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it precisely correct to say that it is only a part of the universal that is in a given particular. On Aristotles account: white (the genus or universal) is SAID OF the particular color that is PRESENT IN this horse. So, for one and the same thing, whiteness, to be in both this horse and that horse (Platos problem case) is just for the color of this horse and the color of that horse both to be classified as white. (White is SAID OF both of these two individual instances of color.) Whiteness is therefore in both horses without being separate from itself for it is just the common classification of the particular bits of color in them both. According to Aristotle, what is PRESENT IN individual substances is, ultimately, individual. But just as individual substances can be classified under universals (like horse and animal), so too can the qualities, etc., of substances be classified under universals (like white and color). For more detail on this interpretation of Aristotles Categories as a response to Platos Dilemma of Participation, see Matthews and Cohen, The One and the Many p. 644, on reserve.Details Written by Nick Breeze (@NickGBreeze) Nick Breeze (@NickGBreeze) Published: 11 July 2017 11 July 2017
The annual Printemps de Champagne week in late April brings together the leading artisanal Champagne producers who are setting new standards and raising the profile of grower producer wines to dizzying heights. To not know them is to live a life in small part.
Deep under the skin
Each year towards the end of April, the small producers of Champagne, known as grower producers, organise a series of tastings where people from the trade and press get the opportunity to taste the best of what these artisanal producers have created. The international organic and biodynamic wine consultant, Hervé Jestin described the experience as:
Maybe among the best wine in Champagne you can taste… there is a very convivial, very quiet, very fun atmosphere among the visitors, among the growers. There is avery nice exchange between the growers. It is very interesting. Of course it is possible to taste vey nice wine everywhere. Hervé Jestin describes the scene
One of the wonders of Champagne is not just the history, the quality and variance of the geology, or the huge variety of style on offer, but, for me it is the producers knowledge of their land, vines and processes that they bring together to work their magic.
The names of the tastings reflect the craftsmanship that goes into the making of the sparkling wines, such as Terre et Vin (Earth and Wine), Artisan Champagne, Mains de Terroir, Bulles Bio (Organic bubbly), among many others. There are masterclasses given by local professionals taking us deeper beneath the skin of the region, imparting knowledge and experience that gives another aspect to the experience of champagne.
Carl Edmund Sherman discussing vinification in oak barrels
Discovery of expression
I recall speaking to someone from Bordeaux who, when the subject turned to champagne, rolled his eyes and said “it’s just all bubbles!”. Having made at least two trips a year to the region for the last five years or so, such a comment makes me wince with displeasure.
The large “Houses” known as Grand Marques, that produce the large volumes of styled champagne that is drunk the world over are overlords of the international champagne market. The Grower Producers are the farmers turned winemakers who have turned their attention to their land and fruit to weave a new small scale level of magic. Although they may struggle to reach the far corners of the Earth, as do their large-scale cousins, they do however conjure the spirit of the place where the vines are grown, their terroir.
The region is vast, stretching from not far East of Paris down towards northern Burgundy, and there are seven grape varieties that can be legally blended for different characteristics. We mainly only taste chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, but others that have traditional roots in the region are becoming more widely used as climate changes and diversification to preserve quality means experimentation is necessary.
The levels of alertness on display when the liquid touches the palate can be profound. For the newcomer it is hard not to be self-conscious, for who would really take such a pursuit so seriously? But if that were the case, why would people spend so much to listen to an orchestra, visit the finest art exhibitions, or be part of any other pursuit that glimpses purity in expression or pleasure?
All of this is reflected in the diversity of the attendees. Familiar faces from previous tastings arrive from as close as Paris or London and also as far as China, the US or Australia.
Alison Smith Marriott - aka Bon Vivant DC, founder of Washington DC's Champagne Week
Ecologically minded
It’s has been of huge interest to me how the Champagne region has placed the importance of protecting ecology and reducing their carbon footprint, at the heart of their production values. Earlier this year I caught up with Thibaut le Mailloux - Director of Communications, at the Le Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC), the local governing bureau for the wine region, who said:
“I never heard of a sustainable plan like the one Champagne has, which is not only covering viticulture and winemaking but all the dimensions of champagne making, selling and shipping.
We did interact with the glassmakers and this interaction ended up with a lighter bottle reducing the carbon footprint of every bottle by fifteen percent. This is not a winemaking thing. We didn’t say ‘this is the responsibility of the glass producers!’
We said, ‘We want to be responsible of the sustainability of the region therefor we will go as far as interacting with producers of everything that is around the wine.’
As far as I know we are a leading region in terms of sustainable development. We’re covering everything from vine to shipment. We’ve started in the year 2000 by assessing the carbon footprint and today we are showing results whilst many other regions or companies are showing plans or projects.”
Talking sustainability: Thibaut de Mailloux - Director of Communications, at the Le Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne (CIVC)
In the vineyards, many of the grower producers and some larger houses are doing everything they can to phase out chemicals as much as possible. Organic and biodynamic processes are used widely and techniques are shared creating a collegial attitude towards evolving away from decades of toxifying the land.
All of this is a benefit to us consumers, as well as the producers themselves. Stopping the use of chemicals takes courage and a lot of time. The vines have to regain their resilience and the soils have to be brought back to a rich state of microbial life.
We see that life transported into the wine as an intrinsic vitality returns to the drink. The growing use of biodynamic practices is quite strange. There are people who produce their wines using Steiner’s rules and yet have no idea why it improves their wines. Some of the biodynamic champagne I have tasted have been out of this world. Good examples those made by Valérie and Benoît Lahaye, Jean-Sébastien and Benoît Fluery or Champagne Leclerc Briant.
Hervé Jestin believes the energy in the wines can be measured and it is off the scale of anything seen from conventional production. I have heard other accounts, both in Champagne and from Roussillon, of biodynamic wines being left open on the side for a week and not losing their vitality. A typical wine usually turns bad after sixteen hours or so.
As a grower said recently in conversation, “we have been been producing wine for thousands of years and only using chemicals for fifty years. Of course we can go back to nature!” There are still challenges, as Hervé points out, with regard to treating mildew and other natural foes, but the improvements in the quality of the wine is fabulous.
Red wine in Champagne?
It probbably sounds more anomolous than it really is, due to the fact that Champagne was producing still wines before it produced sparkling. However, all that pinot noir being produced across the Montagne de Reims finds its most famous expression in the grand cru village of Bouzy. This evening tasting in the centre of Reims has the most relaxed atmosphere, hosted by some of loveliest wine producers in the region. The wines are very good too. On the first circuit I tasted the Bouzy Rosé Champagne, made with Bouzy rouge and blended to make a rich red ripe fruity bubbly. On the second way round it is time to kick back and indulge yourself in the Bouzy Rouge pinot noir. Watch this clip below for a glimpse of the power of Bouzy Rouge!!
Bouzy Suzy introduces the joys of Bouzy Rouge
Superlatives abound
Moving around a room tasting, there sometimes comes a moment where everything is just right. The wines are sparkling, the acidity crisp or creamy, the fruit ripeness and balance and length just right, and so on. Then in an unsuspecting way your glass is filled with an inch or so of bubbly juice that is held to the nose for the primary inspection. The nose twitches, the brain gets an endorphine rush and the mind turns a blank page. This is when there is something so special in the glass that it's pointless to describe except to say that the winemaker has excelled himself.. we are tasting the stars perhaps?!
For me this happened several times on this visit. Certain wines assumed a magical prowess that defied my expectations of what a sparkling wine could do. Imagine the gentle elegance of red fruit from pinot noir, suspended on the tongue, sending incredible messages through the sensory system to the brain. The flavours linger, delicate, perfect, almost freakish. Then gently they ebb away leaving the mouth wistfully refreshed.
A selected few of the many great champagnes we tasted:The distinctive Pringles tube has been branded a "nightmare" by recycling bosses because of the material it is made of.
The Recycling Association says the combination of a metal base, plastic cap, metal tear-off lid, and foil-lined cardboard sleeve make it one of the most challenging items to recycle. So what else could these pesky tubes - subsequently adopted by some other snack manufacturers - be used for?
Pet toys
The used (and clean!) cylinders can be reversioned into toys and food storage for your pets. The owner of two guinea pigs, Franklin and Theodore, makes tunnels for them to play in and stuffs them with hay and treats for the boys to snack on during the day.
A Mumsnet user agrees, and gives the empty tubes to her gerbils. RavenAK said the gerbils loved playing in them and eventually shredded the tubes, so all that was left to do was compost the remains and recycle the metal base.
Image copyright Charlotte Urban Image caption Guinea pigs Theodore and Franklin nibble on their handmade treat box
Codebreakers
Vice-provost for education Tanya Stanko used the crisp packaging to create a working Enigma machine with her engineering students at Innopolis University.
The original Enigma machine was used by the Germans during World War Two to encrypt and decrypt messages, but the code was successfully cracked by Alan Turing in 1939.
Image copyright @tanyastanko/Innopolis University Image caption Students at the Innopolis University in Russia build an Enigma machine during one of their classes
Carrier bag-holders
After the 5p carrier bag charge was introduced in 2015, hoards of plastic carrier bags have plagued our spare cupboards, but crafty bloggers have reversioned their crisp tubes into bag dispensers.
Image copyright Ruth Lowe/The Time Fairy Image caption A tidy way of keeping your carrier bag stash under control
Drum kit
One little boy came up with the idea to make a mini drum kit for the family's 4 July celebrations, with the addition of a few strips of duct tape to bring it all together.
Image copyright Chrissy Taylor/The Taylor House Image caption One way to save costs on entertainment at family parties
Christmas decorations
You may still have those Christmas crackers made of cardboard toilet roll tubes and crepe paper from your nursery days. But this creation takes it up a notch.
Jeanette Ellis has made collections from Pringles cans, such as this nativity scene, on and off for years. Her son says they are "always a hit".
Image copyright Jeanette Ellis Image caption 'Deep and CRISP, and even': a nativity scene with a difference
Space rockets
At the Science Museum in London, staff use empty tubes as part of their rocket show. The packaging teamed with hydrogen gas, matches and oxygen creates a reaction to launch the rockets, which - apparently - makes "quite a loud bang".
Image copyright The Science Museum Image caption The rockets don't quite have enough power to reach space
Alternative Crossrail
Meanwhile, in 2015 railway blogger Andy Carter calculated how many Pringles you could fit into the 26-mile rail tunnel project, Crossrail. Services - when work is complete - will run as far west as Reading, in Berkshire and as far east as Shenfield, in Essex.
Mr Carter made a number of rough calculations and claims it would take a whopping 844 million cans of Pringles to fill Crossrail.
But I doubt you'd try this one at home.Romania - With the success of Cristian Mungiu and Cristi Puiu at the latest Cannes festivals, one might imagine Romania to be a country in love with cinema. But these big names fall on deaf ears when it comes to most people living in Romania's villages. Some of the older folks haven't seen a big-screen movie since Ceausescu's Kino caravans roamed the villages projecting propaganda movies.
But that's where Tudor Baciu steps in, or rather, drives in with his "Cinemobile". The 28-year-old came up with the idea two years ago, while awaiting the TIFF film festival, held in his hometown, Cluj-Napoca. He envisioned himself driving around the country in a small van bringing movies, free of charge, to people who have no access to a cinema.
Baciu had spent many months in the countryside as a child and grew to appreciate the simplicity in its way of life. For years, he dwelled on the idea that he wanted to do something to improve the lives of villagers in Romania.
His friends loved the idea. He was able to obtain some money from a crowdfunding platform that allowed him to recondition his van, a Volkswagen T3 from the 1980s, and buy some basic equipment: the screen and sound system.
The first movie screening took place in Cojocna, a village some 25km from his hometown. Ever since, he has travelled around the country to more than 25 villages.Jonathan M Davis Posted in reply to Walter Bright
Permalink Reply
On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 13:17:02 Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d- announce wrote: > I am happy to announce that there will be a special addition to this > year's DConf. > > The conference will not end after the three days of talks but > continue on into Sunday for a hackathon during which people can > collaboratively focus on long-lasting problems and pain points in the D > ecosystem. Of course, any D hackers who wish to simply progress their own > personal projects are welcome too! Sociomantic has once again been an > amazing host and reserved the same venue (Heimathafen) for this day as > well. > > The motivation for adding a D ecosystem hackathon (besides having fun) > is that a lot of time is wasted due to communication latency because most > people can only hack during the night or weekends. At last year’s DConf, > the “birds of feather” groups were intended to reduce this communication > problem, but sadly the scheduling didn’t quite provide enough time. Thus, > the DConf 2017 hackathon isn't a hackathon in the tradition sense as most > of the time and focus will hopefully be spent discussing, planning and > developing future D projects. > > More details will follow shortly and will be announced here and on > dconf.org LOL. I booked my flight and hotel back in December, and my flight was for Sunday. Fortunately, after seeing this, I was able to change it, even if it wasn't free (though the flight was actually cheaper on Monday, so that took a bite out of the change fee). So, I guess that planning ahead cost me. :) - Jonathan M DavisImage copyright Athena Image caption John, Matthew and Jean Hargreaves appeared before Merthyr Crown Court on Friday
A father and son who sold teeth whitener with 110 times the legal limit of hydrogen peroxide, have been jailed.
Matthew and John Hargreaves admitted participating in a fraudulent business, while Jean Hargreaves admitted engaging in an unfair commercial practice.
The trio, from Knutsford, Cheshire, sold the product at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells, Powys, in 2013.
The two men got 18 months in prison and Jean Hargreaves received a six month sentence, suspended for two years.
Sentencing the three, Judge Philip Harris-Jenkins said: "You put personal greed ahead of public safety."
Merthyr Crown Court heard the family made £3.4m from the venture - a figure disputed by defence counsel - with John Hargreaves, 69, playing a leading role until handing over to his son, Matthew, 44, in 2010.
Jean Hargreaves, 71, was said to have played a lesser role than her husband and son.
Powys council's trading standards team launched a three-year, £400,000 investigation into the three after tests on the products at the agricultural show showed the hydrogen peroxide levels were "harmful".
The council's investigations led them to 30 victims across the UK, including one who required hospital treatment.
Investigators found the three had tried to sell the whitener at about 150 venues, including shopping centre, as well as online.
The council said numerous unsubstantiated and false claims were discovered on banners at the Royal Welsh Show, including claims the product was "ideal for any age group" and was "used by leading dentists throughout the UK and Europe".
Image copyright Powys council
The product was 11% hydrogen peroxide. It is legal for anyone to treat themselves with an over-the-counter kit, provided it contains less than 0.1% hydrogen peroxide. A dentist can legally use 6%.
Excessive levels of the chemical compound can cause blistering, burns and other damage.
Prosecutor Mark Wyeth QC said the whitening had "harmful levels of hydrogen peroxide, thereby putting at risk the health of anybody who happened to buy this product".
The court heard the family would change the name of the company they operated under and dissolve businesses in order to evade unhappy customers and the authorities.
The father and son's involvement stretched from 2007 to 2015, while Jean Hargreaves' crime was carried out between 2013 and 2015.
The family have refused to disclose where the whitener was manufactured, as well as the supply chain.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Kathleen Haigh told BBC's Fake Britain programme she was still experiencing the ill-effects of using the products
Mr Wyeth said since the broadcast of BBC's Fake Britain programme featuring the Hargreaves was broadcast, Walsall council had discovered Matthew Hargreaves was still trading in teeth whitening products.
The court heard John Hargreaves, who accepted a caution in 2007 for selling similar teeth whitening products at Manchester Airport, used his wife to "provide a layer of protection against investigation".
It was also told the two men had aspirations of producing even stronger products with hydrogen peroxide content of 22-38%.
Sukhdev Garcha, defending Matthew Hargreaves, said he played a subordinate role but had accepted his actions and expressed remorse.
Representing John Hargreaves, Amos Waldman said: "His involvement reduced towards the end - he effectively retired. He accepts entirely he was dishonest."
Anthony Barraclough, defending Jean Hargreaves, said: "This lady would never have condoned the sale of dangerous chemicals. She has been devastated by all of this."
Jean Hargreaves was disqualified from being a company director for five years while the two men were banned for 10 years.(Photo: Ilja Mašík/Dreamstime)
Apparently the post from a fake contributor didn’t strike the editors as shocking.
The Huffington Post South Africa defended publishing a controversial piece — which argued that white men should lose the right to vote — only for it to turn out to be a hoax written by a troll under a fake identity.
The initial post (archive), published Thursday, was titled, “Could It Be Time To Deny White Men the Franchise?” and purportedly written by a feminist philosophy student named “Shelley Garland.”
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“Some of the biggest blows to the progressive cause in the past year have often been due to the votes of white men,” the piece stated. “If white men were not allowed to vote, it is unlikely that the United Kingdom would be leaving the European Union, it is unlikely that Donald Trump would now be the President of the United States, and it is unlikely that the Democratic Alliance would now be governing four of South Africa’s biggest cities.”
“If white men no longer had the vote, the progressive cause would be strengthened. It would not be necessary to deny white men indefinitely — the denial of the vote to white men for 20 years (just less than a generation) would go some way to seeing a decline in the influence of reactionary and neo-liberal ideology in the world,” it continued, adding that although “it may be unfair... a moratorium on the franchise for white males for a period of between 20 and 30 years is a small price to pay for the pain inflicted by white males on others.”
Not surprisingly, the piece caused a widespread backlash, with outlets including the Washington Free Beacon, the Daily Caller, and NewsBusters covering it. But then, according to local news source The Citizen, a writer and editor in Cape Town named Laura Twigg did some investigating and found out that there was no record of this “Shelley Garland” at the University of Johannesburg, where she had claimed to be studying — and the whole thing fell apart.
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HuffPo SA editor-in-chief Verashni Pillay published piece on Saturday announcing that it had taken Garland’s initial post down, acknowledging that Garland “appears not to exist” and promising to require bloggers to “verify themselves” in the future.
Now, presumably, Twigg had decided to look into the piece because she had found the content to be particularly shocking. But HuffPo South Africa didn’t find it shocking. In fact, before it was revealed to be a hoax, Pillay had published a piece (archive) defending the publication of Garland’s work. In the piece, Pillay explained that although HuffPo SA “doesn’t necessarily... agree or endorse everything in Garland’s blog” — adding that the purpose of the publication’s “Voices section is to invite a wide array of voices and views” — she was very surprised to see that it had sparked such an outrage.
“Garland’s underlying analysis about the uneven distribution of wealth and power in the world is pretty standard for feminist theory,” Pillay wrote.
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“In that sense, there was nothing in the article that should have shocked or surprised anybody (or so we thought.) It would appear that perhaps much of the outcry derives from a very poor reading of the article — or perhaps none at all,” she continued. “Dismantling the patriarchal systems that have brought us to where we are today, a world where power is wielded to dangerous and destructive ends by men, and in particular white men, necessarily means a loss of power to those who hold it.”
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(Yes, Pillay actually criticized other people for their “very poor reading of the article.” It’s almost too rich. Oh, and as for Pillay’s defense that HuffPo’s “Voices” page simply contains a “wide array of voices and views”? Well, that’s a joke. I feel confident in saying that there’s absolutely no way that an even potentially controversial piece from a conservative perspective would ever have been published, because I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a conservative piece on that page at all. Maybe it’s happened, who knows, but there’s no question that “wide array of voices and views” means “wide array of voices with liberal views.” Which is fine, have whatever slant you want, but at least own it.)
Make no mistake: If Pillay really did believe that she had no idea that Garland’s idea would create so much controversy, then she must be pretty tone-deaf. Yes, it is true that race-based institutional inequality is a problem, and that it’s a problem that bloggers often write about. But writing about these problems and their potential legal solutions is a completely different thing than earnestly suggesting that half of an entire racial group lose the right to vote for two decades.
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The right to vote is a particularly sacred thing. In her whoops-we-messed-up piece, Pillay herself makes sure to state that HuffPost SA “stands aligned to the Constitutional values of South Africa, particularly the Preamble of our Constitution which states that: ‘We the people of South Africa believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.’”
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“We further understand that universal enfranchisement followed a long struggle and we fully support this,” the post added.
Here’s the thing, though: An understanding of that “universal enfranchisement” and “long struggle” is exactly what led so many people to be shocked and outraged by Garland’s piece. It wasn’t just acknowledging problems or looking for solutions. Hell, it wasn’t even examining the theoretical merits of an extra-constitutional solution from a philosophical perspective. It was written as a sincere, unapologetic suggestion that a significant percentage of the country be stripped of their constitutional right to vote. Of course that’s going to get a powerful reaction — and, if Pillay really did understand voting rights the way she insists that she does, then she would have expected as much herself.
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— Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.
READ MORE:Another clear sign that this is not an Android Wear device is the new UI design, which consists of a circle of apps arranged around the face. Samsung actually teased a round watch back in February, but that device did appear to be an Android Wear model. All we saw today was a quick glimpse of the hardware and watch face, but Samsung promised the Gear S2 would get a full reveal at IFA next month in Berlin.
Update: Samsung has just shown off two more pictures of the Gear S2 smartwatch (and the Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+) in a fashion "Lookbook." Shown in black and white colors, the metallic watch looks quite smart, at least when worn by impeccably coiffed and dressed fashion models. By presenting the device this way, Samsung is making a clear statement: "This is not a Gear S or Galaxy Gear 2; you can actually wear this in public." There's still room for Samsung and other companies to be way bolder with smartwatch design, but it's a good start.Burlington police chase ends with suspects at large, vehicle up in flames
An overnight high-speed chase in Burlington has left two cop cars with extensive damage and Halton police on the hunt for three suspects.
The chase began shortly before midnight Tuesday when officers tried to stop a stolen Chevrolet pick-up truck at Walkers Line and Mainway.
Officers say the driver refused to pull over and police gave chase.
The pursuit continued onto the eastbound QEW but was called off when speeds hit 140 kilometres per hour.
Police say two cruisers collided during the pursuit, sending one officer to hospital with minor injuries.
The pick-up truck was later seen on fire on Phoebe Cres. in Burlington but the suspects had fled. Fire crews were called in to put out the flames.
Police believe the suspects stole a 2002 GMC Savannah van with licence plate number AVZC 492 that was parked on the street.
The suspects were last seen heading westbound on Highway 403 in Hamilton.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Halton police.A group of environmental terrorists vandalized one of President Trump’s west coast golf courses over the weekend.
Environmental activists target President Trump's golf course in California, destroying part of the green pic.twitter.com/WxdiYJfXD9 — FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 13, 2017
The terrorists, who go by something called “anonymous environmental activist collective”, wore masks, and bravely jumped a 3-foot fence at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
Once on the course, the terrorists carved six-foot-tall letters into the 5th green that said: “NO MORE TIGERS. NO MORE WOODS.”
The terrorists claimed that the destruction “felt justified” because President Trump, who has been in office for less than 2 months, is “gutting existing regulation policies” and has a “blatant disregard” for the environment.
Trump National Los Angeles is a 7,300-yard world-class golf course, located on a peninsula – south of Los Angeles.”
The @WashingtonPost should be ashamed of themselves. This is a criminal act. Disgusting what some media has become. @JeffBezos https://t.co/ui0Y8Tl732 — Eric Trump (@EricTrump) March 13, 2017
Ed Note: If you’re wondering why we used “terrorism” instead of the MSM-preferred soft-pedal language of “activism,” Eric Trump nails it.X-Men: Days of Future Past is the most ambitious film in the X-Men series. That ambition has paid off. When considering worldwide ticket sales, it is the most successful of all of the X-Men films. The sequel to this film has already been announced. X-Men: Apocalypse will be released in May of 2016. X-Men: Days of Future Past will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 14, 2014. This buyer’s guide will include Blu-ray, DVD and digital options.
X-Men: Days of Future Past Amazon Exclusive
This Amazon exclusive includes a 3D Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray disc and digital copy. This disc set comes with a Magneto helmet and an exclusive box. It does not include a DVD. The digital copy can be redeemed with UltraViolet. The Blu-ray disc displays the film in 1080p video with Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound. The price of X-Men: Days of Future Past Amazon exclusive is $69.99. All of the special features are located under the 3D Blu-ray listing.
X-Men: Days of Future Past On 3D Blu-ray
This includes a 3D Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray disc and digital copy. It does not include a DVD. The digital copy can be redeemed with UltraViolet. The Blu-ray disc displays the film in 1080p video with Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound. The price of X-Men: Days of Future Past is $27.99 from Amazon.com.
X-Men: Days of Future Past Blu-ray Special Features
Deleted Scenes with Optional Audio Commentary by Bryan Singer
Gag Reel
Kitchen Sequence
Classification: M
X-Men: Reunited
Double Take: Xavier & Magneto
Sentinels: For A Secure Future
Gallery: Trask Industries
Second Screen App
Theatrical Trailers
X-Men: Days of Future Past On Blu-ray
This includes a Blu-ray disc and digital copy. It does not include a DVD. The digital copy can be redeemed with UltraViolet. The Blu-ray disc displays the film in 1080p video with Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound. The price of X-Men: Days of Future Past is $22.99 from Amazon.com.
X-Men: Days of Future Past On DVD
This case only includes the DVD. The video is in standard definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The DVD comes with a digital copy. The digital copy can be redeemed with UltraViolet. The DVD cost $18.99. The DVD comes with the following special features:
X-Men: Days of Future Past DVD Special Features
Deleted Scenes with Optional Audio Commentary by Bryan Singer
Gag Reel
Kitchen Sequence
Classification: M
X-Men: Reunited
Double Take: Xavier & Magneto
Sentinels: For A Secure Future
Gallery: Trask Industries
Second Screen App
Theatrical Trailers
The Target Blu-ray Exclusive of X-Men: Days of Future Past
The Target exclusive of X-Men: Days of Future Past contains all of the disc and information that the Blu-ray disc set contains plus it comes in a MetalPak case at a price of $24.99.
X-Men: Days of Future Past From Vudu
X-Men: Days of Future Past from Vudu cost $14.99. It comes in 1080p resolution with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound. This purchase can play on various devices, such as Blu-ray players, Smart TVs, current and previous generation game consoles, iOS devices, Roku and Android devices. X-Men: Days of Future Past from Vudu does not come with any extras.
X-Men: Days of Future Past From iTunes
iTunes offers X-Men: Days of Future Past for $14.99. The movie comes in 1080p video with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. X-Men: Days of Future Past from iTunes does not come with any extras.
This purchase can be played on iOS devices, Apple TV, Macs and PCs. You can download or stream this purchase.
X-Men: Days of Future Past From Amazon Instant
X-Men: Days of Future Past from Amazon Instant cost $14.99. It comes in 1080p resolution with stereo sound. X-Men: Days of Future Past from Amazon Instant does not come with any extras. This purchase can play on various devices. The main devices that this purchase can be played on is Amazon’s line of Kindle tablets. This purchase can also be played through Blu-ray players, Smart TVs, current and previous generation game consoles, iOS devices, Macs, PCs, Amazon Fire TV and Roku. It will not play on non-Kindle Android devices.
Wrap Up
X-Men: Days of Future Past is a must have for any fan of the X-Men. I wish the Magneto helmet was life size. Even if it is not, the disc set looks cool. I am still waiting for them to figure out how they can produce The X-men vs. The Avenger.
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The game takes place at Toronto's Mattamy Athletic Centre on Tuesday, April 14 and will be seen on TSN following the Toronto Raptors' game against the Boston Celtics.
The top 24 high school players in Canada will compete just 24 hours before NCAA Signing Day on April 15. And many of the 24 players taking part will declare their NCAA intent that next day.
Murray, a 6'4" point guard from Kitchener, Ontario, has raised eyebrows with a complete game on both sides of the ball that has drawn comparisons to a young Jason Kidd. The 18-year-old's athleticism and length, combined with his ability to shrug off defenders has opened the eyes of recruiters from Syracuse and Louisville.
Several elite prospects have skipped a grade of high school to graduate early and join the college ranks sooner, and Murray could definitely follow suit as Wiggins once did. But another year of high school could also elevate his stock further. Murray's also scheduled play in the Nike Hoop Summit Game on April 11 (his second time in the showcase for future NBA talents) and one more year would make him the first player ever to take part in the game three times.
Maker, also 18, is a 7'1" centre rated as the top recruit of the 2015 class. Originally from Sudan and raised in Australia, he's been in North America for the past three years, coming to Orangeville, Ontario last September. Maker's monstrous frame is deceiving. Despite being a legitimate seven-footer, Maker moves with the speed of a smaller man and has the deft scoring touch of a skilled forward.
Preview the skills that will be on display at the BioSteel All-Canadian Basketball Game with TSN.ca's mixtape showcasing the talents of Thon Maker, Jalen Poyser, Justin Jackson, Eddie Ekiyor and Marcus Carr. And take another look at some of Thon Maker's highlights here.
The athletes were chosen by an 11-person selection committee comprised of a cross-section of Canadian basketball stakeholders, including provincial/territorial representatives, clubs, coaches, and scouts from across the country and led by Operations Director and Selection Committee Chairman Tony McIntyre.It was almost over before it began. In 1984, Jimmy Smits snagged the role of Sonny Crockett’s partner in a promising new series named “Miami Vice” — only to be killed off in the premiere’s opening moments.
While his replacement, Philip Michael Thomas, would go on to provide voice-overs for “Grand Theft Auto,” Smits became one of the most reliable leading men on television, almost always slipping into the skin of tough, sensitive role models: the ethically righteous Victor Sifuentes in “L.A. Law”; Detective Bobby Simone, the angel to Andy Sipowicz’s demons on “NYPD Blue”; the honorable presidential hopeful on “The West Wing.”
But lately, Smits appears less interested in playing the most wholesome hunk in town.
In one season of “Dexter,” he portrayed an assistant district attorney who develops a taste for blood. Now he’s wrapping up the final season of “Sons of Anarchy” as Nero Padilla, a high-powered pimp who may or may not be trying to get out of the crime business.
We talked to the 59-year-old actor by phone recently about his walks on the wilder side, the level of violence on TV and whether or not we’ll ever see his former “NYPD” partner Dennis Franz again.
sons of anarchy When: 9 p.m. Tuesdays. Where: FX.
Q: In preparing for this interview, I watched 15 straight episodes of “Sons of Anarchy.” Do you think that’s healthy?
A: Wow, I don’t think so. Everything in moderation, like calories.
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a matter of everybody being on board at the same time. We'd gotten interest from a couple of guys here and there, but not everyone, then it would go back the other way. Some people would be interested, but not the other people and it was just, like, 'Ugh, come on, guys! Just get everybody on the same page!' I think everything happens for a reason, though. I feel like this is the best time for us to come back. We unintentionally starved the market, which is the best thing we could've done. We were really burnt out — even our fanbase was burnt out because we were touring so much; we were so accessible. By starving the market and stepping back for a bit, people are kind of, like, 'Are they gone forever? Are they ever coming back?' Everybody wants what they can't have, you know? So if you take something away from somebody, then they start getting all excited and talking about it, so it worked in our favor; it's helped launch us back into the scene."
Dan also talked about the making of "Long Live". He said: "We were all so excited and inspired. By the time it came around to doing it, we just pumped the songs out pretty fast. Sometimes we'd write two or three songs in one sitting, doing rough demos on our phones and sending them over to Alex [Varkatzas, vocals] and he'd come up with lyrics to it. We broke the record into two halves — we went in and recorded the first half, then came up with the vocal melodies and guitar solos for the second half in the studio as we were going along. Then when we finished the first half, we went back to the second and worked on the next five or six songs. We'd never really approached it that way before, and, for us, it was better, instead of, 'Let's write 15 songs and try to remember them all and write them all and play them all in one go.' Let’s just do a few at a time and really focus on these songs, give them much more attention, that way they can be the best they can be."A priest is being asked to take a break from his parish in the small Italian town of Montesilvano after some in his congregation reportedly stormed out of Mass when he openly criticized Pope Francis on Palm Sunday (April 9).
Media reports claimed the congregation shouted “Shame, shame!” at the Rev. Edward Pushparaj when he said Pope Francis had only been “bad” for the Catholic Church.
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Palm Sunday commemorates the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem and is a solemn occasion on the Christian calendar that marks the start of Holy Week and the runup to Easter Sunday.
But the episode has forced the local bishop, Archbishop Tommaso Valentinetti of the Archdiocese of Pescara-Penne, to intervene; he has pledged to meet the disgruntled parishioners from St. Anthony of Padua parish.
In an article published on the archdiocesan website, Valentinetti suggested that Pushparaj, an assistant pastor at the church who is also known as Don Edward, may have overstepped the mark during his preaching.
“Preaching is one of the main activities in the ministry of a priest,” Valentinetti said. “It is a service linked to meditation on the Word of the day, the liturgy, and certainly cannot relate to personal judgments, especially when they are not in communion with the pope.”
In his homily Pushparaj, who is from India, reportedly referred to the pope’s dialogue with other faiths and in particular his decision to wash the feet of a Muslim woman at a detention center outside Rome on Holy Thursday in 2013, Francis’ first as pope.
“In four years Pope Francis has only been bad for the church,” the priest reportedly said.
According to Italian media reports, Pushparaj’s parishioners have been complaining about the priest for some weeks and claim he has criticized the pope’s exhortation on the family, “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love.”
Francis has often come under withering criticism from conservative Catholics over his efforts to set the church on a more pastoral path that is less focused on rules and older rites and traditions.
Valentinetti said that Pushparaj may have been influenced in his anger at Francis by certain “clericalist and pseudo-traditionalist currents that the pope, fortunately, goes against.”
The archbishop said he hoped Pushparaj was just weary and in need of a rest.
“I think it’s fair to ask the priest to take some time to rest and release him, temporarily, from his pastoral duties,” Valentinetti said in the article on the archdiocesan site.
Valentinetti could not be reached for comment on Monday.7 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
“Half his tweets show utter weakness. They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn,” Peggy Noonan wrote in Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “Trump Is Woody Allen Without the Humor.”
This was written before the Trump Obamacare repeal fail and subsequent White House whines and tantrums.
It gets worse. The President’s primary problem as a leader isn’t that he is brash and stupid, “It is that he is weak and sniveling. It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of American masculinity.”
“He’s not strong and self-controlled, not cool and tough, not low-key and determined; he’s whiny, weepy and self-pitying. He throws himself, sobbing, on the body politic. He’s a drama queen. It was once said, sarcastically, of George H.W. Bush that he reminded everyone of her first husband. Trump must remind people of their first wife.”
Precisely because of the conservative view of women, which is none too attractive and involves using being feminine as a negative, this is damning criticism. For conservatives, Trump was supposed to be the BMOC, the Decider, Big Daddy in the White House, Clint Eastwood cleaning up crime with the heart of a vigilante. Instead, he is a whining little drama prince throwing tantrums on an hourly basis, in public, because someone won’t give him the candy he wants right now.
Conservatives elected this man; this is the end game of the values into which they have warped their party. Gone are the deep thinking intellectuals, the generous and caring patriarchs, the fiscally responsible adults… gone.
This is what they have become: Everything they loathe.
Everything Republicans assure themselves they are not, Trump is. He is entitled, spoiled, lazy, whining, immature, nasty, vulgar, obscene, and ignorant.
Republicans have been calling black people thugs for so long, they don’t realize they are the thugs. Coming on the heels of an indisputably great man and honorable president who just so happened to be black, the Trump presidency is throwing cruel, unforgiving light on the false notion of white supremacy to which many Trump voters cling.
Trump is basically not a man to conservative Peggy Noonan. She is no Trump fan to begin with, but certainly she understands the appeal of the hyper masculine altar at which conservatives worship.
The idea that This Man will save you, knows all, is wiser than you, these fairy tales have deep appeal. Trump has unmasked the fairy tale; he is the little oz behind the curtain.
There is no all-knowing man who will save us. There is only Trump, sniveling and whining his way into failure, dragging us all down with him.
Conservatives can forgive Trump his vulgarity, his lack of values, his laziness, his stupidity, his cruelty, even his traitorous tendencies. But they will not forgive him for ruining their dreams of masculine superiority.
If or when more conservatives start to see Trump this way, as a whining loser, he will lose the last leg of support he has.
On this failure Friday, Trump has been humiliated by being unable to bring yet another huge campaign promise to fruition. Will he compound it by vetoing Congress’ tough Russian sanctions, thereby possibly forcing them to override him in yet another humiliating defeat, which he would no doubt respond to by showing yet again that he doesn’t understand even the most basic parts of his job.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:It was a windy and rainy night in the Port City as two long-time rivals squared off in their second meeting of the 2017 PDL season. A slippery pitch under cloudy skies made for an interesting 1–1 draw between the Wilmington Hammerheads and Charlotte Eagles, with Daniel Escobar and Curren Page scoring the goals.
The start of the match was delayed a few minutes to make a repair on one of the goals, a la Montreal-Toronto FC in last year’s MLS Eastern Conference finals. Once the match began, it was clear that the rain was going to be a big factor, as there were a few missed tackles and bad passes to start the match.
Hammerheads keeper, Andrew Romig made a few big saves early on for the match to remain close. Kelvin Omondi and Joao Costa both connected on passes and made daring runs at the Wilmington defense in the first 20 minutes.
For most of the first half, the Eagles controlled the shot battle with 3 shots to the Hammerheads’ 1 at the half hour mark. Right before halftime, Wilmington’s defense began to find its rhythm, building towards chances at goal. Just as the half reached stoppage time, Daniel Escobar broke the deadlock with a chip shot goal to send the hosts up a goal at halftime.
The Hammerheads celebrating the goal, seconds after Escobar scored. (Photo Credit: Ryan Allen)
Charlotte lead in shots at the break, but Wilmington came right out of the gate in the second half looking to change that, firing off two shots in the first five minutes. The rain came down much harder for the bulk of the second stanza, changing the way the match had been played from the first half.
The match went back and forth in chances for the second 45 minutes. On 75 minutes, defender Nathanael Rennhack made a good fast-break run off of a counterattack that led to a shot on goal for the hosts. But by the final ten minutes of the match, Charlotte had controlled the pace more, eventually leading to Curren Page’s tying goal in the 86th minute.
The Eagles had another shot on target in stoppage time, but Romig came up big for the Hammerheads as the final whistle sounded for full time.
Takeaways from the Match
Charlotte won the shot battle, 10–8 on the night. Both sides seemed very even all night, and both will feel they should have won, but the rain proved to be a crucial decider in how the match was played. The night earned each club’s first draw of this year’s PDL campaign, moving the Eagles up to 15 points on the season. Wilmington goes to 4 points.
A brief moment of the match where it did not rain. (Photo Credit: Ryan Allen)
Man of the Match: Daniel Escobar, Wilmington Hammerheads
In his last match with the club, Daniel Escobar scored Wilmington’s lone goal on the night and received a big applause from the crowd when he was subbed off in the 77th minute.
Upcoming Fixtures
Wilmington finishes this three-match home stand on Sunday, June 11th as they welcome the Acorns of the North Carolina FC U23's (2–2–2) back to the Port City for the third and final meeting of the two sides this season. Charlotte ends the week with a trip to Greensboro, facing the Carolina Dynamo (1–3–1) this Saturday, June 10th.Looking southeast from Continental Trust building
Baltimore, Maryland
February 1904
Unidentified photographer
The Great Baltimore Fire Photograph Collection
PP179.174
Full image with detail.
Maryland National Guard, Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
Baltimore, Maryland
February 1904
Unidentified photographer
Subject Vertical File
SVF (Baltimore - Fires & Explosions)
Full image and detail.
Burnt District map, The Sun Magazine (detail)
1904
The Great Baltimore Fire Photograph Collection
PP179.727
It’s the 110th Anniversary of The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904.
The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 started on Sunday, February 7, at 10:48 a.m. with a fire alarm sounding the Hurst Building, Liberty Street and Hopkins Place on the south side of German Street (now Redwood Street). The fire would continue until approximately 5 p.m. Monday. The Great Fire was the largest municipal disaster in American history up until that time. The cause of the fire has been speculated as beginning with a discarded cigarette or cigar butt falling through a two-inch hole in a glass deadlight in the sidewalk above the basement of the Hurst Building.
Brisk winter winds spread the fire easily, and suddenly Baltimore’s fire department realized that they would not be able to contain the disaster solely and help from the surrounding area, including Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, was requested. The fire destroyed 86 blocks and resulted in one direct fatality from the fire and four fatalities from illness attributed to the fire. More than $70 million in property loses were reported.Consultant and candidate for the Florida legislature, Chris Latvala, appearing more like a petulant child pitching a adolescent fit, rather than a candidate for the Florida Legislature,when he took to Twitter yesterday to defend is dad.
Chris Latvala, a moderate Republican, is son of State Senator Jack Latvala, a former Charlie Crist Republican. Latvala took issue with a story the Shark Tank posted about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and his panning for GOP donations on the west coast of Florida.
The lovable moderate Latvala, Jr. targeted me, and conservatives as a whole, when he said that he was going to purge conservatives “crazies” from the GOP, if he was elected to office.
Yes, would you believe that a moderate wants to get rid the GOP of conservatives?
Read more at the Shark TankA few short years ago, I would not have written this article. Not because of lack of desire to speak on the subject, but because I do not believe it would have been well received, and frankly, I’d have been a bit too frightened to write it. However, over the past year or so, the cultural winds of change have been blowing; from Chaz Bono to Caitlyn Jenner to Laverne Cox, transgender celebrities have found acceptance. Transpeople are being elected as public officials in locations from Poland and America to New Zealand and Japan, and are successfully pursuing court cases regarding everything from restroom use to employment rights in just as many places. In much of the world, things are much better for transpeople now than they have ever been, or at least better than they have been in a long time; pre-settlement Native America was, you know, pretty good in this department. The inclusion of a trans character in Guild Wars 2 shows that these changes are even extending into the realm of MMOs, and the culture of online gaming. I think I can talk about this stuff now.
On 23 June, 2015 – yep, just a few days ago – a set of rather significant game changes came to Guild Wars 2, along with a redesigned Lion’s Arch. For the benefit of anyone who might read this article who is not familiar with the game, Lion’s Arch is the central city of Guild Wars 2, and it is, frankly, a busy place. Anything done here attracts attention. An NPC named Aid Worker Sya was placed in Lion’s Arch, who informs people who speak to her, through dialogue options, that she was previously known as Aid Worker Symon. As I said, Lion’s Arch is a busy place, and people noticed, people talked about it, people wrote articles about it, and people expressed their opinions. Most of those opinions were quite tolerant and supportive of the decision to include the NPC in the game; some were not so supportive. However, overall, the character was well received. The largely favorable reaction of the wider community to this character literally made me breathe a sigh of relief.
I applaud the inclusion of the character, and frankly, how the character was introduced without any mention or fanfare by ArenaNet; making a bunch of ado over the inclusion of the character would be somewhat contrary to the desire of the transgender community to simply be accepted as normal, unremarkable, and unproblematic. This, in fact, was a common thing mentioned in responses to articles or forum threads regarding the NPC which popped up over the next few days; why were people making a big deal of it. That was refreshing to read, too; people did not understand why it was a “big deal”. The fact that it is still a change that is viewed by some as significant enough to merit some attention, however, indicates that, to much of the wider world, transpeople are still seen as something of an oddity or curiosity – which, I must admit, I find vastly better than being viewed as some sort of aberration. We still have a long way to go, but hey, I’ll take all the progress I can get, as it comes.
For as long as I have been playing MMOs – since 2003 – they have been something of a haven for transpeople. For myself, and for many others, the ability to participate in social situations while presenting as our identified gender from the safety of our own homes, along with the ability to tailor exactly how we look, was a godsend. In my case, it was also through MMOs that I first met other transpeople and where I was finally able to start learning a little bit about all of this. The revelation that I was NOT alone in dealing with the stresses and concerns of being trans was immense. These experiences and social connections helped me better accept who I am. Now, other players who might find themselves in that same set of circumstances might see that there are trans characters in the actual game, they might read those generally positive comments on forums, and they might, thanks to the gradual societal shifts that have happened over the past few years, have a much easier time of things than some of us did a mere few years ago.
Online gaming has a distinct culture, complete with its own set of norms to which adherence is expected, and sanctions which may be enacted upon anyone who does not adhere to those norms. Of course, like most societies, some of the strongest cultural sanctions are reserved for individuals who did not fit into the mold of what was deemed “normal”, particularly those who seem to deviate from long-standing notions about gender and sexual behaviour. I experienced this first hand when, upon being badgered as to whether “I was a real woman or not” by other players in Star Wars: Galaxies, I did, a handful of times, inform them that I was a transwoman. This was met with all sorts of responses, but a lot of them were negative; I distinctly remember one individual in particular referring to me as “shim”, “she-male”, and similar epithets, and others who told me that I should kill myself, and so on and so forth… sadly, all of us who play MMOs have met these sorts of people. The experiences in Star Wars: Galaxies made me so reluctant to mention to anyone else in an MMO that I was trans that I have never mentioned it to anyone since, unless they gave me extremely good reasons to believe I could trust them. Thankfully, decent MMO players are a good deal more common than the “special” sort outlined above, and some cultural elements one finds in one MMO may not exist in another.
In contrast to those early experiences in Star Wars: Galaxies, my experiences in EVE Online have been almost universally positive and supportive. Now, I started playing EVE in 2008, and I did not really begin to speak to people about any of these things until 2011 or so, so eight years had elapsed since those encounters in SWG. A significant amount of progress had been made during those eight years with regards to the transgender community, but I think there are other factors at play in why my time in EVE has been better than my time in earlier games. EVE has only one server which is populated with people from all over the world; the in game culture is, therefore, influenced by people from areas which tend to be more socially liberal, such as Western Europe, as well as people from more conservative areas, like some regions of the United States. The end result is that the overall culture of the game is a good deal more accepting of differences than a game with a single server which is populated primarily by, say, players from conservative regions in America might be. Also there is the fact that EVE is a game about spaceships flown by people with their brains; you never see another character’s full body avatar in normal interactions, only a small portrait. In spite of the simply phenomenal character creator in EVE, you will never see another character in the flesh in game, and you can only see their full-body avatar if you examine them and purposely look at them. In EVE, interactions are done between ships, between icons on your overview; what matters in EVE is whether the person is a good pilot, skilled leader, or shrewd businessperson, not what clothes they have on or what gender they identity as. No one cares what gender your character – or you – are, or identify as, because it simply does not matter. Lastly there is the fact that gamers, as a whole, are literally growing up. In this graph from CCP Quant’s Twitter, we can see that the mean age of EVE players is 29.4 years old. This is due to the fact that EVE is an intellectually demanding game which simply appeals to older – and thus, better educated – players, but also the fact that MMO players are on average growing older, as those of us who grew up playing games, particularly MMOs, continue to play them into our 30s, 40s, and beyond. More mature players simply react differently to things which seem a bit unusual or new than younger more impulsive players might; note I said more mature, not older. Emotional maturity generally comes with age, but that is far from an absolute; younger people tend to be more open minded, for instance, than those who came before. It’s a bit of a mess of interconnected factors.
I wish I could say it’s all been sunshine and roses; it hasn’t. I said my experiences in EVE have been ALMOST universally supportive, not that they’ve all been perfect. I have had some run-ins with some folks in EVE who seemed to be far more worried about the status of my genitals than I am. I am sure that I will receive some pretty nasty responses to this article, both in game(s) and via other channels. However, I am sure I will get a lot of good feedback too, and that the mean-spirited responses will be far fewer in number than they might have been a few years ago. Transpeople are finding more acceptance everywhere, and while I do not presume to speak for the whole trans community, I think that’s all most of us want; to just be accepted, to be seen as just another person, to feel no need to ever write articles like this. We’re getting there, and from me to every one of you who have been in our corner, who have been just treating us like any other gamer, I want to say thanks. Society changes when all of the people in it change, and that change is happening now, both in Real Life, and in-game.
Now, let’s get back to talking about Stuff That Matters, like assault frigates and explosions!
Related: ArticleThe shock announcement about the retirement of three of the Wiggles comes only four months after the band controversially dumped its youngest member, Sam Moran. New Wiggle... Emma Watkins. Only the Blue Wiggle, Anthony Field, will remain. Speculation about the band's line-up changes mounted throughout the morning, with the Wiggles finally releasing a statement about their "new generation" of performers. A statement on their official website said the Wiggles would embark on a Celebration Tour at the end of the month with shows planned for Singapore, Britain, US, Canada and New Zealand. The group will head home for their final Australian tour in November and December.
"Jeff, Murray and Greg will then hand over the purple, red and yellow skivvies to a new generation of performers to instead take on backstage creative roles," the statement said. Three retirements... The Wiggles. "Anthony will continue on stage as the Blue Wiggle alongside Emma Watkins, Lachlan Gillespie, and Simon Pryce, who have been handpicked by the group to become the Yellow, Purple and Red Wiggles." "We’ve been entertaining children around the world for 21 years and it's important that we plan for the future so that The Wiggles can keep wiggling in the years to come," Cook said. Lachlan Gillespie.
"The touring and performing over the past 21 years has meant that we've spent a long time away from our own families and friends. We miss them and want to spend more time at home, which is a major reason why three of us decided it was time to hand on our skivvies to a new generation." A spokesman for the Wiggles said: "They always said they'd have to hang up their boots at some point." Once were Wiggles... band will undergo a big shake-up. The touring and performing over the past 21 years has meant that we’ve spent a long time away from our own families and friends. We miss them and want to spend more time at home The oldest member of the band, Fatt, is 58.
Field, 49, has also revealed the effects of a serious battle with depression, which led to him suffering during touring, including sometimes "bawling my eyes out in the dressing room". Simon Pryce. News of changes to the band does not mean the Wiggles empire - television shows, DVDs, music releases and children's merchandising - will not continue. The business is expected to carry on unabated. The band, which celebrated 20 years in the children's industry last year, has been one of Australia's biggest entertainment success stories. All five members - including Page and Moran - were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame last year. At the peak of their success, the Wiggles were named Australia's top earning entertainers for four years running, with earnings of up to $45 million per year.
Their fortune includes takings from continuous live touring here and overseas, with the four band members sometimes performing more than 500 shows a year.ACTION COMICS (1938-2011) #1 Publisher: DC Grade: CGC F/VF: 7.0
The most important comic book in the history of comic books. This is the introduction of the archetype of all other heroes to come. Superman transcends comic books and pop culture. He is an icon of Truth, Justice and The American Way! Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman is quite possibly the most recognizable fictional character in the world. The creation of two struggling sci-fi fans from the Rust Belt, the Man of Steel became an instant icon to depression-era readers, and easily transformed into an icon of American spirit and spunk during the brutal days of WWII. Since then, he has lasted as both a beloved character and a symbol of modern hope and vigor, making this first appearance not just a piece of comics' history, but of American history as well.ComicConnect has sold more copies of this historic book than all other comic dealers combined, making it the signature key of the worldwide ComicConnect brand. As one of the most important artifacts of 20th Century American pop culture, this revered milestone unfailingly elicits warm and passionate responses from collectors and fans whenever a copy is displayed in our booths at cons, or is announced for sale at auction. This striking, professionally restored, vibrant copy is sure to make waves in the international comic collectors' market. First published in the Summer of 1938, this wildly popular issue almost singlehandedly created the superhero genre, as two struggling sci-fi fans from the Midwest sold their newspaper strip idea to the content-hungry National Periodical company, hurriedly pasting their already-created daily strips into an ad hoc comic book feature, never suspecting the almost instant mania for the character that would ensue. Although originally published in the hundreds of thousands, the drive for paper during WWII, overzealous parents, and the ravages of time combined to whittle down the number of known surviving copies to an astonishing less than two hundred. This rarity, combined with the overwhelming love and demand for this historic publication, makes Action Comics 1 one of the most treasured and respected collectibles in any field. As one of the preeminent collectors of comics for nearly half a century, it's no surprise that a copy of this vital book is the cornerstone of John Wise's extraordinary collection. We are proud and delighted to offer this issue in this incredible auction.Overstreet Guide 2013 F/VF (7.0) value = $615,000.If you are a new customer planning to make a first-time purchase over $25,000, please contact us at 212.895.3999 or [email protected] so that we may approve your account for bidding. (This policy was instituted to protect consignors and bidders against bids from fraudulent accounts, and to ensure the integrity of the bidding process.).We realize many of you would like to bid on this auction lot, so for this listing, ComicConnect.com offers a 6 month, interest free, time payment plan with a 20% non-refundable deposit. Time Payments invoices can only be paid by cash, check, money order or wire transfer. LEARN MOREWhat is a cookie? A cookie is a small text file that is sent to your computer. When you visit a website Both this website and other parties may place cookies. What are cookies used for? This website uses cookies to improve. Ease of use and performance of the website Using cookies, we make sure to include that you do not always receive the same information when you visit our site or enter. Cookies make surfing the site so much more pleasant. There are different types of cookies. This website uses persistent cookies and session cookies. 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We use a review site such as The Feedback Company. These places cookies for proper operation. How can I manage or delete cookies? Generally, cookies can be managed, edited and deleted by your browser. More information on and off, and cookies can be found in the instructions and / or using the help function of your browser.BUSKERS will have to pass an audition to perform in Bourke St Mall as live performances are increased.
But Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has backed away from plans to force performers elsewhere in the city to meet a minimum standard.
Buskers will have to follow strict rules or risk being banned from the city.
Should buskers be forced to audition? Where are the best buskers in Melbourne? Tell us below
City councillors tonight will discuss tightening rules for buskers, charity fund-raising, spruiking and horse-drawn carriages.
A council survey found a high level of opposition to plans to audition buskers.
But a panel of council officials, and an experienced busker, will decide who can get a mall permit.
Bourke St buskers will need to be entertaining and engaging, polished, and have a wide repertoire. "The performer (must possess) a unique quality, subtle or dramatic, that gives them an interesting edge and makes them unlike other performers," the draft says.
The number of mall sites would be expanded to six, and spaces would be allocated by a weekly ballot.
For the rest of the city, buskers must perform in front of an assessment panel. But they will be judged only to make sure their performance is safe and not offensive, and not on artistic merit.
Only 5 per cent of people surveyed said the standard of busking in Melbourne in the past year had been poor, with 74 per cent giving a positive assessment.
Busker Des Kennedy, who was playing his harmonica at Flinders St station yesterday, said there should be a cap on busker numbers.
"They should... curtail the number of buskers, and if a busker doesn't renew their permit, someone else gets it," he said.
"Only two or three people in every 100 give money, so we need to be able to work at busy thoroughfares, like Flinders St station."
The council plans to clamp down on harassment from charity workers. Fund-raising would be permitted only if "passive in nature".
Horse-drawn carriages, would be capped at 10.
Alex MacDonald, from A Classic Carriage Hire, operates six carriages, more than the proposed cap of three per operator. "It might put me out of business," Mr MacDonald said.
Originally published as Bourke St buskers risk being bannedAuthored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
When you consider all the shadowy creatures scuttling around the backstage interstices of the Deep State, it’s a little wondrous that someone like this hasn’t stepped into the light before. Apparently now, a person whose name will soon be plastered across the pixel-verse, has been given clearance by the Justice Department to come forth and sing to the various house and senate committees about a fishy deal involving Russia and the Clinton dynasty.
The broad outlines of Uranium-Gate are already loaded like a platter of nachos grandes with piquant tidbits of suspicious detail. The informant worked for a DC Swamp lobbying firm that was hired by Tenex, a subsidiary of the Russian government-owned company Rosatom, to grease the skids for a deal to buy a Canadian company, Uranium One, which had substantial mining operations in the USA. According to The Hill website, the deal put about 20 percent of US uranium into the hands of the Russian company.
The informant recognized evidence of criminal behavior in the dealings he witnessed and voluntarily went to the FBI with it. The Hill report goes on:
His work helped the Justice Department secure convictions against Russia’s top commercial nuclear executive in the United States, a Russian financier in New Jersey, and the head of a U.S. uranium trucking company in what prosecutors said was a long-running racketeering scheme involving bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering.
Those charges, based on evidence gathered in 2009, were not taken to court until 2014. And that was supposed to be the end of it.
Now, it also happens that the deal for Tenex to buy Uranium One had to be approved by nine federal agencies and signed off on by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which she did shortly after her husband Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 to give a speech in Moscow sponsored by a Russian bank. The Clinton Foundation also received millions of dollars in “charitable” donations from parties with an interest in the Tenex / Uranium One deal. It happened, too, that the CEO of Uranium One at the time of the Tenex sale, Frank Guistra, was one of eleven board members of the Clinton Foundation.
The informant remained undercover for the FBI for five years. None of the Clinton involvement was included in the previously mentioned federal bribery and racketeering prosecutions. Meanwhile, the informant had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the Obama Justice Department, only just lifted last week.
As of this morning, the story is absent from The New York Times, formerly the nation’s newspaper of record.
The FBI’s credibility is at stake in this case. Robert Mueller, who was Director of the agency during the Tenex /Uranium One deal, with all its Clintonian-Russian undertones is in the peculiar position now as special prosecutor for the Russian election “meddling” alleged to involve President Trump. Whatever that investigation has turned up is not known publicly yet, but the massive leaking from government employees that turned the story into roughly 80 percent of mainstream legacy news coverage the past year, has ceased - either because Mueller has imposed Draconian restraints on his own staff, or because there is nothing there.
The FBI has a lot to answer for in overlooking the Clinton connection to the Uranium One deal.
The informant, soon to be attached to a name and a face, is coming in from the cold, to the warm, wainscoted chambers of the house and senate committees. I wonder if Mr. Trump, or his lawyers, will find grounds to attempt to dismiss Special Prosecutor Mueller, given what looks like Mueller’s compromised position vis-à-vis Trump’s election opponent, HRC.
It’s hard to not see this thing going a long way - at the same time that financial markets and geopolitical matters are heading south. Keep your hats on.Armenian residents of Jerusalem's Old City are protesting a municipal decision to designate a parking lot in the area solely for Jews, although part of it stands on land belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate.
Parking is a major problem in the Old City, and some residents of the Jewish Quarter claim it is one reason secular families have been moving out. One of the parking lots serving this quarter is adjacent to the Armenian |
siders who have never before held political office are dominating the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
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Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE is the GOP front-runner, while businesswoman Carly Fiorina is surging after a strong performance in last week’s debate.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson Benjamin (Ben) Solomon CarsonPuerto Rico governor, White House clash over meeting Puerto Rico governor says Trump won't meet to discuss hurricane relief The Hill's Morning Report - Can Bernie recapture 2016 magic? MORE is also showing strength, and is a candidate to watch in the Iowa caucuses, where he is outperforming former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Conservatives are thrilled with the developments.
“This is a paradigm shift,” conservative Iowa radio host Steve Deace told The Hill. “The base of the party is in open revolt. We’re watching a political party dissolve. It’s a civil war and the GOP as it’s constructed may not survive.”
Others think Republican voters will eventually coalesce around a more traditional GOP candidate — perhaps Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker or Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Sixteen years later, let's finally heed the call of the 9/11 Commission Schumer urges GOP to reject Trump's 'destructive' national emergency MORE (R-Fla.).
They believe Trump’s rise is a product of his celebrity and a media frenzy that will ultimately fizzle. They doubt that Carson and Fiorina will be able to compete in the fundraising fight, or pull together the political operation to make a deep run through the primaries.
But for now, the anti-establishment wing of the GOP is on the upswing.
Fiorina is rising in polls, moving into the top tier of candidates in Iowa and New Hamshire, according to two surveys released this week.
A new survey from Public Policy Polling showed Carson has pulled into a second-place tie in Iowa with Walker, who for months held a big lead over the field in the Hawkeye State. A Suffolk University poll released this week showed voters in Iowa believe Carson matched Rubio as one of the winners in prime-time debate.
Both are embracing their outsider status.
“Change was promised, but people don’t see that change... if Congressional leaders can’t produce results, they need to step aside,” Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, told Breitbart News in a post-debate interview.
The comments aligned Fiorina with grassroots critics of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Carson was similarly blunt in his criticism of the political establishment.
“The political class has weaved an imaginary tale that they’re the only ones who can solve our problems,” he said this week on "CBS This Morning." “But the fact of the matter is if you take the collective political experience of everyone in Congress, which is just under 9,000 years, you’ll see that it really has not solved our problems.”
The rise of Trump, Carson and Fiorina is welcome news to conservatives such as Laura Ingraham, who has been critical of Bush, presumed to have been the GOP front-runner.
“If we don’t come to terms with what is happening in the Republican Party, this is going to be a very ugly 2016,” the radio host said in a testy exchange on Fox News with conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, who has been critical of Trump.
“There is a coming crack-up in the Republican Party if Republicans don’t let this play out,” Ingraham said.
Many conservatives believe GOP leaders oversold on promises they made heading in to the 2014 election cycle, when Republicans won an historically large majority in the House and wrested control of the Senate from Democrats.
“There was no point in the last election,” said Deace. “Republican leaders nullified the results. Nothing has happened that wouldn’t have happened if [Senate Democratic leader Harry] Reid weren’t the leader.”
Even conservative critics of Trump’s policies believe his popularity is linked not just to his celebrity status, but to the fact that he doesn’t sound like a politician.
“Donald Trump is not taking off because Republican voters agree with his liberal policy positions,” Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham wrote in an op-ed on Red State. “He has supported socialized medicine, abortion, and amnesty in the past. He is taking off because voters feel unheard, they feel like both political parties are paid off by the well-connected, and they feel like the political process has become a game disconnected from addressing their concerns.”
Texas-based Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak estimated that those in open revolt with the party constitute about a quarter of Republican primary voters.
He said the outsiders will have an impact on the race by forcing candidates with establishment appeal to find new ways of addressing the growing sense of frustration among the base.
One beneficiary could be Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzCornyn less popular than Cruz in Texas: poll Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington MORE (R-Texas).
The Texas Republican, who since arriving in Washington has relished every opportunity to frustrate party leadership in the Senate, surged into second place in a NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released shortly after the debate.
He’s raised more hard campaign dollars than any other candidate, hauling in $1 million in the 100 hours after the debate, and attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 at a rally in Alabama this week.
Mackowiak says GOP candidates need to realize how angry the base is with its elected GOP leadership.
“The establishment side of the party has to show that they get it, and we haven’t seen that yet,” he said. “They’re saying that Obama has failed, they’re not saying that GOP leadership has failed. That’s not the message the base is sending.”AP Charles Lindbergh was TIME's first Man of the Year in 1927
Lindbergh was TIME's first Man of the Year, for making the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 2021, 1927. For that 33 1/2-hour flight, Lindbergh was honored with awards, medals and parades throughout the world. But this intensely private man was never quite comfortable with the idolization thrust upon him, and did not conform to the image of hero the public sought.
Perhaps there was a hint of this in TIME's list of his characteristics: "Modesty, taciturnity, diffidence (women make him blush), singleness of purpose, courage, occasional curtness, phlegm." Although he found great happiness with his wife, Anne Spencer Morrow, whom he married in 1929, tragedy brought on by fame shattered their lives when their infant son, the first of their six children, was kidnapped and murdered in 1932. In his final years, Lindbergh developed a great interest in environmental causes. "If I had to choose," he said, "I would rather have birds than airplanes."
Researched by Joan Levinstein, the Time Inc. Research Center
Next Walter P. Chrysler: 1928The rise in carbon dioxide emissions is big news. It is prompting action to reverse global warming. But little or no attention is being paid to the long-term fall in oxygen concentrations and its knock-on effects.
Compared to prehistoric times, the level of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has declined by over a third and in polluted cities the decline may be more than 50%. This change in the makeup of the air we breathe has potentially serious implications for our health. Indeed, it could ultimately threaten the survival of human life on earth, according to Roddy Newman, who is drafting a new book, The Oxygen Crisis.
I am not a scientist, but this seems a reasonable concern. It is a possibility that we should examine and assess. So, what's the evidence?
Around 10,000 years ago, the planet's forest cover was at least twice what it is today, which means that forests are now emitting only half the amount of oxygen.
Desertification and deforestation are rapidly accelerating this long-term loss of oxygen sources.
The story at sea is much the same. Nasa reports that in the north Pacific ocean oxygen-producing phytoplankton concentrations are 30% lower today, compared to the 1980s. This is a huge drop in just three decades.
Moreover, the UN environment programme confirmed in 2004 that there were nearly 150 "dead zones" in the world's oceans where discharged sewage and industrial waste, farm fertiliser run-off and other pollutants have reduced oxygen levels to such an extent that most or all sea creatures can no longer live there. This oxygen starvation is reducing regional fish stocks and diminishing the food supplies of populations that are dependent on fishing. It also causes genetic mutations and hormonal changes that can affect the reproductive capacity of sea life, which could further diminish global fish supplies.
Professor Robert Berner of Yale University has researched oxygen levels in prehistoric times by chemically analysing air bubbles trapped in fossilised tree amber. He suggests that humans breathed a much more oxygen-rich air 10,000 years ago.
Further back, the oxygen levels were even greater. Robert Sloan has listed the percentage of oxygen in samples of dinosaur-era amber as: 28% (130m years ago), 29% (115m years ago), 35% (95m years ago), 33% (88m years ago), 35% (75m years ago), 35% (70m years ago), 35% (68m years ago), 31% (65.2m years ago), and 29% (65m years ago).
Professor Ian Plimer of Adelaide University and Professor Jon Harrison of the University of Arizona concur. Like most other scientists they accept that oxygen levels in the atmosphere in prehistoric times averaged around 30% to 35%, compared to only 21% today – and that the levels are even less in densely populated, polluted city centres and industrial complexes, perhaps only 15 % or lower.
Much of this recent, accelerated change is down to human activity, notably the industrial revolution and the burning of fossil fuels. The Professor of Geological Sciences at Notre Dame University in Indiana, J Keith Rigby, was quoted in 1993-1994 as saying:
In the 20th century, humanity has pumped increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning the carbon stored in coal, petroleum and natural gas. In the process, we've also been consuming oxygen and destroying plant life – cutting down forests at an alarming rate and thereby short-circuiting the cycle's natural rebound. We're artificially slowing down one process and speeding up another, forcing a change in the atmosphere.
Very interesting. But does this decline in oxygen matter? Are there any practical consequences that we ought to be concerned about? What is the effect of lower oxygen levels on the human body? Does it disrupt and impair our immune systems and therefore make us more prone to cancer and degenerative diseases?
Surprisingly, no significant research has been done, perhaps on the following presumption: the decline in oxygen levels has taken place over millions of years of our planet's existence. The changes during the shorter period of human life have also been slow and incremental – until the last two centuries of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Surely, this mostly gradual decline has allowed the human body to evolve and adapt to lower concentrations of oxygen? Maybe, maybe not.
The pace of oxygen loss is likely to have speeded up massively in the last three decades, with the industrialisation of China, India, South Korea and other countries, and as a consequence of the massive worldwide increase in the burning of fossil fuels.
In the view of Professor Ervin Laszlo, the drop in atmospheric oxygen has potentially serious consequences. A UN advisor who has been a professor of philosophy and systems sciences, Laszlo writes:
Evidence from prehistoric times indicates that the oxygen content of pristine nature was above the 21% of total volume that it is today. It has decreased in recent times due mainly to the burning of coal in the middle of the last century. Currently the oxygen content of the Earth's atmosphere dips to 19% over impacted areas, and it is down to 12 to 17% over the major cities. At these levels it is difficult for people to get sufficient oxygen to maintain bodily health: it takes a proper intake of oxygen to keep body cells and organs, and the entire immune system, functioning at full efficiency. At the levels we have reached today cancers and other degenerative diseases are likely to develop. And at 6 to 7% life can no longer be sustained.
Scaremongering? I don't think so. A reason for doomsaying? Not yet. What is needed is an authoritative evidence-based investigation to ascertain current oxygen levels and what consequences, if any, there are for the long-term wellbeing of our species – and, indeed, of all species.The tiny town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein is already prepping for its annual heavy metal fest in August, which will see its current population of about 1,800 people balloon to more than 75,000.
In anticipation of all the beer to be drunk, the fest is building its first ever beer pipeline to transport the average 400,000 litres of brew consumed each year to the concert grounds. And the pipeline system will be speedy enough for bartenders to draw six beers per second.
“With this, the grounds will not to have need to have any heavy trucks distributing beer barrels,” said Wacken fest founder Holger Hübner on Tuesday.
The new pipeline is being built above all because it “is sustainable and it protects the ground” from aforementioned trucks with barrels, says spokeswoman Frederike Arns.
Each previous year, festival workers had to constantly move dozens of barrels through the grounds, bringing in full ones before and during the shows, and then removing empty ones.This caused a lot of wear and tear to the ground. The pipeline will reduce this traffic, and also eliminate the wait at the bar for a new keg to be tapped.
Along with the beer supply, the power and fiber optics will also get their own pipelines, as will drinking water and sewage - a fact which means it will be especially important that the lines don't get crossed, the Hamburger Morgenpost notes.
“Of course we will control the hygiene of the tubes all the time,” the festival wrote in a statement.
Heavy rain during the festival can cause huge puddles to form - often to the delight of concert-goers. The improved drainage system will prevent this from happening.
“But no one should be afraid that there will be no more mud,” says Hübner.
The estimated total investment in the improvements is €1 million.
Metal fans from around the world will be able to enjoy the innovative amenities as they mosh to the music of 150 bands, including headliners Alice Cooper, Megadeath and Marilyn Manson.
According to Hamburg research group Statista, metal fans each drank on average 5.1 litres of beer in 2011. At Nürburg's Rock am Ring rock festival, fans drank 3.1 litres each.
But while Wacken visitors may drink a lot, police and emergency workers emphasize that the open air fest is “mostly rollicking and peaceful”.Since the decline in oil prices began late last year, there has not been a day on which the media has not devoted considerable time to oil prices and the implications of the current state of affairs. A lot of the commentary has been borderline apocalyptic because share prices of oil companies have declined, capital spending has decreased, and employment in oil companies and service companies have been reduced.
Too many commentators have been overreacting and ignoring the fact that this is not the first time that oil prices have collapsed. Indeed the history of the oil industry has been boom and bust because oil prices are cyclical. They neither go up forever or down forever, although this reality is often ignored.
In the 1970s when oil prices went from $2.80 a barrel to $13.00 as a result of the first oil embargo, the economy took a hard hit, made worse by wrong headed policies and there was hand-wringing that OPEC was going to buy America and wreck the world economy. That didn’t happened and when President Reagan ended price controls, the price of oil dropped from $34 a barrel to $14, with the same type of effects being observed today. In the late 1990s, oil prices again collapsed to about $10 a barrel and many in the oil industry believed that low prices would continue as “far as the eye could see”. They didn’t.
With conflict in the Middle East and strong economic growth around the globe, oil prices rose,spiking at about $150 a barrel and firms like Goldman Sachs predicted prices of $200 or more that would cause economic collapse and a new day for alternatives. At that time there was a strong belief in “Peak Oil”
In 2008, there was an economic collapse but not mainly due to the price of oil and alternatives grew rapidly but mainly because of large subsidies not the end of the oil age.
While oil companies are taking an economic hit as a result of the recent decline, consumers and other users of oil products are benefiting from a large wealth transfer. Since low cost energy is an economic stimulus, the economy here and abroad will benefit. And, it is likely that as in the past there will be consolidation in the petroleum industry to correct for over investment caused by taking on too much debt. Smaller producers who took on debt in the belief that high prices would continue will be severely penalized while those who made decisions based on oil price realities will find new and attractive investment opportunities.
The lesson from what has taken place since the shift to oil a century ago is that George Santayana was right, “those who do not learn from history will be condemned to relive it.” And, some are reliving it to their chagrin. Another lesson in this age of social media and 24/7 news and market coverage, programs need to fill time and that leads to endless and often shallow speculation about what all of this means, where the bottom is, and how high prices will go when they head back up. The answers are not complex and making them complex doesn’t inform.
Prices go up and prices go down. Basic economics teaches that when prices are up, consumers use less and look for alternatives. They respond faster than producers and that leads to an excess of supply that causes prices to decline. That leads to a shift in preferences that increases demand and prices again rise.
Simple realities may not be exciting but they also are not misleading and confusing.
Houston may now be overbuilt but it also was in the early 80s also. The stock market appears to be very volatile but it is just back to normal. Consumer’s are moving back to larger vehicles and driving more because gasoline prices are low but they will not stay low. As the global economy recovers, oil prices will start to increase once more and while analysts and commentators will speculate how high they will go, no one knows with a high degree of certainty because there are too many unknowns especially those involving technology. The only certainty is to count on another price cycleThe following article was originally penned by Nick Brown. It firsty appeared on the website anti-imperialism.com. In this article comrade Brown presents a critique of the all-too-common ideology in North America that takes White patriotism/nationalism (loyalty to the settler states of the United States, Anglo-Canada and/or Québec) and dresses it up in left-wing rhetoric.
This left-wing White patriotism most clearly manifests itself in apologism for the complicity of the White working class in colonialist and imperialist crimes. It attempts to present them as duped by ideologies like “racism”, which are supposedly imported by the bourgeoisie to divide the proletariat.
However, as materialists we are forced to ask ourselves even if it was imported, why would it work so well in the first place? Thinkers and writers like J. Sakai have been showing as far back the 1970s that the White working class is not simply duped, but in fact has a serious material interest in perpetuating and expanding imperialism because of the benefits they have obtained through colonialist-imperialist parasitism.
This is why the White working class is historically reactionary, pro-imperialist and pro-colonialist, even within it’s supposedly most radical movements and formations (The IWW, CIO, CPUSA, and New Left/New Communist Movements). This is why participation in colonial terror – lynching Afrikans, “removing” Indians or becoming modern-day “Minute Men” – is one of the chief national past times of the bourgeois White nation.
Such a position though is beyond the pale of acceptability for 99% of so-called “Marxists.” Rather than be dialectical and historical materialists, as they claim to be, these Marxists uphold idealist positions on class, especially re: the White working class.
Comrade Brown takes particular aim at the US-relevant case of the much beloved work by Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States. My own writings critiquing the left-wing white patriot Québec Sovereigntist Movement, which enjoys widespread support within the Canadian White “left”, can be found here.
As usual posting this article should be taken as a 100% endorsement of the line of comrade Brown and anti-imperialism.com.
The history of the United States is far from idyllic. It enacted an expansionist land-grab policy which amounted to genocide against Indigenous people, chattel slavery of imported Africans in the southern plantation economy, and beginning around the turn of the previous century, an ever-continuing series of public and covert armed interventions in countries around the world. Yet today, US history is viewed positively by those of a variety of political and philosophical persuasions. More surprisingly, this position is taken up by many on the Amerikan left, i.e. those who claim to be against oppression. How is this accomplished, and why? What underlies a ‘left-wing patriotic’ view of history, and what are the effects and larger ramifications of such a view? 1 Conversely, what does a radical analysis of history entail, what does it tell us about the past, and why is it so important for future revolutionary struggles?
Contending Views of History
On one hand, it is hard to pin down what left-wing patriotic history looks like or embodies. Few in the Amerikan left attempt to defend or justify slavery, land theft, genocide, etc. Instead, left-wing patriotic history functions as a sort of deduction. It begins with current disposition to favoring the US and Amerikans and orders past practices like genocide and foreign interventions in a way that minimizes their overall significance.
For left wing patriots, the source of affinity for the US varies. Often, it signifies a limited outlook marked by learned social and cultural identity. In this case, it is always an appeal bound by one’s national identity. In other cases, such expressed affinity is a calculated appeal to an audience which is seen as driven by a degree of patriotic national unity. In this latter case, such left wing patriots don’t challenge but reinforce assumptions regarding national unity. In the more sophisticated left-wing patriotic discourse related to history, affinity with the United States is said to be based on the ideals supposedly embodied by the country, as well as the advantages to be found here relative to ‘there.’ All of these motivations are limited and chauvinistic in some regard. Hence, left-wing historical interpretation is simply that, an interpretation, and less a part of a larger field of radical social interaction and the struggle against oppression. Insofar as left-wing history forms a critique, it is limited by, plays into and perpetuates dominant narratives and paradigms.
Radical history is different. Rather than framing the question of historical analysis in a strictly deductive manner (i.e. US and Amerikans are largely good today, so it reasons that the negative in history is secondary in significance), radical historical analysis operates from a few basic methodological rules. First, radical approaches to history place relations of economic production (along with the physical means by which production occurs) as a basic condition of a given society. That is to say, how the necessities of life and wealth are produced, accumulated and distributed within a society is its definitive feature, and the most relevant in understanding its developmental trajectory. It is the struggle over these relations which most directly propels social history. Secondly, radical history seeks to center narrative discourse around those oppressed and exploited within the modern condition of society. Correspondingly, it de-centers it from the perspective of those historically privileged or ruling. Thirdly, radical history presupposes that the world is never static but always in a process of change. Fourthly, radical history as a methodological field seeks to understand historical development in a manner that is relevant to modern struggles over current social, political and economic trajectories. In this sense, radical history, along with radical political economy, is not merely a field of humanities as activism. It is part of a living theory regarding general trends of social development and the limits and potentials for future struggles against oppression. Finally, as part of a larger radical understanding of underlying roles of social development and how this can relate to culture, radical history in an American context critically understands normative and left-wing patriotic historical narratives of the United States as ideologies rooted in privileged classes and their own stake in the current system.
Left-Wing Patriotism in A ‘People’s’ History
As a case study into left-wing patriotism, Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United Statesis illustrative. A People’s History, first published in 1980, grew to be a bestseller during the 1990′s and 2000′s, and Zinn was a popular critic of the US presidential administration of George W. Bush. 2 Though Zinn was a popular left-wing critic, his work fails to live up to the standards of radical interpretation and instead falls into into the category of limited, patriotic historical analysis and critique.
Zinn’s work does not indicate an understanding regarding the significance of the relations of production in determining the character and feasible trajectories of society. While Zinn makes the bold claim of providing a history of the people, this is problematic. Zinn interprets history and modern society as constantly in motion; he is often quoted as saying, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.” Hence, he attempts to analyze history in a manner that is relevant to current struggles, but because of his initial methodological deficiencies this is effectively limited. As well, Zinn seems blind to the manner that normative and patriotic historical interpretation acts as ideology limited by the character of dominant social forces. On the other hand, Zinn’s work operates in a deductive manner arising from his views of modern life in the US. Singling out the elite of the US for condemnation and casting the majority of Amerikans as righteous and resistant bystanders and victims, Zinn’s work diminishes the deep relevance of oppression and exploitation as part of the overall trajectory of the development of the United States. Zinn’s A People’s History is a work meant to appeal to Amerikans without challenging larger previously held identifications and allegiances. Hence, Zinn’s work, rather than living up to its hype by providing a ‘people’s history,’ can be criticized from a radical perspective as being a part of these dominant ideologies and historical narratives regarding both the US and the world.
On the back cover of the 2005 Harper Perennial Modern Classics paperback edition, A People’s History is described as “the only volume to tell America’s [sic] story from the point of view of – and in the words of – America’s women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, working poor, and immigrant laborers.” Beyond the obvious question of if this is actually true (i.e., could not another book on history claim to be from a similar perspective and form), one must look at how the claim itself is problematic.
Zinn lumps various people into the broad notion of ‘American.’ Yet throughout most of Amerika’s history, Blacks, Indigenous Americans, Mexicans and other internally colonized nations were not just excluded but actively victimized by the United States. Moreover, despite including into his narrative some of the populations the US previously victimized en masse, he excludes those not counted as part of but oppressed by the US today (i.e. most Americans, Asian, Africans, etc). These people are obviously part of global society today, and any exclusion from historical interpretation is not merely an oversight but an analytical limitation. 3
The front cover of the 2005 edition has a patriotic aesthetic, complete with red, white and blue colors and neo-classical font. This is an example of Zinn (or the publisher’s use of him) appealing to Amerikans through constructed notions of national identity. In the process, the larger allegiance with the national identity is not challenged, but reinforced. The aesthetic hardly represents those subjected to the US’ past and current aggression, and it does not represents a global ‘people’: those living under the rule and influence of the US yet not part of its national identity.
During the 2000′s Zinn was emphatic that the reason A People’s History was written was to illustrate examples of resistance to tyranny imposed under and by the United States. He hoped to inspire similar resistance on the part of Amerikans today. Zinn’s patriotic appeals are logical yet his analysis is inherently restricted by this motivation. By portraying the cases where Amerikans were resistant to oppression (what was invariably more an exception than the rule in US history), Zinn undermines the ways which Amerikans themselves benefited from, supported and perpetuated systems of oppression.
Looking closer at A People’s History, we see these points illustrated. Zinn, for example, provides a detailed account of the genocidal removal of Natives from the southern region of the US in chapter seven and of the seizure of Mexico’s northern territories through war in chapter eight. These chapters may be surprising for Amerikans with little understanding of a history they identify with. Yet, they are not surprising for many of the descendants of the victims of the policies described in these chapters. Nor is the construction of this history particularly telling when it comes to relating these phenomena to larger trends of the US’ social and economic development.
Regarding the lead-up to the forced migration of southern Indigenous peoples in what became known as the Trail of Tears, Zinn notes, “As for the Cherokees, they faced a set of laws passed by Georgia: their lands were taken, their government abolished, all meeting prohibited. Cherokees could not testify in court against any white. Cherokees could not dig for gold recently discovered on their land..”
Throughout A People’s History, Zinn never describes the US’ policies towards Indigenous peoples as a form of genocide. Genocide is defined as acts carried out with the intent of destroying part or all of a national, ethnic or racial group, and it is hard to not view US policy towards Natives in any other light. Perhaps Zinn genuinely did not believe US policy fit this label, or perhaps he consciously chose not to use it in order to find collegiate acceptance. Whatever the case, in not applying the word genocide to his analysis of US policy, Zinn absolves Amerikans of the collective responsibility associated with the word. Zinn has been known to draw historical parallels when they readily fit into popular culture, likening George W. Bush to Christopher Columbus for example. Yet much more could be revealed by analyzing the genocidal land-grab policy as part of a historically recurrent trend, something which Zinn fails to do.
Instead of drawing relevant historical parallels, Zinn’s narrative is often centered on the debates this spurred among whites; much of the overall narrative is spun around the Amerikan experience of such oppression, as they supposedly experienced it, debated it, challenged it, etc. This is another example of Zinn’s patriotism and allegiance to national identity. A People’s History consistently highlights those who rallied against obvious forms of oppression and reaction, despite their privilege and apparent material interest as part of a larger beneficiary group. Through sifting out and highlighting the exceptional acts of limited or radical resistance on the part of Amerikans, Zinn under-emphasizes the widespread support these policies carried amongst the accepted (i.e. oppressor) citizenry of the US. By drawing out such resistance, Zinn’s narrative implies a further absolution of responsibility for such oppression, overlooks relevant benefits Amerikans derived from it, and ignores the manner it shaped the US’ social, material, and cultural development.
Zinn, rather than attempting to offer a clear explanatory theory regarding the social and material development of the United States, offers the simplistic thesis that oppressed people have resisted and exceptional displays of dissent and resistance have occurred by those from the ranks of oppressor groups. In doing so, he hopes to appeal (in part through playing up a constructed concepts regarding national identity) to an audience whose resistance he sees as having significant potential today. While his intention is far from malevolent, his analysis is certainly limited compared to a radical perspective and limiting in regards to broader strategies for challenging social oppression and leveraging future trajectories.
Towards a Radical History of the United States
Radical historical analysis is not simply a collection of primary accounts to fit a deductive conclusion and larger motivation. Instead radical analysis proceeds in a materialist manner, highlighting the general trends of historical development and its underlying factors in a way that advances knowledge of particular use in the current struggle against oppression and exploitation. Radical historical analysis goes beyond the experiential. It looks at the common cause of experience and relates it to wider socio-historical developments.
For the purposes of radical historical analysis, the act of oppression, such as the genocidal dispossession of Native peoples, is significant unto itself. In this regard, this earlier Zinn quote can be interpreted much differently than in A People’s History: “As for the Cherokees, they faced a set of laws passed by Georgia: their lands were taken, their government abolished, all meeting prohibited. Cherokees could not testify in court against any white. Cherokees could not dig for gold recently discovered on their land..”
From a radical perspective on history, Zinn’s description regarding Amerika’s practice towards Native Americans resembles Marxian descriptions of a ‘primitive accumulation of capital.’ As Marx stated it, primitive accumulation through forced dispossession provided the initial wealth on which later capitalist productive relations were established. In the case of the United States, such benefits of primitive accumulation were diffuse, benefiting all those classified within the ever changing status of ‘American.’ Authors such as Samir Amin have noted that primitive accumulation is a permanent feature of capitalist-imperialism. Indeed, the policies enacted as part of the US’ ‘primitive genocide’ of hundreds of Indigenous peoples seem recurrent, cropping up as part of the colonization of Africa, the Jim Crow-era south, the European Holocaust, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and today’s neo-colonial rule against Indigenous land-based people in India and around the world.
For the United States, the clearing out of Indigenous people coincided with the mass arrival of immigrants from Europe. During the 1870′s, 70-80% of the US’ population lived in rural areas. They were, as J. Sakai noted in Settlers: the Mythology of the White Proletariat, a garrison community securing the US’ occupation of its seized continental territory. In many ways, it was the oppression of Natives and Blacks which fused European immigrant communities into whites, doing so both socially and economically. All ‘in’ members of the United States were entitled to some opportunity to advance on the oppression of others.
The dispossession of Indigenous people has had long-term consequences in US and world history. The conquered territory provided the land and resource base on which the US would emerge as an imperialist power by the 20th century. Consider if Cherokee people developed their own national economy on their land and utilized the newly found resource, gold, towards their own development. Or, imagine if the gold discovered in present day California had circulated first through Mexico City instead of New York City. If Mexican and not Amerikan business interests profited off oil found in Texas, and instead if Mexico was twice its present size and the US half. What would the world look like today? Certainly, it is hard to imagine the United States developing into the world’s preeminent superpower if its resource and land-base was initially limited in such ways. Whereas European colonial empires were struggling with each other over different pieces of lands in Asia, Africa and the Americas into the 20th century; by 1848- a mere 72 years following the Declaration of Independence- the United States had seized for itself a permanent continental territory and a number of colonized people under its authority.
The significance of the United States’ expansion on North America cannot be understated. It is the link between the initial settlement of ‘New England’ by western Europeans and the wealth and power the US holds today. It is no coincidence that the ‘closing of the frontier’ inside the United States during the 1890s coincided with the the Spanish-Amerikan War; the US’ annexation of Hawai’i, Puerto Rico and the Philipines; and a wave of interventions throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Central America, and the Caribbean. It is the social relations created as part of such conquest which greatly shaped the US and world as they are today.
The modern world and its ordering of power is merely the reproduction on a grander scale earlier social relations which existed within the US. The slavery, primitive accumulation, child labor, and inherent violence hasn’t ceased to be a feature of the modern social life of Amerikans. It has merely been exported and is embodied in regional structural problems in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the maldeveloped Third World. Additionally, the benefits derived from modern global oppression continues as well. Most Amerikans and other First Worlders are part of a consuming class within a global society structured under capitalist-imperialism, and they enjoy a certain amount of limited freedoms denied to most others. 4
Another factor often overlooked in the US’s development is the ecologically exhaustive nature of the economic system on which it has been based. Not only is US-led capitalist-imperialism inherently violent towards peoples but also it is inherently violent towards nature. It is genocidal as well as ecocidal. Operating according to the ends of profit, capitalism will always subject nature to commodification and exploitation. As capitalism is based on tireless expansion, ecological problems will only grow worse. This is already leading to devastating ramifications for biological resources and a corresponding feedback in social relations.
In addition to occupying much of North America, the United States military officially operates in nearly 150 countries. Models of social relations initially implemented through force in North America by the United States have been imposed globally by a similar means. It is this dynamic between imperialist centers and exploited peoples of the periphery which constitutes the central characteristic of today’s world. It is the struggle over the terms of this relationship which today forms the main force determining the pitch of our shared trajectory.
Understanding Zinn as Limiting Ideology
Zinn’s patriotic narrative and a radical methodological approach reveal two different things from US history. According to Zinn, there have always been exceptional Amerikans who have resisted oppression directed against others. 5 According to the radical approach, oppression of others has always been a central feature of US history. It has in large part shaped its development from a small settler-planter |
the original analog tapes and includes a previously unreleased song from the sessions titled “Just to Have You Back.” Housed in a sleeve that reinterprets the original artwork with embellishments of gold foil embossing, soft touch coating, spot UV varnish and pressed on “golden” vinyl, the fanciful re-imagination of the artwork is wholly vibrant and compelling.
The accompanying 7” single is the White Stripes covering two of Lynn’s classic songs. Recorded in Detroit in 2000, Jack and Meg White’s interpretation of “Rated X” is a studio recording originally intended as the flipside to the Stripes’ cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Buried in the Vault since then, the electric version, complete with steel guitar accompaniment, is tantalizing and the kind of material that the Vault was specifically created to release. On the b-side is a live rendition of Lynn’s “Whispering Sea” recorded live at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, WA on August 6, 2005… just up the road from where Lynn wrote the song back in the early 1960s. Pressed on white vinyl and housed in the inimitable Third Man Vault sleeve, these White Stripes renditions are the prefect pairing to Lynn’s landmark album.
To top it all off and of supreme excitement is a new, exclusive DVD filmed in 2015 of both Lynn and White revisiting the time of Van Lear Rose to tell stories of its creation, its release and all the other subsequent hubbub and adoration. Shot by Third Man’s in-house video maestro Brad Holland, the entirety of the film is being created solely for Vault inclusion and enjoyment. Maybe Loretta and Jack will even grace us with a few stripped-down, acoustic versions of some of their favorite songs on the album. And don’t let our lawyer see this, but we’ll also be hiding some deep archival footage that we are actually legally prohibited from telling you about. Things you can’t even find on YouTube. The DVD will be jam-packed with goodness and good times.
And because we’re just crazy enough to load you down with tasty extras, we’re including a custom 5 x 7” foil-stamped and embossed postcard playing on the album lettering. This thing is suitable for framing. Also suitable for framing… stunning unused photos from the original album art session. On top of that is an exquisitely-designed enamel rose pin done up in the deep apricot color of the floribunda rose named “Loretta Lynn Van Lear” in 2011 in honor of Lynn’s 50th anniversary in the music business.
The total, unified package is something Third Man Records is quite humbled to be able to offer to the world. Subscriptions are available now, with the April 30th deadline to get in on this package swiftly approaching.
For more info about the Loretta Lynn Van Lear (including mail order options!) check out http://www.chambleeroses.com/order.php?id=468
Subscribe to Vault Package #24 HERE.The Dorky Dogs Calendar project is now on Indiegogo!This is a project featuring 6 Portland Maine artists that share pride in their love for all things geek. We have created art for a 12 month 2014 Calendar of many different dog breeds as different characters.All of the goal money for the Indiegogo project will be going towards funding our project. We will not be able to create the calendar without funding, so every penny counts! After the project is made, we will sell the Calendars and donate all proceeds to the Animal Refuge League. Prints of any of the art will only be available through the rewards when you contribute!We hope you will help out if you can so we can make our small dream of helping our local animal shelter come true.Indiegogo page (contribute here!): www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-y… Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DorkyDogsProj…Earlier this year, it was announced that Titan Comics partnered up with Harmony Gold to revive Robotech in comic book form. They hired writer Brian Wood (Briggs Land, DMZ) to develop it with artists Marco Turini and Marco Lesko. Today we have our first look at the revival thanks to a teaser trailer that was released featuring some of the art from the comic. I've also included a few comic panels that were released.
Created by re-editing three different anime series, “Robotech” originally aired in syndication in the United States in 1984. It’s a sci-fi epic in which the human race finds itself on the brink of annihilation and under attack by a fleet of gigantic alien warships capable of destroying Earth. Humanity’s only hope for survival lies within the secrets of Robotechnology, which allows humans to develop powerful transforming robotic systems and interstellar spacecraft.
As you'll see, Robotech has a new look. Some of the designs remind me a lot of the video game Halo. When talking about the new series and it's new look, Wood said:
"Robotech has received direct adaptations in comics before, but it's not been modernized like we’re doing it now. If you think of the new J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek as an example of a way to honor something and also update it, that’s the approach we’re talking."
I actually like the direction that they are taking this. The trailer below actually starts with showing off footage from the original animated series, and then focuses on the new direction they are taking it. The art looks great, but what I'm looking forward to seeing is what they do with the story. Check out the trailer and art below and let us know what you think! The comic will hit stores this July.BSides SF What do you reckon US government regulations on computer security look like? If you selected outdated, contradictory and avoidable, congrats, you're an industry veteran – or you were paying attention to a talk this morning at the BSidesSF 2017 infosec conference.
In a presentation titled "Swimming upstream: regulation vs security," Robert Wood, head of security and compliance teams at healthcare IT firm Nuna, laid out the state of red tape in heavily regulated industries, and how it affects building secure networks and systems.
For instance, he said his company has to operate within eight different government frameworks for data handling and information security, and they can be more harm than good.
“Most regulations were brought into being with the best of intentions,” he told his audience in San Francisco. "They were there to make things better and give us some instructions. But they do mean you end up handling crazy things.”
For example, not one of the eight frameworks Numa operates under even mentions social engineering or phishing, although a few workplaces tell staff to sit through a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation on the issue once a year. That’s not enough to stop one of the biggest security threats out there, he said.
Regulations are also easy to bend and set quite a low bar, he said. One customer had a requirement that all data traffic within the firewall was to be unencrypted to allow for inspection by network monitoring tools, while the government framework it operated under required encrypted internal traffic “where possible.”
“They had ended up dumbing down controls to satisfy the unencrypted network traffic requirement, which we know is not cool,” he said. “But it’s like shaving a yak" – or, for our UK readers, like painting the Forth Bridge – "the excuses never ended. It was excuse after excuse, exception after exception and it never ended.”
Some regulations include surprise audits and inspections, on top of quarterly or annual checks. The sheer amount of reporting and paperwork involved can be crushing, he said.
The fundamental issue is that companies tend to do just enough to make sure they are compliant, and put not a penny more into IT security. Getting stuff done that isn’t officially required, such as providing social engineering training, can be left by the wayside unless IT managers game the system to get necessary resources.
In other words, the requirements are often so low, complying with them and nothing more leaves networks at risk, and yet there's often no money allocated to improve the situation.
Sun Tzu’s guide to IT management
Probably the most important thing IT managers can do is to identify and cultivate their allies. In any organization, there will be a few people who see the need for effective security and they need to be wooed, Wood said.
“Learn their language and use their jargon with them to make a business case for a security tool,” he urged. “Then show them how the sausage is made. There’s a tendency in IT to hide stuff like that, but once people see the amount of work involved, they appreciate what you’re up against.”
He gave the example of winning over a business development manager by suggesting sales staff show customers how their information is kept secure. To do this, beancounters have to cough up funding for tools that are outside the regulatory requirements, security processes are put in place, clients are happy, sales deals are won, and so on, he said.
IT managers hoping to secure budgets for security measures should also take a leaf out of the CIA’s playbook, Wood suggested. In 2007, the agency studied the effects of describing a threat risk as high, medium, or low probability. It found that people’s understanding of the risk involved is wildly subjective, depending on who was uttering the risk warning.
Instead, Wood suggested, present company accountants with a numerical probability risk, tied to a dollar amount of damages – say there’s a 90 per cent chance of, say, a database breach happening between five and 15 times a year costing $X per intrusion. It doesn’t have to be perfect, he said, but it’s the language accountants speak. We suggest you use real-world security breaches to guide your estimates – perhaps from an average of $4m per successful attack to the billions Yahoo! put at risk.
“It’s much better to argue with numbers,” Wood said. “It's much more convincing than using high, medium and low threat descriptions.”
Speaking of numbers, the tech boss said while automated network security analysis is not a silver bullet to kill all vulnerabilities, it generates the kind of metrics that impresses government auditors and company accountants. Things like, number of software packages scanned, version numbers identified, bugs patched, and so on.
Finally, make sure your suppliers are on your side and smart in their business practices. He recounted the time he asked a vendor if a particular threat was covered as per the regulations, so he could pass on the reassurance to auditors. The response from the supplier was: “LOL.”
“The auditor’s response would have been WTF if they’d seen that; it wasn’t helpful,” he said. ®University of Tartu guest history lecturer Joseph Enge thinks that the UK's vote to leave the European Union is both reasonable and rational, and that it should not come as a surprise. Even more, the current criticism of the voters shows that they are right to leave.
Yesterday’s vote for the UK to leave the European Union should not come as a surprise. Their decision is reasonable and rational given the unilateral decisions made by President Obama and Chancellor Merkel without consulting or taking account British concerns or interests. Yet, the hue and cry have been falsely and insultingly directed at the intelligence and motivations of the British electorate. In fact, such insults confirm they made the right decision.
Obama unleashed the disaster of Syria with his false red lines, refusal to utilize American strength to punish President Bashar al-Assad for atrocities against his own people, and in any way stabilize the Syrian crisis. This in turn provided for the exponential expansion of ISIS to not only carve large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, but to become a center for destabilizing the region and exporting terrorism into Europe and America and creating a refugee crisis that imperils the European Union.
No matter how quickly threats arose and situations changed, President Obama has shown a single-minded commitment to create a personal hands-off legacy of his presidency to curtail U.S. application of power overseas no matter how detrimental to American and European security. Non-action is an action.
That President Obama put his personal concerns for his legacy over the security concerns of his own country and allies is no longer a surprise as his second term comes to an end. What made a bad situation worse in Europe was Chancellor Merkel’s decision to provide safe haven for the millions of refugees from the Middle East without consulting European partners last year.
Having survived, but with great effort, the debt crisis of Europe’s fiscally irresponsible southern neighbors, the refugee issue has proven to be more dangerous than anticipated for a European Union far more fragile than most are aware. Allowing large numbers of Middle Eastern refugees has created a social, economic, and safety issue as the refugee populations are not committed to assimilation to their host countries, actually expect these host countries to change their systems to accommodate their values that are the antithesis of Western democracies, and are being used as a vehicle to export terrorism has created the perfect storm.
The surprise is not that Brexit passed, rather that it did not pass by a larger percentage. President Obama’s visit to the UK and willingness to weigh in on their controversial domestic political issue of the day to remain in the EU was both tactless and counterproductive. Given recent decisions in Washington D.C., Berlin, and in Brussels have clearly demonstrated themselves to have discounted British concerns, they have politely bowed out from this arrangement to take their destiny in hand on their own terms.
The insults directed at the elections results that the British voters are somehow ignorant and/or racists are not only slander to hide the EU’s failures and vulnerabilities, but prevent the honest self-analysis necessary to make the EU healthy again.
The UK has decided to leave the EU, but remain committed to NATO. In the face of the resurgence of Islamic terrorism and Russian aggressiveness, NATO has proven itself to be more relevant than ever while the EU has proven to be less relevant.
There are lessons to be learned by the election results, but I am cynical the EU will learn them as they disparage the British electorate for choosing to control their own destiny in light of bad decision making by President Obama and Chancellor Merkel.A “free alternative massively multiplayer modification” for Grand Theft Auto titles called GTA:Multiplayer has allegedly been asked to be shut down by Take Two Interactive.
A post on the project’s website details the reasoning for the shutdown from the international team of developers:
Take2 Interactive Inc. have contacted us and they asked us to stop GTA:Multiplayer, because from Take2’s point of view GTA:MP is a rival of their business. Grand Theft Auto and all its content is produced by Rockstar Games Inc. and published and owned by Take2 Interactive Inc. We, as developers, respect other developer’s intellectual property and their legitimate interests. Rockstar’s developers have invested so much time to create this beautiful game. We have repeatedly stated our position: We are not going to cross this line, we won’t damage them.
Rockstar and Take Two have had issues with mods before in their Grand Theft Auto series. The launch of Grand Theft Auto V was fraught with reports of players being banned for using mods which resulted in Rockstar clarifying their stance on the matter. In short, Rockstar stated that they only wanted to keep people from modding to gain an unfair advantage in GTA: Online. The developers of GTA:Multiplayer echoed the concerns of possible bans further on in their post:
We clearly see that this may not only result in problems for us, the mod creators, it even may result in a Social Club ban for you, and this is something we do not want to be responsible for. We always respected the copyright of others, and we will not stop doing so.
A post on the /r/GTAMP subreddit mirrors the missing most recent devblog which indicated the GTA:Multiplayer team had hoped to publicly release their project before the end of 2015.
What do you think of the developer’s reasoning for shutting down? Do you think it’s right that Take Two allegedly had asked the GTA:Multiplayer team to shut down their project? Let us know in the comments below!
Share Have a tip for us? Awesome! Shoot us an email at [email protected] and we'll take a look!As I told Barrett’s mom when I heard the news that Barrett had been put in solitary again, if you are going to poke the bear, as Barrett does as a columnist for this blog, you’ve got to keep your nose clean. Barrett recently failed on that front. Barrett’s side of the story: some inmates were making hooch. Those inmates, along with Barrett, were given breathalyzers; everyone passed. Subsequently, only Barrett’s locker was searched. Authorities found hooch in it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Last week, he was taken from his cell and thrown in the hole (or SHU), where he has been unable to get his meds or even a pencil. He now only gets two phone calls per month. Sometimes his mom reads him things like this blog post. So I’ll offer this:
Barrett, it’s easier to pillory the Bureau of Prisons and its Kafkaesque operation when you are standing on firm and steady moral high ground, when you are doing your level best to follow the rules, especially the ones that make sense, like not drinking jailhouse hooch. It’s also easier to do that when you have a pencil. We want to read what you have to say. We can’t do that unless you behave yourself.Jacob Thompson, 9, died Sunday after fighting a rare cancer for four years. (Family photo)
Jacob Thompson spent nearly half of his short life battling cancer.
The 9-year-old boy, who loved penguins, died Sunday, four years after he was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that affects mostly young children.
As his family had expected, Thompson didn’t live long enough to celebrate Christmas, a holiday he loves. But before his death, thousands of complete strangers inspired by the terminally ill Maine boy’s story brought an early Christmas to him.
They decorated his hospital room with a tree, requested a special visit from Santa Claus, and sent him gifts and scores of homemade holiday cards.
Jacob and his family celebrated Christmas on Nov. 12.
He died a week later.
“Each and every person who sent Jacob a Christmas card, a gift, a Facebook message or video, or a prayer made a difference in the final days of his life,” his family wrote on a Facebook page they used to chronicle his journey. “You brought Jacob joy, and you brought us all optimism for the future. Thank you for taking the time, and taking an interest in our sweet boy’s journey. Sadly, there are many others like him that we hope you will continue to help.”
Jacob was admitted to the hospital “for the last time” Oct. 11, his mother, Michelle Thompson Simard, wrote on a GoFundMe page. The cancer had spread to his skull and to several bones in his inner ear.
His hip was so covered with tumors that it looked like lace, Thompson Simard wrote. Chemotherapy and radiation had offered little signs of hope.
[This 9-year-old may not live until Christmas. So strangers are sending him an early holiday.]
The boy’s family was “told that we should be spending as much time as possible with him and we should start making arrangements for his passing,” Thompson Simard wrote, adding later, “No one thinks about having to do this type of planning for their child and because of that we did not nor do not have life insurance on him.”
The GoFundMe campaign had raised nearly $165,000 as of Tuesday morning to pay for Jacob’s funeral.
Thompson Simard documented the response from people who sent Christmas cards and toys to make the early holiday memorable for Jacob.
On Nov. 1, she posted a picture of Jacob with the first card he received. It featured a penguin, which his family, from Saco, Maine, said was his favorite animal.
For days, Jacob was showered with presents.
Pictures his mother shared on social media showed boxes of toys, games, books, cards and, of course, more penguins — including penguin socks.
He even received a video greeting from actor Rob Lowe and the cast of “Code Black.”
Merry Christmas, Jacob! https://t.co/uSASXEX9QW Please send cards:
Jacob Thompson
Maine Medical Center
22 Bramhall St
Portland, ME 04102 pic.twitter.com/DhLWxVup2S — Michael Seitzman (@michaelseitzman) November 3, 2017
Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, Maine, where Jacob was being treated, said the response was “wonderfully overwhelming” but asked people to not personally deliver cards to the hospital because of safety concerns.
On Thursday, three days before Jacob died, his family shared a picture of him in his hospital bed wearing a blue Superman T-shirt. His dog, Piper, was lying near his feet.
Jacob had just gone through a round of radiation to help him with some pain in his leg, his family wrote.
[She rejected chemotherapy and chose to die of cancer — so she could give birth to her child]
“Jacob spends most of his time resting, but has had a few good hours to play and open all your cards and gifts,” his family wrote.
In the post announcing Jacob’s death, his mother said she hoped his case would help raise awareness about neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancerous tumor that affects mostly infants and young children, according to the American Cancer Society. There are about 700 new cases every year in the United States. The majority are diagnosed by age 5.
“We hope that Jacob’s story and the enormous outpouring of support from around the world will have a lasting impact on raising awareness for this disease,” she wrote. “We hope that donations will be made, and a cure will be discovered as a result.”
She requested that any donations in Jacob’s honor be made to Operation Gratitude or a penguin rescue group. “Or, pay it forward in your community,” she wrote. “Do something for others, donate blood and platelets, or use your talents to bring shelter, nourishment or joy to those in need in honor of Jacob’s memory. And most importantly, remember to #LiveLikeAPenguin for Jacob.”
Read more:
She chose to die so she could give birth. Now her newborn is dead, too.
The simple way you can make Christmas merry for this 8-year-old arson survivor
Child who asked for Christmas cards got more than 1 million — including one from the ObamasAnyone who has happened into The Liberty on a Friday afternoon has no doubt seen a handful of men in navy blue coveralls bellied up to the bar, celebrating the end of a shift at the Arnold Oil plant across the street. Well, don't expect to be partying next to those guys much longer. But don't worry, you may have a whole new crop of workers to sip on Pearl Snaps next to.
Arnold Oil announced this week that after 37 years it will be moving off East Sixth Street and breaking ground on a new headquarters on Burleson Road in southeast Austin. While the fate of the prime piece of property has yet to be determined, the Austin Business Journal is reporting that Houston-based developer Transwestern is copied on much of the paperwork.
Originally founded in Corpus Christi in 1939, the automotive parts manufacturer expanded to Austin in 1977 when Jim Arnold opened the headquarters in what was then a very different neighborhood. With the rapid expansion of condominiums and retail spaces encroaching on the east side, it looks like the Arnold Oil property is destined for a similar fate.
According to its website, among Transwestern's projects in Austin is a complex being called Eastside Village, a 94,500 square foot commercial and residential space on Comal between East Fifth and East Sixth Streets (the Arnold Oil property falls on this tract of land). Transwestern says in the document that half of the massive office space has already been leased, despite construction not even starting yet.
In addition to the office space, the document says Eastside Village will feature 348 apartments for rent in "a trendy entertainment district on the edge of downtown across from Plaza Saltillo." Edge indeed.
In the past six months, East Sixth Street has undergone rapid change with property being snatched up by the Walton Family, La Corsha and Greystar, among others. Just how this new massive office building is going to look nestled between The White Horse and Yellow Jacket Social Club remains to be seen.Vince Young spent 2012 out of the NFL after the Buffalo Bills released him in training camp. His last, best chance for relevance didn't last long. But Young's determined to try to make teams notice him again.
VY will work out at the University of Texas pro day on March 26, according to SI.com's Stewart Mandel. Texas coach Mack Brown revealed the news about his former prized pupil. Young is back on the Texas campus finishing up his degree.
Young, who turns 30 in May, has spoken often about making a comeback this offseason, and the uninspiring crop of free-agent quarterbacks doesn't hurt his case. There's a chance some team will bring him in to training camp, but he's fighting an uphill battle. If Young couldn't make it under Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles or onto the Bills' roster with Chan Gailey, he's unlikely to make it back to the pro level again.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthalThe Daily Show host Trevor Noah (Screenshot)
Just a few months after Trevor Noah took over the “Daily Show,” it didn’t take long to see what was wrong with Noah’s interpretation of the show. I took down the fact that Noah can’t seem to master the fine art of slapstick, physical comedy, clever silliness in addition to refusing to hold Fox News accountable for what Stewart called “their bullsh*t.”
“Comedic timing should feel as natural as slipping down a slide,” I criticized. “Right now his jokes are plopping down the stairs like a piece of pizza being dragged by a rat.”
Each morning while you’re hopefully still asleep, I go through all of the shows and search for something funny to bring you. This is my job before I dive into the news of the day. Raw readers tend to appreciate former correspondents Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Samantha Bee and sometimes Larry Wilmore when he gets fired up. Noah simply falls flat. I can try to frame one of his segments in the best possible light, but it doesn’t matter. Y’all don’t click.
While the “Daily Show” made some changes after the holidays, namely getting Noah out from behind the desk to do a stand-up-style opening, the show is still missing …. something. It’s as if the nature of the “Daily Show” itself has changed. Like what happened when they came in and swapped out Darrin on “Bewitched” but pretended nothing happened.
Except, Comedy Central didn’t just swap out Darrin, they switched “Bewitched” to “I Dream of Jeannie” and hoped we’d see it’s all the same. It’s like they’re making a completely different show and the “Daily Show” is no longer the “Daily Show.” For those who miss the spirit of the tone and rhythm that captures the energy Stewart once brought, it’s readily available on TBS with Bee and HBO with John Oliver. But the “Daily Show” we’ve come to know and love ended with Stewart and there’s no amount of pounding on its chest that’ll bring it back.
Oliver carries the water for broader looks into intense subjects that people have no idea exist. Bee has taken on the role of mocking Republican hypocrisy. Wilmore created a niche for himself calling out racism while also shouldering the load of holding Fox News accountable. What’s left? The “Daily Show” is what’s left over. There’s no focus or goal much less an agenda to “fight bullsh*t.” Too often they’re late to comment on a story or Wilmore will cover the exact same thing and do it better.
Ratings haven’t improved either. According to Nielsen, the audience has dropped by 37 percent in Stewart’s absence. Noah’s highest rated show was his first one on September 28th with 0.41 rating in the key 18-49 demographic and just over 1 million viewers. That same week the previous year, Stewart scored a 0.65 and 1.5 million viewers. Eight months later, those numbers are even worse. A few shows have dropped as low as 0.18 and the average gets 0.32 rating among adults 18 -49 and roughly 820,000 viewers. That’s roughly the size of Djibouti. The “Daily Show” lost Djibouti.
It isn’t a crisis for the network, but in a presidential election year with Donald Trump running, the numbers should be better. During the last election between Republican Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, Stewart’s nightly audience averaged 1.7 million views for the 2011-2012 season.
As the person who writes these stories at four and five a.m. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciated the way Stewart would actually feed us the headline. It was as if he knew and understood the way the media works and would say the perfect soundbite to pitch us on posting that video. It’s like wrapping up the segment in a perfect bow and presenting it to the public. No late-night host other than Stewart has ever done that consistently.
I begin each morning hoping that they’ll make me laugh or they’ll do an epic smackdown that is important to add to the pool of political commentary, but too often I’m left begging my editor to see how it could be funny, not how it actually is funny. With Oliver on Sunday and Bee on Monday, “Daily Show” loyalists are left with three days of unfulfilled political snark.
It’s unclear if “Daily Show” producers can turn the boat around. But if it’s sinking, would it matter if they did?August 4, 2010 - TF2 Team
On August 31st WiNGSPANTT and 7 other Golden Wrench owners will commit a nigh unutterable act of brazen item-aggression so egregious that we shudder to think of the implications should the Administrator herself catch wind of it.
On that day 8 Golden Wrenches will be destroyed.
Somehow these few have found the strength of will to reject the lure of Australium to serve a greater cause.
Over the last month WiNGSPANTT has spent his personal time and energy promoting and collecting donations for the Child's Play charity. The more donations received, the more Golden Wrenches to be destroyed on August 31st. As each Golden Wrench is destroyed a global message will be sent to everyone playing Team Fortress 2 announcing the sacrifice. Everyone who donates will receive a place on a special steam group to mark their generosity.
So far the event has managed to raise over $5,000 in donations. Further contributions may very well secure the destruction even more Golden Wrenches.
If you are interested in participating in the Golden Charity event please visit the website.
The TF2 team knew that the Golden Wrench event would be controversial -- an experiment in the distribution of an ultra-rare item. We never imagined that it would empower a small group of players to benefit a much vaster group of children in need. We are constantly shocked and impressed by the creativity of the Team Fortress 2 community, but today we are humbled.It could have also saved the NSW Origin team exploiting a loophole in the judiciary rules to play Michael Ennis in place of the injured Robbie Farah last Wednesday night after he had served a one-match suspension for a grade-one careless high tackle with Cronulla the previous weekend. The Issac Luke tackle on Sonny Bill Williams that resulted in the South Sydney hooker missing out on the grand final. Credit:Channel Nine However, there are concerns about players being able to avoid suspension by paying a fine and the fairness of imposing a financial penalty for set offences as some players earn more than $1 million per season and others are on the minimum wage of $80,000. Members of the NRL match review committee met with their AFL counterparts during the off-season to discuss ways of improving their respective disciplinary systems. Martin Burns QC, who penned the code of conduct when the NRL competition began in 1998, was also in attendance and under new football operations manager Mark Evans, the AFL has appointed more former players to the tribunal panel and introduced fines for low-level offences.
Under the new AFL system, players receive fines ranging from $1000 for offences such as time wasting, interfering with a player kicking for goal or shaking a goal post, to $2500 for spitting at another player, instigating a melee or abusive language towards an umpire. Other offences such as attempting to kick, strike or trip an opponent, disputing a decision or careless contact with an umpire attract fines of $1500. The penalties increase by $1000 for a second offence and a further $2500 – up to $5000 – for a third offence, and players who plead guilty receive a discount, as they do under the NRL's demerit points system. The main reason for the AFL introducing fines instead of suspension was to prevent players becoming ineligible to win the Brownlow Medal over a minor offence. The AFL match review panel has the ability to impose a suspension instead of a fine for a third offence by a player in the same season.
Rugby League Players Association chief executive David Garnsey said the idea of introducing fines for judiciary offences had been raised in general discussions with the NRL, but without any specifics of how the current process might be modified. "We will discuss the concept with our members and, if there is substantial support in taking the discussion further, we'll work with the NRL to put together a detailed proposal that will enable a proper assessment of the options and the impact any changes might have on players," Garnsey said. An NRL spokesperson said the judiciary system was constantly being reviewed but no decision had been made to introduce financial penalties at this stage. "Any changes to the judicial process would need significant consultation with the RLPA," the spokesperson said. "So while we are constantly looking to enhance procedures and processes around the match review committee and the judiciary, there are no plans to introduce a fines element into our current gradings system. "We would also need to ensure the judicial system remains equitable because, clearly, a system of using fines would impact some players more than others."This is a great album from a great band. I love Social Distortion's oldest, and newest stuff. Mike Ness is truly the man, and he has always had an incredible band to back him.
This is a very unique album. It is Social Distortion's "hardest" album by far.
I can only describe the drums as "punishing." They are so hard, so fast, and so unrelenting, that this to me sounds like what "metal" ought to sound like.
Almost every song is a winner.
These are not slow, crooning love ballads. They are riveting songs about the hard knocks of life, and they punch away at you like a prizefighter.
I'm glad Social D. developed their sound over time, even to the point of adding a fuller, richer sound, with an organ player. But I'm also glad they put out this classic 80's style hardcore album which just pounds away with the sound.MEERUT: Angered at All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s refusal to utter ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, Mohammad Imam — representing the Muslim community — wrote ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ in blood on India’s map at Meerut’s Bachcha Park crossing on Thursday afternoon. Imam and his supporters further said that Islam doesn’t stop them from chanting pro-India slogans and that Owaisi is making such remarks to gain political mileage.“Saying Bharat Mata Ki Jai is equivalent to hailing the land, women, children, sisters and soldiers of India. The remark of Owaisi is completely anti-national and is not acceptable. The posters of Owaisi have BR Ambedkar’s pictures along with him. I would like to ask Owaisi: is this what Baba Ambedkar taught him?” said Mohd Imam, who is also the district vice-president of Congress.Blood was drawn out from Imam’s wrist with the help of a syringe and the Muslim community then wrote ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ on three maps of India that were specially printed for the purpose.“We are Indians and saying ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ is our responsibility. People like Owaisi are trying to defame Islam and derive political mileage from their remarks. Islam doesn’t give the right to be against the country we live in and in fact never denies us permission to chant pro-India slogans. His Lok Sabha membership should be cancelled with immediate effect,” said Haji Saeed, one of the citizens at the gathering.This has come three days after Asaduddin Owaisi, a three-time parliamentarian from Hyderabad, controversially declared that he will not chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ even if somebody puts a knife to his throat.A:
Dear You,
Firstly, I apologize that it's taken a bit longer to get you this response. This is partly because you asked this on the eve of finals, but also because I wanted to make sure I was thorough in my preparations before I wrote my answer.
With that in mind, it may seem a bit strange when I now say that I didn't read the whole CES Letter. I looked it up, read the first bits thoroughly, then skimmed over the rest before concluding that further study was not worth my time. These arguments are not new, nor are they presented in a novel way. Plainly put, Mr. Runnells is attacking the Church, disguising his attack as an appeal for a reasonable conversation. There's nothing wrong with asking these kinds of questions in an attempt to better understand Church History and Doctrine, but in order for the conversation to be constructive, you have to be willing to not form conclusions before the talking even starts.
As an example of what I'm talking about, consider these two questions:
Why do we usually depict Joseph Smith as reading directly from the gold plates when translating the Book of Mormon when he actually got the words from reading a seer stone?
Why is the Church not being honest and transparent to its members about how Joseph Smith really translated the Book of Mormon?
Both questions are addressing the same issue. However, the former question is more neutral in its phrasing; it's concerned with finding out why this discrepancy happens, without assuming motive. The second question (a direct quotation from the CES Letter) is asked with the assumption that the Church is being sneaky and has something to hide. It's the kind of question that leads to an argument instead of an open discussion (Protip: Use this principle when resolving problems with roommates. Instead of jumping to conclusions and asking "Why did you do X?!?!", seek to get their side of the story by asking something more along the lines of "From my point of you, it seems like you did X because Y |
50 percent of customers accepted a healthier choice of foods introduced at its theme parks. And last summer, fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp said it would include apples, fewer fries, and 20 percent fewer calories in the most popular Happy Meals for kids.
The IOM report urges employers and insurers to do more to combat obesity. UnitedHealth Group offers a health insurance plan in which a $5,000 yearly deductible can be reduced to $1,000 if a person is not obese and does not smoke. Some employers provide discounts on premiums for completing weight-loss programs.
Such inducements are far from universal, however. The government-run Medicaid healthcare program for the poor and disabled does not cover weight-loss programs in many states. And as of 2008, only 28 percent of full-time workers in the private sector and 54 percent in government had access to wellness programs.A decade ago it was modern trade which changed the way Indians shopped. Then came e-commerce and online shopping. And this time around it is Patanjali Ayurveda – the latest force to disrupt the branded consumer goods sector. Its raging popularity and strong brand resonance have some incisive lessons for the Indian fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.A brand doesn’t have to charge a premium to resonate better with its consumers. Patanjali products are cheaper than its peers in the same category. “The whole logic of brands charging premium and using that premium to advertise more has been turned upside down by Patanjali products”, says Milind Sarwate, former CFO of Marico and founder of Increate Value Advisors.Patanjali has brought the focus back on product efficacy. Rising above the noise of advertising, products have to first deliver value to the consumers. Ghee and tooth paste are the two most popular products of Patanjali – even though both of these have enough local and multinational competitors in the organised sector. According to a recent sector report by Spark Capital, while disruption is painful in the short term, it is slated to bring back a key value proposition of FMCG products – product’s efficacy.The fact that Baba Ramdev, a yoga guru himself, promoting the herbal and organic Patanjali products - has proved that celebrity endorsements work if there is a high connect between the endorser and the features of the brand. The Maggi ban last year had showed how brand ambassadors can receive flak in case the brand falters.Emergence of Patanjali helps keep the established players on their toes and provides the consumer the benefit of more efficacious products at lower prices. It reminds the FMCG companies that peak margins cannot be sustained at the cost of the consumers.Patanjali has reinforced that there is scope for disruption at any point in the industry. Despite the high clutter & penetration and subdued consumer demand, Patanjali products could make a mark. “This shows that there is always scope for creating new moats – which are not easy to replicate or compete with”, says an analyst tracking the FMCG industry.The swift rise of Patanjali in becoming a Rs 5000 crore FMCG business in the past few three years dwarfs the performance of FMCG companies that took several years to reach a similar size. “Formal management structure can at times slow down the growth of the business due to over sophistication,” Sarwate says.BAQAA REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan -- An assailant with an automatic assault weapon attacked a local office of Jordan's national intelligence agency Monday, killing four guards and a receptionist in what the government called a lone-wolf "terrorist attack."
Battle to take back Fallujah traps 50,000 civilians
The gunman was arrested hours after the early morning shooting, which took place on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In his initial comments, government spokesman Mohammed Momani suggested Islamic militants were behind the attack, saying those involved were "criminal elements that don't represent our moderate religion."
After the arrest of the assailant, Momani said it was a lone-wolf attack but that the investigation was continuing.
Such attacks are relatively rare in Jordan, even though the pro-Western kingdom is on the front line in the military campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists who control large areas of neighboring Syria and Iraq.
The shooting targeted a two-story security compound on the edge of the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa, near the capital, Amman.
The shooting attack took place before 7 a.m., said Momani. The assailant, firing from an automatic weapon, killed four guards and a receptionist, and then fled the scene.
The targeted security office faces Baqaa camp, which was established almost half a century ago for Palestinian refugees displaced in the conflict with Israel.
The camp has a population of tens of thousands, including many Syrian refugees who have settled there since the start of the Syria conflict in 2011.
A highway separates the security compound and the camp.
U.S. can only get Iraqis so far in fight against ISIS for Fallujah
Several hours after the attack, the access road to the security compound was closed. Security agents were visible outside the building, including masked members of the counter-terrorism squad.
Monday's attack came three months after Jordanian special forces clashed with ISIS-linked gunmen at a hideout in the northern Jordanian city of Irbid. Seven suspected Islamic State activists and a Jordanian officer were killed. The ISIS cell had planned attacks on military and civilian targets in the kingdom, officials said.
Over the past two years, since IS group's swift land gains in Syria and Iraq, Jordan has cracked down on suspected sympathizers to prevent the extremists from recruiting inside its borders.
Several hundred Jordanians have been sentenced to prison by special military courts for expressing support for ISIS on social media.
Jordan is part of the U.S.-led military campaign against ISIS.So, the Boston bombing suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are Muslim.
When the news broke, snarky Twitter trolls – are there any other kind? – launched the rhetorical gauntlet of questions, those predictably designed to confirm a biased, flawed narrative that casts “Islam” as the quintessential anti-American antagonist in the endless "War on Terror."
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First, I was asked how I felt knowing “Islam” was behind the bombing?
I felt the same way I did before the suspects were identified: devastated and saddened at the needless loss of life and the chaos that paralyzed a nation for a week. I prayed that the capture of the alleged suspects brings much needed peace and catharsis to the victims, their families and the entire city of Boston.
As far as Islam goes, I’ve never met Islam.
Islam has never asked me out on a date.
If it did, one day it might take me to eat Hyderabadi biryani followed by chai and kheer as dessert. Another night I might be treated to fried chicken, collard greens and bean pies. Islam might even try to make a move at the end of the night or abstain from all physical relations until marriage. Islam might toast me with a glass of champagne or order an overpriced, non-alcoholic mojito. Islam might ask me to pray the late-night Isha prayer or skip ritual acts of worship altogether and go to the local club to holler at some women (or men, or both). Islam might listen to Jay-Z before playing Nusrat or renounce music considering it haram and recite Quran instead. In fact, Islam might want to kick me to the curb for being a heathen because I don’t sport a beard, or label me a fundamentalist for fasting during Ramadan and not eating ham sandwiches.
Islam doesn’t speak – Muslims do.
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The Tsarnaev brothers’ criminal and perverse actions do not speak for me or the overwhelming majority of Muslims. I am not compelled to apologize for them or explain their actions. Muslims are not a monolithic, Borg-like collective, who possess a shared consciousness, specializing in counterterrorism knowledge with a telepathic understanding of the perverse mind-set of radicals in their “community.” This is like asking Republican Christians to apologize for Timothy McVeigh or expecting young white males to explain why individuals like Adam Lanza, Jared Loughner and James Holmes used assault rifles to unleash terror on innocent civilians.
Before brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were even identified as the Boston bombing suspects, the media announced the usual villains: a “dark-skinned suspect,” a 21-year-old Saudi “jihadi” whose only crime was to run away from a violent explosion, and a 17-year-old Moroccan high school track star who attended the marathon carrying a bag. There was also a clarion call from conservative columnist (and sometime Fox News guest) Erik Rush to murder all Muslims.
We now know the suspected brothers were born in Kyrgyzstan, are ethnically Chechen, and lived in America for several years. They are literally Caucasian since their family originates from the northern Caucasus region. Neither of them were dark-skinned, “Saudi,” bearded or brandished a fiery red trident or horns on their head.
The profile of these two brothers highlights the conclusions of the British Intelligence Agency MI5 report that states Muslim terrorists in the West “are a diverse collection of individuals, fitting no single demographic profile, nor do they all follow a typical pathway to violent extremism.” In the words of Olivier Roy, a French scholar on Islamic societies, “the process of violent radicalization has little to do with religious practice.” In fact, most Islamic fundamentalists are “religious novices” and “there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalization.” A MAPOS study found that Muslims’ religiosity curbs anti-American extremism and “that mosques and religiosity are associated with high levels of civic engagement and support for the American political system.”
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Undeterred, the Twitter tribunal persisted and asked why Muslims do not renounce and actively discourage violent extremism? Well, 40 percent of all extremist plots in America were thwarted as a result of Muslim American help. Also, Muslim Americans continue to aid law enforcement, are more likely to reject violence than any other U.S. religious community, and overwhelmingly renounce the extremist ideologies of al-Qaida. A Muslim American community in Virginia proactively tipped off the FBI and turned in five radicalized youths. A Senegalese Muslim vendor was the first to mention the burning car bomb in New York's Times Square incompetently engineered by Faisal Shahzad. Muslims in Orange County received a restraining order against a mosque attendee who advocated jihad against America. Ironically, he turned out to be a mosque crawler: Craigh Monteilh, an FBI informant, who said he was paid to infiltrate the local community and entrap potential radicals.
Just three months ago, Tamerlan was kicked out during Friday prayer at the Islamic Society of Boston Culture Center for acting “crazy” by standing up and shouting at the imam whose sermon praised Martin Luther King Jr. as an example worth emulating. U.S. imams are currently debating whether to hold Islamic funeral services for Tamleran. "This is a person who deliberately killed people. There is no room for him as a Muslim. He already left the fold of Islam by doing that,” says one Boston imam.
Last Monday, before the brothers’ capture, a few friends and I wondered what the reaction would be if the suspect was a white Muslim. I often joke with my white Muslim friends that they are like the vampire superhero Blade, known as the “Daywalker,” gifted with “all of our strengths and none of our weaknesses.” As long as they hide their Muslimyness, their Whiteness serves as a protective cloak that mainstreams them as “American” shielding them from public interrogations regarding their loyalty and “otherness.”
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The emotional press conference with Ruslan Tsarni, the suspects’ estranged uncle, proved that the privileges of Whiteness are lost when the individual is Muslim or born abroad. We all empathized with the uncle who said the suspects brought “shame” to his family. He volunteered to passionately defend his ethnicity, religion and patriotism in front of a sensationalistic court of public opinion for the alleged misdeeds of two family members, whom he called “losers” and not deserving to live on Earth. A reporter then asked, “What do you think of America?” – a question never posed to family members of white criminals. Tsarni passed the loyalty test by responding, “I respect this country. I love this country.”
Muslim mass murderers excluded from “Whiteness” are usually labeled “terrorist” as opposed to being categorized as “lone wolf,” “lone radical/gunman ” or “deeply disturbed.” The latter applies to white men, such as mass murderers Wade Page, Jared Loughner, Adam Lanza, James Holmes and Anders Breivik.
This raises the legitimate question: What’s the difference between the “terrorism” of the Tsarnaev brothers and the “lone radical” violence of white supremacist Wade Page, who shot and killed six Sikh Americans at their temple? What are the definitions and standards for “terrorism”? Who decides?
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Apparently, it’s new media, which covered the police hunt for the brothers as a “Choose Your Own Adventure” novel scripted by amateur Hardy Boys and "CSI" aficionados. Overnight, the world witnessed the birth of a great career opportunity for self-proclaimed experts on Chechnya, jihad, radicalization and counterterrorism, who emerged instantly using Google and Wikipedia to obtain their dubious scholarship.
This includes Chuck Woolery, self-identified conservative and a relic of '80s game shows, who displayed brilliant, evidence-based, sociological insights with this helpful tweet: “Muslims can't seem to live in peace with anyone. Even each other. FACT.” He continued his love connections with Muslims by adding, “All Muslims are not terrorists. Most, if not all terrorists are Muslims. Please dispute that.”
Sure, Chuck, I will. In the U.S., 56 percent of terrorist attacks and plots have been perpetrated by right-wing extremists, 30 percent by eco-terrorists and 12 percent by Islamic extremists. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently reported the highest number of extremist hate groups ever recorded in U.S. history, with the sharp rise attributed to massive growths in white supremacist, anti-immigrant and radical anti-government groups. Anti-Muslim hate groups have also increased by 300 percent.
No one denies that radicalized Muslim violence is a problem, as evidenced by Nidal Hassan Malik, the unhinged Army major who killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood and injured 31, and Faisal Shahzad, the failed Times Square bomber.
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When minority groups highlight double standards in language, labeling, media representation and government prosecution, we are accused of whining and espousing victimhood. However, Mr. Woolery, a privileged white male, implies America is still more oppressive to white, Christian Republicans: “If these guys [Boston bombing suspects] were white southern, christian, conservative, tea partiers we would know what they had for breakfast 3 yrs ago on May 16th.”
That explains why Daryl Johnson, a former counterterrorism expert for the government, submitted a study on the rise and danger of right-wing extremists and white supremacists only to be pressured, criticized, repudiated and ultimately sidelined by conservative members of Congress and the Department of Homeland Security.
However, Republican U.S. Rep. Peter King exploited the Boston tragedy to justify his five congressional hearings that focused solely on the rise of radicalization in Muslim communities. Last week, he rejected “political correctness” and pushed for “increased surveillance” of Muslim communities despite Tamerlan Tsarnaev having already been interviewed and released by the FBI in 2011. Furthermore, King’s inflammatory hearings were criticized by law enforcement officials and counterterrorism professionals as being misguided, ineffective and potentially dangerous. Apparently all acts of terror are not equal to Mr. King in light of his past rationalization and defense of IRA terrorism.
Republican Rep. Steve King also exploited the tragedy to delay immigration reform, referencing the national origin of the bombing suspects. If King really cares about national security, then he should insist on profiling and deporting several angry, white males in light of numerous recent shooting massacres.
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There are significant casualties in moments of national panic and tragedy. As history has reflected, people would sacrifice the rights and civil liberties of minorities, and in turn their own freedoms, for the illusion of safety. We don’t need more policing, we need effective and intelligent policing that does not automatically transform millions of its Muslim citizens into perpetual suspects.
This includes dangerous and ineffective racial and religious profiling and wasteful and broad surveillance and spying of innocent Muslim communities by the NYPD. In addition, there is now a 50 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslims, nationwide protests against mosques, and introduction of anti-Shariah bills to 31 states, which are a solution in search of a problem.
The casualties also wear a human face, ones that are often not “Muslim.” The first post 9/11 hate murder was of Balbir Singh Sohdi, a Sikh American, whom the murderer chose because he was “dark-skinned, bearded and wore a turban.” This past week a Bangladeshi man was beaten up by Latino men outside a Bronx Applebee’s restaurant. In Massachusetts, a man shouted, “F_ you Muslims! You are terrorists! I hate you! You are involved in the Boston explosions! F_ you!” to a Palestinian American woman. Also, new media is to law enforcement investigations what Scooby Doo's Mystery Inc. is to detective work: messy, ad hoc, prone to mistakes, but sometimes reliable and effective. Like so many others, I retweeted unverified information by Reddit and news agencies falsely identifying missing Brown student Sunil Tripathi as a suspect. I sincerely apologize to him and his family, who are still searching for Sunil and have launched a new Facebook page requesting supporters to write messages of encouragement.
The Boston Bombing tragedy highlights our intense obsession to know a suspect's ethnicity, religion and "Americanness" to profile and cast them in our reductive but reliable War on Terror narrative. The resulting collateral damage, aside from thousands killed, includes hysteria, scapegoating and the voluntary exchange of our liberties and freedoms for the transient feeling of safety.
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However, the tragedy affords a nation of many faiths and ethnicities an opportunity to pen a new narrative that recasts its diverse citizens as fellow protagonists committed toward healing and mutual understanding. Our actions must live up to the hopes and opinion Uncle Ruslan has of America, his emigrated homeland:
“This country, which gives chance to everybody else to be treated as a human being. That's what I feel about this country.”Getting a speeding ticket can be expensive -- and a pain if you decide to fight it in court.
TIKD, which launched its website in February, wants to handle the ticket for you.
Users enter where and when they got the violation, the fine amount and a photo of the ticket. They pay a one-time fee that's always less than the original ticket. From there, TIKD assumes the liability for the outcome.
The startup hires lawyers to fight the ticket and go to court in your place. And the user receives email updates on the progress.
If you get points on your license, you'll get a refund and TIKD will also pay for the original ticket. The company says it has saved customers more than $100,000 in fines and nearly $4 million in avoided insurance costs.
The startup says it makes money from the difference between what a customer pays TIKD and what it pays lawyers and the courts.
Related: The chatbot that will force your landlord to fix a leaky tap
It's also the first company to offer a payment plan for paying traffic tickets. For a service charge -- 10% of the ticket fine -- users can pay half of it immediately and pay the rest in 25% increments over the next two months.
CEO and founder Chris Riley came up with the idea after he was caught in a speed trap. He was traveling less than 10 mph over the speed limit in Miami and was slapped with a big fine.
Traffic tickets average $220 in Miami and $400 in other markets such as Atlanta, according to TIKD data.
"These aren't people doing overtly unsafe things," Riley told CNN Tech. "No DUIs or people drag racing or going 30 mph over the speed limit. [It's] every day mistakes that people make."
Riley sought a better solution to fight disputable tickets.
"There's a better way to do this and give people access to services [like lawyers] in a cost efficient way," he said.
Related: The hottest self-driving car startup you've never heard of
The service is currently available in Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and certain Maryland and Florida counties. The company aims to be in 30 major U.S. markets next year.
TIKD says it can refuse the right to work on certain cases. For example, it doesn't accept tickets from minors or incidents involving alcohol, serious injury or fatalities.
The concept is a part of an emerging trend to fight tickets. Other apps like Off the Record connect users with lawyers to fight traffic tickets. Meanwhile, WinIt disputes parking and traffic tickets in New York City.
But TIKD says its biggest competition comes from people who don't contest tickets -- about 95% of people just pay them.
"We're trying to win over those folks," Riley said.Zero-point-two percent. Two in a thousand. The New England Patriots stunned the St. Louis Rams to win the first Super Bowl of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era during the 2001 playoffs, but even that upset can't compare to the comeback New England pulled to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 on Sunday night in Super Bowl LI. The Pats pieced together incredible play with fortuitous bounces and impeccable timing to overcome a Falcons team that had a 99.8 percent shot of claiming its first Super Bowl with 21 minutes to go.
What happened from then on was nothing short of a miracle. The Patriots needed just about everything to go right and had the vast majority of those moments swing their way. It all blurs together in the aftermath, but let's run through those big plays to piece together how the Patriots got one for the thumb.
Third quarter, 6:04 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 3
Fourth-and-3, Patriots' 46: Brady completes pass to Danny Amendola for 17 yards.
Win expectancy shift: 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent (+0.3 percent)
The first tiny shift in New England's favor came after the Patriots unsuccessfully pulled out a desperation trick pass from Julian Edelman to Dion Lewis on third down. Turning the ball over on downs probably would have ended the game, given that the Falcons would have taken over on the New England 46-yard line having scored touchdowns on three of their previous four possessions. Instead, Brady hit Amendola on an out route against Falcons cornerback Brian Poole to extend the Patriots' drive. Their win expectancy would come close to 0.3 percent later on, but never quite dip below what it was prior to that completion.
The Patriots' drive continued with Brady scrambling for 15 yards when the Falcons lost containment on a third-and-8, finishing with Brady finding James White out of the backfield on a snag concept for a 5-yard touchdown to make the score 28-9.
Two things then went against the Patriots in successive fashion. Stephen Gostkowski promptly booted the ensuing extra point attempt against the upright, leaving the score at 28-9. Given that the Patriots had incorrectly been called for an illegal formation penalty earlier in the game that gave the Falcons a second chance at an extra point, New England had lost two points on conversions. It seemed mostly irrelevant at the time, but it would loom as incredibly important later on.
Gostkowski followed that by taking an illegal touching penalty on an attempted onside kick, one which the Falcons recovered anyway. Atlanta then had a second-and-1 on the New England 32-yard line.
Third quarter, 0:59 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 9
Second-and-1, Patriots' 32: Jake Matthews commits holding penalty (10 yards).
Win expectancy shift: 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent (+0.2 percent)
In a sequence that would repeat itself in slightly different order later in the game, a Matthews holding penalty pushed the Falcons out of field goal range. Atlanta could have gone up 22 points with a successful field goal (and would have had a third-and-2 if Matthews hadn't held on this stuffed Tevin Coleman run), but Matt Ryan was sacked on the ensuing third down to force an Atlanta punt from midfield. They got nothing from the excellent field position afforded them by recovering the onside kick try.
Brady went to work as the game went into the fourth quarter, with the Patriots eventually moving the ball into the red zone. He was sacked twice on three plays by Grady Jarrett, though, leading to a play that sets the scene for the rest of the game.
Stephen Gostkowski converted this fourth-quarter field goal, but you can also make a case that the Patriots should've gone for it on fourth down. Bob Levey/Getty Images
Fourth quarter, 9:48 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 9
Fourth-and-goal, Falcons' 15: Gostkowski kicks 33-yard field goal.
Win expectancy shift: 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent (+0.1 percent)
Settling for three points to make the game 28-12 basically did nothing for New England's win expectancy. The field goal to bring the Patriots within 16 points worked out perfectly in the end, but it set a nearly-impossible target for the Patriots to hit. As tempting as it is to say that the Patriots are making it a two-touchdown game by kicking the field goal, it's really not accurate to lump a 16-point deficit in with, say, a 14-point margin. So much more has to go right for you to win the game. To successfully chase a 16-point target, all of the following has to happen:
You have to stop the other team from scoring a single point the rest of the way.
You have to lead two touchdown drives.
You have to convert on a pair of two-point conversions.
You have to win in overtime.
If we assume for simplicity's sake that the chance of converting each of the two-pointers is 50 percent, and the chance of the Patriots winning in overtime is 50 percent, the chances of the Patriots making the two-pointers and then winning in overtime alone reduce their shot to 12.5 percent. That's without even considering how hard it's going to be to score both of those touchdowns while stopping the Falcons from scoring once.
By definition, that 50 percent two-point rate suggests a 16-point game isn't a two-score contest. We know that each attempt is independent, and given the 50 percent conversion rate, we would expect them to convert one out of two tries and produce a total of two points. The Patriots pulled it out here, but the 2015 Patriots and 2016 Chiefs can remind you of how leaving the game to a late two-point try is far from guaranteed.
An older version of the win expectancy model developed by ESPN's Brian Burke suggests the Patriots' chances of winning with a touchdown on fourth-and-15 would have leaped to 3.6 percent, producing that 9 percent break-even rate. It's not a perfect parallel, since teams would likely be willing to settle for field goals, but since 2006, teams have converted third-and-goal from the 15-yard line five times in 45 tries. That's a 10.6 percent rate, and it's reasonable to think the Patriots are better than your standard offense. I suspect the numbers leaned narrowly toward going for it, although it would have been a much stronger case had the Patriots managed to pick up a few yards on third down in lieu of taking a sack.
Having fumbled the ball away during the first half before gifting Robert Alford a pick-six, the Patriots needed to catch a break. They finally got one on the next drive.
Fourth quarter, 8:31 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 12
Third-and-1, Falcons' 36: Dont'a Hightower strip-sacks Ryan; Alan Branch recovers.
Win expectancy shift: 0.3 percent to 1.8 percent (+1.5 percent)
Instead of moving the chains on third-and-1 and taking two more minutes off the clock with a fresh set of downs, the Falcons handed the ball back to New England with a short field. Hightower came on a blitz and sped past the middling block attempt of Devonta Freeman, who was inserted into the game after Coleman went down with an injury on the previous play. Freeman looked confused before the snap and seemed to be caught between attempting to block Hightower and releasing into the flat as an outlet receiver, and he ended up doing neither.
Hightower converged on Ryan along with Chris Long, who had gotten underneath Matthews, to force a fumble as Ryan attempted to release a pass. The Patriots fell on the fumble, which was notable because it was the first fumble of the postseason in a Falcons game that Atlanta had failed to recover, having picked up the previous six.
Brady was sacked on the first play of the next series by Dwight Freeney, but the Falcons' pass rush got to him just one more time the rest of the way. From that point forward, Brady went 15-of-19 for 170 yards with two touchdowns, the game-tying two-point conversion to Amendola, and the 13-yard pass interference call that set up the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Dont'a Hightower forced the Falcons' lone turnover of Super Bowl LI. Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Fourth quarter, 6:00 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 12
Second-and-2, Falcons' 6: Brady hits Amendola for 6-yard touchdown; White converts two-pointer.
Win expectancy shift: 2.2 percent to 6.1 percent (+3.9 percent)
There's still a lot of work to be done, but at 28-20, the Patriots are suddenly in business. Brady found a mismatch with Amendola aligned in the slot against the bigger Jalen Collins and took advantage, getting Amendola on a quick out (with Malcolm Mitchell arguably interfering with the outside corner) for the 6-yard score. As Matt Bowen diagrammed, the Patriots then ran a direct snap to White with a pair of double-teams to set up the first of their two-point conversions.
Again, though: The Patriots still need a stop, a scoring drive, a two-point conversion, and a win in overtime. They almost failed on the first of those prerequisites when the Patriots blew the coverage on Freeman on a 39-yard checkdown and were then victimized by an absurd Julio Jones catch for 27 yards.
After Freeman was stuffed on a first-and-10 pitch for a loss of one, the Falcons ran the clock down and had second-and-11 on the New England 23-yard line with 3:56 to go. If the Falcons had simply kneeled twice, they could have kicked what would have been about a 43-yard field goal while presumably costing the Patriots two of their three remaining timeouts. A 43-yard field goal -- which all but ends the game -- is hardly guaranteed, but Matt Bryant is 29-of-31 (93.5 percent) on kicks between 40 and 45 yards over the past five seasons.
Fourth quarter, 3:56 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 20
Second-and-11, Patriots' 23: Ryan sacked by Trey Flowers for 12-yard loss.
Third-and-23, Patriots' 33: Matthews commits holding penalty (10 yards).
Third-and-33, Patriots' 43: Ryan throws incomplete pass.
Win expectancy shift: 1.4 percent to 4.9 percent (+3.5 percent)
Instead, inexplicably, the Falcons chose to pass the ball on second down, on a slow-developing play that ended with Ryan going down for a coverage sack at the hands of Flowers, who slipped between center Alex Mack and right guard Chris Chester. The sack is partly on Ryan, who needed to get the ball out and held onto it for more than four seconds before hitting the turf.
Ryan is at fault, but so is Atlanta's highly regarded offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan. I'm as aggressive as anybody when it comes to suggesting that coaches try to get their kickers in better field goal range in lieu of settling for 50-plus-yard field goal tries, but if there was ever a situation that called for conservatism given the game situation, it was this one. Shanahan admitted after the game that he couldn't remember the playcalling decisions he made at this point of the game, conflating the ensuing plays with the sack, which is fair. It seems the entire Falcons team blacked out right around this point of the game.
Trey Flowers' sack of Matt Ryan helped push the Falcons out of field-goal range. Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports
The situation was still salvageable given that the Falcons were in line for a 51-yard field goal and had a play to try to pick up extra yardage while burning more time, but Matthews made a bad situation worse by committing yet another crucial holding penalty, wrapping his arms around Long's neck to push the Falcons out of field goal range. The Pats held up in coverage on third down and forced a punt. New England had two plays to either force a turnover or push the Falcons back 20 yards to get out of field goal range and managed to do the latter.
After Brady beat a Falcons blitz on third-and-10 for a 16-yard completion to Hogan, the drive was off and running. You'll probably be seeing its most notable play for a while...
Fourth quarter, 2:28 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 20
First-and-10, Patriots' 36: Brady completes 23-yard pass to Edelman.
Win expectancy shift: 6.1 percent to 8.7 percent (+2.6 percent)
Of course, no win expectancy model is going to know what Edelman had to do to bring in the greatest catch he'll ever make. Brady made the curious decision to throw into double coverage, with Alford trailing Edelman and Keanu Neal playing over the top on that side. His throw wasn't perfect, giving Alford a chance to pick the ball off. Instead, Alford tipped the ball into the air and somehow gave Edelman a chance to bring it in on a double-clutch. I've watched the play 20 times and I'm still convinced Edelman's going to drop the ball each time I watch it.
I'm of two minds regarding Dan Quinn's challenge after the catch. Ideally, Quinn would have let the clock run to the two-minute warning and spent the break watching replays before deciding to use his final timeout on a challenge. The television feed of the game doesn't make it clear whether the Patriots would have been able to run a play before the two-minute warning, although it was very clear that the Patriots were sprinting to the line in the hopes of running a play before Quinn could get a good look. (The coaches tape of the game will not be available until midweek.)
The play was obviously close, and it was literally Quinn's last chance to use a challenge. Twenty-three yards isn't an enormous swing of field position, but the Pats would have been in second-and-10. Quinn's challenge stopped the clock before the two-minute warning, and the Pats used the extra play to complete a deep crossing route to Amendola for 20 more yards versus Poole. That would push the Patriots up into double digits at 13.2 percent. Three plays later, on the Atlanta 1-yard line, the Pats punched the ball in.
Edelman said: "I didn't know if a piece of the ball was touching, I don't know what the dang rule is about a catch. But I was pretty sure I caught it." Ezra Shaw, Getty Images
Fourth quarter, 1:00 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 20
Second-and-goal, Falcons' 1: White rushes for 1-yard touchdown; Amendola converts two-pointer.
Win expectancy shift: 21.2 percent to 53.0 percent (+31.8 percent)
There's the big leap. The Patriots, who were 55.7 percent favorites to win as of the opening kickoff, are favored again to prevail for the first time since LeGarrette Blount's fumble on the second play of the second quarter. If it felt like the Patriots were destined to win in overtime, I won't blame you, but I'll also remind you of last year's Packers-Cardinals playoff game, when Aaron Rodgers converted two Hail Mary passes to tie the game up just before overtime and never touched the ball again. You may also remember Super Bowl XXXVI, when the Rams tied the score with 1:13 left and the Patriots drove 53 yards with no timeouts (against the advice of John Madden) to set up Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal.
Atlanta still might have been able to muster a drive to at least attempt a game-winning field goal. The Patriots helped out by making a strategic mistake and snapping the ball with 21 seconds to go on the game clock during the White touchdown. It's not necessarily a good idea to run the play clock down to one second left before snapping the ball, but Brady should have shaved another 10-12 seconds off the clock before the snap. The argument that the Patriots needed to conserve time in case of a failed two-point conversion doesn't really hold water; if the Patriots failed, they were going to be stuck attempting an expected onside kick to try to get one final possession. The chances of recovering that onside kick are likely lower than the chances of giving up a meaningful drive to the Falcons with a minute left on the clock.
Instead, fortunately for the Patriots, Atlanta's drive started on the 11-yard line and sputtered out after 16 yards. New England then hoped to set up for a game-winning fair catch free kick, but Matt Bosher's punt was too far to feasibly attempt one. The Pats then sent Lewis out to run a meaningless draw with three seconds left, with Lewis suffering a game-ending hamstring injury on the play.
Overtime, 12:37 left -- Falcons 28, Patriots 28
Second-and-13, Falcons' 40: Brady hits Edelman for 15 yards.
Win expectancy shift: 58.5 percent to 75.5 percent (+17.0 percent)
The biggest play of New England's lone drive in overtime turned a difficult second-and-13 into a first down, putting the Patriots in field goal range and on the edge of the red zone. The Patriots went five-wide, and the Falcons responded by showing pre-snap pressure before dropping into a Cover 1 Robber look, with one deep safety and the impressive Deion Jones lurking in the middle of the field to take away drag routes. The Patriots went back to an impeccably timed combination of crossing routes, which the Falcons had been able to knock away during the fourth quarter. This time |
leftism back in its cage, inaugurating a three-decades-long military dictatorship to keep the south safe for the economic system the US backed and the comprador class it doted upon. The elected government beseeched the US to put down the coup, but its cries for help fell on deaf ears. Rather than intervening, Washington immediately recognized the new military regime, and showered it with aid.
Park banned all political activity, closed the parliament and adopted a truculent official anti-communism. An anti-communist law was promulgated and all socialist countries, the DPRK most especially, were declared to be enemy states. This harkened back to the old anti-Comintern Pact of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militarist Japan. So extreme was the regime’s anti-communism that censors were ordered to blot out photos of north Korea’s leader that appeared in international editions of Time. At the same time, a program of anti-communist indoctrination was begun in the schools, aimed at inoculating future generations against communist and DPRK-sympathies. The north, its leaders, and its political system were demonized. Commented the New York Times in 2005 on south Koreans working with north Koreans at a south Korean owned industrial park at Kaesong: “Some south Koreans say they may have…trouble working with the North Koreans…because South Korea’s fiercely anti-Communist education taught them for decades that North Koreans were dangerous and evil. In North Korea, by contrast, government education programs taught that while South Korea’s government was an American puppet, its people were brothers and sisters.” [9]
In the north, there was emphasis on pro-social solidarity with Korean compatriots of the south, as well as free housing, free health care and equal rights for women; in the south, there was no health insurance, no social safety net, the longest working hours in the industrial world, miserably low wages, and indoctrination into a cult of hatred and fear of Korean compatriots of the north. In the north, the landlords and Korean lieutenants of the Japanese occupation had long been purged from positions of power; in the south, the same class of collaborators that had served the Japanese was still on top. In January 2005, Roh Moo Hyun, the ROK president, could complain of the south being unable to rid itself “of the historical aberration that the families of those who fought for the independence of the nation were destined to face poverty for three generations, while the families of those who sided with Imperial Japan have enjoyed success after three generations.” [10]
The north’s economic troubles
The collapse of the north’s export markets with the demise of the socialist bloc, a series of natural disasters, Washington’s unremitting economic stranglehold, and the diversion of scarce resources into the military, have severely weakened the DPRK economy since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Under Gorbachev, the Soviets pursued a foreign policy that sought an accommodation with the US. Part of the accommodation involved abandoning old allies. Soviet trade with north Korea was cut in half from 1988 to 1992 and shipments of oil were severely cut back in 1991.
With Gorbachev’s wrecking-ball policies disrupting the economies of the socialist states, the socialist bloc was plunged into chaos, and eventually, oblivion. The north’s export markets dried up, depriving Pyongyang of the foreign exchange it needed to import coal and petroleum. With insufficient petroleum, farm machinery was idled and the country’s chemical industry suffered. With the chemical industry on the skids, fertilizer production suffered. Agriculture was hit hard and food scarcity became a problem, worsening when a series of floods and droughts hit in the mid-90s.
Cut-off from export markets — a problem exacerbated today by UN Security Council sanctions and maneuvering by Washington to isolate north Korea from the world’s financial system — the DPRK became a major exporter of ballistic missiles, to earn foreign exchange to pay for essential imports.
With farm machinery idled and factories running below capacity, Pyongyang struggled to meet the demands of mounting a credible defense against unremitting threats from the US. The Pentagon had introduced nuclear weapons into the south after 1953, stockpiling them for use in the event the Korean conflict heated up. Tens of thousands of US combat troops remained on the Korean peninsula and tens of thousands more were stationed in nearby Japan, readily deployable to the Korean peninsula if needed to wage war against the north. American warships patrolled the waters outside the DPRK’s territorial limits, nuclear bombers practiced simulated bombing runs and spy planes menaced north Korea’s airspace.
With the end of the Cold War, the threats increased. Colin Powell, then the United States’ top soldier, complained that he was running out of demons. He was down to Castro and Kim Il-sung, he said. Under the weight of incessant US threats, Pyongyang was channeling a crushing 30 percent of its budget into defense.
The nuclear crisis of 1993
In 1987, the north built a 30 megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. The idea was to substitute nuclear power for coal and imported oil, relying on the north’s substantial uranium deposits. The south and Japan were building nuclear reactors too, and were also seeking to reduce dependency on oil imports. For half a decade no one in Washington expressed concern — until the Soviet Union exited the stage as the chief US demon, leaving north Korea and Cuba to be promoted to Powell’s rogues’ gallery. Both countries were now to provide the pretext needed to keep the US military bulked up and on an unflagging war footing.
“For Americans,” observes Cumings, “the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula came in March, 1993, when Pyongyang announced it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But for the North Koreans, it came in February 1993, when Lee Butler, head of the US Strategic Command, announced he was retargeting weapons meant for the old Soviet Union on North Korea. ” Pyongyang’s alarm heightened when James Woolsey, head of the CIA, declared north Korea to be Washington’s gravest concern. Matters weren’t helped when, in March, tens of thousands of US combat troops took part in war games along the north’s borders, complete with B-1 bombers, B-52s and warships carrying cruise missiles. It was then that Pyongyang decided that if it was going to be Washington’s new foreign policy bete noir, it had better pull out of the non-proliferation treaty, and think about how it was going to deter the United States from launching a nuclear strike.
Washington immediately set to work to undermine Pyongyang’s plans. Just as Israel had launched a bombing raid to destroy the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981 to prevent Saddam Hussein’s government from developing nuclear weapons, the United States would dispatch bombers or launch cruise missiles to take out the Yongbyon facility. Not only would the north be prevented from acquiring the spent fuel it needed to make a nuclear device, Pyongyang’s plans to redress its vulnerabilities in energy production by operating a civilian nuclear energy capability would be scuttled. One strike would achieve two goals: (1) north Korea would be weakened economically; (2) Pyongyang would be deprived of an effective means of self-defense.
The trouble was it was unlikely that the destruction of the north’s nuclear facilities would be met by north Korean quiescence. The north would inevitably strike back. With its extensive deployment of heavy artillery along the 38th parallel, not only would Seoul be devastated, the casualty rate among the 40,000 US combat troops stationed in the south would be intolerably high.
In the end, the crisis was averted when former US president Jimmy Carter flew to Pyongyang to work out a deal with Kim Il-sung. The deal, called the Agreed Framework, would see the north re-enter the non-proliferation treaty and shut down Yongbyon, in return for the US pledging to normalize relations, build two proliferation-safe light water reactors, and, in the interim, provide shipments of fuel oil to tide the north’s energy requirements over. While this seemed like a workable basis for a long-term peace, the agreement offered a respite only. Washington had no interest in a modus vivendi with north Korea. US officials believed it was only a matter of a few years before the accumulated effects of its economic sanctions, Pyongyang’s crippling defense expenditures, and the collapse of the north’s export markets, would bring the Korean experiment in anti-imperialist self-sufficiency crashing down. According to the CIA’s projections, north Korea would be toast by 2002. [11] If the US could drag its feet, it wouldn’t have to honor its side of the pact.
Washington’s machinations were revealed in the New York Times. “The belief that the North Korean economy was collapsing helped shape White House thinking in 1994 when it promised to deliver light-water reactors to North Korea by 2003 in exchange for Pyongyang” signing back onto the non-proliferation treaty. “Senior Clinton administration officials said privately at the time that they did not expect Mr. Kim’s government to be in power by the time the United States had to make good on its pledge.” [12] But with the clock ticking down on the agreed completion date for the reactors, Kim’s Workers’ Party was, against all expectations, still in power, and there were no signs of an imminent collapse. Recognizing an implosion in the north wasn’t about happen, Washington simply invented an out. Pyongyang, US officials charged, was secretly operating a nuclear weapons program in violation of the pact, and the deal would have to be called off. Delivery of fuel oil, practically the only part of the agreement the US had lived up to, was terminated, plunging north Korea into another energy crisis, and making the re-opening of the reactor at Pyongyang necessary if the north was to deal with its energy woes.
US policy remains the same
With no collapse forthcoming, Washington turned up the heat, borrowing a page from its Cold War playbook. Robert McNamara, president of Ford Motor Company, and later Kennedy’s and Johnson’s secretary of defense, explained that Washington’s analysis of the Soviet options in the years following WWII envisaged Moscow pursuing three goals, in order of most to least important: (1) to rebuild its war-shattered economy; (2) to rebuild its greatly weakened military, to protect itself from a stalking capitalist world; and (3) to make friends in Eastern Europe and the Third World. If Washington could force the Soviets to elevate the second goal, such that it took precedence over the first, the Soviet march to communism would be blocked. Economic development would be slowed, the Soviet people would become disillusioned, and attachment to Marxism-Leninism would be weakened in the Kremlin itself. The key was to ratchet up the military threat, forcing the Soviets into an escalating arms race that, at the very least, would create major distortions in the Soviet economy, and possibly bring the whole Soviet experiment crashing to the ground. [13]
Following 9/11, Washington declared war on an “axis of evil,” Iraq, Iran, and the DPRK. North Korea had been included as part of the axis at the last minute, said Bush speechwriter, David Frum, because the Bush administration wanted Pyongyang to “feel a stronger hand.” [14] To ensure the pressure was felt intensely, the Pentagon prepared a new nuclear strategy, which endorsed the targeting of non-nuclear states, and reserved the right to launch preventive attacks. North Korea was singled out. Next, John Bolton, at the time undersecretary of state for arms control, used the occasion of the US invasion of Iraq to issue a warning that north Korea (and Syria and Iran, too) should “draw the appropriate lesson.” [15] The US was exercising a renewed, unabashed, military imperialism and the DPRK should either capitulate or watch out. Felix Greene pointed out that the publicly pronounced policy of the US has always been to destroy revolutionary governments. The US has sought to do this by imposing embargoes, and pressuring other countries to abide by them. It arms and finances the enemies of communist states, harasses their borders, threatens them with nuclear war, and blares anti-socialist and pro-capitalist propaganda at their populations. Having spared no effort to disrupt these countries’ efforts to build non-exploitative, prosperous and independent societies; having blocked essential goods from reaching them; and having imposed upon them the necessity of shouldering crippling defense expenditures, they present the inevitable economic difficulties as proof of mismanagement and the inherent inadequacies of revolutionary socialism. [16]
A product of its history
North Korea is the product of its history, of its colonization by the Japanese, the guerilla wars of the 30s, its attempts to unify the country and drive the post-WWII occupation regime out the south, the holocaust the United States delivered upon it under a UN flag in the early 50s, and its daily struggle with the United States for survival, now intensified in the wake of the dismantling of the Soviet Union and Washington’s quest for world domination.
North Korea has fought for, indeed, has formalized, what those on the left profess to hold dear: economic justice, equality, rights for women, freedom from domination by outside powers. But it has, every inch of the way, had to face the determined resistance of the United States, and has often done so without the support, indeed, frequently in the face of the open hostility, of the greater part of the left in the advanced capitalist countries.
To many on the left, north Korea is disreputable and repugnant, its failings, both real and imagined, misunderstood to be immanent features of the country’s economic and political system, without connection to surrounding events. Slurs hurled at the country seem to mesh neatly with longstanding prejudices. Pyongyang’s recently being accused of drug smuggling and counterfeiting fit expectations that follow from the reprobate status handed the country by the Western media. But it’s unclear whether these charges are true. They may be, but they are often considered free from context and are invested with an instant credibility their source (the US government) does not warrant.
Consider context. If you block a person from earning a living legitimately, he will have no choice but to turn to illegitimate means to survive. US efforts to cut north Korea off from legitimate trade with the rest of the world may, indeed, have forced Pyongyang into drug smuggling and counterfeiting as a means of survival. On the other hand, it’s strikingly easy to alienate a country of outside support by hurling false accusations at it. Damning charges made by the White House are guaranteed to be trumpeted instantaneously throughout the world by the mass media. Given an undeserved instant credibility, they will, in short order, become received truths. Washington could make perfectly absurd claims about Iraq possessing caches of undeclared weapons of mass destruction, despite a decades-long inspection regime, and have those claims treated as beyond doubt by commentators on both the right and left in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. That they were later acknowledged to be untrue was too little, too late. Turning north Korea into an ugly, disreputable house of horrors, which no sane person would ever think of uttering a kind word about, is firmly within the competence of Washington’s masters of propaganda. Failing to recognize that any government that seriously challenges capitalism or imperialism will be subjected to an unrelenting campaign of vilification by “reputable” sources and “serious” commentators, leaves one vulnerable to manipulation.
Common interests
It’s clear why north Korea’s fight for sovereignty and economic rights is opposed by the ruling class-dominated foreign policy of the United States. The interests of the two clash. But there is no comparable clash of interests between north Korea and the bulk of people who live in the advanced capitalist countries. The coolness, if not outright hostility, of the greater part of the left in these countries, requires explanation. Patriotic intoxication and lack of class consciousness — the idea that we have more in common with the ruling class that dominates foreign policy in our own country than with Koreans, of the south and north, who fight for sovereignty and economic justice — is part of it. So too is the regular, law-like propensity of the leaders of the soft left to barter away principle for votes and respectability, to sacrifice fundamental goals for immediate gains, a reason for self-defeating coolness toward the DPRK.
Ignorance is a part of the explanation too, both of the history and of the government in the north, but also of the distorting, unpleasant and dystopian effects of the policies of war, intimidation, and economic strangulation the United States has pursued to bring an end to north Korea. It’s not pleasant to have too little to eat, to be conscripted into the army for an extended period of your life and to be forced to live your whole life under a nuclear sword of Damocles, but these are not conditions north Koreans have freely chosen for themselves. They have been imposed from the outside as punishment for striving for something better than what is offered by colonialism, capitalism and imperialism.
Those striving for the same elsewhere, at the very least, owe north Korea some understanding. It’s clear why Che Guevara, and other revolutionaries, considered north Korea of the 60’s, 70’s and even early 80’s, to be an inspiration. Emerging from the womb of the guerilla wars of the 30s, the north had fought two imperialisms. It had won against the Japanese and held the US to a standstill. It was building, in the face of unremitting US hostility, a socialist society that was progressing toward communism. The country offered free health care, free education, virtually free housing, radical land reform and equal rights for women, and its industry was steaming ahead of that of the south. By contrast, the neo-colony Washington had hived off for itself below the 38th parallel was a vast warren of sweatshops reminiscent of England’s industrial revolution. People lived harsh, miserable, uncertain lives, in incessant struggle with a military dictatorship backed by the US, bearing an uncomfortable resemblance to Europe’s pre-war fascist regimes.
Would Che be inspired by the north Korea of today, an impoverished country that struggles with food scarcity? Probably. What have changed are the circumstances, not the reasons to be inspired. The projects north Korea has set for itself — sovereignty, equality, socialism — have become vastly more difficult, more painful, more daunting to achieve in the face of the void left by the counter-revolution that swept the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and China’s breakneck sprint down the capitalist road.
Would Che have soured on north Korea, because the adversity it faces has grown tenfold? I doubt it. A revolutionary, it’s said, recognizes it is better to die on your feet than live on your knees. North Korea has never lived on its knees. I think Che would have liked that.
1. Bruce Cumings, “Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated Edition),” W.W. Norton & Company, 2005; p. 404. All historical references and unfootnoted quotations come from Cumings above or Bruce Cumings, “North Korea: Another Country,” The New Press, 2004.
2. Cumings is the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago.
3. Anna Louise Strong, “In North Korea: First Eye-Witness Report,” Soviet Russia Today,
New York, 1949.
4. “Absent from the Korea Talks: Bush’s Hard-Liner,” The New York Times, September 2, 2003.
5. Bruce Cumings, “We look at it and see ourselves,” London Review of Books, December 15, 2005.
6. Hugh Deane, “The Korean War: 1945-1953,” China Books & Periodicals, San Francisco, 1999.
7. R. Palme Dutt, “Problems of Contemporary History,” International Publishers, New York.
8. New York Times, August 13, 2003.
9. New York Times, February 8, 2005.
10. New York Times, January 5, 2005.
11. “In ’97, U.S. Panel Predicted a North Korea Collapse in 5 Years,” New York Times, October 27, 2006.
12. Ibid.
13. Bahman Azad, “Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR,” International Publishers, New York, 2000, p. 138.
14. David Frum, “The Right Man: An Inside Account of the Bush White House,” excerpted in the National Post, January 8, 2003.
15. Cited In Workers World, October 9, 2006.
16. Felix Greene, “The Enemy: What Every American Should Know About Imperialism,” Vintage Books, New York, 1971.
AdvertisementsSupreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said in a new interview that the use of harsh interrogation techniques now widely condemned as torture might not be unconstitutional.
The 78-year-old jurist, part of the court’s conservative wing, said the there’s nothing in the constitution that prohibits harsh treatment of terror suspects.
His remarks came during an interview with a Swiss radio station that aired Thursday, the Associated Press reports. They followed the release of a Senate report the faulted the CIA for lying to the Bush White House and to Congress about the methods and their effectiveness.
MORE: What the torture report reveals about Zero Dark Thirty
Scalia pointed to the oft-cited “ticking time bomb” argument, saying it would be difficult to rule out the use of torture to get information from terror suspects if millions of lives were at stake, and said he doesn’t “think it’s so clear at all” that such tactics should be prohibited in all cases.
[AP]
Contact us at [email protected] the first time since the 1940s, lifeguards will patrol Lake Parramatta as locals are encouraged to cool off closer to home this summer.
Once home to the largest inland freshwater lifesaving club in Australia, it has been known as an unofficial swimming spot for years.
media_camera Lake Parramatta is about 2km north of the CBD in Lake Parramatta Reserve.
On Saturday, it will officially become a designated swimming spot, with an area marked out with buoys to take a dip and lifeguards present between 9am and 5pm on weekends and public holidays until mid-March.
The Australian Lifeguard Service, the largest provider of professional beach lifeguards, has been contracted by Parramatta Council to run services at the lake.
media_camera Swimmers can now take the plunge in Lake Parramatta, just like their counterparts did in the late 1930s.
media_camera Members of the Lake Parramatta Life Saving Amateurs Swim Club in 1938.
ALS manager Brent Manieri said it was the first time the organisation had provided lifeguard services this far from the coast.
PARRAMATTA BEACH COULD SOON BE A REALITY
LAKE PARRAMATTA SET TO BE SWIMMABLE BY MID-JANUARY
“We’re excited about bringing our expertise and skills to an inland location and our lifeguards are looking forward to protecting the people of Parramatta in the same way we keep people safe on the beaches,” Mr Manieri said.
“Many of the same safety precautions you need to take at the beach also apply to inland waterways,” he said.
media_camera Summer, 3, and Javinder, 6, enjoy the natural surrounds at Lake Parramatta. Picture: Phil Rogers
The lifeguards will use the same equipment and expertise seen at the beach, including rescue boards and tubes. They can also provide first aid and advanced resuscitation techniques.
Locals are already getting excited about the idea of having a safe natural swimming spot closer to home.
Mother-of-three Veronica Roelink, from Northmead, said her family normally made the trip to Balmoral Beach in summer to go swimming, leaving early in the morning to avoid traffic.
media_camera The lake is also popular with kayakers. Picture: Phil Rogers.
“It will be a lot of fun, the kids will absolutely love it,” she said of plans for the supervised swimming area.
Mrs Roelink said the fact the lake was still and calm would also be great for young kids.
“We often come down to have a bit of nature in our lives … to be able to have a little swimming would be wonderful,” she said.
Parramatta Lord Mayor Scott Lloyd said there was a “buzz in the community” around the plan to make the lake “swimmable” again.
media_camera Lifeguards will be stationed at Lake Parramatta on weekends and public holidays this summer. Picture: Phil Rogers.
Cr Lloyd said a diver was due to search the lake bed this week to make sure it was safe for swimming and signage was also being erected at the reserve.
media_camera The placid lake makes it great for families with young children like Javinder 6, Roelink, 3 and Ruben Roelink, 1.
“Instead of swimming between the flags, it will be swimming between the buoys in the area, which is looked after,” he said.
Swimming will be officially launched on Saturday from 10am to noon with a free sausage sizzle, face painting and a balloonist.
Lake Parramatta Reserve is located about two kilometres from the Parramatta CBD.
Visitors can enter the reserve from Lackey Street via Bourke Street, North Parramatta.
Tips for safe swimming
● Always enter the water slowly, feet first and never dive in
● Water can be deeper than you think due to steep drop-offs
● If you require assistance, stay calm, float and raise your arm to attract attention
● Observe safety signs and seek advice from lifeguards
● Never enter the water if you have been drinking alcohol or are under the influence of drugs
●Keep a close eye on small children and others who may be less capable in the waterMerkel, in an address to Germany's Bundestag on the eve of a two-day Brussels summit, said Europe should work to improve the lives of refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan as the way to meet "our goal" of reducing migrant flows into Europe.
She described as "intolerable" the situation for besieged civilians in and around northern Syria's war-torn hub of Aleppo, saying "nothing should be left undone" in trying to establish a no-fly zone to save "many human lives."
Washington has long rejected the idea, fearing it could draw US forces into Syria's civil war. Moscow on Tuesday warned that obtaining consent from Damascus and UN Security Council approval could end up being lengthy.
Merkel reiterated in her government statement to parliament on Wednesday her view that Europe must concentrate on ameliorating the causes of refugee flight from Syria, saying it was worthwhile to "continue going down this path."
Germany would make a "significant contribution" as part of the 11 million euros ($12.2 million) in humanitarian aid pledges given at a recent donors' conference in London, she said.
The UN's World Food Program must not again be forced to reduce its handouts to refugees, which last year had been one of the reasons that refugees headed to Europe, she said.
Fence will bring consequences
She warned Visegrad nations wanting completion of a fence along the Macedonian-Greek border that their move amounted to isolationism and would have wide-ranging consequences for a Europe based on free movement, including trade in goods and services.
Refugee arrivals amounted to a "rendezvous with globalization," Merkel said, saying the EU "must learn to protect its maritime [external] border."
That included 900 kilometers (560 miles) of maritime frontier between Greece and Turkey, she said, as well as Italy's Mediterranean border crossed by migrants arriving from Libya.
Macedonian soldiers erect the border fence
European'shambles,' says Left
Opposition Left party parliamentary leader Sahra Wagenknecht accused Merkel of contributing to a "European shambles" over asylum policy.
"Whoever seriously thought that Europe could be governed from Berlin should not be surprised when the wind now blows in his face," Wagenknecht said.
Praise for diplomats
Chancellor Merkel praised diplomats, including German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, for their efforts to establish a ceasefire in Syria coupled with humanitarian deliveries.
Durable diplomacy was needed despite setbacks, she said.
"Despite all the critical findings in surveys, more than 90 percent [of German voters] say as they did before, that whoever has to flee terror, war or persecution, should have the possiblity to be admitted into Germany and to find shelter. I think that's wonderful," she said.
Reacting to lingering criticism of the German government's decision last September to keep its border open to refugees, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker firmly backed Merkel in an interview with mass circulation newspaper "Bild" on Wednesday.
Merkel would "outlast all her critics in office," Juncker said. "It is political leadership to say 'we can do it.' Anything else is capitulation to the populists."
Backing also came from Germany's Catholic bishops.
Their chairman, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, said the federal government was doing much to ensure that refugees were given shelter and this political stance should not be called into question, Marx said.
"And, the states in all of Europe are being called upon to make their justified contribution in the fields of refugee protection and asylum," he said.
Remain 'active' member
Merkel prefaced her pre-summit remarks at Wednesday's Bundestag session by urging Britain to remain an "active member" of the 28-nation European Union.
She described elements of EU reforms to be submitted to the Brussels summit by British Prime Minister David Cameron as "justified."
The EU, however, must not sacrifice its fundamental principles of free movement and non-discrimination, Merkel said.
"These principles are not up for disposal," Merkel said, adding any change to EU treaties would not be immediate.
ipj/kms (AP, AFP, Phoenix)Most of us have long lamented the general public's lack of understanding of economics. A new paper by David Leiser and Zeev Kril sheds interesting light upon this.
The human mind, they say, "is not particularly equipped to think about economics":
People are remarkably poor at combining causal links into a system [and] are ill-equipped to cope with the aggregate effects of the individual decisions of many people...Thinking in terms of how an interlocking system of causal links produces an emergent outcome does not come naturally to laypeople.
This helps explain the bias against markets of which John Rentoul and Bryan Caplan have complained: because people underestimate the tendency of emergent processes to produce benign outcomes, demands for price and rent controls are stronger than most economists think they should be.
Faced with this complexity, say Leiser and Krill, people resort to metaphors - the most notorious being that governments should manage the public finances as if it were a household. Worse still, they are often overconfident about the applicability of these metaphors. Both of these habits were encapsulated by the silly BBC Question Time audience member who was so ably corrected by Yanis Varoufakis.
There is, though, another heuristic laypeople use, which Leiser calls the "good begets good heuristic" (pdf). He shows that people believe that good things cause good things to happen, and bad things to cause bad things. For example, they think a rise in unemployment is associated (pdf) with a rise in inflation because both are bad - in contradiction of the standard economists' belief in a short-term Phillips curve.
Such a belief, whilst irrational, is not always wrong*: the standard Phillips curve doesn't jump out of the UK data, in part because supply shocks are common. What might be more problematic is that people think government spending is bad, and so associate it with rising unemployment.
I've got three observations here. First, the poor public understanding of economics is NOT a partisan matter. It leads both to anti-market attitudes and to anti-Keynesian ones.
Second, the issue here is not confined to the UK: the bad habits described by Leiser can be found among Israelis, Americans and Australians (and I suspect Europeans too) as well as Brits.
Thirdly, our political and social institutions do not adequately correct these problems, and might exacerbate them. Politicians and the media tend to pander to misconceptions rather than correct them: Mr Varoufakis's reply to that audience member was welcome because it was so rare. There seems little effort to educate the public in economics: the BBC, perhaps because of its commitment to due impartiality, has failed. And I'm not sure academia can or will do the job. It's not just economists who should lament this, but everyone who cares about the quality of our democracy.
* The distinction matters; rationality is about how beliefs are formed, rightness about their congruence to reality. You can be rational but wrong or irrational but right.Are The Alaskan Airlines Flight Attendants Getting Sick From Fukushima Radiation? I say YES!
Glenn Canady
www.project.nsearch.com
The official story is that hundreds of flight attendants that are having hair fall out and itchy skin rashes because of new uniforms but I’m not buying it! Here’s the official story where they blame hair falling out and skin rashes on the uniforms they got in 2011. They say it’s because of Tributyl phosphate which MAY be embedded in the uniform. Sounds pretty fishy to me and I’m not buying this explanation for a second! One clue comes in the statement from one of the attendants that said the problem surfaced when they flew 6-7 days in a row. The longer you are exposed to high levels of radiation the sooner you develop symptoms of radiation sickness.
The Seattle to Anchorage Alaskan Airlines Flights are Being Exposed to the Most Radiation Anywhere!
The reason I believe that the Alaskan Airlines Flight attendants could be getting sick from the radiation is because those 3 hour flights between Seattle and Anchorage are getting hit with some of the highest radiation levels anywhere right now! I’ve taken those flights in the 80s and 90s dozens of times when I used to live in Alaska and travelled to the “Lower 48″ as we called it. They are quite long and they fly high to be above the turbulence. So you’ve long flights at high altitude in probably the worst area for radiation in the world right now. Look at the map below and you’ll see that the highest radiation you could possibly get would be flying between Seattle and Anchorage all the time!
There’s no question that flight attendants are going to be getting hit with far more radiation now than they were before Fukushima began spewing it’s deadly poison. Who really knows how bad it is because the government shut down all the radiation monitors as soon as Fukushima began melting down! They also won’t even monitor the food for radiation! They love us so much!
If radiation is hitting these attendants at hundreds of times more radiation than it used to do before Fukushima then I say it’s very probable that after being exposed to it for weeks, months and even a year now then the first signs of radiation sickness would be felt by those attendants on these 3 plus hour flights between Seattle and Anchorage. It just makes sense. I urge any flight attendant to get their urine tested for radioactive elements and to cut way back on their flights to see if that helps. My bet is that cutting their flight times will reduce these symptoms no matter what uniform they wear. It seems ludicrous to me that Alaskan Airlines wouldn’t replace all the uniforms IMMEDIATELY but maybe they are delaying because if they go to new ones and the problems persist then they will really have a mutiny on their hands! Flight attendants go on many more flights than the pilots since there are more rules for pilots and they only let them fly so many hours per month. So I would expect the flight attendants to show signs of radiation sickness first.
Polar Bears, Seals and More Missing Fur and Exhibiting Sores All Over Their Bodies
Of course we know that Polar Bears seals and other wildlife in Alaska have been spotted with missing fur and strange sores all over their body. You can read about this here. I will bet you $5 that this is radiation sickness because nobody had ever seen it before Fukushima. The Eskimos had never seen it and they’ve been there a VERY long time! Of course the “officials” won’t admit it but they have no answers on what is causing it which I find patently absurd also.
Nuclear Power is a HUGE scam that has NEVER been needed and MUST be shut down NOW!
Nuclear power is destroying our entire way of life! It’s in the air, water and food now and rapidly spreading. Our Fake News won’t mention it at all of course because their job is to keep you asleep! Not one mainstream Fake News outlet has even mentioned about shutting these stupid nuclear reactors even though it’s very likely that our sun will cause a global power outage within the next 3 years! A global power outage caused by a massive blast of energy from our sun would cause hundreds of these reactors to melt down with hours! This is INSANITY! We must shut down all these reactors NOW and begin deploying Tesla zero point energy devices that can power every home and vehicle on the planet for free! The sick joke is that we haven’t needed even one of these nuclear reactors and they have already KILLED and MAIMED millions. Nuclear reactors were put there to control the power system and make the stuff they use for nuclear warheads. As Einstein said, “It’s a hell of a way to boil water!”
How Do You Know When the “Authorities” are Lying – When Their Lips are Moving!
When have we EVER been able to really trust the “authorities” anyway? They’ve lied to us about Fukushima, GMO, Chemtrails, Fluoride, Aspartame, the Federal Reserve and so much more so anything they say must be carefully examined because most of the time they will absolutely lie to us. We talk about all the lies they have told us on Project Nsearch all the time. It’s time for ALL of us to wake up to reality. The criminals and liars are running the asylum! How did it get this way? Because most of you turn on your TV and get lied to each night by your mainstream news! When you finally figure out just how badly you’ve been lied to by your TV news you will never pay to get brainwashed again! You will get active and spread the truth as if your life depended on it because it DOES!
GET INVOLVED!
If you don’t get active about spreading the truth everyday by passing out cards like we provide on our website here then YOU have nobody to blame for yourself. Please help us spread the truth by getting our informative business cards that spread the truth about Free Energy, Cancer Cures and much more!Jeremy Renner strides into the hotel room, shakes my hand (“Hey buddy”) and winces. It’s the |
or applications to grant permanent status in the occupied territories. As a result, many Palestinians live in the West Bank without formal status and are now vulnerable under the new orders. The human rights groups wrote to the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, today asking him to delay or revoke the orders, which they said were “unlawful and allow extreme and arbitrary injury to a vast number of people”.
The Israeli military said the purpose of the orders was “the extradition of those residing illegally in Judea and Samaria,” an Israeli term for the West Bank. The orders had been “corrected” in order to “assure judicial oversight of the extradition process,” it said.
However, Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the orders would make it easy for Israel to imprison or expel Palestinians from the West Bank. “These military orders belong in an apartheid state,” he said. “They are an assault on ordinary Palestinians and an affront to the most fundamental principles of human rights. Israel’s endgame is not peace. It is the colonisation of the West Bank.”
Source…Or What I Wish I’d Known Before Ever Setting Foot in a Hi-fi Store
The following is my attempt to succinctly describe what audio skeptics believe about basic issues related to sound quality and consumer audio equipment. This may seem inconsequential to some, but then again music itself may seem inconsequential to some. Rather than focus on my own opinions—which matter little—I am trying to objectively describe what knowledgeable audio professionals and engineers of a skeptical—or just plain scientific—mindset believe about these issues.
I’ve come to understand that much of what is purported as truth in the audio industry is as objectively false as the alleged facts used to peddle most vitamins, new age mysticism, and cuckoo conspiracy theories. I find it baffling how much useless information there is online about audio issues, much of it written by professional writers or even recording engineers. (To paraphrase audio expert Ethan Winer, being a recording engineer is nothing like being virtually any other kinds of engineer, who might be responsible for, say, designing an airplane to carry hundreds of people over an ocean. Perfectly competent recording engineers often possess a minimal amount of education and may be wholly ignorant of the deeper science involved with what they do.)
To me, an “audio skeptic” is roughly synonymous with an “audio objectivist.” An “audio objectivist” believes that controlled experiment (e.g. double blind) offers the only effective method for getting around confirmation bias (similar to the placebo effect). This understanding can create doubt about most of what is written about audio products even by professionals. Unfortunately, it can also make one come across as rather arrogant, especially when interacting with individuals who adamantly insist that upgrading to an exotic brand of audio cable did, well, anything at all. Skeptics tend to favor legitimate science—with published studies and peer review—and distrust junk science. Skeptics debunk—sometimes gleefully—and in the audio world, there’s no shortage of easy targets. (Here and here are overviews of the subjectivist vs. objectivist holy war. Here and here are lists of double blind audio tests.)
But dude, how are a bunch of eggheads going to tell ME what sounds good to MY ears? This is a valid point, and of course everyone has preferences about what sounds good, and there are many areas where experts vehemently disagree. However, the assertions made here have nothing to do with preferences. No one legitimately prefers the sound of a one speaker cable to another, because barring some gross defect, those cables do not have their own sonic signature. The harsh truth is that when someone pays thousands of dollars for a speaker cable and then hears an “obvious” sonic improvement, they are deluding themselves, which can be easily demonstrated under bias-controlled conditions and also deduced using the laws of physics.
My audience is someone like myself a few years ago first getting into this stuff and ignorant about all issues or controversies related to audio. I’d long ago worked out how I felt about homeopathy or astrology, but I was clueless at how skepticism might relate to audio issues. Perhaps if I’d read something like this it would have prevented a few expensive detours.
Again, these ideas don’t come from me. I am attempting to distill what the majority of credible professionals think about audio issues. I believe that most individuals of a skeptical mindset who get into this stuff will come to all the following conclusions:
1. Exotic cables, interconnects, or power cords don’t make your system sound better. Not even a little bit. And bi-wiring simply doesn’t make sense.
2. It is unlikely that expensive CD players or DACs improve sound quality. Many of the claims these manufacturers make do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.
3. Under normal conditions, virtually all audio amplifiers/receivers sound the same (sans EQ). They do not have their own sonic signature that must be carefully paired with speakers.
4. “Burn in” factor—the idea that speakers or electronics sound better after X hours of use—is likely a delusion. Though slight measurable differences may occur with speakers, far more likely is that perceived change is the brain acclimating to speaker.
“Capacitors polarize within seconds of applying voltage. Beyond that, I dare them to explain what will change in an opamp, cable or PCB as the result of applied voltage and signal. Rubbish.” – Audio Myths & Marketing Tricks: Burn In @ ColdCraft
“Running your components and cables for some arbitrary length of time when they are first purchased isn’t helpful.” – The Mythical Burn-In Period @ eCoustics
“In this article we’ll look at a typical electrodynamic driver’s operation as seen largely from the mechanical side, with a view to assessing the validity of various claims frequently made regarding driver break in. We’ll also see why it’s in a manufacturer’s best interest to ensure their products are broken in long before leaving the factory warehouse and how that bears on subsequent attempts at burning a driver in.” – Speaker Break In: Fact or Fiction? @ Audioholics
“Our audio memory is notoriously short, and it is simply impossible to hear a change that takes weeks to occur. What really happens is that we become ‘acclimatised’ to the sound – there is rarely any significant change at all. This is doubly true of cables – there isn’t any reason whatsoever to break-in an interconnect or speaker cable, because they don’t change enough to create a measurable change, let alone one that’s audible.” – Audio Myths by Rod Elliott
5. Expensive vacuum tube electronics may add “character” (i.e. distortion) to your system, but if clarity (less distortion) and reliability is what you’re after, stick with transistors.
“As a general rule, tubes for mainstream audio folks are not inherently bad (though perhaps a bit high-maintenance). However, while tubes are very popular in guitar and other instrument amplifiers due to their unique sound (even-harmonic distortion resulting from asymmetric soft clipping), they are unnecessary in playback amplifiers. Skeptics of tube amplifiers argue that audiophiles prefer the inherent distortion provided in the antiquated technology while paradoxically claiming the sound is purer and more perfect.” – Audio Woo @ Rational Wiki
“Where do vacuum tubes come in? Nowhere, unless you are a tweako cultist. There is nothing in audio electronics that cannot be done better with solid-state devices than vacuum tubes…. Yes, there exists some very nice tube equipment, but the solid-state stuff is better, cheaper, and more reliable.” – Paste This in Your Hat! (What Every Audiophile Should Know and Never Forget) @ Audio Critic
“Even if you prefer the sound of tubes, please understand they simply cannot restore any quality that was lost earlier in the recording process. All a tube preamp can do is add an effect that you may find pleasing. Studio monitor amplifiers should never have a “sound;” if they do, they are in error. Tube circuits can affect the sound in a way that is similar to analog tape recorders, and you may in fact find that pleasing.” – Dispelling Popular Audio Myths by Ethan Winer
“Purely audio considerations aside, many audiophiles prefer the aesthetics of a ‘warm,’ artistically designed (perhaps handcrafted) amplifier over the usual ‘high-tech’ appearance of most solid-state amplifiers. And many of us enjoy the ‘legacy’ feel of the equipment setup when operating vacuum tubes are visible. These are valid reasons to buy hollow-state equipment, if it appeals to you.” – Differences in Amp Sound: What’s the Truth? @ audioeXpress
6. The look and feel of CDs or computers can’t compete with vinyl, which can sound amazing for what it is. But there is no music lost “between the bits.” High quality digital formats are sonically superior to vinyl in every measurable way.
7. “Audiophile” hi-res audio formats are not likely to offer audible improvements over compact disc 16 bit/44.1 kHz quality.
See also my article on what DOES make a difference in audio: A Brief Guide to Audio for the Skeptical Consumer: Part II
AdvertisementsVirgin Media has a well-earned reputation for championing higher broadband speeds as one of the UK’s leading internet service providers. In fact, back in July, we reported that the company was trialling connections with downstream speeds of up to 1.5Gbps (and 150Mbps upstream), which at the time it claimed was the world’s fastest cable broadband connection.
The company already offers the fastest home broadband connections in the UK, with its 100Mb service having been available for over a year, and now Virgin Media has announced plans to invest £110m GBP ($168.5m USD / €132m EUR) on an 18-month programme to at least double the speeds enjoyed by almost all of its 4.1 million broadband customers, free of charge; where appropriate, customers will also be provided with new modems and routers without charge to cope with the faster connections.
Currently, 74% of its subscribers connect via the up-to-10Mbps service, and these will see their connections double in speed to 20Mbps. The 12% of subscribers who currently have the 20Mbps service will see their speeds tripled to 60Mbps, while those on 30Mbps will also rise to 60Mbps. Those currently on 50Mbps will double to 100Mbps, while those on 100Mbps will see a more modest increase to 120Mbps.
Virgin’s 120Mbps service will enable customers to download HD movies in just a few minutes and an album in seconds, and is three times faster than the fastest speeds currently offered by rival provider, BT. Currently, its fastest service, BT Infinity, offers speeds of up to 40Mb to customers, but last year, the company announced a massive £2.5bn ($3.8bn / €3bn) investment to roll out fibre-optic broadband to at least two-thirds of UK homes and businesses by 2015, with the aim of delivering speeds of up to 300Mbps to major urban areas.
For now, though, Virgin remains the king of the hill as far as broadband speeds go, and not just on paper. According to the UK’s telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, Virgin Media customers enjoy speeds that are consistently close to the advertised downstream speeds. In November 2011, for example, Virgin customers on 10Mb connections averaged speeds of 9.55Mbps; by contrast, the average'real world' speeds of 20Mbps and 24Mbps connections from Virgin’s leading competitors – BT, TalkTalk and Sky Broadband – was around 7-9Mbps.
British Prime Minister David Cameron voiced his approval for the upgrades, saying that Virgin’s investment in higher broadband speeds “will provide a great boost for the economy and change the way many households, consumers and businesses use the internet”.
Virgin Media’s CEO, Neil Burkett, underlined the company’s commitment to supporting the Government's initiatives to dramatically improve the quality and reach of the UK’s broadband services over the next few years, stating that Virgin has a “track record of leading Britain’s digital development”, adding that “having a fast, reliable broadband service should not be a luxury”.
The company hasn’t yet provided details of changes to upload speeds, but in a statement explained that “upstream speeds and traffic management fair usage amounts will be increased in proportion to the increase in downstream speeds”. When the company upgraded its customers' broadband speeds free of charge in September 2010, upload speeds more than tripled for some customers.....................................................................................................................................................................................
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Longtime Albuquerque civil rights attorney Mary Han may not have killed herself in November 2010, but getting at the truth of the circumstances surrounding her death has proven difficult because high-ranking APD officials “terribly mishandled” the investigation at Han’s death scene, according to a review of the case by New Mexico Attorney General Gary King released this morning.
King announced in a news release that he believes the manner of death for Han, who was frequently at loggerheads with APD during her career, should be changed from “suicide” to “undetermined.” The release does not say whether King has asked the Office of the Medical Investigator to make that change.
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An autopsy report completed by OMI says Han, 53, committed suicide and that she died by carbon monoxide poisoning while sitting in her BMW in her garage.
Han was well known in Albuquerque for representing the downtrodden, frequently in cases against police officers and department brass.
King said “the real cause of death for Albuquerque attorney May Han may never be determined because of the puzzling police investigation, however, the evidence does not definitively indicate she took her own life.”
“We have completed our review of the circumstances and APD’s handling of the death scene and we found that it was terribly mishandled due to inappropriate directions from high-ranking police and civilian administrators with the city of Albuquerque,” King said in the release.
Among those at Han’s home that day were then-city public safety director Darren White and his spokesman, T.J. Wilham (who is a former Journal reporter;) then-APD Deputy Chiefs Beth Paiz and Paul Feist; then-Deputy Chief Allen Banks, who is now the department’s interim chief; Valley Area Commander Rae Mason; then-City Attorney Rob Perry; police crime lab director Marc Adams; and four sergeants, including a designated APD spokeswoman.
APD field investigator Mike Muniz, who photographed the scene, remarked in a police report that he “immediately found it strange” so many police personnel were on scene.
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King sent a letter announcing his conclusions to an attorney who is representing members of Han’s family in a case alleging Fourth Amendment violations against APD and numerous current and former officers, according to the news release.
In the letter, King told the attorney that his review of Han’s death was prompted by “numerous citizen requests.” King’s review included an analysis of police reports, OMI documents, “independent records and other data,” the release states.
King’s investigators also conducted “extensive interviews in conjunction with the FBI,” according to the release.
According to the release, King’s investigators reached several “principal findings,” including:
The large number of APD personnel given access to Han’s home “materially interfered with the investigation process.”
“Significant” items were either removed from Han’s death scene or were “otherwise missing,” further complicating the case by thwarting scientific analysis and evidence collection.
A high-ranking APD official, who was not named in King’s release, made a “precipitous decision” to label Han’s death a suicide before any investigation had been conducted.
“The cumulative effect of the errors by APD make it extremely difficult at this time to definitively determine the cause of Mary Han’s death,” the release says.
It’s unclear what, if any, action may follow the release of King’s findings.
But, according to the release, King considers the investigation into Han’s death open. He asks that anyone with information about the case who has not previously come forward to contact his office.Flame Tree BBQ at Disney’s Animal Kingdom has been down for an extended rehab. They refurbished some of the backstage area and expanded the shade over the queue before the registers and by the utensil & condiment dispensers. All great improvements. It re-opened for the first time on Sunday.
I was there a couple days before it reopened and was able to get a picture of the new menu for Flame Tree BBQ.
The smoked chicken salad has been replaced with Jamaican Jerk Chicken Salad and the Fruit Plate is now a Watermelon Salad. But otherwise the menu is the same. Do note that Jalapeno Cornbread has replaced coleslaw as the second side on the main entrees. Believe it or not, prices for the entrees are the same as before, that’s a refreshing change.
Although there’s no air-conditioned seating at Flame Tree BBQ, I love to sit and eat in one of the pavilions down by the water side where sometimes there’s a little breeze off the water, or maybe that’s from the Forbidden Mountain across the river.
You can also now purchase and take home your own bottle of Flame Tree BBQ Sauce over in Zuri’s Sweet shop in the new Harambe Market over in Africa.
I hope to drop by Flame Tree BBQ for a taste test of the Ribs and chicken Combo and one of the salads in the next week or so and will be sure to report back. What is your favorite place to get barbeque on at Walt Disney Word?
Previously: Top places to get great barbecue at Walt Disney World.This article is over 4 years old
• Companies ‘are responsible for their workers’ • Hundreds have died on building projects
Sepp Blatter said that the welfare of migrant workers involved in building facilities for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was the responsibility of the companies who hired them, not Fifa.
Speaking during a visit to Sri Lanka, the Fifa president said the workers were employed by companies from Germany, France and other European countries and “they are responsible for their workers and not Fifa”.
Blatter also said the workers were enjoying “better conditions” due to the World Cup.
Qatar has come under increasing scrutiny over its labour practices since Fifa awarded it the right to host the tournament. The wealthy OPEC nation relies heavily on migrant workers drawn mainly from South Asia to build its roads, skyscrapers and stadiums.
A series of stories in the Guardian showed that migrant workers from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere were dying in their hundreds.
Many more were injured in workplace accidents, some left trapped with no passport or insurance, and huge numbers toiled in extreme heat for low wages and lived in inhumane conditions.
The government confirmed in a report that 964 workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh had died while living and working in the Gulf state in 2012 and 2013.Crashing The Party In Iowa, Sarah Palin Claims She Doesn’t Know If She’s Running For POTUS
Doug Mataconis · · 29 comments
As most of the announced candidates for President were preparing yesterday afternoon for the debate later that evening, news broke that Sarah Palin would be showing up this weekend at the Iowa State Fair, along with her entourage and accompanying media throng. Well, she showed up just around Noon and she’s being as manipulative and coy with the media as ever:
Will tea party rock star Sarah Palin endorse anyone while she’s in Iowa – maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry? A beaming Sarah Palin, surrounded by a pack of camera-armed fairgoers, said no. “Oh, you know the process hasn’t even played itself out yet, so no on premature endorsements,” Palin told The Des Moines Register as she eyed livestock in the Cattle Barn. “And I haven’t even decided yet if I’m going to jump in or not yet.”
I don’t believe it. Even someone with Palin’s grassroots appeal in the GOP can’t afford to wait too long and, so far, there’s absolutely no indication that she’s hired any campaign staff or made any contacts withSubscribe to Comments the powers that be in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina Republican Party’s, and, most significantly, she continues to be employed by Fox News Channel. I believe she has decided, and she’s decided not to run. She’s just playing the media for as long as she can to get the attention that she craves, and to guarantee that she’s the center of attention even when the focus actually belongs somewhere else.
She’s done it three times now, after all.
First, she just happened to be in New Hampshire on the day Mitt Romney was announcing his candidacy. Then, she just happened to be in Iowa on the day Michele Bachmann kicked off her campaign. Now this. Anyone who doesn’t see what she’s doing here is willfully blind. It’s cute little game, but that’s all it is.At least part of the reason I supported Hillary and Barack was because of their sex and race, respectively.
I was very taken with the idea that either one would be a first, a break from the infinitely long line of old white guys driving the bus of U.S. politics. I was so taken with the idea, in fact, that I didn’t stop to notice that Barack (1) didn’t really support the policies I supported, e.g., Afghanistan and (2) wasn’t qualified for the job. Somehow I convinced myself that it was alright because George W. Bush wasn’t qualified, either. As if that worked out well.
But I digress. My point was that I supported Hillary in part because of her sex and Barack because of the color of his skin.
I also almost always root for the African-American quarterback in football, because I grew up with the old mantra that “coloreds aren’t smart enough to play quarterback” and I am gleeful as I watch those same Alabama Neanderthals cheering for Cam Newton. I believe that there’s a lot to know to be a quarterback, but listening to Terry Bradshaw on Sunday puts paid to the idea that you need an IQ over 80 to learn those things.
I support Affirmative Action. I call people out. I have made excuse after excuse to explain the failure of African-Americans to rise out of poverty and the stunning statistics on incarcerated African-American males. I have tried to explain away why 100% of immigrants who don’t even speak the language seem to be able to find jobs and 48% of young African-American males don’t. I argue hip-hop is the new face of poetry, and is just as artistically valid as Auden.
That makes me a liberal. It also makes me a racist.
Albeit, I would argue, a “positive racist,” as opposed to a negative one.
I would argue that positive racism is better than negative racism, although that may not be true. I recently drove through Alabama. As we passed a fifty foot high flagpole with an enormous Confederate flag, I was struck by the young black woman in the car next to me—smiling, chattering away on a cellphone, not even glancing at the stars and bars. It bewilders me that so many African-Americans choose to live in the South with its overt racism. Maybe racism is racism, and my patronizing positive racism is only marginally better than negative racism. That is, they’d rather live in a place with overt racism and not have to shovel snow than they would in a place with less overt racism and long winters.
Now, obviously, I’ve always known that at some level I am a racist. Everyone is a racist at some level, as that old hilarious SNL skit with the interracial couple illustrates. I used to work with a South African who left the nation because of apartheid. We worked at a big consulting firm. He was famous for hiring more blacks and women than anyone, but only staffing white Ivy Leaguers. He managed to get past his first layer of racism, but not his second. I know I have a tendency to secretly doubt the abilities of African-American executives I meet and wonder how much of their success is due to Affirmative Action. I rarely stop to think how the white execs I meet got to where they are.
However, it is a new idea to me that this flavor of racism is only better in degree than those assholes who drag people to their death behind trucks.
I think I am making progress, though. It started with O.J. He proved, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that black people can be assholes, too. Jesse helped move me along. And now Randy Moss is bringing me further still. I am finally getting it. Being black is not a stigma, but it is also not a virtue. It is what it is.
That means that I can’t just give African-Americans the benefit of the doubt when I hear about questionable behavior. I can’t just say Charlie Rangel is getting railroaded because he’s black. He may be getting railroaded, I don’t know, and it may be because he is a Democrat. But there’s a real good chance he’s just Ted Stevens with a moustache, a two-bit politician who eventually became convinced, as many do, that the rules that apply to us don’t apply to them. He’s not an African-American weasel. He’s just a weasel.
It means I have to face the fact that African-Americans appear to be stuck, economically and socially, and that may not be our fault, but the fault of predominant cultural norms which don’t celebrate education, a “Puritan” work ethic, and self-discipline.
And most painfully for a Southern male, most of whom are programmed to worship football from birth, I have to admit that Vince Young sucks.
OK, maybe it’s not that much of a breakthrough, but it’s a start.
Now, if only Sarah Palin can cure me of sexism.When Jenny Scrivens takes the ice with the NWHL’s New York Riveters this fall, it will be the first competitive hockey she has played in five years. It’s a challenge she is excited about, along with the chance to help women’s hockey grow at all levels. For Scrivens, the league is a “perfect fit” because in addition to playing, she can contribute as a public relations professional.
Hockey has given Scrivens opportunities since she was a child, from personal skills like time management and self-discipline to traveling all over southern California with her club team and moving on to Cornell University, where she played 52 games between 2006 and 2009 with a.906 save percentage.
Cornell is also where she met her husband Ben Scrivens, who is a goaltender as well. Ben plays in Edmonton with the NHL’s Oilers; Jenny will be playing in New York. They’ll have to manage a household with two professional goaltenders and a hectic schedule. That’s nothing new to Jenny Scrivens, though. She grew up dealing with a crowded sports schedule.
Currently she is in Edmonton, preparing for the upcoming season. InGoal was able to catch up with her and talk about getting back on the ice, the state of women’s hockey, and the opportunities the NWHL provides.
When did you first start playing goal?
Jenny Scrivens: I started playing goal when I was about six years old in our driveway, playing street hockey with my sister and two older brothers. We grew up playing hockey and it progressed from street hockey to roller hockey. I joined a roller hockey league when I was six and I played roller hockey for a few years and I was always the goalie. My family jokes that I was the youngest so they threw me in net and I didn’t have a choice but I did enjoy it. At about ten years old my sister and I made the switch to ice hockey and I’ve been playing ever since.
Did you ever play other sports?
Jenny: I tried to play every other sport growing up. I played mostly tennis and soccer, but I tried everything, like t-ball. I have a twin sister and we played on the same team. From age eight or nine all the way to twelve, we played club soccer and club hockey at the same time and that took us all over southern California.
We had to drive two hours to our hockey practices and two hours back. That on top of all the soccer games and stuff was too much. At some point we had to choose just for our own sanity. We stuck with competitive hockey and continued to play tennis just for fun.
But I think it’s really important for athletes to play two sports, especially [since] hockey is such a long season. I think to stay mentally sharp it gives you a little bit of a break during the summer and prevents you from getting burned out.
When did you get your first goalie coach?
Jenny: I think my first goalie coach was Chanda Gunn. She played out of the same California Select club team that I did. She went on to play at Northeastern and she was on the Olympic team one year. But there was a year when she had a concussion and she had to leave school and she came home and coached us. She was my first goalie coach.
But she was only able to stay for a year before she went back to university. I didn’t really have any one particular goalie coach throughout my career. I had whoever came out and volunteered with the team or whoever we could find in southern California.
How did you get the technical help that you needed?
Jenny: I just talked with the other goalies on my team and we shared tips and techniques. But it’s very different from what I’m doing right now and from how kids are growing up today. I think that goalies share more information today and it’s more widely available. But for me growing up it was a lot of trial and error.
I think learning on your own through trial and error reinforces the positives a lot more than someone just teaching you what’s right. It’s a longer process, that’s for sure. For me, I can remember trying to pick apart pieces of my game. You know, things I wanted to touch on. You can’t look at a whole game and get better right away. But with each game you kind of take one or two learning experiences from it and move on. I think that helped my game.
What kinds of things are you working on this summer specifically?
Jenny: I’m working on recoveries. The last time I played competitively was in college so that was about five years ago. The game has changed a lot. Even in talking with Ben, his game’s changed and developed and improved so much in the past five years that I’m trying to play catch up.
So I’m working on recoveries–getting up with the right leg, keep pushing over to my post, following the rebound, that sort of thing–but doing it as efficiently as possible. What I found with my game is that I was often doing the right thing but I wasn’t doing it as efficiently as I possibly could so I was wasting a little bit of time and energy.
I think that’s something that goalies at all levels are working on constantly.
Jenny: Exactly. And that’s really helped me, because the first few times I got out in some private lessons, we’d work on some very basic skating movements. There was a part of me that was kind of thinking, “oh this is embarrassing,” but it was very nice to have Ben remind me that “goalies at my level still work on this stuff. We work on it every single day and it doesn’t change.” That helped me a lot.
Thank you @itcgoaltending for getting me ready for the @nwhl.co @nyriveters! A photo posted by Jenny Scrivens (@jennyscrivens) on Aug 28, 2015 at 9:44am PDT
How much do you use your husband Ben as a resource in preparing for the season?
Jenny: We both try to not talk hockey all the time. I know during the season it will probably be a little bit less. Right now he’s been helpful while I’m picking apart my game and getting back into the swing of things but I think that during the season, previously he’s been really good at leaving work at the office.
We’ll talk about certain things but it can’t be all hockey. Just as in any other profession. My parents were both in medicine and they worked together at the same office. They didn’t come home and talk about all their procedures and surgeries from that day. They may talk about a few things but for the most part they left work at work.
How have you stayed ready in the five years since you played college hockey?
Jenny: Since I left college I’ve been coaching a lot, so I’ve been working with goalies and I’ve been on the ice. I have not been playing competitively. That’s the one thing I’ve been working on this whole summer to get ready for the NWHL. Getting back into playing shape, because I’ve stayed in shape doing other things, playing other sports and working out. But it’s not the same as getting on the ice and being in net.
But I’ve been around hockey since I left. I’ve watched all of Ben’s games and I’ve been coaching and watching those girls games, so I think it’s kind of helped me learn from the game and learn from the developments that goaltending has made in the past five years. Now it’s a matter of me implementing it from what I’ve seen.
So it has helped me that I’ve been working with kids and seeing things. I’ve still been a part of the game, I just haven’t been playing competitively.
Has coaching affected your approach to practice or your game?
Jenny: I think coaching has helped me realize how important the little things are, the little habits that we develop during practice. [That’s] something I’ve been able to identify working with some of the younger players and it’s something I’ll certainly carry forward when I start practicing with the Riveters in a few weeks.
What is your biggest strength as a goalie?
Jenny: I like to think that I’m pretty cool, calm, and collected back there. It’s part of my demeanor off the ice and I try to do it on the ice too. So whether the game’s going really well [or not] I like to think that I’m a calming force back there. I try not to let things get too high or not let them get too low. I like to be a pretty steady rock back there.
What is the most important skill for a goaltender?
Jenny: I think being able to track the puck and to be able to direct the defense from the back end. I think that’s very important.
Are you a vocal goaltender?
Jenny: I try to be very vocal. I’m not that chatty by nature but it’s really helpful to be directive, so I try and be as directive as possible.
Why did you decide to take this opportunity with the NWHL?
Jenny: I first heard about the league in the spring–so a few months ago. When I heard about how they wanted the league to run and how they wanted to pay the players and grow the league and grow the game it really connected with me a lot. It really resonated with me. It was something I wanted to be part of. Not just as a player but working with the league doing their PR and communications.
So the fact that I’m able to do both was just the perfect fit. This is exactly something I’ve been working for in my career, it’s exactly what I’ve been training for since I was little. It was my dream to grow up and play in the NHL. And to play in a women’s league wasn’t really a possibility before this league.
If an opportunity came up to play in a men’s professional league, would you take it?
Jenny: I think I would consider it but right now my focus is on the NWHL and growing women’s hockey specifically.
There has been some debate in the women’s hockey community that players leaving for men’s league ends up hurting the women’s game…
Jenny: Goalies are the most likely to make that jump from women’s hockey to men’s hockey, especially at the pro level. But I also think that female goalies who play in the men’s game bring a level of awareness to the game that sometimes we can’t reach with just women’s hockey. So I really respect that part of it.
There are a lot of women who are making a name for themselves in men’s professional leagues. That should help grow the women’s game. I think that young women who are following those leagues see that there’s a female player and they think that they can do that one day too. I see it as a positive in terms of gaining popularity and growing the game
Are the options for women changing in general?
Jenny: I’ve seen the growth of women’s hockey first hand. When I was growing up in southern California there weren’t that many teams for women to play sports. That’s why I had to drive two hours to practice and back. There was only one team in southern California.
And when I moved back a few years ago when Ben was playing for the Kings I was able to see all the new clubs. There were two, three, four teams in each age group at different levels. I was able to see how much it’s grown in southern California. And I’ve seen it in college hockey. There are lots more Division-I and Division-III teams, there are a lot more opportunities to play after college and it just keeps growing.
#tbt Cornell Hockey?? A photo posted by Jenny Scrivens (@jennyscrivens) on Aug 6, 2015 at 8:03am PDT
Many thanks to Jenny Scrivens for her time. You can follow her on twitter at @JenScrivs and the NWHL at @NWHL_ or at the NWHL website.Arpad Goncz, a playwright, translator and anti-Communist dissident who became the first president of post-Communist Hungary, died on Tuesday. He was 93.
A family spokesman confirmed the death to the Hungarian news agency MTI, giving no information on where Mr. Goncz died.
Although the Hungarian president occupies a largely ceremonial post, wielding far less power than the country’s prime minister does, Mr. Goncz (pronounced Guntz) was widely credited with helping to ease Hungary’s transition out of four decades of Communist rule.
Elected by a vote of the Hungarian Parliament in 1990, Mr. Goncz served two five-year terms, leaving office in 2000. His reformist aims and literary background made him an admired if less well-known counterpart of his friend Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident playwright who served from 1989 to 1992 as his country’s first post-Communist president.In many ways, it’s not a question you can answer with particular ease or brevity. After all, what is ‘ready’?
We often see players head out on loan moves to help them refine their game and develop in order to be ‘ready’ to compete for a first team spot upon their return.
It usually entails some combination of developing physically against older players, progressing mentally with points and league positions to play |
devotees of Byron, and of Romanticism. The French writer Honoré de Balzac, who had become obsessed with the villa, had one of the characters in his 1836 novel Albert Savarus remark that the Villa Diodati is "now visited by everybody, just like Coppet and Ferney" (the homes of Madame de Staël and Voltaire respectively).[10]
The villa has remained in private ownership. In 1945, the French artist Balthus moved into the property for a short period.[11] The columnist Taki has written that when he visited the Villa Diodati in 1963 with the Belgian tennis player Philippe Washer it was then owned by the latter's family.[12] However, the New York Times has reported that, as of 2011, the villa had been split up into "luxury apartments".[5] Currently, the villa is owned by Alan Moore Parker and Jette Torp Parker Jensen [13][not in citation given]
Gallery [ edit ]
Villa Diodati 1
Villa Diodati 2
Villa Diodati 3
Villa Diodati 4
Villa Diodati 5
Villa Diodati 6
Notes [ edit ]
^ [7] The storms and unseasonably cold weather resulted in 1816 being referred to as the Year Without a Summer. It is now known that the exceptional global weather conditions that year were caused by the volcanic erruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:500 Mobile Collective Makes Its First Investment In Andy OS To Bring Android To The Desktop
500 Startups’ mobile-focused micro-fund has made its first investment, putting some cash into a startup that plans to bring mobile apps to the desktop. The company’s investment is in Andy OS, an Android-based operating system that runs mobile apps on Windows and Mac, as well as in the cloud.
Andy OS enables users to access their favorite Android apps and content from the Google Play store on new platforms. It brings those apps to the billions of personal computers that are already out there, and gives developers a new way to reach users.
The cloud-based operating system offers all the same features you would expect, including a customizable UI and desktop notifications. It also allows users to use their phones as a remote control for games that run on their desktop.
According to co-founder and CEO Sean Murphy, Andy OS was built to bring a sort of continuity between apps that users can access on their mobile phones and those that are on the desktop. While Apple has its own “continuity” between iPhone and Mac products, nothing like that exists between Android and Windows, or even Android and Mac.
That’s an idea that’s caught on among early users: The product has been around for fewer than nine months, but has already amassed more than 3 million users worldwide. About 60 percent of those are active daily, and they spend an average of 23 minutes on Andy OS each day.
But beyond just enabling users to access accounts from mobile apps on the desktop, the operating system also presents an opportunity for developers to quickly and easily port over their existing mobile apps to desktop. They could also develop desktop apps that are based on the Android operating system.
Its growth attracted the attention of Edith Yeung and the 500 Mobile Collective, which invested in the company as part of a $3 million round. Other investors include DeNA, China Rock Ventures, Weiming Angels, Cherubic Ventures and SEA Ventures.
Yeung said Andy OS’s early growth reminded her of Dolphin Browser, where she ran marketing and business development. She compared what the company is doing to virtualization in the enterprise space, which has existed for decades.
“The concept is new for the consumer mobile space, but not new for the enterprise,” Yeung said.
The company hopes to use the virtualization concept and make a business out of it. For now, the company is focused on building its business model around app installs and licensing its platform to Android developers.Former NFL player Marshawn Lynch retired at the end of last season, but he's still going "Beast Mode" in every other sense of his daily life.
Back in his NFL playing days, the running back was a man of few words, but now that he's not worried about getting fined, he's out having a good time and saying whatever he wants. Skittles decided to take advantage of Lynch's recently discovered more outgoing persona, and sent him to Houston, Scotland with nothing but a bicycle and hundreds of bags of Skittles.
Want to know what people from Houston, Scotland know about the Super Bowl in Houston, Texas? Lynch has you covered, with hilarious interviews with kilt-makers, warriors and bagpipe players.
Speaking of trips with Marshawn, it reminds us of the time Cabbie went on a trip with Lynch.Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Golf has not been an Olympic sport since the 1904 games in St. Louis, where George Lyon of Canada took the gold medal.
Although the 2009 International Olympic Committee decision to add golf to the Olympic program has been greeted with much fanfare, the decision is ultimately not a good one for professional golf as a whole, regardless of any potential benefit to the Olympics.
To paraphrase one of the fundamental principles of conservative political thought: Unless it is necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.
Applying this maxim to the matter in question, beyond the veneration of the almighty dollar and the fetish for spectacle, what possible need is there for professional golf in the Olympics? The players don’t care, and the top players’ schedules are already chock-full of international competitions.
The process thus far has been a mess.
From the lamentable saga of “Who will Rory play for?” to the IOC telling Gil Hanse to hurry up, and the reclamation of protected land in order to build the course to much bickering about format and who will compete—nothing has gone smoothly.
More about the mess...
Olympic Golf Will “Dilute the Majors”
Last week, newly-ordained Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson said that he felt Olympic Golf will “dilute” the four major championships. This is both as a function where the Olympics fall on the calendar—between the Open Championship and the PGA—and the fact that professional golf already has four “pinnacle” events during the same relative period of time. Jamming another “significant” event into top professionals' already-overburdened summer schedules adversely influences the majors.
An Olympic Triumph Should Be the Summit of an Olympic Athlete’s Career
Tiger Woods and other top professionals have toed the line and offered lukewarm support for golf in the Olympics. However, as Dave Whitley writes, regarding a potential Tiger Woods gold medal, “For Woods, it might outrank winning the 1999 National Car Rental Classic. I doubt it, though, since he picked up $540,000 for that weekend's work.”
Where would a gold medal really rank for Woods, who is already a decorated professional golfer? The Olympic games ought to be a competition amongst amateur athletes, for whom the gold medal is the absolute pinnacle of their careers, not simply another item in the trophy case.
There Are Already International Team and Individual Competitions in Pro Golf
Two pretty adequate team competitions exist in men’s professional golf today. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?
The Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup are all the team golf we really need. Why dilute the value of these fine international competitions with an additional spectacle of weaker players?
The four major championships and the World Golf Championship events constitute more than enough international individual stroke play tournaments. The strength of field is better in these events. Additionally, they mean more, and they pay.
Competing in the Olympics Doesn’t Matter to Pros
The following unbylined quote from Tiger Woods sums up the professionals’ take on Olympic Golf: "It would be great to have an Olympic gold medal...but if you asked any player, 'Would you rather have an Olympic gold medal or green jacket or Claret Jug...more players would say the majors."
Professional golfers do not need a tournament they don’t get paid for, or another item on their congested golfing calendars. Professional golfers care about playing in the Olympics about as much as professional soccer players do—that is, not very much. A significant portion of pros, including Ernie Els and Nick Faldo, think that Olympic Golf is the business of amateurs, not professionals.
The Current Format Is Ridiculous
Even if you’re sold on the novelty factor of golf in the Olympics, there’s no doubt that the present format is patently absurd. 72 holes of stroke play, featuring the top 15 golfers in the world, but no more than two players beyond that number from any one country makes for a comically weak, long and boring event. Team match play is the sensible and significantly more entertaining option.
It’s also entirely laughable that many of the best players in the world, as clearly determined by the Official World Golf Ranking, as well as tour membership and money list rank, wouldn’t be able to play in the event because of the oversaturation of the United States, Great Britain and Australia.
For example, the 40th ranked player in the world may not be eligible for the tournament if he’s from the U.S., but the 500th player in the world would be competing alongside Rory McIlroy if he’s from, say, the Philippines.Delicious, no-compromise recipes for those who need to live a gluten-free lifestyle, but don't want it to taste like it.
Get the Recipe Gluten-Free Flour Tortillas
While corn tortillas are great and usually gluten-free, sometimes I just want a flour tortilla. Flour tortillas are essentially unleavened bread, and like any gluten-free bread, they require a little know-how to get right. The reward however is more than worth the effort. This recipe makes a flour tortilla that's chewy, bendable, and a perfect base for any fillings on top.
You don't need a mixer for this recipe. In fact, mixing the dough by hand makes for better tortillas. During testing, the batches made with an electric mixer tended to be overhydrated, while the batches made with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease were just right because I could feel the dough as it mixed.
Step by step instruction in the slideshow »
Get the Recipe Gluten-Free Flour Tortillas View Recipe »
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This story appears in the March 21-28 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
For a woman who is about to hand over the keys to a $12 billion television empire, Anne Sweeney appears surprisingly at ease.
The co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group, dressed casually in a black cardigan, black pants and a crisp white button-down shirt, has invited The Hollywood Reporter to meet her March 9 at a private residence in Los Angeles so she can share some news: She’s leaving the company she has called home for 18 years and — perhaps more shocking — she is doing so to pursue her passion of becoming a director.
LIST: The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100
“What drives me now is … being immersed in the creative process,” says Sweeney, 56, who began her career at Nickelodeon and FX before joining Disney and growing assets that include such global brands as Disney Channel (107 channels, reaching 431 million households), the ABC broadcast network and studio, ABC Family and Disney’s share of digital player Hulu and a 50 percent stake in cable power A+E Networks. Last year her divisions generated $11.9 billion in revenue and $2.6 billion in profit, making her the most powerful woman in Hollywood (five years running, according to THR’s annual power list). Under her measured watch, ABC became the first network to offer shows online (in 2005) and her division has played a big role in Disney stock hitting an all-time high of $83.65 on March 7.
But Sweeney’s life is about to change. During the course of an hourlong interview, the relaxed and confident mother of two reveals she will step down before the end of 2014, just before her current contract expires in January 2015. Sweeney also reflects on a storied career, and what she calls her “next act” as a director, which she admits she hasn’t quite begun to figure out. In a separate interview by phone March 9, Disney CEO Robert Iger says Sweeney’s decision to leave is hers alone, despite recent ratings troubles at ABC (Iger also pledges support for ABC chief programmer Paul Lee).
Iger reveals he has begun a search for her successor, a process that is sure to set off a frenzy both within the Disney universe and beyond, and his hope to have a replacement before the end of TV’s pilot season in May. An edited version of Sweeney’s interview has been combined with Iger’s comments below, providing a snapshot of one of the most profitable working relationships in Hollywood — one that soon is coming to an end.
Some people are going to say Anne Sweeney is having a midlife crisis.
Anne Sweeney: Well, if I were living to be 112 maybe that would be true. (Laughs.) I’m very committed to immersing myself in the creative process again. I’m at a really beautiful point in my life. My kids are grown and out of the house. My husband is supportive; he knows I’ve always had a passion for the creative process. He sees me reading scripts, looking at rough cuts, he knows that is my underlying passion. I’ve often said [to others], “Do the things that scare you the most.” I’ve always believed that you learn your entire life and you should never pigeonhole yourself. You should also be open to your passion and mine is the creative process and to be a learner again.
Specifically, what is it you want to do?
Sweeney: I have a lot to learn. But I would like to learn to be a director because I know I am not a writer and I am not an actor. And for the countless times I’ve been on our sets, that makes me a set visitor, that does not make me a director or a producer. So this is the place I intend to start. And I know I have a lot of shadowing to do. I have a lot of learning.
Do you know whom you’ll shadow?
Sweeney: No, but I am very fortunate. I have worked with some of the very best people in the business and I have a lot of very good friends whom I will call and ask.
Anne Sweeney, the apprentice?
Sweeney: Yeah, but why not? You don’t want to wake up in three or four years and look in the rearview mirror and say, “Oh, I never did that.” And I’m not going to wake up in three years and say I never immersed myself, I never tried.
Will you stay in the TV universe or pursue film?
Sweeney: TV is where I have spent my career and I do love it, so it makes sense.
PHOTOS: Disney's Anne Sweeney Exit, Her Greatest Hits
You have a relationship with Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. Have you had conversations with her about directing?
Sweeney: I will. I have tremendous admiration for Shonda. When she did the first seven episodes of Scandal, it came in as a midseason replacement, and I got to watch the rough cuts. Before it was binge viewing, I binged. I called her and said, “Oh, you have to tell me, what is Quinn’s (Katie Lowes) story?” And she said, “If you want to know, you have to order more episodes.” (Laughs.)
People will be surprised you aren’t leaving Disney for another big executive job. If there is a great opportunity, are you going to say no?
Sweeney: When I think back to my early days of Nickelodeon, when we were practically making the shows in our office, I’m reminded of just how much fun it was. This is a leap I want to make.
If you’d been asked to replace Bob Iger when he leaves in 2016, would we be having this conversation?
Sweeney: That wasn’t a job I wanted to pursue. I know what drives me. I have seen firsthand what [the job] is and he has done it in the most spectacular way. What drives me now is getting closer to or being immersed in the creative process.
Would you have wanted that CEO job a few years ago?
Sweeney: No. And a lot of people wanted it for me. I read that many times.
Did you have any conversation at all about that job?
Sweeney: No.
Did any of the Disney board members discuss it with you?
Sweeney: No.
Is the rumor true that you had talked to Revlon about the top job there?
Sweeney: That’s news to me. (Laughs.)
How exactly did the “I’m leaving” conversation happen?
Sweeney: It was the two of us, Bob and I, in his office, and it was just a continuing conversation that we had been having about what’s next and what I wanted to do. He is enormously gracious and made it about, “Well, what do you want to do? What is it? What is driving you?”
Bob Iger: I first came to Anne six months or so before her contract [last] expired and offered her a multiyear contract extension. She shocked me by saying she didn’t really want to go long, that she was thinking about her life and exploring other things. She said, “I’m not looking for a job in competition with Disney,” but she wasn’t specific. She said she had dreams that she wanted to pursue and she didn’t want to take me through it at the time, but she thought a shorter extension would be wise. I said, “Why don’t you come back and tell me exactly what it is you want.” She came back and suggested an extension [of one year] that was short enough to allow her to pursue what she wanted on what she considered to be a timely basis because she didn’t want to wait forever, but long enough to give me a chance to distill it, start thinking about succession and ultimately, for the three of us, myself and whoever replaces her, to create an orderly transition. She very much wanted to participate in helping the person that succeeds her succeed. That was essentially it. She didn’t tell me until very, very, very late in the discussion exactly what she had in mind.
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I would not have expected TV director.
Iger: Well, actually, it’s interesting because she said, “I’m going to shock you,” and then I started guessing. [I guessed] cooking in Italy. She recently spent time renting places in Italy through someone that I had rented from, and we talked about the experience of cooking there, so that was one guess. She has education in her background, she loves teaching, so that was a second guess. Or going back to school and getting an advanced degree. I kidded her when she said she was going to shock me with a variety of other things that will be nameless — but were not sordid!
Why announce this move now with so much time left?
Sweeney: I know, I know. It just doesn’t seem that there’s ever a good time. I figured sooner rather than later gave the company more time to think through what they want to think through.
Iger: At one point, we were thinking of announcing this a little bit later this year, but once she could taste her life after in terms of pursuing this passion of hers, it became clear she wanted to get it out in the open, didn’t want any information to ultimately leak and be misinterpreted — and I completely supported that. By the way, this is [also] one of the rare weeks I’m actually in L.A. from Monday to Friday and that has not happened in a very long time. I need to communicate with all her direct reports as well. There will be others in the company that will express interest in the job to whom I will speak, I’m sure.
What about succession?
Sweeney: It will be Bob’s call. If you know Disney, you know that we are very organized and we have succession plans.
Iger: Anne has been consulted and she will continue to be. It will ultimately be my decision, but she’ll definitely be my partner. We have considerable talent in the company and I am convinced that we have the talent to replace Anne. There will be a fairly steep learning curve because it represents a big group. Whoever gets the job will represent big growth in terms of level of responsibility, number of moving parts, exposure to the inside world from a different constituent than to the outside world.
Bob, you have two stars in the Disney TV family, ABC News’ Ben Sherwood and A+E Networks’ Nancy Dubuc, both of whom people expect to have much larger roles at some point.
Iger: Superstars find ways to do more in the companies they work for. And if they don’t, then it’s the company’s loss for not providing their superstars opportunity. I’m not going to name any names though. You’re not getting me into that conversation.
How do you search for this person?
Iger: I’ve been thinking about succession very specifically for the last few months, as I knew Anne’s time was limited. But I’m not advanced enough to have narrowed it down yet. I’m going to put a lot more energy into it very quickly. We have a very deliberate succession process at Disney. We have a talent planning process whereby I discuss with my direct reports all of their direct reports and who the highest-potential people are in the company and who has the most potential to succeed them. It happens very formally every year where we literally look at sheets of paper with pictures, etcetera, and I ultimately discuss all this with the board. We end up coming up with a list of a few hundred people that we track and have a very, very strong sense of who they are and what their potential is, but also who is movable to other business units.
So someone could come to the TV group from, say, the theme parks or film division?
Iger: It’s not out of the question. I think it hasn’t been determined yet, I guess is the best way to put it.
Anne, there has been chatter in the industry that Nancy could possibly become a successor.
Sweeney: I have no idea. But I can tell you I think the world of her. She’s doing a spectacular job.
STORY: Disney's Anne Sweeney Exit, 5 Possible In-House Replacements
Bob, when will you have succession in place?
Iger: My goal is to do it fast because Anne and I both feel that getting someone in the job while pilot season is in full swing [through May] so that they can at least have some direct experience in that process would be helpful. So that’s my goal. And so that means sooner rather than later.
Anne is the most powerful woman in Hollywood. Do you feel internal pressure to replace her with a woman or do you not care if …
Iger: No, I do. I care deeply about that. You mean diversity? As is the case with all these jobs, we have to put the best person in the job as possible. I love diversifying in terms of the senior talent at the company. I don’t know whether I’m going to be able to accomplish that here. I can’t say for sure that I will or won’t.
Hollywood loves to whisper that Anne and Bob don’t get along. Is any of that true?
Sweeney: I think [rumors] swirl because we’re so stable, to be honest. You have a night with bad ratings and suddenly it’s the end of the world. It isn’t. We are a company that takes a long-term view. The relationship stuff, I have no idea where that comes from. I think other people’s agenda, to be honest.
I’m curious how this all plays out (in the press).
Iger: There is nothing below the surface here, at least as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure the Kremlinologists in this town will have their typical field day, but that’s just the way it goes.
Many people are wondering what is going to happen to Paul Lee at ABC.
Sweeney: I will tell you that Bob and I have faith in Paul. We do. And we have seen the development and he is in pilot [season] right now. We are on board.
Iger: Paul Lee has my full support. I know that that rumor has been around. He’s got my full support. I don’t want to say anything more about it. And he and I share the [belief that] we’d love a few more hits at ABC. By the way, there are elements of primetime that we’re quite happy about. There are shows that we’re really proud of, led by Scandal, for instance. And other shows that have come out of the blue like Shark Tank. We have some hits. We’re due.
STORY: 10 Ways Hollywood's Power Women Make It All Work
Does that mean you are renewing his contract?
Sweeney: I don’t want to discuss that.
But I’m right that his contract is up this summer?
Sweeney: I would have to check.
ABC is positioning itself as increasingly women-focused. Can a broadcast network successfully skew toward one gender?
Sweeney: Actually, more women watch television than men. So one of the things that Paul Lee realized when he took the job was that we had a very, very strong, loyal group of women who were ABC viewers to the core. I think he paid a lot of attention to that.
Iger: I’m kind of a fan of choosing the best shows and not being burdened by a so-called brand or by one demo. I think audiences today are sophisticated. And so I like to think that we are more expansive in our thinking about what we develop and what we program.
You did go after NFL Thursday night rights that went to CBS. What happened?
Sweeney: We didn’t get them. (Laughs.) Honestly, I don’t know why. Whatever deal was struck was a deal they wanted more than ours.
How big will sports be for ABC in the coming years?
Iger: Not very. The sports brand for us is ESPN. That was the decision I made years back, maybe to some extent at the expense of ABC from a male demo perspective. But ABC did just fine. In the years I had Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, for instance, we were perfectly happy with essentially programming a nonsports network. ESPN does program football [on ABC] Saturdays in the fall, and I watched a great basketball game on ABC today that was produced by ESPN. The Lakers beat Oklahoma City.
How do you see the late-night situation shaking out this year with Jimmy Kimmel up against Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman?
Sweeney: I have not just faith in Jimmy Kimmel, but I really do believe Kimmel has a fantastic show. We all expected to see the [Fallon] launch play out much the way it did. And we all expected to see Kimmel’s numbers come back as they have been. So I think competition is a good thing but I think our Jimmy is the real deal.
Anne, looking back, what is your proudest moment?
Sweeney: This team has done magnificent things — getting behind GMA, getting behind Jimmy Kimmel, getting behind schedules, specials, events, just what they bring to the table. You wouldn’t know that the Disney Channel would have something to offer GMA or that GMA would have something to offer Kimmel. But the team comes together in a way that really makes me incredibly proud and has made the division successful.
How involved were you in the GMA turnaround?
Sweeney: I give credit: that is [GMA executive producer] Tom [Cibrowski], that is Ben Sherwood, Robin Roberts.
But you hired Ben Sherwood when a lot of people would say you should not have hired him.
Sweeney: I remember meeting Ben, who was not offering himself as a candidate for the job. He was living on the West Coast, he had relocated his family, and he just finished a second book and had a baby. So he was in a very different stage of his life. I had known Ben when he was the EP of GMA. So to have a conversation with him on the other side was fascinating. We didn’t talk about what was wrong, we talked about what was possible. And I started to get so excited about what was possible. But he never once said, “And I’m the guy to do it for you.” And I went on to interview quite a few other people and I was starting to whittle down the list, and he called me and he said, “I’m crazy if I don’t put myself forward for this. Is it too late?” And I said, “No, but now we have to have a real conversation.” So I interviewed him a couple of times. Bob and I had dinner with him. And I remember just feeling done, settled.
There is talk that Sherwood might have an expanded portfolio in daytime. Is that going to happen?
Sweeney: He has a full portfolio in news. A very full portfolio. You have to remember, he is the guy with [Univision’s Isaac Lee] who launched Fusion, which is a huge undertaking. He did the Yahoo deal. I expect Ben will continue to bring us tremendous opportunities.
What about Hulu? Will it be back on the sales block?
Sweeney: No, no. That’s not on the horizon.
Anne, did you think about Sherry Lansing (who voluntarily left Paramount at the top in 2005) when making your decision?
Sweeney: I thought about Sherry constantly. Constantly. Sherry has been my role model for probably longer than she realizes. But I remember the day that she announced and I remember hearing or reading that she was going to start a foundation. And I thought, “What? How do you go from being the head of Paramount to starting a foundation?” And then you see something miraculous like Stand Up to Cancer [which Lansing co-founded] happen because Sherry meant what she said. Looking back, we were probably about the same age, making these decisions about change in our lives. I hate to call it the “last act,” but the “what is the next act?” I know she loved Paramount like I love Disney.
How did you feel at the Dolby Theatre on March 2 knowing it was your last Oscars together?
Sweeney: I really appreciate every moment. I went in with a lot of gratitude. And I really loved the 43.7 million people that watched. Boy, talk about going out with a bang.
Iger: It did hit me at one point, although I didn’t dare say it to her, that this was the last time we were going to be sitting next to each other at the Oscars.
Anne, how are you going to feel in five years if you are not a successful director?
Sweeney: I will have figured out what’s next. I’m invested in becoming very good at it or I would not be choosing to start there. I don’t know where it’s going to take me because I haven’t started. I am really leaving myself open.
Bob, day to day, what will you miss most about Anne?
Iger: When you work with someone that long, it’s kind of like a marriage. You know each other’s language and each other’s interests and passions, what they care about, what they don’t care about, how they communicate. So you develop a shorthand. And when you’re in my job — because of how busy I am and how large the company that I run is — you want peak efficiency in terms of information flow, communication and decision making. So I’ll miss all of that. But more than anything, I’ll miss the friendship. Anne and I have had a really, really fine working relationship over the years. We talk family and we know where we’re spending the weekends. You end up sharing a lot of things and we also talk a lot about children and places in the world and what our passions are.
Finally, Bob, Anne as a director: Do you see it?
Iger: Yes, definitely.
Stephen Galloway contributed to this report.Norma Jean Almodovar (born May 27, 1951) is an American author and sex workers activist. Almodovar worked as a traffic officer for ten years. In 1982, she quit her job with the Los Angeles Police Department and began working as a call girl.[2] In 1984, she attempted to recruit a former coworker to begin working as a prostitute. Her actions resulted in her arrest and conviction for pandering.[3][4]
In 1986, Almodovar ran for lieutenant governor in the California gubernatorial election, as a Libertarian.[2][4] Almodovar's autobiography was published by Simon & Schuster in 1993. She is the founder of the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education (ISWFACE). As of 2012, Almodovar also serves as the executive director of the Los Angeles branch of the sex workers' rights organization COYOTE.[5]
Personal background [ edit ]
Norma Jean Almodovar (née Wright) was born on May 27, 1951 in Binghamton, New York. She is the daughter of Harold M. and Helen Ruth (née) Doolittle Wright. Her father served in World War II with the US Army and, upon his return, began working in a local factory. Her mother taught school, but retired early as her family continued to grow. Almodovar is the oldest daughter, with eight brothers and five sisters.[1]
During Almodovar's childhood, her mother began attending the Baptist church, following her conversion to Christianity. From that point, Almodovar's social and spiritual life centered around the church. Fully embracing Christianity along with her mother, Almodovar felt drawn to spend her life in direct service to God. She began preparing to serve as a missionary to Puerto Rico, believing that God had a higher purpose for her life.[1][5]
In 1969, following her graduation from Binghamton Central High School, Almodovar enrolled in the Philadelphia College of the Bible.[6] After enrolling, she began looking for work to cover tuition and living expenses, but eventually relocated to New York City with a classmate. Soon after arriving in Manhattan, Almodovar began clerking at the Empire State Building.[1]
Crisis of faith [ edit ]
In January 1970, Almodovar went to California to visit relatives. After spending a week with her aunt, she spent time with some friends from New York, who had recently relocated to Los Angeles. After their arrival, her friends became involved with a religious sect that presented extreme unorthodox teachings and displayed cultic tendencies. After Almodovar arrived in California, her friends began proselytizing, working to convert her to their fundamentalist beliefs.[1]
Prior to visit to California, Almodovar had experienced a crisis of faith and began reconsidering her long-held spiritual beliefs, encompassing the teachings of the Baptist church and her personal conviction about the existence of God. When her group of friends expressed their beliefs, she willingly accepted their invitation and joined their church. After she became a member, she began volunteering and serving the church and leadership in various capacities.[1]
In summer 1970, she met a relative of one of the members in the church, who had recently completed his tour of duty with the US Air Force. After a short courtship, she married Radames Almodovar on November 19, 1970. The marriage lasted for three years, during which time, Almodovar continued to evaluate her religious beliefs and eventually chose to distance herself from the Christian beliefs of her childhood and those of her recent conversion to the church that had been embraced by her friends. At the time of her divorce to Almodovar, she no longer embraced Christianity.[1]
Professional background [ edit ]
Los Angeles Police Department [ edit ]
In 1972, Almodovar joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as a civilian traffic officer.[4][5] For the majority of her career, she was assigned to the Rampart and Hollywood Divisions, working the night shift. Her responsibilities included issuing parking tickets, recovering stolen property, and directing traffic and spectators at scene of automobile collisions, as well as the site of local fires or crime scenes. During her employment, Almodovar witnessed felony corruption and criminal activity carried out by other members of the police force. She additionally experienced three injuries while on the job.[1]
On the job injuries
In 1974, Almodovar was injured, when her three-wheeled, LAPD-issued Harley-Davidson motorcycle rear-ended the vehicle in front of her. The driver of the other car initially intended to run a red light, but upon noticing the police vehicle behind him, stopped suddenly and put his car in reverse, hitting Almodovar's motorcycle. As a result of her injuries from the collision, Almodovar was on disability for over 18 months.[1]
Almodovar's second injury came as a result of an attack by a local, well-known businessman and member of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He reportedly attempted to run over Almodovar with his vehicle. While he was initially arrested for aggravated assault, the City of Los Angeles chose not to prosecute him. Due to local statutes as a city employee, Almodovar was not allowed to file a lawsuit to recover damages for the physical and emotional injuries she received.[1]
On April 18, 1982, Almodovar was injured for the third time. The department vehicle that she was driving was rear-ended by a man who was heavily intoxicated. After the collision, the driver fled the scene of the accident, but was quickly apprehended after a brief pursuit by undercover police officers that were nearby. Following his apprehension, the initial investigation revealed that the driver was an unauthorized Mexican national, who had stolen the vehicle and had just committed an armed robbery. While the individual was released from police custody shortly after being processed into the Hollywood jail, Almodovar was at the hospital undergoing medical tests to determine the extent of her injuries. Radiology reports indicated that she had an injured back and neck.[1]
Following the incident of April 18, 1982, Almodovar became disillusioned with the Los Angeles Police Department and her former colleagues. She felt personally offended by individuals on the police force who had knowingly engaged in illegal and corrupt activities.[1 |
such as credit card numbers or social security numbers in an email.
This breach follows several other similar breaches from email service providers including The American Honda Motor Co., McDonald’s, and Walgreens.
Kroger is the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer and employs more than 338,000 associates with stores in 31 states under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's.
How to Protect Your Organization Against Advanced Persistent Threats
Read More Cybercrime Columns in the SecurityWeek Cybercrime SectionIn 1993, the San Francisco Giants won 103 games and missed the postseason. Unless the wild card system is eliminated in the future, that will be the last time in baseball history something like that happens. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Here’s how their season ended:
Mike Piazza was a rookie, and Giants fans immediately knew he was going to be a villain for a long, long time. Maybe it was the look — the undercover-detective-trying-to-fit-in-at-West-Beverly chic — that tipped us off. Maybe it was the personal ties to Tommy Lasorda, just as the jade runestones foretold.
For me? It was that opposite-field swing. Look at those two home runs again.
Piazza stood off the plate, daring pitchers to throw him pitches on the outer half. Because for 100 years or so, if a hitter even made contact with a pitch that far away from where he sets up, it will just be a harmless fly ball. It took a season for him to rewrite a scouting report that was encoded in the double helix of baseball.
He was a rookie who let the ball get deep like no rookie I’ve ever seen before or since, a hitter confident he could go the other way and put it out of any ballpark. And he happened to play the position where teams were supposed to have the hardest time finding a legitimate hitter. He was 24, and he was just about the best head start to any roster in baseball.
Four-and-a-half years later, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded him to the Florida Marlins. I’m not going to say it was the happiest day of my life, but I will point out that I timed my wedding to be on the same date, just so I would never forget my anniversary.
He wasn’t traded for magic beans. He was traded for another 29-year-old superstar, Gary Sheffield, who also kept me up at night. The Dodgers were finishing in second and third place with Piazza, and they’d continue to finish in second and third place with Sheffield. It didn’t matter to me. All I could think, over and over again, was that Piazza was gone. Piazza was off the Dodgers. There wouldn’t be that sinking feeling when watching a Giants pitcher go to a three-ball count to a batter with Piazza on deck. He was gone.
That was the irrational thought process of a fan, though. I want to explore the trade from a rational perspective almost two decades later. Let’s look at this dispassionately and see what the Dodgers were thinking.
Piazza was going to be a free agent after the season, and the negotiations were public and ugly. He was looking for Jeff Samardzija money, for crying out loud, why wouldn’t they be ugly? He had finished second for the MVP the year before after hitting.362 with 40 homers. Again, that’s a catcher doing that, and in retrospect, it turns out that all of the concern-trolling about his defense was misplaced. He was an excellent player with a unique, unfathomable skill set, and he wanted to be paid as such.
The Dodgers were bought by Fox a few months before, and their plan had to involve keeping the franchise icon around. A media conglomerate doesn’t buy a chunk of entertainment just to make it less appealing to the people already consuming it. Still, they didn’t want to set any records with Piazza’s extension, and the court of public opinion always turns against the millionaires wanting more millions, if only because billionaires wanting to save millions will always be more palatable, for some reason.
Hey Mike, Zip It!
An actual headline. There was an honest chance that the Dodgers were going to watch their star player walk away. The new owners couldn’t abide by that. They bought a team that was furnished with a popular superstar to show on TV. They needed to keep one of those around, but there was a chance it wasn’t going to happen.
So instead of paying a 29-year-old catcher $100 million to play until he was 36, they exchanged him for a 29-year-old superstar who was under contract for four more seasons, and the Marlins threw in a Gold Glove All-Star catcher, a 35-year-old slugger coming off a solid year and a pinch-hitting specialist just to get rid of the contracts.
It... it was a brilliant deal, at least from a tactical standpoint. Sheffield was a surly fellow who actually played the outfield like people thought Piazza played catcher, but he was one of the best hitters in baseball, and he would be around for about the same contract the Dodgers were willing to give Piazza. Charles Johnson was a dreadful hitter for the rest of the season, but he sure made sense at the time.
After the season, they traded Johnson for Todd Hundley, who was the Badfinger to Piazza’s Paul McCartney. You could hardly tell the difference for a while!
It was a shrewd, bold shuffling of assets, a diversification of investments that limited the risk. You can see why the new corporate owners loved it.
Flash forward 18 years, and Tommy Lasorda’s godson, the face of the Dodgers, the scariest hitter I’ve ever watched is going into the Hall of Fame as a New York Met. That’s the team with which he won the pennant, where he hit the iconic post-9/11 home run, where he stuck around for eight years to the Dodgers’ six.
The Dodgers traded a popular generational talent, and all they got was this bold new portfolio.
Is the lesson to never make the cold, calculated deals, to always follow your heart and do what the fans want? Nope. Can’t be that. If Piazza aged like catchers usually age, this deal would have looked brilliant almost immediately. Again, it was a smart move. And it’s not like Sheffield didn’t keep hitting — he most certainly did. He helped the Dodgers win roughly as much.
Is the lesson to keep fan favorites at all costs, regardless of how it will affect the roster? Nope. Can’t be that. Ryan Howard isn’t the perfect example, but there isn’t a lot of "Thank goodness he’s a lifelong Phillie. I can’t imagine him in another uniform" goodwill in Philadelphia right now. Maybe there will be in 20 years, but not now.
The lesson is that the Dodgers should have kept this player, this Hall of Famer. This is a lesson that can be learned only with the powers of hindsight. This isn’t an opinion that’s meant to needle Dodgers fans. If I wanted to do that, I’d make a gratuitous Pedro Martinez reference somewhere in the article, and I’m more professional than that. It’s just a note from a Giants fan about the player who terrified me more than any other, the monster in my anxiety closet for years.
Right when I started becoming baseball-obsessed, there was this guy on the Dodgers who could do things I’d never seen before, whose bat control and raw power were historically rare for any hitter, much less a catcher. He was going to be a Dodger forever and ever, because the greatest Dodgers usually were. Instead, he became the problem of Braves and Phillies fans. It was a smart trade by the Dodgers, yet it still turned out to be one of my favorite trades of all-time. That’s a weird sentence to re-read.
Mike Piazza, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, the best hitting catcher in baseball history, is going into the Hall of Fame. His legacy is clear on the baseball field. To me, though, he’s a living argument that it’s not always bad to have a little emotion behind your transactions. And the alternate timeline where the Fox-led Dodgers realized that still scares the absolute bejeepers out of me.After Gatebox, creators of the virtual home robot projection box, teased a Hatsune Miku themed demo at last year’s Magical Mirai, they now seem determined to proceed with the idea of creating a proper version of the box with Hatsune Miku, this time for the consumer market! The announcement comes from an update to Gatebox’s website. Titled the “Living with Hatsune Miku” project, it announces a March 9th, 2018 release. Further details are expected to arrive at a later date.
Gatebox plans yet another preview for this year’s Magical Mirai, hopefully with changes to show off improved interaction compared to last year’s demo. If you wish to try the demo, you must fill out the application located about 3/4 the way down the official page: http://gatebox.ai/livingwithproject/
Above is Gatebox’s official announcement video of the event. It’s not much, but we should learn more later. The LAT Miku model may be a placeholder, and not the finalized model choice. Pricing info is also still TBA, but might end up the same as the original Gatebox’s price of 298,000 Yen.On the north coast of Africa lie the ruins of a city that came within a hairbreadth of defeating the might of Rome. Now archaeologists digging at the famous Circus of Carthage have revealed a startlingly advanced system to cool down horses and chariots during races.
The ancients were obsessed with chariot racing. More than a half-century on, the chariot race in the 1959 Hollywood blockbuster "Ben-Hur" is still one of the most memorable scenes in cinemascope history. But even horses can faint, certainly in the burning heat of North Africa.
Key to the discovery of the clever cooling system at the Circus of Carthage, the biggest sporting arena outside Rome, was the detection of water resistant mortar.
“This kind of mortar is called hydraulic mortar. It's a type of waterproof lime mortar mixed with crushed and pulverized ceramics that the Romans used in hydraulic engineering,” says Frerich Schön of Tübingen University, the water technology specialist who first spotted the material, to Haaretz.
A deadly profession
The discovery was made at the spina, the median strip of the circus, around the ends of which the charioteers would turn during races. The spina would often feature ornate columns and statues.
As was the custom in ancient racetracks, water basins had been placed along the spina of Carthage, the archaeologists realized. Sparsores – sprinklers –would dip clay amphorae into the basins, from which they would sprinkle water on the chariots, says Dr Ralf Bockmann, who is directing the excavation Together with his Tunisian colleague, Dr Hamden Ben Romdhane. (The excavation is being jointly undertaken by the German archeological institute in Rome and the Institut National du Patrimoine of Tunisia.)
At the Carthage circus dig: Iván Fumadó Ortega of Aix-Marseille University performing topographical measurements at the circus. DAI Rom / Ralf Bockmann
This is a common technique at circuses; well-preserved water basins have also been found at the circus of Maxentius outside of Rome on the Via Appia. Water basins of the type are shown on a mosaic from Carthage showing the circus and the spina.
As for the sparsores, this was evidently not a job for the faint of heart. “The sparsores would usually be on foot, directly on the spina, presumably at the level of the arena, to cool down the chariot wheels driving by at high speed. How exactly the cooling was organized is not clear. But for sure, it must have been a dangerous business,” adds Bockmann.
Blood sports and charioteer fan clubs
The Circus of Carthage was the second-largest in the Roman Empire, surpassed only by the Circus Maximum in Rome.
Pioneering, albeit preliminary, geophysical explorations in the 1970s, measured the Carthage arena at 500 meters in length, which is around 80 meters shorter than the Circus Maximus in Rome itself. American excavations in the 1980s measured the width at 77 meters, only 2 meters short of the Circus Maximus. Whereas the Circus Maximus could accommodate over 150,000 people, the capacity of the circus at Carthage seems to have been smaller.
The Circus Maximus in Rome, the biggest chariot racing track in the ancient world, which could accommodate some 150,000 people. The track in Carthage was the second-biggest. Carptrash, Wikimedia Commons
How do we know the ancients were mad for racing? The evidence is legion, including a collection of poems edited in Carthage in the early 6th century CE, which both praises and mocks charioteers. There are mosaics showing the circus itself and inscriptions naming famous drivers and horses.
Gambling on chariot racing was probably as popular as sports betting today. The games were a blood sport and involved frantic danger and excitement. Forget NBA stars or even David Beckham's quarter-billion dollar paycheck: Charioteers were the highest-paid sportsmen in history. One second-century charioteer won almost 36 million sesterces during his career – equivalent to $15 billion today.
The charioteers wore distinct colors, and each team represented a certain group in society, either political or social. Supporters would erupt in frenzy when their favorite team appeared. Charioteers became so popular that people adorned their houses with their portraits. And clashes between rival groups of fans were as commonplace as today. For instance, the Roman historian Tacitus reports on a riot during a sporting event in Pompeii, when Pompeians brawled with fans from the neighboring city of Nucreia.
One thing we do know is that in ancient Greece, women were not allowed to watch sports, let alone participate in them. They could however enter equestrian contests through ownership. The chariot race in Olympia was won by a team owned by a Spartan princess, Cynisca, not once but twice; her triumph was influential in getting other women to field teams that won.
Although we have no record of how much she won, Cynisca - daughter and sister of kings - was the first woman to have a hero shrine erected in her name and to be honored with a statue of herself in the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. Only Spartan kings was graced in this way.
Berbers in the bleachers
Yet another discovery arising from study of the spina is that the Carthage circus had to have been built in at least two phases. "We cannot say yet if these phases indicate a restructuring or enlargement, or simply are the result of distinctive actions within a single construction process,” Bockmann clarifies.
Excavations at the spina, the middle axis of the circus of Carthage.
Aside from the excavation of the spina itself, two other trenches were dug within the monumental Circus. One was to investigate the forerunners of the circus – the buildings that had existed before it, and were torn down to build it. One building seems to have been a mausoleum. Others are older and may well be of Punic origin – built by the original Carthagians, who trace their origins to the Phoenicians and Berbers. (Though genetic analysis of a 2,500-year old Carthagian man, whose body was accidentally discovered by gardeners in 1994, seems to indicate he came from Portugal, while the Phoenicians are thought to have come from Lebanon and the Berbers were indiginous to North Africa.)
The second trench is investigating the "bleachers" – the section where spectators sat and cheered on their favorites. The archaeologists hope this section of the dig will enable the façade and grand stands of the circus to be reconstructed – and will also shed light on the infrastructure of the organization of the games and its connection with the urban topography.
“The circus of Carthage played a great role for civic life as a monument, where large parts of the population would gather to watch the races, over hundreds of years,” Bockmann said.
The circus region, which served to entertain the masses for centuries, is the only part of ancient Carthage that has not been extensively built over in modern times. The archaeologists believe that its relatively untouched nature can bring fresh insights on the development of the ancient city. For instance, “It will be very interesting to reconstruct how the terrain was prepared for the erection of the circus, and what kind of usage dominated before,” Bockmann told Haaretz, adding that the study is just starting and is planned to go on for years.On Tuesday, the US Director of the National Counter-terrorism Center Nicholas J. Rasmussen said he believed Hizballah was planning attacks in the US.
"It is our assessment that Hizballah is determined to give itself a potential homeland option as a critical component of its terrorism playbook," he told a press conference.
Hizballah were a key focus for US anti-terror efforts until the 11 September attacks in 2011, which saw the CIA's efforts focus primarily fall on Salafi-jihadi organisations such as al-Qaeda and later the Islamic State group.
With the proliferation of Iranian-backed militias in the region - such as Hizballah and the Fatimiyoun Brigades in Syria and the Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq - some analysts have warned of a new threat to US allies and civilians from these armed groups.
Bad memories
The 1983 bombing of a Marines barracks in Beirut was the single biggest death toll in one day for US forces since the Second World War and led to a withdrawal of US forces out of war-torn Lebanon.
[click to enlarge]
It is believed to have been carried out by Hizballah with Syrian and Iranian regime support.
On Tuesday, Israel's far-right Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman described Lebanon's army as an "inseparable part" of Hizballah.
The Lebanese movement's leader Hassan Nasrallah has ramped up rhetoric against the US in recent months saying its actions were "aiding" the Islamic State group.
Iran has also seen a resurgence of conservative attempts to reassert control in the Tehran regime following a recent detente in relations with the US.
Hizballah and Iran have been key backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime with pro-Damascus forces winning back key areas in the country from opposition forces.
Hizballah's role in the war has been key and given it better supply links with backers Syria and Iran, more battlefield experience for its fighters, and new weaponry, analysts have said.
Israel has warned of Iran and Hizballah's presence in southern Syria launching air strikes on militants during the six-year war in the country.THE heavens do not lend themselves to poking and prodding. Astronomers therefore have no choice but to rely on whatever data the cosmos deigns to throw at them. And they have learnt a lot this way. Thus you can even (see article) study chemistry in space that would be impossible in a laboratory. Some astronomers, though, are dissatisfied with being passive observers. Real scientists, they think, do experiments.
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It is impossible—not to mention inadvisable—to get close enough to a star or a black hole to manipulate it experimentally. But some think it might be possible to make meaningful analogues of such things, and even of the universe itself, and experiment on those instead.
Ben Murdin of the University of Surrey, for example, has been making white dwarfs. A white dwarf is the stellar equivalent of a shrunken but feisty old-age pensioner. It has run out of fuel and is contracting and cooling as it heads towards oblivion—but taking its time about it. As they shrink white dwarfs pack a mass up to eight times the sun’s into a volume the size of Earth. A consequence of stuffing so much matter into so little space is that white dwarfs have powerful magnetic fields. Many aspects of a white dwarf’s mechanics, including how long it will last, are thought to depend on its magnetism. But it is hard to measure.
To make estimates, scientists examine the light a white dwarf emits for telltale patterns left by stellar ingredients like hydrogen. They then compare this spectrum with a theory, based on calculations from first principles, of how magnetic fields effect light emitted by hydrogen. The predictions agree with experiments up to the strongest fields mankind can muster—about 1,000 tesla, generated in a thermonuclear detonator. The problem is that the theory puts white dwarfs’ magnetic fields at 100,000 tesla or more, well beyond humanity’s reach.
Dr Murdin built his own little white dwarf to see if the theory looked good. It consists of a silicon crystal sprinkled with phosphorus atoms. A silicon atom has four electrons in its outer shell. In a crystal, all four are used to bind it to neighbouring atoms. Phosphorus has five outer electrons. Insert a phosphorus atom into the silicon lattice and you are left with an unused electron. Since phosphorus also has one more proton in its nucleus than silicon does, taken together the extra particles resemble a hydrogen atom: a single electron tethered to a single proton.
However, the extra electron is much less tightly held by the extra proton in this pseudo-hydrogen than it would be in real hydrogen. This weaker grasp means that it takes much less magnetism to make a given change in the pseudo-hydrogen’s spectrum than it would for real hydrogen. So when Dr Murdin placed the crystal in a 30-tesla magnet at Radboud University in the Netherlands (his lab in Guildford lacks the necessary kit), he was mimicking the conditions in a 100,000-tesla white dwarf. And the spectrum came out looking just the way the theory predicted.
A black hole in a bath…
Creating a star in a laboratory is small beer compared with creating a black hole. This is an object that is so massive and dense that not even light can flee its gravitational field. Looking inside one is therefore, by definition, impossible. All the more reason to try, says Silke Weinfurtner of the International School for Advanced Studies, in Trieste, Italy.
Dr Weinfurtner plans to make her black hole in the bath. The bath in question, properly called a flume, is a water-filled receptacle 3 metres by 1.5 metres and 50cm deep, across which carefully crafted trains of ripples can pass. In the middle of the tank is a plug hole. If the water going down the hole rotates faster than the ripples can propagate, the ripples which stray beyond the aqueous “event horizon” (a black hole’s point of no return) will not make it out. They are sucked down the drain.
Then the researchers will check whether the simulacrum affects water waves in a way analogous to that which general relativity predicts for light—itself a wave—approaching an astrophysical black hole. According to Albert Einstein’s theory, a region immediately outside the event horizon of a rotating black hole will be dragged round by the rotation. Any wave that enters this region but does not stray past the event horizon should be deflected and come out with more energy than it carried on the way in. To detect this super-radiant scattering, as the effect is called, Dr Weinfurtner will add fluorescent dye to the water and illuminate the surface waves with lasers. The waves, often no bigger than one millimetre, can then be detected using high-definition cameras.
Stefano Liberati, Dr Weinfurtner’s colleague in Trieste, reserves the greatest enthusiasm for another aspect of the experiment. It might, if the researchers are lucky enough, offer clues to the nature of space-time. Could the cosmic fabric be made up of discrete chunks, atoms of space if you like, rather than being continuous, as is assumed by relativity? This problem has perplexed physicists for decades. Many suspect black holes hold the answer, because they are sites where continuous relativity meets chunky quantum physics.
Waterborne holes serve as a proxy. Water is, after all, made up of just such discrete chunks: molecules of H₂O. As wavelengths fall—equivalent to rising energy—waves reach a point where the size of molecules may begin to influence how they behave. If Dr Weinfurtner and Dr Liberati observe some strange behaviour around their event horizons, theorists will be thrilled.
…and home-brewed universes
Even benchtop black holes, though, are nothing compared with the ambitions of Igor Smolyaninov of the University of Maryland. For Dr Smolyaninov wants to create entire universes.
The way light travels through the four dimensions of space-time is mathematically akin to how it moves through “metamaterial”. These are substances with features measured in nanometres, or billionths of a metre, which let them bend light in unusual ways. For example they can force light to skirt along the outside of an object, hiding it from view as if behind an invisibility cloak. Space-time, too, bends light, in ways that depend on how mass is distributed within it.
In principle, then, metamaterials ought to be able to mimic how light moves not just through the space-time scientists on Earth are familiar with, but also other possible space-times to which they do not, and never will, have access. Two years ago Dr Smolyaninov suggested an experiment with various metamaterials, corresponding to universes with different properties lashed together into a home-brewed multiverse. In a paper to be published in Optics Express, he and his colleagues report that they have succeeded.
Rather than fine-tune metamaterial to exact specifications, which is finicky and expensive, the researchers used nanoparticles of cobalt, which are relatively easy to get hold of, and suspended them in kerosene. They then applied a magnetic field which, thanks to cobalt’s ferromagnetic nature, arranged the particles into thin columns. In space-time terms the length of the columns is time and the two axes perpendicular to the length represent the three spatial dimensions in a real universe.
To build his multiverse, Dr Smolyaninov added slightly less cobalt to the kerosene, about 8% by volume, than was needed to maintain stable nanocolumns. Natural fluctuations in the density of the fluid then lead to the spontaneous erection of transient nanocolumns—equivalent to space-times popping up only to fizzle and re-emerge elsewhere in the multiverse. They could be detected by their effect on polarised light shone through the material.
Whether all this ingenuity unravels any cosmic truth is uncertain. Cliff Burgess, a theorist at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, has his doubts. But he thinks that such experiments are nevertheless worth pursuing. “Like tap-dancing snakes,” he says, “the point is not that they do it well, it is that they do it at all.”Amongst other things, Norwegian-French Joly pointed out the lack of coherence between Norway’s rainforest commitment on the one hand, and its Sovereign Wealth Fund and Norsk Hydro's investments in Brazil on the other.
She voiced the need for Miljøpartiet De Grønne when it came to avoiding situations such as these.
“It’s a Party with real concern regarding indigenous people, climate change, and the future. It cares about people, not just the greed of the multinationals,” said Joly.
She also talked about how traditional political blocs demonstrate the need for a new, green axis in Norwegian and European politics.
“The Rightists and Socialists have the same problem. They lead a policy from the previous century. Our standard of living has been based on exploiting of other parts of the world. We need to see the relationship between Norway and Brazil. We must create a model that is valid worldwide. That is why the fight against tax havens, which I have led for fifteen years, is more than ever,” Joly declared.
Eva Joly is MEP for Europe Écologie, and former presidential candidate for Norway Miljøpartiet De Grønne’s French sister party, Europe Écologie-Les Verts.A day after Global News reported the RCMP was investigating national security aspects related to the stolen plane that crashed in Peterborough, Ont. last week, the RCMP has confirmed its national security enforcement unit was involved in the investigation.
The national police force also said it found no threat to national security, no motive for the theft and declined to provide an explanation as to how a 20-year-old Markham man with mental health issues who “acted alone,” managed to steal the plane undetected and crash it in a major Ontario city.
Mohammad Hassan Chaudhary of Markham, Ont. was killed after the small Piper Tomahawk aircraft he allegedly stole from the Markham Airport smashed into the ground just before 1:30 a.m. Aug. 12 near the Landsdowne Place mall. Chaudhary’s father told Global News his son lived with schizophrenia and other mental health issues.
READ MORE: RCMP investigated Peterborough plane crash as ‘national security issue’
Afzal Chaudhary said his he is shocked his son was able to steal and fly the plane without a “single minute” of flight training.
Sources close to the investigation confirmed to Global News the RCMP led the inquiry into the crash and Chaudhary said they had met with him “many times” to discuss his son’s involvement.
RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Penny Hermann initially told Global News the national police force was investigating “the reasons that the aircraft was stolen” with the Peterborough Police Service and York Regional Police, but declined to comment on whether the RCMP was leading the investigation or if it was being treated as a national security issue.
WATCH: RCMP confirm Peterborough plane crash was subject of national security investigation
After declining multiple requests for additional comment, Hermann contacted Global News Thursday evening with a brief updated statement.
“I just got information saying that based on our joint investigation in regards to that plane crash, there is no national security aspect,” said Hermann, who was unavailable for further comment.
The RCMP released a statement Friday afternoon that said the three police services had been “working together” to investigate the crash and confirmed the Ontario RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) had been involved in the investigation.
“As Canadian airspace incidents involve federal authorities in the investigation, PPS contacted the Ontario RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) during their initial investigation as did YRP during their investigation,” the statement said.
“INSET has followed up on the information provided by both police services and we have no information to indicate there is a link with national security. The investigation has not revealed the motive for the theft and all indications are that the young man acted alone.”
Chaudhary expressed outrage over the fact that his son was somehow able to break into the airport, steal a small aircraft and crash land on the streets of Peterborough without any intervention from police or airport security officials.
Although he cannot confirm how his son allegedly broke into the airport and stole the plane, Chaudhary said Thursday he suspects his son had possibly done it as an “adventure” and that his son should have been apprehended as soon as he entered the airport.
A source close to the investigation told Global News something was found in the wreckage that concerned police, while the owners of the stolen Piper Tomahawk said their plane was full of fuel and was capable of flying up to five hours.
The RCMP said it is “very common” for the police service to work with other jurisdictions and added it had no further details to provide on the investigation.
Mark Carcasole, Ashley Carter, Veronica Tang and Simon Ostler contributed to this reportRepublican Donald Trump will likely win the third presidential debate on Wednesday evening at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The question is whether his victory will matter enough to shift the polls, after so much damage has been done by recent accusations of sexual impropriety, which were delivered in carefully coordinated media attacks in the aftermath of the first debate on Sep. 26.
Trump will likely benefit from an “October surprise” of his own — namely, the release of videos by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas that show high-level Democratic political consultants taking credit for inciting violence at Trump rallies over the past year. Already, the revelations have forced senior consultant Robert Creamer — with close ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign and the White House — to step down, along with one of his lieutenants. More resignations may be coming, given evidence the campaign may have illegally coordinated with super PACs to carry out various political operations.
Two other factors favor Trump. One is the continued presence of low expectations for Trump, which persist in spite of the fact that he out-boxed his rival at the second debate. The second is the fact that the moderator is Fox News’ Chris Wallace, who can be tough on Republicans at times, but is likely to be less intrusive and one-sided than any of the other moderators have been thus far.
The question is whether it will matter. Third debates, in general, provide opportunities for closing arguments — not fourth-quarter theatrics.
In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney miscalculated badly in the third debate, thinking he was sitting on a lead in the polls. He strained to point out commonalities between himself and President Barack Obama, rather than articulating differences. Trump will not make the same mistake, but might have preferred to showcase a calm demeanor in his final pitch to the electorate. Instead, he will have to throw uppercuts, hoping for a knockout, while Clinton dodges and deflects.
High risk, high reward: a fitting end to campaign 2016.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.I’m a man, but I like dressing up as a woman, in women’s clothes, wearing lipstick and bracelets and bright rings and women’s shoes.
Maybe I just want to be pretty.
Maybe I just want to feel pretty, or to look pretty. Some of those goals seem impossible, or incompatible, or prohibitively difficult; not worth what I would have to sacrifice. I’m a man, but I like dressing up as a woman, in women’s clothes, wearing lipstick and bracelets and bright rings and women’s shoes. Given my tastes, at the moment, it might be better to say that I like dressing up as a girl. I like to wear costume jewelry, and pastel nail polish, and I do that all the time. I like to wear skirts and tights, or dresses, too, in private sometimes, in public fewer times, and in company when I can find an appropriate occasion, which I rarely can.
That’s been the case for a while. In my twenties I found the perfect social circle, and the perfect set of dance parties and rock clubs, where I could dress up like a girl and my friends didn’t mind—or found it charming. Then my favorite club closed. Then Jessie and I got married and moved to Minnesota, and my space for cross-dressing dried up. I minded, but not very much, because I liked the rest of my life. I even stopped wearing nail polish and sparkly rings for a while, though the poetry I published made its commitment to girlish identities, feminine alternate selves, all but unmistakable.
And now I have started dressing up again, every so often—I think all I want is every so often—and I’m ready to write about it in disjunctive and maybe all too self-conscious prose.
What follows are tentative answers to persistent questions about how I look, how I want to look, why I often think that I would rather have been a woman, and why I’m sure I won’t try to become one. It has to do with sexual feeling, but it says almost nothing about sexual acts. It’s no substitute for queer theory, nor for a cultural history of cross-dressing and other trans life-ways, nor for the book-length memoirs by trans people and their loved ones (one of my topics here is resistance to memoir, to narrative, to identifying your true self with one story that can be told), though all those forms of writing have helped me, and I refer to them. I also refer to poetry, since I care far more about poems—and think more often about them—than about how I look. I am a literary critic and a writer of verse, a parent and husband and friend, before and after I am a guy in a skirt, or a guy in blue jeans, or a fictional girl. I have tried to have as little concern for my own privacy as I can—I’m tired of keeping secrets and don’t want more. I have, on the other hand, tried to have as much concern as I can for Jessie’s privacy. I’ve chosen to share these parts of my life with you, if you stay with me; Jessie has chosen to share the whole of our life, not necessarily with readers, but with me.
People who know my name but haven’t met me usually know I’m a poetry critic and a book reviewer. In one important model of poetry-in-general, the poet constructs a persona (Greek poiein = to make; Latin persona = actors’ mask), a stylized mask made of words that replaces the poet’s physical, literal body, and provides a better fit for the soul. My own first published poems spoke of wanting to be a girl, or a woman, dramatically and tautologically: “If I were a girl, I would be a girl,” one said. Later I published poems in girl personae, such as “Self-Portrait as Kitty Pryde,” about the teenage genius from the X-Men who has the power to walk through walls.
This essay is a substitute, not so much for a memoir, but for an unwritten, overlong, awkward, over-literal poem.
Recently I went shopping for a denim skirt that I could wear to an open house for trans people and cross-dressers, the venerable Tiffany Club in suburban Boston. I’ve now gone to two open houses, and I’ll go to more, though I don’t know how often, since we have a two-year-old and a six-year-old, and the open house events conflict with both of their bedtimes. It’s astonishingly helpful to find a space where trans people can meet one another without being expected to date, or to dance on stage, or to seek medical attention. Also, it turns out, I like being addressed as Stephanie. Some of the folks I met there |
said, Guardiola has been known to surprise us in the past, particularly when it comes to Puyol.
Nothing is impossible. What is guaranteed however is that on Monday night, FC Barcelona will line up with a makeshift defence of some sort, and Giussepi Rossi in particular must be licking his lips at the prospect.
Cuida’t, Pep.October 9, 2012
On October 6, some 120 people attended a forum looking back on the struggle, titled, "The Revolution Will Not Be Standardized: What the CTU Strike Teaches Us About How to Fight for a Better World." Among the featured speakers at the forum was Kirstin Roberts, a preschool teacher and member of the CTU. Here, we publish her speech.
The nine-day strike of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) ended last month with a decisive victory against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his drive to impose the corporate school deform agenda on the public education system. Around the country, teachers, students and everyone who cares about education justice have been inspired by the showdown in Chicago.
I BEGAN teaching in 2006. My first jobs were at social service agencies, contracting with Chicago Public Schools to provide preschool on the cheap. These were non-union, very low benefits, very long working hours, high staff-turnover jobs.
They were also jobs working with some of the poorest and highest-needs kids in the city--kids with HIV, foster kids, kids with histories of extreme abuse, kids with cognitive and physical impairments.
This combination--kids with the greatest needs getting the least-experienced and worst-compensated teachers--is of course, no coincidence. This is education policy in the richest country on Earth.
One of the great contributions of the Chicago Teachers Union strike of 2012 is that this realization about our public education system--and how the education deformers are transforming teaching into a short term, lower-skill, lower-wage job--is now being discussed not by a few people, but by millions.
I started working in the Chicago Public Schools in January 2010. The timing of this was significant. A month after starting my job, an article in the Chicago Tribune identified the neighborhood where my school is located as having the second-highest home foreclosure rate in the city.
Chicago teachers picket outside Marshall Metro High School on the West Side (Chip Mitchell)
The impact of this social crisis is felt in our classrooms every day--children whose families have lost their homes suffer profoundly, and they bring this suffering with them to school.
This shows up in a thousand different ways, from minor behavior problems resulting from anxiety to what can only be described as depression. At work, we refer to them as the recession babies--children born in the last five years to moms and dads who have been laid off, lost their homes and who have all the so-called "personal" problems that result from this kind of economic devastation.
Billionaire hedge fund managers or hotel heiresses take particular glee in lecturing teachers for using poverty as an "excuse" to explain away a "culture of failure" we've created through our ineptitude and selfishness. It's interesting that responsibility for the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s--a crisis created by bankers and Corporate America's insatiable greed--isn't something they're willing to embrace.
There is no cottage industry of well-funded think tanks lecturing financiers regarding the culture of failure inside investment banks. There are no politicians screaming for accountability and merit pay for CEOs.
Instead of taking responsibility and preaching sacrifice for themselves, they instead look for creative new ways to divert public funds into their private coffers--through privatization schemes like charter schools, through taxpayer-funded bailouts, through "job creation incentives" (which rightfully should be called welfare for the rich)--thus further robbing the public schools of the resources we so desperately need.
Robbing the poor to pay the rich, and then having the nerve to blame the poor and the people who teach them for the very conditions the rich created--this is education policy in the richest country on Earth. The Chicago Teachers Union strike, I believe, has made an important contribution of pushing these crimes into the public spotlight as well.
YESTERDAY AT school, we ran out of hand soap. We took the children to the bathroom, and as they lined up to wash their hands, we realized our pump soap was running out. My heart sank because I knew that I had no more soap in my supply locker.
This is a small thing, a minor thing, but it's also a big thing. See, we aren't provided soap in the bathrooms at our school. There isn't room in the budget. We beg our parents to donate soap to us, or we buy it out of our measly supply budget, or we pay for it out of pocket. It's hard to explain, but these are the daily, petty failures that add up over time.
The message becomes so clear: You and your students aren't worth it. If nobody had soap--if there was a worldwide soap shortage--then it wouldn't hurt. But it's obvious that some people's children will always have clean hands, and so much more.
Some people's children will go to schools with seven full-time art teachers; some children will go to school with none. Some children will go to schools where student-to-teacher ratios are 9-to-1, and some children will go to kindergarten with 42 5-year-old friends and one teacher.
Some children will get world languages, social workers and counselors, iPads and music class, libraries, recreational activities, and beauty and joy. And some children simply will get tested, and tested again and again, as they sit in cold classrooms all winter and stifling classrooms during the spring and summer.
It's not hard to guess whose children get the things that make school worthwhile and enriching, and whose children don't. Again, this is education policy in the richest country on Earth. The greatest contribution of this strike is highlighting for all to see this injustice being perpetrated upon our children.
This strike alone couldn't solve this injustice, but by asserting that all children deserve what Rahm Emanuel's and Penny Pritzker's children get, we have contributed to the building of a movement that, in no small measure, will be able to mobilize the kind of power necessary to tackle these inequities.
NOW I want to talk about that power.
When it became clear over the last year that members of the CTU needed to prepare ourselves to strike, I was very nervous. In the building where I work, there was plenty of built-up anger and frustration, but most often, this was expressed through anxiety, people blaming themselves--and sometimes parents and coworkers--and cynicism.
I had a hard time imagining how this could change. I didn't feel powerful, but I was certainly aware of the power of the media and politicians and billionaires who were out to get us. At our first schoolwide parent meeting last year, our principal screened the teacher-bashing propaganda film Waiting for "Superman" for our school community. Talk about feeling under siege.
So we started by wearing red on Fridays--that is, a few of us started wearing red. I have to admit that in those first several weeks, I didn't wear a union T-shirt--just a red shirt that I hoped would be seen as just a coincidental fashion choice by my principal.
But then a few more started wearing red, and we had a couple small-but-okay union meetings, and we started to talk to each other about what was happening in our school system and in our school, and we started to share articles taking on the lies of the school deformers, and we began to get prepared.
It wasn't a smooth or exactly exciting process, but a necessary one. Power--meaning our confidence to stand up for ourselves and our students--was being built, teacher by teacher, conversation by conversation, T-shirt by T-shirt.
But the real test of course, was the strike itself. Truth be told, I hit the picket lines at 6:30 a.m. on day one of the strike exhilarated, but also scared out of my mind. Would my coworkers and colleagues around the system stand strong? Would I? Most importantly, would the rest of Chicago stand with us?
About an hour into the picketing, most of my fears--as well as my hearing--were gone. The honking from the passing cars--filled with workers on their way to jobs, some of them scrambling to drop their kids off at hastily arranged child care--was deafening.
Then the homemade tamales and boxes of doughnuts began arriving from our parents. They stood with us. They stood with us because they knew we were fighting to defend the right to a decent public education for their kids. But more than that, they stood with us because we were standing up to the same bullies that had caused so much misery for so many for so long.
The outpouring of solidarity was matched by an outpouring of creativity on the picket lines and at the mass protests every afternoon. Teachers and staff who had long been stifled and forced to deliver rote lessons designed solely for test preparation began to paint and dance and sing their struggle.
Some of the teachers who had voiced the most reluctance about the strike in my building became the most vocal and outspoken chanters on the picket line. The imagination and the confidence unleashed during this strike gives us a tiny glimpse of the power of human creativity that can--and someday will--be utilized to transform our schools into places of true learning and development.
Lastly, in this discussion of power, I have to mention the last two days of the strike, when we went back to the picket line--despite looming threat of an injunction and despite the ridicule from the press--to talk and analyze and debate the tentative contract. These were not exuberant or joyous discussions, but serious and thoughtful ones that illuminated for this one-party city what real democracy in action could look like.
Without this kind of democracy and ownership of our strike and its results by the membership of this union, we would have little power. But with it, we built the sort of knowledge, collectivity and consciousness necessary for the next round of the fight.
And as we all know, round two is coming. And we must prepare and grow stronger than we were in round one because their side is also drawing lessons, planning and preparing.
Round two is shaping up to be the battle over school closures. Rumors are swirling, but one thing is certain: CPS plans more closures and turnarounds of "failing schools" than we've ever seen before. As we enter into this next fight, it's more important than ever that we don't lose sight of the significance of what we're fighting for.
On that note, let me quote from a letter the staff at my school sent home to our families when we returned from the strike:The longtime boss of the notorious Terror Squad street gang, who has also been linked to the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, was among the suspects swept up in a police raid yielding drugs, cash and bear spray.
Darren Harper appeared Friday in Saskatoon provincial court, along with Joshua Soroka, Keldon Bear and Tansy Sutherland.
The quartet was swept up after police executed search warrants Thursday following a drug and weapons investigation by the Saskatoon Integrated Drug Enforcement Street Team (SIDEST) and the Saskatoon police guns and gangs unit at homes on Avenue E South and Herold Road.
Police said they seized hydromorphone beads, 5.6 grams of cocaine, 8.1 grams of marijuana, 165 fentanyl pills, bear spray and over $6,900 in cash.
Harper, 44, is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of proceeds of crime. He will be held in custody until his next court appearance on Sept. 13.
In a report denying his parole bid while serving time for cocaine trafficking several years ago, he was linked to the Hells Angels.
Soroka, 30, faces charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking fentanyl, possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of the proceeds of crime and breach of a conditional sentence order.
Bear, 28, is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana, possession of hydromorphone, possession of cocaine, possession of the proceeds of crime, and breach of recognizance.
Sutherland, 28, is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana, possession of hydromorphone, possession of cocaine, and possession of proceeds of crime.
[email protected] 1963 and 1964 the Berkeley Free Speech movement defined a generation of morally courageous students who reminded us that freedom of speech is a foundational American value. The protest was sparked when the college began enforcing a ban on political activity on campus and it had close ties to the Civil Rights Movement, which was making important strides at that point in history. Those students understood the importance of freedom of speech. They understood that without protections for non-violent speech there would be nothing to prevent political discourse from devolving into violent conflict.
But today something radical has happened at Berkeley. Students are staging protests and calling for the exact converse of freedom of speech. They are calling for people’s voices to be suppressed. They are calling for ‘safe spaces’ where they do not have to hear the ideas of those who think differently to them, and they are literally fighting to expand those safe spaces.
In recent months, conservative speakers have been denied access to college campuses to give speeches and expound on conservative ideas. They have been shut down by disruptive protesters shouting repetitive slogans, setting off fire alarms, making bomb threats, harassing attendees, and attacking them with clubs, mace, and mob tactics. While all of this has gone on, campus police- most noticeably at Berkeley- have been ordered to stand down. They have been filmed retreating into buildings as masked Antifa members mounted coordinated assaults on people coming to attend lectures by conservative speakers.
On top of all this, in light of the violence that follows conservative speakers on college campuses, school administration has been demanding exorbitant security fees from the likes of Ann Coulter, Milo Yiannopoulos, Ben Shapiro and others who are being blamed for the violence being directed against their audiences.
Perhaps the worst development of all this is the silencing of conservative students at Berkeley in their day to day lives. While right leaning students at Berkeley have long felt themselves to be a minority on campus, today, the tone is different. Today, these students fear more than social ostracism, they fear the very real possibility that they may be physically assaulted for their views by their fellow students. They fear that should they speak up- they may be beaten, discriminated against by their teachers, even accused of crimes that they did not commit and wrung out by campus tribunals.
These are all very real threats which are being faced by any student on most college campuses who do not actively agree with many of the most extreme tenets of the radical left.
Not content to simply give in to the fear and, by default, hand over complete control of the academy to leftist ideologues, a few conservative students are standing up and making themselves heard.
Naweed Tamas, a member of a Republican Club at Berkeley told RT reporters that after discovering Tamas supported Donald Trump one of his professors said to him, “I had such high hopes for you.”
A chilled atmosphere exists on campus where college republicans attempt to share their views. The college has made it clear that any remarks made by students that may be interpreted as racist or sexist can be punished by a campus tribunal, amounting to fines, suspension, or expulsion. As a result, students incessantly stand around their tables writing down and recording everything that is said in hopes of catching them saying anything that might be construed as punishable. This has created a situation where students are afraid to come near campus conservatives or to speak in their defense.
Tamas went on to describe the atmosphere around the tables he and his group set up on campus to promote their ideas. “There have been many instances where students have rushed up to our tables, tried to spit on us, destroyed our materials, tried to run away with our signs.”
Jose Diaz, another conservative Berkeley student, describes the scene where masked Antifa members violently attack his friend. “We had two individuals pull up here on Telegraph Avenue while I was in the middle of an interview and assault one of my friends. I had to come to his aid to fend off the two attackers.”
As more and more pressure is placed on student’s ability to exercise their first amendment right to free speech, the inevitable result will be violence. Violence is the inevitable consequence of suppression of free speech. This is something the founding fathers understood, and history will be revisited to the extent to which we forget its lessons.
~ American Liberty ReportCLOSE Sioux Falls Firefighter Dustin Luebke talks with Argus Leader Media's Megan Raposa about rescuing 22-year-old Emily Fodness from the building collapse downtown.
Dustin Luebke holds 22-year-old Emily Fodness' hand as she is rescued from the collapsed building in downtown Sioux Falls on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. (Photo: Submitted photo)
As Dustin Luebke held a hand under the rubble, he thought about his daughters.
A few hours earlier, he took the girls, ages 7, 5, and 2, to school and day care before a day off catching up on housework.
The 33-year-old Sioux Falls firefighter had just finished a 24-hour shift Friday morning, not knowing that his work day was just beginning.
It was 10:53 a.m. Friday when Luebke came inside from cleaning his garage and saw a text message telling him to come back into work.
A building in downtown Sioux Falls had collapsed, and two people were trapped inside.
Luebke, a member of the state's urban search and rescue team, went directly into work, listening to the police scanner on his drive. He arrived from Harrisburg about 11:20 a.m.
He had trained extensively for this moment over his 10 years with Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, but he knew he was responding to a "once-in-a-career" incident.
"It was kind of surreal," Luebke said.
Luebke was one of about a dozen first responders working directly to free 22-year-old Emily Fodness from the rubble. Other crews were working to shore up the collapsed building from the inside, and more still were ensuring the safety of the hundreds who flocked to see the collapse aftermath and offer food and support to rescue teams.
Fodness' mother stayed on the phone with her for hours, as did Division Chief Brad Goodroad, and Fodness was helping firefighters find her in the debris.
"She knew right where she was at in her room... she really kept her cool, and that helped us out a lot in our efforts to find her," Luebke said.
Those directions were instrumental in finding Fodness, especially through the sheer quantity of building wreckage.
"We were only, at one point, 5 to 6 feet above where she was, and we couldn't hear her yelling," Luebke said.
Finally, a piece of rubble was removed, and firefighters saw black hair.
They asked Fodness her hair color through the phone.
When she said, "blonde," they realized the hair wasn't hers.
It was her dog, Nova.
Once Nova was safely removed from rubble, Luebke caught a glimpse of a hand, and reached down.
"I grabbed onto her hand, and I said, 'Emily, I've got your hand. I've got your hand. We've got you now. We're not going to let go. We're coming to get you,'" Luebke said.
For half an hour, Luebke lay in the rubble, grasping Fodness' hand.
He could not see her, but he spoke with her as crews used small tools to carefully cut through the mattress that cushioned Fodness from the collapsed ceiling above her.
"She was really calm," Luebke said.
It was during the conversation with Fodness that Luebke thought of his daughters.
He told himself that if one of his girls was in Fodness' situation, he'd hope that someone would hold her hand.
Fodness surfaced from the debris at about 1:30 p.m. Luebke remained at her side as she was carefully carried down to her family.
Cheers erupted from the crowds of people watching the rescue.
Luebke hasn't spoken with Fodness since then.
He knew that her rescue was only half of his job that day, and he along with all of the other emergency responders on scene that day remained steadfast in the search until the body of Ethan McMahon was recovered just before 6 p.m.
"You go from... excited to right back into work mode," Luebke said.
Luebke continued working until 8 p.m. Friday night, and returned for another 24-hour shift Saturday morning.
It wasn't until he returned home Friday that he realized the collapse made national news, and it wasn't until Saturday night that he saw the photos of himself lying in the pile of splintered wood and drywall, holding tight to Fodness' hand and repeating:
"We're not going to let go."
First responders who helped rescue Emily Fodness:
Rocky Foster
Jeremy Hill
Tim Hoekman
Luke Langenfeld
Dustin Luebke
Bo Mortenson
Tony Olson
Michael Olson
Nathan Strasser
Ben Tracy
Read or Share this story: http://argusne.ws/2helW7pThere’s a lot of deeply upsetting stuff going on in the news these days, but here at Tall Peters, we’re committed to reporting the news that matters most to us. And the big news here at Tall Peters HQ is that our anonymous source just shared with us yet another tantalizing glimpse at Kelsey Grammer’s failed screenplay, Frasier Crane. But the bad news is, in this latest update, things really take a turn for the worse for our old pal Frasier.
Read part one and part two exclusively on Tall Peters.
EXT. CEMETERY – NIGHT
Frasier, wearing the same tattered clothes as the previous
night, staggers into the graveyard, clutching a half-drunk
bottle of sherry. He stops and falls to his knees at a
small, unceremonious gravestone, tucked away behind a bush,
that simply reads:
FREDERICK GAYLORD CRANE
1989-2006
He unlids the sherry and glugs it until he gasps, ejecting
sherry-spittle from his mouth. He rubs his face and breathes
heavily. As he catches his breath, a grim look comes over
him. He sets the bottle on the ground, and then pulls his
gun out from his back waistband. His face tightens with
determination. He grabs the bottle with his other hand and
begins to chug the remainder of it. With just a small bit of
sherry left, he apathetically tosses it aside.
FRASIER
I’m so sorry, Freddy.
He begins to shed tears.
FRASIER
It’s all my fault. I should have
been there for you. I never should
left. Oh, if only I could go back
and do it all over again.
Suddenly, we hear the voice of MARTIN CRANE’S GHOST.
MARTIN’S GHOST (O.S.)
Well, you can’t.
FRASIER
Wh- what?
Frasier looks up to see a ghostly image of his father,
without the cane, standing behind Freddy’s grave,
illuminating their surroundings. Frasier is flabbergasted.
MARTIN’S GHOST
Take it from me, Fras’. You can’t
go back. You can’t do it over
again. You get one shot in life.
FRASIER
Dad?
MARTIN’S GHOST
What’s the matter? Never seen a
ghost before?
FRASIER
Dad, I- I’ve lost everything.
MARTIN’S GHOST
Oh, don’t be ridiculous! You know,
when I lost your mother, I thought
it was the end for me. Only thing
that kept me together was the job.
My boys on the force were all I had
at that point. Then I took one in
the hip, and that was taken from me
too. I thought I was all alone. But
then you and Niles came back into
my life. After all those years, I
finally had a chance to connect
with my sons. And you know what? I
don’t think your mom would’ve
wanted it any other way.
FRASIER
I don’t understand, Dad.
Frasier is sobbing now. He wipes the tears off his face with
the gun still in hand.
MARTIN’S GHOST
Would you put that stupid thing
down? We both know you’re not gonna
use it.
FRASIER
I don’t need to listen to you!
You’re not even real. You’re
obviously part of some delusion
from which I’m currently suffering.
Temporary psychosis brought on by
excessive alcohol consumption. You
don’t fool me!
Martin’s ghost chuckles.
MARTIN’S GHOST
You always were a skeptic, weren’t
you?
FRASIER
Who am I kidding? You’re right. I
don’t have the guts to use this.
Frasier tosses the gun aside.
MARTIN’S GHOST
That’s better. Look, Fras’. You can
spend the rest of your life feeling
sorry for yourself, beating
yourself up over all your mistakes.
Or you can learn to appreciate what
you have left. Learn to love the
people who are still in your life,
and help them when they need you.
FRASIER
Help? Help… them? Oh dear god,
Dad, I’ve been such a fool. I’ve
made a terrible mistake.
Frasier bolts up to his feet.
FRASIER
Dad, I’m terribly sorry, but I have
to go.
Frasier turns and leaves in a hurry. Martin’s ghost starts
to fade away as he delivers his final words to Frasier.
MARTIN’S GHOST
Remember: It’s never too late.
Until it is.
After Frasier’s gone, and Martin’s ghost has seemingly
disappeared, the ghost’s voice still lingers, and it’s
joined by the sound of EDDIE THE DOG’S GHOST, barking.
MARTIN’S GHOST (O.S.)
Okay, okay, Eddie. We can go for a
walk. Come on. Let’s go.
The ghostly voices dissipate into the cold wind. All that
remains are Frasier’s nearly-empty sherry bottle, placed
just off to the side of Freddy’s grave.
EXT. LILITH’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Looking very tasteful from the outside, Lilith’s brick
townhouse blends right in with the nice, quiet neighborhood
that surrounds it. Frasier, shuffling along the sidewalk,
squints at the numbers on each house until he finds the
right one. He charges up the steps and pounds on the door.
FRASIER
Lililth! Lilith, it’s me!
Frasier peers in through the front window. Completely
lacking in furniture, a flickering TV set lights up an
otherwise empty front room. Lilith lies immobile on the
floor.
FRASIER
Lilith! Please let me in! Lilith,
wake up!
He pounds on the window, but Lilith still doesn’t move. He
looks around frantically as if searching for a means of
entry. He grabs the doorknob and jiggles it, realizes that
it’s not locked. He pushes the door open and runs in.
INT. LILITH’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Frasier dashes inside.
FRASIER
Lilith!
He crouches down by her side. A heroin kit with some needles
is visible, and a loose tourniquet is still hanging off of
Lilith’s arm.
FRASIER
Lilith, wake up!
He can see now that her eyes are wide open. She’s completely
motionless, not breathing.
FRASIER
Oh god, Lilith, please.
He holds two fingers to her neck to take her pulse, but we
can see that he already knows it’s too late. He breathes
deeply as he holds his fingers there for a few seconds,
waiting. Finally, he shuts his eyes tight and starts to
break down crying, embracing Lilith’s dead body.
EXT. PARKING LOT – NIGHT
Frasier feeds change into a payphone in a convenience store
parking lot. He’s in a considerably less prosperous part of
town than Lilith’s neighborhood. Beyond him, in the
distance, some streetkids appear to be having an
altercation. Frasier slowly, nervously punches in the
numbers on the payphone. He takes a big, heavy breath as he
hears it ring. DAPHNE answers on the other end.
DAPHNE (O.S.)
Hello? Crane residence.
Frasier tries to talk, but he chokes up and immediately
begins sobbing uncontrollably.
DAPHNE (O.S.)
Hello? Who is this? Who’s there?
Frasier can’t contain himself. Snot streams out of his nose.
He struggles to form words.
FRASIER
Daphne, I…
DAPHNE (O.S.)
Dr. Crane? Is that you?
He’s blubbering so hard he can barely hold onto the
receiver. He leans against the payphone to stay standing.
DAPHNE (O.S.)
Dr. Crane, what is it? What’s
happened?
FRASIER
Oh god…
DAPHNE (O.S.)
Shall I get Niles for you?
FRASIER
It’s too late…
DAPHNE (O.S.)
Dr. Crane? Dr. Crane?
Frasier falls to his knees. Everything goes silent.
END OF ACT ONE
***
Yikes! I think we’re starting to understand why the execs at NBC rejected this thing. No offense to Mr. Grammer, of course, but what an undignified end for Lilith, our personal favorite character. In any case, here’s hoping that things get brighter for Dr. Crane. Thanks for reading!Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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This story originally appeared at Truthdig. Robert Scheer is the author of The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street (Nation Books).
They will get away with it, at least in this life. “They” are the Wall Street usurers, people of a sort condemned in Scripture, who have brought more misery to this nation than we have known since the Great Depression. “They” will not suffer for their crimes because they have a majority ownership position in our political system. That is the meaning of the banking plea bargain that the Obama administration is pressuring state attorneys general to negotiate with the titans of the financial world. Ad Policy
It is a sellout deal that, in return for a pittance of compensation by banks to ripped-off mortgage holders, would grant the banks blanket immunity from any prosecution. That is intended to short-circuit investigations by a score of aggressive state officials, inquiries that offer the public a last best hope to get to the bottom of the housing scandal that has cost US homeowners $6.6 trillion in home equity in the past five years and left 14.6 million Americans owing more than their homes are worth.
The $20 billion or so that the banks would pony up is chump change to them compared with the trillions that the Fed and other public agencies spent to bail them out. The banks were given direct cash subsidies, virtually zero-interest loans, and the Fed took $2 trillion in bad paper off their hands while the banks exacerbated the banking crisis they had created through additional shady practices, including fraudulent mortgage foreclosures.
Yet the administration has rushed to the aid of the banks once again and is attempting to intimidate the few state attorneys general who have the gumption to protect the public interest they are sworn to serve. As Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times reported:
“Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices.…
“In recent weeks, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and high-level Justice Department officials have been waging an intensifying campaign to try to persuade the attorney general to support the settlement.”
Donovan has good reason not to want an exploration of the origins of the housing meltdown: He has been a big-time player in the housing racket for decades. Back in the Clinton administration, when government-supported housing became a fig leaf for bundling suspect mortgages into what turned out to be toxic securities, Donovan was a deputy assistant secretary at HUD and acting Federal Housing Administration commissioner. He was up to his eyeballs in this business when the Clinton administration pushed through legislation banning any regulation of the market in derivatives based on home mortgages.
Armed with his insider connections, Donovan then went to work for the Prudential conglomerate (no surprise there), working deals with the same government housing agencies that he had helped run. As the New York Times reported in 2008 after President Barack Obama picked him to be secretary of HUD, “Mr. Donovan was a managing director at Prudential Mortgage Capital Co., in charge of its portfolio of investments in affordable housing loans, including Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration debt.”
The HUD website boasts in its bio of Donovan that “under Secretary Donovan’s leadership, HUD has helped stabilize the housing market and worked to keep responsible families in their homes.” If that is so, we have to assume that the tens of millions savaged by an out-of-control banking industry were not “responsible.” And if the housing market has in any way been “stabilized,” why did the Commerce Department report Tuesday that new home sales have dropped for the third month in a row?
Shifting the blame from the swindlers to the victims is the cynical rot at the core of the response of both the Bush and Obama administrations to the housing collapse. It is a response that aims to forgive and forget the crimes of Wall Street while allowing ordinary folks to sink deeper into the pit of debt and despair. It infects Donovan and many others who claim to be concerned for the very homeowners they are betraying by undermining the few officials such as Schneiderman who seek to hold the bankers accountable.
In her article about the pressure being brought to bear on Schneiderman to go along with the sellout, Morgenson reported that according to an attendee at a memorial service this month for former New York Governor Hugh Carey, as Schneiderman was leaving he “became embroiled in a contentious conversation with Kathryn S. Wylde, a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who represents the public.”
When interviewed by Morgenson, Wylde claimed that her conversation with Schneiderman was “not unpleasant” but that she told him “it is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street—love ’em or hate ’em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensible.”
When haven’t they done that?
Robert Scheer is the author of The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street (Nation Books).Home loans to investors have fallen to the lowest level in 10 months following a regulatory clampdown and the Turnbull government's efforts to cool the Sydney and Melbourne housing market.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Monday show home loans to investors as a proportion of all loans dropped 1.25 percentage points in March to 48 per cent, down from a high of over half of all home loans in January.
The slide has triggered a dip in property prices across five of Australia's capital cities, fuelling speculation of the end of the property boom.
The latest results from CoreLogic show the price of homes across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth falling by 0.5 per cent for the week and 0.9 per cent for the month.The anticipated proliferation of electric vehicles will effectively double the amount of storage on electricity grids – at effectively zero incremental cost.
That’s the proposition put forward by the global energy team at investment bank UBS, who predict that electric vehicles will reach “true cost parity” before 2020.
This, combined with rooftop solar at grid parity and the falling costs of batteries, will fundamentally change the nature of electricity networks.
More importantly, they say, it will effectively deliver large amounts of battery storage for zero incremental cost, allowing critical infrastructure to support the increase in variable renewasble energy generation to be incorporated for free.
“Nobody will buy an EV or a hybrid car because it offers storage capacity to the grid,” the UBS analysts write in their report, Will solar, batteries and electric cars re-shape the electricity system?
“It is just a nice, yet very relevant side-effect.”
(See our other stories from that report – Why EVs will make solar viable without subsidies, and another story predicting that coal generators could be all but extinct within a decade, UBS says it’s time to join the solar EV storage revolution.
The UBS analysts note that the |
eyes. That would indeed distinguish it from other situations. Is it a principle basis?
I mean, it's — it's a basis that explains why the government is doing this, but is it — is it a basis which shows that this is not going beyond what — what the — the system of enumerated powers allows the government to do.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Yes, for two reasons. First, this — the test, as this Court has articulated it, is: Is Congress regulating economic activity with a substantial effect on interstate commerce?
The way in which this statute satisfies the test is on the basis of the factors that I have identified. If -
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Mr. Verrilli, I thought that your main point is that, unlike food or any other market, when you made the choice not to buy insurance, even though you have every intent in the world to self-insure, to save for it, when disaster strikes, you may not have the money. And the tangible result of it is — we were told there was one brief that Maryland Hospital Care bills 7 percent more because of these uncompensated costs, that families pay a thousand dollars more than they would if there were no uncompensated costs.
I thought what was unique about this is it's not my choice whether I want to buy a product to keep me healthy, but the cost that I am forcing on other people if I don't buy the product sooner rather than later.
GENERAL VERRILLI: That is — and that is definitely a difference that distinguishes this market and justifies this as a regulation.
JUSTICE BREYER: All right. So if that is your difference — if that is your difference, I'm somewhat uncertain about your answers to — for example, Justice Kennedy asked, can you, under the Commerce Clause, Congress create commerce where previously none existed.
Well, yeah, I thought the answer to that was, since McCulloch versus Maryland, when the Court said Congress could create the Bank of the United States which did not previously exist, which job was to create commerce that did not previously exist, since that time the answer has been, yes. I would have thought that your answer — can the government, in fact, require you to buy cell phones or buy burials that, if we propose comparable situations, if we have, for example, a uniform United States system of paying for every burial such as Medicare Burial, Medicaid Burial, CHIP Burial, ERISA Burial and Emergency Burial beside the side of the road, and Congress wanted to rationalize that system, wouldn't the answer be, yes, of course, they could.
GENERAL VERRILLI: So -
JUSTICE BREYER: And the same with the computers or the same with the — the cell phones, if you're driving by the side of the highway and there is a federal emergency service just as you say you have to buy certain mufflers for your car that don't hurt the environment, you could — I mean, see, doesn't it depend on the situation?
GENERAL VERRILLI: It does, Justice Breyer, and if Congress were to enact laws like that, we -
JUSTICE BREYER: We would be — or -
GENERAL VERRILLI: My responsibility — and I would defend them on a rationale like that, but I do think that we are advancing a narrower rationale.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: Well, then your question is whether or not there are any limits on the Commerce Clause. Can you identify for us some limits on the Commerce Clause?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Yes. The — the rationale purely under the Commerce Clause that we're advocating here would not justify forced purchases of commodities for the purpose of stimulating demand. We — the — it would not justify purchases of insurance for the purposes — in situations in which insurance doesn't serve as the method of payment for service -
JUSTICE KENNEDY: But why not? If Congress — if Congress says that the interstate commerce is affected, isn't, according to your view, that the end of the analysis.
GENERAL VERRILLI: No. The, the — we think that in a — when — the difference between those situations and this situation is that in those situations, Your Honor, Congress would be moving to create commerce. Here Congress is regulating existing commerce, economic activity that is already going on, people's participation in the health care market, and is regulating to deal with existing effects of existing commerce.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: That — that it seems to me, it's a — it's a passage in your reply brief that I didn't quite grasp. It's the same point. You say health insurance is not purchased for its own sake, like a car or broccoli; it is a means of financing health care consumption and covering universal risks. Well, a car or broccoli aren't purchased for their own sake, either. They are purchased for the sake of transportation or in broccoli, covering the need for food. I — I don't understand that distinction.
GENERAL VERRILLI: The difference, Mr. Chief Justice, is that health insurance is the means of payment for health care and broccoli is -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, now that's a significant — I'm sorry.
GENERAL VERRILLI: And — and broccoli is not the means of payment for anything else. And an automobile is not -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: It's the means of satisfying a basic human need, just as your insurance is a means of satisfying -
GENERAL VERRILLI: But I do think that's the difference between existing commerce activity in the market already occurring — the people in the health care market purchasing, obtaining health care services — and the creation of commerce. And the principle that we are advocating here under the Commerce Clause does not take the step of justifying the creation of commerce. It's a regulation of the existing commerce.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: General Verrilli, can we
-can we go back to, Justice Breyer asked a question, and it kind of interrupted your answer to my question. And tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I thought a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do; that is, they -they will get, a good number of them will get services that they can't afford at the point where they need them, and the result is that everybody else's premiums get raised. So you're not — it's not your — your free choice just to do something for yourself. What you do is going to affect others, affect them in — in a major way.
GENERAL VERRILLI: That — that absolutely is a justification for Congress's action here. That is existing economic activity that Congress is regulating by means of this rule.
JUSTICE SCALIA: General Verrilli, you -you could say that about buying a car. If — if people don't buy cars, the price that those who do buy cars pay will have to be higher. So you could say in order to bring the price down, you are hurting these other people by not buying a car.
GENERAL VERRILLI: That is not what we are saying, Justice Scalia.
JUSTICE SCALIA: That's not — that's not what you're saying.
GENERAL VERRILLI: That's not — not -
JUSTICE SCALIA: I thought it was.
I thought you were saying other people are going to have to pay more for insurance because you're not buying it.
GENERAL VERRILLI: No. It's because you're going — in the health care market, you're going into the market without the ability to pay for what you get, getting the health care service anyway as a result of the social norms that allow — that — to which we've obligated ourselves so that people get health care.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Well, don't obligate yourself to that. Why — you know?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, I can't imagine that that — that the Commerce Clause would --would forbid Congress from taking into account this deeply embedded social norm.
JUSTICE SCALIA: You — you could do it. But — but does that expand your ability to, to issue mandates to — to the people?
GENERAL VERRILLI: I — I — this is not a purchase mandate. This is a — this is a law that regulates the method of paying for a service that the class of people to whom it applies are either consuming -
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: General -
GENERAL VERRILLI: — or — or inevitably will consume.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: General, I see or have seen three strands of arguments in your briefs, and one of them is echoed today. The first strand that I have seen is that Congress can pass any necessary laws to effect those powers within its rights, i.e., because it made a decision that to effect, to effect mandatory issuance of insurance, that it could also obligate the mandatory purchase of it.
The second strand I see is self-insurance affects the market, and so the government can regulate those who self-insure.
And the third argument — and I see all of them as different — is that what the government is doing, and I think it's the argument you're making today — that what the — what the government is saying is if you pay for — if you use health services, you have to pay with insurance. Because only insurance will guarantee that whatever need for health care that you have will be covered. Because virtually no one, perhaps with the exception of 1 percent of the population, can afford the massive cost if the unexpected happens.
This third argument seems to be saying what we are regulating is health care, and when you go for health services, you have to pay for insurance, and since insurance won't issue at the moment that you consume the product, we can reasonably, necessarily tell you to buy it ahead of time, because you can't buy it at the moment that you need it.
Is that — which of these three is your argument? Are all of them your argument? I'm just not sure what the -
GENERAL VERRILLI: So, let me try to state it this way. The Congress enacted reforms of the insurance market, the guaranteed-issue and community-rating reforms. It did so to deal with a very serious problem that results in 40 million people not being able to get insurance and therefore not access to the health care environment. Everybody agrees in this case that those are within Congress's Article I powers.
The minimum coverage provision is necessary to carry those provisions into — into execution; because without them, without those provisions, without minimum coverage, guaranteed issue and community rating will, as the experience in the States showed, make matters worse, not better. There will be fewer people covered; it will cost more. Now the — so -
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: So on that ground, you're answering affirmatively to my colleagues that have asked you the question, can the government force you into commerce.
GENERAL VERRILLI: So — no.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: And there is no limit to that power.
GENERAL VERRILLI: No. No. Because that's — that's the first part of our argument.
The second part of our argument is that the means here that the Congress has chosen, the minimum coverage provision, is a means that regulates the -that regulates economic activity, namely your transaction in the health care market, with substantial effects on interstate commerce; and it is the conjunction of those two that we think provides the particularly secure foundation for this statute under the commerce power.
JUSTICE KAGAN: General, you've talked on -a couple of times about other alternatives that Congress might have had, other alternatives that the Respondents suggest to deal with this problem, in particular, the alternative of mandating insurance at the point at which somebody goes to a hospital or an emergency room and asks for care.
Did Congress consider those alternatives? Why did it reject them? How should we think about the question of alternative ways of dealing with these problems?
GENERAL VERRILLI: I do think, Justice Kagan, that the point of difference between my friends on the other side and the United States is about one of timing. They have agreed that Congress has Article I authority to impose an insurance requirement or other -or other penalty at the point of sale, and they have agreed that Congress has the authority to do that to achieve the same objectives that the minimum coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act is designed to achieve. This is a situation if which we are talking about means. Congress gets a substantial deference in the choice of means, and if one thinks about the difference between the means they say Congress should have chosen and the means Congress did choose, I think you can see why it was eminently more sensible for Congress to choose the means that it chose.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: I'm not sure which way it cuts. If the Congress has alternate means, let's assume it can use the tax power to raise revenue and to just have a national health service, single payer. How does that factor into our analysis? In the one sense, it can be argued that this is what the government is doing; it ought to be honest about the power that it's using and use the correct power. On the other hand, it means that since the Court can do it anyway — Congress can do it anyway, we give a certain amount of latitude. I'm not sure which the way the argument goes.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Let me try to answer that question, Justice Kennedy, and get back to the question you asked me earlier. The, the — I do think one striking feature of the argument here that this is a novel exercise of power is that what Congress chose to do was to rely on market mechanisms and efficiency and a method that has more choice than would the traditional Medicare/Medicaid type model; and so it seems a little ironic to suggest that that counts against it.
But beyond that, in the sense that it's novel, this provision is novel in the same way, or unprecedented in the same way, that the Sherman Act was unprecedented when the Court upheld it in the Northern Securities case; or the Packers and Stockyards Act was unprecedented when the Court upheld it, or the National Labor Relations Act was unprecedented when the Court upheld it in Jones and Laughlin; or the — the dairy price supports in Wrightwood Dairy and Rock Royal -
JUSTICE SCALIA: Oh, no, it's not. They all involved commerce. There was no doubt that was what regulated was commerce. And here you're regulating somebody who isn't covered.
By the way, I don't agree with you that the relevant market here is health care. You're not regulating health care. You're regulating insurance. It's the insurance market that you're addressing and you're saying that some people who are not in it must be in it and that's — that's difference from regulating in any manner commerce that already exists out there.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, to the extent that we are looking at the comprehensive scheme, Justice Scalia, it is regulating commerce that already exists out there. And the means in which that regulation is made effective here, the minimum coverage provision, is a regulation of the way in which people participate, the method of their payment in the health care market. That is what it is.
And I do think, Justice Kennedy, getting back to the question you asked before, what — what matters here is whether Congress is choosing a tool that's reasonably adapted to the problem that Congress is confronting. And that may mean that the tool is different from a tool that Congress has chosen to use in the past. That's not something that counts against the provision in a Commerce Clause analysis.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Wait. That's — that's -it's both "Necessary and Proper." What you just said addresses what's necessary. Yes, has to be reasonably adapted. Necessary does not mean essential, just reasonably adapted. But in addition to being necessary, it has to be proper. And we've held in two cases that something that was reasonably adapted was not proper because it violated the sovereignty of the States, which was implicit in the constitutional structure.
The argument here is that this also is — may be necessary, but it's not proper because it violates an equally evident principle in the Constitution, which is that the Federal Government is not supposed to be a government that has all powers; that it's supposed to be a government of limited powers. And that's what all this questioning has been about. What — what is left? If the government can do this, what, what else can it not do?
GENERAL VERRILLI: This does not violate the norm of proper as this Court articulated it in Printz or in New York because it does not interfere with the States as sovereigns. This is a regulation that — this is a regulation -
JUSTICE SCALIA: No, that wasn't my point. That is not the only constitutional principle that exists.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But it -
JUSTICE SCALIA: An equally evident constitutional principle is the principle that the Federal Government is a government of enumerated powers and that the vast majority of powers remain in the States and do not belong to the Federal Government. Do you acknowledge that that's a principle?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Of course we do, Your Honor.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Okay. That's what we are talking about here.
GENERAL VERRILLI: And the way in which this Court in its cases has policed the boundary that — of what's in the national sphere and what's in the local sphere is to ask whether Congress is regulating economic activity with a substantial effect on interstate commerce. And here I think it's really impossible, in view of our history, to say that Congress is invading the State sphere. This is a — this is a market in which 50 percent of the people in this country get their health care through their employer. There is a massive Federal tax subsidy of $250 billion a year that makes that much more affordable. ERISA and HIPAA regulate that to ensure that the kinds of bans on pre-existing condition discrimination and pricing practices that occur in the individual market don't occur.
JUSTICE SCALIA: I don't understand your -
GENERAL VERRILLI: This is in -
JUSTICE SCALIA: Whatever the States have chosen not to do, the Federal Government can do?
GENERAL VERRILLI: No, not at all.
JUSTICE SCALIA: I mean, the Tenth Amendment says the powers not given to the Federal Government are reserved, not just to the States, but to the States and the people. And the argument here is that the people were left to decide whether they want to buy insurance or not.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But this — but, Your Honor, this is — what the Court has said, and I think it would be a very substantial departure from what the Court has said, is that when Congress is regulating economic activity with a substantial effect on interstate commerce that will be upheld. And that is what is going on here, and to embark on — I would submit with all due respect, to embark on the kind of analysis that my friends on the other side suggest the Court ought to embark on is to import Lochner-style substantive due process -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: The key in Lochner is that we were talking about regulation of the States, right, and the States are not limited to enumerated powers. The Federal Government is. And it seems to me it's an entirely different question when you ask yourself whether or not there are going to be limits in the Federal power, as opposed to limits on the States, which was the issue in Lochner.
GENERAL VERRILLI: I agree, except,
Mr. Chief Justice, that what the Court has said as I read the Court's cases is that the way in which you ensure that the Federal Government stays in its sphere and the sphere reserved for the States is protected is by policing the boundary: Is the national government regulating economic activity with a substantial effect on interstate commerce?
JUSTICE KENNEDY: But the reason, the reason this is concerning, is because it requires the individual to do an affirmative act. In the law of torts our tradition, our law, has been that you don't have the duty to rescue someone if that person is in danger. The blind man is walking in front of a car and you do not have a duty to stop him absent some relation between you. And there is some severe moral criticisms of that rule, but that's generally the rule.
And here the government is saying that the Federal Government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in previous cases and that changes the relationship of the Federal Government to the individual in the very fundamental way.
GENERAL VERRILLI: I don't think so, Justice Kennedy, because it is predicated on the participation of these individuals in the market for health care services. Now, it happens to be that this is a market in which, aside from the groups that the statute excludes, virtually everybody participates. But it is a regulation of their participation in that market.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, but it's critical how you define the market. If I understand the law, the policies that you're requiring people to purchase involve — must contain provision for maternity and newborn care, pediatric services, and substance use treatment. It seems to me that you cannot say that everybody is going to need substance use treatment, substance use treatment or pediatric services, and yet that is part of what you require them to purchase.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, it's part of what the statute requires the insurers to offer. And I think the reason is because it's trying to define minimum essential coverage because the problem -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: But your theory is that there is a market in which everyone participates because everybody might need a certain range of health care services, and yet you're requiring people who are not — never going to need pediatric or maternity services to participate in that market.
GENERAL VERRILLI: The — with respect to what insurance has to cover, Your Honor, I think Congress is entitled the latitude of making the judgments of what the appropriate scope of coverage is. And the problem here in this market is that for — you may think you're perfectly healthy and you may think that you're not — that you're being forced to subsidize somebody else, but this is not a market in which you can say that there is a immutable class of healthy people who are being forced to subsidize the unhealthy. This is a market in which you may be healthy one day and you may be a very unhealthy participant in that market the next day and that is a fundamental difference, and you're not going to know in which -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: I think you're posing the question I was posing, which is that doesn't apply to a lot of what you're requiring people to purchase: Pediatric services, maternity services. You cannot say that everybody is going to participate in the substance use market and yet you require people to purchase insurance coverage for that.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Congress has got --Congress is enacting economic regulation here. It has latitude to define essential, the attributes of essential coverage. That doesn't — that doesn't seem to me to implicate the question of whether Congress is engaging in economic regulation and solving an economic problem here, and that is what Congress is doing.
JUSTICE ALITO: Are you denying this? If you took the group of people who are subject to the mandate and you calculated the amount of health care services this whole group would consume and figured out the cost of an insurance policy to cover the services that group would consume, the cost of that policy would be much, much less than the kind of policy that these people are now going to be required to purchase under the Affordable Care Act?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, while they are young and healthy that would be true. But they are not going to be young and healthy forever. They are going to be on the other side of that actuarial equation at some point. And of course you don't know which among that group is the person who's going to be hit by the bus or get the definitive diagnosis. And that -
JUSTICE ALITO: The point is — no, you take into account that some people in that group are going to be hit by a bus, some people in that group are going to unexpectedly contract or be diagnosed with a disease that — that is very expensive to treat. But if you take their costs and you calculate that, that's a lot less than the amount that they are going to be required to pay.
So that you can't just justify this on the basis of their trying to shift their costs off to other people, can you?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, the — the people in that class get benefits, too, Justice Alito. They get the guaranteed-issue benefit that they would not otherwise have, which is an enormously valuable benefit.
And in terms of the — the subsidy rationale, I — I don't think — I think it's — it would be unusual to say that it's an illegitimate exercise of the commerce power for some people to subsidize others. Telephone rates in this country for a century were set via the exercise of the commerce power in a way in which some people paid rates that were much higher than their costs in order to subsidize -
JUSTICE SCALIA: Only if you make phone calls.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, right. But — but everybody — to live in the modern world, everybody needs a telephone. And the — the same thing with respect to the — you know, the dairy price supports that — that the Court upheld in Wrightwood Dairy and Rock Royal. You can look at those as disadvantageous contracts, as forced transfers, that — you know, I suppose it's theoretically true that you could raise your kids without milk, but the reality is you've got to go to the store and buy milk. And the commerce power -as a result of the exercise of the commerce power, you're subsidizing somebody else -
JUSTICE KAGAN: And this is especially true, isn't it, General -
GENERAL VERRILLI: — because that's the judgment Congress has made.
JUSTICE KAGAN: — Verrilli, because in this context, the subsidizers eventually become the subsidized?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, that was the point I was trying to make, Justice Kagan, that you're young and healthy one day, but you don't stay that way. And the — the system works over time. And so I just don't think it's a fair characterization of it. And it does get back to, I think — a problem I think is important to understand -
JUSTICE SCALIA: We're not stupid. They're going to buy insurance later. They're young and — and need the money now.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But that's -
JUSTICE SCALIA: When — when they think they have a substantial risk of incurring high medical bills, they'll buy insurance, like the rest of us.
But -
GENERAL VERRILLI: That's — that's -
JUSTICE SCALIA: — I don't know why you think that they're never going to buy it.
GENERAL VERRILLI: That's the problem, Justice Scalia. That's — and that's exactly the experience that the States had that made the imposition of guaranteed-issue and community rating not only be ineffectual but be highly counterproductive. Rates, for example, in New Jersey doubled or tripled, went from 180,000 people covered in this market down to 80,000 people covered in this market.
In Kentucky, virtually every insurer left the market. And the reason for that is because when people have that guarantee of — that they can get insurance, they're going to make that calculation that they won't get it until they're sick and they need it, and so the pool of people in the insurance market gets smaller and smaller. The rates you have to charge to cover them get higher and higher. It helps fewer and fewer — insurance covers fewer and fewer people until the system ends.
This is not a situation in which you're conscripting — you're forcing insurance companies to cover very large numbers of unhealthy people -
JUSTICE SCALIA: You could solve that problem by simply not requiring the insurance company to sell it to somebody who has a — a condition that is going to require medical treatment, or at least not -not require them to sell it to him at — at a rate that he sells it to healthy people.
But you don't want to do that.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But that seems to me to say, Justice Scalia, that Congress — that's the problem here. And that seems to be -
JUSTICE SCALIA: That seems to me a self-created problem.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Congress cannot solve the problem through standard economic regulation, and that — and — and I do not think that can be the premise of our understanding of the Commerce Clause -
JUSTICE SCALIA: Whatever -
GENERAL VERRILLI: — this is an economic problem -
JUSTICE SCALIA: — whatever problems Congress's economic regulation produces, whatever they are, I think Congress can do something to counteract them. Here, requiring somebody to enter — to enter the insurance market.
GENERAL VERRILLI: This is not a — it's not a problem of Congress's creation. The problem is that you have 40 million people who cannot get affordable insurance through the means that the rest of us get affordable insurance. Congress, after a long study and careful deliberation, and viewing the experiences of the States and the way they tried to handle this problem, adopted a package of reforms. Guaranteed-issue and community rating, and — and subsidies and the minimum coverage provision are a package of reforms that solve that problem.
I don't — I think it's highly artificial to view this as a problem of Congress's own creation.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Is your argument limited to insurance or means of paying for health care?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Yes. It's limited to insurance.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, now why is that? Congress could — once you — once you establish that you have a market for health care, I would suppose Congress's power under the Commerce Clause meant they had a broad scope in terms of how they regulate that market. And it would be — it would be going back to Lochner if we were put in the position of saying no, you can use your commerce power to regulate insurance, but you can't use your commerce power to regulate this market in other ways. I think that would be a very significant intrusion by the Court into Congress's power.
So I don't see how we can accept your -it's good for you in this case to say oh, it's just insurance. But once we say that there is a market and Congress can require people to participate in it, as some would say — or as you would say, that people are already participating in it — it seems to me that we can't say there are limitations on what Congress can do under its commerce power, just like in any other area, all — given significant deference that we accord to Congress in this area, all bets are off, and you could regulate that market in any rational way.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But this is insurance as a method of payment for health care services -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Exactly.
GENERAL VERRILLI: And that — and that is -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: And you're worried — that's the area that Congress has chosen to regulate. There's this health care market. Everybody's in it. So we can regulate it, and we're going to look at a particular serious problem, which is how people pay for it. But next year, they can decide everybody's in this market, we're going to look at a different problem now, and this is how we're going to regulate it. And we can compel people to do things — purchase insurance, in this case. Something else in the next case, because you've — we've accepted the argument that this is a market in which everybody participates.
GENERAL VERRILLI: Mr. Chief Justice, let me answer that, and then if I may, I'd like to move to the tax power argument.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Can — can I tell you what the something else is so — while you're answering it? The something else is everybody has to exercise, because there's no doubt that lack of exercise cause — causes illness, and that causes health care costs to go up.
So the Federal government says everybody has to — to join a — an exercise club. That's — that's the something else.
GENERAL VERRILLI: No. The — the position we're taking here would not justify that rule, Justice Scalia, because health club membership is not a means of payment for — for consumption of anything in — in a market.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Right. Right. That's — that's exactly right, but it doesn't seem responsive to my concern that there's no reason — once we say this is within Congress's commerce power, there's no reason other than our own arbitrary judgment to say all they can regulate is the method of payment. They can regulate other things that affect this now-conceded interstate market in health care in which everybody participates.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But I think it's common ground between us and the Respondents that this is an interstate market in which everybody participates. And they agree that — that Congress could impose the insurance requirement at the point of sale. And this is just a question of timing, and whether Congress's -whether the necessary and proper authority gives Congress, because of the particular features of this market, the ability to impose the — the insurance, the need for insurance, the maintenance of insurance before you show up to get health care rather than at the moment you get up to show -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Right. No, I think -
GENERAL VERRILLI: — show up to get health care. And that -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: — unless I'm missing something, I think you're just repeating the idea that this is the regulation of the method of payment. And I understand that argument. And it may be — it may be a good one. But what I'm concerned about is, once we accept the principle that everybody is in this market, I don't see why Congress's power is limited to regulating the method of payment and doesn't include as it does in any other area.
What other area have we said Congress can regulate this market but only with respect to prices, but only with respect to means of travel? No. Once you're — once you're in the interstate commerce and can regulate it, pretty much all bets are off.
GENERAL VERRILLI: But we agree Congress can regulate this market. ERISA regulates this market. HIPAA regulates this market. The — the market is regulated at the Federal level in very significant ways already. So I don't think that's the question, Mr. Chief Justice. The question is, is there a limit to the authority that we're advocating here under the commerce power, and the answer is yes, because we are not advocating for a power that would allow Congress to compel purchases -
JUSTICE ALITO: Could you just — before you move on, could you express your limiting principle as succinctly as you possibly can? Congress can force people to purchase a product where the failure to purchase the product has a substantial effect on interstate commerce — if what? If this is part of a larger regulatory scheme? Was that it? Was there anything more?
GENERAL VERRILLI: We got two and they are — they are different. Let me state them. First with respect to the comprehensive scheme. When Congress is regulating — is enacting a comprehensive scheme that it has the authority to enact that the Necessary and Proper Clause gives it the authority to include regulation, including a regulation of this kind, if it is necessary to counteract risks attributable to the scheme itself that people engage in economic activity that would undercut the scheme. It's like — it's very much like Wickard in that respect, very much like Raich in that respect.
With respect to the — with respect to the — considering the Commerce Clause alone and not embedded in the comprehensive scheme, our position is that Congress can regulate the method of payment by imposing an insurance requirement in advance of the time in which the — the service is consumed when the class to which that requirement applies either is or virtually is most certain to be in that market when the timing of one's entry into that market and what you will need when you enter that market is uncertain and when — when you will get the care in that market, whether you can afford to pay for it or not and shift costs to other market participants.
So those — those are our views as to -those are the principles we are advocating for and it's, in fact, the conjunction of the two of them here that makes this, we think, a strong case under the Commerce Clause.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: General, could you turn to the tax clause?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Yes.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: I have to look for a case that involves the issue of whether something denominated by Congress as a penalty was nevertheless treated as a tax, except in those situations where the code itself or the statute itself said treat the penalty as a tax.
Do you know of any case where we've done that?
GENERAL VERRILLI: Well, I think I would point the Court to the License Tax Case, where it was -was denominated a fee and nontax, and the Court upheld it as an exercise of the taxing power, in a situation in which the structure of the law was very much the structure of this law, in that there was a separate stand-alone provision that set the predicate and then a separate provision in closing -
JUSTICE SCALIA: But fees, you know, license fees, fees for a hunting license, everybody knows those are taxes. I mean, I don't think there is as much of a difference between a fee and a tax as there is between a penalty and a tax.
GENERAL VERRILLI: And that, and — and I think in terms of the tax part, I think it's useful to separate this into two questions. One is a question of characterization. Can this be characterized as a tax; and second, is it a constitutional exercise of the power?
With respect to the question of characterization, the — this is — in the Internal Revenue Code, it is administered by the IRS, it is paid on your Form 1040 on April 15th, I think -
JUSTICE GINSBURG: But yesterday you told me — you listed a number of penalties that are enforced through the tax code that are not taxes and they are not penalties related to taxes.
GENERAL VERRILLI: They may still be exercise of the tax — exercises of the taxing power, Justice Ginsburg, as — as this is, and I think there isn't a case in which the Court |
of Architects, 2014-2015.
PDF: ENTIRE REPORT
KITV: Website showing street-level rail in Honolulu launchesNews Update: Broward County Libraries offering Free Eclipse Glasses
You’ve had 99 years to prepare. But just in case you’ve procrastinated, we have good news – you can still get viewing glasses for free! To boot, you can also participate in enjoyable educational programs designed to enhance your once-in-a-lifetime experience.
With just over a week until the total solar eclipse, AKA: The Great American Eclipse, these programs (many occurring during the actual eclipse) are being offered throughout Broward County. Here is a list of events:
-August 17 – Eclipse 2017 – Big Sun, Small Moon? 6 to 7:30PM, Margate Catharine Young Library, 5810 Park Drive, Margate, FL 33063, 954-357-7500
-August 19 – Pre-Solar Eclipse Celebration: Make an edible model of the sun, 1 to 2PM, African-American Research Library and Cultural Center
-August 20 – Pre-Solar Eclipse Party, 12 to 4PM, Stirling Road Library, 3151 Stirling Road, Hollywood, FL 33312, 954-357-7550
-August 21 – Solar Eclipse Special Event, 12:30 to 7:30PM, African-American Research Library & Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311, 954-357-6282
-August 21 – Let’s View the Solar Eclipse, 1 to 5PM, Main Library, 100 S Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 954-357-7444
-August 21 -Solar Eclipse: Watch NASA stream total eclipse of the sun from across the U.S., local observatory telescopes streams, view live partial eclipse of the sun outdoors with free eclipse glasses, arts and craft projects and more, 1 to 5PM, Southwest Regional Library, 16835 Sheridan St., Pembroke Pines, FL 33331, 954-357-6580
-August 21 – Solar Eclipse: Experience the fascinating real-life science behind an eclipse, 2 to 3PM, North Lauderdale Saraniero Library, 6901 Kimberly Blvd., North Lauderdale, FL 33068, 954-357-6660
If you have questions or would like to register for any of the upcoming events, call your local library.
News Update Source: Get Your Free Eclipse Glasses From These Broward Libraries – NBC 6 South Florida http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Get-Your-Free-Eclipse-Glasses-From-These-Broward-Libraries-439970223.html#ixzz4penvxTy2Courtesy of Blumhouse
Blumhouse Television has teamed with producer Scott Hallock to produce a new edition of the horror reality series “Scare Tactics.”
The prank show that ran five seasons on Syfy between 2003 and 2013 revolves around unsuspecting marks who are set up by friends and family members to stumble into situations that resemble scenes from classic horror pics. Shannen Doherty and Tracy Morgan hosted past iterations of the show.
Blumhouse, headed by prolific producer Jason Blum, is known for its success with micro-budget horror pics such as “The Purge,” “Get Out” and “Whiplash.” Hallock said that background made the company a good fit for breathing new life into the concept.
“The opportunity to reinvent ‘Scare Tactics’ with Jason Blum and the Blumhouse Television team is the result of a lot of hard work by some very talented people. It’s a dream come true for me,” Hallock said. “Scare Tactics pranks have always been imagined as a collection of miniature horror movies. But with Blumhouse on board, this show is about to get bigger, stronger, crazier, funnier, and scarier than ever.”
Blumhouse TV co-presidents Marci Wiseman and Jeremy Gold called the show a “classic reality concept ripe for a new spin.”
Hallock’s LikeMineDid Media will produce with Blumhouse TV.
Hallock is represented by APA and Phil Daniels of Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.When Benny Ventura, a 25-year-old visual designer from Austin, Tex., moved to New York last September, he knew he would not be making enough to live alone, but he did not know anyone he could split an apartment with. Like countless other freshly minted New Yorkers, he set about looking for a room.
He found an apartment easily enough: a newly renovated three-bedroom in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, with rent just shy of $3,000 a month. But to move in, he needed to find two roommates within a month. Such situations have become so common that Nooklyn, the Brooklyn-based brokerage that Mr. Ventura found his apartment through, has built a version of Match.com for roommates into its apartment-hunting app.
“It took almost the entire month,” he said. “I think I met 15 people for coffee. It was like speed dating. I’d done shares before in Austin, but I knew all my roommates. I didn’t have to scout for them.”
While brokers have been urging budget-constrained renters to get roommates for decades, only recently have they started to take a more proactive role in the process, actively offering matching services or posting Craigslist ads for rooms in larger apartments. The practice is just one of many ways that New York City’s rental market is moving toward a rent-by-the-room model — a response to the imbalance between New York’s large single population and the prohibitively high cost of living alone, and, perhaps not coincidentally, a model that thrived in the last century.Plans to apply market values to forests and waterways to protect them could lead to the destruction of everything nature gives us
As UN climate negotiations rumbled on in Warsaw, big business came together with conservation groups in Edinburgh last week at the inaugural World Forum on Natural Capital to put a price on nature.
The idea goes back to the Rio+20 conference in 2012, when a group of investors drafted the natural capital declaration. It argues that if we price everything nature gives us (wildlife, plants, forests, waterways, pollination, you name it), companies would think twice before destroying them.
Like advocates of the market for more than 200 years, the drafter of the declaration cannot abide the idea of "the commons" – commonly held resources whose reproduction and use is not subject to the laws of finance. The English enclosures, starting around the 15th century, and the Scottish clearances, from the 18th century, turned most common land in our country into private property, generating the profits that fed the Industrial Revolution.
In its quest for new markets today, finance is again intent on privatising the "global commons". The first step, as is clearly expressed in the natural capital declaration, is to start thinking of the environment as if it were capital, and to price it accordingly.
Surely few of the conservation groups gathered in Edinburgh last week would welcome the wholesale selling-off of nature. But either through desperation at the scale of the environmental crisis, or in ignorance of the political implications of the project, many are going along with this first step of putting a price on nature.
As one delegate told me: "We're just trying to value nature better." Ironically, it took an investment professional to point out the dangers that seemed to have escaped so many NGOs. "Be very careful," he warned. "Once you put a price on nature in order to protect something, you will find someone will pay that price in order to destroy it."
Even for market specialists, pricing nature is no easy task, as a representative of a French investment bank told the Edinburgh forum when explaining the problems of trying to compare different species. Butterflies seemed to cause him particular difficulty, as it's tough to track how many of them are flying around.
But the benefits of doing so became clearer when a former head of Puma told us: "Yes I fly a lot, but by the end of my life I hope I will have had a 'positive net impact' on the planet." The logic runs, it doesn't matter how much damage you do, as long as you make up for it by investing in some good deeds elsewhere.
For a frequent flyer, you can buy an offset that funds forest plantation. A market in nature would allow a mining company to keep destroying the environment in Bolivia as long as it supports a green and pleasant land somewhere in South Africa.
Leaving aside the difficulty of creating species to replace the ones you've wiped out, this also means imposing property rights on land being used by the people in that paradise, who you might have to turf off their land. But that is also beneficial to investors, because you've just expanded the potential commodity markets. What's more, you have bought an indulgence and your sin is wiped out – so you no longer need to focus on reducing your environmental destruction.
To grasp the absurdity of the argument, consider setting up a financial market in human rights crimes. Presumably, if I want to torture or murder one group of people in one place, I could do this as long as I invest in protecting – or simply not harming – a group of people somewhere else. Maybe I could buy a credit from Amnesty International.
This is great news for the likes of Rio Tinto, whose representatives treated us to a presentation about a beautiful project it is working on in Australia. We didn't see, and no one thought to ask, about the destructive mining it was also engaged in, which this project supposedly makes acceptable. It's not relevant. What's important is Rio Tinto's "positive net impact" on the world.
This is about much more than greenwash. Because the "good" activities have a mirror in the "bad" activities in the market, the more good stuff you do, the more bad stuff you can also do. More butterflies in Italy means you can mine more in Bolivia. Meanwhile, financiers will make a killing betting on whether a butterfly species will die out, allowing you to hedge your risks.
Many people asked me: "So what's your alternative then?" I recommend removing finance from the world, rather than promoting it. Five years after financial markets and their "innovative" products sent the global economy into a tailspin, few people outside the political establishment would put them in charge of our environment.
A packed counter-forum in Edinburgh, organised by the World Development Movement and other campaign groups, attracted several participants from the official event. This forum heard that people on every continent are reclaiming the commons from finance – re-municipalising water, supporting the food sovereignty movement, setting up local, renewable energy schemes. Anyone claiming to want a better world should be betting on them, rather than on the market.This has been a good year for me, and I told my Santa such. I asked my santa to use my gift to volunteer or donation for a food pantry, homeless shelter, or charity of their choice. My lovely anonymous santa says they've made a donation in my name - I'm not sure to where, but I'm glad that they've taken some time to make some positive impact on their community! Thank you Santa!
Also, excuse the Pixlr stickers. I went overboard.
UPDATE: I was sent a lovely message from my santa today! They stated they made a donation to Foundation House!
"Our Mission Fountain House improves the lives of people living with serious mental illness by:
Operating community mental health programs in New York City based upon Fountain House’s pioneering working community model that relies on the voluntary participation of its members,
Developing innovative programs, research, and shared knowledge about recovery from mental illness,
Collaborating with others to inspire and teach organizations around the world to use the Fountain House model, and
Advocating for people living with serious mental illness to improve perceptions and practices."
What a fantastic gift!Chou Shu-chi and Wang Shu-yi are raising twins together but the Taiwanese Government refuses to recognize Wang as a legal guardian of her children as she was not the birth mother
Taiwanese lesbians Chou Shu-chi and Wang Shu-yi are suing the Taiwanese Government after it refused to recognize them both as legal guardians of the twins they are raising together.
The couple have been together for 15 years since meeting in college and four years ago they decided they wanted to start a family so Chou traveled to Canada to undergo an assisted reproduction procedure.
The couple were told there was a 60% chance the procedure would not work so they were blown over when they discovered they were having twins – a boy and a girl.
‘We felt like we had won the lottery,’ Chou told the Taipei Times.
But while birth mother Chou has legal guardianship of the children, Taiwan does not allow people in same-sex relationships to adopt their partner’s children, so Wang has no parental rights.
The couple sought to register Wang as their children’s co-parent with Taiwan’s registry office however as Taiwan does not legally recognize same-sex relationships in any way they were turned away.
The same thing happened when they approached the Taipei City Government.
The couple are now suing to try to get Taiwan’s civil code regulations relating to step-parents extended so that they will allow Wang to be recognized as their children’s stepmother
The couple’s lawyers filed their case with Taipei’s Shilin District Court yesterday with supporters from the Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy group accompanying them to the court.
‘We’ve been together for 15 years and we’ve raised our children for more than three years,’ Wang told the Taipei Times.
‘We are in a stable relationship and form a very stable, happy family. All we are seeking is legal recognition of that, so we can be a family not only in real life, but also in the eyes of the law.’
It is unknown at this stage how long it will take the court to hear their case.Sometimes comedians come too close to the truth. There are people who, it seems, truly thinks that the “solution” for climate change is something like Futurama’s ice cubes into the sea …
Absurd, no?
Well aligned with what climate science tells us will be happening with increasing frequency, there are a number of regions that have been going through seriously scary heat waves. Forget “scary”, how about seriously deadly?
The death toll from a weeklong heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan, has risen to 1,233, officials told the Associated Press Saturday. Some 65,000 people flooded the city’s hospitals to be treated for heat stroke, and about 1,900 patients were still receiving medical care as the country began to cool off.
…
… temperatures climbing to 113 degrees Fahrenheit
And, Pakistan is not along with extreme heat …
To this, Judith Curry has a rather straightforward (Futurama-ish?) response:
Looks like they need more air conditioning in Spain and France and also South Asia. [and the western United States …] Does it make more sense to provide air conditioning or to limit CO2 emissions. I vote for more air conditioning in these susceptible regions.
While good, perhaps, for HVAC manufacturers, this ‘solution’ for a climate-change driven trend for more and worsened heat waves is like dropping ice cubes into the ocean …
And, like dropping ice cubes into the ocean, there are just a few complexities to consider …
Karachi’s power grid also collapsed, leaving thousands without air conditioning in a city already facing power cuts and water shortages.
So, the answer to ever-worsening heat waves should be increasing energy demands … often in areas with poor to utterly inadequate energy services.
Too many climate disinformers/delayers engage in a related sleight of hand: they decry “Energy Poverty” as part of a subterfuge effort to support increased global reliance on and use of polluting fossil fuels (primarily in support of burning coal). “Energy Poverty” is a real thing — but the solution set(s) are to be found elsewhere than promoting the burning of coal.
In any event, welcome to today’s Futurama episode courtesy of Judith ‘Marie Antoinette’ Curry:
Let them buy air conditioners.
Yup, let’s tell people, businesses, countries
to buy air conditioners
to keep people cool in ever-worsening heat waves as a path
to worsen energy poverty challenges and
to worsen our climate change challenges.
It does sound like something more suitable for a comedy show than serious intellectual dialogue.
UPDATE NOTE: For a more serious response as to why the actual response is more complicated — and actually can include some additional air conditioning — see Mitigation + Adaptation required re #climate: heat waves require clean energy + a/c …
UPDATE: For those interested in exploring Judith Curry’s “science”, here are a few relevant discussions:
Be Sociable, Share!Google's DeepMind has partnered with Oxford University researchers to create a new AI that can read lips, calling it Watch, Listen and Spell (WLAS).
The researchers released a scientific paper suggesting the newly developed AI could correctly interpret more words that a trained professional in lip reading.
When tested on the same randomly selected 200 clips, a human professional lip reader was able to guess words correctly 12.4% of the time, while WLAS had an accuracy rate of 46.8%.
The paper reads: "The WLAS model trained on the LRS dataset surpasses the performance of all previous work on standard lip reading benchmark datasets, often by a significant margin. This lip reading performance beats a professional lip reader on videos from BBC television, and we also demonstrate that visual information helps to improve speech recognition performance even when the audio is available."
The system was trained on a dataset of 118,000 different sentences (17,500 words) using 5,000 hours of video footage from the BBC.
The BBC videos were prepared using machine learning algorithms, and the AI was also taught to realign video and audio when it was out of sync.
Earlier this month, the University of Oxford published a similar research paper, testing a lip reading program called LipNet. LipNet had a 93.4% level of lip reading accuracy, compared to 52.3% scored by a human expert on the same material presented.
However, LipNet was tested on videos with volunteers saying formulaic sentences, with a dataset of only 51 words, whereas WLAS was tested on a much larger range of data, analysing actual conversations from BBC shows.
There are various possible applications of this lip reading technology. An AI tool such as WLAS could be of great help to improve the quality of live subtitles and better support individuals whose hearing is impaired.
It could also be a useful additional integration for virtual assistants such as Siri, as they could use the phone camera to lip read, improving their understanding of users' words even in crowded or noisy environments.
Such a tool could also be implemented for surveillance purposes, although reading lips from a grainy CCTV video could prove more challenging.Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on Friday lambasted President Obama and Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE and called on voters to seek "a new way forward."
Stein's criticisms are aimed at attracting backers of Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersSenate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Bernie Sanders Town Hall finishes third in cable news race, draws 1.4 million viewers Woman to undecided Biden: 'Just say yes' to 2020 bid MORE (I-Vt.), who finished second to Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary. After Sanders conceded to Clinton, Stein urged Sanders to join forces with her on the Green Party ticket, but the Vermont senator declined to do so and has endorsed Clinton.
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In an interview for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, airing Sunday, Stein said Obama's climate change policies are "a disaster" and lambasted his foreign policies, claiming he has not deviated from President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.
Stein, who is polling in the single digits, bashed Clinton on a number of fronts, including her record on trade and ties to Wall Street. "Hillary Clinton has been part of the problem," she said. "The problems that have created the rise of Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE will be continued by Hillary Clinton."
Other highlights of the interview include:
70 percent tax rate. The "super rich" should pay "in the range" of a 70 percent tax rate, Stein said. While declining to define the super rich, Stein said she's talking about people making "millions and billions" — not $300,000 to $400,000 annually.
Top of the ticket. Had he accepted Stein's offer, Sanders could have been at the top of the Green Party ticket. Stein said all options were on the table.
On the ballot. Stein, who is currently on less than half of the states' ballots, said she hopes to be on 48-50 state ballots by Election Day.
Doubles down on controversial Wi-Fi comments. Earlier this year, Stein made controversial comments suggesting Wi-Fi is harming students. Pressed on the matter, Stein cited a recent National Institutes of Health study and said more research is needed.
Presidential debates. Stein and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson Gary Earl JohnsonPotential GOP primary challenger: Trump's 'contempt for the American people' behind possible bid The Hill's 12:30 Report — Presented by Kidney Care Partners — Trump escalates border fight with emergency declaration Former Mass. governor takes step toward Trump primary challenge MORE need to reach a 15-percent threshold in the polls to make it into this fall's presidential debates. Johnson is in within reach, but Stein would have to more than double her support in the coming weeks. She maintains that is possible, especially now that the mainstream media is paying her more attention. Along those lines, CNN will conduct a town hall meeting with Stein on Aug. 17.
C-SPAN will air its "Newsmakers" program Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET.Bell brings you closer to the Toronto Raptors and other NBA stars with Open Gym and you can watch it all season long on TSN4.
The all-access documentary series, produced by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, takes you into the locker room, on the road and into players and coaches personal lives all season long. Entering its third season, it provides full access to the Raptors and their players. It airs on TSN4 Tuesdays at 1pm et and Wednesdays at 7:30pm et.
Bell customers can watch these broadcasts live on their smartphones and tablets on the Bell TV app offering the best content on the screen of your choice.
This season, for the first time, Open Gym is available in different versions across multiple platforms!
Bell TV customers have 24 hour advance access to Open Gym with Open Gym Premiere with extra footage on their smartphones and tablets with the Bell TV app.
And Open Gym After Show features insights from fans and basketball insiders as they take an in-depth look at the latest episode of Open Gym. The Open Gym After Show is available to Fibe TV customers on Bell Local, channel 1217 and for all Bell TV customers on the Bell TV app.
Click here for more details on Open Gym, along with a full broadcast schedule.The question “Were you there?” probably has two resonances for Christians. It is the title of a famous spiritual. And it is a phrase that Ken Ham encourages people to ask in science classes. One of them is an invitation to bridge the distance between past and present. The other closes that bridge in a way that is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity.
Christianity has at its core claims about the past. For some conservative believers, those claims are arguably excessively numerous, and sometimes called into question by historical evidence and investigation – e.g. that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, that the accounts of Adam and Eve and the Flood were passed down faithfully and represent traditions earlier than the Babylonian parallels which are older than the Book of Genesis in its present form. But for all Christians, there are historical events at the core of our identity: in particular, the life of a historic individual, Jesus of Nazareth.
The classic spiritual invites the Christian to bridge the gulf that separates us from those past events.
Ken Ham’s sarcastic and inane question, on the other hand, closes the bridge. Because if it can be asked of scientists (who generally have very specific and concrete data to work with), it can be asked all the more about matters of history.
The question “Were you there?” that Ken Ham poses is not the question of a Christian. It is the question of a naive critic of Christianity, which might well be posed to equally naive conservative believers, in the manner of the following:
Claim: Jesus died.
Response: How do you know? Were you there?
Follow-up claim: The Gospel authors wrote about it, and they saw it happen.
Response: How do you know? Were you there?
Follow-up claim: Even if they weren’t there, they had oral traditions to work with.
And so on ad infinitum, about any claim about the past that is simply asserted. But the naivite of the assertions and the retorts are both ignoring the legitimate processes of reasoning whereby we can use evidence to deduce things about the past.
Ken Ham’s question is fundamentally anti-scientific, but also anti-historical one, and as a result anti-Christian one. While it may appear an appropriately simple retort to simplistic claims about the past of the sort mentioned above, it can be posed in annoying fashion even to those who use the best historical methods and legitimate deductive reasoning with respect to the historical figure of Jesus – the same sort of deductive reasoning with evidence that provides abundant support for evolution in the realm of biology. As a response to deductive reasoning, it reflects a foolish stance of uncomprehending and simplistic criticism, one which denies all possibility of knowing about the past – whether about evolution or about the historical figure of Jesus, not to mention the countless other topics to which deductive reasoning is also applicable and necessary.
And so Ken Ham is teaching an approach to science that leads naturally to rejection of Christianity.
Remind me again why Christians listen to him and take his advice?Britain should aim to increase cycling use more than tenfold in the next few decades by investing £1bn-plus a year to make its roads more cyclist-friendly, a cross-party report by MPs and peers recommends.
Such a scheme would pay for itself many times over, boosting the economy and health of the nation by reducing pollution, congestion and inactivity, according to the findings of the Get Britain Cycling inquiry by the all-party parliamentary cycling group.
The benefits would be so widespread that the strategy should be funded not just by the Department for Transport but health, education and business, it says.
The committee, which heard weeks of evidence from ministers, cycling experts and others, has presented the government with a list of recommendations, including a target for cycle use to rise from its current level of about 2% of all journeys to 10% by 2025 and 25% by 2050.
To finance this, spending on cycling projects should be boosted from around £2 a person a year, as at present in most of England, to £10 and then £20.
Above all, the country needs "a fundamental cultural shift in how we think about the way we travel", the committee's co-chairs, the Labour MP Ian Austin and his Liberal Democrat colleague Julian Huppert, say in an introduction. "Cycling needs to be not just a personal option, when we decide how to travel for work, school or leisure, but a core issue when planning our streets, roads, buildings and communities," they argue.
A key element would be a long-term commitment to redesign roads and other infrastructure to make them more cycle friendly, the report says, noting that changes such as segregated cycle lanes and improved junctions would also benefit drivers as well as pedestrians.
The committee is recommending a legal requirement for the needs of cyclists and pedestrians to be taken into account at the start of all development schemes, including for housing and business as well as roads, with the existing network revamped to make it less forbidding.
Other recommendations focus on safety – for example, the extension of urban 20mph speed limits, better lorry design and more stringent police action following serious incidents – and more cycle training, including at all schools.
The report stresses how achievable ambitious increases in bike use can be: Seville, in Spain, managed a tenfold rise in three years. But any such goals hinge on strong and consistent leadership from the top of government. This will be the key test for the inquiry, which heard an admission from Norman Baker, the junior transport minister responsible for cycling, that he had never once discussed his brief with David Cameron.
The government has promised a formal response to the report. Huppert said: "That's what we'll have to see. The onus is on the prime minister to show that he does have that vision."
The committee says there should be a cross-departmental plan for cycling, with a national "cycling champion" to ensure unified policy.
"If you see cycling as a sub-department of the Department for Transport and nothing else, no matter how good your cycling minister is they can't factor in the huge savings to public health of people cycling more, or the business growth, whether from a healthy workforce or this idea that people on bikes buy more than people in cars, because they can get to shops more easily," Huppert said. "It's not just about money and the way our roads are laid out, though those are critical, it's about that cross-department action."
Baker said his department was committed to getting people on bikes. He said: "We are grateful to the APPCG for raising the profile of cycling and we will respond to this report shortly. I am setting up a project team involving stakeholders and representatives from other Whitehall departments to set out how we would work together to get more people cycling."Cycling groups including the CTC and Sustrans welcomed the report. Jason Torrance, policy director of Sustrans, said: "We now need leadership from the heart of government and co-operation by every department to implement these recommendations in full, helping to create a healthier, happier, more prosperous nation."The shooting suspect, Esteban Santiago, is in federal custody.
Leaders at a news conference confirm that Santiago walked into an FBI office in Anchorage. CBS News reported earlier that Santiago talked about ISIS while at the FBI office. The official at the news conference said agents in Anchorage completed their interview with Esteban Santiago and called the police, who took him for a mental health evaluation.
Investigators have not ruled out terrorism. At this time it’s too early for investigators to know why the shooter came to Florida.
The airport director said that teams worked most of the day to get passengers to safety.
Travelers are being let out of the airport nearly six hours after the mass shooting.
Passengers with personal vehicles will begin to leave the airport. The public is not allowed into the airport. More details to come.
TIME reports the shooting at a Florida airport Friday afternoon exposed one of the most glaring security weaknesses in the U.S.: areas inside airports that aren’t subject to routine security checks.
The weaknesses of airport security in areas beyond TSA screening have long been a point of concern in the U.S.
“It’s not surprising because people that plan incidents of violence—whether it’s terrorism or other acts of violence—seek the least path of resistance,” Jeff Slotnick, president of security firm Setracon, told TIME afternoon following the shooting.
Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson referred to the baggage claim area as a “soft target” which has been a particular concern of security experts.
A military spokeswoman says the suspect in a deadly shooting at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, airport received a general discharge from the Alaska Army National Guard last year for unsatisfactory performance.
Lt. Col. Candis Olmstead did not release details about 26-year-old Esteban Santiago's discharge in August 2016. Olmstead said that he joined the Guard in November 2014.
Puerto Rico National Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen said that Santiago was deployed to Iraq in 2010 and spent a year there with the 130th Engineer Battalion, the 1013th engineer company out of Aguadilla.
Olmstead also said that Santiago had served in the Army Reserves prior to joining the Alaska Army National Guard.
NEW: Esteban Santiago was member of Alaska Nat'l Guard until Aug. '16, when he received general discharge for “unsatisfactory performance.” pic.twitter.com/5ogeWczXTJ — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2017
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport and is asking people to pray for the families of those slain and wounded in a mass shooting at a baggage claim area.
[2:29 p.m.]
Embassy spokeswoman Christine Constantin said in an email to The Associated Press that the suspect did not travel from Canada and was not on an Air Canada flight. She says the suspect has no connection to Canada.
Constantin's email says, "We understand from officials he was on a flight originating in Anchorage, transiting through Minneapolis and landing in Ft. Lauderdale."
Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner, earlier reported that the shooter was a passenger on a Canadian flight.
The shooting happened at the airport's terminal 2, where Air Canada and Delta operate flights.
Delta did not comment if the suspect took one of their flights, but issued a statement to CBS News that the airline is cooperating with the investigation.
“Specially trained Delta Care Team members have been activated and are traveling to Fort Lauderdale to assist families and friends of customers and employees who may have been impacted by the shooting at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport,” Delta wrote in a statement.
[1:58 p.m.]
The suspect identified in the shooting that left at least five dead has the same name and age as a man who lived in Anchorage for at least two years, according to Alaska Dispatch News.
CBS News obtained a photo of suspect Esteban Santiago.
Image of Fort Lauderdale Int'l Airport shooting suspect Esteban Santiago, law enforcement sources confirm: https://t.co/P6DXgTIdbY pic.twitter.com/e5UP9NEoqX — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2017
CBS News reports Santiago walked into an FBI office in Anchorage in 2016 and claimed he was being forced to fight for ISIS.
In 2011 or 2012, Santiago was investigated for child porn, according to CBS News. There was not enough evidence to prosecute him.
[1:52 p.m.]
A suspicious package will be detonated near railroad tracks by FLL.
Be aware: If you're near airport, don't be alarmed. BSO Bomb Squad will detonate a suspicious package near railroad tracks. @FLLFlyer — Broward Sheriff (@browardsheriff) January 6, 2017
[1:37 p.m.]
Alaska Airlines flight 38 from Sea-Tac was scheduled to arrive at Fort Lauderdale airport at 2:25 p.m. PST. It's been diverted to Orlando.
As KIRO 7 News reported in an earlier update, Sea-Tac Airport spokesman Brian DeRoy said Sea-Tac remains vigilant in monitoring events locally, domestically and internationally. DeRoy said no evidence shows the incident has any connection in the Seattle area.
The Fort Lauderdale airport shooter, Esteban Santiago, was a passenger on a Canadian flight, according to The Associated Press. He checked a gun in a bag and loaded it in bathroom.
CBS News confirmed that he was not on an Air Canada flight, according to a spokesman.
UPDATE: Air Canada says Fort Lauderdale shooting suspect was not on one of their flights, according to statement from spokesman. — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2017
[1 p.m. ]
CBS News received a photo of what is believed to be the firearm used in the FLL terminal two shooting.
NEW: Image of firearm believed to be used by Ft. Lauderdale Int'l Airport shooter, ID'd as Esteban Santiago https://t.co/J54RiABFFl pic.twitter.com/dM5nCPuql6 — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2017
Here are the current TSA rules on passengers traveling with firearms, ammunition:
"Firearms can be transported on a commercial aircraft only if they are unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided case and transported in checked baggage. Ammunition and firearm parts, including firearm frames, receivers, clips and magazines are also prohibited in carry-on baggage and must be checked with the airline."
At the airport during the check-in process, a passenger should go to the airline ticket counter to declare firearms, ammunition and any firearm parts. Prior to traveling, passengers are encouraged to check gun laws and regulations at their destination to ensure compliance with local and state laws.
Firearm magazines and ammunition clips - whether loaded or empty - must be securely packed in a hard-sided case containing the unloaded firearm. Small arms ammunition not exceeding.75 caliber for a rifle or pistol and shotgun shells of any gauge, may be transported in the same case as the firearm. Read full information here from TSA.
[12:44 p.m.]
Chip LaMarca, a Broward County commissioner, was briefed on the airport shooting by Broward Sheriff's office. He told The Associated Press by phone that the shooter was a passenger on a Canadian flight and had checked a gun.
LaMarca says the shooter pulled out the gun in the bathroom after claiming his bag.
[12:38 p.m.]
The FBI and Broward County Sheriff's Office held a news conference on Friday afternoon. They confirmed to reporters that 13 people were hit in terminal two, killing five people and injuring eight.
SWAT teams are clearing the airport. The investigation is considered active and fluid, according to law enforcement. People are sheltering in place until the airport is considered safe.
The suspect, Esteban Santiago, from the terminal two shooting is in custody and unharmed. Law enforcement did not fire shots.
Reporters asked law enforcement about witness reports regarding another shooting in terminal one or the parking garage. Law enforcement said the only shooting that took place was in terminal two, and that there is not a second active shooter.
NEW: "The active shooter shot at least 13 people," @browardsheriff says of FLL airport shooting https://t.co/J54RiABFFl pic.twitter.com/lropSMNgTj — CBS News (@CBSNews) January 6, 2017
Law enforcement said it’s too early to comment on if the shooting in terminal two is connected to terrorism.
The FBI is not giving details on the shooter or weapons used by the suspect. Law enforcement is not identifying victims as they contact family.
[12:09 p.m.]
A United pilot tells a CBS Miami reporter that he smelled gun powder when he got off plane at terminal one.
The shooting that killed five people happened in terminal |
etta had its weakness in my opinion (namely, a dual safety/decocking lever that could get a guy killed if accidentally placed on “safe”), the Double-Action/Single-Action on the SIG had no real flaws as far as I could tell. It was robust, heavy-duty and reliable. There was no external safety then – and there isn’t any now – that the shooter had to manipulate on the SIG.
Working for militaries and law enforcement for most of my life, I’m not a fan of external safeties. External safeties (esp. mounted on the slide) just get in the way of immediate action malfunction recovery or ensuring the gun will go bang every time you draw your gun and pull the trigger. For shooters trained in good muzzle discipline and who keep their fingers off the trigger until they’re ready to fire, I soon learned that safeties for double action or DA/SA auto-loading pistols were, frankly, a hindrance.
Once I got out of the military, I had the option to carry a SIG Sauer P226 in either 9mm or.357 SIG as a police officer. Both options were DA/SA. Like the Beretta, the first shot with the SIG DA/SA was a longer trigger pull but it was slightly heavier than the single action follow up shots of my old piece. Regardless, I could make the gun sing.
SIGS in the air
After carrying a Glock on a government contract overseas, I was back to the SIG – this time with the post-9/11 Department of Homeland Security. As an undercover Federal Air Marshal (FAM) I was given the P229 DA/SA in.357 SIG, complete with Speer Gold Dot hollow point rounds.
Obviously, any person knowing anything about linear assaults, hostage rescues and CQB tactics, realized that was a stupid choice. Had the 2006 shooting of Mr. Rigoberto Alpizar in the jetway of the Miami International Airport been onboard the plane, some people would have been shot, for sure. Two words come to mind: over-penetration. Talk about government oversight!
Before I left the agency for a better opportunity, I suggested FAMs immediately switch to a frangible round, such as the reduced Ricochet, Limited Penetration (RRLP) round. The Special-Agent-in-Charge tasked to investigate the ballistics disagreed with my assessment. Oh well. Just another reason I left. Well, that and the increasing influence of the U.S. Secret Service over the FAM Service.
The U.S. Secret Service carried the same round and the same gun (P226 DA/SA in.357 Sig). “Flying FAMs” were aggravated beyond belief that air marshal headquarters (directed by a retired SS agent) went to the media and told them the kinds of guns we carried, as well as some of the tactics we employed. If any 12-year-old kid could spot us, why not a terrorist?
Despite the poor management of the air marshal service back then, the gun was still tip-top. Air marshals, known as some of the best shooters in law enforcement, couldn’t afford to miss their targets. Static target shooting and dynamic tactical shooting qualifiers were difficult. With the SIG DA/SA, I was fortunate enough to take Top Gun, Steel on Steel Distinguished Shooter, as well as a Stress Competition Shooter award hosted by the field office. With a DA/SA trigger, that gun was very reliable. The trigger and trigger reset were ideal for quick, accurate shooting. For concealed carry, of course, the P226 was a bit too heavy, bulky and large, but SIG was and is a top-notch gun.
Enter DAK-ness
My latest experience with the SIG Sauer P226 hasn’t gone so well. Why? I point my finger at the DAK trigger system. DAK stands for Double Action Kellerman. Kellerman is (rumored to be) the wealthy man who invented the double action only (DAO) trigger. Interestingly enough, the DAK trigger is roughly only a 6.5-pound trigger pull. Like a DAO, the shooter will get that 6.5-pound pull consistently by releasing the trigger all the way back out for a full trigger reset. But the DAK is unique in that the trigger system allows a double-strike capability. In other words, there are two trigger resets and releasing the trigger half way will allow the shooter to take another shot with… an 8-pound trigger pull?
(Second 8 lb. reset demonstrated at about the 0:25 mark)
To my mind and shooting, the downsides to this configuration are numerous or at the very least something to look long and hard at when considering lives are on the line. For one thing, the trigger reset is way too far for me and that’s even with the 8-pound “half” reset. Going to the full trigger reset takes too much time and, to this combat veteran, speed is what matters in gunfights.
That backwards feeling
After exhaustive field testing of the DAK, as well as training shooters with the SIG platform, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions. First, due to the long trigger pull, shooters tend to dip or anticipate further with the DAK than on other guns with a shorter trigger pull. This makes their shots go low. Sure these same shooters may shoot low, push off or flinch, with other guns too, but the DAK/DAO exaggerates it. Novice shooters unintentionally using a “freeze sights” method really tend to shoot off from their intended target due to the long sweep of the trigger.
Secondly, the trigger reset seems backwards. I know that’s relative to the shooter, but when the bulk of my students have issues with it, I’d say the trigger is a bit counterintuitive. On a DA/SA, the first pull is long and heavier, and everything on single action is light. With the DAK trigger, if the shooter goes to the first reset, it’s heavier, harder and more difficult to pull or squeeze the trigger. Keeping the sights aligned and on target is no easy task for beginning or average shooters who aren’t shooting all the time.
But what about somebody with some experience? After shooting hundreds of rounds through the DAK as quickly as I could, I still couldn’t even get close to the speed of, say, a six-shot rhythm drill that I can with any other gun having a shorter trigger reset (e.g. Glock, Springfield XDM).
In a gunfight, shooting quickly and accurately matters! The difference between winning and losing may be a nanosecond and one fatal shot. A quick trigger reset matters for speed and a shorter trigger, as referenced above, matters for accuracy. Frankly, in my opinion, the DAK gives neither.
Methods of maddening-ness?
Like I said before, I really like (even prefer) SIG pistols and trust that the company knows what they are doing. So, why then are so many law enforcement and government entities going SIG DAK?
Perhaps the sales point is “with the long trigger pull, it will reduce the number of Accidental Discharges.” To that I say, “Teach shooters to keep their fingers off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until they’re ready to shoot and you’ll greatly reduce the chance of having any Negligent Discharges.”
Along the same lines, perhaps SIG Sauer reps have sold colossal contracts for the DAK to the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and numerous other organization heads based on the fact that “you won’t have to teach your officers to decock.” Decocking prior to moving or holstering will become “muscle memory” with a little practice. Additionally, whatever nuance decocking may entail is far outweighed by the fact that a DA/SA will allow fast follow-up shots on target, while offering greater accuracy for student shooters.
Or, perhaps so many organizations are going DAK because the sales pitch is to administrators who aren’t shooters. This seems likely to me.
Conclusions
In sum, if you can’t shoot the DAK well, you need practice and with practice you will be able to. But if you want to start practicing or carrying a gun for defense, I wouldn’t buy a DAK first. You’re far better off going with a Springfield 1911 or XDM, S&W M&P, Glock, SIG Sauer DA/SA (including the SIG with the Short Reset Trigger, SRT) – anything but a DAO or a DAK! Anything!
Until next time, continue to hone your skills and keep adding to your tactical toolboxRestaurants are springing up all over Market Street, giving redevelopment a boost
In 2013, when Bryan and Andrea Sikora opened La Fia on the 400 block of Market Street, they had no intention of creating a restaurant group focused on LOMA, the nickname for the lower end of Wilmington’s main commercial corridor. La Fia was so well received, however, that the Sikoras decided to expand.
In 2015, they opened Cocina Lolo at 405 N. King St., which has been a hit with the lunch and happy hour crowd. Also that year, Merchant Bar, which opened at 426 N. Market St., quickly debunked the complaint that there’s nothing to do after 9 p.m. on Market Street.
The Sikoras appreciate Market Street’s diverse scene. “There’s a nice representation of various arts groups—arts, theater—we thought that was a good match for the customer base that we are trying to reach,” says Andrea Sikora, whose restaurants are just steps from World Cafe Live at the Queen. And there are enough office workers to sustain the lunch hour.
That’s also the case at the upper end of Market, where the Grand Opera House holds court. For a pre- or post-show pint, the Grand’s customers often make a pit stop at Chelsea Tavern, located at 821 N. Market.
While diners still drive in from the suburbs, particularly if they are going to a show, a growing number live just around the block. “We see many more residential regulars than we have in the past,” says Joe Van Horn, owner of Chelsea Tavern.
In the past six months, Sikora has also seen more local traffic. She largely credits The Buccini/Pollin Group, or BPG, whose Market Street corridor project includes 114 existing apartments, liberally sprinkled from the 400 to the 800 blocks—and more are on the way.
BPG in June broke ground on the Residences at Midtown Park, a $75 million complex that will include 200 apartments, 12,000 square feet of retail space, and a 500-space underground parking garage. In September, BPG announced the acquisition of three properties with more than 60,000 square feet that will include apartments above retail/restaurant space.
“When we bring new apartments to the area—and they get filled—then there’s the next wave of restaurant-retail activity,” says Sarah Lamb, director of design and marketing for BPG. “And we’re in that next wave right now.”
In short, the Sikoras and Van Horn are about to get some more culinary company.
Breaking the Barriers
For decades, Market Street restaurants have been dependent on office workers and theatergoers. But even when the DuPont Co. and MBNA were in full swing, it was an inconsistent customer base that exacerbated the challenges of restaurant ownership.
A short walk from Market Street, the Washington Street Ale House, Mikimotos, and Domaine Hudson persevered. Dan Butler’s Deep Blue, which he’s recently reinvented as Tonic, also displayed longevity on 10th Street. These restaurants benefit from proximity to the Wilmington Hospital and the Midtown Brandywine residential, as well as corporate offices.
Market Street, however, witnessed a series of high-profile casualties in the early 2000s. Remember 821, The Maine Course and National? Stalwarts such as Cavanaugh’s at 703 N. Market and Govato’s at 800 N. Market are open only for lunch. If the theaters were dark and the offices were closed, you could chase tumbleweeds down Market Street.
BPG’s approach puts an emphasis on residential as well as commercial development. The developer has a range of options along the Market Street corridor, from 76 studios and one-bedroom units at 6 E. Third St. to The Residences at Rodney Square, an office-to-residential conversion with 280 apartments.
Marketing materials for the 200-unit Residences at the Midtown Park, which is under development where the Shipley Street parking garage once stood, show hip urbanites riding bikes and standing on corners checking their phones.
If that rendering becomes a reality, these are the folks who want a bite, a beer, and conversation, preferably with some live music nearby.
From Top to Bottom
The northern end of Market Street has traditionally seen the bulk of restaurant activity. In 2010, Chelsea Tavern took over space formerly occupied by Restaurant 821, a fine-dining establishment that rode in on the coattails of MBNA. Chelsea took the opposite approach by espousing an alehouse concept. Owner Scott Morrison also opened Ernest & Scott Taproom, at 902 N. Market. Van Horn manages both.
Morrison planned to open a brewpub three doors down from Chelsea Tavern. Then, in February, he suffered a fatal heart attack. Van Horn has since purchased Chelsea Tavern and is in negotiations to acquire Ernest & Scott.
Van Horn is planning an expansion for Chelsea that will include indoor and outdoor seating in what is now a thruway linking Market and Shipley streets. The building at 815 N. Market is coming down, allowing the tavern to open a small beer garden in the future plaza. “We hope to be up and running in early spring,” Van Horn says.
If all goes as planned with the Ernest & Scott deal, he will renovate the space and partner with a local chef to reopen with a new concept.
Meanwhile, Daniel Sheridan has picked up the baton and is running forward with a brewpub concept for 829 N. Market St.: Stitch House Brewery.
Sheridan’s name is fairly familiar around town—he’s an owner of Locale BBQ Post and Wilmington Pickling Company. And he’s no stranger to Market Street, having worked with chef Bryan Sikora at La Fia for nearly two years while planning Locale.
“It put me at ease about being on Market Street because I saw that he could bring in clients after downtown [office workers] cleared out,” Sheridan says. “We’re confident that with a nice brewery and a nice menu we can bring people downtown. Plus, with the Midtown Park project, we’ll have a parking garage right behind us and more apartments right behind us.”
Stitch House Brewery, which will have 90 to 100 seats, is named for the building’s former occupants, a tailor and a linen shop. (It’s also been a coal house and an icehouse.)
Sheridan, who hopes to open next spring, says to expect some barbecue; there will be a smoker on the premises. But barbecue isn’t the star. To cater to the lunchtime crowd, the menu will include paninis and sandwiches. Sheridan is also incorporating a fun factor: dishes prepared and served in mini cast iron skillets, such as dips, lasagna and warm vegetable salads with goat cheese.
LOMA, at the lower end of Market Street, got its boost from La Fia’s opening. The restaurant and its siblings have created a bustling couple of blocks in the evenings.
