, and there is no consequence for the abuse of power is scary for us. Because we already live in such an isolated world. Our walls are opaque; they are solid brick walls with razor wire on the top. Cameras and media are not allowed in. Even for me to have this attorney room visit today, it had to be approved way in advance. There is a recording device, but there could be no cameras brought in. And, at any point the recording device can be confiscated; they can listen to what was recorded. We have no sense of safety in here. So when police officers, state sanctioned violence, is allowed to occur at the level of murder on the streets, believe that we are going to suffer those consequences behind these bars. But no one is going to be able to record it, no one is going to be able to talk about it. There is going to be no proof that it happened. The proof and evidence is going to disappear.
Kelly: Well, the ways I organize in here to try and help myself and others is – I am part of a committee called the juvenile offender committee. And we really focus on anyone twenty one and younger at the time of their crime. Because we know that coming in here at a young age – it is different to grow up in here. So, we offer them workshops, we offer them tools, mentoring. Anything like that to try and give advice so that they don’t make the same mistakes that we did.
EPILOGUE
Kaif: Today we end off with a poem written and read by Karmyn, a writer and artist currently incarcerated at the women’s Huron Valley prison in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Karmyn: They suffocate beneath hypothetical honor, novel youth, thoughts and vigor. Downtrodden miscreants and misled gospel wine. Lovable arsenic, frivolous race. With wall-eyed optimism and aromatic guises, credible varmints create saddened ships. Floating in a flush of narcotic vitality that horrors stack and send pulsating bassinets and maggot righteousness. Prejudice and perverse they exasperatedly glorify baseless white washed justice forged and vetted in wickedness yawning indolent and thoughtful. Facing moral existence and stagnant comfort they amass inept impregnable admissions foaming atrocities inflicting intrinsic reproach and robust laceration. The ocelate tries instance or havoc. This vagrant force trickle egoism, issuing force from impetuous prowess when muzzled. Muzzles. But not me, malevolent. Long with maladaptors and carnal hoodwink. He grasps, inflating, impulsive, inofficious agglomeration of this ingenious ass uttering indigenous animosity. Circling, lurching, they seesaw and they surge, yearning despair, finding threat. Whose inside their peppery compartments, sprouting forth crotchety humorism. Assimilating grotesque presence and imputing depositories that deteriorate and damage on defenders. Solicitors of substantial avidity, ravenous and elocution covet pulpits to wash intemperate absurdity. Perpetuating flaccid ingenuity and poultry fortitude admitting dissolution they divulged a disputable facilitation and eloquent delirium with compulsory reprisal but besetting any prior a fact systemically preceding pretentious pendulum that swing admissive. Swang and strangle, bruise and subdue. Causeless in their incisions immersed in the bay of grasses same feeble virginized gasses to persuade, confound, and antagonize indignation. They, the prosecution fragment lives and castrate freedom.
CREDITS
Thanks for tuning in. Check out our website at http://www.rustbeltradio.org. This show was co-produced by the Rustbelt Abolition Radio team: Andrés, a Maria, David Langstaff, Kaif Syed, and Alejo Stark. Original music by Bad Infinity.Midtown Toronto’s original craft beer
Granite Brewery opened up shop in the ’90s
By Post City Staff
Brewmaster Ron Keefe opened his brew pub in 1991
Ron Keefe introduced midtown Toronto to craft beer in 1991 when he opened Granite Brewery near Mount Pleasant Road and Eglinton Avenue East. More than a quarter of a century later, Ron’s daughter Mary Beth Keefe has taken over as head brewmaster; the roster of ales has grown from seven to over 15 seasonal and rotating drafts; and many have glommed onto the boozy bandwagon. Keefe gave Post City the scoop on the craft beer craze just in time for May 2-4.
What challenges did you face introducing the craft beer concept to Toronto?
The biggest challenges were getting approvals and building permits because there wasn’t a lot of knowledge about breweries and brew pubs. Were you a restaurant? Were you a brewery? That was the biggest hassle for us. After we opened, then the challenge was almost one of education. All these people coming in that really had no idea what craft beer was.
How has the clientele changed since the pub’s early years?
It’s a different ball game right now. I’d say it probably started to change in 2005 to 2010 — there was a big shift. Now we’re preaching to the converted. Back then it was a hard sell to get young kids to drink our beer because they were more geared to the big breweries. Labatt and Budweiser had the cooler commercials. Now, 20-year-olds are coming in asking, what do you got like Muskoka’s Mad Tom or Amsterdam’s Boneshaker?
How do you maintain such a strong local presence?
We recently started a scholarship fund here for $5,000 a year. What we’re doing is gearing it to regular customers, their kids and our staff.
The applications are rolling in for this year, which closes on July 1. Every year we brew a special scholarship ale, and so all the proceeds from the sale of that brew will go to fund the scholarship
Granite Brewery, 245 Eglinton Ave. E., 416-322-0723This article is over 2 years old
Force will patrol streets looking for rules violations including open-air barbecues, rubbish burning and dusty roads
Beijing will create an environmental police force aimed at tackling deadly smog, after the Chinese capital spent the first week of 2017 mostly shrouded in a thick haze of pollution.
The new law enforcement outfit will patrol the streets, eyes peeled for open-air barbecues, trash burning and dusty roads that violate regulations, the city’s acting mayor Cai Qi said at the weekend.
China smog: millions start new year shrouded by health alerts and travel chaos Read more
Beijing will also shut its last coal-fired power plant and reduce coal consumption by 30% this year, Cai said according to state media. Officials will shut 500 factories and 300,000 older vehicles will be taken off the road.
“There is still a long way to go to meet the expectation of the public,” he added, admitting he wakes up every morning and checks the air quality, along with the weather report.
The capital is frequently beset with toxic smog and levels of harmful air pollution in 2015 were more than eight times those recommended by the World Health Organization.
China declared a “war on pollution” in 2014, but has struggled to deliver the sweeping change many had hoped to see and government inspections routinely find pollutions flouting the law.
Last week, inspection teams from the environment ministry found some companies resuming operations despite a government ban, known as a “red alert”, aimed at curbing smog. More than 500 construction sites and businesses and 10,000 vehicles violated measures to reduce air pollution.
But Beijing’s new police squad may do little to help residents breathe easy.
Its focus on local, street-level sources of pollution ignores the steel factories and coal-fired power plants just outside the city limits in neighbouring Hebei province, or the more than 5m cars clogging the roads. Cars account for about 31% of the most harmful type of air pollution, according to China’s environmental ministry.
An insider's guide to Beijing: caged birds, smog and internet satire Read more
While officials are aware heavy industry and automobiles are the largest sources of pollution, the government has been reluctant to impose sweeping change for fear of economic repercussions and potential unrest from fired workers.
“The root cause of the region’s smog problems, from a long-term perspective, is an unclean industrial and energy mix, which requires big changes,” said Chen Jining, China’s environmental minister, adding that he “felt guilty” about the toxic haze.
Beijing education authorities did bow to public pressure last week, agreeing to install air purifiers in school classrooms after more than a year of campaigning by concerned parents.
A study earlier this year found acrid air is linked to at least one million deaths a year in China, and contributed to a third of all fatalities in major cities, on par with smoking. Another research paper said the smog had shortened life expectancies by five and a half years in parts of China.On December 15, Durham College (DC) helped make the holidays a little merrier for a local high school student with dreams of attending DC to study nursing. The college welcomed Samantha Garrow to its Oshawa campus where a smiling crew, including DC President Don Lovisa, was waiting to take her on a tour, offer guidance on planning for her post-secondary studies, and present her with a tuition certificate to the college.
Earlier in the month, Garrow was nominated and selected to receive some extra help this holiday season as part of Toronto-based 99.9 Virgin Radio’s annual Merry Little Christmas campaign. Garrow’s incredible story of pursuing her education while also caring for her young daughter on her own included a wish to someday study nursing at DC. Ross Carnwith, manager of Ancillary Services with the college, was listening that morning. He was so inspired by what he heard that he took quick action to bring Garrow’s story to the attention of his DC colleagues.
“When Ross shared Samantha’s story and wish to study at Durham College, we were moved to reach out to her,” said Lovisa. “She is working incredibly hard to earn her high school diploma and realize her educational goals so that she can make a better life for her daughter and herself. As a college, we are committed to giving back to the community, particularly during this season of giving, and are proud to be able to offer her some assistance.”
With the help of Virgin Radio’s morning show, Tucker in the Morning, DC was able to connect with Garrow. While visiting the college’s campus, she was given a glimpse into what a future studying at DC could look like as well as information on the admissions requirements and process related to DC’s Practical Nursing program.
“I am overwhelmed with everything that’s been going on,” said Garrow. “I can’t even express how grateful I am.”Mosques have launched a legal challenge against an English council’s bid to ban “cruel” halal meat in schools.
Lancashire County Council was due to introduce a new contract next month which will require schools to serve meat from suppliers that pre-stun animals before slaughter.
But the move has been put on hold as Lancashire Council of Mosques is now seeking a judicial review, claiming the authority did not consult adequately over the decision.
Abdul Hamid Qureshi, CEO of the Lancashire Council of Mosques (LCM), said that if the council refuse to backtrack, he will call for a “region wide boycott” of school meals.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “They reached the decision without any consultation. They should have communicated with the community that are most affected by it. They did not follow the correct process.”
Mr Qureshi added that the Muslim community is “very angry” that the council has branded their faith as “cruel”.
“We can’t accept that position. It is hurtful and negative. Our community really objects to that,” he said. “We will be calling for a boycott of school lunches if the policy goes forward.”
The proposal to ban the practice was introduced by Cllr Geoff Driver, the Conservative leader of Lancashire county council, who has argued that it is “abhorrent” and “really, really cruel” to slaughter animals without stunning them first.The 2016 USL schedule was released this morning and with a favourable season run in for Vancouver Whitecaps 2, a season to get used to the league under their belt, and an already stronger looking squad, hopes are high that WFC2 will make it to the playoffs this year.
One of the big talking points from the new schedule is that not all of the ‘Caps USL games will be played at Thunderbird Stadium this season, which will certainly please some in the support.
The club will play two matches elsewhere in the lower mainland this summer, at venues still to be confirmed, including a special Monday game for Labour Day on September 5th against Seattle. A new, regular occurrence or testing the waters for a possible move down the road? Hard to say right now, but it’s a welcome idea either way.
There’s a lot of WFC2 games to look forward to in the 29 team league this season, but there was a little disappointment for those of us hoping for more MLS/USL double header away weekends this year.
When we spoke with USL President Jake Edwards on his ‘State of the League’ conference call back in October, we asked him about the possibility of travelling Whitecaps fans getting to see both the MLS and USL sides over the same weekend this season, especially for the Cascadian derbies.
Edwards said the league were “working hard” to have that happen and to select “favourable” dates for the games, but unfortunately, apart from one possible weekend, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Disappointing, but with the issues with venue availability and the expanded league, I can only imagine the scheduling nightmare in general.
But enough of that and on to what is happening, and there’s a lot to be excited about for WFC2’s second USL season.
Head coach Alan Koch has already been working hard with his squad this offseason, with a month long camp in November with the re-signed players, Residency talent and some trialists.
Eight WFC2 players are taking part in the ‘Caps preseason camp at UBC this week before the USL team’s own preseason camp gets underway on February 1st.
The ‘Caps kick off their USL season on Saturday March 26th with a trip to Irvine, California to take on Orange Country Blues. That’s the same day as the MLS side are at home to Houston, and is one of nine such scheduling clashes this year. Thankfully there’s no home MLS and home USL matches taking place on the same day amongst that number, but there are three feast of football weekends in store, with three WFC2 home matches taking place the same weekend as the first team are at BC Place.
WFC2 will be away for their first two matches of the season, the second one of which on Saturday April 2nd will be the first of eight Cascadia clashes, when they head south to Merlo Field to take on Timbers 2. Anyone looking to make that trip will be disappointed to know that the ‘Caps MLS team are at home to LA the same day.
Whitecaps 2 will play both Sounders 2 and Timbers 2 four times, with two home matches and two away.
Seattle come a calling on Saturday August 6th at 3pm (MLS team away to Colorado on the same day) and that Labour Day Monday, with trips to Starfire on Thursday June 8th (the day after the Caps host Edmonton or Ottawa in the Canadian Championship) and Friday September 2nd (the night before NY Red Bulls come to BC Place).
Not ideal but the Portland games show a little more hope. Timbers 2 will head to Thunderbird Stadium on Sunday June 19th (MLS team host New England the day before) and for the last game of the regular season on Sunday September 18th (MLS team away at Seattle the night before, so a possible Cascadia double weekend for those heading home). Both of those games will kick off at 2pm.
There is also a potential for ‘Caps fans to take in a Portland double header in May. The MLS team will be taking on the Timbers at Piggy Park in an early afternoon kick off on Sunday May 22nd. The USL sides will meet the day before. BUT…. That USL game will not take place at Merlo Field, but out of town. My best guess would be in Eugene or at the University complex in Corvallis. Still, it’s a long weekend, so depending on where it is, a double dose of derby action could be possible.
Just some other quick game notes….
– WFC2 will kick off their home matches on Sunday April 10th against Sacramento, kicking off at 3pm at the ‘Bird
– Two of WFC2’s home game will not be played at Thunderbird Stadium. The Sunday August 21st game against Arizona and the Monday September 5th Labour Day game against Sounders 2 will be played somewhere else in the lower mainland, at a venue still to be confirmed
– The 30 game season won’t see any cross Conference games, so no matches for Vancouver against Toronto or Montreal
– Of the 15 WFC2 home games, 10 will be on a Sunday, two on a Saturday, two on a Wednesday evening and one on that Monday Labour Day
– Six of WFC2’s last eight matches, and three of their final four, are at home, which could be huge in the season run in
– WFC2 will play on the road to new clubs Swope Park Rangers, Rio Grande Valley FC and San Antonio, with only Swope Park heading to Vancouver
AFTN will once again be bringing you the best WFC2 coverage around this season, starting from preseason camp next week. So be sure to check back on the site and listen to the podcast regularly, and try and get out to as many games as you can. The team is the future of the club and deserves your support.
[You can see the full WFC2 schedule HEREDear 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.
US President Donald Trump stood alone in a rare moment of solitude before the Western Wall on Monday.
He wore a black kippa and placed one hand on the ancient weathered stones, standing there in that pose for half a minute.
In presidential first, Trump prays at Jerusalem's Western Wall (credit: REUTERS)When the contemplative moment was over, he placed a note in one of the Wall’s crevices and then walked backward for a few steps.In this quiet way, with a security helicopter whirling overhead, Trump became the first sitting US president to visit one of Judaism’s holiest sites and Jerusalem’s Old City where it is located.Its location over the pre-1967 lines makes such a visit potentially complicated, because it could be seen as a sign of US acceptance of Israeli sovereignty over the site.The US, therefore, did not want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accompany Trump. He was, however, greeted by Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and Western Wall Heritage Foundation director Mordechai Eliav.Trump and Rabinowitz recited together Psalm 122, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure.May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” They also uttered Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from?” Rabinowitz said he told Trump how his heroes were those Jews throughout the centuries who had braved both the heat and cold rain and ignored personal danger and persecution to arrive at the Wall at dawn to pray.The Western Wall, Rabinowitz said, symbolizes both the ancient glory of the Jewish people and its hopes for the future.After the visit the Western Wall Foundation issued a statement that said Trump’s visit, 50 years after the Western Wall was liberated, is a clear statement of the site’s historical significance.“Following this visit, we call on everyone to join forces and work for peace among all nations,” the Foundation said, adding that it gave Trump a book of Psalms with his name on it.In it, Rabinowitz and Eliav wrote the following inscription: “This ancient book will safeguard you, so you can safeguard the entire world. With appreciation and admiration of being the first United States president to visit the Western Wall.”Separately, Trump’s wife, Melania, and his daughter Ivanka visited the women’s section of the wall, where they, too, put their hands on its stones.The Israeli media reported that Ivanka shed a tear as she stood there.After the visit, Education Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted a photograph of Trump at the Western Wall and said, “On behalf of the Israeli people, please recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s united capital. You can do this!”
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Image copyright Channel 4 News
JD Sports "absolutely refutes" claims made in a Channel 4 News report that conditions in its Rochdale warehouse are "worse than a prison".
The programme says an undercover investigation will detail "harsh practices", including a policy allowing workers to be sacked after three minor misdemeanours.
The sportswear retailer says the claims "are simply not true".
It says there is no such system and workers cannot be fired on the spot.
Channel 4 News filmed undercover inside the Kingsway Business Park facility in Rochdale, which supplies all of JD Sports' stores in the UK and most of those abroad, as well as fulfilling online orders.
JD employs 1,232 workers at the site and is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by a combination of employees and agency staff. The ratio of employees to agency staff is about 70/30, but fluctuates seasonally.
Channel 4 News says the report, to be broadcast on Wednesday, will show workers saying conditions at the Rochdale site are "worse than a prison" and a team leader "boasting of sacking workers on the spot, for as little as sitting down through exhaustion".
In response, JD Sports issued a statement saying: "We are deeply disappointed and concerned by the allegations being made which we believe are misleading and not an accurate reflection of our culture, the vast majority of our people or our standards of practice and procedures.
"Indeed, we believe a large number of the allegations put to us by Channel 4 are plainly untrue."
JD Sports said it had a fully outlined disciplinary procedure and appeals process that applied to JD Sports employees and agency staff.
Shares in JD Sports closed 6.3% lower at 316.1p.
'Three strikes'
The Channel 4 report will claim JD Sports and the agency supplying workers, Assist Recruitment, operate a "three strikes and you're out" policy, so that workers can be dismissed for three minor misdemeanours, including having a mobile phone or a lighter in the warehouse, being late, or chewing gum.
Image copyright Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News said it filmed workers standing outside waiting to through security checks to enter the site.
Last year, Sports Direct was criticised for operating a system at its warehouse in Derbyshire which required workers to undergo lengthy security checks. The unpaid time spent clearing security meant workers were in effect receiving less than the minimum wage.
But JD Sports said workers, including agency staff, at the Kingsway warehouse were paid for time spent entering and leaving the premises.
"Our time and attendance system is specifically designed to ensure that all workers from both companies are paid for the time it takes to go through security on leaving the site; and we pay all employees in full who are up to 15 minutes late on arrival," the company said.
'Factual evidence'
Channel 4 News showed the television footage to Iain Wright MP, who is heading a Commons inquiry into pay and conditions for low-paid workers.
He told the BBC he was "disgusted" by what appeared to be happening in the UK's warehouse sector and that there was a sense that employees were being "treated like scum".
"It sounds like it's systematic across this area of employment and the government really needs to clamp down on this," Mr Wright said.
He said JD company would be invited to give evidence to the Commons select committee.
JD Sports said it was disappointed that Channel 4 News had not taken into account the "factual evidence" it had provided to reporters.
The company said once Channel 4 News had allowed access to the footage, it would investigate the claims fully.21st Century Fox Inc. plans to remove Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive officer of Fox News who has been accused of sexual harassment by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, according to New York Magazine.
Fox Co-Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James agree that Ailes should depart, though they haven’t reached a consensus on the timing and nature of his exit, the magazine reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
Ailes’ firing would be a stunning fall for one of the most successful media consultants and TV executives of the last half-century. The former adviser to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan teamed with Fox co-chairman Rupert Murdoch to found Fox News in 1996, and built it into one of the most profitable properties in all of media.
Fox ranks as one of the highest-rated cable networks every month, and is a huge source of profits for Fox. The company’s cable networks, led by the news channel, accounted for about half of 21st Century Fox’s revenue last year and more than two-thirds of operating income.
Ailes was sued for alleged sexual harassment by Carlson, who claimed she was fired in June for refusing his sexual advances and complaining about his conduct. The allegations prompted 21st Century Fox to begin an internal review. Her accusations were followed by claims from several other women, all of which allegedly occurred before the Fox News Channel began airing.
(c) 2016, Bloomberg · Lucas Shaw
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commentsUpdated: Oct 20, 2017
Working on Shopify stores on a daily basis there are a few things I always see time and time again. I wanted to write a blog post about the top mistakes I see people making or solutions they are not utilizing on their Shopify stores. Most of these are simple, quick fixes that won’t cost you a penny. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave a reply at the bottom of this post.
#10 – Not Adding a Facebook Pixel & Matching Product Catalog Feed
Adding a Facebook pixel to your store is a must. Lots of people figure they will do it once they start ads, but doing it right away will benefit you in the long run by having data already collected for when you want to run Facebook ads. In order to do so, you need to have a Facebook page and ad account, setup through the Facebook Business Manager. Once you have an ad account you can create a pixel, and copy and paste this into Online Store > Preferences.
Shopify guide on Facebook Pixel Setup.
Another thing I see all the time is a missing product catalog. If your pixel and catalogue are not setup together you are missing out on collecting extremely valuable data and the ability to retarget customers the exact products they viewed via Facebook and Instagram. Not only that, you will not be able to tag products on Instagram without it. So make sure you have your facebook catalog setup! We recommend using the free app Flexify for the product feed which will power your Facebook catalog. They also have a great guide on setting it up. You will need to be set up on the Facebook Business Manager and can create your catalog there, also make sure you associate it with the Facebook pixel you set up previously and installed on your store. Once you have it all setup you can test it with the Facebook Pixel Helper chrome extension.
#9 – Incorrectly setting up Google Analytics
Having google analytics setup is a must some people toss in a google analytics code, but do not enable it for enhanced e-commerce. Doing so will collect sales info and more data for your Shopify store which will help you determine any issues or where you’re having a disconnect with your customers. Shopify has a great guide, make sure you follow all 4 steps under the Google Analytics heading on the left menu including setting up goals and enhanced ecommerce.
Shopify Guide on Analytics Setup.
#8 – Leaving meta info for your homepage blank
I often see the meta section empty on Shopify stores. This is filled in under Online Store > Preferences. The homepage title is the most important factor for SEO, make sure it’s well written. The description is also extremely important as this is what will show up on a google/web search.
Read some basic SEO tips.
#7 – Not manually ordering products
Did you know you can manually order your products in Shopify by creating a collection, then ordering your products in whatever order you want them to display? Even for your default collections/all collection which is created by default. In order to override this by creating a collection called “All” then under Conditions select “Automatically select products based on conditions”, under Products must match select “any condition”, and lastly select “product price” – “is greater than” – “$0” this will create a smart collection for any product over $0.00 (ie: all products). You can change that value if you wish. Click Save collection. You will now see your products all added into this new collection, select Sort “Manually” and drag your products in the order you wish. This works on all collections, but I just outlined how to re-arrange your default shop all page (collections/all) collection.
#6 – Having newsletter subscriptions going nowhere
I see forms all the time that are not doing a thing. There is no point in having a form if you’re not collecting the data. Most themes come with a newsletter signup feature. Older themes will have a spot to insert your subscriber list url that you get from mailchimp. But since all new themes are running on Sections they got rid of that feature, so now to get your subscribers over to mailchimp simply install the free mailchimp app from the Shopify app store and sync it with your mailchimp account and follow the steps. Other email platforms such as Klaviyo will have their own sync apps as well. Connecting with mailchimp will also import other smart |
people went home at least feeling that their voices had been heard.WHEN Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, he oversaw the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a man so mentally disabled that he said he would save the pecan pie from his last meal “for later”. In 2002 the Supreme Court ruled that putting mentally retarded people to death was “cruel and unusual”, and therefore unconstitutional. But the justices left it up to the states to define what “retarded” meant, and this has proved so difficult that on March 3rd the issue came before the court again.
A Florida man named Freddie Lee Hall (pictured) was convicted in 1978, along with an accomplice, for the rape and murder of a pregnant woman and the murder of a police officer. He was sentenced to death. His lawyers are appealing that he is mentally incapacitated.
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For the bulk of the hour-long hearing, the justices quizzed Seth Waxman, representing Mr Hall, and Allen Winsor, Florida’s solicitor-general, about the role of statistics in defining intellectual disability. Florida requires defendants to demonstrate both “significantly subaverage intellectual functioning” and impairments in “adaptive behaviour”, such as communicating and looking after oneself. Psychiatrists use a similar approach and, like Florida, consider an IQ score of 70 or below indicative of mental disability. But unlike many states and against the medical consensus, Florida uses 70 as a rigid cut-off point. Mr Hall’s IQ in 2002 was 71, so Florida deems him eligible to die. It refuses to consider other evidence of his disability.
That is a very slim line between prison and death, but, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “A line has to be drawn somewhere.” The main question she and other justices pressed is whether Florida may ignore the “standard error of measurement” in intelligence tests. “It is universally accepted”, Mr Waxman argued, that people with “scores of 71 to 75 can and often do have mental retardation” because of a five-point margin of error. The four liberal justices, along with the swing voter, Anthony Kennedy, were inclined to agree. “Your rule prevents us from getting a better understanding of whether that IQ score is accurate or not,” Mr Kennedy admonished Mr Winsor.
Justice Stephen Breyer noted, with obvious disapproval, that Mr Hall “has been on death row for over 35 years”. Justice Kennedy asked Mr Winsor if he considered Florida’s brand of delayed justice to be “consistent with the purposes of the death penalty”. This inquiry from Mr Kennedy had nothing to do with the narrow legal question of the day, but it betrayed his more general doubts about the way the Sunshine State puts people to death.
Antonin Scalia, a conservative justice, was more hostile to Mr Hall’s defence. He noted that it took ten years after his initial conviction for Mr Hall’s lawyers to raise the issue of retardation. He added that the complexity of the crime—which involved hiding one victim’s body in a wood—belies Mr Hall’s purported disability. The state might well argue, Justice Scalia said, that Mr Hall “could not have pulled all of this off” if he was really so intellectually impaired. This is an old theme for Mr Scalia, who argued back in 2002 that the court’s bar on executing the mentally disabled would turn “the process of capital trial into a game” where murderers “feign mental retardation” to avoid the death penalty.
Justice Elena Kagan cut to the chase late in the proceedings: “Can I just ask,” she said to Mr Winsor, “why you have this policy?” Initially flummoxed, Mr Winsor replied: “Florida has an interest in ensuring that the people who evade execution because of mental retardation are people who are, in fact, mentally retarded.” Raising the IQ cutoff to 75 to take account of the margin of error, he said, “would double the number of people who are eligible for the...exemption.” In other words, Florida wants to execute more people, and therefore uses the most rigid definition of retardation that it can get away with. It might not get away with it for much longer.Pancho Montana
Mexico Drug War Dispatch: How The Drug Wars Ruined Monterrey’s Killer Club Scene The eXiled’s Special Drug War Correspondent MONTERREY, MEXICO–This is the longest time that I’ve been AWOL from The Exiled. Sure I’ve never been perfect about delivering regular on-time dispatches, but since 2008, I’d at least file a couple of articles every month or so. And the strange thing is that every time I stop writing, or every time I forget to answer emails, everyone asks me if I’m still alive, how am I doing, how many bullet holes I’m nursing… It’s strange because things have been pretty uneventful here. People write to me as if I’m living in 1999 Kosovo, but everything is the same. And when I say “same” I mean the exactly the SAME. As in, we’re no better today than a year ago, or two years ago, or three, four, five years ago. (more…) Continue Reading Posted: September 30th, 2011
Mexico Drug War Dispatch: Human Rights Aren’t Always Right The eXiled’s special Drug War Correspondent MONTERREY, NUEVO LEÓN–I just learned that a friend of mine got his human rights violated by the Mexican army, when he was grabbed off the street by a couple of soldiers, thrown into some dirty room, tied to a chair, stripped of his clothes and interrogated with the help of a friendly blowtorch. The soldiers waved the flame close enough to his naked torso that, by the time they were through, it looked like a blackened rack of BBQed ribs. All that was missing was the BBQ sauce. (more…) Continue Reading Posted: May 18th, 2011
Wrong Turn in San Luis Potosi: Why Did The Zetas Ambush Two ICE Agents On A Lonely Mexican Desert Road? The eXiled’s special Drug War Correspondent MONTERREY, NUEVO LEÓN–While meeting Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon at the White House today, Barack Obama is expected to discuss the idea of letting armed US agents operate on Mexican territory. You know, to help us deal with our deadly drug violence. Boy oh boy do we Mexicans feel safe now! I wonder if the idea to put US troops on Mexican soil has anything to with a recent trip by a few ICE agents into Northern Mexico that ended with one dead, one injured and one SUV turned to swiss cheese? (more…) Posted: March 3rd, 2011
Narco-War Dispatch: Gulf Cartel Releases A Brutal Video Threat Against The Zetas… This brutal video, which just came out, pretty much speaks for itself…that is, if you can understand Spanish. If not, I’ll explain it to you so you understand what’s going on. It was filmed in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and it shows various Gulf Cartel sicarios (assassins) posing with two decapitated Zetas who were supposedly part of cell run by a guy called “The Guide.” In the video, not only do they issue some pretty gruesome threats against two powerful leaders of the Zetas–Miguel Treviño (aka “Z-40”) and Heriberto Lazcano (aka “Z-3”)–but, well, it’s also kind of funny. (more…) Posted: February 14th, 2011
Mexico’s Narco-War 2011: The Gulf Cartel Chops Up the Zetas The eXiled’s special Drug War Correspondent MONTERREY, NUEVO LEÓN–Here we go again, a new year and a fresh new wave of narco-war porn to go along with it. If you’ve been paying close attention to the drug war in Monterrey (and if you’re reading this you must have) you will have noticed that the new year has only meant more violence, more drugs and more black SUVs shooting it out in the streets, 3-sided full-bore firefights between rival narco gangs and the army, pretty much like a Michael Bay movie. Life in Monterrey right now is like living in the set of Bad Boys 2. Non-stop car-chases and multiple shootouts, but no point to it, no reason for the apparently random, senseless violence. Shit, MTV should make a reality show based on Monterrey or even better, a “Tampico Shores” show, only in this version we get to watch the entire cast having their bodies dissolved in acid. That’s what it looks like from here, anyway. But I´ve come to figuring out how to follow this mess and make some sense of the violence. (more…) Posted: February 1st, 2011
The Mexican Drug War in One Lesson: Know Your Zetas! The “Z” is for “Zetas” It’s been a long, long time since my last article, but believe me it’s not because there hasn’t been any news. If anything, it’s because too much has been happening too fast to really explain the situation―even by Mexico’s Drug War standards, the news here is a fast-moving target and getting faster―and bloodier―by the day. I haven’t been able to finish a fucking paragraph without some new and bigger development changing the game. If you’ve been paying attention to Monterrey’s drug wars (that’s my beat), then you probably heard about how there are roadblocks all over the city, and how there’s a kind of civil war going on, pitting the Gulf Cartel against their former armed wing, Los Zetas. And while it’s true that this mostly accounts for all the recent carnage, to understand the recent dark turn of events, you have to backtrack a bit. (more…) Posted: November 1st, 2010Published by Ewan Spence at 17:25 UTC, October 30th 2011
Tucked away in the press releases from Nokia World was a small note that Nokia would be working with the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). Given that the MTA announced this trial without mentioning the hardware partner earlier in the year, it's great to see Nokia has picked up a high visibility hardware trial (at least in business circles) in America.
It looks like the Nokia 603 will be the handset of choice, running Belle with a software update to allow NFC SIM cards to be used in the stylish handset.
Along with the headline grabbing "Angry Birds Magic" NFC variant, Nokia is making a number of smart choices in the NFC space, and while their "touch to pair" system was one of the under-rated stands at Nokia World, it is making lots of small steps that are marking it out as an innovatorin the consumer space with this technology.
Much as it did with camera phones and GPS (to name two bits of now accepted technologies). With NFC support limited in Android, and non-existent in iOS and Windows Phone (although that's sure to change with Nokia's input to Microsoft), NFC is one of the areas where Symbian can continue to show its strength.
More on this story at NFC World.politics What the Brothers Ford Keep Missing About Government
The mayor and his brother are not, despite the rhetoric, heartless. But they do lack an understanding of how government should work.
Yesterday Doug Ford did something that sounds surprising: he voluntarily spent more money. Not only did he spend more money, he spent it on a social program, a program up for major cuts in the budget proposal he is currently championing.
Why the sudden change of heart?
Because it wasn’t public money—taxpayers’ money, as he calls it—that he was spending. It was out of his own pocket.
And in this small but telling moment, we find the key to much of how the Fords are trying to govern Toronto.
Toronto’s Budget Committee has been meeting all week, working its way through the massive amount of information contained in the proposed 2012 budget. Yesterday was the first of two days set aside to allow Torontonians to share their thoughts on the budget—to give, in City Hall parlance, deputations.
The list of registered deputants issued by the City Clerk at 8 a.m. on Wednesday had 348 names on it. Each deputant is typically allotted five minutes to speak, though the Budget Committee had voted a day earlier to cut that down to three minutes, since they knew the list of speakers would be long. The meeting started at 9:30 a.m. and continued over many hours, a nearly unanimous majority of deputants speaking one after another against the cuts contemplated by the City. School nutrition programs were cited especially often by the Torontonians giving their thoughts, and in fact it is quite likely that due to the mass of concerns expressed yesterday, those school nutrition programs will be saved.
Through it all, the councillors who make up the Budget Committee, especially budget chief Mike Del Grande and committee vice chair Doug Ford, stuck to similar lines of thought when they questioned deputants. “But how would you suggest we pay for these services?” Del Grande put to speaker after speaker, and “do you see a role for the private sector?” repeated Ford.
Shortly before 7 p.m., a deputant from Doug Ford’s own ward took her turn at the mic. She also was worried about school nutrition programs; in fact, she co-ordinated one at St. Maurice Catholic School. Ford asked her a couple of questions about the school, and then said, “Come talk to me after. I’ll help you out.”
A collective gasp went around the room. A few shouted, “oh, come on!” It was a classic Ford moment, the governance style of both brothers summed up in one small exchange. And it explained a great deal, both about the Fords and their detractors.
The Fords—and this moment was typical of them both, though only Doug was in the room at the time—do deeply, genuinely care about Torontonians, despite what their opponents might say. They care, more precisely, about individual Torontonians; both brothers can be moved to real empathy and generosity when face-to-face with the plight of particular residents. This is how Rob built his reputation, after all: even his staunchest critics admit that when it comes to handling constituent affairs, managing the trials and bureaucratic tribulations of the residents he represents, Ford has always been unfailingly energetic, diligent, and attentive.
This is not news. What is new is seeing how that impulse has shaped the creation of a $13-billion budget package (the rough total of the operating, rate-supported, and capital budgets in 2012)—especially since perhaps the failing the Fords have most recently and vehemently been accused of is heartlessness. How else, after all, could you describe a budget that follows on the heels of a tax cut for car owners, and then turns around and cuts student nutrition programs? What kind of values must these politicians have, if they would choose to spare the pocketbooks of…well, anyone, at the expense of underfed children?
The budget proposal currently under discussion is, as a matter of the policies and decisions it recommends, heartless. But it wasn’t, despite all the angry rhetoric, born of heartlessness. When Doug piped up at the meeting yesterday and offered to help the nutrition program in his ward, and a few minutes later when he made good on that offer and wrote a personal cheque for $1,000, he was manifesting a basic, laudable human impulse: to help where he saw that he could. (Cynics said it was a clear case of currying favour with someone who might vote for him, but that doesn’t actually capture the tenor of the exchange.) He was also modelling behaviour he thinks others should adopt. When Doug harps on the role of the private sector, of fundraising and donations and corporate sponsorships, he isn’t speaking in abstractions. Because the Fords were lucky enough to be born into a family with considerable personal wealth, this is what they are accustomed to.
The problem isn’t that the Fords are heartless, in other words. It’s that they have run up against the limits of their own experiences and don’t know how to get past them. It’s that they respond to the personal, to the individual case, and can’t see that the social programs they want to cut are made necessary by a large set of individual cases, all clumped together in one place and time.
Put much more bluntly: the Fords want for insight, not empathy.
This applies both to fine-grained management issues (what Doug missed when he wrote his $1,000 cheque is that while school nutrition programs overall face a 10 per cent cut, it isn’t being implemented across the board; rather, programs at some individual schools will be eliminated wholesale, including the one at St. Maurice) and to big-picture policy decisions. Doug seems to simply not understand why philanthropy can’t fill the gaps created by these budget cuts, and much more importantly, why that shouldn’t be necessary.
The problem with calling for personal donations is that it’s a scheme that relies on the appeal—in many cases the sheer likability—of the people pleading their cases, and the mood of those in a position to be benefactors. There aren’t enough deputations in a calendar year to cover everyone in need, and there aren’t enough councillors with deep pockets to make more than a negligible difference in meeting those needs. Fairness therefore requires not a scheme but a system, an organized way to ensure that social assistance is distributed equitably.
To make that last point explicit: a government which leaves taking care of the neediest among its population to the whims and caprices of rich private donors, individual or corporate, is a government that is defaulting on its responsibilities. This is why Canadians cite universal health care (regardless of disputes about whether some services should be delivered privately) as one of our nation’s greatest achievements: we have decided, as a nation, that we prize a certain basic level of care—in both the technical and evocative senses of that phrase—and that we are better off when we all are guaranteed access to it.
Care, as a social value, animates the Fords. It informs their actions—but it does so in the wrong way. The moral they draw is that they must, as individuals, offer assistance when they encounter other individuals in need of help. The moral they advocate in the political arena is that others must do the same. But that government is and should be a tool for doing this very thing—for ensuring a basic standard of care—eludes them.
The moral we must draw is that calling the Fords heartless is both wrong and beside the point, as are attempts at persuading them to save this program or that service by way of personal anecdote. You can’t run a city with a string of $1,000 cheques, cut by politicians with means as the mood strikes them. And as we’ve seen over the last year, you can’t reason with the politicians who are blindly convinced that’s a solution that suits every problem. The solutions aren’t going to come from the Fords; if they come at all, it will be from a council which decides to relegate the mayor to figurehead status and moves beyond the consideration of pleas to create and sustain policies that do what governments must—support many people all at once, whether or not they live in your ward and give a speech that moves you, and you can afford to help.First, we apologize to our loyal readers for not addressing this news until now. Our hands were tied. We’ve had to sit on this info for a long time, and were counting on being the first music news site with this exciting news, but that’s not how it worked out. The news leaked early, and most people have only heard bits and pieces, and there’s a lot of confusion out there, so…
VHND’s Exclusive Info:
1) KEEPING IT REAL: This is a VERY authentic live recording. Every bit of the concert is in here, including Dave speaking Japanese to the enthusiastic crowd, full guitar and drum solos, etc. Note there are absolutely NO touchups on the lead vocals, unlike most live albums. They considered using different songs from different shows, but thought it would be better to simply release one stellar performance. They want this one to be authentic!
2) SONG LYRICS: Song lyrics for the 23 live songs are included in the CD booklet and LP sleeves. There were two songs were Dave sang completely different lyrics in spots – (you know Dave!) — “China Town” and “I’ll Wait”– so the proper, unsung official lyrics are shown in red, to differentiate from what was sung.
3) COVER ART: The front and back covers of the live album feature famous paintings by Adolf Mouron Cassandre. Roth loves the art deco era, and chose Cassandre’s painting of the SS Normandie for the front cover, continuing with the traveling theme that started with the locomotive on A Different Kind of Truth. The back cover is similar to Cassandre’s painting of the French cruise-liner L’Atlantique.
4) CORRECT TRACK LISTING:
1. Unchained
2. Runnin’ With The Devil
3. She’s The Woman
4. I’m The One
5. Tattoo
6. Everybody Wants Some!!
7. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
8. China Town
9. Hear About It Later
10. (Oh) Pretty Woman
11. Me & You (Drum Solo)
12. You Really Got Me
13. Dance The Night Away
14. I’ll Wait
15. Cradle Will Rock…
16. Hot For Teacher
17. Women In Love…
18. Romeo Delight
19. Mean Street
20. Beautiful Girls
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Eruption (Complete Guitar Solo)
24. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
25. Jump
Prices & Pre-Ordering Info:
Update: Pre-order NOW & Enjoy FREE SHIPPING! at Van Halen Store!
Pre-Order now & Get Free Shipping at Van Halen Store!The Smallville Season 11 comic book series will be ending.
Writer Bryan Q. Miller has confirmed that the Smallville Season 11 comic book series will be coming to an end.
The continuation of Smallville has seen the TV version of Clark Kent meeting Batman, Wonder Woman, and other characters not seen on the first ten seasons of the TV series; it also picked up the story in telling the adventures of Clark as Superman.
Miller has confirmed that “Continuity,” the current arc, is the last one; Miller has also Tweeted that there are currently no plans for a Season 12, meaning the series will end with “Continuity.” This ending was always planned.
Even with the series ending, if you hadn’t kept up, the series has been collected in TPB form and can also be bought digitally at readdcentertainment.com.Republic of Iraq, Syrian Arab Republic (November 25, 2017) – After multiple years of ongoing battles in Iraq and Syria, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is now in danger of being militarily extinguished from its base of operations.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is now cornered and retreating into the vast deserts surrounding the Euphrates River. After a year of operations, the warring parties in Syria and Iraq have achieved and fortified massive swaths of land, namely the Syrian Arab Army, YPG, Peshmerga, Iraqi Armed Forces, and their respective Allies. Haider Al-Abadi, Prime Minister of the State of Iraq, says: “We finished Daesh militarily in Iraq and liberated our towns and cities. This is an Iraqi victory, made by the Iraqi people. We thank all those who supported Iraq and stood by us during our battles of liberation”.
After the fall of Islamic State strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul, very few would disagree that the extremist group is now finished. Although IS continues to grow in Syrian provinces of Daraa, Hama, and Idlib, it is extremely unlikely that the group will successfully flourish given the fact that the group is now losing support after the continuous losses in their former strongholds.
In Iraq, IS has been expelled from all major cities and towns, including the recently captured cities of Rawa and Al-Qaim of the Anbar Governorate. All which remains in the hands of IS are the deserts of Anbar, which Iraq has already begun operations in. Results include 56 captured villages and several SVBIEDs destroyed, west of Baiji, Iraq.
In Syria, IS has lost its former stronghold of Al-Bukamal and Deir ez-Zor. While the group still maintains its presence along the Euphrates Bank, it is unlikely that these positions will last in the coming future. The group maintains limited presence across Syria, including in the capitol city of Damascus. The Kurdish factions have also pursued heavy gains against the militant group in the East Euphrates bank, with rewards of capturing most of Syria’s oil refineries.
Prime Minister of Iraq Haider Al-Abadi states on verified social media: “We will soon announce the end of military operations in the western desert, secure our borders and declare a day of victory for all Iraqis whose sacrifices made this historic achievement possible”.
Even after the fall of Islamic State de facto capital of Raqqa and ongoing military defeat, bloodshed may continue in the two countries through sleeper cells and hidden training camps in the near future.Netflix CEO Reed Hastings again accused Comcast of \”taxing\” the Internet, during his speech Thursday at the final session of Re/Code’s inaugural Code/Conference.
Responding to questions from Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka, the Re/Code journalists who interviewed him, Hastings called cable a virtual monopoly and warned that paying an ISP to use its bandwidth is a slippery slope.
“The key thing is the principle,” he said. “You charge a little bit now, but gradually, they’ll charge more and more and more. Not just us, but the whole Internet.”
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts spoke at the conference on Wednesday and defended the cable company’s agreement with Netflix to charge it for peering — connecting their traffic through the last leg of the Internet pipeline that leads to individual users.
Netflix has continued to criticize Comcast, its argument to the FCC.
Hastings said that Netflix, since it comprises 30% of the Internet, offered to pay Comcast for bandwidth if it could take home 30% of revenue. Comcast refused.
Kafka later asked Hastings if the company has any plans to purchase sports rights. Hastings said Netflix lacks the money and bandwidth for sports and that live content in general wouldn’t be a big area.
Responding to a question about international program licensing, Hastings said the bidding process makes carrying it similar to sports programming, but hopefully over time Netflix can find a solution and become truly global, like YouTube.
–Joseph Adinolfi
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Market rally continues despite low volatility
Summer crash of 2011 in 2014?The Flame in the Flood is a roguelike survival game, but given that roguelike is, as a term, about as helpful as this review saying 'I really enjoyed the gameplay' before self destructing entirely, let's start again. The Flame in the Flood is an indie game from The Molasses Flood, about a woman and her dog travelling down a huge, wild river (this presumably being the flood) and trying to survive for as long as possible (this presumably being the flame) in the back of beyond of America, after society has collapsed. This America is beautiful, it is desolate, and it will kill you again and again.
The game will draw a lot of (accurate) comparisons to Don't Starve, both similarly - shudder at the word - charming survival games that will, once you start playing and form the immediate opinion that survival isn't so hard after all, prove you wrong by shellacking you over the head with increasingly complex systems of crafting food, tools, and clothing, combined with increasing scarcity of resources. And also wolves.
The reason The Flame in the Flood is described as a roguelike is because, again like Don't Starve, your environment, and the materials you find along the way, are procedurally generated, meaning every game you play will be different. The locations that you scavenge are little islands in the huge river: a campsite, an overgrown farm, an abandoned town. Sometimes you'll find life-sustaining food. Sometimes not.
The other reason The Flame in the Flood might be described as a roguelike is because death is a permanent state, and once you reach it you have to either reload a checkpoint or start all over again, depending on what difficulty you're playing at. There are many potential ways for Scout, your determined little avatar, to bite the dust, but you'll mostly be juggling her most basic needs.
Scout can sleep safely at fires and in abandoned structures like old school buses or farmhouses, but sleeping makes her a little bit more hungry and thirsty. You can drink unfiltered water in a pinch, but that'll give you parasites unless you can purify it, and food goes much further if you can cook it - but for that you need a fire. You can craft better clothes if you've managed to collect the right materials, but that uses up a stitching kit, and you might need that if you get a laceration from a wild animal (and even mild injuries like ant bites swiftly progress to infections and fever).
It should be noted that the complexity inherent in this inventory and crafting system is a bit of an arse. It becomes increasingly fiddly to navigate through everything and remember which things you've stored on your raft. It's a game that requires close examination and experimentation to really get the hang of, which is sadly not an option available to people in a real life or death scenario.
Weighing up your current situation against possible situations and your luck - that flighty bitch - becomes an ongoing process that makes you actually feel a bit like a desperate loner. The survival in The Flame and the Flood is an ever-repeating cycle. You could die at literally any point just because you were unlucky, which is a fantastic way to refresh the concept of a survival game, and stop it from developing into a grind wherein you're constanting farming for components just to build a slightly nicer wall around your house. You have no house; you must constantly move, and will have no guaranteed access to anything you need. The small victories therefore become incredibly satisfying. Every new day is a success, and making Scout a rabbit skin hat was the best thing ever. For that week, anyway.
Contrasting the unsettling nature of the game is the art design, which is oddly comforting. It's simplistic and stylised, like illustrations in the bleakest childrens' book your parents never read to you because they don't love you, combined with a gentle, acoustic folk music score that lulls you into a simplistic way of thinking befitting a lone wanderer. The whole game feels, at times, as if you're playing out the great American novel, which must be deliberate. The main character is called Scout, like Harper Lee's protagonist in To Kill A Mockingbird; she floats down river on a raft like Huck Finn; she carries the flame through the flood just like the metaphorical fire was carried in post-apocalyptic 'this book totally changed my life' book The Road. It's beautiful, but in a sad way, which, as art students in coffee houses will tell you, is the most beautiful kind of beautiful.
You get to have a different survival story every time, in a lovely setting, whilst discovering hints of civilisation in the emptiness - feral children who share arrows with you, the distant radio signal that is your first objective, fires that are lit before you arrived. What's not to enjoy? Just watch out for the fucking wolves, obviously.
Version Tested: Xbox OneThe final Pratchett: The Shepherd's Crown
I really tried to make this book last. It's the last Discworld novel, written by Terry Pratchett in the last days of his life, as his death from a tragic, unfair, ghastly early onset Alzheimer's stole up on him. But I couldn't help myself. I read it, read it all. I wept. Then I read it again.
The Shepherd's Crown is the fifth and final book in the Tiffany Aching sequence, a collection of five novels within the greater, 41-volume Discworld series, which Pratchett began in 1983. The Tiffany Aching books were Pratchett's personal favorites, a fact that had puzzled me, because as good as they were, they seemed slight alongside of the Moist von Lipwig books, whose exploration of the way that modernity and technological change rippled out through society really resonated with me.
But in The Shepherd's Crown, I've come to realize what it is about these books that makes them so special and endeared them so well to Pratchett's own heart: it's their compassion.
When we first met Tiffany Aching, she was a shepherd's daughter whose grandmother, Granny Aching, is the "shepherd's shepherd," a worker of magic and a keeper of animals, revered by all the people of the Chalk. Through the subsequent volumes, Tiffany and her companions, the Nac Mac Feegles, have have encountered more and more of the Discworld's other denizens: Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg and the other Lancre witches, the wicked elves of Faerie, and so on. Along the way, Tiffany has grown to understand duty, and service, and compassion.
In The Shepherd's Crown, Tiffany's coming of age arrives at its climax, and Pratchett uses her challenges to bring her into contact with a much wider piece of the Discworld. More importantly, he makes her confront impossible situations -- wicked problems where someone must lose. Into this action, Pratchett introduces all kinds of symmetries and touches in on some of the Discworld's old threads: the old romance between Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Ridcully, the ongoing story of the railroad (see Raising Steam), the social pecking order of witches, and the relationship of gender to witchcraft and wizardry, first explored in 1987's Equal Rites.
What makes this book so great -- what made Pratchett so great -- is his commitment to making jokes into something more than gags. The early Pratchett Discworld novels were rather thin by comparison to the later ones (he confesses as much in some of his essays), because Pratchett got better as he went along. Pratchett's early work was dominated by puns, Douglas-Adams-ish comic footnotes (that often fell short of Adams's high standard) -- cheap yucks.
But Pratchett got better. Lots better. He didn't get better by giving up on those cheap yucks: he got better by making them into something more than cheap yucks. The Nac Mac Feegle are a silly gag about Scottish, drunken, ultraviolent Smurfs. In the Wee Free Men, Pratchett played with this notion, figured out where and how he could push it around.
Five books later, the Nac Mac Feegle aren't a gag anymore. They're full-blown characters, and if there are running gags about them all being called things like No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock, they are garnish, not the main dish, which is a deft way of using these spear-carriers to move the story into complicated places where Tiffany's wisdom, self-confidence, compassion and sense of duty are all tested.
I keep using the word "compassion" in my descriptions of this book, because if there's one word that sums up the writer Terry Pratchett had latent in him in those early days, and the writer he came to be, and the literary legacy he left behind, it's compassion.
I saw a post on Seanan McGuire's Tumblr last week that stuck with me, about the difference between "sympathy" ("I know how you feel"), "empathy" ("I feel how you feel") and "compassion" ("is there anything I can do to help?"). Pratchett's characters are often unsympathetic, they are sometimes not very empathic -- there are times when I could smack Sam Vimes -- but they are moved by compassion more than anything else. Even the murderers. Even Lord Vetinari.
Terry Pratchett wrote this book knowing that he was dying, and he wove into it all the compassion he could muster. That meant, perforce, bringing in the railway, the goblins, and the themes of modernity versus society. Because engaging with modernity is the fantasy writer's trick, something science fiction writers struggle with. The rural and agrarian lives that are romanticized in fantasy are also places in which compassion reigns. You may have a wicked feudal lord and a venal priest, you may wallow in filth and starve when the crops fail, but you have a place, centuries old and immobile, and that place means that you belong, you have worth, and there are people who are enmeshed with you in a web of obligations.
Modernity rips that apart, and sometimes it fails to replace with anything comparable. Even today, we worry about the way that technology atomizes us, the way that migration breaks apart our social ties. I feel those worries all the time. Technology has given me myriad ways to connect, don't get me wrong, but it's also disconnected me from some things I rather loved.
The Moist von Lipwig books I liked best are all about this, and that's why I love them so. With The Shepherd's Crown, Pratchett joins the agrarian and the modern, witchcraft and engineering, fusing the two themes in a way that feels like the artistic climax of a prodigious and brilliant career.
I loved this book. I loved it even when it tore my guts out. If you love Pratchett, I guarantee it will tear your guts out too, and even though I'm not someone who worries much about spoilers, this one is big and I'm going to leave it to you to discover. But you've been warned.
An afterword to the book explains that Pratchett died before this book was as polished as his other pieces, and there are little ways in which you can see that, a few plotlines left dangling, a few pieces of exposition that could have been turned into drama. That said, it is so polished in comparison to, say, Equal Rites, the contrast illustrates just how far we travelled with Pratchett down his artistic path.
I can't believe that this is the last Discworld novel. 41 books sounds like a lot. It is a lot. But there |
that point — Chris Turner (@theturner) November 13, 2017
It was to CBC tv news tropes what This is That is to Radio One tropes. Kenny vs Spenny was just a show 2/2 — Sean Eckford (@SeanEckford) November 13, 2017
“The Rushmore of Canadian TV didn’t have room for Ken Finkleman’s CBC show The Newsroom—an astonishing act of comic lèse-majesté that flashed brilliantly across our screens, and is now in danger of being forgotten because some American gave a much worse show (with inferior dialogue) the same name.” – Colby Cosh, National Post
There are people who swear that CODCO was amazing, and it’s the only way you can sort of show your appreciation for 22 Minutes, since it isn’t on the ballot. And whether it’s aged badly or not is irrelevant – Air Farce was a gateway drug for comedy for so many in this country for decades. So yeah, I have no clue which way this is going.
DRAMA BRACKET
(i am obligated to note that night heat ran for four seasons, and on cbs went head-to-head with johnny carson’s tonight show, but i don’t think that will matter)
As Bruce Arthur said last week (in a thread that inspired this competition), “Canada’s most celebrated TV show was a live-action drama about dudes in boats salvaging stray logs,” and there are so many acceptable responses to that true fact.
To be clear, we’re talking about the Degrassi series off the air, which means The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. I’m not litigating things anymore than that, and your fuzzy nostalgia memories probably aren’t either.
Also, Traders is a show that exists.
Hey! It’s two shows that were on when I was a toddler and have no opinion about!
For Anne of Green Gables, we’re counting the original miniseries in 1985, the 1987 sequel, and the 2000 “Continuing Series” episodes. Yes, this isn’t a traditional episodic drama like everything else in this bracket, but it makes most sense in this bracket (and with a potential Round 2 matchup against Road to Avonlea).
Meanwhile, Wikipedia tells me Seeing Things was about “a newspaper journalist who solves murders with the help of postcognitive visions. Louis can only control this ability by investigating clues given in a vision.”
So yeah.
CBC NOSTALGIA VS. CTV PRESTIGE DRAMA
CLOSE RACE ALERT
After one day of voting, with thousands of ballots cast, Da Vinci’s Inquest and Street Legal are separated by less than 25 votes. To help jog your memory, two Good Canadians have written endorsements of the shows.
“Da Vinci’s Inquest captures a time in Vancouver as it moved towards gentrification and left behind its grittier roots. The show, which ran for seven seasons, captured a darker side of the city that is often ignored. Sure, some of the acting can be a bit wooden at times, but it references real crimes committed in the city and presented a surprisingly nuanced take on drug crime and violence. Unlike many other shows, many cases went unsolved and there were more than a fair share of unhappy endings. With many of Canada’s crime shows set in Toronto, one that highlights West Coast scenarios was a welcome change. Plus, I’ll admit, it takes me back to my childhood memories of Vancouver.” – Nick Wells, CTV web producer
It got its start as a pygmy version of L.A. Law, and ended its run seven years later as the most successful piece of scripted programming in Canadian television history. In between, Street Legal demonstrated that Canadian stories were worth telling – and that viewers were more than happy to watch them. In a way, it’s the most quintessentially Canadian show of all time – clearly a knockoff of an American cultural product but also a proudly local one. Whether it was Leon Robinovitch commuting to work from Toronto Island, the glamour shot of the CN Tower (accompanied by the squeal of a saxophone, of course) at the outset of the opening credits or Chuck Tchobanian’s decision to run off to Vancouver, Street Legal didn’t try to hide its Canadianness (as an aside: the fact that no Toronto band has called themselves the Chuck Tchobanians continues astounds me). That ever-present sense of local colour didn’t seem to hurt its popularity, either – at its peak in 1992, it was drawing 1.6 million sets of eyeballs an episode in Canada alone. Most Canadian of all, perhaps, was the reason for its demise: the CBC couldn’t afford to have two scripted dramas running simultaneously. And so, somewhat ironically, it was replaced – or, perhaps, euthanized – by a medical drama called Side Effects, which was populated by many of the same actors and producers but only lasted two seasons. Even more Canadian? The fact that while you can find reruns of every shade and permutation of the Law and Order franchise, Street Legal episodes stopped airing on Bravo back in 2009. – Max Fawcett, former Vancouver Magazine/Alberta Venture editor
So there you have it. Now vote!
Did any other child confuse these two shows growing up? No? Just me? *backs away quietly*
CHILDREN’S BRACKET
First, let’s acknowledge that the children’s bracket is a vicious, unfair deathmatch that could EASILY be 32 entries. And let’s acknowledge that people treasure childhood memories about TV more than any other. And let’s acknowledge that there are many very excellent children’s shows produced in Canada, from Nelvana to CBC to TV Ontario, that are worthy of discussion.