Last summer, Twisted Soul Restaurant & Bar joined the trio. Steve and Khim Taylor, who received assistance from the Market Street Corridor Revitalization Fund, own the 80-seat restaurant, located at 413 N. Market.
Filling in the Gaps
Now BPG and city stakeholders, including Downtown Visions, are turning their attention to the blocks between Fourth and Eighth streets. Not only will this appease those who live in those areas, but it will create more activity from one end of the street to another instead of at either end, making it more inviting for those who wish to walk the corridor at night.
Starbucks is scheduled to open a location early this month at 629 N. Market. The restaurant, which sports a high-level design similar to the décor in the Riverfront site, will be open seven days a week. “It’s something our residents are demanding,” says BPG’s Lamb.
Across the street, Ardé Osteria, an Italian concept, is in the works. The restaurant is owned by Pino DiMeo, Scott Stein and Antimo DiMeo, whose first Wilmington venture, DiMeo’s Pizzaiuoli Napulitani, is a destination for pizza-lovers at 831 N. Market.
To offer an enhanced menu, the partners first looked at the space now occupied by Merchant Bar. Meanwhile, a location in Wayne, Pa., became available, and they opened Ardé Osteria as a BYO.
“Always the vision—the next evolution—was to have a wine bar, craft beer, and creative cocktails,” Stein says. “We always knew we would go back to Wilmington with this concept.” The buffalo mozzarella bar, a highlight of the Wayne location, will be available in Wilmington.
The Ardé Osteria on Market Street will reside in what some today know as the Kennedy Fried Chicken building, which is situated at the corner of Seventh and Market streets. But old-timers will recall it as Snellenburg’s Department Store. Atop the restaurant will be 15 one-bedroom and two-bedroom-den apartments. If all goes well, Ardé Osteria will open in spring 2017.
Moving Forward
The Italian concept joins a melting pot. The Market Street corridor and the surrounding area have a significant number of small ethnic restaurants featuring sushi, Chinese, and Indian cuisine. More than a few, though, close around 6 p.m.
Sheridan wants the corridor to become better known for diverse dining during all hours, including happy hour and late night. “There’s not one restaurant that will carry the whole street,” he says. “It needs to be a collective.”
But the pie is only so big, Sikora says. Some might say that’s especially true in the 800 block, where craft beer is already big. Van Horn of Chelsea Tavern isn’t worried about Sheridan’s new brewery. “It was going to be great for business when we were going to do it, and it will be great for business when Dan does it,” he says.
On Market Street, the adage proves true: the more the merrier.You’ve probably read the story. Agents from Homeland Security raided Birdies Panties and confiscated merchandise. Birdies is a modest, two-woman lingerie shop located in downtown Kansas City.
Kansas City is excited about the Royals finally getting back to the World Series. So, the women created panties with a rendering of a king’s crown and the phrase “Take the Crown” printed on their bottoms.
Then came vigilant agents from Homeland Security, claiming store owner Peregrine Honig infringed on Major League Baseball copyrights. The agents took possession of the criminal panties, placed them in a Homeland Security evidence bag, and insisted Honig sign a statement saying she wouldn’t use the logo again.
First thought: What’s Homeland Security doing raiding a lingerie outlet? Second thought: Must be nice for MLB to have Homeland Security protecting their copyright unto the last loincloth.
Figuring the ladies had been interviewed to death, I ran down the man who put print to panty. Eric Lindquist owns a one-man print shop (Lindquist Press), three blocks from Birdies.
I reached him by phone, wanted to know how things were going. Lindquist said, “I think a lot of people assume that because guns were drawn and I was cuffed...”
“WHOA. WHOA. WHOA! I’ve never read that. Take me from the beginning.”
Lindquist said, “Agents met me on my way to a café next door to Birdies.” (Undercover officers wanted to know if Lindquist printed the panties.) “I said, ‘Yeah, we’ve done a bunch of projects in the past...’ He cut me off and says, ‘Well, I’ve got a project like that. Do you want to meet?’ I said, ‘I’m really busy. I don’t think I can get anything done if it’s Royals related. I’m planning on leaving town tomorrow.’”
I laughed. “So, he’s thinking, CRIMINAL mastermind flees jurisdiction.”
“Right,” Lindquist said. “So, I went back to my studio, checked Birdies Facebook page, noticed they had posted a photo of their underwear in an evidence baggie, immediately freaked out, and tried to piece together what might have led to that.”
“The cops haven’t come for you yet?”
“No. I’m twiddling my thumbs wondering if I’m next. So, I go out to the front porch and while I’m sitting there that same guy comes up. He’s still in character, pretending to be a potential client, said something about going inside to look at some samples. I said, ‘I know who you are. I have nothing to say to you.’ Then he pulled out his badge. I said, ‘I don’t know what to do at this point. I think I’m supposed to ask for a warrant.’ He took that very poorly, explained I was in serious trouble and faced potential fines up to $250,000 and/or six years in jail. He said I had broken copyright law. Then, my neighbors approached, advised that I should stop talking and go inside until we could figure out what was going on.
“When I stepped back outside, probably a half-hour later, that’s when they spotted me. There were additional officers at that point and they said, ‘He’s out,’ and quickly approached me reaching for their firearms. Not to target to me, but in anticipation of breeching the door.
“I was, like, ‘What’s going on? Where’s your warrant?’ And they were, like, ‘Out of our way. Take him.’ And that’s when I was cuffed. They proceeded past me, cleared the area and then emerged, uncuffed me, and explained what my options supposedly were.
“Two agents were in the dumpster, another six in my space, and another two were securing the building out front. They told me it could go one of two ways: I could insist or resist a search by demanding that a warrant be delivered there. If that was the case they would need to confiscate anything related to printing, which is, basically, my business.
“I didn’t feel I had much choice. So I did sign a piece of paper saying they had permission to search the premises. I had recently been in Ferguson, Missouri...”
“WHOA. WHOA. WHOA! What were you doing in Ferguson?”
“Some friends and I, other printers and artists, visited as a group. The first day we mostly hung out in the parking lot making stencils. We prepared some designs to print on T-shirts using a linoleum block and a car. And I put together a petition, cranked out 1000 of those.
“We assembled a gallery show that ran in my studio. [When Homeland Security raided my space] they were surrounded by pictures of police dragging people off...”
Despite a thorough search by ten Homeland Security officers, no Birdies Panties paraphernalia was found. Lindquist reports most officers departed on good terms.Remember how we told you that San Francisco was expected to spend about $4 million of taxpayer money on the Super Bowl? Well, scratch that figure! As it turns out, the good old San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency had forgotten that they'd need parking and traffic control officers to work the event, so it's actually going to cost significantly more.
I'm going to assume that you remember last week's report from Kate Howard, San Francisco's budget director that estimated that the city would spend about $4 million to keep things going during next month's football frenzy. According to Howard, the San Francisco Police Department would spend about $1.5 extra on Super Bowl related expenses, the San Francisco Fire Department would need about $600K extra, and the SFMTA would need $1.7 million more that usual.
Except they won't, as according to a report from Matier and Ross, the transit agency "forgot to include the 90 parking and traffic control officers who will be needed to keep the cars and buses moving before and after events — and also staff the street closures that will come with the weeklong celebration." (Guess this guy wasn't available.)
The cost of those 90 staffers for a week of San Francisco Super Bowl traffic madness? An additional $638,000, bringing SF's Super Bill up to $4.6 (or so) million.
But then again, even Howard says we can't really know for sure how much any of this stuff will cost, saying in her memo (all of which you can read here) that “actual departmental expenditures will not be known until after the event has concluded." That's comforting!
In a move you might recall from the heady days of the America's Cup (SF's unpaid tab for that one: $11.5 million), the mayor's office continues to assert that we'll come out on top, never fear. As Lee spokesperson Christine Falvey again told the Chron, “We are confident that the city will experience a significant economic bounce, especially in the typically slow month of February.”
Presumably she means a good kind of bounce, not the kind that precedes the word "check."
Previously: San Francisco Will Spend Around $4 Million In Taxpayer Money On Super Bowl 50
Video: Renegade Directs San Francisco Traffic For Free, We Guess?OKLAHOMA CITY – Authorities are implementing a plan to safely move passengers from Will Rogers World Airport following a shooting in which one person was killed.
Shortly before 1 p.m. on Tuesday, reports indicated at least one person was shot in the parking lot of the airport.
Officers found one victim, who was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
Just before 3:30 p.m., officials announced the victim died from his injuries.
Southwest Airlines confirmed to CNN the victim is a Southwest Airlines employee.
On Tuesday afternoon, Southwest Airlines released the following statement:
“It is with great sorrow that Southwest Airlines confirms that a Southwest Employee who was injured during a shooting incident today at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City has died from injuries. We continue to work with the local authorities investigating this incident. As a result of the police investigation, local flight operations have been halted. We’re working to accommodate Customers still in the airport when it was locked down as well as cancelling flights departing from Oklahoma City for the remainder of the day. The Southwest Airlines Family is deeply saddened by the passing of our Southwest Family Member, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies and support to his family and Southwest Co-workers at this time.”
A short time later, Oklahoma City police confirmed the victim has been identified as 52-year-old Michael Winchester.
Officials said Winchester is a well-known name to Sooner fans.
He played football for the Sooners as a punter for the 1985 national championship team.
Not my place to break the news..but the Sooners family lost a member today at the airport. Please pray for the family. They're great people. — Gabe Ikard (@GabeIkard) November 15, 2016
Confirmed this is former #Sooners punter and father of James Winchester, former Sooner and current Kansas City Chief. https://t.co/Il7Lr6yuBs — Carey Murdock (@CareyWWLS) November 15, 2016
OU women's basketball coach sending out a message to the shooting victim's family. @kfor pic.twitter.com/mdvuHVYyeJ — Lance West (@lancewest) November 16, 2016
Police said they have not positively identified the suspect but confirmed he was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in the back of a pickup on the second level of the airport’s parking garage.
The Oklahoma City Police Department closed the airport while they investigated, and passengers were asked to shelter in place.
Passengers were eventually bused people from the terminal to a safe spot.
We are going to begin moving people from inside of the airport to SW 67th and Terminal Drive. — OKC Police Dept (@okcpd) November 15, 2016
Operations at the airport started to resume around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Flexible accommodations are available on https://t.co/GiF91yu7NX to Passengers traveling through Oklahoma due to a situation at OKC Airport. — Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) November 15, 2016
Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating, including the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the FBI SWAT team.UPDATE: The guy who wrote this letter will be reading this (you’ve probably guessed that already), so if you have any words of advice or support, by all means let fly.
_______________________
Emails like this one (posted with the writer’s permission) make it all worthwhile. I can’t boast a “converts’ corner” like the one Dawkins has, but as Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
The point here is not to brag about my conversion skills, but to show that “militant” atheism does not completely turn people away from evolution—or science in general. Granted, this email is an anecdote, but could we please see some testimony from religious people saying, “You know, I really liked Richard Dawkins’s books, but in the end I found that I couldn’t buy the idea of evolution because he’s such a loudmouth atheist”?
Dr. Coyne,
I hope I’m not bugging you at your work email, but I couldn’t find a contact address on your website (besides for your publisher). Sorry if you’ve got a site-specific one and I didn’t see it.
You mentioned in your post yesterday (“Religion doesn’t make people nice”) that you get a lot of hate mail. So I just wanted to do something different and just say “thanks.” I’ve been lurking around your website ever since the infamous home-schooling article from the AP included a link to this strange place called whyevolutionistrue. I’m not much of a commenter, but I have your blog linked to the very top of my phone’s RSS reader. It’s the first thing I check in the morning. (And at lunch, and just before dinner.)
I really appreciate what you’re doing for the advancement of reason in this country. It’s not just affecting those who are already “in the know.” People like me are starting to wake up and smell the evidence. I’m a 25-year-old fellow from the backwoods of the Appalachias with little education to speak of. I was raised Southern Baptist, donated time and money to the Discovery Institute, and participated in anti-evolution debates and seminars. I was one of the True Believers who would tell someone straight to their face that they were going to hell if they didn’t kneel down that instant and accept Lord Jesus into their hearts. And I’d say it with a smile.
It was actually my interest in biology that led me into creationism. That hunger to know about the intricacies of life on this planet, though, was quickly sated by the triple-quarter-pounder of bible literalism, what-if speculation, and absolute certainty. It was filling, sure, but for a curious young guy like myself, it sat like a rock in the gut. My biggest regret in my short time here is that I let myself get talked out of going to college to study biology. And, since biology was the only thing in which I ever wanted further education, talking myself out of college in general.
I would have remained in that state of mental stagnation had I not broken the cardinal rule of creationists, which is: “Never read the stuff from the other side.” I’d grown up reading about the statistical refutations of evolution, the argument of irreducible complexity, and Flood hydrodynamics. There was actually a warning in more than one of these books and courses advising against reading anything published by secular scientists. Satan was clever. He could fool innocent people into believing the lies told by his scientific minions. (Scientific, by the way, is quite the insult among Southern Baptists. Or was in the churches I attended.) Really, I just wanted more ammunition to use for my debates against evolutionists. That was the whole reason I started reading about evolution from the scientific perspective. I wanted to see for myself these great holes in the logic of scientists that I’d been hearing about.
You probably know the rest. The initial rejection of what I’d read, trying to get someone to explain to me why all the evidence pointed toward evolution instead of away, realizing that the answers that I was getting from the creationist side were either evasive, inconsistent, or deceitful. And the long, slow, painful process of shedding a belief I’ve had instilled in me since childhood.
The whole point of this mini-autobiography is that if people like you weren’t out there making such a ruckus, then people like me wouldn’t have the chance to break out of the destructive, irrational belief system that serves as a mental and moral cage. I know you don’t need me to tell you to, but I hope you’ll keep on being a strident, arrogant, uncompromising bastard. The world needs more like you.
Thanks again,
Name redactedMark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner may not be getting his own standalone MCU film any time soon but the actor has promised Hulk fans are in for a treat as his character develops over his next 3 Marvel movie outings.
Speaking to Yahoo Movies while promoting ‘Spotlight’, the superb real-life drama which he’s been nominated as Best Supporting Actor for at the Oscars, Ruffalo told us he’s got a big part to play in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and beyond.
“I’d love to do a Hulk movie, but that’s beyond my control,” he said. “It’s controlled by Universal. Marvel doesn’t even hold the rights to it. So, it’s not on the horizon. And I don’t know if it will be.”
“But we’ve worked a really interesting arc into ‘Thor 3′, ‘Avengers 3′ and ‘4′ for Banner that I think will – when it’s all added up – will feel like a Hulk movie, a standalone movie.”
Ruffalo’s incarnation of the Hulk was introduced in 2012′s ‘The Avengers’. It was the character’s first appearance in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film since Ed Norton’s take in 2008′s ‘The Incredible Hulk’ which, crucially, was released by Universal before Disney bought up Marvel Studios.
- Mark Ruffalo Rewards Kids Who Found His Wallet
- New Batman v Superman Poster
- James Cameron’s X-Men Assist
The solo rights for a Hulk film remain with Universal - for now - but that doesn’t stop him from appearing in other Marvel films like 2017′s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (which is being talked up as a “road movie” of sorts) and the two-part ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ coming 2018 and 2019.
We also asked The Ruff about his time on ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ which, as it transpired, was the last Marvel movie he’d get to make with Joss Whedon, the man who hired him to play Hulk in the first place.
Did he know it was Joss’ last outing in that world?
“Yeah. He basically told me it was and I was like ‘goddamn it, you dragged me in to this world and now you’re abandoning me here!’ But they’re doing fine. Joss’ll do fine. I just miss him, and I will miss him. He cracked this character, he obviously cracked the Avengers which was nearly impossible. It was a miracle and he did it so beautifully.
“I think the Russo brothers are great and I think they’re well positioned to take it on, and I’m happy to be doing it with them, but I’m friends with Joss. He had a hard time making the first one and he had a hard time making this one. I think it’s partially the nature of that beast.”
As for preparation for ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, which is planning to shoot in Australia soon, Ruffalo told us he’s under no pressure to get super-hench like Chris Hemsworth, but that he’s really excited to work with the director.
“Taika Waititi’s coming in and I love him. That’s a surprise and it fits part of this Marvel doing the unexpected, casting the unexpected, and now bringing in the unexpected for writer and director. I’m really interested in where that’s going.
“They’re writing the script now. I am thinking about it, I’m doing script meetings and stuff so we’re starting to prep it.”
Come back tomorrow for more from our exclusive interview with Mark Ruffalo tomorrow, including his thoughts on the ongoing Oscars diversity row…
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‘Spotlight’ is in UK cinemas on Friday, 29 January. Watch a trailer below.
Image credits: eOne/DisneyThe New Hampshire Senate has killed a bill that would have allowed the carrying of concealed weapons without permits. The bill was the last of three considered by the legislature that would have expanded gun rights in the state.
Democratic Gov. John Lynch had threatened to veto all of them, but they were either killed or sent back to committees for further study, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader
The “constitutional carry” bill would have allowed anyone, including felons or the mentally unstable, to have a gun in their homes or place of business, without requiring a license or permit.
The state Senate at first voted along party lines to approve changes to the bill, which had already been approved by the state House, but then tabled it in a follow up vote, killing it for this year’s session.
Supporters of the measure had argued that changes made in the Senate would have provided reasonable restrictions without prohibiting anyone from legally carrying a weapon.
But some opponents, including pro-gun Republicans, said now was not the time for expanding gun rights because of a recent increase in gun violence around the state.
Republican state Sen. Jack Barnes, for instance, called it “a slap in the face of law enforcement” in New Hampshire, which has been overwhelmed recently with the death of one police chief and the wounding of four officers.In this photo taken Jan. 16, 2013, a camera is mounted near the rear window of a police car in Little Rock, Ark. The device is part of a system that scans traffic on the streets, relaying the data it collects to a computer for sifting. Police say the surveillance helps identify stolen cars and drivers with outstanding arrest warrants. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Little Rock may not be a likely terrorism target or a gang crime hotspot, but the Arkansas capital has decided to follow the example of high-security cities by expanding electronic surveillance of its |
Katya Orlova in the 1990 film adaptation of John le Carré's The Russia House, with Sean Connery, a role that required her to adopt a Russian accent. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.[35] Pfeiffer then landed the role of damaged waitress Frankie in Garry Marshall's Frankie and Johnny (1991), a film adaptation of Terrence McNally's Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which reunited her with her Scarface co-star, Al Pacino. The casting was seen as controversial by many, as Pfeiffer was considered far too beautiful to play an "ordinary" waitress;[36] Kathy Bates, the original Frankie on Broadway, also expressed disappointment over the producers' choice.[37] Pfeiffer herself stated that she took the role because it "wasn't what people would expect of [her]".[38] Pfeiffer was once again nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for her performance.
Pfeiffer at the 1990 Academy Awards
In 1990, Pfeiffer formed her own boutique film production company, Via Rosa Productions, which ran for 10 years. The company allowed her to produce and/or star in films tailored for strong women. She asked her best friend Kate Guinzburg to be her producing partner at the company. The two met on the set of the film Sweet Liberty (1986) and quickly became friends. Kate was the Production Coordinator on the film and became close with Pfeiffer over the course of the shoot. Via Rosa Productions was under a picture deal with Touchstone Pictures, a film label of The Walt Disney Studios. The first film the duo produced was the independent drama Love Field, which was released in late 1992. Reviewers embraced the film and The New York Times felt that Pfeiffer was "again demonstrating that she is as subtle and surprising as she is beautiful".[39] For her portrayal of the eccentric Dallas housewife, she earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.[40][41]
Pfeiffer took the role of Catwoman in Tim Burton's superhero film Batman Returns (1992), with Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito, after Annette Bening withdrew due to pregnancy. For the role of Catwoman, she trained in martial arts and kickboxing. Pfeiffer has received universal critical acclaim for her performance and is consistently referred to as the greatest portrayal of Catwoman of all time by critics and fans. Premiere retrospectively lauded her performance: "Arguably the outstanding villain of the Tim Burton era, Michelle Pfeiffer's deadly kitten with a whip brought sex to the normally neutered franchise. Her stitched-together, black patent leather costume, based on a sketch of Burton's, remains the character's most iconic look. And Michelle Pfeiffer overcomes Batman Returns' heavy-handed feminist dialogue to deliver a growling, fierce performance."[42] Batman Returns was a big box office success, grossing over US$266 million worldwide (equivalent to $474.9 million).[43]
In Martin Scorsese's period drama The Age of Innocence (1993), a film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel, Pfeiffer starred with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, portraying a Countess in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. For her role, she received the Elvira Notari Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture.[44] Also in 1993, she was awarded the Women in Film Los Angeles' Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.[45]
Following the formation of her producing company in 1990, Pfeiffer saw a growing professional expansion as a producer. While she continued to act steadily throughout the decade, she and her producing partner Guinzburg experienced a winning streak of producing back to back films next under their Via Rosa Productions header. In the 1994 horror film Wolf, she starred with Jack Nicholson, portraying the sardonic and willful interest of a writer who becomes a wolf-man at night after being bitten by a creature. The film was released to a mixed critical reception;[46] The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling."[47] Wolf was a commercial success, grossing US$65 million (equivalent to $109.9 million) at the domestic box office and US$131 million worldwide (equivalent to $221.4 million).[48]
Pfeiffer's next role was that of high school teacher and former United States Marine LouAnne Johnson in the drama Dangerous Minds (1995),[49] which was co-produced under her company Via Rosa Productions. She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, featuring L.V.; the song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance,[50] and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video.[51] While Dangerous Minds received negative reviews, it was a box office success, grossing US$179.5 million around the globe.[52] Pfeiffer portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal (1996), with Robert Redford.[53]
Pfeiffer took the role of Gillian Lewis in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996), which was adapted by her husband David Kelley from Michael Brady's play of the same name.[54] Under their Via Rosa Productions header, Pfeiffer and Guinzburg produced the films One Fine Day (1996), A Thousand Acres (1997) and The Deep End of the Ocean (1998). She served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parker in the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996) with George Clooney,[55] Subsequent performances included Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres (1997) with Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh;[56] Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago;[57] Titania the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci;[58] and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy-drama The Story of Us (1999) with Bruce Willis.[59]
2000s [ edit ]
Pfeiffer chose to begin the process of dissolving her film production company, Via Rosa Productions, in 1999, and move into semi-retirement in order to spend more quality time with her children and family, meaning that she would continue to star in films sporadically into the 2000s and beyond. Pfeiffer handed her producing partner Guinzburg one final film to produce under the Via Rosa Productions header. The film was called Original Sin (2001). It was originally intended to star Pfeiffer, who later changed her mind as she was looking to work less for a while. The film was produced by her company, but instead starred Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas.
In the Hitchcockian thriller What Lies Beneath (2000), Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford starred as a well-to-do couple who experience a strange haunting that uncovers secrets about their past. While critical response towards the film was mixed, it opened atop at the box office in July 2000,[60] and went on to gross US$291 million worldwide.[61] She then accepted the role of Rita Harrison, a highly strung lawyer helping a father with a developmental disability, in the drama I Am Sam (2001), with Sean Penn.[62] Despite grossing $97.8 million worldwide,[63] the movie received unfavorable reviews;[64] Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote: "Pfeiffer, apparently stymied by the bland clichés that prop up her screechy role, delivers her flattest, phoniest performance ever."[65] Meanwhile, SF Gate observed: "In one scene, she breaks down in tears as she unburdens herself to him about her miserable life. It's hard not to cringe, watching this emotionally ready actress fling herself headlong into false material."[66]
Pfeiffer took on the role of a murderous artist, named Ingrid Magnussen, in the drama White Oleander (2002), with Alison Lohman (in her film début), Renée Zellweger and Robin Wright. The film was an arthouse success and Pfeiffer garnered a substantial amount of critical praise; Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that "Ms. Pfeiffer, giving the most complex screen performance of her career, makes her Olympian seductress at once irresistible and diabolical."[67] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described her as "incandescent", bringing "power and unshakable will to her role as mother-master manipulator" in a "riveting, impeccable performance".[68] She earned Best Supporting Actress Awards from the San Diego Film Critics Society and the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
Pfeiffer lent her voice for the character of goddess of chaos Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), an animated film featuring Brad Pitt as the voice of Sinbad the Sailor. She had struggles with finding the character's villainies. Initially the character was "too sexual", then she lacked fun. After the third rewrite, Pfeiffer called producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and told him "You know, you really can fire me," but he assured her that this was just part of the process.[69] Following the release of the film, she took a four-year hiatus from acting, during which she remained largely out of the public eye to devote time to her husband and children.[70] At the time, she turned down the role of the White Witch in the fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), which went to Tilda Swinton.[71]
Pfeiffer returned to the screen in 2007 with villainous roles in two major summer blockbusters — Hairspray and Stardust. In the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Hairspray, she starred with John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron and Queen Latifah,[72] in the role of Velma Von Tussle, the racist and sizeist manager of a television station. Travolta requested that Pfeiffer play the part of the villainess, which was her first film role in five years. A widely positive reception greeted the film upon its release, while it made an impressive US$118.9 million and US$202.5 million worldwide.[73] The cast of Hairspray was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture, but won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast, the Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year and the Palm Springs International Film Festival Award for Ensemble Cast. Her next film release, the fantasy adventure Stardust, with Claire Danes, Charlie Cox and Robert De Niro,[74] saw her play the ancient witch Lamia. Filmed before Hairspray, the film premiered three weeks afterwards; it garnered largely positive reviews but, budgeted at US$70 million, it made a modest US$135.5 million globally.[75]
Pfeiffer starred in Amy Heckerling's romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007), with Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan,[76] portraying Rosie, a 40-year-old divorced mother working as a scriptwriter and producer for a television show who falls in love with a much younger man (Rudd). Her reported salary was US$1 million, with an advance on 15 percent of the gross. However, the film was only distributed on home video markets.[77] Reviews for I Could Never Be Your Woman were moderately positive,[78] with critic James Berardinelli finding Pfeiffer and Rudd to "have adequate chemistry to pull off the romance" in what he described as an "enjoyable romantic comedy that has enough going for it to make it worth a recommendation".[79] She next starred in Personal Effects (2009), with Ashton Kutcher, playing two grieving people coping with the pain and frustration of their loss whose bond spawns an unlikely romance. The drama premiered at Iowa City's Englert Theatre.[80]
Pfeiffer's next film, an adaptation of Colette's Chéri (2009), reunited her with the director (Stephen Frears) and screenwriter (Christopher Hampton) of Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Pfeiffer played the role of aging retired courtesan Léa de Lonval, with Rupert Friend in the title role, with Kathy Bates as his mother. Chéri premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, where it received a nomination for the Golden Bear award.[81] The Times of London reviewed the film favorably, describing Hampton's screenplay as a "steady flow of dry quips and acerbic one-liners" and Pfeiffer's performance as "magnetic and subtle, her worldly nonchalance a mask for vulnerability and heartache".[82] Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that it was "fascinating to observe how Pfeiffer controls her face and voice during times of painful hurt".[83] Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times praised the "wordless scenes that catch Léa unawares, with the camera alone seeing the despair and regret that she hides from the world. It's the kind of refined, delicate acting Pfeiffer does so well, and it's a further reminder of how much we've missed her since she's been away."[84]
2010s [ edit ]
Following a two-year sabbatical from acting, Pfeiffer made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), her second collaboration with Marshall after Frankie and Johnny. The film, also starring Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others, saw her take on the supporting role of Ingrid Withers, an overwhelmed secretary befriending a deliveryman (Efron). While the film was panned by critics, it made US$142 million worldwide.[85] In 2012, she appeared with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in the drama People Like Us, as the mother of a struggling New York City corporate trader (Pine). Rolling Stone found her to be "luminous" in the film,[86] and The New York Times, positively pointing out Pfeiffer and Banks, noted that their performances "partly compensate for the holes in a story whose timing is hard to swallow".[87] People Like Us debuted to US$4.26 million, described as "meager" by Box Office Mojo, and only made US$12 million in North America.[88]
Pfieffer reunited with Tim Burton, her Batman Returns director, in Dark Shadows (2012), based on the gothic television soap opera of the same name. In the film, co-starring Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Chloë Grace Moretz, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the stern and strict, but loyal and devoted family matriarch. Critical response towards the film was mixed, but writers acclaimed the actors' performances—most notably Depp and Pfeiffer's. IGN found her to be "commanding" in her role and felt that the main characters were "played by one of Burton's best ensemble casts yet".[89] While Dark Shadows grossed a modest US$79.7 million in North America, it ultimately made US$245.5 million globally.[90] In Luc Besson's mob-comedy The Family (2013), co-starring Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo, she played the "tough mother" in a Mafia family wanting to change their lives under the witness protection program.[91][92] Although reviews for the film were mixed, THV11 said on the cast's portrayals: "The core actors of The Family were really solid, and the whole film comes together to make a solid movie."[93] Meanwhile, The Huffington Post felt that "De Niro, Pfieffer and Jones all brought 100% to their roles."[94] The film grossed US$78.4 million worldwide.[95]
"The only trepidation was I think I took for granted how nice it was to not be under the spotlight and just having a life. I remember thinking, 'Do I really want to step back into this?' And I just realized that I'm not done. I have a lot more to do, and a lot more to say. I'm never going to be one that retires." —Pfeiffer in 2017 on her comeback[96]
Pfeiffer has stated that her lack of acting throughout the 2000s was due to her children,[97] and now with both her children away at college, she intends to "work a lot".[98] She has commented that she feels that her best performance is "still in her", and that she thinks that's what keeps her going.[99] The slew of films that would follow in 2017 would prompt the media to dub her career resurgence a "Pfeiffer-sance".[100][101] In the independent drama Where Is Kyra?, she starred as a sensitive and fragile woman who loses her mother and "faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover". The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and received a limited release on April 6, 2018,[102] to critical acclaim;[103][104][105] Her role as Kyra was dubbed the "performance of her life" by Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri,[106] and "the performance of her career", by Rolling Stone.[107]
Pfeiffer landed the role of Ruth Madoff for the HBO Films drama The Wizard of Lies, based on the book of the same name. The film, directed by Barry Levinson, reunites her with actor Robert De Niro, who played her husband, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.[108] The Wizard of Lies premiered on HBO on May 20, 2017, garnering favorable reviews from critics and an audience of 1.5 million viewers, HBO's largest premiere viewership for a film in four years.[109] Tolucan Times remarked that Pfeiffer "steals the show as Madoff's wife, Ruth, and is a remarkable lookalike",[110] while Los Angeles Times asserted: "As Ruth, Pfeiffer convincingly portrays a pampered woman left with utterly nothing —she's lost her homes, status and, most important, her relationship with her sons."[111] Pfeiffer earned her first Emmy nomination for her performance in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.[112]
In Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film Mother! (2017), with Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem,[113] Pfeiffer portrayed one of the mysterious guests disrupting the tranquil life of a couple. While Mother! polarized viewers and prompted mass walkouts, the film was better received by critics.[114][115] Despite its divisiveness, critics unanimously praised Pfeiffer's contribution,[116][117] some of whom felt that her performance was worthy of an Oscar nomination.[118] Vulture remarked: "Out of the main actors, it's Pfeiffer who is able to root the character in meaning — she bracingly marries the exploration of Biblical creation, mythological overtones, and hellish domestic commentary. There's a gravity to Pfeiffer's performance that allows her to succeed where the other main actors fail, save for brief spurts — she straddles the boundaries between embodying a symbol and granting the character enough interiority to feel like a flesh and blood woman, too."[119]
Pfeiffer had a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express (2017), the fourth adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1934 novel of the same name. The mystery–drama ensemble film follows world-renowned detective Hercule Poirot, who seeks to solve a murder on the famous European train in the 1930s. Pfeiffer played an aging socialite with Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, and Judi Dench.[120] Pfeiffer sang the song "Never Forget", which plays over the film's closing credits and appears on the film's official soundtrack.[96] The film grossed US$351.7 million worldwide and received decent reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, but criticism for not adding anything new to previous adaptations.[121] Although most critics agreed that the ensemble cast was underused, Pfeiffer's performance earned positive reviews, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times opining that the actress delivers the film's best performance.[122] The New Yorker's Anthony Lane found Pfeiffer to be the only actor who appears to be enjoying their material.[123] David Edelstein of Vulture described the actress as "a hoot and a half... stealing every scene".[124] Mick LaSalle, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, identified Pfeiffer as the film's "most interesting bit of casting", crediting her performance with reminding audiences that she is one of today's best film actresses and "help[ing] Branagh make the case for his remake over the original".[125]
Pfeiffer stars as Janet van Dyne in Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, directed by Peyton Reed. The film was released in theaters July 6, 2018.[126] As of July 2018, Pfeiffer was filming the dark fantasy sequel Maleficent II.[127]
Acting style and reception [ edit ]
Pfeiffer maintains that she has never received formal acting training.[128] Instead, she credits director Milton Katselas with teaching her how to recognize the difference between how an actor thinks a character would behave during a particular scene, and then how the actor themself would behave during that same scene.[129] Vulture.com's Angelica Jade Bastién described Pfeiffer as "an actress of such depth, breadth, and tenacity" that "she obliterates the argument that an untrained actor has less capability than her trained counterparts."[130] In 1992, Rolling Stone's Gerri Hirshey identified Pfeiffer as a "character actress" who is comfortable wearing unflattering costumes, with The Fabulous Baker Boys' Susie Diamond being a notable exception at the time of the film's release.[131] Pfeiffer claims that she rarely accepts traditionally glamorous roles because she finds few of them interesting, opting to play characters that "move" her instead: "I know that if I can hear the character as I'm reading, it's made some connection [with me]."[131] A film critic once summarized the actress as "a character actress in a screen siren's body",[129] a sentiment with which her Scarface co-star and friend Al Pacino agrees.[131] Often commended for her ability to mask her true feelings and emotions, Pfeiffer frequently uses this technique to her advantage in period films, a genre that has become a trademark of hers.[129] Pfeiffer herself has admitted to being skilled in this particular area but at the same time believes that disguising one's feelings is not uncommon, speculating, "that's how most people behave. We may not be as mannered or as proper as people were in the 19th century, but very rarely are we talking about what we're really thinking."[129] Pfeiffer has referred to acting as a "sadomasochistic" profession due to how "brutal" she finds the process can be at times.[132]
During the 1980s, Pfeiffer typically played smart, funny, sexually attractive and strong female characters.[133] New Woman observed that Pfeiffer's characters tend to "play the world at a distance, mostly, and are often wise beyond their years. They get romanced, but are not overtly romantic. They may be trashy... but they all retain an air of invulnerability, a certain classical poise."[134] In a film review for the Miami New Times, director and film critic Bilge Ebiri observed that Pfeiffer "often played women who were somewhat removed from the world", elaborating, "It wasn't so much unapproachability or aloofness that she conveyed, but a reserve that suggested... melancholy, pain, dreams deferred", even in some of her more comedic performances.[135] Comparing Pfeiffer's resume to that of actress Barbara Stanwyck, Elizabeth Kaye of The Daily Beast wrote that Pfeiffer's vulnerable characters share a common theme: "the only reasonable expectation is to not expect much."[133] Pfeiffer was one of the most popular actresses of the 1980s and 1990s.[136][137] In 2002, Amy Longsdorf of The Morning Call dubbed Pfeiffer "one of the most popular and critically acclaimed movie stars in the world."[138] Apart from The Witches of Eastwick, few of the actress' films during this period had been box office successes,[133] an observation Pfeiffer never mentioned to studio heads in fear that they would stop hiring her altogether.[131] However, her performances continued to garner consistently positive reviews despite lackluster ticket sales and several films that critics dismissed as "forgettable".[131][139] Pfeiffer has managed to establish herself as a "major star" despite having yet to receive top-billing in a blockbuster film.[133] Despite this, by 1999 Variety ranked Pfeiffer "the female movie star most likely to improve a film's box-office appeal".[140]
Pfeiffer is widely considered to be among the most talented actresses in Hollywood,[125][141][142][143] as well as one of the greatest actresses of her generation.[130][144][145] Despite observing that she lacks the high-profile film credits and training of her contemporaries such as Anjelica Huston and Meryl Streep, Bastién wrote that Pfeiffer possesses "the most fascinating thematic through line" of her generation of actresses.[130] Novelist Steve Erickson, contributing to Los Angeles Magazine, wrote that Pfeiffer "threatened to become one of the four or five great American film actresses of her generation" during her thirties, "well past the starlet age".[146] Deemed one of the industry's "most interesting" actresses by The Daily Beast,[133] Pfeiffer is particularly well known for her versatile performances,[147][148] boasting a diverse filmography that spans the period, romance, fantasy, musical, comedy and drama genres.[128][149] In 2016, Salon's Charles Taylor declared "No other actor of the past 10 to 12 years has come close to Michelle Pfeiffer for sheer versatility", believing that few of her performances are alike.[148] In another review for Vulture.com, Bastién wrote that "Pfeiffer's greatness as an actress rests among several contradictions", concluding, "No modern actress better evokes the rich tension between understanding the currency that comes with being a great beauty and the distaste with being seen at all."[150] Maclean's film critic Brian D. Johnson argues that Pfeiffer has never had a true opportunity "to prove her full range", believing that she could be as good as Streep "if given the same opportunities".[151] Johnson claims that Pfeiffer's performances are sometimes crippled by her beauty and "apparent lack of ambition", due to her tendency to accept "safe, undemanding roles" in order to spend time with her family.[151] At the same time, however, Johnson believes that the actress' same lack of ambition " is also what makes her such a good actor", describing her approach as "modest to a fault".[151] Similarly, the San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle remarked that Pfeiffer's own humility makes it "easy to forget" that she is "a great screen actress — not just good, or very good, or interesting, but genuinely great, as in one of the best we have".[125]
Filmmakers, crew members and co-stars tend to agree that Pfeiffer is extremely committed to her work,[131] developing a "reputation for competence, control and hyper-preparation".[134] She is often praised for her acting abilities by various directors with whom she has collaborated over the years;[152] director Martin Scorsese described Pfeiffer as "an actress who could portray inner conflict with her eyes and face better than any other film star of her generation",[129] while Jonathan Demme declared "It's hard for me to imagine anyone who, on a level of quality, would have an edge on her."[152] At times Pfeiffer has been described as difficult to work with,[153] particularly by Robert Towne, who directed her in Tequila Sunrise; Towne famously dubbed Pfeiffer "the most difficult actress in Hollywood".[154][153] On this designation, Pfeiffer admitted that she can seem difficult at times but it mostly "depends on whom you talk to".[132] Pfeiffer also refuses to watch her own work, describing herself as "a perfectionist, and there’s nothing perfect in what I do... So I’m happier when I don’t watch.”[155]
Media image [ edit ]
Pfeiffer has long been called one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood,[133][156][157][158] a designation that The Daily Telegraph's Mick Brown considers to be both "a defining characteristic in her acting career" and "a curse".[129] Pfeiffer initially struggled to convince casting agents and directors to take her seriously as an actress because they doubted that she was more than merely a pretty face.[129] Pfeiffer's acting abilities continued to be overshadowed by her beauty even several years after her breakout performance in Scarface,[159] responding by actively pursuing roles in which being a blond actress was not a requirement.[131] The Daily Beast's Elizabeth Kaye recognized Pfeiffer as one of Hollywood's rare "beautiful women" who trust that it is indeed possible to be both physically beautiful and serious.[133] Kaye believes that the actress achieves this feat by "grafting the sensibility of a modern woman onto the glamour of a '30s icon";[133] Rolling Stones' Gerri Hirshey agreed that Pfeiffer's roles combine "Nineties guts and Thirties glamour".[131] For Interview magazine, Peter Stone described Pfeiffer as a "Blond, sultry, and ethereal" woman with an "unforgettable" face.[132] Nisha Lilia Diu, another The Daily Telegraph contributor, opined, "It's not that she looks younger than she is – she doesn't particularly – it's the symmetry of her bone structure, the flashing aquamarine eyes and those lips, the top one so much fuller than the bottom. It's the kind of beauty you find yourself involuntarily taking a moment to marvel at mid-conversation."[154] At least two of Pfeiffer's films, Stardust (2007) and Chéri (2009), in which she plays a 5,000 year old witch obsessed with beauty and a courtesan fading into obscurity, respectively, explore themes of beautiful women struggling with the idea of aging.[154] Pfeiffer personally identified with the topic of "our obsession with youth and the ludicrous degrees to which women will go to reclaim it" portrayed in the films.[154] Pfeiffer claims to not want to appear younger than she is and has yet to undergo plastic surgery, although she admits she would "never say never" to the procedure,[154] explaining, "I'm all for a little something here and there."[157] However, she has voiced her disapproval of actors who surgically modify their appearance beyond recognition.[157] Dismissing the claim that she is "drop dead gorgeous", insisting that she is only "conventionally pretty".[152] Pfeiffer has been famously self-deprecating about her own appearance, comparing herself to Howard the Duck.[131]
Encyclopædia Britannica writes that the actress is "noted for her beauty and air of vulnerability".[160] Pfeiffer has also been regularly called one of the most beautiful women in the world.[161][18] Ranking the actress among history's most beautiful, talented and famous actresses, Glamour dubbed Pfeiffer "Possibly the most perfect face on the silver screen".[162] The same magazine ranked Pfeiffer among the greatest style icons of the 1980s, calling her "the go-to girl in the 80s for the major studios... the girl we all wanted to look like" and "one of our all-time favourite movie goddesses".[163] Vogue contributor Alice Newbold considers her "ash-blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and porcelain skin" to be her trademark features, traits she has maintained throughout her career.[164] Harper's Bazaar ranked Pfeiffer the fourth most glamorous "beauty icon" of the 1980s.[165] Complex ranked Pfeiffer 49th on their list of "The 80 Hottest Women of the '80s".[166] During the 1990s, Pfeiffer attracted significant comment in the media for her beauty; in 1990, she appeared on the cover of People magazine's first 50 Most Beautiful People in the World issue. She was again featured on the cover of the annual issue in 1999, having made the "Most Beautiful" list a record six times during the decade (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999). Pfeiffer is the first celebrity to have appeared on the cover of the annual issue twice, and the only person to be featured on the cover twice during the 1990s.[167] Men's Health ranked Pfeiffer the 45th on their list of "The Hottest Woman of All Time".[168]
Famous for being very "press-shy" and private, much like the characters she portrays on-screen,[132][169] Pfeiffer is notorious for disliking interviews, referring to herself in 2017 as "the worst interviewee that ever was";[159] her interviews often feature discussions about how much she dislikes being interviewed because the process makes her nervous.[131][132] Pfeiffer revealed that there was a time when attending interviews to promote her films would make her very agitated and uncomfortable, but she has always "mastered the art" of maintaining a composed, polite demeanor when performing such responsibilities.[129] However, she maintains that "I still don't believe – and I never will – that it's the actors' responsibility to sell a film."[131] The actress resembles an "intense conversationalist" in her interviews, tending to scrunch her face and narrow her eyes before responding to questions.[154] Pfeiffer always discards old scripts in which she has written extensive notes about her characters, nor does she retain film reviews, magazine clippings or covers about her work or performances.[131] Culture commentators noted that in 2014, Pfeiffer, who was not promoting any movies at the time, had become a "pop-music muse" and was mentioned by name in the lyrics of two separate songs moving up the charts at that time: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars and "Riptide" by Vance Joy.[170][171]
Pfeiffer is mentioned in Vance Joy's 2013 song, "Riptide" ("I swear she's destined for the screen, closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen").[172] Joy told reporters that the Pfeiffer film moment which led him to include her name in his song was her portrayal of Selina Kyle in Batman Returns. He said, "She comes back to her apartment after being thrown out the window by Christopher Walken and she goes mental. Her apartment's all pink and beautiful, and kind of creepy and infantile, then she just smashes it all up and spray paints stuff and transforms into Catwoman. It's this really kind of sexual scene; it's amazing."[170] Pfeiffer is also mentioned in Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars's 2014 song, "Uptown Funk" ("This hit, That ice cold, Michelle Pfeiffer, That white gold")[173] In an interview, Ronson told a reporter his favorite Pfeiffer movie was "The Fabulous Baker Boys. I also liked her in Scarface and Tequila Sunrise. She was such a babe."[174] Hip hop vocalist Mahawam released the song "Michelle Pfeiffer" in 2019.[175]
Australian cricketers speak of "getting a Michelle" when they take five wickets in an innings. In cricketing parlance, this is referred to as a "five for", a near-homophone for "Pfeiffer", which resulted in the nickname "Michelle".[176]
Personal life [ edit ]
While taking acting classes in Los Angeles, Pfeiffer was taken in by a seemingly friendly couple who ran a metaphysics and vegetarian cult. They helped her to cease drinking, smoking, and doing drugs, and over time the couple took control of her entire life. Much of her money went to the group. "I was brainwashed... I gave them an enormous amount of money." Pfeiffer, insecure, felt that she could no longer live without them. At an acting class taught by Milton Katselas in Los Angeles, she met fellow budding actor, Peter Horton, and they began dating.
Pfeiffer and Horton married in Santa Monica in 1981, and it was on their honeymoon that she discovered she had won the lead role in Grease 2.[177] Horton directed Pfeiffer in a 1985 ABC TV special, One Too Many, in which she played the high school girlfriend of an alcoholic student (Val Kilmer);[178] and in 1987, the real-life couple played an on-screen couple in the 'Hospital' segment of John Landis's comedy skit compilation, Amazon Women on the Moon. However, they decided to separate in 1988, and were divorced two years later; Horton later blamed the split on their devotion to their work rather than on their marriage.[18]
After her marriage to Horton, Pfeiffer had a three |
to end any time soon.
Both sides are strong and motivated and there's no one with the power of Rizzuto to order a cease fire.
"Everybody's taking a hit," the veteran police office said. "It was never like this."
Toronto StarFollowing numerous complaints about the issue on Apple's support forums, Gizmodo looked into reports that the motion sensors on the new iPhone 5S are not calibrated properly. By comparing the iPhone 5S to an iPhone 5 and also to several real-world tools that the phone replicates with motion sensors (including an actual compass and a spirit level), Gizmodo found that the gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer in two separate iPhone 5Ses do indeed appear to be off by a small but consistently measurable amount.
We confirmed Gizmodo's findings when we compared our own iPhone 5S to an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4S, all running iOS 7.0.2—as you can see by the picture above, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 resting on our desk recognize that they're resting on a flat surface while the iPhone 5S does not. We re-calibrated the Compass app several times and consistently got the same results. The severity of the problem appears to vary from phone to phone—some posters in a MacRumors forum thread on the topic claim that their phones are off by four or six degrees (instead of two, as with our iPhone 5S and with Gizmodo's), while others report that they no longer had the issue after getting a replacement phone from Apple. The relatively wide range of inaccuracies being reported and the fact that the iPhone 5 and 4S aren't affected point to this being a hardware issue and not a software issue, though without a statement for Apple it's difficult to say for sure.
Beyond the inaccuracies in the compass app, the actual real-world impact of this issue is small. While Gizmodo's videos do show that the sensors can cause problems for games if you have the phone resting flat on a table, most people are going to subconsciously adjust the phone to compensate for the slight inaccuracies. In other games, the problems aren't large enough to register—the line in Ridiculous Fishing didn't drift in either direction if our 5S was standing upright on a flat surface. We've contacted Apple for comment on the issue and will update this post if we receive a response. In the meantime, try not to use your iPhone 5S to hang any curtains or anything.Why I Hate the.40 S&W I dislike the.40 on principle, and also because of personal experience not related to the performance of the cartridge. On Principle
The.40 is symbolic of the pussification of America. You see... in the past, someone at a firearms company took a look at a cartridge like the.38 S&W and said, "Hey... If we made this thing longer, we could get more powder into it and make it more powerful." Everybody within earshot said, "Let's do it!", and the.38 Special was born. One night several decades later, Colonel D. B. Wesson and Phil Sharpe were sitting around on stools made from elephant legs, drinking straight whiskey and smoking Cuban cigars when the Col picked up a.38 Special and said, "Dude, we should make this thing longer, stuff it full of smokeless powder, and give it a cool name. It would kick ass!" to which Phil Sharpe replied, "You're a pussy if you don't", and Bingo! the.357 Magnum was born. The same thing happened with the.44 - except Elmer Keith wouldn't stop whining about it so he was drinking whiskey alone, angrily writing magazine articles until Remington finally made his cartridge. The.40 was developed backwards. In April of 1986, the FBI was involved in a shootout in Miami with two heavily armed career criminals. The bad guys were killed, but not before they took the lives of FBI Special Agents Gerald Dove and Benjamin Grogan. The subsequent investigation placed partial blame for the agents' deaths on the lack of stopping power exhibited by their 9mm handguns, so the FBI adopted the far superior 10mm cartridge. Field agents loved the additional firepower, but some of the sissy office staff complained about the 10mm's recoil. One day, some pale doughy accountant picked up a 10mm and said, "If someone else would make this smaller and weaker, it wouldn't hurt my little hand as much when I shoot it." His transgender assistant said, "That a great idea! They could even make the guns smaller to fit in my evening bag", and the.40 was born. Personal Experience
I've been shooting since my early teens. When I was looking for a carry handgun, I made the mistake of asking a blowhard know-it-all former co-worker his opinion. He had one gun - a Sigma in.40 S&W - which in his mind made him an expert on firearms - and since he had a.40, it had to be the best cartridge ever conceived. After that, every time he saw me he'd spend what seemed like hours expounding on the virtues of the.40 as "the perfect cartridge". As a result, I began to hate it. The deal was sealed soon thereafter, when I had a bad gun shop experience with some crusty old fossil that tried to hard-sell me a.40. The non-conformist in me kicked into high gear and I said to myself, "I'm never going to own one of these friggin' things". A side story about the know-it-all blowhard:
A couple of years ago I was talking to the know-it-all blowhard and I mentioned that I was reloading for my.500. He said, "There's no such thing as a.50 caliber revolver". I directed him to Google and told him to do his research. (He must've missed the release of the X-frames because he couldn't hear it over the sound of how awesome the.40 is). After he decided that it existed, he asked if he could shoot my.500 because he was "proficient with big bore revolvers" and might be able to show me some tips on shooting it. So, I took Mr. Proficiency out to the range, put a single mild load in my 8".500, he shot it, and dropped my gun! He grabbed his wrist and started hopping around crying like Nancy Kerrigan. He broke the fiberoptic front sight on my revolver and never paid for it. He still loves the.40 though.INTJ Overview
Since numerous detailed INTJ type descriptions are already available on the web, we’ll just hit the high points here:
We’re smart.
We are visionaries, strategic (and compulsive) planners, big-picture thinkers, complex problem solvers, adept decision makers, conceptualists, theorists, and pattern recognizers – in short, we are “masterminds” [insert evil mastermind laugh here].
We don’t do feelings.
We use critical thinking, reason, and logic. We have a tough time with people who make decisions based on emotions, and we can often come across as blunt and cold because we ignore the feelings of others. But on the plus side, we take criticism well since we have no feelings to hurt.
We live inside our heads.
We frequently zone out. We get lost in thought and spend much of our time inside our heads. If our immediate reality becomes boring, we will retreat into our minds, and you might have to shout our names repeatedly to get our attention so we will come out again. And no, sorry, but you can’t come into our heads with us. You wouldn’t last five minutes there. You’d be driven insane by the nonstop cacophony of overlapping voices madly free-associating from one idea to the next.
We are self-confident.
No type is more self-confident than the INTJ. We have a very keen awareness of our own knowledge and abilities, and – more importantly – of the limits of our knowledge and abilities. Consequently we can come across as arrogant sometimes. This is your problem to deal with, not ours, since it is a problem of erroneous perception (yours).
We are aloof.
Because we are somewhat detached from reality, because we are introverted (we find interacting with people to be tiring and tiresome), because we are very private, and because we are impassive, we tend to come across as rather reserved and aloof. Okay, we actually are reserved and aloof.
Conversing with an INTJ
Do’s and Don’ts (mostly Don’t’s):
DON’T ask one of us a question unless you really want a truthful answer. We will not sugarcoat it for you, and we don’t tell white lies to spare anyone’s feelings. Do you really, truthfully want to know if those jeans make your ass look fat? Normal person’s response: “Um, no, you look fine. Really.” Honest person’s response: “Well… maybe a different belt would help?” INTJ’s response: “No, it’s not the jeans that make your ass look fat; it’s your fat ass that makes your ass look fat.”
DON’T express an opinion to us unless you are prepared to back it up with sound arguments and well pedigreed facts and evidence. Otherwise do not be surprised when we logically shred your opinion for you and hand it back to you in tatters.
DON’T be repetitive. We have absolutely no patience for that. There’s no need to cover old ground, and we heard you the first time, unless we were zoning out. And if we were zoning out it’s probably because you started repeating yourself.
DON’T take 100 words to say what could have been said in 10. Content-free speech will cause an INTJ to zone out faster than repeating yourself.
DON’T engage us in “small talk”. Keep in mind that you are competing for our attention with all the voices in our heads, and they are bound to be far more interesting than you. The voices are constantly regaling us with things like anagrams of Wayne Newton (Wanton Weeny, We Annoy Newt, New Yawn Tone, …) and candidate titles for parodies of “Carry On My Wayward Son” (“Cary Grant Was Six Foot One”, “Curry On My Egg Foo Yung”, …). Do you really think your talk of the weather or your six year old’s soccer league is going to be more compelling than that? Please. Be realistic.
DON’T look at an INTJ in bewilderment when he/she discloses an idea to you. Yes, it may have required a double somersault of imagination to reach their conclusion. Ask them to take you through it step-by-step; they will happily oblige. Ideas are of ultimate importance to an INTJ, and it is a compliment for them to share their ideas with you. Similarly, failing to give due attention to an INTJ’s idea is a high form of insult.
DO… um… well, we thought there should be at least one “DO” but we can’t think of one. Oh, how about this: DO keep it short.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Where can I find an INTJ?
A: We INTJs are über-introverts, so we prefer asynchronous and semi-anonymous forms of communication. We get most of our socialization through internet forums and Usenet newsgroups. Look for us there.
Q: Can I become an INTJ?
A: Unless you are born an INTJ, your only hope is to find a genie lamp while strolling on the beach, rub it, and make a wish. You can fake being one of us by burying yourself in a mound of books, nerding out on a favorite subject (like quantum mechanics, not needlepoint), wandering around by yourself, not giving a damn what others think of you, etc. If this sounds like too much work, just try doing a good robot impersonation.
Q: How can I break up with my INTJ?
A: Tell us the truth. We’ll reply, “Sure, why not?”, and go on with our lives.
Q: My INTJ is trying to take over the world. Should I be concerned?
A: Remember, he/she’s trying to take over the world for the betterment of everyone and everything. Just go ahead and let him/her. He/She’ll be happy and the world will be a more organized and efficient place.
Q: My INTJ just told me I’m retarded. Should I take offense?
A: You probably are retarded, by our standards. But don’t take offense. Our standards are so high that even we don’t meet them. We judge ourselves more harshly than we judge others.
Q: My INTJ isn’t sensitive to my feelings. Should I take offense?
A: We aren’t even sensitive to our own feelings. Why should we be expected to be sensitive to yours? We won’t even try to fake it. Insincerity is a pet peeve of ours, and anyway, it would ruin our reputation if we ever showed emotion.
Q: Why doesn’t my INTJ ever show emotions or feelings?
A: Because he/she doesn’t have any. Actually, that’s not strictly true; it’s just that we tend to get emotional about things you might not appreciate. INTJs have been known to cry during the liftoff scene in “Apollo 13″, for example, and there are also many touching moments in some of the Star Trek movies. An INTJ may also smile or laugh at random for no apparent reason; probably one of the voices in his/her head just made a good joke.
Q: My INTJ doesn’t care about me any more after he/she tried to explain his/her idea and I didn’t listen. What should I do?
A: Ideas are of prime importance to INTJs, and disregarding or not listening to our ideas is the highest form of insult. Although INTJs do not hold grudges, neither do we go out of our way to associate with people who don’t give serious consideration to our ideas. You’ll be in damage control mode for quite some time, fighting an uphill battle to get back into our good graces.
Q: My INTJ won’t talk to me. What should I do?
A: What subjects are you trying to talk about? Most INTJs hate gossip, and all of us hate talk of relationships. We also don’t do small talk. Try quantum physics, psychology, or some other deep (but non-touchy/feely) topic. If all else fails, try email instead.
Q: Why does my INTJ keep correcting my grammar?
A: Probably because you are being grammatically incorrect. The next time you tell your INTJ that you’re going to “try and [do something]”, prepare to get bitch-slapped. It’s “try to”, not “try and”. And there’s no such word as “irregardless”. Words have specific meanings, and language has specific rules; please abide by them. And don’t even get us started on your contextually ambiguous use of pronouns.
Q: I have this REALLY good idea… should I tell an INTJ?
A: Sleep on it… for a week or so. If it’s still so appealing, sleep on it for another week. Then maybe run it by one of us and we’ll pick it apart for you. Your idea is more likely to survive our scrutiny relatively unscathed if you have actual logical arguments and sound evidence with which to back it up.
Q: Is it dangerous to annoy an INTJ?
A: First we will ignore you, then we will launch a volley of extremely witty but esoteric insults that will probably go right over your head, and finally we will just engage the “nod-and-smile” autopilot and go back to ignoring you. Best to leave us alone at this point. If you push us too far we may blow up your head with our telekinetic abilities. So, yes, it can be dangerous to annoy an INTJ.
Q: What are the pet peeves of INTJs?
A: Thanks for asking. Our pet peeves are:
We dislike surprises.
We hate having decisions made for us. We’re INTJs; nobody is more qualified to make decisions than us.
We dislike getting gifts, as it burdens us with the need to reciprocate.
We hate small talk, gossip, and relationship/people talk. Really anything mundane is beneath us.
We get particularly annoyed by attacks on our intelligence, competence, and integrity.
We hate it when people try to manipulate us.
Insincerity and lying.
People interfering with our alone time.
People who are chronically late.
People who talk incessantly. We will just engage our “nod and smile” autopilot and mentally go somewhere else.
People who are stupid, arrogant, opinionated, and/or closed minded.
Crooked/badly placed pictures.
Superficiality (body piercings, pimped out cars, brightly colored anything).
Salespeople. INTJs are immune to emotional manipulation and have zero tolerance for lines of bullshit.
Incorrect grammar and word usage.
People who waste our time (see Salespeople, people interfering with our alone time, etc.).
Q: My INTJ keeps disappearing. Is this normal?
A: Yes. We need our “alone time” to recharge, more so than any of the other introverted MBTI types. Being around people for very long sucks the life force out of us, and we sneak off to be by ourselves whenever our “low battery” warning light starts to flash. (And in those cases where we can’t disappear physically, we will retreat into our minds.) Consequently we have great stealth capability; we can sit in a corner, observing while being unobserved, and we can escape, unnoticed, when we’re ready to move on.
Q: Why can’t my INTJ remember anything?
A: This is normal. Most of us INTJs are very forgetful. We have too much going on in our heads at any time to remember a lot of new stuff. Also, we zone out and go into autopilot mode quite frequently. We often won’t remember where we put our car keys because we weren’t “there” when we did it.
Q: My INTJ employee consistently strolls into work an hour late and leaves an hour late, every day. He/she seems to make his/her own hours, however the job gets done rather well. Should I feel disrespected?
A: Time is relative to the INTJ, and getting the job done right is paramount. We do not like wasting our time, so we will often adjust our schedules accordingly to miss AM and PM rush-hour traffic. The more traffic we miss, the more time we have for books, movies, video games, books, message boards, books, etc. You should feel disrespected, although it has nothing to do with them not honoring your work rules; it has to do with them not thinking you are particularly smart or competent. If you were smart/competent, you wouldn’t be going on about getting your wittle bitty feewings hurt by your disrespectful but high-performing INTJ employee.
Q: My INTJ is very pedantic.
A: Strictly speaking, that’s not a question.
Q: Dammit, see what I mean?
A: Yes, the irony was not lost on me as I typed the previous answer.
Q: And sarcastic as hell, too.
A: Sarcasm is a free public service we provide to those within earshot. No need to thank us. We also do irony, hyperbole, word-play and puns, one-liners, quick-witted observations and flippant remarks, and abstract and deep philosophical insights on nonsensical themes. Our sense of humor tends to be dry, warped, and morbid, and not everybody “gets” us.
Q: Why does my INTJ just “shut down” at the end of the day?
A: Our minds are always buzzing with plans and theories, and we cannot voluntarily get it to stop. But even an Indy 500 car will coast to a halt after it runs out of gas. When we are very tired our brains slow down, and we become normal or even a bit retarded. If we start asking you to repeat what you just told us but more slowly this time, and/or if we can no longer perform simple routine tasks like computing an orbital transfer burn or finding a memory leak in 10,000 lines of C++ code, you know it’s time for us to call it a day.
Q: Why is my INTJ so… well, so freakin’ WEIRD??!?
A: It’s probably just a side effect of the way our brains work. Many of us tend to be rather obsessive-compulsive, for instance ordering our cd’s, dvd’s, and books by genre then alphabetically (by title for dvd’s, by group then title for cd’s, and by author then title for books, except for series which must be kept in appropriate serial order). Most of us have other quirks as well, e.g., always eating M&M’s in a specific color order, naming our children in alphabetical order, etc. It’s a small price to pay for genius, really.
Q: Why does my INTJ just start nodding and smiling after we’ve been talking for a couple of minutes?
A:
Q: I said, WHY DOES MY INTJ START NODDING AND… Oh I get it, you’re being sarcastic again. Does it ever get old?
A: [ hey, more Wayne Newton anagrams… We Want On Yen, Ant On New Yew, Way None Went… ]
Q: Hello? Are you going to answer any more questions?
A: [ … “Hair Salon For Stray Nerd Nuns”, “Larry Moe and Curly’s On”, “Karaoke’s Not That Fun”, “Harry Potter’s Gay Stepson”, … ]
Q: Asshole. I’m outta here.
(Source: intjforum.com)A Richmond city councillor is denouncing an ongoing ad campaign by the neighbouring community of Delta as “fake news” that “fudges the facts” on the proposed replacement to the Massey Tunnel.
The ads, which began running last month, claim an upgraded tunnel between Richmond and Delta is “not an option” because it wouldn’t be safe in an earthquake – a claim denied by Richmond’s engineering staff.
“This ad is a really great example of fake news. They’ve taken facts that aren’t in context and put them together to tell us something that isn’t real,” Coun. Harold Steves said.
Delta approved a $35,000 budget for the advertisement. According to documents obtained by CTV News, some $19,000 of that money has already been spent on newspapers in Vancouver, Richmond, and Delta, as well as online. The city also bought the weneedabridge.ca domain name to promote the project.
The campaign is in support of building the $3.5 billion bridge that would replace the tunnel and increase the capacity from four lanes to 10.
The ad claims that “the existing tunnel cannot be sufficiently seismically upgraded,” and would not be “physically capable of withstanding a moderate to severe earthquake.”
Delta Coun. Sylvia Bishop told CTV News that claim was based on reviewing thousands of pages of studies on the proposed bridge.
“That’s not stuff that’s made up. That’s been excerpted from the engineering reports,” she said.
Richmond’s director of transportation, Victor Wei, reviewed the claims in the ad as part of a report to that city’s council.
Wei agreed the current tunnel is built to a standard of being able to withstand a one in 275 year seismic event, based on work completed in 2006.
“However, the tunnel is capable of undergoing further seismic upgrades to enable the structure to sustain repairable damage and remain usable following a 1 in 475 year seismic event,” Wei wrote.
That upgrade would not increase the bridge to current earthquake standards, which are built to withstand and earthquake that would happen one every 2,475 years.
However, the upgraded tunnel “would render the tunnel comparable to the current seismic ratings of other existing lifeline crossings in Greater Vancouver such as the Lions Gate Bridge, Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, Oak Street Bridge, and Queensborough Bridge,” he said.
That $30,000 could have been better spent in Delta, Steves said.
“It’s fearmongering. I could do a story on Oak Street Bridge that could knock your socks off. It’s a matter of where you realistically want to spend your dollars,” he said.
The Massey Bridges’ future is up in the air after the Liberal government, which championed the bridge, was eventually defeated following the B.C. election in May.
The new NDP government had criticized the bridge’s costs, and has promised to defer decisions on the bridge to the Metro Vancouver Mayors Council, which has said that increasing the capacity of the crossing isn’t part of their transportation plan.
Richmond has asked the province to consider a twinned tunnel. Preliminary work is continuing on the bridge, and the province did not answer CTV News’ questions on what would happen to current bids for work.
“Over the weeks and months ahead, the province will be examining the project and evaluating the different options available to ensure we move forward with a project that best serves the entire region and gets the best value for money,” a statement from the provincial ministry of transportation read.It's been a hectic last day in the PRO12 with so much going on. All four Irish provinces got results that they wanted - with Ulster helping Munster out to ensure they finished in sixth place with a lot of breathing room.
The try that confirmed the win for Ulster was the bonus point score from Chris Henry - and it's not one that you would have seen everyday. In fact, it was a bit of a head scratcher.
After a brilliant breakout from Ulster brought Craig Gilroy to within a metre before a brilliant steal from Ospreys seemed to foil Ulster's attack.
Or so we thought.
Ospreys placed the ball back for scrumhalf Rhys Webb who was preparing for a clearance box-kick. But, in steps Chris Henry.
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Henry saw that the ball was placed on the tryline - meaning that there is no offside anymore - allowing him to dot the ball down for a score. I'll let the referee explain it better.
See Also: WATCH: Glasgow Prop Sent Off For Appalling Flying Head-Butt On Kieran MarmionUFC's Derrick Lewis will fight in Auckland next month against Kiwi Mark Hunt.
UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis is coming to New Zealand, but his knowledge about our country is, well, negligible.
Lewis, an American who is seeking his seventh win on the trot, will fight Kiwi MMA fighter Mark Hunt at Spark Arena in Auckland on June 11.
He's admitted to Fox Sports: UFC that: "I did not know anything about New Zealand, at first."
In fact he's only just found out it will be winter time when he fights Hunt.
READ MORE:
* Hunt v Lewis in Auckland
* Hunt knocked out by Overeem
* UFC returning to New Zealand in June
"I thought it was going to be like hot... now I've got to pack extra brah, to keep myself warm.
"I don't think I'm going to like it very much," he told Fox Sports: UFC.
Asked what he planned to do in New Zealand, Lewis said: "Throw a boomerang."
Fair dinkum, that's what Aussies do.
Kiwi UFC fighter Dan 'Hangman' Hooker has posted on Instagram that Lewis, the world number 6, is "looking forward to coming to NZ to throw a BOOMERANG???."
Derrick Lewis is looking forward to coming to NZ to throw a BOOMERANG??? #dafaq #😂😂😂 A post shared by Dan "Hangman" Hooker (@danhangman) on May 11, 2017 at 7:42pm PDT
Hunt will make his first fighting appearance in New Zealand in 15 years. The 43-year-old has sounded confident of beating the 32-year-old US star since the fight was announced in March.
Lewis beat his last opponent, Travis Browne, in February.
Hunt has been through a court battle with the UFC taking legal action against his employer after his controversial no-contest with drug cheat Brock Lesnar in July 2016.
The South Auckland-born, Sydney-based fighter will also be looking for his first win in three bouts after being knocked out by Alistair Overeem in Las Vegas in March and the controversial no-contest against Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 last July.Photo Credit:
What would you do if you learned that a small group of people threatened to make Jewish life in our communities less inviting and secure? Would you be concerned enough to learn about them, warn your children about them, and try to blunt the damage these people are doing? And what if “these people” turned out to be ourselves?
The dismissive, uncivil, and disrespectful attitudes and behavior too many of us show to our neighbors threaten our collective future.
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Our job at the Simon Wiesenthal Center is to stay on top of trends around the world. Our work takes us around the globe, advocating for Jewish and for human-rights causes. We meet with world leaders, government officials on all levels, and elite cadres of civil society. We have seen the hydra of anti-Semitism regenerate with renewed strength, too often met in the mainstream with apathy, even acceptance.
Campaigns against shechitah need not always be anti-Semitic, but they have been inspired by Norwegian politicians who simultaneously defended whale-hunting while calling kosher slaughter “a blood orgy.” Some people may decide hey are not interested in the medical advantages of milah, but when a national ombudsman for children’s rights in Oslo tells you to your face that it cannot be justified as a religious ceremony because it is a form of “barbaric abuse,” it is time to worry.
Across Europe, the lid has come off the demons repressed for a few decades after the Holocaust.
Yes, you might say, but we live in North America, far from those forms of overt and dangerous threats. But that is our point. We live, b’chasdei Hashem, in a bubble – one that we threaten to burst ourselves.
Not that anti-Semitism doesn’t exist in the Goldene Medinah, but its harshest manifestations are mostly relegated to the margins, and it has not derailed the decades of remarkable Orthodox growth since World War II.
We have, baruch Hashem, built thriving, bustling communities, full of schools, shuls and social service providers. We in the U.S. and Canada have learned to be more confidently assertive. Through the pioneering efforts of Agudah and the OU, we are a presence in state capitol buildings, in the White House and in Ottawa. Kippot appear on the heads of public officials and in sitcoms, and Yiddishisms don’t need to be explained to our fellow citizens.
We have built up huge amounts of good will with many neighbors and politicians and don’t think twice about leveraging that hard-earned good will to accommodate our needs. We ask for – and expect – that testing schedules will revolve around our holidays, that garbage pickups will bend for Pesach, that parking tickets will not be issued when halacha won’t allow us to move our vehicles.
More important, we have come to rely on the largesse of the government and our neighbors for all kinds of support we now take for granted: reimbursement for mandated school services, textbooks, welfare and housing stipends, grants for senior centers and special-needs children. To ensure that the perks keep coming, we build upon our network with politicians, appear at the right public forums, and bundle contributions – just like every other organized interest group.
Observant Jews are no longer seen or treated as a small, quaint, community clinging to its ancient ways on America’s margins. We are mainstream, swimming alongside others in a fishbowl. Our neighbors, the media, and politicians pay attention – not because they hate us but because we are part of society’s fabric. No one should be surprised, then, that our faults and foibles – true or exaggerated – are splashed across headlines and cable news.
Most good people (and the bad ones are in the minority) do not expect perfection. They do expect menschlichkeit and respect – respect for laws and for the rule of law itself. They expect us to show pride in the appearance of our houses and streets, and other good-neighborly behavior. They expect to be valued and treated as respected human beings, just as we expect that of them.
Too often, though, we don’t think in these terms and we do not deliver. The resulting chillulei Hashem, both miniscule and large, weaken our Torah values, erode our shem tov, and potentially threaten our future.
We entirely understand the derision and contempt displayed to non-Jews by some Holocaust survivors. They experienced firsthand unfathomable atrocities, often committed by non-Jewish neighbors they had trusted. But we, the children and grandchildren of those survivors, know full well the difference between their experience and ours – yes, even the difference between one group of people and another. We also know of many survivors whose personal experiences were also horrific and yet they always displayed impeccable graciousness to all human beings.
Some of us, however, continue to speak – and think – disparagingly of every non-Jew. Besides being wrong in a Torah context, this attitude, in our opinion, is suicidal. It will bring catastrophe upon us, as the realities of the new economy will mean more and more groups competing for a shrinking pot of available public funds and resources. We are going to need to generate greater good will from our neighbors. The near-daily allegations of financial irregularities and cheating on government programs don’t help, making the forging of long-term coalitions that much more difficult.
Please don’t get us wrong. We are not saying that what we have described is the majority attitude in our community. Far from it. It is a minority one, but it threatens to engulf us all.
So why are we writing this? Because the attitudes children develop about their neighbors is considerably more reflective of what they learn from family than what they hear in school.
We both had elders in our extended families who survived the violent and genocidal hate of Tsarist Russia and Nazi Germany. Yet we were inculcated to show derech eretz to all people, not only “unzere.”
That is why we are taking this plea to Jewish parents. As parents, you try to give your children every advantage. If, God forbid, Mashiach does not arrive soon, and your children spend years of their lives in what Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, called the “medinah shel chesed,” you want them to live in a hospitable environment. But that will not be the case unless you educate them better than they have been educated until now in how to live respectfully among non-Jews.
Teach your children how different Americans are relative to, say, people in Saudi Arabia, Greece, or Spain. Speak to them about our great mission of Kiddush Hashem, and the severity of Chillul Hashem. Speak to them also about the practical consequences of being part of a minority whose future will be rockier without strong alliances with our neighbors.
An aphorism of a previous generation was, “If Jews won’t make Kiddush, non-Jews will make Havdalah.” It meant that if Jews, who have a special mission to live by Hashem’s instructions and be an ohr lagoyim (a light to the nations), don’t live up to His expectations, He will use non-Jews to remind us – sometimes in unpleasant ways.
Today those words have additional meaning. If we won’t act toward our neighbors with Kiddush Hashem, we will be spurned and shunned by them. This will impact negatively on so much that has been so important in the building of our Orthodox communities.
Bottom line: Let parents lead the way in raising our children to always show humanity and decency. It’s time – for those of us who have not already done so – to mensch up.The New Hampshire House of Representatives has voted, 188 to 151, to repeal the Education Tax Credit that took effect less than two months ago. The law grants an 85% tax credit to businesses that donate to scholarship organizations, which give the money to students going to a private school, an out-of-district public school, or home school.
Much of the debate on the House floor centered on whether the program is equivalent to a voucher, a question that will likely be decided by the courts. Opponents of the repeal, like Republican David Hess drew the rhetorical battle lines early. Hess was emphatic before the assembled representatives, "The current Education tax Credit is not a voucher. It is not, I repeat, not a voucher," he said. Opponents fo the repeal say the program offers educational choice to low- and middle-income families, and say the law should be given a chance to work before it is judged.
The tax credit is worth $3.4 million dollars in the first year, but grows each year that it is fully utilized. The money, which would have been paid in taxes, instead goes to scholarships averaging $2,500 dollars a student. And yes, the scholarships might be used in religious schools.
Those who favor repeal, like Concord Democrat Mary Stuart Gile, equate it to a voucher program, and say it is unconstitutional. "Business Profit Tax or Business Enterprise Tax revenue is diverted to an intermediary scholarship organization, and could be used as tuition to religious schools." says Gile, adding that it is likely that more scholarships will go to religious schools than not, because "it is very clear that those schools which are religious in nature have lower tuition."
The repeal still has to go through the Republican controlled senate, where leadership has indicated it would not favor repeal. The question of whether or not the money from tax credits is equivalent to government funds will be decided by a lawsuit now before the Strafford county superior court. A decision is expected in April.We are only days away from launching ‘Frontier’, the first milestone in the release of the Ethereum project. Frontier will be followed by ‘Homestead’, ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Serenity’ throughout the coming year, each adding new features and improving the user friendliness and security of the platform.
What is Frontier?
Frontier is a live, but barebone implementation of the Ethereum project. It’s intended for technical users, specifically developers. During the Frontier release, we expect early adopters and application developers to establish communities and start forming a live ecosystem. Like their counterparts during the American Frontier, these settlers will be presented with vast opportunities, but will also face many dangers. If building from source and command lines interfaces aren’t your cup of tea, we strongly encourage you to wait for a more user-friendly release of the Ethereum software before diving in.
When is Frontier going live?
Frontier is now feature complete and its codebase has been frozen for two weeks. As a team we are currently reviewing the final steps for the release, not all of them technical |
% had been sold for around £3 million.[32]
During the course of the 2000 Braingames World Championship Keene was accused of heavy-handed behaviour in having journalist John Henderson removed from the press room with the assistance of bouncers.[33]
Korchnoi [ edit ]
Viktor Korchnoi alleges that when acting as his second in the 1978 World Championship match, Keene broke his contract by writing a book about the match (which appeared three days after the match finished) having specifically signed an agreement "not to write, compile or help to write or compile any book during the course of the match". Korchnoi commented: "Mr Keene betrayed me. He violated the contract. It was clear that while Mr Keene was writing one book and then another, Mr Stean was doing his work for him."[34]
Attempts to defend Keene were rebutted by Michael Stean's mother, who stated that she was in a position to know what was in Keene's contract since she herself had typed it. Keene, she claimed, had signed this despite having already negotiated a contract with Batsford to write a book about the match. She described "a premeditated and deliberate plan to deceive" and noted that Keene's conduct had come under suspicion during the match.[35][36]I think Kickstarter is one of the best things that has happened to music in a long time, since it does away with pretty much the only remaining useful, nontrivial thing that record labels offered to bands or to fans: paying for the up-front production costs. Kickstarter lets bands get that money from true fans who are willing to pre-pay for a not-yet-recorded album, instead of basically entering into a loan-shark relationship with a label.
I recently contributed to a kickstarter for The Dollyrots. I got an early digital copy of the new album -- which is great and you should buy it! -- and also got the little care package they sent out including a signed poster of all of the contributors and a few similar things. This extra stuff is adorable, and made the whole process feel very personal.
Apparently they only had around 500 contributors, but that was enough to pay for the album, which is awesome, and kind of surprising -- that's not exactly a large number of people! Even for a small band, that's only the attendance of two or three shows. It looks like about half of their total came from small-ticket items rather than things like "buy my old guitar".
The Limousines, who are also awesome, just put up a kickstarter for their new album too, and it contains this sad anecdote:
When it came time to make our first music video, Internet Killed The Video Star we aimed high. We wrote the story out ourselves and found a great director... The video included nearly 50 crazy looking zombies, tons of special effects and multiple shooting locations. We even hand-made an arsenal of cardboard weapons - The best part was, we managed to do it all for less than most bands spend on catering at their video shoots. By the time we were ready to make the video for The Future, we were signed to the label and assumed we'd get a healthy production budget so we decided to go even bigger than we had for Internet Killed The Video Star... We wrote a script calling for even more elaborate special effects, crashing a time traveling Delorean into a Porsche, tons of costumes and actors, plus massive explosions. We had our sights set for an epic video and when we submitted it to the label, they said, "No... It's too dark and violent and besides, it'll be way too expensive..." We were shocked, but, defiant and determined, we decided to make the video anyway, on our own dime. Of course the next step was a conversation between the two of us that started with "if we're a signed band, why are we having to choose between paying our rent or making a music video?" and ended with "the breakup call" with the label...
As far as I can tell, record labels are useless at this point. They loan money, write a press release or two, and handle the mechanics of getting the MP3s into Amazon and Apple. There are cheaper ways to get those services than giving someone else so much control.
Smaller labels used to provide an editorial role, in that you could sort of expect that if someone was released on a particular label, it would have a particular sound, but even that is pretty rare these days. For example: last year, Niki and the Dove were scheduled to play a date in San Francisco that was cancelled, but I managed to see them at SXSW at around the same time. I asked them after that show why the SF date had been cancelled, since obviously they were already in the country, and they told me that halfway through their (short) tour their label -- Sub-Pop -- had told them, basically, "You guys are too small and not popular enough so we're pulling the plug in the middle of your tour and canceling the remaining dates."
So my first reaction was, "Wow, that's pretty fucked up" and my second reaction was, "Wait, what the hell is a band who sounds like this doing on(And my third reaction was, "Wow, Sub-Pop still exists?" Turns out they're now just an imprint of Warner.)
There certainly still exist small labels that have this kind of editorial theme -- Kitsuné comes to mind -- but there really aren't very many, and I strongly suspect that most of them aren't actually functional businesses, but are more along the lines of, a one-person operation that is more like a very expensive labor-of-love that is funded by savings and/or a day-job. (I have a certain amount of experience with this dynamic.)
At this point, I think what label a band is on is usually about as interesting as which plant pressed their CDs, or which ISP hosts their web site.
Back when I still used CDs I used to try to support bands by buying their CDs at the show, because often they get a bigger cut of that sale that way (though sometimes not, as the label basically makes them buy their own CDs at so close to face value that it makes no difference). Even when they get a good margin on the CDs, they almost certainly still make more profit on t-shirts.
Paying for the music ahead of time via something like Kickstarter just seems like a much more sensible way to go about it, especially if you already know that it's a band you love and that you'd have bought the next album sight unseen. It's almost a "subscription" model.
It's also nice to be paying for the thing you actually care about -- "I'm paying for you guys to make a new album" -- instead of the weird proxy situation that other merch puts you in. When you think about it, it's kind of nuts that often the way you can best support a musician is by letting them re-sell to you a piece of clothing that they commissioned and sourced from someone else.Clark bill aims to combat dangerous ‘swatting’ hoaxes
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Congressman Patrick Meehan (R-PA) introduced the Interstate Swatting Hoax Act of 2015, legislation to combat attacks known as swatting. Swatting is defined as the intentional misleading of emergency responders in order to provoke a S.W.A.T. team response. In recent years, swatting has become a widely used tool for online harassers to attack journalists, academics, domestic violence survivors, and celebrities. Perpetrators locate victims’ private information online and use technology to conceal their identity as they contact emergency responders. In one recent swatting attack, a 10 year old became the unintended victim of swatting when an armed S.W.A.T. team raided his home after an anonymous call falsely reported there was a shooter inside.
While federal law prohibits using the telecommunications system to falsely report a bomb threat hoax or a terrorist attack, falsely reporting other emergency situations is not currently prohibited. The Interstate Swatting Hoax Act would close this loophole by prohibiting the use of the interstate telecommunications system to knowingly transmit false information with the intent to cause an emergency law enforcement response.
Recently reported cases included a string of swatting attacks in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. Several cases of bogus calls to police departments in Framingham and Ashland were all reported within a six month period. Similar incidents have been reported in Delaware and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania.
“Perpetrators of these hoaxes purposefully use our emergency responders to harm their victims,” said Clark. “These false reports are dangerous and costly, and have resulted in serious injury to victims and law enforcement. It is time to update our laws to appropriately address this crime.”
“Our law enforcement personnel are already struggling to protect our communities with limited resources,” said Meehan. “The wave of ‘swatting’ incidents are costing our police departments time and tax dollars. ‘Swatting’ cases divert attention from serious situations that require the attention of highly trained personnel and puts innocent civilians at risk. This legislation updates federal statute and makes it clear that ‘swatting’ is no joke.”
The FBI estimates 400 swatting attacks occur every year. Some attacks, however, have been reported to cost local law enforcement agencies as much as $100,000. The most serious cost of these attacks is the danger they pose to emergency responders, innocent victims, and their families. Swatting attacks have resulted in injury to law enforcement officers, heart attacks, and serious injury to victims.
Clark has championed combatting severe online threats and abuse, which disproportionately affects women and girls. Clark successfully garnered the U.S. House’s backing to instruct the Department of Justice to investigate severe online threats, and to use existing laws to prosecute these crimes. Clark introduced the Prioritizing Online Threats Enforcement Act to ensure that federal law enforcement has the resources they need to enforce laws regarding the use of the internet to perpetuate severe threats.
Meehan, a former U.S. Attorney and local prosecutor, has worked extensively on criminal justice issues during his tenure in Congress. Meehan chaired the Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee in the 113th Congress and led the effort to enact the first significant cybersecurity legislation in a decade. He’s examined closely the use of communications networks to disrupt the operations of law enforcement and other first responders.
The Interstate Swatting Hoax Act of 2015 has received the support of: the National District Attorneys Association, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, the Women’s Media Center, Hollaback!, the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the SPARK Movement, Women, Action & the Media, the WMC Speech Project, the National Center for Victims of Crime, the FBI Agents Association, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and the Major County Sheriffs’ Association.
Full text of the Interstate Swatting Hoax Act of 2015 can be found here.Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Monday identified the terrorist who carried out the deadly attack in Beersheba’s Central Bus Station Sunday as Israeli Beduin Muhanad al-Uqbi, 21, from the Negev unrecognized village of Uqbi.
Al-Uqbi’s mother is from Gaza, and she moved to Israel under the Family Reunification Law. Al-Uqbi had no prior record of security offenses.
Security forces have placed a gag order on all other details of the investigation.Armed with a pistol and a knife, al-Uqbi stormed the Beersheba central bus station on Sunday night, shot to death IDF Sgt. Omri Levy, snatched his rifle, then shot and wounded 11 Israelis before being shot dead by police.During the attack, armed security personnel mistook an Eritrean man for a second terrorist and opened fire, wounding him in the lower part of the body. The man was then set upon by a mob that beat him severely, leading to his death.Sheikh Sayid, the leader of the al-Uqbi family and a relative of the terrorist, told The Jerusalem Post that he condemns the attack and was shocked to hear of it. Sayid said he had no idea how this happened and was awaiting the results of the investigation.He described the gunman has having been a good boy who was expected to continue his studies.He said an Israeli officer had called and demanded the villagers remove a mourning tent, and they complied and took it down.Sayid called for coexistence with Jews, but complained about a shortage of funding or his village, which lacks many basic amenities. He mentioned a dispute with the state over land ownership there.In the town of Hura right across the road, a worker at the gas station told the Post that Beduin serve in the army and are loyal to the state. “This was an isolated incident” and has nothing to do with the people of Hura, he said.Talal al-Krenawi, mayor of the Beduin city of Rahat, told the Post on Monday that he condemned the attack and that the Beduin want peace.“This criminal attack is not acceptable to us,” he declared.Krenawi said it is strange that such an incident would be related to the al-Uqbis “a good family without a history of involvement in terrorism.”Asked whether Munahad could have been radicalized over the Internet, Krenawi referred to reports of extremist content that had been posted on the terrorist’s Facebook page, but added that a final conclusion would have to wait until the investigation is completed.“These attacks have created unease in the Beduin community,” Krenawi said. “We want coexistence here and to keep it this way and prevent any violence.”
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Continuing the mini-series on Dependency Injection (see my previous blogs: problems with DI, assisted inject for CDI and improving assisted inject), I took a look at how DI is handled in Scala.
There are several approaches, one of the most interesting being the Cake Pattern. It is a DI solution that uses only native language features, without any framework support. For a good introduction see either Jonas Boner’s blog (on which this post is largerly based) or Martin Odersky’s paper Scalable Component Abstractions.
I would like to extend the Cake Pattern to allow defining dependencies which need some user-provided data to be constructed (like in autofactories/assisted inject).
The Cake Pattern: interfaces
But let’s start with an example of the base pattern. Let’s say that we have a User class,
1 sealed case class User ( username : String ) sealed case class User(username: String)
and that we want to create a UserRepository service. Using the Cake Pattern, first we create the “interface”:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 trait UserRepositoryComponent { // For expressing dependencies def userRepository : UserRepository // Way to obtain the dependency trait UserRepository { // Interface exposed to the user def find ( username : String ) : User } } trait UserRepositoryComponent { // For expressing dependencies def userRepository: UserRepository // Way to obtain the dependency trait UserRepository { // Interface exposed to the user def find(username: String): User } }
We have three important things here:
the UserRepositoryComponent trait will be used to express dependencies. It contains the component definition, consiting of:
trait will be used to express dependencies. It contains the component definition, consiting of: a way to obtain the dependency: the def userRepository method (could also be a val, but why a def is better I’ll explain later)
method (could also be a, but why a is better I’ll explain later) the interface itself, here a UserRepository trait, which gives the functionality of locating users by username
The Cake Pattern: implementations
An implementation of a component looks pretty similar:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 trait UserRepositoryComponentHibernateImpl extends UserRepositoryComponent { def userRepository = new UserRepositoryImpl class UserRepositoryImpl extends UserRepository { def find ( username : String ) : User = { println ( "Find with Hibernate: " + username ) new User ( username ) } } } trait UserRepositoryComponentHibernateImpl extends UserRepositoryComponent { def userRepository = new UserRepositoryImpl class UserRepositoryImpl extends UserRepository { def find(username: String): User = { println("Find with Hibernate: " + username) new User(username) } } }
Nothing special here. The component implementation extends the “interface” component trait. This brings into scope the UserRepository trait, which can be implemented.
Using dependencies
How can one component/service say that it depends on another? Scala’s self-type annotations are of much use here. For example, if a UserAuthorization component requires the UserRepository, we can write this as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 // Component definition, as before trait UserAuthorizationComponent { def userAuthorization : UserAuthorization trait UserAuthorization { def authorize ( user : User ) } } // Component implementation trait UserAuthorizationComponentImpl extends UserAuthorizationComponent { // Dependencies this : UserRepositoryComponent => def userAuthorization = new UserAuthorizationImpl class UserAuthorizationImpl extends UserAuthorization { def authorize ( user : User ) { println ( "Authorizing " + user. username ) // Obtaining the dependency and calling a method on it userRepository. find ( user. username ) } } } // Component definition, as before trait UserAuthorizationComponent { def userAuthorization: UserAuthorization trait UserAuthorization { def authorize(user: User) } } // Component implementation trait UserAuthorizationComponentImpl extends UserAuthorizationComponent { // Dependencies this: UserRepositoryComponent => def userAuthorization = new UserAuthorizationImpl class UserAuthorizationImpl extends UserAuthorization { def authorize(user: User) { println("Authorizing " + user.username) // Obtaining the dependency and calling a method on it userRepository.find(user.username) } } }
The important part here is this: UserRepositoryComponent =>. By this code fragment we specify that the UserAuthorizationComponentImpl requires some implementation of the UserRepositoryComponent. This also brings the content of the UserRepositoryComponent into scope, so both the method to obtain the user repository and the UserRepository trait itself are visible.
Wiring
How do we wire different components together? Again quite easily. For example:
1 2 3 4 val env = new UserAuthorizationComponentImpl with UserRepositoryComponentHibernateImpl env. userAuthorization. authorize ( User ( "1" ) ) val env = new UserAuthorizationComponentImpl with UserRepositoryComponentHibernateImpl env.userAuthorization.authorize(User("1"))
First we need to construct the environment, by combining all of the components implementations that we want to use into a single object. Next, we can call methods on the environment to obtain services.
What about testing? Also easy:
1 2 3 4 5 val envTesting = new UserAuthorizationComponentImpl with UserRepositoryComponent { def userRepository = mock ( classOf [ UserRepository ] ) } envTesting. userAuthorization. authorize ( User ( "3" ) ) val envTesting = new UserAuthorizationComponentImpl with UserRepositoryComponent { def userRepository = mock(classOf[UserRepository]) } envTesting.userAuthorization.authorize(User("3"))
Here we have mocked the user repository, so we can test the UserAuthorizationComponentImpl in isolation.
def s over val s
Why are def s in the component definition better as the way to obtain the dependency? Because if you use a val, all implementations are locked and have to provide a single dependency instance (a constant). With a method, you can return different values on each invocation. For example, in a web environment, this is a great way to implement scoping! The method can read from the request or session state. Of course, it is still possible to provide a singleton. Or a new instance of the dependency on each invocation.
Dependencies that need user data
Finally, we arrive to the main point. What if our dependencies need some data at runtime? For example, if we wanted to create a UserInformation service, which wraps a User instance?
Well, who said the the methods by which we obtain the dependencies need to be parameterless?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 // Interface trait UserInformationComponent { // What is needed to create the component def userInformation ( user : User ) trait UserInformation { def userCountry : Country } } // Implementation trait UserInformationComponentImpl extends UserInformationComponent { // Dependencies this : CountryRepositoryComponent => def userInformation ( user : User ) = new UserInformationImpl ( user ) class UserInformationImpl ( val user : User ) extends UserInformation { def userCountry : Country { // Using the dependency countryRepository. findByEmail ( user. email ) } } } // Usage val env = new UserInformationComponentImpl with CountryRepositoryComponentImpl env. userInformation ( User ( "[email protected]" ) ). userCountry // Interface trait UserInformationComponent { // What is needed to create the component def userInformation(user: User) trait UserInformation { def userCountry: Country } } // Implementation trait UserInformationComponentImpl extends UserInformationComponent { // Dependencies this: CountryRepositoryComponent => def userInformation(user: User) = new UserInformationImpl(user) class UserInformationImpl(val user: User) extends UserInformation { def userCountry: Country { // Using the dependency countryRepository.findByEmail(user.email) } } } // Usage val env = new UserInformationComponentImpl with CountryRepositoryComponentImpl env.userInformation(User("[email protected]")).userCountry
Isn’t this better than passing the User instance as a method parameter?
Using the Cake Pattern, creating stateful dependencies, which can be created at run-time with user-provided data, and still depend on other components is a breeze. This is similar to a factory method, however with much less noise.
The good and the bad
The good:
no framework required, using only language features
type safe – a missing dependency is found at compile-time
– a missing dependency is found at compile-time powerful – “assisted inject”, scoping possible by implementing the dependency-providing method appropriately
The bad:
quite a lot of boilerplate code: each component has a component interface, implementation, service interface and service implementation
However, I don’t think defining all four parts is always necessary. If there’s only one implementation of a component, you can combine the component interface and implementation into one, and if there’s a need, refactor later.
AdamThugs wearing the black T-shirts of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party are carrying out attacks on immigrant markets and in public squares, according to the United Nations, with victims speaking of areas in the capital which are now strictly off limits.
Malik Abdulbasset, an Egyptian-born shopkeeper, found himself the target of one of the mobs on Wednesday night after the barber across the road was stabbed during a robbery.
Golden Dawn members led a crowd of enraged locals in a protest on Mikhail Voda St that turned violent despite the presence of riot police.
While no one witnessed the attack on the barber, residents were adamant the assailant was black.
After battering his Egyptian assistant, the mob turned on Mr Abdulbasset, who had defied police to keep his shop open.
"I had to turn and point to my Greek children and my Greek wife and say, look I am Greek, we are Greek, if you want to kill us we cannot stop you but you are killing your own."
The riot police watched on but did not intervene and threats of more protests were pasted on nearby doors.
"I will not close my shop because it is not my fault. But at the same time if something was to happen to my shop I will leave Greece because I am not protected."
Ilias Panagiotaris, an MP for Golden Dawn, and a leading party figure in Athens, was unapologetic about his group's methods.
"Most nations, well, not the US or Australia, have a single nationality that defines its culture and Greece must return to this ideal," he said. "The Golden Dawn is a very well organised party that is intervening to support and help people. Without us in a country where two million of ten million people are illegal, there would be chaos."
Support for his party has doubled from the seven per cent it received in the last Greek election, according to an opinion poll this week.
One of its main claims is it would dragoon immigrants on to flights to Islamabad and dare Pakistan to shoot the aircraft down.
Mr Panagiotaris added the 'papers' of every Greek who had acquired citizenship would be thoroughly vetted. "Everyone should have their documents inspected and those that bought their papers expelled."
The undisguised extremism promoted by Golden Dawn is a chilling watershed in Greece's post-war democracy.
Dimitra Xirou, the mother of Argyris Argyropoulos, the stabbed barber, seethed with anger at the nearby hospital, while holding vigil for her son.
The 43-year-old Mr Argyropoulos, came within an millimetre of death when he was robbed for just 10 euros, with the knife just missing his heart.
"It is us who have no one to protect us," Mrs Xirou said. "We are hungry, we have no jobs, there is crime everywhere.
"It used to be one of the best districts of Athens and now it is slum that we can't escape because the Pakistanis all come here when they arrive in Athens."
While the attacks have not specifically been backed by the powerful Orthodox Church, some priests have reportedly been involved in the protests.
Metropolitan Omyotis Moiysides, the local priest in Mrs Xirou’s Panteleiomon district, said the crime wave sweeping Athens as the economy disintegrated was forcing residents to fight back.
“I understand why the people are crying for help. I was pulled from my car and robbed,” he said. “The police do not come and stop these crimes, so the people have to defend themselves.”A judge ordered the Secret Service to start releasing "thousands" of pages pertaining to its file on Aaron Swartz, the Internet freedom activist and hacker who committed suicide in January.
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued the order following a lawsuit brought forth by Wired's investigations editor Kevin Poulsen, who requested Swartz's Secret Service file earlier this year. When his initial FOIA request was denied by the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service's parent agency, Poulsen filed suit.
SEE ALSO: Is Strongbox the New Wikileaks?
"Defendant shall promptly release to Plaintiff all responsive documents that it has gathered thus far and shall continue to produce additional responsive documents that it locates on a rolling basis," wrote Kollar-Kotelly in the order, according to Poulsen's coverage in Wired.
The Secret Service investigated Aaron Swartz after he downloaded millions of scholarly articles from the JSTOR database in January of 2011. For this action, Swartz was later charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and was about to face trial, when he committed suicide.
Poulsen, who worked with Swartz on Strongbox, the New Yorker's WikiLeaks-style secure document submission system, is not the only one who had his request denied. Others saw their own separate requests dismissed, with the Secret Service citing a FOIA exception used when there's a criminal investigation ongoing. Swartz's charges were dropped when he died, however, and his case was filed away.
Poulsen's request has been delayed repeatedly. In May, the government admitted the exception didn't apply anymore, but didn't release the file. And then the government also missed a May 23 deadline to respond to the lawsuit. Finally, last Wednesday, they asked for more time, arguing that they have just found new documents.
The new deadline is August 5, but the Secret Service has to start releasing the documents it has already found. Poulsen promised he'll share them. "You’ll see them here when I get them," he wrote.
Image courtesy of Flickr, selfagencyConservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday accused celebrity scientist Bill Nye of trying to silence the teaching of creationism as science just like the Catholic Church had tried to deny that the Earth was not the center of the Universe by imprisoning Galileo.
In a short video posted to YouTube last year, Nye had called on parents to stop teaching their children to deny evolution.
“And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them,” Nye said. “We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.”
On his Tuesday Internet broadcast, Beck said that Nye was one of the voices who want to “segregate an entire group of people.”
“How’s he going to look?” he asked. “Is he going to look like the people who threw Galileo up?”
Beck added that former Vice President Al Gore was going to “look like the biggest joke in the world” 30 years from now because of his belief in climate change.
“Because they’re not having an open debate, they’re forcing it on people,” Beck insisted. “We can debate it. I’ve even said, if you don’t look at the thermometer, you’re an idiot.”
“But if you don’t buy into it every step of the way, well then, you’re a holocaust denier.”
From 1632 to 1633, the Catholic Church held an Inquisition against astronomer Galileo after he theorized that the Earth was not the center of the Universe. The church eventually convicted him of heresy and forced him to spend the remainder of his life under house arrest.
Watch this video from The Blaze, broadcast Jan. 21, 2013.
(h/t: Right Wing Watch)Musicians and friends of Guy Clark will honor the late singer-songwriter with a tribute concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Tuesday, Aug. 16, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Joe Ely, Vince Gill, Jack Ingram, Jerry Jeff Walker and others will perform in tribute to the legendary songwriter.
Texas-born Clark died on May 17 after a long illness.
Clark released more than 20 albums, and has had his compositions recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffett, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, Rodney Crowell and more. In 2014, Clark earned a Grammy honor for Best Folk Album, for My Favorite Picture Of You. He is also a Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame member and an ACM Poet’s Award honoree.
Proceeds from the event will go to charity; tickets will go on sale Friday, June 17 at noon via ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets, ryman.com, Ryman box office or by calling 800-745-3000.
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Google2G Scam
Kumkum Bhagya
Bhagya
Kundali Bhagya
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
Shani
Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma
gold
Like you I was shocked by theverdict. Where did the money go if there was no crime? Was it phantom money that never existed (like that 15 lakh)? Most important: if everyone is innocent, how is one supposed to refer to the thing: should we call it 2G Non-Scam?Many things need clarification so I turned to my friend in the corridors of power, where lurk the big and mighty and also the large and weighty (I cannot reveal his name, but let us call him ‘Amitbhai’).Unfortunately he did not return my missed call today, but column has to be written and so I decided to instead review the top Hindi serials for you. Okay? Thanks. Here goes.: The story centres around a Hindutva type always putting sindoor (played convincingly by NaMo) and Bhagya, who is always running away (played convincingly by RaGa). Further details are unavailable tillreturns.: This is about a man of fortune (played admirably by NaMo) and a fellow who is always running away. The plot seems somewhat familiar but it is difficult to place it.Mahakali—Ant hi aarambh hai: Your reviewer is not personally fond of the theme of apocalypse but this one has it all! The signs of the end of days are all shown in the opening sequence itself. Gaurakshaks running amok, love jihad executions of poor labourers -- and all shot in high definition! A terrific show and full marks to the producers RSS and the rest of their merry crew!: An interesting question is posed in this one. What do you call a citizen who is tax paying and law abiding and a decent human being in every way -- if you have a problem with his religion? The answer is course: traitor.Shani: The God of astrology has great power over the affairs of man. So canstop the vandals from ruining India and running its economy into the ground? Hint: no.: This is not your run-of-the-mill saas bahu fare but something deeper and richer. What happens when you show a man the way the world looks at him? What does the act of being the observed do to the individual? The answer is that he makes a suit with his name pinstriped inThat’s it for this week: see you next week to close out this wonderful year.Bryan Berg at work
Bryan Berg (born March 21, 1974)[1] is an American professional "cardstacker" who builds large-scale houses of cards.
Career [ edit ]
Trained as an architect, Bryan Berg is the only known person to make a living building structures with free-standing playing cards.[2] He uses no tape, glue, or tricks, and his method has been tested to support 660 lbs. per square foot.
Berg earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from Iowa State University in 1997, and served on the design faculty there for three years.[3] In 2004, Berg earned a master's degree in design studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Berg has stacked cards for corporate special events, public relations campaigns, and science and children's museums in many U.S. cities, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Berg's clients have included Walt Disney World, Lexus, Procter & Gamble, Major League Baseball, the NHL,[4] and the San Francisco Opera.[5] He also participated in a music video by The Bravery, playing a lonely man who builds a fantasy world out of cards.[6]
World's tallest house of cards [ edit ]
Berg first broke the world record for the world's tallest house of free-standing playing cards in 1992 at the age of seventeen, with a tower fourteen and a half feet (4.4 meters) tall. Since then, Berg has been commissioned to break his own Guinness Record approximately ten times.[6]
He built another tower in the College of Design's atrium at Iowa State University in 1998. It stood at approximately 25 feet (7.6 meters) tall and used over 1500 decks of standard cards weighing over 250 pounds (110 kilograms). It took two and a half weeks to build working in shifts from four to twelve hours each day. During construction, the tower was surrounded by scaffolding. On November 6, 1999, Berg built a taller tower for the German edition of Guinness Prime Time in the lobby of the casino at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. That tower was approximately 25.29 feet (7.71 meters) tall and required over 1700 decks to stack up to 131 stories.
Berg's most recent record was a 25-foot 9 7/16 inch tall tower built at the African-American Museum at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas.[2][6] For this record, he tried a new technique involving stacking cards vertically instead of horizontally, which reduced the number of cards needed by nearly half.[6]
On September 18, 2009, on Live with Regis & Kelly, Berg attempted to break the Guinness World Record for tallest free-standing card structure in 60 minutes. As Berg stopped building the structure when time ran out, the cards fell down, costing him his bid for a new world record.[7]
World's largest house of cards [ edit ]
In 2004, Guinness created a record category for the world's largest house of free-standing playing cards to recognize a project Berg built for Walt Disney World, a replica of Cinderella's Castle.[8] In 2010, Berg exceeded his own record by using over 218,000 cards to construct a replica of the Venetian Macao, which took 44 days.[9][10][11][12]
Technique [ edit ]
In 2006, Berg used an adhesive for the first time on one of his projects. The structure, a re-creation of the "Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, was created for Loctite with the adhesive brand's Loctite Control Gel Super Glue. The sign was displayed during the 2006 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.[13]
Notability [ edit ]
Berg's work has had extensive media coverage. He has appeared on CNN,[14] The Today Show, Good Morning America,[15] and various other United States and international TV shows. His work has been featured in US newspapers and publications such as Wired,[16] Reader's Digest "Best of America" Issue,[17] Daily Mail,[18] Men's Health,[19] and Time Magazine for Kids.[20] Berg also appeared in the video for "Time Won't Let Me Go" by The Bravery.
Berg published a book with Simon & Schuster, Stacking The Deck, as a how-to about some of his techniques and structures.
Personal life [ edit ]
Born in Spirit Lake, Iowa, Berg now lives with his wife in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[2]
Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman [ edit ]
Berg was featured on the PBS game show, Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman on season 3. He was given the task to teach the Fetchers how to build a house of cards.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
http://pbskids.org/fetch/show/video/season3 |
Post modernists, feminists, doctors, sociologists, ethnographers, everyone, can play a role in this project. There are multiple projects of this nature, all intended to transform the Dutch and Europeans into mongrel citizens of the world performing charitable acts for migrants while attending shopping malls energized by cross-border mobility.This is the executive coordinator:What else does this this guy find objectionable about Orgad? He writes:Do you follow the logic here? European nations not accepting immigrants from multiple racial backgrounds are engaged in "ethno-cultural engineering." Wanting to retain millennial European identities constitutes ethno-cultural engineering. This is how utterly stupid liberalism has become; they teach this garbage to millions of students.Again, there is nothing in the liberal tradition that calls in principle for diversification. Most of the nations of Europe were created in association with liberal constitutions, and in this creation the cardinal principle was the sovereignty of the nationals to decide their own destiny. By definition, nations can only be said to be nations if they are sovereign, and sovereignty is intrinsically about the self-determination of the people who constitute the nation. National sovereignty, the dictionary says,The liberal nations of Europe were not mere "inventions" or functional requirements of modernity, they were factually rooted in the past, in common myths of descent, primordially based on a population with a collective sense of kinship.Dumbrava says that any effort to "preserve" a majority group within Europe is an effort to promote this "group's dominant position in the state beyond strict considerations of justice."Why would it be a form of domination to preserve the integrity of the founders of a nation against their reduction to minority status? When Canada was 96 percent ethnically European in the 1960s, polls showed that over 60 percent thought that the fairly low levels of Asian immigration (at the time). However, in complete disregard of Canadian democratic wishes, the borders of Canada were set wide open in the 1970s/80s to immigrants from the Third World under the directives of the leaders of the major parties, the media, universities, and business elites. This is what we should call "domination" — by a minority elite over a majority democratic base.Dumbrava is a minor peon, but the ideas he has absorbed are dominant. We must not let these impostors misappropriate our Western traditions. There is nothing in the liberal tradition of John Locke, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, or John Stuart Mill, that can be associated with the words of this pathological German leftist liberal of today:Ted Cruz speaks during a rally at Abbington Banquets on March 14, 2016, in Glen Ellyn, Ill. | AP Photo Cruz lays out contested convention scenario
To hear Ted Cruz tell it, a contested convention would be no problem.
“Look, I think we’re going to beat Donald Trump and we’re going to get 1,237 delegates," the Texas senator told radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview Tuesday ahead of the polls closing in five states.
If Cruz does not have the requisite number of delegates to lock down the nomination before the mid-July convention in Cleveland, however, he indicated that he would be just fine with a contested convention.
"But the other option is that we go into the convention and I don’t have 1,237 delegates and Donald doesn’t have 1,237 delegates, in which case, I think he and I will both have a ton of delegates, and we’ll be neck and neck," Cruz explained. "I don’t know who will be on top, but if we don’t get to 1,237, we could easily be on top or we’ll be neck and neck.
"And then you actually have the convention, the delegates decide between the candidates that have gotten a whole bunch of delegates," he continued. "That’s actually the democratic process working the way it’s supposed to, and I think there that it becomes a decision for the delegates.”
Cruz also denounced the idea of a "brokered convention," as he has recently, calling it "an absolute catastrophe."
"The people would revolt, and quite rightly," he said.
Distinguishing between a "brokered" and a "contested" convention, Cruz said there was a "big difference."
"A brokered convention is a convention's deadlocked and the Washington dealmakers parachute in their white-horse salvation who wasn't on the ballot, who the people never selected, and yay, we got the establishment choice," he said.
Cruz later emphatically ruled out any chance that he might join forces with Trump as his vice-presidential pick.
“I have absolutely zero interest in doing that," he said.
Cruz reiterated his doubts that the Manhattan real-estate magnate would prevail in the midterm election. He added, "Donald Trump loses to Hillary.”
On his own radio show earlier, Glenn Beck, who has supported Cruz's candidacy, said there is "not a chance" that Trump and Cruz would be a ticket.A “Thursday Night Football” banner hangs in Paul Brown Stadium. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The NFL is looking at changing up its “Thursday Night Football” package, including expansion to other networks, and is looking at selling the digital rights to a company like Amazon, Apple, Google or Yahoo.
With ratings up in 2015 for the program, which is shown on CBS and the NFL Network, the league is considering whether to split up the package and selling it to two or three networks, unnamed sources told Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand. It has solicited bids on eight-to-10-game packages from CBS, Fox and NBC as well as bids for three-to-five-game slates.
Over a 17-week schedule, Ourand writes, each network would conceivably get three games that would be simulcast on the NFL Network. The other eight would appear only on the NFL Network, which would be the minimum number of games needed for the NFL Network to keep its affiliate rate at more than $1 per subscriber per month.
A decision could come this week, with all the broadcast networks submitting bids on the three-to-five game packages. ESPN and Turner Sports are less aggressive because of what Ourand calls “the short-term nature of the deal.” According to Ourand, the broadcast networks are “begrudingly” submitting bids because the NFL is seeking a one-year deal with a one-year option.
The NFL also is selling digital rights separately and has reached out to companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Yahoo.Remember that video from about a year and a half ago featuring a robed rapper hanging out with a bunch of rare lions in South Africa? Trust me, if you saw it, you’d remember.
That artist’s name is Siimba Liives Long.
Unlike many artists who experience a memorable internet moment and who are really good at making fun videos but really horrible at making quality songs, Siimba has a lot to offer listeners beyond gimmicks. On his succinct and enticing debut, Zemenay’s Gemiinii, released last month, the Ethiopia-raised, Brooklyn-residing rapper and songwriter delivers 11 tracks that prove it.
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Sonically, the project has a timeless feel that makes it hard to place. Zemenay is undeniably rooted in hip-hop’s golden era of dusty sampling but also features a kaleidoscope of global influences. From keys to drums to hooks, the album's aesthetic is dripping in swagger, begging to be played loudly in a Cadillac through high-end Bose speakers.
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Tying together an album which touches on a large swath of human experience is Siimba’s voice. Powerful and buttery all at once, Siimba’s vocals are as expressive as they are laid-back. Think Attention Deficit-era Wale. While his melodic range isn’t going to win him a spot on American Idol anytime soon, Siimba is able to leverage precise control and unique tonality to create layers and harmonies that resonate on every return engagement.
In its best moments, Zemenay’s Gemiinii possesses that rarified “it” factor, that “just plain great music” feeling that has propelled artists like Chance The Rapper and Anderson.Paak beyond their hip-hop roots. There are only so many rap fans on the planet, but anyone can appreciate the songwriting of Siimba's “Lost Souls” or the dark, brooding textures on “Miind Over Matter.”
Don’t get it twisted, though. There’s plenty of impeccable rapping here too. But throughout Gemiinii, you realize that Siimba sat down to write these songs as a whole, building from an emotion or moment and using emceeing as just one weapon in his musical arsenal.
With so many smooth instrumentals and soulful vocals, it’s easy to get lost in the constant groove of Siimba’s debut. Don’t let that delicious exterior distract you from the nuanced, informed and uniquely delivered content that gives every track on this project immense replay value. With Zemenay’s Gemiinii there’s no need to choose between smooth jams and deep, introspective content; embrace Siimba’s Gemiinii duality and you’ll get hearty portions of both.
I recently spoke with Siimba about independent artistry, what he’s learned so far, his debut album, and continuing to kill lames.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Zemenay’s Gemiinii was in the works for a long time. Start to finish, describe the timeline for this release.
It’s been more or less done for a year and a half, damn near two years. I’m like halfway through my next one already at this point. It was just an issue of getting it out. And yeah, it should have been out already, to be honest. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to get it out there. At the end of the day, I think it’s just a good album, and I’m making so much more music now, I just had to say, "Okay, I’m just gonna release it."
Why do so many indie artists hold on to music and have these “indecisive” moments?
I think artists overthink shit. 'Cause you have this idea of how you want your art to be presented, and you, of course, want it to get the maximum amount of exposure. But ironically, the best way to do that is to just get it out there. When you put too much thought into everything that goes into releasing something, it can stifle the creative process. And I think a lot of artists don’t realize that you’re gonna make better shit, you’re gonna get better, you’re gonna keep going. My goal moving forward is to create the best music I can create and then just put it out there.
You've called Zemenay’s Gemiinii a sonic series. What do you mean by that?
I called it a sonic series cause if you look at it, it’s a series of events that take place essentially in a chronological order, first off. A lot of people approach projects like they’re trying to create a movie, like they’re just gonna come forward with one big chunk of something huge. But the way I like to see my stuff is more like a TV show, it comes at you in episodes, you feel me?
Walk me through a few of these “episodes.”
A song like “Bloody Roses,” I’m trying to be reflective here, and looking back at all of this violence. And then the second song, “Lost Souls,” it talks about how all of that violence can evolve into really losing people and people dying, losing homies. Up to “Deniial Riiver,” that one’s about that feeling of being so in shock that a homie is dead that you keep calling their phone, and you’re still in shock even after the funeral, you just keep calling. I lost a lot of homies like that, close homies. As time’s moved on it’s kinda fucked up but I’ve just gotten used to people dying, “Deniial Riiver” is about one homie where that just wasn’t the case.
That’s some heavy content for an album that, sonically, is laid-back and chill.
A lot of my music, no matter how it sounds sonically, has a lot of dark undertones to it. It’s pretty introspective, about me looking into myself and the experiences I’ve been through, and how they affect me. Growing up, I guess I’ve been through a lot of the things that are spoken about in hip-hop today, I’ve done a lot of things these other rappers talk about. I approached this on the album just focusing on how these things affected me. I try to really bring out the negative aspects of all of that, to go alongside some of the more glorified things we hear people rapping about all the time.
It’s not all dark, though. I heard some positivity peeking through the clouds.
The project itself starts off really dark and then progressively gets brighter. If you can see songs in colors or in shades, I wanted to start super dark and then brighten up. And I think you see an evolution in this project of me trying to be more positive. All of these actions are what’s leading me to—quote, unquote—try to do the right thing, you feel me? It’s reflecting on things, and it’s me growing up a little bit. A song like “Mind Over Matter,” I’m reflecting on things like violence and trying to have a new perspective, like there’s no need for me to be violent, to hurt another young black man out here, just for the sake of being violent.
Is that, essentially, what this album was really about for you? Growing up?
Well, what do you think? You’re the writer [laughs]. The album is essentially about duality. My mother’s name is Zemany and I’m a Gemini. There’s a duality in that sign, there’s a duality in my music. And there’s a duality in my personality. I think some people see my music and think I’m this righteous dude, but I’m really not always like that. This project is me trying to have some balance, trying to hold myself accountable and be a good human being but to have some balance with everything negative I’ve seen in my life.
Tell me more about your mother, Zemany.
The type of kids me and my brother were growing up, the trouble we’ve been in, that's stressful for any parent. That can break a mother, you feel me? Your mother’s the one that worries about you the most, she held you in her stomach for nine months. Even in the animal kingdom, there’s videos of lions starving and trying to eat their cubs, and the mama lions just killin' the males. It’s like that, mama love is different. In this project, I’m trying to grow and find my balance to make my mom smile at the end of the day.
That’s beautiful. Last question, what’s else is on your plate?
I’m gonna keep killin' lames. [Laughs.] We gave them some time to breathe, to chill, now it’s murder season. 2017, 2018 and beyond, we killin' lames forever.
Stream Siimba Liives Long's debut project Zemany's Gemiinii below.Can an Ex-Felon Run for Elected Office? Dealing with Skeletons in The Closet
Every once in a while I like to skim through the keyword searches in my Google Analytics that end up leading people to GOPCampaigner.com. Sometimes there are some really interesting things in there. This morning, however, was definitely a first. At the top of my keywords column was the phrase, “can an ex felon become a mayor?”
After doing my own Google search, I found a few stories of felons who had run for office, some facts on felons currently in office, and a clever New York Times story on a Chicago con-turned-politician (although that doesn’t surprise anyone in Chicago).
Apparently, the answer is yes, you can run for mayor, Mr. Google searcher.
This post is for that one guy out there who’s persevered enough to turn his life around and now wants to make a real difference as the mayor of Small Town, USA. It’s also for anyone who’s ever done anything embarrassing that could potentially be discovered by the media.
How does an ex-felon run for elected office? And should he even try?
Should a convicted criminal run for office? Of course he should! Who doesn’t love the reformed sinner? The prodigal son? Someone who has become an upstanding citizen after a few mistakes is a gem in the political sphere, because the voters can identify with him. People love the fact that G.W. Bush was an alcoholic, became a devout Christian and completely changed his life. Heck, people even love the remorseful Bill Clinton, who did seriously embarrassing stuff while he was president.
Believe it or not, your sketchy history could make you the city’s darling favored candidate.
But how do you sell that story? Here’s where it gets tricky. In order to frame your own story for the voters, you must balance between not hiding your ‘secret’ but not putting it center stage either.
Step one – use the long-version biography on your website to mention the incident briefly without too much detail, and quickly use it as a springboard to describe how it made you ‘see the light’ and launch your turn-around story.
Step two – do not mention the incident in speeches, interviews, conversations with voters. It is a piece of your past. It is part of what made you who you are, but it does not define you entirely.
Step three – IF a reporter or (if you’re lucky) your opponent publicly attacks you with accusations, you must:
a reporter or (if you’re lucky) your opponent publicly attacks you with accusations, you must: Remain calm. You are totally prepared for this.
Admit your mistake. “Yes, 20 years ago I was arrested for drug possession/robbery/arson/drunk-driving.”
Tell the voters – not your opponent – “And it changed my life.” Go on to describe how you’ve turned your life around, making certain to mention first your activism in programs like “Just Say No” or “Mothers Against Drunk Driving” as evidence that you are trying to help others like yourself.
Repeat your campaign message. Now that your constituency is hanging on your every word, turn the conversation back around to your issues with a “that’s exactly why I’m running for mayor” type of statement, then segue into your top campaign issue (or issues).
. Now that your constituency is hanging on your every word, turn the conversation back around to your issues with a “that’s exactly why I’m running for mayor” type of statement, then segue into your top campaign issue (or issues). Step 4 – Watch the newspapers and evening news and see how the story spins.
Step 5 – Leave it alone. Whether the media spin is in your favor or not, you shouldn’t need to address it any further for the duration of the campaign. It won’t come up again unless you give them more to report. Let the issue die and get on with your campaign exactly as you had planned to before.
There you have it! A step-by-step guide to skirting around your criminal history in a political campaign. Given how many criminals we have running around in Congress, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this post get a lot of hits from DC…Taylor Swift recently caused an uproar when she pulled her entire music catalogue from Spotify, conveniently during the first week debut of her new album 1989, claiming that music was meant to be paid for. In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl offered his own opinion on the matter. Check out a snippet of the interview here by clicking “read more” below.
“Me personally? I don’t f**king care. That’s just me, because I’m playing two nights at Wembley next summer,” said Grohl.
“I want people to hear our music, I don’t care if you pay $1 or f**king $20 for it, just listen to the f**king song. But I can understand how other people would object to that.”
“You want people to f**king listen to your music? Give them your music. And then go play a show. They like hearing your music? They’ll go see a show. To me it’s that simple, and I think it used to work that way,” the 45-year-old said.
“When we were young and in really noisy, crappy punk rock bands there was no career opportunity and we loved doing it and people loved f**king watching it and the delivery was completely face to face personal.
"That’s what got people really excited about s**t. Nowadays there’s so much focus on technology that it doesn’t really matter.”
photo: Wikipedia CommonsNeglect and abuse: The Irish government is launching a criminal investigation into the discovery of 800 dead children found in the septic tank at a home for unwed mothers run by nuns in western Ireland.
Reports indicate the children were malnourished and neglected by the nuns, which is suspected of causing many of the premature and tragic deaths. Hundreds of infants and toddlers in a home for “fallen women” and their “illegitimate” children are believed to have been buried in a septic tank next to the former home for single mothers and their children.
The home was run by Bon Secours nuns in Tuam between 1925 and 1961.
Ireland’s Roman Catholic Church has instructed the order of nuns who ran the home that it must co-operate with any inquiry into the investigation, according to the Reuters news agency.
Speaking in the Irish Parliament on Wednesday, the minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, called the discovery of what is described as an unmarked grave as “deeply disturbing” and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been.
In the past, unmarried mothers and their children were incarcerated in state-funded, church-run institutions called mother and baby homes or Magdalene asylums, where the women worked to “atone for their sins,” while their children were taken from them.
Perhaps even more disturbing, this is probably not an isolated case. The home in Tuam was only one of a dozen mother and baby homes in Ireland in the years after the Second World War, all of which treated their inmates in a similar fashion.
It is hard to grasp the magnitude of the physical and psychological abuse the women and their children suffered at the hands of nuns determined to punish both mother and child for being party to a pregnancy not sanctioned by the church.
This sad episode is yet another reminder of the Catholic Church’s failure to protect children. The moral corruption of the Catholic Church is by now well documented. The Catholic brand is forever tarnished, reduced to a symbol of moral corruption and decay, a symbol of inhumanity, a symbol of broken and dead children.ELK GROVE (CBS13) — On a day history was made in South Carolina, the Confederate flag also came down in a local gun shop.
While one occasion came after the stroke of a pen from a governor after a deadly attack, the other came after a shop owner claims he was threatened if he didn’t take it down.
RELATED: Confederate Flag Moves Inside Elk Grove Gun Shop After Protest
Thousands of miles from where South Carolina proudly lowered the Confederate flag after 54 years, that same flag came down with a different explanation.
The sign at Wild Bill’s says in all caps: WE CAN NO LONGER FLY OUR CONFEDERATE FLAG DUE TO THE SO CALLED “TOLERANT” LIBERALS THREATENING THE STAFF AND THIS BUILDING.
“I took it down because of safety reasons,” said Jacob Shockley.
He says he removed the flag from the building after receiving death threats.
“A lot of them were just, ‘Watch the building; it’s going to come down; you guys are racists; you guys are intolerant,” he said.
Angry protesters came to his shop last week to demand the removal of the flag. The shop placed the flag outside the store after nine people were shot to death in a historically black church.
Shockley told CBS13 they chose to put the flag outside the shop then because “Everybody started caving in. Saying that’s a racist flag. But we don’t believe it’s a racist flag.”
Tanya Faison, the founder of the group Incite Insight, says she’s under attack, too.
“Threats from across the country, from people affiliated with the KKK or neo-nazi groups,” she said.
She says she’s received harassing Facebook messages like one reading, “Do you want a peaceful protest at your job?”
The store says it has no plans to put the flag back up.The Road to Glory Challenge
I have copied the challenge over from 2013 with some minor rule clarifications but we should talk about whether we need to change anything to take advantage of the new features.
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THE ROAD TO GLORY CHALLENGE
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Your goal is to actively rise through the ranks of the wrestling business and star in a National or larger promotions PPV's main event with an A* rating.
You begin as an 18 year old custom made wrestler as the Head Booker of a local created 0/0/0/1000 backyard fed. You must always be the booker not the owner, following owner goals is a key part of this challenge.
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CHARACTER STATS
Age: 18 (If playing the default Cornellverse your birthday should fall between January 1997 and December 1997)
Reputation: Lowest
Potential: Excellent (you can set this to random if you wish)
Skills: Your character starts with Resilience 100, Reputation 50 and Respect 0.
You have 750 Points to spend on other skills. (No skill may exceed 75 to begin with)
Performance Skills
Babyface/Heel - 100 Points to spend
Cool/Cocky/etc - 300 Points to spend
Popularity: 0 Everywhere
Fluent: Home area language ONLY
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STARTING PROMOTION
It should be a 0/0/0/1000 Promotion. That means it has 0 Popularity, 0 Momentum, 0 Prestige and $1000 in the bank.
Edit the promotion into the database before you begin the game, it is recommended that you select an owner who will be cheap and put him on a PPA deal.
2016 is hard on very small companies so just surviving the first year is a challenge itself.
Your product can be whatever you want it to be.
CHANGING PROMOTIONS
When you are ready to move on from your starting company you can only take a booking job in a promotion 1 level larger than your current employer or your previous if you are currently unemployed. For the purposes of this challenge National/International/Global all count as the same level. If you drive your promotion bankrupt then you may only accept your next position with a company of the same size or lower than they were when they closed.
You may not create Company Pacts unless the AI initiates them OR you get an End Of Year roll specifying that you may do so.
USER PREFERENCES
Everything should be turned on, making the game that little bit harder. If you do play with anything other than this then you will be playing the "Lite" version of the challenge.
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THE MYSTERY BOX
When you complete a year, roll randomly on this list as an added bonus. This is for the RTG Challenge, but would also work to spice up normal games. Here is the list at the moment.
1. "Friends with Benefits" You gain one Working Agreement (you may try a different company if you are rejected) OR you can join an existing Alliance (assuming they let you in) OR you may invite another company to join your alliance (you may try a different company if you are rejected).
2. "War is Good for Business" Your owner demands you declare war on another promotion in the same area. (do nothing if your owner blocks you)
3. "Trusted Companion" You gain the Loyalty of one of your roster (random roll from the list of your current roster).
4. "Chance Encounter" While on holiday abroad you have befriended a wrestler and offered them a job (choose a wrestler in another regional area who is unemployed, make them active in your area and create a Strong Friendship between you and them)
5. "Lean On Me" Gain Strong Friendship with random wrestler in your promotion. -15 to both your character's and the random wrestler's Bad Personal Extras (Smoking, Drinking etc), and set to Reformed.
6. “Master And Disciple” You can become the protégé of anyone 10 years or more older than you are (they must be on your roster) OR you can become the mentor of anyone 10 years or more younger than you (they must be on your roster). Randomly roll from anyone who is eligble.
7. “That Loving Feeling…” Your love life has something happen. Move along the scale from left to right, starting a new relationship with someone appropriate (according to their own preferences) on your roster. Dating->Engaged->Married->Separated->Dating->… (use your own discretion if you need to work out if they are the parent of any children you may have. IF you are separated you may choose to start dating someone else, or start over again with them)
8. “LEGEN… wait for it… DARY!” Gain a Best Friend relationship with someone on your roster whose picture is of them wearing a suit. If no-one on your roster is wearing a suit, you must hire someone who wears a suit and become their Best Friend anyway then add +10% to your Drinking habit.
9. "Like A Chimney" +20% to your character’s Smoking, also tick the “Known” checkbox.
10. "Ghosts Of Wrestling Past" +20% to your character’s Drinking, also tick the “Known” checkbox.
11. “P-A-R-T-why? Cos I Gotta!” +20% to your character’s Soft Drugs habit, also tick the “Known” checkbox.
12. “Forgive Me Father, For I Have Wrestled…” +20% to your character’s religious behaviours/habit.
13. “I Fought The Law And The Law Won” +20% to your Law Problems, also tick the “Known” checkbox.
14. "Painkillers are mankind's way of saying 'just watch me'" +20 to your pain killer habit.
15. "I told [WWE] to have Triple H pick me up in a limo, then we could go test together. They never asked again" +20 to your steroid use checkbox
16. "Chance to Train" You have been offered the chance to train with a Wrestling Legend. Gain +20 points to spend on any performance row stats. (Basics, Psychology, Safety, Consistency, Selling)
17. “Nose To The Grindstone” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 any top row skill of your choice
18. "Fists of Fury" You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Brawling skill
19. “Feet of Fury” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Puroresu skill
20. “Drunken Monkey Style” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Hardcore skill
21. "Life of a Saint" You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to Mat Wrestling skill
22. “Link To The Past” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Chain Wrestling skill
23. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, OWWWW!” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Submissions skill
24. "Top Rope Hero" You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to Aerial skill
25. “Flash, AAAHH!!” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Flashiness skill
26. “Hit The Bricks” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the gym. +10 to spend on physical skills. (Athleticism, Toughness, Stamina, Power)
27. “Bit Part" You have been hired for a small role in a tv pilot +10 points to spend across Microphone Skills, Charisma and Acting
28. “A Bumpy Ride” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Basics skill
29. “So, Tell Me About Your Mother…”You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Psychology skill
30. “You Can Dance If You Wanna” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Safety skill
31. “Solid? Liquid? Gas?” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Consistency skill
32. “Snow To An Eskimo” You have devoted your holiday season to training in the ring +5 to your Selling skill
33. “Makeover Time” You get yourself an image makeover. Your sex appeal, star quality and menace EACH randomly change by anything between -5 and +15. (roll once for each stat)
34. “Healing Hands” Over the holiday season you book yourself in for several massages and physio appointments. +7.5 to all Physical Condition.
35. "Making Movies" You are unavailable for events for one month due to a role in a small movie (within the next 3 months you must pick 28 days during which you make no appearances for your company.). Gain +5 Star Quality.
36. “They Love Me… They Hate Me… They Love Me… They Hate Me…” You have gotten better at making the fans cheer for you or boo you. You have 20 points in total to add to your scores at playing a babyface or a heel.
37. “Eeeehhhhhhhhhhh” or “It’s Not Arrogance If You Can Back It Up” You can choose to add 20 points to your Cool Performance rating OR Cocky Performance rating OR use a random number generator to score between 0 and 50, adding the number to either rating.
38. “I’ve Got A Coat That Makes Me Hug Myself…” or “Train, Fight, Hurt People, Repeat” You can choose to add 20 points to your Crazy Performance rating OR Legit Performance rating OR use a random number generator to score between 0 and 50, adding the number to either rating.
39. “Super Awesome Wrestling-A-Go-Go: Eletric Boogaloo” or “Pop Goes The Weasel” You can choose to add 20 points to your Comedy Performance rating OR Weasel Performance rating OR use a random number generator to score between 0 and 50, adding the number to either rating.
40. “I SMASH!!” or “I’m In My 20s, On The Internet And I Enjoy The WWE” You can choose to add 20 points to your Brute Performance rating OR Weird Performance rating OR use a random number generator to score between 0 and 50, adding the number to either rating.
41. “Say Your Prayers, Drink Your Milk And Take Your Vitamins” You can choose to add 20 points to your Wholesome Performance rating OR use a random number generator to score between 0 and 50, adding the number to your Wholesome Performance rating.
42. "Step Into The Light" You get your 15 minutes of fame. +5 Pop across entire base country.
43. "Internet Sensation" One of your wrestlers (random roll from the list) has become an internet video hit due to a pirate recording of his last match. +2 pop for your company in every area that you already have popularity in and +10 pop for the wrestler in all areas.
44. "Christmas Pudding" You have been piling on the pounds, go up one level of weight class or body type. If you are now middleweight or higher, you can no longer be a Cruiserweight, Spot Monkey or Japanese junior and must be reclassified as a Regular Wrestler.
45. “New Year’s Resolution” You have resolved to go on a diet, go down one level of weight class or body type. If you become a lightweight or lower weightclass you may change your style to Cruiserweight, Spot Monkey or Japanese Junior.
46. “Cold Turkey” Change any habit you have formed to be “reformed”, but do not change the base percentage of that habit.
47. "A New Beginning" You may choose to evolve your wrestling style to anything you want.
48. "Charity Event" Your owner has decided to host a charity event. Your next wrestling show gains you no money, but the company gets twice the amount of popularity from it. (Remove how much profit you gain from the next event, after having paid Workers and Show Costs
49. "Where There’s A Will" One of your die hard fans has passed on bequeathing their worldly possessions to your promotion. Do you accept it or donate it to charity? Gain EITHER $56,609 or +5 Prestige.
50. "Keeping It In The Family" Create a younger sibling wrestler aged 17 (same 750 skill point split). If you are over 32 treat this as a son/daughter.
51. "Paging Dr Zahorian" Your owner thinks the roster looks a bit small. Hire a 'dirty doctor' using the backstage rules menu.
52. "The Real Rock n' Rolla" You've filled in for a band member one night, who now wants to you tour with them as a result. Add +10 between your Microphone and Charisma. Add "Musician" to your character. (Other Genre)
53. "Casting Call" Hollywood is calling you with a "Major Role", add +10 between your Acting and Star Quality. Add Movie Star to your character (Other Genre)
54. "As Real As It Gets" The World of MMA called you out and you delivered. Add +10 between Toughness and Menace. Add MMA to your character (Other Genre)
If you are looking for an online way to roll a custom sided dice, Id suggest here
Random.org is also very useful for random numbers:
Alternatively, you can use a deck of cards to roll for you as the numbers have been deliberately limited so that you can use a standard deck plus jokers to do the roll for you. Several people have asked for this to be copied over to the new forum so here it is. Credit to Kamchatka for creating the challenge.I have copied the challenge over from 2013 with some minor rule clarifications but we should talk about whether we need to change anything to take advantage of the new features.---------------------------------Your goal is to actively rise through the ranks of the wrestling business and star |
taken seriously for other reasons too. Here’s some data I found on Twitter a few days back: That’s the plant of What’s the story? To produce the variety of potatoes that are most suitable for French fries they selected the Mehsana region for a variety of reasons. The French fries use a potato-variety called “ Shepody ” which is long potato which negligible moisture. The farmers in and around Mehsana were taught about it and started growing the variety some years ago. They feed their stocks to McCain who then process those and feed the material to almost all the French fries outlets across India. Apart from India McCain now also exports this product to many other countries. It is a huge industry by itself. Growing the new breed of the same old potato brings a lot of employment to many farmers and others in the entire manufacturing and supply system. You could call it “” instead of mere manufacturing. It’s a product we already knew from childhood but it’s a different variety and it brings opportunities for a whole lot of people. The innocuous “make in India” must be taken seriously for other reasons too. Here’s some data I found on Twitter a few days back:
I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the data but let’s take it as a broad indicator. It doesn’t need Einstein to see that we are pathetic where manufacturing sector is concerned. That this needs a dramatic change will not take a flash light to see. Most of the experts who discussed Modi’s speech somehow comfortably did not relate the “make in India” to this serious problem. The low manufacturing activity can be directly related to unemployment. Unemployment leads to vices. Unemployment leads to social unrest and sometimes temptation to crimes. Unemployment leads to mass migration.
There is a history to all of this if we look carefully. The US has always been a master at “branding” and marketing. If I ask you to name 10 famous brands from the US, I am sure anyone would be able to recall them. But try naming 10 Chinese brands that are internationally known. Can we? It is hard to do. Try naming 10 Indian brands internationally known. Can we? Of course, we have a combination of a Chinese-Indian brand that is internationally known; the “Chinese Gandhis”. But jokes apart, this is worth pondering about. People can reel out names: Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Nike, McDonalds and so on. Garments in the US are invariably made in Taiwan or even Cambodia. Given our resources and population we could have been a manufacturing giant without sacrificing our advantages in other sectors. A dramatic upward change in our industrial manufacturing output is inevitable and a must for our economic growth. The Chinese are no good at branding or marketing but they have become the manufacturing hub for the world and at rock bottom prices. No one understands this better than Narendra Modi who comes from the highly industrialised state of Gujarat.
If we have failed to realise our potential as a manufacturing giant it is solely due to the Commie policies of the Congress. There is no difference between Congress and the Commies who have kept people poor, uneducated, unskilled and unemployable. Modi stresses on skills and that is absolutely a must for us to become a manufacturing giant and also self-employment at the individual level. The new govt has already initiated steps for labour-law reforms which are essential for the manufacturing investment and growth. A dramatic growth in manufacturing also brings along with it a huge R&D set-up and the continuous process of innovation and value addition. So it’s not mere manufacturing but “Valufacturing” by a whole nation. This particular issue in Modi’s address has been undervalued by the debaters in the media in preference of many other issues.
Modi also made a call to a 10-year moratorium on riots and violence. Most of the usual pundits have interpreted this badly as postponing justice or avoiding tackling the issue. It is neither of this. A 10 year moratorium by various groups automatically implies that if they shun violence for that period it automatically becomes a HABIT. A bad habit needs to be replaced by a good one. If that habit of violence goes it has the potential to become a permanent habit. If most of the rioters were gainfully employed elsewhere they wouldn’t want their life to be shattered by riots and violence. Religion can then take a back seat in the privacy of their homes. Modi’s speech is a good departure from the past and well-meaning citizens would see energy and spirit rather than the “comfort-seeking” veterans who want to keep India where it is. The couch-potatoes have had their day and belong in the past.
Note: “Valufacture” is a term coined by Edward De Bono. Though Valufacture refers more to marketing, I have used for the manufacturing process through innovation as well.Leandra Weal has a bad habit of getting herself in dangerous situations. While hunting neodemons in her role as Warden of Ixos, Leandra obtains a prophetic spell that provides a glimpse one day into her future. She discovers that she is doomed to murder someone she loves, soon, but not who. That’s a pretty big problem for a woman who has a shark god for a lover, a hostile empress for an aunt, a rogue misspelling wizard for a father, and a mother who–especially when arguing with her daughter–can be a real dragon. Leandra’s quest to unravel the mystery of the murder-she-will-commit becomes more urgent when her chronic disease flares up and the Ixonian Archipelago is plagued by natural disasters, demon worshiping cults, and fierce political infighting. Everywhere she turns, Leandra finds herself amid intrigue and conflict. It seems her bad habit for getting into dangerous situations is turning into a full blown addiction. As chaos spreads across Ixos, Leandra and her troubled family must race to uncover the shocking truth about a prophesied demonic invasion, human language, and their own identities–if they don’t kill each other first.
I try not to read or review the last book in a series unless I have already done so for the first, but Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton sounded too good for me to pass up. It didn’t take much time for me to decide to take a chance and read it, and I can honestly say I’m glad that I did.
Spellbreaker was a beautifully written, fast-paced story that I found difficult to put down once I had picked it up. I enjoyed this story much more than I honestly expected to and I think I would have to say that it is because of the characters. To say that Leandra Weal and her family are troubled and dysfunctional would be a huge understatement. The disturbing relationship that she has with her family and the way they interact and converse had me laughing throughout most of the book, which is probably one of my favorite things to do while reading.
While I really enjoyed the story itself I did find it a bit confusing at ties, as I probably do with anything that involves prophecy and a multitude of possible futures. The story was suspenseful enough that it kept me on the edge of my seat as I tried to guess what was going to happen next.
I think it’s also important to point out to people that while this may be the third and final book in the trilogy, it was obviously written to stand alone as well. I’m sure reading the previous books would have helped to fill in a lot of the backstory, it’s not required to do so. I had no problem reading Spellbreaker and enjoying it completely. The only problem I have now is that I’m going to have to spend money on the rest of the series. I really want to read some more.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This really was a great book to read and we at The Arched Doorway have been lucky enough to provide a chance for someone else a chance to read it as well, courtesy of Blake Charlton and Tor Books.
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Raheem Sterling is in line for a massive new Liverpool contract – just 18 months after signing a deal that gave him a 1,700 per cent pay hike.
Sunday Mirror Sport understands that Liverpool have agreed to open fresh talks with the 19-year-old, following the World Cup.
And, if Sterling returns from Brazil with his burgeoning reputation enhanced even further, he will be looking to command a salary in the region of £100,000 a week.
The Jamaica-born winger still has three years left on the contract he signed in December 2012 and that took his basic pay up from £2,000 a week to almost £35,000 a week.
But his development since then has continued to be sensational.
Sterling excelled under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers last season as Liverpool produced their best title challenge for 24 years.
Gallery: Raheem Sterling at the Liverpool FC Awards
His form compelled Roy Hodgson to name him in his World Cup squad.
And the expectation is that Sterling will be handed a starting place in the team to face Italy in Manaus on June 14.
If the Queens Park Rangers academy graduate does prove to be a star in Brazil then he will be negotiating from a real position of power when talks open with the Anfield club about securing his future.Circus workers, trainers, performers from Ramos Bros. Circus attacked peaceful animal activists protesting the cruel treatment of animals. This took place in San Bernardino California Friday night.Quoted from Direct Action Everywhere:Yesterday, #DxE activists in San Bernardino, CA, including women and children, were brutally assaulted by 6+ employees of the Ramos Bros circus. The activists were undertaking a peaceful demonstration outside of the circus, which has had reports indicating that animals such as camels, tigers, zebras, and horses are tied up so tightly that they cannot stand and forced to live in urine- and feces- covered enclosures.The employees closed the gate, locking the demonstrators in the public grounds outside of the circus, and began to attack, beat, and choke them, including throwing at least two demonstrators to the ground and choking one so severely that he was not able to breathe. One employee assaulted the demonstrators with a flashlight. Others assaulted and shouted homophobic slurs at a gay man, Abraham Santamaria, who was one of the organizers of the demonstration.After the assault, one of the circus employees approached a distressed female activist, Missy Freeland, and chillingly wiped blood from the encounter on her face.When police were called, instead of responding to the demonstrators' complaints, they detained two of them. One demonstrator was cited, and the other was charged with assault with a deadly weapon (apparently for resisting attempts by employees to take his megaphone away). Police were extremely hostile and refused to charge any of the circus employees.A BRAVE girl who tragically lost all her limbs to meninigitis is learning to walk again.
Five-year-old Ellie May Challis has become the youngest person in the world to be fitted with special carbon framed limbs.
The youngster touched the hearts of people across the county as she defied the odds to survive the killer bug which she contracted in 2005.
Sadly Ellie May had to have all her limbs amputated eight weeks later.
People from across Essex rallied to support her parents Lisa and Paul Challis by holding fundraisers to pay for prosthetic limbs, but those have left her struggling to keep up with her classmates at Engaines Primary School in Little Clacton and her twin sister Sophie.
So her parents, who moved to Little Clacton from Rainham at Christmas, contacted world renowned prosthetic limb centre Dorset Orthopaedic to see if they could help and the firm made the specially designed new legs.
She was fitted with them three weeks ago – making her the youngest person in the world to have the £10,000 a pair special limbs.
Paul Challis, 45, said: “Ellie can walk twice as fast on these new legs. She is so full of determination.”
The company’s managing director Bob Watts said: “We had to make them especially for Ellie as they had never been made this small before. We were worried that she wouldn’t be able to balance properly on them, but she has made amazing progress.
“Within seconds of having them on, she was off. It will change her life.”
Ellie was originally fitted with NHS prosthetic limbs a few weeks after the operation, but she couldn’t wear them as they were too painful.
Her new limbs will need to be replaced every two years.
Readers have helped support Ellie May by running various fundraisers for the family. In south Essex more than £50,000 was raised.
Fundraisers have included Benfleet Rotary Club, who raised more than £1,500 by holding a race night and auctioning a Real Madrid shirt signed by David Beckham.
Lewis Joiner from the Rotary Club said: “Her story has touched all of our hearts.”We would not normally look to Julie Bindell quoting Bea Campbell for enlightenment but this is a remarkable glossing over of reality even by their standards:
When it comes to household chores, women’s time cleaning up children’s’ poo and vomit is not so much undervalued as dismissed altogether. But men who stay at home to look after kids, or turn up at the school gates, are seen as selfless gods. These days, after decades of feminism, men do more chores and childcare – but not much more, and still far less than women. According to research by the feminist writer Beatrix Campbell, over the past three decades, the time that men dedicated to childcare rose at a rate of about 30 seconds per day, per year. Their contribution to housework rose at a rate of one minute per day, per year.
This is to entirely miss the greatest change in work over the past century. What both Ha Joon Chang and Hans Roslin referred to as the "washing machine," the stand in for all domestic labour saving technology.
When we look at how working hours have changed the one that people concentrate upon is the rise of female participation in paid, market, work outside the household. Male such has fallen, male unpaid work inside the household has also fallen. But by far the largest change has been the fall in female, unpaid, household work.
One estimate that we've seen, quite possibly a little overcooked, says that over the past century the time required to run a household has fallen from 60 hours a week to 15. The childcare part is of course a little different as yes, mothers do still tend to be the primary childcarers, something we don't consider all that odd in a viviparous species.
That is, the biggest change a century of mature capitalism hath wrought in working habits has been to alleviate the drudgery of that traditionally female work. Yet near every vocal feminist we know of declares loudly that capitalism must be overthrown in the name of liberating women. Odd that. Haven't they noticed that this past century has been that very liberation?A MARINE crew eradicating crown of thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef has inadvertently saved the life of a young Gordonvale man who was desperately clinging to a navigation buoy 30km off Cairns.
The 24-year-old man had been through a hellish few hours on Friday morning during which his father died and the boat from which they were spearfishing slipped its anchor and drifted away.
Crown of Thorns Targeted Control Program project manager Steve Moon, whose crew rescued the 24-year-old, said it was “pure luck” their boat named Hero was travelling through Luggers Pass near Arlington Reef.
The tragic series of events began earlier that day when the father and son were spearfishing at Arlington Reef.
While the men were in the water their 6m aluminium boat’s anchor slipped and the vessel drifted away.
The 56-year-old father then suffered a medical condition leading the son to desperately attempt CPR in the water.
Exhausted and with no other option, Mr Moon said the son was forced to leave his father’s body and drift about 5km until he was close enough to the buoy where he stayed for an estimated four or five hours.
“It’s a tragic story,” Mr Moon said.
“He was just very, very lucky that we came through when we did.
media_camera HERO: Crown of Thorns Targeted Control Program project manager Steve Moon and his boat crew rescued the 24-year-old Gordonvale man near Arlington Reef. PICTURE: STEWART MCLEAN
“Without a doubt it saved his life. I don’t know how much longer he could have held on.”
Mr Moon said the young man was so exhausted he passed out while clinging to the buoy. “He was just shattered when we got him on the boat,” he said.
“Not just the emotional side of things but also the physical effort.”
All crew members on Hero were trained in senior first aid and placed the 24-year-old on oxygen while they radioed for help from Water Police.
The 56-year-old man’s body was later recovered near Upolu Reef by a rescue helicopter.
Water Police Cairns officer-in-charge Andrew Ibell yesterday said the “heart-wrenching” event had been made worse for the Westcourt family by the boat being still missing.
Sergeant Ibell said it was possible the boat could have sunk but it was likely to have drifted along the shipping channel and may have travelled as far as Cooktown.
“Obviously the family is distressed about the whole thing and they would like to see the boat returned home as soon as possible,” he said.
Cairns Water Police are appealing for boaties in the area to report any sightings of the craft described as 6m long and aluminium with a centre cabin. The hull is painted black, with blue sign-writing and a light coloured cabin.Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld has called out Meryl Streep for allegedly passing on a custom-made Oscar dress because the couture house refused to pay her to wear it — but her camp insists his claims are false.
According to the 83-year-old creative director, the Oscar winner had ordered an embroidered gray silk gown from Chanel's recent couture collection and asked for it to be made with a higher neckline.
Lagerfeld told WWD that he made a sketch and started to construct the design, but a few days he received a phone call from a member of Streep's team telling him to cancel the order.
He said, she said: Karl Lagerfeld claims Meryl Streep (pictured in Valentino at the 2017 SAG Awards) canceled her order for an Oscars gown because Chanel wouldn't pay for her to wear it
Different stories: The designer (pictured) said a member of Streep's team told him to cancel the order because they'd found someone who would pay her to wear a gown on the red carpet
'Don't continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us,' he said, quoting the messenger.
Lagerfeld explained that per policy Chanel does not pay celebrities to wear its designs, but that hasn't stopped stars such as Emma Stone and Julianne Moore from wearing the luxury label on the red carpet.
Although the fashion house doesn't pay people to wear its clothes, he pointed out that it is still very costly to gift an A-lister like Streep couture gowns, noting that the dress in question is worth approximately $105,000.
Despite her alleged refusal to wear it to the Dolby Theatre on Sunday for the Academy Awards, Lagerfeld said she could keep the custom-made dress because it is 'perfect for her'.
Eye-catching: Lagerfeld said Streep had ordered a gray silk gown from Chanel's recent couture collection. Models are pictured walking in the Chanel Spring 2017 couture show
Clever: Streep, whose camp said it is against her ethics to be paid to wear a gown, wore Prada to the 2007 Oscars in celebration of her nomination for her role in The Devil Wears Prada
'A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?' he added.
It's probably safe to say that Streep, who is nominated for Best Actress for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins, will not be wearing Chanel to any awards shows in the near future, as she has denied Lagerfeld's claims.
A representative for the actress told The Hollywood Reporter that Lagerfeld's statement is false and it is against Streep's personal ethics to be paid to wear a gown on the red carpet.
However, its not uncommon for celebrities to make money simply by donning certain gowns, jewels, and accessories for big awards shows.
Golden girl: Although Streep has worn Lanvin to the Oscars on three different occasions, she does not have an ambassadorship with the brand. She is pictured in Lanvin at the Oscars in 2012 (left) and 2015 (right)
Five-years running: Celebrity stylist Jessica Paster calls paid relationships between designers and brands 'ambassadorships'. Jennifer Lawrence has been an ambassador for Dior since 2012 (left) and donned the label to the 2016 Oscars (right)
Celebrity stylist Jessica Paster previously revealed that stars can receive up to $250,000 to wear a dress on the red carpet.
Paster was on a panel with fellow stylists Erin Walsh, Brad Goreski, and Brandon Maxel at the 2015 Vulture festival when she lifted the lid on the prevalent practice.
The stylist, who has worked with Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Miranda Kerr, Sandra Bullock, and Rachel McAdams, insisted it is a common occurrence in the industry.
"Jewelry people are paying, shoe people are paying, tampon companies are paying, everyone is paying,' she said.
'It could be just paying the stylist and we get anywhere between $30,000 to $50,0000. Or it's paying the actress something between $100,000 and $250,000.'
Loyal fan: Michelle Williams has starred in numerous handbag campaigns for Louis Vuitton (left), and she wore the luxury brand to this year's Golden Globes (right)
Famous face: Natalie Portman has starred in numerous campaigns for Miss Dior perfume (left), and she showed off her baby bump in a white Dior frock at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards (right)
Paster admitted she has been offered money to dress a client, and she has no problem accepting money if it is the right gown for the person she is working with.
'If it looks gorgeous on you and this is the dress we were going to pick anyway, why not be paid?' she said.
And while Goreski said at the time that he had never been offered money to dress a client in a certain designer, he knows it's not unusual.
'If someone shows up to the Oscars in a black dress and huge statement necklace, chances are they're being paid by a jewelry company,' he noted.
Paster also dished about why some actresses wear the same designer over and over again, and it is all about building a paid relationship between a brand and a celebrity.
Faithful: Blake Lively starred in perfume campaigns for Gucci in 2012 (left) and 2014, and she wore the designer label to the Cannes Film Festival in 2014 (right)
Give and take: Cate Blanchett and Keira Knightly have starred in campaigns for Armani Prive and Chanel, respectively. Cate is pictured in Armani Prive at the 2016 Oscars, and Keira can be seen wearing Chanel at the Golden Globes in 2015
'They're ambassadorships and you start relationships with them (the brand), and then eventually, the actress often does get a campaign from them because they have a relationship with her,' she said.
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence has been an ambassador for Dior since 2012, and she frequently wears the label on the red carpet.
Michelle Williams, who is nominated for an Oscar for her role in Manchester by the Sea, is an ambassador for Louis Vuitton and has worn the French luxury label throughout this year's awards season.
Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Keira Knightly, and Blake Lively are also among the A-listers who have worn a certain label's designs on the red carpet after scoring an ad campaign with that particular brand.
Streep famously wore Prada to the 2007 Oscars in celebration of her nomination for her role in The Devil Wears Prada and she has also worn Lanvin to the Academy Awards three times so far, but so-far has never been an ambassador for a particular brand.Two men shot dead after killing priest in church at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, Normandy, and ‘filming themselves preaching in Arabic’
The murder of a priest and the wounding of one of his parishioners in Normandy was an act of terrorism carried out by two followers of Islamic State, the French president, François Hollande, has said.
A witness to the attack has described how the two men forced the 86-year-old priest, Father Jacques Hamel, to his knees, slit his throat and filmed themselves appearing to preach in Arabic at the altar.
The nun, named as Sister Danielle, was among five hostages who were taken when the men armed with knives reportedly entered the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, at 9.43am local time on Tuesday during morning prayers.
“Everyone was shouting ‘stop, stop you don’t know what you’re doing’. They forced him to his knees and obviously he wanted to defend himself and that’s when the drama began,” Sister Danielle said, adding that she had fled the church while the terrorists cut Hamel’s throat.
She and two other hostages escaped, but the other victim was described as being seriously injured and between “life and death”.
Sister Danielle said the two men filmed their attack. “They didn’t see me leave,” she told the French channel BFMTV. “They were busy with their knives. They were filming themselves preaching in Arabic in front of the altar. It was a horror. Jacques was an extraordinary priest. He was a great man, Father Jacques.”
The two hostage-takers were shot dead by police as they came out of the church. One person has been detained in the investigation into the attack, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, without giving any further details.
Hollande described the incident as “an ignoble terrorist attack” by two supporters of Isis. The group, which claimed responsibility for the attack via its affiliated Amaq news agency, “has declared war on us”, Hollande said, adding that it was a war France would have to fight by remaining united.
According to BFMTV, one of the two killers, as yet unnamed, lived in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray and had tried to travel to fight in Syria in 2015 but had been sent back by Turkish border authorities and jailed in France. He was released in March this year despite the protests of prosecutors, had an electronic tag that allowed authorities to monitor his movements, and was ordered to live at his parents’ home - near the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray - where the court ordered he was only allowed out between 8.30am and 12.30pm.
Pierre Henry Brandet, an interior ministry spokesman, said the church was rapidly surrounded by the BRI, France’s anti-gang brigade, who shot the attackers as they came out. Hollande met members of the brigade, who wore black balaclavas to mask their identities, and praised them for the speed of their intervention, which he said “prevented a much higher toll and saved the lives of hostages”.
Hollande added: “I have met with the family of the priest and I have spoken to the people kept hostage who expressed their pain and sadness as well as a wish to comprehend what has happened.”
A witness whose home overlooks the church told BFMTV: “There were more and more police … then a crescendo of gunfire. Of course, given what is happening in the world, we thought of a [terrorist] attack. It was hard to believe what was happening.”
The prime minister, Manuel Valls, said the “barbaric” attack was a blow to the Catholic community and the whole of France.
Manuel Valls (@manuelvalls) Horreur face à l'attaque barbare d'une église de Seine-Maritime. La France entière et tous les catholiques sont meurtris. Nous ferons bloc.
The murdered priest had worked in the parish for more than 10 years. He should have retired at 75 but wanted to continue serving the church and community, local residents said.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis “shares the pain and horror of this absurd violence”, adding that the attack created “immense pain and worry”.
Father Jacques Hamel: 'A good priest … who did his job to the very end' Read more
Francis issued “the most severe condemnation of all forms of hatred” and said he was appalled “because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place” and involved the “barbaric” killing of a priest.
A woman who worshipped at the church described Hamel as “a man who fulfilled his role to the end. He was elderly but was always available for whoever. He was a good priest.”
She added: “He has been here for a long time and many parishioners knew him well. He lived in the rectory at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray.”
Father Philippe Maheut, vicar general of the Rouen diocese, said everyone was horribly shocked that the priest had been killed while celebrating mass.
“We ask ourselves how we have arrived at this point,” he told BFMTV. “My message would be we have to continue to meet, to know each other, understand each other, support each other. Perhaps the death of this poor man will produce an electroshock, will be such a strong symbol that people will say we have to do something, but we have said that before.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest French soldiers prevent access to the scene of the attack in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. Photograph: Francois Mori/AP
Hervé Morin, president of the region, said: “This man was a good man, he always had a kind word for everyone. He served at this church for 30 years. Everyone is shocked. This was not just the killing of a man, it was the cutting of the throat of a priest … an act sufficiently thought out to further destabilise French society … and that’s the risk. French society is in danger.”
France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after a man ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring more than 300.
The Nice attack was the third major attack on France in 18 months and was claimed by Isis. Two attacks in Germany claimed by Isis since then have heightened the tension in Europe.
Hollande told reporters near the scene of Tuesday’s killings: “The people of France should know that they are under threat but they are not the only country, there is Germany and others, and that their strength lies in their solidarity.”
Analysts said that while the threat was everywhere, the attack marked a new stage in Isis action, demonstrating that even in a small town of 27,000 inhabitants, “even in church”, the French are not safe. “We are at war, and we are at war everywhere on French soil,” was the message, one terrorism expert told French television.
After the attack in Nice, France extended a state of emergency for another six months. The measure gives police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest. It was the fourth time the security measures have been extended since Isis followers staged a mass attack on Paris in November, killing 130 people in the Bataclan concert hall, the national stadium, and city centre restaurants.There was one big reason former South Carolina running back Mike Davis was available in the NFL Draft after turning Pro: his mom.
“Yeah, my reason for entering the draft was because of my mom," Davis said, via csnbayarea's Matt Maiocco. "Late in the process she got an eviction notice on her door. I always wanted to help my mom out. I knew with no one else being able to help her I had to step up. That was a major reason for me to enter the draft.”
The San Francisco 49ers drafted Davis in the fourth round with the No. 126 overall pick and now he'll be able to battle for snaps at the position among other players. The first part of that starts when the 49ers' rookie minicamp fires up later this month. Davis finished his career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and finished as a second-team All-SEC, although he suffered with injuries throughout his career.
Davis has received comparisons to former 49ers great Frank Gore - and he's just fine with that compliment. Davis loves watching film on the Gore, who will play for the Colts in 2015.
“You know, that’s crazy," Gore said. "That’s one of the things that I watched. I love the way he blocks. He lays guys out. I had some friends who compare me to Frank Gore but you know, Frank Gore is one hell of a running back. He’s going to be in the Hall of Fame. I wouldn’t want to compare myself to Frank.
"He’s a great running back, you know. They say we do have similar styles and size. Of course I’m going to try and match that.”Despite being one of the slower teams in the Australian Grand Prix, Force India managed to get both drivers in the points, with Perez finishing seventh and Esteban Ocon scoring for the first time in F1 in 10th.
Perez ended the race just one spot behind the lead Williams of Felipe Massa, but could not join the Brazilian in staying on the lead lap.
In terms of Melbourne performance, Force India has fallen away more than any other team in the off-season.
Comparing the fastest lap from each team over a race weekend, the Indian outfit has slipped from 101.552% relative to the outright pacesetter to 103.449% in Melbourne, where it was slower than all teams bar McLaren and Sauber.
“I think Williams is too far ahead at the moment,” said Perez. “Toro Rosso was quicker than us, Haas was quicker than us – so to beat them on track with strategy, the team can be very happy with that.
“I think we came with more than we thought, more than the car's pace deserved today. As a team, we did a perfect weekend and I'm very pleased with that.”
The heavy VJM10 has led to Perez going on a crash diet in a bid to lower the overall weight of the car and driver.
Perez reckoned he and Ocon were able to compensate for a lack of car performance in Melbourne and admitted the team needs to improve its car sooner rather than later.
“I think Melbourne is a track where a driver can make more of a difference,” said Perez.
“It's very bumpy, a narrow and difficult track. So once we go to a more normal track where the car pace matters more, we are going to struggle more.
“We need the upgrades as soon as possible, we need to work hard on the car.
"As we've seen in the past, Force India normally doesn't have the greatest starts of season. This is probably my best start of a season with the team in my four years, so it's quite encouraging.
“There's still a long way to go but at the moment we are not where we finished [on Sunday].”
Perez said in pre-season testing the team had identified “a lot of weaknesses” in the VJM10, and admitted after the first race some of those remained.
“We improved the car from testing, but I think the weaknesses are there,” he said. “We cannot really balance the car, so I think that's what we need to sort out.”Armed Response is a 2017 action horror film that features Wesley Snipes, Anne Heche, David Annable, and Seth Rollins. The film was produced by Erebus Pictures, and is a collaboration between WWE Studios and Gene Simmons.
Starting off with a brief prologue in which a group of anonymous grunts are slaughtered by an off-screen assailant while stationed at a military compound that is run by advanced artificial intelligence that can flawlessly interrogate prisoners, Special Forces soldier Isaac recruits the systems designer, Gabriel, to join him on a mission to see why the base has suddenly shut down. He finds Gabriel grieving from the tragic loss of his daughter, which serves as a random bit of character background that doesn’t really factor into the subsequent proceedings. It is later discovered that in this considerably dark complex, that there lie the corpses of their comrades as well as an Afghanistan general who is on the FBI’s most wanted list.
Heavily criticized by its reviewers, Armed Response overall has received negative reviews as a result of its lack of consistency within the story as well as its lack of direction. Despite having what some have said to be a decent amount of gunplay, according to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the characters are considerably under-drawn and there is a significant lack of pacing. In fact, one of the more common trends that I saw in checking out other previews views on this film, they all seemingly indicate that Snipes looked rather bored during this film, and that despite the compelling possibilities that a film with this particular story presents, you could tell that Snipes unfortunately regretted his time in working on this film.
The Film Itself (2.5/5):
After perusing through some of the earlier reviews of Armed Response, I really didn’t have much hope with this film. Reading through what other people thought made this film out to be some sort of absolutely horrendous experience. However, this movie seemingly started off really strong. Offering a pretty solid premise right of of the door, I couldn’t look away as it began. The notation at the beginning regarding Gabriel and his grieving from the loss of his daughter actually not only plays a part in his background story, but it also helps set the stage for his current mental state as he and his team are working through the Temple and they work together to figure out what is going on. There was a decent amount of gun play that I found to be rather enjoyable, however the pacing of the film wasn’t all that great. Considering it’s labeled as an action horror film, there was minimal action or horror throughout the movie; and my biggest complaint about this film would definitely go toward the ending (sorry, I’m not going to spoil it for those of you who may pick this up).
Picture Quality (5/5):
Despite having an overwhelming feeling of being a smaller budget film, Armed Response looked absolutely beautiful as it played out across my living room television. Every scene, indoor and outdoor really sparkled with clarity |
program. The NDFP believes that genuine agrarian reform will address the issue of land monopoly and dismantle the huge concentration of land from the hands of a few landlords.
NDFP peace consultant Wilma Tiamzon had this to say about the outcome of the SER discussions: “The agreement on free land distribution was not reached under any of the past administrations. The NDFP was steadfast in pushing for this through its reciprocal working committee. It is clear that the issue of free land distribution is to make fundamental changes in the situation of the peasantry that have been suffering from the slow pace of the bogus land reform program for a long time.”
The most important task now, according to Tiamzon, is for the peasants to organize themselves and build their own strength to advance these initial unities on free land distribution – a fundamental issue that farmers have long been struggling for.
2. Fast-tracking the draft and finding a lot of common ground in the CASER
Reconciling two different drafts for the comprehensive agreement on socio-economic reforms (CASER) was reportedly tough work for both parties during the fourth round. But according to Randall Echanis of the NDFP reciprocal working committee on CASER, there is already a lot of common ground between the GRP and NDFP drafts in terms of their basic scope and applicability. “Hindi malalaki ang pagkakaiba, in general,” Echanis explained. “Pwede sabihing nagkaroon ng commonalities.”
The discussions on CASER, considered by both parties as the “meat” of the peace negotiations, are aimed at finding solutions to the country’s economic backwardness, poverty, and underdevelopment. By solving these, it addresses the underlying problems of the armed conflict.
The CASER agenda acknowledges that the current neoliberal model has failed to uplift the lives of Filipinos, and proposes similar steps that wealthy countries did that paved the way for their progress – such as implementing agrarian reform, building local industries, protecting farmers and workers, and nationalizing strategic industries.
While there are already some consensus, Echanis said that there are many provisions that still demand greater discussion and resolution in the course of the negotiations. CASER discussions continue to be the main agenda in the next round of talks and bilateral meetings in between.
The discussions are expected to be challenging as the two parties tackle other important parts of land reform and industrialization. Both the GRP and the NFDP hope to sign the CASER within the year.
3. Agreeing to make the Joint Monitoring Committee, a mechanism to check on the human rights violations of both parties, fully operational
During the third round of the peace talks early this year, the two peace panels agreed to launch the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) into full operation.
What is the JMC? The joint monitoring committee is a mechanism launched in 2004 to make sure that both the GRP and the NDFP are abiding by their duty to respect human rights and follow the rules of war in the conduct of the armed conflict. These obligations are embodied in the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which both parties signed in 1998.
Although the JMC through its Joint Secretariat, has received thousands of reports of human rights violations against both the GRP and the NDFP, it never conducted joint activities like investigating complaints of human rights violations that both parties received. This time, it can now look into the complaints filed by each side and make recommendations in compliance with the CARHRIHL.
What is positive about a fully-operational JMC, according to the NDFP, is that both parties can proceed with other matters in the substantive agenda without being bogged down by accusations of human rights violations. This can contribute in speeding up the peace negotiations, the NDFP said.
4. Agreeing to restore the JASIG holders list
During the back channel talks last March, the GRP and NDFP agreed to deposit and safe-keep a reconstituted list and photos of peace negotiators who are protected under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).
The JASIG, which was signed in 1995, gives safety and immunity guarantees to peace consultants, staff, security and other personnel who participate in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. Those on the JASIG list are assured of protection from surveillance, harassment, arrest, detention, and prosecution.
The original list could no longer be opened when digital files containing pass keys were corrupted. This happened after Dutch police raided the NDFP office in Utrecht in 2007 and confiscated their files and computers.
The previous Aquino administration refused to reconstitute the JASIG list during its term. Under Duterte – after the brief impasse on the peace negotiations in February – the GRP “restored” the JASIG and scheduled the deposit and safekeeping of the reconstituted list of holders of NDFP Documents of Identification. This commitment appeared in the joint resolution signed during the back channel talks in March.
5. Advancing the draft on political & constitutional reforms
Following the peace talks framework, the peace panels will start working on the political and constitutional reforms (PCR) after the agreement on the SER is signed. But during the third round of talks in January, the GRP and NDFP had already exchanged full drafts and made initial discussions on the tentative agreement on the PCR. By the fourth round, the committees started their work on reconciling the two parties’ draft.
According to the NDFP, its primary interest in the PCR agreement is to uphold national sovereignty. At the same time, it expressed openness in supporting the shift to a federal system of government, a vision of Pres. Duterte. The NDFP also agreed on making amendments to the Constitution provided that the amendments will include safeguards against foreign monopoly capitalism, warlordism, dynasties, and corruption.
As early as the first round of talks, both panels already agreed to fast-tracking the peace negotiations. This means that while the agenda on the SER is being discussed, the peace panels can already work on the next two substantive agenda (political and constitutional reforms; and end of hostilities and redisposition of armed forces). This way, key agreements will be signed earlier so there is enough time to implement these before coming out with a final peace agreement.
THE MILESTONES reached from the previous rounds of talks were not without innumerable difficulties. Peace advocates have warned about the “peace saboteurs” and militarist elements in government that could undermine the gains made in the talks. But both the GRP and NDFP peace panels avow their commitment to resolving difficulties and moving the peace negotiations forward.
Third party facilitator Elisabeth Slattum seemed to aptly describe the positive disposition of the peace panels against the odds: “The parties worked through a tough crisis, showed perseverance, courage and genuine commitment to achieve peace for the benefit of the Filipino people.”Blogging platform Medium is now blocked in Malaysia, apparently in an effort to censor an investigative news outlet critical of the government. The Sarawak Report has mirrored its articles on Medium at least since its own site was blocked in mid-2015, when it published allegations of corruption.
Medium's legal team has done an admirable job keeping the relevant post online in the face of government demands. It's published an account saying the company "stand[s] by investigative journalists" and that the post will stay up until it "receive[s] an order from a court of competent jurisdiction." But this story also demonstrates the censorship-resistant properties of online encryption like HTTPS, which Medium has enabled across its entire site.
That's because HTTPS conceals information both about what particular page readers are viewing, as well as the contents of that page, from people snooping on their connection. That's important, because unencrypted connections can face a wide range of eavesdroppers, all the way from other people sitting in the same coffee shop, to members of the same household, to employers providing a computer at work, to Internet service providers, to governments—anybody who can insert themselves between you and the website you're trying to visit.
With an encrypted connection, those eavesdroppers get only the domain of the site—in this case, medium.com—not which particular blogger or article you're reading. That makes for more privacy, in that particular reading habits are not as easily surveilled and analyzed.
Of course, the eavesdroppers also can't read the contents of the pages. In the case of news sites, like the Sarawak Report, that might seem like a moot point. After all, unlike private messages, the contents of the articles are visible for anyone who looks through the site. But taken together, these two properties mean that the government can't analyze individual pages in transit for keywords to trigger blocks.
As a result, governments seeking to block individual pages are forced to make much more conspicuous and disruptive moves against entire domains. On numerous occasions, we've seen those governments back away from wholesale censorship where granular censorship was not an option—in China, it was GitHub; in Iran, it was Google Reader (serving as a proxy for general news sites); and last summer in Russia, it was Wikipedia.
So it's important that sites turn on HTTPS by default. And some—though still far too few—have begun to do so. The Washington Post has started across some sections of its site. The New York Times made an impassioned call for news outlets to implement it by the end of 2015, but still hasn't made the transition. Sites like Techdirt, The Intercept, and EFF's own Deeplinks have long been HTTPS-only. The Freedom of the Press Foundation, which helps develop and fund tools to protect press freedom and reader privacy, has encouraged more news sites to follow suit.
Medium and the Sarawak Report have made a good choice in using infrastructure that is harder for would-be censors to subvert. For people affected by this local block, we recommend reading up on tools like Tor, which can be used to circumvent censorship and anonymize your traffic.A rather implausible report in Chinasmack (translated from the Chinese journal 163) says that a zookeeper saved a rare, born-in-captivity baby Francois Leaf Monkey from surgery by licking its anus until it passed the whole peanut it ate after a thoughtless patron tossed it to him. Reportedly, the anus-licking proceeded for over an hour.
50-year-old Zhang Bangsheng used warm water to clean a small Francois’ Leaf Monkey’s buttocks, then began using his mouth to lick it, not stopping for over an hour, until the little monkey defecated a single peanut. Only after the peanut was defecated did Zhang Bangsheng laugh with satisfaction.
As it is understood, this small Francois’ langur is only 3 months old, and is the first Francois’ Leaf Monkey to be born in nearly 10 years at this animal park. The Francois’ langur is a rare primate from Guangxi and Guizhou and is amongst the nation’s most protected animals. Because it is so precious, the zoo gave it to model worker and high-level expert Zhang Bangsheng to care for and raise.The U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire has been awash in claims about abortion and women’s health issues in recent days. One claim by incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen caught our eye. Shaheen is facing a challenge from former Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
In a news release from her campaign, Shaheen said:
"I have always supported a woman’s right to choose because I know women should be making health care decisions in consultation with their doctors and their families, not their employer. Scott Brown’s record is clear: When it counts, he doesn’t stand up for women’s reproductive rights and economic security. He co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for birth control or even mammograms. New Hampshire women can’t trust Scott Brown, and his record is move evidence that he is wrong for New Hampshire."
We noticed two claims that are related, but distinct enough to analyze separately. First, would the legislation in question have allowed employers deny women coverage for birth control? And would it have allowed employers to deny coverage for mammograms?
We’ve heard of controversies over birth control, but not mammograms. So we decided to check it out. (We’ve addressed birth control in a separate fact-check.)
Mammograms are used to screen for breast cancer, either preventively in women who have no signs of the disease, or as a diagnostic aid after a lump or other symptom is reported, according to the National Cancer Institute.
In a different Shaheen campaign news release, the campaign explained its sourcing by writing, "FACT: Scott Brown both co-sponsored and voted for the Blunt Amendment that would let employers deny women access to a range of healthcare services, including contraception and coverage for mammograms."
The amendment in question was proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. It was tabled -- that is, dispensed with -- by a 51-48 vote in which a simple majority was required. Among those who voted "nay" -- that is, those who wanted to keep it under consideration -- was Brown, then representing Massachusetts in the Senate. He also co-sponsored a predecessor measure, S.1467, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011.
So Shaheen’s camp is correct that Brown acted in support of this measure. But what did the amendment say? It acted to widen the scope of acceptable actions for opting out of provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on religious or moral grounds. It focuses on mandates within the law for preventive services, called the "essential health benefits package."
The Shaheen campaign pointed us to a Feb. 29, 2014, news release opposing the Blunt Amendment by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. The release said, "the expansive nature of the proposed Blunt amendment... could result in coverage denials of life-saving preventive services such as mammograms or tobacco cessation based on employer discretion."
But we aren’t accepting the claim of an advocacy group without digging further. So we read the relevant portions of the law ourselves.
We agree that the provision is drawn broadly. It’s not targeted at abortion or birth control -- it simply says that employers cannot be required to cover "specific items or services" that are "contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan."
So, presumably, any aspect of preventive care could qualify for a religious-conscience opt-out -- including mammograms. Or, for that matter, stethoscopes or tongue depressors.
We can’t imagine any religious objections to the use of tongue depressors. But what about mammograms?
We asked a number of experts in medicine and bioethics whether they had ever heard religious objections raised regarding mammograms. None said they had.
"I have not heard this claim in the specific context you describe," said Paul A. Lombardo, a specialist in medical law and ethics at Georgia State University.
Adam Sonfield, a senior public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, noted that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent in Hobby Lobby noted past religious objections to blood transfusions (by Jehovah’s Witnesses); antidepressants (by Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (by certain Muslims, Jews, and Hindus); and vaccinations (by Christian Scientists).
However, Sonfield couldn’t recall hearing objections to mammograms.
Opposition to mammograms would also be news to a leading anti-abortion group, the National Right to Life Committee. "I've never heard of any argument being made against mammograms based on a conscience objection," said Susan T. Muskett, the group’s senior legislative counsel.
Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center, said the closest he can get "to making any sense of" the claim involves what in the game of pool would be known as a multiple bank shot.
Here goes: Planned Parenthood has become a target of anti-abortion activists because it performs abortions, but the group’s clinics also provide other forms of health care to women. These include breast examinations, but not mammograms per se. If the clinic determines that a patient needs a mammogram, they will be referred to a health care provider that offers one.
Some abortion opponents might "see this as a ruse," Caplan said. "So there might be a doctor or a nurse who would refuse a mammogram referral from Planned Parenthood on the grounds that that they are just funding abortions."
But this is all speculative, Caplan added. "No doc I know of has any issue with mammograms," he said.
Holly Fernandez Lynch, a Harvard bioethicist and author of Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care: An Institutional Compromise, called the claim "technically true" but "a bit of a strawman."
Could it have been used to deny access to mammograms? "Yes," she said. "Would it have been? Almost certainly not. I have never heard of a religious or moral objection to mammograms. The better examples would have been contraceptives, abortion, vaccines (especially HPV), psychiatric care, or palliative care/hospices."
Our ruling
Shaheen said Brown co-sponsored legislation to let employers deny women coverage for mammograms.
The amendment, which Brown supported, was written loosely enough to allow a religious-conscience opt-out for almost any conceivable form of preventive care. But it didn't target mammograms, as Shaheen implied. And while the amendment would have protected religious-conscience objections, we failed to uncover any evidence that mammograms have inspired religious opposition, either now or in the past.
The claim contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate the claim Mostly False.• Emissions could have far greater impact in Europe, where almost half passenger cars are diesel, than the US
Volkswagen’s rigging of emissions tests for 11m cars means they may be responsible for nearly 1m tonnes of air pollution every year, roughly the same as the UK’s combined emissions for all power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture, a Guardian analysis suggests.
The potential scale of the scandal puts further pressure on Volkswagen’s board and its chief executive, Martin Winterkorn. The company’s executive committee plans to meet on Wednesday to discuss the affair and to agree the agenda of a full board meeting scheduled for Friday, amid reports that Winterkorn could be replaced.
The carmaker has recalled 482,000 VW and Audi brand cars in the US after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found models with Type EA 189 engines had been fitted with a device designed to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) under testing conditions.
A Guardian analysis found those US vehicles would have spewed between 10,392 and 41,571 tonnes of toxic gas into the air each year, if they had covered the average annual US mileage. If they had complied with EPA standards, they would have emitted just 1,039 tonnes of NOx each year in total.
VW chief Martin Winterkorn defiant over emissions cheating scandal Read more
The company admitted the device may have been fitted to 11m of its vehicles worldwide. If that proves correct, VW’s defective vehicles could be responsible for between 237,161 and 948,691 tonnes of NOx emissions each year, 10 to 40 times the pollution standard for new models in the US. Western Europe’s biggest power station, Drax in the UK, emits 39,000 tonnes of NOx each year.
Germany’s Tagesspiegel newspaper said on Tuesday that VW’s board would replace Winterkorn, who has led the company since early 2007, with Matthias Mueller, who runs the company’s Porsche sports car division. Volkswagen rejected Tagesspiegel’s report and Winterkorn continued to ask for the public’s trust on Tuesday, saying the scandal was caused by “the bad mistakes of a few”. But Wednesday’s meeting will prove crucial to how VW responds.
The company’s shares fell 10% as the German stock market opened on Wednesday although recouped some early losses. A third - some €25bn - of the company’s stock market value had already been lost since Friday when the emissions scandal first emerged.
New York and other state attorney generals are forming a group to investigate the scandal, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said, adding to a series of investigations in the US, Europe and Asia that threaten to sap Volkswagen’s resources and impose large penalties.
In the US, just 3% of passenger cars are diesel compared with almost half in the EU. Prof Martin Williams of King’s College London said the US’s low percentage of diesel cars meant higher diesel emissions in some cars would have a “limited effect” on air quality there.
“[In the US it would be] nowhere near the effect it would have in this country and in the rest of Europe for that matter,” he said. In the UK, Williams added, emissions from diesel cars cause roughly 5,800 premature deaths each year. “If you were to make the cars emit at the legal limit you could reduce those deaths by at least a factor of two and maybe more. Maybe a factor of five.”
The Clean Air in London campaign called for a royal commission to investigate carmakers’ activities in the UK. “Diesel is without doubt the biggest public health catastrophe in UK history. Even the black plague didn’t affect everyone in the population,” said its founder, Simon Birkett.
Not all NOx emissions – which include nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrogen oxide (NO) – are dangerous. But an increasing proportion of the toxic NO 2 gas has been detected in EU diesel emissions. A study in the British Medical Journal in May found that short-term exposure to NO 2 increased the number of premature deaths from heart and lung disease by 0.88% and 1.09%.
For years, UK air pollution measurements have failed to show improvements in air quality, even as standards have tightened.
“Since 2003 scientists have been saying things are not right. It’s not just the VW story, this is part of something much bigger,” said Dr Gary Fuller, also of King’s College. “It has a serious public health impact.”
Last week, a report from NGO Transport & Environment found that Europe’s testing regime was allowing nine out of every 10 new diesel vehicles to breach EU limits. Testing regimes in the EU are known to fail to pick up “real world” emissions because cars are not driven in the same way in the laboratory as on the road. Some studies suggest the discrepancy may be up to seven times the legal limit.
Williams said being able to mask their NOx emissions would also enable carmakers to pass carbon emissions tests more easily as there was a trade-off between NOx and CO2 in diesel engines.
Catherine Bearder MEP, a lead negotiator on the EU’s new air quality laws, said: “Manufacturers in the US have been caught out, but we know that pollution limits are also being breached in Europe... Unless we take action, thousands of lives will continue to be tragically cut short by air pollution.”
In a sign that the emissions scandal will not remain restricted to the US, a Venice court will next month hear a case against VW and Fiat for misleading test advertising.
The Italian consumer rights group Altroconsumo is due to press its case for a class action suit against VW and Fiat on 2 October, after laboratory tests showed that fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from the VW Golf 1.6 and Fiat Panda 1.2 were up to 50% higher than claimed.
Altroconsumo wants the German car firm to pay damages of €502 (£365) to the owner of a VW Golf in a case that raises the possibility of widescale compensation payouts by the car industry.
Monique Goyens, the director of the European consumer rights umbrella group BEUC, which includes Altroconsumo, called for an investigation by the European commission into the use of software programmes to “game” European emissions tests.
“The VW scandal has compounded our concern that underhand tactics are also being used in fuel consumption and CO2 testing programmes in Europe,” she said. “One of the problems in the EU, unlike in the US, is the absence of a market surveillance system which would require independent in-use conformity testing. The EU needs to implement such a system to restore trust amongst consumers.”
On Tuesday, the Italian government launched an investigation into VW’s emissions testing regime.
Know your NOx
Nitric Oxide (chemical name NO) and nitrogen dioxide (chemical name NO 2 ) are both found in diesel fumes and are collectively referred to as nitrogen oxides, or NOx.
NOx gases both cause some environmental problems, but it is really only NO 2 that causes health problems.
High concentrations of nitrogen dioxide are harmful because they cause inflammation of the airways. But it can also react to form other secondary pollutants, such as ozone, which create their own health problems.
Nitrous oxide is N 2 O, or laughing gas. This is not found in diesel fumes.
How the VW crisis unfolded
Last Friday – the discovery
The EPA say 482,000 US VW vehicles may have emitted...
... each year if they were all being judged against the 2016 model emissions standards
Monday – the fallout
Volkswagen shares fall 12.9% overnight
Tuesday – the admission
11m cars are affected globally, so assuming mileages worldwide are similar to mileages in the US, VW’s defective vehicles could be responsible for...India. A semal tree in full bloom in Faizabad
Palash blooms in Ranchi, Jharkhand
A palasha shrub from Malappuram dist Kerala
Butea monosperma is a species of Butea native to tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and western Indonesia.[1] Common names include flame-of-the-forest and bastard teak.[1]
It is a medium-sized dry season-deciduous tree, growing to 15 m (49 ft) tall. It is a slow growing tree, young trees have a growth rate of a few feet per year. The leaves are pinnate, with an 8–16 cm (3.1–6.3 in) petiole and three leaflets, each leaflet 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) long. The flowers are 2.5 cm (0.98 in) long, bright orange-red, and produced in racemes up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The fruit is a pod 15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in) long and 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) broad.[2]
In West Bengal, it is associated with spring, especially through the poems and songs of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who likened its bright orange flame-like flower to fire. In Santiniketan, where Tagore lived, this flower has become an indispensable part of the celebration of spring. The plant has lent its name to the town of Palashi, famous for the historic Battle of Plassey fought there.[citation needed]
In the state of Jharkhand Palash is associated with the folk tradition. Many folk literary expressions describe palash as the forest fire. The beauty of dry deciduous forests of Jharkhand reach their height when most trees have fallen their leaves and Palash is in its full bloom. Palash is also the State Flower of Jharkhand.
It is said that the tree is a form of Agni, God of Fire.[citation needed] In Telangana, these flowers are specially used in the worship of Lord Shiva on occasion of Shivratri. In Telugu, this tree is called Modugu chettu.
In Kerala, this is called 'plasu' and 'chamata'. Chamata is the vernacular version of Sanskrit word 'Samidha', small piece of wood that is used for 'agnihotra' or fire ritual. In most of the old namboodiri (Kerala Brahmin) houses, one can find this tree because this is widely used for their fire ritual. Tamil Brahmins have a daily Agnihotra ritual called "Samidha Dhanan", where barks of this tree is a main component for agnihotra, and this ritualis very essential for Brahmacharis during the first year of Brahmacharya.
In Theravada Buddhism, Butea monosperma is said to have used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by second Lord Buddha called "Medhankara – මේධංකර". The plant is known as කෑල in Sinhala.
History [ edit ]
Historically, dhak forests covered much of the doab area between the Ganges and Yamuna, but these were cleared for agriculture in the early 19th century as the English East India Company increased tax demands on the peasants.[3]
Use [ edit ]
It is used for timber, resin, fodder, medicine, and dye. The wood is dirty white and soft and, being durable under water, is used for well-curbs and water scoops. Spoons/Ladles made of this tree are used in various Hindu rituals to pour Ghee (clarified butter) into the fire. Good charcoal can be obtained from it. The leaves are usually very leathery and not eaten by cattle. The leaves were used by previous generations of people to serve food instead of plastics of today.
Little Cowherd preparing Bankh from Butea roots
Usage in leather [ edit ]
The gum is known as Bengal Kino and is considered valuable by druggists because of its astringent qualities and by leather workers because of its tannin.[4]
Culinary use [ edit ]
The gum from the tree, called kamarkas in Hindi, is used in certain food dishes.
Patravali plate [ edit ]
In villages of many parts of India, for example in Maharashtra, this tree provides leaves that are used either with many pieced together or singly (only in case of a banana leaf) to make a leaf-plate for serving a meal over, and for example a would-be son-in-law was in older times (until a century ago) was tested on his dexterity in making this plate and bowl (for serving more liquid parts of the meal such as daal or stew) before being declared acceptable by the father-in-law-to-be.
Dye [ edit ]
The flowers are used to prepare a traditional Holi color. It is also used as a dye for fabric.
Literature [ edit ]
This tree has been used in Punjabi literature extensively. The Punjabi poet Harinder Singh Mahboob has used it as a symbol in his poetry.
In Rudyard Kipling's short story Beyond the Pale (contained in Plain Tales from the Hills, published in 1888), he says of the dhak: 'The flower of the dhak means diversely 'desire', 'come', 'write', or 'danger', according to the other things with it.' The tree was also featured in The Jungle Book in the story "Tiger! Tiger!" as the tree Mowgli instructs his wolf brother Grey Brother wait under a signal that Shere Khan has returned.
The first sloka of sukla yajurveda speaks about Palasa tree. The Palasa tree branch is cut & trimmed by the Adhvaryu priest who performs the practical part of sacrifice, the day before New or the full moon, uses it to drive the calves away from cows whose milk is to form part of the offerings of the next day's special ceremony.
Other names [ edit ]
Flame of the Forest is otherwise known as Bastard Teak, Parrot Tree (Eng.), Chichra tesu, desuka jhad, dhaak, palaash, chalcha, kankrei (Hindi), PaLash (पळस) (Marathi), Palashpapra (Urdu), Muthuga (ಮುತ್ತುಗ) (Kannada.), Kinshuk, Polash (পলাশ) Bengali, Pauk (Burmese), Polash (Polax) in Assamese, Porasum, Parasu (Tam.), Muriku, Shamata (Mal.), Modugu(మోదుగ) (Telugu), Khakda (Guj.), Kela (Sinh.),[4] Ploso (Javanese), Palash (Odia)
In Sanskrit also the flower is extensively used as a symbol of the arrival of spring and the colour of love. Jayadeva in the Gita Govindam compares these blossoms to the red nails of Kamadeva or Cupid, with which he wounds the hearts of lovers. The imagery is all the more appropriate as the blossoms are compared to a net of kimsuka flowers(किंशुकजाले). In a completely leafless tree, the blossoms look like a net.
The following stanza is translated here by Barbara Stoller Miller, for Kimsuka blossoms, she uses the common name "flame tree petals":
मृगमदसौरभरभसवशंवदनवदलमालतमाले। Butea in full bloom at Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru
Tamala tree's fresh leaves absorb strong scent of deer musk. Flame tree petals, shining nails of love, tear at young hearts.
Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, Love Song of the Dark Lord, Motilal BanarsidassSome things are, like they say, one step forward and two steps back. But, as guest writer Bisma shares, with pure intentions and persistence, and help from Allah ta’ala, it’s possible to come out ahead.
My hijab story is like a secret diary no one should ever read. It is filled with horrible facts about me and points to my mistakes and weaknesses. My journey to hijab is filled with fear, negativity and regret. So I warn you: read with caution.
The most important thing you should know is that I used to wear hijab, but eventually took it off. I hate saying it, admitting to the world that I was one of those ignorant girls who went backwards after putting on the hijab, instead of moving forward with my deen. But it’s what I did and I can’t change that.
I first put on the hijab due to an extreme iman rush after an Islamic conference and pressure I felt from my community members, because, masha’Allah, almost all the girls I knew already wore hijab and were so religious. I always felt like an outcast not wearing it, so I decided to just do it.
After putting on the scarf, however, I was extremely self-cautious. I would feel fine wearing it when I was around my religious friends; but, when I was with other “normal” people, I was ashamed. I tried to cover while still blending in: wearing hoods and hats to cover my hair, instead of proper hijab. I didn’t understand that “hijab” was true modesty, not only in dress, but in actions as well. I treated the hijab simply as a cloth on my head.
During that period, I regretted the day I decided to wear the hijab and every bone in my body screamed at me to take it off, but I was afraid of what people would think of me. So I continued my self-loathing and wore the scarf. I felt horrible because I knew I wasn’t getting reward from Allah ta’ala. After all, I only kept on my hijab from fear of people’s judgment, rather than fulfilling the command of my Lord.
The regret continued and became stronger each day. I woke up miserable, knowing I had to put on my hijab. I hated going out, especially with my husband, because I felt that every other girl looked beautiful to him except me. His consolation only made it worse. I didn’t believe him when he said I looked beautiful, because I felt ugly, inside and out. I was always irritated and fighting with everyone around me.
After two years of my ongoing battle with the hijab, my nafs finally won, leaving my iman scattered to pieces. I shed the command of my Judge. I couldn’t handle it anymore. But taking off my scarf didn’t give me the relief I was looking for. I still had regret. Sure, I was happier sometimes because I got to do my hair, but I felt really bad and disappointed in myself. This time, when I was around my religious friends, I felt ashamed. I felt like I was less than them. I knew I wasn’t happy before, but at least I had been following Allah’s command. Now, I still had regret and I was disobeying. It was a lose-lose situation.
I tried to console myself whenever the regret kicked in, telling myself that at least I was a good person that prayed, fasted and dressed modestly. But I always knew in the back of my mind that I was disobeying Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, every second of everyday that I was in front of non-mahrams. My biggest fear was dying without wearing the hijab.
A year and half after taking off the hijab, I went to hajj with my husband, alhamdulillah. It was quite the experience, but I did not cover when I came back home. SubhanAllah! Now the guilt was doubled. Everyone was calling me “Hajji,” but I felt like a big fraud, a failure. While I was discussing hajj with a few people, someone said, “A sign that your hajj has been accepted is if you change after completing it.”
I immediately felt foolish. I knew I hadn’t changed all that much even though my reoccurring du’aa at hajj was that I would wear the hijab. This statement slowly brought about the change I needed. At that point, I knew I had to wear hijab again. I had to make a difference in my life and gain Allah’s ta’ala’s love.
I thought about putting on the hijab everyday after that. Every morning I would wake up and say to myself, “Today is the day…” but it never was. I walked around everyday with a smile on my face, even though I was constantly in battle with my nafs.
Why am I so weak? How come everyone I know can wear it, but not me? How is it possible that everyone just loves hijab and I despise wearing it?
I realized that I didn’t simply hate the hijab, I was afraid of it, afraid of what it could turn me into: a self-loathing, low self-esteem introverted human being. I felt like my iman was so much higher when I wasn’t wearing hijab than when I was. The fear of wearing hijab was so strong, that even truly |
we’re excited about building a platform where a local neighborhood can take that into their own hands, to gather and crowdsource that data so there’s actually smarter decision-making around that.
By the way, our code name for that is Speedbuster.If 2015 headlines are anything to go by, London’s music venues are falling like dominoes. Just this week, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, which represents venues in the UK, reported that the number of clubs in the country has halved in the last decade. This year in the capital, superclub Fabric was threatened with closure after a series of drug-related deaths at the venue (it hasn’t closed, but stricter security measures have been introduced). Meanwhile, cabaret club Madame Jojo’s had its license revoked, ostensibly for a violent incident involving bouncers; 24-hour Caribbean social club Peoples Club was closed by the council, apparently because of noise complaints from residents; and Whitechapel’s Rhythm Factory and Shoreditch’s Plastic People have both made the decision to permanently shut their doors.
While the reasons for the closure of these clubs differ, gentrification is a recurring theme: Rhythm Factory blamed pressure from local authorities, who had granted permission for apartments to be built around the club. Mark Harris, who once co-ran the club night White Heat at Madame Jojo’s, told the Guardian that he believes the council "clearly don’t want a late night drinking presence anywhere in Soho anymore. They want to make Soho about families." There’s also the matter of existing venues that are battling to stay open: east London pub and gig venue The George Tavern has for several years now lived under the threat of luxury property developers.
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But among the detritus, there's life still. After all, people need somewhere to dance. To find out where the party's moving to, The FADER spoke to 10 artists, DJs and promoters to find out their most vital venues in the city.Story highlights Afghan President Hamid Karzai says strict measures will be implemented
The U.S. Special Operations Force is temporarily suspending training, a spokesman says
It also is double-checking the background of current Afghan Local Police, an official says
The temporary suspension is because of a rise in attacks by Afghan forces on NATO troops
U.S. Special Operations forces have suspended the training of some Afghan Local Police recruits while it double-checks the background of the current police force, following a rise in attacks against NATO troops by their Afghan counterparts, an official said Sunday.
The order follows reports that more than 40 NATO troops were killed this year either by members of the Afghan security forces or by insurgents disguised as Afghan police or soldiers.
"Current partnered operations have and will continue, even as we temporarily suspend training of about 1,000 new ALP recruits while revetting current members," said Col. Thomas Collins, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
"While we have full trust and confidence in our Afghan partners, we believe this is a necessary step to validate our vetting process and ensure the quality indicative of Afghan Local Police."
The 16,000 police officers who are being revetted are still conducting operations, Collins said.
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Afghan commandos and national army special forces have already been double-checked, he said.
A statement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said strict measures will be used to combat the problem. The press release said Sunday's meeting of the nation's security council focused on the attacks.
Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, the deputy commander of ISAF, said some steps have already been taken to "defeat the insider threat." The measures include interviewing soldiers returning from leave, a new reporting system for threats, and improved training for counterintelligence agents, according to a news release from the British general.
U.S. Special Operations forces have been tasked with training Afghan Local Police as part of an effort to beef up Afghanistan's forces ahead of the American withdrawal, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.
"This is a temporary suspension," said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi.
He said the suspension has been discussed with the ministry, but that "we would like to see the continuation of these training programs because they are very important."
"This temporary measure is only to review the vetting process and revet them. This suspension will not have any impact on the NATO/ISAF's overall training mission in Afghanistan."
It was not immediately clear when NATO suspended training, how long the suspension would last, or what effect, if any, it would have on the planned withdrawal.
Collins did not say whether the suspension extended beyond the training of local police.
The Washington Post, which first reported the story, said it also included Afghan special forces.
The newspaper, citing anonymous sources, also reported that it would take up to two months to complete the renewed vetting of the local police and the special forces.
An estimated 25% of the attacks by Afghan security forces against U.S. and other allied troops in Afghanistan are carried out by Taliban infiltrators, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, ISAF commander, said.
The Pentagon, however, has put the number at 10%.
The suspension of training comes days after three Australian soldiers were killed by an Afghan security force member. The deaths bring to 14 the number of NATO troops who have been killed in August alone in such "green-on-blue" attacks.
The term refers to a color coding system used by the military, in which blue refers to the friendly force, in this case NATO; and green refers, in this case, to Afghan security forces.A lot has been happening in the world of cold fusion, or Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) since our last update. Andrea Rossi, who claims to have a working commercial cold fusion reactor, finally released a report with seemingly independent scientific confirmation of the reaction in his device. This was quickly followed by news of a major investor dropping out because of a failed test. Meanwhile, more conventional scientists are pressing forward with LENR development, and some big-name companies are taking an interest.
The weekend of 7 and 8 September saw a conference in Zurich on Rossi's reactor, known as the E-Cat. The conference mainly preached to the converted, attended by licensees who market E-Cat technology in different regions, like E-Cat Australia and
Hydrofusion in the UK. Rossi has refused to give public demonstrations or prove the technology to sceptics; he wants to let the market decide. However, at the conference he produced a brief paper with details of third-party tests of an E-Cat.
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The device tested was a new high-temperature model known as a Hot Cat. Previous E-Cats have been confined to around 200C -- useful for heating water but extremely inefficient for conversion to electricity. Since May 2011 Rossi has been talking about an improved version, and the new Hot Cat operates at a high enough temperature for electricity generation.
Although other scientists in the report have no known affiliations, one section was authored by David Bianchini, a radiation measurement specialist of the University of Bologna. The test, which ran for over six hours, measured an average temperature of 1,100-1,200C, and concluded that the energy output of the four-kilo Hot Cat was three 3.6 Kilowatts from an input of 1.28 Kw.
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Rossi says that a full scientific report will be available soon.
However, on 9 September Hydrofusion Ltd put out a press release about a demonstration of the Hot Cat in Bologna stating "early indications are that the results of the 16 July/ 7 August reports could not be reproduced." Swedish science magazine
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NyTeknik reported that the test was overseen by Swedish National Testing and Research Institute who did not find the Hot Cat was outputting more energy than was input. As a result, a planned investment of 65 million Kronor (£6.1 million) was withdrawn. The investors are now considering whether this affects all E-Cats or just the new Hot Cat.
Rossi has responded by saying that Hot Cat validation will not be completed for another two or three months.
Sterling Allen of Pure Energy System News reported from the conference that a one-megawatt E-Cat will be delivered to a customer in Northern Italy within a couple of months, which will apparently be available for inspection by potential buyers and investors.
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According to Rossi, a previous one-megawatt E-Cat was sold to a secret military customer who could not be authenticated.
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The science discussed September's Zurich conference was evidently more persuasive. One time sceptic Enric Gunther now believes that Rossi has what he claims: "All his data he published fits with what other more scientific groups found."
"Their time has finally come"
Many of those other scientists were present at the 17th International Conference on Cold Fusion last month in South Korea, described by some attendees as having a "rock concert feel": after years in the wilderness, cold fusion researchers seem to think that their time has finally come.
Perhaps the most notable contribution was Francesco Celani's live demonstration of an apparently working cold fusion device.
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Unlike Rossi, Celani does not claim to have a secret catalyst, just
a nickel wire loaded with hydrogen which produces more heat than is supplied to it. The 62 watts output from 48 watts input isn't going to boil a kettle, but it was a very open demonstration, and unlike Rossi, Celani has plenty of theoretical physics to support it.
Celani repeated the demonstration as part of an event in the US sponsored by National Instruments with positive results. UK-based start-up Kresenn says it has been licensed to develop Celani's technology commercially, with a particular focus on green energy for data centres.
Another paper presented at ICCF-17 was from a Japanese group with sponsorship from Toyota; this confirmed previous work indicating that transmutation was taking place during LENR reactions, showing that a nuclear reaction is taking place. Toyota funded cold fusion research in the 90s to the tune of £12 million, but was discouraged by negative results.
Meanwhile another company at ICCF-17, Brillouin Energy Corporation, has claimed positive results for its LENR device, the Brillouin Boiler. Like the E-Cat and Celani's demonstration, this uses nickel and hydrogen. A paper claimed that the Brillouin Boiler outputs produced more than twice as much heat as the energy input, running for hours at a time. The experimental results are small scale, producing nine watts of excess power, but the company is planning to scale up its apparatus. First there will be a commercial prototype, then range of boilers from 600 watts to over 500 kilowatts.
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Brillouin has entered into an agreement with SRI International, a major company which has been carrying out a low level of cold fusion research for many years. Perhaps Brillouin's biggest claim is that their results are consistently repeatable -- something of a Holy Grail in a field where results notoriously fail to get replicated. The company is already in the process of licensing its technology.
Competition
Defkalion, the Greek company often seen as Rossi's closest rival, also appeared at ICCF-17. The company recently decamped from Greece for economic reasons. "[Defkalion] said they are still working on setting up new labs in Canada and Switzerland and creating an industrial prototype," Frank Acland of E-Cat World told Wired.co.uk. "They project that commercial production lines will be set up in the coming year."
There is action elsewhere as well. Steven Krivit of New Energy Times achieved another coup with a leaked study from Boeing and Nasa, which considered the possibility of an LENR-powered aircraft among oyher future options. The report concludes that LENR lacks verification, but expresses this in terms of feasibility rather than assuming it's impossible.
However, Krivit told Wired.co.uk that the most significant event in the field in recent months was the death of Martin Fleischmann on 3 August, which he regards as the end of an era. Fleischmann was a British chemist and one half of the team that announced cold fusion in 1989. The Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project has been set up in honour to promote the study and understanding of the new phenomenon.
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As for who is most likely to get the technology to market, Krivit suggests that there may be more going on beneath the surface. "Because the potential of this field is so incredibly and obviously disruptive, anybody who might be close to commercialising a potential LENR technology is going to keep it secret as long as they can," he said. "The last thing they want is to alert their competitors and invite industrial competition."
It's an indication of the way things are going that his New Energy Times, a key source of news on cold fusion, is launching a subscription service.
The field is looking less like the domain of tinkering eccentrics; increasingly it seems to be getting taken seriously as a business proposition. Technology is being licensed and companies are being set up. In the words of the Boeing/Nasa report: "LENR technology is potentially game-changing to not just aviation, but the worldwide energy mix as well. This technology should be followed to determine feasibility and potential performance."Image copyright Reuters Image caption When scarce staples become available, Venezuelans often take advantage and buy in bulk
Venezuela's annual inflation rate has risen to 63.4%, the highest in Latin America, according to official figures published on Tuesday.
The figures are the first released by the central bank since May, which has led critics to accuse the government of withholding data for political reasons.
The poor state of the economy, among other issues, triggered mass anti-government protests earlier this year.
They have since died down, but many continue to grapple with shortages.
The central bank did not publish its scarcity index, a measure of goods that are missing from store shelves, but shortages of basic items such as flour, milk and toilet paper continue to be the bane of many shoppers.
'Protest slump'
While the bank said that month-to-month inflation had eased in August for the third straight month to 3.9%, the annual inflation rate reached a six-year high.
The government of President Nicolas Maduro blamed the soaring inflation on the protests, which rocked the country earlier in the year.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption In February and March, there were mass opposition rallies in the capital, Caracas, and in other key cities
Officials have argued that roadblocks erected by opposition activists hampered trade, and violent clashes between protesters and the security forces often forced shops to close early.
But many international economists argue that massive government spending and exchange rate controls are to blame.
Smugglers' paradise
Price controls have also ensured that many products are much cheaper in Venezuela than in neighbouring Colombia, making the smuggling of goods a profitable business.
The government estimates that 40% of subsidised goods are smuggled into Colombia, further exacerbating shortages in Venezuela.
In an attempt to cut down on smuggling, the Venezuelan government announced last month that it would close the border at night time.
Image copyright AFP Image caption President Maduro says that more than a third of subsidised goods are smuggled out of Venezuela
Image copyright AFP Image caption Venezuela's border with Colombia has been closed between 22:00 local time and 05:00 every night
The Venezuelan prosecutor general said more than 350 people had been detained as part of the operation.
The government in Caracas has not yet revealed its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2014, but a number of international economists have been gloomy in their assessment.
London-based economic research consultancy Capital Economics has predicted that Venezuela's GDP will contract by a cumulative 5% in 2014-2015.
It also warned of a "growing risk of a much deeper recession and default".The death toll in Syria recently surpassed 170,000; in Gaza it topped 1,000. Although each of these individual deaths is a tragedy of infinite proportions, Israel’s supporters often ask why there is such disproportionate focus on the far fewer casualties in its war and so little, relatively speaking, on the much deadlier Syrian conflict?
An answer I often hear is, “We expect more of Israel; it’s supposed to be like us.”
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In many ways Israel is “like us.” We’re both vibrant democracies that respect the rule of law and human rights (which doesn’t mean they aren’t sometimes violated in both locales), have a free press, an independent judiciary, a secular government and freedom of religion. Sadly, none of that exists in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
We’re also alike in that during a dangerous conflict, we try to protect our civilians. Israel invested billions in civil defense and the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Apartments and malls in Israel feature sealed rooms to protect against chemical weapons and concrete-reinforced shelters to protect against missile and bomb blasts.
Hamas did not use its resources to protect Gazans. Instead of using 800,000 tons of concrete to build schools or bomb shelters, Hamas used it to build terror attack tunnels reaching to the Israeli side of the border — tunnels equipped with missiles, grenades, guns and syringes to drug kidnapped Israelis. According to Hamas, more than 160 Palestinian children died to build these terror-tunnels.
Instead of keeping their terror activities far from schools, hospitals and homes, that’s exactly where Hamas placed some of its missile launch sites, creating an acute moral dilemma. If a terrorist organization places missiles in a school or hospital, does it get a pass? Is it automatically entitled to keep firing missiles from that site because it’s off-limits to attack? Many Israeli pilots and commanders have aborted strikes when they see evidence of civilians, but sometimes civilians remain unseen or the threat is judged too great.
So in many ways Israel is a lot like us and Hamas quite different.
There is, however, at least one very important way in which Israel is different. Israel is the only western country that shares a border with a political entity dedicated to its destruction. (There is no doubt of Hamas’s objective, which its charter makes clear: “The so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion.”).
We in the U.S. have not faced that reality since the end of the Revolutionary War. Europe has not faced such a reality since World War II. It’s therefore hard to know exactly what people “like us” would do in that situation, but history provides some clues.
On that day that will live in infamy, 2,403 Americans were killed at Pearl Harbor. In just one subsequent U.S. bombing raid on Tokyo, an estimated 100,000 civilians were killed and more than a million were rendered homeless.
Vietnam is 7,000 miles from the U.S., but 100,000 to 200,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian civilians were killed by U.S. bombing during that conflict, while Agent Orange, dropped by U.S. planes, resulted in 400,000 civilians killed or maimed and 500,000 children born with birth defects.
Of course, this may have been before our “better angels” took over and, like Israel, we stopped targeting civilians. But that doesn’t mean civilians stopped dying. More than 70 percent of the deaths in Iraq have been civilians and in Afghanistan 21,000 civilians have been killed.
As William Tecumseh Sherman said, “War is hell.” That’s especially true for civilians who historically comprise 50-90 percent of the casualties. But when an enemy bombs Pearl Harbor or rains down thousands of missiles on your civilians, the choices are limited.
Mellman is president of The Mellman Group and has worked for Democratic candidates and causes since 1982. Current clients include the majority leader of the Senate and the Democratic whip in the House.The next stable release of Moo will be version 2.0, and will include some incompatible changes. These changes should affect a pretty small number of modules, and may help point out flaws in the existing code.
The most important change in Moo 2.0 is that it will no longer be applying fatal warnings to classes using it. As Moo has grown to be more widely used on CPAN, it has become obvious that applying fatal warnings is usually unexpected or undesired by other authors, resulting in things like Moo::Lax, or people just avoiding Moo entirely. And authors who prefer fatal warnings can easily apply them to their own code.
Moo 2.0 will also detect a number of cases where people apply modifiers to constructors, or attempt to add attributes to classes that have already been instantiated. These cases never worked correctly, but they will now issue errors.
Another smaller change is that classes without attributes would previously store all parameters to ->new in the object. This was a bug, but had backward compatibility concerns.
I've done testing on all modules depending on Moo, and only found a small number that these changes caused issues with. In most cases, it indicated a bug in the module that hadn't been caught yet.
There is a beta version of Moo 2.0 available on CPAN now as Moo 1.999_001. If you have code that depends on Moo, please test it with this new version.The condition of the American middle class is a near-obsession of politicians and policy wonks alike. Whenever the middle class is mentioned, words like ”struggling,” “stagnant,” and “squeezed” are rarely far away. A recent report from the Pew Research Center went a step further and declared that the middle class is actually shrinking. Of course, a great deal here depends on definitions. In their report “The American Middle Class is Losing Ground,” the authors define middle-class households as those earning between two-thirds and two-times the American median income, adjusted for household size. As the numbers living on incomes below and above these demarcation lines have grown, so the middle class has shrunk:
There are many other ways of defining what it means to be ‘middle class’. One is to ask people to categorize themselves. Surveys from Pew show that almost nine out of ten Americans say they are part of the middle class, a number that does not appear to have changed much since the 1930s. Other scholars, including Alan Berube and Alec Friedhoff of Brookings have used the third (i.e. middle) quintile of the national income distribution to define the middle class. This allows them to compare different cities to the national distribution (see the interactive here ). Defined this way, the middle class cannot shrink: 20 percent of us will always be in the middle quintile, whereas the decreasing size of Pew’s middle class reflects the stretching out of the income distribution as inequality increases. Each approach clearly has its drawbacks and advantages.
Where Pew’s middle-class lives
We took Pew’s definition of the middle-class and applied it to the American Community Survey. The results aren’t exactly comparable: Pew used the 2015 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, which is conducted in March and asks people about their market income in the past 12 months; we use the 2014 ACS, which is conducted throughout the year and asks a similar question. But we use the same definition of the middle-class. In the 2014 ACS, we found that roughly 30% of households were upper income, 48% were middle income, and 22% were lower income. So where do the middle class, on Pew’s definition, live? The short answer: Utah. Using the 2014 American Community Survey, we calculate the size of the middle class in each of the 100 largest metro areas:
The top three cities, in terms of middle class size are all in Utah. Bumping along at the bottom are San Francisco, San Jose, and Bridgeport. Of course these are hardly poor cities, unlike some the others towards the bottom of the list, like McAllen and Bakersfield. This suggests that the size of the middle class varies for different reasons in different cities. Crudely put, some have too many rich people to have a large middle class, while other have too many poor. A closer look at the population share falling in the low, middle, and upper classes in the top 100 cities confirms this story:
The four least middle-class cities are highly prosperous, with more than twice as many people in the upper class as the lower class. By contrast, the next three—McAllen, El Paso, and Fresno—have few folk in the upper class, but lots in the lower class category. At the top of the scale, the three Utah cities have slightly more people in the lower class than the upper class. This confirms the findings in a another recent paper by Berube and Nathalie Holmes, showing that income inequality is lowest in these Utah cities, but high and rising in cities like Boston, Miami, and San Francisco.
Be careful what you measure
Two implications can be drawn here. First, great care is needed in discussion of the size, state, or trajectory of the middle class, and indeed in debates over income inequality. Different definitions and measures can yield quite different results. This is not to say that one is necessarily better than the other—simply that it is important to be clear about the purpose of the exercise. Second, the variance in the economic distributions of America’s cities highlights the need for metro-level responses. As Berube and Holmes put it:
“Cities situated similarly on our simple inequality measure may have very different tools available to them for confronting inequality’s underlying drivers and implications. Indeed, reducing poverty and improving economic mobility may be more relevant goals for many cities than reducing inequality per se; Providence may actually need more high-income households in order to boost its tax base and improve the quality of its public services.”
There is world of difference between a city with a middle class that is shrinking because more of its citizens are escaping upward to the upper class, and one where increasing numbers are falling into poverty. Policy-makers at the city level need to understand their own particular issues with the distribution of income, and in particular with the distribution of opportunity.Yorkshire is the hot place to visit at the moment. Everyone’s saying it. Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, AOL have all named Yorkshire in their best of the best lists for one thing or another.
And then there was the small matter of an international bike race this summer that has really put Yorkshire in the world spotlight.
But why is it so great to live in Yorkshire? Countryside, coast, and cities of course. But not just any countryside, coast and cities. The best countryside, coast and cities. And everything in between.
Here are some delightful highlights…
1. The grandest Grand Départ
Harewood House (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
2014 will be a year that Yorkshire never forgets, thanks to its hosting of the opening to the Tour de France. Yorkshire’s Grand Départ was watched by millions at the roadside over two glorious days in July, with Tour director Christian Prudhomme declaring it the ‘grandest ever Grand Départ’.
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You’ve also probably heard that Yorkshire – if it were a country – would have come eleventh at the 2012 Olympics, and that’s because a considerable number of world-class athletes are proud to call God’s Own County ‘home’.
2. History
Bolton Castle (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
Steeped in centuries of history, Yorkshire has been shaped by Celts, Romans, and Vikings to name a few – not to mention an industrial revolution – which means now we have plenty of lovely history to share with you. Stunning castles, breath-taking minsters and beautiful industrial architecture can be found in all four corners of this fine land.
3. Culture
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
It’s not all flat caps and whippets here, you know. Yorkshire is fast establishing itself as a serious capital of culture, with the fabulous Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle connecting the talents of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Hepworth at Wakefield, and Leeds Art Gallery. Then there’s the marvellous city of Hull, which is the UK City of Culture for 2017.
And dare I forget the literary talents of the Brontë sisters whose novels still sit proudly on the bookshelves of millions across the world.
4. Yorkshire Dales
Yorkshire Dales (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
The Dales are known for being wildly beautiful and wonderfully serene. Covering an area of nearly 1,800 square kilometres, the Yorkshire Dales National Park will always have a surprise or two up its metaphorical sleeve. Whether it’s exploring Bolton Castle, tackling one of Yorkshire’s three highest peaks, or taking a turn about the market towns of Hawes, Skipton or Richmond, there’s something for everyone.
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5. The Yorkshire Coast
Staithes (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
From Bridlington all the way up to Whitby, Yorkshire’s beautiful coast has so much to offer. Rugged countryside, white sand beaches, delicately quaint fishing villages, and brilliant seaside resorts are all in abundance, plus how could you not sample some of the finest fish and chips around? You don’t even have to take my word for it. Quayside in Whitby won best independent fish and chip takeaway in the national awards, judged by people that know about these sorts of things.
6. The Yorkshire Wolds
Yorkshire Wolds (Picture: Getty)
Often overlooked, it is about time the Yorkshire Wolds were given the attention they deserve. A broad crescent of beautiful rolling chalk hills and valleys, the Wolds are home to some magnificent scenery. Beautiful ancient market towns, too, such as Beverley, Driffield and Pocklington.
7. North York Moors
Sutton Bank (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
The North York Moors are wild, windswept and wonderful. Home to heather moorland, rolling hills and mystical abbeys, this particular National Park really is enchanting. It’s also home to Roseberry Topping, a small-but-perfectly-formed hill, which was once named in the top ten romantic places to propose in the whole world.
I know I’d say yes.
8. Food
Black Swan at Oldstead (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
Believe it or not, Yorkshire boasts more Michelin Starred restaurants than any other county in England, outside of London. There’s The Box Tree in Ilkley, The Old Vicarage in Sheffield, The Yorke Arms near Harrogate, The Pipe and Glass Inn at South Dalton, and The Black Swan at Oldstead. All those in addition to hundreds of incredible pubs and restaurants strewn across the county serving the latest and greatest in pub grub and fine dining. Oh, and unbelievably good beer too.
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9. Beer
(Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
From historic breweries to state-of-the-art microbreweries, Yorkshire has a proper pint of the good stuff to suit all palates. There are fascinating brewery tours too, such as the one at the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham. Not only do you get to sample the beer, you also get the skinny on the most talked about family feud in Yorkshire. If you ask the right questions…
10. Emley Moor
Emley Moor (Picture: Welcome to Yorkshire)
Pub quiz question alert. What is the tallest structure in the UK? The Shard in London, you say? Wrong. It’s Emley Moor transmitting station in Yorkshire, and it’s bloody marvellous. It’s a full 305 Yorkshire Puddings taller than the capital’s tallest building. Or 203 mugs of Yorkshire Tea, if that’s your bag.Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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In the first few days after BP’s Deepwater Horizon wellhead exploded, spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup workers could be seen on Louisiana beaches wearing scarlet pants and white t-shirts with the words “Inmate Labor” printed in large red block letters. Coastal residents, many of whom had just seen their livelihoods disappear, expressed outrage at community meetings; why should BP be using cheap or free prison labor when so many people were desperate for work? The outfits disappeared overnight. Ad Policy
Work crews in Grand Isle, Louisiana, still stand out. In a region where nine out of ten residents are white, the cleanup workers are almost exclusively African-American men. The racialized nature of the cleanup is so conspicuous that Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP, sent a public letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward on July 9, demanding to know why black people were over-represented in “the most physically difficult, lowest paying jobs, with the most significant exposure to toxins.”
Hiring prison labor is more than a way for BP to save money while cleaning up the biggest oil spill in history. By tapping into the inmate workforce, the company and its subcontractors get workers who are not only cheap but easily silenced—and they get lucrative tax write-offs in the process.
Known to some as “the inmate state,” Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration of any other state in the country. Seventy percent of its 39,000 inmates are African-American men. The Louisiana Department of Corrections (DOC) only has beds for half that many prisoners, so 20,000 inmates live in parish jails, privately run contract facilities and for-profit work release centers. Prisons and parish jails provide free daily labor to the state and private companies like BP, while also operating their own factories and farms, where inmates earn between zero and forty cents an hour. Obedient inmates, or “trustees,” become eligible for work release in the last three years of their sentences. This means they can be a part of a market-rate, daily labor force that works for private companies outside the prison gates. The advantage for trustees is that they get to keep a portion of their earnings, redeemable upon release. The advantage for private companies is that trustees are covered under Work Opportunity Tax Credit, a holdover from Bush’s Welfare to Work legislation that rewards private-sector employers for hiring risky “target groups.” Businesses earn a tax credit of $2,400 for every work release inmate they hire. On top of that, they can earn back up to 40 percent of the wages they pay annually to “target group workers.”
If BP’s use of prison labor remains an open secret on the Gulf Coast, no one in an official capacity is saying so. At the Grand Isle base camp in early June, I called BP’s Public Information line, and visited representatives for the Coast Guard Public Relations team, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Louisiana Fisheries and Wildlife Department. They were all stumped. Were inmates doing shore protection or oil cleanup work? They had no idea. In fact, they said, they’d like to know—would I call them if I found out?
I got an answer one evening earlier this month, when I drove up the gravel driveway of the Lafourche Parish Work Release Center jail, just off Highway 90, halfway between New Orleans and Houma. Men were returning from a long day of shoveling oil-soaked sand into black trash bags in the sweltering heat. Wearing BP shirts, jeans and rubber boots (nothing identifying them as inmates), they arrived back at the jail in unmarked white vans, looking dog tired.
Beach cleanup is a Sisyphean task. Shorelines cleaned during the day become newly soaked with oil and dispersant overnight, so crews shovel up the same beaches again and again. Workers wear protective chin-to-boot coveralls (made out of high-density polyethylene and manufactured by Dupont), taped to steel-toed boots covered in yellow plastic. They work twenty minutes on, forty minutes off, as per Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety rules. The limited physical schedule allows workers to recover from the blazing sun and the oppressive heat that builds up inside their impermeable suits.
During their breaks, workers unzip the coveralls for ventilation, drink ice water from gallon thermoses and sit under white fabric tents. They start at 6 AM, take a half-hour lunch and end the day at 6PM, adding up three to four hours of hard physical labor in twenty-minute increments. They are forbidden to speak to the public or the media by BP’s now-notorious gag rule. At the end of the day, coveralls are stripped off and thrown in dumpsters, alongside oil-soaked booms and trash bags full of contaminated sand. The dumpsters are emptied into local HazMat landfills, free employees go home and the inmates are returned to work release centers.
Work release inmates are required to work for up to twelve hours a day, six days a week, sometimes averaging seventy-two hours per week. These are long hours for performing what may arguably be the most toxic job in America. Although the dangers of mixed oil and dispersant exposure are largely unknown, the chemicals in crude oil can damage every system in the body, as well as cell structures and DNA.
Inmates can’t pick and choose their work assignments |
sure to check your environment as noted in "Switching to Root" in the previous section.
From this point forward, everything we do will be as the root user. After creating our virtual and pseudo filesystems, we'll make use of the chroot command to set up a working environment for our destination system.
To protect our build system, and to enable the use of virtual and pseudo filesystems on our destination, we undertake much of the Stage 3 process in a 'chroot jail.'
A Note Regarding Package Builds
After the nal GCC compile pass, it is necessary to compile software packages using fresh source les. This is to prevent any previous con guration from breaking the build. We strongly recommend you re-extract source code from the appropriate tar le before building and installing any of the userland binaries.
The packages are compiled and installed in the order given to ensure that all dependencies are met. They must, therefore, be installed in the order speci ed.
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Required Directories and Devices
Directories
We need to create some directories before mounting filesystems:
mkdir -pv $BROOT/{dev,proc,sys,run}
The output from this command should look like this:
mkdir: created directory '/build/dev' mkdir: created directory '/build/proc' mkdir: created directory '/build/sys' mkdir: created directory '/build/run'
Device Nodes
In addition to the directories required for a fully-functioning system, we need to create some device nodes. These are expected to exist by the kernel and many programs. Execute:
mknod -m 600 $BROOT/dev/console c 5 1 mknod -m 666 $BROOT/dev/null c 1 3
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Mounting Device, Pseudo, and Virtual Filesystems
The kernel and many user-land programs expect these filesystems to be mounted; vmstat is one such example.
Mounting the dev Filesystem
To populate the dev filesystem, we first need to mount it. We do so by using a "bind" mount, which mounts $BROOT/dev on to the /dev mount of our build system. The result is that $BROOT/dev and /dev will be mounted to the same node, and display the same information.
Normally, the dev filesystem would be populated by dev at boot. However, since we haven't installed the udev package, and since we haven't booted our destination system, we need to populate this filesystem manually.
Execute the following to bind $BROOT/dev to /dev :
mount -v --bind /dev $BROOT/dev
Mounting Other Pseudo and Virtual Filesystems
The gid parameter below ensures that the mount is owned by the group whose ID is 5; we later assign this ID to the 'tty' group when we create our /etc/groups file. The'mode' parameter sets the file mode (permissions) for the device in question.
mount -vt devpts devpts $BROOT/dev/pts -o gid=5,mode=620 mount -vt proc proc $BROOT/proc mount -vt sysfs sysfs $BROOT/sys mount -vt tmpfs tmpfs $BROOT/run
The Special Case of dev/shm
Some distributions link /dev/shm to /run/shm. Since we've created the "run" filesystem above, we only need to create the directory:
if [ -h $BROOT/dev/shm ]; then mkdir -pv $BROOT/$(readlink $BROOT/dev/shm) fi
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Entering the chroot jail
We're now ready to enter the jail and continue the final build of our distribution.
IF YOU REBOOT, YOU MUST RE-POPULATE /dev AND RE-MOUNT THE PSEUDO/VIRTUAL FILESYSTEMS AS NOTED IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION.
Caveats
The jail provides limited functionality — we've only installed the most basic of tools. At this stage, the goals are to simulate a running destination system and protect the build system from damage. This is why environment variables and filesystem mounts are so important.
Entering the Jail
You must be logged in as the superuser to execute the chroot command. Note that we specify the $BROOT for bash, which will adopt this location as the root directory of the jail. The "HOME", "TERM", "PATH" and prompt environment variables are passed in to set up our environment inside the jail. Other parameters are explained below:
chroot "$BROOT" /tools/bin/env -i HOME=/root TERM="$TERM" PS1='\u:\w\$'PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/tools/bin /tools/bin/bash --login +h
-i :: Instructs env to clear all environment variables upon entering the jail.
:: Instructs to clear all environment variables upon entering the jail. --login :: Notifies bash to provide an interactive login.
:: Notifies bash to provide an interactive login. +h :: Disables path-having by bash. This is important; note that the /tools/bin directory (where we've installed many of our binaries) is last on the path. This means that the tools we install at this stage will be found before tools installed at previous stages, which is the desired behavior.
Your output from this command should be something like:
I have no name!:/#
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Directory Structure
We now need to create the basic directory structure inside our jail, in keeping with the FHS standard.
Creating Directories
mkdir -pv /{bin,boot,etc/{opt,sysconfig},home,lib/firmware,mnt,opt} mkdir -pv /{media/{floppy,cdrom},sbin,srv,var} install -dv -m 0750 /root install -dv -m 1777 /tmp /var/tmp mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}{bin,include,lib,sbin,src} mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/{color,dict,doc,info,locale,man} mkdir -v /usr/{,local/}share/{misc,terminfo,zoneinfo} mkdir -v /usr/libexec mkdir -pv /usr/{,local/}share/man/man{1..8} case $(uname -m) in x86_64) ln -sv lib /lib64 ln -sv lib /usr/lib64 ln -sv lib /usr/local/lib64 ;; esac mkdir -v /var/{log,mail,spool} ln -sv /run /var/run ln -sv /run/lock /var/lock mkdir -pv /var/{opt,cache,lib/{color,misc,locate},local}
Take special note of the permissions assigned to the root home directory and the temporary directories.
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Required Files
Some user-land programs require the existence of specific files before they can be installed or used. We create these files (or links) here. These will be replaced as we build and install the user-land.
Execute the following:
ln -sv /tools/bin/{bash,cat,echo,pwd,stty} /bin ln -sv /tools/bin/perl /usr/bin ln -sv /tools/lib/libgcc_s.so{,.1} /usr/lib ln -sv /tools/lib/libstdc++.so{,.6} /usr/lib sed's/tools/usr/' /tools/lib/libstdc++.la > /usr/lib/libstdc++.la ln -sv bash /bin/sh
The purpose of each is explained below:
/bin/bash :: Quite a few scripts expect the bash binary to be located here. Creating this symlink keeps those scripts from breaking.
:: Quite a few scripts expect the bash binary to be located here. Creating this symlink keeps those scripts from breaking. /bin/cat :: Glibc hard-codes this pathname into its configure script.
:: Glibc hard-codes this pathname into its script. /bin/echo :: Used by Glibc's test-suite; this path is also hard-coded.
:: Used by Glibc's test-suite; this path is also hard-coded. /bin/pwd :: Used by Glibc; this path is hard-coded.
:: Used by Glibc; this path is hard-coded. /bin/stty :: This pathname is hard-coded by the expect package.
:: This pathname is hard-coded by the package. /usr/bin/perl :: Many scripts expect to find the PERL binary at this location; this keeps them from breaking.
:: Many scripts expect to find the PERL binary at this location; this keeps them from breaking. /usr/lib/libgcc\_s.so{,.1} :: This is need by Glibc to enable POSIX threads.
:: This is need by Glibc to enable POSIX threads. /usr/lib/libstdc++{,.6} :: Needed for C++ support by GMP and Glibc's test suite.
:: Needed for C++ support by GMP and Glibc's test suite. /usr/lib/libstdc++.la :: This prevents GCC from referencing a previously built library of the same name in our tools directory.
:: This prevents GCC from referencing a previously built library of the same name in our directory. /bin/sh :: Some scripts hard-code this binary path.
mtab
The kernel historically exposes the list of mounted filesystems via the /etc/mtab file. Some user-land binaries expect this information available. To do this, execute:
ln -sv /proc/self/mounts /etc/mtab
/etc/passwd
The need for this file is obvious, without it, we can't set passwords or log in to our system once we boot it.
cat > /etc/passwd << "EOF" root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash bin:x:1:1:bin:/dev/null:/bin/false daemon:x:6:6:Daemon User:/dev/null:/bin/false messagebus:x:18:18:D-Bus Message Daemon User:/var/run/dbus:/bin/false nobody:x:99:99:Unprivileged User:/dev/null:/bin/false EOF
/etc/group
This is another file we need to make use of file permissions properly.
cat > /etc/group << "EOF" root:x:0: bin:x:1:daemon sys:x:2: kmem:x:3: tape:x:4: tty:x:5: daemon:x:6: floppy:x:7: disk:x:8: lp:x:9: dialout:x:10: audio:x:11: video:x:12: utmp:x:13: usb:x:14: cdrom:x:15: adm:x:16: messagebus:x:18: systemd-journal:x:23: input:x:24: mail:x:34: nogroup:x:99: users:x:999: EOF
Re-executing Our Login Shell
The following command instructs bash to execute another login. This results in our bash prompt changing, as we've now installed the etc/passwd and /etc/group files.
exec /tools/bin/bash --login +h
Your login prompt should now reflect the user root.
Mandatory Log Files
We need to populate /var/log with files that are expected by a number of user-land utilities.
touch /var/log/{btmp,lastlog,faillog,wtmp} chgrp -v utmp /var/log/lastlog chmod -v 664 /var/log/lastlog chmod -v 600 /var/log/btmp
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Installing the Kernel Headers (Again)
Just as during the second stage build, we need to extract the kernel headers for GCC and other programs that need them. Note that we're installing them in a different location this time.
Extracting the Kernel Header Files
Change into the kernel source directory: /sources/linux-4.x
Change into this directory and issue the following command:
make mrproper
That done, we now call the make command, specifying the header file output path; we do this in two steps because make wipes any files from the destination directory during this step. First, we extract the files:
make INSTALL_HDR_PATH=dest headers_install
Now we remove any files that are not specifically needed, which leaves us with only the headers which are intended to be exposed to the user-land:
find dest/include \( -name.install -o -name..install.cmd \) -delete
And secondly, we copy them to the proper location:
cp -rv dest/include/* /usr/include
Installing man Pages
In the man-pages source directory, execute:
make install
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Building Glibc, Stage 3
This is our final build of glibc!
Patching the Source
To ensure compliance with the FHS, we need to patch the glibc source code. Execute the following commands to copy the patch file to the source directory and apply the patch:
cp../glibc-2.24-fhs-1.patch. patch -Np1 -i glibc-2.24-fhs-1.patch
Configure
../configure --prefix=/usr \ --enable-kernel=2.6.32 \ --enable-obsolete-rpc
These options are identical to those used to configure glibc in our first stage.
Compile
make
Test
Unlike previous build stages, we now have all of the dependencies needed to run the tests against our binaries before we install them. This step is critical! Any problems with them build toolchain, the environment, library paths, etc., will likely reveal themselves at this point.
make check
Note that you will have some of the tests fail, in particular those related to the getaddrinfo functions. Overall, your output from make check should look something like this:
UNSUPPORTED: elf/tst-audit10 XPASS: elf/tst-protected1a XPASS: elf/tst-protected1b UNSUPPORTED: math/test-double-libmvec-alias-avx2 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-double-libmvec-alias-avx2-main UNSUPPORTED: math/test-double-libmvec-alias-avx512 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-double-libmvec-alias-avx512-main UNSUPPORTED: math/test-double-libmvec-sincos-avx2 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-double-libmvec-sincos-avx512 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-float-libmvec-alias-avx2 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-float-libmvec-alias-avx2-main UNSUPPORTED: math/test-float-libmvec-alias-avx512 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-float-libmvec-alias-avx512-main UNSUPPORTED: math/test-float-libmvec-sincosf-avx2 UNSUPPORTED: math/test-float-libmvec-sincosf-avx512 FAIL: posix/tst-getaddrinfo4 FAIL: posix/tst-getaddrinfo5 Summary of test results: 2 FAIL 2478 PASS 13 UNSUPPORTED 43 XFAIL 2 XPASS make[1]: *** [Makefile:331: tests] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory '/sources/glibc-2.24' make: *** [Makefile:9: check] Error 2
Create /etc/ld.so.conf
make will throw an error if this file does not exist when the install is run.
touch /etc/ld.so.conf
Install
make install
Install the Configuration File and Runtime for nscd
cp -v../nscd/nscd.conf /etc/nscd.conf mkdir -pv /var/cache/nscd
Installing Locale Files
The following locales should be defined, if only to enable compliance with future tests.
Create The Locales Directory
mkdir -pv /usr/lib/locale
Install the Locale Definitions
localedef -i cs_CZ -f UTF-8 cs_CZ.UTF-8 localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE localedef -i de_DE@euro -f ISO-8859-15 de_DE@euro localedef -i de_DE -f UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8 localedef -i en_GB -f UTF-8 en_GB.UTF-8 localedef -i en_HK -f ISO-8859-1 en_HK localedef -i en_PH -f ISO-8859-1 en_PH localedef -i en_US -f ISO-8859-1 en_US localedef -i en_US -f UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8 localedef -i es_MX -f ISO-8859-1 es_MX localedef -i fa_IR -f UTF-8 fa_IR localedef -i fr_FR -f ISO-8859-1 fr_FR localedef -i fr_FR@euro -f ISO-8859-15 fr_FR@euro localedef -i fr_FR -f UTF-8 fr_FR.UTF-8 localedef -i it_IT -f ISO-8859-1 it_IT localedef -i it_IT -f UTF-8 it_IT.UTF-8 localedef -i ja_JP -f EUC-JP ja_JP localedef -i ru_RU -f KOI8-R ru_RU.KOI8-R localedef -i ru_RU -f UTF-8 ru_RU.UTF-8 localedef -i tr_TR -f UTF-8 tr_TR.UTF-8 localedef -i zh_CN -f GB18030 zh_CN.GB18030
Glibc Configuration (Post-install)
We undertake the following steps to configure glibc after installing.
Add /etc/nsswitch.conf
cat > /etc/nsswitch.conf << "EOF" # Begin /etc/nsswitch.conf passwd: files group: files shadow: files hosts: files dns networks: files protocols: files services: files ethers: files rpc: files # End /etc/nsswitch.conf EOF
Add Timezone Files and Configure Our Timezone
For this step, we stay in the glibc build directory, and unzip the timezone data files to our current location.
tar -xf../../tzdata2016f.tar.gz
Now we need to configure our timezones:
export ZONEINFO=/usr/share/zoneinfo mkdir -pv $ZONEINFO/{posix,right} for tz in etcetera southamerica northamerica europe africa antarctica \ asia australasia backward pacificnew systemv; do zic -L /dev/null -d $ZONEINFO -y "sh yearistype.sh" ${tz} zic -L /dev/null -d $ZONEINFO/posix -y "sh yearistype.sh" ${tz} zic -L leapseconds -d $ZONEINFO/right -y "sh yearistype.sh" ${tz} done cp -v zone.tab zone1970.tab iso3166.tab $ZONEINFO zic -d $ZONEINFO -p Etc/GMT zic -d $ZONEINFO -p Etc/UTC unset ZONEINFO
Set the Local Timezone
cp -v /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC /etc/localtime
Configuring the Dynamic Loader
The dynamic loader is what allows shared objects (libraries) to be called at run-time by any given binary. In this step, inform glibc what paths to search when configuring the dynamic loader:
cat >> /etc/ld.so.conf << "EOF" # Add an include directory include /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*.conf EOF
And last, create the directory referenced in /etc/ld.so.conf :
mkdir -pv /etc/ld.so.conf.d
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Adjusting the Toolchain
Now that we've got a native glibc installed, we need to reconfigure our toolchain so that it looks for libraries and utilities inside the root filesystem hierarchy instead of looking in /tools.
Backup the Existing Linker
Let's backup the existing linker, and replace it with the one we've most recently built:
mv -v /tools/bin/{ld,ld-old} mv -v /tools/$(uname -m)-pc-linux-gnu/bin/{ld,ld-old} mv -v /tools/bin/{ld-new,ld} ln -sv /tools/bin/ld /tools/$(uname -m)-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld
Reconfigure GCC
We now need to alter the GCC so that it uses the new dynamic linker, headers and glibc libraries:
gcc -dumpspecs | sed -e's@/tools@@g' \ -e '/\*startfile_prefix_spec:/{n;s@.*@/usr/lib/ @}' \ -e '/\*cpp:/{n;s@$@ -isystem /usr/include@}' > \ `dirname $(gcc --print-libgcc-file-name)`/specs
Test the GCC Configuration
It is imperative that GCC use the proper linker and libraries when compiling. We can check that using the following commands:
echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c cc dummy.c -v -Wl,--verbose &> dummy.log readelf -l a.out | grep ': /lib'
Your output should be something like this:
[Requesting program interpreter: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2]
Be certain that the interpreter path does not include the string 'tools'. If it does, GCC has not been properly reconfigured and will break.
Additionally, we should check to ensure GCC is using the proper glibc startup files:
grep -o '/usr/lib.*/crt[1in].*succeeded' dummy.log
Your output should resemble something like this:
/usr/lib/../lib64/crt1.o succeeded /usr/lib/../lib64/crti.o succeeded /usr/lib/../lib64/crtn.o succeeded
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Installing binutils' Dependencies
The test suite included with binutils depends on the zlib and file packages. Let's install these before moving on to binutils itself.
Installing zlib
Configure
zlib does not make use of a configure script.
Compile
make
Make check
make check
Install
make install
Post-configuration
The shared library needs to be moved to /lib, and a symlink needs to be created in /usr/lib. This is to ensure compliance with FHS:
mv -v /usr/lib/libz.so.* /lib rm /usr/lib/libz.so ln -sfv /lib/libz.so.1.2.8 /usr/lib/libz.so
Installing file
This is another package upon which the binutils test suite depends.
Configure
./configure --prefix=/usr
Compile
make
Test
make check
Install
make install
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Installing binutils (Stage 3)
This is our third (and final) installation of binutils.
Start With Fresh Source
Firstly, delete any existing binutils source directory, an re-extract the source code from the tar archive: rm -rf binutils-2.27 tar xf binutils-2.27.tar
Check to Ensure ptys Work in the Jail
We need this to perform the tests against the binutils build. Execute: expect -c "spawn ls"
The output should be: spawn ls
Configure and Build
Create the build directory as per usual, and issue the following commands to configure, build, test, and install binutils:../configure --prefix=/usr --enable-shared --disable-werror make tooldir=/usr make -k check make tooldir=/usr install
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Installing binutils Stage 3
This is our third (and final) installation of binutils.
Start with a Fresh Source
First, delete any existing binutils source directory, and re-extract the source code from the tar archive:
rm -rf binutils-2.27 tar xf binutils-2.27.tar
Check to Ensure ptys Work in the Jail
We need this to perform the tests against the binutils build. Execute:
expect -c "spawn ls"
The output should be:
spawn ls
Configure and Build
Create the build directory as usual, and issue the following commands to configure, build, test and install binutils:
../configure --prefix=/usr --enable-shared --disable-werror make tooldir=/usr make -k check make tooldir=/usr install
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Installing GMP
The GMP package contains several math libraries. These are used mainly with precision arithmetic.
Unlike glibc and gcc, GMP does not require the use of a build directory.
Configure and Compile
The configure options are explained below. Execute:
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-cxx --disable-static --docdir=/usr/share/doc/gmp-6.1.1
prefix :: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed.
:: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed. enable-cxx :: Enables C++ support.
:: Enables C++ support. disable-static :: Disables the generation of static libraries.
:: Disables the generation of static libraries. docdir :: Specifies the prefix for installation documentation.
Compile
make && make html
Test
make check 2>&1 | tee gmp-check-log
Ensure that all 190 of the tests have passed using the following command:
awk '/# PASS:/{total+=$3} ; END{print total}' gmp-check-log
Install
make install && make install-html
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Installing MPFR
Unlike glibc and gcc, MPFR does not require the use of a build directory.
Configure and Compile
The configure options are explained below. Execute:
./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static --enable-thread-safe --docdir=/usr/share/doc/mpfr-3.1.4
prefix :: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed.
:: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed. disable-static :: Disables the generation of static libraries.
:: Disables the generation of static libraries. enable-thread-safe :: Enables thread-handling in the library.
:: Enables thread-handling in the library. docdir :: Specifies the prefix for installation documentation.
Compile
make && make html
Test
make check
Install
make install && make install-html
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Installing MPC
The MPC package installs libraries which handle rounding and high-precision numbers.
Unlike glibc and gcc, MPC does not require the use of a build directory.
Configure and Compile
./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static --docdir=/usr/share/doc/mpc-1.0.3
Compile
make && make html
Test
make check
Install
make install && make install-html
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Installing GCC
This is the fourth (and final) build of GCC. Make sure you've deleted the existing GCC directory, and re-extracted the source code from the tar file.
Configure and Compile
Create the build directory, as per usual. Note that the SED variable here prevents GCC from hard-coding a path to the sed binary.
Note as well that we do not copy the mpc, mpfr or gap source packages into the GCC source directory, as we've installed these previously on the system.
Execute the following to begin the build:
export SED=sed../configure --prefix=/usr --enable-languages=c,c++ --disable-multilib --disable-bootstrap --with-system-zlib
prefix :: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed.
:: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed. enable-languages :: We only need C and C++ right now. Others can be added later.
:: We only need C and C++ right now. Others can be added later. disable-multilib :: This functionality isn't supported on the x86_64 platform.
:: This functionality isn't supported on the x86_64 platform. disable-bootstrap :: We prevent GCC from performing a bootstrap build. As we've built GCC as a cross compiler, and then built GCC natively, we are now using the native build to compile GCC a third time. A bootstrapped build replicates these steps, which should be unnecessary if all of the testing has been executed as recommended.
:: We prevent GCC from performing a bootstrap build. As we've built GCC as a cross compiler, and then built GCC natively, we are now using the native build to compile GCC a third time. A bootstrapped build replicates these steps, which should be unnecessary if all of the testing has been executed as recommended. with-system-zib :: This instructs make to use the system zlib library instead of that bundled with GCC.
Compile
make -j2
Test
Before we run the tests, we need to make sure the stack size is large enough to accommodate the testing software. We increase the stack size using the ulimit command:
ulimit -s 32768
And now run our tests:
make -k check
Check the Test Results
You should have very few errors reported.
../contrib/test_summary
Install
make install
ln -sv../usr/bin/cpp /lib
Add a cc Link to the GCC Binary
ln -sv gcc /usr/bin/cc
install -v -dm755 /usr/lib/bfd-plugins ln -sfv../../libexec/gcc/$(gcc -dumpmachine)/6.2.0/liblto_plugin.so /usr/lib/bfd-plugins/
Sanity Check
Once again, we stop here to check the functionality of our toolchain. Execute the following commands:
echo 'int main(){}' > dummy.c cc dummy.c -v -Wl,--verbose &> dummy.log readelf -l a.out | grep ': /lib'
Check GCC Startup
Now we want to check that GCC is using the proper set of files when it starts:
grep -o '/usr/lib.*/crt[1in].*succeeded' dummy.log
Result:
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/6.2.0/../../../crt1.o succeeded /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/6.2.0/../../../crti.o succeeded /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/6.2.0/../../../crtn.o succeeded
Check that GCC Uses the Proper Header Files
grep -B4 '^ /usr/include' dummy.log
Results:
##include <...> search starts here: /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/6.2.0/include /usr/local/include /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/6.2.0/include-fixed /usr/include
Verify the Linker Uses Proper Search Paths
grep 'SEARCH.*/usr/lib' dummy.log |sed's|; |
|g' SEARCH_DIR("/usr/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/lib64") SEARCH_DIR("/usr/local/lib64") SEARCH_DIR("/lib64") SEARCH_DIR("/usr/lib64") SEARCH_DIR("/usr/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/lib") SEARCH_DIR("/usr/local/lib") SEARCH_DIR("/lib") SEARCH_DIR("/usr/lib");
Ensure We're Using the Proper Libc Implementation
grep "/lib.*/libc.so.6 " dummy.log
Result:
attempt to open /lib/libc.so.6 succeeded
Ensure GCC Uses the Correct Dynamic Linker
grep found dummy.log
Result:
found ld-linux.so.2 at /lib/ld-linux.so.2
Cleanup
rm -v dummy.c a.out dummy.log
Move a Misplaced File
Only execute this step if GCC has built correctly and all of the sanity checks are passed:
mkdir -pv /usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib mv -v /usr/lib/*gdb.py /usr/share/gdb/auto-load/usr/lib
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Installing Bzip2
This package does not require the use of a build directory. Be sure to start with a fresh source directory extracted from the tar file.
Patch and Amend the Source
Change into the bzip2 source directory, and run the following command to patch the source:
patch -Np1 -i../bzip2-1.0.6-install_docs-1.patch
Also, we need to amend the source code to ensure that symbolic links are installed using relative paths:
sed -i's@\(ln -s -f \)$(PREFIX)/bin/@\1@' Makefile
This amendment ensures man page are installed to the proper location:
sed -i "s@(PREFIX)/man@(PREFIX)/share/man@g" Makefile
And now we need to reconstruct the make file. The following commands cause make to use a different file; the makefile we create here adds a libb2.s shared library, and links the bzip2 utilities against it. Execute:
make -f Makefile-libbz2_so make clean
Compile and Install
make make PREFIX=/usr install
cp -v bzip2-shared /bin/bzip2 cp -av libbz2.so* /lib ln -sv../../lib/libbz2.so.1.0 /usr/lib/libbz2.so rm -v /usr/bin/{bunzip2,bzcat,bzip2} ln -sv bzip2 /bin/bunzip2 ln -sv bzip2 /bin/bzcat
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Installing pkg-config
pkg-config does not require the use of a build directory.
Configure and Compile
The configure options are explained below. Execute:
./configure --prefix=/usr --with-internal-glib --disable-compile-warnings --disable-host-tool --docdir=/usr/share/doc/pkg-config-0.29.1
prefix :: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed.
:: Tells the configure script where the compiled binaries should be installed. with-internal-glib :: Allows pkg-config to use an internal glibc, as a system version is not available.
:: Allows to use an internal glibc, as a system version is not available. disable-compile-warnings :: Prevents the use of compilation flags which could result in build failure.
:: Prevents the use of compilation flags which could result in build failure. disable-host-tool :: Disables the creation of a hard-link to the pkg-config binary.
Compile
make
Test
make check
Install
make install
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Installing ncurses
This package does not require the use of a build directory. Be sure to start with a fresh source directory extracted from the tar file.
Amend the Source
This command prevents the installation of a static library otherwise not handled by configure :
sed -i '/LIBTOOL_INSTALL/d' c++/Makefile.in
Configure and Compile
The configure options are explained below. Execute:
./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --with-shared --without-debug --without-normal --enable-pc-files --enable-widec
widec :: Causes wide-character libraries to be installed. Wide character libraries are usable by both multibyte and traditional locales.
:: Causes wide-character libraries to be installed. Wide character libraries are usable by both multibyte and traditional locales. enable-pc-file :: Generates.pc files for pkg-config.
:: Generates.pc files for. without-normal :: Disables the building of most static libraries.
Compile
make
Test
make check
Install
make install
Move the shared libraries to the /lib directory:
mv -v /usr/lib/libncursesw.so.6* /lib
Because we've moved the library files, there is now a symlink to a non-existent file. So we need to re-create it:
ln -sfv../../lib/$(readlink /usr/lib/libncursesw.so) /usr/lib/libncursesw.so
These symlinks make the wide-character libraries accessible to binaries which expect to find the non-wide libraries:
for lib in ncurses form panel menu ; do rm -vf /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so echo "INPUT(-l${lib}w)" > /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so ln -sfv ${lib}w.pc /usr/lib/pkgconfig/${lib}.pc done
This snippet ensures that binaries which look for -lcurses at build time are still buildable:
rm -vf /usr/lib/libcursesw.so echo "INPUT(-lncursesw)" > /usr/lib/libcursesw.so ln -sfv libncurses.so /usr/lib/libcurses.so
Install the documentation:
mkdir -v /usr/share/doc/ncurses-6.0 cp -v -R doc/* /usr/share/doc/ncurses-6.0
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Installing attr
This package does not require the use of a build directory.
Amend the Source
Amend the location of the documentation directory so that it uses a version number:
sed -i -e's|/@pkg_name@|&-@pkg_version@|' include/builddefs.in
Prevent make from overwriting man pages installed by the man-pages package:
sed -i -e "/SUBDIRS/s|man[25]||g" man/Makefile
Configure and Compile
Execute:
./configure --prefix=/usr --bindir=/bin --disable-static
Compile
make
Test
make -j1 tests root-tests
Install
make install install-dev install-lib
Change the permissions on the shared library:
chmod -v 755 /usr/lib/libattr.so
Move the shared library to /lib :
mv -v /usr/lib/libattr.so.* /lib
Which results in a missing library in /usr/lib, which we recreate with a symlink:
ln -sfv../../lib/$(readlink /usr/lib/libattr.so) /usr/lib/libattr.so
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Installing acl
This package does not require the use of a build directory.
Amend the Source
Amend the location of the documentation directory so that it uses a version number:
sed -i -e's|/@pkg_name@|&-@pkg_version@|' include/builddefs.in
Fix some broken tests:
sed -i "s:| sed.*::g" test/{sbits-restore,cp,misc}.test
Fix a bug which causes getfacl -e to segfault on long group names:
sed -i -e "/TABS-1;/a if (x > (TABS-1)) x = (TABS-1);" libacl/__acl_to_any_text.c
Configure and Compile
Execute:
./configure --prefix=/usr --bindir=/bin --disable-static --libexecdir=/usr/lib
Compile
make
Install
make install install-dev install-lib
Change the permissions on the shared library:
chmod -v 755 /usr/lib/libacl.so
Move the shared library to /lib :
mv -v /usr/lib/libacl.so.* /lib
Which results in a missing library in /usr/lib, which we recreate with a symlink:
ln -sfv../../lib/$(readlink /usr/lib/libacl.so) /usr/lib/libacl.so
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Installing libpcap
This package does not require the use of a build directory.
Amend the Source
Prevent make from installing a static library:
sed -i '/install.*STALIBNAME/d' libcap/Makefile
Configure and Compile
The package doesn't make use of a configure script:
make
Install
The RAISE_SETFCAP variable defined on the command line prevents the use of setcap on the resulting library. This is necessary if the kernel or filesystem doesn't not support extended capabilities.
make RAISE_SETFCAP=no prefix=/usr install chmod -v 755 /usr/lib/libcap.so
Move the shared library to /lib :
mv -v /usr/lib/libcap.so.* /lib
Which results in a missing library in /usr |
that one of the two main FISA court opinions released says the NSA was engaged in “systemic overcollection” of American Internet data for years, and committed “longstanding and pervasive violations of the prior orders in this matter.” The court summarized what it called the government’s “frequent failures to comply with the [surveillance program’s] terms” and their “apparent widespread disregard of [FISA court imposed] restrictions.”
Crovitz:
[The documents] portray an agency acting under the watchful eye of hundreds of lawyers and compliance officers.
Again, this is not what the actual FISA court opinions portray. “NSA’s record of compliance with these rules has been poor,” and “those responsible for conducting oversight failed to do so effectively,” FISA court Judge Bates wrote in the key opinion released last week. In another FISA court opinion from 2009, released two months ago, the NSA admitted that not a single person in the entire agency accurately understood or could describe the NSA’s whole surveillance system to the court.
It's true that the number of compliance officers at the NSA has increased in recent years, but as the Washington Post reported, so has the number of privacy violations.
Crovitz:
These documents disprove one of Mr. Snowden's central claims: "I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the president if I had a personal email," he told the Guardian, a British newspaper.
Here, Crovitz is setting up a strawman. Snowden wasn’t talking about the NSA’s legal authority, but their technical authority to conduct such searches. Snowden was likely referring to XKeyScore, which the Guardian reported allowed NSA analysts to “search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals.”
We actually have a specific example that proves Snowden’s point. As the New York Times reported in 2009, an NSA analyst “improperly accessed” former President Bill Clinton’s personal email. More recently, we’ve learned that the NSA analysts abused the agency vast surveillance powers to spying on ex-spouses or former lovers.
Crovitz:
The NSA also released the legal arguments the Justice Department used in 2006 to justify collection of phone metadata-the telephone number of the calling and called parties and the date, time and duration of the call.... Metadata collection is about connecting the dots linking potential terrorist accomplices. The Clinton administration created barriers to the use of metadata, which the 9/11 Commission concluded let the terrorists avoid detection. Since then, metadata has helped stop dozens of plots, including an Islamist plan to blow up the New York Stock Exchange in 2008.
Again, not true. As Intelligence Committee members Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Mark Udall have continually emphasized, there is “no evidence” that the phone metadata program is effective at stopping terrorists. Independent analyses have come to the same conclusion. When called out on that number in a Congressional hearing, even NSA Director Keith Alexander admitted the number was exaggerated.
The only “disrupted plot” the NSA can point to that was solely the work of the phone metadata program was a case where a man from San Diego sent a few thousand dollars to the al-Shabaab organization in Africa in 2008. In other words, the metadata did not disrupt an active terrorist plot inside the US at all.
Crovitz:
The declassified brief from 2006 made clear that such metadata "would never even be seen by any human being unless a terrorist connection were first established," estimating that "0.000025% or one in four million" of the call records "actually would be seen by a trained analyst."
The major 2009 FISA court opinion released in September, that apparently Mr. Crovitz either didn’t read or conveniently left out of his piece, showed that the NSA had been systematically querying part of this phone records database for years for numbers that the agency did not have a “reasonable articulable suspicion” were involved in terrorism—as they were required to have by the FISA court. Of the more than 17,000 numbers that the NSA was querying everyday, the agency only had “reasonable articulable suspicion” for approximately 1,800 of them.
The FISA court concluded, five years after the metadata program was brought under a legal framework, that it had been “so frequently and systematically violated that it can fairly be said that this critical element of the overall…regime has never functioned effectively.”
These documents clearly do not paint a picture of an agency with a clean privacy record and a reputation for following court rules, as Mr. Crovitz claims, and in fact, they show why it is vital Congress passes substantive NSA reform immediately. You can go here to take action.A disagreement between a jeweler and his ex-girlfriend left a Rolls-Royce disabled with a gunshot in the grill, March 23, 2016, in the 5300 block of Westheimer near the Galleria, Houston police said. A disagreement between a jeweler and his ex-girlfriend left a Rolls-Royce disabled with a gunshot in the grill, March 23, 2016, in the 5300 block of Westheimer near the Galleria, Houston police said. Photo: Screen Shots Via Metro Video Photo: Screen Shots Via Metro Video Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Galleria-area gunfire puts the brakes on jeweler's Rolls-Royce 1 / 17 Back to Gallery
A strained relationship between a jeweler and his ex-girlfriend sparked gunfire early Wednesday in southwest Houston.
The shooting happened about 3 a.m. in the 5300 block of Westheimer near Sage in the Galleria area, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department.
Crowson said the man was driving his Rolls-Royce on Westheimer when his ex-girlfriend, who was driving another car, spotted him. She pulled in front of him and stopped, forcing the jeweler to stop. Crowson said the woman got out of her car, pulled out a gun and fired one shot into the Rolls-Royce's grill, disabling the luxury sedan. She then drove away.
No one was wounded.
A private security guard for the jeweler who was driving in a separate car behind him followed the woman. Police were alerted about the incident and soon spotted the woman in her car. She was detained.
No information about what sparked the gunfire was released. However, Crowson said it appeared it be a domestic dispute.
"It's just a strained relationship with an ex-girlfriend," Crowson said.
Crowson said the woman could be charged with aggravated assault or criminal mischief.Retailers, with the Undead faction coming soon there has never been a better time to get your players into BattleLore Second Edition. The Wrath of the Undead Promotional Kit enables retailers to show off BattleLore’s brutal squad-based combat and gives players a chance to preview the Undead faction in the weeks leading up to its official release this fall.
In BattleLore, players pit custom fantasy armies against each other in tactical combat duels. They can lead either the noble Daqan army who fight to protect their homeland, or the demonic and bloodthirsty Uthuk Y’llan. The game offers asymmetrical victory conditions and an immense variety of battlefield scenarios.
What’s in the Promotional Kit?
The Wrath of the Undead Promotional Kit provides everything retailers need to create an engaging BattleLore experience in stores and develop local BattleLore communities. It features a scenario designed to help teach the game to new players, and the exclusive materials included make great rewards so that you can easily attract players to your event. The kit contains:
One exclusive BattleLore playmat featuring faction art and helpful reference material
A complete BattleLore: Second Edition Core Set including Daqan and Uthuk Y’llan armies
An advanced copy of the Heralds of Dreadfall Army Pack
24 copies of an exclusive Command Card featuring the Reanimate Infantry
A detailed Wrath of the Undead scenario sheet, suggestions for running events, and a promotional poster will be available for download when the promotional kits are shipped during the week of August 17.
How Do I Use the Promotional Kit?
The Promotional Kit enables you to host a range of different events at your store in the weeks leading up to the release of Terrors of the Mists and Heralds of Dreadfall in September. Use it to get new players interested in the game and introduce them to the new faction through demos. Hold a challenge event for veteran players to see who can command the most successful Daqan or Uthuk Y'llan army against the vengeful Undead. You can host casual BattleLore game nights and establish a BattleLore league for players to compete in. The downloadable guide accompanying the Promotional Kit will provide detailed suggestions for running a variety of BattleLore events. It also includes ideas about how to give out the exclusive materials as prizes and rewards for participating players at the end of your events.
How Do I Order it?
Retailers in the United States can order the Wrath of the Undead Promotional Kit now through our B2B store; Canadian retailers should contact Lion Rampant to place their orders. Unfortunately, the kit is not available to retailers outside of North America. Supplies are limited and orders must be placed before June 30.
Are You a Player Eager to Participate?
Players, if you're excited about the Undead faction and eager to participate in BattleLore events, contact your friendly local retailer to make sure that they order the Wrath of the Undead Promotional Kit for their store!
You Are In Command
You won’t want to be caught off guard when the armies of the Undead arrive. Order the Wrath of the Undead Promotional Kit now from our B2B store, formulate your battle plans, and prepare for war!This is the toe-curling moment a man's enormous cyst is squeezed - leaving a huge hole in his skin.
A punch biopsy tool is used to remove the circle of skin covering the cyst, before the vile contents are squeezed out by Dr Solomon Brickman.
The video of the procedure, carried out by the dermatologist based in Houston, Texas, has been watched on YouTube more than 750,000 times.
Toe-curling: The footage shows a hole being punched in the skin above the cyst before the pus is squeezed out
The stomach-churning footage shows a large amount of pus being squeezed from the hole, before it is stitched up.
A woman watching the cyst removal says: 'Wow. I've known that was inside of it - I knew it was.
'You're going to be so glad this is out. It does smell like death a little bit.'
The man undergoing the procedure asks how many days he will get off work, but he is told he can go back in just 20 minutes.
The man said the cyst excision did not hurt.
Stomach-churning: The cyst is so large that a hole, which needs to be stitched up, is left in the man's skinThe boss of Mazda Australia has defended his company’s decision not to equip the entry-level Mazda 3 with a standard reverse-view camera, saying that drivers need to take more care and parents need to keep children out of driveways.
Mazda Australia managing director Martin Benders today announced the addition of rear parking sensors across the Mazda 3 petrol range as part of a 2015 pricing and specification update, but was dismissive when asked why Mazda didn’t think a reverse-view camera was a necessary safety feature in the entry Neo variant.
“I don’t see the driveway as being a place where kids should be walking around in the first place,” Benders started.
“I expect that people who drive cars take care and attention about how they drive their cars. Reversing cameras are not infallible, they’re more an aid, but so are reverse parking sensors, they will pick up obstacles in a similar way. It’s like a lot of the safety equipment in there, it’s there as an aid. It doesn’t take away the driver’s responsibility to take care and attention.
“If we think that that’s what we need to do then we’ve got a real problem because I think I’ve made the comment before, but we’ve become so focused on giving [people] too much assistance that we’re actually taking their mind off actually paying attention to the way they drive.
“We’ve just got to be careful about all that.”Stitchers in the tiny Channel Island of Alderney have completed the missing final piece of the famed Bayeux Tapestry.
The embroidery, which tells the story of the final days of King Harold's encounter with William the Conqueror, has until now left out the coronation of William.
Instead, the final scenes showed the death of the Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson, following his army’s defeat at Hastings.
Stitchers in the tiny Channel Island of Alderney have completed the missing final piece of the famed Bayeux Tapestry. Alderney’s tapestry was masterminded by 72-year-old Kate Russell (left) who dreamt up the project. It will be on display at Bayeux in Normandy from 1 July until 31 August
But a team of embroiderers on Alderney, a small island just off the coast of William’s native Normandy, have spent a year finishing the job.
According to a report by Ben Chapple in the BBC, they made an effort to choose the right fabrics, colours and similar types of wool to the medieval original.
The new tapestry is the same height as the original and 10ft (3m) long, with four panels showing events following the Battle of Hastings and ending in William’s coronation.
The first of four scenes shows William and his half-brothers dining on the battlefield at Hastings. The bodies of the slain lie scattered about where they have fallen. The caption reads 'Here Duke William dines'
The original tapestry (pictured) ends with the Anglo-Saxons leaving the battlefield. The new ending features William's coronation in Westminster Abbey
This scene depicts early December in 1066. William has crossed the Thames at Wallingford and has reached Berkhamstead where the nobles submit to his rule. The caption reads, 'Here the nobles of London surrender'
THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY The first written record of the Bayeux Tapestry is in 1476. It was described in the cathedral at Bayeux as 'a very long and narrow hanging on which are embroidered figures and inscriptions comprising a representation of the conquest of England.' The Bayeux Tapestry is thought to have been commissioned in the 1070s by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, half-brother of William the Conqueror. It is over 230 feet (70 metres) and tells the story of the final days of King Harold's encounter with William the Conqueror. The tapestry consists of some fifty scenes with captions embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. Since it was'rediscovered' by scholars in the 18th Century, its final scene - thought to show the coronation of William - has been missing. According to legend, French revolutionary soldiers took it from the cathedral intending to cut it up to use as wagon covers.
The Latin text reads: ‘Here Duke William ate. Here the nobles of London gathered. Here William was given the royal crown. And here the Englishmen proclaimed the King.’
An Old English phrase from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1066 is also included. It translates to: ‘The end will be good, as God wills.’
The final design is now on display next to the original at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy.
Fran Harvey, one of the Alderney stitchers told the BBC: ‘It becomes like a drug. I’d tell my husband I’m just going to pop to the library for half an hour and return two and a half hours later.’
Experts had previously pointed out that the opening of the tapestry has a figure of King Edward the Confessor enthroned.
Around the middle point of the tapestry there is an image of William’s enemy Harold enthroned.
‘It would be a neat symmetry and make perfect sense of the story if the end of the tapestry had showed the victorious William enthroned, which is what the Alderney team have chosen to do,’ said Professor Robert Bartlett from the University of St Andrews.
William's worried look as he is crowned may be due to the shout of acclamation, which was thought to be a cry of rebellion. The caption reads: 'Here they gave the crown of the kingdom to William’, and ‘And here the English acclaim the king’
The final panel depicts Christmas Day in 1066 when Duke William of Normandy was acclaimed king of England. The caption, between the turrets of the Tower is in old English and reads: 'The end will be good, as God wills'
The stitching was done on Alderney, a small island just off the coast of William's native Normandy
There are some Channel Island references that would indicate that the final panel could never have been part of the original work.
This is the inclusion in the upper border of Scene Two depicting Wace, the author of the Roman de Rou, which tells the history of the Normans from the settlement of Normandy through to the reign of Henry II.
Wace states that William sailed to England with 696 ships. He says, ‘but I have heard my father say—I remember it well, although I was but a lad- that there were seven hundred ships, less four, when they sailed from St. Valery’.
This might just have been possible, but Wace was writing in the 1160s, and the tapestry, it is believed, was created within 20 years of the Battle of Hastings. His inclusion in this work is because he was born in Jersey.
Alderney’s tapestry was masterminded by 72-year-old Kate Russell who dreamt up the project. It will be on display at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy, France until 31 August.
Among the details in the borders are animals representing the Channel Islands such as a donkey for Guernsey
The new tapestry is the same height as the original and 10ft (3m) long, with four panels showing events following the Battle of Hastings, ending in William’s coronationRoy Moore supporters have latched on to one of his accusers’ acknowledgement she added “notes” under his yearbook inscription to her 40 years ago — a place and date. They count it as evidence that Moore’s accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, was lying about her allegations. While it does mean she added a couple of clarifying details to the note, it doesn’t mean she made the whole thing up.
In an interview with Good Morning America on Friday, Nelson, one of the multiple women who have accused the Alabama Republican of sexual misconduct, acknowledged that she had made an addition to Moore’s inscription in her high school yearbook in 1977 — when she was 16 and he was in his 30s.
Moore’s message, written in cursive: “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore.”
Her addition: “12-22-77 Olde Hickory House”
It is not clear whether Moore or Nelson wrote “D.A.” after Moore’s signature.
A note? Certainly. Proof of fraud? Definitely not.
Nelson, a Trump supporter, alleges that Moore sexually assaulted her after offering her a ride home from the restaurant she worked at as a waitress and has used the yearbook inscription as evidence that they knew one another. From her original November 13 statement, here’s what Nelson alleges Moore did:
Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts. I tried to open my car door to leave, but he reached over and locked it so I could not get out. I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop, but instead of stopping he began squeezing my neck attempting to force my head onto his crotch. I continued to struggle. I was determined that I was not going to allow him to force me to have sex with him. I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirt off. I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twisting and struggling and begging him to stop. I had tears running down my face. At some point he gave up. He then looked at me and said, “You are a child. I am the District Attorney of Etowah County. If you tell anyone about this, no one will believe you.”
Some corners of conservative media, which has gone all in on Moore in Alabama’s upcoming Senate race, have latched onto Nelson’s admission as proof that she has invented her entire story from thin air. “Forgery 101” reads one Breitbart headline. "WE CALLED IT! Gloria Allred Accuser **ADMITS** She Tampered With Roy Moore’s Yearbook ‘Signature’ (VIDEO)," the Gateway Pundit declared.
But Nelson didn’t say she forged it. Here’s the full exchange with ABC News reporter Tom Lamas:
Lamas: “He signed your yearbook?” Nelson: “He did sign it.” Lamas: “And you made some notes underneath?” Nelson: “Yes.”
Fact checking website PolitiFact rated claims that Nelson admitted to forgery “Pants on Fire” — as in a completely false. “Nelson does not claim she tampered with Moore’s actual signature. She said she added a time and location below the signature. Nelson still attributes the note and signature to Moore,” the site wrote.
Gloria Allred, Nelson’s lawyer, told the New York Times that Nelson had added the printed parts of the note “to remind herself who Roy Moore was, and where and when Mr. Moore signed her yearbook,” adding that Nelson “never said he wrote that.”
Roy Moore accuser acknowledges she added notes to Moore's inscription on her 1977 yearbook, but maintains that the signed note itself is authentic https://t.co/fptapzR0wr pic.twitter.com/NUCXvAW9TS — CNN (@CNN) December 9, 2017
Republicans really want to be okay with Roy Moore.
In November, the Washington Post published the accounts of four women with stories about Moore, including Leigh Corfman’s, who said that she was just 14 when she engaged in two sexually inappropriate meetings with Moore, who was then 32, in 1979. Other accusers have since come forward.
Moore has denied all of the allegations against him and sought to cast himself as a victim being targeted because of his Christian faith. Beyond being accused of sexual misconduct, Moore has also said Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress, called being gay “detestable, ” and falsely asserted to a Vox reporter that some Midwest communities lived under sharia law. In September he said last time America was great was during slavery.
Republicans largely threw their support behind Moore when he won Alabama’s Republican primary in September, but they backed away when the sexual misconduct allegations came to light last month. Now, many within the GOP are hopping back on board.
The Republican National Committee reinstated its support of him this week. President Donald Trump has openly endorsed him, including at a rally in Pensacola, Florida on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is now back to saying the people of Alabama should decide Moore’s fate, after initially calling for him to step aside.
A handful of Republicans, including Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have continued to speak out against Moore, but they’re largely the exception.Every year for the last four years, Googlers and developers have descended upon the Moscone Convention Center in downtown San Francisco to share the latest and greatest of Google’s products and services at Google I/O. Last year, the two day long event was sold out in under an hour, with over 5,000 people registered to attend. This year, the event is going to be three days long, according to Google, and will be happening at the end of June. There’s not been a lot announced yet as far as what to expect, but by taking a look at Google’s products over course of the last year, we can take a few educated guesses.
Last year during the Android Keynote, the team left us salivating over Android@Home, a service that would allow you to interact with your house from your Android device. Demonstrations ranged from a home music solution, to being able to control specially made light bulbs throughout your home. As of yet, none of these services have come to fruition, and we expect to see more of these kinds of services and products ready for demonstration at I/O this year. Android @ Home, like many of Google’s products, will rely heavily on strong partners to launch the platform successfully.
Google I/O is coming in the middle of a release cycle for Android, so it is unlikely that we will see a major version release at this event, but it is more than likely that we will see new features and services for Android to improve the user experience. Last year, the Movies app was released in beta to everyone in attendance at the event. It may even be possible that we will see the elusive “Google Drive” unveiled at the event this year, and a breakdown of how Google has integrated the Drive platform across all of their products and services.
Update: So Google’s Dev page updated, as we expected. It opens up March 27th, 7am PDT. Tickets are now $900 for general attendees and $300 for members of the academia.Cleveland fans were hoping the NBA Finals would go to a game 7, and ABC executives - enjoying big ratings for the games - had to be rooting along with them.
The series which saw Stephen Curry and Golden State Warriors outlast LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the Larry O'Brien trophy averaged 19.9 million viewers, making it the most watched NBA finals since ABC started airing them in 2003.
Overall, it was the most watched Finals since 1998 when Michael Jordan's Bulls took on the Utah Jazz.
Tuesday night's deciding game 6 brought in an average of 23.2 million viewers. This number was up 13 percent from the most recent game 6 which was in 2013.
During the closing minutes, the viewership peaked with 28.7 million tuning in to see Golden State clinch the championship.
Related: NBA Finals scores most-watched Game 1 ever for ABC
The Finals were also the most-viewed ever with a digital audience that averaged 757,000 unique viewers watching via "WatchESPN" -- the streaming site/app of ABC's sister network, ESPN.
That number was up a whopping 102% from last year's Finals.
The NBA Finals are just another example of how big live events are for both viewers and networks.
As more and more people watch TV on delayed schedules, networks seek live content to bring in big audiences and to please advertisers.
As the NBA Finals showed, live sports are one of the best ways to accomplish that goal.
Away from the national numbers, the game was also a record for the San Francisco market that the Warriors call home.
The market pulled a 40.7 rating, the highest rating ever for San Francisco going back to 2002 when the records started. This means that an average of 40% of San Francisco homes were tuned into the game on Tuesday.
As for Cleveland, that defeated market still grabbed a 42 rating, good enough for the fifth-highest rated NBA game ever on ABC or ESPN.U.S. Republicans and Democrats differ on nearly every issue in the U.S. Congress but are united in their support of Israel, Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) told a congregation of U.S. Jews on Saturday.
Speaking at The Hampton Synagogue in Long Island, the Republican minority whip characterized the current U.S. Congress as one of the most divided in recent memory.
Republican minority whip, Congressman Eric Cantor Getty / Archive
But despite its many differences with regard to foreign and domestic matters, said Cantor, the Congress stands united on one issue: support for Israel and its vital interests.
Cantor, who is the highest ranking Jewish member in the Republican Party, attended the synagogue as a guest of Rabbi Marc Schneier. Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger was also present for the Sabbath services.
Cantor was honored during the service with a call to the Torah and delivered his address to hundreds of worshipers.An article in Slate by Ruth Graham that appeared last week decrying the popularity of YA fiction among adult readers has created quite the backlash from other media forums (including to name a few, Esquire, Flavorwire, CNN, and the Washington Post). While both sides of the issue—scholarly proponents of a higher culture of readership and hayseed YA apologists—have solid points to make, I was arrested by a particular portion of Graham’s article that I think proves her unquestionably correct. After stating with an almost visible squirm in her belly that she is “surrounded by YA-loving adults, both in real life and online,” a circumstance approximating that of being surrounded by clowns with blood on their razor-tipped teeth and which deserves the deepest sympathy from her readers, Graham produced a passage so telling, so profound, and so well-written, that I am honored to reproduce it here:
There’s room for pleasure, escapism, juicy plots, and satisfying endings on the shelves of the serious reader. And if people are reading Eleanor & Park instead of watching Nashville or reading detective novels, so be it, I suppose. But if they are substituting maudlin teen dramas for the complexity of great adult literature, then they are missing something.
Ruth Graham is right, and she expresses herself with heady eloquence on the subject. May I add before moving on to dissect the nuances of this argument, if people are reading The Secret Garden instead of Dark Places, then so be it, I suppose. If people are reading Paper Towns instead of The Name of the Rose, then let them, if they must. If people are reading Lord of the Flies instead of Bleak House, be it thusly, whatever. If people are reading A Ring of Endless Light instead of The Hound of the Baskervilles, thank God, or something. If people are reading Clifford the Big Red Dog instead of committing violent crimes, that’s better, I guess.
First, we are to understand that the “serious reader” does not truck with YA fiction—but if they do truck with YA fiction, at least they aren’t reading detective novels. Graham is correct, but let’s unpack this notion a bit further so that I can explain why her detractors have gone after straw men instead of comprehending the very valid point she is making:
There are readers, and then there are serious readers. Mark the difference: a reader will allow his or her eye to wander over text indiscriminately, reading, for example, this year's Edgar Award winner for Best Novel Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, the price of Spanish sweet onions at the grocery store, stop signs en route to work, the headlines on the cover of the New York Times resting in the basket at the Starbucks, the words on the Starbucks cup, the New York Times itself, and potentially, even the instructions on the back of the microwaveable instant Thai noodle bowl planned for supper. Of all these infractions, the reader should, of course, be most ashamed of deliberately picking up Ordinary Grace and turning the pages one after another, because it falls under the mystery genre, and it is the “juicy plots” of this genre that cause the amateur reader to lift the tome and squeeze it like a blood orange, allowing hedonistic juices to flow recklessly down his or her arm, and proceeding to lap the nectar like a feral, flea-ridden cur.
What’s that you say? Graham said “detective novels,” not “mystery novels”? I apologize: please substitute The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler for Ordinary Grace in the above example and go with God.
Readers are omnivorous plebeians, who want tidy endings that are either happy or sad, black or white, donkey or elephant, and they are dissatisfied with morality and happiness existing on a grey continuum, which is why comparing YA’s simplistic world view (the novel Hate List by Jennifer Brown, for instance, which is about the girlfriend of a boy who opened fire on their school cafeteria, is all easy answers) to crime fiction makes so much sense. It is well known that crime fiction, like YA, is the genre of tidy moralizing, like Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans, or anything written by Tana French.
Crime writers, like YA writers (I hesitate to call creators of such pap authors), fail to understand the subtle shadows lurking within the human soul, and the complexity of motives that can lie behind cruel actions, and the potential for artistry within the conclusion of a plot, which is why they write crime fiction in the first place, because you don’t have to own insight into humanity in order to describe footprints and blood spatters and dames with stems. Oh, sure, on occasion you’ll find a pretty artful sentence, as when Reed Farrel Coleman writes in Gun Church, “I’d burned bridges between us that had yet to be built,” but leave a monkey in a room for long enough and he’ll produce Hamlet, so surely it’s a fluke that Coleman also wrote in the same book, “When you feel the stitches holding the illusion of yourself together begin to stretch and pop, and you can’t sew fast enough to keep the stuffing in.” Readers devour such tripe whole cloth, because they aren’t taking this seriously, and would as soon sully their brains reading a gate designation in order to reach their flights on time as peruse the stories of Vladimir Nabokov.
Serious readers, on the other hand, do not read willy-nilly, letting it all hang out and embarrassing their friends and loved ones by voraciously consuming Consumer Reports when the time comes to buy a new dishwasher. Serious readers like Graham read seriously. She even tells us about it, inviting the poor plod struggling his or her gap-toothed, mouthbreathing way through all the intricacies of her article to share in a glimpse of what serious readership is like, which I think is pretty darn big of her:
A few months ago I read the very literary novel Submergence, which ends with a death so shattering it’s been rattling around in my head ever since. But it also offers so much more: Weird facts, astonishing sentences, deeply unfamiliar (to me) characters, and big ideas about time and space and science and love.
Graham, a serious reader who probably wears serious glasses (you can tell the serious reader by the polished half-spectacles, although the ones who prefer not to flaunt their status employ the more subtle identifier of the corduroy elbow patch), tells us that Submergence by J. M. Ledgard is literary and that YA and detective fiction is not. This is undoubtedly true, and I have not a doubt in my mind that Submergence is indeed “literary” (“literary,” I should explain to the accidental reader who might be perusing this while on the toilet, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “words in a row I have read that are objectively better than the words in a row you have read”). How does Graham prove that Submergence, which Booklist describes as “a novel that is at once silly in the James Bond mode, beautiful, and extraordinary,” is literary? She uses italics when typing the word literary, so that we know as serious readers that Submergence is a literary novel, unlike The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, which ain’t.
But Submergence offers so much more, as Graham goes on to explicate:
—weird facts
—astonishing sentences
—unfamiliar characters
—big ideas
…which explains why the novel has been “rattling around” in Graham’s capacious head for as long as she claims. Upon finishing this section, I proceeded directly to an online flower site and sent Graham a bouquet written in the Victorian language of flowers meaning, “Congratulations for reading such an important book.” And when, in the article, she described reading John Updike and Alice Munro as a teenager, I purchased an entire sheet of gold stars (recalling my own halcyon days of reading Alice Walker and William Faulkner in high school) and sent her the reward she so richly deserves.
In a knockout left hook of an argument that left me reeling at Graham’s perspicacity, she later suggests, “the YA and ‘new adult’ boom may mean fewer teens aspire to grown-up reading, because the grown-ups they know are reading their books.” This is not merely true of adults reading Harry Potter, a terrible series touching on love, bravery, ultimate self-sacrifice, and a truly unambiguous, almost cartoonish character named Severus Snape; it is likewise true of detective fiction. When I was very young, I read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at the behest of my dad, who loved The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. My father’s unabashed admiration for the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have stunted my capacity to comprehend literary fiction, razing my intellect like a nuclear winter, had a half-bespectacled, elbow-patched stranger not bashed me over the head with a first edition Finnegan’s Wake when I was a nubile sixteen years of age. If not for this vigilante illuminati (they have capes, and a lair), I would not now have To the Lighthouse and Beloved open at either elbow so I can read them simultaneously in my periphery while writing this article in praise of “Against YA.”
I would like to end this discussion with a caution to Ruth Graham, who accidentally, while defending the rights of literary authors to write literary words about literary young adults, included the phenomenally talented Megan Abbott on a list composed otherwise of Shakespeare and the Bronte sisters: Megan Abbott is a crime writer. I know, I know, the mistake was an easy one to make, and I forgive the otherwise impeccable Graham for making it. When I read The End of Everything, featuring a lyrically unreliable thirteen year old narrator whose friend vanishes into the ether of Midwest suburbia, I hugely admired it for its style and power while simultaneously congratulating myself that I was reading a novel about youth, not for youth.
Later, however, when I was told by concerned friends that Abbott had won the Edgar Award and been nominated for the Steel Dagger, I soaked my hardcover in bleach and buried it, lest an unsuspecting reader come along and accidentally pick it up to while away their leisure hours. Ms. Graham, I implore you: be more cautious in your recommendations. If a crime writer can worm her way onto your list, what’s next? Paranormal romance? Sci-fi? Westerns? The mind of the serious reader revolts.
Lyndsay Faye is the international bestselling author of the Edgar-nominated Timothy Wilde series from G. |
for their response to harassment and differentiating it from bullying.Newport Restaurant Week April 5th - 14th, 2019
Newport Restaurant Week, part of a nationwide movement, debuted here in 2006 as an annual event to encourage both residents and visitors to Newport and Bristol counties to experience the vast culinary talent in our destination at an affordable price. Today, Newport Restaurant Week takes place both in the spring and in the fall with more than 50 participating restaurants offering extraordinary two-course prix fixe lunches for $20, three-course prix fixe dinners for $35 and a three-course premier prix fixe dinner for $50.
Our Spring Restaurant Week is April 5th - 14th, 2019. Restaurants that participated in our Fall Restaurant Week are listed below. Check back in March to see who will be participating in our Spring Restaurant Week, and their prix fixe menus.ES Lifestyle Newsletter Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
Look, I have a name. I don’t know why this bearded man insists on speaking to me in Spanish and calling me El Gato. Apparently that is Spanish for cat but I don’t call him El Hombre or El Jefe, now that he’s had a promotion and started wearing ties. He is called Jeremy Corbyn.
Why should I speak Spanish? I live in Holloway. At least it’s better than having to answer to Chairman Miaow, which is what John McDonnell called me that time when he came round for what they called a “tea con leche”. He was holding a red thing, which I hoped was a bag of Dreamies cat food, but it was just some boring book.
I am of good English stock and called Baron Horace Balfour II but the tracksuited one eschews titles in the name of equality. Pah.
I was discussing this with Tom Watson’s cat, who he hasn’t named either, though I call him Jerry. What is it with these guys? Not giving your pet a name shows a lack of imagination. Also, none of El Jefe’s pals have dogs. That man Ken Livingstone even has lizards and newts. Does that mean cats are more socialist? Dogs seem to have an inherited sense of privilege, lording it around Hampstead Heath, while we cats stick to the streets popping into whichever houses we please because property is theft. Also because that nice woman down the road who shops at Waitrose gives me meaty Miaowing Heads treats, which I never have at home.
Corbyn never has anything tasty and cats cannot live on vegan stews alone. You’d think that promotion would have meant an upgrade on our weekly shop but it’s the same old budget stuff, with the occasional Mexican coffee from Corbyn’s wife, Laura.
Dogs you should follow on Instagram 12 show all Dogs you should follow on Instagram 1/12 Dogs of Instagram 2/12 Pumpkin the poodle @ps.ny Alamy Stock Photo 3/12 Marnie the Shih Tzu @marniethedog © Image Source / Alamy Stock Photo 4/12 Maru the Shiba Inu @marutaro Alamy Stock Photo 5/12 Manny the French bulldog @manny_the_frenchie 6/12 Menswear Dog the Shiba Inu @mensweardog 7/12 Digby the griffon @digbyvanwinkle 8/12 Champ the golden retriever @thatgoldendog 9/12 Bruno the dachshund @brunotheminidachshund Alamy Stock Photo 10/12 Maple the border collie/golden retriever/Sheltie mix @acoustictrench Alamy Stock Photo 11/12 Tuna the chiweenie @tunameltsmyheart 12/12 Taco the Portuguese water dog @tacothecitydog 1/12 Dogs of Instagram 2/12 Pumpkin the poodle @ps.ny Alamy Stock Photo 3/12 Marnie the Shih Tzu @marniethedog © Image Source / Alamy Stock Photo 4/12 Maru the Shiba Inu @marutaro Alamy Stock Photo 5/12 Manny the French bulldog @manny_the_frenchie 6/12 Menswear Dog the Shiba Inu @mensweardog 7/12 Digby the griffon @digbyvanwinkle 8/12 Champ the golden retriever @thatgoldendog 9/12 Bruno the dachshund @brunotheminidachshund Alamy Stock Photo 10/12 Maple the border collie/golden retriever/Sheltie mix @acoustictrench Alamy Stock Photo 11/12 Tuna the chiweenie @tunameltsmyheart 12/12 Taco the Portuguese water dog @tacothecitydog
Sometimes a woman called Diane comes around, and a man called Seumas Milne, who mainly eats salad from a place called Pet a Manger. But I think they might be allergic to me. They always seem too busy to stop and cat-ch up.
Jerry Watson told me that they’re all planning to move house to somewhere near Big Ben. At the moment there’s a cat called Larry there and lots of mice. Yum.
I hope it isn’t too loud near Buckingham Palace, those corgis can cause a racket. Talking of that, does anyone know where I can find a nice pair of cat earplugs? This Corbo fellow won’t stop whistling songs from the Seventies at me. I’m tired of the Red Flag, and Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree is repetitive, I want to listen to Justin Bieber. I heard Biebs being played down Archway and he likes the NHS, so surely the boss would approve.
Oh, look, Corbyn has left his llama-wool scarf on the table, finally, a toy for me. I was tiring of playing with drain covers and the spokes on that Raleigh bike and listening to them bang on about nationalisation and the legacy of an Italian — was it Pussolini? Occasionally they mention their previous political animal, my feline predecessor was called Harold Wilson — he went by the name of Hazza to sound like a cool cat. Right, I’m off before he comes home and starts making jam again.
Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutterAbout
OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK: Cows Cry Too starts out with a "gentle" glimpse inside factory farms (i.e. it won't give kids nightmares, but it'll make them sad and angry) and helps kids realize that most farms are not how they are portrayed in children's books. It then shifts and talks about how animals have feelings just like us, before culminating with the idea that they, themselves, can help ease farm animals' pain and suffering by not eating eggs, milk or meat.
It is my hope that this book can not only stand on its own as a simple story with a powerful message, but also provide a jumping off point to help vegan, vegetarian and perhaps even locavore parents talk to their children about their lifestyle choices.
Thanks so much for checking out the campaign and your support!!
EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK**:
page 1: photo by Dan Burt
page 2: photo by Dre
page 3: photo courtesy of Mercy for Animals
page 6: photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary
page 12: photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary
page 13: photo by Edi Tosic
page 14: photo by Casey Christie/The Californian
page 24
page 25: photo by Anna Holden
INSPIRATION BEHIND THE BOOK: The idea that eventually led to Cows Cry Too was born over a decade ago. I was raising my daughter, Phoenix, as a single mom amidst friends and family who were very supportive, with one exception: they were, for the most part, not sure of my decision to raise her vegan.
My mom literally cried because she would never be able to buy her a happy meal (can we say #firstworldproblems?). And then there's my older brother, who gave her cheese nips and insisted that, "there's no cheese in there!" (true to some extent, but that's beside the point).
I had only one friend who was vegan (living way out in CA) and it's hard when your support network (and what felt like the whole world) doesn’t really understand and/or back up your beliefs. I did my best to expose Phoenix to like-minded people and show her that other vegans do, in fact, exist. We met some great friends and made many memories through various Farm Sanctuary events as well as vegan potlucks hosted by Syracuse University students (among other things). But one thing was still missing.
Always a lover of books, I tried my best to find one that helped me explain why we were vegan. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I searched, all I could find were books that talked about how it’s okay to be different or how tasty vegetables and tofu are*. I used pieces of free literature from groups like Mercy for Animals, PETA, and Farm Sanctuary to help her understand, but it was hard because I didn't want to give her nightmares and so much of their free material has yummy recipes and super cute baby farm animals mixed in with heart-wrenching photos of animals in factory farms, or being slaughtered. It was at this time that I decided I'd write a book for her, to fill this void. Thus, Cows Cry Too was born... a book geared toward gently exposing young children to the injustices of factory farming.
*Now there's That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians and All Living Things by Ruby Roth, which is awesome, but my book is different in that it is written more like a story, in a style similar to that of Dr. Seuss, and there are photographs throughout the book instead of illustrations. It is also a bit more focused, dealing solely with farm animals and factory farms.
**Please note that the book in the video is a prototype I created for my children. The prototype is my general vision. While I expect it will look similar (small, hardcover, approx. 5'' x 8'', in full color with text and pictures on each page/spread), I am assuming that after the professionals at Mill City Press get their hands on it, the final copy supporters receive will be even more polished and awesome!!Kevin Feige may have been talking about Thor to Bleeding Cool, but such is his reach in the Marvel universe, it wasn’t long before talk turned to other characters and their futures. The Punisher and Daredevil fans, pay attention.
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
“We’re trying to figure out what to do with Daredevil now,” explains Feige, adding that “Punisher could show up at one point.”
The Punisher is one of Marvel’s darker characters. He is Frank Castle: an ex-cop and soldier-turned-ruthless vigilante. Like Batman, he doesn’t have any super-powers but, but does have access to a wide range of heavy artillery.
He's appeared on the big screen three times: in the 1989 movie starring Dolph Lundgren, the 2004 movie starring Thomas Jane, and in 2008's Punisher: War Zone with Ray Stevenson.
“You know, once we get characters back into the Marvel fold we don’t want to do something right away,” continues Feige. “We want to do the smart thing at the smart time.”
20th Century Fox attempted to buy the rights to Daredevil by putting another movie into production. At the time, it was the A-Team and The Grey director Joe Carnahan attached to direct, but when the project failed, the rights to the character ultimately reverted back to Marvel.
Thor is out in the U.S on November 8th
Feige – now talking about himself and his future in the industry, revealed that his Marvel contract should keep pretty busy for the foreseeable future. “I think it’ll be a while [before I leave],” reveals Feige. “At least through the next phase or so.”
Thor: The Dark World, which Feige has produced on, enjoys its premiere tonight, October 22nd in London.Adam Smith, Charles Darwin and George Washington are not only rolling in their graves, they are dancing the macarena. A new study by the UMich School of Business has found what everyone has known since the crisis began, if not centuries prior: that the biggest, crappiest banks were guaranteed to get more bailout funding the more political ties they had (and more kickbacks they had offered). Is this sufficient to claim that capitalism in its purest sense has been corrupted beyond repair, courtesy of political intervention and constant pandering? Probably not, but it sure makes a damn good argument. In any case, the data is sufficient for all bears to start keeping a track of which banks are increasing their lobbying efforts and funding: those are the ones where the greatest weakness is likely still to be uncovered (if it hasn't already). And while the political relationship probably is not a big surprise to any realistic readers, another finding of the study makes a solid case for abolition of the "apolitical" Federal Reserve:
A new study by Ross professors Ran Duchin and Denis Sosyura found that banks with connections to members of congressional finance committees and banks whose executives served on Federal Reserve boards were more likely to receive funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the federal government's program to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector.
The unsupervised Federal Reserve gets to make or break banks, presumably under the gun of its one and only master, Goldman Sachs, which has already destroyed its major historical competitors: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. This is a sufficient condition to not only audit the central bank but to immediately seek its abolition, and also to commence anti-trust proceedings against Goldman Sachs which is not only a monopoly, but by extension has veto power over the very regulatory mechanism that is supposed to keep it "fair and honest." The system is truly broken.
More findings from the study:
Further, their research shows that TARP investment amounts were positively related to banks' political contributions and lobbying expenditures, and that, overall, the effect of political influence was strongest for poorly performing banks.
Can someone reminds us what the core premise of capitalism is again, and why we pretend to live in anything other than a hard core socialist society?
One of the professors of the study had this to say:
"Our results show that political connections play an important role in a firm's access to capital. The effects of political ties on federal capital investment are strongest for companies with weaker fundamentals, lower liquidity and poorer performance — which suggests that political ties shift capital allocation towards underperforming institutions."
The US financial system now need a new four letter acronym: everyone knows TBTF. We hereby annoint the Too Blatantly Briby To Fail (TB2TF) category of financial institutions. We posit that in 5 years there will be two banks in the former group: JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, while every single other bank will make up the latter.
Among the specific data findings:
The researchers used four variables to measure political influence: 1) seats held by bank executives on the board of directors at any of the 12 Federal Reserve banks or their branches (the Federal Reserve is involved in the initial review of CPP applications from the majority of qualified banks); 2) banks with headquarters located in the district of a U.S. House member serving on the Congressional Committee on Financial Services or its subcommittees on Financial Institutions and Capital Markets (which played a major role in the development of TARP and its amendments); 3) banks' campaign contributions to congressional candidates; and 4) banks' lobbying expenditures. They found that a board seat at a Federal Reserve Bank was associated with a 31 percent increase in the likelihood of receiving CPP funds, while a bank's connection to a House member on key finance committees was associated with a 26 percent increase, controlling for other bank characteristics such as size and various financial indicators.
The last data point is truly troubling: while it is one thing to pander to corrupt politicians, at least when their transgressions are made public they can and will be booted out. Yet what checks and balances exist to punish current and former Fed staffers who endorse near-bankrupt companies, in self-evident conflict of interest acts, for enhanced survival? As the Fed is accountable to nothing and nobody, save Goldman Sachs, one can argue that Goldman decides the fate of the very core of the US financial system: which firms get the thumbs up and down treatment. This is an unbelievalbe travesty of both the constitutional and the tenets of capitalism and must be rectified immediately. It certainly helps that the president, being a Constitutional law professor, will surely get right on it.
"Our findings also suggest that qualified financial institutions were more likely to receive an investment from CPP if they were bigger and had lower earnings and lower capital," said Duchin, U-M assistant professor of finance. "This is consistent with an investment strategy seeking to support systematically important institutions experiencing financial distress."
If this study's finding are confirmed and repeated independently by other research teams, it is safe to say that any pretense America has to being an efficient capitalism system (where those who can no longer compete, disappear) can be used to wipe the nation's collective backside. Between this, and a choice of US dollars and Treasuries, Cottonelle is starting to see some serious competition.
h/t Geoffrey BattFour Players from Team Blaze migrate to Panda Global
The Rosterpocalyse continues in the midst of the NA Qualifiers for Summer Regionals
After a disappointing loss to Gale Force eSports in the second qualifier, four players from Team Blaze’s roster are now listed as registered with Panda Global for the 3rd and final qualifier of the Summer Regionals.
Psalm remains as the only player left from Panda Global’s roster. Former Panda Global player, Donald "Scylol" Dobbin, has already been confirmed replaced.
After the success of recently shuffled GFE it’s no surprise other teams are making last minute changes to maximize their chances to qualify for Dreamhack Austin. The remaining unqualified NA teams (those who still have enough players) will compete April 17th, for the last 4 spots.
QUICKPOLL Is it safe to say NA is more shuffle prone than EU now? Yes
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Thank you for voting!NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday upheld parts of New York and Connecticut gun control laws banning semiautomatic assault rifles and large-capacity magazines, ruling the measures passed after a 2012 school massacre did not violate the Constitution.
New Haven police officer Maneet Colon catalogues a Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle that is turned in during a gun buyback event at the New Haven Police Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, December 22, 2012. REUTERS/ Michelle McLoughlin
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld the bans on semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines, but struck down a New York provision barring gun owners from loading more than seven bullets in a clip and a Connecticut prohibition on the non-semiautomatic Remington 7615.
New York and Connecticut’s gun control measures, among the strictest in the nation, were signed into law after a gunman killed 26 children and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
The Newtown shooting revived a national debate on gun control. At the time, President Barack Obama launched an aggressive gun control push but his efforts largely failed in Congress.
The appeals court, in upholding the provisions, ruled against coalitions that included firearms dealers, sports shooters and gun owners who claimed the mandates infringed on their constitutional right to possess firearms.
“The core prohibitions by New York and Connecticut of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines do not violate the Second Amendment,” ruled the court in a decision written by Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes.
Legal experts said the ruling would have more of a symbolic than practical effect.
“All this says is that if you pass such a law, it will be constitutional,” said James Jacobs, who teaches at New York University School of Law.
“The states with the strongest gun control politics have already banned them. I don’t see other states running to do it because it’s constitutional,” Jacobs said.
Timothy Lytton, who teaches at Georgia State University College of Law and authored “Suing the Gun Industry,” said it was doubtful the ruling alone would sway Congress or individual states.
“Court opinions like this are not likely to move legislatures,” Lytton said.
“The federal government has been at a stalemate over gun control legislation for well over a decade. If Sandy Hook could not move Congress to action, nothing is likely to,” he added.Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Military personnel with the White House Communications Agency are under investigation after alleged improper contact with women in Vietnam.
Three members of a White House team staffed by military personnel have been removed from their positions after being accused of improper contact with foreign women during President Donald Trump’s recent trip through Asia, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The unnamed members of the White House Communications Agency, a military unit that provides secure communication channels for Trump and others, are currently being investigated, a spokesman for the Department of Defense told the Post.
The alleged incident reportedly happened while Trump was in Vietnam as part of his 12-day tour of Asia.
The Secret Service directed media inquiries to the WHCA. HuffPost has reached out to the agency for comment.
The Washington Post noted that if the staffers are found guilty, they could lose their security clearances or be subject to disciplinary measures, including court martial. The WHCA, a branch of the White House Military Office, is staffed by former military service personnel, according to The Hill.
Service members who travel alongside the president and other senior officials are required to register their contact with foreigners during international trips in order to protect national security, the Post said.
Four members of the same communications team were removed from Vice President Mike Pence’s detail in August after they broke curfew and brought women back to their hotel rooms during a trip to Panama. The incident was uncovered after the staffers were seen bringing the women into a secure area on security camera footage. They did not register the women when they brought them in.In a mind-boggling example of how the government blows—or perhaps steals—our tax dollars, billions vanished from the U.S. State Department mostly while Hillary Clinton ran it, according to a new alert issued by the agency’s inspector general.
Could the former Secretary of State be using the cash to fund an upcoming presidential campaign? In all, $6 billion are missing and it’s highly unlikely any of the money will ever be recovered. The cash was supposed to be used to pay contractors but it just disappeared and documents that could help track the dough cannot be located. How convenient! The paper trail, which federal law says must be maintained in the case of government contracts, has been destroyed or was never created to begin with.
How could this possibly happen? Like a lot of government agencies, outside contracts are a free-for-all at the State Department with virtually no oversight. Hundreds of millions of dollars are doled out annually for a variety of services and no one bothers to follow up on the deals. This “exposes the department to significant financial risk,” according to the State Department Inspector General, which issued a special management alert this month outlining the lost $6 billion. The watchdog further writes that “it creates conditions conducive to fraud, as corrupt individuals may attempt to conceal evidence of illicit behavior by omitting key documents from the contract file.”
Among the examples listed in the memo is a recent investigation of the closeout process for contracts involving the U.S. mission in Iraq. Investigators could not locate 33 of the 115 contract files totaling approximately $2.1 billion. Even of the files they found, more than half contained insufficient documents required by federal law. In one billion-dollar deal involving the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in Afghanistan, the actual contract was determined to be “incomplete.”
In one alarming case a contract file conveniently omitted that a $52 million deal was awarded to a company owned by the spouse of another State Department contractor employee performing as a specialist. In other cited cases a contracting officer actually falsified government technical review information in a $100 million deal and a contracting officer’s representative allowed nearly $800,000 to be paid on a deal with no official documents to support the payment. It’s the free-flow of public funds under extremely suspicious circumstances.
At the very least the State Department is violating its own policy, according to the inspector general, which divulges that it’s found “repeated examples of poor contract file administration over the years.” The watchdog confirms that “it is the Department’s policy that all contracts, regardless of dollar value, be properly documented so as to provide complete record of: pre-solicitation activities; the solicitation, evaluation, and award process; and [sic] the administration of the contract through closeout.”
This unbelievable report documenting the mysterious disappearance of $6 billion from the coffers of a major government agency brings to mind a similar and equally enraging story reported by Judicial Watch a few years ago. The Pentagon somehow lost $6.6 billion sent to Iraq for post-invasion “reconstruction.”
The money was bundled in chunks of $100 bills and transported in turboprop military cargo planes known as C-130 Hercules. About $2.4 billion fit in each aircraft and 21 flights made trips, transporting a total of $12 billion in American currency to Iraq. More than half the money has never been recovered, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
A year later nearly half a billion dollars in oil destined for the Afghan National Army vanished. We will never know what happened because the Pentagon improperly shredded records that could have solved the mystery, according to a federal audit that exposed the fraud. The oil was part of a $1 billion fuel program largely funded by the U.S. government, which of course, means it was mostly Americans who saw their tax dollars blown in yet another government corruption scheme.
Waste and fraud are par for the course in most bloated government agencies and JW has exposed a number of alarming examples over the years, both domestically and internationally. They involve practically all agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) scandal-plagued food-stamp program, Medicare and Medicaid, the famously corrupt U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and President Obama’s fraud-infested $787 billion stimulus boondoggle, to name a few.Special Thanks & Credits
We would love to say that we did this all ourselves but that it not the case. This Sankey Generator is built upon the Sankey Diagram Generator by Denes Csala.
This Sankey Diagram Generator, and the one before it, utilises the d3.js plugin by data visualization guru Mike Bostock of New York Times fame.
Many thanks to all the other free resources available online such as Bootstrap and help from people from Stackoverflow who provide their answers to help others in need.
All, in all, we enhanced an already great tool for our use to quickly visualise where companies spend their money with suppliers (procurement data visualization). I hope you can find other uses for it as well.
The code behind has not been minimised so we hope that others can pull it apart and learn from it as we learnt from others. Please excuse some poor programming practices as we did this work between jobs and rushed to get a working version out so that others can use it as well.
Kind Regards,
Simon ThompsonThe band's debut album 'Silent Alarm' will turn 10 next year
Bloc Party‘s Kele Okereke has responded to questions regarding the forthcoming 10th anniversary of the band’s debut LP ‘Silent Alarm’, labelling anniversary album tours “cynical” and “cringey”.
Speaking to Music Feeds about whether the group were planning on doing anything to celebrate the landmark date for the record, Okereke dismissed any possibilities of nostalgia. “I think the most impressive thing that we could do as a band would be to respond [by] looking forward and keep on making music to say that we’re still motivated,” he began. “I think that’s more important than revival or some kind of nostalgic experience. I feel that the band isn’t some record – at this point it’s a collection of records – and I feel that the best way to honour that would be to make more records, not just to look back to where we were.”
He continued: “I don’t think that sort of thing does much good for artists. I always cringe a little bit when you hear about bands going around just touring on a kind of anniversary record. I feel that it just seems a little bit cynical.”
Bloc Party went on a hiatus last summer, following a headline set at Latitude Festival in June. Speaking at the time, guitarist Russell Lissack stated, “Definitely after we finish the festivals in the summer we’ll be taking some time off. At least six months, maybe a year, maybe two years, it’s hard to say.” Discussing now when Bloc Party would be likely to return, however, Okereke stated that he had “no idea. I’ve been speaking to Russell, he’s just had a baby so I think he’s going to be out of action for a while,” he elaborated.
Okereke, meanwhile, is gearing up to release his second solo album ‘Trick’ on October 13. ‘Trick’ is the follow up to 2010 debut ‘The Boxer’ and will be released through the singer’s own Lilac Records.
The tracklisting for ‘Trick’ is as follows:
‘First Impressions’
‘Coasting’
‘Doubt’
‘Closer’
‘Like We Used To’
‘Humour Me’
‘Year Zero’
‘My Hotel Room’
‘Silver and Gold’
‘Stay the Night’
https://link.brightcove.com/services/player/?bctid=28306638001Zambian police are investigating claims that managers at a Chinese-run coal mine in the south of the country shot and wounded at least 11 miners.
Reports say the Chinese managers had opened fire on Friday because they felt threatened by miners who protested about their working conditions.
No-one has been charged so far after the shooting at the Collum mine.
China has invested heavily in the Zambian economy but this has led to some worker resentment.
In 2006, an opposition presidential candidate campaigned openly on an anti-foreigner platform and did well in areas where the Chinese presence was most visible.
Police pledge
"The workers were protesting against the poor working conditions when managers using shotguns started to shoot aimlessly, not in the air," Zambian police spokesman Ndandula Siamana told the AFP news agency.
"It's possible that the managers feared that they might be attacked but we shall ensure that the culprits are brought to book," he said.
The spokesman added that the injured Zambian miners were currently being treated at a hospital in the town of Sinazongwe.
The management of the Collum mine has so far made no public comment about the incident.
Last year China invested more than $400m (£250m) in Zambia's mining industry, and Chinese investments in the county are continuing to grow.After days of hysterical accusations against Russia over the downing of flight MH17, and days of promising super secret evidence existed to vindicate those claims, the administration made the decision to allow intelligence officials to release a public assessment to reporters today.
They’re probably rethinking tonight, after the intelligence community conceded, in front of a room of reporter, that there is “no evidence” whatsoever linking Russia to the downing of MH17.
While officials say that the MH17 was still probably downed by a 9k37 Buk missile, they say there is no direct evidence Russia sent the missile to the rebels, let alone fired it for them, two things that have been pushing in the rush to blame Russia for the incident.
Rather, the sum total of Russia’s involvement that the intelligence community thinks they can push is that Russia “created the conditions” for the war in Ukraine, which is where the plane was shot down. Hardly a smoking gun.
Despite that, President Obama continues to insist that “no one denies” the MH17 was shot down with a Russian missile, and training them to use it, two things the intelligence community had nothing to back up.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzAlberta has been here before, but not for a long while.
Yes, the financial crisis of 2008 affected everyone, including the oil patch and the provincial coffers it filled. And while the pain it inflicted on Alberta was not insignificant, it was relatively short-lived. The government had a huge savings account to buffer much of the blow.
The economic emergency that Alberta faces today is different and perhaps more analogous to the predicament in which the province found itself in the early 1990s, when the accumulated debt reached $23-billion thanks to a worldwide oil glut that led to a crash in the price of crude. This ignited a brutal program of spending cuts under Ralph Klein the likes of which the province has not seen since.
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Which brings us to today, and the eerily similar circumstances Premier Jim Prentice is dealing with.
The drop in oil prices has hit Alberta like a bomb. Few saw it coming. With the price of crude hovering around $50 a barrel, the news out of the oil towers in downtown Calgary gets worse every day. If it's not Cenovus Energy Inc. announcing massive layoffs as it did this week, it's Husky Energy Inc. saying it needs to find nearly $1-billion in savings to make up for projected revenue losses. The hit to the provincial treasury for the upcoming fiscal year alone is anticipated to be close to $7-billion.
This has forced Mr. Prentice into a situation he could not have imagined when he assumed office last September. This week, he and his Finance Minister, Robin Campbell, announced the upcoming budget will have a nine per cent cut in program spending. Likely nothing, including health care and education, is considered sacrosanct. The Premier has made that much clear.
"We all need to be living in the real world …" Mr. Prentice said this week.
People in other parts of the country would say Albertans have not resided in that world for some time. That is not their fault. When you live and work in a jurisdiction that has been awash with money the way Alberta has been for years, you come to accept the lavish wages, and benefits that go with it, as normal. The public service, in particular, has been the beneficiary of cash-rich governments that opted to give in to often obscene wage demands rather than endure a nasty strike.
Well, the moment of reckoning has arrived.
Nurses, doctors, teachers, all best be braced for wage cuts and future contracts with lots of zeroes in them. They will be the types of contracts public servants in other jurisdictions in the country have often had to accept, while casting an envious eye in Alberta's direction.
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The cities of Calgary and Edmonton, both of which have grand transit plans that depend on significant cash infusions from the province, will likely have to put their dreams on hold for a while. Mr. Prentice has already signalled how serious he is about introducing an austerity program not seen in the province since The Klein Revolution of 1993. He recently turned down a $275,000 funding request from the province's Child and Youth Advocate to help protect vulnerable kids in government care. Many were shocked at sheer coldness of the rebuke.
People better get used to it.
Albertans of a certain age will say it is still nothing compared to the ruthless exercise in program slashing that took place under Mr. Klein, in which some government departments faced cuts of up to 20 per cent. It is unclear if Mr. Prentice will have to slash the operating expenses of some ministries to that extent. Nor is it evident yet how long this reconciliation with the uncertain times in which the province finds itself will continue.
Mr. Prentice has suggested the province will have to run small deficits likely for several years. And as long as the government is doing that, there will be no money for a lot of different things.
Alberta's winters are always frigid. This spring could be especially cold.You know, it’s one thing to call up Armin Shimerman for an interview, but it’s another thing to have him talk to you so familiarly. To learn of the many hats he wears in promoting the Antaeus Theatre Company’s fundraising initiatives, as well as his own background and…
Well, let’s put it this way: with a last name of Kirk, it’s a foregone conclusion that I’m a Star Trek fan. To have the actor who played one of the most memorable characters on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actually conversing with me is a Trekkie’s dream.
But to discover that the guy who played Quark the Ferengi bar owner is also a teacher, a creative director and someone who truly cares about making classical theatre via the Antaeus Theatre Company accessible to the American public is a real added bonus. After all, my own secret identity as an English teacher was a commonality we had that really impressed me on a professional level.
It also removed my professional demeanour and reduced me back to the slavering fan boy that I really am at heart. Luckily, Armin has a great sense of humour.
We all have our roles to play and Armin’s are many in Antaeus. The first one that I noticed was that of a humourist, as evidenced by his incredibly funny video promoting the Antaeus Theatre Company’s Kickstarter for a new home in Glendale, California. When Armin begins, comedically dressed as William Shakespeare, to speak on behalf of Antaeus and its myriad programs and goals, it is just too funny. You can find that video here. Be prepared for laughs galore.
However, the humour behind the video shouldn’t undermine the importance of its cause and neither does Mr. Shimerman – pardon me, Armin, as I was chided to call him.
(The fan boy in me refrained from a geekish snort of childish proportions at this point and Armin expressed regret about any childhood trauma my last name might have caused me growing up. Of course, he also expressed that it wasn’t his fault.)
Antaeus delivers the classics to an immense audience range. First of all, with a roster of over 180 high-calibre classically trained actors, it produces award-winning theatrical productions and is hailed as one of the top intimate theatres in Los Angeles. With an annual season of three fully-staged productions, it reaches an appreciative and receptive audience in the traditional way one would expect a theatre to do.
But there are also the free reading series, the Playwrights Lab and the outreach programs for students and teachers that are extremely important that make the educational role of Armin stand |
operation in Yemen to stop a plan to bomb an airliner. The news agency had agreed to hold the story at the request of the government, yet printed it before receiving an official go-ahead from the Obama administration - which said the leak compromised national security.
It was later revealed that the potential "bomber" was a US agent working within Yemen based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Officials suggested that the leak ended an "operation which they hoped could have continued for weeks or longer."
The AP story brought about a federal leak investigation, leading the US Justice Department to collect phone records of AP reporters in an effort to snuff out the culprit - again exposing the Obama administration’s punitive crackdown on leaking.
The head of AP decried the unprecedented tapping of journalists’ phone records. Following that surveillance scandal, which was only eclipsed by Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks which came soon after, the Justice Department recalibrated its standard for surveilling press outlets.
At the same hearing Thursday, Sachtleben was given an additional eight years and one month in prison for an unrelated child pornography case. He pleaded guilty to charges of distributing and possessing pornographic images of underage girls.
Before sentencing, Sachtleben gave a 20-minute statement, apologizing to family, friends, and former FBI colleagues for "breaking the bonds of trust" with them. He said "it was never my intention to ever derive profit,” though he did not elaborate on his motivations for leaking.
He pointed to post-traumatic stress from decades of FBI work on high-profile cases as partly to blame for his actions. His work for the department included investigations into the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks. He said he admitted to leaking the information immediately once he was approached by investigators so that former co-workers would not fall "under clouds of suspicion.”
"I wanted to…make it absolutely clear that the crime I did was all on my own," he said, according to AP.
Though prosecutors did not seek to find a motive for the disclosures, Sachtleben did say, according to court documents, that he was not acting "as any kind of 'whistleblower,'” nor were his actions “the result of a desire to expose perceived waste, fraud, abuse or other government misconduct.”
The dual sentencing was part of a plea agreement, as he faced a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.
The Justice Department said it started looking into Sachtleben as part of the child pornography investigation in September. Sachtleben became a suspect in the leak case once the FBI analyzed the AP phone records, matching them with other evidence in the agency’s possession.Correct the Record, a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton's bid to become US president, has promised to invest more than $1 million to respond to users criticizing its candidate on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, and other social media services. The super PAC says its new "Barrier Breakers digital task force" will to respond "quickly and forcefully to negative attacks and false narratives found online," in addition to thanking major supporters and "committed superdelegates" directly.
In a press release, Correct the Record said its new initiative was inspired by interactions with Bernie Sanders supporters. So-called "Bernie Bros" have become a phenomenon online, sharing their chosen candidate's videos, pictures, and memes across social media services. Hillary Clinton's supporters appear to be quieter on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the like, but Correct the Record said that this doesn't reflect a lack of enthusiasm — rather, that they were often afraid to speak up about their choice because they fear harassment. "Many of Hillary Clinton's female supporters in particular," the press release reads, "have been subject to intense cyber-bullying and sexist attacks from swarms of anonymous attackers."
Correct the Record says it learned from "Bernie Bros"
Super PACS like Correct the Record can raise and spend unlimited funds for their chosen candidate, but are technically banned from co-ordinating with their campaign, as their official name — "independent-expenditure only committees" — denotes. But Libby Watson of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan advocate for more transparent government, has noted that Correct the Record could use a loophole in these rules to communicate directly with Clinton's campaign. "It's not totally clear what their reasoning is," Watson tells The Daily Beast. "But it seems to be that material posted on the Internet for free — like, blogs — doesn't count as an ‘independent expenditure." Writing last year, Watson specified that the FEC "only regulates Internet activity when it is communication placed on another person's website for a fee."
The task force says it will attempt to sway the internet's legion of Sanders supporters to Hillary's side as the election draws closer. Behind that effort will be people from a variety of backgrounds, including former reporters, PR specialists, designers, bloggers, and other "Hillary super fans." The new investment will see more of Hillary's critics addressed directly in the future, but the super PAC says it's already taken 5,000 individuals to task over their personal attacks on their candidate, an effort noted by one Reddit user who said a deluge of replies on a disparaging post from pro-Hillary users turned their inbox "to cancer" this week.The summer TCA press tour is in full swing, and today CW President Mark Pedowitz confirmed there have been discussions about the television universe crossing over with Warner Bros/DC films. “We occasionally speak to the studio” Pedowitz said, but nothing has been decided obviously and Pedowitz added “That’s up to the studio.”
This is the first official confirmation, from any source related to the DC properties, that any kind of solid discussions have taken place regarding an Arrow and The Flash tie-in. This by no means confirms that the characters will crossover into the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice universe, but how cool would it be if that became a reality for the Zack Snyder Justice League film?
One of the biggest factors would have to be a successful launch of The Flash over on the CW Network. Without that show having similar success to its counterpart show Arrow, any ties to the film franchises are out the window. We’ve seen the pilot for The Flash though, and can say with a good amount of confidence that fans are going to at least really dig the pilot episode.
Stay tuned to NerdRep.com for even more coverage of The Flash and Arrow next week when we’re on-site with interviews and breaking news from Comic-Con 2014.
Source: KSiteTV Twitter
[UPDATE] Apparently Geoff Johns heard the rumblings this news was bringing to the internets and quickly took to the press at the TCA tour with a rebuttle: “It’s a separate universe than film so that the filmmakers can tell the story that’s best for film,” Johns said. “While we explore something different in a different corner of the DC universe.” For the full explanation as well as news about other characters that may come to the DC-TV Universe, check out the article over at IGN.Posted 09 December 2013 - 10:59 PM
Again, this guide is designed for pures. For you mains and berserker pures, the goal is to keep your defensive bonuses at a minimum with your offensive bonuses at a maximum (whether this means sacrificing your torso and berserker/nezzy helms is up for debate)
For pures, this is a good setup to melee. The team cape can be replaced by a firecape, but the right click option is nice to have.
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/6682/u3kh.jpg [Image blocked; please upload it at an approved host.]
This is an ideal range setup:
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/6933/6v5g.jpg [Image blocked; please upload it at an approved host.]
In both cases, a special attack weapon is a good idea to boost your exp/hr. Potions are optional, as you will be having your most powerful prayers on the entire time you train.
This is mostly geared toward pures, as you will be training on another player. But it works fine with people who have defense as long as you don't wear armor. This guide is my own content that I used to use on my pure back in 2010 and such and hasn't been publicly released until now.This is pretty straightforward and only requires one quest, Spirits of the Elid. The skill requirements are:- 33 Magic- 37 Ranged- 37 Mining- 37 Thievingand the quest gives 8k prayer experience upon completion along with access to the Nardah altar, which is our goal.The nardah altar is special, it doesn't just restore your prayer. It restores your HP to maximum + 10% for praying at it. Another special thing about praying to regain HP is that it doesn't interrupt combat like eating food does, so with the right amount of focus you can be getting the maximum number of hits per hour not waiting for monsters to spawn or losing hits from eating food.On my pure with 50 attack ~55 strength, using normal attack and strength potions and a brine sabre, I was raking in about 55k str exp an hour. Similarly, my friends both trained here from 60-70 ranged using no potions and just eagle eye/iron knives and were enjoying about 40k exp an hour as opposed to rock crabs' 25k exp an hour.Start attacking each other, keep an eye on your hp, and reap in the exp. http://img707.images...07/543/iuo5.jpg [Image blocked; please upload it at an approved host.]Again, bringing a special attack weapon will boost your exp/hr. http://img819.images...9/5272/3clh.jpg [Image blocked; please upload it at an approved host.]NEW YORK (Reuters) - - As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a religious dispute over the Obamacare contraception mandate, advocates on both sides are trying to set the court straight on the science.
The exterior of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington March 5, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
The case, to be heard on March 25, is one of the most closely watched of the year, partly because it taps into the enduring debate over abortion and reproductive rights.
The dispute turns on the legal question of whether corporate employers with religious objections must include contraceptive coverage in their employee health plans. But it also raises a scientific dilemma that could influence the court’s nine justices.
That scientific question is deceptively simple: whether certain forms of birth control prevent conception or destroy a fertilized egg. After decades of research the answer is not absolutely clear.
Two family-owned companies, Oklahoma-based arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby, controlled by evangelical Christians, and Pennsylvania-based cabinet-manufacturer Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp, owned by Mennonites, object on religious grounds to a requirement of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law: that employer-sponsored insurance cover contraception.
The companies say they have no objection to covering forms of birth control that prevent conception, the fertilization of an egg by a sperm.
What concerns them are after-intercourse products, so-called emergency contraception such as the “morning-after” pill, which prevent pregnancy.
Anti-abortion groups contend the products act after fertilization, destroying embryos.
“For us, the issue is the life-ending mechanisms that some emergency contraceptives can have,” said Anna Franzonello, an attorney at Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion legal group that has filed a brief for seven Catholic and other anti-abortion groups siding with the companies.
Mainstream scientific and medical organizations, as well as abortion-rights supporters, counter by citing research showing that the vast majority of emergency contraceptives prevent fertilization.
While the Supreme Court will not be ruling on the science, and has never defined pregnancy, many groups have filed friend-of-the-court briefs offering their view of how emergency contraceptives work.
POLITICIZED SCIENCE
The basics of pregnancy are clear, although the language of ending pregnancy is fraught with politics.
After an egg is released, it has about a day to find a sperm to fertilize it. Sperm survive several days before losing their ability to join with an egg. But the union of egg and sperm is merely the first step: if a fertilized egg does not burrow into the lining of the uterus, there is no pregnancy. In fact, in an estimated 50 percent to as many as 80 percent of conceptions the fertilized egg fails to implant.
The Obama healthcare law, known as the Affordable Care Act, requires coverage of “contraceptive methods,” but not drugs which cause an abortion - that is, end pregnancy.
Medical groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as federal health agencies say pregnancy begins with implantation. That’s what allows James Trussell of Princeton University, an expert on reproductive health, to say that emergency contraception “won’t cause an abortion in the legal and medical sense of the word.”
That infuriates people who believe life and pregnancy begin with fertilization. “There is a segment of the medical field that says there isn’t a human life until the baby has implanted,” said Dr Kathleen Raviele, an ob-gyn in Tucker, Georgia, and spokeswoman for the Catholic Medical Association. The group supports Hobby Lobby and Conestoga. “You have two groups talking past each other.”
COPPER IUDs
The Hobby Lobby and Conestoga families want to protect an egg from the moment of fertilization, since they believe preventing implantation ends a life, and they object to the three approved forms of emergency contraception:
* Copper intrauterine devices (IUDs), a form of contraception that has only been used as an after-sex emergency contraceptive about 7,000 times since 1976.
* All forms of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s Plan B, a morning-after pill now sold as Plan B One-Step and available over-the-counter to those 15 and older. It has the vast majority of the emergency contraception market in the United States.
* Prescription-only ella, from the Watson Pharma unit of Actavis PLC, which has a tiny share of the U.S. market.
Supporters of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga cite studies that, they believe, support their position that emergency contraceptives prevent implantation. Supporters of Obamacare’s contraception mandate point to the larger and growing number of more recent and more rigorous studies showing that emergency contraception almost always acts by preventing fertilization.
Complicating the dispute, the positions of drug regulators and manufacturers have changed over the years.
The evidence is strongest that copper IUDs can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. The T-shaped devices are most likely to work if inserted well before ovulation, suggesting that their main mechanism of action is disabling sperm or eggs, preventing fertilization. But if fertilization already has occurred, an IUD can prevent implantation, said Kristina Gemzell-Danielsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who has reviewed more than 100 studies of emergency contraception.
PLAN B PILLS
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration for years implicitly has buttressed the idea that Plan B interferes with implantation. In 1999, it approved a label saying the drug can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. In a 2009 document on its website, the FDA still said, “If fertilization does occur, Plan B may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation)”.
Since then, however, the International Federation of Gynecology & Obstetrics, which includes the ob-gyn groups of 125 countries, reached different conclusions. In a 2012 analysis of 29 rigorous studies, the organization concluded that the active compound in Plan B, levonorgestrel, primarily acts by preventing or delaying ovulation. The drug does that by inhibiting a hormone surge that allows ovarian follicles to develop and release an egg.
Plan B is most likely to prevent pregnancy in women who take it before ovulation, said Gemzell-Danielsson.
All told, “there is very, very clear and compelling evidence that Plan B does not work after fertilization,” said Princeton’s Trussell.
Late last year, European drug regulators recognized that scientific understanding had changed since levonorgestrel came on the market: they approved changing the label of the version of Plan B One-Step sold in Europe to say that it “cannot stop a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb.”
It is unclear if the FDA will follow. Spokeswoman Erica Jefferson said, “The agency is aware of emerging data that suggests that (Plan B’s compound) does not inhibit or prevent implantation of the fertilized egg and acts only by blocking or delaying ovulation, but has not had the opportunity to formally evaluate this recent data.”
A spokeswoman for the drug’s manufacturer, Teva, declined to comment.
ELLA AND IMPLANTATION
There have been fewer studies of ella. When the FDA approved it, in 2010, the agency said that although ella is thought to work “primarily by stopping or delaying the release of an egg,” it “may also work by preventing attachment (implantation) to the uterus.”
A document from manufacturer Watson says “it is possible that ella may also work by preventing attachment (implantation) to the uterus.” Watson spokesman David Belian said that language described the company’s current understanding.
Researchers who study contraception say that does not reflect current science. Studies show that, like Plan B, ella has no effect on the uterine lining, and mainly works by preventing or postponing ovulation, said Gemzell-Danielsson. But “mainly” is not good enough for those who believe life begins at conception. The tiny chance that ella will prevent implantation of a fertilized egg is, they say, enough to make it morally objectionable.
IS SCIENCE ENOUGH?
Ultimately the two sides may expect different things from science.
“If you can’t be absolutely sure the drugs don’t block implantation, what probability of killing a human being would you accept?” said Dr Jane Orient, an internist in Tucson, Arizona, and spokeswoman for the libertarian, anti-abortion Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which joined the anti-emergency contraceptive brief.
“In science, you can’t prove a ‘never happened’ or a ‘never could happen,’” responded Dr Timothy Johnson, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan.PRESCOTT The public can trust the Ontario Provincial Police to do its job when its officers are accused of wrongdoing, the OPP’s regional commander said Tuesday.
Chief Supt. Daniel Redmond, the OPP’s East Region commander, said Leeds County OPP officers were among the people who provided information leading to the recent arrest of three of their colleagues on a series of criminal charges.
“As a leader in the OPP, I’m proud to say that the vast majority of our members are doing exemplary work and deserve the community’s trust,” Redmond told reporters at a news conference at the force’s Prescott detachment. “Any violation of this trust brings discredit to the reputation of the entire OPP.”
The rare, top-brass press conference was an attempt to restore trust in the OPP in the wake of the arrest last Thursday of two Leeds County OPP officers.
Consts. David Vogelzang, a 16-year member of the OPP, and Jason Redmond, a 10-year member, were arrested as part of Project Arrowtown, an initiative launched in May 2014 that also resulted in the arrest in late October of another Leeds officer, Const. George Duke, a 20-year member of the OPP.
Duke, 52, has been charged with theft over $5,000, possession of property over $5,000 obtained by crime, breach of trust, unlawful possession of a restricted firearm, unsafe storage of a firearm, unsafe storage of ammunition, possession of a firearm without a licence, and possession of an illegal drug.
Vogelzang, 41, has been charged with obstruction of justice. Redmond, 36, who is not related to the superintendent, is charged with obstruction of justice charge, three counts of trafficking in marijuana, one count each of forgery and breach of trust.
Project Arrowtown, which involved RCMP and Montreal police, also resulted in the arrest of seven civilians. A warrant was outstanding for one other man.
All three officers have been suspended with pay in accordance with the Police Services Act.
Redmond said police officers, given the nature of their work, form “a culture of allegiance and loyalty,” a situation that is necessary and in most cases admirable.
“These bonds may lead some to believe that fellow officers will protect them in questionable circumstances,” Redmond acknowledged. But in this case, he said, OPP officers were among “a variety of sources” providing “essential information.”
“It was the commitment of dedicated members of the local detachments, the OPP’s Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau and the OPP’s Professional Standards Bureau that led to the arrests in Project Arrowtown. It is a testament to their integrity and their professionalism that they identified the behaviour and provided necessary information for the investigation that resulted in charges against members of their own police service.”
Redmond would not discuss the specifics of the investigation and would not respond directly when asked whether the local officers initiated the investigation. He said no further officers are under suspicion.
“This investigation is over,” said Redmond, but added anyone who has a concern about any officer’s conduct should report it. He called this alleged misconduct “an end-lier” and not representative of the OPP and the “exemplary” work of the Leeds detachment.
“We take this seriously. We’ll not stand for this inside our ranks.”
The accused officers continue to draw salaries because the Police Services Act prevents police forces from withholding pay, said Redmond. But he added he supports efforts by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police to get the province to open up the act and allow supervisory officers to suspend officers without pay in serious cases.
The superintendent later said morale at the Leeds detachment has taken “a hit” in the wake of the arrests but that it will move forward. “They’re resilient officers, and we have a job to do every day,” he said.
OPP spokesman Bill Dickson suggested the location of the press conference in a neighbouring detachment was out of sensitivity to the morale issue.
“We wanted to move it off-site, just because of the nature of what’s going on,” said Dickson.Do you remember how Progressives once identified themselves as “reality-based community”? The phrase “reality-based community” actually originated from George W. Bush’s team in 2004, but the Left swiftly co-opted it. For example, in that same election cycle, Al Gore, while campaigning for John Kerry, praised Kerry for being “a proud member of the ‘reality-based’ community.” Progressives even made buttons to show that, when it came to reality, nobody does it better than a Progressive.
That “reality-based community” label seems sadly tattered and faded, though, doesn’t it? It’s not just that their ideas, when finally put into effect, proved to be disastrous, with everything from economic ideas, to Obamacare, to national security failing to live up to the hype. It’s that the proud members of the reality-based community prove to be living in a series of outright lies.
Reality-based community world view : Unemployment is at its lowest rate in years.
: Unemployment is at its lowest rate in years. Truth: Unemployment is incredibly high, with the truth hidden only through government accounting lies.
Reality-based community world view : The world’s terrorist attacks emanate from a group of people with no relationship to Islam.
: The world’s terrorist attacks emanate from a group of people with no relationship to Islam. Truth: Apparently a lot of Muslims are confused about their religion. Since 9/11, there have been more than 25,000 terrorist attacks, all committed by people who expressly claimed fealty to Islam.
Reality-based community world view: Obama’s views on gay marriage evolved from 2004, when he announced before Pastor Rick Warren that his Christian faith meant marriage could only be before a man and a woman, and 2012, when Obama announced that he supported gay marriage and, since then, has invested enormous energy in putting his executive authority at the service of the LGBT community.
Obama’s views on gay marriage evolved from 2004, when he announced before Pastor Rick Warren that his Christian faith meant marriage could only be before a man and a woman, and 2012, when Obama announced that he supported gay marriage and, since then, has invested enormous energy in putting his executive authority at the service of the LGBT community. Truth: Obama out-and-out lied. Those of us who paid attention knew that, as early as 1996, Obama was swearing fealty to gay marriage, a position he only walked back when the White House drew near. We knew it — and now David Axelrod admits it. Obama’s lying again now, trying to claim that Axelrod is wrong, but Obama’s 1996 written support for gay marriage shows that, for once, Axelrod is telling the truth.
Reality-based community world view : Brian Williams is a hip, awesome, and totally honest journalist.
: Brian Williams is a hip, awesome, and totally honest journalist. Truth: Brian Williams is a committed liar, although his lies are less egregious than Obama’s. While Obama to advance an agenda Americans would not support if they knew the truth, Williams just lied to make himself appear more important.
Incidentally, I’m not asserting that, to the extent the reality-based community claims that Williams is an objective journalist, that too is a lie. There’s no doubt that Williams is a supine Obama sycophant. Views about Obama, however, are a matter of opinion. The Progressive and media worship for Obama (but I repeat myself) is so deeply ingrained in their psyches that they are incapable of imagining that any sane person could dislike Obama. Therefore, to the extent they are open in their worship, they are merely acting as sane and objective political observers and serving as a bulwark against the insane, racist hatred that conservatives harbor for Obama.
I have to write discovery requests now (oh joy!), but I’m willing to bet that all of you can find other, and better, examples of situations in which the “reality-based community” has staked its reputation and policies, not on subjective feelings or ideological hopes, but on out and out lies. Damn those stubborn facts!
(As an aside here, you’ve probably noticed that I really haven’t had much to say about news stories making it increasingly clear that (a) Obama is an antisemite and (b) Obama is a compulsive liar. I’ve been making these points since 2008. The only difference now is that Obama is bothering to pretend otherwise as to either of those little problems. The only thing I feel like adding now is that it’s going to be a long, long two years until the next president comes along — and that’s hoping it’s a Republican and not Elizabeth Warren. She’s so bad she’ll make Obama look almost as good as Jimmy Carter.)
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TwitterImage caption Robert Holmes (left) and Rocky Curtis were jailed for murdering and torturing Sonny Grey
Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a 70-year-old grandfather who they tortured by pouring boiling water over him.
Rocky Curtis, 25, and Robert Holmes, 24, both of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, attacked Sonny Grey, from Lincoln, in his home on 29 October 2011. He died two days later.
Curtis will serve a minimum of 28 years and Holmes a minimum of 26.
The judge at Nottingham Crown Court described the crime as "merciless".
Speaking as he passed sentence, Mr Justice Saunders said: "The men knew Sonny Grey kept a great deal of money in his house.
Image caption Investigating officers later found £9,000 hidden in Sonny Grey's house
"They tortured him to try to get him to tell them where the money was."
Beaten and throttled
Sonny Grey was beaten and throttled, possibly with a belt, and had boiling water poured over him at least twice. After his death police found £9,000 hidden in his house.
The judge praised the police investigation.
He described as "remarkable" the work of Detective Constable Adam Battersby, of Lincoln police, who spent 14 months compiling CCTV footage of the killers' getaway car.
The judge said Curtis and Holmes had not intended to kill Sonny Grey.
"What they wanted to do was to steal his property and they were prepared to cause Sonny Grey really serious injury if necessary," he said.Canadian medical marijuana producers are pushing back against the e-commerce plank of Ontario’s plan to monopolize recreational cannabis sales in the province, with companies touting potentially lower costs to the taxpayer as part of their campaign to claim a share of the coming legal retail market.
Ontario announced last week it will use the province’s liquor control board to oversee the recreational cannabis market when the federal government legalizes it next summer. The province’s plan involves setting up a single retailer with approximately 150 brick-and-mortar stores by 2020, as well an online sales service that will launch by next July.
But some producers have pointed out that there is already a federally managed mail-order system in place for medical marijuana in Canada. They have also noted comments made by the federal government that suggest Ottawa may set up a delivery system for recreational cannabis if provinces can’t meet the July 2018 target date for legalization.
“I just think it’s duplication,” said Greg Engel, chief executive of Organigram Holdings Inc., a New Brunswick-based licensed producer of medical marijuana. “Why create something that is going to be, and is in place already, just for the province of Ontario?”
Ontario, however, says that it is playing it safe when it comes to controlling the new market.
“The experience of other jurisdictions such as the U.S. has shown us that it is better to start with strong controls, and you evaluate the system over time,” Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said Friday.
Ontario’s approach isn’t surprising given its policies for selling alcohol, said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy, as well as a dean of the faculty of management at Halifax’s Dalhousie University.
“Private-sector marijuana retailing seems to be off the table, which in turn will allow a government-run crown corporation to distribute and sell this commodity to the public,” wrote Charlebois.
But Canopy Growth Corp., Canada’s largest licensed pot producer, suggested Friday that the private sector should still have a role to play in the province come recreational legalization. The Smith Falls, Ont.-based company has revamped its online operations in anticipation of recreational cannabis sales, launching what it has referred to as an “Amazon-like” site.
“Including e-commerce is a key aspect of this announcement, particularly given the Province’s tiered retail storefront roll-out plan,” said Canopy in a statement, referencing Ontario’s proposal for 40 marijuana stores by 2018, 80 by 2019, and 150 by 2020. “We encourage the government to consider allowing existing licensed producers to continue their e-commerce sales if this can allow for a more cost-effective, expeditious, and varied sales model for Ontarians.”
Canopy also announced Monday that it is branching out into Europe, striking a deal to provide a license to use certain marijuana strains and seeds to Spanish drug company Alcaliber, S.A.
“Entering this agreement with a large, well-recognized European partner like Alcaliber, with a proven background in controlled substances and an ability to produce plant-based medication solidifies our commitment to diversified production capabilities not just in Canada, but also new and emerging cannabis markets,” said Canopy chair and chief executive Bruce Linton in a release.
Medical marijuana is already distributed in Canada through federally licensed producers, ordered online or over the phone and delivered via mail. Ontario has no plans to tinker with the medical model, the province says.
However, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said earlier this year that Ottawa would oversee mail-order sales of recreational cannabis for provinces that can’t meet the July 2018 target date for legalization.
Medical producers are still holding out hope that they’ll be allowed to go directly to the recreational consumer in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and biggest marijuana market. In recent years, Ontario has done so for alcohol retail, allowing for the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores.
“We hope that the Province will allow for private retail sales alongside government owned stores,” said the Cannabis Canada Association, an organization representing licensed producers of medical marijuana, in a statement. “A competitive market model would provide the Province with a predictable, low-risk revenue stream without the taxpayer burdens of upfront capital expenditure exposure and operational risk.”
The Ontario government has said it is expecting modest revenue at first with recreational marijuana sales, but expects business to pick up over time. The in-store experience would be in line with the federal government’s expectations, including restrictions on advertising and keeping products out of sight from young people.
Engel said that, on the medical side, Ontario makes up about a third of his company’s business, and bristled at the province planning for a tobacco-like retail environment in its stores. Like others, Organigram has been working to ramp up its production capacity before the end of pot prohibition.
“Consumers would not have a very good experience,” he said. “Why have a retail location if you’re going to have everything behind a closed shelf or something like that?”
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Twitter: @geoffzochodneA 47-year-old Dundalk businessman who drove after and twice knocked down a burglar, has gone on trial in Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court.
Martin McCaughey from Mount Avenue in the town denies a charge of endangerment at Clann Chullainn Park on 27 June 2008 and a charge of assault causing harm to Daniel McCormack on the same occasion.
Mr McCormack admitted to the court that he broke into the home of Mr McCaughey on the morning of 27 June 2008.
He said he was drunk at the time. He found himself in an upstairs ensuite bathroom and took jewellery he saw there.
Mr McCormack then heard a voice and ran downstairs, out a back door and across a field.
He ran to Clann Chullainn Park where he lived, which was very close by.
The witness said he remembered being hit a car, getting up and being hit again.
Mr McCormack said he heard the defendant saying he would kill him if he got up again.
Both his legs were broken in the incident and he spent two-and-a-half weeks in hospital as a result.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC for the defendant, the witness accepted he may have tried to rob another house in the area minutes before he went into the home of the accused.
He accepted also that he had committed burglaries in the past, but that he had been treated leniently by the courts.
Mr McCormack said he could not recall if he went into the bedrooms of the three children in Mr McCaughey house.
He accepted that he would have had to go into the bedroom of Mr and Mrs McCaughey to get into the bathroom where the jewellery was.
As he ran from the house, he said he could hear someone shouting but he did not stop.
The jury heard that Mr McCaughey was in his bare feet and only wearing boxer shorts when he drove after the witness.
Mr Grehan put it to Mr McCormack that his client was trying to stop him and box him in his car when he was hit.
He did not stop the first time but the second time he was hit he sustained injuries to his legs.
The witness confirmed that he successfully sued the defendant and received €175,000 in damages.
The trial before a jury of six men and six women continues tomorrow.WASHINGTON — In a rare public accounting of its mass surveillance program, the United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations.
The number of requests, contained in a 2014 audit of the surveillance program by the Postal Service’s inspector general, shows that the surveillance program is more extensive than previously disclosed and that oversight protecting Americans from potential abuses is lax.
The audit, along with interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act, offers one of the first detailed looks at the scope of the program, which has played an important role in the nation’s vast surveillance effort since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The audit, which was reported on earlier by Politico, found that in many cases the Postal Service approved requests to monitor an individual’s mail without adequately describing the reason or having proper written authorization.(CNN) -- Advocates for sex workers in South Africa have warned that this summer's World Cup could be a public health disaster.
With up to half a million football fans expected to visit South Africa for the World Cup, and up to half of South Africa's prostitutes carrying the HIV virus, there have been calls for the country to decriminalize prostitution to help tackle the spread of HIV.
Eric Harper, director of the Cape Town-based Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), told CNN that the World Cup would inevitably lead to a demand for sex workers.
"And where there's demand there will be a supply," Harper told CNN. "It could be a potential recipe for disaster both for the clients and the sex workers," he added.
Harper told CNN that while there are no accurate figures for the number of sex workers in South Africa, his organization believes there are 3,000 in Cape Town alone.
The UN estimates that in South Africa 5.7 million people are HIV positive, more than in any other country. A 2005 University of Michigan study found that 46 percent of female sex workers in Johannesburg had HIV.
Those figures, coupled with the expected influx of visitors for the World Cup, are causing concern for some South Africans.
Harper said HIV is just one of the dangers faced by South Africa's sex workers. As well as the risk of contracting other STIs, there is the chance of unwanted pregnancies and the ever-present threat of violence and rape.
Prostitution is illegal in South Africa, but the law is currently being reviewed as part of a larger assessment of all sexual offenses. Harper believes decriminalizing prostitution can help control the spread of HIV.
"Throughout the world people have acknowledged that if you want to reduce HIV you need to be able to engage the population and address human rights concerns," he told CNN.
"One of the key messages is that decriminalization is a way of accessing sex workers."
Harper argued that criminalization drives prostitution underground. He said that removing the threat of prosecution would make it easier to provide sex workers with condoms and make it easier for sex workers to turn down clients who refuse to use condoms.
Any possible change to the legal status of prostitution remains some way off, with South Africa's Law Reform Commission expected to make its recommendations to the Minister of Justice in 2011. Meanwhile, Harper would like to see prostitution decriminalized at least for the duration of the World Cup.
It's an idea that was also put forward in 2007 by police commissioner Jackie Selebi, now suspended on corruption charges. But Dellene Clark, of the Law Reform Commission, told CNN that the government was not considering a |
Tuesday by Belleville Police after his wife accused him of physical abuse inside the family's Lake Street home, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said today.
Earlier today, sources told The Star-Ledger Cespedes was shot approximately 25 times.
Murray said the incident was over in a matter of seconds. Cespedes was shot in the torso and head, according to Murray, who warned against passing judgment on the case based on the number of rounds fired.
“The number of shots alone does not lead to any conclusions," she said.
The officers went to Cespedes' home after his wife went to the township's police headquarters and said he was physically abusing her. Murray said Cespedes' wife, who was not identified, brought the couple's four children to the police station with her.
Four officers were sent to arrest Cespedes for assault and serve him with a temporary restraining order when the deadly exchange occurred. It remains unclear how much time elapsed between the assault complaint and the fatal shooting.
Cespedes allegedly lunged at the officers with a pair of knives, Murray said, and three of the officers opened fire. It is not clear how many shots were fired by each cop.
Cespedes was the only person in the home at the time of the shooting, Murray said.
A native of Peru, Cespedes has worked as a relief chef at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City for approximately seven years, according to hotel manager Gary Budge. He was at work on Monday until 3:30 p.m., according to Budge, who said the hotel staff was "shocked and saddened" by his death.
Attempts to reach Cespedes' family were not returned. His Facebook profile indicates he was a father of four.
RELATED COVERAGE:
• Belleville chef shot and killed by police investigating domestic violence allegation
• Belleville man shot, killed by cops responding to report of domestic abuseActually, it's not all about money.
Yes, the players are greedy and, yes, the owners are both greedy and stupid. (How else to you explain demanding a five-year maximum on contracts less than a full breath after handing out 13-year deals for the equivalent of the Greek national debt?)
But it's also about careers – and in particular those careers that might one day end up under discussion for possible induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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The loss of two seasons in eight years could result in a top NHL player in his prime missing one quarter of his very best years. Even the loss of a single year can have a drag effect on a player's overall assessment. Much was made in June of Brendan Shanahan missing out on being called to the Hall. Considering that the year following the 2004-05 lockout Shanahan had one of his best seasons – 81 points for the Detroit Red Wings – and turned 37 that January, an equivalent total during the owners' lockout might well have pushed him past one of the four who did get named to the Hall: Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Adam Oates and Pavel Bure.
That lost year, had it never happened, might also have helped two other stars who came up just short during the selection committee's voting this spring: Eric Lindros, who played for two years beyond the lockout, and Jeremy Roenick, who still had four more years left to play following 2004-05.
Starring at 37, as Shanahan did, is unusual but hardly unique. It happens. Even so, history has shown that the truly great players tend to shine brightest around age 25. The year Wayne Gretzky turned 25, 1985-86, the Edmonton Oilers star set the NHL scoring record of 215 points. Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux was 25 when he won the 1991 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup playoffs' most valuable player. Guy Lafleur came into full bloom at 25, scoring 136 points for the Montreal Canadiens dynasty he led through most of the 1970s.
It's interesting to note, as well, that both Sakic and Sundin excelled around the same age. Sakic was 26 the year he scored 120 points and led the Colorado Avalanche to the 1996 Stanley Cup. Sundin's best year as a Toronto Maple Leaf (94 points) came the winter he turned 26.
There are a fair number of elite players whose NHL careers were somewhat derailed during the last lockout, even if they played out the season in another league or on another continent. Jarome Iginla scored 96 points for the Calgary Flames when he was 24 and was entering superstar territory the year the league didn't play. Iginla's best seasons would follow – but what about that lost season when he was surely in his prime?
Rick Nash, who will be a new New York Ranger if there is a 2012-13 season, had his best scoring year in 2003-04 when he scored 41 goals and shared the Rocket Richard Trophy with Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. The following season he played in Switzerland and counted 46 points in 44 games for HC Davos. Nash's teammate, Joe Thornton, then a rising young star for the Boston Bruins, turned 25 just before the two headed off to play in Europe.
Kovalchuk was also entering his prime during the last lockout, having scored 87 points for the Atlanta Thrashers the year before and 98 points the year after.
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Having found himself again last year with the New Jersey Devils – 83 points – Kovalchuk can hardly afford another lost season the year he enters his 30s.
The year Marian Hossa turned 25 there was no NHL hockey. He is now 33 and facing another lost year after a wonderful rebound season in which he scored 77 points for the Chicago Blackhawks. One day Hossa's name may come up for consideration. Who can say what effect owners' lockouts might have on the final assessment of what has been a most impressive career.
And then there is Evgeni Malkin. The Hockey News recently crowned him the No. 1 player in the game, following a remarkable season in which he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer and the Hart and Ted Lindsay trophies as the league's most valuable player.
It was also the season in which he was 25 years of age.
And what of Claude Giroux. Last year, the young Philadelphia Flyers forward scored 93 points and soared to the highest echelons of the game. Giroux will turn 25 – perhaps his greatest season, who knows? – on Jan. 12, 2013. He has no idea where he might be playing at that moment.
Jonathan Toews, the brilliant captain of the Chicago Blackhawks, who won the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe Trophy and an Olympic gold medal at 22, will turn 25 on April 29, when normally he would expect to be well into the 2013 playoffs.
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And then, of course, there is Sidney Crosby, whose contract and number both salute the day, month and year of his birthday: August 7, 1987.
He turned 25 this summer.
He says he's healthy and ready to resume his well-earned position as the game's pre-eminent player.
Pity, isn't it, that his NHL résumé might have a blank page for what could well be the season of his life.NEW YORK — Just a year ago, UCF basketball players were rested but restless for a change.
Johnny Dawkins had just been introduced as the team’s new head coach following the firing of Donnie Jones. The team had just endured another early exit from the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
No one could have foreseen the dramatic change Dawkins would engineer during the next few months that ultimately led UCF to a historic Final Four run in the National Invitation Tournament.
“I’m proud of our team,” Dawkins said following Tuesday night’s 68-53 loss to TCU. “Our team had a good year. I thought we really came together as a group. I wanted to thank our seniors for everything. You know, really just creating a culture for us and leaving their legacy at our program with the season that they had.”
UCF pulled off an impressive NIT run that saw the Knights crawl back from an 18-point deficit to defeat No. 1 seed Illinois State on the road and defeat No. 2 seed Illinois before the school’s first sold-out crowd at CFE Arena.
But the cohesion and chemistry that powered the Knights to a 24-12 record wasn’t enough to propel the team to a win during its finale game of the season at Madison Square Garden. UCF managed just five assists as several players looked to manufacture some offensive spark against TCU, which finished the night with 20 assists.
“For me being a younger player... I think I’ve got to hold that accountable moving forward that we have for next season,” UCF guard B.J. Taylor said of the team’s emotions following the disappointing loss. “… Moving forward, we don’t want this feeling and we need to do everything we possibly can to avoid it and end the season with a win.”
UCF didn’t get the rare college basketball season-ending victory — just two teams get to do so at the close of the NCAA and NIT tournaments.
“It gives them an understanding of what this whole thing is about now with March and why it’s March Madness, whether you’re [in the] NCAA Tournament or in the NIT Tournament,” said Dawkins, who won the NIT title in 2012 and 2015 while coaching at Stanford. “The fact that you’re still competing for a championship and one of the last teams standing is meaningful for them going forward.”
UCF managed to rebound from a string of sub-par seasons with a thin roster of just seven scholarship players to finish the regular season with one of the top field-goal defenses in the country. Tacko Fall was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Year and Taylor made a name for himself outside of Orlando, garnering second team All-AAC honors.
But players did something equally important in raising expectations for what the Knights’ basketball program could accomplish.
UCF finished fourth place in the AAC after being projected to finish eighth. Players pushed past some obstacles along the way, including losing Taylor and A.J. Davis to broken hands at various points during the season. Most important, the Knights were the final college basketball team from the state of Florida standing in the postseason when they took center court at Madison Square Garden Tuesday.
The Knights will lose three players as Tank Efianayi, Nick Banyard and the program’s all-time leading 3-point shooter, Matt Williams, move on. But they won’t be short-handed with players like Ceasar DeJesus, Terrell Allen and Aubrey Dawkins, who was forced to sit out this season under NCAA rules, available to play next season.
“These are life lessons for these young people and they’ll be able to take what we’ve learned this year with their own experience of maybe a short roster and people not thinking we could accomplish certain things,” Dawkins said.
“But if you listen to our team talk in the locker room, they never believed or bought into that. We always kept the highest expectations of ourselves in our locker room and because of that our guys are able to accomplish what they accomplished right now.”
UCF dream season ends with loss to TCU in NIT semifinal »
Bianchi: For UCF, Tacko Tuesday turns into TCU Tuesday in NIT Semifinal »
Whitley: UCF shows NIT nothing to sneer at »
[email protected] photographers have made names for themselves by creating and photographing extremely detailed dioramas: miniature tabletop scenes that are so realistic that viewers often mistake them for the real world. Belgian photographers Maxime Delvaux and Kevin Laloux of 354 Photographers have put an interesting spin on the diorama photo concept by Photoshopping real people into their miniature scenes. The series is titled “Box“.
Each of the scenes tells a dark and dreary story, and was built over the course of a few days inside a cardboard box.
As with other photo projects we’ve featured in which perspective is important, Delvaux and Laloux arranged the diorama’s objects while looking through the viewfinder of a fixed camera.
Once they’ve finalized what the diorama will look like, the next step in the challenge is to photograph the human subjects in a way that blends in seamlessly with the scene. They pay careful attention to position and lighting while photographing each person, and then carefully composite them into the diorama using Photoshop.
Wired’s Raw File has an article about the project in which the two photographers share a little about its history and challenges.
Box by 354 Photographers (via Wired)
Image credits: Photographs by Maxime Delvaux and Kevin Laloux, and used with permissionThe long-awaited second film from Shane Carruth combines exceptional technique with a deliberately obscure narrative and meaning.
PARK CITY – The long-awaited second film from Shane Carruth, whose microbudgeted time-travel sci-fier Primer won the 2004 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and a subsequent cult following, pursues a similar but cinematically more complex line of combining exceptional technique with a deliberately obscure narrative and meaning. With much information purposely withheld and no dialogue during the film’s final third, this densely exploratory work will cue both elation for its many beauties and deep-furrowed brows about what the hell is going on. In other words, this is a highbrow cult item par excellence, the audience for which Carruth evidently feels he knows how to reach himself, as he plans to personally distribute it both in cinemas, beginning April 5, and online. The Berlin Panorama and New Directors/New Films lie ahead next on the festival circuit.
PHOTOS: Sundance 2013: The Scene in Park City
Although Carruth very much remains a filmmaking one-man band -- he wrote, directed, co-produced, co-edited (with Ain’t These Bodies Saints director David Lowery), composed the music for and stars -- Upstream Color actually is dominated by lead actress Amy Seimetz, an indie-world veteran who directed last year’s Sun Don’t Shine. With a grave intelligence and beauty that from certain angles remind of Juliette Binoche, she commands the screen in the gorgeous but mystifying opening stretch during which her professional woman character of Kris is abducted, then subjected to a disturbing procedure by which small white maggots and perhaps various bodily fluids are exchanged between her and a pig under the supervision of an unidentified man.
Natural and earthy elements dominate as motifs: dirt, plants, roots, water that becomes the only substance she is allowed to ingest after the operation—“Each drink is better than the last,” she is informed while, not understanding what is happening, she is divested of her job, bank account and personality. Upon seeing some form moving under her skin, she becomes hysterical, stabbing herself repeatedly to rid herself of whatever now lives in her body.
But trying to explain what seems to be going on far too simplistically reduces the film to roughly explicable plot points, something Carruth ruthlessly banishes as a general principle. The experience of watching the film, especially this first section, is highly visceral and sensuous; the images possess a crystalline clarity that is exquisite, and they’re dispersed in rapid rhythmic waves in a way that’s especially mesmerizing during this first section.
Whatever has been done to Kris, she is now something of a blank, left to her own devices to start up a life again. Has the medical/life-theft project been abandoned? Has she joined a silent army of infected ones who one day will be roused from their stupor for a sinister purpose? No one can say, and it certainly won’t be Carruth, who now enters the film as a man named Jeff who also has left one life behind and now is pursuing another.
PHOTOS: Sundance's Greatest Hits: The Movies That Broke Through
Upstream Color flattens out considerably at this point, as it temporary veers in the direction of romance in which two people who have presumably been genetically re-engineered attempt to redefine themselves and see what kind of connection they can make with someone else and what that might mean, if anything. They both remember and don’t remember things from the past and sometimes argue over whose memory is whose. Still not knowing what has happened to them, they become paranoid, arming themselves and retreating to a bathroom, until a final half-hour flurry of intercutting, involving a reconnection between human and pig, seems to bring the characters a form of inchoate release.
Ultimately, Carruth’s is a cinema of impressions and technique, not overt meaning. Trained academically as a mathematician and engineer, he’s into structures, tearing them down and building them up again, exploring theories of modes of expression rather than working out whatever it is that is to be expressed, drawing lines on a board (or onscreen) that might or might not connect, constructing nonverbal means of communication, a language that still lacks for something clear to say.
All this will seem profound to some and mean nothing to those who never got algebra. As far as audiences are concerned, Upstream Colors certainly is something to see if you’re into brilliant technique, expressive editing, oblique storytelling, obscuritanist speculative fiction or discovering a significant new actress. Tastes running to anything even slightly more conventional should stick with what they know.
Venue: Sundance Film Festival (U.S. Dramatic Competition)
Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins
Director/screenwriter/music/director of photography: Shane Carruth
Producers: Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair
Executive producers: Scott Douglass, Brent Gooden
Production designer: Thomas Walker
Editors: David Lowery, Shane Carruth
No rating, 96 minutesJon Stewart grilled House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro PelosiHouse to push back at Trump on border Governors bullish on infrastructure after Trump talks Pelosi attends signing of New York's new'red flag' gun control bill MORE (D-Calif.) during his Thursday night show, calling into question the competency of the ObamaCare rollout.
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The host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" at one point laughed at the former Speaker when she said she didn't know why the introduction of the Affordable Care Act's website went so badly.
"Why is it so hard to get a company to execute that competently?" Stewart asked
"I don't know," Pelosi answered.
“What do you mean you don’t know? How do you not know?” Stewart said after turning away to laugh.
The tense interview circled back to a discussion about the ability of Democrats to be both pro-government and to implement legislation competently. Stewart noted that Democratic governance seems to appear "chaotic" and "lacks efficiency," siting again the ACA rollout.
“Doesn’t matter,” Pelosi said. “What matters is it should have been prepared for.”
“Do we have a foundational problem," Stewart asked. "Is there a corruption in the system that needs to be addressed?”
In response, Pelosi placed blame on the red tape of bureaucracy and the failure of departments to communicate with each other. “OK, do something about it,” Pelosi said.
“I was actually going to say that to you,” Stewart interjected.Please note: Shopify's Ecommerce publication is currently not accepting unsolicited guest posts. If we do open up the blog for guest contributions in the future, we'll send a broadcast to our blog newsletter. Sign up if you haven't already (top right of this page), and thank you for thinking of us!
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Truly “great” content is fiercely subjective and painfully inscrutable, so a single doc can’t possibly cover everything there is to know. Instead, we’ve tried to distill what works on Shopify’s publications and what traits we believe make for a great piece of content.
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Even highly tactical posts benefit from a strong opinion and/or a unique viewpoint. Consider this quote from poet Philip Larkin on how he wanted his readers to feel: "Yes, I've never thought of it that way, but that's how it is."
We begin our pitches by listing the Premise, Author Objective, and Reader Incentive. Their job is to surface what the piece is about, what you’re trying to say, and why readers should care.
The Premise is the small slice within a topic you’ve decided to address. (Tip: It’s easier to provide lots of value with a narrow topic.)
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Assume your reader is fairly new to your topic, but is intelligent overall. That way you won’t patronize or accidentally speak down to anyone. As an added benefit, this will help you avoid the curse of knowledge, a common cause of bad writing that usually manifests as acronyms and jargon, non-obvious references, and prose more concerned with being clever than being clear.
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It pays to remember distractions are always just a click away. Writing for the web means combining substantive material with approachable formatting.
Effective writing pleases at a glance but rewards careful study. Make strategic use of worthwhile breaks in the text with bullet point lists, informative callouts, eye-catching visuals, and compelling subheadings.
Do include thoughtful formatting choices to highlight and strengthen your article’s most important ideas.
include thoughtful formatting choices to highlight and strengthen your article’s most important ideas. Don’t pollute your article with chaotic styling; all of your formatting choices should add, not detract, from the value of the piece.
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Great content is often a mix of both. Offer readers tangible takeaways, but try to design your piece so continual value can be extracted from your suggestions i.e., the ideas within can be revisited when merchants plan their own roadmap. (“How did we begin building our store’s keyword strategy? By following Julia’s post on Shopify.”)
If your article is valuable today and not tomorrow, you may be addressing a swelling trend, or you’re trying to lay out the future. Occasionally, that’s okay. But the majority of “great” articles have a reasonably long shelf-life, regardless of their topic.
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If you’re describing an idea, concept, or example that’s best expressed with a graphic (or a clean, high-resolutionscreenshot), supply something simple and we’ll apply polish. When appropriate, favor demonstrating an idea over merely describing it.
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Writing gains potency through precision, not length. While “10x content” is often translated to mean “super long ultimate guides,” you should always aim to fit the most valuable ideas available into the smallest space possible. Double-down on depth, not width.
That doesn’t mean we don’t love publishing long, in-depth articles! Some topics demand them. But there’s no need to expand your post with the assumption that more is better – great work comes in all sizes and is always just as long as it needs to be.
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This might seem like an unfair proposition, but when it comes to publishing, it’s been proven time and time again the more you’re willing to give the more you can expect to get in return.
Make it your top priority to effectively solve a painful, infrequently addressed problem for readers. Or, discuss a challenging idea most would prefer shy away from. In return, we’ll work hard to make sure your work is distributed to the right people, and that it’s obvious you wrote the piece and have additional resources (products, other writing, etc.) that readers might enjoy.
Bottom line: We want to ensure, as best we can, that writing for us is worth your time.
Noteworthy examples
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Note: Please check in after your post is published to answer a few comments. Articles that drive conversations tend to be the most popular!
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Except we’ve highlighted it, so there are no surprises. When writing for Shopify, please keep these points in mind:
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5. Please act like a professional. The following will not be tolerated in any form:A storm blew a blinded baby sparrow onto a balcony. The couple that found him thought he was a goner, but he made a recovery (with a little help) no one ever expected.
During a stormy night, a baby sparrow was blown on to a balcony. He was covered in ants, blind and barely alive.
Moved by his plight, the couple that found him brought him inside and tried to feed him. He chirped incessantly until they put him outside.
Then, daddy came. He found his son and began bringing him food every 10-15 minutes for 2 weeks.
The little chick was regaining his strength – and even hiding from his human rescuers.
After a quick call to the vet, even the blindness was cured with some simple eye drops.The group Fwd.us will spend as much as $10 million on advertisements and research aimed at getting an immigration reform package passed in 2017. The group’s field operation will also reportedly expand.
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Though much of the focus of the current immigration debate is on Trump — who has called for deporting all immigrants who are in the country without authorization — an official with the group said multiple candidates had worrisome stances on the issue.
“From a policy situation if we nominate any of those people we are going to lose,” campaign manager Rob Jesmer told Politico. “No two ways about it."
The group’s polling found that a majority of voters would prefer a candidate who does not support the kind of mass deportation Trump has proposed, according to Politico.Back in 2010, Virginia Republican Lt. Gov. nominee E. W. Jackson appeared on The Janet Mefferd Show to discuss First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the NAACP National Convention. Jackson and Mefferd were peeved by Obama’s remark that “when stubborn inequalities still persist — in education and health, in income and wealth — I think [NAACP’s] founders would urge us to increase our intensity, and to increase our discipline and our focus and keep fighting for a better future for our children and our grandchildren,” which Jackson said he found “disturbing” and that “whenever I hear this there is an ugly word that always comes to mind and that ugly word is Communism.”
Jackson claimed that President Obama and the First Lady “don’t understand our country, I don’t think they even like it,” warning that the Obamas are “the intellectual cousins and heirs of a Communist, collectivist way of thinking which is anathema to what this country is all about.”
He said he intends to ask black voters why they are “allowing the Tea Party to be made into your enemy and the radical homosexual rights people to be made into your friends and allies when they reject everything you believe and most of the Tea Party activists embrace everything you believe.” Jackson urged African Americans to “come out of that indoctrination, what I call a liberal plantation of psychological bondage.”
Jackson also lashed out at the NAACP, which he said has “completely lost its credibility,” and other civil rights groups as “race baiters.” He said that if NAACP activists were truly worshiping “the God of the Bible then they ought to be in agreement with the Tea Party.”My brother Peter is an oceanographer – based out of NOA here in Seattle. On Tuesday he sent this email which I thought was worth passing on.
[Added Update: We discovered today that the actual name of the boat was Lunatic Piran – which could not be made out when the boat was discovered.] April 30, 2009 9:00 pm
A TRAGEDY AT SEA
Onboard the RV Roger Revelle out of San Diego, CA, USA. Enroute from Durban, South Africa to Freemantle/Perth, Australia on an oceanographic research cruise I5, somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
————–
Date: 28-April-2009
GPS time: 06:30 GMT/12:30 local
Lat: 32 18.009S
Long: 091 07.543E
While steaming at 12 knots toward our next station, the ship unexpectedly stopped several miles before the station. We were wondering what the occasion was, did someone hook a tuna finally? I was in the lab running nutrient samples when my lab partner from the other watch came in and said that we had found a sailboat with no one on board.
I went out on deck and there she was, just drifting along. Her mainsail was set but it was in tatters. She had a white hull with white sails. To my mind she was quite small, maybe 30 feet? She was floating high in the water, certainly she was watertight and not sinking. Her hull was very heavily fouled with marine growth; it was obvious she had been out here for a long time.
There was a fishing pole rigged over the side although no line in the water. There was a line over the side trailing aft. Her hatch from the cockpit into the cabin was open but everything seemed in order, no water in the cockpit or obviously in the cabin. Her name was partially visible on her stern, “Lunatic Pirate”, but no home port or nationality. She was a very sad, melancholy looking craft.
What happened to leave her drifting out here, alone. Where was her crew? Did they abandon her, thinking she was in trouble? Did they get knocked overboard by the boom? Slip and fall overboard and weren’t able to swim fast enough to catch her again?
It made me very sad to see her like that. It was just so emotional to see her, to be faced with what must have been some sort of tragedy at sea. I felt, and still feel, like I did when I saw a man get hit by a car while crossing the street. Sort of overwhelmed by it all. Everyone I talked to seems to feel a lot the same, it hit us all.
The first mate said that he could see a log book in the cabin so a Jacob’s ladder was put over the side and someone went onboard and retrieved the log book and several other items. I was running samples in the lab and had to leave but this was told to me later. According to what I have heard, the last entry in the log book was from January, 2009, she may have been drifting out here since then?
Interestingly, there were several large fish swimming about the boat, anything floating in the sea seems to attract them. I was told there were two mahi-mahi and one wahoo. I saw one fish, no idea what it was.
Yesterday we got the official word that a cruise on this ship subsequent to this one, I7, which was going to go from Oman to intersect the line we are on, and then back to South Africa has been canceled due to the fear of pirates around Somalia. These ships would be natural targets since we spend a lot of time dead in the water while sampling. And with all the people onboard, a kidnapper’s dream. So when we saw the boat, I am sure the idea of pirates went through a lot of minds, certainly it occurred to me.
I went on deck after we were underway again and I saw her off the stern, it was so sad, just watching her “sail” away, all alone again. Enough to make me cry. I didn’t take a picture of that, I think I’m glad.
Later:
We have since found out some of what happened. Because we knew her name, “Lunatic Pirate” someone was able to Google it and find out that her owner was a 72 year old man who was attempting to circumnavigate the globe. He had left New Zealand and sailed east, rounding both Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. He was on the last leg back to New Zealand when he was lost. A ham radio operator heard from him on Boxing Day (Dec. 26th), 2008, and he was in heavy weather but doing fine. No one has heard from him since January 2009. Supposedly another ship has sighted her before us but was too large to be able to board her. I don’t quite understand that, but since the logs were still aboard, I guess it’s right.
On a happier note, we just finished our last cast of my watch and when I went on deck for retrieval, I saw that there were several fish swimming about the cable we had over the side. They were mahi mahi again, beautiful fish. They glowed in the dark as if they were under a black light, a brilliant blue. It was nice just to watch them.
——–
When I asked Peter if it was okay to share his posting – he said it was.
Hi Pat,
Just got a minute, but go ahead and put it up if you want. It was an “interesting” event. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I think one of the saddest things is just feeling like we were abandoning the boat, it just looked so sad. As if it was alive and we were letting it go, like dropping off a puppy.
PeterUpdate Dec. 12, 2016 : On Monday, a judge rejected Jill Stein’s request for a recount in Pennsylvania.
AUSTIN, Texas — Despite numerous obstacles ranging from the financial to the political, Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein is pushing forward with a controversial recount campaign.
“This is not what democracy looks like,” Stein told MintPress News on Thursday.
“Democracy should be all about transparency and accountability and voter participation. What we see in the recount is exactly the opposite.”
Beginning late last month, Stein agreed to spearhead recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing irregularities in exit polls in these “swing states” and the persistent — though still unproven — claims fueled largely by the Democrats that Russians tampered with the election.
A crowdfunding campaign has netted $7.3 million so far, but the campaign is requesting $9.5 million to cover the costs of forcing a recount in each state. Stein called these high fees a form of “economic extortion” that prevents citizens from easily auditing elections.
“What we have learned from the recount is that there are innumerable obstacles to doing a recount,” Stein said.
The recount continues in Wisconsin, and on Friday, a judge rejected a lawsuit by two political action committees linked to President-elect Donald Trump which sought to block the recount.
“The recount looks like it’s going smoothly and competently,” U.S. District Judge James Peterson said during a hearing, according to the Associated Press.
In Pennsylvania, Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, a Democrat, sought to block the recount. A court hearing to resolve the matter was held on Friday afternoon, with a decision expected on Monday.
“The recount is being fought against on every front,” Stein told MintPress.
Trump and the GOP’s opposition to the recount is evidence that the president-elect knows he does not have a clear mandate to lead and only won the election by a thin margin, Stein said. Though the Electoral College is expected to give the presidency to Trump on Dec. 19, Hillary Clinton is ahead by more than 2.6 million in the popular vote.
“We do not consent to a government that does not represent us and appears to be quite worried about its own legitimacy, given how Donald Trump is trying to fight this,” Stein said
In Michigan, Stein and her legal team are vowing to appeal court decisions that blocked the recount after just two days. She noted that numerous irregularities in Michigan elections were revealed in those two days alone, including discrepancies in the number of ballots cast, as recorded by poll workers, compared with the total number of votes, as recorded by voting machines, in 392 out of 662 voting precincts in Detroit, a primarily Democratic-leaning city. At least 87 optical scanners used to read ballots also broke on Election Day.
“Human errors occur that may be small but which result in the failure to be able to verify and count tens of thousands of votes, and this is routinely happening now in Detroit,” Stein said.
Discrepancies seem concentrated around Detroit’s minority communities. Stein compared the city’s voting infrastructure to its schools, both of which are chronically underfunded in non-white neighborhoods.
“If you live in a community of color you do not have the right to be reassured and check that your vote is ok,” Stein said. “You can do that if you’re in a white, suburban community that doesn’t have the same kinds of infrastructure problems.”