But if it’s not Friendly Giant vs. Mt. Dressup at the end of this bracket, I fundamentally misunderstand the character of this nation.
Sorry Edison Twins and You Can’t Do That on TV (which survived a play-in game against fellow slime show “Uh Oh!”) fans, but we’re gonna talk about Giant vs. Dressup some more, because it is, for my money which is non-existent because there’s no ads here the match of this tournament. Crafts vs. Music. Reality vs. Fantasy. Tickle Trunk vs. Rocking Chair. Casey and Finnegan vs. Rusty and Jerome. I can’t wait…but I’m also a little terrified.
Prior to this competition, I did not know that The Forest Rangers was a) beloved by Canadian children in the 60s b) one of the first big roles for Gordon Pinsent, c) a show with a kickass theme song.
But the median age of the average person voting on these things is probably not 65. Which means it’s probably going to lose to the Raccoons, since only one wilderness show can survive.
“Fraggle Rock was Canadian?” you say. Well, it was mostly filmed in Toronto, and it first came to prominence in Canada (children weren’t exactly watching HBO much in the 1980s, and that was its home in the States), so it gets in. So get your Jim Henson love here, unless you’re one of those TVO disciples who badgered me to include this in the round of 16 and i am not bitter about in the slightest.
BATTLE OF THE GUITAR-STRUMMING SHOWS FOR EARLY MILLENNIALS. CAT CAME BACK VS. SKINNAMARINK
(Sidenote: there’s only been three times in my career where I’ve been momentarily starstruck: Seth Rogen tweeting at me, arranging an interview on Global’s Morning News with legendary Vancouver Canucks broadcaster Jim Robson, and the time when I was running UBC’s campus newspaper The Ubyssey, and it was 11am, and I was hungover and the only person in the newsroom, when somebody phoned, and I grumbled and picked up the phone, and on the other end a man said in the most polite voice possible “This is Fred Penner. I have an interview in a little bit with Jonny Wakefield. Is he available now?”, and I have never gone from hungover to 100 PER CENT RAPT ATTENTION as quickly as those three seconds)
The YTV mini-bracket was proposed by VICE writer Sarah Berman, and it’s a darn good idea, so we’re gonna keep it, and see what comes out of the mass of surprisingly good original programming they created in the 90s, and yes, I’m sorry that Video & Arcade Top 10 and Stickin’ Around and Rupert and Uh Oh! and PJ Katie’s Farm and The Zone and so much else didn’t make it, but that’s how it goes, so look, just vote for spooky stories or high school journalism.
I love Reboot so much and think it so influential that I once rated every character from the show with two of my friends and put it on my dumb website, so I’m a bit biased on this one. To counteract that, here is a Ryan Gosling gif.
Did I throw two much-loved TVO children’s shows from the 80s against each other in the first round because I got annoyed at the sheer number of people demanding they be placed in this competition?
Maybe No. That would be petty. This is merely the right place for a faceoff, much like the YTV battles, and since I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of either show I’m going to leave it at that.
MISCELLANEOUS BRACKET
I honestly don’t know how to seed everyone in this bracket, because it’s such a random hodgepodge of nostalgia and weirdness and shows that were Important To Canada but now are dated…but the one entry people demanded more than any other for this bracket was Street Cents.
So it gets the one seed, but does it defeat Wok With Yan, which romped to an easy win against Definition in the play-in round, and is the only Cooking Show representative in this game? We’ll see!
On one hand, there’s no denying the influence that Wayne and Shuster’s radio show and subsequent TV specials had on pretty much every famous comedian that came out of Canada from 1975 to 1995. Will all the people who appreciate that turn out for an Internet Poll run by a Millennial?
(Shrug emoji). For now, we’ll give them an easy first round matchup against a game show that everyone sort of remembers, but nobody really loves.
AW YEAH IT’S TIME FOR THE CANCON EDUCATIONAL PSUEDO-COMMERCIAL BATTLE.
Burnt Toast vs Chipmunk. Irish Orphans vs Beaver. SklTrustees vs Loon. Jennie Trout vs Real Trout. Grey Owl vs Grey Owl. TRC – wait. No TRC? — Andrea Coutu (@andrea_coutu) November 13, 2017
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Animals or history: which one made a bigger mark on the Canadian psyche?
Another one where I have to declare some conflict: I uploaded the first 12 episodes of Téléfrancais to YouTube a decade ago and wrote an essay about it.
But while Ananas, Les Squelettes, Jacques et Sophie are famous in a very particular setting (Under-resourced French classrooms in public elementary schools), Body Break was pervasive on everyone’s TVs for a decade.
What is the greatest talk show in Canadian history? Is there a bigger gap between us and American when it comes to a particular genre of (English) program?
Let’s not overthink this. Let’s wonder whether Mr. Thicke or Mr. Vision Torrens did a better job elevating the form in their short time presiding over the format.
AW YEAH IT’S TIME FOR THE CANCON PSUEDO-COMMERCIAL BATTLE PART TWO.
This one. This one is going to hurt. Because for Concerned Children’s Advertisers, you have this 500-pound behemoth:
OH YEAH THERE’S ALSO THE HOUSE HIPPO
And I guess there’s like 30 others. But in the other corner, you have the Log Driver’s Waltz.
CHOOSE WISELY CANADA.
It’s time for some old-timey CBC game shows! Did you know I captained a Reach For The Top team that went undefeated but failed to make the B.C. championship game? How could that happen, you ask? Well get a couple beers in me and you’ll find out quickly!
(Meanwhile, Front Page Challenge had Pierre Berton and Allan Fotheringham, two Ubyssey editors who I idolized, and questions about current events and Canadian history, so I guess I like that too. UGH WHY DID I MAKE THIS CATEGORY SO HARD)
It’s variety shows from decades ago I know nothing about, so I’ll just let people older than me weigh in.
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Categories: Features, NostalgiaPretoria - Houses were reportedly petrol-bombed in Mamelodi on Wednesday night during a protest, apparently over a damaged power transformer.
Public order police were deployed to the Mahube Valley overnight, police spokesperson Captain Johannes Maheso said.
The violence apparently started when two communities in Mahube Valley started attacking each other by throwing stones over the damaged electricity transformer, which had left them without power.
Houses petrol-bombed and burnt in Mahube Valley in Mamelodi. (Supplied) Houses petrol-bombed and burnt in Mahube Valley in Mamelodi. (Supplied)
It is understood that the fighting occurred between those living in a formal houses and an informal settlement which are right next to each other.
A police source told News24 that things got out of hand between the homeowners and shack dwellers with several homes burnt to the ground, many more damaged, while about 30 shacks were burnt.
Minor injuries were allegedly reported.
The situation remained very tense on Thursday morning with roads blocked as police monitored the situation.
Follow News24 reporter Alex Mitchley on Twitter for the latest updates: @AlexMitchleyA rising tide of restrictions on religion spread across the world between mid-2009 and mid-2010, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Restrictions on religion rose in each of the five major regions of the world – including in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, the two regions where overall restrictions previously had been declining.
The share of countries with high or very high restrictions on religious beliefs and practices rose from 31% in the year ending in mid-2009 to 37% in the year ending in mid-2010. Because some of the most restrictive countries are very populous, three-quarters of the world’s approximately 7 billion people live in countries with high government restrictions on religion or high social hostilities involving religion, up from 70% a year earlier.
Restrictions on religion rose not only in countries that began the year with high or very high restrictions or hostilities, such as Indonesia and Nigeria, but also in many countries that began with low or moderate restrictions or hostilities, such as Switzerland and the United States. (See sidebar on the U.S..)
The rising tide of restrictions in the latest year studied is attributable to a variety of factors, including increases in crimes, malicious acts and violence motivated by religious hatred or bias, as well as increased government interference with worship or other religious practices. For instance, a November 2009 constitutional referendum in Switzerland banned the construction of minarets on mosques in the country. In Indonesia, more than two dozen churches were forced to close due to pressure from Islamist extremists or, in some instances, local officials. And in Nigeria, violence between Christian and Muslim communities, including a series of deadly attacks, escalated throughout the period.
During the latest year covered in the study, there also was an increase in harassment or intimidation of particular religious groups. Indeed, five of the seven major religious groups monitored by the study – Jews, Christians, Buddhists, adherents of folk or traditional religions, and members of other world religions – experienced four-year highs in the number of countries in which they were harassed by national, provincial or local governments, or by individuals or groups in society (for details, see Harassment of Specific Groups).
This is the third time the Pew Forum has measured restrictions on religion around the globe. The new study scores 197 countries and territories on the same two indexes used in the previous studies: 1
The Government Restrictions Index (GRI) measures government laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs or practices. The GRI is comprised of 20 measures of restrictions, including efforts by governments to ban particular faiths, prohibit conversions, limit preaching or give preferential treatment to one or more religious groups.
The Social Hostilities Index (SHI) measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations and social groups. This includes mob or sectarian violence, harassment over attire for religious reasons and other religion-related intimidation or abuse. The SHI includes 13 measures of social hostilities.
Over the four years studied, the number of countries with very high government restrictions on religion rose from 10 as of mid-2007 to 18 as of mid-2010, as a total of 10 countries (Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Indonesia, Maldives, Russia, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen) were added to the “very high” category, while just two (Brunei and Turkey) were removed (see table on page 10). Meanwhile, 94 countries (48%) had low levels of government restrictions as of mid-2010, down from 117 (59%) in the first year of the study. (For a complete list of all countries in each category, see the Government Restrictions Index table PDF.)
The number of countries with very high social hostilities also rose, from 10 as of mid-2007 to 15 as of mid-2010, as five countries (Egypt, Nigeria, the Palestinian territories, Russia and Yemen) were added to the “very high” category and none were removed (see table above). Meanwhile, half of the 197 countries in the study (98) had low levels of social hostilities in mid-2010, down from 114 in mid-2007. (For a complete list of all countries in each category, see the Social Hostilities Index table PDF.)
Changes in Government Restrictions
In addition to scoring countries on both indexes, the study looks at the extent and direction of change within each country from the year ending in mid-2009 to the year ending in mid-2010.
Just six countries (3%) had large changes (2.0 points or more) in their scores on the 10-point Government Restrictions Index, and all six (Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Tunisia) were in the direction of higher restrictions. Among countries with modest changes (1.0 to 1.9 points), there were many more increases (30) than decreases (13). And the same was true among countries with small changes (less than 1.0 point): 88 had increases, while 37 had decreases.
Considering all changes, regardless of magnitude, 63% of countries had increases in government restrictions from mid-2009 to mid-2010, while 25% had decreases. The level of increase in government restrictions during the latest year studied exceeds the increase over the previous three years, when 56% of countries had increases and 31% had decreases.
Changes in Social Hostilities
Increases in social hostilities involving religion also outnumbered decreases in each point range. Among the countries whose scores went up or down by 2.0 points or more on the 10-point Social Hostilities Index, four times as many had increases in hostilities (17) as had decreases (four).2 Twenty-five countries had increases of between 1.0 and 1.9 points in their SHI scores, while just 15 had decreases in that range. And 55 countries had increases of less than 1.0 point, while 44 had decreases of that size.
Considering changes of any magnitude, 49% of countries had increases in hostilities from mid-2009 to mid-2010, while 32% had decreases. During the three previous years, by contrast, 44% of countries had increases in hostilities and 39% had decreases.
Changes in Overall Restrictions
Considering government restrictions and social hostilities together, increases outnumbered decreases in each point range from mid-2009 to mid-2010. Among countries whose scores went up or down by 2.0 points or more on either of the indexes after taking into account any offsetting change on the other index, six times as many countries had increases (18) as decreases (three).3
Overall, restrictions increased at least somewhat in 66% of countries and decreased in 28% between mid-2009 and mid-2010. As was the case when the two indexes were considered separately, this exceeds the increase during the preceding three years, when 56% of countries had increases and 39% had decreases.
Patterns among Specific Types of Restrictions and Hostilities
As noted in previous Pew Forum studies on religious restrictions, higher scores on the Government Restrictions Index are associated with higher scores on the Social Hostilities Index and vice versa. This means that, in general, it is rare for countries that score high on one index to be low on the other.
The new study finds that some government restrictions have a stronger association with social hostilities than others. Government policies or actions that clearly favor one religion over others have the strongest association with social hostilities involving religion. The average level of social hostilities among the countries with very high levels of government favoritism (SHI = 4.8) is much higher than the average level of social hostilities among countries with low levels of government favoritism (1.3), as shown in the chart on page 20. Other government actions that are strongly associated with social hostilities involving religion are (in descending order): the use of force against religious groups; failing to intervene to stop religious discrimination; and limiting conversion from one religion to another.4
As the chart below shows, social hostilities involving religion were lowest among countries where governments do not harass or intimidate religious groups; national laws and policies protect religious freedom; governments do not interfere with religious worship or practices; and governments do not use force against religious groups.
Likewise, certain types of social hostilities involving religion are more likely to be associated with higher government restrictions on religion. Sectarian or communal violence between religious groups has the strongest association with government restrictions on religion. The average level of government restrictions among the countries with sectarian violence (GRI = 5.0) is much higher than among countries without such violence (2.4), as shown in the chart on page 21. Other social hostilities that are strongly associated with government restrictions are (in descending order): hostilities over conversion from one religion to another; violence or the threat of violence to enforce religious norms; religion-related terrorist violence; and groups coercively dominating public life with their perspective on religion.5
As shown in the chart below, government restrictions are, on average, lowest in countries where there are no violent acts resulting from tensions between religious groups; there are no crimes or malicious acts motivated by religious hatred; there are no groups dominating public life with their perspective on religion; and there are no incidents of violence stemming from hostility over conversions.
Harassment of Specific Groups
The Government Restrictions Index and Social Hostilities Index each include a question about the harassment of specific religious groups (GRI Q.11 and SHI Q.1a). Harassment and intimidation by governments or social groups take many forms, including physical assaults, arrests and detentions, the desecration of holy sites and discrimination against religious groups in employment, education and housing. Harassment and intimidation also include such things as verbal assaults on members of one religious group by other groups or individuals.
The number of countries where harassment or intimidation of specific religious groups took place rose from 147 as of mid-2009 to 160 as of mid-2010. Moreover, five of the seven major religious groups included in this study – Christians, Jews, Buddhists, adherents of folk or traditional religions, and members of other world religions – experienced four-year highs with respect to the number of countries in which they were harassed by some level of government or by individuals or groups in society.
In the year ending in mid-2010, government or social harassment of Christians was reported in 111 countries; the previous high was 107 countries in the first year of the study. Government or social harassment of Jews was reported in 68 countries in the year ending in mid-2010, a figure that had been steadily rising across all four years of the study. Incidents of harassment involving members of other world religions – including Sikhs, ancient faiths such as Zoroastrianism, and newer faiths such as Baha’is and Rastafarians – occurred in 52 countries in the year ending in mid-2010, up from 39 countries the previous year. Members of groups that practice folk or traditional religions (including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions and Australian aboriginal religions) faced harassment in 26 countries, compared with 24 in the previous year. Buddhists were harassed in 15 countries in the latest year studied; although this is far fewer than most other major religious groups, it represents a four-year high for this group. In the latest year of the study, Muslims were harassed in 90 countries and Hindus faced harassment in 16 countries – also more countries than in the previous year, though not four-year highs.
Overall, across the four years of this study, religious groups were harassed in a total of 184 countries at one time or another. Adherents of the world’s two largest religious groups, Christians and Muslims – who together comprise more than half of the global population – were harassed in the largest number of countries.6 Jews, who comprise less than 1% of the world’s population, experienced harassment in a total of 85 countries, while members of other world faiths were harassed in a total of 72 countries.
Some religious groups were more likely to be harassed by governments, while others were more likely to be harassed by individuals or groups in society. Christians, for example, were harassed by government officials or organizations in 95 countries in the year ending in mid-2010 and by social groups or individuals in 77 countries. Muslims also were more likely to be harassed by governments (74 countries) than by social groups or individuals (64 countries). Jews, by contrast, experienced social harassment in many more countries (64) than they faced government harassment (21).
Regions and Countries
Government restrictions on religion and/or social hostilities involving religion increased in each of the five major regions of the world between mid-2009 and mid-2010. In three regions – Europe, the Middle East-North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa – the median level of restrictions and hostilities both increased. In the Americas, the median level of government restrictions increased, while in the Asia-Pacific region, the median level of social hostilities increased.
Looking at the extent and direction of change on the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index together, increases of one point or more outnumbered decreases of that magnitude in all five regions, as shown in the chart on page 25. Sub-Saharan Africa had the largest share of countries with increases of one point or more (36%). Europe and the Americas had the lowest proportion of countries where overall restrictions increased by one point or more (22% and 23%, respectively).
Government Restrictions by Region
The median level of government restrictions on religion increased in four of the five regions demarcated in this study (the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas); it stayed roughly the same in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the latest year studied, government restrictions were highest in the Middle East and North Africa. The median score on the Government Restrictions Index for the 20 countries in the region (5.8 as of mid-2010) was up from the previous year (5.2).
As of mid-2010, government restrictions on religion were high or very high in most of the countries that experienced the political uprisings known as the Arab Spring in late 2010 and early 2011. In Tunisia – where the uprisings began – government restrictions increased from the high category as of mid-2009 to the very high category as of mid-2010 (an increase of more than two points). In Egypt – where the violence spread shortly after – government restrictions already were in the very high category; still, the country’s score on the Government Restrictions Index edged slightly higher, from 8.6 in mid-2009 to 8.7 in mid-2010. And in Yemen – where violence erupted almost simultaneously with the uprising in Egypt – government restrictions on religion rose from the high category (6.4) as of mid-2009 to the very high category (7.0) as of mid-2010.
The 50 countries in the Asia-Pacific region had a median GRI score in the middle range (3.4) as of mid-2010, the same as the previous year. However, half of the 18 countries worldwide with very high government restrictions on religion are located in the region: Indonesia, Maldives, Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam and Azerbaijan.
Median scores on the Government Restrictions Index for countries in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas rose slightly from mid-2009 to mid-2010. Although the median level of government restrictions in the Americas was relatively low (1.2 as of mid-2010), one country, Cuba, had high restrictions. Eight other countries in the region, including the United States, were in the moderate category. (See sidebar on the Situation in the United States.)
Social Hostilities by Region
The median level of social hostilities involving religion also increased in four of the five regions (the Middle East and North Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa); it stayed roughly the same in the Americas.
As with government restrictions, social hostilities involving religion were highest in the Middle East and North Africa. However, the region’s median score on the Social Hostilities Index rose only slightly, from 4.2 as of mid-2009 to 4.3 as of mid-2010.
The median level of social hostilities in the Americas remained low, unchanged from mid-2009 to mid-2010. Only one of the 35 countries in the region – Mexico – had high social hostilities, and 29 (83%) had low hostilities. Five countries in the region (United States, Brazil, Colombia, Haiti and Chile) were in the moderate category; however, all but one of these countries, Colombia, had increases of one point or more on the Social Hostilities Index. Columbia’s score decreased by 0.2. (See sidebar on the Situation in the United States.)
Restrictions and Hostilities in the Most Populous Countries
Among the world’s 25 most populous countries, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Burma (Myanmar), Iran, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria stand out as having the most restrictions on religion as of mid-2010 when government restrictions and social hostilities both are taken into account. Brazil, Japan, Italy, the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have the least restrictions and hostilities.
None of the 25 most populous countries had low social hostilities involving religion as of mid-2010, while four had low government restrictions on religion: South Africa, Brazil, Philippines and Japan. As discussed in the sidebar on page 15, the United States moved from the low category of government restrictions in mid-2009 to the moderate category in 2010, based on the information in the sources consulted for this study.
Government restrictions and/or social hostilities increased by one point or more in several European countries from mid-2009 to mid-2010, including Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. (See Government Restrictions Index table PDF on and Social Hostilities Index table PDF.) Russia moved from the high category of social hostilities in mid-2009 to the very high category in mid-2010, primarily because of increasing tensions in heavily Muslim areas. Russia already had very high government restrictions. Indeed, Russia was the only European country with very high scores on both the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index in the latest year studied. (To compare scores for each of the 25 most populous countries in all four years covered in this study, see the interactive feature below.) [Note: this scatterplot has been updated to reflect scores from 2013, our latest report.]
Select a year: 20072008200920102011201220132014 Note: For 2007-2010, the index scores are for the 12-month period ending in June of that year. For 2011-14, the index scores are for the calendar year. The center of each circle is positioned on the average index score for each country. Source: Pew Research Center analysis of external data. See Methodology for details."Trends in Global Restrictions on Religion"
About the Study
These are among the key findings of the Pew Forum’s new report on global restrictions on religion. The 197 countries and self-administering territories covered by the study contain more than 99.5% of the world’s population. They include 191 of the 192 member states of the United Nations as of mid-2010 plus six self-administering territories — Kosovo, Hong Kong, Macau, the Palestinian territories, Taiwan and Western Sahara.7 Each country or territory was scored on a total of 33 measures phrased as questions about government restrictions or social hostilities involving religion. (For the full question wording, see the Summary of Results.) The Government Restrictions Index is comprised of 20 questions; there are 13 questions on the Social Hostilities Index.
To answer the questions that make up the indexes, Pew Forum researchers combed through 19 widely cited, publicly available sources of information, including reports by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the Council of the European Union, the United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, Freedom House and Amnesty International. (For the complete list of sources, see the Methodology.)
The researchers involved in this process recorded only concrete reports about specific government laws, policies and actions, as well as specific incidents of religious violence or intolerance by social groups; they did not rely on the commentaries or opinions of the sources. (For a more detailed explanation of the coding and data verification procedures, see the Methodology.) The goal was to devise a battery of quantifiable, objective measures that could be analyzed individually as well as combined into two comprehensive indexes, the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index.
Some of the increases in religious restrictions noted in this study could reflect the use of more up-to-date or better information sources, but there is no evidence of a general informational bias in the direction of higher restrictions. For instance, the social hostilities sections of the U.S. State Department’s annual reports on International Religious Freedom (one of the 19 primary sources used in this study) in general have gotten shorter in more recent years. Pew Forum staff carefully monitor the impact of source information variability each year. (See the Methodology for more details.)
Readers should note that the categories of very high, high, moderate and low restrictions or hostilities are relative – not absolute – rankings based on the overall distribution of index scores in the initial year of this study. As such, they provide a guide for comparing country scores and evaluating their direction of change over time. They also reflect the number and severity of different restrictions or hostilities that occurred in a given year in any part of the country. Accordingly, more populous countries may have a higher likelihood of scoring higher than less populous countries, though in practice, some countries with very high levels of restrictions or hostilities have relatively small populations, such as the Maldives and the Palestinian territories.
Finally, although it is very likely that more restrictions exist than are reported by the 19 primary sources, taken together the sources are sufficiently comprehensive to provide a good estimate of the levels of restrictions in almost all countries. The one major exception is North Korea. The sources clearly indicate that North Korea’s government is among the most repressive in the world with respect to religion as well as other civil and political liberties. (The U.S. State Department’s 2010 Report on International Religious Freedom, for example, says that “Genuine freedom of religion does not exist” in North Korea.) But because North Korean society is effectively closed to outsiders and independent observers lack regular access to the country, the sources were unable to provide the kind of specific, timely information that the Pew Forum categorized and counted (“coded,” in social science parlance) for this quantitative study. Therefore, the report does not include scores for North Korea.
Footnotes:
1 Previous reports provided a score for the territory of Northern Cyprus and therefore included 198 countries and territories. According to the U.S. State Department, only one country – Turkey – recognizes the separate status of Northern Cyprus. Thus, future reports will score Northern Cyprus as part of the Republic of Cyprus. The exclusion of Northern Cyprus in this report has a negligible effect on the global and regional findings. In addition, a single index score was recorded for all of Sudan for this report because South Sudan remained a part of Sudan until July 2011, which is after the period studied in this report. (Return to text)
2 The 17 countries that had increases of 2.0 points or more were: Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Cyprus, France, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and the United Kingdom. The four countries that had decreases of 2.0 points or more were Comoros, Denmark, Slovakia and Western Sahara. (Return to text)
3 The 18 countries that had an increase of 2.0 points or more were: Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Nicaragua, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and the United Kingdom. The three countries that had decreases of 2.0 points or more were Comoros, Denmark and Slovakia. (Return to text)
4 Ordering is based on second decimal places when scores are tied. (Return to text)
5 Ordering is based on second decimal places when scores are tied. (Return to text)
6 For estimates of the size of the global Christian population, see the Pew Forum’s 2011 report, “Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population.” For estimates of the size of the global Muslim population, see the Pew Forum’s 2011 report, “The Future of the Global Muslim Population.” (Return to text)
7 As previously noted, this report does not include scores for the territory of Northern Cyprus or North Korea. (Return to text |
an entertaining, untaxing film".[58] Ian Christie in the Daily Express excoriated the film, saying that the plot was "absurd but fundamentally dull",[59] a further problem being that as "there isn't a coherent storyline to link [the stunts], they eventually become tiresome."[59]
Hilary Mantel in The Spectator dismissed the film. "It is a very noisy film. There is a weary and repetitive note to the frenzy. The sex is low key and off-screen but there is a smirking perverse undertow which makes the film more disagreeable than a slasher movie."[60]
David Robinson, writing in The Times, observed that Licence to Kill "will probably neither disappoint nor surprise the great, faithful audience",[61] but bemoaned the fact that "over the years the plots have become less ambitious".[61] Robinson thought that Dalton's Bond "has more class"[61] than the previous Bonds and was "a warmer personality".[61] Iain Johnstone of The Sunday Times pointed out that "any vestiges of the gentleman spy... by Ian Fleming" have now gone,[62] and in its place is a Bond that is "remarkably close both in deed and action to the eponymous hero of the Batman film"[62] that was released at the same time as Licence to Kill.
Adam Mars-Jones of The Independent gave the film a mixed review, pointing out that it took out some of the more dated ideas from the Fleming novels, such as imperialism; he wrote that the writers were "trying in effect to reproduce the recipe while leaving out ingredients that would now seem distasteful".[63] Overall Mars-Jones thought that "James Bond is more like a low-tar cigarette than anything else – less stimulating than the throat-curdling gaspers of yesteryear, but still naggingly implicated in unhealthiness, a feeble bad habit without the kick of a vice."[63]
For the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, Rick Groen wrote that in Licence to Kill "they've excised Bond from the Bond flicks; they've turned James into Jimmy, strong and silent and (roll over, Britannia) downright American",[64] resulting in a Bond film that is "essentially Bond-less".[64] Summing up, Groen thought "Actually, that dialogue... ain't bad. The silence looks good on Timothy Dalton".[64]
Gary Arnold of The Washington Times wrote that a number of factors "fail to prevent the finished product from jamming and misfiring with disillusioning frequency".[65] Arnold opined that "demanding that he [Dalton] play Bond's wrathfulness in a transparently seething and hotheaded manner"[65] means that Dalton "seems to waste away on this second outing as Bond."[65] Overall Arnold sees that there is a "failure to recognize that Bond productions are simply too extravagant to permit an uncompromised return to first principles."[65] The critic for The New York Times, Caryn James, thought Dalton was "the first James Bond with angst, a moody spy for the fin de siecle",[66] and that Licence to Kill "retains its familiar, effective mix of despicably powerful villains, suspiciously tantalizing women and ever-wilder special effects",[66] but was impressed that "Dalton's glowering presence adds a darker tone".[66] James concluded that "for all its clever updatings, stylish action and witty escapism, Licence to Kill... is still a little too much by the book."[66]
Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ stars out of 4, saying "the stunts all look convincing, and the effect of the closing sequence is exhilarating... Licence to Kill is one of the best of the recent Bonds."[67] Jack Kroll, writing in Newsweek described Licence to Kill as "a pure, rousingly entertaining action movie".[68] Kroll was mixed in his appraisal of Dalton, calling him "a fine actor who hasn't yet stamped Bond with his own personality",[68] observing "Director John Glen is the Busby Berkeley of action flicks, and his chorus line is the legendary team of Bond stunt-persons who are at their death-defying best here".[68] For Time magazine, Richard Corliss bemoaned that although the truck stunts were good, it was "a pity nobody – not writers Michael G. Wilson, and Richard Maibaum nor director John Glen – thought to give the humans anything very clever to do."[69] Corliss found Dalton "misused" in the film, adding that "for every plausible reason, he looks as bored in his second Bond film as Sean Connery did in his sixth."[69]
Reflective reviews [ edit ]
Opinion on Licence to Kill has changed with the passing of time,[70] some reviews are still mixed, though film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes lists the film with a positive 77% "fresh" rating from 52 reviews.[71] Reviews have improved since Daniel Craig's tenure, Glen intimating that Dalton's Bond influenced his.[72] Some are still unimpressed. Tom Hibbert of Empire gives the film only two of a possible five stars, observing that "Dalton... is really quite hopeless".[73] Hibbert concluded that "he may look the part, but Timothy Dalton fails the boots, the scuba gear, or the automobiles left him by Moore and Connery."[73] In 2006, IGN ranked Licence to Kill fifteenth out of the then 21 Bond films, claiming it is "too grim and had strayed too far from the Bond formula."[74] Norman Wilner of MSN considered Licence to Kill the second worst Bond film, above only A View to a Kill, but defended Dalton, saying he "got a raw deal. The actor who could have been the definitive 007... had the bad luck to inherit the role just as the series was at its weakest, struggling to cope with its general creative decline and the end of the Cold War".[75] In October 2008 Time Out re-issued a review of Licence to Kill and also thought that Dalton was unfortunate, saying "one has to feel for Dalton, who was never given a fair shake by either of the films in which he appeared".[76] On a more positive note, Collider's Eric Vespe put it in the top ten of his list,[77] Chuck O'Leary of Fantastica Daily remarked that it was a rare entry in the Bond series where the danger seems real.,[78] while Screenrant's Mark Zambrano praised the new take on an ageing franchise.[79] Other critics were more complimentary of the film. Den of Geek's Max Williams saw it a series highlight, calling it a masterpiece only Dalton could have made.[80] John Kenneth Muir also praised Dalton, regarding the film as a "film in which it detects the roiling, conflicted emotions driving a human being to achieve extraordinary things in the face of unbelievable adversity"[81] and Empire journalist Chris Hewitt called Dalton the best Bond and "Licence To Kill" the best film guesting on Smershpod.[82] Celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of the film, Esquire's Bob Sassone urged readers to give it a second look.[83] and Highdefdigest awarded it four out of five stars when re-released on Bluray[84] British GQ consider it the most underrated in the series, thinking the change in tone caused upset among fans.[85] Digital Spy called Dalton the best Bond of the six actors, praising his depth,[86] saying that enjoying "Licence To Kill" as a "violently enjoyable 007 detour".[87]
Some critics, such as James Berardinelli, saw a fundamental weakness in the film: the "overemphasis on story may be a mistake, because there are times when Licence to Kill's narrative bogs down."[88] Berardinelli gave the film three out of a possible four stars, adding "Licence to Kill may be taut and gripping, but it's not traditional Bond, and that, as much as any other reason, may explain the public's rejection of this reasonably well-constructed picture."[88] Raymond Benson, the author of nine Bond novels, said of the film: "It boggles my mind that Licence to Kill is so controversial. There's really more of a true Ian Fleming story in that script than in most of the post-60s Bond movies."[89] John Glen has said Licence to Kill "is among my best Bond films, if not the best".[5] Acknowledging its box office failings, Dalton thought that the more lucrative Daniel Craig films were influenced by "Licence To Kill"; ""A lot of people have said Licence To Kill was a forerunner of Bond today and in a sense that is what Cubby and I were trying to do. The Bond movies were becoming pastiches of themselves but they were still successful and people were not ready to embrace a new formula. There was a lot of innate resistance to change."[90]
Appearances in other media [ edit ]
1989 British Coronet Books paperback edition.
The Licence to Kill screenplay was novelised by the then-novelist of the Bond series John Gardner. It was the first Bond novelisation since Moonraker in 1979.[91]
Licence to Kill was also adapted as a forty-four page, colour graphic novel, by writer and artist Mike Grell (also author of original-story Bond comic books), published by Eclipse Comics and ACME Press in hardcover and trade editions in 1989. The adaptation closely follows the film story, although the ending is briefer, and James Bond is not drawn to resemble Timothy Dalton after Dalton refused to allow his likeness to be licensed.[93] Domark also published a video game adaptation, 007: Licence to Kill, to various personal computers.
The 2012 video game 007 Legends features a level based on Licence to Kill with Carey Lowell reprising her role by providing the voice for the character.
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Chief constables of two forces want to explore possibility of merger to create force area stretching from Isles of Scilly to Bournemouth
A new police force covering a patch 250 miles wide and with more than 1,000 miles of coast could be created by the merger of two forces.
The chief constables of Devon & Cornwall and Dorset police have written to the government saying they want to explore the possibility of a merger.
They deny that it is simply about saving money but claim a merger could be a way of making a more efficient single force. The forces will consult members of the public, local councils and MPs. The idea is likely to be met with resistance if a merger leads to any cut in the number of officers.
If it does happen it will be one of the biggest shake-ups since 1974, when the existing structure came into being. There are currently 43 police forces in England and Wales.
Shaun Sawyer, the Devon & Cornwall chief, and Debbie Simpson, chief of the Dorset force, made the announcement in Exmouth in Devon.
They said there was already a strategic alliance between the two forces that worked well. Two deputy chief constables work across both forces, and departments such as road policing span both. A number of support services such as administration, IT and human resources are also shared.
In a statement the chiefs said this had led to “significant efficiencies and better working in the last four years” but they added: “One avenue now being explored further is the possibility of a full merger between the two forces uniting Devon & Cornwall police and Dorset police into one police force.”
They added: “Policing has faced some significant funding challenges in recent years and we do not see this landscape changing. To preserve local, neighbourhood policing and deliver safeguarding within our communities, as well as an ability to respond to emergencies and emerging threats as effectively as possible, we view closer working as the only way forward.”
A new force area would stretch from the Isles of Scilly in the far south-west to Bournemouth in the east. Devon and Cornwall is already England’s largest force area.
The chiefs said: “We realise there may be statutory obstacles to overcome and there is a lot of work to be done to understand the benefits and challenges ahead. We will also ensure that the views and feelings of the public are taken account of.
“As a result, a decision is unlikely to be made quickly but we are absolutely committed to exploring the possibility of a merger in order to continue to provide a sustainable police service for all of our communities in the future.”
There have been calls over the years for forces to be merged. Tony Blair’s Labour government wanted to reduce the number of forces to 28 but the policy was scrapped because forces could not agree on how to do it.
In 2013, the eight territorial police forces in Scotland were merged into a single force, named Police Scotland.
Responding to the move from Devon & Cornwall and Dorset, the police minister Nick Hurd said: “While the government does not believe compulsory mergers are the way forward, we will look at proposals from any forces that wish to voluntarily merge with each other.
“We have always made clear that such requests would need to be accompanied by a robust business case and that the government will only support proposals where the case shows a clear benefit to the public and where it has sufficient community consent.”The Minneapolis police put Marcus Fischer in an interview room. He started cutting himself. They Tasered him and shot him.
A suspect in an armed robbery is sitting alone in a police department’s interview room. He takes out a knife and begins cutting himself with it, including his neck.
You would think that the police would recognize this as a mental health crisis, a potential suicide, a situation that demands careful, nonviolent de-escalation techniques to keep everyone safe.
But on Dec. 18 in Minneapolis, officers took another approach, with disastrous results. They tried to use a Taser on 18-year-old Marcus Fischer and then they shot at him. At least one bullet hit and wounded him, leaving Marcus in critical condition.
That response to a suicide attempt is terrifying. By using force, the police made the situation so much more dangerous.
And it wasn’t a one-time occurrence. Of the 14 Minnesotans shot and killed by police officers last year, nearly half were reportedly experiencing a mental health crisis. That matches up with police data from around the country. Going through a mental health crisis puts you at higher risk for police violence.
Just this past summer, Khaleel Thompson was shot multiple times by an officer in Crystal, Minnesota. Khaleel had a history of mental illness that police in Crystal were aware of. Like Marcus, he was left in critical condition.
Marcus and Khaleel are both people of color, making them even more likely to be targets of police violence. Being Black or brown multiplies the risk for people with mental illness or disability.
Both the Minneapolis and Crystal police departments have policies that encourage de-escalation strategies designed to avoid physical confrontation unless immediately necessary. But the policies don’t cover the special considerations necessary when someone is engaging in self-harm.
It is a natural impulse to want to stop someone from hurting themselves. However, when police intervene, they too often rely on their weapons instead of empathy and negotiation. The Police Executive Research Forum recommends that departments prohibit the “use of deadly force against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves.”
In such scenarios, the forum advises police “to exercise considerable discretion to wait as long as necessary so that the situation can be resolved peacefully.” Minneapolis police officers spent less than 10 minutes trying to de-escalate the situation with Marcus.
The Minneapolis police department is certainly not the only one failing to respond safely to mental health crises — this is a problem across the country. In the past year, police have killed people experiencing mental health crises in California, New York, Oklahoma, and Washington, among other states.
Our police departments must overhaul their training and protocols. A one-day course in de-escalation — like the one prepared for the Minneapolis Police Department — isn’t enough to prepare officers for dealing with mental health crises.
Training officers on crisis intervention should not be left to individual departments. It must be a core part of the curriculum at all police academies. Right now, police academies spend, on average, 15 times more training time on firearms and defensive tactics than on conflict management and mediation. That needs to change. The curricula must be revamped in keeping with approaches like Crisis Intervention Training and Critical Decision-Making Model, which have helped police departments that implemented them properly.
We also have to accept the limits of de-escalation and mental health training for police officers. While these strategies can improve interactions, officers simply aren’t the most qualified people to respond to a mental health crisis. Along with improving officer training, we must also fund alternatives to using the police to respond to mental health emergencies, like mobile crisis units and other community-based crisis services. Increased access to mental health and crisis response resources would help reduce the number of people experiencing mental health crises in the first place. There is no reason to wait for another person in crisis to be shot.
[Image credit: Flickr, Taber Andrew Bain, Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)]MSNBC contributor Charlie Sykes — who has been very outspoken about how fellow conservatives have dealt with and reacted to Donald Trump in the past year — said that Trump’s speech last night was a good one, but we’ve all gone through this “pivot” cycle before.
He said this afternoon that after Trump’s address to Congress, “Nothing actually changed. There is no policy. He is the same Donald Trump he was 24 hours previous.”
“There’s almost a battered pundit syndrome going on out there,” Sykes added, “where, you know, he comes home and he’s not abusive and he’s not drunk and so we’re just so incredibly grateful.”
Parts of Trump’s speech received praise from pundits who have not generally been fans of his.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
[image via screengrab]
——
Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s October 9 announcement that Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos actually discovered Stephen Paddock six minutes before the attack began, it is only natural to wonder if Campos could have stopped the attack–had he been armed.
But The Daily Beast (TDB) reports that Campos was not armed when he discovered Paddock. Therefore, he was at Paddock’s mercy and ended up shot and wounded.
The day after the attack, Breitbart News reported Mandalay Bay’s 2012 guidelines for private security, which mandate that guards are banned from carrying “weapons of any kind.” The guidelines define weapons as “guns, knives, nightsticks, mace, pepper spray, stun guns etc.,” all of which are designated as “strictly prohibited on Mandalay Bay property.”
What if the security guard who discovered Paddock six minutes before the attack had been armed?
What if he had been carrying a Glock 19 with a 15-round magazine and had been well-trained in use of the firearm?’
Many on the left argue against more good guys guns and even against the basic premise that a good guy with a gun is the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun. But such arguments are not logical.
Consider the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary, where there were no good guys with guns and the attacker had over nine minutes without any armed resistance. Contrast that with a shooting almost one year later to the day – a shooting in which Karl Halverson Pierson entered Denver, Colorado’s Arapahoe High School with a shotgun and was confronted by an armed guard.
The Christian Science Monitor reported that the armed guard began running toward the sound of the shooter as soon as the first shots were fired. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said that as a result of the guard’s action, “the heavily-armed shooter realized he was about to be confronted by an armed officer and took his own life.”
Because of a good guy with a gun the Arapahoe High School shooting lasted 80 seconds and only took the life of one innocent. Quite a contrast with the Sandy Hook attack that lasted over nine minutes and took 26 lives.
This begs the question, how many lives might have saved on October 1 if Paddock had been confronted by a good guy with a gun six minutes before the attack began?
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at [email protected] million people commute to Manhattan daily!
A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
About one-tenth of the earth's surface is permanently covered with ice.
Alaska, with 8, is the US state with the most national park sites.
All gondolas in Venice, Italy must be painted black, unless they belong to a high official.
At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world.
Greenland is three times the size of Texas. By comparison, Iceland is only 39,800 square miles.
Australia is the only country that is also a continent.
Canada is an Indian word meaning 'Big Village'.
China has more English speakers than the United States.
Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.
Devon is the only county in Great Britain to have two coasts.
Disney World in Orlando, Florida covers 30,500 acres (46 square miles), making it twice the size of the island of Manhattan, New York.
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
French was the official language of England for over 600 years.
Grand Rapids, Michigan was the first city in the US to put fluoride in their water.
Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee.
Hawaii was annexed by the United States as a territory in 1898, and became a state in 1959
If Monaco's ruling house of Grimaldi should ever be without an heir (male or female), the country will cease to be a sovereign state.
In 1771 the kingdom of Poland was larger than any other European country except Russia and had a bigger population than any other European country except France.
In the Great Seal of the US the eagle grasps 13 arrows and an olive branch.
India has the most post offices of any country with 280,181.
It is forbidden for aircraft to fly over the Taj Mahal.
Indiana has a city named Santa Claus.
Japan is the world's leading importer of iron ore.
La Paz, Bolivia, at 11,900 feet above sea-level, is the highest large city in the world.
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway at New Orleans, Louisiana, is the world's largest bridge. It is almost 24 miles (about 38 kilometers) long.
Maine is the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable.
Mexico City is sinking at a rate of 6 to 8 inches a year because it's built on top of an underground reservoir. Wells are drawing out more and more water for the city's growing population of more than 15 million people.Scholars have always loved war, whether it's chemists and engineers discovering more efficient ways to kill large numbers of people or social scientists, theologians and philosophers debating when, why and how to fight. Philosophers in particular have long thought about violence; Plato was likely not the first thinker to understand that what goes by the name of "justice" is often merely the violence and thievery practiced by those holding the reins of power. For Plato, their ability to continue to rule depended on imposing upon the weak the very rules they routinely break to maintain their position.
Plato argued that a well-functioning society could exist only in so far as philosophers and warriors were its "guardians" (the latter under the former's watchful gaze). To ensure justice prevailed under this system, the guardians would live in poverty and share all their possessions in common, even their children.
Sadly - at least for some philosophers - society hasn't progressed in quite the way Plato had hoped.
War, drones and justice
Most philosophers today accept the argument by the seminal inter-war philosopher Walter Benjamin that violence cannot be understood or judged except "in its relation to law and justice". Arguments about whether a war or the means with which it's fought are "just" in the past century have been increasingly grounded in international law, particularly international humanitarian law and the imperative of protecting civilians who are inevitably caught in the crossfire of conflicts, whether civil or international.
People & Power - Attack of the Drones
While there are certainly many conservative philosophers who write prolifically in support of their definitions of "just war" (the philosophical underpinnings of President Bush's idea of "preemptive war" is among the most recent examples of this oeuvre), the profession as a whole can be said to skew towards a more anti-war sentiment. This view is epitomised by a 2003 statement released by members of the American Philosophical Association against the US invasion of Iraq. It argued that launching a preemptive war without the threat of an imminent attack "stretches the meaning of preemption beyond reasonable bounds and sets a dangerous precedent which other states may feel free to follow".
Today, the most vehement debates surrounding the use of force by the United States no longer surround the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but rather the use of remotely piloted aerial vehicles - more commonly known as "drones" - by the US, as one of the most important weapons in its ongoing war on terror. The use of drones has caused an uproar not just in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and the occupied territories, where they are routinely used to kill suspected militants, but also among ethicists and the international legal community.
And now, at least one philosopher, Bradley Jay Strawser, has taken up the challenge of offering a viable justification for the use of drones. A recent hire at the Naval Postgraduate School, his arguments have caused enough of a stir to warrant a profile and opinion piece in the Guardian. Strawser now claims that the Guardian profile in fact misrepresented some of his views; but after reading two of his published papers on the subject, the profile in fact underplays the glaring problems in his arguments. When applied to US policy more broadly, they reveal just how far into a moral and ethical quagmire the United States has sunk under the Bush and Obama administrations.
All things equal?
Before moving to the Postgraduate School, Strawser worked at the Navy's Centre for the Study of Professional Military Ethics and Oxford University's Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). Among the research sponsored by ELAC are projects exploring "Automated, Intelligent Combat and Decision Support Systems for Command and Control" and the more prosaic issues related to determining how law, norms and institutions can prevent armed conflict in a contemporary reality - in which the supposedly "rigid dichotomies" of international law and Just War Theory have become "increasingly difficult to apply".
These themes weigh heavily in Strawser's work, in particular in a 2010 article titled "Moral Predators: The Duty to Employ Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles", published in the Journal of Military Ethics, in which he details his argument in support of using drones. The paper makes two primary arguments. First, it claims that "remotely controlled weapons systems are merely an extension of a long historical trajectory of removing a warrior ever farther from his foe for the warrior's better protection. UAVs are only a difference in degree down this path; there is nothing about their remote use that puts them in a different ethical category".
Strawser's second argument is that the use of drones is ethical, both because they reduce the risk to the "just war fighters" involved in operating them and, as important, lower the number of innocent civilians killed in strikes compared with other forms of attack. Specifically: "Other things being equal," he writes, "using such technology is, in fact, obligatory," if it can reduce the risk to the person on the "just" side who is controlling the vehicle. In other words, if you can avoid putting a soldier or pilot at risk by using a missile fired from a ship or drone that would have the same effectiveness as one fired from a plane overhead or the ground nearby, you have a moral obligation not to put the soldiers in harm's way.
US sends sub drones to Gulf
The important caveat for Strawser is that "their employment is done as part of a fully justified war effort meeting" in terms of both abiding "by both jus ad bellum [when one can engage in war] and jus in bello [laws of war] criteria". Here Strawser makes his most important claim, that the use of UAVs is morally justified precisely because they "actually increase the pilot's ability to discriminate" between legitimate targets and, to borrow a phrase from that great theorist of violence, Peter Clemenza, any "pain in the ass innocent bystanders" who might be in the vicinity of the target area.
Strawser's entire argument rests on this claim, he admits, because if he can't demonstrate that drones produce lower civilian collateral damage than other weapons, their use becomes much harder to justify - even if they do protect the "just warfighter" back in Virginia. We might imagine, then, that he has provided proof of his claim that in fact the use of drones produces lower casualties than do other weapons systems.
What precisely is Strawser's evidence? Shockingly, it consists of a since deleted web brochure by an Israeli drone-maker, Rafael Armament Development Authority, a quote by an Israeli pilot about how the drones help him avoid civilian casualties contained in the document (one might wonder why this didn't set off at least a few alarm bells) and an unpublished conference presentation that uses a "database combining reports from a variety of sources" to argue that drones in fact produce a far lower civilian casualty ratio than other methods of attacking militants.
That's it. A publication on one of the most important strategic political issues of the day, which is helping to shape the government's justification of drone strikes - indeed, Strawser admits that he was hired by the Navy Postgradate School in good measure to help advance this argument - actually bases its most fundamental argument on Israeli military industry propaganda and an unpublished conference paper. What's more, Strawser doesn't bother addressing the numerous studies that have shown the opposite, whether it's a Brookings Institution report that "suggests that for every militant killed, ten or so civilians also died", or the New American Foundation study which argues that approximately 32 per cent of casualties are civilians.
Nor does Strawser address in his Guardian interview and the follow-up op-ed the recent revelation by the New York Times that the Obama administration uses a formula for counting the number of militants killed that is "deceptive" (in the words of worried government officials) and counts any able-bodied adult male hit in a strike as a combatant. (Al Jazeera's The Listening Post recently did a story on the issue of civilian casualties, available here.)
We have to ask, is this really what counts as serious scholarship in the field of military ethics, never mind philosophy more broadly? One would imagine such a discipline would demand even more rigorous empirical evidence to back up any ethical claims, considering the stakes involved.
International law sidelined
But beyond this, there is the much larger issue of international law and whether the United States can legally kill people outside of recognised battle fields in conflicts that have not been authorised by the United Nations Security Council. Strikingly, the phrase "international law" doesn't appear in Strawser's Military Ethics article, despite the fact that it is inseparable from the larger issues of whether drone strikes are justifiable. Nor does the UN, or the most relevant chapters and articles of its charter. Not surprising, the administration adopts a similar tactic to Strawser's when confronted with challenges about its use of drones, offering "legal conclusions, not legal analysis", when asked to justify their use.
Drone designers seek non-violent uses
Perhaps most important, the focus of Strawser's work is almost entirely on the "just warfighter". How the drones impact affected populations - what it feels like to live with the terror of the constant buzzing of drones, never knowing when one of its "precision" missiles might hit your house or car just because it contains a few adult men with beards - along with children and the elderly - is, at least in the intellectual context he's operating in, irrelevant.
One reason this is so might well owe to the fact that Strawser specifically "reject[s] the moral equality of combatants", one of the cornerstones of Just War Theory, which has long refused to adjudicate the morality or permissibility of an action based on a judgment as to which of the parties to a conflict is "just" or "unjust". Such a determination is impossible once you step out of the moral universe of the individual sides, because each side will naturally claim its cause is just.
Yet without offering any justification for such a change in one of the most fundamental components of Just War theory, Strawser declares that "the warrior fighting for a just cause is morally justified to take the life of the enemy combatant, whereas the unjust fighter is not justified, even if they follow the traditional principles of jus in bello such as only targeting combatants and the like, to kill the justified fighter. Thus, there is no chivalrous reason for a just combatant to 'equal the playing field' or 'fight fair'".
In another article titled "Walking the Tightrope of Just War", Strawser declares even more directly that "a soldier's side must have just cause for her to be capable of acting justly in war. The presumption of moral symmetry between soldiers is thus abandoned".
Strawser arrives at this conclusion by comparing the determination of just causes for engaging in war with whether or not an individual can justly kill someone who attacks him or her without warning. "For each of the kinds of relevant knowledge, the epistemic difference between personal self-defence and war is a matter of degree not kind," he declares in "Moral Predators".
He seems unaware that people are not the same things as nations (perhaps they're the same as corporations, but that's a different, though related issue). You might be able to "stand your ground" in 24 states in the US, but considering how much death and destruction countries can unleash on each other, the requirements of following international law are crucial to preventing even greater hostilities when the potential for conflict appears on the horizon.
Indeed, Strawser actually seems clueless about this difference in "Walking the Tightrope", where he declares his support for an "evidence-relative" versus "fact-relative" view of "moral wrongdoing and permissibility". In other words, as long as you think you're in the right when you attack - say, you have this evidence from someone named Curveball saying that Iraq has WMD - if it turns out the evidence was wrong after the fact, you don't have to feel too guilty, never mind worry about facing international sanction and even a tribunal at The Hague. It, might, we can assume, be nice to say you're sorry, and promise to be a bit more careful next time.
Thankfully, the use of drones - whether based on facts or merely evidence of supposed wrong-doing (or thinking about wrong-doing, or just playing the wrong first-person shooter video game, which the NSA apparently determines is evidence enough that you want to harm the US) is, at least for now, not an option for most people. But soon enough, the same people who refuse to leave their homes unarmed will be travelling around with armed drones hovering over them or their cars, ready to attack anyone who unexpectedly comes to close to or raises its owner's pulse or blood pressure. Think George Zimmerman versus Trayvon Martin in the outer ring of the seventh circle of Hell, and you will have an idea of what life will be like, not in Afghanistan or Yemen, but in Texas or Colorado, once weaponised drones become only slightly more expensive than the remote controlled helicopter your child keeps bothering you to buy.
Pakistan expresses concern over drones
Justice in 'Beta-world-Zandar'
Strawser's arguments may seem ill-conceived when put into the context of a real-world setting, but as you read his work, it becomes clear that he's in fact not operating in the real world at all. Instead, at least in his "drones" article, he's operating out of a place called "Beta-world-Zandar" (that's what he calls it in "Moral Predators") and other "future worlds", who are inhabited by imaginary men named "Tom". Reality gets relegated to the endnotes of his article, where he admits that "there are many in the United States military community itself who do not question the efficacy of UAV usage but rather have principled worries concerning their use such as those mentioned above".
I'm not sure where Beta-world-Zandar is, but Strawser clearly believes he's working on a "hot topic" in his professional universe. Indeed, his giddiness seems to have gotten the better of him during the interview for his Guardian profile, in which he explained of the use of drones: "It's all upside. There's no downside. Both ethically and normatively, there's a tremendous value." Those words clearly looked worse on the page than they sounded coming out of his mouth, because in the op-ed he wrote subsequent to the publication of his profile, he declared: "Unfortunately - if understandably, given the complexities of the matter - I consider some of my views were misrepresented. Most disturbingly, I was reported to claim that 'there's no downside' to killing by drones. In fact, the majority of my work on drones is dedicated to elucidating and analysing the serious moral downsides that killing by remote control can pose. The Guardian has graciously offered me this space to set the record straight."
Of course, he doesn't deny that he actually said what was written, merely that is was "disturbing" - and rightfully so. But again, rather than "setting the record straight", he merely repeats his claim that drones kill fewer civilians than other options. He goes on to reiterate that "my claim about drones is entirely conditional: they should be used only if the mission is just. As with all conditional claims, if the antecedent is false, then the entire claim is invalidated".
But this is of course disingenuous. Neither the media nor the Navy would be paying any attention to Strawser if the drone debate was merely about whether, "other things being equal", it was no worse to kill someone with a drone than with a gun or cruise missile. Instead, the very power of drones - their seemingly godlike omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence - sows confusion, even among philosophers who should know better.
Thus Strawser argues that "the kind of change I'm proposing may already be occurring. Take NATO's present counter-insurgency (COIN) operations in Afghanistan. |
days later, u/hero0fwar created a new subreddit, r/HQGStudios, proof that their creative endeavor was here to stay.
The next video the team gave the HQG treatment was Mackelmore’s “Thrift Shop,” which presented new editing challenges that the monochromatic backgrounds and sparse sets of “Shake It Off” didn’t.
It begins with Macklemore and company cycling into a sign for HQG Studios, a well-placed tattoo reading “MEME LIFE,” and an appropriately meta nod to their last video.
When u/hero0fwar shared the finished product, redditors gave it a similarly enthusiastic reception, but this time the HQG team caught the eye of Dahlia Dandashi at The Daily Dot, who wrote, “Macklemore’s ‘Thrift Shop’ is way better in GIF form.”
You can watch the full video below and judge for yourself:
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
So far this year, the HQG Studios team has followed up with two more lyric videos—the Bruno Mars song “24k Magic” in March, the long-awaited Swift sequel “Bad Blood” in April, and Eminem’s “Rap God” earlier this month.
But they’ve also ventured outside the realm of music videos, with their take on the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and more creative productions in the works.
“I would love to see this project get in front of some mainstream companies,” u/hero0fwar explains. “I have already had some contact with a couple of record labels, but it has not evolved into any projects yet…”
In the meantime, HQG Studios will keep giffing, and they likely can’t or simply won’t stop adding meta. It’s like they’ve got these movies, in their minds…
For for the latest HQG productions, check out r/HQGStudios. You can follow u/hero0fwar on his new profile page here.Is this the beginning of yet another scandal for the Obama administration?
On June 30, 2009, U.S. Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl went missing in Afghanistan. In the ensuing frantic manhunt over the next 90 days, thousands of troops were pulled from their normal duties and six or more men allegedly died in missions to find him. They never did—he was captured by the Taliban and has since been held prisoner in Afghanistan until just a few days ago when he was released in exchange for five senior Taliban prisoners in a deal brokered by the U.S. government.
Since then, more has come to light about Bergdahl. Several of his platoon mates have confirmed that he walked away from his post on that day in June 2009, intent on deserting. He even left a note saying he no longer supported the American effort in Afghanistan, and had shipped many of his belongings home.
Accusations of collaboration and other traitorous actions have also sparked a firestorm of criticism from his comrades. Some men from his unit claim those close to Bergdahl were asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement after his disappearance, which they say is highly irregular.
Bergdahl was exchanged for five senior Taliban commanders captured in 2001 that were being held in Guantanamo Bay: Mohammad Fazl, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mullah Norullah Noori, Mohammed Nabi and Abdul Haq Wasiq. Khairkhwa, one of the top opium drug lords in western Afghanistan, helped found the Taliban and, according to Human Rights Watch, Fazl oversaw the mass killing of Shiites in 2000 and 2001 as the Taliban solidified its control. And yet, according to United States Press Secretary Jay Carney, these prisoners “do not and will not pose a significant threat to the United States.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7NaLYAHixg&feature=youtu.be
The five have been flown to Qatar, where they face security restrictions and are confined to the country for one year.
Bergdahl’s father, Bob Bergdahl, pushed for years to trade Guantanamo prisoners for his son. “We started out by trying to encourage the Taliban to take care of our son,” he said in a 2012 interview. “Now, we’re worried that the government isn’t concerned enough to put him on the (negotiating) table.” In a 2011 video message, he thanked the Taliban for taking care of his son.