Though alarming, this finding is in line with years of research into race-based voting disenfranchisement. In 2006, Greg Palast |
a bullpen that includes set-up men Dellin Betances, Warren (currently on the DL) and Clippard.
“I can’t tell you the exact blueprint or plan right now, but I think there’s still quite a bit of talent here, both veterans and guys in the prime of their careers.”
The Blue Jays have a handful of pending free agents who, perhaps, may be able to fetch some value in Marco Estrada, Francisco Liriano, Jose Bautista and the currently injured Joe Smith. But without replacements ready and waiting in the minor-leagues, subtracting from the core doesn’t seem likely unless corresponding pieces are involved to support runs at the post-season both this year and next.
Need-for-need baseball trades returning big-league players are more a route toward that.
"I can’t tell you the exact blueprint or plan right now, but I think there’s still quite a bit of talent here, both veterans and guys in the prime of their careers," said Shapiro. "We clearly need to continue to compete, we clearly need to continue to get more talent around those existing players but yes, we have enough of a base of talent here to still contend."
To that end, trading Josh Donaldson, a free agent after the 2018 season, for prospects isn’t on the agenda. Rather, the star third baseman can continue to lead a core that includes position players Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki, who are under contract through 2019 and 2020, respectively, Kendrys Morales, Justin Smoak and Kevin Pillar plus pitchers Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ, Roberto Osuna and Joe Biagini.
Sportsnet Tonight Nicholson-Smith: Jays have chance to compete in '18 with right moves July 04 2017
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While those players are the guts of a club that’s struggled to a 38-45 mark thus far, trailing the Yankees, Rays, Royals, Twins, Angels, Mariners, Orioles and Rangers in the wild-card chase, that’s not necessarily inspiring.
Still, an argument can be made that, even when factoring the roster’s age, the performance of some players should uptick at least a bit based on historical track record. The impact of 20 different players to spend time on the disabled list is impossible to discount, too. Some smart strategic adds to augment the current group could, theoretically, lead to more positive outcomes.
"Injuries clearly take a toll and we knew once we got into our next tier, if that happened that would be an extreme challenge for us because we didn’t have a championship calibre of depth. In addition, the defence has been far worse than we expected as has the offence," said Shapiro. "We’ve got to approach the juncture figuring out how to get better. That getting better refers to this year as well as multiple years. It’s one opportunity where we need to be open minded to how we get better."
Publicly and repeatedly including "this year" when he mentions getting better is further indication Shapiro isn’t intent on the type of tear-down he orchestrated after he took over as general manager of the Cleveland Indians in November 2001. As he notes, "every situation is different, and the past decisions I’ve been a part of can’t be characterized as impacting the current situation or current decisions we have to make."
Toronto Blue Jays on Sportsnet NOW Want to stream every Blue Jays games this season? Sportsnet NOW has you covered. Catch every Blue Jays game, marquee MLB matchups, the 2017 Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, the playoffs and entire World Series.
Beyond the great attendance numbers, the Blue Jays boast a young and engaged country-wide fanbase that is the envy of most big-league clubs, and there is significant risk in alienating them. No one wants to endure the type of lengthy and painful bottoming out teams like the Washington Nationals, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs lived through en route to periods of sustained winning, and the Blue Jays don’t seem poised to dive into the type of sell-off that would lead to one.
"I do think we can build that team without that cycle occurring here, but how we’re situated at the moment might cause for one transitional period between now and getting there," said Shapiro. "If we build this organization through our philosophy with an obsessive focus on acquiring and developing the best young talent and strategically building a balanced major-league roster, we will have an opportunity to sustain a championship-calibre team.
"And I still believe we can get through that transition in an expedited time frame."
For the moment, that means a trade deadline in which the Blue Jays will be neither solely buyer, nor solely seller, but rather a hybrid of both.Debates about "best" and "worst" cities elicit strong feelings. It's a tricky issue because such debates are largely subjective.
So Business Insider attempted to use data to definitively prove which are the most exciting and most boring cities in every state across America.
To do that, we took counts of the number of establishments for 66 different types of businesses — like breweries, art dealers, and museums — that can make a city more "interesting." We sourced data from the Census Bureau's 2015 County Business Patterns program and picked the metro areas with the highest and lowest count of these businesses for our interesting and boring cities.
For example, the New York City metro area has 62 breweries, 762 art dealers, and 305 museums, based on federal data. That ended up being the "most exciting" city in New York. Elmira, the "most boring" city in New York, has two breweries, zero art dealers, and four museums. Of course, this means that bigger cities tended to rank better as "exciting" cities, but that is a trend for most lists of this nature.
The list below breaks out cities by each of the 381 Metropolitan Statistical Areas recognized by the federal government. You will see that some of the metro areas span more than one state (e.g. New York City includes Jersey City and Newark, New Jersey). We have made it clear in the slides below which metro areas span more than one state.
And two states — Rhode Island and Vermont — are not included in the list because they don't have at least two metro areas as defined by the federal government.
Read below to see the most exciting and most boring city in every state in America.Macedonian government has decided to increase the defense budget by 15 percent, Macedonian defense minister Radmila Sekerinska told reporters Monday, December 11,2017, while presenting military budget for 2018.
Macedonian soldier during training military exercise EUBG 2014.
The defense budget for 2018 is estimated for a total of 6.4 billion denars (123.3 million U.S. dollars). "By boosting the budget for the military spending, we are yet again affirming our dedication to meeting our strategic goal -- NATO accession," said Sekerinska.
The minister explained that one of the main priorities of the 2018 budget would be focused on raising the salaries of the entire military structure by 9 percent."About 3.7 billion denars (around 71.3 million U.S. dollars) are planned for salaries and compensations, including pay increase in the entire military," Sekerinska told reporters.
The other part of the budget is expected to be used for goods and services, in order to meet some elementary needs of the army, such as uniforms, boots, spare parts to maintain military equipment, the minister explained.
Macedonia is on the process to integrate NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the EU and want to modernize its armed forces. Since 2005 the army is composed entirely of professionals and volunteer soldiers, fully transformed into a professional army according to the NATO standards.WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will sign executive orders this week aimed at expanding offshore oil drilling and reviewing national monument designations made by his predecessors, continuing the Republican’s assault on Democratic President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy.
The orders could expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and upend public lands protections put in place in Utah, Maine and other states. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president to declare federal lands of historic or scientific value to be “national monuments” and restrict how the lands can be used.
Administration officials on Monday confirmed the expected moves. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the president’s upcoming actions.
Obama used his power under the Antiquities Act to permanently preserve more land and water using national monument designations than any other president. The land is generally off limits to timber harvesting, mining and pipelines, and commercial development.
Utah Republicans were infuriated when Obama created the Bears Ears National Monument in December on more than 1 million acres of land that’s sacred to Native Americans and home to tens of thousands of archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.
Republicans also objected when Obama created the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine last summer on 87,500 acres of donated forestland. The expanse includes part of the Penobscot River and stunning views of Mount Katahdin, Maine’s tallest mountain.
Republicans have asked Trump to reverse the two designations, saying they add an unnecessary layer of federal control and could stymie commercial development.
Trump’s staff has been reviewing the decisions to determine economic impacts, whether the law was followed and whether there was appropriate consultation with local officials.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was grateful that Trump was moving to roll back what Hatch called “massive federal land grabs” by presidents dating to Bill Clinton. Hatch and other Utah Republicans have long lamented Clinton’s 1996 designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah.
“For years, I have fought every step of the way to ensure that our lands are managed by the Utahans that know them best and cherish them deeply,” Hatch said in a statement. “That’s why I’m committed to rolling back the egregious abuse of the Antiquities Act to serve far-left special interests,” including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
Environmental groups blasted Trump’s action.
“Utah’s national monuments are our first line of defense against the very real specter of climate change, providing resiliency to not only the species within them, but also to nearby communities,” said Jen Ujifusa, legislative director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “President Trump and the Utah delegation should focus their energies on solving America’s challenges, rather than unraveling the solutions that are already working.”
Trump also is taking aim at Obama’s action to restrict offshore drilling, notably a December order designating the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing.
The move was seen as an effort to put some finishing touches on Obama’s environmental legacy while also testing Trump’s promise to unleash the nation’s untapped energy reserves.
Obama cited an arcane provision in a 1953 law to ban offshore leases in the waters permanently. The statute says “the president of the United States may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf.”
White House officials said when Obama imposed the order they were confident it would withstand legal challenge, adding that the language of the statute provides no authority for subsequent presidents to undo permanent withdrawals. Environmental groups say a similar logic applies to national monuments and note that no president has acted to undo a monument designation made by a predecessor.
The Atlantic waters placed off-limits to new oil and gas leasing are 31 canyons stretching off the coast of New England south to Virginia. Existing leases aren’t affected.
While Trump appears eager to issue executive orders before his first 100 days as president, the drilling order is “ill-timed, falling just one week after the seventh anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history,” said Dustin Cranor, a spokesman for the environmental group Oceana. He was referring to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Expanding offshore drilling into now-restricted areas in the Arctic and Atlantic would put vibrant ocean ecosystems at risk and harm businesses, including tourism, recreation and fishing, Cranor said.
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Follow Matthew Daly: http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDCOur Kickstarter campaign is over, however it’s not too late to pre-order the Wearhaus Arc!
Just because you visited our Kickstarter page, we want to give you $20 off your order. At checkout, enter the code KICKSTARTER to retrieve the discount. This deal will expire January 10, 2015.
Let’s stay in touch! Here are links to our social media outlets. Share this awesome product and deal with your friends!
For product updates and exclusive band interviews, check out our blog. We post weekly band interviews
Music is a social experience -- much more so than your headphones currently allow for. It's a way to express your individual taste and a key part of your own style and personality.
The Wearhaus Arc is a reimagining of this classic piece of hardware; with all the changes in how we share and listen to music, it's about time headphones evolved to keep up.
As music lovers ourselves, we know that music is one of the most powerful ways to connect with someone - whether they’re an old friend or a new acquaintance. We never liked the way that headphones automatically close you off from everyone around you (although in many cases, that’s useful!), so we built Arc to be the first pair of headphones that let you wirelessly sync up with multiple friends and listen together.
To accomplish this, we designed a mesh networking protocol on top of standard Bluetooth audio profiles, allowing Arc to relay music wirelessly between multiple units and listen in sync. Now you can easily introduce your friends to the artists you love most, or discover new music through people around you.
The Wearhaus App makes sharing music with your friends easy. It works in tandem with Arc, displaying a feed of stations nearby and controlling privacy settings as well as headphone color. Check out a quick demonstration below!
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We’ve tested broadcasting with up to six other people at a time, with a range of 100 feet outdoors and 65 feet indoors. Though theoretically Arc can support unlimited listeners, we're constantly working to test and increase the maximum range and number of connections, and will push firmware improvements to these even after we ship the product.
Just like your musical taste, the headphones you wear say a lot about who you are - for some people, it’s even more of a fashion statement. A key part of the Arc design and experience are the customizable LED light rings. You’re able to choose your personal color at any time using the mobile app or the touch controls. If you’re broadcasting, anyone who joins your station syncs up to your color! Of course, you can also dim or turn off the backlight entirely if you prefer to be more low key.
In our countless hours of user research, we noticed a pattern among almost every brand we tested; the simple act of changing volume or song required whipping out your phone or fumbling with buttons. That seemed like a terribly unnatural way to control your music, so we made sure to tackle that problem too while designing the Arc.
A touch-sensitive panel on the right earcup allows you to control playback with simple, intuitive gestures. You can play/pause your music with a single tap, swipe to move between songs and change volume, or control sharing functionality, all without having to touch your phone.
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No matter what else they can do, we went into this process knowing that the Arc will need to look, sound, and feel great to make a user happy. So we spent months working with our factory to optimize all the essentials.
Arc's battery lasts for 16 continuous hours of solo listening, or 10 hours of sharing. A micro-USB charging cable is included, along with a standard 3.5mm audio cable for those who prefer wired audio. Voice calls and in-game chat are supported by a high-quality digital mic embedded in the earcup, right next to your jaw.
Every part of the Arc has undergone rigorous stress and reliability testing, including careful tuning of headband pressure (no more sore ears!) and a super comfortable, form-fitting cushion design that seals out external noise.
40mm 32Ω dual-diaphragm drivers provide a delicate balance between the lows, mids, and highs, making sure no part of your music is overstated or drowned out. We've spent the last few months obsessively tuning Arc's acoustic design, and will continue to do so until production - we want you to give you the best audio quality possible!
The Wearhaus mobile app helps you see what people around you are listening to and instantly tune in. The main screen shows all nearby users’ stations, along with their current song and connected listeners. Selecting immediately adds you to the station, and you’ll start hearing exactly what everyone else is listening to. The station page lets you chat with the other listeners, upvote the channel owner and bookmark the song for later. A smartphone isn’t required to use the Arc, but our mobile app significantly enhances the social experience that the headphones create. You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with
sound 00:00 00:00 We’re totally platform agnostic; regardless of whether you’re listening to music from iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, or even watching a video on YouTube, you can stream any audio to people nearby. You can even plug in with an auxiliary cable and still share with others. Our app will be available on iOS and Android at launch, with other mobile platforms soon after. We’re totally platform agnostic; regardless of whether you’re listening to music from iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, or even watching a video on YouTube, you can stream any audio to people nearby. You can even plug in with an auxiliary cable and still share with others. Our app will be available on iOS and Android at launch, with other mobile platforms soon after.
The first Arc prototypes were built in July and August 2013. Soon afterwards we joined Highway1, a 4-month hardware incubator run by PCH International.
Our manufacturing partner, based out of Shenzhen and with 20+ years of high-end headphone experience, got involved in our design very early on; we’ve been working with them since January 2014, began design for manufacture (DFM) in April, and are on track to ship in early January 2015! We opened up website for pre-orders in May, when we had the first presentable prototype ready. That helped us cover the design-for-manufacture costs and bring us to a production-ready state. Now we’re at a very exciting point on this journey, where we can begin shipping our headphones in January! We started this campaign to raise the funds that will hopefully get us all the way through our production run, and get the Arc off the assembly line and delivered to your eager ears. More importantly, we want to grow the community of passionate music listeners in the Wearhaus Arc community. The headphones are fantastic for listening to music with your close friends, and the more users, the more exciting the Wearhaus Arc becomes. We’d love your support and hope you will become a backer. THANKS EVERYONE! We reached our $200K goal. More LED features for all! [Previous post - WOW! We passed our $150K stretch goal and now each and every Arc will receive active noise cancelling through a firmware update after launch. Thank you so much for sharing and helping us reach this amazing goal! We promised something colorful and here it is. If we hit $200K, we will make your Arc LED lights extra special by adding pulsing patterns, multicolor options and access to any color in the RGB spectrum.] [Previous post - We hit our goal in the first 4 days of our campaign! We're super excited to see so many people interested in the Wearhaus Arc. As a reward to all of our early supporters, we'll be introducing some stretch goals that make the Arc even cooler! Since so many people have requested active noise canceling, we decided that we'll include it as a stretch goal for our campaign! If we are able to raise at least $150,000 before the end of the campaign, we'll add active noise canceling to the Wearhaus Arc! This won't be available immediately when we ship in January, but will be enabled through a firmware update using the Wearhaus app a few months afterwards.]Data sets
We used a data set of 530 sample plots located in the Amazon region (Fig. 1) compiled in the RAINFOR data set28,29 and curated at ForestPlots.net30. This data set includes a number of plot networks including Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring, PPBio (Brazilian Program for Biodiversity Research) and the Alwyn H. Gentry Forest Transect Dataset. Many of the plots are also included in the Amazon Tree Diversity Network used by ter Steege et al.1 We restricted the analysis to sites below 500 m.a.s.l., in old growth forests (excluding any successional, burnt or logged), occurring on terra firme substrate (excluding swamp and seasonally flooded forests) and excluding cerrado. This allowed us to minimize the possible influence of rare species restricted to rarer and poorly sampled forest types and to ensure that we restricted our questions to the dominant Amazon formations growing on unflooded terrain. The data set consists of repeated measurements of tree diameter (D; diameter at 1.3 m or above buttresses) and species identity of all trees ≥10 cm D, following a standard protocol31. The mean plot size was 0.69 ha (range 0.04–25.0 ha). All recorded species names were checked against the Tropicos database using the Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (TNRS v3.2 (ref. 32)) and corrected as necessary. Morphospecies were considered to be unidentified. Wood density values were taken from the Global Wood Density Database33,34. The 530 plot data set contained 206,135 trees from 3,458 species, consisting of 114,696 Mg of biomass. For productivity analysis, we used a subset of 221 multiple census plots with at least 2 years between the initial and final censuses, in total accounting for 1,231 Mg biomass per year of aboveground woody productivity. Finally, all analyses were repeated on a data set restricted to 326 plots (148 plots for productivity), where at least 80% of stems within the plot were identified to species, in order to test whether the level of identification in the data set influenced results (see Supplementary Figs 8–11 and Supplementary Tables 4–8 for results based on this data set).
Data analysis
We treated our data as a sample of the terra firme forests of Amazonia and analysed the data set as a whole, rather than at the plot level. Stem abundance and biomass of each species were calculated using the first census of each plot (across all plots 79.0% of all stems were identified to species). Species-level stem abundance was calculated as the total number of stems of a species. Species-level biomass was calculated as the sum of biomass of all stems of a species. Stem-level biomass was calculated using the moist forest biomass equation based on diameter, wood density and height from Chave et al.35, with height based on the region-specific Weibull equations from Feldpausch et al.36 For monocots (families Arecaceae and Strelitziaceae), an Arecaceae-specific equation was used to estimate biomass from diameter only37.
For productivity, we used the 221 multi-census plot data set (‘productivity data set’) and only the stems alive in the first census of each plot (for consistency with the stem abundance and biomass analyses). Mean stem-level productivity (P stem ) was calculated as the mean annual productivity of each stem across all census intervals for which it was present.
where N C is the number of censuses for which an individual stem is alive for, P i is the productivity of a stem in census interval i. We include the productivity of stems in the census interval in which they recruited, assuming a D of 10 cm at the beginning of the census interval. In cases where the point of measurement (POM) was changed between censuses, we used the diameter at a standardized POM to avoid artefacts associated with disjoint diameter sequences38. To estimate productivity of a species across all plots (P species ), we summed the productivity of each stem of that species. See Talbot et al.39 for a discussion of the estimation of productivity; the methods used here are the equivalent of R 2 (for recruits) and G 2 (for POM changes) in Talbot et al.39 In cases where individuals subsequently died in the second plot census, it was not possible to estimate productivity for these stems. In some cases, this was true of all stems of a species (2.2% of species). Hence, the species contributions to productivity are based on a slightly smaller number of trees than contributions to stem abundance and biomass. We assume that the mortality is evenly spread between species and therefore that species relative contributions to total stems, biomass and productivity should not be affected.
For monocot stems, which lack radial growth, we used an alternative method to estimate productivity as repeated height measurements were not available. Biomass for palms can be reasonably estimated using diameter measurements, with few species-specific biases37. Therefore, we used an alternative method by estimating necromass production. This method requires an adequate sample of stems so we limited the analysis to the monocot species classed as stem hyperdominants and hence productivity of rare palms was not estimated. We assumed that the populations of each palm species are in approximate equilibrium, such that the long-term stem biomass mortality rates equal long-term stem biomass production rates. We derived the stem necromass production rates for each palm tree that died, based on its standing biomass (using the allometric model from Goodman et al.37) estimated from its last recorded D, allocated equally over the time period from the initial plot census date to the census date in which it died. As the dicot productivity estimates do not include the 10-cm D inner cylinder of the stem, for equivalence the biomass before death used in the calculation was reduced by the biomass estimate of a 10-cm D palm. Hence,
where B final is the biomass estimated using last D measured for the stem, B 10cm is the biomass of a 10-cm palm, C 1 is the initial census date and C dead is the census date in which the palm was recorded as dead. Palm species productivity was then calculated as the sum of P stem across all dead trees of the species.
Trees not identified to species level were used only to determine the denominator for the relative contribution of each identified species to the total data set. Species-level stem abundance and biomass relative contributions were calculated twice, once using the full 530 plot data set and once using the 221 plot productivity data set for use in further analyses comparing between measures.
To address the first question ‘are biomass and productivity also dominated by few taxa?’, we determined the minimum number of species required to account for 50% of total stems, biomass or productivity in our plots. For simplicity, we term the species contributing 50% of stems ‘stem hyperdominants’, the species contributing 50% of biomass ‘biomass hyperdominants’ and the species contributing 50% of productivity ‘productivity hyperdominants’.
To address the second question ‘is the contribution of each species to biomass and productivity equal to its contribution to stem abundance?’, we calculated the contribution of the stem hyperdominants to the total biomass and productivity of the data set. For biomass, this was based on the full data set, whereas for productivity this was based on the productivity data set, with stem hyperdominant species also defined using the productivity data set to ensure consistency between the species measures. Further, we regressed the percentage contribution of each species to biomass and productivity against their percentage contribution to stems. The regressions were performed using the full data set for biomass, and the productivity data set for productivity. Data were not normally distributed and therefore were log-transformed before analysis.
To address the third question ‘to what extent do maximum diameter and wood density determine which species dominate stem abundance, biomass and productivity?’, we first calculated maximum D as the 95th percentile value for each species with at least 20 individuals included in the full 530 plot data set (and from any census, in total 1,319 species). Only the maximum of all diameter measures of an individual stem was used in the estimation of species maximum D. We then ordered the data set from highest to lowest trait value (maximum D or wood density) and plotted the cumulative percentage of species, stems, biomass and productivity against the trait value, and determined the contribution of the largest and highest wood density species to the different measures. Only the 1,303 species for which a species-specific wood density was available were included in the wood density analysis. In addition, we regressed the residuals from the linear model predicting percentage contribution to biomass or to productivity from percentage contribution to stems (see above) against trait value to examine the relationships with trait values when abundance is accounted for. These analyses were performed on the full data set for biomass and the reduced data set for productivity. To test for a relationship between species contribution to stem abundance and trait values, we regressed trait values against percentage contribution to stem abundance. Maximum D and wood density values were only available for approximately one-third of species in the data set, with rare species typically being those without a value. Although this exclusion of many rare species in this analysis could introduce unknown biases to the results, it also excludes additional noise in the data set from including species that have not been adequately sampled.
Regional analysis
To investigate if the patterns found within the whole data set were consistent within different Amazon regions and to find out how the hyperdominant species are spread between regions, we repeated all analyses at the regional level. We used the Feldpausch et al.36 region delimitation based on substrate maximum geological age that was also used for height allometry (Guiana Shield, Brazilian Shield, East-Central and Western Amazonia), but further split the Western Amazon region at −8° latitude into Northwestern Amazon and Southwestern Amazon, following a similar delimitation by ter Steege et al.1 that separates the mostly aseasonal north from the more seasonal south. Species required to reach 50% of a regions stems/biomass/productivity were considered regional hyperdominants.
Unidentified stems
Stems in the data set that were not identified to species-level were treated slightly differently. In hyperdominance calculations, these stems were used only to determine the denominator (total stems, biomass and productivity in the data set) in the estimation of known species contributions. To estimate their biomass and productivity, a wood density value is required. Wood density values for such stems were applied at the genus- or family-level, if known. For stems with no family-level identification, or where no wood density value was available for the species, genus or family, we applied the plot mean wood density value. Unidentified stems were excluded from further analyses. Because we include unidentified stems in hyperdominance calculations, the percentage of species necessary to account for 50% of total stems/biomass/productivity will be a slightly over-estimated as the exact total number of species in the data set is unknown because of incomplete botanical identifications.
All analyses were carried out in R version 2.15.1 (ref. 40).Editor's Picks Where should Giancarlo go? Will the Marlins' new owners trade Giancarlo Stanton and his $295 million contract? As the hot stove fires up, where the slugger plays in 2018 is already a hot topic. We pick the best landing spot for the 2017 home run champ.
Will the Marlins new owners trade Giancarlo Stanton and his $295 million contract? As the hot stove fires up, where the National League MVP plays in 2018 is already this offseason's hottest topic. Here are the projected numbers for the next 10 seasons for the 2017 major league home run champ.
Go to: White Sox | Angels | Astros | Phillies | Cardinals | Dodgers | Yankees | Red Sox | Cubs | Giants
Stanton projects to a total 43.4 WAR for the South Siders over 10 seasons, the fourth-lowest total of the 10 projected landing spots.
Projections -- Chicago White Sox, 2018-27 Year BA OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OPS+ WAR 2018.266.365.621 141 507 96 135 26 2 50 118 75 170 165 6.7 2019.264.365.616 138 492 92 130 28 2 47 112 74 163 164 6.3 2020.266.365.616 134 482 89 128 27 2 46 110 71 154 164 6.2 2021.263.362.604 130 467 85 123 26 2 43 103 68 147 160 5.7 2022.258.357.580 124 445 77 115 25 2 38 93 65 136 153 5.0 2023.254.350.544 118 425 69 108 23 2 32 82 59 122 142 4.0 2024.251.343.525 110 402 63 101 21 1 29 74 53 109 135 3.4 2025.250.336.505 102 376 56 94 19 1 25 66 46 93 128 2.8 2026.243.321.477 94 350 48 85 17 1 21 57 37 79 117 2.0 2027.241.311.448 86 324 41 78 14 1 17 49 30 68 106 1.3
ZiPS shows Stanton having fewer hits (1,096), doubles (218), triples (15) and third-fewest homers (315) for the Angels than any other team in these projections.
Projections -- Los Angeles Angels, 2018-27 Year BA OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OPS+ WAR 2018.263.353.584 141 514 90 135 26 2 45 114 68 166 155 6.2 2019.261.352.581 138 499 87 130 27 2 43 109 67 159 154 5.9 2020.262.353.582 134 488 84 128 26 2 42 107 64 151 154 5.8 2021.260.351.569 130 473 80 123 25 2 39 100 62 144 150 5.3 2022.255.344.543 124 451 73 115 24 2 34 90 58 133 142 4.5 2023.251.339.508 118 431 66 108 22 1 29 80 54 120 132 3.6 2024.248.333.494 110 407 59 101 20 1 26 73 48 106 126 3.0 2025.247.325.482 102 380 53 94 18 1 23 64 41 91 121 2.5 2026.240.312.452 94 354 45 85 16 1 19 56 34 78 109 1.7 2027.235.300.422 86 327 39 77 14 1 15 48 27 66 98 1.0
Stanton's 935 RBIs over a 10-year span for the Astros is the third-most for these ZiPS projections.
Projections -- Houston Astros, 2018-27 Year BA OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OPS+ WAR 2018.266.360.620 141 511 95 136 27 2 50 127 71 167 166 6.9 2019.266.360.614 138 497 91 132 28 2 47 121 70 160 164 6.6 2020.267.361.617 134 486 88 130 28 2 46 119 67 152 165 6.5 2021.265.358.603 130 471 83 125 26 2 43 112 64 145 161 6.0 2022.258.351.570 124 449 76 116 25 2 37 101 61 134 151 5.0 2023.254.345.543 118 429 68 109 24 2 32 89 56 120 142 4.2 2024.252.339.526 110 405 62 102 22 1 29 81 50 107 136 3.6 2025.248.329.501 102 379 55 94 19 1 25 71 43 91 127 2.8 2026.244.318.477 94 352 47 86 17 1 21 62 35 78 117 2.1 2027.239.306.445 86 326 40 78 14 1 17 52 28 66 106 1.3
Stanton's 743 runs, 48.0 WAR and.594 OBP for the Phillies over 10 years are the best for any team in the projections.
Projections -- Philadelphia Phillies, 2018-27 Year BA OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OPS+ WAR 2018.276.371.657 141 510 100 141 28 2 54 126 73 163 171 7.3 2019.275.371.653 138 495 96 136 30 2 51 120 72 156 170 7.0 2020.277.371.655 134 484 93 |
Bute House, Scotland’s Downing Street.
But Ms. Sturgeon wants more than Mr. Cameron, who has ruled out full fiscal autonomy, has so far offered. She is pressing for new powers to tax and spend, the right to set Scotland’s own minimum wage, and autonomy in welfare policy to counter the tough budget cuts promised by Mr. Cameron.
In Brussels last week, she warned that if Britain votes to leave the European Union, Scotland might demand another shot at independence.
Ms. Sturgeon is a fan of the Danish television drama “Borgen,” in which the female leader of a small party unexpectedly becomes prime minister. She is a fan, too, of Scandinavian-style social democracy.The three largest ancestries in Hume City in 2016 were Australian, English and Italian.
Ancestry defines the cultural association and ethnic background of an individual going back three generations. Ancestry is a good measure of the total size of cultural groups in Hume City regardless of where they were born or what language they speak.
Ancestry data, should be combined with data on Birthplace, Language Spoken at Home and Religion for a more complete picture of Hume City's ethnic characteristics.
Please note that the "Australian Aboriginal" and "Torres Strait Islander" categories in this topic are not considered to be a reliable estimate of the indigenous peoples of Australia. For information on this group, please use the "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population" found on the Population page.
Please note: Due to changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals in 2016, counts of ancestry groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS. For more information see notes on data confidentiality.The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:15 AM
Scottsdale plans to buy nearly 2,400 acres of state trust land at an auction next week, potentially growing its McDowell Sonoran Preserve to 30,165 acres.
The Arizona State Land Department will auction off the property at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 1616 W. Adams St. The minimum opening bid is $21.3 million, the land’s appraised value, according to the city.
The mountainous property, which features boulders, washes and upper-Sonoran Desert plants, is generally east of 120th Street and west of 136th Street, north of Thunderbird Road and south of the Bell Road alignment in east-central Scottsdale.
“It’s an important acquisition because it includes a portion of the McDowell Mountains’ ridgeline and areas with rich vegetation and abundant wildlife,” city spokesman Mike Phillips said.
If successful, Scottsdale will be less than 5,000 acres away from its goal to buy up roughly 34,400 acres for the preserve.
Scottsdale secured an $8 million state grant to help cover the cost. The money is a Growing Smarter state trust-land acquisition matching grant that the Arizona State Parks Board agreed to this year.
The city plans to pay the remaining cost using dollars from two city sales-tax revenue streams dedicated solely to the nature preserve. Scottsdale would issue bonds and pay off the debt with the sales taxes.
In October, the City Council passed a resolution allowing the city manager or another designee to submit bids for the land. If Scottsdale wins, the city would have to pay $2.66 million on the day of the auction and the remaining cost within 30 days, according to a city report.
The McDowell Sonoran Preserve stretches across 27,800 acres.
The 2,365 acres up for auction abuts the eastern Fountain Hills McDowell Mountain Preserve.
The rugged land boasts boulder outcrops, exposed bedrock and parts of the southern ridgeline of the McDowell Mountains, according to the report. It is home to the Taliesin, Quartz and Lost Dog washes.
Preserve Director Kroy Ekblaw said the land would remain primarily in a natural condition, with roughly 5.5 miles of planned and existing trails connecting to roughly 195 miles of other preserve trails.Before you go into this article, make sure you evaluate your state of fitness well: do not attempt RX unless you're some kind of Khalipa/Froning mix or a similar breed of Crossfit beasts.
Here are the top 5 workouts we think deserve to be labelled as hard. Or brutal.
Why are hard MetCons so attractive?
Many athletes perceive strenuous exercise as threatening, but at the same time extremely exciting. Before workouts we usually enter the so called fight-or-flight mode, which is fuelled by adrenaline (also known as epinephrine) and other stress hormones. It’s similar to how we feel about other extreme, adrenaline sports: a pinch of doubt and a curiosity “Can I made it?”. Completing a hard workout is a goal, and achieving it – this is a form of reward seeking behaviour which generates the feelings of satisfaction, excitement, confidence and make us feel alive.
So if you’re an advanced athlete who needs some adrenaline rush, try of one of these:
1. The Iron Triathlon
Warning: Done by Jason Khalipa and Dan Bailey.
1-20 reps of Linda:
for time
Deadlift 1.5xBW
Bench Press 1xBW
Squat Clean 0.75xBW
2. Legless from CrossFit Games 2013
Warning: Everything needs to be legless – even descending from the rope!
For time:
27 Thrusters 43/30 kg
4 legless rope climbs
21 Thrusters 43/30 kg
3 legless rope climbs
15 Thrusters 43/30 kg
2 legless rope climbs
9 Thrusters 43/30 kg
1 legless rope climb
3. King Kong
3 rounds for time:
1x Deadlift 206/147 kg
2x Muscle-up
3x Squat clean 113/70 kg
4x Handstand push-up
Sam Briggs and Sam Dancer
4. Grace with 102 kg by Rich Froning
for time:
30x Clean & Jerk
5. The Don
For time:
66 Deadlifts, 50 kg
66 Box jump, 60 cm
66 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood (24 kg)
66 Knees to elbows
66 Sit-ups
66 Pull-ups
66 Thrusters, 30 kg
66 Wall ball shots, 9 kg
66 Burpees
66 Double-unders
Source: CrossFit, CrossFit GamesWho is a Class Member
You may be eligible for a refund from Amazon if you were billed for unauthorized charges made by a child, and the charges were for in-app purchases made between November 2011 and May 2016.
Settlement Amount
The refund amount any one Amazon customer will receive is not known at this time and will depend on several factors.
Proof of Purchase
Proof of purchase is not required as Amazon will send emails to customers who are eligible. Customers can also visit the “file a claim” link below and login to their Amazon account to check refund eligibility instead of waiting for an email.
Please note those who do not qualify for a refund from Amazon will see the following statement when accessing their account: “Sorry, but you do not appear to have any potentially eligible in-app purchase refunds as defined by the court. Thank you for being an Amazon Appstore customer.”
Claim Form
Important Dates
05/28/18: Deadline to apply for a refund
Settlement Notes
Amazon (Unauthorized In-app Charges)
Online powerhouse Amazon.com, Inc. is nearing completion of the exhaustive court proceedings that saw the Pacific Northwest’s biggest provider put at risk regarding wrongful charges to customers.
Federal courts ruled against Amazon in the spring of 2016, and the long process of notifying potential class members is finally coming to an end. The Federal Trade Commission has since handed down a final judgement regarding perceived wrongful charges to involved customers/class members. Extensive litigation was ultimately called to an end in lieu of decided refund procedures between the FTC and Amazon.com. The lawsuit revolved around Amazon who offered a number of “free” applications which resulted in parents granting permission to children. Once these products promoted in-app purchases from the user, parents were unknowingly charged by applications that were believed to be free.
The involved class includes numerous Amazon users who used these various applications between November 2011 and May 2016. Upper limit contentions are to be denied as the final inclusion date was ruled upon with the preliminary hearing back in May 2016. Qualifying members should have received notification regarding their involvement via mail or email. Claim filing can be submitted entirely online while the option to file by mail is still viable, though more cumbersome.
Early estimates place Amazon at risk for at least $70 million, though that relies heavily on member filings. The Federal Trade Commission’s judgment is based greatly in their general effort to promote market competition and fair opportunity to all consumers. Many found Amazon to fall short of proper notice to users as no password or other credential requirement was required. This failure to protect user accounts, in addition to the fact that parents were not informed of charges until the later bill, came at the cost of general liability to the defendant. Those initially included are these presumed parties to have been effected by users under the age of 18 making these in-app purchases.
Per Consumer Affairs, the Federal Trade Commission believes, “This case demonstrates what should be a bedrock principle for all companies — you must get customers’ consent before you charge them…Consumers affected by Amazon’s practices can now be compensated for charges they didn’t expect or authorize.”
Similar actions have been taken in the past by the Federal Trade Commission. Companies such as Google and Apple have been involved in similar, wrongful-charge suits which resulted in eventual refunds. The effected Amazon customers have until May 26, 2018 to file for their owed refund requests. Individual filings do not have any ceiling for distributions. Major corporations will always be at the middle of court cases as to make an example for the rest of the market. The result is an economic market which avoids any one brand extending too far.
Contact Information
Consumers needing more information in regards to the Amazon In-App Refund can contact an Amazon agent at 866-216-1072.
Settlement WebsiteINTER 1
ESTRELLA DE CHILE 3
article continues below
Soccer can bring happiness and joy in victory. In defeat, it can also generate frustration, anger, and a sense of injustice.
For Vancouver’s Inter FC, it was the latter on Sunday afternoon in Langley.
Seeking their first-ever B.C. Provincial Men’s A Cup title, Inter FC suffered a 3-1 extra-time loss to Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) Premier Division rivals Estrella de Chile (EDC) of Burnaby.
Inter, who qualified for the Provincial Cup after a fourth-place finish in VMSL Premier this season, made a strong start in the final at Willoughby Community Park in Langley on May 10.
Instead, Mohammed Habib scored for EDC against the run of play at the 24-minute mark. The Burnaby side held Inter at bay until late in the second half when Joseph Marrello converted a penalty kick to send the final into extra time.
The game tied, the decisive, if not controversial, moment of the match happened in the first period of extra time.
EDC was awarded a penalty after the referee adjudged Habib was held back in the Inter box by defender Bryan Fong. Habib converted the spot kick for a 2-1 EDC lead.
To go ahead 3-1, Rizal Ganief then ensured EDC’s first-ever Provincial Cup title and a berth in the Canadian Club National Championships with a third goal just before the final whistle.
EDC celebrated. A frustrated and angry Inter side headed to the dressing room feeling Sunday’s final had been determined by the “man in the middle.”
“I think we had way more of the ball. I thought we played way better soccer than they did,” said Inter head coach Joe Marrello.
“We should have been up three or four to nothing in the first 15 minutes, but they got a nice goal. Their guy took it well, so hats off to him. It was the only chance they had all game. After taking a 1-0 lead, Marrello said EDC defensively “parked the bus.”
“We battled, battled and battled, and we knew it was going to pay off, and we got the tying goal.
“As far as we were concerned, we were going to win it in extra time, but the referee decided he had other ideas.”
There were also three red cards from the referee in extra time. Inter finished Sunday’s final with nine men after Tino Cucca and Colin Streckmann were given their marching orders, while EDC’s Stedman Espinoza was also sent off.
“Clearly, he was in way over his head,” Marrello said of the referee.
Sunday’s result was particularly disappointing for Inter, as this spring’s Provincial Cup play downs became a wide-open competition after Richmond Hibernians surprised VMSL Premier Division and Imperial Cup double winners West Van FC and eliminated them in the Round of 16.
“When we went into the tournament, we felt we had a chance of winning it,” Marrello said. “We thought we matched up well with everybody and we felt very confident that we had as good a chance as anyone to be the provincial champions.
“I’m disappointed that we’re not and clearly disappointed because of the way the game was played today. The two teams were not allowed to settle it on their play,” he said.
“There was influence by the obvious.”
While Inter was unsuccessful, three other Vancouver teams claimed B.C. titles in Langley over the weekend. On May 9, Vancouver United FC won the Leeta Sokalski Women’s B Cup after defeating Vancouver Island’s Prospect Lake 7-0, while Croatia SC Threat won the Women’s U-21 Cup with a 4-3 victory over FVNW Barcelona.
On May 10, Westside FC won its third Deryl Hughes Masters Cup title in six years with a penalty shoot-out victory over Croatia SC. With the Over-35 championship win, Westside will represent B.C. at the Western Canadian Masters, which will be held in Vancouver this September.
Simon Fudge has covered the beautiful game in Canada and the United Kingdom for print, web and radio. A gift of family inheritance, he supports Bristol City FC. Reach him at [email protected] certain magical Invoker who recklessly summons the Invoked.
In this article, we will review the Invoked archetype and combos.
Standard Play
The Invoked archetype answers consistency issues with its searching capabilities. A simple Terraforming can fetch their field spell, Reckless Magic Circle, which in turn retrieves Aleister the Invoker. Summoning it triggers its ability to search out the archetype fusion spell – Eidolon Summoning Magic. This also sets the stage for Aleister the Invoker to be appropriately banished when it is sent from the field as a fusion material.
On top of that, Reckless Magic Circle provides protection for the fusion monsters.
When Aleister the Invoker is banished, you can activate Eidolon Summoning Magic‘s effect to add it back to your hand while shuffling the spell back to the deck. During your next turn, you can normal summon Aleister the Invoker again to repeat the process.
Eidolon Summoning Magic also has a broad range of locations to choose its fusion materials from, extending to either player’s graveyard. This makes the fusion summoning process easier while branding the archetype unique fusion summoning method.
With access to Aleister the Invoker and a Light monster available for fusion summoning, the play can end with Merkabah the Invoked on field and Aleister the Invoker back in hand. Not only can you allow your fusion monsters to potentially gain 1000ATK and DEF, it also provides you with a monster in hand as a discard fodder to negate any monster effects with Merkabah the Invoked‘s effect.
Invoked has commonly been touted as a control-based deck. However, the deck does have capabilities for a power play when combined with the Zoodiac engine.
Combo 1
Required cards in hand: Photon Thrasher + Aleister the Invoker. Do note that both cards have their searchers. Photon Thrasher can be searched out by Reinforcements of the Army, and the latter can be fetched by Reckless Magic Circle, and by extension, Terraforming.
Special Summon Photon Thrasher from hand. Normal Summon Aleister the Invoker. Activate its effect to search out Eidolon Summoning Magic. Xyz summon Zoodiac Broadbull using Aleister the Invoker and Photon Thrasher. Detach Aleister the Invoker to search out Zoodiac Marmorat from your deck.
Activate Eidolon Summoning Magic to summon Magallanica the Invoked, using Aleister the Invoker and Zoodiac Marmorat as Fusion Materials. Activate Eidolon Summoning Magic‘s effect from the grave, retrieving your banished Aleister the Invoker back to your hand and shuffling the fusion spell back to the deck.
Xyz summon Zoodiac Boarbow using Zoodiac Broadbull as an xyz material. Xyz summon Zoodiac Tigress using Zoodiac Boarbow as an xyz material. Activate Zoodiac Tigress‘ effect, detaching Photon Thrasher to attach Zoodiac Marmorat from the graveyard as an xyz material onto Zoodiac Tigress.
Activate Zoodiac Tigress‘ effect, detaching Zoodiac Broadbull to summon out a second copy of Zoodiac Marmorat from your deck or hand. Xyz summon Zoodiac Broadbull using Zoodiac Tigress as an xyz material. Activate Zoodiac Broadbull‘s effect, detach Zoodiac Marmorat to summon out a third copy of Zoodiac Marmorat from your deck or hand. Activate Zoodiac Broadbull‘s effect, detach Zoodiac Boarbow to search out Zoodiac Viper.
Xyz summon Gagaga Samurai using the two copies of Zoodiac Marmorat on the field. Detach Zoodiac Marmorat, targeting Gagaga Samurai for its own effect, allowing it to attack twice this turn. Attach Zoodiac Viper to Zoodiac Broadbull as an xyz material. Attack with your monsters. Aleister the Invoker can add1000ATK points to Magallanica the Invoked.
(1900×2) + 1200 + 3300 + 1000 = 9300
Combo 2
An alternate path of plays can be extrapolated from step 13, searching out a different Beast-warrior and xyz summoning into a different monster.
Activate Zoodiac Broadbull‘s effect, detaching Zoodiac Tigress to search out Lunalight Black Sheep. Discard Lunalight Black Sheep to search Polymerisation. Xyz Summon Daigusto Emeral using the two copies of Zoodiac Marmorat on the field. Activate Daigusto Emeral‘s effect, targeting two copies of Zoodiac Marmorat and one copy of Zoodiac Tigress. Shuffle them back for to draw one card. Activate Polymerisation, fusing Magallanica the Invoked with Daigusto Emeral to summon out Elysion the Invoked. Xyz summon Zoodiac Drancia, using Zoodiac Broadbull as an xyz material.
This alternate play ends with a field of Elysion the Invoked and Zoodiac Drancia, a suitable Turn 1 set up that will prove to be a tough board for your opponent to break.
Combo 3
Required cards in hand = Photon Thrasher + Aleister the Invoker
Special Summon Photon Thrasher from hand. Normal Summon Aleister the Invoker. Activate its effect to search out Eidolon Summoning Magic. Xyz summon Zoodiac Broadbull using Aleister the Invoker and Photon Thasher. Detach Aleister the Invoker to search out Zoodiac Marmorat from your deck.
Xyz summon Zoodiac Boarbow using Zoodiac Broadbull as an xyz material. Xyz summon Zoodiac Broadbull using Zoodiac Boarbow as an xyz material. Activate Zoodiac Broadbull‘s effect, detaching Photon Thrasher, search out Zoodiac Viper.
Activate Eidolon Summoning Magic, fusing both monsters in the graveyard to summon Merkabah the Invoked.
Activate Zoodiac Viper‘s effect from hand. Chain Merkabah the Invoked‘s effect to negate it, discarding Zoodiac Marmorat from hand as cost. Zoodiac Viper is hence banished. Xyz summon Zoodiac Tigress using Zoodiac Broadbull as an xyz material. Activate Zoodiac Tigress‘ effect, detaching Zoodiac Broadbull to attach Zoodiac Marmorat from the graveyard as an xyz material. Activate Zoodiac Tigress‘ effect, detaching Zoodiac Broadbull to summon out a second copy of Zoodiac Marmorat from your deck or hand.
Xyz summon Zoodiac Drancia using Zoodiac Tigress as an xyz material. Detach Zoodiac Marmorat to summon out a third copy of Zoodiac Marmorat from your deck or hand. Xyz Summon Daigusto Emeral using the two copies of Zoodiac Marmorat on the field. Activate its effect to shuffle any three monster cards in grave to the deck and draw 1 card.
End off by activating Eidolon Summoning Magic from grave, returning Aleister the Invoker back to hand.
This third possible play brings Merkabah the Invoked onto the field instead, while earning a draw off Daigusto Emeral to compensate for the resources used. With Aleister the Invoker returned to hand, you have at least one monster card as a discard fodder to negate monster effects. This play does, however, costs a Zoodiac Viper to be banished.
Conclusion
In the next article, we will introduce the trend of Thunder Dragon and explain how it contributes to the deck.
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TweetHow is the brain engaged when people are thinking about their hopes, dreams, and obligations? Regulatory focus theory postulates two classes of personal goals and motivational systems for pursuing them. Ideal goals, such as hopes and aspirations, are pursued via the promotion system through “making good things happen.” Ought goals, such as obligations or responsibilities, are pursued via the prevention system through “keeping bad things from happening.” This study investigated the neural correlates of ideal and ought goal priming using an event-related fMRI design with rapid masked stimulus presentations. We exposed participants to their self-identified ideal and ought goals, yoked-control words and non-words. We also examined correlations between goal-related activation and measures of regulatory focus, behavioral activation/inhibition, and negative affect. Ideal priming led to activation in frontal and occipital regions as well as caudate and thalamus, whereas prevention goal priming was associated with activation in precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex. Individual differences in dysphoric/anxious affect and regulatory focus, but not differences in BAS/BIS strength, were predictive of differential activation in response to goal priming. The regions activated in response to ideal and ought goal priming broadly map onto the cortical midline network that has been shown to index processing of self-referential stimuli. Individual differences in regulatory focus and negative affect impact this network and appeared to influence the strength and accessibility of the promotion and prevention systems. The results support a fundamental distinction between promotion and prevention and extend our understanding of how personal goals influence behavior.
Introduction
A person's hopes, dreams, and wishes, whether attained or unattained, have always been seen as central to an individual's identity—as the essence of who a person is because they represent that which a person strives to be (James, 1890/1948). The kind of individual we wish to be, and the kind of person we believe we must be, are powerful influences on behavior and affect whether we see ourselves as succeeding or failing to attain those wishes and obligations (Kelly, 1955). Classic (Allport, 1955) as well as contemporary (Morf and Mischel, 2012) personality theorists, for example, have used the concept of becoming as a rubric for understanding individual differences in motivational orientation along with the affective consequences of failing to be that which we want to be or must be. Personal goals are real in a profoundly psychological sense—dreams and obligations are “truth” for individuals whether or not they “come true.”
The goal construct in psychology captures much of how hopes, dreams, and wishes guide behavior and experience. Behavioral scientists have conceptualized personality as reflecting differences among people in terms of the higher-order goals they pursue and their characteristic ways of pursuing them (Cantor and Zirkel, 1990). Indeed, goals are a central construct in theories of behavior because they provide a unified conceptual framework linking internal states (needs, motives, beliefs) and the social world. When people believe they have attained an important goal, they may feel joyful, satisfied, fulfilled, or worthy; when people believe they have failed to attain a goal, they may feel inadequate, hopeless, worthless, guilty, or ashamed (Sullivan, 1953; Rogers, 1961). Yet, to date there has been little research examining how neural systems are engaged when people think about their personal goals, both when the goals are attained as well as when they are not.
In an influential review, Austin and Vancouver (1996) defined goals as internal representations of desired states and identified approach and avoidance goals as among the most important classes of goals. The vast behavioral science and neuroscience literatures on approach and avoidance attest to the centrality of these dimensions for understanding goal-directed behavior. Those literatures are dominated by the behavioral activation and inhibition systems model, postulating brain/behavior systems that underlie temperament-based approach and avoidance as well as dispositional positive and negative affectivity (Watson et al., 1999). Both the behavioral activation system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) are hypothesized to regulate proximal goal-directed behaviors in response to cues for reward, in the case of BAS, or threat, in the case of BIS (Carver and Scheier, 1998). The two systems each represent a locus for the interaction of cognitive and affective processes, and each is associated with neural circuitry identified originally on the basis of animal research and shown to have analogs in the human brain (Gray, 1990, 1994).
Many personality and social theorists take a complementary perspective on the regulation of approach and avoidance, emphasizing abstract, higher-order goals that are cross-situational and integrated within the individual's sense of self. Higgins (1997) proposed a theory of regulatory focus that postulated two motivational systems for attainment of desired outcomes. Each is activated by contextual cues but also manifests trait-like properties across situations. Individual differences in regulatory focus are stable over time and predict which goals will be more likely to be used to guide behavior, as well as the strategies and means for pursuing them (Strauman, 1996). The behavioral and affective consequences of individual differences in regulatory focus are well-established (Higgins, 2012).
RFT draws on prior studies of self-evaluation and discrepancy monitoring and describes two regulatory systems that serve critical but distinct survival needs. The promotion system, which develops in response to children's need for nurturance (Bowlby, 1988), supports the attainment of positive outcomes by strategic approach, i.e., by “making good things happen.” The promotion system is particularly active in the pursuit of ideals (aspirations, advancement, and accomplishment)—that is, the kind of person an individual can be or might be. The prevention system, which develops in response to children's need for security (Bowlby, 1988), also supports the attainment of positive outcomes, but instead by strategic avoidance, i.e., by “keeping bad things from happening.” The prevention system is particularly active in pursuit of oughts (fulfillment of responsibilities, duties, and obligations)—that is, the kind of person an individual believes she/he must be or is supposed to be.
Individuals vary both in the characteristic ways they construe their goals and their chosen strategies to pursue them. As a consequence of variation in life experiences, a person might acquire increased value or personal relevance for one type of goal. For example, a strong value placed on prevention goals will result in goal pursuit strategies that involve keeping bad things from happening—for example, by avoiding pitfalls and negative outcomes in the service of ultimate goal attainment. In addition, the same desired end-state can be represented in different ways by prevention-oriented vs. promotion-oriented individuals. The same goal—such as being honest—could be represented as an ideal or aspiration (a promotion goal) or as an obligation or responsibility (a prevention goal).
In this article, we examine the neural correlates of priming personal goals using ideals and oughts as exemplars of the two types of goal representations postulated within RFT. We consider three largely unexplored questions about how the brain is engaged in pursuit of ideals and oughts. First, does priming of an individual's ideal vs. ought goals, already shown to result in distinct cognitive, motivational, and affective responses, also lead to discriminable patterns of neural activation? Second, do activation patterns associated with ideal vs. ought goals vary as a function of individual differences relevant to self-regulation? And third, since self-regulatory cognition is inherently connected with affect and with vulnerability to disorders such as depression and anxiety, do activation patterns observed following ideal and/or ought goal priming vary depending on an individual's current level of negative affect?
Based on existing findings in social cognitive neuroscience, there are several different patterns of neural activation that might characterize responses to priming of promotion and prevention goals (and, in turn, contribute to the construct validity of regulatory focus). One set of regions are those structures known to be activated by reward or threat cues, consistent with the role of BAS and BIS as mechanisms for individual differences in sensitivity to such cues (Amodio et al., 2007). There are conceptual links between the BAS system and the promotion system, since promotion goal pursuit requires responsiveness to opportunities for rewards in the environment and the use of strategic approach behaviors to achieve desired ends. There are similar links between the BIS system and the prevention system, because of the relevance of the strategic avoidance of negative outcomes in prevention goal pursuit. BAS-related regions implicated in response to incentives include the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, with the former a locus for the coding of predictions regarding positive outcomes and the latter important for the processing of the hedonic significance of stimuli (Bjork et al., 2004; McClure et al., 2004; Kringelbach, 2005; Clithero et al., 2011). Individual differences in BIS strength have been associated with circuits linking the hippocampus, subiculum, and related structures (sometimes also including the basolateral and centromedial nuclei of the amygdala) (e.g., Reuter et al., 2004). Thus, the neural correlates of promotion vs. prevention could reflect the neuroanatomical distinctions between the substrates of BAS and BIS.
Another potential set of neural correlates of promotion/prevention goal activation is the group of regions referred to collectively as cortical midline structures (Northoff and Bermpohl, 2004; Lou et al., 2010; Qin and Northoff, 2011). These structures, which typically include the orbital and adjacent medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex, are regarded as an anatomical unit because of strong reciprocal projections among the individual structures and similar patterns of connectivity with other brain regions. They also are characterized as a network that subserves the representation and processing of self-referential stimuli (Beer and Ochsner, 2006). This set of regions may underlie the activation of promotion and prevention goals that are functionally linked to aspects of one's identity, including higher-order goals representing one's ideal self or ought self.
A third possibility is that the promotion and prevention goal representations overlap with the Self-Memory System postulated by Conway (SMS; Conway and Pleydell-Pierce, 2000). The SMS is a conceptual framework linking self and memory that consists of two main components: the working self and the autobiographical memory knowledge base. Drawing in part on studies of self-discrepancy and autobiographical memory (e.g., Strauman, 1990), Conway (2001) proposed that frontotemporal networks mediate the connection between anterior regions associated with the working self (e.g., one's currently active goals and beliefs) and the autobiographical knowledge base, accessed through temporal lobe regions, needed to effectively pursue such goals within a dynamic interpersonal context.
Several studies have examined associations between regulatory focus and brain activity, with the evidence to date suggesting a link between promotion/prevention and midline cortical structures as well as a pattern of prefrontal cortex asymmetry akin to that observed in the BAS/BIS literature (Davidson and Irwin, 1999). Amodio et al. (2004) examined the associations between an implicit assessment of individual differences in regulatory focus and an EEG index of resting frontal cortical asymmetry. They observed that chronic promotion focus was associated with greater left frontal activity, whereas chronic prevention focus was associated with greater right frontal activity. Cunningham et al. (2005) found that neural activation when making good/bad judgments differed by individuals' regulatory focus: chronic promotion focus was associated with greater activation in the amygdala, anterior cingulate, and extrastriate cortex following positive stimuli, and chronic prevention focus was associated with activity in the same regions for negative stimuli. Touryan et al. (2007) also used fMRI to study the impact of individual differences in regulatory focus on memory for emotional words. They observed that activity in posterior cingulate cortex, associated with self-referential processing, was greater for correctly remembered stimulus words when they were consistent with an individual's regulatory focus. Packer and Cunningham (2009) investigated how regulatory focus interacted with reflection on personal goals and observed differential activation patterns according to goal domain (promotion vs. prevention) and temporal distance (short-term vs. longer-term).
Two studies have used idiographically selected promotion and prevention goals as stimuli within fMRI designs. Eddington et al. (2007) used incidental semantic priming via a “depth of processing” judgment task to examine patterns of cortical activation associated with promotion and prevention goals. An area of left PFC was activated during promotion goal priming across all four judgment tasks, and the magnitude of activation in this region was correlated significantly with individual differences in strength of orientation to promotion goals. In contrast, activation at this site did not correlate significantly with orientation to prevention goals or with individual differences in BAS/BIS strength. Eddington et al. (2009) examined the neural correlates of promotion and prevention goal priming in a sample of unmedicated adult patients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV-R criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) as well as an age- and gender-matched control sample of adults with no psychiatric history, using the same judgment task. They hypothesized that MDD patients would show an attenuated left PFC response to promotion priming compared to the non-depressed controls. There was a significant difference in activation between the depressed and non-depressed groups following promotion goal priming, with controls showing greater left medial orbital PFC activation following promotion priming than the depressed patients. In addition, a region in right PFC was activated following prevention priming among MDD patients with comorbid anxiety.
The findings to date suggest that promotion and prevention may be associated with distinct patterns of neural activation, but none of the prior studies was designed specifically to address that question. In the present study, we adapted an fMRI paradigm developed by Diaz and McCarthy (2007) for rapid masked presentation of semantic stimuli. Masking provides a method for identifying cognitive processes that are preattentive, routinized, and automatic (Dehaene et al., 2001). The use of rapid masked idiographic goal priming offers several significant advantages. First, promotion and prevention goals can be activated automatically like other highly accessible social constructs (i.e., without intentional selection of a goal upon which to focus one's efforts); therefore, a paradigm that would allow detection of implicit priming effects was highly desirable. Second, the two studies by Eddington and colleagues were restricted in the number of goal priming trials included because individuals typically describe a small number of motivationally significant personal goals, thereby limiting the number of goal words available for use as explicit priming stimuli. The use of rapid masked stimulus presentation allows for a greater number of trials within an event-related design (in part because stimuli can be repeated more frequently). Third, because the participant's task in the Diaz and McCarthy paradigm is simply to make a response whenever she/he sees a non-word stimulus in color (e.g., ampersands in red font), a task that was non-self-referential, there is less potential for overlap or interference between the experimental task and priming-based activation of idiographically selected promotion and prevention goals.
Using this paradigm, we explored three aspects of the neural correlates of promotion and prevention goal representations. First, we examined whether BOLD activation patterns would differ for idiographic priming of promotion goals vs. prevention goals. Second, we examined whether activation in regions associated with promotion/prevention goal priming would be correlated with ratings of perceived success pursuing goals and/or BAS/BIS strength. Third, we examined whether the activation patterns observed following promotion and/or prevention goal priming would be modulated by the individual's current level of negative affect, specifically dysphoric and anxious symptoms.
Materials and Methods
Overview
Based on an event-related fMRI paradigm developed by Diaz and McCarthy (2007), participants were exposed to a continuing series of rapidly presented masked visual stimuli including (1) a subset of each participant's ideal and ought goals assessed in a prior session, (2) ideal and ought goals of a different participant (as a yoked-control condition), and (3) non-word letter strings. Participants were told that the task was to respond as quickly as possible whenever they detected a string of letters or symbols presented in a colored font. The detection task was actually a means to keep participants attending to the continuous stimulus presentation. BOLD signal responses to ideal and ought goals were contrasted with responses to control words to test hypotheses about neural correlates of personal goal activation.
Participants
Participants were recruited through the introductory psychology research pool at Duke University and were part of a larger sample (N = 75) who had completed a study earlier in the semester. The initial study session, described as an investigation of personality, included several self-report measures relevant to the present research. Approximately two months after the personality study, potential subjects were contacted by phone and invited to participate in what was described as an investigation of visual attention. Thirty-three students (16 male) agreed to participate; one withdrew from the study prior to the MRI session for medical reasons, and a second student's imaging data were unus |
NIF) has 140,000 entries compared with 10,000 when it was set up by the federal government in 2000.
But 10 years later, India acknowledges that bringing its innumerable small-scale experiments to the masses remains a challenge in an economy that is attracting businesses worldwide partly because of high-tech capabilities and a growing middle class.
According to the NIF, most geniuses on its roster are school or college dropouts with little means and access to markets.
So far, the group has filed more than 250 requests for patents, but only five have been accepted in the United States, said Anil Gupta, NIF vice chairman.
India's spending on innovation, he said, is inadequate in contrast to its mammoth annual budget on general education.
High costs at product-testing laboratories discourage ordinary, noncorporate inventors, Gupta said.
In the past decade, Gupta said his group successfully scouted out innovative talent in 545 of India's 626 districts.
Yet, there has been no change in federal financial support to his organization since its inception, he said.
In general, India's top policy-makers are worried about utilization of state funds on public programs amid widespread corruption.
Just as India marked its 60th anniversary as a republic last month, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil said corruption was hindering national objectives.
"Quality of research has to be upgraded and institutions and agencies receiving funds must be made fully accountable," Patil said in November.
However, global financial institutions underscore that India's productivity has greater disparities than in China, or even Russia and Mexico.
"The output of the (Indian) economy could increase more than five-fold if all enterprises could achieve national best practices based on knowledge already used in India," said World Bank economist Mark Dutz while presenting a report on the south Asian nation's innovation standings in 2007, his institution's latest on the subject.
It recommended that the country promote research and development efforts for its poor and for its massive informal economy in order to put their existing know-how to mass use.
But experts regret that most Indian innovations have not hit domestic markets, let alone international.
"The real value of an innovation comes when the domain of an application is far distant from the domain of its origin," Gupta said. "In India, this might still be happening, but at a disappointingly slow pace."
On Thursday, an institution that promotes small inventions was inundated with telephone calls over the motorcycle-tractor after an article in a local newspaper.
The Gujarat state's innovations network, GIAN, was unable to advise potential customers how it could enable sale of what is now a patented property.
"There still are so many problems. There's a problem about finding an old diesel-engine motorcycle. A whole lot of paper work involving transfer of a vehicle to another state is simply not easy," said Mahesh Patel, a chief innovation manager at GIAN. "Big corporate businesses should come forward and buy these patents."
Supporters of India's inventors are struggling for a conducive environment.
"India needs an ecosystem for such innovations. The sooner, the better," Gupta said.Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra will be at this year's New York Comic Con! Executive Producer and Co-Creator Bryan Konietzko and Co-Executive Producer Joaquim Dos Santos will host the freshly announced panel on Saturday, October 12th at 11am. Join them as they pull back the curtain to reveal sneak peeks of what’s to come in. They'll also show exclusive artwork, never-before-seen footage, and join in a discussion with special guests from the The Legend of Korra voice cast.The panel will be held in Empire Stage 1-E. This year's New York Comic Con will take place from October 10th-13th at the Jatvits Center. Stay tuned for more updates.
The highly anticipated one hour premiere offor Nickelodeon's The Legend of Korra pulled in 2.6 million total viewers this past Friday night. To make a comparison, thepremiere got 4.5 million, and the show itself averaged around 3.5 million for most episodes. Likely playing a big role in dip in ratings is the show's new time slot. The Legend of Korra moved from a prime spot for kids at 11am on Saturday mornings to 7pm on Friday evenings - when a lot of kids, tweens, teens will be hanging out with friends, at high school football games, or at the mall.The next episode of The Legend of Korra airs this Friday at 7pm. Join in on the discussion on our forums to talk about the show's ratings, and to just geek out about everything Korra!A free lance investigative journalist who used to work for the Washington Times where she reported critically and extensively on the air marshal service was the subject of a raid by state and federal authorities in August for ostensibly keeping illegal firearms on the premises.
That is yet to be determined. But it's what wasn't in the search warrant but was seized anyway were the reporter's confidential notes that revealed sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and elsewhere in government.
Daily Caller:
In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter. A search warrant obtained by TheDC indicates that the August raid allowed law enforcement to search for firearms inside her home. The document notes that her husband, Paul Flanagan, pleaded guilty in 1986 to resisting arrest in Prince George's County. The warrant called for police to search the residence they share and seize all weapons and ammunition because he is prohibited under the law from possessing firearms. But without Hudson's knowledge, the agents also confiscated a batch of documents that contained information about sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, she said. Outraged over the seizure, Hudson is now speaking out. She said no subpoena for the notes was presented during the raid and argues the confiscation was outside of the search warrant's parameter. "They took my notes without my knowledge and without legal authority to do so," Hudson said this week. "The search warrant they presented said nothing about walking out of here with a single sheet of paper." She provided TheDC with a photo showing the stack of file folders in a bag marked "evidence/property."
Hudson wrote a series of articles a few years ago on the air marshal service and how DHS officials had lied to Congress about how many planes the marshals were protecting. This didn't sit well with one of the Coast Guard cops who was part of the raid:
After the search began, Hudson said she was asked by an investigator with the Coast Guard Investigative Service if she was the same Audrey Hudson who had written a series of critical stories about air marshals for The Washington Times over the last decade. The Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security. Hudson said that investigator, Miguel Bosch, identified himself as a former air marshal official. But it wasn't until a month later, on Sept. 10, that Hudson was informed by Bosch that five files including her handwritten and typed notes from interviews with numerous confidential sources and other documents had been taken during the raid. "In particular, the files included notes that were used to expose how the Federal Air Marshal Service had lied to Congress about the number of airline flights there were actually protecting against another terrorist attack," Hudson wrote in a summary about the raid provided to TheDC. [...] She said she asked Bosch why they took the files. He responded that they needed to run them by TSA to make sure it was "legitimate" for her to have them. "'Legitimate' for me to have my own notes?" she said incredulously on Wednesday.
The law is specific; evidence of an unrelated crime to the search warrant must be in plain sight for investigators to seize them. How the Coast Guard investigator could see what was in the notes without rifling through them is a mystery.
There is a war on journalists being waged by government. It doesn't matter if they're liberal or conservative, only that what they publish displeases someone in Washington.
This from a CNN reporter:
On Wednesday morning, CNN Newsroom anchor Carol Costello made a rather stunning, if cryptic, revelation. In discussing the firing of national security official Jofi Joseph, Costello agreed with panelist Jason Johnson that the Obama administration can be thin-skinned, and said that "President Obama's people can be quite nasty. They don't like you to say anything bad about their boss, and they're not afraid to use whatever means they have at hand to stop you from doing that, including threatening your job." Johnson's reaction to the firing was that "we had to see more of the tweets. It's kind of inappropriate, so I can understand him being fired. But the Obama administration is very thin-skinned." (HT/ Ed lasky)
Journalists in Chicago routinely put up with this sort of thing from Democratic politicians. It goes with the territory. It shouldn't shock us, then, that these tactics have migrated to Washington with President Obama.Al Jazeera Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara
Over the years, the Arabic-language TV channel Al Jazeera has earned a reputation for challenging both the authoritarian regimes of the Arab world as well as the U.S. government. Its vivid documenting of Iraqi casualties during the 2003 U.S. invasion won it plaudits in the Middle East and howls of protest from some quarters in Washington, where many accused the channel of harboring an anti-American bias. That impression has stuck and led, in no small part, to the refusal of many U.S. cable operators to pick up Al Jazeera English, an international version of the network that was launched in 2006. Yet millions across the world, including many first-time viewers in the U.S., have marveled in recent weeks at Al Jazeera English's impressive coverage from the front lines of the protests currently shaking the Middle East. TIME spoke with Abderrahim Foukara, Washington bureau chief for the Al Jazeera Arabic channel, about the channel's unique identity and why it deserves a greater American audience. (See the top 10 world news stories of 2010.)
In the weeks surrounding the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the number of unique viewers watching Al Jazeera English's Internet stream from the U.S. soared. Has this been a watershed moment for the station?
For Americans, what happens in Egypt is of immense consequence to the U.S. and its interests in that part of the world. And it was really interesting to see all sorts of Americans, including the intelligence community, scratching their heads, trying to understand how this came about, what the ramifications were and how they'd deal with it. Simultaneously, you had this detailed coverage on Al Jazeera. I think our coverage of Egypt has been crucial in demonstrating to people that there are certain stories integral to world peace and stability that require access to a channel like Al Jazeera English. It has made the investment, has the presence, the perspective, the expertise and the knowledge to properly tell a story like Egypt. (See TIME's special report "The Middle East in Revolt.")
So will this translate soon into more people in the U.S. being able to watch it on their televisions?
The amount of support we've received from Americans has been truly phenomenal. We're talking about more than 40,000 e-mails of support over the space of a week, which is testimony to the vibrancy and diversity of opinion in the U.S. The hope is that after what people have been able to see on Al Jazeera in its coverage of Egypt, that cable companies may not just see the material benefits of having Al Jazeera available, but also the wisdom.
Apart from having far greater resources in the region, what set apart Al Jazeera's reporting on Egypt from that of prominent U.S. networks?
Two things. First, if you compared the coverage of Al Jazeera with the coverage of many other networks, particularly in the U.S., the level of dialogue among Egyptians that we saw on Al Jazeera was really interesting. In many ways, that's what gave people watching Al Jazeera a better handle on the story. You had all sorts of political players talking in real time from their own standpoint about what was going on in Egypt. The second factor was simply [that we conveyed] a better sense of what was happening in Egypt. For example, all of a sudden we started hearing about these fears of the revolution in Egypt being led by the Muslim Brotherhood were they going to hijack this revolution? On Al Jazeera, we made it clear right from the start that this revolution, like the one in Tunisia, was not made in any significant way by any political party or movement. It was a spontaneous uprising led by young people who had just had enough socially, economically and politically. And that was much clearer on Al Jazeera. (Read "Al Jazeera Gets Its Moment.")
On a broader scale, what would Al Jazeera English have to offer over its American competitors?
At a time when many U.S. news outlets are feeling strapped for cash and cutting down on foreign coverage, you have this channel which continues to invest in its international reporting. Not just in Egypt and the Middle East, but in Latin America, in sub-Saharan Africa, in South Asia. Not only are all these parts of the world very important in their own right, but it's also very important for Americans to know what goes on there. 9/11 showed us one thing: that a story you consider foreign and far away all of a sudden [can become] local. I think Egypt has given us the same lesson a story going on thousands of miles away from U.S. shores suddenly has real repercussions for the U.S.
Observers talk about the somewhat activist spirit of the station. How would you describe Al Jazeera English's editorial perspective?
It's focused on all parts of the world and therefore it has an eye on all sorts of different audiences. That's what gives it its unique identity. Of course, from one crisis to another you adjust the focus but the idea is that you're actually catering to all different parts of the world. There's a belief that we live in a global village, but a global village where until very recently information came down from the global north to the south. But now you've a channel that tries to reverse that movement from the south to the north.
There's also an awareness that we live in a world that is increasingly characterized by people's wishes to live in free and democratic systems. The notion is that you have to focus on people's grievances and aspirations because these are the people who are watching you and if those people themselves are increasingly imbued with a certain skepticism of government, well that has to reflect in a channel like Al Jazeera English.
How does that lens compare to the idea much vaunted in the U.S. of journalistic objectivity?
To be honest, I don't know what objective journalism means. The environment in which you broadcast obviously colors your coverage. If you are an American network broadcasting from the U.S., you will be broadcasting with a sensibility which may not look necessarily objective to an audience in another part of the world. And the same is true if you're a network like Al Jazeera Arabic, broadcasting out of the Middle East. But we have to go beyond that. We should agree on the necessity to provide information in a timely manner. We cannot live in a world where a story like Egypt which has consequences for the whole world is unfolding and your audience doesn't know anything about it or enough about it.
For all its internationalism, Al Jazeera is still funded by the government of Qatar. How has that affected the network's reporting?
If the government of Qatar funds Al Jazeera with hundreds of millions of dollars annually, obviously it's not a charity. It is an investment that has enhanced the prestige of their country. As far as my personal experience is concerned, I have been a bureau chief for Al Jazeera for about six years now and working for the company nine years. I do not recall one time in which somebody from the Qatari government picked up the phone to say we want you to do this or to do that. I would say that this is probably one of the most independent channels that we've seen in the Middle East.
If protests like the ones we're seeing now hit Qatar, would we see coverage on Al Jazeera?
It's an if. My sense tells me that if something like that happens, we would see coverage. We focus on Egypt, Iraq or the conflicts between Israelis and the Palestinians because these are the stories that have been at the forefront of public opinion in the Arab world for decades. They've been part of the 24-hour news cycle for a long, long time. The question is what happens in Qatar that would warrant attention 24 hours a day.
As an Al Jazeera journalist based in the U.S., what would you say is the biggest obstacle set between the U.S. and the Arab world?
Both sides don't really know each other. So much has happened in the history of the relationship between the two, and yet they continue to see each other in terms of stereotypes. Unfortunately Americans' views on Al Jazeera have been impacted by the way they see the Middle East as a whole. The hope with Egypt is that this will change, and it has. Americans have now seen those young people demonstrating in Tahrir Square: they're not demonstrating against the United States, they're not demonstrating against Israel, they're not demonstrating against the West. They are demonstrating for something a lot of Americans understand well, something Americans have understood for over 200 years. That is democracy. And my hope is that the light that came out of Cairo over those three weeks would change not just the Arab world and its views of America but also would change American views of the Arab world. Then we're getting somewhere.
See TIME's Pictures of the Week.Some researchers believe there is little hope mankind can stop the tide of consumption that is propelling climate change, despite an unprecedented international agreement to fight it.
In 2015, more than 190 countries gathered for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to agree on a plan of action, the “Paris Agreement” to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — the threshold scientist agree we must stay within to avoid catastrophic climate change — but the goal is unrealistic and almost impossible to achieve, according to a new study by two Texas A&M University at Galveston researchers.
"It would require rates of change in our energy infrastructure and energy mix that have never happened in world history and that are extremely unlikely to be achieved," said Glenn Jones, a professor of marine sciences at Texas A&M and co-author of the paper. “The 21st century population-energy-climate nexus.”
“To even come close to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, 50 percent of our energy will need to come from renewable sources by 2028, and today it is only 9 percent, including hydropower,” Jones said. “For a world that wants to fight climate change, the numbers just don't add up to do it.”
According to Jones and co-author Kevin Warner, a doctoral candidate in marine biology at Texas A&M, there are considerable headwinds already working against any possibility of meeting the goal agreed to in the Paris Agreement.
Jones and Warner point out that every hour of every day:
• 3.7 million barrels of oil are extracted from the Earth;
• 932,000 tons of coal are removed;
• 395 million cubic meters of natural gas are removed;
• 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide are put into the Earth's atmosphere;
• and 9,300 more people inhabit the planet.
This break-neck pace of pressure on the planet and global climate has already resulted in record warming. According to Texas A&M, recent statistics show that the month of February 2016 was the warmest February ever, while 2015 was also the warmest year since records have been kept.
And humanity’s drain on the earth is poised to continue as our global population rapidly expands.
Jones estimates there there will be about 11 billion people on Earth by 2100 (compared to 7.2 billion today). Even more worrisome is that a person today uses about four times as much energy as a person did in the early 1900s, he said.
“By 2100, that figure goes up to five times,” he said. "So the question becomes, how will they be fed and housed and what will be their energy source? Currently 1.2 billion people in the world do not have access to electricity, and there are plans to try to get them on the grid. The numbers you start dealing with become so large that they are difficult to comprehend.”
SEE ALSO: Burning All Our Fossil Fuels Would Melt Antarctica Entirely
In a possible sign of hope, Jones and Warner note that historically it is rare — if not not unheard of — for government officials to agree on making large-scale changes in such a short timeframe as is the objective of the Paris Agreement.
Whether it is out of concern for the negative impacts caused by climate change or a need to meet the energy demands of the growing population, change is bound to come, the researchers said.
By the year 2100, 87 to 94 percent of all energy used will need to be from renewable sources regardless of whether we achieve and maintain the goals of the Paris Agreement, Jones said.
"Our study does not present an either-or situation, rather the world will require a significant shift to renewable energy sources whether we care about global warming or whether we are more concerned with providing society's energy needs," he said. "Hopefully, our work will serve as a wake-up call."
Jones’s and Warner’s findings were published in the international journal Energy Policy.Is Facebook having a laugh? BelfastTelegraph.co.uk A new Facebook trial is tagging stories on users' news feeds that have come from satirical American news site The Onion as'satire'. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/technology/is-facebook-having-a-laugh-30547428.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article30493659.ece/a9540/AUTOCROP/h342/facebook1.jpg
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A new Facebook trial is tagging stories on users' news feeds that have come from satirical American news site The Onion as'satire'.
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"We are running a small test," Facebook said in a statement to tech news site Ars Technica, "because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others."
But this'small sample' is clearly more far-reaching than they're letting on, because when I last checked my Facebook feed, I saw the the square-bracketed label on Onion articles which had appeared under a story about the trial.
Of course, this isn't the first time the voice of reason has spoken up in defence of gullible people.
As far back as the 1580s, printer Henry Denham thought that a backwards question mark should be used at the end of a sentence to denote a rhetorical question – and we all know how well that caught on don't we? (It faded into obscurity in the 17th Century.)
Then, in 2010, a couple of geniuses launched the SarcMark, a curly punctuation mark that is now widely used on the internet to signify sarcasm.
Oh, wait, no it isn't. It, too, failed to take off and SarcMark.com now sits forlornly, a monument to the so-called lowest form of wit.
Let's hope Facebook takes heed and swiftly ditches the satire signpost. Because, if they don't, it might mean the end is nigh both for common sense and for LiterallyUnbelievable.org, the blog dedicated to chronicling the hilarious comments that ensue when social media users take comedy content literally.
There was the person who marvelled, "It's hard to believe, because Dick van Dyke is so likeable" when The Onion "revealed" that the Diagnosis Murder actor had confessed to being a serial killer.
Or the time when the site "reported" on new "nosephones" from Sony that deliver smells instead of sounds. "You would look like a complete idiot," scoffed one complete idiot who believed the story.
Cutting off the lifeblood of such a hallowed internet institution would be a tragedy. And when I say that, I am not joking.
Belfast TelegraphTim Esterdahl | Feb 10, 2014 | Comments 38
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After waiting for years, Ford, GM, Ram and Nissan will stop playing games and adopt the J2807 standards. The days of “magical” towing dust are done on light-duty trucks.
In an Automotive News article and as we have stated, the adoption of the standard is a bit of a follow the leader. Ford says with the 2015 pickup, it will finally use the J2807 towing standard.
Automotive news posted this about each maker:
Mike Levine, a spokesman for Ford, told Automotive News that the 2015 F-150 will get a new towing rating to go with its new aluminum body. “As a founding member of the SAE trailer towing committee, we will meet SAE trailer towing standards,” he said. Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman, said that “when the other two major manufacturers move, we will move at that time.” Wilkinson said GM already knows how the standard will change the Silverado and Sierra’s stated towing capacities. “We already validate the trucks to [the J2807 standard]. It’s just a matter of adjusting the numbers,” Wilkinson said. A spokesman for Ram also said that it would list towing capabilities for its 2015-model pickups to comply with the standard. In a written statement, a Toyota spokesman said the company is glad to have company in complying with the standard. “This will be most beneficial for customers, as previous methodologies created by individual manufacturers made it difficult for customers to compare tow ratings on an apples-to-apples basis,” the statement said. “Toyota was always a firm believer in an industrywide standard, as evidenced by our adopting SAE J2807 back in 2011 and being the only manufacturer to adopt it until now.”
This is great news for truck buyers and fans. Having a consistent testing method and standard for towing will create a more apples to apples comparison as well as increase the safety of all towing (if the operator follows them).
What do you think? Is this long over due?Chicago police said that a police officer was involved with the fatal shooting of a woman in 3900 block of North Western Avenue in the North Center neighborhood Friday evening.Police said they received a 911 call from the CVS at Western and Irving Park Road, saying a woman was inside the store threatening the employees with a weapon. When officers responded to the scene, employees told them the woman had gone to the bus stop outside.Police said when officers confronted her, she brandished a knife and again made threats."Stand back, I will cut you. I got a knife. I got a knife," Darryl Dixon, witness, said the woman was saying moments before she was shot.Police said officers used their Taser guns on her twice without effect. She continued to threaten officers and then lunged at them with the knife, which was when an officer shot her, police said."She lunged toward the lady officer. She stepped back. And then she lunged toward the male officers, and that's when I saw him take the shots," Dixon said.The victim was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. No information about the victim has been released, aside from her gender.Police said there was some property damage inside the CVS, but no employees were injured. Connie Wojo was out picking up pizza when she heard gunshots."It is just scary because I got four kids and it is Friday, and they go to the CVS. They go to the Dunkin' Donuts. I'm really shook up right now because one of my kids could be walking past her. It's just too close to home right now," she said.IPRA is investigating the fatal shooting, and witnesses inside the CVS were being interviewed, police said.The officers involved will also be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days, department procedure for a police-involved shooting.Pole-sitter Vettel was passed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen round the outside of the first corner on the opening lap, and was forced wide in the battle – which allowed Hamilton through as well.
But Vettel clipped Hamilton's right-rear on the exit of Turn 3, damaging his own front wing and giving the Briton a puncture.
After both pitted early, Vettel fought through the pack to finish fourth, while Hamilton brought the car home in ninth for his worst finish of the year - which was still enough to make him 2017 champion with two races to spare.
Asked about the "unusual" way in which Hamilton won the title, Lauda told Sky Sports: "Unusual? When you're world champion, you're world champion, it's very simple. Nobody cares how you do it.
"What I don't understand is the aggressive manoeuvre of Vettel in the first corner, which hit Lewis hard. It was not his fault at all.
"And then his drama started. But in the end it worked out fantastically."
Speaking post-race, Hamilton said he believed he had given Vettel enough room for the pair to avoid contact.
"I had a good start. I don't really know what happened at Turn 3 - but I gave him plenty of room."
Lauda praised Hamilton, who overturned a mid-season deficit to Vettel with a run of five wins in six races before clinching his fourth F1 title in Mexico, for getting the most out of a "difficult" Mercedes W08 this year.
"Lewis was especially this year able to improve a lot," said Lauda, himself a three-time world champion.
"If you want to be a four-time world champion, you have to always get better and better and better. From last year to this year, he got much better.
"It's an incredible step forward. It's a difficult car to drive, not so quick as last year, not so easy, and he really made it because of his own performance."
Additional reporting by Jonathan NobleHi Jake,
To allow our Lawyer to forward you a Legal Letter, I just want to confirm your contacting address as the following:
—–
If this is not the right one, please reply us the way to contact, otherwise we will have to defer this work to our lawyer on looking up your contacting address.
I personally don’t want to take this into court, but as I have to take the right action to report to our investors committee due to your action, I have no choice to take legal action against you in person. Unless you will remove all information within 24 hours that has been posted to AristScam.com from any publicly accessible channels (i.e, Internet, radio channels, TV channels.. etc), we can reconsider the option of not to take this legal action.
In addition, We have the record of Ms — making the pledge payment from your Kickstarter Account, I just want to confirm your relationship with Ms. — that she is your mother, and —– is her full legal name.
All information has been recorded and copies has been make to file this claims.
Benson
Dear Jake,
As you have decided to ignore our advice, you give us no choice but to defer this case to our lawyer. From this point onwards we will not contact you personally any more.
Just my final message to you as a friend since I know you are being influenced. I hope by now you understand those anonymous sources are using your identity to spread false allegations of a defamatory nature, which is illegal. I know who they are and they could have said all these themselves, but instead they chose you because you have given them the opportunity to do irresponsible things that can lead to legal issues. And now, you will take all the blame because you have become the scapegoat. These are false information that you have been spreading as if they are true.
Maybe many people around you are comforting you by telling you not to worry, but this is your own issue, not anyone else’s. We have a confirmation of your information already. You will receive our legal claim shortly. To be honest, I didn’t want to have to do this. I have tried to explain it to you already before.
BensonTV Reviews All of our TV reviews in one convenient place.
FringeSeason 5 FringeSeason 5 “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” / “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” FringeSeason 5 “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” / “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” / “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” Title “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” Score A- Episode 12 Title “Liberty”/“An Enemy Of Fate” Score A- Episode 13
I’ve been watching, enjoying, thinking about, and writing about Fringe since the first episode aired on September 9th, 2008 (my 38th birthday, as it happens), and I’m still not entirely sure how best to recommend the show to people who’ve never watched it. For fans of intelligent genre fare—in particular science-fiction and horror—Fringe is remarkably philosophical and imaginative, recontextualizing dozens of cool fantasy concepts in the form of memorable monsters and troubled heroes. But it’s also a sappy show, that falls back on the usual TV drama abstractions of “love” and “trust” and “fate” and “change” to drive some stories to non-science-based conclusions. For fans of sophisticated serialized television, Fringe has spun a complicated and unusually consistent longform narrative over its five seasons, anchored by acting and directing as strong as some of the most acclaimed shows of this era. But the narrative doesn’t really start to become compelling until around episode 35, and after that it takes so many jarring turns with each new season that even people who come to love the show may find that love tested sorely. Plus Fringe really can be corny, in ways unlikely to appeal to those not already inclined to like Porcupine Men and inter-dimensional romances. It’s never been a smooth ride, this show.
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But I still say that Fringe has been a hell of an achievement, and one likely to be thought of more fondly with each passing year, in the way that The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Firefly have been. The creative team has delivered very few mediocre or outright bad episodes, and are responsible for enough high points that tabulating a definitive list of Fringe’s Top 20 episodes would be a struggle. (Believe me, I tried.) These characters will be remembered. These stories will be remembered.
Where does this two-part finale rank on the continuum of Fringe episodes? Typical of Fringe, it’s a mixed bag, with a little foot-dragging, followed by a bit of “wow,” and a not-so-surprising swell of emotion. And then: A final image so perfect and poignant that I think it’s going to be pretty easy for Fringe fans to forgive some of the unevenness that precedes it.
The first part, “Liberty,” takes a while to get going, though it ramps up considerably in its second half. Once our heroes learn from Philip “The Dove” Broyles that Michael: Boy Observer is being held on Liberty Island—in the stump of what used to be the symbol of American freedom—Olivia comes up with the bright idea to cross over to Earth-2, travel to their Liberty Island, grab Michael, and then cross back at Battery Park. Then it’s just a matter of killing twenty minutes or so while Peter tries to talk Olivia out of it, and Walter prepares painful injections of Cortexiphan. There’s never any doubt that this adventure’s going to happen. Peter poked himself in the back of the neck to avenge Etta; Olivia has to poke herself in the back of the neck to try and bring her back.
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The second half of “Liberty” is much more exciting, as Olivia hallucinates and drifts in and out of the two worlds, while tracking down Michael, whom The Observers have decided to “disassemble” for further study. Longtime Fringe devotees were probably hoping for a little more interaction with—and action from—Fauxlivia and Lincoln Lee. But it was nice to see that they’re living happily, with a kid of their own; and it was nice to hear one last energetic “Dunham!” from Fauxlivia. Anyway, the Michael-rescue is genuinely suspenseful. Will the drifting Olivia see The Observers in time to shoot them? Will her presence end up infesting Earth-2 with Observers? Ultimately, all resolves in our heroes’ favor—after the first of many touching goodbyes, this time between the two Olivias—and the stage is set for “An Enemy Of Fate.”
If I wanted to be nitpicky, I could note that “Liberty” is mostly busy-work. If Michael never steps off the train at the end of “The Boy Must Live,” then there’s no need to go to Earth-2, and this episode doesn’t exist—with no major change in the overall plot, really. But “Liberty” does establish a little more about Michael—that he has an intellectual capacity and a depth of emotion that The Observers are “unable to comprehend”—and it gives the Fringe faithful what we’ve been demanding, which is another trip to the other side, and a few more minutes with Lincoln and the gang.
Anyway, if I’m being totally honest, “An Enemy Of Fate” is essentially busy-work, too. It’s all about assembling a machine, and then getting that machine to the right place at the right time, so that everything will happen as it’s supposed to: with Walter and Michael traveling to the future and creating a new reality, where The Observers never exist, and thus never invade. All the Fringe themes—the arrogance of scientists, the wonder of technology, the malleability of identity, the persistence of humanity, the boundaries between realities—were all established long ago. “An Enemy Of Fate” doesn’t dwell on any of them much; it’s more meant to move the plot to its endpoint.
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But there’s a moment in “An Enemy Of Fate” when Walter arms himself and Peter with anti-gravity bullets, which will kill Observers and make them float off into the air, and when Peter asks what the point of that would be, Walter says that it’ll be “cool.” And let’s face it: It is cool. The same can be said of the return of December, who tries to help Donald/September acquire the last piece of his time machine; and Broyles grouching at Olivia to “just get it done” when it becomes apparent that he’s about to be captured by Captain Windmark; and Windmark’s goofy confession that he’s been seized by a thing we call “hate,” to which Broyles says, “The feeling is mutual;” and Peter and Olivia deploying a half-dozen Fringe Event |
(yellow things on arms) Allows movement via the setting of a virtual "ground" and a vertical axis. It can also crush targets by generating gravity of up to 3200 Gs in a wide area (Gravitron Cannon). It is also used in mass reduction and inertial control. As the Neo Granzon can change G vectors in 3 microseconds, regular inertial control systems are incompatible with it. Distortion shield (field) generation device (yellow things on shoulders) Creates a homogenized force field in a sphere around the Neo Granzon that warps the kinetic energy of anything that tries to pass through it from the outside, dispersing it across the surface of the field. As electromagnetic waves too are cancelled out entirely instead of being dispersed, this has an effect on both kinetic and beam ammunition. - Granzon model kit manual fluff translation (only stuff that isn't shared with the Neo Granzon) Black Hole Cluster: A weapon that creates micro black holes with quantum-sized schwarzschild radii in a special gravitational field and fires them. It is similar in nature to the RTX-008R's black hole cannon, but the reasons for this are unknown. Gran Worm Sword: Melee weapon in the shape of a sword. The blade causes dimensional tremors, and banishes space itself to an imaginary dimension. It can also launch imaginary space. There are two versions of the blade. Gravity control device: Neo's "It is also used in mass reduction and inertial control" is missing, instead having "also used in movement". - Possession Cybuster model kit manual fluff translation Pilot Masaki Andou The pilot of Masoukishin Cybuster. Summoned to Holy Kingdom of Langran in the underground world of Ra Gias from Japan during the Third Surfacer Summoning Project. He was later chosen by Cybuster's guardian spirit Cyphis to become a Masoukishin pilot. Has an extremely straightforward personality, gets lost easily, is good at sports, and has a strong sense of justice. Later became the closest thing the Antillas Corps has to a leader after it was founded. Unit Cybuster is a masoukishin created in the Holy Kingdom of Langran of Ra Gias, a parallel world that exists on a different plane inside Earth. Its contract spirit is a higher spirit of wind, the Wind Spirit Cyphis. It was designed by Wendy Rasm Ignart. It can transform into Cybird, a cruising form which is modelled after the Langran god-bird Dishnas, and can on its own open and pass through a gate between Ra Gias and the surface. Langran, upon receiving the prophecy of a demon-god that would destroy all of Ra Gias, started a project to create the Masouki, multipurpose humanoid weapons which gained great power through contracts with spirits, in order to resist this coming threat. Sixteen Masouki were created, and the four which succeeded in binding themselves to higher spirits became known as the Masoukishin. The Masoukishin have massive power that puts them on a level far higher than that of other Masouki, and also host the will of the spirits contracted with them, and people not chosen by the spirits cannot become their pilots. Cybuster did not have a pilot at first, and it was only until after it was taken by Saphine Volkruss that Cyphis accepted Masaki, who had chased after it, making him its pilot. Possession Cybuster is what becomes of Cybuster when Masaki and Cyphis synchronise their wills and activate Possession. Astral Armour is added to various parts, and its base weapons such as the Discutter and High Familiars gain new, stronger forms. Masaki first activated Possession when it was still only possible in theory, albeit for a very short time, when he confronted Shuu Shirakawa who had killed his foster father and master, Zeoroot Zan Zenosakis. Later, during the fourth Shutedonias North-South War, he gained the ability to control Possession by his own will after conversing with Cyphis in the spirit realm. Cybuster in possession has overwhelming power, and brought order back to Ra Gias by defeating the Dark God Ruzamno Rasphitot and Mother Elsine Volkruss who had plotted Rasphitot's summoning. However, when the Prophet Yohtennai set into motion her Coffin of the End Project which would bring destruction to Ra Gias by stopping time itself, it was overwhelmed by and lost to Yohtennai's Rezenkaim. Masaki and Cybuster, as well as the other Masoukishin and their pilots were taken prisoner, but they were later saved by Shuu and joined up with the Antillas Corps. Alongside Sakito Asagi and other surfacer allies, they entered the chambers deep underneath Langran palace, and after a grueling battle defeated the Rezenkaim, thus stopping the Coffin of the End Project. However, the Giants returned immediately after this, and they were unable to defend against the sudden attack and lost companions while fleeing. The king of the giants, Kadum Hacham, was the original form of the three dark gods, and a being which came to Ra Gias aeons ago from another world and gave knowledge to the humans there, becoming their ruler. Even if defeated, the cursed will of the giants would become the three dark gods, and if the dark gods were defeated, they would fuse and bring back the giants, meaning that it was truly impossible to vanquish them by regular means. Though the people of Ra Gias were unable to find a way to solve this problem, Masaki managed to succeed in contacting Cyphis. In the final battle with Kadum Hacham, Cybuster, in possession, used the Akashic Nova, the result of gathering all the energy in the spirit realm and releasing it in a single attack. By using the power of the spirits, the exact opposite of the negative beings that are the giants, they succeeded in defeating them. The price, however, was that the power of all the spirits in Ra Gias too were cancelled out by that of Kadum Hacham's, and are now lowered to levels that not even Masoukishin pilots can sense, and all engines that relied on the power of the spirits, such as those of the Masoukishin and Masouki, stopped completely. Parts/Weapons -Extending Shoulder Armour When Cybird form and Akashic Nova are used while Cybuster is in possession, the shoulder armour extends and the Astral Synchroniser mechanism added inside the armour by Cyphis is exposed and activates. This mechanism is a collection of countless Astral Fragments that increase energy efficiency and also act as extremely strong armour. It is also thought that it helps to amplify and control the flow of energy from the astral realm into Cybuster, but the exact structure and logic is as of yet unknown. -Main Wings Six wings attached to the back. At their bases are Aether Thrusters, propulsion devices that use aether (an energy that has no mass and remains perfectly still in relation to absolute location) as a magical medium. In possession they give Cybuster the ability to move at speeds that greatly overwhelm conventional weapons. -Astral Armour Energy that flowed in from the astral realm, hardened, and became armour. Cybuster's design had not accounted for the effects of possession, and so achieving it posed a great risk to both the machine and pilot. Cyphis thus added this armour to Cybuster when Masaki gained the ability to activate it at will, making the machine strong enough to withstand possession. -Cosmonova Reactor The mechanism which compresses and launches all of Cybuster's energy as the attack Cosmonova. The armour opens when it enters firing mode and begins gathering energy, and the energy missiles formed are launched and guided via a system which uses magic. As it is unstable and prone to breaking down, its usage was avoided in possession which already puts a high amount of strain on the machine, but it was upgraded by Cyphis before the final battle with the giants. As a result, the output and control ability of the device increased exponentially, and Akashic Nova, an attack in which the machine veils itself in the released energy and crashes into an enemy, became usable. -Extending Leg Armour The armour on the back of the legs can also be extended, and like in the shoulders, astral synchronisers exist here too. However, unlike the shoulder ones which are seen in Cybird form, the leg ones are only activated during Akashic Nova, when Cybuster's maximum power output is required. Also, the shape of the astral fragments here are less uniform. -Discutter Kyou A mutation to the Discutter, brought about by possession. Kyou means “strong”. The blade is much wider and sharper compared to the regular Discutter, and more blades are added to the hilt. Also, the words that appear on the surface of the blade are symbolic manifestations of Cyphis' power, and are not used anywhere in present-day Ra Gias.June 6 is the 72nd anniversary of D-Day. The general who oversaw that invasion, Dwight Eisenhower, was elected president in 1952—the last person in either party to win a nomination without holding elective office until Donald Trump. Now Trump is trying to follow in Ike’s footsteps by winning the presidency, too.
But whereas Eisenhower’s record of leading Americans into war vaulted him into the White House, Trump is trying to claim that he wouldn’t have led Americans to war in Libya and Iraq. The presumptive nominee skirmished with John Dickerson over whether or not he’d backed the U.S. intervention there during an appearance on Face the Nation on Sunday:
John Dickerson: Let me ask you about Libya. You have been highly critical of Libya and Hillary Clinton. You were also for military action to oust Qaddafi and military action to take care of the humanitarian situation in Libya. You supported that. Donald Trump: When you say supported it, I supported Libya? Dickerson: Yes, you supported the intervention in Libya. Trump: I did? Where do you see that?
Dickerson then played video of Trump saying, “Now, we should go in. We should stop this guy, which would be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically, stop him from doing it and save these lives.” Trump replied:
Trump: That’s a big difference from what we’re talking about. Dickerson: But you were for intervention.
Trump tried to turn this into an argument about whether the aftermath of the intervention was handled well. (He also somewhat bafflingly boasted, “I made a lot of money with Qaddafi.”) You’d be hard-pressed to find people who would argue the aftermath was well-planned, but that’s not the question: Trump suggested that he had opposed the intervention from the start, and that turned out not to be true. The evidence shows he backed it. As Dickerson put it, “This is one of the things that confuses some people about your positions. You said you weren’t for intervention, but you were for intervention in Libya.”
It’s easy to see why Trump would want voters to believe he opposed the intervention in Libya. Not only did the maneuver turn out poorly—despite, or perhaps because, of Qaddafi’s quick toppling, the nation spiraled into civil war, with the violence killing four Americans in Benghazi in September 2012—but Hillary Clinton was a leading advocate for it, making it an alluring talking point to use against her. Needless to say, that’s a harder case to make if Trump backed the military action too.Hyderabad MP Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi said he never considered Salman Khan as a Muslim, he said their party symbol is kite and they are always ready to cut the cord of the kite flown by Salman Khan jointly with Narendra Modi. Asaduddin said he will cut the cord of the kite flown in Gujarat from Hyderabad itself.
Hyderabad MP Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi said he never considered Salman Khan as a Muslim, he said their party symbol is kite and they are always ready to cut the cord of the kite flown by Salman Khan jointly with Narendra Modi. Asaduddin said he will cut the cord of the kite flown in Gujarat from Hyderabad itself.
The frustrated Asaduddin added Salman knows only dancing and jumping. Despite the fact, said Asaduddin, poor people lost their lives in Muzzafarnafar, Salman gave his stage shows in the notorious Saifai festival. He said the actors work just for the sake of money and don’t have any moral values. It is learnt that Asaduddin has given a call to all Hydrabadies not to buy tickets for Salman’s upcoming film, Jai Ho. It’s also learnt that many of the star’s fans in Hyderabad have also decided to boycott his movie.An MQ-1 Predator crashed in Syria. According to Syria state media it was shot down by Syrian air defenses.
The U.S. lost contact with an unarmed MQ-1 Predator drone on Mar. 17.
Whilst Pentagon officials could not confirm whether the aircraft was shot down or crashed because of a failure, the Syrian SANA news agency reported that the unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down in the Latakia province by the Syrian air defenses.
Indeed, images of the wreckage of an aerial vehicle were later posted on social media: provided the photographs were really taken at the crash site, they show parts of the UAV (including a wheel of the landing gear) along with parts of what seems to be the body an S-125 Neva/Pechora (NATO reporting name SA-3 Goa) Soviet surface-to-air missile system: this may confirm the version of the Syrian State Media according to which the MQ-1, most probably operating out of Incirlik airbase, in Turkey, was shot down.
The event is interesting for several reasons:
1) it proves U.S. drones perform ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) missions in a region (on the western coast of Syria) currently not interested by the air strikes targeting the Islamic State. Monitoring jihadist activities in the area? Keeping an eye on the fightings between rebels and loyalist forces? Monitoring shipments that reach Syria via sea?
2) if the shot down is confirmed, it proves that Assad fires back and Syrian air defenses can pose a threat to manned and unmanned aircraft that operate inside the Syrian airspace.
3) the area where the drone was allegedly shot down is the same where a Turkish RF-4E jet was shot down by a coastal air defense battery.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
Related articlesCoding Basics is a blog with a lot of tutorials and guides to help people who are just starting out with Magento. We have used Magento since 2012, and have created several big projects for clients that are very happy with our work. Since the Magento community is such a big one, we decided to open up our own blog in 2014 where we share tips and tricks about the open source shopping cart platform. We also feature Extensions, themes and Ecommerce talk in general. We have also written a few guides about Magento development, and we will start writing more and more over time. So, check our site regularly to stay up to date with the latest news/developments about Magento.
If you are looking for a Magento developer, please don't hesitate to drop us a line via the Contact form on our website. We are happy to help and will respond to your question within 24 hours. We also offer help in installing (our) extensions and themes.This has been a banner year for geeky music. From Anthrax's epic zombie-slaying anthem to one of Weird Al's finest efforts to date, 2011 has come correct with the musical magic. But despite breakthrough releases by acts like I Fight Dragons and Jonathan Coulton at long last capturing imaginations on the more studious side of the mainstream, many other artists still managed to stay under the pop culture radar.
And since I cannot, in good conscience, allow these most notable of efforts to go unnoticed, I've compiled a handy list of 12 more phenomenal tracks that may have unwittingly passed you by.
The OverClocked Plaid Muffins – "Ska Buffet (All You Can Eat)"
OverClocked ReMix
Trying to pick a standout track from a musical community as eclectic, prolific and heavily peer-reviewed as OverClocked ReMix is a tough call. Still, even taking into consideration special projects like their epic tribute albums, 2011's most pleasantly surprising OCR cut was easily the Kirby Super Star-inspired "Ska Buffet." A labor of love by no fewer than eight community ReMixers, The OverClocked Plaid Muffins represent another in a long, proud line of virtual bands to crank out amazing tunes using the interconnectivity afforded by the digital age. And the best news? Level 99, the group's conceptual center, hipped me to some early mixes of forthcoming OCPM tracks at this summer's Nerdapalooza, and they are every bit as tasty as this debut!
The Garthim-Master and DJ Extend – "Dude, Where's My AT-AT At? (feat. Wordburglar)"
Bandcamp
There's something undeniably unique about Canadian hip-hop, and this is especially true of rapper The Garthim-Master. His 2011 full-length Ghosts of Nostalgia – backed up by German producer DJ Extend – skillfully blended the verbally impressionistic with the thematically sentimental, and tracks like humorous Star Wars narrative "Dude, Where's My AT-AT At?" provided the sometimes intimidating sounds of the hip-hop underground with distinct nerd appeal.
Supercommuter – "It is Splendid!"
Amazon – Bandcamp
For whatever reason, chiptune music always seems to be a bit of a hard sell to new listeners. (Even more so than, say, a pair of Canadian underground hip-hop staples rhyming about Star Wars.) Yet on their sophomore release Products of Science, Seattle chip-hop trio Supercommuter managed to bridge the gap between experimental lo-fi electronica, nerdcore rap and engaging robot rock. It's easily one of the year's best albums, and "It is Splendid" is an early standout.
Swagberg – "Pony Swag (fear. Maros)"
CosmicDuck
Swagberg has, under a myriad of different stage names, made a name for himself as one of nerdcore hip-hop's most recognizable voices, not to mention one of its greatest critics. With a bigger-is-better production style and a lyrical slant as heavily focused on sharp diction as its well-honed wordplay, he is both innovator and home-grown detractor. Still, as severe (if generally well-reasoned) as his attacks against nerdcore hangers-on may be, his lyrical tribute to brony life released this summer is as honest and well-meaning as it is tuneful and engaging.
Kirby Krackle – "Booty Do Math (feat. Adam WarRock)"
Amazon – Bandcamp – iTunes
There are songs about math and then there are songs that command the listener to shake his/her moneymaker, and never the twain shall meet. Well, okay, maybe just this once. Kirby Krackle's Super Powered Love takes a break from its overarching theme of life in a comic book world to unleash what is likely the most perfect piece of pop songwriting heard in 2011. Suggestive but never dirty and funny but never unintelligent, it's a new musical high point from the already revered songwriting team of Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos.
melodysheep – "The Science Rap"
Bandcamp
Though the DJ is often revered as the epitome of dance club cool, mash-up and cut-up artists are, by simple nature of their craft, pretty damn geeky. Making songs from carefully recycled material is a peculiar form of digital collaging that requires patience, dedication and, above all else, intelligence. Nowhere is this clearer than in the work of John Boswell, the musician and producer behind the Symphony of Science. In 2009 his "A Glorious Dawn" gave Carl Sagan's trademark poetic language new musical life, and this year's "The Science Rap" continued to spread the good word of science through the unlikely words of Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G under the guise of John's other moniker, melodysheep.
Sci-Fried – "Geek Rock"
Amazon – iTunes
For those who wonder what exactly constitutes "geek rock," the fine fellows of Florida's Sci-Fried have at last provided an answer. Blending the pop sensibility of their early parody work with the band's dark and aggressive heavy metal heart, it does an excellent job of highlighting the true strength of this eclectic and unlikely assemblage of nerd musicians. It also offers a rare glimpse of the crew's live energy in a single studio track, with Dr. Vern's crushing vocals playing well off Chuck Silver's blistering guitar lead.
Mega Ran – "Lookin' Up"
Amazon – Bandcamp
Fans who think that Black Materia is the be-all end-all of Random albums have likely not yet heard Mega Ran 10. Announced as the swan song of the Mega Ran persona, it's a hodge-podge of new and re-released material that somehow still maintains proper thematic and musical cohesion. It also boasts "Lookin' Up," the ultimate Mega Ran joint. It combines skillful chiptune backing with Random's boundless lyrical positivity and even tosses in an infectious soul-pop hook for good measure.
MC Frontalot – "I'll Form the Head (feat. ZeaLouS1 and Dr. Awkward)"
Amazon – MC Frontalot
Frontalot's Solved was, in the grand tradition of his previous releases, a glorious heap of disparate styles, concepts and guest stars all married by the shared task of crafting another memorable nerdcore hip-hop outing. "I'll Form the Head," for example, employs not-so subtle allusions to Voltron and a jazzy backing that belies Front's roots in musical theater to create an epic tale of mecha hubris and the unfortunate destruction of Michigan by an intergalactic space worm.
Adam WarRock and Mikal kHill – "Objects in Space"
Adam WarRock
Adam WarRock and Mikal kHill's own ThoughtCriminals crafted, individually, some of my favorite releases of 2011, but nothing can compare to the emotional impact and unabashed fan service of their collaborative Browncoats Mixtape. Applauded by everyone from Mal himself (minor swear warning) to those rabid hip-hop heads at Reader's Digest, it was as smooth and beautiful a ride as the show that inspired it from its punchy "Intro" to the melancholy refrain of closer "Objects in Space."
Chipocrite – "Bizarre Love Triangle"
Chipocrite
Cover songs are tricky; they must both capture the attention of an audience likely unfamiliar with the performing artist and incorporate enough of said artist's own unique style to entice these new listeners into sticking around for the originals. Chipocrite's 8-bit take on New Order classic "Bizarre Love Triangle" did both while simultaneously adding a new musical level to 2011's most inspired and enjoyable video game-centric movie parody, YouTube sensation "The Legend of Zelda (1987) Trailer."
The Doubleclicks – "This Fantasy World"
Amazon – Bandcamp – iTunes
The greatest sister act since the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg vehicle of the same name – I'm kidding, folks; they're way better than that – Portland's nerd folk duo of Angela and Aubrey Webber spent 2011 carving out their own perfect niche in geek music with the help a charming love song about D&D (that was, admittedly, originally released in 2010) and its equally excellent accompanying video. Along the way they joined forces with other esteemed musical lady-dorks like Marian Call and Molly Lewis, but truth be told I love them twice as much as their compatriots. Which works out mathematically, as there are two of them.
(minor swearing and brief nekkid talk)Mayor Ed Murray announced an investment of $1,299,520 to support 27 community-initiated projects across the City. The awards are from the Neighborhood Matching Fund’s Community Partnership Fund which offers matching funds of up to $100,000 to community organizations committed to fostering and building our community. These awards range from $12,000 to $100,000 with the 27 organizations pledging a total of $1,282,518 in community match resources of volunteer hours, locally raised money, donated materials, and in-kind professional services.
The Neighborhood Matching Fund consists of two funds: the Community Partnership Fund, which is offered three times a year with cash awards up to $100,000; and the Small Sparks Fund, which is offered on a rolling basis throughout the year with cash awards of up to $5,000. The next Community Partnership Fund application deadline is September 25.
The Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) provides more than $3 million each year to local organizations. Over its 29-year history, more than 5,000 projects have been funded in partnership with the NMF Program, and its investment in neighborhoods can be seen across the city. For more information about NMF, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/.
2017 Community Partnership Fund Awards – Summer Cycle
Citywide (Across all Districts)
$50,000 to Sea-Mar Community Health Center to produce Fiestas Patrias, a free 2-day cultural festival which provides opportunities for the community to come together to celebrate Latin American arts, culture and heritage through music, dance, food and more. (Community match: $29,500)
to produce Fiestas Patrias, a free 2-day cultural festival which provides opportunities for the community to come together to celebrate Latin American arts, culture and heritage through music, dance, food and more. (Community match: $29,500) $14,500 to Festa Italiana to produce the 30th Annual Italian Festival, a free community festival that celebrates the joy of ‘All Things Italian.’ With an average attendance of 25,000, it features art, music, dance, food, and activities for the entire family. The dates this year are September 22 – 24. (Community match: $20,760)
to produce the 30th Annual Italian Festival, a free community festival that celebrates the joy of ‘All Things Italian.’ With an average attendance of 25,000, it features art, music, dance, food, and activities for the entire family. The dates this year are September 22 – 24. (Community match: $20,760) $15,000 to Seattle Latino Film Festival to host three free events in October to include a screening of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince of Caspian, a panel on Latin-American Women in Film who will discuss issues facing women filmmakers; and a screening of seven short documentaries produced by universities in Mexico. (Community match: $20,040)
to host three free events in October to include a screening of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince of Caspian, a panel on Latin-American Women in Film who will discuss issues facing women filmmakers; and a screening of seven short documentaries produced by universities in Mexico. (Community match: $20,040) $36,520 to Skate Like A Girl and Youth Employment Skateboarding to organize a youth service learning project using skateboarding as the vehicle. Youth ages 12-18 will take part in weekly trainings on such topics as financial literacy, creating safer spaces, career paths, etc. (Community match: $125,000)
District 1
$100,000 to Gatewood Elementary School PTA to rebuild the existing one-half acre grassy field area within the playground. Improvements are based upon the Master Plan and full construction documents created with community input. The physical improvements will occur this fall. (Community match: $78,185)
to rebuild the existing one-half acre grassy field area within the playground. Improvements are based upon the Master Plan and full construction documents created with community input. The physical improvements will occur this fall. (Community match: $78,185) $60,000 to Delridge Neighborhood Development Association to organize the Delridge Neighborhoods Let’s Talk Race Series. The 12 events will use film, dialogue, restorative justice, and storytelling to transform the narrative around institutional and historic racism and build stronger relationships between community organizations, individuals, and groups. (Community match: $47,860)
to organize the Delridge Neighborhoods Let’s Talk Race Series. The 12 events will use film, dialogue, restorative justice, and storytelling to transform the narrative around institutional and historic racism and build stronger relationships between community organizations, individuals, and groups. (Community match: $47,860) $27,500 to Longfellow Creek Neighborhood Path for 24th Ave SW to create a more intentional Longfellow Creek Trail connection along 24th Ave SW between SW Willow St. and SW Graham St. This project will coordinate with a design project by the Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group to reduce flooding, improve drainage, and restore habitat along Longfellow Creek. (Community match: $27,047)
District 2
$23,000 to Friends of Detective Cookie Chess Park to develop 30% construction drawings by early 2018 and complete a site survey for permitting. (Community match: $11,541)
to develop 30% construction drawings by early 2018 and complete a site survey for permitting. (Community match: $11,541) $49,700 to Rainier Beach Link2Lake Open Space Steering Committee to create schematic design for improvements at Be’er Sheva Park. Possible improvements include greater shoreline access, walkways, and art installations. Extensive community involvement will occur. (Community match: $25,315)
to create schematic design for improvements at Be’er Sheva Park. Possible improvements include greater shoreline access, walkways, and art installations. Extensive community involvement will occur. (Community match: $25,315) $55,800 to Friends of Hawthorne PTA to lead an extensive community engagement process to design a more welcoming and engaging exploration and play-space at Hawthorne Elementary School. (Community match: $47,745)
to lead an extensive community engagement process to design a more welcoming and engaging exploration and play-space at Hawthorne Elementary School. (Community match: $47,745) $17,000 to Xbot Robotics to organize a series of STEM robotic workshops for upper elementary and middle school students in Southeast Seattle. Open to all youth, recruitment for the workshops will target underrepresented students, especially immigrants and refugees, who may lack access to STEM activities and robotic kits. (Community match: $26,960)
to organize a series of STEM robotic workshops for upper elementary and middle school students in Southeast Seattle. Open to all youth, recruitment for the workshops will target underrepresented students, especially immigrants and refugees, who may lack access to STEM activities and robotic kits. (Community match: $26,960) $100,000 to El Centro de la Raza for physical improvements to the building which houses community projects, cultural programming, and activities. The improvements consist of replacing the outdated boiler control system, thermostats, and fan motor system. (Community match: $70,000)
for physical improvements to the building which houses community projects, cultural programming, and activities. The improvements consist of replacing the outdated boiler control system, thermostats, and fan motor system. (Community match: $70,000) $100,000 to Mount Baker Community Club to make internal and external improvements to the clubhouse which will increase energy efficiency and security, reduce noise impacts, and enhance the building’s ability to house community programs and events. (Community match: $50,721)
District 3
$100,000 to Madrona PTSA to renovate the playground at Madrona K-8 School, creating an engaging play space that will allow the grounds to be open to the public outside of school hours. The project will redesign landscaping, improve transitions, and replace the play structure. (Community match: $162,600)
to renovate the playground at Madrona K-8 School, creating an engaging play space that will allow the grounds to be open to the public outside of school hours. The project will redesign landscaping, improve transitions, and replace the play structure. (Community match: $162,600) $70,000 to the Anniversary Committee of the Seattle Chapter of Black Panther Party to celebrate the Party’s 50th Anniversary this fall through outreach activities that share the challenges and successes of the organization. The activities will lead to a three-day public conference next April featuring panels, workshops, and discussions on issues related to human rights, activism, and social justice. (Community match: $117,520)
to celebrate the Party’s 50th Anniversary this fall through outreach activities that share the challenges and successes of the organization. The activities will lead to a three-day public conference next April featuring panels, workshops, and discussions on issues related to human rights, activism, and social justice. (Community match: $117,520) $20,000 to Montlake Community Club to design, fabricate and install signage for the business district. (Community match: $20,525)
to design, fabricate and install signage for the business district. (Community match: $20,525) $26,400 to Low Income Housing Institute to produce Upbeat on Jackson, a monthly concert series at Ernestine Anderson Place. It will feature local jazz, blues, world music, folk, and rock to brings community members together for entertainment that pays tribute to the history of the neighborhood. (Community match: $15,120)
to produce Upbeat on Jackson, a monthly concert series at Ernestine Anderson Place. It will feature local jazz, blues, world music, folk, and rock to brings community members together for entertainment that pays tribute to the history of the neighborhood. (Community match: $15,120) $84,000 to Seattle Children’s PlayGarden for Pathway for Play, a project to renovate the playground and improve the landscaping to make the space more accessible for visitors of all abilities. (Community match: $42,925)
for Pathway for Play, a project to renovate the playground and improve the landscaping to make the space more accessible for visitors of all abilities. (Community match: $42,925) $29,000 to Renaissance 21 to pilot The Coder’s Club, a 10-week after-school training program for 10 youth to develop mobile/desktop game and website applications. STEM professional, college, and high school volunteers will serve as mentors to the participants. (Community match: $23,188)
to pilot The Coder’s Club, a 10-week after-school training program for 10 youth to develop mobile/desktop game and website applications. STEM professional, college, and high school volunteers will serve as mentors to the participants. (Community match: $23,188) $30,000 to Panama Folklore to produce a five-week series of workshops to celebrate the rich cultural and artistic heritage of Panama. The workshops will feature dance, music, carnival traditions, and other cultural expressions. (Community match: $26,138)
to produce a five-week series of workshops to celebrate the rich cultural and artistic heritage of Panama. The workshops will feature dance, music, carnival traditions, and other cultural expressions. (Community match: $26,138) $25,100 to Madison Valley Parents & Neighbors for Calmer Streets to install a traffic circle at 26th Ave E & E Mercer Street. After construction, community volunteers will landscape the circle and once completed, will hold a community celebration in August 2018. (Community match: $14,990)
District 6
$12,000 to Sustainable Ballard to launch a tool library in Ballard that will promote community learning and help build skills of self-sufficiency and empowerment around crafting, repair, and general tool operation and safety procedures. The goal is to open by the end of 2017. (Community match: $42,446)
District 7It’s been a summer of endings for my favorite series. Always Human wrapped up its wlw slice-of-life cuteness in early June, Orphan Black finished in early August, and finally The Adventure Zone, whose humor got me through much of last year and this one, came to a close this past week. Though The Adventure Zone will continue, this particular adventure about Merle, Magnus, Taako, and a world of delightful NPCs is now over. Fittingly enough for this comedic fantasy-ish podcast, it ended with a finale which would, in other series, be considered extremely cliché. As other people on this blog know very well, I balk at the slightest hint of anything cheesy, but when I finished listening to this finale, I wasn’t rolling my eyes — I was happy. Somehow, through its 69 episodes (yes, 69, the sex number), The Adventure Zone boys had managed to construct a story in which a loving ending wasn’t only enjoyable, it was also practically required by the preceding narrative.
Massive spoilers for the entirety of The Adventure Zone below.
The Adventure Zone‘s curtains fell on an episode in which pretty much everyone got a happy, fulfilling ending. Though not every plotline was fully wrapped up, there wasn’t even a hint of bittersweetness in the ending — it was practically saccharine in its care for each character. Antagonists were defeated, protagonists were victorious, queer couples were resurrected and married in a way that, according to Tumblr, left Homestuck‘s Andrew Hussie flailing in the dust. And on both an in-game narrative level and a meta-gaming real-life level, all of this made sense.
In real life, The Adventure Zone started out as a one-off episode that the hosts, by their own admission, didn’t take seriously. The McElroy brothers, Justin, Travis, and Griffin, invited their dad Clint to play Dungeons & Dragons, a game which none of them knew particularly well. Griffin chose to be the DM, and he started by dumping his family into Lost Mine of Phandelver, a pre-written, fairly generic starter campaign, complete with its own pre-written character sheets that Justin and Clint chose from. At first, Justin (playing the aloof elven wizard Taako), Travis (playing the overenthusiastic human fighter Magnus) and Clint (playing the plant-loving dwarven cleric Merle) took turns one-upping each other with one-liners and disses. The group’s task was to collect the Grand Relics, seven items of immeasurable power, and our three players went about it in a way that suggested they were just in it for the ride. But a few episodes in, a funny thing happened: all of them fell in love with the story they were telling. Griffin created NPCs whom the players first bullied, then bonded with, and as Griffin expanded the starter world into a vast adventure spanning whole universes and realities, the others added to his story with character choices and actions that fleshed out and better informed his world.
In-universe, it’s later revealed that Merle, Magnus, and Taako are part of a crew from IPRE, a sort of fantasy NASA |
those responsible for earlier human flu pandemics.
The researchers found five key differences, which they reasoned could be the mutations required for airborne transmission of the virus.
They confirmed their theory was correct by genetically engineering those changes into the H5N1 virus which they found could then be spread between ferrets through coughing and sneezing.
A team from Cambridge University then looked to see whether such a mutation could emerge naturally and if so its likelihood.
The researchers studied the genetic structure of 3,000 bird viruses and 400 that occur in humans.
They found some of these viruses had two of the key changes needed to become airborne. Mathematical modelling suggested it was indeed possible for a virus to develop the three further changes required during the course of an epidemic.
Bioweapon
It is the first time it has been shown that it is possible for bird flu to become airborne, but the research team was unable to determine precisely how likely this was to happen.
Prof Derek Smith, who led the analysis, said more information was needed.
He said researchers required a better understanding of how flu viruses were transmitted between people in order to develop a clearer idea of the likelihood of the emergence of an airborne strain of bird flu.
"These are difficult things to find out," Prof Smith told BBC News.
We will need to work toward the establishment of a comprehensive, international system for assessing research that might have a dual use Dr Bruce Alberts, Editor in chief, Science
"What this work enables us to do is to prioritise particular experiments to obtain this information".
It is clear though that the emergence of an airborne mutation of H5N1 is unlikely. Were it not it would have emerged already.
But researchers want to be able to calculate the risk of such a virus emerging more precisely in order to help public health officials in their contingency planning.
News of Prof Fouchier's work, and another similar study by Yoshihiro Kawaoka published this May in the journal Nature, prompted the US National Security Advisory Board for Biotechnology (NSABB) to ask both journals last November to redact some sensitive parts of the research.
The NSABB believed the information could be used by terrorists to create a bioweapon.
The scientists who carried out the research, and the journals concerned, considered suggestions as to how the results could be redacted in the journals, but distributed to bona fide researchers who urgently needed the information.
But they concluded such a system was unworkable.
"You can't share information with so many people in the field and keep it confidential," according to Prof Fouchier.
Editor in chief of the journal Science, Dr Bruce Alberts, said the publication of the research in both Science and Nature had "shone a spotlight" on the need to deal more effectively with research that could be misused by terrorists - so called "dual use research of concern" (Durc).
"It has become clear that we will need to work toward the establishment of a comprehensive, international system for assessing Durc, one that includes transparent procedures to allow selected access to any information omitted from a scientific publication to those with a need to know".
But Prof Fouchier questioned whether a system of asking scientific journals to censor Durc work is ever workable or even appropriate.
"The general mode should be that science should be freely available so that the wider scientific community can build on the research," he said.
"I have a hard time identifying research papers that you shouldn't publish. So I'm not sure whether we should ever go down this alley".
Follow Pallab on TwitterThe Red Bulls have come closer together since coach Mike Petke’s dustup with Thierry Henry, communication helping clarity and breeding trust. They snapped a three-game winless skid with consecutive victories, and have found their form because they’re finally concentrating on themselves, not their foes.
In short, just do you.
“The team’s become steadily stronger over the season. There are all sorts of things, times when we’ve had pain and difficult moments. You get strength,’’ sporting director Andy Roxburgh told The Post when asked about their improved chemistry since the incident.
“It’s a choice: You collapse or you get stronger. That’s the case, and the team’s got stronger and stronger. It’s been a few games this season – especially against some of the top sides – where I started to feel this team’s got a character about it. And you’ve seen that playing in that heat in Houston the other day, a character. The technical side is one thing; but character is crucial, and you can see that.’’
As important as character is, clarity is just as vital; and they’ve developed a better sense of how to play since that Aug. 29 practice field altercation. Whether it’s last week’s opponent Houston, or Saturday’s foe Toronto FC, the Red Bulls have stopped reacting to their foes and starting trying to perfect their own gameplan.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing Barcelona or Toronto. Same rules apply with how we want to play,’’ Petke said. “We need to approach the game the way we set out to; not anything to do with the other team.’’
It is an epiphany that came after the altercation where Petke and Henry had to be separated. Henry got benched two days later for the derby game against DC, but came on as a reserve in the 2-1 victory that snapped a three-game winless skid, and then last Sunday scored in the Red Bulls’ 4-1 win at Houston.
After that laugher in Texas – a quintessential six-point swing, since the Red Bulls are vying with the Dynamo for Eastern Conference playoff positioning – keeper Luis Robles said they’re on the same page because Petke and the coaching staff have been more specific. Thursday, he expounded on that philosophical shift.
“It’s more specific now. It’s a little bit of our training week, and also the film. But the one thing that was different the last two weeks, as opposed to the rest of the season, is we had this mentality we’re going to customize our game plan to our opponent, and the last two weeks it hasn’t been like that,” Robles said.
“Regardless of who we’re playing, this is way we want to line up, this is how we want to put them under pressure and this is the way we want to counter, since we’ve been able to do that the last two games I think that’s only going to allow us to gain more momentum and confidence going forward.’’
The best teams in MLS – Real Salt Lake, Sporting KC, defending champion LA – dictate the game and enforce their style on their foes. Former coach Juan Carlos Osorio had insisted no MLS team was good enough to do that, and tailored gameplans to respond to opponents. The past three weeks, the Red Bulls have concentrated on themselves, and the results have been impressive.
“I know in the last two weeks – including this week, now the third week – there’s an objective of our gameplan that we’re trying to implement. And if we do that each and every game I feel we’re going to have quite a bit of success,’’ Robles said. “We were able to do that last week, and I think that’s why the result was 4-1. (We concentrate on) how do we want to play, and we did that.’’
Newcomer Bradley Wright-Phillips hasn’t been on the roster for long, but even he can see a change the last few weeks.
“We (did) a lot of work in the week leading up the game on what we had to do to stop them scoring, and how we’re going to score. Everyone got 100 percent into their training sessions and it worked,’’ Wright-Phillips said.
“I think from my first session I can tell you from then (to now) a lot of boys are open to saying anything to each player. Everyone’s talking a lot more. If they don’t like something, they say it. If they want someone to tuck in or track a runner, they say it. That helps on the pitch. We need a lot of honesty. That’s what I’ve been seeing the last few weeks.’’× UPDATE: Garden project run by homeless community produces enough to put meals on their table
First Stop Executive Director Clete Wetli said the Greenhouse Project is producing enough to supply their homeless visitors with fresh produce at their meals each day.
The staff at the nonprofit said they have fallen on hard times and are doing what they can to help the homeless population get on their feet. If you would like to donate, you can mail a donation to their offices located at 206 Stokes Street Northwest in Huntsville, or donate online by visiting their website.
Our initial report is below
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle led the ribbon cutting ceremony for the grand opening of First Stop’s Green House Project, a community garden built and run by the homeless community.
The ceremony was Monday morning at the First Stop facility on Stokes Street in Huntsville.
The Green House Project includes a green house, raised beds and tilled land to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables to help feed the homeless. Recently, Publix partnered with First Stop by donating supplies and volunteer labor to finish the project.
“The Green House Project is a wonderful way to help empower the homeless in our community by helping them develop marketable skills and to learn new ways to achieve self-sufficiency,” First Stop Executive Director Clete Wetli said. “We are grateful to have Publix as an involved and committed community partner.”
If anyone would like to help with the Green House Project, organizers said they are in need of plants, compost and volunteers. The garden is located in the First Stop, Inc.’s yard at 206 Stokes Street in Huntsville.Elasticsearch 2.0.0 introduced a number of breaking changes. When I set out to install ES 2.0 to do some local testing, I found that the techniques that I had been using to set up virtual machines for local development (for instance, here) were no longer adequate. So I set out to discover what the “proper” method should be, and along the way I ran into a few problems. I’ll outline those issues here, hopefully saving some other people a little bit of trouble.
The instructions that follow will assume you are using OSX. It should be straightforward to adapt them to other operating systems, but I will not address those considerations here.
Vagrant
In earlier posts I used full Ubuntu virtual machines (with UI), as this was my preferred method of development. Recently I have more often used headless VMs with Vagrant, and for many purposes I find this to be more useful. I find that running Elasticsearch in a Vagrant VM works nicely for local development, allowing me to sandbox the Elasticsearch installation, but port-forwarding means I can easily access ES as if it were running in my host OS.
To follow along, you will need Vagrant installed, which can be found here. Vagrant requires a provider, and I find VirtualBox to be convenient. You can find VirtualBox here.
Vagrantfile
The Vagrantfile we’ll use for our Elasticsearch VM is quite simple:
Vagrantfile: Vagrant.configure(2) do |config| config.vm.box = "ubuntu/trusty64" config.vm.provision :shell, path: "bootstrap.sh" config.vm.network :forwarded_port, host: 9200, guest: 9200 config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |v| v.memory = 2048 v.cpus = 1 v.name = "ES-2.x" end end
A few things to note here:
This VM uses the " ubuntu/trusty64 " box, which runs Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS. If you want to use a different box, you can find some here, or create your own.
" box, which runs Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS. If you want to use a different box, you can find some here, or create your own. The " bootstrap.sh " file is where our commands for installing Elasticsearch will reside; we’ll get to that in a minute.
" file is where our commands for installing Elasticsearch will reside; we’ll get to that in a minute. We are forwarding port 9200 from the guest OS to the host OS, so we can access Elasticsearch at localhost:9200 just like we could if it were running in the host OS.
from the guest OS to the host OS, so we can access Elasticsearch at just like we could if it were running in the host OS. This is not a particularly beefy virtual machine, with a single CPU and 2GB of RAM. Depending on your application you may want to change these values.
The VM name " ES-2.x " is arbitrary; feel free to change it to whatever you want.
Next we’ll take a look at the bootstrap script. I’ll explain it piece by piece, but I’ve included the full file below for convenience.
Installing Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch requires at least Java 7. I like to use OpenJDK, mainly because I can install it without any prompts, which is convenient for a Vagrant setup.
Here are the commands we’ll use to install Java 7:
# install openjdk-7 sudo apt-get purge openjdk* sudo apt-get -y install openjdk-7-jdk
The Elasticsearch documentation provides a number of different ways to install Elasticsearch, and run it as a service. You can take a look here and here.
We will use the debian/ubuntu package. To do so we’ll need to add the correct repository, as described here.
This command adds the Elasticsearch repository Public Signing Key:
wget -qO - <a href="https://packages.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch">https://packages.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch</a> | sudo apt-key add -
This command adds the repository (see the explanation here for why we need to use the echo method):
echo "deb <a href="http://packages.elastic.co/elasticsearch/2.x/debian">http://packages.elastic.co/elasticsearch/2.x/debia...</a> stable main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elasticsearch-2.x.list
Then we can update Aptitude and install Elasticsearch with:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install elasticsearch
We want to run Elasticsearch as a service, which we can do by setting these defaults:
sudo update-rc.d elasticsearch defaults 95 10
And finally, to start Elasticsearch for the first time (it will automatically start on reboot), we can use:
sudo /etc/init.d/elasticsearch start
Tweaking a Few Settings
There are a few settings we need to change to get Elasticsearch up and running. The first is necessary to use ES from the host OS. The others are optional; I find them very helpful for local development, but be careful using them in a production deployment; read the docs!
Network Binding
In order to connect to ES from the host OS, we will need to configure the network binding. The networking defaults changed in 2.0, and so now, in order to connect to ES at localhost:9200 from the host operating system, we will need (at least) one of the following two lines in our bootstrap.sh file :
# either of the next two lines is needed to be able to access "localhost:9200" from the host os sudo echo "network.bind_host: 0" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml sudo echo "network.host: 0.0.0.0" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
Dynamic Scripting
I sometimes like to use dynamic scripting, and while it can be a security risk if your Elasticsearch cluster is not secured behind an adequate authorization system, if used carefully scripting can be a powerful tool. The settings needed to enable dynamic scripting also changed in ES 2.0. Here are the settings we will need to enable dynamic scripting in our Elasticsearch VM:
# enable dynamic scripting sudo echo "script.inline: on" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml sudo echo "script.indexed: on" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
Enable CORS
I do a lot of work with JavaScript, and so I often need my Elasticsearch cluster to have CORS enabled. The first thing to do is to allow CORS, which we will set in our bootstrap.sh file as follows:
sudo echo "http.cors.enabled: true" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
We also need to set allowed-origin. The default setting changed in ES 2.0, so we will need to set that. For a local development VM like we are building here, it’s probably okay to allow any origin, but in production you would want to be much more careful.
Note that the example in the ES docs sets:
http.cors.allow-origin: /https?:\/\/localhost(:[0-9]+)?/
which only allows JavaScript connections from localhost.
You almost certainly don’t want to do this in production:
sudo echo "http.cors.allow-origin: /https?:\/\/.*/" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
After changing all these settings, we will need to restart the cluster:
sudo /etc/init.d/elasticsearch restart
Putting It All Together
Here is the full bootstrap file:
bootstrap.sh: #!/usr/bin/env bash sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade # install openjdk-7 sudo apt-get purge openjdk* sudo apt-get -y install openjdk-7-jdk # install ES wget -qO - https://packages.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | sudo apt-key add - echo "deb http://packages.elastic.co/elasticsearch/2.x/debian stable main | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elasticsearch-2.x.list sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install elasticsearch sudo update-rc.d elasticsearch defaults 95 10 sudo /etc/init.d/elasticsearch start # either of the next two lines is needed to be able to access "localhost:9200" from the host os sudo echo "network.bind_host: 0" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml sudo echo "network.host: 0.0.0.0" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml # enable dynamic scripting sudo echo "script.inline: on" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml sudo echo "script.indexed: on" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml # enable cors (to be able to use Sense) sudo echo "http.cors.enabled: true" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml sudo echo "http.cors.allow-origin: /https?:\/\/.*/" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml sudo /etc/init.d/elasticsearch restart
Setting Up
To get the VM up and running, make sure you have VirtualBox and Vagrant installed, then simply save the two files presented here, Vagrantfile and bootstrap.sh, to an otherwise empty directory, then go to that directory in a terminal and type:
vagrant up
Enjoy!Figures released today by the Department for Transport (DfT) reveal an 8 per cent rise in cyclist casualties from July-August 2013 compared to the same months of 2012, with the number killed or seriously injured (KSI) up 2 per cent.
Combined with annual figures which show a 2 per cent drop in cyclist KSIs in the year to September 2013 but bigger falls among all other types of road users, the figures are likely to lead to renewed calls to improve cycle safety.
According to the DfT's Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: Quarterly Provisional Estimates Q3 2013, some 6,380 cyclists were injured on Britain's roads in the third quarter of last year, up from 5,902 in the comparable period of 2012, a rise of 8 per cent.
Of those, 1,090 cyclists were killed or seriously injured in the three-month period in 2013, against 1,065 the previous year, a 2 per cent rise.
For the third quarter of 2013, total casualties among all road users fell by 3 per cent, with KSIs down by the same percentage. Pedestrian KSIs showed a 10 per cent drop, with all casualties down by 4 per cent. The declines among car users were 4 per cent for KSIs and 3 per cent for all casualties.
Besides people on bicycles, only motorcyclists saw casualty numbers increase during the three-month period, with both all casualties and KSIs up by 1 per cent.
The DfT consistently warns of the danger of reading too much into quarterly statistics since such short-term data can provide a misleading picture due to factors such as the weather.
Indeed, in its report, it says: "The markedly drier weather for 2013 would have likely increased the number of vulnerable road users (particularly motorcyclists and pedal cyclists) on the road, relative to the same period in 2012, thus increasing their relative exposure to accidents."
Nevertheless the rolling 12 month data show that casualty figures for all classes of road users are falling more quickly than they are for bike riders - and as the chart below, supplied by the DfT, shows, over the past decade, it is only cycling casualties that are on the rise.
In the 12 months to 30 September 2013, there was an 11 per cent drop in the total number of road casualties in Great Britain, with KSIs falling by 15 per cent.
Car users saw all casualties fall by 8 per cent and KSIs by 6 per cent, pedestrians by 5 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, and motorcycle users by 7 per cent and 6 per cent.
In contrast, the total number of cyclists injured actually rose slightly - up from 19,087 in the year to September 2012 to reach 19,150 in the latest 12-month period, a rise of 0.33 per cent.
Slight injuries accounted for the rise, with the number of KSIs falling by 2 per cent from 3,302 to 3,230.
The figures do not in themselves prove that cycling is getting more dangerous. Besides variables mentioned above such as the weather, other factors that need to be taken into account include any growth in the distance being cycled, something that is notoriously difficult to assess with any accuracy from year to year.
With the data published today relating to the third quarter of 2013, covering July, August and September they do not account for casualties in the final three months of the year, including a two-week period in November when six cyclists lost their lives in London alone.
The individual data sets can be found here.WA election: Online voting rolled out to let some cast secret ballot at home
Updated
People with an incapacity or disability making it difficult to vote at ballot boxes will be able to have their say at the March state election via the internet, a first for Western Australia.
The WA Electoral Commission (WAEC) decided to offer the service to ensure everyone had an opportunity to vote in private.
"For some electors, this will be the first time they have been able to vote in secret, which for them and us is an exciting development," WA Electoral Commissioner David Kerslake said.
"Instead of asking someone else to fill out ballot papers for them, these electors will be able to vote via the internet or using a touchtone telephone."
The procedure is based on the iVote system, which has been used at the last two New South Wales state elections.
The move has been welcomed by Inclusion WA, a not-for-profit organisation that supports people with disabilities.
"There's lots of people in society that for a variety of reasons haven't [had] easy access to voting," Inclusion WA CEO Paul Fleay said.
"This gives them an opportunity to vote in the privacy of their own homes and then equally have a chance to cast a secret ballot."
It is the first step taken in WA towards electronic voting.
Head of the University of Western Australia's Centre for Software Practice, David Glance, said he hoped it was the beginning of a full transition to electronic voting.
"I think that this is the way of the future. I hope that it is actually the precursor to more generalised internet voting," Dr Glance said.
"I think that the benefits from that will be immediate results... fewer discrepancies... and I think that democracy would be better served in this way."
'Safeguards in place': academic
Dr Glance acknowledged there were "genuine concerns" associated with internet voting.
"If you cast a vote electronically, you want to make sure that vote has been registered and make sure it hasn't been changed," Dr Glance said.
"There's the manipulation of the results, somebody hacking in... [but] there are safeguards in place that make that much more difficult.
"I think the risks are relatively low in comparison to the benefits that we're going to get from a system like that."
Voters who qualify to cast their vote online at the March poll — including people who are temporarily incapacitated — can register now.
The WAEC said it hoped to extend the system at the next state election to include people living in remote areas and who may be overseas on election day.
Topics: computers-and-technology, internet-technology, elections, government-and-politics, wa, perth-6000
First postedA recent Gallup poll had Obama leading McCain by 10 points among postgraduate-educated voters and tied among the college-educated. Barack Obama's new map
Between flaps over bullets in Bosnia and bitterness in Pennsylvania, discussion of the Democratic nominating battle largely overlooks the real strategic difference in the race. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is steering her campaign by the same map Democrats have followed for 16 years, aiming to rally mostly large coastal and Midwestern states. Sen. Barack Obama thinks the map can be redrawn, swinging swaths of red states onto the blue side.
Clinton is struggling to hold the shrinking Eastern industrial states and aging working-class voters, holdovers from the old Democratic coalition. Obama’s new map reflects the appeal to rising social groups — Westerners, nonwhites and the well-educated — of his post-partisan call for unity and change. Their contest is more than a face-off of individuals; it is a confrontation between the Democratic Party’s past and future.
Story Continued Below
The contrast was obvious in maps published by SurveyUSA last month, after a poll of 600 voters in every state pitting Obama and Clinton against Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.
When the two Democrats’ electoral votes were tallied, they were close: Obama had 280, and Clinton had 276 — both just over the winner’s line (270).
But their maps looked quite different. Clinton’s looked like that of every Democratic nominee since Bill Clinton in 1992, dominated by their party’s coastal enclaves: California and the Northeast and the Midwest. She picked up big states Obama lost — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida — and some smaller ones: West Virginia and Arkansas, the Clintons’ previous home state. But Obama painted the West bright blue, sweeping all three Pacific Coast states, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa and even reliably Republican North Dakota. He also held most of the Northeast, picked up Virginia and outdid Clinton in the Midwest by taking Michigan.
Obama was hot on McCain’s heels in red states where Clinton was way behind, such as Nebraska, South Dakota, Alaska, North Carolina and even Texas.
Now, after six weeks of Democratic fratricide, Obama and Clinton both run worse against McCain than they did in the SurveyUSA poll, but subsequent polls show similar patterns.
Three factors underpin Obama’s new electoral map: the West, nonwhites and the well-educated.
Fast-growing Western states have become a land of opportunity for Democrats. The GOP’s social conservatism and support for Big Business have irked longtime libertarians, non-fundamentalist newcomers and environmentally conscious voters.
This helped swing a region, which until recently was solidly Republican, to the Democrats. For instance, in the Mountain West, where Republicans held every statehouse in 2000, five of eight governors are now Democrats. They and their supporters are a particular sort of Democrat: green and tolerant but also pro-gun and anti-tax.
Obama’s more moderate, less statist emphasis — like his non-compulsory health plan — resonates with these voters, for whom the more conventionally liberal Clinton is radioactive. Indeed, libertarian Republican columnist Ryan Sager writes that, in the West, “Republicans have one hope: Hillary Clinton.Updated 22.02
THE BANKS AND the investigations into them were the top of the agenda during the latest round of Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil this morning.
The Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams questioned the government’s methods of investigating the banks, in the wake of the Anglo tape scandal.
Adams said the “most important inquiry here was a criminal inquiry” and questioned what the coalition has planned to do “about the shameful behaviour of the untouchables in the banking system”.
He also put to the Taoiseach that the gardaí had been investigating this case “for almost five years and still no one had been held accountable”.
“The state have also bailed out Irish Nationwide, Irish Life and Permanent, EBS, AIB and Bank of Ireland,” said Adams, and he asked where the tapes were for them.
“I dunno,” said Kenny. “I did ask for all files when I got this job… And there are none… That’s why we need this parliamentary inquiry”.
Kenny told Adams that the inquiry, which is due to begin in the autumn “cannot convict people. The courts will have to do that”.
“Justice to be seen to be done”
The Fianna Fáil leader, Michael Martin, in equal measure, criticised the government’s decision to hold an Oireachtas committee inquiry and the coalition’s relationship with the banks.
“The government is on the side of the banks… The government also trusts the banks,” he said. “Howlin’s investigation doesn’t have the power to hold bankers to account.”
“What the people of the country want is justice to be seen to be done,” the Taoiseach Enda Kenny responded. He continued that an “inquiry is one element – a criminal court case is something else entirely”.
People already rejected a referendum that would have given more power to politicians to conduct inquiries into the banks and Kenny said: “I accept the outcome of the referendum”.
However, the Fine Gael leader has not ruled out the idea of asking the country to vote again.
“In the autumn we will have a referendum on the abolition of the Seanad… and we will give consideration to include other referenda”.
“You [Fianna Fáil] had an opportunity to investigate the banks back in 2010 and you created a secret investigation with no names and no one was held accountable,” said Kenny, who says the upcoming inquiry will be more transparent.
Originally posted 13.00 todayDear _______,
This past year, I have been serving as the Executive Producer of my campus television production organization. One of the main responsibilities is attending the shoots of my producers to make sure that everything goes smoothly both by checking audio levels and standing around with some attempted air of authority.
Last Wednesday, I was filming my producer’s stand up comedy routine which will find its way into a series of his. The bar where this took place was a local Montreal place and a large group of Anglo McGill students with $10,000 worth of equipment for an eight-minute stand up bit makes an impression.
Anyway, the bar was completely empty except for my crew with our gadgetry on more tables than was necessary, but non-disruptively so. A man very aggressively came up to me and exclaimed, “Could you be taking up more space?” I retorted, “Could you get more customers?” This just edged him on even more rather than meeting my naive expectation that aggressive people (most of all) appreciate a playful match. Not wanting him to kick me out for sake of the shoot, I immediately recoiled and apologized, offering to buy him a beer after the show. He accepted and I checked my wallet to make sure I had enough cash.
It turned out that he was the host of the show. He begins his set, like most comedians do, riffing on the audience (which by now numbered approximately forty guests), making a point that my crowd was all Anglos studying those creativity-killing disciplines of finance and political science. This is exercised by asking the hometowns and majors of those clearly at the show for our McGill producer. It’s my turn last and this host of hosts inquires as to my major and location of formation.
“I study political science and I’m from New Jersey,” I respond.
“Ohhhhhh, so that’s why you engage in such cuntish behavior! You’re from a state full of cunts and that’s why you act like such a cunt,” and so on and so forth until he finally understood that he’d crossed some line, which of, he did not know.
I sat there horrified and absolutely shocked. In the myriad of fantasies where I had successfully defended my female self using skills from jv basketball, this situation had never even entered into the realm of possibilities. I found myself unable to respond, sitting alone with my camera, in a room full of people who laughed uncomfortably or sat silent.
I made a quick decision to stick to my mission and tape the show, fulfilling my professional duty and showing him that I would not be affected. Nevertheless, it ruined my night. The few comedians who stood on the stage and tried to lift my spirits with a “Shout out to Jerseeeey!” got faint smiles. In the end, I filmed my producer’s routine, enjoyed a discussion with another comedian after the show and went home, destroyed, but with a smile on my face and a forced jaunt in my step.
Two days later, with my mind collected and my spirit properly angry, I went back to the bar. I spoke with a young “nice” male manager who assured me that the host was really alright and just kinda off-putting and wouldn't it be better if I just dealt with my personal issues with him independently rather than going through management. It first took an emotional explanation and then the mention of a potential yelp review, but the manager promised to speak to him and the owner. I have no plans to lengthen my relationship with this venue and am satisfied for now that by some greater authority than that of a mere cunt, the man with the mic will receive at minimum a talking to and at maximum a pink slip.
Here are things I learned from this incident:
1. I believe an all girls education gave me the ability to keep it together while sitting at that bar as well as after when speaking to the manager.
2. That while this is in some ways empowering, my choice to not walk out and rather “stay on the job” was a violation of my self-respect. Women should not have to endure abuse in order to legitimize their identities in work environments. My chief responsibility is to protect my status as a Woman, not as a female Worker.
3. I will admit that our presence was obnoxious from a certain vantage. Nevertheless, perceived elitism did not and never will legitimize the treatment that I and other women have and will receive in both the most exclusive academic institutions and the deepest of dive bars.
4. The context of language is important. For me, the best compliment I have ever received was being praised as “a stone-cold-cunt who gets shit done” by a good friend. I have no problem with playing on language both for its meaning and sound. The use of derogatory words with malicious intent is absolutely unacceptable no matter the environment though. Black face once made good money in the comedy world.
6. While most men are not misogynists, no one is going to call out their bro, “because if you knew him, you’d get that he’s really a good guy.”
7. That some men are amazing and will listen to you talk about what it’s like to be in a situation they will never understand, but will attempt to with all their effort.
8. Female friends will empathize and support you in a way that the most well-meaning man categorically cannot.
I feel as if my experience at Kent Place was a double-edged sword. While I became a confident young woman in this environment, it also allowed me to escape the real world for my formative years only to fall into it with rude awakening.
While I was there, I remember so many of us speaking about being tired of feminism. We got it. In reality, none of us got it until we “escaped” into the co-ed universe where this sort of thing, in one way or another, had been happening at mixed-gender schools for all the time we were not there, toughening their girls in a way that we inherently could not be.
Kent Place offers a wonderful program and this incident made me appreciate my education more than anything ever before. If the school is going to truly prepare its students though, it needs to remember that we are all still engaged in the “feminist wave.” Kent Place likes to think of itself as a refuge for smart girls and while that may be so, these smart girls are going to have to mature to young women in what is still a battleground for their right to exist in the foreground. We are not the lucky ones who get to meet unlimited prosperity due to our mothers’ struggles. Maybe our daughters will be able to pay their rent on aptitude alone.
I am directing this letter at you because I believe your influence on individual girls is the most important source I can attempt to affect. I have no four-point plan of how to incorporate my experience into the curriculum; these are simply my personal thoughts on what is not a unique situation. I can only hope that this alumni perspective may help to formulate the school’s program in the future.
Gratefully,
Anna Savittieri
Kent Place School, Class of 2011(NOTE FROM JOHN: Tom Wellington (a pseudonym) is a longtime Democratic campaign operative, and is our newest blogger at AMERICAblog. This is a follow-on to his earlier post titled “The one who primaries Obama will be the next Democratic president.”)
Researchers in the 1950s found that children who had nightlights in their rooms tended to have bad night vision when they grew up. So for decades standard parenting advices warned against purchasing your children nightlights. But then upon reexamination, they discovered that parents who had bad night vision had trouble seeing when they got up in the middle of the night to check on their children – so they bought nightlights. And of course, parents with bad eyes tend to have children with bad eyes.
Two clocks strike midnight ten seconds apart every day – the first does not cause the second.
An incumbent who has so angered his base that he is primaried would be in trouble in a general election, regardless of whether or not he faced a primary challenge. So yes, Jimmy Carter was primaried and lost the general election, and the same happened to Jerry Ford. But does anyone think that, even without a primary, Carter would have beaten Reagan, or that Ford could have been elected after pardoning Nixon? Or even that George Bush Sr. could have beaten Clinton if only Bush had not been challenged by Buchanan?
Primary challenges are a different animal than third party candidates. Third party candidates can and do act as spoilers, taking votes away from what would otherwise have been a lesser of two evils. So although there were plenty of other reasons Al Gore lost in 200 |
llis + Bedrock setup, an alias would look something like:
@production: ssh: [email protected]/srv/www/example.com/current
The development alias for this site would be:
@development: ssh: [email protected]/srv/www/example.com/current
For a VVV-based development install:
@development: ssh: [email protected]/srv/www/wordpress-default
Example use(CNN) Donald Trump's win shattered the dreams and ignited the fears of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants known as "dreamers."
They are the young people who were brought to the United States by their parents as children.
This population, which the American Immigration Council says is roughly 1.8 million, feels exceptionally vulnerable under a Trump presidency because many came out of the shadows when President Barack Obama offered them temporary legal presence through executive action in 2012. Now, with a president-electwho promised to deport the undocumented, the fear of deportation is more real than ever.
But dreamers, named for the failed DREAM Act, which had proposed a multistep process to permanent residency, are dealing with those fears in different ways.
Four dreamers in different states share with CNN their reactions to Donald Trump's win and their hopes for the future.
They are only sharing their first names for fear of deportation.
Itzel from San Francisco
Itzel, 22, says she is undocumented and unafraid.
She is ready to put up a fight to stay in the United States and says that perhaps what this country needed to wake up was exactly what it got: President-elect Donald Trump.
"Had Hillary won, the Band-Aid would have continued masking all of our issues. And with Trump's presidency it takes the mask off and it exposes the reality of what it's like to live in fear in the United States," Itzel says. "I think that more people are going to be united against this hateful, racist, sexist, homophobic person."
Itzel was only 4 years old when her parents brought her to the United States.
This is the country she knows and the community she has lived in all her life.
She says that when Donald Trump won the election her family started text messaging her, asking whether presidents had the power to deport en masse.
Itzel says she hopes that her family and people around the country turn their fears into action.
"It's not just about undocumented people, it's also about the black community, the transgender community, any disenfranchised community, the working-class folks," Itzel says. "I think that we are going to be united more and are going to change that fear to reaction."
As for those who voted for Donald Trump and support his divisive rhetoric, Itzel says:
"I don't have anything negative to say to them other than I feel very sorry for them. I hope they have love in their hearts to be able to live peacefully because it must really be terrible to live in a hateful manner."
Estrella in Grand Junction, Colorado
Estrella, 32, says her three children are afraid of Trump.
But it was her 5-year-old who took the fear most to heart.
"He said he knew he [Trump] was a bad man who wanted to take away his mom and his dad," Estrella says her son told her.
Her son was referring to a common fear children of undocumented parents feel: The idea that their parents will be deported while they are at school.
Estrella says she had to calm her son down before taking him to school Wednesday, by reassuring him that she wouldn't allow Trump to hurt him or his family.
Estrella is an undocumented immigrant, who benefited from Obama's 2012 immigration executive action.
Like many dreamers, she was brought to the United States illegally by her parents, in her case when she was 1.
Her fear is that Trump will use the power of the pen to undo Obama's executive action on immigration.
"I am in limbo; but this is my home and we are not going anywhere. I grew up here. This is my country. This is where I've been all my life. And this is my kids' home. This is their birthright. They are US citizens. This is their country," Estrella says.
As a community organizer of a nonprofit, she says she is calming the fears of other immigrants in her community.
And while she feels that Trump's win is a setback, she believes it's a time for immigrants to maintain hope and for children like her 10-year-old daughter to stand up for her rights.
"I told her, 'If anyone says anything to you just remember your rights. Remember who you are. Remember where you came from and educate them. Be positive and educate those who are ignorant, those who don't understand the system and don't understand the country,'" Estrella says.
Rosa in Chicago
Rosa, 22, says she feels a triple threat after Trump's win because she is Mexican, a woman and a lesbian.
"I feel like it's a bad dream," Rosa said. "I feel there are so many things and so many people against me and what I believe in and what I am and it's just very hard."
Rosa was 9 months old when her parents brought her to the United States illegally.
She lived in the shadows until she obtained a work permit under Obama's 2012 immigration executive order.
The first thing she did, she says, was get a job.
She says it would be difficult for a President Trump to deliver on his promise to deport the millions of undocumented people in the United States, including her and her parents.
But the fear of deportation, she says, is very real. So much so, her parents are thinking about self-deporting and so is she.
"I would also consider going with them, too, because they are all we have. I'm not going to stay here by myself," Rosa says. "We are all concerned and scared."
Cesar in New York
Cesar, 33, wants to find common ground with Trump supporters and figure out a path forward for everyone in the country.
"We want to ask people who voted for Trump to just understand that we also struggle, that we struggle with the same things. That we are not the culprits of their woes. We are not the group to blame for inequalities," Cesar said.
Cesar was born in Guatemala and was brought by his family to the United States when he was 11 years old. He studied philosophy, human rights and theology in college and finished a year of law school. He received a work permit under Obama's immigration executive order and hopes that Trump supporters see that immigrants contribute to society just like everyone else.
"Although the platform Mr. Trump ran was very much against immigrants and Latinos, we do contribute. We pay our taxes. We work to make this country great," Cesar says.
When Trump won the election, Cesar says that the worry of deportation escalated in Latino communities.
The fear is very real, he says.
"We are all afraid of that possibility, because come January if his [Trump's] policies are enacted, people fear for their safety, parents fear for their children and children fear for their parents," Cesar says.
But Cesar is still hopeful. He believes that dialog with Trump supporters could help unite the country.
"I think that there is a lot more that unites us other than the hateful rhetoric that carried the election," Cesar says.
Living in limbo
Ignacia Rodriguez, an immigration policy advocate at the National Immigration Law Center, says the deportation fears that dreamers are feeling are real and justifiable.
Those who took advantage of Obama's executive action and were entered into the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program" only have temporary work permits, which will eventually expire, she says. When that happens, they are back to being undocumented and vulnerable to deportation.
It could happen even sooner if Trump and his future administration decide to do away with the program. The future of their status in the United States, she says, is in the hands of the President-elect and Congress.
President-elect Trump's camp did not respond to a request for comment.San Jose is about to crack down on two churches that apparently are selling marijuana despite not having permits to do so, Councilwoman Devora “Dev” Davis said Monday.
In an email, Davis told the Resident that the city attorney’s office “is preparing to take court action to shut down both illegal dispensaries.” She was referring to Coachella Valley Church at 2142 The Alameda and Oklevueha Native American Church of South Bay at 265 Meridian Ave.
“It’s a priority for me, so I will be doing everything I can to shut down illegal pot clubs, regardless of whether they call themselves churches or not,” Davis said. For the past few years, the city has allowed only 16 cannabis clubs to operate as long as they have permits and pay sales and business taxes.
Davis said City Attorney Rick Doyle told her the two churches “have been in the hopper as part of the regular process of shutting down illegal dispensaries as they pop up.”
Staff and members of Coachella Valley Church, which opened in May, previously told the Resident sales and use of cannabis are exempt under the banner of religious freedom. Members use marijuana both in the downstairs chapel and on the church’s rooftop lounge as part of their Rastafari practice, they said.
“It helps me to clarify my own mind, to get to my sense of purpose and start living my truth,” Grant Atwell, a shaman who also goes by his Native American name Star Touches Earth, said in a recent interview. Atwell occasionally speaks at the church’s weekly services and advocates the spiritual and medical use of marijuana.
Like our Facebook page for more conversation and news coverage from San Jose, the Bay Area and beyond.
“The majority of adults have come across it in their lifetime,” Atwell said. “However, we have to use it appropriately, in a good way for medical and sacred ceremony.”
Coachella director Donny Lords previously said the church’s nonprofit status means its marijuana sales are non-taxable.
Oklevueha Native American Church of South Bay also claims the same right to sell non-taxed marijuana products to its members.
Related Articles California’s new cannabis rules: No drone deliveries or pot-laced shrimp
San Jose approves the sale of recreational cannabis starting next year Davis said the city can’t do anything about members smoking marijuana on private church property but churches’ nonprofit status don’t give them a loophole or exemption from paying the city’s marijuana business tax.
“The cannabis tax applies whether you are a legal or not-legal dispensary,” Davis said. “They’re basically violating law if they don’t pay taxes on cannabis sales, even if they’re not a dispensary.”
Lords has described the sales as “donations,” but according to the state Board of Equalization, “a seller of any tangible personal property is liable for the sales tax whether they collect the tax reimbursement from their customer or if they don’t collect any tax.”
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“When selling items for a ‘suggested donation’, we would consider these sales subject to sales tax,” Paul Cambra, spokesman for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, said in an email.
“A taxpayer could sell these items on a ‘tax-included basis,’ which would make it seem to the purchaser like they aren’t collecting tax,” Cambra added. “But if they are operating without a seller’s permit, then they are not following the law.”
Last year, San Jose collected $10.5 million in marijuana business taxes alone, not counting sales taxes from actual transactions, according to city officials.
Davis said she is also worried about where and how the marijuana sold at the churches is grown and produced. However, some items sold at Coachella were the same brands as those sold at several legal dispensaries that this reporter visited.
“I’m concerned about the product they’re distributing,” she added. “We have regulations about the product itself to keep people safe.”
Coachella, which was recently inspected by code enforcement officials, and Oklevueha Native American Church could both face fines of up to $50,000 for each day they are open.
Davis reminded residents that both medical and recreational users still need to be 21 or older to buy pot in San Jose when Proposition 64, which makes the sale of recreational pot in California legal, goes into effect Jan. 1.After a star moment, rosé wines get serious
Different shades Rose wine. Different shades Rose wine. Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle 2008 Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle 2008 Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close After a star moment, rosé wines get serious 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
Here's dry rosé's trajectory in the past few years: from understudy ("really, drink it any time of year") to brief star flash to a kind of reliable character actor.
Not long ago, it was having a moment - "How," we asked in 2008, "did people come to embrace a wine that was once shunned?" - a cultural watershed that revealed what wine writers had been kvetching about for years: Rosé was the great undiscovered gem. (We have no doubt you were quietly reading along all that time.)
Has its grand reveal translated into lasting fame? Probably not, but dry rosé has found a sort of happy, mellow burn. After stellar increases in previous years, sales of rosé at $8 or more per bottle were up 15 percent in the past year according to the Nielsen Co.
The restaurant realm, too, is struggling with rosé - quick: find a wine list with more than three pink bottles - but even there, it has found a reliable and happy role - and almost without fail, a gaspingly affordable one. No surprise there. The gist of the hoary annual rosé column has long been that it is a perfect food wine.
But rosé has also managed to develop into something a touch more serious.
This was first witnessed in the sparkling realm - rosé Champagne not only managed to outpace the cost of its paler siblings, but also showcased the best winemaking that bubbly had to offer. Now that same gravitas (which, to be fair, has long existed in spots like Provence) has arrived on the still side. Just two years ago we were awash in wines that seemed like castoffs from red winemaking - carrying along the overdone flavors of the red grapes their juice was bled from. This year? So many wines showed both freshness and precision. My guess as I tasted this season's crop was that they were created to be their own thing, rather than a byproduct.
It was no hunch. Our latest tasting (see The Chronicle Recommends) revealed a proliferation of bottles made by directly pressing red grapes after a brief spell during which the juice soaked in flavor, color and tannin. To dedicate grapes specifically to rosé, rather than bleeding away pale juice from red grapes, is a distinct sign of seriousness.
Something else: On the West Coast, at least, 2011 was a relatively cool year, a struggle to ripen many red grapes. To me, that helps to explain the range of current standouts. If you can't quite ripen red grapes, it's a wise choice to turn them into rosé. I suspect that will be a metastory of the 2011 harvest.
If the silver lining of a tough harvest is a standout crop of pink wine, it's hard to find fault.
So many of these wines are vivacious and delicious. And as our first real look at the wines from 2011, they are an auspicious omen that restraint and freshness will likely be in effect.
We liked pink choices from a dizzying array of grapes, but it's worth highlighting the splendid quality of Pinot Noir rosé this year, in particular from Oregon. Many of these wines show a complexity and depth not usually ascribed to this particular hue. They do so at a price that makes them irresistible.
To find such a good crop of Pinot rosé is further evidence that pink wine is serious business. And to me, it's also an omen that rosé is being viewed in distinct gastronomic terms. It is adopting a life beyond the summer cocktail party.
A happy few of us have long held this to be the case. Now it seems word has spread. Feel free to blush at our mutual good fortune.Susan Abigail Sarandon (née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946[1]) is an American actress and activist. She has received an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards and nine Golden Globe Awards. She is known for her social and political activism for a variety of causes. She was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999 and received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award in 2006.
Sarandon began her career in the 1970 film Joe, before appearing in the soap opera A World Apart (1970–71). In 1974, she co-starred as a young Zelda Fitzgerald surrogate in the TV movie F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' and in 1975, she starred in the popular cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Atlantic City (1980), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and The Client (1994), before winning for Dead Man Walking (1995). She has also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Client, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress for Dead Man Walking. Her other films include: Pretty Baby (1978), The Hunger (1983), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Bull Durham (1988), White Palace (1990), Little Women (1994), Stepmom (1998), Enchanted (2007), The Lovely Bones (2009), Tammy (2014), The Meddler (2015), and A Bad Moms Christmas (2017).
She made her Broadway debut in An Evening with Richard Nixon in 1972 and went on to receive Drama Desk Award nominations for the Off-Broadway plays, A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking (1979) and Extremities (1982). She returned to Broadway in the 2009 revival of Exit the King.
On television, she is a six-time Emmy Award nominee, including for her guest roles on the sitcoms Friends (2001) and Malcolm in the Middle (2002), and appearances in the TV films Bernard and Doris (2007) and You Don't Know Jack (2010). In 2017, Sarandon portrayed Bette Davis in the first season of FX's anthology series Feud, for which she was nominated for both for acting and producing Emmys. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy award for executive producing Cool Women in History in 2002.
Early life [ edit ]
Sarandon was born in the Queens borough of New York City.[2] She is the eldest of nine children of Lenora Marie (née Criscione; b. 1923)[3] and Phillip Leslie Tomalin (1917–1999), an advertising executive, television producer, and one-time nightclub singer. She has four brothers, Philip Jr., Terry (deceased May 19, 2016), Tim and O'Brian, and four sisters, Meredith, Bonnie, Amanda, and Missy.[4][5] Her father was of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry,[6] his English ancestors being from Hackney in London and his Welsh ancestors being from Bridgend. On her mother's side, she is of Italian descent, with ancestors from the regions of Tuscany and Sicily.[4][7][8] Sarandon was raised Roman Catholic and attended Roman Catholic schools. She grew up in Edison, New Jersey,[9][10] where she graduated from Edison High School in 1964.[11][12] She then attended The Catholic University of America, from 1964 to 1968,[13] and earned a BA in drama and worked with noted drama coach and master teacher, Father Gilbert V. Hartke.[14]
Career [ edit ]
In 1969, Sarandon went to a casting call for the motion-picture Joe (1970) with her then-husband Chris Sarandon. Although he did not get a part, she was cast in a major role of a disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy underworld. Between 1970 and 1972, she appeared in the soap operas A World Apart and Search for Tomorrow, playing Patrice Kahlman and Sarah Fairbanks, respectively. In 1975, she appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. She was twice directed by Louis Malle, in Pretty Baby (1978) and Atlantic City (1981). The latter earned Sarandon her first Academy Award nomination.[15]
Sarandon in 2008
Her most controversial film appearance was in Tony Scott's The Hunger (1983), a modern vampire story in which she had a lesbian sex scene with Catherine Deneuve.[16] She appeared in the comedy-fantasy The Witches of Eastwick (1987) alongside Jack Nicholson, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer. However, Sarandon did not become a "household name" until she appeared with Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins in the film Bull Durham (1988), a commercial and critical success.[17] Roger Ebert praised Sarandon's performance in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times: "I don't know who else they could have hired to play Annie Savoy, the Sarandon character who pledges her heart and her body to one player a season, but I doubt if the character would have worked without Sarandon's wonderful performance".[18]
Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award four more times in the 1990s, as Best Actress in Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and The Client (1994), finally winning in 1995 for Dead Man Walking. She was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1994.[19] Additionally, she has received eight Golden Globe nominations, including for White Palace (1990), Stepmom (1998), Igby Goes Down (2002), and Bernard and Doris (2007).[20]
Her other movies include Little Women (1994), Anywhere but Here (1999), Cradle Will Rock (1999), The Banger Sisters (2002), Shall We Dance (2004), Alfie (2004), Romance & Cigarettes (2005), Elizabethtown (2005), and Enchanted (2007). Sarandon has appeared in two episodes of The Simpsons, once as herself ("Bart Has Two Mommies") and as a ballet teacher, "Homer vs. Patty and Selma". She appeared on Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Mad TV, Saturday Night Live, Chappelle's Show, 30 Rock, Rescue Me, and Mike & Molly.
Sarandon has contributed the narration to two dozen documentary films, many of which dealt with social and political issues. In addition, she has served as the presenter on many installments of the PBS documentary series, Independent Lens. In 1999 and 2000, she hosted and presented Mythos, a series of lectures by the late American mythology professor Joseph Campbell.[21] Sarandon also participates as a member of the Jury for the NYICFF, a local New York City Film Festival dedicated to screening films made for children between the ages of 3 and 18.[22]
Sarandon joined the cast of the adaptation of The Lovely Bones, opposite Rachel Weisz, and appeared with her daughter, Eva Amurri, in Middle of Nowhere; both films were made in 2007.[23][24] In June 2010, Sarandon joined the cast of the HBO pilot The Miraculous Year, as Patty Atwood, a Broadway director/choreographer.[25] However, the series was not picked up.[26] In 2012, Sarandon's audiobook performance of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding was released at Audible.com.[27] Sarandon was the voice actor for the character of Granny Rags, an eccentric and sinister old lady, in the stealth/action video game Dishonored, released in 2012. She appeared in the films Arbitrage (2012), Tammy (2014), and The Meddler (2015). In 2017, Sarandon portrayed Bette Davis in the first season of FX's anthology series Feud.[28]
Political views and activism [ edit ]
Sarandon is known for her active support of progressive and liberal political causes, ranging from donations to organizations such as EMILY's List[29] to participating in a 1983 delegation to Nicaragua sponsored by MADRE, an organization that promotes "social, environmental, and economic justice".[30] In 1999, she was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In that capacity, she has actively supported the organization's global advocacy, as well as the work of the Canadian UNICEF Committee.[31] In 2006, she was one of eight women selected to carry in the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, in Turin, Italy. The same year, Sarandon received the Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award.[32] Sarandon was appointed an FAO Goodwill Ambassador in 2010.[33]
Anti-war activism [ edit ]
Sarandon and Robbins both took an early stance against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with Sarandon stating that she was firmly against war as a pre-emptive strike.[34] Prior to a 2003 protest sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice coalition, she said that many Americans "do not want to risk their children or the children of Iraq".[35] Sarandon was one of the first to appear in a series of political ads sponsored by TrueMajority, an organization established by Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream founder Ben Cohen.[36][37] Along with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Sarandon took part in a 2006 Mother's Day protest, which was sponsored by Code Pink.[38] In January 2007, she appeared with Robbins and Jane Fonda at an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. in support of a Congressional measure to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq.[39]
Presidential politics [ edit ]
During the 2000 election, Sarandon supported Ralph Nader's run for president, serving as a co-chair of the National Steering Committee of Nader 2000.[40] During the 2004 election campaign, she withheld support for Nader's bid, being among several "Nader Raiders" who urged Nader to drop out and his voters offer their support for Democratic Party candidate John Kerry.[41] After the 2004 election, Sarandon called for US elections to be monitored by international entities.[42]
In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Sarandon and Tim Robbins campaigned[43] for John Edwards in the New Hampshire communities of Hampton,[44] Bedford, and Dover.[45] When asked at We Vote '08 Kickoff Party "What would Jesus do this primary season", Sarandon said, "I think Jesus would be very supportive of John Edwards."[46] She later endorsed Barack Obama.[47]
In the 2012 U.S. presidential election Sarandon, along with film director Michael Moore, said that they're not thrilled with Obama's performance but hope he gets four more years.[48] She said she and the administration haven't been allies. "I wouldn't say the White House has taken me under its wing and made me one of its best buddies," Sarandon said.[49]
In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, she made public her support for Senator Bernie Sanders.[50][51] On March 28, 2016, in an interview on All In with Chris Hayes, Sarandon indicated that she and other Sanders supporters might not support Hillary Clinton if Clinton is the Democratic nominee for President. She stated: "You know, some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately. If he gets in, then things will really explode." Hayes inquired as to whether it would be dangerous to allow Trump to become president, to which she replied: "If you think that it's pragmatic to shore up the status quo right now, then you're not in touch with the status quo".[52] On October 30, 2016, she endorsed Green Party of the United States presidential candidate Jill Stein.[53]
In an interview with The Guardian published on November 26, 2017, Sarandon said about Hillary Clinton: "I did think she was very, very dangerous. We would still be fracking, we would be at war [if she were president]".[54] Sarandon's mother Leonora Tomalin is a staunch Republican, a supporter of George W. Bush and the Iraq War.[55][56]
Civil rights [ edit ]
In 1995, Sarandon was one of many Hollywood actors, directors and writers interviewed for the documentary The Celluloid Closet, which looked at how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuality.
Sarandon and Robbins appeared at the 2000 Shadow Convention in Los Angeles to speak about drug offenders being unduly punished.[57] In 2004, she served on the advisory committee for 2004 Racism Watch, an activist group.[58]
Sarandon has become an advocate to end the death penalty and mass incarceration. She has joined the team of people fighting to save the life of Richard Glossip, a man on death row in Oklahoma.[59] In May 2015, Sarandon launched a campaign with fundraising platform Represent.com to sell T-shirts to help finance the documentary Deep Run, the story of a poor North Carolina teen undergoing a gender transition.[60]
Recent actions [ edit ]
On March 12, 2011, Sarandon spoke before a crowd in Madison, Wisconsin protesting Governor Scott Walker and his Budget Repair Bill.[61] On September 27, 2011, Sarandon spoke to reporters and interested parties at the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City.[62] Her use of the word "Nazi" to describe Pope Benedict XVI on October 15, 2011, generated complaints from Roman Catholic authorities,[63] and the Anti-Defamation League, which called on Sarandon to apologize.[64] Sarandon brought activist Rosa Clemente to the 75th Golden Globe Awards [65] and participated in a rally against gun violence in June 2018.[66]
On June 28, 2018, Sarandon was arrested during the Women Disobey protests, along with 575 other people, for protesting at the Hart Senate Office Building where a sit-in was being held against Donald Trump's migrant separation policy.[67][68]
Personal life [ edit ]
While in college, Susan Tomalin met fellow student Chris Sarandon and the couple married on September 16, 1967.[69] They divorced in 1979, but she retained the surname Sarandon as her stage name. She was then involved romantically with director Louis Malle,[70] musician David Bowie[71] and, briefly, actor Sean Penn.[72] In the mid-1980s, Sarandon dated Italian filmmaker Franco Amurri, with whom she had a daughter, Eva Amurri (born March 15, 1985) who is also an actress.[73][74]
From 1988, Sarandon lived with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while they were filming Bull Durham. They have two sons. Sarandon, like Robbins, is a lapsed Catholic,[75][76] and they both share liberal political views. Sarandon split with Robbins in 2009.[77][78]
Following the end of her relationship with Robbins, she soon began a relationship with Jonathan Bricklin, son of Malcolm Bricklin. Sarandon and Bricklin helped establish a chain of ping-pong lounges named SPiN.[79] Sarandon is the co-owner of this New York ping-pong club [80] and its Toronto branch SPiN Toronto.[81] Sarandon and Bricklin broke up in 2015.[82]
In 2006, Sarandon and ten relatives, including her then-partner, Tim Robbins, and their son Miles traveled to Wales to trace her family's Welsh genealogy. Their journey was documented by the BBC Wales programme, Coming Home: Susan Sarandon.[8] Much of the same research and content was featured in the American version of Who Do You Think You Are? She also received the "Ragusani Nel Mondo" prize in 2006; her Sicilian roots are in Ragusa, Italy.[83]
Sarandon is a vegetarian.[84]
Filmography [ edit ]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
Sarandon received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Stockholm International Film Festival, was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2010,[85] and received the Outstanding Artistic Life Award for her Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema at the 2011 Shanghai International Film Festival.[86] In 2013, she was invited to inaugurate the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.[87] In 2015, Sarandon received the Goldene Kamera international lifetime achievement award.[88]Anti-Pot New York Republican Gets Community Service, $75 Fine for Marijuana Charge
COEYMAN, NY — A New York lawmaker facing charges for marijuana possession was sentenced to 20 hours of community service and received a $75 parking fine this week.
Assemblyman Steve Katz, who has voted against bills to legalize medical marijuana in the past, was charged with marijuana possession following a traffic stop by New York State Police in March.
Troopers say Katz was driving 80 mph on a highway with a posted 65 mph speed limit in Coeyman, south of Albany. Police say an officer smelled marijuana and found Katz in possession an eighth of marijuana.
Article continues after ad Advertisement
The Hudson Valley assemblyman is a Republican and Conservative who lives in Mohegan Lake. He’s a veterinarian first elected in 2010.
Katz is a member of the assembly’s Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee, as well as the Higher Education Committee, and previously voted against a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana.
At the time charges were filed, Katz said he was confident that “this will quickly be put to rest.”
Tags: Steve KatzThis is a guest post by David Archibald
The Imminent Peak in US Oil Production
The seven years of production of tight oil in the US has produced enough data to
enable estimation of the amount of oil that will be recovered from these systems and
the timing of peak production. Based on data to May 2014, the four main tight oil
basins will produce a total of 7.7 billion barrels with a peak production rate of 3.9
million barrels per day in mid-2015. Following that peak, production is predicted to
decline as rapidly as it rose. That in turn is expected to cause a re-assessment of the
ability to produce sufficient transport fuels based on current policies.
The Bakken in North Dakota
Jean Laherrere has plotted monthly oil production from the Bakken Fm in North
Dakota using Hubbert linearization:
FIG. 1
Also called a logistic decline plot, Hubbert linearization plots annual production divided by cumulative production to that date on the y axis against cumulative production on the x axis. This is the method that M. King Hubbert famously used in 1956 to predict the peak of US oil production in 1970. He was also largely correct in predicting the rate of decline from that peak. This methodology is based on the theory of the rate of extraction from a finite resource originally developed by the early nineteenth-century Belgian mathematician Pierre Francois Verhulst (1804–1849). The fact that Bakken production from 2012 has plotted as a straight line on this graph reflects depletion of a resource close to 2,500 million barrels.
Nearly 90% of Bakken production in North Dakota comes from four counties:Williams, Dunn, Mountrail and McKenzie. Figure 2 shows the monthly production history of these counties from 2005:
FIG. 2
Each of these counties also demonstrate Hubbert linearization as shown in Figure 3:
FIG. 3
Analysis by county confirms the play-wide assessment. Based on data to May 2014,Table 1 details the amount of oil produced to date, the estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) and the percentage depleted:
Table 1
As well as the Bakken, the other three main US tight oil basins/formations are the Niobrara, Eagle Ford and the Permian. Using Hubbert linearization, the EUR, peak production rate and year of peak for these plays is shown in Table 2:
The expected production profile of these basins/formations to 2019 is shown in Figure 4 following:
FIG. 4
The contribution of tight oil to US production has been welcome but will be short-
lived. The shale gas boom has different dynamics and will be more enduring. US tight oil production has stopped world oil production from declining over the last five years. The projected decline in US tight oil production from mid-2015 can be expected to have a price impact. Figure 5 following shows the WTI oil price and the Henry Hub gas price (x6) from 1997 and the modeled internal rates of return for coal-to-liquids facilities at $100, $120 and $140 per barrel based on a capital expenditure of $130,000 per barrel of daily capacity:
FIG 5.
David Archibald, a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of World Politics in Washington,
D.C., is the author of Twilight of Abundance: Why Life in the 21st Century Will Be
Nasty, Brutish, and Short (Regnery, 2014). He also operates five million acres in the
Canning Basin of Western Australia.Facetune 2 is now available on the App Store!
• "Facetune helps you look your Hollywood best, even in photos taken on mobile phones." - Roy Furchgott, The NY Times
• Facetune is a fun and powerful portrait & selfie photo editor!
• #1 Photo and Video App in 127 countries!
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Professional photographers and graphic designers constantly photoshop models to perfection, and now so can you! Without the expensive price tag or complicated tools, Facetune gives you the ability to retouch and add artistic flair to selfies and portraits with ease, from the convenience of your iPhone.
Praises about Facetune:
• "Facetune helps you look your Hollywood best, even in photos taken on mobile phones." - Roy Furchgott, The NY Times
• "One of the Most Powerful Mobile Apps I have Ever Encountered... Facetune Can Truly Be Called Magical." - Hillel Fuld, Huffington Post
• “I have been seriously impressed with the patch quality FaceTune does. You get pretty much a Photoshop editing job |
must accept a disturbing reality about Syria—ISIS and al Qaeda are simply not the biggest threats the Sunni Arabs there face. Assad and his Russian and Iranian controllers pose an existential threat to the Sunni Arab community, which they seek to re-oppress and in some areas eliminate entirely.
ISIS and al Qaeda do not want that. ISIS wants to govern, however insanely, Syria’s Sunni population. Al Qaeda insists only that the Syrian Sunni be governed in a manner of which it approves. Both groups kill, displace, and brutalize Sunni, but they also try to provide basic services—which the regime does not do.
The Sunni opposition wants help against Assad first, and only then against the Salafi-jihadis. We must align our phasing with theirs to gain the only allies who can actually help us achieve our national security requirements. But we must not swing too far in this direction either, giving the impression that we want to help the Sunni Arabs in Syria—or Iraq—impose sectarian regimes of their own.
The balance is tricky, but we can and must find it.
So perhaps it's time to try the one thing we've refused to do—work with Syria's Sunni Arabs against Assad, Iran, and the Salafi-jihadis. This suggestion has the additional benefit of cohering with a strategy to combat Iranian malign activities and military deployments in the Middle East that the Trump administration promises to roll out shortly.
This strategy is problematic, especially after years of policies that have created justified mistrust of America's intentions. It is risky and might fail. But it is the only approach that can actually work.David Täht writes about politics, space, copyright, the internet, audio software, operating systems and surfing.
Resume,Songs, My new blog, NeX-6, My facebook page
Orgs I like
The EFF - keeping free speech in the world
Musical stuff I like
Jeff, Rick, Ardour, Jack
Prior Rants - Fox News debate results Fox news modifying the people meter on Ron Paul My top ten presidental debate questions A Truman moment Trying to find a way to be fair Keep the online polls Gordo's going out again (the gestation of a new so... X11 is dead, long live X11 Trying to find the fire in my belly Paddling from the boat
Best of the blog:
Uncle Bill's Helicopter - A speech I gave to ITT Tech - Chicken soup for engineers
Beating the Brand - A pathological exploration of how branding makes it hard to think straight
Inside the Internet Mind - trying to map the weather within the global supercomputer that consists of humans and google
Sex In Politics - If politicians spent more time pounding the flesh rather than pressing it, it would be a better world
Getting resources from space - An alternative to blowing money on mars using NEAs.
On the Columbia - Why I care about space
Authors I like:
Doc Searls
Where's Cherie?
UrbanAgora
Jerry Pournelle
The Cubic Dog
Evan Hunt
The Bay Area is talking
Brizzled
Zimnoiac Emanations
Eric Raymond
Unlocking The Air
Bob Mage
BroadBand & Me
SpaceCraft
Selenian Boondocks
My Pencil
Transterrestial Musings
Bear Waller Hollar
Callahans
If you really want to, you can poke through the below links as well.Close
On Feb. 11, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory observed the very first proof of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. However, most people are not aware of its importance, that's why a theoretical physicist guested on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" last Feb. 25 to explain and demonstrate how the discovery was made.
According to Brian Greene, Einstein predicted gravitational waves a century ago, and then published the Theory of General Relativity a year after. So let's get down to the timeline and try to understand his complex ideas - or you can go straight to the bottom and watch Greene's explanation.
In 1915, Einstein came out with the Theory of General Relativity where he predicted that gravity is a scientific phenomenon, which has curvatures as an effect of mass on the spacetime fabric. As Greene and Colbert discussed, imagine a trampoline - once an object or a person gets on that trampoline, it will automatically produce a dip on that particular area. That dip or curvature is what one can consider as gravity.
Now what is the gravitational wave that Einstein added in 1916?
Einstein thought that, when massive objects interact, they send out gravitational energy that creates a ripple in spacetime which affects the other objects in space, including Earth. These ripples are the gravitational waves and these waves cause the objects it interacts with to expand and contract. Like the video below.
Back to the trampoline example, observe that when there is a surge of activity on one end of the trampoline, one can still sense it just by touching any point on the surface. It does not matter if it is a weak disturbance because the important thing is that the surge of energy from the activity on one end caused a ripple and was felt on the other side. The hand touching the trampoline did not noticeably contract and expand, but the energy did ripple across the surface.
Scientists at LIGO detected that ripple - sent by two massive black holes merging using its advanced facilities located in Washington and Louisiana - and the only way scientists would consider an event as a definite proof is if the gravitational wave interference was detected at the same time by the two observatories, which are more than 2,000 miles away from each other.
So, what makes the discovery so important? Much of scientific studies measure objects in space using light waves. Now there's a whole new proven measurement for them to use and it could just lead to greater astronomical discoveries.
Watch Greene's brilliant presentation below.
ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.“Bishop” Harry Jackson Begs For Money To Fight Gay Marriage Using The Race Card: I Need $1.5 Million To Hate The Gays
Well the anti-gay“Bishop” Harry Jackson in his never ending quest to stop all things “pro-gay” is at it again this time using a page out of the National Organization for Marriage handbook for his latest scam.
Jackson hasjust sent out a Right Wingnut Welfare letter begging for 1.5 MILLION dollars to starts a “new and improved” anti-gay marriage group called the “High Impact Leadership Coalition” who are “recruiting an army of the faithful to war for the soul of our nation”. (In the African American and Hispanic communities only.)
And of course its a 501(c)(3) tax exempt charity.
Addcording to the IRS if you suspect or know of an individual, company or organization that is not complying with the tax laws, you may report this activity by completing IRS Form 3949-A.
You may fill out Form 3949-A online, print it and mail it to: Internal Revenue Service Fresno, CA 93888
I got mine. So Harry won’t get his.
Have you got yours?
Many thanks to Jeremy Hooper @ GoodAsYouMohammed Ekinci still has nightmares. “We were standing here,” he says, gesturing to a small garden in front of the Amara Culture Center in...
Mohammed Ekinci still has nightmares.
“We were standing here,” he says, gesturing to a small garden in front of the Amara Culture Center in Suruc, southern Turkey.
“Everyone was running,” the tall science student says. “They were covered in blood. I could see body parts in the trees we were screaming for help. I still hear those screams I can’t sleep or study anymore. I’m like a crazy person now.”
A member of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, or SGDF, 24-year-old Ekinci was one of a growing number of Western students forging links with Kurdish youth groups in both southeastern Turkey and in the town of Kobani on the Turkey-Syria border, the latter the site of major fighting between Islamic State and the U.S.-led coalition in late 2014 and early 2015.
At noon on July 20, 2015, 32 of Ekinci’s friends — who had traveled to Suruc to help rebuild Kobani — were killed by a suicide bomber.
“At the time we all thought it was ISIS,” Ekinci says. “But after some time, and now, thinking about it, lots of things don’t make sense. When we were screaming for help, people ran out on to the street but the ambulances weren’t allowed in to help the injured. It is all so wrong. Now, when we see Turkish Special Forces, we think they’re linked to ISIS. So was it ISIS or the Turkish state? What’s the difference?”
Following the Suruc bombing, Selahattin Demirtaş — the leader of the pro-Kurd People’s Democratic Party — blamed Turkey, claiming that “officials in Ankara gently pat the heads of ISIS.” Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party party denied the accusation.
The following day the PKK retaliated with an attack on Turkish soldiers, the next day Kurdish militants shot dead two Turkish policemen in their homes in Sanliurfa, a Kurdish city in eastern Turkey.
On July 21, 2015 — the day after the bombing — Turkey launched air strikes on strongholds of the Kurdish PKK party in Turkey and in Iraq’s Qandil mountains. The PKK in turn, carried out a campaign of car bombings targeting Turkish police and soldiers.
The fragile, two-year-old Turkey-PKK ceasefire instantly dissolved and the region descended into violence not seen since the 1990s.
At top, above and below — Suruc. All photos by Diego Cupolo
Curfews
Now seven cities and 21 towns in Turkey are under curfew. Five of these are under 24-hour curfew — a practice Amnesty International calls “collective punishment.”
Government forces are using heavy weaponry, including armored vehicles, against PKK guerillas who, according to residents, have been preparing for war in civilians areas ever since Turkey’s June election, which saw the pro-Kurd HDP party gain ground.
In Sur, Diyarbakir, residents have returned home to find their businesses in the UNESCO-listed ares destroyed by government tanks and bombs. At least 487 civilians have died in the curfew zones since August 2015 and many families are still waiting to reclaim bodies of relatives scattered in morgues across the region.
Social media accounts linked to Turkish special forces have circulated photos depicting the naked dead bodies of female guerillas lying in public streets.
Human rights groups have challenged Turkey’s practice of closing down whole cities and towns.
Government officials claim the curfews are necessary prevent terror attacks, but HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş has called the restrictions “war crimes.”
“There are obvious war crimes being committed,” Demirtaş said. “We need more help. The city centers are being shelled by government forces. When we demanded access to the towns to retrieve the bodies of those killed in the fighting or get ambulances in to help the wounded, we were refused.”
The Kurds’ last stand
In Diyarbakir’s Martyrs’ Graveyard, keffiyehs in Kurdish colors flutter from the gravestones of those killed fighting in the curfew areas. The average age listed on the gravestones is 22. Fresh bodies arrive on a weekly basis. One woman complained that imams are being prevented from facilitating proper Islamic burials. And many families can’t even claim the bodies of their loved-ones who died fighting the government.
In Sur, Mahmut Simsek helps those trying to locate the bodies of Kurds killed while fighting for the YPS “civil protection units” that are aligned with the PKK.
“Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes 10 days and sometimes they never find the bodies,” Simsek says. “We now believe that this is the final war for us Kurds. This war will be everywhere, in the cities, the mountains even in the western part of Turkey. The Suruc bombing was the beginning. More young people will die.”
The European Union has just signed off on a €6-billion deal with Turkey that would curtail the flow of migrants from the Middle East, but many Kurds say they fear that Ankara will direct this money into the war on the Kurds, as many refugee camps are under the control of Turkish forces.
Ekinci, the Suruc bombing survivor, claims that Turkey’s clamp-down on protest movements and youth gatherings will only fuel violence in both the Kurdish east and the liberal west.
“I’m worried this year there will be more and more attacks, but I will continue to go to protests,” he says. “They think if they keep killing us we will be afraid but we won’t let them. ISIS and the government can’t stop us from making our voices heard. Suruc will not be the end.”Glens Falls, NY Organizing Phish-Themed Promotion for Downtown Restaurants
Photo by Billy Kelly
Glens Falls, NY is hoping to promote some local restaurants with Phish-themed foods. PostStar.com is reporting that city officials have begun working with downtown restaurant owners to plan a week of culinary specials that will take place during the week of October 23, when the band is set to return to the Glens Falls Civic Center for the first time in 19 years.
As part of the promotion, restaurants will create recipes that include fish as an ingredient or they could come up with other creations that are made from ingredients that the band’s fans would enjoy. The goal is to make Phish fans feel welcome, as well as to generate publicity for the town.
Phish last performed at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Halloween 1994, when they covered The Beatles’ self-titled “White Album” and played for more than five hours. Tickets to the October 23 show have sold out.Hello Film Doctor friends,
As the new working week Kung-Fu kicks itself into our lives, the Film Doctor team are delicately serving up this Monday Prescription to all new talent trying their hand at directing.
This is a very peculiar craft, requiring one to wear several hats at once, juggling creative storytelling, technical innovation and excellent people management skills – and, frankly, not everyone is meant for it.
It is perfectly fine to start your film career in one department and switch to another, if/when you realise that you might be better suited to x,y,z. And it’s perfectly fine to figure this out for yourself, using trial-and-error and hands-on experience.
However, it is not fine to waste your skills in a wrongly occupied capacity just because your ego likes the idea of it!!
So here is a friendly “check-list” of some “traits” worth examining in yourself:
1. You can sift through footage, assemble the most engaging sequences, catch the eye of the viewer, but your projects lack …
You can do miracles with existing footage – crossovers, transitions, colour corrections, you name it, but how do you actually choose your shots? Are you more focused on the sequence that you build or the story that it’s meant to convey? In addition, consider the type of work you usually put together – maybe you have more music video type visuals in your portfolio. Another point to consider is whether your projects originated from your own ideas for stories or you prefer to get involved with already delivered material.
Maybe you’re better suited to being… an Editor? They say a film is shot the second time in an editing suite. So, if making great cut is your forte, why not have your shining moment in post-production? Or…a commercials/music video director? Long form isn’t for everyone. Perhaps not you.
2. You can create strong, memorable visuals, but you cannot get the performance you want…
You follow the latest camera equipment advances, you love and know your tech gadgets, and visualise stunning shot compositions, but when it comes to actors, getting the right performance is simply not your strong point. As you probably have noticed, best films are well told stories with skilled, convincing cast, and memorable visuals, not just memorable visuals. So?
Maybe you’re better suited to being… a Cinematographer / Photographer? – Similar to the above, if you find that your work is more focused on stunning shot compositions and framings, rather than stunning actor performances, AND you want to work with features, then it is worth considering DP as a role.
3. Your stories are fantastic on paper, but you cannot orchestrate a film production
You’ve got ideas and you are great at expressing them on paper, creating engaging stories for quality screenplays. But enticing a crew, working with actors, translating your words into screen shots all makes you feel rather uncomfortable? If you cannot face and coordinate a whole group of people, delegate tasks and really build a team that will work towards the same vision, directing might not be the job for you.
Maybe you’re better suited to being… a Writer? Maybe production is not your strong side. But why not make a living out of writing compelling stories?
NB/ Film Doctor are a ‘can do’ team. None of the above is meant to dissuade anybody from trying anything or sticking to their dreams. If you feel some of the points above ring true to you and you still want to carry on then DO!! Just make sure you address recurring issues and don’t become renowned for wooden performances or end up being the ‘style over substance’ director.
‘Monday Prescription’ No. 79 – Wanting to be a Film Director is not enough, there are certain skills you need to develop along the way and particular character traits worth developing. If you’re dead serious about making it in the Director’s chair, make sure you consistently monitor yourself and your progress and keep all those hats you’re wearing well and truly up to date.
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Like this: Like Loading...Rohit Vemula, a doctoral student at Hyderabad university, is thought to have killed himself after being accused of assaulting a right-wing student leader
'This is not a suicide but murder': protests in India over lower-caste scholar's death
Indian police on Monday fired water cannon to disperse students protesting the death of a young Dalit scholar who killed himself after he was suspended from university, in a case some have blamed on caste-related discrimination.
Rohit Vemula, a 26-year-old doctoral student at the university of Hyderabad, was found hanged on Sunday evening, triggering protests in the southern city and New Delhi.
Lynching of boy underlines how the curse of caste still blights India Read more
He was one of five students, all from India’s lowest Dalit social caste, to be suspended by the university after they were accused of assaulting the head of a right-wing student political group – a charge they denied.
Hyderabad police have registered preliminary cases against the university’s vice-chancellor Appa Rao and Bandaru Dattatreya, a junior federal minister who had called for the university to punish the five.
They face charges of abetting a suicide and under a prevention of atrocities act that is designed to protect low-caste Hindus who have faced historic discrimination and abuse.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police use water canon during a protest demanding the resignation of the Hyderabad University vice-chancellor over the suicide of a Dalit scholar Rohit Vemula. Photograph: Hindustan Times/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
“Student activists from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – a right-leaning national student organisation – came to me with a representation,” Dattatreya told reporters while dismissing allegations of his role in the controversy.
“They were being beaten, assaulted in the university, there were reports of anti-social and anti-national activities. I just forwarded their representation to the ministry and don’t know what happened after that,” he said.
On Monday, police fired water cannon to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered outside the government building where the minister works.
“This is not a suicide but a murder. There was too much pressure from the administration on the five students,” said Ravneet Param, a graduate student in Delhi.
“They were framed and the people who were behind the fabricated case should face action.”
Hundreds more protested at the university of Hyderabad, where police briefly detained eight students.
The government has said it has sent investigators to the university to look into Vemula’s death.
Dalits, formerly known as untouchables, are frequently the victims of violence and prejudice in many Indian states, cases of discrimination against them are often treated as a low priority by local authorities.
There are approximately 180 million Dalits in India’s 1.25 billion population.10828 SHARES Share Tweet Google Whatsapp Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Mail
Pro-Leave daily The Express has dramatically backtracked on Brexit – admitting that the UK will be worse-off under “most plausible scenarios”.
The paper, which actively encouraged Brits to vote Leave before the referendum, has today published a damning report seemingly reversing its stance on the breakup.
A report from the Rand Corporation found a no-Brexit deal would cost the UK nearly five per cent of its overall GDP – around £104 billion – over the course of ten years after Brexit.
It confirmed the UK will suffer under all “Brexit scenarios”, adding that Britain’s membership of the single market allowed it to become a “powerhouse” of an economy.
After standing resolute on their stance towards Europe for most of the year, this seems to be the final nail in the coffin for Hugh Whittow’s band of right-wing hacks.
The reversal comes just months after a poll found an increasing number of people believe voting to leave the European Union was a bad idea.
Research conducted in October unveiled the highest proportion of people since the referendum now regret the result, with 47 per cent of respondents saying it was wrong for the UK to vote Leave compared with 42 per cent who believe it was the right decision.
RELATEDThe present study investigated the effect of long-term intake of aspartame, a widely used artificial sweetener, on antioxidant defense status in the rat brain. Male Wistar rats weighing 150-175 g were randomly divided into three groups as follows: The first group was given aspartame at a dose of 500 mg/kg body weight (b.w.); the second group was given aspartame at dose of 1,000 mg/kg b.w., respectively, in a total volume of 3 mL of water; and the control rats received 3 mL of distilled water. Oral intubations were done in the morning, daily for 180 days. The concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH) and the activity of glutathione reductase (GR) were significantly reduced in the brain of rats that had received the dose of 1,000 mg/kg b.w. of aspartame, whereas only a significant reduction in GSH concentration was observed in the 500-mg/kg b.w. aspartame-treated group. Histopathological examination revealed mild vascular congestion in the 1,000 mg/kg b.w. group of aspartame-treated rats. The results of this experiment indicate that long-term consumption of aspartame leads to an imbalance in the antioxidant/pro-oxidant status in the brain, mainly through the mechanism involving the glutathione-dependent system.Robert Redford and Paul Newman would be proud.
New York City Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal went undercover at several Airbnb listings in the city to expose what she says is a "pervasive" illegal hotel problem. Recordings from the sting reveal hosts knowingly breaking the law, even going so far as to instruct the undercover guests not to mention Airbnb in the building.
See also: New York Goes to War Against Airbnb for Disrupting Hotel Business
“If somebody asks you something, never mention in the building Airbnb,” a host tells Rosenthal."This is supposed to be residential."
The assemblymember rented out four apartments for one night each during the week of April 13 to 20. When Rosenthal went to check in, she brought along a hidden camera, as one does in the true network-television sting tradition.
Your browser does not support iframes.
"I think it's an excellent way to actually show the problem," Rosenthal told Mashable on Friday. "It's a useful way to crystalize the situation."
The assemblymember is not new to going undercover: In 2007, before Airbnb was a major player in the market, she also investigated illegal rental listings, and has gone undercover to expose the mislabeling of fur in department stores.
As stings go, the investigation in April was quite successful.
Rosenthal, working with journalists at CBS New York, found management companies posing as tenants, landlords converting residential buildings into hotel-style lodging, and one rental company with over 200 listings. New York City housing law prohibits rentals of residential units for less than 30 days.
Share Better, a coalition of elected officials and community activists created to "fight illegal hotels," financed the sting.
Airbnb has repeatedly said that illegal hotels do not accurately represent the listings on its website. However, the company has also repeatedly declined to publicly release data about its listings. That's left proponents of home sharing and elected officials at an impasse, as Airbnb says laws should allow locals to occasionally rent out their own homes, while officials say they do not have enough information about who is breaking the law.
Instead of making progress on the issue, it seems the two sides are talking past each other.
"Nobody supports bad actors who turn apartments into large-scale illegal hotels," Airbnb spokesperson Nick Papas told Mashable in a statement. "We have removed thousands of listings from our site and Ideal Oasis is prohibited from accepting reservations on our site."
Ideal Oasis was the large-scale operation exposed in the undercover video.
Papas said hosts must confirm that they will follow the rules, and that Airbnb provides "substantial information" to hosts before they list on the site.
"We agree with New York City leaders that enforcement agencies should be targeting illegal hotel operators, many of whom do business on multiple websites," he added. "At the same time, we need to clarify the laws, so regular New Yorkers can share the home in which they live and pay the bills."
Rosenthal, however, says the law is crystal clear. "They want it to be changed to enable this kind of rental to continue," she said.
Rosenthal added that the responsibility to stop the use of rental units as short-term lodging for tourists is on both New York City and companies, like Airbnb, which make it easy for bad actors to list residential units.
The company has changed how it notifies hosts about local laws. Currently, on Airbnb's website, a popup appears when an address within the city limits is listed.
The popup warning on Airbnb's website that appears when listing an apartment in Manhattan. Image: Airbnb
The New York State Multiple Dwelling Law (available here) prohibits short-term rentals of property in Class A multiple dwellings used for permanent residence purposes (which includes most apartment buildings but not single and two-family buildings) unless a permanent occupant of the apartment is present during the stay, no money is exchanged, or if the stay is longer than thirty consecutive days.
However, Rosenthal does not think Airbnb's current warnings go far enough.
"If they were really trying to be careful," she said, "they would put in big bold letters on the first page 'Here is where this activity is illegal.'"
The assemblymember added that New York City should move to do more to enforce the laws, which are presently based on complaints. A few more complaints have come in, though, since her undercover video aired Thursday on CBS New York.
"Since that aired, I'm getting emails and calls from tenants saying 'Oh, I've seen this happening in my building,'" Rosenthal said, adding that she'll be forwarding those complaints to the office that enforces the illegal hotels law.TORONTO (Reuters) - A commuter train collided with a tow truck near Toronto on Friday during the morning rush hour, killing the driver of the truck and blocking a rail line into downtown Toronto, Canada’s largest city and main financial hub.
GO Transit, which carries thousands of commuters into Toronto’s core, said its 7:35 am ET train from the town of Milton to Toronto “made contact with a vehicle”. It closed the line and advised passengers to find an alternate route.
Peel Regional Police later confirmed the driver of the tow truck had been killed. Hundreds of passengers on the train had to remain on board until they could disembark safely to buses.
“Passengers will be off loaded shortly once transportation is in place,” Peel police tweeted.
Milton is about 56 km (35 miles) southwest of Toronto, and the Milton GO Transit line is one of the main rail corridors for commuters to downtown Toronto.Beyond Braille: 3-D Printed Books For The Blind
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of the University of Colorado Boulder Courtesy of the University of Colorado Boulder
This post is part of our Weekly Innovation series, in which we explore an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Do you have an innovation to share? Use this quick form.
Now here's something Helen Keller couldn't have dreamed up: the picture book Goodnight Moon, but with all the pictures — the mittens and the kittens, the socks and clock, the mouse and little house — come to life in sculptural 3-D.
Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder already have imagined it. And they, along with others in the Tactile Picture Books Project, have made it — as well as 3-D printed versions of Harold and the Purple Crayon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Tactile books for little readers have long existed, of course, with swatches of felt and textured patches perfect for small fingertips to graze over. And other organizations, like the American Printing House for the Blind and the National Braille Press, are also exploring the tactile-books space.
But the Tactile Picture Books Project takes touch books to a new level, courtesy of 3-D printing. The emerging technology opens up the possibility of fast, customizable, sculptured versions of 2-D books. One eventual goal: to allow parents to snap a photo of a 2-D book page, send it to the printer and — voila! — get a 3-D version of the same. Another: to develop a library of graphics that can be printed on the fly.
There's a long way to go, in terms of feasibility, says Abigale Stangl, one of the researchers. But she says it's well worth it. The more a visually impaired child explores her world with touch, the more capable she becomes, Stangl says.
"Our focus is really looking at children who are in the stages of emergent literacy... and how can parents help create an experience to help children understand that books contain knowledge and develop a comfort with feeling books and feeling the environment," says Stangl.
But how to tell if a child is really engaging with tactile books? Stangl, who also volunteers at a school for the visually impaired in Denver, says the team is exploring different ways of testing engagement. Sensors might detect how long a child is touching the page and whether that equates to attention, or capturing the interaction between the child and parent.
Sounds like true universal design: Little is more sacred across cultures than a good bedtime story.
Vignesh Ramachandran is a tech buff and journalist working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow him on Twitter: @VigneshRWell, today’s comic won’t be up until late. Not because I didn’t finish it, mind you. Oh, no… It’s been done since 11 pm.
Our Internet, onthe other hand, has been out since 10.
Customer support is no help, of course. “Um, your modem shows you as offline.” Yeah, no shit. “Nobody else inthe area is showing as down.” Really? You think that might be because it’s basically a freaking retirement community, and everyones been in bed since 7, instead of up and power cycling the damn thing like me?
So, here I am, typing this out on my iPhone while my comic remains sadly tethered to my desktop. I’ll take it into work with me on a flash drive tomorrow and get it up from there. For now, I need to put my impotent rage aside and get some sleep. Night, guys.Team Impul Hoshino Racing’s Narain is backed by Tata Sons and Tata Motors. Hos qualification placed him a tenth behind 24-hour Le Mans winner and World Endurance champion, André Lotterer of Team Tom’s Toyota.
“It is incredible to qualify on the front row on the first weekend of the season, considering the competition. We managed to improve bit by bit over the weekend and hopefully will be in a good place for the race”, said Karthikeyan.
Former Force India reserve driver James Rossiter was 4th while 2010 series champion and Narain’s Team Impul teammate João Paulo de Oliveira qualified 5th.
Super Formula runs on a knockout-based qualifying format with Q1, Q2 & Q3 sessions to determine race day final grid positions for the 43-lap, 250km long race on Sunday.
“The Tom’s drivers (Lotterer and Nakajima) have been in a class of their own throughout the weekend so splitting them is incredibly satisfying. Just four-tenths cover the top five so it very close at the front”, said Narain.
“The car is amazing, great to drive and it will be a long race with pitstops for fuel and tyres, so quite a bit of strategy is involved. We hope that everything goes to plan and come away with a strong result on the first weekend of the season”, he added.
2014 Super Formula, Round 1, Suzuka Circuit
Qualifying results:
Position Driver Laptime
1 André Lotterer 1’37.022
2 Narain Karthikeyan 1’37.148
3 Kazuki Nakajima 1’37.159
4 James Rossiter 1’37.284
5 J P De Oliveira 1’37.399
6 Hiroaki Ishiura 1’37.404
7 Loic Duval 1’37.543
8 Tomoki Nojiri 1’39.380
9 Naoki Yamamoto 1’38.086
10 Hideki Mutoh 1’38.108
11 Ryo Hirakawa 1’38.127
12 Yuji Kunimoto 1’38.223
13 Yuichi Nakayama 1’38.260
14 Koudai Tsukakoshi 1’38.509
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi 1’38.908
16 Takashi Kogure 1’39.063
17 Yuhki Nakayama 1’39.109
18 Daisuke Nakajima 1’39.113
19 Koki Saga 1’39.615
2014 Super Formula CalendarRichard Lee to Give Up Oaksterdam University after Raids “It’s time for others to take over,” Lee says
OAKLAND, CA — Longtime marijuana reform activist Richard Lee, founder of Oakland’s Oaksterdam University, has said he will give up ownership of the marijuana trade school and other businesses following Monday’s raid by federal agents. The raids on the school, and other Oakland-area businesses Lee owns, resulted in the seizure of many of Lee’s assets, including plants, bank accounts, records and computers.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time. Over 20 years…. I kind of feel like I’ve done my time,” Lee told the Los Angeles Times Thursday. “It’s time for others to take over.”
Lee, 49, who is a wheelchair-bound paraplegic, was detained during Monday’s raids but later released without being arrested. Lee said he is worried that he could face federal drug charges, a risk he has lived with for many years. He will continue to be an outspoken marijuana reform advocate. Lee bankrolled Proposition 19 in 2010, which sought to regulate the adult use, possession, and sale of cannabis to adults.
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“I believe that cannabis prohibition is unjust and counterproductive,” he said. “What I’ve done is ethical, and I tried to use the resources that I had to do everything I could to change the laws.”
Lee’s Oaksterdam University, the first brick-and-mortar marijuana trade school in the nation, remains open, although its classes have been scaled back. Lee’s dispensary is also open. He plans to transfer the businesses to new operators but said he will shut down his marijuana nursery because his stock of mother plants, which he had nurtured for years, was confiscated.
Monday’s raids on Oaksterdam University continue to draw criticism from citizens, news media, and public officials.
Speaking to news media on Monday, Oakland City Councilmember At Large Rebecca Kaplan said that Lee’s “involvement in Oakland has been overwhelmingly positive. … He’s been an exemplary community member.” She added that the city of Oakland “was not involved” in the decision to target the Oaksterdam facility.
US Attorneys in California had previously stated that their offices would only become involved in instances where proprietors were in clear violation of state law or in cases where federal law enforcement were summoned at the behest of local officials.
Tags: CaliforniaWWE star Kane appears on libertarian podcast, says wrestlers seek him out for help because of his knowledge of finance and economics
Nov 2, 2013 - 09:37 AM WWE star Kane (a/k/a Glenn Jacobs) appeared on the Tom Woods podcast this week to discuss his libertarian background and other political and economic topics. You can hear the full interview at http://youtu.be/cpqUIwu8nuc.
Shore's Slant: Even if you aren’t a political person, check this podcast out. Kane's monster character hides his real genius and it's both weird and cool to listen to "Kane" talk about economics and politics in such a meaningful way.
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RELATED ARTICLES FROM MGID AFFILIATE SITES... Loading...The city has announced a number of road closures in connection to this weekend's Philadelphia Marathon, along with some SEPTA detours.Some of the major areas impacted include:The Benjamin Franklin Parkway Friday, November 18 through Sunday, November 20Citywide along the 26.2-mile route of the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, November 20The I-676 off-ramps at 22nd Street (westbound) and 23rd Street (eastbound) will be closed on |
I heard the phrase “Atlantic Coast Pipeline” for the first time. Thursday night, I drove two hours to a public hearing and a “Drop-In Listening Session” in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Now I can barely think about anything else.
Before I go into the details of what I learned, here’s a summary: the pipeline is bad because:
It is unfair to citizens and vulnerable populations: they’re being asked to pay (with increased electricity bills for “infrastructure improvement”) for a pipeline that will not benefit them at all and instead saddle them with a risky project that will whisk the gas off overseas to make a profit for a corporation.
It endangers the environment and will give nothing back to the community.
It encourages fracking, doing PERMANENT damage to our country’s most precious natural resources (clean air and water) in exchange for temporary gain for massive energy conglomerates.
The rushed, misleading, and completely inaccessible Environmental Impact Survey is a travesty and must be withdrawn until an adequate survey can be conducted.
Anyway, back on Tuesday, I picked up on the fact that Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC is planning to pipe fracked natural gas from West Virginia across North Carolina. ACP LLC is owned by Dominion and Duke Energy among others. This gas is intended for sale overseas (they like to say that it will be available to the residents of affected communities, but the tap-in cost for a county to get any of the gas is PROHIBITIVELY HIGH, especially for the impoverished counties along the planned route of the pipeline). It’s no surprise that I hadn’t heard much about the pipeline, because ACP LLC has been very careful to keep a low profile (only contacting the residents from whom they are attempting to acquire land, leaving their neighbors in the dark).
So the FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the group that supposedly prevents abuse, damage, and ill-considered pipelines) is holding hearings along the route of the pipeline to take public opinion. It’s supposed to make sure the pipeline doesn’t cause undue damage.
Prior to the Roanoke Rapids hearing, the Sierra Club Headwaters group and the Clean Water NC group were holding a meeting for concerned citizens. I decided to go to Roanoke Rapids and attend.
There were about thirty people at the “Peoples’ Hearing” which was held close to the Hilton where the official Federal Listening Session took place afterwards. The Peoples’ Hearing was set up by local citizen groups, the NAACP, Concerned Stewards of Halifax County, and Clean Water for NC. This is what we learned:
1) Prior to the FERC hearing, affected citizens were supposed to have had access to information about the pipeline project. What actually happened: not even two weeks ago ACP dumped an obtuse and inaccessible document, several thousand pages long.
2) It included a PEIS, a Prelimary Environmental Impact Survey which was highly misleading. For example, it claimed thousands of jobs will be created — but in small print it promised just 10,000 job hours – that’s 100 hours of work for 100 people! And once the project is completed, there will only be permanent 18 pipeline jobs in the entire state of North Carolina.
3) The EIC claims people of color and seniors will not be disproportionally affected, but the calculation is based on a per county basis. The original pipeline was supposed to go through Wake County, but figuring the people there would object loudly, APC LLC decided to re-route through poor counties. So they say the impacted landowners are not poorer than their (very poor) neighbors. Likewise they claim they won’t have a disproportionate impact on senior citizens or people of color because they chose counties which have a high percentage of elderly and black residents.
3) APC LLC does not inform neighbors, they only inform those whose land they want, so few people in the affected counties even know about the pipeline. We heard about the “land men” – lawyers who make a living getting land away from people. They threaten and take advantage of senior citizens and uninformed people who don’t know they don’t have to listen or allow them on the property.
4) APC LLC will pay upfront (not very well) for their easement, but in consequence of having a pipeline buried in your backyard your property value goes way down (who will buy your place at all?), you won’t be able to subdivide for your children.
5) APC LLC says one benefit of their project is that people along the way can tap into the pipeline, but in fact the tap cost and the cost of the gas itself will be ludicrously high. The US has a glut of fracked natural gas right now. This gas is intended for sale overseas.
6) Residents will actually be paying for this pipeline by way of rates raised by Duke Energy and Dominion to pay for “infrastructure.”
7) The residents, who see no benefit, will be on the hook when county disaster relief has to clean up after any accidents. The Environmental Impact Survey claims the pipeline will be clean and safe, but a) tests conducted at similar sites show high levels of formaldehyde and particulates that lead to lung disease, and b) in the past year there have been more explosions per pipeline than ever – giant conflagrations 6-7 days of flames.
8) Duke/Dominion plan to test only wells within 150 feet of pipeline itself, even though any disaster will affect the entire water table.
9) This does not happen on the state level, it’s county commissioners in charge. They are drooling over the supposed tax revenues projected to be $500,000 to $900,000 PRO-RATED OVER TEN YEARS. In the mean time they’ll have to pay for all the mess the project creates.
Anyway, after the meeting, we went to the Federal hearing at the local Hilton, which seemed to have been set up to suppress community action or press-worthy moments. Each of us got a number and went in to a room with an FERC official and a mic to give our statement.
The concluding request was that this PEIS be withdrawn and a clearer one submitted. Also, to VOTE in 2018, local elections will be very important.
What you can do: sadly, much of this is in the hands of the county commissioners of the counties that the pipeline will overrun (who have been described as “dazed by the money waved in front of them”) and the FERC, but you can sign this Sierra Club petition opposing the pipeline and this petition organized by the Clean Water for NC group, get a yard sign from frackfreenc.org, and support that organization as much as you can.
AdvertisementsRaw footage: Australia celebrate a clean sweep
Australia's Josh Hazlewood is officially the world's number one Test fast bowler, according the International Cricket Council's latest player rankings.
Hazlewood, who claimed seven wickets in the Sydney Test against Pakistan, has moved up two spots to a career high of third, behind only Indian spin duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Hazlewood has moved ahead of South Africa's Dale Steyn, while teammate Mitchell Starc (10th) is the only other Australian in the top 10 list.
Replay all of Pakistan's wickets
Spinner Nathan Lyon is ranked 18th and fellow tweaker Steve O'Keefe has reached a career high of 64th.
Proteas paceman Kagiso Rabada has also achieved a career-best ranking of eighth, moving up nine spots after taking 10-92 against Sri Lanka in Cape Town this week.
Australia's Steve Smith has held on to top spot in the batting rankings and is 58 points clear of India's Virat Kohli in second place.
David Warner (fifth) is the only other Australian in the top 10, while Usman Khawaja (up two places to 11th) and Peter Handscomb (up 17 spots to 38th) have reached career-best rankings. Opener Matt Renshaw, who scored his maiden Test ton in Sydney, is a career-best 53rd.
David Warner's full innings highlights
South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock has jumped one spot to a career-high of eighth, making him his country's highest-ranked batsman ahead of teammates AB de Villiers (ninth) and Hashim Amla (10th).
Pakistan veteran Younis Khan has been rewarded for his unbeaten 175 in Sydney with a jump of seven spots to seventh.
Younis finishes unbeaten in superb 175
Test Batting Rankings, January 8
Test Bowling Rankings, January 9The Story Of A Guy And His Pet Buffalo
Enlarge this image toggle caption Stony Plain Reporter/Spruce Grove Examiner Stony Plain Reporter/Spruce Grove Examiner
Imagine a guy and his buffalo walk into a bar... no, no, really, this happens on a fairly regular basis in Spruce Grove, a small town in Alberta, Canada, where Jim Sautner and his three-year-old, 1,800-pound buffalo hit the town in Sautner's specially modified red Pontiac Parisienne.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Stony Plain Reporter/Spruce Grove Examiner Stony Plain Reporter/Spruce Grove Examiner
When he's not driving, Bailey Jr., as the bison is called, even kicks back with a beer.
This seemed incredible to us. But before All Things Considered host Guy Raz spoke to Sautner, producer Jacob Margolis made calls to places around town, and he got the same response: Oh, yeah, Jim hangs out with his buffalo all the time.
Sautner told Guy that about three years ago, his other pet bison Bailey Sr. died. About three weeks later, he got a call from a woman who told him a buffalo cow had given birth and died. She asked him if he would take care of the baby buffalo that survived.
"I initially said no, because I was still having my pity party over Bailey Sr.," said Sautner. But then he went over to see him. He was 40 to 50 pounds and cinnamon in color, "the cutest little thing you've ever seen." And Sautner could no refuse him.
Sautner and his wife Linda bottle fed him and fell in love.
"Sometimes, he'd come into the bedroom; sometimes he'd jump in the bed and that didn't work out too well, generally," Sautner said. "As he got bigger, he kept taking too many blankets, so we had to ask him to move outside."
Now, he's a local celebrity and a staple in the local area. The Edmonton Times, which reported on this story, earlier this week, put together this video of the improbable duo:
YouTube
And if you're wondering, Bailey Jr. has been in a china shop and didn't break a thing. He did go into a bank once and as Sautner says, "the deposit came out the wrong end."
"Needless to say, I don't have an account there anymore," said Sautner.
Much more of Guy's conversation with Sautner on this afternoon's All Things Considered. Tune into your local station to listen. Later tonight, we'll also post audio of the as-aired interview.Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Hiram, Ohio, November 1, 1831, in response to prayer that the mind of the Lord be made known concerning Orson Hyde, Luke S. Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and William E. McLellin. Although part of this revelation was directed toward these four men, much of the content pertains to the whole Church. This revelation was expanded under Joseph Smith’s direction when it was published in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.
1–5, The words of the elders when moved upon by the Holy Ghost are scripture; 6–12, Elders are to preach and baptize, and signs will follow true believers; 13–24, The firstborn among the sons of Aaron may serve as the Presiding Bishop (that is, hold the keys of presidency as a bishop) under the direction of the First Presidency; 25–28, Parents are commanded to teach the gospel to their children; 29–35, The Saints are to observe the Sabbath, labor diligently, and pray.
1 My servant, Orson Hyde, was called by his ordination to proclaim the, by the of the living God, from people to people, and from land to land, in the of the wicked, in their, reasoning with and all scriptures unto them.
2 And, behold, and lo, this is an ensample unto all those who were ordained unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed unto them to go forth—
3 And this is the unto them, that they shall as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
4 And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the of God unto salvation.
5 Behold, this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants.
6 Wherefore, be of good, and do not, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I, that I am, and that I am to come.
7 This is the word of the Lord unto you, my servant Orson Hyde, and also unto my servant Luke Johnson, and unto my servant Lyman Johnson, and unto my servant, and unto all the faithful elders of my church—
8 ye into all the world, the gospel to every, acting in the which I have given you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
9 And that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be.
10 And he that believeth shall be blest with following, even as it is written.
11 And unto you it shall be given to know the signs of the, and the of the coming of the Son of Man;
12 And of as many as the Father shall bear record, to you shall be given power to them up unto eternal life. Amen.
13 And now, concerning the items in addition to the and commandments, they are these—
14 There remain hereafter, in the due time of the Lord, other to be set apart unto the, to minister even according to the first;
15 Wherefore they shall be who are worthy, and they shall be appointed by the of the Melchizedek Priesthood, except they be literal descendants of.
16 And if they be literal descendants of they have a legal right to the bishopric, if they are the among the sons of Aaron;
17 For the firstborn holds the right of the presidency over this priesthood, and the or authority of the same.
18 No man has a legal right to this office, to hold the keys of this priesthood, except he be a and the firstborn of Aaron.
19 But, as a of the Melchizedek Priesthood has authority to officiate in all the lesser offices he may officiate in the office of when no literal descendant of Aaron can be found, provided he is called and set apart and ordained unto this power, under the hands of the First Presidency of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
20 And a literal descendant of Aaron, also, must be designated by this Presidency, and found worthy, and, and ordained under the hands of this Presidency, otherwise they are not legally authorized to officiate in their priesthood.
21 But, by virtue of the decree concerning their right of the priesthood descending from father to son, they may claim their if at any time they can prove their lineage, or do ascertain it by revelation from the Lord under the of the above named Presidency.
22 And again, no bishop or high priest who shall be set apart for this ministry shall be tried or for any crime, save it be before the of the church;
23 And inasmuch as he is found before this Presidency, by testimony that cannot be impeached, he shall be condemned;
24 And if he repent he shall be, according to the covenants and of the church.
25 And again, inasmuch as have children in Zion, or in any of her which are organized, that them not to understand the of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when years old, the be upon the heads of the parents.
26 For this shall be a law unto the of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.
27 And their children shall be for the of their sins when years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.
28 And they shall also their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.
29 And the inhabitants of Zion shall also observe the day to keep it holy.
30 And the inhabitants of Zion also shall remember their, inasmuch as they are appointed to labor, in all faithfulness; for the shall be had in remembrance before the Lord.
31 Now, I, the Lord, am not well with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are among them; and their are also growing up in ; they also not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of.
32 These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them; wherefore, let my servant Oliver Cowdery these sayings unto the land of Zion.
33 And a commandment I give unto them—that he that observeth not his before the Lord in the season thereof, let him be had in before the judge of my people.
34 These sayings are and faithful; wherefore, transgress them not, neither therefrom.
35 Behold, I am, and I quickly. Amen.The official team lists for all teams competing in the 2016 Downer NRL Auckland Nines, including the Kiwi Ferns and Harvey Norman Australian Jillaroos.
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HUNUA
Brisbane Broncos: 1. Darius Boyd, 2. Corey Oates, 3. Jaymayne Isaako, 4. Tom Opacic, 5. Carlin Anderson, 6. Darren Nicholls, 7. Sam Scarlett, 8. Sam Thaiday (c), 9. Andrew McCullough, 10. Adam Blair, 11. Alex Glenn, 12. Jai Arrow, 13. Keegan Hipgrave, 14. Francis Molo, 15. Caleb Timu, 16. Joseph Ofahengaue, 17. Todd Murphy, 18. Jonus Pearson.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: 1. Tyrone Phillips, 2. Jarrod McInally, 3. Chase Stanley, 4. Craig Garvey, 5. Matt Frawley, 6. Kerrod Holland, 7. Dane Chisholm, 8. Danny Fualalo, 9. Adam Elliott, 10. Tim Browne, 11. Tony Williams, 12. Sam Kasiano, 13. Greg Eastwood (c), 14. Pat O'Hanlon, 15. Shaun Lane, 16. Reimis Smith, 19. Ruebenn Rennie, 20. Brad Abbey.
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles: 1. Jayden Hodges, 2. Matt Parcell, 3. Tim Moltzen, 4. Brayden Wiliame, 5. Jamie Buhrer, 6. Nathan Green, 7. Isaac John, 8. Tony Satini, 9. Tom Symonds, 10. Tom Trbojevic, 11. Brenton Lawrence, 12. Fabian Goodall, 13. Jorge Taufua, 14. Wof Lavaka, 15. Jake Trbojevic (c), 16. Feleti Mateo, 17. Blake Leary, 18. Jesse Ramien.
New Zealand Warriors: 1. Roger Tuivasa Sheck, 2. Ryan Hoffman, 3. Jacob Lillyman, 4. Blake Ayshford, 5. Solomone Kata, 6. Tuimoala Lolohea, 7. Shaun Johnson (c), 8. Charlie Gubb, 9. Henare Wells, 10. Konrad Hurrell, 11. Ben Matulino, 12. Ken Maumalo, 13. Jonathan Wright, 14. Jeff Robson, 15. Sam Lisone, 16. Nathaniel Roache, 17. Albert Vete, 18. Ata Hingano.
WAIHEKE
Melbourne Storm: 1. Curtis Scott, 2. Young Tonumaipea, 3. Richie Kennar, 4. Cameron Munster, 5. Marika Koroibete, 6. Blake Green (c), 7. Brodie Croft, 8. Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 9. Ben Hampton, 10. Mark Nicholls, 11. Kenny Bromwich, 12. Tohu Harris, 13. Dale Funicane, 14. Nafe Seluini, 15. Jeremy Hawkins, 16. Dean Britt, 17. Joe Stimson, 18. Tony Tumusa.
Parramatta Eels: 1. Corey Norman (c), 2. Semi Radradra, 3. Vai Toutai, 4. John Folau, 5. Bureta Faraimo, 6. Luke Kelly, 7. Mitch Cornish, 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Cameron King, 10. Peni Terepo, 11. Manu Ma'u, 12. David Gower, 13. Tepai Moeroa, 14. Bevan French, 15. Matt Woods, 16. Ryan Morgan, 17. Kelepi Tanginoa, 18. Cody Nelson.
Sydney Roosters: 1. Latrell Mitchell, 2. Daniel Tupou, 3. Brendan Elliot, 4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5. Joe Burgess, 6. Braith Anasta (c), 7. Tyler Cornish, 8. Isaac Liu, 9. Ian Henderson, 10. Abraham Papalii, 11. Vincent Leuluai, 12. Eloni Vunakece, 13. Nat Butcher, 14. Connor Watson, 15. Joseph Manu, 16. Nathan Smith, 17. Joey Lussick, 18. Omar Slaimankhel.
South Sydney Rabbitohs: 1. Alex Johnston, 2. Michael Oldfield, 3. Bryson Goodwin, 4. Ed Murphy, 5. Cameron Mcinnes, 6. Cody Walker, 7. Damien Cook, 8. John Sutton,9. Thomas Burgess, 10. Kyle Turner, 11. Jason Clark, 12. Paul Carter, 13. Cheyne Whitelaw, 14. John Olive, 15. Kirisome Auvaá, 16. Hymel Hunt, 17. Jack Gosiewski, 18. Zane Musgrove.
RANGITOTO
Newcastle Knights: 1. Jake Mamo, 2. Nathan Ross, 3. Jaelen Feeney, 4. Akuila Uate, 6. Brock Lamb, 7. Will Pearsell, 8. Pauli Pauli, 9. Tyler Randell (c), 10. Daniel Saifiti, 11. Korbin Sims, 12. Robbie Rochow (c), 13. Jacob Saifiti, 14. Sione Mata'utia, 15. Joseph Tapine, 16. Tariq Sims(c), 17. Chanel Mata'utia, 18. Danny Levi, 19. Pat Mata'utia.
North Queensland Cowboys: 1. Matthew Bowen, 2. Kyle Feldt, 3. Justin O'Neill, 4. Kane Linnett, 5. Antonio Winterstein, 6. Lachlan Coote, 7. Ray Thompson, 8. John Asiata, 9. Jake Granville, 10. James Tamou, 11. Gavin Cooper (c), 12. Ethan Lowe, 13. Jason Taumalolo, 14. Michael Morgan, 15. Rory Kostjasyn, 16. Coen Hess, 17. Matthew Wright, 18. Gideon Gela-Mosby.
Penrith Panthers: 1. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 2. Joshua Mansour, 3. Waqa Blake, 4. Robert Jennings, 5. Te Maire Martin, 6. Sione Katoa, 7. William Smith, 8. Suaia Matagi, 9. James Segeyaro, 10. Jeremy Latimore (c), 11. Bryce Cartwright, 12. Isaah Yeo, 13. Elijah Taylor, 14. Corey Harawira-Naera, 15. Benjamin Garcia, 16. Zach Dockar-Clay, 17. Chris Smith, 18. Moses Leota.
Wests Tigers: 1. Chris Lawrence (c), 2. Justin Hunt, 3. Tim Simona, 4. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Josh Addo Carr, 6. Jack Littlejohn, 7. Josh Drinkwater, 8. Ava Seumanufagai, 9. Manaia Cherrington, 10. Jack Buchanan, 11. Kyle Lovett, 12. Tyler Cassel, 13. Sauaso Sue, 14. Lamar Liolevave, 15. Michael Chee Kam, 16. Rod Griffin, 17. Nathan Milone, 18. Watson Heleta.
PIHA
Canberra Raiders: 1. Jordan Rapana, 2. Kato Ottio, 3. Jarrod Croker (c), 4. Brenko Lee, 5. Sisa Waqa, 6. Lachlan Croker, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Shannon Boyd, 9. Kurt Baptiste, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Jason Croker, 12. Jarrad Kennedy, 13. Luke Bateman, 14. Thomas Cronan, 15. Chevi Ellis, 16. Jack Williams, 17. Zac Santo, 18. Rhys Kennedy.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks: 1. Ben Barba, 2. Jordan Drew, 3. Gerard Beale, 4. Ricky Leutele, 5. Mitch Brown, 6. Jack Bird, 7. Chad Townsend, 8. Matt Prior, 9. Matt McIlwrick, 10. Sam Tagataese, 11. Luke Lewis (c), 12. Joseph Paulo, 13. Chris Heighington (c), 14. David Fifita, 15. Kurt Capewell, 16. Jayden Brailey, 17. Josh Cleeland, 18. Bessie Aufaga-Toomaga.
Gold Coast Titans: 1. Anthony Don, 2. David Mead, 3. Nene McDonald, 4. Brian Kelly, 5. Greg Leleisiuao, 6. Ashley Taylor, 7. Tyrone Roberts, 8. Agnatius Paasi, 9. Matthew Srama, 10. Jeff Lynch, 11. Chris McQueen, 12. Greg Bird, 13. Lachlan Burr, 14. Daniel Mortimer (c), 15. Shane Wright, 16. Nathaniel Peteru, 17. Shannon Walker, 18. Nathan Davis.
St George Illawarra Dragons: 1. Josh Dugan (c), 2. Reuban Garrick, 3. Euan Aitken, 4. Tim Lafai, 5. Kurt Mann, 6. Drew Hutchinson, 7. Josh McCrone, 8. Dunamis Lui, 9. Mitch Rein, 11. Jacob Host, 12. Jake Marketo, 13. Jack de Belin, 14. Kiti Glymin, 15. Kalifa Faifai Loa, 16. Matt Dufty, 17. Sebastine Ikahihifo, 18. Jay Gallagher, 19. Tyrone McCarthy.
Ferns v Jillaroos
NZ Kiwi Ferns: 1. Sarina Fiso (c), 2. Mary-Jane Ale, 3. Maitua Feterika, 4. Nora Maaka, 5. Atawhai Tupaea, 6. Georgia Hale, 7. Kristina Sue, 8. Charmaine Mcmenamin, 9. Alex Cook, 10. Annetta Nuuausala, 11. Teuila Fotu-Moala, 12. Kelly Maipi, 13. Kahurangi Peters, 14. Tasha Davie, 15. Amber Kani, 16. Langi Veainu.
Australian Jillaroos: 1. Sam Bremner, 2. Karina Brown, 3. Annette Brander, 4. Sasha Mahuika, 5. Chelsea Baker, 6. Allana Ferguson, 7. Maddie Studdon, 8. Steph Hancock (c), 9. Brittany Breayley, 10. Ruan Sims, 11. Kezie Apps, 12. Renae Kunst, 13. Kody House, 14. Corban McGregor, 15. Casey Karklis, 16. Vanessa Foliaki.
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Or watch every game LIVE with NRL Digital PassScalable full text search over encrypted data in ZeroDB
ZeroDB Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 7, 2016
In ZeroDB, it’s easy to find encrypted data by the value of one field simply by traversing an index from the client. But what about more complex queries? In particular, full text search, where a user finds documents matching one or multiple keywords in a query, ordered by a relevancy score.
Originally we started with a standard Okapi BM25 scoring function, which ZODB used for full text search, and tried optimizing the bucket sizes of the trees used in the indexes. We quickly discovered that this approach isn’t scalable. It worked well enough searching over an encrypted copy of the Linux Kernel Mailing List, but with larger datasets we ended up downloading far too much data to the client.
We’ve managed to fix that. And our fix may be equally applicable to making Elasticsearch more scalable. Briefly, we’ve reduced average bandwidth requirements for a multi-keyword search (with a limit) from O(n_query_terms)*sum(O(n_docs_per_term) for all query_terms) down to O(n_query_terms)*constant, in an incremental manner. Feel free to test zerodb >= 0.97 / zerodb-server >= 0.1.16 with this new full text search and give us your thoughts on Slack. It works with the new version of fields.Text, replacing fields.TextOkapi.
Here’s a more detailed description for those who are curious. Or you can read a less wordy version in comments to the code.
Okapi BM25
What’s wrong with Okapi? Let’s first look at how it works. Document score is determined as:
where f(q, D) is how many times we see term q in the document D, |D| is the length of document D in words and avgdl is an average document length in words, b and k1 are constants and IDF is the inverse document frequency. For simplicity, let’s assume that there is only one keyword q, so IDF is just a constant multiplier.
What’s the problem with this formula? The way we work with large datasets in ZeroDB requires having references to documents pre-ordered in the index, so that limit queries are easy (e.g. just return first 10 docids in the index). But the problem here is that the score depends on both document length and average document length (avgdl) as well. This avgdl changes every time we add a new document to the dataset. And that changes the scores unpredictably, so we have to re-calculate them every time we query.
That means that we have to download document lengths and f(q) for all documents which contain term q. That’s not only not scalable (especially when there are many documents) but also very insecure. The size of the data we’ve just downloaded is proportional to the number of documents containing q, which, gives the server a good clue what the keyword q probably is, given natural language statistics.
So for our purposes, Okapi BM25 is not good. We need to try something else.
Lucene’s practical scoring function
Fortunately, there is a more practical way of calculating document scores used by Lucene/Elasticsearch. It appears that in many cases it is just enough to introduce some non-linearity in the scoring function.
In Lucene’s scoring, for the simple case of one search term q, the score is just proportional to the square root of the number of occurrences of q in the document D divided by the square root of the total number of unique terms in document D.
In this case, the document score can be pre-calculated and docids per term can be ordered by this score. So, if we do a limit query, we just take first documents from the set pre-ordered by -score. The server could guess how many documents we’ve downloaded, but not how many documents contain this term. This is secure enough!
Multi-keyword search and incremental weighted union
Ok, that was easy enough. But what happens when there are multiple keywords in a search query? In this case, for each term q_i we effectively already have a list of docids and scores:
scores(q_i) = [(score_i(docid), docid), …]
ordered by -score_i. Documents in the result set will effectively have a total score:
score(docid) = sum(w_i * score_i(docid) for i in query_terms),
And these docids should be ordered by -score. Most queries are limit queries (e.g. top 20 docs with highest score). Can we do these without downloading all the score_i values?
In Lucene, it’s easier to actually download all the score_is into memory when a query is performed. But when we want everything to stay encrypted on the server, we don’t have such a luxury! So, how do we produce this list of docids ordered by score without downloading score_i for all terms?
In order to do that, we first download a small number of document scores and docids for every keyword q_i. After that, based on the scores and weights we know, and on the knowledge that we first read higher scores, we estimate a possible range (score_min and score_max) for the total score for every document we’ve seen so far. That is, if for a docid, we’ve already downloaded scores i in i_known with scores i in i_unknown still to be downloaded, the possible range of scores for this docid would be:
min_score(docid) = sum(score_i for i in i_known),
max_score(docid) = min_score(docid) + sum(min(known score_i) for i in i_unknown).
We calculate these scores for all documents we’ve seen so far, determine their order (sorting by min_score) and check if there could be any order violations (e.g. min_score(docid1) > min_score(docid2) but min_score(docid1) < max_score(docid2)). Also we check if min_score(last_document) > max_possible_score(documents_left_unread). These tests determine whether we need to read more scores and docids from the server or if we already have enough information to determine the relative ordering of docids.
TODO
There’s still some work left to be done. Our way of doing weighted unions could be equally applicable to weighted intersections. It opens up possibilities for doing logically complex text searches (with both and and or conditions).
There are also some optimizations possible regarding reducing the number of roundtrips to get more search results. These optimizations require an ability to read all the contents of a B-Tree in a specified range of values, while performing a number of roundtrips equal to the height of the tree.
What do you think? Ideas on how we can do this even better? Please tell us in our Slack channel!With temperatures around 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit), a man plays in the surf, with some thousands celebrating the New Year by jumping into the North Sea during the traditional New Year’s Dive in Ostend, Belgium, Saturday Jan. 5, 2013. Geert Vanden Wijngaert / The Associated Press
Acrobats of the Hungarian ‘Golden Power’ team perform on the circus floor of the Grand Circus of Budapest on January 11, 2013 during a rehearsal of the of a new production, title the ‘Hungarian circus stars’. The premiere will be held on January 12. ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP/Getty Images
The photo taken on January 9, 2013, and posted by Perth Weather Live shows a towering red dust storm over the ocean ahead of the cyclone approaching Onslow on the West Australian coast. Tug boat worker Brett Martin, who captured the fearsome pictures 25 nautical miles from the town of Onslow, reported conditions were glassy and flat before the storm hit late on January 9. But when the wild weather arrived, the swell lifted to two metres, winds increased to 40 knots and visibility was reduced to 100 metres. BRETT MARTIN / AFP/Getty Images
A man walks near palm trees as snow falls in Jerusalem’s Old City on January 10, 2013. Jerusalem was transformed into a winter wonderland after heavy overnight snowfall turned the Holy City and much of the region white, bringing hordes of excited children onto the streets. MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP/Getty Images
Homeless Bratislav Jovanovic, 43, enters a grave, which he uses as a shelter during winter time at a cemetery in Nis, 200 kilometres south Belgrade, on January 10, 2012. Jovanovic has been homeless for nearly twenty years, since his house was burned down in a fire. The last 15 years he lives in a tomb beside the caskets of his dead relatives. SASA DJORDJEVIC / AFP/Getty Images
A model is pictured during a look rehearsal at L oreal |
and watched as Ivory continued to churn his legs and break tackles downfield. They'll undoubtedly hear about this effort from receivers coach Curtis Johnson this week.
On the ensuing play, excellent pass protection by David Thomas against Gaethers allowed Brees extra time to find Colston for a nice 19-yard strike downfield. The Saints are starting to make big plays after Ivory's runs in the play-action passing game. As they do and he continues to become more comfortable in the passing game, his role will continue to expand.
Shockey made up for his red-zone miscue at the end of the first half by making a spectacular one-handed grab of a Brees bullet on second-and-16. Shockey made a remarkable diving stab on a seam route over the middle and give the Saints a first-and-goal at the 3.
The touchdown Terrell Owens scored on a crossing pattern in the left corner of the end zone was only the second TD allowed by Jabari Greer this season.
The Saints' screen game hasn't been the same since Pierre Thomas was injured. Yet another screen attempt went for a loss, this one to Bush for minus-9 yards, which essentially short-circuited the entire drive.
FOURTH QUARTER
Brees' perfectly-placed 52-yard strike to Robert Meachem came on a play in which the Saints were in "pro" personnel - two receivers, a tight end, fullback and tailback - and play-action faked a handoff to Ivory. The fake drew in the linebackers safeties, allowing Meachem to blow by cornerback Jonathan Wade with a sweet double move at the first-down marker.
The Saints insisted that the cold weather didn't affect them, and offensively, I'd have to agree with them. The Saints receivers didn't drop any passes and there was only one fumble by a ball carrier. But the defense and special teams appeared to struggle in the elements. The defense wasn't attacking recklessly and running to the football as usual and the coverage units on special teams were "catching blocks" instead of blowing them up. This was evident on Hartley's short kickoff following the Meachem touchdown, when Scott raced through defenders like a hot knife through butter for an easy 24-yard return.
An excellent last-minute decision by Payton to challenge the 11-yard reception by Ochocinco and get the play overturned. The Saints have really streamlined the replay challenge process from the press box to Payton this season and the results have showed. Payton has successfully reversed six of eight calls, a 75 percent success rate.
You rarely see Brees scramble into a sack, but that's exactly what he did on third-and-11 on the Saints' penultimate series. The Bengals covered the Saints' receivers well and Brees tried to buy time by scrambling to his right but Dunlap dropped him for a 15-yard loss. That one is on Brees not Jon Stinchcomb, who was assigned to block Dunlap.
Meachem made a really nice catch on the 42-yard pass from Brees to set up the game-winning touchdown. The play took a long time to develop and Brees pass hung in the wind, allowing Ndukwe time to close on him and make it tough. A lot of receivers would not have come down that ball.
The game-winning touchdown to Colston came after Brees checked out of a run play at the line of scrimmage before the snap. Brees saw Colston in single coverage with cornerback Jonathan Joseph and checked to a pass, then fired an easy strike to his go-to receiver in the right corner of the end zone for the go-ahead score.
PERSONNEL BREAKDOWN: The Saints wanted to attack the Bengal safeties so they used a variety of multiple-tight end and base sets to get their receivers deep with play-action passes. Reggie Bush or Jeremy Shockey are gradually working their way back into the regular rotation but the emergence of Ivory is making it difficult for Bush to find many touches. The situation was exacerbated in this game because of the cold weather and a heavier than normal reliance on the ground game.
Here's the breakdown of the reps at each skill position: WR - Colston 41; Meachem 31; Henderson 25; Moore 23. TE - David Thomas 26; Shockey 21; Graham 12; Zach Strief 12. RB - Ivory 25; Bush 25; Jones 11. FB - Evans 18.
Here's a look at the Saints' personnel packages on their 53 offensive snaps:
3WR/1TE/1RB - 19 out of 53 plays
2WR/2TE/1RB - 12 out of 53 plays
2WR/1TE/2RB - 9 out of 53 plays
1WR/2TE/2RB - 9 out of 53
4WR/1RB - 2 out of 53
1WR/3TE/1RB - 1 out of 53
3WR/2RB - 1 out of 53
(An aside, I'm bringing my laptop into the office today and hope to be able to fix the video issue. Sorry for the problems we've been having. Hopfully, we'll get it corrected.)Christopher Futcher / Getty Images/Vetta
There’s good news about childhood obesity for a change. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hints that efforts to curb weight gain among low-income preschoolers may be working.
Between 2008 and 2011, 18 U.S. states and one territory reported small, but statistically significant declines in obesity among this group of preschoolers. The findings, based on data from12 million children aged two to four years who participate in federally funded maternal- and child-nutrition programs, show that childhood obesity rates in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, South Dakota, and the U.S. Virgin Islands declined by at least a 1%, and 20 other states and Puerto Rico maintained their current rates while only three states saw slight increases. The results are encouraging, since in the U.S., about one in eight preschoolers are obese, and kids are five times more likely to be overweight or obese as adults if they are overweight between the ages of three and five.
“We’ve seen isolated reports in the past that have had encouraging trends, but this is the first report to show many states with declining rates of obesity in our youngest children after literally decades of rising rates,” says Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC.
Frieden credits the turn-around to a combination of more intensive government programs to provide healthy foods to low-income families, as well as greater awareness of the importance of nutrition and healthy weight overall. For example, the the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides nutritious foods and information on healthy eating and health care referrals to low-income pregnant women, promotes breastfeeding and offers whole fruits and vegetables instead of fruit juice. Breastfeeding has been linked in some studies to lower rates of obesity among children, and studies show that kids who eat fresh produce are less likely to turn to the high-calorie, sugary snacks and beverages that have been associated with weight gain. And programs like Let’s Move!, which encourage kids to be physically active, are also helping youngsters to maintain a healthy balance between the amount of calories they eat and the amount they burn off.
The promising findings mirror those among older kids as well; after stalling in recent years, in September 2012 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) published a report showing childhood obesity rates were trending downward in some U.S. states and cities, despite continuing disparities between socioeconomic and racial groups. New York City, Philadelphia, and cities in Mississippi and California led the decline, with New York City reporting a 5.5% drop in the percentage of obese children between 2007 and 2011, Philadelphia reporting a 4.7% drop, and Los Angeles a 3% decrease. Mississippi–which is consistently one of heaviest states in the nation with a childhood obesity rate of about 41%, reported a 13.3% drop.
(MORE: Childhood Obesity Rates Drop Slightly In Some Cities: What Are They Doing Right?)
As TIME reported in December of last year, these successful cities and states share some common practices to keep the rising tide of obesity among kids in check. The majority have implemented several comprehensive programs that target both schools and surrounding communities in order to create an environment where healthy foods are accessible and exercise is encouraged. “From this aggregation, it is clear now that any community that makes these kind of changes over a few years will see their children get healthier. We now have enough places that have done this that we can confidently say to communities that if they make these changes, they will see these improvements and more, we hope, over time,” Jim Marks, senior vice president and director of the RWJF Health Group told TIME.
New York City has taken the lead with aggressive efforts — some of which have been more successful than others — to re-structure residents’ eating environments. Fast food restaurants in the city are now required to list calories on their menus, and the city’s health department banned trans fats from restaurant fare. Produce carts are parked at many street corners with low-priced fresh fruit and vegetables, and two New York City hospitals also recently announced that their doctors will start prescribing fruits and vegetables for their patients, along with produce coupons. Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s attempt to ban on sugared beverages larger than 16 oz. at restaurants, sports arenas and movie theaters, however, was rejected.
Mississippi and California focused on the school system, and adopted nutritional standards that require healthier food, drink and snack options for students, and boosted schools’ physical activity requirements. In 2008, Mississippi launched programs like the Color Me Healthy Program, which teaches childcare providers how to create positive and healthy environments that encourage exercise.
(MORE: Hospitals As Health Nannies: Prescriptions for Fruits and Other Unusual Ways to Keep the Doctor Away)
New federal regulations to improve school lunches have also played a role in slimming down America’s children by placing calorie limits on meals and requiring more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Anticipating these changes, Carrollton City Schools in Georgia began introducing more whole-grain foods and fresh fruits and vegetables in its cafeteria over the last 12 years. Today, the four schools that make up the district serve 3,860 healthy meals a day and their on-campus nutritionists estimate that produce consumption among its students has increased by up to 40%.
Next year, schools will have even more help in making their menus healthier. The USDA recently announced that schools across the country will have to provide snacks low in fat, sodium and salt in vending machines by the 2014-2015 school year. The snacks can contain no more than 200 calories per item, and sodas and sports drinks sold in high schools can’t exceed 60 calories in a 12-ounce serving. Elementary and middle schools can only sell water, 100% fruit or vegetable juice and low-fat or fat-free milk. Although some schools anticipate a decline in revenues from vending machine sales, schools that have already eliminated unhealthy snacks have offset those losses by holding more school fundraisers.
What’s becoming obvious is that the most successful programs involve as many members of the community as possible, from schools to food vendors, restaurant, grocery stores and even hospitals. Last month, TIME reported on three major hospitals making significant changes in their cities, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. In 2010, a study called F is for Fat identified the state as having the second highest childhood obesity rate in the U.S., behind only Mississippi, based on data from the National Child Health Survey. The hospital network launched a major campaign to tackle the issue, and in the latest report released last year, Georgia ranked 35. Dr. Mark Wulkan, the Surgeon in Chief at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta who performs minimally invasive surgeries for weight loss on children and performed the first adolescent bariatric surgery in the U.S., told TIME he could no longer watch the suffering of Atlanta’s obese children. As TIME reported:
One morbidly obese child who was referred to Wulkan had such severe sleep apnea that he needed a tracheostomy, or surgical incision into his windpipe, to help him breathe. “Do you know why he came in to get better? He came so he could swim. He hadn’t been swimming in years. Eventually, it just breaks your heart.” Wulkan started a program in 2009 for his patients, called Health4Life, which now treats over 600 kids in Georgia who are in the 95th percentile for body mass index (BMI). But as one of the largest health care providers in the state, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta also decided it had a responsibility to intervene. That’s how Strong4Life, a comprehensive wellness program designed to treat obesity by addressing all aspects of a child’s environment, from school nutrition to doctor’s visits, was born. “At the time [the education effort] was controversial, because it called a spade a spade. But it got people talking about it and got us to where we are now, and that is that parent awareness [about childhood obesity] is closer to about 40%,” he says.
(MORE: Sick Before Their Time: More Kids Diagnosed With Adult Diseases)
While the latest numbers are trending in the right direction, Frieden says communities, states and the federal government can do more to help children maintain healthy weights. “It’s a bright spot for our nation’s young kids but the fight is very far from over. Obesity is a complex problem and addressing it isn’t going to be quick or simple. It’s not going to turn on a dime,” he says.Pacific Region News / April 1, 2015 / Project number: 04-01-MTOC
Katelyn Moores, MARPAC Public Affairs
After three months of intensive round-the-clock training, the first Maritime Tactical Operator Course (MTOC) graduated on March 26, 2015, and will go on to form Enhanced Naval Boarding Party (ENBP) Team 1.
The 13 graduates underwent extensive training in advanced tactics, including hand-to-hand combat, improvised explosive device identification, close quarters battle, tactical shooting and tactical questioning.
This graduation marks the delivery of an initial operating capability as directed by the first phase of the Future Naval Boarding Party Capability Development outline in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) Executive Plan.
“In less than ten months we have successfully selected, trained and graduated our first class,” remarked LCdr Wil Lund, NBP 3.0 Project Officer in Charge. “This team is trained and equipped to provide a highly flexible capability that is a testament to the unpredictable and evolving nature of our missions.”
Although traditional Naval Boarding Parties are able to perform basic obstructed boardings, feedback from recent operational deployments, such as Operation Artemis, has emphasized the need for a Naval Boarding Party capable of meeting a new level of threat.
The ENBP capability will provide the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the RCN with the agility, flexibility and tactical expertise to confront and deter a variety of threats in high-risk operational environments.
“In terms of our partner allies, the Enhanced Naval Boarding Party is a unique capability,” said LCdr Lund. “We are building on our decades of operational boarding experience in order to fill the gap between what our special forces can do and what we need to do on our own as a navy.”
The team will be attach posted to HMCS Winnipeg and will participate in Exercise TRIDENT FURY, a biennial joint exercise with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, in May. The exercise includes numerous boarding scenarios and will be a chance to evaluate how the team operates and integrates with the ship’s company.
The lessons learned and concepts developed through the ENBPs will help to move the program into its second phase, gradually evolving to the Advanced Naval Boarding Party (ANBP) capability over the next several years.
In the final phase, the ANBP team will be at full operational capability and will be able to conduct advanced obstructed boardings independently. The Esquimalt-based unit will be comprised of 70-100 members who will be posted to the unit on a three year assignment to one of four ANBPs.
The unit will also be used in a capacity building role, helping to train partner nations in naval boarding techniques and operations as part of the Government of Canada’s Global Engagement Strategy.
Following the “One Navy” construct, the team is actively recruiting across both Regular and Reserve Forces. The first ENBP team includes eight Regular Force members and five Naval Reservists – one of which is the leader of the team.
The next MTOC will occur in Halifax in August 2015. Candidates should be mature, physically fit, willing to learn and able to make logical split-second decisions while under high stress. Selected applicants will be put through a rigorous physical and mental five-day selection process at CFB Esquimalt in June 2015 before being invited to challenge the MTOC.
Interested RCN members should apply through their chain of command. The selection application process and forms are available on both the CFB Esquimalt and CFB Halifax BPSO websites.(CNN) Another federal court has ruled against President Donald Trump's revised executive order limiting travel from six predominately Muslim countries -- and like other courts, used his tweets against him.
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is yet another stinging loss from a court that similarly refused to reinstate Trump's original executive order on travel in February.
"We conclude that the President, in issuing the Executive Order, exceeded the scope of the authority delegated to him by Congress," the three judges, all appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote. "(I)mmigration, even for the President, is not a one-person show."
The judges cited Trump's latest tweets in the travel ban saga.
"That's right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won't help us protect our people!" Trump tweeted on June 5.
That's right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won't help us protect our people! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
"Indeed, the President recently confirmed his assessment that it is the 'countries' that are inherently dangerous, rather than the 180 million individual nationals of those countries who are barred from entry under the President's 'travel ban,'" the judge wrote.
They also cited White House press secretary Sean Spicer's confirmation that the President's tweets are "considered official statements by the President of the United States."
The judges largely affirmed US District Court Judge Derrick Watson's decision from March which found the core provisions of the revised executive order -- temporarily blocking all refugees and foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the US -- likely violated the Constitution because its primary purpose was to disfavor Muslims, but on slightly different grounds.
Spicer on Monday said the administration is reviewing the decision and said it believes the travel ban is "lawful" and will be ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the ban is needed for national security purposes, and cited the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"President Trump knows that the country he has been elected to lead is threatened daily by terrorists who believe in a radical ideology, and that there are active plots to infiltrate the U.S. immigration system -- just as occurred prior to 9/11," Sessions said in a statement.
"The President is committed to protecting the American people and our national security, and we are proud to support his mission to put America first by defending his right to keep us safe," he added. "That is why the Department of Justice will continue to seek further review by the Supreme Court."
After Watson's ruling earlier this year, Sessions said he was "amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power."
Trump responded to the ruling in a Tuesday morning tweet, also noting an upcoming Supreme Court review: "Well, as predicted, the 9th Circuit did it again - Ruled against the TRAVEL BAN at such a dangerous time in the history of our country. S.C."
Ruling under statutory grounds
Unlike the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which shot down the President's revised travel ban on constitutional grounds last month, the Ninth Circuit was persuaded by statutory claims under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.
"In conclusion, the Order does not offer a sufficient justification to suspend the entry of more than 180 million people on the basis of nationality," wrote the panel.
The court went on to explain that the federal immigration law "requires that the President exercise his authority only after meeting the precondition of finding that entry of an alien or class of aliens would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Here, the President has not done so."
JUST WATCHED How much weight do Trump's tweets carry? Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH How much weight do Trump's tweets carry? 04:29
One victory for Trump administration, but will it hurt overall?
The court did limit the scope of Watson's ruling in one respect: inter-agency review of foreign countries' vetting procedures.
Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall had previously maintained that the administration was forbidden from conducting "a review of the vetting procedures" with respect to the six countries the ban covered -- but the Ninth Circuit concluded Monday that Watson "abused its discretion in enjoining inward-facing agency conduct because enjoining this conduct would not remedy the harms asserted by Plaintiffs."
But that partial victory may actually hurt the administration's chances before the Supreme Court, said Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
"By holding that the district court was wrong to block the executive order's internal review procedures, the court of appeals allowed that review to go forward -- and, in the process, took away one of the arguments the government had been making in the Supreme Court for why the Hawaii order should be overturned," Vladeck said.
Legal filings due Monday in Supreme Court
The administration appealed the Fourth Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court, which set a Monday deadline for challengers of the travel ban to deny a request to allow the ban to go into effect immediately. It has also asked to stay the Hawaii judge's ruling.
"The First Amendment bars the government from making a citizens' status in the political community dependent on his faith," wrote Neal Katyal, an attorney for the state of Hawaii who is challenging the ban, in a filing Monday.
"The President unquestionably violates that command when he issues an Order that disproportionality burdens Muslim-Americans, while denigrating the Muslim faith and making it abundantly clear that the Order's harmful effect on Muslims is far from incidental," Katyal argued.
Katyal's brief also walks through the statement the President made during the campaign referring to a "Muslim ban" and the June 5 tweets.
In those tweets, the President expressed regret for withdrawing a previous version of the ban that had been issued last January. After the courts roundly criticized the original ban, the current revised edition was released in March. Among other things, the current travel ban no longer includes language that arguably prioritized certain religious minorities. It also removed Iraq from the list of banned countries, and makes clear that green card holders are exempt.
Katyal cites a tweet the President made on June 5 when he wrote, "The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C."
The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
"Staying the injunction," Katyal writes, would "thrust the country back into the chaos and confusion" that resulted when the first Order was announced.
In his filing with the Supreme Court, ACLU attorney Omar C. Jadwat cited the impact of the ruling on the US Muslim community.
"Millions of American Muslims would know that, every day, their own government was enforcing a policy that denigrated their religion and their dignity," Jadwat wrote. "To allow the ban to go forward, the courts would have had to ignore a mountain of publicly available evidence—even though everyone else in the country, including those of the disfavored faith, could not ignore it."
This story has been updated.The Edmonton Oilers dropped another game in their annual race to the lottery, and are now stone alone in last place. Over the last several years, other teams have leased the space, but Edmonton owns it outright on aggregate. It is not a title to be proud of, but it does come with some benefits.
TABERNAC SATURDAY
Oilers in October 2014: 4-5-1
Oilers in October 2015: 4-8-0
Oilers in November 2014: 2-9-3
Oilers in November 2015: 4-7-2
Oilers in December 2014: 2-8-4
Oilers in December 2015: 7-6-1
Oilers in January 2015: 5-7-1
Oilers in January 2016: 4-5-2
Oilers in February 2015: 5-6-1
Oilers in February 2016: 3-6-1
Oilers after 60 in 2014-15: 17-33-10, 44 points (-65 GD)
Oilers after 60 in 2015-16: 22-32-6, 50 points (-33 GD)
February is now approaching the worst month of the McLellan era, we could see the club reach eight losses next week before the deadline. The goal differential—once something of a beacon for the current group—is now in free fall and it is probably smarter to bet we see -50 over getting to -25. This team is not good, and Oscar Klefbom is not Bobby Orr, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is not Bryan Trottier.
"(Our record) is disappointing for all of us, for the whole organization. It's not where we thought we would be." Coach McLellan — Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 21, 2016
Back in the fall, I mentioned that not buying out Nikita Nikitin in the Justin Schultz arbitration window was a mistake. It telegraphed what we now know to be true: Peter Chiarelli believed he had enough quality and depth at the position. This speaks to competence. When I bring this up, the response from posters is often this: WHY buy out Nikitin when there was no free agent available. However, if Chiarelli had enjoyed more cap freedom, he may have been able to find solutions during the year. This of course also applies to the lack of transaction after the Nuge injury. Todd McLellan is the coach, he takes the heat. However, on a morning where the Oilers lost while also asking Nikita Nikitin to win the day, I would like to point out this roster lacked balance from the beginning. We can torch management for wasting a year of McDavid, fair play to you. We cannot pretend Todd McLellan entered the season with 23-men who represented quality, depth and balance. No sir.
DEFENSE, LAST NIGHT
Sekera—Schultz had a good night, although they did chase on the cycle and appeared out of position at times. It looked (to me) as though Schultz was making better decisions in his end, but not recognizing attractive lanes in the offensive zone. That is exactly the opposite from his entire Oilers career. Sekera can help his partner, that is a lesson learned this season.
Nurse—Fayne were an interesting pair, McLellan moved away from his original pairings as the evening rolled. I see differing views about culprits online and in the comments section, for me the rookie was the issue (and often is the problem). His read and reaction to plays in real time appears to be regressing, and that should tell Todd McLellan to reduce his playing time and Peter Chiarelli that a trip to the farm may be in order. Neither has happened, and that speaks to competence.
Davidson—Nikitin was an interesting pairing. Davidson’s statistical worst evening (at 5×5) in some time may have been his finest overall. Brilliant during a 3×5 in a way I will remember for a long time, he remains (along with Sekera, to my eye) a shining light in the middle of a massive garbage dump of ridiculous sorties defended. Intelligent player, maturing by the minute. Nikita Nikitin isn’t fast enough to be effective, but did use his veteran guile to stay away from disaster several times.
Despite the numbers above, I think we can say with some authority that the Oilers badly need to reduce the minutes for Darnell Nurse. I am not one of those who is questioning his future, and it is clear he is a confident young man, but the results are clear and he needs to bat lower in the order for the rest of this season. It’s possible to have good numbers and get noticed for negative things—single moments and events can have super importance while being exactly single moments and events. It is also possible to reach a wall as a rookie, and Darnell is there. Give him Fayne and the third pair when Oscar returns, or send him to Bakersfield. That’s the play here.
CENTERS, LAST NIGHT
Connor McDavid had some nice looks, added an assist (now at 27 points in 23 games, age 19). He also had two individual high-danger scoring chances on the night. My only question this morning surrounds playing time. The young man should have played more, although the Avalanche played him pretty well to my eye.
Leon Draisaitl and his line got the push last night, and for me they executed well. The Hall goal featured a nice pursuit and shot by Draisaitl, last night saw less loping and more authority in his skating. I think the ribs (no confirm, but I think he had a rib issue or similar) are healing.
Mark Letestu and his trio sawed off the competition, not much to say at this point beyond one would hope the third line could cash more in a season.
Matt Hendricks and his crew had one third period shift that was fantastic, hitting everything in sight. Beyond that, their 5×5 work was fairly pedestrian to my eye—that’s no sin, your 4line isn’t going to save you often.
INDIVIDUAL HIGH-DANGER SCORING CHANCES
Two: Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall, Mark Fayne
One: Andrej Sekera, Benoit Pouliot, Leon Draisaitl
WINGERS, LAST NIGHT
Taylor Hall executed a perfect place and chase in the minutes before he scored goal No. 20 on the season. Nuge is excellent at it, Hall is learning, small victories are big steps. I know we know Hall is a brilliant player in terms of gaining the zone, but McLellan’s style is to send that puck deep and get it in a good spot. He would be wise to relax the rule to allow for the patented Hall carry in entry, or inform his player he could use it more. Opposition defensemen surely don’t expect it at this point. On pace for the second 70-point season of his career, so someone is doing something right.
Teddy Purcell now has 32 points on the season and is on track to finish with 44. Solid work by the veteran, I assume he could be traded at any time.
Pouliot—Eberle looked fine with McDavid to my eye, as mentioned above it would have been nice to see them more at 5×5. Pouliot is charging toward his first 50-point season while also wildly disappointing the local media. The man is a magician. Eberle is also on pace for 50 points, and 25 goals, impressive considering he lost a dozen or so games from the start.
GARRIOCH
The Oilers wouldn’t mind moving out a few contracts. The club is shopping winger Lauri Korpikoski ($2.5 million in 2016-17) along with defenceman Justin Schultz (RFA) and winger Teddy Purcell (UFA). Source
Korpikoski has been a poor fit from the start, doubt Peter Chiarelli can get something done but that would be a fantastic result (assuming he doesn’t bring back another stray cat with two more years on his deal). Here is my trade deadline list:
RW Teddy Purcell—He is gone, suspect we will see a second-round pick (or a legit prospect). F Matt Hendricks—Chiarelli is unlikely to trade Hendricks, but there is always a chance an offer changes his mind. I recall someone mentioning there was significant interest last deadline. Second-round pick. D Mark Fayne—A bit tricky, for two reasons. He is helping now, so the Oilers could use him for the first 60 games next year and shop him at the deadline. Call it righty blue insurance. Return? Second-round pick if the Oilers retain salary (defensemen are always worth more at the deadline). D Justin Schultz—He is gone if they can find a taker, I think they will. Third-round pick. L Lauri Korpikoski—Perhaps Chiarelli can save Todd McLellan from himself. If he can trade Korpikoski, Chiarelli is a mad genius. Fifth-round pick obo. C Anton Lander—New addition because I refuse to let Gryba ruin trade deadlinemas. A team needing a very inexpensive forward as insurance might have the time. Sixth-round pick. D Eric Gryba—I think they will sign him unless a team offers up full value (and remember this is the deadline). I have no idea what he would fetch in trade, only that Mark Fayne would be a better addition for a contending team. I believe that.
CHIARELLI
Peter Chiarelli’s first trade deadline was active and definitely changed the look of the team. Here is a brief look at what he did:
Traded F Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart to the Calgary Flames for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew. Bruins received two productive players (Ference played a long time in Boston, winning a Stanley, Kobasew scored 20 two times) for a productive defender and a checker.
Traded D Paul Mara to the NY Rangers for D Aaron Ward. Traded Mara (a big, physical defender with a howitzer point shot) for a similar player in Ward (a better skater, didn’t have the shot, a little better passer, right-handed).
Traded R Brad Boyes to the St. Louis Blues for D Dennis Wideman. Boyes was a pretty good scorer back then (would score 43 and 33 goals in his first two seasons with the Blues). Wideman was an effective puck-moving defenseman who also had some strong seasons with Boston. He was a big part of the Nathan Horton trade in 2010.
I think there are a few things we can learn from that deadline. First, Chiarelli isn’t afraid to trade bigger pieces at the deadline, and at least that year he wanted players in return (perhaps giving us an indication about this week to come). Second, he gave value in each case, but also changed the look of his team—and in doing things like adding Kobasew and subtracting Boyes, created and then covered up spots in the roster. So, when I look at the RW position as an example, perhaps he trades away a piece, leaving a hole that is replaced quickly by another deal.
I followed Chiarelli closely back then, the Bruins stripped their team down before the lockout and had a lot of work to do. Looking back, some of these trades were forced by contracts and free agency, and the actual return (when taking all three deals as a whole) involved re-setting the cap and filling holes with better contracts. Perhaps we will see similar from PC at the deadline.
I can tell you he was effective as GM in Boston, and even though I thought he should have bought out Nikitin last offseason, he may have had a plan that will come to fruition this deadline (or summer). PC has not impressed as Oilers GM in year one, no one can argue it. One thing he has done? Put himself in an interesting position for the coming summer:
Trade everyone at the deadline
Buy out Andrew Ference
Buy out Lauri Korpikoski
Add a top-pairing blue to stabilize the defense and set the depth chart in a reasonable order (Hamonic).
Add a second-pairing blue who can play in all situations but is especially adept on the power play (Demers).
Add a two-way center who can lead a third line, while also being versatile enough to play up or on the wing as required (Eller).
Add a power forward who can play a complementary role offensively while also providing an enforcer’s thrust to the McDavid line (Lucic).
For me, the last item is optional and comes at the price of Benoit Pouliot. I wouldn’t make that deal, but am fairly certain Chiarelli would do it with extreme prejudice.If you use the android Gmail application, you probably noticed that the progress bar is a bit customized. I am not talking about the pull to resfresh but the indeterminate progress bar which appears just after. This indeterminate drawable is much smoother than the usual.
I will show you in this post a way to reproduce this smooth indeterminate horizontal progress bar. Here is the result: the first progress bar uses the default indeterminate drawable while the others are all custom.
There is apparently a problem with the size of the video, so you might want to click on this link to see it on Youtube.
How does the default animation work
First of all, you will need to use the Horizontal progress bar style: Widget.ProgressBar.Horizontal for pre ICS and Widget.Holo.ProgressBar.Horizontal for post ICS devices. This gives us two important parameters: indeterminateOnly=false and indeterminateDrawable.
The default indeterminate drawable looks like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 <animation-list xmlns:android= "http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:oneshot= "false" > <item android:drawable= "@drawable/progressbar_indeterminate_holo1" android:duration= "50" /> <item android:drawable= "@drawable/progressbar_indeterminate_holo2" android:duration= "50" /> <item android:drawable= "@drawable/progressbar_indeterminate_holo3" android:duration= "50" /> <item android:drawable= "@drawable/progressbar_indeterminate_holo4" android:duration= "50" /> <item android:drawable= "@drawable/progressbar_indeterminate_holo5" android:duration= "50" /> <item android:drawable= "@drawable/progressbar_indeterminate_holo6" android:duration |
asploit attack modules that previously had been created by his firm. Hilt, who gave details on the tool here today, said he got the inspiration for the tool from a DARPA-sponsored hacking tool built on a power strip, called Power Pwn. "It was for remote access to the network via a device that has a likeness to ordinary power [equipment]," he said. "We were always joking around and said, 'What if this was a PLC?'"
PLCpwn was a natural progression in a post-Stuxnet world. "You know how it goes once you learn from Stuxnet," says Ralph Langner, founder of Langner Communications. "But what you really want to do to infiltrate is to compromise contractors" or the supply chain, Langner said.
Idaho National Laboratory, meanwhile, has been working on algorithms and coding tricks to miniaturize attack code so it can hide on a small embedded CPU. Jason Larsen, an INL security researcher, spoke here yesterday about that research.
"Larsen [has] basically the same approach and idea: a small device you can embed somewhere and talk to that device using radio signals. They were thinking in the same direction," Langner said.
Dale Peterson, CEO of Digital Bond, said he had challenged Hilt to come up with a small-slot attack module and to use text messaging to set off a simulated attack, using modules like the "CPU STOP" Metasploit module his team had previously written as part of its Project Basecamp vulnerability research.
"When you talk about nation-states not wanting to go mess around with relying on going through security perimeters," then ICS/SCADA operators need to test for these weaknesses, Peterson said.
Hilt was able to use Digital Bond's in-house Allen-Bradley ControLogix PLC for the experiment. After a little trial and error with the tool platform, he ended up using 5-volt Raspberry Pi board. For communication to the device, he used a DualComm Tap, plus a DroneCell card for drone projects that basically serves as a cell phone for text and phone communications. He also wrote some Ruby scripts to allow PLCpwn to receive text messages. In its first iteration, PLCpwn can shut down an industrial subnet with a text message.
"It can cause a large disruption with a single text message," Hilt said. "It will sweep an entire subnet with STOP CPU," and is capable of data exfiltration and injection-style attacks, he says.
The attack tool basically lets an attacker bypass perimeter security and air gaps as well, he says. "If I could do it, how much could a motivated attacker do? A well-funded one would miniaturize the hardware, customize the firmware, and pay more attention to the physical appearance and [write] more exploits," he said.
[A security researcher has discovered a pair of zero-day vulnerabilities in a popular family of Siemens industrial control system switches that could allow an attacker to take over the network devices without a password. See Zero-Day Flaws Found, Patched In Siemens Switches.]
Hilt said he's planning to rewrite the code for faster performance, as well as create more scripts for different attack vectors. He's also working with a friend on standing up a 3G cell tower for out-of-band communications, he says.
Have a comment on this story? Please click "Add Your Comment" below. If you'd like to contact Dark Reading's editors directly, send us a message. Kelly Jackson Higgins is Executive Editor at DarkReading.com. She is an award-winning veteran technology and business journalist with more than two decades of experience in reporting and editing for various publications, including Network Computing, Secure Enterprise... View Full BioDowntown Youngstown gaining 6 restaurants in 6 months Copyright by WKBN - All rights reserved Video
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) - Over the next six months, six new restaurants will be opening in downtown Youngstown -- another indicator of the city's revitalization.
That's a lot of restaurant space all coming at one time, which begs the question -- is it too much competition?
Joe Thomas was putting up a TV mount Wednesday afternoon for his new restaurant and bar, Whistle and Keg. Thomas and his brother, Mike, will be opening it in the next few days at W. Federal and S. Phelps streets.
It will feature a wall of 44 beer and wine taps.
"What we're doing here is a self-service tap room," Thomas said.
Another unique feature at Whistle and Keg is the old shift whistle used at Youngstown Sheet and Tube, which Thomas said will eventually be blown every day at noon and 4 p.m.
The new dining spot is one of several opening in the near future within a three-block area of downtown Youngstown.
Two of the new restaurants will be in the Doubletree Hotel, currently under construction in the old Stambaugh Building. One will be a family-style Italian restaurant, called YOSTERIA, run by Youngstown native Alex Zordich. The other will be run by the hotel operator, Marshall. They're both scheduled to open in March.
Ryan Sheridan, who owns Braking Point Recovery Center in Austintown, hopes to have The Cove open by Thanksgiving on the first floor of the Wick Building.
Another addition to the city is The Kitchen Post, now located in Struthers. It will be relocating downtown, going into the first floor of Erie Terminal Place.
Jack Zizzo said there are good things happening downtown. He's excited about the new restaurant he's opening -- Space Kat -- in a small kitchen in the back of Draught House.
"Focus on barbeque and smoked meats but there's going to be a lot of influence from worldly cuisines," Zizzo said.
Jordan Karzmer has been working at Roberto's Italian Restaurant for five years.
"Anything to bring the foot traffic down here is good for everyone," he said.
Karzmer doesn't think there's too much competition downtown right now. Thomas and Zizzo agree.
"I don't think there's any such thing as too much. It's not an overly saturated market," Zizzo said.
.TORONTO — A defiant, diminutive 89-year-old woman pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal charges arising out of her refusal to fill out the 2011 census, and said she would not pay any fine if convicted.
Audrey Tobias told Ontario court she agreed with the aims of the census, but objected to the involvement of American arms behemoth, Lockheed Martin.
“When I learned that the contract for the information technology was being given to a foreign company, I was shocked,” Tobias testified.
“I am ashamed of my prime minister in Canada who ultimately made the decision. Because of that, I couldn’t fill it in.”
Tobias, of Toronto, is charged with violating the Statistics Act.
The defence is arguing that forcing her to complete the census would violate her freedoms of conscience and free expression.
Tobias said she was unconcerned about the consequences of a conviction.
“I’m not worried; we’ll take it as it comes,” she said during a break in the proceedings.
“Of course, I would not pay the fine — that would be an admission of guilt.”
She also said she would not do any community service for the same reason.
The Crown called one witness, Yves Beland, operations director at Statistics Canada, who outlined the importance of the census to, among other things, intergovernmental equalization and transfer payments.
“It is the only detailed and coherent source of information,” Beland said.
In 2011, StatsCan received 13 million completed census forms, a 98 per cent response rate. Overall, it referred 54 people for prosecution for failure to comply with the requirement to complete the census.
In the witness stand — her flaming ginger hair barely visible over the court reporter — Tobias explained she was a member of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service during the Second World War.
She became a committed peace activist after viewing movie footage of the war and the atomic bombing of Japan.
“I recall the great pain of that,” she said, as a court full of supporters watched.
Lockheed developed and supplied data-analyzing software to Statistics Canada for the 2006 census, and helped rework the program for the 2011 count.
“They provided a technical solution to integrate information coming from telephone, paper and Internet,” Beland said.
Giving it to a military company sends a message to the Canadian people from our prime minister and cabinet that he supports military solutions. I didn’t like that
Lockheed’s role was “descoped” before 2006 after concerns were raised in Canada that it might have to pass on information to the U.S. government under the Patriot Act.
Tobias said she was once barred from entering the U.S.
“Oh, well, yes, anybody who’s anybody might be prohibited from entering the United States,” she said.
Beland, who said he has never heard of Edward Snowden — he recently went public with a massive U.S. surveillance system — was adamant the American company had no access to any data on Canadians.
StatsCan systems, he said, were completely secure, a pronouncement the defence intended to rebut with an expert witness.
Either way, Tobias was unbowed.
The census contract, she said, should have stayed in Canada and not involved the military.
“Giving it to a military company sends a message to the Canadian people from our prime minister and cabinet that he supports military solutions. I didn’t like that,” she said.
“I would like to see us on the path of being a leader in peaceful solutions to international problems.”
At one point, her supporters applauded in the courtroom.
“I run a loose court, but it’s not a movie theatre,” said Judge Ramez Khawley.In our special report today we present you with a fascinating account of one of Steve Jobs' secret meeting that involved creating the iPhone and how the iPod Phone almost came to be. It was much closer to reality than any us could have ever imagined at the time. We also discuss how a "breakthrough" feature was allegedly copied in the Android UI and what Steve Jobs thought of Google's alleged rip-off of Apple's iOS. So sit back with a coffee and enjoy our special report.
A Historical Account: How the iPod Phone Almost Materialized
One of the interesting stories in Walter Isaacson's biography was a recounting of how the iPhone came together and how Apple seriously considered developing an iPod styled smartphone. The abbreviated story goes like this.
In 2005 Steve Jobs started a secret project focused on creating a tablet PC. It came about after Steve Jobs was invited to a dinner for a friend of Laurene Jobs who was turning 50. The birthday boy just happened to be one of the leading engineers over at Microsoft working on the Tablet PC. It was also a dinner that Bill Gates attended and he feared that this engineer was blabbing too much about the Tablet PC and how it was going to change the world and kill notebooks. He even pushed Jobs to consider licensing the Tablet PC software.
I guess those were fighting words and so Jobs set up a secret project the following day to design a tablet with no keyboard or stylus (not a smart pen, but a stylus). He challenged his team to come up with a multiple input display which later became to be known as Multi-Touch. Six months later, Jony Ive had a crude but workable prototype ready. Jony Ive feared that Jobs "might say, 'This is Shit' – and snuff the idea." But he took the gamble and set up a private demonstration for Steve. Steve immediately loved the idea. "This is the future," he exulted.
Isaacson writes that it was such a good idea "that Jobs realized that it could solve the problem they were having creating an interface for the proposed cell phone. Jobs stated that "If it worked on a phone," he recalled, "I knew we could go back and use it on the tablet."
Jobs called Fadell, Rubinstein, and Schiller to a secret meeting in the design studio conference room, where Ive gave a demonstration of multi-touch. "Wow!" said Fadell. But they were unsure that they would be able to make it work on a mobile phone. So they decided to proceed on two paths: P1 was the code name for the phone being developed using an iPod trackwheel, and P2 was the new alternative using a multi-touch screen.
After six months of working on the trackwheel P1 and multi-touch P2 phone options, Jobs called his inner circle into his conference room to make a decision. Fadell had been trying hard to develop the trackwheel model, but he admitted they had not cracked the problem of figuring out a simple way to dial calls.
This was late 2005 and this account is somewhat supported by a patent that was given to Apple Legal in 2005 and ended up getting filed with UPSTO in early January 2006. Apple was even granted a patent for this in 2010 to confirm this.
The patent figures below and those in our cover graphic illustrate a series of designs that the P1 team were exploring. The depth of the patent is seen in the second round of patent figures where we see a dialing process flowchart and a very sophisticated language data structure system presented.
Many Revelations
Now this is revealing on a number of levels. Firstly, we see that when Apple's engineering teams are asked to start a project, they immediately begin the process of drawing up a patent application. The timing of this account shows how tightly patents are tied to ongoing projects.
Secondly, we see in the case of the iPhone, that Steve Jobs implemented a two team, kind of best-team-wins approach to stir on internal competition. This is revealing because Patently Apple follows concept trends like NFC or Smart Pens where we see a wide range of approaches to a given project. And although the Steve Jobs biography reveals that Steve hated the "stylus" with a passion, we equally know that Steve wouldn't have allowed multiple teams to explore Smart Pens over a few years if it weren't something that he was set-on reinventing; a classic Apple and Steve Jobs trait that we all came to know over the years.
Did we just Witness Jobs' Famous Reality Distortion Field?
Yet perhaps the most interesting revelation for me in this recounting of the iPod Phone that almost came to be, was that there may have been a little pixie dust thrown into Steve Jobs accounting of the iPod Phone to Isaacson.
In Isaacson's biography, I learned of the depth of the famous Steve Jobs "Reality Distortion Field" approach to projects and marketing. I had heard of this personality trait over the years and dismissed it as nothing more than creative writing by some of Apple's critics. But in fact, this trait could be traced all the way back to Steve Jobs' earlier years. The biography is strewn with examples of this trait that Jobs possessed.
Isaacson may have even hinted at where this trait may have sprung from. It goes back to when Jobs was a kid and was told that he wasn't abandoned by his biological parents but rather "chosen" by his adoptive parents. That "chosen" angle was a little overplayed in the book in my view, but that's a story for another day. The point being that Steve learned very early on that the reality of his adoption was temporarily erased by the notion that he was chosen. That was a twist of perception and perhaps the beginning of how Steve learned to bend reality into how he viewed the world. Others simply saw it as the "reality distortion field."
So, how does the Reality Distortion Field apply here? Well, Apple's 2006 patent doesn't even list Fadell as being on this engineering team at all – even though he was supposedly the one in charge of the P1 team responsible for the iPod Phone. If you're the leader, you're sure to get on the patent. Secondly, who do we see on the patent credits for inventors? Not Fadell, but rather Steve Jobs.
So at that point in time, it shows us that the future iPhone could have gone the way of the iPod styled Phone and that Jobs wanted his name attached to both patents (iPod Phone and Multi-Touch Phone). So it appears that the recounting of the story of the iPod phone was a little lost in the translation. What makes this so interesting though, is that Jobs made fun of the original iPod styled Phone when introducing the iPhone in January 2007. What we thought during the presentation as being a total joke was in fact their runner-up project P1 – though slightly exaggerated of course; but who knew how close to reality that was? If you get to read Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, you'll get to understand how Steve's Reality Distortion Field was both endearing and troubling.
And One More Thing
One of the other tidbits associated with the birth of the iPhone was found on page 470 of Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs. It covers the famous "Slide to Unlock" feature found in iOS devices like the iPhone, which Apple internally called the "Swipe to Open" feature. Isaacson recounts how the Apple team worried about how to prevent the device from playing music or making a call accidently when it jangling in your pocket. Jobs was congenitally averse to having on-off switches, which he deemed as inelegant. The solution was "Swipe to Open," the simple and fun on-screen slider that activated the device when it had gone dormant. This was considered a "breakthrough."
This "breakthrough" was of course patented and we recently covered Apple's granted patent in October without any fanfare. Then the Android-Heads came out in full force freaked out over this feature being patented. I won't link to these sites to give them any more traffic over this, but it's safe to say that some went completely overboard. These guys foam in the mouth with hate for Apple and the late Steve Jobs – make no mistake about it.
Then we covered the story that the Premier of Taiwan was ordering an investigation into Apple's Slide-to-Unlock" patent. I thought there was more to this story because getting the Premier of Taiwan to investigate a patent and making it so public in such a short time after the patent was granted, stunk. We later found out that Google's Eric Schmidt was coming to Taiwan and was working with the government on a new project. Ahh, the stench has a name and it's Google; in particular, Eric Schmidt. Schmidt made it clear that it was war on Apple's products and they promised Android OEMs that they could use any of Google's patents to wage war against Apple in court.
Is Google Apple's Enemy? Well, it's best to close this section off with a quote from Steve Jobs as presented in Walter Isaacson's Biography of Steve Jobs on page 512 as follows:
Isaacson recounts: "As he sat in the house in Palo Alto the week the lawsuit against was filed [against HTC], he became angrier that I had ever seen him:
"Our lawsuit is saying, "Google, you fucking ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off," Grand theft. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's 40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this. They are scared to death, because they know they are guilty. Outside of Search, Google's products – Android, Google Docs – are shit. "
I truly hope that Apple Legal will be given the green light by Tim Cook to sue Android OEM's or Google themselves over the "Slide to Unlock" feature – because it was considered a "breakthrough" feature by Apple's executive team and Android shouldn't be able to copy it without consequence.
At the End of the Day
At the end of the day, it was absolutely enlightening to see how the iPod Phone was in the race at the outset of the iPhone project. It was equally fascinating to see how Apple works in their war room and specifically how Jobs created competing teams internally to fight for the right to proceed with a given project full tilt. It was also revealing how the patent process is so closely tied to projects and how they file patents at the earliest point as possible should it be given the green like to go forward by the CEO.
And lastly we see how a breakthrough feature was allegedly stolen by Google and how a one time friend of Apple's became a Judas of modern times. Information obtained from Walter Isaacson's biography was key in putting this report together for which I'm grateful.
At the end of the day, we see that until the multi-touch P2 team proved itself the winner over the P1 team's approach to the future iPhone, there was a very real chance that the iPod styled iPhone could have won the day. Apple's success with such an iPhone wouldn't have gained them the explosive growth that they enjoy today nor the fruit that came afterwards in the form of the iPod Touch and iPad.
Isaacson's book brutally showed us how the original Mac truly failed in the end, how NeXT had failed at penetrating the market and just how close Steve Jobs came to failing with Pixar until a Hail Mary Pass type of meeting turned it around at the very last moment. So it was absolutely fascinating to read about how the iPhone could have gone the wrong way and changed history forever; Apple's history, that is of course. Sometimes the distance between success and utter failure is no more than a moment in time. It's always fascinating to read about what happens behind the scenes of important turns in history or pivotal moments in the life of a company. And when it comes to Apple and this particular account, I tip my hat to Walter Isaacson for his biography of Steve Jobs and his accounting of these events.
Here are a Few Great Community Sites covering our Original Report
MacSurfer, Computerworld Paraguay, The Guardian UK, Reddit, Mac Hash, Apple Enthusiast, Twitter, Twitter Gadget, Facebook, Fever, Pulse, Icon Factory, Apple Investor News, Google Reader, Macnews, MacTech, The Motley Fool, CBS MarketWatch, The Binary Bonsai, MacDailyNews, DanCameron.org, Alexmak Russia, iDownloadBlog, Techmeme, nccc.cool3c China, The Financial Post, intenseminimalism, and more.Kevin Andrews defends plan to alter Disability Support Pension entitlements
Updated
The Government has flagged plans to alter the Disability Support Pension to make it harder for some people to receive it permanently.
More than 800,000 Australians receive up to $813 a fortnight on the pension, for people who are permanently blind or have a physical or intellectual condition that stops them from working.
The Government says the number of people on the pension has grown by 20 per cent in the past decade and the cost to the budget last financial year was $15 billion.
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews says not everyone receiving the payment should be on it permanently.
"I think we have to look at people on the DSP not as a homogeneous group. Obviously someone who is in their 60s on the DSP, and has been on it for a very long time, has very little job prospect if we were to review them," he told AM.
"However, that can be quite different for people, say, in their twenties where there may be every opportunity, with some assistance, to get into work."
Mr Andrews says he is looking at a number of options for change, and would prefer a two-tier system that separates permanent and temporary recipients.
"We don't want to condemn people to what is virtually a dead-end these days in terms of the DSP," he said.
"What we want to do is to look at whether or not people have got a capacity to work because we know work is the best form of welfare.
"We know it's good for people in terms of their psychological outlook as well."
Mr Andrews is proposing to hold more reviews of younger people on the DSP, and he also wants new recipients to be assessed for how long they might need it for if their disability is deemed temporary.
The Minister is also considering establishing a specialist panel of doctors to provide advice on how long someone is likely to need the DSP before they can return to work.
Labor urges Government to target parental leave scheme instead
However, Labor says the pension should not be the first place the Government goes in search of savings.
Opposition human services spokesman Doug Cameron says the Coalition's plan to significantly increase the threshold for paid parental leave should be the focus instead.
"There are a range of areas where money could be easily identified to make sure that we look after the most vulnerable in our community," Senator Cameron said.
"This paid parental leave scheme that Tony Abbott's got in place surely that's an area we should be looking before we go for the most vulnerable in society."
Disability support advocates have also expressed concern about the potential effects of changes to the current system.
Maree O'Halloran from the National Welfare Rights Network says she is worried the Government will eventually move people off the pension and onto a lower payment.
"If it were a temporary DSP, and people were exited down to the unemployment benefit, about $35 per day, trying to live on just under $15,000 per annum and living with a disability as well, then, I don't think anyone would applaud that outcome," she said.
Ms O'Halloran says employers also need to be open to hiring someone with a disability.
Topics: disabilities, health, federal-government, welfare, community-and-society, australia
First postedThe Future Demands a Third Party At this point in the long and revolting primary fiasco, the two party monopoly plays out their orchestrated selection charade for all to see. The most amazing and pathetic attitude among a politically frustrated electorate is why another one can or will provide their consent with the final outcome. The fundamental failure in the American political system is based upon a phony two party opposition. Friends and foes alike, the first lesson in understanding our politically imposed despotism is that elections never allow for real choice. The careerist political class always prevents honest reformers from gaining real power. Yet, optimistic idealists and cynical realists keep going to the polls to cast their vote for the only candidates that party hacks allow to be placed on the ballot. Dumb and dumber should be the only names affixed under Democrat and Republican Party endorsements. Under a cozy arrangement that authorize and staffs county level election commissions as bipartisan gatekeepers to filter out unreliable upstarts and oversee the vote count from preprogrammed election machines, how legitimate can this contrived process be? As long as elections are managed under Democrats and Republican Parties loyalists, the outcome will always be to protect and serve the establishment power brokers. Dam the wishes of the people; the cabal of co-conspired elites talks their ideological dribble, but act in unison to expand the collectivist state. How can this medieval feudalism be challenged? The original subject in the “Dueling Twins” series was Third Parties. The crossfire style of debate proved successful to illustrate the difference in outlook from the loony left and the rabid right. “If elections are an expression of consent, why is turn out so low for Third Parties? And if discontent was heightened, why are there not more Third Parties? The answer lies in the election returns. The fact that a majority of eligible voters no long take part in the process speaks volumes of their support. The public is stating their choice loud and clear: "NONE of the ABOVE". This is the Third Party that wins the election. When the public deems that there is no'real' difference between the two parties and that their self interests cannot be furthered with their vote, the electoral system breaks down. Yes, the public is frustrated; but they conclude that their vote will never, effectively, change the status quo among the choices that are available. Their lack of participation should not be misread as satisfaction for the current condition.” The thunderous crowds that flock to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump rallies proves that first time voters, the disillusioned and the disenfranchised are attracted to populist substance. Both from the left or the right, the mobilizing message for a self-ruling voice in their government has found acceptance. Even with all this election cycle momentum, the Party elites have rigged their anointment process against both Sanders and Trump. The smart money is bet on a final selection other than Bernie or “The Donald”. You ask how the will of the people can be so easily ignored. Well, that is the pattern of the Democrat and Republican Party bosses; namely, only allow the safe candidates committed to continue the crime syndicate rule of America. In another of the original BATR columns penned over fifteen years ago, The Meaning of Third Parties in America, indicates that both parties are dedicated big government advocates. “The solution to implement meaningful reform is to defuse the political power that is presently concentrated within the ‘Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle Dee' parties. The notion that differences between them are based upon core principles, denies the unending descent into 'collectivism'. The edges have varied shapes, but the centers are formed from the same sponge.” If you keep voting between donkeys and elephants, you will be swimming in their feces. The metaphor in Fatalistic Reality and Election Futility, compares a staged and fixed sporting contest with the most manipulated and disgusting swindle in our political culture. “Third party candidates dare upset the rigged pugilistic contest at their own risk. Boxing matches are always staged between two-tied old punched drunk combatants that work for the same promoter. Even when a young upstart is cast into the ring, the results remain the same. Take a dive if ordered, or become the darling of the crowd it serves to fleece the public at the gate. Elections are not different from professional prizefighting, but shares one additional nuance. The spectacle is the ultimate theater of the absurd. With each, foreign adventure the only victory consolidates the imperium dictatorship. The body count mounts, as the injuries bleed betrayed blood. While the global despots add new chapters to their conglomerate domain, collateral damage is swept off the stage as garbage, since the value of life is relative in the realm of Totalitarian Collectivism.” Let’s get real. Most have heard the Einstein quote, but few appreciate its application to voting in the United States. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If you want to take back your government or if you are serious about being part of a populace movement that allows for actual citizen participation in a representative administration that reflects the voice and will of the people, acknowledge and work to establish a viable THIRD PARTY in America. KISS, a keep it simple stupid logo might be the ultimate bipartisan symbol. Embrace three policy positions and avoid all the baggage of the social and divisive issues. The WAR PARTY policy of permanent interventionism must stop and adopt an American First position that rejects the foreign policy of the Democrat and Republican establishment.
Abolish the Federal Reserve and return the constitutional authority to the Treasury that issues NON debt created money.
Abandon the fraud of “Free Trade” agreements that have destroyed the domestic economy and eliminated living wage jobs to overseas corportatism. Politically, the only way these policies will ever be accepted in a Congress that is bought, bribed and black mailed into maintaining the establishment order is to organize a THIRD Party faction in EVERY county and state with the expressed purpose of breaking the Demo/Repub election rules monopoly that prevents real and true competition on the local level. Yes, this attempt could take decades to succeed if people continue to sit on their hands and bitch about election results. You will never get a term limits referendum on the ballot or have congress approve such a law unless citizens start voting third party. The greatest stumbling block to a rational revolution back to limited government and political accountability comes from the mindset of Rewarding Idiots with Democratic Totalitarianism. “Watching the culture of prerogative democratic diatribes, advocating the entitlement society, could never take root unless the peasants were conditioned to demand their total cradle to grave guarantees. The pandering is intolerable. The trade off enslavement that is conditional for receiving benefits goes unnoticed to most of the bottom feeders.” If you doubt this assessment, reflect upon the classic quotation by Elmer T Peterson. “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.” How can you doubt the validity of this historic observation? However, even if you recognize that our political system teeters on a fragile edge, both elite control and mob intolerance keep voting for the same old failed policies, which can only be described as ludicrous. By the foolish actions of present generations, they are accepting a society that has no future. Paleo-conservatives lead the charge for time tested and traditional values. Phony NeoCons betray our history for the dream of an American Empire. Classic Liberals advocate the principles of Thomas Jefferson and are almost extinct in the current Democratic Party. Progressive Collectivists are exponents of authoritarian governance and the demise of the Republic. The Democrat Progressive Party and the NeoCon Republican Party are joined at the hip. Only a broad and inclusive Third Party movement willing to subordinate many of our personal and contentious objectives can attract the across-the-board support to achieve one single objective. TAKE POWER from the two party establishment oligarchy. Anyone who has labored in the sewer of party politics understands that the most corrupt rise to the top leadership positions in this criminal political syndicate. Reforming these entrenched organizations makes winning the cold war a cake walk. People have no choice as long as they start within the private club of cronyism and compliance to the established order. Thank Sanders and Trump for awakening the displaced and disillusioned. When this disappointment and frustration in the coming general election is fully realized, do not expect that the party members in Congress will come to your rescue. Start local, break the election cartel with a KISS of common sense. Add a stroke of addition alternatives to every election ballot. SARTRE – April 5, 2016A Baha'i international community official says the 20-year prison sentences given to seven leaders of Iran's Baha'i community are "completely unjust" and based on fabricated charges, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.
Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaluddin Khanjani, Afif Naeemi, Saeed Rezai, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakoli, and Vahid Tizfahm were sentenced on August 8 after being found guilty of "espionage," "acting against national security," and being "enemies of God."
They had been on trial since January, and detained in Evin Prison since 2008.
Diane Ala'i, the Baha'i international community representative to the United Nations in Geneva, told Radio Farda that the Baha'i community is demanding the immediate release of all seven Baha'is.
She added that they "were kept in solitary confinement for interminable periods of time without knowing the charges against them, while their temporary arrest was extended every two months."
Ala'i said that during the long trial period, the defendants were only able to meet with their lawyers once, and for just one hour.
The Baha'i World News Service said that before the trial began, the seven were held without formal charges or access to lawyers.
Ala'i believes they were arrested simply for practicing the Baha'i religion and acting as informal community leaders.
According to European Baha'i community statistics, there are about 300,000 Baha'is in Iran, making it one of the largest Baha'i communities in the world. Iran is where the religion was founded in the 19th century.
But the Iranian government does not officially recognize the religion and severe limitations are imposed on its followers, including a ban from attending university.
The government has also sanctioned the destruction of Baha'i holy sites, including the former residence of one of the religion's prophets in Shiraz.The New Ferro Distinct Watch
INSPIRATION
The long lasting romance of sports cars and watches inspired me to create this time piece that reflects the tachometers used in luxury and sports motors; by having a single hand on a modern dial housed in a classy polished wire lug case.
In the Press
About the watch
Each Ferro Distinct 2 watch is 100 meters water-resistant and constructed using a polished stainless steel case with 22mm lugs, an onion shaped screw-in crown, and stainless steel pin buckle.
As the Ferro Distinct 2 watch tells the time with only a single hand, it was crucial to house the dial in a 44mm case, so there will be enough space for index markings to make time-reading easier.
Onion Crown design shows off the over all elegance of the Ferro Distinct with the modern "F" logo engraved for its authenticity
To create the perfect wearing experience we used naturally tanned Italian leathers from the finest tanneries.
The glass is double-domed sapphire crystal on automatic ETA or Miyota Automatic watches, or flat sapphire crystal on Ronda quartz watches.
Ferro Distinct Watches come in 4 different color schemes to accommodate your casual or dressy needs
Stretch Goal #1 Reached!
Now every watch will come with an extra genuine leather perforated racing straps in the color of your choice (Black or Brown) at no extra cost.
Stretch Goal #2 Reached!
Now all the backers (except Super Early birds) can choose the dial colors between Black, White, Blue, Orange and Yellow.
Designed with Passion
The thought, detail and passion that went into the design of the Distinct 2 is what makes this watch stand out.
Making the prototypes involved several processes such as molding, machining, polishing and assembling. We also had to deal with a couple of other suppliers to get the sapphire crystal and the quality genuine leather straps. After several weeks and dozens of back and forth e mails and phone calls, we finally received the prototypes and were overwhelmed with the results.
Here are some random photos I took from the prototypes
Ferro logo engraving on the polished strap buckle
My favorite...changed the strap with my grey leather Zulu...
And here are the most recent mobile phone shots I took today (May 2nd) The wrist size is 7.5 inches
This white face with grey Zulu strap is getting so much attention and compliments...
Let it Shine - Second Generation of Ferro Distinct
The Distinct 2 has an astonishing polished stainless steel case, that maximizes its elegance
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The Movements
The ETA 2824 is a 25 jewel movement at 28,800 beats per hour, 8 beats per second or 4Hz. The Miyota 8215 comes in at 21 jewels and will beat at 21,600BPH, 6 betas per second or 3Hz. The ETA movement is smoother and more accurate, because it beats faster. However both watches are above average. Both movements are automatics, using a winding rotor to power the main spring as you move around during the day. ETA Automatics are widely used by luxury brands such as Omega, Breitling, Longines, tAGHEUR etc |
repression of one-half of Spock’s personality has taken greater and greater effort of will. Spock has become an emotional timebomb. After serving on starships for fifteen years, in close proximity to humans, he was no longer able to bear the strain and retired, at the end of the five-year mission, to recharge his Vulcanness. The process has not been working, and Spock returns for this emergency mission in a state of extreme emotional upheaval, which now seethes just below the surface of his still essentially cool Vulcan exterior.
In the course of our film, Spock will at long last come to terms with the human side of himself. He must come to recognize that he can not live his life entirely in the Vulcan mode or the human one, but must make his own individual way with no models whatsoever to fall back on. He must get to know himself as a whole being and begin the terribly painful process of losing the shame he feels whenever he feels any kind of emotion. He remains, of course, most comfortable with the Vulcan life-style, science and Vulcan philosophy, but now, for the first time, he will release some of the emotion that has been building up inside of him for these many years.
V'ger will come to learn about emotions from Spock as it is Spock’s logical mind that it can most easily relate to. V'ger, too, is something of a half-breed, being a marriage between an Earth machine and a far more advanced machine race. Spock’s torment will somewhat parallel V'ger’s confusion as it comes to grips with the full, unimaginable implications of the Earth half of its origins.Despite President Trump condemning white supremacist hate groups by name on Monday for the violence in Charlottesville, on Tuesday, the network morning shows lined up to blame the President for the rise of such groups and having “emboldened” them with his 2016 campaign.
On NBC’s Today, co-host Matt Lauer worried: “...what are people who look into these types of groups saying about their strength right now? Are they growing? Are there more of them? Are more people following them, either in the streets or online?” The headline on screen blared: “Feds Tracking Rise of Hate Groups?; Concerns Grow as DOJ Opens Charlottesville Probe.”
Justice Correspondent Pete Williams responded to Lauer’s query:
Not so much a growth in the number of groups, but yes in the number of followers. And they say there are two factors at work here. Something of a surge in hate group numbers in response to the nationwide efforts to remove or rename the symbols of the Confederacy....And the second thing civil rights advocates say, is that these groups feel emboldened by some of Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric to sort of come out of the shadows, believing that their message is no longer taboo.
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
On ABC’s Good Morning America, correspondent Tom Llamas declared:
ABC News has been following [Richard] Spencer and other white nationalist leaders like Matt Heimbach for the last six months....Heimbach and Spencer part of the growing so-called alt-right movement. White nationalists who think white identity is under attack. Both credit President Trump’s anti-immigration, America First policies with their rise into the mainstream.
A soundbite followed of Heimbach referring to Trump and claiming: “He’s opened up a door, his movement has opened up a door, but it’s up to us to take the initiative.”
During a report on CBS This Morning hyping protests outside Trump Tower, correspondent Margaret Brennan touted ranting from one of the left-wing demonstrators: “The controversy followed President Trump back to his Manhattan home, where he was met by protesters like Elissa Kraus.” Kraus accused the President of being complicit in the violence: “What happened in Charlottesville was done with Trump’s endorsement, with his permission, and he could barely criticize it.”
On Monday, the network evening newscasts were uniform in their denunciation of Trump as they argued his condemnation of the Charlottesville attack was “too little, too late.”
The biased coverage across all three networks was brought to viewers by PetSmart, Turkey Hill, and Chevy.
Here are excerpts of the August 15 coverage on NBC, ABC, and CBS:As Republicans try to push Obamacare repeal over the finish line, many Americans are wondering how they will cover their medical expenses in this new, GOP-conceived insurance market.
"Late Show" host Stephen Colbert, thinking outside the box Tuesday night, suggested people turn to a lifestyle brand in these dire times.
Advertisement:
"Folks are going to have to look for alternative medical treatment like prayer, or being rich, or praying to become rich," Colbert said Tuesday night. "Well, in these dark days of doubt, thank goodness for Gwyneth Paltrow and her lifestyle brand, Goop."
Late-night comedians have taken turns punching Paltrow's online business venture, a quirky health and wellness website which she herself admitted that she doesn't read.
Goop got in a little trouble this week after NASA debunked the brand's claims that stickers it sold were made out of magic "NASA space suit material." Goop sells a 10-pack of these Body Vibes stickers for over $60.
"Previously, if you wanted wearable stickers that promote healing, you had to buy a box of band-aids," Colbert joked. "For that price, you're going to want to pick up their anti-anxiety sticker for the panic attack you'll get when you realize you spent your rent money on stuff they give children free at the dentist,"
"Yes, Goop has apparently consulted with top fork scientists to create these stickers," Colbert said. "So what Goop is saying is, Buy these stickers and go fork yourself."
Colbert then introduced his own celebrity lifestyle brand, Covetton House. Things got weird from there.A Chinese woman dubbed the “ivory queen” for her alleged leadership of one of Africa’s biggest ivory smuggling rings has been captured and charged.
Yang Feng Glan is accused of smuggling 706 elephant tusks worth £1.62m from Tanzania to the far east. The Elephant Action League, a US-based campaign group, described her as “the most important ivory trafficker ever arrested in the country”.
The 66-year-old is said to have been a crucial link between east African poaching syndicates and buyers in China, where ivory is prized for ornamental use, for over 14 years. Tanzania’s national and transnational serious crimes investigation unit had been tracking Glan for more than a year, according to the Elephant Action League.
“She recently disappeared from Tanzania, moving to Uganda, but returned one week ago, when the task force swiftly moved and arrested her,” the league said. “After confessing to many of her crimes she has been taken to the high court of Dar es Salaam facing a maximum sentence of 20 to 30 years imprisonment.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest In June a government census revealed Tanzania had lost a “catastrophic” 60% of its elephants in five years. Photograph: Dai Kurokawa/EPA
On Wednesday Glan appeared at the Kisutu magistrates court, along with Tanzanians Salvius Matembo and Manase Philemon, in the city of Dar es Salaam. She was charged with smuggling ivory between 2000 and 2014, although some reports suggested she may have been active since the 1980s. Glan did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody to await a further hearing.
Tanzania’s elephant population is one of Africa’s biggest but has been hit hard by the illegal ivory trade. In June, a government census revealed it had lost a “catastrophic” 60% of its elephants in five years. The data showed that between 2009 and 2014, the number dropped from 109,051 to 43,330.
The government has been heavily criticised for its inability to stop the flow and for turning a blind eye to so-called kingpins linked to the large and influential Chinese community in the country. It is extremely unusual for an ivory kingpin, especially a Chinese national, to appear in court.
The Elephant Action League said Glan is originally from Beijing and owns several properties and many cars. She learned Swahili and moved to Tanzania in 1975 as a translator when China was building a railway.
“According to the first information collected by the task force, she has been trafficking ivory since at least 2006, working with the most high-ranking poachers in the country and in the region. She is connected to various companies abroad, all Chinese-owned, and circulates in the upper echelons of Chinese citizens living and working in Tanzania.”
She is the vice-president and secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa business council, it added, and owns the biggest Chinese restaurant at Dar es Salaam station.
Andrea Crosta, co-founder of the Elephant Action League and WildLeaks, said: “It’s the news that we have all been waiting for, for years. Finally, a high-profile Chinese trafficker is in jail. Hopefully, she can lead us to other major traffickers and corrupt government officials. We must put an end to the time of the untouchables if we want to save the elephants.
“Everyone she has been dealing with will now become a target for law enforcement,” Crosta added.
Yang’s court appearance came just a week after another Chinese woman, Li Ling Ling, was charged by the same court along with four Tanzanians with aiding the smuggling of ivory to Switzerland.
Last December Kenyan national Feisal Ali Mohammed, a suspected organised crime boss alleged to be a leading figure in the illegal ivory trade, was arrested by Interpol agents in Tanzania.Contents show]
Materials Edit
Here are some wonderful things to print out and distribute.
This is not intended as a comprehensive list of propaganda. You can modify the res publica in any way you want - the above materials are just suggestions if you don't have anything better. And if you have something better, by all means, request an account and add it!
Collections and Longer Pieces Edit
Scribd Group - numerous posters from this site are hosted at scribd - the Postergasm collections (below) are broken into individual one-page PDFs for ease of access. Useful link: http://www.scribd.com/tag/postergasm ---- also try searching Scribd.com for "postergasm" or "postergasm collection".
Postergasm Collection: Volume Aleph - some of the best meme bombs, in PDF format, enhanced by various wingbats and dingdings to make them more eye-catching.
Postergasm Collection: Volume Dingus - a series of posters which look like Room For Rent and Lost Dog posters.
Postergasm Collection: Calvinball - a series of posters designed to create the illusion/reality that the reader is in the midst of a game, and to augment the rules that pedestrians are already following. Contains several spoof Homeland Security posters.
Postergasm Collection: Volume Butts - many (40+) different meme bombs and posters. Varying themes.
Postergasm: Disinfomercials From Cramul.us
Zane Edison's posters - a poster pack riffing on the insanity of the left/right political "choice".
Matthew's Posters ver.2.0 - A collection of posters of various content to add to your repertoire of POSTERGASM Mind Fucks, almost 30 posters to play with. (ATTN: this link is dead.)
Black Iron Prison Booklet - The Black Iron Prison booklet (see also this link)
bumper sticker
bumper sticker
bumper sticker
bumper sticker
Single Sheets Edit
Pirate Pass Off - a game played by passing around these business cards. Alternate Version
Missing "Cat" poster ripped off from somewhere on the interblag. [BROKEN]
Two Quick Mindfux [not anymore BROKEN, fuck yeah]
23 Things to Amuse Yourself While You Wait - This is a silly one-page pamphlet designed to be left on trains, bus stops, truck stops, waiting rooms, or anywhere where people are sitting around and waiting. Actually, it could go anywhere. Contains Discordian thought about Robots and Cabbages.
Do Not Read This Sign image. Appears as a notice from the department of homeland security. by Golden Applesauce.
Closed Circuit Monitoring in Progress image. 8x11, 300dpi. Burnstoupee (the creator) would like to note that the joke is that the camera is actually a film projector.
Free Homes! - found on Livejournal
The US Constitution - If you put this on a telephone pole, what kind of unpatriotic bastard would tear this down?
Bill of Rights - Only a terrorist would rip down the Bill of Rights - the very document which gives you the right to staple it to telephone polls.
There Is No Discordian Society by Vexati0n
Notice of Compulsory Illumination by Vexati0n
Letter to the Cabbages by Vexati0n
How to Know If You Are a Robot by Vexati0n
You Are a Target Audience by IasonOuabache and Cainad
Paraphernalia & One Line Meme Bombs Edit
Discordia Merchandising Has developed an assortment of quality Discordian Paraphernalia including Pope Cards, Fnord Stickers, Enamel Pins, and Discordian Belts, sold through the oddity shop Populous Ephemera. Part of Operation Indiepreneur
Personal Collections Edit
In this section, we will be posting our personal "best of" contributions to Discordia.
I want you to dig up the great stuff you've created and given to the Discordian Society, and link to it here.
You can also nominate other people's work. If you've read a really great rant which made you stand up out of your chair and go RAH, please link us up!
Lots of Stuff by Cramulus and friends Edit
Nonfiction Edit
Anatomy of a Meme
Longer Edit
Fiction Edit
Art Edit
Poetry Edit
New Discordiana Edit
Discordian StencilsStarting today, members of the Who Dat Nation can get their long-awaited license tags commemorating the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl win, nearly 10 months after the victory.
But not all locations of the state Office of Motor Vehicles will offer them to drivers, and agency spokeswoman Michelle Rayburn said officials are not saying which ones have them or how many of the 4,400 newly minted plates are at any location.
Rayburn urged those who want to buy the new tags to call the office's Baton Rouge number, 225.925.6146. "They will be available throughout the state in the larger motor vehicle offices in the larger metropolitan areas," Rayburn said.
"Forty-four hundred (license plates) could be gone in the first day," said Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, sponsor of the law creating the commemorative license plates.
Arnold said 4,100 actually will be available to the general public because the Saints organization, by law, gets the first 300 license tags.
Rayburn said more tags will be stamped out quickly by Prison Enterprises, the business arm of the Department of Corrections, if they sell out as Arnold and others expect.
She said the state also is also working on dozens of other speciality license plates, and Prison Enterprises also is charged with stamping out a new two-year regular license plate to commemorate Louisiana's 200th anniversary as a state. Those tags have to be ready for distribution starting Jan. 3, she said.
Rayburn said the supply of Saints plates was sent to motor vehicle offices Monday.
The tags will be issued only to Louisiana resident drivers who have vehicles registered in the state and not to out-of-state Who Dats who want them as souvenirs.
For Saints fans who want the tags for their vans or cars, Rayburn said they will have to pony up at least $61.50 in special fees for two years, excluding the regular cost of the tag, which is based on the value of the vehicle.
The special fees for the two-year Saints tags run $25 a year, plus an initial $8 handling fee and a $3.50 initial administrative fee.
The cost for a Saints plate for a truck, Rayburn said, is $81.50 -- the same fees as for cars and vans but with a $20 flat fee assessed instead of the fee for the value of the vehicle.
Rayburn said that drivers who want the new Saints Super Bowl plate must also have proof of insurance and the vehicle registration form.
More information on the tags can be obtained from the agency's website, www.expresslane.org. She said the Saints tags can be viewed online and forms to order them -- and to calculate the cost of the plates -- can be obtained electronically but the forms and payment for the plates have to be mailed to the Baton Rouge headquarters of the Office of Motor Vehicles, P.O. Box 64886, Baton Rouge, LA, 70896.
Arnold said he expects "a crunch (of demand) in New Orleans, obviously" when the plates go on sale today.
The $25-a-year surcharge from the plates will go to pay off the bond debt at the Superdome and any operating expenses at the stadium.
He said that he wanted to see the money go to a National Football League charity such as exercise or recreation programs for youth, but lawmakers wanted the money set aside for Superdome expenses.
"There could have been better use of the dollars raised," he said. The money from the tags would have had a greater impact on recreation programs than Superdome expenses, Arnold said.
Arnold, who filed his bill March 19 and saw it become effective July 1, said he was frustrated with the way the plate-making process dragged on. He said that there were rounds of talks among state officials, the Saints and the NFL to clear up any issues dealing with the use of logos and trademarks. The first design was rejected by the Saints.
A few weeks ago, the NFL stepped in and wanted an agreement signed with the state to protect the use of the Lombardi Trophy, the symbol of victory in the Super Bowl, and the logo from Super Bowl XLIV.
"It is the government process," Arnold said. "It takes time; I am disappointed in the time factor" to get the plates approved, manufactured and to the fans.
Arnold said that he had hoped the license tags could have been ready by the opening of the NFL regular season in early September. He said he thinks that the plates will surpass the LSU purple-and-gold Fightin' Tigers plate as the state's most popular.
Ed Anderson can be reached at [email protected] or 225.342.5810.The third book in the Incarnations of Immortality series written by Piers Anthony takes us on a journey of discovery and wonder and shows just how tangled the web of fate can truly be. In With a Tangled Skein, Fate is actually three people all living in just one body. Clotho, the maiden, the spinner of threads, the one who makes the thread of life. Once a month she goes into the void to retrieve the purest of materials to make her strands. Only she is able to go there of the three aspects. Some of the other Incarnations can but seldom do, the one that she does encounter stands in her way. Lachesis is the weaver of the tapestry of time. It is her job to take the threads that have been measured and then place them into the tapestry so that people can be born into the world. She can also tweak the weave to unravel kinks that always seem to happen at the worst times in history. In this way she is able to make sure that life continues on as it should. The third aspect of Fate is that of Atropos, she is the one who measures and cuts the threads that Clotho weaves and Lachesis weaves into the tapestry. Without them there would be no life as we know it.
With this book we follow the life of Niobe and some of her descendants as forces both mortal and immortal thread her into the aspects of Fate. She never really wanted the job of Clotho but none the less took it to be able to avenge the man that she loved. It was this love that was born out of necessity that taught her how to be able to truly love someone. She was against even marriage at first, wanting to wait till she fell in love but being the kind of person she was that was not something that was going to happen on its own. It took her father and the family of another to force her into being married to a teen of just 16 named Cedric. It was a marriage that neither wanted but it was good for both families so they had no choice in the matter. Long did they fight against a love between them but Cedric’s magic and her love of nature made the love between them grow. Out of that love was to come the Bride of Death and the Savior of Man. Little did they know just how true that would be.
Piers Anthony is a master bard and takes us to places that we can only dream about and wonder what they would be like. He paints us a masterpiece that we see come alive in our minds, a virtual movie just for us to see. Strange thing is that most people are able to see the same things and if you describe what is happening others that have read the piece know who and what you are talking about. Not many authors have this kind of passion for what it is that they write and anyone that reads Piers Anthony’s work is enveloped and submerged into world that they do not soon want to leave from. This book is no different. We see how the universe is pieced together from the eyes of the author and get to feel how it all works. It shows us that not everything is perfect, that even Fate can be flawed but it still has a very important purpose in how things are and how they should be.
The entire Incarnation series is centered around, for the most part, one family line and the struggle between good and evil. The only way you are going to find out how all of it fits together is to actually read the book. You really can’t just skim through these tomes, you actually have to read them and let them seep into you like a warm flame. This book is going to wet your appetite for all the others to come and you will find yourself reading more then once. This is not the first time I have read it and it will definitely not be the last time. These works will stand the test of time long after you and I have gone to Heaven, Hell or Purgatory. Wouldn’t it be great if the afterlife were the way Piers Anthony wrote them?
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TumblrCoeur d’Alene (Idaho) high school four-star quarterback Colson Yankoff, a class of 2018 recruit, informs 247Sports that he has de-committed from Oregon.
Colson's current offer list includes Duke, Boise State, Tennessee, Nebraska and others.
The 6-4, 200-pounder initially committed to the Ducks on June 18. However, due to the coaching change and interest in reopening his recruitment, Yankoff has informed Oregon that he will be pursuing other opportunities.
“I committed to coach Mark Helfrich, coach David Yost and that Oregon staff,” said Yankoff. “Things have changed and based on the current situation, my family and I believe it’s in my best interest to open up my recruitment and reevaluate things. At this time, I’m not going to do any other interviews. Thank you for your understanding. I’m open to any and all schools at this time.”
Colson's current offer list includes Duke, Boise State, Tennessee, Nebraska and others.
As a junior, Yankoff completed 271-of-400 passes for 3,129 yards, 27 touchdowns and 6 touchdowns. He also ran for 968 yards and 26 touchdowns on the season.
Per 247Sports, Yankoff is the No. 101 overall recruit in the country, No. 5 dual-threat quarterback in the nation and No. 2 prospect in Idaho from the class of 2018.Imagine, for a moment, that a teacher — or worse, two — at your child’s school was accused of some form of child sexual abuse involving students. What action would you want the school to take?
The specifics of the case against a former teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles are both horrible and weird, in the least pleasant sense of that word: he’s accused of “inflicting bizarre abuse rituals on at least 23 young girls and boys, including blindfolding them, binding their mouths with masking tape, and placing cockroaches on their faces and mouths before photographing them.”
Another teacher at the same school was accused of groping two 7-year-olds. And last night, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District announced that every single member of the faculty and staff at the school will be replaced by Thursday.
There are sound reasons behind the plan: because some acts of abuse allegedly took place in the classroom, and over a period of several years, the investigation into who knew what when is expected to be lengthy. The district says it doesn’t want to interrupt the education of the children at the school further with that process, and also says the decision responded to the requests of at least some protesting parents. (The departing staff will be assigned to a school still under construction for the rest of the school year.)
But is the removal of every familiar person in the entire building really the best way to continue the education of Miramonte’s students? Students will be greeted at the end of the week by new teachers, and by a psychiatric social worker assigned to each class. Every child in the school will be interviewed, along with every child in the district who ever attended the school. I hope their parents will be involved, and that every child will be given as honest an explanation of what’s happening as is possible.
But if those were my children, at their school, I’m not sure this drastic action would restore my faith in the district, and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t do much to restore my children’s faith in any kind of security or continuity at school. The message I hear is, “We don’t know how to know whom to trust.” However accurate that is, I’m not impressed. Are you?Steven Colbert is effectively filling South Carolina public schools with iPads, gym equipment, books and other learning tools as he announced Thursday that he would fund $800,000 worth of programs, or every school funding request, in his home state. Colbert made the donations in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, according to DonorsChoose.org, a crowdfunding site for teachers with funding requests.
A technology teacher at Lakeside Middle School of Inquiry and Innovation in Anderson, South Carolina, said the two Xbox Ones and game design program donated by the comedian “will enable students to learn the skills to become a game designer.” Born in South Carolina but now a New Jersey resident, Colbert made the donations with Share Fair Nation, which is run by the Morgridge Family Foundation, an educational philanthropy group, and ScanSource, a technology distributor.
“I can't express my joy, excitement, and thanks enough for your donation to my project,” the teacher, identified only as Mr. Sutton, wrote on the Web page for his funding request. “It is great to see that you share my vision for teaching 21st century skills to students. We rarely have the funding needed to provide students with the best tools available. This is a great step in making our class one of the best around.”
Colbert made the announcement Thursday afternoon in New York via a live video feed at Alexander Elementary School in Greenville, South Carolina, the Greenville News reported. The $800,000 donation will support 1,000 school projects from 800 teachers at 375 schools in South Carolina, according to the paper. Colbert, the former host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” who is taking over the “Late Show” from David Letterman on CBS in September, grew up in Charleston, South Carolina.
"I'm so excited to announce we are funding all 1,000 South Carolina projects on DonorsChoose.org today," Colbert said in a press release. "DonorsChoose.org makes it so easy to have an impact and connect directly with the teachers and students you're helping."
Colbert is on the board of DonorsChoose.org. The $800,000 was raised by Colbert selling off items from the set of “The Colbert Report,” including his desk.
"We're so grateful that Stephen, Share Fair Nation, and ScanSource could help the teachers of South Carolina in such a big and magical way today,” said DonorsChoose.org founder and CEO Charles Best.This is a POLITICO debate. For the counterargument, click here.
WARSAW — How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Lincoln’s famous question sought to ridicule those who wished to change the reality by rebranding the truth. I’m reminded of it by the ongoing, well-orchestrated campaign to brand the Polish government as a pro-fascist regime. Despite the popular narrative in Europe these days, the dog still only has four legs, and the Polish government is no less democratic than rest of the Old Continent.
Many pointed to a recent outburst of violence and extremist sentiment at an independence day parade in Warsaw earlier this month as evidence of Poland’s democratic decline. But out of the 60,000 people in attendance, no more than 10 percent could legitimately be called far-right nationalists of the “fascist” variety. And those represent a small fringe group with no standing in Polish society. Out of hundreds of patriotic banners waved there, no more than 10 were an idiotic nationalistic mix of fascist and communist paranoia.
Nor are these extremists a threat. We’re dealing with troubled, immature minds. This was obvious in the contradiction of their messages. Next to racist banners promoting “white power,” we saw anti-communist and anti-capitalist slogans. Some were reminiscent of earlier pro-Russian provocations.
The march was, after all, attended mainly by hard-working, middle-class people with families.
Regardless of their motives, their despicable actions were harshly criticized not only by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, but by all major conservative nationalist organizations. Their actions were met with outrage and fierce condemnation across Polish media and social networks long before foreign media addressed the topic.
Accusations that the Polish government supported fascism and anti-Semitism are far off the mark. It’s worth remembering that this is the first government in Poland’s 27-year-old democracy to have sentenced and jailed someone for anti-Semitism.
The problem is that any time someone proves that a dog still has only four legs, demagogues come up with a new twist.
The Financial Times blamed the Polish government for commending the march as “patriotic.” Why shouldn’t it? The march was, after all, attended mainly by hard-working, middle-class people with families. They turned out, peacefully, in remembrance of getting our freedom after years of Russian and German occupation. We would not condemn the U.S. for still considering its independence day celebrations “patriotic” even if a handful of idiots affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan or fascist groups showed up in their white robes waving swastikas over their heads.
The word “fascism” is increasingly overused in Europe. What makes a specific government or a party fascist? Is it a political system or form of governance — resembling Germany 85 years ago — or just a phrase to emphasize a sense of indignation and contempt for different political views?
Some media compared our independence day gathering to the fascist marches of the 1930s. This comparison makes no more sense than pretending political prisoners in Catalonia or attacks on refugee camps in Germany and Austria are evidence of “fascism.” In France, many Jewish citizens are migrating to Israel out of fear of the growing anti-Semitism, but no one accuses France of being “fascist.”
There are legitimate reasons to criticize the Polish government: its economic interventionism, public health policy and energy policy, to name a few. But accusations of fascism are simply absurd.
Europe is under tremendous pressure from all possible directions. It needs profound market changes and a whole new value system to cope with the pressure of new cultures and the migration crisis. It also needs to fix the growing rift between North and South and East and West.
Labelling some governments as “fascist” will do nothing to help solve that issue — especially as those doing so offer no attractive alternatives.
Instead of new tough reforms, Brussel only offers more centralization, at the expense of national sovereignty. It offers the same ideas that led us to the longest economic and social crisis in the EU’s history, which is only now coming to an end.
A few immature extremists don’t make Poland a fascist country.
Powerful but helpless in face of all its challenges, the EU appears to be only interested in maintaining the status-quo and resisting the natural process of greater independence for its member countries.
Officials in Brussels must have been thrilled when Poland’s independence march gave them evidence of bona fide “fascists” in Warsaw they could use to portray the threat to their otherwise peaceful and fully democratic Europe.
A few immature extremists don’t make Poland a fascist country. What they do instead is reveal how desperate the EU is to use the threat of “fascists” as an excuse to push for further centralization and bureaucratization.
Tomasz Wroblewski is president of the Warsaw Enterprise Institute.Douglas County “Scholarships” Divert Public Funds to Religious Schools
December 10, 2014
DENVER – Attorneys representing civil liberties and taxpayer organizations, including the ACLU of Colorado, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Taxpayers for Public Education, argued before the Colorado State Supreme Court today that a Douglas County voucher program that provides public education funds to private religious schools is unconstitutional and should be struck down by the Court.
Matt Douglas of Arnold & Porter LLP, arguing for the plaintiffs, highlighted the Colorado Constitution’s “specific prohibition” on government funds going to schools that are controlled by churches or religious organizations, and Michael McCarthy of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, representing Taxpayers for Public Education, argued that the Colorado Public School Finance Act forbids using public funds to subsidize tuition payments for students who are attending private schools.
Douglas County’s so-called “Choice Scholarship Pilot Program” offered tuition vouchers worth $4,575 to 500 students to spend at religious and other private schools. For the purposes of obtaining state per-pupil educational funds, Douglas County created a public charter school, which exists only on paper, and enrolled students in the non-existent charter school. In reality, students were set to attend one of 23 district-approved “Private School Partners,” and the voucher money would be paid to those private schools. As of the filing of the lawsuit, 18 of the 23 approved Private School Partners were religious schools.
“Parents are free to send their children to a private religious school if they wish, but Colorado taxpayers should not be forced to pay for it,” said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein.
The groups filed a lawsuit challenging the voucher program in 2011. A lower court agreed with their position and struck down the program, but the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of Douglas County in February 2013. In March 2014, the Colorado Supreme Court announced that it would hear the case.
In a brief filed with the Supreme Court earlier this year, the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote that the program, if allowed to stand, would “eviscerate core provisions of the religion and education clauses of the Colorado Constitution, restrict citizens’ ability to enforce the Public School Finance Act, and give school districts around the state carte blanche to implement similar programs, with potentially devastating consequences for the State’s constitutionally mandated public-school system.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Matt Douglas, Timothy R. Macdonald, and Michelle K. Albert of Arnold & Porter LLP; Ayesha N. Khan and Alex J. Luchenitser of Americans United; Heather Weaver and Daniel Mach of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief; and Mark Silverstein and Sara Rich of the ACLU of Colorado.
Resources:
Visit the ACLU case page with corresponding legal documents: https://aclu-co.org/court-cases/la-rue-v-colorado-board-of-education/
View: Civil Liberties Groups Ask Colorado Supreme Court to Strike Down Douglas County Voucher Program.Green Party's Jill Stein needed thousands of volunteers to help with a voter-initiated recount of Pennsylvania's election results. But, officials are not seeing it.
In a video Sunday, Stein asked volunteers to print, complete and get notarized affidavits in an attempt to force an election recount in Pennsylvania. Election officials from around the state said they had received some calls about affidavits but not the thousands Stein needs.
While Stein said volunteers were needed to submit their documentation by Monday, Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, has said the deadline for a voter-initiated recount was Nov. 21.
Stein said in the video that in order to force a recount she needed at least three volunteers from each of Pennsylvania's thousands of voting precincts to download an affidavit available on her website, fill it out, get it notarized and submit it to the county clerk's office.
That would mean tens of thousands of volunteers would been needed to pull off a voter-initiated recount.
Deborah Olivieri, director of Berks County Election Services, has told anyone asking about filing affidavits to speak to their prothonotary office. Olivieri said they've received a couple visitors and four or five phone calls.
"There's been some phone calls today," Olivieri said. "There have been a few people who have stopped in here and we've directed them up stairs."
Monica Dutko, director of the Adams County Elections and Voter Registration Office, said she had not received any signed affidavits by 1 p.m.
Most have either called or emailed the office to ask questions. Dutko said her office has told those seeking legal advice or those who have legal questions to speak with their attorneys. Others are being referred to the Pa. Department of State.
Dutko said told those calling that they had already certified their election results on Nov. 22. Any voter-initiated recount needed to be completed by then.
While many counties have already certified their results, the Allegheny County Board of Elections decided Monday not to certify their results.
The board decided to conduct a recount of results in scattered districts, send those results to the state and then reconvene on Dec. 12.
Bethany Salzarulo, director of Cumberland County Elections and Voter Registration, said the only calls she's received about affidavits were from the media. She was not aware of anyone submitting an affidavit as part of a recount effort by 1:30 p.m.
Stein has raised more than $6 million to initiate recounts in three states -- Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. A recount filing fee in Pennsylvania is $500,000, according to Stein.
Lawrence |
broken glass" at the hotel. She cited no source for her reporting, and NBC4 did not respond to The BRAD BLOG's request last night via Twitter for detailed on Reyes' sourcing.
By Monday on NBC4, false reports of "broken glass" had turned into false reports of "$15,000 worth of damage" at the hotel, after reporter Tony Guinyard informed viewers that protesters "stormed" the hotel and, as as an LAPD Commander, on camera, confirmed that report.
All of that, however, was completely disputed by two W Hotel officials we contacted on Monday...
* * *
"At one point," Smith says in the report (see beginning at appx 1:10 in the video here), "a group broke of them broke off and went into the W Hotel, committed what I'm told is about $15,000 worth of damage. Spray-paint, graffiti, that type of thing, and then they left."
"Those were some of the individuals we arrested later that were part of that group," Smith continued. "We have a total of 5 people that were arrested in Hollywood for failure to disperse from an unlawful assembly. And now I'm getting reports that one more person was arrested for throwing bottles at our officers in Hollywood as well."
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The account from the W Hotel's PR and Communication Director Lauren Travis and its General Manager Leon Young, were quite different from NBC4 reporters Guinyard and Reyes, as well as that of LAPD's Commander Smith.
"The safety and security of our guests and associates remains our paramount priority," Young told The BRAD BLOG in an emailed statement forwarded to us by Travis today, "and we are thankful to the local authorities for their assistance."
Young went on to make clear that "No protestors ever entered W Hollywood nor were any of our guests ever in danger."
In our follow-up, specifically asking about the reports of broken glass on Sunday, as reported several times late Sunday night by NewsChopper4 reporter Reyes, Travis replied directly: "Regarding the broken glass - those reports are false."
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We sought comment from NBC4, asking if they intended to correct the record, given the response from the hotel. After sending an email query, we received a phone call almost immediately in return Monday evening from Andy Davis of NBC4. He requested our conversation stay off record, but he pointed us towards the video posted on their website of Commander Smith claiming the major damage at the W Hotel.
We then sought comment from the LAPD's Media Relations Section and spoke with Detective Gus Villanueva. When we asked about the discrepancy between Smith's comments on NBC4 and that from the W Hotel officials, he said, "I would go by what the hotel says."
Villanueva confirmed, in fact, that "Initially, we heard it was $15,000. I know that's what I have as of 3pm. I haven't heard anything different since then."
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But when we asked who the source was for that report, he said, "Obviously, the hotel would be the source for that."
"I know we did give a property damage estimate," he added, "but I would go with what the hotel says."
"Will you be correcting the record on that then?," we asked.
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"No, but you will," Villanueva responded.
And so we have. We hope NBC4 issues a retraction for both its inaccurate Monday report featuring the false remarks by Commander Smith and reporter Guinyard, as well as for its late Sunday coverage by NewsChopper4 reporter Reyes, who seemed to be almost hoping for violence to break out as the evening went on.
Reyes' repeated reports of "the situation growing more tense by the minute", "beginning to get rowdy now", "taking a sudden and dramatic turn", "protesters were breaking glass at the W Hotel in Hollywood," appear to all be false, according to the very same video feed that she was reporting on over a live line back to her studio.
At the time of Reyes' reporting, there had been only one arrest across all of Los Angeles after an entire day of spotty protests across the entire city. Only long after she announced the chopper was low on fuel and would be ending its coverage just after midnight, there were reports of a few scattered arrests late night in Hollywood.
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* * *
The media reported Jordan's remarks verbatim and largely uncritically after an evening of chaos had erupted on the streets of Oakland. A forensic investigation by The BRAD BLOG at the time, however, examining video available from the scene that night, revealed that it was, in fact, the OPD who began the confrontation with protesters. Police had begun firing chemical weapons into the crowd, which almost resulted in the death of two-tour Iraq War vet Scott Olsen. He suffered serious brain damage after his skull was cracked open by a tear gas canister recklessly fired by officers into the crowd of peaceful protesters.
The OPD eventually walked back Jordan's claim days later, after we pressed them for evidence to support the Chief's assertion that protesters had kicked off the riot. Oakland PD Chief of Staff, Sgt. Chris Bolton downplayed Jordan's remarks as "the Chief's preliminary belief."
By then, however, the damage had been done, and both the public, and police opinion had begun to harden against the protesters. The protesters, in turn, had been hardened against the police as well, and became less likely to cooperate with orders to disperse.Others were injured by the Oakland police during subsequent melees, and even citizen journalists were openly fired upon by cops there as the tension grew over the next several days and weeks.
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Getting these stories right, particularly when political tensions are very high, should be paramount for both media and police officials. Instead, too often, it seems, mainstream corporate media simply accept the account of officials and report it verbatim without bothering to investigate any further or ask for evidence to support police claims. Getting it right matters.
* * *
"Trouble brewing and nightfall was on the horizon...With the dark came danger. LAPD with riot gear, the masses gathering...chanting...seeking solace...anyway...they can get it," Ezzeddine breathlessly told viewers before rolling her pre-taped package...
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After the package --- which showed no violence by protesters --- NBC4's Ezzeddine returned, in more breathless tones..."back now live. The city, LAPD is on a city-wide tactical alert, meaning most every officer will remain on the job until they can ensure there is peace on the streets."
"A lot of that help," she continued --- while the live shot shows an almost entirely empty street in the Crenshaw District, with no one visible other than an apparently homeless man walking slowly down the street, dragging a piece of luggage behind him --- "coming in the form of backup from the LA County's Sheriffs department, that you can see in our live picture. They are blocking the entrance to the Metro, trying to ensure that no people can go into the Metro and cause any problems."
The live shot, however, revealed there was nobody there even interested in going into the Metro. Ezzeddine then went on to explain that she had spoken to LAPD "only seconds ago", and could confirm only one arrest (again, after an entire day of protests which were almost entirely peaceful) --- and, "so far, no officers injured."
Well, that's lucky. Good thing the officers didn't accidentally hit themselves in the face with the batons they are seen in Ezzedine's report swinging wildly at protesters.
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Notice, the only violence seen in NBC4's video report above is the LAPD swinging at protesters with batons and the evidence of protesters being shot by police with rubber bullets.
But late last night, and again today, it was "$15,000 worth of damage" caused by protesters at a hotel, despite the hotel disavowing any such damage, or even the presence of protesters inside the hotel at all.
Many retractions and apologies are due.The sword is silent as it leaves its scabbard in an expert draw. The only sound it makes is when it whistles as it cuts through the air. It might be the last sound you ever hear.
When I'm not writing about science, one of my pastimes is swordsmanship. Specifically, I'm studying Toyama Ryu Batto Do under Sang Kim sensei in New York, a style that heavily emphasizes cutting and sparring with the Japanese sword known as the katana. I've also tried out the German longsword tradition following the works of Liechtenauer with the New York Historical Fencing Association, and would love to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhrAItZrO6U
(That's Sang Kim sensei cutting. Pretty awesome, right?)
Why study the sword? Tales of swords have entranced people for centuries — for instance, Excalibur from the legends of King Arthur, Durandal from the Song of Roland, and the famous (and infamous) blades of Masamune and Muramasa. Even now, swords keep creeping into pop culture, such as is the case with the artificial intelligence Cortana in the video game series Halo, who is named after a legendary sword in the Song of Roland, or the Hattori Hanzo swords of the action flick "Kill Bill."
In this new series of articles, I hope to add to the magic of swords by showing how they can help one learn science. I'll begin with the sound that swords make when they are swung.
Why care what sounds a sword makes? Flippantly, I might say they help the blind swordsman Zatoichi hear his enemies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1HgAuU1TZs&t=12m17s
More seriously, I would say the sounds a sword makes can reveal whether or not it might cut through a target. A key goal in our style is achieving proper hasuji, or "edge line." The sword's edge should be the same angle as the sword's cutting path. If the edge wobbles or tilts wrong as the sword is swung, the cut might not make it through a target.
You don't need to swing at a solid target to know if you had good hasuji — the sound a sword can make when it is swung, known in Japanese as tachikaze, or "sword wind," can serve as a sign. If the hasuji was right, tachikaze will sound like sharp whistling. If the hasuji was wrong, tachikaze will sound like flat whooshing, or there will be no tachikaze. Ideally, you should hear tachikaze from the beginning of a cut, when power is needed to begin slicing through a target.
Good hasuji sounds like this.
Bad hasuji, if you can hear it, might sound like this.
Why does the way a sword is swung lead to different sounds? To find out, I consulted aeroacoustician Ken Brentner, a professor of aerospace engineering at Pennsylvania State University, who studies the sounds that aircraft make. After all, swords might resemble airplane wings in this matter.
When it comes to blades such as propellers, rotors or swords, Brentner explains there are two main kinds of noise they generate — "thickness noise" and "loading noise."
Thickness noise occurs when air must essentially get out of the way of an oncoming blade and then reoccupy its original space once that blade has moved on. Thickness noise can get very large as a blade approaches the speed of sound.
Loading noise is generated when a blade acts directly on the surrounding air, generating forces that causes the air to speed up, slow down or change direction. Loading noise can originate from steady aerodynamic effects such as lift on a wing, or unsteady aerodynamic effects such as turbulence. Noise from unsteady loading is the dominant source of sounds from blades moving at relatively low speeds, "and is what I believe is the primary source of noise from swords," Brentner says.
The secret of whistling tachikaze heard when hasuji is good might have to do with what are called Aeolian tones, Brentner says. These are named after Aeolus, the Greek ruler of the winds.
To explain, when air passes a cylinder, vortexes of air are shed from the top and the bottom of the cylinder in an alternating sequence with a very regular frequency. This pattern is known rather grandly as a von Karman vortex street.
"I believe this is what is happening when you hear the whistling sound when the blade is moving straight," Brentner says. "What you hear is a tone, like what you might hear when wind is blowing over telephone wires. The reason it is a tone is because the unsteady loading noise is very regular — only at a few certain frequencies." Since the back part of a katana is not tapered, "it would have a very similar vortex street, like a cylinder's."
However, when hasuji is bad, "I believe the flow over the blade is separating in a much more chaotic way — if it were an airfoil, we would say it is stalled," Brentner says. "Thus it has a larger region of turbulent flow, which consists of a wide range of random-sized vortices or turbulent eddies." Such turbulence "would generate a more whooshing sound, much like the sound you get from a cooling duct when the flow is coming out fast enough to hear it."
In the below figures, you can see the turbulent eddies generated by deep stalls, which might approximate what one hears from bad hasuji, as well as the alternating vortices generated by blunt trailing edges, which might approximate what one hears from good hasuji.
The thickness of a sword and the geometry of its edge are also key factors regarding how easily a sword will generate tachikaze when swung. Intriguingly, the biggest factor behind tachikaze is whether or not a sword has a groove along its backside known as a bo-hi — swords with this groove are louder than swords without it. The blunt swords known as iaito that beginning students practice with typically have bo-hi, so the students can hear when they are getting hasuji right or wrong.
Why does a bo-hi cause louder tachikaze? Brentner says this groove would shed vortices as air flowed over it. "This would potentially be as big a noise source as the vortex shedding from a blunt trailing edge, and the two might even couple to produce stronger unsteady loading and hence more sound," he explains.
I hope you found the vortices that swords can generate interesting! More posts on the science of swords will be coming soon.SCP-2630
Item #: SCP-2630
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2630 is currently contained in a vacuum-sealed chamber in Site-43's Euclid wing. Following Incident 219-Keynes, testing on SCP-2630 has been forbidden by Overseer order. SCP-2630 should never come into contact with animal products or live animals at any time.
Daily backups are to be made of SCP-2630's configuration. If any statistically anomalous stock market changes occur, SCP-2630 should be inspected for changes and its configuration reset.
Description: SCP-2630 is the designation for a computing complex built by Prometheus Paraeconomics in 1968 known as NOTUS (Necromantic Ontologically and Thaumically Unified Supercomputer). SCP-2630 occupies an approximate area of 3.5 x 5.0 x 3.0 meters (WxLxH) and weighs 370 kilograms. Prior to its acquisition in 2005 by the Foundation, Prometheus Paraeconomics used it to forecast changes to the stock market using its anomalous properties.
SCP-2630 consists of three main components – fifteen mechanical arms, a console controlling these arms and displaying readings from the third main component: namely, eighteen sets of intestines. Fifteen of these intestines are bovine rumens, while the rest are human large intestines. The bovine intestines are suspended by the mechanical arms, while the human large intestines appear to be interlaced into a rough framework around the rumens. These intestines do not appear to decay.
Foundation economists have shown that the state of the bovine rumens encodes the price of fifteen S&P 500 stocks approximately nineteen hours in the future, with each rumen corresponding to a different stock. The current working theory is that knots in the rumens correspond to the price of these stocks (for more information see Supplementary Document SCP-2630-03A). It is not currently known if the human intestines represent any meaningful information.
The mechanical arms update this information every five minutes – due to the regular manipulation of these intestines, it is currently believed that they possess anomalously high levels of tensile strength. The amount of force required to actually manipulate the entrails is grossly more than would be expected, meaning that any attempt to manipulate the configuration of the intestines typically requires use of the mechanical arms, which are capable of exerting a directed force of 9.3 meganewtons. The complex does not appear to possess any power source.
With the aid of documentation from the original inventors of SCP-2630, a rudimentary program was developed to test if a manipulation in the configuration of the intestines would result in a change to the stock price. The test was carried out successfully, demonstrating that the correlation between SCP-2630 and the state of each stock's price is two-way. Further information on the test and its results are contained in Print Archive Article 2011.MAR.11.108 - "CEO Of Reikia Software Dies In Tragic Golfing Accident".Holding Hope: On Being a 911 Operator
I’ve listened to a lot of people die, and take it from me, people don’t slip away quietly like they do on screen, with one last longing look and a soft sigh of disappointed resignation. There are, of course, some quiet deaths—dying in one’s sleep is something many of us hope for. But the body is built to fight, and even in the most exhausted of frames, it can kick up a racket on its way out. It’s not polite. It doesn’t ask permission. It rattles and gasps and wheezes like an accordion being run over by a tractor-trailer. It fights with the bouncer and hurls epithets over its shoulder as it’s carried out.
I’ve worked 911 for seventeen years as the first of the first responders. I’m the person who tells you how to do CPR when you see a guy drop in front of Starbucks, when no one else wants to help, when you can’t remember one single thing you learned in that class you took before you had your first kid.
I’ve heard so many people die that sometimes I can tell the person is dying before the caller does. That fish-gasp-snore sound (called agonal breathing) is the reason CPR is sometimes started too late to help.
“Ma’am,” I say. “He’s not getting enough oxygen. I’m going to tell you how to do CPR.”
“Oh, I can’t do that. He’s still breathing, can’t you hear that snoring? Just get here!”
But I can tell by the sound that he’s not snoring, he’s actually dying, and without immediate intervention he won’t make it. It’s up to me and only me to convince the eighty-year-old woman that she’s strong enough to pull her husband off the bed in order to get him on a flat surface (You can’t do compressions on a bed. Pull the sheet he’s lying on. Don’t worry about the fall is what I say. You can’t hurt a dead man is what I don’t say). It’s up to me to convince the seventeen-year-old girl to give mouth-to-mouth to a friend who’s overdosed, even when the caller is high as hell and doesn’t want to get anywhere near the stuff coming out of her friend’s mouth. It’s up to me to tell the mother how to cut down her son who’s hung himself with a rope made from his stepfather’s ties in case there’s still oxygen lingering in his blood. Speed. Now. The faster, the better. The more convincing I can be, the better chance the person has of being revived.
*
You answer the phone. You talk two hikers through giving CPR to a stranger on a hillside. Tell one how to pull the latitude and longitude off their iPhone because the call came in on the wrong line while coaching the other hiker not to stop compressions (tip: know how to find this location info on your phone). Get the helicopter ordered, help it land safely in the right place.
Finish your slice of pizza long gone cold. Fiddle with the crossword puzzle from the day before. Answer the next phone call. Don’t ask about the endings. HIPAA laws make it clear that unless you have a need to know, you have no right to know anyone else’s medical information. It can be frustrating to never know the endings. Unless you make the endings up yourself.
I started writing them down, fictional plots based on nothing but the conglomerate of grief I stored in the back of my mind—the endings I wrote to all my novels were hopeful, because hope was what I heard every day on the phones. The hope that I—that someone—could help before it was too late.
One novel’s inspiration came from talking to too many people with early-onset Alzheimer’s—they always know something’s wrong, but they can’t quite tell me what it might be. Sometimes they can’t remember their names or why they called 911. But they always hope I’ll be able to help. With something.
Another novel, The Ones Who Matter Most, was the result of listening to hundreds of women over the years entering miscarriage. “No, no, no, no. Not this, no.” The liturgy these women chant is millennia old. Don’t sit on the toilet, I tell them. Don’t cross your legs. They cling to my words, hoping that if they do what I say, they can change the ending.
Hope. I hold out hope.
Because without hope, we don’t go on. Hope is the only thing that lets us say goodbye to our loved ones in the mornings—the hope we’ll come back together later, safely.
Hope is the thing our brains hold without us having to try. Our bodies, even at the edge of death, still hope for oxygen, still try to grab at it. Hope is extravagant and senseless and often just plain ridiculous, and yet still it rises.
Once I took a call for a 103-year-old woman who stopped breathing while at a family birthday party. Her great-grandson did perfect CPR—I could hear the sound her chest made as he did compressions in exactly the right rhythm. All the while, he panted and muttered, “Come on, Grandma, you can make it. Come on, Grandma. You can do this.” Behind him, the whole family cheered them both on. I was listening to a house full of hope. A home full of love.
I don’t know if Grandma made it or not. I’m guessing she didn’t, but what a gift, to be 103 years old and your family’s still not ready to let you go.
*
I’ve just left the day job. It’s not like it’s a spur-of-the-moment thing. I’ve been working both 911 and writing, ninety hours a week, for ten years. I’ve published three literary novels, ten feminist romances, and one memoir, and this is what I’ve been working toward. I’m as ready for this leap as I’ll ever be.
It’s been almost two months of complete self-employment and I’m still twitching from adrenaline withdrawal, but not having to wear a pager to go to the bathroom is great. Actually sleeping at night—every night—is even better. So even though my hopeful dispatch manager has put me on the part-time roster just in case I feel like picking up some shifts, I think I’ve made the right choice in taking off my headset for good.
I spent seventeen years listening to what can go wrong, hearing stories of predictable losses and freak accidents. I had the two best jobs in the world: giving immediate, life-saving assistance, and then making up stories about what happened next (in all cases fictionalizing the stories completely to protect those affected, including in this essay). I knew that sometimes, while on 911, I helped someone save a life.
And then a couple of readers wrote to me, saying I’d saved their lives. That’s exactly as untrue as it would be if I took credit for actually restarting someone’s heart over the phone. In not one single case did I put my hands on a chest and push. There was always someone else following my directions—they did the life-saving. In the same way, I don’t believe my writing can actually save someone.
But in both those jobs, I played the same role: to be the holder of hope. On the phone, I was the placeholder, the voice the caller clutched while waiting for an actual hand. In my books, I’m also just a voice, something to cling to while a reader’s world slips sideways. And I’m hoping like hell I get it right. From now on I’m wearing no headset and leaving behind only black marks on a white page, holding the space for hope and the shaky breath that follows it.
*
(image via)
$ Donation Amount: Updating Amount... Like this article? Tip The Toast! Select Payment Method PayPal Loading... Personal Info First Name * Last Name Email Address * Donation Total: $1.00Ripple has recently partnered with 61 banks in Japan and 2 in Korea to trial their new Ripple payment system. The XRP cryptocurrency was not utilised during this trial though. This has led people to believe that banks are only interested in the payment system, and not in XRP. This is not the case; XRP has the potential to significantly reduce international transfer fees for banks, and will likely be adopted after the payment system is fully operational. Not only do banks have an incentive to adopt XRP, they also want to increase its value. To see why the banks will want to use XRP, we’re going to look at the current cross-border payment process, how it will be changed with the implementation of the Ripple payment system, and what difference the XRP cryptocurrency can make.
The Current System
The current system for sending funds across borders is a large expense for banks worldwide. These costs come mainly from trapped liquidity, transaction errors, account management overheads, foreign currency exchange, and currency hedging – to the tune of billions annually. A lot of these expenses are due to the complicated route that money currently follows when being transferred internationally. An example of a typical cross-border payment is shown below.
In this scenario, the payment has to travel through multiple steps, each of which adds time, fees, and introduces errors. A typical payment takes 3-5 days to process, meaning that banks require 3-5 days worth of funds to be tied up at all times. When these funds are tied up, they are costing the banks money. On top of this, more than 12.7% of transactions can have errors, requiring more staff to deal with and further increasing the overhead of the banks.
The most significant payment-related cost for banks however is account management fees. For banks to facilitate international transfers, they need to pre-fund bank accounts around the world with all types of foreign currencies. This is so they can send, receive, and store whatever currencies they’re working with. As you can imagine, all of these accounts have associated fees and require staff to operate them, leading to massive operating expenses.
Introducing the Ripple Payment System
The Ripple payment system reduces international transfer fees for banks by addressing trapped liquidity and transaction errors. With the Ripple payment system, transactions are settled quickly and without error. A payment sent using this system will be settled in only four seconds. This cuts the payment processing times down by two whole days, greatly reducing the amount of funds that need to be locked up. This improvement alone reduces liquidity related costs by 65% over the traditional system. The elimination of transaction errors also reduces payment-related overheads by 48%.
Together, these improvements are estimated to save $18 billion in international payment costs each year – a 33% reduction from the current system. With only the payment system though, banks are still required to fund and manage many international accounts using different currencies. That’s where XRP comes in.
Using XRP with the Ripple Payment System
By using XRP alongside the Ripple payment system, liquidity fees and account management fees can be almost entirely eliminated. In this scenario, XRP would act as a bridge between every currency. When you want to send a payment, you would buy XRP with your local currency, send the XRP, and the recipient would exchange it for their local currency. Just like that, an international payment would be complete in only four seconds with minimal overheads. As payments would be nearly instant, liquidity related expenses are virtually 0 – a reduction of 99% from the current system.
The major advantage of this for banks is that they would no longer have to manage multiple foreign bank accounts for the purpose of sending and receiving different currencies; Account management fees would be slashed by 74%.
Even when you account for the fact that XRP is currently a volatile currency, overall savings of 44% from the current payment process are still anticipated. Compared to the 33% savings from the Ripple only system, and considering that there would be no associated setup costs, there is no reason for banks not to adopt XRP. It’s actually the opposite; banks are incentivized to adopt XRP and increase its liquidity and value, as this will decrease the volatility of the currency. By decreasing the volatility of the currency, banks can further increase the savings to a 60% reduction – a total of $33 billion annually. Ripple even offers an incentive program to early adopters of XRP, further sweetening the deal. The potential savings in each case are demonstrated below.
Basically it boils down to this: adopting the Ripple payment system saves banks money and adopting XRP doubles the savings. Banks love money, so it is almost guaranteed that they will adopt XRP. When they begin using XRP, they will want to increase the stability of the coin by investing massive amounts of money into it. Therefore, not only will XRP get adopted by banks, the price is going to skyrocket! If you haven’t got your Ripple cryptocurrency yet, take a look at the step-by-step Ripple purchasing guide for new investors.New York Times endorses Barack Obama
Americas, Fri, 24 Oct 2008 IANS
Washington, Oct 24 (IANS) The influential New York Times Friday became the fourth mainstream American daily to endorse Barack Obama, saying he 'has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.'
'The nation's problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing 'robo-calls' and negative ads,' it said in an editorial Friday. 'This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.'
The New York Times endorsement of Obama comes just a week after three other leading newspapers-the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times-backed the Democratic nominee over his Republican rival John McCain.
The largest daily in Obama's hometown, the Tribune had not backed a Democrat in its 161-year history, while the Los Angeles Times had not endorsed a presidential candidate since 1972, when it backed President Richard M. Nixon's re-election.
So far 39 other regional newspapers with 3.5 million readers have backed Obama. McCain, who is lagging in the polls behind Obama, has received endorsements from 15 newspapers with 1.5 million readership, according to the industry magazine Editor and Publisher.
The New York Times said the US is battered and drifting after eight years of President George Bush's failed leadership.
But 'as tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy,' it said suggesting 'Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change.
'He has shown a cool head and sound judgment.' The Times said it believed Obama 'has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation's problems.'
On the other hand, McCain 'has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism.' It said.
'His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress,' the Times said.
'McCain's long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin more irresponsible,' it said.
'Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues,' the influential daily said. 'His choice of Senator Joseph Biden - who has deep foreign-policy expertise - as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment.'
Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, strongly support Israel and talk about repairing America's image in the world, it said. 'But it seems clear to us that Obama is far more likely to do that - and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world,' the Times said.
Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran's nuclear weapons programme, it said.
'But Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions,' the Times said suggesting 'McCain's willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.'Glass vial containing jojoba oil
Jojoba oil () is the liquid produced in the seed of the Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba) plant, a shrub, which is native to southern Arizona, southern California, and northwestern Mexico. The oil makes up approximately 50% of the jojoba seed by weight.[1] The terms "jojoba oil" and "jojoba wax" are often used interchangeably because the wax visually appears to be a mobile oil, but as a wax it is composed almost entirely (~97%) of mono-esters of long-chain fatty acids and alcohols, accompanied by only a tiny fraction of triglyceride esters. This composition accounts for its extreme shelf-life stability and extraordinary resistance to high temperatures, compared with true vegetable oils.
History [ edit ]
Native Americans extracted the oil from jojoba seeds to treat sores and wounds. The collection and processing of the seed from naturally occurring stands marked the beginning of jojoba domestication in the early 1970s.[2]
In 1943, natural resources of the U.S, including jojoba oil, were used during war as additives to motor oil, transmission oil and differential gear oil. Machine guns were lubricated and maintained with jojoba.[3]
Appearance [ edit ]
Unrefined jojoba oil appears as a clear golden liquid at room temperature with a slightly nutty odor. Refined jojoba oil is colorless and odorless. The melting point of jojoba oil is approximately 10 °C[4] and the iodine value is approximately 80.[5] Jojoba oil is relatively shelf-stable when compared with other vegetable oils mainly because it contains few triglycerides, unlike most other vegetable oils such as grape seed oil and coconut oil.[6] It has an oxidative stability index of approximately 60,[7] which means that it is more shelf-stable than safflower oil, canola oil, almond oil or squalene but less than castor oil and coconut oil.
Chemistry [ edit ]
Fatty acids present in jojoba oil[11]
The fatty acid content of Jojoba oil can vary significantly depending on the soil and climate in which the plant is grown, as well as when it is harvested and how the oil is processed. In general it contains a high proportion of mono-unsaturated fatty acids, primarily 11-Eicosenoic acid (Gondoic acid).
Uses [ edit ]
Being derived from a plant that is slow growing and difficult to cultivate, jojoba oil is mainly used for small-scale applications such as pharmaceutical and cosmetics.[12] Overall, it is used as a replacement for whale oil and its derivatives, such as cetyl alcohol. The ban on importing whale oil to the U.S. in 1971 led to the discovery that jojoba oil is "in many regards superior to sperm whale oil for applications in the cosmetics and other industries".[1]
Jojoba oil is found as an additive in many cosmetic products, especially those marketed as being made from natural ingredients. In particular, such products commonly containing jojoba are lotions and moisturizers, hair shampoos and conditioners. The pure oil itself may also be used on skin, hair, or cuticles.[13][14]
Like olestra, jojoba oil is edible but non-caloric and non-digestible, meaning the oil will pass out of the intestines unchanged and can mimic steatorrhea - a health condition characterized by the inability to digest or absorb normal dietary fats. Thus, this indigestible oil is present in the stool but does not indicate an intestinal disease. If consumption of Jojoba oil is discontinued in a healthy person, the indigestible oil in the stool will disappear. Jojoba oil also contains approximately 12.1% of the fatty acid erucic acid that would appear to have toxic effects on the heart at high enough doses (were it digestible).[15]
Although impractical, jojoba biodiesel has been explored as a sustainable fuel that can serve as a substitute for petroleum diesel.[16]
See also [ edit ]
Photo gallery [ edit ]
Plant
Female flower
Male flower
Fruits
SeedStores selling Muslims veils (niqabs) in Germany have been directly linked with local Salafis and radicals; in addition, there is a store in the capital Berlin which openly sells Daesh paraphernalia, Dr. Abdel-Hakim Ourghi, an expert on Islam, told Sputnik.
In an interview with Sputnik, Dr. Abdel-Hakim Ourghi mentioned a number of German cities which he said sell Muslims veils (niqabs) and which have direct ties to local Salafis and radicals. What's more, he said, there is a store in Berlin which openly sells Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State) paraphernalia.
Such stores are located all across Germany, including in Frankfurt, Mainz, Wuppertal, Berlin and Bremen. The exact number of stores has yet to be revealed, but it will almost certainly increase in the near future, according to Ourghi.
He said that these stores sell not only clothes designed to completely cover women's faces and bodies, but also special clothing for men and boys which symbolizes membership in the Sal |
of the time the procedural gameplay and the audio that’s being generated is unique, but it’s also reminiscent of the album in a really strange way where the human brain understands that it’s listening to those components, even though they don’t quite happen in the same way. And we didn’t think about that before doing this, but it’s very interesting.
- - -
It isn’t Philip Glass’s brain in the game making music. There are controls in there.
- - -
Is it quite scary surrendering your work to a system where you no longer have any control over it? It’s sort of at the mercy of the player.
No, it’s not scary. It’s really exciting. Firstly, we have the record and we had creative control over that, but we’re not particularly that precious about the audio itself in game. We just wanted it to be as compelling as it could be and to some extent, you’re working within the constraints of what the software can actually do, and that was Paul Weir’s responsibility and we could only work with what we had. We just had to make sure that the raw audio that went in there was as interesting and as emotional as possible.
It is nice to know that all those individual elements come together in the game and work and that was very scary initially. I suppose it is conceivable that the game will spit out iterations of music that aren’t particularly good, but we’ve done everything we can to sort of avoid that. I mean, it’s not Skynet. It isn’t sentient. It isn’t Philip Glass’s brain in the game making music. There are controls in there. It’s part of a conversation about procedural music and I think that, in a year or two years or ten years, someone’s gonna come up with something that is even more procedural.
And you’re taking the album on tour later this year?
Yes! We won’t be playing all of it in the Autumn. We’ll be playing the new record. Some of the soundscape stuff is playable live. Some of it isn’t. Some of it’s more studio-based stuff. The first half of the record is clearly full 65 stuff and translates really well to being played live. We’ve got a large back catalogue to represent as well, but certainly the big tunes on there will be out there live. We are talking about doing something more purely No Man’s Sky- based live in the spring, which might involve some more visuals doing more procedural abstract stuff live, but we’re just trying to figure out a way to make that really interesting. So the Autumn tour will have the new stuff there, but it will be a more regular 65 show.
It’ll be interesting to see what the audience demographic will be there and to see fans turning up who’ve hopefully discovered you through the game.
Man, honestly, that would be the greatest thing that could come from this whole thing. Obviously, being involved with the game and getting to go through that creative process has been amazing, but if a couple of hundred extra people turned up, it would be so, so good for us. So I hope the people playing the game want to hear the music in that way.
- - -
- - -
Words: Paul Weedon
'No Man’s Sky: Music For An Infinite Universe' is available to purchase digitally and on CD from Laced Records now and will be released on vinyl later this year.
No Man’s Sky is available on PlayStation 4 from August 10th and PC from August 12th.UPDATE: Hamilton Police have made a series of arrests in this case.
Suspect photos have been removed from The Public Record as required by Section 110 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act as the accused is 16 years of age. See our editors note for our reasons for removal.
Hamilton Police are warning the public of an “armed and dangerous” suspect who robbed an Ancaster woman in her 80s and forced her to drive him at gunpoint Thursday afternoon.
Hamilton Police Staff Sergeant Chris Hasting says around 3:45pm, the victim entered her vehicle at the Best Buy on Golf Links Road in Ancaster. The suspect was seated in the back seat.
“He immediately pointed a gun into her side and demanded that she drive him around. He rummaged through her purse and made her withdrawal a quantity of cash from an ATM. At one point, he forced the victim into the passenger seat and drove her around the city while keeping her at gun point.”
S/Sgt Hasting says the suspect forced the victim to drive to the Kenilworth Access into the lower city before, after over an hour of holding the victim at gunpoint, the suspect exited the vehicle at the intersection of Rebecca Street and Mary Street in Downtown Hamilton. The Central Hamilton Police Station is located on the southeast block of Rebecca and Mary.
The suspect was next seen around 6:00pm in the area Eastgate Square in East Hamilton / Stoney Creek.
The suspect is described as: male, light coloured skin, 17 years old, soul patch on his chin, 5’7″, wearing white runners and a red and black two tone hoodie, slim fitting jogging pants.
Hamilton Police say he attempted an armed robbery of another individual 15 minutes prior to carjacking this victim, “but the suspect was unsuccessful”.
Hamilton Police released four photos of the suspect, and are asking anyone with information to contact the Mountain division detective office at 905-546-4930. To provide information anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit your anonymous tips online at http://www.crimestoppershamilton.com
Here’s the original Hamilton Police press release issued at 1:41am Friday morning:
https://www.thepublicrecord.ca/static/docs/MEDIA-RELEASE-Robbery-April-13.pdfORLANDO, Fla. - The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Magic Kingdom has been reopened after a man was injured on the ride on Thursday morning.
[RECOMMENDED: 'Crazy' cat traps couple inside home | Viral video shows beach theft]
Bo Jones of the Reedy Creek Fire Department said the victim was an adult male from the United Kingdom who lost the tip of his ring and pinky finger on his right hand.
The victim was taken to a local hospital.
Disney officials said the ride was checked and confirmed safe.
Officials are still going over incident reports and said they it's not clear how the man's fingers were injured.
[SEE THESE? Worst tattoos ever | Fashionable felons | Cops: Foster mom left boy in hot car]
Check back for more on this story.
Copyright 2014 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Many Royals rumors suggest the team is trying to upgrade the offense. Wily Mo Pena could be a cheap solution for the Kansas City Royals need for a right-handed power bat.
The soon-to-be 33 year old Pena has not played in the major leagues since 2011. The first baseman and designated hitter Pena has spent the last 3 seasons in Japan where he has both become a feared power hitter and has reduced his strikeouts. He even played 30 games in the outfield.
In three Japanese seasons, Pena has hit a solid.262/.339/.464 with 54 home runs despite missing most of 2013 with an injury. Pena indicated he is seeking a major league deal, and the Twins are said to be interested according to Pioneer Press (St. Paul) writer Mike Berardino.
Wily Mo Pena, slugging 1B-OF, has been declared an international free agent after ending talks w/Orix club in Japan, source says. — Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) November 22, 2014
Pena hit.255/.355/.486 with 32 home runs for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan in 2014. He has also reduced his strikeouts to 124 in 572 plate appearances to go with 59 walks.
Clearly, Pena’s walk and strikeout rates have improved from his major-league rates of 6.0% and 30.3%.
Pena’s best major league season came with the Reds in 2006, when he hit.259/.319/.527 with 26 home runs in only 364 plate appearances. However, Pena’s lack of plate discipline and high strikeout rates limited him even in the high run scoring environment of the last decade.
While Pena is not going to be Kansas City’s first choice to upgrade their offense, he could be a cheap solution if general manager Dayton Moore decides to indulge in an expensive pitching solution, or stretch his free-agent dollars to add an extra offensive lottery ticket in Pena after also adding an outfield bat.
The Royals interest will largely depend on Pena’s asking price and their other, higher priority signings. Pena, however, could be useful in the current power-starved environment in major-league baseball.Arch Linux is highly respected throughout the Linux community as a cutting edge, well designed, rolling-release Linux distro with superb documentation. But at the same time, it is also discarded as a non-option by many Linux users, including experienced ones, for being time consuming to install and configure. I fall into this latter group. So, what’s a self-respecting Linux user supposed to do if (s)he wants to run Arch Linux but doesn’t want to a dedicate a whole weekend to it? Enter Manjaro, a Linux distro based on Arch. It is important to note that Manjaro is not just a re-branded Arch spin. In fact, it’s not truly an Arch system, and it does not use the Arch binary package repositories. But it’s dependent on Arch and it supposedly maintains all of the desirable features of Arch, while at the same time trying to mitigate or solve some of Arch’s less than desirable traits. We will now proceed to examine Manjaro from quite a few different angles to see if it reaches its goal. I have installed the Cinnamon spin of Manjaro version 0.8.8 on a new Lenovo Thinkpad T530 laptop, and a very old Dell B130 laptop, and have been using Manjaro as my daily driver since October of 2013. I also installed an 0.8.9 preview version of the next Manjaro Cinnamon edition on an older Acer 4810T laptop. Most of the screenshots in this review show the new look featured in the 0.8.9 version of Manjaro Cinnamon.
Installation
★★★☆ (Weight: 5%)
One of the most common complaints about Arch, be it founded or not, is that it requires much more technical knowledge and manual configuration to install. So logically, Manjaro tries to impress by offering an installation process that is considerably more streamlined and automated than that of Arch. All the different spins of Manjaro come as live images which, depending on their size, can be burned to a CD or DVD or else written to a USB stick. This allows the potential Manjaro user to first try out the system without risk and then later install the system if desired, using one of the two included installer programs. The CLI installer runs in a terminal window, and is still labelled as “stable” compared to the graphical installer, which is still in beta at the time of this writing. The CLI installer is plenty easy to use as far as ncurses-based installers go, and is a good fallback option that I have successfully used on some systems. But I would recommend trying the pretty new graphical installer first. It’s named Thus, and here’s what the first screen looks like:
(Click to see all the different steps of the installer)
The installer begins by offering its interface in an impressive array of languages, which feels very inviting. The next step is a locale selection. This is followed by timezone selection, aided by a nice point-n-click map. Next comes keyboard layout selection. Then comes the partitioning options step. The default option of “Erase disc and install Manjaro (automatic)” comes with a warning: “This will delete all data on your disc”, and does not seem like a very wise default choice. If this default option is desired, it offers checkboxes for optionally enabling disc encryption, LVM schemes, and a separate /home partition. The other major installation choice, which apparently does not offer the above optional perks, takes the user to a manual partitioner in “Advanced installation mode”. The partitioner is easy to use, and I have no complaints about it. It offers a wide selection of filesystem choices for formatting the partitions, including Btrfs, although I chose EXT4 on all of my systems. Changes to the partition scheme are committed by the “Install now!” button, but not before a final window appears for confirming the changes about to be made. I applaud the developers for including this final summary step. If the user again approves the changes, the installer uses a clever trick of installing the system in the background while simultaneously allowing the user to configure the username and password. This includes an optional checkbox to “Use a root password”. I’m not too clear on what this option does. I was hoping that it would allow choosing between an active root user account with a password or else an Ubuntu-style disabled root login with all administration done via sudo in the first user account. However, I left the box unchecked and yet still later found the root account to be active with the password I had set for my main non-root user. So this one needs some additional explaining. This step of the installation also allows the option to log in automatically to the user account being created, but by default it requires the password, which is a wise default. The next step shows a simple slideshow of Manjaro features while the rest of the system is copied to the target partition. The whole process took less than 10 minutes on all of my systems, despite their relatively slow spinning hard disks.
On the new T530, which is dual-booting with Windows 8, neither the graphical nor the CLI installer could manage to install a bootable system with a working GRUB boot loader that can boot between Manjaro and Windows 8. So I simply took the easy way out and disabled Safe Boot and installed Manjaro in legacy boot mode. On the extremely rare occasion that I need to boot into Windows, I can just re-enable Safe Boot in the BIOS and it will only be able to boot Windows 8. Then I re-enable legacy boot to get back into Manjaro. But users needing to frequently switch between Windows 8 and Manjaro might still need to wait for future iterations of the CLI and/or graphical installers. The developers do have Safe Boot-compatible installation as a priority for the installer, so it will probably start working sooner rather than later.
In reality, a good rolling-release distro like Manjaro should not require another re-install, so the installation program will soon be forgotten by the user and will possibly never again be re-visited. But all the efforts to make Manjaro easily installable are very much appreciated, and greatly lower the entry bar to get into a system with all of the purported benefits of Arch Linux. So let’s give Manjaro 3 out of 4 stars in this category.
Aesthetics
★★☆☆ (Weight: 5%)
The default appearance of a given Linux distro is by no means the most important grading criteria, which is why this category’s grade only weighs into the final rating at 5%. Nevertheless, first impressions are extremely important, and can sometimes be the factor that motivates an inexperienced user to keep or abandon the entire distro after a superficial period of brief testing. So how does Manjaro present itself to potential users? Basically, I would say that it’s nothing to write home about, and the overall appearance is neither strikingly beautiful nor noticeably ugly. Here’s what users will see at first boot:
I don’t like black elements in the interface, so I quickly changed the window border theme and the Cinnamon desktop theme to something lighter. Likewise, I don’t particularly like the GTK3 theme, which eschews up/down arrows on the scrollbars in favor of a more modern but less practical look. But these tendencies seem to be pretty much the norm in most Linux distros these days, and I am considerably more traditionalist than most users. So I don’t fault Manjaro too much for its choice of themes. The wallpaper is similarly inoffensive albeit drab, and there’s only one other available wallpaper included to choose from. But with some configuration, I made it look much more pleasant to my eyes:
Something else worth noting is the lack of Plymouth or any other bootsplash system by default. Arch Linux and Manjaro users alike will probably hate me for saying this, but I do like a nice smooth splash screen during the boot process, and Manjaro is in the minority of distros that don’t include one by default. I miss the option that used to be present in some of the older versions of the Manjaro graphical installer, which offered a checkbox to enable Plymouth on the installed system.
Font rendering is probably the most important and difficult to change aspect of a Linux distro’s aesthetics. As a heavy computer user, I expect the fonts that I stare at day in and day out to be nothing short of superb. Ubuntu has always been the standard for beautiful fonts with perfect subpixel hinting for LCD screens by default, straight out of the gate. Some other popular Linux distros still have awful font rendering, especially in terms of subpixel hinting, and achieving the same font quality as Ubuntu is a protracted and unintuitive process. Fortunately, this is not the case with Manjaro. While I don’t like the default choice of Sans fonts, simply switching all the fonts to the DejaVu Sans font family gives very pleasing results on my LCD screens, with good subpixel hinting. It doesn’t appear to be quite the same stellar font rendering configuration that Ubuntu uses, but it is still very good to my eyes.
So, Manjaro is not to be chosen just for its looks, nor should it be avoided by the same token. Let’s give it 2 out of 4 stars for this category.
Refinement and Default Configuration
★★★☆ (Weight: 15%)
After using a computer for many hours on end, day after day, week after week, the little details can either make or break the experience. Manjaro does pretty well in this sense, at least in the version that I chose. The Cinnamon desktop environment is smooth, traditional, and generally stays out of my way. It allows popup notifications to be turned on or off, and the notifications tray applet can be removed. I personally find unread notifications that stack up in a queue hidden in an applet in the system tray to be extremely distracting and useless, so I always remove the notifications applet from Cinnamon, and the resulting notifications behavior is just the way I like it. Cinnamon offers a very nice coverflow Alt+Tab animation that shows the different windows in a useful 3D arc. The default Cinnamon menu is simple and clean and features a good search mechanism for programs and recent documents. It also has an applet in its applet repository that allows individual programs’ output volume to be controlled via the Pulse sound system with a tray volume control applet, which also doubles for music player controls. The Nemo file manager has basic right-click conveniences such as opening a terminal to a directory, opening directories as root, and compressing/uncompressing items. However, I do miss an option to open files for editing as root. Nemo also has nice right-click options for copying or moving files and directories to another location. Thumbnail previews work well out of the box for both picture and movie files. One major annoyance is that some directories do not allow re-sizing of the columns, resulting in truncated filenames. This seems to mainly be the case for directories on top of GVFS and files in the Trash bin. Speaking of GVFS, it wasn’t installed out of the box, so no Samba browsing was possible until I installed the gvfs-smb package. Likewise, I had to install and configure the nss-mdns package and enable the avahi-daemon in order to connect to my wireless printer that is shared over the network. There was also no PDF viewer installed by default. Apart from this omission, the default program selection is fairly limited, which I don’t necessarily consider to be a defect. I do like the fact that VLC and Flash and Java are included out of the box, as well as the Firefox browser for immediately getting online and using multimedia, even when using the live system. Likewise, practically every Linux user will need an office suite, and Manjaro offers the real McCoy— LibreOffice Writer and Calc are installed by default. These seem to be the most important programs that almost every user will need, and any other needs can be easily installed via the package manager, discussed later.
Well done here, Manjaro. Although exhibiting a few papercuts here and there, the overall system with Cinnamon on top is refined and productive out of the box. It gets 3 out of 4 stars for this important criterion.
Stability
★★★★ (Weight: 20%)
Manjaro is remarkably stable, which is especially noteworthy given its rolling-release nature. During general usage, I have not experienced any Xorg server crashes or kernel panics, and indeed most of the user applications have been very well behaved during the past months of using Manjaro. Additionally, stability continues to be excellent even after several dozens of suspend/resume cycles. But stability isn’t always so easy to maintain after upgrading packages to newer versions. Fortunately, Manjaro’s three stage Unstable/Testing/Stable package testing process offers additional protection from bugs that might creep into the Arch packages that Manjaro it is based on, and the additional effort appears to be paying off. In addition to avoiding bugs in programs, it also reduces the likelihood of an update resulting in package dependency issues. This is a huge advantage for Manjaro in an extremely important criterion, and it gets a full 4 out of 4 stars on this one.
Performance and Resource Usage
★★★☆ (Weight: 20%)
Manjaro is reasonably efficient and well performing. Tribute to this fact is paid by my 8 year old Dell B130 laptop with a slow Celeron M processor, a slow spinning hard disk and 1 GB of slow RAM. First of all, I disabled unessential Cinnamon session startup items such as the Pamac system updater applet, Caribou, and the Manjaro Settings Manager. Now, despite the age and limitations of this old laptop, 32-bit Manjaro boots to the MDM login window in about 25 seconds, and it runs the Cinnamon desktop environment smoothly, using less than 170 MB of RAM with no swap. Firefox cold launches in about 6 seconds the first time and 3 seconds after that. Surprisingly, Youtube Flash videos play back smoothly at 480P fullscreen. LibreOffice Writer cold launches in less than 9 seconds and only about 2 seconds on subsequent launches, still without touching the swap space. The Nemo file manager launches in about one and a half seconds. Shutdown also is quick for an old system, at well under 10 seconds.
On my less old Acer 4810T, the 64-bit version of Manjaro takes a bit longer to boot, at around 26 seconds, which is still pretty good. RAM usage is also acceptable, at about 280 MB of RAM when logged into a basic Cinnamon session with unessential startup items disabled. Finally on the T530, the 64-bit version of Manjaro only takes about 18 seconds to boot to the login window, and shutdown usually takes less than 5 seconds.
On all of my systems, CPU usage is generally quiet, and fan speed is minimal on the two newer systems. The default installed system uses around 3.7 G of disk space on a 64-bit system. So Manjaro seems to be a good choice for both new and old systems.
The only noticeable slowness appeared when I configured a Plymouth bootsplash screen. For some reason, enabling Plymouth drastically increases boot time on all three of my laptops. For example, on the old, slow Dell, boot time increased from 25 seconds to 40 seconds with Plymouth. While this might appear to be simply a side effect of adding Plymouth to a very slow, old system, it is noteworthy that Ubuntu 13.04 with its default Plymouth bootsplash booted in a cool 28 seconds on this very same ancient machine. So something about Plymouth doesn’t get along with Manjaro’s init system, and I would really like to see some kind of fix for this.
Overall, Manjaro seems to be a good choice for both new and old systems, and it deserves a very respectable 3 out of 4 star rating for performance and resource usage.
Ease of Use, Configuration Utilities, and Hardware Auto-detection
★★☆☆ (Weight: 10%)
After the installation process, this criterion is probably the most interesting for users wanting to use Arch but tending toward Manjaro because of its purported ease of use. Overall, I think Manjaro is making admirable progress toward its goal, but still has some work to do. In terms of hardware support, practically any Linux distro can support more or less the same hardware components by virtue of the kernel and its drivers that can be made to work with any distribution. Likewise, all of the essential GNU utilities and services can also be configured to work with any GNU/Linux system. However, the amount of time and research that it takes to do so varies greatly depending on the utilities provides by the Linux distro. Arch Linux strongly promotes a manual approach toward system configuration, insisting on research and learning the technical underpinnings of the system and manually tailoring everything to perform the exact tasks and support the exact hardware that are required. I personally do not want to spend that much time and effort to get a working system, and even less so if I am helping somebody else to install and configure their system. So I applaud Manjaro’s pragmatic approach toward easy and automatic configuration of the base system. The live system booted and automatically configured all the hardware on my three laptops. This includes the old, proprietary Broadcom WiFI driver for my old Dell B130, which was hardly ever supported out of the box on Linux distros of yesteryear. Similarly, my other two laptops with Intel wireless also connected to the network immediately without anything more than my wireless network passphrase. All of my laptops use Intel graphics, which usually works flawlessly on pretty much any Linux distro. However, users on other distros with Nvidia or AMD graphics usually have to suffer through a considerably more complex process to install proprietary drivers, and their hassles usually re-appear on every kernel upgrade. I have never tried it, but most Manjaro users with more complex proprietary driver needs seem to be happy with Manjaro’s MHWD hardware configuration tool, which features a nice new GUI as of Manjaro 0.8.8:
Manjaro also worked well with the special function keys for multimedia controls and suspending the system on all of my laptops. The touchpads all worked well, and a simple option in the Cinnamon settings allows two finger scrolling with the touchpad. Manjaro also has a few other custom created GUI system configuration tools in the Manjaro Settings Manager:
One of the important tools that I greatly appreciate is the “Language” tool for selecting additional languages that will be used on the system:
This is a huge boon for users that type in more than one language, or for systems that are used by different users that don’t speak the same language. Simply selecting additional locales with the “Language” tool will make the system prompt you to install the language packs for those new locales, thus enabling spellcheck support for the different languages on different spellchecker systems that various programs use:
This even makes it easy to select a language from the login screen and login to a fully translated desktop environment with all of the programs localized in the user’s native language. My only suggestion for the locale tools would be to combine them into just one tool with tabs, one tab for selecting the desired locales and another one for installing the language-related packages for those locales. As it is, the “Language Packages” tool comes before the “Language” tool in the Manjaro Settings Manager, which suggests that one should be used before the other. However, in reality, the “Language” tool needs to be used first to select locales before the “Language Packages” tool will be able to actually install the related language packages. But at any rate, it’s great to see that non-English languages are welcomed and supported on Manjaro, making it much more appealing to potential users around the world.
There is also a simple tool for adding and administering Linux user accounts, which is not needed on advanced desktop environments like Cinnamon that already include their own user management tools, but it is very nice to have on lightweight Manjaro systems running something like Openbox or LXDE that don’t offer their own user management GUI.
Manjaro has made great progress on GUI configuration tools and general ease of use, and is remarkably easier than Arch in this sense. However, I think it still has a ways to go before it can compare to the depth of functionality offered by a few exceptionally powerful administration tools such as YaST on openSUSE or MCC on Mageia. Those tools offer desktop-agnostic GUI tools for configuring everything from the GRUB bootloader, system service startup, wired and wireless network, Windows domain authentication, NSS mounts, firewall, security frameworks, hostname, printers, and a whole lot more. YaST even works in console ncurses mode, so the system can be easily configured and repaired from the console in the case of a broken Xorg server. So we’ll give Manjaro 2 out of 4 stars for this category, and let’s hope that it keeps making good progress toward developing easy system administration tools.
Package Management, Package Selection, and Update Lifecycle
★★★★ (Weight: 20%)
A good package manager is an essential feature of a successful Linux distro. This goes hand in hand with good testing of package updates. Although a Linux system might work well after the initial install, as time goes on and updates are installed and new software is added or removed it can turn into a cluttered mess of broken packages and failed dependencies. This often occurs when the user wants new or updated versions of some pieces of software and adds many different package repositories from different sources, some of which might contain conflicting versions of packages or later become unavailable. Or, updating from one major version of a Linux distro to the next sometimes results in a broken system that is best fixed by just reinstalling from scratch. Fortunately, Arch Linux goes a long way toward remedying this problem, and Manjaro improves upon it even further.
A core tool of Manjaro is pacman from Arch Linux. It is a smart and fast package manager with a plethora of options that I won’t discuss here. As far as command line package managers go, it’s relatively easy to use, although its commands are somewhat more cryptic than something like yum or even apt-get. I personally find pacman to be fast and easy for just installing a quick package here and there if I already know the name. I also find it useful and easy for updating the system. But I don’t like using it for browsing available packages or searching for them. Manjaro developers recognize that a simple GUI packager is an important requirement for many desktop Linux users, and they actually offer two options: Pamac and Octopi. Of the two, I strongly prefer Octopi. Unlike Pamac, Octopi does not automatically refresh the package database every time it is launched. I refresh my package databases regularly and I stay informed on Manjaro updates, so I don’t need my package manager to go through the time consuming process of checking for updates every time I open it. I like the way that Octopi clearly presents the number of outdated packages along the bottom:
Clicking on the outdated packages warning brings up a list of packages for which updates are available:
Normally when a new Manjaro update pack is released, there will be hundreds of packages in this list to be updated. These packages can be updated all at once with Octopi to keep the system up to date. Octopi also does a good job of informing the user of dependencies that will be installed along with selected new packages to be installed:
More important still, Octopi also un-installs unneeded dependencies when removing the parent package that previously required them:
Octopi also does a very nice job of interfacing with one of the most enviable features of Arch Linux: the Arch User Repository. The AUR is a truly unique collection of recipes for automatically downloading, optionally compiling, packaging, and installing an astonishingly wide variety of practically any software that is not officially available in the Arch (or in this case, Manjaro) repositories. It’s probably the single most important feature that attracts new users to the Arch ecosystem. In my case, while using other distros I would frequently be searching Google for some obscure new software package for Linux, and I consistently ran across results in the AUR. So the AUR is a tremendously strong selling point for Arch Linux, and Manjaro was wise to include support for it in their package managers. Octopi clearly shows a button that reports the number of outdated packages from the AUR, and they can be easily updated individually or in a batch:
Arch Linux is probably the most famous and well executed rolling-release style Linux distribution. A rolling-release system is designed to be constantly updated, usually implying a constant stream of small daily updates to different installed packages. This contrasts sharply with the interval-release system of most popular Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Mint, Fedora, openSUSE, and many others. These aforementioned distributions have relatively long development periods, usually lasting months, which eventually culminate in a “stable” released product. From then on, during the entire support lifecycle of that release the developers usually only release bug fix and security updates to the software packages in their stable package repositories. Updates to programs that include new features are usually not made available so as to avoid introducing instability into the released product. This means that users often can not install the latest versions of new packages that offer essential new features or changes that they have been waiting for, and therefore users must wait for a relatively long time, sometimes 6 months or more, until the next stable version of the distribution is ready to offer the updated software in question. As a partial solution to this problem, some interval-release distros offer additional repositories that provide updates for some specific software titles as they become available during the supported lifecycle of the distribution release. These additional repositories can be optionally added, and they take precedence over the main stable repositories and cause the package manager to install newer versions of a specific software title. I personally do not favor this approach for several reasons. First of all, add-on repositories are often only available for popular software titles, whereas more obscure pieces of software are often not worth the trouble of creating a dedicated update repository. Second, these add-on repositories sometimes conflict with the package versions in the stable repository or with other add-on repositories. Third, the add-on software repositories occasionally stop working, which results in failed system updates or broken package dependencies. Additionally, the add-on repositories are usually not part of the primary infrastructure of the distribution project, and are often hosted on just one or two different servers with no other mirror servers. This can result in occasionally overloaded servers and poor package download speeds. Finally, I find it to be a rather long and protracted process to search around for packages, first in the main stable repos, then in the add-on repositories, then to add new package sources to the system, refresh the package database, and finally install the desired piece of software. Arch Linux with its rolling-release distribution design offers a refreshing change from the aforementioned system. Unlike an interval-release system, Arch receives a constant stream of updates, and new versions of most software titles appear almost immediately in the Arch repositories whenever the developer releases it. This means that at any given moment the user can update the entire Arch system to all the latest stable package versions and effectively be running the latest release of Arch. So in theory, an Arch system can be installed just once and then roll along with frequent system upgrades without ever being re-installed again. While it is true that there are other rolling-release distributions such as Debian Unstable and Testing, they usually do not exhibit the same degree of excellence as the system that Arch has designed. For example, Debian Unstable, as its name suggests, is not intended to offer a stable system to its users. Instead, the Unstable branch is the first step in testing and debugging the next future stable Debian release. Although many users have had varying degrees of success at running a stable system on Debian Unstable, there is something to be said for Arch’s model, which is designed to offer a constant stream of stable updates to its users after rigorous testing. Additionally, Debian Unstable and Testing do not truly roll. They receive a constant stream of updates for a long period of time, but as the development process nears the next stable Debian release, first the Testing branch followed by the Unstable branch eventually end up freezing for a period of time as developers concentrate on stabilizing and preparing the final stable release. During this time period, users are sometimes stuck without security and feature updates. Arch, on the other hand, never has fixed stable releases. Rather, the development process is focussed on keeping the entire set of packages always up to date and yet stable at any given point in time. The Arch installer images are simply periodic snapshots of the stable branch, meant to be immediately synced and updated to the latest packages as soon as it is installed.
In the case of Manjaro, its binary package repositories are essentially snapshots of the Arch package repositories at a specific moment in time, hosted on Manjaro’s own servers and mirrors throughout the world. The initial snapshot coming directly from Arch’s stable repository is designated as “Unstable” in Manjaro. From there, the Manjaro developers and testers install these “Unstable” snapshots, and if there are no major issues the entire snapshot graduates from “Unstable” to the “Testing” repository. At this stage, a larger audience of Manjaro users try out the update pack and report any additional bugs that weren’t caught in the previous stage. From there, the update pack is moved to the “Stable” Manjaro repository, where the majority of the users will receive a thoroughly vetted update that is less likely to break their stable system. This conservative approach adds several levels of testing to the already fairly stable Arch releases, and in my experience since October of 2013 has resulted in regular updates of all my installed packages, usually every few weeks, with no major bugs that leave me with an un-bootable system or non-functional desktop. I think this extra level of stability is a very real advantage of Manjaro over Arch. And compared to an interval-release distribution, I find the process of searching and installing packages to be very simple. Instead of searching in many different places for software titles, I simply open Octopi and search for the desired package name or keyword. If it doesn’t exist in the official stable binary package repository, while still in Octopi I select the AUR for searching and invariably find a build script there that automatically downloads and installs the software. So far, I have not had the need of searching for and adding additional software |
. On the national level, it might mean corrupt Bank of China loan officers making questionable multi-billion loans.
And as I mentioned before, it’s making people very angry. The Arab Spring was sparked by a corrupt police officer confiscating the electronic scale of a produce vendor in Tunisia. These types of incidents happen in China all the time and could potentially provide the spark for unrest.
Corruption is not unique to China. In fact, most third-world countries are corrupt. It was even a problem in the US 100 years ago when the country was poorer.
Some economists believe widespread corruption is a function of poverty; once average income rises above a certain level, corruption naturally fades.
America, for all its corruption problems, rose to be the dominant superpower of the 20th century. Now, corruption isn’t such a big issue.
It remains to be seen if China can follow a similar path to prosperity. Meanwhile, authorities have a vested interest in combating this problem and not letting it get out of hand for the sake of societal stability.The Audis won't be talking to the traffic lights directly, instead the vehicles will use their built-in LTE connection to get information from a participating city's central traffic control system. Using that data and GPS, the cars will be able to show on the dashboard when an upcoming signal will turn green.
The system does not use the upcoming DSRC V2V (vehicle to vehicle)/ V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure) standard. Instead it uses partner Traffic Technology Services to establish a data relationship with the municipalities. As a vehicle enters a "zone" it requests a one-time unique token to establish communication with the infrastructure to request the stop light phase.
As for DSRC, Audi product and technology communications senior specialist, Justin Goduto said it's not quite ready for widespread deployment yet. Audi wants to move forward now. "For the time being using this methodology gives us true integration to the infrastructure," Goduto said.
The technology needed to get all that green light information is available in 2017 Audi Q7, A4 and A4 Allroad vehicles built after June 1, 2016. Drivers will also need to subscribe to Audi Connect Prime. As for the cities, the automaker isn't ready to announce where the V2I infrastructure will roll out first. But it hopes the system will be working in five to seven metropolitan areas by the end of the year.Phillip Barnard Jr., shown here in a photo with a gold leaf specimen, was sentenced to more than five years in prison Tuesday for scamming several friends out of more than $800,000. (Courtesy of court records)
The way prosecutors tell it, Phillip Barnard Jr. cultivated his victims carefully, chatting up parents from his daughter’s soccer team with the promise of risk-free riches and using his status as a distinguished alum to persuade Virginia Tech professors to open up their checkbooks.
His persona was convincing. When Barnard promised his alma mater $30 million for a new geosciences building, the university hired architects to get the process going and sought matching funds from the state. When he told his friends about an exclusive short-term investment opportunity in gold, they trusted him with their money.
One said that Barnard even promised bombastically that he would relinquish custody of his beloved daughter to her if the venture in gold bullion didn’t pay off.
“I know that was bogus, but it did its job,” said Marilyn Clemmer, whose daughter played soccer with Barnard’s. “It made me feel secure.”
The donation and the investments, though, were pure fantasy, prosecutors said. Barnard, they alleged, was no more than a “breathtakingly persuasive liar” who took more than $800,000 from his friends to spend on luxury cars, a vacation in Las Vegas and dinners at Ruth’s Chris Steak House.
Barnard, pictured with professor Wallace Lowry, prepares to give the Virginia Tech Geosciences Department commencement address in 2005. (Courtesy of court records)
On Thursday, a federal judge in Alexandria sentenced him to five years and three months in prison, the top of what federal guidelines called for and a punishment that some of his victims said gave them solace. Earlier this year, Barnard pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after fighting for three days at trial.
“He’s such a bad guy,” Clemmer said. “I don’t think he cares about any of us.”
The sentence marks a stunning nadir for a man who from the outside seemed to be a successful international businessman who easily navigated the ranks of high society.
A 1983 graduate of Virginia Tech, Barnard — whose family lived in Northern Virginia but later moved to the Richmond area — once designed tennis programs for Club Med and started a consulting service for companies involved in underwater salvage and mining exploration, court documents show. He boasted of connections with billionaires and royal families, according to prosecutors and victims.
But he never had any real job or business success, paying for everything — including his daughter’s $30,000-a-year tuition at the exclusive Bullis School in Potomac, Md. — with funds he stole from his friends, prosecutors said.
“He’s survived on fraud for the last 25 years, and he thinks he’s going to fool the court,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Catizone said Tuesday in urging a harsh penalty.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said that Barnard’s actions constituted “one of the worst fraud cases I’ve seen in terms of the blatant way you interacted with the victims.”
For his part, Barnard said his intentions were to “make a positive difference in people.” In court Tuesday, Barnard turned to face those whose money he lost and spoke softly.
“I just want you to know that you were family. We loved you,” Barnard said. “I want to earn your trust again.”
In court and during interviews, victims described similar, harrowing interactions with him. Barnard, they said, approached them about a low-risk investment opportunity with a quick payoff and then prodded them to invest more and more cash. Soon, they said, they felt they had committed too much to back out. And they believed in Barnard.
Alvin D’Andrea, 73, a retired postal service manager who lives in Ellicott City, said he had known Barnard for 21 years and that the two would frequently talk on the phone about Virginia history, pirates and buried treasure. When Barnard promised to cover his losses from another failed venture, D’Andrea trusted him. He ended up losing, by authorities’ count, more than $193,000.
“He is now, and always will be, a menace to society,” D’Andrea said.
Clemmer, 61, a preschool teacher from Waynesboro, Pa., said that her daughter played travel soccer with Barnard’s daughter in Bethesda and that when Barnard got word her family was in financial distress, he swooped in. She gave him $50,000 to invest, then quickly realized she had been duped. She lost her four children’s college fund.
“You are a cruel, dishonest, heartless, incredibly lazy person, husband and father who lives off others,” Clemmer said in court Tuesday.
Attorneys for Barnard disputed that he lived a lavish lifestyle with his victims’ money, writing in court papers that he “used the money his investors provided to keep his business and his family afloat while waiting for his business opportunities to materialize.” The trip to Las Vegas, attorney Sue Bai said, was for his daughter’s soccer game; the cars he drove were rented. Barnard and his attorneys declined to comment after the sentencing.
Prosecutors alleged that Barnard victimized seven people dating back as far as 1996 and that his fraud cut deep in the Virginia Tech community.
He was well-respected at the school, even giving the commencement address at the 2005 Geosciences Department graduation.
That honor, though, was driven largely by Barnard’s promise of $30 million for a new geosciences building, prosecutors wrote. Not only did he not make the donation, he personally victimized a professor and dean, prosecutors wrote.
Mark Owczarski, a Virginia Tech spokesman, said the university works with donors who pledge gifts “to better understand how and when a pledge will become a gift.”
“As it became apparent Mr. Barnard had no intention on fulfilling his pledge, the university stopped its work with him and the proposed project,” he said.
Owczarski said the state ultimately agreed to let Virginia Tech redirect most of the matching funds to the construction of a performing arts center, which opened two years ago.
Barnard’s defense attorneys asked that he be sentenced to two years in prison, and his family members urged the judge to consider that he was a hardworking man and loving father to his 22-year-old daughter, now a junior in college. But prosecutors said that Barnard never had good intentions. Catizone, the assistant U.S. attorney, said Barnard’s case was “like when the Grinch stole Christmas. He left just hooks and wires on the walls.”
“Mr. Barnard,” he said, “doesn’t get it.”This article appears in the April 2014 edition of the Financial Post Magazine. Visit the iTunes store to download the iPad edition of this month’s issue.
To read most news reports, there’s really only one thing worth knowing about income splitting: It “mostly benefits the rich.” Wasn’t that the conclusion of a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a left-wing think tank, but also by the C.D. Howe Institute on the right? That clinches it, n’est-ce pas? Not so fast. The merits of a given tax policy cannot simply be reduced to whether it makes the system more redistributive or not. That’s a valid concern, to be sure. It’s just not the only one.
Yet that is the constant theme of much commentary – and not only on income splitting. RRSPs, dividend gross-ups, capital gains inclusion rates, and, of course, the tax rates charged to different brackets: no matter what the subject, you can bet someone will analyze it through that one lens, as if that were all there were to it.
But a tax system has other roles to perform than just redistribution, and other tests to meet than just fairness. It has to raise revenues, first, sufficient to pay for whatever level of spending we’ve decided we’d like. A modern welfare state’s demands are such that it can’t be done just by targeting the rich, as it was in the past, but necessarily involves taxing the broad middle class. Already we’ve moved off a purely redistributive tax policy.
It should be efficient, second, meaning that it raises revenues at least harm to the economy. That places a cap on the rates that can be charged: you don’t have to be a supply-sider to see what 100% marginal tax rates would do to incentives. And it suggests avoiding the sort of selective tax breaks that prejudice economic decisions for or against any particular activity.
The income tax, for example, insofar as it taxes both savings and the return on them, biases decisions against saving and investing in favour of consuming it all now. Exempting savings, whether through traditional RRSPs or the newer Tax-Free Savings Accounts, is good tax policy-even if it “mostly benefits the rich.”
Third, fairness doesn’t just mean taxing people with different incomes at different rates. It also means people earning the same income at the same rate. That’s where income splitting comes in: it removes the bias against families where one spouse earns most or all of the income, versus families where both spouses earn roughly equal incomes.
Precisely because we tax higher incomes at higher rates, the first couple will be taxed more heavily than the second, even if both couples are taking home the same combined income: a clear violation of that second definition of fairness. Allowing the higher-earning spouse to transfer some income to the lower ensures the tax system treats “like as like.”
Does that mean we should ignore redistribution as an objective? Of course not. But it’s the overall progressivity of the system that counts, not whether each and every individual piece of it contributes to that end. A policy that “mostly benefits the rich” can be counteracted by policy in other areas-the regressive impact of the GST, for example (as a sales tax, it disproportionately burdens the poor, who consume more of their income than the rich) was more than offset by the introduction of the GST tax credit for low-income households.
This tells us it’s not just taxes we should be taking into account in measuring the system’s progressivity, but also spending. As you’ll recall, the policy under Robin Hood was not merely to take from the rich, but also to give to the poor.Dec. 2, 2016, 1:45 PM GMT / Updated Dec. 2, 2016, 1:45 PM GMT By Anisha Jhaveri
A medley of unnaturally sculpted actors, impeccably choreographed dance numbers, and slick, over-the-top action are the components of the escapist “Bollywood” fare internationally synonymous with Indian films.
“Artists in India are focusing on regional issues in unprecedented ways, as opposed to finding the easiest story to tell to the most people, which commercial cinema does so well already.”
It’s no wonder, considering that the Mumbai-based production center accounts for almost half of India’s box office revenues, according to Deloitte, and dominates when it comes to worldwide distribution. But in a country with 29 states and dozens of dialects, there’s much more where its cinematic offerings come from. That variety is what the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in Astoria, Queens, is inviting New Yorkers to experience at its first-ever India Kaleidoscope film festival.
Taking place from Dec. 8 to 11, the event — organized in partnership with the India Center Foundation (ICF) — will screen eight films from the southern state of Tamil Nadu to Manipur in the northeast, providing a cross section of the regional Indian cinema.
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The festival comes at a pivotal moment for independent Indian films, which have been largely overlooked for most of their history, both domestically and abroad. Only in recent years have audiences and distribution both become less elusive, with productions like Vimukthi Jayasundara’s Bengali “Chatrak” in 2011 and Chaitanya Tamhane’s Marathi “Court” in 2014 receiving acclaim everywhere from Cannes to Toronto.
India Kaleidoscope is the latest in the Museum’s own numerous endeavors to encourage further recognition of non-mainstream Indian films, following its 2014 retrospective of veteran Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam, and its monthly “India’s New Wave” series featuring the subcontinent’s contemporary filmmakers.
MoMI’s efforts caught the attention of ICF’s Priya Giri Desai, who co-founded the nonprofit in early 2016 with the mission to promote cultural understanding of the subcontinent among and beyond Indian Americans. “Artists in India are focusing on regional issues in unprecedented ways, as opposed to finding the easiest story to tell to the most people, which commercial cinema does so well already,” Desai told NBC News. “ICF has positioned itself to be a platform for those less often heard and revelatory voices.”
Upon noting that MoMI shared ICF’s appetite for independent film, the idea for India Kaleidoscope was born.
“When the India Center Foundation approached us to collaborate, we were thrilled for the chance to take the Museum’s programming to the next level,” Christina Marouda, director of development at MoMI, told NBC News. “Presenting brand-new regional films in six different languages, and flying in the directors for live discussions, was a natural step forward to reiterate our commitment to Indian cinema.”
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The undertaking was both timely and tricky. Marouda noted the challenges of programming for non-Indian viewers, who can become impatient with the subtitles and slower pace of foreign films, she said. But the strong cinephile presence in New York, along with proponents of Indian independent film within the city’s vast South Asian community, proved encouraging. “The audience is there,” Marouda said, “it’s a matter of attracting their attention and keeping them engaged.”
A still from "Tope" by Indian auteur director Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Courtesy of MoMI
Foregoing a specific theme for a more open-ended approach, the selection process was spearheaded by a five-person committee including Marouda, Desai, New York University cinema studies adjunct faculty member Priyadarshini Shanker, Queens College assistant professor Anupama Kapse, and writer/producer Tristine Skyler.
“We sought out work in languages like Manipuri that aren’t given much play in the U.S., as well as languages with long film traditions such as Bengali and Tamil,” Desai said. The final slate ranges from debutant Kannada director Ananya Kasaravalli’s faux-documentary “Harikatha Prasanga” to veteran filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Bengali “Tope,” a surrealist commentary on Indian class relations. With the exception of one, all films will be New York premieres.
“The filmmakers are telling stories that are unique to their communities, and yet feel global. The topics they address, be it environmental change in ’Loktak Lairembee‘ or gender identity in ’Harkatha Prasanga,’ transcend place.”
The inclusivity is a boon for filmmakers like Mangesh Joshi, who said that despite the Maharashtra government’s rule for theaters in the state to screen a minimum number of Marathi films per year, finding an audience remains problematic. “Competing with the budgets and the releases of Bollywood giants is difficult, so it’s especially helpful for a prestigious institute like MoMI to showcase my film,” he told NBC News.
The festival is an even bigger blessing for Paban Kumar Haobam, whose home state of Manipur has no mandate supporting its regional cinema. Haobam (who will be in attendance for the screening of “Loktak Lairembee,” his documentary on a fishing town facing eviction by the government) said the screening at MoMI will not only widen his film’s reach, but also reveal a side of Indian cinema rarely explored. “India Kaleidoscope’s objective is to introduce audiences to the unexplored world of real Indian cinema, which is why I chose it for my film’s New York premiere,” he said.
While the festival celebrates the cinematic diversity within India, Desai noted that it highlights that we are all more alike than we think. “The filmmakers are telling stories that are unique to their communities, and yet feel global,” Desai said. “The topics they address, be it environmental change in ’Loktak Lairembee‘ or gender identity in ’Harkatha Prasanga,’ transcend place.”
A still from "Lady of the Lake," which won the Golden Gateway Award at the Mumbai Film Festival. Courtesy of MoMI
Joshi, whose feature “Lathe Joshi” centers on skilled workers facing obsolescence in an increasingly automated world, is also optimistic about the films’ universal appeal. “I believe that humans react in identical ways, irrespective of our culture,” he said. “I doubt it will be difficult for foreign audiences to relate.”
Its language and syntax may be unfamiliar to most, and it may not boast the extravagance of its Bollywood counterparts, but the cinema featured at India Kaleidoscope offers something equally spectacular: a daring to be true to the evolving democracy it hails from. “After all, it’s a country of over 1.3 billion people and such a complex society,” Marouda said. “If audiences are open to immersing themselves into depictions of the human condition within an Indian context, the stories are endless.”
Follow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.DETROIT -- Officials say the cost of building the Detroit Red Wings' new arena has jumped by $105 million to nearly $733 million.
The city's Downtown Development Authority said the revised estimate to build the Little Caesars Arena for the NHL team reflects the specific cost of materials, permits, design refinements and subcontractor agreements. City documents indicate other construction costs could rise, The Detroit News (http://detne.ws/2eAzo3L ) reported.
Officials said the revision doesn't indicate massive cost overruns nor that taxpayers will face additional expenses.
"The increases represent enhancements or changes that our private partner, Olympia Development of Michigan, will be paying for -- as they are required to do under our contract," said Moddie Turay, executive vice president for real estate for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation -- which administers the Downtown Development Authority, in a written statement.
According to Turay funding invested by Olympia creates new potential opportunities for Detroit-based subcontractors and Detroit residents.
Olympia Development will be constructing the arena and will also manage it after its opening in September.
The owner of the Detroit Pistons Tom Gores has said that team is close to a deal to move the NBA franchise and suggested it could also play at Little Caesars Arena next season.
However, the city and Olympia wouldn't confirm whether the new total provided by the city has to do with changes that would have to be made if the Pistons move their home court.
The design concept of the venue will be "deconstructed" with a glass-roofed concourse that will circle the arena and provide a street-like walkway with storefronts. Additional shops and restaurants will be added and will remain open even when the arena is not in use.
Construction began last year and the venue is scheduled to open next fall.
The total cost for the arena and other associated construction projects will top $1 billion.
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This story has been corrected to show the price of the stadium rose from $627.5 million to nearly $733 million, not from $105 million to nearly $733 million, and that the Red Wings play in the NHL not the NFL.
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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/Posted by Chris on May 03, 2015
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Follow 2vaped! Facebook -Twitter - YouTube - Instagram - Google+ -Pinterest - redditOne of tech giant’s founders says company under investigation by EU over its tax arrangements should pay the same 50% tax rate as he does
Apple should pay more tax, according to Steve Wozniak, the company’s co-founder.
Speaking to the BBC, Wozniak expressed discomfort with reports that Apple avoids tax, saying that paying taxes was just “part of life” – something that “every company in the world” should do.
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Apple has been criticised over its tax affairs and accused of using tax shelters in Luxembourg and Ireland to protect its revenues, allegations being investigated by the European commission.
Based on similar rulings from the commission, Apple could be told to pay $8bn (£5.6bn) in back taxes when the investigation against its activities in Ireland concludes. The commission found that Starbucks owed Dutch authorities upwards of $22m, and a ruling from Belgium in January determined that 35 companies across the EU owe the equivalent of $760m in back taxes.
But in a recent interview, the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, called the notion that Apple was avoiding paying tax “political crap” and said it would appeal against any such ruling. “There is no truth behind it,” he said. “Apple pays every tax dollar we owe.”
Apple also faces pressure from US authorities to repatriate much of its enormous cash holdings, valued at more than $215bn in its end-of-year accounts. More than 90% of that money is held outside America, partially because Apple faces a 40% tax bill if it attempts to repatriate the cash hoard. “I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to do,” Cook has said.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up to Money, Wozniak said: “I don’t like the idea that Apple might be unfair – not paying taxes the way I do as a person. I do a lot of work, I do a lot of travel and I pay over 50% of anything I make in taxes and I believe that’s part of life and you should do it.”
When asked if Apple should pay that amount, he said: “Every company in the world should.”
Wozniak started Apple with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Wayne sold his stake in the company just two weeks later, for $800, but Wozniak stayed at Apple for its first five years, eventually leaving in 1981 after a traumatic plane crash as a pilot left him with anterograde amnesia – the inability to form new memories.
He returned to the University of California, Berkeley, to finish his undergraduate degree, then returned to Apple for another short stint, before leaving for good in 1985, selling most of his stock and declaring that the company had “been going in the wrong direction for the last five years”. He has since focused on charity projects to spread access to computers in schools.
A few months after Wozniak departed for good, his last co-founder, Jobs, was also forced out of the company. Jobs founded a competing computer firm, NeXT, which was acquired by Apple in 1997 with Jobs returning as CEO. Apple is now the largest publicly traded firm by market capitalisation in the world.It takes a long time to cut someone's head off. Heads are not being chopped off in this war. They are being cut off, with knives. When Falah Aziz does it, the person is lying on their back with him standing over them, sawing their head off with a knife.
He sometimes has to pull the knife out again and have another go, to get the head to come off. To get a steady grip, he holds onto the chin of his victim with his other hand.
Decapitation on tape. Falah Aziz, who fights alongside Iraqi police, slashes the throat of a person who seems to be a young man or a boy.
Iraqi police officers are standing around as he cuts people's heads off. Someone else films it.
When a young man's head has been cut off, Falah Aziz cries:
"The knife has done its work!"
His colleagues shout excitedly that "Falah Aziz is cutting ISIS's head off."
Suffocating them with their hands
On his Facebook page, he is holding up a bloody knife in his profile picture. Other videos show him walking around, with Iraqi troops, carrying a severed head. And beating blindfolded men who are sitting on the floor, with their hands tied behind their backs and hoods over their heads.
The prisoners are being beaten with things like batons, and one of them is being suffocated by someone's hands over his mouth.
Falas Aziz posing with a bloody knife on his Facebook profile. The knife has been used to decapitate people.
Additional footage shows Falah Aziz decapitating people and then showing off their severed heads, as well as digging up a corpse from its grave.
You do not see whether anyone dies, but Falah Aziz says:
"Every day, I swear, I slaughter them, as they've slaughtered us."
In a video showing torture, men's voices bark orders at each other:
"Hit him!"
"Get the pillow."
A prisoner with a shaved head protests:
"You accuse me!"
"It's the law!" replies the man who is beating him.
"You accuse me, seriously," the prisoner complains.
Hooded men are bound with ropes and brutally assaulted.
Wears a designer jacket
Falah Aziz looks like just another Iraqi police officer or soldier. He walks around in military boots and wears the same brand of jacket worn by a lot of the troops, a black 5.11.
But he stresses that not everyone fighting ISIS does what he does:
"No, no. Not everyone."
He is talking about his own actions. He says that beheading is his speciality. None of the people he is fighting alongside can be seen protesting when Falah Aziz cuts people's heads off. On the contrary. They celebrate when he's chopped a head off.
Falah Aziz wears military boots and a designer coat, an outfit worn by several of the fighting groups.
Videos of the executions
Several of the videos in Falah Aziz's mobile phone clearly show his colleagues within the Iraqi Police Force, and Iraqi Armed Forces, not simply watching on in silence as he tortures prisoners and cuts their throats.
In one video, you can see a large group of soldiers parading down the street screaming, with Aziz leading the way and holding a severed head in one hand.
Falah Aziz walking down the street carrying a severed head. Iraqi troops walk alongside him, celebrating.
Another video shows a close up of Aziz cutting the head off a young man or boy, while surrounded by Iraqi troops.
In yet another video - which Aziz shared with us to demonstrate what he has done, but the image quality is too poor to determine whether he is involved - Iraqi troops can be seen beating men wearing civilian clothes and with their hands tied behind their backs, lying on the floor of a building.
The beatings are extremely brutal and radiate immense rage. The men on the floor are being beaten with whips, something that looks like power cords and a metal object on a chain. The men being beaten cannot protect themselves, they just scream.
Men already on the floor are whipped with what seems to be electric wiring, and a metal object attached to a chain.
"I slaughter them"
The photos and videos Falah Aziz has in his mobile phone and the material he has published on his Facebook page have changed over the years and changed with the war. He shows off the videos as if they were normal.
His voice is indifferent and resolute:
"My specific wish is that I slaughter them."
He has kept count of the people he has killed:
"50 that I've cut the heads off. But 130 in total," he claims. Adding that "so far" he has "slaughtered" 50.
When asked whether the people whose heads he has cut off were dead or alive, he says:
"No, no, alive."
And when specifically asked whether what appears to be a young man or boy being beheaded was alive or dead, Falah Aziz says:
"He's alive, him. We grabbed him in the toilets."
Public toilets have become a common hiding place during the war on ISIS. It is usually the last place troops check, which is exactly why people have started hiding in them.
Falah Aziz presenting the Facebook videos, as if they were completely normal.
No justice or fair trial
Falah Aziz finds it easy to describe why he is doing this to the people who are captured:
"They've driven us to it. What they've done has killed our compassion. Finding your brother slaughtered, or your mother slaughtered. What are you going to do? You don't know what you're going to do. What they have done to us, we must do to them."
Refers to Shiite leader
By "them" he means ISIS. But the prisoners being tortured and killed are not getting a fair trial. Falah Aziz feels good about taking their lives.
"Just that feeling, I can't explain how at ease I am with it," he says about what it feels like to behead someone.
Falah Aziz has been fighting against ISIS since the first battle in Mosul when ISIS stormed the metropolis in the summer of 2014.
"Mosul fell, the battle relocated to the Bagdad Belts and to Kurdistan."
He describes how he has moved along the fronts. Now he is fighting with the Iraqi Federal Police Force's 5th Division and refers to his commanding officers as "heroes Ali Alami and Abou Dergham".
He explains that Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatolla Ali al-Sistani, called upon the people to fight against ISIS.
Mosul, Iraq. The city taken by ISIS in 2014.
Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa in which he urged the Iraqi people to declare jihad on ISIS, which resulted in 100,000 people joining the war – both civilians and people with paramilitary backgrounds from the many militias that existed in Iraq.
The majority of the Iraqi population are Shia Arab Muslims. Under Saddam Hussein, Sunni Arabs were in power, but after the US invasion in 2003, all of Saddam Hussein's security forces, as well as his Ba'ath Party, were dismantled. Since then, the governments have been Shia dominated.
al-Qaeda established itself
In 2006-2007, there was a civil war in Iraq between Sunni and Shia groups, a war that began in the power vacuum after the US invasion, when a group of Sunni Arabs formed a resistance movement and Sunni extremists, al-Qaeda, established themselves in the country.
The Sunni uprising and al-Qaeda in Iraq were targeting Shia Arabs and Westerners. Even Shia forces turned on the Western troops after the invasion. Falah Aziz feels that, among others, the Shia forces have done a lot for the war on ISIS – that they have been avenged and, by slaughtering ISIS, brought honour back to Iraq.
Now he is fighting in areas that are still under ISIS control in West Mosul. A few weeks ago, he was shot in the thigh by an ISIS sniper.
Expressens war correspondent Magda Gad has been reporting directly from the front in Iraq for one year. Here she is interviewing Falah Aziz about the murders he has committed. In the background an oil well can be seen, burning.
Describes ISIS as Sunni Arabs
He describes ISIS as mostly Sunni, a mix of Saddamites and terrorists, who joined forces and took control of Sunni areas in Iraq in order to proclaim a separatist state for Sunni Arabs.
It is an opinion he shares with a lot of Iraqi civilians as well as Iraqi generals – that ISIS is made up of former military from the Iraqi security forces dismantled by the US when Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003, of former al-Qaida in Iraq and of local mafia. Several of the people who joined ISIS have spent time in prison, among them the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, which became notorious for torture and sexual humiliation.
Even ISIS's highest leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, spent time in Abu Ghraib before the US released him in 2010. ISIS illustrate the fact that Americans have been torturing Iraqis, by dressing their prisoners in the same orange overalls that the Americans have used in their prisons in Iraq and Guantánamo.
According to Falah Aziz, entire countries were involved in the emergence of ISIS:
"It's an Israeli plan, that they'd begun working together, Saddamites and terrorists." The goal, he believes, it to destroy Iraq. "Destruction. It's an Israeli and American plan."
A lot of oil fields have burned
The fact that the US invaded Iraq in 2003, after having invaded Afghanistan in 2001, is usually explained by people who share Falah Aziz's views as revenge for the 9/11 attacks. In other words, the goal was not to protect the Iraqi people, but rather to overthrow Arab-Nationalist Saddam Hussein, who was considered a threat to the US and Israel, and seize control of the oil.
A lot of oil fields have burned throughout the war. An oil well burns to the south of Mosul, as I stand talking to Falah Aziz.
He suspects that a local company has set it alight in order to then receive the contract to extinguish it. He mumbles about corruption and money. He feels that this kind of behaviour is not right.
"This is your blood"
Another of the videos in Falah Aziz's mobile phone shows him together with his colleagues from the Iraqi forces.
He is holding a knife. Both it and his hand are red.
"Here's the man who's slaughtering ISIS," cries one of the soldiers beside him.
Falah Aziz looks into the camera:
"This is your blood, you dogs."
Falah Aziz says:
"I swear, every Muslim is worth a thousand of you."
A young man in the background praises him:
"Well done!"
”This is your blood, you dogs” Falah Aziz says, raising a bloody knife.
Shows photos of his brothers
But in amongst his war photos are pictures that do not contain any violence. Four men feature regularly in his photos.
Their names are Ahmad Aziz, Ghazwan Aziz, Bashar Aziz and Waed Aziz. They are his brothers. Were his brothers. Older brothers.
"Now they're martyrs," he says.
"One of them was a teacher. What did he ever do to get slaughtered? He has five children."
Falah Aziz finds it harder to talk:
"Four of my brothers died in my arms. I'm the youngest. My brother said, 'Don't leave me.' I can't explain."
But he knows that it made him want to do the same thing in return:
"As they slaughtered my brothers, I slaughter them."
"I expect to die"
His mouth has responded to every single question in a clear and straightforward manner, but his eyes have said nothing. They express nothing.
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once warned, "He who fights monsters should take care lest he becomes a monster himself. For if you gaze into the abyss long enough, the abyss will also gaze into you."
Falah Aziz sees nothing but the abyss. He has climbed into it. And he has no plans to leave it.
The war has become part of him. Part of his skin, his thoughts, his soul. He does not even think he will go on living.
An attitude he shares with many of the ISIS members he has fought against.
"I expect to die, not to remain here."
Translator: Laura ÅkerblomLiberals stole my Oscar! Shocker: The director of the anti-Obama fever dream "2016" blames his nomination snub on left |
, Ill. (Chicago) had the largest black or African-American population of any county in 2014 (1.3 million), and Harris, Texas, had the largest numeric increase since 2013 (21,000). Holmes, Miss., was the county with the highest percentage of blacks or African-Americans in the nation (82.5 percent).
Asians
The nation’s Asian population totaled 20.3 million as of July 1, 2014, up by 631,000, or 3.2 percent, since July 1, 2013.
California had both the largest Asian population of any state (6.3 million) in July 2014 and the largest numeric increase of Asians since July 1, 2013 (162,000). Hawaii was the nation’s only majority-Asian state, with people of this group comprising 56.2 percent of the total population.
had both the largest Asian population of any state (6.3 million) in July 2014 and the largest numeric increase of Asians since July 1, 2013 (162,000). was the nation’s only majority-Asian state, with people of this group comprising 56.2 percent of the total population. Los Angeles had the largest Asian population of any county (1.7 million) in 2014 and the largest numeric increase (29,000) since 2013. Honolulu and Kauai, both in Hawaii, were the nation’s only majority-Asian counties.
American Indians and Alaska Natives
The nation’s American Indian and Alaska Native population totaled 6.5 million as of July 1, 2014, up by 93,000, or 1.4 percent, since July 1, 2013.
California had the largest American Indian and Alaska Native population of any state in 2014 (1.1 million) and the largest numeric increase since 2013 (13,000). Alaska had the highest percentage (19.4 percent).
had the largest American Indian and Alaska Native population of any state in 2014 (1.1 million) and the largest numeric increase since 2013 (13,000). had the highest percentage (19.4 percent). Los Angeles had the largest American Indian and Alaska Native population of any county in 2014 (235,000), and Maricopa, Ariz., the largest numeric increase (4,700) since 2013. Shannon, S.D. — on the Nebraska border and located entirely within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation — had the highest percentage (93.4 percent).
Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders
The nation’s Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population totaled 1.5 million as of July 1, 2014, up by 33,000, or 2.3 percent, since July 1, 2013.
Hawaii had the largest population of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders of any state (370,000) in 2014 and the highest percentage (26.0 percent). California had the largest numeric increase since 2013 (7,000).
had the largest population of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders of any state (370,000) in 2014 and the highest percentage (26.0 percent). had the largest numeric increase since 2013 (7,000). Honolulu had the largest population of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders of any county (239,000) in 2014, and Hawaii County had the highest percentage (34.4 percent). Clark, Nev., had the largest numeric increase since 2013 (1,100).
Non-Hispanic white alone
The nation’s non-Hispanic white alone population totaled 197.9 million in 2014, up by 94,000, or 0.5 percent, since 2013.
California had the largest non-Hispanic white alone population of any state in 2014 (14.9 million). Texas had the largest numeric increase in this population group since 2013 (79,000). Maine had the highest percentage of the non-Hispanic white alone population (93.8 percent).
had the largest non-Hispanic white alone population of any state in 2014 (14.9 million). had the largest numeric increase in this population group since 2013 (79,000). had the highest percentage of the non-Hispanic white alone population (93.8 percent). Los Angeles had the largest non-Hispanic white alone population of any county (2.7 million) in 2014. Maricopa, Ariz., had the largest numeric increase in this population since 2013 (23,000). Leslie, Ky., comprised the highest percentage (98.1 percent) of single-race non-Hispanic whites.
Unless otherwise specified, the statistics refer to the population who reported a race alone or in combination with one or more races. Censuses and surveys permit respondents to select more than one race; consequently, people may be one race or a combination of races. The detailed tables show statistics for the resident population by “race alone” and “race alone or in combination.” The sum of the populations for the five “race alone or in combination” groups adds to more than the total population because individuals may report more than one race. All references to age, race, and Hispanic origin characteristics of counties apply only to counties with a 2014 population of 10,000 or more. The federal government treats Hispanic origin and race as separate and distinct concepts. In surveys and censuses, separate questions are asked on Hispanic origin and race. The question on Hispanic origin asks respondents if they are of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.
Starting with the 2000 Census, the question on race asked respondents to report the race or races they consider themselves to be. Hispanics may be of any race. Responses of “some other race” from the 2010 Census are modified in these estimates. This results in differences between the population for specific race categories for the modified 2010 Census population versus those in the 2010 Census data.
-X-The alleged ringleader of the Trojan Horse plot wrote a detailed blueprint for the radical “Islamisation” of secular state schools which closely resembles what appears to be happening in Birmingham.
Tahir Alam, chairman of governors at Park View school in the city, called for “girls [to] be covered except for their hands and faces”, advocated gender segregation in some school activities, and attacked a “multicultural approach” to collective worship.
He described how state schools must be changed to “take account of Muslim sensitivities and sensibilities with respect to sexual morality” with “girlfriend/boyfriend as well as homosexual relationships” treated as “not acceptable practices according to Islamic teachings”.
The disclosure comes as teachers at Park View said a boy and a girl in their GCSE year have been suspended after being spotted holding hands, only weeks before they were due to take their exams. “They have done this to quite a few students in Year 11,” said one member of staff. “That they should continue with it, even with all the scrutiny we are under, just beggars belief.”
It can also be disclosed that as recently as this month, one part of the Department for Education was proposing to give Mr Alam’s Park View Education Trust another Birmingham school to run – even as another part of the department was mounting emergency inspections of the three it runs already.
A spreadsheet, dated April 2014, on the DfE website says Park View has received “ministerial approval in principle” to take over al-Furqan, a failing faith primary school in Tyseley, converting it into an academy with a “proposed opening date” of June 1. A DfE spokesman said that the deal had now been cancelled.
The so-called Trojan Horse plot involves the alleged takeover of secular state schools and the removal of secular head teachers in Birmingham by radical Muslim staff and governors. Five non-Muslim heads have left their posts in a tiny area of the city over the past six months. Twenty-five Birmingham schools are being investigated by the council and 18 have already been inspected by Ofsted of which at least six, including Park View, will be rated “inadequate” for leadership and management.
A separate inspection report by the DfE, leaked to The Telegraph, found that girls at Park View were made to sit at the back of the class, GCSE syllabuses were “restricted to comply with a conservative Islamic teaching” and an extremist preacher was invited to speak to children.
In his 72-page document, published by the Muslim Council of Britain in 2007, Mr Alam and his co-author, Muhammad Abdul Bari, attacked many state schools for not being “receptive of legitimate and reas-onable requests made by Muslim parents and pupils in relation to their faith-based aspirations and concerns.”
They described how Muslim governors could be activated to press the “views and aspirations of Muslim parents and the local community” on reluctant schools.
Among the “aspirations and concerns” for schools were that they should not teach “potentially harmful forms of music” which “promote immoral behaviour” or include “unethical and un-Islamic lyrics”.
Schools should also avoid teaching any art involving “three-dimensional imagery of humans”, the document says, and should discourage any play that involves “physical contact between males and females”, “girls dressing as boys or vice versa” or any play “associated with celebrating aspects of other religions”.
Mr Alam’s document says that aspects of the National Curriculum, such as dance, should be ignored as “not consistent with the Islamic requirements for modesty”. It adds that “dance performances before a mixed-gender audience may be objectionable”.
Schools should “try to avoid scheduling swimming lessons during Ramadan”, the document says, to avoid Muslim pupils accidentally swallowing water and breaking their fast. “School balls, discos and fashion shows that might inadvertently exclude pupils from the Islamic faith background” should be avoided, it adds.
Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: “Mr Alam … has been planning this for 15 years. He goes around making these schools religious by manipulating governors, and bringing in certain teachers. He was able to hone the [tactics] in Birmingham that he drafted in this report.”
Further evidence has emerged of radicalisation at Park View. Speaking to The Telegraph, a former member of staff said that a “member of staff” at the school last year put up posters in the corridors with the message: “If you do not pray, you are worse than a kafir” an insulting term for non-Muslims. “Those were the exact words”, the former staff member said. “Many staff, including some of the Muslim staff, complained and the posters were taken down.”
Echoing the findings of the DfE inspectors, the former member of staff said that “several girls complained to me about gender segregation. The girls are not treated as equals by the school. Many of the male Muslim staff direct questions mainly to the boys and the girls are left out. The female staff have also been sidelined for years.”
One teacher handed out a worksheet stating that women “must obey their husbands,” and told Year 10 boys that wives were not allowed to refuse their husbands sex, the former staff member said. Park View insisted last night that the boys had “misunderstood” what the teacher was trying to tell them, and had subsequently been told in a special assembly that sex without informed consent was rape.
The teacher concerned, Maz Hussain, is the brother of the headmaster, Mozz Hussain, and was later promoted to head of science at Park View’s sister school, Golden Hillock.
In the leaked DfE inspectors’ report, Maz Hussain’s experience was described as “not commensurate with his responsibility”. His teaching was “rated as inadequate by the lead practitioner for teaching and learning at the academy, but no action was taken,” the report said.
Mr Hussain has now been suspended. Even then, however, his well-qualified deputy was not given the job, the report said.
“Instead, it was given to the sister of a deputy head teacher at Park View.”
The former staff member said that Park View had manipulated its 2012 Ofsted inspection, which awarded it the highest rating of “outstanding,” by bringing in a science teacher just for the two days of the inspection.
“The students are special young people. They deserve the best and they’re just not getting the best,” she said. “The Islamic ethos is overpowering and it’s dominating everything. The school has turned inwards and they’re just not preparing the kids for the wider world.”
Park View and Mr Alam declined to comment on any of the other allegations.
Mr Alam has said there is no plot, attacking the investigations as “Islamophobic” and a “witch-hunt”.
One of his close allies, Achmad da Costa, chairman of governors at Oldknow school, last night attempted to rally local mosques with a special meeting to protest against the inspections.
Oldknow is another school expected to be rated “inadequate” by Ofsted after the successful secular head teacher, Bhupinder Kondal, was driven out and hardline teachers recruited.
Additional reporting: Ben LazarusJ. Cole is taking the grassroots approach with 2014 Forest Hills Drive. The Dreamville rapper surprised one lucky fan and played her his new album nearly three weeks before its release.
On Wednesday, Cole tweeted that he was in Dallas and one fan named Dalia responded. Much to her surprise, Cole wrote back and asked her to DM her address so he could come play her the album.
Cole surprised her with a house visit and gave her a first listen to his third album through headphones. He made himself at home, kicking back on the couch, while Power 106 host Rikki Martinez captured the moments on Instagram.
The overwhelmed fan shared her unforgettable experience meeting Cole and hearing his new music.
“I don’t don’t even know where to BEGIIIIIINNNNNNN … OMGGGG.. COLE WAS AT MY CRIIIIIIIBBBBBB!!!! Aaaaaahhhhhhh...for a private listening session of his new album dropping DEC 9th #2014ForestHillsDrive and you guys are IN for a TREATTT!!! I freakin LOVED it, you feel them in your soul!!! We always do, but you’ll understand when you hear it!!!!! This one is SPECIAL …THIS JUST HAPPENEDDDDD AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! You guys KNOW how I feel about Cole…I told em he’s not even a “celebrity” he’s fam!!!!! And THE MOST HUMBLE SOUL EVER!!! Thank you @realcoleworld @kingofqueenz25.. This literally made my LIFE!!! Aaahhhhhhh no matter what I say, I’ll never be able to explain…….. Man!!! I swear my dude is legendary!!! WHO TF DOES ISH LIKE THIS??!! That’s why I ride with him the way I do… AAAAAAHHHH”
Her young nephew also took the opportunity to show off his rap skills by spitting some 2Pac for Cole, who clapped in approval. The Roc Nation MC even got in a round of PlayStation with the young fans.
While Dalia is one of the lucky few to hear 2014 Forest Hills Drive, the rest of the world will have to wait until the album’s release on December 9.
Cole also plans to host two listening sessions at his childhood crib in Fayetteville, North Carolina on November 29 and 30, where he will play the album for fans and neighbors.VICTOR, Idaho — A small eastern Idaho town near the border with Wyoming has passed an ordinance banning discrimination against a person because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Boise State Public Radio reported Thursday that Victor passed the law that offers employment, housing and public accommodation protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Mayor Zach Smith says the city council unanimously approved the measure.
About 2,000 people live in Victor, many making a living by working in nearby Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Smith says the ordinance takes effect Monday.
Victor becomes the eighth Idaho city to approve a non-discrimination ordinance.
Last week, voters in Pocatello, Idaho, narrowly rejected a ballot referendum aimed at repealing a similar ordinance passed by the town council last year. Opponents of ordinance have asked for a recount.
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This Story Filed Under(CNN) – President Obama is heading back to late night television next week, set to appear on comedian Jimmy Fallon’s show as part of a week-long push to pressure congressional Republicans to renew a measure keeping student loan rates at 3.4 percent.
News of Obama’s appearance on the popular late night comedy show came via Twitter from both Fallon himself and White House Communications Director Dan Pfieffer Friday morning:
The President of the United States!?!?! @BarackObama see you Tuesday!!! #obamaonfallon —
jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) April 20, 2012
Pres Obama will appear on @jimmyfallon on Tuesday at UNC Chapel Hill to talk abt preventing interests rates from doubling on student loans —
Dan Pfeiffer (@pfeiffer44) April 20, 2012
It is the president’s first appearance on the show, though First Lady Michelle Obama was a guest in February.
Fallon, whose audience skews toward the younger demographic Obama is hoping to reach, will speak with the president while he is at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Tuesday. Obama’s stop there is one of three colleges he is visiting Tuesday and Wednesday as Congress gets set to consider whether a 2007 provision that cut student loan interest rates in half should be allowed to expire.
While the measure garnered bipartisan support five years ago, Republicans are concerned with the significant costs of extending it. According to the Congressional Budget Office, extending the lower rate for an additional year comes with a price tag of $6 billion to the U.S. government.inspection. By the looks of the stained couch cushions, she didn’t move
very far from here. This is NOT hurricane damage -
the apartment was found this way prior to the hurricane.
Hard to believe there wasn’t a fire with all the cigarettes.
Did this woman ever hear of an ashtray? Nope - empty soda cups will do...
All the Febreze, Clorox and bleach in the world isn’t going to help this mess!
NOOOOOOOOO - not the computer!!!
Notice the small “butt free” area around the bottom of the mouse where her
hand rubbed the mouse pad, and what keys on the keyboard that were used...
Here come the gross parts...
I’m sure she had intentions of cleaning, but probably put it off till tomorrow...
I don’t want to even think what that pile on the sink is...
Always room for more pizza and do-nuts!
This is a Houston apartment, found during a recent hurricane evacuationinspection. By the looks of the stained couch cushions, she didn’t movevery far from here. This is NOT hurricane damage -the apartment was found this way prior to the hurricane.Hard to believe there wasn’t a fire with all the cigarettes.Did this woman ever hear of an ashtray? Nope - empty soda cups will do...All the Febreze, Clorox and bleach in the world isn’t going to help this mess!NOOOOOOOOO - not the computer!!!Notice the small “butt free” area around the bottom of the mouse where herhand rubbed the mouse pad, and what keys on the keyboard that were used...Here come the gross parts...I’m sure she had intentions of cleaning, but probably put it off till tomorrow...I don’t want to even think what that pile on the sink is...Always room for more pizza and do-nuts! Remember when you last said to a visitor,
“Sorry about the mess, I haven’t done my cleaning yet today!”
After looking at this, it’s safe to say that your house is not so bad after all...
QuotaBills Every man is a king at home. - English Proverb
An old man in a house is a good sign. - Benjamin Franklin
Oscar night at my house is called Passover. - Bob Hope
A road to a friend's house is never long. - Danish Proverb
A spotless house is a sign of a misspent life. - Unknown
At my house, Dust is a noun, not a verb. - Unknown
He'd go through the house like Typhoon Mary. - Archie Bunker
Home cooking. Where many a man thinks his wife is. - Jimmy Durante
There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. - Jane Austen
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. - Edward R. Murrow
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. - Ken Olson
To be happy in the home is the ultimate result of all ambition. - Samuel Johnson
At worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived. - Rose Macaulay
If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers
In the haunted house of life, art is the only stair that doesn't creak. - Tom Robbins
Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. - Robert Frost
You know you're a redneck if your home has wheels and your car doesn't. - Jeff Foxworthy
I went to a haunted house, looked under the kitchen table, and found spirit gum. - Steven Wright
Architect: One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money. - Ambrose Bierce
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. - George Moore
Do you know what White House correspondents call actors who pose as reporters? Anchors. - Jay Leno
Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home. - Bill Cosby
Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home. - Phyllis Diller
If you want to see me, come over anytime. If you want to see my house, make an appointment. - Unknown
So finally, the great Jefferson, who always reclined to cross my freshhold is into the house. - Archie Bunker
In my house on the ceilings I have paintings of the rooms above, so I never have to go upstairs. - Steven Wright
He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his. - William Shakespeare
You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax - tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough. - Pearl Williams
A woman should cleave into her husband. Right here in this house is where Edith's cleavage belongs. - Archie Bunker
Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell. - Joan Crawford
The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies. - Neil Gaiman
The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant - and let the air out of the tires. - Dorothy Parker
The wonderful world of home appliances now makes it possible to cook indoors with charcoal and outdoors with gas. - Bill Vaughan
A girl phoned me the other day and said, "Come on over, nobody's home." I went over. Nobody was home. - Rodney Dangerfield
What's a good investment? Go home from work early and spend the afternoon throwing a ball around with your son. - Ben Stein
I have a microwave fireplace in my house... The other night I laid down in front of the fire for the evening in two minutes. - Steven Wright
If another one of my Whole Food friends says my wife should have a home birth, I am going to punch all the soy on the planet. - Patton Oswalt
At fifty, the madwoman in the attic breaks loose, stomps down the stairs, and sets fire to the house. She won't be imprisoned anymore. - Erica Jong
I am a gypsy. I haven't had a home for a long time. Call me a homeless person - I just throw everything in a bag and I'm good to go. - Taylor Kinney
I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they weren't included. - Steven Wright
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It’s All Mine
Light Beer House
Where’s The Remote?
Inbred Dog
Snow Roller
Just Because You Are Right
2019 Hooters Owl & Birds of Prey Calendars (3)
Coffee D Cups
Keyboard Technology - Old Meets New
Elephant Phonics
Why We Need Libraries
Busy Schedule
Copy Cats
Winter Traffic Lights
Graffiti Food
Sinus Remedy - How To Clear Out Your Nostrils
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It might seem peculiar to some people to talk about the ‘next’ global recession, given that it doesn’t feel like we ever really got out of the last one. Eight years on from the global financial crash we find that the global economy is still drowning in debt, and this new era of low economic growth, high unemployment and squeezed wages/conditions has somehow become normalised.
‘Secular stagnation’ is the description de jure of the global capitalist system’s inability to return to another bout of prosperity. But while our old friend Boom departed the stage some time ago, his unruly brother Bust is waiting in the wings, preparing to make an unwelcome return.
Well that’s according to some of the world’s major financial institutions which have been forecasting that 2016 will be the year of the next big global downturn. In the last fortnight the IMF reduced its global growth forecast to 3.1%, that’s a mere 0.1% over the threshold of what constitutes recession. While last month Daiwa – Japan’s second largest brokerage house – and Citibank both released reports in which they made a global financial meltdown in 2016 their baseline scenarios! Let that sink in for a minute; they’re not saying a meltdown next year is their worst case scenario, they’re saying it’s their assumed one!
So what could trigger this predicted crash? Well to echo the words of Yogi Bear, ‘It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future’. Nevertheless there is general agreement that debt was the trigger for the crash of 2008. Considering that today the global economy is even deeper in the debt mire, it requires no great leap of faith to believe that debt will be central to the coming crisis.
But let’s try narrow the focus a bit to the three main black spots where debt fuelled trouble is likely to emerge.
* Corporate debt: Despite the mainstream media’s constant scare mongering about government debt, its corporate debt we should be worried about. Corporate debt levels have ballooned to the point where a number of large multinationals, those big enough to be of systemic risk, look in danger of default. And should one collapse, we could be looking at another Lehman Brothers type moment. * Stock market bubble trouble: Despite poor levels of economic growth over the last few years, massive bubbles have been building in global stock markets – fuelled by QE and low interest rates – with many now seemingly on the brink. * The great Chinese slowdown: Despite mitigating the worst excesses of the 2008 crash through their massive stimulus measures, China’s engine is fast running out of steam. This has already hit commodity traders hard and pushed some emerging markets into recession. If it were to slip into recession itself it could drag the developed world down with it.
A Fate Worse than Debt
Do you remember ‘deleveraging’? Course you do, it was the great watchword of the corporate world in the post 2008 period. It’s essentially the process of selling ones assets to pay down debt. Well almost 8 years on, it’s safe to say it hasn’t happened, quite the opposite in fact, as corporate debt has hit new heights since 2008. With global growth continuing to decline and corporate profits starting to tumble, you can bet there are plenty of big multinationals who are looking at the liabilities on their balance sheets and then nervously over their shoulders.
One such corporate giant that’s been making headlines lately is Glencore. Glencore is one of the world’s largest commodity traders/mining operations, and its debt is looking more unsustainable by the day, with many banks and regulators worrying that its collapse could pose huge systemic risks. So how did it get here?
In the wake of the massive Chinese construction stimulus following the global crash, Glencore like many of the other mining giants, went hell for leather on cheap credit in an effort to expand their level of production to meet rising Chinese demand.
However with the major slowdown in the Chinese economy commodity prices are falling, meaning Glencore’s profits and share price have taken a serious hit. To make matters worse, it’s still tied to a multitude of what are now loss making mining contracts, which are costing the company berserk sums of money; meaning that it’s having serious trouble servicing its debt of around $30 billion.
What’s really frightening though is the insurance of Glencore’s skyrocketing debt, which the graph below illustrates. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently described Glencore’s trading division as ‘opaque’ and its exposure as ‘unknown’, which is coded language for; we don’t know what will happen if it collapses – but we know it will be bad.
This is reminiscent of Lehman Brothers, in that so much of their debt was tied up in exotic financial insurance instruments, and then repackaged and resold as other things like structured investment vehicles. Thus nobody really knew the extent of their exposure, so when they collapsed contagion spread like wildfire. Glencore’s current condition is starting to awaken many of those uncomfortable memories.
Graph 1.: CDS = Credit Default Swaps.
Bubble Trouble
Over the last few years stock markets have been bubbling away at a time when the global economy (China aside) hasn’t been able to get out of second gear. To the casual observer this might seem a peculiar state of affairs. For if a stock market (in theory anyway) is supposed to be a reflection of an economy and GDP growth levels are so sluggish, then clearly something else is driving this activity.
And that thing is debt. When we understand that a bubble is just the inflation of an asset – housing, bonds, stocks, etc – that is fueled by debt; and that governments and central banks have allowed debt levels to soar through quantitative easing (see: printing money) and low interests rates, then our story starts to make sense.
Instead of using the last few years to investment in productive things like research and development, large companies have been using their access to cheap credit to buy back their own shares, to increase dividends to their shareholders and to speculate in ever riskier financial instruments. All of which has served to fuel the kind of stock market bubbles that we can see illustrated below in the example of the US.
Graph 2.
This major debt overhang, coupled with the current climate of weak demand, is what stopped the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in September, and it’s unlikely they’ll deviate from that policy at the end of the year. Because if they were to suddenly hike interest rates, many large companies who have become reliant on cheap credit just to maintain the day to day costs of operations would suddenly have a major problem servicing their debts, and such a jolt to the system could provoke a stock market crash.
This is what happened in the stock market crash of 1937, or as its often known as ‘the recession within Depression’. After a weak recovery from the Great Depression, where unemployment was still high, policy makers tightened fiscal and monetary policy as a pre-emptive measure against inflation – the effects of which proved devastating.
The great Chinese slowdown
The massive stimulus measures the Chinese government undertook after 2008 is what kept global demand from collapsing. So much so that in 2012 China managed to account for a whopping 85% of global growth. But they borrowed massively to fund this stimulus, meaning debt levels ballooned as one of the largest property bubbles in human history was created. The graph below should give an indication of why Chinese policy makers, fearing a bursting of this bubble, have sharply cut back on construction, therein seening their share of global growth fall to less than 25%.
The effect of this contraction has been twofold; internally the rapid decline in growth means that Chinese firms are now facing increased pressure to repay their debts. But as Zero Hedge described just days ago; a quarter of Chinese firms with debt are unable to cover their annual interest expenses, meaning the Chinese banks having a significant amount of non-performing loans, far higher than the figures being given out by China’s banking regulator.
Externally China’s contraction has had a detrimental knock-on effect for the other emerging economies (Russia, Brazil, Argentina, India, etc) that had been supplying them with their base commodities for construction. The drop-off in demand for such goods has seen these countries pushed back into recession or on its edge.
Compounding this problem is the fact that many of these emerging economies, just like their more developed counterparts, are riddled with debt. In recent years many of their largest corporations borrowed heavily in cheap dollars. However with the value of the dollar continuing to rise relative to currencies of these emerging markets, they have been left badly exposed to a hike in US interest rates. And for those who know their history, this is not unlike what happened in the early 1980s with the Latin America debt crisis.
China is unlikely to face the same kind of financial crises that befell its neighbours Japan and South Korea in the 1990s, or Britain and the US in late 2000s. Quite simply because much of its debt is owed by state owned companies, it controls its own banks and it has the means to bail them out. Furthermore it has vast foreign exchange reserves, so there’s no need to fret about foreing capital suddenly drying up.
However the problem it does face is one of a slow burn debt crisis. Using its banks to simply engage in pretend and extend, by providing continuous credit to state owned firms that are failing, could result years of deflation and stagnation.
A matter of life or debt
The global economy is heading for a fall. Debt continues to scale new heights, growth is in the doldrums, and our political masters are fast running out of options. In 2008 they could loosen monetary policy and print money but now they’ve played this hand, which has resulted in bubbles in global stock markets and more debt in a world already saturated with the stuff. Now with the massive slowdown in China and other emerging markets, the world is on the brink of slipping back into another global recession.
What’s needed now is something much more radical; something that tries to get to the heart of the problem. Considering that debt, and to be more exact private debt, has created one of the biggest bubbles in human history, which unsurprisingly proved to be the trigger for the last crisis, why not look toward a debt write off of biblical proportions?
Taking its inspiration from the book of Deuteronomy, some people have been advancing the idea of a modern debt jubilee. The rationale behind this is simple and sound, and is captured nicely by Michael Hudson’s quip that ‘debts that’s can’t be repaid, won’t be repaid’.
The unfortunate thing is that it will probably take another global financial meltdown before such an idea can start to gain real traction. But the ways things are going we shouldn’t have to wait too long.The brother-in-law of Conservative Party campaign manager Jenni Byrne broke ethics rules by taking a job with a lobbying firm during the so-called “cooling off” period required of former ministerial staff, the federal ethics commissioner said Tuesday.
Dan Kosick, who is married to Byrne’s sister, Jerra, and now works for Human Resources Minister Pierre Poilievre, was found to have breached the Conflict of Interest Act after leaving government in 2013.
Kosick had served as a policy adviser to then-Human Resources minister Diane Finley from 2010 until August 2013, when he joined lobbying and public relations company Flagship Solutions, Inc. – a firm he had dealings with in his job with Finley.
Under the ethics law, public-office holders must wait one year after leaving their jobs before working for someone they had significant dealings with in government.
“I concluded that that Mr. Kosick clearly had direct and significant official dealings with Flagship during his last year in office,” Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson concluded in her report, released Tuesday.
“By accepting the offer of employment with Flagship during his cooling-off period, he contravened subsection 35(1) of the Conflict of Interest Act.”
Kosick’s wife, Jerra, was included in a group photograph of staff working in the party’s “war room” in Ottawa, posted by her sister, Jenni, who is managing the Conservative campaign, as she did in 2011. Jerra Byrne and Kosick have been married since 2012.
Jenni Byrne’s performance in the job was the subject of recent media reports that suggested some Tories – who spoke only under the veil of anonymity – were unhappy with the direction of the campaign.
The Conservatives have been beset by numerous ethics allegations in the years proceeding the election, but the Kosick case is the first in which someone involved is literally related to a senior party figure.
The party did not respond to a request for comment.
While he was at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Kosick had five meetings with Serge Buy, a Flagship lobbyist who lobbied on behalf of the National Association of Career Colleges (NACC), Dawson found. Three of the meetings were in the year before Kosick left his job in Finley’s office.
The NACC was lobbying to have the rules change for Canada Student Grants to make those enrolled in programs of less than two years eligible.
A few weeks after Kosick left his job in the summer of 2013, he met with Buy at a downtown Ottawa cafe to discuss taking a job with the NACC. Buy was also chief executive officer of the association.
Kosick called Dawson’s office the next day to check if this was acceptable. The same day, he told Buy he couldn’t take the job.
But Kosick two weeks later accepted a job through Flagship that would see him function as a director of communication with another Flagship client, the Canadian Ferry Operators Association, under contract to Flagship.
Kosick maintained that he didn’t violate the cooling-off provisions because he believed Buy was representing NACC directly in his role as CEO and was not lobbying through Flagship when they met at HRSDC.
“While it is possible that Mr. Kosick did not realize that he was being lobbied by Flagship at the time of the lobbying, it is |
ary tale for Star Wars, is the DC Extended Universe. DC’s efforts didn’t begin all that differently from Marvel’s: They started with a film centered around a flagship superhero, in this case Superman in Man of Steel. But instead of slowly building toward to a major team-up movie, with audience appetites whetted through a number of smaller franchises, DC went straight from Man of Steel to Batman v. Superman. There are plenty of reasons why DC and Warner Bros. did this: First of all, they were already way behind Marvel; second, it hadn’t been that long since Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, even if they aren’t a part of the DCEU; and third, it’s hard not to grab for the shiny gold ring. The problem is that, in doing so, they set expectations extraordinarily high for themselves. Despite its reputation as a failure, Batman v. Superman made more money than all but four MCU movies, and it’s the 47th-highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide. Sure, it wasn’t a historic hit, but in a vacuum, $873.3 million looks pretty good, particularly for a movie that people straight-up didn’t like. It’s just not good enough for what the studio had billed it as.
Which leads us back to Lucasfilm and Disney. As it stands, the Star Wars franchise looks a little like if Marvel had started off with The Avengers instead of Iron Man, with the challenge of having to deescalate from The Force Awakens while still building on its momentum. To do that, Disney has to make as clear as possible the idea that, even though Rogue One is a Star Wars story, it isn’t the Star Wars story; it’s free to be its own thing. There’s a reason studio projections of a movie’s opening weekend are often lower than independent tracking: It’s always better to overachieve than underachieve. And with The Force Awakens looming in the rearview, the only way Rogue One can avoid underachieving is if it’s judged by an entirely different set of measurements.Donald keeps getting criticized for criticizing race:
Mr. Trump has called Judge Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants, a “Mexican” and said he has a “conflict of interest” in the case because of Mr. Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico. The case that Judge Curiel is overseeing is a class-action suit in which students of the for-profit operation say they were defrauded. Mr. Dickerson asked Mr. Trump if, in his view, a Muslim judge would be similarly biased because of the Republican presumptive nominee’s call for a ban on Muslim immigrants. “It’s possible, yes,” Mr. Trump said. “Yeah. That would be possible. Absolutely.”
This reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt’s comments on the same subject:
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English- Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian- Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic. The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American.
Donald needs to point out that he isn’t criticizing race, he is criticizing identification. Nobody has a problem with a judge of Mexican descent who identifies as a freedom-loving American, and rules fairly in the interests of America and Americans. Everybody will have a problem with an American judge who identifies as a Mexican, and rules to advance the interests of Mexicans over Americans. Likewise, nobody has a problem with a Muslim judge who identifies as a freedom-loving American. Nobody wants a Muslim judge who identifies as a Muslim before being an American.
Donald needs to turn this into an issue of people either being loyal to some out-grouped identification, or loyal to America, first and foremost – and point out that he is the one calling for patriotic loyalty, while it is his opponents who are calling for treason and the betrayal of this nation and its people.
This would make him into the loyal American in the debate, and make everyone who opposes him into the traitors who want to betray us all. It would also force those listening to the issue to either identify themselves as people who want citizens to betray America, or people who are loyal Americans and part of the larger group – and thus Trump supporters.
This would also call up a subconscious amygdala pathway that a lot of us have been subtly developing for a long time – the issue of fellow citizens who view Americans as outsiders, because they identify as members of another country. For too long we have had people loyal to other nations help themselves to this nation’s bounty, while dmeanding our loyalty to them based on their technical citizenship, even though they themselves don’t even make a pretense of such loyalty to our nation, or its people.
With just a little rhetorical Judo, this entire issue becomes one his opponents would flee from, and one which would subtly force everyone to identify with the Donald – as a loyal, patriotic American, or openly self identify as one of the traitors who holds no loyalty to this nation or its people.One of my resolutions is to treat myself like a toddler. I’ve found that much of the advice aimed at children is just as helpful for me.
For instance, I’m reading Nicole Malenfant’s Routines and Transitions: A Guide for Early Childhood Professionals (non sequitur: a surprising name for a expert). She lays out several strategies for teachers to use in establishing routines and transitions for children. I’m going to try to apply them to myself.
Here’s a tips list, loosely adapted:
Turn routines into games. My evening tidy-up, while not quite a “game,” is kind of fun and quite relaxing. Control the level of noise. I’m much calmer when there’s no TV or music playing in the background. (Except at night. Weirdly, my husband and I fall asleep to all-news radio.) Organize space so it’s attractive, well organized, and well lit. One of my most important Secrets of Adulthood: Outer order contributes to inner calm. Plan times each day for relaxing activities. Why is this so hard for adults? Encourage a feeling of belonging, e.g., by displaying children’s work and pictures. I have a resolution to Cultivate a shrine. Consider children’s reactions when making an unavoidable change. I do better with routines and predictability. I don’t react well when there’s a sudden change in the schedule. Balance indoor and outdoor activities. Just going outside into the sunlight gives a mood boost. Make sure there’s plenty of time to get things done without rushing. This makes a huge difference in my day-to-day. In Happier at Home, I write a lot about my struggle to create an unhurried atmosphere at home. Provide opportunities for curiosity and. Speak in a calm voice. This is a big issue in my home. We talk all the time about “a kind voice,” “a mean voice.” Explain the behavior you’d like to see in a clear, respectful way. Not “Settle down,” but “Sit in your chair with your feet under your desk.” Not “I could use a little help around here,” but “Please unload the dishwasher so we can get the dirty dishes out of the sink.” Meet people’s basic needs. Children and adults need to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, rest, and spend time outside.
It’s such a cliche to say that “I learned everything I need to know in kindergarten,” but I find that sometimes the most basic ideas are quite effective.
What would you add to this list? What lessons from nursery?
Also...Marco Galan underwent surgery after Sunday incident where he was lifted into the air after black fighting bull thrust its left horn into his groin
A Spanish bullfighter gored in the testicles by a bull he was fighting has left hospital.
The huge black fighting bull thrust its left horn into Marco Galan’s groin, lifting him in the air, after he thrust two spears into the animal’s back on Sunday at Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring, Spain’s largest.
The bull’s right horn went through his blue and white jacket, knocking him to the ground and he was dragged to the ground before other bullfighters used their capes to lure the animal away, video images showed.
The footage shows Marcos walking to the bullring’s infirmary where he underwent surgery before being taken to Madrid’s Hospital San Francisco de Asis.
The infirmary said in its medical report that he had suffered a “bull horn wound in the scrotum which caused bruising and evisceration of the left testicle”.
Marcos was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday morning and ordered to rest at home for the next few days.
“It was not such a big deal, although it caught me in the back and in a very painful area. In the end I just needed to have my scrotum sewed,” he told local newspaper El Semanal de la Mancha at his home in Alcazar de San Juan, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Madrid.
The newspaper published a picture of Marcos smiling and giving the thumbs up signal as he rested in his hospital bed surrounded by his brother and two friends.
Spain's San Isidro bullfighting festival suspended after three matadors injured Read more
Marcos is a “banderillero” whose job is to jab the bull with two barbed sticks called “banderillas” before the animal faces a matador alone in the ring.
The goring took place on the last night of the month-long Feria de San Isidro, the Spanish capital’s biggest bullfighting festival held each year at the 25,000-seat Las Ventas bullring.
The festival was called off last year for the first time in more than three decades after bulls gored two matadors and tossed a third into the air. All three men were hospitalised but survived.Domain theft is all over the news at the moment, with a string of high value domains alleged to have been stolen from domain investors and other businesses. What does it really involve and more importantly what can be done to prevent it?
Domain theft occurs when hackers obtain access to your domains, update the owner information and transfer these domains to themselves or other parties. They are sometimes then advertised for sale on forums and marketplaces, often for less than they’re generally considered to be worth.
Hackers will target domain investors and small businesses as they are seen as softer targets compared to major corporations who can employ digital security experts or use the services of firms to guard against threats posed by hackers.
How to prevent domain theft?
No one likes the thought of having their domains stolen, but as high-value domains will sell for thousands on the open market, the lucrative nature of this type of theft makes it a permanent reality. As there are no straightforward mechanisms available to a Registrar for returning a stolen domain to its rightful owner, and often domains are stolen using legitimate passwords, prevention is the key. Follow these simple steps to help protect your domains from theft.
The most common method used by thieves to steal domains is by hacking in to your email. If possible, it is highly advised that you combat this by setting your whois information to private. This will make it more difficult for domain thieves to find the email address used for the account a domain is managed under, as it won’t be publicly listed on the WHOIS. Keep an offline list of all domains, separate from the ones saved by your registrars. This will make it easier for you to reconcile the domains you own against those listed in an account with your Registrar(s) so that you can spot possible errors. Use two-factor authentication! User names and passwords simply aren’t enough these days. Thousands of sophisticated daily phishing and malware attacks expose the vulnerability of a simple password protection system. Two-factor authentication is quick and easy to setup and works by adding the entry of a short pin number into the login process. This pin number can be emailed, sent as an SMS to your phone, or displayed via an authenticator app on your phone (as used by Internet.bs). Hold on to the “handover” period. All gTLD transfers go through a five day “handover” period where the transfer of a domain is held for five days to give the Registrant the ability to opt out of the transfer. There is an override mechanism available to Registrars where they can “force” the transfer to happen immediately via the automated EPP system. Registrars have the choice to make this mechanism available to their customers through their control panel. When choosing a Registrar consider whether a domain thief will have the ability to quickly transfer your domain away if they gain access to your account. Look for additional security features. Some Registrars offer additional security features such as IP logging and notification services; make use of these features if they are available. Use a registry lock for high value domains. Most Registries offer an even higher level of domain security in the form of a Registry Lock. This Registry Lock only allows a domain to be transferred, or in some cases updated, if an authorised representative of the Registrar contacts the Registry and approves using a verified passphrase. This is a very effective method of security and most Registrars will only take this action after fully verifying a customer and their request. Note: Most Registrars will charge a fee for this service.
Registrars will always try to make the domain management process as simple as possible for their customers by automating systems as much as possible. This means that Domain thieves can move quickly if they gain access to your account. Make sure you are taking charge of your domain security by putting the appropriate measures in place to ward off the would be thieves.
Internet.bs is a leader in providing protection services for domain name owners.
www.Internet.bs
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The United States has never won a World Baseball Classic championship, but it is one victory away from changing that following Tuesday's 2-1 win over Japan in the semifinals at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Runs batted in from Andrew McCutchen and Adam Jones proved to be the difference, as the American pitching staff kept a Japan lineup that was previously undefeated in this year's WBC in check. As a result, the United States will face Puerto Rico in Wednesday's title game.
The U.S. Olympic team reacted to the triumph:
Regardless of what happens against Puerto Rico, the Americans have advanced further in the 2017 edition than they did in any of the previous three WBCs. As for Japan, it won the tournament in 2006 and 2009 but couldn't come through with a timely hit to advance past the United States on Tuesday.
It is a baseball cliche that good pitching beats good hitting, and that was on full display throughout the game amid a steady rain, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:
The United States started Tanner Roark, who threw four shutout innings and allowed just two hits. Bob Nightengale of USA Today called it a "fabulous outing," and the Washington Nationals pitcher earned a flame emoji from his WBC team:
Roark's counterpart, Japan's Tomoyuki Sugano, was even more effective, as he didn't allow an earned run and struck out six in six innings. However, he was the victim of unfortunate luck, as the Americans pushed across an unearned run after Ryosuke Kikuchi's error when McCutchen singled home Christian Yelich.
Kikuchi made up for his blemish in the bottom of the sixth when he drilled a game-tying solo homer off Nate Jones. Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report thought back to Jones' homer-robbing catch from earlier in the tournament when watching the ball just make it over McCutchen's glove:
Both teams turned to their formidable bullpens in the late innings, and Andrew Miller (0.2 innings, zero runs) and Sam Dyson (1.0 innings, zero runs) impressed. However, they couldn't match Kodai Senga's strikeout prowess, as Japan's first reliever punched out the first four batters he faced.
However, the Americans got to him when Brandon Crawford singled, advanced to third on Ian Kinsler's double and scored on Jones' groundout. Nobuhiro Matsuda bobbled Jones' grounder, eliminating the chance to throw Crawford out at home.
Japan had a chance to tie the game or take the lead when Mark Melancon allowed a single and a walk in the eighth, but Pat Neshek escaped the jam. However, Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh's flyout to end the inning looked to be gone for a second, as Cespedes Family BBQ described:
There was no such drama in the ninth, as Luke Gregerson closed Japan in 1-2-3 fashion to clinch the win.
The United States can now turn its attention toward a rematch with a Puerto Rico squad that features plenty of MLB stars, including Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Carlos Correa and Yadier Molina. Puerto Rico beat the Americans 6-5 in Pool F play when the United States came up just short in the ninth with two runs and the game-tying one stranded on third.
The slate will be wiped clean for Wednesday's contest, as the two loaded rosters will battle for the WBC's ultimate prize.
Postgame Reaction
Jones discussed his team's standing after the victory, per MLB Network:
McCutchen talked about his role, per USA Baseball: "Everybody's a super star on this team but somebody's gotta hit seventh, eighth so there are no egos on this team."
Gregerson commented on his save opportunity, per MLB Network PR: "I don't want to let these guys down. You have so many amazing players out there. For them to trust me with the ball in the end there, it's a little heart-wrenching at times. You just have to take a deep breath and do what you normally do."IRONWOOD, MICH. -- Here come the hunting hounds, howling, some 200 yards through woodland. Approaching echoes mean only one thing. Something is intended to be cornered, or killed. “I can hear the dogs coming, now. We're going to let them finish this thing off. It’s a beautiful, beautiful coyote.... He might have a little fight left in him. His eyes are open,” a narrator exhales into the video. It was posted on YouTube, but since has been removed, as criminal charges are considered. The hounds bound through deep snow, toward a mature coyote, already shot and wounded, lying nearly motionless on the thigh-high drifts. Its eyes blink. The narrator wants the dogs to finish what the hunter did not. “This is going to be some live action," the man says as he aims the video camera. “There he his. There he is. Get him, Doc. Get him.... We're going to get Cooter in here. He's a machine.” Radio-collared tracking hounds tear, and are torn at, by the wounded predator. The video is in the hands of the Gogebic County prosecutor, after an investigation from a Michigan Department of Natural Resources law officer. The prosecutor did not return multiple requests for comment.
The Department of Natural Resources has requested Gogebic County authorities to determine if this hound attack on a wounded coyote was unlawful
In the words of the narrator, the coyote is “beautiful.” Red wounds smear untrodden snow against the wintry white powder. The yelps and cries of the out-numbered coyote and the attacking dogs are high-pitched. They are harsh. Hound-hunting is not illegal in Michigan. This might be just another local case for law enforcement to sort out, whether it crosses a boundary into animal fighting or abuse. But its implications are larger and about to become part of a national narrative in the debate about wolf hunting – one of Michigan’s hottest political issues. Anti-hunt groups fear hounding could become a new method in Michigan's emerging wolf hunt, illegal now for wolves, but legal for some other game. “It is very difficult to watch. It was just absolutely horrible,” said Nicole Paquette, vice president of wildlife cruelty for the Humane Society of the United States, which is releasing an edited version of
"This is just the most egregious practice that I have seen in a long time.” Paquette says. A spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources says hound-hunting for wolves is not under consideration. Leading wolf-hunt supporters agree. “This does not represent hound hunters in any way,” said Mike Thorman, legislative leader for the Michigan Hunting Dog Federation. “Many times hunters release the animal that has been tracked. This is not what we stand for.” He stressed that hound-hunting organizations strongly opposed using dogs in the recent Michigan wolf hunt. He also said the hounds in the video would never have caught up with the coyote if it were not wounded; they are too wary. And he said virtually every wolf studied was captured in a humane leg-hold trap, collared, and released. In 2012, wolves were delisted from Great Lakes protection. Michigan’s first hunt was in November and December. Last year’s 45-day hunt fell short of goals. Twenty-two wolves were killed – 11 males and 11 females - ranging from less than a year old to more than seven years old. The oldest female was taken by a 14-year-old boy in Mackinac County. She was perhaps the alpha female of the pack, usually the only one to breed. Forty-three wolves were targeted in three Upper Peninsula units where livestock and dog attacks have been recorded. An MLive investigation found most of the livestock attacks occurred on a single farm. The owner was charged with poor animal husbandry after the MLive series. He had been reimbursed for his losses by the government, and was provided taxpayer-paid wolf deterrents. A local judge who had a permit to hunt wolves on the farm removed himself from the case. The court appointed the judge’s attorney son to represent the farmer, who pleaded no contest this spring. But in Michigan, only weapons may be used to hunt wolves. Anti-hunters fear last year’s limited outcome could lead to pressure for more successful measures, like hounding and trapping. Wisconsin does it this way. Hunters there killed more wolves last year than in Michigan. Wisconsiners want to reduce what some say is a past-peak population. Wisconsin was estimated to have only about 150 more wolves than Michigan, about 800. But hunters there killed 257 last season, compared to Michigan’s 22. The hunt there is longer and hounding and trapping is legal. Trapping is by far the most successful method, accounting for 70 percent of wolf kills in Wisconsin. Another 14 percent – or 35 wolves – were taken with the aid of dogs. Opponents argue whether hounds and traps are fair sport or whether wolves should even be hunted. Voters may not get to decide. Ballot questions in November would let voters weigh in. But a separate signature initiative, promoted by pro-hunt groups, could make that moot if lawmakers approve it this summer. Ed Golder, spokesman for the DNR, said there are no internal discussions about wolf hunting, or additional hunting methods. All is on hold, pending the political outcomes, and hounding has not been a large consideration, he said. He is also aware of the coyote video, calling it “reprehensible behavior and a serious violation of hunter ethics.” The Humane Society of the United States is hoping the case will forestall any discussion about hounding and wolves in Michigan. The graphic video is at the center of a case in which northern Michigan authorities are deciding whether to bring criminal charges again a huntsman – or huntsmen - who urged dogs to kill the injured coyote, already shot several times, the narrator says. “The dogs are coming pretty hard.The coyote is wounded right here. We shot him three of four times, nice big coyote,” the narrator says. Indeed, the coyote has fight left, but not enough. The cameraman calls the dogs - bounding through snowy gaps in a maze of leafless trees – and tape rolling as they attack The video, posted on YouTube in late February, has since been taken down. Authorities began their investigation in March. The central question facing the prosecutor: Is this criminal animal abuse, or lawful hunting? Leaders of traditional hunting groups are appalled by the video. A young boy - maybe not yet in his teens - was brought on camera to witness the event. The video runs about six minutes, showing at least three hunting dogs attacking the animal, as the cameraman says, this “ ’yote is in deep trouble.” "I want to see what happens when the dogs get to this thing. Here they come,” the narrator says. But these words, from the narrator on the YouTube video that is now evidence, bewilders opponents. Jill Fritz is director of the anti-hunt group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected. She also is state director for the Humane Society of the United States, which heavily supports the anti-wolf hunt efforts, and is mostly funding the effort to end it. “It’s horrible, and it is unimaginable too, considering what that coyote is going through. Michigan’s animal cruelty law specifically prohibits a person from knowingly killing, torturing, mutilating, maiming, or disfiguring an animal. What is in the video appears to be a violation of that law and not covered under the exemption for regulated hunting, trapping, or wildlife control practices.”
-- Email statewide projects coordinator John Barnes at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.Mental health assessments state categorically that the girl, who is being held in a Darwin detention centre, should not be returned to Pacific island
Lawyers seek to stop five-year-old with psychiatric illness being sent to Nauru
Lawyers for a five-year-old asylum seeker with post traumatic stress disorder held in Darwin’s Wickham Point detention centre are preparing to seek an injunction to stop her being moved back to Nauru.
The girl is one of a growing number of asylum seekers who have been brought to Australia from Manus Island or Nauru with serious physical or psychological conditions.
Their stays are supposed to be temporary, but in a number of cases lawyers are preparing to take action to halt their removal.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A drawing purportedly of a person with stitched lips drawn by a five-year-old girl held in detention in Darwin released by her lawyers. Photograph: supplied
The ABC reported the girl had displayed inappropriate sexual behaviour from her time at the Nauru detention centre.
A review by former integrity commissioner Philip Moss last month found there was evidence that sexual assaults had taken place at the detention centre.
John Lawrence SC, acting for the family, told Guardian Australia that when he visited the family and met the girl on Sunday, he asked her to write her name on a page next to his, in an effort to begin conversation.
“I wrote ‘Johnny’ and asked her to write her name, and she wrote her name which wasn’t her name at all but was in fact her... designation within the department, the numbers ascribed to a boat on which she arrived at Christmas Island in 2013,” he said.
Lawrence then asked her to draw pictures of Nauru and she drew suns, saying it was hot. “Then she drew a stick figure which depicted a person with lips which had stitches on them and she used a red crayon to draw the stitches,” Lawrence said.
Three recent psychiatric reports seen by Guardian Australia stated categorically the girl should not be sent back to Nauru. They recommended the family be given community detention, listing the girl’s “supportive parents” as a protective factor.
The psychiatric assessments detailed the girl’s mental health problems, including a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder, multiple acts of self harm, nightmares and bedwetting. A further report from a psychologist said depression and extreme anxiety were “pervasive throughout all areas of her life”. One of the psychiatrist’s reports said that was triggered by reminders of Nauru.
Other documents seen by Guardian Australia say the young girl was exhibiting “sexualised behaviour” at the Nauru facility last year, and her parents reported the girl had been exposed to sexualised behaviour on Christmas Island. She was seen by medical professionals on Nauru who determined “no concerns identified”.
Lawrence, a criminal lawyer, is taking action in the federal court on behalf of the family to keep them in Australia after the father’s medical treatment is completed.
“The first and foremost concern is the prospect of being returned to Nauru,” Lawrence said.
The immigration department has repeatedly stated detainees who are brought to Australia for medical treatment are told they will be returned to the offshore detention facilities.
“The department of immigration can say that, but they also know this child is suffering from serious psychiatric illness,” Lawrence said.
“We’re happy to engage with the department to achieve something that is humane. The other thing that is relevant to this family’s situation and the way the government deals with them, is the father has two uncles resident in Australia and living in Sydney and we’re hoping the government will grant them some type of community visa.
“As a criminal lawyer of over 25 years experience I’ve visited all types of people in prison. To visit a prisoner in an Australian jail who is a five-year-old girl is deplorable, offensive and depressing, and it just shouldn’t happen.”
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has been contacted for comment.Lots of new stuff coming in the Fate and Time 0.34 Patch: New Cards, Holiday Pack, Gauntlets, and Balance changes.
NEW CARDS
Chronos (Greek) Ranged unit, God, 5 mana, 4/4, Epic Player turns last 20 seconds.
Xing Tian (Chinese) Melee unit, God, 5 mana, 2/2, Rare Warcry: Deploy an axe. Friendly units that end their turn on it gain +4/+4 and consume it.
Aftershock (Chinese) Spell, 2 mana, Rare Deal 2 damage to an enemy unit. If the unit is Stunned, deal 5 instead.
Beckoning Strike (Chinese) Spell, 3 mana, Rare Deal 2 damage and spawn a random 2 cost unit.
Caldera Nova (Roman) Spell, 6 mana, Epic Explode all Lava tiles dealing 1 damage to adjacent enemies. If this card is included in your deck, the match starts with two Lava tiles on the battlefield.
Equalize (Hindu) Spell, 3 mana, Common Draw a card from your deck and from your opponent’s deck.
Gift of the Nile (Egyptian) Spell, 1 mana, Common Give a friendly unit Afterlife: spawn a 1/1 version of this unit.
Power Delve (Roman) Spell, 7 mana, Rare Discover a unit that costs 7 or more and reduce its cost to 0.
Recursive Vitality (Chinese) Spell, 1 mana, Common Give a God +1/+0. When you play a God, return this card from your graveyard.
Soul Bind (Hindu) Spell, 2 mana, Common Select two units that cost 4 or less. When one dies, the other dies.
Voice of Eternity (Egyptian) Spell, 1 mana, Common Discover a card with Afterlife.
NEW HOLIDAY PACK
Get ready for the Winter Holidays with the Hand of the Gods Holiday Pack! The Holiday pack will replace the Halloween Pack in the store on all platforms with the release of OB 0.34. The pack includes Limited Edition Skins for Hand of the Gods, featuring a new unit model, Special FX, Sound FX, and Card Art. In addition to unit skins, the Holiday Pack includes exclusive Leader skins for Ah Puch and Nu Wa, along with two Limited Edition Holiday Avatars, and a Holiday Card Back!
Each Holiday Pack opened will unlock a skin, avatar, or card back you have not already unlocked (Gods skins will award 2 copies). Holiday Skins are not disenchantable, and will only be available for the duration of the promotion.The Holiday Pack will be purchasable for 300 Runes and unlock one of the following with each opened:
Nu Wa Leader Skin – Nice and Naughty
Ah Puch Leader Skin – Nutcromancer
Geb God Skin – Snowman
Ratatoskr God Skin – Festive
Fenrir God Skin – Wreck the Halls
Holiday Avatar – Ruderp
Holiday Avatar – Pupresent Kaldr
Holiday Card Back
NEW GAUNTLETS
Weekday Gauntlet 1: Time Shift Player turns last 30 seconds. 8 Wins Rewards: 2 Core Packs 100 Favor Cutesy Fafnir
Weekday Gauntlet 2: Colossal Decks can only include cards that cost 5 or more. Players start with 5 mana. 8 Wins Rewards: 2 Core Packs 100 Favor Cutesy Merdusa
Weekend Gauntlet 1: Sharing is Caring Player’s draw from their opponent’s deck. Decks must include at least 15 unit cards. 8 Wins Rewards: 3 Core Packs 150 Favor Cutesy Ah Muzen Cab
Weekend Gauntlet 2: Highlander Players can only have one copy per card in their deck. 8 Wins Rewards: 3 Core Packs 150 Favor Cutesy Zhong Kui
Only decks created from your collection and meeting the deck requirements will be eligible for use in the Gauntlet. This must be done before entering the queue.
Rewards will be granted to players who achieve 8 wins.
Monday at 5am EDT – Friday at 5am EDT players will be able to access two weekday gauntlets.
Friday at 5am EDT – Monday at 5am EDT players will be able to access two weekend gauntlets.
After a player has won or lost a specific gauntlet type, they will not be able to enter that same gauntlet again until the daily cooldown resets at 5am EDT.
GENERAL
Halloween Pack The Halloween Pack will be turning off with OB 0.34, this is players last chance to get the limited edition Skins, Avatar, and Card Back: Grim Mariachi Loki (1 Copy) Jack the Reaper Thanatos (2 Copies) Slaughterhouse Chaac (2 Copies) Feline Fashion Awilix (2 Copies) Limited Edition Pum-Pukin Avatar Limited Edition Vesuvius Card Back
UI Improvements We have made further tweaks and improvements to the in-game UI
Card Text Updates (Spawn) Spawned Units will now always spawn in random tile adjacent to your summoning stone.
BALANCE
Ascension Gods returned to your hand now cost 1 less.
Bacchus Cost reduced to 3 Attack reduced from 4 to 3. Health reduced from 4 to 3.
Blood Bond Enemy unit killed now leaves behind a friendly Zombie.
Death From Above Now leaves behind a friendly Zombie.
Kaldr Now only gains +1/+0 while Skadi is in play.
Lernaean Hydra 6 mana 5/5 Heals to full at the end of each turn. Whenever this unit deals damage it gains +1/+0.
Pillar of Fortitude Cost increased from 2 to 3. Health increased from 3 to 4.
Pillar of Patience Health reduced from 7 to 5.
Poisonous Hydra Cost increased from 4 to 5 Attack increased from 4 to 5.
Runestone of Ire Cost increased to 4.
Raise the Grave Now gives +2/+2 to all friendly Zombies.
Tusky Attack reduced from 4 to 3
Ymir Health reduced from 6 to 5.
BUG FIXES
Added a final step in order of operations to end all end of turn effects properly.
Added Cursed Dragon’s Poison Pools to the combat log.
Ao Kuang’s bonus Spell Damage no longer applies to Fatigue Damage.
Blade Forge effect no longer triggers during death animation.
Fixed an issue where Aspect of Life was drawing a card if you had no other cards in hand.
Fixed an issue where Pillar of Fortitude was not granting +0/+2 to Pillar of Patience, Pillar of Parity, and Pillar of Retribution.
Fixed an issue with where the Poisonous card would not properly deal damage if its Mana cost was increased.
Fixed an issue where Rapacious Satyrs ability was activating before instantaneous warcries (such as Poseidon).
Gauntlet wins will now properly progress quests.
Phantom Grasp now properly pauses the Turn Timer during its animation.
Siege Master can now only target enemy structures with his Warcry.
Source1 of 5
Mel Evans/Associated Press
Take one look at tight end Adrien Robinson, the Giants’ fourth-round pick in 2012, and it’s not hard to see why the front office fell in love with him as a prospect.
Robinson has good size (6’4”, 264 pounds), is athletic and seems to possess better than average strength to hold up as an in-line blocker.
What Robinson hasn’t had so far is luck. Last summer, he had finally earned a chance to convince the coaching staff that he could be the team's future at tight end when a sprained foot suffered in the preseason finale ended up costing him much of the season.
When Robinson did return—the fact that the team didn’t place him on injured reserve despite the apparent severity of his injury says a lot about how they viewed him as a prospect—he was again put back on the shelf after suffering a season-ending knee injury on the opening kickoff coverage in Week 16.
This year, a more mature Robinson told reporters that he finally understands what it takes to become a pro’s pro and has rededicated himself to his craft.
“I stay extra every day, stay and get extra film,” he said of the changes he made to his offseason preparation.
“I’m on the elliptical every day trying to get my weight down more so I’m just doing a lot of things differently |
av sig hastigt iväg!
Högst sannolikt var det bil 1520, som vittnet, I, såg på Drottninggatan 23:10!
Det eftersom polisen talat osanning därvid och sagt, till vittnet, att inga polisbilar
med sådant nummer, var i tjänst den kvällen, de sade: ”Det var säkert ett vaktbolag!”
Det kunde uteslutas efter kontroll! Dels förnekade vaktbolaget, att bil funnits där då,
dels hade de inte likadana kläder och klädesfärg, som polisen.
(Vittnet I var yrkesmässig specialist på färger)!
Eftersom bil 1520 bevisligen var i tjänst, så talade tyvärr polisen osanning!
Varför? Det var därtill just en sådan polis-Saab som vittnet I sett.
(Bil 1520 var vid T-centralen kl. 22:49! Sedan vid Kungsträdgården och därefter på
David B:s gata)!
Således var bil 1520 tveklöst på Drottninggatan! Om C. D. och T. E, i bil 1520,
körde från nämnda plats på Drottninggatan, säg ca. 23:11, och om, denna fredagskväll
med trafik och trafikljus, man räknar med en snitt-hastighet av 30 km/tim, så blir
körtiden till Kungsträdgården ca. 2 min 24 sek, säg 3min. (ca 1,3 km), och därifrån
till David B:s gata, ca 1 min 36 sek, säg 2 min. (ca. 0,9 km). Således: 23:11 + 3 min.
+ 2 min = 23:16; 23:23 – 23:16 = 7 min. D.v.s. bil 1520 hade hela 7 min. på sig från
Kungsträdgården och till mötet med Lars på David B:s gata, kl: 23:23!
Däremot var det omöjligt, för 1520, att köra från Kungsträdgården 23:23, även
om larmet hade gått ut då och vara på David B:s gata 23:23! Inte ens en körtid
dit, på 1 min, är rimligt!
Poliserna i bil 1520 hade således god tid på sig, att infinna sig i mördarens flyktväg på
David B:s gata, även om tiderna ovan skulle variera någon minut hit el. dit! (Högre
hastighet ger mer än 7 min)!
C. D. hördes inte om bil 1520 var på Drottninggatan kl. 23:10! Varför hördes
han inte därom? För känsligt? Tydligen så fanns således bil 1520 där! Varför?
(Den måste stå någonstans för att vänta på direktiv, via walkie-talkie, var mördaren
skulle hämtas upp och biografen Grand ligger på samma sida om Sveavägen som bil
1520 stod på).
En polis hade sin privatbil parkerad vid flyktvägen. Den polisen fanns
i bil 1520! Mycket lämpligt om man skulle föra bort mördaren och vapnet från platsen
Vittnet ”Eva” hade sett två män med Walkie-talkie, på Johannesgatan. Det
bluffade polisen bort, och sade ung: ”Det var tre alkisar,” vilket polisen omöjligen
kunde veta! Eva hade även sett en polis-Volvo på Johannesgatan, (identifierad)!
Det har sedan nämnts att privatbilen, i flyktvägen, tillhörde en polis i piketbilen 3230.
Så mycket värre, om det fanns två polisbilar, ”för tidigt” i flyktvägen! (Tre med
Volvon på Johannesgatan, intill David B:s gata).
Larmets fördröjning.
Larmet hade inte gått ut 23:23! Det styrks av att telefonisten på Jäfälla-taxi (efter vittnes
-påringning från taxiföraren), larmade LAC kl. 23:23:40 (styrkt), larmet fördröjdes. LAC
larmade LC (ledningscentralen), 23:24:40, som då inte visste något om
skottlossningen. Larmet fördröjdes tydligen igen. LC ringde tillbaka till LAC 23:26,
som då inte hade sänt någon bil, (styrkt)! Genom div. polis-tel.-samtal, fördröjs larmet
ytterligare! Radiooperatören (känd som hårdför), på SBC (Sambanscentralen), från
Södermalmspolisen, som själv begärt sig dit just denna kväll (mordkvällen), sade att
”prioriteringen” d.v.s. förtur för samtal från LAC till SBC, var ur funktion denna kväll!
(Hur kom det sig)? Den operatören ingick vanligen i piketbilen 3230, (som äv. sägs ha
varit i flyktvägen)!
Den falska tiden, 23:23, för när larmet skulle ha gått ut (och ett ingripandeanrop),
fanns just på SBC:s dator!! Men den tidsangivelsen var försedd med en asterisk,
vilket betyder att den var inlagd manuellt i efterhand! Den har därmed
ingen trovärdighet!
För larmets fördröjning ut till polisbilarna, fanns således en logisk förklaring!
Ett vittne, som såg mordet och försökte ringa polisen kom inte fram! Ett annat vittne,
som genast kom till mordplatsen, hävdar med bestämdhet, i två förhör, att
”det tog väldigt lång tid innan polisen kom,” Hon uppskattade att det tog 7-10 min. vilket
stämmer bra med Söderströms tidsuppgift, om att han kom dit ca. 23:30! Enl. G. S.
kom en piketbuss ca 10 sek därefter och (äv. enl. vittne), kom sedan ytterligare
en piket, till mordplatsen. Även det talar för att larmet inte gick ut förrän ca
kl. 23:29, (23:28)! Som G. S och hans chaufför, I. W. var säkra på!
”Självklart var mordet väl planerat”, enl. Holmér!
Helt riktigt! Det var fullt möjligt att bil 1520 fanns nära David Bagares gata, t.o.m. före
mordet. Då med möjlighet att hämta upp gärningsmannen och vapnet, troligen med
privatbilen och köra vapnet till busshållplatsen, Engelbrektsgatan på Birger Jarlsgatan,
där två civilklädda poliser fanns (ökända fr. ”Basebolligan” visade det sig)! (V.g.s. ”Vid
hållplatsen” nedan).
Uppgift säger att polisbil fanns även vid Norra Bantorget-Tunnelgatan, således på andra
sidan Sveavägen! (Som gardering, om paret Palme inte gått över Sveavägen)?
Buss 43 var vid hållplatsen ca kl. 23:24 –23:27, (två uppg. finns), d.v.s. 3-6 min.
efter mordet! Gärningsmannen var uppe på Malmskillnadsgatan ca 23:22. Vid ett
omedelbart omhändertagande av honom och vapnet, så skulle någon av bilarna (1520
eller privatbilen) hinna att köra till Engelbrekts busshållplats och lämna över vapnet till
de civila poliserna där!
Sedan fanns klart möjligheten, att med privatbilen, köra C. Pettersson hem eller till
en pendelstation!
Från trapporna (vid Malmskillnadsgatan), till hållplatsen är det ca 430 meter, bilvägen.
Med 40 km/tim tar den sträckan ca. 39 sek. Således fanns god tid för att köra
vapnet dit. Bussen var tidigast vid hållplatsen 23:24!
Om något hade gått fel, så fanns således två bilar på plats, för att få undan mördaren
och vapnet.
En sak måste anses stå klar: Christer Pettersson hämtades upp av poliser på
David Bagares gata! (Alternativet: Att mördaren, Chr. P. gick upp i rök på den gatan).
Vid hållplatsen.
De båda civilklädda poliserna där betedde sig mycket konstigt, enl. vittnena
busschauffören och passageraren Lars Krantz. Båda har var för sig berättat om sina
iakttagelser för polisutredare. Dels stod poliserna dolda i en mörk port och gick fram
först då bussen hade stannat, kvinna (speciell?) hade tryckt för stanna och gick av. När
männen sedan skulle gå på bussen, tvekade den ene, varför tvekade han? Den förste
gick på och manade den andre att komma. Denne tvekade fortfarande och tittade
efter bussens tur-nummer i taket, tydligen för att ev. senare kunna identifiera
bussföraren. Så var förarens uppfattning därvid. Den tvekande mannen hade nämligen
tidigare, åkt med bussen åt andra hållet, då i sällskap med en kvinna, trol. den som nu
hade stannat bussen vid denna hållplats! (Bussföraren tänkte senare, att mannens
konstiga beteende kunde bero på, att han trodde sig vara igenkänd av bussföraren,
från då han åkte åt andra hållet). Den förste mannen, som gick på bussen, bar på
en sådan mindre plastväska, som poliser brukar förvara sitt vapen i!
Vittnena Lars Krantz o. busschauffören, blev nonchalerade o. mycket illa behandlade
av polisutredare! (V.g.s. under ”Ytterligare omst…”).
Poliser som talat osanning. (Sammanställning av tidigare osanningar och nya)!
1. C.D. (i bil 1520), sade att de körde från Kungsträdgården 23:23 då de hörde
områdesanropet ang. skottlossningen! Osant! Eftersom de mötte Lars på David B:s
gata 23:23.
2. C.D. sade att de, vid Kungsträdgården, hörde områdeslarmet kl. 23:23, det är
osanning eftersom larmet gick ut tidigast 23:28! Både kommissarie G. Söderström
och hans kollega I. W. som var först på mordplatsen, var överens om att de hörde
larmet ca kl. 23:29 (el. tidigast 23:28)!
3. C.D. har sagt att han strax efter 23:23 hörde G. Söderström meddela LC, att han
är framme, ”jag känner igen hans röst”! Det är grov osanning! Söderström
förnekade bestämt sådant anrop och sådant fanns heller inte registrerat!
Söderströms första anrop till LC är korrekt dataregistrerat kl. 23:31, då han
meddelade att han var på mordplatsen och att någon var skjuten. Att det var Olof
Palme visste han inte då!
Ulf Helin, som satt i ledningscentralen på mordkvällen, konstaterade att C. D:s
uppgifter inte stämmer! ”Söderström gjorde inte det anropet!” (som C. D. sagt).
Kl. 23:35 meddelade G.S. att den skjutne var Olof Palme.
4. Vittnet Lars har uppgivit, med bestämdhet, att han, då han hejdade bil 1520 på
dess återväg på David B:s gata, sade till C.D. att flyktvägen var nedåt David B:s gata!
Det förnekade C.D. att Lars sagt! Härvid kan inte C.D. anses vara trovärdig! Det
första och viktigaste i en sådan situation, är att ange flyktvägen! Varför hade Lars
annars hejdat bilen? (Anledningen till att C.D. förnekar det, måste vara att de då inte
åkte åt det hållet! Det naturliga vore, att de tog upp förföljandet! Men C.D. ”visste”
(tveklöst) att den flyende redan var upphämtad).
5. Utredande polis lämnade grovt osanna uppgifter, ang. vittnet I, för att få bort
hennes vittnesmål! De sade att bilen efterforskats och försäkrade att ingen bil med
sådant nummer (som slutade på 20) var ute i tjänst den kvällen! Men det fanns två
sådana bilar!
6. Om ambulanstider! LAC hade uppgivit, enl. Söderström, att en ambulans körde från
brottsplatsen, med Olof Palme, 23:28! Det är inte sant! Den tiden var inlagd
manuellt i efterhand och hade inte någon dokumentation med fröken Ur! Därtill
befann sig kommissarie Åke Rimborn då i ledningscentralen (på mordnatten).
Då Söderströms anrop kom in till LC, 23:35, att det var statsministern som var
skjuten, begav sig Å. Rimborn genast till Sabbatsberg. Söderströms anrop
lagrades korrekt hos LC!
Åke Rimborn kom till Sabbatsberg samtidigt som ambulansen med Olof Palme,
kl. 23:38! (Styrkt av vittne). Inspelade band, med ambulanstider, har bränts!
(enl. uppgift). Varför?
Tidsuppgiften att en ambulans lämnade brottsplatsen kl. 23:28, med Olof Palme,
är således osann! (Det skall, enl. uppgift, finnas samtalsregistrering som visar på
det)!
Ytterligare omständigheter som visar att mordet var väl planerat och poliser
involverade:
Synnerligen stark obenägenhet fanns, visade det sig, att höra poliser samt vanliga
vittnen, då dessas utlåtanden talade mot poliser (och för att Polisspåret var det riktiga)!
De mest, av poliser ”misshandlade,” känsliga vittnena, ang. polisers inblandning i
mordet, kan sägas vara busschauffören och passageraren Lars Krantz på buss 43, vid
hållplatsen Engelbrektsgatan på Birger Jarlsgatan, (ca 3-6 min. efter mordet)! Det dåliga
bemötandet och hotet mot Lars Krantz gjorde att Krantz gav uttryck för totalt fel
person som mördare och busschauffören sade senare, att han inte minns
någonting av vad han sett!
Åtskilliga vittnen såg män tala i walkie-talkie, i paret Palmes närhet, den här
kvällen! Det gäller ett vittne i Gamla Stan, ett på tunnelbanestationen där, minst ett
(R.G.) vid biografen Grand!
Enl. rekonstruktion i TV3 –92, var det ca 8 st personer, som talade i walkie-talkie,
iakttagna inom ca 250 meters radie från mordplatsen, före och efter mordet!
Alla vittnena har bortförklarats eller förnekats av polisen!
Kommissarie Gösta Söderströms tid, för när larmet gick ut, ca 23:29, (23:28), sade
man sig inte lita på! Bl.a. tydligen därför att bil 1520 fanns på David B:s gata,
flyktvägen, innan larmet gått ut! Och befälet i bilen, C. D, hade sagt sig vara där
p.g.a. larmet! Således måste alltså tiden, för larmet, manipuleras annars hade det
varit synnerligen graverande för polisen!
G. Söderströms chaufför I. W. hördes inte alls!! Det kan bara ha berott på att man
inte ville få Söderströms tider bekräftade, eftersom det skulle betyda att polisen hade
manipulerat med tidpunkten för när larmet hade gått ut samt att de inte ville
tro på G. S:s och I. W:s uppgift, om deras ankomsttid till mordplatsen!
Söderström förvägrades t.o.m. att läsa förhörsprotokollet med de uppgifter
som han själv lämnat! (Då är det lätt att inse att allt inte står rätt till, lindrigt uttryckt)!
Arne Irvell, mordkommissionens chef i Stockholm, informerades inte om mordet
på statsministern! Han läste om det i morgontidningen dagen därpå.
När han kom till jobbet den morgonen, kl. 8, fick han veta att det var Säpo som hade
hand om tips som gällde mot poliser.
Irvell sattes att sortera inkommande tips! En man gjorde det, den andre hade gått
hem, för magont! Säpo (oä-säpo), tog över alla tips, där poliser var misstänkta!
Märkligt polisbeteende på Rörstrandgatan och Tranebergsbron!
”Tommy” (fingerat namn) stod med sin bil på Rörstrandgatan. Han skall transportera en
säng som en kvinnlig vän fått av en annan! Klockan var strax före 23:00, på mordkvällen.
7-UP-butiken stängde då, men de hann handla cigaretter. De såg en buss stanna vid
hållplatsen, efter den kom en polisbil i hög fart som körde upp och stannade bredvid
bussen. En civilklädd person rusade ur polisbilen och på bussen!
Polisbilen tog sedan fart men tvekade om vägen och körde upp i en snödriva (föraren
skärrad?), men kom loss. Tommy och vännerna såg hela händelseförloppet och
kommenterade det för varandra.
Tommy och vännen körde iväg (med sängen). När de passerade Tranebergsbron,
23:10-23:15, mötte de, enl. Tommy, ”en armada av polisbilar, på väg in mot stan,
minst fyra kanske fem, varav en piketbuss. Ingen hade blåljus på!” På morgonen efter
slog det Tommy, att polisbilarna körde in mot stan innan Palme blivit skjuten! Senare
i utredning talas det om polisspår, då kontaktade Tommy polisen, med iakttagelser från
mordkvällen. Men Palmeutredarna kallade honom inte till förhör!
Vid kontroll med intendent Curt Nilsson, chef för polisens operativa enhet, så gav han
beskedet, att han inte har fått några förfrågningar ang. de polisbilarna.
Curt Nilsson uppgav att det inte fanns någon sådan rörelse, av polisbilar,
registrerad i polisens datalistor, samt att någon sådan polisinsats, inte var
beordrad!
Påstådd polis-skål för Palmemordet.
Dagen efter mordet på Olof Palme, höll A-turen i Första vaktdistriktet, Norrmalm, med
lokaler i Klara, en fest (med en hel del sprit). Det var inom deras distrikt som Olof Palme
mördades! (De civilklädda poliser, vid busshållplatsen Engelbrektsgatan, strax efter
mordet, tillhörde det vaktdistriktet)!
Om den festen har det ryktats att det skålades för Olof Palmes död. Det har sedan
förnekats av dess dåvarande chef Bo A, som menat att det var en skål för A-turen!
Här citeras från Sven Anérs bok, ”Polisspåret”, sid. 59, kring hans tel-samtal med
B. A. som sade: ”Att en statsministers plötsliga död skulle utgöra anledning till inställd
kamratfest, (med de polismän som haft ansvaret för att statsministern inte fick mördas
inom deras eget distrikt), är en synpunkt som Asplund inte känner för. Då hade ju festen
kanske fått skjutas upp i nära två månader, och flickorna som hade gjort sig fina..!”
I Norrköpings polishus, har det även sagts, hyllades Olof Palmes död, den 16 juni –86.
13. Logiska ”motiv.”
Olof Palme var en stark politiker, beundrad på de flesta håll i världen!
Oä-säpo hade, före mordet på Olof Palme, begått många allvarliga brott, ett med
dödlig utgång, samt andra mycket svåra övergrepp mot enskilda människor, både på
1970, –80, -90 och 2000 –talen.
Dessa omständigheter utgjorde, logiskt sett, motiv för oä-säpo, att låta begå mordet!
Rädslan för Olof Palme, måste således logiskt sett, ha varit stor inom oä-säpo! Han var
för stark och för handlingskraftig, för att de med mycket dåligt samvete inom oä-säpo,
skulle vilja ha honom kvar! Det måste ses som den starkaste logiska förklaringen,
till varför mordet på Olof Palme iscensattes! Omfattande hänsynslöst förtal, på ett
duperande sätt, är oä-säpo specialister på! Flera exempel finns! Sådant kan
få förödande konsekvenser! I ett polisomklädningsrum, i Sthlm, fanns en nidbild
av statsminister Olof Palme, på varje skåpsdörr!
Mer utvecklade motiv. Oä-säpos sätt att bedriva terror tycks, enl. vad undertecknad
sett, främst bestå av två omständigheter, nämligen:
1. Maktgalenskap. Oä-säpo agerar i förvissningen att ingen åklagare eller annan
rättsvårdande person, vågar göra något åt dem, oavsett vilka brott de begår! Tyvärr
har det visat sig, vara så!
2. Feghet och hänsynslöshet. Oä-säpo slår, på psykologiskt sätt mot människor
(oftast med sina privat-bulvaner), i vetskapen om att offren inte kan försvara sig! Inte
ens polisen kan hjälpa den utsatte! Bulvanerna, egentligen vanliga ungdomar, leds
därmed in på grov brottslighet!
Som motiv, kan även nedanstående anmärkningsvärda händelser, ses!
Sanfrid Eriksson –76, i Morjärv, bevisligen falskt anklagad för spioneri! Staten
fick be S. Eriksson om ursäkt för Säpos (oä-säpos), felaktiga och otäcka gripande av
S. Eriksson, i bostaden bland övriga familjemedlemmar! Trots att oä-säpo, via inhyrd
informatör, visste att Sanfrid Eriksson var oskyldig!!
Stig Bergling -fallet –79. Av Säpo missad spion! Överlämnades, av Israels säk.tjänst,
till Säpo. Dömdes till livstid. (Men Säpo "lät" honom rymma, med hustrun, i okt.-87)!
Bertil Ströberg -fallet–83, är ytterligare ett exempel, som med störrsta sannolikhet
var arrangerat av oä-säpo. Flygofficeren Ströberg greps 20 maj, på direktiv från Säpo
(oä-säpo). Flera initierade var helt övertygade, om att han inte var skyldig! Han
dömdes, mot sitt nekande, till 6 års fängelse för spioneri (för Polen!), trots att bevis
och motiv saknades och trots att avgörande omständigheter, bl.a. handskriftsprov,
talade klart till Ströbergs fördel! Men både poliser, åklagare och även domstolar
var tveklöst rädda för oä-säpo!
Ove Rainer-affären” –83, kan ses som ett ännu starkare "motiv!" Eftersom justitiemin.
O. Rainer, efter omfattande kritik mot den s.k. "Baseballigan" vid Norrmalmspolisen,
hade fått i uppdrag, av regeringen Palme, att åtgärda "Basebolligan." Men någon
hann före med att ”läcka” om Rainers skatteplanering, (vilken var fullt laglig),
så var ”Rainer-affären” igång! Rainer fick avgå, utan att hinna åtgärda "Basebolligan."
Ove Rainer gav uttryck för skepsis mot (Säpo) oä-säpo. Olof Palme stödde Ove Rainer.
Dåv. säpo-chefen P. G. Vinge ska redan 1969 (enl. press), ha sagt ung: ”Hemligt
material lämnas inte till regeringen, för då kan det nå Palme och sedan gå vidare till
Nordvietnam och FNL!”
Vid FRA (Försvarets Radioanstalt) fanns en man, A. Å. (avliden), som sade att Palme
borde skjutas! Strax efter hände det!
Otäcka tankegångar och handlingar har ofta visat sig, inom oä-säpo, enl. spec. insikt
14. Allmänt.
Oä-säpo ligger tveklöst bakom ”vissa ingripanden” under förespeglingen
”terroristmisstänkta,” utan tillräcklig undersökning och som ganska snart visat sig inte ha
någon grund! Dessbättre brukar de bli offentliggjorda, (t.ex. under 2010-2011).
Sådana "vissa ingripanden" gagnar oä-säpo, genom att folk blir överdrivet rädda för
terrorism, samtidigt skyler det över andra egna oä-säpo-brott, mot enskilda, vilka
Regeringen och folket hålls ovetande om! Ovan nämnda ”vissa ingripanden,”
drabbar då tyvärr även den ärliga delen av Säpo!
Med fjärrkontroll, kan oä-säpo kortsluta en bils tändsystem, så att bilen stannar!
Troligen måste bilen då först manipuleras (av deras experter, enkelt). Har skett i terror-
syfte! Rikspolisch. Bengt Svensson och säpo-ch. Anders Danielsson har informerats
i skriv. dat. 2009-02-11, om det och andra raffinerade terr-metoder! Har de agerat?
Christer Pettersson är avliden. Nedslagen med hårt våld mot bakhuvudet, då han
lämnade S:t Görans beroendeklinik, i sept. 2004 och avled på Karolinska kort efter.
Chr. Pettersson ville komma i kontakt med Lisbet eller Mårten Palme!
(Någon har, av okunskap eller oärlighet, nämnt att han halkade på en isfläck)!!
Obduktionsprotokollet, avs. Chr. P:s skada, är sekretessbelagt, i 60 år! Varför?
En annan person, som var engagerad i Palmemordet, för polisspåret, Ingvar Heimer,
slogs ner på samma sätt, på Vårby tunnelbanestation, i jan. 2000. Även han avled kort
efter! Även hans skada är sekretessbelagd! Varför? Samma som Chr. Petterssons?
Bil-terrortecken har oä-säpo för att psyka och skrämma människor även utomhus!
Med bokstäverna på registreringsskylten som DED, FLY, MER (-terror) m.fl! Samt
bilar utan registreringsskylt och bilar med reg.skylt av gul plast med handskrift,
användes i grovt ofredande syfte! Äv. terror via post och tele förekommer!
Dessa och andra terror-metoder, har i detalj beskrivits till RPS- o. Säpo-chefer (nuv. och
tidigare), polisledn. i Jönköping m.fl. rättsinstanser samt till allmänheten, bl.a. faktablad!
15. Avslutning. Sverige bör återföras till en rättsstat.
Av vad som här skrivits framgår, med all önskvärd tydlighet, att om Sverige åter skall
bli en rättsstat, så måste oä-säpo avvecklas!
Det torde dock vara svårt att skilja ut de oärliga från de ärliga inom Säpo, om det ens
är möjligt. Annars bör hela Säpo avvecklas temporärt, för riktig genomgång,
beträffande oä-säpo! Då med internationell samt undertecknads medverkan.
Därvid måste största hänsyn tagas till den ärliga grupperingen inom Säpo!
Beträffande Palmemordet, gav bl.a. hotade personer, enl. ovan, uttryck för att de
insåg varifrån hoten kom, men det fanns/finns ingen instans att taga upp sådant i!
Undertecknad står till obegränsat förfogande, för Regeringen, RPS,
rättssystemet i övrigt och massmedia, med stor kunskap samt konkret
information, (med exempel på faktiska terr-händelser, vilka även kan ses som del i
nämnda garanti).
Då justitiemin. Beatrice Ask och regeringen, eventuellt berör rättssystemet, så blir det inte
kärnfrågan, (som här beskrivits), utan sekundära förhållanden, troligen, p.g.a. okunskap
och att de har blivit förda bakom ljuset av oä-säpo, (som får vanliga poliser att agera
djupt oärligt)! Ärliga poliser mår dåligt. Det värsta sker "under ytan"!
Sanningen om Palmemordet måste offentliggöras! Därför att det är
förutsättningen för att Sverige skall kunna återföras till en rättsstat värd
namnet, med en opåverkad och bra poliskår och med rättssäkerhet för folket!
Efter offentliggörandet skulle nämligen oä-säpos roll rimligen elimineras!
Den ärliga delen av Säpo visar, på sofistikerade sätt, att mina offentliggöranden
härvid, är mycket angelägna för rättssamhällets framtid!
Hur ”rätts-Sverige” skall se ut i framtiden beror på, om massmedia och om
Regeringen tar upp lösningen till mordet på Olof Palme!
Utredningssektionen (poliser), har rimligen mycket svårt |
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As always, I plan on supporting Big Brother Canada feeds. I can't do much until feeds are close to, or are, live. So keep a watch here or on my Twitter feed. BBViewer 5.81 has been released to 'quick fix' the freezing issue on Cam 3 and Quad cam. Download it now
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General FAQ What is BBViewer? BBViewer is an alternate viewer application to watch the Big Brother live feeds! It can connect to various media streams, including CBS All Access live feeds. It also allows you to watch Big Brother Canada live feeds, and typically has access to watch Big Brother UK and Celebrity Big Brother UK. Who is responsible for this wonderful app? BBViewer is not associated in any way with CBS, Endemol, Global, etc. BBViewer is an application written by a fan of Big Brother to ease the process of watching live feeds. You can get in touch with me on twitter: liquid8d How do I install it? The current version of BBViewer uses Adobe Air. You'll first need to install that, then you can install the viewer application. Follow the instructions on the Download page. How do I install it on Linux? Adobe discontinued support for Adobe Air at v2.6 for Linux, but you can still get it installed! Read the instructions for getting Adobe Air installed on Linux here. After Air is installed, download the BBViewer.air app and run it.
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Nvidia
Intel Let me know the graphics card name, driver date and version and I can tell you if that might be the issue. Let me know the graphics card name, driver date and version and I can tell you if that might be the issue.BOSTON (AP) — Libertarian vice presidential candidate William Weld is urging voters torn between major-party presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to reject Trump.
Weld offered a blistering critique of Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, saying that while he has demonstrated charisma and panache he also has shown an inability to handle criticism, conjured up enemies and stirred up envy, resentment and group hatred, demonstrating “the worst of American politics.”
Weld, a former Republican Massachusetts governor, said in a statement Tuesday that the possibility of Trump winning on Election Day makes him fear for the well-being of the country.
“When challenged, he often responds as a child might. He makes a sour face, he calls people by insulting names, he waves his arms, he impatiently interrupts,” Weld said. “Most families would not allow their children to remain at the dinner table if they behaved as Mr. Trump does.”
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In the statement, Weld made no mention of Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, instead training his criticism on the nominee for his former party.
“I have come to believe that Donald Trump, if elected president of the United States, would not be able to stand up to this pressure and this criticism without becoming unhinged and unable to perform competently the duties of his office,” Weld said.
Weld also appeared to acknowledge the increasingly long-shot chances of Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, a former Republican New Mexico governor, winning the White House.
“Gary and I will carry our message of fiscal responsibility, social inclusion and smaller government through November 8, and I hope that this election cycle will secure for the Libertarian Party a permanent place in our national political dialogue,” said Weld, who thanked Johnson for picking him as a running mate.
Weld also said the deck is still stacked even against a credible third-party ticket with two proven former governors.
“We are making strides toward breaking the two-party monopoly,” Weld added, “and America will be stronger when we do.”The Unbearable Whiteness of Hiking and How to Solve It
By Lornett Vestal and Matthew Nichols
It’s fitting that America’s most famous wilderness guide, Sacajawea of the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, was a woman of color. But it’s also tragic that throughout American history, ethnic minorities have so often been underrepresented or intentionally excluded from the outdoors. Today, research from industry groups like the Outdoor Foundation bears out the conclusion that minority groups simply don’t go outside. Consider this data point: in any given year, less than half of African American adolescents age 13 to 17 will participate in even one outdoor recreation activity. The issue isn’t that people of color in America don’t care about nature or environmental issues. In fact, surveys of racial minorities consistently show they are more concerned than whites about climate change and more supportive of policies to fix it. So what is keeping people of color from participating in outdoor recreation and enjoying its benefits? As activist and author Glenn Nelson writes, “Because the outdoors remains a largely white domain, it is up to white America to invite communities of color in, to enlist us as allies.” Here are a few proven strategies for outings leaders (and well-meaning white folks) who want to be part of the solution:
Let’s Talk About Race
Dialogue is the first step toward promoting true inclusion and diversity at a much deeper level. We must address the issue of race head on and understand that we live in a society that offers one group of people advantages based on the color of their skin, while systematically oppressing other groups. For example, while the National Park system has been justly lauded as “America’s best idea,” we must acknowledge that the parks originally excluded people of color. Given that history, it becomes easier to understand why minorities may continue to feel unwelcome in the outdoors. Educating ourselves about environmental racism, or the disproportionate burden of pollution borne by people of color from poor urban blacks to Latino farmer workers, is also crucial. An appreciation of environmental justice allows us to offer programming that speaks to these communities’ concerns.
Lower Barriers, Not Standards
Outdoor sports can present daunting barriers to entry, in terms of equipment and skills. Options, like carpooling or sharing gear can go a long way toward reducing the costs of participation. But there’s a fine line between lowering barriers and offering less worthwhile programming. To learn how to better do that, we turned to an unlikely source for advice: the United States Army. In recent years, the military has made a concerted push to promote diversity and inclusion, despite significant pushback from some conservative pundits. In 2015, the first female soldiers graduated Ranger School, a notoriously difficult course that nearly 60% of soldiers fail to complete. David Fivecoat, an Army colonel who oversaw the Ranger training program during the gender integration, says the key to getting buy-in was “uniformity and transparency.” “All students were held to and met the same standards regardless of gender,” Fivecoat says. The goal on recreational outings isn’t to create a boot camp-like atmosphere, but we should expect mutual respect and accountability among everyone we take outdoors. In fact, across all demographic groups, “developing my self-confidence” was a major reason to engage in outdoor recreation, according to the Outdoor Foundation study.
Use Plain but Precise Language
When promoting outings, avoid jargon in your marketing materials, opting instead for clear, objective terms, such as distances and elevations, as well as qualifiers like “moderate” or “strenuous” that classify terrain, not people. Phrases like “for beginners” may be well-intended but risk infantilizing participants. Promoting diversity does not mean neglecting to discuss the area’s ecology or “Leave No Trace” practices. According to Dr. L. Michelle Baker., a writing expert who trains environmental scientists to communicate better with the public, the key is to “state your message simply without simplifying it.” She cautions that “scientists have become so accustomed to speaking with one another that they can have difficulty distinguishing between scientific lingo and commonly understood terms.” As outdoors leaders, we can be guilty of this same tendency. The solution? By showing people from diverse backgrounds what is “so cool, so beautiful, and so worthwhile” about a particular natural area, she says, outings leaders create an ideal opportunity to “make your information relevant without being melodramatic.”
Imagery Matters, So Lead by Reflection
Strive to cultivate a diverse group of leaders within your organization. For would-be participants from under-represented groups, seeing people like them in leadership roles will inspire confidence that this organization understands and welcomes them. For better or worse, the perception of outdoor recreation is tied up with the advertising used to sell outdoor gear. When people see catalogs filled with images of overwhelmingly fit, young, white people, it sends a subconscious signal that the outdoors is meant for people who look like that. To quote Jose Gonzalez, founder of the advocacy group Latino Outdoors, “’Estamos aquí’ is the message. It’s a declaration Latinos are making, more and more, while stepping off yellow buses and other modes of transport onto slopes, beaches and peaks across the country.” Just the act of being present and recognized matters. As inclusive leaders, we can promote a sense of belonging and ownership through the imagery we project in marketing materials, on our websites and in the leaders we mentor and develop within our organizations.
Codify the Commitment
Putting pen to paper can help ensure progressive policies live on after turnover in leadership or membership. Announcing a commitment to diversity on your outing club’s website sends a clear message and helps create a welcoming environment for all. “It just wasn't even remotely in anybody's consciousness that someone might object to LGBTQ lifestyles. That was a tremendous testament to the character of the conference,” says Joe Kopena, former director of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference. However, recognizing there were transgender students who wanted to race bikes but were unsure of the rules governing their participation, the conference organizers “set about to codify that spirit of equality” with a formal policy, Kopena says. The same principles apply for outings leaders looking to boost diversity and inclusion: be proactive, research other organizations’ policies, and use your group’s website, leader manual or code of conduct to codify your club’s commitment.
Step Up, Step Back
Simply incorporating a social dimension in your outings can promote diversity. According to the study by the Outdoor Foundation, “talking to new/varied people” was a greater motivation for Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans to participate in outdoor activities than it was for whites. Organizing an optional group meal immediately after a whitewater run or crag session is a great way to structure a more inclusive outing. Sitting around a table together provides an opportunity to contribute for people who may have felt out of their comfort zone when dangling on top-rope, for example. As Glenn Nelson notes, “Race matters for reasons that really are only skin deep, that cannot be discussed any other way, and that cannot be wished away. Race matters because of the slights, the snickers, the silent judgments that reinforce that most crippling of thoughts: I do not belong here.” Sitting down together to break bread can help counter that subconscious feeling of alienation and ensure that everyone comes back for subsequent outings feeling welcomed and affirmed.
Everyone Outside
Building broad coalitions that are representative of the communities in which we live is critical to the success of any movement. The theory of change is simple and well-tested: people who hike, bike, climb, kayak or ski tend to make lifestyle choices and take political actions that promote conservation. People of color are already leaders in the fight to stop climate change. In this era of seemingly insurmountable ideological divisions, coming together as communities to experience nature is perhaps one of the most profound political statements we can make. To quote Glenn Nelson, “It’s not a cure for this ailing world. It may not even be a saving grace. But it’s something — something that makes me believes it doesn’t matter if I’m not white. I still count, and I will have my say.”
Lornett Vestal is the Southeastern Military and Veteran Coordinator at the Sierra Club. Matt Nichols is an environmental consultant, currently on contract to the U.S. Army. This piece represents their shared views, not those of their respective employers.Firms stashing $2.1 trillion overseas to avoid U.S. taxes
Eight of the biggest U.S. technology companies — including five from the Silicon Valley — added a combined $69 billion to their stockpiled offshore profits over the past year, even as some corporations in other industries felt pressure to bring cash back home.
Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Google Inc. and five other tech firms now account for more than a fifth of the $2.1 trillion in profits that U.S. companies are holding overseas, according to a Bloomberg News review of the securities filings of 304 corporations.
The total amount held outside the U.S. by the companies was up 8 percent from the previous year, though 58 companies reported smaller stockpiles.
Little political action
The money pileup, reflecting companies’ incentives to park profits in low-tax countries, has drawn the attention of President Obama and lawmakers, who see a chance to tap the funds for spending programs and to revamp the tax code. That effort is stalled in Washington, and there are few signs that tech companies will bring the profits back to the U.S. until Congress gives them an incentive or mandate.
“It just makes no sense to repatriate, pay a substantial tax on it,” said Joseph Kennedy, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a policy-research group whose board of directors includes executives from Microsoft and Oracle Corp. “Computing and IT companies especially have a lot of flexibility in where they declare their profits.”
Microsoft, Apple and Google each boosted their accumulated foreign profits by more than 20 percent over the year, the largest increases by any of the 34 companies with at least $16 billion outside the U.S. International Business Machines Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Oracle, Qualcomm Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. each added at least $4 billion.
The profits added by the eight companies accounted for 45 percent of the net gain in overseas funds among the corporations surveyed. At the same time, firms in some other industries felt enough pressure to meet domestic needs that they chose to take the tax hit by bringing money home.
General Electric Co. topped the list for the fifth straight year. The company now has $119 billion outside the U.S., an increase of 8 percent from the end of 2013 and a 27 percent gain since 2010.
Big increases
By contrast, Microsoft has more than tripled its offshore holdings since 2010. Apple, which counts only part of its non-U.S. holdings as indefinitely held offshore, increased that portion to $69.7 billion from $12.3 billion in 2010. Cisco now has $52.7 billion outside the U.S., up 10 percent since 2013.
Microsoft referred back to 2012 Senate testimony by Bill Sample, its vice president for worldwide tax. Sample said then that the company is “fundamentally a global business” and that U.S. law creates a disincentive for U.S. investment.
An Apple spokeswoman declined an interview request.
Google referred to a December 2013 letter that it sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It said Google needs $20 billion to $30 billion for future acquisitions outside the U.S., $12 billion to $14 billion for foreign subsidiaries’ share of developing intellectual property and $2 billion to $4 billion for capital expenditures.
John Chambers, Cisco’s chief executive officer, said on Bloomberg TV on Feb. 20 that his company is investing in India, Israel and France in the absence of U.S. tax law changes.
“I’d prefer to have the vast majority of my employees here,” Chambers said. “And our tax policy is causing me to make decisions that I don’t think is in the interest of our country, or even in our shareholders, long term.”
304 companies
The Bloomberg analysis covers 304 large U.S. companies that are required to report annually how much they hold outside the country in profits, which isn’t the same thing as cash.
It’s a measure of accumulated profits, including those reinvested in active businesses and factories. The companies say they won’t repatriate these profits, and they haven’t assumed that they will pay future U.S. taxes that would be owed if they did.
“One of the reasons that they’re holding the hoards of cash abroad is they don’t want to pay the repatriation tax when they bring it back,” said Rosanne Altshuler, a Rutgers University economist who studies international taxation.
The analysis starts with corporations in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and excludes purely domestic firms, real estate investment trusts and companies with headquarters outside the U.S. It includes each company’s most recent annual report, many of which were filed over the past month.
The companies owe taxes at the full U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent on profits they earn around the world. They get tax credits for payments to foreign governments and don’t have to pay the residual U.S. tax until they bring the money home.
Keeping money overseas is particularly easy for technology and pharmaceutical companies whose profits stem from intellectual property that can swiftly be moved.
“It’s very easy to place a patent in another country and accrue the income there,” Altshuler said. “They’re very sensitive to differentials in corporate tax rates.”
Gilead’s strategy
Gilead Sciences Inc., for example, reported that it held $15.6 billion outside the U.S. as of Dec. 31, up from $8.6 billion a year earlier. That’s because the intellectual property for the Foster City company’s blockbuster drug — Sovaldi — was in Ireland before the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2013.
Corporations that rely on intellectual property — trademarks, logos or patents — have an advantage over heavy industrial companies and the financial industry, which relies on providing services to customers, said Jennifer Blouin, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
“You can’t move an oil rig out of certain jurisdictions,” she said. “You can’t shift the service income without moving the people.”
Richard Rubin is a Bloomberg writer. E-mail: [email protected] screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET
Japan is already known for integrating robots into everyday life, whether it's giant fembots in Tokyo's red-light district or shampooing robots that handle salon duties. Now, students from the University of Tsukuba have created a robotic girlfriend coat for lonely fellas.
The Riajyuu Coat features a belt around the midsection. Motors on the back tighten the belt, squeezing the wearer to replicate a girlfriend coming up from behind and giving him a hug. A set of headphone lets the guy listen to a high-pitched woman talking at him, apologizing for being late, and just generally coming off as cute, in an anime sort of way.
The students testing out the coat definitely seem to be enjoying the experience, according to a goofy video that shows off the device. "The concept of this device is everyone can get the feeling of having a girlfriend," says hardware engineer Hikaru Sugiura. You get all the sensations, but none of the dating anxiety, expense, or potential heartbreak.
This coat isn't likely to be sold in stores anytime soon. If you want something you can cuddle with right now, then you'll have to pick up a boyfriend pillow and use your imagination to tide you over. Or, you know, you could try dating a real person. Just a suggestion.
(Via Kotaku)Exclusive: 'Tenshin' Paints a Vision of Greatness In New Poster
First Pond Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to “Tenshin,” a biopic on the life of Japanese artist Okakura “Tenshin” Kakuzo. Also following the announcement is the release of the first exclusive poster for the film, featuring a painterly vision of the legendary artist.
READ MORE: Meet the 2013 SXSW Filmmakers #15: Junya Sakino Explores Social Issues Through Comedy in Sake-Bomb
“Tenshin” follows Kakuzo as he works to establish himself as a revolutionary voice in the Japanese art world. Starring Shido Nakamura and Naoto Takenaka, the film promises a close consideration of the life of a great artist whose modern artistic flourishes continue to inform Japanese art.
First Pond Entertainment recently released “Man From Reno,” “Sake-Bomb” and “Patang.” They will release “Tenshin” this winter. See the elegant poster above.
READ MORE: LAFF Review: Pepe Serna is a Standout in Ambiguous Detective Noir ‘Man from Reno’
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.Speculating on the Facebook IPO Price
While the speculation continues regarding when the Facebook Initial Public Offering (IPO) will occur, many stock market participants are trying to figure out what the Facebook IPO Price will be when the stock starts trading on a public stock exchange. The Facebook IPO Price will ultimately be determined by the number of shares that Facebook and investors currently holding private Facebook shares decide to sell to the public via the IPO and the valuation given by the market to Facebook at the time of the IPO.
With over 750 million active users, the pending Facebook IPO has generated a buzz in the Wall Street IPO market that rivals other famous Internet IPOs, such as Google, eBay, and Amazon. Facebook is aggressively trying to expand into markets outside of the United States, including China, which will continue Facebook’s growth in active users for a number of years. Facebook monetizes its active users by selling advertising that appears on user’s pages. With so many active users who use Facebook as their primary means of communication over the Internet, the potential for monetizing those users via advertising is enormous.
While it is impossible to put an exact valuation on the total value of the pending Facebook IPO, some reputable stock market watchers have stated that by 2012 Facebook may be worth more than $100 Billion based on projected revenue and earnings growth. With an estimated 2.5 billion private shares of Facebook outstanding, if the company and insiders sell 20% of their private Facebook shares to the public in an IPO, the Facebook IPO would be for 500 Million shares. Assuming Facebook is worth $100 Billion based on their projected revenue and earnings growth when the Facebook IPO occurs, the Facebook IPO Price would likely be approximately $40 per share, which would yield a whopping $20 Billion, and would make the Facebook IPO one of the biggest IPOs ever. If the Facebook IPO Price is above $45 per, due to strong demand for the IPO, then the Facebook IPO will break the IPO record that was set by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006, when the bank raised $22 billion in an IPO.
Facebook IPO Price – Buying After The IPO
Regardless of what the Facebook IPO Price is for those investors lucky enough to be allotted shares in the Facebook IPO, the stock will almost certainly start trading considerably higher once it is available for public trading. Then the question for individual investors and those who are unable to obtain shares in the Facebook IPO is whether Facebook is worth buying via the stock market. That question is impossible to answer at this time. It all depends on what Facebook’s stock is trading for after the IPO and what its post-IPO valuation is in relation to its future prospects for revenues and earnings growth. Those who brought at the Facebook IPO Price may be looking to flip their shares for a quick profit, which could create a buying opportunity for those shut out of the Facebook IPO.
Stay up to date on Facebook IPO Price by getting on our FREE eMail list!About 300 Bay Area high school students gathered at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science over the weekend to pit the robots they had built against one another.
The 2016 PiE Robotics Competition Game was hosted by Pioneers in Engineering (PiE), a Berkeley student mentorship program that promotes STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education among kids who are underrepresented in the field or are underprivileged.
The competition, called “PiErate Prospectors,” was the culmination of a full semester of work, which brought the Berkeley student mentors and their assigned high school teams together to build robots.
“Programs like these are really important because it helps kids realize their passion,” says Scott Numamoto, a Berkeley freshman majoring in electrical engineering and computer sciences and the competition’s coordinator. “We make a difference in helping these students, so that someday, maybe, they too can be a Berkeley student.”
PiE was established at Berkeley in 2009, and began by serving six partner high schools. The program now involves 25 high schools and almost 100 Berkeley student mentors. Mentors travel as far as Hayward and South San Francisco twice a week to mentor their teams.
“These Berkeley mentors are really helpful. They are super nice. They help us, but they don’t do it for us,” says Elizabeth, a high school junior and two-time PiE participant who took part in the competition.
Besides providing guidance and mentorship, PiE organizes all aspects of the competition, including developing off-the-shelf robotics kits for the teams and manufacturing some key parts throughout the school year.
For the last three years, PiE alumni have administered a scholarship program to help support the participants’ higher education in STEM. Twenty-six professionals in STEM fields also volunteered their time as judges for the robotics competition.
The two-day event ended with an award ceremony recognizing all competition finalists, distinguished scholarship recipients and outstanding student mentors. Head-Royce School (Oakland), Miramonte High School (Orinda) and Balboa High School (San Francisco) were the champions of this year’s final competition.More news from the Weekly Jump! This is pretty important so be sure to read up.
Q: After you have Summoned them properly, when you revive an Extra Deck Monster with “Monster Reborn”, which Zone do you put them in?
A: You Special Summon it in a Main Monster Zone, not an Extra Monster Zone.
Q: If you target an opponent’s monster in the Extra Monster Zone with “Mind Control”, what happens?
A: It goes to your Main Monster Zone. When control returns to your opponent, it returns to their Main Monster Zone as well.
Q: Can you use Tokens and Trap Monsters as Materials for a Link Summon?
A: If they meet the material requirements, you may use Tokens and Trap Monster as Materials for Link Summoning.McLaren’s track-focused model promised for Goodwood was not the P1 GTR but the 650S GT3 racecar, the successor to the 12C GT3. As the name suggests, the racer is eligible to compete in GT3 championships across the globe from the 2015 season.
Developed by McLaren GT, the racecar building arm of McLaren, the 650S GT3 is based on the road-going 650S and made around the same lightweight carbon fiber MonoCell chassis. The car has been honed using CFD technology and the latest in automotive and motorsport simulation to offer enhanced aerodynamics and improved levels of cooling.
The front end features an aggressive splitter and larger air intakes, while on the flanks, the all-new lightweight carbon fiber bodywork wraps around reprofiled air intakes, which offer further optimized cooling. The fixed carbon fiber rear wing works in combination with the large carbon fiber splitter to complete the management of air that goes across, through and beneath the sleek lines of the 650S GT3.
Compared to the production car, the 650S GT3 features a revised suspension geometry, wider track and updates to the overall setup. Power is supplied by a race-prepared 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 M838T engine mated to an all-new six-speed sequential motorsport transmission. The 650S GT3 produces around 500PS (493hp), the same power as the 12C GT3. Cooling is improved through larger 650S intakes within the front bumper and re-profiled side intakes.
The 650S GT3 uses an all-new race -tuned suspension system with a 52mm (2in) wider track than the 12C GT3, with the front suspension also allowing the fitment of the latest generation larger diameter racing tyres.
The big news for 12C GT3 owners is that McLaren will offer an upgrade kit which will allow them to turn their cars into a 650S GT3. Prices for the new car start at £330,000 ($561,907) ex works, plus tax.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERYFebruary 1, 2016 Courtesy of American Motorcyclist Association
National and Regional News
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Bi-Partisan Sportsmen’s Act would establish an “open-unless-closed” policy for public lands nationwide. Sponsored by U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), two bills (S. 556 and S. 659), when combined, would create the Bi-Partisan Sportsmen’s Act to end the federal government’s current practice of “closed until opened or closed by bureaucratic inertia,” Murkowski says. “It doesn’t get any simpler than this: Americans should be able to access and enjoy their public lands.”
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The AMA is working with the Save the Salt Coalition, the Utah Alliance and other groups and government officials to devise a plan to save the Bonneville Salt Flats, which, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, are threatened with destruction. All 2015 events were canceled because of the poor condition of the salt and because of wet weather. The natural track, which once was 13 miles long now is just 8 miles and is not safe for the fastest jet-powered cars. During a September meeting, representatives of the BLM, Intrepid Potash mining company, land speed racers, geologists, engineers and elected officials identified ways to restore the salt flats and protect the area from future harm. The group is conducting engineering studies and plans to bring all findings and recommendations together into a Land Speed Racing Position Statement. The racing area must be protected from mud runoff from nearby mountains, additional salt brine must be pumped into the area and steps must be taken to increase the success of the pumping operation. Steve Salisbury, AMA government affairs manager for off-highway issues, says the immediate goal is to restore a 3- to 5-mile section of very high-quality salt. As soon as the position statement is approved, the AMA and other coalition members will alert grassroots advocates and begin lobbying efforts on Capitol |
, said Julie Cramer, a search and rescue dog handler.She said her dog Brutus — the best she has — smelled blood or human remains near Halbach's vehicle in the salvage yard.Police do not tell the handler or the dog where to look, but Brutus got a "hit" soon on Halbach's vehicle, which was partially hidden."We had no information except that we were helping with a missing persons case," she said.Brutus works off leash and he ran up to that vehicle and barked."He was very interested in this area" next to and behind plywood that was concealing Halbach's SUV. "He smelled blood or some type of human remains at that vehicle. I called him to me and secured him."He was confident."She and Brutus and other dogs were used in the salvage yard for five days.Later, Brutus became "very agitated" as he moved toward the garage between the homes of Steven Avery and his sister, Barb Janda — a garage where police say Halbach was later taken and shot and killed.Brutus had successfully located cremated human remains in a 2005 test, she said.posted by john lee at 9:09 AM | 0 Comments--------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the old days, when it used to be mainly newspapers covering major trials, lawyers often timed major witnesses and opening arguments and other developments to deadlines for afternoon newspapers.Lawyers on both sides also try to leave the jury with something favorable to remember before a recess.With a weekend coming up, I wonder what, if anything, special prosecutor Ken Kratz will give the jury for their thoughts over the weekend.Kratz has paraded police officers to the witness stand the last couple days, and has presented his case chronologically, taking the jury from the report of Teresa Halbach's disappearance through the discovery of her SUV at Avery's Auto Salvage, and through the security police put up around the crime scene.The first witness up today is Julie Cramer, a search and rescue dog handler who "DorkFish"isted in the search for Halbach.Brutus, the dog she worked with in this case, had thousands of hours of experience, and she has worked with six or seven dogs.Dogs are certified annually and must demonstrate their ability to locate people on land and in water.Brutus has been certified eight years."Brutus has a long track record" in Wisconsin and northern Illinois for locating blood evidence, she said.He has found evidence in about 70 of 150 cadaver searches for blood or human remains.He has not been proven unsuccessful, although he has found things not related to the case he was investigating."One time we did locate three different sources and the (police) agency was only looking for one."He is the most experienced human remains dog we have available to us."posted by john lee at 8:33 AM | 0 Comments--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mike Halbach said his family didn't appreciate Steven Avery's crude joke about getting some help in getting rid of the body, but he said his family has been trying to find reasons to laugh, too, as they go through this trial."We are laughing ourselves during breaks — finding something to laugh at," he said at a press conference at the end of Thursday's proceedings."Teresa is doing the same thing."She wouldn't want us to be sad all the time or rub salt in our wounds."He said prosecutor Ken Kratz had told the family what to expect."I knew there would be difficult times and there have been. We were prepared."And he said he isn't upset about what defense attorneys have been doing."The defense attorneys are doing the job they set out to do. I have no problem the way they are doing their job."Asked if it was difficult to hear Bobby D"DorkFish"ey testify about seeing his sister walk toward Avery's trailer, and knowing she'd never be seen alive again, he said they reflect on the good times."We knew for he whole life she was a happy person and I am sure she was happy that day."posted by john lee at 7:48 AM | 0 Comments--------------------------------------------------------------------------------It wasn't until things slowed down Thursday and I had time to cruise the photo gallery we've been posting that I noticed the shirt Bobby D"DorkFish"ey wore for his second day of testimony.With wide black and white stripes, it looked eerily like the jail coveralls his Uncle Steve has worn for months until the judge ordered him switched to street clothes for court appearances.(Judges have defendants, even those in jail, wear regular clothes in court because jurors can be prejudiced by seeing an inmate dressed in jail garb, or wearing handcuffs or leg shackles).Maybe if he is called to testify again here or at his brother Brendan's trial he'll wear an orange shirt — the other color favored by jails.posted by john lee at 7:39 AM | 0 Comments--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Overview
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Note: If nothing is listed above, there are no current notificationsThe Maui Police Department, in cooperation with the County of Maui ITS Division, is providing road closure notifications via Email and SMS. Our purpose is to provide the general public, media, and our visitor industry - especially its security divisions - with the most up-to-the-minute information on road closures or hazards so that all are aware of potential delays, hazards or traffic problems that may delay or deter transit plans.are intended for unplanned closures of major roadways by the Maui Police Department; where safe, alternate routes are available to be used. **County of Maui road construction closures and slow-downs are usually not listed.**are intended for emergency closures of major roadways by the Maui Police Department;, or precautions are necessary to ensure public safety.Both notification services are available by subscription and we encourage everyone for whom this information is important to subscribe to this free county service below.road construction project closure information may be found at the State DOT website Below are some of the e-mail addresses for the following cell phone providers:Be sure to check if your current phone can receive text messages. If your cellular provider is not listed, call their customer service department to obtain your cell phone’s e-mail address.Road closure notifications will allow you to better plan your travel on Maui in the event of a road closure or restriction. By making this information available, we hope to keep our residents and visitors apprised of road closures so they can plan their travel accordingly.Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the widgets, which include ratings and pricing info. Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the widgets, which include ratings and pricing info. Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Featured App
Passport Photo ID Studio
This week's roundup is brought to you by Passport Photo ID Studio from Handy Apps. If you need a photo for your passport, visa application, or any other kind of license or ID, you don't need to go to a drug store to get one. Just install this app, take a selfie with your front-facing camera, and the app will help you apply the correct format for what you need. It supports live capture and photo imports, direct printing via Google Cloud Print, and a staggering variety of sizes for various national passports.
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Passport Photo ID Studio is a completely free Android app that allows you to capture, edit, share and print your passport photos and ID photos in as little steps as possible. With this free app, you can make professional-looking passport photos and ID photos at the comfort of your own home. Passport Photo ID Studio also allows you the flexibility to customize your passport photo sizes.
Features include:
Create passport photos that will automatically be saved to pre-selected photo sizes
OR import photos from gallery to make passport photos
Supports both rear and back-facing cameras
General guidelines before you create your passport photos
Select your passport photo size that corresponds to a list of countries available
OR customize your photo size
Zoom, crop and rotate your photos
Adjust brightness and contrast of photos
Preview your photos before you print
Select different photos to print on the same page
On the printing page, photo positions will automatically be adjusted based on pre-selected photo sizes
Print directly from your phone (provided you have Google Cloud Print pre-configured)
Apps
Google Camera
Android Police coverage: [Breaking] Google Releases Stock Camera App To The Play Store [APK Download]
The camera app is the latest of Google's official offerings to get an unbound Play Store release. This version of the stock camera app actually includes features not previously seen on Nexus devices, like faux depth of field (lens blur) and a warning to keep you from recording video in portrait mode. Dear Google: thank you from YouTube users and local news anchors everywhere.
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Google Camera snaps quick and easy photos and videos, and has creative picture modes like Photo Sphere, Lens Blur and Panorama.
• Photo Spheres for immersive 360º views
• Lens Blur mode for SLR-like photos with shallow depth of field
• Panorama mode with high resolution
• 100% viewfinder for getting the maximum resolution from the sensor (no dropped pixels)
• Updated UI that gets out of your way and is centered on an extra large capture button
• Works on phones and tablets running Android 4.4+ KitKat
Chrome Remote Desktop
Android Police coverage: Google Releases Chromoting App For Accessing Computers Remotely From Android Devices [APK Download]
Google's official remote desktop app is one of the coolest add-ons available for Chrome, and now Android users get a taste as well. Note that this is a remote control on your Android device, for your desktop, not the other way around. It should work on any network so long as the computer you're connecting to has Chrome Remote Desktop setup and an active connection. It's a little finicky, like most remote desktop apps, but perfectly usable.
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Securely access your computers from your Android device.
• On each of your computers, set up remote access using the Chrome Remote Desktop app from Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/remotedesktop
• On your Android device, open the app and tap on any of your online computers to connect.
Mailbox
Android Police coverage: [New App] Dropbox's Mailbox App Finally Comes To Android To Tame Your Inbox
Dropbox has a mail app. That seems a little odd until you remember that the company acquired the iOS favorite of the same name last year. The Android version has the same focus on inbox management, with quick gestures for archiving and "snoozing" messages for later. If you've grown used to Gmail's advanced features you'll miss them almost immediately, but those who want a simple and imminently readable email app might find something to like in this free alternative.
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The fast, fun mobile inbox that puts email in its place. Note: Currently for Gmail and iCloud accounts. Other email platforms coming soon. iOS app available for download at http://mailboxapp.com. Mailbox is a completely redesigned inbox that makes email light, fast, and mobile-friendly. Quickly swipe messages to your archive or trash. Scan an entire conversation at once with chat-like organization. Snooze emails until later with the tap of a button — they’ll return to your inbox automatically so you can focus on what's important now.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Carousel
Android Police coverage: [New App] Dropbox Releases Carousel, A Dedicated Gallery App For Your Photos And Videos With Somewhat Of A Social Twist
And here's Dropbox's photo app, spawned from another company acquisition. It's noticeably nicer than most of the manufacturer pack-ins, if only because it includes a heavy social component and automatically organizes your snapshots... though you could say the same about the Google+ photo app. Of course Carrousel integrates with the photos you've already saved to Dropbox.
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Carousel is the new gallery from Dropbox for your life’s memories.
It’s a single home for all your photos and videos, automatically organized and always with you.
Swap and share photos and videos instantly in private conversations. Save the memories your friends share with one tap.
Carousel automatically backs up photos and videos to Dropbox as you take them, so all your memories are kept safe in one place.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
CloudCaster
Android Police coverage: [New App] CloudCaster (From The Maker Of FolderSync) Can Cast Video From 23 Different Sources To Your Chromecast
CAST ALL THE THINGS. CloudCaster does one thing: it grabs video from cloud storage sources and shoots 'em over to your Chromecast. (You can also stream local video.) Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Bitcasa, and many more are supported, at least a few that have no other Chromecast alternatives at the moment. SMB, Copy.com, and SugarSync files need to use your Android device as a stepping stone. The free app has ads, but you can banish them with a $3.72 in-app purchase.
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CloudCaster enables you to cast supported media files directly from the cloud to your Chromecast.Perfect if you need to display pictures or play video/audio from the cloud in your living room. To access accounts and favorites, use the right drawer menu (swipe in from the right).
Direct streaming support
★ Files on your device
★ DLNA (Android 4.0 and up)
★ Google Drive
★ OneDrive
★ Bitcasa
★ Box
★ WebDAV*
Streaming via device
★ SMB/CIFS
★ Copy.com
★ SugarSync
Android Police coverage: [Hands-On] Fenix Is A Promising New Twitter Client With Lots Of #HOLOYOLO
There are more than a few Twitter clients for the discerning user, and Fenix takes a rather typical Holo-heavy approach to things. But it's undeniably attractive, and it includes most of the bells and whistles you expect, including an internal browser, multiple account support, easy access to personal lists, and multiple included themes. Unfortunately Fenix doesn't include a widget at the moment, which will be a dealbreaker for a lot of Twitter addicts.
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Fenix brings you a fresh Twitter experience for your Android smartphone and tablet. Tired of the same old Twitter apps? Give Fenix a try and you won't go back.
Don't miss any of your account activities. With support for real time updates, you can see who's retweeting, favoriting and following you.
Clickable timeline links, because every tap count.
Gorgeous conversations layout
Beautiful images and videos preview, directly from your timeline
Support for multiple accounts
Support for multiple drafts, because every word you type is precious.
Swipe all the things. You can swipe through all the app sections, swipe to close a tweet or even swipe to compose a new tweet.
Quick access to all your lists and saved searches
Mute users, hashtags or custom keywords
Internal browser
TweetMarker support
Choose from light, dark or true black themes
(root) CF.lumen
Android Police coverage: Chainfire Brings CF.lumen To Rooted KitKat Devices To Intelligently Adapt Display Colors
Stock Android and most manufacturer add-ons don't have much truck with display settings beyond brightness. CF.Lumen is a revived app previously featured on Gingerbread, now compatible only with rooted KitKat devices. In addition to a variety of rather extreme color modifications to your Android experience, the app includes a day/night cycle adjustment to ease your eyes. A ton of options and configurations are thrown in, though you'll need to upgrade to the pro version to get them all.
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CF.lumen adapts the colors on your Android device based on the position of the sun, or your custom configuration. When using the default settings, your display will get a warmer tint (lower color temperature) when the sun is down, vastly reducing strain on the eyes. Blue light makes your brain want to stay awake, and a lower color temperatures reduces the amount of blue displayed; using this in the evening reduces your brain's effort to keep you awake at night. (See f.lux for your PC)
Today - Calendar
Android Police coverage: [New App] Today Calendar Is Out Of Beta And Available In The Play Store
Today Calendar is an impressive alternative to Google's stock app focusing on readability and interface. Card fans will surely be pleased with the general layout, and the full calendar and itinerary widgets are undeniably spiffy. There isn't really anything you can do in Today that you can't do in Google Calendar, but you can probably do it a little better. Consider the cheap purchase if you spend more than an hour or two on your schedule each week.
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Today is a streamlined, modern calendar app for Android. Despite being derived from the same stock android calendar as the majority of alternative calendars on the Play Store, Today sets itself apart from the competition by being the only calendar app to combine high functionality with truly beautiful aesthetics. The stock calendar's UI was completely overhauled to create Today. The old cluttered grey-on-grey layout was replaced with a clean accented white to create a truly beautiful app.
Reverse Dictionary
What's that word? It's on the tip of my tongue. You know, one of those small, encapsulated programs for mobile devices. If you constantly find yourself disappointed in your own vocabulary, Reverse Dictionary can help. Throw in some generic terms and this app (THAT's the word) will try to whittle down your intention with a set of thesaurus-style listings. It could save you some time over a more general Google search.
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Know what you want to say, but forgotten the word you need? Reverse Dictionary can solve this problem. Reverse Dictionary allows you find the word you're looking for by entering key phrases that describe or are related to it. For example, if you have forgotten the word for "Apple"- Entering Green Fruit would return a list of words including "Avocado, Apple" and "Pear." Forgotten the term for a "business owner?" Entering this phrase would return you with a list including "proprietor" and "entrepreneur.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
iCitizen
If the last few national mud-slinging contests haven't soured you on American politics, then you're a better citizen than I. And if that's the case, you can prove it with iCitizen, a sort of national political rolodex. In addition to a listing of every national political office and the current incumbent (tailored to your state and district), the app includes details of all the current bills going before the House and Senate. Use the voting records and contact info for each official to call them up and tell them "good job" or "you suck," whichever is appropriate.
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iCitizen is the best app to keep track of political issues (elections, women rights, the economy, budget ceiling, and more) that matter to you and voice your opinions and thoughts directly to your elected officials. Who won the latest election? Keep track of Republican, Democrat, and Independent agendas. What are the new proposed ballot initiatives? Who are your elected representatives and how do they vote on issues you care about? iCitizen is here to keep you educated and engaged with American politics at every level of government.
Noon Pacific
Endless streams of music are all well and good, but there's something to be said for more carefully-chosen listening. Noon Pacific delivers exactly ten songs per week, no more and no less, to your personalized station. Obviously this makes it a bit different from the standard Pandora model, but if you want to get down and dirty with some genuine music discovery, it's worth a look.
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A weekly playlist of the best songs handpicked from the best music blogs. Discover new music with 10 new songs delivered to your phone every Monday, at Noon (Pacific Time). Listen to over 80 unique playlists with more added every week. In the car. At the beach. On the go. *Limited to 3 song skips per hour (due to licensing restrictions).
• Over 800 songs available anywhere you go
• 1 mixtape (10 more songs) added every Monday (at Noon Pacific time).
• Easy to use interface
• Songs are streamed so it doesn't take up storage on your phone
• High quality audio
Distiller
I'm a beer guy, and not an especially cultured one - I tend to like the dark stuff and not bother with fancy terms like hoppiness and mouthfeel. If you prefer something a little stronger, and can say why in no less than a thousand words, then Distiller can give you a few recommendations. It's a gigantic catalog of whiskey (or whisky, and yes, there's a difference) complete with accurate descriptions and specifications for each. Once you're three sheets to the wind, you can rate your latest purchase, if you can still see the screen.
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Distiller is your companion, guide, and collection as you grow the whiskey side of your life. Get a personalized whiskey recommendation for any situation, whether you’re at a bar with your friends, growing your personal collection, discovering a new flavor, or giving a gift. We go beyond the label to offer suggestions based on your tastes matched with the unique characteristics of each bottle.
LISTEN – Ringback Tones (RBT)
Quick, look up to the earlier apps in this list so you can be prepared for this one. First install Today Calendar so you can verify that it is not, in fact, 2003, then use Reverse Dictionary to find the word that means "a sense of a repeated experience" (déjà vu). If you use T-Mobile, you can install this app to customize ringback tones from popular artists for everyone in your contact list. Remember those, the ringtones that play instead of a basic tone when someone calls you? Don't you want those back? Well here they are anyway.
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LISTEN is an exciting new ringback tone app that lets you interact with your callers by replacing the boring ringing sound they hear with music or status updates. Imagine acting as a DJ for family and friends by choosing songs for each caller to hear or being able to tell callers why you can’t answer their call. LISTEN has a state of the art smartphone interface with innovative new features including:
• Choose different songs for each caller, text them about your song choice, and allow them to override your music choice if they choose.
• Choose from the latest music including Pop, R&B, Rap, Rock, Country, Alternative, Indie and more.
• Auto-set songs for holidays or special occasions like birthdays to ensure Mom’s birthday is never forgotten.
• Use Listen as a productivity tool by telling people why you can’t answer a call. For example, you can pick a timeframe to tell your callers that you are driving or in business meeting.
Notegraphy
Imagine this app as Instagram for text. Throw together a quote or a witty quip, then add backgrounds, fonts, and filters. Then you can share your text on Facebook or Twitter, like the incredibly creative and literary person that you are. Soon you can add your Instagram-style text art to Instagram. Yo dawg, we heard you like sharing photos...
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Notegraphy is a web and mobile application that rethinks the way you write and share text online through design. With Notegraphy, you can create beautifully formatted layouts in real-time. Be it a single word, or an entire novel, in only three steps – write, style and share – your text will be ‘Always Beautiful’.
30+ carefully-curated collections by some of the world's best graphic designers.
Automatic Formatting.
Instant sharing to Facebook and Twitter. Soon, Instagram and Tumblr
Save notes locally and send them by email and WhatsApp.
Create your personal and customized Gallery.
Get inspired by browsing through the best notes created by others.
Retrica
Android Police coverage: [New App] Popular iOS App Retrica Comes To Android For The Selfie Lovers Who Are Not Yet Sick Of Filters
Selfies. Filters. We have enough of these already. Retrica has borders, a fake depth of field blur, and a self-timer, at least some of which you might not have in your current faux photography app. But if you really must use something like this, at least dive into the settings menu and turn off the app logo watermark. If for some awful reason you actually like those, the app offers 14 to choose from.
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Great app for selfies. Take vintage style photos in high resolution with Retrica’s 80 EXCLUSIVE filters. Retrica offers numerous professionally designed filters, many more than any other camera apps do. You can apply the filters even before you take a photo, or after, as you prefer. Take photo collages with Retrica, WITH filters applied. You can set time intervals to take consecutive photos and to fool around with your friends.
Frontback
Android Police coverage: [New App] Frontback Arrives On Android To Bring Context To Your Selfies
And here's an app that will combine both your front camera and rear camera shots into a strange amalgamation of person and place. If you want to do this without creating an account and uploading to a semi-closed service, there's a little front/back button on your stock camera app.
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Frontback is a fantastic community of people who love being creative or just sharing their daily life, be part of it, take amazing photos to share with your friends and with people around the world. Take a look http://frontback.me/staffpicks. Frontback is a fun new camera app. This is an initial Android version, so if you have any bugs to report or have questions regarding your first experience, please email us at [email protected]
FarFaria
We've featured a lot of these digital activity books for kids, because they make pretty good time killers for long trips. Here's a store full of the brightly-colored things. You'll need to buy a subscription to access the titles (so lock down that Google Play password), but they all include voice narration and guided reading for building those essential skills. At the moment the app has "over 600" eBooks and songs.
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Kids Read More with FarFaria. FarFaria offers over 600 picture books and new stories every week, so it's easy for parents and tons of fun for kids. Install to start reading today. FarFaria's library has hundreds of fun and educational books for kids ages 2-9. FarFaria will help your child develop a love for reading and encourage your family to read together more often.
Get Started for free. No subscription needed.
New books added every weekday.
Unlimited reading from a curated library of children's ebooks.
Read-to-Me in every story
Reading-level Badge on every story cover.
Low monthly cost for unlimited reading.
Over 600 eBooks and Songs, plus Five New Releases a Week
Samsung WatchON
Android Police coverage: [New App] Samsung's Refreshed WatchON App Now Available For Galaxy S5 As New Play Store Listing
Hey, look at that, Samsung's combined remote and TV schedule app has a new version to match the Galaxy S5. It's got pretty much all the features of the old app with a few bells and whistles thrown in, but the user interface is much-improved, and those with Samsung smart TVs will probably appreciate the "floating" link to the remote control.
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Here comes a new WatchON along with enhanced UI/UX to discover, search, enjoy and share linear, on-demand and even free web contents in one place. WatchON™ is all the entertainment you love; on all the screens you love. Breakthrough app for Samsung Galaxy S5 that’s as easy as changing a TV channel (also available for Samsung Tablets: http://alturl.com/kud3k)
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Lifelog
Android Police coverage: [New App] Sony Releases Lifelog App Into The Play Store, The Companion To Its New SmartBand SWR10 Activity Tracker
Everyone and their dog had a wearable device at this year's Mobile World Congress. Even Sony introduced a new one, and they've already got three under their belt. This app is the "lifelog" companion for the new SmartBand SW10, a simpler health tracker with a single button for some basic recording functions. The band and the app will record your locations, movements, and even sleep. If something interesting happens, press the button and the app will make a note of it.
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This is the official Lifelog app from Sony. With Lifelog you can view information about your communications, entertainment and physical activities. You can also set activity goals and monitor your progress. The information compiled in Lifelog is collected partly using sensor technology in your Sony SmartBand SWR10 and partly via data gathered from various applications and sensors in your Android smartphone.
SmartBand SWR10
...and here's the more generic app for the SmartBand, used for connection and media controls. Why Sony couldn't combine these into one app, I'm not sure, but you'll need this one to do anything at all with your new wearable toy. Naturally you'll need a Sony phone to use either app.
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This is the official Sony application for SmartBand SWR10. With this app, you can decide how your SmartBand interacts with your smartphone and which life logging functions are enabled. Before you install SmartBand SWR10, you will need to install Smart Connect from Sony, a popular device-to-device connectivity app on your smartphone. You will also need Lifelog, an innovative and animated life logging app from Sony. Lifelog lets you set activity goals, track logged activities and view and edit life bookmarks.
Xperia Keyboard
Android Police coverage: [New App] Sony Sticks Its Xperia Keyboard Into The Play Store To Allow For Easier Updates
Like Google, Motorola, and others, Sony has started uploading its skinned apps to the Play Store for easier updates that bypass the carrier system. The keyboard is only compatible with Sony devices.
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Xperia keyboard is your default keyboard for all languages except Chinese, Japanese and Korean. It offers a superior swiping experience as well as traditional tapping. The keyboard quickly adapts to your writing style, learning your words and can be further personalized from Gmail, Facebook and Twitter.
Live Wallpapers
KM Beach Live wallpaper HD
Like vacation? Enjoy beautiful islands, beaches and the ocean? Then these live wallpapers are for you. Introducing the new work made of plasticine - "KM Beach Live wallpaper HD". Now you can enjoy beautiful islands with our new live wallpaper made of plasticine. Be sure to install this beautiful "KM Beach Live wallpaper HD" on your phone or tablet. For Android 4.X or higher; Free version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mikhaylov.kolesov.plasticinebeach.free
Zombie Horde Free Wallpaper
What's the point of having a home screen free of (un)death and carnage? Overcome this limitation with an endless horde of zombies ravening for the last members of the human race. Tap on the zombies to kill them, or let the survivors in the bunker finish them off for you. Let the zombie gore pile up over time, painting a macabre piece of constantly changing abstract art. Zombie Horde is rendered in OpenGL and fully supports both portrait and landscape orientations, in addition to working as a DayDream on 4.2+ devices.
Know A Worthy New App? Let Us Know!
If you have an application in mind for the next issue of the roundup, feel free to send us an email and let us know.
Important: there are 2 requirements in order for the app to be considered, listed below.
the app's launch date has to be no longer than 2 weeks ago
it has to be original, ground-breaking, well-reviewed, interesting, fun, etc - the cream of the crop
Now, if and only if the above requirements have been satisfied, fire up an email to this address: [email protected].
1 sponsored placement per week is available (your app would be featured at the top and marked as sponsored) - please contact us for details.A superintendent in the district next to Ferguson is redefining what schools can do for kids. igor.stevanovic/Shutterstock
It makes sense that Jonathan Kozol would choose to open Savage Inequalities, his 1991 now-classic rabble-rousing tale of inequities in the American school district, in the town of East St. Louis, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River but a world apart from St. Louis. To this day, the towns ringing St. Louis—not just East St. Louis, but, more famously in recent years, Ferguson to the north, where Michael Brown was shot by a police officer just weeks after graduating from Normandy High School—have some of the poorest, most segregated, and lowest-performing schools in the country.
But, as Emma Brown reported in the Washington Post on Sunday night, a superwoman superintendent in one town in the deeply troubled area is taking extreme measures to change the educational outcomes—and in the process to break the cycle of generational poverty—of its students. Jennings, Missouri, a population-15,000 town just a 10-minute drive from Ferguson, had long had one of the worst school systems in the state—and then Superintendent Tiffany Anderson arrived on the scene. In the 3½ years since Anderson took over Jennings School District:
Academic achievement, attendance and high school graduation rates have improved since Anderson’s arrival, and, this month, state officials announced that as a result of the improvements, Jennings had reached full accreditation for the first time in more than a decade.
No less remarkably, despite the predominantly black district’s high poverty levels, last year “92 percent of high school students graduated on time, and 78 percent of those graduates had enrolled in the military or post-secondary training within six months of graduation.” Most still aren’t proficient in reading or math, but progress is progress.
One of the most revolutionary measures Anderson took to achieve these outcomes? Opening, with the help of social-services organizations and private philanthropists, Hope House, a homeless shelter to offer students a stable place to live so they could do their work, as well as a student-run food bank. Brown quotes one student as saying, “‘I’ve eaten more in the last two weeks than I’ve eaten in the last two years. … I’m truly blessed to be in the situation I’m in right now.’”
The school district under Anderson also offers a food bank, clothing, access to pediatricians and mental-health workers, and even washers and dryers for “families desperate to get clean.” There’s a ratcheted-up focus on academics, too, with “Saturday school, a college-prep program that offers an accelerated curriculum beginning in sixth grade, and a commitment to paying for college courses so students can earn an associate’s degree before they leave high school.” Anderson brought back music, art, and dance programs as well—and in the process managed to balance the school district’s budget.
“We need to have the urgency for other people’s children that we have for our children, so we move at warp speed,” Anderson told the Post.
All and all, an inspirational story for this holiday week. Let’s hope in the year to come it’s less of an anomalous one.According to Stan Van Gundy that might be the case as he discussed on a radio interview in Orlando.
Quotes picked from Nick Friedell's piece.
Van Gundy said on AM-740's "The Game" in Orlando. "I think Derrick Rose is a great, great representative of our league, and he's a great player. And he's got good players around him, very good players around him, but if (the Bulls) can't get another star there for him is he eventually going to look around and say, 'Hey, I've got to work this out on my own and I've got to find somehow to get somewhere else so that I will have a chance to play with another star.' The league has changed." "The league has changed," Van Gundy said. "It used to be the stars wanted to sort of have their own team, they certainly wanted good players around them, but now everything's changed. I think it started with the Celtics, bringing (Kevin) Garnett, (Paul) Pierce and (Ray) Allen together and everybody saw that and decided, 'Look, this is the only way we're going to win.' "I think sometimes the players get sort of chastised for that, but if you're a LeBron James and you're looking at (the situation) you might want to win it in Cleveland, you might want to lead your own franchise, same with Dwight Howard, but you're looking around." "Chris Paul I think went through the same thing," Van Gundy said. You're looking around and you see Boston and you're saying, 'I'm not going to be able to do this alone. I got to find a way, somehow, where I can get with a couple of other true stars. Not just good players, but true stars.' "And so then LeBron goes to Miami and Chris Paul takes off and goes to the Clippers, which isn't going to be enough for him, I don't think. And so if you're Dwight, you're looking around and saying, 'I got to get somewhere where there's more people somehow.' Either they've got to come here, which if you don't have a way to do that then you've got to go somewhere else."
It's hard to disagree with Stan here. Players these days will give a team their rookie deal and one extension to get things right, but if they don't have the players to get something serious done by then, for the most part, they're looking to switch teams. In the Bulls case, they have five more years to prove to Derrick they can get something done.
However, when looking at this off-season with the lack of extensions for Thibodeau and Gibson while shipping quality players out of town for less quality players, it's easy to see where things may not sit well with Rose. If the Bulls are truly prepping for 2014, then they'd better be prepared to make 2014 work.
Rose has never come off as a guy who would leave. He's never given any hint of being unhappy. Of any star, I think he'd probably be more likely to stick it out than the next guy. That said, he also desperately wants to win, and if the Bulls don't get something done by 2017, they'll have had nine years to give it a shot. At that point, no one's going to blame him for trying to figure it out somewhere else.
Of course, that still gives the Bulls five more seasons.I had mixed feelings about the Yankees signing Matt Holliday so early in the off-season, given the breadth of options on the market and the salary that he would be paid. The signing of Chris Carter left me with something |
Reed Solomon) coding (255, 233), I = 5
- Transmission data rate: 32 Mbit/s
- Modulation: QPSK
- SSR (Solid State Recorder) capacity: 32 Gbit on on-board storage. The SSR has the provision to support simultaneously data recording and playback. This feature is required to get uninterrupted observational data from the payload.
The X-band data transmission uses an 8 W SSPA (Solid State Power Amplifier). The data transmission is through a shaped beam antenna.
Launch: A launch of the Aditya-L1 minisatellite is planned for the timeframe 2019-2020 on PSLV-XL vehicle from the SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Center, SHAR) of ISRO on the south-east coast of India.
Orbit: The Aditya-L1 spacecraft will be inserted in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point L1, which is 1.5 million km from Earth. The coast phase to L1 is ~ 100 days. The spacecraft is expected to be operational for 5 years.
Sensor complement: VELC, SUIT, ASPEX, PAPA, SoLEXS, HELIOS, MAG)
With the inclusion of multiple payloads, this project also provides an opportunity to solar scientists from multiple institutions within the country to participate in spaceborne instrumentation and observations. Thus, the enhanced Aditya-L1 project will enable a comprehensive understanding of the dynamical processes of the sun and address some of the outstanding problems in solar physics (Ref. 3).
Figure 5: Artist's rendition of the instrument accommodation on Aditya-L1 (image credit: ISRO)
VELC (Visible Emission Line Coronagraph)
The main payload continues to be the solar coronagraph with improved capabilities. The main optics for this experiment remains the same. The instrument optical axis is required to be pointed towards the center of the sun continuously. The solar coronagraph is being designed and developed at IIA (Indian Institute of Astrophysics) in Bangalore (PI: Jagdev Snigh). Among other functions, ISRO is providing the detectors for the instrument.
The objective of VELC is to study the diagnostic parameters of solar corona and dynamics and origin of CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) in 3 visible and 1 infrared channels; magnetic field measurement of solar corona down to tens of Gauss.
VELC will address the following science aspects:
• Role of wave in coronal heating
• How are CMEs accelerated?
• What is the nature of the interaction between the CME plasma and the magnetic field that drives the eruption?
• What is the configuration of the magnetic field in the corona?
• How are the different components of the solar wind, slow and fast, accelerated?
• To what degree do coronal inhomogeneities affect the heating and acceleration process?
Observational requirements:
• Imaging of the inner corona (1.05-3.0 solar radii) at high spatial and at high cadence (1-60 s)
• Spectroscopic measurements (FOV: 1.05-1.5 solar radii) in two visible and one infrared line for understanding the heating, dynamics, temperature, density and structure of the solar corona.
• Spectro-polarimetry in near infrared for topology and magnetic field measurements.
The data will be complemented with ground-based telescope data to provide the complete atmospheric coupling of the solar magnetic fields from the photosphere to the corona.
VELC instrument design:
Considering the scientific goals and the required SNR levels, a 20 cm off-axis internally occulted coronagraph and the associated back-end instruments are selected. An off-axis design is chosen to reduce the scattered light resulting from the spiders that hold the secondary mirror. This is an important aspect that is considered for the accurate coronal intensity and polarization measurements. The selection of internal occultation is driven by the science requirement to study inner corona.
The 20 cm coronagraph uses an off-axis parabolic mirror which simultaneously images the visible emission lines at 5303 Å [Fe xiv] and 6374 Å [Fe x] using narrowband imaging in the emission lines, and imagery in the 5800Å range using the continuum/broadband imaging technique for CME studies. The FOV in the solar corona is from 1.05 to 3.0 R sun for broadband imaging and 1.05 to 1.5 R sun for narrowband imaging. A dichroic beam splitter, polarization optics, and narrowband filters are accommodated in the optical path.
The CCD detector array has a format of 2 k x 2 k with a pixel size of < 12 µm. The fast cadence of the imaging instrument will allow to study the high frequency waves and its association with the coronal heating. Linear polarization measurements will also be made to map the magnetic topology of the solar corona. The large FOV capability of this instrument allows the study of CMEs. The primary optics has a micro-roughness of better than 0.2 nm.
Figure 6: Optical layout of the coronagraph (image credit: IIA, ISRO)
Legend to Figure 6: EA (Entrance Aperture), M1 (Primary Mirror), M2 (Secondary Mirror), M3 (Mirror to reject the solar disk light), CL (Collimating Lens), LS (Lyot Stop), M4 (Imaging mirror), Pol. (Polarization Filter Wheel), DBS (Dichroic Beam Splitter), CCD (Charge-Coupled Device), and FM (steering mirror).
The instrument operates in four observing modes.
Mode FOV Binning Mpixel/frame Frame rate (1/s) Data quantization (bit) Observation time (s) Data volume (Gbit) Intensity oscillation 1.05-1.5 R sun Yes
(2 x 2) 1 3 14 300 12.6 Loop dynamics 1.05-1.5 R sun No 4 0.1 or 0.05 12 1800 or 3600 8.64 Magnetic topology 1.05-1.5 R sun No 4 0.005 14 One per day 0.056 CME studies 1.05-3.0 R sun Yes (2 x 2) 1 0.016 14 13 hours/day 10.92 Total volume 32.22 x 2 =
64.44
Table 1: Observational modes for the payload
Figure 7: Schematic view of the payload to satellite interface (image credit: ISRO)
SUIT (Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope)
The SUIT instrument is being developed at IUCAA (Inter-University Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics), located on the Pune University Campus in Pune, India. The objective is to image the spatially resolved Solar Photosphere and Chromosphere in near Ultraviolet (200-400 nm) and measure solar irradiance variations.
SUIT will tackle the following issues:
• Coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere: What are the processes through which the energy is channelized and transferred from the photosphere to the chromosphere and then to the corona?
• Initiation of CMEs:What are the kinematics of erupting prominences during the early phase?
• Solar irradiance studies:Temporal variation and the spectral variation of the source regions.
• Prominence studies: What are the mechanisms responsible for stability, dynamics and eruption of solar prominences?
Observational requirements:
• Full disk observations in NUV(200–400 nm) in about 10 passbands using a filter-wheel mechanism.
• Combined medium and narrow-band filter imager with low stray light and high contrast to measure and monitor brightness contrast of solar magnetic features.
• Total FOV ~ 1.1 solar radii to overlap the FOV of VELC.
• Observations with different settings of cadence, exposure time, angular resolution, regions of interest, etc.
The data will be complemented with ground-based telescope data to provide magnetic field measurements. SUIT will provide continuous observations from photosphere, chromosphere and lower transition region.
ASPEX (Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment)
The ASPEX instrument is being developed at PRL (Physical Research Laboratory), Ahmedabad, India. The objective is to study the variation of solar wind properties as well as its distribution and spectral characteristics.
ASPEX is aimed to:
• Determine the variation of the spectrum of solar wind ions, supra-thermal ions and solar energetic particles during the solar cycle.
• Determine the variation of the thermal anisotropy of the constituents of the solar wind (protons, α-particles, and heavy ions) which is a measure of the efficacy of various acceleration and heating processes thought to occur in the interplanetary medium.
• Study of the supra-thermal tail of solar wind particles and temporal variation.
• Investigate the energy dependence of proton/alpha ratio and the temperature anisotropy of solar wind particles.
Instrument components:
• SWIS (Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer) to measure both the angular and energy distributions concurrently in addition to being able to separate protons, α-particles and heavy ions in the 100 eV to 20 keV range.
• STEPS (Supra Thermal Energetic Particle Spectrometer). STEPS will sample the solar wind along four different directions and study the supra-thermal particles observed in the solar wind in the 20 eV to 5 MeV range.
ASPEX will complement coronagraphic observations by determining the arrival time of interplanetary CMEs at L1.
PAPA (Plasma Analyzer Package for Aditya)
The PAPA instrument is being developed at SPL (Space Physics Laboratory), located at VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Center),Trivandrum, Kerela State, India. The goal is to understand the composition of solar wind and its energy distribution. The scientific objectives are:
• Continuous measurement of the solar wind and interplanetary electron distribution functions in the energy range 0.01-3 keV to extract the interplanetary magnetic field structure and topology.
• Study the composition of the solar wind and thereby understanding about the origin of the solar wind and particle acceleration mechanism.
Instrument components:
• SWEEP (Solar Wind Electron Energy Probe) to measure the solar wind and interplanetary electron distribution functions in the energy range 0.01-3 keV.
• SWICAR (Solar Wind Ion Composition Analyzer) to measure the kinetic temperatures and mean speeds of all major ion species in the mass range of 1-3 amu (atomic mass unit).
SoLEXS (Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer)
The instrument is being developed at ISAC (ISRO Satellite Center), Bangalore, India. The objective is to monitor the X-ray flares (1-30 keV) for studying the heating mechanism of the solar corona. The payload will provide:
• Data for the study of the DC heating mechanism.
• The physical characteristics of solar flares ranging from the X-class to the A-class along with its association of CMEs.
• Independent measure of coronal temperature and DEM (Differential Emission Measure) as well as abundances of coronal plasma.
• Study of the CME-flare relation and its physical mechanism.
Observational requirement:
• Single pixel SDD (Silicon Drift Detector) to observe the complete solar disk in the 1-30 keV range.
• Large dynamic range and high spatial resolution (<250 eV @ 5.9 keV) to measure the large variation in flux.
• FOV = 1º.
SoLEXS along with VELC, SUIT and the hard X-ray instrument will provide data to study the kinematics of solar flares and their energy content.
HEL1OS (High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer)
The HEL1OS instrument is being developed at ISAC and at PRL (Physical Research Laboratory) of USO (Udaipur Solar Observatory). The objectives are to observe the dynamic events in the solar corona and provide an estimate of the energy used to accelerate the particles during the eruptive events (a spectrometer that views the Sun as a star and is designed to study hard X-ray (HXR) emission from 10 keV to 150 keV during the impulsive phase of solar flares).
The main science goals of HEL1OS are:
• Study of explosive energy release, acceleration and transport of electrons using fast timing measurements and high resolution spectral studies.
• Study of the evolution of low-energy non-thermal electron cut-off using high spectral resolution measurements.
• Provide fast continuous timing data for the study of sub-second variability during flares.
• Understanding the science of eruptive events using complimentary multi-wavelength observations.
Observation requirement:
• Two types of semiconductor detectors. CdZnTe and CdTe in the overall energy range of 10-150 keV will cover the overlap between thermal and non-thermal components of a solar flare.
• Collimator FOV is 3º cone angle.
HEL1OS data will be complemented by VELC, SoLEXS, SUIT and ground observations in the radio bands.
Magnetometer
The instrument is being developed by LEOS (Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems) and ISAC, both institutions are located in Bangalore..
V. Koteswara Rao, "Aditya-1, Indian Minisatellite Space Coronagraph," Proceedings of the 61st IAC (International Astronautical Congress), Prague, Czech Republic, Sept. 27-Oct. 1, 2010, IAC-10.B4.2.2
Divya Gandhi, "ISRO planning to launch satellite to study the sun," The Hindu, January 13, 2008, URL: http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/13/stories/2008011354801000.htm
"Aditya-L1 First Indian mission to study the Sun," ISRO, Feb. 2, 2016, URL: http://www.isro.gov.in/aditya-l1-first-indian-mission-to-study-sun
"Indian Institute of Astrophysics," brochure, URL: http://www.iiap.res.in/files/brochure_final.pdf
B. Raghavendra Prasad for the Team Aditya (IIA, ISAC, LEOS, USO, SAC, VSSC), "Aditya I - An Overview," 2011, URL: http://www.iiap.res.in/meet/sol2011/sol_ppt/RPrasad.pdf
S. Seetha, "Proposed Aditya-L1 Mission," Conference on Coupling and Dynamics of the Solar Atmosphere", Pune, India, Nov. 10-14, 2014, URL: http://www.iucaa.ernet.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/11007/2780/1/Aditya-talk-11Nov14.pdf
Jagdev Singh, B. Raghavendra Prasad, P. Venkatakrishnan, K. Sankarasubramanian, Dipankar Banerjee, Raja Bayanna, Shibu Mathew, Jayant Murthy, Prasad Subramaniam, R. Ramesh, S. Kathiravan, S. Nagabhushana, P. K. Mahesh, P. K. Manoharan, Wahab Uddin, S. Sriram, Amit Kumar, N. Srivastava, Koteswara Rao, C. L. Nagendra, P. Chakraborthy, K. V. Sriram, R. Venkateswaran, T. Krishnamurthy, P. Sreekumar, K. S. Sarma, Raghava Murthy, K. H. Navalgund, D. R. M. Samudraiah, P. Narayan Babu, Asit Patra, "Proposed visible emission line space solar coronagraph," Current Science, Vol. 100, no 2, Jan. 25, 2011, URL: http://aditya.iiap.res.in/sites/aditya.iiap.res.in/files/Artcile_currentsc.pdf
The information compiled and edited in this article was provided by Herbert J. Kramer from his documentation of: "Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors" (Springer Verlag) as well as many other sources after the publication of the 4th edition in 2002. - Comments and corrections to this article are always welcome for further updates ([email protected]).
Overview Spacecraft Launch Sensor Complement References Back to TopThe Scots and the Catalans are both ancient European cultures that became part of larger political entities centuries ago but retained distinct identities. Both are today witnessing a strong wave of nationalism and longing for self-rule. There is a major difference, however, in how this is being played out in their respective countries.
The Scottish referendum last month, like the Quebec referendums before it, demonstrated that if people are allowed an open debate and a democratic vote on self-determination, they may well choose to stay in the broader polity. Spain’s hard line on Catalan nationalism demonstrates the opposite: If national ambitions are frustrated, they will only get stronger, more passionate and potentially more dangerous.
The Scottish referendum was watched closely in Spain, but from different perspectives. The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, made no secret of his opposition to Scottish independence and suggested he would block an independent Scotland from entering the European Union. Catalan nationalists focused on the process itself as evidence that voting on self-determination is a legitimate right.
On Sept. 11, a week before the Scottish referendum and on the 300th anniversary of the fall of Barcelona in the War of the Spanish Succession, hundreds of thousands of Catalans formed a seven-mile-long “V” for “vote” in Barcelona, the regional capital. And soon after the Scottish vote, on Sept. 18, the Catalan Parliament voted overwhelmingly to formally ask Madrid for a self-determination vote be held Nov. 9. It would ask two questions: “Do you want Catalonia to be a state?” and “if so,” “Do you want Catalonia to be an independent state?”In celebration of the Season 2 of the Gears Pro Circuit, and as a special thank you to our Gears Esports viewers and players, Gears Esports is proud to introduce the brand new Nuclear weapon skin set!
The Gears Esports Nuclear weapon skins cannot be purchased or crafted. Here’s your guide on how to collect them all:
Enforcer & Overkill - Complete 2 Escalation Matches (in-game, ranked, win or lose) between 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 1st and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 8th. Available for Xbox and PC. Must complete the matches, quitting will not count.
Lancer – Watch the premiere of Gears Pro Circuit All Access, November 8th, on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest.
Torque Bow & Dropshot - Watch Day 1 of the Gears Esports Fall Regionals, November 11th, on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest. The weapons will be available at various times across all channels.
EMBAR & Boomshot - Watch Day 2 of the Gears Esports Fall Regionals on November 12th on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest. The weapons will be available at various times across all channels.
Retro Lancer & Markza - Complete 2 Escalation Matches (in-game, ranked, win or lose) between 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 15th and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 22nd. Available for Xbox and PC. Must complete the matches, quitting will not count.
Gnasher – Watch Gears Fight Night, November 15th, on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest.
Hammerburst & Boltok – Complete 2 Escalation Matches (in-game, ranked, win or lose) between 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 22nd and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 29th. Available for Xbox and PC. Must complete the matches, quitting will not count.
Snub & Longshot – Watch Gears Pro Circuit All Access on November 22nd on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest.
Don't miss your chance to collect the whole set!
IMPORTANT: PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL SKINS WILL BE ENTITLED Once they're available following THE next Title Update. PLEASE ALLOW UP TO TWO WEEKS FOR ALL SKINS TO BE ENTITLED FOLLOWING THE TITLE UPDATE, AND FOLLOW @ESPORTSGEARS ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST ENTITLEMENT NEWS.
Need to find other people or teams to play with? You can use the Discord chat channel to find players in your region: http://discord.gg/gearsofwar.
Need help? Didn't get your Nuclear Skin? Use the official Gears Esports Discord at https://discord.gg/gearsofwar and visit the #help channel!
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Enforcer & Overkill - Complete 2 Escalation Matches (in-game, ranked, win or lose) between 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 1st and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 8th. Available for Xbox and PC. Must complete the matches, quitting will not count.
Matches must go through the in-game Escalation playlist (not private), and be played any time between 10:00 AM PT (1 PM ET/12 PM CST/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET) on Wednesday November 1 and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 8th (1 PM ET/12 PM CST/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET).
Lancer – Watch the premiere of Gears Pro Circuit All Access, November 8th, on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest.
In order to claim this skin:
Goto live.gearsofwar.com. Sign in with your Xbox Gamertag. Click on the "Quests" tab. Click "Submit Entry" once the Weapon Skin quest becomes available. Wait for the prompt confirming that the quest was submitted. Allow up to two weeks following the next title update for the skin to appear in your inventory, or follow @GearsEsports on Twitter for updates on skin entitlements. If the skin is not in your inventory following following this time then go to https://discord.gg/gearsofwar and visit the #help channel.
Click here for additional info/help.
Please note that the Quest for this skin will not appear until some point near the end of the broadcast. Gears Pro Circuit All Access kicks off at 3 PM PST (5 PM CST/6 PM EST/11 PM GMT/12 AM CET).
Torque Bow & Dropshot - Watch Day 1 of the Gears Esports Fall Regionals, November 11th, on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest. The skin will be available on all channels/broadcasts at various times.
In order to claim this skin:
Goto live.gearsofwar.com. Sign in with your Xbox Gamertag. Click on the "Quests" tab. Click "Submit Entry" once the Weapon Skin quest becomes available. Wait for the prompt confirming that the quest was submitted. Allow up to two weeks following the next title update for the skin to appear in your inventory, or follow @GearsEsports on Twitter for updates on skin entitlements. If the skin is not in your inventory following following this time then go to https://discord.gg/gearsofwar and visit the #help channel.
Click here for additional info/help.
EMBAR & Boomshot - Watch Day 2 of the Gears Esports Fall Regionals on November 12th on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest. The weapons will be available at various times across all channels.
In order to claim this skin:
Goto live.gearsofwar.com. Sign in with your Xbox Gamertag. Click on the "Quests" tab. Click "Submit Entry" once the Weapon Skin quest becomes available. Wait for the prompt confirming that the quest was submitted. Allow up to two weeks following the next title update for the skin to appear in your inventory, or follow @GearsEsports on Twitter for updates on skin entitlements. If the skin is not in your inventory following following this time then go to https://discord.gg/gearsofwar and visit the #help channel.
Click here for additional info/help.
.
Retro Lancer & Markza - Complete 2 Escalation Matches (in-game, ranked, win or lose) between 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 15th and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 22nd. Available for Xbox and PC. Must complete the matches, quitting will not count.
Matches must go through the in-game Escalation playlist (not private), and be played any time between 10:00 AM PT (1 PM ET/12 PM CST/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET) on Wednesday November 15th and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 22nd (1 PM ET/12 PM CST/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET).
Gnasher – Watch Gears Fight Night, November 15th, on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest.
In order to claim this skin:
Goto live.gearsofwar.com. Sign in with your Xbox Gamertag. Click on the "Quests" tab. Click "Submit Entry" once the Weapon Skin quest becomes available. Wait for the prompt confirming that the quest was submitted. Allow up to two weeks following the next title update for the skin to appear in your inventory, or follow @GearsEsports on Twitter for updates on skin entitlements. If the skin is not in your inventory following following this time then go to https://discord.gg/gearsofwar and visit the #help channel.
Click here for additional info/help.
Please note that the Quest for this skin will not appear until some point near the end of the broadcast. Gears Fight Nights kick off at 3 PM PST (5 PM CST/6 PM EST/11 PM GMT/12 AM CET).
Hammerburst & Boltok – Complete 2 Escalation Matches (in-game, ranked, win or lose) between 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 22nd and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 29th. Available for Xbox and PC. Must complete the matches, quitting will not count.
Matches must go through the in-game Escalation playlist (not private), and be played any time between 10:00 AM PT (1 PM ET/12 PM CST/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET) on Wednesday November 22nd and 10:00 AM PT on Wednesday November 29th (1 PM ET/12 PM CST/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET).
Snub & Longshot – Watch Gears Pro Circuit All Access on November 22nd on live.gearsofwar.com and complete the associated quest.
In order to claim this skin:
Goto live.gearsofwar.com. Sign in with your Xbox Gamertag. Click on the "Quests" tab. Click "Submit Entry" once the Weapon Skin quest becomes available. Wait for the prompt confirming that the quest was submitted. Allow up to two weeks following the next title update for the skin to appear in your inventory, or follow @GearsEsports on Twitter for updates on skin entitlements. If the skin is not in your inventory following following this time then go to https://discord.gg/gearsofwar and visit the #help channel.
Click here for additional info/help.
Please note that the Quest for this skin will not appear until some point near the end of the broadcast. Gears Pro Circuit All Access kicks off at 3 PM PST (5 PM CST/6 PM EST/11 PM GMT/12 AM CET).Before it was cancelled, around 50 people were working on a project at Google that would’ve created a new VR operating system and a high-end headset to compete with the Rift and Vive, according to a report by Mark Bergen at Recode.
Google recently announced Daydream instead, which integrates VR directly into the Android operating system. This mobile-first approach is likely seen as the larger, more viable opportunity for the company.
According to the report, Google had a project in its X research lab that would’ve created a new OS for virtual reality. Clay Bavor was recently put in charge of the VR efforts at Google and, with the medium growing increasingly important, he’s spearheading an alignment of the company’s efforts to be ready for VR. YouTube and Android, for example, are getting a number of VR-specific features.
Overall, the move makes a lot of sense. Android is everywhere, mobile phones are everywhere and evolving those two systems to handle VR really well is probably the right way forward for Google. Of course, what’s not known is just how many different VR-related efforts the company might still have right now. For example, key technologies like mobile position tracking are likely still a very high priority.
The first Daydream phones are due out later this year.Image caption Professor Hawking will appear alongside actor Jim Parsons, who has won an Emmy and Golden Globe for his portrayal of Sheldon Cooper
Professor Stephen Hawking has filmed a cameo for US sitcom The Big Bang Theory, due to be aired next month.
The famous physicist will appear in a scene with socially awkward scientist Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons.
Producers had asked Professor Hawking, best known for his best-selling book A Brief History of Time, to appear on the show before, but he had been too ill to take part.
He previously recorded voice-overs for animations The Simpsons and Futurama.
Last year, he fronted his own TV series Brave New World for Channel 4, which looked at new developments in science and how they might benefit mankind.
It also showcased the Professor's new voice synthesizer, which replaced the robotic voice he has come to be associated with.
Professor Hawking relies on text-to-speech software to communicate because of motor neurone disease, which leaves him unable to speak.
He turned 70 earlier this year but missed some of his birthday celebrations due to illness.
Sci-fi cameos
The Big Bang Theory is the second highest-rated comedy on US television, just behind Two And A Half Men. Both were created by Chuck Lorre.
Image caption The Big Bang Theory is screened on Channel 4 and E4 in the UK
The self-styled "geek sitcom" revolves around four insular and awkward scientists and their neighbour Penny, an aspiring actress who works in a Cheesecake Factory restaurant.
It has attracted many cameos from sci-fi actors such as Wil Wheaton, Summer Glau and Leonard Nimoy.
Several high-profile scientists have also appeared, including astrophysicist Dr George Smoot and theoretical physicist Dr Brian Greene.
Professor Hawking has been referenced in the series once before.
During the fourth series, comic book fan Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) left Sheldon a fake voicemail, pretending to be the British physicist.
"I wish to discuss your theory on black holes," said the message. "Meet me at Randy's Donuts."
Professor Hawking's cameo will be screened in the US on 5 April, and on Channel 4 in the UK at a later date.Shutterstock
Census figures show widespread increases in the square mileage of urbanized areas in the U.S.
Not only are more Americans living in urban areas, but those urban areas are getting bigger. According to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas – areas that range wildly in population and density, as we recently reported. And with this latest count of urban dwellers, the Census Bureau has also released revised measurements of just how big the country's urban areas are geographically. With the rise in urban population, there has also been a rise in the sheer size of many cities and urban areas. Atlanta saw the largest absolute increase in its urban area between 2000 and 2010, growing from 1,962 square miles to 2,645, an increase of nearly 683 square miles. "The suburbs are just growing outward," says Kevin Hawley, a geographer at the Census Bureau. "That seems to be the case in most of the larger areas." These growing urban areas aren't just cities extending their borders, according to Hawley, but rather clusters of urban development on the fringes of cities that are growing towards each other. As two areas spread out and get closer together, the space in between "gets sort of swallowed as growth between the two areas happens," Hawley says.
And though Atlanta is somewhat of an outlier in terms of its huge expansion, many other cities saw large increases in their urban areas. There were 29 that saw increases of 100 square miles or more. And 76 saw increases of 50 square miles or more. This chart shows the 10 cities with the largest urban land area increase, by square miles, between 2000 and 2010. Four of the top ten growing cities, it's worth underlining, are in Texas. This is a state that experienced a 20 percent population growth rate between 2000 and 2010, and will be gaining an additional four congressional representatives through reapportionment. The largest increase in urban land for a Texas city was in Dallas, which grew by about 372 square miles. Rosanne Ortega, executive director of the Greater Dallas Planning Council, says the state's relatively resilient economy is behind the population growth that's been fueling this urban expansion. "North Texas especially hasn’t experienced quite the dramatic downturn that any of the other major metropolitan areas like Chicago or Detroit have experienced. So a lot of our jobs, even in construction, have been maintained," Ortega says. It's not just big cities that are seeing this sort of edgewise expansion. Small and mid-sized cities are also growing. In fact, the cities that saw the largest growth rate between 2000 and 2010 are mainly in the 60,000 to 200,000 range. The next chart shows the 10 cities that saw the largest increase in urban land area by percentage.
As I noted in an earlier article on the new urban numbers from the Census, there are officially two types of urban areas: “urbanized areas” of 50,000 or more people and “urban clusters” of between 2,500 and 50,000 people. Hawley says that the 2010 census was only the second census to track urban clusters, making historical comparison impossible. But for the larger urbanized areas, the census has kept track of changes in urban area. The 1990 figures are deep inside this document [PDF]. Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... This last chart shows how U.S. urban land area has grown since 1990 in the 10 biggest gainers of 2010. We won't be able to do any sort of comparable analysis of the smaller urban clusters (those in the 2,500 to 50,000 population range) until the numbers come back from the 2020 Census. But when those numbers do come out, they're likely to show similarly big increases in the amount of urban land each of these areas encompasses. Between 2000 and 2010, almost every urban area in the country expanded physically. Of the roughly 3,500 urban areas in the U.S., only about 50 shrank in size over the last decade. As the urban population of the country grows, the physical footprint of urbanity can be expected to grow right along with it. Top image: Downtown Las Colinas, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. (Kushal Bose/Shutterstock)Good question.
You really kept my mind busy thinking…
Well, what I think is the guy who invented the first camera might've made another camera and took the picture of the first camera with the other one.
But the correct answer is,
The camera which you're looking at is the world's largest camera built by George R. Lawrence. He was commissioned by the Chicago and the Alton railway to shoot world's largest photo of one of its trains. The photo measuring 8feet by 4.5 feet. The camera weighting 900 pounds, 15 men were required to move and operate the camera. It costed whooping $5000 which was enough to buy a bungalow those days.
So the camera In the picture is not the world's first camera but the world's largest camera.
Hope you got your answer.At least 1,000 Google employees rallied at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters today to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration ban, filling and spilling out of a courtyard.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin addressed employees and described immigrating to the U.S. as a refugee from Russia at the age of 6. Brin said despite political turmoil at that time, even then “the U.S. had the courage to take me and my family in as refugees.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the employees they needed to reach out and have a dialogue with people across the country. “I think it's important to stay the course,” he said.
Employees affected by the order also spoke.
Google estimates more than 2,000 employees gathered at eight of the company’s campuses, including Mountain View, San Francisco, Boulder, Seattle and New York. The events were organized by employees and supported by Google, the company confirmed.
Participants were using the hashtag #GooglersUnite to share their photos and thoughts about the rallies.
Sergey Brin tells a rally of more than 1000 Googlers his story of Cing to the U.S. as a refugee at age 6. pic.twitter.com/pSeqKf5lEA — Tess Townsend (@Tess_Townsend) January 31, 2017
In Mountain View, employees began streaming from various directions into the courtyard located near campus eatery Charlie’s Cafe at 2:30 pm PT, holding signs with slogans such as “No Ban, No Wall, Resist,” “Proud Queer Immigrant” and “Make America Welcoming Again.”
A chant of “no ban, no wall” moved like a wave across the crowd as the cluster of employees grew denser in the sunshine. Employees could also be seen watching from the windows of buildings around the courtyard.
Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, a product manager on Google Assistant, spoke about her experience learning of Trump’s executive order on immigration — while traveling abroad.
Esmaeilzadeh, a Canadian citizen born in Iran, said she had been on a business trip to Switzerland when she learned of the travel ban that affects seven countries including Iran. She said it was not immediately clear how the ban would affect her, a green card holder in the |
and strings. The file type is also given and Autopsy will search the meta data structures to identify which has allocated the data unit. (screenshot) Image Details: File system details can be viewed, including on-disk layout and times of activity. This mode provides information that is useful during data recovery. (screenshot) Case Management Case Management : Investigations are organized by cases, which can contain one or more hosts. Each host is configured to have its own time zone setting and clock skew so that the times shown are the same as the original user would have seen. Each host can contain one or more file system images to analyze. (screenshot) (Sleuth Kit Informer #2)
: Investigations are organized by cases, which can contain one or more hosts. Each host is configured to have its own time zone setting and clock skew so that the times shown are the same as the original user would have seen. Each host can contain one or more file system images to analyze. (screenshot) (Sleuth Kit Informer #2) Event Sequencer : Time-based events can be added from file activity or IDS and firewall logs. Autopsy sorts the events so that the sequence of incident events can be more easily determined. (screenshot)
: Time-based events can be added from file activity or IDS and firewall logs. Autopsy sorts the events so that the sequence of incident events can be more easily determined. (screenshot) Notes : Notes can be saved on a per-host and per-investigator basis. These allow you to make quick notes about files and structures. The original location can be easily recalled with the click of a button when the notes are later reviewed. All notes are stored in an ASCII file. (screenshot )
: Notes can be saved on a per-host and per-investigator basis. These allow you to make quick notes about files and structures. The original location can be easily recalled with the click of a button when the notes are later reviewed. All notes are stored in an ASCII file. (screenshot ) Image Integrity : It is crucial to ensure that files are not modified during analysis. Autopsy, by default, will generate an MD5 value for all files that are imported or created. The integrity of any file that Autopsy uses can be validated at any time. (screenshot)
: It is crucial to ensure that files are not modified during analysis. Autopsy, by default, will generate an MD5 value for all files that are imported or created. The integrity of any file that Autopsy uses can be validated at any time. (screenshot) Reports : Autopsy can create ASCII reports for files and other file system structures. This enables you to quickly make consistent data sheets during the investigation.
: Autopsy can create ASCII reports for files and other file system structures. This enables you to quickly make consistent data sheets during the investigation. Logging : Audit logs are created on a case, host, and investigator level so that actions can be easily recalled. The exact Sleuth Kit commands that are executed are also logged.
: Audit logs are created on a case, host, and investigator level so that actions can be easily recalled. The exact Sleuth Kit commands that are executed are also logged. Open Design : The code of Autopsy is open source and all files that it uses are in a raw format. All configuration files are in ASCII text and cases are organized by directories. This makes it easy to export the data and archive it. It also does not restrict you from using other tools that may solve the specific problem more appropriately.
: The code of Autopsy is open source and all files that it uses are in a raw format. All configuration files are in ASCII text and cases are organized by directories. This makes it easy to export the data and archive it. It also does not restrict you from using other tools that may solve the specific problem more appropriately. Client Server Model: Autopsy is HTML-based and therefore you do not have to be on the same system as the file system images. This allows multiple investigators to use the same server and connect from their personal systems. Autopsy is written in Perl and runs on the same UNIX platforms as The Sleuth Kit: Linux
Mac OS X
Open & FreeBSD
Solaris
Cygwin (you cannot use the win32 executables that can be downloaded from this site, you must build in Cygwin) If you have a feature request, refer to the Support page for details on submitting it.The Beach Boys may be trading Aruba and Jamaica for Washington, D.C.
The classic rock band confirmed reports that they had been invited to play at President-elect Trump's January inauguration. They have not yet made a decision, a spokesman for the band said.
"The Beach Boys have been asked to perform as part of the inauguration festivities," the band's management said in a statement to Billboard and People Magazine. "But no decision has been made at this point as to how or whether they will participate. We will let you know as soon as a decision is final."
In the past, the Beach Boys have performed at events relating to former presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, including a Reagan fundraiser during the 1984 Republican convention. In 2014, they also played at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The band consists of frontman and band co-founder Mike Love and Bruce Johnston.
The Trump team have had trouble selecting a performer for Inauguration Day after Elton John rejected claims that he would be performing and Motley Crue's Vince Neil said he was "uninvited." It was recently announced that "America's Got Talent" runner-up Jackie Evancho would be singing the national anthem at the Jan. 20 ceremony.People are afraid of Ebola, and they have a right to be”but they also need to understand it.
Ebola is a highly dangerous viral infection, killing more than half of those infected. The death rate is higher than that in cases without hospital care, lower when supportive therapy (oxygen, intravenous fluids, dialysis) is available.
It is transmitted by direct contact (through breaks in the skin or mucous membranes) with every kind of body fluid, from blood to sweat to semen. At this point, there’s no known example of airborne transmission between people: be thankful for that. We also know the virus doesn”t last long in the open air.
It’s clear that Ebola isn”t all that contagious”nothing like influenza or measles, which are airborne. It seems that it can only spread widely in favorable conditions”either crowded West African slums where people’s burial customs expose them, or, paradoxically, in less-than-perfect hospitals, where carelessness and improper gear leave medical personnel vulnerable. I say carelessness, but “errors” might be a better word. Working in a hospital with no resources or electricity, filled with desperately ill people who are bleeding and puking, seems to increase almost everyone’s error rate.
“Oh, undoubtedly they”re thinking something nonsensical about the horrors of profiling black Africans, but let’s be real: we”d quarantine Sweden if they had something like Ebola, be they ever so blond, and we”d be right to do so.”
Another factor that limits Ebola’s chance of becoming the next pandemic is its sheer virulence, coupled with direct person-to-person transmission: people are only infectious for a few weeks at most, after which they”re either dead or immune to that strain.
Ebola is not originally a human disease at all. Its reservoir is thought to be fruit bats, which carry the virus, but don”t seem to get very sick.
In any epidemic, the key statistic is the number of new cases per case. If that parameter is greater than one, the number of cases grows exponentially, and you have an epidemic. If less than one, the disease dies out. That parameter may not be the same in every environment: it’s obviously greater than 1.0 in Liberia, but as long as Americans don”t have their entire extended families handle the body at a funeral, it’s almost certainly well under 1.0 here.
So”what short-term risk do Americans face from infected people flying here from West Africa? Small national risk: under current policy, you might see a sick West African visitor infect one or two Americans, likely hospital personnel. And some of those infected people would die, even with good care. Second question: Why take this risk? There’s no reason to do so. The administration claims that limiting incoming travel from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone would backfire. Why do they say that?
I”d say that it’s because they”re nuts, which is often the deep reason behind federal action. Oh, undoubtedly they”re thinking something nonsensical about the horrors of profiling black Africans, but let’s be real: we”d quarantine Sweden if they had something like Ebola, be they ever so blond, and we”d be right to do so. At the end of the day, nuts, like I said.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (part of NIH), said a travel embargo on West African countries that are struggling with Ebola would make it much harder for them to control the virus.
“You isolate them, you can cause unrest in the country,” Fauci told Fox News Sunday. “It’s conceivable that governments could fall if you just isolate them completely.”
So, we”re supposed to believe that blocking flights to the U.S. for the duration would destabilize an African government. Riiight. But Fauci had to say something. He has no logical explanation for the administration’s position”but then, none exists. He’s just being a loyal bureaucrat. Everybody and his brother are closing that door: Air France and British Airways have both temporarily halted flights. Since they read the polls, if nothing else, the Obama Administration will probably end up doing the same.
Pay to Play - Put your money where your mouth is and subscribe for an ad-free experience and to join the world famous Takimag comment board.A mother's unusual decision to spell for her daughter's name with Roman numerals has caused a stir online.
A Gold Coast mother admitted in a magazine that she and her husband decided to use the numeral for eight - VIII - to replace the letters 'ait' in her infant daughter's name.
'I've always loved the name Kaitlyn but hated how popular it was,' she said.
A Gold Coast mother's unusual decision to swap the letters 'ait' in her favourite name Kaitlyn with the Roman numeral VIII has ignited horrified reactions from online users (pictured)
Internet users were quick to share their dismay of the mother's decision (pictured)
'So when I found out I was having a girl, my husband suggested we replace the 'ait' with the Roman numeral symbol for eight! Now our daughter is truly unique.'
A reader shared the clipping online and questioned whether the odd spelling was a form of child abuse.
Internet users were quick to share their dismay of the mother's decision.
'She's really going to stand out at the dole office!' one commenter amused.
'This is a joke right. Who puts Roman numerals in a name. Ah well I guess it's better than K8lin,' another said.
'You've still given her an 'overly popular' name you muppet. You've just f***** the spelling of it,' one shocked commenter said.
'This is a joke right. Who puts Roman numerals in a name. Ah well I guess it's better than K8lin,' another commenter saidGlobal map and associated averages, by zone, of a new measure of how long it takes for soil moisture from rainfall to dissipate (estimated soil moisture water cycle fraction), produced from one year of data from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive mission. Credit: MIT/NASA/JPL-Caltech. View full image.
A new study of the first year of observational data from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is providing significant surprises that will help in modeling Earth’s climate, forecasting our weather and monitoring agricultural crop growth.
The findings are presented in a paper published recently in the journal Nature Geosciences by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge; and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. They used SMAP measurements to estimate soil moisture memory in the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of Earth’s topsoils. The estimates improve upon earlier ones that were predicted from models or based on sparse data from ground observation stations. Soil moisture memory, which refers to how long it takes for soil moisture from rainfall to dissipate, can influence our weather and climate.
Artist’s rendering of NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
The team found that, on average, about one-seventh of the amount of rain that falls is still present in the topmost layer of soils three days later. This persistence is greatest in Earth’s driest regions.
The top 2 inches of topsoil on Earth’s land masses contains an infinitesimal fraction of our planet’s water — less than one-thousandth of one percent. Yet because of its position at the interface between land and atmosphere, that tiny amount plays a crucial role in everything from agriculture, weather, climate and even the spread of disease. This thin layer is a key part of the global water cycle over the continents and is also a key factor in the global energy and carbon cycles.
The behavior and dynamics of this moisture reservoir have been hard to quantify and analyze, however, because soil moisture measurements have been slow and laborious to make, or too sparse for researchers to make general conclusions. That situation changed in 2015 with the launch of SMAP, designed to provide high-quality, globally comprehensive and frequent measurements of the moisture in that top layer of soil.
“SMAP’s ability to collect soil moisture data samples every two to three days over the globe gives scientists an unprecedented tool for tracking changes in soil moisture over time,” said SMAP Project Scientist Simon Yueh of JPL, a study co-author. “For the first time, we can accurately quantify these rainfall memory effects on soil moisture on a global scale and for various types of land cover.”
Our ocean, containing 97 percent of Earth’s water, plays a major role in storing and releasing heat. Over land, the moisture in the topmost layer of the soil also stores and releases heat, albeit through different mechanisms. That moisture “is a tiny, tiny fraction of the water budget, but it’s sitting at a very critical zone at the surface of the land, and plays a disproportionately critical role in the cycling of water,” says SMAP Science Team Leader and study co-author Dara Entekhabi of MIT.
Among the study’s other findings, the team found that SMAP data identify regions where soil moisture memory has the potential to influence weather and affect and amplify droughts and floods. When moisture evaporates from wet soil, it cools the soil in the process, but when the soil gets too dry, that cooling diminishes. This, in turn, can lead to hotter weather and heat waves that extend and deepen drought conditions. Such effects had been speculated, but hadn’t been directly studied until now.
To read more about the NASA/National Science Foundation-funded study, visit:
http://news.mit.edu/2017/smap-satellite-memory-soil-moisture-0116
SMAP launched Jan. 31, 2015, on a minimum three-year mission to map global soil moisture and detect whether soils are frozen or thawed. The mission is designed to help scientists understand the links between Earth's water, energy and carbon cycles; reduce uncertainties in Earth system modeling; and enhance our ability to monitor and predict natural hazards like floods and droughts. SMAP data have additional practical applications, including improved weather forecasting and crop yield predictions.
SMAP is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington by JPL, with instrument hardware and science contributions made by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. To learn more about SMAP, visit:
http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov
Media contacts
Alan Buis
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0474
[email protected]
Karl-Lydie Jean-Baptiste
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
617-253-1682
[email protected] Metro builds it, they still won't ride public transit... at least, not until their psychological blocks are overcome. That's the result of a new study led by Steven Spears, a doctoral candidate at UC Irvine. Getting you on the bus (or train or subway) is far more nuanced than getting you into a "transit oriented" high-rise and pointing you toward the nearest bus stop or light rail station.
Spears and his research team found that "attitudes toward public transportation and concerns about personal safety... were robust predictors of transit use, independent of built environment factors such as near-residence street network connectivity and transit service level. Results indicate the need for combined policy approaches to increasing transit use that not only enhance transit access but also target attitudes about transit service and perceptions of crime on transit."
In plainer terms, fear, class, race, and even shame color the decision to get out of the driver's seat and into a seat on a bus, train, or subway. The bias against public transit is so polarizing that European researchers last year announced a "Car Effect" that biases against transit. Instead of evaluating travel options for the combination that had the lowest cost and fastest commute, people in the study preferred driving even when a car wasn't the best time-and-money choice.
The researchers concluded that in the decision to ride or drive "available information is not properly processed; cognitive efforts are generally low and rational calculation play a limited role."
That is, most people are irrational when the choice is between a car and public transit.
It isn't much of stretch to find that people who are willing to use good public transit actually use it, and that people who are anxious about transit won't. But as Eric Jaffe at Atlantic Cities points out, it's significant that an anti-transit bias persists even if public transit is frequent, relatively affordable, and built into the fabric of the neighborhood.
Even if public transit is the best choice, some (many?) potential riders still won't ever ride.
That will have unfortunate consequences for developers and urban planners who assume, it seems to me, that if you build dense neighborhoods in Los Angeles, then more transit will come, and when it does, people logically will choose to ride it rather than drive. Except the biased won't ride even if transit use is the rational choice, diminishing the anticipated the benefits of denser, transit-oriented neighborhoods.
The politics of development in Los Angeles and the convictions of urban planners have underestimated the irrationality of those who avoid public transit. Meanwhile, state land use policies are making dense, transit-oriented development the preferred form of new working- and middle-class housing (perhaps the only form one day).
Because they will have to, all sorts of people will live in these neighborhoods, the transit biased and the unbiased. Some will ride transit. Some -- many? -- won't, with unhappy consequences for traffic, air quality, and quality of life.
There are those who think the transit biased will be given no other option. Higher gas taxes, miles-traveled user fees, limitations on times and places cars can be driven, steep fees to park (or no parking at all), and access fees for congested city centers are some of the sticks suggested to pry the "Car Effect" out of drivers.
Reforming the image of transit is a softer solution. Jaffe suggests: "(C)ampaigns to target common misperceptions of transit -- that it's inconvenient or that it's unsafe -- may be as important in some places as improving service itself."
I'm not so sure that would be enough if "improving service" only means more frequency of service and not everything that might break through the barriers of race, class, fear, and even shame that keeps the biased off the bus.Goaltender Michael Leighton was set to suit up for KHL expansion team HC Sochi this season, but the two sides mutually agreed to void his contract after the 33-year-old was unable to attend training camp due to illness.
“I was with Sochi and got sick and wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to make it there,” Leighton told The Windsor Star. “They have the right to look for another goalie and I agreed that I didn’t know when I’d be able to get there, so we both agreed to terminate the contract.”
Leighton had a strong 2013-14 campaign for Donbass Donetsk - the only Ukrainian-based franchise in the league - finishing sixth in the KHL in goals-against average (1.74), ninth in save percentage (.933) and tied for third in shutouts (six).
His intended move to Sochi was precipitated by Donbass' decision to suspend operations for one year after pro-Russian militants attacked, looted and burned Druzhba Arena, the team's home rink, back in May.
Leighton said this about his KHL experience:
Where I was last year, it was fine all year until close to the end of the year and into the playoffs. It did get kind of scary, because we weren’t playing at home. Teams didn’t want to travel to the Ukraine. Obviously you worry about things that go on over there. Hockey-wise, it’s just a business. You go over there, you play hockey and you don’t really hear about stuff that’s going on. I’m not a political guy. I don’t know what’s going on, besides what I watch on CNN and you don’t know how much of that to believe. When you’re playing there, we were at the hotel. We’d eat dinner as a team. You’d go to the rink and play hockey and then get on an airplane and fly to other cities. When the season was done and I was home, I was happy that I was home.
Leighton, best remembered for his role in helping the Philadelphia Flyers reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, added he would not hesitate to return to Russia to resume his hockey career, if health permits.
In 105 career NHL games, Leighton posted a.901 save percentage.Air New Zealand pilot Ann Barbarich worked for as a pilot for 27 years.
An Air New Zealand pilot collapsed at the controls of one of its new Dreamliners just after she landed it and later died, the airline says.
Air New Zealand confirms the incident happened minutes after Captain Ann Barbarich landed the full plane at Perth after a flight from Auckland last Sunday.
Chief flight operations and safety officer David Morgan said in a statement that Barbarich took ill on arrival and was initially attended by two doctors on board.
DEAN KOZANIC The experienced Air New Zealand pilot was learning how to fly the new Dreamliner.
She was taken to the Royal Perth Hospital and died on Tuesday.
It is suspected she suffered a brain aneurysm.
"(She) was a well-known and respected long-haul pilot who had served 27 years with Air New Zealand flying domestically and internationally," he said.
She was learning how to operate the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
"Ann was at the controls when the aircraft landed in Perth and the aircraft landed normally," Morgan said.
"Unfortunately after landing she became seriously ill.
"Another pilot took over and taxied the aircraft to the gate while the other pilots began to assist Ann."
Morgan stressed that the aircraft was always safe and under control with four captains in the cockpit.
"Ann will be sadly missed by everyone at Air New Zealand…. Ann is survived by her husband and two children."
A passenger on the flight told The West Australian that the cabin and flight deck crew handled "a very difficult situation very professionally."
"There was no panic and we hardly noticed anything had happened."© AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Rodolfo Gonzalez Tim Wright, 70, right, defers a question to his attorney Jeff Senter, left, as he reports to the Federal Courthouse in Austin on Wednesday, April 8, 2015. A federal grand jury in Austin indicted Wright, the Williamson County court-at-law judge on firearm violations and making false statements to a government agent. A former Texas county judge was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in a federal prison for illegally dealing in firearms and making false statements to government agents about the weapons, some of which were smuggled into Mexico, prosecutors said.
Tim Wright, 70, had entered a plea bargain with prosecutors earlier this year and will be placed on supervised release for three years once he completes his prison sentence, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said.
From June 2014, Wright sold more than 60 firearms without a federal firearms license. Dozens of the weapons were sold to two people who were illegally smuggling those guns into Mexico, the office said.
"No one is above the law, especially not judges," Wright had previously said in a statement read to reporters at the federal court in Austin. He was a judge in Williamson County, north of Austin.
Prosecutors said he also falsified federal forms to hide the identity of the buyers and provided false statements to federal agents about the transactions, prosecutors said.
"These are serious crimes for which he has been held accountable," U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler)World leaders need to push back against a tide of "rampant" protectionism and nationalism, Canadian premier Justin Trudeau said on Saturday (Sep 3), warning that "building walls" was not the solution.
HANGZHOU: World leaders need to push back against a tide of "rampant" protectionism and nationalism, Canadian premier Justin Trudeau said on Saturday (Sep 3), warning that "building walls" was not the solution.
The global economy is not working for too many people, Trudeau said, fuelling anger among voters left behind by decades of unequal growth and "taking us in the wrong direction in many places in the world".
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"There's a sense the forward march of progress has stalled," he told a business forum in the Chinese city of Hangzhou which is hosting the G20 summit.
"That anxiety is exactly what is leading to the kind of anti-trade, anti-globalisation protectionism that is running rampant, whether in Brexit, or in protectionist rhetoric in election campaigns," he said.
"We have to push back against that," he said. "It's very tempting to fall into divisive, fearful rhetoric. That's one of the things we have to be strongly compelling in standing against."
Trudeau did not explicitly reference Donald Trump's populist campaign for the US presidency, but alluded to the Republican nominee's platform as he argued for the benefits of free trade.
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"We know that isolationism, that building walls, that closing in on oneself, does not create opportunity, does not create growth, does not create benefits for the middle class," he said.
Trudeau's comments came after IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned this week that the world's economies faced a potentially toxic mix of low long-term growth and rising inequality, creating political temptations to populism and raised trade barriers.
She warned of a "low-growth trap" - high debt, weak demand, eroding work forces and labour skills, weakening incentives for investment and slowing productivity.
But analysts say the G20 summit is unlikely to achieve a breakthrough, as it is not taking place at a time of acute crisis which could prod governments to take action.Comedian and writer Pippa Evans is the co-founder of the Sunday Assembly, a growing worldwide movement where non-believers congregate to celebrate atheist rituals of community and wonder. Recently a congregation formed in Melbourne, and it's already attracting a growing flock. But why revisit the traditions of church worship if there's no God to praise?
The question we get asked the most about Sunday Assembly is ‘But why?’ Why set up something that is sort of like a godless church and sort of like a show, and is fun and yet serious?
My stock answer is ‘Why not?’
Two months ago I hosted the first Sunday Assembly Australia in Melbourne. It was a buzz to see 60-odd people laughing, singing and being together, sharing lemonade and homemade cakes and making new connections.
One couple I met had just moved to South Melbourne and wanted to meet people, but they didn't want to go to church as they didn't believe in God. Where's the place to do that?
But why? I still hear you cry. Sometimes I don't know if there is a 'why'. I only know that Sunday Assembly is something that touches a lot of people and creates a sense of togetherness not felt in a long time. Pippa Evans, co-founder of The Sunday Assembly
Say what you like about the Church but it did, and still does in many places, serve a vital function of creating and serving its community. Sure people go to praise God, but they also come together to make friends, lay aside differences, sing, clear their minds and partake in ritual. We love ritual as humans, whether it be a Christening, chanting at a football match or strange family traditions that no one else knows about (ask a member of the Evans family to sing ‘Oh Plum Pudding’ and you will be quite surprised by the result).
Rituals are fantastic at bringing us together, but what do you do if you don't believe in God? If you aren't comfortable singing his praises but you do want to find a way to engage with people that doesn't involve an entrance fee and a bar?
That's where we come in.
Sunday Assembly has grown faster than anything I have ever been a part of. We set up in January and now, at the end of June, Sanderson (my co-founder) is in America, hosting the first Sunday Assembly New York, Melbourne is holding its second Sunday Assembly and we have a congregation (yes, we use that word) of over 600 people in London.
We have had requests from all over the world from people wanting a Sunday Assembly in their town, from Cape Town to Brisbane, Texas to Townsville.
And we have come up with a plan to make this happen.
In October, Sanderson and I will be doing a tour called ‘40 Dates and 40 Nights’ where we will visit the 40 places that are most interested in starting a Sunday Assembly. Each town/city/village we visit will set up a space for a Sunday Assembly and we'll demonstrate how it is done. Our plan is to meet as many people as possible in a short time, and jumpstart the Sunday Assembly globally.
We wouldn't go somewhere unless they wanted us to be there, and Australia is one of the countries that has asked us to come. Sunday Assembly doesn't impose itself on anyone. We are not here to ‘take on’ the church or start arguments with mosques. This was set up for people who don't have or want a religion in their lives, but do want a place to go that offers support and encouragement. We are not interested in competing with other spiritual organisations—we are here to offer something to those who are not already aligned with anything. We don't want to be considered a religion, but rather a hub—a central point that offers something that can't be filled by work or the pub or the internet.
What do we hope for with the Sunday Assembly? We want Sunday Assembly to become a place for people who want encouragement, who want to appreciate what they have and who want to sing really loud once a month. Sunday Assembly wants to inspire people to live better, to help often and to wonder more.
It's so easy to get wrapped up in ourselves. Sometimes we need to be reminded to look at the sky, be humbled by how small and insignificant we are, and yes, how much potential there is inside us all.
Singing loudly, the attraction of atheist churches Thursday 27 June 2013 Listen to Pippa's interview on Life Matters to find out more about The Sunday Assembly. More This [series episode segment] has image,
‘But why?!?!’ I still hear you cry. Sometimes I don't know if there is a 'why'. I only know that Sunday Assembly is something that touches a lot of people and creates a sense of togetherness not felt by many in a long time. Sunday Assembly enables people to grow, to be challenged, to laugh and to remember that life is amazing. And when it's a chore, there are people to share those chores with. And maybe it's not God we need to get us through, but each other.
The best thing of all, my favourite thing, is that if you don't agree, if you don't like the sound of it, if this doesn't float your boat, you don't have to come. There is no fire and brimstone if you don't attend Sunday Assembly.
It would be a terrible shame for you though; the cake is really very good.
Find out more at Life Matters.Abandoned homes have become an increasingly common sight amidst a national foreclosure crisis. Yet what may lurk forgotten behind closed doors may be much worse than nothing at all.
A Milwaukee real estate agent entered one such house last month after it was repossessed due to tax foreclosure -- the government can foreclose on a home if taxes and subsequent fees are not paid off within a designated time period -- to find a sight he's not likely to forget soon. The body of the owner David Carter was found on the stairs in a "nearly skeletonized" state after being left there undiscovered for what investigators believe to be up to four years, The Daily Mail reports.
Carter, whose friends and acquaintances described as "smart and generous," even "funny," quit his job as a nuisance control officer for the City of Milwaukee in 2007, telling co-workers that he planned to move to New Mexico, according to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Instead, it appears that Carter committed suicide. He was found with a bullet wound through his head and a handgun on his chest the day that he would have turned 45 years old.
Sadly, Carter's isn't the first body to be discovered after a seemingly unfathomable amount of time. In England, creditors looking for unpaid bills found the body of a 38-year-old London woman in her rented room in 2006 nearly three years after she's believed to have died. The episode is the subject of a forthcoming film, Dreams of Life, the research for which revealed that the woman was acquaintances with many influential members of London's 80s and 90s pop music scene.
In addition, police last year found an elderly woman's body in a home in Sydney, Australia after she was believed to have died sometime around 2003.
Though Carter and others were found in their homes years after their deaths, the opposite situation -- declaring someone dead prematurely -- has also occurred. A Florida woman is currently suing her lender, JPMorgan Chase, after the bank mistakenly declared her deceased in 2010, which she claimed ruined her credit score. Similarly, a veteran has had to prove his existence four times over in the past two years after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs stopped paying him his pension benefits on the grounds that he's no longer living.There are two competing views of the world that can explain most of the political opinions in the United States. The statist view is that the government is responsible for directing the whole society towards the good so it has to enact and enforce rules to direct the society. The libertarian view, on the other hand, is that the individuals should be left free to live their lives and use their property to meet their own goals provided that they don’t commit aggression towards other people.
The statists define the good in an egalitarian fashion to mean the state of affairs that provide similar outcomes for all. They ignore the fact that outcomes are defined mostly by the inputs and efforts used to achieve them and that people have different abilities and resources so they cannot reach similar outcomes. For example, statists decry income variations as unfair and advocate policies and rules to redistribute income from people who made more to people who made less. Some of the statist policies to achieve what they see as fairer income distribution are the welfare state, progressive income tax, and affirmative action. In spite of over 100 years of progressive income taxes, over 50 years of the welfare state, and over 40 years of affirmative action no fundamental change happened. People who have more human capital such as education and skills make much more money than people who no or less human capital, people on welfare remain on welfare and rarely move out of government dole, and people who have stable families and belong to cultures that believe in hard work and driving for results achieve better education outcome. The main reason that statists fail to achieve any of their goals is that equality is not the natural state of the world, people have different skills, cultures and resources and that cause different outcomes and nothing can change that. You can place anyone in a high-quality university but unless that person developed the right skills he or she cannot graduate with the same grades and education as someone who did. You can use force to take money from a successful person and give it to someone who doesn’t have the work skills and doesn’t want to change and that person will remain on welfare forever.
The libertarians don’t believe that any outcomes should be forced on the society and that the individuals are free as long as they don’t commit aggression against anyone else. They don’t see inequality as a problem as long as it didn’t result from the use force. In that worldview, people are liable for the consequences of their actions and the role of the law and the courts is to stop anyone who uses force against someone’s person or property. People will get the reward the market allocates to them based on the value they provide and people who cannot contribute because of disability will be helped by family, friends, and charity.
The statist worldview depends on the arrogant assumption that government bureaucrats can manage people lives, care for their well being and provide for their children better than they can do for themselves. This world view ignores the fact that these bureaucrats are also people who have their own biases and prejudices and do what they do for their own benefit. The failures of statist solutions are numerous and well documented in the United States such as the new deal, the great society, and Obamacare but these failed programs never get canceled because they serve the needs of politicians to maintain a voter base of government dependent people.
The next time you hear a politician claim that he or she wants to help the people by creating a government-run solution know that he or she wants to help himself or herself get elected.For Denver Broncos fans who cheer the orange and blue from inside Mile High Stadium this season, watching online videos and posting their own updates should be much smoother, thanks to a $6 million upgrade of the stadium’s Wi-Fi network.
The ongoing renovation, paid for by Verizon and the Broncos, includes four times as many wireless antennas. And new hardware uses the latest available generation of Wi-Fi, called 802.11ac, which has theoretical speeds of 1.3 gigabits per second.
To achieve those speeds, the stadium also tapped |
Leon coming off like that.
"To lose that many key players, it's not something that's easy because you don't easily replace key players."
Charlton manager Guy Luzon:
"It was a game between teams who fight to stay in the league, a game of six points.
"We knew it would be tough because Wigan arrived with the good momentum from the win at Reading away. We knew it would not be easy.
"We came with confidence and we were magnificent in defence, organised well and our goalkeeper doesn't need to jump or touch the ball.
"We scored three goals, unfortunately our target was to keep the ball and move the ball, but the pitch was not so good."FOR the first time, the Supreme Court has made public a summary of the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2014 of its justices.
The high court’s move, according to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, is part of its efforts to foster greater transparency in the judiciary.
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Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza who was appointed to the high court in August last year is the richest magistrate. His SALN showed a networth of P244,413,320.16. His real properties are worth P58,937,363.00 while his personal property is P185,475,957.16 with no liability. He jointly filed his SALN with his wife Concepcion.
Next to Jardeleza is Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo with 130,906,517.36. His real properties are worth P50,909,133.00 while his personal property is P80,666,586.94 while his liability is worth P669,202.58. Del Castillo’s net worth is up from his previous P122,217,723 and P109,743,118.28 the previous year. His SALN includes the assets of his wife Dean Cynthia Roxas-Del Castillo.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s networth went down to P83,679,398.00 from 2013’s P84,309,762.57. His real properties are worth P38,198,000.00 while his personal property is P83,754,398.00. His liability is worth P75,000.00.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen has the lowest networth with P2,098,780.57. It was up by P281,073.82 from the previous year’s P1,817,706.75. He has no real properties but his personal properties are worth P2,589,521.90 with P490,741.33 liabilities.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s net worth also grew by P571,456.13 from 2013’s P19,012,648.21 to 19,584,104.34. Her real properties are worth P8,973,500 while her personal property is worth P11,185,013.35 with P574,409.01 liability.
Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes’ networth went down by P1,552,729.00 from previous’ P78,274,991 to 76,722,262.00 while Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe’s networth increased by P363,220.00 from the previous year’s P74,633,410 to P74. 996,630.00.
On the other hand, Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta had a net worth of P35,348,931.25 which is P2,910,700.00 higher than P32,438,231.25 the previous year while Associate Justice Jose Mendoza’s networth is P34,032,378.08 which is up by P2,453, 576.65 from the previous year; Associate Justice Martin Villarama’s networth is P28,061,337.17 which is higher by P3,989,815.33 from last year’s P24,071,521.84. He filed with wife Atty. Maria Luisa Villarama.
Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin’s networth went down by P93,572.00 to P27,724,828.00 from last year’s P27,818,400 while Associate Justice Arturo Brion’s networth went up by P2,416,041.00 to P19,015,950.00 from the previous year’s P16,599,909; Associate Justice Jose Perez’ networth is P14,124,000.00 which is P525,000 higher from last year’s P13,599,000.
Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro’s networth is up by P2,030,000.00 to P12,446,000.00 from last year’s P10,416,000.00 and Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. networth is P12,220,634.00 which is P1,835,544.51 higher from the previous year’s P10,385,089.49.
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The high court allowed the public to have copies of high court justices SALN in 2012 following the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Corona was impeached after he was found guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for not declaring his foreign currency deposits.
Prior to 2012, the SALN of high court justices is not accessible to public. In 1989, it denied a request to release their SALN. They affirmed their decision in a 1992 resolution saying the denial of SALN request is for the protection of justices and judges from acts that may “endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions.”
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MOST READA pro-Palestinian demonstrator throws a stone at riot police during a demonstration in Paris on July 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Ten miles north of the center of Paris is a suburb with wide avenues, cafes and a growing anger. Famous for its Sephardic Jewish community and colloquially known as “Little Jerusalem,” Sarcelles is the product of several waves of immigration from North Africa and the Caribbean that have swelled its population — and ethnic tension.
In the past few days, a spate of demonstrations that began as peaceful protests against the Israeli invasion and bombing of the Gaza Strip turned violent. Images show smoke-clogged streets, shattered storefronts and police clad in riot gear. They show dozens of youths, some of them masked, clutching smoke bombs and setting trash fires. And they show hatred.
A synagogue was attacked, along with a Jewish owned grocery store. “They were shouting: ‘Death to Jews,’ and ‘Slit Jews’ throats,'” a Jewish sound engineer told London’s Sunday Times. The man had lived in the community for 49 years, but when the Times reporter recently asked for his full name, he demurred. The chants, he said, “took us back to 1938.”
But it wasn’t just that protest, that suburb, that day. The New York Times has reported chants of “death to Jews” and “Hitler was right” in other Paris demonstrations. In Berlin, according to the Associated Press, protesters shouted, “Gas the Jews!” In the Netherlands, a rabbi told the Jewish News Source unknown assailants shattered a window in his home with stones. “The fact that these attacks are recurrent shows the depth of hatred that exists against Jews,” he said.
Every war casts long shadows. But the Israeli-Palestinian conflict casts longer than most. And this most recent conflict, which has killed more than 600 and shows little sign of waning, has elicited protests worldwide. Most have been peaceful. Some, however, have not. Though many of them appear led by ethnic North Africans or Arab peoples, analysts said outbursts of anti-Semitism nonetheless reflect a growing trend across Europe as nations grapple with the complications of immigration, unemployment, ethnic tension and surging far-right nationalist movements.
1 of 55 Full Screen Autoplay Close July 26, 2014 July 25, 2014 July 24, 2014 Thursday July 22, 2014 Tuesday July 20, 2014 Sunday July 19, 2014 Saturday July 17 and July 11, 2014 Skip Ad × Gaza conflict spurs protests worldwide View Photos Activists on both sides come out as fighting continues to engulf the region. Caption Activists on both sides come out as fighting continues to engulf the region. Demonstrators protest against the ongoing Israeli violence in the Gaza Strip in the center of Rotterdam, Marten Van Dijl/EPA Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Across the European Union, there is “a worrying level of discrimination [against Jews], particularly in employment and education, a widespread fear of victimization and heightening concern about antisemitism online,” found a 2013 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights report. Such discrimination, it said, “all too often remains unreported and therefore invisible.”
A recent survey suggested France had the highest percentage of residents — 37 percent — who were openly anti-Semitic, reported The Washington Post’s Anthony Faiola. In Italy, one-fifth of the population felt that way; in Germany, more than one-fourth. Other studies also found rising levels of anti-Semitism in other parts of Europe.
“Over the past few years, levels of anti-Semitism have increased most dramatically in Hungary, the United Kingdom and Spain,” found a 2012 Anti-Defamation League report. The poll indicated significant portions of Europeans think “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust” and that “Jews are more loyal to Israel” than their own countries.
Europe has a long history of anti-Semitism. But its manifestation in violence in recent years is often linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A 29-year-old Frenchman, for example, was recently arrested on charges of shooting dead four people at a Jewish museum in Brussels. When he was arrested, his gun was wrapped in a sheet emblazoned with the name of the Islamic State. “He spent over a year in Syria, where he seems to have joined the ranks of combatant groups, jihadist terrorist groups,” a Paris prosecutor told France 24.
Such violence and other factors caused more than three-fourths of European Jews surveyed to say they feel more discriminated against than five years ago, according to the Agency for Fundamental Rights. At least part of the reason may be the visibility of anti-Semitism in social media, the report suggested. It quoted a British woman who said she experienced more anti-Semitic comments since getting a Facebook account “than I ever have done throughout my whole life. This is very dispiriting. The speed at which hostile comments and misinformation can be passed around is frightening and leads to a sense of deep unease.”
That unease has prompted nearly one-third of Jewish Europeans to consider emigration for security concerns, according to the New York Times. Such findings “paint a clear picture of an issue in Europe today that we need to address more firmly and take seriously,” Morten Kjaerum, the Danish director of the Fundamental Rights Agency, told the Times.
“We have reached a new level of hatred and violence in all of Europe that cannot even be compared to the anti-Semitism seen during previous conflicts in Israel,” Stephan Kramer of the American Jewish Committee in Brussels told the Associated Press.
Leaders across Europe, following the recent anti-Semitic protests, are now trying to do just that. “Anti-Semitic rhetoric and hostility against Jews, attacks on people of Jewish belief and synagogues have no place in our societies,” three foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy said in a joint statement on Tuesday, urging a fight against “acts and statements that cross the line to anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.”guest post by Tim Silverman
I want to discuss in more detail the modular curves X ( N ) X(N), X 1 ( N ) X_1(N) and X 0 ( N ) X_0(N), that is, the quotients of the upper half plane H H by Γ ( N ) \Gamma(N), Γ 1 ( N ) \Gamma_1(N) and Γ 0 ( N ) \Gamma_0(N) respectively (with cusps filled in). These are charismatic entities — for example, you may have seen Greg Egan’s movie of X ( 7 ) X(7), also known as Klein’s quartic curve:
I also want to talk about the actions of the Hecke operators < d > <d> and T p T_p on modular forms—or at least the corresponding actions on modular curves. Alas, I don’t think I’m going to get there in this post, but I can at least make a start.
But before I talk about all that, I want to talk about Farey sequences!
I was introduced to Farey sequences by a maths teacher at school, when I was about 13 or so, one afternoon when I’d done all my work and was feeling bored. They’re a simple and cute idea, and I found them kind of fascinating, but, not being much of a number theory person, I never looked into them all that deeply. But one stumbles across these things in the oddest places.
What is a Farey sequence? It’s very simple. Take all the reduced fractions from 0 to 1 (inclusive) with denominators no larger than some maximum n n. Now arrange them in order of increasing value. And that’s a Farey sequence. Thus Farey sequences include
0 1, 1 1 \frac{0}{1},\frac{1}{1}
0 1, 1 2, 1 1 \frac{0}{1},\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{1}
0 1, 1 3, 1 2, 2 3, 1 1 \frac{0}{1},\frac{1}{3},\frac{1}{2},\frac{2}{3},\frac{1}{1}
and so on. Here’s the ninth Farey sequence:
0 1, 1 9, 1 8, 1 7, 1 6, 1 5, 2 9, 1 4, 2 7, 1 3, 3 8, 2 5, 3 7, 4 9, 1 2, 5 9, 4 7, 3 5, 5 8, 2 3, 5 7, 3 4, 7 9, 4 5, 5 6, 6 7, 7 8, 8 9, 1 1 \frac{0}{1},\frac{1}{9},\frac{1}{8},\frac{1}{7}, \frac{1}{6},\frac{1}{5},\frac{2}{9},\frac{1}{4}, \frac{2}{7},\frac{1}{3},\frac{3}{8},\frac{2}{5}, \frac{3}{7},\frac{4}{9},\frac{1}{2},\frac{5}{9}, \frac{4}{7},\frac{3}{5},\frac{5}{8},\frac{2}{3}, \frac{5}{7},\frac{3}{4},\frac{7}{9},\frac{4}{5}, \frac{5}{6},\frac{6}{7},\frac{7}{8},\frac{8}{9}, \frac{1}{1}
There are some curious facts about Farey sequences. Here’s one: if a b \frac{a}{b} and c d \frac{c}{d} appear adjacent to one another in some Farey sequence, then bc − ad = 1 bc-ad=1.
Here’s another: if a b \frac{a}{b} and c d \frac{c}{d} appear adjacent to one another in some Farey sequence, then the next fraction which gets inserted between them, as you work your way through the successive Farey sequences, is the fraction a + c b + d \frac{a+c}{b+d}. This funny combination is called the mediant of a b \frac{a}{b} and c d \frac{c}{d}, since it always lies between them. By repeatedly taking mediants, we build up all Farey sequences, and hence get each rational number from 0 0 to 1 1 exactly once.
We can indicate the way that the mediant derives from two parent fractions by drawing lines from the parents to their mediant:
Farey Sequence as tree 0/1 1/1 1/2 1/3 2/3 1/4 3/4 1/5 4/5 2/5 3/5
A Farey sequence in tree form
Additionally, one of the parents must always derive from the other—it must have been inserted as a mediant itself at some earlier time. So if a fraction is connected to its parents by a pair of lines, the parents must also be connected to each other. So these lines actually make up a bunch of triangles, except at the top of the picture where everything starts. Taking the three numbers at the vertices of a triangle, any one of them can be derived from the other two either as their mediant, a + b c + d \frac{a+b}{c+d}, or as what we might call their ‘mediant difference’, | a − b c − d | \left\vert\frac{a-b}{c-d}\right\vert. In fact every pair of numbers joined by a line belongs to two triangles (one on either side of the line joining them), and one of the triangles will contain their mediant as its third point, while the other will contain their mediant difference instead!
So, can the Farey tree be extended to include fractions outside the interval [ 0, 1 ] [0, 1]? That’s something we might be wondering, and the answer is Yes! In fact, this would have happened already if we hadn’t foolishly forgotten something: we’ve included fractions with denominators of 1 1, 2 2, 3 3, etc, but we’ve forgotten to include fractions with denominator 0 0! How could we have been so careless? Let us remedy this oversight at once!
Including the fraction 1 0 \frac{1}{0} right at the top of the tree, it turns out that we can actually derive 1 1 \frac{1}{1} from this together with 0 1 \frac{0}{1}, as their mediant, and then we can get 2 1 \frac{2}{1} from 1 0 \frac{1}{0} and 1 1 \frac{1}{1}, and so forth, and by building up mediants, we can get all non-negative rational numbers that way. The whole tree is called the Stern-Brocot tree.
Stern-Brocot tree 1/0 0/1 1/1 2/1 1/2 3/2 1/3 2/3 4/3 5/3 1/4 3/4 5/4 7/4 1/5 4/5 2/5 3/5 6/5 9/5 7/5 8/5
A piece of Stern-Brocot Tree
Once we’ve made these extensions, and added an edge connecting 1 0 \frac{1}{0} and 0 1 \frac{0}{1}, we see that every fraction in the tree, including the ones right at the top, belongs to a triangle—in fact, it belongs to an infinite number of triangles! We can just keep forming new mediants from it with its new neighbours forever. However, an infinite number of triangles hanging off every vertex is rather unmanageable. Is there some way we can get a toy version, with only a finite number of triangles instead? For instance, suppose we mod out the fractions by some natural number N N? That is, we mod out both numerator and denominator by N N, taking care not to forget that a b = − a − b \frac{a}{b}=\frac{-a}{-b}? Then many different ℤ \mathbb{Z} -fractions will map to the same ℤ / ( N ) \mathbb{Z}/(N) -fraction, and if we identify the corresponding points, and also, of course, identify the corresponding edges connecting corresponding points, then we will get something finite.
For instance, suppose we take the above tree mod 3 3 (reducing the fractions where necessary to their lowest form, and bearing in mind that 1 = − 2 1=-2, so 1 2 = − 1 − 2 = 2 1 \frac{1}{2}=\frac{-1}{-2}=\frac{2}{1} ). We get this:
Stern-Brocot Mod 3 1/0 0/1 1/1 2/1 2/1 0/1 1/0 1/0 1/0 1/0 1/1 0/1 2/1 1/1 2/1 2/1 1/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 2/1 1/1
A piece of Stern-Brocot Tree Mod 3
Or reducing mod 4 4 (and bearing in mind that − 1 = 3 -1=3 and − 2 = 2 -2=2, we get this:
Stern-Brocot Mod 4 1/0 0/1 1/1 2/1 1/2 1/2 3/1 2/1 0/1 2/1 1/0 1/0 1/0 1/0 1/1 0/1 2/1 3/1 2/1 3/1 3/1 0/1
A piece of Stern-Brocot Tree Mod 4
The rule about mediants and mediant differences still applies, but sometimes, with all the swapping of signs, we’ve switched around which fraction relates to which how!
Anyway, with these trees in hand, all we need to do is identify the vertices and edges correctly, and we’ll get something interesting and finite. In fact, while we’re about it, why not fill in those triangles? Then we’ll get a compact surface! It will be triangulated, and in fact each vertex will be the apex of just N N triangles (this is completely obvious in the case of the vertex 1 0 \frac{1}{0}, but it applies to all vertices). Or, dually, every vertex will stand at the centre of an N N -gon, while each of the triangular faces gives rise, dually, to a vertex at which 3 3 N N -gons meet.
Wait a minute …
That sounds familiar …
Could it be …?
Yes it is! The compact surface we have just constructed is none other than X ( N ) X(N), the quotient of H H by Γ ( N ) \Gamma(N). Quel surprise! The fractions mod N N correspond to the cusps, and we can make the dual tiling completely regular if we pick the right constant-curvature metric (which will need positive curvature for N < 6 N<6, negative curvature for N > 6 N>6, and will have to be flat for N = 6 N=6 ).
In fact, this also works for the full Stern-Brocot tree, without any modding out, with fractions over all integers. We can see this either arithmetically or geometrically.
Arithmetically, replace the fraction a b \frac{a}{b} by the element ( a b ) \left(\array{a\\b}\right) in ℤ 2 \mathbb{Z}^2. Of course, SL ( 2, ℤ ) SL(2, \mathbb{Z}) acts on this by ordinary matrix multiplication; indeed, PSL ( 2, ℤ ) PSL(2, \mathbb{Z}) acts on it too, more nicely, since switching the signs of both numerator and denominator doesn’t affect the value of the fraction.
In particular, if we pick an element of PSL ( 2, ℤ ) PSL(2, \mathbb{Z}) such as
( a b c d ), \left(\array{a&b\\c&d}\right),
then those two starting fractions at the top of the tree, 0 1 \frac{0}{1} and 1 0 \frac{1}{0}, will get sent, under the action of that group element, to a pair of fractions a c \frac{a}{c} and b d \frac{b}{d} such that a d − b c = − 1 a d-b c=-1. (That minus sign is a result of listing the fractions the ‘wrong’ way around). This same relation holds true of any two adjacent elements in a Farey sequence, and since some member of PSL ( 2, ℤ ) PSL(2, \mathbb{Z}) is available to send 0 1 \frac{0}{1} and 1 0 \frac{1}{0} to any adjacent pair, we get all Farey sequences in this way—over all integers, not just in the interval [ 0, 1 ] [0, 1].
Now, 0 1 \frac{0}{1} and 1 0 \frac{1}{0} are joined to each other by an edge, and, being adjacent elements of a Farey sequence, so will their images be. In addition, each of 0 1 \frac{0}{1} and 1 0 \frac{1}{0} is also joined by an edge to 1 1 \frac{1}{1}, their mediant. But the mediant of fractions corresponds simply to the sum in ℤ 2 \mathbb{Z}^2 (considered as a ℤ \mathbb{Z} -module). And obviously the sum relation is preserved by PSL ( 2, ℤ ) PSL(2, \mathbb{Z}). So if 0 1 \frac{0}{1} gets sent to a c \frac{a}{c} and 1 0 \frac{1}{0} gets sent to b d \frac{b}{d}, then 1 1 \frac{1}{1} gets sent to the mediant of a b \frac{a}{b} and c d \frac{c}{d}, meaning that the other two sides of that top triangle 0 1 \frac{0}{1} - 1 0 \frac{1}{0} - 1 1 \frac{1}{1} are also preserved—sent to sides of a triangle in the image.
So triangles are sent to triangles. Moreover, since the relation of being the mediant (or sum) of the other two vertices—as opposed to their mediant difference (or difference)—uniquely picks out one vertex of a given triangle, and since the sign of the determinant—or, more simply, which of the parent vertices is larger—uniquely picks an orientation of the triangle, each triangle is sent to another triangle in only one way. So PSL ( 2, ℤ ) PSL(2, \mathbb{Z}) acts freely on the set of triangles, and of course preserves their relations.
Geometrically, as we can see from Don Hatch’s nice Hyperbolic Tesselations web page, the tilings of the hyperbolic plane by regular n n -gons, 3 3 meeting at each vertex, have a limiting case with a tiling by what one might call regular ℤ \mathbb{Z} -gons, or regular ∞ \infty -gons, with an infinite number of sides! They appear in the website as {infinity, 3}:
Dually, we get a tiling by triangles, an infinite number of which meet at the ‘centre’ of each ℤ \mathbb{Z} -gon. These triangles correspond precisely to the triangles in the Stern-Brocot tree. Rather confusingly, however, in the Poincaré disk model, the ‘centre’ of a ℤ \mathbb{Z} -gon appears at the edge of the disk—that’s the sort of thing that happens when you have an infinite number of sides and are trying to show them all in a bounded region.
If we compare the Poincaré disk model of the hyperbolic plane with the ‘upper half-plane’ model, we see that the real line of the latter goes to the boundary circle of the former. The ℤ \mathbb{Z} -gons, drawn in the Poincaré disk, are all tangent to the boundary circle, each with its own distinct point of tangency, and these points correspond precisely to the rational numbers (together with ∞ \infty ). In turn, these rational numbers are the ones in the Stern-Brocot tree, i.e. at the vertices of the triangles, which can also be seen as tiling the hyperbolic plane, dually to the ℤ \mathbb{Z} -gons. In this way, we also get to label each ℤ \mathbb{Z} -gon by a unique rational number, and this is inherited when we go over to the version mod N N —fractions also being reduced mod N N.
Given all this, one way to try and understand the way that geometry and arithmetic interact in X ( N ) X(N) is by working our way down the Stern-Brocot tree mod N N, which will correspond to working our way outward from one of the N N -gons in X ( N ) X(N). What we’re going to see is a series of concentric circles of fractions with successively incrementing denominators.
But that, I think, is something for another post.As WWE fans, we all have our favorite combinations of Superstars facing off inside the squared circle. Sometimes it’s two aerial attackers taking to the skies to fly higher than their rival. Other times, it’s a pair of hard-nosed brawlers making each other black and blue, or when an underdog mixes it up with a tough superheavyweight. No matter the case, each unique pairing can create its own distinct energy in front of a live crowd.
But who do WWE’s Superstars love to get in the ring with? We asked 10 of them to look back on the chemistry they create with their rivals, and tell us who they like to see when looking across the ring. Who can help create that chemistry? Who brings out the best in them? Who is their favorite opponent?
Watch Superstars battle their favorite opponents
Daniel Bryan’s favorite opponent is Sheamus
“In WWE, a guy who I’ve wrestled a lot and have always had great matches with is Sheamus, which is one of the reasons why WrestleMania XXVIII was so disappointing. I almost want to say we have the same wrestling ideals, in the sense that we want to go out there and have the best match possible. A lot of people think that, but aren’t willing to do the things that it takes to do that.
“I loved our 2-out-of-3 Falls Match [at Extreme Rules 2012], but we main-evented every night on the European Tour after WrestleMania XXVIII. Kane and Randy Orton were doing No Disqualification Matches on those same shows, and they are the guys who people considered main eventers way more than me and Sheamus at that time. I remember somebody came up to me and said, ‘I saw your match against Sheamus last night. I have never seen two men hit each other that hard.’ He was seeing one thing and then he saw us and said, ‘Holy crap.’”
Bad News Barrett’s favorite opponents are Kofi Kingston and Sheamus
“Two people come to mind. No. 1 is Kofi Kingston in terms of his creativity, athleticism and speed. We’re complete opposites, but that leads to a lot of counter-attacks, reversals and technical stuff, which I really enjoy. Every time I’m up against him, I know it’s going to be a good match, going to be exciting and we’re going to do some innovative stuff.
“The other one would be Sheamus. Completely different animal, but every time I get in the ring with him, I know it’s going to be a fight. I know I’m going to come out with some bruises and black eyes, but something about that brings out the animal in me. It gets that adrenaline pumping. We’re very similar, we’re both smash-mouth. It’s about two blunt forces meeting each other and who can hit the hardest. I know I’m going to have to be defending myself and keeping my hands up at all times, because the second I drop one, he’s going to be planting one straight on the jaw.
“It’s more of a chess game with Kofi, where with Sheamus it’s a heavyweight boxing match.”
Sheamus’s favorite opponent is Bad News Barrett
“[Bad News] Barrett and I have never had a bad match. We’ve never been in an actual rivalry, but we always have great matches that people are really into. We came up together, and got signed together. There’s a big England-Ireland thing, and people can see that and can feel it. There’s a lot of pride at stake in these matches. Whether it’s part of a rivalry or not, there’s always a matter of pride between who wins and loses.
“We’re both hard-hitting Superstars and have pretty similar styles. We absolutely like beating the crap out of each other. It might as well be for a championship.”
Kofi Kingston’s favorite opponent is Dolph Ziggler
“There was a point from 2010 to the middle of 2011 where we wrestled each other every single week. We were both guys who were so close to breaking into that next level. So everything we did was trying to outdo the other guy, which provides for a great match for everyone watching, but also helps us get to the next level. It’s like this creative competition. There’s so much going on that people don’t even know about.
“We had a match on ‘WWE Superstars’ and I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it. People don’t look at ‘Superstars’ as a top tier show, but guys like me and Dolph always put in 110 percent no matter what match we’re in. When we got that chance to go on ‘Superstars,’ we were going to do the exact same thing. For whatever reason, we had this amazing match.”
Dolph Ziggler’s favorite opponent is Alberto Del Rio
“Alberto Del Rio made it very clear one night when he told someone, ‘Dolph and I are not friends. We don’t hang out. We don’t talk.’ It wasn’t in a mean way, but he said, ‘When we’re in the ring, there’s such good chemistry. When he gets vicious, I get more vicious. We complement each other so well.’
“When Del Rio beats the hell out of me, it makes me want to beat him right back. We’ve had so many matches on every kind of possible show, and every time, there’s no way it’s not the match of the night when it happens. There’s no chemistry backstage, but out there, it’s unstoppable.”
Jack Swagger’s favorite opponent is Alberto Del Rio
“I really liked wrestling Alberto Del Rio. [Del Rio walks by.] That’s so crazy. I miss you, buddy!
“I come from a wrestling background and he comes from MMA, and our styles definitely complement each other. They’re very similar techniques, and you need a guy who knows those techniques to really appreciate it. If you try to do amateur wrestling with a sports-entertainer, he’s not going to know how to click with me. But Del Rio and I complement each other, our styles go hand-in-hand, and that makes the chemistry that much better.”
Seth Rollins’ favorite opponent is Daniel Bryan
“Daniel Bryan is my favorite. I don’t know why. It might be because we have similar backgrounds, styles and approach, but every time I’ve ever gotten in the ring with him — from my early days to now — there’s always some sort of crazy electricity that seems to spark between us. It’s one of those things that you can’t really explain, and you don’t need to try. He pushes me beyond my limits. He takes all the things I’m good at physically, mentally and emotionally, and we push each other.
“The singles match we had on Raw was probably my favorite one with him that I’ve had in WWE. The matches in Ring of Honor, we had a little more time and the matches were a little different. My favorite one was in Detroit at a show called New Horizons where I powerbombed him into the turnbuckle and the top buckle broke. It was really crazy. It was one of those moments that no one saw coming and you can’t recreate it. It was terrifying, but if you were there live, you’ll literally never forget it.”
Rob Van Dam’s favorite opponents are Sabu and Jerry Lynn
“My favorite opponent is probably Sabu, but also Jerry Lynn. I know the matches with Sabu are going to have the ingredients I prefer in a showcasing of The Whole Dam Show. It’s going to be very physical and there’s going to be a lot of punishment absorbed by both wrestlers to the point where it’s going to be entertaining and amazing to fans just to see the thrashing that we take during those matches. They’re going to be mixed with a display of skill and acrobatics. That’s what I enjoy, and likeminded opponents like Sabu make for a better match.
“I wouldn’t say one match is my favorite. In my mind, I remember specific things, like the Matter of Respect [1996] match where the loser had to shake the winner’s hand. I remember wrestling in [Marietta, Ga.,] at Wrestlepalooza [1998], because I did a 180 split-legged moonsault. I challenged myself in that match and Sabu threw up underneath the bottom rope during that match, too.
“Jerry |
ata’s Daughters, and Jamie Kalven, founder of the Invisible Institute.
That does it for the broadcast. I’ll be speaking tonight around 7:00 in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Barrymore Theatre, then on to Toronto, Canada, Thursday and Friday, then on Saturday in Troy, New York, at the Sanctuary for Independent Media, then the Philadelphia Free Library on Monday.Bungie's long-awaited sequel launches later this year. Get first details (and a chance to win a ticket to E3) tomorrow at live.playstation.com.
Tomorrow starting at 10:00am Pacific Time, Bungie will premiere first gameplay footage from Destiny 2. Those attending the event will also get the chance to play the game for the first time on a PS4 Pro. It should be quite the show!
But PlayStation Store is looking to sweeten the pot just a bit more. Tomorrow, you can watch the event live at our fancy live.playstation.com hub. By visiting the site and completing a few quick quests, you could get a chance to win one pass to attend E3 2017 in Los Angeles from June 13 through 15. Not bad!
Be sure to check out live.playstation.com to see full details on how you can enter for a chance to win.
In other news, tomorrow our intrepid Blog correspondents Justin and Zac will be on the scene, speckling PlayStation’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with all the goings-on. Keep your eyes peeled, Guardians. See you tomorrow!Travel within Grand Gaia again and mark it's important quests and places. Join Mapping out Gaia now and show your sharpness in identifying specific Quests in Grand Gaia!
Mechanics
Admin will post an image description of a Dungeon or Quest via Instagram. Follow us on Instagram instagram.com/bravefrontier.
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Quest Description: "At last, you've reached Maxwell. The battle to save Tilith and destroy the first of four fallen gods begins now..."
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Follow the format in posting your answer.THIS bitter book battle could turn into an epic.
Amazon escalated a war of words Wednesday with book publisher Hachette, saying it is “not optimistic” that a standoff over e-book prices will end anytime soon.
Hachette — which lately has seen its authors, including James Patterson, Michael Connelly and JK Rowling dropped from Amazon’s site — has blasted CEO Jeff Bezos for taking a strictly dollars-and-cents approach to books.
“Amazon indicates that it considers books to be like any other consumer good,” said Hachette. “They are not.”
Amazon has insisted it is simply pushing for the lowest book prices possible to benefit its customers. Critics, meanwhile, charge that the Seattle-based internet giant is building a dangerous monopoly that doesn’t bode well for prices in the long run.
In addition, detractors say Bezos’ ruthless tactics are endangering the ability of centuries-old print houses to produce quality books while Amazon pushes authors to publish do-it-yourself titles on its own software.
Amazon was tight-lipped on the situation after Hachette titles, including Rowling’s upcoming book The Silkworm started to show up as unavailable on Amazon in recent weeks.
In an online statement late Tuesday, Amazon danced around accusations that it had effectively banned Hachette titles from its site as part of a ruthless negotiating tactic — but nevertheless signalled it’s digging in.
“If you do need one of the affected titles quickly, we regret the inconvenience,” Amazon said, suggesting that customers go to a competitor if necessary.
To deflect accusations that it is behaving like an 800-pound gorilla, Amazon noted that Hachette is “part of a $10 billion media conglomerate,” referring to its parent company, Lagardere.
Amazon’s revenue last year was $74.5 billion.
This article originally appeared on The New York Post.
While the two sides trade barbs, they’re keeping mum on specifics of the dispute over future e-book pricing.
Amazon suggested in its statement that Hachette join it in setting up a pool to compensate authors for royalties lost during the standoff.
That, Hachette shot back, was just more evidence that Amazon’s first and last concern in the world of books and reading is money.
“In addition to royalties, [authors] are concerned with audience, career, culture, education, art, entertainment and connection,” Hachette said.
The dispute is roiling the book industry as it convenes in New York this week for the BookExpo trade fair, with publishers and retailers scrambling to shore up sagging sales and profits.
Amazon noted that Hachette only accounted for a “small percentage” of sales.
“If you order 1,000 items from Amazon, 989 will be unaffected by this interruption,” Amazon said.For gentlemen who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Liong Mah’s everyday carry knife looks good with your Sunday best or putting in overtime on weekdays. The clip-point blade style works well on a variety of tasks, and the IKBS™ ball bearing pivot system opens the knife fast and easy and as smooth as you are under pressure.
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If you’re looking for a tasteful folder that’s truly functional, the G.S.D.™ gets sh** done.Gay punk comes out with a vengeance. An oral history of the movement that changed the world (whether you knew it or not).
Photo above: Queer punks crash the San Francisco Pride parade (June 25, 1989). G. B. Jones (center) sits on the hood of a battered police-car float, smoking a cigarette next to a sign referencing the Stonewall riots. (Photo by
After the sexual free-for-all that was 1970s glam rock, the pendulum swung back. The 1980s alt-rock landscape was impossibly straight. That’s ironic, since its holy trinity -- R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, and The Smiths -- was made of bands whose frontmen are now respectively queer, out, and sexually nebulous. But in the darker corners of the underground, bands were sprouting up that were defiantly -- and loudly -- gay. The Queercore scene grew out of a generation that bristled against what it saw as the bourgeois trappings of a mainstream gay lifestyle and the macho, hetero hardcore scene that punk -- a movement founded by women, people of color, and gays -- had become. Queercore was a call to arms and storming out of the closet. The literature came before the music. It started out as a loose collective, trading fanzines and letters, and evolved to include dozens of bands, as well as the extraordinary friendships and treacherous rivalries that come along with creative intensity. Here’s an oral history of Queercore, from its inky, Xeroxed beginnings until it rendered itself obsolete.
There was a gay element to early punk, such as the Los Angeles group The Germs -- whose singer was the closeted Darby Crash—as well as Seattle transplants The Screamers, The Apostles in the U.K., and, in Texas, The Dicks. The original scene encompassed a proto-stage of what would become Queercore.
GARY FLOYD: The thing that set Austin apart in 1979 was that there were always a lot of queers in the scene. There was a big influence from the artsy radio and television department at the university. I started The Dicks. I met the other guys, and, while it wasn’t exactly true, I told them I already had a band. The scene was so young and uninfluenced; we didn’t have to live up to anything. Soon, other bands that had gay people started showing up. The popular bands in Austin were fronted by openly gay guys.
We weren’t touring much in the first few years; other bands came through here, like Black Flag, Fear, and The Minutemen. I didn’t meet a lot of queers; Hüsker Dü came, but were in the closet. They stayed at my house. One night I caught Bob Mould looking at a gay magazine we had on the table. He put it back real quick.
BOB MOULD: I don’t know if I was actually going through Gary’s porn collection, but you couldn’t help but see it. Sort of like saying to somebody else, “I see you’ve got the new Vanity Fair on your coffee table.”
In the ’80s, a group of disaffected twentysomethings, horrified by mainstream gay culture and the emergence of straight-guys-only hardcore punk, documented a gay punk utopia in fanzines -- even if it was mostly imaginary.
DENNIS COOPER: You’re talking about something that started around 1985, but didn’t seem to be hugely healthy until the end of the ’80s. Just before that, there had been Queer Nation, which was hard-lined about gay identity and how it should be portrayed and what it should mean. Queer punk came out of the energy of punk rock. It brought lesbians and gays together on a more even footing than they had been and was even inviting to straight people, saying that you don’t need to fuck people of your own gender to be queer.
BRUCE LABRUCE: I was getting my degree from film school. I lost interest in academia and started hanging out in the art and punk scenes in downtown Toronto. There was a particular restaurant circuit where people worked as waiters and cooks. They were these bohemian places—one was called Just Desserts, and the owner was this ex–art student hippie who hired all the punks and junkies. That’s where a lot of us ended up meeting. I was at work, at Just Desserts, probably in 1985. There was this striking, imposing woman with red, fright-wig-type hair. I was fascinated by her.
G.B. JONES: These two smart women with incredible style -- Kathleen Pirrie-Adams, who played bass, and Janet Martin, who played guitar -- told me they were looking for a drummer. I had only drummed once before and didn’t know how. I said right away that I wanted to join, because they were unlike anyone I’d ever met.
BRUCE LABRUCE: Fifth Column was a hardcore feminist punk band. Their first LP was To Sir With Hate. They were anti-patriarchy women playing in a male, macho scene. They were intimidating. When G. B. Jones -- or Gloria, at the time -- and I became friends, we had an intense relationship. For six years, it was almost like lovers, but without sex. It was romantic and intense. She’s a brilliant artist. She mentored me, basically.
TOM JENNINGS: In the summer of 1987 or ’88, there was an anarchist gathering in Toronto, which was a watershed event for lots of queer people. While the macho, dickhead punk-rock boys were off overturning mailboxes and getting into fights with the police, the rest of us were networking, realizing there are all these weirdo punk, queer, street culture people who are not particularly interested in that macho stuff.
MARK FREITAS: Bruce and G. B. Jones had created this zine that depicted this scene that didn’t really exist, other than in their minds. They made themselves larger than life, the superstars of this “gigantic” queer-punk scene in Toronto.
BRUCE LABRUCE: It was J.D.s, as in Juvenile Delinquents. That was the initial inspiration [for the zine]. It also stood for James Dean and J. D. Salinger. And I was drinking a lot of Jack Daniels at the time. We borrowed from The Situationists quite heavily -- this idea of creating a spectacle and propping it up in the media, even though it was fiction. We created personae that we hid behind, in a Wizard of Oz style.
JENA VON BRUCKER: People in small towns were writing G. B. and Bruce, “Oh, my God, I thought I was the only person on Earth who felt this way!” Suddenly, there were people all over North America printing off fanzines and sending them to each other.
TOM JENNINGS: The reason I went to Toronto was J.D.s, done by Bruce, G. B., and Bruce’s roommate, Candy. She’s fallen off from punk-rock queer stuff, but had published a zine called Dr. Smith, named after the character from Lost in Space. She was this faintly chubby girl with pigtails. Bruce, G. B., and Candy just made shit up. They made up that there was a queer-punk underground. I went back to San Francisco to make my own zine, Homocore: core, as in essential; homo, as in queer.
BRUCE LABRUCE: G. B. and I had an acrimonious split after I made my first feature film, No Skin Off My Ass. I was accused of selling out. Dennis Cooper wrote in the Village Voice that I was “careening with a Jayne Mansfieldian blatancy,” which I later quoted on the back of my book. I caught a wave of what was called the New Queer Cinema. The nascent LGBT film-fest circuit was emerging, and my film got international attention. There was a certain amount of resentment around that, and accusations of not giving people credit. Some of it is valid, some of it isn’t. G. B. was the costar. There was a lot of improv in the film, and she wrote some of her own dialogue. In retrospect, she should have gotten a cowriting credit.
JENA VON BRUCKER: With so many things, once they get past the countercultural and subversive and get media attention, the infighting starts. It’s not like they just decided not to put out any more issues of J.D.s. Bruce was enjoying popularity with the movie, and the two of them had achieved a certain notoriety. Things like that will test any friendship. There was more of a public war than there should have been.
STEVE LAFRENIERE: The “Great Toronto Zine War” is a compelling story. Bruce and G. B. split up, and it got crazy with the introduction of Johnny Noxzema, a real bomb-thrower. He put out the most important zines of the period, Bimbox and Double Bill. He sided with G. B., and they had this incredible war against Bruce.
BRUCE LABRUCE: Johnny Noxzema is a piece of work. His boyfriend, Rex, had a wooden leg—we called him “Pegleg”—and he was a psychiatrist and the sugar-daddy. Johnny was his younger, skinny, volatile, intelligent sidekick—or Frankenstein’s monster. They were shit-stirrers, which I completely identify with, but they did it in an abrasive, over-the-top way. At the height of the AIDS crisis, they stapled a condom into every issue -- with a hole through it. They were Machiavellian behind the scenes, turning people against each other. One of the worst victims was Candy, who’s brilliant and probably the best artist of us all. They were extremely nasty. They did this zine about her called 99 Chins.
JOHNNY NOXEMA (to The American Music Show: A lot of Americans didn’t understand our hostility towards the homosexual community at large. It sort of took them aback. Double Bill is a magazine we’d done with G. B. Jones and Jena von Brucker, who are probably the most important homosexuals alive today.
JENA VON BRUCKER: 99 Chins was nothing but a direct attack. The difficulty with Bruce and G. B., this public feud and splitting of camps and almost splitting the scene, initially solidified our friendship with the boys from Bimbox and was part of what caused G. B. and I to move away from them eventually. A common enemy bonds you, but you don’t want to spend the rest of your life saying Candy is overweight and Bruce is a monster.
JOHNNY NOXEMA (to The American Music Show: We’re gonna nail those fags to the cross, so to speak. They’re going to get everything they deserve… Our main beef is that all these homos go around thinking that they are the most oppressed group of people on Earth. It’s just not true. They are, like, fourth or fifth down the list. And in some ways, they are more privileged than straight men, and we all know the reasons why. It’s about time that someone started to tell the truth, that’s all.
JENA VON BRUCKER: Double Bill came about at 3 a.m. We were having a discussion about William Burroughs, this revered gay icon. There is this glaring information, that he shot his wife in the head, that people seem to ignore. That got lumped in with this other idea that there was a lot of hatred for women in the gay-male community. Johnny and Rex spoke out against it. At the same time, Cannon reruns were on late-night TV, and we had this great affection for William Conrad. We got this idea to create a fanzine to juxtapose Conrad, nice guy and lover of women, against Burroughs, a horrible and creepy misogynist.
As the Toronto zines made their way around the world, similar publications -- and the bands that often accompanied them -- started popping up in other cities.
STEVE LAFRENIERE: People weren’t saying “queer” quite yet. It was just coming together, as far as language and what totems were invoked. These kids up in Toronto made amazing zines that made fun of not only the world, but specifically the gay world. And it was being made by gay people. I happened to know these kids in Atlanta who had a cable access show called The American Music Show, a bunch of teenagers named Lady Bunny, RuPaul, and Larry Tee.
VAGINAL DAVIS: A scene was developing in New York -- with Linda Simpson and her My Comrade and the Pyramid gang and the zine Pansy Beat -- and in Chicago with Steve Lafreniere and his clique. A lot of us didn’t officially meet until SPEW: The Homographic Convergence at Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago, organized by Lafreniere.
STEVE LAFRENIERE: It was an all-day affair in May 1991. There were tables, a stage with performances, manifestoes being read, weird drag, and bands. That evening, we went to a place called Hot House, a performance club run by crazy lefties. Fifth Column and Vaginal Davis performed. Vaginal brought down the house. It was this amazing night. Oh, and I got stabbed.
LARRY-BOB ROBERTS: A lot of people came to SPEW -- Vaginal Davis came from L.A., Bruce and G. B. came from Toronto, though at that point they had already had a legendary falling out. Johnny Noxzema was there, from Bimbox, the notorious Toronto zine that said people who work for glossy gay magazines should be gay-bashed. Mark Freitas, who did Homocore Chicago, was there.
STEVE LAFRENIERE: I was standing outside with Vaginal, right after she came offstage. Some guy drove by and yelled, “Faggots!” Having just seen one of the most momentous performances of my life by this incredible creature from another world, I ran up the street, and, when the car got to the light, I got my head in the window and started screaming at the guy. He got out of the car and stabbed me in the back. The next thing I remember is being lifted into the ambulance. He missed any kind of internal organs that would have meant my demise. They never did catch the guy.
Music overtook writing as the preferred medium for Queercore, and bands like Tribe 8, Pansy Division, Cypher in the Snow, and Sta-Prest formed.
LYNN BREEDLOVE: There were rocker queers and disco queers. In high school, I hung with the rockers. We were listening to Journey and Queen. There was no queer music. Freddie Mercury wasn’t even out! But we could tell by looking at him. We would come together at the discos, where we would take our fake IDs and do the hustle. As time progressed, my friends were listening to Black Flag, and I was like, What the fuck is this? It was sarcastic and hilarious, and gay in that it was camp, ironic, and making fun of yourself -- but totally hard-edged and “fuck you.”
DONNA DRESCH: In high school, a bunch of kids listened to Christian rock. They were listening to this music they were really passionate about. Then I discovered punk. I played in Dangermouse and joined Screaming Trees and then went on tour with Dinosaur Jr. That’s about the time that I figured it out: I love playing in bands, but I’d like to do it with people like myself.
JOANNA BROWN: When I was 15, I lived in a small town in Louisiana, and the record store carried New York Rocker. I knew I was queer, but it was horrible because I was the only one. The magazine had a spread on famous couples in punk, and there was Adele Bertei of The Contortions and her girlfriend, Lesley Woods, of the Au Pairs. I was so impressed that there was a lesbian couple; I realized, maybe it was OK to be queer if you were into punk.
JON GINOLI: I got involved because I didn’t see anyone in music who was out, except for people involved in dance music, which I didn’t like. You were supposed to like show tunes and disco. That was one of the hardest parts of coming out for me—finding out what seemed normal to me offended a lot of gay people.
LIZ NAYLOR: Punk was liberation from a life of Jefferson Starship. I didn’t know how I was going to survive in the world as a 14-year-old lesbian. Punk, though it didn’t give me any answers, gave me an escape from what I thought would be a hideous future.
JON GINOLI: I formed Pansy Division, with Chris Freeman, because there were no other gay bands. As it turned out, a few others formed around the same time. At the second Pansy Division show, we were on a bill with Tribe 8 -- we hadn’t heard of them. I thought, Great, we have comrades!
LESLIE MAH: I hitchhiked from Colorado to San Francisco when I was 18 to see punk shows and queers. A friend of mine came back from San Francisco and said, “Men were holding each others’ hands in the street… it’s so disgusting.” And I said, “I wanna go.”
DONNA DRESCH: I was corresponding with G. B. Jones. I had discovered Fifth Column when I was reading through an issue of Flipside. They had written a letter saying, basically, We’re gay and you’re not covering us. We wrote back and forth for years. It kept me alive.
Despite thriving scenes sprouting around the country, San Francisco became the unofficial capital of Queercore. There was an abundance of bands, activists, artists, and zinesters.
TOM JENNINGS: The Shred of Dignity Skaters’ Union was formed by me, Duke Crestfield, and Shawn Ford. Some idiotic city supervisors had decided to ban skateboarding in the streets of San Francisco. The ban was overturned by having 100 skateboard kids show up at City Hall and cause a ruckus. The three of us started organizing punk and skate stuff that was slightly queer. By 1988, Shred of Dignity had a warehouse and there were a bunch of us living in it, doing marketable political organizing and Homocore, the gay punk zine that first came out in ’88.
DONNA DRESCH: Around 1989, I moved from Olympia to San Francisco. We lived in a U-Haul. Eventually I moved into the Homocore warehouse.
TOM JENNINGS: Bruce or G. B. said the word “homocore,” and I swiped it. I made up the kind of punk world I wanted to live in. It was a juxtaposition that mattered to me, and it attracted a lot of people. I took it to bookstores. We started to put on Homocore shows. Our favorite spot was at the base of the Bay Bridge. We’d show up with a band, and start playing until the police told us to leave.
SILAS HOWARD: One of the big moments was a gay pride parade in 1989. We saw a float obviously crashing the parade -- a tow truck pulling a cop car -- and on the front was a big banner that read, “No Apologies, No Regrets.” It was surrounded by punks and queens. There was this big high-heeled show on the cop car, and a bunch of punks pulled out baseball bats and started beating the shit out of the car.
LARRY-BOB ROBERTS: Now there were bands; they needed places to play. Homocore Chicago started putting on shows in places like bowling alleys. In San Francisco, there was this collective-run record store called Epicenter Zone. A number of people who volunteered there, who were queer, started putting together once-a-month shows under the name QTIP, Queers Together in Punkness. There was an underground club scene associated with this night called KLUBSTiTUTE, run by people who had an art band called The Popstitutes. The person who had the biggest success from that scene was Justin Bond.
JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND: Shortly after I moved to San Francisco, I saw a flyer for a Homocore show at the York Theater, on Mission Street. The Popstitutes were playing, along with the poet Richard Loranger and a bunch of queer anarchists. The afternoon was mind-blowing. Without doubt, that day changed my life and set me on a course toward a creative and political aesthetic that, until then, I had never been exposed to or thought possible.
MATT WOBENSMITH: There had been a network of queer punks created via J.D.s and Homocore, but there was always this idea that they were creating a scene that existed in glimpses. In order to be realized, it needed bands. The seeds of Queercore music started happening, largely in San Francisco, with Pansy Division and Tribe 8. It was the perfect storm to set sail in.
Queercore shows became more than just entertainment -- they became places to cruise, to network, to take self-defense lessons.
KAIA WILSON: Adickdid was my first band. In that band, I was like, I gotta play with girls. Eventually I was like, I gotta play with lezzies.
JODY BLEYLE: I had people I was playing music with, and I loved them, but it wasn’t fulfilling me. Then I got asked to join Hazel. After a year, I remember putting my head on a friend’s bosom and saying, “I’m never gonna find any queer girls. How will I find people like me?”
DONNA DRESCH: I needed to play with people like myself. I needed to find girls who understood the music I liked. That’s when Kaia’s band, Adickdid, and Hazel came through town, and I was like, I’ve gotta hang with these girls. I grabbed Jody and Kaia and was like, “We have got to do this.” From then on, we were a band.
LYNN BREEDLOVE: We sucked. We were terrible musicians but had something that never existed before, which was a bunch of dykes getting up and saying, “We are dykes. This music is for you.”
I got one of those $10 dicks -- you know, a dollar an inch, at the porno store -- and I was waving that shit around and singing about rape. It was somewhere in Kentucky, and it was strapped on, and I was waving this giant knife. Everyone was in this swarming pit of fury, yelling, “Cut it off!” I did and threw it into the crowd. That started a tradition of bringing a bag of rubber dicks on tour. The dick-makers in San Francisco, Good Vibrations, would give us their rejects.
JOSHUA PLOEG: One of the things was not to necessarily make queer culture more acceptable, but to make queer people feel like they could do whatever they wanted. It’s not to be more included, but to feel like you’re able to do something, no matter how crazy.
LYNN BREEDLOVE: You can make a dick last a couple of shows. First, you chop off the balls, then you chop off the dick. You had to get a blowjob before you chopped off the dick, because if you had a song about chopping the dick off and then you had the blowjob song, you were fucked because you didn’t have a dick to suck anymore.
It wasn’t always easy -- especially outside the bubble of a major city.
MARTIN SORRENDGUY: I would say stuff on stage about being gay, and it was insane. It wasn’t cool for certain people. You would hear, “I used to love [Los Crudos] until he started talking about faggot shit.” The negativity made me feel more powerful.
RACHEL CARNS: There was the feeling of being at war and not letting the bullshit people were trying to throw at you touch you.
SARA MARCUS: I remember seeing Rachel Carns before a show, drawing in her eyebrows and mustache with a Sharpie in the side-view mirror of their van and saying, “I don’t care if straight people come to our shows. We’re not doing this for them. They don’t have to come, and we don’t need them to feel welcome.”
DONNA DRESCH: It was our second show, and we were playing in Portland. Team Dresch was ready to confront anything, but this was totally unprovoked. We were loading our equipment when some guy started in. He called Jody a “fucking dyke,” and she was like, “Yeah, I am,” and he jumped out of his car and sideswiped her with a punch to the head.
KAIA WILSON: That’s how we started as a band, with a random act of homophobia.
JODY BLEYLE: He wasn’t indicted because the grand jury said I shouldn’t have been out so late.
RACHEL CARNS: The first tour, we brought a gun. How stupid was that? I can't believe we toured the whole country with a gun under the front seat of our pickup truck. We never had to use it, and wouldn't have known how to use it if we had to. There's this whole other part of touring that isn't the shows. It's the truck stops and has stations where you have to stop and eat. Those places were scary.
LUIS ILLADES: A couple times, especially in the Midwest and South, kids wanted to run away with us. One kid ran away from the home of his super-Christian family and came to our show. He had all of his belongings with him, and he came to see Pansy Division because there was nowhere else for him to go. He asked us to give him a ride to wherever we were going next. He was 15, and it was heartbreaking. He had come out to his family, and his father tried to beat him up and kicked him out. He wanted to escape with the gay circus.
KAIA WILSON: I wasn’t able to understand at that point that I was a mentor. That had to happen in hindsight. We were part of something huge. Later, kids would be like, you saved my life. It wasn’t what we set out to do.
Queercore has its brush with the mainstream and commenced a symbiotic, problematic relation-ship with Riot Grrrl.
JON GINOLI: Green Day catapulted to fame. They had been on the same label as Pansy Division, then had gone to Warner Bros. and suddenly were face-to-face with all these people who had no idea what the context of their band was. They decided to take Pansy Division on tour to show what their band stood for.
BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG: I had a feeling Pansy Division would definitely get a mixed reaction. When our crowds were getting more mainstream, we didn’t want to represent the typical Mohawk stereotype. Pansy Division was truly challenging, and their songs are melodic and catchy. I got letters from teenagers saying, after seeing Pansy Division, they had the courage to come out. I saw certain idiots in the crowd yelling “faggots” or throwing shit. But I also saw people dancing and having a good time. Homophobia has no place in the punk scene or the mainstream. I think we share that belief with Pansy Division. Punk rock has been rather queer since the beginning.
MATT WOBENSMITH: There’s a Dyke in the Pit was my first release on Outpunk Records [the first queer punk label]. I had helped with another record called There’s a Faggot in the Pit. The reaction was phenomenal. I was influenced by Riot Grrrl, which energized me.
JODY BLEYLE: The queer bands were filled with feminists, and so was the Riot Grrrl scene. There was an enormous amount of overlap. Team Dresch never considered itself a Riot Grrrl band; it was a Queercore band. When people think of feminism in the ’90s, they think of Riot Grrrl, but because Riot Grrrl doesn’t include Queercore, it usurps it. It erases it. You don’t want queer history to get erased, and that’s what happens when you don’t scream about it.
DONNA DRESCH: Riot Grrrl gets talked about more, but we didn’t identify with that because it was mostly a straight movement. We were allies, but we were on separate paths.
Not long after, the scene began to wither, partially exhausted by years of burning hot, the mainstreaming of alternative culture, and the Internet, which made finding a world that accepted young gay people easier.
MATT WOBENSMITH: It was at its apex. We came up with [the festival] Dirty Bird. I think it signaled the beginning of the end.
ED VARGA: When Homo A Go Go [festival] started in September, 2002, I felt like, Wow, we can have a whole queer music festival. People came from all over; they called it a gay-cation.
SCOTT TRELEAVEN: I was invited to Dirty Bird and thought, I’m going to get laid left, right, and center at this big gay punk thing. The dykes wasted no time hooking up. Most of the boys were organizing zine swaps and symposiums on passive resistance, but no one was fucking. I was with hundreds of cute gay punks, and no one seemed to be making a move. Vaginal Davis performed, and I was flirting with this hippie boy who ended up inviting me to a Radical Faerie gathering. I got thoroughly laid there.
MATT WOBENSMITH: We had achieved everything we wanted to do. For me, it was no longer a challenge just to have homo rock.
DONNA DRESCH: In the 2000s it started fizzling out.
G.B. JONES: Now it’s time for people to begin to address the issue of how so much of the work we did has been, and is being, appropriated.
MARK FREITAS: My one misgiving with all this is that we’re in such a nostalgic time now. It’s not just that I’m old—there is nothing culturally right now that feels new and exciting to me.
BRUCE LABRUCE: It’s too bad it got so acrimonious, but perhaps that’s a testament to how intense and brilliant the whole thing was.
DONNA DRESCH: I can’t tell you how many letters I got from people saying they would have killed themselves if they hadn’t heard the band. I’m blown away we had that impact on people. We’re just four dykes who make music.
LYNN BREEDLOVE: As long as we’re not shutting up, we’re still pressing the queer punk ethos. We’re still spreading inspiration for everyone else to create something that expresses who they are, whether it’s in a band or one person standing alone in a spotlight, standing up for it and helping everyone else out there.“I didn't do her any favors,” Waltman said. “I was so f--ked up I couldn’t even take care of myself. I had no business trying to help someone else.”
Week after week, Laurer and Waltman met up with friends for binges that almost always involved crystal meth—Waltman injected the drug; Laurer either snorted the powder or chugged it with a glass of water.
The meth gave Laurer and Waltman enough energy to stay awake for two or three days straight. Then they’d sleep for 24 hours and do it all over again. Tonia Moore, a former champion bodybuilder, said she used meth with Laurer and Waltman multiple times in 2003 and 2004.
“When you get caught up in that stuff, it feels like you’re in a time warp,” Moore says. “Life doesn’t move forward very much. You sit around and come up with all these ideas but |
in Pennsylvania in the important upcoming Democratic Primary!...
On Super Tuesday, Sequoia's AVC Advantage touch-screen voting machines failed to boot up in many places, forcing the Governor himself to wait 45 minutes before he could cast his vote. After Super Tuesday it was found that the Sequoia AVC Advantage has misreported voter turnouts.
Sequoia offered a feeble excuse for the failure, without offering evidence to support it, which blamed both voters and poll-workers instead of themselves for the multi-million dollar embarrassment. County election officials across NJ then unanimously called for an independent investigation of the machines by Princeton computer profs Felten and Andrew Appel.
Sequoia then threatened legal action against both the professors and the counties should they undertake such a technical review of their self-described "tamperproof" machines. The counties folded to the company's strong-arm tactics, while hoping either the state AG or SoS would commission such a review.
Sequoia's website was then hacked, but not before they could release misleading propaganda claiming they loved third party independent reviews so much they were willing to then sponsor one on their own by selecting and paying an unknown "independent company" named "Kwaidan Consulting" to do one on behalf of Sequoia.
Kwaidan was then revealed by The BRAD BLOG to be no more than a "blonde nymphomaniac"-seeking babe-magnet named Mike Gibbons, who, after being commissioned by Sequoia for this important analysis, suddenly discovered a new-found love for George Bush, Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein, and the U.S. Constitution. The babes and the Jim Beam would have to wait.
Much as those voters and election officials in Pennsylvania, set to use the exact same machines two weeks from now in the upcoming, all-important, Democratic Primary, will have to wait to see if the machines work at all. Then, of course, they will simply have to trust the reported results, no matter what the machines tell them, since it is strictly impossible to discern whether any single vote cast on them was actually recorded as any single voter intended.
slashed in now available starting at just $5! Prices nowin The BRAD BLOG's Fund Drive! Please support our continuing coverage of your election system, as found nowhere else. Click here for a number of cool new collector's edition Premium productsArchbishop says pending report to show Irish priests abused 'thousands' of children Stephen C. Webster
Published: Thursday April 9, 2009
Print This Email This At a Thursday mass in Dublin's Pro-Cathedral, an Irish Archbishop shocked his congregation, which included numerous priests, by exclaiming that a forthcoming investigative report will reveal that over three decades, Irish Catholic priests have abused "thousands" of children.
"[The report] will make us and the entire church a humbler church," he said.
"The archbishop said the report, compiled by the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation, is expected to show that 'thousands of children or young people across Ireland were abused by priests in the period under investigation and the horror of that abuse was not recognized for what it is,'" reported the Associated Press.
"The government-appointed commission was set up to investigate abuses within the Dublin archdiocese in 2006, the same year the diocese admitted that up to 102 of its priests were suspected of abusing children. The report is studying how complaints of child sexual abuse were handled."
"Martin is seen as a reformer sent in by the Vatican to clean up a church rocked by a decade and a half of scandals," reported the Guardian. "One of the most notorious, in the mid-1990s, involved priest Brendan Smyth and indirectly led to the collapse of Albert Reynolds's government.
"Accusations that the Irish attorney general's office blocked moves to extradite Smyth to Northern Ireland led to the Irish Labour party pulling out of coalition with Reynolds's Fianna Fáil and the government falling."
"The Archdiocese of Dublin is facing challenges of a kind that it has not experienced for many years," he said, according to the Press Association.
"Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin warned that a massive investigation of parishes in the Irish capital will find children were subjected to horrific attacks between 1975 and 2004," the group reported.
According to the BBC, "In 1999, the then Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern delivered an unprecedented apology to the victims on behalf of the state.
"He also set up the commission to report on abuse allegations in institutions such as schools, orphanages, hospitals and children's homes that were funded by the state, but were mainly run by Catholic religious orders.
"Some of the allegations date back to the 1930s."
Get Raw exclusives as they break -- Email & mobile Email - Never spam:Hyun Soo Kim's early struggles transitioning to the major leagues were evident. The South Korean outfielder's 0-for-23 start to spring training spoke volumes on its own, but his contact was weak and his swing slow. He looked overmatched. Kim fell so far behind that the Orioles attempted to send him to the minor leagues to begin the season despite a clause in his contract that allowed him to deny the assignment.
That's all changed. Though the Orioles were begrudgingly forced to keep Kim on the Opening Day roster, he is now an instrumental part of their charge to the postseason and one reason why they open the second half of the season sitting atop the American League East standings.
"Even talking about the spring training and the beginning of the season, I'm far more excited and now I see all the players around me in the clubhouse … enjoying the game," Kim said through interpreter Danny Lee. "… I am becoming one of them now. I'm really starting to enjoy the game more and I'm having more fun on the field and in the clubhouse so I'm definitely more excited to play out there in the second half."
The Orioles will resume play Friday at Tampa Bay. And they'll have much more confidence in Kim than they did to begin the season.
Kim played sparingly in the season's first month – earning just four starts by the end of April -- but gradually began earning more playing time and eventually assumed the starting left fielder spot on most nights, hitting from the No. 2 spot to give a patient approach in the within a batting order full of mashers. Kim, who has started 31 of the Orioles' last 35 games, owns a.329 batting average and.410 on-base percentage, both team bests. Kim's wins above replacement at the break is 1.4, which ranks sixth on the club.
"Spring and fall are the big foolers with baseball evaluation," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "You have to be really careful with that. The big thing is he had no major league track record, so you really had nothing to go off of. He was ready for his opportunity. I don't know if this is different because of all the adjustments he made. I know he's constantly [trying]."
Not long ago, the Orioles were desperate for answers. Showalter publicly talked about how the spring training in South Korea is longer and more spread out. He talked about how the high Florida skies were a challenge pursuing fly balls and how anyone in Kim's situation had to adjust to both a high level of play and pressure to perform from his native country.
Kim was never looking for an excuse, only an opportunity once the season started.
"As a professional baseball player, I should have been ready, not complaining about how much I did before," Kim said. "I should have known everything and made sure everything was prepared. But I feel that I really wasn't prepared, but now I know the system better than before so I feel more comfortable that way. I can't say that because Korean baseball has a [longer] spring training, I can't make any excuses on that."
In retrospect, Showalter said that Kim's early-season time on the bench helped the player acclimate. Kim was able to watch the game, talk to his teammates and test himself gradually.
"I don't think anybody watches the game more and takes in things more than him," Showalter said. "He's watching every pitch through the early part of the season. Actually, when you look back at it, the whole process was really beneficial for him to take a breath and kind of watch the major league game, be in new stadiums he's never been in, being in a new atmosphere."
Kim struggled with the speed of the game, especially facing pitchers who threw noticeably harder than what he was used to seeing during his decade in the Korean Baseball Organization. He worked hard to improve his bat speed and Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo suggested Kim tweak a toe-tap that he used for years in Korea to uncoil his swing.
Kim used the tap as a timing mechanism, but against big league pitching, it was slowing him down. Kim worked with Trumbo and hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh to make an adjustment that has paid off.
"I've experimented with it as well, and I think he felt like it was a little difficult to maintain," Trumbo said of the toe tap. "There's some guys [who] have done it well, but I think with the speed that a lot of pitchers this day and age are throwing, the simpler the better. I think he used that a little while and we talked about how it can be difficult. It's useful against guys that throw a little bit slower, but the hard-throwers, it can be very tough to time. I think he did away with that and now he's gone with a more traditional load. I gave him a few examples of [left-handed hitters] who did a pretty good job and he studies the swing as much as anyone I've seen, so I think he's been able to integrate that pretty well."
While Kim's first month was characterized by some well-placed infield hits, he's shown more power to his swing over recent weeks. Kim had six extra-base hits – four doubles and two homers – in his last 11 games after totaling seven extra-base hits in his first 35 games.
"He's been tremendous," Trumbo said. "He repeats his swing as well as anybody. His plate discipline is probably as impressive to me as anything and that's kind of the M.O. he had coming in. He seems to get a good pitch to hit and when he gets it, he rarely misses it."
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twitter.com/EddieInTheYardThe slurs were only the beginning: The 13-year-old boy was called the N-word and a slave. Songs were sung to him, the lyrics changed to racial epithets. A banana was thrown at him in the cafeteria and the boy was told to “pick it up, monkey.”
A classmate was suspended, and that's when the slurs turned to threats, officials say. A video posted on social media panned across the boy's neighborhood and his school, Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills, a town of nearly 30,000 people in northwest suburban McHenry County. "They're all dead," a voice said on the video.
School officials were concerned enough that they placed the school on lock down Oct. 19. Prosecutors later charged the classmate with a hate crime and disorderly conduct. He has not been allowed back at school while the investigation continues, officials said.
“He's on video saying he's going to kill the people on his list," said the mother of the boy who was targeted, Andrea Jones. "The video was shot, you can see the neighborhood that we are in, it was in the video, then he pans over and he zooms in on the school itself.
“And at that point you just have this chill," she said. "Because I know that the child has problems, I know he's already targeting my son, and now he's saying he wants to kill him. Then within a matter of a couple hours he posts another video to social media and it showed this boy with a rifle in his home, so now I know he actually has a way to do this."
On the day the video was posted, Jones said she rushed to the school to pick up her kids — both her son who was threatened and her daughter who witnessed some of the verbal attacks — and took them to the family's second home in Indiana.
Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune Andrea Jones talks about a hate crime against her son at the family's home in Indiana on Oct. 30, 2017. Andrea Jones talks about a hate crime against her son at the family's home in Indiana on Oct. 30, 2017. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
“It literally boils down to the color of my son’s skin," Jones said. "He didn’t know this other boy. He didn’t know his last name at that point, and I think that’s when it really hit. It doesn’t make sense that there’s this much hate in a 13-year-old or 14-year-old.”
McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said he wasn’t able to provide additional details about the case because the student is a minor. This is the second time this year a person has been charged with a hate crime in McHenry County, he said, adding it’s a rare charge only pursued when someone’s race, ethnicity, religion or gender is the impetus of a crime.
Henry Soltesz, the school’s principal, and John Burkey, the district’s superintendent, did not return calls requesting comment.
Dan Armstrong, a spokesman for District 158, said it is difficult to protect the privacy of minors while also keeping the school community informed.
The district posted a letter on its website Monday asking families to "continue to be our partners in educating our students about the seriousness of this kind of behavior and the serious consequences that any student who creates or shares messages of this kind will face. If you or your student becomes aware of a threatening message, please report it to the school or police.”
Armstrong said a phone number to make such reports is on the back of every student ID, and an anti-bullying speaker will give a presentation to all students at assemblies on Monday.
“The principal also will address students at these assemblies to reiterate the messages that behavior that threatens or demeans another person for who they are will not be tolerated,” he said. “A student leadership team has been created to help advise administration about issues and meets with the administration team regularly.”
Jones said she respects educators and the job they do, but she was hurt that she was not warned that the classmate was being suspended. Days afterward, the threatening video was posted, according to Jones.
"In the course of that suspension, he posted the next round of videos," Jones said.
Jones complimented the way the Lake in the Hills Police Department treated her family, taking steps to ensure her son never felt any of this was his fault. She's also grateful her son has a close group of friends who have defended him.
“He doesn't deserve any of this," Jones said. "Nobody does. I don’t want him to be angry. Nobody wants that for their kid because it just — some of his innocence is gone and that makes me sick.
“I don't know if I'll ever forget the look on his face when he said, ‘Why?’ ” Jones said. “And it was sadness, it was fear, it was confusion, it was, maybe, not wanting to recognize that the real reason is the color of his skin. And that's not right. So there was a lot of pain and confusion involved."
Jones thinks the current political climate and the easy accessibility of social media are contributing factors.
“We've had to have difficult conversations about race," Jones said. "We live in this suburbia, this enclave that's safe, supposedly. But I also know that on any given rainy night, if he puts his hood up and somebody thinks he's up to no good..." her voice trailed off.
Jones said she is afraid of this new era where hate speech prevails and racial epithets, including the N-word, are hurled. “We become desensitized to the magnitude and the impact that it has on everyday families,” she said.
Jones worries, too, for the future of the boy who has been charged. “This isn't going to define my child,” she said. “But it may very well define that boy's life."
Jones said her children have returned to the school.
“I want to get him back to where — it’s never going to be normal or be like it was before — but I don’t want him to think about it every day,” Jones said. “If it continues on a path of this new normal, we’ll find our rhythm again.”Leroy Sane scored a brilliant opener for Manchester City at The Hawthorns
Leroy Sane inspired league leaders Manchester City to their eighth successive Premier League win with victory at West Brom, but manager Pep Guardiola warned his side must be more clinical in front of goal.
City had 78% of the possession and created 15 chances in total, but were made to hang on at the end after Albion substitute Matt Phillips scored in stoppage time.
"We create I don't know how many and just scored three," said the Spanish boss, with David Silva having missed twice from close range while Kevin de Bruyne hit the side-netting from six yards out.
"In those terms, we have to improve. We need to be clinical if we want to win titles but football is unpredictable."
Germany winger Sane sent City on their way when his vicious strike from 15 yards flew past keeper Ben Foster. That was his eighth goal of the season, the same as strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus.
Media playback is not supported on this device Man City are taking football to new level - Shearer
The Baggies hit back only three minutes later when Jay Rodriguez lifted his effort past Ederson after Gareth Barry played him in.
But the euphoria from the home support returned to derision soon after the restart when Sane supplied Fernandinho and his drive deflected off a couple of Baggies players and hit the foot of the post before trickling in.
West Brom once again sat back after the break and were punished in the 64th minute when substitute Raheem Sterling tapped in his ninth of the season after a swift move started by the excellent Sane.
Phillips anticipated well to score Albion's second late on, after City defender Nicolas Otamendi tried to chest the ball back to his keeper Ederson, but there was barely enough time for West Brom to mount another attack as City made it 28 points from 30.
Sane more than a support act
Media playback is not supported on this device Guardiola pleased Man City 'did not panic'
Sane's pedigree was never in doubt, but his rapid ascension since joining City in August 2016 might have surprised a few.
The German is only 21 but is proving to be an indispensable figure in Pep Guardiola's side.
The former Schalke midfielder, who scored nine goal in 37 appearances in his first campaign, was outstanding on the left and, with forward Gabriel Jesus off key, the most potent threat for City.
His goal was memorable. Fernandinho found his team-mate with a 10-yard pass and Sane jinked one way then the other before he arrowed in a fierce effort from the left of the area.
He turned provider when he laid the ball to Fernandinho for the second before beginning the sweeping move for the third, which started on the left and was quickly passed across the edge of the box before Kyle Walker delivered the telling cross for Sterling.
Earlier this week, Sane praised Guardiola for changing his game - his teacher will have been further pleased with his player's progress.
Baggies continue to lack bounce
Media playback is not supported on this device Fantastic Baggies caused Man City problems - Pulis
West Brom manager Tony Pulis said this week that criticism is part of the job and while the display against City might have placated some, the statistics read: drawn four, lost four of their last eight league games - although this was their first home defeat of the season in the league.
Albion were once again set up to sit deep and counter, but that was only effective on a handful of occasions, one of which led to their opener.
The result leaves the Baggies in 14th, two points above the relegation zone.
"The lads really worked hard," said Pulis afterwards. "There is a gulf in quality in certain areas of the pitch.
"You look at Salomon Rondon's chance in the first half and Grzegorz Krychowiak's chance - there were a couple of opportunities you hope you can take.
"It's difficult against a team this good, but the lads will come out with a lot of credit.
"I thought we would get chances irrespective of the City side."
Man of the match - Leroy Sane (Manchester City)
A goal, three efforts in total and an assist - Leroy Sane (centre) had an excellent game at The Hawthorns
Sterling on cloud nine - the stats
Manchester City have made the best start to a Premier League season after 10 games, collecting 28 points (won nine, drawn one) with a goal difference of+29.
The Citizens are now unbeaten in 21 games in all competitions (won 17, drawn four) - the longest run without defeat in their history.
Guardiola's side have now won their last eight Premier League games by an aggregate score of 32-5.
City completed 844 passes in this game; the most by a team in the Premier League since the start of the 2003-04 campaign.
West Brom, meanwhile, have lost 15 of their last 16 Premier League games against Manchester City (drawn one), conceding 43 goals in this run.
Sterling has scored nine goals in all competitions in 2017-18; the most of any Manchester City player, while only Harry Kane (13) and Romelu Lukaku (11) have netted more among Premier League players.
Sane has had a hand in 11 goals in his last seven Premier League games for Man City (six goals, five assists).
What's next?
The Baggies are at Huddersfield in the league next Saturday (15:00 GMT) while City are at Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday (19:45 GMT) before hosting Arsenal next Sunday (14:15 GMT)How did this undercut Trump?
Consider that Comey's testimony about the Russia investigation came the day after Trump tweeted the investigation was bogus. If you put Trump's two tweets hours before Comey's testimony together, it reads like this:
FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony...
...Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?
"FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony......Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?"
The subsequent testimony by Comey confirmed for the world that the Russia investigation wasn't "phony," but rather continuing -- and serious. He also said Russians were continuing to try to influence the American Democratic process.
That wasn't the first time -- or even the most embarrassing for Trump -- that Comey flashed his independence in a very public way on Capitol Hill.
A more glaring example took place back in March, when Comey was read and disputed tweets from Trump about the current President's conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama had ordered him "wiretapped" during the 2016 campaign.
Comey was testifying in front of the House intelligence committee, which is conducting its own investigation into the Russia allegations. It was the first time Comey publicly confirmed the FBI investigation into alleged Trump campaign ties to Russia.
JUST WATCHED Comey confirms FBI investigating Russia Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Comey confirms FBI investigating Russia 00:51
Comey offered all sorts of caveats at the hearing. A "no comment" from him shouldn't be taken as confirmation or denial of anything. And so on. But he did say, definitively, that no US president could unilaterally order the surveillance of a citizen, which amounted to a very public rejection of Trump's unfounded allegation about Obama.
JUST WATCHED Comey: Obama could not order wiretap alone Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Comey: Obama could not order wiretap alone 01:07
That testimony devastated the conspiracy theory Trump had launched and pursued that his campaign had been surveilled under the order of Obama. It's not a theory Trump has talked about since.
Comey also said at that March hearing that the Russians had sought to influence the US election and that they almost seemed to be trying to get caught -- being "unusually loud" in their interventions.
The day after Comey's March testimony, Trump tweeted disparagingly from his @POTUS account and seemed to pivot from the discounted conspiracy theory to a new one.
FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia. pic.twitter.com/cUZ5KgBSYP — President Trump (@POTUS) March 20, 2017
"FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia," said the tweet, which was sent out shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET., along with video of the exchange between Comey and Rep. Trey Gowdy.
CNN's headline on the accompanying story was, "Rebuffed by Comey's testimony, Trump tweet teases new theory."
Trump was clearly trying to make it seem like Comey and his predecessor had been in cahoots and that Comey had informed on Flynn to the President. There's no evidence to support any of that, by the way.
But it is yet a little more evidence of the animus Trump had for his erstwhile FBI director.This article is over 1 year old
Trump sons' hunting in focus as US lifts import ban on African elephant trophies
The Trump administration’s decision to loosen restrictions around the import of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia has turned attention back to the president’s family’s own connection to the controversial sport.
Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are prolific big-game hunters and during the 2016 campaign, images re-emerged of the pair on a 2011 hunting trip posing with animals they had killed on safari, including an elephant, a buffalo and a leopard.
xoxo, Jane (@PoodleMama1966) The GOP. Here's Donald Trump Jr. holding the tail of an elephant (party symbol) that he killed. #TrumpSacrifices pic.twitter.com/FIGkcH2F0t
Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) What went so wrong with Trump sons that they could kill this beautiful creature pic.twitter.com/L1gquLQrRz
The images of Trump’s sons smiling with dead animals sparked a wave of criticism, with actress Mia Farrow writing on Twitter: “What went so wrong with Trump sons that they could kill this beautiful creature.”
But Trump Jr told Forbes in 2012 that outrage over the images of him and his brother was misplaced. Forbes columnist Frank Miniter said Trump Jr had told him: “Elephants are overpopulated in the area the Trumps hunted and so need to be hunted to prevent them from further destroying their habitat.”
Conservationists say elephants numbers are in sharp decline because of human encroachment and poaching, and that trophy hunts fuel the demand for wild animal products.
Trump himself has never expressed interest in big-game hunting. “My sons love hunting. They’re hunters and they’ve become good at it,” Trump told TMZ in 2012. “I am not a believer in hunting and I’m surprised they like it.”
In 2014, the Obama administration’s US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) banned the import of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe on the basis that the country had failed to show it was taking elephant management seriously.
'There's no sport in that': trophy hunters and the masters of the universe Read more
After reversing that ban this week, an FWS spokesman told the Guardian: “Legal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management programme can benefit the conservation of certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation.”
The decision was applauded by Safari Club International, a hunting rights group, and the National Rifle Association.Last year, on June 7, the nine counties of the Bay Area passed a ballot measure called Measure AA. The measure placed a $12 per year parcel tax on local landowners to be directed towards wetlands restoration.
Environmental advocacy nonprofit Save the Bay “realized in 2003 that the main limiting factor in getting these already acquired areas restored to tidal marsh was money,” said David Lewis, the organization’s executive director. Save the Bay came up with the idea of Measure AA and the regional authority that regulates it, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority.
Originally, the Bay had around 200,000 acres of marsh land. Salt harvesting and urban development, though, decimated the wetlands throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, until restoration efforts began in the 1990s. A 1999 study called for the region to rebuild 100,000 acres of healthy wetlands — an attainable goal, since much of the former marshland is actually already under public ownership.
Measure AA will raise $500 million over 20 years, providing a third of the total $1.5 billion needed to reach the restoration goal. But even with the help of an assortment of other grants, the project is currently less than 30 percent funded.
Proposed cuts to federal environmental funding will also place a higher burden on state and local government to finance the wetlands restoration before sea level rise rates are projected to begin accelerating around 2030.Sometimes I wonder if the world has gone crazy. No, I’m not talking about the political or global mess going on today, just simple things you can see by walking into any strength training facility or even CrossFit gym. In either of these places, you would expect to see some hard ass training going on to either get stronger or get in better shape. But instead, you're likely to encounter another scene. The scene is so ubiquitous that it doesn’t even seem out of place anymore. I challenge you to take a step back and look and you will notice that it looks like a yoga class: people foam rolling and mobilizing. Now keep watching and you will see this is going on for 30-45 minutes and no one will have even touched a weight yet.
About now you're probably thinking to yourself, “Damn Duffin, you are such a hypocrite. Don’t you have an entire website dedicated to movement preparation and sell active mobilization products?” It’s not that I’m saying these things have no value; they are in fact incredibly important and we will go through that in a bit. But it is important to provide some context and structure around this topic. As a person producing content and products around these methods, I feel it even more important that I stand up and address their overuse or misuse.
Simply put, training with a load to improve strength or condition is cumulative. In fact, strength training is the best corrective method there is if, done correctly. I’ve had personal conversations with some of the leading experts in the field of rehabilitation such as Dr. Charlie Weingroff, Dr. Stuart McGill, and Dr. Craig Liebenson, and all have reiterated the value of loaded movement as the best tool when it can be done. First and foremost, one needs to focus on not training with shitty technique. This is usually the primary driver behind requiring that this secondary work be done.
It is not uncommon to see a Supple Leopard book next to someone doing 45 minutes of mobility work before their 30 minutes of training. So I asked Dr. Kelly Starrett his opinion on this topic as well. I'm pretty sure this video reinforces his views that we should "stop this madness and do some training."
A video posted by Chris Duffin (@mad_scientist_duffin) on Jun 28, 2016 at 2:18pm PDT
I’ve been commended on many occasions for the speed of my healing from disc injuries, muscle tears, and tendon detachments. What many don’t realize is that in those rehab processes I was training three to four times a day, often right at my desk at work. Simple things at first, from goblet squats, Bulgarian split squats, pushups, and whatever was needed based on the recovery plan. Then I moved to loading those movements as soon as I could do so without going into pain.
With all this said, the way we train today is often harder than what our bodies were designed to handle on a consistent regular basis. Some level of preventative or corrective work will need to be incorporated. Here are some general guidelines and approach to employing it effectively:
Evaluate your training and movement.
If you need to do tons of prep or recovery work in excess of nine minutes just to be able to train, you might want to look at your training or your quality of movement. First and foremost, one needs to focus on not training with shitty technique. Shitty technique is usually the reason you require secondary work to begin with. There should not be so many issues remaining from your last workout that you can’t work through them in under nine minutes.
Proper assessment is needed.
You need to be able to get the joints in all the positions to perform the movement cleanly and be able to stabilize in each position. If you are not able to, this is when you need to apply mobilization, soft tissue, or correctives to fix it.
If you want to be prioritized and focused in your efforts, you actually need to know what the issue is. A proper assessment is needed for you to understand what the issues are so you can develop an appropriate plan. This does not necessarily mean you need to seek an outside resource.
I know we have loaded a lot of videos on Kabuki.MS on assessment strategies, and many of the people I work with do the same thing such as MWOD, Acumobility, and FixYourOwnBack. But if you keep beating your head against a wall trying to figure out what is going on, you might want to seek some outside help. You can check our website for KMS certified folks. Another great resources is www.Rehab2Performance.com which will have a good list of clinicians and trainers. I also recommend people certified in DNS, FMS, SFMA, and PRI if you have any of those in your area.
Apply intentionality and purpose.
Once you have identified and fixed the movement and technique used in your training, you should see far fewer issues developing. In fact, if you’re moving well, your warm-ups become your prep work. Let’s sit and think on that concept for a moment. We seem to have lost what a warm-up is in some ways. A large gap that I’ve seen in both warm-ups and with prep work is in regards to both intentionality of the movement and performing it with purpose. A lot of fluff could be cut out if people applied intent and purpose to a few good movements. Or even if they just applied it to their warm-ups.
Don’t just go through the motions! You are doing this work for a reason. Practice perfection and really get after doing things correctly and cuing the patterns you are working on. Apply intent and purpose with a passion to a few key things and you will be far better off. In fact, a lot of injuries I’ve seen in my time as a coach have been propagated from people doing sloppy warm-ups and not focusing on cueing properly because the weight was light.
Prioritize what’s important.
Scope creep is the bane of many lifters' training programs, just as it is in their movement prep or rehab work. You read an article, see a video, or absorb some new awesome content on kabuki.ms or mwod.com. When this happens, remember that not everything can be additive. It may be awesome and it may something you should incorporate, but if you do so, then often it must be implemented as a replacement for something else you were previously doing.
You may have 50 things wrong that need corrected. Don’t focus on fixing the 50 things! Pick the top priorities and address those. Once those are no longer priorities, move to the next. Trying to focus on 50 at once simply doesn’t work and you will not move forward. I would rather make progress on three issues than work on 50 and make no progress at all.
On Kabuki.MS our parameters for implementing our system are as follows:
Training Prep
9 minutes or less
2-3 movements max
Off Day
18 minutes or less
3-4 movements max
What is listed above is the maximal amount of work allowed. We often assign far less than this in practice and work on reducing both. The off-day work shown above is FAR above what we typically employ.
These are the rules you need to follow:Reviled as vermin through the ages, rats are becoming unlikely soldiers in the struggle against two scourges of the developing world: land mines and tuberculosis.
In Mozambique, special squads of raccoon-size rats are sniffing out lethal explosive devices buried across the countryside, remnants of the country's anticolonial and civil wars of the last century.
In neighboring Tanzania, teams of rats use their twitchy noses to detect TB bacteria in saliva samples from four clinics serving slum neighborhoods. So far this year, the 25 rats trained for the pilot medical project have identified 300 cases of early-stage TB - infections missed by lab technicians with their microscopes. If not for the rodents, many of these victims would have died and others would have spread the disease.
"It's fair, I think, to call these animals 'hero rats,' " said Bart Weetjens, the Belgian conceiver of both programs.
The rat squads, at first derided by some interna tional aid officials as ridiculous, have won support from the World Bank and praise from the UN and land mine eradication groups. Now there are plans to deploy the creatures to Angola, Congo, Zambia, and other land mine-infested lands.
The rats' "noses are far more sensitive than all current mechanical vapor detectors," Havard Bach, a mine-clearing specialist with the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining, wrote in a study.
Although rats make almost everyone's short list of horrors - associated with filth, disease, and destruction of food crops - they "are really nice creatures," according to Weetjens.
"They are organized, sensitive, sociable, and smart," said the former product engineer in a telephone interview from Antwerp, Belgium, home base for Apopo International, the nonprofit organization that trains and deploys the rats.
In the 1990s, he journeyed to Africa to study land mine clearance techniques. He put his engineer's mind to the expensive, clumsy, and often risky methods employed to detect the lethal contraptions of metal and explosive that detonate underfoot.
Land mines claim casualties for decades after the last shot is fired in a conflict; millions are strewn in former and present fighting zones across Africa |
was less than four years ago that Mr. Obama, coming off of serving seven years as an Illinois state senator, became a member of the United States Senate. He is 47 years old, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya.
Mr. Obama’s nomination came 120 years after Frederick Douglass became the first African-American to have his name entered in nomination at a major party convention. Douglass received one vote at the Republican convention in Chicago in 1888.
Making the moment even more striking was the historical nature of Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy. She was the third woman whose name has been entered as a candidate for president at a major party convention. As she moved to end the roll-call vote, some women in the hall could be seen wiping tears from their eyes.01 November 2016
It is a well-known fact that fitness and well-being go hand in hand. But being in good shape also protects against the health problems that arise when we feel particularly stressed at work. As reported by sports scientists from the University of Basel and colleagues from Sweden, it therefore pays to stay physically active, especially during periods of high stress.
Psychosocial stress is one of the key factors leading to illness-related absences from work. This type of stress is accompanied by impaired mental well-being and an increase in depressive symptoms. It also raises the likelihood of cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and an unfavorable blood lipid profile. Conversely, a high fitness level is associated with fewer depressive symptoms and fewer cardiovascular risk factors.
Fitness, risk factors, and self-perceived stress
The data from the study published in the US journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise shows that a high fitness level offers particularly effective protection for professionals who experience a high degree of stress in the workplace. To obtain this data, the researchers recorded the fitness levels of almost 200 Swedish employees – 51% men, mean age 39 years – using a so-called bicycle ergometer test. In addition, they measured various known cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, triglycerides and glycated hemoglobin. The participants were then asked to provide information on their current perception of stress.
As expected, the study conducted by the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Basel, the Institute of Stress Medicine, and Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg illustrates that stressed individuals exhibit higher values of most cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, it was confirmed that cardiovascular fitness is linked to virtually all risk factors, with the risk factors being less high in people who are physically fit.
Clinical cut-offs exceeded in unfit individuals
The researchers demonstrated for the first time that the relationship between the subjective perception of stress and cardiovascular risk factors is moderated, so to speak, by fitness. In other words, among the stressed employees, there were particularly large differences between individuals with a high, medium, and low fitness level.
For example, when stress levels were high, the LDL cholesterol values exceeded the clinically relevant limit in employees with a low fitness level – but not in those with a high fitness level. By contrast, where the exposure to stress was low, far smaller differences were observed between fitness levels.
Promotion of an active lifestyleSAN ANTONIO -- Tony Parker crouched near a chair opposite San Antonio's starters for a late timeout, barking out commands to make sure everyone was on the same page offensively and defensively.
"Just make sure we're ready," Parker said.
The sequence in Game 3 of San Antonio's matchup at Oklahoma City in the 2016 Western Conference semifinals culminated in a 100-96 Spurs win and 2-1 series lead.
And while Parker turned in a vintage performance with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists in that victory, Spurs fans should prepare to see fewer scoring outbursts and more vocal leadership and playmaking from the 34-year-old guard. San Antonio's brass wants Parker to function more as a facilitator in the mold of such players as John Stockton and Jason Kidd, stars who sacrificed points for overall team production throughout their careers.
"It's been great," Parker said of his changing role. "I love my role, and I'll try to do the best I can this year to keep winning games. You know, we won 67 games last year. We’ll try to do the same thing and go further in the playoffs. As long as [coach Gregg Popovich] is happy, that’s my main job here. I don’t care if people don’t understand my role or all this stuff I have to do now.”
In the past, Parker earned recognition as one of the league’s top scoring point guards, but he has since become more of a game manager whose responsibilities now mostly entail setting up the club’s younger offensive threats, such as Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.
For three straight seasons, Parker’s scoring average has gradually fallen; it's a far cry from 2012-13, when the Frenchman averaged 20.3 points per game. Parker finished last season at 11.9 PPG, his lowest rate since 2001-02, his rookie season.
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
As Parker has aged, San Antonio’s offense has gradually moved away from relying on his ability to penetrate. Instead, the Spurs have featured more post-ups and isolations on the wing. That likely will continue this season. The Spurs used Parker on 21.2 percent of their offensive plays last season, his lowest usage rate since his rookie season, and down from 24.5 percent in 2014-15.
Interestingly, despite Parker developing over the years into a more accurate outside shooter (better than 40 percent from 3-point range for two consecutive seasons), his 65 attempts from 3-point range last season represent his fewest since the 2011-12 season.
Leonard joined the Spurs during that 2011-12 season, and he remembers Parker toting most of the load on offense.
At the time, Parker was “very aggressive on the offensive end,” Leonard said. “[It was] just him trying to score a lot of points, just really carrying us. We didn’t have the talent level that we have now, and as he’s slowed down, Pop has given him a different role.”
Parker has graciously accepted it.
“He’s done that more and more,” Popovich said. “He’s done a great job, just like David [Robinson] did for Tim [Duncan] and Tim did for Manu [Ginobili] and Tony. Now they’re realizing the ball needs to go in different places, and Tony is finding out he’s pretty darned skilled at it. He’s been really great in practice at finding open people.”
Ginobili, 39, has experienced a similar role change, but he looks forward to seeing how Parker develops given the new responsibilities.
“Yeah, it’s a transition that everyone goes through with years and with experience, and the addition of new, younger talent,” Ginobili said. “He's understood it, and he's done it really well. He, of course, at the beginning is going to have some ups and downs, and sometimes even some frustration. But I think he went past that, and we are looking forward to seeing him mature in that aspect and keep going but in different role -- not in the one where we need 20 [points] and 10 [assists] from him.”
It would seem natural for a six-time NBA All-Star and four-time champion such as Parker to resist such a transition. But having watched similar changes with Robinson, Duncan and Ginobili over the years, Parker appears to be prepared.
“It’s hard to explain the way I felt, but for sure I think my role is even bigger [now] on the leadership thing,” Parker said. Now, the key is to spread “the Spurs mentality and the way we play: unselfish, sharing the ball, only caring about winning, and winning championships. That was the best thing about Timmy when I first came in, [him] showing all of us how to do it.”
As part of this transition, Parker said he has studied Stockton, Kidd and Steve Nash, all veterans who “were still efficient” as they aged into their mid-to-late 30s.
“I always study everybody,” Parker said. “You know, I’m a big student of the game. So as everybody gets older and further in their careers, you just have to adapt. I’m lucky that we have a lot of great players on the team. Of course, you can pick up stuff from everybody. You can learn from everybody and see what fits in your game. I'm just trying to do what Pop wants, and if he wants me to play like that, that's all I care about: winning, and winning championships. At the end of the day, if I can win a couple of more before I retire, I will be very happy.”Readers of Lawfare must sometimes wonder what all the cyber fuss is about. How, after all, does cyber conflict occur. Current events in Syria give a good sense of how conflict is happening. Here is an excerpt from a recent report by the SecDev Foundation from their daily Syria Cyber Watch report:
Pro-regime botnet is identi!ed by SecDev and taken down by Twitter. SecDev analysts exposed a pro-regime
botnet fooding the Twittersphere with disinformation. Researchers estimate the botnet produced millions of pro-regime
tweets between July 19, when it was activated, and November 20, when Twitter shut the network down after being
alerted of its operations.
A rebel-produced YouTube video declaring plans to establish an Islamic state in Syria sparked an outcry on
social media this week. While most comments were critical of the group’s plan, a small minority voiced support.
Social media reports show the Free Syrian Army has captured portable surface-to-air missiles in recent assaults
on military installations.
Evidence suggests the Syrian regime is blocking Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), one of the main methods for
bypassing online censorship, and may be trying to block another circumvention option, Secure Shell (SSH)
connections. However, Open Secure Shell (OSSH) connections remain reliable, according to Psiphon 3, a main
provider of circumvention tools in the region.CONCORD, N.H.—Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders was endorsed by Friends of the Earth, a progressive political action committee fighting climate change, during a campaign stop in New Hampshire today.
.@BernieSanders: “Climate change is the single greatest threat facing the planet.” pic.twitter.com/CQalmDUP9X — Kate Scanlon (@scanlon_kate) August 1, 2015
“I am very honored to receive the endorsement of one of the great environmental organizations not only in America, but in the world,” Sanders, I-Vt., said during the event.
“Climate change is the greatest threat facing the planet,” Sanders said.
He added that “the debate is over.”
“The scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real,” Sanders said. “Climate change is caused by human activity.”
He said he is opposed to a so-called “all of the above” energy strategy, and the nation must transition to use only renewable sources of energy.
“We need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel and into sustainable energy,” Sanders said.
He said that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but an economic and national security one as well.
“Our task is clear,” Sanders said. “We must dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“You are now part of a photo opportunity,” @BernieSanders jokes as they ask people to stand behind the podium. pic.twitter.com/jhK52raNG0 — Kate Scanlon (@scanlon_kate) August 1, 2015
He called for programs to allow more American families to be able to afford to put solar panels on their houses, and to help low-income people “retrofit” their homes to make them more energy-efficient.
He also called for a carbon tax.
Sanders said he remains “vigorously opposed” to Keystone XL, a proposed oil pipeline that would carry oil from Canada to Nebraska, where it would meet with existing pipelines that would carry it to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
“If you’re concerned about climate change, say no to the Keystone XL pipeline,” Sanders said.
Sanders called himself “perhaps the most progressive member of Congress” on the issue of climate change.Asus may have popularized the idea of a tablet with a battery-boosting keyboard dock, but Hewlett-Packard is taking it to the bank. On Wednesday, the company announced the SlateBook x2 and the Split x2, a pair of clamshell computers that let you detach the display and use it as a standalone touchscreen tablet. While they might look similar in our gallery, though, and similar to the existing HP Envy x2, they're also very different machines. The HP SlateBook x2 is a high-end 10-inch Android tablet, while the Split x2 is a relatively low-end Intel notebook that runs full Windows 8. Both will arrive this August.
For $479.99, the HP SlateBook x2 runs the latest Android 4.2.2 operating system on the latest quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, making it one of the very first devices with that chip inside. At 10.2 inches, it's smaller than both the 11.6-inch Envy x2 and the new 13.3-inch Split x2, but it counterintutively has the highest-quality screen, boasting a full 1920 x 1200 resolution IPS panel with great viewing angles and a relatively high 400 nits of brightness.
While its 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD) and 2GB of system memory won't be anything special at the nearly $500 price point, the keyboard dock certainly might. Beyond a reasonably comfortable little keyboard, it also adds two one USB port, an SD card slot, an HDMI jack, an extra battery that could nearly double the tablet's battery life to somewhere north of eight hours... and unlike with many previous transforming devices, the keyboard dock is included in the SlateBook x2's price.
Keyboards included: it's a package deal
If you're looking for a Windows 8 computer, though, the same is true of the $799.99 HP Split x2, and its included keyboard dock has even more going for it. In many ways, the Split x2 picks up where the Envy x2 left off, turning the concept into a fuller Windows 8 experience. Where the Envy only offered a relatively weak Intel Atom processor and up to 128GB of pricy solid state storage in its MacBook Air-inspired frame, the muted black Split x2 starts by fitting a 7W Core i3 processor and 4GB of memory into the tablet, and a large 500GB hard drive into the included keyboard base.
The 13.3-inch screen is unfortunately still of the low-resolution 1366 x 768 variety, and the full combined unit weighs a not-insubstantial 4.85 pounds, but HP tells us it should get as much or more battery life than your average Intel ultrabook. It should have power to spare, too: a rep told us that says the performance "isn't even comparable" with the Atom-based Envy x2.
Unfortunately, the units HP had on display weren't close to final, and so we couldn't get a real feel for quality of these keyboards and touchscreens, the performance, the hinges, or even the weight. Still, they sure sound like the could be compelling options if you're looking for an inexpensive personal computer that can double as a tablet this back-to-school season. It looks like maybe HP's really getting serious about the tablet business.P.E.I. MLAs need to vote down a government plan to hold a referendum on electoral reform as part of the next provincial election, following a plebiscite earlier this fall, says Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.
Premier Wade MacLauchlan tabled a motion for a referendum in the legislature Wednesday evening.
"We're seeing that government is trying to avoid that responsibility. They're trying to kick this down the road, and for me it's a cowardly move and it's a denial of democracy," Bevan-Baker told CBC News.
A low voter turnout
In the plebiscite Islanders voted for a switch to a mixed member proportional representation system, but MacLauchlan expressed concern that the low voter turnout of 36.5 per cent did not necessarily accurately represent the will of Islanders.
"Never before in an election have we counted non-votes," said Bevan-Baker.
A spokesperson for Premier Wade MacLauchlan said the government would reserve its discussion of the referendum to the legislature. (Province of P.E.I.)
"Never before have we given any credence to the people who – again, for whatever reason – do not participate in the democratic process, and it would be a real travesty if we did that in this case."
Bevan-Baker said he hopes the premier will make the vote on his motion a free one, and that the majority of MLAs will vote it down.
Bevan-Baker had tabled his own motion on the plebiscite Tuesday night, asking that the 2019 provincial election be held under a mixed member proportional system, but the Liberals made sure it did not come to a vote.
CBC News asked for an interview with MacLauchlan to discuss the referendum motion, and received the following response from a spokesperson.
"Government will speak to the motion when it's called for debate in the legislature."c.1983? | age 14–15? Not much to laugh at today, I’m afraid! Here’s my 14 or 15 year old self acting more like a proper comic artist. I really wanted to be one, right up to art college. My flatmate Maurice P and I even did an essay ‘A sense of place’ in comic form!
Mine was about our weird and murky 1985 student flat (If I ever find it I’ll upload it for you). I have to say though: a book I’m reading about 2000ad comic makes me wonder if I would have enjoyed our dream job… Charming anecdotes such as those about 2000ad writers and editors literally pissing on the artwork that was sent in by the South American artists. But there were upsides too, such as the editors joining the fight to get artists, writers and letterers credited in the comic and getting the artists work back to them after it was used.
Film Notes
I’ve just realised—watching this scene again—that Luke doesn’t actually shoot the door. He pushes a button.
That’s it?
And judging by the state of the ceiling, Leia’s probably lucky to be alive. “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” If George did have Luke blast the door off in the film, it’d be another harking back to another movie genre. Namely, those Westerns, in which the bad guys blast their pals out of the jailhouse with dynamite, and nearly kill their pals in the process.
Budget restraints perhaps? Or did Alan Dean Foster (who actually wrote wrote the novelisation) just want to go one better? George Lucas was disappointed in, and very stressed about the results he was getting during the shoot. Budget troubles were partly due to 20th Century Fox demanding that they hurry along, making George and producer Gary Kurtz waste yet more money on overtime pay to get it done more quickly with less finesse. The Elstree Studios workers were doing his head in too because of their union rules. They were unwilling to do unpaid overtime (good for them!). All tools downed at 5. Ah yes, those were the days…
On Adaptations
You can tell how dependent I was on the novel and the comics when I was making this. No Star Wars on DVD, videotape or even 8mm film back then. (Actually, you could get short versions in 8mm, if you had the money). How times have changed!
But it was fun pulling different sources together to create a fuller re-telling! Much more creative. It also makes for a more interesting adaptation, doesn’t it? And justifies its existence by being different from the film. At least that’s my present perspective on things. I probably said this before, but it seems a bit pointless—especially nowadays—to make a comic that’s slavishly faithful to the film. A replication. We’re so familiar with our favourite films, which are so accessible, now that it’s a bonus to get a different angle on things—even alternative dialogue. I actually loved it back then, that Al Williamson’s art in Marvel’s Empire Strikes Back comic adaptation was accurate—so literal, compared to Howard Chaykin’s version of Star Wars. But now, I love Howard’s—and Roy Thomas, the writer’s take—because it adds a new dimension!
P.S: Does Luke’s helmet look a bit like ‘PREDATOR’ in Panel 1?
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TweetDetroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is expected to be suspended at least two games for shoving Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith's head, stomping on him and then not owning up to it in his post-game comments, league sources told ESPN.
The NFL has not determined exactly how long Suh will be suspended, but league officials believe two games will be the minimum. Sources say the league also could require Suh attend anger management courses.
The Lions are expected to issue the maximum $25,000 fine allowable under the new CBA for a player being ejected from a game. Team president Tom Lewand has been in communication with league officials. If Suh is suspended, the Lions also would have to pay a $50,000 fine because team members will have been fined more than $100,000.
The NFL once suspended former Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth five games for stomping on the head of then-Cowboys center Andre Gurode, but the feeling around the league is that Suh's most recent act, which resulted in him being ejected from Thursday's Thanksgiving game against the Packers, was not as egregious.
The league likely is to meet again Monday before NFL commissioner Roger Goodell comes to a final ruling by Tuesday. But with Suh having been fined at least three times for a total of $42,500 since the beginning of last year, and with fines not working as a deterrent, a suspension is the next step.
Suh makes $82,000 per game. If he's suspended two games, he would lose $164,000 in salary.
"My reaction on Thursday was unacceptable," the star defensive tackle said in a statement on his Facebook page Friday night. "I made a mistake, and have learned from it. I hope to direct the focus back to the task at hand -- by winning."
The statement appeared on Suh's page around the same time he was publically chastised by the Lions, one night after being ejected Thursday in a loss to Green Bay for stomping at an opposing player.
"The on-field conduct exhibited by Ndamukong Suh that led to his ejection from yesterday's game was unacceptable and failed to meet the high level of sportsmanship we expect from our players," the team said. "Ndamukong has made many positive contributions to the Lions on and off the field. We expect his behavior going forward to consistently reflect that high standard of professionalism."
If Suh is suspended early next week, he would have a chance to keep playing pending any appeal -- but that appeals process can be expedited. Detroit plays at New Orleans on Dec. 4.
The NFL moved the game to prime time, a reflection of the buzz surrounding the improved Lions this season. Led by young stars Suh, Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson, Detroit won its first five games, but the Lions have since lost four of six.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.Is your chassis still equipped with this old style exhaust fan mesh? How about replacing a better one to improve performance?
The cooling performance of chassis is not only determined by fan size, the number of fans, and the airflow layout, but also by the type of exhaust fan grille/mesh that the fan is attached to. It is impossible to reach the maximum air flow in a computer system because the components inside the chassis cause resistance, which prevents fans from achieving their maximum air flow capability (please refer to the previous article: What is air pressure?). To understand how we can achieve more efficient air flow by using the right fan grille/mesh, we need to calculate the ratio of the opening. The higher the exhaust ratio is, the lower the air resistance and therefore, resulting in higher maximum air flow from the fans.
Why lower area ratio of exhaust air will result in higher air flow resistance and noise?
When the ratio of exhaust air is lower, more air flow produced by the fan is pressing against the grille/mesh, resulting is higher energy loss. Therefore, the higher the ratio of exhaust air, the better air flow performance becomes.
The following table is a comparison of different styles of fan grille/mesh. This data retrieved from all grille/mesh are conducted under identical condition. The results clearly show that wire grille has the best performance of all fan grille/mesh solutions.
Fan grille /
mesh style Picture Exhaust Air Ratio Speed
(testing with FN121) Speed Ratio
(based on free open air) No grille/mesh 100% 3.1 m/s 100% Wire grille 71% 2.6 m/s 84% Hexagonal Venting holes 72% 2.4 m/s 77% Square venting holes 60% 2.2 m/s 71% Round venting holes 29% 1.1 m/s 35%
Why wire grille can result in lower noise?
Stamped out mesh pattern found on many chassis, regardless of the venting holes shape, have areas that sits vertical to the air flow path. This results in air bouncing back from non-vented area of the mesh, creating small pockets of air swirls and turbulence. Air turbulence such as these is a major contributor to chassis noise. With wire grille, the air flows more smoothly due to the rounded shape of the grille so the noise is significantly lower.
The air flow line of wire grille section
The air flow line of wire grille section
The air flow line of mesh venting holes sectionA Spanish artist’s vision for sustainable architecture is straight out of the future
Spanish artist and architect Dionisio Gonzàlez has a rare talent for combining childlike glee and creativity with incredibly sophisticated structural design. This allows him to dream up structures that simple when it comes to their shapes, but complex in their layers.
His latest series series, entitled “Trans-Actions,” focuses on sustainable architecture. “The unusual structures provide space for retreats, workplaces, mobile observatories, hydraulic structures and stationary zeppelins,” writes American Luxury.
The designs may be wildly different, but they have one thing in common: They all rest on pillars or other support edifices to minimize interference with the natural landscape, according to Design Boom.
Gonzàlez incorporated this element as part of his fascination of the dynamic between creation and destruction within the world’s natural cycle and today’s current times.
The architect shared some renderings from the series:Use our state-by-state fraud reporting resources to find where to complain or file a report if you’ve been the victim of a scam. Help is just a click away.
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Internet Crime Complaint Center
IC3’s mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding
the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and
easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations.
For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3
provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.
Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) system in the U.S. extends across the nation; coast-to-coast, and in
Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. Since the founding of the first BBB in 1912, the BBB system has proven
that the majority of marketplace problems can be solved fairly through the use of voluntary self-regulation
and consumer education.Searching for uniquely delicious tea-cocktails, I’ve tasted a lot of brews. Each tea adds distinct flavor and character. I love infusing our Jasmine Green for a floral burst and Earl Grey for citrus brightness. But my hands-down holiday favorite is a cold-brew infusion of vodka and our California Persian Black Tea. This magical combination of baby wild roses, citrusy bergamot and orange, and savory cardamom pods produces an amazing vodka tonic drink.
We call this drink “The Rosy Persian” and we brew it by the gallon for private events and parties.
Pour 1 liter of the highest quality vodka you can find over 4 tablespoons of California Persian Black Tea. Steep in the refrigerator 8-12 hours. Strain out the leaves. Pour 1 ounce over ice in a cocktail glass, and add 2 ounces of tonic water.
Enjoy it!Taichung is the third largest city in Taiwan and rapidly becoming a haven for coffee lovers. — Pictures by CK Lim
TAICHUNG, July 3 — When travellers visit Taiwan, most flock to Taipei, its capital. This is all the more true if you are a coffee lover and veteran café hopper: Taipei is home to hundreds of great coffee shops. However, to limit your coffee journey to the capital would be to miss out on another great coffee and café haven — Taichung.
Located in the centre of Taiwan (hence its name which means “the middle of Taiwan”), Taichung is the third largest city on the island and a manufacturer’s paradise. In recent years, though, it has been revamping itself, striving to inculcate a more diverse cultural identity. The first sign of this trend, as it is elsewhere in the world, is a burgeoning food-and-beverage scene, especially specialty coffee.
The Factory Roastery is home to local coffee roasters Mojo Coffee.
With this in mind, there is perhaps no better place to start your café hop than at the Factory Roastery, home to local coffee roasters Mojo Coffee. Owned by barista-roaster Scott Chen, the Factory Roastery acts as Mojo’s headquarters so besides enjoying a well-made cuppa here — be it a cappuccino or a filter brew — you can have a gander at some of their beans on display.
Brews by Mojo Coffee featuring beans from around the world (left). Only Direct Trade coffee beans are used at the Factory Roastery (right).
The roastery is located on the second floor and goes through approximately a ton of Direct Trade beans a month, both for use in the café below as well as for sale to customers. Enjoy carefully roasted beans hailing from Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The view of the lawn from inside is relaxing, given the spacious interior illuminated by natural sunlight.
Buttery waffles if you fancy a light bite at the Factory Roastery (left). The spacious interior of the Factory Roastery is illuminated by natural sunlight (right).
The menu is intentionally limited — little more than homemade cookies and buttery waffles — as the emphasis is on the coffee after all, so you’d want to save space for brunch at your next stop.
Juggler Café is run by Australian-educated Jeromy Lin, who returned to Taichung to open his dream café (left). A flat white (front) and piccolo latte (back) at Juggler Café (right).
Juggler Café is run by Australian-educated Jeromy Lin, who returned to Taichung with a dream of bringing authentic flat whites to his hometown. Preferring light-roasted beans from Columbia and Ethiopia, Lin crafts a superb flat white as well as the little-known (in Taiwan) piccolo latte; both have proved to be popular with Taichung coffee aficionados.
Juggler Café’s quirky “open for business” sign (left). Try the Stormin’ Norman at Juggler Café (right).
Besides coffee from Down Juggler Café’s Aussie-style brunch fare. Under, Lin has also introduced Aussie-style brunch dishes here. Must-try items include the Stormin’ Norman, which features a poached free-range chicken egg on top of avocado, tomatoes, organic lettuce and crusty slice of sourdough bread, and Vegemite soldiers, which are sticks of toasts spread with Vegemite, ready for dunking into half-boiled eggs. Delicious.
Slow-brewed coffee at Who Together Café (left). Refreshing slices of lime smothered with freshly ground coffee beans and sugar (right).
After brunch, it’s time for a little walk... in search of more coffee, of course. Nestled in the back alleys of Jingcheng neighbourhood — also known as Taichung’s Little Europe due to its Western ambience — is Who Together Café. The small café is nearly hidden by the trees in its garden so look out for it by spotting a feline or two.
Cats have a good life basking in the sun at Who Together Face.
That’s right: here cats roam free like little lions, lazy and comfortable in their surroundings. One feels immediately that this will be a haven for curious kitties and cat lovers alike.
Who Together Café is nearly hidden by the trees in its garden (left). Vibrant illustrations adorn the walls of Who Together Café (right).
Outside, the light blue walls and white windows paint a picture of domestic simplicity. Inside, Who Together Café is a pastel-coloured sanctuary, with vibrant illustrations of cats everywhere. You may choose to sit at a low table near one of the windows, for a change. It sure feels different resting on the tatami mat, knowing you’re not here for Japanese food.
Instead, share some refreshing slices of lime smothered with freshly ground coffee beans and sugar while waiting for your coffee. The tartness of the lime and the dark aroma of the fine coffee grounds are a perfect foil for the slightly acidic coffee they serve here, such as beans from El Salvador and Ethiopia. A place made for lingering, with a new feline friend or two.
Brewing natural-processed coffee at For Farm Burger (left). The popular calamari burger (right).
For a café with a difference, head over to For Farm Burger, located in a low-key double-storey house off Meichun Road. These standalone houses turned into shops are known locally as a tou tian cuo and often maintains the building’s original appearance.
The izakaya-style bar at For Farm Burger.
Therefore, once you step in, you are greeted by low ceilings and timber columns. Some of the chairs at the izakaya-style bar are at least half a century old, believe it or not! Country music is played — perhaps not fashionable, but a nice change from the latest radio hits or a litany of jazz standards. Vintage clocks and an earthy palette complete the picture.
Cooked-to-order burgers, ready to be served (left). A vintage clock on the wall of For Farm Burger, a low-key, natural-themed café (right).
For Farm Burger emphasises food and drinks that are as natural as possible. Therefore, in addition to natural-processed coffees, you can also enjoy a menu of burgers made with organic yeast bread and organic vegetables. The calamari burger is popular, as well as the tofu burger due to its subtle Japanese flavours. Here, not only the coffee beans are from the farms; everything edible has a story.
The hippie-hipster vibe of Ino Café.
Night falls and the locals are invading the night markets for snacks and supper. To escape the throngs, you can relax in Ino Café, hidden in a tiny alley off busy Zhongxing Street. That seems to be the over-riding theme for good cafés in Taichung; they’re all concealed in little lanes away from the busier main roads where the ubiquitous coffee chains Starbucks and 85°C Café rule.
Located near the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Ino Café embraces the hippie-hipster ideal by doubling as a café is on the first floor and a bed-and-breakfast on the second floor. The café almost feels smoky, though it’s non-smoking, with an abundance of dark wood as part of the décor and dim yellow lighting.
There’s still time for a late night cuppa at Ino Café (left). A kitschy black bunny lamp and figurines of The Beatles at Ino Café (right).
The eclectic bric-à-brac, such as a kitschy black bunny lamp and figurines of The Beatles, lend a deep warmth to the space. Ino Café also hosts regular art exhibits and live music (the latter something the city still lacks when compared to the capital), making this the perfect place to unwind with a late night cuppa after a long day of café hopping in Taichung.
The Factory by Mojo Coffee
22, Jingcheng-liu Street, Taichung, Taiwan
Open daily 9am-6pm
Tel: +886-4-2328-9448
Juggler Café
4, Lane 498, Huamei Street, Taichung, Taiwan
Open daily 9am-6pm (except Mon closed)
Tel: +886-4-2328-3258
Who Together Café
3, Lane 16, Jingcheng-jiu Street, Taichung, Taiwan
Open daily 1pm-10pm (except Tue closed)
Tel: +886-4-2319-8378
For Farm Burger
1, Lane 102, Meichun Road, Taichung, Taiwan
Open daily for 11:30am-9:30pm
Tel: +886-4-2327-2782
Ino Café
175, Zhongxing Street, Taichung, Taiwan
Open daily 11:30am-10pm
Tel: +886-4-2301-3605Power Macintosh G5 Q&A - Published August 17, 2008
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egg that lets your Model S display Rainbow Road on the autopilot display.
Here’s a quick video:
Elon Musk says to activate the mode, you simply have to engage autopilot four times “in quick succession.”
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Perhaps more importantly, during a twitter AMA, people asked for more cowbell, and it seems that Elon is on it:
Tesla, you guys are dorks. But in a good way.
h/t: electrekI suppose "a lot" is a relative term, but I think most people would agree that to lose, on average, more than one client per week constitutes "a lot." Yep! According to this report from Accounting Today, the second quarter was not kind to the firm formerly known as Ernst & Young, as the Black and Yellow lost a net 17 (+2/-19) SEC registered audit clients. The report is based on research from Audit Analytics.
Here's a chart (you can check out more tables here) that breaks everything down (apologies for the small-ish size, it's the best I could do).
The net loss of 17 clients looks even worse in this table doesn't it?
AT last reported audit client stats back in February, highlighting EY's and KPMG's wins for all of 2012. EY had a net increase of seven new clients in 2012, so the net decrease of 17, coupled with the net decrease of 1 client in the first quarter has more than doubled the net gain from last year.
There's a lot to note simply based on the data presented, including:
10 of the clients lost when to Big 4 firms.
5 of the clients lost went to KPMG *, 3 to Grant Thornton, and 2 to McGladrey.
, 3 to Grant Thornton, and 2 to McGladrey. BDO, the firm with the most audit wins, only took one client from EY.
I emailed EY spokeswoman Amy Call Well for comment, but have yet to hear back. I'll update if I learn anything.
Until I know more specifics, I'll resist speculating about why EY lost more than one client a week during Q2 since the number itself is newsworthy, but you shouldn't refrain from wondering aloud about these developments.
*UPDATE: I emailed Dan Hood, the editor-in-chief at AT, and he clarified the variance you see between various firms, including EY/KPMG, as "a time lag in reporting." That is, a company may report an auditor being fired or resigning in Q2 but the company had not yet appointed a successor.
BDO Tops Q2 SEC Audit Client Wins [AT]A team of Belgian researchers has developed a device that will remove pollutants from the air and convert them into simple hydrogen — using sunlight, nanoparticles and a photoelectric chemical membrane.
The project was conceived and developed by two sets of researchers working on related issues, says the University of Antwerp's Sammy Verbruggen. Verbruggen’s group, based in Antwerp, has been working on air purification using light. They have developed special types of nanomaterials called photocatalysts, which are activated by light and can convert air pollution into less toxic compounds.
A second group, based at the University of Leuven and led by professor Johan Martus, is working with photoelectrochemical cells: membranes that convert water into hydrogen gas that can be used to generate energy.
The new device tries to combine both processes to convert not water, but polluted air into hydrogen, Verbruggen says.
“Ideally, everything that passes through the light side of the device gets oxidized to CO2,” Verbruggen explains. “To give you a straightforward example, let's say we start from methane — that’s one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. In the most ideal case, it will end up as one CO2 molecule on one side and two hydrogen gas molecules on the other side. That’s, chemically, a very clean reaction. Obviously, efficiencies aren't 100 percent as the device is proposed right now, but that's something we are working on.”
The study used “quite simple, small, organic molecules,” like methanal, acetic acid and ethanol, which can be “quite hazardous to your health,” Verbruggen explains. Methanal, which is also called formaldehyde, is a known indoor air pollutant that can cause headaches and other physical ailments, including cancer. Acetaldehyde is “the stuff in your brain that gives you a hangover,” Verbruggen says.
The tiny prototype device shows promise, but to make an impact it needs to be vastly scaled up, and this presents a huge challenge, says Verbruggen.
“I think we're facing two major issues that have to be resolved to get it to a breakthrough level,” he says. “One is to increase the efficiency. These materials that we are using are activated by UV light right now. If you have a look at the solar spectrum, the contribution of UV light is, at most, 5 percent of the total spectrum.”
One avenue is to modify their materials so they can use visible light. Another would be to try to upscale the current design. The first test worked with a membrane with an active area of about 1 square centimeter. Compared to other solar-driven technologies like rooftop solar panels, that isn’t much, Verbruggen says.
Even if they do successfully scale up their device, having an impact on a large polluted area may still prove difficult.
“I think it's a little utopian to think we can clean up an entire city. That's maybe a little far-fetched,” Verbruggen says. “But I think it might come in handy in conjunction with a very specific industrial process, for instance. I can imagine if you're in the paint industry or in textiles, that there are some processes involving a lot of organic solvents. They have waste streams loaded with organic molecules, and they will have to meet some environmental quota. They can't just put it in the air — or, I hope they don't just put it in the air.”
“So, if they could use a technology like this one, they can hit two flies at once: They can purify the air, on one hand, and on the other hand, they can recover part of the energy that is stored in this polluted air as hydrogen gas, for instance,” Verbruggen says.
This article is based on an interview that aired on PRI’s Living on Earth with Steve Curwood.Judo Joe joins the Judo Chop Suey podcast as a guest co-host to discuss his thoughts on our coach, the preceived rivalry between BJJ and Judo, the Jimmy Pedro AMA on Reddit, and the Tbilisi Grand Prix. Also, Judo Dave Roman also gives his thoughts on WrestleMania after attending it in person. The show outline is below:
In Memoriam: David Middendorf [10:48]
Listener Reaction and Special Announcement [34:05] Discussions on Freestyle Judo and Retaining Adults
The only thing about BJJ that annoys Judo Dave [55:05]
Jimmy Pedro AMA [01:06:24]
Kayla Harrison would be better in WWE than MMA [01:17:47]
Continued discussion on Jimmy Pedro AMA [01:21:25]
Kodokan syllabus changed [01:31:34]
Thoughts on Tbilisi Grand Prix [01:37:04]
WrestleMania Review [02:03:24]
My bucket list and the gift of a water bottle [02:21:22]
Show Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @lavidajudoka
Facebook: Judo Chop Suey Podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBw3HuG7H5xr1ACr38S_njA
Opening Music: Blade by Kynetic
Podcast is also available on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Please feel free to like, rate, review the podcast wherever you listen.Getting to know Waylon Lewis has been an interesting journey, to say the least. He is always late for our appointments, he is recovering from a sort of un-healthy relationship (so we have that to deal with…), he is kind of rude and you can’t really tell if he is actually listening to you or thinking about the next time he has to post for Ele on Facebook/Twitter.
The guy may not have time for a relationship, but the world around him does stop for his dog, Redford. Claiming all he knows about dogs come from an obsession with the Dog Whisperer – Red(FORD!) is nothing less than one happy pup (who likes running around Columbia Cemetery off his leash chasing really hot bitches.)
Here is a conversation between Redford and Waylon about why he likes to
play with his ball so much.
Notice how the howling comes from somewhere deep, almost other-worldly and strange… but not.
Waylon’s hero…The idea took hold after uncovering an oddity from 2001, a study conducted by a group of scientists who discovered dairy cows like listening to music.
Picture a line of Holstein Friesian lactating to the easy rhythm of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.” Such was the basis of 2001 research from University of Leicester researchers, who for nine weeks exposed cows to fast and slow music, and silence, only to discover that slow jams increased their output of milk.
The study is the inspiration behind a new brand of synthetic milk: Perfect Day.
Bioengineers Perumal Gandhi and Ryan Pandya initially launched their brand in 2014 under the name Muufri while their research was in its infancy. This week, they unveiled the renamed brand, all the better to woo environmentally-conscious consumers who want better alternatives to milk.
With help from many biotech backers, Pandya and Gandhi have spent years on a quest to develop an animal-free dairy product that looks, tastes and can be used like real milk, with the same (if not improved) nutrient profile.
The process of making their milk, as they describe it, is akin to brewing craft beer. They ferment dairy yeast and sugar, then add plant fats, nutrients, and proteins that can be found in milk, including casein, the protein that gives milk its culinary versatility (for instance, allowing it to curd). Over time, they’ve adjusted the amount of calcium and potassium and other nutrients to get the mixture to taste, look, and feel like cow’s milk.