But in a tweet last week that was later deleted, Mr. Bergdahl wrote to a spokesman for the Taliban: “I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners. God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen!”
We swore and upheld our oath, and he did not. He’s a deserter at best, and a traitor at worst. Cody Full, Bergdahl’s former platoon mate
report by The Sunday Times in 2010 alleged that a captive Bergdahl was training Taliban fighters in bomb-making and ambush skills. One Taliban source said Bergdahl had converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdullah, though he admitted it might be a pretense on Bergdahl’s part to save himself from execution. Other Afghan intelligence officials said they believed Bergdahl was “cooperating with the Taliban.”
Regardless of whether these collaboration charges are true, Bergdahl should be court-martialed for desertion upon his return rather than hailed a hero, says former platoon mate Cody Full. “[T]he fact of the matter is that in the military you sign your name and you take your oath, and you fulfill your orders given to you. You are part of something bigger than yourself,” Full said. “We swore and upheld our oath, and he did not. He’s a deserter at best, and a traitor at worst.”
Yesterday, defense officials said Bergdahl has not been classified as a deserter, but is scheduled for promotion. He was already promoted to sergeant during the time he was being held captive in Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the question of Bergdahl’s desertion was “incontrovertible.”
“Our first priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him reunited with his family,” Hagel said this past weekend. “Other circumstances that may develop and questions, those will be dealt with later.”
Nathan Bradley Bethea, an officer in Bergdahl’s unit, responded to the desertion reports in an article for the Daily Beast on Monday. He wrote: “There was no patrol that night. Bergdahl was relieved from guard duty, and instead of going to sleep, he fled the outpost on foot. He deserted. I’ve talked to members of Bergdahl’s platoon—including the last Americans to see him before his capture. I’ve reviewed the relevant documents. That’s what happened.”
He also wrote that eight soldiers from his own unit died trying to track Bergdahl down. One Pentagon official told the Washington Times, “I know for a fact that we lost soldiers looking for him.”
Sources also told the Washington Times that on several occasions, army commanders had intelligence on Bergdahl’s whereabouts but rescue missions were always dismissed with “the conclusion each time … that the prospect of losing highly trained troops was too high a price to pay for rescuing a soldier who walked away from his unit before being captured by the enemy.”
Meanwhile, videos claiming to show the five released prisoners arriving in Qatar display a triumphant party greeting them with no American presence in sight.
Taliban leader Mohammed Omar also issued a message of congratulations: “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire Afghan Muslim nation, all the mujahideen and to the families and relatives of the prisoners for this big victory.”
Bergdahl is currently in a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, being evaluated and debriefed by U.S. officials. It is not clear when he will return to the United States.
To see how this illegal prisoner swap will endanger more American lives in the future, watch the video below.A Metro news headline suggests that data collected from ThinkHQ shows Brian Jean has the United Conservative Party leadership vote in the bag, but digging a bit deeper into the report paints a different picture.
The actual report from the public relations and strategy consultant says reliably sampling the group is impossible without an up to date party list.
Despite this, Metro led with stats that suggested Jean was ahead of Kenney by 19 per cent in polls regardless.
Watch as I dig further into the stats to give you a more accurate picture of where things stand.
Predictably, Metro trots out Mount Royal University’s Associate Professor of Policy Studies Lori Williams’ useless analysis, in which she maintains Jean is so many points ahead of Kenney that momentum is in his favour.
The “expert” then goes on to discuss how undecided voters may view Jean as a better candidate to win an election, and that Kenney’s non-position on hot button LGBTQ issues have possibly hurt his popularity.
Perhaps Metro approached her with their misrepresented information, but her statements couldn’t be further from the truth.
ThinkHQ’s own data shows that no matter who the leader of the UCP is, they’ll win the next election.
In the end, this just shows how the mainstream media will go out of their way to veil the real stats in order to campaign for their favourite people. In reality, this leadership race is still up to the members to decide.TIM Sherwood will forego traditional cup final ‘mind games’ in favour of subtly inferring that Arsene Wenger is unable to down a pint.
The Aston Villa manager revealed he would intimidate his Arsenal counterpart with pre-match pyschological warfare ‘based exclusively around classic bants’.
He said: “At every press conference from now until the FA Cup final, I will be doing my very best to tacitly infer that Arsene is a shit lad.”
Sherwood’s campaign of ‘mind banter’ will be a series of observations about Wenger, including his low alcohol tolerance and his massive, sleeping bag coat.
He added: “Then, in the week leading up to the game, I will post photos on Facebook of him next to Blanche from Coronation Street, with the caption: ‘Separated at birth lol ;-)’.”
Villa striker Christian Benteke said: “Tim has stopped coming to training in order to spend more time photoshopping Mr Wenger’s head into porn pictures.”"Didelphys" redirects here. For the genus commonly known as large American opossums, see didelphis
Uterus didelphys Synonyms Bicervical bicornuate uterus Ultrasound showing didelphys Specialty Gynaecology
Uterus didelphys (sometimes also uterus didelphis) represents a uterine malformation where the uterus is present as a paired organ when the embryogenetic fusion of the Müllerian ducts fails to occur. As a result, there is a double uterus with two separate cervices, and rarely a double vagina as well. Each uterus has a single horn linked to the ipsilateral fallopian tube that faces its ovary.
In non human species (e.g. nematodes), a didelphic genital tract may be normal rather than a malformation. Such species are described as didelphic, as opposed to monodelphic, with a single tract.
Signs and symptoms [ edit ]
Persons with the condition may be asymptomatic and unaware of having a double uterus. However, a study by Heinonen showed that certain conditions are more common. In his study of 26 women with a double uterus gynecological complaints included dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia. All patients displayed a double vagina. The fetal survival rate in 18 patients who delivered was 67.5%. Premature delivery occurred in 21% of the pregnancies. Breech presentation occurred in 43% of women and cesarean section was performed in 82% of the cases.[1]
Cause [ edit ]
The uterus is formed during embryogenesis by the fusion of the two paramesonephric ducts (also called Müllerian ducts). This process usually fuses the two Müllerian ducts into a single uterine body but fails to take place in these affected women who maintain their double Müllerian systems. A didelphic uterus will have a double cervix and is usually associated with a double vagina. The cause of the fusion failure is not known. Associated defects may affect the vagina, the renal system and, less commonly, the skeleton.
The condition is less common than these other uterine malformations: arcuate uterus, septate uterus, and bicornuate uterus. It has been estimated to occur in 1/3,000 women.[2]
Syndrome [ edit ]
A specific association of uterus didelphys (double uterus), unilateral hematocolpos (inadequate draining of menstrual blood) and ipsilateral renal agenesis (having only one kidney) has been described.[3]
Diagnosis [ edit ]
A pelvic examination will typically reveal a double vagina and a double cervix. Investigations are usually prompted on the basis of such findings as well as when reproductive problems are encountered. Not all cases of uterus didelphys involve duplication of the cervix and vagina.
Helpful techniques to investigate the uterine structure are transvaginal ultrasonography and sonohysterography, hysterosalpingography, MRI, and hysteroscopy. More recently 3-D ultrasonography has been advocated as an excellent non-invasive method to evaluate uterine malformations.[4]
Uterus didelphys is often confused with a complete uterine septum. Often more than one method of investigation is necessary to accurately diagnose the condition. Correct diagnosis is crucial as treatment for these two conditions is very different.[5] Whereas most doctors recommend removal of a uterine septum, they generally concur that it is better not to operate on a uterus didelphys. In either case, a highly qualified reproductive endocrinologist should be consulted.
Management [ edit ]
Patients with a double uterus may need special attention during pregnancy as premature birth and malpresentation are common. Cesarean section was performed in 82% of patients reported by Heinonen.[1]
Uterus didelphys, in certain studies, has also been found associated with higher rate of infertility, miscarriage, intrauterine growth retardation, and postpartum bleed.[5]
Epidemiology [ edit ]
In the United States, uterus didelphys is reported to occur in 0.1–0.5% of women. It is difficult to know the exact occurrence of this anomaly, as it may go undetected in the absence of medical and reproductive complications.
Multiple pregnancy [ edit ]
A number of twin gestations have occurred where each uterus carried its pregnancy separately. A recent example occurred on February 26, 2009, when Sarah Reinfelder of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan delivered two healthy, although seven weeks premature, infants by cesarean section at Marquette General Hospital.[6] It is possible that the deliveries occur at different times, thus the delivery interval could be days or even weeks.
Triplets [ edit ]
A UK woman with a double uterus gave birth to triplets in 2006. Hannah Kersey, of Northam in Devon, gave birth to a pair of identical twins from an egg that implanted into one womb and then divided, and to an infant from a single egg that implanted into the other womb. This was the first known birth of viable triplets in a woman with a double uterus.[7] It is estimated that the possibility of such a birth is about 1 in 25 million.[8] A triplet pregnancy in a woman with uterus didelphys was reported from Israel in 1981; one baby died in utero, and of the remaining babies, one was delivered at 27 weeks gestation and the other 72 days later.[9]
See also [ edit ]When Ross Compton’s Ohio home caught fire last September, the story he told police was that he grabbed a few things and rushed out of the house, hurling essentials out a bedroom window he broke open with his cane before scrambling out himself.
Police, though, were suspicious. Compton’s few things had included a computer, a suitcase packed with clothes and the charger for the external heart pump that he needed to survive. It seemed unlikely that a 59-year-old man with a pacemaker and a heart pump would have been able to gather all those things and make it out of a burning house alive. But police were stumped on how exactly to make arson charges stick.
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In the end, it was his pacemaker that did him in.
After obtaining a search warrant for all the electronic data stored in Compton’s pacemaker, police determined that his device did not corroborate his story. His heart rate, pacer demand and cardiac rhythms all suggested that Compton had not in fact quickly bundled up all his most prized possessions and left in a hurry as his house went up in flames. Last month, with the help of the pacemaker data, he was indicted on charges of aggravated arson and insurance fraud.
Privacy issues are moving under our skin—now the devices that keep us alive and healthy can also be used against us in the court of law.
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In 2014, a Canadian law firm used a client’s Fitbit history to help make her case in a personal injury claim, in a first-of-its-kind strategy. In 2015, data from a Fitbit was used to undermine a woman’s rape claim. Now court cases regularly include evidence gleaned from fitness trackers.
It makes sense. The technology we use is programmed to serve dual masters, those who use it and those who make it. Sometimes, the interests of those two parties conflict. Think Facebook outing gay users in order to better target advertising or Yahoo scanning user emails on behalf of the federal government.
But Compton’s case breaks a new barrier—flesh. While you can delete your Facebook account or leave your Fitbit at home if you’re going somewhere you’d rather not be tracked, you can’t simply turn off your pacemaker. Not only does deactivating a pacemaker require a doctor, in some cases doctors actually refuse. What happens when privacy violations are committed by devices inside of us, devices that we can’t just turn off via settings?
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“EFF is concerned that as technology advances, the erosion of individual privacy in personally identifiable health information increases,” Stephanie Lacambra, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s criminal defense attorney, said in a statement to Gizmodo. “Americans shouldn’t have to make a choice between health and privacy. We as a society value our rights to maintain privacy over personal and medical information, and compelling citizens to turn over protected health data to law enforcement erodes those rights.”
There are more than 200,000 people in the US walking around with pacemakers, and they aren’t the only ones with tiny computers inside of them. The insulin pumps that diabetics rely on to maintain their blood sugar contain computer chips. Thousands of people with Parkinson’s disease rely on chips embedded deep in their brain to control violent tremors. Advanced prosthetics also increasingly contain microprocessors that allow those who wear them to move more naturally.
Tech titans like Apple and Google are investing heavily in health tech to allow us to not only gather data about our own bodies, but share that data more easily with people like doctors. Privacy watchdogs have cast these sorts of ventures as “medical surveillance.”
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“If we have computers in our bodies designed to treat us as adversaries, it amplifies all of the powers of inequality.”
Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington who focuses on emerging technologies, said that evidence from devices like pacemakers shouldn’t even be admissible into court. Like DNA evidence before it, Calo said the risk of using it to wrongly implicate someone in a crime is just too high.
“There’s a tendency to believe that because something is recorded by a machine it is gospel,” Calo said.
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In Compton’s case, there is other evidence to suggest he committed the crime: Not only did he pack up a suitcase and several bags of things before he left the house, he had gasoline on his clothes. Still, the medical data, which was analyzed by a cardiologist, represented “key pieces of evidence” in the case according to police.
“The idea that a random cardiologist is going to be able to read the data in a pacemaker well enough to tell whether someone committed a crime is so implausible,” Calo said. “There is danger in not understanding what this data really tells you.”
Calo said that, at least for now, when it comes to medical devices and implants, he’s more concerned about hacking. Software is copyrightable, which means that manufacturers can prevent users from altering or even doing basic security research on it. That means that in implants there is often bits of code that even those making them cannot see. People have carried out hacks via internet connected devices like tea kettles and baby monitors. What if that hidden code had a backdoor that allowed a hacker to turn off your ability to turn off your insulin pump? Just last fall, Johnson & Johnson warned diabetic patients of a defect in one of its insulin pumps that could theoretically allow such an attack. A few years ago, former Vice President Dick Cheney opted to remove the wireless functionality of his own heart, fearing a similar attack.
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“There is really is the possibility of ubiquitous sensors,” Calo said. And the more sensors there are, the more vulnerabilities in them that there are to exploit.
“There’s a tendency to believe that because something is recorded by a machine it is gospel.”
“If we have computers in our bodies designed to treat us as adversaries, it amplifies all of the powers of inequality,” science fiction author and privacy activist Cory Doctorow recently told Gizmodo.
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Doctorow said he first started to worry about implantable technology after attending a demonstration by MIT biomechatronics professor Hugh Herr. Herr, a double amputee himself, was jumping around on stage to show off a new bionic leg that could run, climb and dance.
It was a feat of engineering—something that could offer those who had lost limbs the opportunity to do things that were previously unthinkable, like climb a mountain. But Doctorow thought of stories about the catastrophes that had occurred when car loan lenders started simply turning off people’s cars when they failed to make a payment. A device installed in the vehicles allowed lenders to not only turn them off after a missed payment, but monitor their location. One woman was left stranded while trying to get her daughter to a hospital during an asthma attack. Others found their car suddenly indisposed while at stoplights or even while driving on the highway. Those car loan catastrophes, of course, primarily affected high-risk buyers that could only wrangle subprime loans.
“What if you miss a payment and suddenly your leg switches off,” Doctorow said. “Or the government turns you off and says, ‘We’ve immobilized you, we’re coming to get you.’”
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This may seem a bit far-fetched, but payment is often a barrier to accessing essential services. Hospitals even sometimes weigh whether a patient can pay for medical care in deciding whether to continue life support.
Technology is both progress and peril. Every opportunity it brings must be balanced with the consequences of the new vulnerabilities it creates with them. It could give us more agency over our own bodies. Or it could land us in jail.
Last week, Ross Compton pleaded not guilty to setting his home on fire. He told a local TV station that the investigation had “gone way out of control” and that he had “no motive whatsoever to burn down my house.” His hearing is set for later this month.
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In an interview with the Washington Post, the Middletown, Ohio officer who responded to the scene of Compton’s alleged crime marveled at just how useful that pacemaker data had been.
“It was much more informative than we thought,” he said.
It was the first time officers in Middleton had relied on pacemaker data to help make a case. Since then, they have used pacemaker data again. Twice.The football star, the forward of FC «Manchester United» Zlatan Ibrahimovic has decided to become one of the investors of the Sweden gaming platform, which is called Challengermode. It is known, that all investors have invested $1,300,000 in Challengermode.
Besides Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the ex-director of the oil and gas company Lundin Petroleum — Ashley Heppenstall has become the investor too. The investment in the sum of $1,300,000 is only the first stage of inputs. The representatives of the gaming platform say that the invested money will be spent to enlarge their tournaments.
The company Challengermode was found in 2014. At this moment, the platform specializes in two cybersport disciplines: League of Legends and CS:GO. An interesting feature of Challengermode is the possibility of players to play against eSportsmen and win some valuable prizes or money.
That’s not the first time when Zlatan Ibrahimovic does the investment in the world of video games. Previously, he has decided to invest his money in the company Ice Cube Games, which produces video games.
Also such football players as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and others have shown their interest to the eSports.“Justified” creator/showrunner Graham Yost has teamed with actor Noah Wyle for a limited series at FX examining the political battles in the U.S. over the decision to enter World War II.
“Those Angry Days,” from Sony Pictures TV and FX Prods., will focus on the period between 1937 and 1941, as war spread across Europe while isolationist forces in Congress and elsewhere railed against the prospect of America coming to Britain’s aid in the fight against Hitler.
CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow is said to be a character in the series, as is President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Wyle is believed to be on board to play Murrow. The project is in the early stage of development with a script commitment at FX.
Yost (pictured left) and Wyle (right) are exec producers along with Jim Katz and Danny Sussman.
Yost is about to wrap up six seasons as exec producer of FX drama “Justified,” which is also a Sony Pictures TV production. Wyle is just completing production on the fifth and final season of TNT’s sci-fi hit “Falling Skies,” which will unspool this summer.SOCHI, RUSSIAN FEDERATION – Just hours before the opening ceremony for the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia has put out an alert for two potential terror suspects, referred to by security officials as “moose” and “squirrel.”
An outpouring of fear swept the tiny coastal town on the Black Sea as details emerged of the possible terrorist attack by the unlikely combination of two Americans, identified as Mr. Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel. The two suspects are reportedly from Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, which Russian officials believe may indicate a connection to Canadian separatists.
A friend of the two, historical expert nonpareille Mr. Peabody, said that any terrorist connection was preposterous and “indubitably unprovable.” An e-mail from Mr. Squirrel’s attorney merely said, “Hokey Smoke!”
“We thinking this is classic lone-wolf, err– lone-moose type suicide bomber, world’s greatest no-goodnik,” said Boris Badenov, a Russian expert on security and espionage who announced heightened security measures to catch the pair. He was joined by Colonel Natasha Fatale of the FSB.
“Security is going so well darling,” Ms. Fatale told reporters, before adding, “until we get word of confounded moose and squirrel!”
News of this development has only aggravated tensions ahead of the Games, as Russian security forces are already under intense scrutiny for failing to catch a pair of Chechen terrorists who planted a cartoonishly-large bomb with a long white wick at a train station in Volgograd. Local guards were allegedly lured away by a steaming bowl of borscht left at a strategic distance.
When asked how Russian intelligence would prevent any additional lapses in security, Mr. Badenov explained “Fearless Leader says any more screw-ups will result in comrade agents being liquidated!”
To help enhance security before the opening ceremony, Russia has reportedly also enlisted the aid of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Stay tuned to Duffel Blog for more information as it becomes available. Next scheduled update: Having Sochi Good Time, or Snow News is Good News.
Duffel Blog Investigative Reporters Dirty and G-Had contributed to this report.Third World Countries in Terms of their Human Development The Human Development Index (HDI) is published annually by the UN.
It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:
1. Life Expectancy Index (LEI): Life expectancy at birth (in years); 2. Education Index (EI) Mean years of schooling (in years), and Expected years of schooling (in years), and 3. Income Index (II): Per capita income (PPP $).
Below is the list of countries with a "Low Human Development".
Definitions:
Human Development Index (HDI): A composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development-a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.
Life expectancy at birth: Number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if prevailing patterns of age-specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant's life.
Mean years of schooling: Average number of years of education received by people ages 25 and older, converted from education attainment levels using official durations of each level.
Expected years of schooling: Number of years of schooling that a child of school entrance age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child's life.
Gross national income (GNI) per capita: Aggregate income of an economy generated by its production and its ownership of factors of production, less the incomes paid for the use of factors of production owned by the rest of the world, converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates, divided by midyear population.
GNI per capita rank minus HDI rank: Difference in rankings by GNI per capita and by the HDI. A negative value means that the country is better ranked by GNI than by the HDI.
Nonincome HDI: Value of the HDI computed from the life expectancy and education indicators only.
Human Development Index - Countries with Low Human Development 2011 HDI rank Country Human Development Index (HDI)
Life expectancy at birth
Mean years of schooling Expected years of schooling Gross national income (GNI) per capita GNI per capita rank minus HDI Nonincome HDI
142 Solomon Islands 0.510 67.9 4.5 9.1 1,782 10 0.567 143 Kenya 0.509 57.1 7.0 11.0 1,492 15 0.584 144 São Tomé and Príncipe 0.509 64.7 4.2 10.8 1,792 7 0.564 145 Pakistan 0.504 65.4 4.9 6.9 2,550 –7 0.526 146 Bangladesh 0.500 68.9 4.8 8.1 1,529 11 0.566 147 Timor-Leste 0.495 62.5 2.8 11.2 3,005 –14 0.499 148 Angola 0.486 51.1 4.4 9.1 4,874 –38 0.455 149 Myanmar 0.483 65.2 4.0 9.2 1,535 7 0.536 150 Cameroon 0.482 51.6 5.9 10.3 2,031 –4 0.509 151 Madagascar 0.480 66.7 5.2 10.7 824 26 0.605 152 Tanzania 0.466 58.2 5.1 9.1 1,328 10 0.523 153 Papua New Guinea 0.466 62.8 4.3 5.8 2,271 –12 0.475 154 Yemen 0.462 65.5 2.5 8.6 2,213 –11 0.471 155 Senegal 0.459 59.3 4.5 7.5 1,708 –2 0.488 156 Nigeria 0.459 51.9 5.0 8.9 2,069 –12 0.471 157 Nepal 0.458 68.8 3.2 8.8 1,160 8 0.524 158 Haiti 0.454 62.1 4.9 7.6 1,123 12 0.520 159 Mauritania 0.453 58.6 3.7 8.1 1,859 –10 0.472 160 Lesotho 0.450 48.2 5.9 9.9 1,664 –6 0.475 161 Uganda 0.446 54.1 4.7 10.8 1,124 7 0.506 162 Togo 0.435 57.1 5.3 9.6 798 16 0.526 163 Comoros 0.433 61.1 2.8 10.7 1,079 9 0.488 164 Zambia 0.430 49.0 6.5 7.9 1,254 0 0.469 165 Djibouti 0.430 57.9 3.8 5.1 2,335 –25 0.420 166 Rwanda 0.429 55.4 3.3 11.1 1,133 1 0.477 167 Benin 0.427 56.1 3.3 9.2 1,364 –6 0.456 168 Gambia 0.420 58.5 2.8 9.0 1,282 –5 0.450 169 Sudan 0.408 61.5 3.1 4.4 1,894 –21 0.402 170 Côte d'Ivoire 0.400 55.4 3.3 6.3 1,387 –10 0.412 171 Malawi 0.400 54.2 4.2 8.9 753 8 0.470 172 Afghanistan 0.398 48.7 3.3 9.1 1,416 –13 0.407 173 Zimbabwe 0.376 51.4 7.2 9.9 376 n 11 0.529 174 Ethiopia 0.363 59.3 1.5 8.5 971 0 0.383 175 Mali 0.359 51.4 2.0 8.3 1,123 –6 0.366 176 Guinea-Bissau 0.353 48.1 2.3 9.1 994 –3 0.366 177 Eritrea 0.349 61.6 3.4 4.8 536 6 0.421 178 Guinea 0.344 54.1 1.6 8.6 863 –2 0.364 179 Central African Rep. 0.343 48.4 3.5 6.6 707 2 0.379 180 Sierra Leone 0.336 47.8 2.9 7.2 737 0 0.365 181 Burkina Faso 0.331 55.4 1.3 6.3 1,141 –15 0.323 182 Liberia 0.329 56.8 3.9 11.0 265 5 0.504 183 Chad 0.328 49.6 1.5 7.2 1,105 –12 0.320 184 Mozambique 0.322 50.2 1.2 9.2 898 –9 0.325 185 Burundi 0.316 50.4 2.7 10.5 368 0 0.412 186 Niger 0.295 54.7 1.4 4.9 641 –4 0.311 187 Congo, Dem. Rep. 0.286 48.4 3.5 8.2 280 –1 0.399
Source: UN Human Development Report 2011
Country List of Human Development Index (HDI)Lansing scored three runs in the second inning, a run in the sixth, and three in the seventh on a game-tying home run by Jones off reliever Lucas Benanati, knotting the score at 8-8.
The eighth inning opened with Dayton reliever Andy Cox (Loss, 1-1) hitting Joshua Palacios with a pitch. Two batters later, Bo Bichette coaxed a walk from new reliever Ryan Hendrix and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. followed with a tie-breaking RBI single up the middle. That brought up Jones, who clouted his fourth home run of the season to give the Lugnuts breathing space.
Edward Olivares iced the game in the ninth with a solo homer against Hendrix.
The rally was made possible by the work of the Nuts' bullpen. Griffin Glaude set the early tone, striking out six batters in 3 2/3 innings and holding the Dragons scoreless from the second through the fourth innings. Kirby Snead allowed a run on four walks in the fifth, stranding the bases loaded. Philip Walby (Win, 1-0) followed with 2 2/3 innings, holding the Dragons to an eighth-inning tally. Jackson McClelland (Save, 2) locked down the final four outs without allowing a hit or a run.
The Lugnuts' offense was led by Jones, who went 3-for-5 in supplying the second six-RBI performance by a Lugnut this season (Ryan Hissey, April 9th); Palacios, who added two hits, two runs, two RBIs and a walk in his return from the Disabled List; and Olivares - mired in a 5-for-40 slump entering the game - went 3-for-4 with a walk, two steals, three runs scored, and his third home run of the season.
The middle affair of the three-game series is set for 7: |
choke. The best tool to use for this is a sharp-edged scoop, like a melon baller. You want to end up with a nice clean cavity.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a skillet and add the minced garlic. Saute just for a moment without browning the garlic.
Add the breadcrumbs, sprinkle in a little salt to taste and saute mixture, combining it with a spoon, for a couple of minutes.
Remove from the heat and fill the scooped out artichokes with the buttered breadcrumb mixture.
Top with a sprinkling of good quality chili powder and drizzle with a little more olive oil just before putting them in the oven.
Bake in a low-sided pan using the top third of the oven, for approximately 15 minutes until slightly browned.
Optional: Add some diced tomato to the breadcrumb mixture. Serve with chopped, fresh basil sprinkled over top.Whizzing bullets, flying missiles, falling bombs, the fog of war: none of these things aid accurate reporting. But what happens when that fog is little more than a rhetorical device in a broader propaganda narrative? Can or should the media be picking, choosing and reporting verbatim on stories peddled by a state-run news agency of KCNA’s ilk? Or should they, as Professor Andrei Lankov put it in an Australian news report that whizzed around the social network-o-sphere last week, just ignore the entire thing?
For where are the signs of an impending conflagration on the Korean peninsula? Is North Korea mobilizing its forces to the inter-Korean border? Do two missiles caught on satellite images offensive postures make? Are camera-toting anti-imperialist tourists in pin badges prohibited from flying into Sunan Airport, much less forbidden from flying out again? None of these things, it appears, are the case.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic corps in the North Korean capital has thumbed its communal nose at the idea, suggested yesterday, that its members might even consider leaving North Korea since “their safety cannot be guaranteed in the event of war.” Perhaps they treated the notion as what, thanks to a pithy utterance from he of “The Cleanest Race” fame published in the New York Times last week, SinoNK has taken to calling a “Myers Conditional”: a uniquely implausible hypothetical concept predicated on an extraordinarily unlikely event.
North Korea, it is abundantly clear, is a past master in public relations. And, because they know well that newspapers can hardly afford not to report on the latest KCNA missive, and are equally well aware that just by putting “special” (특별) in front of “declaration” (설명) they can double down on the fog and double up on the column inches, the tensions rise. Adam Cathcart quadruples the size of our data set.- Christopher Green, Co-editor
The Art of Narrative Propulsion: Mistranslating North Korea’s “State of War,” and Conjuring Chinese Troops on the North Korean Frontier
by Adam Cathcart
Recent events around the Korean peninsula have generated a tidal wave of op-eds and analysis. Interpretation is important, but so too is having data that is reasonably comprehensive, and reasonably accurate. Prognostication is fine, and the attempt to discern patterns is admirable. But we must occasionally turn toward the difficult task of cleaning up and assessing what we already know, and what we think we know.
This essay will endeavor to take on two data points of potential significance: 1) The DPRK’s own pronouncement of March 30, which helped to escalate and channel Western attention to Korea significantly, and 2) the subsequent rise of a rumor that Chinese troops were moving toward North Korea in force.
North Korea in “State of War” | News flash: Scholar B.R. Myers thinks the quality of Western analysis of the DPRK is, to put it bluntly, junk. Why?