The product, which the company says will likely be produced and marketed initially as a yogurt, is meant to be a lactose-free form of dairy that’s friendlier to the environment and animals than milk produced from cows. (People with casein or other milk protein allergies will have to wait for the hypoallergenic version, which the founders say is in the works).
After tackling the technology, the pair toiled endlessly over the ideal name.
Courtesy of Perfect Day.
Landing on a marketable moniker is a defining—and expensive—proposition for any new company. But it can be paramount in the fickle world of food tech, where scientists aim to convince consumers traditionally wooed by promises of bucolic, back-to-nature sourcing to crave food that began in a laboratory.
“We have two goals: being rigorously transparent, but also having something on the shelf that you’d want to buy, and it’s about striking a balance between them,” Pandya said.
Perfect Day decided to first venture into the yogurt aisle partly because of surging demand for yogurt alternatives, and a paucity of good options for the lactose-intolerant. Soy, rice, and almond milk tend to pass muster with consumers cutting out dairy. But yogurt and cheese equivalents are less common—and often less satisfying.
“People want those better options,” Pandya said.
The next step will be easing their product onto the shelves in a way that attracts milk drinkers and vegans alike. No doubt the funding and advice they are getting from tech-savvy Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and former Chobani employees will help.With Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, the (at the time) Pirates trilogy came to an end with a near three hour long finale. I remember looking forward to seeing the film in theater as a kid. While most critics thought it was rather bad, I really enjoyed it. Rewatching it now as an adult is always a bit nerve racking since you might change your opinion on some of your childhood favorites. To my dismay At World’s End is at times an entertaining watch, but suffers immensely from a too ambitious screenplay that stuffs a lot of things in but gives nothing weight. It is overall a pretty boring film with a few memorable moments sprinkled throughout.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Directed by Gore Verbinski
Written by Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio
Stars: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy
Genre: Action/Adventure
Released: 25 May 2007
Running time: 2h 49min
No spoilers to be found here!
Taking place shortly after the end of Dead Man’s Chest, the remaining crew of the Black Pearl as well as Barbossa make their way to Singapore. There they will search for the map that will lead them to the World’s End and Jack Sparrow. After some things happen, all our main characters have to band together with the eight pirate lords in order to stand up against Lord Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones.
My thoughts
Following the trend from its predecessor, At World’s End continues to stuff more storylines and characters into its narrative, but this time it’s nearly bursting at the seams. However, I do always start with the good parts of the film, even though that could be quite hard with this one. The first third of the film is all about finding the World’s End and rescuing Jack Sparrow. This is a storyline that hasn’t really been explored in the earlier films, investigating the unknown on a quest. I was intrigued by the mystery of it all and Davy Jones locker itself is a rather strange place with some wonderfully bizarre scenes. This is all new territory for the franchise and I’m thrilled they went this far with the whole “a world beyond our own” – concept, well done there.
This movie also features a massive cast, the biggest one yet. Johnny Depp is back as Jack Sparrow and fantastic as usual. He gets to do some new things in the film, but is otherwise largely the same. Geoffrey Rush is back as Barbossa, but is in this film more of an anti-hero than a straight up villain. This means we have Jack and Barbossa on the same ship for a big part of the film, which leads to some rather entertaining segments.
Will and Elisabeth are back as well, once again portrayed by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. I said in my Dead Man’s Chest review that I thought it felt a bit out of place for them to go back to the life of a pirate. In this film however, they are already trapped in this world and it therefor makes a bit more sense. Elisabeth had some big development last time around does feel more at home with the crew now. But her character develops even more here, which in the end makes her a pretty interesting person. Will is also a bit different, as if he matured a bit since the last film, which really doesn’t make any sense since this takes place pretty soon after the end of Dead Man’s Chest. It feels like he is hiding a secret agenda, which also starts to create a divide between him and Elisabeth. This new side of him does make him more interesting, as he is now a bit deeper than simply “the good guy”.
Lord Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones team up (not really) and are the main antagonists of the film. Beckett had a part in Dead Man’s Chest, but he was used sparingly and had no big scenes, they saved it all for this one. As to match the scope of the pirates, Beckett brings out all his assets as he tries to wage a war on them. He is ruthless and unsympathetic, which is mostly thanks to an excellent portrayal by Tom Hollander. But other than that, there really isn’t that much of a character behind this man. Granted, we don’t get to see that much of him and maybe he simply is very professional. I would have liked a bit more depth from him, but this isn’t a big issue. For the limited amount of time he is in the film, I think Beckett comes of as an effective villain.
In Dead Man’s Chest, Davy Jones was doing his own thing, but in At World’s End, he is forced to do the bidding of Beckett. This in turn makes him an even more angry character who no longer has any respect for what he is doing. He is a deeply disturbed man who has now lost the last thing he valued, his free will. In Dead Man’s Chest he was a bad person for sure, but there he still had a sense of humor (albeit a dark one). In At World’s End he has nothing left and does rather drastic things without really thinking about it. Bill Nighy is once again fantastic and extremely interesting to watch, especially as the character has taken a turn for the worse. It is very fun to watch Nighy’s portrayal of a bad man gone even more bad. In short, two solid villains.
There are a lot of other characters in the film, some old, some new, but most of them are interesting and unique. This makes for quite a big ensemble of characters and gives the film a feeling of grandness and scope, which I think it was going for.
I said in my review for Dead Man’s Chest that I thought it was the action pinnacle of the franchise and I still stand by that. At World’s End doesn’t quite live up to that standard, but there are still some genuinely great action set pieces, especially that ending climax. It incorporates most of the main characters in an epic final showdown. This one set piece is probably the best in the whole series, it’s very long and features things you wanted to see from the very first film (Jack and Davy Jones fencing amidst the sails during a massive storm!) and ends the movie on a high note.
And lastly, the music is amazing as always and fits the movie very well. However, there aren’t a lot of new tracks in the film, most of them are either reused songs or remixes. They are all still great, but I would have liked to see more original songs from Hans Zimmer.
However, all other aspects of the movie are rather lacking. This movie continues the trend of making the Pirates series more like serious epics and less as care-free adventures. This was prevalent in Dead Man’s Chest, but they take it to another level in At World’s End. The film opens with a slow scene showing pirates getting hanged by Beckett, including a little child. The movie then beats it over our heads about how much the English soldiers are threatening to kill off all the pirates. Then, all pirates lords have to meet in order to plan out a final stand. This is something from a Lord of the Rings film and feels strange for this franchise, especially if you are fresh from watching the first one. But as I said in my Dead Man’s Chest review, if you want to change up your tone for something other, feel free. However, when you do that, you can’t keep the old half-serious things from the first films. This was my major problem with Dead Man’s Chest, they tried to make it so serious but still had a ton of unrealistic action scenes. This isn’t as much an issue in At World’s End, mainly because the film is pretty strict with it’s tone. As said before, there are only a few action scenes in the film and they aren’t as jolly as the previous ones. They still break the tone a bit, but they are a better fit for the tone they were going for.
However, from the more consistent tone comes another, bigger problem. This film is boring. It’s an almost three hour film with a lot of different plots and characters and a lot less action compared to the films before. They tried to stuff so many things into the film that nothing rarely gets a chance to breath. Some good examples of this is Sao Feng, who is introduced early on as an important characters. He gets a few more scenes and is then quickly killed of, making me feel as if he was entirely unnecessary. Another is the amount of time the movie builds up the eight pirate lords. They all show up for a last fight, but when the battle actually starts, they just sit and watch from afar, immediately destroying whatever sense of comradery between the pirates. There are plenty more examples of this and I think I now why this is.
This movie should have been divided into two films, making a trilogy with Dead Man’s Chest. They try to add so many things in the film but never have the time to actually make us care for them, which makes the whole thing feel like a mess after a while. Another example of this is the Kraken, one of my favorite things from Dead Man’s Chest. This time around, it has been killed off before the start of the film. They probably didn’t have the time to add more Kraken scenes, but this made me very disappointed. In short, the biggest problem with At World’s End is that they tried to fit too much in it, even for a three hour film. They really want to create of big epic pirate drama, and if they had gotten another film, that might have worked out. But as it stands now, At World’s End is a long and mostly boring film thanks to a relative slow pace and far to many things shoved in that we never get the time to actually care for.
Another small nitpick is the comedy in the film. It is the same kind of jokes used in the previous films, but somehow they only stick out as a sore thumb in this one. I think a lot of them simply are dumb jokes that aren’t funny, but they also go against the more serious tone that actually kind of works in the film. I mostly cringed when watching these ones and I just didn’t laugh at any of them.
Summing up
At World’s End continues the trend from Dead Man’s Chest of making the Pirates series more dark and serious. While that was a major problem for me in that film, it actually works pretty well in this one. The film manages to pull of a more serious tone thanks to less over-the-top action scenes and focuses more on the serious plot and characters. Our old characters are back and still pretty much the same, but are still fun to follow. The entire concept of a “World beyond our own” is well implemented and I like the surreal nature of some of it’s scenes. The music is still good and the ending set pieces is a great way to end the movie and probably the best action scene in the franchise.
At World’s End is also, thanks to the more serious tone, a pretty boring movie. They shove in a lot of plots and characters that never get the chance to breath and is in the end kind of forgettable. I struggle to remember any scenes that aren’t action or call backs from earlier movies and that isn’t the thing you should say about Pirates of the Caribbean. In the end, if they had two movies to tell this story in, it could have worked. But as we have it now, this is the most boring film of the franchise so far and I really don’t have any desire to go back to it again (except for the ending action scene). This movie disappointed audiences and critics alike, and I am one of them. We are not done however, as we have one more film in the franchise to get through, maybe I will look back fondly at At World’s End when watching that one.
Cover image source: blogspot.com
AdvertisementsChip Kelly and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in the process of finalizing a deal that would make him head coach of the NFL franchise late Sunday night when Kelly apparently had a sudden change of heart.
So now the man who has led the Oregon Ducks to Pac-10/12 titles the last three years will be staying in Eugene.
"His heart is with college football and Oregon and he's no longer being considered,'' Buccaneers General Manager Mark Dominik told the Tampa Bay Times on Monday.
Kelly reportedly had a secret meeting with Dominik and several members of the Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers, last week. Several sources reported that Kelly had canceled a recruiting trip to Sacramento and was attempting to finalize a deal to replace the fired Raheem Morris as Tampa Bay's coach on Sunday night.
But Kelly apparently changed his mind after the story broke nationally on Sunday night. So now the man who has coached in the three BCS games in as many years -- two Rose Bowls and the BCS championship game -- will turn his focus back to the Ducks and the looming Feb. 1 national signing day.
Meanwhile the Buccaneers will resume their coaching search. They already have interviewed at least eight candidates, including former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman, former Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress, veteran NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer and former Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, who has since taken the Miami Dolphins coaching job.
Former Dallas Cowboys coach and current Houston defensive coordinator Wade Phillips canceled an interview with Tampa Bay to concentrate on the Texans' playoff game with the Baltimore Ravens last week.
ALSO:
Patriots hang on to beat Ravens, 23-20
Joe Paterno legacy: From triumph to tragedy in days
Giants jump in feet first to beat 49ers, reach Super Bowl
-- Chuck Schilken
Photo: Chip Kelly. Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated PressNEW Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been challenged to back an SNP bid to give Holyrood control over trade union and employment law.
First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has written to the veteran left winger, calling on him to co-sign an amendment her party will put forward to the Scotland Bill transfer responsibility for this area to MSPs.
Mr Corbyn and the Scottish nationalists have already hit out at controversial proposals from the UK Government to reform trade union laws.
The Trade Union Bill - which last week passed its first vote in the House of Commons - introduces a 50 per cent threshold in union strike ballots and also includes a clampdown on picketing, allowing firms to employ agency staff to cover for strikers, and changes to union funding of Labour.
READ MORE - Sturgeon challenges leaders not to oppose indyref2
Scottish Labour described the First Minister’s comments as “a crude attempt to play politics with trade union rights”.
Ms Sturgeon said despite opposition to the proposals “in all likelihood the Tories are going to prevail” and the Bill will become law.
She added: “That makes it all the more important in my view we take the opportunity to devolve power over trade union and employment legislation from Westminster to Holyrood.”
READ MORE - Holyrood ‘will block UK bid to scrap Human Rights Act’
With legislation to devolve new powers to Scotland being considered in the current Scotland Bill before Westminster, the First Minister told journalists: “The SNP will lay an amendment to the Scotland Bill when the House of Commons comes back to do just that. We know it’s got the support of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC). I am asking Labour now to change its position and support us on that.
“I’m writing to Jeremy Corbyn to ask him to cosign that amendment with the SNP and secondly to give a commitment that Labour, all of it, will vote for the devolution of trade union and employment legislation.”
In her letter to the new Labour leader Ms Sturgeon says the “Tory Government’s assault on worker’s rights” is a joint area of concern for herself and Mr Corbyn.
READ MORE - Nicola Sturgeon: UK living on ‘borrowed time’
“The strength of feeling about worker’s rights among the vast majority of MSPs means that such draconian legislation would quite simply never see the light of day in Scotland,” she told him.
“This means the Scotland Bill is a golden opportunity to protect workers in Scotland. I am sure you will agree that this is a prize worth aiming for.”
A Scottish Labour Spokesman said: “This proposal is opposed by many trade unions and by the TUC because of the damaging impact it would have on jobs and employment rights across the UK. This is nothing but a crude attempt to play politics with trade union rights.
“The First Minister knows that the Government has a majority in the House of Commons and, much like her own majority in Holyrood, the Government will not allow this amendment to pass.
“Nicola Sturgeon might also want to reflect on why her MPs did not even bother voting on their own amendment to devolve employment legislation when the issue was considered before the summer recess.
“She could also use the powers of the Scottish Government to block the worst provisions of the Bill and instruct SNP councils to do the same.”Top Hollywood executives, writers, directors, and actresses convened for a secret meeting in October to propose a detailed plan to combat gender inequality in the entertainment industry.
According to TheWrap, nearly four dozen of Hollywood’s top brass gathered on October 14 and 15 at the Pacific Design Center in L.A. for a meeting to “drill into the systemic causes of gender bias in the industry and craft solutions.” The meeting was sponsored by Women in Film and the Sundance Institute.
Attendees included HBO Films president Len Amato, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, actress Maria Bello, Lionsgate co-president Erik Feig, Orange is the New Black showrunner Jenji Kohan, Gone Girl producer Bruna Papandrea, and Mission Impossible producer Paula Wagner, among many others.
The group proposed a four-point plan to combat gender inequality in the film and television business, including the appointment of an “unconscious bias” educator to work with industry executives and creatives, the creation of a “gender parity stamp” to label work that includes equal female presence both in front of and behind the camera, the creation of a female director mentorship program, and the appointment of gender equality ambassadors at the major Hollywood studios.
“We are at an economic, social and cultural tipping point and sustainable change is within reach. The time to act is now,” Women in Film president Cathy Schulman said in a statement. “Hollywood is surprisingly late in coming to this party and this is the time for conversion.”
The meeting was held just a few days after the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) opened an official investigation into the lack of female directors in Hollywood. In May, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) petitioned the EEOC to investigate the “systemic failure” of Hollywood film studios to ensure gender parity behind the camera. The organization’s data show that of the top 1,300 highest-grossing films in the 12-year period between 2002-2014, just 4.1% were directed by women.
“The time is right to gather industry leadership and start to address these obstacles,” Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam said in a statement. “The commitment from participants makes me believe that the industry is ready to explore real, tangible solutions that create more opportunities for women.”
Other attendees at the October meeting included CAA agent Chris Andrews, Straight Outta Compton screenwriter Andrea Berloff, Fifty Shades of Grey producer Michael De Luca, Black List founder Franklin Leonard, Walking Dead executive producer Glen Mazzara, and Warner Bros. Marketing and Distribution president Sue Kroll.
The full four-point plan proposed by the attendees of the meeting is below, courtesy of TheWrap.It was just this past March that Anthony Bourdain landed in Nashville to eat and, of course, drink his way through town for a new episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown. And now the big reveal has a date, as Music City gets the full treatment on Sunday, October 2.
Announced via a press release from CNN, the description of the episode reads as follows:
Bourdain absorbs the tastes, sights and sounds of music city, from chef Josh Habiger's Catbird Seat and Bolton's famous hot chicken, to a night of cooking, drinking and rocking out with singer Alison Mosshart, and her bandmates. The episode features performances by The Kills, Dead Weather and Margo Price.
Based on intel from Bourdain's March trip, expect to see The Patterson House and City House make the cut too, as well as a healthy dose of East Nashville watering holes including Dino's, Edgefield Sports Bar & Grill and Duke's.
Anthony Bourdain Really Loves In-N-Out BurgerShort Introduction to Bleve
srdjan marinovic Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 16, 2016
TL;DR Bleve is an open-source full-text search database. It is written in Go, it is very fast, and has a small memory footprint. This post focuses on the basics: setting up document mappings, setting up analyzers, and performing basic searches.
Why Bleve at Wireless Registry
At Wireless Registry, we maintain a mapping from wireless names to their associated semantic atoms. Our main registry is in Solr, which has a good support for replication and sharding, out-of-the-box admin interface, and good write throughput. There is however one key issue that we have come up against. We have to handle query bursts coming from our graph analytics cluster. One solution is to scale-out the Solr cluster. It is an easy solution, but it does introduce high latency in our graph computations.
Enter Bleve Search! Bleve is an open source Information Retrieval database written in Go.
Bleve logo.
In principal, it can be used as a drop-in replacement for Solr and ElasticSearch. Interestingly, it does not have its own storage, but rather a generic KV interface, and it supports many KV stores such as boltdb, leveldb, and goleveldb. Adding your preferred KV store is as easy as writing a few wrappers. And most importantly, Bleve is fast and has a small memory footprint (especially compared to JVM products). Given this, we baked Bleve straight into our graph processing nodes. A node instructs the Bleve agent to load sets of Solr documents, and then queries the Bleve index locally. This solution has allowed us to scale out our analysis rapidly and cheaply.
Core Concepts
Before jumping into the code, we need to clarify a few key concepts. This is not meant to be an exhaustive description, but rather a subjective take on what the essentials are. For the in-depth information see the documentation, and the godocs.
Bleve indexes documents. A document is a set of fields. Each field is typed as: Text, Boolean, Numeric or DateTime. A document may contain sub-documents. Each field is assigned an analyzer. An analyzer takes the field’s value and produces a set of tokens. Each token is then put into the index. The index contains all the tokens for each field that have been extracted from the input documents. Each token entry contains a pointer to the document that contains that token. This index is often referred to as a reverse-index. Documents are retrieved by searching the index. A search query specifies which tokens the documents we are searching for must have, or which tokens similar to the query tokens the resulting documents must have.
To keep this post simple, we will only focus on text fields. If you are versed in Go, have a look at analysis and searchers packages to get a more in-depth understanding of these concepts.
Document Schema
We will use the following struct as our running example:
type SimpleDoc struct {
Id int
Title string
Body string
}
func (d *SimpleDoc) Type() string {
return "simple_doc"
}
The Type() function returns a string, which Bleve uses to assign appropriate analyzers during indexing.
Now, we need to define a set of analyzers that will be applied over the Title and Body fields. Recall that the analyzer is a function:
analyzer: Value -> 2^Tokens
In short, an analyzer takes a some value v and produces a set of tokens, which is a subset of Tokens (i.e. the set of all possible token values). The simplest analyzer is an identity function that returns the original value v. It is defined as follows:
import (
“github.com/blevesearch/bleve/analysis/analyzers/custom_analyzer”
“github.com/blevesearch/bleve/analysis/tokenizers/single_token”
)
func SingleTermAnalyzer() map[string]interface{} {
return map[string]interface{}{
“type”: custom_analyzer.Name,
“char_filters”: []string{},
“tokenizer”: single_token.Name,
“token_filters”: []string{},
}
}
Let us step through the code. We define analyzers using map[string]interface{} structs. In particular, the type property says that this is a custom defined (i.e. by us) analyzer. (The analysis package has a set of predefined analyzers.) The char_filters property is an empty array, meaning that no-preprocessing character filters are applied to the field’s value. The tokenizer property is set to a single_token tokenizer (identified by its Name property). Finally, the token_filters property is set to an empty array, since we do not want to further decompose the generated token.
Now, we can set up a document schema (mapping) for our struct as follows:
indexMapping := bleve.NewIndexMapping()
indexMapping.AddCustomAnalyzer(“single_term”, SingleTermAnalyzer())
docMapping := bleve.NewDocumentMapping()
indexMapping.AddDocumentMapping(“simple_doc”, docMapping)
rawFieldMapping := bleve.NewTextFieldMapping()
rawFieldMapping.Analyzer = “single_term”
docMapping.AddFieldMappingsAt(“Title”, rawFieldMapping)
docMapping.AddFieldMappingsAt("Body", rawFieldMapping)
index, err:= bleve.New("", indexMapping) //in memory index
We first create a new indexMapping, and say that we will use a custom-defined analyzer dubbed single_term. Into this mapping, we then add a document mapping for the type simple_doc (our fancy struct). We can now associate that analyzer to the Title and Body fields (via rawFieldMapping variable). Finally, we open an index given our mapping. Note that the empty string parameter to the New function indicates that the index is stored in memory. If a non-empty string is supplied, then that string is taken as the file-path where Bleve will store the index.
Indexing and Searching
Having set up our document mapping and having instantiated the index, we can finally index and search documents.
doc := &SimpleDoc{1, "Top Gun", "A great film."}
index.Index(doc.Id, doc)
query := bleve.NewMatchQuery("Top Gun").SetField(“Title”)
req := bleve.NewSearchRequest(query)
req.Fields = []string{“*”}
results, err := index.Search(req)
Indexing requires that each document have a unique ID across the whole index. Searching is a slightly more complex affair. First we must select which type of a query we want to construct. In the given example, we are using a Match query, which first analyzes the query string to get the tokens, and searches for documents that satisfy at least one of the tokens. Note that the query string is analyzed using the analyzer assigned to |
take the combined knowledge of huge Silicon Valley businesspeople and then provide a service that you can offer to anyone.”
But the bigger story is what CloudFlare has done since finding out about its happy accident. “We’re essentially building an operating system for the Internet,” proclaims Prince. “We can modify HTML as it’s flowing through the system, opening up a whole new set of services that we can offer.” The modification refers back to a test that was run in order to protect email addresses from spam.
“We challenged an engineer on our staff to sniff a packet of data to see if there was an email address inside of it. Then we wanted to know if we could replace it with a bit of JavaScript and bring it back so that it couldn’t be harvested.”
The end result? A virtual elimination of spam related to scraped email addresses, and it all happens with a 5-10 millisecond transfer time. From that revelation of being able to provide a whole new set of services, more innovation was born.
Prince touts CloudFlare’s ability to have 1-click integration with a number of services. Instead of having to put a line of code into every page on your site, CloudFlare can deploy things like Uservoice or Google Analytics to every page with a single button. The team went to 20 different Internet apps providers and immediately signed up 19, including services such as Apture, Pingdom, TRUSTe and typekit.
What’s more, that 30-40% increase that people used to see is now in the range of at least 50-60% as the team continues to find ways to make CloudFlare faster, while still offering security at the forefront.
What I’ve noticed about CloudFlare is a seemingly rabid commitment to its customers via interaction on Twitter. This is apparently no accident. In fact, Prince tells me that everyone on the team gets a copy of every single customer service inquiry and it’s not uncommon for members to be in the office at 4am solving a problem.
There were a couple of questions asked in the comments, and this is an appropriate place to answer those, while adding to the article overall.
In terms of stability, Prince states that CloudFlare runs its multiple datacenters over Anycast, allowing traffic to be filtered to another location if one were to go offline. It’s an answer to the single point of failure problem, as well as an increase in stability.
One TNW reader asked about government intervention and requests to pull sites offline. As another reader notes, you should be able to simply move your DNS servers back to your host’s, but Prince explains things a bit deeper:
In terms of government censorship, CloudFlare is a US-based entity and we comply with the law. We’ve never received a request from the US government, or any other government for that matter, to block any content. Our privacy policy states that if we are ever ordered to turn over data by a court, we will disclose that to the extent we can. And, most importantly, we don’t sign contracts with our users in blood. In fact, we don’t have long-term contracts at all. We like to say that it takes 5 minutes to sign up for CloudFlare, and about 2 minutes to leave if you’re ever unhappy. We have a very low churn rate today, but we recognize that could change very quickly if we ever lost the trust of our users.
When the Amazon EC2 outage in April of 2011 brought down millions of sites across the Internet, CloudFlare was able to keep static pages from its customers alive. “We’re not a hosting provider,” says Prince, “but we can make sure that at least that static content stays online.”
How many pages? At present, CloudFlare serves enough content that if it were its own website it would be the 10th largest on the Internet. Growing from 5 datacenters at launch to a current crop of 12, it generates over 2 million log lines of code every minute. To put one more figure out there, 12% of the people on the Internet have passed through CloudFlare’s servers in the 8 months that the company has been serving content.
So what’s next? Prince says that the biggest thing is CloudFlare’s new Rocketloader product. As the Internet gains more widgets, each of them requires another connection to an external site. Rocketloader is a product that allows all of those Twitter, Facebook and other widgets to be served via a single connection providing 30-40% faster response times, on top of the existing increases from CloudFlare itself.
Pre-vetted code on CloudFlare’s marketplace for the 1-click installs have taken off, as well. “That 1-click install really resonates,” notes Prince. “Performance hits are a concern for users, and most people won’t bother with things that even require a single line of code to be inserted into a page.”
So the work continues. Prince feels that in order to make security better, you need security on every site on the Internet. While this could be an explanation for CloudFlare’s free product offering, it’s also a testament to his passion. “We’re hiring like crazy. We want the kind of people who look at a problem saying ‘make the entire Internet faster’ and decide that it sounds like fun.”
We’ll be keeping an eye on CloudFlare and you should be too. The site’s blog has some great tips for new users and we’re looking forward to what we’ll see from the company moving forward.
This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily shared by TNW.
Read next: Blippar: an augmented reality app that brings brands to lifeDaniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism.
There are streets, schools and parks across the country named after a violent racist who urged the KKK to murder civil rights activists and claimed that racial integration was a Jewish conspiracy.
There’s a boulevard in Brooklyn named after a racist who admired Hitler and boasted of being the first fascist. Harvard has a prominent institute named after a bigot who defended Nazi bigotry.
New York City, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles all have streets named after a supremacist and nationalist who palled around with Nazis. New York City has a statue of him. Washington D.C. has an art tribute to him. If we are going to take down Confederate memorials, there’s no way he can stay up.
He must fall.
In 1961, Malcolm X introduced George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party, on stage at a Nation of Islam rally. After Rockwell made a donation to the racist black nationalist hate group, Malcom X led a round of applause for the Neo-Nazi leader and called him, “Mr. Rockwell.”
There’s been a recent effort in Bethesda to rename Winston Churchill High School after Malcolm X. How can you rename a school honoring the leader who defeated Nazism after Malcolm, a Nazi collaborator?
Malcolm X wasn’t breaking any new ground by palling around with Nazis. There had been a longstanding alliance between black nationalist and white nationalist groups which shared a common belief in the racial inferiority of other races, opposition to the Civil Rights Movement and anti-Semitism.
The head of the American Nazi Party had described Nation of Islam boss Elijah Muhammad as “the Adolf Hitler of the black man.”
Malcolm X had previously met with the KKK. The Muslim racist bonded with the Nazi racist over anti-Semitism. "The Jew is behind the integration movement, using the Negro as a tool," Malcolm X told him.
Malcolm X’s Klan meeting was part of an alliance between the Nation of Islam and the KKK in opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. The Nation of Islam received protection for its mosques from the Klan.
J.B. Stoner, the KKK leader he met with, would be convicted of the bombing of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham. The bombing had taken place three years before their meeting.
Malcolm X had even urged the KKK to eliminate “traitors who assisted integration leaders". The man after whom streets all over the country have been named was urging the KKK to kill civil rights workers.
"I sat at the table myself with the heads of the Ku Klux Klan," Malcolm X later admitted. "From that day onward the Klan never interfered with the Black Muslim movement in the South."
There's a statue of Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom in New York. It's some 40 blocks up from Malcolm X Boulevard. The Champions for Humanity Monument in Oakland's Kaiser Memorial Park includes Malcolm X. There’s a Marcus Garvey/Malcolm X installation in Washington D.C.
They must come down.
Wesleyan University hosts Malcolm X House. Berkeley has the Malcolm X Elementary School. San Francisco has the Malcolm X Academy. They must be renamed.
And all the streets named after Malcolm X must go. In New York, in Washington D.C., in Dallas, in Lansing and in Los Angeles. The signs must come down and their names must be changed.
It’s the only right thing to do.
Marcus Garvey Park sits east of Columbia University in New York. You can find the Marcus Garvey School in Los Angeles. And another one in Washington D.C. Not to mention Chicago and Memphis.
There’s a Marcus Garvey Boulevard in Brooklyn. It’s a street named after an admirer of Adolf Hitler.
Garvey, an early black nationalist, had met with KKK leaders to undermine the NAACP. “Between the Klu Klux Klan and the NAACP group, give me the Klan,” he had said. “You may call me a Klansman if you will,” he had added.
There are schools in America named after a racist who admired Hitler and Mussolini, and claimed to have been the first fascist.
"We were the first Fascists,” Garvey boasted. He also contended that, “Mussolini and Hitler copied the programme of the UNIA.”
Marcus Garvey urged his followers to read Mein Kampf. “What the Negro needs is a Hitler,” he declared.
“Hats off to Hitler the German Nazi,” cheered the national hero of Jamaica.
Rename Marcus Garvey Park. Rename every school and street named after the Nazi collaborator.
Not far from Malcolm X Boulevard in New York, you’ll come across W. E. B. DuBois Avenue. The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute is hosted by Harvard. Fisk University has a statue of DuBois. The University of Texas at Austin has a DuBois sculpture. A huge 800 pound bronze bust of DuBois sits at Clark Atlanta University.
They must all come down.
W. E. B. DuBois, a co-founder of the NAACP, was never quite sure if he was a Communist or a Nazi. Despite his Communist sympathies, he also tried to find time for the Nazis.
DuBois praised Hitler who "showed Germany a way out when most Germans saw nothing but impenetrable mist." He suggested that the Nazis weren't really bigots and that their anti-Semitism "is a reasoned prejudice, or an economic fear." In "The German Case Against the Jews", he defended Nazi bigotry. Under Hitler, he claimed that there was “more democracy in Germany than there has been in years past.”
Take down his statues. Take away Henry Louis Gates’ cozy spot at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute.
If Confederate statues are unacceptable, then how can statues, streets and schools named after political allies of the KKK, Nazis and Neo-Nazis stay up? If General Lee must go, how can Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois remain?
General Robert E. Lee never cheered the head of the American Nazi Party the way that Malcolm X did. Nor did he break bread with the Klan or defend the Nazis. If he must go, actual Klan and Nazi sympathizers like Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois should be tossed in the trash.
The double standard that privileges the ugly racism of black nationalists doesn’t just protect them, but also covers up their racist alliances with Nazis, Neo-Nazis and white supremacists. It is impossible to end racism as long as special exemptions are made for certain forms of racism. That is not only true in the abstract, but in the concrete reality that black racists are allies and supporters of white racists.
The solidarity of racists against a color blind society is the cause of Charlottesville and the rise of racism. Black Lives Matter and the Klu Klux Klan feed off each other in the same way that Garvey, Malcolm X and the Klan and the American Nazi Party did. The left’s support for black racism keeps white racism alive.
There are statues of Martin Luther King everywhere, but the tragic truth is that Democrats rejected his vision and embraced the black nationalism of segregated safe spaces, racial supremacy and black racism.
Civil rights is dead. Malcolm X and the KKK won.
But if the left really wants to knock over the statue of a white racist, a prime opportunity has opened up in Manchester, England where a statue of Friedrich Engels, Marx’s Marxist collaborator, was just set up.
Engels referred to black people as “N___s” and “nearer to the animal kingdom”.
The left is welcome to topple that statue. But it won’t. It isn’t opposed to racism. It is racist.
What the left hates, what Malcolm X and the KKK hated, what Antifa and the Neo-Nazis hate, is a liberal society in which people actually get along with each other and don’t need a tyrant to “save” them. The left embraced identity politics to destroy American civil society. Their plan is working.
But if the left wants to start smashing statues, those of its racist leaders must also fall.Germans drink almost twice as much ouzo as Greeks, who now seem to turn to tsipouro; meanwhile ouzo exports to the Middle East are increasing, according to spirits industry data.
Germany, has become the strongest ouzo importer in Europe in recent years. Germans consume 1.3 million cases (containing 12 bottles of 0.700 liters) per year. Similarly, ouzo is becoming increasingly popular in the Middle East market.
At the same time, ouzo consumption in Greece is dropping, at about 800,000 cases per year. It should be noted that until recently Greece had a significantly higher consumption rate compared to Germany, with sales of over 1 million cases per year.
The causes of the drop in ouzo sales in the domestic market are attributed to tax increases and to the flourishing of illicit trade in spirits such as tsipouro. Traders of illicit tsipouro in bulk transport ouzo in bulk as well.
On the other hand there is a shift in domestic consumers to the less costly tsipouro in bulk versus ouzo. In this context, foreign markets are considered to be almost the only way for several firms in the industry, considering that ouzo accounts for almost 70% of spirits exports.
However, Greek ouzo is facing the threat that other European countries can proceed with the production of ouzo. A possible vote on the revision of the European Regulation on Spirit Drinks could lead to the lifting of the restriction of the obligation to bottle ouzo within the geographical area of origin, which involves the risk of Greek spirits, Ouzo and tsipouro, to be moved in bulk to foreign markets to be bottled there.
Industry experts say that such a regulation might pave the way for full production of ouzo, tsipouro, mastic, etc in any country in Europe. Distillers could produce spirits called “Greek type ouzo” or tsipouro. This way, traditional Greek products might lose their market power.(CNN) North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday that appears to have the range to hit major US cities, experts say, and prompted a fresh round of condemnation from the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.
A combination of US, South Korean and Japanese analyses of the launch from Mupyong-ni, near North Korea's border with China, shows the missile flew about 45 minutes, going 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) high and for a distance of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
If the missile were fired on a flatter, standard trajectory, it would have major US cities such as Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago well within its range, with the possible ability to reach as far as New York and Boston, according to David Wright, a missile expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
However, early analysis of Friday's test cannot determine how heavy a payload the missile was carrying in its warhead, Wright said. The heavier the payload, the shorter the range.
South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said they estimate the missile tested Friday is more advanced than one launched earlier this month based on the range it traveled. Experts had said that test showed Pyongyang had the ability to hit Alaska
President Donald Trump condemned the missile launch and said the United States would act to ensure its security.
"Threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy and deprive its people," Trump said in a written statement. "The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."
Kim calls weapons program a 'precious asset'
Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that the latest missile launch was a Hwasong-14, the same missile tested earlier this month.
Friday's test was designed to show the Hwasong-14's maximum range with a "large-sized heavy nuclear warhead," it said, adding that Washington should regard the launch as a "grave warning."
North Korean state media was quick to tout the missile test as a success, with video and stills showing leader Kim Jong Un overseeing the launch and celebrating with the troops involved.
North Koreans hailed the test-firing, the news agency said. Kim Yu Chol, a researcher at the State Academy of Sciences, called the achievement "another great victory which dealt a heavy blow to the US imperialists and its vassal forces." Jo Son Hyang, a resident of Pyongyang's Rangnang District, said the "future of the country is bright" now that it has a "powerful sword for keeping peace."
JUST WATCHED Expert: North Korea will continue to improve Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Expert: North Korea will continue to improve 04:34
Kim was quoted as saying "the whole US mainland" is now within North Korea's reach. He called Pyongyang's weapons program "a precious asset" that cannot be reversed or replaced, according to the agency.
In the wake of the test, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., and Adm. Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, called the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Lee Sun Jin, to express "ironclad commitment" to the US alliance with South Korea and discuss military response options.
Hours after that call, the US and South Korean military conducted a live-fire exercise as a show of force in response to the test, according to Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis. The exercise included firing missiles into the ocean.
Both militaries conducted a similar show of force after North Korea's first ICBM test in early July.
If North Korea's assertions about Friday's test are true, Pyongyang may be even more advanced in its missile program than previously thought. Earlier in the week, a US official told CNN the United States believed that North Korea would be able to launch a reliable nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile by early 2018.
The official said that while North Korea can currently get a missile "off the ground," a lot of undetermined variables remain about guidance, re-entry and the ability to hit a specific target.
China condemns launch
China, a longtime North Korean ally, issued a statement Saturday condemning the missile launch and asked Pyongyang to "stop taking actions that would escalate tensions" on the Korean Peninsula.
"The UN Security Council has clear regulations on North Korea's launch activities that use ballistic missile technologies. China is opposed to North Korea's launch activities in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and against the will of the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Beijing's statement reiterated its long-held position on North Korea's missile program.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China and Russia need to do more to stop North Korea.
"As the principal economic enablers of North Korea's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile development program, China and Russia bear unique and special responsibility for this growing threat to regional and global stability," Tillerson said in a statement.
After speaking Saturday with Tillerson, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo would join Washington in new appeals to those countries to stop North Korea.
The missile splashed down about 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of the Shakotan Peninsula of Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, well within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone, Kishida said.
Not everyone agrees that North Korea launched an ICBM. The Russian Defense Ministry said its tracking indicated the weapon was a "medium-range ballistic missile," Russian state news agency Tass reported Friday.
Nuclear-capable missile?
Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated a range of at least 9,500 kilometers (5,900 miles) for the missile, according to Reuters news agency -- less than that estimated by Wright, but still potentially putting Los Angeles within reach.
JUST WATCHED North Korean missile classified as 'brand new' Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH North Korean missile classified as 'brand new' 02:10
"The key here is that North Korea has a second successful test in less than one month," he said. "If this trend holds, they could establish an acceptably reliable ICBM before year's end."
North Korea has seen a year of rapid progress in its missile program.
Pyongyang has carried out 12 missile tests since February and conducted its first test of an ICBM on July 4 -- which it says could reach "anywhere in the world."
"North Korea is slowly morphing into a nuclear and missile power right before our very eyes," said Harry J. Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest and an expert on North Korea.
"North Korea will continue to test over and over again its missile technology and nuclear weapons in the months and years to come in order to develop the most lethal systems it can," Kazianis said. "You can bet every time they do tensions will continue to rise. This is what makes the situation on the Korean Peninsula as dangerous as it is."
Trump urged to respond
Less than six years in power, Kim has tested more missiles than his father and grandfather combined.
The latest test has spurred calls for a response from the Trump administration.
"North Korea's latest missile test shows the Trump administration's actions are not changing North Korea's behavior and it's time for the President to articulate a comprehensive strategy to the American people -- so far he's failed to do that," Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu told CNN on Friday.
Administration officials have warned that "all options are on the table" but a clear path forward has yet to materialize.
Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who specializes in foreign policy, told CNN that North Korea's missile launch shows its leaders are "absolutely committed to their missile programs" and not interested in tempering their activities.
Bandow, who visited North Korea last month, said the regime is convinced that developing its missile program as a nuclear deterrent is absolutely necessary. It's a mindset, he said, that puts pressure on Trump, who finds himself in a situation with no good choices.FORMER Labor Cabinet minister Bernard Finnigan will continue to receive his $148,000 salary to sit in Parliament, despite being ordered to stand trial on aggravated child pornography charges.
The development prompted Premier Jay Weatherill to ask him to resign. Mr Weatherill described Finnigan's position as "untenable".
Finnigan - who was acting Police Minister at the time of his arrest in April last year - yesterday pleaded not guilty to five aggravated counts of taking steps to obtain child pornography and one aggravated count of obtaining child pornography at his Sefton Park home between August 2010 and April last year.
"The criminal justice system will deal with the question of guilt or innocence... what I'm talking about here is his public office," Mr Weatherill said.
Asked to comment on Mr Weatherill's statement, Finnigan remained silent when questioned by The Advertiser at his home last night.
Adelaide magistrate Simon Smart yesterday ruled that Finnigan - still a member of the Legislative Council - had a case to answer, rejecting submissions by his legal team that recently amended legislation rendered any conviction on the aggravated charges impossible.
Because his case has been committed to trial in a higher court, an automatic suppression order on his identity was lifted.
Outside the court, Finnigan - who has reaped almost $200,000 for sitting in the Legislative Council largely in silence since his arrest - would not comment on his future in Parliament.
"I will vigorously defend these charges in the proper place, that is a court of law. Like any citizen I am presumed innocent and I will be making no comment while the judicial review is being considered," Finnigan said.
He has access to an electoral allowance of more than $22,000, access to an office in Parliament House and rights to a subsidised car, internet and telephone access.
Up to 7pm yesterday, 472 of the 611 people who had voted on an adelaidenow poll said they believed Finnigan should not be eligible to hold public office.
Mr Smart yesterday rejected an argument by Finnigan's lawyer Michael Abbott, QC, that legislative amendments to introduce aggravated child pornography offences were flawed and rendered a conviction impossible.
Mr Smart said: "I am satisfied that a jury, properly instructed, could be satisfied of each of the elements of the offences beyond reasonable doubt, taking the Crown case at its highest."
Mr Abbott said he would seek a judicial review in the Supreme Court of Mr Smart's decision to commit the charges for trial.
Mr Smart declined to make an order extending a suppression order on Finnigan's identity, ruling that publication of his name would not be detrimental to the interests of justice.
Late yesterday, Mr Weatherill said he was "shocked" by the charges against his former colleague, who held the position of leader of government business in the Legislative Council.
"Because of the nature of the crimes and his public association with them I believe that it's inappropriate that he does continue to hold that public office," Mr Weatherill said.
Finnigan's eight-year term expires in 2018 and he will be able to fulfil his tenure if he escapes conviction.
If he stands down or is forced from office, Labor could appoint a replacement without a by-election.
Opposition justice spokesman Stephen Wade said the Liberals would not comment on the case while it was before the courts.
Born in Mt Gambier in 1972, Finnigan was a member of the Shop and Distributive and Allied Employees Association from 1995 to 2005 before taking the late Terry Roberts's place in the Legislative Council.
Finnigan was made Minister for Industrial Relations, State/Local Government Relations, and Gambling in February 2011.
Finnigan is alleged to have taken steps towards obtaining child pornography involving children under 14 at his Sefton Park home between August 2010 and April 2011. He faces up to seven years prison on each count if convicted of the aggravated charges. State Parliament resumes on October 16.
HOW IT HAS UNFOLDED
Bernard Vincent Finnigan
Born: Mt Gambier, December, 8, 1972
1978-1986: Attended Allendale East Area School
1987-1989: Attended Tenison College, Mt Gambier
1990-1993: University of Adelaide, Bachelor of Arts. Joins Labor Party
1995: Joins SA branch of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association as a union official
2000: Appointed assistant secretary of SDAA
May 2006: Appointed to Legislative Council position made vacant by death of Terry Roberts
2009: Touted by Labor figures as "one of the most influential figures in Parliament" and a likely future minister
February 2011: Appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Industrial Relations, State/Local Government Relations, and Gambling, and leader of the government in the Legislative Council
April 20, 2011: Arrested and charged with child pornography offences after police raid his home in the north-eastern suburbs
May 20, 2011: First appears in closed hearing in Adelaide Magistrates Court after arriving amid a large media throng, charged with one count of possessing child pornography, one count of aggravated possessing child pornography and two counts of taking steps to access child pornography
March 24, 2012: Prosecutors lay extra and more serious charges including that he searched for, viewed and downloaded perverted images - included aggravated allegations involving children younger than 14
June 29, 2012: Charges are once again increased in severity as prosecutors lay a new information charging Finnigan with seven aggravated counts and seven basic counts of obtaining access to child pornography
Last Friday: Finnigan's lawyer Michael Abbott QC argues his client has no case to answer on the aggravated charges. Mr Abbott claims amendments to legislation last November were poorly worded and rendered any conviction impossible.
Yesterday: Magistrate Simon Smart finds Finnigan has a case to answer on five aggravated counts of taking steps to obtain child pornography and one aggravated count of obtaining child pornography and commits him to the District Court. Mr Smart declines to make a further suppression order on Finnigan's identity while a judicial review is heard on his decision to commit the case for trial.The first ghost story I ever heard was from my mother. She described how once, while sleeping in an upstairs bedroom in her sister’s house, she woke to the feeling of twin icicles curling around her ankles. They were hands, but she didn’t see a body, exactly. More like an abstract interpretation of a body, female, crouched at the foot of the bed. It yanked once, hard, and she opened her pink teenaged mouth and screamed, causing it to let go and vanish. The details shift uneasily when she retells this story — -sometimes there is a horrible, unseasonal rainstorm beating the roof, sometimes she is 15, or 17. But these two details remain the same: The bed belonged a dead woman and she never went into that portion of the house again.
There’s a lot of paranormal activity in my family. Whether it is more than most other families is hard to say, but we seem to have more than most. During holidays and family events, after the adults wander into the kitchen to drink coffee or head off to bed, us cousins gather in some remote part of the house and talk about the things that go bump in the night. These are our heirlooms, a series of signals and omens that help us make sense of each other and our shared family history, which is by turns strange, mysterious and murky. These stories open up a portal to the parts of life that don’t seem to make much sense but as still just as real as the rest of it. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that sometimes a ghost isn’t always a ghost. Sometimes, telling a ghost story is a way to talk about something else present in the air, taking up space beside you. It can also be a manifestation of intuition, or something you’ve known in your bones but haven’t yet been able to accept. But sometimes a ghost is exactly what it is — -a seriously fucking scary spirit.
I tend to offer up these stories to friends whenever we are gathered, usually at my house, after the dinner plates have been cleared away and everyone’s wine glass has been refilled. I like to dim the lights and talk about the ghosts I’ve known and invite other people to tell me their stories. The results never disappoint: A woman recently told me about the time she was living in Japan and saw an orange, human-shaped figure in her bedroom; another friend told me about stumbling in on his mother, a santería, channeling his uncle to try and solve the mystery of who murdered him.
I invoked my first ghost during a slumber party in middle school. Back then, I roamed with a pack of girls, maybe three or four of them, and we were inseparable. Weekends were spent together, usually holed up in one of our bedrooms, gossiping about boys, reading magazines and taking trips to the mall. We had a dusty VHS copy of “Clueless” that we watched over and over again, shrieking out of favorite lines. I have a few photos leftover from that period and in them, we’re in color-coordinated outfits, posing under a tree in someone’s front yard. Most of us are wearing glasses in unflattering shapes and varying shades of matte lipstick.
One weekend, my house was nominated as the crash pad, largely because my mother was out of town, and we could take over her condo. So we did. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, one of the girls — -Stephanie, I think — -asked me if I had a Ouija board. Duh, of course, I replied, and we carefully set it up on the dining room table. We gathered around it and grew solemn. We called out to any spirits, as is the way, and waited. Nothing happened. We tried a few more times, but the ivory-colored planchette didn’t move. We grew bored and started packing up the toy to go back in its box. As the lid slid into place, a loud knocking came from inside the fireplace. It banged three times — -slow, deliberate, impossibly loud — -and then stopped. We shrieked and ran outside into the hot, summery day.
A few years after that, I was in the car with my father. We were driving back to Virginia from somewhere, maybe Maryland or Philadelphia. My dad liked to take long drives. He would go to Philly and back, in a day, just for the peace of being on the road. We didn’t talk much on those rides. I was content to read whatever book I happened to be reading, while my dad whistled along to the radio, usually the stations that beamed Sade or Marvin Gaye late into the night. One time, on our way back home, bored, I asked my dad: What’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you. And he told me about that he was a kid, he picked up extra work in a factory near where he grew up in South Carolina — -I forget which kind — -to help his parents out. One night, after they’d finished their shift, he and some of his friends started walking down the dirt road that led back towards where they lived. He was young, maybe the smallest in the group, and he heard a noise behind them. They turned to look at a black cat with glowing eyes was standing a little ways behind them, staring intently at the group. He ignored it, and kept walking. A few minutes later, he checked to see if the cat was still there — -it was — -only this time, it seemed a lot larger than it had a few minutes ago. And it was closer still, staring, not moving. This time, he alerted the group, which halted to examine the cat. A few of the boys in the group threw rocks and sticks towards the beast, to to try and rattle it, but it did not react and continued to approach, still, silently, eyes glowing.
The story gets…strange at this point. My father says the closer the cat came, the more it began to resemble a man, crouched in the shape of an animal, eyes possessed and glowing. He says an argument broke out in the group — -some of the boys wanted to try and kill the thing, and others were too scared, and wanted to run away. One boy in the group began approaching it with a large branch, intending to hit it, but as he got closer, he got spooked and screamed. He started running and the rest followed behind. The thing was never seen again.
The next time I summoned a spirit, I was sitting in Five Leaves in Greenpoint, back when you could still show up on a Sunday night and actually get a seat. I was in the restaurant with my boyfriend at the time, a tall, dark and charming man I no longer loved as much as I once did. We were at a crossroads in our relationship, drifting away from one another, and this dinner was supposed to be a reconciliation of sorts. A renewal of our determination to each other and our relationship and breaking ground on a new life ahead, together. He got up for a second to use he restroom and I leaned back in the booth, rearranged the napkin in my lap and took a sip of wine. Suddenly, I heard a voice clear as a bell, as clear as if someone had walked up behind me, leaned over my shoulder and whispered a single word in my ear. It said ‘go’ in a voice that I can still hear if I try hard enough — -it had a slight British slant to it. I was spooked. My boyfriend came back and we finished our meal, and we broke up not long after.
Years later, a few weeks after my father died from cancer, I was riding the subway, watching a tall man pet and gently bounce a freshly hatched baby that he was carrying in one of those soft, peanut-shaped sling wraps. The entire car seemed to be watching them, bewitched by their abundance of life. The father seemed young, nervous and excited, and all we could see of the baby was a dark and damp patch of hair. I felt a sharp tang well up in me — -a feeling that I would later come to understand as inconsolable grief, but at the time it was like tasting something entirely new, a flavor I did not know existed. I stood up, wobbling, and started weaving for the door, when a woman accidentally stepped into my path. I bumped into her and the bouquet that she was carrying. The scent of the flowers — -lilies — -flooded into my nose, and I thought of my father, who always kept a fresh bunch in his house. I took a step back, and the woman with the flowers, who had her back to me, did the same. The fragrance washed over me again and I grasped at the vague notion that perhaps this was a different kind of apparition or visitation and I rode along for a few more stops, basking in the smell, and then the woman stepped off the train. I never did manage to see her face.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Jenna Wortham is a technology reporter for the New York Times. If she could have dinner with any ghost, it would be Tupac.Steven Jackson's career with the St. Louis Rams was finished. Jackson made that pretty clear last week. His contract agreement Thursday with the Atlanta Falcons makes it official.
How does it feel, Rams fans?
As breakups go, this one couldn't have gone more smoothly.
The Rams get credit for being |
_noise_ folder. These should be the same sample rate as your main dataset, but much longer in duration so that a good set of random segments can be selected from them.
Silence
In most cases the sounds you care about will be intermittent and so it's important to know when there's no matching audio. To support this, there's a special _silence_ label that indicates when the model detects nothing interesting. Because there's never complete silence in real environments, we actually have to supply examples with quiet and irrelevant audio. For this, we reuse the _background_noise_ folder that's also mixed in to real clips, pulling short sections of the audio data and feeding those in with the ground truth class of _silence_. By default 10% of the training data is supplied like this, but the --silence_percentage can be used to control the proportion. As with unknown words, setting this higher can weight the model results in favor of true positives for silence, at the expense of false negatives for words, but too large a proportion can cause it to fall into the trap of always guessing silence.
Time Shifting
Adding in background noise is one way of distorting the training data in a realistic way to effectively increase the size of the dataset, and so increase overall accuracy, and time shifting is another. This involves a random offset in time of the training sample data, so that a small part of the start or end is cut off and the opposite section is padded with zeroes. This mimics the natural variations in starting time in the training data, and is controlled with the --time_shift_ms flag, which defaults to 100ms. Increasing this value will provide more variation, but at the risk of cutting off important parts of the audio. A related way of augmenting the data with realistic distortions is by using time stretching and pitch scaling, but that's outside the scope of this tutorial.
Customizing the Model
The default model used for this script is pretty large, taking over 800 million FLOPs for each inference and using 940,000 weight parameters. This runs at usable speeds on desktop machines or modern phones, but it involves too many calculations to run at interactive speeds on devices with more limited resources. To support these use cases, there's a couple of alternatives available:
low_latency_conv Based on the 'cnn-one-fstride4' topology described in the Convolutional Neural Networks for Small-footprint Keyword Spotting paper. The accuracy is slightly lower than 'conv' but the number of weight parameters is about the same, and it only needs 11 million FLOPs to run one prediction, making it much faster.
To use this model, you specify --model_architecture=low_latency_conv on the command line. You'll also need to update the training rates and the number of steps, so the full command will look like:
python tensorflow/examples/speech_commands/train \ --model_architecture=low_latency_conv \ --how_many_training_steps=20000,6000 \ --learning_rate=0.01,0.001
This asks the script to train with a learning rate of 0.01 for 20,000 steps, and then do a fine-tuning pass of 6,000 steps with a 10x smaller rate.
low_latency_svdf Based on the topology presented in the Compressing Deep Neural Networks using a Rank-Constrained Topology paper. The accuracy is also lower than 'conv' but it only uses about 750 thousand parameters, and most significantly, it allows for an optimized execution at test time (i.e. when you will actually use it in your application), resulting in 750 thousand FLOPs.
To use this model, you specify --model_architecture=low_latency_svdf on the command line, and update the training rates and the number of steps, so the full command will look like:
python tensorflow/examples/speech_commands/train \ --model_architecture=low_latency_svdf \ --how_many_training_steps=100000,35000 \ --learning_rate=0.01,0.005
Note that despite requiring a larger number of steps than the previous two topologies, the reduced number of computations means that training should take about the same time, and at the end reach an accuracy of around 85%. You can also further tune the topology fairly easily for computation and accuracy by changing these parameters in the SVDF layer:
rank - The rank of the approximation (higher typically better, but results in more computation).
num_units - Similar to other layer types, specifies the number of nodes in the layer (more nodes better quality, and more computation).
Regarding runtime, since the layer allows optimizations by caching some of the internal neural network activations, you need to make sure to use a consistent stride (e.g. 'clip_stride_ms' flag) both when you freeze the graph, and when executing the model in streaming mode (e.g. test_streaming_accuracy.cc).
Other parameters to customize If you want to experiment with customizing models, a good place to start is by tweaking the spectrogram creation parameters. This has the effect of altering the size of the input image to the model, and the creation code in models.py will adjust the number of computations and weights automatically to fit with different dimensions. If you make the input smaller, the model will need fewer computations to process it, so it can be a great way to trade off some accuracy for improved latency. The --window_stride_ms controls how far apart each frequency analysis sample is from the previous. If you increase this value, then fewer samples will be taken for a given duration, and the time axis of the input will shrink. The --dct_coefficient_count flag controls how many buckets are used for the frequency counting, so reducing this will shrink the input in the other dimension. The --window_size_ms argument doesn't affect the size, but does control how wide the area used to calculate the frequencies is for each sample. Reducing the duration of the training samples, controlled by --clip_duration_ms, can also help if the sounds you're looking for are short, since that also reduces the time dimension of the input. You'll need to make sure that all your training data contains the right audio in the initial portion of the clip though.
If you have an entirely different model in mind for your problem, you may find that you can plug it into models.py and have the rest of the script handle all of the preprocessing and training mechanics. You would add a new clause to create_model, looking for the name of your architecture and then calling a model creation function. This function is given the size of the spectrogram input, along with other model information, and is expected to create TensorFlow ops to read that in and produce an output prediction vector, and a placeholder to control the dropout rate. The rest of the script will handle integrating this model into a larger graph doing the input calculations and applying softmax and a loss function to train it.Refocused: Seattle Seahawks 46, Indianapolis Colts 18
By PFF Analysis Team • Oct 2, 2017
Blair Walsh opened the scoring with a field goal, but the Colts would respond in an unconventional way; they secured their first points by sacking QB Russell Wilson in the endzone for a safety. In the second quarter, Seahawks CB Justin Coleman returned an interception for a score, however the Colts would score two touchdowns, including a QB Jacoby Brissett touchdown throw to WR Donte Moncrief, to take a 15-10 lead into halftime.
Seattle would grab the lead on a Wilson touchdown run and would scarcely look back. They scored five total second half touchdowns, including two scores from HB J.D. McKissic, one each rushing and receiving. The Seahawks would go on to win 46-18. With that, we give you our PFF exclusive takeaways from the contest for each team.
Top 5 Grades:
QB Russell Wilson, 93.8 overall grade
LB Bobby Wagner, 90.9 overall grade
S Kam Chancellor, 87.2 overall grade
CB Justin Coleman, 84.3 overall grade
DI Sheldon Richardson, 83.9 overall grade
Performances of Note:
QB Russell Wilson, 93.8 overall grade
This was the Russell Wilson that makes the Seahawks one of the best teams in the NFL. While he had two interceptions, the second was a good pass that hit Jimmy Graham in the hands. Outside of his two interceptions, Wilson was electric, making plays with his legs and his arm. When Wilson was under no pressure, he had a passer rating of 119.4.
C Justin Britt, 75.6 overall grade
The Seahawks offensive line is led by Justin Britt, and although he wasn’t at his best, he still was able to put on a solid performance. The key to the win was the whole play by the Seahawks offensive line. While the young tackles might not have been akin to Joe Thomas, they limited pressure for Wilson, as the offensive line only gave up 6 hurries on 38 dropbacks.
LB Bobby Wagner, 90.9 overall grade
We’re only one-quarter of the way through the season, but Bobby Wagner may be on track for the highest-graded season of his career. Wagner had four total pressures on five snaps of rushing the quarterback, and added four defensive stops overall. To top off the great night, he not only recovered a fumble, but was able to make his way through traffic to find the end zone, which really seemed like the turning point in the game.
DI Sheldon Richardson, 83.9 overall grade
Richardson has had a slower start to the season than Seattle probably hoped, but he turned in a better performance against the Colts. He had four pressures while rushing the quarterback, but actually made his mark in run defense. He had two run stops and disrupted a few other runs at the point of attack to setup stops for his teammates.
Top 5 Grades:
S Matthias Farley, 89.0 overall grade
CB Rashaan Melvin, 88.9 overall grade
EDGE Jabaal Sheard, 84.9 overall grade
DI Al Woods, 79.6 overall grade
LB Jon Bostic, 77.1 overall grade
Performances of Note:
WR Donte Moncrief, 75.7 overall grade
The Colts’ offense struggled as a whole, with few positive performances to speak of. Moncrief had a decent outing, catching three passes for 30 yards, including one touchdown, all of which came against Seattle CB Shaquill Griffin. His 97.1 wide receiver rating was the highest of the game for the Colts.
QB Jacoby Brissett, 45.0 overall grade
This was easily Brissett’s worst performance this year. While the offensive line didn’t make his job any easier, allowing Brissett to be pressured on 52.4 percent of his dropbacks, some of it still falls on Brissett. He was able to complete just 5-of-13 passes when under pressure. When kept clean, Brissett fared somewhat better, with an 87.5 adjusted completion percentage after accounting for three drops. However, his dreadful pick-six came without pressure, as it was just the result of just a very poor decision.
EDGE Jabaal Sheard, 84.9 overall grade
Sheard was the one defender who got consistent pass-rush on Wilson. Sheard had one sack and five hurries more than the rest of Colts defense put together. But Sheard’s biggest strength on the night was in the run game, where he recorded five stops, as he was too strong on the edge for the Seahawks tackles.
CB Rashaan Melvin, 88.9 overall grade
One of the most impressive players for this Colts defense through four games this season has been cornerback Rashaan Melvin. Against the Seahawks, Melvin was again a force, even though he allowed four catches on five targets, he only allowed 28 yards for an average of 5.6 yards per target. On top of that he had a pass defensed on his other target and was able to knock down another pass where he was not in primary coverage.
PFF Game Ball: Russell Wilson, QB
*Grades are subject to change upon reviewHOUSTON – DaMarcus Beasley’s been biding his time.
Dealing with a calf injury initially suffered in August, until last week Beasley had been in and out of the Houston lineup for nearly a month. He missed four of the Dynamo’s five games from Aug. 21-Sept. 20, playing just 24 minutes before being removed in his lone appearance on Aug. 29.
The veteran left back made his return to the lineup last week, not missing a beat in Houston’s victories against Sporting Kansas City and the Colorado Rapids.
The 33-year-old US international assisted on Will Bruin’s winning goal in a 1-0 win last Wednesday over SKC and was a key part of a winning effort over the Rapids on Saturday. Fully recovered, Beasley has his eyes on helping Houston make a run to the playoffs and, while it’s not currently at the top of his list, a certain CONCACAF match on October 10.
“Not really. First and foremost I need to play here. If I wasn’t fit here I wouldn’t play with the national team,” Beasley said. “My first priority was to get back and help the Dynamo and help myself get back to 100 percent. Yeah the game’s important for us to get to the Confederations Cup in 2017 and obviously it’s against Mexico, our biggest rival. It’s going to be a great game, a great atmosphere. If I’m fit and playing well I’m sure I’ll get the call.”
A leader in the US locker room, Beasley has been pegged as an integral part of the national team setup by manager Jurgen Klinsmann, who helped persuade Beasley to come out of international retirement ahead of this summer’s Gold Cup.
Beasley is equally indispensable to the Dynamo. His presence and ability to control the game in defense and get forward in the attack adds a unique dimension to Houston’s lineup.
“We all know what DaMarcus brings; he’s a world class player,” said Houston captain Brad Davis. “I’m excited that he’s back and fit and healthy. He’s one of the guys that without a doubt we rely on to bring some leadership to that back line. He gets forward, he attacks. I think we’ve had a good relationship when he and I have been in the lineup next to each other.”
That ability was on display on Beasley’s assist against Sporting, when he beat two defenders to get to the end line and squared a ball to Bruin at the back post to clinch the win. While it was a great result, Beasley wasn’t taking too much credit.
“Nah, actually I can’t take credit for that,” Beasley said with a laugh. “I didn’t have an angle and I just tried to hit it as hard as I could … the ball bounced right to Will who was in a great place. Great that it went to him and not a Kansas City player.”
While he didn’t see Bruin, his impact in Houston has been quite evident. Remaining healthy for the eighth-place Dynamo will be important for the club’s success down the stretch, with Houston looking to claw past San Jose and Portland and above the red line.
It will also be huge for the USMNT, who could certainly use him at left back for the Oct. 10 CONCACAF Cup against Mexico.
“For me … DaMarcus is the best left back in North America, bar none,” said Houston head coach Owen Coyle. “That’s both defensively for us and the attacking sense. DaMarcus gives us that confidence in the back and that quality on the ball.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.General Motors reported the best profit margin in its 107-year history in 2015, just six years after the company was saved by a federal bailout.
The nation's largest automaker benefited from strong car sales in both the United States and China, where it now sells more cars than it does at home.
Total global sales came to 9.8 million cars and trucks, the third straight year GM set a record for the company. It also benefited from a more competitive labor deal than it had before the bankruptcy.
The result is further proof that the company has also put the recall crisis of 2014 behind it. GM has paid nearly $600 million to victims of its faulty ignition switch, including the families of 124 people who died in crashes linked to the problem.
Last year, GM reported net income of $9.7 billion, more than tripling its 2014 results. The company's profit margin reached 7.1%, up from 4.2%. GM also reaffirmed its forecast that results will continue to improve this year.
Related: Most reliable car brands
Shares of GM (GM) opened higher on the results but soon lost ground as U.S. stocks continued their recent slide.The former BBC director who tried to keep decades of child abuse under wraps is now CEO of the New York Times — an outspoken defender of elites implicated in PizzaGate
This is not an article attempting to support or debunk the claims made by the popular "PizzaGate" theory which, despite censorship on platforms such as Reddit and YouTube, continues to gain traction. Although yes, we plan on "going there", just not right now.
Instead, we would simply like to remind our dear readers that selecting "all the news that's fit to print" is by no means an exercise in objectivity.
Friends in high places
The New York Times has now run numerous stories in an attempt to debunk PizzaGate and shame anyone who thinks such a theory could even be possible.
The claims made by PizzaGate are serious and deserve close scrutiny. But is the New York Times really the correct outlet for an impartial investigation into an elite pedo ring?
While the Times has reached out to those implicated in the theory for their comments and retorts — standard operating procedure for any competent journalist — it's important to remember that the CEO of the fabled newspaper is none other than Mark Thompson, the former BBC director who "lied" during the Jimmy Savile investigation, and is at least partly to blame for allowing a monster like Savile to operate within the BBC for so long "undetected".
15 years ago, anyone who alleged that the BBC was covering up widespread child abuse would have been called a nutter.
Not so nutty today, is it?
Let's just come out and say it: If Mark Thompson was willing to help cover up disgusting crimes that were committed within his own organization, why would we think twice about trusting the NYT when it comes to something like PizzaGate?
And we love how the word "conspiracy" is used as a derogatory term to describe the theory. Sort of like the conspiracy to cover up Savile's unspeakable crimes, a conspiracy in which Mark was a leading participant?
It's a contentious subject. We are, by good breeding, diametrically opposed to witch hunts. But why such an insane overreaction by the government and media, if it's just a dumb, baseless theory? The internet is full of wild claims. Did you know that Obama is a reptile from outer space? The internet says so. But the New York Times, along with Hillary Clinton, doesn't seem to give a hoot. And they shouldn't.
There's something going on here, friends. Discuss.
P.S. Mark Thompson's newspaper is a crime against the written word.US Open: Shane Lowry leads the way at qualifying, but Padraig Harrington misses out
Shane Lowry: Finished out in front at the end of 36 holes on eight under par
Having finished one shot behind good friend Rory McIlroy at Wentworth on Sunday, Lowry failed to claim an automatic place in the field for the second major of the season.
However the Irishman made sure he would be travelling to Pinehurst next month by securing one of the 14 places up for grabs at Walton Heath.
He managed a 69 on the New Course before carding a 67 on the Old Course in the afternoon to end the 36-hole event on eight under par, the best score of the day in difficult conditions as the venue was beset by bad weather.
"I played okay and putted really, really well holing a lot of six to eight footers for par," the two-time winner on the European Tour said afterwards.
"But after finishing so close to victory yesterday I just carried a lot of momentum from Wentworth into today to get the job done.
"And while I was a little disappointed not to win the BMW PGA at least now I've done it the hard way so that I can join Rory at Pinehurst."
One clear
Lowry finished one clear of Englishman Simon Griffiths, Sweden's Niclas Fasth and Garth Mulroy of South Africa.
England's Graeme Storm, German duo Marcel Siem and Max Kieffer, Chris Doak of Scotland and American Brooks Koepka also secured themselves spots by ending up on a five-under total of 139.
A further six players were one shot further back but with only four more berths available, a play-off was required.
England's Oliver Fisher, Italian Andrea Pavan and Dane Lucas Bjerregaard all made birdie at the first extra hole, while Fisher's compatriot Tom Lewis joined the trio soon after courtesy of a stunning 30-foot putt.
Morten Madsen and Danny Willett were the unlucky duo to miss out, meaning they will be alternates.
Padraig Harrington will definitely not be playing at the US Open this year, having previously taken part in the event for the past 15 years in a row. Scores of 75 and 71 were not enough for the three-time major winner.
"The damage was done in the morning with that 75," he said. "I just made a few mistakes in not knowing the golf course and I was never comfortable with the pace of the greens, as there were a number of three-putts thrown in there."
Ryder Cup-winning captain Jose Maria Olazabal, himself a two-time major champion, also finished outside the top 14 after finishing level with Harrington on a two-over-par overall score.Do you know what would have been the worst aspect of life during the European middle ages? Heinous personal hygiene? No. Disease and famine? Hardly. That really crappy mandolin music that midgets enjoy dancing to? Close, but wrong again. The worst thing about medieval life was the unwavering evil of the Christian “justice” system and the tools of torture they employed.The following are the 20 worst torture devices of all time in the European History…
(20.) Punishing Shoes
The shoes were often used in conjunction with the standing pillory (a device that holds your head and wrists in place while you stand). How long do you think you could stand on your tippy-toes before you had to rest your heels on those iron spikes?
(19.) Heretic’s Fork
The four sharp points snugly nestled under the chin and sternum were designed to allow the victim just enough range of motion with his mouth to murmer a confession.
(18.) Dunking Stool
Used primarily on women (as was the case for most devices of pseudo-sexual torture), the dunking stool would dip its occupant into a river for as long as the authorities saw fit.
(17.) The Boots
The victim’s legs were placed between two planks of wood and bound together with cords. Between the cords the torturers placed wedges with which they would violently hammer. Each time a wedge was hammered, an acute portion of the shin bone was shattered. The tormentors could hammer at least a dozen wedges up and down the legs. When the Boots were removed, the bone fragments fell to pieces and the skin of the lower legs merely served as loose sacks for them.
(16.) Water Torture
This is the only non-medieval, European torture on our list. The water torture was a favorite among Japanese POW guards during WWII. The victim was first bound with barbed wire and his mouth stuffed with rags. Next, the guards would snake a tube down the victim’s nasal passage and bloat his belly with water. Once that was finished, the guards would kick and beat the poor sap’s midsection until his stomach lining burst and and death ensued.
(15.) Cat’s Paw
This was simply used to slowly tear the flesh from its victim, often times all the way down to the bone.
(14.) The Rack
It does exactly what it looks like it does: the rack pulls your body from end to end until your limbs are slowly plucked from their joints.
(13.) Quartering by Horses
Quartering is the rack taken to the next level and was reserved only for murderers and those who killed or attempted to take the life of a nobleman or royalty. Each of the prisoner’s limbs were tied to a horse and the horses were whipped simultaneously so that each limb would erupt from the body in an instant. A crowd favorite.
(12.) The Pear
Hinging on your gender, the pear was either placed in your anus or your vagina in its thin form and then cranked to open up and blossom into a rather uncomfortable position
(11.) Cleansing the Soul
In many Catholic countries, the clergy believed that the corrupted soul of a damned person could be cleansed if they were forced to consume boiling water, burning coals, or both. Of course, this was what happened to prisoners before they were punished for their crime — sort of a “warm-up” torture, if you will.
(10.) The Hanging Cage
The pictured victim is one of the lucky ones because most occupants were caged completely naked to expose them to either extreme cold or hot weather conditions. And… most caged prisoners were usually placed in there only after other means of extreme physical torture were administered. But wait — there’s more! The victims were left in the cage until they died from either the elements or thirst, which could take weeks.
(9.) The Head Crusher
If ever an explanation was in a name, the head crusher is it. Death by head crusher usually went something like this: the teeth imploded into their sockets and smashed the surrounding jaw bones. Then the eyes squirted from their sockets and finally, brain matter squirted from the ears. Unbelievably, many nations still use a version of the head crusher to this very day as an interrogation tool.
(8.) Burning at the Stake
A favorite execution for those accused of witchcaft. Clergy believed that the burning of a witch permanently removed her evil spirits from the physical world, thus eliminating the possibility of any further contamination of innocent souls. Makes sense.
(7.) Judas Cradle
The victim was hoisted above the pyramid and slowly lowered, crotch first, onto its sharpened pinnacle. Hinging on the torturers mood, he could vary the amount of the victim’s body weight applied to the point.
(6.) The Cradle
The Cradle is the nastier second cousin to the Judas Cradle. We believe the picture does all the explaining for us.
(5.) Iron Maiden
The following is a depiction of the first recorded use of the Iron Maiden on August 14, 1515 : “A forger of coins was placed inside, and the doors shut slowly, so that the very sharp points penetrated his arms and legs in several places, and his belly and chest, and his bladder and the root of his member, and his eyes, and his shoulders, and his buttocks, but not enough to kill him; and so, he remained making great cry and lament for two days, after which he died.”
(4.) Interrogation Chair
Not only were the hundreds of tiny spikes uncomfortable to sit on, but a fire was usually kindled under the iron chair to make it reach a horrible scalding point.
(3.) Impalement
This was the standard form of punishment for traitors in Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and Salee during the Middle Ages. Believe it or not, once the lengthy spike entered the victim’s posterior and exited their mouth or throat, the victim might live for more than a day in this state and was left to crawl in the dirt for all to watch.
(2.) The Saw
The saw may represent human ingenuity’s darkest hour. The idea here is that when the victim is suspended upside down, most of the blood will go to the head. That is an important part of the process, you see, because as the torturers saw into the victim’s crotch, all of the blood in the head will oxygenate the brain so that the victim will not pass out as one normally would under such excruciating pain. Typically, the saw would reach the victim’s navel before unconsciousness would take hold — sometimes as far as the midriff.
(1.) Breaking with the Wheel
Okay, we’ve saved the most treacherous display for last. So, if you’ve had trouble with any of the above and want to turn back now, no one will think less of you for it……………. You still here? You sick bastard. Okay, here we go… In terms of frequency used, the wheel was second only to hanging as the most common form of execution in Germany during the Middle Ages. First, the victim (usually naked) had each of his limbs spread apart and tied to the ground. However, wooden crosspieces were placed under each major joint such as the wrists, ankles, knees, hips and shoulders. The torturer would then smash each limb and joint with the heavy, iron-enhanced wheel. But that was just the beginning of the nightmare. Once the limbs were reduced to gelatinous appendages of mashed bones, blood and flesh, each arm and leg was braided into the spokes of the wheel and then hoisted upright for display. The agonizing victim would remain in this position for days as crows and insects feasted on him or her until death.
AdvertisementsThe man accused of driving a pickup truck down a crowded Manhattan bike path in what officials called the deadliest terrorist attack on New York City since Sept. 11, 2001, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to multiple charges of murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering.
The man, Sayfullo Saipov, was charged in Federal District Court in Manhattan with eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering activity, 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, and violence and destruction of motor vehicles.
The racketeering activity referred to the terrorism of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS; according to the indictment handed up by a grand jury on Nov. 21, Mr. Saipov acted “for the purpose of gaining entrance to ISIS.”
After plowing through bikers and pedestrians on the Hudson River Greenway shortly after 3 p.m. on Oct. 31, Mr. Saipov leapt out of his rented Home Depot truck and brandished a pellet gun and a paintball gun, shouting “Allahu akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” before he was shot by a police officer, the authorities said.Turning Pygmy hasn’t turned out to be a very good long-run strategy. All such populations have big problems. First, they’re vastly outnumbered by peoples that adopted agriculture. Second, they’re short – shorter than their farmer neighbors – and generally that has been a disadvantage in disputes. Contemporary African pygmies are ‘ hereditary servants’ of their Bantu neighbors: we have another word for that. Maybe AK-47s will turn that around some day (God made some men big and some men small, but Mikhail Kalashnikov made them all equal, like a good Communist), but it hasn’t happened yet. And with their small numbers, I’m not optimistic.
Moreover, it seems that they may have incurred an intellectual disadvantage as well. They have small brains, probably the smallest of any existing human population. I found a reference claiming an average endocranial volume of 1,085 cm3 for the Aka: that’s the lowest number ever reported. Their reported IQ scores are very, very low. Their neighbors, who don’t score high themselves, think that the Pygmies have rocks in their head, don’t plan ahead, are irresponsible, etc And of course they have trouble with alcohol.
A recent paper by Andrea Migliano argued that high risk, mainly from infectious disease, has selected for an accelerated life-history among Pygmies. I’m not convinced, but if she’s right, they would age more rapidly as well. I’m not sure that is actually the case.
All this should have been obvious when modern humans were wandering into the African rainforest tens of thousands of years ago. What were they thinking?
AdvertisementsTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the immediate removal of the ‘Trump’ name from the Trump Towers Istanbul due to the likely Republican presidential nominee’s anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Erdogan made the call during his speech at a TÜMSİAD (The Industrialists and Businessmen Association) evening, according to Turkish news outlet Yeni Safak.
“[Trump] has no tolerance for Muslims living in the US. And on top of that they used a brand in [Istanbul] with his name. The ones who put that brand on their building should immediately remove it,” Erdogan said, according to The Turkish Sun.
Trump Towers Istanbul was developed by Turkish billionaire Aydın Doğan and opened in 2012 and Doğan has been paying Trump for the brand name.
However, after Trump proposed to ban all Muslims from entering the US at the end of last year, the franchise said it was “evaluating its legal ties with the brand name.”
‘Total, complete shutdown’: Trump promises ban on Muslim immigration to UShttps://t.co/2cWEATFpIOpic.twitter.com/H4jFs3ZvSh — RT (@RT_com) December 8, 2015
"We regret and condemn Trump's discriminatory remarks. Such statements bear no value and are products of a mind that does not understand Islam, a peace religion, at all," said Trump Shopping Mall Manager Bulent Kural, as reported by Reuters in December.
Erdoğan attended the opening ceremony of Trump Towers in 2012 when he was the prime minister, but told the TÜMSİAD event Friday that he now regretted it: “I also made a mistake and opened [Trump Towers].”
Meanwhile, the Turkish president praised US President Barack Obama’s stance of unity with Muslims and against Trump.
READ MORE: Erdogan threatens to hold EU bid referendum unless Turkey gets visa-free travel
“Mr. Obama is on the side of Muslims here,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan has also accused the EU of Islamophobia and claimed Europe doesn't want Turkey to join the EU because its population is predominantly Muslim.
Ankara is currently negotiating a deal with Brussels to grant Turkish citizens the right to travel to the EU visa-free.Sen. Bernard Sanders‘ campaign began laying the groundwork Tuesday for a contested convention this summer, saying Hillary Clinton won’t be able to win the nomination based on the primaries and the two will end up fighting for the superdelegates who will ultimately make the decision.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said they will try to persuade the hundreds of superdelegates who are backing Mrs. Clinton to ditch her and swing behind Mr. Sanders before the July convention in Philadelphia.
“If you look at the math … it is very, very, very unlikely either candidate, either Secretary Clinton or Sen. Sanders, will go into the convention with a majority needed of pledged delegates in order to win,” Mr. Weaver told CNN. “And so, in essence, the Democratic convention will be an open convention. [The superdelegates] don’t count until they vote, and they don’t vote until they get to the convention. So, when we arrive at the convention, it will be an open convention.”
Heading into the Wisconsin primary Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton had 1,712 delegates to Mr. Sanders‘ 1,011, according to an Associated Press tally. Among pledged delegates, Mrs. Clinton leads Mr. Sanders 1,243 to 980.
Mrs. Clinton holds a massive lead among superdelegates, 469 to 31. It takes 2,383 delegates to secure the nomination.
There is little evidence that superdelegates are willing to switch their support from Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Sanders despite increasing pressure from liberal activists.
In Alaska, Democratic committeewoman and superdelegate Kim Metcalfe has pledged to back Mrs. Clinton, even though Mr. Sanders won more than 80 percent of the vote in the state’s caucuses last month.
On the other side, Alaska Democratic Party Vice Chairman Larry Murakami said last week that he would back Mr. Sanders after the senator’s huge win in the state.
Mrs. Clinton’s camp says the superdelegate fight is premature because she is leading in the basic voting, winning more states and taking a significantly greater share of the popular vote than Mr. Sanders.
“For most of the campaign, Senator Sanders has criticized the role that superdelegates play in the nominating process, but as he now campaigns without a clear path to the nomination that relies on the voters, he’s aggressively courting their support,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook wrote in a memo.
Mr. Sanders is already behind schedule if he is to win over some of Mrs. Clinton’s superdelegates. In 2008, Barack Obama began to earn his first switchers at the beginning of the year, a signal that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign was in trouble.
So far, there is no evidence of a similar swell of defections, and Mr. Sanders hasn’t won many superdelegates on his own.
While snatching the nomination from Mrs. Clinton at this year’s convention seems to be a long shot at best, political analysts say, there is also little reason for Mr. Sanders to exit the race. He continues to win states — including a sweep of Washington, Hawaii and Alaska on March 26 — and is raising much more money than Mrs. Clinton.
In the process, he has excited progressive voters in a way that Mrs. Clinton simply has not, said Eric Kasper, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
“Hillary Clinton has done what she needs to do on many fronts, as she has raised a significant amount of money, secured support among numerous superdelegates, obtained many key endorsements and put in place a solid paid and volunteer staff operation. However, Sanders has an outsider message on economics that appeals to a sizable share of progressives, and he is seen as more authentic by many people,” Mr. Kasper said.
Mrs. Clinton said she was pleased to see Mr. Sanders injecting so much enthusiasm into the Democratic ranks but expressed confidence that she would be the nominee.
“I’m really excited that he’s attracted so many people, particularly young people, into this contest,” she said during an appearance on “The View.” “And, again, you have to look at the broader perspective. We’ve won some. He’s won some. But I have 2½ million more votes than he does. And I have a very significant lead in delegates.”
Moving forward, both campaigns will turn their full attention to New York. Just a month ago, Mrs. Clinton held a lead of more than 20 points in the state she |
But Crawford, who dismissed war crimes charges against him in May 2008, said in the interview that she would not allow the prosecution to go forward.
Qahtani was denied entry into the United States a month before the Sept. 11 attacks and was allegedly planning to be the plot's 20th hijacker. He was later captured in Afghanistan and transported to Guantanamo in January 2002. His interrogation took place over 50 days from November 2002 to January 2003, though he was held in isolation until April 2003.
"For 160 days his only contact was with the interrogators," said Crawford, who personally reviewed Qahtani's interrogation records and other military documents. "Forty-eight of 54 consecutive days of 18-to-20-hour interrogations. Standing naked in front of a female agent. Subject to strip searches. And insults to his mother and sister."
At one point he was threatened with a military working dog named Zeus, according to a military report. Qahtani "was forced to wear a woman's bra and had a thong placed on his head during the course of his interrogation" and "was told that his mother and sister were whores." With a leash tied to his chains, he was led around the room "and forced to perform a series of dog tricks," the report shows.
The interrogation, portions of which have been previously described by other news organizations, including The Washington Post, was so intense that Qahtani had to be hospitalized twice at Guantanamo with bradycardia, a condition in which the heart rate falls below 60 beats a minute and which in extreme cases can lead to heart failure and death. At one point Qahtani's heart rate dropped to 35 beats per minute, the record shows.
The Qahtani case underscores the challenges facing the incoming Obama administration as it seeks to close the controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including the dilemmas posed by individuals considered too dangerous to release but whose legal status is uncertain. FBI "clean teams," which gather evidence without using information gained during controversial interrogations, have established that Qahtani intended to join the 2001 hijackers. Mohamed Atta, the plot's leader, who died steering American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, went to the Orlando airport to meet Qahtani on Aug. 4, 2001, but the young Saudi was denied entry by a suspicious immigration inspector.
"There's no doubt in my mind he would've been on one of those planes had he gained access to the country in August 2001," Crawford said of Qahtani, who remains detained at Guantanamo. "He's a muscle hijacker.... He's a very dangerous man. What do you do with him now if you don't charge him and try him? I would be hesitant to say, 'Let him go.' "
That, she said, is a decision that President-elect Barack Obama will have to make. Obama repeated Sunday that he intends to close the Guantanamo center but acknowledged the challenges involved. "It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize," Obama said on ABC's "This Week," "and we are going to get it done, but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous, who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted, even though it's true."A modern German autorack similar to the original design with a full load of automobiles
A Norfolk Southern autorack on a TTX platform
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to automotive distributors, and to transport passengers' vehicles in car shuttles and motorail services, such as Amtrak's Auto Train route.
History [ edit ]
In the early 20th century, when automobiles were still new technology, their production levels were low enough that they could be shipped in sufficient quantities in boxcars. Two to four automobiles would usually fit into one boxcar. But as the automobile industry grew in size, railroads found that they needed to modify the boxcars for more efficient loading. Some modifications included longer boxcars, larger sliding double side doors located near one end of the boxcar, or doors located on the boxcar ends.
These modifications helped, but the demand for new automobiles outpaced the railroads' abilities to build and modify boxcars in which to ship them. In 1923, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad experimented with modifying a group of 61-foot (18.59 m)-long wood-frame flat cars to increase their capacity by adding collapsible frames to allow for double-deck operation. The concept was not perfected and therefore failed to gain acceptance. In the 1940s and 1950s, some railroads experimented with automobile-loading assemblies that would lift one or more automobiles above others within a boxcar. The success of these assemblies was limited due to their special use and specific size; it proved uneconomical to maintain a fleet of these assemblies that could only be loaded into boxcars from the ends of the cars.
By this time, in the United States, most circuses still traveled by rail. Circuses were major haulers of wheeled vehicles, carrying all of their vehicles on flat cars, usually behind their own passenger cars or in separate sections of their trains; basically, one train would haul the performers and employees while a second train would haul the vehicles and freight. The circus solution to loading vehicles was to use a string of flatcars. A temporary ramp was placed at the end of the flatcars and temporary bridge plates spanned the gaps between adjacent flatcars; the road vehicles were driven or towed up onto one car and then driven or towed down the train. This type of vehicle loading became known as "circus style" due to its frequent use by circuses.
In the 1950s, most railroads took the cue from circuses and started loading their own flatcars in this manner. But, loading even up to six automobiles onto one flat car left a large amount of space above the vehicles that was unused. The natural solution was to take the temporary assemblies that were used to stack and load vehicles within boxcars and permanently attach them to the flatcars. The assemblies, also called racks, created two levels on which automobiles could be loaded. To complete the flatcar, foldaway bridges were added to the ends of the flatcar decks to allow the vehicles to be driven the entire length of a train for loading. Such flatcars eliminated the need for specialized equipment to load and unload boxcar racks. All they needed now was a ramp at the right height.
In the mid-1950s, in Germany, Volkswagen Beetle production was increasing beyond the capacity of highway trucks (autocarriers). Volkswagen engineers worked with German railroads to design a railroad car that was basically an extra long version of a vehicle hauling trailer. The design they came up with was able to carry 10 vehicles on one car. VW's two-level flatcar design effectively became the first autorack, entering service circa 1954.
Also in 1954 Evans Products, a manufacturer of loading racks for carrying automobiles in conventional boxcars, developed a bi-level Auto-Loader superstructure with an elevating top deck capable of carrying six cars or light trucks on a typical flatcar. Two prototype units were constructed and mounted on conventional 53 ft flat cars for field testing. NYC 500085 carried a semi-streamlined rack,[1][2] while UP 5800 had a more utilitarian rack mounted. Neither design went into commercial production.
In late 1957, Canadian National (CN) introduced an innovative group of bi-level auto carriers. These CN cars were similar to conventional boxcars, except they had a second floor and doors at both ends of the car instead of the usual side doors. They were huge by the standards of the time; the cars were 75 ft (22.86 m) long and could carry eight vehicles. These cars were a big success and helped lead to the development of today's enclosed auto racks.
In 1959, when 85 ft flat cars capable of carrying two 40-foot highway trailers in trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC), or "piggyback" service were introduced, new automobiles began to be shipped by rail loaded on highway auto-carrier trailers. Eight to ten autos could be carried per flat car in this manner. By 1960 several U.S. railroads were handling new automobiles in this way, including the CB&Q, C&NW, CRIP, D&H, D&RGW, ERIE/EL, GN, KCS, L&N, MILW, MKT, MP/TP, NP, SL-SF, SP, SSW, WAB and UP. The New York Central, which used the Flexi-Van system of transporting only the highway trailer body without the wheel assembly, developed a Flexi-Van automobile carrier rack.
Seeking a more efficient method, in February 1959 the Saint Louis-San Francisco Railroad (SL-SF, or Frisco) designed and built a prototype bi-level rack mounted on 42-foot flat car SL-SF 95844.[3] Satisfied that the basic concept was sound, the railroad contracted with Pullman-Standard to design and construct a full-size tri-level prototype. The result that rolled out of the Pullman plant on January 29, 1960 was SLSF 3000, an 83-foot tri-level car capable of carrying 12 automobiles.[4][5] When testing proved the car satisfactory the Frisco ordered 130 production cars, SL-SF 3001–3130, delivered by Pullman that August and September.
In 1960 the Frisco wasn't the only railroad experimenting with racks mounted on flat cars to carry automobiles. In January the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) constructed a prototype trilevel rack mounted on 53-foot flat ATSF 90082.[6] Santa Fe's first production auto racks were 85-foot trilevel Auto-Veyor units supplied by Dana-Spicer and Whitehead & Kales later in the year, both mounted on General American-built G85 cars. The Southern Pacific actually took delivery of the first Whitehead & Kales Auto-Pack tri-level racks in April, mounting them on General American-built Clejan and G85 cars.[7] The slightly longer 85-foot racks could carry 12 full size or 18 compact autos per car. Several other railroads quickly ordered their own auto racks from Dana and W&K or from American Car & Foundry, Darby Corporation, Evans Products, Paragon Bridge & Steel, or Thrall Car Manufacturing.[8] The Santa Fe and Frisco also built some of their autoracks in their own car shops.
Curiously, in 1961 a German-built three-unit, articulated bilevel autorack was imported into the United States to demonstrate the German design to U.S. railroads. North American Car Corporation handled promotion of the car, which was marked NIFX 1200. The car rode on four single-axle trucks and was tested by the B&O,[9] but no sales resulted.
Starting in this early period, most autoracks were mounted on flat cars leased from a leasing company, such as Trailer Train (see below), North American Car (NIFX marks), Merchants Despatch (MDAX marks), American Refrigerator Transit (MPFX marks), or Pullman's Transport Leasing Division (TLCX marks), but many roads also operated cars mounted on their own flat cars. Railroads known to have done so include ATSF, CN, CP, CR, CRR, D&RGW, FEC, GN, GTW, KCS, L&N, Monon, MP, N&W, RI, SCL, SLSF, SOO, Southern, SP, SSW, UP, WM, and WP.
Transporting new automobiles [ edit ]
The open end of a bi-level autorack that is undergoing repairs
During the early 1960s, specially built auto carriers rapidly took over rail transportation of newly completed automobiles in North America. They carried more vehicles in the same space and were easier to load and unload than the boxcars formerly used. Ever-larger auto carriers and specialized terminals were developed by Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) and other carriers. Autoracks were built in three-level configurations carrying automobiles, and with two-levels for vans and light trucks.
Autorack and flat car length quickly grew to 87 feet (26.52 m) and then 89 feet (27.13 m) to increase their loading capacity even further. This made them about as long as the average railroad passenger car of the time; if the cars were much longer, they wouldn't be able to operate in interchange service due to clearance on curves. Yet, the railroads could still do better.
A major problem left to solve was that the new autorack cars did not provide any protection from theft, vandalism, or from severe weather. Individual railroads began installing mesh side screens and solid panels to their racks to protect the vehicles from impact and debris in the late 1960s,[10] and by the early 1970s new racks were being delivered with these side panels. However, thieves and vagrants could still gain access to the automobiles. In 1973 the first fully enclosed racks with continuous side panels, end doors, and roofs were developed to address this problem. Whitehead & Kales, Ford, N&W and DT&I jointly developed a Snap-Pak prototype enclosed tri-level car, NW 400000.[11] The car side was made up of overlapping perforated steel sheets. The ends were protected with two trifold doors, and a corrugated steel roof extended the full length of the car.[12] A competing RailPac prototype was developed by Portec-Paragon, Chrysler, and several railroads. It featured mesh screen side panels, vertically sliding three-piece doors, and a similar roof.[12] The Southern Railway and Greenville Steel Car developed a unique 124-foot articulated three-unit Autoguard car with single axle trucks, SOU 599000-599001.[13][14][15]
The first production fully enclosed racks were delivered in late 1974 and early 1975. The Whitehead & Kales tri-level design, renamed Safe-Pak,[16] was delivered to ATSF, CP, CRR, FEC, NW, SCL, SSW, UP, and WP, all of them riding on railroad-owned flats. Portec's RailPac design, developed in cooperation with Chrysler, was placed into service by ATSF, C&O, C&NW, D&RGW, GTW, N&W, RF&P, SLSF, SP, UP and several other roads, with most riding on leased Trailer Train flats.[17] These two designs were refined during the late 1970s and by 1980 fully enclosed tri-levels accounted for roughly a third of the in-service fleet, however fully enclosed bi-levels lagged far behind.
Roofs were not added to all autoracks until the mid-1980s, as it took time for railroads with low overhead clearance routes to modify their bridge and tunnel clearances to accept them. Consequently, some roofless and even open tri-levels and bi-levels remained in service into the mid-late 1980s.
The number of manufacturers offering autoracks declined during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Several firms simply exited the field, including AC&F, Evans, Dana, and Darby, while others were acquired by other builders. Pullman, after supplying the very first production trilevel autoracks to the Frisco, abandoned the field to concentrate on the flat cars that autoracks were mounted on, only to return briefly in 1976–1977 to build a few trilevels for the B&O and Cotton Belt (SSW). Pacific Car & Foundry briefly produced a few racks at about the same time, as did Thrall. Whitehead & Kales, one of two dominant producers since the late 1960s, was acquired by Thrall in 1981. Paragon, the other leading rack-builder, was purchased by Portec in the early 1970s, which was in turn acquired by Thrall in 1985. Paragon's autorack designs were sold to Greenville Steel Car, also in 1985, which was itself acquired by Trinity Industries in 1986. Thrall itself was eventually acquired by Trinity as well in 2001. Currently autoracks are produced by TrinityRail, Greenbrier, Johnstown America, National Steel Car, and the Union Pacific Railroad.
Vert-A-Pac and Stac-Pac [ edit ]
Vegas loaded on Vert-a-pac
Both railroads and automakers wanted to eliminate theft and damage from vandalism and weather, thus reducing shipping costs. They also wanted to increase the number of vehicles carried per rail car for the same reason. Toward that end, in 1968 General Motors and the Southern Pacific Railroad jointly began work on development of a radical new rail car designed to carry the Chevrolet Vega, a new compact car being developed by GM. Known as "Vert-A-Pac", the rail cars would hold 30 Vegas in a vertical, nose-down position, versus 18 in normal tri-level autoracks. Each Vega was fitted with four removable, cast-steel sockets inserted into the undercarriage that locked into the hooks on the bottom-hinged doors that made up the car side.[18]
The prototype car, SP 618000 was turned out in December, 1968 and tested through 1969.[19][20] Chevrolet conducted vibration and low-speed crash tests to make sure nose-down Vegas wouldn't shift or be damaged in railcar collisions. Chevrolet's goal was to deliver Vegas topped with fluids and ready to drive to the dealership. To do this Vega engineers had to design a special engine oil baffle to prevent oil from entering the No. 1 cylinder, batteries had filler caps located high up on the rear edge of the case to prevent acid spilling, the carburetor float bowl had a special tube that drained gasoline into the vapor canister during shipment, and the windshield washer bottle stood at a 45 degree angle. Plastic spacers were wedged in beside the powertrain to prevent damage to engine and transmission mounts. The wedges were removed when cars were unloaded. The rail car doors were opened and closed by means of a forklift truck.[21]
The first production Vert-A-Pacs entered service in April, 1970, the last ones in January, 1973. Besides Southern Pacific, the B&O, BN, D&RGW, FEC, IC, L&N, MILW, MP, PC (MDT), RI, SCL, SLSF and Southern Railway operated Vert-A-Pacs. All were withdrawn from service at the end of the 1977 Vega model year and were reracked with conventional tri-level racks.
Another joint General Motors-Southern Pacific automobile rail car was the Stac-Pac. It was designed to carry 12 high end Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac models in four removable fully enclosed tri-level containers per 89-foot flat car.[22] The first production Stac-Pac cars entered service in October, 1971. Beside SP and its Cotton Belt subsidiary (SSW), Stac-Pac flat cars were contributed to the pool by the Santa Fe and Trailer Train, with the containers being supplied by ATSF, BN, D&RGW, FEC, MILW, PC (MDT), RI, Southern, SP, SSW, UP, and by General Motors itself. All of the cars and containers were withdrawn from service at the end of the 1976 model year.
Trailer Train Company [ edit ]
Although railroads were just beginning to see the advantages that autoracks delivered in the 1960s, most North American railroads were reluctant to invest in such specially built equipment. The Trailer Train Company, organized by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1955, stepped in to ease the railroads' financial burden a bit. Trailer Train purchased the flat cars from the rail car manufacturers, and the railroads that wanted to operate autoracks, purchased the racks that were installed on those flat cars. Such cars were easily spotted at trackside due to the reporting marks identifying Trailer Train on the flat car portion of the car and the railroad's logo (usually much larger) in the upper portion of the rack.
This arrangement worked so well that nearly every autorack operating in the US was owned by a railroad, with only a few exceptions. Trailer Train became TTX Company in 1991; since then many railroads have themselves purchased the flat cars on which the racks were installed and TTX has itself expanded into purchasing and leasing out other railroad rolling stock. The development of enclosed autoracks also helped make several other innovative services work well.
Trailer Train / TTX reporting marks applied to autorack flats:
BTTX (1) - 85 ft to 89 ft bilevel rack with fixed decks; used from 1960 to 1988
BTTX (2) - fully enclosed articulated bilevel with fixed decks, used from __?
CTTX (2) - 89 ft enclosed but roofless trilevel for use on low overhead clearance routes; used from 1976 onward
CTTX (3) - 89-4 fully enclosed convertible bilevel/trilevel with hinged middle deck; used from 2013 onward
ETTX (1) - 89 ft trilevel with elevating middle and top decks; used from 1962 to 1973
ETTX (2) - 89-4 fully enclosed trilevel with hinged middle deck; used from 1973 onward
KTTX - 87 ft to 89 ft trilevel with hinged middle deck
RTTX - 85 ft to 89 ft trilevel rack with fixed decks; used from 1960 to 1985
TTBX - 89-4 bilevel with fixed decks; used from 1968 onward
TTGX - 89-4 fully enclosed bilevel with fixed deck; used from 1977 onward
TTKX - 89-4 trilevel with hinged middle deck; used from 1968 onward
TTNX - 89-4 enclosed but doorless bilevel with fixed decks, used from 1983 forward
TTQX - 89-4 20 ft-2" high fully enclosed trilevel with hinged middle deck; used from 1990 onward
TTRX - 89-4 trilevel with fixed decks; used from 1968 onward
TTSX (1) - 89-4 Stac-Pac flats, used 1972–1976
TTSX (2) - 89-4 enclosed but roofless bilevel with fixed decks, used from 1979 forward
TTUX (2) - 81 ft enclosed single deck for large trucks and other vehicles, used from 2007 forward
TTVX (1) - 89-4 Vert-A-Pacs, used 1970–1977
TTVX (2) - 89-4 enclosed but doorless trilevel with hinged middle deck, used from 1982 forward
New designs and current usage [ edit ]
Railroads of today are still grappling with the problem of loading more and larger vehicles onto autoracks. One popular solution is to create a double-length car that is articulated over a single middle truck so that each half of the car is about the same length as a conventional autorack. These cars, which can be seen in operation on many of the railroads of the western US (but also seen occasionally in the Great Lakes and Southern Ontario), are brand named AutoMax cars. These cars, built by Gunderson (a subsidiary of The Greenbrier Companies) measure 145 ft 4 in (44.3 m) long and 20 ft 2 in (6.15 m) tall; they feature adjustable interior decks to carry up to 22 light trucks and minivans. Thrall produced a competing articulated two-unit design.
For greater flexibility and to improve car utilization, currently single-unit autoracks are being built that allow the number of loading levels, or decks, to be easily changed between bilevel (two) and trilevel (three), depending on which is in demand at the time. Greenbrier calls their version of this multilevel concept the Multi-Max, while the Union Pacific Railroad builds their own version, called the AutoFlex.
The railroads became the primary long-distance transporter of completed automobiles. Using the enclosed tri-level autoracks, they were able to provide both lower costs and greater protection from in-transit damage (such as that which may occur due to weather and traffic conditions on unenclosed truck semi-trailers). When the railroad companies went from the open autoracks to the enclosed, they were able to reduce freight damage claims. The enclosed rail cars prevented the autos from getting damaged from falling or thrown rocks, bullets and other forms of vandalism. They also stopped the theft of autos and parts from autos and kept hobos from living in the automobiles.
Latest innovations [ edit ]
In 1999, BNSF Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway started using Auto-Max railcars. Light-weight aluminium autoracks have 2 layers, but Auto-Max has 3 layers, and is able to fit 22 cars inside. They are about 20 feet (6.069 meters) tall, and 145 feet (44.169 meters) long.
In 2004, Canadian National was at the forefront of autorack technology again by using light-weight aluminum. The new cars, built by Johnstown America Corporation beginning in December 2004, are brand named AVC, an acronym for Aluminum Vehicle Carrier. Two hundred new aluminum autoracks promise a softer ride, a wider interior, superior door-edge protection, and a rust-free interior from older steel versions. Canadian Pacific Railway has ordered 375 of these new cars as well. The new cars built for Amtrak Auto Train service differ from those built for CN and CP; the Amtrak cars are 3 inches (76 mm) lower, or 19 ft 11 in (6.07 m), in height, and use solid side panels instead of the perforated panels operated in freight service.[citation needed]
Combining autoracks and passenger cars [ edit ]
Australia [ edit ]
Great Southern Rail provides a Motorail service on its long-distance Indian Pacific, between Adelaide and Perth, The Ghan, between Adelaide and Darwin, and formerly offered Motorail on The Overland services.[23][24][25]
Traveltrain in Queensland formerly offered a Motorail service on its Sunlander and Spirit of the Outback trains.[26]
The Victorian Railways formerly offered Motorail on The Vinelander, and Sunraysia services on the Mildura line.[27] The New South Wales Railways (later the Public Transport Commission) once offered Motorail services on its long-distance lines.
Europe [ edit ]
United States [ edit ]
A rail transport service where passengers can take their automobile along with them on their journey is known as an "Auto Train" in North America and as a "Motorail" in Australia and Europe. Passengers are carried in normal passenger cars or in sleeping cars on longer journeys, while their vehicles are loaded into autoracks, car carriers, or flatcars.
Auto-Train Corporation [ edit ]
On December 6, 1971, Auto-Train Corporation introduced a new and innovative rail transportation service for both passengers and their automobiles in the United States, operating scheduled service between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida, near Orlando.
The Auto Train offered an alternative to motorists who would otherwise drive their automobiles the 855-mile (1,376 km) distance along the east coast of the United States. For vacationers with destinations at one or more of the many popular tourist attractions of Florida, the Auto Train service offered dual features:
avoid the long automobile ride on busy Interstate 95 in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida have the convenience of use of their own automobile upon arrival.
From the beginning in 1971, the same year Amtrak began service on purely passenger routes in the United States, a key feature of Auto-Train's new service was the use of autoracks, which were former Canadian National transcontinental bi-level, enclosed autorack boxcars. These were augmented by new tri-level auto-racks built by Southern Iron & Equipment in 1976.
The privately owned service became very popular, but after 10 years of operation, and some costly attempts to expand the service elsewhere, such as a schedule between Florida and Chicago, Illinois, Auto-Train Corporation entered bankruptcy, and service ended in April 1981.
Amtrak's Auto Train [ edit ]
Auto Train service between Virginia and Florida was resumed by Amtrak in 1983. Amtrak, a federally chartered corporation which operates most intercity passenger trains in the United States, continued to use Auto-Train's autoracks as an important portion of its service. These were supplemented with new bilevels built by Johnstown America in 2004 and 2005.
In current operation of Amtrak's Auto Train, there are two trains in operation simultaneously. The autoracks normally run on the rear of Auto Train consists, which stretch over a three quarters of a mile,[28] and are a familiar sight on CSX Transportation tracks on the east coast.
Today, Amtrak's Auto Train carries about 200,000 passengers and generates around $50 million in revenue annually. It is considered Amtrak's best-paying train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses.[citation needed]
Whittier Shuttle [ edit ]
In the mid-1960s, the Alaska Railroad began offering a vehicle shuttle service utilizing standard flat cars and passenger cars. Dubbed the "Whittier Shuttle," it operated in Alaska through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel under Maynard Mountain between a stop just off the Seward Highway near the former town of Portage and the small port town of Whittier, Alaska, which was also a port-of-call for the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system.
As traffic to Whittier increased, the shuttle became insufficient, leading to a project to convert the existing railroad tunnel into a single-lane combination highway and railway tunnel which was opened to traffic on June 7, 2000. At a length of 13,300 feet (4,053.84 m), it is the second-longest highway tunnel and longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America.
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]In March of 1857, the largest sale of human beings in the history in the United States took place at a racetrack in Savannah, Georgia. During the two days of the sale, raindrops fell unceasingly on the racetrack. It was almost as though the heavens were crying. So, too, fell teardrops from many of the 436 men, women, and children who were auctioned off during the two days. The sale would thereafter be known as "the weeping time."
The owner of the slaves, Pierce Butler, had inherited the family's Georgia plantations some twenty years earlier, along with his brother John. But Pierce had squandered away his portion of the inheritance, losing a rumored $700,000; now he was deeply in debt. Management of Pierce Butler's estate was transferred to trustees. The trustees sold off Butler's once-grand, now-neglected Philadelphia mansion for $30,000. Other Butler properties were sold as well. But it was not enough to satisfy creditors, much less to ensure that Butler would continue to live in luxury. So the trustees turned to the Georgia plantations and their "moveable" property -- their slaves.
At the time, the overall holdings of the Butler family included 900 slaves. These would be divided into two groups of 450. Half would go to the estate of John, who had since died. These slaves would remain on the plantations. The fate of the other 450 -- Pierce's half -- was more precarious. About 20 would continue to live on Butler property. The remainder, some 429 men, women, and children, were boarded onto railway cars and steamboats and brought to the Broeck racetrack, where each would be sold to the highest bidder.
There were naturally differing viewpoints regarding the auction, Pierce Butler, and the large fortune he would gain after paying his debts. Philadelphia socialite Sidney George Fisher noted in his diary, "It is highly honorable to [Butler] that he did all he could to prevent the sale, offering to make any personal sacrifice to avoid it." Of the auction, Fisher wrote:
It is a dreadful affair, however, selling these hereditary Negroes.... Families will not be separated, that is to say, husbands and wives, parents and young children. But brothers and sisters of mature age, parents and children of mature age, all other relations and the ties of home and long association will be violently severed. It will be a hard thing for Butler to witness and it is a monstrous thing to do. Yet it is done every day in the South. It is one among the many frightful consequences of slavery and contradicts our civilization, our Christianity, or Republicanism. Can such a system endure, is it consistent with humanity, with moral progress? These are difficult questions, and still more difficult is it to say, what can be done? The Negroes of the South must be slaves or the South will be Africanized. Slavery is better for them and for us than such a result.
Mortimer Thomson, a popular newsman of the day known affectionately as "Doesticks," wrote a lengthy, uncomplimentary article about the auction for the New York Tribune entitled "What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation." He reported how the slaves, eager to impress potential masters who they perceived as kind, would sometimes cheerfully respond to buyers "pulling their mouths open to see their teeth, pinching their limbs to find how muscular they were, walking them up and down to detect any signs of lameness, making them stoop and bend in different ways that they might be certain there was no concealed rupture or wound...." And Thomson commiserated with the unfortunate slaves after the sale, stating, "On the faces of all was an expression of heavy grief; some appeared to be resigned to the hard stroke of Fortune that had torn them from their homes, and were sadly trying to make the best of it; some sat brooding moodily over their sorrows, their chins resting on their hands, their eyes staring vacantly, and their bodies rocking to and fro, with a restless motion that was never stilled...."
The two-day sale netted $303,850. The highest price paid for one family -- a mother and her five grown children -- was $6,180. The highest price for one individual was $1,750. The lowest price for any one slave was $250.
Soon after the last slave was sold, the rain stopped. Champagne bottles popped in celebration. And Pierce Butler, once again wealthy, made a trip to southern Europe before returning home to Philadephia.
previous | nextDespite the onset of the monsoon in several parts of the country, India continues to reel under a brutal heat wave that has now lasted more than two months and claimed dozens of lives.
On Monday, temperatures rose to more than 47°C (116.6°F) in the western state of Rajasthan — which also recorded India’s hottest day ever at 123.8°F last month — the Press Trust of India reported.
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Some respite is expected, however, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting the onset of annual rains, called the Southwest Monsoon, across India later this week. Local Met departments in the capital Delhi, where temperatures rose to 42.6°C (108.7°F), also anticipated thunderstorms late Monday, as did authorities in other north Indian states like Punjab, Haryana and the union territory of Chandigarh.
More than 130 people have now died from the heat wave and resultant drought affecting large swathes of the country.
[NDTV]
Write to Rishi Iyengar at [email protected] is underway on Stranger Things season two, and by the looks of it, our first preview will arrive on Super Bowl Sunday. According to EW.com, Netflix has shelled out the big bucks in order to premier a teaser trailer during the big game.
In anticipation, the first production still has made its way online and it features our favorite monster-fighting middle schoolers donning Ghostbusters outfits.
As previously reported, many of season one’s core cast members are slated to return, including Winona Ryder (Joyce), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), David Harbour (Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan), Cara Buono (Karen) and Matthew Modine (Martin Brenner). Joe Keery (Steve) and Noah Schnapp (Will) have been promoted to series regulars. New cast members include Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, The Goonies), Linnea Berthelsen, Sadie Sink, and Dacre Montgomery.
Season two will span nine episodes set to air later this year. Plot details are being kept under wraps, though we do know it will take place one year after the events of season one.
While we wait for more, revisit Harbour’s speech at the SAG Awards accepting the honor for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast.In a post-financial crisis world, the lack of viable international leadership is potentially troubling. In 2013, the WEF believes, this breakdown of international coordination will go increasingly local: in such a world, governments will focus more on their domestic agendas, which will create new risks in and of itself. Most importantly, the growing vulnerability of elites makes effective public and private leadership that much more difficult to sustain. Leaders of all kinds are becoming more vulnerable to their constituents, generating more reactive and short-term governance. Whether one looks at the dismal approval ratings of the U.S. Congress or the impact that more open flows of information is having on the Chinese ruling elite, it is clear that people are becoming more and more uninspired by their governments. When it comes to unemployment, the widening disparity of wealth, or environmental degradation, highly complex or even intractable issues set politicians up for failure in the eyes of their constituents. Underperformance erodes elites’ legitimacy, making it that much harder for them to lead effectively. Against this backdrop, a host of key 2013 risks and opportunities takes shape.
Vulnerability Of The Elites byThe American Motorcyclist Association |
I promise you, it's never going to be an issue," said Bryant, who underwent surgery after the season. "I'm ready to go and catch some footballs. I actually feel like I've been catching better with the finger problem."President Obama has a lot of important responsibilities in the White House, but he’s said that no job is more important than being a father to his two daughters. We’ve put together a quick slide show of some of our favorite moments of the President being a parent. This commitment to his family has also translated into the President’s policy agenda. For the past four years, President Obama has promoted legislation to encourage fathers to take on a more active role in their children’s lives through an inter-agency effort: the Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative. The Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative has prompted government agencies to enact programs to assist fathers in raising and supporting their families and has made a significant impact throughout the country.
The Reconnecting Dads Initiative, founded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, works with more than 300 Public Housing Authorities every year to provide men living in the public housing with resources to make them more self-sufficient and active in the lives of their families.
The White House also connects with local barbershops to promote the “Fatherhood Pledge” through the “Fatherhood Buzz Campaign.” This pledge provides resources and urges people to commit to promoting responsible fatherhood. In addition, this month, the White House is partnering with text4baby to target expecting fathers. The soon-to-be fathers will receive a free text message encouraging them to engage with their children early.
The Administration has also released reports and guides to aid fathers. Last year, the White House issued “Promoting Responsible Fatherhood,” a report that explains the President’s record on fatherhood. The U.S. Health and Human Services have also released the Head Start Father Engagement Birth to Five Programming Guide, which works with Head Start programs to provide strategies and resources to new fathers.
For more information on the Obama Administration’s efforts to encourage father’s involvement in their children’s lives, visit http://www.fatherhood.gov.
Happy Father’s Day!Unlikely Partnership
This is my participation for @katsudeku-week and Wonder Duo Days (hosted by @explodo-smash).
KTDK Week Day 1: internship | teamwork
KTDK Week Day 3: swap | fantasy au
WonderDuo Days Theme: teamwork
I cannot fucking believe that I did this. Like, holy shit. Wow.
I’ve never done a somewhat full illustration. I’m scared of even doing them because I know I’ll fuck up. I’m extremely insecure about my drawing skills. I know this piece has loads of errors. But still, here I am, traversing uncharted waters. All for Bakugou and Midoriya. (and Shinsou)
I’m so happy to be a part of this fandom. I’ve never been so into something as much as I’m into BNHA. This is the first time I’ve had this happen to me. I’ve tried things I never thought I’d do, and I’ve met so many beautiful and talented people all because of BNHA. And I’m so thankful.Image copyright EPA Image caption US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed the review had been ordered
Donald Trump has ordered a review of the Iran nuclear deal, even though it is complying with all its commitments.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson revealed the review, on the Obama-era decision to lift sanctions on Iran, in a letter to Congress.
He acknowledged the Iranians had met the terms of the 2015 deal, but raised concerns about the country as a "state sponsor of terrorism".
Mr Trump has described the landmark agreement as the "worst deal ever".
However, his predecessor Barack Obama argued the deal, between Iran and six world powers including China, Russia and the UK, was the best way to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon.
Sanctions were lifted after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certified it had restricted its sensitive nuclear activities.
In January - a year on from the deal coming into force - Mr Obama noted that, as promised, Iran had reduced its uranium stockpile by 98%. It has also removed two thirds of its centrifuges, which can be used in uranium enrichment.
But in a statement, Mr Tillerson said: "President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran.... is vital to the national security interests of the United States.
"It remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods."JOIN OUR E-NETWORK
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Once you're on board you'll receive periodic messages from the Center for Biological Diversity, including action alerts and our online newsletter.Smartphone manufacturers are looking to the new iPhone to boost a lagging market, which has seen annual sales growth slump
It is less than a fortnight until the launch of the new iPhone, but shoppers outside Apple’s flagship London store express no enthusiasm at the thought of queuing up for it.
A common refrain among phone owners outside the shop is to point to their handset and state: “I’ll probably wait till it breaks.” The new iPhone makes its debut on 12 September and is rumoured to have a number of new features for an Apple device, including doing away with the home button on the front of the handset, but there is a perception among mobile phone owners that the pace of technological evolution has slowed.
Phone replacement has slumped in the UK since 2013, when consumers bought a new one every 20 months. According to retailer Dixons Carphone, people now buy a new handset every 29 months.
Speaking outside the Apple store on Regent Street, Leon Allard, 31, said: “These days, especially with the iPhone, there is not a lot of difference between the phones coming out.” He added that price was also a “big thing” when considering upgrades, with the next iPhone expected to cost at least £800 in the UK.
At a nearby Carphone Warehouse branch, there was little urgency for an upgrade. Tinu Thomas, 29, said he had owned a Motorola phone for nearly four years and would probably hold on to it for another year. “I would like to say I’m a gadget freak,” he said. “I love technology but I don’t see the value in upgrading. I use my phone for Facebook, WhatsApp and voice calls and I’m still able to do all of that with my almost four-year-old phone.”
Apple, and even its rivals, will be hoping that the latest iPhone kickstarts a slowing handset market. The smartphone market’s wild years have passed; the days of 50% annual sales growth, seen between 2009 and 2013, have given way to sluggish 2.5% growth in 2016, and will be just 1.7% this year, according to a new forecast from the research company IDC.
In the UK, consumers seem in no rush to buy new handsets. Last month Dixons Carphone blamed people’s tendency to hang on to phones for longer as it warned that full-year profits could be 20% lower than expected, citing higher prices due to Brexit and “more incremental” changes to phone technology.
The reasons for buying a smartphone can be split into two camps. In the first instance, consumers are persuaded to buy new handsets through adverts that extol the handset’s camera, waterproofing, screen size, software or promised battery life. Otherwise, phones are bought for more prosaic reasons: the old one kept crashing; the battery kept dying; or that crack in the screen finally became too annoying.
The problem for the world’s smartphone makers is that the second set of reasons has become far more compelling than the first. People are waiting longer before upgrading – and phone makers are getting anxious.
Even the much-anticipated launch of Apple’s next iPhone is not expected to set the mobile world alight, though it may encourage many Apple users to upgrade at higher prices than ever before.
“People have a phone – they understand what they need from it and what they use it for,” says Francisco Jeronimo, a research director at the tech consultancy IDC. “They aren’t rushing to stores. When people replace their phone, then they will compare features and choose what is important.
“From our research, it seems that until people can get 5G [the next generation of superfast mobile connectivity, not expected before 2020] there isn’t anything that will make them rush out to upgrade.”
Although the global smartphone market is bigger than ever, and is at nearly 1.5bn handsets, many developed markets are in retreat, with sales shrinking year-on-year. The US, China, Japan and the UK – four of the world’s largest markets – have all seen slowdowns or flat growth in the past year.
The static market could squeeze out some smaller phone makers. The pioneers are already wilting: the once-dominant BlackBerry has stopped making phones; HTC, maker of the first Android handset, may be up for sale; and the mobile division of South Korea’s LG has lost $1.8bn (£1.4bn) over eight profitless quarters. Sony makes a profit, but only after retreating almost entirely to Japan, its home market.
Meanwhile China’s Huawei and BBK Electronics – which owns the fast-rising OPPO, vivo and OnePlus phone brands – have quietly become the third and fourth biggest phone makers in the world. They might be profitable, but they don’t publish figures. “A lot of people are pushing handsets in volume, but pushing profitable volumes is tough,” says Ben Wood, analyst at the consultancy CCS Insight. Phone makers’ survival now depends on keeping customers loyal and enticing them to buy higher-priced, profitable models.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The once-ubiquitous BlackBerry has now been all but confined to history. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
The chief executive of Dixons Carphone, Seb James, expressed hope last month that the phone market would recover eventually. That might be a way off. IDC predicts compound growth of just 3.3% globally over the next five years. Although emerging markets are far from saturated, they struggle with the costs of data, handsets and building data-capable networks, not to mention sickly economies. South America and Africa, once thought of as the next big opportunities, are seeing slow to no growth.
So what happened? Analysts say that mobile phone companies used all the technological tricks they had – cameras, touch-screens – and now every improvement seems incremental, even if it has taken years of painstaking research. “There’s a single dominant design dating back to January 2007 [the first iPhone’s full touchscreen], and 10 years later everyone’s iterating around the same look and feel,” says Wood at CCS.
In those 10 years, only one feature really drove upgrades, says Carolina Milanesi of the US-based research group Creative Strategies. “Bigger screens have been the largest driver of sales, and churn [swapping between the iPhone and other brands]. The megapixel [camera] race helped for a while, and now dual cameras [phones with two lenses, which improve focus] are doing the same. I think the rest of the features – waterproofing and so on – have not mattered as much.”
Can anything grab our attention enough to drive upgrades? IDC’s Jeronimo suggests that augmented reality, which overlays images and data as you view the scene through your screen, could help: it’s coming to iPhones in a software release this month, and Google has just released similar software for top-end Android phones. “It will open up a completely new world of experience,” he says. “It’ll be like moving the keyboard to the touchscreen.”
Back at the Apple store on London’s Regent Street, Olivia Winter, 24, remains unconvinced. “I’m not interested in getting an up-to-date phone. I need a phone to do calls, texts and photos but I wouldn’t be exclaiming ‘oh my god’ if I saw someone with an iPhone 4.”Just when you thought the NSA surveillance programs couldn't get any scarier, the spy agency goes ahead and makes Canada part of the U.S. "homeland."
That's how Canada — as well as Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean — was labeled on an NSA map presented at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday.
The map appeared during a presentation by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, an outspoken supporter of the NSA's surveillance activities, on how many terror "events" (don't confuse this with plots, the numbers are different) the agency has disrupted.
The map showed all of North and Central America shaded in light blue and labeled "HOMELAND." Manifest destiny writ large.
One might think this is simply a mistake by the NSA, but The Atlantic's Philip Bump, who first spotted the map, isn't so sure:
"This being the NSA, we're not inclined to offer that benefit of the doubt. Is this a way of blending in Canadian and Mexican terror activity disruptions (which, we'll remind you, is different from actual plots interrupted) to give a larger sense of the NSA's success at halting terrorism within our borders?"
Twitter, predictably, freaked out about the conquest-cartography, but there was bigger news in the widening surveillance scandal this week.
The map gaffe (please let this be a gaffe) came on the same day as new revelations about the scope of the NSA's surveillance activities.
Using documents obtained from exiled former-NSA analyst Edward Snowden, The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald reported Wednesday that a previously unreported tool called XKeyscore collects "nearly everything a user does on the internet" and allows employees to search a vast database with "no prior authorization."
Meanwhile, Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia, opening a fresh rift in America's relationship with its former Cold War enemy. Canada joined the U.S. in condemning Russia's decision.
But, maybe Canadians shouldn't be so worried about becoming part of America. We already have our own NSA-style surveillance program, our economies are closely integrated and soon U.S. police will be able to operate within Canada.
What's in a name? A nearly-omniscient surveillance state by any other name would feel as creepy.
Also on HuffPostELKHART, Ind. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the decision to direct public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice was based on the law and the best interests of the children.
A gender-neutral bathroom is seen at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, California September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Speaking at a town hall event broadcast by the PBS television network, Obama, a Democrat, said the federal government waded into the controversial issue after school districts asked the Education Department for guidance.
Republicans have blasted the directive as executive branch overreach, and more than a dozen states have sued the Obama administration to block it.
“What happened and what continues to happen is you have transgender kids in schools. And they get bullied. And they get ostracized. And it’s tough for them,” Obama said.
“My best interpretation of what our laws and our obligations are is that we should try to accommodate these kids so that they are not in a vulnerable situation,” he said.
On May 13, the federal government told public schools they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
The non-binding guidance contained the implicit threat of cuts in federal funding if it was not followed. It relied on an interpretation of Title IX, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education initiatives that receive federal financial assistance.
The directive came as the Justice Department and North Carolina battled in federal court over a North Carolina state law approved in March that prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. Other states are weighing similar measures.
“We should deal with this issue the same way we would want it dealt with if it was our child and that is to try to create an environment of some dignity and kindness for these kids,” Obama said.
Obama said there “are a lot of things more pressing” than the transgender bathroom controversy, including Islamic State, the economy and jobs.
“Somehow people think I made it an issue. I didn’t make it an issue,” he said.WAFL games could be broadcast on Channel 7's digital channels from next year
THE VFL and WAFL look set to follow the SANFL onto commercial television in 2015.
The government-financed ABC has confirmed it's not in a position to commit to broadcasting state league matches next year in the midst of funding uncertainty.
"The ABC has always indicated that it was unable to commit to new seasons until the current budget situation was resolved and indicated it would not stand in the way of those respective leagues looking elsewhere," an ABC spokesman said.
Being on a commercial network would enable both the WAFL and VFL greater exposure for their respective sponsors, because the ABC is strictly prevented from showing advertisements.
Channel 7 successfully took over televising South Australia's state competition this year, with improved ratings, a promotional boost and enhanced production values on one of its digital channels.
The South Australian broadcasts, featuring veteran commentator John Casey and former SANFL stars Mark Soderstrom and Tim Ginever, almost doubled in average audience from the year before on the ABC.
In 2014, SANFL broadcasts averaged around 31,000 viewers compared to 16,000 the year before.
The SANFL Grand Final, where Norwood beat Port Adelaide by four points, had an average audience of 129,000 viewers.
Seven is believed to be seriously considering using its digital channels in Victoria and Western Australia to broadcast at least one state competition match each weekend to compliment its AFL coverage in those markets.
It's too early to speculate on commentary teams, but it's uncertain whether there'd be a position for the long-time face of VFL telecasts Phil Cleary.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire's production company McGuire Media produces the SANFL broadcasts for Seven and AFL.com.au has confirmed negotiations for a similar arrangement are underway in Victoria and Western Australia.
It's understood no contracts have yet been signed.
Channel 7 and the AFL declined to comment.Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has recalled forward Miikka Salomaki (MEE-kah SA-loh-MA-kee) from Milwaukee (AHL) and placed forwards James Neal and Eric Nystrom on Injured Reserve.
Salomaki, 21 (3/9/93), has 16 points (5g-11a) and 26 penalty minutes in 29 games for the Admirals this season, in addition to ranking among the AHL’s Top 10 forwards in plus/minus rating (+13). In his first North American professional season in 2013-14, the 5-11, 211-pound Raahe, Finland, native led Milwaukee in points (20g-30a-50pts) while tying for fifth among AHL rookies in points, and for seventh among first-year AHLers in assists. Nashville’s second choice, 52nd overall (second round), in the 2011 Entry Draft, has yet to appear in an NHL contest.
The Nashville Predators, who have gained points in nine of their last 10 games to take over first place in the Central Division, play the division rival Dallas Stars on home ice tonight at 7 p.m. CT (Fox Sports Tennessee, 102.5 The Game). Nashville will travel to Minnesota on Saturday for its second consecutive divisional matchup (1 p.m. CT, Fox Sports Tennessee, 102.5 The Game), before returning to Bridgestone Arena’s friendly confines on Tuesday, Jan. 13 versus Vancouver.
Students are invited to take advantage of the “Jack in the Box” Student Rush ticket special for tonight’s game against the Stars. Available at the Bridgestone Arena Box Office with any student ID, students receive a lower-level ticket, a coupon for a free breakfast burrito and a t-shirt for $35. A limited number of tickets still remain, call 615-770-7800 for more information.Washington, DC –-(Ammoland.com)- In the post-meltdown world, it is irresponsible, ineffective, and ultimately useless to have a serious economic debate without considering and challenging the role of the Federal Reserve.
Most people think of the Fed as an indispensable institution without which the country's economy could not properly function.
But in END THE FED, Ron Paul draws on American history, economics, and fascinating stories from his own long political life to argue that the Fed is both corrupt and unconstitutional.
It is inflating currency today at nearly a Weimar or Zimbabwe level, a practice that threatens to put us into an inflationary depression where $100 bills are worthless.
What most people don't realize is that the Fed — created by the Morgans and Rockefellers at a private club off the coast of Georgia — is actually working against their own personal interests.
Congressman Paul's urgent appeal to all citizens and officials tells us where we went wrong and what we need to do fix America's economic policy for future generations.
Get your copy here: http://tinyurl.com/nuhkh47
Biography
Ron Paul, an eleven-term congressman from Texas, is the leading advocate of freedom in our nation's capital. He has devoted his political career to the defense of individual liberty, sound money, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Judge Andrew Napolitano calls him “the Thomas Jefferson of our day.” After serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s, Dr. Paul moved to Texas to begin a civilian medical practice, delivering over four thousand babies in his career as an obstetrician. He served in Congress from 1976 to 1984, and again from 1996 to the present. He and Carol Paul, his wife of fifty-one years, have five children, eighteen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.Ron Paul, the New York Post once wrote, is a politician who “cannot be bought by special interests.” “There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles,” added a congressional colleague. “Ron Paul is one of those few.”The 1970s was the one period, more than any other, in which the monster-hunting community focused on the controversial Bigfoot/UFO connection. Or, depending on your perspective, the lack of connection. Indeed, today, the vast majority of Bigfoot investigators are highly intolerant of the idea that there might be a link between cryptid apes and aliens. Although, I definitely recommend Stan Gordon’s 2010 book, Silent Invasion, which is an excellent study of Bigfoot and Fortean high-strangeness in 1970s-era Pennsylvania. And, it was also in the seventies that the fascination for the UFO-Bigfoot link spilled over into the domain of fiction.
The Six Million Dollar Man was one of the most popular television series of the 1970s. It starred Lee Majors as astronaut Colonel Steve Austin who, while test-flying a new, prototype aircraft, suffers a severe accident in which he loses both of his legs, his right arm, and his left eye. It could have spelled the end of any kind of meaningful life for Austin. Except for one thing: thanks to the work of a secret government agency – the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) – Austin is rebuilt, using sophisticated robotic technology called bionics. In short, he becomes a cyborg: a half-human, half-machine, long before Robocop was on the scene. The long-running series was an immediate hit with the viewing public. And it provoked a spin-off show, in 1976, The Bionic Woman (starring Lindsay Wagner).
“The Secret of Bigfoot” was a two-part Six Million Dollar Man adventure that aired in February 1976. It was, and still is, one of the most popular of all. The story is set in the heavily forested mountains of California – from where a great deal of real-life sightings of Bigfoot have been made. From the outset, the tale is shrouded in intrigue. A pair of geologists, monitoring earthquake activity in the area, have vanished. The OSI, under Steve Austin’s boss, Oscar Goldman (actor Richard Anderson), is working with the geologists, Ivan and Marlene Bekey. As a result, Austin soon plays a leading role in the quest to find the pair. And particularly so when huge, human-like footprints are found in the area.
While Marlene remains missing, Ivan turns up, in a condition of near-hysteria. He is not the only one who turns up. A huge Bigfoot (played by wrestler, Andre the Giant) is soon on the scene, too, and launches a violent assault on Austin’s and Goldman’s encampment. It’s during the attack that Austin wrenches off one of the arms of the hairy monster, which reveals it to be not a flesh and blood animal, but a highly sophisticated robot. We also learn that the Bigfoot is controlled by a group of aliens, who have a secret installation built inside one of the huge mountains.
Austin soon becomes a victim of alien abduction, in which he discovers that Marlene and Ivan were attacked because they had inadvertently uncovered evidence of the alien base. Even worse, OSI’s studies in the area show that the entire West Coast is about to be hit by a devastating earthquake, one that could potentially kill millions. The only available option is to detonate, underground, a small atomic device on the fault line, thus preventing the quake from occurring. Unknown to Austin, the aliens try and prevent the atomic explosion from taking place, since they believe – correctly – that it may also destroy their mountainous, secret abode.
In the final scenes, we see that the atomic explosion does indeed prevent the catastrophic earthquake from occurring. As suspected, however, it also causes major damage to the extraterrestrial facility. We also see Ivan and Marlene reunited. As a result, Austin – with help from Bigfoot, no less – gives the aliens assistance in repairing the damaged parts, and systems, of their base. Careful to ensure that the truth of the alien presence, and of the real nature of Bigfoot, remains hidden, the visitors from beyond wipe out Austin’s memories of the bizarre and near-catastrophic events. Bigfoot is once again the enigma that it always has been.
Such was the success of this particular story, Bigfoot was brought back, in September 1976, for another two-part story: “The Return of Bigfoot.” Again, the focus was on aliens, Sasquatch, and underground bases. To help boost ratings on The Bionic Woman, part-two of the story became the opening episode of the new series of that particular show, in which Austin and the bionic woman herself, Jaime Summers, clash with both ETs and Sasquatch. Andre the Giant, however, was replaced by Ted Cassidy (Lurch, in The Addams Family), who, in 1977, took on the role yet again, in a one-off episode titled “Bigfoot V.” For fans of The Six Million Dollar Man, “The Secret of Bigfoot” remains a firm favorite. However, it probably makes more than a few Bigfoot-seekers cringe, and particularly so those rigidly in the “Bigfoot is just an unknown ape” camp.Michael Vince Kim is a Korean-American-Argentinean photographer whose work focuses on migration, language, and identity. He was raised in Argentina, where he studied Film Directing at Fundacion Universidad del Cine, and holds an MA Honours degree in Linguistics from The University of Edinburgh. He is the recipient of the Magnum ‘30 Under 30’ Award and the Viewfind Visual Storytelling Grant, and his ongoing project ‘The Koreans of Kazakhstan’ is represented by The Story Institute.
Kim has more than 15 photography awards and his exhibitions have been in display at The Photography Show in Birmingham, UK; Monastery of San Nicolò, Venice, Italy; Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia; Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi, Georgia; Suwon International Photo Festival, Suwon, South Korea among others.
He recently won a prize for Mayan-Korean Community photographic work, in which he displays the way of life of a Mayan-Korean community, long forgotten that still lives along the Yucatan Peninsula.
Young Korean-Mayan descendants celebrated the 90th birthday party of Joaquin Poot Lee, a second generation Korean-Mayan.
Since most Korean migrants were men, they inevitably married local Mayan women. As a consequence, most descendants of Koreans in Mexico are Korean-Mayans. Taken from stories told by the descendants of Korean henequen workers in Mexico and Cuba, this photographic project aims to provide a poetic account of their memories. Previous / Next Image In 1905, more than 1,000 Koreans traveled to Mexico under the false promise of prosperity in a paradisiac land. Instead, they arrived at henequen plantations. They were sold off as indentured slaves to harvest agave that was then known as “the green gold” of Mexico. Individuals were beaten if they fell behind their daily quota, and forced to work long hours under the scorching sun and the suffocating humidity of Yucatan. Previous / Next Image
By Michael Vince Kim Source: http://www.michaelvincekim.com
Comments
commentsAndrea Landa and two friends were sitting in her parked car one Sunday night when a trio of young police officers walked up with flashlights. The cops checked the friends' IDs, but wouldn't let them leave. Instead, over the next two hours, the officers toyed with their guns, told one of the women she "should've checked the weather and worn more clothes" and threatened Landa with arrest when she asked for their badge numbers.
Landa and her friends weren't allowed to go until someone came to pick them up. But the officers never wrote a report for the incident.
"I just think that they were bored," Landa, 22, tells New Times. "I think that they had nothing else to do and they saw, you know, an opportunity to just mess around and take advantage of the power that they knew they had."
Continue Reading
Related Stories Man Says Miami Police Officers Posed for Pictures on His Motorcycle After Arrest
Three months after the April ordeal, investigators with the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP) have recommended sustaining allegations of improper procedure against Officers Ramon Washington, Andrew Garcia, and Marvin Lopez for detaining the group without documenting a reason. Investigators also sustained a second count of improper procedure against Washington and Garcia for not generating a daily worksheet.
The Miami Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The three officers, who could not be reached by the CIP, were each hired within the last three years and had never before received a complaint.
According to investigators, Washington, Garcia, and Lopez approached Landa's car, which was parked near NW North River Drive and 24th Street, around 10:30 p.m. on April 10. Landa sat inside with her cousin and a friend. After checking their IDs, the officers questioned the three about who they lived with, then made them call their families and tell them what was going on — even though they were adults. When Landa asked why, she was threatened with arrest.
"We are just here on a Sunday night looking for something good, but we thought we would find something better," Landa recalls one of the officers saying.
She says an officer asked her about her nationality and commented that he thought she was Dominican since she was so "feisty." At one point the cops made her sit in the back of her car because she was asking too many questions.
Around that time, she asked for their badge numbers. An officer said that if he gave it to her, he'd also have to give her a notice to appear in court. When she said that wasn't true, an officer shot back, "Do you have a degree in criminal justice?" One of the other officers ultimately wrote the badge numbers down.
The cops wouldn't let Landa drive her own car home, so she and her friends had to wait for another friend to arrive and drive them. She filed her complaint with the CIP the next day. "Before my encounter with these gentlemen," she wrote, "I had such high respect for the men in blue, and their job."
The CIP asked the Miami Police Department for records of the incident and learned that no April 10 worksheets could be found for Officers Washington and Garcia. Officer Lopez's worksheet reported that he was on a "Conduct an Investigation/Detail" for an hour and 21 minutes, and his brief description of events included a case number, three driver's licenses, and three phone numbers.
Landa, who says she felt humiliated and vulnerable during the pointless detainment, was relieved that the CIP investigators sided with her.
"I know that nothing's going to happen with them and their jobs and I hope nothing really happens because they're young and they need to learn," she says. "And this is something they're going to remember — 'I remember when I was young and stupid' — and hopefully they don't do it again."The Uncle Sam silver round celebrates the 100th anniversary of the famous “I Want You” US Army recruiting poster that features a drawing of Uncle Sam by James Montgomery Flagg. Buy one for $0.99 over spot!
Product Specs
Mint: Highland Mint
Composition: One troy ounce of.999 fine silver
Obverse
The obverse features Uncle Sam, along with inscriptions of “I WANT YOU!,” “100TH ANNIVERSARY,” and “1917 - 2017.” The original artwork was first seen in July 1916 on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly with the headline “What are You Doing for Preparedness?” The poster went on to become one of the most recognizable posters in the world. Between 1917 and 1918, over four million copies were printed as the US needed to rally military enlisting to support World War I. The popular image was adapted for use in World War II as well.
Reverse
An American flag waves across the reverse. Inscriptions around the rim include “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “ONE TROY OUNCE.999 FINE SILVER.”
Shipping Info
Uncle Sam silver rounds ship in plastic flips. Multiples may ship in plastic coin tubes.
Place your order online or call a customer service representative at 800-313-3315.A Department of Natural Resource ranger later rescued two deer hanging from a fence at a Hall County cemetery in Georgia.
Christie Melendrez was visiting a grave around 1 p.m. Wednesday at Memorial Park Cemetery when she saw the deer and immediately called the DNR.
“I was standing at (the) grave and heard a cry. I looked over that way and there they were. It broke my heart hearing them cry out,” she said.
A ranger came out quickly and was able to free the deer from the fence. Melendrez says the ranger told her that the deer had probably been stuck there all night long.
Video shows the ranger lifting the deer up and maneuvering them out of the fence. Both deer ran back into the woods.
Melendrez says she thanks God she saw them and was able to call someone to rescue them.
“I’m just glad it was a happy ending. It was amazing watching them run off after being released,” she said.Well, the rumors are true: HTC has just announced that it has begun testing the “displaying of a limited number of promotions” to users of the BlinkFeed app in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Taiwan, and China. If results are good, the pilot will roll-out to more countries over time.
The struggling Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones and tablets emphasizes that the amount of promotions users in these countries see will be “limited,” and that they will be both native, meaning they will look like other content in the BlinkFeed, and relevant, meaning the ads will be targeted to you based on the content you are subscribed to and click on in the BlinkFeed. The ads will come from partners including Twitter, Yahoo, Appia, as well as from HTC itself, which will at times insert promotions for its own products.
The company says that users will be able to opt-out of receiving the promoted content in their BlinkFeed, but unfortunately that seems to insinuate that they are not opt-in and will begin appearing without users agreeing beforehand. They hope the service will serve as a way to help users “discover new and useful apps and/or products and services,” but that seems a bit idyllic to us. While we’re all in support of advertising, HTC is primarily in the business of selling hardware and so we think more disclosure is deserved.
We first heard rumors of HTC inserting ads into BlinkFeed last month when @Upleaks shared a slide from an HTC training presentation. The slide, pictured above, outlined how the company plans to monetize the home screen of the company’s handsets. The first is to generate revenue through sponsored app downloads, and the second is through promotions to drive sales of its own products and those of “strategic partners.”Hajime Isayama has had years to mull over an ending for Attack on Titan, but it looks like the artist is just now pinning down how he’d like the series to bow out. The Kodansha manga is still an ongoing series at the moment, but the Survey Corps will one day be asked to disband. And, now, Isayama is teasing just how he plans to wrap the series.
Recently, the Attack on Titan creator sat down with Bessatsu Shonen to talk about his manga. It was during Isayama’s interview that he revealed he’s moving towards Attack on Titan’s end.
UP NEXT: Attack On Titan Creator Reveals Eren's Feelings Towards Mikasa “Although I’m progressing towards the ending that had been set before, my approach towards the ending itself has changed from the original plans,” Isayama said. “I feel responsible towards the reader. I originally wanted to illustrate something similar to the film The Mist."
Expanding on his comment about The Mist, the artist said he was intrigued by how the film ultimately turns on its lead character |
as a binder to keep the product uniform. Xanthan gum also helps thicken commercial egg substitutes made from egg whites, to replace the fat and emulsifiers found in yolks. It is also a preferred method of thickening liquids for those with swallowing disorders, since it does not change the color or flavor of foods or beverages at typical use levels.[6] In gluten-free baking, xanthan gum is used to give the dough or batter the stickiness that would otherwise be achieved with gluten. In most foods, it is used at concentrations of 0.5% or less. Xanthan gum is used in wide range food products, such as sauces, dressings, meat and poultry products, bakery products, confectionery products, beverages, dairy products, others.
In the oil industry, xanthan gum is used in large quantities to thicken drilling mud.[7] These fluids serve to carry the solids cut by the drilling bit back to the surface. Xanthan gum provides great "low end" rheology. When the circulation stops, the solids still remain suspended in the drilling fluid. The widespread use of horizontal drilling and the demand for good control of drilled solids has led to its expanded use. It has also been added to concrete poured underwater, to increase its viscosity and prevent washout.
In cosmetics, xanthan gum is used to prepare water gels.[8] It is also used in oil-in-water emulsions to enhance droplet coalescence.[9] Xanthan gum is under preliminary research for its potential uses in tissue engineering to construct hydrogels and scaffolds supporting three-dimensional tissue formation.[8]
Shear thinning [ edit ]
The viscosity of xanthan gum solutions decreases with higher shear rates; this is called shear thinning or pseudoplasticity. This means that a product subjected to shear, whether from mixing, shaking or even chewing, will thin out, but, once the shear forces are removed, the food will thicken back up. In salad dressing, for example, the addition of xanthan gum makes it thick enough at rest in the bottle to keep the mixture fairly homogeneous, but the shear forces generated by shaking and pouring thins it, so it can be easily poured. When it exits the bottle, the shear forces are removed and it thickens again, so it clings to the salad.
Amounts used [ edit ]
The greater the ratio of xanthan gum added to a liquid, the thicker the liquid will become. An emulsion can be formed with as little as 0.1% (by weight). Increasing the amount of gum gives a thicker, more stable emulsion up to 1% xanthan gum. A teaspoon of xanthan gum weighs about 2.5 grams and brings one cup (250 ml) of water to a 1% concentration.[6][10]
To make a foam, 0.2–0.8% xanthan gum is typically used. Larger amounts result in larger bubbles and denser foam. Egg white powder (0.2–2.0%) with 0.1–0.4% xanthan gum yields bubbles similar to soap bubbles.
Health [ edit ]
Evaluation of workers exposed to xanthan gum dust found evidence of a link to respiratory symptoms.[11]
On May 20, 2011, the FDA issued a press release about SimplyThick, a food-thickening additive containing xanthan gum as the active ingredient, warning parents, caregivers and health care providers not to feed SimplyThick, a thickening product, to premature infants[12] The concern is that the product may cause premature infants to suffer necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Allergies [ edit ]
The nutrients used in the production of xanthan gum may be derived from a variety of crop sources, some of which are known allergens, such as wheat, or soy.
In fermentation processes, such as in the production of xanthan gum, nutrients are needed as a food source by the fermentation organism. Typical nutrients used in fermentation processes are: soybean proteins, and maize (corn) or wheat starches. However, products made by fermentation, such as gums, are not composed of the source nutrients, these are metabolized during fermentation. Then, after the fermentation step, the gums are recovered and purified, dried and milled.[13] Nutrients are not transferred directly to the final products, although unavoidable residues of the process may be present.
Due to the presence of low levels of residual protein material or protein fragments in xanthan gum it is possible that in isolated cases, an adverse reaction to these proteins, such as allergy or sensitization, could result. Instances of this occurring are, however, extremely rare[14] and xanthan gum is not listed as a known allergen or sensitizer for the general public.[15][16][17] In fact, xanthan gum is notably used to replace grains or other sensitizers in products intended for individuals with sensitivities or allergies to grains.
Xanthan gum is a "highly efficient laxative," according to a study that fed 15 g/day for 10 days to 18 normal volunteers. This is not a dosage that would be encountered in normal consumption of foodstuffs. This study set out to examine the use of xanthan gum as a laxative. As described above, xanthan gum binds water very efficiently, which significantly aids passing stools.[18] Some people react to much smaller amounts of xanthan gum with symptoms of intestinal bloating and diarrhea.[citation needed]
There are many substitutes for xanthan gum when used for baking such as guar gum[citation needed] and locust bean gum.[citation needed]
Preparation [ edit ]
Xanthan gum is produced by the fermentation of glucose, sucrose, or lactose.[clarification needed]
The polysaccharide is prepared by the bacteria being inoculated into a sterile aqueous solution of carbohydrate(s), a source of nitrogen, dipotassium phosphate, and some trace elements. The medium is well-aerated and stirred, and the xanthan polymer is produced extracellularly into the medium. After one to four days, the polymer is precipitated from the medium by the addition of isopropyl alcohol, and the precipitate is dried and milled to give a powder that is readily soluble in water or brine.
It is composed of pentasaccharide repeat units, comprising glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid in the molar ratio 2:2:1.[19]
A strain of X. campestris has been developed that will grow on lactose - which allows it to be used to process whey, a waste product of cheese production. This can produce 30 g/L of xanthan gum for every 40 g/L of whey powder. Whey-derived xanthan gum is commonly used in many commercial products, such as shampoos and salad dressings.[20]
Detail of the biosynthesis [ edit ]
Synthesis originates from glucose as substrate for synthesis of the sugar nucleotides precursors UDP-glucose, UDP-glucuronate, and GDP-mannose that are required for building the pentasaccharide repeat unit. This links the synthesis of xanthan to the central carbohydrate metabolism. The repeat units are built up at undecaprenylphosphate lipid carriers that are anchored in the cytoplasmic membrane.[citation needed]
Specific glycosyltransferases sequentially transfer the sugar moieties of the nucleotide sugar xanthan precursors to the lipid carriers. Acetyl and pyruvyl residues are added as non-carbohydrate decorations. Mature repeat units are polymerized and exported in a way resembling the Wzy-dependent polysaccharide synthesis mechanism of Enterobacteriaceae. Products of the gum gene cluster drive synthesis, polymerization, and export of the repeat unit.[21]Cable companies should be worried.
Just about every day a new network joins a streaming platform like Roku or Apple TV, or a paid on-demand service like Vessel or Hulu. HBO did it. A+E Networks did too.
Like Manhattan’s bridges and tunnels, cable and satellite services have for decades been the only means for consumers to access premium channels, specialty networks — basically anything beyond the free, over-the-air and public-supported networks that have been around since the inception of television.
But these bygone gatekeepers to content are being challenged, finally, by the networks that once depended on them for survival. It’s not just millennials cutting the cord — content providers are too.
Also Read: How to Cut the Cable TV Cord in 3 Easy Steps
That changing dynamic and the economics behind it are shifting the balance of power between creators and carriers.
“We are at a big turning point for the industry right now,” Roku General Manager of Content and Services Steve Shannon told TheWrap.
“Historically, what has stopped [networks] is really just preservation of the existing business model and not wanting to cannibalize a wonderful business with a lower-margin business on the Internet. But the millennials and the cord-cutter segments of the market have become so large now that they’re just too large for the programmers to ignore,” Shannon added.
Nearly a quarter of Americans in the coveted 18-to-34 demographic have either cut their cable or satellite services or never signed up to begin with, according to an October ComScore survey. Instead, 61 percent of millennials subscribe to pay streaming services like Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Netflix, accessed via devices like Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
Also Read: HBO Heads to Dish Network Streaming Service Sling TV in New Time Warner Deal
If networks can get a piece of that pie, Shannon says, they can supplement their revenues as well as break free from the traditional advertiser-based cable model.
“Both the programmers and the advertisers need to find a way to get to the cord cutters, the cord nevers, the millennials who don’t subscribe to traditional pay TV services,” Shannon said.
“They’re absolutely determined to do that, and they will,” he added. “And the way they’ll do it is to go over the Internet.”
Also Read: HBO Strikes Exclusive Deal With Apple for Standalone Streaming Service
Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of communications for the National Association of Broadcasters, said broadcast television is ready to embrace over-the-top platforms.
“What networks and stations are doing now is, we’re hedging our bets,” Wharton told TheWrap.
“We can’t be a single-platform delivery service,” he added. “Let’s try to get our programming on as many devices as is humanly possible.”
Wharton said broadcast — which includes the major networks ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and the CW, as well as local stations nationwide — is better prepared to survive the transition to streaming content than cable.
Also Read: HBO Adds Vice Daily Newscast in 4-Year Contract Extension
“I would be more worried if I was part of the cable business model than the broadcast TV business model,” Wharton said.
Because broadcast programming still makes up the bulk of television viewership, he argued, broadcasters can survive the transition to over-the-top while cable packages become fragmented.
“The bundle is not being broken up; it’s being splintered to some degree,” Wharton said.
“We realize that the fragmentation of the audiences are real,” he added. “This is not your father’s TV business — you want your programming on every device that’s out there. Whether it’s tablets or smartphones or smart TVs, broadcasters have already moved or are moving to those devices.”
Broadcasters may be justifiably confident. Wharton cites the record-breaking success of hits like Fox’s “Empire,” live programming like NBC’s “The Voice” and in-depth news coverage like “60 Minutes” on CBS as evidence that viewers still turn to broadcast TV over on-demand most of the time.
But cable providers aren’t yet ready to roll over either. Comcast’s Cable division boasted a Q4 revenue increase as subscribers rose to 27 million. Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts attributed much of that growth to a boom in broadband sales, but claimed cable television trends were the best in seven years.
Also Read: Apple Set to Launch 25-Channel Online TV Service
DirecTV reported 149,000 more Q4 subscribers than the prior year in its February earnings release, but the satellite provider plans to raise fees significantly in 2015 to cover new carriage rates from Disney and the NFL.
Mike White, DirecTV president and CEO, conceded that audiences are growing less inclined to accept big, expensive carrier packages, but he insists that programmers still need service providers like his to survive.
“There’s no doubt that there are going to be customers that would be better served with smaller bundle,” White said during the February earnings call. “That’s just a fact given that most customers want more choice.”
“But I think you also have to recognize, as they do that, [networks are] probably potentially also undermining their own advertising model,” White added. “So I don’t think it’s a one-way street at all … That’s why we’ve said we’ve got to have an ability to do things over the top. That’s what the customer wants.”
New services like HBO Now propose to do just that, with and without the cable middleman.
Until very recently, HBO has only existed as a premium offering to cable and satellite subscribers. But the combination of the strength and popularity of HBO’s original content and the very real problem of piracy prompted the network to become the first premium pay TV programmer to step over the cable gatekeepers and offer its service directly to consumers, starting on the Apple TV platform in April.
Also Read: Cablevision to Offer HBO Now Streaming Service
Cablevision signed a deal in mid-March to become the first cable provider to offer HBO Now to subscribers of its premium Internet service, and Dish Network’s Sling TV on Wednesday became the first live Internet TV service to carry HBO. (Sling TV, which launched Feb. 9, would not provide subscriber numbers.)
Most other networks are too small to stand alone, but packages like the streamlined bundle Apple TV is offering for subscription this fall allow even those programmers to sidestep service providers.
Meanwhile, cable providers are shooting themselves in the foot by requiring subscribers to log in to view content on services like HBO Go and Watch ESPN. The process, known as authentication, ensures that only people who pay for the networks via their cable bill can watch them online.
Industry executives agree that authentication is deeply flawed.
“Cable companies are trying to force people into authenticating their zip codes to protect their content from getting outside of their borders, or outside of their subscription base,” Wharton said.
“Not enough people know what their username and password is — there’s a lot of confusion,” Shannon said. “A lot of folks will download something like HBO or ESPN thinking they can use it, even though they’re not paying for it on a traditional pay TV service.”
Also Read: A E Networks Inks Content Deal With Pay Internet Video Service Vessel
“There’s a flipside,” he added: “There’s a ton of people who have access to HBO, ESPN or Showtime, or any of those, and they just don’t realize that they can access them [online].”
Even certain broadcast networks, which are otherwise available for free over the air, cannot always be streamed live online, depending on a user’s location and service provider.
Shannon suggested cable companies — which usually also provide Internet service — should be able to recognize connected over-the-top boxes like Roku, Chromecast and Apple TV and verify them automatically to skip that log-in step.
“Where we’d love the industry to end up is where these apps are automatically authenticated when they are using the Internet through the modem from that same pay TV provider,” Shannon said.
Eventually, every device that’s connected to that modem’s authenticated Wi-Fi network would be approved, too, eliminating the need to reenter your password on your phone, tablet, laptop and desktop.
This sort of change may mean cable providers can stay in the game.
Also Read: Anne Sweeney Joins Netflix Board
Roku believes all TV will one day be streamed, which will lead to a new economic model of more focused ad content — as opposed to the current strategy of “carpet bombing” during programs — and an opportunity for telecoms to diversify and improve their broadband packages.
“There are too many compelling reasons both for consumer value proposition and for industry economics for any other future to exist,” Shannon said.
“Just like the Web is on the Internet, and the email is on the Internet, we think TV will be on the Internet,” he added.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association declined to comment for this story.
For its part, all broadcast needs is the new-old technology of the antenna to thrive in the cut cord future.
As Wharton says, “We were wireless before wireless was cool.”The concept of social discovery is nothing new. In fact, it was at
the heart of the beginnings of social media as dating sites latched onto
the idea of meeting new people as the core of their operations and
services. Today, online dating
is just as big as it’s ever been but social, but people are looking
more towards social media to find new things that go beyond love.
While most have heard of Pinterest,
few realize that one of the things that makes it successful in a world
where Facebook and Twitter have dominated for years is the discovery
component. On Facebook, we get to see interesting content that our
friends post, but we don’t get to see much of what the rest of the world
shares. It’s possible for a friend of a friend to share something
interesting, then our own Facebook friend shares it to us, but it’s not
nearly at the level of Pinterest.
The concept behind Pinterest is
about sharing what we find rather than sharing what we’re doing. Some of
the people we follow on Pinterest do nothing other than share what they
find on their friends’ Pinterest boards or on the popular section and
therefore it gets transmitted into our view. While Facebook has
networking cornered and Twitter has news well under wraps, we often
don’t get to see highly-interesting visuals depicted on our walls.
Pinterest does that for us which is why it is growing so fast. Its biggest challenge with such growth: avoiding the Pinterest marketing spammers.
Another social discover
site is Tagged. Started at the same time as Facebook, Tagged pivoted
early on, recognizing as early as 2007 that Facebook would eventually
win the social networking fight (even though Facebook was only at 60
million users at the time compared to 250 million for MySpace). They
already had a strong user base but because pure social networking is
about friends and family also being on it, there was really only room
for the most popular choice (as Google+ is finding out).
Their
pivot took them into a realm that allowed them to co-exist with
Facebook. If Mark Zuckerberg wanted to connect friends and family,
Tagged would be the place to make new friends (and get away from
family). Their form of social discovery hovered around the getting the people who wanted a freshness-alternative to the ones we see every day on Facebook. Getting the “leftovers” from Facebook has been lucrative; Tagged has over 100 million users and has been profitable for 4 years.
One of the older social discovery sites that has never truly been challenged is StumbleUpon. The concept of discovery is taken to the next level with SU as users have literally no idea what piece of content they’ll be served next. Through their toolbar, users stumble from page to page based upon their interest and history. They can thumb up or thumb down pages that are served to them and over time the algorithm learns the preferences of the user.Shares
We’ve written a lot about anti-vaccine zealotry on this blog, as Steve and I take a particular interest in this particular form of dangerous pseudoscience for a number of reasons. One reason, of course, is that the activities of antivaccine groups like Generation Rescue and its spokesmodel since 2007 (Jenny McCarthy, a frequent topic on this blog) have started to frighten parents about vaccines enough that vaccination rates are falling well below that required for herd immunity in some parts of the country. Indeed, McCarthy, at the behest of her handlers in Generation Rescue, serves up a regular “toxic” brew of misinformation and nonsense about vaccines, most recently in a video that was the subject of a post by Val Jones about her unbelievably pseudoscience-laden blather. Truly, it has to be seen to be believed. Meanwhile, Generation Rescue has sent McCarthy on a media propaganda tour for her latest antivaccine pro-quackery book and set up a misinformation-laden propaganda site called Fourteen Studies (blogged about by Steve Novella, Mark Crislip, and, of course, yours truly) in which they attack well-designed studies that have failed to confirm their pet idea that somehow, some way, vaccines must be the cause of autism. And, when their pseudoscience is criticized, the antivaccine movement has a tendency to launch vicious ad hominem attacks, as they recently did against Steve Novella and have done multiple times in the past against me.
However, there is one other consequence of the antivaccine movement, however, and it is at least as important as the public health implications of the potential dimunition of herd immunity caused by the fear mongering of groups like Generation Rescue. That consequence is the cottage industry of “biomedical” treatments to which desperate parents subject their children. Gluten-free diets, chelation therapy (which has caused deaths), hyperbaric oxygen chambers (a recent story described a child getting severely burned when one of these caught fire), autistic children have been subjected to it all. But of all the biomedical woo to which autistic children have been subjected, one form of woo stands out as being particularly heinous. Indeed, I agree with our fearless leader Steve in characterizing it as an “atrocity.”
I’m referring to Mark and David Geier’s favored “treatment” for autistic children, namely a drug called Lupron.
THE LUPRON PROTOCOL
I first became interested in Mark and David Geier around four years ago, around the same time I first became aware of and interested in the antivaccine movement.Dr. Mark Geier is a physician but has no expertise in pediatrics, endocrinology, vaccines, or autism. His son only has a bachelor’s degree in biology; yet he assists his father in his “research” and in essence helps him treat patients, despite his lack of medical training. Together, they are the Batman and Robin of autism woo (the 1960s camp version, not the updated Dark Knight version) going into battle against autism, which–surprise! surprise!–they blame on vaccines. But not just any vaccines. Oh, no. Batman and Robin–excuse me, Mark and David–were there at ground zero of the formation of the mercury militia. Together, they were at the forefront of promoting the now scientifically discredited concept that mercury in the thimerosal preservative that was in childhood vaccines until the end of 2001 causes autism and published many dubious papers arguing that mercury in vaccines caused autism.
Not that the Geiers didn’t put their own personal spin on things. Not at all. In fact, around four years ago, they conjured up a “hypothesis” (my fingers seized up as I typed that, not wanting to dignify their idiotic idea with such a scientific term) that testosterone somehow bound to mercury, making it harder to chelate. They even claimed that testosterone binds to mercury, leading to a complex that can’t pass the blood-brain barrier and keeps mercury in the body, a complex that the quackery known as chelation therapy won’t chelate (more on that later). They claimed that autistic children were really undergoing premature puberty and had too much testosterone, which was binding to mercury and somehow enhancing its toxicity. So what was their solution?
In essence, chemical castration using a powerful anti-sex hormone drug called Lupron.
The Geiers even called it their “Lupron protocol,” and a disturbing number of parents not only fell for this disturbing abuse of autistic children, but they even paid big bucks for it. Even after the revelations of what the Geiers did, I could never figure out, though, since 2006, more than three years ago, is just how. How did they manage to keep subjecting children to a treatment with science so bad that it doesn’t even qualify as junk science? And why didn’t the mainstream media ever notice, even though a small cadre of skeptical bloggers wrote about it repeatedly?
I don’t know, but I do know that finally a major newspaper noticed the Geiers, who operate a makeshift laboratory in the basement of Dr. Geier’s house, complete with a tissue culture hood. Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune ran companion stories entitled ‘Miracle drug’ called junk science and Physician team’s crusade shows cracks.
All I can say is that it’s about time.
I first learned about the Geiers’ Lupron protocol (to my horror) back in Februrary 2006, when I first read blogger Kathleen Seidel’s account of their activities. Somehow, some way, the Geiers have managed to inject autistic children with a powerful drug that suppresses sex hormone production for over three years now. How did this all get started? First, let me explain what Lupron is.
Lupron is the trade name for a drug called leuprolide acetate, a synthetic analog of a hormone known as gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH, a.k.a. LH-RH). After causing an initial stimulation of gonadotropin receptors by binding to them, chronic administration of Lupron inhibits gonadotropin secretion, specifically leutenizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). The end result is the inhibition of the synthesis of steroid hormones in the testes in men and in the ovaries in women. In men, testosterone and androgen levels fall to castrate levels, and in women estrogens are reduced to postmenopausal levels.
This is a drug that doesn’t have very many uses. Perhaps the most common use is in men with metastatic prostate cancer, because prostate cancer is an androgen-dependent tumor. Back when I was a surgical resident, such patients were treated with surgical castration. These days, they are usually put on Lupron or a similar GnRH agonist, and this treatment works quite well to suppress the growth of prostate cancer for a while. Such tumors will inevitably develop androgen-independent growth and become resistant to hormonal suppression with Lupron, but in the meantime chemical castration with Lupron can provide excellent palliation. Another use for Lupron is in women with estrogen-dependent conditions, such as endometriosis and uterine fibroids. One troubling side effect of its use in women is the onset of menopausal symptoms, often quite severe, a problem that sometimes causes women to stop taking it. The other major use of Lupron is during cycles of in vitro fertilization, in which it is used to suppress ovarian function completely in order to allow complete control of hormone levels and ovarian follicle development through the use of hormone injections. Without Lupron or similar drugs, it is very difficult to get multiple ovarian follicles to develop and mature at the same time, allowing the harvest of many eggs.
But we’re not talking about adults here. We’re talking about children. Are there any medically accepted uses of Lupron in children? Yes, but only one: Precocious puberty. Precocious puberty is defined as the onset of secondary sexual characteristics before 8 years old in girls and 9 years old in boys. It can be the result of tumors, central nervous system injury, or congenital anomalies. The package insert for Lupron emphasizes that children should not be treated with Lupron unless they meet the following criteria:
Onset of secondary sexual characteristics before age 8 in females and age 9 in males. The clinical diagnosis must be confirmed by a pubertal response to GnRH (adequate secretion of LH in response to a challenge with injected GnRH) and bone age advanced at least one year beyond chronological age. Baseline evaluation has to include: Height and weight measurements; sex steroid levels; adrenal steroid level to rule out congenital adrenal hyperplasia; beta-chorionic gonadotropin (beta-HCG) to rule out a beta-HCG-secreting tumor; pelvic and adrenal ultrasound to rule out a steroid-secreting tumor; and a CT of the head to rule out an intracranial tumor.
Also, precocious puberty is a rare condition. Autism is not. Not that that that stops the Geiers. In any case, in my book, if you’re going to give a potent drug like Lupron to children, a drug that can almost completely shut down the synthesis of both male and female steroid hormones, you’d better have damned good evidence that it’s likely to help to make it worth the risk.
So did the Geiers have good evidence three or four years ago, when they first started pumping autistic children full of Lupron? Take a guess. As pointed out by Kathleen Seidel, the Geiers seemed quite excited about manipulating testosterone levels and were recruiting children for a “clinical trial,” having presented their concept in 2005 at the Autism One conference in Chicago. Prior to that, they had published their idea in a medical journal known as Medical Hypotheses, giving it the patina of respectability. The problem is, Medical Hypotheses is a fringe journal that is not well respected. For one thing, it’s not peer-reviewed. The other reason that it exists to publish “radical” ideas that “conflict with current theory and practice.” Such a speculative journal may serve a useful purpose in the publishing world, but citing speculative articles published in it is not exactly good evidence for anything, other than that
Not surprisingly, the paper was a mess, full of unsupported speculation. Its first flaw was apparent right from the beginning. First, the Geiers implicitly assumed that mercury is the cause of autism and that chelation is the cure. As evidence, they cited the usual suspects, such as the Hornig “rain mouse” study; the Redwood et al study using a model to predict the hair level of mercury due to vaccines (while ignoring the Pichichero et al, which actually measured the levels and showed that mercury levels in infants given thimerosal-containing vaccines according to a standard schedule had blood levels well within what is considered safe); papers studying cultured cells treated with ridiculously high concentrations of thimerosal, concentrations unattainable in humans; and the infamous Boyd Haley study that showed lower levels of mercury in the hair of autistic babies compared to normals, leading him to speculate without evidence that autistics do not secrete mercury as well, leading it to accumulate in the brain. They also cited the Bradstreet article that looked at mercury levels excreted in response to a “challenge” with the chelating agent DMSA and supposedly found that autistic children secrete more mercury than nonautistic children. The problem was, Bradstreet used a nonstandard method of normalizing their mercury concentrations in the urine, didn’t measure total mercury excretion, not to mention that they didn’t match the ages of their groups very well. Worse, their data was so full of scatter that it’s hard to tell how they made any conclusions. (Not surprisingly, this article was published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, a really crappy journal that’s chock full of antivaccination rhetoric, antifluoridation articles, and an article defending Alan Yurko, an antivaccination activist who was tried for shaking a baby to death but got off by claiming it was the result of vaccines causing encephalitis. Many of the rest of the articles cited had been written by the Geiers themselves, and they ignored important studies that cast serious doubt on any link between mercury and autism. Worse, through it all, the Geiers stated as fact that chelation therapy is effective, when there is in fact no credible evidence suggesting that it is.
As I’ve mentioned before, however, the new twist that the Geiers placed on their mercury madness is the concept that testosterone somehow increases the toxicity of mercury. The way the Geiers came to this concept is rather roundabout. First they cite a paper suggesting that there are increased markers of increased oxidative stress in autistic patients. (To me this begs the question of why there was so much focus on mercury rather than abnormalities in oxidative metabolism in autism. Since then, there has been a lot of such work that has been used to justify all manner of antioxidants and other dietary manipulations. But I digress.) They also presented a paper in which the investigators treated cultured neuroblastoma and glioblastoma tumor cells with high concentrations of thimerosal and show that pretreatment with glutathione (an antioxidant) is protective against thimerosal toxicity. However, the authors themselves state:
Acute high dose exposures to Thimerosal (mmol/L) in cultured cells were used to study mechanistic aspects of Thimerosal toxicity and not intended to mimic exposures of developing brain cells in vivo to Thimerosal in vaccines (nmol/kg).
Little details like that never stopped the Geiers from representing the study as strong “evidence” that defects in oxidative metabolism potentiate thimerosal toxicity as a cause of autism. At best the study shows that very high concentrations of thimerosal are toxic to brain cancer cells and that glutathione can protect these cells.
So how did the Geiers link oxidative metabolism defects observed in some autistics, testosterone, and mercury? Well, if you’re the Geiers, it’s easy. You wave your hands and point out that one of the one enzyme (hydroxysteroid transferase) that modifies a testosterone precursor DHEA to DHEA-S (a sulfate group added) requires glutathione and is inhibited by mercury. Of course the Geiers cite a 30-year old paper and don’t even use the name of the enzyme that I find in the more recent literature, namely DHEA sulfotransferase. In any case, DHEA is the main precursor to androgens like testosterone, and DHEA sulfotransferase adds a sulfate group to it, “shuttling” DHEA away from the pathway to make testosterone by turning it into DHEA-S. DHEA-S is thought to be a “storage” form of DHEA, and DHEA and DHEA-S are freely interconverable. If something prevents DHEA from being converted to DHEA-S, there’s more precursor for testosterone synthesis. Elevated DHEA and DHEA-S levels have been implicated in polycystic ovary syndrome.
This all sounds well and good, but there was no good evidence then that any of this, at least as explained by the Geiers, has anything to do with the pathogenesis of autism, nor is there any evidence now that it does. The abnormalities in oxidative metabolism observed in some autistics may be a cause of autism or they may simply be a consequence of other genetic abnormalities that are responsible for autism. It is not yet possible to know their significance with the current state of our data, but that hasn’t stopped the Geiers from mining this rich vein for pesudoscientific justifications for their Lupron protocol over the last four years.
But if you really want to know how risibly bad the Geiers’ understanding of biochemistry is, consider the “testosterone sheet” nonsense they laid down three years ago, when they were quoted as saying that mercury binds to testosterone and forms “sheets” in the brain, leading to a complex that can’t pass the blood-brain barrier and keeps mercury in the body. This is indeed nonsense on many levels. Besides the fact that there is no persuasive evidence that mercury causes autism in the first place, there is even less evidence that testosterone in any way prevents the elimination of mercury from the body. I can’t help but note that the claim that testosterone binds mercury and prevents it from being excreted was not in the Medical Hypotheses paper, suggesting that it was too far out even for that far out journal. Instead, the Geiers included large figures showing complex pathways of steroid biosynthesis and wildly speculated that the combination of testosterone and decreased glutathione might inhibit the activity of DHEA sulfotransferase. Thus even if mercury were the cause of autism, there would be no biochemical justification for the shotgun approach of using Lupron to suppress steroid hormone synthesis in boys. Remember, Lupron doesn’t just suppress testosterone production; it suppresses both the androgenic and estrogenic pathways.
The Geiers have also liked to cite a paper they published in Hormone Research. The Chicago Tribune article quite nicely pointed out what garbage it was:
To support their theory that a link exists between testosterone, mercury and autism, the Geiers often cite their own paper published in the journal Hormone Research. Their report describes symptoms and lab results for 16 autistic children ages 3 to 10 and finds nearly all have high testosterone. Experts who read the paper said it is deeply flawed and its conclusions are baseless. The blood tests the Geiers use as proof of excessive testosterone don’t show that at all, and other data they cite mean nothing, said Paul Kaplowitz, chief of endocrinology at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and an expert on precocious puberty. They also leave out test results that could help show whether the children are in early puberty, he added. Looking at the tests, Kaplowitz said he asks himself: “Is Dr. Geier just misinformed and he hasn’t studied endocrinology, or is he trying to mislead?”
Another deconstruction of the paper can be found here.
Once again, if you’re going to propose doing something as radical as shutting down steroid hormone synthesis in children, you’d better have damned good evidence to justify it, and the Geiers didn’t then and don’t now. The best piece of clinical evidence that suppressing testosterone might help autistic boys they can muster is a case report in which a 24-year old autistic man exhibiting severe frequent inappropriate sexual behavior who frequently masturbated in public and became sexually aroused around young children was placed on Lupron. Surprise, surprise! His inappropriate sexual behavior decreased markedly. Chemical castration will do that. This case report said nothing about what treating children with Lupron would do. (It also raised some seriously touchy ethical questions.)
It isn’t that there hasn’t been at least some evidence suggesting that abnormal testosterone levels might have something to do autism. Certainly, the high proponderance of males with autism alone could suggest such a linkage. There’s just one problem. Nearly all of the evidence supporting such this link has correlated high levels of prenatal exposure of the fetus to testosterone with autism and autism spectrum disorders. The main proponent of this hypothesis is Simon Baron-Cohen, who has published several papers finding correlations between elevated fetal testosterone and empathy, decreased quality of social relations, gender-typed play, and autism. This has led to Baron-Cohen’s concept that autism is due to an “extreme male brain.” This is a controversial concept in the autism research community, and I can see why. Personally, I found the evidence supporting this concept to be a somwhat shaky after reading several papers describing it. Even so, |
and combined with the moral choices you make during your quests that bend you to the light side or the dark side, the flashpoints feel like a movie. When an interesting moral choice is raised (leaving someone for Empire bait or saving them, for example), instead of shouting at or willing the main character to do one thing or another, you are the main character. This feeling will be familiar to players of the Mass Effect series, but it's a great evolution for an MMO.
There's still a boatload to discuss about this game, and I didn't get to play nearly as much as I would have liked (half the time I reserved an evening, the servers were down). But the beta is going away for a while in the next couple of days, and BioWare will be seeding a new build in a few weeks when we'll be able to get a look at the Empire classes and possibly later stages of the game. No dates have yet been set for an open beta, but the full SWTOR game is set for release on December 20.
Note: This article was originally accompanied by several screenshots that did not respect BioWare's embargo. Those pictures have been removed.Xiaomi Mi 5 has been one of the most talked about smartphones in the last couple of weeks. Now, the company was expected to announced this smartphone in Q3 2015, but that didn't happen. Xiaomi has opted to wait for the Snapdragon 820 SoC to become available, and their exec recently confirmed that the device won't be announced before the Chinese New Year (February 8th), and that it will, in fact, sport the Snapdragon 820 SoC on the inside. A rumor which surfaced earlier today said that the phone will launch on February 20th, and that it will be available for purchase on February 20th or 21st.
That being said, a listing of the Mi 5 has surfaced on GearBest, one of the largest Chinese resellers. Now, this listing shares the specs of this device with us, along with the images of the device itself, but the price is still unknown. The renders GearBest used are actually identical to the leaked renders we've seen a while back. The phone on these images sports a physical home button below the display, along with rather thin bezels, but it's not exactly a breakthrough as far as the design goes. The power / lock and volume rocker keys are placed on its right-hand side, and the camera and the dual-LED, dual tone flash are also visible in the provided image.
As far as specs are concerned, GearBest's listing says that the Mi 5 will feature a 5.2-inch QHD (2560 x 1440, 565 PPI) display along with 4GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (other internal storage variants are probable, 64GB one for sure). The device will be fueled by the Snapdragon 820 processor, and the listing says that the phone's internal storage is not expandable. The 16-megapixel shooter will be available on the back of this phone, and an 8-megapixel snapper will be placed up front. The 3,600mAh non-removable battery will also be a part of this package, and a fingerprint scanner will be built into the physical home button. 4G LTE connectivity has also been mentioned, of course, and same goes for the LED notification light. According to the listing, Android 5.1 Lollipop will come pre-installed here with Xiaomi's MIUI 7 OS available on top of it, while the dual-SIM support has also been mentioned. The source has listed this handset in three color options, Black, Golden and White.
Now, keep in mind that the specs in this listing might be based on various leaks, but on the other hand, this is an official listing on one of China's largest online resellers, so... either way, if you're interested, you can subscribe for e-mail notification on the source link down below and GearBest will let you know when the device becomes available.The AFL and Richmond have exposed Nathan Broad as the player who distributed the photograph of a topless woman without her permission on the night of the grand final.
Broad, who had known the woman previously and had told her he had deleted the photograph at her request as soon as he had taken it, faces a significant punishment to be announced shortly by club president Peggy O'Neal. O'Neal and Broad made public statements on Monday.
The decision comes after weeks of negotiations with the woman, who has been traumatised by the affair, and her family and legal team who had fought to preserve her anonymity and feared naming Broad could expose her due to their previous relationship.
The woman's lawyers Maurice Blackburn confirmed Broad, the 24-year-old defender who played in the premiership victory, had previously known the woman who "believed there was a level of trust between them".
"She maintains that she insisted he delete the photo from his mobile phone as soon as it was taken, and that he assured her it had been," a statement read.For all things Comic-Con 2017, visit our EW Comic-Con section.
For this year’s Comic-Con International, the cast of Twin Peaks made the trek from the Pacific Northwest to San Diego. Some of the revival’s quirkiest characters stopped by EW’s Comic-Con studio on Friday to talk all things Peaks — including Kyle MacLachlan (Agent Cooper), Naomi Watts (Janey-E Jones), Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs), Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Brennan), Everett McGill (Ed Hurley), James Marshall (James Hurley), Tim Roth (Hutch), Don Murray (Bushnell Mullins), and Matthew Lillard (William Hastings).
The cast caught up with EW’s Darren Franich, where they weighed in on the enthusiastic (and frequently confused) reaction to the revival.
“Fans have embraced it,” MacLachlan says. “It’s everything I think David had hoped in that it’s really his vision. He and Mark wrote the script. David directed every episode. This is David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, and we are getting in as an audience mainlined right into the big vein. And I think it’s extraordinary.”
While the cast is staying tight-lipped about future episodes, they did open up about some of the revival’s most memorable scenes so far — like Michael Cera’s debut as Wally Brando or Lillard’s emotional jailhouse speech about scuba diving. Ashbrook also weighed in on Bobby’s poignant evolution from teenage punk to sheriff’s deputy — and recalled the surprising direction Lynch gave him on his first day working on the revival.
“I was doing my first scene, and I remember I walked in. It was the first I’d done since we’d come back,” Ashbrook recalls. “And David was like, ‘Maybe not so weird. I hate to give you that direction, but not so weird.'”
RELATED: Listen to EW’s Twin Peaks Podcast break down the latest episode
As for McGill, who’s confirmed to be in the new series as Big Ed Hurley but has yet to appear on screen? “He’s in every scene, but he’s taking a nap,” McGill jokes.
Twin Peaks airs Sundays on Showtime. For more things Peaks, subscribe to A Twin Peaks Podcast: A Podcast About Twin Peaks – on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts – to unwrap the mysteries in EW’s after-show every Monday during the Showtime revival.Naked is rated 4.1 out of 5 by 42.
Rated 4 out of 5 by AlwaysTheAccountant from Favorite Fall Polishes I purchased Extra Bitter and Tease after looking at a swatch and review of the collection. It is true that the polishes are darker than the images here would have you believe. However, I was aware of what the true colors were. I love the formula of the Naked line compared to the Vintage line. They are not as thick so they are easier to apply. I found the formula comparable to OPI. I did have to apply more than one coat but that is my preference so it is not an issue for me. The brush is narrower than an OPI brush but not as narrow as other brands I have used. I have received many compliments when wearing both colors but especially with Tease. I am planning on purchasing the lighter shades to use for spring.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Nutmegger from Naked Lacquer on Trend I nabbed 3 of these polishes as soon as I found out they were available. So far I have worn the color Tease (Brown gloss) and it is a classic taupe color. I have to agree with other reviewers though that the colors appear a little darker in person than on the website, and that the formula is on the thinner side. I used 3 coats with Jamberry base and top coat, and the polish is long wearing and chip resistant. The brush is nicer than other polishes I have experienced, so it is easy to build up light layers without worrying about applying too much product at a time.
Rated 4 out of 5 by katydidxo from really lovely polish I bought Extra Bitter and one of the last bottles of Instinct. While I haven't used Extra Bitter yet, I have used Instinct and it's a lovely grey-mauve-pink color that I feel isn't very typical of nude-range polishes. It went on smoothly and was almost opaque in one layer. I really loved having it on my nails, and it's a really lovely professional color. Extra Bitter is much more of a milk-chocolate brown, which is fine and will look nice especially in fall, but I hoped it had more of that rusty orange tone to it like the eyeshadow does. I did swatch it, and it went on just as smooth and near-opaque as Instinct. Glad I picked these up!
Rated 3 out of 5 by AB613 from Extra Bitter is Extra Brown I ordered the polish in tease (my favorite color of the 4 palettes i own) and extra bitter. As soon as I opened the box I knew extra bitter would be a disappointment. I was hoping for a burnt orange color and instead it is a dark brown, almost maroon. Not only was the color completely off, the polish itself was VERY thin and took 3 coats to cover my nail and therefor took forever to dry. I wouldn't say its worth the money at all. I stand by UD and I will not use anything else, but I have realized that will only with eye products.
Rated 5 out of 5 by laur0204 from Love UD nail polish! I own quite a few Urban Decay nail polishes and am always excited when more are released. I bought the shade "YDK" for myself and "Instinct" for my mom. Both are great colors. The formula for "Instinct" is a little thin, though. The only negative thing I have to say is that some of the nail polishes do not match the product images. For example, "Instinct" isn't as cool and pale as the picture looks. This is the reason why I skipped out on purchasing "Extra Bitter" and "Lethal." Overall, they're nice polishes and I'm happy with the colors I purchased. I hope UD makes more nail polishes!
Rated 1 out of 5 by Ady85 from colors are disappointing, doesn't match pics! I was really excited that the polish came our to match the amazing new pallet, especially my favorite color, extra bitter. Not sure where the actual polish is that they photograph for the ads are because the extra bitter polish I got is no where near the color it is supposed to be or even close to what the ad makes it look like to be at all! Instead it's a dark brownish purple, not a burnt red/orange. :( very disappointed!!! Does not go on even or smooth either. Don't waste your money or get your hopes up.
Rated 5 out of 5 by PaigeZ13 from Very nice polish Urban Decay nail polish is up there with my favorite brands. I only care for more expensive brands like OPI and Formula X by Sephora. This nail polish by UD is also excellent quality. It goes on nicely, stays on well without chipping or wearing off, and I use my hands a lot, including washing dishes! I have multiple bottles of this, and with the free shipping offered with the UD Beauty Junkies program, actually is super worth the price. HIGHLY recommend for the nail polished obsessed, like myself!A blind man, his wife and their ten-year-old son were evicted last week from their property in Kells, Co. Meath.
A blind man, his wife and their ten-year-old son were evicted last week from their property in Kells, Co. Meath.
‘I’m blind, I need my cane' - Footage shows blind man and family evicted from home in pyjamas
Photographs and a video of John Lloyd (43) being evicted from his home have been viewed by over one million people on Facebook since they were posted over the weekend.
The family have lived in the house for 14 years and said that they are 'traumatised' by the ordeal.
John, a former civil servant, told the Irish Sun that the family 'have been treated worse than animals'.
"We were in our bare feet and nightclothes," he told the Irish Sun.
"I pleaded, please don't do this to us. I begged and I begged. But it's what the bank ordered.
"We're in despair. Our home has been taken from us".
The video shows a number of people congregated at the door of the property. An argument can be heard coming from inside.
John's wife Fiona (44) said the family had been'making repayments as best we could'.
John and Fiona's son is said to be 'distressed' since the incident, which left the family cat 'Mittens' in the property.
The family lodged a motion in the High Court last Wednesday to stop the bank selling the house.
In a statement, the National Land League of Ireland said that 'the family that were evicted are being accommodated by friends'.
"A recap of today's events is that a family comprising a young boy, his mother and blind father were evicted from their home without warning by the Sheriffs of Meath and Louth and bailiffs and locksmiths," they said.
"Friends of the family come to support them through the traumatic experience were denied access as were numerous activists. One local NLLI activist did manage to gain access and reported a terrible scene".
"The family has asked NLLI to thank the many people who have offered both moral and practical support over the day".
Stepstone Mortgages told the Irish Sun that they have a "policy of not discussing the details of any individual cases... out of respect for client confidentiality".
Online EditorsThat is the question. Most men have never even had to think about how to answer this question. The answer seemed obvious. However, it now looks like the government will be putting men in the precarious position of figuring out how to answer that in 2012. It also looks as though if men make the correct decision, women will have actually just lost a right that many currently enjoy; a right that men will continue to enjoy. More on that later. First, some background on how men and women have come to this quandary.
For those old enough to remember, feminism, decades ago, contained what was thought of as a radical branch. These “wackos” were seen as extreme and small in number. They were hateful toward men and were frequently quoted in books and seen at protests with signs claiming all men were rapists and batterers. No one really paid any attention to this “little” group of women. Most of the attention went to those women that (allegedly) promoted equal rights. While no one was paying attention, the small, hateful group slowly began to promote their agenda and have affected a substantial amount of legislation. These “wackos” have successfully convinced their fellow women (and their white knights) that, yes indeed, essentially all men are batterers and rapists. Now they have hatched their true agenda’s implementation.
The same feminists I just spoke about have now succeeded in expanding the definition of rape. This can be seen in two recent developments. The first is the rape definition the CDC used for its recent survey about violence. This definition of rape includes attempted forced penetration. No other crime statistic adds attempted crimes. In fact, I didn’t have much success searching for attempted murder rates by state even though murder rates by state were an easy find. This CDC definition also includes sex when a woman is drunk or on drugs. By using these incidents in the definition of rape, the CDC says 1 in 5 women have been raped over their lifetimes.
Amazingly, the CDC does not include in their rape statistics men who were forced (with violence or threats of violence or by being held down) to penetrate a woman (vaginally or anally) or a man (anally) or forced to give oral sex to a woman or forced to receive oral sex from a woman or man. If these were counted as rape, men would have been raped at a rate of 1 in 16 as opposed to the reported 1 in 71. In fact, using those instances counted as rape, the rate of rape of men and women are exactly the same for the 12 months prior to the CDC study. (1)
The second development is what the FBI has included in their new rape definition. This definition now includes penetrating someone, no matter how slight, while that person was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. You can bet the feminists have their soldiers lined up at the doors of every state legislator to pressure them to adopt this new definition for their state. Judging by history, the states will bow to their wishes. If so, common rapists will include those men that engage in sex with women that were drunk, high or on drugs. How many ladies reading this sentence can say they have ever had “consensual” alcohol or drug facilitated sex? If so, you are a rape victim and your partner is a common rapist. So here we go- To Rape or Not to Rape?
Men, you must now make that feared decision. Let’s look at a few examples and see what this new definition does:
a): A husband and wife celebrate the wife’s 40th birthday. They go out and enjoy a nice dinner. They then arrive back home and share a bottle of wine to celebrate her big day. There is some sensual talk and they express their love for each other. She then goes into the bedroom and comes out dressed in erotic lingerie, takes his hand and leads him back to the bedroom. She tells him to make love to her.
b): A woman asks her new boyfriend to meet her at a local restaurant/bar to enjoy some light fare and perhaps a drink. He calls to tell her he is running late from work and will be there in 45 minutes. The girlfriend notices a couple of female coworkers at the bar. She joins them for a few drinks while she waits. Finally her boyfriend arrives and tells him that instead of dining there they should order takeout and dine at her place a few blocks away. When they arrive at her apartment, she says dinner can wait. She brings him into the bedroom and pushes him down on the bed and asks if he would enjoy some oral satisfaction. He agrees.
c): The same woman as example b) goes to a bar and meets her girlfriends after work for happy hour. She drinks the same amount as in example b). She seems fine when she leaves so her girlfriends say nothing when she says she is going to leave and drive home. She misses a stop sign and plows into a car going through the intersection, killing the passenger. Subsequently, the police discover she is slightly over the legal limit.
d): A husband and wife go out for New Year’s Eve. Every year they go to the same tavern and celebrate. They tell each other prior to the party that they will enjoy the first sex of the year together after dinner and drinks and midnight toast. After consuming several drinks each, they go back home via cab and start their initiation of the New Year. Both are inebriated, but neither is passed out or staggering.
e). A man and woman just finished celebrating their wedding reception. They have both had their fair share of drinks. They take the limo to the hotel and consummate the marriage.
OK. Let’s analyze some scenarios using the above examples:
a): If the husband decides to help his wife remember her 40th birthday with some passionate romance and sex, she can now lay claim to spending her 40th birthday being raped by her spouse.
b): Again, even though the girlfriend initiates the sex and is the aggressor, he will be raping her unless he pushes her off and says stop. At the moment of passion, he must now decide whether to probably lose his new girlfriend due to her being insulted and thinking he doesn’t like her, or whether to be a common rapist according to the new legal definition (and perhaps future state law) even if he wasn’t aware she drank before he arrived.
c): Here we have a woman that is in the same inebriated state as example b. She also chose to drink one or two too many and made her own decision to drive home anyway. In b, the woman is removed of all responsibility of her actions even though it was her choice to drink and her decision to not stop at one or two. If we apply the logic from the new rape definition in b to c, then this woman should not be arrested for vehicular manslaughter or any crime since this car crash was alcohol facilitated. A woman cannot be held responsible for any bad choices if the choices were alcohol facilitated. In fact, based on the FBI thinking, the sober driver should be arrested as he should have known the woman was incapable of making her own choices and decisions about driving after drinking.
d): Here we have both husband and wife inebriated at equal levels. The husband is expected to be responsible for his actions and be able to think clearly enough that if he has sex, he will be committing rape. His wife is not expected to be responsible at all for her actions in accepting sexual enjoyment. Even though they both agreed ahead of time that they would enjoy sex after some drinks, this is not good enough. Consent must be at the time of encounter, not given hours prior to relations.
e): Here, after the reception at which most likely drinking took place, consummation of the marriage will, according to the FBI and the CDC, be rape. Yes, there is nothing like raping your new bride on her wedding night. The FBI has turned what used to be a tender moment of passion and romance into a criminal act.
OK. I know some out there are saying that these rape examples I gave would almost never result in any kind of rape accusation by the woman. The key word is almost. We all too well know there are women out there that will, for various reasons, falsely accuse a man of rape. If, however, this becomes state law, it wouldn’t be considered falsely accusing since it would be actual rape. Should the FBI definition become state law, there is no longer a defense justified by her consent. Once under the influence, the man is a rapist, period. Should the revised VAWA be passed, any college male would automatically be a rapist since the proposed revised VAWA now defines rape using the FBI definition (cleverly the feminists saw to that knowing they would get their way and change the FBI definition). This would mean, essentially, guilt by accusation and immediate expulsion. No chance to ever get your degree.
A man must think of the future. Even in example e, it is quite possible the new bride would accuse her groom eventually. Perhaps the relationship sours in 5 years. Over half of marriages end up in divorce, with the wife filing most of the time. If she wants to get even for some perceived wrong-doing, all she needs to do is call authorities and state that she was raped on her wedding night. 200 witnesses, photos, and a videotape will all corroborate her drinking that day. The man now may be imprisoned for 25 years just because he wanted to consummate his marriage. Similarly, a, b and d could result in a rape accusation if the wife/girlfriend chose to get rid of her husband/boyfriend at any time. Of course if they are married, she’ll take the house, kids and assets as well.
I am bringing up these examples as a warning to men; most especially to college men. “To rape or not to rape?” Ask yourself if 15 minutes of pleasure is worth expulsion from school or 25 years in jail. Personally, I would not take the risk, no matter how slight it may seem. No woman is worth decades in jail. No orgasm is worth my life being destroyed. Self-love is much less risky, and I could get a good night’s sleep without being awakened by the thought I have just given license to a woman to destroy me. I would think avoidance of any ladies nights would now be the accepted norm.
That atmosphere invites trouble. It is rife for manipulation and entrapment. An upscale bar may give free or low priced drinks to ladies and advertise for men to come and enjoy the company of the self-inebriated. At any of these ladies nights, there could lurk an opportunist willing to be picked up in order to blackmail a well-intentioned male with a rape charge if he doesn’t make her financially happy. Or perhaps an ego trip, actually accusing someone to destroy a successful man’s life. Now there would be no hassles of a trial with he said/she said issues. A woman would just need an affidavit from her regular bartender telling of him serving her several drinks on the night in question.
I would avoid bars if I knew myself to not be able to resist conversing with the opposite sex hoping to get “lucky.” I’d have to think twice about meeting a woman that enjoyed alcohol at a favorite bar. Men, the same goes for college parties. If you attend in hopes of meeting a woman, you’d better think twice. Don’t even be alone with a woman that has indulged. The conference call on 1/9 given by the President’s administration made it clear that college men are now the main targets of this new definition regarding drug/alcohol facilitated sex.
Ideologues have asked, and now received for all women a total release of responsibility for their actions and are automatically provided the rape victim status if they decide to engage in sex while using drugs or alcohol. In each case, by indulging in drink, the female is always a victim and the male always the rapist. Hey, just like the feminists proclaimed all these many years.
A victory for feminism. Or is it?
If all men heed my warning (which I know is unlikely), then any time we went out with our wives or girlfriends, we would have to state up front that if they would enjoy some romance and sex later on, they can no longer enjoy having anything to drink over dinner or at the bar other than soft drinks. We as men would be able to enjoy our wine or beer or hard drink while we watched our partners complain and scold us about how lucky we were that we could enjoy alcohol or drug facilitated sex while they could no longer do so.
Most likely the feminists will use this as another example of Patriarchy, despite themselves being the creators. As men, we would need to tell the woman we are with, that this is what women want. By law, we can’t have sex with women if they insist on drinking with us at dinner. If we take this seriously, which we damn well should, feminists just took away a right most women do enjoy and have given us sole ownership of this right. We’d have a right that women don’t. Yes, I am looking at this new rape definition optimistically because I have to. And, being the optimist, I see this with my wine glass half full.
Source:
(1) http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf Pages 17-19."Gotta connect 'em all!" God, I'm still giggling to myself about that. And not like a schoolgirl either, like a whole group of schoolgirls. *teeheehee!* I honestly can't believe I just f***ing wrote that aside, LEGO lover and Flickr user Filip Johannes Felberg be makin' all kinda crazy Pokemons outta LEGO blocks. Go on with ya 'lil monster-lovin' self!
For a few weeks now, Filip Johannes Felberg has been making batches of 4 different Pokémon out of Legos and uploading them to Flickr as part of his Pokémon Project. The results are nothing short of awesome and he's already done 32 different 'Monz.
Impressive work, Filip. "Thanks Terrance." *BRAAAAT!* "Ahahahahaha!!" God, WTF is wrong with me? "Nothing GW, you're perfect in every way." Geez, I really am aren't I? "No, far from it". Awesome, I've been looking for a reason to start cutting myself again.
Hit the jump for a whole bunch more.
Filip Johannes Felberg's Flickr
via
Filip Johannes Felberg's Lego Pokémon Project [albotas]Even committed carnivores can't dodge the facts: we're going to have to cut down on the red stuff. A bit.
"If one cares about the environment, one must care about eating animals... Someone who regularly eats factory-farmed products cannot call himself an environmentalist without divorcing that word from its meaning."
Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
The numbers look pretty unarguable. So much so that - as a senitive meat-eating, trying-hard green - I have to ask if Safran Foer is being too soft: can any meat-eater at all call themselves an environmentalist?
Livestock agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than every train, truck, car and aeroplane put together. The resources consumed by one average omnivore in pursuit of animal protein would nourish as many as 10 vegetarians (there's lots of argument about this stat - some would put the ratio higher). So, shift people's diets and the planet can support more people – in fact, it will quite easily deal with the 9.2 billion at which population is currently forecast to peak in about 40 years' time, even with the threat to agriculture that climate change poses.
If the omnivores you convert are the usual guzzlers of cheap industrial meat that populate the rich world, all the better. Because production of their protein is particularly demanding on fossil fuels – for fertiliser, processing, transport and so on.
So, it's better for the planet if you're a vegetarian, right? You don't have to be a vegan fundamentalist (before the climate change deniers start venting) to hold this view: Lord Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank and a pretty mainstream figure who now advises the British government on climate change, told the Times in October: "Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better." And what is Stern diet? "Not strict vegetarian," apparently.
Therein are the makings of a defence for meat eating. Clearly vegetarians who eat soya, chickpeas, lentils, rice and other imported foods are not as green as a Fife dieter eating locally grown turnips, kale and oats. Ask a preachy vegetarian to audit their food sourcing and they may not come out much cleaner than what Safran Foer calls a "selective omnivore".
It is argued that the average rich world vegetarian may not consume much less of the planet's resources than the average moderate omnivore: a report last week for the Worldwide Fund for Nature (download pdf) on the impact of food production pointed out that highly processed vegetarian meat substitutes or foods made of imported soya (as in tofu) might actually use more arable land and resources than their beef or dairy equivalents. Deforestation in the developing world to grow cheap soya for human and animal feed is a major issue in climate change.
Fish-eating - which Safran Foer stated in Tuesday's Guardian is as, if not more, cruel than meat eating - may not be a much greener option either. Already 50% of the fish and shellfish eaten globally is produced by aquaculture, much of it intensive and ecologically often dodgy - for instance in the tropical prawn industry. Farming carnivores like salmon is fairly disastrous ecologically, and involves a similar waste of food resources to meat - it takes 3-5kg of other fish to produce 1kg of salmon.
But as a committed carnivore I have to acknowledge that if I want my grandchildren ever to enjoy a perfect entrecôte steak I must address my habits now: all this nonchalant animal protein-munching cannot go on. Meat in the developed world needs to be seen as more of a luxury and less of a staple.
Food is responsible for 30% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions (according to the new WWF report) and a large proportion of that is from livestock farming. The average Briton eats 50g of animal protein a day: a chicken breast or a lamb chop. That's much less than countries like the United States, but it is still 25-50% more than the average person needs for healthy nutrition. The main reason that world food production must rise by 50% in the next 50 years (the UN FAO's projection) is not the increase in population, but the increase in meat eating as poorer countries develop.
Which is why I am trying to embrace the 'drop meat once a week' notion. One day off the red stuff? Not so great a hardship, really. And if you eat local meat, sustainably produced, rather than Brazilian rainforest fed burgers, that will help. Also, I don't want to see livestock farming disappear - it shaped the countryside we know.
Or you could simply have fewer children - the most planet-unfriendly thing you can possibly do is produce more animal-gobbling, methane-emitting, fossil fuel squanderers. The only other carnivore option is to eat the dog and then the goldfish. After that, it's roadkill only.Kepler may not be hanging up its planet-hunting hat just yet. Even though two of its four reaction wheels — which are crucial to long-duration observations of distant stars — are no longer operating, it could still be able to seek out potentially-habitable exoplanets around smaller stars. In fact, in its new 2-wheel mode, Kepler might actually open up a whole new territory of exoplanet exploration looking for Earth-sized worlds orbiting white dwarfs.
An international team of scientists, led by Mukremin Kilic of the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, are suggesting that NASA’s Kepler spacecraft should turn its gaze toward dim white dwarfs, rather than the brighter main-sequence stars it was previously observing.
“A large fraction of white dwarfs (WDs) may host planets in their habitable zones. These planets may provide our best chance to detect bio-markers on a transiting ex- oplanet, thanks to the diminished contrast ratio between the Earth-sized WD and its Earth-sized planets. The James Webb Space Telescope is capable of obtaining the first spectroscopic measurements of such planets, yet there are no known planets around WDs. Here we propose to take advantage of the unique capability of the Kepler space- craft in the 2-Wheels mode to perform a transit survey that is capable of identifying the first planets in the habitable zone of a WD.” – Kilic et al.
Any bio-markers — such as molecular oxygen, O2 — could later be identified around such Earth-sized exoplanets by the JWST, they propose.
Because Kepler’s precision has been greatly reduced by the failure of a second reaction wheel earlier this year, it cannot accurately aim at large stars for the long periods of time required to identify the minute dips in brightness caused by the silhouetted specks of passing planets. But since white dwarfs — the dim remains of stars like our Sun — are much smaller, any eclipsing exoplanets would make a much more pronounced effect on their apparent luminosity.
In effect, exoplanets ranging from Earth- to Jupiter-size orbiting white dwarfs as close as.03 AU — well within their habitable zones — would significantly block their light, making Kepler’s diminished aim not so much of an issue.
“Given the eclipse signature of Earth-size and larger planets around WDs, the systematic errors due to the pointing problems is not the limiting factor for WDHZ observations,” the team assures in their paper “Habitable Planets Around White Dwarfs: an Alternate Mission for the Kepler Spacecraft.”
Even smaller orbiting objects could potentially be spotted in this fashion, they add… perhaps even as small as the Moon.
The team is proposing a 200-day-long survey of 10,000 known white dwarfs within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) area, and expects to find up to 100 exoplanet candidates as well as other “eclipsing short period stellar and sub-stellar companions.”
“If the history of exoplanet science has taught us anything, it is that planets are ubiquitous and they exist in the most unusual places, including very close to their host stars and even around pulsars… Currently there are no known planets around WDs, but we have never looked at a sufficient number of WDs at high cadence to find them through transit observations.” – Kilic et al.
Read the team’s full report here, and learn more about the Kepler mission here.
NASA’s Ames Research Center made an open call for proposals regarding Kepler’s future operations on August 2. Today is the due date for submissions, which will undergo a review process until Nov. 1, 2013.
Added 9/4: For another take on this, check out Paul Gilster’s write-up on Centauri Dreams.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the world’s most successful trolling organization, is furious that anonymous strangers said mean things about it on the Internet.
The animal rights group opened a lawsuit in New York state court last week seeking to out the identity of three anonymous Huffington Post commenters, who’d left unkind remarks about it following an April 4 exposé on the brutal conditions inside one of PETA’s supposedly humane animal shelters.
The suit demands Huffington Post hand over the names, email addresses, and phone numbers for users “Lucy Van Pelt,” “Eyema Nurde” and “ambersommerville.” PETA claims their comments were “false and defamatory.” But the worst any of them did, according to court documents obtained by the New York Post, was call the group “animal Kevorkians,” a reference to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the famous right-to-die advocate who helped at least 130 terminally ill patients commit suicide.
Depending on how you feel |
an American conservative political commentator, radio host and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and radio network TheBlaze. He hosts the Glenn Beck Radio Program, a popular talk-radio show nationally syndicated on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck also hosts the Glenn Beck television program, which ran from January 2006 to October 2008 on HLN, from January 2009 to June 2011 on the Fox News Channel and currently airs on TheBlaze. Beck has authored six New York Times–bestselling books.[12]
In April 2011, Beck announced that he would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox News, but would continue to team with Fox.[13] Beck's last daily show on the network was June 30, 2011.[14] In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter named Beck on its Digital Power Fifty list.[15] Beck launched TheBlaze in 2011 after leaving Fox News. He currently hosts an hour-long afternoon program, The Glenn Beck Program, on weekdays, and a three-hour morning radio show; both are broadcast on TheBlaze. Beck is also the producer of For the Record on TheBlaze.[16]
Beck's supporters praise him as a constitutional stalwart promoting limited government, low taxes, gun rights, free speech and defending traditional American values,[17] while his critics contend he promotes conspiracy theories and employs incendiary rhetoric for ratings.[18]
Early life and education
Glenn Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington, the son of Mary Clara (née Janssen) and William Beck, who lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, at the time of their son's birth.[19] The family later moved to Mount Vernon, Washington,[20] where they owned and operated City Bakery in the downtown area.[20] He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century.[21] Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon.
Glenn and his older sister moved with their mother to Sumner, Washington, attending a Jesuit school[22] in Puyallup. On May 15, 1979, while out on a small boat with a male companion, Beck's mother drowned just west of Tacoma, Washington, in Puget Sound. The man who had taken her out in the boat also drowned. A Tacoma police report stated that Mary Beck "appeared to be a classic drowning victim",[23] but a Coast Guard investigator speculated that she could have intentionally jumped overboard. Beck has described his mother's death as a suicide in interviews during television and radio broadcasts.[23]
After their mother's death, Beck and his older sister moved to their father's home in Bellingham, Washington,[23] where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in June 1982.[24] Beck also regularly vacationed with his maternal grandparents, Ed and Clara Janssen, in Iowa.[25] In the aftermath of his mother's death and subsequent suicide of his stepbrother, Beck has said he used "Dr. Jack Daniel's" to cope. At 18, following his high school graduation, Beck relocated to Provo, Utah, and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he "didn't fit in", Beck left Utah after six months,[26] taking a job at Washington, D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983.[23]
Personal life
Glenn Beck speaking at Restoring Honor at the Lincoln Memorial
While working at WPGC, Beck met his first wife, Claire.[27] In 1983, the couple married and had two daughters, Mary and Hannah. Mary developed cerebral palsy as a result of a series of strokes at birth in 1988.[27] The couple divorced in 1994 amid Beck's struggles with substance abuse. He is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict,[28] and has said he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).[29][30][31] Beck later admitted that the family problems ranging from the divorce to his substance abuse had a severe negative impact on his children.[32]
By 1994, Beck was suicidal, and he imagined shooting himself to the music of Kurt Cobain.[30] He credits Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with helping him achieve sobriety. He said he stopped drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis in November 1994, the same month he attended his first AA meeting.[30] Beck later said that he had gotten high every day for the previous 15 years, since the age of 16.[23]
In 1996, while working for a New Haven area radio station, Beck took a theology class at Yale University, with a written recommendation from Senator Joe Lieberman, a Yale alumnus who was a fan of Beck's show at the time.[33] Beck enrolled in an "Early Christology" course, but soon withdrew, marking the extent of his post-secondary education.[30][34]
Israeli citizens holding banner at the Jerusalem Restoring Courage rally, in which Beck was the main speaker
Beck then began a "spiritual quest" in which he "sought out answers in churches and bookstores".[30] As he later recounted in his books and stage performances, Beck's first attempt at self-education involved reading the work of six wide-ranging authors, constituting what Beck jokingly calls "the library of a serial killer": Alan Dershowitz, Pope John Paul II, Adolf Hitler, Billy Graham, Carl Sagan, and Friedrich Nietzsche.[33] During this time, Beck's Mormon friend and former radio partner Pat Gray argued in favor of the "comprehensive worldview" offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an offer that Beck rejected until a few years later.[30] (Later, after Beck's moving to the New York City area, he had a consultation with Graham, which Beck said touched him strongly.)[35]
In 1999, Beck married his second wife, Tania.[30] After they went looking for a faith on a church tour together,[30] they joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 1999, partly at the urging of his daughter Mary.[36][37] Beck was baptized by his old friend, and current-day co-worker Pat Gray.[30] Beck and his current wife Tania have had two children together, Raphe (who is adopted) and Cheyenne. Until April 2011, the couple lived in New Canaan, Connecticut, with the four children.[38][39]
Beck announced in July 2010 that he had been diagnosed with macular dystrophy, saying "A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor because of my eyes, I can't focus my eyes. He did all kinds of tests and he said, 'you have macular dystrophy... you could go blind in the next year. Or, you might not.'" The disorder can make it difficult to read, drive or recognize faces.[40]
In July 2011, Beck leased a house in the Fort Worth suburb of Westlake, Texas.[3] In 2012, he moved his main TV and radio studios to Dallas, Texas.[41]
On November 10, 2014, Beck announced on TheBlaze that he had been suffering from a severe neurological disorder for at least the last five years.[42] He described many strong and debilitating symptoms which made it difficult for him to work,[43] and he also announced that he had "a string of health issues that quite honestly made me look crazy, and quite honestly, I have felt crazy because of them".[44] Beck related that a chiropractor who specializes in "chiropractic neurology", Frederick Carrick, had "diagnosed [him] with several health issues, including an autoimmune disorder, which he didn't name, and adrenal fatigue." Over a period of ten months he had received a series of treatments and felt better.[45] A number of medical experts have expressed doubt about the legitimacy of Beck's diagnosis, treatment,[46] and the credentials of the chiropractor,[47] with Yale University neurologist Steven Novella dismissing chiropractic neurology as "pseudoscience": "Chiropractic neurology does not appear to be based on any body of research, or any accumulated scientific knowledge,... [and] appears to me to be the very definition of pseudoscience."[48]
Career
Glenn Beck has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth. –Forbes, April 2010[12][49]
In 2002 Beck created the media platform Mercury Radio Arts[33][50] as the umbrella over various broadcast, publishing, Internet, and live show entities.
Radio
In 1983 he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, to work at radio station KZFM.[27] In mid-1985, Beck was hired away from KZFM to be the lead DJ for the morning-drive radio broadcast by WRKA in Louisville, Kentucky.[27] His four-hour weekday show was called Captain Beck and the A-Team.[51] Beck had a reputation as a "young up-and-comer". The show was not political and included the usual off-color antics of the genre: juvenile jokes, pranks, and impersonations.[33] The show slipped to third in the market and Beck left abruptly in 1987 amid a dispute with WRKA management.[52]
Months later, Beck was hired by Phoenix Top-40 station KOY-FM, then known as Y-95. Beck was partnered with Arizona native Tim Hattrick to co-host a local "morning zoo" program.[30] During his time at Y-95, Beck cultivated a rivalry with local pop radio station KZZP and that station's morning host Bruce Kelly. Through practical jokes and publicity stunts, Beck drew criticism from the staff at Y-95 when the rivalry culminated in Beck telephoning Kelly's wife on-the-air, mocking her recent miscarriage.[27] In 1989, Beck resigned from Y-95 to accept a job in Houston at KRBE, known as Power 104. Beck was subsequently fired in 1990 due to poor ratings.[27]
Beck then moved on to Baltimore, Maryland, and the city's leading Top-40 station, WBSB, known as B104. There, he partnered with Pat Gray, a morning DJ. During his tenure at B104, Beck was arrested and jailed for speeding in his DeLorean.[30] According to a former associate, Beck was "completely out of it" when a station manager went to bail him out.[30] When Gray, then Beck were fired, the two men spent six months in Baltimore, planning their next move. In early 1992, Beck and Gray both moved to WKCI-FM (KC101), a Top-40 radio station in New Haven, Connecticut.[30] In 1995, WKCI apologized after Beck and Gray mocked a Chinese-American caller on air who felt offended by a comedy segment by playing a gong sound effect and having executive producer Alf Gatineau mock a Chinese accent. That incident led to protests by activist groups.[53] When Gray left the show to move to Salt Lake City, Beck continued with co-host Vinnie Penn. At the end of 1998, Beck was informed that his contract would not be renewed at the end of 1999.[30]
The Glenn Beck Program first aired in 2000 on WFLA (AM) in Tampa, and took their afternoon time slot from eighteenth to first place within a year.[54][55] In January 2002, Premiere Radio Networks launched the show nationwide on 47 stations. The show then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting from new flagship station WPHT. On November 5, 2007, The New York Times reported that Premiere Radio Networks was extending Beck's contract. By May 2008, it had reached over 280 terrestrial stations as well as XM Satellite. It was ranked 4th in the nation with over six and a half million listeners.[56] As of July 2013, Beck was tied for number four in the ratings behind Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Dave Ramsey.[57]
Television
In January 2006, CNN's Headline News announced that Beck would host a nightly news-commentary show in their new prime-time block Headline Prime. The show, simply called Glenn Beck, aired weeknights. CNN Headline News described the show as "an unconventional look at the news of the day featuring his often amusing perspective".[58] At the end of his tenure at CNN-HLN, Beck had the second largest audience behind Nancy Grace.[59] In 2008, Beck won the Marconi Radio Award for Network Syndicated Personality of the Year.[10]
In October 2008, it was announced that Beck would join the Fox News Channel, leaving CNN Headline News.[60] After moving to the Fox News Channel, Beck hosted Glenn Beck, beginning in January 2009, as well as a weekend version.[61] One of his first guests was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin[62] He also had a regular segment every Friday on the Fox News Channel program The O'Reilly Factor titled "At Your Beck and Call".[63] As of September 2009, Beck's program drew more viewers than all three of the competing time-slot shows combined on CNN, MSNBC and HLN.[64][65]
His show's high ratings did not come without controversy.[60] The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reported that Beck's use of "distorted or inflammatory rhetoric" had complicated the channel's and their journalists' efforts to neutralize White House criticism that Fox is not really a news organization.[60] Television analyst Andrew Tyndall echoed these sentiments, saying that Beck's incendiary style had created "a real crossroads for Fox News", stating "they're right on the cusp of losing their image as a news organization."[60]
In April 2011, Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's production company, announced that Beck would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox News in 2011.[66] His last day at Fox was later announced as June 30.[67][68] FNC and Beck announced that he would be teaming with Fox to produce a slate of projects for Fox News and its digital properties.[13] Fox News head Roger Ailes later referenced Beck's entrepreneurialism and political movement activism, saying, "His [Beck's] goals were different from our goals... I need people focused on a daily television show."[69] Beck hosted his last daily show on Fox on June 30, 2011, where he recounted the accomplishments of the show and said, "This show has become a movement. It's not a TV show, and that's why it doesn't belong on television anymore. It belongs in your homes. It belongs in your neighborhoods."[14] In response to critics who said he was fired, Beck pointed out that his final show was airing live.[14] Immediately after the show he did an interview on his new GBTV internet television channel.[14]
TheBlaze TV (formerly GBTV)
Beck's Fox News one-hour show ended June 30, 2011,[70] and a new two-hour show began his television network which started as a subscription-based internet TV network, TheBlaze TV, originally called GBTV, on September 12, 2011.[71][72] Using a subscription model, it was estimated that Beck is on track to generate $27 million in his first year of operation.[73] This was later upgraded to $40 million by The Wall Street Journal when subscriptions topped 300,000.[74] On September 12, 2012, TheBlaze TV announced that the Dish Network would begin carrying TheBlaze TV. TheBlaze is currently available on over 90 television providers, with eleven of those being in the national top 25.[5][75][76]
Books
Beck has reached #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List in four separate categories as of 2010 : Hardcover Non-Fiction,[77][78] Paperback Non-Fiction,[77] Hardcover Fiction,[79] and Children's Picture Books.[80]
Non-fiction
Control Series
Control: Exposing the Truth About Guns. Threshold Editions. 30 April 2013. ISBN 978-1-4767-3988-5.
Conform: Exposing the Truth About Common Core and Public Education. Threshold Editions. 6 May 2014. ISBN 978-1-4767-7388-9.
It IS About Islam: Exposing the Truth About ISIS, Al Qaeda, Iran, and the Caliphate. Threshold Editions. August 2015. ISBN 978-1-5011-2612-3.
Fiction
Children's
The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 2009. ISBN 978-1-4169-9543-2.
, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing 2009. ISBN 978-1-4169-9543-2. Beck, Glenn; Schoebinger, Chris; Dorman, Brandon (illustrator) (2011). The Snow Angel. Aladdin Books. ISBN 978-1-4424-4448-5.
Beck authorized a comic book:
Political Power: Glenn Beck, by Jerome Maida, Mark Sparacio (illus.); Bluewater Productions, 2011[87][88]
Stage shows and speeches
When Beck meets his fans, he does so with the gusto of a public figure engaging his constituents. People he meets often give him presents and notes. He signs autographs, poses for photos. He has perfected the Everyman shtick that presidential candidates spend years trying to master in places like Iowa. –The New York Times Magazine, 2010[33]
Since 2005, Beck has toured American cities twice a year, presenting a one-man stage show. His stage productions are a mix of stand-up comedy and inspirational speaking. In a critique of his live act, Salon Magazine's Steve Almond describes Beck as a "wildly imaginative performer, a man who weds the operatic impulses of the demagogue to the grim mutterings of the conspiracy theorist".[89] A show from the Beck `08 Unelectable Tour was shown in around 350 movie theaters around the country.[90]
In Beck's hometown of Mt. Vernon, Washington, supporters and detractors hold handmade signs on the day Beck was honored by the mayor.
The finale of 2009's Common Sense Comedy Tour was simulcast in over 440 theaters.[91] The events have drawn 200,000 fans in recent years.[92]
In March 2003, Beck ran a series of rallies, which he called Glenn Beck's Rally for America, in support of troops deployed for the upcoming Iraq War. On July 4, 2007, Beck served as host of the 2007 Toyota Tundra "Stadium of Fire" in Provo, Utah. The annual event at LaVell Edwards Stadium on the Brigham Young University campus is presented by America's Freedom Foundation.[93] In May 2008, Beck gave the keynote speech at the NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky.[94]
In late August 2009, the mayor of Beck's hometown, Mount Vernon, Washington, announced that he would award Beck the Key to the City, designating September 26, 2009, as "Glenn Beck Day". Due to local opposition, the city council voted unanimously to disassociate itself from the award.[95] The key presentation ceremony sold-out the 850 seat McIntyre Hall and an estimated 800 detractors and supporters demonstrated outside the building. Earlier that day, approximately 7,000 people attended the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's "Take the Field with Glenn Beck" at Seattle's Safeco Field.[96]
In December 2009, Beck produced a one-night special film titled "The Christmas Sweater: A Return to Redemption".[97] In January and February 2010, Beck teamed with fellow Fox News host Bill O'Reilly to tour several cities in a live stage show called "The Bold and Fresh Tour 2010". The January 29 show was recorded and broadcast to movie theaters throughout the country.[98]
In July 2013, Beck produced and hosted a one-night stage event called Man in the Moon, held at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah. The amphitheater sold out all 20,000 of its seats and was released on television and DVD in August 2013. The event was a narrative story told from the point of view of the moon, from the beginnings of the Book of Genesis to the first moon landing. The moon serves as the narrator of the story.
Philanthropy
In 2011, Beck founded the non-profit organization Mercury One, which is designed to sustain itself through its entrepreneurship without the need for grants or donations.[99] In early 2011, Beck began work toward developing a clothing line to be sold to benefit the charity and October 2011, Mercury One began selling the upscale clothing line labeled 1791 exclusively at its website, 1791.com. The clothing in the line's eleven-piece inaugural offering was manufactured by American Mojo of Lowell, Massachusetts.[100]
In July 2014, after tens of thousands of undocumented immigrant children crossed into Texas via the Southern United States Border, unaccompanied by parents, Beck, along with Texas senator Ted Cruz, and Texas representative Louie Gohmert, traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with his charity organization Mercury One with tractor trailers full of food, hot meals, and teddy bears for the unaccompanied minors. While Beck and Cruz both made it clear in interviews that they wanted a full repeal of DACA, Beck also noted his belief in the importance of helping children caught in "political crossfire". "Through no fault of their own, they are caught in political crossfire, and while we continue to put pressure on Washington and change its course of lawlessness, we must also help," Beck said. "It is not either, or. It is both. We have to be active in the political game, and we must open our hearts." [101]
As of 2017, Beck's "The Nazarene Fund" had reportedly relocated 10,524 Christian refugees from northern Iraq and Syria to other host countries, including Australia, the United States, France, Slovakia, Greece, Lebanon, Brazil, and Canada. The fund's website notes 1,646 families have been evacuated from the ISIS ravaged region since its launch in 2014, and 45,000 people have received humanitarian aid as a result of donations to Mercury One.[102]
Projects and rallies
9–12 Project and Tea Party protests
In March 2009 Beck put together a campaign, the 9-12 Project, which is named after nine principles and twelve values that he says embody the spirit of the American people on the day after the September 11 attacks.[103] The Colorado 9–12 Project hosted a "Patriot Camp" for kids in grades 1–5, featuring programs on "our Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and the values and principles that are the cornerstones of our nation".
Restoring Honor rally
The Restoring Honor rally was promoted/hosted by Beck and held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 2010. The rally—which purported to embrace religious faith and patriotism—was co-sponsored by the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, promoted by FreedomWorks, and supported by the Tea Party movement.[104] As many as 500,000 people were reported to have attended the rally.[105]
"America's First Christmas"
In December 2010, Beck went to Wilmington, Ohio, a town devastated by the late-2000s recession, to host live events to encourage his fans to go to the town to boost the local economy in a project called "America's First Christmas".[106] He hosted an event and his radio and television shows from the local theater.[107]
Restoring Courage 2011 international tour
Beck headlined his "Restoring Courage" events in Jerusalem, Israel, in August 2011 in a campaign Beck said was designed to encourage people worldwide "to stand with the Jewish people".[108][109] After Jerusalem, Beck visited Cape Town, South Africa, and was scheduled to visit Venezuela.[110]
2012 presidential campaign
Actively supporting Mitt Romney as "perhaps the best-known Mormon after the Republican presidential candidate and a major influence on evangelical Christians,... Beck has emerged as an unlikely theological bridge between the first Mormon presidential nominee and a critical electorate [evangelicals]", according to a pre-election article in the New York Times. Along with personal campaign appearances in Ohio and Iowa, Beck unusually directly addressed doctrinal issues between Mormons and evangelical Christians—wherein the latter often consider the former a "cult" rather than Christian—on his radio show in September 2012. During the one-hour show in early September, he asked his audience, "Does Mitt Romney's Mormonism make him too scary or weird to be elected president of the United States?" The article concluded by addressing the "fear of making Mormonism mainstream" as a reason Beck could be acceptable to evangelicals and Romney not be, quoting John C. Green, the author of The Faith Factor: How Religion Influences American Elections:
There's a difference between a public figure like Glenn Beck and someone who could be the president of the United States.... Many evangelicals believe this country was founded by Christian leaders. It is important that the person in the White House be positive about Christianity, if not a devout Christian himself.[111]
Restoring Love rally and "Day of Service"
In August 2012, Beck held a rally at AT&T Stadium in Irving, Texas. The event's theme was service to one's fellow citizen, and loving each other. The event saw a "Day of Service", which saw Mercury One (Beck's charity organization) volunteering to feed homeless and disadvantaged individuals, doing community building projects, and mowing lawns. The event culminated in a keynote speech presented by Beck imploring the audience to "commit to each other. Go home and wake up your neighbors." In regards to serving fellow Americans, Beck said, "Those who count us out are counting on one weekend of action, one weekend of speeches. One weekend. One day. Please my fellow countrymen, let this be the first of many." [112][113]
Restoring Unity and Never Again Is Now
In August 2015, Beck and Mercury Radio Arts organized a rally that saw a little over 20,000 people march through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama in a statement of unity and support for the persecuted Christians in Iraq, a cause that Beck's Mercury One charity organization focuses on, and as a call for unity among the American people. After the march, the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex held a rally featuring speakers including Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, Rafael Cruz, Jon Voight, Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., and David Barton.
Political views
Beck has described himself as a conservative with libertarian leanings.[114] Among his core values Beck lists personal responsibility, private charity, the right to life, freedom of religion, limited government, and the family as the cornerstone of society.[115] Beck believes in low national debt, and he has said "A conservative believes that debt creates unhealthy relationships. Everyone, from the government on down, should live within their means and strive for financial independence."[116] He supports individual gun ownership rights, is against gun control legislation, and is a supporter of the NRA and its local state chapters.[117]
On gay marriage and religious freedom, Beck said, "If you want to get married, that's not my business, that's not the government's business. That's between you and God or you and your spouse or whatever. However, you can't tell my church who I have to marry. If my church says 'no I'm sorry', you can't force me to marry you. I can't force you not to get married someplace else. Somehow or another we'll all find a way, we'll all get along and have barb-e-ques in the backyard, you and your spouse, me and my spouse, we'll all be fine. What's the problem with that? If there's discrimination happening I'm the first to stand in line with you... there is discrimination and hate here, and it's against those who have religious convictions." [118]
Beck believes that there is a lack of evidence that human activity is the main cause of global warming.[119] Beck contests the evidence, citing personal beliefs, "There is more proof for the resurrection of Jesus than man-made climate change."[119] He also views the American Clean Energy and Security Act as a form of wealth redistribution, and he has promoted a petition rejecting the Kyoto Protocol.[120]
On illegal immigration and sanctuary cities, after a story broke of nine illegal immigrants who had died in the back of a tractor-trailer crossing the border. The truck driver, being accused of murder, Beck said, "17 are in the hospital. Nine are dead. And I have to tell you. The truck driver should get the death penalty. I really believe we need to send a very strong message to people who are acting as coyotes. You get the death penalty, man. If you are caught, and you are transporting people like cattle, and anyone dies, death penalty. This is horrible. Can you imagine how hot that truck was? 100-degree temperatures. This sanctuary city thing is a lure, and brings lots of money into people who will do this kind of thing with an empty semi. So which is it going to be? Are we going to incentivize those people, which will lead to more death and destruction? Or are we going to say we have a border, take it seriously. Personally for the driver of this truck who knew and allowed these people to die, Texas death penalty should be coming his way. I hope he's got a hanging judge." [121]
Although opposed to illegal immigration, Beck announced in June and July 2014 that his foundation, Mercury One, would be making efforts to provide food and relief to the large numbers of migrant children.[122][123][124][125] His move was praised by supporters of immigrant rights and freer migration but met with considerable pushback from his supporter base.[126][127]
On March 18, 2015, Beck officially announced that he had left the Republican Party, saying that the GOP had failed to effectively stand against the president on Obamacare and immigration reform, and because of the GOP establishment's opposition to insurgent lawmakers such as Mike Lee and Ted Cruz.[7]
Beck endorsed Texas senator Ted Cruz in his run for President of the United States in 2016.[128] After Cruz dropped out of the race, Beck voiced support for Evan McMullin from Utah, but he stressed that people should "vote with your conscience in mind".
On May 18, 2018, on his radio show, Beck predicted Donald Trump would win the 2020 Presidential election in a "landslide", saying ""Here's why I'm predicting a 2020 win. When I saw yesterday how the press was all reporting the same damn story — that Donald Trump was calling MS-13 gang members, they left that out of the story, 'animals' — they were spinning it as if he was saying that about all immigrants. I had enough. I've had enough... Gladly, I'll vote for [President Trump] in 2020 and not really even on his record, which we'll talk about here in a second, is pretty damn amazing." Beck went on to say, "I'll vote for him in 2020", and donned a Make America Great Again hat on his television show.[129]
Opposition to progressivism
What's the difference between a communist or socialist and a progressive? Revolution or evolution? One requires a gun and the other eats away slowly. –Glenn Beck, keynote address at the February 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference[130][131]
During his 2010 keynote speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Beck wrote the word "progressivism" on a chalkboard and declared, "This is the disease. This is the disease in America", adding that "progressivism is the cancer in America and it is eating our Constitution!"[130][131] According to Beck, the progressive ideas of men such as John Dewey, Herbert Croly, and Walter Lippmann, influenced the Presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; eventually becoming the foundation for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.[130] Beck has said that such progressivism infects both main political parties and threatens to "destroy America as it was originally conceived".[130] In Beck's book Common Sense, he argues that "progressivism has less to do with the parties and more to do with individuals who seek to redefine, reshape, and rebuild America into a country where individual liberties and personal property mean nothing if they conflict with the plans and goals of the State."[130]
A collection of progressives, whom Beck has referred to as "Crime Inc.", comprise what Beck contends is a clandestine conspiracy to take over and transform the United States.[132][133][134] Some of these individuals include Cass Sunstein, Van Jones, Andy Stern, John Podesta, Wade Rathke, Joel Rogers and Francis Fox Piven.[132][135] Other figures tied to Beck's "Crime Inc." accusation include Al Gore, Franklin Raines,[136] Maurice Strong, George Soros,[137] John Holdren and President Barack Obama.[133] According to Beck, these individuals already have or are surreptitiously working in unison with an array of organizations and corporations such as Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, ACORN, Apollo Alliance, Tides Center, Chicago Climate Exchange, Generation Investment Management, Enterprise Community Partners, Petrobras, Center for American Progress, and the SEIU; to fulfill their progressive agenda.[133][137] In his quest to root out these "progressives", Beck has compared himself to Israeli Nazi hunters, vowing on his radio show that "to the day I die I am going to be a progressive-hunter. I'm going to find these people that have done this to our country and expose them. I don't care if they're in nursing homes."[33] Beck compared Al Gore to the Nazis while equating the campaign against global warming to the Nazi campaign against the Jews.[138]
Progressive historian Sean Wilentz has denounced what he describes as Beck's progressive-themed conspiracy theories and "gross historical inaccuracies", countering that Beck is merely echoing the decades-old "right-wing extremism" of the John Birch Society.[139] According to Wilentz, Beck's "version of history" places him in a long line of figures who have challenged mainstream political historians and presented an inaccurate opposing view as the truth, stating:
Glenn Beck is trying to give viewers a version of American history that is supposedly hidden. Supposedly, all we historians—left, right and center—have been doing for the past 100 years is to keep true American history from you. And that true American history is what Glenn Beck is teaching. It's a version of history that is beyond skewed. But of course, that's what Beck expects us to say. He lives in a kind of Alice in Wonderland world, where if people who actually know the history say what he's teaching is junk, he says, 'That's because you're trying to hide the truth.'[139]
Conservative David Frum, the former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, has also alleged Beck's propensity for negationism, remarking that "Beck offers a story about the American past for people who are feeling right now very angry and alienated. It is different enough from the usual story in that he makes them feel like they've got access to secret knowledge."[33]
Influences
Political and historical
The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called the paranoid style—the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country—is aflame again, fanned from both right and left... No one has a better feeling for this mood, and no one exploits it as well, as Beck. He is the hottest thing in the political-rant racket, left or right. –David Von Drehle, Time Magazine, 2009[92]
An author with ideological influence on Beck is W. Cleon Skousen (1913–2006), a prolific conservative political writer, American constitutionalist and faith based political theorist.[140][141] As an anti-communist supporter of the John Birch Society,[142] and a limited-government activist,[143] Skousen, who was Mormon, wrote on a wide range of subjects: the Six-Day War, Mormon eschatology, New World Order conspiracies, even parenting.[143] Skousen believed that American political, social, and economic elites were working with communists to foist a world government on the United States.[130] Beck praised Skousen's "words of wisdom" as "divinely inspired", referencing Skousen's The Naked Communist[144] and especially The 5,000 Year Leap (originally published in 1981),[143] which Beck said in 2007 had "changed his life".[143] According to Skousen's nephew, Mark Skousen, Leap reflects Skousen's "passion for the United States Constitution", which he "felt was inspired by God and the reason behind America's success as a nation".[145] The book is recommended by Beck as "required reading" to understand the current American political landscape and become a "September twelfth person".[143] Beck authored a foreword for the 2008 edition of Leap and Beck's on-air recommendations in 2009 propelled the book to number one in the government category on Amazon for several months.[143] In 2010, Matthew Continetti of the conservative Weekly Standard criticized Beck's conspiratorial bent, terming him "a Skousenite".[130] Additionally, Alexander Zaitchik, author of the 2010 book Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance, which features an entire chapter on "The Ghost of Cleon Skousen",[146] refers to Skousen as "Beck's favorite author and biggest influence", while noting that he authored four of the 10 books on Beck's 9-12 Project required-reading list.[147]
In his discussion of Beck and Skousen, Continetti said that one of Skousen's works "draws on Carroll Quigley's Tragedy and Hope (1966), which argues that the history of the 20th century is the product of secret societies in conflict",[130] noting that in Beck's novel The Overton Window, which Beck describes as "faction" (fiction based on fact), one of his characters states "Carroll Quigley laid open the plan in Tragedy and Hope, the only hope to avoid the tragedy of war was to bind together the economies of the world to foster global stability and peace."[130]
Glenn Beck's viewpoint about |
So you wanna start a podcast?
Zach Valenti Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 25, 2017
(If you don’t find what you’re looking for, please leave a comment requesting whatever you’re looking for and I’ll add it! If you do find what you’re looking for, please let me know what was most useful for you. Either way, hold the applause button for me please & thank you.)
So you’re thinking about starting a podcast? Does it seem overwhelming? Don’t know what gear you need? Wondering how to build an audience? In this article, I break down the major things involved in launching and maintaining a podcast that I had to learn the hard way.
What hard way, you ask? I learned how to do all this by building two shows over the last three years. Wolf 359 is a Webby-Award nominated sci-fi audio drama series that’s been downloaded over 4 million times. We have a profitable merch store and an incredible community on Patreon that’s contributing over $2,500 per month. Most recently, we partnered with SiriusXM on a feature-film-length audio special for their new app, Spoke. I also recently conducted an experimental daily talk show, Focused as F*ck, that received over 60,000 downloads and 160 Apple Podcast / iTunes ratings & reviews in 60 days.
This article is intended as a reference guide and is not written to be read linearly. Skip around. Eat what you like. Bookmark it and come back for stuff as it’s relevant to you. It’s not going anywhere. This will be most useful if you already know what you want to talk about. If you’re still feeling that out, I recommend starting here.
If you benefit from this and feel like returning the favor, please consider recommending it here (with that heart button), as well as sharing this article with someone(s) in your life you think would benefit as well! Also I’d appreciate it if you’d follow me here (and wherever else you like), use any of the affiliate links/codes throughout that appeal to you, and choose to invest in my content creation on Patreon:
Get exclusive consulting from me & enable more posts like these.
Mindset
It’s important to have a good reason for getting into the game. It will feel like a Sisyphean endeavor until it doesn’t.
Don’t:
Get into it for the money
Do it for the fame & glory
Expect a ton of listeners right away
Do:
Focus on making something you would want to listen to — it helps to talk about something you can’t shut up about. Harness your compulsions and/or obsessions — whatever your family and friends wish you’d shut up about already is probably fertile ground.
Set your expectations really low for engagement — like expect-to-give-this-100%-and-get-nothing-low. That way you’ll only have up to go!
Share something that is of use to people — have your show be of service in some way, even if that person is just you. Odds are good if it’s useful to you in a real (read: non-superficial way, ie. a healthful catharsis), it will be useful to others
Alright! Now that you’re PUMPED UP by those ENCOURAGING WORDS, let’s dive in to the technical stuff:
Recording Quality
As a podcaster, “what mic do you use” is probably the most frequent question I get asked. I’ll get to that in a moment, but the real question you should ask is “what’s the best mic for my show?”. The answer is (drum roll please) the one you already have. Of course if you have the money an ElectroVoice RE-20 with a sweet tube pre-amp would be friggin’ amazing, but here’s the thing:
Sound quality in a podcast is like height requirements on roller coaster rides: you just have to be tall enough to ride.
Sound quality in a podcast is like height requirements on roller coaster rides: you just have to be tall enough to ride. Story is king. People will listen to recordings off your iPhone Voice Memos if it’s compelling content. Figure out a reason to justify it. For non-fiction, do interviews in weird locations where you’d want to be discrete, like in a bar or bookstore, for instance. For audio drama shows, channel The Blair Witch Project by making it a docu-horror made up of found footage from your now deceased characters’ smartphones. Own your limitations.
*Steps off soapbox* Alright. If you’re not sold on the above and/or feeling spendy, here’s what I’d recommend (please note: all Amazon links are connected to my affiliate account and purchasing stuff through them will kick back a small percentage of the purchase to me. It won’t cost you anything (i.e., the price is not increased in anyway) and selling you on anything is not my priority here. That said, if you are planning on getting anything you see here, please consider buying through my link as affiliate sales go a long way towards helping me make free resources like this #transparency):
Budget conscious (~$100)
Blue Yeti microphone
Blue Yeti USB microphone
Pros: Everything you need for recording at home. Perfect for one person, fine for two to three sitting close to each other with the right settings. Quality is superb, even good enough for getting into commercial voiceover (that’s how I found out about it originally). Works via USB, so you’ll need a computer and recording software, but that’s it (no pre-amps, power cables, etc.). Add a pop filter for best results (or just put a clean sock over the grill).
Cons: Not ideal for traveling. Impossible to run more than one off the same computer.
In case you’re interested in breaking into commercial voiceover work, too, you can check out a video I made about that referring to the Blue Yeti mic below:
YouTube: Best voiceover mic for beginners (also please subscribe to my channel & let me know what podcasting tutorials you wanna see, thank you!)
The Tim Ferris Kit (~$350–600)
Whatever your personal views on the man, author and human guinea pig Tim Ferris has been extremely successful with his podcast and, in the process, has perfected a great, portable podcasting kit, if you’ve got the money for it.
Zoom H6 recorder
Zoom H6 field recorder + Shure SM58-LCs mic
Pros: the Zoom H6 is a recording studio in a box. It comes with an on-board mic that would be sufficient to start out on and will take 4x XLR or 1/4" inputs out of the box and an accessory will let you add 2 more ports on top of that. All that means is you can use this puppy to record an up to 6-way interview if you wanted, with everyone having their own microphone. If you’re only ever going to record two people at once, you can save some dough with the Zoom H4N instead. Either way you’ll need an SD card to record to. Shorter interview shows will do better with cards smaller than 32GBs because the recording unit will boot faster, but longer shows, or ones with more mics should have more space (more than 64GB is going to be overkill for a podcast and it doesn’t have to be insanely fast. Class 10 to be safe.).
Shure SM58
The legendary Shure SM58 mic is a perfect companion. If you’ve ever been to an open mic night or seen a live music performance or comedy show, you’ve seen this mic. They’re virtually bullet proof — you can hammer a nail in with one and it’ll keep working. Great for travel, great sound quality (not for commercial VO work like the Yeti, but by the time you’ve compressed your MP3 for your podcast’s feed, you’ll barely notice a difference). You’ll need XLR cables to connect the mic to the recorder and probably want mic stands if you’re going to be recording in a fixed location (say, your home). It’d work just fine to hold these mics in your hand while you talk, if you like.
For a talk radio show, any more than the above is overkill.
Cons: Relatively expensive. Not suitable for professional voiceover, making it less ideal for fiction shows going for a high production value sound, though that’s a function of the microphones, not the recording unit. If you swap out the SM58 for an SM7B with a Cloudlifter CL-1, you’re gonna get an extraordinary sound (that will cost you $550+tax).
My Gear (~$1,500-$2,000)
Home studio
This is most certainly going to be overkill for 99% of you. It’s what I have setup in my dedicated recording room at home at time of writing (July 25, 2017.
Audio interface: Focusrite 18i20 1st generation ($200–$350 used) — for the particular and ever expanding needs of Wolf 359, I need to be able to record more than 4 people at once and had the opportunity to buy one of these puppies second hand. Would’ve probably gotten the more recent generation if I were buy new, but savings were more important to me than marginal quality gains.
Microphones: 2x Shure SM7Bs ($400 each) — the SM7Bs are what we use on Wolf 359. They’re great — it’s the same microphone model that Michael Jackson used on Thriller. Yeah, it’s a classic. I like that it has a strong proximity effect, which means the quality is responsive to how close or far from the mic your mouth is. It takes some getting used to and is not great for people unaccustomed to talking into microphones. The not great part being that you’ll sound significantly quieter the further away from the mic you talk, which can ruin a great interview, in a way that the ElectroVoice RE-20 is much more forgiving.
Mic Activator: 2x Cloudlifter CL-1 ($110 each)— this product helps with dynamic mics like the SM7B. If you have no idea what a dynamic mic is, you can read more about it here, but the biggest thing to know is that they’re significatnly quieter than other types of mics (namely condensor mics) out of the box. In a fancy studio you’d plug your dynamic mics into really expensive pre-amplifiers. Mic activators are basically the budget option for folks like me who can’t afford a great pre-amp yet, but want more gain, or volume, out of their dynamic mic.
Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x ($150) — a much better bang-for-your-buck than the Sennheiser or Bose cans* you can get for the same coin. *Audio-nerd slag for headphones.
Mic stand: 2x On Stage Stands MS7701B Tripod Boom Mic Stand ($25 each) — nothing special here. Does exactly what you want it to and is a solid brand that balances quality and cost, in my experience.
Audio “vlogger” rig
This is probably the coolest thing I’ve put together in the last several years, off-the-shelf-tech-wise. And it’s the secret sauce for how I’m always ready to get a decent quality interview for Focused as F*ck anytime, anywhere. I call it The Neistcaster, inspired by the camera setup popularized by Casey Neistat that’s become ubitquetous in the video-blogging world.
Mic: Electro-Voice 635A Handheld Live Interview Mic — if you can hammer in a nail with a Shure SM58, you can build a house with this mic. I’ve dropped mine a half dozen times running around New York City and it still sounds as good as when I got it off eBay in near mint condition for $80 ($140 new). Handling sounds are fairly noticeable, especially compared to the more expensive Electro-Voice RE50N/D-B ($200), which has a shock-mount built inside the mic unit. The smaller size of the 635A makes it a no-brainer — just hold it steady while you’re recording and you’ll be fine.
Recorder: Tascam DR-10X Mini Portable Recorder ($110) — this gem is the only clip on XLR recorder I can find from a name brand audio company. It pops on the bottom of any XLR microphone and is great for a portable, high quality recording setup. You’ll need a micro SD card and I recommend you keep it under 32GBs, otherwise the boot time slows down a ton (no idea why, but apparently it’s a know issue of audio prosumer audio recording gadgets). I use a 16GB card. It is plenty of space and the unit boots straight into recording in 6 seconds.
Custom clamp stand: Stage Ninja MIC-12-CB Mic Clamp Mount ($6) + On Stage MY200 Universal Microphone Clip ($35)— this combo will allow you to turn any clipable surface (ie. a table) into a mic stand. Great for recording interviews in coffee shops or turning your hotel room into a studio. Much easier to carry around than a regular mic stand.
Headphones: Koss PortaPro Headphones ($40) — can’t beat the quality for the price and form factor. Not equivalent to a good pair of over ears, but will give you a sense of whether your recordings are blown out or otherwise problematic while fitting comfortably in a small bag.
More Overkill
Microphone: ElectroVoice RE20 ($450) is a favorite of talk radio hosts that provides a great sound without the proximity effect of the Shure SM7B. Definitely use with a pre-amp or mic activator like the Cloudlifter CL-1.
Pre-amp: Universal Audio 4–710d 4–Channel Mic Preamp ($2500) — if money were no object, I would love to own one of these. I’ve used one before and basically it just adds a bunch of richness and depth to your recordings that will get utterly lost in compressing your tracks for the web. It’s something I want as a voice over artist doing work for commercials, film, and television — maybe some higher-production-value web videos.
*Deep breath….* Thus endeth the overkill. Thank you for indulging me.
Ways to save money on recording gear
Buy used. More than half the audio gear I’ve acquired this year has been second hand & refurbished units and it’s saved me hundreds. For example, I got a mint condition Electro-Voice RE50N/D-B for $125 vs $200+ tax new (and met an awesome person in the process!). Craigslist, eBay, and Amazon Marketplace are a great resource for finding deals. B&H and Adorama also have used departments, but the savings are less awesome.
Recording phone / Skype calls
Nine times out of ten, I put my phone on speaker and hold my phone up to my home studio mic. However there are smarter, better ways to do it.
Perhaps the easiest thing to use is a web-based tool like Zencastr.com, which you can think of like a podcasting-interview specific Skype platform. They have a free version that should be sufficient for starting your show and paid options for higher quality audio files, starting at $20/month for unlimited guests and recordings, plus WAV export.
If you want a hackier solution, I set up Loopback ($99) for getting Google Hangout/Skype calls to record into Adobe Audition. The same company, Rogue Amoeba, sells Audio Hijack ($50), which is a lot easier to use and likely more than what you’ll need to get started at half the price. For maximum flexibility, you can get the set at a discount ($125).
If it’s important to you to be able to record calls off your cellphone, there are apps for that. I haven’t found The Best One™. In fact, I’ve only ever tried one. It’s called TapeACall Pro. It costs $8 per year and gives you unlimited recording features. It works by calling you once you’re on a call already and starts recording by merging into a conference call with their “listening” number. Please note: I am not a lawyer, do not go around wiretapping people, pretty sure that sh!t is illegal, etc. Tell folks when you’re taping, get consent.
Editing software
Now that you’ve got your tape in the can (translation: now that you have a bunch of audio files on a hard drive), it’s time to cut it all together! And, boy, are there apps for that.
Adobe Audition CC 2017 & May 12th, 2017’s episode of focused.af
At the end of the day, everything below does the same thing: cut, arrange, layer, and fade sound files. I wouldn’t over think it. Well, actually I would. Because I’m a nerd. But you shouldn’t.
Seriously. Don’t overthink the software. Find something that works and put it to work making great work.
Audacity: 100% free, cross-platform software. For the feature set, no one can argue the price isn’t right. However, as much as I respect this legendary open-source project, I find the user interface to be confusing and hard to navigate compared to other apps.
GarageBand: free, so long as you’re inside in the “walled garden.” As with all things, you get what you pay for. If it didn’t have a dumb default setting on vocal tracks that adds a ton of reverb, it’d be a great intro podcasting app.
SoundTrap: free to try, $7-ish/month. It’s a 100% cloud-based editor. Basically, it’s the Google Docs of podcasting. It is primarily designed for music recording, but it works just fine for making a podcast. And the best part is, your episodes are always where you are (provided you have a stable internet connection). I’ve put together several full episodes of my talk show on demo computers in Apple Stores around New York City.
Audition: $10–50/month from Adobe.com. It’s what I use and I recommend it, but might be out of your budget. It’s got some weird bugs I encounter from time to time, but it’s what I know and I like how it integrates with Adobe Premiere, which I use for video production.
Ardour: Free to try, as low as $1/month to use premium, or pay what you want for the current version without updates. It’s a new gem I found but haven’t tested. Night and day better looking and more fully featured than Audacity. Excellent option if you’re using Linux — pretty sure it’s completely free for that platform.
Reaper: $60 for a discounted license, $225 for a commercial one. Another lower cost, fully featured DAW very similar to Ardour. Seems to be more popular than Ardour among the audio drama editors I know.
Logic: $199. Apple’s premium offering. The Final Cut Pro of audio. I don’t use it. Hear it got weird when it went to version X, much like Final Cut. Some folks will like the performance optimization on Mac hardware that only an app from Apple can achieve. That plus the one time cost vs. subscription are the two reasons I see to choose it over Adobe Audition.
Cubase: $100–579.99. Never used it. I know it exists.
Pro Tools: $29.99/month, $299/year, or $599 to buy. The heaviest hitter in the room. Too heavy for me and probably you, too. Our pro (ie. full time) sound engineer on Wolf 359 uses it to record us in the studio. Gabriel edits at home with Audition.
Ways to save money on editing software
If you’re not gonna use the free ones, buy educational for paid apps. Most of the above have student pricing, so jump on that if you’re eligible. If you’re a video editor already, you could easily use an app like Adobe Premiere, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, or even Telestream’s ScreenFlow ($99) to edit a podcast, so long as you export to MP3.
Sound Effects & Music
As my friend and collaborator, Gabriel Urbina, once told me, there are only four tools at the podcaster’s disposal: spoken words, sound effects, music, and silence. By that (accurate) logic, we’re talking about 50% of the entire audio medium right now! I wish I had more smart things to say here, but please don’t take the brevity of this section as a sign that it’s any less important than your recording or editing tools. The difference appropriate sound effects and good music can make in a show is insane. If you have the patience to explore incorporating these in your show, I strongly urge you give it a go.
How the radio pros of the 1930s got their rooster sound effects: live & in stereo
Free: Make ’em yourself, use YouTube’s audio library, Free Music Archive, and/or SoundBible
$: AudioJungle ($1+ for sound effects, $10+ per song, SoundSnap $30/month sound effect library)
$$: Pond5 (prices vary, but all start higher than AudioJungle, in my experience — greater selection and arguably more higher quality files)
$$$: Hire a pro foley artist for sound effects or commission a professional musician for your music
Hosting Services
Choosing a host
Contrary to what I’ve found is a popular belief, Apple Podcasts / iTunes does not host your podcast. Apple Podcasts, like Google Play, Stitcher, and many other websites where podcasts can be found and played are podcast directories, often with built-in players. These directories make it easy for listeners to find and listen to your show. A podcast hosting service is where the audio file data actually lives. Before you can list yourself in the iTunes of the world, you’re gonna have to pick one a host to call home.
Now, if I successfully impressed upon you the importance of not overthinking editing software, please multiply that impression several hundred times for this section.
I already have overthought this so you don’t have to. More than anything else in podcasting, it soooo doesn’t matter and ultimately comes down to what you can afford. Also, it’s relatively easy to switch at any time.
For Wolf 359, we use Libsyn’s mid-tier $15-20/month plan. For Focused as F*ck (FaF), I use Omny Studio’s entry-level $9/month plan. I briefly used SoundCloud Pro, and then Unlimited for FaF, and while it has some cool features, like in-line commenting on the audio player, it feels like it’s not designed for podcasting without a content scheduling feature.
I use Omny Studio for Focused AF over everything else for a million reasons — mostly because of it’s clean interface, superior analytics, and no-brainer features that no one else seems to have, like an Apple Podcast review tracker. Keep in mind that while they offer unlimited uploads, which only a few others offer, Omny has an unadvertised limit of 1TB download bandwidth (compare to SoundCloud’s no-fine-print Unlimited service for $15/month). All this means is that if your show gets a ton of downloads, you’ll start getting charged $0.10 per GB of traffic after the first 1,000GBs. The idea is that, at that point, you’ll be flush with ad money to cover the costs. And they partner with one of the more badass advertising platforms I’ve found yet (more on that later).
** Unfortunately, since I published this article, Omny Studio has ceased it’s $9/month plan. It now only offers a $99/month enterprise plan. I believe you can run a virtually unlimited number of shows on one account, so this is a good solution for any of the emerging podcast studios and collectives I’ve seen popping up (lookin’ at you, Procyon).
In the spirit of me-over-thinking-so-you-don’t-have-to, Cast gets an honorable mention for being notably different. They built in a interview recording app and basic audio editor into a hosting service, starting at $10/month. Great if you’re on the road a lot, don’t want to over think editing, and don’t mind severe limitations in what you can do editing-wise.
If you’re broke, consider hosting for free on SoundCloud’s free tier, BlogTalk Radio, or this Y-Combinator startup, Awesound (best for aspiring entrepreneurs and brands looking to market their own products or manage their own ad sales directly).
The only other one worthy of note, in my opinion, is Blubrry, which offers a more robust API than any other service I’ve seen for building out custom workflow optimizations. If you don’t know what an API is, this is an irrelevant detail in your life (and you should skip to next paragraph). If you are the kind of person that gets stoked for a good API, then this actually may be worth the premium for you ($12+/month). You’ll save yourself the headache you’ll get trying to estimate the monthly cost and setup analyics to host your show on Amazon S3 without sacrificing the customizability you may want for being able to automate your workflow until the cows come home.
And in the spirit of long-winded-ness, this post would be incomplete without mentioning Anchor. It’s kind of a secret hosting service in a way and definitely deserves some explanation in other sections of this post. Long story short, Anchor is an app that makes it easy to make a podcast from your smartphone. When it comes time to ship an episode that your listeners can download wherever they listen to podcasts, Anchor will handle all your hosting needs. If you already have a show, they’ll actually migrate it over to their servers for you. I’m even under the impression they’ll serve up audio files made on a computer, as well (if you know where to look ;)).
All that said, please remember: don’t overthink it. Again, they all fundamentally do the same thing.
Don’t want to think about it? Sign up for awesound.com for the best price v. feature tradeoff.
Get your show listed
Now you’ve got a host, you’ll need to submit your RSS feed to the various podcast directories, like Google Play, Stitcher, and iTunes*cough*… excuse me! Did I say iTunes? I meant Apple Podcasts (it’s been recently rebranded).
Focus on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, & Google Play — in that order (use those links to go where you need to setup your podcast on those platforms).
Here’s the resource from Apple for submitting your show to Apple, assuming you’ll at least want to list it with them.
There are a million tutorials for getting it from your host onto the Apple Podcast’s of the world that’ll explain it better than I can and I’m sure your hosting service will provide instructions in their respective FAQ section. It’s a little copy/pasting that I won’t cover here because it’s somewhat specific to what host you choose.
Branding
We’re not talking about roses here. In the podcasting game, branding matters. In an ocean of free content, a little bit of effort in how you present your show goes a long way towards standing out. Because despite the old adage, you know everyone has judged a book by its cover at least once. And you can bet prospective podcast listners will be judging yours.
Name
Make it simple and clear what the value is if it’s a talk show. Provocative is good, but clear is better. Make sure you can own the social handles and domain name, too. Use this for checking what social media handles are available. You mostly want the.com (I’m a big fan of.fm), Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but you might also want YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Reddit, depending on your audience. I’m a believer that consistency is key, to the point that I got “focusedafshow” on every platform, including Instagram, where I could’ve gotten “focused.af”. My thinking is you’ll get more out of being able to say “Follow the show on social at WhateverName everywhere,” than needing to go through a convoluted list of variations.
Cover art
Rule of thumb: keep it clean and clear and you’ll stand out. It helps if it’s legible and eye catching when viewed super tiny, which it will be on most smartphones in various podcasting apps.
Free: get a friend to do it, use this mediocre-but-quick tool from Squarespace, this much better tool called Canva, or get GIMP and use your own pictures, something as flashy as it is free from Unsplash, or an iconic icon from The Noun Project to slap something together.
If you’re gonna make it yourself, I recommend using an 800 x 800 pixel canvas — you can always export a smaller resolution version for different sites.
Paid design marketplaces:
$: Fiverr.com
$$: studio.envato.com
$$$: 99designs.com
Website
The domain name is much less important than the show’s actual name, but still worhty of some thought. www.showname.com is great. www.shownamepodcast.com is fine. www.shownamepod.com is also accetable. I’m a nerd, so I’d spring for the.fm domain name and point the.com to that one for maximum trendiness, but that’s just me.
Hover.com is great for registering domains — good, clear pricing, no BS. I hate GoDaddy with a firey passion. iwantmyname.com is perhaps prettier and easier than hover.com, and supports more wacky TLDs (the part after the “dot”), but they’ll rip you off by $1–100 per site in my experience. Gandi.net is the mecca for all obscure TLDs — I’d compare the price between that and Hover.
We host our site for Wolf 359 at Squarespace. It’s easy.af and their support is great. Plus, if you sign up for a year you get a free domain name (though probably not a.fm name). Others prefer Wix.com, which is fine too. I really like Strikingly and will probably be building out my site for my new show there because — unlike Squarespace — the $8/month buys three sites instead of one and doesn’t cost any extra for a simple e-commerce store (and you also get a free domain with a 1-year subscription).
For a more advanced option, you may prefer the greater control afforded with Wordpress site, or even a custom coded app. Dealer’s choice.
If you have no preference and want something simple to setup and cost-effective, try Strikingly with my referral code and we’ll both get a free month.
Monetization
“Get into podcasting for the money” said no one ever.
That’s not to say there ain’t gold in them thar hills. I recommend you get into this game because you’re excited to make the show first and foremost. I also think building or strengthening an audience / your personal or business platform is a great goal. There are definitely ways to make money, but I recommend taking the long view.
Fan Funding
Patreon is how we make most of our money at Wolf 359 from monthly contributions from fans. For insanely insightful thoughts on how to design a series that people will shell out for even though you’re giving it away for free, do yourself a favor and read “Better Than Free” by Kevin Kelly.
Seriously, go read it. And then read his “1000 True Fans” article.
After those two articles, I don’t have much else to tell you. What I can say about Patreon specifically is:
Don’t launch too early. It’s hard to make asking people for money exciting and you only get to launch anything once. Relaunches are super useful, but they’re different beasts entirely. We waited until we were seeing about 10,000 downloads a month for Wolf 359 before we got our shit together and started making our page, mostly because people were straight up asking us how they could pay us. We also knew that we were about halfway through the show at that time, so there was a “now or never” aspect to our decision as well. Don’t think of Patreon backer rewards like Kickstarter backer rewards. We ran into the issue that our rewards created another part time job that we needed funding to justify doing. Keep it simple. Think of Patreon as a membership platform and your show as a miniature NPR. Look for repeatable, non-time intensive things. One of our best rewards for Wolf 359 is by far our monthly live stream AMA. It gives us a way provide something of value — answers to questions — in a way that doesn’t take us off task from making the show we’re getting supported for, unlike our Behind the Scenes podcast, which we’re often late with because of how much time it takes to make. Use this amazing article by Kevin Kelly to generate new ideas (and share ’em with me!). If you get one thing out of this whole post, make it that article.
If you want to give fans a way to tip you in a more one-off manner, you can add a simple donation button easily to any Squarespace site, you’ll just need a Stripe.com payment processor account, which is easy to setup. If you have a Wordpress site it’s almost as easy to setup a PayPal donation button.
Merchandise
Merch is cool, but hard to do (legal red tape, time consuming, expensive). Make sure you work with your local government agencies to ensure you’re complying with sales tax laws and other stuff that you’ve gotta be responsible for as a business that sells goods (you’re on your own for this one, at least for now. I’m not a lawyer or accountant and should not be listened to about all that stuff beyond “It’s hard, go do it right.”
It’s because of that stuff it took us a long time (years) to get around to setting up our shop for Wolf 359. We opted to create a Shopify store with Printful as a fulfiller for, so we don’t have to deal with inventory or shipping after we design the products. The downside is that the profit margins are much less than if we were doing stuff in a more hands on way. That’s why our shirts are $30 instead of $20 — because otherwise we wouldn’t make money on them to help us pay for more time in the studio and, hopefully, ourselves and the amazing artists that make it happen.
Advertising
Ads are a way to make money, but not until you’re getting at least 2,000 downloads per new episode within 2–4 weeks of release. When you’re at 10k-50k downloads per episode you can expect to get about $300 per spot. CPM or Cost Per Mille (aka thousand impressions or downloads) will range from $5–60 early on, depending on your audience’s demographics and size. You see more insane deals for the break out hits, which neither of my shows are (yet…). Midroll.com will help you figure out your rates and place you with advertisers. Hosting services like Libsyn and BlogTalk Radio will help broker deals with advertisers for you for a cut (typically 40%).
At the moment, I’m most excited about CastPlus, which offers creators 80% of ad revenue for deals they broker on your behalf and have some exciting new technology and a great team, judging from the people I’ve gotten to speak with. If you’re just starting out and know you want to monetize with ads eventually, Blogtalk Radio will help you grow and be able to get you ads earlier on because of how they’re working with advertisers. And if you’re focused on marketing your own products, like ebooks, bonus content, or online learning resources, the hosting platform Awesound is uniquely suited for you.
Audience Building
Like anything in this day and age everything online has the life of a fruit fly. As far as I can tell, the most important thing is consistency and specificity.
The most important thing is consistency and specificity.
Whether you’re doing a cat toy review show or the cat toy themed Toy Story fanfic audio drama, publish regularly. Read: at least once a month. I’d recommend once a week if you can do it. Twice a month has worked great for Wolf 359. Personally, I think there’s an untapped opportunity in daily uploads. Pick whatever you can do sustainably and stick to it.
There’s a snowball effect that happens with podcasting. When we launched Wolf 359, not even our moms were listening for a while. The biggest “growth hack” we did was make a show we would want to listen to and I cannot recommend strongly enough you try and do the same. About a year and a half into it, we started seeing real traction and a little over a year after that we got to celebrate our three millionth download.
Because of the success of Wolf 359, my new show, Focused as F*ck, launched with an existing audience — at least compared to the launch of Wolf. Most folks don’t have that luxury starting out, which is why I started with Mindset. You can create some of this snowball effect by having guests on your show that will bring people with them, which is one reason I believe interview-based shows are so successful. But that’s also why interviews with influencers are so common on talk podcasts and cameos/shared universes are gaining popularity in audio dramas. Both practices help cross-polinate audiences and expose new people to shows they’ll probably like and just hadn’t heard of yet.
Subscriptions, ratings, and reviews in places like iTunes help elevate your show’s ranking in those system, which helps get your show discovered by listeners outside your existing network, which can also trigger or intensify that snowball effect. Finding an authentic, original way to request those actions of your audience isn’t easy and it matters that you do, because every freaking show asking for the same thing, which makes it easy to tune out those requests.
My daily series Focused as F*ck was only supposed to be a 30 day experiment. But as I saw listenership on the feed and engagement on my social accounts growing and becoming increasingly positive in specific ways (for example, thank you notes for the guided meditations I started putting out as a weekly segment), I decided to make a gamble and trade another 30 days of hard ass work for the public acknowledgement that the first 30 were worth it. I both genuinely wanted to continue and also had other projects I could do instead.
Calm as F*ck is a guided meditation segment I do once a week on Focused as F*ck
The biggest thing you can control in terms of growing your audience is to be listening to whoever is listening to you and engaging with them in a conversation. The more meaningful the better. What’s a meaningful conversation? Go ask your listeners. And listen to yourself, too. If you’re unfulfilled, you can imagine they will be to. Conversely, if you’re inspired by what you’re hearing from folks, you’re probably on to something.
The #1 thing |
innesota said in a statement. “It’s clear that the Bloomington City government, at the behest of one of the largest centers of commerce in the country, hopes to set a precedent that will stifle dissent and instill fear into young people of color and allies who refuse to watch their brothers and sisters get gunned down in the streets with no consequences.”
Around 3,000 people flooded the mall on Saturday, December 20, to sing carols and chants following police killings of unarmed African-American men like Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Dontre Hamilton. The protests were peaceful, and some mall workers stepped outside of their businesses and raised their hands in support. Police closed around 80 stores during the two-and-a-half hour protests, and locked down several mall entrances.
Days after the action, Bloomington City Attorney Sandra Johnson announced that she will not only seek criminal trespass and unlawful assembly charges against the protesters, but will also seek to have them pay for the mall’s lost revenue and overtime for police officers—a cost that she says will be “staggering.”
Can the Mall of America prohibit the exercise of free speech and assembly on its premises? And can it pick-and-choose who it allows to assemble? Last year, for example, the Mall allowed around 7,000 people to gather in the same rotunda to honor a young white man who died of cancer.
The First Amendment protects against government suppression of speech, but not private responses to the exercise of free speech and expression. And the Mall of America is considered private property, despite receiving hundreds of millions in public subsidies since it was built, including an additional $250 million approved last year.
For decades, courts have struggled with how to protect free speech in public forums that have grown increasingly privatized.
Mall “Born of a Union with Government,” but Not a Public Space
In many communities, town squares and downtown business districts have largely been replaced by privately-owned shopping malls, particularly in suburban areas. In Bloomington, Minnesota, for example, there is no public space that offers the same level of visibility as a protest at the Mall of America—which is why protesters chose the location on December 20.
Even traditional public spaces like parks are increasingly owned by private entities, most famously in New York’s Zuccotti Park, where Occupy Wall Street was born, and where Occupiers faced eviction after the park’s owners changed the rules.
Mall of America’s status as a public space under the Minnesota state constitution was challenged in the 1990s by anti-fur activists who wanted to protest outside Macy’s. A Minnesota trial court initially found that, thanks to the Mall’s substantial public subsidies, the Mall of America was “born of a union with government” and could only impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on protest.
The Minnesota Supreme Court, though, reversed the lower court in 1998 and declared that the state constitution’s protection of free speech “does not apply to a privately owned shopping center such as the Mall of America, although developed in part with public financing.”
Suburban Malls as Public Spaces?
Initially, however, the U.S. Supreme Court viewed privately-owned suburban shopping malls through the same lens as the public town squares they were replacing.
In 1968, in an opinion authored by Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Court held that suburban shopping malls were serving the same public function as a town square, and therefore should be subject to similar constitutional constraints.
“The shopping center premises are open to the public to the same extent that as the commercial center of a normal town,” Marshall wrote in the case, which involved the Logan Valley Mall in Pennsylvania. “So far as can be determined, the main distinction in practice between use by the public of the Logan Valley Mall and of any other business district … would be that those members of the general public who sought to use the mall premises in a manner contrary to the wishes of the [owners] could be prevented from so doing.”
Subsequent decisions, however, chipped away at that “public function” doctrine, most notably in a 1972 decision authored by Justice Louis Powell.
Powell, a former corporate lawyer who had authored the Powell Memo for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce the previous year, declared in the Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner decision that a mall does not “lose its private character merely because the public is generally invited to use it for designated purposes.”
A new opening for states to protect free speech in shopping malls emerged in the 1980 Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robbins decision. In that case, the Court opened the door to states finding that their own constitutions protect free speech in shopping malls or other privately-owned public spaces. The California constitution’s broader free speech protections, for example, allow for protests and leafletting in that state’s malls.
Minnesota’s Supreme Court, though, came to a different outcome in that 1998 case involving the fur protesters. The state constitution, the justices declared, does not bar Mall of America’s owners from limiting the exercise of free speech on mall property, or choosing to allow some forms of speech but not others.
“The Poorly Financed Causes of Little People” Yield to Corporate Rights
In recent years, the First Amendment has undergone a revolution in the U.S. Supreme Court—in cases like Citizens United, Hobby Lobby, and McCutcheon—but largely in favor of expanding the “free speech rights” of corporations and the wealthy few, rather than protecting what Justice Hugo Black described in 1945 as “the poorly financed causes of little people.” When average Americans raise their voices in protest, they can still be muffled by corporate interests.WASHINGTON — Investigators discovered the name of the suspect in the failed Times Square bombing because of a telephone number he provided when he returned to the United States from Pakistan in February, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.
The phone number he gave three months ago was entered in a Customs and Border Protection agency database and came up Monday when investigators were checking the record of calls made to or from the prepaid cellular telephone used by the purchaser — at that point unidentified — of the vehicle used in the failed bombing, the official said.
Only when they matched the phone number did investigators learn that “that was the guy we were looking for,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive investigation.
The phone-record link underscored the combination of investigative skill, increased government integration and sheer luck that helped authorities track down Faisal Shahzad just 53 hours after a vehicle packed with explosives was parked in the heart of Manhattan. Once investigators had Mr. Shahzad’s identity, they were able to put his name on a no-fly list that ultimately led to his being pulled off a plane about to leave the country.
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Mr. Shahzad, 30, a Pakistani-American who was naturalized as a United States citizen last year, has been charged with terrorism-related crimes and has waived his right to a speedy arraignment, officials said, meaning that he does not have to be brought to court right away. The government has said Mr. Shahzad admitted receiving bomb-making training in the tribal regions of Pakistan and then driving the car bomb into Times Square over the weekend.Do You Know What The U.S. Government Is Up To In Syria?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
Mark Ward is the U.S. State Department's senior adviser on assistance to Syria, and when he heard the Syrian border town of Azaz was overrun by an offshoot of al-Qaida in September, he knew it was time to get creative again.
"You always have to have a plan B in this kind of work," he says.
Ward is based in Turkey. His job is to oversee a growing and unusual U.S. humanitarian assistance program in rebel-held areas in seven provinces across northern Syria.
U.S. policy toward Syria was front-page news when President Obama talked about a possible missile strike, and there's been an ongoing debate about U.S. assistance to the rebels attempting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
But the main U.S. effort, which has received much less attention, is the more than $1.5 billion that the U.S. has provided for humanitarian aid and social programs since the Syrian uprising began in the spring of 2011.
By comparison, the U.S. has spent $26 million on nonlethal aid to the rebels, though the U.S. is now undertaking a program to provide arms as well.
Ward faced a new and daunting challenge when a radical Islamist rebel group ousted another rebel faction in Azaz, less than five miles from the Turkish border. Turkey then closed the nearby border crossing, shutting down a crucial highway to Syria.
"It has definitely slowed down assistance, but it hasn't stopped it," says Ward, a Foreign Service veteran. "There are other ways into Syria, but it takes longer."
Enlarge this image toggle caption STRINGER/Reuters /Landov STRINGER/Reuters /Landov
An Unconventional Program
In his signature San Francisco Giants ball cap, the lanky 57-year-old, known as "Mr. Mark" to Syrians, heads what he calls a "roving platform of about 25 different U.S. government officials" perched on Syria's borders.
"I don't think we've ever done it quite this way before," he says. "But we've never had a situation like this before."
There is no functioning U.S. Embassy in Damascus and running the aid program out of Washington was considered impractical. So Ward and his team operate from along Syria's borders.
Critics, especially those in Congress who have urged stronger support for moderate rebels, charge that the Obama administration's support is "dismally slow" and has done little to strengthen moderate rebels against the well-armed and funded Islamist fighters.
The humanitarian program's critics are dismayed that the program addresses only a small percentage of the staggering needs of Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas where U.N. agencies cannot reach.
More than 2 million Syrians have fled abroad and an estimated 4 million are displaced inside the country. Together they account for about a quarter of Syria's population of around 25 million.
Ward acknowledges that aid delivery has been slow. "But I don't think it's dismal," he counters, "and it's slow for a couple of reasons."
Vetting Aid Recipients
His team has to meet stringent U.S. government requirements and vet every Syrian partner that delivers flour, blankets, medicine and cash assistance, as well as every rebel that gets military gear — from satellite phones to night-vision goggles.
"Vetting is to prevent assistance from falling into the wrong hands," he says.
Why isn't more humanitarian aid going in?
"I don't think the answer is lack of funds," he says. "I think the answer is access."
There is intense fighting along Syria's northern and eastern borders, and often it's rebels battling other rebels, with more moderate forces pitted against al-Qaida offshoots. Checkpoints are also a problem because they are unpredictable, Ward says.
"Some of them are friendly, some are not," he says.
Only a few months ago, the Syrian regime was the main obstacle to distributing food.
"We don't hear about problems with the regime anymore," says Ward. Now, the "foreign fighters" on both sides are the "enemies" of aid delivery.
Threats To Aid Delivery
the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, the Syrian government's Lebanese ally, has checkpoints in the north and so do rebel groups linked to al-Qaida. These pop-up check points complicate deliveries.
"We don't want to see that food or equipment hijacked," Ward says.
Despite Washington's promises of lethal aid, the largest deliveries so far are 330,000 MREs (meals ready to eat), the standard military rations familiar to U.S. troops everywhere. Salim Idriss, the rebel leader who heads the Supreme Military Council, has been begging for arms and ammunition, so the first shipment of MREs was a hard sell, says Ward.
"I will never forget the first day they arrived," he says with a laugh,"a large C-17 was parked and 50,000 MREs in pallets had been unloaded." Ward was surrounded by senior rebel commanders who had never seen an MRE.
"How do we eat them?" asked the crew of commanders. Ward had to give a demonstration on the spot, heating up a package of meat stew, then, finding a "taster" among the suspicious rebel officers.
"Luckily, I found somebody who says he'll take the first bite and he likes it," Ward says.
He had passed an important test, but he says the delivery of MREs was also a test for Idriss and his commanders.
"We told them, what is important; this will show us your ability to get supplies distributed inside Syria into the right hands," Ward says.
Since that first delivery, the rebels have developed a distribution network for their fighters across the north.
The Obama administration wants to make sure that aid, nonlethal as well as lethal, does not fall into the wrong hands. The rebel factions in the Supreme Military Council have built confidence and, Ward says, more equipment is in the pipeline for delivery this month, including trucks, communication gear and portable battlefield operating rooms.
His bigger concern is the coming winter when the civilian population will again face severe cold, food and fuel shortages in a war that shows no slow down. Planning for winter began in June.
Over the past few months, Ward's team has delivered big items — including ambulances, garbage trucks, large generators and water tanks — to four cities in the north. Rebel radio and TV stations are poised to broadcast practical messages, including how to use carpeting and plastic sheeting to stay warm. Ward's team is now positioning heaters and blankets on the border for when the cold weather sets in.
"The virtue is, this is the second winter, and we learned from the first one," he says.Photo
NEW DELHI– The Congress Party faced a new crisis on Tuesday after a southern political party threatened to withdraw from the governing coalition if India did not join an international push to investigate alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
The possible pullout would leave the beleaguered United Progressive Alliance still in control of the Indian government, but it marks the latest case of arm-twisting by fractious government allies ahead of national elections scheduled for next year.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or D.M.K., the opposition party in the state of Tamil Nadu, withdrew five ministers from the governing coalition in order to pressure the government to adopt a resolution in Parliament declaring that genocide and war crimes have been committed against Tamils by the Sri Lankan army and administration. But the party has yet to make the withdrawal official by sending a letter to the president announcing the party’s resignation.
This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council, which includes India, is expected to vote on a United States-backed resolution that urges Sri Lanka to deliver on promises to investigate allegations of a mass slaughter of Tamil civilians as the country’s civil war ended in 2009 and also cites reports about possible continued atrocities. The D.M.K. has called for the United Nations resolution to explicitly accuse Sri Lanka of genocide.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu have often voiced their concerns about the welfare of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, the island nation off the south Indian coast, where Tamil rebels, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or L.T.T.E, fought to gain autonomy for the Tamil regions of the country.
The D.M.K. said it wanted an independent international body to investigate what it describes as a genocide committed by the Sri Lankan government during the country’s bloody 26-year civil war, The Hindu newspaper reported, citing a statement in Tamil by the party’s chief, Muthuvel Karunanidhi. Human rights activists say that more than 40,000 Tamils died during the war.
Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s finance minister and a senior leader of the Congress-ruled governing coalition, said the D.M.K.’s absence would not cause the government to collapse.
“The government is absolutely stable and enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha,” he said, referring to the lower house of Parliament. Mr. Chidambaram, who is from Tamil Nadu, was also one of three senior Congress leaders who visited the D.M.K. chief on Monday, hoping to resolve the issue.
“This is not a crisis,” he emphasized as he addressed reporters Tuesday morning.
The D.M.K. said it was withdrawing 18 legislators from the coalition in the Lower House of Parliament, but the Congress Party, which leads the United Progressive Alliance, looks unlikely to be toppled. That’s because in order for the government to fall, a “no-confidence” vote would need to pass the lower house with a simple majority. Of the lower house’s 540 seats, the Congress Party controls the lion’s share with 203 seats and has enough additional support from outside parties, including 43 seats from two political parties in the state of Uttar Pradesh alone, to defeat any such vote.
Mr. Chidambaram said that the president of the Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been briefed about the D.M.K.’s demands and that all political parties are already being consulted on a possible Parliament resolution on the issue.
“We’re examining the text of the final draft that came up before us last night,” Mr. Chidambaram said, but he added that he was not aware of what stand each political party would take on the issue.
Photo
“We are fully committed to the cause of the Lankan Tamils and an impartial inquiry should happen into the allegations of atrocities against them,” Mrs. Gandhi said Tuesday, according to the Press Trust of India. Mrs. Gandhi’s husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was killed in 1991 by a female suicide bomber believed to be associated with the L.T.T.E. in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Karunanidhi said the D.M.K. would reconsider the pullout if its demands are met, a position Mr. Chidambaram said Congress members have noted.
The D.M.K. is the second major political ally to threaten to yank its support from the governing coalition. In September, the All India Trinamool Congress, which governs the state of West Bengal, pulled out of the alliance, protesting a package of fuel price increases and pro-business economic changes.
Analysts say that the current standoff maybe just politics as usual as the D.M.K. struggles to draw attention to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, a deeply emotional issue in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Over the past week, thousands of students across Tamil Nadu, including in Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Salem, have fasted, picketed and boycotted classes as they demand an independent investigation into the Sri Lankan government’s treatment of Tamils.
Indian police has issued arrest warrants for hundreds of university students in Chennai who were demonstrating against the Sri Lankan treatment of Tamils.
The recent upheaval in Tamil Nadu has been sparked by the recent release of disturbing photographs of the body of the former Tamil rebel leader’s 12-year old son, who appeared to have been shot at close range in the chest, and a report on the continued abuse of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Many of the 72 million citizens of Tamil Nadu relate to and support Sri Lankan Tamils, with whom they share a common language.
On Tuesday, Parliament was disrupted over the issue, which has drawn heated debate on the House floor in recent days.Chris Monroe/CNET
Add financial management to Alexa's resume.
Starting today, Amazon's increasingly popular virtual assistant will be able to sync with Capital One to help you keep track of your accounts. That means that if you're an Amazon Echo or Fire TV user, you'll be able to ask Alexa to check your account balance, tell you when your next credit card payment is due, or authorize her to go ahead and make a payment.
It's the first of Alexa's "Skills" -- essentially the apps of Amazon's voice-powered platform -- that enables users to interact with their financial accounts, according to Rob Pulciani, director of Amazon Alexa. "More and more voice experiences are coming," he added, "and it's only going to get better for our customers."
More Alexa devices are coming, too. The first orders for the portable, battery-powered Amazon Tap smart speaker are expected to ship out by the end of March. The same goes for the Amazon Echo Dot, a puck-like mini-Echo that you can plug into your existing audio setup to bring Alexa into play.
Enlarge Image Screenshots by Ry Crist/CNET
To sync Alexa up with your account, you'll need to enable the Capital One Skill in the Alexa app. This will require you to enter your Capital One username and password. Once you do, you'll be able to ask Alexa for your basic account information or to make a payment by telling her to "ask Capital One" to do those things. Examples of what you can ask for include:
"Alexa, ask Capital One for my credit card balance."
"Alexa, ask Capital One for recent transactions on my checking account."
"Alexa, ask Capital One when is my credit card payment due?"
"Alexa, ask Capital One to pay my credit card bill."
You do have the option of enabling a four-digit passcode, which Alexa will ask you for any time you try to access your account. That's the same layer of protection the mega-retailer offers for Alexa-powered Amazon purchases.
Of course, if someone overhears you using your passcode, then there isn't much that can stop them from snooping your account balance -- something Capital One explicitly acknowledges in the Skill's terms and conditions.
"It is possible that someone other than you could interact with Capital One via the Skill, or that someone could overhear you interacting with Capital One via the Skill and learn information about your Account(s)," says the fine print, before going on to suggest:
"Try using your 'inside voice.'"Reporting from Phoenix -- Sarah Palin left the national stage Wednesday, but the controversy over her role on the ticket flared as aides to John McCain disclosed new details about her expensive wardrobe purchases and revealed that a Republican Party lawyer would be dispatched to Alaska to inventory and retrieve the clothes still in her possession...
For weeks, the McCain-Palin campaign has dealt with the fallout from the disclosure that the Republican National Committee was billed for $150,000 in wardrobe purchases for the Palin family -- a discovery that was widely ridiculed and undercut Palin's hockey mom appeal.
Several McCain aides said they had recently discovered that Palin's traveling staff had used personal credit cards to spend as much as $20,000 to $30,000 on additional wardrobe items for Palin.True freshman offensive tackle K'Rojhn Calbert will not play in 2017.
Calbert will miss the 2017 season due to a pre-existing knee injury, Tennessee officials confirmed to Volquest.com. Calbert was likely to redshirt this fall, but with Chance Hall's season-ending injury, the McMinnville (Tenn.) native became more important from a depth standpoint.
Now, Calbert will redshirt and likely require surgery on the pre-existing injury.
Calbert's rags-to-riches football career has been well-chronicled, as the 6-5, 316-pound lineman missed two seasons at Warren County High School due to knee injuries. With a ton of untapped potential, Calbert drew early favorable reviews from offensive line coach Walt Wells, who acknowledged that Calbert is really raw.
“K’Rojhn is a big, athletic and strong kid who’s never played a lot of football,” Wells said in assessing Calbert earlier in camp.
“He’s learning everyday, and the thing that’s really surprised me with him is how quickly he’s learning. He’s doing a nice job with that. We’ve got to continue to push him. He hasn’t seen a lot of different things from our defense yet, so his head’s exploding a little bit, but he’s doing a good job.”
Calbert is expected to be full-speed for next spring.15 SHARES Facebook Twitter
We’re nearly there — in about a month, Martin Scorsese‘s decades long journey to bring “Silence” to the big screen will be realized when the picture opens in limited release. And as it goes for a movie of such personal importance, the cast felt the responsibility of doing right by their director, with Andrew Garfield in particular studying extensively for his role as a Jesuit missionary, and even going on a spiritual retreat in preparation for the film.
“If I’d had 10 years, it wouldn’t have been enough to prepare for this role,” Garfield told The New York Times. “I got totally swept up in all things Jesuit and very taken with Jesuit spirituality. The preparation went on for nearly a year, and by the time we got to Taiwan [where the film was shot], it was bursting out of me.”
READ MORE: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ Won’t Screen For Critics Or Awards Season Voters Until December
“On retreat, you enter into your imagination to accompany Jesus through his life from his conception to his crucifixion and resurrection. You are walking, talking, praying with Jesus, suffering with him. And it’s devastating to see someone who has been your friend, whom you love, be so brutalized,” he added.
Co-starring Adam Driver, Tadanobu Asano, Ciarán Hinds, and Liam Neeson, the drama follows missionaries in 17th century Japan, who have their faith tested at a time when Christianity was persecuted in the country. Here’s the official synopsis:
Martin Scorsese’s SILENCE tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) – at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden.
“Silence” opens on December 23rd. Check out some new images and the poster below.Former NFL quarterback Vince Young, who was added to the Saskatchewan Roughriders negotiation list in early February, has hired high-profile American agent Leigh Steinberg.
A third overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft by Tennessee, Young played six NFL seasons with the Titans and Eagles and a member of the Bills, Packers and Browns. He’s thrown for almost 9,000 yards in his NFL career with 46 touchdowns and 51 interceptions while adding 282 rushing attempts for 1,459 (5.2 yards-per-carry average) and 12 touchdowns. The 33-year-old hasn’t taken a pro snap since 2011 with Philadelphia. He announced his retirement from the NFL on June 14, 2014.
Young, who won a NCAA national championship with the University of Texas in 2006, has had bumps along his pro career. Distraught by poor play and injury, he disappeared for several hours in 2008, leading then-Titans head coach Jeff Fisher to phone police. And in 2012, the Associated Press reported that Young had spent much of the $34 million he earned in the NFL. In January 2014, Young filed for bankruptcy.
Young was on the Montreal Alouettes neg list from August 2012 but he was taken off by 2015.
The Riders currently have veteran Kevin Glenn as well as youngsters Brandon Bridge, G.J. Kinne, Bryan Bennett and Jake Waters under contract at quarterback. 3DownNation recently reported that the team worked out Johnny Manziel.
Adding Young to the neg list does not necessarily mean that he will sign with the Riders, but given that the 2005 Heisman Trophy runner-up was added on Jan. 30, the timing is certainly curious.Uganda's parliamentary speaker ordered the removal of 25 lawmakers who are opposed to legislation that seeks to extend the decades-long rule of President Yoweri Museveni.
The suspended members of parliament were accused of obstructing proceedings in a riotous session on Tuesday during which legislators brawled over efforts to introduce a contentious motion to remove the presidential age limit of 75 from Uganda's constitution.
Museveni, who is 73 and has ruled Uganda since 1986, is ineligible to run again in 2021 if the age barrier stays.
Uganda's media regulator Wednesday restricted live coverage of parliamentary sessions, leading local television channels to stop broadcasting a live feed.
Police have violently broken up street demonstrations protesting the effort to amend the constitution. Presidential term limits were removed from Uganda's constitution in 2005.Valerie Letourneau is leaving the Canadian capital with some bumps and bruises – and some questions about her UFC Fight Night 89 bout’s officiating – but thankfully no serious injuries.
That’s the word from a UFC official and a team rep, who both spoke to MMAjunkie this morning.
Letourneau (8-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC), a former UFC strawweight title challenger, was taken to a local hospital following her third-round TKO defeat via body kick and punches to fellow flyweight Joanne Calderwood (11-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on Saturday.
The bout, which opened the FOX Sports 1-televised main card at The Arena at TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, was at times uncomfortable to watch. The final sequence was especially tough; Letourneau took a kick to the midsection and immediately hunched over in pain and turned her back to Calderwood. The ref, though, didn’t stop the fight, and Calderwood quickly swarmed her and continued with a kick and punches before referee Jarin Valel finally and mercifully waved it off.
Letourneau, who also seemed to experience some apparel/equipment issues during the fight, underwent a scan to check her liver, according to American Top Team trainer Mike Brown. A few hours later, she got word she had passed all her tests and was released from the hospital at approximately 6 a.m. ET, according to UFC-Canada PR official Carolyn Blakely.
The bout’s officiating was a hot topic and target of criticism on social media. After the fight, Calderwood concurred with the criticism.
“I think I hurt her, and she turned her back, and I thought the fight was over or the ref should have stepped in,” Calderwood said. “I was just doing my job. I didn’t see the referee there to stop it so I just followed in with it.”
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 89, check out the UFC Events section of the site.[Experienced Sony Computer Entertainment Europe producer David Manuel shares the secrets he's learned from years of seeing developers fail to learn from the mistakes they've made on projects in the past, and offers suggestions on the key learnings to integrate into your production process.]
Last year, in Brisbane, Australia, where I used to live, there were the worst floods for over 30 years. And yet over the last few centuries there have been several such floods that have hit the city.
After each flood, there has been a commission to look at ways to mitigate flooding in the future. And yet most of the recommendations are ignored and building continued on the flood plains. This seems to be true with a lot of events around the world -- whether it's floods, fires, or riots. A commission is set up, recommendations are made, and then we shelve it and forget about it until it happens again.
The same thing happens in video game production, too. We often spend time writing up postmortems -- but are these lessons heeded? It's depressing to see the same old issues, such as feature creep, aggressive crunching, low morale, lack of focus and direction, communication issues within the team or/and between developer and publisher, and poor technology and pipelines crop up again and again.
We, as an industry, often fail to act on what we learn.
Over the last decade, we have heard a lot about agile production methodologies and the need to embrace change, which makes sense. However, even when agile is used, similar sorts of problems arise, and in some cases are exacerbated.
The goal of this article is to discuss ways of minimizing these issues at the start of new projects, primarily by creating solid foundations and planning ahead. In other words, even with unpredictable weather, building a dam and avoiding building on flood plains is far cheaper, and better, than waiting for the next flood to hit.
1. Implement Previous Recommendations
Not all teams write up a postmortem at the end of a project, either due to apathy or because they see no point. However, if we are going to even begin to learn from our mistakes, then all projects, especially the ones which were canned, need to have a postmortem.
It also needs to be a fair process which is diplomatic but at the same time doesn't pull its punches in terms of what went right, what went wrong and what can be improved next time.
Once a postmortem has been written up and agreed by those involved, it needs to be available to all members of the studio -- preferably through the company's intranet, so it can be referenced at any time with ease rather than lost in email or hidden away in archived folders.
When starting a new project, ensure that all relevant recommendations from the postmortem are implemented and checked at regular intervals by the company to avoid these recommendations being forgotten and the same issues constantly recurring.
2. Start Early and Start Small
One of the biggest impacts on finances is managing the peaks and troughs of development team sizes, especially between projects. All too often it appears the next project only really gets going when the current project has ended. Unfortunately, this creates the problem of having too many staff twiddling their thumbs whilst those designing the project are only just beginning to lay down the foundations of the game and its overall vision.
Instead, it would be much better to develop the next game, if possible, well in advance during the current project, with a skeleton crew of staff numbering around 10 percent or so of the eventual team size.
Personally, I would include in that group the following: a full time lead designer to work on the basic vision, research, and game design; a producer to map out the deadlines, the budget, the potential scope, and work closely with the clients on the brief; and a concept artist to visualize initial ideas. Naturally, they would need to regularly liaise with key staff who are due to join the team later -- e.g. the lead programmer and lead artist.
It is also advisable to keep everyone who is earmarked to move onto a new project informed of its progress via presentations, etc. Otherwise, if people are kept in the dark, they may feel resentment or detachment towards the new project. If people are simply slapped onto a project mid-development, they may feel more like a jobbing resource than a valued member of the team.
The idea is that when a number of production staff comes across to work on prototyping, a lot of the foundational work is already in place. Note -- this does not prevent iteration, flexibility or the continuation of creativity at or beyond the concept stage. It is primarily there to initiate what the game and the prototyping should focus on rather than having too many development staff stumbling in the dark looking for ideas without having the luxury of time to research and to simply think. There shouldn't be a massive amount of game development documentation awaiting them at this stage.
3. Put Your Key People in From the Start
The problem with having a lead designer and producer starting early on a new project is that there is a high chance they are also working on another project in mid- or postproduction. To get around this, I would advocate staggering lead designers and producers on projects -- meaning that there would always be an available lead Designer and producer not in full production, even if it's a one project studio. The additional expense would be cost effective, because the rewards are so much greater than the risks.
If we skimp on a resource, particularly one that is needed up front, then the impact can be severe. If you are unsure of someone's ability in a key role at the start, then it will be far more costly to change them later during mid-production, as it is likely their work will be redone.
Make sure you have utmost confidence in those key personnel. If there are any obvious skill shortages, then start the recruitment push with plenty of time to fill the position for when it's needed, or implement a training program.Cornwall sheep farmer Matt Smith became the first shearer in the northern hemisphere to break the nine-hour ewe record last month.
As a young boy growing up in Northland, New Zealand, Matt Smith, aged 32, dreamed of breaking the Everest of shearing records.
Last month (26 July) he achieved his goal, shearing 731 sheep to break the nine-hour strongwool shearing record by a 10-strong margin.
The previous world-record setter, who broke the eight hour shearing record in 2010, took on the challenge at Trefranck Farm, St Clether near Launceston, where he now farms with his wife Pippa.
See also: New Zealand farming: Living the dream, despite the weather
How does it feel to have broken another world record?
It is surreal.
I can’t get over that I broke it by 10.
If I broke it by one I was going to be happy.
Since 1995 that record has only been broken by five sheep.
The first two-hour run was very good for the confidence and I came out of that four up of where I wanted to be [and six up on the last world record].
The first ewe dropped out in 35 seconds so that set the tempo for the rest of the day.
How did you train for it?
It was super specific.
It was broken down into three areas: strength, cardio and combination.
My trainers [FA fitness] went out of their way to learn and understand about what shearing required from the body.
I worked 45 minutes without a rest and they got very creative with a sand bag – I had to lift it over my body and drag it backwards across the floor.
I went to the doctor for a medical six days before and she sent me for an electrocardiogram (ECG) because my resting heartrate was 34-35 beats a minute and she was concerned.
By the time I had the ECG the thought of not being able to do the record meant my heart rate was back up to 60 beats a minute, so they cleared me to do the record.
What the record involved and how it compares with the previous record: The nine-hour strongwool ewe record emulates a nine-hour shearing day, which is what Matt grew up doing as a youngster. It involves starting at 5am and finishing at 5pm with a three-hour break. Time Activity New record, Matt Smith 26 July 2016 in England. Old record set by Rodney Sutton in New Zealand on 31 January 2007 5-7am First run 164 158 7-8am Breakfast 8-9.45am Second run 142 140 9.45-10.15am Morning smoko* 10.15-12pm Third run 142 142 12-1pm Lunch 1-2.45pm Fourth run 141 140 2.45-3.15pm Afternoon smoko 3.15-5pm Fifth run |
attacks. But as Benjamin Franklin said in the eighteenth century, “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
If we accept this gross infringement on our constitutionally guaranteed liberties, then the terrorists will have succeeded in destroying our American way of life and severely eroding our God-given freedoms. At present the NSA’s activities pose a far greater threat to our liberty than the Al Qaeda terrorist network ever has, or ever will.
Our government says that we should trust them. Really? In light of the NSA surveillance revelations, the Internal Revenue Service’s massive abuse of power, the Fast and Furious scandal and F.B.I director Robert Mueller’s acknowledgment that some drones have been used for surveillance inside the United States, I think not. Whether it is a flaw in the inherent nature of government, or simply President Obama’s Administration, is irrelevant. The flaw is real, and the threat it poses, is looming before us.I read George Orwell’s 1984 when I was in high school in the mid-1960’s and it truly frightened me. Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA’s excesses have caused me to reflect on Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a totalitarian future more than I have in many, many years.
I love my country and I would die to defend her. However, the federal government is not America, it merely governs America with the consent of the governed. So this is my declaration of independence. Speaking as one American citizen, I withdraw my consent. As for me and my house, I say, “Cease and desist! In the name of God and the United States Constitution, cease and desist!”
MORE: Homeland Insecurity: After Boston, The Struggle Between Liberty and Security(CN) – A class of insurance agents cannot be forced to arbitrate their overtime claims, a divided New York appeals court ruled Tuesday, because the class-action waiver in their employment contracts violates the National Labor Relations Act.
The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division’s decision concurs with the Seventh and Ninth Circuit’s rulings, but conflicts with a Fifth Circuit ruling on the same issue.
All three of those cases are now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed in January to provide guidance on the circuit split.
In the New York case, former insurance agents for New York Life Insurance Company brought a class action seeking recovery for allegedly illegal wage deductions and violations of overtime laws.
However, the agents’ contracts contained a clause waiving any right to a jury trial or right to bring a class action.
“We find the Seventh Circuit’s reasoning in [Epic Systems Corp. v.] Lewis more persuasive — far more than that of the Fifth Circuit,” Justice Karla Moskowitz said, writing for the appeals court’s 3-2 majority.
The National Labor Relations Board has consistently maintained that such arbitration clauses conflict with labor laws giving workers the right to organize to complain about workplace conditions.
“We disagree with the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning for two reasons,” Moskowitz said. “First, the court’s reasoning begs the question, essentially asserting the circular argument that individual arbitration, not collective litigation, should be the norm because any other policy would impede arbitration. The court determined there to be no Congressional command that the NLRA should override the [Federal Arbitration Act, or FAA], but we can divine no reason that the FAA policy favoring arbitration should trump the NLRA policy prohibiting employers from preventing collective action by employees.”
Justice Richard Andrias dissented, joined by Justice David Friedman.
“Prohibiting class arbitration waivers would discourage arbitration in general, to an extent that is impermissible under the FAA,” Andrias wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the matter will require it to consider the interplay between the FAA and NLRA, and whether to expand its 5-4 ruling in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, which held that the FAA preempts state laws that prohibit contracts from disallowing class-wide arbitration.
If the court’s conservative majority unites to expand Concepcion, an opinion authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, it will deliver a major blow to the NLRA’s guarantee of a right for employees to pursue “concerted activities.”
The nation’s high court has not yet scheduled oral arguments in the case.
Like this: Like Loading...Rob Lowe after Astros' win: 'This isn’t what baseball should be'
See other celebrities who attended the 2017 World Series. less Actor Rob Lowe tweeted "this isn't what baseball should be" after the Los Angeles Dodgers lost against the Houston Astros in the World Series, criticizing the frequency of home runs in the World Series.
See... more Actor Rob Lowe tweeted "this isn't what baseball should be" after the Los Angeles Dodgers lost against the Houston Astros in the World Series, criticizing the frequency of home runs in the World Series. Photo: Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos Via Getty Images Photo: Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 88 Caption Close Rob Lowe after Astros' win: 'This isn’t what baseball should be' 1 / 88 Back to Gallery
Actor Rob Lowe has an opinion after the Astros' 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
"Been watching for 45 years. Never seem more, or LONGER HRs," Lowe tweeted on Thursday. "This isn't what baseball should be."
DEDICATION: Astros fan maxed out his credit cards to attend all 7 World Series games
In his tweet, the star of "The West Wing" and "Parks and Recreation" included a link to a Sports Illustrated article from last week that said the World Series' historic home run rate was because of special, slicker baseballs.
Been watching for 45 years. Never seem more, or LONGER HRs. This isn’t what baseball should be. #FixIt https://t.co/4x8fmP3pyu — Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) November 2, 2017
A similar FiveThirtyEight study in June found that smaller baseballs with flatter seams may have led to a 47 percent increase in home runs since 2014.
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Lowe, who attended several games of the World Series, does have a legitimate point — one that players and coaches from both teams in the World Series have brought up — but it does feel a little suspicious that it took a Dodgers loss for the Los Angeles actor to suddenly feel that baseball isn't baseball anymore.
Especially considering Lowe seems like he had no problems with baseball during Monday's game when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Astros 3-1.
See other celebrities who attended the World Series above.
Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93Nijat Rahimov of Kazakhstan was a surprise gold medallist in weightlifting on Wednesday, but immediately faced questions over doping.
Rahimov, who only returned from a doping ban last year, and the rest of Kazakhstan’s team had almost been excluded from the Rio Olympics entirely after repeated failures in retests of doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The country stands to lose five gold medals from those Games.
Kazakhstan was allowed to compete because those doping cases were not fully processed in time for the Games, the International Weightlifting Federation has said.
In a sport in crisis over doping, Rahimov’s world record-breaking performance in the 77kg class on Wednesday is unlikely to silence the critics, not least bronze medallist Mohamed Mahmoud of Egypt, who said he found Rahimov’s dramatic improvement since his ban suspicious.
Rahimov was banned for two years in 2013 after failing a test while competing for Azerbaijan, another country with longstanding doping problems. Rahimov was one of 18 Azerbaijanis busted that year. Rahimov was born in Azerbaijan and recently moved to Kazakhstan to compete on its weightlifting team.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lyu Xiaojun, of China, celebrates prematurely during the men’s 77kg weightlifting competition. Photograph: Mike Groll/AP
China’s Lyu Xiaojun had been the favourite to retain the gold he won in 2012 and began to celebrate prematurely after his final lift, stripping to the waist in front of the crowd. But Rahimov had other plans, audaciously moving up 12kg for his next attempt at the clean and jerk to 214kg, breaking a 15-year-old world record.
That gave him a total of 379kg from the two phases of the competition, level with Lyu but enough for Rahimov to take gold because he had weighed in lower.
He celebrated by crouching into a pose of prayer before being tackled in a bearhug by his coach, while Lyu gave a wry smile for the cameras.
Rahimov repeatedly dodged questions about his doping past after the win, crediting religion and a tough training schedule for his success.
“When normal people were asleep, we were training. When the snow was deep you know how it is in Kazakhstan we went out for training at 11 or 12 [at night],” he said. He added he had treated Kazakhstan’s possible ban from Rio Olympic weightlifting as “a rumour” and was not distracted from training.
Bronze went to Mahmoud on 361. Mahmoud said the talk of drugs could not be avoided in light of Rahimov’s win.
“Maybe after some doping controls, some things will change,” Mahmoud said. While improvements like Rahimov’s can be the result of good training and nutrition, Mahmoud said, “in a very short time it cannot happen like that.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kazakhstan’s Nijat Rahimov, centre, poses with silver medallist Lyu Xiaojun, left, and bronze medallist Mohamed Mahmoud. Photograph: Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images
Wednesday’s doping controversy came as weightlifting already faced a storm of doping scandals.
On Tuesday, Taiwanese gold medal contender Lin Tzu-Chi was withdrawn from competition hours before her event for what her team called abnormalities in a drug test, and the Polish weightlifting federation’s head has resigned after what he said were two more failed tests, one of a lifter who was due to compete in Rio.
Earlier on Wednesday, China’s Xiang Yanmei took gold in the women’s 69kg class despite having taken a blow to the head when she dropped the bar halfway through the competition.
Xiang briefly appeared dazed and admitted to some pain but was fully alert as she closed out China’s fourth weightlifting gold of the Rio Olympics with 116kg in the snatch and 145 in the clean and jerk for a total of 261.
Russia’s weightlifters barred from Rio Olympics over doping offences Read more
“I got hurt a little bit and I feel hurt when I nod my head,” she said. “I didn’t think about it when lifting weights.” Xiang said she had not seen a doctor.
She added Olympic gold to the world titles she won in 2013 and 2015, and continued a resurgence for China’s lifters in Rio following a slow start.
The silver medal went to Kazakhstan’s Zhazira Zhapparkul with a 259 total, while Egypt’s Sara Ahmed won bronze with 255 kilos, becoming the first woman from an Arab country to win an Olympic weightlifting medal.The U.S. military launched its first direct assault on the Syrian government on Thursday.
The strike was retaliation for the chemical weapons attack allegedly carried out by the Syrian government against an opposition-held area on Tuesday.
American allies have expressed support for the U.S. strike, while Syria and Russia have condemned the action as an “aggression.”
The U.S. military launched its first direct attack at the Syrian government on Thursday, marking an escalation of American involvement in the country’s six-year civil war and increasing tensions with Russia, a key Syrian ally.
President Donald Trump said that the strike was retaliation for a brutal chemical weapons attack in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday, allegedly carried out by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. At least 70 civilians were killed in the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
“Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children,” Trump said Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida while announcing the missile strike. “Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered at this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.”
White House A White House photo shows Trump at Mar-a-Lago receiving a briefing on the strike.
Both U.S. officials and allies have indicated that the action was a “one-off” and not an indication of a major policy shift, but the unilateral strike against the Assad regime will undoubtedly strain the already tense relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Moscow has supported Syria both politically and militarily for years and launched an air campaign to support Assad in September 2015.
On Friday, the AP reported that Pentagon officials are looking into whether Russia was involved in the chemical attack.
The Syrian military claimed that the U.S. strike killed at least seven people and caused extensive damage. However, Reuters reported later Friday that warplanes were able to take off from the air base, indicating the runways weren’t seriously damaged:
JUST IN: Syrian warplanes take off from air base hit by U.S., carry out strikes in Homs countryside - Syrian observatory for human rights — Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 7, 2017
Assad condemned the action as “reckless” and “irresponsible,” and said that it only “increased Syria’s resolve” to fight back against opposition groups.
Russia on Friday criticized the U.S. strike as “an act of aggression” and indicated it would help the Syrian military strengthen its air defenses in response.
While U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the military did not coordinate with Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to Thursday’s strike, a Pentagon spokesperson did say Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using an established “deconfliction line.” Russia agreed to continue communication over the channel in the wake of the strike, despite earlier reports that it would cut off the hotline.
“President Putin views the U.S. strikes on Syria as aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law and on a made-up up pretext,” a Kremlin spokesperson said in a statement. “This step by Washington will inflict major damage on U.S.-Russia ties.”
Tillerson is set to visit Moscow next week.
Just hours after the U.S. attack, a warplane bombarded the opposition-held town where Tuesday’s chemical attack occurred, activists said. It wasn’t immediately clear if the plane belonged to Syria or to Russia, or whether there were any casualties as a result.
Iran and China have also condemned the strike, while key American allies, including the E.U. and NATO, have pledged support. The U.N. Security Council is expected to meet on Friday to discuss the U.S. action.
After two days of deliberation, Trump authorized the military to launch 59 cruise missiles at the Shayrat Air Base in Syria. The Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles were launched at 8:40 p.m. EDT Thursday from destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, allowing the U.S. to strike targets without putting piloted aircraft in danger in Syrian airspace. The missiles targeted aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and radar, Davis said. “Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment... reducing the Syrian government’s ability to deliver chemical weapons.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told MSNBC, “There are no current plans for additional strikes.” Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, was briefed Thursday night by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.
While the Syrian government has denied responsibility for this week’s chemical attack, Tillerson said Thursday the Trump administration had “no doubt” that the regime controlled by Assad was behind it. When asked by The New York Times if the U.S. would support efforts to remove Assad from power, Tillerson said “those steps are underway” ― a stark departure from the administration’s previous position.
Trump, meanwhile, said Thursday that “something should happen” in response to the attack, but he did not explicitly call for Assad’s removal.
“I think what Assad did is terrible,” Trump told reporters earlier this week. “I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity, and he’s there, and I guess he’s running things, so something should happen.”
Trump’s decision to intervene militarily in Syria is a stark departure from his campaign promise to work with Russia, Assad’s main backer, to fight the Islamic State and negotiate an end to the civil war in Syria. Although the Assad regime has been accused of carrying out several chemical weapons attacks throughout the war, Trump previously described the dictator as an unsavory but stable ruler. Photos of the victims of the most recent attack, including many children, appeared to alter Trump’s position on the U.S. role in the conflict.
It is not clear what ― if any ― legal authority Trump is claiming to strike the Assad regime. The U.S. has claimed authority to bomb ISIS in Syria under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force by claiming that ISIS is an offshoot of al Qaeda. But there is no war authorization from Congress that could be interpreted to allow military action against the Syrian government, nor can the U.S. claim it is defending itself. When former President Barack Obama considered a similar retaliatory strike against the Assad regime in 2013, he made it clear he would first seek approval from Congress.
While Trump staunchly opposed intervention in Syria before he became president, and has tried to bar Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. since taking office, the president appeared to reverse course this week.
“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed dramatically,” Trump said Thursday. “As a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies.” The president did not indicate whether he would adjust his stance on banning Syrian refugees.
Since the start of the conflict in March 2011, more than 207,000 civilians have died in the fighting, including 24,000 children. A sarin gas attack by the Syrian army on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta in 2013 left more than 1,000 people dead, and human rights organizations have documented several smaller chemical attack since then.
U.S. policy in Syria has for years primarily focused on attacking the self-described Islamic State (also called ISIS) and offering military support to Kurdish militias that are taking territory away from the extremist group. Hundreds of U.S. troops are currently in Syria to support an upcoming advance on the ISIS-held city of Raqqa. Last month, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. would deploy up to 1,000 more troops in northern Syria.
Prior to the attack, the Trump White House said it would not focus on removing Assad from power. But the use of chemical weapons against civilians shifted Trump’s attitude on U.S. policy, the president said Wednesday.
“That attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. Big impact. That was a horrible, horrible thing,” he said Wednesday. “And I’ve been watching it and seeing it, and it doesn’t get any worse than that. And I have that flexibility, and it’s very, very possible, and I will tell you, it’s already happened, that my attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed very much.”
A spokesman from the Syrian National Coalition of opposition fighters said it hopes the U.S. will continue strikes against the Assad regime, Reuters reported.
Given the rapid reversal of the Trump administration’s policy this week, it is not clear what direction it will take going forward. After the strikes, Tillerson offered a confusing statement on the future of U.S. policy: “I would not in any way attempt to extrapolate that to a change in our policy or posture relative to our military activities in Syria today. There has been no change in that status.”Drop in Violent Crime in D.C. Area and Some Other Major Cities Puzzles Experts
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 20, 2009; A01
Violent crime has plummeted in the Washington area and in major cities across the country, a trend criminologists describe as baffling and unexpected.
The District, New York and Los Angeles are on track for fewer killings this year than in any other year in at least four decades. Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis and other cities are also seeing notable reductions in homicides.
"Experts did not see this coming at all," said Andrew Karmen, a criminologist and professor of sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
In the District and Prince George's County, homicides are down about 17 percent this year.
Criminologists have different theories about why crime is down so much, although many agree that the common belief that crime is connected to the economy is false.
Whatever the cause, police across the region are taking credit for the drop.
"Everybody wants to beat us up when it goes up, so we'll take credit for it when it goes down," D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said.
She said police are able to target specific locations or types of crime and policing is so high-tech that investigators are analyzing crime minute-by-minute and have greater ability to attack crime before it happens.
In Prince George's, for example, the department's top commanders get mobile phone updates on crimes and 911 calls every 15 minutes.
In New York, when someone is killed, police send a mobile data center to a neighborhood, allowing police on the scene to listen to 911 calls and immediately search databases that list the names of everyone in a certain building who is on parole.
In the District, the department creates a weekly "Go-Go report," which details where and when home-grown bands are playing, because go-go concerts often bring together rival gangs, causing violence, Lanier said. There is also a weekly gang report that tells officers which gangs or crews are feuding that week.
Armed with that information, police can better predict where crimes might happen and take measures to prevent them.
The District is on track to have fewer killings than in any year since 1964, when the population was about 760,000 and Vietnam War protests were just beginning.
In the years since, the city has struggled at times with civil unrest, the arrival of crack cocaine and the rise of street gangs. In 1991, the District was known as the murder capital of the United States, recording 479 that year. This year, there have been 79.
Last summer, the city was struggling with so much violence in the Trinidad neighborhood that police set up military-style neighborhood roadblocks and stopped people from entering unless they had a "legitimate reason." The checkpoints were so restrictive that they were ultimately ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
This year, there have been several high-profile shootings in the District, including last week's late-afternoon killing of armed suspect Kellen Anthony White by the Capitol Police about a block from the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Also, a security officer, Stephen T. Johns, was killed last month during the lunch hour at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. An alleged white supremacist has been charged.
But Lanier said there has been a turnaround in violence this year. She pointed to a better relationship between the department and the community as a factor, saying it has helped get more violent repeat offenders off the streets. She said tips from the community have been flowing faster than ever, due in part to patrol officers knowing their beats and developing connections in the community.
Last year, the department paid about $500,000 in reward money for tips that led to arrests and convictions, double the amount in 2007. This year, detectives have closed about 70 percent of homicide cases.
"The community is giving us more information than ever," Lanier said. "They're used to seeing the same cop in the neighborhood every day. They feel comfortable. They have a connection to that officer. They know that officer isn't going to burn them."
Burning them, she said, would be to take information and not act on it, leaving sources to believe police are corrupt or lazy.
She also said she has torn down walls in the department so that homicide detectives talk more often with beat officers, sharing vital information.
Violent crime is also down in some of Washington's other large suburbs, including Montgomery and Fairfax counties.
Montgomery has recorded six homicides this year, putting it on track to have its lowest total since 1986.
In Prince George's, violence had been steadily rising since the 1990s, when the county started absorbing spillover crime from the District. But this year, crime is at a 20-year low, and homicides are down almost 17 percent.
Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton said that since he took over the department in September, there has been a more defined mission about how to attack crime.
He identified car thefts as one of the county's major problems and a "gateway" crime, meaning if criminals get away with stealing a car, they sometimes become emboldened and begin committing more daring acts. In 2004, about 18,500 cars were stolen in the county, more than in all of Virginia.
Since then, the department has focused on arresting car thieves and educating the public about protecting their cars, and the number of car thefts has shrunk by half.
"We have a very detailed and comprehensive strategy. We are triaging our community," Hylton said.
He said the homicide closure rate is about 70 percent, which has helped get many criminals off the streets.
"If you come into Prince George's County and you commit a murder, we're going to track you down and arrest you and lock you up," Hylton said.
Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum, said the drop in homicides this year is notable, especially considering the weather.
"This does come at an important time," he said. "We're midway through summer, and summer is when you see the most significant increase in street violence. Departments have had to be more strategic in terms of gangs and hot spots."
Wexler said that crime isn't down everywhere. Baltimore and Dallas are among some cities experiencing a higher number of killings compared with last year.
Gary LaFree, a criminology professor at the University of Maryland, said it has taken police decades to figure out how to effectively target crime.
"In the '60s, crime was like an act of God, like a tornado or earthquake," LaFree said. "Where policing has changed is that we've gotten the idea this is a problem we created and there are human solutions to it. Obviously, crime is not randomly distributed. It is connected to hot spots in cities and other areas."
LaFree and others agree that crime doesn't automatically go up when the economy is poor. Property crime is also trending down in many jurisdictions, including the District, Prince George's and Montgomery. The FBI reported last week that bank robberies across the country fell in the first quarter of the year, with 1,498 reported, compared with 1,604 in the first quarter of 2008.
Criminologists point to the Great Depression in the 1930s as a time of relatively low crime compared with the Roaring Twenties, when the country experienced more violence.
Lanier said that despite the good news, there's not much celebrating going on among police chiefs across the country.
"We're afraid to relax in any way and say crime is down," she said. "We tend to not talk about it much because we know how quick things can turn. What's successful today, tomorrow can turn on a dime."
Staff writers Maria Glod, Tom Jackman, Dan Morse and Josh White contributed to this report.
© 2009 The Washington Post CompanyA prominent technology columnist got science journalists into a tizzy last week when she proclaimed that she was a creationist. She probably didn’t really mean it, but the next time someone expresses doubt over basic, empirically validated facts of how living things evolve, point them toward a portrait collection called “Genetics Are Awesome” — it could help you show them the light.
Genetics Are Awesome isn’t an educational visualization like the Punnett squares you used to learn about genetic inheritance in high school. Instead, photographer Ulric Collette simply took portraits of two people who are directly related–say, a father and a daughter or pair of twins–and placed them in a split-screen combination. This basic juxtaposition dramatically visualizes the power that genes–just tiny coiled bits of nucleic acids–exert over the design of an entire organism. Sure, it’s no great epiphany that a baby girl has mommy’s eyes and daddy’s chin. But something about these split-screen combinations breaks out of the humdrum abstraction of heritability and snaps your awareness toward the, yes, awesomeness (in the cosmic sense, not the Lolcat-GIF sense) of this basic fact of life.
Some of the resemblances between parents and offspring are so striking that the photos look like they have leaped into the future (or past) of one person’s life. But the differences are even more intriguing: It’s like seeing jump cuts in genetic code come to life. It’s enough to make me hope that Collette might do a more longitudinal follow-up project, perhaps with an interactive element, that could let me slide one half of each portrait forward or backward in “generations” (say, from a teenager all the way to her great grandparent), and literally visualize the genetic variation over more than just one “cut.” But even as it stands, Genetics Are Awesome is a great piece of science-communication design–not because it didactically teaches you anything but because it reaches into you and makes you want to learn more.
[See Ulrich Collette’s photos here]Despite only being revealed on the web just a couple of days ago, YouTuber, Hartley Ju Nerf, has once again managed to get his hands on an unreleased blaster – the Modulus Mediator. Not only do we get a good look at the blaster and its internals but also a close look at the Mediator’s other attachments.
Check out Hartley’s review of the Mediator!
Posted on Baidu, here is a nice, clean picture of the Mediator’s other attachments.
As we can see, the stock is able to store a mini blaster, which very much resembles the ZombieStrike Doublestrike. I think it’s much more convenient storing a mini blaster in the stock, rather than a stock acting as a blaster (previous Modulus stocks), since the whole attachment needs to be taken off, for it to be used. And because the blaster is hammer-action, you can dual-wield. Woo Hoo!
The front barrel also appears to be quite a nifty attachment piece. As you can see in the graphic illustration, you are able to filp the barrel extension, so that the main grey barrel can be used as a handle.
Anyway, that’s all for today! Hopefully we’ll soon see some more pictures of the Elite Surgefire.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
One day, astronauts on deep space missions may explore the surface of unknown planets remotely—using a rover while they remain in orbit. That concept, though it sounds radically far-off, just got an important dry run.
As we wrote last week, the European Space Agency’s robotics team is testing a new rover design that uses force feedback to let astronauts hundreds of miles away control its arms and wheels with extreme precision. The haptic interface allows the astronaut to “feel” what the robot is touching, without actually exposing his or her fragile human body to the conditions on the ground.
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The rover, called the Interact Centaur, got its first live test from orbit late yesterday, when a Danish astronaut named Andreas Mogensen fired up the interface from on board the ISS and performed a series of tasks using the Centaur, located in a lab in the Netherlands. Crucially, Mogensen had never even used the joystick-based UI before, which helped researchers understand how intuitive their design would really be.
Mogensen had to use Centaur’s robotic arms to pick up a metal rod into a very small hole on a board, which the ESA says had just 1/6th of a millimeter of clearance. The task was designed to replicate the kind of detail-oriented work that traditional robotic arms—those without force feedback—are very bad at.
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So how did it go? The ESA called the experiment a “slam dunk,” which is a funny choice of words considering that the task was carried out very, very slowly. Mogensen reached the board and plugged in the metal pin within 45 minutes on his first try, but the same process took only ten minutes the second time, the ESA says. Considering how far the signals had to travel, that’s pretty damn impressive:
The real challenge was achieving meaningful force feedback despite the distance the signals had to travel: from the Station, hurtling around Earth at 8 km/s, up to satellites almost 36 000 km high and then down to a US ground station in New Mexico, via NASA Houston and then through a transatlantic cable to ESTEC – and back. It added up to a round-trip of more than 144 000 km.
So from the Centaur’s fingers to Mogensen’s, the signals traveled 89,477.5 miles. You can watch the ESA’s video of the test below.
All images and video via the ESA.
Contact the author at [email protected] cartoons play a principal role in every newspaper and magazine in Iran, providing news, analysis, and satire in visual form. Since the presidential elections in 2009, when Iranian authorities launched an intense crackdown against journalists, civil society activists, and lawyers, many political cartoonists began to leave Iran. Those who stayed have adjusted their work to be more ambiguous, to communicate their message while attempting to evade government censorship and arrests.
This slideshow features seven editorial cartoons about media censorship in Iran by the esteemed cartoonist Touka Neyestani, which have been provided by my organization, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Neyestani publishes a weekly editorial cartoon about current events and human rights in Iran on the Campaign's website, and his work is featured along with that of six others in the Campaign's book, Sketches of Iran: A Glimpse from the Front Lines of Human Rights, a collection of editorial cartoons and personal narratives about human rights in Iran. (For more information about the book, please click here or purchase a copy here.)
CPJ Special Report
• Census, analysis
of journalists in prison
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran supports the Iranian people's struggle for human rights and amplifies their voices on the international stage. The organization was founded in 2008 and is composed of lawyers, researchers, and journalists with extensive research and advocacy experience in international organizations and publications.
Here is some background on the cartoons featured in the slideshow:
"Pre-Election Crackdown on Journalists"
In the lead-up to the June 2013 presidential elections, restrictions on journalists intensified. Kaleme website reported in late April 2013 that the Intelligence Ministry had summoned a meeting with newspaper editors and warned them not to paint a "black picture" of the regime in the pre-election months, while an intelligence official explicitly forbade any news or analysis of the Supreme Leader.
"Censorship," from Sketches of Iran
This cartoon depicts a writer or cartoonist ostensibly free to put pen to paper--if he is willing to face the deadly consequences. "Censorship" is featured in Sketches of Iran: A Glimpse from the Front Lines of Human Rights and is accompanied by an essay by Iranian writer and professor Abbas Milani that examines the role of cartoonists in democracy and society. "All despots seem formidable and irremovable, till they fall, and artists and cartoonists play a critical role in expediting the process," Milani writes.
"First They Came for the Journalists..."
Continuing with the latest crackdown on journalists that began on January 26, 2013, Iranian officials banned three publications in Tehran on March 6 and arrested three journalists that week. Between January 26 and March 6, twenty journalists were arrested in Iran.
"Iranian Journalism Behind Bars"
On Sunday, January 27, 2013, Iranian security forces raided the editorial rooms of Tehran-based newspapers and publications Bahar, Shargh, Arman, Etemad, and Aseman Weekly, and arrested several journalists. According to reports, agents entered the offices of the five publications simultaneously and, in addition to arresting the journalists, searched and videotaped the premises.
"Media and Power," from Sketches of Iran
Featured in Sketches of Iran: A Glimpse from the Front Lines of Human Rights, "Media and Power" accompanies a firsthand account of interviewing Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 just before the Islamic Revolution. In the piece, journalist Nooshabeh Amiri describes the "heavy, male-dominated atmosphere" of the inner circle, the threats Khomeini made regarding publishing the interview, and the fate that befell the other reporters in the room with her that day.
"Inventing the BBC Connection"
In the last week of January 2013, Iranian security forces arrested at least 16 journalists and charged them with "spying and ties with foreign news organizations." Iranian authorities are accusing the journalists of working with the Persian-language services of the BBC and Voice of America, based in the U.K. and the U.S., respectively.
"Ominous Justice"
Following the publication of a cartoon called "The Blindfolded Men," Shargh newspaper was banned on September 26, 2012. In a concerted effort by 150 members of Parliament, state authorities, and clerics, the newspaper was banned a day after the cartoon was published; the cartoonist, Hadi Heidari, was summoned to court; and the newspaper's manager and license holder, Mehdi Rahmanian, was transferred to Evin Prison.
Here is some background on the cartoonist:
Born in 1960, Touka Neyestani received his degree in architecture from Tehran's Science and Industry University. Neyestani started collaborating with the press in 1980, working with the prestigious Ketab Jomeh weekly, and went on to work with more than 60 publications during his successful career as a cartoonist. He has had more than 30 years of hands-on experience in cartoon drawing and teaching. Between 2006 and 2010, Touka Neyestani was a member of the Board of Trustees and a drawing instructor at the Tehran Caricature House. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada, where he works as a freelance cartoonist for Rooz Online and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.A federal court Wednesday allowed a handful of states controlled by Democratic administrations to help defend the Obama administration’s ozone pollution rule in an ongoing lawsuit.
The decision by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means California, New York, Vermont, Washington, Delaware and the District of Columbia can be more closely involved |
this new “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative in the wake of the shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin two years ago. Obama — who was criticized by civil rights leaders for avoiding race-based initiatives and conversations while in office — was deeply moved by Martin’s death, and he tasked his staff with creating a holistic, research-based approach to helping young minority boys succeed and avoid violence.
The president will create a new interagency My Brother’s Keeper Task Force headed by Broderick Johnson, the Cabinet secretary and assistant to the president. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and other senior officials will be personally involved in “My Brother’s Keeper,” according to Jarrett.
Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City who started and funded an initiative in the city aimed at young black men, will join the president for the 3:45 p.m. announcement of the program at the White House on Thursday, along with business leaders including former NBA star Magic Johnson. The White House initiative is in part modeled on Bloomberg’s and seeks to intervene in the lives of boys at key points: by providing prekindergarten education, lifting third-grade reading proficiency, leading schools away from “zero tolerance” disciplinary policies that kick misbehaving students out of school, and persuading businesses to train and hire young men of color.
It’s still unclear just how broad the initiative will be beyond the $200 million nonprofit investment. Jarrett told reporters on Wednesday that the White House is still signing on private businesses and does not have a final number for how much they have committed to “My Brother’s Keeper.” The White House hopes corporations will pledge to mentor and hire young minority men.
And some of the foundations that are involved in the effort were already planning on making investments in young minority men before the White House got involved. Robert Ross, the CEO of the California Endowment nonprofit, said his organization had already pledged $50 million over seven years for its “sons and brothers” program, which aims to reduce school absences and suspensions among young black children and boost their third-grade reading proficiency levels.
But Ross said that having the president involved in the issue will be “a huge injection of rocket fuel” for the cause. The president’s use of the bully pulpit could be a game changer for Ross and others who work in this space, he said.
Ross met with the president and other foundation leaders in November to talk about the plan. Obama told them that he was personally inspired by Martin’s death to improve the lives of young men of color.
“There really was something spiritual and personal for him about what is happening to young men in this country, and he really wanted to do something real about it,” Ross said. “I certainly felt energized by that.”
Young black men persistently lag behind other groups in high school graduation rates and employment, and, as White House officials point out, they are six times more likely than their white peers to be murdered.
"My Brother's Keeper" is one part of Obama's larger plan to tackle issues facing the African-American community in his second term, the president told civil rights leaders in a meeting last week. Obama will also push Congress to restore the part of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court last term and to pass a law banning racial profiling by law enforcement. The Justice Department is also pushing through criminal justice reforms without Congress' help, such as urging prosecutors not to use mandatory minimums against nonviolent drug offenders and encouraging prisoners sentenced under old, racially discriminatory crack laws to apply for a new clemency program.
“He’s committed to being more aggressive,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was in the meeting.A newly-released video attributed to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) urges jihadists to stage attacks in Russia. The threat comes amid Russia’s repeated warnings that IS terrorism in Syria and Iraq could soon spread to other parts of the world.
While its authenticity could not be confirmed, Reuters reported that the video is thought to have come from the terrorist group’s Telegram account.
Read more
A 9-minute subtitled video shows armed militants launching attacks on vehicles and tents, as well as replenishing arms supplies somewhere in the desert. The footage ends with one of the masked militants encouraging the group’s supporters to mount attacks on Russian soil, while personally threatening President Vladimir Putin.
READ MORE: Syria-like crises await in Central Asia & Caucasus – Russian defense minister
The alleged IS members did not elaborate on why Russia had been designated as its next “target,” however.
The danger posed by the looming return of radicalized IS recruits from Syria, where they went to fight in the jihadists’ ranks, was one of the main reasons Russia launched its airstrike campaign against the militants there.
“There are an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 fighters from Russia and other CIS member states fighting for ISIL,” Putin said last October after Russia launched its bombing campaign in Syria at the request of Syria’s president, Bashar Assad.
Putin: 7,000 people from ex-Soviet republics estimated to fight alongside ISIS http://t.co/zn67NuNnBIpic.twitter.com/iIRtraGH5W — RT (@RT_com) October 16, 2015
“We certainly cannot allow them to use the experience they are getting in Syria on home soil,” the president stressed, calling on the creation of a broad international coalition to curb the spread of terrorism.
Russia had largely achieved the stated goals of its operation in Syria by the time Putin ordered the withdrawal of the bulk of Russia’s forces in March.
READ MORE: Russian passport found in Syria leads RT to ISIS militant’s home (EXCLUSIVE)
Recently, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated that some 2,000 fighters hailing from Russia, including 17 warlords, had been killed in the course of the five-month air campaign. Shoigu also warned that the world should brace for a more protracted crises similar to that in Syrian, given the alarming security situation in the world.
“In these circumstances, Russia will be forced to adequately respond to potential threats,” he stressed.
READ MORE: Putin orders start of Russian military withdrawal from Syria, says ‘objectives achieved’
Afghanistan has become another breeding ground for terrorists close to Russia’s borders, posing an immense challenge to the overall security and stability of the Central Asia.
“The Afghan branch of IS is definitely specialized against Central Asia. Russian is even one of their working languages,” Zamir Kabulov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Asia and Middle East Department, said back in April, estimating that the number of IS fighters in Afghanistan has increased tenfold since last year.
URGENT: #ISIS claims responsibility for attack on Kabul rally, group's amaq news agency says https://t.co/EF3DIzeeo5 — RT (@RT_com) July 23, 2016
“There are now 10,000 IS fighters in Afghanistan. A year ago there were a hundred,” stated the diplomat.
In one of the most violent attacks to rock the Afghan capital recently, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest during a mass Shiite demonstration in Kabul, killing 80 people and injuring 23 on July 23. That terrorist act was claimed by Islamic State.Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can rest assured – their beloved Maple Leaf Big Stick Bologna and Vienna Sausages are not being discontinued.
There was some concern that the two products were being phased out in the new year, but sources tell VOCM News that’s not the case, and it’s actually part of a re-brand expected this spring.
The source says the Maple Leaf brand is planning to move away from processed foods to healthier products, removing the Maple Leaf brand from the Big Stick and Vienna Sausages.
Indications are that they will then be known as simply the Big Stick, and Vienna Sausages will be sold under the brand name Newfoundland’s Best Vienna Sausages.
The Big Stick is a huge seller in Newfoundland and Labrador with approximately 60 to 70 percent of all Big Sticks processed being sold in this province.Hey, what’s up everybody! Welcome back to RCwK! I’m BronxKuma — Kuma for short — and this time around I managed to get a hold of a bonafide legend! A founding father of the Philly scene, this guy’s been making tracker music for nearly 20 years and is proof that time, dedication, and hard work doing something you love can pay off in the long run. Here to talk to us about his journey through chip, some of his more recent and notable projects, and the future, I’m proud to present my interview with one of the very best artists the community has fostered: Alex Mauer!
Kuma: So first and foremost, you’ve been in the scene for quite a while, and some would say you’re something of an icon in chiptune. Tell me, how did you get started in all this?
Alex Mauer (AM): I was always the kind of guy who wanted to make the things I liked. I always wanted to make games and game music. I remember when Tiny Toon Adventures debuted, I wanted to be an animator – so I guess that’s the starting point. I started chip specifically when my cousin showed me some demoscene MODs he had recorded on a cassette tape. When I heard that normal everyday people could make those grand productions, I asked him to build me a computer and then I learned how to use trackers.
Kuma: That’s pretty cool. What was the first tracker you used? And do you still use that software/hardware now or have you moved past it?
AM: The first tracker I used was Scream Tracker 3 on a DOS / Windows 95 PC. Not long after I switched to Impulse Tracker, which I still use via DOSBox emulation.
Kuma: Ah, you were an Impulse guy! What made you transition from Scream to Impulse? Did you ever give rival programs like FastTracker 2 a shot?
AM: I transitioned to Impulse because most of the guys I met online (on AOL) were using it. In order to hear their songs, I needed to use the program. I then realized IT is based on ST3 and it was incredibly easy to transition. I tried FT2 but I never liked how it favors the mouse over QWERTY.
Kuma: That’s fair. That said, I’m slightly blown away by how long you’ve been doing this for. I was about…9, maybe 10 when you first started tracking. I never would have thought about doing anything like that at the time! How long did it take you to produce your first album?
AM: Ah… well, I made my first proper album in highschool. It was my graduation project. In PA, you’re required to do a grand project to pass high school. It took me around a year to do it, and actually I mostly played the instruments by hand. I only used Impulse for the drums. And that album is locked in the vault. I no longer consider it fit for human consumption. My first chiptune album was an EP i made in 2005 titled “Eat People“, which I made in one summer.
Kuma: So, let me get this straight: you’ve been tracking for about 19 years and yet you didn’t release a full fledged chiptune album until about nine years ago? Was there any particular reason for this?
AM: Lets see, was it really 19 years ago? i think it was 18. It was ’96 when I really began tracking. I was first exposed to demoscene in ’95. But yeah, there was a reason: I’m a perfectionist. That’s primarily it. I didn’t consider my music good enough to really make public until I hit that point in 2005. It was my first exposure to a real NES tracker– Nerdtracker II–and I was super inspired by it. I made a break thru.
Kuma: What was it about working in NT2 that allowed composing chiptune to click? Or do you think it was simply a matter of time and practice over the years?
AM: Well, I had been doing “fake NES chiptunes” using samples since I started – virt was one of the guys who popularized that technique and I was definitely trying to keep up with him and failing. This is back in the late ’90s. By 2005, I was starting to get better at music and I just happened to be super inspired by being able to use the real NES! It sounded so much better! It was like ‘I FINALLY CAN GET THAT SOUND I WANT!’!
Kuma: That’s wonderful, man. Looking back at that victory in ’05, do you think “Vegavox I & II“ would have still happened if you hadn’t made “Eat People”?
AM: Vegavox absolutely would not have happened. When I first made “Eat People” I had the idea to put the music on a cart, but I knew I had no practical way of doing it.
I met Dino Lionetti (of Cheap Dinosaurs) in 2005 and we hit it off. Eventually we played our first show together w/ Joey Mariano (aka animalstyle) and Don Miller (aka NO CARRIER). It was probably the first Philly chip thing ever. I’m almost positive.
Anyway, that’s the first time I ever met Don and he presented to me the idea of making a cart album: something that already crossed my mind but I figured was not possible.
Kuma: Let’s talk a bit more about that, shall we? The process of actually getting the music onto the cart, getting enough of them produced to sell. Don’s an amazing guy, no doubt, but I can’t imagine this was something that was very easy, smooth or quick to do. How long did Vegavox take from inception to creation to actually produce in cartridge form?
AM: Actually, it took less than a year… maybe about half a year from start to end.
At the time Vegavox 1 was made I worked a seasonal job. Most of the work was done while I was on the off season, meaning i spent ALL OF MY FREE TIME doing music. Don had already done some things with putting ROMs onto carts before he presented the idea to me, so that part was already proven. He taught me how to build the carts and I’m the one who actually made them all by hand. The first run of Vegavox was 170 carts.
Kuma: Wow, that is ridiculously impressive.
AM: Yeah, it kind of proves how crazy i am really. It was a labor of love combined with the fact that I cannot relax. I have OCD and I basically cannot stop doing things – its kind of a creative super power really. They call it a disorder but it makes me able to pull of projects which maybe should not be possible, so I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kuma: Speaking of projects, you mentioned earlier how aside from making music, you wanted to also be part of producing a video game. And over the course of the past year, you’ve had the chance to do that! Tell me, how did you first get involved with Sizzlefist?
AM: Ah yeah Sizzlefist. Well that wasn’t my first game soundtrack but it was a good one. I got involved w/ Sizzlefist thru a working relationship I’ve had with Imagos Films. I met Don Thacker from Imagos Films online. He heard of me from Vegavox and my work with Penny Arcade. He wanted to hire me for his film Motivational Growth, which took a long time to complete.
Before Motivational Growth was complete, we worked on a bunch of other projects together including Sizzlefist. Sizzlefist was put together by Don and Danny of imagos films. They created the concept, and–alongside guys from Pixeljam Games–we made a small game company with only one hit. The company was appropriately named “Studio Crash and Burn”. So yeah we made one game and it was made for Adult Swim Games.
The idea behind that game is you’re a fast food cook who aspires to be better, something more than just a cook. The devil grants your wish by making you THE BEST fast food cook ever! Your hand is mutated into a frying machine: you cook food by punching it with your mutant, lava fist! The funny thing is, you want to be more than a fast food employee, so instead of becoming a real hero you are just THE BEST fast food employee.
Kuma: That’s fantastic, and I have to admit, I’ve wasted a fair amount of time playing it myself. That said, I want to rewind a little and go back to something you mentioned, which was your work with Penny Arcade, which, I won’t lie, I’m not very familiar with. How did you get started with them?
AM: My involvment with Penny Arcade… it all started with 2 Player Productions and “Reformat The Planet“. Those guys put together a great documentary, and they used my music WITHOUT PERMISSION. I just happened to be going to a screening of the film in Philly, and as I was watching, I was like “HEY… WHAT THE HELL GUYS?!”
and right after it was over, they approached me and said “Hey… can we use your music?”. It was pretty funny. I thought the smartest response would be HELL YES for the exposure – so thats what I said, and i was right.
Then those guys moved on to filming PATV’s Penny Arcade: The Series, and once again they used my music without telling me first. It was pretty easy to forgive when I got contacted by Robert Khoo from Penny Arcade. He said he wanted to pay me to license the music. I was like “YES DUDE!” The thing that I regret about the whole thing is that I didn’t realize how big penny arcade was when they made the license agreement with me. They gave me the choice of royalties over time or a lump sum upfront. I was hurting for cash so i took the lump sum. Then I attended PAX East after the agreement was made and my jaw hit the floor: I couldn’t believe these guys were so big! Newb error. I learned from my mistake. Find out who you’re dealing with before signing things. I should have asked for way more.
Kuma: Newb error indeed, but to be fair, I know what it’s like to be strapped for cash too, so I guess you can say it was just the best thing for you at the time. That said, you’ve been involved with Penny Arcade, been involved in game and movie production via Imagos, you’ve put not one, not two, but three albums on NES carts and are one of the founding fathers of Philly chip. So now I have to ask, with all that behind you, what comes next for Alex Mauer?
AM: What comes next! Well, I continue on with doing soundtracks – it’s my dream job – and I’m waiting to strike some gold on a hit game. Paying my dues. There are a lot of dues to be paid waiting for a hit. I just finished a “guest star appearance” track for the fan game “Mother 4“ which is getting a lot of hype right now considering it’s a fan game. It looks very polished. Official, even. I also just started using Soundcloud.
Kuma: Yeah, I’ve been following Mother 4 for a while now. It looks very promising and I love it’s urban feel. And I noticed! How is Soundcloud treating you? Have you noticed a larger response to your music since using it?
AM: Yes! I am surprised at how much activity I’m getting! If I realized people cared so much about Soundcloud i would have started using it sooner! i didn’t really realize it’s a community thing more than just “a place to upload stuff”. I’m trying to put 1 track up per day for a while. I know it’s gonna be hard to go forever so it’s a temporary thing
Kuma: That sounds like a solid plan. A solid, precarious plan XD
AM: I have a lot of singles which aren’t on my Bandcamp albums. They’ve been waiting for some love and are ready to go.
Kuma: Awesome! Then it won’t be so hard after all! That said, Alex, regardless of what comes your way, I look forward to hearing and seeing more of and from you. Is there anything you’d like to say before we wrap things up?
AM: Yes! Please check out Motivational Growth: the film I’m so proud to have scored w/ NES and C64! The movie comes to VOD on Sept 30th and DVD on October 6th! If you like horror, Jeffery Combs, chiptune, or any combination of those, you’ll like–no–
love it!
Kuma: Fantastic! I’m definitely looking forward to finally getting to see it. That said, Alex, it’s been an honor talking to you at length like this. We’ll have to do it again some time. Thank you for sitting down with me for this interview!
AM: Absolutely dude! Thanks!
That does it for this edition of RCwK! Thanks for checking out the interview and if you like Alex’s music or any of the companies and projects he’s been involved with, check out the relevant links below! Also be sure to check the blog regularly for the latest in chiptune related coverage, from album reviews to artist interviews and everything in between! Good vibes to you all and don’t forget: Kuma loves you!
‘Til Next Time!
\m| (=^(t)^=) |m/
Relevant Links:
Alex Mauer:
Homepage | Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Twitter
Imagos Films:
Facebook | Tumblr | Twitter | Vimeo | IMDb
Pixeljam Games:
Homepage | Facebook | Tumblr | Twitter
Mother 4:
Homepage | Facebook | Tumblr | Twitter | Youtube
Motivational Growth (Original Soundtrack) by Alex Mauer
Dig this article? Then consider supporting us on Patreon!Poll: General election could be anti-Clintons vs. anti-Trumps
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Photo11: DSK, AFP/Getty Images)
The emerging general election battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump may be more of a contest between anti-Clintons and anti-Trumps.
Nearly half the respondents in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll said they will vote for Clinton or Trump only in order to prevent the other candidate from winning the White House.
Among those who said they would vote for Trump, 47% said their primary reason is they don't want Clinton to win, the poll said; among Clinton voters, 46% said their reason is they don't want Trump to win.
Simply put: These are among the most unpopular general election candidates in history.
Reports Reuters:
"The results reflect a deepening ideological divide in the United States, where people are becoming increasingly fearful of the opposing party, a feeling worsened by the likely match-up between the New York real estate tycoon and the former first lady, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. "'This phenomenon is called negative partisanship,' Sabato said. 'If we were trying to maximize the effect, we couldn't have found better nominees than Trump and Clinton.'"
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1T2r0u2The FBI is using an administrative function to circumvent Congress, curtail the Second Amendment and impede Americans' right to due process, according to a Midwestern lawmaker who has proposed legislation to end the practice.
"[The bill] requires them to give citizens who have been denied the right to purchase a firearm a reason, and it gives them an appeals process, so they can actually clear their name and exercise their Second Amendment rights," Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told the Washington Examiner.
Emmer in April proposed the Firearm Due Process Protection Act, which would define how the FBI is required to treat consumers who fail the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and are consequently denied the right to purchase a firearm.
Citing a backlog of work in January, the bureau indefinitely reassigned every analyst responsible for processing appeals in the NICS process, leaving about 7,100 applicants with no knowledge of when they could expect to hear back.
As a result, Emmer said, many of those applicants contacted his office. The proposal, which was filed on April 14, would require the FBI to make a determination on appeals within 60 days. If the agency fails to do so, aggrieved consumers would have the right to take the issue to court within 30 days. And if the FBI fails to prove individual ineligibility in court, the agency's ruling would be reversed.
The FBI will not provide consumers who fail the NICS check with a reason for failing, and according to Emmer, the bureau isn't much more forthcoming with lawmakers.
"They're not giving people reasons. They're not even giving Congress statistics on how many background checks are being denied or how many are being accepted," he said.
Reasons for being turned down could range from mismatched fingerprints to inaccurate criminal histories in the database. Though the FBI does not report clear data on the number of people who are rejected, statistics the agency provided in 2014 suggested that 5 percent of rejections were overturned on appeal. That means the number of consumers wrongfully barred from purchasing a firearm increases with each passing day.
"This isn't just for gun collectors or enthusiasts who might want to buy a specialized handgun or rifle... These are even people who are buying a shotgun, who want to hunt ducks or geese with their kids," Emmer said. "The government right now is also violating our right to due process. If you're on one of these lists, you should be able to know the reason you're being denied."
Within two weeks of its introduction, the bill garnered 21 Republican cosponsors. Though already a sizable show of support for legislation authored by a freshman member, Emmer added that he had hope it would also obtain support from Democrats.The recent pace of U.S. job growth tends to be described as “tepid,” “lackluster” or “disappointing.” But according to two economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, it’s plenty good enough to bring down the unemployment rate.
In a new paper, Chicago Fed economists Dan Aaronson and Scott Brave try to estimate how many jobs the economy needs to add each month to keep the unemployment rate steady, after taking into account population growth and other factors.
Their answer: 80,000 jobs. That’s far below the 150,000 to 200,000 jobs required in the 1980s and 1990s, and significantly below the 100,000 to 150,000 figure often cited by economists today. Messrs. Aaronson and Brave argue those higher figures fail to take into account underlying changes to the U.S. labor force, notably slowing population growth and a long-term decline in the share of the population that’s working.
What’s behind the shrinking labor force is subject to much debate, but the Chicago economists expect the decline to continue. They estimate that by 2016, it will take just 35,000 new jobs per month to keep the unemployment rate steady. That’s based on some admittedly uncertain assumptions about immigration, labor-force participation and other trends; the authors estimate the true figure could be anywhere from zero to 120,000 jobs, with somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs per month as the most likely range.OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will urge fellow leaders at a Group of Seven summit next week to invest in their economies to boost growth rather than focus on cutting costs.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in an interview with Reuters in his office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 19, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
Policy steps to address subdued global growth will be high on the agenda at the May 26-27 meeting at Ise-Shimate, Japan.
“I’m very much on the investment side of the investment-versus-austerity debate going on in capitals around the world right now and I’ll be continuing to push that,” Trudeau told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
“We know that the challenges global growth is facing aren’t just going to be solved by strategic cuts here and there: at one point we do have to start investing in our future.”
Trudeau came to power last October promising to run annual budget deficits of C$10 billion to invest in infrastructure.
His Liberal government, citing the weak economy, unveiled a shortfall of C$30 billion in its first budget in March and Trudeau told Reuters that was not a fixed upper limit.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has struggled to gain consent among the G7 nations for coordinated fiscal action to spur global growth, with countries such as Germany and Britain insisting on fiscal austerity.
“The emphasis that Prime Minister Abe is going to be putting on infrastructure is one that is certainly very much near to my heart,” said Trudeau.
The Canadian leader was more circumspect, however, when asked whether the G7 summit should condemn provocation in the East and South China Seas, where China is locked in territorial disputes. Beijing protested when G7 foreign ministers issued such a statement at an April meeting.
Trudeau said the leaders were looking for ways to boost the economies of the G7 and China while also raising issues of rights and security. The group, he added, needed a better level of engagement with China and should act in a way that did not destabilize the world.
The G7 groups the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and France.DCS Winter Bonus Spectacular
Got a bunch of bonus DCS bonus points to use? Here is your chance! Starting 08 January at 1500 GMT time and lasting until 11 January 2016 at 0900 GMT, use your bonus points to discount most DCS module up to 50%!
Visit our e-shop for Modules at http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/modules/ and our Campaigns at http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/
DCS: L-39 Albatros Update
We have been making great progress on the L-39 Albatros Open Beta and we are now nearing the end of the open beta with the upcoming release of the L-39ZA version and the interactive training missions.
Su-33 and MiG-29 Update for DCS World
Both the Su-33 and MiG-29 are getting some love! We are working on the Professional Flight Model (PFM) for the Su-33. This will be based on the Su-27 PFM, but will be adapted for weights, the tail hook, and its distinctive aerodynamic features. Once we complete the flight model of the Spitfire IX, we will begin work on a new flight model for the MiG-29. Speaking of the MiG-29, we are also completing work on an all-new external model!DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images The Trump Foundation received $150,000 from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Ukraine after President-elect Donald Trump launched his campaign.
WASHINGTON ― After Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, his foundation received a generous donation from a Ukrainian oligarch whose donations to the Clinton Foundation sparked accusations that Hillary Clinton engaged in an ethically murky mix of philanthropy and politics.
The information became public on Tuesday, with the publication of the Trump Foundation’s 2015 tax documents. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation gave $150,000 to the Trump Foundation in fall 2015 ― the only time it did so, according to Thomas Weihe, head of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation’s board.
Pinchuk, a billionaire steel magnate who is a former member of Ukraine’s parliament and son-in-law of a former Ukrainian president, has donated far more generously to Clinton’s foundation, with gifts of $10 and $25 million. According to The New York Times, Pinchuk let the Clintons borrow his private plane, attended former President Bill Clinton’s birthday party in 2011, and met with State Department officials several times while Hillary Clinton ran the agency.
That placed Pinchuk at the center of accusations that the Democratic presidential nominee operated a “pay to play” scheme at the State Department while Clinton was secretary of state. Critics viewed gifts from Pinchuk, who favors closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union, as attempts to steer policy at Foggy Bottom.
The implication is that Trump, like Clinton, has close ties with international figures ― and unlike Clinton, corporate investments all over the world. Sheila Krumholz, Center for Responsive Politics
Pinchuk’s donation to the Trump Foundation appears to be more of a direct quid-pro-quo. Weihe said it was tied to an agreement that Trump would speak via video link at a an annual conference Pinchuk organized in September 2015.
Pinchuk and Trump met years ago in New York, which led the Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist to invite the presidential candidate to speak at the Yalta European Strategy forum, a gathering of politicians and businessmen. The Washington Post first reported on the donation.
Shortly after Pinchuk’s foundation gave $150,000 to Trump’s foundation, the then-Republican presidential candidate delivered 20 minutes of remarks, skirting the details of his policy toward Russia and Ukraine and offering only vague words of encouragement to his audience.
“I know many people that live in the Ukraine, they’re friends of mine, they’re fantastic people,” Trump said, evidently unaware that Ukraine asked Russia to stop referring to it as “The Ukraine” after it gained independence.
“Part of the problem that Ukraine has with the United States,” Trump told the room full of Ukrainians, “is that Putin does not respect our president whatsoever.”
Trump accused President Barack Obama of paying “lip service” to Ukraine without actively helping the country. But he also suggested Europe should assume more responsibility for Ukraine’s security.
“I don’t like what’s happening with Ukraine. But that’s really a problem that affects Europe a lot more than it affects us. And they should be leading some of this charge,” he said.
The revelation that the same Ukrainian billionaire who donated to Clinton also donated to Trump in exchange for his appearance at an event undercuts his claims that Clinton was the more morally deficient candidate. For government ethicists, it also raises further doubts about the president-elect’s ability to craft future policy uninfluenced by moneyed interests.
“The implication is that Trump, like Clinton, has close ties with international figures ― and unlike Clinton, corporate investments all over the world,” Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said in an interview. “These kinds of cases raise questions about whether, while acting as public officials, people like Trump would be able to discharge their duties without bias in favor of their international ties.”
Clinton said her family’s nonprofit organization would stop accepting foreign donations if she became president (though some Republicans demanded she shut down her foundation entirely). Trump, however, has hinted strongly that his businesses and foundation will remain operational under his children’s control.Many of you probably know DM of the Rings. If not, and you are familiar with Lord of the Rings or roleplaying games, you might enjoy it. If you are familiar with both, you will enjoy it.
Basically, Shamus Young, the creator, has treated Lord of the Rings as the fantasy campaign of a long-suffering Dungeon Master saddled with all too typical players, and illustrated it in the form of a comic using screencaps from the movies. Brilliant idea, and very well done. And I constantly boggle that (a) nobody did it before, and that (b) nobody has copied him yet.
Alas, DM of the Rings has recently come to an end, having told the story to the ending. Shamus has moved on to a new comic project, which involves a collaboration with an artist. So no more movie screencap comics from Shamus. This has led to a call from his legion of fans for someone, anyone, to fill the void:
Shamus:
Which reminds me: This comic is popular enough that I'm surprised nobody else has done something similar. Harry Potter? Aliens? Spider-Man? X-Men? Star Trek? Star Wars? The Matrix? There are tons of movies which are well known and take themselves very seriously, which are the two main ingredients for good satire. I keep expecting another movie comic to appear someplace, but it hasn't happened yet. Adam Bloom:
I think it's because the kind of person who thinks, "It would be funny to make a comic that spoofs Star Wars" is the kind of person who would read the amount of work you put into each comic and say, "OMFG WAT???" Whereas the kind of person who thinks, "I want to spend time and effort to make a high-quality webcomic" is not the kind of person who says, "It would be funny to spoof Star Wars." You are the rare, and wonderful, exception. [from http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1226]
I smells me a challenge...
Transcript
GM: Right. Everyone listening? Here's the campaign intro.
Opening Crawl: Episode I - The Phantasmal Malevolence. Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute. Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo. While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict...
Obi-Wan: I have a bad feeling about this...
Qui-Gon: What? I'm still looking at the equipment list.
Obi-Wan: How many gold pieces—
GM: Republic credits.
Obi-Wan: Whatever. How many do we have?
GM: Uh... 120 each.
Qui-Gon: Hmmm. We can't even afford blasters.
Obi-Wan: Oh man!
Qui-Gon: Let's see. Electro-axe. Energy mace. "Plasma bow"?? You just took a D&D equipment list and stuck techy words in front, right?
GM: Don't be stupid.
Qui-Gon: Ten foot laser pole...After decades of building pirate ships, race cars and haunted castles, Lego has come up with something new: a wheelchair.
The Danish toymaker has unveiled its first ever disabled minifigure on Thursday. The figure of a hat-wearing boy in a wheelchair was first spotted at the Nuremberg international toy fair in Germany and featured on fan blogs.
The company later confirmed the tiny wheelchair will be part of a new Lego CITY set that will come out in June.
Lego and other toymakers have been under pressure for some time to introduce toys that reflect real life.
Online campaign #ToyLikeMe has called on the company to produce figures that represent disabled children. Its online petition accumulated over 20,000 signatures.
"We've got genuine tears of joy right now," the campaign organizers said after the new toys were unveiled.
The new set appears to show a scene in a park, with figures of children in playground.
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United States of Europe", claimed most of the information about the EU given to the UK public was based on myths and warned political leaders that adopting populist tactics to win votes was "destroying the future" of Britain.
During a webchat on European citizenship she said: "Coming back to the subject which the government of the UK has pushed to the agenda, probably in order not to make people speak about the real subjects in the UK, are this supposed invasion of foreigners coming to the UK and stealing the jobs and stealing the social security and the health money.
"The fact and figures, and we all know this, show it is simply not true and I do believe also that the British industry has made it very clear, putting the figures on the table and showing that the GDP of Britain rose by 3-4% because of the input of these working Europeans who come to Great Britain.
"I am mostly frustrated about the political leaders because what is leadership if you just try with populistic movements and populistic speech to gain votes?
"You are destroying the future of your people, actually. That is what I'm really worried upon.
"That is why I ask help from all the reasonable force in Great Britain in order calmly to explain what are the optimum and the worst scenarios, also to explain what Europe is about and what Europe can do and what Europe can't do, what Europe does and what Europe does not do, because most of the things which are told to the people in Great Britain are myths, have nothing to do with reality."Didn't get enough Minecraft on my Minecraft Mondays 001? Well here is 002!In this episode I quickly cover the concept minecart station I am designing. This is a tour of my mock up. While the design appears simple, it took a lot of tweaks to get it right. Secondly, I had to put a new spin on how to utilize a door booster. Enjoy the video:As noted in the video, I had a few goals in mind for this design:1. Prevent "bumping" of a cart as a player enters or exits2. Remove the need to "call a cart" by having one always waiting3. Improve reliability and idiot proof the departure and arrival mechanismsI solved the first issue by placing the departure cart within a confined 1 x 1 holding area which prevents the cart from being bumped off target. This holding area is on top of what most Minecrafters may identify as a door booster. This allows me to use the door booster differently. In my reversed scheme, the player loads into the booster and is boosted by what would normally be the riding cart.This is actually beneficial in many ways and helps with reliability. The number one issue with door boosters is the fact that sometimes the booster cart on top just doesn't make it all the way to the end of the run and when activated it simply falls into the door breaking the entire system. Since I am feeding the loading area with the flow of water, and flip-flopping which cart is being ridden, I can use a 100% reliable self-resetting booster on the lower track for the main boosting power of the system. Secondly, the rider does not have to wait for a booster cart to be sent out to come and "pick up" the cart they are riding in. Once the rider hits GO, they drop into the self-resetting booster which powers them along the track.Another quick tip: carts can be dropped long distances vertically without the rider taking any damage.The arrival "splashdown" area also prevents the bumping of the cart upon exit and the water flow also carries the cart off to be reused in the system. In my mock up, I did not connect the arrival and departure areas, but in my final build, they will be linked. Again, there is no need for an additional booster to be called to retrieve the now vacated cart. The water does all the work!This design is very good at removing many of the moving parts from traditional minecart stations. When idle, everything in the station is sitting static. Nothing moves until a rider is present (and with a tweak, I hope to make it so that an empty cart can't be accidentally launched by using a stone pressure plate next to the loading zone).The biggest draw back is the speed at which water pushes a minecart. It can be slow waiting on a cart if they have just been dumped into the holding area. Fortunately, the holding bay can be rack and stacked with carts and the water will neatly organize and feed them one by one. However, currently there is no way to manually load a cart at the departure point and all carts must be loaded through the holding tank.I hope you enjoyed and please feel free to ask questions.Starbreeze has announced that Dead by Daylight has sold over 1.8 million copies worldwide. As the press release reads, Dead by Daylight has already sold more than 1.8 million copies on the digital distribution platform Steam and became an instant favourite with streamers on Twitch and other streaming platforms.
Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical multiplayer (4vs1) horror game that casts one savage Killer and up to four Survivors that desperately try to survive a terrifying nightmare.
Survivors play in third-person and have the advantage of better situational awareness. The Killer plays in first-person and is more focused on their prey.
The Survivors’ goal in each encounter is to escape the Killing Ground without getting caught by the Killer – something that sounds easier than it is, especially when the environment changes every time you play.
Dead by Daylight was released last June and it took Starbreeze a year in order to come close to its 2 million goal.Ethyl alcohol sales soar as Turks start making drinks at home to avoid high taxes
ISTANBUL
Sales of ethyl alcohol in supermarkets are reportedly skyrocketing across Turkey, as many locals opt to produce alcoholic drinks at home, including the traditional beverage rakı, amid rising taxes on alcohol.Taxes now constitute almost two-thirds of the price of a 70 cl bottle of rakı, with taxes on rakı soaring 265 percent between 2006 and 2016, daily Dünya reported on Sept. 5. With the most recent hike in July, a 70 cl bottle rakı cost 93 Turkish Liras at supermarkets on average, 60 liras of which goes on special consumption tax and value-added tax (VAT).Such high and continually increasing consumption taxes are making alcoholic products less affordable for local consumers and adversely affecting domestic consumption. In an effort to avoid these high taxes, more and more Turks have started to produce their own alcoholic drinks at home. As a result the sale of a new kind of ethyl alcohol, which is utilized to make such drinks at home, has recently soared, according to representatives from a producer company.The new product, which is labeled “ethyl alcohol with agricultural roots for domestic use,” includes 96 percent alcohol in volume and is sold for 47.1 liras. Rakı can be made with this product by adding fresh water and aromatizing it with anise oil. Through this 15 minute process, it is possible to produce 70 cl of rakı for just 20 liras, according to company representatives.The product, which is made from beet syrup, can also be used to make other drinks including vodka.Finance Minister Naci Ağbal recently said indirect taxes on tobacco, alcoholic beverages and automobiles are “too high,” vowing that no further hikes will be made in indirect taxes this year.An additional 7.8 percent special consumption tax was added for alcoholic beverages in July, automatically in line with Turkey’s producer price index in the first half of the year.Consumption of almost all alcoholic beverage groups started to decline after 2014 but there has been a sharp rise in the production of counterfeit alcoholic beverages. Consumption of counterfeit alcohol has caused serious health effects in Turkey, including death in a number of cases.Despite recent suggestions that its top financial bodies would not take any action against troubled bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, Japan’s senior regulators are now saying they would seek to regulate bitcoin, but only as part of an international effort.
Speaking at a press conference on 27th February, Senior Vice Finance Minister Jiro Aichi addressed the topic, stating: “If we regulate [bitcoin], international collaboration would be necessary.”
Aichi suggested that this type of large-scale coordination is needed to prevent criminals from exploiting loopholes or weak points in international law.
[post-quote]
Further, Japan stepped up its rhetoric on Thursday regarding Mt. Gox, suggesting that it would intervene “if necessary” to determine what wrongdoing occurred. Japanese law enforcement officials were earlier reported to be looking into the developing Mt. Gox case, along with US regulators.
The news follows the release of more documents detailing the exchange’s long-term business plans, and mounting evidence that internal financial mismanagement was a core issue that plagued the once-prominent company.
‘Not a currency’
Aichi released a few additional details about the actions that could take space, and indicated that more government agencies could become involved in the investigation.
He also stated that bitcoin does not meet the definition of currency under Japanese law, but did not say how this could affect any future developments. Aichi added:
“As for its legal position, a currency (under Japan’s jurisdiction) would be coins or notes issued by the Bank of Japan. At the very least, we can say bitcoin is not a currency.”
The Bank of Japan had earlier indicated that it was researching digital currencies, but stopped short of making any statements about their use.
Media take notice
Despite its penchant for high-tech toys, Japan has been oddly silent on bitcoin, though that could soon change.
Sources in Tokyo suggest news from Mt. Gox has filtered through to the mainstream, and that bitcoin is starting to receive attention from the general public, with newspaper articles appearing nearly every week.
Invading TV crews have begun to so annoy the manager of the Tokyo Bitcoin Meetup group’s favourite restaurant that, on Thursday, at least two networks were forced to wait outside and conduct one-by-one interviews.
Whether or not the increased coverage will be positive or not remains to be seen. Japanese media tend to play up the ‘dangerous hacker’ angle on any story involving bitcoin or even peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, sources say, and a recent special report on bitcoin by NHK, the national broadcaster, dedicated 15 minutes of the programme’s half-hour timeslot to discussion of Silk Road.
Japanese Diet image via Shutterstock. Tokyo meetup image via Jon SouthurstPatrick Gaspard. | AP Photo De Blasio lists advisers he considers exempt from transparency law
On Wednesday, the de Blasio administration said there are maybe a handful of mayoral advisers who don’t work for the city, but are nevertheless "agents" of the city and are therefore exempt from laws requiring their communications with the mayor be made public.
The de Blasio administration initially only identified Jonathan Rosen, a principal at political consultancy Berlin Rosen, as a city “agent,” because he frequently advises the mayor.
Story Continued Below
But late on Thursday afternoon, de Blasio counsel Maya Wiley revealed the names of the rest of the outside advisers City Hall has deemed exempt from the Freedom of Information Law, the often ignored statute that requires elected officials to disclose certain communications to reporters and the public.
“The Mayor’s counsel has determined that in certain circumstances the five following individuals are considered personal advisers to the Mayor: Jonathan Rosen, Nicholas Baldick, Bill Hyers, John Del Cecato and Patrick Gaspard,” said Wiley, in a statement. “As personal advisers to the Mayor, their communications to the Mayor’s Office, along with those of their support staff working at the principal’s direction on those particular matters, are exempt from disclosure when related solely to City business and not on behalf of any client.”
Baldick is a founder and managing partner at Hilltop Public Solutions; Hyers, a partner at Hilltop, was de Blasio's campaign manager; Del Cecato is a partner at AKPD and produced the 2013 de Blasio campaign's famous "Dante" TV ad featuring the mayor's son; and Gaspard is the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa and a longtime de Blasio friend.
The "agent" issue came to a head after NY1 sought communications between Rosen and the mayor via the state’s freedom of information law.
That request was denied.
“Look, if someone’s an adviser, I’ll speak as a non-lawyer, it’s common sense,” de Blasio said Wednesday.
Citing various court precedents (Sea Crest Construction Corp. v. H.D. Stubing, for example), City Hall argued that the idea is "to protect the deliberative process of the government by ensuring that persons in an advisory role would be able to express their opinions freely to agency decision makers."
In the statement, City Hall used the Supreme Court's 2001 ruling in Department of Interior v. Klamath Water Users Protective Assn. to define the "test of an outside advisor's relationship" as whether an advisor, according to that opinion, "does not represent an interest of its own, or the interest of any other client."
Rosen, though, is a consultant whose clients include many companies with business before the city, such as real estate firms SL Green, Two Trees and Forest City Ratner, as well as unions like the Communication Workers of America and SEIU.
Peter Kadushin, a spokesperson for the mayor, said that not all communication between the mayor's office and these individiuals is exempt from disclosure, "Just advice to mayor on city issues — anything else is disclosed."
Not all freedom of information experts are buying City Hall's argument.
“The exception that the city is relying on is incorrect,” said Bob Freeman, executive director of the NYS Committee on Open Government.
Freeman argued it’s one thing for a municipality to hire a paid consultant and another when City Hall isn’t paying the consultant (City Hall said it had paid none of the aforementioned advisers).
“If he’s not being paid, he’s not a consultant,” Freeman said.
And if he’s not a consultant, Freeman argued, then the communications must be disclosed.
"This is mishegas," Freeman said.
This post has been updated with comment from the mayor's office.We don’t usually do this, but we’re feeling generous today, so we’re going to give liberals a piece of friendly advice. Your complaints about Trump’s crudeness would mean a lot more if they weren’t accompanied by stuff like this:
I'd like to play scrabble w/ trump without the right to use adjectives, and see who wins.Then, id like to shove all the letters up his ass. — Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) October 16, 2017
Chelsea Handler knows as much about class as she does about the Constitution.
Early drinking again today, huh? — JWF (@JammieWF) October 16, 2017
Has Chelsea Handler always been this unhinged and unfunny??? — Tanya Milne (@freetoobject) October 16, 2017
To the best of our knowledge, yes.
Hate filled tolerance at its best. — Jake? (@Czen420) October 16, 2017
You’re a strange, twisted and angry woman. — George Gootee (@Bluecatbug) October 16, 2017
Seek help. — Greeks for Trump (@panatsoglou) October 16, 2017
Your therapist will see you now. — Bansi Sharma (@bansisharma) October 16, 2017
We sincerely hope so.Credit: iStock/OpenRangeStock
"This bud's for you" has taken on a whole new meaning for Chris Burggraeve.
The former chief marketing officer for Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the brewer of Budweiser beer, is moving from barley and hops to cannabis as the alcohol industry casts its sights on the burgeoning market for state-sanctioned marijuana.
Burggraeve, 52, has made two investments in the space. Most recently, he joined the advisory board of GreenRush Group. The San Francisco-based startup, which says it aims to be the Amazon of weed, closed its $3.6 million Series A fundraising round last week. Burggraeve, a native of Belgium with a master's degree in economics, also co-founded Toast, which makes dosed, pre-rolled joints.
The former beer executive is one of many entrepreneurs and investors increasingly flocking to the cannabis industry from the traditional business world. Big Beer took its first step last month when Constellation Brands Inc., which sells Corona in the U.S., announced its investment in Canopy Growth Corp., a Canadian seller of medicinal-marijuana products. In Burggraeve's view, that's just the beginning.
"This is one of the fastest-growing categories globally," he said. "Why? Because people want it. When consumers want something, you ignore it at your peril."
Sixty-four percent of the U.S. population now wants to lift the federal ban on marijuana, according to a Gallup poll released last month. That's the largest rating since the firm started asking about the topic in 1969, the year of the Woodstock music festival, when only 12 percent approved.
After leaving the corporate marketing world about five years ago, Burggraeve said he's focused on teaching, consulting and investing in what he considers disruptive categories. Cannabis, he said, could shake up the large beer companies in the same manner that smaller, independent brewers did over the past 20 years.
"The same way that craft beer started and, for the longest time, was ignored and then exploded, there's no reason why the same thing wouldn't happen in this space," he said. "There will be part supplementing and part complementing. The jury is out on how and where that will happen."
GreenRush is a technology platform that connects consumers, dispensaries and delivery people to bring pot to people's doors. The company, which is live in California and Nevada, plans to expand to other states, including New York and Massachusetts.
Risky business
The idea is to build up the business before marijuana is one day legal under federal law. Big companies like Amazon.com Inc. shy away from the industry now because of the federal ban.
Cannabis is legal for recreational use in eight states and the District of Columbia, including California. That means one in five American adults can ingest the drug however they please. Twenty-one additional states allow for medicinal use of the plant. The industry hit $6 billion in sales in 2016, a figure that is expected to reach $50 billion by 2026, according to Cowen & Co.
Still, investing in marijuana isn't without risk. The Trump administration has sent mixed signals, though Attorney General Jeff Sessions is an ardent opponent of legalizing pot. And traditional banking institutions have largely stayed away, forcing most transactions to be conducted in cash.
GreenRush and Toast, Burggraeve's previous cannabis investment, have both focused on socially responsible marijuana consumption, he said. That could mitigate concerns.
Among alcoholic beverage companies, Constellation may have broken the taboo. They may now find the risk worth it, according to Burggraeve. Otherwise, brewers and distillers could find themselves falling behind.
"It will all merge and cross-fertilize and fuse -- not because the companies want it, but because the consumers want it," Burggraeve said.
—Bloomberg NewsConservative radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed Tuesday that the national media is no longer in the business of reporting news on the 2016 election, and is only interested in pushing a consensus against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Pointing to recent criticism of NBC anchor Matt Lauer from his colleagues in the media, Limbaugh said it was an example of the press attempting to tip the scales in Democrat Hillary Clinton's favor.
"Because, you see, there isn't any media today," said Limbaugh on his show Tuesday. "There isn't any news. The purpose of media today is to keep reporting and reporting until the viewpoint they want you to have, you have it. It's about creating opinion. It's about establishing and creating opinion. It's not about bias, although you can't do that without bias. It's not about lack of objectivity. The media's purpose now is to make and create the opinions that they want people to have."
Lauer fell under scrutiny from media critics and reporters last week for failing to aggressively challenge Trump during a presidential forum in which Clinton also participated. Some of his critics said Lauer posed tougher questions to Clinton than Trump.
"The news is: You've got to go for the jugular of the person you don't want to be elected," Limbaugh said. "In this case, Trump. And if you don't do that, and you're in the [drive-by media], if you don't do that, your fellow drive-bys and establishment members are going to savage you."Who (or what) killed the giant wombat? Scientists in Australia may have finally found the long debated answer—and of course, it might be humans.
The arrival of humans in Australia is estimated to have occurred around 50,000 years ago, but firm dates on this occupation are hard to come by. This week in the journal Nature, scientists from a number of Australian universities lead by Giles Hamm at La Trobe University in Melbourne reveal they have discovered the oldest known archaeological site in the southern interior of Australia dating to 49,000 years ago, 10,000 years earlier than previously known.
The Warratyi rock shelter was found in the country of the indigenous Adnyamathanha people and is not only remarkable for its age, but what else was found there—Australia’s famous megafauna. Up until this point, most interactions between humans and megafauna on this continent have been lost to the ages. A debate has long raged over what caused the extinction of the behemoth kangaroos and giant wombats that roamed the outback; was it climate change or was it humans? Co-author Gavin Prideaux from Flinders University says this site can finally end part of this argument. "Humans evidently lived alongside these animals and hunted them, so the idea that there wasn't any interaction between people and these animals is put to bed now," Prideaux said.
Researchers found bone remains from 16 species of mammal and one reptile after sifting through over 2,000 fragments. Importantly, the bones did not display any animal tooth marks or breaks that looked like they were caused by scavengers, lending support to the hypothesis all of these bones were collected by humans. Within the animal remains researchers discovered a big clue—an arm bone fragment of a Diprotodon, or giant wombat. Archaeologist Carly Monks from the University of Western Australia, who was not involved with this study, emphasizes the importance of this find: “Sites like this are incredibly rare: only a couple of other known sites show a similar overlap of extinct megafauna and human activity.”
Material from the Warratyi rock shelter has been directly dated using a variety of methods, one being radiocarbon dating, and definitely shows humans lived at the same time as these immense animals and interacted with them directly. It is the oldest example of any such site.
Forty-nine thousand years ago, large swathes of Australia were dry as a bone. This arid land was thought to make it difficult for humans to live there, and a supposed lack of new innovations made that even harder. But it seems these finds at Warratyi show innovation was thriving. One example, a sharpened kangaroo leg bone recovered from the site that is interpreted as having been used for sewing or work on animal skins, is one of the oldest known examples of worked-bone technology.
Beyond the megafauna, this team of researchers found the earliest known use of ochre and gypsum pigments, making it clear humans in Australia were able to create and innovate within a few thousand years of colonizing the continent. This shifts the previous notion that humans in Australia were late to make key technological innovations compared to other contemporaneous societies in Asia and stands to rewrite the archaeological history of humans on this continent—and the animals that lived with them.Poland's government has announced that a new cultural initiative, Polish Heritage Day, will take place in various locations in the UK on May 6-7, 2017 - the weekend after Poland's Constitution Day.
"Celebrations will take the form of numerous events, shows, picnics, and lectures organized by the Polish diaspora in cooperation with local councils, Polish Saturday schools, and Polish-language Roman Catholic parishes," said a Polish government statement.
"I hope this event will encourage Polish and British people to celebrate together because we should know each other better and the best way of integration is to know more about our neighbors," Arkady Rzegocki, Poland's ambassador to the UK, told AFP about the initiative.
Poles are the largest minority community in the UKwith around 850,000 members, however they have been victims of rising xenophobia and violence since the June 2016 Brexit vote. After a Polish man, Arkadiusz Jóźwik, was beaten to death in Harlow in August last year, Rzegocki, as quoted in "The Guardian," expressed fear of ongoing attacks. "Unfortunately there is much more after Brexit. We have found about 15 or 16 such situations."
Polish Heritage Day is one means to limit such tensions by promoting better intercultural understanding.
The event's red-and-white checkered symbol is based on one painted on Polish airplanes during the Battle of Britain in 1940 - Polish pilots made up the second-largest contingent of Allied fighters during the campaign. In referencing the fact that the Polish community in the UK dates back to this wartime collaboration and includes a number of anti-communist exiles, the Polish Heritage Day logo aims to promote a long-lasting connection between the two nations that goes beyond the migration wave following Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004.
Local Polish Shop in Stockport, England
"A number of city councils have already expressed their support for the project by offering patronage and raising the white-and-red flags on town halls during the festival as a gesture of openness and symbol of sympathy," stated the Polish government.
Depending on how Britain's exit from the EU is negotiated, the Polish government is hoping that its citizens do not face too much uncertainty in terms of their future right to work and live in the UK.
"Freedom of movement is very important for Poles. I hope that our governments - the EU and the UK - will remember that during the negotiations," Rzegocki told AFP.Social insecurity.
America is headed for a retirement crisis. As the baby boomers clock out for good, many will find themselves unable to pay for their golden years. The reduction of Social Security benefits (via the increase in the retirement age), the death of defined-benefit pensions, the growing life expectancy of those who make it to 65, and years of extremely low interest rates have all conspired to leave America’s seniors in desperate straits.
And this week, the Government Accountability Office highlighted another, oft-ignored headwind that retirees will face: the burden of unpaid student debt.
Last year, the government took $171 million out of the Social Security checks of 114,000 Americans age 50 and over in order to collect on unpaid student-loan debt. Most of the indebted were receiving Social Security disability payments; more than 67,000 of them were left with benefits lower than the poverty line.
And their ranks are set to increase dramatically in the coming years: Roughly 7 million Americans age 50 and over owe $205 billion in federal student-loan debt — and 1 in 3 is in default.
While most of these retirees are paying off their own education debts, a good number were driven into debt by our contemporary crisis of college affordability, having taken out loans on behalf of their children.
The GAO report was produced at the request of Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Claire McCaskill. Warren has co-sponsored legislation that would exempt Social Security benefits from garnishment by the government. At present, a Social Security recipient can lose no more than 15 percent of his or her check to debt collection, but a cut of that size is more than enough to condemn many to financial desperation.
And while citizens who can prove themselves “totally and permanently disabled” can have their student debt erased, even those who fit that extreme classification often have their checks garnished, as they are unaware of their entitlement to debt forgiveness.
The overwhelming majority of America’s $1.3 trillion in student debt is held by those under 50. Which means that, barring reform, unpaid student debt is likely to claim a larger and larger share of retirees’ benefits in the coming decades.
Still, there are alternatives to providing relief for borrowers or higher benefits for Social Security recipients: We can always hope that, by the time the millennial generation is old enough to throw in the towel, their retirement crisis will have been averted by climate change, a global pandemic, or nuclear war.900 Pages on the “God of Manga”
“I have to admit I’m a bit nervous speaking in front of a crowd with so many old friends in it,” said Frederik Schodt at the beginning of his February 8, 2017, lecture at the Japan Foundation’s Tokyo office. The veteran translator, writer, and introducer of Japanese manga to foreign audiences was not mistaken—his quip met with warm laughter from acquaintances including fellow translators, artists, and representatives of Tezuka Productions, the animation studio founded by legendary manga artist Tezuka Osamu (1928–89) in 1968.
Schodt’s latest work, and the reason he was in Tokyo, is The Osamu Tezuka Story (2016). Achieved with financial assistance from a Japan Foundation program supporting the publication of Japanese literary works in foreign languages, this 900-plus-page tome is the complete translation of Tezuka Osamu monogatari, a manga by Ban Toshio covering the entire life and career of the “god of manga,” who created Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) and many other beloved works. Originally serialized in Asahi Graph from 1989, soon after Tezuka’s death, to 1992, this manga presents not just the development of Tezuka as an artist over the years but also the development of Japan itself, from the tumult of World War II through the postwar reconstruction right up through the country’s modern prosperity.
“Manga and anime are now a field for academic work, and there are even master’s and PhD programs in manga studies at universities around the world,” noted Schodt. “I chose to translate this book in part because it was something that scholars were already referencing in their papers, and I thought it deserved to be read in English too.” Tezuka Osamu monogatari has already been translated into French, its first foreign appearance, along with Italian, Portuguese, and Korean.
One of his most pleasant discoveries while translating the work, said Schodt, was spotting a familiar face in it—his own. In December 1978 Tezuka made a trip to Los Angeles, where he visited the Disney Productions animator Ward Kimball at his home. In a frame based on a photo from the Tezuka Productions files, Kimball, an avid model train collector, shows one of his tracks to Tezuka while a vest-wearing Schodt stands by, ready to interpret.
An Early Introduction to Manga
Schodt first came to Japan in 1965. As a teenager attending an international school in Tokyo, his first years in the country were not marked by a love of manga. “I don’t really remember there being much of a manga scene at the time,” he spoke at the lecture. “Certainly not like today, when you see shelves of them even in ramen shops and cafés.” His own lifelong infatuation with Japan’s comics would not begin until his college days, when he returned once more to Japan in 1970 as an exchange student at International Christian University in west Tokyo.
The intensive Japanese language program at ICU involved eight hours a day of classwork, but the young Schodt made manga a part of his learning outside the classroom. “There was something of a manga boom underway among the university set at the time, and I got into it too.” He recalls becoming a fan of Akatsuka Fujio, whose gag-laden works like Osomatsu-kun and Tensai Bakabon (The Genius Bakabon) were easy for a language learner to approach. “But then a friend of mine told me, ‘You’ve got to read Hi no tori.’ When I got my hands on a copy, it was revelatory. It really matched the philosophical musings I was going through at the time.”
Hi no tori, published in English as Phoenix, is a sprawling, unfinished series by Tezuka set in eras from the mythical past to the sci-fi future and exploring everything from immortality and death to religion and human nature. It would be the first Tezuka work for Schodt to tackle as a translator.
After graduation, he returned to the United States and worked in various jobs, including as a tour guide for visiting Japanese groups. A desire to hone his interpreting skills took him back to Tokyo in 1975 on a Ministry of Education grant. He fell in with ICU friends Sakamoto Shinji, Ueda Midori, and Jared Cook, forming a group named Dadakai that marked the beginning of his career as a manga translator.
Dadakai would not last for long, but while it was active its members visited some of the titans of the manga scene to obtain permission to translate their works. To laughter from the audience, Schodt recalled the cold call he and Cook made to Matsumoto Leiji, author of Uchū senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato) and Ginga tetsudō 999 (Galaxy Express 999). “We heard Matsumoto-sensei was into motorcycles, so we decided to make a good impression by riding our bikes over to see him—of course, in our full riding leathers!” While it never saw publication, they were able to translate some of his work as a result of that day’s ride.
Meeting the “God of Manga”
The successful pitch was that made to Tezuka Osamu. In 1977 Schodt visited Tezuka Productions to ask for permission to translate Hi no tori into English. “We got an appointment to meet with Matsutani [Takayuki, today president of the company] and went on over. He looked very sleepy that day; I remember he was wearing slippers.” (A grinning Matsutani, in the audience for Schodt’s lecture, agreed that this was probably true—Tezuka was known for working a grueling schedule, and his company’s staff were hard-pressed to keep up.) “Imagine our surprise when Tezuka-sensei himself came out! I heard later that he thought I was quite an imposing figure, due to my height, and looked a bit scary, with my shaggy 1970s hairstyle...”
The great artist was not scared of the idea of working with Schodt, however. The American would go on to accompany Tezuka on several of his trips abroad, interpreting for him. More importantly, he would translate many of his works into English, sharing them with a growing global population of manga fans.
The first Tezuka work that Schodt and Cook translated was Hi no tori. They completed the English manuscripts for the first five volumes, but due to a lack of a market for translated manga at the time, they remained unpublished for nearly a quarter of a century. In 2002 they began being published by the US firm Viz Media, and the translator duo completed the 12-volume set, which was published in full at last in 2007.
Also from Tezuka’s catalog, Schodt produced translations for all 23 volumes of Tetsuwan Atomu—in Japan, the most popular work by the “god of manga”—and Tsumi to batsu, his manga reimagining of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. He also translated the eight-volume Pluto, a vastly expanded reimagining of a single Astro Boy episode by Urasawa Naoki.Share. Thankfully, not too long. Thankfully, not too long.
Batman: Arkham Knight has been delayed and will now be available worldwide on June 23.
The news comes courtesy of the game's official Twitter, and marks a three-week delay from the previously-announced launch date of June 2.
Exit Theatre Mode
It's not the first time we've seen Rocksteady and Warner Bros. push the release date back. Originally planned for release on October 14 last year, the game was delayed until 2015 back in June. The news of today's release date confirms the game has been delayed by around eight months.
"We're a developer that hates to make any compromises, so we are sorry to say this means it's going to be just a little bit longer until you can play the epic conclusion to the Arkham trilogy," said game director Sefton Hill. "As a reward for your patience and understanding, and to make the wait even more unbearable, we are pleased to whet your appetite with a new gameplay video."
The new video, which you can see below, shows seven minutes of gameplay from the upcoming title, and sees the Caped Crusader pursuing an armored vehicle with suspicious links to Scarecrow.
Exit Theatre Mode
When we recently got to play the game, we felt it shows Bruce Wayne at his darkest. For more on Arkham Knight, check out our full interview with Sefton Hill, founder of Rocksteady. And for more on Batman cutting loose, check out Batman's 9 Most Violent Moments.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter.Washington (CNN) The Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case, entered five years ago on Wednesday, opened up an unprecedented flood of outside money into electoral politics.
It paved the way for the creation of so-called super PACs, and unlimited, undisclosed contributions to outside groups that are often impossible to track. As a consequence, political operatives expect the 2016 presidential contest to attract billions from deep-pocketed donors and dark money groups.
The growth of money in politics has also caused calls for reform to grow louder, and on Wednesday proponents of campaign finance reform protested on Capitol Hill and across the nation. A rare protest broke out in the Supreme Court to mark the fifth anniversary of Citizens United.
But even as progressives are trying to change the rules of the game, Democrats have been forced to play ball.
According to an analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan government transparency group, outside spending on Senate races has more than doubled since 2010, to $486 million during the midterms.
And more of that money than ever before comes from a small pool of wealthy donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which found that just 1% of donors gave nearly 68% of the $828 million raised by super PACs in 2012 — a number that's only expected to grow in 2016.
To keep up with the influx of outside spending, in many cases Democrats have been forced to reverse stances in favor of |
i Klitschko, a former boxing champion who is running for president in a May election, or Oleh Tiahnybok, a member of the nationalist All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” party — was on the list.
The roster was approved in consultations with a self-organized council of protesters from the Maidan, or Kiev’s Independence Square, but was greeted with little enthusiasm by the thousands gathered there.
“Too many politicians. We don’t trust anyone,” said Svetlana Kravtsova, 50. “We need to see real people.”
Parliament plans to confirm the list Thursday. The move comes amid concerted efforts to secure foreign aid, with the Ukrainian currency dipping to a new low.
While the demonstrations have quieted in Kiev — the protest council called on members of “self-defense” groups to remove their ski masks and put down their weapons — they are just beginning here in the Crimea. In the regional capital, Simferopol, pro-Russia demonstrators clashed with thousands of Muslim Tatars who were rallying in support of the interim pro-Europe government in Kiev.
Police mostly succeeded in keeping the two sides apart, though fists were thrown as the two groups staged dueling rallies outside the regional parliament. A dozen people were injured, and one elderly man died of a heart attack at the demonstration.
The Tatars, who as a people were deported to Asia by Joseph Stalin after World War II and who returned to their ancestral homeland only in the 1980s, are Russian speakers who strongly oppose the idea of joining Russia.
The parliament building in Ukraine's Crimea was seized by armed men, described by witnesses as ethnic Russian separatists, in a direct challenge to Ukraine's new leaders. (Reuters)
Elsewhere in Ukraine, there were some signs of reconciliation. In the fervently anti-
Yanukovych city of Lviv, in the Ukrainian-speaking west, activists organized a campaign to have everyone there speak Russian for the day. In Odessa and in Donetsk, Yanukovych’s home town, there was a move to have residents and businesses use only Ukrainian for a day.
The most independent television company in the country, Channel 5, which came to be identified with the protests, announced that it will now present the evening news in Russian.
Military drills at issue
Moscow’s military exercises — which, intentionally or not, are a stark reminder of Russia’s armed power — were announced by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. He said the maneuvers were not related to Ukraine’s turmoil but were ordered by President Vladimir Putin to check preparedness “for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation’s military security.”
The exercises, due to start Friday and last four days, will also involve elements of the Russian navy and air force, Shoigu said. Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet is at a leased base here in Sevastopol’s deep-water harbor.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance had been informed of the exercises and that the Russians had “lived up to all their obligations as regards transparency.”
Russia has held at least six such snap exercises in the past year to test readiness, the RIA Novosti news agency said.
The exercises, Shoigu said, involve the western military district, which abuts Ukraine’s northeastern border, and units of the central district, which covers a vast swath across the middle of Russia. The district closest to the Crimea is not involved.
Russian officials have said their country has no intention of intervening militarily in Ukraine. Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said Wednesday that intervention was out of the question.
In a brief news conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Rasmussen made no direct mention of the Russian exercises but said, “We take it for granted that all nations respect the sovereignty and independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and this is a message that we have also conveyed to whom it may concern.” He made the remarks as NATO defense ministers assembled for a scheduled meeting.
Although Ukraine has not sought NATO membership, it has long cooperated with the alliance’s operations, sending troops to Bosnia and Afghanistan and participating in NATO anti-
piracy operations off the coast of Somalia.
Ukraine’s acting defense minister is expected to attend a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission on Thursday.
Yanukovych hasn’t been definitively spotted in public since Friday. But a Russian newspaper, RBK, reported that he had been seen in Moscow on Tuesday night and that he moved Wednesday to a villa in the city’s most exclusive suburb, Barvikha.
Various Russian officials denied the report or refused to comment on it.
Before that, Yanukovych is thought to have last been seen
in the Crimean Peninsula, in
the seaside resort town of
Balaklava, just down the coast from Sevastopol.
A city loyal to Russia
Sevastopol embraced news of the Russian military exercises and took them as a sign of saber rattling and support.
Sevastopol looks, sounds and feels like a little corner of Russia, and activists here have declared that it will remain that way, no matter what happens in the rest of Ukraine.
“We have our Russian language, Russian heroes and Russian culture,” said Valeriy Bespalko, who stood in the drizzling rain earlier in the day to support the city’s new de facto mayor, who is a Russian, not Ukrainian, citizen and who took over City Hall two days ago.
Hours after the new Ukrainian interior minister announced Wednesday that he would disband the elite police force that spearheaded most of the attacks on protesters in Kiev last week, its members were offered sanctuary here in the Crimea, further stoking concerns about divided loyalties and old schisms in turbulent Ukraine.
“These people adequately fulfilled their duty to the country and have shown themselves to be real men,” said Alexey Chaly, the new head of the Coordinating Council of Sevastopol.
Chaly said the police unit had been “abandoned to the mercy of this rabid pack of Nazis,” a reference to the protesters in Kiev.
“At this difficult time, our city needs decent men who could form the basis of self-defense groups and, in the future, the municipal police. We are ready to provide for them if they join us in our struggle, and to offer safety to their families,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.
The special police unit, known as the “Berkut,” was reviled by the protesters in Kiev after attacks that included the use of live ammunition. Dismantling such units can be difficult business. A similar outfit, the Latvia OMON, was disbanded in 1991, and its members became the backbone of organized crime in St. Petersburg.
Englund reported from Kiev. Karen DeYoung in Brussels contributed to this report.Editor's note: This story has been updated.
A Texas-based Planned Parenthood affiliate on Thursday moved to join a federal lawsuit filed in California against the anti-abortion group behind undercover videos of the organization’s clinics.
The lawsuit, filed in a San Francisco-based federal court in January, alleges the Center for Medical Progress engaged in conspiracy, fraud and other activities that violate organized crime law and other federal regulations in its pursuit of secretly recorded videos of Planned Parenthood. Citing recordings of staff at a Houston clinic, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast filed to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff.
The recordings, released by the group last summer, depicted Planned Parenthood staff discussing the procurement of fetal tissue. The group alleged that Planned Parenthood was illegally profiting from the sale of tissue of aborted fetuses — an accusation the organization has vehemently denied.
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The lawsuit against the group was first filed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and seven California affiliates against the Center for Medical Progress, Biomax Procurement Services and several anti-abortion activists, including videographers David Daleiden and Sandra Susan Merritt.
A request for comment from the Center for Medical Progress was not immediately returned.
Daleiden and Merritt were previously indicted on criminal charges in Harris County. The indictments included charges against Daleiden and Merritt for tampering with a governmental record. The two activists allegedly used fake California driver’s licenses while visiting a Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast clinic last year.
In light of those charges, the Center for Medical Progress has since claimed its “citizen journalists” were working under First Amendment protections.
The alleged use of the falsified driver’s licenses was first reported in July when Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast confirmed to The Texas Tribune that two people “fraudulently representing themselves” as research executives toured a Planned Parenthood facility in April “under the guise of discussing tissue research with our clinic research staff.” The two individuals identified themselves as executives with Biomax Procurement Services, a shell company created by the Center for Medical Progress, a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman said.
Posing as research executives under different names, Daleiden and Merritt also signed strict nondisclosure agreements to enter a Houston clinic and speak to staff about "internal operations," the lawsuit claims, and the videographers violated the agreements in August when they posted secret recordings of Houston staff.
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Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s move to join the lawsuit is the latest development in a flare-up that followed the release of the undercover videos.
The sale of fetal tissue is illegal. But if a patient consents, abortion clinics may donate fetal tissue for use in medical research. Federal law allows clinics to be reimbursed for costs “associated with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, or storage of human fetal tissue” for research purposes.
Planned Parenthood health centers in Texas do not currently donate tissue for medical research, their officials say, and Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston hasn't done so since 2010, when it partnered with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for a study on causes of miscarriages.
But with allegations flying that Planned Parenthood was breaking the law, state leaders quickly pressed for state and local investigations and called for curtailing the organization’s participation in government-funded programs. Those efforts have produced few results, but they led to the indictment of the two anti-abortion activists.
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
Reference Planned Parenthood Complaint in California Lawsuit (456.8 KB) DOWNLOADRepublican lawmakers in Texas, unfazed by state governments across the country opting out of a controversial immigration enforcement program, are instead seeking to expand it here.
Through the Secure Communities program, administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, local law enforcement compares the fingerprints of those arrested to a federal database to determine if the individual is eligible for deportation under current federal immigration laws. In a proclamation issued Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry added expanding the program to the “call” for the special session that legislators began last week.
The federal program, launched in 2008, was initially touted as a means to target violent criminal immigrants living within the country’s borders. But four states — California, Massachusetts, Illinois and New York — have either opted out or are considering making the policy voluntary for their counties after growing concerns that the program leads to racial profiling and erodes trust for authorities in the targeted communities.
Secure Communities already is in place in every Texas county, but a bill by state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, would expand the initiative to include every detention facility in the state. Williams’ SB 9 would require that local and municipal jails also participate in the program, an effort Williams said is designed to close a “loophole” where those facilities bond out deportable immigrants without first running their fingerprints through the system.
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The legislation was part of an omnibus homeland security package Williams filed during the regular session. It drew bipartisan support and sailed through the Senate on a 26-to-5 vote. But it died in the House after the leadership failed to place the bill on the calendar.
Williams’ SB 9 for the special session, however, also includes the controversial “sanctuary cities” measure, which seeks to prohibit entities from preventing local law enforcement from inquiring about immigration status. No Texas community currently fits the definition of a “sanctuary city,” although the degree to which local police pursue enforcement of federal immigration laws is unclear.
Democrats fiercely oppose the legislation, and the 18 Senate co-authors for Williams’ current bill are all Republican.
The argument some states are using to opt out of Secure Communities is the same one made by Texas opponents of the sanctuary cities bill. In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, Mylan L. Denerstein, counsel to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said the crux of New York’s concern was “the program, conceived of as a method of targeting those who pose the greatest threat to our communities, is in fact having the opposite effect and compromising public safety by deterring witnesses to crimes and others from working with law enforcement.”
In California, the legislature is scheduled to debate a measure that would allow counties to opt out of the program, according to a report Tuesday in California Watch.
The Huffington Post reported in May that California state Rep. Zoe Lofgren was pushing for an investigation in to whether the Department of Homeland Security intentionally misled the public and lawmakers there when it touted the program as a means to target dangerous criminals.
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Opponents of state enforcement of federal immigration laws in Texas, including several police chiefs and sheriffs, argue that Texas could face similar issues — and they use ICE’s own data to make their point. They argue Secure Communities was intended to identify and remove the worst criminal immigrants, not to ferret out minor offenders.
“ICE, in pitching the program to cities and counties, lied,” said Rebecca Bernhardt, the policy director for the Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit criminal justice reform organization. “Many more individuals who have never been convicted of anything criminal or who have only minor misdemeanor convictions … are being deported,” she said.
Since the program was launched in Texas in 2008, there have been about 1,238,600-fingerprint submissions. They have resulted in about 6,725 removals of immigrants who have been convicted of Level 1 offenses (aggravated felonies or two or more felonies), 4,464 deportations of immigrants with Level 2 offenses (any felony or three or more misdemeanors), and 10,252 deportations of those with Level 3 offenses (offenses punishable by less than a year in detention). There have also been 5,726 removals of noncriminal immigration violators, which range from entering the country illegally to overstaying a visa. ICE officials, however, clarify that “noncriminal removals” also includes “pre-conviction arrestees.”
ICE officials argue the program works because it is targeting the right people: immigrants, both legal and illegal, who have somehow run afoul of American law.
“Because of the way Secure Communities works, all people identified through the program have had some prior contact with immigration officials, whether filing for a visa or naturalization or being turned away at the border,” said an ICE official who spoke on only on condition of background. “All people identified through Secure Communities have also, separately, been booked into criminal custody and charged with a state criminal offense. These individuals have all been arrested and booked on at least one criminal charge. Many of these individuals have also been arrested on prior occasions.”
Williams isn’t concerned about what New York or any other state is doing and said he plans to move forward with his legislation.
“It’s working here. I think we are going to stick with it,” he told the Tribune after filing his bill. “We [already] have all 254 counties that are doing it.”
He says Secure Communities does not promote racial profiling and instead treats every person arrested the same way: regardless of race, sex or age the detainee’s prints are run through a database. Bernhardt doesn’t dispute that assessment. She adds, however, that the method by which the detainees are brought to the jails is where the racial profiling occurs. Officers who want to be de facto immigration officers, she said, can abuse their power to detain a certain population.
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“They can use their discretion to arrest people for otherwise ticketable offenses,” she said.
ICE officials told the Tribune the agency would conduct a thorough review of Secure Communities data to identify irregularities that “could indicate misconduct.”
Despite the controversy, the agency still touts its success in achieving what it set out to do, claiming that across the country more than 77,000 convicted criminal immigrants were removed after being identified through Secure Communities, including more than 28,000 accused of major crimes like rape, murder and the sexual abuse of children.
Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning: it’s not a Quonset hut. This isn’t a Black Friday deal. It’s newly built by a Houston-area business called Arched Cabins, and while it does bear more than a passing resemblance to the WWII-era structure – both are prefabricated corrugated galvanized steel – you’ll notice upon a second glance that the cross section is different. Unlike the Quonset hut, which had a semicircular roof, the Arched Cabin has one that’s, well, arched, making for a higher ceiling and more interior space.
Arched Cabins can apparently be ordered in any length in a choice of 14, 16, 20 and 24-foot widths costing $200, $220, $260 and $320 per linear foot respectively. (They range from 12 to 19 feet tall according to the width.) For example, you could get a 16-foot wide, 20-foot long cabin giving you 320 square feet of space for $4,400. However, that price only includes the structural ribs, ridge beam, roof paneling, flooring and R13 insulation. Necessities such as the foundation and end caps add around $3,000, and there’s also a delivery charge of two dollars per mile of distance from the manufacturer’s location.
All-in, for this example, you’d be looking at approximately $7,500 – $14,000 depending on where you live and whether you want to install the Arched Cabin yourself or pay the company to do it for you. That’s still not a whole lot of money for a building that sets up in a weekend and is unquestionably well-made and highly versatile. You can get one in any of 20 different colors, and they have become garages, stores, kennels, homes, and the beautiful hunting lodge you see in the interior photos on this page.
Arched Cabins are also durable (there’s a 40-year warranty on the panels!) and stand up well to extreme weather and climates. Enhanced R25 insulation is available, and it’s possible to install any kind of heating and/or cooling system you want. Company founder David Cruey says they do fine in hundred-degree days and in hundred-mile-an-hour winds and can probably handle even worse weather.Visitors arriving into Dublin Port by ferry can clearly see a building that life long Dub’s would be forgiven for not knowing existed at all.
Hidden in the shadows behind the iconic red and white ESB chimneys in Poolbeg is the original Dublin City power station.
An imposing red brick structure built in 1903 to serve the exploding demand for electricity in the city, it served faithfully until the ESB commissioned a more modern power plant in the 1960’s, keeping on the original power station on as a back up until they finally abandoned it for good in 1975.
These days it looks like a film set for Peaky Blinders and indeed it was the backdrop for Matthew McConaughey/Christian Bale flop 'Reign of Fire' in 2002. With no upkeep or maintenance, nature has had its way for 4 decades creating a haunting, atmospheric ruin at the end of the Pigeon House Road.
We’ve been telling ourselves for years we would come up with some hair brained scheme to get in past the railings where it’s been teasing us for years. Thankfully, photographer Steve O’Connor had the scheme handed to him, being invited to take photos for an article on derelict spaces by Roisin Agnew which originally appeared in Totally Dublin magazine.
Steve’s photos don’t disappoint. It's exactly as you’d hope it would be; girders and glass, dials and gauges long since frozen, cathedral like turbine halls begging for something to be done with them.
We asked Steve about his experience and this is what he had to say:
The building itself is HUGE. I didn't really know what to expect when we got out there having never been there before but it's an amazing piece of industrial architecture.
We were shown around by Charles Duggan, DCC's Heritage Officer. The red brick is amazing. There's massive iron hoppers all along the top where coal would have been fed into the furnaces.
Much of the interior was off limits to us as it's deemed dangerous. We were allowed into what must have been the control area where there were the ghosts of control panels and various dials and meters, but most have been removed.
The site is in limbo at the moment as it is too expensive to either renovate or demolish. There have been artists residencies that have used the space as inspiration over the years. Mr. Duggan would like it to become a public space of some sort. I agree.
In an ideal world the space could be made safe and roofed so it could be used, even if only as a pop up, as a performance space or large gallery space like the turbine room at the TATE. Better again it could become a creative hub for large scale works and creative studios.
It is a tantalising space for any number of events, even as a backdrop and we hope to see some future happenings out there.
See more of Steve's work at www.mrsteveoconnor.comRepublican and Democratic leaders in Congress have contrasting views of how the recently passed GOP tax legislation will impact their respective parties in 2018.
The sweeping Republican tax bill will help the GOP retain its control in Congress next fall, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick BradySmaller tax refunds put GOP on defensive Key author of GOP tax law joins Ernst and Young Lawmakers beat lobbyists at charity hockey game MORE (R-Texas) told The Hill for the Power Politics podcast.
Or Democratic candidates will prosper in 2018 because of what House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer Steny Hamilton HoyerHouse slated to vote on most significant gun control bill in years House votes to overturn Trump's emergency declaration House to vote on background check bills next week MORE (D-Md.) sees as the unpopularity of tax cuts that primarily benefit corporations and the rich, coupled with a president who has dismal approval ratings.
During separate Power Politics conversations in the Capitol, the two House leaders explained why they view the political terrain so differently heading into an election year that history suggests may prove a challenge for the party in power.
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Brady said GOP lawmakers and President Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE will plan appearances next year to try to overcome public skepticism, as measured by numerous polls.
Americans will recognize “a stark contrast” between Republicans who delivered lower taxes and Democrats who voted against them, he said.
Democrats “voted against letting them keep more of their money,” opposed “doubling the child tax credit” and rejected other provisions aimed at the middle class, children and the disabled, Brady said.
He also defended loopholes that survived in the bill and said filing taxes will in fact be simpler for Americans who qualify for a larger standard deduction, despite skepticism from experts.
Brady rejected political comparisons with 2010, when Democrats insisted that enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) would buoy the party’s fortunes in the November midterms. Instead, Democrats were swamped, losing 63 House seats and six Senate seats.
Brady also said that Republicans can learn a few lessons from the party's failure to move ObamaCare repeal and replace legislation through the Senate.
“I think there was lessons learned,” Brady said. “And those lessons were, the sooner we get on the same page with the president and the White House, the better if we did that. And the sooner we work toward one common approach, the House and the Senate, and set the timetable … that really created the runway to get this done.”
Across the aisle, Hoyer believes the GOP’s tax law will be a potent political weapon for Democrats in 2018. He and others in his party maintain that, while Trump and the GOP promised a jobs boom and higher wages as a result of lower tax rates, working-class voters will be disappointed.
Of 20 companies in the Fortune 500 surveyed by the Washington Post about the new tax law, not a single company said it planned to raise wages as a result of lower tax liabilities, he noted.
“Our message is going to be jobs, our message is going to be growth,” Hoyer told The Hill. “Our message is going to be, frankly, when you have Democrats in charge, the economy does better.”
The Democrat sees a favorable political year for his party ahead.
“I think we’re going to win the majority back,” he predicted of Congress. “I think it feels very much to me like 2010 in the reverse, or 2006. I think this president is not doing a good job, and not raising confidence.”
Hoyer said there is emerging evidence that Americans are beginning to register their displeasure with Trump’s presidency and GOP control in Washington, judging from recent Democratic wins in Virginia, New Jersey and the Alabama special Senate election.
“That indicates to me that what’s going to happen a year from now is that people are going to go to the polls and say, 'look, we want someone to watch this president. We don’t trust this president to keep us safe, keep us out of war, do the things that are good for our country,’” he added.
Hoyer also suggested that special counsel Robert Mueller Robert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign will continue to plague the president and the party heading into the new year.
Subscribe now: Apple Podcasts | Soundcloud | Stitcher | Google Play | TuneInKeith Bradsher and Andrew Martin have a sobering story in The Times showing declines in funding for agricultural development assistance and basic research even as the world’s poorest regions face spiking prices and shortages of basic foods.
When I started reading, I was immediately struck by the parallel to a 2006 story I wrote for our ongoing Energy Challenge series on dwindling federal and private funding for basic research on energy frontiers, even as scientists were projecting energy demand is likely to triple or more as the world heads toward 9 billion people seeking a decent life.
Over and over, there have been warnings about the importance of sustaining a vigorous scientific and technological enterprise, in part by invigorating science education and also by investing some public wealth exploring the edges of knowledge.
UPDATE 5/19: John Tierney has an interesting piece up on his blog reviewing how non-governmental funding for agricultural research aiding poor countries dried up as foundations and international lenders shifted priorities away from boosting food production, partly due to rising pressure from green groups.
In the 2007 report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” a panel convened by the National Academies said this about the situation in the United States:
Having reviewed trends in the United States and abroad, the committee is deeply concerned that the scientific and technological building blocks critical to our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are gathering strength. We strongly believe that a worldwide strengthening will benefit the world’s economy — particularly in the creation of jobs in countries that are far less well-off than the United States. But we are worried about the future prosperity of the United States. Although many people assume that the United States will always be a world leader in science and technology, this may not continue to be the case inasmuch as great minds and ideas exist throughout the world. We fear the abruptness with which a lead in science and technology can be lost—and the difficulty of recovering a lead once lost, if indeed it can be regained at all.
Not everyone agrees that the American education system is failing to generate enough innovators. But on the funding side, the trends for basic research are clear.
A column in the Business section of The Times speculates on whether higher food prices will drive investors and innovators back into food research. But that will only happen if people are convinced that today’s rise is a real trend and not a temporary spike. Also, if the history of energy research provides lessons, such investment still is biased toward the short-term payoff, and cannot substitute for sustained frontier-pushing research.
Societies and economies today are built on advances in technologies and practices in fields like agriculture and energy that were spurred by significant public investment a few decades ago. But there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that the current generation is willing to keep filling the innovation pipeline for successors. In a world with a population likely to add the equivalent of two more Chinas in the next two generations, my sense is that gap could lead to some hard knocks.Key Highlights
Career History After dropping out of Stanford in 1995, Musk started Zip2 with his brother Kimbal using $28,000 borrowed from their father. In 1999 it sold to Compaq for $307 million, with Musk earning $22 million.
Musk invested $10 million of his Zip2 proceeds into founding X.com, one of the first attempts at online banking. It later merged with Peter Thiel’s Confinity and became PayPal in 2000. After IPOing in 2002 it was sold to eBay the same year, Musk made $180 million from the sale.
Post-PayPal, Musk invested all of his proceeds into his new projects: SpaceX ($100 million), Tesla ($70 million) and SolarCity ($10 million). By 2008, he was almost penniless and living on $200 thousand monthly loans from his friends after a $20 million divorce.
By 2017, his fortunes had changed and his net worth had risen to $16 billion; just six years earlier, it was only $68 million.
Goes All-In with His Businesses After being outmaneuvered in the boardroom at Zip2 and PayPal, Musk began to take more of an iron grip with managing his companies. At Tesla in 2007, he converted $8 million of preference stock to weaker common stock just to oust its CEO.
Aside from small angel investments, he avoided cashing out of his businesses at opportunistic or exit stage moments and maintained large ownership percentages. His proceeds from Tesla’s IPO were only $15 million.
Musk has personally borrowed over $620 million that he has used to purchase more stock in his companies. In 2013, he drew down a personal loan to buy stock and help Tesla pay off one of its own loans.
Creates Ecosystems around Himself Investing within his network has provided Musk with a successful angel investing record. He made a $90 million return from DeepMind and only one of his investments has been a total loss: Halcyon Molecular in 2012.
Over his career, he has been involved in four businesses with his brother Kimbal and two with his cousin, Lyndon Rive.
His businesses regularly cross paths and transact with each other. SpaceX has purchased over $250 million of SolarCity’s bonds and Musk has personally bought $65 million. These kinds of links were a worry for investors during the Tesla and SolarCity merger.
Creative Financing Methods By 2015, Musk’s businesses and their customers had benefited from $4.9 billion in savings from government subsidies. The benefit split between the two was 70% and 30% respectively.
Within the aforementioned benefits were $517 million in Zero Emission Vehicle credit allowances that Tesla sold to rival automotive producers. This allowed Tesla to boost revenue at opportune times.
A $1.6 billion contract from NASA in 2008 helped stave off bankruptcy at SpaceX.
A dilettante, or a brave maverick? Musk’s hands-on and all-encompassing roles have led to cries of poor corporate governance within his businesses. This issue was raised by a group of Tesla shareholders in a 2017 letter to him.
Capitol Hill lawmakers have also raised concerns about federal money paid to SpaceX being used to inadvertently prop up SolarCity.
Dissention was once again abruptly quieted on a May 2018 earnings call when Musk stopped taking questions from Wall Street analysts on "shorter-term" issues like Model 3 production and cash flow in favor of questions from a retail investor more interested in the bigger picture.
Since founding Zip2 23 years ago, Elon Musk has gone on to start another two businesses and invest in countless others. He is one of the most admired leaders in the world, gaining respect for the ambitious nature of his activities and sheer dedication towards ensuring that they succeed.
His endeavors naturally receive a lot of press, and countless armchair analysts pore over the viability of self-driving cars or if mankind can colonize Mars. In this article, I am going to leave those pontifications aside and purely focus on Musk the investor. What are the tactics and game plans that he follows when funding his companies—or, indeed, other people’s companies? What are the lessons we can learn from his investment track record and success? If you are interested in a deeper look into his background and the companies that he is involved in, I highly recommend Tim Urban’s writings on Musk and his businesses.
To do this, I will first lay out the career of Elon Musk’s investments and entrepreneurial activities from a high-level perspective, and then review the trends and tactics that he has followed. In researching this, I found that Musk clearly learns from his mistakes and experiences, adapting his future actions thereafter.
Phase 1. Musk the Early-stage Entrepreneur
After dropping out of Stanford in 1995, Musk founded Zip2 with his brother Kimbal using $28,000 borrowed from their father. It was intended to be an online consumer version of the Yellow Pages linked to mapping visuals. After VC Mohr Davidow later invested $3 million, Musk was relegated to the role of CTO and the business pivoted towards a B2B offering aimed at newspapers. With his ownership diluted to 7%, his influence waned over the direction of the business and eventually in 1999 it sold to Compaq for $307 million; Musk earned $22 million from the deal.
In November of the same year, Musk invested $10 million of his Zip2 proceeds into founding X.com, one of the first attempts at online banking. In March of 2000, it merged with Peter Thiel’s Confinity platform, which was its major competitor at the time. Later that year, Musk was again ousted as CEO, this time by Thiel (but he remained on the board) and the business rebranded to the now ubiquitous PayPal in 2001. By February of 2002, the business had IPOed, but then eight months later it was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion and Musk pocketed $180 million from the sale.
Phase 2. Musk the Multi-tasker
With a batting average of 1.000 from successful startups, you would have expected Musk to perhaps take a step back after the PayPal sale. Instead he entered into a grueling phase of his career which can be characterized by the running of a string of concurrent entrepreneurial ventures.
As with X.com, he didn’t waste any time after the PayPal sale and he established SpaceX in the same year. In April 2004, Musk first dipped his toes into the world of Tesla through a $6.35 million investment in its Series A round. At this point in time, he was also continually investing into the formation of SpaceX and he was following on in future funding rounds of Tesla with rising largesse and frequency. Despite not “founding” Tesla, his influence rose continuously, stemming from his invaluable operational and financial input.
Moving on to 2006, following Musk’s suggestion and encouragement, his cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive established SolarCity. Musk invested seed capital into the business and assumed the role of chairman. He followed on in three more subsequent rounds between 2007 and 2012.
2008 was a nadir for Musk and potentially the most pivotal point of his career. He was fighting on three fronts to build companies with significant scope and ambition. From a liquidity perspective, his situation reached a flashpoint, with the seemingly infinite PayPal money now reaching its end. A divorce from his first wife also added a $20 million bill that year. Through loans from friends, Musk managed to continue on his course and some unexpected gifts arrived via the first proceeds from his angel investing portfolio (Everdream and Game Trust).
Tesla’s IPO in 2010 marked the end of this era and allowed Musk to consolidate financially and move onwards with his evolving strategy.
Phase 3. Musk the Conglomerator
With Tesla starting to turn the corner, now was the turn of SpaceX, which began to get positive traction through successful trials and contracts. The realms of his three companies began to slowly intertwine, in terms of deals between them and their common narrative of forging a sustainable future for mankind. Indeed, despite IPOing in 2012, four years later SolarCity merged with Tesla, with the apparent synergies and vertical integration opportunities receiving blessing from 85% of shareholders.
In this period, Musk’s angel investing took a turn towards AI and biotech focused startups. He parlayed a significant return of $92 million from an investment in DeepMind (bought by Google) and made other investments into the sectors via Halcyon Molecular, Vicarious, and NeuroVigil between 2010 and the present day.
His net worth during this period grew exponentially, from $2 billion in 2012 to $19 billion in 2018 (Forbes). Tesla’s share price also skyrocketed after the introduction of the Model 3 paved a way for the beginning of mass-market consumer electric vehicles (TSLA shares are still up 881% since 2012, despite the recent issues in 2Q18). SpaceX, while still private, raised funding in July 2017 at a $21.2 billion valuation. The rapid growth of his net worth over the last six years is shown below:
Musk’s Investments by the Numbers
Below is a chronological timeline of Musk’s investing activities, showing inflows and outflows. The data was sourced via a triangulation of Crunchbase, Pitchbook, and news article sources:
A summary of each company that he has invested in or founded is shown with more detail in the table below. The only evidence of a Musk investment being a complete flameout is that of Halcyon Molecular, which burned through investors’ cash and shuttered within 2 years. Of his exits, two were strong successes (Everdream and DeepMind) and two returned their capital (Game Trust and OneRiot). Of his current “live” portfolio, he will be sitting on some significant paper gains from his investment in Stripe. At the other |
almost all of several recent “high-profile events” on Metro have been closed, thanks to the use of security footage. He said that footage hadn’t been released to the public in an effort to get information, as often happens in such cases, because in this case it wasn’t necessary.
“We’ve got very good video,” Lanier said.
Washington was with his mother and siblings when he was shot. He was a student at Largo High School, in Upper Marlboro, NBC Washington reports, adding that he was in the Air Force JROTC program there. His family told NBC Washington that he was on his way to get a haircut for Easter.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein contributed to this report.
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© 2016 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.Following the news that her son Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on 30 charges relating to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva affirmed her belief in her son’s innocence and call the American authorities “terrorists”, Vocativ have found.
“Tell everyone that I will never forget their support. May the creator bless them all for their support of my precious boy,” reads a note, which was given to Vocativ by a friend who received it via a text messaging app. It was also posted to the group “Help for Dzhokhar” on the Russian social networking site VKontakte.
“America is the terrorist and everyone knows it!” it continues. “My son is the best of the best. I embrace everyone and thank you!”
Tsarnaeva, a Russian native who left the US for Dagestan in 2012 after failing to meet a shoplifting charge, has always vocally maintained her son’s innocence.
She told the Associated Press the week after the bombing that the accusations against her sons were “all lies and hypocrisy”, adding that she was “sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children”.
Nonetheless, Tsarnaev was convicted on all charges Wednesday afternoon in a federal courthouse in Boston, after a day and a half of jury deliberation.
The trial will now move on to the sentencing phase, in which the same jury will hear evidence to help them decide whether to give the death penalty. A vote for Tsarnaev’s execution must be unanimous.
Alan Yuhas contributed reporting from New York.Surmounting all odds, Prema Jayakumar, daughter of a Mumbai-based auto-rickshaw driver, has topped the all India Chartered Accountancy (CA) examination.
Residing in a crammed one-room chawl in suburban Malad with her parents and brother, the 24-year-old told PTI today she was ecstatic to have secured the first rank in the examination conducted in November 2012 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, results of which were announced yesterday.
"It's my lifetime achievement. For me, the key to success is hardwork," an elated Prema said.
Her family, originally from Tamil Nadu, is settled for the last several years in Mumbai where her father Jayakumar Perumal drives an auto-rickshaw for a living.
Prema, who secured an impressive 607 marks out of 800, credits her parents for the success and now wants them to live a life of comfort.
"It would not have been possible without their support and blessings. My parents always motivated me. I would now want my parents, who did so much for me, to live a life of comfort," Prema, who did her articleship with Kishore Seth and Company, said.
Prema said she was proud of her father and homemaker mother who never allowed money to come in the way of her academic pursuit and that of her 22-year-old brother, who also cleared the tough CA examination with her.
Both siblings had registered together with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to take the test in November last year.
Displaying academic excellence earlier too, Prema had stood second in her B.Com Third year examination conducted by Mumbai University, securing 90% marks.Disgraced feminist agitator Shanley Kane last night admitted that she had used racist language while dating a notorious white supremacist and convicted hacker, as we reported Saturday. Kane claims that the racial epithets she used were “satire” and that her behaviour should be excused because she is “mentally ill.”
Then, in an explosive blog post, Amelia Greenhall, Kane’s cofounder at feminist blog Model View Culture, confessed what it had been like working with Kane for the few months of operation before Kane forced her out of a company that had been her own idea.
Greenhall says Kane confessed her “racist past” and told Greenhall about her relationship with Andrew Auernheimer, otherwise known as weev, when they were still on speaking terms. “What concerned me about these revelations was not that Shanley has had a relationship with weev where she participated in making racist jokes,” wrote Greenhall, “but that she did that so recently before starting a publication focused on diversity.
“Had I known about these things before we were well into running the company, I doubt I would have chosen her as a co-founder. As it was, at the end of our 6+ months of working together, I came away unsure if she had actually fundamentally changed from that past or not.”
“I left Model View Culture because working with Shanley felt like I was in an abusive relationship,” said Greenhall. “Each day I dreaded having to interact with her. Eventually I was able to see many of the things I was experiencing – such as yelling, excuses that the yelling was just because she needed me so much, her demands that I isolate myself from my friends – as classic abuser tactics. I woke up one morning with the bone-deep realization that I could no longer work with her.”
Greenhall says Kane scrubbed her from history when she left the company: “Shanley has since erased me from Model View Culture’s history. Fighting erasure of work is a feminist issue, and also one that Shanley is aware of and has specifically addressed in the past. Yet the publication did not announce that I had left, and quietly took me off the about page, though it has continued to refer to itself as ‘we.’
“Shanley credits herself as ‘founder’ not ‘co-founder.’ In telling the story of founding the company in press, she does not mention that I was there unless specifically asked about it … [Kane was] emotionally and verbally abusive … I felt abused to the point where I left a company that I loved and had been my dream.”
In December, we reported on Kane’s modus operandi as a feminist troll and internet bully: rambling, pseudoacademic essays full of unverifiable claims on her blog, backed up by a vile, profanity-laced Twitter account that has aggressively attacked anyone who does not subscribe to Kane’s precise brand of prescriptive progressivism and far-Left feminism.
Kane has hounded men and even other women out of the public square, silencing them with her protracted bullying campaigns, which she justifies with harrowing personal stories about her life in the technology industry. Yet those personal stories sometimes do not bear critical scrutiny.
On 11 August last year, Kane tweeted that she had given up “decades of work” to become a professional feminist critic. Then, on 18 January, in response to our reporting, she wrote that she: “didn’t understand the abuse dynamics in my own relationships, i was only starting to open my eyes to tech’s shit. i was in my 2nd tech job.”
Kane’s critics have been asking: given that she is 28 years old, how could she have given up “decades” of work to found Model View Culture? Did she start work at the age of eight? Discrepancies in her account of her own life leave sceptical readers wanting more evidence for some of Kane’s claims.
Kane alleged on Twitter that our report on Saturday, which took the form of an interview with Auernheimer, is based on the testimony of a “scumbag” and “abusive piece of shit” who is “bitter” over the ending of their relationship. “The part of the story left out of course,” she adds, “is how I dumped his ass and he cried like a fucking baby for a month. You would too.”
She says Andrew Auernheimer is a “serial harasser” and “domestic abuser… primarily known for abusing and terrorizing women and lying to the press.” She adds that he was “abusive loser who manipulated me, blackmailed me, lied to me and continues to abuse me.”
These are serious charges. Yet why, if Auernheimer was abusive and Kane had ended the relationship, as she claims, did she later fly to New York City on the eve of his sentencing to see him again? Why, if Auernheimer manipulated her, blackmailed her, lied to her and abused her, as she claims, did she send him texts the eve of his sentencing asking if he wanted to have dinner with her, or go to the opera? (Auernheimer declined the invitation, he says.)
Why, if Auernheimer was an “abusive piece of shit,” as she claims, did she send approximately $500 to his prison commissary during his jail sentence, well after the relationship had ended and she was free of him?
Despite multiple opportunities, Kane has refused to address these inconsistencies, or indeed any others, in her account, leaving many to conclude that much of what she claims is simply a fabrication, designed to elicit sympathy, garner support for her extreme views and, of course, merely as a pretext for her own abusive behaviour.
The sincerity of Kane’s feminism is very much in doubt. Elizabeth Spiers, a veteran journalist and former editor of the New York Observer, was attacked by Kane with these words: “Get the fuck over me and move on with your life as a has-been. You are literally 10 years older than me, yet are relentlessly picking on a young woman with an up-and-coming media career like you once had. You look jealous and petty, and your ongoing obsession with me is creepy as fuck.”
Asserting that a middle-aged woman is washed up and jealous of youth betrays the most rudimentary ideals of feminism, as one Kane-watcher put it to me last night–not to mention the fact that it has been Kane who has obsessively tweeted about Spiers, and not the other way around. Spiers is 38.
Now it has been revealed that not only did Kane date a white supremacist – and, by her own admission and according to her Model View Culture cofounder, share his views – but that her approach to the truth has been casual at best in regards to her own biography and that she has been just as abusive, if not more so, to other women as the men she spends all day complaining about on social media.
One Silicon Valley business writer, speaking anonymously to Breitbart, said last night: “When she first came on the scene, [Kane] was really cool – young and energetic and friendly with only the odd ill-timed rant. Over time however she frankly became crazy and the power that a small but vocal group of ultra-militant people gave her made her ever more aggressive. Regular expletive-laden twitter rants, comments that anyone who is male and in tech is a rapist and accusations left, right and center about underhanded deeds all added up to an explosive combination.
“To be honest I think she does more damage than good for her cause – while she certainly gets page views, she makes people in tech scared to have open and honest discussions about diversity, fearful because they risk being eviscerated by Shanley.”
Last night, Tim Chevalier, a long-time supporter of Kane’s, said in a blog post on his personal website: “I believe Amelia and I support her unequivocally in her decision to tell her story. We can be a stronger community if Shanley chooses to take responsibility for her actions towards Amelia … of course, whether her apology is adequate is up to Amelia to decide.”
“The level of hypocrisy,” a female marketing executive based in San Francisco wrote in response to our earlier reporting, “is simply staggering. At last now it’s all coming out. Especially the race stuff, that really shocked me.”
“We’re learning how many fucks feminists really have for ‘intersectionality’ and bell hooks,” a senior Silicon Valley chief executive told Breitbart this morning, on condition of anonymity since he fears reprisals from Kane. “Third-wave feminists care about their ideology and their in-group. They’re defending someone who wittingly made racist remarks – in 2012. They don’t care about black people at all.”
“Whether black entrepreneurs and tech workers, some of whom have previously supported Kane’s recent lip service to people of color, will be next to speak out is anyone’s guess,” another prominent Valley figure, a journalist who has been following Kane’s career, said last night. “But I hope they do.”
“Shanley running Model View Media is like having David Duke’s ex-gf run Essence magazine,” tweeted one black observer yesterday.
In a long, rambling self-justification posted earlier this week in response to our reporting, Kane claimed to be “mentally ill,” suffering from “anxiety disorder” and “obsessive-compulsive disorder.” Some of her first sexual experiences, she says, “included being molested and a victim of statutory rape.”
“As a working professional I’ve been sexually harassed, verbally and physically intimidated by managers, underpaid, overworked, denied promotions, humiliated, and subjected to hostile work environment after hostile work environment,” she continued. “I’ve been threatened with revenge porn by multiple exes, and coerced into doing things I think are unethical by people in positions of power over me. I’ve had hacked nude photos sent to my bosses and investors.
“I’ve been stalked over the course of months and years, been slandered and abused by media, and disowned by my industry for being a woman who spoke up. I am one of the most visible women in tech – not as a respected and valued member of our industry, but as a target. I live in constant fear of the tech community and am terrorized on a regular basis.”
But the number of people willing to listen to Kane’s fanciful stories is dwindling. Last night Kane’s support appeared to be drying up rapidly, her reputation as a hero of progressivism shattered and her track record as a champion of the underprivileged severely damaged. Though she may continue to make noise on Twitter, any ability to effect change for women and minorities in the technology industry is likely a thing of the past.
There is “room [to] support diversity in tech and the work Model View Culture has done, but you are allowed to have doubts about Shanley’s sincerity or track record of abusive behavior,” wrote Greenhall yesterday, to which another of our sources added: “It’s a pity. Some of what she publishes is worthwhile and necessary. But she has become too toxic to do any good in the tech industry any longer.”Sign up to receive UCAN Daily Full Bulletin Thank you. You are now signed up to our Daily Full Bulletin newsletter
Sixty North Korean refugees of all ages were baptized Catholics at a church in Seoul on June 18. "Everyone here has wounds and pain. You came a long way and now you are newly born in God who cares and loves you endlessly. I wish you all have a new happy life," said Father Raymond Lee Jong-nam of Banpo 4-dong Catholic Church during the baptism. In the months leading up to the baptism Father Lee taught the refugees on how to understand faith and about how to best maintain a spiritual life. One of those who were baptized, Yang, said it was not easy for him to escape North Korea nearly two years ago. "We are here for only one thing, love. I thank Father Lee for showing us deep love like our father and I will live this new life to the full in this church," Yang said. Father Lee has long worked with North Korean refugees, assisting them in settling into their new life in the South. He believes that many of the newly baptized Catholics will one day go on to evangelize in North Korea. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jong of Seoul sent a message and rosaries to those who were baptized. "You all went through great pain and you starved for love," said the cardinal in his message to the North Koreans. "I can only give them all the love I can give like a father and wish they live happy lives," Cardinal Yeom Soo-jong said.Some of the North Korean refugees being baptized at Banpo 4-dong Catholic Church in Seoul. (Photo by The Catholic Times of Korea) Since the North's 1994-98 famine, about 30,000 North Koreans who fled their country now live in Seoul, according to the South Korean government. North Koreans who have fled their hard-line communist homeland are required to spend three months in Hanawon, a re-education center on the southern outskirts of Seoul. Instructors there give lessons on coping in a capitalist society. Protestant, Catholic and Buddhist groups have access to the center, holding regular services and offering food.There are an estimated 300,000 Christians in North Korea with about 60,000 of them believed to be imprisoned due to their faith, according to Open Doors, an international ministry that tracks worldwide Christian persecution.Hopeful as I am of finding a room full of crystal balls, smoke and mirrors, a visit to a class run by the London School of Astrology (LSA) yields nothing of the sort. Altogether 29 students sit in the bowels of the Quaker Friends House opposite Euston Station, a good attendance for a rainy Thursday evening in December. There are 25 women and four men – all but a handful look over 40 – sitting in rows at long tables, studying the astrological chart at the front of the room, and not a crystal or cloak in sight.
The chart is Gordon Brown’s. That’s to say it’s been established based on the time, date and location of the former Prime Minister’s birth. An astrologer’s first job is to draw up a client’s chart featuring the planets and signs of the zodiac, which their readings will be based on.
“If,” explains the teacher Frank Clifford, referring to the position of the planets on the circular illustration, “Gordon Brown had consulted an astrologer when making his deal with Tony Blair about handing over the leadership, we could have told him he’d be waiting for a very long time.”
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.
Clifford is in his early forties but looks a decade younger. He’s wearing blue jeans, a black t-shirt and trainers. His long silver chain and goatee are borderline new-agey, but his most remarkable characteristic is his enthusiasm for astrology, which he’s been involved with since he was a teenager.
Shape Created with Sketch. Science news in pictures Show all 18 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Science news in pictures 1/18 Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland 2/18 Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty 3/18 Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty 4/18 Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP 5/18 Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP 6/18 Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS 7/18 Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Müller et al 8/18 New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the “interstitium”. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty 9/18 Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs José Iriarte 10/18 One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty 11/18 Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary 12/18 A 3D reconstruction of an African grey parrot post euthanasia Included in Wellcome Image Awards, this 3D image of an African grey parrot shows the highly intricate system of blood vessels. Scott Birch. Wellcome Images 13/18 Baby Hawaiian bobtail squid Another Wellcome Images Award winner, this time of baby Hawaiian bobtail squid. The black ink sac and light organ in the centre of the squid’s mantle cavity can be clearly seen. Macroscopic Solutions. Wellcome Images 14/18 Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists The people are thought to have been unusually tall and strong. The tallest of the skeletons uncovered measured at 1.9m YouTube 15/18 Nasa discovers 75,000 mile-wide hole in the Sun Sunspots are caused by interactions with the Sun’s magnetic field and are cooler areas on the star’s surface. Nasa 16/18 View(active tab) Apple News Breaking news email Edit Revisions Workflow Clear Cache NewsScience 132 million-year-old dinosaur fossil found at factory in Surrey Paleontologists Sarah Moore and Jamie Jordan believe they have discovered a Iguanodon dinosaur, a herbivore that was around three metres tall and 10 metres long Cambridge Photographers/Wienerberger 17/18 Discovering life on Mars is less likely as researchers find toxic chemicals on its surface The Echus Chasma, one of the largest water source regions on Mars Getty Images 18/18 An iris clip fitted onto the eye This images is apart of the Wellcome Images Awards and shows how an artificial intraocular lens is fitted onto the eye. Used for conditions such as myopia and cataracts. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT. Wellcome Images 1/18 Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland 2/18 Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty 3/18 Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty 4/18 Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP 5/18 Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP 6/18 Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS 7/18 Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Müller et al 8/18 New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the “interstitium”. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty 9/18 Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs José Iriarte 10/18 One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty 11/18 Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary 12/18 A 3D reconstruction of an African grey parrot post euthanasia Included in Wellcome Image Awards, this 3D image of an African grey parrot shows the highly intricate system of blood vessels. Scott Birch. Wellcome Images 13/18 Baby Hawaiian bobtail squid Another Wellcome Images Award winner, this time of baby Hawaiian bobtail squid. The black ink sac and light organ in the centre of the squid’s mantle cavity can be clearly seen. Macroscopic Solutions. Wellcome Images 14/18 Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists The people are thought to have been unusually tall and strong. The tallest of the skeletons uncovered measured at 1.9m YouTube 15/18 Nasa discovers 75,000 mile-wide hole in the Sun Sunspots are caused by interactions with the Sun’s magnetic field and are cooler areas on the star’s surface. Nasa 16/18 View(active tab) Apple News Breaking news email Edit Revisions Workflow Clear Cache NewsScience 132 million-year-old dinosaur fossil found at factory in Surrey Paleontologists Sarah Moore and Jamie Jordan believe they have discovered a Iguanodon dinosaur, a herbivore that was around three metres tall and 10 metres long Cambridge Photographers/Wienerberger 17/18 Discovering life on Mars is less likely as researchers find toxic chemicals on its surface The Echus Chasma, one of the largest water source regions on Mars Getty Images 18/18 An iris clip fitted onto the eye This images is apart of the Wellcome Images Awards and shows how an artificial intraocular lens is fitted onto the eye. Used for conditions such as myopia and cataracts. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT. Wellcome Images
Now head of one of two schools in the UK still offering weekly face-to-face rather than correspondence or intensive residential courses ion the subject, he also writes books and acts as a media astrologer for a number of publications. Clifford has around 100 students studying foundation years or diplomas (three years) in astrology, costing from £690 a year for three terms of evening classes. The Advisory Panel on Astrological Education (APAE) lists 14 accredited member schools but not all offer regular classes.
Along with the LSA, the Faculty of Astrological Studies is the only school also running physical diploma courses. It currently has around 500 students across all its courses, who pay upwards of £285 per module to complete the eight diploma modules. Sharon Knight is chair of the Association of Professional Astrologers International (APAI). She tells me she has around 120 vetted astrologers, who have completed these types of diplomas, on her books.
Why bother to train, when anyone can declare they are an astrologer and start selling their services? There are fraudulent practitioners in all walks of life, but with astrology there’s no legal bar to reach, only an ethical one. Talking before the class, Clifford shares a classic astrology horror story. He met a woman in California whom he describes as an “emergency client”. She’d seen a vedic astrologer (Indian astrology, there are many kinds) who had told her she would die or lose a limb in an accident between two specific dates a few days apart. If she were to buy certain talismans from the astrologerhim however, he could work to reduce the effects of the coming trauma. “I can’t imagine anyone over here doing that,” says Clifford. “It’s about the power invested in the guru. We spoke about her giving her power over to others. I emailed her the day after the prediction and she did end up buying these things the vedic astrologer had recommended because she was scared. That made me feel sick, what an awful thing to be subjected to.
“Astrology is never really about advice, it’s about consultation or dialogue. I’d like people to learn a little bit before they get so critical. It’s not a belief system, it’s not a cult, it’s not a religion. It’s a way of looking at the world, it’s a language.”
Gordon Brown, as far as we know, did not consult an astrologer at the time of that now folkloric “Granita Pact”, nor is there evidence he ever has. We’d be surprised to learn that this unshowy politician looked to the heavens for insights and approval, but he wouldn’t be the first. John Major was reported to have consulted an astrologer while he was prime minister; David Tredinnick, serving Conservative MP for Bosworth, has said astrology could help our ailing NHS, and it’s no secret that astrologer Joan Quigley held as much sway over former US president Ronald Reagan as any of his official advisoers. According to Clifford, Quigley found ways for Reagan and Gorbachev to communicate, ultimately ending the Cold War.
For a practice with ancient origins and a dubious premise – that the relationship between the planets and details about our birth can provide insights to our futures – astrology gets a lot of attention. Perhaps this is down to our desire, or desperation, to know the unknowable, and our fascination with gurus, leaders, divinators – anyone who might explain the inexplicable. It is also thanks to its popular accessibility through newspaper and magazine columns, a tradition which began in the 1930’s when astrologer RH Naylor wrote the horoscope of newborn Princess Margaret for the Sunday Express. The Daily Mail’s long-time astrologer Jonathan Cainer calls it “the oldest profession”, (“Long before anyone thought of charging for ‘that’, we were charging for ‘this’,” he claims).
To find the earliest written examples of astrology we need to go back to the second millennium BC, and most cultures have since been shown to have some ancient practice of interpreting events – often public events such as the weather, politics or war – by reading signs from the skyies. The astrologers I talk to emphasise that their job is not to “predict” the future, although much of their work involves “forecasting”, but to work with clients to see what hazards and opportunities may await them, and to provide guidance in how best to approach these life events. This contemporary strain of astrology is known as psychological astrology.
“Astrology is not deterministic,” says Cat Cox, president of the Faculty of Astrological Studies. “I think there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about this in our culture.”
So if we can’t prove or disprove astrology by seeing predictions either play out or fail to materialise, how can we test it and trust it? “That question comes from our modern rational Western world view that deems what’s true is based on data and scientific results,” says Cox. “Astrology is a symbolic system, it doesn’t operate within that Western framework and our astrologers aren’t trying to demonstrate that. There are other ways to be in the world.”
Clifford alerts me to a famous quote by American financier JP Morgan: “Millionaires don’t use astrologers, billionaires do.” The banker Morgan was rumoured to have pulled out of his trip aboard The Titanic on advice from his astrologer.
Do we “play” astrology, much like we play the Lottery, in the hope of seeing untold billions in our futures? Remember Mystic Meg, the National Lottery’s in-house astrologer when it launched, with her crystal ball and spooky voice?
It is curious that while 97 per cent of us know our star sign (there is some controversy over calling zodiac or sun signs “star signs”, but it’s the most regular usage in the UK), according to a YouGov survey from July 2015, only 20 per cent of us believe star signs can tell us something about ourselves or another person. The survey also found that 8 per cent believe horoscopes can tell us something about the future, and 4 per cent have changed their behaviour based on something read in a horoscope.
Cainer is mindful of this 4 per cent, and subjects everything he writes to what he calls his “What if I was suicidal test” after a reader interpreted “If you’ve got something that’s big in your life go ahead and do it today” as a sign to kill himself, and did so.
As a business, Cainer – who has 30 staff and an annual turnover of £2mand 30 staff – says astrology is “recession-proof”. “The intelligentsia or chattering classes go through phases of liking or disliking astrology,” he says. “Most regular folk just like it and nothing much has ever changed, or ever will.”
There’s a clip on YouTube, some 20 years old, of a discussion between Cainer and Richard Dawkins, the scientist and polemic atheist.
“I take science very seriously,” begins Dawkins, dressed in a suit and speaking from BBC Television Centre. “I think science is a beautiful thing. I think astronomy is very beautiful. I think the universe is very beautiful. I think it is demeaning and cheapening to get ‘fun’ from this kind of thing.”
Cut to Cainer in a studio in Leeds, where he’s seated against a backdrop of tie-dye sarongs decorated in suns and stars, and wearing a waistcoat patterned with similar emblems. On a table in front of him are model planets, a novelty candle, and a huge book. He confirms to me he took his own props along that day.
The book turns out to be a dictionary, which he opens to look up the definition of “science”. “I don’t really know quite where we stand on science,” he says. “The point is, science is a word as far I understand it with quite a broad definition.”
This is the same argument that has dogged astrology through the 20th century and up to the present day. Really, it’s the same argument that has countered its veracity since the scientific revolution or emergence of modern science, which can be dated back to anywhere between the 16th century astronomy of Copernicus and Newton’s laws of motions and gravity, published towards the end of the 17th century. Several of the astrologers I talk to point out that their kind used to be revered as priests were, as if this provides credence. They point, too, to the significance of astrology in the story of the three wise men who travelled to visit the baby infant Jesus.
Those, like Dawkins, who believe in rational Western thought just cannot get their heads around the fact that musings based on the movement of the planets are printed alongside news stories, and intended as life advice. Even those who subscribe to other belief systems, such as Christianity |
and those in South Korea, in the ‘Republic of Korea’ are called the United Nations Command. There is little doubt where the power really lies; an American general is in command of both. Indeed, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti the commander of the US forces in South Korea, and hence of the United Nations Command, and the ROK army, was transferred to Brussels in March 2016 to become NATO commander, in a career move which would have been familiar in the Roman Empire.171 Despite its relative invisibility the American empire is the greatest in history and the salient reality of contemporary geopolitics. Any analysis of a geopolitical situation must start with the US, though not end there.
The US is by no means omniscient or strategically coherent, and it is certainly not omnipotent; the relationship with ‘allies’ and adversaries is under constant negotiation. This means the relationships have to be carefully scrutinised, avoiding simplistic narratives. Nevertheless it is the dominant factor in most circumstances and in general, and in the long term (though not necessarily in the short term) it is the initiator to which other countries respond. The US divided Korea in 1945 as part of its strategy of containing the Soviet Union and protecting its war booty of Japan. The focus has now shifted to China but the basic thrust is the same. The US has a necessary and crucial interest in Korea because of its strategic location and this situation informs its Korea policy. North Korea is far too small to threaten the US, but the US does threaten North Korea and has conducted economic and diplomatic war against it since the late 1940s. The Korean War itself had its own specific causes and effects but it was one episode in a longer historical struggle. This hostility has moulded North Korean politics into a particular defensive and distorted configuration, and has produced, amongst other things, the putative nuclear deterrent. North Korea has long proposed a peaceful coexistence in the form of a peace treaty to the US, and the US has refused out of concerns about the impact on its global strategy of preserving nuclear superiority (‘non-proliferation’) and its containment of China, and Russia.172North Korea’s commitment to a peace treaty is likely to endure because it is the gateway to survival and prosperity. American policy on that may conceivably change as it attempts to cope with shifts in the international landscape. In order to understand what is going on, and attempt to anticipate future developments, it is essential to start with the US and move out from there.
This is a revised and updated version of a paper prepared for webinar Crisis in Korea – Causes/aftermaths of 2016 H-bomb test and Satellite Launch, 19 March (US/Canada) 20 March (Korea/New Zealand) 2016 organised by the Korea Policy Institute, Los Angeles.(Image: Sky News)
Update: Play has now resumed at Adelaide Oval after Victorian wicketkeeper Sam Harper was struck in the head.
Harper was taken to hospital after being hit in the head by South Australian batsman Jake Lehmann's bat.
Harper was keeping up to the stumps and was wearing a helmet when Lehmann attempted the pull shot, accidentally striking him in the head.
The 20-year-old, who was conscious, was taken to hospital.
An early and extended lunch was taken as a result of the incident.
The match was postponed for over an hour and a half, with play now resuming.
South Australia was 9/168 at lunch at Adelaide Oval, following Victoria's first innings score of 184 all out.
Harper has played six first class matches, and made his Big Bash debut for the Melbourne Stars this summer.Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said that as of today that dozens of agents will receive short suspensions for inappropriately accessing a personnel file on Congressman Jason Chaffetz.
The agent who spearheaded the smear campaign on Chaffetz, the chairman of the House committee charged with Oversight of government departments, will also be punished, Clancy told lawmakers today.
The Department Homeland Security is still processing his case, though, he said, and has not yet decided how to deal with him.
'I've heard the comments that were made today, they're reprehensible, disturbing, embarrassing - I agree with everything that's been said here today, and my work workforce does as well,' Clancy said during the Capitol Hill hearing.
SORRY: Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said that as of today, some 42 agents will receive short suspensions for illegally accessing a personnel file on Congressman Jason Chaffetz
Clancy said he welcomes congressional review of the agency because it helps to convey the seriousness of the wrongdoing to his employees.
The government agency sends law enforcement officers through training and ethics classes, he said, but a 'hearing like this puts a definitive stamp on our failures.'
A retired agent who served on Bill Clinton's protective detail when he lived in the White House, Clancy was installed as the acting Secret Service director a little under 14 months ago after his predecessor, Julia Pierson, stepped down during another scandal.
President Obama named him permanent director of the protective organization in February in spite of a November 2014 Department of Homeland Security review of the organization that called for new management from the outside.
Less than two months after Clancy formally took over the post, in April, the Daily Beast ran a story revealing that Chaffetz applied for and was rejected from a job with the Secret Service in 2003.
Around that time Chaffez, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, was looking into a report that two drunken Secret Service agents interrupted a suspicious package investigation when they collided a government vehicle into a barrier in front of the White House.
A DHS Office of Inspector General Report published at the end of September singled out Assistant Director Edward Lowery of the Secret Service as the instigator of the smear-campaign on Chaffetz, though it could not 'conclusively' determine he was the leaker.
'Some information that he might find embarrassing needs to get out,' Lowery told a colleague in a March 31 email that was later circulated within the department. 'Just to be fair,' he wrote.
Clancy first said he heard a 'rumor' about Chaffetz's application on April 1. He later amended his statement to say he knew about it on March 25.
But as he told lawmakers today, it was just prattle at the time, and he thought little of it.
'I've heard the comments that were made today, they're reprehensible, disturbing, embarrassing - I agree with everything that's been said here today, and my work workforce does as well,' Clancy said during the Capitol Hill hearing
After DHS's inspector general went public with his report, which accused 45 officers of misconduct in the case, Clancy personally called Chaffetz to apologize.
'That ain't good enough,' Chaffetz said at the time. 'I worry that if they're doing this to me, they're doing it to who knows how many other people.'
John Roth, the IG for DHS, told lawmakers today at a joint hearing between Homeland Security subcommittees in the House and Senate that it's impossible to know whether agents improperly accessed other Americans' personal information, as well.
The data base the Secret Service is using was created in 1994, he said, and it doesn't have the functionality to easily track those sort of records.
For that reason the IG's office had to narrowly search Congressman Chaffetz's name for its investigation, Roth said.
'That's a bit unsettling,' Congressman Scott Perry, the head of the House subcommittee sponsoring the hearing, told him.
Of the 45 agents implicated in the data breach, approximately 42 of them are being brought to justice today, Clancy disclosed at the hearing.
They are receiving three to 12 day suspensions, he said, in accordance with a writ handed down by DHS, the parent organization of the Secret Service.
The other agents' fates, including Lowery's, haven't been determined, he said. They could receive anything from a reprimand in the form of a letter to dismissal from their jobs.
'The misconduct outlined in the report is inexcusable and unacceptable,' Clancy told legislators.
Roth said his department believes that Secret Service agents violated the law when they looked into Chaffetz's records, and as such are subject to a misdemeanor charge and the resulting fine.
But the agents invoked their fifth amendment rights,'se we could not interview individuals, compel their interview, which we ultimately had to do in this case for a lack of voluntary cooperation,' he said.
Without those interviews, Roth said the case against them was not strong enough, and the Department of Justice therefore declined to prosecute them.
Around the time that Chaffez, seen above with his wife on Capitol Hill on October, was looking into a report that two drunken Secret Service agents interrupted a suspicious package investigation when they collided a government vehicle into a barrier in front of the White House, someone at the Secret Service leaked his personnel file to a reporter
'It seems like all of this has happened with a great impunity...."You cant touch me," as the chairman just talked about, or it's OK to do this,' North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp told Clancy.
Consequences are part of changing the culture at the Secret Service, she said, 'but what about the integrity at every level, of basically saying, We don't do this.'
'We don't go to hotels and, you know, hire people to service us...We don't drive into the White House and disrupt a major investigation. We don't access a congressman's secret records. We don't do that.....how are we training people at every level to stand up and stop this behavior?' the Democrat asked.
'Because I don't think we can do it, just having hearings like this,' she said.
The ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Johnson, told Clancy in his opening statement, 'There must be some sweeping changes made at the Secret Service.'
'I know that the deeply-rooted problems will not cease over night, but we must get to the source of them, instead of continuing glossing over, putting on band aides, and going forward with business as usual,' the Mississippi Democrat said.
Since the report on Chaffetz this fall, the Secret Service has found itself in the spotlight two more times - once when agents were caught sleeping on the job and once when an agent got caught up in a criminal case that resulted in his arrest.
Lee Robert Moore, a 37 year-old-agent who worked at the White House, admitted last week to sending a picture of his genitals to someone he thought was a 14-year-old-girl. He was actually caught up in a predator fishing expedition by Delaware police.
If convicted of the crime, he could receive up to 10 years in prison.
Since the report on Chaffetz this fall, the Secret Service has found itself in the spotlight two more times - once when agents were caught sleeping on the job and once when a White House agent got caught up in a criminal case that resulted in his arrest
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said last Friday that the allegations against Moore 'are disgusting and allegations that the administration, including the Secret Service, takes quite seriously.'
After the Secret Service learned of Moore's misconduct, Earnest said they immediately took away his security clearance and cut off his access tp the White House.
Shortly after those steps were taken, the White House was informed, the Obama administration official said.
'And I think the prompt and decisive action that was taken...I think is an endorsement of their commitment to implementing the kinds of reforms that are needed at the Secret Service to ensure that that agency continues to live up to the high standard that they’ve established for themselves,' Earnest asserted.
The president's spokesman noted how well the agency handled Pope Francis' visit to the United States and the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September, saying it was 'a strong performance by the agency.'
'And I think an indication that that is an agency that is both well-managed, but also stocked with professionals who are committed to their job,' he said.
Asked if the president still has 'confidence' in Clancy's ability to lead the scandal-plagued organization, Earnest promptly replied, 'Without a doubt.Image copyright AP
The cessation of hostilities in Syria is holding rather better than many people might have imagined. Nonetheless it remains incomplete, partial, and fundamentally fragile. The key questions now are:
Can it be sustained?
To what extent can this pause be capitalised upon to bring aid and humanitarian relief to areas where it is so badly needed?
What will be the impact of renewed air strikes against the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and the so-called Islamic State (IS)?
And if the lull in the relative fighting can hold, what can be done to build upon this as a foundation to lead on to an embryonic diplomatic settlement?
It is still too early to get a clear sense of what is happening on the ground.
But after a lull on Saturday, air attacks on behalf of the Syrian regime look to have resumed on Sunday in the Aleppo area and in Idlib province.
It is not possible at this stage to say if the air attacks were carried out by the Syrian government or Russian warplanes.
The US-led campaign against IS is also continuing. On Saturday there was heavy fighting between Kurdish forces who struggled to throw back an IS offensive in and around the northern town of Tal Abyad.
Here, US air power appears to have had a decisive role.
The continued fighting is a reflection of the fact that there are multiple conflicts underway on the ground.
There is a war for the future control of Syria itself, which pits the Syrian regime and its allies against the rebels and their supporters like Turkey and the Gulf states
Then there is the war being waged by the West against IS
Lastly, there is the struggle between Turkey and the Kurds to contain a broader Kurdish expansion
Three problems
Problem number one is that the truce only applies to one of these conflicts - that between the Syrian regime and its rebel opponents.
It specifically excludes the campaign against IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The truce only applies to government and rebel forces (pictured)
So even in the best of outcomes, Russian and Western air attacks against these two groups will continue.
However, it must be said that up to now, Russia has carried out relatively few attacks against IS targets.
And this leads us on to problem number two.
The boundaries between these various conflicts in Syria are often vague and to varying degrees they overlap.
So, for example, the Syrian military has already suggested that it will not accept a ceasefire in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, where it argues the opposition forces are dominated by Jabhat al-Nusra.
Russia too argues that it has the right to continue air operations against UN-designated terrorist groups like al-Nusra.
But any taint of alliance with this group might well, in Moscow's eyes, open up rebel forces to Russian attack.
A map of Syria put out by the Russians suggests only very restricted areas in which Moscow believes that the ceasefire should hold.
The complexities of the fighting involving Kurdish groups in northern Syria prompts a third set of problems for any ceasefire.
Here, Kurdish fighters backed by both the Americans and to an extent the Russians, are making headway in the region bordering Turkey.
Image copyright AP Image caption Turkey's PM Ahmet Davutoglu has made it clear that he will not allow any threats to Turkey's security
Alarm bells are ringing in Ankara.
And Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has made it clear that any ceasefire would not be "binding for us when there is a situation that threatens Turkey's security".
"We will," he said, "take necessary measures against both the YPG (Kurdish fighters) and Daesh (IS) when we feel the need to."
More on this story:
Respite
This is all on the negative side of the balance sheet.
Clearly ordinary people might welcome the respite, especially if food and supplies can be delivered to towns and villages cut off up until now by the fighting.
This in a sense is the immediate litmus test for any partial ceasefire arrangement - will it help to alleviate the situation on the ground?
Hard-pressed rebel fighters might also welcome a period to pause and regroup.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ordinary people will welcome the supply of food and aid
At a more strategic level, Russia may well see this as at least the start of a diplomatic endgame, one that recognises for now that the Assad regime - or something like it - is here to stay.
But if the experience of Russian diplomacy in Ukraine is anything to go by, we could be in for a lengthy period of abortive ceasefires and outbreaks of fighting, as Syrian government forces seek to expand and consolidate their positions.
"So far, so good" would seem to be the interim judgement. But the so-called "ceasefire" retains all of the flaws that were there at its inception.
In short, nobody is very optimistic that this truce will take hold.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has been especially honest in his appraisal of the situation.
He has begun to speak of a "Plan B" if the current diplomatic efforts fail.
But in explaining this to US senators, he noted that one often-suggested step - the establishment of a safe zone inside northern Syria - would require, according to Pentagon estimates, the deployment of as many as 15,000 to 30,000 troops.
And he warned that in the absence of progress towards peace, the situation in Syria could get "a lot uglier".
In a comment that raised just a few eyebrows, he seemed ultimately to countenance a redrawing of the map, noting that: "It may be too late to keep it as a whole Syria if we wait much longer."Though Quebecers forced Gilles Duceppe out of Ottawa on May 2, they seem to like the idea of installing him in Quebec City instead.
And that means another blow for Pauline Marois' leadership of the Parti Québécois.
The latest poll from Léger Marketing indicates the PQ's troubles are continuing, and that if an election were held today the party would be shunted off to third place.
The winner would be François Legault's Coalition pour l'avenir du Québec (CAQ), which would form a strong majority government and face off against Jean Charest's Liberals, demoted to the role of Official Opposition.
Legault is expected to launch his party on November 14. It is already leading in the polls despite its non-existence, and according to this latest set of numbers the CAQ would take 35 per cent of the vote, well ahead of the Liberals' 22 per cent and the Parti Québécois' 20 per cent.
A majority of Quebecers think Pauline Marois should step down -- including a good deal of PQ supporters.
Waiting in the wings is Gilles Duceppe, former leader of the Bloc Québécois. Though Duceppe and Marois appeared together at a partisan event over the weekend, there is little doubt that Duceppe covets the job he briefly ran for in 2007.
But Marois is pledging to hold on, and Duceppe may not be willing to force her out.
Based on the latest poll results, however, the party might do that for him. With Duceppe as leader of the Parti Québécois, the sovereigntist party would take 37 per cent of the vote, more than it did in 2008's provincial election.
More importantly, Legault's CAQ would be pushed down to only 25 per cent support, with Charest's Liberals at 21 per cent.
This would be more than enough of a gap for Gilles Duceppe to win a majority of seats in Quebec's National Assembly. Legault and the Liberals would likely battle it out for the runner-up spot.
That Duceppe could lead the PQ to victory, suggests Legault's CAQ may be filling a "none of the above" role. Duceppe has always been a popular politician in Quebec, despite the drubbing in the last federal election. But after being the leader of the Bloc for 14 years, Duceppe is hardly a breath of fresh air.
The breakthrough of the New Democrats in the province and the popularity of Legault's new party seemed to indicate a thirst for something different in Quebec.
But with the province's voters seemingly ready to turn to Duceppe, it appears that Quebecers are not so much searching for something new, as for someone who isn't Jean Charest or Pauline Marois.
Éric Grenier taps The Pulse of federal and regional politics for Huffington Post Canada readers on most Tuesdays and Fridays. Grenier is the author of ThreeHundredEight.com, covering Canadian politics, polls, and electoral projections.The body has a lot of change to go through on the path to post-humanity. There is a lot of room for improvement and enhancement. Even with all of these cool improvements and enhancements though, my cynical side emerges. While these would be great, are we giving ourselves too much credit that the choices we will make on the route to post-humanity will be practical? Isn’t society a little more vain that that? Seriously? The desire for youth and beauty is by no means a new phenomenon.
However, I was caught off guard, just a bit when I was forwarded a video of an interview with Tom Ford, the fashion designer and director of the film A Single Man. In the video
Tom talks about women being posthuman and makes some good points in the interview all of which tied in to a paper I wrote on cosmetic surgery awhile back.
He mentions that breasts today do not bear any resemblance to what actual breasts look like. He is right, they try to look natural, but the key word is “try”. Several points that his statement make me think of is, if they are unnatural looking why do we want them to look natural? As a woman who has a genetic predisposition on the higher end of the size curve, I do not understand. The unnatural version of natural looks nothing like my own natural ones, even if we are the same cup size. I have friends who fall in to the same category that I do and talked to them about it and they agree. There is a level of insecurity, but it is not insecurity about size, but about gravity. The posthuman breasts go against the body’s natural inclination to succumb to gravitational pull, if you will. My friends and I however cannot pay to fight gravity; we are left to lesser forms of posthuman enhancements such as the push-up bra. This leads to my second point about Tom’s statement: actual breasts. Is the desirable path one where breasts do not bear any resemblance to natural breasts? Form over function. Breasts work, but do we still need them to work in the same way?
We have formula now, that while it can in no way match breast milk, it does work and many women use it. It is an alternative. Before you send me any hate comments, I breastfed all three of my children, not for a year, but I did. I did eventually switch over to formula. Regardless, if we want surreally attractive breasts, does the functionality need to remain the same or will sex and sexual appeal transition to be the exclusive function.
As adults, we can talk and think about these types of questions and issues, but what about the young girls. Tom Ford makes another point in the video that girls are seeing the adults with their unnatural breasts and think that they need to get their breasts done. He goes on to mention that we have lost touch with what a real breast actually looks like. Again, as adults that is one thing, as a young girl it’s another. In the adoption of the posthuman form are we taking critical examination of what images and ideas we are passing on to the next generation. Further examination though should include the messages conveyed and the impact of these messages on young girls. When thinking about the posthuman woman, the girls of today, how will their lives change by the choices made today. They could very possibly choose to go against the grain of the constructions of beautiful breasts and choose the au natural route. Insecurity about breast size is a facet of growing up that girls deal with. Plastic surgery enables them to address these insecurities, but what do they gain and what does it solve? Large unnatural breasts are not something a mother can pass on to her daughters naturally, it will require, at this point in time, a monetary investment of perpetuation within culture.
Tom points out that we are becoming our own art by manipulating our bodies and creating them the way we want them to look. He also says that it desexualizes, comparing these beautiful bodies to cars. Since they are so glossy, polished and an idealized form of perfection, they are too scary and not human. I would love to hear the answers to the questions he poses about after these surgeries of breast enhancement does it help ones sex life? Or is it intimidating? A body in its artistic form is admirable at a distance without touching. Not like a ball of clay where you want to get your hands dirty and really play with it intensely
Last night, as I was thinking about what I was going to say in the piece I turned on VH1, yes, I think it is a valuable source for pop culture insight. It did not fail me. The show that I turned on was “VH1News Presents: Plastic Surgery Obsession”. It fit in perfectly with what I was thinking and wanted to say, without the reference to post-humanism. The show is about the rise in popularity of plastic surgery, in and now out of Hollywood. The show supports both the new ideals of women’s bodies and that the younger generation is picking up these ideals. The fact that VH1 aired the show, despite a voyeuristic appeal that shows like this have, says something about what we want to see on TV. Finally, at the end of the episode the show touched on males and cosmetic surgery. Tom Ford did not talk about the men being posthuman in his interview, or at least the clip I heard, but VH1 talked about how tricky it was for men to undergo plastic surgery and come out of it looking “natural”. Does this mean that with women getting around 98% of the plastic surgeries they are more willing to transition to a posthuman form or is it just easier for them? What does this mean and how does this reflect on men? Are men going to, can they follow the same path as women? These are interesting questions to think about in addition to the critical examinations of the decisions of women. I look forward to hearing and thoughts.Weather Alert
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... DO NOT DRIVE VEHICLES THROUGH FLOODED WATERWAYS. USE CAUTION WHEN WALKING NEAR FLOODED RIVERBANKS. DO NOT TRY TO WADE OR SWIM IN FLOODED RIVERS AND BAYOUS. FOR MORE HYDROLOGIC INFORMATION, COPY AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE ADDRESS INTO YOUR FAVORITE WEB BROWSER URL BAR: WATER.WEATHER.GOV/AHPS2/INDEX.PHP?WFO=SHV && THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE BAYOU DORCHEAT AT DIXIE INN, LOUISIANA. * FROM THIS MORNING TO SATURDAY EVENING...OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 10:00 AM WEDNESDAY THE STAGE WAS 14.2 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 14 FEET. * FORECAST...THE BAYOU WILL CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 14.5 FEET BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING AND WILL FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. * IMPACT...AT 14.0 FEET...EXPECT MINOR LOWLAND FLOODING WITH THE BOAT RAMP SUFFERING OVERFLOW. &&Not too long ago, Apple dominated the smartphone camera scene, with its flawless implementation of an abled shooter packed within its slim iPhone chassis.
The likes of Sony, LG, HTC and Xiaomi tried, but ultimately failed to reached the level of technological sophistication, and fell short of the mark.
Except Samsung. The Korean chaebol worked hard in improving its camera and two years ago, and it not only came close, but it actually beat the American smartphone maker on the photography front. Suddenly, scores of online comparison sites had to work harder in photography comparisons, as Apple was no longer the definitive winner.
You can check out the results, based on comparisons between the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus, here, here and here.
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So does this mean that when the best of Android is compared to the best iOS phone, the resulting winner has to be number one?
Alas for Samsung, it has a new competitor, in the form of Huawei. Another Android smartphone maker, Huawei has been a long time player in the scene but the company broke through the noise last year, when it launched the P9.
What stood out was its dual camera module, which was co-engineered with Leica, the famed German camera maker. Photography buffs swooned over the union, and this automatically elevated Huawei into the serious contender status.
Of course, have a good partner is only part of the mix. The original Nokia smartphones had a long time partnership with noted optics maker Carl Zeiss, but those devices were never known for their cameras. Sony has tapped on its own camera and lens making expertise for a while now, but its mobile devices aren’t known for its photographic capabilities either.
But Huawei and Leica’s partnership brought about a new challenger, and in the next two months, all three companies will be launching their latest flagship models for the year.
Samsung is first with the expected announcement of the Galaxy Note 8 on Aug 23, and a new camera module guaranteed to be better than its current one is expected. Apple is expected to announce its 10th anniversary iPhone in September, and after receiving a critical drubbing for its camera in last year’s model, it is definitely placing a new and improved module on this year’s model.
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Huawei is expected to launch a new Mate device in October, given that its Leica engineered Mate 9 was announced at this time last year. As the same Leica camera module has been in use since the P9, a new upgrade is expected.
Funnily enough, while there are many Apple vs Samsung camera comparisons, there have not been too many Samsung vs Huawei camera shoot outs, so since we had both devices on hand, we decided to test them out and determine which is the winner.
We will put the Samsung Galaxy S8+ and the Huawei P10 Plus to the test. Both flagships use the latest camera modules from each company.
Move the slider to view the respective photos, Samsung Galaxy S8+ is on the left, and Huawei P10 Plus is on the right.
National Art Gallery (Roof)
On the surface, both shots look equally sharp and detailed. The one taken with the Galaxy S8+ offers a punchier feel, because of the denser colours with the green shrubs, but when you look at the details, something is off. The Huawei P10 Plus has duller greens, but the details in the foreground, of the dense shrubs, is more obvious. In terms of shadows, both cameras offer the same level of details in the darker area under the Aura restaurant.
Wall of Fern
As with the earlier photo, Samsung’s images are often more vibrant, due to the more oversaturated colours. Here, the greens of each of the leaves are more aesthetically pleasing. Both shots offer the same details on the leaves, which show tiny water droplets hanging for their dear lives. Over in the background though, the details on both buildings are more pronounced on the one taken with the Galaxy S8+. With Huawei, the finer details are on the wooden panels on the roof of the walkway on the left.
Char Kuay Teow
Both images offer great details on the local fried noodle delicacy, such as even the dash of chilli flakes can be spotted very easily. But there’s no denying that the lighting on the image taken with the Galaxy S8+ is sharper, and serves the dish much better. The shadows are also denser, providing a more intense presentation over the image with the P10 Plus.
Hong Lim Food Center
In a scene filled with fluorescent lighting, details in both images are clear and detailed. Names and writing on the signboards on the stalls in the rear are easy to make out. The oversaturation of colours work to Samsung’s advantage again, as the colours pop out a little more.
Chinatown
Both these images are virtually identical, which basically speaks volumes about the imaging quality from Huawei. The details of the flat in the background is the only obvious difference I can see at first glance. Otherwise, everything else, from the stains on the wall to the shadows cast by the open window frames are well represented in both photos.
National Art Gallery
Indoor shots are where images start to differ by a bit. On the left, the grey segments of the building come out well, but a tad flat. On the right, the Huawei camera gives it somewhat of a textured feel, but the colour is a little off. It’s the ceiling that offers us a glimpse of what the Leica camera is capable of, as here, there is more texture to the ceiling whereas with the Galaxy S8+, it looks like one uniform colour. Both handle the grills on the skylight very well.
Skylight
The skylight shot looks identical, but where the Samsung Galaxy S8+ wins is with the metal plating on the left. The holes within the plating are more prominent, and not a mush of smudges on the Huawei.
Endless
It is quite apparent that the Samsung Galaxy S8+ handles low light photography better than the Huawei, but only by a bit. Here, the colours on the statues on the left are sharper. The details on the pedestals that each of the characters stand are also better defined, with clear lines.That said, there are slightly more highlights on the hair of Death and Dream. You can also make out the face of Dream at the hip of the Stormtrooper on the left.
The Last Of Us
In this final shot, it is very obvious that the details on the statues of Joel and Ellie are more pronounced, from the highlights of Joel’s hair, to the expression on Ellie’s face. While both were shot in low light, the details available on the shot on the left gives it a bigger edge.
Summary
The camera on the Huawei P10 Plus is a commendable one, and the company has come far in two short years. Samsung Galaxy S8+ still offers some advantages, especially in low light mode. There are instances where the P10 Plus is comparable to the Galaxy S8+, though the Galaxy S8+ manages to outperform it on more instances.
It will be interesting to see if Huawei manages to dominate the competition by October, or if Samsung will find away to up its game. And you never know what Apple has up its sleeves.
Drop a Facebook comment below!What I Don’t Like About Life in the American Police State By John W. Whitehead “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”―Edward Abbey, American author July 15, 2014 " ICH " - There’s a lot to love about America and its people: their pioneering spirit, their entrepreneurship, their ability to think outside the box, their passion for the arts, etc. Increasingly, however, as time goes by, I find the things I don’t like about living in a nation that has long since ceased to be a sanctuary for freedom are beginning to outnumber the things I love. Here’s what I don’t like about living in the American police state: I don’t like being treated as if my only value to the government is as a source of labor and funds. I don’t like being viewed as a consumer and bits of data. I don’t like being spied on and treated as if I have no right to privacy, especially in my own home. I don’t like government officials who lobby for my vote only to ignore me once elected. I don’t like having representatives incapable of and unwilling to represent me. I don’t like taxation without representation. I don’t like being bullied by government bureaucrats, vigilantes masquerading as cops, or faceless technicians. I don’t like being railroaded into financing government programs whose only purpose is to increase the power and wealth of the corporate elite. I don’t like being forced to pay for wars abroad that serve no other purpose except to expand the reach of the military industrial complex. I don’t like being subjected to scans, searches, pat downs and other indignities by the TSA. I don’t like VIPR raids on so-called “soft” targets like shopping malls and bus depots by black-clad, Darth Vader look-alikes. I don’t like fusion centers, which represent the combined surveillance efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement. I don’t like being treated like an underling by government agents who are supposed to be working for me. I don’t like being threatened, intimidated, bribed, beaten and robbed by individuals entrusted with safeguarding my rights. I don’t like being silenced, censored and marginalized. I don’t like my movements being tracked, my conversations being recorded, and my transactions being catalogued. I don’t like how the presidency has developed into a neo-monarchy replete with all the luxury and lasciviousness of the feudal lords of old. I don’t like politicians who spend most of their time running for office, fundraising and enjoying being feted by lobbyists and corporations alike. I don’t like being kept at a distance from my elected representatives, including the president (a.k.a. the Emperor). I don’t like free speech zones, roving bubble zones and trespass laws that restrict Americans’ First Amendment rights. I don’t like laws that criminalize Americans for otherwise lawful activities such as holding religious studies at home, growing vegetables in their yard, and collecting rainwater. I don’t like the NDAA, which allows the president and the military to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely. I don’t like the Patriot Act, which opened the door to all manner of government abuses and intrusions on our privacy. I don’t like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has become America’s standing army in direct opposition to the dire warnings of those who founded our country. I don’t like military weapons such as armored vehicles, sound cannons and the like being used against the American citizens. I don’t like government agencies such as the DHS, Post Office, Social Security Administration and Wildlife stocking up on hollow-point bullets. And I definitely don’t like the implications of detention centers being built that could house American citizens. I don’t like the fact that since President Obama took office, police departments across the country “have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.” I don’t like America’s infatuation with locking people up for life for non-violent crimes. There are over 3,000 people in America serving life sentences for non-violent crimes, including theft |
vehicles.
WEAPONS: Fixed Mk 19 not having collision and allowing to be shot through.
LEVELS: Assault on Grozny INS:Removed a cache that would spawn underground.
Asad Khal COOP: Added logistics truck to MEC main and added crates to flags with rallypoints.
Charlies Point Fixed the large majority of floating trees. AAS64/128: Removed AAV from NVA.
Dovre Updated the grass sway speed to be much slower.
Fallujah West Added small ramp near entrance to mansion underground access because you had to jump.
Hades Peak AAS:Fixed tank and jet spawntimes.
Jabal COOP32:Fixed AI spawnpoints.
Khamisiyah Fixed border of map having invisible walls that could kill choppers.
Kokan Fixed broken rendering of trees and fields.
Kozelsk Fixed BMP3 never spawning for Russian Forces.
Lashkar Valley Fixed rope exploit in the mansion.
Operation Marlin INS: Fixed vehicle depot not spawning for French Forces.
Sbeneh Outskirts VW64: Fixed tickets and factions being incorrect.
This update brings an urgent fix with it in time for the PRT battle this weekend. Also brings with it the remaining fixes to some reported issues in our feedback and bug forums sections so far. Given we were already working on v1.4 this update includes some already done features and fixes of v1.4. Please continue to provide us with bug reports and feedback for future updates!The mapgallery has also received another update after some community feedback with a better interface and link-able pages! You can find it here This update is now being provided to servers owners to prepare their services. Clients will be able to download within the next hour through the PR Launcher as usual.(2015/November/14)-----------------------On July 11, Sports Seoul released an exclusive report claiming that CNBLUE’s Kang Min Hyuk and actress Jung Hye Sung are dating, with cries of the first FNC Entertainment couple to be born.
Sports Seoul quotes a source who is an acquaintance of the two stars: “They’ve been meeting seriously for some time now. They’re being careful, but their close friends and family know about their relationship.”
The report then mentions — as “evidence,” perhaps — the common interests Kang Min Hyuk and Jung Hye Sung have, saying that they both are interested in flower arrangements and cats.
However, FNC Entertainment, which houses both artists, immediately responded to the report, and said that they are simply close friends, and are quite taken aback at the dating news.
Source (1) (2)In Britain, five years of economic weakness, austerity and rising prices have left a mark: Average hourly earnings have risen a mere 7 percent while the cost of living has gone up by almost 20 percent, leaving at least 500,000 people here reliant on food aid, three times as many as a year ago, according to the Trussell Trust, a Christian charity that runs a network of more than 400 food banks. The trust says the number of people it fed in the eight months since April has risen twentyfold since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.
Food banks distribute food free of charge or at heavy discounts to people generally referred to them by government agencies. They have sprung up in unlikely places, from southern commuter towns to Westminster, a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace. Steve Baker, a Conservative lawmaker, says that one in five children in his southern constituency of Wycombe goes to bed hungry, calling the figure a “scandalous indictment of the safety net that is the welfare state.”
The need seems most acute in the struggling, postindustrial north.
Hull, birthplace of the 18th-century abolitionist William Wilberforce and the rock band the Housemartins, once had a thriving fishing industry and bustling harbor. Successive waves of New York-bound Eastern European emigrants stopped through on their way to Liverpool and some stayed. Today, in per capita terms, it has the greatest number of jobless benefit claimants in the country. More than one in three children here live under the poverty line.
The city’s reputation has never been great. “From Hell, Hull and Halifax, Good Lord deliver me,” goes the refrain of a poem written in 1622. More than once, Hull was voted the worst place to live in Britain. Things have actually been looking up recently. In a former fruit market in the rapidly gentrifying waterfront of the Humber estuary, hip art galleries and music venues helped Hull win Britain’s “City of Culture” designation for 2017. But so far little of that regeneration has trickled down.
Ms. Burton’s local food bank is supplied by a charity that until four years ago sent food only to developing countries like Sierra Leone. Today, 80 percent of its work is in Britain. “I never thought I would be doing this in my own country, in my own town,” said Colin Raine, who is one of the founders of the charity, Real Aid, which got its start in 2001.YouTube Gaming, launched last year, has yet to really compete with Twitch when it comes to live esports. There are a few regions where YouTube streams have become more popular than Twitch, like to watch Brazilian League of Legends games, but that’s an exception to the norm. That being said, YouTube seems to have found its first real breakthrough.
Last weekend, Supercell’s Clash Royale King’s Cup, streamed exclusively on YouTube, gathered more concurrent viewers than the NA ECS Season 2 stream happening on Twitch at the same time. That said, the Clash Royale King’s Cup would have only been the third most-watched stream at the time had it been on Twitch, indicating that Twitch’s long-held monopoly on esports streaming, while far from over, may be losing some ground.
To be fair, Supercell’s stream didn’t swipe away the competition. The FaceIT ECS stream, which was playing its group stage for North America—and especially the Cloud9 v. SK Gaming match (a rematch of the last ESL Pro League finals)—still had a higher concurrent viewer peak, at 65K.
But by the time the King’s Cup started, ECS viewership had already dropped to around 30k. In contrast, Clash Royale stayed steady at an average 38k for the rest of the evening, finishing with a 46k peak concurrent viewers, while FaceIT had a 33k average.
This is encouraging for YouTube, considering it has yet to find its public for live esports. Many other tournaments did better than Clash Royale last weekend on Twitch. The Supercell/YouTube partnership certainly has potential.
Synergy
There is without a doubt synergy to be found between developers that built up strong followings on YouTube, and YouTube’s live service. Their fans haven’t necessarily adopted Twitch yet, and YouTube Gaming is only a click away. By driving people from the developers’ website, or from influencers’ YouTube channels towards the live stream, any live event could rocket upwards in audience. And that’s exactly what the King’s Cup format did.
The King’s Cup format was a clever mix between YouTube celebrities and real esports competitors. Out of sixteen, eight spots were open for anyone to qualify, while the other eight were reserved for YouTube celebrities. Qualified competitors were matched against Youtubers in the first round, and then the tournament played out in a classic bracket.
The celebrities never really had a chance—only one Youtuber made it past the first round. But it didn’t matter, as their job was to bring followers with them. As time went on, and streamers got ousted, viewership kept growing, indicating that the competitive side of the game was enough to retain viewer attention. It was without a doubt a successful evening for YouTube.
But there is still a long way to go. Other partnerships with game developers could very well work on the same model, but we have yet to see it. YouTube’s huge gaming reach cannot be overstated. If it manages to leverage this correctly, YouTube has the ability to reach impressive heights.
For now, Supercell is planning to stream its next “biggest, most official Clash Royale Tournament ever!” on both Youtube and Twitch. It will be the perfect test to see if last weekend result was a fluke, or the start of a new trend.Valve has announced that The International 5 will feature an open qualifier bracket of 1,024 teams competing for a slot in each region’s main qualifier. The open tournament, which many are calling a “minefield of cheesing and chaos” will pit amateur players against professional and semi-professional teams that were not directly invited.
This announcement sets the stage for a rags-to-riches Jamaican Dota team to rise through the open European qualifiers after being picked up by Mousesports, who departed from their traditional “wait until we see which team qualifies and is the cheapest so we can slap a logo on them and then include TI5 viewer numbers in our sponsorship deck” strategy.
The Jamaican team will be initially unable to practice due to poor hardware and terrible network conditions. After learning to finally not use Skype by spending fifteen minutes Googling the problem, they are able to practice effectively by never tilting or raging due to their relaxed, carefree Jamaican demeanor.
Their team faces the Balkan Bears in the finals of the Open Qualifier and first picks Meepo, blocking Aliwi “w33ha” Omar’s last chance to make good on his TI5 promise. In the qualifier itself, fans and commentators call the team “MouzJam” as they continuously build five drums of endurance in game and dance to reggae music after each successive win.
MouzJam comes up against Alliance in the EU Qualifier final. Down 0-2 and on the verge of defeat, they are coached from the brink of elimination by Niclas “Niqua” Westergård who reveals all of Alliance’s hidden strategies and Bulldog’s predetermined rat hiding positions in the trees. Reddit celebrates.
At TI5 MouzJam is scoffed at by the Chinese teams, but when they get in the booth their captain rips off his face. It’s Black. He was wearing a mask and imitating a Jamaican accent all along. The Chinese teams, who inadvertently had spoken about all their strategies in Chinese in front of the team, have their strategies countered by Black, who speaks Chinese.
MouzJam faces Team Tinker in the finals of TI5. But wait, ESEX writers, you ask. If Black was playing in disguise on MouzJam, who was playing on Tinker under “Black^” to lead them to their glorious NA Qualifier and TI5 group stage and playoff bracket victories? Who won TI5??
That, my friend, is a story for another day.NASA launched two satellites Thursday that will spend the next two years exploring the Earth's radiation belts, a highly charged zone that poses dangers to communications technology, GPS satellites and other electronics and is generally avoided by spacecraft.
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes will be the first to explore two separate regions of the belts, named Van Allen belts after the astrophysicist who discovered them in 1958.
They will help scientists gather data about how the highly charged particles that make up the belts are affected by solar storms and eruptions, how they change over time and how these processes affect the upper regions of the Earth's atmosphere.
In this long-exposure photo an Atlas V 401 rocket carrying the two radiation belt probes is seen lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida early Thursday morning. (Craig Bailey, Florida Today/Associated Press)
The high-energy particles, which originate from the sun and elsewhere in space, become trapped by Earth's magnetic field and number in the trillions.
The probes will also transmit weather data back to Earth.
"The information collected from these probes will benefit the public by allowing us to better protect our satellites and understand how space weather affects communications and technology on Earth," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in press release.
The probes have been outfitted with thick aluminum protective plating and rugged electronics and antenna booms that can withstand the tough conditions within the belts, which can sometimes expand in size and engulf orbiting satellites and spacecraft.
The probes launched aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket n Cape Canaveral, Fla., around 4 a.m. ET Thursday.
It was NASA's third attempt to launch the spacecraft. Last week's attempts were thwarted by trouble with a tracking beacon on the rocket and then stormy weather. NASA chose to wait until the passage of Hurricane Isaac before trying again.SAN ANTONIO - A 26-year-old man was taken to the hospital in critical condition after being shot in the neck on the West Side.
Police said the shooting happened in front of a home on Sage Hollow and Vinca Pass streets about 6:30 p.m. Friday evening.
Police said it was a domestic dispute that turned violent, leaving one man clinging to life.
When the victim’s girlfriend pulled up to the house with another man, the victim and his girlfriend were arguing over some property when the other man got involved, police said.
Police said the man got out of the vehicle and started arguing with the victim and then pulled out a gun and shot him once in the neck.
By the time police got there, the victim’s girlfriend and the shooter had fled the scene together.
The house where the victim was critically injured sits in a gated community that is not generally prone to criminal activity, police said.
"This is a rarity. Incidents like this, you know, these two knew each other. There (was a) connection here. This is not a random deal,” said Sgt. Mark Hubbard with the San Antonio Police Department. “They were here for a reason, and for whatever reason, I don't know if it was a new boyfriend or what the context between the two males were, but whatever that conflict was, was specific to this location.”
The victim was taken to University Hospital in critical condition.
Police said the shooter faces an aggravated assault charge, but it could be upgraded if the victim dies.
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Copyright 2017 by KSAT - All rights reserved.When VOGUE premiered the lyric video for Cardiknox's new single "On My Way", it was with a fittingly fashion-inspired lyric video that had vintage inspiration for days. How would they ever top all of that epic found footage with their own real music video? By recording their clip in one take, that's how.
The duo, otherwise known as Lonnie Angle and Thomas Dutton, have already made a name for themselves with under-the-radar hits like "Black Wayfarers" and "Technicolor Dreaming." But it's "On My Way" that's bound to catapult them to the big time. With a new full-length album, Portrait, out in March, and a tour with the Knocks due to start within a matter of days, Cardiknox has a huge year ahead of them...and the buzzy anthem that proclaims that they're "not gonna stop" already has the answer for how things will pan out: nothing's gonna get in their way.
Teen Vogue caught up with Lonnie and Thomas to hear firsthand what it was like to record a whole music video in one go — and why this song was so perfect to start the new year with.
Teen Vogue: What was the inspiration behind the song?
Lonnie Angle: This song took a long time for us to finish. We wrote a piece of it long before we started our album, and while most half-ideas like this get thrown out and moved on from, this one stuck around because the message really struck a chord with us. We've always done things our own way — as both musicians and people — and despite plenty of bumps in the road, we've always trusted that we'd make it through. In this case, it ended up producing one of our favorite songs to date, and became an anthem for us to keep going during the album writing process...even — and especially when — we weren’t certain where we were going to end up.
TV: The song is really uplifting. What message do you hope people get from it?
LA: We hope people feel inspired to conquer their fears, pursue their dreams — however big or small, and persevere, regardless of the roadblocks in front of them. In many ways, this is the perfect New Year’s resolution song. You may not be where you want to be, but with some effort and intention, you’ll be on your way.
TV: What was filming the video like?
LA: Filming the music video was a dream come true. Thomas and I spent a lot of time conceptualizing what we wanted for this video. We knew we wanted a long-form, one-shot take, and we wanted it to take place in multiple locations — demonstrating a kind of break-through or shift, like feeling on your way. We wanted it to include an expressive performance. And we wanted it to feel raw and candid. We spent a long time finding the right locations; the perfect director, Edgar Obrand; working with a killer choreographer, Natalie Gilmore; and learning the dance. After quite a bit of prep, the shoot took place at 3am in downtown LA and we had an amazing crew that helped bring the dream to life. A one-shot video is tricky, especially when you’re moving through different locations with different lighting and uncontrolled variables, like pedestrians on a city street. We ended up completing 10 takes and the one we selected for the video was take 9. It was hard to choose our favorite take because with a normal video, you can pick and choose your favorite parts and edit them together. In this case, there’s no editing, so what you see is exactly how it happened. There’s a magic to that though and it all came together quite well.“France is in Mali for the long haul.” That was the headline of France’s daily newspaper Le Monde on February 4. The newspaper's front page, as well as pages 2 and 3, were devoted to a discussion over “what next” for France in Mali.
The views of Le Monde's editors were explained in a front page editorial. (The text of the editorial translated into English is published below.) Describing in the politest of terms France's historic role in Africa as a slave and colonial power, and summarising the political situation in Mali and west Africa as a “struggle against narco-Islamists”, the newspaper argues for a long-term, Haiti-style tutelage of Mali.
See also: African debt campaigners condemkn France's neocolonial war on Mali
France’s imperialist allies in Europe and North America can be expected to seamlessly concur. Intense discussions to this effect have begun at the UN Security Council.
However, several important differences with Haiti are already clear. For one, France wants neighbouring, neocolonial regimes in west Africa to eventually carry the lion's share of responsibility for a police/military occupation regime.
Yet, echoing statements by French military leaders, Le Monde's editors acknowledge that the arming and training of an African force will take many months. Positive results are not guaranteed.
These same African forces have been “trained” by the US, European and Canadian militaries for years with seemingly little to show. So that leaves France staring at the uncomfortable prospect of bearing the lion's share of what by all appearance will be a long occupation.
Le Monde's pages are filled with news and commentary about this dilemma. In the case of Haiti, it has been nearly nine years since the Security Council’s MINUSTAH force landed, three months after the overthrow by US-backed paramilitaries of the elected government.
Also, France wants international endorsement and participation in its project. It has already received the enthusiastic participation of its principal imperialist allies. It also obtained endorsement for an “African-led” military force in a December 20 UN Security Council resolution.
But whether this will prove as lasting and universally-supported in the halls of the Security Council as MINUSTAH has been is another matter.
A case against military occupation was presented in the February 4 Le Monde by author and academic Olivier Roy. He wrote that the issue at the core of the conflict in Mali is not “Islamic fundamentalism” but the national rights of the Touareg people.
“The issue with the Touaregs is national tensions, not Islamism,” Roy said. “This problem cannot be resolved except through negotiations leading to a more equitable sharing of political power.”
An informative news article in the same issue of Le Monde summarised the history of the Touareg national rights struggle.
Where does the French left stand in the face of all this? The daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF) continues its support for the intervention. A report it published on French President Francois Hollande's visit to Mali was headlined: “Hollande in Timbuktu: 'I don't wish to meddle in the political life of Mali.'” The paper routinely summarises the declarations of the French government and military.
A statement by France's New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) charts an entirely different course. Issued on February 3 after a three-day convention of the party, the statement opens with a harsh condemnation of the France-led war. It then proceeds to describe how the war policy in Mali is matched by sharpening attacks on the working class in France.
The NPA helped initiate a call for a demonstration against the war in Paris on February 9. The protest will begin at the headquarters of AREVA, the giant French uranium mining and nuclear reactor manufacturer. The company operates several uranium mines in Niger, neighbour to Mali, and is now building in Niger what will be the second largest uranium mine in the world.
The call to join the protest reads: “It is not humanitarian reasons that are motivating the French war in Mali, but imperialist interests in the purest tradition of the actions of ‘France Afrique’. Like a confession to a crime, this war allows France to send troops to secure the uranium mines of AREVA in Niger.”
In Canada, long-time Africa observer and writer Gerald Caplan has published two commentaries on Mali in the Globe and Mail since the onset of the French intervention.
Caplan said: “Over the years, in the name of R2P (Responsibility To Protect doctrine) — the right to plunder — Canadian mining companies have made a fortune out of Mali's resources.
“Significant humanitarian aid would be a good way to pay down some of our debt.”
But rather incongruously, the main argument in the commentary is that Canada's participation in the French intervention “makes no sense”. Caplan appealed to the Canadian government to raise its aid to Mali from the paltry C$13 million (A$12.6 million) boost it recently announced. But he makes no reference to the engagement by Canada's military since at least 2009 in the US-led militarisation of Mali and the region.
Unfortunately for the citizens of France, the US, Canada and other countries pouring their militaries into Africa, and for the Africans themselves, it makes “lot of sense” for the imperialists to deploy military forces in west Africa. These are the shock troops of an expanding neocolonial grab for resources that is documented in an important article by investigative journalist John Pilger.
Therein lies the foreign policy challenge that Mali presents for ordinary people in the invading countries. Do Canadians, for example, want a government that, in the recent words of Globe and Mail columnist Doug Saunders, pursues a “colonial turn” in Africa similar to its earlier turns in Afghanistan and Haiti? Or do we fight for a government that would join in the worldwide struggle against war, capitalist injustice and environmental destruction?
[Roger Annis is a social rights and trade union activist in Vancouver, BC.]
The new talk by Paris in Africa
Editorial, Le Monde, Feb. 4
(Translation by Roger Annis.)
Further concealment placed aside, France is assuming its responsibilities for its military intervention in Mali. François Hollande reminded listeners of it in Timbuktu and Bamako on Saturday, Feb. 2, without arrogance or postcolonial complex. He reiterated the intention of France to remain in Mali for the time it will take. Paris has long sought to avoid appearing on the front line in this former colony. The fate of French hostages kidnapped in the region but held for months in northern Mali by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was a reminder of this resolve.
Behind the scenes, however, Paris was at the forefront. Its diplomats wrote resolutions at the Security Council of the UN to ensure the legality of military intervention. Its expert were working alongside officers in West Africa to put in place a regional intervention force designed to release the grip of the narco-Islamists that controlled nearly two-thirds of the country during the previous year.
Because the problem of Mali far exceeds preserving the backyard of the former colonizer. The cancer that developed in Mali - the alliance between Islamist groups and drug traffickers - threatens the entire region. The spectacular seizing of hostages at the site of the gas works at In Amenas in Algeria by a group linked to AQIM illustrates the reality of this threat. It shows that the range of terrorist groups extends away from their bases Gao or Timbuktu, where they were trying to install their sanctuary.
To be convinced of the danger, it is enough to note the degree of mobilization of Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal, Niger and Chad. From the beginning of the crisis in Mali, they called for urgent military action. Certainly, the countries of the region have geopolitical ambitions. But Mali is not Congo - Kinshasa. Its sub-surface is not full bursting with wealth that drives ambitions. The central issue was security as well as to contain a threat that might spill beyond the vast, arid Sahel region that runs from Mauritania to Djibouti.
France has understood this from the beginning. In his speeches, François Hollande has consistently pointed to a threat of regional destabilization. This made clear that Paris was not preparing to intervene to defend a friendly regime at risk. The French President promised not to repeat the less than glorious episodes of the history of "Françafrique".
In Bamako, on Saturday, he went further, saying that France was paying a debt written in blood in Europe by African soldiers who died for France during the two world wars.
He was right, but that does not detract from the relevance of the question today: how to conclude? Paris is counting on African forces to take over, but they are not ready. Reality obliges that this unpleasant truth be stated. If Africa and Europe do not want a French tutelage over Mali, then they must assume their responsibilities.Nearly two years after first denying a rumored investment, Sprint has announced its acquisition of a 33 percent stake in Jay Z's competitive streaming service Tidal. The partnership will provide Sprint's 45 million customers with "unlimited access" to exclusive artist content. Anyone with a preexisting Tidal subscription, meanwhile, will experience no change in their service.
"Sprint shares our view of revolutionizing the creative industry to allow artists to connect directly with their fans and reach their fullest, shared potential," Jay Z said in a press release Monday. "[Sprint CEO] Marcelo [Claure] understood our goal right away and together we are excited to bring Sprint's 45 million customers an unmatched entertainment experience."
A source close to the deal told Billboard Monday that the purchase was for an estimated $200 million and that all of Tidal's two dozen artist-owners will remain aboard. "Jay saw not only a business need, but a cultural one, and put his heart and grit into building Tidal into a world-class music streaming platform that is unrivaled in quality and content," Claure added. "The passion and dedication that these artist-owners bring to fans will enable Sprint to offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can."
POST CONTINUES BELOW
The partnership includes the development of a "dedicated marketing fund" just for artists. According to Sprint and Tidal's joint press release, the fund—estimated by Billboard to boast an annual budget of $75 million—will give participating artists the "flexibility to create and share their work" with their audience.
Additional details are expected to be announced soon.Boom India youngster Jasprit Bumrah has added his name to the record books after capturing the most T20 International wickets in a calendar year.
Bumrah, who only made his T20I debut in January against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, has taken 28 wickets for India in the game's shortest format from 21 matches.
All out! Watch how the Indian bowlers bowled West Indies out for just 143 runs inside 20 overs in the 2nd @Paytm T20 pic.twitter.com/VP2KkNy3Mo — BCCI (@BCCI) August 28, 2016
Against West Indies on Sunday night, he took 2-26 before the match was washed out, adding to the 2-47 he claimed in the series opener that West Indies claimed 1-0.
Former Australia quick Dirk Nannes was the previous record holder, having taken 27 wickets in 14 matches in 2010.
Bumrah, 22, also took 15 wickets for Mumbai Indians in this year's Indian Premier League to finish equal eighth on the wicket-takers list.
Quick Single: Dhoni excited about US cricket future
In the process, he earned the plaudits of Mumbai coach and Australian legend Ricky Ponting.
"If you look at the skills Bumrah has and the way he has come through over the last two years, then he is ready to play Test cricket," Ponting said in May.
"He's got everything. He's got an unusual action, got good pace and with the brand new ball can get some good movement in the air.
"If India are looking for someone to come in and play Test cricket then I am sure Bumrah's name will be in the selectors' mind.
Windies win one-run thriller in record run blitz
"Over the last three months, starting with the Australia tour and then the World T20, he has been a stand-out performer and he has been a stand-out bowler in IPL as well.
"A lot of times, he has bowled the tougher overs, an over in Power Play and then generally two in death.
"His skills with the slower ball, yorkers and bouncers are exactly where we wanted him to be."
Quick Single: Windies win thrilling run blitz
Ravi Ashwin meanwhile, also took two wickets on Sunday against the Windies to move to 23 for 2016 (the fourth-most in a calendar year) and 52 overall, the most by any Indian bowler.
Pakistan dominate the T20I top wicket-takers list since the inaugural match in 2005, with Shahid Afridi (97), Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal (85 each) occupying the top three places.A tornado has touched down very close to Brisbane Airport as several thunderstorms sweep through South-East QLD on Friday afternoon. Above image via Matt Houston
A small thunderstorm developed West of Algester, SSW of Brisbane City around 1pm on Friday afternoon. The cell developed and intensified quickly as it interacted with very warm temperatures (up to 36ºc) and high humidity (dew points between 17 and 22ºc). Heavy rain was the predominant threat as it swept through the City with intense winds also locally reported.
It wasn’t until the cell entered North-Eastern Brisbane and neared the Airport that it developed into a Supercell with a rotating updraft and base feature. The Supercell then attempted to spawn a funnel cloud near Brisbane City which lead to several people in the area videoing the phenomenon trying to unfold. As it neared Brisbane Airport, it interacted with a sea breeze front perfectly that for rotation to become tight enough that a tornado was able to develop.Sunderland look set to complete the signing of Ola Toivonen.
Sunderland are close to completing a deal to sign Toivonen from Rennes, and a report in the Northern Echo has updated the ongoing transfer.
It is claimed that the Swedish midfielder-cum-forward is set to travel to Wearside to undergo a medical prior to the weekend to ensure a deal can be completed, with the report stating that the transfer should be finalised before the weekend.
Rennes are looking to sell Toivonen on a permanent deal, having rejected a loan switch to Greek side PAOK earlier in the summer. Sunderland have held talks with the Ligue 1 outfit, which have been progressing well over the last week.
Head coach Dick Advocaat is a big fan of Toivonen, having had the attacker, 29, play under him at PSV Eindhoven, and he is still looking for creative players to join his side.
Toivonen can fill the role of both creator and goalscorer, and would likely fit in as the attacking midfielder in Advocaat’s 4-3-3 system, leaving Jermain Defoe to continue the lone striker role.
Toivonen has been watched by Advocaat for much of the summer, and the Wearside club pushed ahead to complete a deal for him after seeing a move for Napoli midfielder Jonathan de Guzman collapse, as confirmed by HITC Sport.As if the Western Conference didn't have enough teams playing well lately, the Minnesota Wild over the last two weeks have played their way into the mix. I was very high on Minnesota last season after it added Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, but it looks like it took them a year to put it together and there are a few reasons why.
Obviously, a big reason is goalie Josh Harding, who has played exceptionally, and he did suffer an injury this past weekend, but the Wild have pretty deep goaltending with Niklas Backstrom behind him. Not many teams in the NHL have better goaltending than Minnesota.
Another big reason is their young players, especially Mikael Granlund. I thought Granlund was going to explode on the scene last season, and it's taken him a while, but he's playing very well this season, which makes the Wild a much deeper offensive team on the whole. Mikko Koivu is also playing better this season. I've been a fan of his for a number of years because he is immensely talented, but he hadn't quite put it together.
Then you look at Ryan Suter. It's hard to say this, but I think Suter is playing better than he did last season. Right now he'd be my pick for the Norris Trophy, and while he's putting up huge minutes every night, I don't think he's going to end up burning out. Suter plays huge minutes, but they aren't physical minutes. He doesn't pound his body like Zdeno Chara or P.K. Subban. He is such a skilled guy that he intercepts passes, he uses stick checking and he's a beautiful skater. He uses his body very well and cuts off angles, but at the same time I can't ever remember seeing him get drilled or drilling somebody else. Because of that, I don't think his body will wear down like someone else's might with those types of minutes.
Compared to a year ago, this team is much deeper, its younger players are playing better and it's getting great play from its veterans. The Wild's only problem is the rest of the conference is so great. Minnesota is going to be there right until the end, and we've been saying all season the race in the West would be fantastic, but I think it's going to be even better than we thought.
INJURIES IN HOCKEYTOWN
Pavel Datsyuk missed the Detroit Red Wings' game on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres after taking a hit to the head Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators. His return has not been announced, although Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said he "seems to be doing fine," but if this ends up being a prolonged absence, it is a huge loss for Detroit. There are no two ways about it.
The Red Wings are lucky in that they're in the Eastern Conference. If they were in the West they would already be on the outside looking in with the inconsistent season they've had. I do think Detroit will be in the mix for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the season goes on, but if Datsyuk is gone for any considerable length of time that will spell trouble. They don't have many guys scoring consistently, and to lose a guy that not only can score, but also plays against the other team's best players and shuts them down, could be a big problem for a team that doesn't look like it has the depth we once thought it had.
In addition, the Red Wings are managing a big loss on the blue line now that Danny DeKeyser is out 3-6 weeks with a left shoulder injury. Losing one of their top four defensemen will put more pressure on Niklas Kronwall to play bigger, more important minutes. At the same time, Jimmy Howard, who should be one of the top goalies in the NHL, has been good, but I don't think he's been great. That leaves a number of games that should be wins for Detroit that haven't been.
Injuries are a part of the NHL, and they're going to be worse than usual this season because of the congested schedule with the Olympics, but that won't be an excuse in Detroit. Losing Datsyuk and DeKeyser could have an enormous impact on the Red Wings, but overcoming injuries is going to be pivotal throughout the League this season. The Wings are just one example of it.
TRADING PLACES IN THE METROPOLITAN
Before this season began, the New York Islanders looked to be a team on the cusp of turning the corner after years of struggling, while the New Jersey Devils, after two decades as one of the top teams in the League, appeared to be headed for a very tough season.
That hasn't quite been the case.
The Devils just completed an impressive road trip, with wins against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, and they're a great story right now. New Jersey's forwards are among some of the oldest in the League with guys like Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias, but each has played very well this season. At the same time, the goaltending has been very good and defensively they've been awesome lately, giving up nothing and keeping themselves in every game. To do what they're doing with the ages of their forwards is pretty fantastic. It's pretty clear the Colorado Avalanche are the biggest surprise in the League this season, but right now, I'd have to say the Devils' recent success has them right there.
As for the Islanders, there is no doubt that they've been a disappointment so far, but we need to wait until we see them with Thomas Vanek playing normally before we make any judgments. The Islanders basically traded Matt Moulson for |
-mashing action borrows heavily from Gears of War's run-and-gun playbook. But engineering proves as much a weapon as any rocket launcher or handheld mortar in this game.
Inexplicably for such an otherwise sophisticated title though, the plot's pure Velveeta. The year: 2161. You play cybernetic hero Jet Brody. (Wait, didn't he star in that '80s action flick?) America's engulfed in a civil war over issues of genetics versus cybernetics. It's up to you to single-handedly save the day when San Francisco's Pacifican faction secedes. In a word: Barf.
Like the cheesy story, the extreme difficulty of the game fits poorly with the inventive concept, although the toughness of the challenge is offset with frequent save checkpoints and hint-revealing camera flybys. Technology, not presentation, obviously takes top precedence for the creators. It's easy to forgive and forget, though, as both solo and multiplayer standoffs offer quite a refreshing workout.
You'll fight tooth and nail for every inch of ground, even as your mind races with thoughts of how to transform it into a killing blow or strategic defense. Getting your hands dirty has never been such good, clean fun.Symptoms of Mood Swings
Mood swings can be characterized by a drastic change in emotion from one side of the spectrum to the other. If one moment someone is happily going about their daily tasks, and the next moment is suddenly upset, irritated, or hostile, they may be experiencing common symptoms of mood swings. People who are experiencing excitability and agitation may find it difficult to settle down and focus on the task at hand, and may become erratic and impulsive.
It is completely normal to experience the wide range of negative emotions such as anger, irritability, tearfulness, and sadness. These affect us all from time to time. But when out of control mood swings start to affect our ability to function properly in jobs or personal relationships, they could become an issue worth addressing.
Those who experience extreme moods know just how much it affects not only their quality of life, but also the lives of their closest friends and family members. When agitation and hostility set in, it can cause changes in daily life and sleep, impacting overall happiness and making it difficult to enjoy each day to the fullest.
Common causes of symptoms of mood swings include chaotic or unbalanced lifestyles with too much stress, lack of sleep or too much sleep, quitting smoking and nicotine withdrawal, and unhealthy diets lacking in necessary vitamins and nutrients. Eating too much sugar and wheat or not eating enough fresh fruit, fiber, and vegetables could lead to feelings of moodiness.
Natural Treatment for Common Symptoms of Mood Swings
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MoodCalm™ is available in convenient and pleasant-tasting tablet form. Tablets can be chewed or dissolved in the mouth, or crushed and sprinkled on the tongue. Triple Complex Calm Tonic™, a homeopathic medicine for worry and stress, works in conjunction with MoodCalm™.
To ensure the safety of MoodCalm™ and to provide the highest quality, most effective product, all Native Remedies homeopathic medicines are manufactured in FDA-registered, GMP-certified facilities under the supervision of qualified homeopaths and responsible pharmacists. Individual ingredients are listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS).
For more than 200 years, homeopathy has been used to provide relief for a broad array of symptoms from a number of health conditions. It is based on the "like-treats-like" principle, which believes that utilizing highly diluted amounts of natural substances can provide temporary relief from the same symptoms those substances would create when presented in larger doses.
Other Treatments for Symptoms of Mood Swings
Support a calm mood and emotional balance with these tips:President Trump has said on several occasions that he is willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Well, on Wednesday, Trump did — after a fashion.
The U.S. president directly addressed his 33-year-old nemesis in a speech to South Korea's National Assembly. This time, Trump did not call Kim "Little Rocket Man" or use the kinds of rhetorical flourishes that play so well on Twitter.
But the words that Trump did use cut deeper, because they struck at the very heart of the Kim regime.
If there is one thing that Kim has shown he cannot tolerate, it is personal criticism.
"North Korea is not the paradise your grandfather envisioned," Trump said to Kim, who, if he was in Pyongyang, was just 120 miles away. "It is a hell that no person deserves."
Kim Il Sung, who is revered like a god in North Korean propaganda, established the country in 1948 as a "socialist paradise" of free housing, health care and education where people would want for nothing. Grandson Kim Jong Un claims his legitimacy as North Korea's supreme leader by virtue of being a direct descendant of this quasi-deity.
Trump devoted a large part of his address to detailing the human rights abuses that the Kims have committed in North Korea, filling his speech with words such as "twisted," "sinister," "tyrant," "fascism" and "cult."
"I wanted to stand up from my seat and shout 'Yahoo!' " said Lee Hyeon-seo, an escapee from North Korea who was sitting in the assembly hall during Trump's address. "We just don't hear people talking about North Korea in this way in South Korea, so I was very emotional during the speech. I was very impressed."
[In hard-line speech, Trump warns North Korea: ‘Do not underestimate us’ ]
In front of a National Assembly ruled by a left-wing party that favors engagement with North Korea and seeks to avoid antagonizing the regime, Trump noted the slave-like conditions North Korean workers face, the malnutrition among children, the suppression of religion and the forced-labor prison camps where he said North Koreans endure "torture, starvation, rape and murder on a constant basis."
Other advocates for North Koreans expressed hope that Trump's remarks would remind the world that the country is home not just to a dictator with nuclear weapons but also to 25 million people who suffer under him.
"President Trump spoke about human rights in North Korea more than any other previous U.S. president," said Jeong Kwang-il, who was held as a political prisoner in North Korea and now runs the No Chain for North Korea human rights group in Seoul. "I'm hopeful that American policy toward North Korea will focus more on improving human rights there."
[North Korea shot down a U.S. spy plane in 1969. Washington did nothing.]
The president did not mince words about the way the Kim regime has managed to retain its grip on the populace.
"North Korea is a country ruled as a cult," he said. "At the center of this military cult is a deranged belief in the leader's destiny to rule as parent-protector over a conquered Korean Peninsula and an enslaved Korean people."
The success of South Korea discredited "the dark fantasy at the heart of the Kim regime," Trump said.
It is hard to exaggerate the reverence with which North Koreans are forced to treat the Kim family. Every home and all public buildings must display portraits of Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il that must be cleaned only with a special cloth. North Koreans must bow at monuments to the leaders and sing songs celebrating their supposedly legendary feats.
[Trump’s surprise visit to Korean demilitarized zone is foiled by weather ]
There is no escaping the Kims and the narrative that they have created a utopia that is the envy of the world.
So to suggest that the regime is founded on a "fantasy" and that the country is something other than a socialist paradise amounts to heresy in North Korea.
"This speech made the 'axis of evil' speech look friendly," said John Delury, a professor of international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul, referring to President George W. Bush's 2002 State of the Union speech, in which he included North Korea as a country seeking weapons of mass destruction. "That sent a signal to Pyongyang that the Americans are not open to changing their relationship with North Korea and that the president was deeply hostile and ideologically hostile to them."
But others saw an opening from Trump, with his suggestion that there is a way out of the quagmire. "Despite every crime you have committed against God and man... we will offer a path to a much better future," Trump said, noting that this would require total denuclearization.
Victor Cha, tipped to be Trump's nominee for ambassador to South Korea, wrote on Twitter that the president publicly offered a "diplomacy exit ramp" to the Kim regime.
At a news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in the previous day, Trump urged North Korea "to come to the table" and "do the right thing, not only for North Korea but for humanity all over the world."
At recent meetings near Geneva and in Moscow, Pyongyang's representatives have signaled an interest in talks with the United States — as long as those talks are not about denuclearization, a nonstarter for Washington.
[Kim Jong Un calls Trump a ‘mentally deranged U.S. dotard’ ]
The regime in Pyongyang is likely to react angrily to Trump's speech.
After Trump threatened at the U.N. General Assembly in September to "totally destroy" North Korea and mocked Kim as "Rocket Man," Kim took the unprecedented step of releasing a statement in his own name, calling Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard" who would "pay dearly" for his threats.
At the same time, North Korea's foreign minister said the country might detonate a nuclear device over the Pacific.
A U.N. commission of inquiry once charged that the blame for North Korea's human rights abuses went all way to the top of the leadership, leading to calls for Kim Jong Un to be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
That prompted North Korean officials to respond publicly to questions about human rights conditions in a way they had not before — a clear attempt to defend the dignity of their leader.
"North Korea tends to react sensitively to criticism in human rights," said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the unification strategy program at the Sejong Institute, a private think tank in South Korea.
He predicted that the response this time would be especially sharp because of the time that Trump spent talking about North Korea and the detail he went into, plus the president's repeated calls for the world to isolate the country.
"North Korea is highly likely to take Trump's address as a declaration of war and call for a holy war of its own against the U.S.," Cheong said.
Yoonjung Seo in Seoul contributed to this report.
Read more
Trump asserts ‘a lot of progress’ on North Korea, urges ‘deal’ to resolve standoff
Trump promotes his New Jersey golf course during speech to South Korea parliament
Trump heads to Asia where concerns are growing over possible war with North Korea
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign newsIf you're hoping to go to Sounders FC's game Sunday against rival Portland, you had better hurry.
Ticket sales for the Cascadia Cup clash are over 66,000 as of Monday afternoon, according to a team spokesman. Only limited tickets remain for the 6 p.m. kickoff.
As a reminder, this game was included in four-game ticket packages earlier this year that went in conjunction with opening up more sections of CenturyLink Field.
So let's put this 66,000 number into perspective:
* * *
--- This will be the largest crowd of the season (prev. was 60,908 for the Aug. 5 Galaxy game) and the biggest for any MLS game in franchise history (prev. was 64,140 for Kasey Keller's sendoff game last year).
--- This could be the second largest crowd for an MLS game in league history for those not a part of a doubleheader. The current record is 69,225 for the league's inaugural game in 1996 (stadium capacity of 67,000 + suites means Sunday's crowd couldn't get there but, if it's any consolation, many claim that '96 figure is inflated). Currently, No. 2 is the 66,237 at Giants Stadium for a David Beckham visit with the Galaxy.
--- This could also become the biggest crowd for any game in Sounders history and Pacific Northwest soccer history. That mark is the 67,052 for last year's friendly against Manchester United.
--- Lastly, Sounders FC's average attendance this season will surpass 43,725 after Sunday. The team's season total for 15 games will be over 655,000 fans.The Labour Party is in a sour mood at present, that much we already know. Usually, most of the sourness expressed by MPs is directed at their own party comrades. But this afternoon, at the Labour Women’s Conference, speaker after speaker decided to turn fire on Theresa May. Angela Rayner congratulated her on being the second female Prime Minister of this country, but said ‘I cannot celebrate her arrival’. Kezia Dugdale attacked both May and Nicola Sturgeon for not being real feminists, saying:
‘Look at Theresa May – she has the audacity to wear a ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ T-shirt. She could wear it at the dispatch box – but we’d still know the truth…’
And Harriet Harman also described the Prime Minister as ‘no sister’, arguing ‘we’ve got a new Tory prime minister – and she’s a woman. But like Margaret Thatcher before her, Theresa May is no supporter of women’.
Now, it’s probably quite irritating for Labour to have to hold a women’s conference while the Tories are still crowing that they’ve got another female Prime Minister. But is this sort of ‘you’re not a real feminist’ moaning very, well, feminist? Naturally, Theresa May has a different interpretation of what a feminist politician should do to some Labour MPs: though perhaps not as different as they might think. After all, she did set up Women2Win, which has increased the number of female Tory MPs in parliament by lobbying the Conservative party and mentoring candidates. And after all, she did do quite a lot of work on domestic violence when in the Home Office, including working with the now Labour MP Jess Phillips when she was working as a national adviser on domestic abuse, and introducing the offence of coercive and controlling behaviour. And she also introduced a number of measures on female genital mutilation and forced marriage. But still, she’s not a Labour MP, so that means that obviously she’s not really a feminist.
Sorry, ladies, but feminism is even more important than partisanship. If you start claiming that only women who meet with your politics are real feminists, then you break into the People’s Front of Judea when feminists haven’t run out of problems to solve. You also alienate those on the right who are feminists but who you tell aren’t welcome in your special exclusive left-wing ladies’ club. Feminism has to span the political spectrum, otherwise it gets stuck in one party. And given the Labour party isn’t going anywhere right now, that’s not much use to the women who still need a politician who’ll show them what a feminist in government looks like.It is increasingly rare, in this day and age, to observe stark, raw, pure sexism in the pages of a major metropolitan newspaper. Oh, it’s there, don’t get me wrong — but writers and editors usually have the good sense to filter it through obfuscating language and rhetorical devices, leaving readers to dig out the subtext themselves. And that’s what’s sort of remarkable about Kyle Smith’s New York Post review of the Golden Globes, which became yesterday’s essential hate-read: this shit is pure as the driven snow. This is uncut. If it were cocaine, it’d be sitting in a mountainous pile on Tony Montana’s desk.
Mr. Smith’s objection to the Globes, per his headline, was simple: “Too much estrogen!”
For the first time in the recent history of awards shows, Lena Dunham didn’t win anything, but in a way she won everything, because last night’s Golden Globes broadcast might as well have been called “Girls.”
See what he did there?
Smith’s primary complaints were with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, whom he accused of engaging in “the tiresome defense mechanism of female nightclub comics to make it all about gender before their hecklers can” and attempting to prove “women can be as tasteless as Seth MacFarlane.” Such couch-fainting over dirty ladies and their unbecoming vulgarity makes one wonder if Smith’s ready to start up a Proper Ladies’ Public Behavior Task Force with Variety’s Brian Lowry; his puzzling misreading of Poehler’s Masters of Sex bit and irrelevant mansplaining of Fey’s Gravity gag (for the record, you guys, “Bullock had ten times as much screen time as her costar, Clooney being reduced to playing her coach”) makes one wonder if Smith understands how “jokes” work.
But it’s the earlier point, the female hosts’ decision to “make it all about gender,” that got Smith’s dander up the most. Smith sneers at Fey and Poehler for their well-aimed barbs “about actresses being forced to lose weight for movies or the dearth of roles for women over 60 who aren’t Meryl Streep,” as though these weren’t actual topics ripe for satire — y’know, the kind of kidding-on-the-square that defined the Globes hosting gigs of Smith’s beloved Ricky Gervais.
Let’s be clear about the terms of the debate here: women are comparatively powerless in Hollywood. The key executives with green-light power are overwhelmingly male. Exactly five of this year’s major studio releases will come from female directors. And women account for barely a quarter of the speaking roles in big-budget movies. But they make up the majority of the population and buy the majority of movie tickets, and, as Fey joked right out of the gate, they take up a giant swath of the awards-show audience. So on Sunday night, for exactly three hours (actually, for something like 15 minutes, when you add their bits up), two women got on national television and semi-subversively sent up the industry’s representation of their gender.
And it was all too much for poor Kyle Smith. Look, you can’t tell anyone what is and isn’t funny (as evidenced by his classification of the night’s single funniest line, “And now, like a supermodel’s vagina, let’s all give a warm welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio,” as “wince-inducingly awful”), but when two female comics make the evening a sly satire of representation and your takeaway is “Ewww! Too many ladies!,” then I’m sorry, you’ve got no business reviewing hand mixers on Amazon, much less parsing mass media for a New York daily.
It’s not just that Smith misses the point when it comes to the hosts; his befuddlement at the rest of the evening’s “strange, mainly feminine” energy lays bare the ugliness of his worldview. Aside from implicitly regarding the femininity of the night as a negative, it doesn’t take much in the way of interpretation to figure out that this is someone who has real problems with women — from his objection to the misunderstood premise of Poehler’s Masters gag (“it isn’t challenging for a woman to find someone willing to sleep with her,” Smith bleats, a bit of throwaway frustration that calls for a good six months of psychiatric unpacking) to his jarring characterization of Cate Blanchett as a “tautly wound control freak” (presumably a judgment borne out of all the time they’ve spent hanging out) to, best of all, his insistence that “Only reigning dude Matthew McConaughey saved the evening.” Yes, that’s right, only the man’s man whose wife calls him “my king” rescued the night from all those pesky girl-cooties.
In passages like that, Smith’s anxiety broaches the windmill-tilting of the “men’s rights movement”; it’s even clearer in his parenthetical “retort” to the jokes about roles for aging actresses: “Hey, tell Bruce (Dern) how easy it is for old men to find work.” Tell ya what, Kyle, why don’t you ask Bruce himself: he’s been doing several pictures and TV shows, year in and year out, since about 2006. Or ask Jack Nicholson, or Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino, or Dustin Hoffman, or Michael Caine, or Morgan Freeman, or Robert Redford, or Michael Douglas, or Robert Duvall, or Anthony Hopkins, or Tommy Lee Jones, or Ian McKellan, or Christopher Walken, or… well, you get the picture.
But Smith is a very specific kind of white guy, one who’s gotten so accustomed to media that reflects the world as he sees it that when anything re-frames that image, it’s deeply frightening and/or repulsive. And hey, I don’t wanna turn this into Dudes Solve Feminism; I’m a white guy too, and while I don’t get Smith’s fear of diversity, I at least recognize the prism he’s used to. But let me offer you this small comfort, Kyle: no one is expecting you (or any of the other victims of this “feminized atmosphere” over at NewsCorp) to turn into a feminist. Frankly, I doubt they’d have you. But if you are going to comment on mass media in the year 2014, you might have to recognize that said media isn’t just serving an audience of people who look and think exactly like you, and isn’t just speaking from that perspective. In other words, you may have to evolve a little. And if you can’t, you should sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up.Party leader Ruth Davidson said conditions had changed since the notorious 1980 Scottish Cup final that led to the ban.
The Scottish Conservatives have called for the 33-year ban on alcohol at football matches to be reviewed.
The party has written to all 42 senior football clubs asking for their views on whether the restrictions should be lifted.
Alcohol has been banned on matchdays since rioting marred the 1980 Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Rangers.
Drinks are currently only permitted in corporate hospitality areas, but not during the game itself.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said changes in fans’ behaviour since the 1980s, as well as better facilities and stewarding, meant the time was right to reconsider the situation.
The Scottish Government lifted the ban on alcohol at international rugby matches in 2007, allowing fans to drink while watching the game.
At a time when many clubs are struggling financially, the Tories also believe that drinks licenses could provide a valuable source of income.
Ms Davidson said: “I understand why the ban was brought in all those years ago, but times have changed significantly since then.
“We now have modern stadia with excellent stewarding to keep spectators safer, allowing more families to attend matches.
“This has resulted in the football watching experience being a far more civilised experience than it was 30 years ago.
“With that in mind, it’s time to consider allowing supporters to enjoy an alcoholic drink before the game and at half-time.
“There’s no reason why this should be successfully in place in England but not north of the border.
“It seems unfair that people who can have a drink in a bar, rugby ground or even at a concert in football stadiums are unable to consume alcohol before they sit down to watch a game of football.
“Such a change would have the potential for our cash-strapped clubs to bring in some extra income, while boosting the match-day experience for thousands of fans every week.”
Earlier this year Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell expressed his support for letting clubs sell alcohol to fans in a controlled environment.
Supporters of the ban say bringing back alcohol would put an intolerable burden on police and stewards.
Les Gray, Former head of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “Everybody just keeps blaming this one game but it was a whole host of events that brought about that ban."We used to stand at the football and get pelted with cans and bottles, which weren't full of their original content, and it was an absolute nightmare. ”Comment When the Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne realised his wife had left her dress on the train on the way to a charity dinner last Saturday he called lost property.
Unfortunately, being a Saturday afternoon, lost property was closed and his wife was distraught.
Fortunately Duncan's 50,000 Twitter followers came to the rescue. He made a single tweet offering a reward of £1000 for the safe return of the item of clothing. Amazingly the dress was indeed quickly located and returned.
The finder, a Virgin employee, refused the reward, suggesting instead it go to charity:
johno4501@DuncanBannatyne Sir thanks for you kind offer i do not require any reward if you wish you can make a donation to Clic Sargeant charity.
Even with a large 50,000 twitter following, it's hard to imagine how the desperate dress search tweet could really end up being read by one of only a handful of individuals who would realistically be in a position to help. And how this could all happen fast enough for the dress to be returned in time for the gala dinner that evening? After all, how many people would have had access to the closed lost property department out of hours?
Fans of the classic Six Degrees of Separation theory will however be less surprised by this happy outcome. The principle goes that everyone can reach anyone within six connections. Let's say you want to get a message to President Obama. You can try to work out yourself whether you might be able to achieve this within six steps. Perhaps your brother-in-law knows someone who has a friend, etc. You might just get there.
But what's this all got to do with running a 21st century government?
Not a lot at present because when current Ministers contemplate using technology they tend to think in terms of building new and usually expensive websites. Citizens find out about the new site, typically through a multi-million pound TV ad campaign, and then use it to look up some information on a database which drives the website.
Other than the fact that this involves the internet, this isn't really any different from the way in which governments have distributed information through the ages. It holds everything centrally and invites others to come and look it up.
The state stores all the important data. Citizens are expected to go and retrieve it. And it’s this basic approach which is extended to all manner of government activity. For example, if the government has a vacancy in one of its departments it will place a job ad in the newspapers and wait for applicants to respond.
But there is now a more efficient, less bureaucratic way for government to work.
Taking that job ad example, let’s assume that the department tweets about the job opening.
Now, assuming the department has a Twitter following and that the message gets re-tweeted – where the original message is re-broadcast by others to their own lists – it would surely only be a matter of minutes before applications started flowing in from highly qualified candidates. And the cost to the treasury? Pretty much nil.
A Conservative government will respond to new technology in a completely different way to this Labour administration. Rather than defaulting to the creation of enormous new databases in the style of the late and over-budget NHS system, we will look to leverage the immense power of so-called cloud-based computing where information is decentralised, shared and improved by the wisdom of many.
Using technology to blow open the closed world of government is also the principle behind our recent Open Source Planning Green Paper. Just as Apple, the inventors of the iPhone, ensured that their product was ‘open source’ - meaning that software developers could come along and invent ways to use the phone going well beyond what Apple themselves had initially imagined - so too will our planning policy benefit from involved citizens achieving more than central government could ever manage on its own.
But we won't stop there.
By introducing a powerful new 'Right to Government Data', we will enable the release of government datasets to be manipulated and presented by others, thereby empowering citizens with more useful, accurate information.
We'll publish online every item of central government spending over £25,000 and local expenditure over £500. As well as publishing every contract in full.
And we'll throw open democracy too by introducing a technology enabled Public Reading Stage to each Bill so the wisdom of crowds can improve laws and spot potential problems.
So a Conservative government will be humble enough to know that we won’t have all the answers to every problem in-house, but that by leveraging the immense wisdom of the British people we can help to solve policy problems through a new and radical open source approach to government. ®
Grant Shapps is Conservative Member of Parliament for the Welwyn Hatfield constituency. He has served on the Public Administration Select Committee and is currently shadow housing minister. His voting record is here.Sandal-clad hippies in tie-dye shirts. Stoners so high they can barely put a sentence together. Foreign drug runners, gun-toting gangsters, and hardcore criminals.
These are the images many outsiders have of the medical marijuana industry.
I should know: Many of my former colleagues, friends, and family members mentioned these stereotypes in 2011 when I accepted a job helping launch a new publication covering the business aspects of this emerging sector. In all honesty, I shared some of these concerns as well. As a long-time business journalist in the mainstream media, my professional and personal reputation was on the line. Moving from a daily metro newspaper to a “pot” publication caused some head-scratching among many acquaintances – even though I was entering a $1 billion-plus industry at the time.
To be sure, I certainly did run into some people who fit this description in the early days of our publication. And I still do now.
But here’s what is most surprising to many about the marijuana industry: It’s filled with straight-laced people who built careers – and started successful companies – in other fields. And more are joining every day.
Professionals from the banking, finance, investing, and accounting worlds. Interior design specialists, journalists, and healthcare veterans. Technology, marketing, retail, HVAC, construction, and manufacturing pros. The list goes on.
In the past few weeks, a cannabis-focused private equity firm hired a former DEA agent and a publicly traded marijuana company brought on a former executive at Yahoo and Microsoft as its president. A former Congressman is also bidding for three dispensary business licenses in Massachusetts.
The reason for the mainstream interest is simple: This is a legitimate business with many attractive opportunities, and it’s now one of the fastest-growing industries in the country.
U.S. medical marijuana sales hit an estimated $1.5 billion in 2013 – up about 15% from the year before, according to our 2013 Marijuana Business Factbook.
Impressive, but that’s only the start. Overall marijuana sales in states where cannabis is legal could double in 2014 to hit $3 billion, according to our estimates, as Colorado and Washington begin selling cannabis to adults 21 and over.
Earlier this year, we projected that sales will hit $6 billion by 2018. However, the outlook has improved drastically since then (in large part because the federal government said it will take a hands-off approach to states that legalize marijuana for adults). Marijuana legalization could spread like wildfire, and industry sales might therefore end up being much higher.
What’s more, these figures are just for marijuana transactions. Hundreds of millions of additional dollars are being spent on professional services, ancillary products and other offerings. Like any industry, the medical cannabis sector needs everything from lawyers and accountants to human resources professionals, insurance specialists, and consultants. There are hundreds of other companies making packaging, equipment to extract cannabis oils from the plant, inventory software, you name it.
Here are some other reasons why many are bullish on the industry’s potential:
Efforts are underway in a handful of other states – including heavyweight California – to legalize marijuana for general adult use, while several others (such as New York) are pursuing medical marijuana legalization. The dominoes are falling. Currently, 21 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing the use of medical cannabis. In the coming years, more than half the country will have legalized medical or recreational marijuana.
Poll after poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans feel that medical marijuana should be legal. Earlier this fall, a Gallup survey found that 58% also support the legalization of cannabis for adult use – the first time a clear majority of the population has favored legal marijuana. In 1969, when Gallup first asked the question, just 12% of respondents backed the idea.
Companies are beginning to expand beyond their home markets and into other states. The founders of California-based Harborside Health Center – the most successful dispensary in the US with sales of more than $20 million – are hoping to branch out into new states as soon as possible. Dixie Elixirs, which makes marijuana-infused sodas, ice cream, and other products, and dozens of other businesses are expanding nationally as well.
This could become an international industry in the near future, boosting business opportunities for U.S. firms. Uruguay recently became the first country to legalize marijuana possession, use and sales, while Canada has opened up its medical cannabis business to the free market. Other countries also are weighing marijuana legalization or relaxing cannabis laws.
That’s not to say everything is rosy.
Don’t forget: Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. The risks in the business are huge. Executives could face criminal prosecution, and investors could lose everything overnight if the federal government or local officials crack down. That’s why average interest rates on loans to medical marijuana businesses hover between 20% and 30%.
Banking and payment processing are significant issues, and many businesses that handle marijuana directly have to operate as all-cash businesses.
Additionally, marijuana is one of the most volatile industries in the corporate world. State and local regulations change constantly. Cities can enact bans on MMJ businesses without much warning. And the costs of doing business in a heavily regulated industry can be prohibitive.
But the potential is so immense that many are flocking to cannabis. One day, I have no doubt we will see household brands develop. There will be retail marijuana chain stores a la Starbucks and cannabis-infused beverage brands like Coke. Major players in other industries – possibly Big Pharma and Big Tobacco – will most certainly enter the industry down the road. Marijuana companies will trade on the major stock exchanges, and they’ll have global businesses.
Soon enough, the industry will grow up and get buttoned-down. But for the professionals who can stomach the risks, the time to get in is now. They’ll get in on the ground floor of a brand new industry, and help determine its shape. You don’t have to be smoking something to see that as the chance of a lifetime.The history of Belgium extends before the founding of the modern state of that name in 1830. Belgium's history is therefore intertwined with those of its neighbours: the Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg. For most of its history, what is now Belgium was either a part of a larger territory, such as the Carolingian Empire, or divided into a number of smaller states, prominent among them being the Duchy of Brabant, the County of Flanders, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and County of Luxembourg. Due to its strategic location and the many armies fighting on its soil, since the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Belgium has often been called the "battlefield of Europe" or the "cockpit of Europe".[1] It is also remarkable as a European nation which contains, and is divided by, a language boundary between Latin-derived French and Germanic Dutch.
Belgium's modern shape can be partly traced back at least as far as the "Seventeen Provinces" within the Burgundian Netherlands. These lands straddled the ancient boundary of the Scheldt that had divided medieval France and Germany, but they were brought together under the House of Valois-Burgundy, and unified into one autonomous territory by their heir Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in his Pragmatic Sanction of 1549. The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) later led to the split between a northern Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands from which Belgium and Luxembourg developed. This southern territory continued to be ruled by the Habsburg descendants of the Burgundian house, at first as the "Spanish Netherlands". Invasions from France under Louis XIV led to the loss of what is now Nord-Pas-de-Calais to France, while the remainder finally became the "Austrian Netherlands". The French Revolutionary wars led to Belgium becoming part of France in 1795, bringing the end of the semi-independence of areas which had belonged to the Catholic church. After the defeat of the French in 1814, a new United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created, which eventually split one more time during the Belgian Revolution of 1830–1839, giving three modern nations, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
The ports and textile industry of Belgium were important back into the Middle Ages, and modern Belgium was one of the first countries to experience an Industrial Revolution, which brought prosperity in the 19th century but also opened a political dichotomy between liberal businessmen and socialist workers. The king set up his own private colonial empire in the Belgian Congo, which the government took over after a major scandal in 1908. Belgium was neutral but its strategic location as a pathway to France made it an invasion target for Germany in 1914 and 1940. Conditions under the occupation were severe. In the postwar period Belgium was a leader in European unification, as a founding member of what has become the European Union. Brussels is now host to the headquarters of NATO and is the de facto capital of the European Union. The colonies became independent in the early 1960s.
Politically the country was once polarized on matters of religion and, in recent decades, it has faced new divisions over differences of language and unequal economic development. This ongoing antagonism has caused far-reaching reforms since the 1970s, changing the formerly unitary Belgian state into a federal state, and repeated governmental crises. It is now divided into three regions: Flanders (Dutch-speaking) in the north, Wallonia (French-speaking) in the south, and bilingual Brussels |
job candidates for productivity, before a resume is read. Those tests that are based on actual psychology research, offer predictive indexes on how someone will actually perform in a given position.
The information received allows employers to properly filter applicants in the first place. They assist in asking poignant interview questions, and they determine 'diamond in the rough' candidates that would have been overlooked by the trappings of the traditional hiring process, in an efficient and cost saving process.
Big data refers to the process of capturing, curating, storing, analyzing, and visualizing data sets so large and complex, they cannot be handled with traditional software tools. Companies that use big data to make hiring decisions analyze statistics about employee turnover, performance, and employee assessments to understand what type of people will be most successful at each job. They then use their findings to implement hiring assessments, like the one mentioned above, that screen job applicants for the identified traits.
Choosing to implement psychometric testing and data collection, are always optional to the employer. However, their usages are on the rise and these two scientific methods are poised to change the future of the traditional hiring process over the next few years.
If you want to learn more about pre-employment psychometric testing, check out www.cream.hr for more details.The WiFi232 Internet Modem is here and available in limited quantities.
The WiFi232 Internet Modem features:
Standard DB25 female RS-232C connector (DCE).
Supports 300 to 115200 baud.
Emulation of a Hayes modem, using standard (and non-standard) Hayes “AT” commands.
Storage of settings and 10 speed dial addresses in flash memory.
Accepts inbound connections on customizable TCP port (produces “RING” response).
Automatically responds with a customizable busy message when already in a call.
Supports Commodore PET “MCTerm” character set translation (requires custom cable, interface).
Hardware and software flow control supported (one direction only– retro PC can pause incoming data).
Hardware flow control is RTS or DTR selectable with solder jumpers.
DTR + DCD and DTR + DSR loopback solder jumpers (RS-232C side only).
Over-the-air firmware updates.
Telnet negotiation support.
Built-in web server, MDNS support, and WiFi access point for easy configuration.
Powered by a USB mini jack or solder terminals for your own power source.
A PDF manual.
The WiFi232 Internet Modem lacks:
Support is lacking for DCD (data carrier detect) and RI (ring indicator).
No password protection of web server configuration (but can be disabled completely).
Price & Shipping:
Available as a kit ($33) or fully assembled ($49) (new prices June 25, 2017).
USPS First Class shipping to USA is $3 tracked (non-insured). USPS First Class International everywhere else for $15 tracked (non-insured).
If your shipment is lost or never arrives, you should contact your postal service and provide the tracking number for assistance.
Kits include a bare board with all loose parts for you to assemble yourself. All parts are through-hole EXCEPT two SMD parts (a USB mini jack and a SOT-223 voltage regulator).
Orders ship in about a week.
Order Policies
Please read this section carefully.
International orders: The CN22 customs form will be listed as type “others” with actual sales price. You may be responsible for additional VAT or import taxes. Do not ask to have the item listed as “gift”– your order will be canceled.
Orders that need to be canceled before shipping for reasons such as changed your mind, wrong shipping address, or CN22 type dispute will be subject to a $3 fee. Sorry, PayPal dings me to just return your money!
Order Here
The WiFi232 modem can be purchased below. I do not sell pre-orders. I only sell what I’ve built so far to ensure all orders can be fulfilled. If it’s listed as sold out, don’t worry– I’m busy making more for you. Follow @paulrickards on Twitter where I announce when more are available.
Sold out!
Manual
WiFi232 Internet Modem Manual (.PDF) Updated July 7, 2017
Discover new boards to call by visiting the Telnet BBS Guide.
The list of verified, compatible computers:
Atari Portfolio (with serial interface and 9 to 25 pin serial adapter)
Atari 520ST and 1040ST
Amstrad NC100
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
Tandy TRS-80 Model 102 (with 25 pin gender changer)
Apple IIgs (with mini DIN to 25 pin serial cable)
Atari 800XL (with Atari 850 serial interface and appropriate cable)
Amiga 1000 (with 25 pin gender changer)
Amiga 2000
Amiga 1200
Macintosh SE
Macintosh SE/30
Digital VT220 and VT240 Terminal
Apple IIe (with serial card)
IBM 486-compatible (with 9 to 25 pin serial adapter)
Don’t see you computer listed? It will likely still work if it has a standard RS-232 serial port.
Reviews/DiscussionPHP was my first programming language, and my initial exposure to JavaScript was through libraries like jQuery. There were things about JavaScript that always seemed to trip me up in the beginning due to how they worked differently than PHP. Heck there are still some things today that are confusing. I want to share some of the things that I struggled when I started working with JavaScript. I am going to cover the global namespace, this, knowing the difference between ECMAScript 3 and ECMAScript 5, asynchronous operations, prototypes, and simple JavaScript inheritance.
The Global Namespace
In PHP specifically, when you declare a variable function outside of a class (or namespace block) you are essentially adding a function to the global namespace. In JavaScript, there is no such thing as a namespace per se, rather everything is attached to the global object. In the case of the web browser, that is the window object. The other key difference is that in JavaScript, functions and variables are attributes of the global object, which we typically refer to as properties.
This can be troublesome because you won't get a warning in JavaScript if you overwrite a global function or property and it can actually be quite dangerous.
function globalFunction() { console.log('I am the original global function'); } function overWriteTheGlobal() { globalFunction = function() { console.log('I am the new global function'); } } globalFunction(); //outputs "I am the original global function" overWriteTheGlobal(); //this will overwrite the original global function globalFunction(); //outputs "I am the new global function"
One technique that is useful in JavaScript to ensure that your variables and functions are self contained is to use a immediately-invoked function expression, commonly known as a self-executing anonymous function. I typically expose things to the outside world by passing in a carrier object to the function. This is a variation of the module pattern.
var module = {}; (function(exports){ exports.notGlobalFunction = function() { console.log('I am not global'); }; }(module)); function notGlobalFunction() { console.log('I am global'); } notGlobalFunction(); //outputs "I am global" module.notGlobalFunction(); //outputs "I am not global"
Inside the self-executing anonymous function, all of the global scope is enclosed and we finish by attaching it the the module variable. Technically you could just append properties directly to the module variable, but the reason we are passing it in to the function is to make it explicitly clear what we are attaching our function to. It also allows us to alias the passed in object inside the function. The critical thing here is that we are declaring our dependencies upfront and not relying on global variables, other than the module variable.
You also might have noticed the var keyword. If you aren't sure of how it is used, a basic explanation is that by preceding a variable declaration with var creates a property on the nearest containing function. If you omit the var keyword than you are saying that you want to assign a new value to an existing variable higher up the scope chain, which may or may not be the global scope.
var imAGlobal = true; function globalGrabber() { imAGlobal = false; return imAGlobal; } console.log(imAGlobal); //outputs "true" console.log(globalGrabber()); //outputs "false" console.log(imAGlobal); //outputs "false"
As you can see, it is quite dangerous to rely on globals in your functions, due to possible side effects and collisions that are bound to occur. Now what happens when we use the var keyword?
var imAGlobal = true; function globalGrabber() { var imAGlobal = false; return imAGlobal; } console.log(imAGlobal); //outputs "true" console.log(globalGrabber()); //outputs "false" console.log(imAGlobal); //outputs "true"
JavaScript hoists the var declaration to the top of the function block, then initializes the variable. This is called variable hoisting.
To summarize: all variables are scoped to a function (which is itself an object), and where you declare those variables with var determines the function they are scoped to. Excluding var will imply global scope for a variable.
Let's look at how variable hoisting happens:
function variableHoist() { console.log(hoisty); hoisty = 1; console.log(hoisty); var hoisty = 2; console.log(hoisty); } variableHoist(); //outputs undefined (would get a ReferenceError if no var declaration existed in scope) //outputs "1" //outputs "2" try { console.log(hoisty); //outputs ReferenceError (no global var "hoisty") } catch (e) { console.log(e); }
So as you can see, it doesn't actually matter where you put the var declaration in the function, because the property gets created before the function executes any code. Now in practice, generally you want to put your var declarations at the top of the function, since that is where they end up anyway. It is also totally acceptable to initialize you variables at the top of the function, just be aware of the order of events here.
Functions declared with the function keyword in JavaScript (not variable assignment) also get hoisted. Behind the scenes, the entire function gets hoisted up and is made available for execution.
myFunction(); //outputs "i exist" function myFunction() { console.log('i exist'); }
This wholesale function hoisting does not occur when you use the var form of function declaration:
try { myFunction(); } catch (e) { console.log(e); //throws "Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function" } var myFunction = function() { console.log('i exist'); } myFunction(); //outputs "i exist"
Understanding "this";
Since JavaScript uses function scope, the meaning of this is quite different than what you get in PHP, and causes a lot of confusion. Consider the following:
console.log(this); // outputs window object var myFunction = function() { console.log(this); } myFunction(); //outputs window object var newObject = { myFunction: myFunction } newObject.myFunction(); //outputs newObject
this by default refers to the object a function is contained in. Since myFunction() is a property of the global object, this is a reference to the global object, which is window. Now when we mix myFunction() into a newObject, this now refers to newObject. In PHP and other similar languages, this always refers to the the instance of a class containing the method. You could argue that JavaScript is doing something stupid here, but truthfully much of the power of the JavaScript language comes from this feature. In fact, we can even replace the value of this when invoking our JavaScript functions by using the call() or apply() methods.
var myFunction = function(arg1, arg2) { console.log(this, arg1, arg2); }; var newObject = {}; myFunction.call(newObject, 'foo', 'bar'); //outputs newObject "foo" "bar" myFunction.apply(newObject, ['foo', 'bar']); //outputs newObject "foo" "bar"
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. All we are doing here is invoking the function myFunction by substituting an alternative value for this inside the function by placing the value of the object we want to use a substitute as the first argument. The fundamental difference between call() and apply() is the way you pass arguments to the function. call() will take an unlimited amount of arguments after the first argument and apply() expects and array of arguments as it's second argument.
Libraries like jQuery perform a lot of magic by invoking things this way. Let's look at the $.each() method in jQuery:
var $els = [$('div'), $('span')]; var handler = function() { console.log(this); }; $.each($els, handler); //iteration 1 outputs wrapped jquery dom element for "div" tag //iteration 2 outputs wrapped jquery dom element for "span" tag handler.apply({}); //outputs object
jQuery will often rewrite the value of this, so you should always try to be aware of what this means in the context of a jQuery event handler, or other such constructs.
Know the difference between ECMAScript 3 and ECMAScript 5
For many years, ECMAScript 3 has been the standard in most browsers, but more recently ECMAScript 5 has made it's way into most modern browsers (IE is still lagging behind). ECMAScript 5 introduced a lot of common sense features to JavaScript and some native methods that you previously relied upon a library for, such as String.trim() and Array.forEach(). The problem is you still can't rely on these methods being available in browser environments if you have users that are using Internet Explorer.
Take a look at what happens when we try to use String.trim in IE 8:
var fatString = " my string "; //in modern browsers console.log(fatString); //outputs " my string " console.log(fatString.trim()); //outputs "my string" //in IE 8 console.log(fatString.trim()); //error: Object doesn't support property or method 'trim'
So in the interim, we can use methods like jQuery.trim to do this for us, which I believe will fallback to String.trim if it is available in your browser for increased performance (native browser implementations are faster).
You might not care or even need to know about all of the differences between ECMAScript 3 and ECMAScript 5, but it is generally a good idea to check out the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) for function reference to see what versions of the language a function is available in first. Generally speaking, you should be fine if you are using a library like jQuery or underscore to handle this for you.
If you are interested in using a polyfill of ECMAScript 5 for older browser, please check out https://github.com/kriskowal/es5-shim
Understanding Async
One of the things that tripped me up the most when beginning to work with JavaScript code, jQuery in particular is the fact that some operations are asynchronous. There were many times that I wrote code in a procedural manner expecting a result to be returned immediately without realizing it.
Take a look at this broken code:
var remoteValue = false; $.ajax({ url: 'http://google.com', success: function() { remoteValue = true; } }); console.log(remoteValue); //outputs "false"
It took me a while to realize that you need to program around asynchronous calls using callbacks to deal with the outcome of my ajax calls.
var remoteValue = false; var doSomethingWithRemoteValue = function() { console.log(remoteValue); //outputs true on success } $.ajax({ url: 'https://google.com', complete: function() { remoteValue = true; doSomethingWithRemoteValue(); } });
Another cool thing is deferred objects (sometimes called promises), which you can use to program in a more procedural style:
var remoteValue = false; var doSomethingWithRemoteValue = function() { console.log(remoteValue); } var promise = $.ajax({ url: 'https://google.com' }); //outputs "true" promise.always(function() { remoteValue = true; doSomethingWithRemoteValue(); }); //outputs "foobar" promise.always(function() { remoteValue = 'foobar'; doSomethingWithRemoteValue(); });
You can use promises to chain callbacks in a style that is in my opinion a bit easier to work with than nested callbacks in addition to a host of other benefits these objects offer.
Animations in the browser are also asyncronous, so this is also a common source of confusion. I'm not going to go into detail here, but you need to treat animations much like ajax requests in the way you handle them via callbacks. I'm not really an expert on the subject though so please take a look at the jQuery.animate() method.
Simple Inheritance in JavaScript
Grossly simplified, JavaScript clones objects to extend them, while PHP, Ruby, Python and Java use and extend classes. In JavaScript you have something called a prototype, and every object has one. In fact, all functions, strings, numbers and objects have a common ancestor, Object. There are two things about prototype to remember: blueprints and chains.
Each prototype is basically an object in itself that describes properties available when creating an instance of an object. The prototype chain is what allows prototypes to extend other prototypes. In fact, prototypes themselves can have prototypes. When a method or attribute does not exist on an object instance, then it is looked for in that object's prototype, and the prototypes's prototype, and so on until it finally reaches undefined if no such property exists.
Thankfully, beginners generally don't need to mess with this stuff at all, since it is easy enough to create an object literal and append properties to it at runtime.
var obj = {}; obj.newFunction = function() { console.log('I am a dynamic function'); }; obj.newFunction();
An easy way to extend objects that I use all the time is jQuery.extend()
var obj = { a: 'i am a lonely property' }; var newObj = { b: function() { return 'i am a lonely function'; } }; var finalObj = $.extend({}, obj, newObj); console.log(finalObj.a); //outputs "i am a lonely property" console.log(finalObj.b()); //outputs "i am a lonely function"
ECMAScript 5 offers us Object.create(), which you can use to extend from an existing object but you probably need to avoid using this if you need to support older browsers. It does offer distinct advantages to property creation and setting attributes of properties (yes, properties also have properties).
var obj = { a: 'i am a lonely property' }; var finalObj = Object.create(obj, { b: { get: function() { return "i am a lonely function"; } } }); console.log(finalObj.a); //outputs "i am a lonely property" console.log(finalObj.b); //outputs "i am a lonely function"
You can get pretty deep into the subject of inheritance in JavaScript but the beautiful thing here again is that you really don't have to due to the immense power and flexibility of the language.
Bonus Gotcha: Forgetting to use var in for loops
var i = 0; function iteratorHandler() { i = 10; } function iterate() { //this iteration will only run once for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) { console.log(i); //outputs 0 iteratorHandler(); console.log(i); //outputs 10 } } iterate();
The example is contrived, but you can see the danger here. The solution is to declare you iterator variables with var.
var i = 0; function iteratorHandler() { i = 10; } function iterate() { //this iteration will run 10 times for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) { iteratorHandler(); console.log(i); } } iterate();
This all goes back to our scope rules. Remember to use var properly.
Summary
JavaScript may be the only language people don't need to learn before using it, but eventually you are going to run in to some unexplained trouble. Other than avoiding your own bugs, learning JavaScript makes a lot of sense these days considering it's rebirth and widespread availability. This blog by no means attempts to be a complete panacea, but hopefully it will help a few people understand some of the fundamentals before being forced into writing more awful JavaScript code, secretly hoping to get reassigned to a backend project buried in database queries in happy PHP land.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida Health officials meet next week to hammer out details of growing and dispensing low THC marijuana. The meeting comes after an administrative law judge threw out a proposed rule developed by the Health Department.
Four states have legalized recreational marijuana, and 23 states have some form of medical marijuana. But the law passed by Florida lawmakers last year is one of the most restrictive medical marijuana laws in the country.
The law required that five licenses for growing and distributing the non-euphoric pot be issued by Jan. 1. It hasn't happened and lawmakers are frustrated.
"I feel terrible for these families because we gave them our promise that we would have this ready to roll out to patients on Jan. 1," said Rep. Katie Edwards. "So it's imperative to us we have a product that's safe and effective that we can get to these patients."
Some lawmakers aren't waiting for low THC marijuana. A powerful senator has filed a medical marijuana bill similar to what 57 percent of voters said they wanted in November. Another said they will file a full legalization, or recreational marijuana, similar to Colorado and other states.
The original sponsor of low THC pot expects it all to be discussed.
"I think its an important discussion to have," said Sen. Bob Bradley. "Speaking for myself, I'll tell you that what I want to see is that we crawl before we walk and walk before we run."
After failed rule making attempts, the Department of Health will try negotiating a rule next week with all the key players.
At the earliest, the new rule won't be in place until the first of March, when lawmakers start meeting. And if the rule isn't ready, expect hearings.
Copyright 2015 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.When the original Nvidia Shield TV came out in 2015 it was far and away the most powerful, most capable media streamer out there. Powered by Android TV and being 4K ready, it obliterated the competition with Ultra HD video support and offered a tasty sideline in enhanced gaming to boot.
It was pricy though – already more expensive than its peers and the remote control had to be bought as a £50 optional extra. That made it very much a premium purchase and one that was never going to make much of a dent in the sales figures of Roku or Amazon's Fire department.
Now a new version of the box is available and Nvidia is confident enough to keep it around the same price: £190. This time, however, you get a game controller with a mic for Google Assistant voice control (pending a software update), plus an improved version of the wireless remote included the box.
When you compare the Shield TV's talent to others on the market, the extra spend is justified. Here's why the 2017 Nvidia Shield TV really is the daddy of media streaming.
98 x 159 x 26mm; 250g
Smaller than 2015 model
Comes with new Shield Controller and Shield Remote
Those with the previous model don't need to consider an upgrade to this one. Bar a couple of design features and enhanced accessories, the 2015 Shield TV offers the exact same experience as the 2017 edition.
It now has identical software to the 2017 model, thanks to a downloadable update. And all the apps and menu systems are the same, including (pending a forthcoming software update) Google Assistant voice control and SmartThings smart home support. You do need the new Shield game controller for Assistant, as explained below, but that's available to buy separately and works fine with the old Shield too.
Both boxes run on Android 7.0 Nougat and have access to 4K HDR (high dynamic range) programming through Amazon Video, as well as Netflix and, ultimately, YouTube. You can also GameStream games in up to 4K HDR from a PC running a capable Nvidia GeForce graphics card.
If you're new to the device though, the latest version is the only one available and you're getting a better deal than before. It's smaller than before – considerably so. And while it still looks very "gamey", with its angled exterior panels and glowing green LEDs, at least you can hide it away more easily should you not like that sort of thing.
The game controller has also been redesigned. Not only is it now low-latency Bluetooth rather than Wi-Fi Direct, which should improve battery life, it fits far more comfortably in the hand. We're not entirely sure what's going on with the polygonal casing, which isn't as ergonomic as other gamepads out there, but it is lighter and less chunky than the previous version.
Google voice assistant compatible
Samsung SmartThings and wider smart home support
The controller also doubles as a wide-field microphone. This will be important come the full integration of Google Assistant through a future update, as the game controller will be the device to pick up your voice commands.
What is Google Assistant, how does it work and when can you use it?
Google Assistant will eventually enable the Shield TV to be controlled almost entirely by voice, and Samsung SmartThings support will add the ability to control smart devices around the house. It will effectively turn your Shield into a Google Home or Amazon Echo, albeit one that plays media through a TV rather than speaker and has the ability to bring up visual, on-screen results too.
We've seen it work with a Nest thermostat, coffee maker and lighting in an early demo, so it's an excellent addition when it comes. Nvidia chose to use the game controller as the mic, however, so you do need to leave it lying around within earshot, which might not please all home owners.
Nvidia told us that was necessary though. Putting the mic in the Shield TV box meant that it would have to be proudly displayed instead. Many owners want to hide it away in an AV cabinet or TV unit. And using the wireless remote was a no-no because of its size. You might lose it down the side of the sofa or the like, interrupting its voice pick-up capabilities.
The game controller is the most likely part of the package to be left on the top of the stand or somewhere to the side. We prefer to keep our game controllers in a drawer, but hey, horses for courses.
The wireless remote control does have a microphone, too, which works with the Shield TV's already-implemented voice search. It is contextual and works well, finding content across multiple apps in the one search session. This is more a feature of the Android TV platform and is nothing in comparison with Google Assistant when that arrives. You ain't seen nothing yet. Or heard it.
One excellent improvement to the remote is that it has a cell battery rather than rechargeable version. The former remote lasted about two weeks to a month on a charge, which was hugely annoying when all you wanted to do is watch an episode of Stranger Things. The new one lasts a year or so before needing a new, cheaply sourced battery. It also has an IR transmitter this time, which can be set to control your TVs volume as well as switch it on or off. The game controller can too.
HDMI 2.0b port with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support
Two USB 3.0 ports
Ethernet and 802.11ac Wi-Fi
The back of the Shield TV box is uncomplicated but well stocked. There is an HDMI 2.0 port that supports the HDCP 2.2 copy protection standard – essential for most Ultra HD content. It can also control your other home entertainment tech through HDMI CEC – allowing different devices to talk to each other and do things like switch on together with just one button press.
Importantly, it is also HDR capable – something few boxes on the market can do at present and a real game changer for those with compatible televisions. It can also handle Dolby Atmos and DTS-X audio streams, which will become more important as a greater number of soundbars and speaker systems adopt them.
There are two USB 3.0 ports on the rear too. These allow for connection of external drives or accessories, such as a keyboard. We advise getting a USB 3.0 hard drive or memory stick if you do fancy expanding the storage – especially from the meagre 16GB of the standard, non-Pro Shield TV. The data transfer rate of USB 3.0 is noticeable and if you store media files on an external USB 3.0 HDD, playback is far quicker.
There is a Shield TV Pro version available too, with 500GB of internal solid state drive storage, but at £280 it's considerably more expensive than the standard Shield and an external drive. You can even get a 1TB USB 3.0 drive these days for less than £50.
You can also use your Shield TV as a Plex media server these days (both the new and old models) so using a USB 3.0 drive means you'll be able to stream your content around the home efficiently too.
The last port on the back of the box, save for the mini-USB power input, is for Gigabit Ethernet. You don't necessarily need to cable the internet connection, with 802.11ac Wi-Fi supported too, but we thoroughly recommend it if you want a stable 4K HDR video flow from Netflix and Amazon Video.
Up to 4K HDR at 60fps
Google Chromecast support built-in
Dolby Atmos support
The main purpose of the Nvidia Shield TV is to play video and play it well, whether you are streaming your own films and TV shows stored locally or through services, such as Netflix and Amazon Video.
It is the only set-top-box available that plays both Netflix and Amazon Video in 4K HDR. The Amazon Fire TV plays Amazon's own content and Netflix in 4K, but no other external box supports HDR for both too.
This might not sound as good to you if you already own a 4K HDR television with both Netflix and Amazon Video as part of its smart functionality, but we've also found that the Shield TV plays them more efficiently. It locks down the highest resolutions faster than our 2016 LG E6 OLED TV, for example, which is no mean feat.
The thing missing is Dolby Vision on Netflix – content plays in standard HDR – but that's only relevant to a small handful of people who have the enhanced high dynamic response tech on their TVs. Until spring 2017, LG's OLED sets are the only tellies that support it and, even then, few others are currently planned for release. It's one of those things that would've been a nice-to-have, but largely irrelevant; HDR is more than good enough.
While Ultra HD resolutions are noticeably sharper than Full HD, high dynamic response tech is revolutionary and a real game changer. Higher brightness, greater contrast and a wider colour gamut result in distinctly better and more involving images.
There are plenty of HDR-ready TV shows available on both Amazon Video and Netflix these days, and they almost always look superb.
We're also waiting for YouTube to start streaming HDR content through its apps on a more universal basis. And for Google Play to introduce its 4K movie service for rental or purchase in the UK. But the support of the big two streaming services is welcome and more than enough to be getting on with.
The box is Chromecast enabled too, which means it works just like Google's own media streaming dongle. However, from our tests it doesn't replicate the Chromecast Ultra's ability with YouTube HDR content. It'll play YouTube 4K videos fine, when cast from an iPhone, iPad or Android device, but not in HDR.
Also disappointing, in a video sense, is that terrestrial TV catch-up is still poorly supported by Android TV and, therefore, the Shield TV box. While BBC iPlayer is available, ITV Hub, Demand 5 (My5) and All 4 are not. You can stream the three services from your mobile device through Chromecast support, but many rival devices support them natively, including the Amazon Fire TV and Roku boxes – a more elegant solution by far.
Android TV has support for some other media apps though, including DisneyLife – Disney's own Netflix-style service. Few other boxes can access it at present. And, as we've mentioned, the Plex app on the Shield TV is superb. Not only can it play your locally stored media with great metadata and cover art support, it can make your box a media server for all other devices to stream content from. The Kodi media player app is also available, for those without a Plex subscription.
Android 7.0 Nougat operating system
GeForce Now cloud gaming
Nvidia GameStream supported
While we feel the Nvidia Shield TV box betters its peers in video quality and support for the highest resolution and picture tech standards, those might not be enough to justify its price alone. Add its games-playing prowess though and you start to realise why you're paying a premium.
There's a good reason this box comes bundled with a game controller. Like its predecessor, the Shield TV uses its Nvidia Tegra X1 processing to enhance Android gaming and stream fully-fledged PC games locally or over the internet, with little perceptible lag on the latter.
The Android TV platform, updated to Android 7.0 Nougat in this case, offers plenty of games through the Google Play store – hundreds in fact. They have all been optimised to be played on a television, using a gamepad, but are generally the same games you've also played on an Android phone or tablet. Indeed, if you've bought them for your mobile device already, you can also play them on the Shield.
Nvidia also makes deals with some Android developers, who have enhanced some titles to make use of the improved graphics tech afforded by the Tegra X1 chipset. Versions of games, such as Portal 2 and Half-Life 2, are available for the Shield TV only, and they play just like their PC equivalents.
But for the best gaming experience, you can also subscribe to Nvidia GeForce Now, the company's cloud gaming service, or stream your own PC games over a home network.
The former is a service that has been available for a while now, with more than 40 games available to play as part of a monthly £7.49 membership fee. In addition, you can buy recently released games for one-off fees and play them over the cloud too.
The benefit to doing so is the games are hosted and played on high-end gaming PCs with the latest Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards so will run in their highest settings. The video is sent over the internet to your Shield TV, while your controls are fed the other way. There is very little lag and it effectively feels like you are playing the game locally.
Video is displayed on your TV at up to 1080p in 60 frames per second, depending on your broadband speed, and we've rarely had any image issues.
Nvidia's GameStream tech is similar, but you host the games yourself. You need GeForce GTX graphics, preferably one of the newer models, and not all games are supported, but if both boxes are ticked you can play some of your best PC titles in resolutions up to 4K at 60fps. It even supports 4K HDR game streaming, but we're yet to encounter any HDR content in that sense.
During a demo using a very high-end gaming PC, running a GTX 1080 card, we managed to play Titanfall 2 in 4K and 60fps. It looked as if the computer was directly plugged into the TV and we didn't notice any controller lag at all. Considering it is a Bluetooth controller and running the game over a home network, that's impressive.
You do need to hardwire the internet connections of your Shield TV and PC to get the highest quality, but it still works over Wi-Fi in lower resolutions.
Regardless of how you do play your games, be they Android, over GeForce Now or GameStream, they are now all grouped together on the homescreen. Nvidia's previous, lightly customised menu system used to segregate them, but now just has a single section for games – in much the same way as there is an all-encompassing apps section.
Games will be tagged if they are housed on PC or in the cloud, after all, you'll need your computer on if you want to play them through GameStream, but we like the fact that there's a one-stop location to find titles.
You can deep dive into specific types a bit more in a dedicated Nvidia Games app, which keeps the homescreen clutter free. Other aspects of the menu screens have been simplified too, mainly thanks to Android 7.0, such as settings, although it retains a similar aesthetic to before. The top strip of the homescreen shows suggested and current content across different app. Voice search runs along the very top.It was one of the stranger moments of Ontario's young election campaign so far.
"We know that the government we had was on a track to privatize the TTC," Andrea Horwath pronounced on CBC Radio on Monday morning. When that brought a flabbergasted response from host Matt Galloway, who has covered Toronto's transit debate extensively and said he had never heard any such thing, the NDP Leader insisted it was "very, very clear that that's the case."
When pressed, in the interview and afterward, it turned out Ms. Horwath was referring to public-private partnerships to build transit lines. She was picking up on a campaign recently launched by a local union that seems to boil down to concerns about maintenance and electrical jobs being outsourced – something that falls a shade short of the selloff of the entire system she implied.
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Ms. Horwath was hardly the first politician to exaggerate or misrepresent an opponent's policies while on the campaign trail. But there is a bit of a disconcerting pattern of her struggling to back up her claims with facts.
There was, for instance, her visit a couple of weeks ago with this newspaper's editorial board. Asked whether new rules were needed for the use of legislative funds, after The Globe and Mail reported that a transparency gap allowed Ontario parties to quietly direct public dollars to friends and allies, Ms. Horwath replied that, with the NDP's encouragement, the province's integrity commissioner was looking at the matter. When asked, the commissioner's office indicated the review to which Ms. Horwath was referring actually was about something else, and caucus spending wasn't under its scope.
That confusion, and even the TTC claim, might be chalked up to a bad brief. But it's harder to think of any logical explanation for what happened during the leaders' debate in the last election.
That was when Ms. Horwath, trying to make a point about health-care spending, said that when her teenaged son suffered a fractured elbow, he was |
checkpoints.
In a letter released Thursday, TSA administrator John Pistole told the House Homeland Security committee that as of May 16, all US airports scanners equipped with the ability to produce the penetrating images will now only show a generic outline of a passenger to the operator. A colored box pops up if the full-body scanner detects a potentially forbidden item.
The TSA beat their deadline by two weeks for modifying the scanners. The technology was originally mandated to be removed by June 2012 under the Federal Aviation Administration's Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, but the deadline was extended to May 31, 2013.
The machines, which the TSA first deployed in 2008, provoked public outrage as the technology, better able than traditional X-rays to detect hidden contraband, also created images that appeared as if they were "virtual nudes." Critics called this an invasion of privacy and questioned whether the scanning devices truly lacked the ability to save the images, as the TSA claimed.
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Abandoned 'Ghost Ship' May Have Finally SunkGuam Police Department Officer Elbert Piolo, 38, died Monday, July 13, 2015, after a shooting at another officer's home in Yigo, Guam. (Photo11: (Guam) Pacific Daily News file)
YIGO, Guam — A 30-year-old Guam Police Department officer was arrested Monday on suspicion of murdering another police officer.
Department spokesman A.J. Balajadia said Officer Mark Anthony Torre Jr. of Yigo, in the northern part of the U.S. territory, was arrested in the shooting death.
Elbert G. Piolo, 38, of Dededo, Guam, died early Monday morning after a reported shooting at a home here, Balajadia said.
An internal affairs investigation is being conducted, Balajadia said. The Office of the Attorney General was consulted before Torre's arrest, he said.
Earlier Monday, Balajadia said the residence at which the shooting occurred was the home of a Guam Police Department officer.
Balajadia said authorities responded to a reported shooting at the home on Chalan Tomas Andai around 2:15 a.m. Monday (12:15 p.m. Sunday EDT). Piolo was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, he said.
The residents of the officer's home were unharmed, Balajadia said, adding that the situation did not involve an intruder.
Police didn't release more details about the reported shooting.
In a media advisory sent Monday night, Balajadia referred journalists to the court magistrate for details about the events leading to Torre's arrest. Court documents weren't available Monday.
Piolo, who also goes by Bert or Berty, had been with the department for more than 15 years, Balajadia said.
Acting Police Chief Joseph Cruz was scheduled to have his confirmation hearing Monday morning, but he asked for it to be postponed because of the shooting.
His confirmation hearing has been rescheduled for July 27.
Contributing: Shawn Raymundo, (Guam) Pacific Daily News.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1IVmppKThe Yo-Yo Shop was founded with a vision of providing a fresh shopping experience with excellent customer service, fast shipping and a vast product selection at great prices. The Yo-Yo Shop is owned and operated by Yo-Yo Player, Professional, and National Yo-Yo Achievement Award Winner Brandon Jackson. We have many years of experience and know what our customers look for and expect in a skill toy retailer. If you are looking for a new yo-yo or any other skill toy related products, you will most likely find it here. If you can not locate the product you are looking for, please do not hesitate to shoot us an email and we'll do our best to get it in stock right away!
Whether it's supporting local yo-yo clubs or assisting with organizing local events, The Yo-Yo Shop is and always will be an active supporter of the skill toy scene/community.× Expand Mark Riechers Nerd Nite Madison: Wisdom and witticisms.
Dorky comic-book heroes like Batman and the Avengers outgrossed cool superspy James Bond two-to-one at the box office in 2012. Data wizards like Nate Silver deliver commentary alongside former football stars. And many kids beg their parents for technological gadgets, not toys.
Nerds have infiltrated pop culture en masse. The world has embraced geek as chic in nearly every way, especially when it comes to having fun.
Madison has its own stash of entertainment options for nerds - everyone from pop-culture obsessives to the dude who wants to learn how to fix the broken Donkey Kong machine in his garage. Here's a guide to local activities that might appeal to your particular strain of nerdiness.
Type 1 Nerd: The Academic
A high concentration of in-progress graduate degrees makes Madison an ideal locale for people to come together and learn very specific and often very bizarre things. No group has capitalized on this phenomenon quite as well as Nerd Nite Madison, a monthly lecture series where you might learn how to best avoid being struck dead by lightning or how the study of beehive culture intersects with pop culture.
Lee Bishop, half of the duo responsible for bringing Nerd Nite to Madison, recalls the night a local grad student "came out in a tutu to the theme of Sex and the City and then talked about the different types of bees as if they were the characters from the show."
Joining a tradition of Nerd Nites that started in Boston in 2003 and now span the globe, Bishop and fellow organizer Elena Spitzer started up the Madison branch in September 2011. The first event debuted to a packed upper floor at Genna's Lounge on the Capitol Square and has since grown to take over the High Noon Saloon.
"It used to just be grad students, twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, but it's really blossomed," says Bishop.
The high concentration of speakers with Ph.D.s and master's degrees, coupled with the limited attention span of a tipsy audience, makes many presentations resemble manic college discussion sections. PowerPoint slides are punctuated by witticisms or the occasional snarky retort to audience questions that don't pass muster.
But there's usually a friendly back-and-forth between the speakers and the listeners. Not every talk is super-polished, but as long as crowd members are either learning or laughing, they're on board.
"If you have interesting information and know a few good jokes, combining them in any proportion, even 95% information and 5% jokes, will make for an awesome talk," says Bishop.
Madison's Nerd Nites have been pretty tame compared to those in other cities. Spitzer says the event's out-of-town counterparts have seen interstellar musical performances, science-related acrobatic acts and even speed-dating for nerds.
"If someone steps up and says, 'I want to bring these 3D printers on stage and print something live,' we will do whatever we can," says Bishop. "We're open to anything."
Type 2 Nerd: The Maker
It might be entertaining to watch a bunch of 3D printers churn out plastic on stage, but to actually get your hands on these contraptions, you may need to visit another gathering spot for Madison nerds: Sector67. This collaborative hackerspace on Madison's near east side gives aspiring builders and tinkerers a place to play with 3D printers, laser cutters, saws, welding equipment, drills and other high-end tools.
A monthly fee ($100, with discounts for students) gets you what founder and director Chris Meyer describes as "a gym membership for people who like to build stuff."
For those who want to learn something useful in their spare evening hours - Arduino programming, sewing or lockpicking, for example - there's a whole roster of courses for both members and nonmembers. And if you just need to get your creative juices flowing, dropping by the monthly Sector67 meeting allows you to hear what people have been working on at the shop.
"I was helping kids solder together TV-B-Gones earlier today. They're universal TV off-buttons," says Meyer. "You can imagine what happens if you have it in hand at a bar during opportune moments of certain sporting events."
If Nerd Nite is a space to sit back and learn about something new, then Sector67 is a place to get hands-on with something whose inner workings have always made you curious. Some couples take classes on ballroom dancing together; maker couples spend quality time learning best practices for soldering circuit boards.
"We can provide an introduction to electronics that doesn't require a Ph.D. in electrical engineering but allows you to get your feet wet," says Meyer.
Meyer started the nonprofit workspace in 2010 to give students and entrepreneurs access to tools that are typically confined to R&D labs. Today Sector67 is bursting with projects and equipment. In fact, Meyer says he's thinking of relocating the shop to expand.
Sector67 has become a hub for people who want to learn something and apply it to a topic they're passionate about.
"You need to be enthusiastic and interested, but you don't need to know how to do everything," emphasizes Meyer.
Type 3 Nerd: The Gamer
No one would appreciate a lesson in circuit design more than arcade-game collector Brad Van, who gets a crash course in electrical engineering as he and his technicians maintain the classic arcade cabinets lining Rossi's Vintage Arcade & Pizzeria in Monona.
If, like Van, you like to geek out over a bygone era of quarter-fed arcade classics, Rossi's is the place to be. Van has stocked the space with beloved games like Pac-Man, plus games you may have never seen in person, like BurgerTime, and maybe even a few you had no idea existed (Discs of Tron, anyone?).
With both arms loaded with tattoos from Dragon's Lair, Joust, Missile Command and Defender game cabinets, Van fits right in among the arcade's rows of machines.
"I started collecting them in 1998," says Van, gesturing toward the cabinets that inspired the 8-bit body art. "Being a gamer, I knew which titles were important, the landmark games."
Van, who also sings and plays guitar for local rock band Droids Attack, opened his first arcade in 2000, but he had to take a break from the arcade business when his son was born. He jumped at the chance to team up with Rossi's Pizza owner Ross Parisi last June.
"On a chance, somebody gave Ross my number," says Van. "He was interested in getting a few games in here; I told him I have over 100 games. He suggested we rent the space next door and fill it up."
Arcade-game nerds in particular will find a treat around every corner. Alongside staples like Tempest and Joust are rarities like Death Race, which was one of the first arcade machines to cause a stir over videogame violence, despite being limited by the graphics available in 1976.
"It has dual steering wheels, but instead of running around a track, you're trying to hit as many people as possible," explains Van. "It's really fun, though!"
Even if arcade games seem more like a relic than a precious antique, there's no denying the appeal of playing them around others, especially if they can't beat your high score.
"A lot of it is the atmosphere: rows of arcade machines glowing at you, all the noises popping off everywhere," says Van. "I just feel like this is how it was meant to be."
A whole wide world of nerds
Whether you're playing classic games, learning something new or building stuff, finding your inner nerd is simply a matter of immersing yourself in something and connecting with similarly obsessed people along the way. There are baseball-stat nerds, beer nerds and board-game nerds. The list could go on forever.
In other words, it's a brave new world where it's okay to get a little too excited about everything, including the night of good friends, carefully researched craft beer and kick-ass lecture on Darth Vader you have planned for next Wednesday.
What is a nerd?
Elena Spitzer, Nerd Nite Madison
"To me, being a nerd means being interested in something to the degree that you've actually thought about it at length. There's just watching Sex and the City, and there's being a Sex and the City nerd, where you know all the minor characters and remember that weird inconsistency when Charlotte was supposed to be doing one thing but was actually doing another."
Brad Van, Rossi's Arcade
"Being a nerd is the new cool thing, and I'm just like, 'What?!' I just see it as a trend. It will go away, but it does kind of empower a lot of people, including me."
Chris Meyer, Sector67
"You get the stereotypical'must program' or'must be interested in games and board games and building things.' But I would say that's a niche unto itself in an area like this, because we have people from such a wide range of backgrounds. You get people in here who want to work on their cars, people who would not fit into any nerd stereotypes, yet some would still call them 'car nerds.'"
Lory Aitken, Pegasus Games
"[Nerds demonstrate] a willingness to forgo social opinion and throw yourself into something you're passionate about.... 'Nerd' doesn't just mean role-playing games or computer games. People can be model-train nerds or remote-control-airplane nerds. Sewing nerds! Quilting nerds!"Luke Opilka came very close to quitting hockey before realizing his true calling as a goaltender during an open skate at a friend's birthday party.
"I was never too good a player; the only goal I ever scored was on my own net," Opilka said. "I really thought I actually scored a goal so I began celebrating. I was probably a mite [8 years old] then and I probably should have known better, but I didn't."
What he did learn was that playing defense was not a good idea for him.
"I tried goaltender at my friend's birthday party and just loved it, so I stuck with it from there," he said.
Luke Opilka is considered to be one of the top goaltenders eligible for the 2015 NHL Draft. (Photo: Tom Sorensen) Luke Opilka is considered to be one of the top goaltenders eligible for the 2015 NHL Draft.
Fast-forward 10 years and Opilka has developed into the No. 1 goalie with the United States National Team Development Program under-18 team. He's also considered to be one of the top goaltenders eligible for the 2015 NHL Draft.
"At the moment I see Luke in the mix for the top spot among goaltenders at the draft," NHL Central Scouting's Al Jensen said.
In 13 games this season the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Opilka is 10-3-0 with a 2.67 goals-against average, two shutouts and a.900 save percentage. That comes after he went 14-9-2 with a 3.59 GAA and.863 save percentage in 30 games with the USNTDP U-17 team in 2013-14.
"He's focused and very driven to be the best he can be," USNTDP U-18 coach Don Granato said. "He challenges himself every day at practice. After practice he grabs goalie gloves and a stick and goes upstairs to shoot pucks."
A native of Effingham, Ill., Opilka began opening some eyes in midget minors with the St. Louis Blues program in 2012-13, going 18-2-1 with a 1.55 GAA and.927 save percentage.
"Effingham is a small farming community, so it's kind of crazy how I got started in hockey," Opilka said. "It was from my uncle who played at the University of Illinois; my mom's side of the family grew up around hockey. My brothers and I would commute to St. Louis for practices [approximately 100 miles each way], and it got to the point where we had to make the move [to St. Louis to ease the travel]."
Opilka has good size and moves well in his crease, two areas that excite NHL scouts.
"I play more of a hybrid and play more to my positioning, quick feet and try to get into the space before the shot comes," Opilka said. "I try and stay away from reactionary saves and try to be in the right position at all times."
Opilka was the highest-rated goalie invited to participate in the CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game in Buffalo on Sept. 25. In his 29:48 of ice time he allowed one goal on 23 shots to help Team Mike Grier to a 6-3 victory against Team Eddie Olczyk.
"He's aggressive and is a quick-style goalie, challenging shooters very well," Jensen said. "He reads the plays well and is quick to react, has a good glove hand and is an overall strong goalie. He's got great lateral movement and competes very hard."
He said the one area he needs to improve is the mental side of the game.
"I feel I've improved on [the mental side], but there's always areas to get better," he said. "I used to get angry, but not so much anymore."
Opilka said he now directs his focus and energy on the next shot coming in his direction instead of the one that got away.
"When he struggles it's because he's too intense," Granato said. "He'll put pressure on himself and is over-focused in that regard. But he's matured a lot. He studies the position and knows it well. He's learned it, taught himself and learned a lot from our goalie coach."
Opilka's goalie coach for the USNTDP is Kevin Reiter, who is in his first season with the program.
"I've learned how to be more efficient with my movements," Opilka said. "[Reiter] has taught me how to better use my size and cut down angles."
Opilka is committed to the University of Wisconsin in 2015-16.
"I chose Wisconsin because of the coaching staff and atmosphere there," he said. "I thought that would be the best place to be for college hockey. There were plenty of other schools, but Wisconsin was the best fit for me."
---A drunk driver was pulled over on Tamaki Dr and was found to over three times the limit, with three preschool children in the car.
An alleged drunk driver with three preschool children in her car was pulled over in Auckland on Wednesday night, more than three times over the legal limit.
Police were further shocked to discover two of those children, aged three and four years old, were in the middle of the back seat not wearing seatbelts, and there were also two more intoxicated adult passengers in the car.
A motorcycle patrol on Tamaki Dr pulled the vehicle over at around 10.20pm after noticing the it crossing the centre line.
Police said the only people wearing seatbelts were an 18-month-old and the woman driver, who blew 856mcg per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.
"Had our officers not intervened when they did, there's no telling how that journey might have ended for her, her passengers or others using the road," said Auckland City road policing manager Inspector Andy King.
King said police spent considerable time organising transport to get the children safely to their homes. They have been referred to Child, Youth and Family.
"It beggars belief that parents could choose to put such precious cargo as their own children in such vulnerable situations," he said.
The driver of the vehicle has been charged with driving with excess breath alcohol. One of the passengers was also arrested for obstruction.
Police say further charges are possible.On Twitter this morning, an ex-Baltimore police sergeant named Michael A. Wood detailed a litany of abuses he witnessed or participated in while on the job. Even if your faith in cops to do the right thing has been completely demolished over the past several years—or if it was never there to begin with—you’ll almost certainly find something new that turns your stomach.Wood’s tweetstorm comes in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death by spinal injury in the custody of Baltimore police in April. Gray’s death forced the Baltimore police into the national spotlight, but the department has a long history of abuse, particularly against black and low-income Baltimoreans. Wood—who served in various roles in the police department between 2003 and 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile—provides the gruesome specifics of that abuse.Presumably, he means CCTV cameras “turning off”—so they don’t catch the violence the cops inflict when they catch up with their suspects.Shitting on people’s clothes!That is, lying under oath in court and in probable cause affidavits that he saw a person drop controlled dangerous substances—drugs—while chasing them.Asking people who weren’t present at the scene of an incident to lie and say that they were on a probable cause affidavit, which Wood and his colleagues could later use to obtain a search or arrest warrant.A ploy to collect extra money for your colleagues as they would gain overtime pay from meetings and trial appearances.Scrutiny of BPD practices intensified following the death of 21-year-old Freddie Gray in April as a result of injuries he sustained while in police custody.Gray was placed, handcuffed and with his legs shackled, in the back of a police van after being arrested on suspicion of possessing a switchblade knife.Official autopsy reports released on Tuesday by Maryland's medical examiner to the Baltimore Sun reveal that Gray died from a single "high-energy injury" to the lower left side of his head, likely when the van he was riding in stopped short and made him fall.The six officers who arrested him were charged in May by State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who said the officers were not only negligent, but also "failed to establish probable cause for an arrest" in the first place.Giving detainees "rough rides" in the back of police vans following their arrest is a BPD practice that has been noted before: “Very fast, wide turns, braking short — they were doing everything they could to make the ride as bumpy and chaotic as possible,” Christine Abbott, a 27-year-old librarian at Johns Hopkins University who is suing Baltimore for injuries sustained during her rough ride, told the LA Times."I was just sliding around in there."Protests surrounding Gray's death quickly descended into chaos in late April, with the situation growing so violent that the governor of Maryland declared Baltimore to be in a state of emergency and called in the National Guard.May was Baltimore's bloodiest month in 15 years.Forest Park is a public municipal park in the Tualatin Mountains west of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Stretching for more than 8 miles (13 km) on hillsides overlooking the Willamette River, it is one of the country's largest urban forest reserves. The park, a major component of a regional system of parks and trails, covers more than 5,100 acres (2,064 ha) of mostly second-growth forest with a few patches of old growth. About 70 miles (110 km) of recreational trails, including the Wildwood Trail segment of the city's 40-Mile Loop system, crisscross the park.
As early as the 1860s, civic leaders sought to create a natural preserve in the woods near Portland. Their efforts led to the creation of a municipal park commission that in 1903 hired the Olmsted Brothers landscape architectural firm to develop a plan for Portland's parks. Acquiring land through donations, transfers from Multnomah County, and delinquent tax foreclosures, the city eventually acted on a proposal by the City Club of Portland and combined parcels totaling about 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) to create the reserve. Formally dedicated in 1948, it ranks 19th in size among parks within U.S. cities, according to The Trust for Public Land.[3]
More than 112 bird species and 62 mammal species frequent the park and its wide variety of trees and shade-loving plants. About 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain falls on the forest each year. Many small tributaries of the Willamette River flow northeast through the woods to pipes or culverts under U.S. Route 30 at the edge of the park. One of them, Balch Creek, has a resident trout population, and another, Miller Creek, supports sea-run species, including salmon.
Threats to the park include overuse, urban traffic, encroaching development, invasive flora, and lack of maintenance money. Occasional serious crimes and more frequent minor crimes occur in the park.
Geology and geography [ edit ]
Solidified lava from Grande Ronde members of the Columbia River Basalt Group underlie Forest Park. About 16 million years ago during the Middle Miocene, the Columbia River ran through a lowland south of its modern channel. Eruptions from linear vents in eastern Oregon and Washington flowed down this channel through what later became the Willamette Valley. These flows, some of which reached the Pacific Ocean, recurred at intervals between 16.5 and 15.6 million years ago and covered almost 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2). About eight separate Grande Ronde Basalt flows have been mapped in the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills), where they underlie the steepest slopes of Forest Park and form the columned rocks visible along Balch Creek Canyon and Northwest Cornell Road. The West Hills were later covered by wind-deposited silts that become unstable when saturated with water. Stream bank instability and siltation are common, and landslides deter urban development at higher elevations.[5]
Roughly 8 miles (13 km) long, the park is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) wide near downtown Portland and about 2 miles (3.2 km) wide at its northwestern end.[6] It extends along the West Hills from West Burnside Street near downtown Portland to where the Willamette River divides to flow around Sauvie Island. Covering most of the east face of the ridge above the Willamette River, it is bounded by West Burnside Street on the south, Northwest Skyline Boulevard on the west, Northwest Newberry Road on the north, and Northwest St. Helens Road (U.S. Route 30) on the east. Elevations above sea level vary from 50 feet (15 m) near U.S. Route 30 at the base of the ridge to about 1,100 feet (340 m) near the crest of the ridge along Northwest Skyline Boulevard.
In 2008 Forest Park ranked 19th in size among the largest city parks in the United States, according to The Trust for Public Land. The trust's list included state parks, national parks, county parks, regional parks, and national wildlife refuges, as well as municipally owned parks located within cities. Chugach State Park in Anchorage, Alaska, was in first place with 490,125 acres (1,983 km2).[3]
Portland author Marcy Houle says that the park "captures the essence of what is natural and wild and beautiful about the Northwest... From this forest sanctuary, panoramic views of the city of Portland, the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and five major peaks of the Cascade Range... can be seen through the tall fir trees. From its inception..., Forest Park has been a refuge for both people and wildlife, and an integral part of the environment of Portland."
History [ edit ]
A bridge in then Macleay Park circa 1914
Before settlers arrived, the land that became known as Forest Park was covered by a Douglas-fir forest. By 1851, its acreage had been divided into donation land claims filed by settlers with plans to clear the forest and build upon the property. After logging, the steep slopes and unstable silt loosened by heavy rains caused landslides that defeated construction plans, and claims were defaulted or donated to the city.
Civic leaders beginning with the Reverend Thomas Lamb Eliot, a minister who moved to Portland in 1867, sought to create a natural preserve in the woods that eventually became Forest Park.[1] By 1899, Eliot's efforts led to the formation of the Municipal Park Commission of Portland, which in 1903 hired the highly regarded landscape architecture firm, the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, to study the city's park system and recommend a plan. John Charles Olmsted, the stepson of Frederick Law Olmsted, spent May 1903 in Portland.[10] The Olmsted Report, received in December, emphasized creation of a system of parks and linking parkways that would take advantage of natural scenery. It proposed a formal square for Union Station, squares along the downtown waterfront, and parks in places later known as Forest Park, Sellwood Park, Mount Tabor Park, Rocky Butte, and Ross Island, as well as Terwilliger Parkway, the 40-Mile Loop, and other connecting parkways. Proposed parks for Swan Island, in the Willamette River, and other places in Portland did not develop. Others like Forest Park came into being only many years later.[10]
The city acquired land for Forest Park bit by bit over several decades. In 1897, Donald Macleay, a Portland merchant and real-estate developer, deeded a 108-acre (44 ha) tract of land along Balch Creek to the city to provide an outdoor space for patients from nearby hospitals.[11] In the 1890s, Frederick Van Voorhies Holman, a Portland lawyer and a president of the Oregon Historical Society, proposed a gift of 52 acres (21 ha) of nearby land that was added to the city's holdings in 1939 when his siblings, George F. and Mary Holman, completed the donation.[1] Clark and Wilson Timber Company donated 17 acres (6.9 ha) in 1927 to create a Western Oregon timber park near Northwest Germantown Road.[12] Nine years later, the estate of Aaron Meier, one of the founders of the Meier & Frank chain of department stores, donated land for Linnton Park near Portland's Linnton neighborhood along Highway 30.[13] These smaller parks became part of the larger park when it was finally created. Some of them, such as Macleay Park, are still referred to by their original names even though they are part of Forest Park.[14]
Forest Park trillium in multiple growth stages
Other parcels were acquired through government action. In 1928, the City Council's Delinquent Tax Committee transferred land to the Parks Bureau for a wildflower garden along Balch Creek. Multnomah County in that year gave the bureau perpetual use of about 145 acres (59 ha) of land north of Washington Park.[15] Encouraged by the City Club of Portland, which conducted a park feasibility study in 1945, civic leaders supported the Forest Park project. In 1948, Multnomah County transferred to the city another 2,000 acres (810 ha) acquired through delinquent tax foreclosures.[16] On September 23, 1948, the city formally dedicated 4,200 acres (17 km2) of land as Forest Park, which as of 2009 covered more than 5,100 acres (21 km2).[1] It is one of the largest urban forest reserves in the U.S, though its exact ranking has been questioned. The city's Parks and Recreation Department claims it is the "largest forested natural area within city limits in the United States".[1] However, an article in the Portland Tribune said Forest Park ranked no higher than third among U.S. urban forests in 2006.[17]
In 1991, Metro, the regional governmental agency for the Oregon portion of the Portland metropolitan area, began budgeting for what became its Natural Areas Program aimed at protecting these areas in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties.[18] By 1995, the program had targeted 320 acres (130 ha) next to or within Forest Park for acquisition. A 2006 bond measure allowed for the purchase of more land to expand the park, to protect its creeks' headwaters and those of nearby streams in Washington County, and to link Forest Park to other public lands to the northwest.[19]
Recreational network [ edit ]
Volunteers at work on Wildwood Trail
Forest Park is a major component of a regional network of parks, trails, and natural areas managed by Metro.[19] At the southeastern end of the park, Wildwood Trail, the centerpiece of the Forest Park trail system, passes through Macleay Park. This part of the larger park, which includes the Forest Park field headquarters, is heavily used by pedestrians entering Balch Creek Canyon from nearby city streets. Further southeast, Wildwood Trail, while still in Forest Park, passes Pittock Mansion and its panoramic views of Portland and five volcanic peaks: Mounts Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, Hood, and Jefferson. Shortly thereafter, the trail connects to adjoining Washington Park and attractions such as the Oregon Zoo. From this point and from more remote Forest Park trailheads near the St. Johns Bridge, other components of the 40-Mile Loop system of trails encircle the city. They follow the Willamette and Columbia rivers, the Columbia Slough and the Springwater Corridor along Johnson Creek and extend to the eastern suburbs of Fairview, Gresham and Boring.[21] This trail network links more than 30 separate parks that offer diverse recreational opportunities, such as horse-back riding, in-line skating, canoeing, and viewing of wetland wildlife, in addition to hiking and biking.[22] It connects to other trail systems such as Discovery Trail in Clark County, Washington, and the Terwilliger Trail running through Tryon Creek State Natural Area to Lake Oswego.[21]
As of 2015, this network of parks and trails is still expanding. Metro, the regional government, plans to link the 40-Mile Loop to trails along the Willamette River to Wilsonville, south of Lake Oswego.[23] The regional government has also proposed connecting Wildwood Trail to the partly completed Westside Trail running north–south through Washington County to the Tualatin River.[24] Another planned trail would extend the Springwater Corridor along a proposed Cazadero Trail to Barton on the Clackamas River.[25] Longer-term goals include trail links to the Sandy River Gorge Trail east of Gresham and the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Mexico to Canada and follows the Cascade Range through Oregon.
Wildwood Trail [ edit ]
A fallen alder assumes a bow shape near Wildwood Trail.
More than 70 miles (110 km) of trails and firelanes cut through the park.[6] The longest trail in the park is the Wildwood Trail, of which about 27 miles (43 km) is in Forest Park and about 3 miles (4.8 km) in Washington Park.[6] It is also the longest section of the 40-Mile Loop, a trail network of roughly 150 miles (240 km) reaching many parts of the Portland metropolitan area. The trail runs southeast to northwest from trail marker 0 in Washington Park to Northwest Newberry Road, just beyond trail marker 30 on the ridge above the southeastern end of Sauvie Island. The straight-line distance from beginning to end is about 9 miles (14 km), but because the trail includes many switchbacks and hairpin turns, it is 30.2 miles (48.6 km) long.[6]
Wildwood Trail begins in Washington Park near the Oregon Zoo, a light rail stop, the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the World Forestry Center and the Hoyt Arboretum. Blue diamonds placed about 6 feet (1.8 m) above the ground appear on trees along the trail every 0.25 miles (0.40 km). The diamonds and the mileage markers above them are visible to hikers traveling in either direction on the path. In its first 5 miles (8.0 km), the trail passes near the Portland Japanese Garden, Pittock Mansion, the Audubon Society of Portland wildlife sanctuary, and the Stone House in Balch Creek Canyon. From this point west, Wildwood Trail runs through forest generally uninterrupted by buildings but crisscrossed by shorter trails, small streams, roads, and firelanes.[6]
Other paths, streets, easements [ edit ]
Many shorter Forest Park trails, roads, and firelanes intersect the Wildwood Trail. Most of the trails are open only to hikers and runners, but several roads and firelanes are open to bicycles or horses or both. Leif Erickson Drive, a road closed to motorized traffic, runs at lower elevation than and roughly parallel to the Wildwood Trail for about 11 miles (18 km) from the end of Northwest Thurman Street to Northwest Germantown Road.[6] Originally called Hillside Drive, it was renamed in 1933 at the request of the Sons of Norway, a fraternal organization.[28] Easements for an oil line, a gas line, and electric transmission lines for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) cross the park. Paved roads surround the park, which is crossed or entered by other roads including Northwest Pittock Drive, Northwest Cornell Road, Northwest 53rd Drive, Northwest Saltzman Road, Northwest Springville Road, Northwest Germantown Road, Northwest Newton Road, and BPA Road.[6]
Vegetation [ edit ]
Oregon-grape at the foot of a Douglas-fir near Wildwood Trail
Forest Park lies in the Coast Range ecoregion designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[30] In its natural state, the forest consists mainly of three tree species, Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar, and smaller numbers of grand fir, black cottonwood, red alder, bigleaf maple, madrone, and western yew. Much of the forest that existed here before 1850 was gone by 1940. The stage of re-growth in the forest depends on when it was last logged or burned.
In the mid-1990s, about one percent of the total vegetation in the park consisted of grasses, bracken, thistle, and fireweed in sections of the forest cleared two to five years earlier. Another two percent had reached the shrub stage, between three and thirty years old, with small trees dominated by such plants as thimbleberry, salmonberry, and blackberry. Forest areas 10 to 30 years old that contained tall alder and maple trees and smaller conifers accounted for about 20 percent of the park.
Larger areas were occupied by forests in which conifers had grown taller than the alders and maples. About 50 percent of Forest |
lifestyle that focuses on living in harmony with nature. This post will take you to their homes and give you a glimpse into their lives that are simple, peaceful and rare to find in the present era.
Ziro is a small picturesque valley tucked away in the lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. Somewhat off the popular tourist path of Tawang, this little valley and its people have much to offer to those seeking beautiful unexplored regions in our country and a culture to learn a lot from.
Ziro is home to the tribal group called the Apatanis which is one amongst the very few tribes in the world that worship nature (Sun & Moon). Apatanis are famous for their unique methods of sustainable farming and social forestry. In April 2014, Apatani Cultural Landscape has also been added to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites for “extremely high productivity” and “unique” ways of preserving ecology. I had an opportunity to stay with one such Apatani family in Hong Basti (village) of Ziro and get a glimpse into their lives & surroundings.
The Apatanis are primarily into farming. They are famous for the sustainable and efficient methods that they have been following to cultivate rice. The farm lands are built on flat lands and therefore, wet rice cultivation is followed along with pisciculture. Even the elevated partition bunds between rice plots are utilised to grow millets. Their farms are uniquely marked with efficient channels and canals for irrigation purposes. There are no farm animals or machines used; instead, the focus is on using nature friendly and sustainable methods only. They have also successfully been able to conserve the forests around the valley which serve as water sheds for streamlets flowing down into the fields, thereby, helping them in the irrigation system. There is too much to learn from them on how they have used traditional methods to attain what the modern machines and systems have been unable to!
They live in very simple bamboo huts perched on top of vertical wooden stilts forming dense settlements called Bastis. Almost all houses in Hong Basti were traditional, but a little walk into other villages like Hari & Siiro will show signs of more permanent, brick & mortar like structures coming up. In spite of this, these simple yet just adequately furnished houses are one of the examples which forced me to rethink on our consumerist approach towards living. The centre of the house, not only serves as a kitchen where food is cooked over wood fire, but also as a gathering point to talk and discuss matters. Fire is lit right in the centre, around which family members and visitors sit to chat, watch TV, play music or simply spend time with each other.
A usual day in a Ziro village can begin as early as 5:00 a.m. when all the adults, after finishing their morning chores, leave for their farm lands, and children for school. The entire village seems to come to a halt in the late morning hours till evening, with just a few women engaged in weaving traditional clothes, if not going to the fields. Being on the eastern side of the country, the sun can set as early as at 4:30 p.m., depending upon the time of the year. As a result, all the evening activities are rolled around 4-5 pm which is also the time for everyone to be back to their homes, take a stroll, meet neighbours and friends and for children to play in open spaces around the village.
Every evening after sunset, our hosts received their neighbours and relatives who would mostly just stop by to say hello, and they all would be served the traditional homemade rice beer with special Apatani salt called Tapyo. Traditionally Tapyo is made at home using ashes of certain indigenous plants, which to a large extent is also responsible for saving Apatanis from problem of goitre, which is otherwise a major concern in other nearby tribes. Now, of course with the easy accessibility of iodised salt, this problem has been tackled by all. Drinking freshly made rice beer is more of a social activity and along with it came discussions and insight into the lives of the Apatanis. During those evening sessions, topics discussed were as varied as environmental conservation & politics to trends of love marriage & music.
Another unique feature of Apatanis and probably most photographed by tourists are women with facial tattoos and nose plugs. There is no documented reason as to why the tradition started, but we notice that this tradition is no longer followed by the younger generation. Even many women from older generations have opted to take off their nose plugs.
Food in a traditional Apatani home revolves around rice for obvious reasons. Rice is often accompanied with boiled vegetables, meat preparation or other delicacies cooked in bamboo shoots. There are hardly any spices used in traditional Apatani food, hence the green chilli, which accompanies every single meal.
(Picture Source)
Fortunately my travel coincided with Myoko festival in the month of March. It is a month long festival of friendships and merry making, starting somewhere around 20th March every year and going on for one full month. A couple of villages get together every year (on rotation) to host this festival. The unique feature of this festival is that homes of host villages are open 24×7 for guests throughout the month. Just about anybody can walk in, greet and enjoy rice beer and local delicacies! Apart from feasting, there are lots of sports events, singing competitions, stage shows, etc.
With all the goodness & simplicity of Ziro and its people, there certainly are some problems too. Infrastructural facilities like decent roads and drainage system are missing. Employment opportunity is only available in government sector which of course has limited seats due to which the younger generation is increasingly moving out to neighbouring states. A local municipality like body is missing which needs to ensure cleanliness within the villages and public areas. Even though some local NGOs like Ngunu Ziro are working in the areas of sanitation, environmental conservation and recycling, a lot is still left to be done.
Ziro is an excellent opportunity to visit a landscape with beautiful forests, rolling hills and rice fields, and also home to a unique culture which has set an example to the world for successful co-existence of man and nature.
How to Reach– Ziro is located at a distance of 167 kms. from the state capital Itanagar and can be approached by private car rentals, bus or shared taxis (Tata Sumos) from Guwahati, Itanagar, North Lakhimpur. Nearest airport is also Guwahati.
What is the best time to visit– Ziro boasts of cool climate all through the year, with chilly December & January. However the post-monsoon month of September is the best time with lush green rice fields. This is also the time for the annual Ziro festival of music, where top music artists from across the country come down to collectively entertain, camp and celebrate.
Where to Stay–
Hotels:
Hotel Blue Pine, located near main town Hapoli (03788- 224812)
Siiro Resort, located in Siiro village (03788- 225123)
Ziro Valley Resort, located next to venue of the Ziro Music Festival (+91 9612914294)
Home stays:
Traditional home stay, contact Narang Tam (+91 9402464841)
Guesthouse with modern facilities, contact Kago Kampu at Abasa Home stay (03788-225561)
About the Author: Richa Gupta is based in Mumbai, is an avid traveller and also passionate about encouraging responsible and alternative travels. After having worked in the fashion industry for over six years, she decided to quit and started with a little not-for-profit initiative to help people with travels which not only help support local culture, economy and environment but also offer life changing experiences. She blogs at http://travels-and-stories.blogspot.com/
Thanks to Shruti Mehrotra for Editing.Starting May 12, nearly two dozen airlines at Los Angeles International Airport—including the airport’s fastest-growing carrier, Delta—will shuffle to new terminals.
The 21 airlines will relocate over a five-day period in what LAX is calling a move never before seen at a major airport. It is part of a modernization effort that will include upgrades to two terminals over the next few years, according to Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX.
Most of the work will happen May 12, 14, and 16, after the last flight of the day and into the early morning hours of the following day, LAWA says.
Delta will move from Terminals 5 and 6 to Terminals 2 and 3. During the relocation, Delta may operate out of as many as four terminals at once (2, 3, 5, and 6).
Once the airline moves into its new digs, Delta plans to invest $1.9 billion in Terminals 2 and 3 over the next seven years.
Delta says the company will be in “constant communication” with passengers while the move is taking place, offering real-time updates via text messages, emails, and the company’s app.
LAWA offers some tips for travelers worried about showing up in the wrong place: Double-check departure gates before leaving for the airport, get to the airport earlier than usual, and print out boarding passes at home.
The airport will add about 500 signs, plus extra staff and shuttles to help passengers get to the correct terminals.
“While moving 21 airlines over three nights is a monumental task, Delta and the LAWA team have been planning and preparing for months to ensure a smooth transition,” commission president Sean Burton said in a statement.
Delta’s move is just one part of a slew of upgrades planned for the airport, Burton says.
Several terminals have recently undergone flashy makeovers, and work is underway on a major overhaul of LAX that will bring a centralized car rental facility and an AirTrain-style people mover. That transformative project is supposed to be finished by 2023, in time to welcome visitors to the Olympics that Los Angeles might be hosting in 2024.
Correction: An earlier version inaccurately stated that Delta is the biggest carrier at LAX. It is the fastest growing.One of the most fascinating things, for me as a Brit, about engaging with American politics is that all political issues are filtered in the media through an extraordinarily crass Left vs. Right paradigm.
Left and right are not the two paradigms of American politics. They are the two flavors of only one.
America has been brought to its knees by a Left that has empowered the state and a Right that has subsidized big business. The nation has been disempowered by an axis between the apparatchiks of State that pass laws that concentrate wealth in the hands of the financial elite that funds them. Over the last century, the Left have tended to harp on about the corruption of corporate and financial interests, while the Right have tended to harp on about the corruption of State interests.
Meanwhile, corporate interests have made the State corrupt by financing it, and the State has made corporations corrupt through corporatist law-making. The net effect is that the State has concentrated power, and the corporations -- and in particular banks -- have concentrated wealth. The rest of us have paid for it in liberty and wealth, respectively.
The rise of the welfare state has depended on the rise of the crony capitalism -- and vice versa, and the mechanism is not hard to understand.
Banks create money and thereby inflation under license from the government. Wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of bankers as they charge interest on the money they create. This interest has eventually to be paid by the users of that money -- workers and the middle class -- out of the wealth they gain through their labor. In other words, over time, the products of human labor accumulate as assets to those that deal only in money and make nothing good. The government's interest in this system is that it allows them to create and borrow money to fund their schemes without having to tax the people their full cost. In other words, it helps them get votes and retain power.
This creation of money by bankers, including central bankers is inflation. The steady erosion of the value of money transfers wealth to those that create it, impoverishing those who do not hold significant assets. Those asset-poor people are the lower 90 percent of our nation. Over time, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, and those in the middle tend to join the latter group. The skilled American householder today earns less than he earned in 1973. And whereas it used to take one income to raise a family, it now takes two.
To keep the system running without riots in the street, the same government officials who license the banks to print money pass welfare laws, which keep the disenfranchised at the bottom, but off the streets.
Therefore, there is no welfarism, beloved of the old Left, without crony capitalism (which pays for it). And there is no crony capitalism, beloved of the old Right, without welfarism (which maintains the political stability that protects it).
None of this is Constitutional. And none of it is conducive to liberty or the honest pursuit of happiness.
The Left never had all the answers, but they were for a long time damned sure the Right were evil. And the Right never had all the answers, but they were damned sure that the Left were stupid. And most people who are interested in politics have for the longest time chosen one of those two teams.
Finally, though, there is a glimmer that things are changing -- and in the most exciting way. One might even venture to say that things are changing in the most American of ways, even though the character of the change is still not visible to the nation at large -- whose perception of reality continues to be filtered through the old Left/Right paradigm, especially in the mainstream media.
What is the change and why is it happening now?
To answer the second question first, the consequences of the crony-capitalist-welfarist system are becoming clear to see. The government has all-but bankrupted the nation through both entitlement programs and back-stopping the financiers who make spend-now and pay-later politics possible. This bi-directional mechanism by which the wealth of the productive middle class is moved upward to the wealthy who produce nothing but move money that doesn't even exist (on the one hand) and to public sector employees and those on welfare who have been promised more than the rest of society can afford to pay (on the other) is now as plain as day.
Those who voted the Republicans out of office in 2008 for trampling all over the most basic of Constitutional rights of this nation by pushing for the Patriot Act (as but one example), are now shocked, but perhaps not surprised, to see Obama happily extending that act. Those who voted them out for killing thousands of civilians in a foreign Arab land now watch with a dropped jaw as Barack Obama pulls broadly the same trick in Libya.
It is almost as if all hope is lost and the game is over -- a kind of "end of American history" in which the steady end state is that none of the ruling class could care one Federal Reserve Note for life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.
Almost. But not entirely.
Two maxims appear to be more pertinent today than ever in American politics.
The first is, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop," known as Herbert Stein's Law.
The second is Churchill's observation that "the Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing, after they've exhausted all other possibilities."
The last, best hope for the Last, Best Hope is that both quotes are right.
Just as the Left-Right axis has operated over time to bankrupt the nation, financially and ethically, those who are often misunderstood by the mainstream to be of the extreme left and the extreme right (but who are in truth neither) are working together, sometimes consciously and sometimes entirely by accident, to undo the bankrupt American settlement, and revitalize the country's founding promise.
For example, the man I saw on cable news waving his pocket Constitution as the anchor asked him why he thought Obama should not have gone into Libya could have been Ron Paul, but was in fact Dennis Kucinich. The man I saw proposing a cut in the military, among other things, to balance the budget could have been Dennis Kucinich, but was in fact Rand Paul. And the man who recently composed a legislative amendment with the words, ""The President does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation," should have been someone from the party of the man who said it, but was again that "extremist of the tea party" (if you listen to the mainstream media or many of the moderates from the party of the speaker of those words), Rand Paul.
Something is surely afoot when the "extremists" are advocating such extreme positions as not invading countries without declaring war, spending no more than revenues, using money that is worth something and not passing laws that allows government agents to invade the privacy of citizens without cause, and the "moderates" are advocating spending trillions more than we earn, dropping bombs on people who don't threaten us, giving money to people who destroy value, and voiding the fourth amendment without so much as a "by the way".
Of course, for the most part, politics continues as usual in D.C. and the paradigm shift that I am hoping for is just beginning... but at least is beginning, and as usual, it is further along outside the beltway than it is inside.
For example, Max Keiser, a man from the Left and a writer here on the Huffington Post, is now posting videos from Peter Schiff (who recently stood as a Republican for Senate in Connecticut) on his own site as much as he links to anyone else. Ampedstatus, an aggregator that is full of leftish commentary is headed up by an image of that part of the Constitution with the words, "We the People," underneath which is a picture of Bernanke and Geithner and the words (at the time of writing), "Dear Financial Tyrants, Your days are numbered," which would not be out-of-place on thousands of Constitutional conservative sites.
Indeed, it will soon be time to coin the term "Constitutional liberal," and that can only be a good thing.
True Constitutionalists conserve liberality. Does that make them conservative or liberal? The Constitution, properly understood, is no more than the Hippocratic Oath for politicians. It requires, "First, Do No Harm." That is an axiom that is exquisitely liberal and conservative at the same time. (Think about it.)
Progressive liberals on the one hand, and neocons on the other, have between them done plenty of harm to the USA. Most of the lives and treasure that have been lost by America would not have been lost if the Constitution had been followed more closely by both groups. We may now be entering a period in which some of the constraints of that document -- the requirement to declare war in Congress; the need for sound money that cannot be printed at will, impoverishing the working man over time; the prohibition against any lawmaking that favors one class of people over another; the rights of all Americans to privacy in the absence of due process - are being revisited by Left and Right as favorable to the interests of both.
The Constitution is not left or right-wing, and both Left and Right are starting to see that the most egregious acts that have been performed in the interest of the governing and the financial classes have in common that they defy the Constitution, typically by violating the rights of some for the benefit of others.
"First, Do No Harm," is the Constitution in four words, and should be the rallying cry of conservative liberals everywhere.
The so-called "radicals" like Paul and Kucinich who appear through the old left-right filter to be so different, are more importantly defined by what they have in common -- a principled attempt to protect American Constitutional rights that, while radical in 1776, should not even be up for discussion today.21 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
President-elect Trump was asked by reporters to provide details of his plan for veterans’ health care, and he and his senior advisors provided nothing, which means that the next commander in chief lied to veterans thousands of times on the campaign trail when he promised that he would fix health care for our veterans.
The New York Times reported:
Mr. Trump met with several executives of private hospital systems at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Wednesday. After the meeting, Mr. Trump called out to reporters, saying he wanted to describe his ideas for changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs, but then quickly directed one of his senior aides to describe the proposals under consideration.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, provided no details about how the plans would work, how much they would cost, or the possibility of unintended consequences from privatizing part of the V.A.’s sprawling medical system.
The writing was clearly placed on the wall by Trump refusing to discuss his plan after meeting with executives from private hospital systems.
We all know what the Republican plan for veterans’ health care is.
Hillary Clinton spoke about this during a Democratic primary debate in February 2016, “This is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They’ve actually formed an organization to try to convince Americans that we no longer need guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) added, “Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came time to put money on the line for veterans, they were not there…Sec. Clinton is absolutely right. There are people, the Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America. Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s.”
Trump and the Republicans are going to privatize the VA and pass off the same voucher for health care scheme that they have been dreaming of pushing on our nation’s vets for years.
Instead of improving the VA, Republicans are going to destroy it, and in the process break a fundamental promise that this country has made to those men and women who risk their lives to keep our country safe. Donald Trump is getting set to betray American veterans. Those veterans who voted for Trump threw their support behind a man who looked them in the eye and lied. Trump isn’t going to fix their healthcare. He is going to destroy it.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:OTTAWA
Having "grave doubts" about locking up perverts who view child porn has left one of the architects of the modern Conservative movement in Canada a pariah.
Reaction to comments by University of Calgary political scientist Tom Flanagan, a former adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a paid CBC commentator, was swift and decisive Thursday.
Flanagan was sacked by the state broadcaster. He was also dumped as a speaker at the upcoming Manning Conference of Conservative thinkers and grounded from any future involvement with Alberta’s Wildrose party.
The Prime Minister’s Office took to Twitter to denounce the remarks to shocked students as "repugnant, ignorant and appalling."
It also instructed law and order Conservative MPs to tell media that "Tom Flanagan in no way represents the views of our Conservative government, and has not done so for a long time."
The professor was at the University of Lethbridge to speak on the Indian Act when he was asked about previous comments he had made on child pornography.
Flanagan, who freely admitted he was on the mailing list of the National Man-Boy Love Association for a couple of years, said he had no sympathy for child molesters "but I do have some grave doubts about putting people in jail because of their taste in pictures."
Alberta Premier Alison Redford said she was sickened by the remarks.
"It turned my stomach. I am absolutely disgusted by it."
Alberta Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said there "is no language strong enough to condemn" the comments by her former campaign manager and said his services would no longer be needed.
The CBC also ended its relationship with its contributor.
"While we support and encourage free speech across the country and a diverse range of voices, we believe Mr. Flanagan’s comments to have crossed the line and impacted his credibility as a commentator for us," said Jennifer McGuire, the network’s editor-in-chief.
Flanagan apologized for the firestorm, saying his words were badly chosen, "and in the resulting uproar I was not able to express my abhorrence of child pornography and the sexual abuse of children," he said in a statement.
University of Calgary said Flanagan has been on leave since January and will retire June 30.
Flanagan was manager of the 2004 Conservative federal election campaign that issued a news release saying Liberal leader Paul Martin supported child pornography — a desperate move many believe backfired and led to a Martin minority government.
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Twitter:MarkDunnSunUsing Different PSN Accounts On PlayStation Vita Involves A Factory Reset
By Ishaan. December 15, 2011. 3:01pm
PlayStation Vita is still region-free when it comes to physical copies of games, but there’s a catch involved if you want to do anything that requires the use of multiple PlayStation Network accounts, Sony have confirmed to Wired.com.
As per usual, in order to use the PlayStation Store, you’ll need to associate your Vita with your existing PlayStation Network account or create a new one for the device. The catch is that you can only use one account per Vita system.
While the PlayStation 3 and PSP let you sign into different PlayStation Network accounts — which import gamers often do in order to access online stores from different regions — and the PSP lets you log in and out of different accounts, the Vita system ties itself to a single account, once you get it up on the system.
If you want to sign into a different PlayStation Network account to access a PlayStation Store from another region, Sony say you’ll have to reset the hardware to factory settings, which involves deleting your personal settings and the saved data stored on the Vita itself.
“[The] PSN account is tied to the hardware and the memory card, not just the card,” a Sony representative confirmed to Wired, “which means that if a second person is using your Vita, it’s not just a case of switching out memory cards, it’s clearing out all of your saved data on the Vita itself when you do the factory reset. In other words, PlayStation Vita is intended to be played by only one user.”"Wheat P1210892" by Copyright © 2007 David Monniaux - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Yesterday scientitsts announced in a quartet of papers in the journal Science that the draft genome of bread wheat -- Triticum aestivum -- had been decoded and mapped. Together with barley, wheat is the crop on which civilization rose in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt some 10,000 years ago. With theses grasses and the help of wild yeast, humans created bread and beer and have rarely looked back (Prohibition and the current gluten-free fad being notable exceptions). I covered the story over at National Geographic.
The content of the genome was not a surprise, Robert Bowden, supervisory research plant pathologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research Unit in Manhattan, Kansas, told me. What was unexpected, he said, was what the genome told scientists about the evolution of wheat, as detailed in a second paper released concurrently with the genome by Marcussen et al.
In the genome, "we found pretty much what were expecting," Bowden said. "The second paper was the one was the one that was kind of shocking, because we thought we understood a lot abut the evolution of wheat.”
Indeed, scientists did understand a lot about the evolution of wheat. But they didn't know everything, hampered by a lack of wheat fossils and by the intractably large and repetitive wheat genome, which had resisted sequencing. You can read more about that story over at Nat Geo.
For example, scientists had known for some time that wheat is a triple "polyploid", a hybrid of three parent species of wheat who through two accidents of biology had merged two genomes into one to produce emmer or durum wheat (used primarily for pasta today, though probably for different purposes by the ancients), and then two into three to produce bread wheat with a genome three times as big as that of its ancestral genomes. You can read more about this process in a blog post I wrote about polyploidy in plants here.
But without a map of the genome, answering questions about how the three parent species of wheat were related to each other (they were presumably close relatives) was difficult to impossible. Then along came the draft wheat genome, and suddenly lots of things were possible.
Thomas Marcussen, Odd-Arne Olsen, and Simen Sandve of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and their colleagues in Norway, Germany, and the UK initially set out to date the two known polyploidy events and find out how the three wheat parents were related to one another – a topic that had been controversial for some time due to the fossil and genome void. They expected a bifurcating tree in which two of the parent species -- they were not sure which two -- were more closely related to each other than the third. Instead, they discovered a more complex situation. Instead of two hybridizations in wheat's past, there now appeared to be three.
“We really couldn't make a model that look liked a normal bifurcting tree based on our data,” Sandve said. “We had to try to make it into a network to make an evolutionary model that would fit the data.”
Wheat parents Triticum urartu and Aegilops speltoides were equally closely related to Parent #3 Aegilops tauschii and more closely related to A. tauschii than to each other. That could only make sense if the ancestors of T. urartu and A. speltoides had hybridized to produce the ancestor of A. tauschii via a process called monoploid hybridization. This type of hybridization can only take place between two very closely related species. It happens when a normal egg cell from one species meets a normal sperm cell from another and the species are not so distantly related that the sperm can't fertilize the egg. A familiar example is the production of a mule from the mating of a donkey to a horse -- two different species. In that case, the mule is usually infertile, but in the case of wheat, A. tauschii was evidently good to go.
In short, the wheat family tree is beginning to look distressingly similar to the Hapsburgs'.
The discovery fits with other data in plants like sunflowers that seem to show that this type of direct hybridization that seems to have produced A. tauschii – called homoploid hybridization – may be more common in plants than previously thought, Sandve said.
Bowden said he was taken aback by these results. “Instead of there being two speciation by hybridization events in the evolution of wheat, there's three, which is shocking. I don't think anybody was expecting that,” he said. “If it's true, and I think it is true, it's a really really unexpected result and shows the power of this method of analysis and leveraging all the data that [the draft genome] produced.”
He said they would have to rethink how they approached mining the A. tauschii genome for useful traits for new wheat varieties. Although it no doubt still contains valuable traits, it is no where near as old or independent of the T. urartu and A. speltoides subgenomes as they had thought, the said.
In addition, from an evolutionary perspective, he said, it's intriguing that the ancestral T. urartu and A. speltoides genomes hybridized twice in two different ways – once to make homoploid hybrid A. tauschii, and once in polyploid fashion to produce emmer/durum wheat (T. turgidum).
“It's very interesting that these two different kinds of event happened with the same two species to start with,” he said. “and it also says 'Wow, this is not very rare. It happened three times just in the evolution of wheat!'”CW: White supremacist fu*&ery, wrapped in gaslighting claims of feeling “unsafe” as a white male in UUism.
Context: If you can stomach some abhorrent BS, read this first, and then watch the brilliant Leslie Mac’s video response for the context of my response. I’m responding here specifically at the request of friends of color for white folks to publicly address this asshattery. Let me be clear: I AM NOT SAYING ANYTHING THAT FOLKS OF COLOR HAVEN’T ALREADY SAID, PROBABLY MUCH BETTER. But it matters that white people say it, too, so here we go.
Alright, in no particular order, let’s get some things straight, my white UU kin:
1.) People of color and indigenous folks (POCI) have never been “safe” in Unitarian Universalism, period. (I was gonna link some stuff here, but I’m actually not going to play the game of giving white people statistics and data to prove that the realities of POCI are, in fact, real). The current “crisis” in Unitarian Universalism is nothing new, but it is loud and undeniable right now because brilliant POCI within our faith–who have stuck around despite the white supremacist culture that is in the marrow of the bones of our tradition and its structures–HAVE BEEN ORGANIZING. It is absolutely no coincidence that the “hiring controversy,” which so many folks have come forward and talked about as a generations-old pattern in our UUA and our congregations, came to light in the time right after the Black Lives of UU convening in NOLA, and during Finding Our Way Home, the national gathering of POCI Religious Professionals. These gatherings–and the massive organizing power behind them that made them possible, including the organizing that led to the commitment of the UUA Board of Trustees to give BLUU $5.2 million–is both what allowed the voices of folks of color to be amplified and heard on a national scale, AND what is making the white power structure (and all of those who benefit from it, directly and indirectly) so uncomfortable and skittish and fragile.
2.) Let’s talk about violence, and the language that Mel Pine uses here. He uses words like “coup” and “attack” and “threatened” several times in this post, and I while I don’t know Mr. Pine or his life story, my interpretation here is that he is not receiving death threats, or being physically attacked, or being cut off from opportunities for employment, or being spit on, or being told he has no place in Unitarian Universalism. His definition of what it means to be “safe” is to be allowed to say whatever he wants, however he wants, with no repercussions or accountability. Let me say what so many people of color have said a zillion times, just in case you hear me say it because I am melanin deficient and that’s how this stuff works: WHITE FOLKS, JUST BECAUSE WE DO NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE AND UNCHALLENGED DOES NOT MAKE US UNSAFE. It is not the responsibility of people of color to frame their anger, sadness, grief, outrage, or any other feeling in a way that feels palatable to us.
3.) Safety has a whole hell of a lot to do with power. Mr. Pine states that the reasons he personally now feels unsafe within Unitarian Universalism are that “The demands of one UU faction have led to the resignation of the denomination’s democratically elected president,” and then, “But the faction now in control is determined to get what it wants before then, so the Board of Trustees has appointed three interim co-presidents and charged them to give the faction what it wants before the new president is elected at the regularly scheduled General Assembly.”
This, in combination with the use of the word “coup,” is a thinly veiled cry that the colored folks are getting uppity and need to be put back in their place. Let’s not mince words: this is the rhetoric of slave owners, of White Citizens Councils, of the US government as it attacked the Dakota people at Wounded Knee, of Stand Your Ground laws, of police officers who use deadly force against unarmed people of color because they feel threatened.
I will concede that Mr. Pine’s INTENT may not be to invoke these images, this history, and that he may well genuinely feel unsafe. But, when taken to its fullest extent, and in combination with the power of institutions, the IMPACT of this rhetoric is the LITERAL KILLING OF PEOPLE OF COLOR AND INDIGENOUS FOLKS. It is redlining and forced sterilization and Tuskeegee and the prison industrial complex.
In this case, we have one blowhard, garbage blog post from one sadly misguided individual who thinks he is “speaking truth to power.” But the cumulative impact, when you have hundreds or thousands of people who share these feelings, who run our congregations, who hold the power to make hiring decisions, who decide what is and isn’t acceptable behavior and demand that people assimilate to their version of what “safety” feels like is that we have a WHITE SUPREMACIST INSTITUTION that will do anything it can to keep the uprising from happening, even when the INDIVIDUAL INTENTIONS OF ITS ACTORS are not necessarily malignant.
4.) Then let’s talk about Democracy for a second, since Mr. Pine clearly has the view that so many UUs do that Democracy is the be-all-and-end-all of enlightenment and equality. I’m not even going to address the ridiculousness of insisting that the POCI “faction” (can you say offensive, much?!?!?) forced resignations, because that is so patently untrue it doesn’t deserve any more of my words. But let’s consider this assertion that leaders who haven’t been democratically elected are going to push through an agenda that they don’t have a mandate from the voting public to enact, and that this is inherently wrong.
Democracy, as it is usually practiced in our congregations and in our Association, is the concept that each person should have an equal vote in decision making, and that the majority opinion will dictate the outcome. Now, even if we assume that we practice true democracy in Unitarian Universalism (and we could certainly have a good debate about that), we have to acknowledge that true democracy means that whatever group is in the numerical minority will never have the numbers to win a popular vote. When it comes to elections, and the policies those elected will put in place, “democracy” creates a circle: in a white supremacist institution (and again, shorthand here is that white supremacist = any structure that privileges the comfort, culture, power, and importance of white people over all other racial groups), white people are in the |
change that! I’m sort of tired of Bruce Wayne as Batman, and was ready for the DCU to fulfill the promise that its generational aspect held.
However, despite that the tone of the book has changed, it still has quite a bit to do directly with the relationship. This first story arc has been an interesting window into Bruce Wayne’s now-revised past. Damian could have easily been cast aside in favor of the return of Tim Drake or some other Robin, but he continues to exist more or less as he was before the reboot. A negative aspect to this is that, as a continuation of the first volume rather than a reboot proper, Damian’s origin (which stretches back nearly 25 years) isn’t at all explained.
But it’s still a fun book, and they still have time to address those questions.
3) Teen Titans Brings Tim Drake Back to Prominence
After a generation of comics and over 100 issues of his own book, Tim Drake stopped being Robin to make way for Bruce Wayne’s biological test tube son, Damian. Since that point, no one was really sure what to do with Tim Drake. Taking on a new costume, slightly new name, new book (Red Robin), and suddenly seeming a few years older, Tim tried striking out on his own. But I can’t say I enjoyed this book very much, and it was mercifully ended with the New 52.
(Read more about these Robins, and others: Powet Alphabet: R is for Robin, the Boy/Girl Wonder.)
Fortunately, it seems that the reboot so far leaves the legacy of Batman’s sidekicks entirely intact. Tim is still the third Robin to have trained under Batman (Kid Flash even takes his familiar red and black costume out of storage). He has still taken on the identity of Red Robin, but now his costume is WAY better, rather than the Kingdom Come-inspired tights that looked better on a 40 year old Dick Grayson. He’s also a prominent blogger, which is a nice way to update the “reporter-as-superhero” schtick for the 21st century. He’s rounding up a new group of Teen Titans, mostly made of new faces, but including a young Bart Allen as Kid Flash.
On the other hand…
In some ways, this raises more questions than it answers. Part of the point of the New 52 is that all the principal heroes are quite a bit younger. If Bruce lost about ten years, then just when in his life were Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake running around as his sidekicks? Or, heck, forget the succession of Robins, what about Kid Flashes? The original Bart Allen was the grandson of Barry Allen, born in the 30th century after he went to “retire” there, but traveled back in time to be the sweet super-hero “Impulse”. It wasn’t until many years later he became Kid Flash (but then became Flash, but then died, but then wasn’t dead any more… long story). Is he the first? If he is, what happened to Wally West? The much younger Barry of the New 52 hasn’t run off to have a normal life in the 30th century that we know of, so where does Bart Allen come from?
These are actually minor quibbles, and more just questions than anything. I’ve found little to fault in the book either by writing, art, or portrayals of characters I love so well but know have changed.
I’m also finding this team-building story far more compelling than the first six issues of Justice League, which so far reads like every other Justice-League-meets-Darkseid story I’ve ever seen. Teen Titans, though? That I’ll keep picking up for sure… even if they’re taking their sweet time recruiting Superboy.
2) On Earth 2, the Future Past of DC Can Live On
The new wave of the New 52 hasn’t come out yet, but many of the announced titles hold promise. Two in particular stand out, as they are inextricably linked: Earth 2 and World’s Finest.
World’s Finest will follow Huntress and Power Girl as they figure out how to get home to Earth 2 (more on that in a bit, clearly). Seeing Power Girl again is going to be a welcome relief, because her origin very well could have put her on the chopping block in any reboot. That’s because (after most of a generation), it was finally figured out that she was the orphan of a universe destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths: the original Earth 2 where the Golden Age heroes lived on into the present day. Karen Starr got her own book, which was unfortunately canceled when the reboot occurred. But we’ve been seeing her in the pages of Mr. Terrific (sans costume, and pretty much most other clothing), so we’ve known since this thing started that she still existed. And now we know where she came from.
Now that we know a version of Earth 2 exists, we also know that Huntress is from there. Post-Crisis, she was Helena Bertinelli, daughter of a wealthy crime family turned school teacher turned constantly-spurned crimefighter. It seems that in the New 52 retores her identity as the daughter of Earth 2’s Batman.
But which Batman is it? DC has teased that there’s “a Wayne” under the mask, but stopped short of saying it was Bruce. In the teaser image DC released, he’s also holding one of the fighting sticks that are indicative more of Dick Grayson’s style than Bruce Wayne. So what gives?
Maybe this is a chance for the Golden Age to live on, but the original Earth 2 was created when it was displaced by the Silver Age. Could the new NEW Earth 2 be a place for the “Modern Age” of comics to continue to exist in some form? We never did see Linda Danvers again after she left the role of Supergirl, and Power Girl’s Earth 2 Supergirl costume sure seems to have a lot more in common with that than anything else.
On the other hand…
It’s probably wishful thinking. Huntress being the daughter of Batman is enough of a generational aspect to go on, but maybe her father isn’t Bruce, but some other Wayne. Damian? And adopted Dick Grayson? This seems to hint that this is the world of the Golden Age taken forward 80-ish years.
Some fans are also complaining about Power Girl’s costume. Now, I’m not one to defend the “boob window”, but that doesn’t mean the alternative we’ve been shown is the only one that could exist. The previous update featuring the universal “power” symbol and sweet blue highlights was a welcome departure from earlier incarnations. As for this new costume, many people have had a hard time seeing that her new logo is a stylized “P” to mirror the “S” she used to wear as (presumably) Earth 2’s Supergirl. Besides, who knows what’s behind that symbol, right?
Either way, it’s super-exciting to see this concept continue to live on, and have an important place in the DCU. After Infinite Crisis and the creation of the new multiverse, the pre-New 52 Power Girl found out that Earth 2 existed again, only to discover it wasn’t her pre-Crisis Earth 2 no matter how much she wanted it to be. This Power Girl is no longer the sole orphan of a dead universe, and is able to see and laugh and live again with her dear friend Helena Wayne. Even if this isn’t the Power Girl who had that wish, it’s still nice to see that somewhere, somewhen, it got to be fulfilled.
1) DC is building on its strengths, while finally changing the things that haven’t been working for them for years
It probably has a lot to do with not upsetting their poster-children Grant Morrison and Goeff Johns, but I’d also like to think it has something to do with not upsetting their fans or the applecart of their best-selling books.
The steady arc that began with Green Lantern: Rebirth and culminated in the DC-wide Blackest Night remains largely unmolested. It seems as though Hal Jordan’s personal past has undergone some (so far unexplained) tweaks, but events on the galactic scale have been the same: the Lanterns created the Manhunters as their first intergalactic peacekeeping force who went crazy and destroyed an entire space sector, giving rise to the Green Lantern Corps. The Emotional Spectrum still exists, which means that the other lanterns corps do as well. (In fact, the Red Lanterns now have their own book, and it’s fantastic.) John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner have all been Green Lanterns from Earth; the former two headline the Green Lantern Corps, while Kyle and a few prominent characters from the other Corps in Blackest night are featured in New Guardians.
As mentioned above, the Batman family hasn’t changed very much, although Barbara Gordon has become the un-disabled Batgirl again, and it turns out Huntress may have more in common with Bruce Wayne than he ever thought! The Batman, Inc. book is even making a comeback as part of the new wave.
But books that needed retooling, regenerated concepts, or a fresh approach have also gotten them where needed, and to varying degrees. Despite as interesting as Superman has been, he is nothing like the incarnation from the Modern era. (Does that mean we get to see him return in a reality-spanning crossover 20 years from now, and die killing a younger version of himself from another universe? Spoilers…) Younger characters like Supergirl, Superboy, and Wonder Girl have been rebooted entirely — their whole histories up to this point completely erased — Supergirl in particular, even though her origin isn’t that much different than her recent re-introduction only six years ago.
On the other hand…
Not all of those changes are good ones, and even the things that didn’t change. And just because they’ve chucked out history doesn’t mean they’ve avoided making the same story and editorial missteps going forward.
The problem, and it has been said many times by many people, was that DC really needed to throw out everything instead of picking and choosing the bits they liked. These stories already face similar issues presented by the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot of 1986. Which stories still happened? If they still happened, were they somewhat modified? If they were modified, how does it affect other characters who were there?
One of the biggest problems the Post-Crisis world presented was the continued existence of the Legion of Superheroes and their adventures with Superboy, even though no Superboy existed in Clark Kent’s past. The solution? A “Pocket Universe” created by the Time Trapper — who, in at least one story, turned out to be the future version of a member of the Legion, and from whence the “Matrix” Supergirl originated before their version of General Zod killed all life on Earth.
So it seems that Bane still broke Batman’s back, but did Jean-Paul Valley still take over the role for a time? Since Steel and Superboy have different origins, does that mean Doomsday never killed Superman? Since the Justice League International got a complete reboot, does that also mean they didn’t get the snot beat out of them on a Doomsday rampage — if he even existed? Did Hal Jordan ever die and become the Spectre? Barbara Gordon apparently still played her role as Oracle and head of the Birds of Prey, but now that she’s become Batgirl, did she take the role back from Stephanie Brown, or does she no longer exist either?
As conflicting solutions to these questions come up, the same kinds of problems that plagued the Crisis will come to bear bitter fruit for the New 52. These problems were so numerous in 1986 and beyond that the DCU experienced another reality-shattering event only seven years later in 1994 with “Zero Hour”. (Which also probably “un-happened”.) It looks like DC is planning for that event ahead of time; the reality-bending Flashpoint which resulted in the New 52 hinted at a new villain in its final pages.
If it’s the anti-Monitor AGAIN, I think I might be sick.
Regardless of what you think of the New 52, it’s here to stay. If nothing else, DC is vindicated by the consumer in that they finally got to the top of the comics world (over Marvel) for the first time in recent or long-term memory. Their ability to stay there depends on how they handle these problems going forward, and I’m not talking about whether or not Superman wears red underwear.Miller was arrested Sunday and charged with disorderly conduct by intoxication and underage consumption. On Monday, Miller was charged with misdemeanor assault after an incident in the Greene County Jail. He pleaded not guilty.
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“The University of Dayton is aware of an incident, but cannot discuss individual student matters because of federal privacy laws,” Dayton Athletic Director Neil Sullivan said in a statement. “With all student conduct matters, the University responds in accordance with the University’s Student Code of Conduct and other applicable standards.”
JAIL CELL VIDEO: UD player in jail incident
RELATED: Miller recovering from injury
According to public records, Miller, 20, appeared in court Monday. Bond was posted by James Pera, Miller’s uncle.
Miller’s attorney declined to comment Tuesday.
According to a Beavercreek police report, officers were dispatched to Caddy’s Taphouse at 2760 Towne Dr. in Beavercreek at 1:21 a.m. Sunday in reference to an assault.
A bartender told police Miller became upset when she told him he couldn’t have any more drinks, and he knocked all the glasses off the bar and pushed her, the report alleged.
A security officer escorted Miller outside the bar. Miller told the security officer he was going to punch someone and then pushed the officer, the report said, and that officer then took Miller to the ground and held him there until Beavercreek police arrived.
Upon arrival, Beavercreek police took Miller into custody. Officers said his speech was slurred and difficult to comprehend. He was uncooperative and combative at the time of the incident, screaming profanities and resisting officers’ attempts to get him into the back of the police vehicle, the report said. He also kicked the door of the vehicle, the report said.
The bartender completed a written statement, advising that she didn’t wish to pursue charges. Miller was issued a court summons for disorderly conduct and underage consumption and transported to Greene County Jail in Xenia. He appeared in Fairborn Municipal Court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to those two charges, according to court records.
At Greene County Jail, Miller was placed in holding cell No. 1 and then urinated on the floor, the police report said.
John Watkins Jr. was brought in after being arrested by the Ohio State Patrol on OVI charge. According to the report, Watkins stated he didn’t want to be placed in the same cell where Miller had urinated. Watkins Jr. was informed the cell was being disinfected and cleaned and that would be his housing until he could be booked.
At 2:45 a.m, the report states, Miller and Watkins Jr. were seen fighting on a security camera in the cell. The video showed Miller walking over to Watkins and slapping him, the report said. Staff members were called to break up the fight. Miller was taken to Greene Memorial Hospital emergency room for evaluation. He had blood coming out of his nose and a bump on his forehead, the report said.
Miller, a graduate of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., has appeared in 53 games the past two seasons. He averaged 3.2 points and 1.4 rebounds as a freshman and 4.5 points and 2.3 rebounds as a sophomore.
Miller broke his foot playing basketball on April 1, the day Anthony Grant was hired, but was on schedule in his rehabilitation. Miller shared a video on Twitter of him dunking on Saturday.The LCK is also available in a print edition, four times the length, published by Yonagu Books on Amazon.
When you're done with that, you’ll want Advanced Language Construction! Does the LCK seem pretty basic to you, and you want to delve into morphosyntax, logographic languages, predicate logic, and more? Get the sequel today!
Next is The Conlanger’s Lexipedia: everything you know to create words that aren’t a simple copy of English. Creating the lexicon is the part of conlanging that takes the most time and requires the most real-world knowledge; you need this book to help.
My latest book is The Syntax Construction Kit: all about modern Syntax, from Chomsky and many others. A deep dive into how language works, with an excursus into computer generation of languages.Backpackers know it as the kitty can stove, and Appalachian thru-hikers swear by it. Jim Wood posted the original design (he called it the Super Cat) online in 2005, and, at $10, it's still the best-value, best-designed alcohol stove around. It weighs just four ounces (including the stove, windscreen, and pot), everything stores inside the cooking vessel, and it doesn't need a separate pot stand. It burns denatured alcohol, a cheap, common backcountry fuel well suited to three-season hikes of less than two weeks. Here’s how to build Wood's original design at home.
Build It
Buy a three-ounce can of cat food (think Fancy Feast or Friskies). Give the food to a cat you like or a person you don't. Remove the lid and round off the sharp lip by folding it over with a pair of pliers.
Use a handheld hole puncher to cut a row of holes around the top of the can. The holes should be about an eighth of an inch apart.
Punch a second row of equally spaced holes under the first, but offset them so that the centers of these holes sit under the first row's gaps. (SuperCatStove.com has a template that you can tape to your can if you're uncomfortable eye-balling it.)
Next, build the windscreen. Because we're going light and cheap, your screen will be made from aluminum foil. Serial solo trekker Andrew Skurka recommends cutting a sheet three inches longer than your pot's circumference. Fold it in half, then fold down the edges, making sure to smooth out the air between layers.
After the stove is built, buy an aluminum pot with a lid, such as the Stanco Grease Pot ($8). Toss the strainer.
Use It
Place the windscreen around the pot. Leave a half-inch gap between the two, and let the ends of the screen overlap. Pour two tablespoons (one fluid ounce) of denatured alcohol fuel into the stove, and light it with a match or lighter.
You can't stop or adjust the stove once it's lit: you can only let it burn out, so don't add too much fuel. Wait 30 seconds to allow it to warm up before placing the pot on the stove. Now, start cooking.
One Note of Caution
Make sure you're using denatured alcohol and not rubbing alcohol or any other kind of fuel. Catching on fire and dying in the woods doesn’t mesh with Leave No Trace rules.The Baby-Roast, also known as The Hippy Babysitter and The Cooked Baby,[1] is an urban legend in which a baby is roasted alive at home, usually during the absence of a parent. The Straight Dope, a newspaper column devoted to exposing myths, reported that it "is one of the classic urban legends",[2] however, there have been real life instances where babies have been roasted.
Plot [ edit ]
In some versions, the baby is accidentally cooked when miscommunication occurs. For example, "put the turkey in the oven and the baby in the bed" is wrongly heard as "put the baby in the oven and the turkey in the bed".[1] Other variants set out that the doer of the deed was drug or alcohol-induced or an insane individual.[3] In the end, the roasted baby is sometimes served as food to be consumed by the parents.[3]
The person who roasts the baby is usually a babysitter or the baby's sibling.[1]
Documented occurrences [ edit ]
In real life, there have been documented occurrences of babies being roasted, though by family members instead of strange babysitters. When Virginian Elizabeth Renee Otte roasted her baby in 1999,[4] the incident was cited as causing the legend to become true. In November 2006, a second case of real-life baby-roasting was reported.[5]
In February 2012, Ka Yang of California was charged with roasting her seven-week-old baby to death in a microwave. In her defence, she claimed she was having a "seizure fit" when it happened.[6] In May 2012, a British citizen was arrested by Thai police after being found in possession of six corpses of roasted infants, some wrapped in gold leaf, reportedly in conformity with a "black magic ritual".[7] In Siberia in January 2013, a roasted, dismembered baby was found by its mother, the alleged perpetrator being the infant's intoxicated uncle.[8]
On November 16, 2015, a one-year old baby, J'Zyra Thompson, died after her three-year-old sibling put her in the oven and cooked her alive. Their mother, Racqual Thompson, left her four kids at home, which included a five-year-old and a two-year-old, when she went to pick up a pizza. When they returned home, Thompson found J'Zyra's body cooked in the oven. Thompson and her boyfriend of ten months, 21-year-old Cornell Malone, were charged with endangering a child and are awaiting trial.[9]
In March 2016, a 35-year-old mother in Texas showed up naked at her neighbor's door with her partially burned and naked 2-year-old daughter. When police arrived, she confessed that she had put the girl in the oven along with a cat she had recently shot dead, while making sexual advances toward an officer and singing praise to God. According to an affidavit from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, she seemed unconcerned with her daughter while in hospital and jail, where she was charged with injury to a child with serious bodily injury and tested positive for alcohol, marijuana and methamphetamine. The girl was put in foster care.[10]
In popular culture [ edit ]
In the 1979 blaxploitation film Avenging Disco Godfather, a PCP addict claims to have honey-roasted her baby for her family's Easter dinner, ostensibly so the baby's crying wouldn't spoil the occasion.
In August 2009, a joke advertisement showcasing a "body part roaster" "specially designed to roast infants and other human morsels" surfaced on the website of retailer Sears.com.[11]
The song 'Babysitter on Acid' by the all-female punk rock band, Lunachicks is a retelling of the Urban Legend. The teenage babysitter, under the influence of drugs, roasts the baby in the oven and tells the mother over the phone that "Wanna know how the baby is? / Don't worry, she's almost done". The song was released on their 1990 album Babysitters On Acid.
See also [ edit ]A middle school history teacher in small-town southeastern Michigan has been placed on paid administrative leave because he informed students that white entertainers used to paint their faces black to imitate black people and showed kids a video about it.
The teacher is Alan Barron, reports the Monroe News. The 59-year-old teacher has taught in the local school district for well over three decades and is retiring in just two weeks.
The suspension occurred after an assistant principal observed Barron teaching an eighth-grade class. Barron’s topic for the day was racial segregation laws during the Jim Crow era. The lesson included a video which showed how white actors commonly used theatrical makeup known as blackface — a practice which began in the nineteenth century and lasted over 100 years.
The unidentified assistant principal concluded that Barron’s lesson about how entertainers used to be racist was itself racist, according to the local paper. The assistant principal also apparently ordered that Barron stop the video as it was being played.
Parents with kids at the school have overwhelmingly opposed the suspension.
One parent, Adrienne Aaron, who has a daughter in the class, spoke with the Monroe News.
“It had nothing to do with racism,” Aaron (whose husband is black) said. “History is history. We need to educate our kids to see how far we’ve come in America. How is that racism?”
“He’s one of the best teachers we’ve had,” Aaron added. “We can’t believe that this is happening.”
Other parents have taken to social media. In a missive on Facebook, a frustrated parent called Barron a “great” teacher who “has changed many children’s lives.”
A school district spokesman, Bobb Vergiels, refused to say that Barron was suspended. Instead, Vergiels said, Barron is “on leave.”
“Mr. Barron has been on leave for about a week while we look into a reported situation in his classroom,” a school district statement obtained by the Monroe News reads. “Because this is a personnel matter that is going through the teacher-contract required steps, we cannot comment any further.”
As a result of the suspension, Barron cannot attend any school functions including an annual banquet during which he and other retiring teachers will be honored.
Barron is not the first teacher in Monroe to make national headlines. In March, officials at a local high school suspended band teacher Brian Sullivan because his technique for improving a girl’s posture while playing her instrument was to duct-tape her ankles to a chair. (RELATED: High school band teacher on leave for duct-taping kid’s legs to chair over bad posture)
Follow Eric on Twitter and on Facebook, and send education-related story tips to [email protected] is the story of the rise and fall of Jews in the world’s largest film industry. Bollywood produces a thousand films annually, three times more than Hollywood does, in twenty different languages, which are seen by three billion people across the world.
Few realise that Jews played as important a role in Bollywood as they did in Hollywood, even if the roles differed in nature. Almost all of India’s earliest female stars were Jewish. The introduction of sound brought an abrupt end to many of their film careers for they were incapable of delivering dialogues in Indian languages as they had never mastered any. The few who were quick to learn survived.
Surprisingly of all the diverse ethnic and religious groups in the second most populous country of the world, these earliest female stars of India came from a minority within India’s smallest religious minority, the Jews, whose proportion is not more than 0.0004 per cent in its total population. The Baghdadis (as the Jews who came from a number of Middle Eastern countries and not just from the city of Baghdad came to be called in India), were one of the three Jewish communities in India and they were among those communities in India that completely Anglicised themselves in every respect. The only other numerically and commercially mentionable minority that did so was the Parsi (Zoroastrian) community, but its women were not the first to be bold enough to act in films, braving all the risks involved to their reputation and otherwise at a time when even the prostitutes shied away from acting in films. The initiative was taken by the Baghdadi Jewish women, highly Westernised in their lifestyle and outlook. Hence, they did not have the reservations when it came to indulgence in performing arts that women from other communities in India had, including the other Jewish communities, the Bene Israel and the Cochini (residents in India for a much longer period of time than the Baghdadis), had. By doing so they paved the way for women from respectable families from other communities to follow suit.
Though Arabian in their culture, the Baghdadi Jews completely Anglicised themselves and adopted English as their language. With a few exceptions, the Baghdadis identified themselves as far as possible with the rulers, the British, and not the ruled, the Indians, as it was disadvantageous, they believed, to identify with the Indians and moreover there was no Indian citizenship as such. They felt that as Jews from another, albeit Asian, country they could remain distinct and escape the worst aspects of the British-Indian relationship. Benefiting from the British policy of favouring small minorities whose numbers did not threaten them, they soon emerged as intermediaries between the British colonial masters and their Indian subjects. They even competed with another migrant community, the Armenian, to get recognised as European by the British. When they lost the competition to the Armenians they blamed their Jewishness for it and felt that Armenians has succeeded only because they were Christian.
The first star of Indian cinema was Sulochana (nee Ruby Myers, 1907-83). The extent of her fame is well illustrated by the fact she was also used to promote Khadi, the Indian handspun and handwoven cloth. A hugely popular dance of Sulochana’s from the film Madhuri was added to a short film on Mahatma Gandhi inaugurating a Khadi exhibition, which also happened to be India’s first talkie venture.
Ironically, when Sulochana’s home company Imperial launched the first genuine talkie film Alam Ara in 1931, it was not she, but her rival Zubeida who was chosen to play the female lead, because of her command over Hindi. But the indomitable Sulochana acquired such proficiency in Hindi in just a year’s time as to make an egoaffirming comeback with the recordbreaking talkie version of Madhuri. She once again reclaimed her positive distinction as the highest paid star of India cinema. She owned the sleekest of cars (Chevrolet 1935); and had one of the biggest heroes, D. Billimoria, as her lover. Her strong fan base empowered her to dictate terms to Imperial and ensure that between 1933 and 1939 she worked exclusively with her handsome Zoroastrian paramour.
Their love affair spanned the decades of the 1920s and 30s. With it ended their film careers too. She left Imperial only to find no outside offer, which landed her up in a grave economic crisis. The roles, though, kept diminishing, leading her to bankruptcy. She died a lonely death. The original glamour queen of Indian cinema, Sulochana was once famous for drawing a salary larger than that of the Governor of Bombay.
Pramila nee Esther Victoria Abraham (1911-2006), a film star of the silent era, was chosen the first Miss India in 1947 (the pageant was not organized by The Times of India Group then, as it is now). Born in a Baghdadi Jewish family of Kolkata, she won six art diplomas from London in the course of a brilliant academic career and became the headmistress of Talmud Torah Jewish Boys’ School, and it was a casual visit to the Imperial Studios in 1935 to watch a shooting, that brought her into films. Besides, her sister Sophie, known as Romilla, and her cousin Rose, were already in the film industry. During the course of this acting career, she married the famous star of those years, Kumar, a Rudolph Valentino kind of figure. Together, they produced many films under the banner of “Silver Films”. She was also a costume and jewellery designer and a consultant for set designs.
Nadira (nee Farhat or Florence Ezekiel) (1932-2006) was spotted by the wife of the famous film director Mehboob Khan, a Muslim, when she was sheltering from a thunderstorm in a building. He cast her in the lead role of his technicolor extravaganza, Aan (1952), India’s first film in colour. Nadira, who had seen only two films and had never been photographed. Her mother, who wanted Nadira to settle down and marry a nice boy, was dismayed. Despite her pathetic financial condition, it was only after a great deal of persuasion that her mother agreed to a contract with Mehboob Khan, according to which Nadira was to be paid Rs. 1,200 per month, an unheard of amount in those days.
Aan proved to be a major hit and her debut performance in the film won her rave reviews. Nadira was surrounded by a coterie of male admirers. While Mehboob Khan flirted with her, an Urdu poet Naqshab won her over with his couplets; and Nadira ended up marrying him and infuriating her mother.
Nadira starred in Naqshab’s productions, Nagma and Raftaar (1955), but she felt exploited as she was forced to promote the films by posing for sexy posters, and on the other hand to observe purdah (Islamic seclusion). Naqshab even insisted that she cancel her three-year contract with Mehboob Khan; and on top of it all he announced that they were not married. Disgusted, Nadira walked out, leaving behind all her earnings.
Her foreign features and thin figure, which was quite unlike the buxom heroines patronized by film fans, made it difficult for her to resume her career. Fortunately, she landed up a vamp’s role in Raj Kapoor’s Shri 420 (1955).
The role required her to hold a smouldering cigarette in one hand and a glass of whisky in the other. The film’s great success made it her landmark style; and it was followed by negative roles in films which won her great accolades. Few could portray vindictiveness and malice with Nadira’s panache. She brought great style to the portrayal of the quintessential Westernised vamp of Hindi films. Her role as a Christian mother in Julie (1975), was a landmark performance, which fetched her fifteen awards. She also appeared in a few English films, notably the Merchant Ivory films The Guru (1969) and Cotton Mary (1999). She was well paid for her efforts and was one of the first Indian actors to own a Rolls Royce. Nadira passed away in a hospital in Mumbai on 9th February 2006 at the age of 73, suffering from a paralytic stroke combined with a heart attack.
Pearl Padamsee (1931-2000), was a distinguished actress of theatre and films. She added a new dimension to Indian theatre in general and Mumbai in particular, and presented the audience with many a notable actor and play. Her Rise and Fall of Arturo Ui is considered a milestone in Indian theatre. She emerged as a prominent face of crossover cinema and worked in many national and international film projects, in both Hindi and English, in a film career spanning over four decades. Some of her significant English language films are West is West (1987), Such a Long Journey (1998), and Kama Sutra (1996). She had adopted her Khoja Muslim husband, Alyque Padamsee’s surname.
Interestingly, of the few men among all the Baghdadis prominently active in Indian cinema, at the time, was the noted documentary film-maker, Ezra Mir (1903-1993), who came to be recognized as the father of Indian animation. He was born as Edwin Myers in Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta). He adopted the name Ezra Mir because he felt that his real name did not sound Indian. Mir started making documentaries in 1941 after being inspired by the March of Time newsreels. He worked for the Film Advisory Board (1940-41); Information Films of India (1942-46); India Film Enterprises (1949-51); and the Films Division, where he was Chief Producer (1956-61). During his five year tenure, the Films Division produced over 400 documentaries. He also worked as Producer-in-Charge for the Children’s Film Society of India (1962-64) from 1941 till his retirement from the Films Division in 1961. He was responsible, in various capacities, for over seven hundred documentaries. He was the first president of the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (1956). Ezra Mir directed Pamposh, the first Indian colour film processed completely in India, using Gevacolour stock. The first Indian film to have an English version – Nur Jehan, was directed by Ezra Mir. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, in 1970 for his great contribution to Indian cinema.
There were many from the Bene Israel community, mostly men, who later joined the Baghdadis in films, not only as actors, but also in other capacities. The person to whom goes the credit for writing the screenplay of India’s first full length talkie, Alam Ara (1931), was the Bene Israel playwright Joseph David Penkar. A theatre manager of the third decade of the twentieth century, he was also the author of plays in Marathi and Urdu. Today, three of his plays – Queen Esther, The Maccabeen Warriors and Prince Ansalom – are archived in Israel. Alam Ara was a huge success. Tickets were sold for twenty times the admission rate as crowds thronged to see the first talkie venture of Indian cinema. After Alam Ara, he joined its production house, the Imperial Film Company, as a playwright and also got involved with film-producing, directing and music composing. Other screenplays followed to which he also composed the scores. Joseph David died in 1942.
A well-known Jewish film actor was David Abraham (1908-81). Abraham was awarded the Padma Shri award, for his roles as a character actor and for his promotion of Indian sports. He started his film career in 1941 and went on to act in over 110 films. He worked with India’s best film-makers ever, like the Academy Award winner and recipient of Dada Saheb Phalke Award, Satyajeet Ray. He is best known for his portrayal of John Chacha in the 1954 hit Boot Polish.
One of the most prominent film-journalists, cine-personality-biographers and film-historians of India was a Bene Israel, Bunny Rueben (1926-2007). He also produced a film and was the Director of Publicity to the most famous film-makers of India. In the 1970s, when Steven Spielberg decided to shoot portions of his sci-fi adventure Close Encounters of the Third Kind in India, he signed Bunny Reuben as the Director of Publicity, the best name in the field. Reuben started his film-journalistic career in the 1940s with his contributions to the film-weekly Movie Times. Reuben went on to become a full-time film-journalist with the leading National Standard, now known as The Indian Express. From the National Standard, he moved on to Bharat Jyoti, the Sunday edition of the Free Press Journal. Reuben later joined India’s foremost film-magazine |
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Included information must neither be collected, nor be used in an other context.A team of Chinese scientists announced on January 13 that they have developed a new bright vacuum ultraviolet FEL light source called the Dalian Coherent Light Source (DCLS), which can deliver the world's brightest FEL light in an energy range from eight to 24 eV.
Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light sources are especially useful for sensitive detection of atoms, molecules and clusters. They can also be used to probe valence electronic structures of all kinds of materials.
High-gain, free electron lasers (FEL) provide the brightest light sources from VUV to the X-ray region, levels that conventional laser technology cannot reach.
Recently, a series of high-gain FEL light source facilities in the X-ray and soft X-Ray region have been successfully developed around the world. The LINAC-based Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center has given scientists hopes for new scientific discoveries in many frontier research areas. However, no dedicated high-gain VUV FEL light source facility for basic research has been developed in the world thus far. Led by Prof. YANG Xueming (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, DICP) and Profs. ZHAO Zhentang and WANG Dong (Shanghai Institute of Applied Source, SINAP), the team of scientists and engineers succeeded in developing the DCLS.
During the last two months, this team has successfully commissioned the new FEL facility operating in both HGHG and SASE. By applying undulator tapering technology in the HGHG mode, a photon flux of 1.4 x 1014 photons per pulse was achieved. The project began in early 2012 and was a close collaboration between research scientists and engineers from DICP and SINAP (Home Institute of the Shanghai Light Source), two CAS institutes.
"VUV FEL light sources have wide applications in the study of basic energy science, chemistry, physics and atmospheric sciences. We expect that the new facility will lead to important scientific discoveries and international scientific collaborations," said YANG Xueming, a member of the CAS.
Explore further: Highest X-ray energy used to probe materialsThere’s little question that we’re living in the midst of a hardware startup renaissance. Crowdfunding, low cost components, rapid prototyping, scalable manufacturing – the stars have aligned perfectly to facilitate a golden age for innovative hardware solutions – but roadblocks still remain.
Tempo Automation is a San Francisco-based startup built around the admirable goal of removing those last few hurdles. The company’s mission statement says it best, “We’re creating a world where electronics development can move as fast as software development.”
Most of the rest of the language on the company’s site is similarly grandiose, but what Tempo Automation actually does is relatively simple, offering quick turnaround for low volume prototype manufacturing, turning design files into physical boards with a three-day turnaround time.
“The current process used in the electronics manufacturing industry is optimized for high volume production,” co-founder Shashank Samala told TechCrunch. “It’s great if you’re making a million iPhones. When you’re building a few, It’s like printing a few pages using a printing press. We are building an automated process from the ground up optimized for low volume.”
The company just received an $8 million Series A funding round led by Lux Capital, along with SoftTech, AME, and Bolt, to help improve its current manufacturing facility, which is already at capacity. According to a press release issued today, “Our offering was well-received, blowing out the capacity of our factory in a matter of months by customers ranging from early hardware startups to large consumer electronics companies that you’ve heard of.”
The company’s main focus is on startups, with a particular focus on new IoT manufacturers, though a few big names have apparently slipped into the mix, even if Tempo can’t say which ones.Sept 16 (Reuters) - A Mississippi coroner who advised residents to arm themselves and shoot home intruders said on Tuesday that he had been angered over a recent spate of burglaries and was not seeking to drum up business.
David Scott Gregory, 40, the coroner of largely rural Winston County in eastern Mississippi, went on social media over the weekend to urge residents to buy guns and be willing to use them on burglars.
"I say shoot the idiots and call the Coroner!" Gregory wrote on Facebook. "I'd hate for any innocent people to get hurt but at the same time my stuff is my stuff, my hill is my hill."
Gregory, who has served 10 years as coroner and also works as a local radio DJ under the name "Scotty G," said feedback to his advice has been overwhelmingly positive.This morning, Pantsuit Nation founder Libby Chamberlain announced in the Pantsuit Nation group that she had secured a book deal under the group’s name. Most of the world didn’t actually find out the news from Chamberlain herself; in fact, an article in The New York Times explained more of the details, including that the book is coming out in five months under the Flatiron label.
Someone added me to Pantsuit Nation back in October. I don’t remember who it was, and it honestly doesn’t matter. When I first was inducted, if you will, into this group we as a nation were still riding on the assumption that Hillary Clinton would be our next President. Then, of course, she lost. Pantsuit Nation quickly turned into a collective grieving space, where people from around the world shared their thoughts and feelings.
Around that time, things started to get weird. Chamberlain filed to trademark the name and reportedly told smaller satellite groups around the country that they had to stop using the moniker. A project by two women of color known as the Safety Pin Box was removed from the site under the pretense that it was seeking commercial gain and lambasted by white commenters (this is ironic of course, because right under their “shop at our online store” link is the line “please don’t offer merchandise”). What had once been a space of solidarity started to feel like a branding machine.
And now, of course, there is a book deal, announced with no transparency as to where the profits from the book are going, whether the contributors whose posts Chamberlain is presumably selecting for this book will get paid, and without any consideration for breach of privacy laws were someone’s intellectual property and personal experience suddenly able to sit on your coffee table. Pantsuit Nation reportedly is working to become a 501(c)(3) and 501 (c)(4) charity, which raises more questions about profit allocation and distribution. Chamberlain is the only person credited on the book pre-order page, which also is troubling given that the book supposedly has no content, theme, or profit sharing structure and is already available for $17.99 on Barnes and Noble’s website.
What was most disturbing to me, however, was how quickly and viciously white women on the site were attacking anyone, but in particular women of color, who asked well-meaning and important questions about what was happening. The mantra of “Everyone is welcome here” morphed into “Why are you ruining this environment by attacking our sisterhood?” There was a lot of whitesplaining in the comments section (I cannot tell you how many times I saw something like “If you actually read the post, you would see she explains all of that”). Every time a Black or Latinx person raised an objection, white women piled on with insults and general dismissal.
Moreover, Pantsuit Nation has devolved into a space where white people can claim to fight for the survival of the sisterhood by performing apolitical acts of self-humanizing. Instead of doing tangible work, like running for office or even making phone calls to local representatives, white people treat minorities as props in their self-congratulatory posts about being inclusive, loving people and watch as everyone congratulates them for being decent, passive human beings. It does this on the backs of people of color whose lives are directly and disproportionately affected by Trump’s policies yet are read as “fake” or “insincere” in their performance of grief and fear. It purposefully boosts sentimental, apolitical human interest stories rather than focus on policy changes, systemic oppression and even the destruction of the damn patriarchy, which seems to be such an obvious focus that PSN has completely ignored.
Basically, it seems to me ― unless she gives me any reason to think otherwise, which I doubt she will ― that Libby Chamberlain is interested in making a quick buck off of other people’s trauma, hurt, pain, and confusion. She has turned Pantsuit Nation from a space of solidarity into an exploitative business model which replicates the same oppressive structures that supported the election of Donald Trump in the first place. If her intention was always to privatize and monetize PSN and its stories, thereby recreating the same neoliberal systems the group claims to fight against, she is a liar too. It was never stated at its inception that Chamberlain would ever aim to profit off of other people’s stories, and the fact that she even wants to says a lot about her character.In an update to the original article, Blizzard has confirmed that they are in the process of getting custom game names to the PlayStation 4. Now that the game browser update for Overwatch is out, Xbox One and PC users have been enjoying creating and naming their own custom rulesets within the game this week. Unfortunately, as players have discovered, Sony has prevented PlayStation 4 owners from being able to similarly name their custom game matches due to issues with PlayStation naming policies. Thankfully, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has reassured fans that Blizzard is currently working with Sony to come up with a solution that will allow PS4 players to also name their custom games is the same ways that are already possible on Xbox and PC.
“We will add the ability for you to name your Custom Game on PS4. There is just some additional work we need to do in order to be compliant with Playstation’s user generated content naming policy. We’re sorry that you cannot name games like the other platforms can right now but you will be able to do so in the near future.”
Fans can create custom games, join others’ personally tailored games, and earn experience with the new Overwatch Game Browser. In an update released today, players on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One can make their own games or use the Game Browser to find the perfect match. Although the option to make a custom game was available long before today’s update, players can now share their creations with others and earn experience toward their next level in the mode.
With the Game Browser, all players can create their own custom Overwatch scenarios and then share them with their community. Players can adjust many aspects of the game with the Custom Game tools including, but not limited to, increasing health, reducing cooldowns, disabling abilities, increasing projectile speed, and much more. The mode even support matches against the AI.
Bastion is very different after today's update [Image by Blizzard Entertainment]
After a player has everything in order, they can choose to share their creation on the Game Browser. It can be made public, accessible to only friends, or restricted to those that the creator invites as detailed on Battle.net.
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After a small update, likely less than two gigabytes, players on all platforms can start creating and sharing their games. To find the new Game Browser or create a custom game, players need to select Arcade in Overwatch. The current Arcade modes are on the left while the “Find Game” and “Create Game” options are now on the right. Players can start browsing or creating from these selections.
“If you’re not in the mood to spin up your own mad-scientist ruleset, simply select Find Game from the Arcade menu. There you’ll find a list of player-curated games that don’t involve any matchmaking. You can browse the list, hunt for a specific keyword by typing in the search field, or filter the list by mode, map, or hero. Once you find something that interests you, select the game and dive in.”
Not to mention, the revamped Custom Game options also include the capture the flag mode introduced during the Lunar New Year event. As the Inquisitr reported, the mode was removed after the event ended earlier this month. Now players can use the Custom Game options to create their own capture the flag match. There are even new maps that support the mode in the Custom Game options.
The capture the flag mode is back as an option in Custom Games [Image by Blizzard Entertainment]
Unfortunately, wins in a custom game do not count toward the nine weekly wins for extra Arcade boxes. Players will accumulate experience in custom games, though. Like other Overwatch activities, experience is seemingly earned for the amount of time spent playing a match. Another drawback of the new Custom Games and Game Browser feature is that matches customized by players are not saved after they are exited. A player that creates and plays their creation cannot save the settings and play it again after the Custom Game has been left. Overwatch developers already stated on the game’s official forums that the ability to save a Custom Game’s settings will appear in the future. Saving is currently not an option at the Game Browser’s launch.
“We eventually want to give you the ability to save your own presets but it won’t make the first version of the feature.”
In addition to the Game Browser and Custom Game experience, today’s update also added a few sensitivity options for specific abilities for Ana, Mercy, Sombra, Widowmaker, Zarya, and Zenyatta. According to the patch notes, Bastion’s major update is now live, Mei can be targeted by allies when using Cryo-Freeze, Roadhog’s Chain Hook is a little different, and console players should notice a slight damage increase to both Symmetra’s and Torbjörn’s turrets. A few changes to map balance and a number of bug fixes are also part of the update. Overwatch players on all platforms can download the update now.
[Featured Image by Blizzard Entertainment]A simple form of machine self-replication
A self-replicating machine is a type of autonomous robot that is capable of reproducing itself autonomously using raw materials found in the environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature. The concept of self-replicating machines has been advanced and examined by Homer Jacobsen, Edward F. Moore, Freeman Dyson, John von Neumann and in more recent times by K. Eric Drexler in his book on nanotechnology, Engines of Creation (coining the term clanking replicator for such machines) and by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle in their review Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines[1] which provided the first comprehensive analysis of the entire replicator design space. The future development of such technology is an integral part of several plans involving the mining of moons and asteroid belts for ore and other materials, the creation of lunar factories, and even the construction of solar power satellites in space. The possibly misnamed von Neumann probe[2] is one theoretical example of such a machine. Von Neumann also worked on what he called the universal constructor, a self-replicating machine that would operate in a cellular automata environment.
A self-replicating machine is an artificial self-replicating system that relies on conventional large-scale technology and automation. Certain idiosyncratic terms are occasionally found in the literature. For example, the term clanking replicator was once used by Drexler[3] to distinguish macroscale replicating systems from the microscopic nanorobots or "assemblers" that nanotechnology may make possible, but the term is informal and is rarely used by others in popular or technical discussions. Replicators have also been called "von Neumann machines" after John von Neumann, who first rigorously studied the idea. However, the term "von Neumann machine" is less specific and also refers to a completely unrelated computer architecture that von Neumann proposed and so its use is discouraged where accuracy is important.[1] Von Neumann himself used the term universal constructor to describe such self-replicating machines.
Historians of machine tools, even before the numerical control era, sometimes figuratively said that machine tools were a unique class of machines because they have the ability to "reproduce themselves"[4] by copying all of their parts. Implicit in these discussions is that a human would direct the cutting processes (later planning and programming the machines), and would then be assembling the parts. The same is true for RepRaps, which are another class of machines sometimes mentioned in reference to such non-autonomous "self-replication". In contrast, machines that are truly autonomously self-replicating (like biological machines) are the main subject discussed here.
History [ edit ]
The general concept of artificial machines capable of producing copies of themselves dates back at least several hundred years. An early reference is an anecdote regarding the philosopher René Descartes, who suggested to Queen Christina of Sweden that the human body could be regarded as a machine; she responded by pointing to a clock and ordering "see to it that it reproduces offspring."[5] Several other variations on this anecdotal response also exist. Samuel Butler proposed in his 1872 novel Erewhon that machines were already capable of reproducing themselves but it was man who made them do so,[6] and added that "machines which reproduce machinery do not reproduce machines after their own kind".[7] In George Eliot's 1879 book Impressions of Theophrastus Such, a series of essays that she wrote in the character of a fictional scholar named Theophrastus, the essay "Shadows of the Coming Race" speculated about self-replicating machines, with Theophrastus asking "how do I know that they may not be ultimately made to carry, or may not in themselves evolve, conditions of self-supply, self-repair, and reproduction".[8]
In 1802 William Paley formulated the first known teleological argument depicting machines producing other machines,[9] suggesting that the question of who originally made a watch was rendered moot if it were demonstrated that the watch was able to manufacture a copy of itself.[10] Scientific study of self-reproducing machines was anticipated by John Bernal as early as 1929[11] and by mathematicians such as Stephen Kleene who began developing recursion theory in the 1930s.[12] Much of this latter work was motivated by interest in information processing and algorithms rather than physical implementation of such a system, however. In the course of the 1950s, suggestions of several increasingly simple mechanical systems capable of self-reproduction were made—notably by Lionel Penrose.[13]
von Neumann's kinematic model [ edit ]
A detailed conceptual proposal for a physical non-biological self-replicating system was first put forward by mathematician John von Neumann in lectures delivered in 1948 and 1949, when he proposed a kinematic self-reproducing automaton model as a thought experiment.[14][15] Von Neumann's concept of a physical self-replicating machine was dealt with only abstractly, with the hypothetical machine using a "sea" or stockroom of spare parts as its source of raw materials. The machine had a program stored on a memory tape that directed it to retrieve parts from this "sea" using a manipulator, assemble them into a duplicate of itself, and then copy the contents of its memory tape into the empty duplicate's. The machine was envisioned as consisting of as few as eight different types of components; four logic elements that send and receive stimuli and four mechanical elements used to provide a structural skeleton and mobility. While qualitatively sound, von Neumann was evidently dissatisfied with this model of a self-replicating machine due to the difficulty of analyzing it with mathematical rigor. He went on to instead develop an even more abstract model self-replicator based on cellular automata.[16] His original kinematic concept remained obscure until it was popularized in a 1955 issue of Scientific American.[17]
Moore's artificial living plants [ edit ]
In 1956 mathematician Edward F. Moore proposed the first known suggestion for a practical real-world self-replicating machine, also published in Scientific American.[18][19] Moore's "artificial living plants" were proposed as machines able to use air, water and soil as sources of raw materials and to draw its energy from sunlight via a solar battery or a steam engine. He chose the seashore as an initial habitat for such machines, giving them easy access to the chemicals in seawater, and suggested that later generations of the machine could be designed to float freely on the ocean's surface as self-replicating factory barges or to be placed in barren desert terrain that was otherwise useless for industrial purposes. The self-replicators would be "harvested" for their component parts, to be used by humanity in other non-replicating machines.
Dyson's replicating systems [ edit ]
The next major development of the concept of self-replicating machines was a series of thought experiments proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson in his 1970 Vanuxem Lecture.[20][21] He proposed three large-scale applications of machine replicators. First was to send a self-replicating system to Saturn's moon Enceladus, which in addition to producing copies of itself would also be programmed to manufacture and launch solar sail-propelled cargo spacecraft. These spacecraft would carry blocks of Enceladean ice to Mars, where they would be used to terraform the planet. His second proposal was a solar-powered factory system designed for a terrestrial desert environment, and his third was an "industrial development kit" based on this replicator that could be sold to developing countries to provide them with as much industrial capacity as desired. When Dyson revised and reprinted his lecture in 1979 he added proposals for a modified version of Moore's seagoing artificial living plants that was designed to distill and store fresh water for human use[22] and the "Astrochicken."
Advanced Automation for Space Missions [ edit ]
An artist's conception of a "self-growing" robotic lunar factory
In 1980, inspired by a 1979 "New Directions Workshop" held at Wood's Hole, NASA conducted a joint summer study with ASEE entitled Advanced Automation for Space Missions to produce a detailed proposal for self-replicating factories to develop lunar resources without requiring additional launches or human workers on-site. The study was conducted at Santa Clara University and ran from June 23 to August 29, with the final report published in 1982.[23] The proposed system would have been capable of exponentially increasing productive capacity and the design could be modified to build self-replicating probes to explore the galaxy.
The reference design included small computer-controlled electric carts running on rails inside the factory, mobile "paving machines" that used large parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight on lunar regolith to melt and sinter it into a hard surface suitable for building on, and robotic front-end loaders for strip mining. Raw lunar regolith would be refined by a variety of techniques, primarily hydrofluoric acid leaching. Large transports with a variety of manipulator arms and tools were proposed as the constructors that would put together new factories from parts and assemblies produced by its parent.
Power would be provided by a "canopy" of solar cells supported on pillars. The other machinery would be placed under the canopy.
A "casting robot" would use sculpting tools and templates to make plaster molds. Plaster was selected because the molds are easy to make, can make precise parts with good surface finishes, and the plaster can be easily recycled afterward using an oven to bake the water back out. The robot would then cast most of the parts either from nonconductive molten rock (basalt) or purified metals. A carbon dioxide laser cutting and welding system was also included.
A more speculative, more complex microchip fabricator was specified to produce the computer and electronic systems, but the designers also said that it might prove practical to ship the chips from Earth as if they were "vitamins."
A 2004 study supported by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts took this idea further.[24] Some experts are beginning to consider self-replicating machines for asteroid mining.
Much of the design study was concerned with a simple, flexible chemical system for processing the ores, and the differences between the ratio of elements needed by the replicator, and the ratios available in lunar regolith. The element that most limited the growth rate was chlorine, needed to process regolith for aluminium. Chlorine is very rare in lunar regolith.
Lackner-Wendt Auxon replicators [ edit ]
In 1995, inspired by Dyson's 1970 suggestion of seeding uninhabited deserts on Earth with self-replicating machines for industrial development, Klaus Lackner and Christopher Wendt developed a more detailed outline for such a system.[25][26][27] They proposed a colony of cooperating mobile robots 10–30 cm in size running on a grid of electrified ceramic tracks around stationary manufacturing equipment and fields of solar cells. Their proposal didn't include a complete analysis of the system's material requirements, but described a novel method for extracting the ten most common chemical elements found in raw desert topsoil (Na, Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Al, C, O 2 and H 2 ) using a high-temperature carbothermic process. This proposal was popularized in Discover Magazine, featuring solar-powered desalination equipment used to irrigate the desert in which the system was based.[28] They named their machines "Auxons", from the Greek word auxein which means "to grow."
Recent work [ edit ]
Self-replicating rapid prototypers [ edit ]
RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" prototype
Early experimentation with rapid prototyping in 1997-2000 was not expressly oriented toward reproducing rapid prototyping systems themselves, but rather extended simulated "evolutionary robotics" techniques into the physical world. Later developments in rapid prototyping have given the process the ability to produce a wide variety of electronic and mechanical components, making this a rapidly developing frontier in self-replicating system research.[29]
In 1998 Chris Phoenix informally outlined a design for a hydraulically powered replicator a few cubic feet in volume that used ultraviolet light to cure soft plastic feedstock and a fluidic logic control system, but didn't address most of the details of assembly procedures, error rates, or machining tolerances.[30][31]
All of the plastic parts for the machine on the right were produced by the almost identical machine on the left. (Adrian Bowyer (left) and Vik Olliver(right) are members of the RepRap project.)
In 2005, Adrian Bowyer of the University of Bath started the RepRap Project to develop a rapid prototyping machine which would be able to manufacture some or most of its own components, making such machines cheap enough for people to buy and use in their homes. The project is releasing its designs and control programs under the GNU GPL.[32] The RepRap approach uses fused deposition modeling to manufacture plastic components, possibly incorporating conductive pathways for circuitry. Other components, such as steel rods, nuts and bolts, motors and separate electronic components, would be supplied externally. In 2006 the project produced a basic functional prototype and in May 2008 the machine succeeded in producing all of the plastic parts required to make a 'child' machine.
Some researchers have proposed a microfactory of specialized machines that support recursion—nearly all of the parts of all of the machines in the factory can be manufactured by the factory.[33]
NIAC studies on self-replicating systems [ edit ]
In the spirit of the 1980 "Advanced Automation for Space Missions" study, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts began several studies of self-replicating system design in 2002 and 2003. Four phase I grants were awarded:
Bootstrapping Self-Replicating Factories in Space [ edit ]
In 2012, NASA researchers Metzger, Muscatello, Mueller, and Mantovani argued for a so-called "bootstrapping approach" to start self-replicating factories in space.[40] They developed this concept on the basis of In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies that NASA has been developing to "live off the land" on the Moon or Mars. Their modeling showed that in just 20 to 40 years this industry could become self-sufficient then grow to large size, enabling greater exploration in space as well as providing benefits back to Earth. In 2014, Thomas Kalil of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy published on the White House blog an interview with Metzger on bootstrapping solar system civilization through self-replicating space industry.[41] Kalil requested the public submit ideas for how "the Administration, the private sector, philanthropists, the research community, and storytellers can further these goals." Kalil connected this concept to what former NASA Chief technologist Mason Peck has dubbed "Massless Exploration", the ability to make everything in space so that you do not need to launch it from Earth. Peck has said, "...all the mass we need to explore the solar system is already in space. It's just in the wrong shape."[42] In 2016, Metzger argued that fully self-replicating industry can be started over several decades by astronauts at a lunar outpost for a total cost (outpost plus starting the industry) of about a third of the space budgets of the International Space Station partner nations, and that this industry would solve Earth's energy and environmental problems in addition to providing massless exploration.[43]
Cornell University's self-assembler [ edit ]
In 2005, a team of researchers at Cornell University, including Hod Lipson, implemented a self-assembling machine. The machine is composed of a tower of four articulated cubes, known as molecubes, which can revolve about a triagonal. This enables the tower to function as a robotic arm, collecting nearby molecubes and assembling them into a copy of itself. The arm is directed by a computer program, which is contained within each molecube, analogous to how each animal cell contains an entire copy of its DNA. However, the machine cannot manufacture individual molecubes, nor do they occur naturally, so its status as a self-replicator is debatable.[44]
New York University artificial DNA tile motifs [ edit ]
In 2011, a team of scientists at New York University created a structure called 'BTX' (bent triple helix) based around three double helix molecules, each made from a short strand of DNA. Treating each group of three double-helices as a code letter, they can (in principle) build up self-replicating structures that encode large quantities of information.[45][46]
Self-replication of magnetic polymers [ edit ]
In 2001 Jarle Breivik at University of Oslo created a system of magnetic building blocks, which in response to temperature fluctuations, spontaneously form self-replicating polymers.[47]
Self-replication of neural circuits [ edit ]
In 1968 Zellig Harris wrote that "the metalanguage is in the language,"[48] suggesting that self-replication is part of language. In 1977 Niklaus Wirth formalized this proposition by publishing a self-replicating deterministic context-free grammar.[49] Adding to it probabilities, Bertrand du Castel published in 2015 a self-replicating stochastic grammar and presented a mapping of that grammar to neural networks, thereby presenting a model for a self-replicating neural circuit.[50]
Partial construction [ edit ]
Partial construction is the concept that the constructor creates a partially constructed (rather than fully formed) offspring, which is then left to complete its own construction.[51][52]
The von Neumann model of self-replication envisages that the mother automaton should construct all portions of daughter automatons, without exception and prior to the initiation of such daughters. Partial construction alters the construction relationship between mother and daughter automatons, such that the mother constructs but a portion of the daughter, and upon initiating this portion of the daughter, thereafter retracts from imparting further influence upon the daughter. Instead, the daughter automaton is left to complete its own development. This is to say, means exist by which automatons may develop via the mechanism of a zygote.
Self-replicating spacecraft [ edit ]
The idea of an automated spacecraft capable of constructing copies of itself was first proposed in scientific literature in 1974 by Michael A. Arbib,[53][54] but the concept had appeared earlier in science fiction such as the 1967 novel Berserker by Fred Saberhagen or the 1950 novellette trilogy The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt. The first quantitative engineering analysis of a self-replicating spacecraft was published in 1980 by Robert Freitas,[55] in which the non-replicating Project Daedalus design was modified to include all subsystems necessary for self-replication. The design's strategy was to use the probe to deliver a "seed" factory with a mass of about 443 tons to a distant site, have the seed factory replicate many copies of itself there to increase its total manufacturing capacity, and then use the resulting automated industrial complex to construct more probes with a single seed factory on board each.
Other references [ edit ]
Prospects for implementation [ edit ]
As the use of industrial automation has expanded over time, some factories have begun to approach a semblance of self-sufficiency that is suggestive of self-replicating machines.[62] However, such factories are unlikely to achieve "full closure"[63] until the cost and flexibility of automated machinery comes close to that of human labour and the manufacture of spare parts and other components locally becomes more economical than transporting them from elsewhere. As Samuel Butler has pointed out in Erewhon, replication of partially closed universal machine tool factories is already possible. Since safety is a primary goal of all legislative consideration of regulation of such development, future development efforts may be limited to systems which lack either control, matter, or energy closure. Fully capable machine replicators are most useful for developing resources in dangerous environments which are not easily reached by existing transportation systems (such as outer space).
An artificial replicator can be considered to be a form of artificial life. Depending on its design, it might be subject to evolution over an extended period of time.[64] However, with robust error correction, and the possibility of external intervention, the common science fiction scenario of robotic life run amok will remain extremely unlikely for the foreseeable future.[65]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Other references [ edit ]
The power source might be solar or possibly radioisotope based given that new liquid based compounds can generate substantial power from radioactive decay.Untitled a guest Mar 10th, 2014 321 Never a guest321Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 26.87 KB ---- Minecraft Crash Report ---- // I blame Dinnerbone. Time: 3/10/14 10:26 PM Description: Initializing game java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: -1 at java.lang.String.substring(String.java:1904) at net.minecraftforge.common.Configuration.load(Configuration.java:574) at net.minecraftforge.common.Configuration.<init>(Configuration.java:100) at openblocks.OpenBlocks.preInit(OpenBlocks.java:296) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606) at cpw.mods.fml.common.FMLModContainer.handleModStateEvent(FMLModContainer.java:545) at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor1.invoke(Unknown Source) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventHandler.handleEvent(EventHandler.java:74) at com.google.common.eventbus.SynchronizedEventHandler.handleEvent(SynchronizedEventHandler.java:45) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.dispatch(EventBus.java:313) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.dispatchQueuedEvents(EventBus.java:296) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.post(EventBus.java:267) at cpw.mods.fml.common.LoadController.sendEventToModContainer(LoadController.java:201) at cpw.mods.fml.common.LoadController.propogateStateMessage(LoadController.java:181) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventHandler.handleEvent(EventHandler.java:74) at com.google.common.eventbus.SynchronizedEventHandler.handleEvent(SynchronizedEventHandler.java:45) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.dispatch(EventBus.java:313) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.dispatchQueuedEvents(EventBus.java:296) at com.google.common.eventbus.EventBus.post(EventBus.java:267) at cpw.mods.fml.common.LoadController.distributeStateMessage(LoadController.java:112) at cpw.mods.fml.common.Loader.loadMods(Loader.java:522) at cpw.mods.fml.client.FMLClientHandler.beginMinecraftLoading(FMLClientHandler.java:183) at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.func_71384_a(Minecraft.java:473) at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.func_99999_d(Minecraft.java:808) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(SourceFile:101) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun |
adheres to all employment policies and procedures, including Shakman prohibitions against political hiring. Meanwhile, the federal court monitor would review the claims of workers fired unfairly, detail developments and help push for progress until the office was found to be in compliance. It didn't take long before the new monitor, retired Cook County Judge Clifford Meacham, delivered a sobering analysis. In a report filed in January 2013, Meacham said the assessor's office had a "widespread disregard for written policies and procedures," from skirting competitive hiring rules to skipping performance evaluations. Meacham emphasized that even smaller favors should stop. He highlighted how a special group of 19 transplants from the review board known in the assessor's office as the "Berrios people" got to come and go at work without having to swipe their office cards and didn't have to give advance notice for vacations. Giving breaks to one "politically connected" group over others frustrates the purpose of the Shakman agreement, Meacham wrote. That agreement does not directly address nepotism, but Berrios' decision to put his sister, Carmen, and his son, Joseph, on the payroll drew the attention of the County Board of Ethics, which sought to fine Berrios $10,000 in 2012. A judge ruled in 2015 that the assessor had to comply with the county's ethics ordinance and the board of ethics had the authority to investigate the assessor. But the ruling also said the ordinance did not authorize the board to impose fines. County taxpayers wound up paying a total of about $300,000 to cover both sides of the legal battle, records show, and county commissioners passed a new ordinance giving the board the power to levy fines in the future. Berrios' son no longer works at the assessor's office. His sister now is deputy assessor over taxpayer services and public outreach. As Berrios headed into his second term in late 2014 — after running unopposed in the primary and general elections — Meacham issued a report that made it clear the assessor still had many issues to overcome. High-level aides in the assessor's office, Meacham wrote, had characterized Shakman standards as "not a priority" and "being without value." Overall, he wrote, "The general impression of the employees in the office was that employment actions were based on nepotism, favoritism, or politics." 'NOT A PRIORITY' Deborah Ellis, chosen from 53 applicants to serve as compliance director in Berrios' office, started her job in the summer of 2013. Meacham praised her as a "well-qualified individual with strong investigative skills, law enforcement experience, experience in government, and a firm commitment to service." But Meacham also described Ellis as "frustrated" with arbitrary personnel actions and "hampered" by the assessor's office in trying to investigate potential irregularities in hiring, promotions and discipline. "She advocated for written policies and procedures and a transparent and fair process for all employees, to no avail," he wrote. In a report to Meacham and Berrios, two months before his re-election, Ellis complained of a lack of communication with Berrios and his top staff, calling the matter a "critical area which needs vast improvement." The assessor had not "involved himself in any conversation regarding compliance efforts" with her, Ellis wrote in the September 2014 report, and his chief of staff is "very rarely involved." The next month, in October, Berrios fired Ellis. A new internal compliance director did not come aboard until February 2016 — more than a year later. The assessor's office blames that delay on the monitor. In a December 2014 report, Meacham had recommended that Ellis' position remain vacant until "such time as the assessor's office demonstrates a willingness to effect actual and meaningful reforms." In the same report, Meacham demanded that the assessor's office hire "a professional" as head of human resources. Establishing professional human resources departments had been a "key driver" for Emanuel and Dart in meeting Shakman standards, Meacham noted.
But under Berrios, Meacham wrote: "There were no written policies and procedures for the employees to reference or for the office to follow. The contents of the personnel files were not standardized. There was no discernible disciplinary policy, overtime policy, promotion policy or hiring protocol that had been consistently utilized. "There were no performance evaluations," he added. "Position descriptions and organization charts were incomplete and inaccurate." Meacham also criticized an "opaque process" in employment decisions that appeared to include only Victoria LaCalamita and the assessor. Berrios disputed that point in an interview. "That's not the case," he said. "Not at all." Records show Meacham viewed it as "impossible" for the assessor's office to comply with Shakman standards as long as LaCalamita ran the human resources operation. If you've got an office that practices patronage and disregards rules, I don't think we should be surprised that the outcomes we get, in terms of assessments, are shoddy. — Cynthia Canary, good-government consultant Ellis raised similar issues as Berrios' director of compliance. In a September 2014 review of the assessor's office, she wrote that LaCalamita was "inconsistent and unpredictable" in responding to inquiries and often challenged Ellis' authority. Berrios moved LaCalamita from human resources the following month — around the same time he fired Ellis. By May 2015 — six months into Berrios' second term and well into his third year under a federal monitor — Meacham reported that numerous ongoing delays, a lack of written policies and resistance to issues the monitor raised "all suggest that Shakman is not a priority in the assessor's office." "As always, actions are telling," Meacham wrote. In a coda to that May report, he said the "lack of meaningful progress that has characterized this endeavor will continue to the detriment of those employed by the assessor, those who seek to be employed by the assessor and, most significantly, the taxpayers of Cook County." In his last report, filed in August 2015, Meacham described the assessor's progress toward compliance as slow but steady. "Much remains to be done," he wrote. Attorney Susan Feibus took over monitoring duties in February 2016 after Meacham voluntarily resigned. Later that year, in her first report, Feibus determined Berrios had "paid lip service" to achieving Shakman standards and his "conduct has belied a genuine commitment to the process." She also trained her attention on Berrios' promotion of his daughter Vanessa to the high-level job of director of industrial and commercial valuations in April 2016 — a move that came with a significant boost in salary. Vanessa Berrios' annual pay was $80,373 in 2015 while she worked as a manager of industrial and commercial valuations, but her salary in 2016 as director was $107,099, the monitor wrote. The promotion "flagrantly violated" employment guidelines the assessor should have followed even though it was a management post with leeway in hiring, Feibus wrote in August 2016. For one thing, she noted, the younger Berrios didn't have the minimum five years of management experience outlined in a job description updated only months earlier. Ignoring the updated job description, the assessor's office deemed Berrios' daughter to be eligible under an older job description that, Feibus said, officials "erroneously" interpreted as requiring no managerial experience. Feibus said requiring no managerial experience for such a high-ranking job was "ludicrous," but her objections "went unheeded." Berrios said in an interview that Vanessa Berrios was just short of five years as a manager at the time of her promotion and that she built up that experience in the same department where she was promoted. "She's doing a fabulous job for us," he said. PROGRESS REPORT Overall movement in the assessor's case is tracked every couple of months in Judge Sidney Schenkier's federal courtroom, where the sounds of street traffic and sirens filter up from 18 floors below. In a post-Thanksgiving status hearing last month, Berrios and his team, Feibus and an aide, and Shakman attorney Brian Hays marked a minor milestone when the assessor's office confirmed that job applications had gone online earlier in November. A monitor report from August 2015 had said that the office's paper application process "encourages confusion and distrust" in hiring. For a time, Berrios attempted to set up his own electronic application process, but amid mounting pressure from Schenkier, Feibus and Hays, he worked out a way to join the online system used by other county offices. As it happens, however, Berrios is starting to use the online system just as countywide budget cuts are forcing him to lay off workers, diminishing the immediate need for electronic applications. "The Catch-22 we're in is, we're not going to be using it any time soon because we're not going to be hiring," said Tom Nowinski, a former assistant state's attorney with Shakman experience whom Berrios hired this year to work solely on helping to bring the assessor's office into compliance. A group of public-interest lawyers filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that embattled Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios violated state and federal civil rights and housing laws by knowingly producing inaccurate assessments that punished poor and minority homeowners across the county. The lawsuit,... The parties also are moving forward on employee evaluations, updated job descriptions and other policies and procedures, records show. Berrios has increased the number of people in human resources, although he's still under pressure to improve the department, and he's put in place an employment plan that gives a better road map for the office. "We've made significant progress," Berrios said. Berrios spokesman Tom Shaer said "there is no material non-compliance" in the assessor's office. But Feibus, who wrote in September of the office's "excellent progress" in writing policies, pointedly noted that "drafting policies is only the first step. Implementation is equally, if not more, important." Hays added that only in the last six months did the assessor's office "finally begin drafting policies and procedures required under the September 2012 agreed order. The assessor's office has also begun updating job descriptions that had not been updated since 2006 or earlier." Berrios said the delay in bringing his office into compliance can be blamed on the changeover in monitors — as well as their use of five different assistants along the way. The turnover, he said, slowed progress and drove up costs in ways he can't control. "I can only move as fast as they allow me to move," Berrios said. Shakman disagreed: "They're trying to blame somebody else for their delay." Ellis, who now works as an attorney for the federal government, said recent reports from the court monitor describe the same lack of commitment she saw in the assessor and his team during her time as director of compliance.Pacific Northwest forests are on fire. Several blazes are out of control, threatening rural towns, jumping rivers and highways, and covering Portland, Oregon, Seattle, and other cities in smoke and falling ash. Temperatures this summer are an average of 3.6 degrees higher than the last half of the 20th century, according to the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group analysis published in The Seattle Times.
Fire crews have been battling fires for months. In spite of all the effort, though, officials expect the fires to continue burning until major rains come sometime this fall. Meanwhile, firefighting coffers are running dry as costs run into the hundreds of millions.
The scale and costs of these disasters pale in comparison to the impacts of hurricanes Harvey and Irma: Accuweather is estimating the combined cost of these unprecedented storms at $290 billion. (Then there is the flooding in India and Bangladesh—less noted in U.S. news media—where 40 million were affected and 1,200 died.)
What these disasters have in common is that they are all exactly the sort predicted by climate models—and they will get terrifyingly worse over coming years.
So who will cover the costs? Who will pay for the first responders, for sheltering and relocating climate refugees, and for rebuilding homes, businesses, and infrastructure?
Our planet is quickly getting hotter, more volatile, and more dangerous. But Republicans are working to cut nearly $1 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and to give large corporations and the wealthy a big tax break. So who should pay for the climate disasters?
90 companies are responsible for 42 to 50 percent of the increase in the Earth’s surface temperature.
A report published in early September by the journal Climatic Change helps pinpoint a possible answer. According to the report, 90 companies are responsible for 42 to 50 percent of the increase in the Earth’s surface temperature and 26 to 32 percent of sea level rise.
Some say we are all to blame for the climate crisis—at least all of us who get around in cars and planes. But there are reasons these 90 companies owe a major debt to the entire planet.
First, many of them knew what damage they were causing. According to the report, more than half of the carbon emissions produced since the industrial revolution were emitted since 1986, when the dangers of global warming were well-known. But these companies buried their own research findings and doubled down on fossil fuel extraction.
Second, many of these companies spend vast sums promoting climate denial and undermining support for renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other responses to the climate crisis. Industry lobbyists and think tanks, flush with money from fossil fuel companies and their executives, distort our democracy, making government accountable to their interests rather than to We the People.
Third, by doing these things, these companies prevented action during the brief window of time between climate science becoming clear and it becoming too late to avert disaster.
But we can still make choices that would curb catastrophic outcomes.
Now we are very short on time. This year’s fires and floods are just the beginning. But we can still make choices that would curb catastrophic outcomes. To make that difference, we need an all-out effort now on all fronts—in agriculture, transportation, and energy generation, conservation, and efficiency upgrades. That will take a lot of money.
A good place to start would be requiring those who caused the climate catastrophe to pay. The 90 companies could start by helping families and communities recover from the floods, wind damage, and fires, and helping homeowners and cities everywhere build resilience for withstanding the effects of future disasters. But they shouldn’t stop there. The companies that are responsible for the damage should pay their share for the transition to a carbon-free future.
There is a precedent for this. Tobacco companies too had been hiding and dismissing the evidence that their product caused massive damage. Big Tobacco and Big Oil even hired some of the same scientists and public relations firms to obscure the damage their industries were causing, according to ClimateWire. The 1998 tobacco settlement of lawsuits brought by nearly every U.S. state required the major tobacco companies to pay over $200 billion toward the increased cost of health care resulting from smoking and for prevention education.
There are far more victims of the fossil fuel industries’ deception—billions of people today, future generations, and many other species.
We’ve got a precedent, we’ve got a dire need, and we have clearly defined culprits.As DC Comics feels some momentum thanks to the box office smash of Wonder Woman, Turner and IMG’s esports tournament brand ELeague is teaming with Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios to bring DC characters to televised esports.
Injustice 2, a game full of DC characters, will be the centerpiece of the first ELeague Injustice 2 World Championship. TBS will carry featured matches live during the open qualifying round on Saturday, Oct. 21. The tournament will see the top 16 Injustice 2 players in the world face off for $250,000 in prize money.
The sequel to the hit game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Injustice 2 allows players to build versions of their favorite DC characters. Players for the first time can personalize their favorite iconic characters, including Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman, with gear earned throughout the game. This feature allows gamers to take control of how their characters look, fight and develop.
The game will be the fourth for ELeague since it launched in 2016, following Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch and Street Fighter V.
Here is a trailer:You mean someone still cares about silly things like the rule of law, and actual consequences?
Washington, D.C., January 15, 2009 - The federal magistrate judge overseeing the White House e-mail litigation today said the issue had reached "true emergency conditions" with only "two business days before the new President takes office" and that "the importance of preserving the e-mails cannot be exaggerated," according to the court's Memorandum Opinion issued this morning along with an Order and posted on the National Security Archive website, www.nsarchive.org.
Magistrate Judge John Facciola formally ordered the White House to search all Executive Office of the President components' workstations and portable media for possibly missing e-mail -- enforcing yesterday's order from U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy -- after government lawyers at a hearing yesterday represented that they would only search those EOP components that create federal agency records and leave out offices that create presidential records.
Today's order also granted plaintiffs' requests that a full inventory of all backup tapes and portable media containing White House e-mail be delivered to the Archivist of the United States and filed with the court, and that the full administrative record and all other evidence related to the White House e-mail be preserved under the custody of the Archivist.
"From the outset, the White House has fought tooth and nail against having to preserve sources of missing e-mail as well as other evidence relating to this case," said Sheila Shadmand of Jones Day, counsel for the Archive. "For the umpteenth time, this Court has commanded that they do so. We expect they will yet again object to the terms of these Orders, when instead they should be busy complying with it. The clock is running out."Today we issued a software update for BlackBerry 10 smartphones that’s focused on your feedback. It’s already available from some carriers and we’re working closely with all our carrier partners to get it to you as soon as possible.
It’s almost been a month since we officially unveiled the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones and many of you already have a BlackBerry Z10 in hand. You’ve been using it for weeks, and we’ve been listening to your feedback, and have been working on an update just for you. Here are just a few of the improvements you can expect after updating your software.
3rd Party App PerformanceWe’ve improved performance for 3rd party applications, so developers can build apps that run fast and smooth for you. With this update, you might want to keep an eye out for some fresh new app launches in March, like WhatsApp.
Guess what’s up #TeamBlackBerry? WhatsApp Messenger is coming to #BlackBerry10 in March ^DH — BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) February 24, 2013 Phone, Calendar, and ContactsAmong the top improvements and features are fixes for Gmail calendars on BlackBerry 10. You’ll also find improvements in the BlackBerry Hub for logging calls log and how conversations are handled. We’ve also made general improvements to importing contacts from online sources. CameraWe’ve optimized the camera for better photos in low-light situations. You’ll love the difference this makes for photos where you don’t use a flash – like the Time Shift Camera feature. Browser and MediaWith more and more of you using the gorgeous screen on the BlackBerry Z10 to consume online videos and media, we’ve made a number of improvements to the software in the way the browser handles video playback to provide a fantastic experience. Battery LifeThe software team has included a number of battery life optimizations with over 60 battery saving improvements since launch to keep you moving. These combined improvements are designed so that you see improvements in battery life and heavy users especially should see a longer average usage per charge cycle.
How to update your software on BlackBerry 10
Software is available over the air (OTA). Typically, you’ll get a notification about new updates, but you can manually check to see if it has been made available by your service provider and install it in a few simple steps.
Settings> Software Updates> Check for Updates> — then follow the on screen steps to install.
The download is approximately 150MB in size, so I recommend updating when connected to Wi-Fi.
There you have it – the first OTA update to your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. We’ll be rolling out the update with all of our carrier partners around the globe over the coming weeks. Be sure to check it out when it’s available and let us know what you think in the comments below. Your feedback is always welcomed and we will continue to listen as we update and improve BlackBerry 10.Illustration by Joe Ciardiello for Time
Neil loves magic tricks. He's good at them, but his greatest trick may be himself: not just the way he was suddenly all over TV and other media but also that he made it seem like he'd always been there, a charming, Carsonesque presence. While he flourished as both an actor and a persona, he serenely announced he was gay. And that was that. He's been nominated for an Emmy three times for his role as hetero hound Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother not because he's playing straight but because he's very funny. He made the issue of his sexuality disappear without desexualizing himself. He can get the girl and sing about the boys, and it all works. The public's perception of gay men is shifting because of this guy, and they'll be too entertained to notice. That's more than a good trick. That's magic.
Whedon is the Emmy-winning producer of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
TIME 100 Social-Networking Index: 493,561
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Never heard of you guys before ordering but i'm glad i found your site. Placed ordered thursday night and package was at my house monday... thats pretty damn fast from California to North Carolina. Called customer service before ordering to make sure the item i ordered ( kak shockwave blade kit) was as describe considering someone left a review that it was not. The lady i talked to was very nice and polite and assured me that it would be 100% legit, and it was just as described. Price was the best i could find online by around $20 and free shipping, so it was pretty much a done deal from there. Been a pleasure doing business with you guys and i won't hesitate to use your business again in the future, thanks again for everything. - James Noel (Facebook Review)
I've ordered multiple kits from outdoor sports USA. You definitely can't beat the price. I haven't had any issues yet. All orders came in a timely fashion. Usually 3-4 days. And Every time they throw in extras. This is how you take care of loyal customers. I'll be ordering again soon. Thanks outdoor sports USA. - Ron S. –TexasI attended an outdoor screening of It Comes at Night a few weeks ago. Watching a film about the danger of what lies in the dark in the woods while sitting in the dark in the woods was certainly unsettling. The biggest take away from the screening was what the director, Trey Edward Shults, said when he introduced the film. The writer-director admitted that he was in a dark place when he wrote this film — his father had just passed away after a fight with cancer and Shults spent his time reading about various plagues. He also said that this wasn’t a typical horror movie. This confession was all the setup I needed once the film began.
It Comes at Night is more personal drama than the monster-in-the-woods movie the trailers might have you believe. Joel Edgerton plays Paul, a husband who has sealed his family in their home (now a makeshift doomsday bunker) out in a remote area in the woods. The danger outside is two-fold — a disease has killed an untold number of the surrounding population and the survivors are now scavengers desperate for resources. Plastic sheets surround the entrance of the home and there’s only one way inside and out — a bolted door painted a sinister shade of crimson. Paul has a system in place to keep the disease and anyone infected out — he has gloves and gas masks at the ready, along with enough gasoline to burn anything contaminated, human or otherwise.
The system is fractured with the arrival of Will (Christopher Abbott), who says he has his own family to take care of and is need of food and water. Survival is an obsession — Paul wants to trust Will, but the world has delved into a kill-or-be-killed mentality. And once the two families decide to come together under the same roof, the pleasantries run short as distrust heightens. It's all about what's not said. There's not much talk about the disease that these families are protecting themselves from. We know its effects and we see what it does to the human body, but we don't know how far it has spread or just how many people are still alive out in the world. The isolation of these characters only raises the stakes because it all becomes personal for these characters. There's no safe haven or antidote out there — there's a bleak world-ending vibe that seeps through the whole film.
Writer-director Shults is more concerned with the horror on a human level above anything else. We see most of the film from Paul’s son’s, Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), point of view. He begins to have vivid dreams about the terror outside. It’s in these dreams sequences where Shults shows us some truly disturbing images — he wisely plays with the film’s aspect ratio in these moments, signifying a shift into the abnormal. Slow pull-ins, static shots; Shults keeps the camera subdued, letting the atmosphere permeate through the film. I couldn't help but think of The Shining and Kubrick's cabin fever paranoia when watching the events unfold in It Comes at Night's single-location story.
Joel Edgerton is the standout performer here. He’s had a long string of indie performances that have shown his caliber (if you haven’t seen The Gift yet, please do so), and It Comes at Night is more proof Edgerton needs to be catapulted into the A-list. There a scene where Paul is speaking with Will, which takes a drastic turn, and Edgerton sells the inward confusion, frustration, doubt, and panic that’s coursing through his character’s mind in that moment.
Distributor A24 has another indie hit and one of the best films of year on their hands. Similar to The Witch, there will be people walking into It Comes at Night expecting one thing and getting something else completely. This is a cerebral experience, and not at all a pleasant one. It’s a personal work from a director coming off of his well-received directorial debut Krisha. With two films under his belt, Shults has proved he’s one of the most interesting new voices in film. With a limited budget, he manages to make It Comes at Night a successful pulse-pounding, heart-wrenching, blood-soaked drama. I can’t wait to see what Shults comes up with next.Chicago Bears fans posted pictures on Twitter in the hours after the club's 27-13 win at Atlanta, with many claiming the pro-Bears crowd took over the Georgia Dome.
Quarterback Jay Cutler apparently agreed with that assessment, and said cheers from Bears fans in the Georgia Dome were disruptive enough to force the Atlanta Falcons' offense to operate using a silent count.
Cutler, who passed for 381 yards and a touchdown, said both teams were forced to execute with silent snap counts. While that's common for away teams, it's not a common occurrence for clubs playing at home.
"I forgot to mention it yesterday in the press conference," Cutler said Monday during the "Jay Cutler Show" on ESPN 1000. "I'm almost positive that we had more Bears fans than Falcons fans there. I'm serious. Atlanta was in silent count. We were both on silent [count]. They were in silent count like [in the] second quarter. I saw [Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan] him kicking. I was like, 'What the hell is he doing?' Then I realized it's loud in here."
In the streets of downtown Atlanta and in many of the hotels -- which were hosting numerous events -- people walking around in Bears gear certainly seemed to outnumber Falcons fans the day before the game. That also seemed to be the case on the streets and in the vicinity of the Georgia Dome on Sunday in the hours leading up to the game.
Cutler was impressed by the support from Chicago's fans, but not surprised. During road games at Dallas, Jacksonville and Tennessee in recent years, Bears fans showed up in droves, and their cheers and chants could be heard pretty prominently.
"It's always surprising, but at the end of the day it's not that surprising because it happens week in, week out when we're on the road," Cutler said. "The fans travel so well. Whenever you can put a home offense in a silent count with the away crowd, that's pretty impressive."ADM is Exhibit A in the rise of a new type of corporate headquarters, one that arrives from afar but packs light. These headquarters represent the pinnacle of the corporate pyramid, snapped off and relocated, free of jobs tied to operations and often midlevel HQ functions such as payroll, human resources or purchasing. To be sure, migrating headquarters offer benefits to the city: They boost demand for business services, their executives join the philanthropic scene and, of course, they confer bragging rights. But in terms of jobs, the farther a company travels to set up shop in Chicago, the fewer people come with it.
"The notion of the corporate headquarters in the 'Mad Men' world when there were hundreds or thousands of people in a building with the company logo... those days are gone," says David Collis, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies corporate headquarters.
Chicago may have won ConAgra's headquarters recently, for example, but there's balm to soothe troubled city boosters in Omaha, Neb., its current hometown: The Gateway to the West will keep 1,200 office jobs—500 more than here—plus 900 in factories. In 2011, GE Transportation moved its headquarters here from Erie, Pa., along with 50 of 5,500 jobs. (The number in Chicago since has climbed to 150, while Erie has shrunk to 4,750, with more cuts planned this spring.) In 2013, design and construction firm Clayco agreed to make its 288-employee Chicago office its headquarters. The company now employs 620 here, while in its old home of St. Louis, it's grown to 1,025 from 700. The latest to announce plans to alight in Chicago, GE Healthcare, will pluck just the executive leadership team of 200 or fewer from suburban London, where it employs about 1,000.Content
MEMORANDUM SECRET/NODIS/XGDS - 1 - MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION PARTICIPANTS: Melih Esenbel, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Sukru Elekdag, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Necdet Tezel, Director General of Political Affairs Ercument Yavuzalp, Director General for Mutual Security Ecmel Barutcu, Director for Cyprus and Greek Affairs Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Amb. William Macomber, United States Ambassador to Turkey Joseph J. Sisco, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Arthur Hartman, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Peter W. Rodman, National Security Council Staff TIME AND DATE: Monday, March 10, 1975 5:20 - 6:30 p.m. PLACE: The Foreign Minister's Office Ankara, Turkey SUBJECTS: Aid Cut-off; Cyprus Esenbel: This used to be a Cabinet room. Now there is a bigger one downstairs. [Photographers are let in.] In Ankara there are about six papers. SECRET/NODIS/XGDS SECRET/NODIS/XGDS - 2 - Esenbel: Yes. Well, I welcome you here to Ankara, Mr. Secretary. It is a long time that we have been planning for this visit. We have long hoped you could make it. It is useful that we exchange views so we know where we stand on these two matters -- the military aid matter in Washington and your exchange of views with Bitsios. Kissinger: Mr. Foreign Minister, I want to express appreciation that you receive me, first, on short notice, and second in a time that is not easy in our relationship, when the U.S. Congress has taken an action which is totally wrong and with which we totally disagree. I appreciate it. I wanted to come after all my exchange with Bitsios because there are certain developments which I believe come a little closer to the Turkish point of view. With respect to the aid matter: I am at your disposal if you wish to discuss the subject. I understand you had a talk with my colleagues [Hartman and Macomber] this morning. Aid Cut-off Esenbel: Yes. On aid we said that we face heavy pressure -- not demonstrations or the usual, but you must realize how difficult it is to face up to these pressures -- from the parties and the intelligentsia and the military. We tell them that the U.S. Congress seems to understand their mistake. But you must realize there is a limit to what the Government can do. The time limit is approaching. We have a government crisis now, so maybe there are some additional days for this, but soon the question will come up again. The press started to criticize me this morning instead of you. Kissinger: If someone has to be criticized, that is a good solution. [Laughter] Esenbel: The people want some action. This is what was wrong with the Congressional action -- really they didn't care about Turkish sensitivities. They certainly destroyed something here and they didn't care. This is the crucial point -- that they could do it without caring about the people. It's not a money question. SECRET/NODIS/XGDS SECRET/NODIS/XGDS - 3 - Kissinger: No, I understand. Esenbel: That they say "Make progress and come back in sixty days." This is completely wrong. Kissinger: Mr. Foreign Minister, I needn't tell you what my sentiments are.. I have said publicly that we are giving aid to Turkey not as a favor to Turkey but because it serves our mutual interests. I said this at the airport. I remember, even if the Congressmen don't, that Turkey sent troops to Korea, an area where Turkey had no interest, and whose prisoners -- we had a study made -- were the only ones who never cooperated with the Koreans, and the North Koreans are very brutal. Just as aid to Turkey got us into international affairs, the cutoff can be a way to get us out of international affairs. It wasn't directed against Turkey -- it was an attempt to destroy our foreign policy. It reflects, in my view, deep-seated attitudes, and is not anti-Turkey. I believe we can change this. But because the people attacking it are attacking our whole foreign policy, it will be more difficult. If we had a secret vote, we could get it reversed. The problem now is how people can admit that they were wrong six weeks after the initial vote. It's a problem of political prestige for some. I hope you will look at it as the sickness of an old friend, not as something directed against Turkey. And show some patience. Strangely, in America I'm accused of what you are -- that my actions are encouraging you. That if it were not for me, you'd have done what they asked. As Bill Macomber told you, we have introduced legislation and hope to get it passed in a couple of weeks. Macomber: In the Senate. Kissinger: I believe if we can give some of the people who feel guilty an excuse to change their minds, we would have a fairly easy task. If we could. As soon as I finish the current negotiation in the Middle East, maybe in two weeks, I'll bring Bill back and we'll make a massive effort. We have had a legal analysis done, according to which it might be possible to restore spare parts more quickly if the President and the leadership cooperate. SECRET/NODIS/XGDS SECRET/NODIS/XGDS - 4 - Esenbel: A waiver. Kissinger: No it's a special authority for MAP, for up to $50 million. The difficulty is that if we use that waiver, they might not repeal the law. And we can use it only for one year. And next year we may not have the law changed. Therefore the President is very reluctant to do that. The only way to use the waiver is if the President with the tacit approval of the leaders and of the Greek lobby ….. the Greek lobby may next year go after the waiver. But if you're under a tremendous time pressure, we may want to use the waiver. Therefore I wanted to explain the choice we have. Esenbel: You explained that before. You said that is the easiest road maybe, and the legislation would remain. And the Congressmen are reluctant to seem to admit the action was wrong, and then they'll say, "Why the problem? They have the $50 million." We agree with you; we're against it. And we don't want that. Kissinger: Thank you. I appreciate it. Esenbel: Aid is a long-term need. Aid is a substantial part of our relationship. We want this to be restored. We're not interested in aid programs of 40 days, 50 days -- not that kind of relationship. Kissinger: I agree with you. Esenbel: We want to know where we're standing. So people know they can trust the United States as an ally, and erase all doubts. With these 40-day waivers, we can't do that. Kissinger: The waiver wouldn't be 40 days but for a year. But you're morally right; aid |
wand of wood will somehow cure the mental illnesses of the homeless and will somehow make jobs appear out of vapor and somehow make someone with a 4th grade education whose only aptitude is for physical labor into a rocket scientist.
Even if you thought people were poor because they want to be poor, or people were homeless because they want to be homeless, or people were unemployed because they want to be homeless, punishing them for being poor/homeless/unemployed is stupid. Punishment doesn’t teach proper behavior. Punishment teaches avoidance. Specifically, avoidance of the people punishing them. Avoidance is a behavior, but if you do not teach proper behavior elsewhere via the standard techniques (modeling, instruction, opportunities for successfully learning and completing the desired proper behavior and yes, rewards for doing what’s desired), all you’re teaching the man / woman / child is to be sneaky and lie a lot in order to avoid the punishment.
Punishing the poor will not make them not-poor. Being poor is already misery, been there, done that, know that from personal experience. Making them more miserable by punishing them even more will just make them more miserable poor people, it won’t make people with a 4th grade education and 90 IQ suddenly employable as rocket scientists. It’ll just make them sneaky and lie a lot in their attempts to avoid the punishment. The way to make them not-poor is to make it pay to be not-poor. Which means jobs that pay well but can be done with a 4th grade education and 90 IQ.
Punishing the unemployed will not make them employed. Being unemployed is already misery. It’ll just make them sneaky and lie a lot in order to avoid the punishment. The way to solve unemployment is with jobs. Doh.
Punishing the homeless will not make them not-homeless. It’ll just drive them into back alleys and eating lots of scraps out of dumpsters, and yeah, some of them will become not-homeless by the simple expedient of dying, but surely we have more humane ways to do that? But if we want to solve homelessness, proper mental health services and sufficient housing for the homeless will make them not-homeless. And for the not-mentally-ill homeless, they need jobs, and furthermore jobs that pay enough to afford a home. That’s how to solve homelessness.
Punishing people for consuming drugs won’t make them consume less drugs. It’ll just make them sneaky and lie a lot in order to avoid the punishment. The way to solve addiction is with anti-addiction programs and rewards for staying clean (like having good paying jobs available if they stay clean). How well has that punishment-oriented War on Drugs been working, yo? I mean, other than for the police-prison-judicial-industrial system which profits greatly from it?
Yet every year we hear people whine that we should punish more in order to eliminate social ills. Whenever I asked how that works given that punishment only teaches avoidance, they call me un-American and claim I have no solutions so theirs is best. Despite the fact that solutions are obvious, and have been implemented in other countries and shown to work. I guess Americans are just addicted to punishment, a nation of S&M aficionados. Go figure.
– Badtux the Baffled PenguinUniversity of Manchester researcher Paul Hammersley is to tell two international conferences, in London and Madrid on 14 June 2006, that child abuse can cause schizophrenia.
The groundbreaking and highly contentious theory, co-presented by New Zealand clinical psychologist Dr John Read, has been described as “an earthquake” that will radically change the psychiatric profession.
Clinical psychologist and writer Dr Oliver James commented: “The psychiatric establishment is about to experience an earthquake that will shake its intellectual foundations [and] may trigger a landslide.”
Mr Hammersley, Programme Director for the COPE (Collaboration of Psychosocial Education) Initiative at the School of Nursing Midwifery and Social Work, said: “We are not returning to the 1960s and making the mistake of blaming families, but professionals have to realize that child abuse was a reality for large numbers of adult sufferers of psychosis.”
He added: “We work very closely in collaboration with the Hearing Voices Network, that is with the people who hear voices in their head. The experience of hearing voices is consistently associated with childhood trauma regardless of diagnosis or genetic pedigree.”
Dr Read said: “I hope we soon see a more balanced and evidence-based approach to schizophrenia and people using mental health services being asked what has happened to them and being given help instead of stigmatizing labels and mood-altering drugs.”
Hammersley and Read argue that two-thirds of people diagnosed as schizophrenic have suffered physical or sexual abuse and thus it is shown to be a major, if not the major, cause of the illness. With a proven connection between the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia, they say, many schizophrenic symptoms are actually caused by trauma.
Their evidence includes 40 studies, which revealed childhood or adulthood sexual or physical abuse in the history of the majority of psychiatric patients and a review of 13 studies of schizophrenics found abuse rates from a low of 51% to a high of 97%. Psychiatric patients who report abuse are much more likely to experience hallucinations – flashbacks which have become part of the schizophrenic experience and hallucinations or voices that bully them as their abuser did thus causing paranoia and a mistrust of people close to them.
They admit not all schizophrenics suffered trauma and not all abused people develop the illness, but believe less traumatic childhood maltreatment, rather than actual abuse, may be an important difference. In their review of the 33,648 studies conducted into the causes of schizophrenia between 1961 and 2000, they found that less than 1% was spent on examining the impact of parental care. Still, they say, there have been enough studies to suggest negative or confusing early care may be an important addition to abuse as a cause.
Genes may still have a role to play but other evidence Hammersley and Read cite shows that genes alone do not cause the illness. A recent study compared 56 adoptees born to schizophrenic mothers with 96 adoptees whose biological parents did not have the illness. The families were observed extensively when the children were small and all the adoptees were assessed for psychiatric illness in adulthood. It was found that if there was a high genetic risk and it was combined with mystifying care during upbringing, the likelihood of developing schizophrenia was greater – genes alone did not cause the illness.
In addition a recent review revealed that, apart from for Alzheimer’s, not a single gene has been shown to play a critical role in any mental illness, while sociological studies show that schizophrenia poor people are several times more likely than the rich to suffer schizophrenia and urban life increases the risk.
Finally, they argue, if patients believe their illness is an unchangeable genetic destiny and that it is a physical problem requiring a physical solution, they will readily accept a drug prescribed to them when in fact they require other therapy. Worse, those who buy the genetic fairytale are less likely to recover, and that parents who do so are less supportive of their offspring. They recommend that all patients be asked in detail about whether they have been abused, anti-psychotic drugs no longer be doled out automatically and psychological therapies offered more often.
Hammersley and Read will propose the motion ‘Tears on my pillow, voices in my head: This house believes child abuse is a cause of schizophrenia’ at a public debate at the Institute of Psychiatry in London on 14 June 2006. They will also be speaking at 15th ISPS Symposium for the Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia and other Psychoses in Madrid on the same day.
###
The University of Manchester is the largest higher education institution in the country with almost 36 000 students. Its Faculty of Medical & Human Sciences (www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk) is one of the largest faculties of clinical and health sciences in Europe, with a research income of over £37 million. The School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work enjoys national and international research acclaim, attracts considerable funding and publishes extensively in internationally renowned journals. It has three research groups which comprise a number of project and theme-based teams – acute care and rehabilitation, primary health care and mental health.
The University of Auckland is New Zealand’s pre-eminent research-led University. Established in 1883, it has grown into an international centre of learning and academic excellence and is New Zealand’s largest university. The Department of Psychology has teaching and research interests in social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, child development, learning, industrial/organisational psychology, speech language therapy/speech science, clinical, health psychology, and psychological and developmental disabilities.
Source: EurekAlert!
Child Abuse can Cause SchizophreniaDougie Freedman leaves Bolton with the club sat second bottom in the Championship
Bolton Wanderers manager Dougie Freedman has left the Championship club by mutual consent.
The 40-year-old joined from Crystal Palace in October 2012 and they missed out on the play-offs on goal difference in his first season.
Wanderers finished 14th last term, but have won just once in 10 league games so far and sit second bottom.
After his last game in charge at home, Freedman admitted the job was proving more difficult than he expected.
Recent Bolton managers Sam Allardyce October 1999 - April 2007 Sammy Lee April 2007 - October 2007 Gary Megson October 2007 - December 2009 Owen Coyle January 2010 - October 2012 Dougie Freedman October 2012 - October 2014
"Dougie has worked tirelessly off the field to improve the infrastructure of the football club," said Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside.
"Unfortunately recent results on the pitch have not reflected all his work off it.
"The club has faced a difficult time following our relegation from the Premier League, and Dougie has helped to restructure the club in order for it to become successful again under ever-tightening constraints.
"I would like to thank Dougie personally for all his commitment and efforts for Bolton Wanderers."
BBC Radio Manchester's Bolton reporter Jack Dearden "I think it was inevitable given the recent results. It has been a dreadful start to the season. Phil Gartside has come in for a lot of criticism recently and his track record of appointing managers since Sam Allardyce has been poor. The supporters are unhappy with an awful lot of things with the way the club is being run."
Freedman replaced Owen Coyle who was sacked after Bolton had a disappointing start to their first campaign following relegation from the Premier League.
Former Scotland international striker Freedman has had to trim the wage bill at the Macron Stadium after Bolton's 11-year stay in the top flight ended, and last year they announced their debts were up to £163.8m.
During last month's home defeat by Derby, chants of 'Freedman out' and 'Gartside out' were directed at the manager and chairman from some supporters.
You can hear more about Freedman's departure from Bolton on BBC Radio Manchester's Manchester Sports show from 18:00-19:00 BST on Friday.I SAY IT'S TIME our "leaders" in Washington stopped blathering about sex and started paying attention to the issues that really matter to this nation, such as whether we should declare war on Canada.
I say: yes. I base this position on a shocking document that I have obtained via a conduit that I will identify here, for reasons of confidentiality, only as "the U.S. Postal Service." Here is a direct quote from this document:
"Step One: Before inflating Passionate Pam, be sure to smear plenty of..."
Whoops! Wrong document! I meant to quote from an article in the July 1998 issue of Contractor magazine, which was sent to me by alert reader Steve Hill. The article, written by Rob Heselbarth, begins:
"WINDSOR, Ontario - Americans are crossing the Canadian border near Detroit to purchase 3.5-gallon-per-flush toilets."
That is correct: Canada has become a major supplier of illegal 3.5-gallon toilets. These toilets were banned by Congress in 1992 under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which decreed that henceforth U.S. citizens had to buy 1.6-gallon toilets, which would conserve a lot of water if they worked, which unfortunately most of them don't, the result being that U.S. citizens now spend more time flushing their toilets than on all other forms of exercise combined.
But that is not the point. The point is that 1.6-gallon toilets are the law of the land, and as the late Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter stated: "Just because Congress passes a stupid law, that is no excuse for awwwggh." Unfortunately, Justice Frankfurter died at that point, but most legal scholars believe he intended to finish his sentence by saying "... that is no excuse for people to go up to Canada and buy working toilets."
Yet that is exactly what is happening. The Contractor article quotes a Canadian plumbing wholesaler as follows: "We've definitely seen an increase in the sales of 3.5-gallon toilets. The people who buy them are mostly from the States. They tell us outright they're Americans who came here to buy them."
The article quotes officials of both the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency as stating that it is illegal to bring these toilets into the United States. But it also quotes a Customs Service official as saying that Customs makes no effort to confiscate the toilets. "As long as they tell us they have them," the official said, "it makes no difference to us."
In other words, people can simply waltz across our borders with illegal toilets supplied by ruthless Canadian toilet cartels headed by greed-crazed Canadian toilet kingpins who will stop at nothing to push their illicit wares on our vulnerable society. If you are a parent, consider this chilling scenario: Your child is attending a party, when another youngster - a "bad apple" - approaches and says, "Psst! Wanna try a 3.5-gallon Canadian toilet? All the other kids are doing it!" The next thing you know, your child is acting furtive and sneaking off to a "bad part of town" whenever nature calls. Your child is hooked.
Perhaps your parental reaction is: "My little Tommy would never do a thing like that!" Well, let me ask you a couple of questions:
* Do you fully comprehend the power of peer pressure?
* Are you aware that your child is not named "Tommy"?
* Did you realize that "peer pressure" was a toilet-related pun?
If you answered "yes" or "no," then maybe you are beginning to see why we, as a nation, need to send a clear message to the Canadians, in the form of either a sternly worded letter or a nuclear strike. Strong words, you say?
Perhaps you will change your mind when you hear what else Canada is exporting. I refer to an article sent in by alert reader Joe Kovanda from the June 1998 issue of Farm Times, reporting that Canada's foreign trading partners were complaining that shipments of Canadian feed barley contained excessive amounts of - get ready - deer excrement. The headline for this article, which I am not making up, states: "Deer Manure in Barley Miffs Japanese."
So there is little doubt that the entire world, or at least Japanese barley buyers, would stand with us if we put a stop to Canada's reign of terror; if we stood up to Canada and said: "Listen, Maple Breath, we are fed up with your efforts to destroy our way of life with your large, working toilets and your excessive deer doots, which by the way would be an excellent name for a rock band."
Some other advantages of declaring war on Canada are (1) It's one of the few foreign nations that average U.S. citizens - even possibly the CIA - can locate on a map; and (2) professional ice hockey would be canceled. There's virtually no downside! So I urge you to call your elected representatives today and tell them, in no uncertain terms: "I am strongly in favor, although don't ask me of what." Also let them know that we, the people, don't want to hear another word about this Washington sex scandal. Or, if we have to hear more, how about some new episodes? Speaking of which, I have to go; Passionate Pam has sprung a leak.
Pub Date: 11/01/98A Saskatoon bridal shop that was already angering many clients this week says it is closing for good.
Now, clients without wedding dresses are being told to contact the manufacturers themselves.
On Monday, CBC News reported that a Saskatoon bride-to-be was fuming after Champagne Bridal unexpectedly closed its doors last week. Some of its clients had been posting to social media recently that they weren't getting dresses they already paid for.
The store tried to reassure its upset clients, saying "We will continue to work with the suppliers on timely delivery so you will shine on your special day."
On Tuesday, the store announced on its Facebook page that it is permanently shutting down.
"Earlier this year, we started to get behind in payment to the designers, which delayed the shipment of some orders," Champagne Bridal wrote on Facebook. "Our intention was never to take advantage of anyone or cause any stress, as we felt we had everything under control and making improvements to get caught up."
Champagne Bridal is now telling clients who ordered dresses to contact the manufacturers "to make arrangements for delivery."
It went on to say, "We sincerely apologize for causing this upsetting delay and truly wish you all the best."
Champagne Bridal was a family-owned and operated business in downtown Saskatoon for eight years.Earlier this month Forza Motorsport 7 was released for Xbox One. Gamers around the world loaded the game up and most grabbed their Xbox One controllers while the hardcore Forza players had their wheel set ups, but all of them including myself are doing it wrong.
Car and gaming enthusiast POG, who has participated in the famed rally the Gumball 3000, went a different route. He chose to drop the hand held Xbox One controller and drop the faux wheel set up and went for a unique set up. He used his Lamborghini Aventador as his Xbox One controller. While having the worlds most expensive Xbox One Forza 7 controller he also owns a Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta and a McLaren 675LT, so his Forza Motorsport 7 car selection screen is even better than the rest of ours.
POG went and got his game at his local retailer like most of us, but unlike the us he picked his game up in the controller he would be using, his Lamborghini Aventador."In general, the Ukrainian armed forces have successfully repelled militant attacks and inflicted heavy losses in their manpower and equipment,” Stelmakh said.
“Ukrainian soldiers didn’t give up a meter of our native land, and are holding most of the militant positions within range of fire," he said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, according to Ukrainian intelligence, the Ukrainian armed forces destroyed 14 pieces of military equipment and killed 70 militants over the previous day.
Russian-backed militants have surrounded thousands of Ukrainian troops in the town of Debaltseve in Donestsk region, a strategic point that commands road and rail junctions.
According to former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, the militants may attempt to take the town ahead of Wednesday’s proposed peace talks in Minsk so as to change the facts on the ground before the talks.A Tweet quotes Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly saying a Border Patrol agent died last night after being stabbed in the face by a cartel member.
Huffington Post politics and immigration reporter Elise Foley Tweeted on Thursday, “DHS Secretary John Kelly says a CBP officer died last night after being stabbed in the face by a cartel member.”
DHS Secretary John Kelly says a CBP officer died last night after being stabbed in the face by a cartel member. — Elise Foley (@elisefoley) May 25, 2017
This was followed shortly by a Tweet from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Twitter account stating that Border Patrol Agent Isaac Morales had died. “CBP mourns the loss of USBP Agent Isaac Morales. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and fellow agents during this difficult time—KM,” the Tweet states.
CBP mourns the loss of USBP Agent Isaac Morales. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and fellow agents during this difficult time—KM pic.twitter.com/GKSkN2UQf3 — CBP (@CustomsBorder) May 25, 2017
A statement from the El Paso Police Department obtained by Breitbart Texas states the incident began on May 20 when off-duty Agent Morales and his girlfriend walked to their car from a bar they attended. The suspect, later identified as Hisaias Justo Lopez, 39, walked up to the couple, and another couple they were walking with and began an unprovoked confrontation. Morales identified himself to Lopez as a Border Patrol agent. The suspect then pulled a knife and stabbed Morales, Sgt. Enrique Carrillo wrote in a statement. Lopez reportedly fled and Morales pursued him, along with his friend and other witnesses.
Suddenly, Lopez turned and stabbed Morales in the face, Carillo stated. Witnesses eventually tackled Lopez and held him for police.
Emergency medical personnel transported Morales to an area hospital where they listed him in critical condition. Morales died from his wounds on Thursday.
Jail officials told Breitbart Texas Lopez is a U.S. citizen, born in Modesto, California.
Lopez is being held in the El Paso County Detention Facility on a $2 million bond, officials stated. He is charged with murder. Officials stated Lopez is being held in an isolation cell, meaning he is in lockdown 23 hours per day.
Breitbart Texas reached out to Lopez’ attorney, Robert Ramos, for comment. A person in Ramos’ office stated the attorney will not make a comment regarding his client.
“Agent Morales entered on duty with the U.S. Border Patrol February 18, 2008 as a member of border patrol academy class 749,” CBP officials wrote in a statement published by KVIA ABC7 in El Paso. “Please join the Border Patrol in offering condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of Agent Isaac Morales as they cope with this loss. We ask our community to keep Agent Morales’s loved ones in their thoughts and prayers during the difficult days ahead.”
CBS4 in El Paso captured police and Border Patrol officers and agents escorting the body of Agent Morales from the hospital.
Officials with the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 Tweeted a statement of condolence following the loss of a fellow agent. “Our hears are heavy as we morun the loss of BP Agent Isaac Morales, may he rest in peace,” the Rio Grande Valley Sector union Tweeted.
Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of BP Agent Isaac Morales, may he rest in peace https://t.co/dpPQ1wkIij via @elpasotimes — BORDER PATROL RGVTX (@rgv3307) May 25, 2017
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.The Effectiveness of Low-Toughness and Power-Dependent Removal in Oath of the Gatewatch Limited
oath of the gatewatch OGW removal battle for zendikar bfz
I went 4-1 this weekend with a mostly Blue draft deck that splashed three Red cards and a Blighted Gorge. After one of my matches, an opponent mentioned that he sided out a Reality Hemorrhage against me because he didn't see any two-toughness creatures. I took a quick look through my deck and found that only one of my 14 creatures had less than three toughness, and Reckless Bushwhacker usually functioned more like a spell than a creature anyway.
Let's examine the effectiveness of removal spells that deal with one- and two- toughness creatures, as well as removal spells that depend on a creature's power in Oath of the Gatewatch / Battle for Zendikar Limited. I separated each playable creature, made a note of its color, rarity, power, and toughness, as well as whether I think it will win the game if not dealt with quickly. This category includes most bombs, large fliers, reusable card drawers, and reusable token creators. I then used these categorizations along with the expected number of copies of cards at each rarity to determine the number of cards at each power / toughness in each color.
There are a number of limitations to this approach:
Evaluation of creatures as playable or must-kill is subjective.
Not every creature I categorized as playable is equally likely to be played.
Some creatures have abilities that affect their power/toughness. Also, the Support mechanic means these numbers often change over the course of a game.
Multicolor cards are not broken down into their color pairs.
I still think there's value to performing the analysis. I will spare you the details and provide the final numbers. There are two charts each for toughness and power:
The first chart shows the expected number of playable creatures in a sealed pool at each toughness / power by color, as well as "must kill" creatures. While the absolute numbers are different for draft and team sealed, the pack distributions and therefore the relative ratios are the same. Two-Headed Giant uses a different pack ratio (3:1 between Oath of the Gatewatch and Battle for Zendikar), so these numbers do not apply to that format.
The second chart shows the total number of creatures whose toughness / power is less than or equal to that value. This chart makes it easier to see how many creatures in that color / category have a lower or higher toughness / power.
Toughness Matters
It seems that for most colors, two is the most common toughness among playable creatures. Blue is an outlier with about half its playable creatures having three toughness, while Green has a relatively flat distribution between one and four toughness. About half of the creatures that must be killed quickly have a toughness of two, so Reality Hemorrhage should be good against most decks that are not mono-Blue or nearly mono-Blue, as my draft deck was.
Most colors have about one or 1.5 creatures with a toughness of one, so most two-color sealed decks will only have two or three targets for spells like Sparkmage's Gambit and Boiling Earth. Consequently, these cards should not be played maindeck, although they can be sided in against archetypes like G/W/x tokens or against multiple 1/1 Eldrazi Scion tokens.
Power Matters
As with toughness, two is the most common power among playable creatures in most colors. The main exceptions are Black, which has a relatively flat distribution between one and three power. Must kill creatures also have a relatively flat distribution between two and four power.
Let's now consider the various removal spells that depend on a creature's power:
Searing Light kills about half of the playable creatures in most colors, and is especially good against White and Blue. It is less effective against colorless creatures and must kill creatures.
Complete Disregard kills about 80% of playable creatures, and almost all playable White and Blue creatures.
Smite the Monstrous has few targets in White and Blue, about one target each in colorless and Green, and 1.5 targets each in Black, Red, multicolor, and among creatures that must be killed quickly. This breakdown means that the average sealed deck will have two targets in its pool, not all of which will make the cut. However, many bombs have a high power; these are more likely to be played in sealed and more likely to affect the outcome of a game if they're not dealt with quickly. Smite the Monstrous can also be used to respond to pump a spell, so it can make sense to maindeck one copy, but you should probably side it out against White / Blue decks.
Warping Wail has a limited number of targets but also offers a lot of flexibility. It should make the cut in most sealed decks that can cast it reliably.
Titan's Presence is not playable because it is too situational and doesn't do anything if topdecked with an empty hand.
Exert Influence is good even if you can only cast it with two colors. It's excellent if you can cast it for three or more colors.
Aligned Hedron Network is only good as a sideboard option against decks with large colorless or Green creatures.
Conclusion
Removal that kills one-toughness creatures should not be played main deck. Removal that kills two-toughness creatures should usually be played main deck, but you may want to side it out against decks that are mono-Blue or nearly mono-Blue unless you see some targets.
Among removal spells that are dependent on a creature's power:An island and mainland commune in Britanny, France
Commune in Normandy, France
Le Mont-Saint-Michel[1] ( pronounced [mɔ̃ sɛ̃ mi.ʃɛl]; Norman: Mont Saint Miché, English: Saint Michael's Mount) is an island and mainland commune in Normandy, France.
The island[2] is located about one kilometer (0.6 miles) off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is 7 hectares (17 acres) in area. The mainland part of the commune is 393 hectares (971 acres) in area so that the total surface of the commune is 400 hectares (988 acres).[3][4]
As of 2015, the island has a population of 50.[5]
The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers.
The commune's position—on an island just a few hundred metres from land—made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, but defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be assailants. The Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War; a small garrison fended off a full attack by the English in 1433.[6] The reverse benefits of its natural defence were not lost on Louis XI, who turned the Mont into a prison. Thereafter the abbey began to be used regularly as a jail during the Ancien Régime.
One of France's most recognisable landmarks, visited by more than 3 million people each year, the Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.[7] Over 60 buildings within the commune are protected in France as monuments historiques.[8]
Geography [ edit ]
Formation [ edit ]
Now a rocky tidal island, the Mont occupied dry land in prehistoric times. As sea levels rose, erosion reshaped the coastal landscape, and several outcrops of granite emerged in the bay, having resisted the wear and tear of the ocean better than the surrounding rocks. These included Lillemer, the Mont Dol, Tombelaine (the island just to the north), and Mont Tombe, later called Mont Saint-Michel.
Mont Saint-Michel consists of leucogranite which solidified from an underground intrusion of molten magma about 525 million years ago, during the Cambrian period, as one of the younger parts of the Mancellian granitic batholith.[9] (Early studies of Mont Saint-Michel by French geologists sometimes describe the leucogranite of the Mont as "granulite", but this granitic meaning of granulite is now obsolete).[10]
The Mont has a circumference of about 960 m (3,150 ft) and its highest point is 92 m (302 ft) above sea level.[11]
Tides [ edit ]
The tides can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres (46 ft) between highest and lowest water marks. Popularly nicknamed "St. Michael in peril of the sea" by medieval pilgrims making their way across the flats, the mount can still pose dangers for visitors who avoid the causeway and attempt the hazardous walk across the sands from the neighbouring coast.
Polderisation and occasional flooding have created salt marsh meadows that were found to be ideally suited to grazing sheep. The well-flavoured meat that results from the diet of the sheep in the pré salé (salt meadow) makes agneau de pré-salé (salt meadow lamb), a local specialty that may be found on the menus of restaurants that depend on income from the many visitors to the mount.
Tidal island [ edit ]
Low tide in 2005.
The Mont Saint-Michel in 2014 with the new bridge.
The connection between the Mont Saint-Michel and the mainland has changed over the centuries. Previously connected by a tidal causeway uncovered only at low tide, this was converted into a raised causeway in 1879, preventing the tide from scouring the silt around the mount. The coastal flats have also been polderised to create pastureland, decreasing the distance between the shore and the island, and the Couesnon River has been canalised, reducing the dispersion of the flow of water. These factors all encouraged silting-up of the bay.
On 16 June 2006, the French prime minister and regional authorities announced a €164 billion project (Projet Mont-Saint-Michel)[12] to build a hydraulic dam using the waters of the Couesnon and the tides to help remove the accumulated silt, and to make Mont Saint-Michel an island again. The construction of the dam began in 2009. The project also includes the removal of the causeway and its visitor car park. Since 28 April 2012, the new car park on the mainland has been located 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from the island. Visitors can walk or use shuttles to cross the causeway.
On 22 July 2014, the new bridge by architect Dietmar Feichtinger was opened to the public. The light bridge allows the waters to flow freely around the island and improves the efficiency of the now operational dam. The project, which cost €209 million, was officially opened by President François Hollande.[13]
On rare occasions, tidal circumstances produce an extremely high "supertide". The new bridge was completely submerged on 21 March 2015 by the highest sea level for at least 18 years, as crowds gathered to snap photos.[14]
History [ edit ]
The original site was founded by an Irish hermit, who gathered a following from the local community. Mont Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Gallo-Roman culture and power until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in 460. From roughly the fifth to the eighth century, Mont Saint-Michel belonged to the territory of Neustria and, in the early ninth century, was an important place in the marches of Neustria.
Inside the walls of Mont Saint-Michel.
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe (Latin: tumba). According to a legend, the archangel Michael appeared in 708 to Aubert of Avranches, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet.[15]
Unable to defend his kingdom against the assaults of the Vikings, the king of the Franks agreed to grant the Cotentin peninsula and the Avranchin, including Mont Saint-Michel traditionally linked to the city of Avranches, to the Bretons in the Treaty of Compiègne (867). This marked the beginning of a brief period of Breton possession of the Mont. In fact, these lands and Mont Saint-Michel were never really included in the duchy of Brittany and remained independent bishoprics from the newly created Breton archbishopric of Dol. When Rollo confirmed Franco as archbishop of Rouen, these traditional dependences of the Rouen archbishopric were retained in it.
The mount gained strategic significance again in 933 when William I Longsword annexed the Cotentin Peninsula from the weakened Duchy of Brittany. This made the mount definitively part of Normandy, and is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Harold Godwinson is pictured on the tapestry rescuing two Norman knights from the quicksand in the tidal flats during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany. Norman ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.
Bayeux Tapestry scenes 16 and 17: William and Harold at Mont Saint-Michel (at top centre); Harold rescuing knights from quicksand
In 1067 the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel gave its support to William the Conqueror in his claim to the throne of England. This he rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island off the southwestern coast of Cornwall which was modelled after the Mount and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.
Cannons abandoned by Thomas de Scales, 7th Baron Scales at Mont Saint-Michel on 17 June 1434. As of June 2013 only the second cannon, the one closer to the wall, is on display inside the entrance to the Mont's outer wall.
During the Hundred Years' War, the Kingdom of England made repeated assaults on the island but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications. The English initially besieged the Mont in 1423–24, and then again in 1433–34 with English forces under the command of Thomas de Scales, 7th Baron Scales. Two wrought-iron bombards that Scales abandoned when he gave up his siege are still on site. They are known as les Michelettes. Mont Saint-Michel's resolute resistance inspired the French, especially Joan of Arc.
When Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in 1469, he intended that the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel become the chapel for the Order, but because of its great distance from Paris, his intention could never be realised.
The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, including St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall. However, its popularity and prestige as a centre of pilgrimage waned with the Reformation, and by the time of the French Revolution there were scarcely any monks in residence. The abbey was closed and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican regime. High-profile political prisoners followed, but by 1836, |
this case a coin). The end product sounds exactly like scratching a record, but better because he’s doing it with hacker showmanship. One can only image the awesome potential for more elaborate setups having multiple tape samples and the like!
There are a few different videos of the scrubboard in use on [Jeremy’s] website. He is also running a Kickstarter right now in order to turn the project into a stand alone instrument with improved features.
Thanks Omar, for telling us about this cool re-envisionment!REUTERS/Dado Ruvic BlackBerry announceed a management shakeup this morning. Its COO and CMO are out of the company. Its CFO has been replaced.
Kristian Tear was BlackBerry's COO. Frank Boulben was the CMO. James Yersh will replace Brian Bidulka as CFO.
The news comes as part as a larger reorganization of BlackBerry. The company's CEO, Thorsten Heins, left the company earlier this month. Heins was replaced by John S. Chen, who is acting as interim CEO.
All of these shakeups are due in part because of a failed effort by BlackBerry to sell itself and go private. Equity firm Fairfax Financial Holdings made a $4.7 billion offer to buy BlackBerry, but the deal fell through. Instead, Fairfax invested $1 billion in BlackBerry and Heins left the company.
The larger story here is that BlackBerry has failed to regain any of the ground it lost in the consumer smartphone market. In January, the company unveiled BlackBerry 10, its new mobile operating system designed for devices with touchscreens. BlackBerry 10 debuted on two phones, the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10. But BlackBerry still had difficulty selling those devices. Most phones it sold ran its older operating system called BlackBerry 7.
Here's the press release:
BlackBerry Limited BBRY -0.64%CA:BB +2.84%, a world leader in mobile communications, today announced that as part of the on-going reorganization of BlackBerry, Kristian Tear, the Company's Chief Operating Officer, and Frank Boulben, the Company's Chief Marketing Officer, will leave the Company. BlackBerry also announced that James Yersh will replace Brian Bidulka as its Chief Financial Officer. Yersh, who has worked at BlackBerry since 2008, previously served as Senior Vice President, Controller and as the Company's head of Compliance. Bidulka will stay on as a special advisor to the CEO for the remainder of the fiscal year to assist with the transition.
"I thank Kristian and Frank for their efforts on behalf of BlackBerry. I look forward to working more directly with the talented teams of engineers, and the sales and marketing teams around the world to facilitate the BlackBerry turn-around and to drive innovation," said John Chen, Executive Chair and CEO of BlackBerry. "I also thank Brian for his eight years of dedicated service to BlackBerry. I look forward to working with James and his Finance team as we move forward, execute on our plans and deliver long-term value for our shareholders."
Chen added, "BlackBerry has a strong cash position and continues, by a significant margin, to be the top provider of trusted and secure mobile device management solutions to enterprise customers around the world. Building on this core strength, and in conjunction with these management changes, I will continue to align my senior management team and organizational structure, and refine the Company's strategy to ensure we deliver the best devices, mobile security and device management through BES 10, provide multi-platform messaging solutions with BBM, and expand adoption of QNX embedded systems."
BlackBerry also announced today that Roger Martin, a Board member since 2007, has resigned. "Our Board has benefitted from Roger's expertise and insights over the past six years and we wish him the best," said Barbara Stymiest, Board Member and Former Chair of the Board.
James Yersh has more than 15 years of experience in the technology and telecommunications industries. Yersh previously served as the Senior Vice President, Controller and head of Compliance for BlackBerry. Prior to joining BlackBerry in 2008, he held various senior positions at Cognos Incorporated and Deloitte.
Third Quarter Fiscal 2014 Results Conference Call Details
BlackBerry will discuss additional details around this announcement when it reports results for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 on December 20th, 2013. A conference call and live webcast will be held beginning at 8 am ET, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-814-4859 or through your BlackBerry(R) 10 smartphone, personal computer or BlackBerry(R) PlayBook(TM) tablet at http://ca.blackberry.com/company/investors/events.html. A replay of the conference call will also be available at approximately 10 am by dialing (+1)416-640-1917 and entering pass code 4612570# or by clicking the link above on your BlackBerry(R) 10 smartphone, personal computer or BlackBerry(R) PlayBook(TM) tablet. This replay will be available until midnight ET January 3, 2014.Not to be confused with spirographs, which are generally enclosed by a circular boundary, whereas Lissajous curves are enclosed by rectangular boundaries.
A Lissajous figure, made by releasing sand from a container at the end of a double pendulum
In mathematics, a Lissajous curve, also known as Lissajous figure or Bowditch curve, is the graph of a system of parametric equations
x = A sin ( a t + δ ), y = B sin ( b t ), {\displaystyle x=A\sin(at+\delta ),\quad y=B\sin(bt),}
which describe complex harmonic motion. This family of curves was investigated by Nathaniel Bowditch in 1815, and later in more detail by Jules Antoine Lissajous in 1857.
The appearance of the figure is highly sensitive to the ratio a/b. For a ratio of 1, the figure is an ellipse, with special cases including circles (A = B, δ = π/2 radians) and lines (δ = 0). Another simple Lissajous figure is the parabola (b/a = 2, δ = π/4). Other ratios produce more complicated curves, which are closed only if a/b is rational. The visual form of these curves is often suggestive of a three-dimensional knot, and indeed many kinds of knots, including those known as Lissajous knots, project to the plane as Lissajous figures.
Visually, the ratio a/b determines the number of "lobes" of the figure. For example, a ratio of 3/1 or 1/3 produces a figure with three major lobes (see image). Similarly, a ratio of 5/4 produces a figure with five horizontal lobes and four vertical lobes. Rational ratios produce closed (connected) or "still" figures, while irrational ratios produce figures that appear to rotate. The ratio A/B determines the relative width-to-height ratio of the curve. For example, a ratio of 2/1 produces a figure that is twice as wide as it is high. Finally, the value of δ determines the apparent "rotation" angle of the figure, viewed as if it were actually a three-dimensional curve. For example, δ = 0 produces x and y components that are exactly in phase, so the resulting figure appears as an apparent three-dimensional figure viewed from straight on (0°). In contrast, any non-zero δ produces a figure that appears to be rotated, either as a left–right or an up–down rotation (depending on the ratio a/b).
Lissajous figure on an oscilloscope, displaying a 1:3 relationship between the frequencies of the vertical and horizontal sinusoidal inputs, respectively.
Lissajous figures where a = 1, b = N (N is a natural number) and
δ = N − 1 N π 2 {\displaystyle \delta ={\frac {N-1}{N}}{\frac {\pi }{2}}}
are Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind of degree N. This property is exploited to produce a set of points, called Padua points, at which a function may be sampled in order to compute either a bivariate interpolation or quadrature of the function over the domain [−1,1] × [−1,1].
The relation of some Lissajous curves to Chebyshev polynomials is clearer to understand if the Lissajous curve which generates each of them is expressed using cosine functions rather than sine functions.
x = cos ( t ), y = cos ( N t ) {\displaystyle x=\cos(t),\quad y=\cos(Nt)}
Examples [ edit ]
a / b increases from 0 to 1 Animation showing curve adaptation as the ratioincreases from 0 to 1
The animation shows the curve adaptation with continuously increasing a/b fraction from 0 to 1 in steps of 0.01 (δ = 0).