It’s an undiplomatic point to make, but the inconvenient truth is that most North Korea-watchers in the United States don’t speak Korean and don’t read Korean. They’re not able to read even the legend on a North Korean propaganda poster.
Rather than quibble with the man by brandishing an essay by Bruce Cumings in an act of intellectual bullfighting, let’s take his criticism seriously. Be proactive and dive into the Korean, because North Koreans tend to make pronouncements in Korean, and those texts might be different from the ones we read in English.
James Pearson has written a graphic essay on this matter for the NKNews website, suggesting that while war is all the talk abroad, the North Korean press (and presumably the DPRK populace) is being encouraged to focus (in part) on economic matters. Steve Herman, the Voice of America reporter in Seoul/Tokyo, noted a similar fact a couple of days back, that while Western media outlets were frothing over the “war declaration,” the document had not so much as mentioned on the evening news in Pyongyang.
So did the North Koreans put out the March 30 statement mainly to make a splash with the foreign media, while downplaying it at home?
First of all, it is evident that nearly every major news organization took the DPRK “state of war” statement for what it purported to be, in English:
1.From this moment, the north-south relations will be put at the state of war and all the issues arousing between the north and the south will be dealt with according to the wartime regulations. The state of neither peace nor war has ended on the Korean Peninsula. Now that the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have entered into an actual military action, the inter-Korean relations have naturally entered the state of war. Accordingly, the DPRK will immediately punish any slightest provocation hurting its dignity and sovereignty with resolute and merciless physical actions without any prior notice.
It would be pointless to link to examples of news outlets quoting this statement or noting that North Korea was moving into a “state of war,” because they are everywhere. And why shouldn’t they be? The statement came from KCNA, and was an official pronouncement. No need to wait for B.R. Myers or anyone else to parse it; the thing was self-evident. So everyone ran with it.
Why, then, would Russian media, quickly echoed by Xinhua, sound the alarm that the pronouncement had been “mistranslated”?
Fortunately, Rodong Sinmun published not one, but three versions of the statement: Korean, English and Chinese. When we compare these side-by-side, we find a handful of small clues that add up to a reminder that the Korean originals of such significant statements, at the very least, need to be checked. After all, we should operate on the assumption that different messages are being sent to different publics, as B.R. Myers himself notes regularly.
To Judge a Story: The Title | The title of the English pronouncement on March 30 is clear as day: “North-South Relations Have Been Put at State of War: Special Statement of DPRK.” Mon dieu!, thinks the journalist, fire up the word processor! The headlines are practically written for you.
By contrast, the title in Korean is very bland: “조선민주주의인민공화국 정부,정당,단체 특별성명 / Special declaration of the government, political parties and organizations of the DPRK.” A “special declaration [특별성명/t‘ŭkpyŏl sŏngmyŏng]” is not an everyday event, to be sure, particularly one not sourced to any particular organization, but there’s no fire and brimstone inherently in it.
Believe it or not, the Chinese version of the title has a very different specific message : “朝鲜政府政党团体重申世上没人能抵挡为正义的祖国统一大战而奋起的朝鲜军民和全民族 / The DPRK government, political parties, and organizations reiterate that there is no one on Earth that can escape the justice of the war for unification or the vigorous rise of the North Korean soldiers and the whole race.” Say what you will about PRC enabling of North Korean threats, but at several points during the Cold War, and certainly today, China has made rather clear its opposition to North Korea unifying the peninsula by force. This is not a meaningless headline from either a North Korean or a Chinese perspective.
Summing up the respective messages of the “same” title:
English headline (for foreign reporters): “Korea will be on fire soon” Korean headline (for domestic audience): “The government is talking” Chinese headline (for the comrades in Beijing): “Don’t attempt to interfere with our victorious path to unification”
Kim Jong-un at the Center | If we see recent events in North Korea as a massive exercise in “routinizing charisma” for the young leader, then there’s some small grist for the mill in the wedges of the Rodong Sinmun translations of the March 30 declaration, which are reworked for clarity from the Korean and Chinese versions:
Whereas the moves of the U.S. imperialists to violate [유린/蹂躏] the sovereignty of the DPRK and encroach upon its supreme interests [최고리익/ 利益] have entered an extremely grave phase, Under this situation the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un, brilliant commander of Mt. Paektu, convened an urgent operation meeting on the performance of duty of with the Strategic Rocket Force [전략로케트군/ 战略导弹军] of the Korean People’s Army for firepower strike and finally ultimately examined and ratified [审批] a plan for firepower strike.
As if we might miss the point, the English version of the document sprinkles in an extra adjective for Kim Jong-un (“brilliant,” of course), but the KCNA translators also muck up what he was actually doing, and when he was doing it. The idea of Kim “finally” ratifying a plan for strike makes it sound as if he’s “finally getting around to it” (a bit of a slouch, Kim Jong-un?) or makes it sound like this is “his final plan,” when it is neither. It is the culmination of his urgent meeting, that is all, and he has thought it through. He’s there to review the Army’s final plan (he’s not the generator of the plan) and to show that he’s on board with it. Not incidentally, no one appears to have mentioned the importance of the visualization of Kim Jong-un handling the generals and the rocket program on his own, which is quite a difference from the December satellite launch, where uncle Jang Song-taek was very much with him, the man of the hour at hand and the senior finger very much near the button.
Changing the Game with the United States | As we have noted here prior, Kim Jong-un is fiercely locked in dialectic with the North Korean way of looking at history, a history which is dominated by confrontation with the United States. How this leader settles that blood debt, either exacting protracted revenge, putting all of Northeast Asia under a nuclear cloud, or shaking hands with, say, Hillary Clinton in 2018, matters a great deal.
General Kim Jong-un made This significant policy decision [중대결심은/重大决策] was made in order to transform [전환/轉換] the centuries of history of DPRK-US confrontation, opening up a new era via a decisive do-or-die battle [殊死宣战]. It is also a last warning served to the U.S., the south Chosun puppet group and other anti-reunification hostile forces [반통일적대세력 / 反统一敌对势力, a reference to China?], particularly reflecting the strong will of the army and people of the DPRK to justly annihilate the enemies [杀敌].
Are North Koreans expecting a change? Surely this second paragraph indicates a desire to change the security calculus on the peninsula, and the old stated aim to change [“chŏnhwan/zhuanhuan“] the relationship with the U.S.A. Again, the KCNA’s own English version puts everything in Kim Jong-un’s personal hands more explicitly.
An Attack by Sea? | Who doesn’t love to speculate about a confrontation along the Northern Limit Line, a safe place for analysts to blow off a little steam? In an interview with The Guardian, one analyst got creative and, in a reference to scholarship by Allen R. Millett, said things might get “more Hobbsean” along the inter-Korean boundary. But why can’t such speculations be linked, at the very least, to more documentation coming from the North? The March 30 statement pointed explicitly to the islands in the West Sea as being a significant friction point. But, as translation is the focus here, missed in the wash was this little nugget:
Now the heroic service personnel and all people of the DPRK are feeling the unstoppable surge of anger [솟는 격분 / 禁不住涌上心头的激愤] at the U.S. imperialists’ reckless war provocation moves, fully in accordance with General Kim Jong-un’s significant decision [充满着遵照金正恩元帅的重大决策], and are hot with the desire to turn out as one in the death-defying battle with the enemies that will topple the mountains and overturn the sea [排山倒海] and achieve a final victory of the great war for national reunification.
If the North Koreans make references to oceanic violence in Chinese, does it still count as a threat? (“排山倒海” is rendered in Korean as “산악같이 일떠선,” which I will leave for colleagues to parse.)
Here again, the crux of the angry will by the North Korean public is precisely Kim Jong-un’s significant decision. This is not, in other words, randomly targetted anti-Americanism, but a sentiment meant to coalsce around a specific person and his ability to make deicsions. Faith in the man is required, and thus music:
Bomber Mania | Fortified by a bellowing men’s chorus, we can now move on to the echoes of a discussion of “the signals” being sent by American aircraft over the Korean peninsula. No doubt, the US has been sending messages with these flights. But how are these signals conveyed by the North Korean media to their own home audience? No one in the DPRK actually eyeballed the B-2 or the B-52; their presence is conveyed via newspapers and television media.
One small but fascinating aspect of the March 30 declaration is that its description of the American bombers was more descriptive in Korean than in English. For fear of American armaments is a domestic touchstone:
The United States did not heed repeated DPRK warnings and, following on the successive incursions [爬进]of the nuclear-capable B-52 into the sky over south Korea in succession, the U.S. made the B-2A stealth strategic bomber and other ultra-modern strategic strike means fly from the U.S. mainland to south Korea to stage a bombing drill targeting the DPRK. This is an unpardonable and heinous provocation and an open challenge.
A note on verbs: This is not simply a “sortie” of the B-52 as in the original English version, it is itself “an incursion,” since, in the DPRK’s view, the US ought to have no rights whatsoever to fly over a single iota of the entire Korean peninsula! Additionally, we in English are insulated from the B-52’s nature, but Korean readers are not: this is not just a B-52, it is a 핵전략폭격기 《B－５２》or a “B-52 strategic nuclear-bomber [Ｂ－５２核战略轰炸机].”
This Ria Novosti report gets into further specifics about why a “faulty translation” of the March 30 statement might matter, without noting that it was the North Koreans themselves who did the translating. If media outlets would simply link to the original KCNA or Rodong Sinmun reports, the more paranoid missives about the authenticity of North Korean statements might be reduced somewhat.
“Chinese Troops Massing on the Border” | Nothing makes a site focusing on Chinese-North Korean relations more potentially relevant than certain articles in respected foreign affairs magazines, like this Korean War II scenario spun a few days ago by Patrick M. Cronin in Foreign Policy:
U.S. and ROK Combined Forces Command implements a pre-arranged plan — perhaps using submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs dropped from a B-2 — to eliminate North Korea’s two major missile launch facilities: Tonghae in the northeast and Sohae in the northwest, both of which are fairly close to the Chinese border. North Korea responds with more rockets and Scud missiles, accompanied by North Korean Central News announcements suggesting that they could be armed with biological agents. China, seeking to restrain all sides, pours troops and materiel across the border to protect its interests and instigates a secret plan to replace Kim Jong Un with a senior general who understands the North’s total dependence on its only ally. The resulting confusion leads to a belief that North Korea, and not just the Kim regime, is collapsing. Meanwhile, the United States quietly embarks on a secret mission to secure North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
But who needs fiction, when one can read Washington Times and the Chosun Ilbo? This Bill Gertz piece, entitled “Risky Business,” seemed to be at the core of most of the speculation that China was moving troops in force along its frontier with the DPRK. An elementary check of the article’s geography should have raised questions immediately about its veracity.
Gertz: “The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troop and tank movements were reported in Daqing, located in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and in the border city of Shenyang, in Liaoning Province.”
Daqing is about as close to Pyongyang as Beijing is. And Shenyang is the military headquarters for the entire northeastern region; if Gertz travelled to the region a little more frequently, he’d know that it’s quite normal to see PLA and military equipment in the city. (Similarly, I’ve lived in Chengdu, the military HQ for the southwest; if China was going to invade India every time I saw a tank on the highway, Wen Jiabao would be the governor of Punjab.) And Shenyang is far from a “border city”; it’s rather smack in the middle of Liaoning province — surely a gateway to Dandong, but by no means on the border itself. Speaking of which: A Guardian reporter was actually on that border with the DPRK in Liaoning province, Kuandian county, and breathed not a word about Chinese troops massing. Daniel Pinkston, a reputable source on such matters, said it was news about an old troop rotation, or just flat wrong. Chosun Ilbo’s panting assertion that Chinese media had “prominently” confirmed the report was both sloppy and inaccurate.
The general lack of reportage from the Chinese-Korean border region itself, where folks do have legitimate fears over nuclear contamination from North Korea, speaks to a broader gap in how we approach the information swirling around the DPRK. In the pleasurable event that the current crisis blows over, how we acknowledge the factual gaps (and seek to remedy them, in whatever language) might be one silver lining to this very dark cloud.COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Many of the memories are fuzzy now for Billy Pickard. Time can do that to a person.
Today marks what would have been legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's 100th birthday. Pickard, who was once a student trainer under Bryant when he was at Texas A&M, will turn 80 next month. While some of the memories of his time with Bryant -- including the well-documented, grueling 10-day training camp trip to Junction, Texas -- are vivid, Pickard is careful not to embellish or say things that he's not absolutely sure happened or that he witnessed.
Pickard, who began his association with Texas A&M as a freshman in 1952 and has been working there ever since, mostly at Kyle Field and under a number of different titles over the years, still remembers details about that trip to Junction, a town that at the time was dusty, hot and in the middle of a West Texas drought.
"The first day... we gave [the players] a glass of orange juice, five salt tablets and a multivitamin," Pickard said. "It wasn't 15 minutes before the orange juice and the multivitamins were back on the ground. That was the end of that."
One of Pickard's duties was to look after Bryant's son.
"All I did was try to work for him and take care of things," Pickard said. "One of my jobs at Junction was to take care of Paul Jr. I was just about getting ready to take my nap and Coach Bryant hollered at me. He goes, 'Take him to town and get him an ice cream.' Paul Jr. was 12 years old when we were in Junction."
Pickard recalls dealing with players who struggled to deal with the heat and even suffered heat stroke as Bryant tested their wills. A large number of players who made the trip to Junction quit, and Bryant left camp with about 35 players to start the 1954 season with.
"We were practicing about 30 minutes and [Jack] Pardee went down," Pickard recalls. "It got hot and I'm working on him and I saw Coach Bryant come up -- he always wore long pants -- and I looked up and Coach Bryant said, 'What's the deal?' I said, 'Coach, he's getting a little hot.' He said, 'I'm getting hot looking at him.'"
Pardee was one of the survivors of that camp -- a group that was dubbed "The Junction Boys" -- and eventually became an All-American who was part of the turnaround from a 1-9 year in 1954 to an undefeated 9-0-1 season in 1956.
Of course, in 1958 Bryant went on to Alabama, where he won six national championships and 13 SEC championships. Pickard, who officially retired in 2009 but still volunteers and shows up almost daily each morning to work at and care for Kyle Field, remembers Bryant fondly.
"He and I had a great relationship," Pickard said. "He was great to me."The so-called Battle of Crocus Field (Krokion pedion) (353 BC or 352 BC) was a battle in the Third Sacred War, fought between the armies of Phocis, under Onomarchos, and the combined Thessalian and Macedonian army under Philip II of Macedon. In the bloodiest battle recorded in Ancient Greek history, the Phocians were decisively defeated by Philip's forces. Philip's victory secured his appointment as ruler of Thessaly, marking an important step in the rise of Macedon to political ascendancy in Ancient Greece. Opinion amongst historians is divided as to the year of the battle; some favour 353 BC, and others 352 BC.
Sources and Chronology [ edit ]
For further information on this topic, see Third Sacred War (section 'Chronology")
The ancient sources for the Third Sacred War are scant, and generally lacking in firm chronological information.[2][3] The main source for the period is Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica, written in the 1st century BC, which is therefore very much a secondary source.[4] Diodorus is often derided by modern historians for his style and inaccuracies, but he preserves many details of the ancient period found nowhere else.[5][6] Diodorus worked primarily by epitomizing the works of other historians, omitting many details where they did not suit his purpose, which was to illustrate moral lessons from history; his account of the Third Sacred War therefore contains many gaps.[2]
Beyond Diodorus, further details of the Sacred War can be found in the orations of Athenian statesmen, primarily Demosthenes and Aeschines, which have survived intact.[2] Since these speeches were never intended to be historical material, they must be treated with circumspection; Demosthenes and Aeschines have been described as "a couple of liars, neither of whom can be trusted to have told the truth in any matter in which it was remotely in his interest to lie".[7] Nevertheless, their allusions to contemporary or past events indicates some of the gaps in Diodorus's account, and helps with the arrangement of the chronology. The accounts of Diodorus, Demosthenes and Aeschines can be further supplemented by fragments of otherwise lost histories (such as that by Theopompus) and by contemporary epigraphic sources.[2][3]
Modern historians' dates for the war have been hotly debated, and there is no clear consensus.[8] It is generally accepted that the war lasted 10 years, and ended in summer 346 BC (one of the only firm dates), which yields a date of 356 BC for the beginning of the war, with Philomelos's seizure of Delphi.[8] After Philomelos's defeat at Neon, the Thebans thought it safe to send the general Pammenes to Asia with 5000 hoplites. A combination of evidence suggests that Pammenes met with Philip at Maroneia in Thrace, in 355 BC, presumably on his outward journey to Asia.[8] Buckler, the only historian to produce a systematic study of the sacred war, therefore places Neon earlier in 355 BC.[8] Other historians have placed Neon in 354 BC, since Diodorus says that the battle took place while Philip besieged Methone, which Diodorus (at one point) places in 354 BC.[8] However, Diodorus's chronology for the sacred war is very confused – he dates the start and end of the war a year too late, variously says the war lasted 9, 10 or 11 years, and included the siege of Methone twice under different dates – and his dates cannot therefore be relied upon.[8]
Disregarding the dates, most historians agree upon the same sequence of events for this part of the Sacred War. The principal question is therefore when that sequence started. Thus, Buckler (as well as Beloch and Cloche) dates Neon to 355 BC, Methone to 355–354 BC, Philip's first Thessalian campaign to 354 BC, and his second to 353 BC.[8] Conversely, Cawkwell, Sealey, Hammond and others lower all these dates by one year, beginning with Neon in 354 BC.[8][9]
Background [ edit ]
The Third Sacred War (often just called 'the' Sacred War) broke out in 356 BC, and would present Philip with his first real opportunity to expand his influence into the affairs of central and southern Greece.[10][11] The war was caused by the refusal of the Phocian Confederation to pay a fine imposed on them in 357 BC by the Amphictyonic League, a pan-Greek religious organisation which governed the most sacred site in Ancient Greece, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.[12] Behind the religious element, there probably lay a display of realpolitik in bringing charges against the Phocians, instigated by the Thebans. At this time, Thebes controlled a majority of the votes in the council, and at the autumn meeting in 357 BC, the Thebans were able to have both the Phocians (for the cultivation of the sacred land) and the Spartans (for occupying Thebes some 25 years previously) denounced and fined.[13] Since the fines for both parties were "unjustifiably harsh",[12] the Thebans probably expected neither party to pay, and thus to be able to declare a "sacred war" on either.[14]
The ruins of ancient Delphi
In response, the Phocians, under the leadership of Philomelos, seized Delphi (which was situated within the boundaries of Phocis), and asserted the ancient claim of Phocis to the presidency of the Amphictyonic League,[14] intending to annul the judgment against themselves.[15] There seems to have been some sympathy in Greece for the Phocians, since other states could see that "the Thebans...had used the Amphictyony to pursue petty and destructive vendettas".[14][16] The Phocians were supported by Athens (perennial enemies of Thebes) and unsurprisingly Sparta, who hoped to see their own fine wiped out when the Phocians seized Delphi.[17] However, Philomelos plundered the treasury of Apollo to pay for mercenaries, thus raising a powerful army, but drastically altering the opinion of the other Greek states.[18] In winter 356/355 BC, a "sacred war" was declared against the Phocians by the Amphictyonic council, with the Thebans being the major protagonists.[14] The war started relatively well for the Phocians, but a severe defeat was inflicted on the Phocians at Neon by the Thebans in either 355 or 354 BC and Philomelos was killed. Undeterred, Onomarchos took over the Phocian effort, and raised new mercenaries to carry on the fight.[11]
The Sacred War appears to have paved the way for renewed conflict within Thessaly. The Thessalian Confederation were in general staunch supporters of the Amphictyonic League, and had an ancient hatred of the Phocians.[19] Conversely, the-city state of Pherae had allied itself with the Phocians.[20] In either 354 or 353 BC, the nobility of the Thessalian city of Larissa appealed to Philip to help them defeat the Pheraeans.[21][22][23] Philip thus brought an army into Thessaly, probably with the intention of attacking Pherae.[24] Under the terms of their alliance, Lycophron of Pherae requested aid from the Phocians, and Onomarchos dispatched his brother, Phayllos, with 7,000 men;[21] however, Philip repulsed this force before it could join up with the Pheraeans.[25] Onomarchos then abandoned the siege he was prosecuting, and brought his whole force into Thessaly to attack Philip.[21] The exact details of the campaign that followed are unclear, but Onomarchos seems to have inflicted two defeats on Philip, with many Macedonians killed in the process.[26][27] After these defeats, Philip retreated to Macedon for the winter.[27] He is said to have commented that he "did not run away but, like a ram, I pulled back to butt again harder".[28]
Philip returned to Thessaly the next summer (either 353 or 352 BC, depending on the chronology followed), having gathered a new army in Macedon.[26] Philip formally requested that the Thessalians join him in the war against the Phocians.[29][30] Philip now mustered all the Thessalian opponents of Pherae that he could, and according to Diodorus, his final army numbered 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.[26]
Prelude [ edit ]
Both Buckler and Cawkwell suggest that Philip besieged the strategic port of Pagasae (effectively the harbour of Pherae) before the Battle of Crocus Field.[8][23] By taking Pagasae, it is probable that Philip intended to prevent it being reinforced by sea; Buckler suggests that Philip had learnt his lesson from the previous campaign, and wanted to cut Pherae off from outside help before attacking it.[23][31] Meanwhile, Onomarchos returned to Thessaly to try to preserve the Phocian ascendancy there, with approximately the same force as during the previous year.[26][32] Furthermore, the Athenians dispatched Chares with a substantial fleet to help their Phocian allies, seeing the opportunity to strike a decisive blow against Philip.[31] The Phocians and Athenians probably intended to rendezvous at Pagasae, since it was the only harbour the Athenian fleet could use, and since Philip was there anyway.[31]
Battle [ edit ]
Subsequent events are unclear, but a battle was fought between the Macedonians and the Phocians, probably as Philip tried to prevent the Phocians joining forces with the Pheraeans, and crucially, before the Athenians had arrived.[31] No ancient source names the battlefield, but according to Diodorus the two armies met near the sea.[31] The Krokion/Krokoton Pedion or 'Crocus Plain' (around modern Almyros in Magnesia, Thessaly region) seems the most suitable location, and the battle is therefore known to modern scholars as the Battle of Crocus Field; however, firmly identifying the battle-site has proved impossible.[33]
Philip sent his men into battle wearing crowns of laurel, the symbol of Apollo, "as if he was the avenger...of sacrilege, and he proceeded to battle under the leadership, as it were, of the god".[34][35] Some of the Phocian mercenaries supposedly threw down their arms, troubled by their guilty consciences.[35] In the ensuing battle, the bloodiest recorded in ancient Greek history, Philip won a decisive victory over the Phocians. The battle seems to have been won by superior numbers and by the valour of Philip's cavalry.[26][29]
Fleeing from defeat, the Phocians ran to the sea, where Chares' fleet had arrived during the battle, but many men were killed during the pursuit, or drowned as they tried to reach the ships.[27][33] In total, 6,000 Phocian troops had been killed, including Onomarchos, and another 3,000 taken prisoner.[27] Onomarchos was either hanged or crucified and the other prisoners drowned, as ritual demanded for temple-robbers.[26] These punishments were designed to deny the defeated an honourable burial; Philip thus continued to present himself as the pious avenger of the sacrilege committed by the Phocians.[33] Buckler states that: "Nor should one automatically assume that a mass-drowning...would shock the Greek world. Even the mild-tempered Isocrates felt that the Phocian mercenaries were better off dead than alive...Dreadful indeed was the punishment, but it was entirely consistent with Philip's role as Apollo's champion".[33]
Aftermath [ edit ]
It was probably in the aftermath of his victory (if not before) that the Thessalians appointed Philip archon of Thessaly.[29][36] This was an appointment for life, and gave Philip control over all the revenues of the Thessalian Confederation, and furthermore made Philip leader of the united Thessalian army.[29] The tyrants of Pherae, rather than suffer the fate of Onomarchos, struck a bargain with Philip and, in return for handing Pherae over to Philip, were allowed, along with 2,000 of their mercenaries, to go to Phocis.[37] Philip spent some time reorganising Thessaly, and once satisfied he marched south to the pass of Thermopylae, the gateway to central Greece.[27][35][38] He probably intended to follow up his victory over the Phocians by invading Phocis itself,[38] a prospect which greatly alarmed the Athenians, since once he was past Thermopylae he could also march on Athens.[27] The Athenians therefore dispatched a force to Thermopylae and occupied the pass; there is some debate as to whether other contingents may have joined the Athenians at Thermopylae.[38] Although it might have proved possible to force the pass, Philip did not attempt to do so, preferring not to risk a defeat after his great successes in Thessaly.[27][39]
Meanwhile, the Phocians regrouped under Onomarchos's brother, Phayllos. After the huge Phocian defeats at Neon and Crocus Field, Phayllos had to resort to doubling the pay for mercenaries, in order to attract enough to replenish his army.[40] Despite their defeats however, the majority of the Phocians were still in favour of continuing the war.[40] Over the winter of that year, Phayllos engaged in diplomatic efforts to gather more support from Phocian allies, and succeeding in widening the theatre of conflict in the next campaigning season.[40] Uniquely in Greek history, the Phocians were able to absorb huge losses in manpower, thanks to their pillaging of Temple of Apollo, a factor which was to contribute to the war dragging on indecisively until 346 BC.[40]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Ancient sources [ edit ]Thousands of people have staged a demonstration in Jordan to express their resentment over the government’s decision to sign a multi-billion-dollar gas deal with Israel.
The protesters gathered in front of Grand al-Husseini Mosque, also known as King Hussein Mosque, in downtown Amman following Friday prayers, and carried signs reading “The Enemy's Gas is Occupation” and “No to the Shameful Deal” in Arabic.
The participants in the demonstration, organized at the invitation of parties and groupings from across Jordan’s political spectrum as well as trade unions, argued that the 10-billion-dollar gas deal struck this week by the government-owned electricity company to buy Israeli-supplied natural gas runs contrary to Jordan’s national interests, calling for its immediate abolition.
“There are Jordanians of all backgrounds and factions here. We are not all part of a party or political group; we instead represent all the sons of Jordan, who refuse this deal. Our message, which we state clearly, is that this deal does not represent the Jordanian people. We will not allow it to continue. We will hold accountable whoever signed this deal,” the deputy chief of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamic Action Front, Ali Abu Sukkar, said.
A protester, identified as Salma Nims, also said, “We are asking the government to stop this deal... We believe that the government has other alternatives for energy resources and there is no excuse to have any economic deals with the occupation (Israel).”
Jordanian protesters carry the national flags and chant slogans during a protest against a government agreement to import natural gas from Israel, in the capital Amman on September 30, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)
On Thursday, students took part in a march at the University of Jordan campus to voice their opposition to the gas deal.
“The deal is rejected by people from all walks of life. As university students, we will step up our activities. It is not something we can be silent about,” Mohammad Dmour, a member of the |
Bell Helicopter; Richard Koucheravy with Sikorsky; Dave Schreck of Rockwell Collins Government Systems; H. Eric "Delta" Burke of Harris Corporation; and Col. Robert Freeland with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. csis.org
12 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Lessons from Rome: Civic virtue and the empire’s decline with Hugh Liebert, associate professor at the United States Military Academy. heritage.org
2 p.m. Rayburn 2212. Evaluating DOD equipment and uniform procurement in Iraq and Afghanistan with John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, and Michael Roark, assistant inspector general, Office of the DOD Inspector General, Armedservices.house.gov
2 p.m. Capitol H-313. Hearing on the 2018 defense appropriation act. rules.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Held for ransom: The families of Iran’s hostages speak out. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Dirksen 419. Assessing the maximum pressure and engagement policy toward North Korea with State Department acting Assistant Secretary Susan A. Thornton. foreign.senate.gov
2:30 p.m. Russell 222. Options and considerations for achieving a 355-ship Navy from naval analysts. armed-services.senate.gov
WEDNESDAY | JULY 26
7:30 a.m. 300 First St. SE. Capitol Hill breakfast series with Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff. afa.org
9 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. What a North Korean ballistic missile threat means for the U.S. missile defense system with Sen. Dan Sullivan. heritage.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2172. U.S. cyber diplomacy with Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Assessing the U.S.-Qatar relationship. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. History of U.S. alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. csis.org
4:30 p.m. 800 17th St. NW. 2017 Women In Defense HORIZONS Scholarship celebration. ndia.org
THURSDAY | JULY 27
9:30 a.m. 1152 15th St. NW. Economic levers of U.S. policy toward North Korea. cnas.org
10 a.m. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Hostilities in the Himalayas? Assessing the India-China border standoff. wilsoncenter.org
10 a.m. Rayburn 2118. Continued oversight of the transfer of excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies. armedservices.house.gov
12:30 p.m. 529 14th St. NW. Luncheon with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. press.org
2 p.m. Rayburn 2154. Subcommittee hearing on combating homegrown terrorism. oversight.house.gov
2:15 p.m. Rayburn 2172. Hearing on a bill to prohibit travel-related transactions to, from, and within North Korea by persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. foreignaffairs.house.gov
2:30 p.m. Rayburn 2172. U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific region, a Fiscal Year 2018 budget hearing. foreignaffairs.house.gov
FRIDAY | JULY 28
12 p.m. 1030 15th St. NW. The ramifications of Rouhani's reelection. atlanticcouncil.org
2:30 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Retired military leaders from Japan and the U.S. discuss the results of the Military Statesmen Forum. csis.org
MONDAY | JULY 31
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. NATO at a crossroads and the next steps for the trans-Atlantic alliance. brookings.edu
12 p.m. 5000 Seminary Rd. iFest 2017 with a keynote by Major Gen. Thomas Deale, vice director of Air Force Joint Force Development. ndia.org
TUESDAY | AUGUST 1
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The U.S. Coast Guard’s priorities for the future with the commandant, Adm. Paul Zukunft. csis.org
6:30 p.m. 1700 Army Navy Dr. Reception and welcome dinner for Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. afa.orgObama Administration Deported Record 1.5 Million People
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Moore/Getty Images John Moore/Getty Images
Although President Obama supports setting a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants, his administration deported a record 1.5 million of them in his first term.
In addition, the latest data released by the government in recent days show that an unprecedented 409,849 people were deported for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
The increase from the previous year occurred despite policy changes ordered by Obama to reduce the deportations of otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.
Roughly 55 percent, or more than 225,000 people, deported in the past year were convicted of crimes such as drug offenses and driving under the influence. Immigration officials note that they deported nearly twice as many convicted criminals as in the year before Obama took office. That year, in 2008, criminals made up about a third of all deportations.
The administration says the figures demonstrate that the shift in enforcement to focus on criminals is working.
Priority cases include felons, repeat violators of immigration laws, people who have recently crossed U.S. borders illegally and those who pose a national security threat, the White House says.
But immigrant advocates, including Latino politicians and civil rights groups, criticized the figures as evidence that Obama's policy changes don't sufficiently protect unintended targets.
"This is nothing to be proud of," Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said in a statement. "In the 409,849 deportations are hardened criminals for whom I have no sympathy, but we must also realize that among these... are parents and breadwinners... that are assets to American communities and have committed no crimes."
Some 90,000 people in this category are deported every year, Gutierrez estimates.
Gutierrez and others say the best solution remains the passage of comprehensive immigration reform, which could be taken up by the new Congress early next year.
In an announcement that appears to address the criticism, U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Director John Morton has ordered his agents to focus solely on "serious offenders." Agents won't pursue illegal immigrants convicted of one or two minor misdemeanors, such as traffic violations, he said.
The new directive limits the use of "detainers," an enforcement tool that critics say has too often been used to nab people who pose no public safety or national security threat.
From Morton's statement:
"While the FY 2012 removals indicate that we continue to make progress in focusing resources on criminal and priority aliens, with more convicted criminals being removed from the country than ever before, we are constantly looking for ways to ensure that we are doing everything we can to utilize our resources in a way that maximizes public safety."
The biggest change under Obama has been his deferred deportation program, which gives qualified young people brought to the U.S. as children a renewable two-year reprieve. Since the program began in August, applications from more than 355,000 people have been accepted and nearly 103,000 have been approved, according to the latest government figures.Chosen from the work of Le Corbusier, the 17 sites comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past. They were built over a period of a half-century, in the course of what Le Corbusier described as “patient research”. The Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India), the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina) and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (France) reflect the solutions that the Modern Movement sought to apply during the 20th century to the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques to respond to the needs of society. These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalization of architectural practice across the planet.
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
Chosen from the work of architect Le Corbusier that survives in eleven countries on four continents, the sites in seven countries on three continents, implemented over a period of half a century, for the first time in the history of architecture attest to the internationalization of architectural practice across the entire planet.
The seventeen sites together represent an outstanding response to some of the fundamental issues of architecture and society in the 20th century. All were innovative in the way they reflect new concepts, all had a significant influence over wide geographical areas, and together they disseminated ideas of the Modern Movement throughout the world. Despite its diversity, the Modern Movement was a major and essential socio-cultural and historical entity of the 20th century, which has to a large degree remained the basis of the architectural culture of the 21st century. From the 1910s to the 1960s, the Modern Movement, in meeting the challenges of contemporary society, aimed to instigate a unique forum of ideas at a world level, invent a new architectural language, modernize architectural techniques and meet the social and human needs of modern man. The series provides an outstanding response to all these challenges.
Some of the component sites immediately assumed an iconic status and had world-wide influence. These include the Villa Savoye, as an icon for the Modern Movement; Unité d’habitation in Marseille as a major prototype of a new housing model based on a balance between the individual and the collective; Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut for its revolutionary approach to religious architecture; the Cabanon de Le Corbusier as an archetypal minimum cell based on ergonomic and functionalist approaches; and the Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung that became known worldwide, as part of the Werkbund exhibition.
Other sites acted as catalysts for spreading ideas around their own regions, such as Maison Guiette, that spurred the development of the Modern Movement in Belgium and the Netherlands; the Maison du Docteur Curutchet that exerted a fundamental influence in South America; the Musée National des Beaux-Arts de l’Occident as the prototype of the globally transposable Museum of Unlimited Growth which cemented ideas of the Modern Movement in Japan; and the Capitol Complex that had a considerable influence across the Indian subcontinent, where it symbolized India’s accession to modernity.
Many of the sites reflect new architectural concepts, principles, and technical features. The Petite villa au bord du Léman is an early expression of minimalist needs as is also crystallized in the Cabanon de Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier’s Five Points of a New Architecture are transcribed iconically in Villa Savoye. The Immeuble locatif à la Porte Molitor is an example of the application of these points to a residential block, while they were also applied to houses, such as the Cité Frugès, and reinterpreted in the Maison du Docteur Curutchet, in the Couvent Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette and in the Musée National des Beaux-Arts de l’Occident. The glass-walled apartment building had its prototype in the Immeuble locatif à la Porte Molitor.
A few sites inspired major trends in the Modern Movement, Purism, Brutalism, and a move towards a sculptural form of architecture. The inaugural use of Purism can be seen in the Maisons La Roche et Jeanneret, Cité Frugès and the Maison Guiette; the Unité d’Habitation played a pioneering role in promoting the trend of Brutalism, while the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut and the Capitol Complex promoted sculptural forms.
Innovation and experimentation are reflected in the independent structure of concrete beams of the Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung, while pre-stressed reinforced concrete was used in the Couvent de La Tourette. In the Capitol Complex, concern for natural air-conditioning and energy saving led to the use of sunscreens, double-skinned roofs, and reflecting pools for the catchment of rainwater and air cooling.
Standardisation is seen in the Unité d’Habitation de Marseille, a prototype intended for mass production, while the Petite villa au bord du Lac Léman set out the standard for a single span minimal house, and the Cabanon de Le Corbusier presented a standard, minimum unit for living. The modulor, a harmonic system based on human scale, was used for the exterior spaces of the Complexe du Capitole, which reflect the silhouette of a man with raised arm.
The idea of buildings designed around the new needs of ‘modern man in the machine age’ is exemplified in the light new workspaces of Manufacture à Saint-Dié, while the avant-garde housing at the Cité Frugès, and the low-rent Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung, demonstrate the way new approaches were not intended for a tiny fraction of society but rather for the population as a whole. By contrast, the Immeuble Clarté was intended to revolutionise middle class housing. The Athens Charter, as revised by Le Corbusier, promoted the concept of balance between the collective and the individual, and had its prototype in the Unité d’habitation, while the Capitol Complex, the focal point of the plan for the city of Chandigarh, is seen as the most complete contribution to its principles and to the idea of the Radiant City.
Criterion (i): The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier represents a masterpiece of human creative genius, providing an outstanding response to certain fundamental architectural and social challenges of the 20th century.
Criterion (ii): The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier exhibits an unprecedented interchange of human values, on a worldwide scale over half a century, in relation to the birth and development of the Modern Movement.
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier revolutionized architecture by demonstrating, in an exceptional and pioneering manner, the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past.
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier marks the birth of three major trends in modern architecture: Purism, Brutalism and sculptural architecture.
The global influence reached by The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier on four continents is a new phenomenon in the history of architecture and demonstrates its unprecedented impact.
Criterion (vi): The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier is directly and materially associated with ideas of the Modern Movement, of which the theories and works possessed outstanding universal significance in the twentieth century. The series represents a “New Spirit” that reflects a synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture.
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier materializes the ideas of Le Corbusier that were powerfully relayed by the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) from 1928.
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier is an outstanding reflection of the attempts of the Modern Movement to invent a new architectural language, to modernize architectural techniques, and to respond to the social and human needs of modern man.
The contribution made by the Architectural Work of Le Corbusier is not merely the result of an exemplary achievement at a given moment, but the outstanding sum of built and written proposals steadfastly disseminated worldwide through half a century.
Integrity
The integrity of the series as a whole is adequate to demonstrate the way Le Corbusier’s buildings reflect not only the development and influence of the Modern Movement but the way they were part of its transmission around the world.
The integrity of most of the component sites is good. At Cité Frugès, within the property, new buildings on three parcels of the site - one of which included a standardised house by Le Corbusier, which was destroyed during the war - are inconsistent with the architect’s concepts. At Villa Savoye and the adjacent gardener’s house, integrity is partly compromised by the Lycée and sports fields built on three sides of the original meadow that surrounded the villa in the 1950s. The setting of this site is fragile. At the Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung, war-time destruction and post-war reconstruction has led to the collective integrity of the model settlement being affected by the loss of ten houses out of twenty-one.
At the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut, where Le Corbusier’s structure was built over a centuries-old pilgrimage site, the integrity of the site has been partly compromised by a new visitor centre and a nunnery near the chapel that cut Le Corbusier’s structure from its contemplative hillside setting.
At the Immeuble locatif à La Porte Molitor, a new rugby stadium has been constructed right in front of the glass façade of the apartment block.
Authenticity
The series clearly demonstrates how it adds up to more than the sum of its component parts.
For most of the individual component sites, the authenticity is good in relation to how well the attributes of the site can be said to reflect the overall Outstanding Universal Value of the series. At Cité Frugès, on three plots traditional houses were constructed replacing Corbusian structures, while elsewhere in the urban landscape, there is a partial loss of authenticity through neglect and interior changes. At l’Unité d’habitation, the fire of 2012 destroyed a small part of the building. This has now been totally reconstructed to the original design, but with some reduction in authenticity. The authenticity of the existing Capitol Complex could be impacted if either or both of the governor’s palace or the museum of knowledge were to be constructed, an eventuality that has apparently been discussed.
At the Musée National des Beaux-Arts de l’Occident, the original intention for the forecourt of the Museum appears to be as a wide open space. Forecourt planting in 1999 tends to detract from the presentation of the building, its key views and the setting.
Recent developments at Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut have partly compromised the authenticity of the site in terms of its ability to convey Le Corbusier’s ideas. At the Immeuble locatif à La Porte Molitor the new stadium has detracted from the ability of the glass walls of this site to convey its value, although without diminishing its authenticity.
In terms of materials, some sites have been restored and partly reconstructed in recent years, after neglect or disfigurement. Overall, the modifications can be seen to be reasonable and proportionate.
Protection and management requirements
Many of the components received early protection, mostly in the two decades following Le Corbusier’s death. Some, like the Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung in Stuttgart and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille, were given protection during Le Corbusier’s lifetime. The nomination dossier sets out for each component the relevant forms of legislative protection. All component sites are protected at a national/federal level and their buffer zones are adequately protected by either legislation or planning mechanisms. Given the importance of detail and setting for these 20th century buildings, it is crucial that their protection is sufficiently encompassing and sensitive to allow for protection of interiors, exteriors, context and setting.
In most of the sites, conservation measures are appropriate and are based on long-standing conservation experience and methodology. Conservation work is programmed and entrusted to specialists with high levels of skill and expertise. Conservation treatment is combined with regular maintenance, including the involvement of inhabitants, local communities, and public associations. There are conservation issues in the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut. There is now an urgent need to implement the agreed conservation programme. There is also an urgent need for a Conservation plan to be prepared for the Capitol Complex.
A Standing Conference has been established for the overall series and will coordinate the management of the property, advise States Parties and implement actions for promotion and enhancement of the property. An Association of Le Corbusier Sites has been set up to bring together all the local authorities in whose territories sites have been nominated. Its main objectives are coordination, raising public awareness, sharing conservation experience, overall coordination and management of the series, and implementation of management plans for each of the component sites. The involvement of the expertise of the Fondation Le Corbusier – that has the moral rights over Le Corbusier’s oeuvre – is crucial for appropriate management and conservation of the series, especially in those cases where the properties are in private hands other than the Fondation. Within France, Switzerland and Argentina coordinating committees have been set up to oversee the management of sites in those countries.
What remains unclear is how dialogue is undertaken between countries in relation to sensitive development projects. There would be a need for contributing States Parties to have knowledge of, and opportunities to comment on, proposed development in a component site that might compromise the value of the overall series.
Local management plans have been drawn up for each component site. These have been implemented on a partnership basis between owners and the cultural, heritage and planning departments of the local authorities in whose area they are sited. At the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut, the management system needs strengthening to ensure the security of the site. At the Maison du Docteur Curutchet a municipal decree for the expansion of the buffer zone and active protection of its environment has been sanctioned.
Given the special problems associated with the conservation of 20th century architecture, a continuous involvement of (inter)national specialists on the conservation of Modern architectural heritage is also essential. In Switzerland the federal administration can call such specialized experts for advice to support the local conservationists (and has done so already). A similar approach is highly recommended for other countries.
The current staffing levels and levels of expertise and training are high in all sites and mechanisms to allow liaison between sites have been put in place. Nonetheless, there appears to be a need for more capacity building on the processes of impact assessment and a need to formalise and clearly define conservation approaches and procedures across the series.
Model monitoring indicators developed for two properties in Switzerland will be developed for the rest of the series by the end of 2016.Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump won a long legal battle Tuesday after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal brought by former casino workers against Trump Entertainment Resorts.
The workers sued to overturn the company’s bankruptcy ruling in 2014, which canceled union workers’ health insurance and pension payments.
As National Public Radio’s Supreme Court correspondent, Nina Totenburg, reported:
The justices let stand lower court rulings in favor of Trump Entertainment Resorts and against 1,000 unionized casino workers. In 2014, Trump Entertainment Resorts, including the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., was in dire straights financially. When the company filed for bankruptcy protection, it won a ruling from a federal bankruptcy judge stripping the casino workers of their health insurance and payments to the pension fund. The union appealed, arguing that those benefits were part of the collective bargaining agreement in which salary had been sacrificed to pay for health insurance. But a federal appeals court upheld the bankruptcy court order, and on Tuesday the Supreme Court, without comment, declined to review it.
Trump may have some uncomfortable legal wrangling ahead in the Trump University fraud case, in which several key documents were unsealed Tuesday, and as Trump repeated his attacks on the federal judge presiding in the case.
However, the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in the Taj Mahal case on Tuesday provided a timely, if somewhat undramatic, reprieve.
The Taj Mahal remains open in Atlantic City, and is ranked #14 out of 52 hotels monitored by TripAdvisor in the seaside gambling resort town.
Atlantic City, which is still struggling to recover from the 2008 recession, was recently the subject of a gripping HBO gangster series, Boardwalk Empire, which touched on political themes in its early seasons.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new e-book, Leadership Secrets of the Kings and Prophets: What the Bible’s Struggles Teach Us About Today, is on sale through Amazon Kindle Direct. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.Fans could get a free DLT from Taco Bell if a player steals a base during the World Series. (Courtesy Taco Bell)
Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley. The cups retail for $44 and $75, depending on how they’re made. (Courtesy of glassbaby)
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Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley. The cups retail for $44 and $75, depending on how they’re made. (Courtesy of glassbaby)
Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley. The cups retail for $44 and $75, depending on how they’re made. (Courtesy of glassbaby)
Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley. The cups retail for $44 and $75, depending on how they’re made. (Courtesy of glassbaby)
Stater Bros. is opening a new store in Tustin next week. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register)
Stater Bros. is opening a new store in Tustin next week. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register)
Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley. The cups retail for $44 and $75, depending on how they’re made. (Courtesy of glassbaby)
Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley. The cups retail for $44 and $75, depending on how they’re made. (Courtesy of glassbaby)
Fans could get a free DLT from Taco Bell if a player steals a base during the World Series. (Courtesy Taco Bell)
Fans could get a free DLT from Taco Bell if a player steals a base during the World Series. (Courtesy Taco Bell)
Farmer Boys’ Double Chili Cheeseburger featues two beef patties.
Muscle Maker Grill, a fast-casual brand that offers healthy meal plans, will accept My Fit Foods offers and coupons at face value at its location at the Jamboree Promenade Shopping Center in Irvine.
Photo courtesy Muscle Maker Grill
Photo courtesy Muscle Maker Grill
NEW Arizona Wrap – Features flavors with southwestern flair and is made with all-natural grilled chicken breast, brown rice, grilled turkey bacon, reduced fat cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes and scallions with its zero-carb signature sauce in a jalapeño wrap. True to its mission of delivering flavorful items without sacrificing taste, Muscle Maker Grill’s Arizona Wrap offers guests great tasting, nutritionally balanced food without the regret.
Gyro flatbread at Quiznos. (Courtesy Quiznos.)
Chili burger returns
Chili season has arrived early at Farmer Boys.
The Riverside-based restaurant chain has added a chili burger through the end of the year.
It’s been about five years since Farmer Boys has had a chili burger on the menu, marketing manager Daisy Alvarez said. It also used to serve open-faced chili sizes.
The new item, called the Double Chili Cheeseburger, a “revised and improved recipe” based on customer feedback.
“We asked guests what they were looking for in a chili burger, and what we heard back was obviously chili and cheese, but they didn’t want a lot of produce except for the onions and the pickle. So that’s what we did,” Alvarez said.
Farmer Boys’ chili features beef and spices, but no beans.
Farmer Boys used social media to pave the way for the chili launch. In July, it tested the burger at select locations promoted to members of its app-driver Very Important Farmer Loyalty Club. Last week, VIF members were given the chance to preview the burger by booking restaurant reservations online, an unusual move for a fast casual chain.
The burger costs $4.99 and will be on the menu through Jan. 1.
Farmer Boys is using it to promote its other chili items, including chili cheese fries, which are always on the menu. During the promotion, customers can upgrade to chili cheese fries on any combo for $1 extra. Farmer Boys’ Orange County locations are Laguna Hills, Santa Ana, Orange, Anaheim (2), Fullerton, Buena Park and Brea.
— Fielding Buck, [email protected]
New gym for Anaheim
Chuze Fitness continues its muscled march across Southern California with a new location slated to open early next year in Anaheim.
It will be the fifth Chuze Fitness for Orange County.
The company, a family-owned business founded in Carlsbad in 2008, is developing a 44,800-square-foot health club at the intersection of Beach Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue in the city’s southwest neighborhood. The gym will serve as a co-anchor along with Walmart Neighborhood Market in a shopping center at 135 Beach Blvd.
Chad Iafrate, a senior director with Cushman & Wakefield’s Carlsbad office, said Chuze operates 24 clubs across California, Arizona and Colorado — with Denver as a prime growth area of late — with “more locations in the West planned.”
Chuze Fitness offers a range of workout and training equipment as well studio fitness classes including Zumba, Pilates, Kickboxing, Boot Camp, Aqua Fit, Indoor Cycling and more. The fitness center also offers team training, hydromassage, a kids club, pool, sauna and cardio cinema.
For more visit chuzefitness.com.
Steal a Taco
The World Series hasn’t even started, yet Taco Bell is already making plans to feed America free tacos.
The Irvine-based chain announced plans Monday to bring back its annual “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” World Series promotion.
If a base is stolen in game one or two, fans will get a free Doritos Locos Taco on Wednesday, Nov. 1. The giveaway is from 2-6 p.m. (local time) at all participating Taco Bell locations.
If the first stolen base of the World Series takes place in game three or later, the taco giveaway will be held Tuesday, Nov. 7 from 2-6 p.m.(local time).
This is the 6th time in 10 years that Taco Bell has done the promotion. Baseball players Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bartlett, Ángel Pagán, Lorenzo Cain and Francisco Lindor have stolen bases in the previous five promotions.
Glassbaby lands at Fashion Island
Glassybaby, a maker of blown glass votives and drink cups, has opened a temporary kiosk at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
It’s the company’s first expansion to Southern California.
Glassybaby was founded by Lee Rhodes 17 years ago. Its glassworks are hand-blown by artisans based in Seattle and Berkeley.
The company got a big boost in 2005 after Rhodes appeared on Martha Stewart’s television show. “Things went insane,” Rhodes told Forbes. “We had thousands of orders on our website.”
Rhodes told Forbes her company expected to make $20 million in revenue in 2016. Glassbaby employs some 338 people and has nine brick and mortar stores in California and Washington. The cups retail for $55, the votives $50-$75, depending on how they’re made.
For the holidays, glassybaby has designed several new votives, including “starry night” and “holy night,” which will be released in early November.
Lee, a three-time cancer survivor, contributes 10 percent of all glassybaby sales of votives and cups to nonprofit organizations. The same will be true of the Fashion Island sales, with proceeds going to Hilarity for Charity. The organization was founded by Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen in 2012 to help millennials better understand Alzheimer’s disease.
Glassybaby’s kiosk will be adjacent to the koi pond, and where the annual Christmas tree is located, near Anthropologie and Restoration Hardware.
If you’re in a hurry, glassybaby also will soon be available via Amazon Prime Now and delivered within two hours.
Muscle Maker plans IPO
Muscle Maker Grill, a wellness-focused restaurant brand whose owner is based in Irvine, announced plans last week to raise nearly $20 million in an initial public offering.
The fast-casual restaurant chain sells salads, “skinny” flatbreads, fruit smoothies, protein shakes, wraps and vegetarian dishes made with lean meats such as turkey bacon.
The Houston-based chain has 50 locations throughout the country including Irvine, Santa Ana and Angel Stadium. It was purchased in 2015 by Irvine-based American Restaurant Holdings, which has a majority stake in the company.
Muscle Maker, which also provides meal plans for pick up and delivery, said it will list itself on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MMB. The IPO will be a Regulation A+ filing — a relatively new non-traditional offering that allows easier access for small businesses and early-stage companies to raise capital, according to the NYSE. The company listed its starting share price at $6.
The IPO appears to be a last-ditch effort to shore up capital for the financially strapped brand.
In 2016, the chain widened its net loss to $4.2 million, down from a $1 million loss in 2015. In its regulatory filing, the company said it will “continue to report losses and negative cash flow.”
As a result, the company’s independent auditors said “there is a substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern,” according to the federal filing.
Still, CEO Robert E. Morgan said Muscle Maker Grill is experiencing growth as more consumers seek healthier versions of mainstream dishes. “We are excited to be in a position to offer this investment opportunity that gives our customers a chance to also be our shareholders,” he said in a statement.
Muscle Maker Grill was founded in New Jersey in 1995. In 2016, American Holdings president Tim Betts appeared on the popular CBS reality show “Undercover Boss.”
New Southern California locations are planned for Fountain Valley and West Hollywood. Irvine-based American Restaurant Holdings owns a majority stake of the chain. American Holdings also owns Canyon Fireside Grille, Fresca’s Authentic Mexican Kitchen and JoJo’s Pizza Kitchen.
Free food at Quiznos
Quiznos, whose presence in Orange County has diminished over the years, is trying to win customers by going Greek.
The Denver-based chain has added three new Greek meals to its menu: a Gyro submarine sandwich, a Greek salad, and a Greek flatbread. On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Quiznos is enticing diners to try the flatbread, a pita bread folded and stuffed seasoned beef and lamb, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheese, banana peppers and cucumber tzatziki sauce.
The freebie is available with the purchase of another menu item (soda, bag of chips, dessert, soup, sandwich) at participating Quiznos. The freebie only applies to the flatbread, which cost $4.70. Quiznos operates 45 restaurants in California, including Orange County stores in Orange, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.
New store for Stater Bros.
Stater Bros. is opening a new supermarket Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Tustin. The market is part of the new Village at Tustin Legacy development at 15150 Kensington Park Drive.
The nearly 44,000-square-foot market features full-service departments for hot bakery items, deli, butchered meat and seafood. The store will also feature fresh hand-cut sushi.
The store opens after an 8 a.m. ribbon cutting. After Wednesday, the stores daily hours will be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.I work at a call center that offers various insurance packages to bank customers. I already get a lot of abuse because I am “telemarketing”, even though that’s not true, but after today I am about ready to quit.
I was in a call with an older gentleman and offering him a hospital plan. At one point I asked him to hold for a moment so I could drink some water, since I’d been talking all day and it had been about two hours since a break. He replied, “just how fat are you? You’re out of breath from reading? And I’m supposed to buy health insurance from you?” and slammed down the phone.
Thin privilege is not being harassed for having a sore throat for talking all day. Thin privilege is not being belittled for trying to improve access to insurance for people who need it.A funny thing happened this week when I had the audacity to call a so-called "Marriage Vow" pledge for candidates issued by the Iowa-based Family Leader group for what it is: Offensive and UnRepublican.
The funny thing that happened is that the Internet, the blogosphere, my Facebook page, and yes, my cell phone, lit up with reactions to my suggestion that the Family Leader pledge essentially asks Republicans to endorse putting the federal government in the business of discriminating against everyone who doesn't fit in some idyllic two-parent, heterosexual and non-Muslim mold. I not only rejected the pledge, but rejected the notion that Republicans who claim to believe in limited government could at the same time advocate sending that same government into American bedrooms, living rooms and private lives in order to enforce a particular set of values.
The reaction to my statements, and to the whole Family Leader pledge fiasco, is very telling -- particularly for Republicans who are serious about winning elections going forward.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of Independents, libertarians, and more than a few bona-fide liberals came out of the woodwork to flood blogs, social media sites and my own website with supportive words for my condemnation of the Family Leader pledge. And more than a few pundits questioned my sanity for actually saying -- while seeking the Republican nomination for president -- that the social issue emperors have no clothes.
But where are the Republicans, or more precisely, the Republicans running for president? Plenty of Republican voters and sympathizers expressed their agreement with my concerns, but except for the two candidates who have actually signed the offensive pledge, the rest of the field -- even those declining to sign it -- has treated it with kid gloves. Why kid gloves? The Family Leader pledge is just plain insulting to millions of Americans.
That is a major problem for Republicans. The simple fact of the matter is that those of us running for president are, to a great extent, the faces and voices of the Republican Party. What kind of message does it send to the Independents and Democrats |
or hinder adventurers.
Different locations and landmarks each have their own potential to help or hinder adventurers. Online or local co-op:
Playing alone is fine, but team up with others to overcome the hardest challenges!
Playing alone is fine, but team up with others to overcome the hardest challenges! Great for parties:
Each playthrough is less than an hour, allowing people to play together in one sitting.
Each playthrough is less than an hour, allowing people to play together in one sitting. Different every time:
With a randomly generated world and adventure levels, with different upgrades at each vendor, there’s always something new to find.
Moon Hunters will be released for the PS4 in the coming months and the PS Vita version will follow afterwards.
Check out the Moon Hunters Screenshots:
Check out the Moon Hunters Gameplay Trailer:John Coltrane AT BIRDLAND 1962-63
NEW EDITION feb 2011
WADO Broadcasts 1962-63
Download: FLAC/MP3
Disk 1
February 16, 1962
1 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)
2 The Inchworm (F. Loesser) 7:52
3 Mr. P.C. (J. Coltrane) 7:13
4 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin)
5 My Favorite Things (R. Rodgers-O. Hammerstein) 13:55
June 2, 1962
William Crayton “Pee Wee” Marquette (announcer), Unknown (announcer)
6. My Favorite Things (R. Rodgers-O. Hammerstein) 14:01
7. Body and Soul (J.W. Green-E. Heyman-R. Sour-F. Eyton) 9:57
8. Cousin Mary (Coltrane) (inc.) /announcement 4:47
Disc 2
February 23, 1963
Symphony Sid Torin (announcer)
1 I Want To Talk About You (B. Eckstine) 10:44
2 Transition (J. Coltrane) 15:13
March 2, 1963
03 Mr. P.C. (J. Coltrane) 13:03
04 Introduction (Symphony Sid Torin) 0:34
05 My Favorite Things (R. Rodgers-O. Hammerstein) (inc) 10:38
Disc 3 – NOT INCLUDED, SORRY
1963-10-08
1. Traneing In 19:20
2. Mr. PC 10:15
3. Lonnie’s Lament 19:05A leaked transcript from a 2010 episode of The Celebrity Apprentice offers further proof that Donald Trump‘s derogatory comments regarding women’s appearances are a longstanding tendency of the Republican nominee.