Below are examples of Lissajous figures with δ = π/2, an odd natural number a, an even natural number b, and |a − b| = 1.
a = 1, b = 2 (1:2)
a = 3, b = 2 (3:2)
a = 3, b = 4 (3:4)
a = 5, b = 4 (5:4)
Generation [ edit ]
Prior to modern electronic equipment, Lissajous curves could be generated mechanically by means of a harmonograph.
Practical application [ edit ]
Lissajous curves can also be generated using an oscilloscope (as illustrated). An octopus circuit can be used to demonstrate the waveform images on an oscilloscope. Two phase-shifted sinusoid inputs are applied to the oscilloscope in X-Y mode and the phase relationship between the signals is presented as a Lissajous figure.
In the professional audio world, this method is used for realtime analysis of the phase relationship between the left and right channels of a stereo audio signal. On larger, more sophisticated audio mixing consoles an oscilloscope may be built-in for this purpose.
On an oscilloscope, we suppose x is CH1 and y is CH2, A is the amplitude of CH1 and B is the amplitude of CH2, a is the frequency of CH1 and b is the frequency of CH2, so a/b is the ratio of frequencies of the two channels, and δ is the phase shift of CH1.
A purely mechanical application of a Lissajous curve with a = 1, b = 2 is in the driving mechanism of the Mars Light type of oscillating beam lamps popular with railroads in the mid-1900s. The beam in some versions traces out a lopsided figure-8 pattern on its side.
Application for the case of a = b [ edit ]
In this figure both input frequencies are identical, but the phase variance between them creates the shape of an ellipse
Top: Output signal as a function of time.
Middle: Input signal as a function of time.
Bottom: Resulting Lissajous curve when output is plotted as a function of the input.
In this particular example, because the output is 90 degrees out of phase from the input, the Lissajous curve is a circle, and is rotating counterclockwise. Output signal as a function of time.Input signal as a function of time.Resulting Lissajous curve when output is plotted as a function of the input.In this particular example, because the output is 90 degrees out of phase from the input, the Lissajous curve is a circle, and is rotating counterclockwise.
When the input to an LTI system is sinusoidal, the output is sinusoidal with the same frequency, but it may have a different amplitude and some phase shift. Using an oscilloscope that can plot one signal against another (as opposed to one signal against time) to plot the output of an LTI system against the input to the LTI system produces an ellipse that is a Lissajous figure for the special case of a = b. The aspect ratio of the resulting ellipse is a function of the phase shift between the input and output, with an aspect ratio of 1 (perfect circle) corresponding to a phase shift of ±90° and an aspect ratio of ∞ (a line) corresponding to a phase shift of 0° or 180°.[1]
The figure below summarizes how the Lissajous figure changes over different phase shifts. The phase shifts are all negative so that delay semantics can be used with a causal LTI system (note that −270° is equivalent to +90°). The arrows show the direction of rotation of the Lissajous figure.[1]
A pure phase shift affects the eccentricity of the Lissajous oval. Analysis of the oval allows phase shift from an LTI system to be measured..
In engineering [ edit ]
A Lissajous curve is used in experimental tests to determine if a device may be properly categorized as a memristor.[citation needed]
In culture [ edit ]
In film [ edit ]
Science fiction style Lissajous animation
Lissajous figures were sometimes displayed on oscilloscopes meant to simulate high-tech equipment in science-fiction TV shows and movies in the 1960s and 1970s.[2]
The title sequence by John Whitney for Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo is based on Lissajous figures.[3]
In a sequence towards the end of an episode of Columbo entitled "Make me a Perfect Murder", the detective sits watching Lissajous curves displayed to music on monitors in a TV outside broadcast van.
Company logos [ edit ]
Lissajous figures are sometimes used in graphic design as logos. Examples include:
In modern art [ edit ]
The Dadaist artist Max Ernst painted Lissajous figures directly by swinging a punctured bucket of paint over a canvas.[6]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]The egg wiggled — actually, “wiggled” isn’t the right word. The egg shook — no, “shook” isn’t the right word, either. The egg rumbled — nope, “rumbled” is wrong, too. The egg quaked.
Yes.
There it is.
The egg quaked. It was massive, this quake. It had an aftershock, this quake. It was undeniable and intimidating. Because the egg, the offspring of a giant bald eagle, was all of those things as well. And it was hatching.
All of the biographical information you can read on the internet about J.J. Watt will tell you that he was born:
On March 22. In 1989. In Wisconsin. In a hospital. To Connie (mom) and John Watt (dad), hardworking middle-class Americans.
Those are nice details and make for a nice backstory, but that’s all they are: a story. A fiction. A fable. They aren’t the truth.
Here is the truth, and I will tell you the truth because I am a patriot and telling the truth is a fundamental tenet of patriotism: J.J. Watt was not born in a hospital in Wisconsin on March 22, 1989, to Connie (mom) and John Watt (dad), hardworking middle-class Americans. J.J. Watt was born:
On July Fourth. In 1989. In Washington, D.C. He was hatched out of a giant egg in the nest of a giant bald eagle. To a giant bald eagle (mom) and the ghost of George Washington (dad).
Theirs was a captivating romance, the giant bald eagle and the ghost of George Washington. Most didn’t understand it. Most said it wouldn’t work, that it couldn’t work. “You’re an eagle and he’s a ghost!” the dissenters would say. But it made no never mind to either of them. “They also said America wouldn’t work, do you remember that?” the ghost of George Washington asked his ghost friends one night. “And look at us, the finest country on earth, with the finest military, and also several Long John Silver’s in many cities.” With that, he defeated his naysayers.
When the giant bald eagle told her parents of her relationship with the ghost of George Washington, there was also turmoil. She confessed her love for him: “Skreeeeeeeee.” Her mother shot back in disappointment: “Skreeeeeeeee.” Her father echoed her mother: “Skreeeeeeeee.” And it went on like that, the bickering and the arguing, each of them skreeeeeeeee-ing things that they could never take back. But the giant bald eagle was not there to ask permission. The giant bald eagle was there to tell them that she was in love.
And so her relationship with the ghost of George Washington grew, and it grew beautifully and perfectly, until one night he laid her down on a giant American flag and he told her he loved her and she told him “Skreeeeeeeee” and they consummated their love, and some say that fireworks were invented that night, but I cannot say for certain.
Three months later — one month for each branch of the United States government — the egg quaked. And when it hatched, there sat a fully grown J.J. Watt: American, in his Houston Texans uniform, because they don’t have an Americans uniform in the NFL, because the NFL is not perfect. A Texans uniform was as close as Watt could get, so that’s what he went with.
“Hello, J.J., I’m your daddy,” the ghost of George Washington said to J.J. Watt. His giant bald eagle mama leaned in and pecked him gently with her giant bald eagle beak. And J.J. Watt spoke his first words, except they weren’t words at all.
J.J. Watt’s first words were a salute, and it was a salute so fine and so strong that the sound of him moving his hand to his forehead traveled through time and obliterated an ISIS stronghold in the Middle East.
Do you remember when the Americans were the first people to land on the moon? I’m sure you know that story. Again, most of it is just that: a story. The real truth is that the night J.J. Watt became the NFL’s sack leader in 2012, the ghost of George Washington, who’d vanished back into the netherworld on J.J.’s 18th birthday, returned to him. “You must help America,” he told Watt. “How,” Watt asked. “The moon,” the ghost of George Washington said, and then a time-warping space portal appeared.
Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida, 1969
“How did this happen?!” the Secretary of Space Defense said to a room full of subordinates. “You told me it’d be ready! My ass is on the line here!”
“I don’t know,” one of the subordinates responded, ashamed. “The math all worked in the test simulations. It must be a mechanical issue.”
“Don’t you put that shit on us!” exclaimed a person from the mechanical side of things. “We triple-checked everything! I’m tired of you math fucks pinning everything bad that happens on us!”
They were all arguing with one another because USA’s planned mission to the moon, which would’ve made Americans the first to step foot there, had come completely unraveled. The rocket would not launch. It just sat there, a dud. And now there was real fear that Russia’s cosmonauts were going to get there first. The billion-dollar totem of their failures sat on a launch pad, useless, staring at them.
“I think I can help,” a voice rang out from the back of the room. Everyone turned to look. It was J.J. Watt: American.
“Who the fuck are you?” asked the Secretary of Space Defense. “That’s not important,” Watt responded. “What is important is getting American footprints on the moon before the cosmonauts can. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“And just how to plan on doing that?” someone asked. “Our rocket has gone to shit.”
“I don’t need a rocket,” said J.J. Watt: American. “Follow me.” And so they did. He led them toward the parking lot. “I’ve got this … ” he said, as he opened the door outside.
“Oh my God,” said someone.
“Is that … ” began someone else.
“Yes,” said J.J. Watt: American.
It was a Ford Super Duty F-350. It had leather seats, and the headrest on each side was embroidered with the preamble to the Constitution.
J.J. Watt climbed inside and started it up, and when he did the whole space center vibrated from its tremendous power. “Now if you boys will excuse me … ” Watt said, and then he punched the gas and the Ford Super Duty F-350 took off down the road and then lifted up off the road and headed right the fuck up into outer space. J.J. Watt steered his way to the moon. When he got there, he took a breath, opened his door, then got out. He stomped his footprints into the surface. “Suck it, Russia,” he said, and then got back in the truck and drove home to America, and he hummed Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to Be an American” on his way.
“There you go,” he told everyone at the space center when he got back.
And they all clapped and cheered for him and the high-ranking government official saluted him and J.J. Watt saluted back and when he did another ISIS stronghold fell.
Have you ever heard of stolen valor? That’s when a person who was not in the military dresses up and pretends to have been in the military. It happens more than you think. Or, at least it used to. One time a pretend soldier approached J.J. Watt, who immediately sensed the lie. “What base were you stationed at?” J.J. Watt asked the thief. “I was at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas,” the thief responded, and J.J. grew more and more incensed, because he’d been to Fort Hood and shaken hands with many actual soldiers there. “Listen,” J.J. Watt said. “Would you mind doing me a favor?”
“Of course,” the thief said.
“I have a special connection to the national anthem. Would you mind if we sang it together?” J.J. asked.
“Absolutely,” the thief said.
“The only problem is there aren’t any flags around here,” J.J. said, and he pretended to glance around.
“Yeah, you’re right,” said the thief. “That’s a shame. I lay my life on the line for the flag and there’s not one to be found when I need it. What’s happening to this country?”
“Well,” J.J. said. “I know where to get one real quick. Would you help me get it?”
“Where?” the thief asked. “For sure I’ll help.”
And J.J. smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.” Then J.J. cocked back and power-socked the thief in the mouth, and the blood splatter and knocked-out teeth made a flag in the air.
“Right there,” J.J. said, and he began singing the anthem.
J.J. Watt was not lying when he said that he had a special connection to the anthem.
The night before he became the NFL’s sack leader for a second time in 2015, Watt was again visited by the ghost of George Washington. “Hello, father,” said J.J. Watt. “Son, America needs you one last time,” said the ghost of George Washington. “How, father?” J.J. Watt asked. And the ghost of George Washington said just one word: “Anthem.” And then he vanished, and the time-travel portal opened up.
The Home of Francis Scott Key, Maryland, 1814
“Goddamnit,” a frustrated Key said to himself. He’d been working on a poem all night; he’d probably been working on it his whole life, really. It was to be one of the defining documents in the history of the country, and would eventually become America’s national anthem. If only he could finish it.
“I’m dying here,” he said to himself. It had been a good eight days since he’d started on the poem, and he was no closer to finding an ending than he was seven days ago.
“I think I can help,” a voice rang out from the back of the room. Key, startled, turned to look. It was J.J. Watt: American.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“That’s not important,” Watt said. “What is important is getting your poem finished. You don’t know this, but it’s vital that you do. It will change everything. It will become iconic. But not if we don’t finish it. So what seems to be the problem?”
“I don’t know how to end it,” Key said. “I need the perfect line.”
“OK,” Watt said. “What do you have so far?”
“Well, the second-to-last line is, ‘O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,’ but that’s it. I’m stuck there. I like everything up until that point. I’m thinking maybe I end with, ‘Liberty is great, I’m glad I’m not in a grave.’ Or maybe, ‘America is cool, right now we have slaves.’ I don’t know. What do you think?”
J.J. took a second, and nothing came to mind. This was a challenge harder than any he’d ever faced. No amount of tire flips could’ve prepared him for this. He closed his eyes. He closed them so tight that everything disappeared: all the noise, the clutter, the hum of the universe. It was gone. There was nothing there. Until there was.
It was his giant bald eagle mother. He remembered her waking him up for school. He remembered the way the house seemed to glow on Thanksgiving after she’d spent the day cooking. He remembered the way she would sing to him before bedtime. He remembered the way she smelled and the way it felt when she would hug him. He remembered all of it. And he began to weep. And the tears, they fell down his face and onto the floor, and as they splashed onto the floor he could hear the echoes of all the American soldiers that had served so proudly. He pictured them all; protecting our liberty, preserving peace; the way they always kept marching forward no matter the amount of fear they had in them. And it hit him.
He opened his eyes.
“I’ve got it.”
“How about, ‘And the home of the brave’?”
“Oh fuck,” Key said. “That’s perfect.” And he dipped his quill into his ink and then wrote the line down on the parchment he’d been scribbling on. Then he turned around to say thank you. And J.J. was already gone. Because patriots don’t need thank-yous. Service is thank you enough.
And through the time portal, just as it was closing, Key could hear the sound of a J.J. Watt salute. With it, a third ISIS stronghold fell.
J.J. Watt: American’s work was done. For now.Few observers anticipated a 10% swing to the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in Singapore’s general election this month – not even the PAP leadership and its “true believers”. The government received 70% of the vote, an improvement from 60% in the 2011 “breakthrough” election – its worst electoral performance. How did the PAP achieve this?
The PAP’s unbroken 56-year rule in Southeast Asia’s only Chinese-majority state has been underpinned by fear, insecurity and a subtle degree of ethno-nationalism. These features become more apparent when the 2015 and 2001 election results are closely examined.
The 2001 elections were purposefully held just after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The PAP garnered a whopping 75% of the vote.
Stacked in the government’s favour
The 2015 election was held after a nine-day campaign, the legal minimum. The electoral process was far from democratic, with the PAP systematically stacking the institutional odds in its favour. The government’s machinations suggest that, typical of elected authoritarian regimes, it remains hyper-vigilant and insecure.
The vote was held shortly after extravagant National Day celebrations marking 50 years of independence, when nationalist fervour was high. Only months earlier, the nation’s “founder” and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew died, garnering sympathy votes for the PAP.
The Elections Department, an arm of the Prime Minister’s Office, arbitrarily redrew the electoral boundaries. The department abolished “problematic” seats that the PAP nearly lost in 2011, created new ones, merged others and redrew seats.
These changes diminished the electoral clout of key voting groups, particularly the educated middle-class. In the last decade or so, they have tended to be critical of the PAP’s draconian actions against public intellectuals and supportive of opposition parties. Unlike the less well-off, middle-class Singaporeans are not strongly beholden to the government for subsidies and handouts.
A campaign of smear and fear
With the help of compliant media, a “smear and fear” campaign was unleashed against the Workers Party (WP) for supposed financial mismanagement of the Aljunied town council and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) for its left-leaning policies.
Threatened by effective opposition campaigning strategies, the PAP unleashed its well-oiled propaganda machinery, particularly in the last five days of the campaign. The PAP had felt threatened by massive opposition rallies, an impressive line-up of opposition candidates and the WP’s call to send 20 opposition politicians to the 89-seat parliament – an increase from the previous seven. The WP argued that stronger opposition representation was needed to put pressure on the government to institute much-needed reforms.
EPA/Wallace Woon
The WP and SDP election manifestos offered comprehensive and coherent social and economic policies. These presented a sharp contrast to the PAP agenda, which retained unpopular policies in areas such as immigration, education and superannuation.
Circuitous debates between opposition and PAP politicians, via the mainstream media and nightly rallies, indicated that many of the PAP’s technocratic ministers were handicapped by wooden personae and elitist attitudes. Their politically savvy opposition counterparts would likely have outperformed them in direct debates.
Callous comments by one minister, Tan Chuan Jin, who said the aged poor who collect cardboard for cash were only doing it for exercise, shocked the public. For many, this confirmed suspicions that PAP leaders had become out of touch.
In lieu of rigorous debates and analyses in the media, the contest of metaphors, puns and double-speak between competing politicians provided some relief from the grim reality of an election fought on a less-than-level playing field. Having failed to restrict the focus to the PAP’s leadership renewal and narrow town council issues, rather than national policy, and with the opposition gaining momentum, the government mounted a scare campaign. PAP leaders repeatedly warned that as all seats were contested, there was no guarantee that the PAP would form the next government.
EPA/Wallace Woon
Voters were warned that even if the PAP was returned with a reduced majority, weak governance would ensue, jeopardising Singapore’s economic success. At a rally in the city’s financial district, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of the country facing oblivion (using the Chinese dialect word liow) if the opposition won government.
The SDP’s policies of raising taxes for top earners, imposing minimum wages and increasing social spending were lambasted for taking Singapore down the road of failed economies such as Greece. The SDP’s proposed cut in defence spending was denounced as reckless because it would subject Singapore to the vagaries of regional (non-Chinese) bullies.
Singaporeans were reminded of the debilitating political coups in Thailand, Malaysia’s slide towards political chaos, corruption and anti-Chinese ethno-nationalism, Islamist terrorist cells stalking the region and beyond, and China’s economic downturn.
The PAP also raised the spectre of instability and turmoil in the West in the form of ethnic riots, moral decay and welfare-induced economic degeneration. In this threatening global environment, the inference was that only the PAP could safeguard the country’s security and stability.
Mainstream media faithfully echoed the PAP’s discourse of fear. The media failed to rigorously analyse the major parties’ key policies. Comparing government and opposition policies would also have negated the PAP’s projection of itself as a national movement rather than just a political party.
A peculiar model of democracy
Former prime minister Goh Chok Tong brazenly opined that less debate and discussion on sensitive issues had contributed to the success of Singapore’s political system.
Ours is not the same system as in the West. It’s modified for our needs.
Singapore is certainly not a liberal democracy. It is not even a pluralist democracy akin to other industrialised nations in East Asia such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. In my 2009 book, Singapore in the Malay World: Building and Breaching Regional Bridges, I explore the PAP’s cultivation of a Singaporean identity rooted in a culture of fear, paranoia, ethno-nationalist insecurity and an ambiguous Southeast Asian consciousness – mirroring that of Lee Kuan Yew.
Recent statements from the PAP leadership, the mainstream media and establishment academics suggest further political and electoral engineering may be underway. This is in line with the prime minister’s repeated assertions during the campaign that the PAP needed to “get the politics right”.
Having gained a solid mandate, the PAP is poised to get on with deepening the construction of a political model that purportedly works for Singapore. A long-serving regime and its formidable state apparatus, which presided over one of Asia’s most robust economies, has cultivated a citizenry that is prepared to press for substantive policy reform but remains fearful of regime change.
Authoritarian regimes and one-party states, heartened by the PAP’s landslide victory, will no doubt be closely observing how it’s done.Saudi Arabia has threatened to blockade neighbouring Qatar by air, land and sea unless Doha cuts ties with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, closes global channel al-Jazeera, and expels local branches of the US Brookings Institution and Rand Corporation think tanks.
The threat was issued by Riyadh before it withdrew its ambassador to Doha and branded as “terrorist organisations” the brotherhood, Lebanon’s Hizbullah and al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Jabhat al-Nusra.
Although the kingdom has long been the font of Sunni ultra-orthodox Salafism and jihadism, it now seeks to contain radical movements and media and other organisations giving them publicity.
King Abdullah has decreed that any Saudi who fights abroad could be jailed for 20-30 years, and those who join, endorse or provide moral or material support to groups classified as “terrorist” or “extremist” will risk prison sentences of five to 30 years.
The decree followed the gazetting of a sweeping new anti- terrorism law prohibiting acts that disturb public order, promote insecurity, undermine national unity or harm the reputation of the kingdom.
Contradiction
While the law and decree are meant to curb jihadi operations on Saudi soil as well as counter non-jihadi dissidence, these legal instruments appear to contradict government policy on foreign jihad.
While 400 Saudis have returned home from Syrian battlefields, another 1,000-2,000 are believed to be fighting with jihadi groups funded by the government as well as wealthy Saudis, Kuwaitis and Qataris.
An informed source speculated the decree sends a message to Saudis: “Don’t come home. Fight unto death or victory.”
For half a century Saudi Arabia used its oil wealth to promote Muslim fundamentalists, notably the brotherhood and its offshoots, to counter the secular pan-Arab nationalism preached by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Syrian and Iraqi Baath parties.
The kingdom provided refuge for brotherhood officials and activists from Egypt and other countries where governments were battling the movement. However, in recent years, Riyadh fell out with the brotherhood because it did not follow Saudi dictation.
After Shia clerics overthrew the shah of Iran in 1979 and tried to export their “Islamic revolution” to the wider Muslim world, which is 85 per cent Sunni, Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the guardian of Sunni orthodoxy, turned to evangelism.
The object has been to convert Muslims to “Wahhabism,” the Saudi puritanical interpretation of Islam. The Saudi campaign in Syria is against Damascus’s ally Shia Iran as well as godless, secular Baathism.
The rise in the price of oil since the 1970s has enabled the Saudis to train clerics and build schools, Islamic centres, universities and mosques around the world.
Traditionally gentle, tolerant, mystic Sufis, who had served as Islam’s missionaries, have been replaced by narrow, harsh Wahhabi preachers and imams. Over the past 30 years the kingdom has spent more than $100 billion (€72 billion) on promoting Wahhabism.
Even before the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia – partnered by the US Central Intelligence Agency – trained and armed mujahideen (holy warriors) from Afghanistan and across the Muslim world to fight the Soviet Afghan republic. After the war ended with the Soviet withdrawal from that country in 1989, veterans of this conflict fanned out to fight in Bosnia, Algeria, Libya, the Caucasus and elsewhere.
Blowback
Fearing blowback from Saudi jihadis engaged in the Syrian war, Riyadh has recently given the Syrian file to the interior minister Prince Mohamed bin Nayef, who has been in charge of an anti-terrorism campaign in the kingdom and Yemen, replacing intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
The Wall Street Journal has quoted a key Saudi source who said the shift suggests that Riyadh could rely more on diplomatic than military means by exerting pressure on Russia, Iran and Hizbullah, Damascus’s chief supporters, to resolve the conflict by removing President Bashar al-Assad.
Nevertheless, Riyadh also favours providing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to “vetted” rebels, well aware these weapons could fall into al-Qaeda hands.The First PS4 Kernel Exploit: Adieu By ps4_enthusiast
Filed under ps4 vulnerability exploit
Plenty of time has passed since we first demonstrated Linux running on the PS4.
Now we will step back a bit and explain how we managed to jump from the browser process into the kernel such that ps4-kexec et al. are usable.
Over time, ps4 firmware revisions have progressively added many mitigations and in general tried to lock down the system. This post will mainly touch on vulnerabilities and issues which are not present on the latest releases, but should still be useful for people wanting to investigate ps4 security.
Vulnerability Discovery
As previously explained, we were able to get a dump of the ps4 firmware 1.01 kernel via a PCIe man-in-the-middle attack. Like |
back in San Diego, taking his old job back.
There you have it. Which of these fine candidates would you want the Chargers to go after to bolster the depth and experience in the defensive secondary?The show attracted a steady stream
of bike fans to Swan Island.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)
The fifth annual Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show kicked off Saturday at the Vigor Industries shipyard on Swan Island. The industrial setting served as the perfect backdrop for a showcase of talented welders and makers brought together by the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association. As hail and rain pounded outside, the exhibitors enjoyed a solid turnout of handmade bike fans eager to see their latest creations.
The first bike that caught my eye was a new model in the growing Cielo Cycles line. The “Cross Classic” is a flat-bar cyclocross rig that comes with fender eyelets, making it the perfect bike to “Ride to work all week and then race on the weekends,” said marketing guy Dylan Van Weelden…
Across the aisle from Cielo was wooden helmet maker Dan Coyle. I first met Coyle back in March at the Portland Bike Show, and he’s continued to refine his product since then. He showed off several custom jobs, including an awesome pith helmet he made for a guy who’s going on a bike tour in South Africa. Coyle said he’s on the verge of moving toward more production runs (instead of custom work) and he’ll be launching a Kickstarter campaign soon to help fund in-house machining, ongoing safety certifications, and marketing…
The pith helmet (modeled by Ethan Jewett).
Phil Ross and Jamie Nichols from Metrofiets are going strong as ever. They showed off one of their gorgeous cargo bikes that’s on its way to a customer in France (and it just happens to be painted Oregon Ducks green and yellow). As always, the bike has several new and nifty touches. Instead of stickers or paint, the logo is carved directly into the wooden cargo box. Phil also pointed out that the front light is mounted under the box, which has the benefit of illuminating the bright yellow rims and making them visible from the side…
And then it was time to pay my new bike a visit. Joseph Ahearne is nearly done with so I’ll save detailed photos and thoughts until it’s all done and painted; but I can’t resist sharing just one…
Joseph also showed a fantastic, fire-red commuter headed for a customer in Michigan. Some of the highlights include: stainless steel lugs and dropouts, Ghisalli wooden rims, Rohloff 14-speed internal hub, and chromed racks…
Sam Beck was tired of seeing, “Crappy boomboxes duct taped to handlebars,” so he decided to make and sell custom, fully integrated bike sound systems. His new company, Blueshift Bike Sound has been up and running for three months and he was getting a lot of attention at the show. He’s sourced a waterproof speaker from California and he wraps it with a wooden speaker box and sets up all the wiring to attach it to your iPod or smartphone…
It might seem strange that Renovo Hardwood Bicycles now makes a cruiser; but when you realize they have a showroom in the tony beach town of Sausalito, California, it starts to make sense. Check out their new “Beachwood” model…
And then there was the “Mini Velo” from the expansive and wonderful mind of Wade Beauchamp (Vulture Cycles, Bend). This thing is 100% fun. It’s got 16-inch wheels, one (rather large) gear, and a stout frame and fork that just begs it to be ridden fast and cornered hard…
I always enjoy the work of Eric Estlund (Winter Bicycles, Eugene). I didn’t get a chance to chat with him, but his bikes speak for themselves. I especially liked his matte-finished, avocado green, twin top tube city bike…
Veteran local builder Andy Newlands straddles the old and new. He founded his Strawberry Cycles operation in 1971; but he’s far from a retro-grouch. Andy has been working with local prototyping company, Houserworks, to make plastic molds of fork crowns and other parts from a computer-rendered file and then sent to a 3-D printer. He can design a crown, have it printed out and tested, then have the file sent to a factory to be made — by computers. “It’s all computer-to-computer these days,” he said…
I also ran into Ben Farver of Argonaut Cycles. Ben has recently re-emerged onto the scene after spending two years perfecting a new process to make custom carbon fiber frames. Instead of fitting tubes of carbon fiber to each other, Ben uses a “bladder-molded” process that produces whole frame parts in one piece (which makes them stronger and lighter). Usually molds are specific to one size, but Ben has figured out how to offer a full size run for each mold. Argonaut also offers “custom lay-ups” of different carbon fiber weaves depending on what ride characteristics a customer is looking for…
On the other end of the spectrum from super-fast carbon fiber road bikes is touring bike specialist Jon Littleford (Littleford Custom Bicycles, Portland). Jon’s main show bike was his rendition of a Dutch mixte. This blue beauty has a Nuvinci rear hub, disc brakes, front and rear racks, and a comfortable, upright riding position…
There are cargo bikes and then there is the Truck Trike. Bill Stites’ (Stites Design, Portland) creation is in a class by itself. Since I first checked in on Bill over two years ago, his trike has come a long way. This thing is a 285-pound vehicle with a 600 lb payload capacity, electric hub motors, motorcycle disc brakes, and a front end that’s built “Like a tank” with Stites’ proprietary steering and drivetrain systems. Stites has recently secured funding from a local bank which will help him move to a larger facility where he plans to focus on production. His ideal customers are urban delivery companies (Shift in Vancouver, BC uses one and B-Line PDX is testing them) and companies with large indoor warehouses (like Boeing). “I feel like the time is right for vehicles like this,” he says…
Another interesting bike at the show was the “Penny” — an all copper creation from Mark Simmons (Belladonna Cycles, Portland). It was commissioned by Sacro Bosco Rims and it was on display in their booth…
This isn’t all I saw. For more, check out the full photo gallery. If you want to see more of these great bikes (and the people who build them) in person, there’s still one full day of the show left! Roll down to the Vigor Industries Building No. 10 (5555 N. Channel Ave) on Swan Island from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday. More info on the event website.
Front Page
oregon handmade bicycle showIt’s been just over a year since the Supreme Court allowed voters to reject all candidates in an election by pressing the Nota button – None of the Above.
In the assembly elections and general elections held since then, it did not seem to matter much, as the rise of Narendra Modi made every election an interesting affair. Few probably felt like pressing the Nota option.
However, slowly, but surely, Ms Nota is making her presence felt. In the recent Maharashtra assembly polls, results for which came in yesterday (19 October), Ms Nota registered nearly half a million votes – 4,83,459 votes, to be precise.
Just in case you think this is a small number, please note that this is more than what nine organised political parties managed to get. Among them: the Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, the Samajwadi Party, the Republican Party of India (Athawale) (a BJP ally), the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
In the Naxal-affected constituency of Gadchiroli, Ms Nota came in at a spiffy No 3. While the winner from the BJP got 70,185 votes, the runner-up from the Nationalist Congress Party got barely 770 votes more than Ms Nota (18,280 vs 17,510).
Clearly, the Naxals had something to do with this affinity for Ms Nota.
But even otherwise, Ms Nota has come into her own in this election and if one were to take the total Nota votes (4,83,459) into account and compare it with parties that won seats with less than that, one can gauge the real impact of this option.
With an almost similar number of votes, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen got two seats; with just two-thirds of Nota votes, the Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi got three seats; the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha got a seat each with less votes that Ms Nota.
Put another way, it means Ms Nota should get anywhere between one to three seats in the next Maharashtra assembly. Maybe the Election Commission should keep two seats vacant to tip its hat in the direction of Ms Nota.
The Haryanvis, however, seemed less enamoured by Ms Nota’s charms, and only 0.4 percent, of just 53,613 voters, pressed this button.
In Maharashtra, though, Ms Nota is the one going without any representation. A pity. She deserved better.
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.Adult Swim's Toonami block in the United States will premiere the Evangelion 1.11 cut of the Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone film next Sunday. The announcement was first made at Toonami's question-and-answer panel at Atlanta's MomoCon event on Sunday. The showing will air at 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 17 as part of the "Toonami Birthday Party" lineup.
Funimation licensed the film in 2007 and ran a series of North American screenings in 2009.
Anime News Network is currently awaiting confirmation that the One Piece anime will also run on Toonami. Toonami revealed the new design for Tom 5, the programming block's host. The newly designed Tom will debut in April.
Thanks to Aaron Christie for the news tip.
Update
Funimation is currently streaming a Toonami trailer for the film.
[Via Toonami News, One Piece Podcast]Image copyright PA
The value of the pound has jumped after a survey indicated the UK's manufacturing sector rebounded sharply in August.
The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the sector rose to 53.3 in August from July's figure of 48.3. A figure above 50 indicates expansion.
The weakening of the pound following the Brexit vote boosted exports, the survey found.
However, it also indicated that the weak pound had pushed up firms' costs.
A weakening of the pound makes UK goods cheaper for overseas buyers, but increases the cost of goods imported into the UK.
Since the Brexit vote, the pound has fallen in value by more than 10% against both the US dollar and the euro.
Following the release of the latest PMI survey, the pound jumped by 1%, more than a cent, against the dollar, to $1.33 before falling back slightly. Against the euro, the pound was 0.6% higher at just under €1.19.
'Marked recovery'
Markit said the month-on-month increase in the PMI level was the joint largest in the survey's 25-year history.
"The August PMI data indicate a solid rebound in the performance of the UK manufacturing sector from the steep downturn that followed the EU referendum," said Rob Dobson, senior economist at IHS Markit.
"The domestic market showed a marked recovery, especially for consumer products, while the recent depreciation of sterling drove higher inflows of new business from the US, Europe, Scandinavia, Middle East and Asia," he added.
Mr Dobson also said that inflation was "raising its ugly head".
"Rates of increase in input prices and output charges both hit five-year highs, which manufacturers placed squarely at the door of the cost impact of sterling on import prices," he said.
Image copyright PA
The latest PMI survey chimes with last week's CBI survey, which showed that export orders were rising at their fastest rate in two years.
At the time, the July PMI figure was taken as immediate evidence of an impending downturn, following June's referendum vote in favour of the UK leaving the EU.
It was one of the pieces of evidence that contributed to the Bank of England's recent decision to cut its interest rate to 0.25%.
'Robust data'
But Laith Khalaf, from the investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said the latest PMI figures now called the Bank's decision into question.
"It certainly seems that companies and consumers alike are carrying on with business as usual now the referendum is disappearing into the rear view mirror," he said.
"There's still a long way to go until Britain leaves the EU, and in the meantime, businesses still need to make money, so they can't just sit on their hands.
"However, the gathering pile of robust economic data might start to dissuade policymakers from any further monetary easing," he added.
Next week, another PMI survey, of the much larger services sector, will provide another snapshot of the state of the UK economy.Italian patrols pick up 105 migrants from boat drifting in extreme sea conditions in Mediterranean near Libya
At least 29 migrants have died of hypothermia on board Italian coastguard vessels after being picked up from an inflatable boat adrift near Libya, the chief health official on the island of Lampedusa has said.
Two patrol boats picked up 105 migrants late on Sunday from the boat drifting in extreme sea conditions, with waves as high as eight metres (26 feet) and temperatures just a few degrees above zero, the coastguard said in a statement.
The migrants then spent about 18 hours on the decks of the small patrol boats taking them to Lampedusa, buffeted by high winds and spray. At least 29 died en route, Lampedusa’s mayor, Giusi Nicolini, said.
The number of dead may still rise, she said. One migrant had been taken by helicopter to the island of Sicily in critical condition, and the second patrol boat has yet to reach port.
Nicolini blamed the closure of Italy’s search-and-rescue mission, known as Mare Nostrum, last year for the tragedy. Since then no navy ships capable of keeping large numbers of migrants below deck have patrolled the waters near the Libyan coast.
“Mare Nostrum was an emergency solution to a humanitarian crisis, so closing it was a huge and intolerable step backward,” Nicolini said. Human rights groups repeatedly warned that ending the mission would endanger lives.
“The small patrol boats were completely swallowed by the waves during the trip back. If Mare Nostrum were still going, the migrants would have been given shelter inside a large ship within an hour.”
The patrol boats sent from Lampedusa are small vessels that ride low to the water so crew members can pull people in. But they cannot accommodate many below deck.
Mare Nostrum was abandoned partly because of public concern about the €114m (£85m) cost of the mission in its first year.
The EU now runs a border control operation, called Triton, with fewer ships and a much smaller area of operation.
Civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya swelled the number of people crossing the Mediterranean last year. Many paid smugglers $1,000-$2,000 to travel.
The UN refugee agency says 160,000 seaborne migrants arrived in Italy by November 2014 and a further 40,000 in Greece. Thousands have died attempting the journey.
“To organised crime it’s not important if people make it across the sea alive or dead,” Nicolini said. “But now, without Mare Nostrum, it’s as if no one, and not just the criminals, cares if they live or die.”Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) just went to the floor of the House of Representatives and denounced President Obama’s proposed Social Security benefit cut, saying that it would induce seniors into having to eat “cat food” to survive:
KUCINICH: Will Seniors be pushed off the ai???fiscal cliffai??i??? Social Security did not cause the deficit, but the White Houseai??i??s plan to lower Social Security cost-of-living benefits could eventually reduce Seniorsai??i?? annual benefits by hundreds of dollars. The gimmick is called the ai???Chained Consumer Price Index.ai??i?? The Chained C.P.I. works this way:Ai?? As the cost-of-living goes up, seniors inevitably turn to cheaper alternatives.
ai???For example, if seniors usually eat steak but then canai??i??t afford its higher price, they can switch to something cheaper, like cat food- – and the cost-of-living calculation would be ai???chainedai??i?? to the cheaper item – -Ai?? cat food. So, the less you pay for food the less benefits you get. The ai???chained CPIai??i?? benefit cut will chain aging seniors to a poverty of choices, a lower standard of living, with cheaper products.
ai???The chained CPI formula doesnai??i??t take into account seniorsai??i?? rising health care costs. If it did benefits would go up. There is no justification to cut Social Security benefits. No to throwing seniors off the fiscal cliff.Ai?? No to a Cat Food Christmas.ai???AUBURN HILLS – Andre Drummond led the Pistons in rebounds in their last preseason game with 22, which is dog bites man all the way. He also led them in assists with seven, which is man bites dog.
There probably won’t be many games this season where that stat holds up, but Drummond still figures to fill a much broader role within Stan Van Gundy’s offense than in the past.
Van Gundy talked to Drummond over the off-season about that role – about acting more as a facilitator – and about the tradeoff: fewer shot attempts that begin with both feet outside the paint.
“He’s really been receptive to that,” Van Gundy said. “He’s sort of played as the hub a little bit, like a point-center type guy. He’s got those ballhandling skills, he’s got quickness and his decision making has gotten better as we’ve gone on.”
“That’s a role Stan kind of gave me a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to start running the offense through me because I’m able to move the ball and able to find an open guy and get them open shots,” Drummond said. “It takes their bigger guy away from the rim, too, when I do dribble handoffs and gives me a chance to offensive rebound and attack.”
In Drummond’s first two NBA seasons, he shot.618 from the field; in the past three, he’s shot.521. His shots per 36 minutes crept up by about three per game as he became more adventurous with his back-to-the-basket arsenal, but he became distinctly less efficient. This is an attempt to accentuate his best attributes and streamline the offense.
“He should be part of the offense,” Van Gundy said. “He’s a really good player and he needs to be part of the offense. But we want to play to his strengths and I think that the other night, I thought Avery (Bradley) in particular was really trying to turn the corner. So even when you miss those shots, he’s cleaning it up on the glass and getting the ball to the basket. Those are great possessions with him. So he creates the opportunity for the guy to turn the corner on his pick and roll or his dribble handoff and then if they turn the corner he’s got a good chance, even if they miss, of cleaning up the boards. That’s good basketball for him. I think he gets it and I think he likes the way he’s playing and knows he’s playing well.”
Another dramatic change through Drummond’s three preseason games: his 80 percent success rate from the free-throw line, 16 of 20.
“It’s all a mental thing at the end of the day,” Drummond said after Monday’s practice with the regular-season opener at Little Caesars Arena two days away. “When I do get up there, I feel I’m making it every time and if I do miss I just shake it off and shoot the same shot again without any hesitation.”
No longer subconsciously dreading treks to the line, Drummond is being more aggressive at the rim, Van Gundy believes. He didn’t have to worry much about getting fouled while taking 12-foot hook shots.
“Around the basket, you see him going stronger,” he said. “Not a lot of double pumping because he’s got confidence in his free-throw shooting now, so he’s not trying to avoid being fouled. He can go stronger to the basket because he’s shooting the free throws so well.”
It might not always be reflected in his assist totals, but the things that don’t show up in highlight packages – the solid screens, the dribble handoffs – yet go such a long way in creating scoring chances for teammates could be the thing that helps Drummond get back to the All-Star game this season. And help the Pistons win, the ultimate litmus test for All-Stars.JOHN Mousinho has left Burton Albion and has signed for Oxford United.
The club captain arrived at the Pirelli Stadium in 2014 and helped the Brewers secure back-to-back promotions, moving from League Two to the Championship.
Mousinho has been an influential figure on and off the pitch but with Nigel Clough having options at centre half, the player has decided to seek regular football at Oxford and his Burton Albion contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
The Brewers boss said: “We said to John that if he had the opportunity to get a longer contract with a club which was also further south and that was the best thing for him then we wouldn’t stand in his way. He has been a magnificent player for the club. It will be sad to lose him.
“We have Jake Buxton, Ben Turner, Kyle McFadzean, Tom Naylor and a lot of options at centre half so it was a geographical thing and regular football for John.
“He’s been a brilliant captain and we will miss that off the pitch as much as on it – and that’s a tribute to the man he is.”The Hidden History Of Christmas Traditions
From The Standard To The Bizarre
The Epic, Untold Story of the holiday's True Origins
The Truth About Christmas
Sermon for Sunday, December 20, 2015. This is the sixty-fourth sermon preached in English on www.thecloudchurch.org. It was preached by Pastor/Missionary Evangelist Robert Breaker, who shows the truth about Christmas, it's origin, why it was not celebrated by many Christians until around the last 150 years, and how Satan has entered into many modern Christmas celebrations as he tries to steal worship from Jesus Christ.
Shocking But True- "Is Christmas Christian?"
In "Is Christmas Christian?" we delve into the deep, dark history of the observance of the holiday we now know as "Christmas". CrusadeTv Productions 2011.
Should Christians celebrate Christmas? Why I quit celebrating Christmas - UNLEARN the lies
Growing up, Christmas was my favorite time of year. I loved everything about it. The decorations, the food, the family, the gifts; it was all so beautiful and exciting for me as a child. My love for Christmas continued into adulthood. Every year I looked forward to setting up the tree, hanging lights on the house, and buying gifts for family and friends. I was so excited about Christmas that I would start decorating at the beginning of November and leave them up until the end of January. Christmas was my absolute favorite holiday because I thought it was the celebration of Jesus birth. Then one day someone told me that Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday that was adopted by the Church hundreds of years after Jesus died. I wanted to find out the Truth about Christmas, so I started doing my own research and was shocked at what I found out. After doing just a little bit of research (like looking in an Encyclopedia), I quickly found out that nearly everything about Christmas comes from Pagan traditions. The tree, holly, mistletoe, tinsel, lights, gifts, caroling, Santa Claus, and many other popular Christmas traditions all find their roots in Paganism. I was so disgusted at the Pagan origins of some of our traditions that I began to weep and repent for my involvement in these things. I felt so deceived, and what made it worse is that the lies came from people I trusted - my family, friends, and pastor. Then I found out that most preachers know the Truth about Christmas being a pagan holiday, yet they keep silent about it. Unlike preachers in past who were not afraid to stand up for the truth. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon had to say about Christmas in a sermon on Dec 24, 1871. “We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or in English; and, secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Savior; and, consequently, its observance is a superstition, because not of divine authority.” - Charles Spurgeon, Sermon on Dec. 24, 1871 Now every December, Christian parents lie to their children about Christmas. Telling them Jesus was born on December 25th, and Santa Claus brings them gifts. These lies are reinforced by the Church, so it is no wonder our kids are turning away from God as they grow up. They realize that Santa Clause and the Easter bunny were lies, and they naturally question what they were told about Jesus as well since he has been so closely associated with those other fictional and mythical characters. God seeks worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in Truth, and we know that Christmas is a lie, so how can we continue to worship God in this way? I made the decision to stop celebrating Christmas because I love Jesus, and I hope my testimony has encouraged you to do your own research about the Pagan origins of Christmas.Update: a leaked image of the real HTC one (M9) is now available
The leaked images of the HTC One M9/Hima that have been shared this week are real, but a source familiar with the matter has shared that they portray decoy test units and do not accurately represent the final design of the HTC One (M9). Our source has revealed that the final design of the HTC One (M9) will feature an edge-to-edge glass panel on the front with the BoomSound speaker slits pushed to the top and bottom edges. The front-facing camera on the HTC One (M9) takes its design cues from the HTC Desire 826, featuring a large, centrally positioned lens above the display.
This new information about the HTC One (M9) confirms our test unit decoy theory that we presented earlier this week when the first images of the HTC One (M9) were published. In 2013, HTC managed to keep the true design of the HTC One (M7) concealed during testing with decoy replacement parts, renderings, and working test units. The design of the HTC One (M9) doesn’t change how the device will perform, but the changes to the front of the phone should silence a large number of critics who were not pleased to see leaked images that looked nearly identical to last year’s model.
Do the new design details change your perspective of the upcoming HTC One (M9)?The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, run as a nonprofit, resides in the historic Emelie Building downtown. Several of its rooms were donated by a local law firm — a beneficence that was not always recognized by Mr. Vonnegut during his lifetime. In “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,” he wryly characterized the quest of a lawyer to be present “where large amounts of money are about to change hands.”
The library items on display range from the ordinary to the intergalactic, many of them donated by his children. They include the author’s typewriter and an unopened box of his Pall Mall cigarettes, alongside a painting devoted to the Tralfamadorians, the green aliens Mr. Vonnegut wrote about in books including “Slaughterhouse-Five.” Several of Mr. Vonnegut’s drawings are also displayed, including one of a gravestone that reads “Life is no way to treat an animal.”
Mr. Vonnegut, who died in 2007 at the age of 84, was born here to a prominent family of architects. But after graduating from Shortridge High School, he left to attend Cornell University and then enlisted in the Army.
While serving in World War II, Mr. Vonnegut was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and sent to a P.O.W. camp near Dresden, where he was forced to dig bodies out of the rubble after the devastating firebombings. The experience haunted him for years and served as the basis of “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
The library’s executive director, Julia Whitehead, said her favorite item on display was his Purple Heart medal. “The more I look at the Purple Heart,” she said, “the more I consider that horrific experience as a prisoner of war in Dresden, and how it was the defining moment of his life and obviously influenced his writing and his worldview. It’s very touching to me.”
After the war, Mr. Vonnegut married and worked as a reporter in Chicago before moving his family to Schenectady, N.Y., and then to Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. In 1970, Mr. Vonnegut moved to New York, later remarrying there.
Photo
Although he never lived in Indianapolis again, Mr. Vonnegut did visit over the years. Some of his fans have also come here hoping to learn more about his life, but they were on their own until now.
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“The Vonnegut name resonates with so many different people,” said Chris Gahl, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association. “There is intrigue about who he was as a person.”
The library will include a replica of his writing studio and rejection letters (among the boxfuls he received) from magazines showing that he did not have an easy time of it. One editor said he did not have time to work with Mr. Vonnegut because he was not as talented as other writers.
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Perhaps most mysterious is the unopened letter Mr. Vonnegut’s father sent him while the writer was overseas. “Knowing my father, it was more just to keep the potential and the mystery,” said Mark Vonnegut, the author’s son, musing about the decision not to open it.
The library fits into plans by Indianapolis to highlight cultural activities in a city that has tended to bill itself as a sports destination. The landmark Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been here since before Mr. Vonnegut was born.
A new cultural trail through downtown is being built in advance of the city’s hosting the Super Bowl in 2012. The library, which sits near the trail, is already drawing out-of-town visitors like Julie Pagano, 25, a computer engineer from Pittsburgh, who hopped in a car with a friend and drove six hours to attend a “sneak peek” event last Friday.
Mark Vonnegut is on the library’s board, but Mr. Vonnegut’s widow, the author and photographer Jill Krementz, told the board she did not want to be involved.
Mr. Vonnegut remained “the kid from Indianapolis,” his son said. “I think his values are very much in line with the Midwestern values of Abraham Lincoln, Carl Sandburg and Mark Twain.”
Mr. Vonnegut often used Indianapolis as a symbol of American middle-class values, said William Rodney Allen, an English professor at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts who has written two books on the author. His upbringing here gave Mr. Vonnegut a friendliness and folksiness that made his books more accessible to readers, Dr. Allen said.
“He invites you right in. ‘Come in and have a cigarette, have a cup of coffee,’ ” he said. “But then you suddenly start talking about Kafka and cosmic time and aliens and politics and Dresden.”
Mr. Vonnegut may have had a fondness for his hometown, but that did not mean it was immune from his biting humor. In “Breakfast of Champions,” the science fiction writer Kilgore Trout visits Midland City, an unsophisticated city many believe is meant to represent Indianapolis. When he wades through a creek, his feet are coated in sludge from a nearby bomb manufacturing plant. Christopher Stack, a doctor who attended the opening, said that the people of Indianapolis did not take the jabs personally. “He’s a beloved character in this town,” he said.
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So it goes.Posted: September 25, 2008
Late yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a plan guaranteeing $25 billion in federal loans to Detroit automakers. The New York Times reports, "Unwilling to risk one last fiscal standoff with President Bush, the House on Wednesday passed a stopgap spending measure that pushes critical spending and energy decisions off until 2009 and into the hands of the next president." The bill includes "$25 billion in loan guarantees for the nation's auto manufacturers," but stipulates that the money must be used to help the companies make more fuel-efficient cars. Automakers would be required to begin making payments on the loans in five years, and complete payments within 30 years.
The Detroit Free Press adds, "The Senate is expected to pass the bill today, and the measure should get a signature from President George W. Bush shortly thereafter."
The scope of the loan measure is hard to overstate. This is by far the largest federal intervention into the auto industry. The Free Press notes, "The loan deal dwarfs the $1.2-billion bailout of Chrysler Corp. in 1979, and reflects the deep economic crisis threatening the survival of Detroit automakers and the companies that rely on them."
Detroit, however, doesn't get the money right away. USA Today notes, "The second battle... over rules governing how the loans will be doled out now won't be decided until after the Presidential election." Industry analyst Rebecca Lindland of Global Insight told USA Today, "It's like getting an early Christmas gift and not being able to use it until spring. The value of this can't really be evaluated until they know the parameters. I have to reserve judgment until the explanation for how they can use this is clear."
The automakers had wanted the rules governing how to qualify for the loans written now, before the presidential election takes place. They believed that "getting the rules written before the elections would have given the industry more clout in arguing for maximum flexibility in what qualifies," because Michigan and Ohio -- the two states where the auto industry employs the most workers -- are considered critical swing states in the election. JP Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel told USA Today, "The rules governing the distribution of the loans may become more onerous as the desire to win Michigan/Ohio votes would obviously become irrelevant after the November presidential election."
The Big Three may not be finished asking for Federal help. The Detroit News reports, "Several Michigan legislators said they would seek approval of another $25 billion in loans next year."
Research the best cars in every class with U.S. News' car rankings and reviews.Dr Matt Taylor, the European Space Agency's project scientist on the Comet 67P mission. [photo: YouTube]
A female tech writer has received abuse and death threats on Twitter after criticising the sexist shirt worn by a scientist involved in this week's Philae comet landing.
Matt Taylor - a scientist from the European Space Agency's Rosetta Project, which successfully landed a space probe on the comet 67P on Wednesday morning, following a decade-long mission - drew online criticism after he was interviewed wearing a shirt with naked women on it.
"No no women are toooootally welcome in our community, just ask the dude in this shirt," Rose Eveleth - a tech and science journalist for The Atlantic - wrote on Twitter, referencing the wide gender divide in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries.
No no women are toooootally welcome in our community, just ask the dude in this shirt. https://t.co/r88QRzsqAm pic.twitter.com/XmhHKrNaq5 — Rose Eveleth (@roseveleth) November 12, 2014
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Other Tweeters similarly voiced their concerns over Taylor's shirt, using the hashtags #Shirtgate and #Shirtstorm, with astrophysicist Katie Mack calling it "inappropriate for a broadcast if you care about women in STEM".
I don't care what scientists wear. But a shirt featuring women in lingerie isn't appropriate for a broadcast if you care about women in STEM — Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) November 12, 2014
Pretty exciting science going down. Pretty typical science struggles, too. #shirtgate — realscientists (@realscientists) November 12, 2014Police: Man gives beer to underage Amish boys, yells 'Rumspringa' before crashing into buggy
A Chester County man will spend at least a month behind bars for driving under the influence after allegedly giving beer to underage Amish boys, police said.Police said Thomas Candler Felts gave beer to the boys outside of a gas station on Route 272 near Quarryville.They said he later drove past them and showed them a gun before yelling "Rumspringa," and then crashing into their horse and buggy.No one was hurt.Police said Candler Fel |
of the game, Link himself seems consumed by his own doubts. He rides through the woods downcast and downtrodden. Skull Kid finds him and uses Majora’s Mask to curse the boy. Link sees a vision of a mob of Deku Scrubs swarming him, their angry eyes glaring at him. Link turns and runs from them, holding his hands over his head. He runs and runs, but he can’t escape. And as Link runs, a gigantic Deku Scrub materializes behind him and swallows the boy. Link awakens in the form of the Deku Scrub.
Three days later, Link brings the Ocarina of Time to the Happy Mask Salesman, who plays the Song of Healing for the boy. Link has a second vision. This time he is not running. He stands confidently, facing the gigantic Deku Scrub. He waves to it as it shrinks into nothingness. Link awakens in his human form.
The Salesman, having fulfilled his promise, then asks Link to fulfill his own promise to return with Majora’s Mask. Though it may seem like a daunting task, the Salesman offers Link words of reassurance again and again.
“Is it not a simple task? Why, to someone like you, it should by no means be a difficult task. But yes…You’ll be fine. I see you are young and have tremendous courage. I’m sure you’ll find it right away.”
“Well then, I am counting on you… You’ll be fine. Surely, you should be able to recover Majora’s Mask. I believe in you.”
“Fear not, for the magic has been sealed inside the mask.”
“Please make the most of your time. I believe in you. I will be waiting here for you.”
“Ho, ho, ho. You have done some good work… Keep up that pace. I am counting on you to get my mask…”
“Believe in your strengths…
Believe…”
—The Happy Mask Salesman
Later, when Link ventures into the Northern Mountains, he comes across the owl. The owl remembers meeting Link in the swamp, even though time may have been reset since then.
“Hoo-Hoot! We meet again, fairy child! Have my stone statues been of help?
Well, it seems you may have the strength to change the fate of this land as I had expected. But the road ahead is even more challenging. Many trials await you. Please watch over these Gorons around you. Their land is doomed to be smothered in snow and ice forever. It will become a land where no living thing can survive.
Without courage and determination, you surely will collapse from the extreme conditions…
But if that courage and determination burns bright within you, then that’s another story…
So, will you proceed?”
[Link answers no.] “I shall pass no judgment. If that is your decision, then return to town. After retreat, courage returns.”
[Link talks to the owl again.] “What is it that you are doing? Beyond here you will fall into oblivion unless you have great courage and determination.”
[Link agrees to proceed.] “Hoo-Hoot! You are a child of many strengths!
Well, perhaps you do have enough strength to change the fate of this mountain after all. I shall take to the air now, flying toward that shrine across the way, so follow behind me. Do not be daunted by appearances. Instead, let your feelings guide you, and the true path shall open before you.
Are you ready? Follow behind me!”
[Link falls into the void.] “It seems things are not going well for you… Hoo-Hoot! Fear not, it never goes well at first for anyone. But by no means should you grow impatient. Impatience brings uneasiness and distracts the heart.
Well, will you try again? Very good. I shall fly toward that shrine. Follow behind me.”
[Link crosses the void.] “Hoo-Hoot! I have certainly been assured of your courage and determination. From here on, you must not be fooled by appearances. You must rely on your feelings…”
—The Owl
At this point, the owl seems to believe that the boy has the power to change the destiny of the doomed world. And so, the owl tests Link’s faith. He asks Link to jump into the void before him. The owl’s feathers fall into the void and land in midair. Link needs to trust that it will be okay for him to take the leap. When he does, he lands safely in midair. By following behind the owl, he is able to cross the void. As intimidating as the task may have seemed, things turned out to be okay.
Belief and Disbelief
Both the owl and the Salesman try to instill a sense of faith in the player, because they know you need faith if you are to stop Majora and redeem Termina. At any point, you can look upwards at the Moon and quiver in fear. You can look ahead and see Woodfall, the mountains, and Stone Tower looming before you and become daunted. When you enter the pitch-black room in Woodfall Temple and Tatl warns you of evil lurking in the darkness, fear may keep you from proceeding. When you enter the huge central chamber of Snowhead Temple and see all the crisscrossing platforms above you, you may feel dizzy. When you enter Stone Tower and see the abyss below you and the dangerous, complex, and confusing path upwards, you may want to retreat. When your world is flipped upside-down, you may feel paralyzed.
When you’ve spoken to everyone in Clock Town while wearing Kafei’s Mask and you still have no idea how to reunite him and Anju, you may want to give up. When Kafei is running towards the inn from Ikana and Anju is waiting in her room and the Moon is falling and time is running out and earthquakes shake the ground and still the boy does not appear, you may leave the inn and run frantically towards Ikana, afraid you overlooked something. You may see the last hours disappear and play the Song of Time in fear and desperation, but if you are to be there for the reunion you need to swallow your fears and doubts and wait with Anju until the very end. But under ordinary circumstances, Anju won’t even be there in her room. On the first day, she puts on a calm face behind the reception desk at the inn and greets visitors. She receives a letter from Kafei, her missing fiancé. On the second day, she sits at the Laundry Pool and cries.
“Excuse me. Have you seen a man in this area? He looks like this… He…disappeared about one month ago with his wedding ceremony mask.
I’m…actually…afraid to meet him… and to hear the reason why he wanted to disappear… It might be because of… me…
There are only two days until the carnival…
Should I wait?
Kafei…”
—Anju
That night, Anju’s mother reminds Anju that they’ll be leaving for the ranch the next day. Anju mentions the rumors that Kafei ran off with Cremia, but her mother tells her to forget Kafei and forget the letter. Anju leaves the inn on the final day and spends the night at the ranch, with her head buried in her hands.
But if Link gives the Pendant of Memories to Anju, she immediately remembers the sincerity of Kafei’s promise to her, and she decides to wait for him as the Moon falls. Throughout the three days she had been sobbing, hesitating, second-guessing herself, apologizing, worrying, but now, as she faces her imminent death, she sits calmly on her bed and waits for her fiancé to return.
“I have decided to wait for him. I’ve made my promise…
I’m fine with this.
I believe him.”
—Anju
And this is exactly why the Goddesses arranged for Link to enter Termina. This is why Link has the power to change the destiny of Termina. The Salesman and the owl help him to develop a strong sense of faith, and Link instills that faith in the people of Termina as he struggles to save them.
The Deku King realizes he shouldn’t have been so quick to doubt the monkey. The Goron baby stops crying and sleeps with thoughts of his father standing by his side and comforting him. Guru-Guru is able to clear his troubled conscience. The lingering regrets of Kamaro and the Gibdos are healed. Darmani sees a vision of a crowd of his Goron brothers standing before him and cheering wildly. He is comforted and his soul is able to move on in peace. Gorman stops drinking and berating himself as he is reminded of the song that once inspired him. Before, he had hated himself, feeling worthless and inferior to his brothers. But Gorman didn’t realize what his brothers really thought of him.
“So, he’s gone into the world of entertainment… That younger brother of mine is really struggling…
Compare what he does to what we do…
No! No! Noooo! And the things that we, the Gorman Brothers, have done…
Grrrr… We’re the notorious Gorman Brothers! We can’t get all sappy over stuff like this!”
—The Gorman Brothers
Gorman had felt inferior to his brothers, not knowing that they felt inferior to him!
The Face Under the Mask
“Your real face… Show it to me…”
—Child wearing Majora’s Mask
Through the character of Anju we are able to see the difference between faith and doubt and how profoundly they can change people, even if the situation remains the same. Because of this, we may be better able to understand Skull Kid, who uses Majora’s Mask to try to destroy Termina.
Skull Kid is the lonely imp from ancient times who felt neglected when his friends the Giants left him. Though he was banished from Termina, he returns to the land ages later. He steals Majora’s Mask from the Salesman and uses its dark powers to spread misery and suffering across Termina. People speak of him with contempt. When Link encounters him, Skull Kid acts cold and aloof. He betrays his friends Tatl and Tael. He stands atop the Clock Tower at the center of Termina and waits for the Moon to come crashing down.
Throughout all this, Skull Kid hides his face behind Majora’s Mask. He presents this strong, hateful face to the world so that no one can notice his many insecurities. He keeps his soul hidden from the world, and thus he allows it to fall prey to the demon Majora. He ceaselessly contemplates how his friends abandoned him and how the world rejected him. No one can offer him comfort, support, or sympathy because he doesn’t have the strength of heart to show anyone his true, suffering face. The only voice he hears is that of Majora, the enemy of faith. Majora attacks Skull Kid’s unhealed scars, reminding him of all the pain the world has caused him. In his isolation and loneliness, Skull Kid allows his fears and doubts to grow larger and larger until they swallow him and the demon Majora takes control. Majora then targets the world of Termina, summoning the Moon down from the heavens to spread fear and doubt across the land before destroying it.
“I…I shall consume.
Consume…Consume everything.”
—The Moon, possessed by Majora
Termina, however, is saved by Tatl and Link, who go into the mouth of the Moon in a tremendous act of faith. They destroy Majora and the Moon vanishes, leaving behind a rainbow. Skull Kid, his face unmasked, speaks with the Giants.
“You guys… You hadn’t forgotten about me?
You still thought of me as a friend?”
—Skull Kid
All this time, Skull Kid had been unable to trust the friendship of the Giants, and it was this weakness that had originally marred the world of Termina. But Skull Kid’s friends save him from his self-destruction and forgive his misdeeds. The rainbow in the sky appears to show that the Goddesses have forgiven the world of Termina. The wounds have been healed, and the land is redeemed(6).
(6) But not everything is well in the end. Skull Kid’s loss of faith led to the deaths of Mikau, Darmani, and the Deku Butler’s son, and these tragedies cannot be undone.
“Just Have Faith…”
Nintendo Power: “Is there anything you weren’t able to accomplish in Ocarina of Time that you have included in Majora’s Mask?”
Shigeru Miyamoto: “Yes. In fact, that is why we’ve decided to base the game on three-day intervals. This allows gamers to see characters as they go through their daily routines in more detail. Depending on which time of day you visit a particular character, he or she will be doing different things and that may reveal essential clues to the mystery that is at the heart of the game. To conquer the game and solve the mystery, players must learn all about the many characters and discover new masks.”
—Nintendo Power Vol. 134
Majora’s Mask was designed to achieve some of the things Ocarina of Time wasn’t able to accomplish. Specifically, the Zelda team wanted to flesh out the character interaction. If you revisit Ocarina of Time, you’ll notice that Nintendo made an effort to give some depth to many of the side characters in the game. Most of this was done through two major side quests: the mask trading sequence and the Biggoron Sword trading sequence, both of which built off the trading sequence concept as introduced in Link’s Awakening.
Each time you obtained a new mask or trading item, you had to figure out which character in the game would be interested in it. As you interacted with characters such as the Cucco girl and her brother or the Kakariko guard, you’d learn a little more about their families and their personal struggles. As you traded with them, you’d often help them to find greater happiness.
Sound familiar? When Nintendo was developing the premise for Majora’s Mask, it seems they focused on the dynamics of these two quests and how they could really flesh them out in a new game. Certainly, the role of the masks in Ocarina of Time heavily influenced the design of the sequel, and thus the Happy Mask Salesman would be important to the new game. Now, if you look at the Salesman’s dialogue in Ocarina of Time, you’ll notice that there is one line he repeats again and again: “Just have faith…”
Mr. Miyamoto mentions that there is some mystery at the heart of Majora’s Mask, something important that the player must discover on his own. I believe this philosophy, to always have faith, is the message that is at the heart of the game. It seems the Zelda team tried to convey this message in Ocarina of Time, but then decided they could do a much better job of it by building a game that would revolve around the idea.
The theme of faith and doubt is reflected in so many aspects of Majora’s Mask, big and small. To win the dog-racing minigame, you must seek out the dogs that believe in themselves. To help out people, you need to trust their promises and keep your own promises.
To complete any Deku Flower challenge, you must have the patience to wait until the opportune moment and the confidence to believe that you can fly to your destination. To reach the end of the Goron Moon dungeon, you need to trust the game enough to let go of the control stick and let the rolling Goron bounce off the chests in a straight line. To find the child hiding in the Zora Moon dungeon, you must not worry when you do not succeed on your first, second, or even third attempt. As the owl cautioned you, things rarely go well at first, and impatience leads only to frustration and failure.
The land Ikana is overrun by the frightful spirits of the dead, but at the center of this kingdom is the boldly colorful Music Box House. It belts out a cheerful carnival tune that causes the Gibdos lurking outside to be swallowed by the earth.
After helping the troubled people of Termina and gaining all the masks, you receive the Fierce Deity Mask, a representation of the faith you instilled in everyone. With this power you can completely obliterate Majora, the representation of doubt.
In the streets of Clock Town, the two twin jugglers play around and make jokes about several disturbing events.
“You see, we’re entertainers. We must keep people smiling. No matter how grim things get, we must always be optimistic!”
—The Jugglers
The game argues that you must believe in your strengths and believe in your friends and walk a confident path of hope. If you allow your fears and doubts to grow uncontrollably, they threaten to swallow you just as the Deku Scrub swallowed Link in his dream, and just as the Moon tried to swallow Termina.
But simple faith won’t solve every problem. Even if Anju waits patiently in her room for Kafei, her fiancé won’t necessarily return to her.
“Anju stayed in her room to wait for Kafei…
It’s foolish to believe a man like that.
I too believed my husband would return out of the blue…
Oh, Anju…
That child’s naive sense of trust may be my fault.”
—Anju’s mother
Faith won’t change circumstances. It won’t make it so that suddenly everything goes well and all your friends start living up to your expectations. But having faith allows you to go through your struggles with a clear mind and a strong heart. Without any strength of heart, a decent person could end up in something resembling Skull Kid’s tragic situation. Those without faith may try to run from their troubles, only to find that they cannot escape them.
“Forgive your friend.”
—The Eastern Giant
Friends won’t always be there for you, and they will at times disappoint you. To address this issue, Majora’s Mask also emphasizes the importance of forgiveness. As Igos du Ikana pointed out, believing in your friends means that you are willing to see past their failures.
When Kafei finally returns to Anju after his month-long absence, he raises his arm defensively and apologizes for being late. But instead of unleashing a storm of anger on him, Anju simply says, “Welcome home.”
Making Towers to Heaven
“You have a frightful mask. But being able to see into people’s hearts and minds seems useful…”
—The Happy Mask Salesman
Early in this article, I mentioned that the Stone Tower is likely an allusion to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The people of Termina tried to build a tower that would reach the heavens. The Goddesses disapproved and foiled their plans, and afterwards Termina was a cursed land.
In the Biblical story, people tried to build a tower that would reach Heaven. God disapproved and foiled their plans. Afterwards, each person spoke a different language, and cooperation seemed to become impossible. Mankind had become divided.
Though the people of Termina do not all speak different languages, they are similarly divided when Link enters their land. They do not understand the hearts of their friends. They lose faith in their friends. They grow suspicious of each other. They bicker with each other. They seek vengeance when they are wronged. They become lonely and isolated. They keep secrets.
They hide their faces under masks.
“Your friends…What kind of…people are they?
I wonder…Do those people…think of you…as a friend?”
“You…What makes you…happy?
I wonder…What makes you happy…Does it make…others happy, too?”
“The right thing…What is it?
I wonder…If you do the right thing…Does it really make…everybody…happy?”
“Your true face…What kind of…face is it?
I wonder…The face under the mask…Is that…your true face?”
—The Masked Children
“I shall meet you again…”
When Majora’s Mask opens, Link is in the middle of a long journey in search of his beloved and invaluable friend. But when the Moon vanishes from the skies of Termina, Tatl mentions that both she and Link have found what they were seeking(7). At that point, the Happy Mask Salesman offers Link these words:
“Shouldn’t you be returning home as well?
Whenever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever…
Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time…That is up to you.”
—The Happy Mask Salesman
The game ends as Link is riding through the forest once more. Perhaps he is continuing his search for his departed friend, but there is a chance that he is heading somewhere else.
When Princess Zelda bid farewell to Link, she said that she believed in her heart that the day would come when they would meet again. And both Tatl and the Salesman believe that Link has found that which he was truly seeking. His journey has come to a close, and it is time for him to return home.
“…Everyone has gone away, haven’t they?”
—Child wearing Majora’s Mask
Long ago, the Four Giants departed and left behind their friend Skull Kid. Skull Kid was torn. He didn’t understand why his friends left, and he didn’t believe that they would ever be there for him again. In his loneliness, he lost all faith.
At the end of Ocarina of Time, Link’s longtime friend departed as well. He didn’t know why she left, where she had gone, or whether he would ever meet her again. In his loneliness, Link begins a long journey in search of her. But the search is fruitless and as Link nearly loses all hope, his desperation is the only thing keeping him going.
But Zelda’s close friend had also departed. She didn’t know where he would go or how long he would be away, but she believed that she would one day see him again. In his absence, she waits patiently and prays for him. And when the time is right, the Happy Mask Salesman reminds Link that there is someone back home awaiting his return.
And so Link returns home, having found what he was after. And he trusts that one day his beloved and invaluable friend will return to him.
(7) If you decide to replay Majora’s Mask, pay close attention to the development of Tatl’s character. It illustrates very well the overall message of the story. She wears her own mask to hide her insecurities, but there are times when she tries to remove that mask and reveal her true feelings. She typically acts snide and sarcastic towards Link, but at one point she apologizes for her actions, and towards the end she even admits to admiring Link. Tatl’s close friend viciously betrays her, and she watches as that friend abuses her brother. Again and again, she declares that she will never forgive Skull Kid. Throughout the game we see her doubting her brother Tael, but Tael reveals his strength of heart during the final confrontation atop the Clock Tower. Tatl draws strength from Link and Tael and is able to find her own sense of faith.British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Friday accused Russia of trying to hide the use of sarin gas by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government, and said Moscow's behaviour was undermining the consensus against chemical weapons.
A United Nations report released on Thursday found Assad's government to blame for a chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria which killed dozens of people in April and prompted a retaliatory US missile strike.
Commenting on the release of that report, Johnson called on the international community to hold Assad's government to account.
He also launched a fierce attack on Russia, which helped broker a deal in 2013 under which Assad agreed to destroy Syria's chemical weapon stockpile.
I call on Russia to stop covering up for its abhorrent ally and keep its own commitment to ensure that chemical weapons are never used again – Boris Johnson, UK foreign secretary
"Russia has repeatedly attempted to disrupt efforts to get to the truth of the Khan Sheikhoun attack," he said in a statement. "Russia has consistently chosen to cover up for Assad."
"This behaviour can only undermine the global consensus against the use of chemical weapons. I call on Russia to stop covering up for its abhorrent ally and keep its own commitment to ensure that chemical weapons are never used again."
Russia has defended the Syrian leader against US allegations that his forces carried out the attack, saying there was no evidence. Russia said the chemicals that killed civilians belonged to rebels, not Assad's government.
On Friday, Moscow criticised the UN report, with a deputy foreign minister saying it contained inconsistencies and unverified evidence.
Russia says OPCW conclusions are invalid because they didn't visit Khan Sheikhoun then cite claims by people who didn't visit Khan Sheikhoun pic.twitter.com/0QaNug8l8L — Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) October 27, 2017
"Even the first cursory read shows that many inconsistencies, logical discrepancies, using doubtful witness accounts and unverified evidence... all of this is still [in the report]," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax news agency.
Ryabkov said other nations were seeking to use the report to "resolve their own strategic geopolitical issues in Syria".
Russia would analyse the findings and publish a response soon, he added.
The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the country's more than six-year civil war.
The chemical weapons investigation mechanism was unanimously created by the 15-member UN Security Council, which includes Russia, in 2015 and renewed in 2016 for another year. Its mandate is due to expire in mid-November, and Russia on Tuesday vetoed a proposal to further extend its mandate.
Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said Russia would consider revisiting the mandate extension after Thursday's report was discussed.
Human Rights Watch on Friday urged the international community to slap new sanctions on the Syrian government.
"The Security Council should move swiftly to ensure accountability by imposing sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for chemical attacks in Syria," it said.The Invicta FC featherweight championship will be on the line in the coming months.
Invicta FC promoter Shannon Knapp told MMAFighting.com on Thursday that Cris Cyborg would face Ediane Gomes on the next card, but they didn’t know yet if it would be at 135 or 145 pounds. But it turns out that both Cyborg and Gomes want to fight at featherweight, as they told MMAFighitng.com on Friday.
"A title defense can only be at 145," Cyborg said. "For my next fight (after Gomes), we’re working on my debut at 135 pounds."
"I want to cut down to 135 in the future," Gomes said, "but we’re fighting at 145 pound for the title."
Cyborg and Gomes were scheduled to fight for the first time at Invicta FC 5, on April of 2013, but "India" was forced out of the match-up with an injury. Fiona Muxlow replaced the Brazilian against Cyborg, but it lasted less than a round.
Cyborg returned at Invicta FC 6, scoring a fourth-round TKO win to claim the inaugural title against Marloes Coenen. Gomes was also scheduled to compete at the card, but it never materialized after Julia Budd, Tamikka Brents and Charmaine Tweet left the card with injuries and visa issues.
"I’ve been waiting for this fight for a long time. It’s going to be a war," Gomes said. "I will do my best in there to win the title. She’s a top fighter, a great athlete, but we’re going to break each other in there."
Invicta FC has yet to announce the date and location for its eight edition, but it’s already official that the show will air live on UFC Fight Pass.
"I was really happy with the news," Gomes said. "A lot of fans didn’t want to see women’s MMA, but now they will see that it’s a product worth watching. They’ll be surprised."Cocada Amarela is a Yellow Coconut Pudding originating in Angola. It is a richly tasting dessert made principally from eggs and coconut and has a appetizing yellow color due to the egg yolks and a uniquely distinctive coconut taste. The dessert is a type of pudding and is usually best served while still slightly warm, although it can also be served chilled.
Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 cloves
2 cups shredded coconut
6 egg yolks, beaten
1 pinch salt
Directions:
1) Add the water, sugar and cloves to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2) Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
3) Remove the syrup from the heat. Remove and discard the cloves and stir in the coconut. Return to medium-low heat and simmer, stirring, for another 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
4) Beat the eggs yolks and a pinch of salt with a whisker in a bowl until smooth and lightened in color. Slowly beat a small amount of the coconut mixture into the egg yolks. Then beat the egg yolks into the remaining coconut mixture.
5) Return the saucepan to low flame and cook, stirring constantly until thickened and smooth, about 5 minutes.
6) Make sure not to overheat your pudding or it may curdle.
7) Once done, serve warm in dessert bowls. You may also serve them chilled after letting them cool in the refrigerator for about an hour.Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Amazon's Jeff Bezos told employees he would fight the ban
Amazon, Microsoft and Expedia have backed a legal challenge to President Donald Trump's immigration curbs.
The lawsuit, filed by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, aims to prove that President Trump's order, which temporarily bars nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, is unconstitutional.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos said his firm had "prepared a declaration of support".
Microsoft said it would be happy to testify "if needed".
In an email to employees, Mr Bezos said: "We're a nation of immigrants whose diverse backgrounds, ideas and points of view have helped us build and invent as a nation for over 240 years. No nation is better at harnessing the energies and talents of immigrants. It's a distinctive competitive advantage for our country - one we should not weaken."
Mr Bezos said that the firm has also reached out to congressional leaders to explore legislative options.
Barriers to talent
It is the latest protest in a chorus of disapproval from Silicon Valley over the controversial executive order signed by President Trump.
Many firms have expressed concern about the order's effect on employees, with some saying it violates company principles.
Apple and Twitter have criticised it, while Netflix's chief executive Reed Hasting declared it "unAmerican."
AirBnB co-founder Brian Chesky offered free housing to anyone caught outside the US, unable to return home, while Google revealed that more than 100 staff members were directly affected.
In a statement Google said: "We're concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US.
"We'll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere."
The White House has defended the new rules, saying that the majority of Americans agree with the president.
"They recognise that the steps that he's taken were to keep this country safe and to make sure that we didn't look back and say, 'I wish we had done the following,'" said spokesman Sean Spicer.Just two days after stating that he was both "sticking" with Louisville and "not going anywhere," class of 2016 quarterback Tylin Oden has announced that he is re-opening his recruitment.
QB Tylin Oden is back on the market. The 6-5 TN native tells me he has decommitted from Louisville http://t.co/0qHigcBkse @ITVHughes — Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) July 19, 2015
And then, less than an hour after that, he apparently decommitted from his decommitment.
That didn't last long...@jdemling: Columbia, Tenn., QB Tylin Oden tells Cardinal Authority he’s still firmly committed to Louisville. — Jody Demling (@jdemling) July 19, 2015
And then this:
Tylin Oden tells me that he's technically still committed to #Louisville but has opened things back up. Explains why: http://t.co/zlMFxHoOzb — Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) July 19, 2015
Sooooo *shrugging emoji*
Oden, a three or four star recruit depending on which scouting service you prefer, committed to Louisville back on May 25. He was the first highly-touted 2016 signal caller to pledge his allegiance, but he would not be the last, as blue chip dual threat QB Jawon Pass made the same decision on Thursday.
The 6'5, 190-pound Oden attended Louisville's "Friday Night Lights" camp this weekend, and confirmed to Scout.com just yesterday that his commitment to U of L was still firm and that he didn't plan on visiting any other schools.Damyean Dotson, the 44th pick in the 2017 draft, was without a doubt the best player in a Knicks uniform throughout Summer League. Dotson was pegged as a player with shooting potential coming into Summer League, but throughout the five-game stretch, Dotson was basically a walking flame-thrower. Below are his stats from the five games, where he shot 48% from downtown on five attempts per game.
Something I loved about the five-game sequence for Dotson was that he found a way to be effective in every game. His worst game was probably vs. Orlando, which also happened to be the day after July 4th. Maybe he had a little bit of late-night fun on the 4th, but Dotson still had a nice, complete game with two steals, three boards, four assists and eight points. In game one, Dotson pulled down eight rebounds. In game three, Dotson didn’t miss from 3. In the final game, Dotson filled the stat sheet with 20 points, nine boards, and shot 73% from the field. I also noticed that Dotson averaged only one foul per game, leading me to believe that he has room to dig in even more on defense and use his 6’6” 205-pound frame to his advantage. Dotson did seem to enjoy pressuring the ball at times, and with a 6’9” wingspan and decent speed, it looks like a skill that could be NBA-ready.
Far and away the most impressive quality to Dotson’s Summer League was his shooting. First, we’ll take a look at catch-and-shoot opportunities for Dotson. Talk about a weapon that’s useful in the NBA, Dotson gets his shot off incredibly fast and whether it’s a corner 3, a mid-range shot off a curl screen, or a 30-footer, Dotson looked comfortable and shot with the same mechanics from every spot on the floor.
Dotson wasn’t a one-dimensional shooter, though. While some NBA marksmen can slip a bit into a comfort zone of spotting up while their play-makers attract attention, Dotson took several shots off-the-dribble, and his accuracy remained impressive. This should really help Dotson going forward. Adding a legitimate driving threat to his game would further his effectiveness, but Dotson showed he’s more than capable of putting the ball on the floor and pulling up at a moment’s notice.
Finishing at the rim is not Dotson’s biggest strength, and rounding out that part of his offensive arsenal could honestly give Dotson semi-elite scoring potential. While Dotson did show off some bounce with this garbage time dunk, he still opts for pull-up jumpers more than not, and that’s okay considering his ability to do so. Dotson shot 48% from 3, as noted earlier, and shot that same percentage from the field overall.
Dotson seemed more than comfortable handling the ball, and at times was even used as the primary ball-handler for several consecutive possessions while Chasson Randle slid to the shooting guard slot. Dotson averaged 2.6 assists and 1.6 turnovers in the five games, but I suspect he would have significantly increased the assist numbers if not for every single Marshall Plumlee (gonna miss you, bud) and Nigel Hayes shot getting blocked at the rim. Knicks fans should be very encouraged by how well Dotson found shooters when attacking the basket. If that weren’t enough to be excited about, Dotson also looked extremely adept at playing the two-man game, making the correct play in pick-and-roll about eight or nine times out of ten.
That’s not to say Dotson didn’t have his struggles. Dotson got sloppy with the ball here and there. Turnovers, defensive confusion, and several other things of that nature have to be taken with a grain of salt when observing summer league, which is essentially glorified pick-up basketball. These players have only a few days together before summer league games start, so it’s important to understand that many things happen on the fly. Still, you want to see guys take care of the basketball, as turnovers are generally a death sentence in the NBA.
The most concerning thing I saw from Dotson was his proclivity to leave shooters open by over-helping in the paint. I have a theory that most wing defenders struggle with this early on due to the added 3-point distance of the NBA game. For instance, when guarding against a player in the deep, weak-side corner, a defender generally slides over into help position, then runs back to their man in that deep corner as the ball gets closer, or as his man receives the ball. Recovering from the paint to the 3-point line is a full three feet further in the NBA than in college, so you can understand that players get comfortable helping off to a certain point on the floor and expect to close out with three steps, where now the added distance of the NBA court becomes four steps. All reasoning aside, this is a crucial concept that has to be fixed. The Knicks were notorious for giving up open threes last season, and if there’s something you can’t live with at this level, it’s open threes.
It can be easy for the stats to fool you, as the Knicks were 7th in 3-point percentage allowed, but this is a padded statistic. The Knicks got blown out a lot last year. Once the 4th quarters came around, teams were more conservative in their shot selection and the second units for both teams were in (the opposing 2nd unit generally didn’t shoot as well and the Knicks’ 2nd unit generally defended pretty well, especially around the perimeter). If you adjust the stats to only include the 1st half of games, the Knicks become 25th in 3-point percentage allowed.
Dotson |
Alex Ovechkin getting tabbed for the team-record sixth time, and he suddenly becomes talkative.
“I think John Carlson’s been playing really well,” he said. “He’s putting the points up there. It’s been really good. I think he’s playing a lot of minutes too. I could actually see Holtby in there too. I think he’s been outstanding for us. He’s been a game-changer. But a lot of good players in the league and it’s up to the league really.’
Few, though, were more deserving than Backstrom. Had the All-Star Game adopted an Eastern Conference-Western Conference format, Carlson might have been chosen, since all but one defenseman (Carolina’s Justin Faulk) came from the other side. Had Holtby played in October and November like he has in December and January, he would almost certainly have received more consideration, but he also “couldn’t believe” Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury was left out too.
But only James van Riemsdyk, Nikita Kucherov and Backstrom have tallied 40 points thus far in 2014-15 and were not chosen, perhaps snubbed because each team must field a representative.
“He’s been our best player, I think, from start to finish, if you had to say who’s been our top guy all year, he’s been the guy,” Trotz said. “I’m absolutely astounded that no one ever talks about him as a Selke guy, no one ever talks about him as an All-Star. I can’t understand it. And he’s probably okay with it. If you know him, he’s probably okay with it … Deserves to be on there. Another guy like John Carlson as well. Not that Ovi doesn’t, either. Ovi’s played very, very well. But Ovi’s been there a million times it seems since Day One. And Nicky hasn’t, which absolutely astonished me … I can’t wrap my head around it or my hands around it that he hasn’t been there.”Russian Foreign Ministry has sharply criticized the Estonian Defense Minister’s address to the country’s veterans of the Waffen SS, in which the official suggested that the Soviet and Nazi troops were equal during WWII.
Minister Urmas Reinsalu addressed the weekend meeting of the Estonian Freedom Fighters Union – the organization that unites the veterans of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division, also known as the First Estonian.
In his speech the official stated that Estonia “had repeatedly condemned the repressive policies of the Soviet Union and National Socialist Germany, as well as the actions of people who committed crimes against humanity.”
Russia called the statement “another attempt to put on one scale the Soviet Union that has made a decisive contribution into ridding Europe of the ‘brown plague’, and Nazi Germany.” Russian diplomats also noted that the Estonian minister chose not to remind the public about such outrageous crimes as the total destruction by the Nazis of the two ethnic groups that resided in Estonia before the war – the Jews and the Roma (Gypsies) – as well as the fact that the genocide was committed largely by Estonian collaborators.
In addition, the Russian side pointed out that over the past 20 years the Estonian authorities have not even once shown due respect to the veterans of the Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army. At the same time, the veterans who once donned the uniforms of the Waffen SS and other of Hitler’s formations are greeted by Estonia’s state officials and receive decorations and awards.
“Therefore, such activities cannot be appraised in any other way but as a premeditated planting of pro-Nazi sentiments in the society,” the Russian note reads.
Estonia’s Freedom Fighters Union is a public organization with about 2,000 members who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in WWII. In total, about 80,000 Estonians joined Nazi troops during the war and 3,000 more fought as volunteers in the Finnish Army, which was also an ally of Nazi Germany. At the same time, about 30,000 Estonians joined the Red Army ranks forming the Estonian Rifle Corps.
Russia has repeatedly voiced protests over glorification of Nazism in Estonia as re-unions of veterans happen in this country almost annually and each time the authorities send official greetings to former Waffen SS soldiers."Linda - there's nothing about me not being Too Fat To Fly," I said.
"The people around you said they had to lean over to make room for you," Linda offered.
"Linda, they didn't! The older lady was leaning against the window like she was gonna nap, and the lady to my left was already leaning toward the aisle. I would never pick a seat that might possibly make me look even fatter because I don't fit in it or something."
"That's the report I have," she continued, then sighed and added "This is so embarrassing to talk about."
"Wait - what people around me?" I asked.
"The people seated next to you."
"You guys went to their houses and interviewed them?"
"No."
"Then where'd that statement come from?"
"Others people around you."
"Linda, there was nobody but me, the two ladies, and Suzanne. Are you telling me this is Suzanne's report?"
"The report we received said the ladies were leaning away from you."
"They were already leaning when I sat down! They didn't lean because of me! I even asked them both if I was a problem. But you said you took their statements, and now you're saying they weren't interviewed at all. You said we'd get to the bottom of who made the decision to boot me, since it WASN'T the Pilot."
And Linda apologized and pointed out the blog apologies for putting me on and taking me off the plane, as well as the refunded fares.Friends of ours are being sued for allowing their children to play outside.
Yes, that’s a thing.
It all began with a play house. This play house.
Here’s the back story:
The Counts family built this playhouse on their side patio after receiving permission from the HOA. The neighbors went to the HOA meeting and complained that it blocked the view for them and their dogs. (Available in the HOA meeting minutes.) Mrs Counts went outside and looked and realized that the only view it blocked was from the neighbors’ bedroom into her living room, and wrote to the HOA who granted her a variance that the play structure could stay. So the neighbors called the zoning board to “anonymously” report that the playhouse was too close to the Counts’ residence. The inspector came and measured and told them that the porch roof was inches too close to their house and would have to be removed. And it was.
With the now porch-less play house passing inspection, the neighbors began retaliating in a new way – they blared music out the windows whenever the children played outside. Their weapon of choice was gansta rap with the lewdest lyrics they could find at a volume loud enough for the police officer who was called to report that he could hear it three houses further down. The moment their children went out to play in the back yard, not just on the play house, the music started and their mother brought them inside. It went on for weeks. Mrs C tried to talk to the neighbors, but the door was slammed in her face or wasn’t opened at all. And now the lawsuit. Having run out of options through the HOA and the zoning board, and after being warned by the police to cease and desist with the musical warfare, the neighbors have turned to the courts. In a filing which is now public record, the neighbors Mr and Mrs Ward, are suing their neighbors because of the “loud and obnoxious noise and commotion caused by the children playing,” which they say has “unreasonably interfered with the Wards use and enjoyment of their property, which has harmed the Wards and caused damages to their property rights.” The suit goes on to state that Mrs Counts is known to homeschool her children, and so her children are outside playing “on the play structure several times each day during weekdays (when most children are in regular schools) and constantly on weekends, weather permitting.” (Ward v. Counts filed in Collin County, TX)
This whole saga has had me thinking and rethinking about our behavior as homeschoolers and parents, and how they affect the people who live near us. When I started homeschooling 14 years ago, the conventional wisdom was to not let your children play outside in the front yard during school hours or nosy and “helpful” neighbors might call CPS or the truant officer on your family. (It happens.) We kept our children out of the way of the general public and hoped to be left alone. We put up swing sets and play houses and spent recess safely in our own back yards.
That’s why homeschoolers, and all parents really, should be paying attention to this particular case. It may have begun with a play house, but it has become so much more. By including the information that Mrs Counts homeschools her children, this case has become about our rights too. Do our children have the right to play outside during school hours? Do our neighbors have a reasonable expectation to not have to hear the sounds of children at play during the time when “most children are in regular schools”?
Imagine the precedent that a victory in this case could set for overbearing neighbors everywhere. If the Wards prevail, will the courts have handed those who are against home-based education an effective new way to attack our families and our way of life? What will become of homeschooling families if the court agrees to this? Will it mean the death of recess and play time for homeschooled children and those who are too young to attend a traditional school? (Two of the four Counts children are below school age.) Have we really reached the point as a society where the natural sounds of playing children is a recognized legally actionable nuisance? What does that say about our future?The moment we got our first bread machine was the moment my life changed forever.
Bread machines perform 21st century alchemy. Just stick about 50 cents worth of ingredients into it, go away for a few hours, and BOOM! A 5 dollar loaf of hot fresh bread is waiting for you. Thanks Taran from Dollar Eater for finding the per-loaf cost for us.
However! Bread machines have one major flaw – few people know how to use them to make adequate bread. Getting our first bread machine to make good bread was an exercise in frustration and dismay. For months we tried recipe after recipe, always ending up with the same thing – a burnt brick of rock-hard particle board.
It’s an extremely common problem. That’s why the majority of bread machines are only used once, then abandoned. Most people who buy a bread machine think it’ll be a great idea until they run into the same problem I did again and again. They get discouraged and the bread machine ends up collecting dust on the shelves of a thrift store. 300,000,000 of them are resigned to this fate in the U.S alone.
I created this infographic to detail my bombproof bread machine recipe that works every time on every bread machine. I’ve taught this recipe to family members and friends, and they all make bread this exact way now – and have cumulatively saved thousands of dollars so far on bread. Today I’m teaching it to you to inspire you to do the same.
I’m hoping this bread machine recipe helps unused bread machines all across America start living out the productive lives they were built to live.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to skip the details and get right to printable recipe.
Here’s the text version of the recipe you can copy, paste and print out. You’re free to cherish it forever.
1 Minute Bread Recipe Using any bread machine, add the following in this exact order. 1+ cup warm water
1 tb sugar
2.25 tsp active dry yeast
3 tb gluten inside 3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil …and press go.
Once you master this dead simple recipe, you can begin to experiment. Try using honey instead of sugar, or using a nice organic spelt flour instead of the cheap Costco stuff. My favorite addition to bread is some fresh chopped rosemary.
Did you catch the part about gluten? It’s of crucial importance to a good loaf but will be the hardest ingredient to find. A lot of the time when I ask grocery clerks where their gluten is, they point me to their gluten free aisle which is not what I asked for at all!!
I usually find my gluten in health food stores like Whole Foods. My favorite gluten to use is from Bob’s Red Mill which – thank the internet gods – is now available to buy in bulk from Amazon.
I make bread constantly and have burnt out many bread machines along the way. The one that worked best for me so far has been this one from Cuisinart.
Also check out my 1 minute wine tutorial which will teach you how set up a batch of wine just as quickly as a loaf of bread!
Posted onby
Updated for 2018!
Ever feel like you eat at the same restaurants all the time? I fall into that category when we head to Disney, because I don’t like stepping out of my foodie comfort zone. I really dislike taking a gamble with my vacation dollars. There are over 140 restaurants at the Walt Disney World Resort, with over half of these taking Advance Dining Reservations 180 days before people check in at the resort front desk. That’s a lot of choices, and to get a table, sometimes you have to make those decisions months in advance. This sort of pressure can take the fun right out of your vacation planning, but not planning can literally take the yummy Disney food right out of your mouth.
There is no end to the lists of Best WDW Restaurants, Cheapest Disney Restaurant, Best Disney Restaurants for Kids, and so on. Everybody seems to have different opinions about Disney restaurants, and lots of that has to do with price and service on their particular trip. I’ve also read a plethora of reviews by someone who ate at a restaurant just once. I don’t want to pick a restaurant to feed my family of five adults based on a suggestion from someone who ate there once.
How will I know if choosing a “new to me” restaurant will be OK?
You know you like a restaurant if you would be willing to recommend it to your friends. Cheapskate Princess Facebook fans got together with Facebook fans from My Dreams of Disney, and we asked for their favorite restaurants suggestions. Over 20,000 combined Facebook fans had the opportunity to list the restaurants would they easily recommend to their friends.
The votes have been tallied, so let’s get to the winners.
The Top 20 Disney Restaurants, Voted by the Fans Who Eat There
1. ‘Ohana, Polynesian Resort
At ‘Ohana, you can hang out with Stitch and characters during breakfast and enjoy games, storytelling and a Hawaiian-style feast during dinner. You will enjoy American and Polynesian Cuisine in a Character Dining/ Buffet/Family Style atmosphere. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for an ‘Ohana menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
2. The Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom, Main Street, U.S.A.
At the Crystal Place, you will feast with Pooh and characters from the Hundred-Acre Wood at this all-you-care-to-enjoy family style / Character Dining buffet. You will enjoy American Cuisine, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for The Crystal Palace menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
3. 1900 Park Fare, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
At 1900 Park Fare, you will enjoy Character Dining/family style breakfast and dinner buffets, plus there is a fun afternoon tea party hosted by Disney Characters. You will enjoy American Cuisine, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a 1900 Park Fare menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
4. Tusker House Restaurant, Animal Kingdom Park
Tusker House is a colorful marketplace eatery where you’ll find a family style buffet featuring African and American Cuisine. Character Dining is available, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Tusker House menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
5. Chef Mickey’s, Contemporary Resort
Join Chef Mickey and his Disney friends for a fun-filled family styled/ Character Dining buffet at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. You’ll enjoy American Cuisine and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $30 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a Chef Mickey’s menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
6. Liberty Tree Tavern, Magic Kingdom, Liberty Square
At Liberty Tree Tavern, you’ll feast at a stately colonial-style inn serving traditional New England-inspired American Cuisine in a family style buffet. You’ll dine in a casual atmosphere, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a Liberty Tree Tavern menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
7. Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, Hollywood Studios
Located in the backlot of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you’ll enjoy American and Italian Cuisine in a casual dining atmosphere. This is best described as an Italian eatery with a California twist. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Mama Melrose menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
8. 50’s Prime Time Café, Hollywood Studio, Echo Lake
At the 50’s Prime Time Cafe, you’ll enjoy classic American comfort food in a setting that makes you think you’ve traveled back to the 1950s. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a 50s Prime Time menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
9. Whispering Canyon Cafe, Wilderness Lodge Resort
At Whispering Canyon, you’ll enjoy a rowdy, rootin’ tootin’ good time, enjoying American Cuisine with a western twist. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $14.99 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Whispering Canyon Cafe menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
10. The Garden Grill, Epcot, Future World
Visit with Disney characters as you enjoy American Cuisine in a family style setting, watching rotating views of the Living with the Land attraction. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $30 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for Garden Grill menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
11. Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria, Epcot, World Showcase
At Via Napoli, you will enjoy authentic Italian cooking, including hearty pastas, fresh salads and pizzas cooked in wood-burning ovens. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Via Napoli menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
12. Boma – Flavors of Africa, Animal Kingdom Resort
Resembling a lively African marketplace, this restaurant features all-you-care-to-enjoy buffets. Serving African and American Cuisine in a family style buffet setting, reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a Boma menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
13. Flame Tree Barbecue, Animal Kingdom, Discovery Island
At Flame Tree Barbecue, you will enjoy hearty American Couisine seasoned with a special Flame Tree BBQ rub, topped off with a terrace view. Specialties include chicken, St. Louis ribs and a pulled pork sandwich, all served with beans and cole slaw. Beer and wine are also available, but as a quick service restaurant, reservations are not available.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals are $14.99 and under per adult.
Click here for a Flame Tree Barbecue menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
14. Rainforest Cafe, Disney Springs & Animal Kingdom
At Rainforest Cafe, you will feel like you have ventured deep into the jungle. You will enjoy flavorful American favorites and kid-friendly cuisine, and reservations are accepted at both locations.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for information on the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs.
Click here for information on the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom.
15. Le Cellier Steakhouse, Epcot, World Showcase
At Le Cellier, you will descend into the cozy cellar of a Canadian château. Dine on exquisite American Cuisine including popular favorites steaks and seafood. This is a Disney Signature Dining restaurant, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $30 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a Le Cellier menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
16. The Hollywood Brown Derby
You’ll feel like you have stepped into the Golden Age of Hollywood at this warm, wood-paneled restaurant serving contemporary American cuisine. This is a Disney Signature Dining restaurant, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $30 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a Brown Derby menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
17. Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater
Do dinner and a movie retro-style at this eatery dressed up like a ’50s drive-in. The Sci-Fi serves all-American Cuisine, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Sci-Fi menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
18. Tutto Italia Ristorante, Epcot, World Showcase
Delight in warm service and traditional Italian favorites like platters of chicken, fish, handmade pasta, and lasagna. Reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $15 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Tutto Italia menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
19. Be Our Guest Restaurant, Magic Kingdom, Fantasyland
Step inside the Beast’s enchanted castle for a delicious quick-service lunch or a delightful sit-down dinner. You will pull up a chair in either the mysterious West Wing, Belle’s book-filled Library, or the grand 2-story Ballroom. You will enjoy French-inspired American Cuisine, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and meals range from $14.99 to $29.99 per adult.
Click here for a Be Our Guest menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
20. Todd English’s bluezoo, WDW Dolphin Hotel, Epcot Resort Area
At the bluezoo, enjoy raw or cooked seafood, plus tender chicken, beef and pork dishes. This is a Disney Signature Dining restaurant, and reservations are accepted.
Some dining plans are accepted, and prices are $30 to $59.99 per adult.
Click here for a bluezoo menu, pricing information, and online reservations.
So in addition to all the other Top 20 Lists floating around, that’s our Top 20 Best Disney Restaurants list.
You may love or dislike several of our restaurants based on your meal and experience there. Our top five may not be your top five, or even make it into your top 20. I’m not a big fan of Crystal Palace at all, but other people voted it into second place. Hopefully you got an idea of our fans’ favorite restaurants, which could come in handy when you start planning your next trip. I discovered several places I’d like to try, while some I couldn’t even locate on my own until now. I also mentally crossed several names off my personal list due to prices for my family of five.
And if you hated one of our choices eight years ago, possibly because of bad service, or worse – a bad food item, then maybe it’s time to give it one more shot!
Like to read about some favorite restaurants over at My Dreams of Disney? Use these links.
Need some info. on accepted restaurant tipping practices these days? The Free Dining offer isn’t really free when you factor in a tip. Here’s all you need to know.
Thanks for stopping by, and we hope you enjoy your meals at Disney. If you ever ate a child’s meal so you could afford dessert two hours later, you just might be a Cheapskate Princess!
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SaveSaveA week ago I worried about the Sanders health plan; it looked as if he was low-balling costs in an effort to obscure how hard making such a plan would be, and how many currently well-insured people would end up being losers. I wrote that his plan
both promises more comprehensive coverage than Medicare or for that matter single-payer systems in other countries, and assumes huge cost savings that are at best unlikely given that kind of generosity. This lets Sanders claim that he could make it work with much lower middle-class taxes than would probably be needed in practice. To be harsh but accurate: the Sanders health plan looks a little bit like a standard Republican tax-cut plan, which relies on fantasies about huge supply-side effects to make the numbers supposedly add up. Only a little bit: after all, this is a plan seeking to provide health care, not lavish windfalls on the rich — and single-payer really does save money, whereas there’s no evidence that tax cuts deliver growth. Still, it’s not the kind of brave truth-telling the Sanders campaign pitch might have led you to expect.
Now Kenneth Thorpe, a health policy expert (and a long-term supporter of health reform who believes that single payer would be a good thing if politically feasible) has tried to crunch the numbers, and it really doesn’t look good. Thorpe estimates that the plan would actually require about twice as much new revenue as Sanders claims.
The Sanders campaign is calling this a “hatchet job”; but as Jonathan Cohn says, Thorpe’s assumptions
are broadly consistent with what most health policy experts believe.
Or as Ezra Klein puts it,
the gap between Thorpe and Sanders is the gap between an economist who is optimistic that single-payer can save some money and a campaign optimistic that it can save a huge amount of money.
And it’s not good to see the campaign basically responding to questions about its numbers by attacking the motives of someone who should be on their side.By
You’ll never hear it from the mainstream news media, but Christians are under attack on all fronts.
Google appears to have ramped up their attacks on Christians under the banner of stopping hate speech. Conservative Christian Lynn Leahz recently reported losing almost all of her Google revenues, which was a big blow to her ministry. Google claims it was due to conflicts with their advertisers. Also, several alternative news sites I subscribed to have been shut down recently with a message from Google accusing them of violating policies. Apparently, any excuse to silence Christians is okay with Google.
Yesterday, Jerome Corsi reported tech giants Apple, Google, and Facebook are joining forces with a group whose sole purpose appears to be silencing Christians, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Apple has joined Internet content giants Google and Facebook, as well as the mainstream media, to embrace the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in a plan designed to censor out “hate speech,” without realizing the Soros-funded organization has a hard-left goal of targeting conservatives as extremists.
Since its founding in 1971 the SPLC has drawn millions of dollars from scores of charitable foundations, including the Ford Foundation, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, Ploughshares Fund, the Public Welfare Fund, the Vanguard Public Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.
According to the group’s IRS Form 990, the SPLC received $50.3 million in contributions and grants in 2015.
Identified as “the left’s favorite attack dog,” the SPLC is infamous for targeting conservative political activists as “right-wing extremists” and identifying conservative political organizations as “hate groups.” (Source: Infowars)
Of course, they’ll never admit they’re trying to silence Christians. They cleverly wage war against hate speech, which just happens to be their perverted definition of Christian speech.
While Christian leaders proclaim all is well and judgment has been averted, darkness continues advancing at a disturbing rate. It’s like watching a movie where common sense is thrown out and seemingly normal people can no longer tell the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, love and hate, except this is not a movie, it’s really happening. Christians are being branded as evil haters while perverts are embraced as holy and righteous. Pressure on the righteous has already started increasing and all indications are the trend will continue in the days ahead. Lukewarm Christianity is quickly coming to an end. Fence sitters are being forced to choose whom they will serve as the sheep are being separated from the goats.
The good news is the light of God is now arising on His people like never before and His glory will be displayed to this lost world through His righteous remnant. (Isaiah 60:1-5)
Author: James Bailey James Bailey is an author, business owner, husband and father of two children. His vision is to broadcast the good news of Jesus Christ through blog sites and other media outlets.Posted on: October 17, 2017 1:53 PM
Anglicans and Protestants in Myanmar are looking forward to Pope Francis’ visit to the country next month. Pope Francis will visit Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw at the end of November, ahead of a visit to Bangladesh. Nant Myat Noe Aein, a 21-year-old youth leader in the Church of the Province of Myanmar, told AsiaNews that “the apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Myanmar, a Buddhist majority country, shows that its society is more open now than before.
“Our country used to be a closed society for decades. With the new democratic government since last year, society is gradually opening up for change. And the visit of Pope Francis is a blessing.”
The Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) unites the Anglican Church of the Province of Myanmar with a number of other Christian denominations in the country. Its general secretary, Lal Puia, also welcomed the Pope’s intended visit, saying that it “has put Myanmar in the limelight of the world, which is interested to know more about the country and its people.
“The country faces many problems,” he said. “With the visit, Pope Francis will urge all to work for the progress and prosperity of the country. I have registered to attend the function of Pope Francis in Yangon. I will take part in his Mass. I am excited about the event.”
MCC’s president, Patrick Loo Tone, said: “Many people in the country do not know much about Christians in the country. With the Pope’s coming, both inside and outside, people and the world are interested to know about the nation, people, and their issues and concerns.”
Myanmar is a Buddhist-majority country, with adherents making up almost 89 per cent of the population. Christians make up around 6.3 per cent of the population while Muslims account for 2.3 per cent.
The Pope’s visit next month will be the fourth significant Christian event in the country in two months; and it follows the Asian Mission Conference, the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Christian Council of Asia, and the Bishop’s Meeting of the Council of the Church of East Asia.Manchester United forward Bebe has welcomed speculation linking him with a move to Benfica.
Bebe, who turned 24 on Saturday, joined Manchester United in 2010 in a deal reported to be worth 7.4 million pounds, but he has yet to start a Premier League game for the club and has been sent out on loan three times.
It's also Bebe's 24th birthday today. He scored 13 goals on loan at Pacos de Ferreira last season and was named their Player of the Year. - Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 12, 2014
However, after impressing during a spell at Portuguese club Pacos de Ferreira last season, there is said to be interest from Benfica and he told Antena 1: "I think it would be a good opportunity for me.
"For now I will wait for my agent to resolve it. He will certainly know better than I do whether it's true or not.
"Of course it would be a great opportunity for me. Maybe I could play more and they could rely on me more. I think it would be a unique opportunity."
Bebe, who has returned to preseason training at United, has one year remaining on his contract and Louis van Gaal is reported to be keen to offload the player.Kory Watkins (Facebook)
A Texas gun activist is once again calling for the execution of lawmakers over a bill that would allow the open carry of handguns.
Kory Watkins expressed his frustration Thursday morning in a Facebook post after open carry legislation stalled the day before over law enforcement concerns.
“I’m calling for the arrest of every elected official in Texas that voted against open carry,” Watkins said. “They should be arrested, charged with treason and should face a punishment that could result in being hung from the tree of liberty.”
The Texas House appeared close to passing the legislation, but law enforcement groups persuaded lawmakers Wednesday to remove a provision that would prevent police from asking those carrying weapons for their licenses if there was no other reason to stop them.
The measure was sent back to a bipartisan conference committee for revision, and the head of Open Carry Tarrant County urged his followers to take action against unsupportive legislators.
“What do you think gets their attention more after they go against the people? Some phone calls? Or actual liberty or death?” Watkins said. “Texans, asking for our rights and waiting for them is not the right tactic. Start putting #FootInDoors.”
Watkins posted a video online in February that also called for the execution of state lawmakers for following legislative procedures that he believed had delayed the passage of open carry laws.
“I don’t know if they forgot what their duty is, and that’s to protect the Constitution,” Watkins said in the video. “And let me remind you – going against the Constitution is treason, and, my friend, that is punishable by death. That’s how serious this is.”
The gun activist, who thinks Texans should be permitted to openly carry rifles and handguns without permits, deleted the video a short time later and claimed that he had not intended the comments as a threat but merely a warning that the Founding Fathers had taken treason seriously.
“I love the constitution dearly, and the constitution is very clear on the process for convicting someone for treason, I was obviously not calling for such a process, nor was I threatening anyone. I simply wished to point out the seriousness of the constitution,” Watkins said at the time.In 1888, the US showed up with a show of force in Haiti. That was sufficient for the Haitian government of Louis Lysius Félicité Salomon who lasted longer than most leaders of Haiti. The Americans were flexing their muscles in order to persuade Salomon to give up a captured US Steamer and its crew that was taken amidst charges of blockade running. In relation to other Haitian, leaders, Salomon really wasn’t too bad as he managed to connect the nation with the rest of the world via telegraph, improved the education system, attracted foreign capital and created a national bank. But, he eventually was forced to capitulate as another strongman gained power.
Navassa Island is a pretty worthless island off the southeastern tip of Haiti. Christopher Columbus first charted the island on his 3rd and 4th voyages but he wasn’t too interested because the tiny island had no water. But, the US claimed the island in 1857 and later in the 19th century a company out of Baltimore started mining for guano. Yup…guano. Seems guano phosphate was seen as a good organic fertilizer and American agriculture interests couldn’t wait to get their hands on…guano. Well, the American supervisors weren’t too kind to the workers and there was a revolt. That resulted in white supervisors getting arms, legs and heads chopped off. If you managed to keep your head, you may have had it bashed in. The US Navy showed up and took suspects back to Baltimore and then eventually back to Haiti for trial. They were found guilty but escaped execution after US President Benjamin Harrison communted their sentences to life terms following pressure from US African American clergy as well as some of the white jury members. It’s kinda weird thing in that it’s considered an unincorporated territory of the US but Haiti claims in. Its really of no use today. Even the US didn’t think it was worth a lighthouse anymore. But, the island has found a new job as a wildlife refuge.
In the 19th Century there was great interest in the Caribbean Islands by the US. But, before the Civil War, the US. did not recognize the independence of Haiti because it was a land of free men. The Southern States “slavocracy” had some power in Congress those politicians viewed that land as opposition to slavery. President Ulysses S. Grant had longed to annex Dominica. I had always thought that it meant the entire island though some texts say he just meant the Dominican Republic. He made a formal proposal in 1870 but any enthusiasm faded. Partly because of talk of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific and also due to lingering racism. Concerns about political unrest and also activities of the Germans in World War I led to intervention in 1914 and then a US takeover in 1915. From that time until 1934, the US basically ran the country with a military government.
In the 1950’s, President Francios Duvalier took over in Haiti and at first there was some hop. e but charges of corruption circulatied causing much problems for the administrations of the United States (Duvalier bio) In particular, President Kennedy was forced to take action. The 1990’s brought more intervention on the part of the United States for a variety of reasons. In 1994, the Clinton Administration got involved with “Operation Uphold Democracy” in an effort to prevent the ouster of supposedly democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who got 67% of the vote in 1990 and was a Catholic Priest. Aristide though was driven from power and the US put him back in. Then, he was ousted again only to return and in 2004, the US again got involved with “Operation Secure Tomorrow.” Part of the reason the Bush Administration and the Clinton Adminstration got involved was to try to prevent more refugees from coming to the US from Haiti in boats, as they had done during the early part of the Clinton Adminstration which proved to |
,” others fear that faith practitioners might lose respect if lack of knowledge comes to be seen as lack of seriousness about religion.
“Your knowledge of something tells you how seriously you take it,” said Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. “If a person is devout, then I ought to respect that devotion and not mock it, to take it seriously. But if the knowledge base of that devotion is as shallow as it seems, then is the respect earned?”I loved its cab-forward looks too, which tenuously reminded me of the Koenigsegg CCX. In terms of being able to grab your attention and keep your focus, it’s a five-star car – even accounting for the occasionally awkward-looking rear-end styling. At a glance it looked a well-finished and resolved product too, which allayed some fears about it being developed on an overly tight budget.
With the car ready to go, I lowered myself first into the passenger seat – the 4C’s sills are high, like a Corvette - for a sighting lap with the instructor. Almost immediately I banged my knee on an edge or two, before clashing with the box for the heater controls, which juts into the passenger’s leg area. Disconcertingly, the whole assembly flexed slightly, along with the centre console.
My immediate impression was that it did feel very much the stripped-out sports car, with lots of exposed carbonfibre, snug seats and a tight cabin but – disappointingly – there was lots of flimsy, cheap-feeling plastic in places and a host of easily identifiable "borrowed" switchgear. I idly wondered if I’d really be willing to stump up £45k for something like this, a question that became more prominent when I noticed that the very visible surround for the ignition key was heavily marred already.
So, maybe the budget hadn't run to getting the fit, finish and materials spot on. Maybe the car would compensate in the way it performed. On paper, it racks up some impressive numbers. Its rear-mounted 1.7-litre engine puts out a substantial 237bhp and 258lb ft, which is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. Because the Alfa’s claimed to weigh just 895kg dry, it’s capable of 0-62mph in 4.5sec and has a top speed of 160mph. For comparison, a PDK-equipped Porsche Cayman S, costing £50,705, will complete the 0-62mph sprint in 4.9sec and hit 174mph.
We cruised around the track, with the instructor pointing out the cones, apexes and turning in points, and I tried to comprehend what he was saying while coming to terms with the Alfa’s sheer volume and stiffness. You feel everything underneath – although not to a negative extent – and the 1.7-litre engine reverberates through the cabin. It reminds me of a rally car, rather than a lightweight sports car. I wasn't entirely convinced by the engine's intake or exhaust note however, which alternated between gratifyingly raucous, interjected with grin-inducing huffs from the dump valve, and just a wall of occasionally unpleasant mechanical noise at higher engine speeds.
Still, I couldn't help be enthralled by it - and sliding into the driver's seat for the first time, looking through the narrow front screen and at the all-digital instruments, I couldn't help thinking that this was a remarkable car. Truth be told, I'd never been in anything quite like it. With the transmission in automatic mode, I let my foot off the brake - then finding that the 4C needed a few RPMs before the clutches would pick up and you'd start getting any notable drive - and headed out onto the track.
Somewhat surprisingly the Alfa’s heavy unassisted steering didn’t deliver as much feedback as I expected – perhaps due to its heft at lower speeds – but it was delightfully precise and a little input resulted in a lot of lock, granting the car a lively and responsive steering feel. I wasn't keen on the excessively flat-bottomed wheel though, and would prefer something more conventional.
One thing that quickly became apparent was the seeming lack of suspension damping and travel, however. The track we tested the car on was particularly lumpen down the back straight, and the 4C was quite happily bobbing and pulling in a somewhat alarming nature as its speedo clambered past an indicated 115mph, with a modicum of kickback through the steering.Public Intelligence
The Society of Professional Journalists conducted a study for this year’s Sunshine Week surveying 146 journalists who cover federal agencies regarding the role that public affairs or public information officers play in restricting the flow of relevant information to the public. The survey found that journalists face significant obstacles in the performance of their duties due to the obstructive activities of public affairs officers. Some of these obstacles include requiring pre-approval for interviews, prohibiting interviews of certain agency employees or rerouting interview requests, and the active monitoring of interviews being conducted with agency employees. Journalists who responded to the survey found that this obstruction is preventing the public from “getting all the information it needs because of barriers agencies are imposing on journalists’ reporting practices.”
Here’s what the survey found:
75% of journalists reported that they have to get approval from public affairs officers before interviewing an agency employee
70% reported that agency interview requests are forwarded to public affairs officers for “selective routing” to whomever they want
Almost 50% reported that agency employees are sometimes barred from engaging with interviews with the press and nearly 20% of journalists say that this is a common occurrence
More than 50% reported that public affairs officials monitor their interviews with agency employees either all or most of the time
[H/T @CarltonPurvis]
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Data for the price of weed in:
Social Rating
Lightly Enforced
Heavily Enforced
Accepting
Very Intolerant
Average Weed Prices
Quality Average ($/Oz.)* Sample Size High Quality $207.85 319 Medium Quality $231.38 472 Low Quality I feel bad for these guys --> 33
* Averages are corrected for outliers based on standard deviation from the mean.
Submissions
White Lake, Saskatchewan $176 an ounce high quality February 12, 2019 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $13 a gram high quality November 28, 2018 Estevan, Saskatchewan $96 an ounce high quality October 18, 2018 La Ronge, Saskatchewan $8 a gram high quality September 21, 2018 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $123 an ounce medium quality September 17, 2018 Regina, Saskatchewan $115 an ounce medium quality August 14, 2018 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $8 a gram low quality August 11, 2018 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $38 a gram medium quality July 6, 2018 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $156 an ounce high quality May 15, 2018 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $46 a quarter high quality March 16, 2018 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $69 a half ounce high quality March 16, 2018 Regina, Saskatchewan $100 a gram high quality March 15, 2018 Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan $234 an ounce medium quality March 10, 2018 Fort Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan $6 a gram low quality February 19, 2018 Fort Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan $6 a gram medium quality February 19, 2018
Law Enforcement:Social Acceptance:Gov. Nikki Haley's comments came a day after Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary for president and the same day that Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that he was ending his campaign. | Getty Nikki Haley signals support for Trump
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday tried to dispel any speculation that she would be Donald Trump's running mate, but she also signaled she would support him in the general election.
"I have great respect for the will of the people, and as I have always said, I will support the Republican nominee for president," Haley said Wednesday, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. "To the members of the press who are asking, while I am flattered to be mentioned and proud of what that says about the great things going on in South Carolina, my plate is full and I am not interested in serving as vice president."
Haley's comments came a day after Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary for president and the same day that Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that he was ending his campaign, leaving front-runner Trump on a certain course for the Republican nomination.
Haley has often been mentioned as a vice presidential prospect. She previously supported Sen. Marco Rubio and then Cruz after Rubio dropped out of the primary.The Associated Press
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine - A massive shelter has finally been installed over the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, one of the most ambitious engineering projects in the world.
The half-cylinder-shaped shelter began being moved toward the reactor on a system of hydraulic jacks two weeks ago and reached its destination Tuesday, a significant step toward liquidating the remains of the world's worst nuclear accident, 30 years ago in what is now Ukraine.
Workers will now begin dismantling unstable parts of the original cover, the so-called sarcophagus, which was built over the reactor shortly after the explosion to contain radiation.
The new shelter is 275 metres (843 feet) wide and 108 metres (354 feet) tall and cost 1.5 billion euros, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.Dan Evans fends off Scarlets prop Rob Evans
Ospreys (13) 16 Tries: Matavesi Cons: Davies Pen: Davies (3) Scarlets (13) 25 Try: Van der Merwe Con: Jones Pen: Jones (2), Thomas (4)
Aled Thomas came off the bench to kick Scarlets to only their second win over Ospreys at Liberty Stadium.
The west Wales rivals were tied at 13-13 before the fly-half kicked four penalties in the final 18 minutes.
Centre Josh Matavesi's try had given Ospreys an early lead before DTH van der Merwe replied for Scarlets.
The result cements Scarlets' position in the top three, and leaves the Ospreys in ninth place - a long way off European Champions Cup qualification.
Sam Davies kicked 11 points for the Ospreys, but the Scarlets' forward dominance after the break kept the home team at arms length.
With Wales forwards Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric injured, Ospreys struggled at the scrum and could not break the stranglehold Wayne Pivac's team established up front.
The defeat is a blow to Ospreys' already slim top-flight European qualification hopes, and confirms Scarlets as the top region in Wales this season.
DTH van der Merwe scores for Scarlets against Ospreys
Scarlets were pipped 27-26 in the first meeting between the sides this season.
But their pack were in no mood to allow a repeat, with the front row and flanker James Davies outstanding.
In the anticipated battle of the half-backs, it was honours even in a first half when Ospreys number 10 Davies looked assured with Wales fly-half Dan Biggar waiting on the bench.
His delayed pass put Evans through a hole to set up Matavesi's try, and he kicked impeccably.
Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies darted through a gaping narrow-side hole to set up the chance for Van der Merwe's outstanding finish in the left corner.
After the break, the visitors established a control, but could not turn it into points.
And the key moment came when Hadleigh Parkes intercepted a Rhys Webb pass with an Ospreys try looking certain.
With that danger passed, Scarlets re-established control and Thomas made up for missing his first kick at goal by nailing the next four - and possibly the crucial nails into Ospreys' European ambitions.
Ospreys: Dan Evans; Jeff Hassler, Ben John, Josh Matavesi, Eli Walker; Sam Davies, Rhys Webb; Paul James (capt), Scott Baldwin, Aaron Jarvis, James King, Rory Thornton, Dan Lydiate, Sam Underhill, Dan Baker.
Replacements: Sam Parry, Nicky Smith, Dmitri Arhip, Adam Beard, Olly Cracknell, Brendon Leonard, Dan Biggar, Owen Watkin.
Scarlets: Michael Collins; Steffan Evans, Regan King, Hadleigh Parkes, DTH van der Merwe; Dan Jones, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens (capt), Peter Edwards, Jake Ball, David Bulbring, John Barclay, James Davies, Morgan Allen
Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Dylan Evans, Samson Lee, Maselino Paulino, Will Boyde, Aled Davies, Aled Thomas, Harry Robinson
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies, Wayne Davies (WRU)
Citing commissioner: John Charles (WRU)
TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO - NASA released a new study today examining what caused a methane "hot spot" to form in New Mexico. This new study of methane emissions generated by the oil and gas industry in the state's San Juan Basin is a major step forward in understanding the causes of New Mexico’s methane “hot spot.” It follows up on a 2014 satellite-based study that initially found the “hot spot,” and sought to identify its specific causes.
The NASA study found that roughly 50 percent of basin-wide methane emissions come from more than 250 very large polluters that were detected by intensive NASA aerial surveys and ground crews. According to the authors, this finding confirms researchers’ earlier speculation that most of the basin's methane emissions are related to natural gas extraction and coal mining.
But this is only half of the story as the study did not determine the source of the remaining 50 percent of emissions. Given the more than 20,000 (mainly older) gas wells, myriad storage tanks, thousands of miles of pipelines, and several gas processing plants in the area, NASA's finding that the oil and gas industry is primarily responsible for the “hot spot” is not surprising. In fact, the researchers found only one large source of methane not related to oil and gas operations: venting from the San Juan coal mine. This discovery renders attempts to point the finger at other potential emissions sources, like coal outcrops and landfills, definitively refuted.
Despite identifying the source of the emissions, one of the authors’ key conclusions is not supported by the evidence. The report says that the small number of large methane sources, “suggests that mitigation of field-wide emissions such as those estimated for Four Corners will be less costly because it only requires identifying and fixing a few emitters.” [emphasis added]
The other 50 percent of methane emissions in the region cannot be ignored, and mitigating field-wide emissions will require the oil and gas industry to cut emissions from all sources, large and small, if we are to eliminate New Mexico’s “hot spot.” New comprehensive oil and gas methane standards from the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management are currently in the works and, once completed, will require the industry to cut its methane emissions from all sources.
###Experienced striker is fourth summer signing
Neal Ardley has today finally landed one of his key targets after Adebayo Akinfenwa turned down interest from other clubs to sign for AFC Wimbledon.
Neal revealed that he had pursued Adebayo’s signature for 14 months and the striker came very close to signing for Wimbledon last summer only for the lure of League 1 Gillingham to prove too strong on that occasion.
However, the Wimbledon manager has got his man now and Neal believes the experienced striker will form an exciting forward partnership with Matt Tubbs, who signed earlier this week.
Speaking to Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “I tried very hard last season to get Adebayo in and I’m very pleased that I’ve finally got my man. He is a striker who gets his fair share of goals, which the statistics prove, but what the statistics don’t show is how many goals he plays a part in. If you put someone alongside him with the finishing prowess of Matt Tubbs then it is clear what we’ve been trying to do here. I am over the moon with it.
“Adebayo will probably divide opinions in many ways throughout this league, but I think it’s key to point out that he can play football. He’s not just a big man who can win headers. You can play off him and he’s a target man who occupies defenders. Adebayo can get the ball down and see passes, but when we get into the final third to deliver crosses he will also be a good target. I think he will offer a lot to the team and it won’t just be for one particular style because he can mix it up.”
Adebayo, who is pictured centre above with Neal Ardley (left) and Ivor Heller (right), has scored well over 100 goals in the Football League and has a wealth of experience gained with several clubs. He enjoyed prolific spells at many of his former clubs, including Torquay United, Swansea City, Northampton Town and Gillingham, who he scored 10 goals for in League 1 last season.
Speaking to Rob Cornell on Dons Player, Adebayo said: “I’m not trying to be arrogant, but there were quite a few clubs aiming for my signature. But what the manager had said to me last year was massive. He could not give me League 1 football last season, but it made it an easier decision this time around. It was his vision and the way that he wants to play football that influenced my decision. I want to play well for him and for the club.
“For this club to come back into the Football League is a beautiful story. My mind set is that you should take your destiny in your own hands and defy your limitations; if you want to do something then you can do it. I just think that AFC Wimbledon and Akinfenwa fit well together. I’m looking forward to it and let’s do something great.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch extensive video interviews with Neal Ardley and Adebayo later this afternoon.
.Your AFC WimbledonOf course, lifelong supporter Mike Richardson's generous offer to match donations made to the We Are Wimbledon Fund during June has helped to strengthen Neal Ardley's squad. There's still time to make your contribution and for information click onThis initiative establishes a network of home and community gardens throughout Kauai. Through the joint services of Kauai Community College and the County of Kauai Department of Parks and Recreation our program utilizes the established Neighborhood Centers as a foundation to provide the facilities and programs to attract and train families and individuals in food gardening skills and provide support resources needed to be successful home and community gardeners. Kauai Community college will provide the technical and training resources delivered by qualified community volunteers.
Over the past year, County Parks & Recreation and Kauai Community College have joined together in a landmark agreement to support a Cooperative Community Garden Program (CCGP) at the Neighborhood Center in Kalaheo. CCGP is a program where family and friends can learn how to create a home garden or join in cooperative community gardening at their local Neighborhood Center.
As a family, children and parents can garden together and experience the social benefits that come with spending quality time in an activity that benefits the whole family. Growing food is fun. Great taste and a high nutritional value encourages better eating habits proven to be beneficial at all levels. For children, developing skills that may be enhanced through future education opens paths to career opportunities as adults.
Our senior community members benefit by sharing their knowledge and experience. Many of our seniors grew up in a time when a family home garden was the norm rather than the exception as it is today. Our seniors have a great deal to offer with their lifetime of experience. The gardening program is a great addition to senior activities at the neighborhood centers.
It is easy to see that the benefits of family home food gardens and cooperative community gardens are many for a broad range of people over a wide age span. There are many new garden designs and techniques that are fun for children, adults, and seniors alike, providing opportunities for participation and benefits to our community.
Portable
County Neighborhood Center Facility with bathroom, sinks, kitchen, training rooms, etc.
Location Kalaheo Neighborhood Center, Kalaheo, HI 96741 United States Contact Neil Brosnahan
808-346-8460
[Protected email address]
Host Organization County of Kauai and University of Hawaii Setting Rural Accessible Size 3600 Square Feet Year Founded 2010Addressing an assembly of mayors Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande reaffirmed his commitment to Syrian refugees in the wake of last weekend’s devastating terror attacks in Paris.
Hollande said the nation will honor its commitment to take in 30,000 refugees over the next two years, assuring the mayors, “France will remain a country of freedom.”
Resistance to Syrian refugees mounted in the Western world, after it was revealed at least one of the terrorists who participated in the Paris attacks claimed asylum last month in Greece using a Syrian passport. Officials say the passport was likely fake; The Daily Mail reports at least eight migrants used documents identical to those found on the Paris attacker to gain entry into Europe.
“Some have wanted to link the influx of refugees to Friday’s acts of terror,” Hollande said, evoking calls by French and American conservatives to close the borders to fleeing refugees. But he declared the nation has a “humanitarian duty” to help migrants escape war-torn Syria.
“Some people say the tragic events of the last few days have sown doubts in their minds,” Hollande said, insisting refugees will undergo a rigorous screening process before gaining admission into France.
But, Hollande said, the nation must stay committed to French values, declaring, “Life should resume fully.”
“What would France be without its museums, without its terraces, its concerts, its sports competitions?” Hollande asked, adding “France should remain as it is. Our duty is to carry on our lives.”
[Image via screengrab]
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>> Follow Elizabeth Preza on Twitter (@lizacisms)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age Scientific Habits of Mind David J. Helfand Columbia University Press
We live in the Information Age, with billions of bytes of data just two swipes away. Yet how much of this is mis- or even disinformation? A lot of it is, and your search engine can't tell the difference. As a result, an avalanche of misinformation threatens to overwhelm the discourse we so desperately need to address complex social problems such as climate change, the food and water crises, biodiversity collapse, and emerging threats to public health. This book provides an inoculation against the misinformation epidemic by cultivating scientific habits of mind. Anyone can do it—indeed, everyone must do it if our species is to survive on this crowded and finite planet.
This survival guide supplies an essential set of apps for the prefrontal cortex while making science both accessible and entertaining. It will dissolve your fear of numbers, demystify graphs, and elucidate the key concepts of probability, all while celebrating the precise use of language and logic. David Helfand, one of our nation's leading astronomers and science educators, has taught scientific habits of mind to generations in the classroom, where he continues to wage a provocative battle against sloppy thinking and the encroachment of misinformation.
A Survival Guide for the Misinformation Age is an impassioned plea for science literacy. Given the state of the world today, in which scientifically underinformed voters elect scientifically illiterate politicians, David Helfand has written the right book at the right time with the right message. Read it now. The future of our civilization may depend on it. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History David Helfand's Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age gives readers a chance to spend time with one this country's clearest and best critical thinkers. Helfand channels Steven Pinker's ability to dissect language with John Alan Paulos's ability to explain numbers with Richard Dawkins' ability to explain our existence (to obtain food, to avoid being food, and to reproduce) with George Carlin's ability to make us laugh. Using personal anecdotes (he's a Red Sox fan), Helfand teaches us how to think through questions as diverse as why the moon doesn't make us lunatics to why it only takes twenty-three people to have a 50:50 chance that two will have the same birthday. A real pleasure. Paul Offit, University of Pennsylvania A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age is a no-holds-barred paean to the scientific mode of thinking. Helfand's wide-ranging, interdisciplinary, humorously cynical intellect comes through at every turn. J. Craig Wheeler, University of Texas at Austin Important and timely. Library Journal Helfand's work is an admirable response to a long-standing problem of sloppy thinking. Publishers Weekly Helfand is a man brimming with incredible insights on the universe. Dave's Universe A must–read for anyone presuming to call themselves a scientist and a should–read for anyone just trying to make sense of the overwhelming volume of data and real and concocted 'proofs' of nearly everything that spews forth from the Internet on demand. This book provides a road map for teaching students how to both celebrate science and how to view their primary source of information with skepticism and caution. Every science teacher should read this book. John Ziegler, NSTA Recommends For those with an arts and humanities background, this book offers many valuable lessons.... For everyone else it provides a vital antidote to the ills of misinformation by teaching systematic and rigorous scientific reasoning. Marina Gerner, Times Literary Supplement Highly recommended. CHOICE How I wish everyone would read, appreciate, and follow [David J. Helfand's] guidance. Physics Today
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Information, Misinformation, and Our Planet's Future
1. A Walk in the Park
2. What Is Science?
3. A Sense of Scale
Interlude 1: Numbers
4. Discoveries on the Back of an Envelope
5. Insights in Lines and Dots
Interlude 2: Language and Logic
6. Expecting the Improbable
7. Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
8. Correlation, Causation... Confusion and Clarity
9. Definitional Features of Science
10. Applying Scientific Habits of Mind to Earth's Future
11. What Isn't Science
12. The Triumph of Misinformation; The Peril of Ignorance
13. The Unfinished Cathedral
Appendix: Practicing Scientific Habits of Mind
Notes
Index
Read the chapter, "A Walk in the Park":
Winner, 2016 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleOle Miss without two of its running backs
Mississippi running back I'Tavius Mathers (5) tries to straight-arm Louisiana-Lafayette's Gabe Fuselier (24) during the second half at an NCAA college football game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014. No. 14 Mississippi won 56-15. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) (Photo: Rogelio V. Solis AP)
OXFORD -- Two of No. 10 Ole Miss' running backs are dealing with injuries after Saturday's game.
I'Tavius Mathers (toe) and Jordan Wilkins (ankle, knee) both may not practice during Ole Miss' bye week after going down during the team's 56-15 win against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Coach Hugh Freeze said Mathers "should be OK, but it may take a couple of weeks." The team is waiting on tests to come back on Wilkins' knee, which has swollen up.
"Anytime you're waiting on tests to come back they concern you," Freeze said.
Ole Miss has two weeks before the team's Sept. 27 game against Memphis, and three before it plays No. 3 Alabama.
Mathers led Ole Miss in rushing last season and is second on the team right now with 94 yards. He had a 56-yard touchdown run against the Ragin' Cajuns, but his other 16 carries this season have gained 38 yards (a 2.38 yards per carry average).
Wilkins had some success early in the season by establishing himself as a good short-yardage back, but he's carried the ball 14 times for 47 yards in Ole Miss' crowded backfield.
Linebackers Deterrian Shackelford (ankle) and Demarquis Gates (thigh bruise) both have minor injuries that are not expected to be serious.
Left guard Aaron Morris may sit out practice this week as well.
"There's nothing wrong but with that knee he had surgery on," Freeze said. "(Trainer Pat Jernigan) is thinking of doing some kind of treatment that will help with some of the soreness and tendonitis."
Read or Share this story: http://on.thec-l.com/1s3OAw5VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – BC’s senior federal minister continues to defend Ottawa’s decision to shut down the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station.
Delegates at the Union of BC Municipalities convention have passed a resolution opposing changes to the Coast Guard.
James Moore shoved back at Vancouver City Council for blasting the closure and saying BC MPs are not speaking up for the province.
“The reality is that the City of Vancouver — and all British Columbians, as a matter of fact — have more Coast Guard resources, have better coast guard protection, than any other port on any other coast in all of the country, even with the changes at Kits,” maintains Moore.
His defence comes even as rescue coordination centre staff say the closure could endanger lives.
Follow News1130’s Dan Burritt on Twitter; he’s in Victoria for the UBCM convention.We recently polled Business Insider readers on their attitudes to paying for cable and satellite TV, and we asked for your comments on the future of television itself.
The survey was prompted by the news that a generation of "cord-nevers" and "cord-cutters" is forming -- young people who don't want to pay for cable TV because their laptops and mobile devices provide plenty of free video.
By late Friday, 910 votes had been cast and the result was overwhelming:
Here are the full results:
(The live poll is still open, incidentally.) Obviously, the poll is biased: It's a self-selecting audience of people who are already getting their news from the web.
Meet the "cord-haters"
Having said that, it indicates that "cord-nevers" may not be the TV industry's main problem. Rather, judging by the comment boards underneath both the poll and the original story about the death of TV, it is the "cord-haters": People who actively despise traditional television with its clutter of irrelevant advertising and brainless programming. They are overjoyed that the web now offers an alternative way to watch shows and movies at a fraction of the cost.
The Credit Suisse report identified new technology as the culprit that is now eating TV's business. But as far as B.I. readers are concerned, it's not just about the ease of watching movies on an iPad. Rather, it's that they find TV to be of such low quality that they just don't want to watch any more of it. Only now has new technology allowed them to watch shows and movies without all of TV's baggage, such as paying for 500 channels when you really only watch about 10.
Here are some comments from the cord-haters (more here):
Steven: The thing I hate about TV is you only watch a couple stations 99% of the time, but you pay for 150+ stations.dargoola: This year I cut most of the digital premium channels with on demand add-ons because I never have time to watch them.
There's a core Of TV channels I watch but it's shrinking. I'm getting more of my news from the Internet, i blog a lot, and spend more time socially on the net. But TV is still it for the pure pleasure of vegging out and being entertained.realchuck: I've stopped paying some 5 years ago. I installed a'seedbox' with a friendly 3rd-world country hosting provider and just leech torrents (automatically). It costs me some $50 per month including unlimited traffic. So I get TV-shows on the next day, auto-downloaded, and any blu-ray movie - also on the next day. I don't have to respect any delays imposed by the assholes in the industry.flubber: TV will fail because of the parent companies and advertisers. How many infomercials do we need? How many times do they need to cut to commercial during a football game? Quite frankly I do not watch a lot of TV anymore because the amount of real content being aired is a joke and the amount of commercials is just downright insulting. I download everything or watch it on the net.Dean Wormer: The traditional TV folks are stuck. But they think this is about Netflix, Hulu etc. It's not. Their product stinks. It's been this way for years and its getting worse. Hulu is just methadone to get you off the crack pipe.Krissy: Let us be real here, most regular network TV on now is pure unadulterated shite.
iWonder: Cable isn't what it used to be. I had cable primarily for channels like Discovery, Science and History but now it seems those networks are being overrun by the same trash programming that took over the big networks a decade ago. Cable isn't worth it now, 150+ channels and nothing worth watching, that's why I'm done with it.jasno: I abandoned broadcast TV because of the incessant commercials. Even on the discovery channel it's too much. Worse, the commercials are pretty much never for anything that I might possibly buy. For example, I am never going to buy a Chevy Silverado pickup, or any truck, but I have been subjected to about 97,391 commercials for pickup trucks.
Some readers defended TV, saying it still played a useful role in their lives:
rusty syringe: Gave it up for awhile but came back this year. Direct TV's free Sunday Ticket offer was to good to pass up. As with most guys I know, if it weren't for ESPN, NFL, and NBA I wouldn't get cable. Sports is all I watch on TV.Frank Castle: I've tried all the streaming services and the image quality is crap. With Comcast I have a crystal clear 1080 signal with Dolby digital sound. I have no desire to gather everyone around the laptop to view a show. All these services also are geared to the solo viewer. What do you do when Mom wants to watch HGTV, I'm watching a game, the kids have on disney channel. Your telling me running all those sevices seperately is going to be cheaper then another cable connection?A notorious black hat says he has more than 200 million hacked Yahoo accounts for sale on the dark Web. The company says it is "aware of [the] claim," but is refusing to comment on its veracity. Yahoo accounts are primarily used to log into the company's webmail service, but also for other sites like Flickr.
It's unclear at this point whether Yahoo has itself been breached, but the account data has been publicly available on a Tor-accessible marketplace called The Real Deal since Monday, and is apparently being sold by a hacker known as Peace, who has previously been linked to large-scale sales of MySpace and LinkedIn account details in 2012.
A Yahoo spokesperson said:
We are aware of a claim. We are committed to protecting the security of our users' information and we take any such claim very seriously. Our security team is working to determine the facts. Yahoo works hard to keep our users safe, and we always encourage our users to create strong passwords, or give up passwords altogether by using Yahoo Account Key, and use different passwords for different platforms.
The entire dump, which apparently contains usernames, hashed passwords created with the md5 algorithm, dates of birth, and occasional backup email addresses, can be bought for three bitcoins (roughly £1,360 or $1,813).
Motherboard, which broke the story, was privately supplied with a small number of accounts from Peace and found that at least some of the usernames were still valid Yahoo accounts: "When [we] attempted to contact over 100 of the addresses in the sample set, many returned as undeliverable," said Motherboard's report. "'This account has been disabled or discontinued,' read one autoresponse to many of the e-mails that failed to deliver properly, while others read 'This user doesn’t have a yahoo.com account.'"
Peace admitted that the data was "most likely" from 2012, and there's a good chance that the information might have been collated from other hacks, unless Yahoo confirms that the dump originates from a single mighty data breach.
Correction (8/3, 1p CT): The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Motherboard privately purchased some of the data to verify it. It has now been updated to reflect that Motherboard obtained the data through its reporting on Peace. Ars regrets the error.In our latest demolition series which we gave Norwich a 4 goal spanking we saw how our team played so beautiful in a style which our owner craves, the sexy football.
We could have scored 6-7 goals but well you know our striker somehow fluffed his chances.
I noticed that our dear Fernando got 3 chances (or maybe more, I was late at watching the game) the 1st chance when he receive a Hollywood pass from Frankie, he was storming to the penalty area and when we just waited for him to shoot, somehow he stopped and pulled the ball back. The 2nd was the header which he scored. And the 3rd when he received the ball from Hazard, kicked it but it hit Ruddy’s foot
What I am really shocked about is his 1st. I just screamed at my tv ‘what the heck are you doing Torres? Are you trying to nutmeg the centre-backs? Just shoot FFS!!!’.
And when I watched it again for the 4th time I just see from his body language that he seems so reluctant to shoot, it seems he doesn`t believe in his instinct anymore.
Have you noticed that when he didn’t think so much he actually did some amazing things, examples – his bicycle kick last season which hit the crossbar, his goal against Manure in our 3-1 loss last season, his goal against Arsenal, his header and overhead kick against Norwich.
But when he over thinks about his chances he usually does some stupid things, his decision-making is terrible. I rarely see the Liverpool Torres do some stupid things, at least when he misses it because either |
don’t know what will happen in the future but I will really try to gift the supporters Premier League football."
Read more of Sannino's comments following the QPR defeat here and listen to the press conference below.A couple of days ago, while driving home from the train station, my attention was grabbed by two words – a name – broadcast over the car radio courtesy of BBC Radio 5 Live. This wasn’t the name of a person, but of a place that has long interested me, and which, at least in part, inspired me a few years ago to begin thinking about contemporary No Man’s Lands. It is certainly not a name one commonly hears on national radio within the UK, an absence that made its on air occurrence all the more intriguing.
The name in question is Bir Tawil – Arabic for ‘tall well’ – an 800 square mile trapezoid-shaped tract of land wedged in between the southern borders of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the northern border of the Republic of the Sudan.
What makes Bir Tawil so fascinating is that it is seemingly so unwanted. It is unclaimed by both of its continental neighbours and, as a consequence, appears to resist, even exceed, the processes of expansion and enclosure that are so associated with the system of modern nation states. Until now, that is. As of 16 June 2014, Bir Tawil has been claimed – by the unlikely sounding Jeremiah Heaton of Abingdon, Virginia.
Heaton, we are led to believe, is a man who would do almost anything for his seven-year-old daughter, including fulfilling a promise that she could be ‘a real princess’. Eschewing the easy option of procuring a natty costume from a local royal outfitter, Heaton instead cast his geopolitical eye around the world in order to establish his own independent kingdom. He initially considered staking a claim to a portion of Antarctica until he “discovered” that sovereignty claims on the continent are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty System, agreed in 1959. The unclaimed Bir Tawil was a natural second choice. In a move discomforting for its similarity to past colonial possession-taking across Africa, Heaton travelled to Bir Tawil where, on 16 June 2014 (yes, you guessed it, his daughter’s seventh birthday) he planted a self-designed flag and ushered into being the ‘Kingdom of Northern Sudan’.
While this story might be fodder for the international media – as evidenced by the proliferation of stories in recent days – it might also usefully focus our attention on Bir Tawil and its curious status as variously Terra Nulius and /or No-man’s Land. As the geographer, Alistair Bonnett, notes about Bir Tawil: “It is not just a no man’s land, it is actively spurned. It appears to be the only place left on earth that is both habitable and unclaimed.”
The roots of this “unclaiming” date back more than a century to the publication, in 1899 and 1902 respectively, of two maps by British colonial cartographers that created two distinct versions of the border between Egypt and what was, at the time, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The 1899 iteration places Bir Tawil within Sudan but incorporates the economically productive pocket of land known as the Hala’ib Triangle within Egypt. The 1902 map reversed this territorial allocation by placing Bir Tawil within Egypt and the Hala’ib Triangle within Sudan.
The effect of this cartographic flip-flopping has been that neither Egypt nor Sudan has pursued an active claim over Bir Tawil because to do so may undermine their respective national claims to the Hala’ib Triangle. Bir Tawil, as a consequence, exists as a crack between two modern nation states and, as such, is evocative of one of the earliest appearances of No-Man’s Lands (nonesmanneslond) in the English language; from around 1320 when it was used in reference to the barren stretches of land—often used as waste or dumping grounds—between two provinces or kingdoms. While these medieval spaces were frequently economically unproductive and therefore unwanted by feudal Lords, the story of Bir Tawil is bound up in a more complex story of sovereignty claims and strategic ‘unclaiming’.
What is also striking is the way that contemporary No Man’s Lands – whether Bir Tawil or the Buffer Zone in Cyprus – become sites for the imposition of certain kinds of powerful geographical imaginaries, particularly those imaginaries that seek to preserve these spaces as somehow ‘out of time’. As noted in previous posts, and again evident this week, journalists given access to the Cyprus Buffer Zone unproblematically speak of and photograph a ‘land frozen in time’, a place ‘untouched’ by recent human activity where ‘nobody has been since the 1970s’ – geographical fantasies that heighten the sensation of abandonment and which play on a fine balance of preservation and aesthetically-pleasing ruination.
These journalists reproduce in their words and images ‘No Man’s Land’ as exceptional, anomalous and as a depopulated geographical curiosity, while ignoring everything that is ‘normal’, everyday and even mundane about the continuing human activity, whether in the form of farming, economic development, or even bi-communal village life.
Bir Tawil has become a similar kind of ‘fantasy space’ – “empty”, “unclaimed”, “the last Terra Nullius” and seemingly ripe for the recreation of 19th century performances of flag planting and territorial claiming – albeit, in this case, by a distinctly 21st century and homespun “paternal sovereign”. What these fantastical renderings of No Man’s Lands ignore is historical context, geopolitical complexity and, often, empirical evidence. Just as the Cyprus Buffer Zone is far from being “dead” and “devoid of life”, so Bir Tawil cannot be considered either “empty” or “unclaimed”.
Bir Tawil was for thousands of years, until comparatively recently, actively used by members of the Ababda tribe in the pursuance of their nomadic lifestyle, culture and practices. Even after 1902, the Ababda continued to transgress – or, again, exceed – the newly-imagined lines of colonial cartography in order to seasonally graze camels, goats and sheep. Extended droughts may have forced the Ababda to move away, but as Alistair Bonnett notes, “an important part of their story remains rooted in this place.” As he continues:
“to say that Bir Tawil is unoccupied is not to say that it has no history or that it’s anyones to take.”
Satellite imagery reveals more contemporary evidence of occupation (albeit temporary) and movement within – and through – Bir Tawil. Tyre tracks point to frequent visitation – whether for the purpose of military patrols, tourism, or the transportation of goods or people. In any case, No Man’s Lands are rarely empty. They are spaces that are occupied, utilized and stewarded, and layered with geographical, historical and narrative complexities – and, in acknowledging that, this project seeks to reassert the academic rigour and nuance required both to challenge and advance our understanding of these spaces.
In the meantime, the world surely trembles in anticipation of 16th June 2015, the date when we will learn what Princess Emily requests and requires for her 8th birthday.Former England left-back Ashley Cole has signed a two-year contract with Roma
Former Arsenal and Chelsea defender Ashley Cole believes English players are afraid of moving to a foreign club.
The 33-year-old ex-England international has joined Italian side Roma after leaving Chelsea when his contract expired with the Blues.
"English players are probably afraid to come abroad, they're in a comfort zone in England," said the left-back.
Only one of England's 2014 World Cup squad - Celtic keeper Fraser Forster - does not play in the Premier League.
Ashley Cole's Chelsea career Aug 2006: Signs from Arsenal May 2010: Wins the Premier League title and FA Cup May 2012: Wins a record seventh FA Cup final May 2012: Wins the Champions League final at the third time of asking May 2013: Wins the Europa League May 2014: Announces he is likely to have played his last game for club July 2014: Signs two-year-deal with Roma
Cole said the move to Serie A gave him the chance to "try a different language, culture and way of living".
Chelsea chose not to offer Cole a new deal but the player insisted he still had a "good relationship" with Blues boss Jose Mourinho.
Cole has signed a two-year deal with Roma, who will play in this season's Champions League after finishing second to Juventus in Serie A.
Speaking at his first news conference as a Roma player, he added: "I'm not afraid of pressure. I noticed the fans' passion and love as soon as I landed. I'm going to enjoy my time here."Source: West Point/Flickr/Free Image/Public Domain
Although many of us like to think that we have a “type” of partner we are most attracted to, and that our preferences stay consistent over time, research has shown that our likes and dislikes are as changeable as a British weather forecast.
In tough environments, where food is difficult to come by and infectious disease is a real threat, people prefer heavier partners. It makes sense: underweight individuals are less likely to survive when times are hard, whereas those who are carrying a little extra padding are able to cope with food shortages or acute bouts of illness.
Even more interesting is research showing that these preferences probably aren’t locked in: people who have recently emigrated from an inhospitable to a cushy environment express preferences halfway between those of lifelong inhabitants of either location.
Some studies have shown that our mate preferences can even be influenced by imagining we live in a harsh or safe environment.
What researchers haven’t done (until now) is test whether changes in environment result in changes in preferences in the same people. For obvious reasons this is a tricky question to answer: we can’t simply take people from a comfortable environment and deposit them in some apocalyptic hellhole. Can we?
Source: The U.S. Army/Flickr/Free Image/Public Domain
Carlotta Batres and David Perrett from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland did the next best (worst?) thing. They followed cadets in a University Officer Training Corps as they passed through a 10-day grueling boot camp. On the day before the camp began, 23 male and eight female cadets were shown faces on a computer screen. Their task was to move a slider one way or the other to adjust the appearance of these faces, making them appear more or less fat (in the lingo of the scientists, “adipose”), until the faces were at their most attractive.
A few days later and midway through the training camp, the cadets again performed the face manipulation task. After another few days, the cadets saw the faces for the third and final time. They had spent a week and a half dragging themselves through underwater tunnels, rising at dawn to parade up and down muddy fields, and cleaning toilets with toothbrushes (I have no idea if this is what they did: I’m getting all this from 1970s war movies). After all that, had their face preferences changed?
Results
Batres and Perrett found that male cadets shifted from a baseline preference for underweight women to slightly heavier (though not overweight) women during the boot camp. This is good evidence that the tough regime of the camp caused the men’s preferences to change. The change occurred rapidly, within three days, and was at a plateau by the final session, which suggests that remaining in a consistently harsh environment doesn’t exacerbate the effect.
Female cadets didn’t change in their preferences for adiposity in men’s faces, although the number of female cadets was rather small — we might have greater in the results if the scientists had tested more than eight female cadets.
Nevertheless, Batres and Perrett speculate that, because body weight is strongly linked to female fertility (underweight women are less likely to menstruate, conceive, or carry a fetus to full term), men may have evolved to pay special to women’s weight after changes in the harshness of. It may be less important for women to attend to weight changes in men.
For an audio version of this story, see the 14 February 2017 episode of The Psychology of Attractiveness Podcast.
Support Rob at patreon.com/psychology and receive bonus podcasts and blogs.Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz accused Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly of asking “the question every mainstream media liberal journalist wants to ask” and “the question Barack Obama wants to focus on” on Tuesday’s “Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel.
Cruz was asked about his support for ending birthright citizenship and whether this means he favors amending the Constitution, he answered, “Well, as a policy matter, Megyn, it doesn’t make any sense anymore, that people who are here illegally, that their children would have automatic citizenship. That what that does is it serves as an incentive encouraging people to break the law and come here illegally. And we ought to change that policy. Now, as you noted there is a legal dispute about the best means to do it. And there are serious scholars who argue that Congress could do it through statute defining what it means to be subject to the jurisdiction, the language of the 14th Amendment. There are other serious constitutional scholars who argue the only way to change it is through a constitutional amendment. My view is we should pursue either or both, whichever is effective. What matters, is that we should change the policy so we’re not rewarding, and incentivizing, and encouraging more illegal immigration.”
When asked about his past argument that the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship, Cruz said, “that’s why I say we should pursue either or both. We should pursue either a constitutional amendment which overcomes any language in the Constitution, or a statute, if the other scholars are right that it’s within Congress’ authority. What matters is the underlying policy.”
Cruz was then asked, “if you have a husband and a wife who are illegal immigrants, and they have two children who are here, who are American citizens, would you deport all of them? Would you deport the American citizen children?”
He responded, “So, Megyn, what I’ve said is that we should approach immigration in a staged manner. We should start with focusing on areas of bipartisan agreement. Where is there bipartisan agreement? On two major areas. Number one, that we should do everything possible to secure the border and stop illegal immigration. And number two, to improve and streamline legal immigration.”
Kelly then cut in, “that doesn’t sound like an answer. Mr. Trump answered that question explicitly last night on ‘The O’Reilly Factor.’ Will you do so now?” Cruz stated, “Well, Megyn, what I’m doing is answering what I think Congress should do. What Congress should do, and I introduced legislation to do exactly this, triple the Border Patrol. Increase fourfold the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft to monitor the border, put in place a strong biometic exit/entry system, because 40% of illegal immigration doesn’t come across the border, it’s visa overstays. Put in place a strong E-Verify system. And then this final piece is critical, actually have the federal government enforce the law.”
Kelly again cut in, “Senator, I understand all that, and you’ve outlined your plan, but you’re — unlike you, you’re dodging my question. You don’t want to answer that question. He says he would.” Cruz protested, “I’m not playing that game.”
After Kelly again asked whether the American citizen children of illegal immigrants would be deported under his policy, Cruz answered, “Megyn, I get that that’s the question you want to ask, that’s also the question every mainstream media liberal journalist wants to ask. They focus exclusively –.” Kelly then asked if such a question was “unfair.” Cruz maintained it’s “a distraction from how we actually solve the problem. You know, it’s also the question Barack Obama wants to focus on.”
Kelly asked why it was “so hard” for Cruz to give a yes or no answer. Cruz stated, “Because, Megyn, we need to solve the problem. And the way you solve the problem, is you focus where there’s bipartisan agreement first. Once we’ve secured the border, once we’ve actually proven we can do this, once we’ve stop the Obama administration’s policy of releasing 104,000 violent criminal illegal aliens in one year, once we’ve solved that problem, then we can have a debate, then we can have a conversation.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchettIllustration: iStockphoto
Last month we saw researchers in the US push the envelope of non-volatile memory devices based on resistance switching to the point where they are now capable of mimicking the neurons in the human brain.
Now researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia have built on their previous work developing ultra-fast nano-scale memories. They used a functional oxide ultra-thin film to create one of the world’s first electronic multi-state memory cells. The researchers claim that the memristive devices they have developed mimic the brain’s ability to simultaneously process and store multiple strands of information.
The research, which was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, involved chemically manipulating amorphous strontium titanate memristors by adding faults to the material that both tuned and improved their switching characteristics.
“This new discovery is significant as it allows the multi-state cell to store and process information in the very same way that the brain does,” said Dr Hussein Nili, lead author of the study, in a press release. “Think of an old camera which could only take pictures in black and white. The same analogy applies here, rather than just black and white memories we now have memories in full color with shade, light and texture, it is a major step.”
It does indeed sound like a major step when Nili goes on to describe the capability of the newly tuned memristors.
“We have now introduced controlled faults or defects in the oxide material along with the addition of metallic atoms, which unleashes the full potential of the ‘memristive’ effect – where the memory element's behavior is dependent on its past experiences,” Dr Nili added in the release.
This is beyond the kind of digital memory that we are accustomed to in which 0s and 1s are stored, but instead offers something akin to how the brain retains and recalls information.
The researchers believe that these nanoscale memory devices promise a future of artificial intelligence network that could enable a so-called bionic brain.
Nili suggests that one of the potential applications for these nano-memory devices could be in replicating the human brain outside of the human body.
Nili added: “If you could replicate a brain outside the body, it would minimize ethical issues involved in treating and experimenting on the brain which can lead to better understanding of neurological conditions.”The battle in Congress over whether to approve the nuclear deal with Iran is fueling a separate but related argument over another long-debated question: What does it mean to be “pro-Israel”?
In coming days, I’m told, proponents of the Iran accord will be ramping up the argument that the real pro-Israel position is to support the deal, because it has a better chance of fortifying Israel’s security over the long term, by preventing Iran from developing a nuke.
The progressive pro-Israel group J Street is set to increase its expenditures on the fight over the Iran deal to between $4 million and $5 million, more than double the $2 million it had originally budgeted for it, J Street lobbyist Dylan Williams confirms to me.
This planned boost in spending is made possible in part by an influx of funds from Jewish American donors who support the deal, Williams says. This would seem a bit at odds with the conventional wisdom that holds Democrats are taking a big risk in backing the deal, because it might alienate wealthy Jewish donors, since it suggests that there are some Jewish donors who back the deal, too.
One of these donors is Ambassador Alan Solomont, a prominent Jewish philanthropist, former Ambassador to Spain under Obama, supporter of the Democratic Party and former chairman of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. Another is Louis Susman, former Ambassador to the United Kingdom, lawyer, investment banker and longtime Democratic Party official.
“Although the opponents are spending the most money, they don’t necessarily represent a majority of the American Jewish community,” Solomont told me. “American Jews are starting to contribute more to efforts to support the deal. Many more American Jews believe this deal is in the best interests of the United States and Israel than is perceived. We are very intent on getting that message out.”
The targets of all this lobbying on both sides are thought to be around 10-12 Senate Democrats who co-sponsored the original version of a proposal for a Congressional framework overseeing the deal, and around 40 House Democrats who did not sign a letter (which was joined by 150 other Dems) backing diplomacy with Iran.
Proponents of the deal are still likely to be dramatically outspent by opponents. AIPAC and other Jewish groups opposed to it are gearing up to spend from $20 million to $40 million pressuring members of Congress to oppose it. And foes have been very vocal in characterizing their position as the pro-Israel one, citing criticism of it from Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said, among other things, that it would “threaten the survival of Israel.”
But the deal’s backers are increasingly resolved not to cede the framing of the issue to those who suggest that the only “pro-Israel” stance can be the one held by the deal’s opponents, and are determined to challenge the argument that it threatens Israel on the merits. Their case draws partly on what Netanyahu has said: Even if it is true, as he has opined, that a nuclear armed Iran poses an “existential threat” to Israel, our best chance of ensuring that this threat does not come to pass is to proceed with the accord.
This argument for the Iran deal was recently spelled out by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, whose pro-Israel credentials seem pretty solid (presuming he gets to define the term “pro-Israel” as it applies to himself):
I wish I could believe, as some people do, that the Iranian regime will soon move toward moderation and responsibility. I’d be overjoyed to see it happen, and one day it will happen — Iran was once pro-U.S., and pro-Israel, and it will be again. I just don’t know when. In the meantime, I’d rather have weapons inspectors crawling all over the regime’s nuclear facilities, and in its uranium mines and mills, than not have them there. I’d rather have a deal in place that stands a good chance of keeping a country that seeks the annihilation of Israel from gaining control of a weapon it could use to bring about that annihilation.
J Street has also enlisted a high profile consultant to help with this battle: David Wade, a former State Department chief of staff and senior adviser to Secretary of State John Kerry. Wade argued to me that the battle over the Iran deal is shaping up as another installment in the war over who gets to own the term “pro-Israel.”
“This is a pro-Israel, pro-America deal, end of story, and winning this argument is exactly what J Street is here to do,” Wade told me. “The stakes are enormous. This really is the single most consequential foreign policy fight I’ve seen in twenty years in Washington. It’s a moment that really defines what it means to support Israel and to do what is in the security interests of the United States and Israel together.”Pre-Order
If you missed the Kickstarter, you can still pre-order at smarticase.com
If you have been looking for a great case for your new Raspberry Pi B+, then I have something special for you. The SmartiPi is an affordable case packed with tons of features. It is a two part, injection molded plastic case which screws together. It also has an optional holder for the official Raspberry Pi camera. The cases in the photos are painted 3D printed prototypes.
I already have manufacturing ready to start building the molds. All I need it the capital to make it happen. The final case will be ABS plastic. Two 2 x 6 Lego® compatible plates will be permanently embedded in the case. The 6 x 10 plate can be snapped off the top to access the inside.
Case Features
Permanently embedded 2x6 Lego® compatible plates.
Included is a 6x10 Lego® compatible plate that can be snapped onto the embedded 2x6 plates. This makes the top flush.
Screw together construction with 4 screws included.
3 holes which line up with 75mm vesa mounts
Areas in housing for routing through zip ties and/or twine.
Quick wall mount eyelets on back.
Stacking features on bottom allow for stacking of multiple SmartiPi cases. ( bottom features are not Lego® compatible)
Feature on housing can be used with GoPro® mounts (bolt included).
Holes for DSI and CSI cable routing.
Compatible with 40 pin GPIO connector (secondary strain relief must be removed, if applicable).
Visual access to LEDS.
Camera case features
Compatible with the official Raspberry Pi camera.
Simple snap together construction.
Lego® compatible back.
Two screw holes for mounting.
Middle hole for using third party gooseneck arms (hole is same size as hole on camera PCB).
LED is covered by default (could be drilled out).
About Me
My name is Tom Murray. I am an Industrial Designer who loves to tinker. I always loved building things, which eventually led me into my profession. My career has let me design products for other companies and individuals. Now I have the chance to design a product for myself and other Raspberry Pi fans.
The Pi is very versatile with limitless possibilities. I am always amazed at the new projects I see popping up all over. It inspired me to design a case that captures the tinkering spirit of the Pi. There are many cases on the market at affordable prices. Even with the variety, I wanted a case with more flexibility. Through many iterations and design refinements, I believe I have struck a balance between functionality and price point. I also believe I have incorporated a set of features which will appeal to Pi enthusiasts. The price of the case is affordable, just like the Raspberry Pi itself.
Reward Levels Color options After the campaign is finished, we will contact you and ask you what color you want. The case itself will be grey but you can pick one of the four colors below for the 6 x 10 Lego® compatible plate. If you don’t specify a color, we will send the grey. The camera case will be the same grey as the case. The grey color may be slightly different than the picture.
Share
Even if you don’t back the SmartiPi, please share and appreciate. You can follow us on Twitter @Smarticase. Thanks!
Special thanks to The Pi Shop
We especially want to thank The Pi Shop with helping us out on this project. Please support this great Pi shop.
Thank you for the press!
Visit press, social media, and blogs below that support the SmartiPi.
Photos and eye candy
The case is 75mm Vesa mount compatible. It has three mounting points. Bolts are not included, but M4 bolts with 20-25mm of thread would work well and can be easily purchased.
The case also works with 40 Pin GPIO cables. If your cable has a secondary strain relief, you must remove it. It’s easy.
Click for cable strain relief removal info.
The SmartiPi allows you to thread zip-ties to mount to a variety of surfaces. This gives you the flexibility of positioning your Pi without screwing into the surface.
The SmartiPi has the ability to attach GoPro® mounts. I am including a hex bolt on all reward levels because the GoPro® quick knobs which come with the GoPro® mounts are too large.
As a reward option, I am offering a GoPro® compatible mount which can be attached to a standard ¼” - 20 tripod thread.
You can use GoPro® mounts to attach the Pi and camera to a bike to take action footage.
The camera case is a two part snap together case with a Lego compatible back.
The 6x10 Lego® compatible top snaps off for access to the inside of the case.
The beauty of the Lego® compatible camera is using the Legos® to position the camera in any configuration needed. You can use swivel and pivot Legos® together to have the ultimate in flexibility.
The camera case has two mounting holes which can be used to screw the case to a variety of surfaces. The camera LED is covered to but can be drilled out if you wish.
The camera case is a two part assembly. It snaps together easily and secures your Pi camera in place. It has a Lego® compatible back side.
The bottom of the case has two wall mount slots. It also has 4 oval shaped features to allow stacking of multiple SmartiPis. The Micro SD slot is also accessible.
With Lego® bricks you can create vents. Just remove the top plate off and replace with plates with holes.
Stacking features allow you to stack multiple SmartiPis on top of each other. They will not snap together like Legos®, but you could zip tie them together.
The LEDS are visible in the case through an opening at the end. There is also the slot for the DSI connector.
What will the money go towards?
The money raised will go to...
Injection molds
Molded parts
Assembly
Shipping
Project timeline
So you ask..when will I get my SmartiPi case? The estimated delivery date is mid January 2015. We will miss the holiday season but can send you a nice postcard to give as gift. See below.
Will I get the SmartiPi by the Holidays? Sorry. Probably not. The estimated delivery for the SmartPi is January 2015. But we can send you a nice postcard in time for the Holidays. You can throw it into an envelope and give it as a gift. We will contact you after the campaign to see if you want one sent to you. Prototyping I have created and refined sketches and 3d printed prototypes for the SmartiPi. It’s an important part of the design process. In product design, the final product must make sense when it is in the user’s hands.Awake Youth Project is a secular program that brings mindfulness and meditation to underserved high schools throughout Brooklyn. We work in close partnership with the Department of Education and our non-profit partners. Our instructors have worked in schools throughout the borough of Brooklyn and have brought mindfulness practice to thousands of students.
The AYP program includes school-based meditation groups that meet voluntarily after school, peer-to-peer training, emotional intelligence instruction, alternative-to-suspension groups, as well as staff development and meditation groups for educators. We also work with other non-profits to bring mindfulness practices to the teens they serve.
The teen meditation program at Brooklyn Zen Center was started initially by Awake Youth Project participants in our peer-to-peer training program. The purpose of the group was to provide an opportunity for all teens in Brooklyn interested in mindfulness and meditation to come together in community. We meditate together, investigate emotional and social issues, and study mindfulness in all aspects of life. We also cook, explore movement and dance, write and create art together. We do this through after-school drop-in sessions, Spring internships, and peer-to-peer training programs during the school year.
For more information or to get involved, please visit awakeyouth.orgPOLICE hunting for a sex attacker are keen to speak to anyone who may have witnessed “an incident” in the Frankenstein bar earlier the same night.
Detectives have now issued a fresh appeal for information following the serious assault in Greyfriars Kirkyard on Thursday [January 21] evening
An extensive police inquiry has been launched and officers want to speak to anyone who was in the area of the Kirkyard or in the Frankenstein bar on George IV Bridge between 9.30pm and 10.30pm.
A further appeal is being made for any members of the public who saw a male and female leaving the Kirkyard at around 10.30pm to make themselves known.
Detective Inspector Tom Carty of the Specialist Crime Division based in Gartcosh, said: “We’re currently pursuing a number of lines of inquiry and as a result of this work, we’ve established that a group of males and females were within the bar prior to this attack.
“I want to hear from anyone who may have have been in the premises on Thursday evening to contact police.”
Officers have been combing the scene for evidence but have not yet revealed the age of the victim or a description of her attacker.
The sex attack came just days after the attempted robbery of a young woman in the Meadows by three teenage boys.
The incident happened at around 4pm on Monday in North Meadow Walk, at its junction with Meadow Lane.
The 20-year-old victim, who was walking in the area, noticed three men close to a path that leads to Buccleuch Place.
As she approached North Meadow Walk’s junction with Meadow Lane, one of the men repeatedly asked her for money and warned that he had a knife.
But she refused to hand over the cash and the three suspects then made off towards Hope Park Crescent.
The first was 5ft 1in, wearing a grey zipper and dark trousers, and had his top pulled up over his face.
The second was 5ft 2in, wearing dark clothing with his hair and face covered.
The third was 5ft 7in and also wearing dark clothing with his hair and face covered.
All three have been described as aged around 15 or 16 years old.
Detective Constable Kevin Walls, of Craigmillar police station, said: “This incident happened in daylight, so it’s possible that someone would have noticed the group of males standing together.
“At the time of the incident, a jogger ran nearby which caused the suspects to back off slightly, so we’re also appealing to that person who might have some information. The woman refused to give the suspects any money, but it was still a frightening experience.”
Those with information can contact Police Scotland on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- More than 100,000 West Virginia residents cast their ballot during the early voting period, setting a record for early voting in a primary election.
“We know that West Virginians are excited about voting this year, with every race on the ballot except for U.S. Senate,” Secretary of State Natalie Tennant said. “Early voting presents a great opportunity to fit voting into busy schedules and I couldn’t be happier with West Virginia’s 2016 early voting numbers. In 2002, we saw just 14,000 participate in early voting and we saw more than 100,000 this year. Let’s continue this momentum and set a voter turnout record tomorrow.”
Secretary Tennant added that 5,252 absentee ballots have been returned voted to county clerks, for a total of 106,214. Absentee ballots can be postmarked by the United States Postal Service by May 10th.
In the 2014 primary there were 45,144 early votes cast during the early voting period; in 2012 that number was 57,553; in 2010 that number was 40,644; and in 2008 that number was 65,845.
Primary Election Day is Tuesday, May 10. Polls will be open in West Virginia from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.There has been lots of talk about the end of the classic NPAPI interface which is currently supported by all versions of Firefox to make third-party technologies available in the browser.
The most popular plugins currently supported are Adobe Flash and Java, but there are more plugins that Firefox may pick up to make their functionality available.
Google kicked NPAPI out in Chrome 45 when it stopped support for NPAPI, and Mozilla announced that it would end support as well.
Google's advantage over Mozilla is that Chrome ships with a version of Flash built-in to the browser which means that the most popular NPAPI plugin is still available in Chrome, albeit in a different form.
Since Mozilla does not have an agreement with Adobe to do the same, it is at a significant disadvantage as the removal of NPAPI support would result in Firefox not supporting any Flash content on the Internet anymore.
Chrome on the other hand does not support any other NPAPI plugin which means for instance that you cannot run JAVA or Silverlight content in the browser anymore.
Firefox and DRM
Mozilla has been in a precarious position in regards to DRM functionality in Firefox. It had the option to integrate DRM playback capabilities to Firefox, which would please users who use services like Netflix on the browser but displease users who don't want DRM capabilities in the browser, or don't support DRM which would force users who want to use services that require them for streaming to switch to another browser for that but please users who oppose DRM in any form.
Mozilla added Adobe Primetime Content Decryption Module (CDM) in Firefox 38 to support DRM HTML5 streams.
Firefox users may have noticed that Primetime is listed as a plugin in the browser by default, and that there is also a OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco for the same purpose. If you have not, type about:addons in the browser and switch to plugins when the page has loaded.
These plugins are set to "always activate", and the only other option you have is to set them to "never activate". The option "ask to activate" is not available.
Firefox users can disable the DRM on about:config as outlined in the linked article above. This removes the plugins from Firefox.
It is very likely that Widevine will get its own "turn off" switch once it is made available. Also, Mozilla maintains a special version of Firefox that is DRM free.
Update: Mozilla plans to remove support for Adobe Primetime in Firefox 52. This leaves Google Widevine CDM as the content decryption module the browser supports.
Google Widevine CDM
Mozilla announced a couple of days ago that it plans to bring another content decryption module to Firefox. The organization will push Google's Widevine CDM to Firefox Nightly soon which will add support for HTML5 video content that requires DRM to Firefox to add support for sites that rely on Widevine for that.
According to Mozilla, it is an alternative for "streaming services that currently rely on Silverlight for playback of DRM-protected video content".
The plugin will only be made available to Windows and Mac versions of Firefox, and it will only be downloaded to the browser when a user visits a site that requires it.
Update: Google Widevine is also available for Linux versions of Firefox since version 49.
The integration ensures that Firefox covers both Flash and Silverlight DRM on the Internet after the termination of support for NPAPI support.
The end of NPAPI
Up until now, |
politics, the need to run for office. If they don’t do that, they just need to stick to football.”Celiac disease (CD) is a common lifelong food intolerance triggered by dietary gluten affecting 1% of the general population. Gliadin-specific T-cell lines and T-cell clones obtained from intestinal biopsies have provided great support in the investigation of immuno-pathogenesis of CD. In the early 2000 a new in vivo, less invasive, approach was established aimed to evaluate the adaptive gliadin-specific T-cell response in peripheral blood of celiac patients on a gluten free diet. In fact, it has been demonstrated that three days of ingestion of wheat-containing food induces the mobilization of memory T lymphocytes reactive against gliadin from gut-associated lymphoid tissue into peripheral blood of CD patients. Such antigen-specific T-cells releasing interferon-γ can be transiently detected by using the enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays or by flow cytometry tetramer technology. This paper discusses the suitability of this in vivo tool to investigate the repertoire of gluten pathogenic peptides, to support CD diagnosis, and to assess the efficacy of novel therapeutic strategies. A systematic review of all potential applications of short oral gluten challenge is provided.JEFFERSON COUNTY, Alabama - A 19-year-old Dora man was arrested Tuesday night after Jefferson County sheriff's deputies say he asked them to help him find his lost heroin.
The deputies did help him, they did find it and then they took Jacob Alan Collier to jail.
Deputies were dispatched just before 6 p.m. Tuesday to a home in the 9000 block of Bankston Road on a report of domestic violence. When they arrived, they were told Collier was in his room with his girlfriend. He was angry and punching holes in the wall, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian.
Deputies knocked on the bedroom door and announced their presence and purpose. Collier asked them to give him a moment to put some pants on. He and his girlfriend were then asked to come into the living room to discuss what was happening.
Christian said there had been no violence, so deputies asked Collier why he had become so upset. He said he had lost $180, and was upset because he owed money for drugs.
"Deputies asked him if he had looked everywhere in his room and he said that he thought he had. He was asked if he wanted to go look again and he said he did,'' Christian said. "Deputies offered to use their flash light to assist him."
While deputies let Collier use a flashlight to search the room for the missing money, Collier told them that he had been given drugs to sell and now owed the money. He also told them that the rest of the drugs were missing too: two grams of heroin and a bag of marijuana.
While helping him search, deputies found a small bag of heroin and a bag of marijuana in his room. Collier was arrested for unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana. He remains in the county jail today with bonds totaling $16,000.
"Just brilliant. That's all I know to say,'' Christian said. "Brilliant."
Follow @alcombirminghamPolice escort a heckler from a Donald Trump rally in New Hampshire (Twitter/Sharman Sacchetti)
A Donald Trump supporter was kicked out of a rally in Windham, New Hampshire on Monday after demanding that the candidate tell more “jokes.”
FOX 25 reporter Sharman Sacchetti captured video of the man as police were removing him from the rally.
“I love Donald but it’s so boring!” the man exclaimed to officers. “It’s getting a little old. I want, like, new jokes.”
Sacchetti reported that Trump spent a lot of his time suggesting that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was a flawed candidate because he was born in Canada and would be sued if he ever became the GOP presidential nominee.
“Ted Cruz has a problem, because is he a natural born citizen?” Trump asked the crowd. “I don’t know.”
Watch the video below.Samuel Saiz has scored two goals in six Championship games this season
Goals from Samuel Saiz and Stuart Dallas helped Leeds beat Birmingham City to move top of the Championship.
Saiz tapped in the rebound from a yard out after David Stockdale had saved Pierre Michel-Lasogga's fierce strike.
City full-back Maxime Colin had a header cleared off the line just before the break, while Stockdale reacted brilliantly to deny Lasogga.
Birmingham created a number of chances, but Dallas secured three points for the hosts with a late left-footed strike.
Harry Redknapp's Blues could consider themselves unfortunate not to have taken a point from the game, with Michael Morrison and Sam Gallagher both going close to scoring in the first half.
Jason Lowe also had a goal correctly ruled out for offside in the second period as Birmingham fell to a fourth successive league defeat.
Leeds' resilience saw them extend their unbeaten start to the season to nine games, while goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald has kept clean sheets in each of his past six league games.
Saiz's opening goal was his sixth in eight games since joining Leeds from SD Huesca in July, and the Spaniard could have made the points safe earlier, only to be denied by another fine Stockdale save.
Instead it was left to Northern Ireland international Dallas to settle Leeds' fans nerves with his his first goal at Elland Road since March 2016.
Leeds manager Thomas Christiansen:
"If you tell me it's the last game and we're in that position [first place] I would be happy, proud and all that you can say about that.
"But right now, don't give me anything. It puts a bit more pressure on the team because everyone now wants to beat Leeds.
"The performance was not the best, but if you still take the three points you have to be proud. What we have done until now is a high level."
Birmingham manager Harry Redknapp:
"We completely dominated the second half. It was one-way traffic, wasn't it?
"We just couldn't get a break when we needed it and then obviously, we're pushing six forwards up the pitch to try and get a goal and you get done on the counter-attack.
"I've got a new team. I changed a team that wasn't good enough, but I didn't get them in for the start of the season. People need to be patient. They've got players here now who can take them on to another level."If you live in a cave you might have missed the ultra hard mobile game Flappy Bird that went viral recently. I wanted to build a proof of concept prototype version of Flappy Bird using Delphi XE5 Firemonkey and this is what I came up with. The game is called Flappy Firemonkey and I built it in a few hours. The code is very rough and it could use a lot of optimization and polish but it’s playable. It works best on Windows and I also tested it on Android and IOS but not OSX. It uses a TMemIniFile to save your best score, rudimentary collision detection, a game loop, opening a cross platform URL, and does some things with TFloatAnimation as well. Handling all of the different screen sizes was harder than I thought but I have run out of time for handling more screen sizes than a normal Android device and the Google Nexus 4 size device on Windows.
Things that worked out well:
I accomplished the animation of the firemonkey and the moving ground bar by just using two frames and doing TBitmap.Assign() between them which is not at all the best way to do it but it works for a prototype. For a production project I would probably switch to this TSprite component or try to get TBitmapListAnimation working.
Using a TTimer for the game loop worked out well. It keeps the game rendering separate (hopefully). I might try using a Firemonkey 3D form (see below) because it has an OnRender event.
Using ShowModal on Windows and just Show on mobile worked as I had hoped. Adding in Hide to the Menu Form when the Game Form is active also worked like I wanted.
I based my collision detection off of some code I found on Torry’s. The collision detection was one of the last things I added. There are a couple other methods to do collision detection like IntersectRect() and TRect.Intersect (and probably more). I would have to test each method to see which ones are the fastest for mobile.
Building the pipes out of TRectangle worked but I ended up moving them into a TLayout to make the collision detection work correctly.
I combined this code and this code for the open URL functionality.
The cross platform functionality is awesome. I built and tested it with the Win32 target and switching the target to compile to Android and it just worked.
Things that did not work out so well:
I attempted to apply a ratio to my hard coded movement and placement numbers so that it would take the screen size into account but was unable to really get or make a usable ratio for the screen size.
I had some more Delphi XE5 Firemonkey effects like bevel and glow on my Game Over screen that I was using but once I started testing on mobile I had to remove them to get a better framerate.
Originally I parented all of the objects on the Game Over screen off a TLabel but that fell apart once I started testing on multiple resolutions. I ended up switching to a TLayout and putting all of the Game Over objects in there.
I had a TFloatAnimation on the Game Over screen but once I moved to the TLayout for multiple resolutions it no longer functioned how I had built it so I ended up disabling it.
Moving the pipes manually seems slow and I would want to see if using a TFloatAnimation on them might be faster.
Using TRectangles for the pipe may not have been the best choice for mobile optimization. I think I would try switching it to a TImage for mobile optimization.
Some of the graphics (like the background) are included in the application twice because it made for easy visual editing. A simple fix would be to have one graphic and Assign() the other versions of it at runtime. I might also try to use Frames to do this but I’m not sure how they do transparency.
Using a visually designed TBitmapAnimation to swap between the images of the flying firemonkey and the ground bar didn’t really work out. I think it is more for a longer transition than 33 ms.
I didn’t have a really good and easy way to handle the background on multiple screen sizes without doing a lot of extra lifting. I settled for making a big background image set to center and setting the background form color to the same color as the sky. More testing on multiple resolutions would show how well this worked. I guess the multiresolution functionality in TImage might help with this.
I was not able to achieve a really solid outline around text using the glow effect component.
I had a plan to set the position of the second window (GameForm) to the same X and Y as the Menu Form (so they would be right above each other on Windows) but I didn’t find an easy way to make that happen.
I wanted to have a TStyleBook on the form for each OS and then use an IFDEF to set the premium Diamond style at runtime. This did not work out.
Download Flappy Firemonkey Prototype Source Code For Delphi XE5 Firemonkey.
Update: I created a second version that uses a Firemonkey 3D form and a Layer3D. It is still 2D but rendered on the 3D layer. Seems faster.
Download Flappy Firemonkey 3D Prototype Source Code For Delphi XE5 Firemonkey 3D or download the Win32 binary.
Update 2: Developer Croco Tronic updated my original version of the source and implemented a thread for the game loop in addition to a lot of other code optimizations.
Here is a custom themed version on Google Play called Aswang – Manananggal Edition.
Update 3 (4/4/2014): Developer Croco Tronic and I both put new code into his version which fixes some bugs with it.
You can download the updated version here: Delphi XE5 Firemonkey Flappy Bird Clone.
Update 4 (5/16/2014): New XE6 compatible versions available:
Download Flappy Firemonkey for XE6
Download Flappy Firemonkey 3D for XE6
Download Flappy Bird for XE6You have to get up pretty early in the morning to see a 121-year-old Victorian duplex moved across the road, and luckily for you, we do.
We arrived at First and Soto Streets to find the crew from Brandt House & Building Movers staging the dirt in front of the house and prepping plywood panels to protect the sidewalk and asphalt. On the other side of the street, the vacant Metro-owned lot stood ready for its precious cargo, a pair of blooming Jacaranda trees jussssst far enough apart that the house would be able to squeeze between them.
A crowd gathered, curious to see what moving a house was all about. Among them, a precocious six-year-old named Michael who adamantly insisted that Victorian houses were old and ugly. Nevertheless, he was eager to spend his birthday morning watching this one start its new life.
We’re still giddy about our historic preservation campaign succeeding in just 13 hours, and so pleased that ELACC graciously agreed to preserve, restore and transform the Peabody-Werden house into a community center. We hope the happy conclusion of this home’s story will inspire other people to ask for a preservation solution when redevelopment projects put historic places at risk. Houses can be moved. Old things matter. And you can’t win unless you try.
We were able to capture most of the house move on cell phone video, until a phone call from a reporter inadvertently cut off the recording. Brandt’s crew made quick work of it, and we think you’ll find the process interesting. Here’s to the next 121 years, and all the good work done today.
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PrintAnother weekend draws to a close, and I confess that I didn’t start crossing things off my “imperative to do today” list until one hour to midnight. In fact, this month is drawing to a close and I have barely scratched the list of “things I must accomplish before autumn to justify my existence and create even the slightest possibility of personal success.” Maybe I need a manager.
This weekend, in addition to the above face about Chinese finger traps, I learned that one of the things authors are apparently supposed to do upon uploading their books to the Kindle store is get 25 or 50 people to leave Amazon reviews. Maybe some part of me understood some element of that concept, but it literally didn’t occur to me that I was supposed to be asking random, non-writer friends and relatives to give me 5 stars. In a general sense, when it comes to Amazon reviews, it turns out that it doesn’t matter if half of them are written by your mother’s friends from folk dancing and the other half are by the people your Aunt Hattie played canasta with during the Nixon administration. According to my reading, it’s just a numbers game. So any time I spent thinking about how to ask successful writers for endorsement was wasted when I could have been demanding my relatives do the job for me. Although that might necessitate teaching my relatives to leave Amazon reviews, which wouldn’t save me any time in the long run.
What else…got to hang out with the SFWA crew on Saturday, for another thrilling and productive writing party at the Historic Y. It’s just as glamorous as it sounds.
Oh, August, give me strength. And determination. And concentration. And focus.
And, as always, the confidence of a mediocre white guy.
And if you can’t give me that, please consider buying my book, supporting my Patreon, or ordering my merch.
AdvertisementsThe sea of new cars, 57,000 of them, stretches for acres along the Port of Baltimore. They are imports just in from foreign shores and exports waiting to ship out -- Chryslers and Subarus, Fords and Hyundais, Mercedeses and Kias. But the customers who once bought them by the millions have largely vanished, and so the cars continue to pile up, so many that some are now stored at nearby Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport.
The backlog exists because many of the factors that contributed to the collapse of the housing bubble -- cheap credit, easy financing, excessive production, consumers buying more than they could afford -- undermined another large and vital American industry.
"There was a car bubble," Steven Rattner, who President Obama recruited to head a Treasury Department group charged with finding solutions to the mountain of problems facing the American auto industry, said in an interview last month. "We had this artificially high sales rate."
During the boom years of the early and mid-2000s, automakers were selling more than 16 million cars a year in the United States. They are on pace to sell fewer than 10 million this year. General Motors posted a 44.5 percent drop in March compared with the same month a year ago. Ford's sales tumbled 41.3 percent. Chrysler's fell 39.3 percent. Toyota's sales fell 39 percent, and Honda's dropped 36.3 percent.
One of the key questions the auto task force must answer is figuring out a sustainable number of annual auto sales. Only then can it determine the best way forward for U.S. automakers. "You had a huge number of cars being sold," Rattner said, "so I don't think it is prudent to assume the sale levels are going to back to those levels."
What drove sales so high in the first place?
In short, the same confluence of confidence and easy cash that fueled the housing boom.
"Consumers felt good about their future," said Mark Pregmon, a SunTrust Bank executive and chairman of the automotive finance committee of the Consumer Bankers Association. "It was riding the wave of the 'go' economy. Stocks were rising. Equity in houses was rising. People felt they could just borrow off their house. Their house was their ATM machine."
Car companies did their part to entice consumers.
"Loose credit, incentives, leasing -- it really kind of fed the beast," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. "That made many cars that might have been out of reach affordable."
In turn, Americans bought more cars and bought them more frequently. They spent more money than they could afford, thanks to loans that stretched six years or longer, even for buyers with shaky credit. Rental car companies and municipalities turned over their vehicle fleets more often. And the automakers kept churning out cars to meet the very demand they had helped create.
"You keep doing what you're doing, and you just keep assuming that growth is going to go on forever. And then at some point it just drops out from under you," said Alan Pisarski, a transportation expert and author of "Commuting in America." He compared the years of overproduction to putting a Burger King on every street corner. "The world just can't use that many hamburgers," he said.Melbourne researchers develop device to keep donor hearts alive longer to replace 'heart in esky' technique
Updated
A new device that preserves hearts after people have died could dramatically increase the number of organs that can be donated, according to its inventor.
The technique, developed at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, uses a device about the size of a bar fridge that keeps donor hearts healthy by pumping a solution of oxygen and nutrients through it to flush out waste.
The process keeps the cells of the heart healthy so the organ can be resuscitated when it is put into the recipient.
The process can keep a heart alive for up to 12 hours - three times longer than the current method of putting hearts in plastic bags inside an esky full of ice.
Hospital spokesman Professor Frank Rosenfeldt said the extra time meant more patients in need of a heart transplant would have access to organs.
"About a third to three quarters of hearts that are offered for transplant can't be used for one reason or another," he said.
"One reason is that they're too far away and the time period will be too long before they can be transplanted."
The technique allows hearts to be taken from what are known as "marginal donors", generally older patients or donors with hearts that are not considered to be strong.
Provided we obtain the heart within 30 minutes we can obtain the heart and start resuscitating and preserve it with this new technique. Professor Frank Rosenfeldt
Professor Rosenfeldt said hearts that have stopped beating may also become available for transplants.
"A normal donor is a brain-dead donor where the heart is actually beating just before it's removed in the operating theatre," he said.
"But donation after circulatory death is where the heart has actually stopped.
"Provided we obtain the heart within 30 minutes we can obtain the heart and start resuscitating and preserve it with this new technique."
Professor Rosenfeldt said 30 per cent more hearts could be used in transplants using the device.
Topics: heart-disease, medical-research, medical-procedures, doctors-and-medical-professionals, health, melbourne-3000, australia
First postedAdd Kelly Dodd to the list of current and former “Real Housewives” who are on the move. Dodd, who joined the cast of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” and her husband, Michael, have put their home in Corona del Mar on the market for $6.25 million.
The contemporary-style house, which overlooks and has direct access to Corona del Mar Beach, has been extensively upgraded since the couple bought it two year ago for $3.575 million.
Among eye-catching details of note are sparkling chandeliers and fixtures, textured tile, a glass-paneled staircase and an elevator that connects each of the home’s four levels. A lavish chef’s kitchen creates visual interest with a pair of long islands, a white-and-gold La Cornue range and a matching herringbone backsplash.
The renovated four-story features a glammed-up chef's kitchen, an elevator and sweeping ocean views. (David Heath) (David Heath)
The white-walled floor plan also includes an open dining room that flows into a living room with a wall of white built-ins. Telescoping glass doors off the living room connect to an ocean-facing terrace.
The master suite, with clear-through ocean views, has a freestanding soaking tub, a steam shower and an oversized walk-in closet. Sliding doors off the master bathroom and closet open onto a private patio.
There’s also a three-car garage.
“Kelly [Dodd] took great care in making sure every feature of the house is in immaculate condition,” listing agent Nicole Contreras said in a release. Contreras, an agent with Beverly Hills-based Nourmand & Associates, holds the listing with Tim Beans of Coldwell Banker Previews International.
Dodd, 40, joined the cast of “Real Housewives” as a regular this year. The “Orange County” version of the show is in its 11th season.
With the listing, Dodd is the second “housewife” to list a home this year. Meghan King Edmonds and her husband, former Angels ballplayer Jim Edmonds, put their home in the Newport Heights area on the market in July for $3.4 million.
Former cast member Alexis Bellino, who was a regular on the show from seasons 5 through 8, recently bought a home in San Juan Capistrano for $3.65 million.
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'Father of the Bride' home in Alhambra sells for the asking price28 October 2009
General Assembly GA/10877 Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York
UN General Assembly, for 18th consecutive year, overwhelmingly calls for end to the US economic, trade embargo against Cuba
Vote: 187 in favour to 3 against, with 2 abstentions;
Even though many delegates expressed a newfound optimism that United States-Cuba relations could improve with the change of Administration in Washington, the United Nations General Assembly today once again adopted a stern resolution calling on the United States to end a trade embargo, which had created human suffering and wrecked havoc with the economy of the island nation.
With a recorded vote of 187 in favour to 3 against (Israel, United States and Palau), and 2 abstentions (Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands), the 192-Member Assembly in its resolution urged the lifting of stiff commercial, financial and economic sanctions that were slapped on Cuba in the aftermath of the cold war. This marked the eighteenth year the world body had adopted a similar resolution on the issue. (See Annex.)
As happened last year, a burst of applause greeted the Assembly’s passage of text that reaffirmed the sovereign equality of States, the non-intervention and non-interference in their affairs, and the freedom of international trade and navigation. The two-page document again called upon all States to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures such as that promulgated in the 1996 “Helms-Burton Act” which carried extraterritorial effects that impacted the sovereignty of other States.
Introducing the resolution on the Cuban trade embargo, Bruno Rodriguez Parrila, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba, called the blockade an “uncultured act of arrogance” that had hampered the development of Cuba’s economy and was also applied to other countries that wanted to carry out business with the Caribbean nation. He said it was an “absurd policy” that caused suffering and led to shortages of basic necessities. The embargo was a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of human rights. In the Geneva Convention of 1948, it was classified as an act of genocide, he added.
With executive powers, President Obama had an historical opportunity to lead a policy change and lift the blockade. He was vested with the executive powers to substantially modify the implementation of the measures by granting “special license” or waivers, making humanitarian exceptions, or acting for the sake of the United States national interests.
Speaking ahead of the vote, the United States’ representative said “here we go again”. The Cuban Government’s hostile language seemed straight out of the cold war and the United States would not respond in kind to such familiar rhetoric. She would, however, acknowledge “a new chapter to this old story”. In recent months, the United States had taken several steps to reach out to Cubans to help ensure they could freely determine their country’s future. Like all countries, the United States had the sovereign right to conduct economic relations with another country as it saw fit, and the embargo was part of a broader set of relations.
She drew attention to distortions in the Cuban position and said she regretted that Cuba continued to incorrectly label trade restrictions as an act of “genocide.” It was equally erroneous to charge that sanctions were the cause of Cuba’s deprivation. The United States maintained no restrictions on humanitarian aid -- it was the largest provider of food to Cuba and exported other items like wood and medicine. Given that scenario, she called on Cuba to take steps to respond to the desire of its citizens to enjoy social, political and economic freedoms.
The representative of St. Kitts and Nevis, speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), opposed the embargo and said the unilateral imposition of extra-territorial laws on third States was contrary to both the letter and spirit of the United Nations. The Caribbean Community was especially concerned by the punitive embargo as it impeded the region’s overall development. CARICOM maintained close relations with Cuba through a wide range of programmes in areas from trade to health care to infrastructure. Yet the delegation believed that a new beginning was possible in United States- Cuban relations even with the long history of dashed hopes.
The representative of Indonesia also expressed hope that the once icy relations between the two countries would end and a new era of cooperation would blossom in coming years. “This year, we have reason to be optimistic”, he said, citing recent steps taken. He said relations between States would constantly be tested as countries faced the challenge of balancing cooperation and competition.
Providing a view from another hemisphere, the representative of South Africa said the embargo’s relentless consequences had created untold suffering and the time to end it was long overdue. He lauded Cuba’s support to other nations around the world, notably in the areas of health, education and biotechnology, and said the island nation’s role in South Africa’s liberation history was celebrated last year. He welcomed the rapprochement initiated by the current United States administration and called on Washington to end the embargo and engage in meaningful dialogue.
Before considering the situation in Central America in the afternoon, General Assembly President Ali Abdussalam Treki conveyed his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the five United Nations staff members who were killed in the recent “shocking and shameless” terrorist raid in Afghanistan. He joined the Secretary-General in condemning all threats and acts of violence against humanitarian personnel and United Nations personnel, and reaffirmed the need to hold accountable those responsible for such acts.
The Assembly then adopted by consensus a resolution requesting Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to undertake with the Government of Guatemala the steps necessary to enhance the role that the United Nations played in providing effective and efficient assistance to the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala.
That work would fall within the framework of the Commission’s founding agreement of 12 December 2006. The resolution, introduced by the representative of Guatemala, also called on the Guatemalan Government to keep providing all necessary support to overcome the challenges outlined in a recent report of the Secretary-General and to strengthen the institutions that buttressed the rule of law and defence of human rights.
Finally today, delegates also debated the volatile situation in Honduras, which had plunged into a serious political crisis after Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya had been ousted in a coup in June. The representative of Brazil, in whose Embassy in Tegucigalpa President Zelaya had taken refuge, said the coup d’état was no longer acceptable in a region that had outgrown years of instability and bloody violence. She stressed that President Zelaya’s reinstatement was the only way to ensure peace and a return to constitutional legitimacy.
In other business, the Assembly also decided to consider the report of the Human Rights Council on its twelfth special session (document A/HRC/S-12/1) on 4 November 2009, without setting a precedent.
Also speaking today on the United State’s embargo against Cuba were the representatives of Sudan (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China), Egypt (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), Mexico, China, India, Viet Nam, Algeria, Zambia, Venezuela, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Gambia, Russian Federation, Iran and Brazil.
Speaking in explanation of vote before the vote on the resolution A/64/L.4 were the representatives of the United States of America, the Congo and Nicaragua.
The Foreign Minister of Cuba spoke again after the vote.
Also speaking in explanation of vote after the vote were the representatives of Sweden (on behalf of the European Union), Uruguay (on behalf of Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Bolivia, Ghana, Solomon Islands, Syria, Libya, Norway, Uganda, Benin, Belarus and United Republic of Tanzania.
The President of the General Assembly also delivered remarks on that topic.
Also speaking on the situation in Central America were the representatives of Sweden (on behalf of the European Union), Switzerland, Peru, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Spain, Argentina, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras and United States.
The General Assembly will reconvene at 10 a.m. Thursday, 29 October to take up the reports of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
Background
The General Assembly met today to discuss the “necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba”, and was expected, as it has for the past eighteen years, to take up a similarly titled resolution.
For its discussion, the Assembly had before it the Secretary-General’s report on the Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba (A/64/97), which contains replies of 122 Governments and 25 United Nations bodies, received as at 30 July 2009, following the request of the Secretary-General for information on that matter. Replies received after that date will be reproduced in addenda to the present report.
In its submission to the report, the Cuban Government said that nothing fundamental had changed since the new United States Administration took office in January 2009. Nor had anything been done to implement General Assembly resolution 63/7, adopted 29 October 2008 by 185 votes in favour and only 3 against.
An “extremely conservative” calculation of the direct economic damage to the Cuban people since December 2008 due to the embargo amounted to $96 million, or $236,221 million at the dollar’s current rate of exchange. The embargo is not only illegal; it is morally unsustainable. No such sanctions system had been imposed on any other country for such a long period and the United States should therefore lift it without further delay or excuse, the Cuban Government says in the report.
ABDALMAHMOOD ABDALHALEEM MOHAMAD ( Sudan ), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 developing countries and China, said his delegation had always been firmly against the embargo and, at the Second South Summit in 2005, had firmly rejected the imposition of laws and regulations with extraterritorial impact and all other coercive measures. At the thirty-third annual meeting on 25 September 2009, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the “Group of 77” had also reiterated their firm rejection of the imposition of such laws, emphasizing that such actions not only undermined Charter principles and international law, but severely threatened the freedom of trade and investment. They called on States to neither recognize nor apply such measures.
Continuing, he said that Government communications in the Secretary-General’s report showed that the embargo remained largely unchanged and that its deepening impacts would further aggravate hardships for Cubans. The “Group of 77”, therefore, called on the United States to heed the increasing calls to end the five-decade old embargo and fully adhere to the principles of mutual respect and non-interference in Cuba’s internal affairs. The embargo frustrated efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and regional cooperation. The Group was committed to working towards a better world in which all nations coexisted peacefully and would again fully support the draft resolution against the embargo. He urged all others to do so as well.
MAGED ABDELAZIZ ( Egypt ), speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, renewed his commitment to defend, preserve and promote the United Nations Charter and international law, as well as to promote, preserve and strengthen multilateralism and its decision-making process. He rejected the adoption of extraterritorial or unilateral measures or laws, including unilateral economic sanctions or other illegal measures contrary to international law that sought to exert pressure on Non-Aligned countries.
Such measures aimed to prevent those countries from exercising their right to decide by their own free will, their own political, economic and social systems. In accordance with international law, the Non-Aligned Movement supported the claim of affected States to compensation for damage incurred as a consequence of the implementation of extraterritorial or unilateral coercive measures. He said the economic embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba had existed for 50 years. That meant 70 per cent of the island’s population had been born under the embargo. He expressed concern over the continuation of this long‑standing unilateral policy, especially after the overwhelming majority of States consistently rejected it, as evidenced by last year’s resolution that received support of 185 Member States.
During a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt adopted an exceptional declaration that reflected the importance the Non-Aligned Movement attached to the issue. The embargo had caused huge financial losses and negatively impacted the well-being of Cubans. In conclusion, he expressed concern over the widening of the extraterritorial nature of the embargo and urged the United States Government to end it. Lastly, despite the embargo, he noted that Cuba had conducted its presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement in a highly capable and commendable manner, which preserved the interests of the member States of the Movement.
DELANO F. BART ( Saint Kitts and Nevis ), speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said his delegation reiterated its unequivocal opposition to the United States’ imposition of the economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba, which had been opposed by the overwhelming majority of the international community for the past 17 years. The unilateral imposition of extraterritorial laws on third States was contrary to both the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. The embargo ran counter to the principles of multilateralism, international law, sovereignty and free trade that the body traditionally championed.
The punitive embargo was of particular concern to CARICOM, which maintained close relations with Cuba through wide-ranging cooperative programmes in areas such as trade, health care, infrastructure, human resource development and other areas. Its future regional development was reliant in many ways on the area’s collective advancement and progress. The embargo was not just a punitive act against Cuba, but an impediment to the region’s shared development. The Secretary-General’s report showed that the embargo even impacted the manner in which organs and agencies of the United Nations system carried out their work in Cuba. The embargo’s impacts on the Cuban economy and its humanitarian impacts on the people of that island nation in the areas of health care and food were especially saddening, he said.
Continuing, he said that with the increasing frequency and strengthening of hurricanes wrought by climate change, the embargo’s unacceptable humanitarian impact was even more acute. It was remarkable that Cuba continued to help other nations in the developing world even as it struggled with a recent string of natural disasters and the impact of the global economic crisis. Despite the long history of dashed hopes, CARICOM believed that a new beginning was possible in the relationship between the Governments of Cuba and the United States. But the lifting of the embargo was a prerequisite of any meaningful rapprochement between the two countries, not a negotiated end result. Even with recent positive indicators of flexibility, CARICOM noted that the United States’ Trading with the Enemy Act, which listed only Cuba as its target, was renewed just last month.
CLAUDE HELLER ( Mexico ) vehemently expressed his country’s opposition to economic, commercial and financial sanctions that had been imposed on Cuba, likening them to coercive actions that were not supported by the United Nations Charter. Such measures had grave humanitarian consequences and went against international law, as well as the principles of dialogue and diplomacy. He stressed that political, economic and military sanctions could only stem from decisions made by the Security Council or the General Assembly. Global conflict resolution and peace could ultimately be solved |
be the guy all through practice and preparation. He’s a proven commodity in our eyes.”
Thompson threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns on 32-of-52 passing as a junior after transferring to Utah from Oklahoma. He also ran for 192 yards and another TD on 56 carries.
Thompson offers a trade-off in strengths with Wilson. His accuracy and arm strength does not match what Wilson can do in the passing game. Thompson is mobile and speedy, however, and this leads to a running ability that mirrors Wilson's effectiveness as a passer. He thrives in running the option and can burn a team when seams open up.
“For me, the thing is just making plays, whether I have to run the ball 20 times or throw the ball 20 times,” Thompson said. “I'll do whatever it takes. At this level of football, the name of the game is moving the chains. By any means necessary, I'll do that.”
With Thompson at the controls, Utah will likely rely on Booker to be the main engine to move the offense – like so many times last season. Still, Thompson believes he can make a positive impact as a dual-threat quarterback in his second year in the Utes' offense.
"When I went down against Oregon last year, I felt like I was playing well," Thompson said. "The game had finally slowed down for me. I was making correct reads and things like that. The game plan was built to my skill set."
Utah hopes that remains the case for as long as Thompson needs to fill in as the starting quarterback.
— Written by John Coon,who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network. Coon has more than a decade of experience covering sports for different publications and outlets, including The Associated Press, Salt Lake Tribune, ESPN, Deseret News, MaxPreps, Yahoo! Sports and many others. Follow him on Twitter @johncoonsports.With the Pittsburgh Steelers' 20-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Samuel Louis-Charles of North Miami Beach, Fla., has reached 25 straight wins in ESPN's Streak For The Cash game.
The pick was worth $1 million for the 31-year-old package handler.
The victory didn't come easily for Louis-Charles, who registered himself as Bigsam1122. The Steelers trailed the Cowboys for much of the game and were in trouble late. But Pittsburgh came storming back, outscoring Dallas 17-0 in the last seven minutes of the game. Deshea Townsend's interception return for a 25-yard touchdown capped the comeback.
Louis-Charles, who grew up in Brooklyn, worked methodically. He won his 23rd straight game on Nov. 24, and got his 24th win last Sunday when Tampa Bay beat New Orleans 23-20 on a field goal in the final two minutes.Former NFL wide receiver Derrick Mason was arrested on Monday night on charges of aggravated felony assault.
Former NFL wide receiver Derrick Mason arrested on felony domestic violence charge. https://t.co/wWIDNv3DiJ — USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) October 31, 2017
Mason was arrested in Tennessee after police responded to a call by a woman who has been dating Mason for a year. Police found the woman crying and told police that Mason had grabbed her by the neck, along with hitting her in the stomach. Detectives even found bruises on the woman's arm. It is worth noting, Mason surrendered to police.
Mason retired after the 2011 season, and is currently a sports radio talk show host on 102.5 The Game in Nashville.
Statement Regarding Derrick Mason pic.twitter.com/CV55rDoz3v — 102.5 The Game (@1025TheGame) October 31, 2017
Mason played for the Titans, Ravens, New York Jets, and Houston Texans.The idea that you should always stay hydrated has been ingrained in many of us since childhood by everyone from Little League coaches to parents. For many athletes that advice has been translated into drinking a lot and drinking often while exercising.
Now a panel of experts says that practice is not only outdated but dangerous. On Tuesday, a group representing sports medicine doctors, physiologists and trainers issued new guidelines telling people to stop drinking in excess during physical activity. Practically speaking, that means you should only drink when you're thirsty.
Writing in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, the specialists said that "aggressive drinking to prevent dehydration is unnecessary and carries with it greater risk."
[Citrus consumption and skin cancer: How real is the link?]
"Fluid intake recommendations suggesting that athletes begin to drink fluids before the onset of the sensation of thirst were targeting those exercising in situations where high sweat rates were present and dehydration could evolve rapidly with known medical and performance outcomes," they said. "Unfortunately, this advice fostered the misconception that thirst is a poor guide to fluid replacement in lower sweat rate situations. We believe that this has facilitated individuals choosing to inadvertently adopt overdrinking."
The dangers of overdrinking can be serious and range from lightheadedness, confusion or nausea to cerebral edema in which the brain swells due to excess water. At least 14 athletes — including a woman who died two days after completing the Marine Corps Marathon in 2002 — are believed to have died from drinking too much during exercise in a condition known as exercise-associated hyponatremia or EAH.
When excess fluids build up up in the body the concentration of sodium can drop precipitously and the kidney become overloaded and are unable to excrete the water load. Cells begin to absorb the water. This can lead to swelling all over the body — most seriously in the brain — which can lead to seizures, coma or even death.
The effects are described in a 2013 article in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise by Oakland University researcher Tamara Hew-Butler, who is a member of the panel who made the new recommendations on Tuesday. Of the 669 finishers, 18.5 percent were dehydrated and 34.9 percent were overhydrated.
Another study, published in the British Journal of Medicine in 2010 by James Winger, a physician in the Loyola University Health System, found that more than 40 percent of 197 runners surveyed in the Chicago area drank in preset amounts or even drinking all they could hold. Winger has described fatalities due to overdrinking of water during exercise as "essentially 100 percent preventable."
The expert panel recommended treating EAH with a saline solution that is three times more concentrated than the normal saline solution given to patients for rehydration.
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SPECIAL REPORT: Can IBM's Watson computer superbrain defeat cancer?Corruption has been endemic to Venezuela’s political institutions for decades. However, under President Hugo Chavez, corruption in Venezuela has exploded to new heights never experienced before in the country’s history.
Chavez received a hollowed-out, institutionally weakened state when he assumed the presidency in 1999. But during the almost 11 years that Chavez has been in power, all of Venezuela’s institutions of democratic governance and law have been dismantled systematically.
There is no constitutional separation of powers anymore in Bolivarian Venezuela. Chavez controls the National Assembly, Supreme Court, the Attorney General of the Republic, and the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The destruction of Venezuela’s institutions of governance and the judiciary caused by the Bolivarian revolution has facilitated the emergence of organized crime networks at all levels inside the Chavez government.
In fact, local and international attention with respect to Venezuela has largely overlooked this oil-rich country’s emergence as the regional hub of a rapidly growing global network of interlocking strategic alliances between rogue and undemocratic states, international terrorist organizations, transnational organized crime groups and drug trafficking cartels operating in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Since 2002, particularly, individuals at very high levels in the government of President Hugo Chavez have established organized crime groups which network loosely with each other to advance their common interests.
These interests include:
Building corrupt personal fortunes on a scale never seen before in Venezuela.
Individuals who lived in humble barrio dwellings and held low-paying jobs only 5-8 years ago now have fortunes in the hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, Public Works and Housing Minister Diosdado Cabello’s fortune, held largely through intermediaries, is estimated conservatively at over $2 billion. Arne Chacon Escamillo is another example. He bought 49% of Baninvest in 2004 on credit extended by the seller (Pedro Torres Ciliberto) because, by his own admission, he was broke. Five years later, in June 2009, Arne Chacon says he has $1 billion in cash to buy banks and insurance companies. Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco’s only business in 1997 was a parking garage in Caracas. However, at end-2005 Fernandez Barrueco was certified by KPMG’s Venezuelan affiliate as having a net worth of over $1.6 billion. Currently he claims to have $1 billion in cash to invest in acquiring more financial assets.
The sources of the illicit wealth of these groups are numerous: running up huge cost overruns on government contracts for infrastructure, imports of food and other goods, and other services (health and vehicle insurance for government workers, etc.); kickbacks and bribes; intermediation fees; trading government financial instruments and hard currency; arms smuggling; drug trafficking; extortion; money laundering, and abductions for ransom. This wealth is laundered through cash-intensive businesses like restaurants and nightclubs, property development, travel agencies, import/export firms, casinos, etc.
Seizing operational control of Venezuela’s most important security, intelligence/counter-intelligence and financial/fiscal supervision authorities.
The entities now controlled by persons engaged in criminal enterprises, corruption and espionage of private citizens include the Defense Ministry’s military intelligence division (DGIM), the Interior and Justice Ministry’s political police (DISIP), the office of the banking superintendent (Sudeban), and the national tax authority (Seniat), among others. The individuals now in control of these entities ensure their interests advance at all costs, while the risk of being investigated and exposed is zeroed out. For example, Diosdado Cabello currently is aggressively shutting down dozens of radio stations because President Chavez wants to muzzle press freedom, but doing the president’s bidding also creates opportunities to buy broadcasting assets at fire-sale prices and minimizes the risk that Cabello’s criminal enterprises could be exposed by an independent press.
Fostering permanent instability.
These organized crime groups have a vested interest in an unstable environment. This includes fostering conflict, crime and insecurity, and seemingly ideologically-driven initiatives to silence the press, intimidate political opponents, expropriate private assets, and unsettle the general populace. Organized crime flourishes in unstable environments where the rule of law is ignored by the judiciary, the government is corrupt and regulatory/oversight controls are ineffectual.
The individuals who lead the organized crime groups mentioned here are so powerful that they are known within Venezuela’s national security and intelligence establishment as “the untouchables.”
They have neutralized the Attorney General of the Republic, the entire judiciary including the Supreme Court, and the National Assembly. They control DGIM, DISIP, and the federal investigative police (CICPC). They have significant influence within the Army and National Guard.
If intimidation and bribes fail, they murder. Two victims of the main organized crime group in the Chavez regime, which is headed by Public Works and Housing Minister Diosdado Cabello, include public prosecutor Danilo Anderson (2004) and Pierre Fould Gerges (2008), who was business manager of Reporte, a newspaper which published hundreds of articles about the corrupt and criminal activities of some of these groups.
The nature and breadth of their criminal enterprises, combined with the Chavez government’s systematic embrace of rogue regimes and ideological extremism, has enabled these crime groups to form strategic and commercial alliances with groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), National Liberation Army (ELN), the Basque group ETA, the IRA, and with Islamist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Cabello Group
Currently the most powerful organized crime group operating inside the Chavez government is headed by Public Works and Housing Minister Diosdado Cabello.
The Public Works and Housing portfolio gives Cabello direct control over every public sector infrastructure project in Venezuela. It also gives him direct control over supply sources like the nationalized cement and steel companies.
Cabello also has a presidential mandate to reorganize (i.e. shut down) the country’s remaining independent radio and TV broadcast networks. This positions Cabello not only to shut down broadcast outlets critical of the government, but also creates opportunities for his group to acquire new broadcast assets.
Finally, Cabello in June 2009 was appointed by President Chavez to the newly created post of financial czar responsible for overseeing the reorganization/restructuring of Venezuela’s financial system. With his intermediaries actively shopping for new bank and insurance acquisitions with a reported $2 billion cash kitty, Cabello is very well-positioned to expand his financial holdings over the coming months/years.
Cabello’s group operates out of Caracas and Panama.
Cabello is very careful about always remaining in the background. He works through intermediaries.
His closest strategic adviser is Rafael Sarria. Their longtime friendship dates from when they were children, and both were in the military together. Sarria introduced Cabello to the world of finance. Sarria is described by several sources who know the two men as Cabello’s strategic thinker and planner. But his actual experience as a banker reportedly is limited.
Key intermediaries in Cabello’s financial group include Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco (Banpro Group), Arne Chacon and Pedro Torres Ciliberto (Baninvest Group), and Gonzalo Tirado, who obtained the operating license to open Banco Stanford de Venezuela although he did not comply with Sudeban’s minimum standards.
The news media describes these individuals as leaders of three separate financial groups which have grown quickly in the Bolivarian revolution, but this is inaccurate. While the three “groups” these individuals putatively lead appear to be completely unrelated, they form part of Cabello’s growing financial empire.
Cabello also is associated strategically and politically with the leaders of President Chavez’s black operations and intelligence/counter-intelligence services: former Interior & Justice Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, DGIm director General Hugo Carvajal, and former DISIP director general Henry Rangel Silva, who in August 2009 was moved from DISIP to the presidency of state-owned telecommunications company CANTV after Colombia’s government announced the capture in FARC camps of AT-4 rockets owned by Venezuela’s army.
The Cabello Group’s Origins
Cabello’s relationship with Rodriguez Chacin was consolidated during January-April 2002, while Cabello served as Vice President of Venezuela and Rodriguez Chacin was Interior & Justice Minister.
During this period, Cabello and Rodriguez Chacin actively plotted with President Chavez, then-Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel and other senior regime officials to instigate a self-coup against Chavez in order to create an excuse to decree martial law and silence the political opposition permanently.
Cabello and Rodriguez Chacin shared responsibility for training, arming and deploying paramilitary street forces under the guise of Bolivarian Circles.
They also commanded a round-the-clock situation room at the Interior & Justice Ministry which ran simultaneous parallel intelligence/counter-intelligence operations inside the armed forces and inside the civilian political opposition.
On 11 April 2002, Cabello and Rodriguez Chacin commanded via secure cellular and radio networks the groups of armed “chavistas” who opened fire against unarmed protesters in downtown Caracas.
But 11 April 2002 ended bitterly and frighteningly for Cabello, Rodriguez Chacin, Jose Vicente Rangel and other senior “chavistas.” When part of the army revolted against the violence which military leaders clearly perceived as having been caused by the Bolivarian Circles, President Chavez folded immediately, offering to resign before sunset that day provided he was allowed to leave Venezuela safely.
Confronted with Chavez’s cowardice and haste to abandon his closest supporters, Cabello fled into hiding in an apartment in Vargas state owned by his lifelong friend Rafael Sarria. Rodriguez Chacin tried unsuccessfully to hide in his own apartment, where he was captured and beaten by dozens of his furious neighbors. Rangel reportedly took refuge in the embassy of Chile, although some say he hid in the home of his old friend Teodoro Petkoff.
However, when everything appeared to be lost, and Cabello and other senior “chavistas” saw themselves going to prison or into exile, Chavez was saved by the unexpected duplicity of Pedro Carmona, who betrayed the army and political opposition by seeking to impose a rightwing regime associated with the interests of former President Rafael Caldera’s inner circle.
Cabello, Rodriguez Chacin and other members of the crime network described in this intelligence report, like Jose Vicente Rangel, resolved after 11 April 2002 to never again be caught by surprise. They understood that President Chavez was, at heart, a coward who would turn on them at the slightest twinge of fear for his life. However, this did not diminish Chavez’s strategic value to their interests, because they understood that only Chavez had the charisma and popularity to keep them afloat as long as he survived in power. After 11-14 April 2002, Cabello, Rodriguez Chacin, Rangel and others mentioned in this report would be the most loyal of Chavez’s followers outwardly. But self-interest would forever remain their top priority.
Ramon Rodriguez Chacin
Rodriguez Chacin has been Chavez’s personal liaison to the senior FARC leadership since 1994, when Chavez and Rodriguez Chacin met in Colombia with several members of the FARC’s directorate to forge a political alliance.
Rodriguez Chacin served as Interior & Justice Minister briefly in 2002. He was one of the chief architects of “Operation Knockout,” a plan designed by President Chavez to instigate a coup attempt against his government in order to justify declaring martial law and crushing his political opponents.
From approximately mid-2002 until 20075, Rodriguez Chacin continued to operate outside the Chavez regime as the Bolivarian president’s personal link to the FARC. During these years, Rodriguez Chacin traveled frequently under at least four false identities (but with legal Venezuelan passports and identity documents) to countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mexico.
Rodriguez Chacin returned as Interior & Justice Minister for less than a year in 2007-2008, but he resigned on 8 September 2008 almost at the same time that the US Treasury Department designated him a second tier kingpin for materially aiding the FARC and known Colombian drug traffickers. The evidence for these charges came from the captured laptops of dead FARC No. 2 leader Rafael Reyes.
Rodriguez Chacin says his only interest nowadays is farming and cattle ranching on his “hato” in Barinas. He also is a senior official of Chavez’s PSUV party. However, Rodriguez Chacin continues to serve as President Chavez’s personal liaison to the FARC’s top leaders. He is also in permanent contact with the ELN leadership. Further, he is believed to be the military commander of the Bolivarian Liberation Front (FBL), a nominally all-Venezuelan Marxist guerrilla (militant) group which operates in Border States like Apure, Barinas and the Andes region.
Rodriguez Chacin’s relations with the FARC also coincide geographically in countries where the FARC is active, including Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay in South America; and Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico in Central/North America. Rodriguez Chacin has been spotted repeatedly visiting these countries since 2002 under his own name, and also under at least four known false identities. He was spotted in northern Ecuador by that country’s military intelligence services several times during 2005, when the family of kidnap victim Jorge Azpurua (see annex to this report) was negotiating his release with the FARC in Ecuador’s Sucumbios province.
It is not in the mandate of this investigation to analyze Rodriguez Chacin’s activities with the FARC and with radical leftist groups in these countries. But there is a clear pattern of direct cooperation between the highest levels of the Chavez government with the FARC, and regionally with dozens of radical groups dedicated to provoking social and political instability.
Gangsters at DGIM and DISIP
Diosdado Cabello also has good political and business ties with DGIM director Carvajal and former DISIP director Rangel Silva, the country’s top intelligence/counter-intelligence officials.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva have been running their own autonomous and independent criminal enterprises at DGIM and DISIP since 2004 and mid-2005, respectively. Each has his own organized crime gang at DGIM and DISIP, numbering about 12-20 “made” members who also work as officials of these intelligence/counter-intelligence entities.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva are not direct members of Cabello’s crime group. However, they frequently do contract work with (or for) Cabello and others in the organized crime network analyzed in this report, including Rodriguez Chacin, Jose Vicente Rangel, Fernandez Barrueco, Pedro Luis Martin, Pedro Torres Ciliberto, etc.
But Carvajal and Rangel Silva also independently provide a wide range of criminal services to FARC and ELN militants, civilian drug traffickers and other professional criminals.
These services include protecting drug trans-shipments through Venezuelan territory, providing weapons and legal citizenship and residency documents to narco-terrorists and professional criminals, drug trafficking, extortion, abductions and contract killings.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva are always ready to engage in any criminal enterprise which guarantees them a large profit.
Specific examples of major crimes in which Carvajal and Rangel Silva are believed to be directly implicated include:
*The car bomb assassination of Danilo Anderson in November 2004. Jose Vicente Rangel was one of the intellectual authors of this contract killing, which was set up and executed by Rangel Silva’s gang at DISIP and pinned on the Guevara brothers.
*The abduction of Jorge Azpurua in April 2005. This abduction was contracted by Cabello intermediary Fernandez Barrueco with the aim of forcing Banpro’s sale to his group.
*The assassination of Reporte Diario de la Economia’s business manager, Pierre Fould Gerges, in June 2008. The intended target was Reporte’s publisher Tannous “Tony” Gerges, but the shooters killed Pierre Gerges in a fatal case of mistaken identity. However, Pierre’s assassination effectively silenced Reporte and destroyed Tony Gerges, who low lives permanently in hiding and fearful that he will be assassinate at any moment. The attorney general’s office has confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that the shooters were (and remain) active members of the DISIP. But no criminal prosecutions have been initiated.
*The abduction of banker German Garcia Velutini in February 2009.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva report directly to President Chavez, who holds both men in high regard. Chavez reportedly trusts them greatly because they always carry out his orders without question or delay.
Carvajal conducts permanent witch hunts looking for conspiracies inside the armed forces, and Rangel Silva runs intelligence and surveillance operations against the president’s top civilian supporters and enemies.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva also are good friends, though they graduated in different promotions of the Military Academy.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva also cooperate frequently with Rodriguez Chacin on political and material issues relating to President Chavez’s strategic alliances with the FARC and ELN. But the three men are not close partners in crime.
Rodriguez Chacin is primarily a geopolitical operator whose chief interest appears to be working with the FARC to build regional networks of new armed guerrilla groups modeled on the FARC. These activities extend from Mexico to Argentina/Chile.
However, the cooperation which Carvajal and Rangel Silva give Rodriguez Chacin, with respect to the FARC and ELN, is local, such as providing documents, security details, etc.
Bolivarian Intelligence Services and the FARC/ELN
The drugs/weapons smuggling, extortion and kidnapping enterprises which Carvajal and Rangel Silva are running out of DGIM and DISIP were developed with the FARC and ELN independently of the political cooperation they provide to Rodriguez Chacin, Cabello and others in need of their black services.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva are known to be working directly with elements of the FARC’s 10th, 16th and 45th Fronts, which together have about 600 fighters deployed in Venezuela, mainly in Apure, Barinas, Tachira and Trujillo.
The 10th Front is responsible for managing the FARC’s money laundering operations in Venezuelan state-owned and private financial institutions. It also ships large volumes of cocaine through Venezuela. The 16th Front handles arms smuggling relations with the groups led by Carvajal and Rangel Silva. And the 45th Front ships tons of cocaine through Venezuela under the official protection of Carvajal and Rangel Silva at the DGIM and DISIP, respectively.
Protecting drug trans-shipments is one of the most lucrative criminal enterprises in which Carvajal and Rangel Silva are involved. About 270 metric tons of cocaine was smuggled through Venezuela in 2007, mostly to Europe. The volume dropped in 2008 to about 180 metric tons after FARC chieftain Raul Reyes and several other senior FARC leaders were killed during the first half of 2008. The FARC’s losses disrupted drug shipments last year, but they’re recovering quickly so far in 2009.
Carvajal and Rangel Silva reportedly charge the FARC and other Colombian drug traffickers about $1,500 per kilo to protect drug shipments transiting through Venezuelan territory by land, air or water. The FARC reportedly is responsible for about 70% of the cocaine moving through Venezuela at any time. Based on these numbers, it can be implied that in 2007 the roughly 189 metric tons of FARC-owned cocaine which transited through Venezuela represented potential profits of up to $283.5 million for the organized crime gangs run by Carvajal at DGIM and Rangel Silva at DISIP – assuming all of this cocaine received official protection, which is not necessarily the case.
And while 2008 was a “bad” year for the FARC’s cocaine trade through Venezuela, the potential maximum profits of the protection services provided by Rangel and Rangel Silva were about $189 million.
Based on intelligence extracted from the laptops of killed FARC leader Raul Reyes, the US Treasury Department on 8 September 2008 designated Carvajal and Rangel Silva as second tier kingpins for cooperating with the FARC materially. Information from Reyes’ laptops also was used to substantiate Rodriguez Chacin’s designation as a FARC collaborator.
Kidnapping is another lucrative sideline which Carvajal and Rangel Silva provide through their respective crime groups in DGIM and DISIP. The Chavez government is officially indifferent to abductions of hundreds of Venezuelans by FARC and ELN kidnap specialists, but FARC and ELN work with Carvajal and Rangel Silva in several ways.
For example, FARC and ELN gangs contract with Carvajal and Rangel Silva for DGIM and DISIP protection and surveillance services. They purchase financial intelligence on potential abduction targets obtained from DISIP’s financial intelligence division and Seniat. Members of the Carvajal and Rangel Silva crime groups, all elite members of the DGIM and DISIP, also participate directly with FARC and ELN kidnap specialists in abductions, and do contract murders.
In 2008 there were 537 reported kidnappings in Venezuela. The average ransom payment at the end of 2007 was between $300,000 and $500,000 per victim. Based on trends through June 2009, it’s estimated there will be some 900 kidnappings in Venezuela this year. The FARC and ELN are believed to be responsible for at least three-quarters of these abductions. At $500,000 per victim in 2009 (assuming some ransom inflation from 2007-2009), the potential profits to kidnapping gangs this year could be as high as $450 million.
However, Carvajal and Rangel Silva’s groups also participate directly in some kidnappings. For example, DGIM and DISIP commandos were in the group which abducted Jorge Azpurua in 2005 and German Garcia Velutini in 2009.
Cabello’s Financial Group
Rafael Sarria is Cabello’s top strategist and thinker on all matters relating to finance. He is a childhood friend and former military colleague of Cabello. But his experience in banking is limited, though he did work for three years in Miami for Banco de Venezuela’s office. His money is inherited, and his father (also named Rafael Sarria) helped junior get started in banking.
Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco, a Colombian-Venezuelan citizen who lives in Panama and claims a net worth of $1.6 billion, is a key Cabello intermediary in the acquisition of banks and insurance companies. However, Fernandez Barrueco is also “partnered” with Cabello in a wide range of other non-financial businesses involving contracts with the Chavez government. For example, Fernandez Barrueco’s Pro-Arepa group is the leading supplier of food imports to Mercal and Pdval. Fernandez Barrueco is considered by some who know him to be a “cowboy” willing to engage in violent coercive tactics to achieve his aims. He has been implicated in Panama in the kidnapping of a Venezuelan citizen and the attempted murder of a Panamanian attorney’s wife.
Arne Chacon Escamillo, who overnight became a “banker” of the revolution five years ago when Pedro Torres Ciliberto sold him on credit 49% of Baninvest (valued at the time at over Bs.8 billion of the old Bolivars). Arne Chacon’s brother, Jesse Chacon, currently is the Science, Technology and Intermediate Industries Minister. Jesse Chacon is aligned with Cabello, but is considered a follower and subordinate rather than an equal associate of the all-powerful Public Works and Housing Minister.
During a brief stint with Banco Industrial de Venezuela in 2002-2003 during which he briefly occupied the presidency of the state-owned financial entity, Arne Chacon is believed to have set up a money laundering system for the FARC’s 10th Front. The FARC’s money laundering system in BIV operated until 1 March 2008 when Raul Reyes was killed in northern Ecuador.
The FARC’s money laundering operations have since been re-routed through other Venezuelan banks, insurance companies and financial brokerage companies owned by Fernandez Barrueco, Torres Ciliberto and other “Bolibourgeois” financial entrepreneurs associated with Cabello’s group. Panamanian financial regulators say at least 10 Venezuelan financial services firms have applied for operating licenses in Panama recently, hinting at a possible new money laundering route for FARC’s illicit earnings.
The FARC is also believed to be laundering drug money through Islamic groups raising funds in Venezuelan territory for militant groups like Hamas, the PLO and Hezballah.
The $2 billion of combined cash which Arne Chacon, Torres Ciliberto and Fernandez Barrueco claim to have in hand to buy banks, insurance companies and other businesses almost certainly includes some FARC drug money.
Pedro Torres Ciliberto inherited a large family fortune from his father. He has a close personal friendship with Jose Vicente Rangel and Ana Avalos de Rangel. Torres Ciliberto serves as intermediary for both Rangel and Cabello. Torres Ciliberto’s “sale” of 49% of Baninvest to Arne Chacon was Cabello’s first step into banking, though his name never surfaced in connection with the deal. Torres Ciliberto’s role as an intermediary of both Cabello and Rangel reflects the uneasy association between Diosdado and Jose Vicente.
The octogenarian Rangel is both a strategic ally of Cabello, and one of Cabello’s most dangerous potential enemies. If Cabello is the Young Turk or rising force in corrupt Venezuelan power politics, Rangel is the Moustache Pete or aging lion of a much older generation. The issue will be moot when Rangel dies, but meanwhile the two are partners in banking because making Rangel a partner guarantees he won’t expose any “corruption” allegations which could affect Cabello’s long term interests.
Gonzalo Tirado, who obtained a license to open Banco Stanford de Venezuela (Stanford Financial Group) though he had no banking experience, is also an intermediary for Cabello in financial acquisitions.
Cabello has an extensive financial intelligence system in place.
His brother, David Cabello, is the director of the Seniat tax authority.
Sudeban superintendent Edgardo Hernandez Behrens reports directly to Cabello, particularly now that Cabello is the president’s officially designated financial czar. Hernandez Behrens also reportedly is close to the Isea and Ameliach brothers, who are enemies of Cabello. But his fear of Cabello is greater than his alleged with the Isea and Ameliach clans.
Cabello’s interests are well-protected at Seniat, Sudeban and the national registry. Repeated efforts to obtain financial and tax information on the banks in which Cabello has hidden interests determined that access to the sought-after information is blocked by unofficial internal controls and restrictions which are not applied to other banks in general.
Cabello also relies on Pedro Luis Martin, the former DISIP financial intelligence director, for information and advice relating to financial issues.
Pedro Luis Martin reportedly is associated with Rodriguez Chacin, although it is also said that they distrust each other greatly. Martin has been implicated at least a half-dozen times since 2002 in alleged extortion schemes against prominent figures in the financial system. Several sources who know Pedro Luis Martin personally say he is very dangerous, capable of ordering the murder of people he considers a threat to his interests.
The accounting/auditing firm Alcaraz Cabrera Vasquez, the local affiliate of KPMG, handles some financial matters for Cabello, Sarria and Fernandez Barrueco, among other persons associated with the crime groups mentioned in this report. This is relevant for the following reason:
During the course of this investigation, we learned of a recent attempt by the Cabello group, through its contacts inside Alcaraz Cabrera Vasquez, to infiltrate a mole into the Caracas branch of a German multinational reinsurance group which handles the reinsurance market for over 90% of the kidnapping insurance policies written in Venezuela for high-net worth persons and multinational executives.
The mole was detected as the result of a due diligence investigation requested by a manager of the German reinsurance group’s branch in Caracas. One of the responsibilities this mole was being trained for would have given him direct access to the German reinsurance group’s digital and paper files on the corporate/personal assets and net worth of Venezuelan and foreign persons with anti-kidnapping insurance policies.
This information could be used by Cabello’s group to identify assets subject to coercive acquisition tactics and extortion rackets.
It also could be used by other crime groups, like the ones in which Carvajal and Rangel Silva are implicated with the FARC/ELN, to identify potential abduction victims and calculate with precision beforehand how much each victim is worth in ransom negotiations.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Grandad Carl Elliot’s friends reckon it doesn’t take Einstein to work out who he looks like – he’s the spitting image of the legendary scientist.
His pals made a special lookalike teddy to be mascot of their running club in honour of Carl.
Carl, 71, looks just like physicist Albert Einstein with his trademark white hair and distinctive moustache.
Carl was given to honour after being a popular member of Lliswerry Runners in Newport, South Wales, for 30 years.
Now his fellow club members made his Albert Einstein teddy – complete with custom-made running top – their mascot.
Runner Tim Reese, 53, said: “We all think he looks like Albert Einstein.
“Carl’s really well liked and he looks after the people who’ve never run before and the slower runners. He’s like a grandad to everyone.”
Mr Reese even created a Facebook page to encourage runners to take the “mini-Carl” mascot along with them on foreign trips to France, Austria and the United States.
And Carl – who runs 30,000 miles a year – loves his mini-me mascot.
Carl said: “He’s travelled more miles than me all over the world – everybody absolutely loves him.
“He’s got white hair and my hair’s white and I’ve always had a big moustache.”A young woman recently approached Jim Nieto and told him matter-of-factly that she wanted to compete in the Olympics.
He wasn’t entirely sure how to react. The longtime Santa Monica judo coach didn’t want to be rude, but he was in disbelief. Reaching the biggest stage in international sports takes much more than talking about it, of course, and Nieto chalked up the woman’s statement as one about a childhood fantasy that should’ve expired by now.
“I looked at her like she was naive,” he said. “People in the Olympics have been training since they were children.”
But Nieto soon learned more about the young woman. Her name is Joud Fahmy. She’s 21years old. She’s been in Santa Monica for about a year. Her father is a diplomat. She holds Saudi Arabia citizenship. And she’s serious about trying to participate in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro with that country’s judo team.
Fahmy’s hope stems from what happened leading up to the 2012 Olympics, when Saudi Arabia bowed to international pressure and allowed Wojdan Shaherkani to compete in judo. It was the first time a woman represented that country in the Olympics.
Fahmy is inexperienced relative to other judo athletes around the world, but the dearth of Saudi women competing in the sport means she might have a chance to do what Shaherkani did in London three years ago.
And, according to Nieto, she’s up to the task. Fahmy practices several times each week with Nieto, a fixture at the Santa Monica Family YMCA since 1967.
“She’s been training, and she’s doing remarkably well,” he said.
Although Nieto initially balked at the idea of Fahmy competing in the |
understood that in general, the home RpAI figures, compiled across many Tests, would be lower than the figures related to away Tests. So the index values are not comparable"
So I have adopted a different method for this exercise. First let me make it clear that runs are runs and wickets are wickets. Test runs and wickets are tough to achieve and should be given the deserved respect. No effort should be made to change the value of these basic measures. These should be left as they are.
However the Batting Average/RpAI/Bowling Averages are derived measures. I myself feel that the Bowling Average is perfectly all right but the Batting Average is quite weak. Hence I use only RpAI, described in Part 1, in most of my analyses. I would have no problems in tweaking these. I do not mind saying that an RpAI of 40 against a very strong attack should be treated at par with, say, a RpAI of 50 against an average attack.
Hence I intend to adjust the RpAI with the other three measures: Weighted Bowling Quality, Pitch Quality Index and Support available. In order to maintain an overall balance, the Adjusted RpAI will be limited to 100 since only eight values are above 100. I will use the Runs scored and Adjusted RpAI to derive an overall Batting Index.
Similarly, I will adjust the Bowling Average with the other three measures: Weighted Batting Quality, Pitch Quality and Support available. In order to maintain an overall balance, the Adjusted Bowling Average will be capped to 15 since only six values are below 15. I will use the Wickets taken and Adjusted Bowling Average to derive an overall Bowling Index.
The Runs scored and Wickets taken will carry a weight of 25%. The RpAI and Bowling Average, duly adjusted by the other three measures, will carry a weight of 75%.
The Bowling quality index and Batting quality index will have adjustment factors between 1.33 to 0.67.
The Pitch Quality index (PQI) will have adjustment factors between 1.20 to 0.80.
The Player Support index will have adjustment factors between 1.10 to 0.90.
Using the Batting Index values, I will shortlist the top 12 batsmen to select the final six. Using the Bowling Index values, I will shortlist the top 12 bowlers to select the final four. Using the Batting Index and wicketkeeping numbers, I will select the keeper. To the extent possible, I will restrict myself to the shortlists. In rare instances, in order to maintain team balance, I may have to go outside these shortlists, especially in the selection of the bowlers.
VVS Laxman narrowly misses out on India's home XI AFP
Let me move on to the team selection. A few relevant points on the selection and presentation are outlined below.
1. I will present the shortlists in a side-by-side manner for the home and visiting players for each team.
2. The qualification requirement for the batsmen is 1000 runs for home batsmen and 500 runs for visiting batsmen.
3. The bowlers need to take 50 wickets at home and 25 wickets away in the concerned country, to qualify.
4. I will select a 12th man for each team. This will not be a fielding selection but a recognition of the player who missed very narrowly and ought to have been in the team.
5. I will estimate the Team Strength Index (TSI), based on the Adjusted RpAI/Bowling Average values and present these.
6. Based on these TSI values I will also do a crystal-ball prediction of a five-Test series played in the home country. It is possible that, sometime in the future, if all the dice fall well, I may be able to do a simulation of these matches.
7. It must be understood that in general, the home RpAI figures, compiled across many Tests, would be lower than the figures related to away Tests. So the index values are not comparable. Similarly, the Bowling averages in home Tests could be higher.
8. When I did the work related to the Home players for Pakistan, I realised that if I did not get the UAE Tests in, the selections would be wrong. Hence I have considered the UAE Tests as Home for Pakistan and Away for visiting teams.
9. Wicketkeeping continues to be measured by DpT. Percentage of dismissals was considered but not implemented since it meant that too much complex work had to be done for minimal benefits. These are anyway only guidelines.
Australia-Home
Australia: Home - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 89.3 Don Bradman 33 4322 88.73 92.43 || 72.5 Glenn McGrath 66 289 22.43 16.78 62.9 Ricky Ponting 92 7578 51.29 44.89 || 69.9 Shane Warne 69 319 26.39 20.07 61.7 Greg Chappell 55 4515 48.78 55.38 || 62.8 Dennis Lillee 44 231 23.73 20.20 59.4 Matthew Hayden 56 5211 54.57 49.92 || 62.0 Mitchell Johnson 34 171 25.49 17.63 58.5 Bob Cowper 9 1061 75.79 65.03 || 61.8 Brett Lee 41 186 28.73 18.51 55.7 Michael Clarke 53 4654 55.69 47.75 || 57.2 Jason Gillespie 29 110 24.69 17.60 54.4 Doug Walters 37 3065 50.45 52.38 || 56.7 Stuart Clark 13 54 23.35 15.00 53.8 Allan Border 86 5743 40.87 41.28 || 56.1 Ray Lindwall 29 112 22.07 18.43 53.2 Colin McDonald 18 1573 46.26 56.79 || 55.5 Bert Ironmonger 14 74 17.97 16.89 51.8 Neil Harvey 36 2806 44.14 50.33 || 55.2 Craig McDermott 43 193 26.47 23.31 51.6 Steve Waugh 89 5710 41.78 38.82 || 55.1 Stuart MacGill 27 135 27.69 20.34 51.0 Bill Lawry 30 2818 52.29 49.30 || 54.9 Bruce Reid 17 84 20.06 17.78
The selection of five batsmen for Australia is quite a tough task because of the preponderance of talent there. Only one batsman, Greg Chappell, is an almost certainty. The opening batsmen are plenty but very few stand out as automatic selections. I decided on Matthew Hayden and Colin McDonald, reluctantly leaving out Michael Slater, who is just outside the shortlist. As many as 307 out of Bob Cowper's 1000-plus runs came in one innings. This selection may not be in line with the recent selectorial approach in Australia.
Neil Harvey will, no doubt, add the left-hander's elegance, while boasting good numbers. The sixth batting position is tough: the candidates are Doug Walters, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Steve Waugh, given in decreasing order of RpAI. Barring a team or two, the bowling attacks in operation in Australia over the past two decades have been quite ordinary and this is reflected in the low numbers of the latter three batsmen. These batsmen have also had much better support. Hence, I plumped for Doug Walters, an extraordinary strokeplayer, maybe born in the wrong era. Of course, the incomparable Don has not come into the discussions at all. Words are superfluous.
Adam Gilchrist walks in as the keeper. He boasts a 40-plus batting average and has snaffled an amazing four-and-half dismissals per match.
The bowling selection is rather easy, like falling off a log. The top four bowlers select themselves. A magnificent fast bowler, a world class legspinner, an aggressive fast bowler and an outstanding left-armer. Translated to names: Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee and Mitchell Johnson. Ah! What an attack! Almost a 'dream-team' quartet.
The 12th man is Ricky Ponting, deservedly so.
Australia-Visiting
Australia: Visiting team - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 86.9 Jack Hobbs 24 2493 56.11 60.43 || 87.7 Richard Hadlee 12 77 17.83 17.80 86.6 Herbert Sutcliffe 14 1529 63.68 69.53 || 85.9 Curtly Ambrose 14 78 19.79 18.87 83.1 Wally Hammond 19 1981 56.60 61.73 || 80.4 George Lohmann 6 41 11.66 15.64 83.0 Larry Gomes 8 844 59.23 73.11 || 78.4 Sydney Barnes 13 77 22.43 22.51 82.3 Aubrey Faulkner 5 732 73.20 88.02 || 76.7 Michael Holding 14 63 24.22 21.11 81.3 Michael Vaughan 5 633 63.30 76.81 || 75.3 John Snow 6 31 22.84 16.58 77.9 Ken Barrington 10 1046 62.97 65.81 || 72.1 Harold Larwood 10 51 26.82 21.51 75.6 Virat Kohli 8 992 62.00 64.05 || 71.4 Dale Steyn 7 31 28.77 18.56 74.6 Sachin Tendulkar 20 1809 47.61 55.07 || 70.7 Kapil Dev 11 51 24.59 22.20 74.6 Chris Broad 6 626 67.24 66.66 || 70.0 Frank Foster 5 32 21.62 19.45 73.9 Viv Richards 22 1760 46.24 54.91 || 69.7 Ian Bishop 10 43 23.02 21.39 73.8 Eddie Barlow 5 603 62.04 66.13 || 69.7 Billy Barnes 10 33 15.42 19.79
Look at the top three batsmen in the shortlist. That is, inarguably, the best top three in history of cricket. The English giants, Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe and Walter Hammond get together for the only time in these chronicles since they do not all make it to England's home XI. These three are followed by two modern giants, Sachin Tendulkar and Viv Richards, very deservedly so. These two bring in together 42 Tests of pure class. The top six is rounded off by the magnificent South Africa allrounder, Aubrey Faulkner. When we talk about allrounders, Faulkner's name never enters the picture. It is for lack of information. In 25 Tests, Faulkner scored 1754 runs at an RpAI of 38.69 and took 82 wickets at 26.59, all with scant support.
Alan Knott, with an RpAI of nearly 30 and four dismissals per Test, is the undisputed wicketkeeper. Up to now, this is the same team which was selected last time around.
Richard Hadlee and Curtly Ambrose were giants down under and are the first two bowlers to be selected. Last time I had selected Sydney Barnes. However, this time around, I have gone for Michael Holding, whose Bowling Average improved by over 10% through adjustments.
Now I come to the spinner selection. Bobby Peel's Bowling average figure took a hit. Anil Kumble's overall figures of 49 wickets at 37.7 do not look great. Until we see that Anil Kumble bowled to the toughest set of batsmen in the history of Test cricket. Yes, you read it right. The average Batting index of the batsmen Kumble bowled to was a staggering 43.7. He also bowled on pitches which were primarily batting wickets. To top it all, the support Kumble received was below par. These three factors have brought his Bowling average down to 23.97. So I have decided to go with Anil Kumble as my main spinner. This is the major change from the team selected last time. Anil Kumble is the first player to be selected from outside the shortlist.
Larry Gomes is the 12th man - maybe a surprise selection but he has fabulous numbers in Australia.
Anantha Narayanan
The TSIs are very close and on the result-oriented Australian pitches, the score may be 3-2, with Home XI and Visiting XI winning in alternate years.
England-Home
England: Home - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 87.1 Peter May 39 2865 51.33 61.46 || 67.7 James Anderson 69 296 25.64 21.52 85.3 Joe Root 28 2601 53.00 56.52 || 64.6 Fred Trueman 47 229 20.04 19.83 84.1 Denis Compton 47 3963 54.54 51.29 || 61.7 Stuart Broad 57 232 26.54 21.92 82.2 Geoff Boycott 57 4356 44.62 48.56 || 60.7 Jim Laker 29 135 18.09 17.17 81.9 Ken Barrington 46 3347 47.13 51.54 || 58.6 Alec Bedser 32 167 21.56 20.33 81.4 Kevin Pietersen 53 4537 51.43 47.33 || 55.5 Bob Willis 41 176 23.51 22.92 79.4 Peter Richardson 15 1033 46.95 59.82 || 54.5 Sydney Barnes 10 63 13.38 17.23 79.0 Graham Gooch 74 5917 45.17 41.13 || 54.3 Ian Botham 59 226 27.55 26.53 78.5 Tom Graveney 48 3115 45.69 49.74 || 54.1 Tony Lock 28 104 19.52 19.80 78.3 Colin Cowdrey 55 3537 41.32 48.24 || 53.3 Brian Statham 37 148 22.77 22.77 78.2 Herbert Sutcliffe 33 2584 57.08 51.22 || 52.2 Derek Underwood 42 145 24.24 23.35 77.9 Jack Hobbs 27 1935 50.25 53.06 || 51.8 Bill Bowes 13 61 23.13 18.90
The shortlist of 12 England batsmen contains no fewer than five openers. In a strange manner, this has made the selection a rather easy task. I see no reason why anyone should separate the all-time great opening pair of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe. Both have adjusted RpAI figures of over 50. I also know that Ken Barrington would bring to the team the solidity needed amongst the strokeplayers to follow.
Now, I merely need to slot in the top two in the shortlist: the master of the '50s, Peter May, and the modern master and a legend already, Joe Root. For the sixth batting position I have Denis Compton, Tom Graveney, Colin Cowdrey and Kevin Pietersen. One modern-day destroyer against three totally different types of batsmen. Much as I was tempted to take in Compton, I finally decided on Kevin Pietersen, who, if things had turned differently, could well have scored 10,000 Test runs. He would be my match-winner.
There is no escaping the fact that Geraint Jones has excellent wicketkeeping stats - over four-and-half dismissals per Test - and Alec Stewart has better batting credentials. However I would be daft to look beyond Alan Knott for the wicketkeeper position. He averages 26 with the bat and has effected just over three dismissals per Test.
The bowling selection, like for Australia, is a rather easy task. Four of the top five get selected, almost automatically. Unfortunately Stuart Broad misses out. That gives me this beautifully balanced quartet: James Anderson, Fred Trueman, Jim Laker and Alec Bedser: Two from the Roses counties and two from Surrey. Just look at the quartet which misses out: Bob Willis, Barnes, Ian Botham and Derek Underwood.
It is no surprise that Denis Compton is the 12th man.
England-Visiting
England: Visiting team - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 99.9 Don Bradman 19 2674 91.14 100.00 || 99.5 Shane Warne 22 129 21.95 16.79 78.4 Viv Richards 24 2057 61.48 71.89 || 91.9 Glenn McGrath 14 87 19.34 15.74 68.6 Garry Sobers 21 1820 49.20 62.67 || 91.6 Malcolm Marshall 18 94 18.70 17.26 66.9 Gordon Greenidge 19 1570 52.33 63.49 || 88.7 Terry Alderman 12 83 19.34 17.65 65.5 Rahul Dravid 13 1376 61.90 63.91 || 86.2 Ray Lindwall 14 60 20.97 16.76 65.2 Arthur Morris 10 1033 54.37 67.52 || 86.0 Dennis Lillee 16 96 20.56 19.97 65.0 Bill Ponsford 10 936 59.73 68.39 || 85.7 Joel Garner 10 55 16.56 15.00 64.5 Graeme Smith 12 1355 64.34 62.98 || 85.7 Curtly Ambrose 20 88 20.77 19.40 64.3 Allan Border 25 2082 49.88 54.51 || 83.8 Bill O'Reilly 9 50 26.16 16.96 64.1 Sourav Ganguly 9 915 65.12 67.48 || 83.2 Michael Holding 13 63 21.13 18.34 63.4 Seymour Nurse 5 501 62.62 71.32 || 82.2 M Muralitharan 6 48 19.21 17.48 62.0 Steve Waugh 22 1633 56.37 56.85 || 79.0 Paul Reiffel 7 30 22.97 17.39
As usual, we are left with only five batsmen to select when we have a certain Don Bradman in the mix. He doesn't need numbers to justify his selection. The already high RpAI of Viv Richards was increased by about 17% through the quality of bowling he faced and the relatively lower scores prevalent. Almost a similar situation with Garry Sobers. Rahul Dravid had his sixty-plus average enhanced a bit.
Now we have to select the two opening batsmen. Arthur Morris, with a huge RpAI figure of around 68 says, "I am the first opener. Then you look at my partner." His claims cannot be overlooked. I have three contenders for the other opener position, Bill Ponsford, Graeme Smith and Gordon Greenidge, all with RpAI values above sixty. I eventually settled on Graeme Smith, particularly because of his amazing 113 runs per Test. It is of interest to note that ten of the 12 in the shortlist have RpAI values exceeding 60.
Adam Gilchrist is the almost undisputed keeper. He boasts of an RpAI of 37 and has a terrific four-and-half dismissals per match.
The bowling selection for England is the easiest task ever. Just pencil in the top four bowlers, beautifully balanced already. Can we have a better attack than Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Malcolm Marshall and Terry Alderman? What about the next four bowlers: Ray Lindwall, Joel Garner, Lillee and Bill O'Reilly. And then come Curtly Ambrose, Michael Holding, Muttiah Muralitharan and Charlie Griffith. Three terrific quartets in the top twelve.
Allan Border is the 12th man.
Anantha Narayanan
The Visiting XI is much stronger and the strong edge is with the Visiting XI: maybe 3-2 or even 4-1.
India-Home
India: Home - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 84.7 Cheteshwar Pujara 30 2797 57.04 59.99 || 67.4 Anil Kumble 63 350 24.88 21.72 82.5 Sachin Tendulkar 94 7216 48.72 43.74 || 61.3 R Ashwin 32 208 22.64 19.07 79.1 Sunil Gavaskar 65 5067 47.94 46.81 || 59.4 Harbhajan Singh 55 265 28.77 23.04 76.0 Rahul Dravid 70 5598 48.16 43.07 || 58.5 Ravindra Jadeja 22 121 19.88 16.79 74.2 Mohammad Azharuddin 46 3412 52.30 47.44 || 53.9 Kapil Dev 65 219 26.50 24.51 73.0 Virender Sehwag 52 4656 52.76 43.27 || 49.9 Pragyan Ojha 20 101 27.51 21.55 72.8 Dilip Vengsarkar 54 3725 48.74 45.57 || 47.7 Venkatapathy Raju 16 71 24.00 21.59 72.3 Virat Kohli 29 2311 50.88 48.87 || 46.5 Dilip Doshi 21 77 25.39 22.64 71.8 GR Viswanath 48 3502 43.54 45.36 || 46.3 Javagal Srinath 32 108 26.57 24.28 69.2 Vijay Hazare 13 1113 55.65 49.73 || 45.2 Bishan Bedi 30 137 23.99 26.36 66.6 Navjot Sidhu 23 1726 52.30 46.09 || 43.0 BS Chandrasekhar 32 142 27.70 28.09 62.3 VVS Laxman 57 3767 42.83 37.49 || 42.6 Vinoo Mankad 23 103 26.53 26.49
The selection of India team is both easy and hard. A few players select themselves but there are obvious surprises. Cheteshwar Pujara is at the top, no doubt due to the high quality of bowling he faced and the generally medium level scores. Then comes Sachin Tendulkar, the icon of icons. Sunil Gavaskar is the undisputed opener. Despite the steep drop in Virender Sehwag's RpAI, no doubt due to some indifferent bowlers and a slew of high scores, let me send him in with Gavaskar: a terrific and very effective opening pair.
Rahul Dravid is no surprise at all. How can we select an Indian team without The Wall? The sixth batsman is a real conundrum. Mohammad Azharuddin the stylist, the aggressive Virat Kohli, the elegant Gundappa Viswanath and the redeemer of lost causes, VVS Laxman, present themselves. Whom do I select? I have spent hours on this. I have pencilled in, and removed, names many times. Finally I realised that I could not ignore the numbers. Laxman's 281 and 73* notwithstanding, I cannot ignore the low RpAI figure. Hence I settled on GR Viswanath. On another day, I might have gone for Laxman and yet another day, for Azharuddin. You could say this is almost certainly my personal selection. At this juncture itself, I have decided on the 12th man: The legend, Laxman himself.
MS Dhoni is the undisputed captain who will be donning the gloves. He brings with him a 40-plus RpAI, just over three dismissals per Test and an unflappable temperament to handle this collection of stars.
Like England, the bowlers almost select themselves. The top three bowlers, Anil Kumble, R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and the incomparable Kapil Dev, who is in the fifth position. I considered Bishan Bedi briefly but could not ignore the claims of the other feisty Sardar. The problem is also the impressive numbers of the wily Ravindra Jadeja.
VVS Laxman completes the team, but is outside the XI.
India-Visiting
India: Visiting team - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 81.7 Everton Weekes 5 779 111.29 100.00 || 91.6 Richie Benaud 8 52 18.38 19.18 77.0 Jimmy Adams 3 520 86.67 100.00 || 88.9 Alan Davidson 6 30 15.77 15.43 75.0 Clive Lloyd 14 1359 64.10 74.26 || 88.1 Courtney Walsh 7 43 18.56 18.88 67.9 Garry Sobers 8 899 69.15 76.20 || 87.3 Jason Gillespie 7 33 21.73 17.13 65.1 Andy Flower 5 820 82.00 74.24 || 87.0 Roy Gilchrist 4 26 16.12 15.00 60.9 Alvin Kallicharran 11 992 52.65 63.34 || 87.0 Glenn McGrath 8 33 21.30 17.25 59.5 Alastair Cook 13 1235 48.60 54.54 || 87.0 Dale Steyn 6 26 21.38 15.17 59.4 Rohan Kanhai 8 765 63.75 67.27 || 83.8 Andy Roberts 7 37 19.81 19.55 59.4 Ian Botham 7 554 61.56 73.01 || 83.6 Wes Hall 8 38 20.95 19.85 59.0 Steven Smith 6 660 55.00 69.52 || 83.2 John Lever 8 37 19.76 19.83 57.1 Younis Khan 6 768 64.00 63.74 || 82.8 Graham McKenzie 8 34 19.26 19.40 54.4 Mahela Jayawardene 6 628 62.80 63.54 || 81.6 Lance Gibbs 9 39 23.38 21.00
Everton Weekes books his passage to India as, arguably, the surest selection, other than Bradman to England. Garry Sobers and Andy Flower are two left-handers of contrasting but amazing skills and huge RpAI values. Steven Smith is the next batsman selected. Smith's is an interesting case. His RpAI of 55.0 is increased by about 25% because of the quality of Indian bowling and tough batting conditions, in the recent Test series.
Now we come to the openers. Do I go with the regular openers, Alastair Cook and Hayden or do I go left field with an out-of-the-box selection of a middle-order batsman? Alvin Kallicharran and Younis Khan present themselves as candidates. I look at the numbers and reflect on what each of them achieved. So I select Younis to accompany Cook at the top of the innings. It seems as if Botham could walk in as a specialist batsman but I have to be true to my commitments on the balance of the team.
This story tends to get repeated often. Gilchrist comes in, backed up by his RpAI figure of 28 and four-and-change dismissals per match.
The bowling selection is almost a replica of what I have done so far. Four of the top five-six bowlers are selected. A lovely and balanced attack of Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Courtney Walsh and Dale Steyn form the quartet. Look at the huge improvement of Steyn's bowling average from 21.38 to 15.6.
Clive Lloyd is the 12th man. He just misses selection into the XI.
Anantha Narayanan
A very strong visiting team. Two-thirds Visiting XI win and one-third Home XI win. There are possibilities of draws. Could even be 3-1 or 4-1 for the Visiting XI.
West Indies-Home
West Indies: Home - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 88.1 Brian Lara 65 6217 56.77 54.33 || 67.2 Malcolm Marshall 31 157 20.06 16.60 80.0 George Headley 10 1241 72.49 69.09 || 66.8 Courtney Walsh 58 229 23.69 22.11 78.2 Clyde Walcott 25 2584 64.58 58.37 || 66.4 Curtly Ambrose 52 203 21.19 20.51 75.4 Desmond Haynes 49 3868 49.55 51.53 || 58.3 Joel Garner 29 123 22.34 20.08 74.8 S Chanderpaul 81 6187 46.97 42.96 || 55.3 Colin Croft 11 66 19.71 17.93 73.7 Garry Sobers 44 4075 57.43 49.38 || 54.7 Lance Gibbs 32 126 29.66 22.71 71.5 Everton Weekes 23 2420 62.15 53.19 || 54.0 Michael Holding 23 86 23.76 20.25 70.0 Viv Richards 48 3136 47.41 49.39 || 51.0 Wes Hall 19 74 25.82 21.36 70.0 Richie Richardson 42 3217 47.62 49.17 || 47.5 Ian Bishop 21 71 24.59 23.48 67.5 Gordon Greenidge 46 3209 45.18 47.04 || 46.7 Jerome Taylor 22 83 26.53 24.92 60.3 Clive Lloyd 44 2881 44.33 41.94 || 45.9 Kemar Roach 21 90 24.50 25.92 60.1 Rohan Kanhai 40 3064 46.70 41.16 || 44.6 Garry Sobers 44 107 34.12 28.07
Barring one compromise, the West Indies batsmen selection is on expected lines. Brian Lara is the best, by a mile, and walks in as the surest selection. Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge form the opening pair, not a surprise since they could be ranked the second-best opening pair ever. Sobers, despite a steep drop in RpAI, is a certainty. Weekes achieved amazing batting feats and selects himself. Richards completes the sextet. I am afraid Shivnarine Chanderpaul is outclassed and Clive Lloyd does not have the required numbers. Richie Richardson is unlucky. What about George Headley? I would love to have him in the team. But he has never opened in Tests and which giant amongst the quartet do I leave out?
What do I do about Clyde Walcott, who boasts of the highest RpAI amongst all West Indian batsmen? A real problem indeed until I found out that Walcott dismissed around 40 batsmen, in the dozen or so Tests he donned the gloves. Voila! There is my solution. Clyde Walcott is my designated wicketkeeper.
As has happened in all the selections so far, the bowling selections are indeed rather easy. This time I left out Walsh and Colin Croft from among the top six bowlers. That makes the bowling quartet as follows: Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Joel Garner and Lance Gibbs. I am not going to adopt the scorched-earth policy of Lloyd. I will have balance in my bowling attack.
George Headley is my choice as the 12th man.
West Indies-Visiting
West Indies: Visiting team - Shortlist BatPts Batsman Tests Runs RpAI WtedRpAI || BowPts Bowler Tests Wkts Avge WtedAvge 79.6 Neil Harvey 5 650 94.07 86.34 || 92.8 Glenn McGrath 10 50 20.70 20.00 78.3 Len Hutton 7 848 73.17 80.59 || 92.3 Angus Fraser 12 54 20.30 21.02 73.6 Rahul Dravid 17 1511 54.91 60.96 || 88.0 Jason Gillespie 7 28 21.21 17.06 70.4 Sunil Gavaskar 13 1404 58.50 59.21 || 87.5 John Snow 4 27 18.67 15.00 68.9 Steve Waugh 14 1096 54.55 63.73 || 87.5 Bruce Taylor 4 27 17.70 15.16 67.4 Dennis Amiss 5 663 73.67 70.84 || 87.0 Max Walker 5 26 20.73 16.67 66.5 Colin Cowdrey 10 1025 58.94 62.09 || 85.2 Imran Khan 8 48 25.12 22.89 65.9 Mohinder Amarnath 9 877 54.81 64.46 || 84.2 Steve Harmison 6 27 18.11 19.11 65.4 Hanif Mohammad 5 628 69.78 68.94 || 83.3 Kapil Dev 9 35 23.11 21.10 63.3 Glenn Turner 5 672 84.00 65.46 || 82.9 Brett Lee 7 35 26.20 21.30 61.9 Inzamam-ul-Haq 7 634 52.83 64.48 || 78.9 James Anderson 7 26 24.92 21.21 61.9 AB de Villiers 7 790 70.79 61.20 || 77.7 M Muralitharan 6 37 23.00 23.93
Two magnificent opening batsmen, Len Hutton and Sunil Gavaskar will walk in to face the mighty and fearsome Caribbean opening attack. Both of them had great tours to the islands. Neil Harvey, with the best playing record in the West Indies, is in a pivotal middle-order position. Rahul Dravid, whose record in the West Indies is excellent, gets in next. Steve Waugh, gets selected in dual positions of No. 6 and captain. Finally, the underrated Mohinder Amarnath, whose brave exploits in West Indies are legendary, completes the top six positions.
Brad Haddin, whose RpAI is at par with that of MS Dhoni, gets the nod for the wicketkeeper position based on a better keeping numbers (4.60 against 4.14).
The top two bowlers in the short list, Glenn McGrath and Angus Fraser have had excellent tours of West Indies and get in as first choices. Mutt |
the size of Trump's inauguration crowd, it's now funny, apparently? #Emmys — Andy Dehnart (@realityblurred) September 18, 2017
It was another stop on a media tour that appears to be an attempt at re-branding Spicer’s image. Earlier this week, Spicer (who resigned from his press secretary post last month) visited Kimmel, who couldn’t help but mock him about that incident — particularly after Spicer said he wanted to talk about other issues after the inauguration but Trump wanted him to focus on crowd size.
“So if you have to go along, even if you know — and I’m not asking you to say whether it was or not — even if you know the crowd wasn’t bigger, you have to go, as press secretary, you have to say that it was,” Kimmel said.
“Your job as press secretary is to represent the president’s voice and to make sure that you are articulating what he believes … whether or not you agree or not isn’t your job,” Spicer said.
Backstage at the Emmys, fresh off his win for portraying Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” Alec Baldwin addressed the Spicer situation.
“People in the business and the average person is very grateful for him to have a sense of humor and participate,” he said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Spicer obviously was compelled to do certain things that we might not have respected, we might not have admired, we might have been super critical of in order to do his job, but I’ve done some jobs that are things that you shouldn’t admire or respect me for either. He and I have that in common.”
What pariah? Sean Spicer getting mobbed in #Emmys lobby. Posing for pics, drinking beer, soaking up all attention after onstage appearance pic.twitter.com/WqJpaRtAvK — Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) September 18, 2017
1 of 56 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × See what celebrities wore at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards View Photos The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards were given out at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Caption The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards were given out at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Mike Blake Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
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Complete list of 2017 Emmy winners
Jimmy Kimmel mocks Sean Spicer to his face about that inauguration crowd size incident
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*Choice of Classic Red Or Classic Blue 2mm Standard mat included
We utilized The Holmes Game Topper in our booth at Gen Con 50 --- it enhanced the atmosphere of our booth and gave our demo table a classy, stylish look. Customers frequently commented on the solid quality of the Game Topper. We will now include Game Toppers on all of our tables for future conventions. Game Toppers is a must buy! Take your gaming table to the next level! Clay Ross - President, Capstone Games
Unlocked shipping included with any bundle! Stand alone shipping $3.00 Canada $6.00
If you would like more than 1 set of Halfsies Dice just add an extra $10.00 to your pledge. Qty will be adjusted in the Pledge Manager survey.
"We used the Toppers to demo our new games at Gencon. The Game Toppers are gorgeous, and we love the raised rails and cup holders. They really improved our players experience! They are exceptionally sturdy and I was impressed to find that they will not budge when pushed or shoved. Game Toppers will be a part of all of our trade shows going forward!” “I have personally bought several of Kevin’s Toppers, using them as amazing rewards for some of our Ambassadors, a gift for my son, and a super deluxe custom model just for me!" Bryan Pope-CEO Arcane Wonders
You can purchase 2 rails and turn your Topper in 2 mini Toppers!
We have just announced 2 new Rail Bundles as stretch goals below. Rail bundle 1 is unlocked Yay!
Unlocked shipping included
Unlocked shipping included
Shipping included is continental US. Shipping to Canada, Hawaii and Alaska is extra for the Rail Bundles
Amy items will be available in the Backerkit survey
(Mycroft rail will be extra..See Bundle unlocked above)
Yay unlocked!!!!
Unlocked and now its a choice in certain packages! See below...
When unlocked,The Scotland Yard, Bakerstreet and the Persian Slipper bundle may choose in the Backerkit survey The Rules Master easel as one of their Shield choices. If you purchase the Daedalus bundle with the Reichenbach Falls you will have a choice to get the Rules Master Easel as a choice as well.
Fun little video of these amazing Game Topper Dice Towers from Daedalus Productions!!! They fit right on the rail and slide where ever you like. They keep all the dice right in front of you without disturbing your game. I can't get enough of them!!!
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New improved Dogmight component tray. Deeper wells and card slot.
2 for $50.00
Pictured below are the first prototypes of the amazing HDPE Components. While our "Lux" wood components are very durable and nicely finished, this new material provides us some flexibility due to its strength like making a cut out to fit around the center connector cleat and the cut tray on the goblet holder. They are virtually a lifetime product as far as durability goes. FDA food grade approved, dishwasher safe and with the textured black finish looks remarkable well against the aluminium rail. Now you have options due to the help of our great backers!
HDPE Premium Cup holder W/cork inlay and cup
HDPE Premium Cup holders & Double Component tray that fits over center connecting cleat.
New HDPE enhanced Goblet holder w component tray
Side by side view of HDPE components in rail
Both HDPE bundles unlocked
An Upgrade to HDPE Premium components will be available for the Scotland Yard and Bakerstreet Packages for $50.00. This will include the new double trays that have the cutouts to be placed over the connector cleat and the goblet holders being multi functional.
An Upgrade to HDPE Premium components will be available for the Scotland Yard and Bakerstreet Packages for $50.00. This will include the new double trays that have the cutouts to be placed over the connector cleat and the goblet holders being multi functional.
HDPE Premium Cup holders & Double Component tray that fits over center connecting cleat.
The Mycroft is currently only available in standard. The Mycroft Standard Rail Bundle are available. See Above.
Shipping costs for the Bundles and add ons will be included in our end of campaign survey. We are currently working on a chart estimating shipping for add ons and bundles.
Mycroft estimated weight 38-40 lbs per half
Click image to see high res art
Click to see high res art
Click image to see high res art
Click image to see high res art
Click image to see high res art
Click image to see high res art
All mats unlocked
There are 4 - 48" x 36" (Adler) size 3mm Premium stitched mats that are unlocked. The styles are Classic Red & Blue, Adventure and Space mat. If you want to buy one it will be available in the backerkit as an add on for 79.00
Close up of high quality edge stitching for long life durability.
We have some amazing ideas on how we can provide extra options and extra value, even some extras you wouldn't normally expect, if we can hits some milestones. So much of this project is volume dependent. The more we produce, the better my prices get, and the more I can give back. Stretch Goals will allow us to involve you in the some of the decisions. Stay tuned for more!
Unlocked! Click picture fro high res photo.
Yay! Unlocked
Another goal unlocked! You may now upgrade your included 2mm mat to your choice of either Classic Red or Classic Blue for a fraction of the price.
If you want more than 1 set please add $10 to your pledge and Qty and shipping will be calculated in the Pledge Manager.
Secret Cabal Red unlocked! Click Image for high res
Both HDPE bundles unlocked
"Pictures above" for these "new" products and the benefits they have to better show off these options.
Both Secret Cabal Mats unlocked! Click image for High res imageThere has been a recent trend of ball golf courses adding disc golf holes in order to help keep smaller locally owned courses open. This is the best possible situation for the growth of disc golf.
I often discuss the positive aspects of ball golf courses and clubs. I don’t see any reason why we can’t go to manicured courses with clubhouses and pro-shops. There are several ways disc golf is superior to ball golf and there are many ways disc golf can help ball golf.
Our courses do not require the heavy maintenance that ball golf courses require. Our courses are more environmentally sound than ball golf courses. The water expenditure and the possible run off of chemicals make ball golf courses more dangerous to the environment. It also makes them far more costly to maintain.
Disc golf does pose a risk to the environment, mainly due to erosion and littler. But ball golf poses those threats and more. The partnership of disc golf and ball golf can provide to each sport the exact thing they each crave most.
Disc golfers can learn some of the etiquette and respectability that comes with playing on pay to play courses. Ball golfers can learn to relax a little.
I recently saw a very funny commercial with PGA pros talking about wearing shorts on the golf course. Ball golfers want the slightly more relaxed environment that we enjoy.
Ball golfers also want their courses to stay open despite the increasing numbers of course closures. We as disc golfers want to expand the public interest in the sport and to play on courses where there are beverage carts.
To that end, I joined some golf buddies at the Brooktrails Fundraiser Tournament. The tournament was held at the Brooktrails Golf Course in Willits, Ca. where the local disc golf clubs are hoping to convince the owners that a permanent disc golf course will boost attendance, generate funds, and create a community that relies on their course.
The course is spectacular. Situated under the Redwood Canopy the temperature is easily 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding area. The holes are long and challenging then tight and exciting. There is an incredible mix of shots with a couple genuine par 4s – and a couple that maybe could be par 4s.
There are several highly elevated tee pads. Greens and the gorgeous creek are all out of bounds. We are in California so we play the 2 meter rule. There is almost always some shade to be had and the beverage cart came by often.
My play wasn’t particularly impressive. I was challenged by the slight elevation change and the distance of many of the holes. Mostly, the battle for my disc golf soul is in full swing with the forehand fighting with my backhand to stay my main shot.
This course definitely challenged every shot I had. I threw several escape rollers and even an emergency overhead shot. My putting game was better than I thought it would be and I scored more birdies than expected.
Thanks to Michael Bennet for working to have the course installed and organizing the event. Thanks to Derrick Robbings for organizing support and Levi Fagundes for keeping it professional. Check the web for the weekly schedule. This is a must play course if you are in the area.In just 24 hours, 115 new wildfires have flared up across B.C. — most of them in the Kamloops area and the southeast part of the province.
"Lightning was a huge driver of increased fire activity yesterday and that would be from the lightning activity we saw Sunday night," said Ryan Turcot of the B.C. Wildfire Service.
Nine communities are under evacuation alerts or orders, according to the wildfire service.
Kelsey Winter, also with B.C. Wildfire Service, said crews are monitoring erratic winds expected to hit the region later today.
"[We're] making sure we get as many resources as we can today, before the winds pick up, and try to get some containment on those fires," said Winter.
West Kelowna fire still growing
A fast-moving wildfire on Westside Road near West Kelowna's Shelter Cove area has now grown to about 430 hectares, up from 175 hectares earlier today and 30 hectares yesterday.
Most of the growth has been uphill, away from nearby homes, but the fire has remained difficult to contain on a steep slope, with high winds and a lot of dry fuel.
"Wind is our number 1 enemy out here," fire information officer Dale Bojara said Tuesday afternoon.
An evacuation order is still in place for approximately 70 properties and nearly 1,400 homes are out of power because of the fire.
Duncan Robinson, who watched the fire from his home across Okanagan Lake, said it intensified as the wind picked up.
"As soon as you felt the wind gust, you would just see huge candling, trees just flaring up," said Robinson.
"I can't even guess how high those flames would have been in the air but definitely quite a show on this side."
Bruce Smith with the Central Okanagan Regional District's Emergency Operations Centre said the fire has not destroyed any structures.
"We know that the structural fire crews from Wilson's landing in northwest side were very busy last night protecting those properties along Westside Road," said Smith.
Fire crews scramble to contain blaze 1:08
An evacuation centre has been set up at the Westside Lions Community Hall and opened this morning at 8:30 a.m. PT
The emergency centre will help evacuees with food, clothing and lodging.
Smith said crews are also asking boaters to stay out of the area so air crews can gather water to dump on the fire.
Fire grew quickly
Earlier on Monday, the fire was only four hectares, but it grew quickly as strong winds fanned ground that was smouldering from a lightning strike the night before.
On Monday evening, RCMP officers went door to door telling people to leave. Winds pushed the fire toward Westside Road and the homes below it, and much of the hillside was quickly in flames.
Smoke from a fire near West Kelowna, B.C. can be seen from across Okanagan Lake. (Brady Strachan / CBC )
Bolean Lake Resort evacuated
Strong winds are also causing challenging conditions for another wildfire in the Kamloops area, just five kilometres northwest of Falkland, B.C.
As of Monday night, the Bolean Lake wildfire had grown to about 300 hectares and was not at all contained. The B.C. Wildfire Service said the fire was most likely caused by lightning.
The Columbia Shuswap Regional District has issued an evacuation order for the Bolean Lake Resort, and an evacuation alert for other 24 properties.
Evacuation orders require residents to leave immediately, while evacuation alerts require residents to leave at a moment's notice if conditions change.
Rene Talbot, Columbia Shuswap Regional District director, said the smoke is a reminder of just how close the fire is.
Hot, dry conditions
Also in the Kamloops area, 15 kilometres southeast of Ashcroft, a 250-hectare wildfire has prompted an evacuation alert for 28 properties.
Kelsey Winter,of the B.C. Wildfire Service, said the fire remains uncontained, despite the efforts of 63 firefighters, six air tankers and a helicopter.
"Tankers and helicopters were unable to action yesterday due to the wind. Today we're hoping to have air support on that fire as well," said Winter.
The fire is burning north of Highway 97C and was discovered yesterday morning.WASHINGTON— Confirming that most copies have not been played since high school, a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center found that 80 percent of British rock band Queen’s Greatest Hits CDs are currently lodged in the center console of someone’s first car. “Our data indicates that while nearly four out of five copies of this bestselling compilation album can be found in the center console among old ATM receipts and a pen cap, the CD may also in certain instances be jammed edgewise between the center console and driver’s seat,” said head researcher Lisa Peterson, adding that a vast majority of copies have a hairline scratch that causes the track “Another One Bites The Dust” to skip approximately two minutes in. “We also found that a small but not insignificant minority of these discs occupy a protective sleeve alongside a self-made mix labeled ‘Summer 2002’ or the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication.” Peterson went on to say that those few copies of Queen’s Greatest Hits that are not in an automobile are currently stuck inside the dust-covered seven-disc stereo system that was put in the basement in 2007.
AdvertisementAhmet Sik delivered his defence, but refused to plead. If prosecutors in Istanbul were expecting a subdued or scared journalist to stand before them Wednesday, they were mistaken.
Sik has already served time in prison for his work. Now an investigative journalist with Cumhuriyet, Turkey's oldest newspaper, he was defiant.
"What I say is not defence or expression. On the contrary, it is an accusation," he said.
Sik and 16 of his colleagues are on trial for charges including supporting a terrorist organization. They are some of the tens of thousands of people detained since the coup attempt last summer.
Sik called the indictment levelled by prosecutors "trash" and turned the table on an increasingly agitated prosecutor, accusing the government of nurturing the group Sik and his colleagues are accused of supporting. He also alleged that some of Turkey's judges are complicit in the crimes.
They "themselves have become the gravediggers for justice," Sik said in court.
It was the third day of testimony in a packed, stifling courtroom at what's become known as the Cumhuriyet 17 trial, focusing on Sik and 16 of his colleagues — everyone from journalists and a caricaturist to board members and lawyers.
If convicted, some of those on trial this week face as many as 43 years in prison.
A man holds a portrait of jailed investigative journalist Ahmet Sik outside Istanbul's courthouse. Sik was honoured with the 2013 International Press Freedom Award from Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. (Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images)
Any perceived association, interview or conversation with any group the government may deem a threat is fuel for the allegations against the journalists.
That might involve "the Kurdish movement, the Communist movement, whatever you can imagine," says journalist Zeynep Oral, a Cumhuriyet columnist and president of PEN Turkey.
"Some of them are being questioned for just saying: 'I'm not guilty.' "
One of the main charges levelled against the group is that their headlines, caricatures and stories somehow suggest support for Fethullah Gulen, the man the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes was behind the deadly coup attempt last summer.
Raising questions
Sik and his colleagues are well-known not for supporting Gulen, but for warning Turkey about the cleric's growing power, amassed over 40 years. They have raised questions about why he appeared to be so cozy with so many of Turkey's leaders over the years, particularly Erdogan and why his followers were filling key positions in the public service.
Biting back at Erdogan's assertion last year that the government was "deceived" by Gulen and his powerful cemaat — or congregation — before the coup attempt, Sik testified "No, you have not been deceived. On the contrary, you tried to fool us together."
A caricature from Cumhuriyet's Musa Kart, one of the 17 people on the newspaper's staff on trial this week. His work often lampooned Fethullah Gulen, the man the Turkish government believes was behind the deadly coup last summer. (Musa Kart)
The testimony, described by supporters as fearless, buoyed their hopes for the group's release and quickly exploded on social media.
But Turkey's president does not always respond well to direct challenges, particularly on the issue of press freedom.
The Turkish government's position has and continues to be that the majority of those in prison are not there because they are journalists.
"A great majority of the people you know as journalists are people who are helping terror," Erdogan said in answer to a question from a journalist at a G20 news conference in Hamburg in early July.
"You must not know that I was jailed for reading a poem when I was mayor of Istanbul," the president said. "I'm sensitive to the issue of freedom of thought."
The threat of a deeper crackdown does not deter Oral or the other Cumhuriyet supporters.
"We don't do things because presidents [want or don't want it]," she said. "We do things because we can't behave otherwise."
Making an impact
Steven Ellis, director of advocacy and communications for the International Press Institute in Vienna, believes the concern and pressure from the international community make an impact, whether the government admits it openly or not.
"On one level, it seems like he doesn't care, but you see when we speak out or others speak out he reacts angrily," said Ellis, one of several international observers in the courtroom this week.
"It's very important for us to make sure people in Turkey and around the world know what's going on."
Aydin Engin, a Cumhuriyet columnist, and his colleagues were first rounded up at the end of October. He is 76 and one of the few released as he awaited trial. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
At 76, Aydin Engin has tracked a lot of what's gone on in Turkey over the years as a columnist for Cumhuriyet. He is the oldest of those taken into custody last October, and one of the few to be released pending trial. Before delivering his own defence, he revealed what he plans to say on the stand.
Even appearing in court for an indictment he calls "empty" makes him "feel ashamed for our legal system, and I feel sad for my country."
The court has three options before it: force those in custody to remain there as the rest of the trial continues, release some of them or release all of them.
"I studied law," Engin said outside the courthouse. "They shouldn't be held in prison for one minute."
"If my friends are released, there's a chance I can start to think that Turkey's judiciary is independent."
Human dignity is being attacked. - Zeynep Oral
Another of the accused, columnist and editorial consultant Kadri Gursel, fought back on that front on the first day of testimony.
"Journalists are curious people and [in the course of their work] they meet different people," he said, answering the allegations that the Cumhuriyet staff may have communicated with people the government accuses of terror. "This is called journalism, and journalism is not a crime."
But Oral believes it goes beyond even journalism. Her stoicism wavers, her eyes welling up behind her sunglasses as she points to the courthouse behind her.
"In there, everybody is very strong very cheerful, but then I go home and I cry for hours because I feel human dignity is being attacked."Image copyright Reuters Image caption An estimated 5,000 Eritreans flee every month, often attempting to cross the Mediterranean
Eritrea's government may have committed crimes against humanity, including a shoot-to-kill policy on its borders, a UN investigation says.
"It is not law that rules Eritreans - but fear," says the report, which details extrajudicial killings, sexual slavery and enforced labour.
The situation has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country, says the report.
Eritrea declined to take part in the investigation, the UN says.
It has previously denied committing human rights abuses and says those leaving the country are economic migrants.
President Isaias Afewerki has governed the East African nation for 22 years, and the country has never held elections since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
Eritreans account for the second-largest group of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, after Syrians, with an estimated 5,000 fleeing every month.
The policy of military conscription for Eritreans once they reach the age of 18 is thought to be one of the main reasons people flee the country.
Eritrea at a glance:
Gained independence in 1993
6.3m population
Opposition parties outlawed
Conscription can last until the age of 40
UN estimates 5,000 Eritreans leave each month
Heavily dependent on earnings of the diaspora
Inside secretive Eritrea
Eritrean life in pictures
The lone seven-year-olds leaving Eritrea
Eritrea profile
The UN says many conscripts are made to remain in the army indefinitely, where they receive very little pay, and are subject to forced labour and torture as a form of punishment.
A shoot-to-kill policy on the country's borders, announced by the government in 2004 to prevent Eritreans fleeing the country, cannot be said to have been "officially abolished", the report said.
Image copyright AFP Image caption The UN says Eritreans are forced into indefinite conscription, under terrible conditions
Despite several eyewitness reports and government statements suggesting that the policy was no longer being implemented, witnesses who tried to cross the border this year and in 2014, told the commission that they had been shot at by soldiers.
The year-long investigation by the UN commission of inquiry accuses Eritrea of operating a vast spying and detention network, holding people without trial for years, including children.
Neighbours and family members are often drafted to inform on each other, according to the report.
"When I am in Eritrea, I feel that I cannot even think because I am afraid that people can read my thoughts and I am scared," said one witness interviewed for the report, describing the fear and paranoia created by the state's mass surveillance programme.
The inquiry said that "systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government".
The investigators are to present their findings to the UN Human Rights Council on 23 June.Yale University has made progress in minimizing its endowment portfolio’s exposure to less environmentally sound investments such as stocks of companies that contribute to climate change, a letter released on Tuesday showed.
Yale generally does not manage its own investment directly but hires outside money managers to make decisions. Nearly two years ago, the Yale University Investment Office asked the firms that managed its endowment, then $20.8 billion, to assess their investments. The office asked managers to avoid investments that did not take sensible steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Yale endowment, while not the largest, is closely watched by other universities and money managers who invest in publicly held companies.
On Tuesday, David F. Swensen, Yale’s chief investment officer, released a letter to the school’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility saying that Yale had taken several steps with climate change in mind.
Rather than simply selling investments as a response to political pressures, Yale was asking its managers to consider the financial risks of climate change and the risks that those investments held if governments did impose carbon taxes. “What we did was to take a look at the economics and come up with an economically driven decision,” he said in a telephone interview. Mr. Swensen added that the reaction was heartening.As far as paid days off go, Columbus Day has long been the most controversial.
The historically problematic holiday – Columbus never actually set foot on the continental US – has made an increasing number of people wince, given the enslavement and genocide of Native American people that followed in the wake of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Also, the neighborhood wasn't exactly empty when he arrived in 1492.
Seattle and Minneapolis are celebrating their first Indigenous Peoples’ Day today – the latest in a number of cities to choose Columbus Day as the day to remember the harm done to indigenous tribes during colonization.
Berkeley, Calif., was the first US city to change the name of the holiday in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. South Dakota was the earliest adopter in the country: The state has celebrated Native American Day since 1990.
“[Columbus] was one of the first Europeans to get to the American continent, but there was a lot of history that came after that in terms of the wiping out of native people,” California state Sen. Lori Hancock, who was mayor of Berkeley in 1992, told Time Magazine. “It just didn’t seem appropriate. It seemed like a reemphasizing of history and recognizing that to be very ethnocentric really diminishes us all.”
Problem solved? Not exactly – at least not in Seattle, where a backlash has built.
“Depending on whom you asked, the name change was either a long-overdue recognition that a genocidal, directionally challenged sailor doesn’t really warrant a postal holiday, or an affront to Italian Americans and the American tradition of discovery,” writes Sarah Kaplan in The Washington Post.
In Seattle, where the measure passed the city council unanimously, some Italian-Americans are arguing the decision to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day denigrates the accomplishments of their culture.
“We empathize with the death and destruction of the Native Americans,” activist Ralph Fascitelli said Thursday during a news conference. “But we think right now this is almost going too far in terms of political correctness.”
However, the Geneose explorer was pretty candid about his aims to enslave the tribes he found in the Bahamas, including the sexual enslavement of girls as young as nine, Dora Hasan Mekouar writes in Voice of America.
“They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features….They do not bear arms, and do not know them,” he wrote in his journal about the native Arawaks, Lucayans, and Tainos, according to Voice of America. “They would make fine servants….With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
In a majority of states today, people are at work and kids are in class, just like any other Monday. Only 23 states, plus the District of Columbia, recognize the holiday. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers’ Day, in honor of the Polynesian explorers. Alaskans will be waiting five days to celebrate Alaska Day on Oct. 18. Oregon just takes a pass.
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“It looks like Columbus Day may be about to set sail into irrelevancy, but before saying good riddance we should think about its replacement,” writes Carrie Gibson, author of the November book, “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day,” at The Daily Beast.
In her opinion piece, “Keep the Holiday, Lose Columbus,” Ms. Gibson argues that a “not-Columbus Day” could commemorate the shared history of the Americas, as well as the contributions of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, which currently are not recognized with a federal holiday.Google has reportedly removed 22 malicious applications from the Android Market after security vendors tipped off the company about apps attempting to trick users into accepting fraudulent charges via SMS.
Security firm Lookout Mobile Security says calls the phenomenon "SMS toll fraud," which involves applications that appear similar to well-known software tricking users into accepting charges via text message. Also known as "Android.Rufraud," Symantec says it's a "Trojan horse for Android devices that sends SMS messages to premium-rate phone numbers," but which poses very low risk and is easy to remove.
Lookout says European users have been targeted by SMS toll fraud over the past few months, and similar new threats appeared in the Android Market last week. North American users have not been affected by any of the malicious apps "as the fraudulent SMS code is gated on the user's country (as indicated by their SIM)."
"The initial batch appeared as horoscope apps with a fairly hidden ToS indicating charges," Lookout wrote. "The initial application activity presents the user with a single option to continue, which is presumed to be an agreement to premium charges that are buried within layers of less than clear links. The Premium Short Codes used could affect users in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Czech Republic, Poland, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Estonia as well as Great Britain, Italy, Israel, France, and Germany."
Last week, Lookout notified Google of nine identical applications skinned to appear as downloaders for popular games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, or as wallpaper apps for popular movies like Twilight. These nine applications were downloaded by only a handful of users before Google pulled them from the market.
But that's not all! The fraudsters then "posted 13 new supposed downloaders to the Android Market, once again positioned as free versions of popular games." Lookout estimates that the apps were downloaded 14,000 times, but Google had pulled the apps from the Market as of the time Lookout posted its update on Sunday. Android Market rules do not block applications from using SMS, but it's possible the apps could have pulled for piracy reasons since they mimicked legitimate software.
We asked Google whether it remotely deleted the offending applications from users' phones, as it has in some cases in the past, but the company declined to comment on the specifics of this latest case. Google removed 21 applications from the Android Market earlier this year after it was discovered the apps were secretly installing malware. By comparison, Apple's relatively closed App Store has fended off many security problems, but the iPhone is not immune either—one security researcher proved this recently by putting a malicious application through Apple's approval process and onto the App Store.Two men were arrested last week and accused of stealing frozen chicken wings — worth $65,000 — from a local cold storage business where they worked in Doraville.
Dewayne Patterson, 35, and Renaldo Jackson, 26, were employees at Nordic Cold Storage off Pleasantdale Road in Doraville, according to a police incident report.
On Jan. 12 around midday, the two men allegedly backed up an Enterprise rental truck to a bay door at the business, and loaded the truck with 10 pallets of Tyson frozen chicken wings, according to the report.
Managers at the business told police that Jackson used a forklift to load the wings while Patterson served as lookout.
The men were arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of felony theft by taking. They were released the same day on $2,950 bond.
No word on the whereabouts of the wings, according to police.The Podcasting Manual by Blubrry provides everything you need to know about podcasting, including the most up-to-date information for podcast creators, consumers and businesses. The content in the manual is easy to find, to the point and relevant.
Whether you’re a new or seasoned podcaster, an avid listener/viewer, or simply someone interested in podcasts, we have something for you. Go ahead; it’s easy. Use the navigation on the right to explore the site.
The Podcasting Manual is the result of a bunch of us podcasters – who are also the founders of Blubrry.com – going to meet-ups, podcamps and expos preaching our love, passion and knowledge of podcasting. It dawned on us that we had all this information about podcasting, but nowhere to put it.
Let us know what you think
Yeah, we’d like to think we know everything about the discipline but we don’t. That’s why we look to you, the community, to help us provide content. If there is something you’re looking for that you can’t find, let us know and we’ll get back to you ASAP. If we’ve missed something send it to us. Your input is appreciated.
Blubrry created the Podcasting Manual to help the podcasting community grow and mature. And sure, we do hope visitors who take advantage of this resource will consider using other Blubrry products and services. But our overarching goal is simple: to build the most extensive, comprehensive podcast resource in the world.Margot Lee, a volunteer for Enroll America's Get Covered America campaign, organizes her materials before canvassing in Englewood, N.J., in July. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Republicans can tick off myriad reasons they want to defund the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They say it will cause some premiums to rise, it is another example of the government meddling in the free market and restricting individual choice and it will put an undue burden on small businesses.
But some conservative members of the GOP, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who embarked on a 21-hour speech on the Senate floor earlier this week to lay out his case against the law, have hinted at another reason they see the current fight over the budget and the debt ceiling as their last, best chance to stop the ACA. There is the possibility, they say, that the public might come to like the new benefits once the law is fully in effect.
"While the ultimate goal is to repeal the law in its entirety, defunding is a crucial step so we can stop the law from being implemented before Americans get hooked |
2 * 255, y ); const g = Math. max (( openness + agreeableness + disgust ) / 3 * 255, y ); const b = ( sadness + tentative + analytical ) / 3 * 255 ; return `rgb( ${ Math. round ( r )}, ${ Math. round ( g )}, ${ Math. round ( b )} )` ; }
So what’s happening here is we’re saying that joy and confidence contribute to yellow, sadness and tentativeness and analytics contribute to blue, anger and fear contribute to red, openness agreeableness and disgust contribute to green. This is by no means perfect, but it sort of gets the job done.
index.html
full code available here
Just for completion sake, here’s what our DOM looks like:
<div id= "tone-visualizer" > <div id= "current-text" ></div> <form action= "" id= "form" > <input id= "m" autocomplete= "off" /> <button> Send </button> </form> </div>
We also need to include the socket.io client code:
<script src= "/socket.io/socket.io.js" ></script>
For our js we start by initializing our socket and getting reference to key DOM elements. We will not be using JQuery because we are badasses so we do this up here to make our following code more concise.
var socket = io (); var form = document. getElementById ( 'form' ); var input = document. getElementById ('m' ); var currentText = document. getElementById ( 'current-text' ); var toneVisualizer = document. getElementById ( 'tone-visualizer' );
Ok, so now, when a user submits our form. We’re going to emit that on the “tone message” topic over our websocket, and clear what was in the input:
form. addEventListener ('submit', function ( e ) { e. preventDefault (); socket. emit ( 'tone message', input. value ); input. value = '' ; return false ; });
When we receive the tone-text and tone-color, we set the text in our page and set the background color accordingly:
socket. on ( 'tone', function ( msg ) { currentText. innerText = msg. text ; document. body. style. background = msg. color ; });
and so it goes
Believe it or not, the entire demo codebase including comments and html and css is only 110 lines. It’s pretty exciting. Again, be sure to check out the GitHub Repo and play with the app itself.Join our Green Energy program to make a difference
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LG&E and KU Green Energy is Green-e Energy certified, and meets the environmental and consumer-protection standards set forth by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions. Learn more at www.green-e.org.Since re-entering the NFL in 1999, the Cleveland Browns simply haven’t had a franchise quarterback. In fact, over the past 16 years, the long-suffering fans of the Browns have seen 24 different passers start football games. Frankly, that is ridiculous.
But according to Mary Kay Cabot, Cleveland.com’s chief beat writer, Hue Jackson is targeting quarterbacks in the draft, something that will surely be music to the ears of the Dawg Pound.
Twitter: #Browns Hue Jackson said “we will come out of this draft with a quarterback, I can guarantee you that.” Might not be at No. 2 (@MaryKayCabot)
Jackson was speaking in Indianapolis today, the scene of the Scouting Combine where Cleveland’s next potential star is surely present, regardless of who it may be that the Browns select.
As Cleveland holds the second overall pick of the 2016 Draft, they will get the run of the quarterback class, unless Tennessee decides to trade away the first selection to a franchise equally in need of a rookie signal-caller.
This means that the Browns are likely to decide upon one of the top three prospects; Jared Goff, Carson Wentz or Paxton Lynch.
Alternatively, Hue Jackson could wait until the second round to pull the trigger. At that point, the top-ranked guys will surely be off the board, but talents such as Christian Hackenberg, Connor Cook and Dak Prescott may still be available.
If the Browns do take a quarterback with their first pick, it’ll be the fourth time since their reincarnation that they have done so. In the past, Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Johnny Manziel have all been taken early by Cleveland. This time around, they will hope that whoever they take enjoys more success than their predecessors.
On the topic of Manziel, Hue Jackson also confirmed today that, once and for all, Johnny Football is done with the Browns.
Twitter: ##Browns Jackson said Manziel’s behavior “will not be tolerated. Our organization will take a stand…move on” from those kinds of things (@MaryKayCabot)
Time will only tell whether the former Heisman Trophy winner will find a new team. At this stage, it would take a brave man to bet against his young NFL career being over.For several weeks now, rumors and reports have swirled concerning Disney’s potential purchase of 21st Century Fox broadcast assets, including several TV channels (but not FS1, Fox News, or the flagship Fox station). On Tuesday, CNBC’s David Faber reported that the sides are “closing in on a deal” and that Fox’s regional sports networks would, in fact, be included.
Fox owns and operates about 20 RSNs across the country, including numerous Fox-branded channels and the New York-based YES Network. These networks claim rights to dozens of MLB, NHL, and NBA teams, as well as local college sports and assorted other properties. Though the RSNs are reportedly quite profitable, John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that 21st Century Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch has been lukewarm on them for a while thanks to rising rights fees and declining revenues.
Source says Murdoch has not been high on the RSNs for several years. Same old media story: rights fees rising at a faster rate than affiliate revenue. https://t.co/cqODqsOcoU — John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) December 5, 2017
So what does this mean? It’s hard to know with details so sparse, but if the deal goes through (which remains a big “if”), Disney will own a regional sports empire to buttress its ESPN properties, nearly 20 years after tabling plans for ESPN West. ESPN would control rights to dozens of teams and could also air, say, ESPN2 content on the RSNs to fill dead time, extend their reach, and save money on local programming.
ESPN could also potentially use the local broadcasts to fill out its forthcoming ESPN+ streaming service, perhaps offering streaming packages to fans in local markets without the need of a cable subscription.
Fox’s motivation for the reported sale seems a bit less clear. Even after Fox’s early-2000s failure to build Fox Sports Networks into a national brand, the RSNs were a cash cow for the company. If Fox doesn’t want profitable RSNs, what does that mean for FS1? It seems that either Fox is moving away from sports, or another shoe will soon drop.
Until more details emerge about this reported sale we can’t fully evaluate its impact. But one thing is entirely clear: if this deal is agreed to, finalized, and approved by the federal government, its impact will be truly seismic for both the sports world and the television industry as a whole.People hold up signs during a counterprotest to an anti-Shariah law rally origanized by ACT for America on Saturday at City Hall in New York. AFP/Getty Images
An anti-Muslim activist group held marches in about two dozen cities across the country on Saturday to protest Islamic law. Although Act for America said the marches were specifically in opposition to Shariah law, the self-described grassroots organization with a focus on national security has been labeled as an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Although the organization insists it doesn’t oppose discrimination, it is clear that its protests gather together people who are opposed to Islam in principle. “I don’t believe Islam can peacefully coexist with the Constitution,” said a protester in Seattle. “I’m not going to tell them they can come here and take away my Second Amendment right. We need unity in this country under no ideology and no banner except the Constitution of the United States of America.”
At the March Against Sharia in #Chicago a woman holds up a sign that reads "Muhammad Was A Pedophile" #CounterActHate pic.twitter.com/TDmtLFhvgx — Hatewatch (@Hatewatch) June 10, 2017
When the group’s supporters took to the streets on Saturday, they found they were hugely outnumbered by counterprotesters in several cities. In New York, for example, the “anti-Shariah” rally involved about three dozen people, while counterprotesters numbered in the hundreds. “Fascists out of NYC,” read a banner carried by the counterprotesters. The anti-Muslim demonstrators derided the counterprotesters as out-of-touch elites. If you feel unsafe “walking around in a hijab, try being a conservative on a college campus,” Pax Hart, who organized the New York march, said. “We’re here protecting their rights, and they’re trying to shut us down! It’s insane!” Counterprotesters banged on pots and made other noise to try to drown out the anti-Shariah rally. “The theme of today is drowning out racism,” said counterprotester Tony Murphy. “The more racists get a platform, the more people get attacked.”
People hold up signs during a rally to support muslims rights as a counter protest to an anti-sharia law rally origanized by ACT for America on June 10, 2017 at Foley square in New York. AFP/Getty Images
Activists take part in the “March Against Shariah” on June 10, 2017 in New York City. Getty Images
In Seattle, the counterprotest dubbed “Seattle Stands With Our Muslim Neighbors” was far larger than the anti-Shariah demonstration.
Great protest march today opposing the anti-Sharia gathering by a few dozen ppl in Seattle. We numbered hundreds at least. pic.twitter.com/SiBjDJ5tME — Eric Lagally Ⓥ (@elagally) June 10, 2017
In St. Paul, Minnesota, a few people were detained when fights broke out at the Capitol, where dueling rallies were held. About 100 people got together inside the Capitol rotunda to hear to speeches about how Islamic law is a threat to democracy. There were three times as many counterprotesters outside.
Fights break out during "anti sharia" march, counterprotest at Minnesota State Capitol https://t.co/RleEkOyhyK Photos: @floresliz12 pic.twitter.com/VxBbwtEwpZ — Star Tribune (@StarTribune) June 10, 2017
In Chicago, about 30 people demonstrated against Shariah while around twice as many people participated in a counterprotest held across the street.
About 20 participants in Chicago's "March Against Sharia" today were met by 200 counter-protesters chanting messages of support for Muslims. pic.twitter.com/ZXc3gjz0dq — The Chicago Reporter (@ChicagoReporter) June 10, 2017
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, there was tension on the steps of the State Capitol, where a similar number of protesters and counterprotesters faced off. More than a dozen members of the anti-government Oath Keepers were present, mostly carrying handguns, to provide security for the event.
Members of the anti-Muslim hate group Soldiers of Odin attend March Against Sharia in #Harrisburg #counterACThate pic.twitter.com/FtF9EkzcPL — Hatewatch (@Hatewatch) June 10, 2017
Act for America has been obsessed with Shariah law and began a campaign against it in 2008. Its highly effective grassroots campaign has resulted in more than 13 states introducing bills to ban Shariah law even though there would be clear constitutional constraints to somehow making religious law supersede U.S. law. Meanwhile, hate cries against Muslims have been on the rise. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said in May that the number of anti-Muslim incidents surged 57 percent last year compared with 2015. This isn’t limited to the United States. Anti-Muslim hate crimes soared in London after the terrorist attack earlier this month.State-Supported Schools for the Blind for African-American Children
The first school for blind children in the United States was chartered in 1829, in Boston. It was quickly followed by schools in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. In these cities, as well as other Northern cities in which schools for the blind were established, black and white children attended the same classes.1 In the South, however, racial attitudes, complicated by the institution of slavery, were much different. Slowly, after the close of the Civil War in 1865, the states in which slavery had been well established began to open departments or divisions for African-American children, usually in facilities separate from the school for white children. By the middle of the twentieth century, there were fifteen residential schools for African-American children who were blind: North Carolina, founded in 1869; Maryland, 1872; Tennessee, 1882; Georgia, 1882; South Carolina, 1883; Kentucky, 1884; Texas, 1887; Arkansas, 1889; Alabama, 1892; Florida, 1895; Oklahoma, 1909; Virginia, 1910; Louisiana, 1892; West Virginia, 1929; and Mississippi, 1951. Thus, as one Southern legislator remarked, "color was distinguished where no color was seen."2
Ironically, in nineteenth century, separate schools for African-American children who were blind were viewed as a positive social reform and were encouraged as much by African- American leaders as by whites. Separate but equal education had been established as the law, and, for a while, it seemed to promise two flourishing societies, one white, one black, in the same country. The author of the entry on "blindness" in the 1918 Encyclopedia Americana observed:
In northern schools the colored blind are educated with the white; in Southern schools it is best for the colored to have schools of their own. Both the whites and they prefer this arrangement.3
In the two decades following the Civil War, African-American leaders generally left unchallenged the existence of segregation in social programs. When they felt denied certain benefits, such as education for blind children, they demanded the establishment of separate programs. The Georgia Academy for the Blind responded to petitions from black churches when it proposed the "Negro Division" of the Georgia School for the Blind in 1881. A black legislator, Thomas A. Sykes, introduced the bill that provided the "Colored Department" for the Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville, and in West Virginia, three black legislators pushed for the creation of a school to serve both the deaf and blind. In both Tennessee and Texas, where African-American women had taken on the task of teaching blind children in their own homes, the state formalized what already existing by making the women the matrons, or housemothers, of the new schools.
The ten schools founded in the nineteenth century were created as departments of the already-established schools for white children and were under the nominal rule of the white superintendent. Students were housed in separate campuses or separate buildings on the same campus. The five schools founded after the twentieth century–Oklahoma, Virginia, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Mississippi–had no ties with the white school.
As was true throughout the South, in the public schools, equipment, materials and facilities provided for African-American children who were blind were generally, although not always, inferior, and their education suffered, despite the efforts of excellent teachers and supportive families. In 1945, Charles Buell pointed out that the annual reports issued by the various schools "suggest to the reader that the education of the Negro is similar to that for the white students." Buell’s exhaustive study of the curriculum of the schools for African-American blind children indicated "this theory is not put into practice."4 He found that the "colored departments," as a whole, spent more time on manual training, that science classes suffered for lack of laboratory equipment, that texts were outdated and inadequate, and that instruction was formal and not practical.
Buildings housing African-American students were sometimes unsafe and their furnishings bare, with "worn furniture, chipped crockery, and faded towels."5 A teacher at the Negro Department of the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind recalled, somewhat bitterly, "When a typewriter or a sewing machine got too old or broke on North Campus, they’d send it over to us."6 Margaret Johnson, who attended the whites-only school for the blind in Arkansas in the 1950s, remembers, even as a child, being appalled by the conditions at the black school, where the white students were bused for a Christmas concert. Their auditorium "had no stage and only straight-backed chairs." She also remembered feeling bad that the white school’s worn-out books were sent to the Colored Department; "Why, the dots were so worn they could scarcely be read," she said.7
In general, teacher-pupil ratios were higher in the African-American schools8 and teachers’ salaries were lower. African-American teachers could not attend training courses offered at segregated universities, nor could they afford to attend similar institutions in the North. Enrolling children was also a problem. Not all African-American children who were blind attended the state schools, despite compulsory education laws. To identify students, an African-American superintendent would have had to visit places throughout the state, asking questions and checking public records–not a safe undertaking in the Jim Crow South.
In the 1940s, Helen Keller emphasized the needs of African-American children who were blind to a committee studying the public and private aid given to physically disabled students.
In my travels up and down the continent I have visited their shabby school buildings... I have been shocked by the meagerness of their education... I feel it is a disgrace that in this great wealthy land, each injustice should exist to men and women of a different race–and blind at that!9
Her words were instrumental in prodding the state of Mississippi to establish a state school for African-American students who were blind.10 However, the battle for legislative support was intense, and the Mississippi School for the Negro Blind didn’t open its doors to students until 1951—only three years before the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education signaled the end of segregated schools in the United States.
It was more the beginning of the end than the end itself. The process of integration took nearly twenty-five years and varied considerably by state. Some schools integrated peacefully, with little fanfare, whereas others dealt with lawsuits and threats, just as schools for sighted children. Some schools did not integrate until after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, in 1964. Other schools delayed integration into the 1970s. Among the first schools, sighted or blind, to be integrated in the United States were the Kentucky School for the Blind and the West Virginia School for the Blind, both in the summer of 1955. One of the last schools in the South to be integrated, sighted or blind, was the Louisiana School for the Blind, in 1978.It’s far too early in Spring Training to get excited about one start, but there is nothing wrong with being optimistic.
On Sunday, Dillon Gee pitched three strong innings for the Mets in a 6-4 loss to Miami.
Gee looked a little amped up to begin the game, throwing several pitches high in the strike zone, but things calmed down for the righty and he worked through the three innings allowing three hits and a walk while striking out one.
Gee worked with potential starting catcher John Buck and the twosome looked comfortable after things calmed down.
It was the 26 year old’s first start since July 7. After pitching a wonderful game against the Cubs, he felt numbness in his right hand. It was discovered that he had a blood clot in his shoulder that required emergency surgery.
Mets360 projected in early February that Gee would see improvements in several categories this season which included innings pitched, earned run average, strikeouts and quality starts, despite coming back from surgery and Sunday’s performance was a good start.
Of course, with Gee’s innings pitched total rising, his strikeouts and quality starts should also rise, but the fact that the projection shows more innings and a better ERA means Mets360 sees improvement and that is a good sign for Gee in 2013.
The right-hander from Cleburne, Texas is projected to make the team’s starting rotation and pitch near the backend, but his versatile pitch selection and added seasoning could see him with a more valuable role if Johan Santana spends more time on the DL then anticipated or if Jonathon Niese or Matt Harvey struggle.
Could this be Gee’s best season? Why couldn’t it be?
He has more experience pitching against MLB hitters. He will be given the opportunity to succeed in the Mets’ rotation and he’ll be pitching to Buck, who has a reputation as a strong game caller. Plus, his injury is completely healed and not even in the pitcher’s mind.
“I try to just put that behind me,” Gee said of the blood clot in an MLB.com article by Anthony DiComo.
“I can’t go out there and pitch timid. I felt great all off-season, so in my mind there’s nothing to be worried about right now — just getting better, that’s it.”
It sounds like Gee is ready to jump right back into things and show the team why he is a valuable asset in the rotation. He sounds confident in the fact that he is fully healed and that should result in Mets fans getting a full-season taste of Gee in 2013.
Wherever Gee falls in the rotation, he should be a reliable pitcher for manager Terry Collins and could become more valuable then some may expect.
His start last weekend showed that his injury is something of the past, his numbers are projected to improve in several categories and he’s moving towards his prime as a pitcher as far as age is concerned.
This will be Gee’s best season in MLB and the Mets are going to be thankful to have him when the results show up in the box score and on the ball field.
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GoogleWest Coast has snuck into the eight after beating Adelaide by 29 points
THE MAKE-UP of the top eight has gone down to the final match of the season, with West Coast snatching eighth spot on the ladder at the expense of Melbourne.
With Essendon defeating Fremantle, Melbourne's finals hopes hinged on the West Coast-Adelaide match after losing to the Pies by 16 points. The Eagles trailed the Dees by 0.9 per cent and needed to defeat the Crows by about 20-25 points to make up the difference.
The Eagles bridged the percentage gap by defeating Adelaide by 29 points, securing an away elimination final against fifth-placed Port Adelaide.
• Who plays who in week one of the finals?
Finals-bound Essendon ended St Kilda's slim finals hopes, as the Saints would have needed to beat Richmond by an almost impossible margin to make up the seven per cent deficit to Melbourne – and then rely on the Eagles losing to the Crows.
Port Adelaide's massive win over Gold Coast trumped Sydney's over Carlton earlier in the day to give the Power a temporary hold on fourth spot. However, the third-placed Tigers relegated the Power to fifth place and a home elimination final.
The Swans will finish sixth and also host an elimination final.
The Bulldogs' faint finals chances were dashed with a loss to Hawthorn on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the Brisbane Lions will finish the season with the wooden spoon after they lost to North Melbourne, with the Roos moving up to 15th place with the win.
Gold Coast's heavy loss saw them drop to 17th, while Carlton finished 16th.
• Forecast the road to the flag with the AFL Ladder and Finals Predictor
Friday, August 25
Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, 7.50pm AEST
HAWTHORN 15.9 (99)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 13.12 (90)
The Hawks can't move from 12th and the Bulldogs moved up to 10th spot after St Kilda sustained a large percentage drop in its loss to Richmond on Sunday.
Saturday, August 26
Collingwood v Melbourne at the MCG, 1.45pm AEST
COLLINGWOOD 14.15 (99)
MELBOURNE 12.11 (83)
Melbourne's finals spot hinged on other results. With Essendon securing a finals spot, the Demons fell out of the eight after West Coast defeated Adelaide by 29 points and bridged the percentage gap needed to overtake Simon Goodwin's men. Meanwhile, Collingwood will stay in 13th spot.
• Missed the eight? Here's your team's first order of business
Brisbane Lions v North Melbourne at the Gabba, 2.10pm AEST
BRISBANE LIONS 11.13 (79)
NORTH MELBOURNE 19.16 (130)
The Lions wrapped up the wooden spoon while North Melbourne jumps up to 15th spot after Carlton and Gold Coast both lost.
Sydney v Carlton at the SCG, 4.35pm AEST
SYDNEY 21.12 (138)
CARLTON 8.9 (57)
A convincing win briefly put the Swans in fourth place, but the Power trumped Sydney with a thumping win over Gold Coast. Sydney ended in sixth spot following Richmond's win and will host an elimination final. The Suns' heavy loss means Carlton finishes the season in 16th spot.
Geelong v Greater Western Sydney at Simonds Stadium, 7.25pm AEST
GEELONG 15.13 (103)
GWS 8.11 (59)
A massively important win by the Cats sees them finish the season in second spot and seal a qualifying final against Richmond. The Giants' loss means they drop to fourth and play an away qualifying final against Adelaide.
Port Adelaide v Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm ACST
PORT ADELAIDE 20.15 (135)
GOLD COAST 3.2 (20)
The Power's monstrous win was enough to take temporary hold of fourth spot, but they were ultimately pushed down to fifth by the third-placed Tigers. Port finishes fifth and hosts an elimination final, while the Suns' disastrous loss sees them drop down to 17th spot.
Sunday, August 27
Essendon v Fremantle at Etihad Stadium, 1.10pm AEST
ESSENDON 16.11 (107)
FREMANTLE 14.8 (92)
Essendon just needed a win to be guaranteed a finals berth and will now taste September action for the first time since 2014. The 15-point victory over Fremantle saw the Bombers move into seventh position, while the Dockers stayed in 14th spot regardless of the result.
Richmond v St Kilda at the MCG, 3.20pm AEST
RICHMOND 19.8 (122)
ST KILDA 12.9 (81)
The Tigers earned the double chance and set up a blockbuster qualifying final against Geelong, thanks to their 41-point win over the Saints. St Kilda's faint finals hopes all but ended when Essendon won earlier in the day. The Saints finished in 11th position, falling below the Western Bulldogs by virtue of their heavy loss to Richmond.
West Coast v Adelaide at Domain Stadium, 2.20pm AWST
WEST COAST 15.10 (100)
ADELAIDE 10.11 (71)
The equation was simple for the Eagles: win by around 20-25 points to leapfrog Melbourne and seal eighth position. The Eagles won by 29 points to snatch the last spot in the eight. The Crows had already sewn up the minor premiership after Greater Western Sydney's loss to Geelong and now play the Giants in a home qualifying final.Day 1: Lago Pehoé to the Grey Glacier
The first leg of the trail is reached by crossing Lago Pehoé, a lake of such vibrant turquoise that people crowd the stern of the catamaran I stand on, paralysed by the awe its surreal hue weaves. Tiny particles of silt, formed from glacial erosion that become suspended in water runoff, cause the lake to appear cloudy and lends it a turquoise colour, which has come to be known as “glacial milk.” Once my meditative downward stare is broken, I finally look up: towering above Lago Pehoé is the Macizo del Paine, the central massif of the park. The massif was originally formed when volcanic magma cooled, turning into granite. As the millennia passed, layers of sediment compressed over the rock and, as immense geological pressure forced the formations upwards, glaciers retreated, carving away the softer sediments and forming the mammoth towers we see today. Although seemingly every geological phenomenon in the park can be explained by science, there is still the unshakable sense that what you are seeing could only possibly be borne out of magic.
After landing on the opposite shore, full of energy and optimism, we set out for the Grey Glacier. The first hour or so of this trail is fairly flat, but as the walk progresses, it fluctuates in elevation along a rocky ridge that contours Lago Grey. This leg should only take about 4 hours, and about halfway in – if it is not too windy – you can walk out onto a ledge at the Mirador Grey, where you’ll see the glacier looming at the north shore of the lake. The Grey Glacier is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which runs along the southern Andes, between Argentina and Chile. It’s the third largest ice sheet in the world, after Antarctica and Greenland, and during the last glacial period it covered all of southern Chile. While I am perched out on the mirador, marvelling at this thought, a belligerent thrust of wind knocks me down. The unrelenting winds in Patagonia are notoriously dangerous, known to top even 180 km/h. Sadly, according to a local guide, there were five deaths along the W circuit in 2012. If a strong wind picks up at the wrong moment, it can kick you off the mountain.
Early that evening, we reach Refugio Grey and set up our tent on the adjacent campgrounds. Without the burden of our packs, we trail-run twenty minutes north to inspect the glacier up close. This final sprint of endurance is contrasted by the immense stillness and grandeur of the Grey Glacier before us.
Day 2: The Grey Glacier to Lago Pehoé
Having marvelled at our good fortune for a temperate, calm first day, I awake the next morning to a rainstorm. The best advice for anyone trekking the W is to resign yourself to the fact that you will get wet. Even the best waterproof gear won’t save you. Be smart, but don’t stress. Take extra plastic bags to wrap any clothes or electronics inside your pack. We quickly disassemble our tent and wait underneath an enclosure until the rain dies down.
After twenty minutes we forge ahead and, about an hour into our trek, the sun breaks through and alleviates the damp chill, giving us a fresh boost of energy. Hiking back the way we came, towards Lago Pehoé, I notice things I never saw the first time, including waterfalls pouring over cliffs in the distance. From one of the many tributary streams, we stop to refill our canteens. Unlike bottled water, the water in Patagonia is not “purified,” rather, it is pure. That taste of purity is not the absence of flavour, but – and I mean this in earnest – a taste of genuine freshness.
As the sun bears down on us, we stop to strip layers of clothing, and I notice large swathes of dead trees, standing like charred skeletons, littered amongst the otherwise pristine landscape. If a spark is picked up by the horrendous Patagonian wind, thousands of trees burn within minutes. Thanks to huge fires in 1985, 2005, and 2011 – inadvertently caused by tourists – the park office has banned campfires. Cooking is allowed only by way of small camping stoves, which must be shielded from wind by an enclosure.
Just as we make it back to the shores of Lago Pehoé, a dense fog swoops in, obscuring the Macizo del Paine, and it begins to rain once more. We are supposed to continue on to the next campsite, Campamento Italiano, but as it is in the basin of a valley, it will flood. We change plans, hunker down, and instead set up our tent on the shores of Lago Pehoé. It happens to be New Year’s Eve, and so we are joined by a serendipitous grouping of strangers, who have also gathered inside an enclosure at the refugio to escape the wind and the rain.For Americans' Water, It's 'Last Call At The Oasis'
toggle caption Participant Media
Last Call At The Oasis
Director: Jessica Yu
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 100 minutes Rated PG-13 for profanity and "disturbing" content
Eco-aware filmgoers won't learn much from Last Call at the Oasis, which follows the paths of such well-known water activists as Erin Brockovich. But writer-director Jessica Yu's documentary may be slick enough to reach people who aren't already familiar with such substances as "new water," atrazine and hexavalent chromium.
Inspired by Alex Prud'homme's book The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the 21st Century, the movie sometimes widens its view to encompass the whole planet. But it emphasizes the United States, focusing on industrial and agricultural pollution and the drying of the Southwest.
In fact, even a trip to drought-ravaged Australia serves primarily to underscore the plights of Nevada (especially Las Vegas, where the emptying of Lake Mead threatens to shut off both the water and the lights) and California (especially the Central Valley, which uses a dwindling water supply to grow 25 percent of the food Americans eat). And Singapore's reliance on "recycled" or "new" water — that is, treated sewage — leads to a discussion of American reluctance to drink a similar product. (Although our astronauts do.)
Several of the chapters turn on a single individual. University of California, Berkeley, biologist Tyrone Hayes explains the effects of atrazine, an herbicide that may cause human birth defects and is banned in Europe, although it's made by a Swiss company. Michigan farmer and "water sentinel" Lynn Henning leads a tour of the cow-manure lagoons that are poisoning watersheds in the upper Midwest.
And Brockovich teaches rural communities about the carcinogenic properties of hexavalent chromium — the same toxin her counterpart battled in a fictionalized 2000 movie. One of Brockovich's stops is Midland, Texas, the spiritual hometown of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. It's among the localities affected by "the Halliburton loophole," an exemption from EPA regulation reportedly secured by Cheney, the company's former CEO.
Documenting the battles over potable water inevitably leads to such politically charged territory. Yet the movie often skirts controversy. It mentions global climate change only in passing and doesn't directly criticize the EPA — although several of its interviewees do.
Last Call at the Oasis was produced by Participant Media, whose previous projects include the simplistic An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman. Like those movies, this one has a weakness for cutesy touches, including clips from gee-whiz mid-20th-century industrial films: We see a Disney-like account of a water drop's cycle of existence, along with a paean to the Hoover Dam (which will stop generating electricity in four years if water levels continue to fall at current rates).
The documentary even veers into Morgan Spurlock territory when it enlists a marketing team to see if it can sell recycled water to squeamish American bottled-water consumers. The mad men dub the product "Porcelain Springs" and enlist Jack Black as its spokesman. The time wasted on this silly sequence could have been better used for a discussion of how to reduce the vast amount of drinkable water that wealthy societies squander in toilets and urinals.
The movie presents grim assessments from such experts as the Pacific Institute's Peter Gleick and professor and author Robert Glennon, yet it ends with a flurry of hopeful notes. The Jordan River is offered as an example of a declining water resource that is being rehabilitated despite major political differences (in this case, among Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians).
That's encouraging, but perhaps not representative. Last Call at the Oasis would probably be less upbeat if it had spent more time in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.Despite the Premier League being the “global league” in terms of visibility and a hold on the football market in numerous countries, there’s one game that supersedes all of the Premier League games. That of course is none other than ‘El Clasico’, the highly charged game between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
From severed pig heads to eye pokes (yes Mourinho, we still remember that one) this fixture has a knack of producing high and sometimes downright bizarre drama. In between all the political undercurrents of this fixture, there is some scarily good football that is on show when the 2 sides battle it out.
The Barcelona team lined up as expected in a 4-3-3 with Fabregas playing as a false 9 flanked on either side by Messi and Neymar. Adriano filled |
little choice but to agree.
In one audacious act, the PNA established the world’s first protected pockets of international water—four of them—that, together with the nations’ own waters, create a 1.7 million square mile tuna highway, roughly half the size of Europe. Big Move No. 4.
In a few short years, the PNA managed to upend traditional power relations between the distant-water fishing nations and host countries, establish the first country-run MSC-certified sustainable tuna fishery, and establish vast tuna highways for the migratory fish. Not bad.
At the end of our talk, I ask Remengesau why Palau and the PNA are moving so quickly.
“Well, to me, we’re talking about livelihood,” he says. “Our very existence, our very future as Palauans. We have to always be mindful of the fact that we’re very small, very fragile. We always ask ourselves, ‘Why are we doing this? Who are we doing this for?’ Will our children be able to see Palau as we have been blessed?”
Tons of frozen skipjack tuna in the hold of the Heng Xing 1
Courtesy of Shannon Service
The body that sets the laws in this part of the Pacific is the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. It held its December meeting at the giant International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines. The heavyweight conference draws more than 600 furrow-browed delegates from the European Union, the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, the World Bank, and dozens of other nations all gathered, United Nations-style, with nameplates and microphones. The commission regulates almost 20 percent of the world’s surface and more than half of the world’s total tuna.
Although this is a fisheries commission, no one even tips a hat to other fish. Wrangling here is 100 percent about tuna, which might be a head-scratcher—except that tuna in the Pacific is about more than tuna.
The Pacific is key to America’s positioning vis-à-vis China, and the two nations are locked in an escalating game of checkbook diplomacy. Last year, Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state ever to visit the Pacific Islands Forum, the major political body in the region. She jubilantly declared this century “America’s Pacific century—emphasis on the Pacific” and announced $32 million in investment and aid to the region.
“The ‘Pacific’ half of ‘Asia-Pacific’ doesn’t always get as much attention as it should,” Clinton said. “But the United States knows that this region is strategically and economically vital, and becoming more so.” The Obama administration, it seems, sees the Pacific as a counterbalance to Asia.
Meanwhile, China is also aggressively moving into the region and, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China likely became the region’s largest donor of aid and investment last year, beating out even Australia. (However, the grants are not available to nations such as Palau that recognize Taiwan.)
While American and Chinese largess is, of course, about things far bigger than fish, tuna does play a surprisingly central role. Tuna is America’s biggest economic interest in the Pacific, and joint tuna treaties are the cornerstone of U.S.-Pacific relations. As the CSIS points out, “Anyone concerned with the United States’ ability to follow through in its ‘rebalance’ towards Asia should pay attention to the [tuna] negotiations.”
Palau’s Earl Benhart and Greenpeace’s Maria Cristina Nitafan interview the captain of the Sal 19. The Sal 19 painted over both its name and call signs and did not have a log book on board. However, Palau could not detain the vessel since it was on “innocent passage” through their waters. Filipino authorities are investigating the incident. Courtesy of Shannon Service
Those negotiations are under way right now. The last U.S. tuna treaty was negotiated 25 years ago, before the PNA-dominated era. So far, the PNA has successfully used its strength to triple America’s annual tuna fees from $21 million to $63 million, but the U.S. is balking at the vessel day scheme to limit boats and hours. The PNA isn’t backing down.
“This is probably the first time that the distant-water countries [like the United States] have run into a group of island countries who believe they owned their [fishing] rights,” says Glenn Hurry, executive director of the WCPFC. In the Atlantic, he says, tuna rights generally go to powerful fishing countries that claim “historic rights” to fishing grounds far from their own shores. “This one’s different because these guys said, ‘Hey, if you want to fish here, you have to fish under our rules.’ “
The fisheries commission gave the PNA a major victory, closing two of the four high-seas pockets to purse-seine vessels and making the PNA’s regulatory sleight of hand the law of the sea. The move continues to be highly controversial, and the rules shift from year to year, but the high-seas pockets remain, largely, off limits for purse seiners.
“Other developing countries are genuinely surprised,” Hurry says. “Now countries off the African coast are thinking, ‘Why can’t we have one of those?’ ”
Palau and its neighbors have a strong set of rules, but that’s only half the battle. There is still the issue of illegal and unregulated boats simply stealing fish; there is still the issue of who controls the high seas. The PNA has closed off nearby international waters to its licensees, but that doesn’t stop others from illegally fishing there, and the PNA has no authority to stop them. Worse, even if the PNA had the authority, they don’t have the resources. Palau, for example, polices a 250,000 square miles of its own territorial waters as well as the high-seas pockets it helped create. All with a patrol “fleet” of one.
One, single, solitary boat.
Which is why Palau had asked Greenpeace’s Esperanza to help out: When the Esperanza arrived, it doubled Palau’s enforcement capacity.
Once I extricate my shoe from the belly of the Heng Xing 1, Obaidullah explains that the boat’s captain freely admitted moving the tuna—apparently unaware that it’s illegal to do so. Plus, the Heng Xing 1 is flagged by Cambodia, a nation that isn’t a member of the WCPFC, so it has no right to be here at all. But when the Greenpeace team finishes taking pictures and thanks the very welcoming crew, they simply return to the Esperanza.
Obaidullah explains that even though the Heng Xing 1 and its two companion vessels all broke the law, Palau, and therefore Greenpeace, didn’t have the authority to stop them. Palau can only bust boats it catches breaking laws inside its own waters. Since the laundering happened on the high seas, Palau had as much jurisdiction as a Los Angeles cop in Paris.
Greenpeace activists approach the Heng Xing 1, a refrigerated, or “reefer,” vessel used to transport tuna from fishing boat to port. Greenpeace sometimes works with the nation of Palau to help monitor and report unregulated fishing on the high seas. Courtesy of Shannon Service
“Ships like this can get away with catching as much as they like,” Obaidullah tells me. While it’s impossible to know exactly where the Heng Xing 1 tuna was caught, pirate fishers often illegally catch fish inside the fertile territorial waters of island states and then escape into the high-seas no-man’s-land to transfer it to refrigerated ships. If you’re a pirate fishing captain trying to get your stolen catch to port undetected, this is how you do it. “They can move it onto other vessels, supply the market with tuna, but meanwhile nobody knows where it was caught, when it was caught, or if they obeyed the rules. It’s impossible to manage fish stocks with vessels like this,” she says. The activist cops could only document the incident and then try to get the Heng Xing 1 blacklisted so it would have trouble off-loading its catch in the future.
The incident, far from unusual, highlights just how far laws and enforcement on the seas have to go before the PNA’s tuna-protecting crusade can fully succeed.
Fortunately, the world is beginning to take steps, slowly, in the right direction. Interpol announced recently that it plans to tackle fish laundering, which would mean that a fleet with actual authority to enforce high-seas law would, for the first time, patrol international waters. How many boats, where they would patrol, and what it means are all being worked out.
Meanwhile, a new international effort, called the Global Ocean Commission, was announced in February to rein in pirate fishing and combat lawlessness on the high seas. “The current enforcement on the high seas is inadequate at best and worthless at worst,” former U.K. foreign secretary David Miliband, who will co-chair the commission, told the Guardian. The cost to the world in lost marine resources is valued in the trillions, a staggering impact greater than the global financial crisis. “We’re living as if we have three or four planets instead of one,”Miliband said.
These moves, among others, could signal real change. But they’re fledgling, and details are unclear.
In the meantime, a case can still be made for giving the PNA a lot more boats.
This article was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent, nonprofit news organization producing investigative reporting on food, agriculture, and environmental health.The Solus operating system is still under development, but the first stable version should be out in a couple of months. The developers are working to implement the latest Linux kernel 4.0.5, which is the most advanced version available right now.
There is always a risk when you're upgrading your system to the advanced Linux kernel available, but it's a tradeoff between stability and new features. Most of the time, the risk turns out to be quite low. In fact, it would have been hard to find a Linux distro a few years back with the latest Linux kernel, but that's not the case anymore.
"Linux 4.0.5 kernel coming today, hasn't moved into v1 yet as we're doing another build to address the CVEs you see in this screenshot (Not in 4.0.3 so don't panic). Positive side - we've implemented the update mechanism for EFI machines," wrote Ikey Doherty, the leader of the Solus project.
Solus is not the first operating system with Linux kernel 4.0.5, but it will be among the first stable ones with this particular version. It will be interesting to follow Solus in their quest for the bleeding edge, but it looks like they have things well in hand.
You can download the latest Solus Beta from Softpedia and give it a spin. You will need to update it in order to get all the latest packages.Laptops preloaded with Linux aren't as rare as they used to be. In fact, big name hardware companies like Dell have whole lines of laptops that ship with Ubuntu installed, and if you want to stretch things a bit you could argue that a Chromebook is a kind of Linux machine (though it takes a bit of tinkering to get actual Linux installed). Still, there's no question the Linux user of today has a wealth of options compared with the dark ages of just a few years ago when "I use Linux" was code for "I spend all my time looking for hardware drivers."
Today, what remains unusual even in the midst of this growing interest in PCs shipping with Linux is a company that sells nothing else. There are a handful of organization that do just this, however, and they have done so for some time. These entities range from longtime Linux supporters like System76 to newer efforts from the likes of Purism, which began life with an impressive crowdfunding campaign that raised more than a $1 million to create a line of sleek, Apple-inspired but completely free-software laptops.
If Purism is any indicator, the Linux-based hardware businesses might have an actual future in a world increasingly dissatisfied with the proprietary OSes being offered. After all, if you're a developer looking to get a laptop with more than 16GB of RAM, Apple's no longer an option. That company recently updated its Macbook Pro line but still caps RAM at 16GB. So, you can either get a PC and live with Windows 10 or you can try installing Linux and hope it works.
Alternately, you can now invest in some hardware that has been well tested and known to work with, if not every Linux distro, at least Ubuntu (and by extension, Mint and every other Ubuntu derivative). System76 is perhaps the best known of these Linux-loving hardware vendors and for good reason. They offer incredibly powerful Linux machines with more customization options than most manufacturers offer for any system, no matter what OS it ships with.
System76 has a decent range of laptops, from the small, lightweight, battery-sipping Lemur to the top-end beast-like Oryx Pro. And after recently reviewing the svelte, but not necessarily top-end-specced Dell XPS 13, I got curious about this Oryx Pro. On paper, it sounds like a desktop machine somehow packed into a laptop form factor. If money were not an object and you wanted the most of everything you could pack into an Oryx system, you'd end up with a 6th Generation Intel i7-6820HK CPU, a GTX 1070 GPU, 64GB of RAM, a ridiculous 9TB worth of hard drive, and either an 15.6 or 17.3 IPS. That's seemingly a desktop machine packed into a dark brushed aluminum alloy shell that still manages to fit in your backpack. It would set you back almost $7,000, but hey, with massive power comes a massive price tag.
If you wanted a portable video editing workstation or a gaming machine you can take with you wherever you go, you'd be hard pressed to find more impressive specs from any manufacturer, let alone one that ships with Linux-compatible hardware like System76. So I mentioned to System76 that I wanted to test the Oryx Pro and compare it to the Dell XPS as a "developer" laptop. Frankly, the company was a little hesitant, pointing out that the two aren't really—aside from both shipping with Ubuntu installed—at all alike. And soon after the Oryx Pro arrived, I really understood just how different these machines are.
Scott Gilbertson
Scott Gilbertson
Scott Gilbertson
The hardware
The Oryx Pro that System76 sent for me to test was not the fully maxed out model, but it did have a GTX 1060 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. It also had the 1080p matte IPS display. As configured, it would set you back $1,864.
Even without the max hard drive space and nowhere near the max RAM, the Oryx Pro was incredibly powerful. However, that's not the first thing that jumps out at you when the Oryx Pro arrives. Once you get past the very clever, minimalist packaging, the most striking thing about the Oryx Pro is... holy crap this thing is massive.
Like most computer users these days, I've been programmed to think a laptop should be slightly thicker than my phone, weigh about the same as my paper notebook, and be no larger than an 8"x11" sheet of paper. There is, of course, no reason to expect this beyond the fact that this is the expectation marketing campaigns have created. If you chuck those expectations out the window, you end up with a much larger laptop. But it's also a much more capable laptop.
Specs at a glance: System76's Oryx Pro As reviewed SCREEN 1920×1080 matte, optionally IPS display OS Ubuntu Linux 16.04 CPU/th> Intel Core i7-6700HQ RAM 32GB GPU GTX 1060 HDD 256GB SSD NETWORKING Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Wireless-AC Wi-Fi PORTS Ethernet port, SD card slot, 2 Mini DisplayPorts, HDMI port, 2 USB 3.1 Type-C ports, 3 USB 3.0 Type-A ports, both headphone and mic jacks. SIZE 15.2″ × 10.7″ × 1.1″ WEIGHT 5.5lbs BATTERY Li-Polymer – 60 Wh PRICE $1,864
While the size of the Oryx Pro is initially shocking (especially if you pull out the Dell XPS 13 and put them next to each other), it's really not that big. Nor is it that heavy considering what you get. Weighing in at 5.5lbs for the 15.6" version, the Oryx Pro is heavy, but not back-breakingly so. It does do better in a backpack than a shoulder bag, but if that's the biggest compromise I have to make to get a portable video editing workstation, I'll take it.
So yes, the System76 folks were right—the Oryx Pro doesn't stack up all that well next to the Dell XPS 13 when it comes to size, weight, and svelteness. If those are your criteria, the Dell XPS is what you want. If you want power, though, the Oryx Pro blows the Dell out of the water. That's especially true when you start looking at RAM capacity, which tops out at 16GB for the XPS 13.
At just over an inch thick, the Oryx Pro makes it clear that if you want to pack in some serious hardware, you're going to have to forgo skinniness. This means the Oryx Pro has room for quite a few things becoming increasingly rare in laptops, like an Ethernet port and an SD card slot. There's also 2 Mini DisplayPorts, an HDMI port, 2 USB 3.1 Type-C ports, 3 USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and both headphone and mic jacks. The GTX 1070 models even include a headphone amplifier.
The Oryx Pro also offers a very nice keyboard, with some much thicker keys than you'll find on most laptops these days. It's no Model M, but it's about as close as I've seen a laptop get to the kind of old-school, clacky keyboards some of us still remember fondly (minus the clacking part, which your fellow coffee shop denizens will appreciate). The keys have a nice springiness to them, and the backlight supports multicolor back lighting.
The Oryx Pro is not, despite its size and heft, ungainly. It actually looks quite svelte, and the brushed aluminum top gives it a nicely understated design. The bottom of the Oryx Pro is plastic, but the build quality of the laptop is good enough that I didn't notice much flex even lifting it one-handed. Another bonus to having a slightly thicker body is that you can have real speakers rather than some muffled, tinny speakers stuck underneath. Accordingly, the Oryx Pro's speakers are impressively good. They're even angled toward you and manage to deliver a surprising amount of bass for their size.
Again, the Oryx itself is not quite like the bricks Lenovo used to churn out, but there is one downright ungainly thing about the Oryx Pro: its power brick. The power brick is ridiculously huge, about double the size of any power brick I've ever seen. It's also worth noting that it adds nearly 2lbs to the total weight of the Oryx Pro. With all the computing power, you're going to want that power brick with you if you plan to work for more than a couple of hours. With great power comes great power consumption.
Exactly how much battery life you get out of the Oryx Pro will obviously vary according to what you're doing with it. I happened to have a video editing job that coincided with testing the Oryx Pro, so I loaded up both KDenlive and Lightworks regularly. When crunching video, as you'd expect, battery life suffers. I still managed to get about 1.5 hours out of the battery even when running a video editor, though that dropped more when actually exporting the edit to the final MP4 file.
The other things you may notice if you push the Oryx Pro at all is that it has a good old fashioned fan, and it uses it. It's not particularly loud as far as fans go—my EeePC's fan is far louder—but it is noticeable. If you frequently work in very quiet spaces like a school library, you'll notice the fan. Anyone working around you will, too.
I will admit upfront that I am not a gamer, but I did test Grand Theft Auto V and a couple of other more graphics-intensive games out of curiosity. I quickly discovered just how impressive top-end Nvidia hardware is. Suffice to say, if you're looking for a portable gaming machine, the Oryx Pro delivers.
I gave the Nvidia card a workout editing 4K video as well, and it was similarly impressive, especially with 32GB of RAM at its disposal.
The graphics card in the Oryx Pro is powering a 1920×1080 matte, optionally IPS display that has nice rich colors, renders pretty close to true black, and isn't so HiDPI that it has problems on Linux desktops. Did I mention it's matte? A good matte display, especially a good matte IPS display, is frankly the number one selling point of the Oryx Pro for me. I could comfortably stare at this screen all day with very little eye strain.
That said, if I have a complaint about the Oryx Pro, it's the lack of a 4K option. A screen this good at 1080p is just begging to be that much better in 4K. I am apparently not the only one who thinks that. Just before this review was finished, System76 let me know that a 4K screen option would soon be available.Pin +1 0 Shares
Editors’s note: A few weeks ago we ran an article on “manscaping”, and one of our fans on Facebook asked if we’d could do a similar article on female body hair removal. You asked, and Dr. Justin Lehmiller answers!
Female pubic hair removal is not a new invention. In fact, we have reason to believe that this practice originated with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks!1 However, the degree to which women have shaped their pubic hair has ebbed and flowed considerably across time and culture, and works of art and historical artifacts display variations in attitudes toward it. Today, female pubic hair removal is common, but not all women do it and there is considerable variation in the amount of hair removed, the methods used to get rid of it, and the reasons behind it.
A recent online survey of 2,451 women revealed that pubic hair removal practices are heavily dependent upon age.2 Specifically, whereas the majority of women under age 50 appear to be in the habit of removing at least some pubic hair, most women over age 50 choose to go au naturel. The most common hair removal method for women of all ages is shaving, with far fewer (i.e., less than 10%) opting for wax, electrolysis, and laser treatments. Although television shows and movies make it sound as though almost all women are getting the full Brazilian or “Hollywood wax” these days, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Such treatments are expensive, painful, and require being comfortable with a stranger putting hot wax on or pointing a laser at one’s genitals—not everyone’s cup of (scalding hot) tea. As a result, the trusty old razor remains the hair removal method of choice. Also, of those women who engage in pubic hair removal, only a small minority remains hair-free at all times. Instead, most women only perform total removal on an occasional basis or they attempt partial removal instead.
Why do so many women remove their pubic hair? Research suggests that one contributing factor is conformity to social norms.3 In Western cultures, hairiness is generally viewed as undesirable for the female genitals and body. As evidence of this, one need not look further than Playboy magazine and other forms of pornography, where typically the only hair remaining on the female body is on top of their heads.4 Many people see the removal of pubic hair as a way to “improve” the female body, which means that women who do not conform to this norm may be subject to social costs.
Of course, women may choose to bare it for other, more personal reasons. For instance, some women do it because it makes them feel more feminine and attractive, or because it brings them more sexual pleasure.5 In light of this, it is perhaps not surprising that women who choose to be hairless have the most sex.2 However, we don’t know whether women who shave are more sexually active to begin with or if shaving helps a woman to obtain more partners.
How do men feel about women having hair-free genitals? It’s difficult to find research on this topic, but if you look at online forums and message boards asking men for their opinions, you will see a lot of variability. Some men prefer no hair anywhere, others prefer a well-manicured bush or maybe even a “landing strip,” while some prefer a partner who keeps things completely natural. That said, it does seem to be the case that most of these men express a preference for women who at least do some trimming, and part of the reason for this is likely because the number of people having oral sex continues to increase. Some men and women find pubic hair to be an obstacle to performing any type of oral sex. There are also a number of people who see pubic hair and the scents that it traps as being “dirty” and, consequently, prefer smooth skin and the scent of artificial soaps or lotions.
As you can see, female pubic hair removal is indeed common, but it is an incredibly diverse practice. Women who go bare “down there” do so for a variety of reasons, apply different methods, and do it to varying degrees.
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1Kilmer, M. (1982). Genital phobia and depilation. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 102, 104–112.
2Herbenick, D., Schick, V., Reece, M., Sanders, S., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2010). Pubic hair removal among women in the United States: Prevalence, methods, and characteristics. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7, 3322-3330.
3Toerin, M., & Wilkinson, S. (2004). Exploring the depilation norm: A qualitative questionnaire study of women’s body hair removal. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1, 69–92.
4Schick, V. (2010). Evulvalution: The portrayal of women’s external genitalia and physique across time and the current Barbie doll ideals. Journal of Sex Research, 47, 1–9.
5Tiggemann, M., & Hodgson, S. (2008). The hairlessness norm extended: Reasons for and predictors of women’s body hair removal at different body sites. Sex Roles, 59, 889–897.
Dr. Justin Lehmiller – Science of Relationships articles | Website/CV
Dr. Lehmiller’s research program focuses on how secrecy and stigmatization impact relationship quality and physical and psychological health. He also conducts research on commitment, sexuality, and safer-sex practices.War Crimes and Double Standards New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof – like many of his American colleagues – is applauding the International Criminal Court’s arrest order against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for his role in the Darfur conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Bookmark
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Printer friendly In his Thursday column, Kristof describes the plight of an eight-year-old boy named Bakit who blew off his hands picking up a grenade that Kristof suspects was left behind by Bashir’s forces operating on the Chad side of the border with Sudan. “Bakit became, inadvertently, one more casualty of the havoc and brutality that President Bashir has unleashed in Sudan and surrounding countries,” Kristof wrote. “So let’s applaud the I.C.C.’s arrest warrant, on behalf of children like Bakit who can’t.” By all accounts, Kristof is a well-meaning journalist who travels to dangerous parts of the world, like Darfur, to report on human rights crimes. However, he also could be a case study of what’s wrong with American journalism. While Kristof writes movingly about atrocities that can be blamed on Third World despots like Bashir, he won’t hold U.S. officials to the same standards. Most notably, Kristof doesn’t call for prosecuting former President George W. Bush for war crimes, despite hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died as a result of Bush’s illegal invasion of their country. Many Iraqi children also don’t have hands – or legs or homes or parents. But no one in a position of power in American journalism is demanding that former President Bush join President Bashir in the dock at The Hague. Tortured Commission As for the unpleasant reality that Bush and his top aides authorized torture of “war on terror” detainees, Kristof suggests only a Republican-dominated commission, including people with close ties to the Bush Family and to Bush’s first national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. “It could be co-chaired by Brent Scowcroft and John McCain, with its conclusions written by Philip Zelikow, a former aide to Condoleezza Rice who wrote the best-selling report of the 9/11 commission,” Kristof wrote in a Jan. 29 column entitled “Putting Torture Behind Us.” “If the three most prominent members were all Republicans, no one on the Right could denounce it as a witch hunt — and its criticisms would have far more credibility,” Kristof wrote. “Democrats might begrudge the heavy Republican presence on such a commission, but surely any panel is better than where we’re headed: which is no investigation at all. … “My bet, based on my conversations with military and intelligence experts, is that such a commission would issue a stinging repudiation of torture that no one could lightly dismiss.” In an earlier formulation of this plan, Kristof suggested that the truth commission be run, in part, by Bush’s first Secretary of State Colin Powell. One of the obvious problems with Kristof’s timid proposal is that Rice and Powell were among the senior Bush officials who allegedly sat in on meetings of the Principals Committee that choreographed the abuse and torture of specific detainees. Zelikow remained a close associate of Rice even after she replaced Powell as Secretary of State. And Scowcroft was President George H.W. Bush’s national security adviser and one of Rice’s key mentors. It’s also not true that any investigation is always better than no investigation. I have witnessed cover-up investigations that not only failed to get anywhere near the truth but tried to discredit and destroy whistleblowers who came forward with important evidence. [For examples, see Secrecy & Privilege.] In other words, bogus and self-interested investigations can advance bogus and self-interested history, which only emboldens corrupt officials to commit similar crimes again. No Other Context Kristof’s vision of having President Bush’s friends, allies and even co-conspirators handle the investigation of Bush’s crimes would be considered laughable if placed in any other context. But Kristof’s cockeyed scheme passes almost as conventional wisdom in today’s Washington. On Wednesday, the Washington Post assigned its satirical writer, Dana Milbank, to cover – and mock – Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Judiciary Committee hearing on his own plan for a truth commission to examine Bush-era abuses. Milbank’s clever article opened with the knee-slapping observation: “Let’s be truthful about it. Things aren’t looking so good for the Truth Commission.” The derisive tone of the article also came as no surprise. Milbank has made a cottage industry out of ridiculing anyone who dares think that President Bush should be held accountable for his crimes. In 2005, when the Democrats were in the minority and the Republicans gave Rep. John Conyers only a Capitol Hill basement room for a hearing on the Downing Street Memo’s disclosures about “fixed” intelligence to justify the Iraq War, Milbank’s column dripped with sarcasm. “In the Capitol basement yesterday, long-suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe,” Milbank wrote. “They pretended a small conference room was the Judiciary Committee hearing room, draping white linens over folding tables to make them look like witness tables and bringing in cardboard name tags and extra flags to make the whole thing look official.” And the insults – especially aimed at Conyers – kept on coming. The Michigan Democrat “banged a large wooden gavel and got the other lawmakers to call him ‘Mr. Chairman,’” Milbank wrote snidely. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com’s “Mocking the Downing Street Memo.”] Then, last July, Milbank ridiculed a regular House Judiciary Committee hearing on Bush’s abuses of presidential power. The column ignored the strong case for believing that Bush had violated a number of international and domestic laws, the U.S. Constitution, and honorable American traditions, like George Washington’s prohibition against torture. Instead, it was time to laugh at the peaceniks. Milbank opened by agreeing with a put-down from Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, calling the session “an anger management class.” Milbank wrote: “House Democrats had called the session … to allow the left wing to vent its collective spleen.” Milbank then insulted Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who had introduced impeachment resolutions against Bush, by calling the Ohio Democrat “diminutive” and noting that Kucinich’s wife is “much taller” than he is. What Kucinich’s height had to do with an issue as serious as abuses of presidential power was never made clear. What Milbank did make clear, through his derisive tone and repeated insults, was that the Washington Establishment takes none of Bush’s crimes seriously. So, Milbank’s mocking of Leahy’s latest initiative fits with this pattern of the past eight years – protecting Bush from the “nut cases” who think international law and war-crimes tribunals should apply to leaders of big countries as well as small ones. The pattern of “American exceptionalism” also can be seen in Kristof cheering the application of international law against an African tyrant but suggesting that Bush’s offenses should be handled discreetly by his friends. Journalist Murray Waas often used the saying, “all power is proximate.” I never quite understood what he meant, but my best guess was that Waas was saying that careerists – whether journalists or from other professions – might have the guts to take on someone far away or who lacked power, while ignoring or excusing similar actions by someone close by with the power to hurt them. That seems to be especially true about Washington and its current cast of “respected” journalists. They can be very tough on President Bashir but only make excuses for President Bush. Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, was written with two of his sons, Sam and Nat, and can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com. His two previous books, Secrecy & Privilege: The Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq and Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' are also available there. Or go to Amazon.com. To comment at Consortiumblog, click here. (To make a blog comment about this or other stories, you can use your normal e-mail address and password. Ignore the prompt for a Google account.) To comment to us by e-mail, click here. To donate so we can continue reporting and publishing stories like the one you just read, click here. Back to Home PagePlease enable Javascript to watch this video
SOUTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (KTVI) – There is outrage among parents and Mehlville school officials after the company charged with bussing voluntary desegregation students to the South St. Louis County district has failed to get the kids to and from school on time.
The Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation, or V.I.C.C., contracts with Durham School Services to bus the kids from north St. Louis to Bierbaum Elementary in the Mehlville District.
Regina Boyd has nine-year-old twins and a ten-year-old that ride the bus, and she tells us they’ve not made it home from school before 5pm this school year. Dismissal is at 3:25. It got worse Tuesday morning, when the bus was thirty-five minutes late picking the kids up from the sometimes dangerous corner of Beacon Avenue and Theodore.
“I actually had to run and track the bus down and flag here, and she said she didn’t know where she was going,” Boyd told us.
But the long journey was just beginning. It would take more than two hours from that moment for the kids to reach school. It was 10:08 when the bus pulled in.
“I’m really frustrated,” Boyd told us, “for one, I’m really lucky I have a good place of employment where I can call them and say, ‘The bus isn’t here yet, I’m going to be late.’ Because if not, that could put my job in jeopardy, because I’m not leaving my children at the bus stop.”
Mehlville officials, who have no control over the transportation, were almost as upset.
“We’ve got students that are already maybe thirty forty minute bus rides plus, then on top of that, that’s just unacceptable to us,” Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Brian Lane said. “It’s frustrating because we want the kids here, having breakfast, we want them, obviously, in our classes and learning.”
All the complaints have landed at V.I.C.C., where the director, David Glaser, is trying to get the problem solved.
“I think the first thing you say is, ‘I’m sorry,’ because that’s not the way we want things to go, and the second thing we say is keep us informed about how things are going,” Glaser said. “And that’s what we asked this parent to do.”
He says they’re also looking for a good fix.
“To make sure the route is accurately described so no matter who drives the route they can complete it in a timely fashion, and secondly, until we know that’s the case, we want an experienced driver on the route.”
Mehlville officials tell us they’ve generally had a good relationship with V.I.C.C. and few problems like |
. Mr. Cooper: You do not think the Harrison narcotic Act has produced any favorable results in the country then? Dr. Woodward: No; I said before that it has produced favorable results. Mr. Cooper: And you do not think the system of registration provided for there has proven successful? Dr. Woodward: No. I believe it has proved successful insofar as such a system can prove successful. It registers the honest man, the men who will comply with the law, and the offenders who will not comply with the law not only do not register, but they are not required to register. Mr. Cooper: Is not registration of doctors or physicians necessary for effective control of this problem that we have? Dr. Woodward: They are already registered. Mr. Cooper: I am not talking about that. It is necessary for an effective control of this problem that we have here? Dr. Woodward: Registration is, but not new registration. We are already registered. Mr. Cooper: I understand all of that. But do you think registration is necessary to meet the problem that we have here? Dr. Woodward: Some kind of registration; yes. Mr. Cooper: All right. Dr. Woodward: But we have it already. Mr. Cooper: You recognize the fact, of course, that in your two professions, medicine and the law--- and it is my privilege to be a member of one of those professions--- the vast majority of ethical practitioners, noble men engaged in those laudable pursuits, vastly outnumber the few who are unethical and are no credit to the profession, do you not? Dr. Woodward: That is true. Mr. Cooper: But you do have a few in both of these great professions that reflect no great credit on the professions, is that correct? Dr. Woodward: Undoubtedly. Mr. Cooper: Do you not recognize the fact that when we are dealing with a problem as far reaching in its scope as this, that we have to have some regulation that will be effective on that small minority of those who are not willing to measure up to the high ethics of the profession, to regulate and control them in some way? Dr. Woodward: We recognize that fully. Mr. Cooper: And you do not believe that this vast majority of ethical practitioners will be glad to cooperate in order to see this small minority brought under a proper degree of control? Dr. Woodward: They will be glad to cooperate and they are cooperating, but we ask cooperation on the part of the Federal Government by not imposing an unnecessary burden which in the end falls on the sick. Mr. McCormack: Will the gentleman yield right there? Mr. Cooper: I yield. Mr. McCormack: You say, in response to Mr. Cooper's question that one of the objections is registration. Do doctors register under the State laws now, where they exist? Dr. Woodward: Yes, sir. Mr. McCormack: You said that another objection was the making out of forms. Do they make out forms under State laws where they now exist? Dr. Woodward: Under the Harrison Narcotic Act. Mr. McCormack: I am talking about the uniform State laws with reference to marihuana. Dr. Woodward: There is no uniform State law with reference to marihuana. Mr. McCormack: Thirty-five or thirty-six States have such a law? Dr. Woodward: Some kind of a law. Mr. McCormack: Well, they register under those laws, do they not? Dr. Woodward: They register under the Harrison Narcotic Act. Mr. McCormack: I am talking about State marihuana laws. Do they register under these State laws? Dr. Woodward: If it is embodied in the uniform narcotic act; if the marihuana act of the State is embodied in its uniform State narcotic act, then according to my best recollection, the act requires registration under the harrison Narcotic Act as compliance with the State law. Mr. McCormack: Then they have to make out forms under the State law? Dr. Woodward: No. The Federal forms are adequate wherever there are Federal forms. Mr. McCormack: But where there is a State law with reference to marihuana, they have to make out some kind of forms? Dr. Woodward: Prescriptions, probably. Mr. McCormack: They have to make a report of some kind, do they not? Dr. Woodward: They probably do, but they do not deal with marihuana at all. Mr. McCormack: I do not want to take up too much of Mr. Cooper's time, but I would like to ask this: You do not object to registration under State legislation? Dr. Woodward: I do not. Mr. McCormack: And you do not object to making out forms under State legislation? Dr. Woodward: We do object-- as a mater of fact, that it the reason that the uniform State law provides--- Mr. McCormack: (interposing). Doctor, I just asked a very simple question. You do not object to registering under State law? Dr. Woodward: We are already registered. We do not object to registering. Mr. McCormack: You do not object to making out forms and other clerical records under State law? Dr. Woodward: That is, if there is no other registration that duplicates it. Mr. McCormack: All right; but under State law. Dr. Woodward: Yes. Mr. McCormack: And if the Federal Government did not undertake to meet this problem but left it to the States, then you would recognize that any State legislation would require registration and making out of records and reports? Dr. Woodward: That would depend on the nature of the law, certainly. Mr. McCormack: But you would not object to it? Dr. Woodward: We would not object to any reasonable registration. Mr. McCormack: Under State law? Dr. Woodward: Under any law, Federal or State; any reasonable degree of registration, Federal or State, we are perfectly willing to abide by. Mr. Robertson: Will the gentleman yield? Mr. McCormack: I yield. Mr. Robertson: Doctor, I understood from the editorial that you filed that the editor said we had no adequate law covering marihuana. I understood you to testify that it was covered by an act of 1930 and later you said that you thought it ought to be included under the Harrison Narcotic Act. Which of those three do you recommend to us? Dr. Woodward: If I were called upon to adjust the matter, I should say that the Secretary of the Treasury should be provided with means to enable him to discharge the duty imposed upon him by Congress, of cooperating with the several States in securing enactment of adequate laws, and the enforcement of those laws, to prevent the prevalence and continuance of the Cannabis habit. Mr. Robertson: Then we have no adequate law at the present time? Dr. Woodward: Some of the State laws are adequate; others are not. Mr. Robertson: But no adequate Federal law? Dr. Woodward: No adequate Federal law that relates to intrastate matters. Mr. Robertson: Yes. Now, does the production of Cannabis or marihuana or Indian hemp differ in some respects from principal narcotics covered by the Harrison Narcotic Act? Dr. Woodward: You mean production generally? Mr. Robertson: The widespread production or possibility of production in this country. Dr. Woodward: The only difference is that the cocoa plant and the opium plant do not grow here as yet and the Cannabis plant does. Mr. Robertson: Then that makes it a peculiar problem with respect to the Cannabis plant, if it is a habit-forming drug, deleterious in its effect? Dr. Woodward: But the Harrison Narcotic Act provides for the registration of producers, and the men who grow are producers. Mr. Cooper: I understood you to say a few moments ago, in response to a question that I asked you, that you recognize there is an evil existing with reference to this marihuana drug. Dr. Woodward: I will agree as to that. Mr. Cooper: Then I understood you to say just now, in response to a question by Mr. Robertson of Virginia, that some of the State laws are inadequate and the Federal law is inadequate to meet the problem. Dr. Woodward: Yes, sir. Mr. Cooper: That is true? Dr. Woodward: I think that is clear. Mr. Cooper: And, as you recall, there are two States that have no law at all? Dr. Woodward: That is the best of my recollection. Mr. Cooper: Taking your statement, just as you made it here, that the evil exists and that the problem is not being properly met by State laws, do you recommend that we just continue to sit by idly and attempt to do nothing? Dr. Woodward: No; I do not. I recommend that the Secretary of the Treasury get together with the State people who can enforce the law and procure the enactment of adequate State laws. They can enforce it on the ground. Mr. Cooper: Years have passed and effective results have not been accomplished in that way. Dr. Woodward: It has never been done. Mr. Cooper: And you recommend that the thing for us to do is to just continue the doctrine of laissez-faire and do nothing? Dr. Woodward: It has never been done. Mr. McCormack: May I ask the gentleman from Tennessee to ask the witness this question? The doctor has made the statement that the Secretary of the Treasury should cooperate with the States in the passage of legislation, and to enforce that legislation; that is the Federal Government should enforce the legislation. I wish the gentleman would pursue that a little further. What kind of legislation can the Federal Government pass? We have to have some kind of legislation. Dr. Woodward: It is now the statutory duty of the Secretary of Treasury--- Mr. Cooper: Proceed and answer Mr. McCormack's question, if you will. Dr. Woodward: It is now the statutory duty of the Secretary of the treasury to cooperate with the several States in procuring the enactment of effective State legislation and to cooperate with them in the enforcement of the Federal and State narcotic laws. The latter provision particularly was brought about by a practice that prevailed at one time in the Treasury Department, whereby the Bureau or the Division that was then enforcing the Harrison narcotic law, having clear evidence of a violation of State laws, refused to give any aid to the State. Now, the Secretary of the Treasury has ample authority and it is his duty to give to the States information concerning the violation even of State laws, and to allow his own officers to go into the State courts and before State medical boards to enforce or help to enforce State laws. Mr. McCormack: That would require legislation. Dr. Woodward: No; we have it here. Mr. McCormack: But so far as marihuana is concerned, there would have to be some kind of legislation? Dr. Woodward: You mean in the States? Mr. McCormack: No; by the Federal Government to assist the States in enforcing the law. Dr. Woodward: That is already on the statute books. I quoted from the statute a moment ago, and I am sure you will find it in the record. But the statute does not relate---- Mr. McCormack: I know what you have in mind. But my question is this: In order for the Federal Government to assist the States in enforcement of this legislation aimed at this evil, some action would have to be taken by Congress giving them some enforcement capacity in this particular regard? Dr. Woodward: No. The law relates to narcotic drugs, not to the Harrison law, and not to opium or coca leaves, but narcotic drugs. Mr. McCormack: But Congress would have to pass some kind of legislation with reference to marihuana in order to make the law applicable? Dr. Woodward: No. Mr. Mccormack: Do you mean to say that the Secretary of the Treasury, or some agent of the Federal Government, can now enforce this law without legislation on the part of Congress? Dr. Woodward: I say that he can cooperate with the States to secure enactment. Mr. McCormack: He can cooperate; yes. I used the word "enforce" because you used the word "enforce." Dr. Woodward: He can give them the aid of his own men, provide them with evidence that his own men collect; to that extent he can aid them in enforcing their laws. Mr. McCormack: He can do that now without legislation? Dr. Woodward: He can. Mr. McCormack: with reference to marihuana? Dr. Woodward: With reference to any narcotic drug. Mr. McCormack: Not designated, not stated in the law? Dr. Woodward: Not stated in the law. here is the statute as it reads---- Mr. McCormack: Can the Federal Government prosecute? Dr. Woodward: Anyone can prosecute in a criminal court if he presents the evidence. The Federal Government can do it, but ordinarily they will only do it through State officers. The law reads: The Secretary of the Treasury shall--- Not may, but shall--- cooperate with the several States in the suppression of the abuse of narcotic drugs in their respective jurisdictions. At the very time that this was passed, the definition of narcotic drugs was enacted by Congress in connection with admissions to the Federal narcotic farms, and in connection with the definition of addict, the Cannabis habit was included. Mr. McCormack: Go ahead. Where is the power of the Federal Government to enforce a State criminal statute? Dr. Woodward: The Secretary of the Treasury--- anyone who presents to a prosecuting officer the evidence can do that. Mr. McCormack: Doctor, you are not telling me something that I do not know. You are talking about some agent of the Federal Government in his individual capacity doing something, which is entirely different from what I was talking about. Dr. Woodward: I will read the entire section. Mr. McCormack: You might just as well tell me that a police officer of the city of Boston, when he goes into court, goes in in his individual capacity as distinguished from his capacity as a police officer. Dr. Woodward (reading): The Secretary of the Treasury shall cooperate with the several States in the suppression of the abuse of narcotic drugs in their respective jurisdictions, and to that end he is authorized (1) to cooperate in drafting of such legislation as may be needed, if any, to effect the end named, and (2) to arrange for the exchange of information concerning the use and abuse of narcotic drugs in said States and for cooperation in the institution and prosecution of cases in the courts of the United States and before the licensing boards and courts of the several States. That is a very specific provision. Mr. McCormack: Additional legislation with reference to marihuana is necessary. Dr. Woodward: The term "narcotic drug" covers that in this language. Mr. Cooper: Coming back for a moment to the question that I asked previously, if the fact remains as you state, that there is this evil present, and it is not being effectively treated or dealt wit, do you not think something should be done, or some attempt should be made, to do something to try to meet that evil? Dr. Woodward: Certainly. Mr. Cooper: To what extent is marihuana used by physicians in the country as a beneficial and a helpful drug? Dr. Woodward: But very little. Mr. Cooper: Very little? Dr. Woodward: Very little. Mr. Cooper: In fact, to such a small extent that the American medical Association's own publication has left it out of the list of useful drugs, has it not? Dr. Woodward: We probably did. I have not examined "Useful drugs", but we probably did. Mr. Cooper: Then if it is apparent that this drug is not beneficial and useful in prescriptions given by physicians, but that an illicit traffic has developed in it for injurious and deleterious purposes, you agree that effective methods should be employed to meet that problem, do you not? Dr. Woodward: I do. Mr. Lewis: Perhaps you can tell us from memory, Doctor, how many pharmacists there are in the United States. Dr. Woodward: I cannot. Mr. Lewis: can you tell us how many physicians? Dr. Woodward: Approximately 160,000 registered; and probably, as a guess, I would say 120,000 in active practice. We have in the American Medical Association about 100,000 members. Mr. Lewis: There would not be half as many pharmacists, would there? Dr. Woodward: Probably not. I have here a form that may be helpful in that regard. Mr. Lewis: You may supply the figures when you revise your remarks. Dr. Woodward: The best that I can do is to supply the figures from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue as to the number of registrations under the harrison Narcotic Act. Mr. Lewis: Do any of the gentlemen at the table know how many pharmacists there are in the country? Mr. Hester: About 48,000. Mr. Lewis: And 120,000 practicing physicians? Dr. Woodward: I suppose there are 100,000 of them practicing. Many of them are retired and not in active practice; many are specialists. Mr. Lewis: A tax of a dollar on each of them would come to about $148,000. You spoke of a million dollars in taxes a little earlier in the day. Dr. Woodward: I will supply the figures on which that estimate is based. It is taken directly from official reports, giving the number of potential registrants in each class. If the registrations under this act were in the same proportion as the registrations under the harrison Narcotic Act, the annual tax would be approximately a million dollars a year. That is the best I can do. Mr. Vinson: Will you break that down for the record? Dr. Woodward: I will do that very gladly. (The statement referred to is as follows:) Amount of tax. --- Assuming that all manufacturers, compounders, dispensers, and prescribers of drugs who now register under the harrison Narcotic Act would register under this bill if enacted, and taking the latest report available to show the numbers of persons so registered, the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for 1935, we deduce the following: Manufacturers, importers, and compounders (210, at $50).............................. $ 10,500
Wholesale dealers (1,460, at $15)....................................................................... 21,900
Retail dealers (53,687, at $15).......................................................................... 803,305
Practitioners (158,618, at $1)........................................................................... 158,618
________ Total................................................................................................. 994,323 To this must be added the revenue derived from an unknown number of producers of Cannabis at $25 a year, and from an unknown number of laboratory workers, at $1 a year; also the amount that must be added for registrants who register at more than one place. The entire amount of this cost will presumably be passed along to legitimate users of Cannabis, chiefly the sick, and the cost of sickness be thus increased. While it may properly be claimed that Cannabis is seldom used in medicine, nevertheless manufacturers, wholesale merchants, retailers, and practitioners will have to pay prescribed taxes in order to be able to supply or to prescribe the drug if and when needed. Cost of enforcement. --- The sick, along with all other persons, will have to pay through general taxation the cost of enforcing this act, in excess of the taxes collected. Congress should labor under no delusions about the cost of enforcement, if genuine enforcement of the law be attempted. If it is not, the bill will be an idle gesture, an evidence of bad faith on the part of the Government, and had best not be enacted. Mr. Lewis : Let me ask you this additional question. Judging from the expert medical testimony given here, it appears that it is rarely true, if it is ever true, that a physician would prescribe this drug. He would find other drugs more desirable, more sure in their operation. No physician, then, who did not think well of this drug, would need to take out a special license at all, would he? Dr. Woodward: He would not have to. Most physicians would want to preserve the right to use it, probably. I do not know how many. The drug, however, is a peculiar drug. The products are uncertain in their action and the composition of the drug is hardly understood. We do not know that the resin which is said to be the active principle is in fact the active principle, but may be broken down into other ingredients, some of which may have one effect and some of which may have another. According to what has been quoted from this report of Dr. Bouquet there are evidently potentialities in the drug that should not be shut off by adverse legislation. The medical profession and pharmacologists should be left to develop the use of this drug as they see fit. Mr. Lewis: That is all. The Chairman: I believe you said at the outset of your statement that the medical use of this drug has fallen off considerably. Dr. Woodward: Very greatly. The Chairman: In corroboration of that I have a statement here giving the number of prescriptions and showing the relative use of this drug as compared to other drugs. In 1885 there were 5 prescriptions out of every 10,000, as fluid extract; in 1895, 11.6; in 1907, 8 out of every 10,000; in 1926, 2.3, and in 1933, the last figures we have 0.4 out of every 10,000. That correlates your statement that its use as a drug for treatment of diseases, by the medical profession, has greatly fallen off and is on the decrease. The use of it seems to be negligible in the medical profession according to that statement. On the other hand, it seems that there has been a great increase in the use of it as a narcotic where it has its most dangerous and deleterious effects. If its use as a medicine has fallen off to a point where it is practically negligible, and its use as a dope has increased until it has become serious and a menace to the public, as has been testified here--- and the testimony here has been that it cause people to lose their mental balance, cause them to become criminals so that they do not seem to realize right from wrong after they become addicts of this drug--- taking into consideration the growth in its injurious effects and its diminution in its use so far as any beneficial effect is concerned, you realize, do you not, that some good may be accomplished by this proposed legislation? Dr. Woodward: Some legislation; yes, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman: If that is admitted, let us get down to a few concrete facts. With the experience in the Bureau of Narcotics and with the State governments trying to enforce laws that are now on the State statute books against the use of this deleterious drug, and the Federal Government has realized that the State laws are ineffective, don't you think some Federal legislation necessary? Dr. Woodward: I do not. The Chairman: You do not? Dr. Woodward: No. I think it is the usual tendency to---- The Chairman: I believe you did say in response to Mr. Cooper that you believed that some legislation of some change in the present law would be helpful. If that be true, why have you not been here before this bill was introduced proposing some remedy for this evil? Dr. Woodward: Mr. Chairman, I have visited the Commissioner of Narcotics on various occasions---- The Chairman: That is not an answer to my question at all. Dr. Woodward: I have not been here because---- The Chairman: You are representing the medical association. If your association has realized the necessity, the importance of some legislation--- which you now admit--- why did you wait until this bill was introduced to come here and make mention of it? Why did you not come here voluntarily and suggest to this committee some legislation? Dr. Woodward: I have talked these matters over many times with the---- The Chairman: That does not do us any good to talk matters over. I have talked over a lot of things. The States do not seem to be able to deal with it effectively, nor is the Federal Government dealing with it at all. Why do you wait until now and then come in here to oppose something that is presented to us. You propose nothing whatever to correct the evil that exists. Now, I do not like to have a round-about answer, but I would like to have a definite, straight, clean-cut answer to that question. Dr. Woodward: We do not propose legislation directly to Congress when the same end can be reached through one of the executive departments of the Government. The Chairman: You admit that it has not been done. You said that you thought some legislation would be helpful. That is what I am trying to hold you down to. Now, why have you not proposed any legislation? That is what I want a clean-cut, definite, clear answer to. Dr. Woodward: In the first place, it is not a medical addiction that is involved and the data do not come before the medical society. You may absolutely forbid the use of Cannabis by any physician, or the disposition of Cannabis by any pharmacist in the country, and you would not have touched your Cannabis addiction as it stands today, because there is no relation between it and the practice of medicine or pharmacy. It is entirely outside of those two branches. The Chairman: If the statement that you have just made has any relation to the question that I asked, I just do not have the mind to understand it; I am sorry. Dr. Woodward: I say that we do not ordinarily come directly to Congress if a department can take care of the matter. I have talked with the Commissioner, with Commissioner Anslinger. The Chairman: If you want to advise us on legislation, you ought to come here with some constructive proposals, rather than criticism, rather than trying to throw obstacles in the way of something that the Federal Government is trying to do. It has not only an unselfish motive in this, but they have a serious responsibility. Dr. Woodward: We cannot understand yet, Mr. Chairman, why this bill should have been prepared in secret for 2 years without any intimation, even, to the profession, that it was being prepared. The Chairman: Is not the fact that you were not consulted your real objection to this bill? Dr. Woodward: Not at all. The Chairman: Just because you were not consulted? Dr. Woodward: Not at all. The Chairman: No matter how much good there is in the proposal? Dr. Woodward: Not at all. The Chairman: That is not it? Dr. Woodward: Not at all. We always try to be helpful. Mr. Vinson: the fact that they took that length of time in the preparation of the bill, what has that to do with the merits of the legislation? Dr. Woodward: The legislation is impracticable so far as enforcement is concerned, and the same study devoted to State legislation, with 44 State legislatures in session this year would have produced much better results. Mr. Vinson: If the legislation had been prepared in one day you could have answered what your objection was. But it crops out here just at the end of your testimony that this legislation has been studied for 2 years and prepared in secret. Dr. Woodward: Yes. Mr. Vinson: What has that fact, if it be a fact, to do with the merits of the legislation, unless you are piqued? Dr. Woodward: It explains why I am here voicing opposition to the bill that might have been adjusted to meet the needs of the medical profession if we had been consulted at an earlier date. I should have been glad to have cooperated with the Bureau of Narcotics in the preparation of a bill, if an opportunity had been afforded. Mr. Dingell: The impression I gain from your last remark is that it is only the medical profession that is interested in this bill; but what about the 125,000,000 people in this country? This is not only a bill that the medical profession is interested in, or that the American Medical Association is interested in, but all of the people are interested in it. Incidentally, I would like to ask how many doctors are members of the American Medical Association. Dr. Woodward: Approximately 100,000. Mr. Dingell: That many are members of the American Medical Association? Dr. Woodward: Yes, sir. Mr. Dingell: How many doctors are there in the United States? Dr. Woodward: Probably 140,000 or 150,000, or there may be 160,000. Mr. Dingell: Are we to understand that the medical men of the State of Michigan, or the medical profession in Wayne County, or the medical association of Detroit, are opposed to this legislation? Dr. Woodward: I do not know. No medical man would identify this bill with medicine until he read it through, because marihuana is not a drug. Mr. Dingell: Please tell me this: What effort has been made in my State through the medical association to protect the school children and the unfortunate people who are falling victims to this habit? I ask that question since we are talking about controlling it through the States. I want to know what has been done by the State of Michigan and members of the medical profession to give protection intended by this bill. Dr. Woodward: It is, of course, impossible for me to say just what has been done in any particular State; but in the Michigan laws of 1931, chapter 173, they do regulate the production and distribution of Cannabis indica.. Mr. Dingell: What kind of regulation is that? Dr. Woodward: I do not have the law here. Mr. Dingell: Can you tell me whether that legislation was at that time sponsored by the medical association of my State? Dr. Woodward: I do not know. I cannot carry all of those details in my mind. You understand that marihuana is simply a name given Cannabis. It is a mongrel word brought in from Mexico. It is a popular term to indicate Cannabis, like "coke" is used to indicate cocaine, and as "dope" is used to indicate opium. Mr. Dingell: We know that it is a habit that is spreading, particularly among youngsters. We learn that from the pages of the newspapers. You say that Michigan has a law regulating it. We have a State law, but we do not seem to be able to get anywhere with it, because, as I have said, the habit is growing. The number of victims is increasing each year. Dr. Woodward: There is no evidence of that. Mr. Dingell: I have not been impressed by your testimony here as reflecting the sentiment of the highclass members of the medical profession in my State. I am confident that the medical profession in the State of Michigan, and in Wayne County particularly, or in my district, will subscribe wholeheartedly to any law that will suppress this thing, despite the fact that there is a $1 tax imposed. Dr. Woodward: If there was any law that would absolutely suppress the thing, perhaps that is true, but when the law simply contains provisions that impose a useless expense, and does not accomplish the result---- Mr. Dingell (interposing): That is simply your personal opinion. This is kindred to the opinion you entertained with reference to the harrison Narcotics Act. Dr. Woodward: If we had been asked to cooperate in drafting it---- Mr. Dingell: You are not cooperating in this at all. Dr. Woodward: As a matter of fact, it does not serve to suppress the use of opium and cocaine. Mr. Dingell: The medical profession should be doing its utmost to aid in the suppression of this curse that is eating the very vitals of the nation. Dr. Woodward: They are. Mr. Dingell: Are you not simply piqued because you were not consulted in the drafting of this bill? Dr. Woodward: That is not the case at all. I said in explaining why I was here that the measure should have been discussed and an expression of opinion obtained before the Treasury Department brought this bill before the Congress of the United States, so that it would be in a form that would be acceptable, with as few differences of opinion as possible. Mr. Cooper: With all due respect to you and for your appearance here, is it not a fact that you are peeved because you were not called in and consulted in the drafting of the bill? Dr. Woodward: Not in the least. I have drafted too many bills to be peeved about that. Mr. McCormack: There is no question that the drug habit has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Dr. Woodward: There is no evidence to show whether or not it has been. Mr. McCormack: In your opinion, has it increased? Dr. Woodward: I should say it has increased slightly. Newspaper exploitation of the habit has done more to increase it than anything else. Mr. McCormack: It is likely to increase further unless some effort is made to suppress it. Dr. Woodward: I do not know. The exploitation tempts young men and women to venture into the habit. Mr. McCormack: At any event, it is a drug. Dr. Woodward: Cannabis indica. is a drug; yes. Mr. McCormack: It is used, we were told, by 200,000,000 people throughout the world. All I know is what I have read about it.You realize that we are confronted with a situation where we are dealing with a drug produced in the United States? Dr. Woodward: Yes. Mr. McCormack: While opium and coco leaves are not produced here. Dr. Woodward: No. Mr. McCormack: In other words, the Harrison Narcotics Act really confines itself to imports. Dr. Woodward: No, sir, it regulates production, too. Mr. McCormack: It regulates production, but the production it regulates is confined to drugs that are imported into this country. Dr. Woodward: Yes, sir. Mr. McCormack: There is no opium grown here. Dr. Woodward: No, sir. Mr. McCormack: An no coca leaves are grown here. Dr. Woodward: No, sir. Mr. McCormack: So that the Harrison Narcotics Act, in its practical operation concerns itself, in the first instance, with a drug that is imported into this country. Dr. Woodward: In the first instance; yes, sir. Mr. McCormack: In this case, we have in the first instance a drug that is produced in this country. Dr. Woodward: No, sir. Mr. McCormack: It is grown here. Dr. Woodward: It is grown somewhat here. Mr. McCormack: Let me see if I understand your position: I have listened very carefully to your statement. You take the position that this drug habit is not of any benefit to the medical profession. Dr. Woodward: I think that is universally admitted. Mr. McCormack: This legislation should be directed toward the source of the evil. The medical profession is not involved in the source of supply so far as the use is concerned. Is that right? Dr. Woodward: Yes; that is right. We have no objection to the registration fee under the Harrison Narcotic Act. Mr. McCormack: You say you have no objection to registration under the Harrison Narcotic Act? Dr. Woodward: No, sir; nor even in the case of Cannabis. Mr. McCormack: While you object to the registration under this act, you do not object to registration under the Harrison Narcotics Act? Dr. Woodward: No, Sir. Mr. McCormack: You are just now beginning to oppose registration. Dr. Woodward: No, sir. Mr. McCormack: Assuming that this bill was amended to permit the Secretary of the Treasury to put the medical profession under reasonable regulations, what would be your opposition to the bill? Dr. Woodward: I am quite sure we could not object to that. Mr. McCormack: Then your objection would be removed. Dr. Woodward: You could go a step further, and require the registration and recording of sales of Cannabis under the harrison Narcotics Act. I am not inclined to think there would be any objection to that at all. Mr. McCormack: I am not including the Harrison Narcotics Act in my question, but my question was confined to this bill. Assuming that an amendment was made to this bill whereby the Secretary of the Treasury might prescribe regulations which would be beneficial to the medical profession, or that would be considered beneficial by the medical profession, would I be justified in assuming that your main objection to this particular bill would be removed? Dr. Woodward: Yes, sir; you would. Mr. Dingell: Going back to that part of your testimony wherein you mentioned the matter of registration, was it your testimony that the medical profession, so far as you can determine, is more than willing to cooperate in bringing about the suppression of this drug, or, more specifically, the traffic in marihuana; and does your sole objection rest upon the point that the bill requires an additional registration, additional forms, and the taking up of additional precious time of physicians ; and that further than that, if this practice could be regulated by an amendment to the harrison narcotics Act there would be no objection on the part of the medical profession to filling out new amended forms pertaining to both marihuana and narcotics? Dr. Woodward: I believe that if that had been done there would not have been a single objection raised to it.In my opinion, no voice would have been raised agaThe Ideology by 262 Cigars was won courtesy of Cigarbrief.com and their Foxtoberfest contest. I had never smoked anything from 262 Cigars previously so it was a wonderful opportunity.
Nose:
An interesting nose here comprised of some floral notes and saddle leather. I can’t say I’ve ever remotely picked up that combination before.
Construction:
This Ideology by 262 Cigars measures 5.5” x 42 ring gauge in the Corona vitola. The wrapper is a pleasant brown color, and the construction is flawless.
Flavor:
First
The first few draws bring nuts and loads of cedar with some pepper undertones. Delightful start here. There’s a savory charred meat after taste that coats the inside of my mouth. I can definitely detect stronger pepper on the retro-hale.
Middle
No discernible flavor profile changes from the first to the second third. I’m really enjoying the flavor profile I find it very well balanced.
Last
The flavor intensity starts to wane across the board as I move into the final third. Overall profile has remained consistent throughout the entire smoking experience.
Burn/Draw:
An absolutely razor sharp burn here. The draw is excellent, utilizing a v-cut here, and total smoking time was almost exactly 45 minutes.
Value:
The pricing on these is quite reasonable. Singles are around the $7 mark. You can snag a 5-pack for $32. Ideology in the Corona size are 20 to a box for around $125.
Final Word:
The Ideology by 262 Cigars is a great smoke. The strength is medium bodied so it won’t blow out most aficionados. The flavor profile is consistent and no one flavor dominates, with a consistent cigar experience from start to finish |
beloved brethren and sisters, what a glorious event it is to attend conference. We find that the words spoken are words of inspiration, and it’s a joy to be present.
I would like to talk about our heavenly debts and earthly debts. The Gospels record that nearly everywhere the Savior went, He was surrounded by multitudes of people. Some hoped that He would heal them; others came to hear Him speak. Others came for practical advice. Toward the end of His mortal ministry, some came to mock and ridicule Him and to clamor for His crucifixion.
One day a man approached the Savior and asked Him to intervene in a family dispute. “Master, speak to my brother,” he pleaded, “that he divide the inheritance with me.”
The Savior refused to take sides on this issue, but He did teach an important lesson. “Beware of covetousness,” He told him, “for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”1
Brothers and sisters, beware of covetousness. It is one of the great afflictions of these latter days. It creates greed and resentment. Often it leads to bondage, heartbreak, and crushing, grinding debt.
The number of marriages that have been shattered over money issues is staggering. The amount of heartbreak is great. The stress that comes from worry over money has burdened families, caused sickness, depression, and even premature death.
Earthly Debts
In spite of the teachings of the Church from its earliest days until today, members sometimes fall victim to many unwise and foolish financial practices. Some continue to spend, thinking that somehow the money will become available. Somehow they will survive.
Far too often, the money hoped for does not appear.
Remember this: debt is a form of bondage. It is a financial termite. When we make purchases on credit, they give us only an illusion of prosperity. We think we own things, but the reality is, our things own us.
Some debt—such as for a modest home, expenses for education, perhaps for a needed first car—may be necessary. But never should we enter into financial bondage through consumer debt without carefully weighing the costs.
We have often heard that interest is a good servant but a terrible master. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. described it this way: “Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation. … Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.”2
The counsel from other inspired prophets in our time on this subject is clear, and what was true 50 or 150 years ago is also true today.
President Heber J. Grant said, “From my earliest recollections, from the days of Brigham Young until now, I have listened to men standing in the pulpit … urging the people not to run into debt; and I believe that the great majority of all our troubles today is caused through the failure to carry out that counsel.”3
President Ezra Taft Benson said, “Do not leave yourself or your family unprotected against financial storms. … Build up savings.”4
President Harold B. Lee taught, “Not only should we teach men to get out of debt but we should teach them likewise to stay out of debt.”5
President Gordon B. Hinckley declared: “Many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings. …
“… I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt to the extent possible. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage.”6
My brothers and sisters, many have heeded this prophetic counsel. They live within their means, they honor the debts they have incurred, and they strive to reduce the burden they owe to others. We congratulate those who are doing so, for the day will come when they will reap the blessings of their efforts and understand the value of this inspired counsel.
However, others struggle when it comes to finances. Some are victims of adverse and often unforeseen events that have financially damaged them. Others are in financial bondage because they have not learned to discipline themselves and control their impulses to spend. Consequently, they have made unwise financial choices.
May I suggest five key steps to financial freedom for your consideration.
First, pay your tithing. Do you want the windows of heaven opened to you? Do you wish to receive blessings so great there is not room enough to receive them?7 Always pay your tithing and leave the outcome in the hands of the Lord.
Obedience to God’s commandments is the foundation for a happy life. Surely we will be blessed with the gifts of heaven for our obedience. Failure to pay tithing by those who know the principle can lead to heartache in this life and perhaps sorrow in the next.
Second, spend less than you earn.This is simple counsel but a powerful secret for financial happiness. All too often a family’s spending is governed more by their yearning than by their earning. They somehow believe that their life will be better if they surround themselves with an abundance of things. All too often all they are left with is avoidable anxiety and distress.
Those who live safely within their means know how much money comes in each month, and even though it is difficult, they discipline themselves to spend less than that amount.
Credit is so easy to obtain. In fact, it is almost thrust upon us. Those who use credit cards to overspend unwisely should consider eliminating them. It is much better that a plastic credit card should perish than a family dwindle and perish in debt.
Third, learn to save. Remember the lesson of Joseph of Egypt. During times of prosperity, save up for a day of want.8
Too often, people assume that they probably never will be injured, get sick, lose their jobs, or see their investments evaporate. To make matters worse, often people make purchases today based upon optimistic predictions of what they hope will happen tomorrow.
The wise understand the importance of saving today for a rainy day tomorrow. They have adequate insurance that will provide for them in case of illness or death. Where possible, they store a year’s supply of food, water, and other basic necessities of life. They set aside money in savings and investment accounts. They work diligently to reduce the debt they owe to others and strive to become debt free.
Brothers and sisters, the preparations you make today may one day be to you as the stored food was to the Egyptians and to Joseph’s father’s family.
Fourth, honor your financial obligations. From time to time, we hear stories of greed and selfishness that strike us with great sorrow. We hear of fraud, defaulting on loan commitments, financial deceptions, and bankruptcies.
We hear of fathers who financially neglect their own families. We say to men and women everywhere, if you bring children into the world, it is your solemn obligation to do all within your power to provide for them. No man is fit to be called a man who gathers around himself cars, boats, and other possessions while neglecting the sacred financial obligations he has to his own wife and children.
We are a people of integrity. We believe in honoring our debts and being honest in our dealings with our fellow men.
Let me tell you the story of one man who sacrificed greatly to maintain his own financial integrity and honor.
In the 1930s Fred Snowberger opened the doors of a new pharmacy in northeastern Oregon. It had been his dream to own his own business, but the economic turnaround he had hoped for never materialized. Eight months later, Fred closed the doors of his pharmacy for the last time.
Even though his business had failed, Fred was determined to repay the loan he had secured. Some wondered why he insisted on repaying the debt. Why didn’t he simply declare bankruptcy and have the debt legally forgiven?
But Fred did not listen. He had said he would repay the loan, and he was determined to honor his word. His family made many of their own clothes, grew much of their food in their garden, and used everything they had until it was thoroughly worn out or used up. Rain or shine, Fred walked to and from his work each day. And every month, Fred paid what he could on the loan.
Years passed and finally the wonderful day arrived when Fred made the last payment. He delivered it in person. The man who had loaned him the money wept and with tears streaming down his face, said, “You not only paid back every penny, but you taught me what a man of character and honesty is.”
To this day, nearly 70 years after Fred signed his name to that note, descendants of Fred and Erma Snowberger still tell this story with pride. This act of honor and nobility has lived through the decades as a cherished example of family integrity.
Fifth, teach your children to follow your example. Too many of our youth get into financial difficulty because they never learned proper principles of financial common sense at home. Teach your children while they are young. Teach them that they cannot have something merely because they want it. Teach them the principles of hard work, frugality, and saving.
If you don’t consider yourself informed well enough to teach them, all the more reason for you to begin learning. Abundant resources are available—from classes, to books, to other resources.
There are those among us who have been blessed abundantly with enough and to spare. Our Heavenly Father expects that we do more with our riches than build larger barns to hold them. Will you consider what more you can do to build the kingdom of God? Will you consider what more you can do to bless the lives of others and bring light and hope into their lives?In a provoking (in a good way) account in the New York Sun, writer Lenore Skenazy outs herself as a mother who let her 9-year-old son ride home by himself on a New York subway and bus. Yes, he transferred. She reports that her son arrived “ecstatic with independence.” And also that half the people she has told “want to turn me in for child abuse.” Only half?
Skenazy understands why other parents recoiled at a decision that wasn’t all that daring, rationally speaking. It’s not simply that parents think of every horrendous kidnapping story and so decide not to take any chance—however tiny—that something unspeakably awful will happen to our children. It’s also that, should the worst happen, “We even run a tape of how we’d look on Larry King.” There’s taking a risk that lies outside the social norm, at least for middle-class families, and then there’s taking the fall for taking that chance. It goes without saying, as Skenazy puts it, “These days, when a kid dies, the world—i.e., cable TV—blames the parents. It’s simple as that.”
So when did the notion of parent-as-bodyguard begin to prevail, and does it connect to the endless tug of war over where and how mothers should spend their time?
According to Peter Stearns’ Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America, the idea that a bad parent stood behind every child accident—that there were no accidents, in fact—dates from about the 1920s. Nineteenth-century parenting manuals focused on health, not the risk of accidental calamity, Stearns writes. But, in 1922, people such as journalist and author Ida Tarbell were warning, “By analyzing some of the accidents to children, the mother’s responsibility is clear enough. None but she could have prevented them.” The timeline matches a small revelation I had when I read my kids the beloved All of a Kind Family books. The series, first published in 1951, is set on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1910s. When the family’s small son hurts his head badly after playing at a street construction site, his parents are naturally upset. But there’s no self-flagellation. They don’t berate themselves or even mention their own role, or lack thereof. The norm was so different that I had to stop myself from pointing it out to my kids, who don’t really need me to reinforce the notion that it’s parents who are at fault.
Why did this incarnation of parental responsibility, so ingrained now, come to life in the 1920s? When I asked my colleague Ann Hulbert this question, she reminded me of Princeton sociologist Viviana Zelizer’s work about how childhood came to seem sacred at this time, because middle-class kids were no longer expected to labor in the cash economy. The turn of the century also marks the rise of the playground movement: Advocates tracked child death and injuries from street-car accidents and started agitating for safer play spaces. Ann also pointed me to a third historical factor: women’s suffrage. The 1920s were a time of anxiety about women’s roles and how they might infringe on the spheres of men. If mothers could be convinced that they had the power, and the duty, to save their children from all harm, then wouldn’t they be more likely to stay at home with them?
I’m not sure how to weigh this question in historical terms, but surely the degree to which we’ve come to blame parents for accidents is part of what pulls women toward home and away from work when they have children. Or so I thought as I read and found myself arguing with A Mother’s Work: How Feminism, the Market, and Policy Shape Family Life, a new book by Neil Gilbert, a UC Berkeley professor of social welfare. Gilbert’s argument is that feminism and the unyielding demands of employers have propelled women away from taking care of their small children during the day and toward jobs that they don’t necessarily like much. Gilbert thinks that “an intellectual elite of well-paid professional women” make paid work seem better than it is for many women, and household work more “servile, tedious, mind-numbing.”
Given this tilting, he thinks, the government should help rebalance the ledger. If mothers are to be really free to exercise their preference, tax and employment policies should better support women who don’t want to work when their children are young. This way, “women who want to combine a life of motherhood and employment could have it all—one step at a time.” Gilbert’s proposal is a “home-care allowance”—presumably cash from the government—for women with children up to the age of 5. Maybe this would be offered in tandem with universal preschool. Or maybe on its own.
Gilbert promises that his home-care allowance “would not mean a return to traditional family life as it was practiced a half century ago.” From his perspective, that’s a credible claim, because Gilbert thinks he’s pushing back against great and powerful forces, the exigencies of the labor market and the call to equality from elite feminists, arrayed in favor of women working. But I’m not convinced. I see the benefits, for many families, of an arrangement in which one parent devotes himself or herself full time to childrearing until the kids are old enough for kindergarten. (Though let’s admit that the “him” in that last sentence is largely aspirational.) But what’s the evidence that feminists and the market have tilted the work/don’t work seesaw to the extent that Gilbert thinks? Women of means aren’t necessarily working in ever-greater numbers. The data is as yet inconclusive; the numbers may be falling or static rather than rising.
Let’s not underestimate the countervailing domestic pressures that help nudge middle-class and wealthy women out of the work force when they have kids. (Mothers in lower-income families, of necessity, face a different calculus.) As Gilbert acknowledges, for women whose husbands make good money, employment can already seem to have marginal economic value, once they subtract the cost of child care. Another attraction is the real pleasure of the rhythm of more constant togetherness with your child and the dense stay-at-home web of activities and friendships that many mothers weave.
And finally, what about the specter of accidents, of a solo subway ride that’s not a lark. What if you put your child on public transportation because you can’t pick him up—and the ride ends not in the joy of self-reliance, but in tears or worse? The odds of real harm are low, and yet Ida Tarbell’s finger points at us across the decades. Gilbert, however, ignores it. In building up professional, work-driven feminists as the ones who are calling the shots, he discounts both the personal guilt and the societal guilt (should something happen to your kid) that also sits heavily on the scale.
Even if Gilbert doesn’t make the connection, evidence of maternal guilt is easy to discern in his research. In discussing child care, he points out how hard it is to find high-quality preschools and day care centers. For Gilbert, that’s all the more reason for a government-funded home-care allowance. But for mothers who want to or have to work, mediocre child care is the gift of guilt that never stops giving, the equivalent of the subway ride that could go wrong. The day my son broke his leg on the playground after school, while a babysitter was with him, I ran out of my office so the ambulance taking him to the hospital could pick me up en route. I tried not to blame myself for not having been there, and maybe the accident would have happened just the same if I had been, but it wasn’t easy. Maybe the government could swoop in evenhandedly, with good universal preschool and a home-care allowance, and soothe the anxieties on all sides. Or maybe these policy choices are never so straightforward.Sometimes she wonders, though: What if scientists came up with a device, similar to a cochlear implant for deaf people, that could help her to see again? At 58, Johnson still remembers the old Six Million Dollar Man television series — the one where the injured test pilot, Steve Austin, gets new bionic limbs and a left eyeball with a 20:1 zoom lens and infrared capabilities. “Wouldn’t it be weird if I could go from this point to that?” she says, laughing. “I would so do it.”
Scientists and engineers still are a long way from creating a visual prosthesis that works as well as a real human eye, let alone a superhuman one. Nevertheless, two Stanford research teams are making steady progress in what was once the realm of science fiction. One of their promising new devices, a bionic vision system based on photovoltaic implants, is awaiting approval for human clinical trials in Europe. A second system, based on in vitro studies of the retina, could be ready for animal testing within four or five years. Both inventions have the same goal: to give back some measure of sight to people like Johnson, who have progressive diseases of the retina — especially retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.
Certainly the need is there. According to the National Institutes of Health, retinitis pigmentosa is the leading cause of inherited blindness, affecting 1 in about 4,000 people in the United States. As in Johnson’s case, the disease usually begins with a loss of night vision in childhood, and progresses to involve peripheral and then central vision, gradually robbing young people of the ability to read, drive, recognize faces and do routine daily tasks.
Macular degeneration, in contrast, is one of the leading causes of vision loss in Americans 60 and older. By 2020, the NIH estimates that as many as 3 million people in the United States may be living with various stages of the disease, which gradually destroys the densely packed light-sensitive cells, called photoreceptors, in the retina’s center, or macula. “Many of these folks are going to be losing their central vision,” says Chip Goehring, president of the American Macular Degeneration Foundation, “so it is absolutely vital that we have options for the restoration of sight, including biological and mechanical approaches — stem cell therapies for photoreceptor replacement, gene therapies to restore dysfunctional retinal tissues, and prosthetic retinas that can serve an even wider population of people with vision loss.”CLOSE Do you know what to do if you're in an accident? Wochit
Zachary Reeder and Cassandra Webb (Photo: Courtesy)
LAS CRUCES - An Arizona man suspected of leading authorities on a high-speed chase throughout Las Cruces and surrounding areas Thursday evening is a suspect in bank robberies in two states, officials said.
Zachary Stephen Reeder, 39, of Marana, Arizona, was arrested after the dramatic, 45-minute chase came to an end with a crash and foot pursuit near Apodaca Road and N.M. Highway 28.
A passenger, identified as Cassandra Webb, 28, of Phoenix, also was taken into custody at the time of Reeder's arrest. Reeder and Webb were booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center early Friday morning and are being held without bond on federal charges, jail records show.
Zachary Reeder (Photo: Courtesy photo)
A criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court states Webb told authorities she knowingly drove the getaway car while Reeder robbed banks earlier this week in Mesa, Arizona and Thursday in Deming.
Reeder and Webb have both been charged with federal robbery, jail records show.
Reeder was also charged Friday in a federal criminal complaint with assault on a federal task force officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Separately, Reeder was charged with two state-level felonies, including aggravated assault on a peace officer and aggravated fleeing or eluding an officer, according to the Las Cruces Police Department.
Cassandra Webb (Photo: Courtesy)
The robberies
The complaint states Webb told authorities she met Reeder about one month ago in Arizona. She said they are in a relationship.
Webb, who talked to authorities Friday, said she drove Reeder to an unnamed bank in Mesa, Arizona, about five days ago. According to Webb, Reeder was wearing Army camouflage clothing and entered the bank with what she described as a sawed-off black shotgun.
She said she was driving a BMW "when the bank was robbed," the affidavit states.
Later, the two drove to Lordsburg, where Webb said they "picked up the White Acura SUV," with Arizona plates, the complaint states.
Webb told authorities she and Reeder drove to Silver City on Wednesday in an attempt to rob the Wells Fargo bank. She said they arrived late and the bank was closed.
A Look Back: Car chase through Las Cruces ends with crash, one detained
On Thursday, Webb and Reader were in Deming and she drove him to the First Savings Bank, the complaint states. Reeder entered wearing Army camouflage clothing with a tan hat and sunglasses, Webb told authorities.
The First Savings Bank at 520 S. Gold Ave. was robbed Thursday morning by a man wearing a camouflage jacket and boonie hat, according to the FBI.
The FBI report states the robber displayed a shotgun and demanded money from the teller before leaving with an undisclosed amount of money.
"The suspect left the bank and got into a vehicle described as a white SUV that was last seen heading west," the FBI reported.
The criminal complaint filed Friday states surveillance photos of the man who robbed the bank in Deming appeared similar to a man who robbed the Wells Fargo in Silver City on May 19.
On that date, a man dressed in camouflage and wearing a fishing hat and dark sunglasses, went inside the Wells Fargo at 12th and Pope streets, pointed a gun at a teller and asked for money, according to police reports.
Following the robbery, a customer inside Wells Fargo told police he chased after the suspect, but stopped when he saw the man holding a handgun.
A male subject robbed Wells Fargo in Silver City on May 19 and got away with around $890. (Photo: Courtesy Photo)
The chase
Before Thursday's chase ensued, Metro Narcotics agents received information that Reeder was possibly in Las Cruces in an Acura SUV that had been carjacked. He was believed to be armed and in possession of narcotics.
The agents subsequently located the Acura at the Walmart on South Valley Drive and set up surveillance. Around 7 p.m., Reeder and Webb drove out of the parking lot in the Acura.
Before the agents could perform a traffic stop, Reeder allegedly rammed into an unmarked law enforcement unit and fled north on Valley Drive, setting off the high-speed chase.
LCPD and News Mexico State Police pursued the Acura as Reeder led officers on a chase through several streets in Las Cruces, and along both Interstates 10 and 25.
The federal complaints state investigators chased the Acura from South Main Street to Valley Drive. The Acura then made a U-turn and began traveling on North Main Street before heading east on Boutz Road. The Acura then proceeded south on El Paseo Road.
From El Paseo, the Acura turned into a neighborhood to the west, and eventually ended up on Milton Avenue, though it's unclear how it got there. The federal complaint states law enforcement attempted to initiate a high-risk traffic stop on Milton, but the Acura rammed into an unmarked patrol vehicle, causing damage to the grill and bumper area.
That vehicle was driven by an FBI task force officer who was not seriously injured, according to the FBI.
A portion of the chase was not included in documents, but Sun-News reporters did listen to it on a police scanner.
The Acura eventually led authorities on to Picacho Avenue and then on to Interstate 10 westbound. The Acura exited at Exit 132, went across the overpass and started heading on I-10 eastbound back to Las Cruces.
The vehicle re-entered Las Cruces at the Avenida de Mesilla exit. It made its way to Stern Drive, where it crossed over on to Interstate 10 eastbound and eventually on to Interstate 25 northbound.
The Acura re-entered city streets at the Lohman exit. The chase eventually went into a residential neighborhood to the south of Lohman, where the Acura reportedly crossed through a portion of Chiva Town Park. It made its way back to Lohman and exited southbound I-25. From there, the Acura traveled back on to I-10, heading eastbound.
On I-10, the Acura left the highway, plowed through a fence and into a residential neighborhood in south Las Cruces, police said. The pursuit continued along residential roadways and through a pecan orchard just south of Las Cruces.
Buy Photo Police allege an Acura being driven by Zachary Reeder busted through this gate at the corner of Camino Real and Bristol Avenue south of Las Cruces during a high speed pursuit Thursday, July 13, 2017. Police said the chase continued through a pecan orchard south of the gate and came to end near Apodaca Road and N.M. Highway 28. (Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)
About 45 minutes after the chase began, the Acura crashed into a telephone pole off Carver Road, near N.M. 28. It came to a rest after striking a pecan tree.
Reeder then fled the vehicle on foot, leaving Webb behind. He was apprehended after a brief foot pursuit with officers and was taken into custody shorty before 8 p.m. Officers found three Federal brand 20-gauge shotgun shells and one Remington 20-gauge shotgun shell in a black fanny pack strapped to Reeder's waist, the federal complaint states.
Webb remained in the Acura and was also taken into custody.
After executing search warrants on the Acura and a nearby hotel room rented by Reeder, investigators found a shotgun, handgun and methamphetamine, police said.
Reeder is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces on Monday, according to the FBI.
Carlos Andres López can be reached 575-541-5453, [email protected] or @carlopez_los on Twitter
Read or Share this story: http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2017/07/15/arizona-residents-zachary-reeder-cassandra-webb-arrested-after-high-speed-chase/479631001/(New York) – Ecuadorian security forces used excessive force to disperse anti-government protests in August 2015, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities appear to have made no serious effort to investigate officials who committed abuses. Instead, the government congratulated security forces for their performance, dismissed the protests as violent, and brought criminal charges against nonviolent protesters and bystanders.
In August, tens of thousands of Ecuadorians took to the streets in at least 10 provinces across the country to protest a wide range of issues, including the government’s environmental policies and efforts to remove presidential term limits. Dozens of witnesses reported that the protests were largely peaceful, with isolated clashes between security forces and some protesters, who threw rocks and Molotov cocktails. Authorities say that 116 police and military officers were injured in the clashes.
“All attacks against police and military officers should be investigated,” said Daniel Wilkinson, Americas managing director at Human Rights Watch. “But attacks by protesters or provocateurs are no excuse for security forces using brutal force against peaceful demonstrators and bystanders.”
Human Rights Watch identified credible evidence that police or military personnel used unnecessary and unlawful force against unarmed people in at least 50 cases. They beat and arbitrarily arrested dozens of people, and illegally entered the homes of people who were not participating in the protests.
“Security forces committed serious abuses against protesters, and the government congratulated them,” Wilkinson said. “That sends the message that the government not only tolerates but encourages these abuses.”
International human rights standards – including the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials – require security forces to exercise restraint, “in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved,” and to minimize “damage and injury.” States are required under international law to provide victims of abuse with effective remedies, including access to justice and reparations.
Instead of bringing members of the security forces responsible for unlawful attacks to justice, the government has consistently responded that protesters had been violent, implying that all violence by security forces was justified. In two of his weekly TV shows during August, Correa showed video of isolated clashes as though they pervaded the demonstrations, and congratulated Ecuadorian police and military officers for their “professionalism” during the protests.
Human Rights Watch, on October 13, submitted a request to the office of Attorney General Galo Chiriboga, seeking information about investigations into alleged attacks against security officers and alleged abuses by security officers. On October 27, the Attorney General’s Office provided Human Rights Watch with a chart that includes brief descriptions of and status updates on 130 cases opened against citizens in 10 provinces. Twenty-eight detainees remain in pretrial detention, the office said. The chart does not include any information on investigations against police or military officers accused of committing abuses during the August protests.
“The government used the threat of a volcanic eruption near Quito to grant itself sweeping powers to deploy the military throughout the country and suspend fundamental rights,” Wilkinson said. “Then it sent soldiers and police officers to break up a largely peaceful protest more than 500 kilometers away, beat up and arrest members of an indigenous community, and raid their homes without warrant.”
On August 17, military and police personnel used excessive force to disperse a largely peaceful anti-government protest by members of an indigenous community in Saraguro, Loja province, which is located more than 500 kilometers from the Cotopaxi volcano in Quito. Among those detained was Manuel Asunción Poma Poma, a local resident who said he was leaving a store close to where a demonstration was taking place when security forces attacked him with batons, knocking out five teeth and damaging his jaw. Human Rights Watch reviewed a medical report and photographs that documented his injuries.
On August 15, President Rafael Correa issued a presidential decree declaring a state of emergency throughout Ecuador due to volcanic activity near Quito. The decree deployed the Armed Forces, which under an Ecuadorian law can only participate in public security operations during states of emergencies. It authorized the Armed Forces and National Police to use “all means at their disposal” to address the emergency, and said that certain rights, including the requirement that authorities obtain a warrant before entering one’s home and the right to assembly, would be suspended to the extent necessary to address problems generated by the volcanic activity.
On September 3, an official news outlet reported that a total of 126 people had been detained in 10 provinces for allegedly committing crimes during the protests such as sabotage, paralyzing public services, and attacking security forces and public property.
In one case Human Rights Watch documented, Mario Farid Mosquera Zurita, a 26-year-old merchant, intervened to help a woman being beaten by police as he walked home past demonstrations in Quito’s historic center. He told prosecutors later that the police beat him with fists and batons, repeatedly kicked him, and forced him onto a police motorcycle, where an officer continued to beat him in the ribs. Human Rights Watch reviewed a medical report that documented his injuries. Mosquera was charged with “attack or resistance” against authorities, which carries a sentence of up to two years in prison, and sent to pretrial detention.
The August Protests
The August demonstrations protested Correa administration proposals to amend the constitution to eliminate presidential term limits and allow the Armed Forces to participate in public security operations; rights violations associated with extractive industries projects; and government actions believed to threaten indigenous communities’ access to intercultural and bilingual education.
Witness accounts and video footage that Human Rights Watch reviewed show the protests to have been largely peaceful but also to have included sporadic clashes between security forces and civilians in which participants attacked security officers with sticks, rocks, spears, and Molotov cocktails. Human Rights Watch received conflicting accounts as to whether the attackers were demonstrators or provocateurs who had infiltrated the demonstrations.
The Official Account
Official news outlets repeated Correa’s accusations that the August protests were “violent” and reported that 116 police and military officers were injured during clashes and that 126 people were detained while allegedly committing such crimes as sabotage, paralyzing public services, and attacking security forces and public property.
The Interior Ministry reported on its website that indigenous groups in Saraguro, Loja province, kidnapped a police officer, a police commander, and a local politician during the afternoon of August 17. The commander and the politician were released several hours later, the ministry reported, while the police officer was taken to a building where members of an indigenous community forced him to kneel, covered his mouth with a cloth, threatened to burn and castrate him, and forced him to dress in indigenous women’s clothes. The government did not provide Human Rights Watch with information on any criminal investigation or prosecutions stemming from the alleged incident in the chart the government sent to Human Rights Watch.
Protests in Quito
On August 13, at least 50,000 people reportedly participated in a largely peaceful anti-government demonstration in the historic center of Quito. Video footage Human Rights Watch reviewed showed violent clashes between several demonstrators and members of the National Police, the agency charged with crowd control operations all over the country. Several demonstrators are seen throwing rocks, sticks, and Molotov cocktails at the police; or grabbing the metal bars, installed to limit where demonstrators could march, and throwing them toward the police, attempting to push them back.
According to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE), 35 people were detained in Quito that day. Human Rights Watch interviewed or reviewed videotaped testimony of several detained indigenous leaders, including Carlos Pérez Guartambel, president of the Kichwa Confederation of Ecuador (Confederación Kichwa del Ecuador, Ecuarunari); Salvador Quispe, the indigenous prefect of Zamora Chinchipe province; Katy Betancourt Machoa, CONAIE’s representative for women and family issues; and Liliana Herrera, daughter of CONAIE’s president.
All said that they had not been engaging in violent acts. Betancourt and Herrera told Human Rights Watch that they were beaten with batons as they were trying to help others who were being abused by the police. Those interviewed said that officers dragged them to a nearby street and forced them and several others to stay there, surrounded by police, for approximately three hours, finally releasing them with no explanation.
Manuela Picq, a French-Brazilian journalist and academic, told Human Rights Watch that she was detained when she was talking on the phone and demonstrating peacefully with Guartambel, her partner. A group of officers went toward the demonstration where she was standing, and kicked her and beat her with their fists or batons, Picq said. According to video footage filmed by a witness, the officers appear to grab and attack Picq with no prior motive. Picq’s detention report says that she was arrested because she did not have legal status to remain in the country, but official documentation Human Rights Watch reviewed shows that she had a valid visa, which was cancelled a day after her arrest. In addition, Human Rights Watch reviewed medical records corroborating her injuries.
Picq was held in a detention center in Quito for immigrants without legal status until August 17, when a judge refused to issue a deportation order. On August 21, after the government appealed the decision to the Interior Ministry, which under Ecuadorian law can overturn deportation rulings, and after another judge denied an injuction to uphold her visa, Picq left the country to avoid further proceedings. She requested a new visa to return to Ecuador, but it was denied, her lawyer told Human Rights Watch.
Twenty-two of the 35 people detained in Quito on August 13 were taken before a judge and charged with “attacking or resisting with violence or threats” the actions of public officials, including police officers, a lawyer working for CONAIE told Human Rights Watch. The law carries a sentence of up to two years, which may increase to three years if committed “by many people and as a consequence of a previous agreement.”
Among those detained was Paul Renato Carrasco Procel, a 26-year-old student, who at about 7 p.m. joined other protesters trying to stop a man who hit a police officer’s horse. A police officer grabbed him from behind, threw him to the ground, and kicked him, he told prosecutors. Another officer beat him with a police baton and dragged him behind a line of police officers, holding him there.
At about the same time, police detained Wilson Rodrigo Loachamin Fernández, a 44-year-old farmer who was sitting near a monument in the Plaza Santo Domingo in the historic center. Loachamin had participated in the demonstration earlier that day and was waiting for it to disperse so he could go home, he told prosecutors. When he saw police officers on motorcycles circling the monument, Loachamin decided to leave the area, but tripped and fell. The policemen beat |
the closing function on March 19. Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, chief minister Nitish Kumar and several central and state ministers are expected to attend the conclave, said Singh.He said over 150 monks from southeast Asian countries and hundreds of delegates from across the world are expected to participate in the conclave. Grammy Award winner guitarist Niladri Kumar, noted Kathak dancer Sovana Narayan and over 100 folk artists are also expected to perform during the first two days of the conclave.The DM has cancelled the leave of all the district officials and ordered them to remain at the district headquarters even on the coming Sunday in the wake of Holi and preparations for the conclave.Update: At Eastern European Mobile Monday Developer Summit's "Droidcon" event in Romania, RIM stated
"The BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps and associated tools are designed to help developers quickly and easily bring their Android Java applications to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The current Android Player is a pre-release version and RIM is planning to add support for more APIs in future releases. It is important to note that the majority of Android apps will be able to run fully on the BlackBerry PlayBook and without any modification to the app's source code. RIM invites developers to come to BlackBerry DevCon next month in San Francisco where they can interact with BlackBerry experts on a wide spectrum of topics, including the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps. For sessions on the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps they can check out the Online Session Catalog".
It hasn’t been long since the BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced that its QNX based tablet device, the PlayBook, will be supporting Android implementation on it. However, it has been revealed now that a sizable portion of Android apps will be cut off from running on the tablet device.
The news, as reported by The Guardian, thus leads us to a situation where Android developers might not be interested anymore in coming up with new apps for the QNX powered gadget.
The move taken by RIM to introduce Android support to the PlayBook was perhaps designed to facilitate its users with a wide range of options when it comes to games and applications. It is worth nothing here that the PlayBook device was unable to grab the attraction from the developers, and that’s why it remained somewhat fragile when it came to the availability of apps and games.
The Android apps which won’t be working in the QNX based tablet device includes, Android Live Wallpapers; apps that contain more than one activity tied to the launcher, the Android text-to-speech engine, Android cloud-to-device messaging service amongst a few others reports thinq_.
Meanwhile, in a related development, retailers have chosen to introduce a price cut in the device’s price following a not so positive response in the market.by Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator
Recently the Los Angeles City Council held hearings on the thorny issue of medical marijuana dispensary regulation. For years city officials have abrogated their duty to create sensible regulations for the dispensaries that have proliferated across the Los Angeles basin. The number of dispensaries has ballooned to over 500 (not the 1,000+ often claimed) following an ineffective moratorium on the retail medical marijuana outlets.
As usual, the hearings were packed, with medical marijuana patients and activists flooding the chambers to add their testimony to the record. One citizen petitioning her government for a redress of grievances was the Executive Director of the new Beverly Hills NORML 90210 (http://www.norml90210.org/become-a-member.php), Cheryl Shuman. In sixty seconds of testimony, Cheryl recounts her own personal medical marijuana tragedy, one that has befallen many desperately ill patients who use cannabis — even legally — and require life-saving organ transplants:
Cheryl’s case is not unique. All across America, hospitals are booting patients off of organ transplant lists because of their use of cannabis. Being a legal user of cannabis for medicinal purposes in the now fourteen states that recognize that right is of no help; even legal medical marijuana patients are essentially given a death sentence by hospital and insurance bureaucracies for their use of a safe, non-toxic herbal remedy.
Timothy Garon was a Seattle musician who had contracted Hepatitis C. Garon was on a waiting list for a life-saving liver transplant. The state of Washington recognizes Hep C as a qualifying condition for the medical use of cannabis. Garon’s physician, Dr. Brad Roter, authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate his nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite while he awaited. Garon had become dangerously thin and malnourished and the cannabis therapy helped bring him back from the brink of death.
But unbeknown to Dr. Roter, hospital transplant programs have strict rules that forbid “substance abusers” from qualifying for organ transplants. Seattle’s University of Washington Medical Center told Garon that if he ceased his marijuana use and tested clean for 60 days, he could have his liver transplant. Another medical center specified six months of marijuana abstinence before they’d save his life with surgery.
Doctors had told Garon he had about two weeks to live and he died on May 1, 2008. The cruelest irony is that cannabis is one of the few therapies Garon could have taken for pain and nausea that is not hepatoxic (liver-killing) and laden with a list of other nasty side effects.
In Hawaii, Kimberley Reyes suffered from cirrhosis and hepatitis and was given thirty days to live. She applied for and received approval for a life-saving liver transplant, only to have the rug pulled out from under her three days later when her insurance company, Hawaii Medical Service Association, discovered cannabis in her system, which she had used to relieve feelings of nausea, disorientation and pain. Ten days later she, too, was dead.
In Washington, Jonathan Simchen suffers from kidney failure. Doctors at Virginia Mason and University of Washington medical centers deny him a life-saving kidney transplant because of his participation in the Washington State medical marijuana program. According to Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason, “any patient who smokes any product — tobacco, cloves, medical marijuana — would be precluded from receiving a transplant here.”
In Georgia, a man named Walter emailed me after reading these transplant stories:
My name is Walter and my kidney transplant was denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia due to the fact I smoke marijuana. In January I went to the University of Minnesota/Fairview Transplant Center for an evaluation. In order to be completely honest with all the doctors I made them aware of the fact that I smoke marijuana and have for quite some time. I also made them aware that the use of marijuana has helped me with the decline of my appetite due to end stage of renal disease. With the exception of the hospital shrink, no one seemed to have a problem with it and even commented that my smoking had nothing to do with my kidney. Blue Cross Blue Shield approved the evaluation but [after] having received the paperwork from Minnesota has declined my transplant, stating “Kidney transplantation has not been shown to be more beneficial than other alternative treatments for patients with ongoing substance abuse. Thus, I recommended denial of kidney transplantation” (Ronald Hunt MD – Medical Director).
Jim Klahr is a well-known medical marijuana activist here in Oregon who also suffers from cirrhosis and hepatitis C. In an ironic twist, he sits on the state’s advisory committee on medical marijuana, yet hasn’t used his most effective medicine for his pain and nausea since 2004 because he’s terrified of losing his chance for a liver transplant. “I’ve capitulated because basically I don’t have much of a choice,” says Klahr. Paul Stanford of The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation, the state’s largest medical marijuana clinic, estimates at least 30 Oregonians who use medical weed have died in the past 10 years after hospitals denied them new organs.
We understand why hospitals have strict qualifying criteria for transplant candidates. Transplant organs are in high demand and doctors want every recipient to have the best chance at survival possible. Hospitals screen their transplant lists for “substance abusers” because it really doesn’t make much sense to put a new liver into an alcoholic who will just go out and drink that organ into cirrhosis and failure as well. It’s foolhardy to give a new kidney to a heroin addict who would then possibly share needles and come down with another life-threatening disease.
But in the case of cannabis users, the concern for the chance of post-transplant survival is misplaced. According to new research at the University of Michigan, cannabis use has no impact on the long-term survival rates of liver transplant recipients. After studying 1,489 liver transplant patients, 155 of whom were cannabis users, over a span of eight years, researchers concluded, “Patients who did and did not use marijuana had similar survival rates. Current substance abuse policies do not seem to systematically expose marijuana users to additional risk of mortality.”
The cases of Cheryl Shuman and all these victims of a cruel and needless discrimination against desperately ill cannabis consumers illustrate why existing medical marijuana laws, while commendable, do not go far enough. Cheryl Shuman, Tim Garon, Jim Klahr and others are all legal medical marijuana patients in their state, yet powerless under the law to force hospitals to keep them on the transplant lists. This discrimination exists because cannabis is considered an “illicit drug of abuse” in the same category as heroin and LSD. This is why cannabis must be removed from Schedule I, legalized for prescription by any doctor in any state, so that it may truly be treated like other medicines, including the prohibition on discrimination against a transplant patient for the use of his or her doctor’s prescriptions.The problem was deadly serious: In 1943, U.S. bombers in Europe were being shot down at an alarming rate. But one attempted solution provides a smile some 67 years later: an unloved American fighter stripped of its guns, painted clown-orange, and sheathed with armor that made it fly like an anvil, so that aerial gunnery students in B-17s and B-24s could shoot at it. The Bell Aircraft RP-63 Kingcobra, affectionately called the Flying Pinball Machine because of a red light on its nose that flashed when a student’s bullets hit the airplane, made its greatest contribution to the war effort as a punching bag on the home front. Its pilots enjoyed the work, for the most part. Horace Ashenfelter was a newly commissioned pilot flying the Pinball in 1945 at Tyndall Army Air Field near Panama City, Florida (and later became an Olympic steeplechase champion). Says Ashenfelter, “We were playing war games, like kids!”
By the spring of 1943, the U.S. Eighth Air Force, a unit tasked with strategic air assault against Germany, had swelled to 500 heavy bombers. Losses had swelled too. In a June raid on Kiel and Bremen, Germany, 26 bombers were shot down, 22 of them flown by inexperienced crews. In July, German fighters downed 128 U.S. bombers. U.S. gunners, meanwhile, claimed to have shot down 545 German fighters that month, a number later adjusted to 40 when planners realized that multiple guns on the same targets were producing huge errors.
On August 17, the Americans sent 146 bombers to pound the Messerschmitt factory at Regensburg, while another 230 hit the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt. German fighters savaged the bombers, claiming 60 in a day. Into the fall of 1943, the carnage continued: September 6, Stuttgart, 45 bombers lost; October 8, Bremen, 30 lost and 26 badly damaged; October 9, above several targets in Germany and Poland, 26 lost; October 10, Muenster, 30 lost; and over Schweinfurt’s ball bearing plants again on October 14, now called Black Thursday, 60 bombers down. The result: U.S. commanders halted deep penetrations into Germany until the arrival of the P-51 Mustang escort, with its extended range.
Long before the Eighth Air Force took these losses, Cameron Fairchild, an Army Air Forces major, wanted to improve the results of the guys in the gun turrets. A trainer at Harlingen Army Air Field in Texas in the spring of 1942, Fairchild intended to improve on such practice techniques as firing shotguns at clay pigeons, shooting.30- and.50-caliber machine guns on the ground at targets on wheels, simulating air combat on a movie screen, and shooting at target banners towed by B-17s, B-34s, or AT-6s. Fairchild wondered if a bullet that splintered harmlessly on impact could be developed to fire at real pursuit airplanes.
It took the better part of a year for researchers at Duke University and the University of Michigan, as well as engineers at the Bakelite Corporation, an early maker of plastics, to come up with a plastic-metal casing for the bullet. By late 1943, the team delivered a frangible—breakable—bullet that would not jam a.30-caliber machine gun, would fly like a real bullet, and would shatter on impact. Powdered lead manufactured by DuPont gave the bullets the proper weight and density.
Some in the Army called Fairchild a “lesser Billy Mitchell” for his willingness to risk rebuke in the zealous pursuit of his ideas. Promoting the frangible bullet, he defied the usual path of Army ordnance development by first working with academics Paul Gross and Marcus Hobbs at Duke. The Army Ordnance Department then argued that a bullet made of frangible material would have different ballistics from a real one, wouldn’t fire properly, and could be safely fired only at a target airplane that had been heavily armored. The National Defense Research Committee approved the idea, but with limited funding and urgency, which slowed its progress.
In Fairchild’s favor, reports through 1943 and 1944 showed that gunners in Europe needed better training. Fairchild turned his attention to a target airplane. In the first half of 1944, a flirtation with the twin-engine, combat-proven Douglas A-20 gave way to Bell’s single-engine P-63, which the Army deemed more like a Messerschmitt Bf 109. Like its P-39 ancestor, the P-63 had been ignored by the Army in favor of the P-51 and the P-47 Thunderbolt. And like the P-39, the P-63 was exported through the Lend-Lease Act to the Soviet Union and France.
The Pinball was given modified cockpit glass that was more than an inch thick, and its wings and forward surfaces were heavily armored with a special aluminum alloy. Beneath the armor, sensors registered hits, which were displayed on a counter in the cockpit. In the nose, the 37-mm cannon was replaced by a light that flashed red with every hit.
Beginning in early 1945 at air bases in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, Pinball pilots began to take off and rendezvous with B-17s and B-24s. From the skies over the Florida Everglades, the Gulf of Mexico, and huge swaths of western desert, countless shell casings and spent bullets began to fall. In each bomber’s waist were 12 student gunners with 2,000 rounds each, taking turns as the RP-63 swooped down from above in an attack pattern.
“We’d fly curves of pursuit, like fighters did in battle,” says Henry “Hank” Rodrique, then a 19-year-old second lieutenant flying Pinballs at Harlingen, Texas. “Sometimes when I’d break off, they’d still shoot.”
Robert Corson, a crew chief at Yuma Army Airfield in Arizona, says, “The Pinballs would come in with holes in the empennage, because the gunners would freeze on the trigger and keep on firing when the Pinballs pulled up at the end of a run, and the rudder and horizontal stabilizers were vulnerable. We’d just patch the holes with small squares of cloth and glue them on, and go on our way.”
One gunner, Harry J. Byer, recalls, “The RP-63s were making high side passes, and about the last couple of hundred yards the instructors would make us stop firing. Then the guy would break down under the ship, come up on the other side, go up on the perch, and make another pass. When they’d finish a pass, they’d call the ship and say, ‘You got six hits, or ten, or three.’ ”
“We would normally fly two or three missions a day,” says Ashenfelter. “The missions would last about an hour and a half. The RPs would hold gas for about two hours’ worth, but by the time you got up there and did your thing with each airplane you had to attack, you’d be out of gas.”
The Pinball pilots were a mixed lot. Some were newly minted 19- or 20-year-old second lieutenants on their first assignments. Others were veterans of combat missions with fighter groups in England and Italy. After flying frontline fighters, adjusting to the RP-63 was not a problem for veterans, but deliberately letting themselves be shot at took some getting used to. “We’d get pilots with combat experience in Europe,” says Corson, “and they’d come to our base after a month or two of R&R. The first time around in an RP-63, the first mission, they were definitely twitchy. They’d been shot at, after all, and then going up and doing it on purpose was something they didn’t really like. But they’d all come down after that first mission with big grins on their faces.”
John Aranyos had flown 82 combat missions in the P-47 and been shot at plenty of times by Germans, but wasn’t sure about being fired on by Americans. “I’ll tell you what,” he says, “I was a little apprehensive. I got to my altitude and made my first pass at the bomber, a B-17. He was at 9,000 feet and I was several thousand feet higher. And I thought to myself that I was deliberately setting myself up as a perfect target for some eagle-eyed kid aspiring to be a top-notch gunner at my expense. I felt I was the world’s greatest idiot.
“As I made the first pass, I was expecting to feel the impact of the frangible bullets—and there was no impact! I couldn’t believe it. I thought they were dry firing at me or something. And the recorder showed I had been hit 14 times. That is when I started being able to feel confident that the airplane was going to give me a good ride.”
Though the RP-63’s Allison V-1710-177 liquid-cooled engine generated up to 1,800 horsepower, the armor made the aircraft challenging to fly. Still, Ashenfelter liked the extra weight. “It was not as maneuverable as the regular P-63, but it was smoother,” he says. “On the downside, you could get a little bit of a high-speed stall if you maneuvered it too abruptly, and then you had a real problem.”
Barrie Davis, flying Pinballs at Las Vegas after a 70-mission tour in Italy in the P-47 and P-51, found that out the hard way. “I made the mistake of trying a loop one day,” he says. “I dived to pick up airspeed, and I went up and over the top in good shape. But coming out of the loop, every time I’d put a little back-step pressure on the thing, I’d hit a high-speed stall. So it was just a question of which was going to happen first: Was I going to stall into the ground, or was I going to fly that machine out of the loop? Well, I made it out of the other side, but I was below the mountains.”
According to Merlyn Franck, who flew Pinballs out of Laredo, Texas, “The whole secret was to keep your airspeed up and a little power on at touchdown. One of our pilots neglected this advice and allowed his RP-63 to get too slow on final approach. He dropped it in so hard it drove both main gear struts up through the wings.”
The RP-63’s real Achilles’ heel involved wing root ducts that fed air to the engine’s cooling system. When a bullet found the duct, its fragments would puncture parts of the system. As the engine overheated, the pilot had to choose a bailout or a deadstick landing. The latter happened plenty of times on the dry lakes of Nevada. After taking a round in the air duct, Captain Ingvar Jacobsen found a lake bed before his engine quit. On another mission, the pilot of a bomber Jacobsen was working with was having engine trouble. When Jacobsen flew closer to inspect, the waist gunner opened up on him. At such a short range, the frangible bullets were as deadly as real bullets, and they shot out his engine. Jacobsen bailed out.
There were variations in the performances of the RP-63s, especially in the hit-counting system. Vibrations from the flight of the airplane itself could set off phantom hits. On other occasions, the counters failed to work. “Back on the ground,” says Davis, “we’d take a grease pencil and go over the whole plane and mark all the new hits.” The ones from previous missions had been circled; the new ones appeared as dust spots.
Through most of 1945, the Pinball program gave gunnery students their only realistic practice at aerial combat. In all, some 300 P-63s were converted into Pinballs, but the war’s end made them obsolete. A few continued to train B-29 gunners after the Japanese surrender, but by the end of 1947, all the Air Force’s RP-63s had been mothballed. When centralized gunnery control was developed for the B-29 and introduced in the spring of 1944, automated shooting took over. In the first version of the B-52, a gunner was located in the tail, but in later versions, he was moved to the cockpit, where he operated the guns remotely. In the decades since, Pinballs were replaced by target drones. In fighters, heat-seeking missiles replaced machine guns, and some bombing missions are now flown by unmanned vehicles directed by armchair pilots thousands of miles away.
In his book Operation Pinball, Pinball pilot Ivan Hickman recounted, “Most of the pilots I knew felt that the [P]inball program, despite its shortcomings and inherent dangers, was the training device of the future.” Those pilots weren’t totally wrong. But the future they spoke of turned out to be one measured in months. And, as Horace Ashenfelter noted, “It was fun.”
James Dunaway got into the magazine business at age nine, selling door to door in New York City. He is now the editor of American Track & Field. This is his first story for Air & Space.Moscow has expressed its concern over the UN’s “inconsistent” and “unconstructive” approach to dealing with the charges of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria. Sara Flounders explains what could go wrong if the issue is not thoroughly addressed.
Russia has accused the UN of yielding to the pressure of “certain states” and disrupting the investigation into what Moscow says are perfectly verifiable claims, all in order to further condemn the regime of President Bashar Assad, while victimizing rebels. The attack in question took place on March 19 and has claimed the lives of 25 people, with blame being directed both ways.
Sara Flounders, who is the head of the International Action Center in New York, is adamantly opposed to the drumming up of any charges as a pretext for intervention or invasion. She recalls the lessons of Iraq and Libya – both now completely destitute and without properly-functioning governments. Finally, Flounders believes that the US is putting the region’s people in mortal danger by supplying extremists in the area with weapons for the purpose of bringing about regime change in Syria.
RT: The UN says it wants to assess all possible uses of chemical weapons, throughout all of Syria, and not just Aleppo. Russia isn’t too happy about that. Is that not the logical way forward?
SF: Well, it’s the most dangerous way forward, because the US is clearly using the UN and every possible international agency in order to continue their intervention. It’ the US and NATO that are clearly pumping arms into the region, that have orchestrated and created the crisis, using chemical weapons that are quite likely set to create a far more serious crisis, because they have not yet been successful in creating a regime change in Syria, which is their agenda. It’s the agenda of Saudi Arabia, of Turkey – a NATO member – and very much the agenda of the US, who is fueling and orchestrating this war crime against the people of Syria.
RT: The Russian foreign minister has drawn a parallel with Iraq where he says that false reports of weapons of mass destruction of course led to the invasion there. Could we perhaps be seeing something similar happening in Syria?
SF: That’s what’s so dangerous about this. The same scenario, the same playbook seems to be used now in Syria with similar charges. I mean – who has the weapons of mass destruction in the world today? It’s the Pentagon. And that’s a fact. Nevertheless, using the charge against countries that are trying to defend their own sovereignty again and again, has been an excuse for war – for occupation, for destabilization, for pumping in more and more weapons, paying mercenaries and death squads, attempting to foment civil war and sectarian warfare. It’s a very dangerous policy, and the worst and most dangerous ones are again and again, from the Sate Department, from the White House: the warnings that chemical weapons would be an excuse for deeper US involvement. So the charge is a very serious charge!
RT: What would happen if Assad’s regime collapsed – and he has allegedly got stockpiles of chemical weapons: what would happen to those? Is there a danger that they could get into the wrong hands?
SF: Of course, there’s a danger from every angle in this. There’s a Syrian government the people are defending. And the idea of outside intervention, of orchestrated mercenaries sweeping into the region and using it as one more weapons cache, is of course very dangerous for all the people of the region. They have no plan for rebuilding Syria, for providing for people’s needs. We can of course see the enormous payoffs, the loss of life the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Libya, have created. If you look at Libya today, it’s without an ounce of stability, a completely non-functional government – this is what they have in store for Syria, where already 70,000 people have died as a result of this US - NATO orchestrated war.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.(AP) — Dustin Johnson plans to return from his leave of absence in two weeks at Torrey Pines.
The Farmers Insurance Open representatives released a statement Friday which said that the 30-year-old Johnson has committed to play the tournament Feb. 5-8.
It will be his first competition since he announced in early August that he was taking time off to seek professional help from “personal challenges.”
Johnson never disclosed the nature of those challenges. Golf.com reported that he had tested positive for cocaine for the second time in three years and that the PGA Tour suspended him for six months. The PGA Tour said it did not.
Johnson is an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. He missed the PGA Championship, FedEx Cup playoffs, the Ryder Cup and his title defense in the HSBC Champions last year.Ford’s factory GTE-Pro effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship is confirmed only through the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship ‘Super Season’ as a result of the championship’s shift to a winter calendar, according to newly named motorsports boss Mark Rushbrook.
The American manufacturer had committed to a two-year extension of its program shortly after claiming class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016, back when the WEC schedule was set to remain contested over a calendar year.
However, its transition to a winter calendar has resulted in Ford’s WEC commitment for the next season, instead of two additional full years as initially planned.
Rushbrook, who will take the helm as Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director on Dec. 1, told Sportscar365: “We’ve said for the last year-in-a-half that we’re committed through 2019.
“So for IMSA, [it’s] 2018 and 2019. On the WEC side, at this point we can say we’re committed through the ‘Super Season’ 2018/19.”
A timeline on when Ford could make a decision to extend its factory GT effort has not been established.
It’s been heavily rumored 2019 will mark the end of the Ford GT program, but could depend on whether it makes the move to LMP1/DPi competition in 2020, which remains a possibility, according to Head of Ford North America Raj Nair.
“We’ve got a lot of time before we need to make any decisions on that,” Rushbrook said in regards to extending the Ford GT program.
Shift in GTE Homologations Likely
The WEC’s shift to a winter calendar will also likely affect the rollout of new and updated GTE cars, which will no longer make its debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but rather at the start of each WEC season mid-year.
It’s understood an agreement has been made in principle to postpone the homologation period for roughly six months, beginning with the 2019/20 season.
“A new car would come for the first WEC race because it’s FIA-homologated,” said Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “The IMSA car will be introduced after the WEC [season] starts.
“The IMSA car should then come six months later, but one year later than the original schedule.
“Then for the first time you’d have properly homologated cars in Daytona. It takes until March or April for the FIA homologation because FIA thinks of the first race of WEC.
“I think this is a better solution, to postpone it by six months.”
While not yet approved by the FIA, it’s believed such a move would delay the introduction of new GTE programs, such as the much-rumored Lamborghini project, effectively by an entire year.
The new three-year cycle for GTE regulations, meanwhile, would begin with the 2019/20 WEC season instead of 2019 at Daytona.Buy Photo Burlington Police Lt. Matt Sullivan looks up at the fourth floor window, it's screen lying on the ground, after a two-year-old child fell out of the window at a Champlain Housing Trust apartment complex on Lake Street Wednesday afternoon. The child suffered a broken leg. (Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo
A toddler survived a four-story fall from a Burlington apartment building Wednesday, and police were investigating the circumstances of what they initially are classifying as an accident.
The girl, described by police as nearly 2 years old, was playing in a room at the Waterfront Housing complex on Lake Street at about 2:20 p.m. when she somehow went through a window screen and plummeted 40 feet, Lt. Matt Sullivan said.
The child landed on grass below and appeared to have suffered only a broken leg, Sullivan said. The girl's mother and a friend were in the apartment at the time of the fall.
“On the face of it, it appears accidental,” Sullivan said.
Buy Photo Police cordon off an area behind a Champlain Housing Trust apartment complex on Lake Street in Burlington after a two-year-old child fell from a window on the fourth floor, suffering a broken leg. (Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)
Burlington fire and rescue personnel rushed the toddler to the University of Vermont Medical Center, placing the girl first on a backboard. “That’s a good thing," Sullivan said. "That means the child is conscious.”
Burlington police were beginning their investigation by 2:50 p.m. Officers cordoned off the rear of the 40-unit building with yellow police tape as they worked.
Names of those involved were not immediately available.
The Waterfront Housing building opened about a decade ago and is owned and managed by the Champlain Housing Trust. The building includes rent-restricted and market-rate apartments and is fully occupied, said Chris Donnelly, the housing trust's director of community relations.
Buy Photo Burlington Fire Department medical staff load a two-year-old child onto an ambulance after the child fell from a fourth-floor window at a Champlain Housing Trust apartment complex on Lake Street Wednesday afternoon. The child suffered a broken leg. (Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)
The trust was working to support the family, who are tenants of the building, Donnelly said. He added that the building meets or exceeds all safety regulations.
"These are apartments, and especially ones that we build, are heavily inspected," he said. "Whatever the specs are, we’re up to them or exceed them in many cases."
This story was first posted online on Sept. 21, 2016, and has been updated. Contributing: Dan D'Ambrosio and Adam Silverman of the Free Press.
Read or Share this story: http://bfpne.ws/2dk9sxbDisparities By Household Wealth to the top
Birth registration (%) 2005-2012*, poorest 20% 27.2
Birth registration (%) 2005-2012*, richest 20% 44
Birth registration (%) 2005-2012*, ratio of richest to poorest 1.6
Skilled attendant at birth (%) 2008-2012*, poorest 20% 43.3
Skilled attendant at birth (%) 2008-2012*, richest 20% 87.5
Skilled attendant at birth (%) 2008-2012*, ratio of richest to poorest 2
Underweight prevalence in children under five (%) 2008-2012*, poorest 20% 18.1
Underweight prevalence in children under five (%) 2008-2012*, richest 20% 8.4
Underweight prevalence in children under five (%) 2008-2012*, ratio of poorest to richest 2.2
Diarrhoea treatment with oral rehydration salts (ORS) (%) 2008-2012*, poorest 20% 42.9
Diarrhoea treatment with oral rehydration salts (ORS) (%) 2008-2012*, richest 20% 45.4
Diarrhoea treatment with oral rehydration salts (ORS) (%) 2008-2012*, ratio of richest to poorest 1.1
Primary school net attendance ratio 2008-2012*, poorest 20% 73.2
Primary school net attendance ratio 2008-2012*, richest 20% 86.9
Primary school net attendance ratio 2008-2012*, ratio of richest to poorest 1.2
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV (%) Females 15-24 2008-2012*, poorest 20% –
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV (%) Females 15-24 2008-2012*, richest 20% –
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV (%) Females 15-24 2008-2012*, ratio of richest to poorest –
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV (%) Males 15-24 2008-2012*, poorest 20% –
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV (%) Males 15-24 2008-2012*, richest 20% –MUMBAI: Amid simmering tension on the Indo-Pak border, the Pakistan women cricket team's participation in the upcoming World Cup continued to remain uncertain with security concerns and possible political protests prompting the BCCI to suggest alternative venues.The BCCI has already apprised the International Cricket Council of the situation prevailing in India following the killing of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistani Army and the game's governing body is expected to take a final decision soon.With Mumbai Cricket Association making it clear that it would be difficult to host the matches involving Pakistani team in the city, the ICC may have to announce a new venue for the matches.A day after all the nine Pakistani hockey players, taking part in the Hockey India League, were asked to return home, the fate of Pakistan's women cricket team continued to remain under a cloud with Mumbai and Ahmedabad refusing to host the matches.Fearing that the matches could be disrupted, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf had suggested to the ICC that the entire World Cup tournament should be shifted to South Africa."Women's World Cup is an ICC event and if the security is not good enough in India then the world governing body should consider shifting it to a neutral venue like South Africa or somewhere," he said."I would want to leave it ICC to decide. The entire tournament has to go to a neutral venue and a few matches cannot be shifted to another country and rest play somewhere. If it happens in India then there should be proper security arrangement, otherwise it could be shifted to another venue," Ashraf said.The MCA and local police authorities here suggested to the ICC that it would be better if matches involving Pakistan in the Women's Cricket World Cup are shifted out of the city.According to MCA sources, this was done at a meeting held in the association's premises on Wednesday involving an ICC representative, tournament director Suru Nayak, who is employed with the BCCI, a few top police officials and some MCA office bearers."It was told (to ICC representative) that adequate security could be provided to the women cricketers. But the public feeling on the issue was also conveyed and it was mentioned in the current scenario that it would be difficult to stop political parties (from protesting against Pakistan women's team) if the matches are held here," an MCA official said."Nayak said that the ICC would be apprised of what took part in the meeting and they would take a call on the matter within 24 hours," he added.Another MCA official said that there is specific threat of disruption of the matches from the Shiv Sena.On Tuesday, the matter was discussed at the Board's all-powerful Working Committee meeting here and it was decided to convey to the ICC the situation prevailing in the country.BCCI president N Srinivasan said the issue was now for the ICC to decide."We have informed the ICC about it. They will have to examine and take a view," he said after the meeting.The Gujarat Cricket Association also refused to host the matches after it was approached by the BCCI."The BCCI had approached us asking whether Ahmedabad would be in a position to host the ICC Women's World Cup 2013. But we have refused to host the matches here following rising tension at the border," GCA secretary Rajesh Patel said."Whether to go ahead with the matches at the same venue or shift it to an alternate |
is infuriated by the prank—but finds herself romantically intrigued by Mitch.
Melanie purchases a pair of lovebirds and drives to Mitch's weekend address in Bodega Bay to deliver them. Wanting to surprise him, she rents a motorboat so she can approach the Brenner house from the bay instead of the road. She sneaks the birds inside the house and heads back across the bay. Mitch discovers the birds, spots Melanie's boat during her retreat, and drives around the bay to meet her. Melanie is attacked and injured by a seagull near shore on the town side. Mitch treats her abrasion and invites her to dinner; she hesitantly agrees.
Melanie gets to know Mitch, his domineering mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy), and his younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). She also befriends local school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), Mitch's ex-lover. While spending the night at Annie's house, she and Annie are startled by a loud thud: a gull kills itself by flying into the front door. At Cathy's birthday party the next day, the guests are attacked by seagulls. The following evening, sparrows invade the Brenner home through the chimney.
The next morning, Lydia, a widow who still maintains the family farmstead, visits a neighboring farmer to discuss the unusual behavior of her chickens. She finds the farmer's eyeless corpse, pecked lifeless by birds, and flees in terror. Once home, she expresses concern for Cathy's safety at school. Melanie drives there and waits for class to end, unaware that a large flock of crows is massing in the adjacent playground. Unnerved when she sees its jungle gym engulfed by them, she warns Annie, and they evacuate the children. The commotion stirs the crows into attacking, injuring several of the children.
Melanie meets Mitch at a local restaurant, where several patrons describe aggressive encounters with birds. An ornithologist dismisses the reports as fanciful and argues that birds lack the intelligence to mount coordinated attacks on humans. Soon birds begin to attack people outside the restaurant, knocking a gas station attendant unconscious while he is filling a car with fuel, which spills onto the street. A bystander attempts to light a cigar, igniting a pool of gasoline which incinerates him. The explosion attracts a mass of gulls, which swarm menacingly as townsfolk attempt to douse the fire. Melanie takes refuge in a phone booth, but gulls fly into the glass walls and shatter them. Rescued by Mitch, Melanie returns to the restaurant, where a distraught patron accuses her of causing the attacks, which began with her arrival. Mitch and Melanie visit Annie's house and find that she has been killed by crows while ushering Cathy to safety inside the house.
That night Melanie and the Brenners seek refuge inside the family home, which is attacked by waves of birds that nearly breach barricaded doors and windows. During a lull between attacks, Melanie hears the sound of fluttering wings. Realizing the sounds are emanating from above, she cautiously climbs the staircase and enters Cathy's bedroom, where she finds the birds have broken through the roof. They violently attack her, trapping her in the room until Mitch rescues her. Melanie is badly injured and nearly catatonic; Mitch insists they must get her to the hospital and suggests they drive to San Francisco.
As Mitch readies Melanie's car for their escape, a sea of birds gathers menacingly around the Brenner house. The radio reports bird attacks on nearby communities such as Santa Rosa, and suggests that the military may intervene to quell the unexplained attacks. Cathy retrieves the lovebirds from the house and joins Mitch and Lydia as they carefully escort Melanie to the car past a mass of birds nearby. The car slowly makes its way through a landscape in which thousands of birds are ominously perching.
Cast [ edit ]
Production [ edit ]
Development [ edit ]
The screenplay for the film is based on Daphne du Maurier's novella, "The Birds", which was first published in her 1952 collection, The Apple Tree.[4] The protagonist of the novella is a farm hand living in Cornwall, and the conclusion of the story is far more pessimistic than that of the film.[5] It was adapted by Evan Hunter, who had written previously for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and the television anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[6] The relationship between Hunter and Hitchcock during the creation of The Birds was documented by the writer in his 1997 autobiography, Me and Hitch, which contains a variety of correspondence between the writer, director and Hitchcock's assistant, Peggy Robertson.[7]
Hunter began working on the screenplay in September 1961.[8] He and Hitchcock developed the story, suggesting foundations such as the townspeople having a guilty secret to hide, and the birds an instrument of punishment.[9] He suggested that the film begin using some elements borrowed from the screwball comedy genre, then have it evolve into "stark terror".[10][11][12] This appealed to Hitchcock, according to the writer, because it conformed to his love of suspense: the title and the publicity would have already informed the audience that birds attack, but they do not know when. The initial humor followed by horror would turn the suspense into shock.[9] At first, Hunter wanted the protagonist to be a school teacher, but this ended up being the basis for Annie Hayward's character instead.[13] Hunter organised his scripts by shots instead of scenes, although this did not affect the final film.[14]
Hitchcock solicited comments from several people regarding the first draft of Hunter's screenplay. Consolidating their criticisms, Hitchcock wrote to Hunter, suggesting that the script (particularly the first part) was too long, contained insufficient characterization in the two leads, and that some scenes lacked drama and audience interest.[15] Hitchcock, at later stages, consulted with his friends, Hume Cronyn (whose wife Jessica Tandy was playing Lydia), and V.S. Pritchett, who both offered lengthy reflections on the work.[16] This is something that Hunter found difficult.[17] Hitchcock cut the last ten pages of the screenplay, although some sources say possibly more,[3][18] in order to create a more ambiguous ending. Originally, he wanted the film to end without a "THE END" card, but he was forced to include one before the film's full release.[18]
Birds used in the film [ edit ]
The majority of the birds seen in the film are real, although it is estimated that more than $200,000 was spent on the creation of mechanical birds for the film.[19][3] Ray Berwick was in charge of the live birds used in the production, training and catching many of them himself. The seagulls were caught in the San Francisco garbage dump[20] and the sparrows were caught by John 'Bud' Cardos. However, the captured sparrows had to be used alongside birds from pet shops to achieve full effect in the scene where they invade the house.[21]
Soundtrack [ edit ]
Many of the sound effects were created on the Mixtur-Trautonium, an electronic musical instrument developed by Oskar Sala
Hitchcock decided to do without any conventional incidental score.[22] Instead, he made use of sound effects and sparse source music in counterpoint to calculated silences. He wanted to use the electroacoustic Mixtur-Trautonium to create the bird calls and noises. He had first encountered this predecessor to the synthesizer on Berlin radio in the late 1920s. It was invented by Friedrich Trautwein, and further developed by Oskar Sala into the Trautonium, which would create some of the bird sounds for this film.[23]
The director commissioned Sala and Remi Gassmann to design an electronic soundtrack.[22] They are credited with "electronic sound production and composition", and Hitchcock's previous musical collaborator, Bernard Herrmann, is credited as "sound consultant".
Source music includes the first of Claude Debussy's Deux arabesques, which Tippi Hedren's character plays on piano, and "Risseldy Rosseldy", an Americanized version of the Scottish folk song, "Wee Cooper O'Fife", which is sung by the schoolchildren.
Special effects [ edit ]
Once the crow attack and attic scenes were assembled by the film's editor, George Tomasini, they were sent to the special effects department for enhancement.[24] The film required a myriad of special effects and Hitchcock commissioned the help of various studios. The special effects shots of the attacking birds were completed at Walt Disney Studios by animator/technician, Ub Iwerks, who used the sodium vapor process ("yellow screen"), which he had helped to develop. The SV process films the subject against a screen lit with narrow-spectrum sodium vapor lights. Unlike most compositing processes, SVP shoots two separate elements of the footage simultaneously using a beam-splitter. One reel is regular film stock and the other a film stock with emulsion sensitive only to the sodium vapor wavelength. This results in very precise matte shots compared to blue screen special effects, necessary due to "fringing" of the image from the birds' rapid wing flapping.[25][26] At Disney, Iwerks worked on the following scenes: the children's party, Melanie driving to Bodega Bay, and the first two cuts of the crow attack sequence.[27] One of the biggest challenges facing Iwerks was the scene where a number of sparrows fly in through the chimney of the family home. Utilizing an optical printer, his superposition of a group of small birds flying inside an enclosed glass booth made it possible to multiply the birds in the living room. Most of the special effects work done at Disney was completed in the Process Lab on printer ten, which was made from Iwerk's own original design.[27]
At MGM, Bob Hoag was put in charge of the optical effects for the sequence where Melanie hides inside a telephone booth as it is attacked by the birds. Hitchcock had requested that Hoag remove any shot where Melanie looked placid and urged that she be in constant movement instead. Hoag, along with a team of thirty, worked together on the blue backing and sodium matte shots.[27] Linwood Dunn, a founder of Film Effects of Hollywood, was commissioned to work on the attic scene. He was asked to produce a rough cut of the sequence before Hitchcock left for Berlin in December of 1962.[28] Bill Abbott, at Fox, was in charge of the optical effects for the crow attack sequence, which would take six weeks to finish. Abbott organised two teams - both working eleven hours a day - to work on the sequence simultaneously. Abbott's biggest challenge was size ratio, as he had to ensure that the birds looked like they were attacking the children. He achieved this by placing the birds within frame and zooming in on them to make them the correct size in proportion to the children.[28] At Universal, associate editor, Ross Hoffman, and matte artist, Albert Whitlock, both worked on designing the town's backdrop, including the birds in the trees and the scenery for the river shots of Melanie's car arriving in Bodega Bay.[28]
Premiere and awards [ edit ]
The film premiered March 28, 1963 in New York City. The Museum of Modern Art hosted an invitation-only screening as part of a 50-film retrospective of Hitchcock's film work. The MOMA series had a booklet with a monograph on the director written by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was screened out of competition[29] in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival[30] with Hitchcock and Hedren in attendance.
Ub Iwerks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects.[3] The winner that year was Cleopatra. Tippi Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1964, sharing it with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer. She also received the Photoplay Award as Most Promising Newcomer. The film ranked No. 1 of the top 10 foreign films selected by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. Hitchcock also received the Association's Director Award for the film.[31]
It also won the Horror Hall of Fame Award in 1991.
Themes and style [ edit ]
Themes [ edit ]
Among the central themes explored in The Birds are those of love and violence. The representation of the birds in the film constantly changes to reflect the development of these themes, and the story itself. At first, the lovebirds in the pet store signify the blossoming love between Melanie and Mitch, and the sexual tension between the two.[32] However, the birds' symbolism changes once they begin to attack Bodega Bay. Hitchcock stated in an interview that the birds in the film rise up against the humans to punish them for taking nature for granted.[33]
Another theme explored within the film is the entrapment of civilians. [34] This is because the birds attack anyone who goes outside, consequently leaving people trapped inside their homes.
Humanities scholar, Camille Paglia, wrote a monograph about the film for the BFI Film Classics series. She interprets it as an ode to the many facets of female sexuality and, by extension, nature itself. She notes that women play pivotal roles in it. Mitch is defined by his relationships with his mother, sister, and ex-lover – a careful balance which is disrupted by his attraction to the beautiful Melanie.[35]
“The theme [of the film], after all, is complacency, as the director has stated on innumerable occasions. When we first meet each of the major characters, their infinite capacity of self-absorption is emphasized. Tippi Hedren’s bored socialite is addicted to elaborately time-consuming practical jokes. Rod Taylor’s self-righteous lawyer flaunts his arrogant sensuality, Suzanne Pleshette, his ex-fiancée, wallows in self-pity, and Jessica Tandy, his possessive mother, cringes from her fear of loneliness.
With such complex, unsympathetic characters to contend with, the audience begins to identify with the point of view of the birds, actually the inhuman point of view...” – Film historian Andrew Sarris (1998)[36]
Style [ edit ]
Montage editing and slow pacing are used within the film to build suspense and elicit a greater emotional response from the audience during the attack scenes: “The pattern of The Birds was deliberately to go slow”.[37] This is exemplified in the scene where the birds gradually gather outside of the school, while an ignorant Melanie sits and waits on the bench. The camera then cuts between her and the increasing number of birds that swoop down onto the jungle gym behind her until they finally attack.
Eyeline Matches and point-of-view (POV) shots within the film encourage audience identification with particular characters and their subjective experiences. This is achieved by cutting between the character and the object of their gaze. For example, when Melanie crosses the bay near the beginning of the film, the camera cuts between close-ups of her face and shots of the Brenner house from her perspective, as she watches Mitch fall for her prank.[38]
The focus on editing and visuals rather than dialogue is also an element of pure cinema that Hitchcock largely uses throughout his work.[39]
Reception [ edit ]
The Birds received mixed reviews upon its initial release. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was positive, calling it "a horror film that should raise the hackles on the most courageous and put goose-pimples on the toughest hide." Crowther was unsure whether the birds were meant to be an allegory because "it isn't in Mr. Hitchcock's style to inject allegorical meanings or social significance in his films," but he suggested that they could represent the Furies of Greek mythology who pursued the wicked upon the earth."[40]
Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "gorgeous good fun" in the vein of Hitchcock's earlier black comedy The Trouble with Harry, adding, "I haven't had this kind of merriment since King Kong toppled from the Empire State Building."[41] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "For all the brilliance of scenes like the attack down the chimney, one rarely has a chance to suspend disbelief," but the review still thought that "there is still a great deal more to enjoy than carp at."[42]
Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times was among the critics who panned the film, writing that Hitchcock "was once widely quoted as saying he hated actors. After his 1960 'Psycho' and now 'The Birds,' it must be fairly obvious that he has extended his abhorrence to the whole human race. For reasons hardly justified either dramatically or aesthetically, the old master has become a master of the perverse. He has gone all out for shock for shock's sake, and it is too bad."[43] Variety published a mixed assessment, writing that while the film was "slickly executed and fortified with his characteristic tongue-in-cheek touches," Hitchcock "deals more provocatively and effectively in human menace. A fantasy framework dilutes the toxic content of his patented terror-tension formula, and gives the picture a kind of sci-fi exploitation feel, albeit with a touch of production gloss."[44] Brendan Gill of The New Yorker called the film "a sorry failure. Hard as it may be to believe of Hitchcock, it doesn't arouse suspense, which is, of course, what justifies and transforms the sadism that lies at the heart of every thriller. Here the sadism is all too nakedly, repellently present."[45]
With the passage of time the film's standing among critics has improved. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 96% based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average rating of 8.2/10, and the website's consensus states: "Proving once again that build-up is the key to suspense, Hitchcock successfully turned birds into some of the most terrifying villains in horror history."[46] On Metacritic it has a score of 87 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[47] Film critic David Thomson refers to it as Hitchcock's "last unflawed film".[48]
The film was honored by the American Film Institute as the seventh greatest thriller in American Cinema.
Sequel and remake [ edit ]
An unrelated (and poorly-received) sequel, The Birds II: Land’s End, was released in 1994. It was a directed-to-television film. It’s director, Rick Rosenthal, removed his name and used the Hollywood pseudonym, Alan Smithee.[49] Tippi Hedren appeared in a supporting role, but not as her original character.
There is also a HBO/BBC film called The Girl (2012), which gives a version of the relationship between Hitchcock and Hedren.
Controversy [ edit ]
There was controversy in relation to the nature of Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren’s relationship during the filming of The Birds. Hedren maintained that there were several incidents where Hitchcock acted inappropriately towards her. The cast and crew described his behaviour as "obsessive", and Hedren claimed that "he suddenly grabbed me and put his hands on me. It was sexual".[50][51][52] Hedren stated that she rejected Hitchcock’s advances on numerous occasions.[50][51][52] Following this supposed rejection, Hedren was injured during the filming of the phone booth attack scene, and consequently suffered cuts to her face from a pane of glass shattering on her.[52] Further, she insisted on having been misled about the logistics of the final attack sequence, where mechanical birds were replaced with real ones at the last minute.[52][51] It has been suggested that "Hitchcock’s deliberate inflicting of injury was revenge for Hedren’s spurning of his advances".[53][52] Hitchcock also signed Hedren to a seven year contract, which she stated restricted her ability to work.[54][52][51] It is important to note that these allegations were not brought to light until after Hitchcock’s death.[55] Although they have never been confirmed, they have widely been reported, including by Hedren's co-star, Rod Taylor. Nevertheless, some have publicly named Hedren a "liar and fantasist".[55] The controversy of this relationship is explored in the 2012 film, The Girl.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Streaming audioDescription
New, unreleased recordings from 12 of our favorite bands... released monthly on square, single-sided, clear 7" Flexi Discs, and strictly limited to just 1000 copies.
The Flexi Disc Series is a platform for our favorite artists to release never-before-heard recordings on a fleeting analog format. Artists are encouraged to be as adventurous as possible for the duration of one single-sided flexi disc. The songs contributed by each artist will not be released digitally or on any other format. That is to say, the total existence of the song limited to just 1000 copies, on an increasingly-degrading analog format. These are unique and ephemeral tracks from some of the best bands in the world.
WTF is a Flexi Disc you ask? Essentially it's a paper-thin vinyl record. And these particular Flexis are clear, single-sided, 7" squares. A pretty unusual format, but playable on any standard turntable.It looks like DRM checks on games such as Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction have been changed for the better. The controversial DRM system was launched earlier this year with Settlers 7, and required players to be permanently connected to the internet in order to play. Now the games will no longer pause instantly if a connection is lost, but will still require an internet connection to validate the install every time the game is booted up.
The change in the copy protection has been noticed by gamers on Reddit, who have posted screenshots showing Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction running with web connections turned off.
Good news for anyone with a flaky wireless connection then, though the games will require an internet connection to boot up the games. It's the first change in the DRM we've seen since Ubisoft decided not to use it for the real time strategy game, RUSE.
A step in the right direction?The Los Angeles Police Department arrested UCLA student Kai Andrew Bannon on Wednesday for three counts of sexual assault involving two women. A third case involving another woman may result in further charges, pending a review by the District Attorney's Office.
Bannon, 33, was arrested at his apartment in the Fairfax district on the 300 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue for incidents that occurred in 2012 and 2014. The first victim met Bannon through a "roommate wanted" ad and the second victim met him through a mutual friend. Bannon was found not guilty of rape in Massachusetts back in 2010, according to a press release from the LAPD.
The Daily Bruin reports that Bannon is a fifth-year undergraduate student at UCLA, and is originally from Oregon.
Bannon pleaded not guilty to three felony counts on Thursday, including rape and sodomy.
LAPD detectives believe there may be additional victims of assaults by Bannon, and are asking for the public's help. Anyone with information on the case should call (213) 473-0447 or 1-877-LAPD-24-7.Note: This list is constantly being added to and updated; so far I have only categorised a fraction of the shabiha in Europe.
During the refugee crisis, we have heard many baseless scare-stories about Da’esh members supposedly infiltrating Europe under the guise of refugees.
Some were outright lies (one originated from the made-up figures of an Islamophobic Lebanese official) some were sensationalised quotes from dubious sources parroted by outlets like the Daily Mail (which once supported the British fascists) or a combination of several.
The truth is that there is no large scale influx of Da’esh fighters hiding as defenceless men, women and children. Because that’s all the vast majority of these refugees are.
However is that there is a huge influx of pro-regime militants (known as shabiha) into European states. Having participated in the genocidal fight to save the Assad regime, many have since decided that mass killing isn’t as fun as they thought (or the pleasure has worn off) and decided to seek refuge elsewhere.
Worryingly, this also raises the possibility that some of them were deliberately sent by the regime as agents in order to hunt down refugees or stage false flag terror attacks in Europe (the regime has an active relationship with terror groups that it uses to gain support abroad). The regime did, after all, threaten to send suicide bombers to Europe.
Here are some of the names of the suspects. Information has been taken from their own social media accounts as well as from my own research and tip-offs given to me from Syrians. The list is in English and Arabic. Please inform me of any mistakes.
Name: Avo ‘Abu Kevo’ Khorozian (ايفو “ابو كفو” خورزيان)
Age: 23
From: Suleimaniyah, Aleppo, Syria
Current location: Belzig, Germany
Avo is a Syrian-Armenian Christian from Aleppo, who was in the ranks of the regime shabiha. While in Syria he uploaded photographs with weapons and promised massacres against Assad’s opponents.
Avo was close to two LA gangsters of Armenian-Syrian origin, deported from the US (Nerses Kilajyan and Saro Madarian). “Wino” (Nerses) bragged of torturing prisoners to death on his deleted Facebook account. He was later killed around August 18th 2015.
Avo may have been affiliated with Liwa al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigade), a pro-regime Palestinian militia force which several friends belong to. His friend Baghdig was killed fighting for the group in April 2014 and was celebrated as a martyr on pro-regime social media accounts.
On July 2nd, Avo listed himself as having travelled into the Diyarbakir region of Turkey from Syria. On July 24th, he uploaded a photograph of himself in Regensburg. Subsequent photographs followed and he identified himself as living in Berlin.
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After exposure of his profile, he deleted it. On December 10th, he discreetly created another Facebook profile (see above) on which he listed himself as living in Belzig, having attained refugee status there. In January RTL news confronted Avo using evidence directly taken from my website. After the confrontation, Avo once again vanished from Facebook. He claims he never fought in the war and that he was targeted because he is a Christian (and not because of his uploads and vows to massacre people that he posted online).
Avo’s last known locations. Avo’s last known locations. Avo’s last known locations.
الإسم: ايفو “ابو كفو” خورزيان
المكان والمهنة السابقة: السليمانية، حلب، شبيح
مكان التواجد الحالي: برلين، بلسيغ، ألمانيا
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
Name: Mohamad Alkeame (Pronouned Mohamad al-Kheime) (محمد الخيمي)
Age: Unknown
From: Amara, Damascus, Syria
Current location: The Ruhr, Germany
Mohamad is from al-Amara, a neighbourhood in the heart of old Damascus. Kheimi is very young, probably too young to have been in the army. His partial civilian attire shows that he was in the highly-sectarian pro-regime National Defence Force militia (predominantly Alawite). On social media he is alleged to be wanted for murder and theft – pictures of him with corpses of his victims supposedly exist. Keame is now living in the Ruhr area with his family and is living under the name “Mohammad Alkhiami”.
الإسم: محمد الخيمي
(المكان والمهنة السابقة : العمارة، دمشق، شبيح (يمكن قوات الدفاع الوطني
مكان التواجد الحالي: ألمانيا
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
يذكر ان الشبيح محمد الخيمي كان قد اخبر السلطات انه مدني وغير مسلح ولم يتورط بالحرب الدائرة في بلاده
Name: Wael Nasr (وائل نصر)
Age: 27(?)
From: Al-Sweida, Syria
Current location: Germany (town/city unknown)
Wael is from Sweida in southern Syria, and is presumably part of the Druze minority. Although the Druze have preferred to take a neutral line in the conflict, although some have taken up arms on the side of the regime. Since most Druze fighters are in the regime’s National Defence Forces (NDF) it’s possible that he served in either the army or the NDF.
Wael is currently residing in Germany somewhere, and seems to have removed his Facebook account to keep a low profile.
الإسم : وئيل نصر
(المكان والمهنة السابقة : لسويداء، شبيح (الجيش العربي السوري أو قوات الدفاع الوطني
مكان التواجد الحالي : ألمانيا
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
Name: Layth Ayman Munshdi (ليث ايمن منشدي)
From: Syria (unknown)
Current location: Damascus
Layth calls himself Syrian, despite the fact that his parents are from Lebanon and Iraq. He joined the pro-regime Shi’a militias and took part in the fighting for several years. He uploaded photographs showing himself trampling on dead bodies of Sunni men, at least some of whom seem to have been summarily executed.
Layth (or “Layth Syr” as he called himself on Facebook) turned up in the German town of Neustandt (Bremen) calling himself a “Syrian refugee”. He remained there for several months, until Syrian Facebook pages discovered his photos and thousands of people shared them in a fury. Layth then closed his Facebook account, and rumours swirled that he had fled to the UK or elsewhere on a fake passport. Some were of the opinion that he was sent as part of a Hezbollah sleeper cell.
Here are two photos from his old profile, on of which shows him travelling through the Greek Islands to Europe.
However, upon cycling through Instagram I caught sight of Layth’s new profile there. After looking through the profile of Jafar Barkouky (former Shi’a militant, now based in Germany) I discovered Layth’s new Facebook account. Layth seems to have panicked after being exposed by Syrians and featured in online news outlets. He has returned to Syria and rejoined the Shi’a militias in Damascus, presumably in order to avoid arrest or possible prosecution.
الإسم: ليث ايمن منشدي
المكان والمهنة السابقة: سوريا، شبيح
مكان التواجد الحالي: دمسق
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوس
المجرم ليث ايمن منسدي رجعة من ألمانيا الى الميليشيات الشيعة في دمشق
Before coming to Germany:
After returning to Syria:
Name: Houssam Haj Yassin (حاسم حج يسين)
Age: Unknown
From: Syria (unknown)
Current Location: Germany (town/city unknown)
Houssam was seemingly a soldier in the regular Syrian army (SAA) and not shy of showing it on social media. Somehow (presumably through bribery) he managed to leave the Syrian army and was recently spotted in Germany. If anyone has any information on his whereabouts, help would be greatly appreciated.
الإسم : حسام حاج ياسين
(المكان والمهنة السابقة : سوريا، شبيح (الجيش العربي السوري أو قوات الدفاع الوطني
مكان التواجد الحالي : ألمانيا
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
Name: Mohammad (Ma’in) Kanaan (محمد معين كنعان)
Age: Unknown
From: Rukn ad-Din, Damascus
Current location: Sweden
Kanaan was a captain in the regime army who once met Assad personally in a propaganda shoot in Douma in January 2015. The fact that he was able to meet the highly-guarded Assad suggests his impeccable loyalty to the regime; his Facebook account is peppered with pro-regime slogans and iconography. His nickname features the slogan used by many Assad supporters, “Souriat al-Assad” (Assad’s Syria). On Facebook he claims to have been educated at Damascus University.
Kanaan made a fortune from selling cars he stole from civilians at his father’s car exhibition in Bab Masala (Damascus). He fought in several battles (in Jobar and Darayya) and is accused of helping to forcibly expel residents of the neighbourhoods, as well as committing summary executions at checkpoints, torturing prisoners and looting homes and shops.
Kanaan is from Rukn ad-Din and arrested many young men there for demonstrating against the government. He later fled to Sweden in mid-2015 after the huge fortune he made from stealing cars at checkpoints and robberies was exposed. Kanaan is now said to be working as an informer for the Assad regime; he writes reports on refugees that are handed over to the Syrian embassy. “These are the scum I have to deal with!” raged Kanaan after his photos were shared by Syrians online.
He has recognised the social media outrage on his Facebook profile (he removed his photos and changed his name to ‘Dodi MK Kanaan’) and continues to share photographs of himself and his family in Sweden.
الشبيح (محمد معين كنعان) من سكان دمشق ركن الدين شارع برنية, كان يعمل بتجارة السيارات المسروقة في باب مصلى بدمشق العاصمة بمعرض سيارات يملكه والده, شارك بمعارك عدة منها جوبر وداريا, متهم بتهجير الاهالي وسرقة منازل ومحال تجارية وتعذيب للمدنيين, شارك بالاعدامات الميدانية على الحواجز بدمشق و تسبب باعتقال و موت كثير من شباب ركن الدين بتهمة الخروج بالمظاهرات, هرب الى السويد مؤخراً بعد ان كون ثروة كبيرة من بيع السيارات التي سرقها من على الحواجز, ننصح السوريين في السويد بالحذر منه لانه يكتب تقارير عن اللاجئين الذين وصلوا لاوربا و يرسلها للسفارة السورية!
Name: Feras Sammour (فراس سمور)
Age: 28
From: Damascus, Syria
Current location: Sweden (town/city unknown)
Feras is a Christian, born 24/2/1987. He was a member of the regime shabiha (the National Defence Forces), fleeing to Sweden in 2015. Some Christians like him have sided with the regime, some out of sectarian hatred of the Muslim population. Many sincerely believe the regime and imagine the uprising is some sort of Islamic terrorist plot initiated by Israel.
Feras seems like a typical regime thug; his profile suggests an overt focus on alcohol and good living, as well as his service in the ranks of the regime army in Damascus. Posts expressing hatred of the revolution and the victims of the violence could be seen, as well as photographs of Feras clutching rifles.
He seems to be in a relationship with a Swedish woman named Linn Andersson judging from his Facebook profile, which may make him easier to track.
الإسم : فراس سمور
المكان والمهنة السابقة : دمشق، شبيح
مكان التواجد الحالي : ألسويد
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
Name: Muhammad Rafiq Ahmad (محمدرفيق أحمد)
Age: Unknown
From: al-Qardaha, Syria
Current location: Germany
Ahmad was a member of the regime’s “popular committees” for the al-Bustan region; “popular committees” being a byword for being a member of the early shabiha gangs sent to crush protests with force. An Alawite from the Assad family’s notorious hometown of al-Qardaha, he seems to have fled to Germany. His exact whereabouts are unknown.
الإسم : محمدرفيق أحمد
المكان والمهنة السابقة : القرداحة، شبيح (اللجان الشعبية)
مكان التواجد الحالي : ألمانيا
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
Name: Muhammad Kowjan (محمد كوجان)
Age: Unknown:
From: Syria (unknown)
Current location: Germany (town/city unknown)
Little is known about Kojan, other than the fact that he served in the regime’s security forces. He was probably part of the NDF or some other pro-government militia.
Kojan is currently living in Germany.
الإسم: محمد كوجان
المكان والمهنة السابقة: سوريا، شبيح
مكان التواجد الحالي: ألمانيا
الرجاء تزويدنا بأي معلومة إضافية عن المذكور أعلاه وكتابتها كتعليق على هذا البوست
Name: Amer Musleh Samarra (عامر مصلح سمارة)
Age: Unknown
From: Syria
Current location: The Netherlands (town/city unknown)
Amer was a sectarian pro-regime fighter in the NDF. From the Christian minority, his deleted Facebook contains photographs of him in battle gear with his comrades in Syria.
Amer is accused of having committed murder and kidnap in the Al-Dawlyah district of Damascus, the latter in order to extort money from the relatives of his victims (a common practice in pro-regime militias). He then came to the Netherlands, allegedly claiming that he didn |
home," Jim says, looking sideways at his wife, and then at Max, who grins.
In fact, Tammy was horrified -- and then furious -- when she came home from work and saw Makenzie's shorn hair. She didn't like it when people assumed Makenzie was a boy -- even though Makenzie would light up when it happened -- and this haircut would make that worse.
What the Janssens would later learn is that Makenzie's short haircut made her happy because what she saw in the mirror then, and what other people saw on the outside, matched up more with how she felt on the inside.
"It so felt good," Max says now. "Even at that age, that's what felt right."
* * *
To her mother, it didn't feel right, not at the time. She wanted Makenzie to like who she was, not pretend to be someone else. She felt that it was lying to people to let them think Makenzie was a boy.
But Makenzie would wail, "Stop saying that, Mom. Stop telling people I'm a girl."
Makenzie was smart, devouring books and constantly looking up things on the computer. She would acknowledge that yes, she had girl body parts like her sisters, yet insist she was a boy.
Tammy would say, "But you can't be."
And just as firmly, Makenzie would say, "But I am."
Tammy would look at Makenzie's determined face and let it go, her heart aching. End of argument. To her sisters, Makenzie had become just Mack. But Tammy worried that not everyone would be as accepting of Makenzie.
After their kids were in bed at night, Tammy and Jim would sometimes talk about it all and tell each other that maybe once Makenzie hit puberty and her hormones kicked in, she might embrace being a girl. Or they thought she might be a lesbian, as is one of Tammy's aunts.
Jim wasn't so worried. He had learned with the first three kids that the things he and Tammy worried about the most often turned out fine.
* * *
On Makenzie's 9th birthday, the Janssens went to a restaurant to celebrate. But when the wait staff gathered to sing, they gave Makenzie a tiara and dubbed her a "Pretty Princess."
Makenzie slid off her seat and under the table, sobbing.
The waitstaff, of course, had no way of knowing. They stood around, shifting from foot to foot, until Tammy told them it was all right to go. Jim carried Makenzie to the car, still sobbing, her face buried in his shoulder, followed by a tearful Tammy.
Whatever this was, however it was going to turn out, it was not getting any easier with time.
Throughout fourth grade, Makenzie kept her hair short, though not cut like a boy's. Her friends were mostly boys, and they played video games and flag football after school.
"When you're a little kid, no one really cares what you wear or what you say about who, or what, you are, because you're a little kid," Max says.
But on the playground one day in fifth grade, a group of boys decided that they did care, repeating, "So what are you?" and shoving Makenzie each time they asked.
Tammy went to the school, where the principal said the students who were taunting her daughter meant no harm, and suggesting, a bit ironically, that boys will be boys. Tammy took Makenzie out of school; she would teach her at home.
It is during puberty that transgender children can feel the most disconnect between the gender their brains say they are and the gender of their bodies. Tammy remembered, for instance, that when her three oldest learned that they would start their periods during puberty, they were full of questions and a little grossed-out.
So it surprised Tammy as she taught Makenzie those same fifth-grade health lessons, because Makenzie didn't seem concerned at all. Only later did Tammy realize that was because in Makenzie's mind, none of that would happen to her.
"Girls will do that, but I'm not a girl," she thought.
Whatever Makenzie thought, her body had a timetable of its own, and neither boyish clothes nor haircuts could stop what was happening. Her parents' hopes that puberty would help Makenzie were dashed. It only made things worse.
Beginning at about age 4, Makenzie had worn only boys swimming trunks. That's not a problem as a little girl, and it was even OK with Tammy later on if Makenzie was just in the backyard pool with her sisters.
But Makenzie was almost 11 and heading into sixth grade. When other people were around, she needed to cover up. Tammy bought a blue swim shirt, but Makenzie hardly ever wore it. Instead, she mostly stopped swimming.
It was like the dress all over again.
Makenzie wasn't just being stubborn. She could understand what her mother was saying. It was just that nothing about the word "girl" seemed relevant to her.
"Boys don't wear shirts in the pool," Max remembers thinking back then. It just made no sense.
What the Janssens would later learn is that children with gender identity disorder often believe they will grow up to be the opposite gender. For Makenzie, the changes to her body seemed like a misunderstanding.
"You can know something is going to happen, but it didn't really click that it would happen to me," Max says now. "It was the revelation that I'm not going to wake up one morning and be a boy."
Imagine a typical girl, excited about her first bra and nervous about her first period -- instead developing a penis. The disconnect between Makenzie's body and her brain would be that dramatic -- and that traumatic.
* * *
Because as Makenzie's adolescent body changed, so did she.
Previously talkative, and interested in everything, Makenzie instead became sullen and withdrawn. She retreated to her upstairs bedroom for hours at a time, the blinds closed, the television on. When she did talk, she was short-tempered and dismissive. She often didn't come down for meals; instead, she would wait until everyone else was in bed, then eat alone.
Makenzie had gone back to a school at the start of junior high, where she was allowed to wear uniform pants instead of the skirt required for girls. But she also started wearing a baggy hooded sweatshirt over her clothes all the time, hiding the outward changes to her body.
After school, she'd crawl back into bed and wonder, "What is wrong with me?" But unlike for the millions of other kids asking the same question at the same age, there seemed to be no answer. Makenzie was slipping away.
"We were losing him," Tammy says. Even now, she looks scared when she says it.
"I was angry, angry that no one could understand, and there was no one else like me. I remember feeling so alone," Max says. "I just needed other people to understand."
Makenzie's parents were trying. She asked to go to counseling at 12, a good sign. But things got even more complicated. Makenzie told the counselor that no, she wasn't interested in girls. She liked boys.
"We didn't know what to do with that," Tammy says. She texted family and friends who, over the years, also had figured that would be the answer: "She's not gay."
Makenzie wasn't gay, but Max is. What the Janssens would later learn is that gender identity and sexual orientation are separate, and sometimes complicated issues.
Gender identity is who you are, and sexual orientation is who you love. And a change in gender doesn't necessarily have a corresponding change in sexual orientation, so while Max identifies as male, he also is attracted to males, making him transgender and gay.
If Makenzie wasn't a lesbian, though, Tammy and Jim were at a loss for another explanation. Of all the issues parents with kids this age face, being a boy with a girl's body is not in the Top 10. Gender identity disorder isn't a regular topic in parenting magazines or even mom chat rooms.
* * *
At 13, Makenzie was searching the Internet for something for school when she got sidetracked and came across an article about gender identity disorder. Lights went on for her. Bells rang. Any thoughts of homework disappeared.
"Yes!" she thought. "This is it!" She finally understood. The big words in the disorder's criteria read like her life story:
"A strong and persistent gross-gender identification, which is the desire to be, or the insistence that one is, of the other sex."
"Persistent discomfort about one's assigned sex, or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex."
Makenzie e-mailed the link to her mom, with a note: "We need to talk." And that evening, the three of them went to Starbucks, sitting close around a small table. Makenzie earnestly explained that she understood that biologically she was female, but in her mind, she had always been male.
"Ever since I was a kid, this is what I am, and this is going to be how I present myself," Max remembers saying.
Makenzie asked to "transition," a word she learned from the article. She wanted to live as a boy. To be a boy. The boy she felt she had always been.
"They didn't freak out," Max says. "I expected them to say no."
But they didn't say yes, either, not right away. Their minds were swirling. Tammy had heard the term "transgender" and knew a little about it. Jim had seen a television show on it.
Later, they searched the Internet for information on transgender children, read about treatment options, found a support group and asked a lot of questions. They found a new counselor for Makenzie, one who specializes in gender issues.
It was a lot to sort through, for all of them. But Jim and Tammy studied the topic just as they would any other medical issue facing one of their children.
"If there's something that can be fixed, you fix it," Tammy says.
Now that Makenzie had a word for how she felt, she began to change again. Her depression lifted. She was less anxious and happier.
"I had hope," Max recalls simply.
* * *
This isn't the kind of decision parents make lightly or quickly.
In the fall, Makenzie started high school. She dressed as a boy and told her teachers and other students to call her Mack.
In a high school with thousands of students, switching classes for every subject, Mack passed easily as a boy, even in ROTC. When one of the guys brought clippers to school so they could all shave their heads military-style, Mack did, too.
But three weeks into the school year, someone recognized Mack from junior high and told everyone that she was a girl. In a meeting with school officials, Tammy was told that because Mack was a girl, teachers would use female pronouns to refer to Mack from then on. And instead of using the boys restroom, Mack would have to go to the front office and use the bathroom there.
The next day, Mack had a panic attack and left school. At home, Mack announced, "That's it. I'm done being a girl. No more! Treat me like a boy from now on."
Had Makenzie been younger, say 8 or 9, doctors could have given her hormone blockers, which delay the physical changes that come with puberty. Doing so gives children and parents time to decide what comes next without the pressure of the psychological distress Mack experienced.
If the child ultimately transitions to the opposite gender, puberty never interfered. If the child is not transgender, the hormone blockers can be stopped, and natural puberty will begin.
In Makenzie's case, blocking puberty would have meant she would not have developed breasts or hips. Instead, she would have taken testosterone hormone treatment, never menstruated, and then grown facial hair and developed broad shoulders and an Adam's apple. Likewise, a boy would transition to a girl by taking estrogen hormone treatment and would develop breasts and a curvier shape.
There are strict protocols when it comes to treating children with gender identity disorder, including psychiatric evaluations and ongoing counseling. But hormone blockers are controversial; critics question whether a child should make such a life-changing decision. They also are expensive, about $1,000 a month and rarely covered by insurance.
At any rate, for 14-year-old Mack, who had already gone through puberty, it was too late for that.
* * *
Mack got closer to transitioning and wanted a new name, a boy's name. He liked Nathan. But Tammy didn't, and Mom always has veto power.
"It's a mother's right to name her child," she said, even when that child is almost grown. A name is a legacy, something to live up to and a hope. She chose Max, which means "great." It was a strong name for a man. And it was similar enough to Mack to make the change easy.
A year ago this month, the family went to court and made the change legal. And from then on, his parents have used male pronouns to refer to Max.
In July, Max began hormone treatments, consisting of an injection of testosterone every two weeks. The hormones triggered a second round of puberty -- this time, a welcome one.
Within months, Max's larynx began expanding to create an Adam's apple, and his voice was deepening, cracking like an adolescent boy's does at the most inopportune times. His hips are narrowing, his shoulders broadening.
When the hair above Max's lip thickened and darkened, Jim taught him to shave. Max says when he's old, he'll grow a long beard like Dumbledore from "Harry Potter," and then he laughs.
His parents laugh, too, not because that's so funny but because they are happy to hear the sound.
* * *
When Max finished his monologue in drama class at school that day, there was silence, still and heavy, and then clapping. One girl was crying. And as Max came down off the stage, he was caught up in hug after hug.
"I couldn't believe it," Max says. "I had never experienced such a positive reaction."
Actually the disclosure didn't cause much of a stir at New School for the Arts & Academics, a small charter school in Tempe where a boy with blue hair or a girl in a "Star Trek" uniform doesn't raise any (sometimes-pierced) eyebrows. Max wasn't even the school's first transgender teenager.
"I was just me," Max says.
Max expected more of a buzz around school. He says, "I was prepared, and nothing happened. No one seems to care." Actually no one even makes fun of his "Star Trek" lunch box.
Acting forced Max out of his shell and provided him a collection of instant friends. Theater kids are close-knit, notorious for being themselves and not caring what anyone else thinks.
Kori Evans sits on the edge of the stage next to Max, linking her arm through his. Jarrod Chaplin plops down on his other side and holds up his hand for a high five.
Max does well in his other classes, too, when he wants to. He is smart, quoting philosophers and reading books on comparative religion for fun. He is at times perhaps too idealistic, questioning the validity of some assignments, doing well on the ones he likes.
"I hate the totalitarianism of school," Max says.
That's fine, his mother tells him, but he'll repeat English in summer school.
* * *
Summer school seems a wonderfully normal teenage problem, and so does Max's crush on an adorable guy in ceramics and his attempts to get his mom to let him trade his glasses for contact lenses. This day, the two are at J.C. Penney at Mill Crossing in Chandler, shopping for dress clothes.
Men's associate John Straub asks, "Can I help you with anything?"
Tammy is not sure of Max's size, so Straub goes in search of a tape measure, and Max runs his hand across a table of shirts folded in perfect squares, narrow ties running down their fronts. He picks up a bright blue one.
"I don't like the blue," his mom says.
"I love the blue," Max says, then adds, "You don't have to like it."
"I have to look at it," she says.
Max rolls his eyes.
"Let's take the guesswork out of it," Straub says, returning and wrapping the tape measure around Max's neck.
"Fifteen inches," he tells Max. "You could wear slim fit," and then to his mother: "He doesn't need the bulk."
But Max does need the bulk, at least until he has a bilateral mastectomy, or "top surgery," this summer. To disguise his breasts now, he wears a compression shirt under his clothes that flattens them against his chest. It is hot and uncomfortably tight.
"By the end of the day, your shoulders hurt, and you want to collapse," Max says. After surgery, Max will be able to wear better-fitting clothes, go swimming, and, his mom adds, start standing up straight.
"It will be so freeing," Max says.
If a 15-year-old girl wants breast augmentation, she needs only her parents' permission and the money. For Max to have the opposite done, medical standards require 18 months of counseling and a doctor's approval. Once he has the surgery, he can legally change his birth certificate to read "male" in Arizona. The rules vary from state to state.
Max wants a shirt that will look good under a black vest, so Straub brings one over, and they try shirts underneath it, studying each combination.
Max wrinkles his nose at the turquoise one.
"You like blue," his mother says.
"I don't like that blue," Max says.
Max lays a narrow, sparkly gray tie across a purple shirt and smiles at his mom. Straub likes it, too. They'll take it.
On the way out, Max comes to a sudden stop in front of a red T-shirt with the "Star Trek" Enterprise on the front. His mom has said no more T-shirts until after the surgery, since he has plenty, and he'll likely be a different size.
"Oh, please! Just that one," Max begs.
"Oh, all right," she says. Max hugs her, quickly.
* * *
None of this has been easy for Jim and Tammy, watching their child's despair, wishing they could protect him from every unkindness and knowing they can't, and deciding to let him change his gender.
"You do what is right for your kid," Jim says.
Like glasses or orthodontics, "whatever it is, you fix it," Tammy says. Even if it is more complicated than eye charts, or braces, which Max has needed, twice. She is nervous about Max's surgery, because there are risks with any surgery. But she knows that if he should ever change his mind -- though she doesn't think he will -- it is reversible. And the only other path -- forcing Max to continue being a brutally unhappy Makenzie -- wasn't an option at all.
"Kids don't decide this. They don't decide, 'Hey, I'm going to be transgender.' This is hard," Tammy says. "With the statistics of suicide rates and the bullying that goes on against these kids, who would choose that?
"It is definitely not a choice."
Kids arrive in the world already wired, and although parents can make them behave, eat vegetables, go to bed on time, give them opportunities and expose them to different experiences, they are who they are.
"Look at his room. I can't make him clean his room," Tammy says. "I can't very well force his gender."
In his wallet, Max carries a picture of 4-year-old Makenzie, wearing a blue plaid sleeveless shirt. It was taken at preschool, and Max says it is the last time he really thought of himself as a girl.
"It's a personal, everyday reminder: This is who I was," he says.
Tammy says that she doesn't miss Makenzie, no more than she misses the little girls her other children used to be.
Tasha, with her red spiral ponytails. Princess Shelby. Bethany, who needed cuddling. Or Makenzie in a teddy-bear-covered nightgown.
"I have those memories. I remember those things," Tammy says, but each young child is tucked inside the older child of today. "Max just evolved into someone else, just as my daughters did."
For Jim, Max is just his kid, same as always. As a welder who works with huge metal ductwork but also crafts large metal sculptures of underwater ocean scenes, the fish twisted in delicate detail, Jim has never been much for gender stereotypes.
Tammy tells other parents with transgender children not to mourn their own dreams of what might have been.
"Those are your dreams, anyway. No matter your child's gender, they may not have lived the way you had hoped. They have their own dreams," she says.
* * *
When Phoenix Pride, a non-profit advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, asked for nominations for a youth ambassador for its annual parade in April, Max was nominated several times and chosen for the role.
He decided to do it in the hopes of helping other teens like him.
"I want to reach someone, someone who is hurting, someone who thinks there is no hope, someone who thinks they are the only one," Max says.
On parade day, Max rode atop the procession's best car, by his assessment -- a new black Ferrari with his name on a banner across the windshield.
This was his official coming out. There would be no going back now, not with press releases, news coverage, thousands of people in attendance, and his picture flashing on a big electronic screen at the end of the route.
Max said he wasn't nervous, but his parents, sister Shelby and her daughter, Malia, who's 2 and wearing a shirt that says "Rainbow Kisses," wait with him in the shade of a rainbow umbrella before the parade starts.
It's hot, even in shorts and a T-shirt. Many of the women are in bikini tops, the men shirtless. Next year, Max says, he's not wearing a shirt.
"You'd better start working on your tan now," his sister teases.
As the procession rolls slowly along Central Avenue from Thomas Road, Max waves, and people clap and take Max's picture over the heads of vendors selling rainbow boas and hats. They call out, "Way to go, Max!" and "Thank you, Max!"
Someone shouts, "Is that your Ferrari?" Max wishes. He just got his learner's permit.
Halfway along the route, his mom waves with one hand and holds a video camera in the other. His dad calls out, "Max! Buddy!"
"Look at him!" Rosalyn Mendez, a family friend shouts, springing out of her lawn chair. "He's not a little boy anymore! He's a young man!"
Farther along, on the other side of the street, Ray Bradford of Phoenix holds an orange poster-board sign listing the names of young advocates -- including Max -- that says, "Our real heroes." Bradford doesn't know Max personally, but he says, "I'm very proud of him for his strength and his courage."
At the end of the route, Max climbs out of the car and thanks his driver, who rolls up the banner from the windshield and gives it to Max.
"I'm thinking my arms are going to fall off from waving too much," Max says.
When he was younger and so miserable, struggling to figure out who he was, he says, "If you had told me that I would be riding in a parade like this, having people with signs thinking I'm a hero, I would have thought you were mental."
He heads back to where his family waits, weaving through the crowd that is still watching the rest of the parade. People call out to him, by name, and pat him on the back.
Reach the reporter at [email protected] Angular 2/4 Is Too Little, Too Late
Chris Cordle Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 28, 2017
TL;DR — AngularJS was a decent idea in 2012 but in 2017, the JS ecosystem has surged past Angular in maturity, flexibility, and productivity. Thanks to webpack, NPM on the front-end, and a mature ecosystem of tooling and libraries, it is quite easy to maintain a large, flexible, well-engineered SPA with React, Vue, or other lightweight JS libraries, even at enterprise companies with large teams.
In addition, Angular 2/4’s troubled 3-year development cycle and debatable architecture decisions should give any company pause before considering the adoption of this brand new framework.
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It’s 2017. You’re looking to build or rewrite your front-end architecture. You’ve heard a lot about React vs. Angular and how they contrast and compare. The debates have raged on over the years. A lot of people will tell you that this is a Coke vs. Pepsi debate, framework vs. library, tradeoffs, pros/cons, etc, etc. but in 2017, it’s easy to see that Angular 2/4 will never reach the top-tier status of its popular AngularJS predecessor.
2012: Why AngularJS Got Popular
AngularJS became very popular due to its easy two-way data binding, MVC architecture, built-in module system, dependency injection, and routing package. Initially built as a hobby project by Misko Hevery in 2009, the framework started to take off shortly after its 2012 1.0 release. It quickly became the most popular SPA framework for front-end development.
In 2012, the JavaScript ecosystem was a very different place. Knockout, Backbone, Ember, Angular, and perhaps a few others were all vying for JS framework market share. ES6 wasn’t a thing yet. NPM wasn’t used for front end code. Libraries and frameworks weren’t mature. Steve Sanderson, of KnockoutJS fame, gave a great assessment of the front-end landscape at the time following the “Throne of JS” conference.
AngularJS solved a lot of problems for web developers out of the box. For simple SPAs, it hit a sweet spot of productivity. Tooling started to grow, custom directive libraries were released, and the platform grew extremely quickly.
However, as developers started to build professional, rich, full-grade applications on the framework with large teams over long periods of time, its limitations began to show. Two-way data binding, watchers, $scope variables, state management, confusing and repetitive abstractions like factory/service, and many other issues inhibited AngularJS in production.
At the peak of Angular’s popularity, in 2014, the team behind Angular announced that they would be creating a completely new incompatible framework. They would confusingly, perhaps even deceivingly, label this new framework Angular 2.
This controversial announcement was met with a lot of skepticism and criticism in the developer community. Since no upgrade path would be provided, every application built with AngularJS would need to be rewritten from scratch. The community splintered, and while some would stick around to see if Angular 2 would live up to its promises, others decided to look elsewhere for front-end development.
2013: How React Revolutionized Front End Development
At the peak of JavaScript fatigue in 2013, Facebook open-sourced React after having used it in production for more than two years. React pitched itself as the V in MVC (Model-View-Controller). It completely shook up the JS front-end community with its one-way data flow and its dead-simple functional component model.
In 2013, Angular and every other JS framework was pitching two-way data binding as a feature. React came along and told us that was a bad idea. Two-way data binding is great for simple applications but in production, at scale, with large amounts of state, it can easily become spaghetti. Lots of unpredictable side-effects can be triggered. Two way data-binding was a feature in 2013 and Facebook said it was a bug. It turns out they were right. Ember, Angular, Vue, and others would later adopt the one-way model.
Facebook was unopinionated about state management, however. Instead, it offered “Flux” as a solution, which was more of a pattern than an actual library or framework. Shortly after React’s announcement in 2013…dozens of Flux implementations arrived on the scene including Flummox, Alt, Fluxxor, MartyJS, McFly, etc, etc, etc.
https://facebook.github.io/flux/img/flux-simple-f8-diagram-explained-1300w.png
We hit peak “Flux fatigue” when, on June 2, 2015, Dan Abramov released Redux. Inspired by Elm language, Redux brought predictable, functional, maintainable state management to JavaScript. Redux introduced actions and reducers that follow a pattern that shares similarities with Event Sourcing, which is a common software architecture pattern in back-end server technologies. Redux’s explicit, declarative data management model allowed for state to be managed easily and scales well with the application.
This allowed for super-powered front-end features like time-travel debugging, hot module reloading, and simple and easy undo/redo capabilities. It also encouraged a functional design pattern, which allows for your code to be easily testable and easily reasoned about.
Redux took the React community by storm. Two years into the Redux hype cycle, we are still seeing enthusiasm. It’s being used in many enterprise-scale software companies like PayPal, Mozilla, and AirBnB and it forms the foundation for the popular GraphQL client-library Apollo. It’s even being adopted as a state management solution in other frameworks. Today, it’s the de facto state management solution to be paired with React.
Meanwhile, other innovations in the React landscape continued to transform front-end…
Server-side rendering
Because of React’s functional UI abstraction, it can run in any environment. Many began to realize this in the early days of React and started pairing it with Node.js to provide server-side rendering. React is already extremely fast, but paired with server-side rendering, all the data is loaded into the view and rendered on Node itself before a webpage gets loaded. This allowed for single page applications to be search engine friendly.
March 2015: React Native launches
In March of 2015, Facebook announced React Native for iOS. A landmark announcement, it proved that React’s functional UI component abstraction could be leveraged to write native mobile applications for the first time.
Rather than promising, “Write once, run anywhere”, which is often derided as “Write once, debug everywhere”, Facebook pitched “Learn once, write everywhere” as a philosophy. Inherent in that philosophy is that while it is possible to share a large portion of code between platforms, there are often many nuances between platforms that must be uniquely addressed. React Native provides an interface for addressing those platform differences.
Within 6 months, they would go on to launch Android support. The productivity gains were astonishing, allowing developers to share 90% or more of the code across mobile platforms with truly native rendering performance.
Microsoft would later release React Native libraries for building Windows applications: https://github.com/Microsoft/react-native-windows.
Today, React Native powers Instagram, Facebook, Wal-Mart, Baidu, Skype, Discord, and a slew of other professional grade applications.
We can be almost certain that React & React Native are a competitive advantage. We can see evidence in how Facebook simultaneously launched Snapchat-like “Stories” across four applications (WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram) in its product suite.
Effectively blocking Snapchat’s growth:
It’s not hard to infer that React was a key reason why Facebook was able to do this so rapidly.
NPM, ES2015, Babel, & Webpack
While Facebook was rapidly innovating on the implications of React, a few key developments were occurring in parallel in front-end JavaScript.
JavaScript had long suffered due to the lack of certain key language features. In particular, classes, modules, and lambdas were all missing. ES2015 introduced a plethora of new language features including these three and many, many, more. One of the long-standing problems with JS is cross-browser support for new language features. Babel gave us the chance to use all of these new language features before IE, Chrome, Firefox, iOS and others could roll-out support by compiling ES2015 down into ES5-compatible JS.
With Webpack we got a fantastic tool for easily bundling CSS, JS, HTML, and other project assets. Webpack is loaded with powerful features that were not possible just a few years ago. Minification, lazy-loading, tree-shaking and a whole slew of optimization features are now at any web developer’s disposal.
Webpack’s bundling system enabled another powerful feature: NPM for the front-end. As the default package manager for Node.js and as the world’s largest software registry, NPM is host to virtually every public JS library in existence. It’s basically the app store for JavaScript.
In 2013, it was difficult to assemble JS libraries and dependencies and build front-end code in a maintainable way. In 2017, it’s quite easy thanks to the power of these tools.
September 2016: Angular 2 Finally Arrives…
March 2017: Angular 4 Version Bump
After a much-delayed and troubled development cycle including the departure of two architects Evan You and Rob Eisenberg from Google, who went on to create their own frameworks Vue and Aurelia, respectively…Angular 2 finally arrived on the scene.
In the interim between September and March, Angular fixed its CLI, released a new version of its router and introduced a few more breaking changes. The team launched Angular 4 as simply Angular and have now committed to new releases every 6 months.
Angular 2/4 & up are completely different, as the team first mentioned in 2014. It is built on TypeScript and RxJS, which are two 3rd party tools for types, decorators, and reactive, observable state management.
Angular 2/4 brings a totally new component system that leans heavily on TypeScript decorators, SystemJS modules, RxJS observables, and Angular’s custom HTML-like syntax.
A component system is the core of modern UI development. React solved components so well that the Web Component W3C standard never really took off.
Angular’s component syntax is demonstrably more verbose than React. It can take 10x as much code in Angular and more wiring and ceremony to describe the same output. Instead of embracing a JS-first philosophy, Angular components instead place logic inside HTML, which makes components harder to test, harder to reason about, and limits you to the functionality of Angular’s custom DSL instead of React’s Turing-complete JavaScript XML (JSX). Angular 4’s release notes even went as far to tout “else” with *ngIf as a new feature.
Angular 4 arrives on the scene in 2017 in a very different world than AngularJS saw in 2012. It brings a more verbose syntax than React, a heavy weight toolchain that many are having issues with in production, and no discernible gains in performance or maintainability over React.
React’s first-mover advantage on a slew of technologies, from native apps to VR to server-side rendering to hot module reloading to CSS Modules to Sketch integration means that Angular 4 is struggling to catch up. It has not leap frogged React in any way. In 2017, it’s quite far behind React’s ecosystem in capability and maturity.
React Is Much Simpler
Angular 2/4 introduces over 500 top level API concepts which are ripe for ongoing breaking changes in future versions of Angular.
Angular 2/4 produces heavy code with bloated file sizes. Utilizing Angular’s Ahead-of-Time compiler generates files that are 3–5x larger than source even after Closure compilation.
React Has Better Performance
Benchmarks for React consistently show its superior performance over Angular 2/4: https://auth0.com/blog/more-benchmarks-virtual-dom-vs-angular-12-vs-mithril-js-vs-the-rest/.
Dubious Claim: “Angular is Better For Large Teams”
It is often claimed that Angular is better for the enterprise and this is this framework’s alleged sweet spot. However, this claim is not backed up by actual production results or history itself. There are few enterprise Angular 2/4 results in production today. Seeing as it is less than 9 months out of beta, this should come as no surprise.
There are no examples of some company moving a large codebase from React/Redux to Angular 2/4 and seeing productivity, maintainability or performance gains.
Even after 3 years in development with constant, painful, breaking changes…early reviews are mixed:
I would posit that at this point, the onus is on Angular 2/4 to prove that it achieves superior results and user experiences in production at enterprise scale. This has yet to be seen despite years of promises and tons of hype.
What should an enterprise optimize for? It should aim for building maintainable, performant software built with battle-tested, mature tooling.
A good framework should have: stability, activity, ecosystem, community, learning-curve, skills within the job market, and ease-of-migration should things change.
React has 6 years of maturity and proven maintainability at Facebook scale and it is powering some of the world’s most complex enterprise systems at companies like Twitter, Slack, Atlassian, Netflix, Salesforce, Microsoft, Apple, Quip, Wal-Mart, WordPress, NYTimes, and many others. People are seeing very real, very clear production advantages in the enterprise. And the user experiences produced by these systems should more than speak for themselves about the results that are achievable with React.
React has been much more stable than Angular. When it does change, Facebook releases code mods that automatically update your code base.
Angular’s Splintered Ecosystem
It’s important to note that since Angular 2/4 & Ionic 2/3 were completely rewritten in an incompatible fashion, all directives and modules that were written for AngularJS are completely invalid for these new frameworks. This means when you begin with Angular 4 & Ionic 3 in 2017, AngularJS’s rich ecosystem of custom directives are not available to you.
The JS community has moved onto lightweight frameworks like Vue & React by an order of magnitude over Angular 2/4:
NPM Package Count
React: 31,654
React Native: 5,521
Vue: 4,657
Angular 2: 4,510
Angular 4: 527
Ionic 2: 207
Ionic 3: 31
When you begin an application in 2017, how much custom work do you want to do? Do you want to roll your own everything and hope the ecosystem grows with you or take advantage of a rich, mature ecosystem of components that have been open sourced |
and do really well, supporting developers where few other platforms can do this. On the other hand – what would really benefit us right now, is to be able to reach customers who love the convenience of Steam, and to be able to build on top of Steam’s social layers. It seems like Valve is moving in the direction of letting more and more games onto their system, and so for me the big question is: How do they handle curation? Maybe they’ll be able to use metrics in a way that other big platforms haven’t, and give games a chance to get front-page exposure based on how much players are engaging with them? It’ll be really interesting to see where they go.”
Mark of the Ninja/Campo Santo’s Nels Anderson chimed in with a similar point of view, adding: “It’s a hard problem to solve, and I don’t think a 100 percent open platform is the right approach. As the iTunes App store pretty clearly attests, complete openness does some severe violence to the signal vs. noise of content on platform. The pseudo popularity contest of Greenlight tends to self-select certain types of games too, though. I don’t know what the right answer is (easier access for developers that have already shipped on Steam or other platforms? Some kind of sponsorship from existing Steam devs?) but I think some kind of curation is important to Steam’s long-term health as a platform.”
This, too, is an area where SteamOS could get a major leg up on its new competition. Sony and Microsoft are finally (in the latter’s case, kind of) embracing indies, but PC’s already got them handily beat. Even Steam’s still very flawed approach has eclipsed consoletopia’s twin titans, but Valve can’t afford to rest on its laurels.
“Valve’s generally been pretty hands-off, as they are in most things,” explained Anderson. “You don’t see them promoting anyone else’s games at events or anything like that. In regard to exposure, which is one of a smaller developers biggest challenges, it’s really nice seeing Sony pointing some of their big ol’ media spotlight at smaller developers. But in terms of easiest, lowest overhead platform to develop for, Steam obviously can’t be beat.”
The Banner Saga technical director John Watson had similar praise for Sony, who’s taken quite a bit of initiative in giving indies the spotlight. “Sony has been extremely accommodating over the last few years, and is very active at outreach,” he said. “Steam is hard to approach and hard to get into, but once you are in, the developer’s life is pretty good.”
Northway also concurred, but he still thinks Valve has the best chance of sparking a real revolution. At least, if it plays its cards right.
“Of everyone embracing indies right now my favorite is Valve because for some reason, they actually care about what’s right and what’s fair,” he said. “It’s bizarre and I love it! I think Sony is laudable for what games they are publishing and it’s obviously working out for the game creators as well as Sony, but Valve is the only one that might actually change how we find, buy, and play games.”
Check back soon for developers’ thoughts on Linux’s many ups and downs, streaming, and of course SteamOS’ much-talked-about controller.Funerals and Cremations in Ontario Dealing with a recent death is an extremely sad and stressful experience, this article outlines some of the basic requirements and legislation in Ontario governing funeral homes and what to do when a death occurs. There are in the region of 700 Funeral Homes in Ontario, around 70 cemeteries and 60 crematoriums in Ontario. All Funeral Homes are listed on Canadian Funerals Online to assist you locate a licensed local Funeral Provider at your time of need. The Board of Funeral Services - Conseil des services funéraires, serves the public of Ontario by providing consumer information regarding the laws governing the sale and purchase of funerals. The board also provides information on the pre-arranging of funeral services in Ontario. Funeral directors in Ontario are governed by the Funeral Directors and Establishments Act 1990 and the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act 2002. Registering the Death in Ontario One of the first things you will need to do is register the death. The attending physician or coroner supplies a Medical Certificate of Death, which should be given to the Funeral Director who collects the deceased. Your funeral director will usually submit the Medical Certificate of Death and the Statement of Death to the local municipal clerks office. After the death is formally registered, you may apply for a death certificate. A death certificate application can be made online or in person, by mail or by fax. It ordinarily takes approximately 12 weeks for a death certificate to be issued. The fee is $15 or $22 depending on the size of certificate issued.
Disposition Arrangements in Ontario The next of kin normally make the funeral arrangements, and this will be influenced by whether the deceased had any funeral plan or expressed any specific funeral wishes.
Embalming in Ontario Embalming is not required by law in Ontario, and embalming does NOT prevent decomposition of the body. However embalming the body does enable mourners to view the deceased if they wish, especially if there is a delay before a funeral can be conducted.
The law requires embalming when the body is shipped into or out of Ontario or by a public carrier.
Burials in Ontario If a burial is required you will require a casket or coffin. It is possible to purchase cheap caskets in Ontario by using one of the many casket suppliers, and checking prices for buying a casket online. Most funeral homes supply caskets and this is the most expensive item of funeral merchandise, therefore there is a significant mark-up on casket prices when you buy directly from a funeral home. It is very wise to check prices before making a commitment to purchase a casket. If a burial is being performed, then a burial plot will be required. Most cemeteries have their own regulations governing the erection of grave markers, so it is wise to fully check cemetery regulation before committing to any vault, grave liner or grave marker purchases
Cremations in Ontario If you are opting for a cremation in Ontario, then a casket or container will be required for the funeral service. Many funeral homes will offer a rental casket for the use of the funeral service, prior to a cremation. A basic container can be used for cremation purposes, and a cremation urn will be required for the cremated remains. There are a range of cremation urns available to purchase, and again a great choice of cheap cremation urns are easily available to purchase online.
Disposition of Cremated Remains in Ontario In Ontario, there appears to be a misconception that the law prohibits ash scattering. This is NOT the case, although you must carefully consider the options for the disposition of cremated remains. There is no need to obtain consent from the provincial government to scatter on Crown lands, but those wishing to scatter on municipally owned areas of the lakeshore, municipal waterways and parkland must gain permission from the appropriate town or city in Ontario. Many cemeteries are now offering columbarium niches (or niche walls), which are the structures that have either glass or stone fronts. A family can purchase the rights to use one compartment, which is normally capable of holding two containers or urns. Ash scattering can be performed in a variety of ways, which can uniquely memorialize the deceased.
If the death occurs out-of-province or outside of Canada With the increasing transient nature of Canadians, more Ontarians are having to deal with a death away from home. Your funeral home can assist you by coordinating arrangements with a funeral home in the town or country of death, arranging the transportation of human remains and the required administration. If you need advice concerning funeral shipping please click here to contact us.
Organizations & Agencies that need informing of a death in Ontario Unfortunately there are a number of agencies that need to be notified of the death of an individual, In order to ensure the estate of the deceased is properly closed, and this can be distressing for the bereaved. The Canadian Revenue Agency should be notified for tax purposes. If the death was unexpected, no doctor or emergency services are available, or you have concerns about the circumstances of the death, then contact your local coroners office in Toronto. Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, 18th Floor, 25 Grosvenor Street, Toronto ON M7A 1Y6
Phone: 416 326-5000 Toll free 1-866-517-0571
Complaining about Funeral Services in Ontario If you have a grievance concerning a funeral directors services in Ontario, you should attempt to resolve this in the first instance with the funeral home concerned. If you do not gain a satisfactory resolution, then a formal complaint may be made in writing to the Board of Funeral Services - Conseil des services funéraires: 777 Bay Street, Suite 2810, Box 117, Toronto, ON M5G 2C8, Canada Funeral Sympathy Flowers - Funeral Homes - Funeral Contacts - A Celebration of Life - Choosing a funeral home - Contacting the Funeral Home - Pre-planning a Funeral - Canada Funeral Home DirectoryEarly next week Loblaws will announce the details of their pilot program to be among the first grocers in Ontario to sell beer.
The grocery chain’s stores are among a select 450 Ontario grocery stores who will be allowed to sell beer by 2018 and they are also among an even more select 60 stores who will be allowed to sell beer “before Christmas,” a date that grows ever closer, despite what the weather might have you believe.
Ben’s Beer Blog has learned that, with an eye to that “Christmas” launch, Loblaws will likely be hosting a press conference next week where Premier Kathleen Wynne will be on hand to help the retailer announce the details of the launch of their beer program.
I’m going to add a big disclaimer here that I have been unable to verify all of what I’m about to reveal, but for the most part, I have the details that will be announced.
My sources tell me that we’ll actually have beer in Loblaws as of next weekend, Friday December 18th. Yes, that’s right, Ontario will have beer in our Loblaws on the very same day that the world gets a new Star Wars movie. It’s as though they’ve ripped a page right from my dream journal.
Interestingly, my sources also tell me that Loblaws will announce that a full 50% of their beer shelf space will be dedicated to Ontario craft beers (more than double the mandatory 20% that was stipulated in the new Beer Framework Agreement) and that Loblaws stores will boast 150 different beer varieties. This is inarguably good news for those among us who expected large grocers to become yet another outlet for Molson and Labatt’s omnipresent lagers.
The craft beer that will be available in Loblaws stores as of next weekend will include:
Amsterdam Brewing Co’s Boneshaker IPA;
Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Co’s Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale, The Tom Green Beer Milk Stout, and Lugtread Lagered Ale;
Brick Brewery’s Waterloo Dark;
Collective Arts Brewery’s Rhyme and Reason Pale Ale;
Double Trouble Brewing Co’s Hops and Robbers IPA;
Flying Monkey’s Hoptical Illusion;
Great Lakes Brewery’s Canuck Pale Ale and Pompous Ass Pale Ale;
Junction Craft Brewing’s Conductor’s Craft Ale;
Lake of Bays’ Spark House Red Ale;
Muskoka Brewery’s Detour Session IPA and Mad Tom IPA;
Nickel Brook’s Headstock IPA;
Side Launch Brewing’s Side Launch Wheat; and
Steam Whistle Premium Pilsner.
The “non-craft” beers will include:
Beck’s;
Budweiser;
Creemore Springs Lager;
Coors Light;
Corona Extra;
DAB Beer;
Grolsch;
Guinness;
Heineken;
Kronenberg 1664;
Labatt Blue;
Laker Lager;
Lowenbraus;
Mill Street Brewery’s 100th Meridian Amber Lager and Organic Lager;
Molson Canadian;
Old Milwaukee;
Pilsner Urquell;
Stella Artois; and
Tuborg Gold.
As for the nagging (and, frankly, silly) questions about how grocery store staff might possibly handle the responsibility of alcohol sales, I’m told Loblaws will also announce that their staff will now be Smart Serve certified.
My sources say that the initial pilot program for Loblaws will include 17 stores across the province, and while I’ll add another healthy disclaimer here that this is not 100% verified, I do have a list of those 17 stores.
In the GTA, the list of Loblaws stores to carry beer will be:
The Newmarket Superstore;
The Georgetown Superstore;
Loblaws Burnamthorpe Market;
Loblaws Victoria Park;
The Oshawa Superstore;
The Dufferin & Steeles Superstore; and
Loblaws at Leslie and Lakeshore
In the East, the stores that will sell beer are:
The South Kanata Superstore;
Loblaws College Square Market in Ottawa;
The Loblaws Princess Market in Kingston; and
Browns Independent Grocer in Stittsville.
In the West, the stores with beer will be:
Highland Hills Superstore in Kitchener;
Oakridge Mall Superstore in London;
Zehrs Cambridge Centre;
Walker Road Superstore in Windsor; the
The Fortinos Supermarket on Mall Road in Hamilton
In the North, the Thunder Bay Superstore will be the lone Loblaws to sell beer.Qatar Airways says it will fly to Las Vegas in 2018
Qatar Airways says it will add Las Vegas to its 2017-18 flight schedule, though details of the launch were vague.
The city would become the fast-growing Middle East carrier’s 11th destination in the United States and its first since launching nonstop service to Atlanta this past June.
The Las Vegas route was included as part of an eight-city expansion announced by Qatar Airways on Monday. The other new destinations were Canberra, Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Medan, Indonesia; Rio de Janeiro; Santiago, Chile; and the cities of Tabuk and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia.
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“With today’s network announcement, we will be able to connect more people to more places than any other Gulf airline, and we will ensure our passengers will delight in the journey," Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways' often-outspoken CEO, says in a statement. "At Qatar Airways, we are going places together with our passengers, and we look forward to welcoming these new destinations in 2017.”
Despite issuing a formal announcement, however, Qatar Airways did not specify start dates for the new routes. Similarly, a search of the carrier’s booking engine found no nonstop Las Vegas flights operated by Qatar Airways for sale though the end of the company’s booking window (currently Nov. 24, 2017).
A Qatar Airways representative has subsequently informed Today in the Sky that the airline plans to begin its service to Las Vegas in "early 2018."
Should the route launch next year as announced, it would be Qatar Airway’s 11th destination in the USA. Its others are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Philadelphia and Washington Dulles.
Qatar Airways is one of the three big and fast-growing “Gulf carriers” of the Middle East. The others are Emirates and Etihad, each based in the United Arab Emirates. All three have been expanding at a breakneck pace during the past decade, both in the United States and across the globe.
Their expansion has prompted allegations from some U.S. rivals that the state-owned Gulf carriers are unfairly subsidized. All three of the Gulf airlines vehemently deny those claims. Other U.S. carriers – notably JetBlue and Alaska Airlines – have voiced support for the Gulf carriers.
IN PICTURES: Behind the scenes: Airbus' A350 final assembly line
A Qatar Airways' flight attendant makes her way through the crowded aisles during a media preview flight to serve champagne. (Photo: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren, special for USA TODAY)
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2gb7DDsFox News Channel beats out CNN for America's most trusted cable or broadcast news coverage, and MSNBC lags far behind, even among Democrats, according to new polling done by Quinnipiac University. The poll found 29 percent of people say they trust Fox News' coverage the most, followed by 22 percent for CNN and 10 percent for NBC News and CBS News.
Fox News' figures are unsurprising considering its ratings. The channel ended 2014 second only to ESPN in total viewers among all ad-supported basic cable networks. Its "America's Newsroom," "The Five," "Special Report with Bret Baier" and "The O'Reilly Factor" were the most-watched shows in their time slots among all cable stations. Put simply: Fox News is a ratings juggernaut.
Yes, FNC's numbers are boosted by the fact that 58 percent of Republicans trust it the most; Fox News also has the most trusted coverage among independents with 25 percent.
While Fox News is bolstered by the right, MSNBC doesn't get the same support from the left. The poll found that more Democrats trust CNN (32 percent) and NBC News (15 percent) than MSNBC (14 percent, tied with CBS News).
Here's the breakdown by political affiliation, gender, and age:
Fox News' dominance puts its frequent complaints about the "mainstream media" into perspective. For millions of Americans, Fox News is the mainstream media.John Hunter, the acclaimed “father of scientific surgery,” understood human anatomy through a process of careful dissection. From 1750 to 1793, he revolutionized modern surgical anatomy through the dissection of thousands of human samples derived from fresh human cadavers, which came from fresh graves (1). He was credited with educating over 2000 surgeons globally based on the doctrine of observation, experimentation, and application of scientific evidence, rather than a reliance on potions, humors, and superstitions to manage disease. The early American surgeons who attended these highly desired anatomy courses included Philip Syng Physick, William Shippen, John Morgan, and many others who helped establish the foundations of American medical education. John Hunter was also a brilliant biologist and naturalist, having dissected and stored thousands of animals and plants. His considerable samples represented the entire initial display of the Royal College of Surgeons Museum. In two lengthy volumes, entitled Essays and Observations on Natural History, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, and Geology, he identified the remarkable similarity of muscles and organs between various species. John Hunter proposed a gradual formation of species through mutation 70 years before Charles Darwin published his observations in On the Origin of the Species. Therefore, history reveals that surgeons are uniquely capable of gathering information, making observations, and reaching conclusions about scientific discoveries. As the scientific community is faced with new challenges to time-honored conclusions regarding the origin of the species, the origin of humans, and evolution, it is appropriate to dissect this new corpus of information with fairness and modern knowledge. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to review the arguments that have been leveled against the concept of evolution as proposed by Charles Darwin and John Hunter, surgeon and biologist extraordinaire. Since this review is offered by a physician and surgeon, it might be appropriate to provide evidence of qualification and credibility for such a scientific endeavor. Medicine is a field that attracts some of the brightest minds, based on competitive test scores and undergraduate performance. Modern premedical education commonly includes a typical bachelor's of science degree in biology, chemistry, mathematics, biochemistry, or molecular biology. Medical education includes 2 years of basic science education in molecular biology, biochemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology, among other topics. Participation in clinical or basic research is common during medical education or residency. Physicians then continue their education by practical application of basic science into problem-solving situations with the human body. Regarding the human body, physicians also have an intimate and integrated knowledge of the complete interrelationships, biochemistry, and molecular processes involved with various systems. In fact, the physician represents the penultimate expert on applied molecular pathways as they relate to human conditions. Many surgeons, including this author, are actively involved with gene therapy, vaccine therapy, and the latest molecular targeting based on the incredible breakthroughs in our understanding of the science of DNA (2–4). Therefore, the physician is indeed an excellent source to dissect evolution based on modern science and applied medicine. In a 2005 survey of 1472 physicians, almost 78% favored a belief in evolution as an explanation for the origin of the species (5). Among the nation's scientists and biologists, 99% believe in Darwinian evolution (6). The definition of evolution has changed over the years. However, the basic tenets of Charles Darwin suggested that random mutations occur and natural selection continually acts on the surviving mutation, leading to slight improvements and changes in species over time. Neo-Darwinism was coined in 1895 and reflected knowledge of reproduction and recombination, leading to potentially greater shifts in species. The “modern synthesis” of evolutionary thought was proposed in 1950 to incorporate the knowledge of genetics, systematics, paleontology, and other fields. Taken together, the basic concepts recognize that random mutations occur and natural selection continually acts on the surviving mutation, leading to improvements and changes in species over time. These mutations can occur gradually or rapidly via a term called saltation or punctuated evolution. This process of mutation and natural selection has been proposed to explain the descent from a common ancestor, even from the original prokaryocytes billions of years ago. On the basis of natural selection and time, it has been theorized that single cellular organisms may have arisen from a primordial mixture of ancient elements and energy. Several academic organizations have developed guideline statements to promote Darwinian evolution (including neo-Darwinism, modern synthesis, and punctuated evolution) as the single basic principle to be taught in high schools, universities, and colleges (7). School systems have debated the educational merits of Darwinian evolution and have found themselves in various state and federal courts. In Kitzmiller v the Dover Area School District, the US District Court ruled in 2005, among other things, that the school board could not require teachers to denigrate or disparage the scientific theory of evolution (8). In 2010, the Texas State Board of Education accepted testimony for 3 days from scientists and citizens regarding the teaching of evolution. Representatives of the National Center for Science Education testified that teaching the weaknesses of evolution would unfairly mark future high school seniors as poorly prepared to compete for college positions based on an education that might be considered nonscientific (9). However, numerous other scientists, citizens, and educators brought forth evidence that emphasized the weaknesses of Darwinian evolution. Ultimately, the board took a controversial position and voted to require future textbooks in the state to explain the weaknesses and the strengths of Darwinian evolution. Two specific strengths of Darwinian evolution are generally agreed upon: Species adapt to a change in environment (bird beak changes, bacterial resistance, fruit fly experiments). This is called microevolution. There is similarity in the DNA across species (called homology). During the Texas State Board of Education testimony, weaknesses were raised about three issues: Limitations of the chemical origin of life data to explain the origin of DNA Limitations of mutation and natural selection theories to address the irreducible complexity of the cell Limitations of transitional species data to account for the multitude of changes involved in the transition In the sections below, I discuss these three weaknesses and then provide some concluding thoughts on paradigm shift.
CHEMICAL ORIGIN OF LIFE In 1953, the field of abiogenesis took a large step forward when Stanley Miller and Harold Urey reported that a collection of five simple amino acids could be formed from placing a combination of chemicals in a jar and subjecting the jar to energy in the form of electricity (10, 11). This experiment continues to be used in high school and college texts as the unquestioned fundamental explanation for the origin of life based on a purely natural process (12). Unfortunately, the experimental conditions of a low-oxygen, nitrogen-rich reducing environment have been refuted by many (13–15). The experiment actually produces a racemic mixture of amino acids that would inhibit the production of useful proteins. After Watson and Crick unveiled the double helix nature of DNA in 1953, the origin-of-life research began to focus on the nucleotides and the complex chemical processes that might create the energy for the primitive cell. Modern textbooks expand on the largely debunked Miller-Urey experiment and further propose that the nucleotides form together in a primitive environment with explanations that include the RNA world hypothesis (16), thermogenesis (17), and hypercycles (18). Unfortunately, the student is not taught that those theories still require complex and specified information contained in functioning proteins, which cannot be explained or self-generated (19). Furthermore, the student is not taught that the four nucleotides do not spontaneously form in nature (20). There is no self-organizing principle that would guide or facilitate alignment of nucleotides (21, 22). Any experimentally manufactured nucleotides are mixtures of L (left-oriented) and D (right-oriented) isomers. Since DNA is composed of only D isomers, the probability of alignment of thousands of specified D isomers becomes even more remote (23, 24). Even if there was a self-organizing pattern, the probability of even a short strand of nucleotides occurring in a precisely specified linear pattern that would code for even the smallest single-celled organism with approximately 250 genes has been calculated to be 1 in 10150—1 in 1070 less than the chance of finding a particular electron in the entire universe (25). In addition to the lack of evidence for self-formation of proteins or nucleotides, the fundamental and insurmountable problem with Darwinian evolution lies in the remarkable complexity and inherent information contained within DNA (26). Modern scientists have unraveled the incomparable elegance and protein-coding information of DNA over the past 50 years. The fundamental blueprint of the cell is found in the DNA, which is composed of four different nucleotides (adenine, cytosine, thymine, and guanine). The individual human cell has 5 billion nucleotides arranged in precise order, allowing for the coding and formation of 25,000 complex enzymes and proteins. This protein development process involves at least 200 unique proteins and cofactors (Figure ). First, transcription involves the copying of the DNA into a matching strand of messenger RNA composed of similar nucleotides and slightly different sugar molecules. Second, the messenger RNA migrates out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm and is translated into a protein in a ribosome, which coordinates the delivery of a specific transfer RNA-amino acid moiety. A codon, composed of three specific nucleotides, allows for the integration of a single specific amino acid into a long series of amino acids, which then folds into a specific three-dimensional structure called a protein. The 25,000 enzymes and proteins being coded for in each cell of the human body have thousands of minute functions, including signal transduction from the surface, maintenance of specific electrolyte concentrations within very tight limits, storage and utilization of energy, manufacture of proteins, and cell division. In summary, the DNA within each cell is responsible for the production and processing of carefully orchestrated and interrelated functions within the cell. As an analogy, DNA far surpasses the complexity of the blueprints and production of a 30-story building with elevators, electricity, plumbing, computers, and air-conditioning. Open in a separate window Based on an awareness of the inexplicable coded information in DNA, the inconceivable self-formation of DNA, and the inability to account for the billions of specifically organized nucleotides in every single cell, it is reasonable to conclude that there are severe weaknesses in the theory of gradual improvement through natural selection (Darwinism) to explain the chemical origin of life. Furthermore, Darwinian evolution and natural selection could not have been causes of the origin of life, because they require replication to operate, and there was no replication prior to the origin of life.
IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY OF CELLULAR SYSTEMS The physician studies and understands the enormous complexity of the human body and the human cell. Some aspects of Darwinian evolution in the human body are readily agreed upon—for example, mutation and natural selection acting to influence malarial resistance, skin characteristics, and many other minor changes within the species. However, the origin of and explanation for the formation of complex organs remains unclear. Starting from a single germ-line cell, the DNA is sufficient to code for and control development of 50 trillion cells that organize into complex organs based on expression of different sections of DNA, leading to entirely different “factories” that have such diverse functions as the liver, the brain, the heart, and the eye. Proponents of mutation and natural selection point to a scientific publication regarding eye evolution. Nilsson offered a simulation explaining how a light-sensitive spot with a light-absorbing layer gradually transitioned to a cup, then a hemisphere filled with a transparent substance, and then, with the ends brought together, an aperture (27). Natural selection would theoretically lead to a gradually improved species, which would evidently mate and create progressively better eyes, including the natural formation of a lens, a retina, and the neural transmission to the brain. However, biochemists have shown that even a simple light-sensitive spot requires a complex array of enzyme systems. When light strikes the retina, a photon interacts with a molecule called 11-cis-retinal, which rearranges within picoseconds to trans-retinal. The change in the shape of the retinal molecule forces a change in the shape of the protein rhodopsin. The protein then changes to metarhodopsin II and sticks to another protein, called transducin. This process requires energy in the form of GTP, which binds to transducin. GTP-transducin-metarhodopsin II then binds to a protein called phosphodiesterase, located on the cell wall. This affects the cGMP levels within the cell, leading to a signal that then goes to the brain. The recognition of this signal in the brain and subsequent interpretation involve numerous other proteins and enzymes and biochemical reactions within the brain cells. Thus, each of these enzymes and proteins must exist for the system to work properly. Many other mathematical and logistical weaknesses to the Nilsson example of eye evolution have been uncovered (28). In summary, the eye is incredibly complex. Since it is unreasonable to expect self-formation of the enzymes in perfect proportion simultaneously, eye function represents a system that could not have arisen by gradual mutations. The concept of irreducible complexity suggests that all elements of a system must be present simultaneously rather than evolve through a stepwise, sequential improvement, as theorized by Darwinian evolution (29). Within each individual cell, there are tens of thousands of additional interrelated complex actions, enzymatic steps, and processes that automatically maintain cellular homeostasis, protein transport, self-protection, and replication. The fact that these irreducibly complex systems are specifically coded through DNA adds another layer of complexity called “specified complexity” (30). Geoffrey Simmons, MD, has presented 17 examples within the human body of irreducibly complex systems that could not have formed by sequential or simultaneous mutation, since all components must be present to work correctly (31). These infinitely complex systems include vision, balance, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, the immune system, the gastrointestinal system, the skin, the endocrine system, and taste. In addition, virtually every aspect of human physiology has regulatory elements, feedback loops, and developmental components that require thousands of interacting genes leading to specified protein expression. These functions and the corresponding specification of the DNA code are too inconceivably complex to have arisen by accidental mutation or change. When John Hunter and Charles Darwin saw similarities in muscles and body structure across species, they had no knowledge of the enormous complexity inherent within those organs. In the 1850s, Hunter and Darwin might have accomplished the same simulation as Nilsson with the simple alignment of a series of eyes from less complex to complex and the assumption that some sort of gradual evolution over billions of years would be responsible. Modern scientists applying knowledge of the intrinsic complexity within each cell would understand that each sequential mutation in the DNA within the eyeball would require simultaneous mutations in bone structure, nerves, brain function, and hundreds of proteins and cell signaling pathways to make even the smallest change in only one organ system. Such changes would require far more than could be expected from random mutation and natural selection. Since these systems are irreducibly complex and individual mutations in one organ would not be beneficial for the organism, these random mutations in all aspects of vision would need to occur simultaneously. Therefore, the human body represents an irreducibly complex system on a cellular and an organ/system basis.
TRANSITIONAL SPECIES DATA The transitional species from primitive primates to man have been illustrated in textbooks for over 100 years. These drawings form the visual imagery that supports Darwinian evolution for high school students, university students, medical students, and the public. However, honest dissent exists in the accuracy of most of the transitional prehominoids, with many found to be frauds or animal species. Reconstructions based on fragmentary and scattered bones, surface bones, and gross morphologic features are limited. Anomalous findings of stone tools, bones, and hundreds of other artifacts have suggested that Homo sapiens were actually present 2 to 7 million years ago (at the same time as early proposed transitional species) (32). Certainly, there has been no additional transitional mutant or species change from the first generally accepted Homo sapiens over 200,000 years ago. The DNA homology between ape and man has been reported to be 96% when considering only the current protein-mapping sequences, which represent only 2% of the total genome. However, the actual similarity of the DNA is approximately 70% to 75% when considering the full genome, including the previously presumed “junk DNA,” which has now been demonstrated to code for supporting elements in transcription or expression (33). The 25% difference represents almost 35 million single nucleotide changes and 5 million insertions or deletions (34). The ape to human species change would require an incredibly rapid rate of mutation leading to formation of new DNA, thousands of new proteins, and untold cellular, neural, digestive, and immune-related changes in DNA, which would code for the thousands of new functioning proteins. This rate of mutation has never been observed in any viral, bacterial, or other organism. The estimation for DNA random mutations that would lead to intelligence in humans is beyond calculation. Therefore, the recently discovered molecular differences between apes and humans make the prospect of simple random mutation leading to a new species of Homo sapiens largely improbable (35). The 2004 transitional species between water- and land-based creatures (Tiktaalik roseae) was based on a recovered bone fragment representing the wrist structure that would be necessary for moving on land (36) (Figure ). Even though this species has been disparaged by scientific circles, it is important to realize that any transition from a water-based organism to an air-breathing land-based organism would also require thousands of simultaneous mutations in the basic physiology of the eyes, nose, alimentary system, lungs, muscles, and bones. This would entail thousands of discrete mutations in the DNA, which would code for the underlying changes in the individual cellular systems and enzymes responsible for the changes. A transitional species change would also require a simultaneous change in another organism, allowing for reproduction and duplication of the markedly mutated DNA. Open in a separate window The transitional species concept has been most extensively studied through invertebrate species of plants, shells, and mollusks in carefully preserved fossil fields in Japan, Malaysia, and Asia. Thousands of specimens were available at the time of Darwin. Millions of specimens have been classified and studied in the past 50 years. It is remarkable to note that each of these fossil beds shows a virtual explosion of nearly all phyla (35/40) of the animal kingdom over a relatively short period during the Cambrian era 525 to 530 million years ago (37) (Figure ). Since that time, there has been occasional species extinction, but only rare new phyla have been convincingly identified (38). The seminal paper from paleoanthropologists J. Valentine and D. H. Erwin notes that the absence of transitional species for any of the Cambrian phyla limits the neo-Darwinian explanation for evolution (39). Open in a separate window Finally, bacterial evolution or adaptation offers an excellent opportunity to see mutation in a species with rapid cell division. Evolutionary biology can be modeled over a relatively short time (30 years), while observing DNA mutations over 1020 generations (40). This is analogous to observing mutations in man or any mammal over 200 million years. A recent review of numerous papers related to viral and bacterial evolution over the past 40 years revealed that the vast majority of mutations led to a loss or slight modification of function that conferred resistance or survival benefit (41). These specific mutations included simple deletions, substitutions, frame shift mutations, inversion, and insertion. No gain-in-function mutations were observed in any of the long-term bacterial evolution studies. There were only two gain-of-function mutations in the long-term viral evolution studies. The absence of mutations leading to a single new protein suggests the difficulty of using mutation to explain the development of numerous new proteins coded specifically by thousands of nucleotides in a precise order, interacting with numerous other enzymes in a simultaneous fashion to accomplish a single cellular action such as the cellular manufacture of a single nucleotide. The complexity of creating two sequential or simultaneous mutations that would confer improved survival has been studied in the malaria parasite when exposed to chloroquine. The actual incidence of two base-pair mutations leading to two changed amino acids leading to resistance has been shown to be 1 in 1020 cases (42). To better understand this incidence, the likelihood that Homo sapiens would achieve any single mutation of the kind required for malaria to become resistant to chloroquine (a simple shift of two amino acids) would be 100 million times 10 million years (many times the age of the universe). This example has been used to further explain the difficulty in managing more than one mutation to achieve benefit. In all fairness, there is convincing evidence, that is widely acknowledged, that random mutation and natural adaptation (Darwinian evolution) does occur within species, leading to minor changes in areas such as beak size, skin pigmentation, or antibiotic resistance. Some of these changes involve a simple biologic survival advantage for a population, without a mutation in DNA. Others might be influenced by a single deletion or insertion within the DNA strand. However, the modern evolution data do not convincingly support a transition from a fish to an amphibian, which would require a massive amount of new enzymes, protein systems, organ systems, chromosomes, and formation of new strands of specifically coding DNA. |
-minded crooks.
Polls of popularity generally assign Lincoln at or near the top of lists of “greatest presidents.” Despite whatever historical flaws he may have as a politician, military tactician or executive branch leader, his reputation for honesty and truth prevail scores of years later. His vision for the Republic was clear. But time and the misuse of money have eroded that vision, rendering it unrecognizable.
In his address of only 265 words, he directed a divided nation to heal the deep wounds brought on by such a divisive war. He said, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion …” He sought freedom — and all the obligations and responsibilities that entails — as a defining characteristic of the Republic.
What would he think of a Congress so divided and held in such low regard by the voters who elected its members? How would he regard an industry surrounding Congress whose sole purpose is to prey on political and philosophical schisms on behalf of powerful clients who seek primarily to retain and expand their means of holding power? Would he be saddened by the decision of the Republic’s highest court to allow corporations the same rights as individuals?
As he sits in effigy, fatigued in appearance by artist’s intent, looking east toward the Reflecting Pool, he may be considering revising his remarks offered at Gettysburg:
We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain— that this nation, under the god of Maximize Shareholder Income, shall have an enduring vision of Corporate leadership—and that government of the Dollar, by the Dollar, and for the Dollar, shall not perish from the Corporate Boardrooms.Middle class spending is crucial for economic growth. So now, with Western middle classes in debt and distress, many economists look to the new emerging-market middle class as the foundation for a new era of global prosperity. However, companies need new approaches to penetrate the developing world’s increasingly prosperous consumer markets.
The last couple of years 70 million people in developing countries joined the middle class, with incomes between $6,000 and$30,000. It is estimated that within 20 years they will surpass their Western pears when it comes to global spending power. The focus is mainly on Asia and it is estimated that in about a decade they will pick up the slack left by overspent America. Emergency market spending is in fact already bolstering the balance sheets of many Western firms.
World focusing on China and India
Needless to say the world is focusing on China and India due to its huge populations as well as rapidly rising economies and middle classes. Correct if you look at the amount of people. But by looking at the issue that way we overlook a very potent and prosperous group of people. Saudi Arabia’s retail sector is booming as more international brands look to move into the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has already overtaken better known retail destinations like Hong Kong, Russia and Japan when it comes to attracting brands. Only London and Dubai are attracting more retailers and shoppers.
Don’t forget Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states
When it comes to per capita spending I’m certain that the middle classes in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries not only earn more but also spend far more than their Asian counterparts. It’s not for nothing many middle class Indians chose to work in the Gulf, despite the fact that they are paid less than the locals. Salaries are higher and you pay no income tax in the Gulf.
Shopping for entertainment
Shopping is a top leisure activity and when the weekend starts the malls are filled with people who literally shop until they drop. A woman who works in a Chanel shop in the area told me an average customer spends an absolute fortune every time they come to the shop. And the same goes for more expensive items like cars, jewellery and electronics. Considering the importance the Chinese put on saving money, I would be very surprised if middle class people in China, with the exception of some mega rich, spend that much.
Emerging middle classes have different tastes
Emerging-market leaders know that the Western system created the worldwide boom of the last quarter century that ended when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Now the boom has moved to emerging markets, and their leaders will increasingly choose to alter Western models to suit their countries. Consequently the fact that all eyes are on Asia and the Gulf is forgotten could turn out to be a fatal mistake. The new emerging middle classes are supporters of globalization but highly nationalistic. And there is a vast difference between nationalism in China and, say, Kuwait.
Kingdom to invest $100b in transport and logistics
And not only is KSA and the Gulf a key market for consumer brands. All other products and services will find that what they have to offer is in high demand. Saudi Arabia is, for instance, targeting $100 billion of investment in ports, airports, railroads, roads and logistics centre projects over the next decade in a push to make the kingdom one of the world’s leading transport and logistics hubs by 2020.
Back to emerging middle classes in general, we can conclude that the Chinese bought more cars than Americans the last couple of years, and that India has as many Internet users as the U.S. Also it is estimated that by 2030, more than nine out of every 10 mobile phones will be owned by people in the developing world. Coca-Cola actually forecasts a doubling of worldwide revenues to $200 billion over the next decade, thanks to another 1 billion people expected to join the middle class by 2020. So Western companies who haven’t yet focused on developing countries’ middle classes should jump on the band waggon swiftly and not overlook the Gulf.
(photo: flickr – Lars Plougmann)This article is over 4 years old
State had ‘minimal interest’ in claims against F1 chief executiveThey relate to sale of major stake in the motor racing business
A New York appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a $650m (£410m) lawsuit against the Formula One chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone, saying he cannot be sued in the state’s courts over the sale of a major stake in the motor racing business.
In a 2012 suit, the investment firm Bluewaters Communications accused Ecclestone, now 84, of giving a $45m bribe to a German banker in 2006 to secure the deal for the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
Bluewaters claimed that it was the highest bidder and Ecclestone had favoured a sale to CVC because it planned to keep him on as chief executive of Formula One, a post he has held since 1978.
The case was dismissed in January, and Bluewaters appealed.
The appeals court in Manhattan on Thursday said the claims could not be heard in a New York court because the case had no ties to the state. Germany, England and the island of Jersey, where Bluewaters is incorporated, were more appropriate forums, the court said.
“This case stems from the failure of a Jersey company to acquire the shares of another Jersey company from a German bank, allegedly because an Englishman bribed a German,” the court wrote. “New York’s interest is minimal.”
Ecclestone has faced criminal charges and two nine-figure lawsuits since the bribery claims surfaced.
In February a London court dismissed a $170m suit brought by a German media company that sought to purchase the stake in Formula One. A UK appeals court on Wednesday refused to review that decision.
In August, Ecclestone agreed to pay about $100m to settle bribery claims in Germany, where he had faced 10 years in prison.
Kent Yalowitz, who represents Bluewaters, said he was disappointed with the New York decision but expected the firm to have its day in court elsewhere.
Ecclestone’s lawyer did not return a request for comment.Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in New York City last month. Clinton recently promised to release government documents about Area 51, the federally restricted area around Groom Lake in Southern Nevada where some believe the government has kept hidden proof of alien life. Photo by Dennis Van Tine/UPI | License Photo
WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is giving hope to a small but committed group of extraterrestrial believers they will finally find out if the truth really is out there.
Clinton has promised to do what presidents for the last 60 years have so far refused: release government documents related to Area 51, the remote section of Edwards Air Force Base in the Nevada desert that many alien enthusiasts believe is the site of alien encounters.
Clinton made the proposal in all seriousness last month during a radio interview and has demonstrated more than a casual understanding of the issue. When she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently, the host asked her whether she believes in UFOs. Clinton, a noted policy wonk, quickly corrected Kimmel's improper terminology.
"You know, there's a new name," Clinton said. "It's unexplained aerial phenomenon. U.A.P. That's the latest nomenclature."
For the group of ET enthusiasts, the acknowledgment was high tide in their fight for legitimacy in the eyes of government officials, according to The New York Times.
"Hillary has embraced this issue with an absolutely unprecedented level of interest in American politics," said Joseph G. Buchman, who has spent decades calling for government transparency about extraterrestrials.
Clinton's interest in the issue is buttressed by her campaign chairman, John Podesta, a noted alien enthusiast and devoted fan of the 1990s show The X-Files. Podesta has called for the U.S. government to release what it knows about the possibility of alien life and whether there is evidence the planet has been visited by some form of extraterrestrial life.
As for the ultimate question, does Clinton believe in UFOs (or UAPs)?
"I don't know. I want to see what the information shows," Clinton said in the radio interview. But she added, "There's enough stories out there that I don't think everybody is just sitting in their kitchen making them up."
Unfortunately for Clinton and Podesta, both of whom served in President Barack Obama's administration, they have thus far failed to bring their former boss over to the cause.
Like most presidents before him, Obama has generally laughed off questions about the government's role in covering up proof of alien life.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked to respond to the Times story on Clinton's Area 51 promise, said he was not "aware of any plans that the president has to make public any information about this."On Sunday, in its most explicit warning to Donald Trump not to revise the terms of the Nuclear Deal - something the US president is expected to do over the coming days - Iran warned the United States that U.S. regional military bases "would be at risk" if further sanctions were passed. "The Americans should know that the Trump government’s stupid behavior with the nuclear deal will be used by the Islamic Republic as an opportunity to move ahead with its missile, regional and conventional defense program," Iran Revolutionary Guards’ commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said, quoted by Reuters. He then threatened US presence in the region, warning that “if America’s new law for sanctions is passed, this country will have to move their regional bases outside the 2,000 km range of Iran’s missiles."
Then, one day later, Iran vowed on Monday to give a "firm and crushing" response should Washington decide to also include the elite wing of its army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), on its list of terrorist organizations, according to the country’s foreign ministry.
"We are hopeful that the United States does not make this strategic mistake,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi stated during a news conference according to Reuters. “If they do, Iran’s reaction would be firm, decisive and crushing and the United States should bear all its consequences."
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
Late last week, the White House disclosed that Washington is preparing tougher sanctions on Tehran, including the possible designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group. The Trump administration aims to put more pressure on the IRGC, especially over recent missile tests and what Washington has called its “malign activities” across the Middle East. The U.S. government imposed sanctions in July on 18 entities and people for supporting the IRGC in developing drones and military equipment. In August, Congress overwhelmingly approved the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” which imposed new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program, as well as sanctions on Russia and North Korea.
The Iranian counter-threats came from Qasemi one week before President Donald Trump is expected to announce his final decision on how he wants to contain the Islamic Republic. On October 15, Trump is expected to “decertify” the landmark 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, a step that by itself stops short of pulling out of the agreement but gives Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions.
New U.S. sanctions on the IRGC could affect conflicts in Iraq and Syria, where Tehran and Washington both support warring parties that oppose the Islamic State militant group (IS).
France said on Monday it was worried that classifying the IRGC as a terrorist group could exacerbate tensions in the region.
Germany said it was worried Trump would decide Iran is not respecting the nuclear deal, negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, and fears such a step will worsen insecurity in the Middle East.
Then there was Russia: Moscow warned on Monday there would be "negative consequences" if US President Donald Trump fails to uphold the landmark Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor.
"Obviously if one country leaves the deal, especially such a key country as the US, then that will have negative consequences," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said. "We can only try to predict the nature of these consequences, which we are doing now," Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
A U.S. pullout from the Iran deal will unravel an accord seen by supporters as vital to preventing a Middle East arms race and tamping down regional tensions, since it limits Iran’s ability to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel in exchange for the lifting of sanctions that damaged its oil-based economy. As a reminder, prior to the deal Iran and Israel were constantly at each other's throats, resulting in a constant fear of imminent war between the two nations.
Meanwhile, the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s inspectors have repeatedly declared Iran in compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal.
That was not enough for Trump, who called Iran “a corrupt dictatorship” during his first speech to the U.N. General Assembly and said the nuclear deal was “the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into”. The other five world powers in the deal were Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The prospect of the United States reneging on the agreement has worried other partners that helped negotiate it.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who supports the nuclear pact, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes it, agreed in a phone call on Monday that they need to be “clear-eyed” about the threat Iran poses to the Middle East. “They agreed that... the international community should continue working together to push back against Iran’s destabilizing regional activity,” May’s spokesman said.
In an interview aired on Saturday night, Trump accused Iran of “funding North Korea” and “doing things with North Korea that are totally inappropriate”. Qasemi responded that U.S. accusations were “baseless”. He added, “Israel and some specific countries are raising these accusations to create Iranophobia.”
Finally, should Trump go ahead and designate the IRGC terrorists, University of Tehran analyst Seyed Mohammad Marandi said that Tehran will give a similar designation to the US military. Asked by RT, if he expects Trump to decertify the nuclear deal on October, 15, and what impact this could have on stability in the world, Marandi responded:A big-name retail brand has plans to open in Short Pump Town Center as the Henrico County mall gears up for a fresh batch of tenants.
L.L.Bean announced on Thursday that it will take over a 15,500-square-foot space on the mall’s second level, currently occupied by the food court.
The store will open in November and will be L.L.Bean’s second Virginia retail location.
The mall’s food court will close May 15. Both the Chick-fil-A and Auntie Anne’s will reopen in different larger spaces at the mall, said Pam Howland of Forest City Enterprises. Forest City owns the shopping center along with QIC and local developer Pruitt Associates.
The Short Pump store will be L.L.Bean’s 25th nationwide. The Maine-based company known for its seasonal catalogues opened its first store 15 years ago in Tyson’s Corner in Northern Virginia and is now in the midst of an ambitious growth plan.
Spokesman Mac McKeever said Thursday that the company plans to have 100 retail locations open by 2020.
“We’re finding that today’s consumer is evolving,” McKeever said. “In the spirit of being a true omnichannel retail brand, we want to provide the ability for customers to buy in any medium.”
McKeever said the bulk of L.L.Bean’s sales are online, but different revenue streams help one another – perusing an L.L.Bean catalogue might prompt some customers to visit a store to try out and ultimately buy products.
“We’re just trying to make it as easy as possible for the consumer,” McKeever said. “It’s just about making sure we’re giving consumers the best opportunities to shop with us.”
McKeever said Richmond’s proximity to the James River and the outdoor culture built around it made the area attractive to L.L.Bean. The company has also seen catalogue and website orders come out of the area.
“The moons lined up for us here in Richmond and Short Pump,” McKeever said. “We know that the Richmond area is a very active area. There a lot of festivals and there are an abundance of natural resources.”
McKeever would not say how much it will cost to open the Richmond location. L.L.Bean plans to hire 100 people to work at the store.
The Short Pump location will include L.L.Bean’s Outdoor Discovery Schools, which consist of demonstrations, clinics and introductory hands-on activities like snowshoeing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding, among others.
Other previously announced new arrivals in the works at Short Pump Town Center include Children’s Museum of Richmond, Lilly Rain, The Boathouse restaurant and Zumiez.
The new Boathouse, from local restaurateur Kevin Healy, is expected to open in June. It will be Healy’s fourth restaurant in the area.Physicists are pondering all manner of difficult problems and daunting challenges here at the 2007 APS April Meeting in Denver, but among the most pressing questions at the end of each day is, where do we go for dinner? There's always the hotel bevy of eateries to assuage hunger pains in a pinch, but savvy meeting attendees invariably whip out their pocket Zagat's Guide for the area to locate recommended restaurants in the nearby vicinity. (I'm more inclined to rely on the concierge, or Jen-Luc Piquant, who's a whiz at ferreting out online restaurant guides for the city du jour.)
But what do you do if you're not a hungry physicist or science writer, and are, instead, a single-celled organism? Where's the handy Zagat's Guide for amoebae? Apparently, they don't need one, because they've got a built-in mechanism for an optimal food-foraging strategy. Amoeba are smarter than we think (there goes that classic schoolyard taunt). For instance, scientists have always assumed that microbes move in random patterns unless they are specifically hot on the scent of tasty nibbles, but recent research has shown otherwise. A species of amoeba called Dictyostelium seems to remember its previous "steps" and uses that remembered information to explore new ground, thereby increasing its chances of finding food.
What remains unclear is how, exactly, this simple organism manages to have any kind of memory at all, even the recollection of something as short term as where it was located just a minute ago. It's not like it has a fully functioning, complex brain. Liang Li of Princeton University thinks there may be a clue in the mechanism by which the creature moves. The amoeba moves by rearranging its squishy body into a protruding shape known as a pseudopod.
It's simple four-step sequence involving an initial protrusion, followed by adhesion to the surface on which the creature is moving, then a contraction/tension of the pseudopod, followed by "deadhesion" so the creature can move instead of sticking in one place. Using phase contrast microscopy, she tracked a bunch of Dictyostelium over 100 hours, charting the "runs" and "turns" they made, which formed a zigzag pattern of motion. She specifically looked at how often the creatures made a left turn followed by a right turn, and found they showed a clear bias for that kind of variation.
How could this possibly have anything to do with an amoeba's hunting strategy? Li speculates that the formation of these pseudopods leaves temporary "scars" in the cell's cytoskeleton -- a bit like short-term memory, since the scars fade over time -- and this makes it far more likely that the next pseudopod the creature forms will point in a new direction. Because it changes direction and doesn't retrace its steps, it covers more ground and therefore increases its chances of successfully finding food.
What about more complex, higher organisms, like zooplankton? Ricardo Garcia has something to say on the subject. He's with the Center for Neurodynamics at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, and was on hand yesterday to talk about his research on the role of specific swimming characteristics in achieving optimal food foraging strategies for zooplankton. The work was billed in the press release as "the first observation in a living animal of an inherent swimming characteristic -- the turning angle -- that optimizes the food obtained in a patch of fixed size for an organism foraging for a fixed time."
Garcia and his University of Missouri colleague, Frank Moss, studied the zooplankton Daphnia, more commonly known as water fleas. They looked at the swimming movements of five different Daphnia species of varying sizes, both adults and juveniles, all of which exhibit a distinct hop-pause-turn-hop again sequence while swimming. Specifically Garcia and Moss analyzed the turning angles the creatures made after each hop in th sequence, plotting the number of times a given angle was observed in a type of chart known as a histogram. These turning angles were almost, but not quite, completely random -- they found evidence of a preferred turning angle value.
What kind of evidence? Well, it all sounded very complicated as Garcia described their work, but the gist, as far as I can tell is this: they did a mathematical analysis of the underlying random processes, or "noise intensities" in the water fleas. "Noise" in this context refers to neural (brain-related) noise, or the "random electrical'static' in the neural systems of the zooplankton." Most of us find any kind of outside noise distracting or irritating if we're trying to focus on a particular task -- even more so if dinner is involved -- never mind if it's our own brain activity wreaking havoc with our concentration. But in the case of the humble water flea, it's helpful while foraging for food. The neural noise influences the turning angle in such a way as to enable the water flea to explore the most amount of space and gather the most food within a given time frame.
While Garcia and Moss were watching water fleas, their theoretical collaborators at the Laboratory for Applied Stochastic Processes at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, were developing a theory of the foraging process, complete with computer simulations. Scientists have known for many years that biological systems frequently rely on stochastic resonance (or noise) as a stimulus to the sensory systems, which in turn can affect the behavior of creatures both great and small -- usually in positive, optimizing ways that improve said creatures' chances or survival.
It's a pretty counter-intuitive notion at first glance: stochastic resonance involves adding random noise to a weak signal bearing "information" -- say, the signal from a country-western radio station in the Denver area that is just beginning to be out of range. Imagine trying to get that radio station to come in clearly on your car radio while driving through downtown Denver, but instead of fine-tuning to decrease the static, you decide to increase the level of static instead. What would prove disastrous to your enjoyment of the latest Tim McGraw opus, turns out to be beneficial for living organisms. In this case, adding noise actually enhances the detectability and/or effective transmission of the information-bearing signal.
Researchers like Garcia suspect that natural stochastic resonance may have a played a significant role in the evolution of sensory systems, although he is careful to emphasize that his results don't outright prove this hypothesis; they merely offer strong supporting evidence in favor of that notion. In the case of Daphnia, Garcia suspects that the water flea's distinctive swimming patterns evolved over tens to hundreds of millions of years via Darwinian natural selection.
It all comes down to the intensity of the neural noise signals. Those noise intensities correlate with the width of distribution of the turning angles favored by the water fleas, and it turns out that the creatures gather the most amount of food in a single foraging session at a very specific noise intensity. Per Garcia: "A small noise intensity means that the animal obtains less than the maximum possible amount of food within its patch during its fixed feeding time. Likewise, less fod is ingested if the distribution is too broad." (Jen-Luc thinks it sounds an awful lot like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: "This noise intensity is too small." "Well, this noise intensity is too large." "But THIS noise intensity is juuuust riiiight....") The findings were consistent across all five species of Daphnia studied, regardless of size or age of the organisms. So Garcia and Moss' experimental data fits the Berlin collaborators' theory just fine, and a technical paper on their work is pending publication in Mathematical Bioscience even as I type.
Which brings us to dessert. It's something I generally skip, but when I do choose to indulge, I'm partial to cookies or more elaborate concoctions like bread pudding and tiramisu. My pals MondoBob and El Finster have simpler tastes: they swear by their nightly dish of ice cream. They're not alone: according to this 2004 article from Discover on the physics of ice cream, US sales of ice cream top $20 billion, with Americans consuming as much as 20 quarts per capita. Only New Zealanders eat more ice cream. The article also contains a brief sidebar noting that some ice cream manufacturers combat the formation of unwanted ice crystals in their products by adding antifreeze or ice structuring proteins (ISPs) found in certain fish, insects, plants, fungi and bacteria. (It's all about achieving an optimally appealing mouthfeel. Nobody likes a crunchy dish of ice cream, unless it's from the addition of nuts or candies.)
Yes, ISPs can prevent recrystallization. The high fat content of most ice creams serves the same purpose, but if you're watching your cholesterol, like El Finster and Mondo Bob, you're probably buying sherbets or lower-fat varieties, which do contain antifreeze proteins to step in for the missing fat. From a medical standpoint, recrystallization is undesirable because it can also cause damage to the structure of biological tissue, limiting the "shelf life" or vital organs awaiting transplant, for example. In fact, that's one of the greatest challenges in cryogenics. Cells contain a lot of water, you see, and water expands when it freezes, bursting the cell walls in the process. That's why the Pittsburgh scientists who revived the infamous "zombie dogs" a few years ago had to replace the canine's blood with a kind of "antifreeze" to prevent tissue and brain damage during the thawing out process.
The ISPs accomplish this by attaching to the surface of ice crystals in such a way as to inhibit their growth. But some creatures have more effective ("hyperactive") ISPs, such as the spruce budworm. According to Ohio University's Ido Braslavsky, who reported on his latest research in this area yesterday, the hyperactive ISPs of the spruce budworm stop ice crystals from growing in particular directions. He and his collaborators fluorescently tagged the ISPs from fish and the budworms and studied them under a fluorescent microscope to see how the proteins interacted with the surfaces of ice crystals, on order to reach that conclusion. Future applications could include prevention of frostbite in crops; reducing highway damage from de-icing procedures in the winter; and the aforementioned food preservation and improved organ preservation.
So clearly, when it comes to science, much depends on dinner... or dessert. We shall try to bear that in mind when we undertake yet another food-foraging mission this evening in beautiful downtown Denver.Rare Replay - Features
Features:
Jetpac (1983)
Atic Atac (1983)
Lunar Jetman (1983)
Sabre Wulf (1984)
Underwurlde (1984)
Knight Lore (1984)
Gunfright (1986)
Slalom (1987)
R.C. Pro-Am (1988)
Cobra Triangle (1989)
Snake Rattle N Roll (1990)
Digger T. Rock (1990)
Solar Jetman (1990)
Battletoads (1991)
R.C. Pro-Am II (1992)
Battletoads Arcade (1994)
Killer Instinct Gold (1996)
Blast Corps (1997)
Banjo-Kazooie (1998)
Jet Force Gemini (1999)
Perfect Dark (2000)
Banjo-Tooie (2000)
Conker’s Bad Fur Day (2001)
Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003)
Perfect Dark Zero (2005)
Kameo: Elements of Power (2005)
Viva Piñata (2006)
Jetpac Refuelled (2007)
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008)
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (2008)
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Rare brings together the adventures of its iconic characters in a collection of 30 games that span the decades. From its earliest 2D classics to Xbox 360 triumphs, Rare Replay delivers a gaming treasure trove for veteran players and newcomers alike.A prolific sex offender from Langley has been sent back to jail — after just a few hours of freedom — because he broke the conditions of his release by drinking alcohol.
Graham Lackey, 46, has over three dozen convictions dating back to 1989. He was released from the Fraser Regional Correctional Center on March 17.
That same day, officers from the RCMP's street enforcement unit watched Graham arrive in Langley by bus. He was greeted by a friend who took him to the local pub, where he promptly ordered a beer.
Among his conditions for release was an order to abstain from alcohol.
The officers arrested Graham as he exited the pub just 25 minutes later.
Police say he has been sentenced to an extra five months in jail.
Of his 37 convictions, 17 were sex-related offences and 12 were related to his failure to comply with his release conditions.
Most recently, Lackey was convicted in November 2011 of exposing his genitals to a person under the age of 16. He was sentenced to prison and two years of probation.Saskatchewan will likely experience another year of negative economic growth in 2016 as well as unemployment levels that haven't been seen for two decades, a Royal Bank report says.
According to a quarterly forecast released this week by RBC, the Saskatchewan economy is expected to show a 0.9 per cent decline in activity this year.
That comes on the heels of the –1.1 per cent change in real gross domestic product forecast for 2015.
Construction activity in Saskatchewan is expected to decline about eight per cent in 2016, compared to the year before, an RBC report says. (CBC News)
"The decline in economic activity this year is mainly a reflection of weakness in the mining sector," the report said.
"Energy mining is being weighed down by persistently low oil prices, although we expect with our projection of modest strengthening in these prices during our forecast will to return the mining subsector to modest positive growth in 2017."
What's led to increasingly gloomy RBC reports for 2016, however, has been weakness in the potash industry.
Potash prices are low, demand for fertilizers is relatively low, and it's believed Saskatchewan potash producers will be idling production for the remainder of the year in response, it says.
"We now expect provincial potash production dropping by 12 per cent this year following double-digit growth in 2015."
Outside of mining, there are other weak spots.
Construction activity is expected to decrease eight per cent in 2016.
Agriculture is expected to be one of the bright spots in Saskatchewan's economy this year, with production of the three most important crops set to rise 4.6 per cent. (Mike Zartler/CBC)
Meanwhile, the 2016 unemployment rate is predicted to rise to a 20-year high of 6.4 per cent from the 5.0 per cent that prevailed in 2015, the report said.
Agriculture could be one of the bright spots this year, with an expected 4.6 per cent rise in production of the province's three largest crops: wheat, canola, and barley.
Meanwhile, the bank predicts the Saskatchewan economy will return to growth in 2017, with the GDP expected to grow 1.6 per cent.At the dizzying height of the real estate boom, Austin Spriggs had the equivalent of a golden lottery ticket: a downtown Washington townhouse on precisely the red-hot block where developers hoped to build hundreds of swanky condominiums and offices.
In and out of his office the developers paraded, offering Spriggs millions for the building that had housed his small architecture firm since 1980. Each time, Spriggs told them no, holding out for more money. Then, as offers dried up, he vowed to turn the place into a pizzeria that would feed newcomers to the once-forgotten strip along Massachusetts Avenue, east of the Washington Convention Center.
At a time when mountains of cash were being made in real estate, Spriggs's resistance became the talk of Washington and beyond.
Four years later, the block-long crater that surrounded Spriggs's building is occupied by glass, steel and brick towers. The pizzeria never opened. Two months ago, after his bank threatened foreclosure, Spriggs put the property up for sale for $1.5 million, nearly half of what one developer had once hoped to pay him.
No offer has been made.
In any life, there can be moments when one's fortune changes in a seismic way, when unforeseen doors open and opportunities bloom. The lynchpin might be a winning lottery ticket or a new job or a piece of real estate everyone wants.
By any measure, Austin Spriggs is a man who missed his Champagne moment.
How Spriggs views his fate is hard to know.
"I don't mean to be impolite, but I'm not going to discuss it," he said in a soft voice before hanging up the phone at his office, which he relocated to Silver Spring. Angela Spriggs, his daughter and business partner, did not return a call seeking comment.
Spriggs's refusal to cash in at the market's peak is an enduring riddle for the developers who tried to persuade him, for anyone chasing that all-too-human dream of chortling all the way to the bank.
"I'm haunted by it," said Jackson Prentice, a broker who on behalf of the Trammell Crow development company said he offered Spriggs $2.75 million for the property, between Fourth and Fifth streets on Massachusetts Avenue NW.
"I said to him, 'Austin: This is like hitting the lottery. It could be something not just for you, but for your whole family,' " Prentice recalled. "I told him, 'You won't see this price again. Once they build around you, you're done.' I kept telling him, but I just couldn't get through."Please enable Javascript to watch this video
WEST WENDOVER, Nevada -- The neon lights of the casinos beckon you across the border for a little weekend fun.
Located right on the state line, this town of about 5,000 balloons to about 20,000 on weekends. People, mostly from Utah, arrive to drink, gamble or take in a concert. Now, city leaders are looking at another potential income source: marijuana.
"I have reservations, but I think it would be a good asset to the city for number one, revenue, and, for those that need it, medical marijuana," West Wendover City Councilman Jerry Anderson told FOX 13.
The West Wendover City Council voted unanimously last week to begin the process to draft an ordinance to allow for marijuana sales. Initially, city leaders said they are looking at allowing a medical marijuana dispensary. However, the ordinance could also open the door for recreational marijuana sales, if they so choose.
In an interview with FOX 13, West Wendover Mayor Danny Corona said he would like to see recreational marijuana sold here and is not opposed to "pot tourism."
"They're already coming out here to drink and gamble," he said. "They might as well come out here for recreational marijuana."
Corona was elected mayor last year and attributes part of his win to his outspoken support of Question Two, Nevada's recreational marijuana vote. It passed in West Wendover with 54 percent of the vote (but failed in Elko County by a similar margin).
Medical marijuana has been legal in Nevada since 2000, but West Wendover declined to pursue it at the time.
"The more people are learning about it, the more socially acceptable it is," Corona said. "Sixteen years later, it's finally something the people of West Wendover, I think, can get behind."
The West Wendover City Council is being deliberative about how it implements an ordinance. FOX 13 accompanied the council as they toured Mesquite's lone medical marijuana dispensary, Deep Roots Harvest. Located behind a secure gate, the facility sells to patients with a medical marijuana card.
Donning cleanroom suits and wearing hairnets, the council was shown the process from seed to sale. They walked through various strains of cannabis plants, watching employees pick the buds and package them, and learning how edibles and oils are made.
"I was definitely impressed with how they regulated everything," Anderson said. "It was safe, very sanitary."
Mesquite City Councilman Geno Withelder accompanied his colleagues on the tour. He praised Deep Roots Harvest as being "absolutely wonderful for the city."
"I think it's been a boon to the city," he told FOX 13. "It's secure. It's out of the way."
Withelder said Mesquite has a large "snowbird" population of elderly people who spend winters there, some of whom take advantage of medical marijuana. It also has turned into a major |
firefight, saying, "I would not consider behaviour along the lines described acceptable."
The Stuff Circuit documentary series The Valley uncovers concerns raised by senior military sources about what happened before and after the gunfight in Uruzgan, which led to Willie Apiata being awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery under fire. He carried a seriously wounded soldier 70 metres across a battlefield through enemy fire.
Clark, who was prime minister at the time, told Stuff Circuit she has "no recollection whatsoever of hearing of the events alleged to have occurred before and after the firefight involving Willie Apiata and his colleagues".
She said Willie Apiata's action was one of heroism.
"I do think, however, that the New Zealand Defence Force should respond to the allegations made by villagers about the treatment they received before and after the firefight occurred.
"The behaviour described would not in my opinion meet the standard expected of New Zealand Defence Force personnel."
At the time Apiata was decorated, Clark said, "This is a very proud moment for the SAS, for the New Zealand Defence Force and for New Zealand."
But sources in New Zealand spoken to by Stuff Circuit said the military framing of the 2004 firefight was very specific, and they believed the public should know there was more to it than has ever been revealed by the Defence Force.
They question the official version - that the New Zealanders came under surprise attack - and ask whether the firefight needed to happen at all.
Those sources are not questioning Apiata's courage and are not saying he didn't deserve the VC.
The Defence Force has repeatedly refused to be interviewed by Stuff Circuit for The Valley investigation, despite being supplied with extensive details of topics to be covered.
GETTY IMAGES Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Stuff Circuit travelled to Afghanistan in April and interviewed villagers who wanted to tell their side of the story, "because we were afflicted, oppressed, and unjust things happened to us".
The villagers describe how troopers arrived in their village bazaar, creating a lot of dust, so the villagers gathered around.
"They were probably offended so they kicked, slapped and punched us... They cursed and used abusive words towards the people. They said, 'You guys are Taliban and we will come back again tomorrow'."
They say the troopers left and set up camp on the side of a hill not far away. During the night, the villagers heard loud fighting.
It is believed this was the firefight in which Apiata earned his VC.
PHIL REID/STUFF Corporal Willie Apiata, centre, speaking to the media, flanked by Helen Clark and Phil Goff after he received the Victoria Cross in 2007.
The villagers say the following morning what they describe as "tanks" rolled back into the village bazaar.
"Six tanks came. Each tank had a body.... They dropped the bodies down, they then tied our hands behind our backs."
The ties the villagers are referring to are known in the military as 'flexi-cuffs'.
ROSS GIBLIN/STUFF Willie Apiata, right, with then-Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae in 2007.
"Then they searched the houses. Children were screaming and [the troopers] yelled, kicked the doors, and broke the locks and doors."
The villagers had also said around 15 or 16 men were tied up.
One said when his hands were tied behind his back he was forced to kneel against the wall.
One guy was guarding me, pointing his gun to me saying 'Don't turn your face'.
"I was thinking that they will take me to their tank and will take me away."
Asked if he was scared, he said "Yes, I was scared". The second villager said "Yes, why wouldn't we be scared?"
The men say they feared for their lives.
The villagers' account of what happened before and after the firefight accords with what military sources in New Zealand have told Stuff Circuit.
They describe it as a Special Forces tactic called "bait and hook".
They say in this case the 'bait' was going into the village and apparently provoking the firefight, and the 'hook', that there were more SAS troopers waiting to fight.
Asked whether the people involved in the fight were Taliban or local villagers, or both, one of the men said, "When those foreigners commit disgraceful acts, then the people fight them because they've been humiliated…People were saying all the foreigners deliberately created problems for the villagers so villagers were forced to fight them."
The villagers say their elders complained to an Afghan Provincial delegation, but nothing ever came of that complaint.
"We want them [the NZ forces] to be punished for how brutal they were to us. We hadn't done anything, and everything [that happened] was sudden and unjustified. They should be investigated."
One of the men said he also had a wider motivation for giving his account of what had happened.
"I came here so that our voice could be heard and the same things do not happen to us again, and the cruel are punished. That Afghanistan gets peace and stability, and injustice stops."
* The Valley, a six-part investigation by Stuff Circuit, is live on Stuff. The documentary screens tonight, 9.30pm, on THREE.
- Stuff Circuit100 Most Influential Books Ever Written
by Martin Seymour-Smith
Note: This list is in chronological order. I've gotten e-mails from people who complain that there are too many religious books on the list. Say what you want, but you cannot deny that religion has been influential in human history. I'm sure that's what Seymour-Smith had in mind
The I Ching The Old Testament The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer The Upanishads The Way and Its Power, Lao-tzu The Avesta Analects, Confucius History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides Works, Hippocrates Works, Aristotle History, Herodotus The Republic, Plato Elements, Euclid The Dhammapada Aeneid, Virgil On the Nature of Reality, Lucretius Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws, Philo of Alexandria The New Testament Lives, Plutarch Annals, from the Death of the Divine Augustus, Cornelius Tacitus The Gospel of Truth Meditations, Marcus Aurelius Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Sextus Empiricus Enneads, Plotinus Confessions, Augustine of Hippo The Koran Guide for the Perplexed, Moses Maimonides The Kabbalah Summa Theologicae, Thomas Aquinas The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri In Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Martin Luther Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, Nicolaus Copernicus Essays, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne Don Quixote, Parts I and II, Miguel de Cervantes The Harmony of the World, Johannes Kepler Novum Organum, Francis Bacon The First Folio [Works], William Shakespeare Dialogue Concerning Two New Chief World Systems, Galileo Galilei Discourse on Method, René Descartes Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes Works, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Pensées, Blaise Pascal Ethics, Baruch de Spinoza Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Isaac Newton Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke The Principles of Human Knowledge, George Berkeley The New Science, Giambattista Vico A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume The Encyclopedia, Denis Diderot, ed A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson Candide, François-Marie de Voltaire Common Sense, Thomas Paine An Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant Confessions, Jean-Jacques Rousseau Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, William Godwin An Essay on the Principle of Population, Thomas Robert Malthus Phenomenology of Spirit, George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel The World as Will and Idea, Arthur Schopenhauer Course in the Positivist Philosophy, Auguste Comte On War, Carl Marie von Clausewitz Either/Or, Søren Kierkegaard The Manifesto of the Communist Party, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels "Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin On Liberty, John Stuart Mill First Principles, Herbert Spencer "Experiments with Plant Hybrids," Gregor Mendel War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, James Clerk Maxwell Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud Pragmatism, William James Relativity, Albert Einstein The Mind and Society, Vilfredo Pareto Psychological Types, Carl Gustav Jung I and Thou, Martin Buber The Trial, Franz Kafka The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, John Maynard Keynes Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich von Hayek The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir Cybernetics, Norbert Wiener Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstein Syntactic Structures, Noam Chomsky The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, T. S. Kuhn The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung [The Little Red Book], Mao Zedong Beyond Freedom and Dignity, B. F. Skinner
The content of this page may belong to the author. The transcription, however, is the result of my research and hard work. It may not be reposted on any Web site, newsgroup, mailing list, or other publicly available electronic format. Please link to this page instead.After many years since the last league system in the UK hosted by ESL, we finally have the resemblance of a ladder system return with the launch of the Major Ladder.
With it being a gruelling two and a half month league set up, only the best of the best will take the top two spots in the league and qualify for the Promotion Tournament for the next season. This means teams that missed out for this season, like Monumentalis or Molotovs and Marshmallows, can head into the system to keep active in a league system before making the push for making the UK Premiership the following season. What isn’t clear at the moment is if the ladder would be replacing the Qualifier tournament or running alongside as another way to qualify. But what is clear is that the ladder is set to provide two spots in next season’s promotion tournament, with four others coming from the bottom teams in the Premiership.
Anyone will be able to play the ladder on any day of the week, from 7PM until 10PM on Weekdays and 2PM until 10PM on a weekend. this gives teams a chance at playing a lot of other teams around their level and work their way up the ladder to get to the UK Premiership Promotions Tournaments.
This is one of the steps helping to make some resemblance of a scene return to the UK, where for a long time leagues had disappeared or were neglected by the larger organisations. The Major Ladder joins Multiplay’s UK Masters in bringing back tournament life to the scene. This is alongside the LAN events that have been steadfast throughout the UK in the past years, as well as new ones popping up alongside those.
Sign-ups are open now for any team not in the Premiership, with more information being available from ESL’s announcement.Commercially sensitive information on the $14 billion Joint Strike Fighter program, Australia's next fleet of spy planes and several of its naval warships have been stolen by hackers who breached a Department of Defence contractor, a government official has revealed.
A manager at the Australian Signals Directorate – the government's main national security cyber spies – told a conference in Sydney on Wednesday that the hackers stole 30 gigabytes of data including on the Defence projects.
ASD incident response manager Mitchell Clarke told the Australian Information Security Association conference that the ASD had codenamed the hacker 'Alf' after the Home and Away character played by Ray Meagher.
A spokesperson for the Australian Cyber Security Centre, for which Mr Clarke works, said the data was commercially sensitive but was not classified.I’ve been studying anarchist and libertarian thought for about six years now. In that time I’ve found that learning to compare the state to a gang in a very detailed and factual manner is crucial to the growth of anarchist thought. It’s often the one thing that brings folks from small government to stateless thinking. It’s no easy task to change someone’s beliefs about government. Sometimes the only thing you can do is simply lay out the facts, and the fact of the matter is that the state is a gang, not unlike any street gang or mafia. The evidence is obvious and abundant, if only most people had the courage to draw that conclusion. Nobody arrives at any stateless ideology without that final paradigm shattering realization.
You’ll often hear certain sayings thrown around such as “The government is a mafia” and “The government is a gang thieves writ large”. Those statements are not just figures of speech. They are undoubtedly true. My only grief with this language is that many folks don’t seem to look into the truth beyond skin deep. Beltway Libertarians and Minarchists are especially guilty of this. They throw these sayings around as a kind of meme and nothing more. They would strip the state to its bare essentials, leaving nothing but its monopoly on violence. The irony being that they still accept the forceful violent aspect that makes government a gang in the first place.
The best evidence for this occurred to me while reading about violent crime statistics in the United States. By all indications, violent crime has been dropping since the early 90’s. There are many theories for this, ranging from increased gun ownership, to lower lead levels in our bodies, to video games and entertainment creating some kind of harmless outlet for violent impulses. Though these theories may hold weight, one thing flies in the face of them all. Gang membership has exploded over the past 20 years. There are currently 1.4 million gang members in the United States according to the FBI. That’s a 40 percent growth over three years before that study was taken, and it reflects an overall explosive trend since the 90’s. What gives? How could crime be on the descent while gang numbers continue to mount?
With a little research I found only one source looking into this possible correlation. A research paper written by Russel Sobel and Brian Osaba titled “Youth Gangs as Pseudo-Governments” paints a totally different picture. Street gangs are not the core cause of violence. As a matter of fact, they’re not necessarily even a problem, so much as they are caused by a problem. What these two researchers figured out by looking at data gathered from the LAPD was that it’s the violence and crime that comes first, then the gangs start forming to protect themselves. People don’t join gangs just to deal drugs and make money. It always starts with people fearing for their lives in a violent neighborhood. While the gangs commit many acts of violence, the overall crime rate in gang controlled territory often decreases. In a nutshell, gangs fill a void that government services leave behind. When the government fails to protect the rights and safety of their citizens, the citizens will take it upon themselves. However righteous that may sound on the surface, they are forming nothing more than primitive governments.
When I make this case to some folks the reaction I often get is, “Oh ya? Well I’ve never seen a gang build a bridge, or a school.” Yeah right. I have. You just need to know where to look.
One of my first jobs was at a Pizza Hut. There was a bright young Mexican fellow I often talked to while he made the pizzas. Between orders, we’d often talk about his former life growing up in Mexico. Amongst all of his colorful stories, the one that always stood out to me is when he said the high school he went to was built and funded by one of the cartels. Truth be told, gangs and mafias frequently engage in acts of “charity,” just like governments do. I suspect they are for less than altruistic reasons. Often it’s to gain the trust of the population so that they won’t snitch, and they may provide hideouts from time to time. Just like governments, gangs can’t survive without some kind of support or compliance from the population.
You can find numerous other examples of this throughout history. After the earthquake in Kobe, Japan killed 6,000 people in 1995, it was the Yakuza that stepped in long before the authorities could. They utilized their privately owned helicopter fleet to deliver aid to the city. They did this again after the Fukushima earthquake. And just as a government wont do anything that isn’t in its own interest, the Yakuza allegedly takes a 5 percent cut of any construction work they’re involved in. Thus, part of the relief effort is also establishing contacts with the rebuilding. Al Capone did something similar during the Great Depression. He spent a fortune funding bread lines and soup kitchens in Chicago to build his public image. Though not a traditional street gang, Hamas is yet another example. According to Reuven Paz, a scholar on Islamic Fundementalism, “Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities.” They build schools, orphanages, mosques, clinics, soup kitchens, and even fund sports leagues.
What should you take from all of this? Whenever the government fails to deliver on its promises, and whenever it fails to protect its citizens, gangs always fill that void, and pick up the slack. Gangs often find themselves fulfilling all of the same duties governments claim to provide. Why do they do this? Because they are governments.
Gangs will put money into schools, into roads, and into hospitals (money that’s often stolen through robbery, fraud, and extortion. Sound familiar?). They will claim exclusive rights of protection over a given territory (turf). They will make treaties with each other. They will go to war with each other. The lower “soldiers” of the gangs will wear uniforms (colors), and have their own form of boot camp (initiation), however informal it may appear. Gangs will even set up charters and constitutions that dictate how members are supposed to conduct themselves amongst leaders, peers, and outsiders, including what their rights are in the gang. It’s been claimed that gang constitutions are often as sophisticated as those found in a typical Fortune 500 company.
Gangs even follow the same “story arc” as governments. When I read the history of any particular gang, it often reads like the history of any government or empire I’ve ever studied. It starts out with good intentions. Impoverished and persecuted people with the need to band together, so that they may protect themselves from the predations of their neighbors. They often start with a strict code of ethics allowing them to only fight against a certain group, or in a certain circumstance. Once they establish a firm sense of security over a given area, factions form within. The worst rise to the top of their hierarchy after a few generations. Before long their ethics and good intentions are nothing more than a mythology and propaganda they feed to their new recruits, as the gang turns into a predation machine that loots everything they can carry. As the focus of this machine is nothing but profit at the expense of every one’s freedom and enterprise, they no longer provide protection in any meaningful way. They leave a new void for the next start-up gang to fill. What starts with Robin Hood, always ends up being the new Sheriff.
There’s another reason Anarchists should study the gang to government comparison. It’s not just one of the most critical factors in convincing someone of the merits and truth of a stateless society. Understanding that comparison also opens the door to realizing how the state perpetuates itself throughout the millennia, always leaving a power void in its death throws for the next gang of thieves to fill. Only when we understand how this cycle perpetuates itself, can we finally break out of it.
Tags: Al Capone, Gangs, Hamas, Police, YakuzaThe Los Angeles Times has lots of challenges, including years of harsh staff cuts, a corporate parent of questionable value, and an ongoing union drive at a historically anti-union company. Brand-new Times editor Lewis D’Vorkin is taking on the most important challenge first: what his employees must not tweet.
Splinter obtained a recording of a staff meeting D’Vorkin held earlier this month (a meeting first reported by the New York Times). The recording consists of a 15-minute monologue to staff followed by 40 minutes of somewhat contentious Q-and-A. D’Vorkin comes to the paper from Forbes, where he was “Chief Product Officer,” responsible in large part for innovating new ways of disguising advertising as not-advertising. He hasn’t had an editorial job in a newsroom in many years, making many Times staffers understandably skeptical about his intentions and abilities as top editor of a proud institution of journalism.
Much of the discussion centers on the paper’s recent “spat” with Disney. (Disney barred L.A. Times critics from film screenings, because the company didn’t like the paper’s tough reporting on it, but was forced to back down once many other news outlets said they would boycott Disney screenings themselves.) The staff was disappointed that the incident received heavy coverage in other outlets but little in the L.A. Times itself. Why the reticence? “I am not a fan of getting involved in the traditional media spats that exist. They don’t do anything to bring any more trust to the brands,” D’Vorkin said in the meeting.
The brand. Lewis D’Vorkin is the type of editor who refers frequently to the brand. He does not lack for buzzwords. He told the staff that his priorities are, in order: 1) “Digital transformation,” 2) “Great journalism,” and 3) “Diversity in the newsroom.” He is also a fan of social media. “Social is a priority of mine, as is data,” he said. (D’Vorkin himself, who has 5,766 Twitter followers, tweeted today for the first time since October 10.)
And let’s not forget video!
“Video is a huge thing in the world today from an advertising perspective. it’s where brands want to be,” he told his newsroom. “To me, video equals mobile equals social. It’s all a triangle.”
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It seems apparent, after listening to Lewis D’Vorkin talk for an hour, that he is not what you would call a great motivator. Although this newsroom meeting took place during a time of great uncertainty for the media industry, the country, and the L.A. Times itself, D’Vorkin spent an inordinate amount of time expressing his strong conviction that reporters and editors should never tweet anything resembling an opinion—that they should never tweet anything that they would not write in a news story, anything that might damage “the representation of the brand.” Indeed, he even utters the words, “To me, retweets are endorsements of a tweet,” leading to a farcical back-and-forth over whether or not it is acceptable for political reporters to retweet the president of the United States. (Maybe not???) “I believe in the Vince Lombardi school of journalism,” D’Vorkin explains. “When you go to the end zone, act like you been there before.”
“And our end zone is great stories,” he adds.
The union drive at the paper seems strong, brought on by decades of layoffs, budget cuts, and careless management, none of which has been greatly remedied under the ownership of tronc. The company’s bold anti-union rhetoric seems only to have caused the newsroom to dig in further. Though one might hope for a top editor who supports his newsroom employees’ right to organize, that would be a fantasy in the tronc media world. Asked in the meeting whether or not he believes that journalists tweeting about the union drive is unacceptable, he demurs, but says: “As far as social media goes, we need to abide by the guidelines.” (I have emailed the company for clarification and will update this post if they respond.)
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No, it does not seem that the Lewis D’Vorkin era is off to a thunderous start. The L.A. Times, a paper that has been cruelly hollowed out by a succession of unsuccessful businessmen, may yet see a resurrection, but it is one that will probably not come from the top down. About twenty minutes into the staff meeting, as tension began to creep into the air, one staffer asked the new editor how the paper plans to begin paying competitive salaries to reporters again, so that they stop losing talent. “Maybe I’m different,” D’Vorkin—almost certainly the highest-paid person in the room—replies. “I’ve never done anything in this business for money myself.”Road Redemption’s developers are based in Baton Rouge and New Orleans Louisiana. The flood devastated the region, damaging over 40,000 homes, including the home of Jason Tate, studio co-founder and senior programmer
The home of studio cofounder Jason Tate
“We hope to have the whole team back to work on Road Redemption as quickly as possible but right now our priority is making sure that everyone on the team, and their families, have a safe place to stay,” said studio co-founder Ian Fisch. “We hope that all of our kickstarter backers and fans will be understanding in these tragic circumstances, and if they’d like to help they can visit www.braf.org to make a donation.”
Road Redemption has sold over 100,000 standalone copies since launching on Steam Early Access in late 2014. Road Redemption was originally scheduled to release on PC on October 15, 2016, with PS4 and Xbox One versions slated for Q1 2017.
Due to the flood, Road Redemption’s transition from Early Access to full release on PC platforms will be delayed until at least November 2016, with console versions suffering similar delays.
Road Redemption Press Kit: http://www.roadredemption.com/ Road Redemption Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/300380/Relevant to the commemoration of Edsa@31 is the most recent jurisprudence on the ill-gotten wealth of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos titled Estate of Marcos vs Republic (Jan. 18, 2017) and written by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno.
Stripped of legalese, the decision:
1) listed the couple’s alleged ill-gotten wealth,
2) recalled that the “known lawful income” of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos from 1965 to 1986 had been unanimously fixed at $304,372.43 in Republic vs Sandiganbayan (July 15, 2003),
3) reiterated that any cash, property or assets of the Marcoses in excess of the said sum would be deemed “ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State,” and
4) affirmed a unanimous Sandiganbayan decision (Jan. 13, 2014, penned by Justice Efren N. de la Cruz and concurred in by Justices Teresita V. Diaz-Baldos and Alex L. Quiroz) in which “the pieces of jewelry, known as the Malacañang Collection, were labelled as ill-gotten and were consequently forfeited in favor of the Republic.”
In the 2003 case referred to in Item 2, bank deposits amounting to $658,175,373.60 were deemed ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State. Also, in the 2012 case of Marcos Jr. vs Republic (April 25, 2012), the assets, properties and funds of Arelma S.A. (“an entity created by the late Ferdinand E. Marcos”) in the sum “of USD 3,369,975 as of 1983, plus all interests and all other income that accrued thereon” were also deemed ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State.
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$5-B wealth. Per Item 1, the 2017 decision incorporated in its footnotes the petition, dated Dec. 17, 1991 (yes, more than 25 years ago), in civil case 0141 that the Presidential Commission on Good Government filed in the Sandiganbayan listing the
alleged ill-gotten wealth, “approximated at US$5-B and which include”:
1) The holding companies, agro-industrial ventures, land holdings, buildings, condominium units, mansions, cash, and other properties, here and abroad, described in the affidavits of Rolando Gapud, Bonifacio Gillego, Jose Y. Campos, and
Antonio Floirendo.
2) “Painting and silverwares (sic) already sold at public auction in the US worth $17-M … aside from the jewelries (sic), paintings and other valuable decorative arts found in Malacañang and in the US estimated to be about $23.9-M…”
3) “Philippine peso bills amounting to P27,744,535.00, foreign currencies and jewelries (sic) amounting to $4-M and Certificates of Time Deposits worth P46.4-M seized by the U.S. customs authorities upon arrival of the Marcoses in Honolulu, Hawaii…”
4) “US$30-M in the custody of the
Central Bank…”
5) “Shares of stocks in Piedras Petroleum Co. Inc. and in Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corporation worth P500-M…”
6) “Shares of stock in Balabac Oil Company worth about P42-M as described in the affidavit of Mr. Raymundo S. Feliciano … plus the 60% of the sequestered assets of CDCP in the amount of P172,378,030…”
7) “The… P10M as described by Jesus Tanchangco … and the 45% beneficial ownership of FM in Landoil as stated by Jose de Venecia, Jr. …”
8) “The … Philippine pesos and US dollars deposited in the Security Bank & Trust Co. (SBTC) totaling P974,885,480.46 and US$6,522,361.29”
9) “… shareholding (sic) of the Marcoses in SBTC which were sold by the PCGG at Pl61,200,000.00 and which has (sic) increased to P238.7-M including interests, but excluding P15-M already received by PCGG,”
10) “Other properties already recovered such as the 21 vehicles registered in the names of Fernando and Susan Timbol … worth about P5.1-M…”
11) “Philippine peso deposits in Traders Royal Bank totaling over P1-B…”
12) “Other properties in the US already recovered in the total amount of US$25.7-M…”
13) “Bank deposits in Luxembourg, Hongkong, the Cayman Islands, US and other countries which have not yet been fully documented and the approximate amounts therein cannot yet be determined…”
14) “Secret deposits in Swiss banks, which” are “the primary and principal object of this petition for forfeiture pursuant to judgments of the Swiss Federal Tribunal…”
The list “excludes the assets, monies and all the other properties” involved in civil cases 0002-0035 filed earlier in the Sandiganbayan.
Comments to chiefjusticepanganiban@ hotmail.com
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MOST READIran ready to reconstruct Syria: Trade official
IRNA – Iran is ready to help Syria launch its reconstruction and developmental projects, an Iranian trade official said on Friday.
Iranian organizations, firms and provincial commerce chambers are able to meet Syria’s business needs and help the country implement its reconstruction projects, said Hossein Selahvarzi Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) in a meeting with Syrian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Mohammad Samer al-Khalil in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Selahvarzi is visiting Syria and the 59th Damascus International Fair upon invitation of the country’s Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade.
The Iranian trade official urged the Syrian Minister to do what is necessary to facilitate free trade between Iran and Syria, as well as appointing a representative to follow the related affairs.
The Syrian Minister for his part praised ICCIMA role and record in boosting Iran’s economy and expressed hope that the experience along with the aids from the country’s private sector would contribute to enhancement of economic cooperation similar to the bilateral political ties between the two nations.
Samer al-Khalil also announced that he would visit Iran in near future, heading a Syrian high-ranking delegation, to develop the economic ties and cooperation with private sectors in Iran.
Thirteen Iranian companies are participating in the fair in Syria in an area of over 1000 square meters.
The fair is being held after a six-year hiatus due to the Syrian crisis.Along with their tablet and PC announcements today at MWC, Lenovo also announced two new smartphones under their VIBE branding. The new phones are the Lenovo VIBE K5 and VIBE K5 Plus, with each device targeting a slightly different price, along with packing different specs. The details of both of their specs can be found in the table below.
Lenovo VIBE K5 Lenovo VIBE K5 Plus SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 415
8 x 1.4GHz Cortex A53 Qualcomm Snapdragon 616
4 x 1.7GHz Cortex A53 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 405 @ 550MHz RAM 2GB LPDDR3 NAND 16GB eMMC + MicroSD Display 5.0" 1280x720 LCD 5.0" 1920x1080 IPS LCD Thickness / Mass 8.2mm / 142g Camera 13MP Rear-facing
5MP Front-facing w/ fixed focus Battery 2750mAh OS Android 5.1 Lollipop Other Connectivity 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n + BT 4.1, Micro-USB 2.0 SIM Dual SIM with 4G LTE Price $129 $149
To be honest, I think it's a shame that these phones never seem to make their way to North America. Looking at the specs and the price, you're really getting a lot of phone for your dollar. The VIBE K5 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 415 SoC, while the K5 Plus uses Snapdragon 616. What's interesting about Qualcomm's new SoC portfolio is that the only real difference between the best 400 series and 600 series SoCs is the clock speed, with both being octa core Cortex A53 chips. While I really can't find a functional reason for putting eight of the same cores with the same max frequency on an SoC, I suppose that it does help greatly with a device's marketability in regions like China. Both SoCs use Adreno 405, which really helps to address my complaints about the GPU performance that we've seen in devices at the low end of the market.
Aside from the SoC, the other point that separates the K5 and the K5 Plus is the display. The K5 is just advertised as having a 1280x720 LCD display, while the K5 Plus is a 1920x1080 IPS LCD. The fact that the IPS specification is omitted from the K5 does concern me, but I wouldn't expect that it's using a TN panel as that would probably be more difficult to source than an eIPS or a VA panel.
In all other ways the K5 and K5 Plus are identical. Both phones have 16GB of eMMC NAND and 2GB of LPDDR3 memory, plus a MicroSD card slot for expansion. Both have a 13MP rear-facing camera, and a 5MP front-facing camera which for some unfortunate reason has a fixed focus. WiFi connectivity is your standard 2.4GHz 802.11n, which is the best you'll get at this price point. There is dual-SIM support, although it's not clear whether this is DSDS or DSDA, and what network capabilities the second SIM has.
The Lenovo VIBE K5 and VIBE K5 Plus will be available in March, with the K5 priced at $129 and the K5 Plus at $149. Both phones will be available in silver, grey, and gold finishes. As usual, the phones won't be coming to the US or Canada, but they'll be available in the existing markets that Lenovo services.Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Republican President-elect Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser in his future administration, recently met with Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the Austrian far-right Freedom Party founded by literal Nazis after World War II, the New York Times reported on Monday.
Strache announced the meeting with Flynn on Facebook at the same time he announced his organization was allying with Russian leader Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia.
Austrians recently voted to reject the Freedom Party's presidential nominee Norbert Hofer by a 6.6% margin. But the Times noted the "Euroskeptic, anti-elite, anti-foreigner, anti-Islam and anti-globalization" party has enjoyed a recent resurgence in popularity after decades of careful rebranding designed to mask its roots as a refuge for ex-Nazis in the 1950s following the defeat of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
The first leader of the Freedom Party was former SS officer Anton Reinthaller, and Strache's direct predecessor was the late Joerg Haider, who called the Nazi camps where Jews were gassed to death "punishment facilities."
"This is not just any opposition party," former State Department official and Johns Hopkins University professor Daniel Serwer told the Huffington Post. "It is one with Nazi sympathies."
The Freedom Party's far-right ideology is not so far on the political spectrum from Flynn, who serves on the board of an anti-Islam group, praised racist Breitbart troll Milo Yiannopoulos' bravery and spread untrue rumors about Democrat Hillary Clinton's supposed involvement in covering up sex crimes on Twitter. Nor is Flynn out of place in the future Trump administration, in which the chief strategist role will go to former Breitbart chief executive Stephen Bannon — a man who openly flaunted the support of the white nationalist alt-right movement and whose selection was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan and U.S. neo-Nazis.
Bannon's ex-wife swore in court in 2007 that he "didn't want the girls going to school with Jews...He said he doesn't like Jews...
White nationalists in the United States have celebrated Trump's victory as their own, which isn't surprising given the real |
for Arpaio, whom he praised as having “done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration.”
The president on Monday retweeted a Fox News story about a possible pardon of Arpaio.by
About a year ago, I concluded my book on Hillary Clinton, “Queen of Chaos”, with a fairly pessimistic chapter on the “War Party” which controls United States foreign policy. At the time, I wrote:
“A last-minute peace candidate would be a divine surprise. But a real alternative to the War Party must be built up over time…”
In fact, this primary campaign has produced a couple of surprises, more earthly than divine. Both surprises reveal widespread grassroots discontent with both Hillary Clinton and the whole American political establishment. However, this discontent so far fails to focus on the point of my book: the need to combat the ideology and practice of U.S. war policy personified by Hillary Clinton. Where is the effective alternative to the War Party?
Donald Trump has made it clear he wants to end the current hysterical anti-Putin pre-war propaganda and do business with Russia. This sounds like a major step toward preventing nuclear war. All to the good. The problem is, Trump is a lone wolf. Many of his supporters seem more excited by style than by content. Their multiple incoherent grudges against the system do not add up to an anti-war movement. Trump is unpredictable, and it is hard to see where he would find the foreign policy team and the support needed to overthrow the entrenched foreign policy elite.
With Bernie Sanders, things are a bit the other way around. The Sanders campaign is creating an enthusiastic popular movement, with specific aims in domestic policy. Bernie calls for a “political revolution” and insists that he cannot accomplish all this by himself. All to the good. But Bernie Sanders has said little about foreign policy. The radical shift in domestic priorities advocated by Bernie implies drastic cuts in military spending, but he has not been spelling this out. Despite his strong opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he has been susceptible to the “humanitarian” war cries of the liberal interventionists, who would certainly strive to take charge of his foreign policy should he miraculously be elected.
So, Trump has the defiance, and Bernie has the movement.
What is still lacking in this campaign is clear denunciation of the very worst of Hillary Clinton’s many negative traits: her eagerness to go to war. And it is not merely Hillary who needs to be defeated: it is the entire militaristic power structure she represents.
One hopeful sign is the resignation from the Democratic National Committee of Hawai’i Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in order bring her strong voice against “regime change” wars into the Sanders campaign. There is a chance that as it develops, anti-war sentiment may grow more explicit in the Sanders movement, influencing Bernie himself and providing the social force needed to confront the liberal interventionists within the Democratic Party.
The occasion of this campaign should be seized not only to expose the lies of Hillary Clinton, but also to seek freedom from America’s seven decades of subjugation to the military-industrial complex and its organic intellectuals who never cease conjuring up “threats” and “enemies” to justify the war economy. This entire policy needs to be exposed, denounced and rejected. That is what I tried to do in Queen of Chaos.
CounterPunch invited me to write this letter to advertise my book at this crucial time, but I prefer to quote someone I admire, David Swanson, who wrote:Barely a month ago, it seemed that the Twins’ front office had given up on a playoff run this season. Pitcher Jaime Garcia, picked up in late July as the team was losing ground in the division race, was traded to the Yankees after making just one start. Closer Brandon Kintzler was also dealt to the Nationals right at the deadline, in exchange for a prospect. At that time, the Twins had lost seven of their last 10, and were sitting 4.5 games out of the Wild Card with a record of 50-53.
But now it’s mid-September, and Minnesota is the favorite to travel to New York and take on the Yankees in MLB’s now five-year-old Wild Card play-in game. Eddie Rosario’s walk-off dinger last night kept Minnesota two games up on the Angels in that final postseason spot.
The Twins are in this position not because they’re a great team, but because they’ve been just good enough, treading water with a meager run differential of +8. And if they can hold off the Angels and win that single game against the Yankees next month, Minnesota will be right there on the national stage thanks to a playoff system that favors luck as much as it does talent.
The Twins’ play isn’t a massive shock. PECOTA projected the team to win 80 games this season, and, with a current record of 76-69, they’re probably going to end up with around 85 wins. Though the Twins were the worst team in the AL last year, the emergence and development of youngsters like starting pitcher Jose Berrios, center fielder Byron Buxton, and third baseman Miguel Sano made them a looming threat. A resurgent Joe Mauer, plus contributions from the continually consistent Ervin Santana and Brian Dozier, has bumped them to the edge of relevance just a little ahead of schedule. They’re no Cleveland, but they’re on the right track.
More surprising than the Twins’ decent record is the fact that 85 wins should be good enough to put a team in the playoffs. It’s not so much that the Twins are playing way over their heads, but that the AL has been particularly top heavy this year. The top tier is so stacked that the Yankees, owners of the third-best run differential in the league, have to settle for a Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, the Rangers, Tigers, Orioles, and Blue Jays all regressed considerably, leaving the Twins to float to the top of the AL’s uninspiring middle class. The addition of the second Wild Card game was always going to lower the bar, but no club with fewer than 86 wins has made the playoffs in the past five years, and only the Orioles—in the first year of the play-in game—had a run differential worse than the Twins do currently.
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In fairness, as far back as 1973, the Mets won the pennant after only winning 82 regular season games, so bad regular season teams making the playoffs isn’t a brand new phenomenon, but this was the obvious drawback of the new Wild Card system. As filled with potential as the Twins are, there’s still a world of difference between them and this Yankees team. A few bad bounces, though, and New York will be out, leaving a potential Twins-Indians stinkbomb to thwart what would otherwise be a thrillingly cutthroat postseason.Hard to imagine that this was an entirely unforeseen consequence, but a popular U.K. burger chain’s decision to run ads antagonizing vegetarians is backfiring spectacularly. To (presumably) generate buzz during England’s month of “Veganuary,” Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a spot with Shake Shack–like loyalty among many Brits, ran “light-hearted” ads in the London Underground that appear inspired by a list someone in marketing dug up of the lamest, most cliché vegetarian putdowns:
“You’ll always remember when you gave up being vegetarian,” one of the ads jokes. Another went with the well-worn “They eat grass so you don’t have to” explainer about cows, while a third makes a bald appeal to Trekkies by announcing, “Vegetarians, resistance is futile.” In small print at the bottom, there’s a fake slogan that reads “Changing Lives Since 2001.”
Strangely, the campaign didn’t have its hoped-for effect, and in fact, many people immediately called for a boycott. The hashtag #gourmetmurderkitchen actually started trending as a result of the ads:
Genius marketing, take the piss out of those doing most to heal our planet #gourmetmurderkitchen #GBK — Dario P Ⓥ (@dariopol) January 18, 2016
yes I DO remember when I gave up being vegetarian, last Feb, when I went vegan. This is dumb #gourmetmurderkitchen https://t.co/K9n2t8J0MT — Kate Louise Powell Ⓥ (@KatePow3ll) January 17, 2016
Initially, GBK semi-defended the ads as just some innocuous ribbing (“We’re just channeling our inner-carnivore a little this January”), but the chain rethought that approach and has since posted this somewhat-passive-aggressive gem of an apology to Facebook:
We’ve been reading the reaction to our latest advertising campaign and needless to say, we’re quite taken aback. The last thing we ever intended to do was offend or alienate vegetarians. The same vegetarians that we’ve looked after and fed since our very first restaurant. Our intentions were light-hearted and not meant to cause any offence, but clearly we have, and for that we apologise.
While we’ve served beef at the core of our menu since 2001, we’ve always catered well to the veggies out there, and that’s never going to change.
So having read all your comments and messages, we’ve made the decision to take down some of the adverts. We’ll still serve beef. We’ll still serve veggie burgers. But hopefully we’ll not tread on anyone’s toes while doing it.
Best, GBK.
[Telegraph]Story highlights Los Angeles Times reports on contents of NBA document on Sterling
Times: League suggests team president got a copy of recording before it was released
Times: Sterling and his wife are not estranged in the minds of the NBA
Commissioner says league would hire investment bankers to sell team, if it comes to that
The 30-page NBA document detailing the charges against Donald Sterling accuses the longtime owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of trying to persuade V. Stiviano to tell a league investigator she altered a recording and it wasn't Sterling making racist remarks on the audio, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
On Monday, the NBA released a summary of the charges that could lead to NBA owners voting to strip Sterling and his wife, Shelly, of the franchise they have co-owned for 33 years.
In it, the NBA said: "In the course of the investigation into Mr. Sterling's conduct, it was discovered that relevant evidence was destroyed, false and misleading evidence was provided to the NBA's investigator, and LAC issued a false and misleading press statement regarding this matter."
JUST WATCHED NBA makes legal move to oust Sterling Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH NBA makes legal move to oust Sterling 01:35
JUST WATCHED NBA takes steps to bounce Donald Sterling Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH NBA takes steps to bounce Donald Sterling 04:35
The Times reported that the NBA document it obtained alleges Donald Sterling and Stiviano met on May 2, about a week after the recording containing racist remarks was released by TMZ and just before Stiviano was interviewed by Barbara Walters on ABC.
"Sterling asked Stiviano to tell the NBA that she lied in her previous meeting with the league," the Times reported.
The newspaper also reported the NBA is prepared to argue at a June 3 meeting of the NBA Board of Governors that evidence shows that Sterling and his wife are not estranged and that she helped prepare the team's press release after the recordings were aired. Team President Andy Roeser also was in on the drafting of the statement that questioned the validity of the recording and suggested it was released by someone seeking revenge against Donald Sterling, according to the newspaper's account of the NBA document.
The Times report also said the NBA suggested Roeser heard the recording on April 9, weeks before it went online, after a Clippers employee sent Roeser a copy.The document says Roeser told the employee to delete the audio file and text messages about it from a cell phone. Roeser is now on indefinite leave from the team.
The paper said Sterling's lawyer, Maxwell Blecher, didn't respond to a request for comment.
When asked by a CNN producer at a Tuesday news conference what evidence had been destroyed, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he wouldn't comment on the specifics of the investigation.
NBA commissioner feels certain league will oust Sterlings
Silver said on Tuesday he is confident the league will be able to force the Sterlings to sell the franchise for violating the NBA constitution.
But, the new commissioner said, he would prefer the Sterlings sell the team without the league's pushing.
The chances of that happening appear unlikely. Sterling, through his lawyer, has sent a letter to the league saying he won't pay a $2.5 million fine and threatening to sue if he isn't afforded due process.
Shelly Sterling has said she wants to maintain her 50% stake in the franchise.
"It is their team to sell," Silver, who has been commissioner for three months, said ahead of the league's draft lottery. "(They) know what the league's point of view is. If (they) wanted to sell the team on some reasonable timetable, I prefer (they) sell it than we go through this process."
JUST WATCHED Anderson Cooper's inside story Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Anderson Cooper's inside story 05:10
JUST WATCHED Donald Sterling's apology fallout Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Donald Sterling's apology fallout 03:11
JUST WATCHED Sterling won't pay, may sue NBA Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Sterling won't pay, may sue NBA 06:49
On Monday, the National Basketball Association officially started the process of terminating the Sterlings' ownership rights. It sent Donald Sterling a list of charges that the billionaire real estate investor has until May 27 to answer.
The league scheduled the June 3 special board of governors meeting for each side to present evidence.
Silver also addressed CNN's question about a report that Sterling demanded a three-month extension, saying the 80-year-old owner needed to abide by the NBA constitution, which puts a firm timeline on the process of removing an ownership group.
In order to terminate the Sterlings' franchise rights, 75% (23) of the 30 team owners would have to vote to sustain the charge and force a sale. Because Sterling is banned from any NBA activities, he is not allowed to vote, but the Clippers will have a vote, the NBA said.
In the case of a forced sale, the league does have a duty to the Sterlings to sell the team for the highest possible price, Silver said. The commissioner told reporters if it gets to that point, the league will hire investment bankers to conduct the sale.
The league said it has been damaged by Sterling's racist remarks to Stiviano, which were posted online in April by TMZ and aired in an interview with CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."
Silver expressed confidence that eventually a new group will own the Clippers, who, led by all-stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs this season before losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Some analysts have said the team could be worth more than $1 billion. Forbes magazine lists the franchise's value at $575 million.
"We know we're doing the right thing and I know I have the owners behind me," Silver said.
The commissioner said he is more than upset by the controversy that has many analysts focused on Sterling instead of what is happening in the playoffs.
"It was something deeper than anger," he said.
CNN interview damages Sterling's case
In an exclusive interview with CNN's "AC 360" last week, Sterling talked about his relationship with Stiviano and racism in America, and he trashed Magic Johnson and other minorities.
"That's one problem I have. Jews, when they get successful, they will help their people. And some of the African-Americans, maybe I'll get in trouble again, they don't want to help anybody," said Sterling, who is Jewish.
Some owners said privately -- and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said publicly -- after the scandal first unfolded that it would be difficult to vote on removing an owner for a personal conversation. CNN's Rachel Nichols told Cooper on Monday that his interview has changed some minds, according to NBA insiders she had spoken with in the past week.
"If there were any owners who were concerned about should we be kicking someone out for a private tape, (they) now feel more comfortable," she said. "Because Donald Sterling went on television with you and made statements that were abhorrent to so many people, they feel as if they are on much firmer ground to kick him out."
Sterling's lawyer
Last week, Sterling hired Blecher, an antitrust lawyer who has worked with him in the past, to fight the NBA. Blecher's office has had no comment to CNN.
Shelly Sterling has said she wants to keep an ownership stake in the team but doesn't want to be the controlling partner.
Her attorney, Pierce O'Donnell, said Monday she still hopes to resolve the "dispute with the NBA."
"Based on our initial assessment, we continue to believe there is no lawful basis for stripping Shelly Sterling of her 50% ownership interest in the Clippers. She is the innocent estranged spouse," O'Donnell said.
But the NBA said Donald Sterling's remarks are deemed actions of the entire ownership group.
In his interview with Cooper, Sterling repeatedly denied he is a racist but said he made a mistake making the remarks that were recorded.
In the recording, which drew widespread condemnation from fans, players and the league after it appeared on TMZ, Sterling chastises Stiviano for posting pictures online of herself with African-Americans, including NBA legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson. He tells her not to bring Johnson to Clippers games.
"Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don't put (Magic) on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me," he said.
"In your lousy f**ing Instagrams, you don't have to have yourself with -- walking with black people," he said during a different portion of the recording.
Stiviano, who has largely avoided the media since the scandal began, is scheduled to appear on the " Dr. Phil " show on Wednesday.
Sterling, who has owned the team since 1981, said he was baited into making the remarks.Alternate Versions
The theatrical version of the movie was 1 hour and 49 minutes. The deleted scenes were being included on the DVD release. Deleted scenes on DVD includes: Angelo's Announcement: Angelo Pike making the announcement during the opening of The Rainbow Randolph Show. Sonny & Gordon & Ben Franks: Sheldon talks to Sonny and Ben. Sheldon wanted animals from Sonny for the fans of his show but, there were some issues going on. Ben offers Sheldon a bride by giving the $100 bill. Tinpan Takashi: Frank Stokes offers Merv Green to take Takashi to KidNet Studios after Smoochy being framed as a Nazi. Merv Threatens Stokes: Merv Green threatens Frank to get Takashi to replace Smoochy's time slot. Angelo and Randolph on the phone: In Times Square, Rainbow Randolph talks to Angelo that he didn't kill Spinner and wanted to go back to his apartment. Angelo told him to go to the old biscuit factory at the underground so he doesn't get caught by cops. Last Nappy Time Song: The song played during Spinner Dunn's funeral. Extended Merv Green's death scene" In the extended version of the scene, the blood splatters and passes Tommy's face and splashes to the wall. Buggy in the bathroom: Before the ice show incident, Buggy went to the bathroom, turns on the sink, sits on a toilet and takes out heroin (a.k.a. smack). Which way did he go?: Sheldon removes his ice skates and continues chasing Burke. Nora was following him. Angelo pike arrives. Tommy and the gang asks Angelo which way did Smoochy go. Boom! Boom!: Sheldon and Nora leaves the area. Burke and Frank were killed by Tommy's gang. See moreThe writing is on the wall for GOP senators. Whether or not they choose to read it — and to attempt to save their own jobs — remains to be seen.
Recent polling sends a strong, unequivocal message to Republican senators in swing states: If you vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, you will likely face serious consequences in your next re-election bid.
Voters in Colorado, Iowa, and North Carolina disapprove of repealing the ACA by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Even among Republican-identified voters, support for repealing the ACA barely crests 50 percent.
Such significant, consistent repudiation of a single legislative action is notable within a political climate highly polarized on almost every other issue.
And it is particularly of note for the GOP: In all three of those states, Republican senators are running for re-election in 2020.
And adding to the uncertainty of their bids, all three senators were elected in 2014 to seats previously held by Democrats.
Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner was elected to fill the seat previously held by Sen. Mark Udall; Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s seat was previously filled by Sen. Tom Harkin; and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis was elected to the seat formerly held by Sen. Kay Hagan.
Three first term Republican senators up for re-election. All in seats previously filled by Democratic senators. All in states with large margins of disapproval for repealing the ACA.
And these three Republicans have another crucial thing in common: They are facing powerful local resistance movements.
In Colorado, protesters, including women and children, some of whom are disabled, withstood attempts by Gardner’s staff to overheat them out of his Colorado Springs office. And at Gardner’s Denver office, disabled constituents performed a three day sit-in before the protesters in wheelchairs were arrested and removed, with their hands and feet were zip-tied.
In Iowa, a 62-year-old pig farmer confronted his elected Republican lawmaker at a town-hall by saying repealing the ACA would create “one great big death panel.”
In North Carolina, the Reverend William Barber leads “Moral Monday” actions every week “to raise and expose the kind of hell that poor people and disabled people and older people will go through if this kind of unjust law is passed.”
Finally, and most critically, in all three states, voters overwhelmingly said they were less likely to support the incumbent Republican senators in 2020 if they voted to repeal the ACA.
The writing is on the wall for GOP senators. Whether or not they will choose to read it — and to attempt to save their own jobs — remains to be seen.A Swiss woman has had her conviction upheld for reading her husband’s emails, in which she discovered details of various extramarital affairs.
The woman, who was not named in local Swiss media reports, was charged with unauthorised intrusion into her husband’s data after temptation got the better of her to log in to a new email account he had created on their shared computer.
The couple shared many passwords and had noted some of them down next to the computer, the court heard, according to the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper.
"He had been in contact with several women for a long time. I confronted him with his affairs, and he moved out of our flat relatively quickly," the unnamed woman from Aargau, in northern Switzerland, said in a court hearing. "My trust in him was gone. We did not talk to each other anymore."
The original charges were brought in February this year when she was convicted in Muri and handed a 9,900 franc (£7,500) fine, suspended on the condition of no further offences in the next two years, and a 4,300 franc (£3,250) fine to cover police costs.
The prosecutor said the woman intentionally and repeatedly invaded her husband's account and downloaded material that was not her own. The computer, an external hard drive and a USB stick were confiscated.Let’s face it. Tall people are better, and they usually deserve better. They’re more athletic, they can reach more things, can take longer strides etc… All this to say that when you see someone standing nearby at 6ft 3in or taller, you had best show them the respect they deserve.
This is the understandable gripe Jared Kushner had when speaking with the press after his 2 hour closed door senate meeting on Monday, where the president’s son-in-law had been questioned for his role in a liberal driven Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy.
Kushner, who is notably upset with reporters and the fake media for their continuous hounding of him amid false accusations of Russian collusion, spoke bluntly with journalists waiting outside the White House.
“All of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign. I did not collude with Russians, nor do I know of anyone in the campaign who did. To be perfectly honest with all of you, I think I should be getting treated with more respect. I mean, do you actually think I would collude. Have you guys noticed my height? Why on Earth would a handsome man at 6 foot 3 break the law, cheat during an election, and intentionally help a foreign government. That’s not how you stay on top. I’m too damn tall to collude.” “I’m 6 foot fucking 3!”, Kushner continued to berate as the media watched. “You think I would throw it all away for something dumb? Just to help Russia? Give up the White House, Ivanka, President Trump? While at 6 foot 3? You’re all insane. The media needs to stop treating me like some sort of colluding hunchbacked Russian mole, and recognize me like the kind-hearted and tall American business man I’ve been.”
This is not the first time that the height of Jared Kushner has been a focus in the media. Rumors swirled back when former FBI director James Comey was fired that the firing may have been related to Comey’s massive 6ft 8in height. Word out of the White House at the time was that Kushner and President Trump, whom both hover between 6’2″ and 6’3″, had grown tired and envious of Comey’s height, and that this played a key factor in the snap decision to fire him.
So if you’re reading this and are a member of the lamestream media, please, lay off our buddy Kushner for a while. Why not lay your heads low and do some stories on short Hilary and her stubby legs instead.2012 is about to get even funkier! White Labs released their revised seasonal strain “Platinum Series” schedule and it includes 2 NEW funky offerings PLUS 2 funky fan favorites (say that 10 times fast) are going year round. (You already know one from this post last month)
I love news like this. Changing their release schedule to add 4 wild/funky offerings is a huge step in getting more people to embrace the funk! I had the chance today to speak with Chris White; president at White Labs to get a little more insight into the strains. That interview is below…. But first up the exciting new offerings:
WLP644 Brettanomyces bruxellensis Trois (MAY-JUNE release)
This Belgian strain, used traditionally for 100% Brettanomyces fermentations, produces a slightly tart beer with delicate characteristics of mango and pineapple. Can also be used to produce effervescence when bottle-conditioning.
Optimal Temp: 70-85F
Flocculation: Low
Attenuation: 85%+
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High WLP665 Flemish Ale Blend (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER release)
Blended culture used to produce the classic beer styles of the West Flanders region of Belgium. A proprietary blend of Saccharomyces yeasts, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus, this culture creates a more complex, dark stone fruit characteristic than WLP 655 Belgian Sour Mix.
Optimal Temp: 68-80F
Flocculation: Low-Medium
Attenuation: 80-85%+
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium-High
And the fan favorites that are available now as a year round offering.
WLP670 American Farmhouse Blend
Inspired by local American brewers crafting semi-traditional Belgian-style ales. This blend creates a complex flavor profile with a moderate level of sourness. It consists of a traditional farmhouse yeast strain and Brettanomyces. Great yeast for farmhouse ales, Saisons, and other Belgian-inspired beers.
Attenuation: 75-82%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 68-72°F
(20-22°C)
Alcohol Tolerance: 5-10% WLP630 Berliner Weisse Blend
A blend of a traditional German Weizen yeast and Lactobacillus to create a subtle, tart, drinkable beer. Can take several months to develop tart character. Perfect for traditional Berliner Weisse.
Attenuation: 73-80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 68-72°F
(20-22°C)
Alcohol Tolerance: 5-10%
ETF- How much has the demand for White Labs sour strains and blends increased recently?
Chris- Alot. I would say more than double, probably closer to a threefold increase if not more. It’s not only in the homebrewing side but we are seeing it growing more and more on the commercial side too. We are seeing breweries wanting to use something for their barrel projects and conditioning. We had a brewery contact us that just got 20 wine barrels to put some strains into. But it is up across the board, it’s what people want right now.
ETF- With the WLP670 / WLP630 full time now and the WLP665 / WLP644 coming out, is this the most funk ever in the White Labs lineup?
Chris- Yes for sure. It’s actually the most strains across the board we’ve had available in at least 5 years. Funny thing with the new line up we didn’t realize this until we looked at the sheet that we had so many Belgian type strains this year. (13 of the 23 scheduled)
ETF-In the new WLP644 Brett release does the word “Trois” (3) in the strain name give us some insight on a commercial example with this strain?
Chris- Ha! We usually try to throw something in the name to give a clue…But it’s us having some fun with it.
ETF-In the WLP665, can you give some insight on what might be the strongest microbe or what more forward microbes to expect in about a year?
Chris- That’s a tough one, It has a great mix of the Brettanomyces, Pedio, and Lacto. We wanted to come out with something a little more Rodenbach like that will develop even more after that time.
ETF-Any ideas or plans to have more sour/wild releases in 2013?
Chris- We are going on a bigger acquisition quest this year for more strains. Definitely getting more active in collecting some different strains over the coming year.
We also talked about helping out brewers who are new to sour and funky brewing. I told Chris I heard a lot of new to the funk brewers appreciated the good solid recipe (Tomme Arthur’s Saison Blanc) that was included in the White Labs newsletter when the WLP670 came out. Since getting into sour brewing can be intimidating to say the least, just having that recipe from a reputable source really helped some new brewers tear down that wall of uncertainty and jump right in…those brewers are now hooked. In short Chris said they would discuss it at White Labs tomorrow and look into having a recipe to coincide with the strain releases. So if you have been thinking about brewing a sour beer, it sounds like White Labs is once again going to give you some great ground level support for your first batch!
AdvertisementsSingapore's first national LGBT census is now underway and will run for a month until July 15.
The Singapore National LGBT Census 2013 is the first of its kind to be conducted in the city-state where there’s an active and open gay scene although the law criminalises sex between men.
Jointly organised by Pink Dot Sg which organises the annual Pink Dot rally, queer women’s group Sayoni and LGBT-affirmative counselling group Oogachaga, the survey was launched on May 9 and will run until July 15. The research team comprises volunteers from each of the groups, as well as independent volunteers.
In an email to Fridae, organisers say the key purpose of the census is to “narrow the knowledge gaps on the LGBTQ community in Singapore”.
“While there are a number of studies that highlight the views of society at large towards LGBTQ individuals, the role of religion on such views, as well as LGBTQ representations on media, there is, at present, relatively little information on the general profile of LGBTQ individuals in Singapore,” said the spokesperson for the survey. "The data collected will shed light on the community so that “decisions, private or public, may be informed more by data, less through stereotypes.”
Pink Dot’s Paerin Choa said the study is significant as it marks the community’s first attempt to measure the well-being of LGBTQ individuals in Singapore. “We hope, through initiatives like this, to understand how we can serve our community better, and in so doing, endear more LGBT Singaporeans to this place that we call home,” he added.
The 54-question online survey covers topics related to employment, education, housing, citizenship, well-being and health. The survey is anonymous and will take about 30 minutes to complete.
Currently each of the three groups involved conduct their own studies with Sayoni’s National Survey of Queer Women, Oogachaga's survey on health and discrimination and Pink Dot Sg's post-campaign surveys.
Jean Chong of Sayoni said, “The findings gathered from this census will also complement our advocacy work whilst supplementing publications, such as Sayoni’s CEDAW shadow report.”
Oogachaga centre manager Bryan Choong added: “This study will provide us with information about the community, which we can use in programme planning. We hope to also share this with other social service organisations, so that they can be better equipped to work with their LGBTQ clients.”
Organisers say they hope to get 3,000 responses in order to be able to run meaningful statistical analyses within each of the sub-groups.
To take the survey, please click here.While working on today's Obama Nightly News Diary I came across this video that I thought was really well done. And then I read the comments and knew it had to be shared, even though it did not really fit the format for Obama Nightly News. It is getting slammed with some really bizarre commentary on YouTube, complete with threats that if Obama wins another term children will be home schooled.
Imagine an America
Where strip mines are fun and free
Where gays can be fixed
And sick people just die
And oil fills the sea
We don't have to pay for freeways!
Our schools are good enough
Give us endless wars
On foreign shores
And lots of Chinese stuff
We're the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And we're kinda blaming you
We haven't killed all the polar bears
But it's not for lack of trying
The Earth is cracked
Big Bird is sacked
And the atmosphere is frying
Congress went home early
They did their best we know
You can't cut spending
With elections pending
Unless it's welfare dough
We're the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And we're kinda blaming you
Find a park that is still open
And take a breath of poison air
They foreclosed your place
To build a weapon in space
But you can write off your au pair
It's a little awkward to tell you
But you left us holding the bag
When we look around
The place is all dumbed down
And the long term's kind of a drag
We're the children of the future
American through and through
But something happened to our country
And yeah, we're blaming you
You did your best
You failed the test
Mom and Dad We're blaming you!Homemade firearms are widely seized across china, a large number used illegally for pest control and hunting. Notable is the frequency at which handmade semi automatic pistols are encountered, many loosely based on the Type-64 copy of the Walther PPK as well as the Type-77 in use by police and the PLA.
The poverty stricken county of Songtao located in Guizhou province is widely noted as having a booming cottage industry from where handmade pistols produced in the basements and garages are trafficked through Xiushan and Huayuan and then on to buyers in coastal cities.
Assembling a handmade Type 64 takes an experienced gunsmith only two to three days and costs around 300 yuan, yet several transactions by middlemen can push the sales price up to more than 10,000 yuan in places such as Shenzhen, an economic hub in Guangdong province. “In two to three days, these gun traders make more money than we do in a month,” joked a gun taskforce member who did not want to be identified. ….. When Wu Bike could no longer afford a high school education in the wake of his father’s death in 1998, he said making guns seemed to be a reasonable option. The oldest of three sons and the family’s sole breadwinner, Wu learned to assemble Type 64 pistols after taking apart imitation guns (also illegal in China). “I never gave it much thought. All my friends did it,” he told China Daily. Soon after, Wu and three of his friends – all farmers in Songtao’s Daxing township – were caught by police in his cellar, where they had just sold a handmade Type 64 to a middleman for about 500 yuan. Wu was sentenced to four years in prison but it did not take him long to pick up where he left off. In the summer of 2002, just months after his release, police again raided Wu’s house and found about two dozen gun parts. – China Daily
“Deputy Party chief Zhou acknowledged, however, that the main challenges with gun seizures remain economic ones.
“I can’t rule out the possibility that people (with the know-how) are migrating elsewhere (to make and sell guns),” he said. “Technical leakage is beyond our control.”
The ability to manufacture guns, which some learn from older generations and others through work experience, is something people are usually keen to hold onto, said taskforce captain Long.”
More imagesKevin Spacey made the set of Netflix's "House of Cards" into a "toxic" work environment through a pattern of sexual harassment, eight people who currently work on the show or worked on it in the past tell CNN. One former employee told CNN that Spacey sexually assaulted him.
The former production assistant, whose account has never previously been disclosed, told CNN that Spacey sexually assaulted him during one of the show's early seasons |
supported these restrictive laws.
These new laws have been criticized in a number of journals and magazines. Why they are deeply flawed should be obvious to anybody committed to even elementary principles of free speech and democracy. The reaction to the laws was predictable: first, there was a response from the Western academic community. Seventy leading scholars, including some from Eastern Europe, signed an open letter protesting the laws. Other organizations, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum warned of their dangers. Foreign media outlets also took notice. Yet, despite the outcry, except for a few articles by Western scholars, there has been little discussion of Viatrovych’s personal role in making the laws or the larger backdrop of aggressive history politics, going back to 2005.
A few of the most prominent Ukrainian intellectuals provided commentary that half-heartedly condemned a crackdown on free speech, but they focused on questioning the attitude of Western scholars protesting against the laws. Other Ukrainian commentators have provided rather muted criticism of the laws, less because of the politicization of history and more due to issues of financial and privacy concerns. Only a few Ukrainian commentators did condemn the laws on principled grounds related to academic freedom and historical revisionism.
Sadly, the Ukrainian-diaspora scholarly community in North America has often supported these restrictive laws. Regarding Viatrovych, they see no problem with having a partisan political activist in charge of the country’s secret-police archives; rather the foreign scholars and their “insensitive research” agendas that discuss the dark spots of Ukraine’s history are the real problem for Ukraine. In a recent roundtable interview with two well-known scholars and one member of the Ukrainian-American community, Western scholars were described as “neo-Soviet” and their response as “quasi-hysterical.” In a misplaced “post-colonial” twist, the “propriety or authority of foreigners to instruct Ukraine’s elected representatives as to whom they wish to acknowledge or memorialize and why” was questioned. The laws were praised as the answer to outside tampering in Ukraine’s history. On the issue of free speech, there was hedging. In an Orwellian key, Alexander Motyl, a political scientist at Rutgers University-Newark, went as far as to compare Ukraine’s history regulation laws to civil rights laws, women’s rights, and laws protecting the gay community in the United States. This is not the first time Motyl’s analogies to US history have caused shock in various scholarly communities. The naïveté with which some Western observers have embraced the nationalist narrative is even more troubling.
There has been little controversy in the West about putting Ukraine’s secret-police archives in Viatrovych’s hands: the responses from Ukrainian intelligentsia have ranged from joy to muted concerns about privacy issues. Motyl excitedly called the archives law a “coup for freedom and justice”—unsurprisingly, given that he is perhaps the only scholar to have praised Viatrovych’s recent book. Outside of perceptive pieces in Ukrainian by Vasyl Rasevych, a historian and writer, and Stanislav Serhiienko, an activist and writer, about the dangers of archive tampering, few commenters, including those in the West, seem to worry about the potential manipulation of the archives. The dialectics of national liberalism aside, Motyl’s term “coup” is an apposite Freudian slip. We might ask ourselves why a nation’s most politically sensitive document collection should be entrusted with a political activist interested in one and only one version of the past, rather than putting them under the auspices of the central state archive administration. A while ago, when a Communist was director of Ukraine’s archival administration, Western observers were worried. The failure to worry when a nationalist defending the record of right-wing authoritarians takes over the national memory project and the secret-police files is disturbing.
If the response from the diaspora-oriented scholarly community to the laws and Viatrovych’s appointment has been scandalous, the naïveté with which some Western observers have embraced the nationalist narrative is even more troubling. Following the Maidan revolution, Viatrovych is now cited as a voice of knowledge in the Ukrainian and Western media. The Christian Science Monitor has quoted him in an article about Ukraine’s past, where he explained that to dispel “myths” Ukraine should “create an open, national dialogue.” With no acknowledgment (or, probably, knowledge) of Viatrovych’s background as a myth-maker-in-chief himself, the article uncritically presents him as a voice for the future.
Even more egregious was the article “Is There a Future for Ukraine?” by Peter Pomerantsev, a journalist and producer who writes frequently on Russia, which appeared in The Atlantic in July 2014. Pomerantsev interviewed and profiled Viatrovych as a carrier of hope for Ukraine’s future. Pomerantsev has managed to recognize in Viatrovych “a liberal nationalist,” working to “create a Ukrainian identity”—strange praise for a man claiming to be a scholar, a profession usually engaged in open-ended inquiry, not identity building. Pomerantsev tells his readers that Viatrovych is “best known for his work on reformatting Ukraine’s relationship to the Second World War,” which is both an understatement and a horribly revealing choice of terms. In his mostly uncritical portrayal, he writes that Viatrovych “believes he can help bridge these divisions [in Ukrainian society] and create a story that is at once nationalist and integrationist.” When asked about a positive unifying message, Viatrovych matter-of-factly tells him that Russians want “tyranny” and Ukrainians want “freedom.” Pomerantsev swallows this bigoted statement of frank stereotype about large populations with no response, since compared to the overtly racist Ukrainian nationalist he interviewed in the first part of the same article, Viatrovych comes across as less brutal. But perhaps also because “we” in the West now consider it good form to cut a Ukrainian nationalist more slack than a Russian. THE NATION IS READER FUNDED. YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL TO OUR WORK. DONATE NOW!
The commentary by Viatrovych himself on the laws he helped make is perhaps the most illuminating and troubling aspect of the entire debate. On May 1, he reacted to criticism with a statement packed with paradox. On the issue of academic freedom, he writes that the “laws…will not in any way influence academic discourse.” He adds that the laws will serve as a “powerful incentive for the de-politicization of the history of the OUN and the UPA” and “reanimate academic discussion.” How banning critical views of radical right-wing ethno-nationalists and their violent deeds represents a depoliticization of historical topics or supports academic discussion is beyond comprehension. In response to critics’ references to the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, Viatrovych maintains that “this is only one of the opinions that have the right to exist.” He goes on to argue for the importance of nationalism in current Ukrainian culture because “partisan folklore includes hundreds of folk songs and is one of its richest among folklore sources.” These are the priorities of Ukraine’s new memory manager-in-chief: preserving folk songs (which, he may fail to realize, are not likely to all be genuinely “folk” or “traditional”) at the expense of difficult discussions about war crimes, the very existence of which is reduced to “opinions.” As for Viatrovych’s promise that the laws would not be used to intervene in academic debate, it only took about two weeks for the laws to be used to intimidate Ukrainian scholars: the education minister disseminated a letter to “patriotic” scholars of Ukraine, alerting them that it is necessary to respond to the allegedly Kremlin-directed Western scholars’ letter on the new laws.
To be sure, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has forced scholars and other onlookers to take sides. Many Western observers, including this author, support Ukraine’s struggle for democracy and sovereignty. What parts of the Western media, academia, and public-policy world have failed to grasp is that supporting partisan political operatives self-spinning as “national liberals” and objective scholars will do nothing to further Ukraine’s cause. One would think we had learned a key lesson of the Cold War: that the crude calculus of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is wrong-headed. As for academic freedom, Ukrainians should have the opportunity to struggle with, write about, and argue over their own history in all of its glory and all its darker sides without threats, implicit or explicit. Part of this freedom would include cooperation and debate among scholars from many nations. Ukrainians do not need any more commissars to tell them what they are allowed to say or think, neither in the name of Communism, as in the bad old days, nor of nationalism. Moving forward includes leaving that paternalistic model behind for good.PIUS PP. XII
LITTERAE ENCYCLICAE
HUMANI GENERIS *
AD VENERABILES FRATRES PATRIARCHAS, PRIMATES, ARCHIEPISCOPOS,
EPISCOPOS ALIOSQUE LOCORUM ORDINARIOS, PACEM ET COMMUNIONEM
CUM APOSTOLICA SEDE HABENTES DE NONNULLIS FALSIS OPINIONIBUS,
QUAE CATHOLICAE DOCTRINAE FUNDAMENTA SUBRUERE MINANTUR.
Venerabiles Fratres
salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem
Humani generis in rebus religiosis ac moralibus discordia et aberratio a veritate probis omnibus, imprimisque fide libus sincerisque Ecclesiae filiis, vehementissimi doloris fons et causa semper fuere, praesertim vero hodie, cum ipsa culturae christianae principia undique offensa cernimus.
Haud mirum quidem est huiusmodi discordiam et aberrationem extra ovile Christi semper viguisse. Nam licet humana ratio, simpliciter loquendo, veram et certam cognitionem unius Dei personalis, mundum providentia sua tuentis ac gubernantis, necnon naturalis legis a Creatore nostris animis inditae, suis naturalibus viribus ac lumine assequi revera possit, nihilominus non pauca obstant quominus eadem ratio hac sua nativa facul tate efficaciter fructuoseque utatur. Quae enim ad Deum pertinent et ad rationes spectant, quae inter homines Deumque intercedunt, veritates sunt rerum sensibilium ordinem omnino transcendentes, quae, cum in vitae actionem inducuntur eamque informant, sui devotionem suique abnegationem postulant. Humanus autem intellectus in talibus veritatibus acquirendis difficultate laborat tum ob sensuum imaginationisque impulsum, tum ob pravas cupiditates ex peccato originali ortas. Quo fit ut homines in rebus huiusmodi libenter sibi suadeant esse falsa vel saltem dubia, quae ipsi nolint esse vera.
Quapropter divina « revelatio » moraliter necessaria dicenda est, ut ea, quae in rebus religionis et morum rationi per se impervia non sunt, in praesenti quoque humani generis condicione, ab omnibus expedite, firma certitudine et nullo admixto errore cognosci possint (Conc. Vat. D. B. 1876, Const. De Fide cath. cap. 2, De revelatione).
Quin immo mens humana difficultates interdum pati potest etiam in certo iudicio « credibilitatis » efformando circa catholicam fidem, quamvis tam multa ac mira signa externa divinitus disposita sint quibus vel solo naturali rationis lumine divina christianae religionis origo certo probari possit. Homo enim sive praeiudicatis ductus opinionibus, sive cupidinibus ac mala voluntate instigatus, non modo externorum signorum evidentiae, quae prostat, sed etiam supernis afflatibus, quos Deus in animos ingerit nostros, renuere ac resistere potest.
Cuicumque eos circumspicienti, qui extra ovile Christi sunt, haud difficulter patebunt praecipuae quas viri docti non pauci ingressi sunt viae. Etenim sunt qui evolutionis, ut aiunt, systema, nondum invicte probatum in ipso disciplinarum naturalium ambitu, absque prudentia ac discretione admissum ad omnium rerum originem pertinere contendant, atque audacter indulgeant opinationi monisticae ac pantheisticae mundi universi continuae evolutioni obnoxii. Qua quidem opinatione fautores communismi libenter fruuntur ut suum « materialismum dialecticum » efficacius propugnent et evehant, omni notione theistica ex animis avulsa.
Huiusmodi evolutionis commenta, quibus omne, quod absolutum, firmum, immutabile est, repudiatur, viam straverunt novae aberranti philosophiae, quae cum « idealismo », « immanentismo » ac « pragmatismo » contendens « exsistentialismi » nomen nacta est, utpote quae, immutabilibus rerum es sentiis posthabitis, de singulorum « exsistentia » tantum sollicita sit.
Accedit falsus quidam « historicismus », qui solis humanae vitae eventibus inhaerens, cuiusvis veritatis legisque absolutae fundamenta subvertit, cum ad res philosophicas tum ad christiana etiam dogmata quod attinet.
In hac tanta opinionum confusione aliquid solaminis Nobis affert eos cernere, qui a « rationalismi » placitis, quibus olim in stituti erant, hodie non raro ad veritatis divinitus patefactae haustus redire cupiunt, ac verbum Dei in Sacra Scriptura asser vatum agnoscere ac profiteri, utpote disciplinae sacrae fundamentum. At simul dolendum est haud paucos istorum, quo firmius verbo Dei adhaereant, eo magis humanam rationem adimere, et quo libentius Dei revelantis auctoritatem extollant, eo acrius Ecclesiae Magisterium aspernari, a Christo Domino institutum, ut veritates divinitus revelatas custodiat atque interpretetur. Quod quidem non solum Sacris Litteris aperte contradicit, sed ex ipsa rerum experientia falsum manifestatur. Saepe enim ipsi a vera Ecclesia dissidentes de sua ipsorum in rebus dogmaticis discordia palam conqueruntur, ita ut Magisterii vivi necessitatem fateantur inviti.
Iamvero theologis ac pholosophis catholicis, quibus grave incumbit munus divinam humanamque veritatem tuendi animis que inserendi hominum, has opinationes plus minusve e recto itinere aberrantes neque ignorare neque neglegere licet. Quin immo ipsi easdem opinationes perspectas habeant oportet, tum quia morbi non apte curantur nisi rite praecogniti fuerint, tum quia nonnumquam in falsis ipsis commentis aliquid veritatis latet, tum denique quia eadem animum provocant ad quasdam veritates, sive philosophicas sive theologicas, sollertius perscrutandas ac perpendendas.
Quodsi philosophi ac theologi nostri ex hisce doctrinis, caute perspectis, tantummodo huiuscemodi fructum colligere eniterentur, nulla adesset ratio cur Ecclesiae Magisterium interloqueretur. Attamen, quamvis Nobis compertum sit catholicos doctores ab illis erroribus generatim cavere, constat tamen non deesse hodie, quemadmodum apostolicis temporibus, qui rebus novis plus aequo studentes, ac vel etiam metuentes ne earum rerum, quas progredientis aetatis scientia invexerit, ignari habeantur, sacri Magisterii moderationi se subducere contendant ideoque in eo versentur periculo ne sensim sine sensu ab ipsa veritate divinitus revelata discedant aliosque secum in errorem inducant.
Immo et aliud obversatur periculum idque eo gravius, quo virtutis est specie magis obtectum. Plures enim sunt, qui humani generis discordiam ac mentium confusionem deplorantes, imprudenti animorum studio permoti, impetu quodam moventur atque impenso desiderio flagrant infringendi saepta, quibus probi honestique viri invicem disiunguntur, « irenismum » talem amplectentes ut, quaestionibus missis quae homines separant, non modo respiciant ad irruentem atheismum communibus viribus propulsandum, sed etiam ad opposita in rebus quoque dogmaticis reconcilianda. Et quemadmodum olim fuerunt, qui rogarent num translaticia Ecclesiae apologetica ratio obstaculum constitueret potius quam auxilium ad animos Christo lucrandos, ita hodie non desunt qui eo usque procedere audeant ut serio quaestionem moveant num theologia eiusque methodus, quales in scholis ecclesiastica approbante auctoritate vigent, non modo perficiendae, verum etiam omnino reformandae sint, ut regnum Christi quocumque terrarum, inter homines cuiusvis culturae vel cuiusvis opinionis religiosae efficacius propagetur.
Quodsi iidem ad nihil aliud intenderent quam ad disciplinam ecclesiasticam eiusque methodum hodiernis condicionibus ac necessitatibus, nova quadam inducta ratione, aptius accommodandas, nulla fere esset causa timendi; at vero imprudenti aestuantes « irenismo », nonnulli veluti obices ad fraternam unitatem restaurandam ea putare videntur, quae ipsis legibus ac principiis a Christo datis innituntur itemque institutis ab eo conditis, vel quae munimina ac fulcimina exstant integritatis fidei, quibus collapsis, omnia uniuntur quidem, sed solummodo in ruinam.
Novae huiusmodi opiniones, sive improbando novitatis desiderio, sive laudabili causa moveantur, non semper eodem gradu, eadem claritate iisdemque terminis proponuntur, nec semper unanimo auctorum consensu; quae enim hodie a quibusdam, cautelis nonnullis ac distinctionibus adhibitis, magis tecte docentur, cras ab aliis audacioribus palam atque immoderate proponentur, non sine multorum offensione, praesertim iunioris cleri, nec sine ecclesiasticae auctoritatis detrimento. Quodsi cautius agi solet in libris publice editis, iam liberius disseritur in libellis privatim communicatis et in acroasibus coetibusque. Nec tantum inter sodales utriusque cleri et in sacris seminariis institutis que religiosis tales opiniones divulgantur, sed etiam inter laicos, inter eos praesertim, qui iuvent uti instituendae operam navant.
Quod autem ad theologiam spectat, quorumdam consilium est dogmatum significationem quam maxime extenuare; ipsum que dogma a loquendi ratione in Ecclesia iamdiu recepta et a philosophicis notionibus penes catholicos doctores vigentibus liberare, ut in catholica exponenda doctrina ad Sacrae Scripturae sanctorumque Patrum dicendi modum redeatur. Spem ipsi fovent fore ut dogma elementis denudatum, quae extrinsecus a divina revelatione esse dicunt, fructuose comparetur cum eorum opinionibus dogmaticis, qui ab Ecclesiae unitate seiuncti sint, utque hac via pedetemptim perveniatur ad assimilanda sibi invicem dogma catholicum et placita dissidentium.
Accedit quod, catholica doctrina ad hanc redacta condicionem, viam sterni autumant, qua, hodiernis necessitatibus satis faciendo, hodiernae etiam philosophiae notionibus dogma exprimi possit, sive « immanentismi » sive « idealismi » sive « exsistentialismi » aliusve systematis. Quod idcirco etiam fieri posse ac debere audaciores quidam affirmant, quia fidei mysteria numquam notionibus adaequate veris significari posse contendunt, sed tantum notionibus « approximativis », ut aiunt, ac semper mutabilibus, quibus veritas aliquatenus quidem indicetur, sed necessario quoque deformetur. Quapropter non absurdum esse putant, sed necesse omnino esse ut theologia pro variis philosophiis, quibus decursu temporum tamquam suis utitur instrumentis, novas antiquis substituat notiones, ita ut diversis quidem modis, ac vel etiam aliqua ratione oppositis, idem tamen, ut aiunt, valentibus, easdem divinas veritates humanitus reddat. Addunt etiam historiam dogmatum consistere in reddendis variis sibique succedentibus formis, quas veritas revelata induerit, secundum diversas doctrinas et opinationes quae saeculorum decursu ortae fuerint.
Patet autem ex iis, quae diximus, huiusmodi molimina non tantum ducere ad « relativismum » dogmaticum, quem vocant, sed illum iam reapse continere; cui quidem despectus doctrinae communiter traditae eorumque vocabulorum, quibus eadem significatur, satis superque favet. Nemo sane est qui non videat huiusmodi notionum vocabula cum in scholis tum ab ipsius Ecclesiae Magisterio adhibita, perfici et perpoliri posse; ac notum praeterea est Ecclesiarn in iisdem vocibus adhibendis non semper constantem fuisse. Liquet etiam Ecclesiam non cuilibet systemati philosophico, brevi temporis spatio vigenti, devinciri posse : sed ea quae communi consensu a catholicis doctoribus composita per plura saecula fuere ad aliquam dogmatis intellegentiam attingendam, tam caduco fundamento procul dubio non nituntur. Nituntur enim principiis ac notionibus ex vera rerum creatarum cognitione deductis; in quibus quidem deducendis cognitionibus humanae menti veritas divinitus revelata quasi stella, per Ecclesiam illuxit. Quare mirum non est aliquas huiusmodi notiones a Conciliis Oecumenicis non solum adhibitas, sed etiam sancitas esse, ita ut ab eis discedere nefas sit.
Quapropter neglegere, vel reicere, vel suo valore privare tot ac tanta, quae pluries saeculari labore a viris non communis ingenii ac sanctitatis, invigilante sacro Magisterio, nec sine Sancti Spiritus lumine et ductu, ad accuratius in dies fidei veritates exprimendas mente concepta, expressa ac perpolita sunt, ut eorumdem in locum coniecturales notiones sufficiantur ac quaedam fluxae ac vagae novae philosophiae dictiones, quae ut flos agri hodie sunt et cras decident, non modo summa est imprudentia, verum etiam ipsum dogma facit quasi arundinem vento agitatam. Despectus autem vocabulorum ac notionum quibus theologi scholastici uti solent, sponte ducit ad enervandam theologiam, ut aiunt speculativam, quam, cum, ratione theologica innitatur, vera certitudine carere existimant.
Utique, proh dolor, rerum novarum studiosi a scholasticae theologiae contemptu ad neglegendum, ac vel etiam ad despiciendum facile transeunt ipsum Magisterium Ecclesiae, quod theologiam illam sua auctoritate tantopere comprobat. Hoc enim Magisterium ab ipsis tamquam progressionis sufflamen ac scientiae obex exhibetur; ab acatholicis vero quibusdam iam veluti iniustum frenum consideratur quo excultiores aliqui theologi a disciplina sua innovanda detineantur. Et quamquam hoc sacrum Magisterium, in rebus fidei et morum, cuilibet theologo proxima et universalis veritatis norma esse debet, utpote cui Christus Dominus totum depositum fidei — Sacras nempe Litteras ac divinam «traditionem» - et custodien dum et tuendum et interpretandum concredidit, attamen officium, quo fideles tenentur illos quoque fugere errores, qui ad haeresim plus minusve accedant, ideoque « etiam constitutiones et decreta servare, quibus pravae huiusmodi opiniones a Sancta Sede proscriptae et prohibitae sunt » (C. I. C. can. 1324; cfr. Conc. Vat. D. B. 1820, Const. De Fide cath. cap. 4, De fide et ratione, post canones), nonnunquam ita ignoratur ac si non habeatur. Quae in Romanorum Pontificum Encyclicis Litteris de indole et constitutione Ecclesiae exponuntur, a quibusdam consulto neglegi solent, ea quidem de causa ut praevaleat notio quaedam vaga, quam ex antiquis Patribus, praesertim graecis, haustam esse profitentur. Pontifices enim, ut ipsi dictitant, de his quae inter theologos disputantur iudicare nolunt, itaque ad pristinos fontes redeundum est et ex antiquorum scriptis recentiora Magisterii constitutiones ac decreta explicanda sunt.
Quae etsi fortasse scite dicta videntur, attamen fallacia non carent. Verum namque est generatim Pontifices theologis libertatem concedere in iis quae inter melioris notae doctores vario sensu disputentur : at historia docet, plura quae prius liberae disceptationi subiecta fuerint, postea nullam iam disceptationem pati posse.
Neque putandum est, ea quae in Encyclicis Litteris proponuntur, assensum per se non postulare, cum in iis Pontifices supremam sui Magisterii potestatem non exerceant. Magisterio enim ordinario haec docentur, de quo illud etiam valet: « Qui vos audit, me audit » (Luc. 10, 16); ac plerumque quae in Encyclicis Litteris proponuntur et inculcantur, iam aliunde ad doctrinam catholicam pertinent. Quodsi Summi Pontifices in actis suis de re hactenus controversa data opera sententiam ferunt, omnibus patet rem illam, secundum mentem ac voluntatem eorumdem Pontificum, quaestionem liberae inter theologos disceptationis iam haberi non posse.
Verum quoque est, theologis semper redeundum esse ad divinae revelationis fontes: eorum enim est indicare qua ratione ea quae a vivo Magisterio docentur, in Sacris Litteris et in divina « traditione », « sive explicite, sive implicite inveniantur » (Pius IX, Inter gravissimas, 28 oct. 1870, Acta, vol. I, p. 260). Accedit quod uterque doctrinae divinitus revelatae fons tot tantosque continet thesauros veritatis, ut numqmam reapse exhauriatur. Quapropter sacrorum fontium studio sacrae disciplinae semper iuvenescunt; dum contra speculatio, quae ulteriorem sacri depositi inquisitionem neglegit, ut experiundo novimus, sterilis evadit. Sed hac de causa theologia etiam positiva, quam dicunt, scientiae dumtaxat historicae aequari nequit. Una enim cum sacris eiusmodi fontibus Deus Ecclesiae suae Magisterium vivum dedit, ad ea quoque illustranda et enucleanda, quae in fidei deposito nonnisi obscure ac velut implicite continentur. Quod quidem depositum nec singulis christifidelibus nec ipsis theologis divinus Redemptor concredidit authentice interpretandum, sed soli Ecclesiae Magisterio. Si autem hoc suum munus Ecclesia exercet, sicut saeculorum decursu saepe numero factum est, sive ordinario sive extraordinario eiusdem muneris exercitio, patet omnino falsam esse methodum, qua ex obscuris clara explicentur, quin immo contrarium omnes sequi ordinem necesse esse. Quare Decessor Noster imm. mem. Pius IX, docens nobilissimum theologiae munus illud esse, quod ostendat quomodo ab Ecclesia definita doctrina contineatur in fontibus, non absque gravi causa illa addidit verba: « eo ipso sensu, quo ab Ecclesia definita est ».
Ut autem ad novas, quas supra attigimus, opinationes redeamus, plura etiam a nonnullis proponuntur vel mentibus instillantur in detrimentum divinae auctoritatis Sacrae Scripturae. Etenim sensum definitionis Concilii Vaticani de Deo Sacrae Scripturae auctore audacter quidam pervertunt; atque sententiam, iam pluries reprobatam, renovant, secundum quam Sacrarum Litterarum immunitas errorum ad ea solummodo, quae de Deo ac de rebus moralibus et religiosis traduntur, pertineat. Immo perperam loquuntur de sensu humano Sacrorum Librorum sub quo sensus eorum divinus lateat, quem solum infallibilem declarant. In Sacra Scriptura interpretanda nullam haberi volunt rationem analogiae fidei ac « traditionis », Ecclesiae; ita ut Sanctorum Patrum et sacri Magisterii doctrina quasi ad trutinam Sacrae Scripturae, ratione mere humana ab exegetis explicatae, sit revocanda, potius quam eadem Sacra Scriptura exponenda sit ad mentem Ecclesiae, quae a Christo Domino totius depositi veritatis divinitus revelatae custos ac interpres constituta est.
Ac praeterea sensus litteralis Sacrae Scripturae eiusque ex positio a tot tantisque exegetis, vigilante Ecclesia, elaborata, ex commenticiis eorum placitis, novae cedere debent exegesi, quam symbolicam ac spiritualem appellant ; et qua Sacra Biblia Veteris Testamenti, quae hodie in Ecclesia tamquam fons clausus lateant, tandem aliquando omnibus aperiantur. Hac ratione asseverant difficultates omnes evanescere, quibus ii tantummodo praepediantur, qui sensui litterali Scripturarum adhaereant.
Quae quidem omnia quam aliena sint a principiis ac normis hermeneuticis a Decessoribus Nostris fel. rec. Leone XIII in Encyclicis Litteris Providentissimus, et a Benedicto XV in Enc. Litt. Spiritus Paraclitus, itemque a Nobis ipsis in Enc. Litt. Divino afflante Spiritu rite statutis nemo est qui non videat.
Ac mirum non est huiusmodi novitates, ad omnes fere theologiae partes quod attinet, iam venenosos peperisse fructus. In dubium revocatur humanam rationem, absque divinae « revelationis » divinaeque gratiae auxilio, argumentis ex creatis rebus deductis demonstrare posse Deum personalem exsistere; negatur mundum initium habuisse, atque contenditur creationem mundi necessariam esse, cum ex necessaria liberalitate divini amoris procedat ; aeterna et infallibilis liberarum actionum hominum praescientia Deo item denegatur; quae quidem Vaticani Concilii declarationibus adversantur (cfr. Conc. Vat. Const. De Fide cath. cap. De Deo rerum omnium creatore).
Quaestio etiam a nonnullis agitur num Angeli creaturae personales sint; numque materia a spiritu essentialiter differat. Alii veram « gratuitatem » ordinis supernaturalis corrumpunt, cum autument Deum entia intellectu praedita condere non posse, quin eadem ad beatificam visionem ordinet et vocet. Nec satis; nam peccati originalis notio, definitionibus tridentinis posthabitis, pervertitur, unaque simul peccati in universum, prout est Dei offensa, itemque satisfactionis a Christo pro nobis exhibitae. Nec desunt qui contendant transubstantiationis doctrinam, utpote antiquata notione philosophica substantiae innixam, ita emendandam esse ut realis Christi praesentia in Ss. Eucharistia ad quemdam symbolismum reducatur, quatenus consecratae species, nonnisi signa efficacia sint spiritualis praesentiae Christi eiusque intimae coniunctionis cum fidelibus membris in Corpore Mystico.
Quidam censent se non devinciri doctrina paucis ante annis in Encyclicis Nostris Litteris exposita, ac fontibus « revelationis » innixa, quae quidem docet corpus Christi mysticum et Ecclesiam Catholicam Romanam unum idemque esse (cfr. Litt. Enc. Mystici Corporis Christi, A. A. S. vol. XXXV, p. 193 sq.). Aliqui necessitatem pertinendi ad veram Ecclesiam, ut sempiterna attingatur salus, ad vanam formulam reducunt. Alii denique rationali indoli « credibilitatis » fidei christianae iniuriam inferunt.
Haec et alia id genus iam serpere constat inter nonnullos filios Nostros, quos incautum animarum studium vel falsi nominis scientia decipiunt, quibusque maerenti animo et notissimas veritates repetere cogimur et manifestos errores errorisque pericula non sine anxitudine indicare.
In comperto est quanti Ecclesia humanam rationem faciat, quod pertinet ad exsistentiam unius Dei personalis certo demonstrandam, itemque ad ipsius christianae fidei fundamenta signis divinis invicte comprobanda; parique modo ad legem, quam Creator animis hominum indidit, rite exprimendam; ac denique ad aliquam mysteriorum intellegentiam assequendam eamque fructuosissimam (cfr. Conc. Vat. D. B. 1796). Hoc tamen munus ratio tum solum apte ac tuto absolvere poterit, cum debito modo exculta fuerit; nempe cum fuerit sana illa philosophia imbuta, quae veluti patrimonium iamdudum exstat a superioribus christianis aetatibus traditum, atque adeo |
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SWI swissinfo.ch on Instagram SWI swissinfo.ch on InstagramFrogs and Smurfs came from all over the world today to take part in Dublin's latest Ingress anomaly event: Helios.
Frogs and Smurfs came from all over the world today to take part in Dublin's latest Ingress anomaly event: Helios.
You'd be forgiven if the above sentence makes no sense to you. Ingress, an augmented reality game created by Google's Niantic Labs, has been quite the underground past-time in Ireland, but this seems set to change.
The game, played on mobile devices, is like a cross between capture the flag and geo-caching. You can read our full review here.
Today's event saw players gather at Grand Canal Dock, ready for the 1pm start. The game runs over four hours, with a reading of the scores every hour. Each team tries to achieve maximum points on the hour, with the fighting on-going in-between. At 5pm the teams meet for the final results and an end party.
The Resistance (blue "Smurfs") and The Enlightened (green "Frogs") were out in force, wearing team colours and headphones. The two groups kept their own company and it soon became clear just how serious this game was taken.
The psychological warfare started when the rain came. "Hey, I thought you frogs liked the rain!" someone in blue shouted, as The Enlightened took shelter. The Resistance bravado was clear in our interviews: "We are the Resistance, it's win or win." The Enlightened down-played their chances, possibly because Dublin was overwhelmingly Enlightened territory before this weekend.
When the game began, the two factions split in to smaller teams, each with a leader. There was a panic when we tried to take some video that might show one of the battle plans. The orders had come from on high that no outsider eyes could see the plans, even neutral journalists who were somewhat confused by the fluster. The organisation was thorough to the point of being able to teach terrorists cells a thing or two.
Although we weren't allowed know any specifics, we were given an overview of The Enlightened game plan. Each small group had specific predetermined targets around the city, with roaming squads and rapid response units on bikes.
With everyone we spoke to, the sense of community was clear. Players were making friends and some were even going to the lengths of travelling to different countries to support their factions.
The community element is key to the game's on-going survival and events such the as Helios anomaly help connect players to the global struggle. Green dominated Dublin could easily have led to Enlightened boredom and a lost cause for the Resistance, but today we left a green Independent.ie office and returned to a blue one, along with most of North Inner City Dublin. The influx of international Resistance players has served to effectively reset the map, keeping the game fresh and ensuring on-going interest.
World Map during Jarvis Shards event
Ingress is easy to begin and free to play on iOS and Android. The real question is: Which side will you choose?
Online EditorsMy name is Jo Haslauer, and I LOVE soaping with natural colorants, botanicals and essential oils. I love to infuse herbs for their color, their herbal properties, and to enhance essential oil scents.
Yes, some plant infusions can help hold scents!
The magic of seeing a red colored infusion turn blue when mixed into the lye, and then purple within 7 days, never ceases to amaze me. I like nothing better than finding a new plant colorant, putting it through the lye monster, and finding a new shade to play with!
How many different plants give purple anyway? Here are just three plant infusions that have produced different shades of purple!
Before I start an infusion, I decide what product I will use it in. If I want the infusion for coloring soap, I infuse it in an oil used in my soap recipe (for example, olive oil.) If I decide I would like to use the color in a bath truffle, I will use an oil that is not heavy and oily, but is clear and light (for example, fractionated coconut oil.) If the infusion is to enhance a scent, I decide what scent I would like to enhance (like lavender), and then follow the above for the product I will use it in.
Olive oil (pomace) is my favorite oil to use. Pomace olive oil has a long shelf life, but more importantly, it is not green in color. Green colored oil will mess with your pretty blue woad infusion! You will never get Robin’s egg blue if you use oils that are green or yellow in color, no matter how hard you try, or pray, or how many tantrums you throw, it just won’t happen.
Most plant colorants don’t like to play with palm oil. They much prefer white base oils like coconut. If you can remember to give plant colorants the whitest soap oil base you can, you will be rewarded with the most beautiful rainbow of plant colorants you have ever seen.
This advice also applies to essential oils!
Citrus oils are great if you want a yellow or orange colored bar. Use a citrus essential oil to strengthen your plant colorant, like lemon myrtle essential oil (which will enhance your annatto) and ten-fold orange essential oil (that will enhance your carrot juice soap.)
Conversely, if you want a blue color, don’t use a citrus essential oil as it will change your final hue. Try a clear essential oil, like peppermint essential oil.
Not all colorants require an infusion, some are better placed straight into the lye solution and some like to be added straight into the batter. Although I don’t use that method very often as it will give specks in your soap and I am not personally a fan of that look! Botanicals can be sprinkled on top of soap and/or added to soap batter to spread throughout the soap bar. Essentials oils can be used for their color straight, blended or not used at all.
A quick list of natural colorants to color your soap naturally!
Let’s look at a list of easy to purchase plant colorants that will give you a rainbow of color and the ways I have found they prefer to be treated:
Use in Lye Solution
Madder root – pink colors ranging from pastel through to bright pink
– pink colors ranging from pastel through to bright pink Indigo – blue colors ranging from pastel through to navy blue and almost black
Use in Oil Infusion
Annatto – sunshine in a bottle, yellows to gold
– sunshine in a bottle, yellows to gold Turmeric – pastel colors through to juicy fat oranges on a tree
– pastel colors through to juicy fat oranges on a tree Alkanet – pastel colors through to rich royal jewel purple
Added Directly to Soap
Liquid Chlorphyll – pale pastel mint through to dark green
– pale pastel mint through to dark green Dead Sea Mud – beige through to dark green/brown
– beige through to dark green/brown Cocoa powder – brown to dark chocolate brown
In the rainbow soap photo above, here are the colorants and techniques I used for each soap, from left to right:
Dead Sea Mud – added at trace to soap batter
– added at trace to soap batter Turmeric – oil infusion
– oil infusion Annatto – oil infusion
– oil infusion Liquid Chlorophyll – added at trace to the soap batter
– added at trace to the soap batter Woad – oil infusion
– oil infusion Indigo – add to the lye solution
– add to the lye solution Madder Root – added to the lye solution
– added to the lye solution Alkanet – oil infusion
Finally, to really reap the rewards of plant colorants, you will need to gel your soap as it truly brings out the plant’s best color.
Are you ready to learn how to create infusions and use natural colorants in soapmaking in more depth to conquer coloring soap naturally? Join me for the rest of the series!Continuing with his arguments in the Supreme Court on Friday, senior advocate Shyam Divan made one of the most compelling arguments on civil liberties in Aadhaar case.
Divan’s arguments touched upon the constitutionality of the amendment to the Income Tax Act without going into the privacy aspects of the case.
Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan were taken through multiple limbs of his arguments for over an hour.
Divan began by making an argument surrounding ‘informational self determination’.
He cited rulings of a German constitutional court to explain an individual must have the right to determine what information belonging to him can be used and cannot be used.
Divan linked this argument to right to dignity under Article 21.
Later he brought in the right to be let alone, differentiating it from right to privacy.
The crux of his argument was that if a citizen is aware that he is being watched, he might not dissent and this violates his right to participate in political affairs of the state.
Divan also argued that data protection is directly and indirectly linked to human dignity.
“Even if you do not put this as a constitutional right, this is a legitimate interest of the citizen,” he said.
Divan later explained how there is no privity of contract between the private firm that collects information for UIDAI and the citizen.
“Why should a private agency have my bank statements (given as proof as identity and address while obtaining Aadhaar)? Can the state force me to part with my private information to a private agency,” he asked.
Divan had pulled out a specific page from the UIDAI handbook to registrars under the UIDAI Act and pointed out various loopholes in the law that allows them to store private information and devise their own security measures.
Divan then proceeded to cite Bijoe Emmanuel ruling of the court to say that a citizen cannot be compelled to act against his will under Art. 19(1)(a).
Justice Ashok Bhushan pointed out that Bijoy was about right under Article 25. Divan pointed the bench to the specific para of the judgment that mentions both the articles.
Divan quoted part of a House of Lords ruling, specifically, Lord Atkin’s dissent in Liversidge vs Anderson. According to Divan, this is the only explanation for defending the amendment that the government.
“When we say it's voluntary, it means compulsory. Please do not allow the government to make this Humpty Dumpty interpretation,” Divan said.
“I know of only one authority which might justify the suggested method of construction: “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that's all.’” (Through the Looking Glass, c. vi.) After all in this long discussion, the question is whether the words “If a man has” can mean “If a man thinks he has”. I am of opinion that they cannot, and that the case should be decided accordingly.”
He added, “Since you can’t make mandatory in one Act, you can’t wink wink and make it mandatory under another Act.”
Senior Advocate Shyam Divan was assisted by Advocate Udayaditya Banerjee.
Read the main points of Divan's Arguments as follows;
a) Biometric information, specifically finger prints and iris scan are intimate parts of a person’s body. They belong to the person, not the State.
Jurisprudence
Salmond on Jurisprudence, 12 th Edition—at 411-412 - ‘every man has a property in his own person… of a man’s right to preserve his own property i.e. his life, liberty and estate ’
Oxford Handbook on Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law, at pp. 752-814— ‘Philosophy of Property Law’, by Peter Benson, at 803 — ‘The right of bodily integrity is, first of all, a right, i.e. it refers to the fact that each individual has the rightful exclusive possession and use of his or her own body as against everyone else’
Section 30 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 read with Section 43A of the Information Technology Act, recognizes ‘biometric information’ to be ‘ sensitive personal data or information ’.
’.
Definition of ‘personal’ in Law Lexicons: -
Black Law Dictionary, 9 th, at p. 1258
Ramanatha Aiyar, 3 rd Ed., Vol 3, at p. 3567
Preamble to the Constitution
Limited Government- State of M.P. v. Thakur Bharat Singh, (1967) 2 SCR 454 at 459
National Legal Service Authority v. Union of India and Others (2014) 5 SCC 438 at # 75
Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration and Others (5-Judge) (1978) 4 SCC 494 at #55
Francis Coralie Mullin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi and Others (1981) 1 SCC 608 at #7
Aruna Ramahandra Shanbaug Union of India and Others (2011) 4 SCC 454 at #93
Effects Test —the effect of the legislation needs to be considered to determine whether it violates FRs
R. Coelho v. State of T.N., (2007) 2 SCC 1—9 Judges- at #118, 142, 148, 151(ii)
Bennett Coleman & Co. v. Union of India, (1972) 2 SCC 788—5 Judges- at para 39
—the effect of the legislation needs to be considered to determine whether it violates FRs
If the object is discriminatory, then the statute violates Article 14. The discrimination cannot be justified on the grounds of reasonable classification, once object found to be discriminatory: -
Nagpur Improvement Trust v. Vithal Rao, (1973) 1 SCC 500—7 Judges, at # 26
Subramanian Swamy v. CBI, (2014) 8 SCC 682—5 Judges, at #58
. The discrimination cannot be justified on the grounds of reasonable classification, once object found to be discriminatory: -
require parting with the fingerprints and iris scan of an individual;
expose personal information and data to private enrollers;
create an ecosystem of authentication that potentially could compromise the identity of the individual;
lend itself to identity theft by which the person whose biometrics are compromised would suffer civil death.
b) The recognition of the distinction between an individual or person and the State is the single most important factor that distinguishes a totalitarian State from one that respects individuals and recognizes their special identity and entitlement to dignity. The Indian Constitution does not establish a totalitarian State but creates a State that is respectful of individual liberty and constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. The Constitution of India isnot a charter of servitude.c) The right to life covers and extends to a person’s right to protect his or her body and identity from harm. The right to life extends to allowing a person to preserve and protect his or her finger prints and iris scan. The strongest and most secure manner of a person protecting this facet of his or her bodily integrity and identity is to retain and not part with finger prints/iris scan.d) The right to life under Article 21 read with Articles 14 and 19 permits every person to live life to the fullest and to the enjoy freedoms guaranteed as fundamental rights, constitutional rights, statutory rights and common law rights.e) The constitutional validity of a statutory provision must be judged by assessing the effect the impugned provision has on fundamental rights.f) The effect of the impugned provision is tocoerce persons into parting with their finger prints and iris scan and lodging these personal and intimate aspects of an individual’s identity with the State as part of a programme that is in the petitioner’s view wholly illegitimate and the validity of which is pending before a Constitution Bench.g) Save and except, by “reading down” section 139AA (if capable), this provision is unworkable. This is because Aadhaar by its very design and by its statute is “voluntary” and creates a right in favour of a resident without imposing any duty. There is no compulsion under the Aadhaar Act to enroll or obtain a number. If a person chooses not to enroll, at the highest, in terms of the Aadhaar Act he or she may be denied access to certain benefits and services funded through the Consolidated Fund of India. When the Aadhaar enrolment procedure is supposedly based oninformed free consent and isvoluntary a person cannot be compelled by another law to waive free consent so as to alter the voluntary nature of enrolment that is engrafted in the parent statute. The right of a resident under the parent Act cannot be converted into a duty so long as the provisions of the Aadhaar Act remain as they are. This clash or collision between section 139AA and the Aadhaar Act renders the impugned section unworkable, unreasonable and void because of a discriminatory object. The provision is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21. Converting a right into a duty is colourable exercise of power.h) By visiting a conscientious objector (such as the petitioners) or any other person who does not have an Aadhaar number with severe consequences, the object of the impugned provision is itself discriminatory and violative of Article 14. There is no justification for discriminating against persons who do not wish to part with their sensitive biometric information such as finger prints and iris scan.i) The impugned provision in effect treats an individual’s finger prints and iris scan as belonging to the State, blurring the distinction between the individual and the State. The impugned provision reduces to a mirage the voluntary nature of enrolment carried out under the Aadhaar programme and the Aadhaar Act. It compels Aadhaar enrolment which is directly in conflict with the Aadhaar programme, the Aadhaar Act and orders passed by this Court.j) A statutory provision that completely takes away the voluntary nature of Aadhaar and compels expropriation of a person’s finger prints and iris scan is per se violative of Article 21. In any event, such coercion cannot be imposed on legitimate tax payers and assessees who are otherwise willing to and pay income tax. There is no concept of eminent domain of the Statequa a person and his body.k) The State cannot hold an individual citizen hostage, by compelling them to part with something that does not belong to the State.l) In a digital world, the right to life includes maintaining personal autonomy through informational self determination. An individual must be allowed to limit what he or she wants to put out because otherwise her personal autonomy could get compromised.m) The coercion amounts to compelled speech. The freedom of speech includes the right to remain silent. Here, the citizen is being compelled to speak or part with his or her demographic information as well as finger prints and iris scan. The impugned provision violates Article 19(1)(a) and is not saved under Article 19(2).n) The impugned provision is wholly disproportionate and excessive. The so called State interest is miniscule compared to the massive invasion on person liberty and freedom.o) The State has no legislative competence either under Entry 82 of List 1 or any other source of legislative power to nationalize and secure dominion over personal and individual finger prints and iris scan.p) Whenever a person voluntarily entrusts his finger prints and iris scan to the State, the ‘property’ and entitlement is retained with that individual throughout his life. The State merely acts as a trustee or fiduciary. The trustee or fiduciary cannot compel the “beneficiary” to part with such sensitive person information.q) The framework of the Aadhaar Act and the Aadhaar programme is founded on voluntary enrolment. This is a foundational premise of the programme. According to the State “free informed consent” is the essence of Aadhaar. The State cannot alter this basic premise based on which individuals were asked to enroll.r) There is no comparison between the existing PAN system and the proposed or intended Aadhaar number system as the PAN system does not: -s) Under the Income Tax Act, PANs are also assigned to children. The impugned provision coerces these individuals, who are below the age of free consent, to part with their fingerprints and iris scans.Recently lost
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[Warning: This story contains spoilers from "The Fugitive Parts 1 and 2" of Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine.]
Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine just wrapped its fall run Sunday with … a cliffhanger?!
The fourth-year comedy took a page from The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones and left the fate of one of its series regulars hanging in the balance at the end of its two-part episode.
Chelsea Peretti's Gina Linetti may have predicted her own demise when she told Charles that she'd "rather get hit by a bus than get one more text" from him. After retraining Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) in group texting etiquette, Gina is suddenly struck by a bus after receiving another text from him. "Way to go, Charles!" she says while looking at her phone and failing to see the oncoming bus.
Here, Brooklyn Nine-Nine showrunner talks with THR about the decision behind the cliffhanger, if this is the end for Gina and how the whole thing may impact the rest of the Nine-Nine.
What was behind the idea to end the first half of the season in such a shocking fashion?
Mostly we were motivated by the thought that Gina getting hit by a bus would be really funny (and shocking). Also, we legitimately wondered who would win in a Gina vs. bus battle.
The show hasn't been renewed yet. How much of the cliffhanger was done to cut through the cluttered scripted landscape?
We try not to worry too much about being renewed or not — our philosophy has always been to put down our heads and make the best, funniest, most interesting show we can. In that vein, Gina getting slammed into by an MTA bus at 45 mph, seemed right on track.
Is Gina dead? Will we see Chelsea again?
Watch and find out! Again, I think another valid question is: did the bus survive? Either way, audiences will see Chelsea again — she is a force of nature and one of the greatest comic minds out there.
Gina says she'd rather get hit by a bus than get another text from Charles. What does it say about her that she actually does get hit by a bus when she gets another from him?
When you have the kind of cosmic power that Gina Linetti possesses, you definitely have to be careful with your words.
What kind of feedback did the network and studio have when they read the script?
They were very supportive of the Gina-getting-hit-by-a-bus twist. And they were definitely into the cliffhanger-y-ness of it. I think if they had their druthers, a character would get hit by a bus every episode.
How much time will have passed when the season returns in a few months?
Three months or so.
How might this experience change Gina, should she survive?
Great question. A) Can a force of nature be changed by just one experience? B) How will the universe be changed by Gina?
How will Gina's death/near death impact the rest of the Nine-Nine?
Gina is at the very heart of the Nine-Nine's spirit, so the squad is dramatically impacted by her every move; including, but not limited to, her "getting hit by bus" moves.
What did you think of the episode? Fox has yet to schedule Brooklyn Nine-Nine's return but it is expected to be back in the spring.Undercover police are now targeting drivers endangering cyclists on South Yorkshire's roads.
Plain-clothes officers on bikes are on the lookout for motorists passing dangerously close to cyclists, with action taken against the first drivers to have been caught.
South Yorkshire Police this August launched a trial 'Safe Pass' scheme to crack down on drivers failing to allow a safe 1.5-metre clearance when overtaking bicycles.
The Star revealed in September that officers had not taken action against a single motorist during the first month, with cyclists criticising the decision to carry out operations with uniformed police on bikes rather than plain-clothes officers.
But police have now begun covert operations, to the delight of cyclists who claim their safety is being compromised on a daily basis by reckless drivers.
South Yorkshire Police said officers with cameras attached to their bikes last week began patrols in Sheffield, where they monitored drivers on Ecclesall Road, London Road and Stainforth Road.
Police, who also carried out a similar operation in Doncaster, provided advice to three drivers in total who failed to observe the safe passing distance.
A letter from the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner's office to the campaign group CycleSheffield explained how the need for training and new safety equipment meant it had taken some time before covert operations could begin.
It suggested the operation could also be used to tackle drivers using mobile phones at the wheel or not wearing seat belts.
The campaign group CycleSheffield said it was'very pleased' covert operations had begun.
"People on bikes cite other vehicles passing too close and too fast as a major problem, and many people stop cycling as a result, so these close pass operations will improve both the safety and perception of safety of cycling in our region.
"People who drive poorly/dangerously around cyclists are likely to do the same around other road users and therefore this initiative will benefit all road users, not just people on bikes. CycleSheffield will continue to work with SYP to promote their close pass operations."
The news was also welcomed on social media.
@chris_the_tall tweeted: "Excellent news. Last night I had yet another instance of cars racing each other on Ecclessall Road before swerving past me onto Summerfield Street."
@MattTurnerSheff commented: "Excellent work. Really really happy to see that this is now happening. I really hope it works out well and is effective."
But Dr Esther Hobson wrote: "Think they need to catch more than two cars. I got two really close passes within 100 metres of my house this morning."Does Arvind Kejriwal lay eggs? Yes, I know it is a silly question but you would be amazed by how many variations on that theme I have heard over the last few years. The question stems from the new-found popularity of a fairly old dish: Eggs Kejriwal.
If you live in Mumbai, you may or may not have heard of Eggs Kejriwal (I grew up in Mumbai and had never heard of the dish, by the way, for most of my life). It was invented apparently at the Willingdon Club, one of the city’s most exclusive (in the post-Independence period) clubs.
During the Raj, Indians were not allowed to enter the top clubs in every city. So any Indian would have been turned away at the gate of the Bombay Gymkhana (by another Indian, happy to work as a lackey for his British masters). Legend has it that Jamsetji Tata was sent back from the gate of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club for the crime of having a brown skin though he was a knight of the realm. Jamsetji vowed to build a grand hotel that would eclipse the Yacht Club, then the city’s most exclusive spot. Which, of course, he did when the Taj opened.
In 1918, Lord Willingdon opened the Willingdon Club where Indians were allowed entry ( Photo: Wikimapia )
When Lord Willingdon was Governor of Bombay in 1917, he tried to take a Maharaja to dinner at the Bombay Gym and the Yacht Club only to be told that while his Excellency was most welcome, the brown fellow would have to eat somewhere else. A more decent and decisive governor would have forced the top clubs to end the colour bar, but old Willingdon took a different approach. Why not open another club where the white sahibs could mingle on equal (oh well; more or less equal) terms with the natives? And so, in 1918, he opened the Willingdon Club (named, modestly, after the great man himself) where Indians were allowed entry.
Over the post Independence years, as pressure forced the Bombay Gym, the Yacht Club (and eventually, even the notorious Breach Candy Club) to let Indians in, the Willingdon lost its special cachet. But its membership consisted of descendants of some of Bombay’s top families, people whose ancestors had been rich and successful in the days when Mahatma Gandhi was still in jail.
A rich merchant, Devi Prasad Kejriwal, got The Willingdon Club’s cooks to tart up his daily egg-and-toast, and thus was born Eggs Kejriwal
Many of the members came from old Parsi and Muslim families (among the builders of Bombay before it became Mumbai). And the Willingdon has always had a fair number ofbania/vania members from rich Gujarati and Marwari families.
Many of these members lived in joint families and ate satvikfoodcooked by maharajs in their mansions. But when they felt like a drink or a bite of something more daring, they scampered off to the Willingdon or later, to such Bombay restaurants as The Other Room at the Ambassador. Most of these rich Gujaratis and Marwaris were not averse to a Scotch or two. Some wanted special dishes made for them (for years, The Other Room kept a Chunni Cutlet on the menu, for a rich patron called Chunnibhai) and often they hungered for something expressly forbidden at home.
Obviously meat was no-no at bania/vania mansions. But so were eggs. The story goes (and I warn you that it might be apocryphal) that a rich merchant called Devi Prasad Kejriwal would go to the Willingdon for his daily egg-and-toast. But because thefood of the white sahibs could be a little boring, Mr. Kejriwal got the club’s cooks to tart up
his eggs.
Eggs Kejriwal is a spruced up version of egg-and-toast ( Getty Images )
Thuswas born Eggs Kejriwal. It consisted of a slice of toasted pao bread (some versions of the story say that it was plain white bread) some grated cheese (probably Kraft from tins; there was no Amul in those days) topped by a fried egg (or two eggs) with a garnish of chillis and kothmir (coriander).
Long after the original Mr. Kejriwal has been forgotten, the Willingdon Club continues to serve Eggs Kejriwal as a sort of sad and weak-kneed Indian response to Eggs Benedict (invented by Delmonico’s in New York for a rich patron using bread, eggs, Hollandaise and a slice of bacon) as a signature dish.
Eggs Kejriwal was invented at The Willingdon Club in Mumbai ( Photo: Bombaywalla.org )
I doubt if Eggs Kejriwal would have travelled very far from the tables of the Willingdon if it hadn’t been for Arvind Kejriwal. When Thomas Zacharias, Floyd Cardoz, and the rest of the team were putting together the menu at the soon-to-be-opened The Bombay Canteen, Arvind Kejriwal was in the news every day. Somebody remembered that the Willingdon had a dish called Kejriwal and wondered if they could do something witty with it.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was in the news every day when The Bombay Canteen was all set to open
Sameer Seth, one of the partners at The Bombay Canteen, told me the story. They had been working on a dish which never made it to the menu, and the chef, Thomas Zacharias (or Chef Zach as he is called by nearly everyone) had come up with a green chilli chutney that was terrific. They looked for uses for the chutney and thought that perhaps they could combine it with Eggs Kejriwal. There were some brioche rounds in the kitchen and they had the bright idea of throwing out the pao (or Britannia white bread, depending on which Willingdon recipe you prefer) and replacing it with brioche. They kept the grated processed cheese, used high-quality eggs, retained the chilly and kothmir garnish but elevated the dish with Zach’s chutney which gave it a zing that the boring Willingdon Club original sadly lacked.
The Bombay Canteen’s own version of the dish is a bestseller
According to Sameer, they put it on the menu when they opened the restaurant in 2015 because they thought the name Kejriwal would provoke some curiosity. The Bombay Canteen changes its menus regularly so they believed that Eggs Kejriwal would be a novelty item on the first menu and would disappear after a few weeks. But Sameer and his partners were staggered by the response. It became one of the fastest moving items on the menu and critics loved it. (I said at the time that it would become “the restaurant’s signature dish” on these pages.) Though the Canteen menu has been overhauled regularly, Eggs Kejriwal is one of the few dishes that they have never removed.
At The Bombay Canteen, executive chef Thomas Zacharias uses green chilli chutney to add a zing to the dish
Marut Sikka opened his Delhi Club House with the idea of recreating the great dishes of Indian club cuisine.
It was not a concept I loved (as you can probably tell from the sneering tone of this piece, I have no time for clubs that restrict admission on the basis of ‘social acceptability’ or colour; and am a member of none of these so-called elite clubs) and in any case, clubfoodhas no great reputation for quality.
Marut started out by putting akuri on the menu to represent the egg dishes of clubland but now, even the Club House has its own version of Eggs Kejriwal. Like Zach, Marut was impressed by the idea behind the Willingdon Club dish but not overly pleased with the Willingdon’s execution. He uses his own kind of brioche as the base for the eggs. A spicy chutney, while not the same as Zach’s (which, with its coconut oil, is vaguely Malayali), is used to perk up the dish. It remains one of the Delhi Club House’s bestsellers and that’s no mean feat given that the rest of the foodat the restaurant is of such high quality.
Marut Sikka uses his own kind of brioche as base for the eggs at Delhi Club House
Both Zach and Marut have had the same basic idea. There are some interesting dishes out there in clubland but most of them work better as ideas than they do as complete dishes. A talented chef will take these ideas, use top-quality ingredients and convert boring dishes into gourmet classics.
The secret of The Bombay Canteen’s re-invention of Eggs Kejriwal lies in the quality of the bread and, more significantly, with the tasty, top-quality, orange-yolked eggs that Zach uses in his kitchen. So it is with the club dishes on Marut’s menu: none of them ever tasted this good in the hands of club cooks.
Which takes us back to Lord Willingdon and Arvind Kejriwal. I am not one of those rename-everything maniacs but I do find it offensive to celebrate anything with Willingdon’s name on it. At one stage, all kinds of places in Delhi were named after Willingdon and his pushy wife, from Willingdon Airfield (now Safdarjung Airport) to Lady Willingdon Park (now Lodhi Garden) to Willingdon Hospital (now RM Lohia Hospital).
And as for Arvind Kejriwal, I know that the dish has nothing to do with him. But is there a lesson for him in its popular revival? Take the basic idea and start all over again with higher quality ingredients and more imagination?
It’s a formula that may work in politics too.
From HT Brunch,September 10, 2017
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First Published: Sep 09, 2017 21:53 ISTOn 30 June 1916 2Lt Percy Boswell, like many of his comrades, sat down to write a letter. The young officer in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry knew roughly what was going to happen the following day, as he told his father.
“The Hun is going to get consummate hell just in this quarter and we are going over the top tomorrow when I hope to spend a few merry hours in chasing the Bosch all over the place,” he predicted with jaunty confidence. “I am absolutely certain that I shall get through all right, but in case the unexpected happens I shall rest content with the knowledge that I have done my duty – and one can’t do more.”
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one-off health check that doesn’t take broader issues into account won’t do that.In the response to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) introduced legislation this week that would prohibit marriage or marriage-like ceremonies on military installations for same sex couples.
He said the bill, the Military Religious Freedom Protection Act, would ensure “that our military facilities are not used in contravention to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which states that marriage is between one man and one woman only.”
“Military installations exist to carry out the national defense of our nation, not to facilitate a narrow social agenda,” he added.
The legislation would also ensure that military chaplains do not have to preside over same sex marriages or any other rite they object to.
“Rep. Huelskamp and other right wing Republican Members of Congress appear to have missed the memo from military leaders who say that open service is working just fine,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
“Instead, in their compulsive need to use our brave men and women in uniform as political pawns, these Members of Congress have invented issues that don’t exist in order to score some points,” Solmonese continued. “These antics coming from Rep. Huelskamp shouldn’t be a surprise as he was the one forced to admit on the floor of the U.S. House last summer that he wanted to strip funding for training materials that he hadn’t even read.”
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibited openly gay and lesbian members from serving in the military, came to an end in September of 2011. An estimated 14,000 soldiers were expelled from the military during the policy’s 18-year enactment.
Photo credit: Nikolai AlekseevGetting kids interested in programming is all the rage right now, and the UK is certainly taking pole position with its BBC micro:bit, just recently distributed to every seventh-grader in the land. Germany, proud of its education system and technological prowess, is caught playing catch-up. Until now.
The Calliope Mini (translated here) is essentially a micro:bit clone, but one that has learned from the experience of its spiritual forefather — the connection points are spread around the outside of the board where the crocodile clips won’t accidentally touch each other.
Not content to simply copy, the Calliope also adds additional functionality. A microphone and speaker are integrated onboard, as is a Grove-style I2C connector. They’ve even added a TI DRV8837 H-bridge motor driver, so students could make a rolling robot straight out of the box.
Open Source
But the real secret ingredient here is piggy-backing on the existing BBC micro:bit codebase and infrastructure. Freed from having to re-develop all of the essentials, the Calliope team should be able to work on coding and examples for their shiny new hardware. That’s the great thing about open-source software.
We’re left wondering if the micro:bit platform will become as important as the Arduino has. If Calliope gets adopted wide-scale in Germany, that would be a harbinger. Having two countries’ kids all familiar with the same platform will certainly give it a boost.
… But not Open Hardware
[Edit: Stop the presses! Just hours after running this story, the micro:bit foundation was announced and an open hardware reference design was published. Talk about coincidences!]
But why aren’t the designs for either the micro:bit or the Calliope open-sourced? There’s not enough going on that it would take an average hacker more than an afternoon to reverse engineer either of the boards, so there’s little to gain by not opening up to the community. And many of the people contributing software would also like to contribute hardware hacks to the device’s ecosystem.
If these platforms are going to become important to future generations of hacker kids, isn’t it also important to teach them a little engineering along the way? Shouldn’t that be part of the educational package? And if getting the boards cloned and produced cheaper is the “cost”, isn’t that a win for kids who want a second micro:bit but don’t have money burning a hole in their pocket?
Hackaday kudos (and a writeup) to the first open reversing. And if you’re using the micro:bit, or its software ecosystem, here’s your call to let us know in the comments.
Thanks [Felix] for the tip!Vertex is testing combinations it hopes will address the larger population of cystic fibrosis patients. The combination data disclosed Monday involves patients with genetic mutations that make up about half the population with the disease. Further data expected from the study could yield results meant to help an additional 30 percent.
The company is also testing Kalydeco as a monotherapy in patients as young as 2 1/2 years old and in patients with gene mutations not studied in its original pivotal trials. If results are encouraging, the use of Kalydeco could expand from 4 percent to 8 to 10 percent of patients worldwide, the company said.
Cystic fibrosis causes the thin layer of mucus that helps keep the lungs free of germs to become thick, clogging airways and leading to infections that damage the lungs. The average life expectancy for patients is 37 years, as damage to the lungs progresses, severely limiting their ability to breathe.
The interim analysis of the study looked at 37 patients who completed 56 days of treatment with the combination of Kalydeco and VX-809, and 11 patients who received a placebo. It found a statistically significant lung function improvement for those on the study drugs.
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“These improvements were clinically very, very meaningful for these patients,” said Brian Skorney, an analyst with Brean Murray, Carret & Company. “This is really a game-changing combination therapy.”
An analyst at the ISI Group, Mark Schoenebaum, said Vertex could have a $4 billion franchise in cystic fibrosis. He called the data “excellent and much better than expected.”
Vertex officials said they would seek to start clinical trials to support approval for the combination at the end of the year or early next year.
“These data did exceed our expectations,” Vertex’s chief executive, Jeffrey Leiden, told analysts during a conference call. “They are leading us to accelerate 809 and Kalydeco into pivotal trials.”
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In the data released on Monday, about 46 percent of patients who received the drugs experienced lung function improvement of five percentage points or more based on FEV1 — a measure of the maximum amount of air that can be exhaled in one second, Vertex said.
About 30 percent who received Kalydeco and VX-809 had a lung function improvement of at least 10 percentage points. None of the placebo patients achieved a 5 percent improvement from baseline to Day 56, the company said.
“The fact that it showed improvements in lung function in this small-sized trial I think is very impressive,” Mr. Skorney said.
The drugs were generally well tolerated with serious adverse events similar between the treatment and placebo groups, the company said. Complete data from the Phase II study are expected to be available in the middle of this year.enior officials concerned with national security warn that multiple groups, most with strong connects abroad, are working to ensure that the months after the 28 February presentation of the 2015 Union Budget see demonstrations and protests on a scale last seen during 2011-12, when the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption peaked. While the domestic players active in such efforts are working on the plan to generate an atmosphere of agitation because of the challenge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party are posing to other political parties, interests based abroad seek to derail Modi's reform agenda before a renovated economy reaches takeoff speed, i.e., expands at a double digit rate. Since taking charge on 26 May 2014, the Narendra Modi government is putting into place transformational changes in policy and procedures designed to accelerate growth, although as yet, such moves have been given little publicity, the focus being on Modi's foreign policy forays.
Food grain price inflation has been abating over the past five months as a consequence of the government making hoarding a non-bailable offence, besides creating a Rs 500 crore price stabilisation fund. Other steps initiated by the Prime Minister's Office include moderating the UPA-era Minimum Support Prices of food grains and ensuring timely offloading of excess food stocks, unlike during 2004-14, when stocks piled up and wastage reached unprecedented levels. Also, because the UPA got passed a land acquisition law that made the setting up of large-scale enterprises almost impossible, Modi (through the LAAR ordinance) has exempted rural and other infra; industrial corridors; defence; and finally affordable housing from the chokehold of the social impact study and consent clause of the UPA land legislation. To promote production within the country, 100% FDI has been approved for railway infrastructure, while the limit for defence industry has been raised from 26% to 49%, with further boosts under consideration. Corruption is being reduced by ensuring that several classes of transactions went online, such as environment and forest clearance.
Other steps to make the setting up of job-giving units easier is an e-auction process of 24 coal mines, as well as the creation of a single online portal for the filing of returns of 16 labour laws through Shram Suvidha. Labour inspections have been made more transparent, with a 72-hour time limit for the uploading of reports, while reporting requirements under the Labour Act have been simplified. Diesel prices have been de-regulated, with other petro-products likely to follow. Finally, changes in the Factories Act have reduced the "inspector raj" in industrial units, thereby making industrial investment in India more attractive. The aim of Prime Minister Modi is to make the entire process of government non-discriminatory and transparent through the adoption of online systems, which do away with the need to constantly appear before officials to get issues cleared.
However, in other fields, the record of the Modi government has been less spectacular, such as in the bringing to book of high-level perpetrators of corruption during the Manmohan Singh years, and in ensuring that the estimated $112 billion of moneys siphoned off to overseas banking havens during the previous decade be brought back both by punitive means as well as via an amnesty. Senior officials say that thus far, only baby steps have been taken to ensure accountability at the higher levels of the machinery of the state, and that those political leaders in the UPA known to have enriched themselves and their families seem as yet beyond scrutiny. Interestingly, it is precisely these tainted elements, who are now mobilising various groups against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aware that a strengthening of his position may lead to tough times for them, as "a PM empowered by high growth will better fulfil his agenda of change through green and clean governance".
These officials point out that there has been deliberate retention by successive regimes of colonial-era laws and the sharp contra-liberal boost in state powers (a change directed by Sonia Gandhi and loyally implemented by Manmohan Singh). Such bloated bureaucratic discretion has created a substantial vested interest whose financial interests mandate a rollback of the reforms planned by Modi during his five-year term. They say that vested interests eager to derail reform are working energetically to, (a) slow down reforms already announced, and (b) short-circuit decision-making by tardiness in the clearing of files, despite having been explicitly empowered to do so by Modi. What they are working towards is a "summer of discontent" directed against Prime Minister Modi and his policies. Select NGOs (several of whom have employed the children and other dependents of policymakers) have been working silently across the country mobilising farmers, fisher folk and the rural and urban poor to active protests against economic measures that within a few years would in fact benefit these very groups substantially.
Officials tracking funding and operations of groups active in mobilising social groups across the country say that a key prong of the strategy of specific NGOs headquartered abroad is to seek to block the development of the economy, the preferred way of doing this being to use the legal and political system to block projects (on the Niyamagiri and Nandigram patterns), as also to block extraction of raw materials such as coal, iron ore and uranium from sources within India, thereby forcing domestic users to import such resources at huge cost from developed economies, whose nationals are coincidentally very active in the management levels of such NGOs. Such large-scale imports depress the value of the Indian rupee, thereby giving a financial advantage to groups based in developed countries.
Interestingly, the RBI under Raghuram Rajan is understood to be focused on keeping the value of the rupee low by the purchase of dollars and turning a Nelson's eye to such massive forex drains as "royalty payments" by foreign-owned subsidiaries in India to their principals abroad, payments made without any substantive business benefit to the domestic branches of such MNCs. These branches are being drained of their cash surpluses by such payouts, as also by having to fund salary and overhead expenses of large numbers of high-priced international staff of dubious value to the domestic unit. Another signature policy of RBI Governor Rajan is sky-high interest rates, which are hobbling domestic industry and preventing jobs from being created. Despite the ill effects of such Wall Street-oriented medicine, the UPA-appointed RBI Governor is being given repeated kudos by North Block, which apparently believes that the best talent comes from universities in the US rather than in India, and which in effect prefer the interests of Wall Street to this country's Main Street.
Groups working for ensuring a climate of unrest during the following months are relying on rumours of a reduction in the retirement age of staff from 60 to 58 years. This is being harnessed to motivate unions to seek a fresh 1974-style railway strike, with railway union leaders being courted for the purpose. Other sectors where a general stoppage of work is being planned for the summer are coal and banking, and here too union leaders are being contacted to get them on board for large-scale industrial action by the middle of the year.
Prior to that and independently of foreign players, Anna Hazare is scheduled to reach Delhi on 21 March for an indefinite fast on the black money issue. Also, both the National Alliance of People's Movements and the Ekta Parishad have scheduled major protest meetings and movements within the next ten weeks, all of which are planned to converge on the National Capital Region. The revision in the land acquisition laws, which are deemed to be essential for ensuring investment in India on the scale needed to create millions of jobs each year, is the target of the Bharatiya Kisan Union led by Mahendra Singh Tikait, who is planning to launch a mass agitation against the land acquisition changes in selected districts of Uttar Pradesh in the first instance, expanding this to BJP-ruled states such as Rajasthan and Haryana later.
Internationally, well-funded NGOs with strong branches and contacts within the country are planning a large-scale campaign that alleges major violations in human rights as well as suppression of religious freedom in India, which is expected to begin in April and peak by September 2015. The European Union has already designated India as a country of concern where religious freedom is concerned, and the US is expected to follow in April this year with a similar indictment. Interestingly, unknown perpetrators have been selectively targeting Christian houses of worship in some locations, and are working hard on placing the needle of suspicion on the BJP leadership, despite evidence from Mangalore and other locations that many of such incidents have been carried out by groups opposed to Prime Minister Modi, so as to defame him despite his focus on development. It does not take much organisation for communal incidents to get initiated in sensitive parts of India, and those behind the ongoing preparations for the "Summer of Discontent" campaign are known to be identifying locations where tensions can get stoked, thereby reinforcing those seeking to create an the international perception of India as being a communal cauldron, when in reality, overall conditions are peaceful.
As yet, these officials warn, the national security machinery in India has yet to upgrade its capabilities in order to fully counter the threat of widespread social disruption through the utilisation of fault-lines such as unemployment and occasional tensions between groups. While acts of terror are overt and spectacular, such a "digging under the foundations of governance (in the words of a top official) usually passes under the radar until it is too late", the example given by them being Ukraine, where the elected President Viktor Yanukovich was taken by surprise at carefully-scripted and funded protests and almost lost his life as a consequence.
The reach of social media platforms controlled from foreign countries and the absence of any domestic alternatives are adding to such a vulnerability, these officials warn, adding that the months ahead are likely to witness efforts at disruption of normal life in key cities and economic sectors on a significant scale. They say that an acceleration of growth and the return of confidence are the best antidotes to the game plan of those seeking to derail the Modi reforms, which is why an anti-reform climate is being sought to get whipped up during the budget session of Parliament.• 'I wouldn't have let him leave either' says Guardiola • Barcelona coach says failed deal won't affect his plans
The Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, believes Arsenal made the right decision in keeping Cesc Fábregas and said he would have done the same thing.
The Spanish champions made two significant bids to sign the 23-year-old midfielder, the second in the region of £29m, but Fábregas announced on Friday he was staying in north London after Arsenal said they would refuse to entertain bids of any size.
"I understand Arsenal and I understand Wenger," Guardiola said. "I wouldn't have let him leave either," he told reporters after Barcelona concluded their Asian tour with a 3-0 win over Beijing Guoan. "I just hope Cesc carries on enjoying what is such a special and competitive league, the Premier."
Guardiola insists the failure to sign Fábregas will not alter his plans for the coming season. "I'm not worried about those that aren't here, it won't affect any of our plans," he said.
"The market is open until the end of the month and we will look to see what we can find, but there's no hurry. We have a great squad to compete in all competitions and that is our objective once more."Defiance is an American science fiction western drama television series[1] developed by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Kevin Murphy and Michael Taylor; the series is produced by Universal Cable Productions.
The show takes place in a post-apocalyptic future on a radically transformed Earth containing new species, some having arrived from space, many others the result of haphazard contamination by the terraforming technology used by the alien race the Votans, which has transformed native flora and fauna in unforeseen ways. The story begins in the year 2046 when earth has been considerably changed, with new topography, the extinction of plant and animal species and the emergence of new species. The series follows Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler) his adopted alien daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) and the town's new mayor, Amanda Rosewater (Julie Benz) in addition to an ensemble of actors portraying different characters in the growing town.[2] in the city-state of Defiance, built on the ruins of St. Louis.
The series was broadcast in the United States on the cable channel Syfy and in various international markets. It premiered on April 15, 2013, in the United States and that same week in most countries that picked up the series.[3] Defiance was renewed for a 13 episode third season on September 25, 2014, which premiered on June 12, 2015.[4][5]
On October 16, 2015, the show was cancelled by Syfy citing financial reasons after having completed its third season.[6][7] However, the companion video game, Defiance, continues to be supported; on March 1, 2016, Trion Worlds announced a major update for the game, promoted as season four of the show.[8] They also stated they had no plans of making a sequel, instead they will continue to update the game with new content. The new version, named "Defiance 2050", was released on July 10, 2018, for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and recreates the original game (set in 2046) into the year 2050, 20 years after the Human-Votan war-ending Arkfall event.[9]
Plot [ edit ]
The series is set in the near future, where aliens, known collectively as Votans, have come to Earth seeking a new home after their star system was destroyed in a stellar collision. When the Votans left their solar system 5,000 years ago, their instruments detected no signs of technology on Earth, so they thought Earth was uninhabited. Upon their arrival in 2013, they discovered otherwise. The humans responded to them with hostility and suspicion.
A limited number of Votans were allowed to settle in a colony in Brazil, and eventually in three other colonies, but millions of Votans remained in hypersleep aboard their ships in orbit around the Earth, as negotiations dragged on with Earth governments to establish a full-scale settlement.
Tensions rose for ten years, but the Votan and human governments were on the verge of negotiating a peaceful settlement, when in 2023 the Votan ambassador to the United Nations was assassinated by a disgruntled human supremacist on live television outside of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. This sparked a disastrous global conflict between humans and the aliens, known as the Pale Wars.
The wars tore apart the planet for seven years, until their culmination in 2030 in the apocalyptic "Arkfall" event, when the Ark fleet in orbit mysteriously exploded. The aliens think a rogue human commander was responsible, while humans suspect it was an alien weapons experiment gone wrong. Millions of Votans died. During the Arkfall, destroyed Arks rained down on Earth and accidentally released Votanformer technology.
While the Votans had intended to use their terraforming technology in a carefully planned manner, the Arkfall haphazardly unleashed chaotic and radical changes to the biosphere and even the geology of Earth, making the planet dangerous to both humans and the aliens. The earth was scorched, chasms opened in the ground, new mountain ranges were raised, and the surface of the planet was covered with dust and debris.
Animal and plant species from the Votan star system were introduced to Earth, and both native and alien animal species were horribly mutated by the uncontrolled terraforming technology, creating bizarre and dangerous hybrids and new species.
The war continued until the Battle of Defiance in San Francisco in 2031 which sparked a worldwide peace movement following a group of Earth Military Coalition soldiers, the "Iron Demons", and members of the Votanis Ekaru Kome banding together to protect civilian lives. Word of their defiance spread and soon many refused to fight and instead called for an armistice. The Earth Military Coalition was disbanded and replaced with the Earth Republic and an armistice line was declared across Mexico, with the E-Rep to the north and Votanis Collective to the south.
The debris from the destroyed Ark fleet now forms an artificial "Ark belt" in Earth orbit, which periodically rains down in small-scale "Arkfalls", which present a hazard for survivors on the surface, but also provide valuable opportunities to salvage advanced technology aboard the Arks. More frequently, most of the debris breaks up on re-entry into shards of metal shrapnel, a dangerous phenomenon known as "razor rain". Electromagnetic distortion created by the malfunctioning Votanformers have rendered most long-distance communication and air transit impossible, isolating far-flung regions much as they would have been isolated in the 19th century. Low-flying aircraft such as helicopters are still safe to fly, and will still function, but high-altitude long-distance flights are too dangerous; neither the humans nor the Votans are capable of launching vehicles into Earth's orbit anymore, as it is not only dangerous, but prohibitively expensive for societies that only just managed to pull themselves back from complete collapse. Fifteen years after the armistice, a new proposed maglev train line is being built with the goal of re-establishing regular transit between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America. Short-range radio stations will still function within the localized area of a town, as will personal smartphone-like devices known as hailers, but otherwise, the disruption of long-range telecommunications means that information must be sent between different regions by courier. At best, an unreliable method known as "text relay" can be used, in which local radio-stations rebroadcast a message received from a neighboring station to reach other regions of the continent, but this can take days or weeks.[10][11]
In 2046, fifteen years after the armistice, both humans and Votans struggle to rebuild on this shattered world. In the western hemisphere, the Votanis Collective controls much of Central and South America, while the new unified Earth Republic has a major foothold in the populous cities of northeastern North America, now reorganized as a territorial unit known as "Columbia" (a combination of the United States' Boston-to-Washington megalopolis and Canada's Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, along with the Canadian Maritime Provinces), with its capital being in New York City. Otherwise, much of North America remains a badlands region, a "New Frontier" slowly being recolonized by several small independent republics and city-states. One such community is the independent city-state of Defiance, located in the heart of the continent, built over the ruins of St. Louis, Missouri.[12]
In 2047 an Ark-Brain, the Kaziri, activated some of the Arks terraforming technology, destroyed New York and replaced it with a newly terraformed jungle. The Earth Republic was severely crippled and eventually abandoned the town of Defiance. Seven months later a ship, the Tsuroz, arrived in orbit bringing the Omec - a race left behind by the Votans and forgotten by most. The Omec claimed to be searching the galaxy for the rest of their kind but were attempting to repower their ship and bring the rest of their people out of stasis to eat the weaker Votans. Their plan was stopped and their ship was piloted away from Earth to find them another world to colonize.
Cast [ edit ]
Main [ edit ]
Recurring [ edit ]
Episodes [ edit ]
Season Episodes Originally aired First aired Last aired 1 12 April 15, 2013 ( ) July 8, 2013 ( 2013-07-08 ) 2 13 June 19, 2014 ( ) August 28, 2014 ( 2014-08-28 ) 3 13 June 12, 2015 ( ) August 28, 2015 ( 2015-08-28 )
Production [ edit ]
Development [ edit ]
In June 2011, Syfy announced that they would be producing a television series which was being developed by Rockne S. O'Bannon and would be produced by Universal Cable Productions.[38] It was also announced that the TV series would be connected to a video game being produced by Trion Worlds.[38] It was later confirmed that Syfy had ordered thirteen episodes for the show's first season, which would premiere in either late 2012 or the summer of 2013.[2] In July 2012, the network announced that the series and game would debut in April 2013.[39]
Casting announcements began in January 2012, with Grant Bowler being the first to be cast. Bowler plays Joshua Nolan, "the law keeper in a bustling frontier boomtown that is one of the new world's few oases of civility and inclusion."[13][40] On February 8, TVWise revealed profiles for five of the main characters.[2] It was later reported that Gillian Anderson had been briefly considered by the show's producers to play either Amanda or Stahma. However, that casting did not move forward as they assumed she would not be interested in returning to episodic television.[41] On March 8, 2012, it was announced that Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran and Jaime Murray had been cast in the series.[15][16] Julie Benz plays Amanda Rosewater, the mayor of Defiance;[42] Stephanie Leonidas plays Irisa, "a beautiful warrior who is part of an alien race called the Irathients"; Tony Curran plays Datak Tarr, "the right hand to Amanda"; and Jaime Murray plays Stahma Tarr, "Datak’s beautiful and proper wife".[15][16]
Production of the first season began in April 2012 in Toronto.[2][13][40]
For season 1, linguist David J. Peterson developed two full languages for the different alien races, for the Castithans and the Irathients. Basic language sketches were prepared for two of the other races, the Indogenes and the Liberata.[43] By the end of the series, David J. Peterson had developed three full languages (the addition being the Omec language, Kinuk'aaz) in addition to the development of four different scripts for Kastíthanu, L'Irathi, Indojisnen, and Kinuk'aaz.[44]
On May 10, 2013, Syfy renewed Defiance for a 13-episode second season to air starting in June 2014, with production from August to December 2013.[45][46]
Alien races [ edit ]
Votan races:
Castithans: The Castithans are an aristocratic and ethereal race from the planet Daribo. Known for their pale skin and beautiful features, they have a cunning intelligence and unbridled ambition that helped them adapt to life on Earth. Very conservative in many aspects of life, including politics and a rigid caste system, Castithans are liberal with sexuality. They are disliked by the other members of the collective for their perceived arrogant and imperialist manner. In season 2, it was confirmed that they can reproduce with humans.
Irathients: Irathients are the most common Votan race living on Earth, hailing from the planet Irath. Other races, including Humans, often view them as feral due to their tribal nature and love of the natural world. Irathients have deep red hair, highly athletic builds and bronze skin covered in naturally occurring contrasting patterns. While they're quite able to succeed at any occupation, most Irathients prefer to be farmers in order to honor their forefathers. Irathients are able to produce viable offspring with humans.
Indogenes: Indogenes are a manufactured species. [47] They tend to be slender, bald, with hexagonal-patterned skin, which is called "protoform" and it can heal injuries in Omecs, [47] of a solid color (most often pure white) who augment their bodies with a variety of cybernetic implants specifically designed for their chosen profession. They revere science and knowledge above all, and invented most of the technology used by the other alien races.
They tend to be slender, bald, with hexagonal-patterned skin, which is called "protoform" and it can heal injuries in Omecs, of a solid color (most often pure white) who augment their bodies with a variety of cybernetic implants specifically designed for their chosen profession. They revere science and knowledge above all, and invented most of the technology used by the other alien races. Sensoth: The Sensoth physically resemble apes and giant sloths, being fur covered, and originated in a specific region of Irath. They have many of the Earth's sloth-like characteristics, speaking and acting quite slowly. They have great physical strength and imposing presence, so they can be intimidating to many, despite almost always having kind personalities. This strength of body leads to many of them being hard laborers, more often than not in the employ of a Castithan.
Liberata: The Liberata are physically short and stocky with thick hair around their head and face. They often fill the role of servants for the other races, performing menial tasks and labor. The other Votan races look down on them due to their history of greed and avarice. They breathe nitrogen instead of oxygen.
Gulanee: The Gulanee are the biggest mystery of the Votan races. Many believe they are beings of pure energy, appearing as large balls of light; however this is just an image projected by their "encapsulation suits", required to sustain Gulanee life. There are very few Gulanee on Terraformed Earth as most Gulanee stayed on their home Gula, confident they'd survive the destruction of the Votanis system. Most other races know very little about the Gulanee, as they have only recently established relationships with the other races.
Volge: The Volge are feared by humans and Votans alike for their warmongering attitude. Originating from a different system from the Votans, the Volge conquered the Votan planet Omec. Volge stand over eight feet tall and always wear armor, which sustains them on Earth because they cannot breathe oxygen. During the Votan exodus, the other races chose to leave the Volge behind – their appearance during the Pale Wars was a surprise to all. They are seldom seen since the Armistice, having retreated to caves.
Omec: The Omec developed on the planet Omec, possessing technology long before the other Votan races. Every 76 years their planet would come into range of the other Votan worlds and the Omec would raid them, collecting the other Votans to be used as slaves, sexual playthings and eventually food. They are a vampire-like race that preys on other sentient beings. Physically they have purple skin and white hair, and much greater physical strength and resistance to injury. At some point they were conquered by the Volge[ citation needed ] but a few of them survived and made the journey to Earth. They are considered devils and enchanters by the other Votan races and are widely feared for their predatory natures.
Other non-human races include:
Hellbugs: The Hellbugs are a once harmless crustacean race that were mutated with Butterfly DNA during the Terraforming. They are vicious predators who live in large collectives. They have a very similar hierarchy to ants or bees, headed by a Matron who commands Warriors, Archers, Skitterlings, and Monarchs. While very dangerous and always posing a threat to sentient life, they are not eradicated as they produce a valuable energy source: Petrohol.
Biomen: Biomen are not aliens, but were commissioned as a super-soldier product by Earth's human militaries during the Pale Wars. Biomen are tall and very well muscled, coming in a range of colors and skin tones, but always with a batch number branded across their chest. All Biomen have an off switch somewhere in their bodies. Now effectively useless since the Armistice, they still suffer from the rage built into their personae and need to be given a focused outlet. They have trouble integrating into peacetime, and are stigmatized by humans and Votans alike.
Music [ edit ]
The musical score for both the series and the game was assigned to Bear McCreary. Bear said that he had to be sure that each version (for the series and the game) had its own unique characteristics, suited to its needs, but also that musical threads united the franchise. He also stated that scoring a project like Defiance was a rare situation for a composer. "Heavy synths and ethnic soloists played a key role in defining the sound of Defiance, but the cinematic quality came from working with a string orchestra.[...] I was asked to help bring the alien cultures to life by developing a distinct musical heritage for each. I fashioned Votan instrumentation and lyrics into a variety of popular songs and ceremonial pieces. I wrote pieces for street musicians that float through open-air marketplaces. I produced alien classical music, jingles, jazz, rock-anthems and torch songs."[48]
Broadcast [ edit ]
Defiance was aired in multiple countries around the world without much delay, atypical of global syndication norms.
Reception [ edit ]
Defiance received a "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes of 61% for the first season, a score that rose to 76% over the three seasons.[52] The first season of Defiance was rated "mixed or average" by Metacritic, with a 57% rating according to 17 reviews.[53] Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post called it "a smart, well-crafted TV show with a good cast and an adventurous flavor" and added "it's also indisputably science fiction, which is a relief," saying that she felt too many science fiction shows were "watered-down... genre-lite dramas". She also praised the casting, performances and the production design.[54] Ellen Gray of the Philadelphia Daily News noted that "the TV show may not break new ground... but it does stand on its own as a watchable sci-fi series, with a Wild West vibe mixed with a bit of "Farscape-meets-West Side Story."[55] Conversely, David Hinckley of the New York Daily News gave it one star out of five and found it to be "incomprehensible", but said "if you’re a sci-fi fan for whom this stuff can never be too complex, have at it."[56] Other reviewers gave Defiance average reviews and noted its similarity to previous television series,[57] while at the same time praising its "breathtaking" landscapes and "impressively rendered" monsters;[58] its "intriguing" cast and setting;[59] its digital effects and performances;[60] and its mythology and "interesting" story.[61]Sam Raimi is an A-list Hollywood director best known for a big-budget superhero trilogy and a Wizard of Oz prequel. But for some (like yours truly), he is most beloved for his work on a cult favorite horror franchise known as Evil Dead. Geeks rejoiced at the news the Raimi would once again team up with old cohorts Bruce Campbell and producer Rob Tapert to reincarnate the franchise as a TV series on Starz, with Ash vs Evil Dead (debuting this fall).
We’ve already given you the first exclusive image, |
.' "
Once again, LADEE defied the odds. When it emerged from Earth's shadow, the heaters and batteries powered back up and kept LADEE going for a few more science-filled days before its final daring pass sealed its fate.
During impact, engineers believe the small spacecraft broke apart, heating up several hundred degrees – or even vaporizing – at the surface. Any material that remained is likely buried in shallow craters. NASA mission controllers are still working to determine the exact time and location of LADEE's final impact. With luck, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will photograph the impact site.
"It's bittersweet, knowing we have received the final transmission from the LADEE spacecraft," says Dr. Hine of Ames. LADEE was built in-house at Ames, and its instruments "stayed in constant contact as it circled the moon for the last several months," he said. In addition to the lunar observations it sent scientists, LADEE communicated with the general public through tweets, like this one sent a few weeks ago:
How low can LADEE go? Since there's no atmosphere on the moon, it could go within meters of the lunar surface! — LADEE (@NASALADEE) April 3, 2014
LADEE's journey began on Sept. 6, when it launched (along with a photobombing frog) from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. LADEE reached the moon Oct. 6 and began gathering science data on Nov. 10. It completed its primary mission on March 1, then began its serendipitous extended mission. If it had survived Thursday's kamikaze run, it would have completely run out of fuel and coasted to a crash-landing sometime Monday.
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LADEE measured the moon's almost non-existent atmosphere – technically, the "surface boundary exosphere" – and looked for evidence of a lunar water cycle. In addition, scientists are analyzing LADEE's data in hopes of solving a long-standing mystery: What caused the pre-sunrise glow seen above the lunar horizon on several Apollo missions? LADEE also carried an experiment in two-way communication via laser, instead of the standard radio waves. The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration successfully transmitted data over the 239,000 miles from the moon to the Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits-per-second (Mbps) and from the Earth to the moon with an error-free data upload rate of 20 Mbps.
"LADEE was a mission of firsts, achieving yet another first by successfully flying more than 100 orbits at extremely low altitudes," said Joan Salute, a LADEE program executive. "Although a risky decision, we're already seeing evidence that the risk was worth taking.”Depth, an issue for the Canadian men’s rugby sevens squad, has not been a problem for Canadian women’s coach John Tait recently.
After missing some players for the season-opening event in Dubai, where Canada finished a disappointing sixth, Tait had more than he needed in Sydney. And he believes he has a star in the making in 20-year-old Hannah Darling.
Tait took 14 down to Australia, dropping two players to get to the 12-woman tournament squad. He could have taken 15, calling Caroline Crossley “a bit unlucky” not to make the travelling squad.
After finishing runner-up in its pool to powerful New Zealand, Canada tightened its defence on Day 2 and dispatched Russia 26-5 and Olympic champion Australia 12-7 before downing the Americans 21-17 in the final for its second Cup win in the last three tournaments.
Tait pointed to squad depth as a key factor.
“It’s one of the big things that helped us with the result (in Sydney),” he said. “We were able to really manage the minutes of some of the younger players and get them on the field — at crucial times — pretty fresh for Day 2 considering how hot it was. It was good to be able to spread that kind of workload across the 12 over the two days. It made a big difference for us when we got in those tight minutes against Australia and the U.S.A.”
As an example, Tait used veteran Ashley Steacy off the bench on Day 1 and started her on Day 2. It meant he had one of his best and most experienced defenders fresh for key games, helping create turnovers that kickstarted the Canadian offence.
Bianca Farella started Day 1 in the forwards then came off the bench on Day 2 with Darling getting the start.
“Different lineups — some of them were matchup-driven but a lot of it was just trying to balance the workload because the heat and humidity was so strong down there, we knew we couldn’t overplay seven or eight girls.”
Tait believes the sky’s the limit for Darling.
“Hannah, I think, is going to be in another couple of years time one of the best players in the world if she keeps on the track she’s on,” he said. “She’s phenomenal in the air and an aggressive tackler.”
Possession is crucial in the sevens game and the five-foot-eight Darling is a weapon at restarts, able to soar in the air for the ball.
“She can jump,” said the six-foot-eight Tait. “I hold the (tackle) bags for them in restarts (at practice) and I hold the bag up high because otherwise I’m going to have a knee in my face. She’s got a vertical leap on her, for sure.”
Former captain Jen Kish, who missed Dubai when a neck injury flared up again, was back to her best in Sydney.
“She had a great tournament,” said Tait. “I’m really happy for her because she worked really hard in rehabbing her injury.”
Like Steacy, Kish has been training on her own in Alberta, rather than in Victoria with the centralized group of players. Kish, another force on restarts, joined captain Ghislaine Landry and Britt Benn on the Sydney tournament all-star team.
The next stop on the HSBC Women’s Series is March 3-4 in Las Vegas, where Canada is in a pool with France, Russia and the winner of the Sudamerica Rugby Sevens. Canada will also bring a second team, the Maple Leafs, to Sin City under the direction of assistant coach Sandro Fiorino.
The two Canadian women’s teams will then take part in an invitational tournament in Vancouver that runs parallel to the men’s Canada Sevens the next week.
Tait expects one or two changes in his Las Vegas squad. Steacy, for one, will miss the U.S. stop because of her sister’s wedding.Delhi has kept quiet through the COP22 talks: few understand how it would react should the US president-elect quit the Paris deal
By Ed King in Marrakech
India was a vocal presence at the 2015 Paris climate summit, holding regular press conferences and feeding the media a wealth of information on the emerging economy’s green ambitions.
A year on, the country’s climate diplomacy team has gone to ground in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as US president.
Questions posed to staff at the lavish Indian pavilion – which features a giant water feature and a rotating globe decked with wind turbines – are dealt with politely but rarely deliver answers.
And while Chinese diplomats has been vocal supporters of the Paris climate agreement, their Indian counterparts are counselling patience and keeping their cards tight.
“I’ve seen no strong signals from the Indians either way,” said UK climate minister Nick Hurd in a Thursday media briefing. “China intends to stay the course… we understand they are very much in.”
Apart from an intervention on a climate finance roadmap presented by the UK and Australia, “I don’t recall hearing much else from them,” said Mark Lutes, an international climate policy advisor with WWF.
In a rare appearance in front of the press, environment minister Anil Madhav Dave steered clear of criticising Trump, commenting on Thursday that “power comes and goes”.
“We should not react… instead we should wait a few months more, and then the big [emerging] countries and rest of the world will determine their course.”
While India’s stance may make diplomatic sense, it’s a major concern at these talks. The country – when the EU is counted as one bloc – is the world’s fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter.
A fast-growing middle class, 300 million still stranded off-grid and a heavy reliance on coal frame the country’s vast development challenges.
The government ratified the Paris deal in October, has indicated a willingness to work on a 2050 carbon reduction plan and is leading a global alliance to ramp up solar power.
“I think they are in a state of shock and assessing the new dynamics,” suggested Harjeet Singh, a climate analyst with ActionAid India, by way of explanation for Delhi’s reticence.
Still, at UN summits, the optics matter. Privately, the country has offered reassuring noises said one EU source on Thursday, but not perhaps at the level the bloc had hoped.
Last week one of Dave’s junior negotiators told the Financial Times he feared the US quitting the Paris deal – as Trump has threatened – could become “a contagious disease”.
That’s unlikely, business leaders from some of the India’s most polluting sectors told Climate Home on the sidelines of these talks, especially given the regular severe smogs experienced in some of the country’s urban areas.
“Let’s take it as a given… it is going to be challenge… but at this COP progress made by India in solar and renewables has been recognised. It is quite spectacular, even though we say it ourselves,” said Rajiv Mishra from China Light and Power, an energy group with interests across Asia.
“I feel we will beat our [climate plan] target. My own view is we need to do it for our own generation. Our cities – the biggest cities – are not liveable. As an Indian I don’t care what Europe or America says. We need to do it for our own sake.”
Mahendra Singhi, CEO of Dalmia Cement – one of the country’s leading manufacturers – dismissed the US impact, adding if he met Trump he would “ask him to live for a day in Beijing or live for a day in Delhi” to experience the pollution impacts on communities.
“I would tell him look at future generations, your own children and grandchildren,” said Ramesh Kymal, chairman of Gamesa Renewables. “We have an opportunity for better business and the environment. The earth has been forgiving till now but we have reached a tipping point.”There are many reasons why it's important to get an adequate amount of folic acid. Perhaps most importantly are cellular growth and regeneration. A 2010 article from the New York Times identified folic acid as one of the most, underappreciated micronutrients,[1] and multiple studies suggest a link between a lack of folic acid and mental conditions such as depression.[2]
Also known as vitamin B9, folic acid helps the body perform many essential functions, including nucleotide biosynthesis in cells, DNA synthesis and repair, red blood cell creation, and prevention of anemia.[3] Folic acid also encourages normal fetal development. In fact, folic acid, calcium, and iron have long been considered the holy trinity of prenatal wellness.[3] A deficiency of the vitamin in pregnant women can have significant negative effects on unborn children's brain development.[3]
Fortunately, many foods are naturally rich sources of folic acid. A well-planned diet should easily keep your system well-supplied with the vitamin.
Folic Acid vs. Folate
While folic acid and folate may be marketed interchangeably, their metabolic effects can be quite different. Folate is the bioavailable, natural form of vitamin B9 found in a variety of plant and animal foods. Folic acid, while readily utilized by the body, is the synthetic form of the vitamin; it's primarily found in supplements and fortified foods. The body is more adept at using folate and regulates healthy levels by discarding excess folate in urine.
Foods with Folate (AKA Folic Acid Although Slightly Different)
1. Dark Leafy Greens
It should come as no surprise that one of the planet's healthiest foods is also one of the highest in folate.[3] Adding more spinach, collard greens, kale, turnip greens and romaine lettuce into your daily diet provides an immediate boost in folic acid. Just one large plate of these delicious leafy greens will fulfill nearly all of your daily folate needs.[4]
Source Serving Size Amount of Folate/Serving DV % Spinach 1 cup 263 mcg 65% Collard Greens 1 cup 177 mcg 44% Turnip Greens 1 cup 170 mcg 42% Mustard Greens 1 cup 103 mcg 26% Romaine Lettuce 1 cup 76 mcg 19%
2. Asparagus
Out of the entire vegetable kingdom, asparagus is one of the most nutrient dense foods with folic acid.[3] Eating just one cup of boiled asparagus provides 262 mcg of folic acid, which provides approximately 65% of your daily needs. Not only is asparagus delicious, but it's also full of nutrients your body craves, including vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, and manganese.[5]
3. Broccoli
Broccoli is one of the best detox foods you can eat, and it's a great source of folic acid. Just one cup of broccoli provides approximately 26% of your daily folic acid needs,[6] not to mention a whole host of other important nutrients. I recommend enjoying organic broccoli raw or lightly steamed.
4. Citrus Fruits
Many fruits contain folic acid, and citrus fruits rank the highest. Oranges are an especially rich source of folic acid. One orange holds about 50 mcg, and a large glass of fresh-squeezed juice may contain even more. Other folate-rich fruits include papaya, grapefruit, grapes, banana, cantaloupe and strawberries. Here is a short list of fruits high in folic acid.[4]
Source Serving Size Amount of Folate/Serving DV % Papaya 1 Papaya 115 mcg 29% Oranges 1 orange 40 mcg 10% Grapefruit 1 Grapefruit 40 mcg 8% Strawberries 1 cup 40 mcg 6.5% Raspberries 1 cup 14 mcg 4%
5. Beans, Peas, and Lentils
Beans and peas that are especially high in folic acid include pinto beans, lima beans, green peas, black-eyed peas and kidney beans. A small bowl of any type of lentils provides most of your daily folate needs.[3] Here is a short list of beans with the most folic acid.[4]
Source Serving Size Amount of Folate/Serving DV % Lentils 1 cup 358 mcg 90% Pinto Beans 1 cup 294 mcg 74% Garbanzo Beans 1 cup 282 mcg 71% Black Beans 1 cup 256 mcg 64% Navy Beans 1 cup 254 mcg 64% Kidney Beans 1 cup 229 mcg 57% Lima Beans 1 cup 156 mcg 39% Split Peas 1 cup 127 mcg 32% Green Peas 1 cup 101 mcg 25% Green Beans 1 cup 42 mcg 10%
6. Avocado
The avocado, also known as the butter pear, holds up to 110 mcg of folate per cup, which accounts for approximately 28% of your daily needs.[7] Not only are avocados one of the best foods with folic acid, but they're an excellent source of fatty acids, vitamin K, and dietary fiber. Adding them to sandwiches or salads makes for an extra-healthy treat.
7. Okra
The world's most slimy vegetable is also one of the most nutrient rich. Okra has the distinct ability to simultaneously offer vitamins and minerals while cleansing the entire digestive tract of toxic build-up. When it comes to folate, okra is a great source. Just a half cup of cooked okra will give you approximately 103 mcg of folic acid.[7]
8. Brussels Sprout
There is no denying that Brussels sprouts are one of the best foods for folic acid.[8] Eating one cup of boiled brussels sprouts will provide approximately 25% of your daily recommended amount. Brussels sprouts are also high in vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, and potassium.
9. Seeds and Nuts
It doesn't matter if it's pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, or flax seeds, eating them raw, sprouted, or sprinkled onto a salad adds a healthy serving of folic acid. Sunflower seeds and flax seeds are especially high in folate; one cup offers up to 300 mcg.[8] Nuts are also high in folic acid,[9] especially peanuts and almonds.[8] Below is a short list of the best seeds and nuts for folic acid.
Source Serving Size Amount of Folate/Serving DV % Sunflower Seeds ¼ cup 82 mcg 21% Peanuts ¼ cup 88 mcg 22% Flax Seeds 2 tbsp 54 mcg 14% Almonds 1 cup 54 mcg 12%
10. Cauliflower
This cruciferous vegetable is typically regarded as one of the best vitamin C foods, but it's also a great source of folic acid.[8] Just one cup of cauliflower will give you approximately 55 mcg of folate, accounting for 14% of your recommended daily value. I recommend adding fresh cauliflower to a salad.
11. Beets
Beets are a great source of antioxidants, and they also provide detox support, making them one of the best liver cleanse foods on the planet. While that's a great reason to add them to your diet, beets are also known as one of the best sources of folic acid. Eating one cup of beets will provide you with approximately 148 mcg of folate, accounting for 34% of your daily needs.[7]
12. Corn
Corn is a fun and popular vegetable that contains plenty of folate. Just one cup of cooked corn will provide you with approximately 34 mcg of folic acid, accounting for almost 9% of your daily needs. I recommend avoiding canned veggies and opting for fresh and organic.[10]
13. Celery
Celery is commonly regarded as a great food to help with kidney stones, but did you know it's also a great source for folic acid? Just one cup of raw celery provides about 36 mcg of folate, accounting for about 9% of your daily needs.[11]
14. Carrots
Carrots are another extremely popular vegetable you probably have in your home right now. Just one cup of raw carrots will give you almost 5% of your daily recommended needs for folic acid.[12] Eat baby carrots as a snack or add them to your salads for a folate boost!
15. Squash
The nutritional benefits of squash are as vibrant as the vegetable's brilliant colors.[13] And, if you make it right, it's delicious. Whether it's summer squash or winter squash, adding squash to your diet will give you a folic acid boost. Here is a breakdown of how much folate is found in squash.[13, 14]
Source Serving Size Amount of Folate/Serving DV % Winter squash 1 cup 41 mcg 21% Summer squash 1 cup 33 mcg 8%
These are just a few of the foods with folic acid, are you aware of others? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.
Folate Supplementation
Many foods contain folate, but if you still find yourself falling short of ideal intake, then supplementation may be a smart step for you. Folate (or folic acid) is available in multi-vitamins. I recommend IntraMax™, an all-in-one liquid vitamin supplement. IntraMax contains over 415 essential vitamins and minerals, including 200% of your daily recommended intake of folate.
†Results may vary. Information and statements made are for education purposes and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor. Global Healing Center does not dispense medical advice, prescribe, or diagnose illness. The views and nutritional advice expressed by Global Healing Center are not intended to be a substitute for conventional medical service. If you have a severe medical condition or health concern, see your physician.Eddie Priest’s Barbershop & Notary
Closed Mondays
is music is men off early from work is waiting for the chance at the chair while the eagle claws holes in your pockets keeping time by the turning of rusty fans steel flowers with cold breezes is having nothing better to do than guess at the years of hair matted beneath the soiled caps of drunks the pain of running a fisted comb through stubborn knots is the dark dirty low down blues the tender heads of sons fresh from cornrows all wonder at losing half their height is a mother gathering hair for good luck for a soft wig is the round difficulty of ears the peach faced boys asking Eddie to cut in parts and arrows wanting to have their names read for just a few days and among thin jazz is the quick brush of a done head the black flood around your feet grandfathers stopping their games of ivory dominoes just before they reach the bone yard is winking widowers announcing cut it clean off I’m through courting and hair only gets in the way is the final spin of the chair a reflection of a reflection that sting of wintergreen tonic on the neck of a sleeping snow haired man when you realize it is your turn you are next
—Kevin YoungWelcome to the world of TSIOQUE (pronounced /ʧɪɒk/, or /tsɪɒk/)!
Play the demo, enjoy, and share your thoughts! YouTubers – feel free to monetize.
The demo may still not be the quality of the final product, but it will certainly help you visualize the look and feel we are aiming for in the full version of TSIOQUE.
And if you are really busy, you can just watch the gameplay below:
All of our reward tiers include a Steam key and DRM-free copy.
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Game box - more info >>>
More info: Update 21 - NEW PERK - RETRO BIG BOX!!!
ALEK: The game we're working on is a 2D point-and-click adventure game, made in the spirit of the classics I grew up with, but, at the same time, telling an original, personal story. It's both the game I had always wanted to play as a kid and a present for my daughter to enjoy today – for her to have fun, and perhaps even learn something in the process. In the 2 years I’ve already spent on development, it would sometimes cross my mind that I should've just bought her some candy or a toy instead, but since I've gone so far it'd be rather silly to back out now. Encouraged by my cooperation with OhNoo, I want to finish what I started, in the scope that this game truly deserves.
OhNoo: TSIOQUE is the next stage of our in-house engine we had created for our previous games. Aside from controlling the protagonist, you can also control the camera. This small element adds dynamic to the classic adventure gameplay. We're also developing a dynamic music system, changing moods and themes to fit the player's actions. You can hear the sample of it in the demo. It's the blend of dynamic music and rich frame-by-frame animation that makes the game unique.
A 100% hand-drawn adventure with a unique atmosphere and a vivid, individual style, by the award-winning animation filmmaker and self-proclaimed genius Alek Wasilewski.
Story with a twist – a clever storyline that may surprise you.
Humor? Check. Darkness? Check. Suspense? Check! What more could you ask for?
LOTS of 2D animation – all characters and items are hand-animated, frame-by-frame, old-school-style.
A living, breathing environment, full of hidden interactions. Did we mention the game would have lots of animation?
Exceptional soundtrack by Edward Harrison (NEOTOKYO, LUCKY DAY FOREVER) and Elle Kharitou, dynamically illustrating the gameplay and adjusted to your every action.
The protagonist – a little girl with a talent for bringing chaos and destruction wherever she goes. Those who dare stand in her way are in for a lot of trouble...
Beautiful, hand-drawn backgrounds.
Fully voiced dialogue tracks.
Not just for children – a multi-layered tale, created with respect for both younger players and older, more demanding ones, which can be appreciated by everyone on their own level.
You can "die" in this game! - It's an adventure game, so explore, solve puzzles... but beware. You will not always have the comfort of infinite time for solving a problem – sometimes you may need to think fast! Other times, you may want to think twice before choosing a course of action, as the wrong decision may cost you your freedom... or worse!
Non-episodic storytelling – you will find no "Find out what happens next, pay more money!" cliffhangers here. We are not particularly fond of episodic gameplay, so here, you get the complete experience – the story told from start to finish, from the introduction to the grand finale.
A changing, mysterious and dangerous world – even before the Wizard's attack, the castle held many secrets. Now, bound by a powerful spell, the castle has not only become home to demons and magical creatures, but also, itself, has been affected by the evil power... It bends and shapeshifts, forming layers upon layers of transformation and illusion... It is an essential part of the plot and – especially later in the game – is tightly integrated into the gameplay.
The primary source of inspiration was inarguably LIFE, which always writes the best stories. But of course we do not live in cultural vacuum. While developing Tsioque, we couldn’t help but be inspired by the things that amazed and captivated us in our childhood days spent in front of the pale glow of CRT monitors.
This surely included the clever, humorous storyline backed by striking, unique art style in DAY OF THE TENTACLE; the simple gameplay and serious approach to younger players in Ron Gilbert productions such as PAJAMA SAM; the beautiful, dark, dangerous world seen through a young boy’s eyes in HEART OF DARKNESS, ; the wonderfully animated epic fantasy and its gruesome punishments for player’s mistakes in DRAGONS LAIR, or INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS, an old Lucasarts classic with a perfect blend of adventure, humor and action, where carelessness could cost you dearly.
ALEK: I have extensive experience in running projects solo. Instead of knocking on hundreds of doors, spending my time trying to convince people my idea really is great, I often preferred to simply do it. I would then lock myself in seclusion and, forgetting about the world outside my workstation, spend months – sometimes years – chiseling practically every aspect of production, until it was done. I was prepared to make great sacrifices, because nearly all my projects were born out of passion – and this one was no different. Here, I also decided to do everything I could single-handedly... but after 2 years of almost constant work, a realization eventually passed through my thick stubborn skull into my brain. I am no longer the person I used to be. I've now become a loving husband and father. I have people in this world that I cared about and I have been hurting them with my total commitment to work – the work I was supposed to do for them. For my family, I finally had to admit to myself I couldn't do this on my own anymore. I need your help. We need your help.
OhNoo: We're a small team of 3 enthusiasts, creating games at near-zero budgets. We keep raising the bar for ourselves and our games, and this is the result. TSIOQUE is an amazing game, with great animations, dynamic music and fully dubbed characters. It's a great next step for us, but we cannot finish it without your help. Among other challenges, we need more animators to produce a large amount of frame-by-frame animation, and this requires more funding.
We are still determined to complete TSIOQUE, even if it means doing it only with our own hands, at minimal cost, with bare-minimum outside help.
However, with your support, we can invite more artists to the project and truly let it spread its wings. Everything would get done quicker, be prettier, more detailed – and, eventually, we could simply put everything we intended there, after achieving a certain stretch goal.
This would give a terrific boost to practically every aspect of the production, but especially ANIMATION – 2D frame-by-frame animation is a painstaking task, which just happens to be the visual highlight of this project. We are not even dreaming of reaching a budget allowing us to fairly compensate such work – that is why most (or almost all) animation is still going to be done by Alek – but animators invited to collaborate do deserve half-decent pay for their effort.
The funds gathered would also be used to support the following:
BACKGROUNDS
SOUND DESIGN (music and sfx)
VOICE ACTING
Translations (if the appropriate stretch goal is reached)
Porting to new platforms (if the appropriate stretch goal is reached)
Our initial and primary goal is to reach $35,000. If we are able to reach more, we'll be able to fulfill the folowing strech goals:
35,000 – BARE BONES – the game is made and we don't starve in the process. Hooray!
45,000 – MY HOMES ARE MY CASTLES – Android, Ouya and iOS versions + translations to Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, and French.
Originally, the game is being developed for PC in English and Polish. We would like to release the game on other platforms and in other languages as well.
55,000 – EPIC! – The soundtrack will be performed by a philharmonic orchestra.
You have listened to TSIOQUE's soundtrack and thought it was impressive? This may be just a taste of the real thing. Release the true potential of Edward Harrison's and Elle Kharitou's music and make a full orchestral soundtrack a reality!
70,000 – WIZARDRY – Additional mini-episode somewhere near the end of your journey. Become the Evil Wizard and discover the true motivations behind his evildoing.
85,000 – LEGENDS OF THE KINGDOM – Delve even deeper into the world of TSIOQUE and uncover ancient legends – stories about ancient heroes and beasts, providing a richer background of the Kingdom's history. These will be hidden in dusty libraries and secret chambers in the Castle.
99,999 – OOPS! – More animations for failures and wrong actions, all too common in adventure games. You think taking on a monster with a shoelace is a great idea? Try and see what happens!
The world of TSIOQUE is inhabited by creatures of all sorts – humans, animals, monsters, you name it. Do not let appearances deceive you: some seemingly nice people may not necessarily have the best intentions, and a terrifying-looking monster may not be all that evil. Fortunately, even in worst-case scenarios, Tsioque can always count on help from her friends, whom she will find in the least expected places.
TSIOQUE - Our protagonist, the princess. While still just a little girl, she's not the type of princess who waits for Prince Charming to come rescue her. She's a warrior princess - strong, extremely stubborn, used to taking matters in her own hands. Her will is made of iron but her heart's made of gold. Her relentless curiosity constantly leads her to trouble.
THE WIZARD – Our main villain, the evil sorcerer who – taking advantage from the QUEEN's absence – claimed rulership of the Kingdom and imprisoned princess TSIOQUE. Powerful, cunning and full of insatiable ambition, he considers the Kingdom just a stop on the way to total world domination. A (quite literally) dark character, with a constant frown on his face, the WIZARD is filled with inner anger so great that it emanates from the top of his head with a flame of evil magic.
THE GOOD QUEEN – Princess TSIOQUE's mother, gentle and kind, but just as strong as her daughter. In the beginning of the story, she leaves to a faraway land to battle an evil PHOENIX threatening the Kingdom.
IMPS – A small army of the WIZARD's magically created minions. With the WIZARD too busy plotting world domination, it is those creatures that stand between TSIOQUE and her freedom. They may seem bumbling and stupid, but they are not to be underestimated. The castle is crawling with them, and if they see you, you are doomed.
...and much, much more.
The game is being co-created by OhNoo Studio and Alek Wasilewski, who assembled a team of independent artists to help his vision come to life.
This is just us, a couple of guys, and people who wish to creatively support our continued work.
We are not a big company. We do not have sponsors, publishers, investors or shareholders. We do not even have an office. This campaign is not a marketing stunt, a “proof of concept” supposed to coax our superiors into handing us millions of dollars. We really want to fund this project through this campaign!
Call us naive, but we really count on your help.
You can watch Alek's latest film LUCKY DAY FOREVER below (warning: NSFW):
If you want more, visit his Youtube channel, and keep an eye on this website as well.
Having completed Amelia, we raised the bar and started working on a dark point-and-click adventure game – “Tormentum – Dark Sorrow”. We raised funds for its completion on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform. The game was released in 2015, and is available on Steam.
Both of our games were well received. “Amelia and Terror of the Night” got 5 stars on iOS and Android, while Tormentum has a 72 rating on Metacritic, as well as very positive reviews from players. Unfortunately, critical acclaim is not always followed by commercial success, and this is why we still need your support. One of the reasons is that we do not have a marketing budget. We are just good at doing what we love, which is making games – the rest is happening on its own. We do whatever we can to promote our work, but what we have learned is that without money for advertising, you really need a lot of luck to succeed.
Working on TSIOQUE, we use our experience in creating games for both older and younger audiences. If you want to find out the result, put your trust in us.
All backgrounds in the game are made by one talented illustrator – Michał Urbanski.
Micahł Urbański – He is a translator by education and an illustrator by choice. Around 2013, he decided to pursue his lifelong passion and began a professional career in visual arts. Since then, he has cooperated closely with Alek Wasilewski and the OhNoo indie game studio as a background painter, and has done freelance work within projects by some of the major Polish studios, such as Platige Image or Juice.
Music is an essential element in any game, inseparably combined with the player's every move. Just as in movies, it can make – or break – the whole experience. TSIOQUE’s awesome dynamic soundtrack is created by 2 artists: Ed and Elle.
Edward Harrison: aka 0edit, is a composer, sound designer best known for the Neotokyo OST and for his previous collaboration with Alek on Lucky Day Forever. While he continues to develop his distinctive flavor of cyberpunk electronica on upcoming projects, he has relished the chance to return to orchestral composition. Tsioque is in many ways a dream project for him, as it was his childhood (and enduring) love for the classic LucasArts adventures of the '90s that inspired him to compose for games in the first place.
Elle Kharitou: Self confessed as utterly obsessed with music, sound and noise (and caffeine), Elle Kharitou, aka blissbox, is a classically trained composer and sound designer, specializing in complex, genre dissolving Electronic music. Her works have a unique and highly visual flavour which she is putting to use on a number of upcoming audio-visual projects. She is now drawing on her love of 20th century orchestral music to bring a rich and distinct quality to the world of Tsioque.
By helping us finish our game you will – of course – gain our infinite gratitude. But that is certainly not all!
Perks with physical rewards have shipping costs included, so you do not have to worry about extra costs being added.
Here are the backer rewards with brief descriptions. Do not hesitate, become a backer today! You know you want to!
The 2 perks below are inspired by the tradition of medieval sponsors, who – along with a piece of art – bought themselves immortality.
1) Knight $300 (limited: 30)
Your face will be found among the figures inhabiting a painting or fresco in-game. The final look may vary depending on the style of a given art piece, but it will unmistakably be you.
2) PATRON OF THE ARTS $2500 (limited: 5)
Your likeness will inhabit the foreground of a monumental painting or become the sole subject of a portrait. Set in an honorable spot in the game, your individual painting will be impossible to miss. Be depicted as a knight, magnate, princess, cleric, peasant – as long as such a person could have existed in medieval Europe, your imagination is the limit!
A limited, signed physical version of the painting on canvas will be sent to you by mail.
Perks
(Click to enlarge)29th episode of the second season of The Twilight Zone
"The Obsolete Man" is episode 65 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on June 2, 1961 on CBS. The story was later adapted for The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas starring Burgess Meredith as Romney Wordsworth.
Opening narration [ edit ]
“ You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. |
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