The transcript from a season nine episode titled “Beauty and Brains” obtained by The Huffington Post captures Trump insulting the looks of a budding country singer, Emily West, 35.
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“I assume you’re gonna leave this off, don’t put this s–t on the show, you know. But her skin, her skin sucks, okay?” Trump allegedly says in unaired footage, according to the transcript. “I mean her skin, she needs some serious f—in’ dermatology.”
West appeared as a guest star on the show for a challenge where the contestants were tasked with giving two country singers, West and an emerging Luke Bryan, makeovers and a promotional campaign plan.
Cyndi Lauper was heading up the team for West. The singer insisted that photos of West not be airbrushed or touched up and suggested that Trump had a problem with something that was “not her skin.”
The situation escalated when Trump continued, “F—. That’s Emily, that’s what I’m hearing about? Let me see the other one. I assume you’re not putting this on the show. ‘Cause I don’t wanna destroy the kid’s career.”
During the roughly three-minute-long discussion, Trump asked guest judge Trace Adkins if he thought West’s makeup looked good. When Adkins said it did, the business mogul replied, “You’re obviously not a skin man. I wish I wasn’t.”
On the subject of Bryan, Trump is quoted as saying, “Personally, I am, as you probably heard, not a gay man, but I think he’s better looking [than] Emily, okay?”
West’s team ended up winning the competition.
Lauper confirmed the incident to The Huffington Post.
“That’s the way he is,” she told the outlet. “It is just very disappointing.”
West tells Rolling Stone she was “hurt and kind of grossed out” but not surprised by the comments.
“I feel really bad for him, because he doesn’t know how the human heart works,” she said of Trump. “You can’t say things like that to people and then one day expect to win; your character is going to show up.”
After footage leaked Friday of Trump making lewd comments about Nancy O’Dell and Arianne Zucker to Billy Bush on an Access Hollywood bus in 2005, a former Apprentice producer, Bill Pruitt, tweeted that there “are far worse” offensive comments made by Trump during the taping of the show.
But Apprentice producer Mark Burnett said that he was unable to distribute unaired footage from the NBC reality show featuring the GOP candidate.
“MGM owns Mark Burnett’s production company and The Apprentice is one of its properties. Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGM’s ability to release such material,” the joint statement on behalf of MGM and Burnett, 56, reads.
“The recent claims that Mark Burnett has threatened anyone with litigation if they were to leak such material are completely and unequivocally false. To be clear, as previously reported in the press, which Mark Burnett has confirmed, he has consistently supported Democratic campaigns.”Invisible Children activist Jason Russell’s butt-naked meltdown in San Diego doesn’t just give new meaning to the phrase "exposing child soldiers." It raises the question of how an obscure-to-most-Americans political issue will play after its most prominent spokesman has flamed out.
Nick Sibilla gave the lowdown on Russell’s arrest earlier:
Russell was taken into custody Thursday night after vandalizing cars and masturbating in public. In addition, the SDPD "received several calls yesterday at 11:30 a.m. of a man in various stages of undress, running through traffic and screaming. Police described him as 'in his underwear.'"… The police will not press charges, since according to a SDPD spokesperson, "We determined that medical treatment was a better course of action than arrest."
TMZ notes that cops were responding to reports of a man in "various stages of undress." And because this is your lucky day, TMZ also has video of Russell in what looks like the final stage of undress, very athletically getting the message out to what looks like a pretty nice section of America's Finest City.
My own impressions of Kony 2012 were that 1) it was remarkably centered on Russell’s sense of his own awesomeness; 2) the use of Russell’s son was so shameless – such an unjust act of parenting, journalism and cinema – that it made me feel terribly old; and 3) Russell is the type of person about whom a friend of mine once said, "That guy’s problem is that he’s never had nobody give a shit about his ideas."
More importantly, Sibillla noted in an excellent overview last week, the viral video failed either to describe Kony’s crimes in full or to deal honestly with the crimes of the governments that are fighting against him. The other day Tate Watkins described how this post-post-post-modern phenomenon also contains plenty of old-school political propaganda and overlaps with State Department ambitions. Sibilla also described how Invisible Children’s strange mission of funding "hipsters uploading videos to Vimeo" has nevertheless resulted in getting Kony declared an enemy of the United States.
Because the explosion of the anti-Joseph Kony cause is so wound up in Russell’s own story – which, whatever the video’s faults, was clearly compelling to 80 million people – it will be interesting to see if this news has any impact on the campaign. It’s also an example of how the very technofabulism celebrated in Kony 2012 accelerates career cycles: In the old days a celebrity got at least a month between the overnight success and the Sean Young-level breakdown.
Theoretically, Russell’s problems, which I hope for his family’s sake he will overcome, should not have any effect on the political situation. But it’s hard to see how the American public’s fascination with Joseph Kony, who is himself only a bit player in Russell’s film, would have been of long duration under any circumstances. The attention span can only get shorter now that the campaign's leading spokesman has rendered himself – unlike the American forces sent to help hunt for Kony – hors de combat.The following exchange is from the book My First Movie edited by Stephen Lowenstein:
Joel Coen: “(To make Blood Simple) we followed the example of Sam Raimi. Sam had done this trailer, almost like a full-length version of The Evil Dead, but on Super 8. He raised like sixty or ninety thousand dollars that way, essentially by taking it around to people’s homes to find investors. He financed the movie using a common thing people making exploitation movies had used, which was a limited partnership….So Sam, also told us how to set that up and we did that in conjunction with a lawyer here and then went out and shot a two-minute trailer in 35mm…The trailer emphasized the action, the blood and guts in the movie. It was very short. We had a very effective soundtrack, which was cheap to do. And we schlepped that around for about a year to people’s homes and projected it in their living rooms and then got them to give us money to make the movie…If you call people up and you say ‘Can you give me ten minutes so I can present an opportunity to invest in a movie?’, they’re going to say, “No I don’t need this,’ and hang up the phone. But it’s slightly different if you call up and say, ‘Can I come over and take ten minutes and show you a piece of film?’ All of a sudden that intrigues them and gets your foot in the door. That’s something Sam made up wise to which was invaluable in terms of being able to raise the kind of money we were trying to raise…I think there ended up being about sixty-five investors in the movie, most of them in five or ten thousand increments. I think sixty to seventy per cent of them were from Minneapolis.
Ethan Coen: The good thing about Minneapolis is those horrible phone calls you have to make to people you don’t know—you’ve just got their names from whoever. They’re too polite to hang up.
Joel Coen: That’s absolutely true. In New York, they’d just go, ‘yeah, yeah,” and hang up; because the dangerous thing with any salesman is to keep talking to them. (Laughs.)
Note: They raised $750,000. for Blood Simple which was released in 1984. In AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills the film was ranked #98. (Just ahead of Speed.)
Scott W. Smith2015 isn’t short of great and memorable video game stories, whether it’s playing the role of a detective and solving a murder, escaping the clutches of a serial killer, or battling your demons as a vigilante.
As games and their developers continue to mature, the importance of telling a great story alongside creating fun gameplay will keep rising. The days of only playing Super Mario-type platformers with minimal plots are long gone. We now expect well-written characters and interesting narratives, and for the most part this year, developers haven’t disappointed us.
We’ve an episodic-adventure title that pushes boundaries with the types of subjects video games can cover, a horror title inspired by The Matrix, a mystery thriller that relies heavily on full-motion video, and a game that fully embraces teen-horror movie tropes — creating something that’s unexpectedly exciting and fresh. Oh, and who can forget the thrilling psychological battle between Batman and the Joker?
These are 2015’s seven best video game stories.
7. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
Image Credit: The Chinese Room
Developer The Chinese Room’s Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is a first-person, story-driven exploration game that takes place in a small English village whose inhabitants have disappeared, and it’s up to you to find out how and why.
The game tells two interwoven stories. One is about the people who live in the village (England county Shropshire’s fictional Yaughton Valley), which is told through mysterious floating balls of light that you can find and interact with, and the other is the story of the apocalyptic incident that presumably caused them to go to the Rapture. It’s a captivating plot that puts a clever twist on the ancient biblical story of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Chinese Room was able to craft a complicated narrative that feels disturbing and harrowing, and one that requires you to play through the game multiple times to fully understand it and catch every little detail. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is one of this year’s best examples of the growing rise of quality first-person exploration games that rely solely on storytelling rather than gameplay.
6. Soma
Image Credit: Frictional Games
Soma is a first-person horror game similar to Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture in that it doesn’t contain any combat whatsoever. Developed by Frictional Games, which made the terrifying Penumbra series and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Soma deals with the horrors of reality and the lengths people will go to in order to live “normal” lives.
You assume the role of Simon Jarrett, who suffers from brain damage and cranial bleeding due to a recent car crash. As he visits a doctor for an experimental brain scan, he passes out and wakes up a century later in an abandoned underwater research facility.
What follows is a brooding story brimming with crazy plot twists as Jarrett tries to figure out where he is, how he got there, who he has become, and what is wrong with him. Soma cleverly borrows from The Matrix but contains enough of its own original story beats to create a thought-provoking game that will stay with you for a long time.
5. Tales from the Borderlands
Telltale’s episodic point-and-click adventure game Tales from the Borderlands is arguably the studio’s best effort since the first season of The Walking Dead. But unlike that game, Tales from the Borderlands is absolutely hilarious.
Based on Gearbox Software’s Borderlands series and set after the events of Borderlands 2, Tales’ story is largely told in media res — opening in the middle of the action, with exposition largely bypassed and filled in gradually through flashbacks or dialogue. You play as two likeable main protagonists: Rhys, a Hyperion employee, and Fiona, a con artist working on Pandora.
The game features a fun story, which revolves around acquiring Vault Keys and opening new Vaults, a great set of characters and voice actors, tough story choices to make, and arguably the funniest writing in games this year. Though Tales from the Borderlands isn’t as poignant as some of the other entries on this list, it’s still arguably the funnest video game story this year and a raucous great time.
4. Until Dawn
Image Credit: Supermassive Games
The interesting thing about developer Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn is that it does something refreshing by basing its story on teen-horror movies and its gameplay on developer Quantic Dream’s past work, such as Heavy Rain. It fuses tried-and-true narrative and gameplay elements to make it one of the most surprising games this year.
The story is simple: A group of seven young adult friends go to their Blackwood Pines lodge to celebrate their annual winter getaway. Of course, it’s quickly made apparent that a psychotic serial killer, inspired by characters like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, is on the loose and picking off these teenagers one by one.
Surprisingly, Until Dawn’s cast of characters aren’t annoying little brats, and you’ll find plenty of intriguing plot twists. More importantly, however, Until Dawn is driven by a deluge of choices you can make that’ll dramatically shape the story. Each player’s experience will be different, which makes your own playthrough that much more special.
3. Life Is Strange
Developer Dontnod Entertainment’s Life Is Strange is the other episodic-adventure game on this list. It ventures into territories that very few games will — taboo subjects like school bullying, rape, depression, suicide, and murder. This is all told through the perspective of a high school photographer named Maxine Caulfield and her best friend Chloe Price.
Though Life Is Strange could’ve easily been a game solely about teen angst and high school drama, Dontnod puts a cool spin things by introducing Maxine’s ability to rewind time, leading to your every choice enacting the butterfly effect. One small change in one timeline can result in bigger changes in another timeline.
You’ll be making a ton of these types of difficult decisions throughout Life Is Strange’s five episodes, and the added mystery of a friend’s disappearance makes the whole story even that much more interesting.
2. Her Story
Image Credit: Sam Barlow
Sam Barlow’s captivating full-motion video mystery thriller has you playing the role of a detective like you never have before.
For those unfamiliar, an FMV video game has a narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files with real people acting, rather than the sprites or 3D models typically found in games. Barlow uses this design choice with great effect, crafting one of the most authentic detective games to date. Her Story is about a set of fictional interview tapes that feature a woman named Hannah Smith, played by the excellent Viva Seifert, whose husband, Sam, has gone missing and is later found murdered.
By sorting through these interview tapes (which you do so by searching an old computer database), you attempt to solve the murder by piecing together the slew of clues and details you gather from the clips. As you’d expect, Her Story does have a few shocking plot twists and is very well written, but the game’s biggest strengths are Seifert’s wonderful performance and the game’s heavy reliance on your ability to actually find the culprit with no handholding. It’s interactive storytelling at its best.
1. Batman: Arkham Knight
Image Credit: Rocksteady Studios
Though Rocksteady’s third Arkham game is arguably the weakest entry in the studio’s Batman trilogy, that’s solely down to Arkham Knight’s gameplay flaws. The main story, however, is definitely the best in the series.
Arkham Knight examines the tumultuous relationship between Batman and the Joker in some of the cleverest and coolest ways possible, and the game shows us why we’ve been so in love with both of these comic book characters for several decades now. The emotional struggles that have consumed Batman after years of fighting crime provide for some truly memorable moments and scenes, which I won’t spoil here.
Aside from the Joker’s involvement, Batman’s exceptional rogues gallery is put to great use with the Scarecrow and new villain Arkham Knight acting as the main baddies. The talented voice cast does great work here, and the presentation is top-notch as well. Even though Arkham Knight fails to bring anything revolutionary or new when it comes to video game storytelling, like the other games on this list, its old-fashioned tendencies don’t take away from how well realized and well written it actually is.The History Channel miniseries "The Bible" is one of the most popular TV shows in recent memory. "The greatest story ever told" seems to have much life left in i
During an age of economic uncertainty (and even more so among Christian Dominionist evangelicals who believe Barack Obama is the anti-Christ) it makes sense that a retreat to a popularized version of the underpinnings of Christian faith, tailor-made for cable TV, has proven to be popular.
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"The Bible" will likely draw more viewers following the controversy generated by a recent episode that offered up a vision of “Satan” whose facial features are almost identical to those of President Barack Obama.
The right-wing echo chamber is resonating with affirmation and joy at this discovery: the Christian Dominionists on the Right instinctively knew that the election of Barack Obama, the United States’ first black president, beckoned the “End Times.” (McCain’s campaign even offered up an ad in 2008 suggesting this very fact.) Now, the History Channel has validated their version of reality.
"The Bible" is not a "true" or "accurate" depiction of events. Like other TV shows and films, the final product is the result of the many decisions made by producers, actors, directors, writers, and editors. However, that does not mean that we should avoid asking some basic questions about the accuracy of the miniseries. For some, what follows is an uncomfortable truth.
The historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth was not "white. He was not European. Based on the scholarly consensus, the historical Jesus would be a Middle Eastern Jew of medium, if not dark, complexion. He was certainly dark enough to have spent time in the Middle East and elsewhere, and not to have had his skin tone commented upon or noted.
This Jesus would be hounded and harassed by the TSA, looked at as a de facto "suspicious" person in post-9/11 America, and be racially profiled by the national security state. The historical Jesus would likely be subject to stop-and-frisk policies by the New York police and others. If it were too late at night, and the historical Jesus was trying to get a cab--especially if he were not attired "professionally"--he would be left standing curbside because brown folks in their 20s and 30s who look like him are presumed to be criminals.
Despite the "common sense" depiction of Jesus in the (white) American popular imagination, the historical Jesus Christ is not a white surfer dude with blue eyes, long flowing hair, and tanned and toned skin.
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When I was an undergraduate and forced to take a series of religious studies classes as part of a core requirement, I was exposed first-hand to how volatile such a basic observation can be to some Christians and others who identify with that faith tradition. Our professor was discussing how the Bible is a historical text that has been edited and changed to reveal the prevailing political and social norms of a given time. I asked a question about the Civil Rights Movement and how black folks tried to use the text for purposes of political inspiration and motivation in the face of great adversity.
This transitioned to a followup question where I asked, "What color was Jesus?" Having just seen the movie, Malcolm X, I was curious as to the professor's response. He looked around and plainly said that Jesus Christ was not white or European. He would likely be a medium-complected Jew with brown or darker skin.
Check and mate: thus my followup, "Could one reasonably say that Jesus the historical figure was black?"
Our masterful professor looked around in a contemplative manner and said, "Depending on who you ask, and in what context, one could say that he could be considered 'black' in a society like America where whites have been so color conscious and race obsessed." You could have heard a pin hit the floor as gasps of anger erupted from the white (and some black and brown) students in the class.
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Some students actually tried to get this professor fired. He was saved by a few things. First, his research claims, historiography on the matter, and credentials were impeccable. He had tenure. And he was white. It is quite likely that a black faculty member making such a basic claim would have had far fewer protections.
In these discussions of faith, some would likely object that race doesn't matter. Who cares what color the historical Jesus is/was?
Here, the color of Jesus Christ matters while simultaneously being of little import. Thus, a paradox. If the color of Jesus Christ is unimportant, why then the objection to the question and a resistance to changing the images to be more historically accurate? Moreover, such a basic question about the lie that is white Jesus, is often deflected and redirected into one which ends with the power of the white racial frame enabling those invested in its distortion(s) of reality arguing that anyone, especially a person of color, asking such things must be a black "racist" or anti-white.
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If a Christian is a true believer why would they have difficulty reconciling their faith with such a superficial thing as changing the historical lie that is white Jesus into one that is more accurate, a man of color, whose message would be unchanged? Would it really be that hard for some white Christians (and others) to kneel before a black or brown Jesus Christ? Are the psychic wages of whiteness so great as to distort a person's image of God?
These matters of race, religion and politics remain potent even in 21st-century America. See how President Obama's presidential campaign was almost destroyed by Reverend Wright and the white conservative bogeyman known as "black liberation theology."
Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo's White Jesus were iconic images that enabled European colonialism and imperialism. In these grand projects of global white power and conquest, "Christian" became synonymous with free, white and civilized. "Heathen" meant that whole populations could be subjected to extermination, enslavement and exploitation.
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The current and most popular image of Jesus as created by Warner Sallman in 1941 depicts the former as a white "American." Here, American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, and rise as an Imperial power were ordained as being one with Jesus, and a blessing from God for a country whose elites imagined it to be a "shining city on the hill."
This logic is perfectly cogent: a racial project of exploitation and enslavement of non-whites by Europeans, one legitimized by a belief in the natural inferiority of people of color, the pseudo-science of the Great Chain of Being, a belief in the Curse of Ham as well as other myths, must, for reasons of practical necessity, be predicated on the existence of a "white" God.
A twisted complement to how the whiteness of Jesus has been historically naturalized in the West is how the same ahistorical image adorns many African-American churches (as well as those of Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and others) in this country and throughout the world.
Is there any greater example of the twisted nature of the color line, and the power of internalized white supremacy, than how many millions of black and brown folks kneel and pray before the image of a white god -- an image which has long been used to justify and legitimate white supremacy and racial exploitation? Black and white Christians pray to the same mythologized and historically inaccurate image of Jesus; yet, they do not pray or worship together in the same churches.
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Research shows that white audiences will not watch TV shows or movies which they judge to have too many people of color as characters. A historically accurate version of the Bible, which embraced the demographic realities of the era such as HBO's epic series, "Rome," would be a revelation. Unfortunately, many in the American public would be unwilling to hear such a basic truth, for it would be too upsetting for those who have internalized whiteness and white privilege even on matters of religion and faith.And so the wait is over, Frank Ocean‘s new album formerly known as ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is finally here and now it’s called ‘Blonde’, which just so happens to also be the name of a racing car company that the R&B singer owns.
“I had the time of my life making all of this. Thank you all,” Ocean wrote on Tumblr following the album’s release. “Especially those of you who never let me forget I had to finish. Which is basically every one of ya’ll. Haha. Love you,” he added.
While you take a listen, read our track-by-track, first listen impressions of ‘Blonde’.
‘Nikes’
The album’s lead single, released 24 hours before the new album followed. It’s only been a day but many fans will already regard it as classic Frank. In our review of the track, we wrote that it shows Ocean’s “adeptness at making pop music with a difference”, further labelling it as the best thing the singer has released since ‘Channel Orange”s central tour-de-force ‘Pyramids’.
‘Ivy’
Originally debuted live in Munich during 2013 (albeit as an early draft), ‘Ivy’ sees Frank mull over a failed relationship. “I thought that I was dreaming when you said you love me,” he sings over a sparse backdrop. Unlike much of the instrumental-heavy taster album ‘Endless’, this track sees Ocean’s vocals clean-cut and coming to the fore as he spills his heart about “all the things I didn’t mean to say / I didn’t mean to do”. At its climax, Ocean’s falsetto begins to crackle as feedback cuts through, like a metaphor for the way he’s feeling.
‘Pink + White’ (featuring Beyoncé)
‘Pink + White’ flows like a summer’s breeze, having an almost tropical feel much like ‘Sweet Life’ from ‘Channel Orange’, this time depicting a more realistic outlook on life. Beyonce provides backing vocals for the closing verse but her presence is barely noticeable, which says a lot about Ocean’s self-confidence with this project. Imagine having Beyoncé on your track and not only managing to not be completely upstaged but deciding to not even utilise her properly. Just imagine.
‘Be Yourself’
This short skit – similar to ‘Channel Orange’s ‘Not Just Money‘ – sees Frank’s mother (of embarrassing her kids in Instagram videos fame) offering some maternal advice via a voicemail message. “Many college students have gone to college and gotten hooked on drugs, marijuana, and alcohol. Listen, stop trying to be somebody else. Don’t try to be someone else. Be yourself and know that that’s good enough,” she says, before ringing off with: “This is mom, call me, bye”. Preach, Mama Ocean.
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‘Solo’
If ‘Lost’ depicted the hedonism of life on the road then ‘Solo’ is its jaded aftermath. Gone are the “big full breasts” and “buttercream silk shirts” and in their place are the markings of a drugged-up haze and its subsequent comedown, as Ocean fails to heed his mother’s advice and tries not to end the night alone. “We don’t gotta be solo,” he croons to an organ-backdrop reminiscent of ‘Bad Religion’, elongating the latter word so it sounds more like “so low”.
‘Skyline To’ (featuring Kendrick Lamar)
If you thought Beyoncé’s feature earlier on was wasteful then you’re going to find this Kendrick one pretty pointless altogether, as the rapper chimes in to add emphasis to the odd word here and there, like “smoke” and “haze”. It works, just as long as you dispel your hopes for another proper team-up between the pair.
‘Self Control’
The first fully-blown love song on ‘Blonde’, ‘Self Control’ features additional vocals and guitar work from Austin Feinstein of the LA band Slow Hollows and opens with a pitched-up squawk of a rap before Ocean strips things back again and attempts to woo the object of his affection, his serenade sounding delicate and heart-wrenching.
‘Good Guy’
A brief, lo-fi sketch of a piano ballad, ‘Good Guy’ leaves an emotional imprint more than any other on the record and does so less by what it actually says and more by allowing the imagination of the listener to take over. Split into two halves, the opening sees Ocean telling the tale of a blind date to a gay club with a more dominating man who “talks too much, more than I do” and sees it simply as “just a late night out”. The song then cuts to two men talking about not having “bitches no more” and getting their hearts “wrecked” by women. It’s a thoughtful look at two opposing facets of modern masculinity.
‘Nights’
Continuing the late-night diary entry vibes, ‘Nights’ is split into two parts like the album’s previous track. Part one sees Ocean describing fragmented recent events, culminating in his need for “new beginnings” and to stop waking up when “the sun’s going down”. However, as we come to the second half, which is set to a more gripping beat, he’s already fallen back into old ways (“Every night fucks every day up / Every day patches the night up”).
‘Solo (Reprise)’ (featuring André 3000)
Frank takes a backseat on ‘Solo (Reprise)’, which sees Andre 3000 in full throttle mode, giving his take on the themes set up by the earlier corresponding track, ‘Solo’. The song also includes the most exciting instrumentation that we’ve heard since opener ‘Nikes’, as the laid-back keystrokes of jazzy lounge piano clash with jittering glitches.
‘Pretty Sweet’
‘Pretty Sweet’ throws you in the deep end, in media res-style, to what sounds like an Ocean soliloquy while trapped in a sandstorm. Soon a choral section kicks in as the beat picks up and races to a premature finish. A short but satisfying interlude.
‘Facebook Story’ (featuring SebastiAn)
A skit that sees Ed Banger producer SebastiAn recalling the time he was dumped by a girl because he wouldn’t accept her as a friend on Facebook. On paper it all sounds very silly, but on record comes across as quite poignant, touching upon the feelings of jealousy, intimacy and technophobia that Ocean expresses elsewhere on the record.
‘Close to You’
A short autotuned track that riffs off Stevie Wonder’s vocoder cover of ‘Close To You’ by The Carpenters, with the song’s familiar tune lingering under the surface like an earworm.
‘White Ferrari’
We heard rumours of this track back in November when producer A Trak tweeted “”Mark my words: in a few weeks u’ll hear a song called White Ferrari, I can’t tell u who it’s by but it’s the best thing u’ll hear this year.” A slow-burning, minimal ballad that makes reference to The Beatles‘ ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ and, just like with the work of John, Paul, George and Ringo, shows that sometimes great songwriting is enough to make a track. ‘White Ferrari’ sounds like your last car ride as summer comes to an end.
‘Seigfried’
Another song first showcased live and since immortalised through grainy fan-shot footage, ‘Seigfried’ (a misspelling of the dragon-slaying Norse warrior Siegfried) sees Ocean lamenting feelings of isolation, his desire to run away and commit to the one he loves. It’s one of Frank’s most vulnerable moments on the record.
‘Godspeed’ (featuring Kim Burrell)
‘Godspeed’ is, as Frank himself puts it, a “reimagined part of my boyhood”, as he promises to “let go of my claim” on a former – possibly unrequited – love interest. Fans will speculate the subject as being that who influenced Ocean’s previous album ‘Channel Orange’ and his coming out. It’s impossible to say for sure, but either way ‘Godspeed’ is a beautiful ode that reminds us that the love we feel is each our own and doesn’t need another to reciprocate for it to be true.
‘Futura Free’
The sprawling, nine-minute long ‘Futura Free’ brings the record to an end and does so with Ocean looking firmly back to the past, reflecting upon life before fame, before the time when emails from Jay Z would drop in his inbox. Back when he had a day job and Tyler, The Creator would sleep on his sofa. This is Frank staying true to himself and his belief in his art.
First-Listen Verdict:
‘Blonde’, on first listen, isn’t the show-stopping, magnum-opus that many had expected or hoped for. Less immediate and meticulous than ‘Channel Orange’, it instead sees Ocean subtly grow as a songwriter, turning his focus inward as he abandons the character studies that formerly made up most of his lyrics for a mode that’s a lot more personal this time round. In this way, the album can be seen as a document of where Frank is right now as a person, a time capsule of the last four years. It’s apt that the record ends with a sound bite of a mundane interview and a private conversation with a friend, as this is how Ocean largely appears on the record: intimate yet inscrutable.61 Pages Posted: 8 Mar 2013 Last revised: 19 Sep 2013
Date Written: March 7, 2013
Abstract
Is there a religious way to pump gas, sell groceries, or advertise for a craft store?
Litigation over the HHS contraceptive mandate has raised the question whether a for-profit business and its owner can engage in religious exercise under federal law. The federal government has argued, and some courts have found, that the activities of a profit-making business are ineligible for religious freedom protection.
This article offers a comprehensive look at the relationship between profit-making and religious liberty, arguing that the act of earning money does not preclude profit-making businesses and their owners from engaging in protected religious exercise.
Many religions impose, and at least some businesses follow, religious requirements for the conduct of profit-making businesses. Thus businesses can be observed to engage in actions that are obviously motivated by religious beliefs: from preparing food according to ancient Jewish religious laws, to seeking out loans that comply with Islamic legal requirements, to encouraging people to “know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.” These actions easily qualify as exercises of religion.
It is widely accepted that religious freedom laws protect non-profit organizations. The argument for denying religious freedom in the for-profit context rests on a claimed categorical distinction between for-profit and non-profit entities. Yet a broad examination of how the law treats these entities in various contexts severely undermines the claimed categorical distinction. Viewed in this broader context, it is clear that denying religious liberty rights for profit-makers would actually require singling out religion for disfavored treatment in ways forbidden by the Free Exercise Clause and federal law.Only those who are following the ins and outs of the latest round of Washington, DC shenanigans might know that the American federal government is likely to shut down next week as the result of a Republican-led political tactic.
The House of Representatives majority party continually refuses to vote to raise the debt ceiling, a limit on how much debt the American government can incur. The Republican leadership has apparently leaked a document with a laundry list of political demands that it wants in exchange for approving a debt ceiling raise.
Even stranger, among a long list of demands is this curious line: “Blocking Net Neutrality.”
Astute Ars readers likely will already |
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